The herald., 1898-02-27

4 I TUT u tuOiItuI we were SlaTIIeQ be-
, yond expression. The truth had flashed
} upon us.
} This must be a golden planet-this
: little asteroid. If 1t were not composed
internally of gold. 1t could never have
I ought to weigh.
But where Is the gold?" cried one.
, Covered up. of course" cried Lord
Kelvin. Buried in star dust. This
asteroid could not have continued to
} travel for millions of years through re-
gions of space strewn with meteoric
particles without becoming covered
with the inevitable dust and CRIME of
|, such journey. We must dig down,
! and then doubtless we shall find the
metal.'
This hint was instantly acted upon.
, Something that would serve for a spade
was seized by one of the men, and in
few minutes hole had been dug in
the soil of the asteroid.
I shall never forget the sight, nor the
exclamations Of wonder that broke
forth from all of us standing around,
when the yellow CLEAN of the precious
metal appeared under the "star dust"
Collected in huge masses 1t reflected
the light of the sun from it's hiding
place.
Evidently the planet was not a solid
ball of gold, formed like a bullet run
in mold. but was composed of nuggets
of various sizes, which had come to-
gether here under the influence of their
mutual gravitation, and formed a lit
tie metallic planet
Judging by the test Of weight which
had already tried. and which had led
to the discovery of the gold. the COM
position of the asteroid must be the
same to it's very centre.
In an assemblage of famous scientific
men such as this the discovery of
course Immediately led to questions as
to the origin Of this incredible phe-
nomenon.
How did these masses of gold come
together? How did it chance that,
with the exception of the thin crust Of
the asteroid. nearly all it's substance
was composed of the previous metal?
One asserted that it was quite impos-
sible that there should be so much gold
at so great distance from the sun.
1t is a general law" he said. that
the planets increase in density toward
the sun. There is every reason to think
|
greater amount of dense elements,
while the outer ones are comparatively
light"
But another referred to the old
theory that there was once in this part
of the solar system a planet which had
been burst in pieces by some mystic
rious explosion, the fragments forming
what we know as the asteroids. In his
| nnininn y,lo t.~ht
tanned large quantity of gold, and in
the course of ages the gold. having, in
consequence of It's superior atomic
weight, not being so widely scattered
by the explosion as some of the other
elements of the planet, had collected
itself together in this body.
But observed that Lord Kelvin and
the other more distinguished men of
science said almost nothing during
this discussion. The truly learned
man is the truly wise man. They
were not going to set up theories with
out sufficient facts to sustain them.
Gold is thing which may make
its appearance anywhere and at any
time without offering any excuses or
explanations.
'Phew! Won't we be rich?" ex-
Claimed voice.
How are we going to dig it and get
it back to earth?" asked another.
Garry it in your pockets" said
one.
mo need of stalking claims here"
remarked another. There is enough
for everybody"
Mr.. Edison suddenly turned the cur
rent of talk.
What do you suppose those Mar
tians We're doing here?"
Perhaps, they We're wrecked here"
Not bit of it," said Mr.. Edison.
According to your own showing they
could not have been wrecked here. This
planet hasn't gravitation enough to
wreck them by a fall, and besides I
have been looking at their machines
and 1 know there has been a fight"
"A fight?" exclaimed several, prick
ing up their ears.
Yes" said Mr.. Edison, "those ma
chimes bear the marks of the lightning
of the Martians. They have been dis
abled, but they are made of some
metal or some alloy of metals un-
known to me. and consequently they
have withstood the destructive force
applied to them, as our electric ships
were unable to withstand it. 1t is per-
fectly plain to me that they have been
disabled in a battle. The Martians
must have been fighting among them
selves"
About the gold!" exclaimed one.
"Of course What else was there to
fight about?"
At this instant one of our men came
running from a considerable distance,
waving his arms exctedly, but unable
to give voice to his story, in the in
appreciable atmosphere of the asteroid,
until he had come up and made tele-
phonic connection with us.
"There is lot of dead Martians over
there" he said. They've been clean
ing one another OUT
That's it, said Mr.. Edison. IT knew
it when 1 saw the condition Of those
machines"
''This must be the great gold mine of
Mars" said the president of the Aus
tralian mining company, opening both
his eyes and his mouth as he spoke.
"Yes, evidently that's it. Here's
where they come to get their wealth."
"And this" I said, must be their
harvest time. You notice that this as
teroid, being several million miles
nearer to the sun than Mars is, must
have an appreciably shorter period of