tion meant death, I quickly fastened the chloroform
cone over my face and inhaled the fumes.

A moment's consciousness--a flickering light--

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX.

THE REALIZATION OF A HOPELESS LOVE.

I opened my eyes--it was broad daylight, and for some moments I lay
dreamily surveying the familiar objects in my room, unconscious of all
that had happened to me during the previous night. Then, noticing that I
was fully dressed, a sudden realization of it all came upon me, and,
springing to my feet, I excitedly paced up and down my room, pinching my
arms and legs to make sure that they were in normal condition.
Satisfying myself upon this point, I then looked at the time, and, to my
astonishment, found that it was noon.

As Mars passed out of wave contact about one o'clock in the morning, I
must have slept eleven hours after the return of my spirit to Earth. I
had greatly feared that even if it were my good fortune ever to regain
consciousness, it would be only to discover that I had lost the use of
my limbs and was powerless to move. That the super-radium current would
preserve my body in such a natural condition as even to induce sleep I
would not have believed possible. Yet there was every indication that I
had awakened from a natural sleep. I felt fresh and full of vigor, and
there on my couch lay the cone which, in my sleep, I had unfastened and,
in turning over, crushed. If I had remained unconscious the entire time
there would not have been this evidence of restlessness, and I
considered it of importance as being proof that my sleep had been
natural. Beyond this, however, I did not consider the removal of the
cone from my face as important, as the chloroform must have completely
evaporated soon after I became unconscious.

Now that I was once again in my laboratory with the humdrum life of a
matter-of-fact world surging about me, evincing itself by the continual
roar of traffic which reached me through the open window, my remarkable
adventure of the night before seemed like a strange dream. As there was
no tangible proof that I had actually been on Mars, I might have been
led to the conclusion that I had chloroformed myself into
unconsciousness only, and had passed from this state into a deep sleep,
in which I had dreamed my remarkable experiences. But the clearness and
consistency of every detail were amply sufficient to convince me of the
genuineness of my exper