after he had swallowed the pellet he appeared
to be completely restored. All evidences of distress vanished, and a
look of content came over his ugly face.

"It must be a powerful medicine," said one of the bystanders. "I wonder
what it is."

"I will explain to you my notion," said Professor Moissan, the great
French chemist. "I think it was a pill of the air, which he has taken."

"What do you mean by that?"

Artificial Atmosphere.

"My meaning is," said Professor Moissan, "that the Martian must have, for
that he may live, the nitrogen and the oxygen. These can he not obtain
here, where there is not the atmosphere. Therefore must he get them in
some other manner. This has he managed to do by combining in these pills
the oxygen and the nitrogen in the proportions which make atmospheric
air. Doubtless upon Mars there are the very great chemists. They have
discovered how this may be done. When the Martian has swallowed his
little pill, the oxygen and the nitrogen are rendered to his blood as
if he had breathed them, and so he can live with that air which has been
distributed to him with the aid of his stomach in the place of his lungs."

If Monsieur Moissan's explanation was not correct, at any rate it
seemed the only one that would fit the facts before us. Certainly the
Martian could not breathe where there was practically no air, yet just
as certainly after he had swallowed his pill he seemed as comfortable
as any of us.

Signals from a Ship.

Suddenly, while we were gathered around the prisoner, and interested
in this fresh evidence of the wonderful ingenuity of the Martians, and
of their control over the processes of nature, one of the electrical
ships that had been sent off in the direction of Mars was seen rapidly
returning and displaying signals.

The Martians Are Coming.

It reported that the Martians were coming!

Chapter VIII.

The alarm was spread instantly among those upon the planet and through
the remainder of the fleet.

One of the men from the returning electrical ship dropped down upon the
asteroid and gave a more detailed account of what they had seen.

His ship had been the one which had gone to the greatest distance in the
direction of Mars. While cruising there, with all eyes intent, they had
suddenly perceived a glittering object moving from the direction of the
ruddy planet, and manifestly approaching them. A little inspection with
the telescope had shown that it was