There he remained in a hopelessness which almost compelled our sympathy, until Aina had so far recovered that she was once more able to act as our interpreter. Then we made short work of the negotiations. Speaking through Aina, the commander said:

"You know who we are. We have come from the earth, which, by your command, was laid waste. Our commission was not revenge, but self-protection. What we have done has been accomplished with that in view. You have just witnessed an example of our power, the exercise of which was not dictated by our wish, but compelled by the attack wantonly made upon a helpless member of our own race under our protection.

"We have laid waste your planet, but it is simply a just retribution for what you did with ours. We are prepared to complete the destruction, leaving not a living being in this world of yours, or to grant you peace, at your choice. Our condition of peace is simply this: All resistance must cease absolutely."

"Quite right," broke in Colonel Smith; "let the scorpion pull out his sting or we shall do it for him."

"Nothing that we could do now," continued the commander, "would in my opinion save you from ultimate destruction. The forces of nature which we have been compelled to let loose upon you will complete their own victory. But we do not wish, unnecessarily, to stain our hands further with your blood. We shall leave you in possession of your lives. Preserve them if you can. But, in case the flood recedes before you have all perished from starvation, remember that you here take an oath, solemnly binding yourself and your descendants forever never again to make war upon the earth."

"That's really the best we can do," said Mr. Edison, turning to us. "We can't possibly murder these people in cold blood. The probability is that the flood has hopelessly ruined all their engines of war. I do not believe that there is one chance in ten that the waters will drain off in time to enable them to get at their stores of provisions before they have perished from starvation."

"It is my opinion," said Lord Kelvin, who had joined us (his pair of disintegrators hanging by his side, attached to a strap running over the back of his neck, very much as a farmer sometimes carries his big mittens), "it is my opinion that the flood will recede more rapidly than you think, and that the majority of these people will survive. But I quite agree with your merciful view of the matter. We must be guilty of no wanton destruction. Probably more than nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Mars have perished in the deluge. Even if all the others survived ages would elapse before they could regain the power to injure us."

I need not describe in detail how our propositions were received by the Martian monarch. He knew, and his advisors, some of whom he had called in consultation, also knew, that everything was in our hands to do as we pleased. They readily agreed, therefore, that they would make no more resistance and that we and our electrical ships should be undisturbed while we remained upon Mars. The monarch took the oath prescribed after the manner of his race; thus the business was completed. But through it all there had been a shadow of a sneer on the emperor's face which I did not like. But I said nothing.

And now we began to think of our return home, and of the pleasure we should have in recounting our adventures to our friends on the earth, who undoubtedly were eagerly awaiting news from us. We knew that they had been watching Mars with powerful telescopes, and we were also eager to learn how much they had seen and how much they had been able to guess of our proceedings.

But a day or two at least would be required to overhaul the electrical ships and examine the state of our provisions. Those which we had brought from the earth, it will be remembered, had been spoiled and we had been compelled to replace them from the compressed provisions found in the Martian's storehouse. This compressed food had proved not only exceedingly agreeable to the taste, but very nourishing, and all of us had grown extremely fond of it. A new supply, however, would be needed in order to carry us back to the earth. At least sixty days would be required for the homeward journey, because we could hardly expect to start from Mars with the same initial velocity which we had been able to generate on leaving home.

In considering the matter of provisioning the fleet it finally became necessary to take an account of our losses. This was a thing that we had all shrunk from, because they had seemed to us almost too terrible to be borne. But now the facts had to be faced. Out of the one hundred ships, carrying something more than two thousand souls, with which we had quitted the earth, there remained only fifty-five ships and 1085 men! All the others had been lost in our terrible encounters with the Martians, and particularly in our first disastrous battle beneath the clouds.

Among the lost were many men whose names were famous upon the earth, and whose death would be widely deplored when the news of it was received upon their native planet. Fortunately this number did not include any of those whom I have had occasion to mention in the course of this narrative. The venerable Lord Kelvin, who, notwithstanding his age, and his pacific disposition, proper to a man of science, had behaved with the courage and coolness of a veteran in every crisis; Monsieur Moissan, the eminent chemist; Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson, and the Heidelberg professor, to whom we all felt under special obligations because he had opened to our comprehension the charming lips of Aina—all these had survived, and were about to return with us to the earth.

It seemed to some of us almost heartless to deprive the Martians who still remained alive of any of the provisions which they themselves would require to tide them over the long period which must elapse before the recession of the flood should enable them to discover the sites of their ruined homes, and to find the means of sustenance. But necessity was now our only law. We learned from Aina that there must be stores of provisions in the neighborhood of the palace, because it was the custom of the Martians to lay up such stores during the harvest time in each Martian year in order to provide against the contingency of an extraordinary drought.

It was not with very good grace that the Martian emperor acceded to our demands that one of the storehouses should be opened, but resistance was useless and of course we had our way.

The supplies of water which we brought from the earth, owing to a peculiar process invented by Monsieur Moissan, had been kept in exceedingly good condition, but they were now running low and it became necessary to replenish them also. This was easily done from the Southern Ocean, for on Mars, since the levelling of the continental elevations, brought about many years ago, there is comparatively little salinity in the sea waters.

While these preparations were going on Lord Kelvin and the other men of science entered with the utmost eagerness upon those studies, the prosecution of which had been the principal inducement leading them to embark on the expedition. But, almost all of the face of the planet being covered with the flood, there was comparatively little that they could do. Much, however, could be learned with the aid of Aina from the Martians, now crowded on the land above the palace.

The results of these discoveries will in due time appear, fully elaborated in learned and authoratative treatises prepared by these savants' themselves. I shall only call attention to one, which seemed to me very remarkable. I have already said that there were astonishing differences in the personal appearance of the Martians evidently arising from differences of character and education, which had impressed themselves in the physical aspect of the individuals. We now learned that these differences were more completely the result of education than we had at first supposed.

Looking about among the Martians by whom we were surrounded, it soon became easy for us to tell who were the soldiers and who were the civilians, simply by the appearance of their bodies, and particularly of their heads. All members of the military class resembled, to a greater or less extent, the monarch himself, in that those parts of their skulls which our phrenologists had designated as the bumps of destructiveness, combativeness and so on were enormously and disproportionately developed.

And all this, we were assured, was completely under the control of the Martians themselves. They had learned, or invented, methods by which the brain itself could be manipulated, so to speak, and any desired portions of it could be especially developed, while other parts of it were left to their normal growth. The consequence was that in the Martian schools and colleges there was no teaching in our sense of the word. It was all brain culture.

A Martian youth selected to be a soldier had his fighting faculties especially developed, together with those parts of the brain which impart courage and steadiness of nerve. He who was intended for scientific investigation had his brain developed into a mathematical machine, or an instrument of observation. Poets and literary men had their heads bulging with the imaginative faculties. The heads of the inventors were developed into a still different shape.

"And so," said Aina, translating for us the words of a professor in the Imperial University of Mars, from whom we derived the greater part of our information on this subject, "the Martian boys do not study a subject; they do not have to learn it, but, when their brains have been sufficiently developed in the proper direction, they comprehend it instantly, by a kind of divine instinct."

But among the women of Mars, we saw none of these curious, and to our eyes, monstrous differences of development. While the men received, in addition to their special education, a broad general culture also, with the women there was no special education. It was all general in its character, yet thorough enough in that way. The consequence was that only female brains upon Mars were entirely well balanced. This was the reason why we invariably found the Martian women to be remarkably charming creatures, with none of those physical exaggerations and uncouth developments which disfigured their masculine companions.

All the books of the Martians, we ascertained, were books of history and of poetry. For scientific treatises they had no need, because, as I have explained, when the brains of those intended for scientific pursuits had been developed in the proper way the knowledge of nature's laws came to them without effort, as a spring bubbles from the rocks.

One word of explanation may be needed concerning the failure of the Martians, with all their marvelous powers, to invent electrical ships like those of Mr. Edison's and engines of destruction comparable with our disintegrators. This failure was simply due to the fact that on Mars there did not exist the peculiar metals by the combination of which Mr. Edison had been able to effect his wonders. The theory involved by our inventions was perfectly understood by them and had they possessed the means, doubtless they would have been able to carry it into practice even more effectively than we had done.

After two or three days all the preparations having been completed the signal was given for our departure. The men of science were still unwilling to leave this strange world, but Mr. Edison decided we could linger no longer.

At the moment of starting a most tragic event occured. Our fleet was assembled around the palace, and the signal was given to rise slowly to a considerable height before imparting a great velocity to the electrical ships. As we slowly rose we saw the immense crowd of giants beneath us, with upturned faces, watching our departure. The Martian monarch and all his suite had come out upon the terrace of the palace to look at us. At a moment when he probably supposed himself to be unwatched he shook his fist at the retreating fleet. My eyes and those of several others in the flagship chanced to be fixed upon him. Just as he made the gesture one of the women of his suite, in her eagerness to watch us, apparently lost her balance and stumbled against him. Without a moment's hesitation, with a tremendous blow, he felled her like an ox at his feet.

A fearful oath broke from the lips of Colonel Smith, who was one of those looking on. It chanced that he stood near the principal disintegrator of the flagship. Before anybody could interfere he had sighted and discharged it. The entire force of the terrible engine, almost capable of destroying a fort, fell upon the Martian emperor and not merely blew him into a cloud of atoms but opened a great cavity in the ground on the spot where he had stood.

A shout arose from the Martians, but they were too much astounded at what had occurred to make any hostile demonstrations, and, anyhow, they knew well that they were completely at our mercy.

Mr. Edison was on the point of rebuking Colonel Smith for what he had done, but Aina interposed.

"I am glad it was done," said she "for now only can you be safe. That monster was more directly responsible than any other inhabitant of Mars for all the wickedness of which they have been guilty.

"The expedition against the earth was inspired solely by him. There is a tradition among the Martians—which my people, however, could never credit—that he possessed a kind of immortality. They declared that it was he who led the former expedition against the earth when my ancestors were brought away prisoners from their happy home, and that it was his image which they had set up in stone in the midst of the Land of Sand. He prolonged his existence, according to this legend, by drinking the waters of a wonderful fountain, the secret of whose precise location was known to him alone but which was situated at that point where in your maps of Mars the name of the Fons Juventae occurs. He was personified wickedness, that I know; and he never would have kept his oath if power had returned to him again to injure the earth. In destroying him, you have made your victory secure."



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE GREAT OVATION

When at length we once more saw our native planet, with its well-remembered features of land and sea, rolling beneath our eyes, the feeling of joy that came over us transcended all powers of expression.

In order that all the nations which had united in sending out the expedition should have visual evidence of its triumphal return, it was decided to make the entire circuit of the earth before seeking our starting point and disembarking. Brief accounts in all known languages, telling the story of what we had done was accordingly prepared, and then we dropped down through the air until again we saw the well-loved blue dome over our heads, and found ourselves suspended directly above the white topped cone of Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Japan. Shifting our position toward the northeast, we hung above the city of Tokyo and dropped down into the crowds which had assembled to watch us, the prepared accounts of our journey, which, the moment they had been read and comprehended, led to such an outburst of rejoicing as it would be quite impossible to describe.

One of the ships containing the Japanese members of the expedition, dropped to the ground, and we left them in the midst of their rejoicing countrymen. Before we started—and we remained but a short time suspended above the Japanese capitol—millions had assembled to greet us with their cheers.

We now repeated what we had done during our first examination of the surface of Mars. We simply remained suspended in the atmosphere, allowing the earth to turn beneath us. As Japan receded in the distance we found China beginning to appear. Shifting our position a little toward the south, we again came to rest over the city of Pekin, where once more we parted with some of our companions, and where the outburst of universal rejoicing was repeated.

From Asia, crossing the Caspian Sea, we passed over Russia, visiting in turn Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Still the great globe rolled steadily beneath, and still we kept the sun with us. Now Germany appeared, and now Italy, and then France, and England, as we shifted our position, first north then south, in order to give all the world the opportunity to see that its warriors had returned victorious from its far conquest. And in each country as it passed beneath our feet, we left some of the comrades who had shared our perils and our adventures.

At length the Atlantic had rolled away under us, and we saw the spires of the new New York.

The news of our coming had been flashed ahead from Europe and our countrymen were prepared to welcome us. We had originally started, it will be remembered, at midnight, and now again as we approached the new capitol of the world the curtain of night was just beginning to be drawn over it. But our signal lights were ablaze, and through these they were aware of our approach.

Again the air was filled with bursting rockets and shaken with the roar of cannon, and with volleying cheers, poured from millions of throats, as we came to rest directly above the city.

Three days after the landing of the fleet, and when the first enthusiasm of our reception had a little passed, I received a beautifully engraved card inviting me to be present in Trinity Church at the wedding of Aina and Sydney Phillips.

When I arrived at the church, which had been splendidly decorated, I found there Mr. Edison, Lord Kelvin, and all the other members of the crew of the flagship, and, considerably to my surprise, Colonel Smith, appropriately attired, and with a grace for the possession of which I had not given him credit, gave away the beautiful bride.

But Alonzo Jefferson Smith was a man and a soldier, every inch of him.

"I asked her for myself," he whispered to me after the ceremony, swallowing a great lump in his throat, "but she has had the desire of her heart. I am going back to the plains. I can get a command again, and I still know how to fight."

And thus was united, for all future time, the first stem of the Aryan race, which had been long lost, but not destroyed, with the latest offspring of that great family, and the link which had served to bring them together was the far-away planet of Mars.



* * * * *



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GARRETT PUTMAN SERVISS

Compiled by Elizabeth Dew Searles

Non-Fiction: Magazine Articles

Achievements of astronomical photography. Outlook 79, 787-96 (April 1, 1905)

Alexander Graham Bell. Cosmopolitan 33, 42-44 (May 1902)

Alpha Centauri. Harper's Weekly 38, 413 (May 5, 1894)

Among the stars with an opera-glass. Sidereal Messenger 10, 244-47 (May 1891)

Another theory about Mars. Harper's Weekly 41, 518-19 (May 22, 1897)

Arcturus, the greatest of all suns. Scientific American 70, 327 (May 26, 1894)

Are there planets among the stars? Popular Science Monthly 52, 171-77 (December 1897)

Artificial creation of life. Cosmopolitan 39, 459-68 (September 1905)

Astronomy with an opera-glass: (This series was enlarged and published in book form; see the following section.)

Stars of spring. Popular Science Monthly 30, 743-56 (April 1887) Stars of summer. ibid. 31, 187-207 (June 1887) Moon and the sun. ibid. 31, 478-92 (August 1887) Stars of autumn. ibid. 32, 53-71 (November 1887) Stars of winter. ibid. 32, 511-29 (February 1888)

Astronomy in the 20th century. Popular Astronomy 9, 286-87 (May 1901)

Auriga's wonderful star. Harper's Weekly 41, 471 (May 8, 1897)

A Belt of sun-spots. Popular Science Monthly 24, 180-86 (December 1883)

Can we always count upon the sun? Popular Science Monthly 39, 658-64 (September 1891)

Celebrated American astronomers. Harper's Weekly 38, 1143-46 (Dec. 1, 1894)

Digging up Caesar's camp. Harper's Weekly 54, 12-13 (Dec. 31, 1910)

The Dimensions of the universe. Chautaquan 21, 143-48 (May 1895)

Edelweiss. Nature Magazine 10, 25 (July 1927)

Facts and fancies about Mars. Harper's Weekly 40, 926 (Sept. 19, 1896)

From chaos to man; illustrated lecture in the Urania scientific theater, at Carnegie Hall. Scientific American 66, 399, 405-07 (June 25, 1892)

Greenland's icy mountains. Mentor 15, 33-34 (February 1927)

How Burbank produces new flowers and fruit. Cosmopolitan 40, 163-70 (December 1905)

Is Mars inhabited? Harper's Weekly 39, 712 (July 27, 1895)

The Kite principle in aerial navigation. Scientific American 88, 484 (June 27, 1903)

Latest marvels of astronomy. Mentor 9, 2-12 (October 1921)

Luther Burbank. Chautaquan 50, 406-16 (May 1908)

New conquest of the heavens. Cosmopolitan 52, 584-93 (April 1912)

New light on a lunar mystery. Popular Science Monthly 34, 158-61 (December 1888)

New philosopher's stone. Cosmopolitan 44, 632-36 (May 1908)

New Shakespeare—Bacon controversy. Cosmopolitan 32, 554-58 (March 1902)

Opposition of Mars. Harper's Weekly 36, 810 (Aug. 20, 1892)

Pleasures of the telescope: (Cf. the book "Pleasures of the Telescope" listed in the following section.)

The selection and testing of a glass. Popular Science Monthly 45, 213-24 (June 1894) In the starry heavens. ibid. 46, 289-301 (January 1895) The starry heavens (cont'd). ibid. 46, 466-78 (February 1895) Virgo and her neighbors. ibid. 46, 738-50 (April 1895) In summer starlands. ibid. 47, 194-208 (June 1895) From Lyra to Eridanus. ibid. 47, 508-21 (August 1895) Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and the northern stars. ibid. 47, 783-97 (October 1895)

Progress of science. Cosmopolitan 33, 357-60 (July 1902)

Recent magnetic storms and sun-spots. Popular Science Monthly 23, 163-69 (June 1883)

Riding through space. Mentor 11, 3-16 (November 1923)

Rome of the gravel walk. Harper's Weekly 54, 9-11 (July 30, 1910)

Scenes on the planets. Popular Science Monthly 56, 337-49 (January 1900)

The Sky from Pike's Peak. Astronomy and Astrophysics 13, 150-51 (February 1894)

Soaring flight. Scientific American 90, 345 (April 30, 1904)

Solving the mystery of the stars. Cosmopolitan 39, 395-404 (August 1905)

Star streams and nebulae. Popular Science Monthly 38, 338-41 (January 1891)

Strange markings on Mars. Popular Science Monthly 35, 41-56 (May 1889)

Studies in astronomy. Chautaquan 12, 38-43, 184-88, 330-34, 463-67, 596-601, 735-39; 13, 34-39, 170-75, 304-09 (October 1890-June 1891)

The Sun and his family. Outlook 200, 656-65 (March 23, 1912)

Transforming the world of plants. Cosmopolitan 40, 63-70 (November 1905)

What a five-inch telescope will show. Popular Astronomy 1, 372-73 (April 1894)

What is astronomy? Chautaquan 18, 541-45 (February 1894)

What is the music of the spheres? Mentor 15, 18-20 (December 1927)

What the stars are made of. Chautaquan 21, 9-13 (April 1895)

What we know about the planets. Chautaquan 20, 526-31 (February 1895)

When shall we have another glacial epoch? Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 4, 15-19 (Jan. 30, 1892)

Non-Fiction: Books, Pamphlets, Etc.

Astronomy in a nutshell, the chief facts and principles explained in popular language for the general reader and for schools. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912. xi, 261p. front., illus., plates, diagrs. 19cm.

Astronomy with an opera-glass: a popular introduction to the study of the starry heavens with the simplest of optical instruments, with maps and directions to facilitate the recognition of the constellations and the principal stars visible to the naked eye. New York and London: D. Appleton and Co., 1888. vi, 154 p. incl. illus., maps. 23cm. (Enlarged from a series of articles in Popular Science Monthly; see the preceding section.)

Astronomy with the naked eye; a new geography of the heavens, with descriptions and charts of constellations, stars, and planets. New York and London: Harper and brothers, 1908. xiii, (l)p., 1 1., 246p., 1 1. illus., xiv charts (12 double). 21cm.

Curiosities of the sky; a popular presentation of the great riddles and mysteries of astronomy. New York and London: Harper & brothers, 1909. xvi p., 2 1., 267, (1) p. incl. front., plates, charts. 21cm.

The Einstein theory of relativity ... with illustrations and photos taken directly from the Einstein relativity film, illustrations by R. D. Crandall. New York: E. M. Fadman, inc., (c1923). 96p. front., illus. 19cm.

——. London: American Book Supply, 1923. 96p. 19cm.

Eloquence, counsel on the art of public speaking; with many illustrative examples showing the style and method of famous orators. New York and London: Harper & brothers, 1912. iv p., 31., 2l4p. front, (port.). 19-1/2cm.

How to use the Popular science library ... (and) History of science, by Arthur Selwyn-Brown; General index. New York: P. F. Collier & son co., (c1922). 2p.l., 3-384p. front., plates, ports. 20-1/2cm. (added t.-p.: Popular science library, editor-in-chief, G. P. Serviss, vol. XVI).

The Moon; a popular treatise. New York: D. Appleton and co., 1907. xii, 248p. front., illus., 26 pl. 20cm.

——. London: D. Appleton and co., 1908. 260p. illus. 20cm.

The Moon in Frederick H. Law (ed.), Science in literature. New York: Harper and brothers, 1929. p. 69-83.

Napoleon Bonaparte in Thomas B. Reed (ed.), Modern eloquence. Philadelphia: John D. Morris and co., 1901. vol. 6, p. 983-1009.

Other worlds; their nature, possibilities and habitability in the light of the latest discoveries. New York: D. Appleton and co., 1901. xv, 282p. front. (chart), illus., plates. 19-1/2cm.

——. London: Hirschfeld brothers, 1902. 298p. charts, illus. 19-1/2cm.

Pleasures of the telescope; an illustrated guide for amateur astronomers and a popular description of the chief wonders of the heavens for general readers. New York: D. Appleton and co., 1901. viii, 200p. illus. (incl. maps). 23cm.

——. London: Hirschfeld brothers, 1901. 208p. 23cm.

Round the year with the stars; the chief beauties of the starry heavens as seen with the naked eye ... with maps showing the aspect of the sky in each of the four seasons and charts revealing the outlines of the constellations. New York and London: Harper & brothers, 1910. 19, (1) p., 1 1., 21-146, (1) p. incl. charts. 21cm.

Solar and planetary evolution in Evolution; popular lectures and discussions before the Brooklyn ethical association. Boston: James H. West, 1889. p. 55-70; discussion, p. 71-75.

The Story of the moon; a description of the scenery of the lunar world as it would appear to a visitor spending a month on the moon ... illustrated with a complete series of photographs taken at the Yerkes observatory. New York, London: D. Appleton and co., (c1928). xii, 247, (1) p. front., illus., plates, diagrs. 20cm. (First published under the title: The Moon)

Wonders of the lunar world, or A Trip to the moon. (New York): publisher not given, c1892. 20p. 201/2cm. (Urania series. No.l)

Fiction

A Columbus of space. New York and London: D. Appleton and co., 1911. vii p., 1 1., 297, (1) p. col. front., col. plates. 20cm.

——. All-Story 13, 1-16, 238-57, 418-32, 644-58; 14, 79-89, 300-12 (January-June 1909)

——. Amazing Stories 1, 388-409, 474-75, 490-509, 596-615, 669 (August-October 1926)

Edison's conquest of Mars. New York Evening Journal, Jan. 12-Feb. 10, 1898.

The Moon Maiden. Argosy 79, 258-351 (May 1915)

The Moon metal. New York and London: Harper & brothers, 1900. 2 p.l., 163, (1) p. 17-1/2cm.

——. All-Story 2, 118-53 (May 1905)

——. Amazing Stories 1, 322-45, 381 (July 1926)

——. Famous Fantastic Mysteries 1, 40-74 (November 1939).

The Second deluge. New York: McBride, Nast & co., 1912. 6p.l., 3-399p. front., plates. 191/2cm.

——. London: Grant Richards, 1912. 410p. 191/2cm.

——. Amazing Stories 1, 676-701, 767-68, 844-66, 944-67, 1059-73 (November 1926-February 1927).

——. Amazing Stories Quarterly 7, 2-73 (Winter 1933).

——. Cavalier 9, 193-210, 481-501, 693-708; 10, 88-103, 300-15, 546-58, 739-52 (July 1911-January 1912).

The Sky pirate. Scrap Book 7, 595-606, 835-45, 1079-91; 8, 105-17, 294-304, 562-70 (April-September 1909).

Note: In addition to his books and magazine articles, Garrett P. Serviss wrote extensively for newspapers, having been a staff writer on the New York Sun at the beginning of his career and having written later for a newspaper syndicate. This bibliography does not include any of Serviss' newspaper writings, with the exception of Edison's Conquest of Mars, since the effort involved in compiling a list of his writings from so ephemeral a medium would not be warranted by the questionable completeness of such a list, much of his writing for newspapers having been anonymous.

THE END