Gold is a thing which may make its appearance anywhere and at any time without offering any excuses or explanations.

Fortunately after a time they got under way with sufficient velocity to bring them back to us before the approaching Martians could overtake them.

"I think," said a German enthusiast, "that it will be a universal language, the Volapuk of Mars, spoken by all the inhabitants of that planet."

Now, when we were near at hand and straight above one of these singular lands, the magnificence of the panorama surpassed belief.

"By ——!" cried Colonel Smith, "she's human!"

"She is a prisoner," he said, "and by the Seven Devils of Dona Ana we'll not leave her here. But where are the hellhounds themselves?"

The distance of Mars from us was only about three times its own diameter, consequently it shut off a large part of the sky, as viewed from our position.

Amid the ruins that surround me, one strip of wall remains standing, immovable upon its solid base: my passion for scientific truth.

The Life of the Fly; With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography by Jean-Henri Fabre is part of the HackerNoon Books Series.

The length of the full sized larva is 15 to 20 millimeters and its breadth 5 to 6.