ng |
| story that has appeared this year. |
| Indeed, it probably will rank as one |
| of the great space flying stories |
| for many years to come. The story is |
| chock full, not only of excellent |
| science, but woven through it there |
| is also that very rare element, love |
| and romance. This element in an |
| interplanetarian story is often apt |
| to be foolish, but it does not seem |
| so in this particular story._ |
| |
| _We know so little about |
| intra-atomic forces, that this |
| story, improbable as it will appear |
| in spots, will read commonplace |
| years hence, when we have atomic |
| engines, and when we have solved the |
| riddle of the atom._ |
| |
| _You will follow the hair-raising |
| explorations and strange ventures |
| into far-away worlds with bated |
| breath, and you will be fascinated, |
| as we were, with the strangeness of |
| it all._ |
| |
+--------------------------------------+

CHAPTER I

The Occurrence of the Impossible

Petrified with astonishment, Richard Seaton stared after the copper
steam-bath upon which he had been electrolyzing his solution of "X," the
unknown metal. For as soon as he had removed the beaker the heavy bath
had jumped endwise from under his hand as though it were alive. It had
flown with terrific speed over the table, smashing apparatus and bottles
of chemicals on its way, and was even now disappearing through the open
window. He seized his prism binoculars and focused them upon the flying
vessel, a speck in the distance. Through the glass he saw that it did
not fall to the ground, but continued on in a straight line, only its
rapidly diminishing size showing the enormous velocity with which it was
moving. It grew smaller and smaller, and in a few moments disappeared
utterly.

The chemist turned as though in a trance. How was this? The copper bath
he had used for months was gone--gone like a shot, with nothing to make
it go. Nothing, that is, except an electric cell and a few drops of the
unknown solution. He looked at the empty space where it had stood, at
the broken glass covering his laboratory table,