Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-12

ways Of the nearby buildings, until, in
less than three minutes, the entire caval-
cade of chariots, mastodons and mounted
warriors was nowhere to be seen.
Soa and I had entered a building upon
the front Of the city, in fact, the same one
in which I had had my encounter with the
apes. and, wishing to see what had caused
the sudden retreat, I mounted to an upper
floor and peered from the window out over
the valley and the hills beyond and there
] saw IT, the cause of their sudden sour
rying to cover
huge craft. long, low and gray
painted. swung slowly over the crest OF
the nearest hill Following 1t came an
other, and another, and another, until 20
of them, swinging low above the ground,
sailed slowly and ma jestcally toward us.
Each carried a strange banner swung
from stem to stern above the upper works.
and upon the prov Of each was painted
some odd device that cleaned in the sun
light and showed plainly even at the dis
tauce at which we were from the vessels.
could see figures crowdng the forward
decks and upper works Of the aircraft
Whether they had discovered us or SIM
ply were looking at the deserted city I
could not say, but In any event. thcy re
ceved a rude reception. FOR suddenly and
without warning the green Martian war
rlors fired terrific volley from the win
dows of the buildings facing the little val
ley across which the great ships were so
peacefully advancing.
Instantly the scene changed as by
magic: the foremost vessel swung broad
side toward us and, bringing her guns into
play, returned our fire, at the same time
moving parallel to our front for a short
distance and then turning back with the
evident Intention Of completing great
circle which would bring her up to posi-
tion once more opposite our firing line.
The other vessels followed in her wake,
each one opening upon us as she swung
into position,
our own fire never diminished. and I
doubt f 25 per cent of our shots went
wild
1t had never been given me to see such
deadly accuracy Of aim, and 1t seemed as
though a little figure on one Of the craft
dropped at the explosion Of each bullet,
while the banners and upper works dis
solved in spurts of flame as the projectiles
Of our warriors moved through them.
The fire from the vessels was most in
effectual, owing, as | afterward learned,
to the unexpected suddehness Of the first
volley which caught the ships crew en-
trely unprepared and the sighting appara-
tus of the guns unprotected from the
deadly aim Of our warriors.
II seems that each green warrior has
certain objective points for his fire under
relatively identical circumstances of war
fare. For example a proportion Of them.
always the best marksmen, direct their
fire entirely upon the wireless finding and
sighting apparatus Of the big guns nf an
attacking naval force: another detail at
tends to the smaller guns In the same
way; others pick off the gunners still
others the officers while certain other
quotas concentrate their attention upon
the other members of the crew. upon the
upper works. and upon the steering gear
and propellers.
Twenty minutes after the first volley the
great fleet swung, trailing off in the direc-
tion from which they had first appeared.