ry. The very fact that had
brought a cry of amazement to my lips--the remarkable brilliancy and
clearness of the image, and the appearance of the Martian himself--would
serve to bring discredit upon anything I might say. Personally I had
ample proof that the image was that of a Martian, but what instant proof
could I give a jeering crowd? I had expected to find in a Martian a
strange grotesque being in appearance, if not in mind, much after the
weird and fierce character so many authors have portrayed him. Judge,
then, my astonishment when I beheld one who, in every particular of form
and feature, resembled the people of Earth.

He appeared to be a man of about forty years of age, judging by our
earthly standard of time, possessing clear-cut features and dark
complexion. His face, which was clean-shaven, was remarkably handsome,
and his piercing dark eyes, although they enhanced the smile that
greeted my appearance at the instrument, seemed to search into my very
soul and to hold me spellbound with mute challenge. Nor could I, upon
afterthought, remember having shown the common courtesy of returning his
greeting.

My astonishment was so great that every faculty seemed to leave me, and
I stood transfixed, staring at the image of the Martian without even the
power of thought. Gradually recovering my senses, however, I took note
of the man and his surroundings. He stood in a room of about the same
dimensions as my laboratory, which seemed to be flooded with bright
daylight, though I could not see any windows on three sides of the room
to admit the light, nor any shadows to indicate that the light came from
a window in the fourth. He held in his hands an instrument unknown to
me, and seemed to be perfectly at his ease, showing neither surprise nor
curiosity. Evidently this was not the first time that he had seen an
inhabitant of the Earth. So unconcerned was he and so natural did he
appear, even in the smallest detail of dress, that it was hard to
believe I was not looking at an image of some room and its occupant in
Paris. His close-fitting clothes seemed to be of a dark green material,
and resembled, to some degree, the uniform of an army officer.

Bending over the instrument he held, he placed his mouth close to the
top of it, and immediately the humming sounds, which I had noticed
before, emanated from the wires of my apparatus. The thought flashed
through my mind that the Martian held in this instrument a means of
c