aid the
doctor, and then abruptly changed the subject.

The walk from Whiting was inspiriting. It was a beautiful night. There
was not a cloud in the sky and no Moon, which made the stars all the
brighter. Everything was still, save the constant lapping of the great
lake on the sandy shore, but a short way off.

"Yonder is the mustard seed planted in the heavens, which shall grow
into a whole new world for us!" exclaimed the doctor, pointing out a
particularly bright star. "That is Mars rushing on to opposition. In six
weeks he will be nearest to the Earth; so for that time he will be
flying to meet us. To-morrow is our last day on Earth; to-morrow night
the ether! And in six weeks, diminutive but mighty man will have known
two worlds!"

"There you go, soaring again!" I cried. "Let us keep on practical
subjects. What have the foundry people who built this thing, and the
railroad people who brought it down here, thought about its probable
use? Have they not guessed something?"

"You may trust the popular mind not to guess flying unless it sees
wings! They have imagined this is a new sort of torpedo, sent down here
for a private trial in the lake. In fact, the conductor of the freight
train, who switched the car off here, asked me in a confidential way if
he should get teams and men and help me to launch her? I have fostered
this idea, and really had the projectile sent here to carry out that
impression."

A more fitting place for an unobserved start could not have been
selected, however. All this part of the country is a sandy waste, with a
sparse growth of scrub oaks and but little vegetation. There are no
farms, and the nearest houses are at Whiting. No one could see our work,
except, possibly, the passengers from occasional trains, which rushed by
without stopping, and were infrequent at this time of day.

As we were arriving, I stood off at some distance to observe the black
object on the open car. It was five feet through, and twenty feet long,
not counting the rudder, which was now entirely drawn into the rear end.

"Looks exactly like a cigar," I said. "Sharp and pointed in front,
slightly swelled in the middle, and cut squarely off behind. Only it is
too thick for its length, of course."

But the doctor already had the rear port-hole open. This was two feet in
diameter, and permitted a rather awkward entrance to the rear
compartment. The interior was crowded with boxes, as yet unpacked,
containing scien