The herald., 1898-03-13
XIV.

XIV.
The thing that gave us the most un-
easiness was the fact that we did not
yet know what powers the Martians
might have in reserve. 1t was but nat
ural to suppose that here, on their own
ground, they would possess means of
defence even more effective than the
offensive engines they had employed in
attacking enemies so many millions of
miles from home.
1t was important that we should
waste no time, and it was equally i'm
portant that we should select the most
vulnerable point for attack 1t was
self evident, therefore, that our first
duty would be to reconnoitre the sur
face of the planet and determine its
weakest point.
Thus far we had remained suspended
at so great a height above the planet
that we had hardly entered into the
perceptible limits of it's atmosphere,
and there was no evidence that we had
been seen by the inhabitants of Mars;
but before starting on our voyage Of
exploration it was determined to drop
down closer to the surface in order
that we might the more certainly iden-
tify the localities over which we
passed
When we had arrived within a dis
tance of three miles from the surface
of Mars, we suddenly perceived ap-
preaching from the eastward a large
airship, which was navigating the Mar
tian atmosphere at a height of perhaps
half a mile above the ground.
This airship moved rapidly on to n
point nearly beneath us, when it sud
denly paused, and made signals. In a
short time we found ourselves sur
rounded by at least twenty similar
aerostats approaching swiftly from
different sides
1t was a great mystery to us where
so many airships had been concealed
previous to their sudden appearance in
answer to the signals.
But the mystery was quickly solved
when we saw detaching itself from the
surface of the planet beneath us,
where, while it remained immovable,
it's color had blended with that of the
soil so as to render it invisible, another
of the mysterious ships.
In a short time the atmosphere a
mile or two below us, and to distance
of perhaps twenty miles around in
every direction, was alive with airships
of various sizes, and some of most ex-
traordinary forms, exchanging signals.
rushing to and fro, and all finally con-
centrating beneath the place where cur
squadron was suspended.
We had poked the hornets nest with
q vengeance!
AS yet there had been no sting, but
we might quickly expect to feel it if we
did not get out of range.
Accordingly instructions were flashed
throughout the squadron to instantly
reverse polarities and rise as swiftly as
possible to great height.
1t was evident that this manoeuvre
would save us from danger if it We're
quickly effected, because the airships
of the Martians We're simply airships
and nothing more. They could only
float in the atmosphere, and had no
means of rising above it, or of naviga-
ting empty space.
To have turned our disintegrators
upon them, and to have begun battle
then and there. would have been
folly.
They outnumbered us, overwhelm-
ingly, the majority of them We're yet at
considerable distance and we could
entire squadron acting together, with
more than one quarter of them stimuli
taneously. We must first get some idea
of the planets means of defence before
we ventured to assail it.
Having risen rapidly to a height of
twenty-five or thirty miles, SO that we
could feel confident that our ships had
vanished at least from the naked eye
view of our enemies beneath, a brief
consultation was held.
1t was resolved to take our position
in the twilight space separating day
and night and then hover over the
planet at that point allowing it to turn
beneath us, so that as we looked down,
we should see in succession the entire
circuit of the globe of Mars while it
rolled under our eyes.
In thus remaining suspended over the
planet on the line of dayiorcak, so to
speak, we believed that we should be
peculiarly safe from detection by the
eyes of the inhabitants. Even astrono-
mers are not likely to be wide awake
just at the peep Of dawn. Almost all