The more we saw of this golden planet the greater became our
astonishment. What the Martians had removed was a mere nothing in
comparison with the entire bulk of the asteroid. Had the celestial mine
been easier to reach, perhaps they would have removed more, or, possibly,
their political economists perfectly understood the necessity of properly
controlling the amount of precious metal in circulation. Very likely,
we thought, the mining operations were under government control in Mars
and it might be that the majority of the people there knew nothing of
this store of wealth floating in the firmament. That would account for
the battle with the supposed pirates, who, no doubt, had organized a
secret expedition to the asteroid and been caught red-handed at the mine.