“Well! I will tell you the things that impressed me most forcibly were the dirt and the smoky atmosphere and, what was scarcely less disagreeable, the unmannerly people in the slow-moving crowds. I constantly wished for my magic robe that I might escape from the clanging bells, rumbling wheels, and pushing crowds. It was positively deafening after enjoying the quiet and peace of the skies, and suffocating too, with its smoke-laden atmosphere. How so many people can live in a city from choice, I cannot imagine. I always disliked noise and dirt but now after our recent experiences in the heavens, it will be unendurable.” While they had been talking, the old man had quietly steered the ship over New York harbor and now he and Mercury were watching a large white object that was sailing directly beneath them. “Look over the side,” said Mercury. “See what a beautiful sight the harbor presents with all its ocean-liners and ferry boats moving to and fro in the moonlight with their many-colored lanterns. That fast ocean greyhound is especially majestic and has just entered the harbor with its hundreds of passengers from foreign shores.” The old man lowered the ship so that they could distinguish voices on the steamer beneath them and could see by the rays thrown from the search-light the frightened faces of the passengers. As the steamer passed on to her dock the air-ship slowly ascended until she was lost to sight in the clear night sky. While they were speeding on their way to Europe, Harold took out the papers he had bought, and seating himself beside a shaded reading lamp commenced to read aloud what was being said about their air-ship. One paper had in red head lines: “Our neighbors from Mars have at last materialized, but either from fright or some unknown reason have failed to land or in any way communicate with us, so that we are none the wiser for their visit.” Another read, “A wonderful phenomenon has been observed at many points in the West. First at San Francisco, then, within twenty-four hours, in Omaha, later in Chicago, and last in Philadelphia. It is impossible to conjecture whether it is a heavenly body wandering out of its natural course or whether it is a mechanical toy invented by human hands, for it travels too fast for satisfactory examination or observation. It is at present reading an unsolved problem.” A scientific magazine devoted several pages to theories concerning this aerial stranger: “Its speed seemed only rivaled by the ease and grace of its motions. It has not been seen to land any passengers, neither is it known that it contained passengers, although judging from its direct and steady course it is reasonable to believe that it is controlled by human agency. People are sleeping on the house-tops hoping to see it sail by, for some one is on watch every moment to give the signal should it appear.”