d to speechmaking were well known,
simply said:

"I think we have got the machine that can whip them. But we ought not to
be wasting any time. Probably they are not dancing on Mars, but are
getting ready to make us dance."

These words instantly turned the current of feeling in the vast
assembly. There was no longer any disposition to expend time in vain
boastings and rejoicings. Everywhere the cry now became, "Let us make
haste! Let us get ready at once! Who knows but the Martians have already
embarked, and are now on their way to destroy us?"

Under the impulse of this new feeling, which, it must be admitted, was
very largely inspired by terror, the vast ballroom was quickly deserted.
The lights were suddenly put out in the great dome of balloons, for
someone had whispered:

"Suppose they should see that from Mars? Would they not guess what we
were about, and redouble their preparations to finish us?"

Upon the suggestion of the President of the United States, an executive
committee, representing all the principal nations, was appointed, and
without delay a meeting of this committee was assembled at the White
House. Mr. Edison was summoned before it, and asked to sketch briefly
the plan upon which he proposed to work.

I need not enter into the details of what was done at this meeting. Let
it suffice to say that when it broke up, in the small hours of the
morning, it had been unanimously resolved that as many thousands of men
as Mr. Edison might require should be immediately placed at his
disposal; that as far as possible all the great manufacturing
establishments of the country should be instantly transformed into
factories where electrical ships and disintegrators could be built, and
upon the suggestion of Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson, the celebrated
English electrical expert, seconded by Lord Kelvin, it was resolved that
all the leading men of science in the world should place their services
at the disposal of Mr. Edison in any capacity in which, in his
judgement, they might be useful to him.

The members of this committee were disposed to congratulate one another
on the good work which they had so promptly accomplished, when at the
moment of their adjournment, a telegraphic dispatch was handed to the
President from Professor George E. Hale, the director of the great
Yerkes Observatory, in Wisconsin. The telegram read:

"Professor Barnard, watching Mars tonight with the forty-inch telescope,
saw a sudde