Fifteen Hundred Miles an Hour

  CHAPTER VI.

  WE NEAR MARS.

  As the _Sirius_ sped on its journey from day to day, the apparent sizeof Mars rapidly increased. We began to feel appalled at our nearness tothis new world, now gleaming in brilliant splendour below, instead ofabove us. Our sensations cannot be expressed.

  On the 2nd of June we were again alarmed at losing sight of the sun fora short time, and expected another meteoric visitation.

  We began now anxiously to discuss the possibilities of finding livingcreatures on this planet. It would indeed be a disappointment almostbeyond human endurance, to find Mars a dead desolate world, after all!But we took heart at its singularly beautiful appearance, and itssimilarity in many respects to the world we had left.

  We began to notice a considerable difference in the density of theatmosphere. Nearer and nearer we came, awe-struck and dumbfoundedat our own temerity. Hour by hour, and day by day, we watched thisglorious world become larger and larger to our view. Still no signof life could be traced. Cold and still, and calm as the grave, thisnew world appeared to us. The _Sirius_ absolutely seemed to creepalong, although the good machine was bearing us onward at a speed soenormous, that the fastest express train of Earth was a snail's pace bycomparison.

  Amid the terrible excitement, and the frightful tension of our nerveswhich it entailed, the days sped by almost unnoticed, uncounted. Butthe Doctor, ever cool and collected, through all this trying period,kept a careful record of the distance travelled day by day.

  As we approached yet nearer to this magnificent planet, we were able tonote most carefully the general distribution of land and water upon itsmighty surface.

  Daily, nay hourly now, our hopes of finding the planet Mars a peopledworld increased.

  It was three weeks from the time that the Doctor had last dwelt uponthe distance we had travelled, and the size of Mars was becomingappallingly stupendous. On the evening of the 7th of June, we were allseated in the chamber above the engine-room, admiring the glorioussplendours of the sunset on this heavenly orb, watching the last raysof the Martial day expire, as we had so often done before. We were tooabsorbed in the beauties of the scene before us to speak; each was tooovercome by the solemn grandeur of our surroundings, and our strangeposition, to converse with his fellow-man; until the darkness reachedus at last, and broke the magic spell of our silence.

  Temple was the first to speak. "Well, Doctor, things are rapidlyapproaching a crisis now. What are your latest views on our position?"

  "Briefly these, Temple. At the rate of speed we are still travelling,in one week from to-day we shall reach our destination on that strangeworld yonder. Roughly speaking, but little more than two hundredthousand miles remain to be crossed, and, as far as I can determine atpresent, we shall complete the last few thousands of miles under thecover of darkness. This is well for us: it will enable us to descendunnoticed and unseen by any intelligent, and perhaps hostile, beingsthat may possibly dwell upon the surface of this planet. On the otherhand, the darkness may conceal perils we should have been able toavoid, had we descended in daylight. Of the two evils, I stronglycounsel us to choose the former; that is, to drop quietly down atnight and await the dawn in concealment. Our future movements must becontrolled entirely by events."

  The following six days were passed without anything unusual occurring.At dawn on the seventh, we were only about 28,000 miles away from Mars,and his vast size inspired our hearts with increasing awe.

  Our last day in the _Sirius_, if all went well, had now arrived.

  At five o'clock p.m., the planet began to assume a slightly concaveappearance; at six, this became even more pronounced; whilst an hourlater still, when we were only about six thousand miles above itssurface, the horizon seemed almost level with the _Sirius_. Mars nowlooked like a huge deep saucer, into which we were rapidly falling.

  At eight in the evening, as near as we in our terrible state ofexcitement could judge, for not one of us referred to our watches, alldoubts respecting the presence of life on Mars were expelled; and toour indescribable joy we noted dark belts of vegetation, in which theglittering mountains and active volcanoes were set. Each minute thescene below us became more grandly beautiful.

  At a thousand miles above Mars we found we could dispense with ourcondensers, and actually sustain life with the atmosphere admitted intothe _Sirius_. This was encouraging, more so than ever we had even daredto hope; Mars already was beginning to supply every requirement of thechildren of the Earth!

  We now deemed it advisable to reduce our speed somewhat. At a quarterto twelve we could not have been much more than a hundred miles abovethis new world.

  We now climbed out on to the balcony, and peering down into the darkdepths, it was apparent to us all that the _Sirius_ was over dry land,although a large sheet of water was visible in the distance, shimmeringin the moonlight.

  In a few minutes more the good air-ship was hovering a thousandfeet above the Martial planet, and we began making the few finalpreparations for our descent upon its surface.