’I will let you into a little secret, then. My royal father lent me, just before we came away, one of his pocket telegraph-boxes; and he lent Monck Affelda another, so that we might be able to communicate with one another if we were separated. Perhaps he did not trust King Agrando quite so much as he appeared to do. Anyway, he lent us these. He usually keeps them for the exclusive use of himself and his most confidential officers, and very few people even know of their existence. He invented and designed them himself, and the working parts were made by workmen he could trust, who were sworn to secrecy.’ The term ’Affelda,’ applied to Monck, it may be here explained, was a term of courtesy and respect in use among the Martians. It signified rather more than our ’Mr’ and something less than ’lord.’ As Alondra spoke he drew from a side-pocket a small affair which looked at first sight like a gold chronometer attached to a gold chain. Just then there came another rumbling warning of the approaching storm. ’Come inside. We shall be quieter there,’ he said. They left the outside gallery, or balcony, and went into an inner chamber, where were seats and a plain wood table. Upon the latter he placed the little ’watch.’ ’The wood acts as a sounding-board, and we shall hear better,’ he explained. He touched a spring and a lid flew open. Then he touched other springs, and at once there was heard the sound of little bells or gongs not unlike those of a repeater watch. He repeated this performance several times, waiting a little while between, as though expecting some reply which did not come. The others stood around, looking on with perplexed curiosity and wondering what it was all about. ’It seems to me it is a repeater watch,’ said Jack presently. ’The gongs are beautiful and silvery in tone; but how in the world they are going to’—— ’Hush!’ exclaimed Alondra, with a warning gesture. He had placed the instrument on the table and left it to itself; and now, lo! the little gongs were ringing away on their own account. Alondra bent over it and listened intently, holding up his hand the while to enjoin strict silence on his companions. Then, when the sounds ceased, he manipulated the gongs himself in turn; immediately he left them alone they again rung out by themselves. It appeared to the onlookers as though a sort of conversation were being carried on in some mysterious fashion between Alondra and the curious little machine. Then a thought flashed into Jack’s mind. ’Wireless telegraphy—or I ’m a Dutchman!’ he breathed. Still the curious performance went on, and the longer it continued the graver grew Alondra’s face. His brow clouded over, and at last, when there came a pause, and he drew himself up, it could be seen that his face was flushed and his eyes flashing.