n no sting, but we might quickly expect to feel it
if we did not get out of range.

Quickly instructions were flashed to the squadrons to rise as rapidly as
possible to a great height.

It was evident that this maneuver would save us from danger if it were
quickly effected, because the airships of the Martians were simply
airships and nothing more. They could only float in the atmosphere, and
had no means of rising above it, or of navigating empty space.

To have turned our disintegrators upon them, and to have begun a battle
then and there, would have been folly.

They overwhelmingly outnumbered us, the majority of them were yet at a
considerable distance and we could not have done battle, even with our
entire squadron acting together, with more than one-quarter of them
simultaneously. In the meantime the others would have surrounded and
might have destroyed us. We must first get some idea of the planet's
means of defence before we ventured to assail it.

Having risen rapidly to a height of twenty-five or thirty miles, so that
we could feel confident that our ships had vanished at least from the
naked eye view of our enemies beneath, a brief consultation was held.

It was determined to adhere to our original program and to
circumnavigate Mars in every direction before proceeding to open the
war.

The overwhelming forces shown by the enemy had intimidated even some of
the most courageous of our men, but still it was universally felt that
it would not do to retreat without a blow struck.

The more we saw of the power of the Martians, the more we became
convinced that there would be no hope for the earth, if these enemies
ever again effected a landing upon its surface, the more especially
since our squadron contained nearly all of the earth's force that would
be effective in such a contest.

With Mr. Edison and the other men of science away, they would not be
able at home to construct such engines as we possessed, or to manage
them even if they were constructed.

Our planet had staked everything on a single throw.

These considerations again steeled our hearts, and made us bear up as
bravely as possible in the face of the terrible odds that confronted us.

Turning the noses of our electrical ships toward the west, we began our
circumnavigation.

CHAPTER TEN

_THE GREAT SMOKE BARRIER_

At first we rose to a still greater height, in order more effectually to
escape the watchful eyes of our enemies