It was indeed animated
by some extra terrestrial power. Could that power have come from your
Mars; were we the first to receive one of your messages that you have so
long been raining on the Earth?'
"I looked around in enthusiasm, and with a conscious sense of
companionship, pride and affection. I do not think I was altogether
understood, except by a few, but the contagion of my own pleasure seized
the multitude, and a great melodious shout arose, while cries of '_Hi
mitla_' echoed in the Hall, and then, carried away with an emotional
impulse, these excited Martians broke into a song, a swinging chant,
that brought to the doors of the room new accessions of spectators whose
instantaneous sympathy was expressed by the added volume of sound they
contributed, until beneath the vibrant power of the great chorus the
building seemed itself to tremble.
"And then a curious and astounding thing happened. My old acquaintance,
Chapman, leaped up in the dense clusters, and springing on a table
shouted, 'To the Patenta.' The words seemed understood by almost all. I
was seized by powerful arms, swung upon the shoulders of two splendid,
vigorous youths. While by one impulse the throng surged through the
doors in a sort of triumphal progress, I found myself moving in the
midst of the excited populace up a broad avenue to the central hill of
the city again, which was crowned by the many towers, halls, domes and
aggregated arms and facades of the wonderful Patenta, the great communal
home of Experiment and Observation.
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