"And that is just what is going to be put through them, my boy," went on Mr. Roumann. "From those openings, and you will see that there are four of them, will protrude the muzzles of my electric cannons."
"Do we need them?" asked Jack.
"You can't tell what we'll need when we get to Mars," was the slow answer. "You must remember that we know nothing about the inhabitants of the planet. While I believe that the people there are of a very high grade of intelligence, we must be prepared for the worst. We may find them terrible savages, who will want to attack and destroy us. With the electric cannon we can defend ourselves."
"That's so," admitted Jack. "We had to fight the Esquimaux up north,"
"And the putty–men in the center of the earth," added Mark.
Forward of the living–room, and near what corresponded to the bow of the projectile, were the sleeping–rooms, consisting of two long, narrow compartments, with a passageway between them, like the aisle in a sleeping–car. The beds were berths against the wall, much as in the Pullman cars of to–day.
In the very "nose" of the Annihilator was the pilot house. Here were grouped together the wheels, levers, cams, gears, pistons and other apparatus that controlled the big projectile. Standing in it, and peering out through a heavy plate glass window, the operator could guide the machine in any direction he desired, and he could also regulate the rate of progress.
A number of scientific instruments were carried, for showing and registering the speed and direction of the Annihilator, the distance it was above the earth, and there was an indicator to note how near the travelers came to Mars. There was also a powerful telescope, and a number of cameras so arranged that they would automatically take pictures.
"We'll have to travel through space pretty fast in order to cover thirty–five millions of miles," observed Jack, stopping in his work of helping rivet some of the plates.
"About how fast will we have to go, Mr. Roumann?"