“Our neighbors from Mars have at last materialized, but either from fright or some unknown reason have failed to land or in any way communicate with us, so that we are none the wiser for their visit.”
Another read, “A wonderful phenomenon has been observed at many points in the West. First at San Francisco, then, within twenty-four hours, in Omaha, later in Chicago, and last in Philadelphia. It is impossible to conjecture whether it is a heavenly body wandering out of its natural course or whether it is a mechanical toy invented by human hands, for it travels too fast for satisfactory examination or observation. It is at present reading an unsolved problem.”
A scientific magazine devoted several pages to theories concerning this aerial stranger:
“Its speed seemed only rivaled by the ease and grace of its motions. It has not been seen to land any passengers, neither is it known that it contained passengers, although judging from its direct and steady course it is reasonable to believe that it is controlled by human agency. People are sleeping on the house-tops hoping to see it sail by, for some one is on watch every moment to give the signal should it appear.”
In the meantime our young people were half way to Europe in the midst of a terrible thunder storm and now it was that “The Queen” showed the perfection of her mechanism, for with sails lowered, and all things shipshape, she was ready for anything, and though the wind blew hurricanes, the thunder sounded with deafening crashes, and the lightning fairly blinded them with its lurid glare, the ship floated serenely onward. Storms had no visible effect upon this queer-shaped air craft. It shot through the storm clouds like a meteor with no trouble whatsoever, while the rain and hail slipped off doing no damage. Once or twice the girls had a scare when it turned bottom side up and over and over two or three times like a bucket of water when twirled at arms length, but it righted itself at once and all was done so quickly that not even a dish fell from the shelves or a chair moved from its place any more than a drop of water would fall from a bucket swung in that way. At another time it spun round and round like a top until they were all dizzy and could scarcely sit up, then it shot forward hither and thither with lightning-like speed. At last the old man disentangled the wires and adjusted the steering apparatus, when all was again smooth sailing, but he found that in doing so he had sustained several shocks from the electric wires and some bad burns.
“Now is the time for me to experiment on myself and see what radium will do for me. It is claimed to effect wonderful cures for such things.” He made the experiment and found that it not only effected a painless but also a quick cure. “It is an ill wind that blows no one any good,” he said, “and now I can recommend the use of this element for burns and blisters.” He seemed quite delighted to think that he had been hurt since it gave him an opportunity of proving the wonderful power of this new metal.
While the storm was raging, our party had heard the booming of cannon and had seen sky-rockets ascend.
“Are they signals of distress from some ship underneath us?” asked Harold.
“I think so,” answered the captain, as they now called the old man. “I’ll lower our ship and see if we cannot assist them.”
Presently they saw an ocean-liner breasting the winds and breakers, helpless in midocean, without masts and with a big hole in its side.