e with a wandering inhabitant of space which brought us int

ulations prescribed by the commander of the squadron each member of the expedition in his turn passed eight out of every twenty-four hours-sleeping if he could,

dical emergence from the darkened chamber, glancing from one of the

ture With

Encounter that Nearly En

its way sunward before we left the earth. Here, however, was unmistakably a comet rushing toward the sun, flinging out a great gleaming tail behind it and so close to

e to get out of the neighborhood, but for some reason the electrical apparatus did not work perfectly-some mysterious disturbing force acting upon it-and so

ake of t

ry effort had been made to so adjust the electric charge upon the ships that they would be repelled from the cometic mass, but, owing apparently to eccentric changes continua

ible leash which the comet had cast upon them. The latter was moving with enormous velocity toward the sun, and, consequently, we were being carried back again, away from the object

s tried, but nothing would do. Still on we rushed with the electrified atoms composing the tail of the comet sweeping to and fro over the members of

is th

cked and its fate to remain forever unknown to the planet from which it had set forth? And was our beloved globe, which had seemed so fair to us when we last

er of a Gr

e Fate That Providence Had In Store for U

d to be no possible way to free ourselves from the b

Up Al

atching it with telescopes, for we could not withdraw our fascinated eyes fr

ich were in constant motion among one another, darting to and fro, clashing and smashing together,

ying

, tossing their arms, bewailing in their attitudes the awful fate that had overtaken them, and fairly chilling my blood with the pantomime of torture

ter confusion than before. Occasionally one of them, seized with a sudden impulse, would spring forward toward the nucleus of the comet with a sudden access of velocity th

n Ruin'

controller or through another change in the polarity of the comet, the ship wo

hither and thither, but never able to get sufficiently far

arth

rection in which the comet was carrying us. It was enough to know that the goal of the journey was the furnace of the

ere is t

Crowd Each Other In t

ur eyes, with the contrasted colors of the continents and

claimed somebody. "The comet is

s noticed that the direction of the comet's motion was such that

ose magic influence they cannot escape, our ships went on, to be whipped again

ected

aves us," suddenly

t-wh

close to the great planet the superior attraction of the latter will

earth's atmosphere and passed on, while the swaying ships, having been instructed by signals what to do, desperately

he Atl

own through the quiet atmosphere with the Atlan

s was the completion of our warlike enterprise. We had started out to conquer

turned protector, and reaching out her strong arm had snatched h

escribe the chagrin of ever

ing of

about what should be done. A universal feeling of shame almost drove them to a decision not to land

our very starting point, and signals displayed in the neighborhood of New York indicated that we h

e disappointment of the inhabitants of the earth when, within a fortnight from ou

triumph, and we were overwhelmed with questions

u whippe

any ar

any more

got one of thim

acetiousness were turned into wa

Stay on

unfortunate comrades whom we had buried on the moon, and there was one gleam of satisfact

the cars, which had been more or less seriously deranged during our wild chase af

us Light

lescopes, reported that mysterious lights continued to be visible, but that not

ours we were ready f

to help us on our way. It had moved out

he heavens, glowed the red planet

of flight having been repeated, and the ships be

Preparat

ched the upper limits of the atmosphere, where the ships could move swiftly, without danger of being consumed by t

ere to resist our motion, we should be able to retain the same velocity,

earth, with the highest velocity which we were able to impart to them, obse

les A

to touch at the moon. Supposing this velocity to remain uniform, and, with no known resistance, it might reasonably be expected to do so, we should

nd many entertainments were provided to while away the time. The astronomers in the expedition found plenty

Near t

our telescopes, which, though small, were of immense power, we could discern upon i

ion, there was hardly one of us willing to devote to sleep or idleness the prescribed eight hours that had been fixed as the time during

t expected. We were to meet the Martians

as one, lying directly in our path, which, to our astonishment, as we continued on, altered from the aspe

Aste

steroid," s

how does it come insi

it of Mars, along a part of their course, and, for aught we can tell, there may be many whic

t be one

festl

et revealed itself to us as a perfectly form

g the Grea

went a gradual magnification, and soon pres

, squinting intently at the little world

ian Ap

the Horrible Inhabita

others, "there are inhabitan

mons

med an excited savant.

abitants of the world that we were going to attack. There was more than one man in the flagship who recognized th

n, Terribl

rance, it required a steady nerve to look at them.... In our eyes their moral ch

utpost of the

war. Some of these appeared to have been wrecked, but at least one

se creature

at the end of the conference in Washington, that something would seem to indicate the departure of a new expedition from Mars had been noticed by them? We have heard nothing

sman, who had been a workman in Mr. Edison's labo

ing to

ignal to slow down, an operation that was easily affe

, and yet not like men, combining the human and the beast in their appearance, it required a steady nerve to look at them. If we had not known their malignity and their power to work

ians Rec

ed only despair and desperation, but as they caught sight of us their malign power of

n the instant they were astir, with such heart-chilling movements

sition to make serious resistance, we ha

ful He

eemed to be practically uninjured, and then there darted from it and alighted upon one of the foremost ships a dazzling lightning stroke a mile in lengt

Ship D

ns Strike a Fearful Blow

was spoken, so sudden an

soul in the stricke

nd reversing their polarities the members of the squadron sprang away fro

ngue of death shot from the fearful engine, and ano

f the Martians' All

squadron sprang away from the little planet. But before we were out of reach a second tongue of

raging B

heir entire crews, had been wiped out of existence, and this appalling blow

me to encounter the millions of Mars itsel

ad been incautious, and we should take go

e the Fi

ble to meet these Martians and overcome them might as well be settled right here and now. The