The herald., 1898-03-27
evel of the land sinks lower.

doubt noticed that there is a great
bending sea connecting the oceans of
the south with those of the north and
running through the midst of the con-
tinents.''
"Quite So" said the astronomer who
had spoken before, I'VE call it the
Syrtis Major"
THAT long narrow sea-" Alma went
on, forms a great channel through
which the flood of waters caused bv
the melting of the southern polar
SHOWS flows swiftly toward the equa-
tor and then on toward the north until
it reaches the sea basins which exist
there. At that point it is rapidly turned
into ice and snow, because, of course,
while it is summer in the southern
hemisphere it is winter in the north
ern.
'The Syrtis Major G am giving our
name to the channel of communication
in place of that by which the girl called
it, is like a great safety valve, which,
by permitting the waters to flow north
ward, saves the continents from inun-
dation.
But when midsummer arrives, the
SHOWS around the pole having been
completely melted away, the flood
ceases, and the water begins to recede.
At this time, but for a device which
the Martians have employed. the
canals connected with the oceans
would run dry, and the vegetation, left
without moisture under the summer
sun, would quickly perish
ITO prevent this they have built q
series of enormous gates extending
completely across the Syrtis Major at
its narrowest point latitude 20 degrees,
south). These gates are all controlled
by machinery collected at single
point on the shore of the strait. AS
soon as the flood in the Syrtis Major
begins to recede the gates are closed,
and, the water being thus retained, the
irrigating canals are kept full long
enough to mature the harvests.'
1.-THE cluel The clue at last!" ex-
claimed Mr.. Edison. THAT is the place
where we shall nip them. If we can
close those gates now at the moment
of high tide we shall flood the country.
Did you say" he continued, turning to
Alma, that the movement of the gates
was all controlled from single point?''
Yes" said the girl. There is a
great building (power house, full OF
tremendous machinery, which 1 once
entered when my father was taken
there by his master, and where I saw
one Martian, by turning little handle
cause the great line of gates stretching
a hundred miles across the sea, to
slowly shut in, edge to edge, until the
flow of the water toward the north had
been stopped"
"How is this building protected?"
stSn ran1iad Ing n
my only fear is you may not be able tc
reach it. On account of the danger
from their enemies in Ceres, the Mar
tians have fortified it strongly on al
sides, and have even surrounded it ant
covered it overhead with a great cleo
tric network, to touch which would bt
instant DEATH"
"Ah," said Mr.. Edison, "they have
got an electric shield, have they? Well
1 think we shall be able to manage
| that.
Anyhow" he continued, tive have
got to get into that power house, ant
we have got to close those gates, ant
we must not lose much time in making
up our minds how it is to be done
! Evidently this is our only chance. W.
have not force enough to contend IL
open battle with the Martians, but i
we can flood them out, and thereb.
render the engines contained in thei
Notifications useless, perhaps we shal
be able to deal with the airships, whicl
will be all the means of defence tina
| will then remain to them.'
This idea commended itself to all tn,
| leaders of the expedition. 1t was de
termined to make a reconnaissance a
| once.
| But it would not do for us to ap
| proach the planet too hastily and w,
certainly could not think of landins
upon it in broad daylight. Still, a:
long as we were yet at a considerable
distance from Mars, we felt that w,
should be safe from observation, be
cause so much time had elapsed Will,
we were hidden behind Deimos tha
the Martians had undoubtedly conclud
ed that we were no longer in existence
So we boldly quilted the little satel
lite with our entire squadron and ono,
more rapidly approached the red plane
of war. This time it was to be a deatl
grapple and our chances Of victory still
seemed good.
AS soon as we arrived so near tn,
planet that there was danger of ou
being actually seen, we took pains t.
keep continually in the shadow O
Mars, and the more surely to concea
our presence all lights upon the ship
were extinguished. The precaution O
the commander even went so far as t.
have the smooth metallic sides of tn
cars blackened over so that they shoult
not reflect light and thus become visi
BILE to the Martians as shining
specks, moving suspiciously among tn
| stars.
The precise Location of the great pow
er house on the shores of the Syrti
Major having been carefully ascer
tanned, the squadron dropped down on
night into the upper limits of the Mar
tian atmosphere, directly over tn
gulf.
Then a consultation was called OF
the flagship and plan of compaigl
was quickly devised.
1t was deemed wise that the attemp
should be made with single electrical
| ship, but that the others should b.
kept lowering near, ready to RESPOND
on the instant to any signal for aiC
which might come from below. 1t wal
thought that, Notwithstanding thu
wonderful defences, which, according
to Ainas account, surrounded tn,
building, small party would have {
better chance of success than larg,
| one.
Mr.. Edison was certain that the elec
| trical network which was described a!
covering the power house would no