use her greater distance from Mars makes her
nearer to us, but she appears to the Martians as the smaller. We must
observe closely, and we may discover some new and lesser satellites
which Earthly telescopes have never found."

"Time enough for that when we land on Mars," I answered. "If we get in
past these two without being hit, I shall be satisfied. You dare not
venture in front of that Phobos, and I don't see how you can ever
overtake her if you approach from behind."

"That reminds me to slacken speed, for we must be getting very near," he
said. "Please weigh yourself every few minutes and note your increasing
weight. You should weigh seventy-two pounds on Mars, and eight pounds at
the distance of Phobos."

He immediately reversed currents, and when I reported that I weighed
almost a pound, it frightened him, and he turned in the full power of
the negative currents to overcome our momentum. And it proved that the
repelling power of Mars at the distance of 15,000 miles, which this
indicated, was not at all strong against the great velocity we had been
daily acquiring. I hung upon the scales every few minutes, and reported
a steadily increasing weight up to three pounds.

"That shows a distance of eight thousand miles," he figured. "Almost
exactly in the orbit of Deimos, but she has safely passed, and will not
return for thirty hours. We must turn the rudder hard over to the right,
and sail around the planet in a circle until Phobos overtakes us; then,
if we approach her travelling in the same direction at almost the same
rate of speed, her gravitational attraction will pick us up and draw us
safely ashore."

Mars was already an enormous orb ahead of us, and many of his features,
such as oceans, ice-caps, and continents, could easily be distinguished;
but we paid little attention to them, being occupied with making a safe
landing on Phobos, and expecting to make a systematic study of him from
there.

"We must not attempt a landing on the outer side of the satellite," the
doctor reflected, "for we should have no way of getting around to the
inner side to make our observations. We must go within her orbit, and
then as she comes past allow her attraction to draw us gently toward
her."

We had quickly overtaken and passed Deimos, far within her orbit. I was
keeping a close watch for Phobos out of the rear window as we circled
about Mars at a distance which we calculated, from my weight on the
scales, must be wit