we had to face our fate, whatever it might be. It wasn't likely that they would begin by making an end of us. Their curiosity would first have to be satisfied.
They showed no apprehension. Why should they? All that they saw as yet was an odd-looking affair floating on the water. They might take it for some strange marine animal, but they could never imagine that it contained intelligent beings whose eyes were watching them.
At length they came to rest within a hundred yards of the car. Then one of the air-ships settled gracefully down upon the water, where it rose and fell with the swell as gently as a swan.
With some appearance of caution it began to approach us. What should we do?
Edmund answered the question in a practical manner without consulting the rest of us. He threw open a window, and stepped out upon a steel ledge running just beneath it. You should have seen the astonishment of our inquisitors when they caught sight of him.
Instantly they stopped the slow movement of their craft and gathered at its bow, staring at Edmund and making all sorts of strange gestures. Edmund repeated the same maneuvers that he had employed at the entrance of the cavern where we first landed.
"Hallo, you!" he called out.
A Beautiful Woman in Command
His voice sounded like a tremendous crack, and a momentary panic seized them. They were evidently as unused to loud voices as were the creatures on the other side of the planet. But they were not so easily cowed. Feeling themselves at a safe distance from the strange monster, they held their ground.
We were not prepared for their next move. If they had given no evidence of the abject fright that had overcome the creatures of the cavern when their ears were thus assailed, they had at least shown that they were greatly startled and disturbed; and we ascribed their comparative coolness to the fact that they were in a ship which they knew could take flight into the air at a moment's notice.
But we misjudged them; or, rather, one of them. To our surprise, after the momentary effect of Edmund's shout had passed, they began again to approach us.
Reading Our Souls
Then, we saw that this maneuver was due to the commands of a person standing near the bow, and our amazement may be imagined when we recognized—beyond all possibility of doubt—that this person was a woman!
They were now within fifteen yards of us, and every detail of the faces and figures was visible. There were, perhaps, thirty persons on the airship, which continued floating easily on the water; and of these, half a dozen were certainly women.
They stood in a group in front of the men, and one of them, as I have said, by her commands directed the movements of the vessel. Jack, whose irrepressible optimism had not been permanently affected by our recent terrible experiences, exclaimed, as we all crowded at the window behind Edmund:
"Amazons, upon my word! The women are in command here. I should rather have expected to see Mars leading the Venuses."
"Not Amazons in appearance," I replied. "Did you ever see any creatures more beautiful than those?"
And, indeed, as the way of the approaching craft was stopped, and it drifted very slowly nearer, our eyes were fairly dazzled by the spectacle which those women presented!
Their forms and faces were distinctly human in type, but with a suggestion of something almost superhuman. I particularly noticed their leader.
She was bewildering. She seemed a Madonna just descending from the sky. And yet she was rather an Aphrodite than a Madonna.
Her complexion was light, with a flame upon the cheeks; her hair a chestnut blond. Her eyes, of a pure sapphire-blue, seemed to radiate a light of their own. I had never seen, had never dreamed, of such eyes. They were more than eyes; they were truly what the poets had imagined—"windows of the soul."
Such expression as they had! I verily believe that they spoke. I could feel a strange influence proceeding from them.
Her dress and that of her companions was something that I cannot describe, farther than to say that it suggested the attire of a Greek statue. It was not the dress that terrestrial women would wear at the present time, except perhaps in some remote Pacific island; but it revealed and enhanced the beauty of the wearer in a manner that would have driven an artist wild with admiration.
In the presence of this vision we had no eyes for the men in the background; and yet, as a glance showed, they were no less remarkable for physical attractions.
They were of about the average human stature, and very perfectly formed, with attire as classically simple as that of their beautiful companions. We were all so lost in amazement and admiration that even Edmund seemed to have been struck dumb and motionless, not knowing what to do.
The craft drifted within four or five yards of the car, and then the woman who commanded it slowly lifted her right hand, revealing a glittering bracelet of gems upon her white wrist; and with a smile of indescribable winningness made a motion which said, as plainly as words could have done:
"Strangers, you are welcome."
{{c|CHAPTER VIII
An Adventure in the Air
I must hurry on to what followed that first meeting on the sea. The events were so wonderful, they so transcended all human experience, that to relate them in detail would require volumes; and among them there are things impossible to describe, because so entirely without terrestrial analogy.
It was now that we first became completely aware
