’Young sir,’ said he presently, ’I don’t know what star you were born under, but it seems perfectly clear that you are marked out for some experiences such as scarcely any one else on this Earth can boast of. You are in possession of a great secret, which we wished to keep to ourselves; and, further, it has been ordained that you should save the life of—of—well, of one who is never ungrateful to those who do him even the smallest service. He is my most gracious master, and he will talk with you himself later on; but, meanwhile, he has deputed me to see you, and prepare your mind for some tremendous facts which you might otherwise find it difficult to grasp all at once. I am instructed to tell you certain things which must appear to you so incredible, so impossible, that I doubt if you will believe them without further proof.’ ’I think I can give a good guess at one or two of them, sir; or, rather, my guardian has done so. This monster airship, or whatever you call it, has found its way here from some other planet—probably Mars’—— ’My word, young gentleman, you’ve hit it!’ cried the other, in very evident surprise. ’And,’ continued Gerald, ’you made some mistake in arriving here, and very nearly came to awful grief.’ ’Yes, yes! There, too, you guessed well,’ returned the other. ’It was but a slight miscalculation, but it nearly smashed us up! It was a fearfully narrow escape!’ He drew out a handkerchief and passed it over his forehead, as though the mere recollection made him hot. ’I expect that was Mr Armeath’s guess too, wasn’t it?’ ’Yes, sir.’ ’Ah well! there are certain other things, however, which you do not know—cannot know—which I will now explain. In the first place, you do not know that my master is a great king in Mars—a mighty ruler over nearly half the population of that globe. His name is Ivanta; he reigns over the empire of Ivenia—which, by-the-by, is the name of this airship, as you called it. He named her the _Ivenia_, after his own country.’ Gerald listened with growing wonder, and eyes that lighted up more and more as the stranger continued: ’Very well! The next thing is that this is not the first visit my master has paid to this Earth. He came here some years ago.’ At this Gerald stared harder than ever. ’Is it possible?’ he exclaimed. ’I never heard of it!’ ’Nobody—on the Earth—ever heard of it, save myself and one or two others who were all sworn to secrecy. My royal master came here for purposes of his own, and did not wish—and does not wish now—that his visits should be made known. If they were, he would have a lot of people pestering him with questions, and possibly some one might imitate his inventions and build airships like this one, and he might have explorers from here coming over to Mars—which he does not wish. Do you understand?’ ’Yes, sir.’ ’Very well! At his first visit he came to this very island, and made it his headquarters. It was uninhabited then’——