an you wait two or three days for me?"

"I can, but Mars won't," he answered laconically. "Besides, you must not
tell any one that you are going."

"If there are any two things I love, it's a secret and a hurry! I will
be here to-morrow night," I exclaimed.

CHAPTER VI

Farewell to Earth

The next day I quietly bought in my wheat, and told Flynn I was thinking
of taking a little vacation. I said I was worn out fighting the contrary
market, and told him to run the office as if it were his own until I
returned. At home I said nothing about the vacation, for I didn't care
to have my stories agree very perfectly. I simply packed a few
necessities for the trip in a dress-suit case. My uncle was used to
seeing me carry my evening clothes to the Club in this manner, and I
casually told him I should remain the night this time.

I could not leave without kissing cousin Ruth good-bye, but this excited
no suspicion, as it was a thing I did on every pretext. Then I slipped
out and took back streets till I was several blocks away from the house.
Taking a closed carriage here, I was driven to the same station and took
the same train for Whiting as on the previous evening. I found the
doctor awaiting me with a lantern. As we walked down the tracks in the
twilight I said to him,--

"I never made so quick a preparation, nor attempted so long a trip. I
have left my friends a lot of guessing! Now, how soon shall we be off?"

"Within an hour," he answered. "Mars will not be directly overhead until
midnight, but there is a little side trip I wish to make first, to test
the projectile before we get too far above the Earth's surface."

The sky was densely cloudy, there was no Moon, and it was already
growing very dark. As we began to have difficulty in finding the way,
the doctor lighted his lantern. Peering up into the darkness, I said to
him,--

"There is not a star visible. How are you to find your way in the
heavens a night like this?"

"That is all perfectly easy. We shall soon rise far above those clouds,
and then the stars will come out. Besides, I shall show you perfect
daylight again before midnight."

"I don't see just how, but I will take your word for it, Doctor. I
daresay you have thought it all out, and the whole trip will contain no
surprises for you."

"I have tried to think it all out and prepare for everything. But I am
certain I have forgotten something. I have a feeling amounting to a
dreadful pres