I judged the object to be about ten feet in length, and about ten feet in circumference at its widest part. The outer shell looked like copper. It had a cone-shaped nose, which seemed to have been embedded deep in the sand when it fell from space, but the weight of the body had tipped it over, so that it now rested in a semi-horizontal position. I noted at once that its metal surface was pitted, and had a fused crust, like the varnish-like coating of a meteorite, no doubt due to the action of the heat generated by its rapid passage through the earth's atmosphere.
What McGinity's thoughts were, during our hurried inspection, I did not know. He appeared to have been awed into silence. Presently, he said, in a very serious tone:
"This is the ship, or rocket, from Mars, all right. Nothing was ever manufactured on this earth that looks anything like it. As for that tapping sound—" he stopped, and leaned over, with his ear pressed against the projectile. "Something is alive in there, sure as faith. We must act quickly, or it'll be suffocated." He made a rapid examination of the rocket's exterior. "I don't see any way of opening the darned thing. Do you?"
I joined him in his inspection. "It seems to be hermetically sealed," I said. "Looks like a Chinese puzzle to me."
Hearing voices approaching, I wheeled round, to see Henry coming on the run—bareheaded, and wearing only his trousers and shirt and bedroom slippers. Niki was running some steps ahead of him. He was almost breathless when he came up to us. He gave the rocket one searching glance, and then he went plain crazy. Here it was, the "ship" from Mars, with all its potentialities.
"My God!" was all he said.
I don't suppose I'll ever remember exactly what happened after Henry's arrival on the scene. Revelations, weird and foreboding, crowded the ensuing half hour so quickly, one upon the other, I became dazed and dizzy. I know we all worked heroically, and swiftly, to free the living thing inside the rocket. We were assisted in the operation by a dozen, strong-armed men-servants. Already, we had quite a gallery of spectators; all of the servants practically on the estate, but no one from outside. Jane and Pat stood on a sod embankment, fringed with willows, some yards away; even at this distance, I could discern that Pat was wildly excited but was being held in check by Jane.
Henry was handy with tools, but McGinity proved himself more capable when it came to the actual opening of the rocket. Henry, however, was privileged to be the first one to look inside. He gasped, and stepped back like one stunned. Then McGinity took a look. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" I asked, as I stepped forward, tremulous and excited, to take my turn.
"That's what it is," he replied, cryptically. "Looks like Barnum's 'What Is It?'"