“I have received very favorable news from the financial committee of San Francisco, of whom I told you the other evening. They say they have met with complete success in the organization of a company who will undertake to search for my projectile. They have plenty of funds to prosecute the work on an extensive and thorough scale. They want me to come by first train, so as to assist them all I can in ascertaining the locality as nearly as possible where the projectile emerged on my arrival on earth, and also to be present at a meeting which is to be held there a few evenings hence. If I start on the next limited train I can just reach San Francisco in time for that meeting. It is an important event in my life, and I must by no means miss it. “Perhaps I may yet be able some day to see my native world once more, to enjoy the kind, peaceable society which it has developed and blessed with intelligence and prosperity. I may be able once more to drink a draught from its almost faultless social and economic fountains; to press the hand and kiss the lips of those who are dear to me.” “We can never let you return to Mars unless you can take us with you,” said Viola. “The earth is desolate enough with you in it, and without you it would be much more so. But if you find your projectile you may be able to establish a line of intercommunication between Mars and the earth; if so, we can all go. That will be grand, indeed.” “We will do the very best we can,” replied Mr. Midith. “We can tell better what we can do after we find the projectile and see what repairs it needs, and whether or not those repairs can be made by the aid of earthly skill and machinery. Of course, you understand that it is no little thing to make a projectile which will traverse the vast distance between the earth and Mars. It is an undertaking which probably borders on the boundaries of human possibilities.” We all expressed our regrets of having Mr. Midith depart from our midst. Our curiosity concerning the new world and its inhabitants of which Mr. Midith had already told us so much, was not half satisfied, but, on the contrary, the novelty of it increased in proportion as we learned the realities of it. “It will be quite lonesome at first when you are gone,” said Mr. Uwins, “and we have not heard half as much of your world as we would like to, and I hope for _your_ sake that you will be successful in your enterprise; but I also hope that your business may be such that you can do the most of it when you are here with us.”