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Title: A fishing trip on the planet Mars

Author: F. H. Sidney

Release date: December 15, 2025 [eBook #77464]

Language: English

Original publication: San Francisco: Overland Monthly, co, 1919

Credits: Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FISHING TRIP ON THE PLANET MARS ***




                   A Fishing Trip on the Planet Mars

                                   by

                              F. H. Sidney




  Just how does it feel to make a trip to the planet Mars? We have all
  wondered. It is a thrilling experience going up--Mr. Sidney tells us
  all about it right here.--Editor.


It was during my summer vacation one year that I enjoyed a delightful
fishing trip on the planet Mars.

I took my fishing rod and a lunch one fine morning and started for
a stream where I expected to catch some big bass; although I fished
steadily till noon I didn’t even feel a nibble. By this time I felt
hungry, and sat down under a tree to eat my lunch.

Just as I finished my lunch I noticed a strange looking flower about
ten feet away from where I was sitting, and I walked over to examine
it. As I reached the spot, the flower suddenly disappeared, and I felt
myself being drawn up into space.

I yelled for help. There wasn’t a soul in sight, and in a few seconds I
was up among the clouds, and had lost all view of the earth.

“Where will I land?” I kept asking myself. “Suppose I should begin to
drop?” flashed across my mind. Just then I noticed a speck in the sky
above me. I was headed right for it. The speck grew larger, and finally
it assumed enormous proportions, and I saw a great world. I sailed
above it and then began to slowly descend into what appeared to be a
laboratory on the top of a high building.

Just as I touched the floor of the laboratory, a man with a
familiar-looking face stepped out from behind an enormous telescope,
and cried. “Hello stranger, welcome to the planet Mars.”

“John Hopkins;” I cried. “The man that disappeared from our town five
years ago.”

“The same,” he answered, “and I’ve been here ever since. I wouldn’t go
back under any circumstances.”

“How did you get up here?” I asked.

“The same way you did,” he replied, “The Martians were hungry for
news from ‘Mother Earth.’ They had tried for years to establish
communication between the planets with no success. Finally Astrol, the
Martian Edison, invented that machine you see there, that is a powerful
telescope and magnet combined. By training this telescope onto the
earth, we can plainly discern people and objects on the earth, and in
case we feel we need any of you up here, we can draw you up in a few
moments, and drop you back by the same means without injuring you in
the least. I could have gone back, but I didn’t want to. There were no
family ties on the earth to hold me, consequently I preferred to stay,
but today I felt hungry for news from old ‘Mother Earth,’ and asked
Astrol to draw someone up. He located you fishing by a creek, and as
there was no one in sight down there to witness the feat, and frighten
them to death, he quickly drew you up. We’ll send you back in a few
days, and you can simply say you were lost in the woods for no one will
believe your story. The flower that attracted your attention was the
reflection of the lense of the telescope. What’s the news?”

“Here’s a copy of the morning paper,” and I handed it to him.

“Bully” he exclaimed, “I’ll read that tonight. Come let me introduce
you to Astrol, and show you the wonderful machine, then we’ll go to my
home and tomorrow we’ll go fishing in the Martian Canals.”

Hopkins introduced me to Astrol, who explained the wonderful machine to
me, and then we stepped aboard a tiny runabout airplane and flew to his
home in the country, on the bank of a beautiful, clearwater canal.

“How is it the Martians speak English?” I asked.

“I introduced the language which was adopted as the national language
of the planet. I have just completed two terms as President of the
planet Mars, and now a woman sits in the President’s chair; equal
suffrage prevails here, and it has proved a complete success. Here we
are home,” and he dropped to a hangar on the roof of his residence.
We then descended into the living room where he introduced me to his
handsome wife, and two beautiful daughters. We spent a very pleasant
evening together, Hopkins read bits of interesting news from the
paper, I had given him, to his family, and the next day he arranged
to have the contents of the whole paper published in all the Martian
dailies. The next day at noon Hopkins and myself attended a lunch given
in my honor at the Press Club. This lunch was what we would call a
banquet on “Mother Earth,” there were enormous trout, baked; tiny deer
and buffalo, barbecued; broiled game, birds of all kinds, the most
delicious fruits, and the table was decorated with flowers.

“We use electricity for everything,” explained Hopkins, “heat, cooking,
power, fertilizer for the soil, medicine, and even as ammunition for
our radio sporting rifles; all power is transmitted by the wireless
system. Tomorrow you will have an opportunity to shoot some of these
big trout with a radio gun. Our fish are large, but the game animals
are small. This was brought about by a scientific system of breeding;
there are no reptiles, beasts of prey or vermin on this planet. We
exterminated them long ago.”

After lunch we took a trip over the planet in a big passenger airship,
returning in time for dinner. I retired early that night in order to be
rested for the fishing trip next day.

The most beautiful song I ever heard awakened me the next morning, and
looking out of the window, I saw the songster, it was a gorgeously
colored bird, somewhat resembling the scarlet taniger.

I dressed and hurried down to breakfast, where the family were waiting
for me. As soon as we had finished breakfast, Hopkins and I stepped
aboard the runabout and flew to his boathouse on the canal system. The
big boathouse was full of all kinds and sizes of watercraft, everything
from a canoe to a good sized yacht.

Hopkins ran out a motor canoe, and taking two radio rifles from a
locker we stepped aboard, started the engine and ran out into the main
canal. “I’ll explain the workings of the rifle to you and then you can
try your luck, of course you’ll miss at first, but as soon as you get
used to shooting at a fast moving fish in the water, you’ll score a
kill every time; it’s the electric current that kills them, and they
come to the top as soon as they are killed. We’ll only kill what we can
use, that is a custom rigidly followed by the Martian sportsmen, there
are no game hogs among us.”

“Gee whiz, what a big fellow;” I cried, as a huge fish swam slowly
along the sandy bottom of the canal.

“That’s a Martian sucker, try the gun on him,” answered Hopkins.

I tried three times, and missed every time. Finally the fish swam into
one of the lateral canals and got away.

“See that big lobster down on the bottom there, don’t shoot, reserve
your marksmanship for bigger game. Wouldn’t that fellow create a
sensation on exhibition in the show window of some of the ‘lobster
palaces’ on Broadway? Our Martian lobsters are mighty good eating.”

“Is the water in the whole canal system as clear and pure as this, and
is it sandy bottom everywhere?” I asked.

“Yes,” replied Hopkins. “Now we’re coming to the game country, and
perhaps we’ll catch a glimpse of herds of deer and buffalo feeding
along the canal.”

We are now sailing through a prairie country, and in the distance I saw
what I took to be a moving herd.

“Take these field glasses and look at them,” said Hopkins.

Sure enough they were a herd of tiny bison, and how odd they looked
in their shaggy coats and with the hump on their shoulders. The herd
galloped off as the canoe approached.

“Perhaps you could pick one off with the rifle, but what’s the use
shooting one when we don’t need the meat? Pretty soon I think we’ll run
across some deer or moose. Our little dwarf moose will look odd to you.”

Sure enough we ran into both a herd of moose and a herd of deer; we got
quite close to them before they noticed us, and I was able to get a
good look at them with the naked eye, before they ran off.

“We’re now in the trout section of the canal, watch sharp,” said
Hopkins.

Just then an enormous brook trout crossed our bows, and I made a clean
miss. “I’ll never get used to this method of fishing Hopkins.”

“Don’t get discouraged, keep trying.”

Just then another big beauty came along, and taking careful aim, I
fired, and the big fish turned belly up, and came to the top of the
water. I picked him up delighted; “He’ll weigh twenty pounds.” I cried.

“All of that,” replied Hopkins, as he took a pair of scales from the
canoe locker. “Just twenty-eight pounds, I think that enough fish for
today, we’ll have him baked for dinner. Now for a cruise through the
wooded country, where we’ll probably see some Martian bird life.”

We entered a section that was thickly wooded on both sides. There were
birds everywhere, and the air was full of melody. The Martian birds
sang even sweeter than those of “Mother Earth.”

“See that flock of passenger pigeons,” cried Hopkins, “That’s something
that the game hogs killed off on ‘Mother Earth’ long ago.”

A few moments later we ran into a school of leaping salmon, and how
beautiful the silvery bodies looked as they glistened in the sunlight.

“Here comes a flock of partridges, pick one off.”

I aimed and fired at one of the leaders, and a large handsome bird
dropped into the canal; we picked it up, and weighed it, and I was very
much surprised to find its weight was fifteen pounds.

We ran out of the forest and the canal broadened into a huge lake; here
we ran into schools of smelts, mackerel, and all sorts of edible fish.

“We’ll cruise down as far as salt water, where I will show you some
fine clam and oyster beds, then we’ll head for home, for tomorrow I
want to start you back towards ‘Mother Earth’ before your family will
have given you up altogether; you’ve been gone two days now. That’s
long enough to be lost in the wilderness of the New York suburbs.”

“See the shellfish on the bottom there, they thrive on our sandy
bottoms, and are larger and sweeter than the shellfish you’ve been
accustomed to. I’ll scoop up a few for our dinner tonight,” and he drew
a collapsible scoop from the canoe locker, and scooped up enough clams
and oysters for our evening meal. “Now we’ll speed for home,” said
Hopkins.

The little craft’s speedometer registered sixty-five miles an hour; we
cut through the water at a terrific rate, and in a very short time we
reached the boathouse, where we boarded the runabout airship and flew
to Hopkins’ home.

Our dinner that night consisted of baked trout, grilled oysters,
steamed clams and clam bouillon, and how good everything tasted. I
spent a very pleasant evening with the family, and retired early. By
six o’clock the next morning I was up and dressed, and after a splendid
breakfast, I bade Mrs. Hopkins and her daughters good-bye, and Mr.
Hopkins and I flew to the laboratory where Astrol was waiting for us.

How I hated to leave, and I know that Hopkins was sorry to see me go.
“Never mind old man,” he said. “You arrange to be at the same place
fishing at the same time next year, and we’ll draw you up here and we
can enjoy another fishing trip on Mars together.”

“Bully,” I cried. “It’s settled then, and I’ll be with you next year at
this time.” I shook hands with Hopkins and Astrol, then stood in front
of the machine as directed by the inventor.

I felt myself lifted gently in the air, and gradually rose above the
planet. As soon as I was completely clear of Mars, I began dropping
into space and in a few moments my feet touched “Old Mother Earth”
again.

I awoke with a start. “Great guns! I’ve slept the whole afternoon, and
nary a fish have I caught, and the sun is about ready to set, guess I’d
better start for home. That was certainly the finest dream I ever had.
It’s too beautiful to tell anyone, guess I’ll keep it to myself for a
while anyway.”

Then I gathered up my belongings and hiked towards home, just as the
sun dipped down behind a bend in the river. “That coloring on the water
reminds me of a sunset I saw in Mars,” I whispered to myself.




Transcriber’s Note:


  This etext was produced from The Overland Monthly, May 1919.

  Obvious errors in punctuation have been silently corrected in this
version.


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