"Jack, run to the pilot house, and see if the automatic steering apparatus is all right. Also see what the speed gage there indicates." Jack hurried off, and soon returned. "We're heading right for Mars, as indicated on the chart," he said, for there was an arrangement whereby the projectile could be automatically steered. "What speed does the gage there show?" asked the German scientist. "Two hundred miles a second." "The same as here," murmured Mr. Roumann. "I wonder what can cause it?" He leaned over the motor, and made some calculations. Then he exclaimed: "I have it!" "What is the reason?" inquired the professor. "It is because we are speeding through an atmosphere much less dense than that of our earth. There the motor would only work at a certain speed. Here, in the atmosphere of Mars, it goes more than twice as fast, because there is less resistance." "Is that good or bad?" asked Jack. "Good. We shall reach the planet all the sooner now. Boys, get ready to land on Mars in a few hours!" The news was startling in itself, but so many strange things had happened on the trip that this only produced a momentary impression. "Yo' say dat we am shortly goin' t' promulgate eurseves inter conjunctionary juxtaposition wid de exterior circumference an' surface ob de planetary sphere commonly called Mars?" asked Washington White. "If you mean whether or not we are near Mars, why, we are," answered Jack with a laugh. "But, Wash, if you use such language as that I don't know what the Martians will think of you." "I knows," answered the colored man with great dignity. "Dey'll take me fo' jest what I am--a mostest profundity educationalized specimen ob de human fambly. But I'se glad we's so neah Mars." "Why? Are you tired of being cooped up here?" asked Mark. "Not prexactly, but mah Shanghai rooster am. He's dat lonesome dat's he's homesick for t' git out an' do a bit ob scratchin' on de ground." "Look out that he doesn't fly away when he gets on Mars," cautioned Jack. "Things there are twice as light as they are on the earth, and he'll only weigh a pound or so, instead of two or three." Washington grunted, but said nothing. He served a meal, probably the last one that would be eaten before their arrival. "We have been just twelve days, so far, on our journey," declared Mr. Roumann. "That is a little longer than I calculated, but it was due to unexpected troubles." "Well, we've been very comfortable here," commented Mr. Henderson. And indeed they had. Except for the rather cramped quarters, and the absence of scenery, they had lived as well as they could have done at home. They had plenty to eat and drink during their marvelous trip through space, they had enjoyed the reading of books, had listened to fine music, and had been traveling in perpetual sunlight. What was before them? Every one asked himself that question.