onfirmed our opinion that certain of the works which we saw beneath
us were fortifications, intended for the protection of the planet against
invaders from outer space. A cunning and almost diabolical look came
into his eyes as he pointed to one of these strongholds.

Cause for Anxiety.

His confidence and his mocking looks were not reassuring to us. He
knew what his planet was capable of, and we did not. He had seen, on
the asteroid, the extent of our power, and while its display served to
intimidate him there, yet now that he and we together were facing the
world of his birth, his fear had evidently fallen from him, and he had
the manner of one who feels that the shield of an all-powerful protector
had been extended over him.

But it could not be long now before we should ascertain, by the
irrevocable test of actual experience, whether the Martians possessed
the power to annihilate us or not.

How shall I describe our feelings as we gazed at the scene spread beneath
us? They were not quite the same as those of the discoverer of new
lands upon the earth. This was a whole new world that we had discovered,
and it was filled, as we could see, with inhabitants.

But that was not all. We had not come with peaceful intentions.

We were to make war on this new world.

Deducting our losses we had not more than 940 men left. With these we
were to undertake the conquest of a world containing we could not say
how many millions!

A Hard Task Ahead.

Our enemies, instead of being below us in the scale of intelligence were,
we had every reason to believe, greatly our superiors. They had proved
that they possessed a command over the powers of nature such as we, up
to the time when Mr. Edison made his inventions, had not even dreamed
that it was possible for us to obtain.

It was true that at present we appeared to have the advantage, both in
our electrical ships and in our means of offence. The disintegrator was
at least as powerful an engine of destruction as any that the Martians
had yet shown that they possessed. It did not seem that in that respect
they could possibly excel us.

During the brief war with the Martians upon the earth it had been
gunpowder against a mysterious force as much stronger than gunpowder as
the latter was superior to the bows and arrows that preceded it.

There had been no comparison whatever between the offensive means employed
by the two parties in the struggle on the earth.

But the