rd
at about fifty miles an hour, rose in a slanting direction through a
dense bank of rosy-tinted clouds, which hung over the bigger of the two
cities--New York, as Zaidie had named it.

When they reached the golden-red sunlight above it the _Astronef_
stopped her ascent, and then, with half a turn of the steering-wheel,
her commander sent her sweeping round in a wide circle. A few minutes
later they saw the Martian fleet rise almost simultaneously through the
clouds. They seemed to hesitate a moment, and then the prow of every
vessel was directed towards the swiftly moving _Astronef_.

"Well, gentlemen," said Redgrave, "you evidently don't know anything
about Professor Rennick and the R. Force; and yet you ought to know that
we couldn't have come through Space without being able to get beyond
this little atmosphere of yours. Now let us see how fast you can fly."

Another signal went down to Murgatroyd, the whirling propellers became
two intersecting circles of light. The speed of the _Astronef_ increased
to a hundred-and-fifty miles an hour, and the Martian fleet began to
drop behind and trail out into a triangle like a flock of huge birds.

"That's lovely; we're leaving them!" exclaimed Zaidie, leaning forward
with the glasses to her eyes and tapping the floor of the conning-tower
with her foot as if she wanted to dance, "and their wings are working
faster than ever. They don't seem to have any screws."

"Probably because they've solved the problem of bird's flight," said
Redgrave. "They're not gaining on us, are they?"

"No, they're at about the same distance."

"Then we'll see how they can soar."

Another signal went down the tube. The _Astronef's_ propellers slowed
down and stopped, and the vessel began to rise swiftly towards the
zenith, which the sun was now approaching. The Martian fleet continued
the impossible chase until the limits of the navigable atmosphere, about
eight earth-miles above the surface, was reached. Here the air was
evidently too rarefied for their wings to act upon. They came to a
standstill, looking like links of a broken chain, their occupants no
doubt looking up with envious eyes upon the shining body of the
_Astronef_ glittering like a tiny star in the sunlight ten thousand feet
above them.

"Well, gentlemen," said Redgrave, after a swift glance round, "I think
we have shown you that we can fly faster and soar higher than you can.
Perhaps you'll be a bit more civil now. If you'r