Presbyterian College - Pac Sac Yearbook (Clinton, SC)

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16 THE COLLEGIAN various sizes and directly in front of us was a globe which looked a good deal smaller than the earth and which seemed to bc made up mostly of land with huge masses of snow and ice at the ends like the earth. It also seemed that the land was cut into squares by many lines. Professor, said I, what is that directly in front of us which looks so much like a checker board. only being round instead of square? Why, he returned. that is Mars, those lines are the famous canals of Mars which are supposed to furnish the inhabitants with water. ' ' I Watched Mars for a good bit before I turned to look at the earth again. When I did, I found it had not only decreas- ed wonderfully in size, but also that it had turned so that there was a rough triangle of land extending from one heap of ice almost to the other. This I knew must be Europe, Asia, and Africa. I also found that the other globes were getting more numerous. For a long time I watched the earth. It gradually grew smaller and continued to turn very slowly. The next time I looked at Mars, that globe seemed to be several times as large as the earth and objects upon her surface had become more distinguishable. VVhat had seemed to be lines before, proved themselves to be Water, and also the land, which from a distance seemed to be waste. upon a closer view proved to be cultivated Helds. I turned once more to look at the earth, but found that it could not be distinguished from the thousands of other globes which we were leaving behind. Since the earth had become invisible, I now turned my whole attention upon Mars and was surprised to ind that it was losing its globular form and was beginning to look flat. I also noticed great bright spots scattered all about over the surface next to us, which reflected the sunlight like so many cracked mirrors. I decided that these must be buildings of some kind. The Professor now said, I think We are near enough to Mars to find out what her atmosphere is like. So saying he

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THE COLLEGIAN 15 have you? UNO, I replied, But I would like much to take a ride with you. VVell, hustle yourself into some heavy clothes, said the Professor. We will leave in half an hour. Before the half-hour had expired, I was ready and the Professor had showed me to a seat in a very cumbersome looking airship, with an air-tight apartment constructed most- ly of glass for us. Professor, said I, what kind of machine is this? It is one which I designed myself and which I hope to break the world's altitude record with, he replied. We can't start for ten minutes yet, as we haven't quite enough compressed air aboard. What is the compressed air for? I asked. You will see later, was his only reply. After a short wait, the Professor took his seat beside me and started the motor. VVe arose into the air by big circles, then started almost straight upward. Soon it was bitter cold and my nose began to bleed. You see we need the air now, the Professor said as he closed our apartment and turned on the Hair . After doing this he pulled several levers and the engines began to exhaust steadily and with great rapidity, somewhat like the purr of a cat, only faster. It seemed to me that we were falling through space only going upward in- stead of downward, we were going so fast. We had gone this way for what seemed to be hours before I gained courage enough to look back at the earth. Imagine my utter astonish- ment, when I looked downward to see that the earth, instead of looking as I had left it, had been transformed into a globe which seemed to be several miles in diameter with a great heap of snow and ice at each end and with a large body of water between them. on each side of this water was a strip of land, and about a third between the two was a long island. I knew by this that the body of water must be the Paciic Ocean, the land on one side parts of the Americas, on the oth- er side parts of Asia and Africa and the island, Australia. Around the earth and around us were many other globes of

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THE COLLEGIAN 17 slackened the mad pace at which we were flying and again opened the hood to our apartment. The air was very cool and invigorating at that height. Suddenly I saw something which looked like a huge broad-backed bird arise from one of those bright spots and go to another. I decided that this must be the means of travel used by the inhabitants. We had sailed downward a good bit when the Professor suggested that we look about a little before we landed. I agreed to this readily, as I was anxious to see all of Mars that it was possible for me to see. VVe flew over many of the mir- ror-like spots and found them to be cities, the houses of which seemed to be constructed of some highly polished material that reflected the sunlight and gave them the appearance of mirrors at a distance. The inhabitants seemed to be very tall and slender, but we could not tell much about them, as we were several hundred feet in the air. We also got a close view of several of the huge bird-like things which we had seen from above. These proved to be airships, not at all like the one we were in, or even any I had ever seen on the earth. They were built on the same principles as our sailing birds. After sailing along this way for some time, the Professor said it was time to land, so we selected a small city some dis- tance ahead of us. Soon after we started to circling down- ward, something unexpected happened. I heard a loud explo- sion and then felt myself to be falling through the air and knew no more. I regained consciousness with a jump and found myself sitting in a chair with the Professor bending over me. What has happened. I asked him. His reply was, Nothing more than that you have been asleep more than five minutes. By-the-by your strange behavior almost made me forget what I was waiting to ask you: Don 't you want to take a ride with me in my new airship? 4,77 H. K. S.