"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