The herald., 1898-03-20
copyright, 1858, by Garrett P. serviss..

The inventive genius of Thomas a. Eui
son makes possible an attack OF the earti
upon Mars. This is done to prevent sec
ond invasion of the Martians, who ar ar
trying to relieve their. overpopu,L.attsS,., y,
planet; the first having failed through W ~
breaking out of disease and not human, 1 Ell
fort. Edison invents a practical electIiact "a
air ship; and an engine OF h;oh deStIhu vii
cause the constituent particles OF any op
ject at which it may be directed 20 70 .. %
vibrate that the object will be innmeoifaae "a ae
ly and completely dispersed. A large nee!
of airships armed with disintegrators am ie
manned by two thousand men, amont
whom r are many famous ii,,sr sTlentls niles from
Mars the expedition comes upon u pa pa, =
of Martians upon small heayenly oouyr sre
one of the asteroids me MaToiahH Snrr h,t ''c OF
somewhat repulsive aspect. The asterod
is of solid gold, and to get the precious
tians' presence. Another party IRON IRON
Mars arrives in one of their aerial cars
and an encounter follows. IN when, 3, now
ever, the superior efficiency of the dlsinte-
orator over the enemys engines OF war
is ably proven. and the fleet leaves IoI
Mars after all the Martians have Dee.'
But victory has not been won until sew
eral ships have been destroyed. and many
men killed During the ,,jinfs Journey of mf6n fSe
Captured Martian. The fieet arrives
above the land of Hellas' on M, Mars, So ahu an
The visitors withdraw from reach Whiie
the planet revolves beneath them. Mhen
the land of bas aeas is bs Marans
their planet with a thick cloud OF smoke
which the visitors pierce with their dis
integrators. The Martians launch Their
Edison fleet, which finally drops beneath
the smoke curtain and engages, the enc enc
destruction is awful. both on land and in
the air. and the ships from the earth
withdraw but sixty in number. Colonel
Smith. an army officer, proposes strategy:
His plan is to concentrate a majority of
the ships and engage the attention OF the
Martians, while d few are sent to the
other side of the planet to effect land
ing. This is of vital Importance, because
most of the provisions have been unac-
countably destroyed. Colonel Smith IS
to a thinly settled region in the land of
Ausonia. far from the Lake of the Sun.
the most densely populated portion of
taken place The narrator accompanies
Colonel Smith. and they succeed in land
ing upon Mars.
XVII.
At first we suffered somewhat from
the effects of the rare atmosphere. 1t
was so lacking in density that it resem-
bled the air on the SUBMITS of the
loftiest terrestrial mountains.
IldNlIlS IceiCLCu lHC lOol VI tiic Tree III
safety, we lay down for a moment on
the ground to recover ourselves and to
become accustomed to our new sur
roundingS.
A thrill, born half of wonder, half of
incredulity. ran through me at the
touch of the soil of Mars. Here was 1,
actually on that planet, which had
seemed so far away, so inaccessible,
e,,1l tx,,s.o<
from the earth. And yet, surrounding
me, were things-gigantic, it is true
still resembling and recalling the IA
miliar sights of my own world.
After little while our lungs became
accustomed to the rarity of the atmos-
phere and we experienced certain
stimulation in breathing.
We then got upon our feet and
stepped out from under the shadow of
the gigantic tree. High above we could
family see our electrical ship, gently
swaying in the air close to the treetop.
There We're no electric lights in our
immediate neighborhood, but we no.
ticed that the whole surface of the
planet around us was cleaning with
them, producing an effect like the glow
of a great city seen from q distance at
night. The glare was family reflected
from the vast dome of clouds above,
producing the general impression of a
moonlight night upon the earth.
1t was a wonderful quiet and beauti-
full spot where we had come down. The
air had a delicate feel and a bracing
temperature, while a soft breeze
soughed through the leaves of the tree
above our head.
Not far away was the bank of a
canal, bordered by a double row of i'm
mense outrageous trees.
We approached the canal, and, get
ting up the road, turned to the left to
make an exploration in that direction.
The shadow of the trees falling upon
the roadway produced a dense gloom,
in the midst of which we felt that we
should be safe, unless the Martians had
eyes like those of cats.
AS we pushed along, our hearts, l
confess, beating a little quickly, a
shadow stirred in front of us.
Something darker than the night it
self approached.
AS it drew near it assumed the ap-
pearance of an enormous dog as tall
as an OK, which ran swiftly our way
with a threatening motion of it's head.
But before it could even utter a snarl
the whirr of Colonel Smiths disinte-
orator was heard and the creature van
ished in the shadow.
Gracious, did you ever see such a
beast?" said the colonel. why, he
was as big as a grizzly
1.-The people he belonged to must
be near by" l said. Very likely he
was a watch on guard"
But 1 see no signs of habitation.'
True, but you observe there is a
thick hedge on the side of the road op-
posite the canal. If we get through
that perhaps we shall catch sight of
Cautiously we pushed our way
through the hedge. which was composed
IF shrubs as large as small trees, and
very thick at the bottom, and, having
it, found ourselves in a great |
neadow-like expanse which might have |
been a lawn. AT considerable dis
ance, in the midst of a clump of trees. |
| large building lowered skyward, its
walls Of some red metal cleaning like |
polished copper in the soft light that |
ell from the cloud dome.
There We're no lights around the
,uilding itself, and we saw nothing cor
responding to windows on that side |
which faced us. but toward the right a |