s, and consequently
much more powerful. The currents from both the top and bottom chambers
are controlled by clockwork which I have devised for that purpose, and
in place of an operating table in the virator I have substituted a
couch.

"And now I enjoin you to summon all your courage, for in this
undertaking nothing but nerves of steel will carry you safely through."

"I shall faithfully carry out your instructions, Almos," I responded,
trying to appear perfectly calm, though my being fifteen hundred years
behind Martian times never seemed so much a handicap as now.

"Follow me, then, word for word," resumed Almos. "Understand all I say,
for in the error of a second, the misconception of a word, the hesitancy
of a moment, there is death!

"To-morrow, when that part of the Earth's surface on which Paris is
situated appears, I shall attach the receiving apparatus of the
radioscope to the lower chamber of the virator, so that the return
current from Earth will flow into it. I shall then set the clockwork to
turn on the current of super-radium in half an hour. In that time my
body must be in a condition to receive your spirit."

I could not suppress a shudder upon hearing this, but I deemed it best
not to interrupt Almos.

"Filling a cone with the required amount of chloroform, I shall enter
the virator, and, reclining upon the couch, place the cone over my mouth
and nose. In a few minutes my spirit will have passed into the upper
chamber.

"By experimenting, I have found that regenerating rays are contained in
super-radium. In fact, my theory is that the regenerating rays and the
invisible rays of super-radium are synonymous. Such being the case, when
the current of super-radium is turned on by the clockwork, it will flow
to Earth and, returning, enter the virator and restore my body to a
normal condition, freeing it from the fumes of chloroform and making it
capable of receiving its new life.

"The glow of your instrument, in response to the super-radium current,
will warn you that this has taken place, and you must then prepare
yourself for departure. You will not observe any image, owing to my
having removed the lenses of the radioscope, but your instrument will
glow in response to the current.

"Having prepared a cone of chloroform, you must move a couch directly in
front of your instrument, so that upon lying down your body will obscure
the rays from it. You will thus know that you are in the path of the