But we have hopelessly repeated, are
even now repeating these efforts.
"'You, my friend, are the first man from Earth who tells us that
wireless telegraphy is understood upon Earth, that receivers have been
invented; but above all it amazes and transports us to know that you
have perfected means, before leaving the Earth, to have such messages as
you may deliver from Mars properly received. There is, though,' he
exclaimed, as he turned to the eager, shining faces about me, 'still a
grave doubt whether our good friend can assure us of the ability of the
_Earthlings_ to send us back any communication. They may be unable to
force through this enormous distance waves of sufficient magnitude to
reach us.'
"There was a loud murmur of disappointment, mingled with exclamations of
dissent and reproach. Once more I was plied with questions, and then, my
son, there came to me, singularly clouded in forgetfulness until that
instant, the memory of that fruitless message which we received about a
year before my death on Earth.
"I arose, and amid a hush of expectation excited by this motion,
accompanied as it were with a gesture inviting silence, spoke aloud in
English:
"'My friends, I recall a night in August, 1890, in the Earth's
chronology, when my son and myself, then hoping against hope that the
carefully adjusted receiver we had, would ever be called upon to herald
a message from another world, were suddenly surprised to see and hear
the register of our instrument move and sound.
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