olonel. "Why he was
as big as a grizzly."

"The people he belonged to must be near by," I said. "Very likely he was
a watch on guard."

"But I see no signs of a habitation."

"True, but you observe there is a thick hedge on the side of the road
opposite the canal. If we get through that perhaps we shall catch sight
of something."

Cautiously we pushed our way through the hedge, which was composed of
shrubs as large as small trees, and very thick at the bottom, and,
having traversed it, found ourselves in a great meadow-like expanse
which might have been a lawn. At a considerable distance, in the midst
of a clump of trees, a large building towered skyward, its walls of some
red metal, gleaming like polished copper in the soft light that fell
from the cloud dome.

There were no lights around the building itself, and we saw nothing
corresponding to windows on that side which faced us, but toward the
right a door was evidently open, and out of this streamed a brilliant
shaft of illumination, which lay bright upon the lawn, then crossed the
highway through an opening in the hedge, and gleamed on the water of the
canal beyond.

Where we stood the ground had evidently been recently cleared, and there
was no obstruction, but as we crept closer to the house--for our
curiosity had now become irresistible--we found ourselves crawling
through grass so tall that if we had stood erect it would have risen
well above our heads.

"This affords good protection," said Colonel Smith, recalling his
adventures on the western plains. "We can get close in to the Indians--I
beg pardon, I mean the Martians--without being seen."

Heavens, what an adventure was this! To be crawling about in the night
on the face of another world and venturing, perhaps, into the jaws of a
danger which human experience could not measure!

But on we went, and in a little while we had emerged from the tall grass
and were somewhat startled by the discovery that we had got close to the
wall of the building.

Carefully we crept around to the open door.

As we neared it we suddenly stopped as if we had been stricken with
instantaneous paralysis.

Out of the door floated, on the soft night air, the sweetest music to
which I have ever listened.

It carried me back in an instant to my own world. It was the music of
the earth. It was the melodious expression of a human soul. It thrilled
us both to the heart's core.

"My God!" exclaimed Colonel Smith. "What