Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-05-03

| last it sank exhausted to the ground
| After examining it little while longer,
as it lay there painting and motionless,
[ steered my course across the plain
| towards the east in the direction in
which, when at a greater elevation, l
had seen the ocean.
| | saw troops Of various kinds of ami
| mails browsing the green heritage below.
| Though | saw no creature of exactly the
same species as any that | had seen on
| EARTH still there were very striking anal
| ogies, which showed that animal life on
! Mars had developed on pretty much the
same lines as it had done upon our own
| planet. / saw neither antelOpes, nor BIZ
sons, nor zebras, nor elephants; but |
saw creatures bearing more or less re-
! semblance to all these, and to others
! also.
| Cheered by this thought, | increased
| the electric pressure on the regulator,
and sped along at rate which made
| the Shooting Star whizz as. it dashed
| through the air. Plains, rivers and for
| ests flew past me in one continuous pam
oramic stream. Lofty, precipitous noun
| tains doomed suddenly against the sky,
and threatened to bar my passage. The
| Shooting Star reared it's prov, and
| springing clean over them, continued it's
| swift career unchecked-over the noun
| tain SUBMITS, over the valleys beyond,
| over fresh rivers, fresh rising mountains,
| fresh forests, fresh plainS-OnWard, on
ward, never stopping, till it reached the
| great ocean which | had seen from my
| lofty elevation, when / was making my
| first descent upon the. planet.
| Here for brief space | halted 1t was
glorious spectacle. A majestic ocean
lay before me, rolling it's heavy swell
| against the rocky bases of long, sweep
ing range of precipitous mountains I'M
derneath me. This range was broken
| and indented in many places by deep
| raVineS, down which fOaming torrents
rushed headlong, forming numberless
cascades and waterfalls, the confused
| noise of which was almost deafening.
| The sea ran in among the cleftS and fs-
sures of the rocky shores in long and mar
| row Streaks-in some places cutting OFT
| whole portions and forming them into
islands. One of these islands was spe-
cially remarkable and conspicuous. 1t
presented the appearance of a gigantic
column shaped like triangular prism,
| three or four hundred feet high, sliced
clean out of the rocky cliffs, and carried
out several yards into the sea by some
past earthquake or other great natural
CONFUSION. One sharp edge pointed to
the immense deep cut in the cliff, from
| which it had been separated, while it's
opposite side perfectly perpendicular,
and fully hundred yards wide, present
| ed proud, defiant front to the heavy
blows struck by the heaving ocean at
it's base. In the very center of it's grassy
triangular summit, as if designedly
placed there by way of ornament, rose
a lofty, majestic, solitary tree, surround
ed by circular cluster Of thick bushes.
After contemplating the scene for a
few moments l left it, removing with
the machine to a pleasant valley which
| saw beyond the left extremity of the
range of mountains, and through which
10
to the sea.
I had arrived on Mars, or at any rate
entered the Marsian atmosphere, about
noon, and it was now ten minutes past
3, reckoning by Marsian time, which,
as Mars takes forty-one minutes longer
than the earth to revolve upon it's axis,
is a little slower than our time. In those
three hours and ten minutes had seen
much and travelled FARGO miles at
least, in spite of occasional stoppage. [
began now to feel peculiar sort of faint
ness creep over me, and for moment or
two wondered what could have caused 1T,
till all at once / reflected that | had not
tasted a morsel of food since my last
supper the evening befOre-Or rather
what would. have been the evening be-
fore if l had then occupied my present
position on the planet Mars. When l
awoke from my last sleep my thoughts
were so full of this new world which
was so soon to enter, and when had en-
tered it I was so taken up with the va
rious curious things 1 saw in it that I
forgot all about my breakfast. l made
up for my neglect now by taking a meal
which might be fairly considered
breakfast and dinner rolled into one.
This done, [ wondered what had bet
ter do next Should I at once open the
door of my machine, and admit into my
lungs the Marsian air? Or should l de-
fer this hazardous experiment till had
seen more of the planet? How much l
now regretted nay oversight in not bring
| ing some live animal with me, dog, cat,
| canary or something on which l could
| first experiment. Rather hard upon the
dog, cat or canary; mails que voulez-vous!
Better risk the life Of such an animal
than my own However, as I had none
such with me, it was useless wasting
time on unavailing regrets; and l was
Just going to open the door when
happy thought struck me. There are
| few gases-few terrestrial gases, at any
rate so dangerous that man cannot
stand little Whit of them. Why not
| just admit a small quantity at first, and
| try what effect that would produce on:
me? The idea was so simple, so self-evi-
dent that [ was astonished at my own
stupidity at not having thought of it be-
| fore. I acted upon it at once. Turning
| the screw handle which had kept the
4 door 50 ClOStly S4uI tAdC A1OI> CAAN oAAA".A
est molecule of air or any other gas could
pass from the inside to the outside or
| from the outside to the inside, [ opened
| the door the least bit in the world, and
| then shut it again instantly. No change
| that 1 could detect / repeated the ex-
pertinent, opening the door little wider,
and not closing it again quite so quickly.
| This time fancied l smelt slight arc
matte odor not unlike that of the honey
suckle; but beyond this | felt nothing.
Gathering courage, l opened the door the
third time, and held it open, but my hand
on the handle ready to shut it again i'm
mediately if / began to feel the least dis
comfort or inconvenience. The aromatic
odor was more unmistakable; but of dis
| comfort or inconvenience there was none;
on the contrary, felt the Marsian air
deliciously refreshing: Hesitating no
longer, l brought the Shooting Star right
down to the ground, and let it rest gently
on the grass. Then, burning with i'm
patience to feel myself actually treading
the soil of another planet. millions Of