e of the comparatively small size of the asteroid, its
electric influence was very much less than that of the earth, and
notwithstanding the appliances which we possessed for intensifying the
electrical effect, it was not possible to produce a sufficient repulsion
to start us off for Mars with anything like the impulse which we had
received from the earth on our original departure.

The utmost velocity that we could generate did not exceed three miles
in a second, and to get this required our utmost efforts. In fact, it
had not seemed possible that we should attain even so great a speed as
that. It was far more than we could have expected, and even Mr. Edison
was surprised, as well as greatly gratified, when he found that we were
moving with the velocity that I have named.

Mars 6,000,000 Miles Away.

We were still about 6,000,000 miles from Mars, so that, travelling three
miles in a second, we should require at least twenty-three days to reach
the immediate neighborhood of the planet.

Meanwhile we had a plenty of occupation to make the time pass quickly. Our
prisoner was transported along with us, and we now began our attempts to
ascertain what his language was, and, if possible, to master it ourselves.

Before quitting the asteroid we had found that it was necessary for
him to swallow one of his "air pills," as Prof. Moissan called them, at
least three times in the course of every twenty-four hours. One of us
supplied him regularly and I thought that I could detect evidences of
a certain degree of gratitude in his expression. This was encouraging,
because it gave additional promise of the possibility of our being able to
communicate with him in some more effective way than by mere signs. But
once inside the car, where we had a supply of air kept at the ordinary
pressure experienced on the earth, he could breathe like the rest of us.

Learning the Martians' Language.

The best linguists in the expedition, as Mr. Edison had suggested,
were now assembled in the flagship, where the prisoner was, and they
set to work to devise some means of ascertaining the manner in which he
was accustomed to express his thoughts.

We had not heard him speak, because until we carried him into our car
there was no atmosphere capable of conveying any sounds he might attempt
to utter.

It seemed a fair assumption that the language of the Martians would be
scientific in its structure. We had so much evidence of the practical
be