This was too earthlike; too much as if, instead of being on the planet
Venus, we had been transported to some land of antique civilization in
our own world. But, after all, we _knew where we were_, and as the
realization of that fact came to us we could only stare with increasing
astonishment at the scene before us. I may say here that Edmund
subsequently visited this great library, and also some of the schools,
and I know that he made notes of what he discovered and learned in them,
with the purpose, as I supposed, of writing upon the subject after his
return. But the expected book, which would have supplemented and
clarified much of what I have undertaken to tell, with but a half
understanding of what we saw, never appeared.
Our wonderful excursions came to an end when Edmund at length announced
that he had obtained the information he needed, and that we were about to
make a trip to some of the mines of Venus.
"I have discovered," he said, "that Venus is exceedingly rich in the
precious metals, as well as in iron and lead. They mine them all, and
we shall visit the mines under Ala's escort. My real purpose, of
course, is to find uranium, of whose properties, strangely--and for us
luckily--enough, they seem to have no knowledge.
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