TENNYSON.




A TRIP TO VENUS.


CHAPTER I.

A MESSAGE FROM MARS.


While I was glancing at the _Times_ newspaper in a morning train for
London my eyes fell on the following item:--

A STRANGE LIGHT ON MARS.--On Monday afternoon, Dr. Krueger, who is
in charge of the central bureau at Kiel, telegraphed to his
correspondents:--

"_Projection lumineuse dans région australe du terminateur de Mars
observée par Javelle 28 courant, 16 heures.--Perrotin._"

In plain English, at 4 a.m., a ray of light had been observed on the
disc of the planet Mars in or near the "terminator"; that is to say, the
zone of twilight separating day from night. The news was doubly
interesting to me, because a singular dream of "Sunrise in the Moon" had
quickened my imagination as to the wonders of the universe beyond our
little globe, and because of a never-to-be-forgotten experience of mine
with an aged astronomer several years ago.