d swallowed his pill he seemed as comfortable as
any of us.

Suddenly, while we were gathered around the prisoner, and interested in
this fresh evidence of the wonderful ingenuity of the Martians, and of
their control over the processes of nature, one of the electrical ships
that had been sent off in the direction of Mars was seen rapidly
returning and displaying signals.

It reported that the Martians were coming!

CHAPTER EIGHT

_"THE MARTIANS ARE COMING!"_

The alarm was spread instantly among those upon the planet and through
the remainder of the fleet.

One of the men from the returning electrical ship dropped down upon the
asteroid and gave a more detailed account of what they had seen.

His ship had been the one which had gone to the greatest distance, in
the direction of Mars. While cruising there, with all eyes intent, they
had suddenly perceived a glittering object moving from the direction of
the ruddy planet, and manifestly approaching them. A little inspection
with the telescope had shown them that it was one of the projectile cars
used by the Martians.

Our ship had ventured so far from the asteroid that for a moment it
seemed doubtful whether it would be able to return in time to give
warning, because the electrical influence of the asteroid was
comparatively slight at such a distance, and, after they had reversed
their polarity, and applied their intensifier, so as to make that
influence effective, their motion was at first exceedingly slow.

Fortunately after a time they got under way with sufficient velocity to
bring them back to us before the approaching Martians could overtake
them.

The latter were not moving with great velocity, having evidently
projected themselves from Mars with only just sufficient force to throw
them within the feeble sphere of gravitation of the asteroid, so that
they should very gently land upon its surface.

Indeed, looking out behind the electrical ship which had brought us the
warning, we immediately saw the projectile of the Martians approaching.
It sparkled like a star in the black sky as the sunlight fell upon it.

The ships of the squadron whose crews had not landed upon the planet
were signaled to prepare for action, while those who were upon the
asteroid made ready for battle there. A number of disintegrators were
trained upon the approaching Martians, but Mr. Edison gave strict orders
that no attempt should be made to discharge the vibratory f