Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-22

dry, and tho vegetation, left without
moisture under the summer sun. would
quickly perish.
ITO prevent this they have built
series of enormous gates extending COM
pletcly across the Syrtis Major at its
narrowest point latitude % degrees
south). These gates are all controlled
by machinery collected at a single point
Oh the shore of the strait. AS soon us
tho flood in the Syrtis Major begins to
recede the gates are closed, and tho
water being thus retained, the irrigat-
ing canals are kept full long enough to
mature the harvests.
"Tho clewl The clew at lastr' 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 tho country
( Did you say" he continued, turning
to Alma, THAT the movement of tho
gates was all controlled from a single
point"
Yes" said the girl. "There is q
great building (power house) full of
tremendous machinery which once en-
tered when my father was taken there
by his master, and where | saw one
Marian, by turning little handle
cause the great line of gates, stretch
ing 100 miles across the sea, to slowly
shut in, edge to edge, until the flow of
the water toward tho north had been
stopped,
How is this building protected?"
A.
my only fear is you may not be able to
reach it. On account Of the danger from
their enemies in Ceres the Martians have
fortified it strongly on all sides and
have even surrounded it and covered it
overhead with "A great electric network,
to touch which would be instant death "
"Ahl" said Mr.. Edison. "They have
got an electric shield. have they: Well
| think we shall be able to manage
that.
Anyhow" he continued, 1--WE have
got to get into that power house, and
we have got to close those gates and we
must not lose much time in making up
our minds how it is TO be done Evi.
IDENTIFY this is our only chance. We have
battle with the Martians, but if we can
flood them out and thereby render the
engines contained in their Notifications
useless perhaps we shall be able to deal
with the airships, which will be all the
means of defense that will then remain
to them.
This idea commended itself to all the
leaders of the expedition. 1t was deter
mined to make reconnaissance at once.
But it would not do for lis to approach
the planet too hastily, and we certainly
could not think of landing upon it in
broad daylight Still, as long as wo
were yet at n considerable distance from
Mars we felt that we should DO safe
from observation, because so much time
had elapsed while we were hidden boz
hind DEMOS that the Martians had IN.
doubtediy concluded that wo were no
longer i'll existence.
So we boldly quilted the little satel-
lite with our entire squadron and once
more rapidly approached tho red planet
Of war This time it was to be death
grapplc, and our chances of victory still
seemed good.
As soon rs we arrived so near tho
planet that there was danger of our be-
ing actually seen we took pains to keep
continually in the shadow of Mars, and
the more surely to conceal our presence
all lights upon the ships were extin-
guished The precaution of the com.
maEder even went SO far as to have the
smooth metallic sides of the cars black
ered over so that they should not reflect
light and thus become visible to the
Martians as shining specks moving sus-
plciously among the stars.
The precise location of the great pow
or house on the shores Of the Syrtis
Mayor having been carefully ascertain
ed, the squadron dropped down ono
night into the upper limits of the Mar
tian atmosphere, directly over the gulf
Then consultation was called on tho
flagship, and plan of campaign was
quickly devised.
1t was deemed wise that the ATTEMPT
should be made with a single electrical
ship, but that the others should be kept
lowering near, ready TO respond on the
instant to any signal for aid which
might come from below. 1t was thought
that, notwithstanding the wonderful
defensos which according to Alma ac-
count surrounded the building, small
party would have better chance of sue.
cess than ii large one,
Mr.. Edison was certain that the cleo
trical network which was described as
covering the power house would not
prove serious obstruction to us because
by carefully sweeping tho space where
we intended to pass with the disinto-
orators before quitting the ship the net !
ting could bo sufficiently cleared away
to give us uninterrupted passage,
At first the intention was to have 90 /
mon, each armed with two disintegra- T.
tors Chat being the largest mum Der that
one person could carry to advantage), |
descend from the electrical ship and |
make the venture But after further
discussion this number was reduced
first to dozen and finally to only four,
These four consisted of Mr. Edison, |
Colonel Smith, Mr. Sydney Phillips and |
myself
Both by her own request and because
we could not help feeling that her |
knowledge Of tho locality would be in. |
dlspcnsable TO us Alma was also in.
cluded in our party, but not, of course,
as lighting member Of it.
1t was about an hour after midnight !
when the ship in which we were to .
.