if I attempted to explain or publish my discovery! I felt
that the time had not yet come to take anyone into my confidence, and I
determined still to keep all a secret. I was then unaware, however, that
the more I learned of Mars and its people the more closely I would guard
my knowledge.

Pacing excitedly up and down my laboratory, I spent most of the night in
reviewing what I had heard, and speculating the rare knowledge that the
morrow would bring. The secrets of another world would be unfolded to
me, and the scientific achievements of a people over a thousand years in
advance of us would be mine. What glorious possibilities this disclosed!
What a brilliant future as a scientist such knowledge would assure me!
And in the exuberance of my spirits I little thought that the possession
of this knowledge would come to mean naught to me; for I had yet to
learn that man cannot share the riches of another world without also
becoming a partner in its sorrows and its passions.

CHAPTER IV.

THE STORY OF MARTIAN LIFE.

With a determination of finding a room from which I could command a
longer view of Mars, the next day I visited several studios which were
for rent, and finally succeeded in securing one formerly occupied by a
photographer, which was located on the top floor of a house in the
immediate vicinity of my old rooms.

The room was large, in fact it occupied the entire top floor of the
building, and this feature pleased me greatly. The only communication
with the house was by a door which had every appearance of an outside
door, so heavy were the hinges and lock. The landlord, in drawing my
attention to this, had smiled and remarked that the former tenant, who
lived in another section of the city, had been very careful always to
leave his studio securely locked. The ceiling of half the room was
entirely of glass, sloping down to the floor at the angle of the roof,
and this was the only means of obtaining air and light. It was
constructed in two sections, which would slide back and forth, for the
purpose of ventilation. This arrangement, I found, would give me an
unobstructed view of Mars for several hours each night. Nothing could be
better adapted to my requirements; I could not be observed by anyone
outside, and I need not fear being overheard while conversing with my
Martian friend.

I therefore determined to have my instrument moved at once, in order to
be installed in my new quarters that evening.