“Chapman and my friend whispered together ‘Volta,’ and then turning to me told me to follow them.  I followed.  Already the hall had become partially emptied, and we pushed onward amongst radiant men and women, who received me with smiles and gestures of approval.  Once outside the Hall of Attention, we hurried through some narrow corridors, up winding stairways, until at length we emerged upon a lofty platform carrying a railing about it, and so elevated above all the surrounding buildings of the Patenta that my glance seemed to sweep the circuit of the City, and swept outward over a rolling and low country through which ran wide mirror-like ribbons of water, the great canals of Mars, while afar off melting into the crystalline hazes of the horizon rose dark masses of mountains.

“I stood an instant stupified and overcome.  The deep voice of a salutation came to my ears, and turning I saw the face of Volta.  Beside me was a large induction coil, and above it two huge plates of copper about ten feet apart.  The next instant a flash passed between the electrodes, and I was caught and turned aside with my companions.  The light of the spark was intense, and the spark itself of great dimensions.

“Volta then spoke:  ’My friend, your arrival on the surface of our planet is a sensation.  We are all delighted.  You have solved our difficulties.  With this transmitter you can yourself send to the earth the message you wish.  And this receiver will catch the waves of the smallest amplitudes.’

“He pointed to a singular train of tubes, each filled apparently with a shining line of straw shaped metallic bodies.  This was raised by some silk cord passing to a pulley and arm, perhaps a hundred feet above us.

“Volta spoke with difficulty; he seemed preoccupied, and after I was shown the transmitter, and its mechanism was explained, he took my hand warmly, pressed it between his own, and then speaking in the Martian tongue to Chapman, left us.

“I then sent you, my son, my first message.  What pleasure!  The great sparks flashed magnificently.  Chapman and my friend were in ecstacies.  I worked steadily until the night.  And when all was over I waited until the stars came out, until again the City of Light shone like some huge, myriad faceted stone, and then there came, while Chapman and my friend stood mute beside me, your faint response.

“I scarcely caught the lisping ticks, but they came, and it seemed indeed as if the power of the Creator had passed into the hands of men.

“With a joy too deep for the futile hopelessness of words to express, we both descended from the high station and through the great halls.  I found my way to the charming, peaceful room above the glowing city and fell asleep with prayers upon my lips for all the dead and dying upon the Earth.