ch the waves of the smallest
amplitudes.'

"He pointed to a singular train of tubes, each filled apparently with a
shining line of straw shaped metallic bodies. This was raised by some
silk cord passing to a pulley and arm, perhaps a hundred feet above us.

"Volta spoke with difficulty; he seemed preoccupied, and after I was
shown the transmitter, and its mechanism was explained, he took my hand
warmly, pressed it between his own, and then speaking in the Martian
tongue to Chapman, left us.

"I then sent you, my son, my first message. What pleasure! The great
sparks flashed magnificently. Chapman and my friend were in ecstacies. I
worked steadily until the night. And when all was over I waited until
the stars came out, until again the City of Light shone like some huge,
myriad faceted stone, and then there came, while Chapman and my friend
stood mute beside me, your faint response.

"I scarcely caught the lisping ticks, but they came, and it seemed
indeed as if the power of the Creator had passed into the hands of men.

"With a joy too deep for the futile hopelessness of words to express,
we both descended from the high station and through the great halls. I
found my way to the charming, peaceful room above the glowing city and
fell asleep with prayers upon my lips for all the dead and dying upon
the Earth.

"The next day as I awoke I found my friend and Chapman waiting for me. I
felt wonderfully refreshed, and the exultant mood of the Martians
possessed me. I sang with an interior tumult of excitement. I drew
before my mind the beauty of your mother reincorporated in this gay,
lovely world of Mars, so full of power and light and youthful impulse.
Again I sang, and it was the very air your mother so often played to me,
'Der Gr