nt I am conducting with one of these instruments demands
my attention in two hours."

I held back the portieres as Reon passed out, and following him down a
short passage, we stepped out upon a wide balcony constructed of white
marble.

A wonderful sight met my astonished gaze. It was a summer evening, and
the dome of the heavens seemed ablaze with the light of myriads of
diamonds, so countless were the stars to be seen and so brilliant did
they appear in this rarefied atmosphere. Below me stretched out what
appeared to be a magnificent park, with white marble buildings scattered
here and there, while floating easily in the air were hundreds of small
canoe-like airships, containing the inhabitants of this fairyland,
reclining on cushions and enjoying sailing through the cool night air.
As the question of buoyancy of these remarkable airships arose in my
mind, I immediately became aware that they were sustained, in the air by
a metal which was used in their construction that was repellent to the
surface of Mars. It had been discovered by the Martians that their
planet, like a magnet, had both the power of attracting and repelling.
The north and south poles were found to be the repelling poles of this
immense magnetic sphere. Nothing could exist on these poles that was not
a fixture to the planet's surface, consequently no snow or ice existed
at the poles themselves. Many explorers' lives had been lost before this
discovery was made; those who succeeded in reaching the pole having made
the discovery too late to save themselves from being hurled off the
planet into space. But so small was the surface of this repelling pole
that it was argued that the pole must run through the center of the
planet, to make it equal in mass to the attracting force which covered
the rest of the surface.

Working on this theory, although it was impossible to reach the pole
itself without danger of being hurled off the planet, excavations were
made as near it as possible, and a tunnel was run under the surface
until the desired point was reached. A change from rock to ore was
encountered, with evidences of its having been subjected to intense
heat, and upon penetrating farther, pure metal was discovered. This
strange metal, unlike any other metal known to the Martians, was found
to possess a powerful repelling force. And when it was brought to the
surface, it was discovered that it not only retained its repelling
force, as a lodestone retain