Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-08
them agnin BY sunrise.

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store for us which was greater than
any we had yet experienced.
We saw their ships, and from various
points Oh the ground beneath there rose
high in the air and carried by invisible
currents in every direction immense
volumes Of black smoke, or vapor,
which blotted out Of sight everything
below them.
| South, north, west and east the cur
tain of blackness rapidly spread, until
the whole face of the planet as far rs
our eyes could reach and the airships
thronging under us wero all concealed
from sight
Mars had played the game of the cut
fetish, which when pursued by its enc
mics darkcns the water behind it by
sudden outgush of inky fluid, and thus
escapes the eye of its foe.
The eyes of man had never beheld
such spectacle.
Where few minutes before the sun
ny face of beautiful and populous
planet had been shining beneath us
there was now to be seen nothing but
black, billowing clouds, swelling up
everywhere like the mouse colored
smoke that pours from great transat-
lantic liner when fresh coal has just
been heaped upon her fires.
In some places the smoke spouted up.
ward in huge jets to the height of sew
eral miles; elsewhere it eddied in vast
whirlpools of inky blackness.
Not glimpse of the hidden world
beneath was anywhere to be seen.
Mars had put on its war mask and
fearful indeed was tho aspect of it!
After the first pause of surprise tho
squadron quickly backed away into tho
sky, rising rapidly, because, from one
Of the swirling eddies beneath us tho
smoke began suddenly to pile itself up
in an enormous aerial mountain, whose
peaks shot higher aud higher, with APP
parently increasing velocity, until they
seemed about to engulf us with their
tumbling ebon masses.
Unaware what the nature of this
mysterious smoke might be and fearing
it was something more than shield for
the planet and might be destructive to
life, we fed before it, as before tho On
ward sweep of pestilence.
Directly underneath the flagship, ono
of the aspiring smoke peaks grew with
most portontous swiftncSs and notwith.
standing all our efforts, in little while
it had enveloped us.
Several Of US were standing OH the
deck of the electrical ship. We were al
most stifed by the smoke and were
compelled to take refuge within tho ca
whtro, until tho electric lights had been
turned on, darkness SO black that it op.
pressed tho strained eyeballs prevailed.
But in this brief experience, terrify-
ing though it was, we had learned ono
thing. The smoke would kill by strangu-
lation, but evidently there was moth
ing specially poisonous in its nature.
This fact might be of no use to US III
our subsequent proceedings.
"This spoils our plans" said the
commander. "There is no use Of re-
naming here for the present; let us SEQ
how far this thing extends"
At first We rose straight away to q
height of 300 or 800 miles. thus passing
the atmosphere and far above tho high
est point that the smoke could reach.
From this commanding point of view
our line of sight extended to an i'm
mense distance over the surface of Mars
in all directions. Everywhere the same
appearance-the whole planet was evil
IDENTIFY covered with the smoke.
A complete Geographic system evil
IDENTIFY connected all the strategic points
upon Mars, so that, ut a signal from
the central station, the wonderful cur
tain could be instantaneously drawn
over the entire face of the planet.
In order to make certain that no part
of Mars remained uncovered we dropped
down again nearer TO the upper level Of
tho smoke clouds and then completely
circumnavigated the planet 1t was
thought possible that on the night side
no smoke would Ee found and that it
would be practicable for us to make IA
descent there.
But when we had arrived on that
side Of Mars which vas turned away
from the sun we no longer saw beneath
us, as we had done on our previous visit
to the night hemisphere IF the planet,
brilliant groups and clusters of electric
light beneath us. All was dark.
In fact, so completely did the great
sholl of smoke conceal the planet that
; the place occupied by the latter seemed
to be simply vast black hole in the
armament.
The sun was hidden behind it, and SC
dense was the smoke that even the solar
rays were unable to penetrate it, and
consequently there was no atmospheric
halo visible around the concealed planet.
All the sky around was filled with
: stars, but Il .ir countless host suddenly
disappeared when our eyes turned in
the direction of Mars. The great black
globe blotted them out without being
visible itself.
= apparently we can do nothing
here, " said Mr.. Edison. "Let us return
to the daylight side.
: When we had arrived near the point
! where we had been when the wonder.
2 full phenomenon first made its appear.
r ance, we paused, and then. at the sug,
! gestion of one of the chemists, dropped
close to the surface of the smoke cur.
tain, which had now settled down into
comparative quiescence, in order that
we might examine it "a little more crit
) ically.
The flagship was driven into the
smoke cloud so deeply that for u min
| ME we were again pnyelOped in night