The Washington times., 1910-07-26
A COLUMBUS OF SPACE By GREET :. sERyIss

I t. him turned up their moon eyes. with
an expression OF submissive terror anC
SupplicatiOn that was ErOtesque, though
unn1i stasza5le. He mOtioned us TO ap-
preach. and initiating him. we began 20
PAT and SCOTT P the shrinking bodies IN
IN understanding that We Woul1 not
nllF5 them they gradually acquired sQflee
commence in w. Ia short, after a while
relation Ike hat Of masters with the
most submissive slaves was established
In the meantime the crowd in the cav
eTE increased others OF the creatures
attracted PERHAPS by the noise, coming
~ continually through side passages.
Those who had been present at our ar
rival explained the situation 20 the new
1 corleTs. as we could see, and IL was evil
/ Gent that our DceStiEe was thoroughly
established.
As We became better acquainted with
these creatures we found that they were
not as savage as they looked. Their
needs, and the larceT part Of their
I2ces- were covered with black hair,
but on their bodies was white silky
Iur- W ny the difference Of color existed
/ could never imagine The reason for
the great size II their eyes appeared
evident II was the prevailing darkness
OF the side Of the planet on which they
d|elI with those eyes they could see
IN the gloon Ike cats They were sur
prlslnSly Intelligent, too. IN their way.
Inelr construction Of the hundreds Of
steps leading down into the caverns and
their employment Of a kind Of coal for
heat and light showed that. But this
was nor all
We found that in some OF the caverns-
which were connected with one another
Dy winding passages, they cultivated
their IOOds which consisted entirely OF
VEGETABLES OF various sorts, all unlike
Pny that j have ever met with on the
tarth- Water dripDed from the roofs OF
these caverns, but there was no light
except that dC-lved from the burning
coal yet the We alton, though almost
.c1loTlesSr seemed 81. thrive aStOuishIngIy.
Ihey had many ways OF cooking their
t"od- and although there yet remained
good supply Of stories ia the car. Ed
mund thought 1t advisable for Us 20 ac-
custom ourselves 10 the diet Of the in
hablJants- We found II decidedly agree
able and without III effects OF any kind.
The only brute animals OF any size
that we could discover in the caverus
we're some uog-ll<e creatures. about as
iarSe as terriers, but very funny.
me burial ground OF tn community
we discovered when they came to dis
pose OF the fellow that Edmund had
shot L was large lone cavern. sI-u-
ated ar long distance from the one
which we had first entered We thought
we saw indications Of some kind Of re-
IE1OuS ceremony when they put their
slain cCmrade in the ground, and then,
women. We were asJouished by the evil
oeEce OF q homogeneous relation among
the sexes, which was furnished by the
fact that one OF these women mani
Tested by her sorrow special grief,
which We thought could only be ac-
counted Tor upon the suppositioD that
she was the vie Of. the dead person.
she IeLl Two OF LlTee llLLle ones Dy
the hands, and we were fairly moved 90
tears by the spectacle Edmund being
particularly affected
II almost VIE + had never come
here" be said. bitterly, since the first
thing 7 have done is 10 XIII an inOneD-
si-e. intelligent creature"
Not so in0fensiTe, ether put IN
q /.
should we be HOwE
but it wasn't necessary" Edmund
Insisted The noise alone would have
Don't borrow trouble said Jack.
syupatheriCally- You did the best you
knew. and heaven knows what we
should have done without you
But ] noticed tuaL Edmund was after
ward very gentle with the poor C-ea-
lures, who seemed to bear US no ill wiz,
teeIlugs probably, that We were superior
beings we could DO as we liked
/ nave spoken OF them as q Co-nrll1-
nifty. and I may say here that we after
ward discovered that all this part Of
Venus was sprinkled over with similar
communities somewhat resembling
separate tribes Each tribe occupied a
group OF caverns by itself, and there
seemed to be but little intercourse
among them. They seldom went out OF
The caverus. except 10 perform a very
remarkable ceremony. which led Us into
q danger that put stTcaks Of silver on
my head where no gray hair was due
for many years Yet BUt or that later
The most surprising discovery that we
made in the cavern was q big smithvt
II was really nothing else Edmund had
T0ret0ld rs that we should find some
thing OF that ElDG. He based his prOuh-
eCE on the fact hat there were rude
tools and utensils OF metal IN the cav
ems. He examined the metal and pre-
DoulCeI Il Iron.
sAu the planets re largely. composed
~ NH HnaHH-r
primitive as they seem IN many ways.
nave found OFT how to SuleIt and make
various articles Of IL They must have
a blacksmith shop, and I'm going to fud
It wasn't 1ong-pe-haps two days time
after our arTival-vvhen we came upon
the place 1t was in one OF the side cav
ems and we actually found several Of
the savage smiths at work. with furs
-SteGed over lheir ears to ward or the
sound They We're turning out long.
sharp pointed tools the purpose OF
which Edmund OWNED n q moment
They're 10 dig coal with he said.
And be was right The strata Of rock
were flied with seams OF q very hard
coal. and these people dug Il out 10 keep
their G-'es going Il was the best coal
that 7 have ever seen, infinitely better
zen than anthracite
but where did they get their fire 10
begin with2'' asked Jack
''Perh3pS by friction. Ike our saVages
on the earth" Edmund replied.
Perhaps they got it down below"
added
What do you mean by that?' asked
Jack.
II know what he means interposed
Edmund, better than he does himself.
PERHAPS Venus. there Is reason 20 be
Iieve. is not as old q planet as the earth.
Consequently its crust is not as thick.
II may be that the internal fires do not
lie so deep I zhouIdn't be surprised II
that accounts. in part, for the comfort
able temperature down here, when the
surface above US Is s., terribly cold, ow-
ing TO the absence Of the sun
Our discovery Of the snithy seemed -
have set Edmund 70 thinking. After
uuSinE a while, he said
This IS @ most fortunate thing for Us
Wen have occasion to employ the skill
Of these fellows and to teach them
something new, Tor our own benefit"
flows that2 7 asked
Us us MaE: want 30 take some