We trooped out, each armed with a rocket, then at the signal simultaneously up they whizzed, bursting with the report into varied-hued sparks and descending in the usual golden shower. The effect upon the bright globe was startling. Like a shot it flashed across the sky, tinging a long, filmy, roseate path; smaller, and smaller it grew, then vanished in space. Though still mystified we were satisfied with the experiment. The next day dawned clear, warm. Towards noon the heat became so intense we were forced to give up travel till evening. Saxe. and Saunders had covered seven miles during the night, and we made two in the early morning; consequently were nine miles from the point of the phenomenon. We decided to wait a reasonable length of time for its reappearance, and consumed the entire day in arguments. I was thankful when evening approached. Eagerly we scanned the heavens, the stars came out bright and clear, but nothing unusual occurred. Saunders informed us the same phenomenon never appeared twice. Patiently we waited and watched till near midnight, then, disappointed and angry over the delay, hurriedly pushed on, when we were startled by the sudden appearance of four great globes of light flaming just above us. “Hoo-ray! hoo-ray!” yelled Sheldon. “Whatever it is, it signals to us. We sent up four rockets and they respond with four balls of fire. What’ll we do with ’em?” Saxe. rushed to the car, returning with rockets and sent them up himself, but their small light faded in the flood of fire that burst from those brilliant globes. The stars vanished as the sky tinged to a fiery sea, flames forked and twisted, seeming to gather volume, and in a second turned to a thousand different hues. It was magnificent! Gradually the fire dimmed, the stars twinkled richly in the pinkish glow and the four globes above swayed gently. Then they descended nearer the earth while a greenish, blue flame darted from each, floating upon the air like a great ribbon, the color deepening as the four ends joined, then formed into loops and circles, and in the second a word blazed across the sky. “Centauri!” I gasped. “Centauri!” my three friends exclaimed. My head grew light. “Centauri,” I murmured. “I saw it.” “I should think you did,” Saxe. cried. “We all saw it. I infer we are traveling in the land of Centauri.” “Behind each flaming globe,” muttered Saunders, who was unusually pale, “I saw long, dark shadows of very solid appearance. They are planets signaling to us.” “Planets be d——d!” roared Saxe. “They were four balloons with great electric search-lights. Boys, this side of the earth is inhabited, and they are far ahead of us when it comes to fireworks.” “Yes, and fond of airing themselves and their fancied superiority, like the rest of us,” agreed Sheldon. “Therefore they’re human. Whee! for Centauri!” CHAPTER IX.