The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-12-26

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 as
our eyes could reach and the airships
thronging under us were all concealed
from sight.
Mars had played the game of the out
fetish, which when pursued by it's enc
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
nv face of a 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
chhOhC udAO pulls 1IOlI q 81 Oob tlohcoo-
lantio 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 a glimpse of the hidden world
beneath was anywhere to be seen.
Mars had put on its war mask and
fearful indeed was the aspect of it
After the first pause of surprise the
squadron quickly backed away into the
sky, rising rapidly, because, from one
of the swirling eddies beneath US the
smoke began suddenly to pile itself up
in an enormous aerial mountain, whose
peaks shot higher and higher, with ap-
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 fled before it, as before the on
ward sweep of pestilenoe.
Directly underneath the flagship, one
of the aspiring smoke peaks grew with
most portentous swiftness. and, notwith-
standing all our efforts, in little while
it had enveloped us.
Several of us were standing on the
deck of the electrical ship. We were al
most stif1ed by the smoke and were
compelled to take refuge within the car,
where, until the electric lights had been
turned on, darkness SO black that it op-
pressed the strained eyeballs prevailed
But in this brief experience, terrify-
ing though it was, we had learned one
thing The smoke would kill by strangu-
latlon, but evidently there was moth
ing specially poisonous in it's nature
This fact might be of no use to us in
our subsequent proceedings
"Ihis spoils our plans" said the
commander. "There is no use of re-
manning here for the present; let us see
how far this thing extends
At first we rose straight away to a
height of 200 or 800 miles, thus passing
entirely beyond the sensible limits of
the atmosphere and far above the 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
appearanoe-the whole planet was evil
IDENTIFY covered with the smoke.
A complete telegraphio system evil
IDENTIFY connected all the strategic points
upon Mars, so that, at 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
the smoke clouds and then completely
oircumnavigated the planet 1t was
thought possible that on the night side
no smoke would be found and that it
would be practicable for us to make a
descent there
But when we had arrived ON that
side of Mars which was turned away
from the sun we no longer saw beneath
us, as we had done on our previous visit
to the night hemisphere of the planet,
brilliant groups and clusters Of electric
light beneath us. All was dark.
In fact, SO completely did the great
shell 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 filed with
stars, but their countless host suddenly
disappeared when our eyes turned in
the direction of Mars. The great blacl
globe blotted them out without being
visible itself
Apparently we can do nothin,
here, said Mr.. Edison. "Let us return
to the daylight side.
When we had arrived near the poin
where we had been when the wonder
full phenomenon first made its appear
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 int
comparative quiescence, in order tina