about an hour after midnight
But , after further discussion , this number was reduced ; first to a dozen , and finally , to only four . These four consisted of Mr. Edison , Colonel Smith , Mr. Sidney Phillips and myself . Both by her own request and because we could not help feeling that her knowledge of the locality would be indispensable to us , Aina was also included in our party , but not , of course , as a fighting member of it . It was about an hour after midnight when the ship in which we were to make the venture parted from the remainder of the squadron and dropped cautiously down . The blaze of electric lights running away in various directions indicated the lines of innumerable canals with habitations crowded along their banks , which came to a focus at a point on the continent of Aeria , westward from the Syrtis Major . Destroying The Martians . With Aina 's Aid Our Warriors Prepare an Awful Revenge on the Enemy .