ly replied to this renewed attack, and
again the cloud-covered globe bristled with lightning, which flashed so
fiercely out of the blackness below that the stoutest hearts among us
quailed, although we were situated well beyond the danger.

But this sublime spectacle rapidly vanished from our eyes when, having
attained a proper elevation, we began our course toward the opposite
hemisphere of the planet.

We guided our flight by the stars, and from our knowledge of the rotation
period of Mars, and the position which the principal points on its
surface must occupy at certain hours, we were able to tell what part of
the planet lay beneath us.

Having completed our semi-circuit, we found ourselves on the night side
of Mars, and determined to lose no time in executing our coup. But it
was deemed best that an exploration should first be made by a single
electrical ship, and Colonel Smith naturally wished to undertake the
adventure with his own vessel.

Dropping to the Planet.

We dropped rapidly through the black cloud curtain, which proved to be at
least half a mile in thickness, and then suddenly emerged, as if suspended
at the apex of an enormous dome, arching above the surface of the planet
a mile beneath us, which sparkled on all sides with innumerable lights.

These lights were so numerous and so brilliant as to produce a faint
imitation of daylight, even at our immense height above the ground,
and the dome of cloud out of which we had emerged assumed a soft fawn
color that produced an indescribably beautiful effect.

For a moment we recoiled from our undertaking, and arrested the motion
of the electric ship.

But on closely examining the surface beneath us we found that there
was a broad region, where comparatively few bright lights were to be
seen. From my knowledge of the geography of Mars I knew that this was a
part of the Land of Ausonia, situated a few hundred miles northeast of
Hellas, where we had first seen the planet.

Evidently it was not so thickly populated as some of the other parts of
Mars, and its comparative darkness was an attraction to us. We determined
to approach within a few hundred feet of the ground with the electric
ship, and then, in case no enemies appeared, to visit the soil itself.

"Perhaps we shall see or hear something that will be of use to us,"
said Colonel Smith, "and for the purposes of this first reconnaissance
it is better that we should be few in number. The other ship