speaking
distance.

"Have you whipped them?"

"How many are lost?"

"Is there any more danger?"

"Faix, have ye got one of thim men from Mars?"

But their rejoicings and their facetiousness were turned into wailing
when the truth was imparted.

A Short Stay on the Earth.

We made a short story of it, for we had not the heart to go into
details. We told of our unfortunate comrades whom we had buried on the
moon, and there was one gleam of satisfaction when we exhibited the
wonderful crystals we had collected in the crater of Aristarchus.

Mr. Edison determined to stop only long enough to test the electrical
machinery of the cars, which had been more or less seriously deranged
during our wild chase after the comet, and then to start straight back
for Mars--this time on a through trip.

Mysterious Lights on Mars.

The astronomers, who had been watching Mars, since our departure, with
their telescopes, reported that mysterious lights continued to be visible,
but that nothing indicating the starting of another expedition for the
earth had been seen.

Within twenty-four hours we were ready for our second start.

The moon was now no longer in a position to help us on our way. It had
moved out of the line between Mars and the earth.

High above us, in the centre of the heavens, glowed the red planet which
was the goal of our journey.

The needed computations of velocity and direction of flight having
been repeated, and the ships being all in readiness, we started direct
for Mars.

Greater Preparations Made.

An enormous charge of electricity was imparted to each member of the
squadron, in order that as soon as we had reached the upper limits of
the atmosphere, where the ships could move swiftly, without danger of
being consumed by the heat developed by the friction of their passage
through the air, a very great initial velocity could be imparted.

Once started off by this tremendous electrical kick, and with no
atmosphere to resist our motion, we should be able to retain the same
velocity, barring incidental encounters, until we arrived near the
surface of Mars.

When we were free of the atmosphere, and the ships were moving away
from the earth, with the highest velocity which we were able to impart
to them, observations on the stars were made in order to determine the
rate of our speed.

Ten Miles A Second!

This was found to be ten miles in a second, or 864,000 miles in a day, a
very much