"Well," continued Temple, "all our arguments will avail us nothing now. Regrets are useless; we are in a serious position. Like all Englishmen, we have readily got ourselves into a mess; and let us hope, like our countrymen, we shall display the usual quickness of resource in the time of difficulty and danger, and soon see a way out of it." "True, true, my dear Temple," remarked the Doctor, regaining his usual _sang froid_; "time is pressing. We may rest assured that this morning's work is well noised abroad, and ere long, there will be a hue and cry after us. Although my remarks may savour of egotism, I can frankly say, I have no fear of any living being on this planet. From what little I have seen of its civilisation, I am confident that we shall, at any-rate, receive justice at the hands of its inhabitants. If a low-born labourer of the field--for such I take this Martial, whom we have slain, to be--can show such courage, and be possessed of a weapon that makes the arms of Earth seem but as the toys of barbarians, in comparison--if, I say, the lower classes of this planet's people are so much in advance of ourselves, then its aristocracy must be gifted with intelligence far higher than aught we wot of; and with such a people we have nought to fear, provided we can make them understand who we are, whence we came, and what is our mission. Let us lose no time in getting away from here; let us visit the city yonder in the _Sirius_, boldly and with brave hearts; and I feel sure we shall be received in a manner worthy of our confidence and our courage." "Doctor, I am afraid your naturally brave nature makes you feel too sanguine. I frankly own that I am unable to acquiesce with all you say; still, I cannot suggest anything so good as an alternative, and am ready to act on your suggestion. Let us hope all may yet be well," said Temple. "We could start off elsewhere," said Graham. "The good _Sirius_ can carry us to some other part of this Martial world, where we may have better luck with the natives." "Gently, Graham," rejoined the Doctor; "you overlook the fact that we have nearly worn out our machinery. Everything requires a thorough overhaul; as things are now, I much doubt if the _Sirius_ would carry us a couple of hundred miles. I ascertained this before we started this morning." "As an engineer I ought to have known this, Doctor; but, really, the excitement of the last few days seems to have knocked everything out of me. By all means let us visit the city with what little electric force is still left to us, and take our chance," answered Graham, and his remarks were seconded by Temple.