always held the power of irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at
it on that far-gone night it seemed to call across the unthinkable
void, to lure me to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a
particle of iron.

My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closed my eyes,
stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocation and felt myself
drawn with the suddenness of thought through the trackless immensity
of space. There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness.




CHAPTER III

MY ADVENT ON MARS



I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that
I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my
wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner
consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your
conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not
question the fact; neither did I.

I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike
vegetation which stretched around me in all directions for
interminable miles. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular
basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the