d the outline of Mars, and we now saw that even the white light
from the snow-caps had a faint tinge of red.

"For centuries the ruddy light of this planet has been remarked," said
the doctor. "His very name was given him because of his gory, warlike
appearance. Scientists have attempted to explain it by supposing that
his vegetation is uniformly red, instead of green like ours. Still
others, objecting that his vegetation could not possibly be rank or
plentiful, or continue the same colour through all seasons, have
supposed that his soil or primaeval rock is of a deep red colour. But
neither of these suppositions explain why his seas should give off a
reddish light mixed with their green, or why the pure white of polar
snows should be tinged with crimson."

We must have been still two hundred miles above the surface when the
barometer began to rise feebly, indicating that we were already entering
the Martian atmosphere; and, as we proceeded, the reddish glow spread
all around us, and was even dimly visible behind as well as in front. We
were still travelling too rapidly to plunge into the denser atmosphere
or attempt a landing. Besides, we wished to explore the planet, and find
life and civilization before choosing a landing place. And as we drew
nearer, in a constantly narrowing circle, that red haze was all about us
everywhere.

"There can be but one explanation of it," said the doctor at last. "This
red is a colour in the Martian atmosphere. It seems very strange and
almost impossible to us; but we must prepare ourselves for extremely
unusual and even apparently impossible things."

But this seemed to disturb the doctor greatly, as also did the fact that
we could no longer breathe with comfort the rare air which we had not
found objectionable far back in space. Our returning weight made
physical effort again necessary, and we were able to exert ourselves but
little without panting and gasping. The rarest air we had used had shown
a pressure of fourteen, and we were now compelled to increase this to
eighteen in order to be comfortable.

"This Martian air is sure to give us trouble," the doctor said to me
after considerable reflection. "In the first place, its red colour makes
me fear it is not composed of the same gases that our air is. If it
should turn out to be a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, like ours, there
is the possibility that this red matter which gives it colour will be
poisonous to us. And even if i