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The Queer Visitors From Oz
BY L. FRANK BAUM
PROLOGUE
August 18, 1904: PLANET IN A PANIC OVER QUEER VISITOR
Big As a Horse and Beats the Air With Fans.
ASTRONOMERS PUZZLED
Special wireless telegraph to The North American from an unknown planet in the vicinity of Argo. (Copyrighted, 1904, on all planets throughout the universe.)
August 17.
Professor Swoggleman, the great astronomer of our planet, states that a body moving at a terrible rate of speed passed this planet last night at 11:34.
The body had a most unusual appearance. It was as large as a coraman; or, as it is termed on the earth, a horse. Around the body there was a strange vibration or motion of air. This motion of the air seemed to be affected as if by the operating of large fans.
The commotion seemed to be entirely beneath the body, and Professor Swoggleman thinks that the air was used to hold it up and give it motion.
There was no light connected with the body. Professor Swoggleman thinks that it could not have been a meteor, unless it was just beginning its journey and had not attained the general characteristics of an aerolite.
The body passed on the west side of this planet, and Professor Swoggleman was able to see it by the aid of his trans-reflector. The trans-reflector is a new invention of the professorís by which he can see on any side of our planets.
A wireless dispatch has been sent to Professor Nindon, on the west side of the planet, to watch for the body. He wired back that he had already located it, and would send information about his discoveries.
August 19, 1904: