ough small, were of immense power, we
could discern upon its surface features and details which no one had
been able to glimpse from the earth.

As the surface of this world, that we were approaching as a tiger hunter
draws near the jungle, gradually unfolded itself to our inspection,
there was hardly one of us willing to devote to sleep or idleness the
prescribed eight hours that had been fixed as the time during which each
member of the expedition must remain in the darkened chamber. We were
too eager to watch for every new revelation upon Mars.

But something was in store that we had not expected. We were to meet the
Martians before arriving at the world in which they dwelt.

Among the stars which shone in that quarter of the heavens where Mars
appeared as the master orb, there was one, lying directly in our path,
which, to our astonishment, as we continued on, altered from the aspect
of a star, underwent a gradual magnification, and soon presented itself
in the form of a little planet.

"It is an asteroid," said somebody.

"Yes, evidently; but how does it come inside the orbit of Mars?"

"Oh, there are several asteroids," said one of the astronomers, "which
travel inside the orbit of Mars, along a part of their course, and, for
aught we can tell, there may be many which have not yet been caught
sight of from the earth, that are nearer to the sun than Mars is."

"This must be one of them."

"Manifestly so."

As we drew nearer the mysterious little planet revealed itself to us as
a perfectly formed globe not more than five miles in diameter.

"What is that upon it?" asked Lord Kelvin, squinting intently at the
little world through his glass. "As I live, it moves."

"Yes, yes!" exclaimed several others, "there are inhabitants upon it,
but what giants!"

"What monsters!"

"Don't you see?" exclaimed an excited savant. "They are the Martians!"

The startling truth burst upon the minds of all. Here upon this little
planetoid were several of the gigantic inhabitants of the world that we
were going to attack. There was more than one man in the flagship who
recognized them well, and who shuddered at the recognition,
instinctively recalling the recent terrible experience of the earth.

Was this an outpost of the warlike Mars?

Around these monstrous enemies we saw several of their engines of war.
Some of these appeared to have been wrecked, but at least one, as far as
we could see, was still in a proper cond