erything was in our hands to do as we
pleased. They readily agreed, therefore, that they would make no more
resistance and that we and our electrical ships should be undisturbed
while we remained upon Mars. The monarch took the oath prescribed after
the manner of his race; thus the business was completed. But through it
all there had been a shadow of a sneer on the emperor's face which I did
not like. But I said nothing.

And now we began to think of our return home, and of the pleasure we
should have in recounting our adventures to our friends on the earth,
who undoubtedly were eagerly awaiting news from us. We knew that they
had been watching Mars with powerful telescopes, and we were also eager
to learn how much they had seen and how much they had been able to guess
of our proceedings.

But a day or two at least would be required to overhaul the electrical
ships and examine the state of our provisions. Those which we had
brought from the earth, it will be remembered, had been spoiled and we
had been compelled to replace them from the compressed provisions found
in the Martian's storehouse. This compressed food had proved not only
exceedingly agreeable to the taste, but very nourishing, and all of us
had grown extremely fond of it. A new supply, however, would be needed
in order to carry us back to the earth. At least sixty days would be
required for the homeward journey, because we could hardly expect to
start from Mars with the same initial velocity which we had been able to
generate on leaving home.

In considering the matter of provisioning the fleet it finally became
necessary to take an account of our losses. This was a thing that we had
all shrunk from, because they had seemed to us almost too terrible to be
borne. But now the facts had to be faced. Out of the one hundred ships,
carrying something more than two thousand souls, with which we had
quitted the earth, there remained only fifty-five ships and 1085 men!
All the others had been lost in our terrible encounters with the
Martians, and particularly in our first disastrous battle beneath the
clouds.

Among the lost were many men whose names were famous upon the earth, and
whose death would be widely deplored when the news of it was received
upon their native planet. Fortunately this number did not include any of
those whom I have had occasion to mention in the course of this
narrative. The venerable Lord Kelvin, who, notwithstanding his age, and
his pa