both of us. John also had his own troubles, having lost his father
during the previous year, and was then living with an aunt and two
cousins, but had never been comfortable with them, as both the boys were
rather wild, and of anything but good dispositions. He had inherited a
substantial income from his father, but this piece of good fortune only
aroused the jealousy and envy of his cousins, who only seemed to
tolerate his presence in their home because of what they could obtain
from him by their sponging propensities.

Although I was not rich, my income was amply sufficient to render me
quite independent of work, and as I felt most lonely and desolate since
Mark's death, I at length begged John to come and live with me. He
joyfully agreed, and from that time our relations have practically been
those of father and son. As our dispositions and likings are very
similar, we are as happy together as past sorrows will permit.

John always had a great fancy for engineering and electrical work, in
which, after some years of training, he became an expert. Being well
endowed with the faculty of invention, he devised and constructed many
new kinds of electric and magnetic machines, and as my tastes also run
in the direction of mechanical work, I have also done a great deal in
connection with such matters.

About six years ago, when the problem of aerial navigation began to be
studied in earnest, John became greatly interested in the matter,
devoting all his time and energies to designing and constructing working
models of air-ships, aeroplanes, and other flying machines.

At that period I was very keen on Martian matters, to such an extent
indeed that my mind was always occupied with the various problems they
presented. One day, in the course of conversation, I suggested that it
would be a splendid thing if we could construct a vessel which would
enable us to visit Mars and see it for ourselves, and thus settle all
our doubts and speculations on the various controversial points which
were so much discussed.

The idea soon had him in its grip, and he then immediately commenced a
series of experiments with a view to designing machinery capable of
carrying a vessel through space. After many failures he thought out a
plan for utilising the earth's gravitation and magnetism as a means of
obtaining the requisite power and storing it up for future use. This
scheme was thoroughly tested and proved to have solved the problem, for