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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in
-Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules Verne
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in
+Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules
+Verne, Translated by Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King
 
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
 
-Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and
-Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It
+
 
 Author: Jules Verne
 
-Release Date: November 24, 2013 [eBook #44278]
-[Most recently updated: October 4, 2022]
+
+
+Release Date: November 24, 2013  [eBook #44278]
 
 Language: English
 
 Character set encoding: UTF-8
 
-Produced by: an anonymous volunteer from page images generously
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
+IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***
+
+
+E-text prepared by by an anonymous volunteer from page images generously
 made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
 
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
-IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT ***
 
 
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 44278-h.htm or 44278-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h/44278-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/fromearthtomoond00vern
+
 
 
-Illustration: Frontispiece. PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
 
 
+Illustration: Frontispiece. PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
 
 
 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS
@@ -52,6 +71,9 @@ With Eighty Full Page Illustrations.
 
 
 
+
+
+
 New York:
 Scribner, Armstrong & Company.
 1874.
@@ -10780,8 +10802,8 @@ Michel Ardan.
 "But one can draw some hypotheses, I suppose?"
 
 "Two," answered Barbicane; "either the projectile's speed will be
-insufficient, and it will remain for ever immovable on this line of
-double attraction—"
+insufficient, and it will remain for immovable on this line of double
+attraction—"
 
 "I prefer the other hypothesis, whatever it may be," interrupted Michel.
 
@@ -12069,32 +12091,42 @@ most commonly "Beer and Moedler".
 Obvious minor typesetting errors have been silently corrected.
 
 
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diff --git a/44278-0.zip b/44278-0.zip
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--- a/44278-0.zip
+++ b/44278-0.zip
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in
+Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules
+Verne, Translated by Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It
+
+
+Author: Jules Verne
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 24, 2013  [eBook #44278]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
+IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***
+
+
+E-text prepared by by an anonymous volunteer from page images generously
+made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 44278-h.htm or 44278-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h/44278-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/fromearthtomoond00vern
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustration: Frontispiece. PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
+
+
+FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS
+AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT:
+
+by
+
+JULES VERNE,
+
+Author of "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth."
+
+Translated from the French by
+Louis Mercier, M.A., (Oxon,) and Eleanor E. King.
+
+With Eighty Full Page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York:
+Scribner, Armstrong & Company.
+1874.
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._
+
+------------------
+
+A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
+
+With 53 Illustrations. One Vol. 12mo, $2.00.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+ROUND THE MOON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE GUN CLUB
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+EFFECT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HISTORY OF THE CANNON
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ONE ENEMY _v._ TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FLORIDA AND TEXAS
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+URBI ET ORBI
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+STONES HILL
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+PICKAXE AND TROWEL
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE FÊTE OF THE CASTING
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE COLUMBIAD
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE PASSENGER OF THE "ATLANTA"
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A MONSTER MEETING
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+ATTACK AND RIPOSTE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+HOW A FRENCHMAN MANAGES AN AFFAIR
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE NEW CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE PROJECTILE-VEHICLE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+FINAL DETAILS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+FIRE!
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+FOUL WEATHER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A NEW STAR
+
+
+
+ROUND THE MOON
+
+
+PRELIMINARY CHAPTER
+
+RECAPITULATORY
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FROM TWENTY MINUTES PAST TEN TO FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES PAST TEN P.M.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE FIRST HALF-HOUR
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THEIR PLACE OF SHELTER
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A LITTLE ALGEBRA
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE COLD OF SPACE
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+QUESTION AND ANSWER
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A MOMENT OF INTOXICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AT SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LEAGUES
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEVIATION
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE OBSERVERS OF THE MOON
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FANCY AND REALITY
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+OROGRAPHIC DETAILS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LUNAR LANDSCAPES
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE NIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR HOURS AND A HALF
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HYPERBOLA OR PARABOLA
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+TYCHO
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+GRAVE QUESTIONS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A STRUGGLE AGAINST THE IMPOSSIBLE
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE SOUNDINGS OF THE "SUSQUEHANNA"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+J. T. MASTON RECALLED
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+RECOVERED FROM THE SEA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE END
+
+
+      ------
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+      ------
+
+   ROUND THE MOON.
+
+
+
+
+   LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+ The Artillery-men of the Gun Club
+
+ President Barbicane
+
+ Meeting of the Gun Club
+
+ The Torchlight Procession
+
+ Cambridge Observatory
+
+ The Moon's Disc
+
+ Barbicane holds forth
+
+ The Rodman Columbiad
+
+ Cannon at Malta in the time of the Knights
+
+ Ideal Sketch of J. T. Maston's Gun
+
+ The invention of Gunpowder by the Monk Schwartz
+
+ Captain Nicholl
+
+ Nicholl published a number of Letters in the Newspapers
+
+ It became necessary to keep an eye upon the Deputies
+
+ The Subscription was opened
+
+ The Manufactory at Coldspring, near New York
+
+ Tampa Town, previous to the undertaking
+
+ They were compelled to ford several Rivers
+
+ The Work progressed regularly
+
+ The Casting
+
+ Tampa Town, after the undertaking
+
+ The Banquet in the Columbiad
+
+ President Barbicane at his Window
+
+ Michel Ardan
+
+ The Meeting
+
+ Projectile Trains for the Moon
+
+ Attack and Riposte
+
+ The Platform was suddenly carried away
+
+ Maston burst into the Room
+
+ In the midst of this Snare was a poor little Bird
+
+ "Go with me, and see whether we are stopped on our journey"
+
+ The Cat taken out of the Shell
+
+ The Arrival of the Projectile at Stones Hill
+
+ J. T. Maston had grown fat
+
+ The Telescope of the Rocky Mountains
+
+ The Interior of the Projectile
+
+ An innumerable Multitude covered the Prairie round Stones Hill
+
+ Fire!!
+
+ Effect of the Explosion
+
+ The Director at his Post
+
+ The Gas caught fire
+
+ Diana and Satellite
+
+ The courageous Frenchman
+
+ They raised Barbicane
+
+ It was an enormous Disc
+
+ They gave her a pie
+
+ The Sun chose to be of the party
+
+ Ardan plunged his hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes
+
+ "Do I understand it?" cried Ardan; "my head is splitting with it".
+
+ Satellite was thrown out
+
+ It was the Body of Satellite
+
+ "I could have ventured out on the top of the Projectile"
+
+ They struck up a frantic dance
+
+ "The Oxygen!" he exclaimed
+
+ "Ah! if Raphael had seen us thus"
+
+ The Telescope at Parsonstown
+
+ How many people have heard speak of the Moon!
+
+ "This plain would then be nothing but an immense Cemetery"
+
+ "What Giant Oxen!"
+
+ He could distinguish nothing but Desert Beds
+
+ "It is the fault of the Moon"
+
+ Nothing could equal the splendour of this starry world
+
+ "The vapour of our breath will fall in snow around us"
+
+ A Discussion arose
+
+ A Prey to frightful Terror
+
+ What a sight!
+
+ "The Sun!"
+
+ "Light and Heat; all Life is contained in them"
+
+ He distinguished all this
+
+ Can you picture to yourselves
+
+ A violent Contraction of the Lunar Crust
+
+ Around the Projectile were the Objects which had been thrown out
+
+ "These practical people have sometimes most inopportune ideas"
+
+ Ardan applied the lighted Match
+
+ "I fancy I see them"
+
+ A few feet nearer
+
+ The unfortunate man had disappeared
+
+ The Descent began
+
+ "White all, Barbicane"
+
+ The Apotheosis was worthy of the three Heroes
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+
+       ------
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was
+established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland. It is well
+known with what energy the taste for military matters became developed
+amongst that nation of ship-owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Simple
+tradesmen jumped their counters to become extemporized captains, colonels,
+and generals, without having ever passed the School of Instruction at
+West Point: nevertheless, they quickly rivalled their compeers of the
+old continent, and, like them, carried off victories by dint of lavish
+expenditure in ammunition, money, and men.
+
+But the point in which the Americans singularly distanced the Europeans
+was in the science of _gunnery._ Not, indeed, that their weapons retained
+a higher degree of perfection than theirs, but that they exhibited
+unheard-of dimensions, and consequently attained hitherto unheard-of
+ranges. In point of grazing, plunging, oblique, or enfilading, or
+point-blank firing, the English, French, and Prussians have nothing to
+learn; but their cannon, howitzers, and mortars are mere pocket-pistols
+compared with the formidable engines of the American artillery.
+
+This fact need surprise no one. The Yankees, the first mechanicians in
+the world, are engineers--just as the Italians are musicians and the
+Germans metaphysicians--by right of birth. Nothing is more natural,
+therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to
+the science of gunnery. Witness the marvels of Parrott, Dahlgren, and
+Rodman. The Armstrong, Palliser, and Beaulieu guns were compelled to bow
+before their transatlantic rivals.
+
+Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to
+share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries.
+Given _four,_ they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready
+for work; _five,_ they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully
+constituted. So things were managed in Baltimore. The inventor of a new
+cannon associated himself with the caster and the borer. Thus was formed
+the nucleus of the "Gun Club." In a single month after its formation it
+numbered 1833 effective members and 30,565 corresponding members.
+
+One condition was imposed as a _sine qua non_ upon every candidate for
+admission into the association, and that was the condition of having
+designed, or (more or less) perfected a cannon; or, in default of a
+cannon, at least a firearm of some description. It may, however, be
+mentioned that mere inventions of revolvers, five-shooting carbines,
+and similar small arms, met with but little consideration. Artillerists
+always commanded the chief place of favour.
+
+The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to one
+of the most scientific exponents of the Gun Club, was "proportional to
+the masses of their guns, and in the direct ratio of the square of the
+distances attained by their projectiles."
+
+The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive the result of the
+inventive genius of the Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal
+proportions, and their projectiles, exceeding the prescribed limits,
+unfortunately occasionally cut in two some unoffending pedestrians.
+These inventions, in fact, left far in the rear the timid instruments of
+European artillery.
+
+It is but fair to add that these Yankees, brave as they have ever proved
+themselves to be, did not confine themselves to theories and formulæ,
+but that they paid heavily, in _propriâ personâ,_ for their inventions.
+Amongst them were to be counted officers of all ranks, from lieutenants
+to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just making
+their _début_ in the profession of arms up to those who had grown old on
+the gun-carriage. Many had found their rest on the field of battle whose
+names figured in the "Book of Honour" of the Gun Club; and of those who
+made good their return the greater proportion bore the marks of their
+indisputable valour. Crutches, wooden legs, artificial arms, steel hooks,
+caoutchouc jaws, silver craniums, platinum noses, were all to be found in
+the collection; and it was calculated by the great statistician Pitcairn
+that throughout the Gun Club there was not quite one arm between four
+persons and exactly two legs between six.
+
+Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of
+these little facts, and felt justly proud when the despatches of a battle
+returned the number of victims at tenfold the quantity of the projectiles
+expended.
+
+One day, however--sad and melancholy day!--peace was signed between
+the survivors of the war; the thunder of the guns gradually ceased,
+the mortars were silent, the howitzers were muzzled for an indefinite
+period, the cannon, with muzzles depressed, were returned into the
+arsenal, the shot were repiled, all bloody reminiscences were effaced;
+the cotton-plants grew luxuriantly in the well-manured fields, all
+mourning garments were laid aside, together with grief; and the Gun Club
+was relegated to profound inactivity.
+
+Some few of the more advanced and inveterate theorists set themselves
+again to work upon calculations regarding the laws of projectiles. They
+reverted invariably to gigantic shells and howitzers of unparalleled
+calibre. Still, in default of practical experience what was the value
+of mere theories? Consequently, the club-rooms became deserted, the
+servants dozed in the antechambers, the newspapers grew mouldy on the
+tables, sounds of snoring came from dark corners, and the members of the
+Gun Club, erstwhile so noisy in their seances, were reduced to silence
+by this disastrous peace and gave themselves up wholly to dreams of a
+Platonic kind of artillery.
+
+"This is horrible!" said Tom Hunter one evening, while rapidly carbonizing
+his wooden legs in the fireplace of the smoking-room; "nothing to do!
+nothing to look forward to! what a loathsome existence! When again shall
+the guns arouse us in the morning with their delightful reports?"
+
+"Those days are gone by," said jolly Bilsby, trying to extend his missing
+arms. "It was delightful once upon a time! One invented a gun, and hardly
+was it cast, when one hastened to try it in the face of the enemy! Then
+one returned to camp with a word of encouragement from Sherman or a
+friendly shake of the hand from M'Clellan. But now the generals are gone
+back to their counters; and in place of projectiles, they despatch bales
+of cotton. By Jove, the future of gunnery in America is lost!"
+
+"Ay! and no war in prospect!" continued the famous James T. Maston,
+scratching with his steel hook his gutta-percha cranium. "Not a cloud in
+the horizon! and that too at such a critical period in the progress of
+the science of artillery! Yes, gentlemen! I who address you have myself
+this very morning perfected a model (plan, section, elevation, &c.) of
+a mortar destined to change all the conditions of warfare!"
+
+"No! is it possible?" replied Tom Hunter, his thoughts reverting
+involuntarily to a former invention of the Hon. J. T. Maston, by which,
+at its first trial, he had succeeded in killing three hundred and
+thirty-seven people.
+
+
+Illustration: THE ARTILLERY MEN OF THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+"Fact!" replied he. "Still, what is the use of so many studies worked
+out, so many difficulties vanquished? It's mere waste of time! The New
+World seems to have made up its mind to live in peace; and our bellicose
+_Tribune_ predicts some approaching catastrophes arising out of this
+scandalous increase of population."
+
+"Nevertheless," replied Colonel Blomsberry, "they are always struggling
+in Europe to maintain the principle of nationalities."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, there might be some field for enterprise down there; and if they
+would accept our services--"
+
+"What are you dreaming of?" screamed Bilsby; "work at gunnery for the
+benefit of foreigners?"
+
+"That would be better than doing nothing here," returned the colonel.
+
+"Quite so," said J. T. Maston; "but still we need not dream of that
+expedient."
+
+"And why not?" demanded the colonel.
+
+"Because their ideas of progress in the Old World are contrary to our
+American habits of thought. Those fellows believe that one can't become
+a general without having served first as an ensign; which is as much as
+to say that one can't point a gun without having first cast it oneself!"
+
+"Ridiculous!" replied Tom Hunter, whittling with his bowie-knife the arms
+of his easy-chair; "but if that be the case there, all that is left for
+us is to plant tobacco and distil whale-oil."
+
+"What!" roared J. T. Maston, "shall we not employ these remaining
+years of our life in perfecting fire-arms? Shall there never be a fresh
+opportunity of trying the ranges of projectiles? Shall the air never again
+be lighted with the glare of our guns? No international difficulty ever
+arise to enable us to declare war against some transatlantic power? Shall
+not the French sink one of our steamers, or the English, in defiance of
+the rights of nations, hang a few of our countrymen?"
+
+"No such luck," replied Colonel Blomsberry; "nothing of the kind is likely
+to happen; and even if it did, we should not profit by it. American
+susceptibility is fast declining, and we are all going to the dogs."
+
+"It is too true," replied J. T. Maston, with fresh violence; "there are
+a thousand grounds for fighting, and yet we don't fight. We save up our
+arms and legs for the benefit of nations who don't know what to do with
+them! But stop--without going out of one's way to find a cause for
+war--did not North America once belong to the English?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Tom Hunter, stamping his crutch with fury.
+
+"Well then," replied J. T. Maston, "why should not England in her turn
+belong to the Americans?"
+
+"It would be but just and fair," returned Colonel Blomsberry.
+
+"Go and propose it to the President of the United States," cried J. T.
+Maston, "and see how he will receive you."
+
+"Bah!" growled Bilsby between the four teeth which the war had left him;
+"that will never do!"
+
+"By Jove!" cried J. T. Maston, "he mustn't count on my vote at the next
+election!"
+
+"Nor on ours," replied unanimously all the bellicose invalids.
+
+"Meanwhile," replied J. T. M., "allow me to say that, if I cannot get an
+opportunity to try my new mortars on a real field of battle, I shall say
+good-bye to the members of the Gun Club, and go and bury myself in the
+prairies of Arkansas!"
+
+"In that case we will accompany you," cried the others.
+
+Matters were in this unfortunate condition, and the club was threatened
+with approaching dissolution, when an unexpected circumstance occurred
+to prevent so deplorable a catastrophe.
+
+On the morrow after this conversation every member of the association
+received a sealed circular couched in the following terms:--
+
+   "BALTIMORE, _Oct._ 3.
+
+   "The President of the Gun Club has the honour to inform his colleagues
+   that, at the meeting of the 5th instant, he will bring before them
+   a communication of an extremely interesting nature. He requests,
+   therefore, that they will make it convenient to attend in accordance
+   with the present invitation.--Very cordially,
+
+   Impey Barbicane, P.G.C."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION.
+
+
+On the 5th of October, at 8 p.m., a dense crowd pressed towards the
+saloons of the Gun Club at No. 21, Union Square. All the members of
+the association resident in Baltimore attended the invitation of their
+president. As regards the corresponding members, notices were delivered
+by hundreds throughout the streets of the city, and, large as was the
+great hall, it was quite inadequate to accommodate the crowd of _savants_.
+They overflowed into the adjoining rooms, down the narrow passages, into
+the outer courtyards. There they ran against the vulgar herd who pressed
+up to the doors, each struggling to reach the front ranks, all eager to
+learn the nature of the important communication of President Barbicane;
+all pushing, squeezing, crushing with that perfect freedom of action which
+is peculiar to the masses when educated in ideas of "self-government."
+
+On that evening a stranger who might have chanced to be in Baltimore
+could not have gained admission for love or money into the great hall.
+That was reserved exclusively for resident or corresponding members; no
+one else could possibly have obtained a place; and the city magnates,
+municipal councillors, and "select men" were compelled to mingle with the
+mere townspeople in order to catch stray bits of news from the interior.
+
+Nevertheless the vast hall presented a curious spectacle. Its immense
+area was singularly adapted to the purpose. Lofty pillars formed of
+cannon, superposed upon huge mortars as a base, supported the fine
+ironwork of the arches, a perfect piece of cast-iron lacework. Trophies
+of blunderbuses, matchlocks, arquebuses, carbines, all kinds of fire-arms,
+ancient and modern, were picturesquely interlaced against the walls.
+The gas lit up in full glare myriads of revolvers grouped in the form
+of lustres, whilst groups of pistols, and candelabra formed of muskets
+bound together, completed this magnificent display of brilliance. Models
+of cannon, bronze castings, sights covered with dents, plates battered by
+the shots of the Gun Club, assortments of rammers and sponges, chaplets
+of shells, wreaths of projectiles, garlands of howitzers--in short, all
+the apparatus of the artillerist, enchanted the eye by this wonderful
+arrangement and induced a kind of belief that their real purpose was
+ornamental rather than deadly.
+
+At the further end of the saloon the president, assisted by four
+secretaries, occupied a large platform. His chair, supported by a carved
+gun-carriage, was modelled upon the ponderous proportions of a 32-inch
+mortar. It was pointed at an angle of ninety degrees, and suspended upon
+trunnions, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon
+a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very hot weather. Upon the
+table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronnades) stood an inkstand
+of exquisite elegance, made of a beautifully chased Spanish piece, and a
+sonnette, which, when required, could give forth a report equal to that
+of a revolver. During violent debates this novel kind of bell scarcely
+sufficed to drown the clamour of these excitable artillerists.
+
+In front of the table benches arranged in zigzag form, like the
+circumvallations of a retrenchment, formed a succession of bastions and
+curtains set apart for the use of the members of the club; and on this
+especial evening one might say, "All the world was on the ramparts." The
+president was sufficiently well known, however, for all to be assured
+that he would not put his colleagues to discomfort without some very
+strong motive.
+
+Impey Barbicane was a man of forty years of age, calm, cold, austere;
+of a singularly serious and self-contained demeanour, punctual as a
+chronometer, of imperturbable temper and immovable character; by no means
+chivalrous, yet adventurous withal, and always bringing practical ideas
+to bear upon the very rashest enterprises; an essentially New-Englander,
+a Northern colonist, a descendant of the old anti-Stuart Roundheads,
+and the implacable enemy of the gentlemen of the South, those ancient
+Cavaliers of the mother-country. In a word, he was a Yankee to the
+backbone.
+
+Barbicane had made a large fortune as a timber-merchant. Being nominated
+Director of Artillery during the war, he proved himself fertile in
+invention. Bold in his conceptions, he contributed powerfully to
+the progress of that arm and gave an immense impetus to experimental
+researches.
+
+He was a personage of the middle height, having, by a rare exception
+in the Gun Club, all his limbs complete. His strongly-marked features
+seemed drawn by square and rule; and if it be true that, in order to
+judge of a man's character one must look at his profile, Barbicane, so
+examined, exhibited the most certain indications of energy, audacity,
+and _sang-froid._
+
+At this moment he was sitting in his armchair, silent, absorbed, lost in
+reflection, sheltered under his high-crowned hat--a kind of black silk
+cylinder which always seems firmly screwed upon the head of an American.
+
+Just when the deep-toned clock in the great hall struck eight, Barbicane,
+as if he had been set in motion by a spring, raised himself up. A profound
+silence ensued, and the speaker, in a somewhat emphatic tone of voice,
+commenced as follows:--
+
+"My brave colleagues, too long already a paralyzing peace has plunged
+the members of the Gun Club in deplorable inactivity. After a period of
+years full of incidents we have been compelled to abandon our labours,
+and to stop short on the road of progress. I do not hesitate to state,
+boldly, that any war which should recall us to arms would be welcome!"
+(_Tremendous applause!_)
+
+
+Illustration: PRESIDENT BARBICANE.
+
+
+"But war, gentlemen, is impossible under existing circumstances; and,
+however we may desire it, many years may elapse before our cannon shall
+again thunder in the field of battle. We must make up our minds, then,
+to seek in another train of ideas some field for the activity which we
+all pine for."
+
+The meeting felt that the president was now approaching the critical
+point, and redoubled their attention accordingly.
+
+"For some months past, my brave colleagues," continued Barbicane, "I
+have been asking myself whether, while confining ourselves to our own
+particular objects, we could not enter upon some grand experiment worthy
+of the nineteenth century; and whether the progress of artillery science
+would not enable us to carry it out to a successful issue. I have been
+considering, working, calculating; and the result of my studies is the
+conviction that we are safe to succeed in an enterprise which to any
+other country would appear wholly impracticable. This project, the result
+of long elaboration, is the object of my present communication. It is
+worthy of yourselves, worthy of the antecedents of the Gun Club; and it
+cannot fail to make some noise in the world."
+
+A thrill of excitement ran through the meeting.
+
+Barbicane, having by a rapid movement firmly fixed his hat upon his head,
+calmly continued his harangue:--
+
+"There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen _the
+Moon,_ or, at least, heard speak of it. Don't be surprised if I am about
+to discourse to you regarding this Queen of the Night. It is perhaps
+reserved for us to become the Columbuses of this unknown world. Only enter
+into my plans, and second me with all your power, and I will lead you
+to its conquest, and its name shall be added to those of the thirty-six
+States which compose this Great Union."
+
+"Three cheers for the Moon!" roared the Gun Club, with one voice.
+
+"The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully studied," continued Barbicane;
+"her mass, density, and weight; her constitution, motions, distance, as
+well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly determined.
+Selenographic charts have been constructed with a perfection which equals,
+if it does not even surpass, that of our terrestrial maps. Photography
+has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our satellite; in short,
+all is known regarding the moon which mathematical science, astronomy,
+geology, and optics can learn about her. But up to the present moment no
+direct communication has been established with her."
+
+A violent movement of interest and surprise here greeted this remark of
+the speaker.
+
+"Permit me," he continued, "to recount to you briefly how certain ardent
+spirits, starting on imaginary journeys, have penetrated the secrets
+of our satellite. In the seventeenth century a certain David Fabricius
+boasted of having seen with his own eyes the inhabitants of the moon. In
+1649 a Frenchman, one Jean Baudoin, published a 'Journey performed from
+the Earth to the Moon by Domingo Gonzalez,' a Spanish Adventurer. At
+the same period Cyrano de Bergerac published that celebrated 'Journeys
+in the Moon' which met with such success in France. Somewhat later
+another Frenchman, named Fontenelle, wrote 'The Plurality of Worlds,'
+a _chef-d'oeuvre_ of its time. About 1835 a small treatise, translated
+from the _New York American_, related how Sir John Herschell, having
+been despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of making there
+some astronomical calculations, had, by means of a telescope brought to
+perfection by means of internal lighting, reduced the apparent distance of
+the moon to eighty yards! He then distinctly perceived caverns frequented
+by hippopotami, green mountains bordered by golden lace-work, sheep with
+horns of ivory, a white species of deer and inhabitants with membranous
+wings, like bats. This _brochure,_ the work of an American named Locke,
+had a great sale. But, to bring this rapid sketch to a close, I will
+only add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Rotterdam, launching himself in
+a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen, thirty-seven times
+lighter than hydrogen, reached the moon after a passage of nineteen
+hours. This journey, like all the previous ones, was purely imaginary;
+still, it was the work of a popular American author--I mean Edgar Poe!"
+
+
+Illustration: MEETING OF THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+"Cheers for Edgar Poe!" roared the assemblage, electrified by their
+president's words.
+
+"I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, "the experiments which I
+call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious
+relations with the Queen of Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add that
+some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual communication
+with her. Thus, a few years ago, a German geometrician proposed to
+send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those
+vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn
+in characters of reflecting luminosity, amongst which was the prop.
+regarding the 'square of the hypothenuse,' commonly called the '_Ass's
+bridge_' by the French. 'Every intelligent being,' said the geometrician,
+'must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do
+they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being
+thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall
+enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.' So spoke the
+German geometrician; but his project was never put into practice, and up
+to the present day there is no bond in existence between the earth and
+her satellite. It is reserved for the practical genius of Americans to
+establish a communication with the sidereal world. The means of arriving
+thither are simple, easy, certain, infallible--and that is the purpose
+of my present proposal."
+
+A storm of acclamations greeted these words. There was not a single
+person in the whole audience who was not overcome, carried away, lifted
+out of himself by the speaker's words!
+
+Long continued applause resounded from all sides.
+
+As soon as the excitement had partially subsided, Barbicane resumed his
+speech in a somewhat graver voice.
+
+"You know," said he, "what progress artillery science has made during
+the last few years, and what a degree of perfection firearms of every
+kind have reached. Moreover, you are well aware that, in general terms,
+the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are
+practically unlimited. Well! starting from this principle, I ask myself
+whether, supposing sufficient apparatus could be obtained constructed
+upon the conditions of ascertained resistance, it might not be possible
+to project a shot up to the moon?"
+
+At these words a murmur of amazement escaped from a thousand panting
+chests; then succeeded a moment of perfect silence, resembling that
+profound stillness which precedes the bursting of a thunderstorm. In
+point of fact, a thunderstorm did peal forth, but it was the thunder of
+applause, of cries, and of uproar which made the very hall tremble. The
+president attempted to speak, but could not. It was fully ten minutes
+before he could make himself heard.
+
+"Suffer me to finish," he calmly continued. "I have looked at the
+question in all its bearings, I have resolutely attacked it, and by
+incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an
+initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, and aimed at the moon, must
+necessarily reach it. I have the honour, my brave colleagues, to propose
+a trial of this little experiment."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   EFFECT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION.
+
+
+It is impossible to describe the effect produced by the last words of
+the honorable president--the cries, the shouts, the succession of roars,
+hurrahs, and all the varied vociferations which the American language
+is capable of supplying. It was a scene of indescribable confusion and
+uproar. They shouted, they clapped, they stamped on the floor of the
+hall. All the weapons in the museum discharged at once could not have more
+violently set in motion the waves of sound. One need not be surprised at
+this. There are some cannoneers nearly as noisy as their
+own guns.
+
+Barbicane remained calm in the midst of this enthusiastic clamour; perhaps
+he was desirous of addressing a few more words to his colleagues, for by
+his gestures he demanded silence, and his powerful alarum was worn out
+by its violent reports. No attention, however, was paid to his request.
+He was presently torn from his seat and passed from the hands of his
+faithful colleagues into the arms of a no less excited crowd.
+
+Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word
+"impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived
+by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for
+mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between
+Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have
+allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible. A thing with
+them is no sooner said than done.
+
+The triumphal progress of the president continued throughout the evening.
+It was a regular torchlight procession. Irish, Germans, French, Scotch,
+all the heterogeneous units which make up the population of Maryland
+shouted in their respective vernaculars; and the "vivas," "hurrahs," and
+"bravos" were intermingled in inexpressible enthusiasm.
+
+Just at this crisis, as though she comprehended all this agitation
+regarding herself, the Moon shone forth with serene splendour, eclipsing
+by her intense illumination all the surrounding lights. The Yankees
+all turned their gaze towards her resplendent orb, kissed their hands,
+called her by all kinds of endearing names. Between eight o'clock and
+midnight one optician in Jones'-Fall Street made his fortune by the sale
+of opera-glasses.
+
+Midnight arrived, and the enthusiasm showed no signs of diminution.
+It spread equally among all classes of citizens--men of science,
+shopkeepers, merchants, porters, chair-men, as well as "greenhorns,"
+were stirred in their innermost fibres. A national enterprise was at
+stake. The whole city, high and low, the quays bordering the Patapsco,
+the ships lying in the basins, disgorged a crowd drunk with joy, gin,
+and whisky. Every one chattered, argued, discussed, disputed, applauded,
+from the gentleman lounging upon the barroom settee with his tumbler of
+sherry-cobbler before him down to the waterman who got drunk upon his
+"knock-me-down" in the dingy taverns of Fell Point.
+
+About 2 a.m., however, the excitement began to subside. President
+Barbicane reached his house, bruised, crushed, and squeezed almost
+to a mummy. A Hercules could not have resisted a similar outbreak of
+enthusiasm. The crowd gradually deserted the squares and streets. The
+four railways from Philadelphia and Washington, Harrisburg and Wheeling,
+which converge at Baltimore, whirled away the heterogeneous population
+to the four corners of the United States, and the city subsided into
+comparative tranquillity.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION.
+
+
+On the following day, thanks to the telegraphic wires, five hundred
+newspapers and journals, daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly, all
+took up the question. They examined it under all its different aspects,
+physical, meteorological, economical, or moral, up to its bearings on
+politics or civilization. They debated whether the moon was a finished
+world, or whether it was destined to undergo any further transformation.
+Did it resemble the earth at the period when the latter was destitute as
+yet of an atmosphere? What kind of spectacle would its hidden hemisphere
+present to our terrestrial spheroid? Granting that the question at
+present was simply that of sending a projectile up to the moon, every one
+must see that that involved the commencement of a series of experiments.
+All must hope that some day America would penetrate the deepest secrets
+of that mysterious orb; and some even seemed to fear lest its conquest
+should not sensibly derange the equilibrium of Europe.
+
+The project once under discussion, not a single paragraph suggested a doubt
+of its realization. All the papers, pamphlets, reports--all the journals
+published by the scientific, literary, and religious societies enlarged
+upon its advantages; and the Society of Natural History of Boston, the
+Society of Science and Art of Albany, the Geographical and Statistical
+Society of New York, the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the
+Smithsonian of Washington sent innumerable letters of congratulation to
+the Gun Club, together with offers of immediate assistance and money.
+
+From that day forward Impey Barbicane became one of the greatest citizens
+of the United States, a kind of Washington of Science. A single trait of
+feeling, taken from many others, will serve to show the point which this
+homage of a whole people to a single individual attained.
+
+Some few days after this memorable meeting of the Gun Club, the manager
+of an English company announced, at the Baltimore theatre, the production
+of "Much ado about Nothing." But the populace, seeing in that title an
+allusion damaging to Barbicane's project, broke into the auditorium,
+smashed the benches, and compelled the unlucky director to alter his
+playbill. Being a sensible man, he bowed to the public will and replaced
+the offending comedy by "As you like it;" and for many weeks he realized
+fabulous profits.
+
+
+Illustration: CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
+
+
+Barbicane, however, lost not one moment amidst all the enthusiasm of which
+he had become the object. His first care was to reassemble his colleagues
+in the board-room of the Gun Club. There, after some discussion, it was
+agreed to consult the astronomers regarding the astronomical part of the
+enterprize. Their reply once ascertained, they could then discuss the
+mechanical means, and nothing should be wanting to ensure the success of
+this great experiment.
+
+A note couched in precise terms, containing special interrogatories,
+was then drawn up and addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in
+Massachusetts. This city, where the first University of the United States
+was founded, is justly celebrated for its astronomical staff. There are
+to be found assembled all the most eminent men of science. Here is to
+be seen at work that powerful telescope which enabled Bond to resolve
+the nebula of Andromeda, and Clarke to discover the satellite of Sirius.
+This celebrated institution fully justified on all points the confidence
+reposed in it by the Gun Club.
+
+So, after two days, the reply so impatiently awaited was placed in the
+hands of President Barbicane.
+
+It was couched in the following terms:--
+
+"_The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the President of the Gun
+Club at Baltimore._
+
+"CAMBRIDGE, _Oct._ 7.
+
+"On the receipt of your favour of the 6th inst., addressed to the
+Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the Members of the Baltimore
+Gun Club, our staff was immediately called together, and it was judged
+expedient to reply as follows:--
+
+"The questions which have been proposed to it are these,--
+
+"'1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?
+
+"'2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its
+satellite?
+
+"'3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed
+with sufficient initial velocity? and, consequently, at what moment ought
+it to be discharged in order that it may touch the moon at a particular
+point?
+
+"'4. At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most
+favourable position to be reached by the projectile?
+
+"'5. What point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed at which is
+intended to discharge the projectile?
+
+"'6. What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment of the
+projectile's departure?'
+
+"Regarding the _first_ question, 'Is it possible to transmit a projectile
+up to the moon?'
+
+"_Answer_.--Yes; provided it possess an initial velocity of 1200 yards
+per second; calculations prove that to be sufficient. In proportion as
+we recede from the earth the action of gravitation diminishes in the
+inverse ratio of the square of the distance; that is to say, _at three
+times a given distance the action is nine times less._ Consequently, the
+weight of a shot will decrease, and will become reduced to zero at the
+instant that the attraction of the moon exactly counterpoises that of
+the earth; that is to say, at 47/52 of its passage. At that instant the
+projectile will have no weight whatever; and, if it passes that point,
+it will fall into the moon by the sole effect of the lunar attraction.
+The _theoretical possibility_ of the experiment is therefore absolutely
+demonstrated; its success must depend upon the power of the engine
+employed.
+
+"As to the _second question_, 'What is the exact distance which separates
+the earth from its satellite?'
+
+"_Answer._--The moon does not describe a circle round the earth, but
+rather an _ellipse_, of which our earth occupies one of the _foci;_ the
+consequence, therefore, is, that at certain times it approaches nearer
+to, and at others it recedes farther from, the earth; in astronomical
+language, it is at one time in _apogee_, at another in _perigee._ Now the
+difference between its greatest and its least distance is too considerable
+to be left out of consideration. In point of fact, in its apogee the moon
+is 247,552 miles, and in its perigee, 218,657 miles only distant; a fact
+which makes a difference of 28,895 miles, or more than one ninth of the
+entire distance. The perigee distance, therefore, is that which ought to
+serve as the basis of all calculations.
+
+"To the _third_ question:--
+
+"_Answer._--If the shot should preserve continuously its initial velocity
+of 12,000 yards per second, it would require little more than nine
+hours to reach its destination; but, inasmuch as that initial velocity
+will be continually decreasing, it results that, taking everything into
+consideration, it will occupy 300,000 seconds, that is 83hrs. 20m. in
+reaching the point where the attraction of the earth and moon will be
+_in equilibrio._ From this point it will fall into the moon in 50,000
+seconds, or 13hrs. 53m. 20sec. It will be desirable, therefore, to
+discharge it 97hrs. 13m. 20sec. before the arrival of the moon at the
+point aimed at.
+
+"Regarding question _four_, 'At what precise moment will the moon present
+herself in the most favourable position, &c.?'
+
+"_Answer_.--After what has been said above, it will be necessary, first
+of all, to choose the period when the moon will be in perigee, and also
+the moment when she will be crossing the zenith, which latter event will
+further diminish the entire distance by a length equal to the radius of
+the earth, i.e. 3919 miles; the result of which will be that the final
+passage remaining to be accomplished will be 214,976 miles. But although
+the moon passes her perigee every month, she does not reach the zenith
+always at _exactly the same moment._ She does not appear under these two
+conditions simultaneously, except at long intervals of time. It will be
+necessary, therefore, to wait for the moment when her passage in perigee
+shall coincide with that in the zenith. Now, by a fortunate circumstance,
+on the 4th December in the ensuing year the moon _will_ present these two
+conditions. At midnight she will be in perigee, that is, at her shortest
+distance from the earth, and at the same moment she will be crossing the
+zenith.
+
+"On the _fifth_ question, 'At what point in the heavens ought the cannon
+to be aimed?'
+
+"_Answer_.--The preceding remarks being admitted, the cannon ought to
+be pointed to the zenith of the place. Its fire, therefore, will be
+perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; and the projectile will soonest
+pass beyond the range of the terrestrial attraction. But, in order that
+the moon should reach the zenith of a given place, it is necessary that
+the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary;
+in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0° and 28° of
+lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique,
+which would seriously militate against the success of the experiment.
+
+"As to the _sixth_ question, 'What place will the moon occupy in the
+heavens at the moment of the projectile's departure?'
+
+"_Answer_.--At the moment when the projectile shall be discharged
+into space, the moon, which travels daily forward 13° 10' 35", will be
+distant from the zenith point by four times that quantity, i.e. by 52°
+42' 20", a space which corresponds to the path which she will describe
+during the entire journey of the projectile. But, inasmuch as it is
+equally necessary to take into account the deviation which the rotary
+motion of the earth will impart to the shot, and as the shot cannot reach
+the moon until after a deviation equal to 16 radii of the earth, which,
+calculated upon the moon's orbit, are equal to about eleven degrees, it
+becomes necessary to add these eleven degrees to those which express the
+retardation of the moon just mentioned: that is to say, in round numbers,
+about 64 degrees. Consequently, at the moment of firing the visual radius
+applied to the moon will describe, with the vertical line of the place,
+an angle of sixty-four degrees.
+
+"These are our answers to the questions proposed to the Observatory of
+Cambridge by the members of the Gun Club:--
+
+"To sum up,--
+
+"1st. The cannon ought to be planted in a country situated between
+between 0° and 28° of N. or S. lat.
+
+"2ndly. It ought to be pointed directly towards the zenith of the place.
+
+"3rdly. The projectile ought to be propelled with an initial velocity of
+12,000 yards per second.
+
+"4thly. It ought to be discharged at 10hrs. 46m. 40sec. of the 1st
+December of the ensuing year.
+
+"5thly. It will meet the moon four days after its discharge, precisely
+at midnight on the 4th December, at the moment of its transit across the
+zenith.
+
+"The members of the Gun Club ought, therefore, without delay, to commence
+the works necessary for such an experiment, and to be prepared to set
+to work at the moment determined upon; for, if they should suffer this
+4th December to go by, they will not find the moon again under the same
+conditions of perigee and of zenith until eighteen years and eleven days
+afterwards.
+
+"The Staff of the Cambridge Observatory place themselves entirely at
+their disposal in respect of all questions of theoretical astronomy; and
+herewith add their congratulations to those of all the rest of America.
+
+
+   "For the Astronomical Staff,
+
+   "J. M. BELFAST,
+
+   "_Director of the Observatory of Cambridge._"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON.
+
+
+An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in
+that unknown centre around which the entire world revolves, might have
+beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of
+the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place;
+a general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto
+errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically
+according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and
+composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are
+strewed.
+
+These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion around
+their own central point. This centre, formed of indefinite molecules,
+began to revolve round its own axis during its gradual condensation;
+then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its
+bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated,
+and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one
+principal star, the centre of the nebulous mass.
+
+By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the
+other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central
+star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and
+gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars. Thus was formed
+the _Nebulæ,_ of which astronomers have reckoned up nearly 5000.
+
+Amongst these 5000 nebulæ there is one which has received the name of
+the Milky Way, and which contains eighteen millions of stars, each of
+which has become the centre of a solar world.
+
+If the observer had then specially directed his attention to one of the
+more humble and less brilliant of these stellar bodies, a star of the
+fourth class, that which is arrogantly called the Sun, all the phenomena
+to which the formation of the Universe is to be ascribed would have
+been successively fulfilled before his eyes. In fact, he would have
+perceived this sun, as yet in the gaseous state, and composed of moving
+molecules, revolving round its axis in order to accomplish its work of
+concentration. This motion, faithful to the laws of mechanics, would
+have been accelerated with the diminution of its volume; and a moment
+would have arrived when the centrifugal force would have overpowered the
+centripetal, which causes the molecules all to tend towards the centre.
+
+Another phenomenon would now have passed before the observer's eye, and
+the molecules situated on the plane of the equator escaping, like a stone
+from a sling of which the cord had suddenly snapped, would have formed
+around the sun sundry concentric rings resembling that of Saturn. In
+their turn, again, these rings of cosmical matter, excited by a rotary
+motion round the central mass, would have been broken up and decomposed
+into secondary nebulosities, that is to say, into planets. Similarly he
+would have observed these planets throw off one or more rings each, which
+became the origin of the secondary bodies which we call satellites.
+
+Thus, then, advancing from atom to molecule, from molecule to nebulous
+mass, from that to a principal star, from star to sun, from sun to planet,
+and hence to satellite, we have the whole series of transformations
+undergone by the heavenly bodies during the first days of the world.
+
+Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their elliptical
+orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in their turn possess
+satellites. Uranus has eight, Saturn eight, Jupiter four, Neptune possibly
+three, and the Earth _one._ This last, one of the least important of the
+entire solar system, we call _the Moon_; and it is she whom the daring
+genius of the Americans professed their intention of conquering.
+
+
+Illustration: THE MOON'S DISC.
+
+
+The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying
+appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a
+considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.
+
+From the time of Thales of Miletus, in the fifth century b.c., down to
+that of Copernicus in the fifteenth and Tycho Brahé in the sixteenth
+century a.d., observations have been from time to time carried on with
+more or less correctness, until in the present day the altitudes of the
+lunar mountains have been determined with exactitude. Galileo explained
+the phenomena of the lunar light produced during certain of her phases
+by the existence of mountains, to which he assigned a mean altitude of
+27,000 feet. After him Hévelius, an astronomer of Dantzic, reduced the
+highest elevations to 15,000 feet; but the calculations of Riccioli
+brought them up again to 21,000 feet.
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century Herschell, armed with a powerful
+telescope, considerably reduced the preceding measurements. He assigned
+a height of 11,400 feet to the maximum elevations, and reduced the mean
+of the different altitudes to little more than 2400 feet. But Herschell's
+calculations were in their turn corrected by the observations of Halley,
+Nasmyth, Bianchini, Gruithuysen, and others; but it was reserved for
+the labours of Boeer and Mædler finally to solve the question. They
+succeeded in measuring 1905 different elevations, of which six exceed
+15,000 feet, and twenty-two exceed 14,400 feet. The highest summit of all
+towers to a height of 22,606 feet above the surface of the lunar disc. At
+the same period the examination of the moon was completed. She appeared
+completely riddled with craters, and her essentially volcanic character
+was apparent at each observation. By the absence of refraction in the
+rays of the planets occulted by her we conclude that she is absolutely
+devoid of an atmosphere. The absence of air entails the absence of water.
+It became, therefore, manifest that the Selenites, to support life under
+such conditions, must possess a special organization of their own, must
+differ remarkably from the inhabitants of the earth.
+
+At length, thanks to modern art, instruments of still higher perfection
+searched the moon without intermission, not leaving a single point of
+her surface unexplored; and notwithstanding that her diameter measures
+2150 miles, her surface equals the 1-15th part of that of our globe, and
+her bulk the 1-49th part of that of the terrestrial spheroid--not one
+of her secrets was able to escape the eyes of the astronomers; and these
+skilful men of science carried to even greater degree their prodigious
+observations.
+
+Thus they remarked that, during full moon, the disc appeared scored in
+certain parts with _white_ lines; and, during the phases, with _black._
+On prosecuting the study of these with still greater precision, they
+succeeded in obtaining an exact account of the nature of these lines.
+They were long and narrow furrows sunk between parallel ridges, bordering
+generally upon the edges of the craters. Their length varied between
+ten and 100 miles, and their width was about 1600 yards. Astronomers
+called them chasms, but they could not get any farther. Whether these
+chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not they were unable
+thoroughly to ascertain.
+
+The Americans, amongst others, hoped one day or other to determine this
+geological question. They also undertook to examine the true nature
+of that system of parallel ramparts discovered on the moon's surface
+by Gruithuysen, a learned professor of Munich, who considered them to
+be "a system of fortifications thrown up by the Selenitic engineers."
+These two points, yet obscure, as well as others, no doubt, could not be
+definitively settled except by direct communication with the moon.
+
+Regarding the degree of intensity of its light, there was nothing more
+to learn on this point. It was known that it is 300,000 times weaker
+than that of the sun, and that its heat has no appreciable effect upon
+the thermometer. As to the phenomenon known as the "ashy light," it is
+explained naturally by the effect of the transmission of the solar rays
+from the earth to the moon, which give the appearance of completeness to
+the lunar disc, while it presents itself under the crescent form during
+its first and last phases.
+
+Such was the state of knowledge acquired regarding the earth's satellite,
+which the Gun Club undertook to perfect in all its aspects, cosmographic,
+geological, political, and moral.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   THE PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE
+      UNITED STATES.
+
+
+The immediate result of Barbicane's proposition was to place upon the
+orders of the day all the astronomical facts relative to the Queen of
+Night. Everybody set to work to study assiduously. One would have thought
+that the moon had just appeared for the first time, and that no one had
+ever before caught a glimpse of her in the heavens. The papers revived
+all the old anecdotes in which the "sun of the wolves" played a part;
+they recalled the influences which the ignorance of past ages ascribed
+to her; in short, all America was seized with seleno-mania, or had become
+moon-mad.
+
+The scientific journals, for their part, dealt more especially with the
+questions which touched upon the enterprise of the Gun Club. The letter
+of the Observatory of Cambridge was published by them, and commented upon
+with unreserved approval.
+
+Until that time most people had been ignorant of the mode in which the
+distance which separates the moon from the earth is calculated. They took
+advantage of this fact to explain to them that this distance was obtained
+by measuring the parallax of the moon. The term parallax proving "caviare
+to the general," they further explained that it meant the angle formed
+by the inclination of two straight lines drawn from either extremity
+of the earth's radius to the moon. On doubts being expressed as to the
+correctness of this method, they immediately proved that not only was
+the mean distance 234,347 miles, but that astronomers could not possibly
+be in error in their estimate by more than 70 miles either way.
+
+To those who were not familiar with the motions of the moon, they
+demonstrated that she possesses two distinct motions, the first being
+that of rotation upon her axis, the second that of revolution round the
+earth, accomplishing both together in an equal period of time, that is
+to say, in 27-1/3 days.
+
+The motion of rotation is that which produces day and night on the
+surface of the moon; save that there is only one day and one night in
+the lunar month, each lasting 354-1/3 hours. But, happily for her, the
+face turned towards the terrestrial globe is illuminated by it with an
+intensity equal to the light of fourteen moons. As to the other face,
+always invisible to us, it has of necessity 354 hours of absolute night,
+tempered only by that "pale glimmer which falls upon it from the stars."
+
+Some well-intentioned but rather obstinate persons, could not at first
+comprehend how, if the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth
+during her revolution, she can describe one turn round herself. To such
+they answered, "Go into your dining-room, and walk round the table in
+such a way as always to keep your face turned towards the centre; by the
+time you will have achieved one complete round you will have completed
+one turn round yourself, since your eye will have traversed successively
+every point of the room. Well, then, the room is the heavens, the table
+is the earth, and the moon is yourself." And they would go away delighted.
+
+So, then, the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth;
+nevertheless, to be quite exact, it is necessary to add that, in
+consequence of certain fluctuations of north and south, and of west and
+east, termed her libration, she permits rather more than the half, that
+is to say, five-sevenths, to be seen.
+
+As soon as the ignoramuses came to understand as much as the Director of
+the Observatory himself knew, they began to worry themselves regarding
+her revolution round the earth, whereupon twenty scientific reviews
+immediately came to the rescue. They pointed out to them then that the
+firmament, with its infinitude of stars, may be considered as one vast
+dial-plate, upon which the moon travels, indicating the true time to all
+the inhabitants of the earth; that it is during this movement that the
+Queen of Night exhibits her different phases; that the moon is _full_
+when she is in _opposition_ with the sun, that is when the three bodies
+are on the same straight line, the earth occupying the centre; that she
+is _new_ when she is in _conjunction_ with the sun, that is, when she
+is between it and the earth; and lastly, that she is in her _first_ or
+_last_ quarter, when she makes with the sun and the earth an angle of
+which she herself occupies the apex.
+
+Regarding the altitude which the moon attains above the horizon, the
+letter of the Cambridge Observatory had said all that was to be said
+in that respect. Every one knew that this altitude varies according to
+the latitude of the observer. But the only zones of the globe in which
+the moon passes the zenith, that is, the point directly over the head
+of the spectator, are of necessity comprised between the twenty-eighth
+parallels and the equator. Hence the importance of the advice to try
+the experiment upon some point of that part of the globe, in order that
+the projectile might be discharged perpendicularly, and so the soonest
+escape the action of gravitation. This was an essential condition to the
+success of the enterprise, and continued actively to engage the public
+attention.
+
+Regarding the path described by the moon in her revolution round the
+earth, the Cambridge Observatory had demonstrated that this path is a
+re-entering curve, not a perfect circle, but an ellipse, of which the
+earth occupies one of the _foci_. It was also well understood that it is
+farthest removed from the earth during its _apogee,_ and approaches most
+nearly to it at its _perigee._
+
+Such then was the extent of knowledge possessed by every American on the
+subject, and of which no one could decently profess ignorance. Still,
+while these true principles were being rapidly disseminated many errors
+and illusory fears proved less easy to eradicate.
+
+For instance, some worthy persons maintained that the moon was an ancient
+comet which, in describing its elongated orbit round the sun, happened to
+pass near the earth, and became confined within her circle of attraction.
+These drawing-room astronomers professed so to explain the charred aspect
+of the moon--a disaster which they attributed to the intensity of the
+solar heat; only, on being reminded that comets have an atmosphere, and
+that the moon has little or none, they were fairly at a loss for a reply.
+
+Others again, belonging to the doubting class expressed certain fears as
+to the position of the moon. They had heard it said that, according to
+observations made in the time of the Caliphs, her revolution had become
+accelerated in a certain degree. Hence they concluded, logically enough,
+that an acceleration of motion ought to be accompanied by a corresponding
+diminution in the distance separating the two bodies; and that, supposing
+the double effect to be continued to infinity, the moon would end by
+one day falling into the earth. However, they became reassured as to
+the fate of future generations on being apprised that, according to the
+calculations of Laplace, this acceleration of motion is confined within
+very restricted limits, and that a proportional diminution of speed will
+be certain to succeed it. So, then, the stability of the solar system
+would not be deranged in ages to come.
+
+There remains but the third class, the superstitious. These worthies were
+not content merely to rest in ignorance; they must know all about things
+which had no existence whatever, and as to the moon, they had long known
+all about her. One set regarded her disc as a polished mirror, by means
+of which people could see each other from different points of the earth
+and interchange their thoughts. Another set pretended that out of one
+thousand new moons that had been observed, nine hundred and fifty had been
+attended with remarkable disturbances, such as cataclysms, revolutions,
+earthquakes, the deluge, &c. Then they believed in some mysterious
+influence exercised by her over human destinies--that every Selenite
+was attached to some inhabitant of the earth by a tie of sympathy; they
+maintained that the entire vital system is subject to her control, &c.,
+&c. But in time the majority renounced these vulgar errors, and espoused
+the true side of the question. As for the Yankees, they had no other
+ambition than to take possession of this new continent of the sky, and to
+plant upon the summit of its highest elevation the star-spangled banner
+of the United States of America.
+
+
+Illustration: BARBICANE HOLDS FORTH.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL.
+
+
+The Observatory of Cambridge in its memorable letter had treated the
+question from a purely astronomical point of view. The mechanical part
+still remained.
+
+President Barbicane had, without loss of time, nominated a Working
+Committee of the Gun Club. The duty of this Committee was to resolve the
+three grand questions of the cannon, the projectile, and the powder. It
+was composed of four members of great technical knowledge, Barbicane (with
+a casting vote in case of equality), General Morgan, Major Elphinstone,
+and J. T. Maston, to whom were confided the functions of secretary. On
+the 8th of October the Committee met at the house of President Barbicane,
+3, Republican Street. The meeting was opened by the president himself.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "we have to resolve one of the most important
+problems in the whole of the noble science of gunnery. It might appear,
+perhaps, the most logical course to devote our first meeting to the
+discussion of the engine to be employed. Nevertheless, after mature
+consideration, it has appeared to me that the question of the projectile
+must take precedence of that of the cannon, and that the dimensions of
+the latter must necessarily depend upon those of the former."
+
+"Suffer me to say a word," here broke in J. T. Maston. Permission
+having been granted, "Gentlemen," said he, with an inspired accent, "our
+president is right in placing the question of the projectile above all
+others. The ball we are about to discharge at the moon is our ambassador
+to her, and I wish to consider it from a moral point of view. The
+cannon-ball, gentlemen, to my mind, is the most magnificent manifestation
+of human power. If Providence has created the stars and the planets,
+man has called the cannon-ball into existence. Let Providence claim
+the swiftness of electricity and of light, of the stars, the comets,
+and the planets, of wind and sound--we claim to have invented the
+swiftness of the cannon-ball, a hundred times superior to that of the
+swiftest horses or railway train. How glorious will be the moment when,
+infinitely exceeding all hitherto attained velocities, we shall launch
+our new projectile with the rapidity of seven miles a second! Shall it
+not, gentlemen--shall it not be received up there with the honours due
+to a terrestrial ambassador?"
+
+Overcome with emotion the orator sat down and applied himself to a huge
+plate of sandwiches before him.
+
+"And now," said Barbicane, "let us quit the domain of poetry and come
+direct to the question."
+
+"By all means," replied the members, each with his mouth full of sandwich.
+
+"The problem before us," continued the president, "is how to communicate
+to a projectile a velocity of 12,000 yards per second. Let us at present
+examine the velocities hitherto attained. General Morgan will be able to
+enlighten us on this point."
+
+"And the more easily," replied the general, "that during the war I was
+a member of the Committee of experiments. I may say, then, that the
+100-pounder Dahlgrens, which carried a distance of 5000 yards, impressed
+upon their projectile an initial velocity of 500 yards a second. The
+Rodman Columbiad threw a shot weighing half a ton a distance of six
+miles, with a velocity of 800 yards per second--a result which Armstrong
+and Palisser have never obtained in England."
+
+"This," replied Barbicane, "is, I believe, the maximum velocity ever
+attained?"
+
+"It is so," replied the general.
+
+
+Illustration: THE RODMAN COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+"Ah!" groaned J. T. Maston, "if my mortar had not burst--"
+
+"Yes," quietly replied Barbicane, "but it did burst. We must take, then,
+for our starting-point this velocity of 800 yards. We must increase it
+twenty-fold. Now, reserving for another discussion the means of producing
+this velocity, I will call your attention to the dimensions which it will
+be proper to assign to the shot. You understand that we have nothing to
+do here with projectiles weighing at most but half a ton."
+
+"Why not?" demanded the major.
+
+"Because the shot," quickly replied J. T. Maston, "must be big enough to
+attract the attention of the inhabitants of the moon, if there are any?"
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane, "and for another reason more important still."
+
+"What mean you?" asked the major.
+
+"I mean that it is not enough to discharge a projectile, and then take
+no further notice of it; we must follow it throughout its course, up to
+the moment when it shall reach its goal."
+
+"What?" shouted the general and the major in great surprise.
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Barbicane composedly, "or our experiment would
+produce no result."
+
+"But then," replied the major, "you will have to give this projectile
+enormous dimensions."
+
+"No! Be so good as to listen. You know that optical instruments have
+acquired great perfection; with certain telescopes we have succeeded in
+obtaining enlargements of 6000 times and reducing the moon to within forty
+miles' distance. Now, at this distance, any objects sixty feet square
+would be perfectly visible. If, then, the penetrative power of telescopes
+has not been further increased, it is because that power detracts from
+their light; and the moon, which is but a reflecting mirror, does not
+give back sufficient light to enable us to perceive objects of lesser
+magnitude."
+
+"Well, then, what do you propose to do?" asked the general. "Would you
+give your projectile a diameter of sixty feet?"
+
+"Not so."
+
+"Do you intend, then, to increase the luminous power of the moon?"
+
+"Exactly so. If I can succeed in diminishing the density of the atmosphere
+through which the moon's light has to travel I shall have rendered her
+light more intense. To effect that object it will be enough to establish
+a telescope on some elevated mountain. That is what we will do."
+
+"I give it up," answered the major. "You have such a way of simplifying
+things. And what enlargement do you expect to obtain in this way?"
+
+"One of 48,000 times, which should bring the moon within an apparent
+distance of five miles; and, in order to be visible, objects need not
+have a diameter of more than nine feet."
+
+"So, then," cried J. T. Maston, "our projectile need not be more than
+nine feet in diameter."
+
+"Let me observe, however," interrupted Major Elphinstone, "this will
+involve a weight such as--"
+
+"My dear major," replied Barbicane, "before discussing its weight, permit
+me to enumerate some of the marvels which our ancestors have achieved in
+this respect. I don't mean to pretend that the science of gunnery has
+not advanced, but it is as well to bear in mind that during the middle
+ages they obtained results more surprising, I will venture to say, than
+ours. For instance, during the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II.,
+in 1453, stone shot of 1900 lbs. weight were employed. At Malta, in the
+time of the knights, there was a gun of the fortress of St. Elmo which
+threw a projectile weighing 2500 lbs. And, now, what is the extent of
+what we have seen ourselves? Armstrong guns discharging shot of 500 lbs.,
+and the Rodman guns projectiles of half a ton! It seems, then, that if
+projectiles have gained in range, they have lost far more in weight. Now,
+if we turn our efforts in that direction, we ought to arrive, with the
+progress of science, at ten times the weight of the shot of Mahomet II.
+and the Knights of Malta."
+
+
+Illustration: CANNON AT MALTA IN THE TIME OF THE KNIGHTS.
+
+
+"Clearly," replied the major; "but what metal do you calculate upon
+employing?"
+
+"Simply cast iron," said General Morgan.
+
+"But," interrupted the major, "since the weight of a shot is proportionate
+to its volume, an iron ball of nine feet in diameter would be of
+tremendous weight."
+
+"Yes, if it were solid, not if it were hollow."
+
+"Hollow? then it would be a shell?"
+
+"Yes, a shell," replied Barbicane; "decidedly it must be. A solid shot of
+108 inches would weigh more than 200,000 lbs., a weight evidently far too
+great. Still, as we must reserve a certain stability for our projectile,
+I propose to give it a weight of 20,000 lbs."
+
+"What, then, will be the thickness of the sides?" asked the major.
+
+"If we follow the usual proportion," replied Morgan, "a diameter of 108
+inches would require sides of two feet thickness, or less."
+
+"That would be too much," replied Barbicane; "for you will observe that
+the question is not that of a shot intended to pierce an iron plate: it
+will suffice, therefore, to give it sides strong enough to resist the
+pressure of the gas. The problem, therefore, is this--What thickness
+ought a cast-iron shell to have in order not to weigh more than 20,000
+lbs.? Our clever secretary will soon enlighten us upon this point."
+
+"Nothing easier," replied the worthy secretary of the Committee; and,
+rapidly tracing a few algebraical formulæ upon paper, among which _n_²
+and _x_² frequently appeared, he presently said,--
+
+"The sides will require a thickness of less than two inches."
+
+"Will that be enough?" asked the major doubtfully.
+
+"Clearly not!" replied the president.
+
+"What is to be done, then?" said Elphinstone, with a puzzled air.
+
+"Employ another metal instead of iron."
+
+"Copper?" said Morgan.
+
+"No; that would be too heavy. I have better than that to offer."
+
+"What then?" asked the major.
+
+"Aluminium!" replied Barbicane.
+
+"Aluminium?" cried his three colleagues in chorus.
+
+"Unquestionably, my friends. This valuable metal possesses the whiteness
+of silver, the indestructibility of gold, the tenacity of iron, the
+fusibility of copper, the lightness of glass. It is easily wrought, is
+very widely distributed, forming the base of most of the rocks, is three
+times lighter than iron, and seems to have been created for the express
+purpose of furnishing us with the material for our projectile."
+
+"But, my dear president," said the major, "is not the cost price of
+aluminium extremely high?"
+
+"It was so at its first discovery, but it has fallen now to nine dollars
+the pound."
+
+"But still, nine dollars the pound!" replied the major, who was not
+willing readily to give in; "even that is an enormous price."
+
+"Undoubtedly, my dear major; but not beyond our reach."
+
+"What will the projectile weigh then?" asked Morgan.
+
+"Here is the result of my calculations," replied Barbicane. "A shot of
+108 inches in diameter, and 12 inches in thickness, would weigh, in
+cast-iron, 67,440 lbs.; cast in aluminium, its weight will be reduced to
+19,250 lbs."
+
+"Capital!" cried the major; "but do you know that, at nine dollars the
+pound, this projectile will cost--"
+
+"One hundred and seventy-three thousand and fifty dollars ($173,050).
+I know it quite well. But fear not, my friends; the money will not be
+wanting for our enterprise, I will answer for it. Now what say you to
+aluminium, gentlemen?"
+
+"Adopted!" replied the three members of the Committee. So ended the first
+meeting. The question of the projectile was definitively settled.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   HISTORY OF THE CANNON.
+
+
+The resolutions passed at the last meeting produced a great effect
+out of doors. Timid people took fright at the idea of a shot weighing
+20,000 lbs. being launched into space; they asked what cannon could ever
+transmit a sufficient velocity to such a mighty mass. The minutes of the
+second meeting were destined triumphantly to answer such questions. The
+following evening the discussion was renewed.
+
+"My dear colleagues," said Barbicane, without further preamble, "the
+subject now before us is the construction of the engine, its length, its
+composition, and its weight. It is probable that we shall end by giving
+it gigantic dimensions; but however great may be the difficulties in the
+way, our mechanical genius will readily surmount them. Be good enough,
+then, to give me your attention, and do not hesitate to make objections
+at the close. I have no fear of them. The problem before us is how to
+communicate an initial force of 12,000 yards per second to a shell of 108
+inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 lbs. Now when a projectile is launched
+into space, what happens to it? It is acted upon by three independent
+forces, the resistance of the air, the attraction of the earth, and the
+force of impulsion with which it is endowed. Let us examine these three
+forces. The resistance of the air is of little importance. The atmosphere
+of the earth does not exceed forty miles. Now, with the given rapidity,
+the projectile will have traversed this in five seconds, and the period
+is too brief for the resistance of the medium to be regarded otherwise
+than as insignificant. Proceeding, then, to the attraction of the earth,
+that is, the weight of the shell, we know that this weight will diminish
+in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance. When a body left to
+itself falls to the surface of the earth, it falls five feet in the first
+second; and if the same body were removed 257,542 miles farther off, in
+other words, to the distance of the moon, its fall would be reduced to
+about half a line in the first second. That is almost equivalent to a
+state of perfect rest. Our business, then, is to overcome progressively
+this action of gravitation. The mode of accomplishing that is by the
+force of impulsion."
+
+"There's the difficulty," broke in the major.
+
+"True," replied the president; "but we will overcome that, for this force
+of impulsion will depend upon the length of the engine and the powder
+employed, the latter being limited only by the resisting power of the
+former. Our business, then, to-day is with the dimensions of the cannon."
+
+"Now, up to the present time," said Barbicane, "our longest guns have
+not exceeded twenty-five feet in length. We shall therefore astonish the
+world by the dimensions we shall be obliged to adopt. It must evidently
+be, then, a gun of great range, since the length of the piece will
+increase the detention of the gas accumulated behind the projectile; but
+there is no advantage in passing certain limits."
+
+"Quite so," said the major. "What is the rule in such a case?"
+
+"Ordinarily the length of a gun is 20 to 25 times the diameter of the
+shot, and its weight 235 to 240 times that of the shot."
+
+"That is not enough," cried J. T. Maston impetuously.
+
+"I agree with you, my good friend; and, in fact, following this proportion
+for a projectile nine feet in diameter, weighing 30,000 lbs., the gun
+would only have a length of 225 feet, and a weight of 7,200,000 lbs."
+
+"Ridiculous!" rejoined Maston. "As well take a pistol."
+
+"I think so too," replied Barbicane; "that is why I propose to quadruple
+that length, and to construct a gun of 900 feet."
+
+The general and the major offered some objections; nevertheless, the
+proposition, actively supported by the secretary, was definitively
+adopted.
+
+"But," said Elphinstone, "what thickness must we give it?"
+
+"A thickness of six feet," replied Barbicane.
+
+"You surely don't think of mounting a mass like that upon a carriage?"
+asked the major.
+
+"It would be a superb idea, though," said Maston.
+
+"But impracticable," replied Barbicane. "No; I think of sinking this
+engine in the earth alone, binding it with hoops of wrought iron, and
+finally surrounding it with a thick mass of masonry of stone and cement.
+The piece once cast, it must be bored with great precision, so as to
+preclude any possible windage. So there will be no loss whatever of
+gas, and all the expansive force of the powder will be employed in the
+propulsion."
+
+"One simple question," said Elphinstone: "is our gun to be rifled?"
+
+"No, certainly not," replied Barbicane; "we require an enormous initial
+velocity; and you are well aware that a shot quits a rifled gun less
+rapidly than it does a smooth-bore."
+
+"True," rejoined the major.
+
+The Committee here adjourned for a few minutes to tea and sandwiches.
+
+On the discussion being renewed, "Gentlemen," said Barbicane, "we must
+now take into consideration the metal to be employed. Our cannon must
+be possessed of great tenacity, great hardness, be infusible by heat,
+indissoluble, and inoxydable by the corrosive action of acids."
+
+"There is no doubt about that," replied the major; "and as we shall have
+to employ an immense quantity of metal, we shall not be at a loss for
+choice."
+
+
+Illustration: IDEAL SKETCH OF J. T. MASTON'S GUN.
+
+
+"Well, then," said Morgan, "I propose the best alloy hitherto known,
+which consists of 100 parts of copper, 12 of tin, and 6 of brass."
+
+"I admit," replied the president, "that this composition has yielded
+excellent results, but in the present case it would be too expensive, and
+very difficult to work. I think, then, that we ought to adopt a material
+excellent in its way and of low price, such as cast iron. What is your
+advice, major?"
+
+"I quite agree with you," replied Elphinstone.
+
+"In fact," continued Barbicane, "cast iron cost ten times less than
+bronze; it is easy to cast, it runs readily from the moulds of sand,
+it is easy of manipulation, it is at once economical of money and of
+time. In addition, it is excellent as a material, and I well remember
+that during the war, at the siege of Atlanta, some iron guns fired one
+thousand rounds at intervals of twenty minutes without injury."
+
+"Cast iron is very brittle, though," replied Morgan.
+
+"Yes, but it possesses great resistance. I will now ask our worthy
+secretary to calculate the weight of a cast-iron gun with a bore of nine
+feet and a thickness of six feet of metal."
+
+"In a moment," replied Maston. Then, dashing off some algebraical formulæ
+with marvellous facility, in a minute or two he declared the following
+result:--
+
+"The cannon will weigh 68,040 tons. And, at two cents a pound, it will
+cost--?"
+
+"2,510,701 dollars."
+
+Maston, the major, and the general regarded Barbicane with uneasy looks.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," replied the president, "I repeat what I said yesterday.
+Make yourselves easy; the millions will not be wanting."
+
+With this assurance of their president the Committee separated, after
+having fixed their third meeting for the following evening.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IX.
+
+   THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS.
+
+
+There remained for consideration merely the question of powders.
+The public awaited with interest its final decision. The size of the
+projectile, the length of the cannon being settled, what would be the
+quantity of powder necessary to produce impulsion?
+
+It is generally asserted that gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth
+century by the monk Schwartz, who paid for his grand discovery with his
+life. It is, however, pretty well proved that this story ought to be
+ranked amongst the legends of the middle ages. Gunpowder was not invented
+by any one; it was the lineal successor of the Greek fire, which, like
+itself, was composed of sulphur and saltpetre. Few persons are acquainted
+with the mechanical power of gunpowder. Now this is precisely what is
+necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the importance of the
+question submitted to the committee.
+
+A litre of gunpowder weighs about 2 lbs.; during combustion it produces
+400 litres of gas. This gas, on being liberated and acted upon by a
+temperature raised to 2400 degrees, occupies a space of 4000 litres:
+consequently the volume of powder is to the volume of gas produced by
+its combustion as 1 to 4000. One may judge, therefore, of the tremendous
+pressure of this gas when compressed within a space 4000 times too
+confined. All this was, of course, well known to the members of the
+committee when they met on the following evening.
+
+The first speaker on this occasion was Major Elphinstone, who had been
+the director of the gunpowder factories during the war.
+
+
+Illustration: THE INVENTION OF GUNPOWDER BY THE MONK SCHWARTZ.
+
+
+"Gentlemen," said this distinguished chemist, "I begin with some figures
+which will serve as the basis of our calculation. The old 24-pounder shot
+required for its discharge 16 lbs. of powder."
+
+"You are certain of the amount?" broke in Barbicane.
+
+"Quite certain," replied the major. "The Armstrong cannon employs only
+75 lbs. of powder for a projectile of 800 lbs., and the Rodman Columbiad
+uses only 160 lbs. of powder to send its half-ton shot a distance of six
+miles. These facts cannot be called in question, for I myself raised the
+point during the depositions taken before the Committee of Artillery."
+
+"Quite true," said the general.
+
+"Well," replied the major, "these figures go to prove that the quantity
+of powder is not increased with the weight of the shot; that is to say,
+if a 24-pounder shot requires 16 lbs. of powder;--in other words, if in
+ordinary guns we employ a quantity of powder equal to two-thirds of the
+weight of the projectile, this proportion is not constant. Calculate,
+and you will see that in place of 333 lbs. of powder, the quantity is
+reduced to no more than 160 lbs."
+
+"What are you aiming at?" asked the president.
+
+"If you push your theory to extremes, my dear major," said J. T. Maston,
+"you will get to this, that as soon as your shot becomes sufficiently
+heavy you will not require any powder at all."
+
+"Our friend Maston is always at his jokes, even in serious matters,"
+cried the major; "but let him make his mind easy, I am going presently
+to propose gunpowder enough to satisfy his artillerist's propensities.
+I only keep to statistical facts when I say that during the war, and for
+the very largest guns, the weight of powder was reduced, as the result
+of experience, to a tenth part of the weight of the shot."
+
+"Perfectly correct," said Morgan; "but before deciding the quantity of
+powder necessary to give the impulse, I think it would be as well--"
+
+"We shall have to employ a large-grained powder," continued the major,
+"its combustion is more rapid than that of the small."
+
+"No doubt about that," replied Morgan, "but it is very destructive, and
+ends by enlarging the bore of the pieces."
+
+"Granted; but that which is injurious to a gun destined to perform long
+service is not so to our Columbiad. We shall run no danger of an explosion;
+and it is necessary that our powder should take fire instantaneously in
+order that its mechanical effect may be complete."
+
+"We must have," said Maston, "several touch-holes, so as to fire it at
+different points at the same time."
+
+"Certainly," replied Elphinstone; "but that will render the working of
+the piece more difficult. I return then to my large-grained powder, which
+removes those difficulties. In his Columbiad charges Rodman employed a
+powder as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply dried in
+cast-iron pans. This powder was hard and glittering, left no trace upon
+the hand, contained hydrogen and oxygen in large proportion, took fire
+instantaneously, and, though very destructive, did not sensibly injure
+the mouth-piece."
+
+Up to this point Barbicane had kept aloof from the discussion; he left
+the others to speak while he himself listened; he had evidently got an
+idea. He now simply said, "Well, my friends, what quantity of powder do
+you propose?"
+
+The three members look at one another.
+
+"Two hundred thousand pounds," at last said Morgan.
+
+"Five hundred thousand," added the major.
+
+"Eight hundred thousand," screamed Maston.
+
+A moment of silence followed this triple proposal; it was at last broken
+by the president.
+
+"Gentlemen," he quietly said, "I start from this principle, that the
+resistance of a gun, constructed under the given conditions, is unlimited.
+I shall surprise our friend Maston, then, by stigmatizing his calculations
+as timid; and I propose to double his 800,000 lbs. of powder."
+
+"Sixteen hundred thousand pounds?" shouted Maston, leaping from his seat.
+
+"Just so."
+
+"We shall have to come then to my ideal of a cannon half a mile long; for
+you see 1,600,000 lbs. will occupy a space of about 20,000 cubic feet;
+and since the contents of your cannon do not exceed 54,000 cubic feet,
+it would be half full; and the bore will not be more than long enough
+for the gas to communicate to the projectile sufficient impulse."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the president, "I hold to that quantity of powder.
+Now, 1,600,000 lbs. of powder will create 6,000,000,000 of litres of gas.
+Six thousand millions! You quite understand?"
+
+"What is to be done then?" said the general.
+
+"The thing is very simple; we must reduce this enormous quantity of
+powder, while preserving to it its mechanical power."
+
+"Good; but by what means?"
+
+"I am going to tell you," replied Barbicane quietly. "Nothing is more
+easy than to reduce this mass to one quarter of its bulk. You know that
+curious cellular matter which constitutes the elementary tissues of
+vegetables? This substance is found quite pure in many bodies, especially
+in cotton, which is nothing more than the down of the seeds of the cotton
+plant. Now cotton, combined with cold nitric acid, becomes transformed
+into a substance eminently insoluble, combustible, and explosive. It was
+first discovered in 1832, by Braconnot, a French chemist, who called it
+xyloidine. In 1838 another Frenchman, Pelouze, investigated its different
+properties, and finally, in 1846, Schonbein, Professor of Chemistry at
+Bâle, proposed its employment for purposes of war. This powder, now
+called pyroxyle, or fulminating cotton, is prepared with great facility
+by simply plunging cotton for fifteen minutes in nitric acid, then
+washing it in water, then drying it, and it is ready for use."
+
+"Nothing could be more simple," said Morgan.
+
+"Moreover, pyroxyle is unaltered by moisture--a valuable property to us,
+inasmuch as it would take several days to charge the cannon. It ignites
+at 170 degrees in place of 240, and its combustion is so rapid that one
+may set light to it on the top of ordinary powder, without the latter
+having time to ignite."
+
+"Perfect!" exclaimed the major.
+
+"Only it is more expensive."
+
+"What matter?" cried J. T. Maston.
+
+"Finally, it imparts to projectiles a velocity four times superior to
+that of gunpowder. I will even add, that if we mix with it one-eighth
+of its own weight of nitrate of potass, its expansive force is again
+considerably augmented."
+
+"Will that be necessary?" asked the major.
+
+"I think not," replied Barbicane. "So, then, in place of 1,600,000 lbs.
+of powder, we shall have but 400,000 lbs. of fulminating cotton; and
+since we can, without danger, compress 500 lbs. of cotton into 27 cubic
+feet, the whole quantity will not occupy a height of more than 180 feet
+within the bore of the Columbiad. In this way the shot will have more
+than 700 feet of bore to traverse under a force of 6,000,000,000 litres
+of gas before taking its flight towards the moon."
+
+At this junction J. T. Maston could not repress his emotion; he flung
+himself into the arms of his friend with the violence of a projectile,
+and Barbicane would have been stove in if he had not been bomb-proof.
+
+This incident terminated the third meeting of the Committee.
+
+Barbicane and his bold colleagues, to whom nothing seemed impossible,
+had succeeded in solving the complex problems of projectile, cannon,
+and powder. Their plan was drawn up, and it only remained to put it in
+execution.
+
+"A mere matter of detail, a bagatelle," said J. T. Maston.
+
+
+Illustration: CAPTAIN NICHOLL
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER X.
+
+   ONE ENEMY _v._ TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS.
+
+
+The American public took a lively interest in the smallest details of
+the enterprise of the Gun Club. It followed day by day the discussions of
+the committee. The most simple preparation for the great experiment, the
+questions of figures which it involved, the mechanical difficulties to
+be resolved--in one word, the entire plan of work--roused the popular
+excitement to the highest pitch.
+
+The purely scientific attraction was suddenly intensified by the following
+incident:--
+
+We have seen what legions of admirers and friends Barbicane's project
+had rallied round its author. There was, however, one single individual
+alone in all the States of the Union who protested against the attempt
+of the Gun Club. He attacked it furiously on every opportunity, and human
+nature is such that Barbicane felt more keenly the opposition of that one
+man than he did the applause of all the others. He was well aware of the
+motive of this antipathy, the origin of this solitary enmity, the cause
+of its personality and old standing, and in what rivalry of self-love it
+had its rise.
+
+This persevering enemy the President of the Gun Club had never seen.
+Fortunate that it was so, for a meeting between the two men would
+certainly have been attended with serious consequences. This rival was a
+man of science, like Barbicane himself, of a fiery, daring, and violent
+disposition; a pure Yankee. His name was Captain Nicholl; he lived at
+Philadelphia.
+
+Most people are aware of the curious struggle which arose during the
+Federal war between the guns and the armour of iron-plated ships. The
+result was the entire reconstruction of the navy of both the continents;
+as the one grew heavier, the other became thicker in proportion. The
+"Merrimac," the "Monitor," the "Tennessee," the "Weehawken" discharged
+enormous projectiles themselves, after having been armour-clad against
+the projectiles of others. In fact they did to others that which they
+would not they should do to them--that grand principle of immorality
+upon which rests the whole art of war.
+
+Now if Barbicane was a great founder of shot, Nicholl was a great forger
+of plates; the one cast night and day at Baltimore, the other forged day
+and night at Philadelphia. As soon as ever Barbicane invented a new shot,
+Nicholl invented a new plate, each followed a current of ideas essentially
+opposed to the other. Happily for these citizens, so useful to their
+country, a distance of from fifty to sixty miles separated them from one
+another, and they had never yet met. Which of these two inventors had
+the advantage over the other it was difficult to decide from the results
+obtained. By last accounts, however, it would seem that the armour-plate
+would in the end have to give way to the shot; nevertheless, there were
+competent judges who had their doubts on the point.
+
+At the last experiment the cylindro-conical projectiles of Barbicane stuck
+like so many pins in the Nicholl plates. On that day the Philadelphia
+iron-forger then believed himself victorious, and could not evince
+contempt enough for his rival; but when the other afterwards substituted
+for conical shot simple 600 lb. shells, at very moderate velocity, the
+captain was obliged to give in. In fact, these projectiles knocked his
+best metal plate to shivers.
+
+Matters were at this stage, and victory seemed to rest with the shot,
+when the war came to an end on the very day when Nicholl had completed
+a new armour-plate of wrought steel. It was a masterpiece of its kind,
+and bid defiance to all the projectiles in the world. The captain had it
+conveyed to the Polygon at Washington, challenging the President of the
+Gun Club to break it. Barbicane, peace having been declared, declined to
+try the experiment.
+
+
+Illustration: NICHOLL PUBLISHED A NUMBER OF LETTERS IN THE
+   NEWSPAPERS.
+
+
+Nicholl, now furious, offered to expose his plate to the shock of any
+shot, solid, hollow, round, or conical. Refused by the president, who
+did not choose to compromise his last success.
+
+Nicholl, disgusted by this obstinacy, tried to tempt Barbicane by offering
+him every chance. He proposed to fix the plate within two hundred yards
+of the gun. Barbicane still obstinate in refusal. A hundred yards? Not
+even _seventy-five!_
+
+"At fifty then!" roared the captain through the newspapers. "At twenty-five
+yards!! and I'll stand behind!!!"
+
+Barbicane returned for answer that, even if Captain Nicholl would be so
+good as to stand in front, he would not fire any more.
+
+Nicholl could not contain himself at this reply; threw out hints of
+cowardice; that a man who refused to fire a cannon-shot was pretty near
+being afraid of it; that artillerists who fight at six miles' distance
+are substituting mathematical formulas for individual courage.
+
+To these insinuations Barbicane returned no answer; perhaps he never
+heard of them, so absorbed was he in the calculations for his great
+enterprise.
+
+When his famous communication was made to the Gun Club, the captain's
+wrath passed all bounds; with his intense jealousy was mingled a feeling
+of absolute impotence. How was he to invent anything to beat this 900-feet
+Columbiad? What armour-plate could ever resist a projectile of 30,000
+lbs. weight? Overwhelmed at first under this violent shock, he by and by
+recovered himself, and resolved to crush the proposal by the weight of
+his arguments.
+
+He then violently attacked the labours of the Gun Club, published a
+number of letters in the newspapers, endeavoured to prove Barbicane
+ignorant of the first principles of gunnery. He maintained that it was
+absolutely impossible to impress upon any body whatever a velocity of
+12,000 yards per second; that even with such a velocity a projectile of
+such a weight could not transcend the limits of the earth's atmosphere.
+Further still, even regarding the velocity to be acquired, and granting
+it to be sufficient, the shell could not resist the pressure of the gas
+developed by the ignition of 1,600,000 lbs. of powder; and supposing
+it to resist that pressure, it would be the less able to support that
+temperature; it would melt on quitting the Columbiad, and fall back in
+a red-hot shower upon the heads of the imprudent spectators.
+
+Barbicane continued his work without regarding these attacks.
+
+Nicholl then took up the question in its other aspects. Without touching
+upon its uselessness in all points of view, he regarded the experiment
+as fraught with extreme danger, both to the citizens, who might sanction
+by their presence so reprehensible a spectacle, and also to the towns
+in the neighbourhood of this deplorable cannon. He also observed that
+if the projectile did not succeed in reaching its destination (a result
+absolutely impossible), it must inevitably fall back upon the earth,
+and that the shock of such a mass, multiplied by the square of its
+velocity, would seriously endanger every point of the globe. Under the
+circumstances, therefore, and without interfering with the rights of free
+citizens, it was a case for the intervention of Government, which ought
+not to endanger the safety of all for the pleasure of one individual.
+
+Spite of all his arguments, however, Captain Nicholl remained alone in
+his opinion. Nobody listened to him, and he did not succeed in alienating
+a single admirer from the President of the Gun Club. The latter did not
+even take the pains to refute the arguments of his rival.
+
+Nicholl, driven into his last entrenchments, and not able to fight
+personally in the cause, resolved to fight with money. He published,
+therefore, in the _Richmond Inquirer_ a series of wagers, conceived in
+these terms, and on an increasing scale:--
+
+No. 1 (1000 dols.).--That the necessary funds for the experiment of the
+Gun Club will not be forthcoming.
+
+No. 2 (2000 dols.).--That the operation of casting a cannon of 900 feet
+is impracticable, and cannot possibly succeed.
+
+No. 3 (3000 dols.).--That it is impossible to load the Columbiad, and
+that the pyroxyle will take fire spontaneously under the pressure of the
+projectile.
+
+No. 4 (4000 dols.).--That the Columbiad will burst at the first fire.
+
+No. 5 (5000 dols.).--That the shot will not travel farther than six
+miles, and that it will fall back again a few seconds after its discharge.
+
+It was an important sum, therefore, which the captain risked in his
+invincible obstinacy. He had no less than 15,000 dollars at stake.
+
+Notwithstanding the importance of the challenge, on the 19th of May
+he received a sealed packet containing the following superbly laconic
+reply:--
+
+
+   "Baltimore, _Oct._ 19.
+
+   "Done.
+
+   "Barbicane."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+
+   FLORIDA AND TEXAS.
+
+
+One question yet remained to be decided: it was necessary to choose
+a favourable spot for the experiment. According to the advice of the
+Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be fired perpendicularly to the
+plane of the horizon, that is to say, towards the zenith. Now the moon
+does not traverse the zenith, except in places situated between 0° and
+28° of latitude. It became, then, necessary to determine exactly that
+spot on the globe where the immense Columbiad should be cast.
+
+On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club, Barbicane
+produced a magnificent map of the United States. "Gentlemen," said he,
+in opening the discussion, "I presume that we are all agreed that this
+experiment cannot and ought not to be tried anywhere but within the
+limits of the soil of the Union. Now, by good fortune, certain frontiers
+of the United States extend downwards as far as the 28th parallel of the
+north latitude. If you will cast your eye over this map, you will see
+that we have at our disposal the whole of the southern portion of Texas
+and Florida."
+
+It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast on the soil
+of either Texas or Florida. The result, however, of this decision was to
+create a rivalry entirely without precedent between the different towns
+of these two states.
+
+The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses the peninsula
+of Florida, dividing it into two nearly equal portions. Then, plunging
+into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coast of
+Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it
+cuts an angle, it continues its course over Mexico, crosses the Sonora,
+Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore,
+only those portions of Texas and Florida which were situated below this
+parallel which came within the prescribed conditions of latitude.
+
+Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance; it is
+simply studded with forts raised against the roving Indians. One solitary
+town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favour of its situation.
+
+In Texas, on the contrary, the towns are much more numerous and important.
+Corpus Christi, in the county of Nuaces, and all the cities situated on
+the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio on the Web, Rio Grande City
+on the Starr, Edinburgh in the Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville
+in the Cameron, formed an imposing league against the pretensions of
+Florida. So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridan
+deputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly short space of time. From
+that very moment President Barbicane and the influential members of the
+Gun Club were besieged day and night by formidable claims. If seven cities
+of Greece contended for the honour of having given birth to Homer, here
+were two entire states threatening to come to blows about the question
+of a cannon.
+
+The rival parties promenaded the streets with arms in their hands; and at
+every occasion of their meeting a collision was to be apprehended which
+might have been attended with disastrous results. Happily the prudence
+and address of President Barbicane averted the danger. These personal
+demonstrations found a division in the newspapers of the different
+states. The _New York Herald_ and the _Tribune_ supported Texas, while
+the _Times_ and the _American Review_ espoused the cause of the Floridan
+Deputies. The members of the Gun Club could not decide to which to give
+the preference.
+
+Texas produced its array of twenty-six counties; Florida replied that
+twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a country only one-sixth
+part of the size.
+
+Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida with a far smaller
+territory, boasted of being much more densely populated with 56,000.
+
+The Texians, through the columns of the _Herald_, claimed that some regard
+should be had to a state which grew the best cotton in all America,
+produced the best green oak for the service of the navy, and contained
+the finest oil, besides iron mines, in which the yield was fifty per
+cent. of pure metal.
+
+To this the _American Review_ replied that the soil of Florida, although
+not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for the moulding and
+casting of the Columbiad, consisting as it did of sand and argillaceous
+earth.
+
+"That may be all very well," replied the Texians; "but you must first
+get to this country. Now the communications with Florida are difficult,
+while the coast of Texas offers the bay of Galveston, which possesses
+a circumference of fourteen leagues, and is capable of containing the
+navies of the entire world!"
+
+"A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest of Florida,
+"that of Galveston Bay _below the 29th parallel!_ Have _we_ not got the
+bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon _the_ 28_th degree_, and
+by which ships can reach Tampa Town by direct route?"
+
+"A fine bay! half choked with sand!" "Choked yourselves!" returned the
+others.
+
+Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavoured to draw
+her adversary away on to fresh ground; and one morning the _Times_ hinted
+that, the enterprise being essentially American, it ought not to be
+attempted upon other than purely American territory.
+
+To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much so as you?
+Were not Texas and Florida both incorporated into the Union in 1845?"
+
+
+Illustration: IT BECAME NECESSARY TO KEEP AN EYE UPON THE DEPUTIES.
+
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied the _Times_; "but we have belonged to the Americans
+ever since 1820."
+
+"Yes!" returned the _Tribune_; "after having been Spaniards or English
+for 200 years, you were sold to the United States for five million
+dollars!"
+
+"Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not Louisiana bought from
+Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?"
+
+"Scandalous!" roared the Texan deputies. "A wretched little strip of
+country like Florida to dare to compare itself to Texas, who, in place
+of selling herself, asserted her own independence, drove out the Mexicans
+in March 2, 1836, and declared herself a federal republic after the
+victory gained by Samuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over
+the troops of Santa Anna!--a country, in fine, which voluntarily annexed
+itself to the United States of America!"
+
+"Yes; because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" replied Florida.
+
+"Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable. A
+sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in
+the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keep an eye upon the
+deputies.
+
+President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents,
+letters full of menaces showered down upon his house. Which side ought
+he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, the facility of
+communication, the rapidity of transport, the claims of both states were
+evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions, they had nothing to do
+with the question.
+
+This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicane resolved
+to get rid of it at once. He called a meeting of his colleagues, and
+laid before them a proposition which, it will be seen, was profoundly
+sagacious.
+
+"On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on now between Florida
+and Texas, it is clear that the same difficulties will recur with all
+the towns of the favoured state. The rivalry will descend from state to
+city, and so on downwards. Now Texas possesses _eleven_ towns within the
+prescribed conditions, which will further dispute the honour and create
+us new enemies, while Florida has only _one._ I go in, therefore, for
+Florida and Tampa Town."
+
+This decision, on being made known, utterly crushed the Texan deputies.
+Seized with an indescribable fury, they addressed threatening letters to
+the different members of the Gun Club by name. The magistrates had but
+one course to take, and they took it. They chartered a special train,
+forced the Texians into it whether they would or no; and they quitted
+the city with a speed of thirty miles an hour.
+
+Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time to hurl one
+last and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries.
+
+Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between
+two seas, they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the
+discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first shot.
+
+"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity worthy
+of the days of ancient Sparta.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+
+   URBI ET ORBI.
+
+
+The astronomical, mechanical, and topographical difficulties resolved,
+finally came the question of finance. The sum required was far too great
+for any individual, or even any single state, to provide the requisite
+millions.
+
+President Barbicane undertook, despite of the matter being a purely
+American affair, to render it one of universal interest, and to request
+the financial co-operation of all peoples. It was, he maintained, the
+right and the duty of the whole earth to interfere in the affairs of its
+satellite. The subscription opened at Baltimore extended properly to the
+whole world--_Urbi et orbi._
+
+This subscription was successful beyond all expectation; notwithstanding
+that it was a question not of _lending_ but of _giving_ the money. It
+was a purely disinterested operation in the strictest sense of the term,
+and offered not the slightest chance of profit.
+
+The effect, however, of Barbicane's communication was not confined to
+the frontiers of the United States; it crossed the Atlantic and Pacific,
+invading simultaneously Asia and Europe, Africa and Oceania. The
+observatories of the Union placed themselves in immediate communication
+with those of foreign countries. Some, such as those of Paris, Petersburg,
+Berlin, Stockholm, Hamburg, Malta, Lisbon, Benares, Madras, and others,
+transmitted their good wishes; the rest maintained a prudent silence,
+quietly awaiting the result. As for the observatory at Greenwich, seconded
+as it was by the twenty-two astronomical establishments of Great Britain,
+it spoke plainly enough. It boldly denied the possibility of success,
+and pronounced in favour of the theories of Captain Nicholl. But this
+was nothing more than mere English jealousy.
+
+On the 8th of October President Barbicane published a manifesto full of
+enthusiasm, in which he made an appeal to "all persons of good will upon
+the face of the earth." This document, translated into all languages,
+met with immense success.
+
+Subscription lists were opened in all the principal cities of the Union,
+with a central office at the Baltimore Bank, 9, Baltimore Street.
+
+In addition, subscriptions were received at the following banks in the
+different states of the two continents:--
+
+At Vienna, with S. M. de Rothschild.
+" Petersburg, Stieglitz and Co.
+" Paris, The Crédit Mobilier.
+" Stockholm, Tottie and Arfuredson.
+" London, N. M. Rothschild and Son.
+" Turin, Ardouin and Co.
+" Berlin, Mendelssohn.
+" Geneva, Lombard, Odier, and Co.
+" Constantinople, The Ottoman Bank.
+" Brussels, J. Lambert.
+" Madrid, Daniel Weisweller.
+" Amsterdam, Netherlands Credit Co.
+" Rome, Torlonia and Co.
+" Lisbon, Lecesne.
+" Copenhagen, Private Bank.
+" Rio Janeiro, do.
+" Monte Video, do.
+" Valparaiso and Lima, Thomas la Chambre and Co.    " Mexico, Martin
+Daran and Co.
+
+Three days after the manifesto of President Barbicane 4,000,000 of dollars
+were paid into the different towns of the Union. With such a balance
+the Gun Club might begin operations at once. But some days later advices
+were received to the effect that the foreign subscriptions were being
+eagerly taken up. Certain countries distinguished themselves by their
+liberality; others untied their purse-strings with less facility--matter
+of temperament. Figures are, however, more eloquent than words, and here
+is the official statement of the sums which were paid in to the credit
+of the Gun Club at the close of the subscription.
+
+
+Illustration: THE SUBSCRIPTION WAS OPENED.
+
+
+Russia paid in as her contingent the enormous sum of 368,733 roubles.
+No one need be surprised at this, who bears in mind the scientific taste
+of the Russians, and the impetus which they have given to astronomical
+studies--thanks to their numerous observatories.
+
+France began by deriding the pretensions of the Americans. The moon
+served as a pretext for a thousand stale puns and a score of ballads,
+in which bad taste contested the palm with ignorance. But as formerly
+the French paid before singing, so now they paid after having had their
+laugh, and they subscribed for a sum of 1,253,930 francs. At that price
+they had a right to enjoy themselves a little.
+
+Austria showed herself generous in the midst of her financial crisis. Her
+public contributions amounted to the sum of 216,000 florins--a perfect
+godsend.
+
+52,000 rix-dollars were the remittance of Sweden and Norway; the amount
+is large for the country, but it would undoubtedly have been considerably
+increased had the subscription been opened in Christiania simultaneously
+with that at Stockholm. For some reason or other the Norwegians do not
+like to send their money to Sweden.
+
+Prussia, by a remittance of 250,000 thalers, testified her high approval
+of the enterprise.
+
+Turkey behaved generously; but she had a personal interest in the matter.
+The moon, in fact, regulates the cycle of her years and her fast of
+Ramadan. She could not do less than give 1,372,640 piastres; and she gave
+them with an eagerness which denoted, however, some pressure on the part
+of the Government.
+
+Belgium distinguished herself among the second-rate states by a grant of
+513,000 francs--about two centimes per head of her population.
+
+Holland and her colonies interested themselves to the extent of 110,000
+florins, only demanding an allowance of five per cent, discount for
+paying ready money.
+
+Denmark, a little contracted in territory, gave nevertheless 9000 ducats,
+proving her love for scientific experiments.
+
+The Germanic Confederation pledged itself to 34,285 florins. It was
+impossible to ask for more; besides, they would not have given it.
+
+Though very much crippled, Italy found 200,000 lire in the pockets of
+her people. If she had had Venetia she would have done better; but she
+had not.
+
+The States of the Church thought that they could not send less than
+7040 Roman crowns; and Portugal carried her devotion to science as far
+as 30,000 cruzados. It was the widow's mite--eighty-six piastres; but
+self-constituted empires are always rather short of money.
+
+257 francs, this was the modest contribution of Switzerland to the
+American work. One must freely admit that she did not see the practical
+side of the matter. It did not seem to her that the mere despatch of a
+shot to the moon could possibly establish any relation of affairs with
+her; and it did not seem prudent to her to embark her capital in so
+hazardous an enterprise. After all, perhaps she was right.
+
+As to Spain, she could not scrape together more than 110 reals. She
+gave as an excuse that she had her railways to finish. The truth is,
+that science is not favourably regarded in that country, it is still
+in a backward state; and moreover, certain Spaniards, not by any means
+the least educated, did not form a correct estimate of the bulk of the
+projectile compared with that of the moon. They feared that it would
+disturb the established order of things. In that case it were better to
+keep aloof; which they did to the tune of some reals.
+
+
+Illustration: THE MANUFACTORY AT COLDSPRING, NEAR NEW YORK.
+
+
+There remained but England; and we know the contemptuous antipathy with
+which she received Barbicane's proposition. The English have but one
+soul for the whole twenty-six millions of inhabitants which Great Britain
+contains. They hinted that the enterprise of the Gun Club was contrary to
+the "principle of non-intervention." And they did not subscribe a single
+farthing.
+
+At this intimation the Gun Club merely shrugged its shoulders and
+returned to its great work. When South America, that is to say, Peru,
+Chili, Brazil, the provinces of La Plata and Columbia, had poured forth
+their quota into their hands, the sum of 300,000 dollars, it found itself
+in possession of a considerable capital, of which the following is a
+statement:--
+
+United States subscriptions . . 4,000,000 dollars.
+Foreign subscriptions    . . . . 1,446,675 "
+
+                                 ------------------
+Total,                           5,446,675 "
+
+
+Such was the sum which the public poured into the treasury of the Gun
+Club.
+
+Let no one be surprised at the vastness of the amount. The work of
+casting, boring, masonry, the transport of workmen, their establishment
+in an almost uninhabited country, the construction of furnaces and
+workshops, the plant, the powder, the projectile, and incidental expenses,
+would, according to the estimates, absorb nearly the whole. Certain
+cannon shots in the Federal war cost 1000 dollars a-piece. This one of
+President Barbicane, unique in the annals of gunnery, might well cost
+five thousand times more.
+
+On the 20th of October a contract was entered into with the manufactory
+at Coldspring, near New York, which during the war had furnished the
+largest Parrott cast-iron guns. It was stipulated between the contracting
+parties that the manufactory of Coldspring should engage to transport
+to Tampa Town, in southern Florida, the necessary materials for casting
+the Columbiad. The work was bound to be completed at latest by the 15th
+of October following, and the cannon delivered in good condition under
+penalty of a forfeit of 100 dollars a day to the moment when the moon
+should again present herself under the same conditions--that is to say,
+in eighteen years and eleven days.
+
+The engagement of the workmen, their pay, and all the necessary details
+of the work, devolved upon the Goldspring Company.
+
+This contract, executed in duplicate, was signed by Barbicane, President
+of the Gun Club, of the one part, and T. Murphison, director of the
+Coldspring manufactory, of the other, who thus executed the deed on
+behalf of their respective principals.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   STONES HILL.
+
+
+When the decision was arrived at by the Gun Club, to the disparagement of
+Texas, every one in America, where reading is an universal acquirement,
+set to work to study the geography of Florida. Never before had there
+been such a sale for works like _Bertram's Travels in Florida, Roman's
+Natural History of East and West Florida, William's Territory of Florida,_
+and _Cleland on the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane in Florida._ It became
+necessary to issue fresh editions of these works.
+
+Barbicane had something better to do than to read. He desired to see
+things with his own eyes, and to mark the exact position of the proposed
+gun. So, without a moment's loss of time, he placed at the disposal of
+the Cambridge Observatory the funds necessary for the construction of a
+telescope, and entered into negotiations with the house of Breadwill and
+Co., of Albany, for the construction of an aluminium projectile of the
+required size. He then quitted Baltimore, accompanied by J. T. Maston,
+Major Elphinstone, and the manager of the Coldspring Factory.
+
+On the following day, the four fellow-travellers arrived at New Orleans.
+There they immediately embarked on board the "Tampico," a despatch-boat
+belonging to the Federal navy, which the Government had placed at their
+disposal; and, getting up steam, the banks of the Louisiana speedily
+disappeared from sight.
+
+The passage was not long. Two days after starting, the "Tampico,"
+having made four hundred and eighty miles, came in sight of the coast of
+Florida. On a nearer approach Barbicane found himself in view of a low,
+flat country of somewhat barren aspect. After coasting along a series of
+creeks abounding in lobsters and oysters, the "Tampico" entered the bay
+of Espiritu Santo, where she finally anchored in a small natural harbour,
+formed by the _embouchure_ of the River Hillisborough, at seven p.m., on
+the 22d October.
+
+Our four passengers disembarked at once. "Gentlemen," said Barbicane,
+"we have no time to lose; tomorrow we must obtain horses, and proceed to
+reconnoitre the country."
+
+Barbicane had scarcely set his foot on shore when three thousand of the
+inhabitants of Tampa Town came forth to meet him, an honour due to the
+president who had signalized their country by his choice.
+
+Declining, however, every kind of ovation, Barbicane ensconced himself
+in a room of the Franklin Hotel.
+
+On the morrow some of those small horses of the Spanish breed, full of
+vigour and of fire, stood snorting under his windows; but instead of
+_four_ steeds, here were _fifty,_ together with their riders. Barbicane
+descended with his three fellow-travellers; and much astonished were they
+all to find themselves in the midst of such a cavalcade. He remarked that
+every horseman carried a carbine slung across his shoulders and pistols
+in his holsters.
+
+On expressing his surprise at these preparations, he was speedily
+enlightened by a young Floridan, who quietly said,--
+
+"Sir, there are Seminoles there."
+
+"What do you mean by Seminoles?"
+
+"Savages who scour the prairies. We thought it best, therefore, to escort
+you on your road."
+
+"Pooh!" cried J. T. Maston, mounting his steed.
+
+"All right," said the Floridan; "but it is true enough, nevertheless."
+
+"Gentlemen," answered Barbicane, "I thank you for your kind attention;
+but it is time to be off."
+
+
+Illustration: TAMPA TOWN PREVIOUS TO THE UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+It was five a.m. when Barbicane and his party, quitting Tampa Town,
+made their way along the coast in the direction of Alifia Creek. This
+little river falls into Hillisborough Bay twelve miles above Tampa Town.
+Barbicane and his escort coasted along its right bank to the eastward.
+Soon the waves of the bay disappeared behind a bend of rising ground,
+and the Floridan "champagne" alone offered itself to view.
+
+Florida, discovered on Palm Sunday, in 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon, was
+originally named _Pascha Florida_. It little deserved that designation
+with its dry and parched coasts. But after some few miles of tract the
+nature of the soil gradually changes and the country shows itself worthy
+of the name. Cultivated plains soon appear, where are united all the
+productions of the northern and tropical floras, terminating in prairies
+abounding with pineapples and yams, tobacco, rice, cotton-plants, and
+sugar-canes, which extend beyond reach of sight, flinging their riches
+broadcast with careless prodigality.
+
+Barbicane appeared highly pleased on observing the progressive elevation
+of the land; and in answer to a question of J. T. Maston, replied,--
+
+"My worthy friend, we cannot do better than sink our Columbiad in these
+high grounds."
+
+"To get nearer to the moon, perhaps?" said the secretary of the Gun Club.
+
+"Not exactly," replied Barbicane, smiling; "do you not see that amongst
+these elevated plateaus we shall have a much easier work of it? No
+struggles with the water-springs, which will save us long and expensive
+tubings; and we shall be working in daylight instead of down a deep and
+narrow well. Our business, then, is to open our trenches upon ground some
+hundreds of yards above the level of the sea."
+
+"You are right, sir," struck in Murchison, the engineer; "and, if I
+mistake not, we shall ere long find a suitable spot for our purpose."
+
+"I wish we were at the first stroke of the pickaxe," said the president.
+
+"And I wish we were at the _last_," cried J. T. Maston.
+
+About ten a.m. the little band had crossed a dozen miles. To fertile
+plains succeeded a region of forests. There perfumes of the most varied
+kinds mingled together in tropical profusion. These almost impenetrable
+forests were composed of pomegranates, orange-trees, citrons, figs,
+olives, apricots, bananas, huge vines, whose blossoms and fruits rivalled
+each other in colour and perfume. Beneath the odorous shade of these
+magnificent trees fluttered and warbled a little world of brilliantly
+plumaged birds.
+
+J. T. Maston and the major could not repress their admiration on finding
+themselves in presence of the glorious beauties of this wealth of
+nature. President Barbicane, however, less sensitive to these wonders,
+was in haste to press forward; the very luxuriance of the country was
+displeasing to him. They hastened onwards, therefore, and were compelled
+to ford several rivers, not without danger, for they were infested with
+huge alligators from fifteen to eighteen feet long. Maston courageously
+menaced them with his steel hook, but he only succeeded in frightening
+some pelicans and teal, while tall flamingos stared stupidly at the
+party.
+
+At length these denizens of the swamps disappeared in their turn; smaller
+trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets--a few isolated
+groups detached in the midst of endless plains over which ranged herds
+of startled deer.
+
+"At last," cried Barbicane, rising in his stirrups, "here we are at the
+region of pines!"
+
+"Yes! and of savages too," replied the major.
+
+In fact, some Seminoles had just come in sight upon the horizon; they
+rode violently backwards and forwards on their fleet horses, brandishing
+their spears or discharging their guns with a dull report. These hostile
+demonstrations, however, had no effect upon Barbicane and his companions.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY WERE COMPELLED TO FORD SEVERAL RIVERS.
+
+
+They were then occupying the centre of a rocky plain, which the sun
+scorched with its parching rays. This was formed by a considerable
+elevation of the soil, which seemed to offer to the members of the Gun
+Club all the conditions requisite for the construction of their Columbiad.
+
+"Halt!" said Barbicane, reining up. "Has this place any local appellation?"
+
+"It is called Stones Hill," replied one of the Floridans.
+
+Barbicane, without saying a word, dismounted, seized his instruments,
+and began to note his position with extreme exactness. The little band,
+drawn up in rear, watched his proceedings in profound silence.
+
+At this moment the sun passed the meridian. Barbicane, after a few
+moments, rapidly wrote down the result of his observations, and said,--
+
+"This spot is situated 1800 feet above the level of the sea, in 27° 7'
+N. lat. and 5° 7' W. long. of the meridian of Washington. It appears
+to me by its rocky and barren character to offer all the conditions
+requisite for our experiment. On that plain will be raised our magazines,
+workshops, furnaces, and workmen's huts; and here, from this very spot,"
+said he, stamping his foot on the summit of Stones Hill, "hence shall
+our projectile take its flight into the regions of the Solar
+World."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   PICKAXE AND TROWEL.
+
+
+The same evening Barbicane and his companions returned to Tampa Town;
+and Murchison, the engineer, re-embarked on board the "Tampico" for New
+Orleans. His object was to enlist an army of workmen, and to collect
+together the greater part of the materials. The members of the Gun Club
+remained at Tampa Town, for the purpose of setting on foot the preliminary
+works by the aid of the people of the country.
+
+Eight days after its departure, the "Tampico" returned into the bay
+of Espiritu Santo, with a whole flotilla of steamboats. Murchison had
+succeeded in assembling together fifteen hundred artisans. Attracted
+by the high pay and considerable bounties offered by the Gun Club, he
+had enlisted a choice legion of stokers, iron-founders, lime-burners,
+miners, brickmakers, and artisans of every trade, without distinction of
+colour. As many of these people brought their families with them, their
+departure resembled a perfect emigration.
+
+On the 31st October, at ten o'clock in the morning, the troop disembarked
+on the quays of Tampa Town; and one may imagine the activity which
+pervaded that little town, whose population was thus doubled in a single
+day.
+
+During the first few days they were busy discharging the cargo brought
+by the flotilla, the machines, and the rations, as well as a large number
+of huts constructed of iron plates, separately pieced and numbered. At
+the same period Barbicane laid the first sleepers of a railway fifteen
+miles in length intended to unite Stones Hill with Tampa Town. On the
+first of November Barbicane quitted Tampa Town with a detachment of
+workmen; and on the following day the whole town of huts was erected
+round Stones Hill. This they enclosed with palisades; and in respect of
+energy and activity, it might have shortly been mistaken for one of the
+great cities of the Union. Everything was placed under a complete system
+of dicipline, and the works were commenced in most perfect order.
+
+The nature of the soil having been carefully examined, by means of
+repeated borings, the work of excavation was fixed for the 4th of
+November.
+
+On that day Barbicane called together his foremen and addressed them as
+follows:--"You are well aware, my friends, of the object with which I
+have assembled you together in this wild part of Florida. Our business
+is to construct a cannon measuring nine feet in its interior diameter,
+six feet thick, and with a stone revetment of nineteen and a half feet
+in thickness. We have, therefore, a well of sixty feet in diameter
+to dig down to a depth of nine hundred feet. This great work must be
+completed _within eight months,_ so that you have 2,543,400 cubic feet
+of earth to excavate in 255 days; that is to say, in round numbers, 2000
+cubic feet per day. That which would present no difficulty to a thousand
+navvies working in open country will be of course more troublesome in
+a comparatively confined space. However, the thing must be done, and
+I reckon for its accomplishment upon your courage as much as upon your
+skill."
+
+At eight o'clock in the morning the first stroke of the pickaxe was
+struck upon the soil of Florida; and from that moment that prince of
+tools was never inactive for one moment in the hands of the excavators.
+The gangs relieved each other every three hours.
+
+On the 4th of November fifty workmen commenced digging, in the very
+centre of the enclosed space on the summit of Stones Hill, a circular
+hole sixty feet in diameter. The pickaxe first struck upon a kind of
+black earth, six inches in thickness, which was speedily disposed of.
+To this earth succeeded two feet of fine sand, which was carefully laid
+aside as being valuable for serving for the casting of the inner mould.
+After the sand appeared some compact white clay, resembling the chalk
+of Great Britain, which extended down to a depth of four feet. Then the
+iron of the picks struck upon the hard bed of the soil; a kind of rock
+formed of petrified shells, very dry, very solid, and which the picks
+could with difficulty penetrate. At this point the excavation exhibited
+a depth of six feet and a half and the work of the masonry was begun.
+
+At the bottom of this excavation they constructed a wheel of oak, a kind
+of circle strongly bolted together, and of immense strength. The centre
+of this wooden disc was hollowed out to a diameter equal to the exterior
+diameter of the Columbiad. Upon this wheel rested the first layers of
+the masonry, the stones of which were bound together by hydraulic cement,
+with irresistible tenacity. The workmen, after laying the stones from
+the circumference to the centre, were thus enclosed within a kind of
+well twenty-one feet in diameter. When this work was accomplished, the
+miners resumed their picks and cut away the rock from underneath the
+_wheel_ itself, taking care to support it as they advanced upon blocks
+of great thickness. At every two feet which the hole gained in depth they
+successively withdrew the blocks. The _wheel_ then sank little by little,
+and with it the massive ring of masonry, on the upper bed of which the
+masons laboured incessantly, always reserving some vent holes to permit
+the escape of gas during the operation of casting.
+
+This kind of work required on the part of the workmen extreme nicety and
+minute attention. More than one, in digging underneath the wheel, was
+dangerously injured by the splinters of stone. But their ardour never
+relaxed, night or day. By day they worked under the rays of the scorching
+sun; by night, under the gleam of the electric light. The sounds of
+the picks against the rock, the bursting of mines, the grinding of the
+machines, the wreaths of smoke scattered through the air, traced around
+Stones Hill a circle of terror which the herds of buffaloes and the war
+parties of the Seminoles never ventured to pass. Nevertheless, the works
+advanced regularly, as the steam-cranes actively removed the rubbish.
+Of unexpected obstacles there was little account; and with regard to
+foreseen difficulties, they were speedily disposed of.
+
+
+Illustration: THE WORK PROGRESSED REGULARLY.
+
+
+At the expiration of the first month the well had attained the depth
+assigned for that lapse of time, viz. 112 feet. This depth was doubled
+in December, and trebled in January.
+
+During the month of February the workmen had to contend with a sheet of
+water which made its way right across the outer soil. It became necessary
+to employ very powerful pumps and compressed engines to drain it off,
+so as to close up the orifice from whence it issued; just as one stops
+a leak on board ship. They at last succeeded in getting the upper hand
+of these untoward streams; only, in consequence of the loosening of the
+soil, the wheel partly gave way, and a slight partial settlement ensued.
+This accident cost the life of several workmen.
+
+No fresh occurrence thenceforward arrested the progress of the operation;
+and on the 10th of June, twenty days before the expiration of the period
+fixed by Barbicane, the well, lined throughout with its facing of stone,
+had attained the depth of 900 feet. At the bottom the masonry rested upon
+a massive block measuring thirty feet in thickness, whilst on the upper
+portion it was level with the surrounding soil.
+
+President Barbicane and the members of the Gun Club warmly congratulated
+their engineer Murchison: the cyclopean work had been accomplished with
+extraordinary rapidity.
+
+During these eight months Barbicane never quitted Stones Hill for a
+single instant. Keeping ever close by the work of excavation, he busied
+himself incessantly with the welfare and health of his workpeople, and
+was singularly fortunate in warding off the epidemics common to large
+communities of men, and so disastrous in those regions of the globe which
+are exposed to the influences of tropical climates.
+
+Many workmen, it is true, paid with their lives for the rashness inherent
+in these dangerous labours; but these mishaps are impossible to be
+avoided, and they are classed amongst details with which the Americans
+trouble themselves but little. They have in fact more regard for human
+nature in general than for the individual in particular.
+
+Nevertheless, Barbicane professed opposite principles to these, and
+put them in force at every opportunity. So, thanks to his care, his
+intelligence, his useful intervention in all difficulties, his prodigious
+and humane sagacity, the average of accidents did not exceed that of
+transatlantic countries, noted for their excessive precautions, France,
+for instance, among others, where they reckon about one accident for
+every two hundred thousand francs of work.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XV.
+
+   THE FÊTE OF THE CASTING.
+
+
+During the eight months which were employed in the work of excavation
+the preparatory works of the casting had been carried on simultaneously
+with extreme rapidity. A stranger arriving at Stones Hill would have been
+surprised at the spectacle offered to his view.
+
+At 600 yards from the well, and circularly arranged around it as a central
+point, rose 1200 reverberating ovens, each six feet in diameter, and
+separated from each other by an interval of three feet. The circumference
+occupied by these 1200 ovens presented a length of two miles. Being all
+constructed on the same plan, each with its high quadrangular chimney,
+they produced a most singular effect.
+
+It will be remembered that on their third meeting the Committee had
+decided to use cast-iron for the Columbiad, and in particular the _white_
+description. This metal in fact is the most tenacious, the most ductile,
+and the most malleable, and consequently suitable for all moulding
+operations; and when smelted with pit coal, is of superior quality for
+all engineering works requiring great resisting power, such as cannon,
+steam-boilers, hydraulic presses, and the like.
+
+Cast-iron, however, if subjected to only one single fusion, is rarely
+sufficiently homogeneous; and it requires a second fusion completely to
+refine it by dispossessing it of its last earthly deposits. So before
+being forwarded to Tampa Town, the iron ore, molten in the great furnaces
+of Coldspring, and brought into contact with coal and silicium heated to
+a high temperature, was carburized and transformed into cast-iron. After
+this first operation, the metal was sent on to Stones Hill. They had,
+however, to deal with 136,000,000 lbs. of iron, a quantity far too costly
+to send by railway. The cost of transport would have been double that of
+material. It appeared preferable to freight vessels at New York, and to
+load them with the iron in bars. This, however, required not less than
+sixty-eight vessels of 1000 tons, a veritable fleet, which, quitting New
+York on the 3rd of May, on the 10th of the same month ascended the Bay
+of Espiritu Santo, and discharged their cargoes, without dues, in the
+port at Tampa Town. Thence the iron was transported by rail to Stones
+Hill, and about the middle of January this enormous mass of metal was
+delivered at its destination.
+
+It will be easily understood that 1200 furnaces were not too many to
+melt simultaneously these 60,000 tons of iron. Each of these furnaces
+contained nearly 140,000 lbs. weight of metal. They were all built after
+the model of those which served for the casting of the Rodman gun, they
+were trapezoidal in shape, with a high elliptical arch. These furnaces,
+constructed of fireproof brick, were especially adapted for burning
+pit coal, with a flat bottom upon which the iron bars were laid. This
+bottom, inclined at an angle of 25°, allowed the metal to flow into the
+receiving troughs; and the 1200 converging trenches carried the molten
+metal down to the central well.
+
+The day following that on which the works of the masonry and boring had
+been completed, Barbicane set to work upon the central mould. His object
+now was to raise within the centre of the well, and with a coincident
+axis, a cylinder 900 feet high, and 9 feet in diameter, which should
+exactly fill up the space reserved for the bore of the Columbiad. This
+cylinder was composed of a mixture of clay and sand, with the addition of
+a little hay and straw. The space left between the mould and the masonry
+was intended to be filled up by the molten metal, which would thus form
+the walls six feet in thickness. This cylinder, in order to maintain its
+equilibrium, had to be bound by iron bands, and firmly fixed at certain
+intervals by cross-clamps fastened into the stone lining; after the
+castings these would be buried in the block of metal, leaving no external
+projection.
+
+
+Illustration: THE CASTING.
+
+
+This operation was completed on the 8th of July, and the run of the metal
+was fixed for the following day.
+
+"This fête of the casting will be a grand ceremony," said J. T. Maston
+to his friend Barbicane.
+
+"Undoubtedly," said Barbicane; "but it will not be a public fête."
+
+"What! will you not open the gates of the enclosure to all comers?"
+
+"I must be very careful, Maston. The casting of the Columbiad is an
+extremely delicate, not to say a dangerous operation, and I should prefer
+its being done privately. At the discharge of the projectile, a fête if
+you like--till then, no!"
+
+The president was right. The operation involved unforeseen dangers, which
+a great influx of spectators would have hindered him from averting. It was
+necessary to preserve complete freedom of movement. No one was admitted
+within the enclosure except a delegation of members of the Gun Club,
+who had made the voyage to Tampa Town. Among these was the brisk Bilsby,
+Tom Hunter, Colonel Blomsberry, Major Elphinstone, General Morgan, and
+the rest of the lot to whom the casting of the Columbiad was a matter
+of personal interest. J. T. Maston became their cicerone. He omitted no
+point of detail; he conducted them throughout the magazines, workshops,
+through the midst of the engines, and compelled them to visit the whole
+1200 furnaces one after the other. At the end of the twelve-hundredth
+visit they were pretty well knocked up.
+
+The casting was to take place at 12 o'clock precisely. The previous
+evening each furnace had been charged with 114,000 lbs. weight of metal
+in bars disposed cross-ways to each other, so as to allow the hot air
+to circulate freely between them. At daybreak the 1200 chimneys vomited
+their torrents of flame into the air, and the ground was agitated with
+dull tremblings. As many pounds of metal as there were to _cast_, so many
+pounds of coal were there to _burn_. Thus there were 68,000 tons of coal
+which projected in the face of the sun a thick curtain of smoke. The heat
+soon became insupportable within the circle of furnaces, the rumbling of
+which resembled the rolling of thunder. The powerful ventilators added
+their continuous blasts and saturated with oxygen the glowing plates. The
+operation, to be successful, required to be conducted with great rapidity.
+On a signal given by a cannon-shot each furnace was to give vent to the
+molten iron and completely to empty itself. These arrangements made,
+foremen and workmen waited the preconcerted moment with an impatience
+mingled with a certain amount of emotion. Not a soul remained within the
+enclosure. Each superintendent took his post by the aperture of the run.
+
+Barbicane and his colleagues, perched on a neighbouring eminence,
+assisted at the operation. In front of them was a piece of artillery
+ready to give fire on the signal from the engineer. Some minutes before
+midday the first driblets of metal began to flow; the reservoirs filled
+little by little; and, by the time that the whole melting was completely
+accomplished, it was kept in abeyance for a few minutes in order to
+facilitate the separation of foreign substances.
+
+Twelve o'clock struck! A gunshot suddenly pealed forth and shot its
+flame into the air. Twelve hundred melting-troughs were simultaneously
+opened and twelve hundred fiery serpents crept towards the central
+well, unrolling their incandescent curves. There, down they plunged
+with a terrific noise into a depth of 900 feet. It was an exciting and
+a magnificent spectacle. The ground trembled, while these molten waves,
+launching into the sky their wreaths of smoke, evaporated the moisture
+of the mould and hurled it upwards through the vent-holes of the stone
+lining in the form of dense vapour-clouds. These artificial clouds
+unrolled their thick spirals to a height of 1000 yards into the air.
+A savage, wandering somewhere beyond the limits of the horizon, might
+have believed that some new crater was forming in the bosom of Florida,
+although there was neither any eruption, nor typhoon, nor storm, nor
+struggle of the elements, nor any of those terrible phenomena which
+nature is capable of producing. No, it was man alone who had produced
+these reddish vapours, these gigantic flames worthy of a volcano itself,
+these tremendous vibrations resembling the shock of an earthquake, these
+reverberations rivalling those of hurricanes and storms; and it was his
+hand which precipitated into an abyss, dug by himself, a whole Niagara
+of molten metal!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVI.
+
+   THE COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+Had the casting succeeded? They were reduced to mere conjecture. There
+was indeed every reason to expect success, since the mould had absorbed
+the entire mass of the molten metal; still some considerable time must
+elapse before they could arrive at any certainty upon the matter.
+
+The patience of the members of the Gun Club was sorely tried during this
+period of time. But they could do nothing. J. T. Maston escaped roasting
+by a miracle. Fifteen days after the casting an immense column of smoke
+was still rising in the open sky and the ground burnt the soles of the
+feet within a radius of 200 feet round the summit of Stones Hill. It was
+impossible to approach nearer. All they could do was to wait with what
+patience they might.
+
+"Here we are at the 10th August," exclaimed J. T. Maston one morning,
+"only four months to the 1st of December! We shall never be ready in
+time!" Barbicane said nothing, but his silence covered serious irritation.
+
+However, daily observations revealed a certain change going on in the
+state of the ground. About the 15th August the vapours ejected had
+sensibly diminished in intensity and thickness. Some days afterwards the
+earth exhaled only a slight puff of smoke, the last breath of the monster
+enclosed within its circle of stone. Little by little the belt of heat
+contracted, until on the 22d August Barbicane, his colleagues, and the
+engineer were enabled to set foot on the iron sheet which lay level upon
+the summit of Stones Hill.
+
+"At last!" exclaimed the President of the Gun Club, with an immense sigh
+of relief.
+
+The work was resumed the same day. They proceeded at once to extract the
+interior mould, for the purpose of clearing out the boring of the piece.
+Pickaxes and boring irons were set to work without intermission. The
+clayey and sandy soils had acquired extreme hardness under the action of
+the heat; but by the aid of the machines, the rubbish on being dug out
+was rapidly carted away on railway waggons; and such was the ardour of
+the work, so persuasive the arguments of Barbicane's dollars, that by
+the 3rd of September all traces of the mould had entirely disappeared.
+
+Immediately the operation of boring was commenced; and by the aid of
+powerful machines, a few weeks later, the inner surface of the immense
+tube had been rendered perfectly cylindrical, and the bore of the piece
+had acquired a thorough polish.
+
+At length, on the 22nd of September, less than a twelvemonth after
+Barbicane's original proposition, the enormous weapon, accurately bored,
+and exactly vertically pointed, was ready for work. There was only the
+moon now to wait for; and they were pretty sure that she would not fail
+in the rendezvous.
+
+The ecstacy of J. T. Maston knew no bounds, and he narrowly escaped a
+frightful fall while staring down the tube. But for the strong hand of
+Colonel Blomsberry, the worthy secretary, like a modern Erostratus, would
+have found his death in the depths of the Columbiad.
+
+The cannon was then finished; there was no possible doubt as to its
+perfect completion. So, on the 6th of October, Captain Nicholl opened
+an account between himself and President Barbicane, in which he debited
+himself to the latter in the sum of 2000 dollars. One may believe that
+the Captain's wrath was increased to its highest point, and must have
+made him seriously ill. However, he had still three bets of three, four,
+and five thousand dollars, respectively; and if he gained two out of
+these, his position would not be very bad. But the money question did
+not enter into his calculations; it was the success of his rival in
+casting a cannon against which iron plates sixty feet thick would have
+been ineffectual, that dealt him a terrible blow.
+
+After the 23rd of September the enclosure of Stones Hill was thrown open
+to the public; and it will be easily imagined what was the concourse of
+visitors to this spot! There was an incessant flow of people to and from
+Tampa Town and the place, which resembled a procession, or rather, in
+fact, a pilgrimage.
+
+It was already clear to be seen that, on the day of the experiment itself,
+the aggregate of spectators would be counted by millions; for they were
+already arriving from all parts of the earth upon this narrow strip of
+promontory. Europe was emigrating to America.
+
+Up to that time, however, it must be confessed, the curiosity of the
+numerous comers was but scantily gratified. Most had counted upon
+witnessing the spectacle of the casting, and they were treated to
+nothing but smoke. This was sorry food for hungry eyes; but Barbicane
+would admit no one to that operation. Then ensued grumbling, discontent,
+murmurs; they blamed the President, taxed him with dictatorial conduct.
+His proceedings were declared "un-American." There was very nearly a
+riot round Stones Hill; but Barbicane remained inflexible. When, however,
+the Columbiad was entirely finished, this state of closed doors could
+no longer be maintained; besides it would have been bad taste, and even
+imprudence, to affront the public feeling. Barbicane, therefore, opened
+the enclosure to all comers; but, true to his practical disposition, he
+determined to coin money out of the public curiosity.
+
+It was something, indeed, to be enabled to contemplate this immense
+Columbiad; but to descend into its depths, this seemed to the Americans
+the _ne plus ultra_ of earthly felicity. Consequently, there was not
+one curious spectator who was not willing to give himself the treat of
+visiting the interior of this metallic abyss. Baskets suspended from
+steam-cranes permitted them to satisfy their curiosity. There was a
+perfect mania. Women, children, old men, all made it a point of duty to
+penetrate the mysteries of the colossal gun. The fare for the descent was
+fixed at five dollars per head; and despite this high charge, during the
+two months which preceded the experiment, the influx of visitors enabled
+the Gun Club to pocket nearly 500,000 dollars!
+
+
+Illustration: TAMPA TOWN AFTER THE UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+It is needless to say that the first visitors of the Columbiad were the
+members of the Gun Club. This privilege was justly reserved for that
+illustrious body. The ceremony took place on the 25th September. A basket
+of honour took down the President, J. T. Maston, Major Elphinstone,
+General Morgan, Colonel Blomsberry, and other members of the club, to
+the number of ten in all. How hot it was at the bottom of that long tube
+of metal! They were half suffocated. But what delight! What ecstasy! A
+table had been laid with six covers on the massive stone which formed
+the bottom of the Columbiad, and lighted by a jet of electric light
+resembling that of day itself. Numerous exquisite dishes, which seemed
+to descend from heaven, were placed successively before the guests, and
+the richest wines of France flowed in profusion during this splendid
+repast, served nine hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth!
+
+The festival was animated, not to say somewhat noisy. Toasts flew
+backwards and forwards. They drank to the earth and to her satellite, to
+the Gun Club, the Union, the moon, Diana, Phoebe, Selene, the "peaceful
+courier of the night"! All the hurrahs, carried upwards upon the sonorous
+waves of the immense acoustic tube, arrived with the sound of thunder
+at its mouth; and the multitude ranged round Stones Hill heartily united
+their shouts with those of the ten revellers hidden from view at the
+bottom of the gigantic Columbiad.
+
+J. T. Maston was no longer master of himself. Whether he shouted or
+gesticulated, ate or drank most, would be a difficult matter to determine.
+At all events, he would not have given his place up for an empire, "not
+even if the cannon--loaded, primed, and fired at that very moment--were
+to blow him in pieces into the planetary world."
+
+
+Illustration: THE BANQUET IN THE COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVII.
+
+   A TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH.
+
+
+The great works undertaken by the Gun Club had now virtually come to an
+end; and two months still remained before the day for the discharge of
+the shot to the moon. To the general impatience these two months appeared
+as long as years! Hitherto the smallest details of the operation had been
+daily chronicled by the journals, which the public devoured with eager
+eyes.
+
+Just at this moment a circumstance, the most unexpected, the most
+extraordinary and incredible, occurred to rouse afresh their panting
+spirits, and to throw every mind into a state of the most violent
+excitement.
+
+One day, the 30th September, at 3.47 p.m., a telegram, transmitted by
+cable from Valentia (Ireland) to Newfoundland and the American mainland,
+arrived at the address of President Barbicane.
+
+The President tore open the envelope, read the despatch, and, despite
+his remarkable powers of self-control, his lips turned pale and his eyes
+grew dim, on reading the twenty words of this telegram.
+
+Here is the text of the despatch, which figures now in the archives of
+the Gun Club:--
+
+
+   "France, Paris,
+
+   "30 _September_, 4 _a.m._
+
+   "Barbicane, Tampa Town, Florida, United States.
+
+   "Substitute for your spherical shell a cylindro-conical projectile.
+    I shall go inside. Shall arrive by steamer 'Atlanta.'
+
+   "Michel Ardan."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+   THE PASSENGER OF THE "ATLANTA."
+
+
+If this astounding news, instead of flying through the electric wires,
+had simply arrived by post in the ordinary sealed envelope, Barbicane
+would not have hesitated a moment. He would have held his tongue about
+it, both as a measure of prudence, and in order not to have to reconsider
+his plans. This telegram might be a cover for some jest, especially as
+it came from a Frenchman. What human being would ever have conceived the
+idea of such a journey? and, if such a person really existed, he must be
+an idiot, whom one would shut up in a lunatic ward, rather than within
+the walls of the projectile.
+
+The contents of the despatch, however, speedily became known; for
+the telegraphic officials possessed but little discretion, and Michel
+Ardan's proposition ran at once throughout the several States of the
+Union. Barbicane had, therefore, no further motive for keeping silence.
+Consequently, he called together such of his colleagues as were at the
+moment in Tampa Town, and without any expression of his own opinions
+simply read to them the laconic text itself. It was received with every
+possible variety of expressions of doubt, incredulity, and derision from
+every one, with the exception of J. T. Maston, who exclaimed, "It is a
+grand idea, however!"
+
+When Barbicane originally proposed to send a shot to the moon every one
+looked upon the enterprise as simple and practicable enough--a mere
+question of gunnery; but when a person, professing to be a reasonable
+being, offered to take passage within the projectile, the whole thing
+became a farce, or, in plainer language a _humbug._
+
+
+Illustration: PRESIDENT BARBICANE AT HIS WINDOW.
+
+
+One question, however, remained. Did such a being exist? This telegram
+flashed across the depths of the Atlantic, the designation of the vessel
+on board which he was to take his passage, the date assigned for his
+speedy arrival, all combined to impart a certain character of reality to
+the proposal. They must get some clearer notion of the matter. Scattered
+groups of inquirers at length condensed themselves into a compact crowd,
+which made straight for the residence of President Barbicane. That worthy
+individual was keeping quiet with the intention of watching events as they
+arose. But he had forgotten to take into account the public impatience;
+and it was with no pleasant countenance that he watched the population
+of Tampa Town gathering under his windows. The murmurs and vociferations
+below presently obliged him to appear. He came forward, therefore, and
+on silence being procured, a citizen put point-blank to him the following
+question:--"Is the person mentioned in the telegram, under the name of
+Michel Ardan, on his way here? Yes or no."
+
+"Gentlemen," replied Barbicane, "I know no more than you do."
+
+"We must know," roared the impatient voices.
+
+"Time will show," calmly replied the President.
+
+"Time has no business to keep a whole country in suspense," replied the
+orator. "Have you altered the plans of the projectile according to the
+request of the telegram?"
+
+"Not yet, gentlemen; but you are right! we must have better information
+to go by. The telegraph must complete its information."
+
+"To the telegraph!" roared the crowd.
+
+Barbicane descended; and heading the immense assemblage, led the way to
+the telegraph office. A few minutes later a telegram was despatched to
+the secretary of the underwriters at Liverpool, requesting answers to
+the following queries:--
+
+"About the ship 'Atlanta'--when did she leave Europe? Had she on board
+a Frenchman named Michel Ardan?"
+
+Two hours afterwards Barbicane received information too exact to leave
+room for the smallest remaining doubt.
+
+"The steamer 'Atlanta' from Liverpool put to sea on the 2nd October,
+bound for Tampa Town, having on board a Frenchman borne on the list of
+passengers by the name of Michel Ardan."
+
+That very evening he wrote to the house of Breadwill and Co., requesting
+them to suspend the casting of the projectile until the receipt of
+further orders. On the 20th October, at 9 a.m., the semaphores of the
+Bahama Canal signalled a thick smoke on the horizon. Two hours later a
+large steamer exchanged signals with them. The name of the Atlanta flew
+at once over Tampa Town. At four o'clock the English vessel entered the
+Bay of Espiritu Santo. At five it crossed the passage of Hillisborough
+Bay at full steam. At six she cast anchor at Port Tampa. The anchor had
+scarcely caught the sandy bottom when 500 boats surrounded the "Atlanta,"
+and the steamer was taken by assault. Barbicane was the first to set foot
+on deck, and in a voice of which he vainly tried to conceal the emotion,
+called "Michel Ardan."
+
+"Here!" replied an individual perched on the poop.
+
+Barbicane, with arms crossed, looked fixedly at the passenger of the
+"Atlanta."
+
+He was a man of about 42 years of age, of large build, but slightly
+round-shouldered. His massive head momentarily shook a shock of reddish
+hair, which resembled a lion's mane. His face was short with a broad
+forehead, and furnished with a moustache as bristly as a cat's, and little
+patches of yellowish whisker upon full cheeks. Round, wildish eyes,
+slightly near-sighted, completed a physiognomy essentially _feline._ His
+nose was firmly shaped, his mouth particularly sweet in expression, high
+forehead, intelligent and furrowed with wrinkles like a newly-ploughed
+field. The body was powerfully developed and firmly fixed upon long legs.
+Muscular arms, and a general air of decision gave him the appearance of
+a hardy, jolly companion. He was dressed in a suit of ample dimensions,
+loose neckerchief, open shirt-collar, disclosing a robust neck; his cuffs
+were invariably unbuttoned, through which appeared a pair of red hands.
+
+
+Illustration: MICHEL ARDEN.
+
+
+On the bridge of the steamer, in the midst of the crowd, he bustled to
+and fro, never still for a moment, "dragging his anchors," as the sailors
+say, gesticulating, making free with everybody, biting his nails with
+nervous avidity. He was one of those originals which nature sometimes
+invents in the freak of a moment, and of which she then breaks the mould.
+
+Amongst other peculiarities, this curiosity gave himself out for a
+sublime ignoramus, "like Shakespeare," and professed supreme contempt
+for all scientific men. Those "fellows," as he called them, "are only
+fit to mark the points, while we play the game." He was, in fact, a
+thorough Bohemian, adventurous, but not an adventurer; a hair-brained
+fellow, a kind of Icarus, only possessing relays of wings. For the rest,
+he was ever in scrapes, ending invariably by falling on his feet, like
+those little pith figures which they sell for children's toys. In two
+words, his motto was "I have my opinions," and the love of the impossible
+constituted his ruling passion.
+
+Such was the passenger of the "Atlanta," always excitable, as if boiling
+under the action of some internal fire by the character of his physical
+organization. If ever two individuals offered a striking contrast to each
+other, these were certainly Michel Ardan and the Yankee Barbicane; both,
+moreover, being equally enterprising and daring, each in his own way.
+
+The scrutiny which the President of the Gun Club had instituted regarding
+this new rival was quickly interrupted by the shouts and hurrahs of the
+crowd. The cries became at last so uproarious, and the popular enthusiasm
+assumed so personal a form, that Michel Ardan, after having shaken hands
+some thousands of times, at the imminent risk of leaving his fingers
+behind him, was fain at last to make a bolt for his cabin.
+
+Barbicane followed him without uttering a word.
+
+"You are Barbicane, I suppose?" said Michel Ardan in a tone of voice in
+which he would have addressed a friend of twenty years' standing.
+
+"Yes," replied the President of the G. C.
+
+"All right! how d'ye do, Barbicane? how are you getting on--pretty well?
+that's right."
+
+"So," said Barbicane without further preliminary, "you are quite
+determined to go."
+
+"Quite decided."
+
+"Nothing will stop you?"
+
+"Nothing. Have you modified your projectile according to my telegram."
+
+"I waited for your arrival. But," asked Barbicane again, "have you
+carefully reflected?"
+
+"Reflected? have I any time to spare? I find an opportunity of making a
+tour in the moon, and I mean to profit by it. There is the whole gist of
+the matter."
+
+Barbicane looked hard at this man who spoke so lightly of his project
+with such complete absence of anxiety. "But, at least," said he, "you
+have some plans, some means of carrying your project into execution?"
+
+"Excellent, my dear Barbicane; only permit me to offer one remark:--My
+wish is to tell my story once for all, to everybody, and then to have
+done with it; then there will be no need for recapitulation. So, if you
+have no objection, assemble your friends, colleagues, the whole town,
+all Florida, all America if you like, and to-morrow I shall be ready to
+explain my plans and answer any objections whatever that may be advanced.
+You may rest assured I shall wait without stirring. Will that suit you?"
+
+"All right," replied Barbicane.
+
+So saying, the President left the cabin and informed the crowd of the
+proposal of Michel Ardan. His words were received with clappings of hands
+and shouts of joy. They had removed all difficulties. To-morrow every
+one would contemplate at his ease this European hero. However, some of
+the spectators, more infatuated than the rest, would not leave the deck
+of the "Atlanta." They passed the night on board. Amongst others, J.
+T. Maston got his hook fixed in the combing of the poop, and it pretty
+nearly required the capstan to get it out again.
+
+"He is a hero! a hero!" he cried, a theme of which he was never tired of
+ringing the changes; "and we are only like weak, silly women, compared
+with this European!"
+
+As to the president, after having suggested to the visitors it was time
+to retire, he re-entered the passenger's cabin, and remained there till
+the bell of the steamer made it midnight.
+
+But then the two rivals in popularity shook hands heartily and parted on
+terms of intimate friendship.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIX.
+
+   A MONSTER MEETING.
+
+
+On the following day Barbicane, fearing that indiscreet questions might
+be put to Michel Ardan, was desirous of reducing the number of the
+audience to a few of the initiated, his own colleagues for instance. He
+might as well have tried to check the Falls of Niagara! He was compelled,
+therefore, to give up the idea, and to let his new friend run the chances
+of a public conference. The place chosen for this monster meeting was a
+vast plain situated in the rear of the town. In a few hours, thanks to the
+help of the shipping in port, an immense roofing of canvas was stretched
+over the parched prairie, and protected it from the burning rays of the
+sun. There 300,000 people braved for many hours the stifling heat while
+awaiting the arrival of the Frenchman. Of this crowd of spectators a first
+set could both see and hear; a second set saw badly and heard nothing
+at all; and as for the third, it could neither see nor hear anything at
+all. At three o'clock Michel Ardan made his appearance, accompanied by
+the principal members of the Gun Club. He was supported on his right by
+President Barbicane, and on his left by J. T. Maston, more radiant than
+the midday sun and nearly as ruddy. Ardan mounted a platform, from the
+top of which his view extended over a sea of black hats. He exhibited not
+the slightest embarrassment; he was just as gay, familiar, and pleasant
+as if he were at home. To the hurrahs which greeted him he replied by
+a graceful bow; then, waving his hand to request silence, he spoke in
+perfectly correct English as follows:--
+
+
+Illustration: THE MEETING.
+
+
+"Gentlemen, despite the very hot weather I request your patience for a
+short time while I offer some explanations regarding the projects which
+seem to have so interested you. I am neither an orator nor a man of
+science, and I had no idea of addressing you in public; but my friend
+Barbicane has told me that you would like to hear me, and I am quite at
+your service. Listen to me, therefore, with your 600,000 ears, and please
+to excuse the faults of the speaker. Now pray do not forget that you see
+before you a perfect ignoramus whose ignorance goes so far that he cannot
+even understand the difficulties! It seemed to him that it was a matter
+quite simple, natural, and easy to take one's place in a projectile and
+start for the moon! That journey must be undertaken sooner or later;
+and, as for the mode of locomotion adopted, it follows simply the law of
+progress. Man began by walking on all-fours; then, one fine day, on two
+feet; then in a carriage; then in a stage-coach; and lastly by railway.
+Well, the projectile is the vehicle of the future, and the planets
+themselves are nothing else! Now some of you, gentlemen, may imagine that
+the velocity we propose to impart to it is extravagant. It is nothing
+of the kind. All the stars exceed it in rapidity, and the earth herself
+is at this moment carrying us round the sun at three times as rapid a
+rate, and yet she is a mere lounger on the way compared with many others
+of the planets! And her velocity is constantly _decreasing._ Is it not
+evident, then, I ask you, that there will some day appear velocities far
+greater than these, of which light or electricity will probably be the
+mechanical agent?
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," continued the orator, "in spite of the opinions of
+certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon
+this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we
+shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the
+same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from
+Liverpool to New York! Distance is but a relative expression, and must
+end by being reduced to zero."
+
+The assembly, strongly predisposed as they were in favour of the French
+hero, were slightly staggered at this bold theory. Michel Ardan perceived
+the fact.
+
+"Gentlemen," he continued with a pleasant smile, "you do not seem quite
+convinced. Very good! Let us reason the matter out. Do you know how long
+it would take for an _express train_ to reach the moon? Three hundred
+days; no more! And what is that? The distance is no more than nine times
+the circumference of the earth; and there are no sailors or travellers,
+of even moderate activity, who have not made longer journeys than that
+in their lifetime. And now consider that I shall be only ninety-seven
+hours on my journey. Ah! I see you are reckoning that the moon is a long
+way off from the earth, and that one must think twice before making the
+experiment. What would you say, then, if we were talking of going to
+Neptune, which revolves at a distance of more than two thousand seven
+hundred and twenty millions of miles from the sun! And yet what is that
+compared with the distance of the fixed stars, some of which, such as
+Arcturus, are at billions of miles distant from us? And then you talk
+of the _distance_ which separates the planets from the sun! And there
+are people who affirm that such a thing as distance exists. Absurdity,
+folly, idiotic nonsense! Would you know what I think of our own solar
+universe? Shall I tell you my theory? It is very simple! In my opinion
+the solar system is a solid, homogeneous body; the planets which compose
+it are in _actual contact_ with each other; and whatever space exists
+between them is nothing more than the space which separates the molecules
+of the densest metal, such as silver, iron, or platinum! I have the
+right, therefore, to affirm, and I repeat, with the conviction which must
+penetrate all your minds, 'Distance is but an empty name; distance does
+not really exist!'"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried one voice (need it be said it was that of J. T. Maston?).
+"Distance does not exist!" And overcome by the energy of his movements,
+he nearly fell from the platform to the ground. He just escaped a severe
+fall, which would have proved to him that distance was by no means _an
+empty name._
+
+
+Illustration: PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
+
+
+"Gentlemen," resumed the orator, "I repeat that the distance between the
+earth and her satellite is a mere trifle, and undeserving of serious
+consideration. I am convinced that before twenty years are over one half
+of our earth will have paid a visit to the moon. Now, my worthy friends,
+if you have any question to put to me, you will, I fear, sadly embarrass
+a poor man like myself; still I will do my best to answer you."
+
+Up to this point the President of the Gun Club had been satisfied with the
+turn which the discussion had assumed. It became now, however, desirable
+to divert Ardan from questions of a practical nature, with which he was
+doubtless far less conversant. Barbicane, therefore, hastened to get in
+a word, and began by asking his new friend whether he thought that the
+moon and the planets were inhabited.
+
+"You put before me a great problem, my worthy President," replied the
+orator, smiling. "Still, men of great intelligence, such as Plutarch,
+Swedenborg, Bernardin de St. Pierre, and others have, if I mistake not,
+pronounced in the affirmative. Looking at the question from the natural
+philosopher's point of view, I should say that _nothing useless_ existed
+in the world; and, replying to your question by another, I should venture
+to assert, that if these worlds are _habitable_, they either are, have
+been, or will be inhabited."
+
+"No one could answer more logically or fairly," replied the president.
+"The question then reverts to this: _Are_ these worlds habitable? For my
+own part I believe they are."
+
+"For myself, I feel certain of it," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Nevertheless," retorted one of the audience, "there are many arguments
+_against_ the habitability of the worlds. The conditions of life must
+evidently be greatly modified upon the majority of them. To mention
+only the planets, we should be either broiled alive in some, or frozen
+to death in others, according as they are more or less removed from the
+sun."
+
+"I regret," replied Michel Ardan, "that I have not the honour of personally
+knowing my contradictor, for I would have attempted to answer him. His
+objection has its merits, I admit; but I think we may successfully combat
+it, as well as all others which affect the habitability of the other
+worlds. If I were a _natural philosopher,_ I would tell him that if less
+of caloric were _set in motion_ upon the planets which are nearest to
+the sun, and more, on the contrary, upon those which are farthest removed
+from it, this simple fact would alone suffice to equalize the heat, and
+to render the temperature of those worlds supportable by beings organized
+like ourselves. If I were a _naturalist_, I would tell him that, according
+to some illustrious men of science, nature has furnished us with instances
+upon the earth of animals existing under very varying conditions of life;
+that fish respire in a medium fatal to other animals; that amphibious
+creatures possess a double existence very difficult of explanation; that
+certain denizens of the seas maintain life at enormous depths, and there
+support a pressure equal to that of fifty or sixty atmospheres without
+being crushed; that several aquatic insects, insensible to temperature,
+are met with equally among boiling springs and in the frozen plains
+of the Polar Sea; in fine, that we cannot help recognizing in nature a
+diversity of means of operation oftentimes incomprehensible, but not the
+less real. If I were a _chemist_, I would tell him that the aerolites,
+bodies evidently formed exteriorly of our terrestrial globe, have, upon
+analysis, revealed indisputable traces of carbon, a substance which
+owes its origin solely to organized beings, and which, according to the
+experiments of Reichenbach, must necessarily itself have been _endued
+with animation._ And lastly, were I a theologian, I would tell him that
+the scheme of the Divine Redemption, according to St. Paul, seems to be
+applicable, not merely to the earth, but to all the celestial worlds.
+But, unfortunately I am neither theologian, nor chemist, nor naturalist,
+nor philosopher; therefore, in my absolute ignorance of the great laws
+which govern the universe, I confine myself to saying in reply, 'I do not
+know whether the worlds are inhabited or not; and since I do not know,
+_I am going to see!_"
+
+Whether Michel Ardan's antagonist hazarded any further arguments or
+not it is impossible to say, for the uproarious shouts of the crowd
+would not allow any expression of opinion to gain a hearing. On silence
+being restored, the triumphant orator contented himself with adding the
+following remarks:--
+
+"Gentlemen, you will observe that I have but slightly touched upon
+this great question. There is another altogether different line of
+arguments in favour of the habitability of the stars, which I omit for
+the present. I only desire to call attention to one point. To those who
+maintain that the planets are _not_ inhabited one may reply:--You might
+be perfectly in the right, if you could only show that the earth is the
+_best possible world,_ spite of what Voltaire has said. She has but _one_
+satellite, while Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune have each several,
+an advantage by no means to be despised. But that which renders our own
+globe so uncomfortable is the inclination of its axis to the plane of its
+orbit. Hence the inequality of days and nights; hence the disagreeable
+diversity of the seasons. On the surface of our unhappy spheroid we
+are always either too hot or too cold; we are frozen in winter, broiled
+in summer; it is the planet of rheumatism, coughs, bronchitis; while
+on the surface of Jupiter, for example, where the axis is but slightly
+inclined, the inhabitants may enjoy uniform temperatures. It possesses
+zones of perpetual springs, summers, autumns, and winters; every Jovian
+may choose for himself what climate he likes, and there spend the whole
+of his life in security from all variations of temperature. You will, I
+am sure, readily admit this superiority of Jupiter over our own planet,
+to say nothing of his years, which each equal twelve of ours! Under
+such auspices, and such marvellous conditions of existence, it appears
+to me that the inhabitants of so fortunate a world must be in every
+respect superior to ourselves. All we require, in order to attain to
+such perfection, is the mere trifle of having an axis of rotation less
+inclined to the plane of its orbit!"
+
+"Hurrah!" roared an energetic voice, "let us unite our efforts, invent
+the necessary machines, and rectify the earth's axis!"
+
+A thunder of applause followed this proposal, the author of which was, of
+course, no other than J. T. Maston. And, in all probability, if the truth
+must be told, if the Yankees could only have found a point of application
+for it, they would have constructed a lever capable of raising the earth
+and rectifying its axis. It was just this deficiency which baffled these
+daring mechanicians.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XX.
+
+   ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
+
+
+As soon as the excitement had subsided, the following words were heard
+uttered in a strong and determined voice:--
+
+"Now that the speaker has favoured us with so much imagination, would he
+be so good as to return to his subject, and give us a little practical
+view of the question?"
+
+All eyes were directed towards the person who spoke. He was a little
+dried-up man, of an active figure, with an American "goatee" beard.
+Profiting by the different movements in the crowd, he had managed by
+degrees to gain the front row of spectators. There, with arms crossed
+and stern gaze, he watched the hero of the meeting. After having put
+his question he remained silent, and appeared to take no notice of
+the thousands of looks directed towards himself, nor of the murmur of
+disapprobation excited by his words. Meeting at first with no reply, he
+repeated his question with marked emphasis, adding, "We are here to talk
+about the _moon_ and not about the _earth_."
+
+"You are right, sir," replied Michel Ardan; "the discussion has become
+irregular. We will return to the moon."
+
+"Sir," said the unknown, "you pretend that our satellite is inhabited.
+Very good; but if Selenites do exist, that race of beings assuredly must
+live without breathing, for--I warn you for your own sake--there is
+not the smallest particle of air on the surface of the moon."
+
+At this remark Ardan pushed up his shock of red hair; he saw that he was
+on the point of being involved in a struggle with this person upon the
+very gist of the whole question. He looked sternly at him in his turn
+and said,--
+
+"Oh! so there is no air in the moon? And pray, if you are so good, who
+ventures to affirm that?"
+
+"The men of science."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Really."
+
+"Sir," replied Michel, "pleasantry apart, I have a profound respect for
+men of science who do possess science, but a profound contempt for men
+of science who do not."
+
+"Do you know any who belong to the latter category?"
+
+"Decidedly. In France there are some who maintain that, mathematically,
+a bird cannot possibly fly; and others who demonstrate theoretically that
+fishes were never made to live in water."
+
+"I have nothing to do with persons of that description, and I can quote,
+in support of my statement, names which you cannot refuse deference to."
+
+"Then, sir, you will sadly embarrass a poor ignorant, who, besides, asks
+nothing better than to learn."
+
+"Why, then, do you introduce scientific questions if you have never
+studied them?" asked the unknown somewhat coarsely.
+
+"For the reason that 'he is always brave who never suspects danger.' I
+know nothing, it is true; but it is precisely my very weakness which
+constitutes my strength."
+
+"Your weakness amounts to folly," retorted the unknown in a passion.
+
+"All the better," replied our Frenchman, "if it carries me up to the
+_moon._"
+
+Barbicane and his colleagues devoured with their eyes the intruder who had
+so boldly placed himself in antagonism to their enterprise. Nobody knew
+him, and the president, uneasy as to the result of so free a discussion,
+watched his new friend with some anxiety. The meeting began to be somewhat
+fidgety also, for the contest directed their attention to the dangers,
+if not the actual impossibilities, of the proposed expedition.
+
+
+Illustration: ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
+
+
+"Sir," replied Ardan's antagonist, "there are many and incontrovertible
+reasons which prove the absence of an atmosphere in the moon. I might
+say that, _à priori_, if one ever did exist, it must have been absorbed
+by the earth; but I prefer to bring forward indisputable facts."
+
+"Bring them forward then, sir, as many as you please."
+
+"You know," said the stranger, "that when any luminous rays cross a
+medium such as the air, they are deflected out of the straight line; in
+other words, they undergo _refraction._ Well! When stars are occulted by
+the moon, their rays, on grazing the edge of her disc, exhibit not the
+least deviation, nor offer the slightest indication of refraction. It
+follows, therefore, that the moon cannot be surrounded by an atmosphere."
+
+"In point of fact," replied Ardan, "this is your chief, if not your _only_
+argument; and a really scientific man might be puzzled to answer it. For
+myself, I will simply say that it is defective, because it assumes that
+the angular diameter of the moon has been completely determined, which
+is not the case. But let us proceed. Tell me, my dear sir, do you admit
+the existence of volcanoes on the moon's surface?"
+
+"_Extinct_, yes! In activity, no!"
+
+"These volcanoes, however, were at one time in a state of activity?"
+
+"True! but, as they furnished themselves the oxygen necessary for
+combustion, the mere fact of their eruption does not prove the presence
+of an atmosphere."
+
+"Proceed again, then; and let us set aside this class of arguments in
+order to come to direct observations. In 1715 the astronomers Louville
+and Halley, watching the eclipse of the 3rd May, remarked some very
+extraordinary scintillations. These jets of light, rapid in nature, and
+of frequent recurrence, they attributed to thunderstorms generated in
+the lunar atmosphere."
+
+"In 1715," replied the unknown, "the astronomers Louville and Halley
+mistook for lunar phenomena some which were purely terrestrial, such as
+meteoric or other bodies which are generated in our own atmosphere. This
+was the scientific explanation at the time of the facts; and that is my
+answer now."
+
+"On again, then," replied Ardan; "Herschel, in 1787, observed a great
+number of luminous points on the moon's surface, did he not?"
+
+"Yes! but without offering any solution of them. Herschel himself never
+inferred from them the necessity of a lunar atmosphere. And I may add
+that Boeer and Moedler, the two great authorities upon the moon, are
+quite agreed as to the entire absence of air on its surface."
+
+A movement was here manifest among the assemblage, who appeared to be
+growing excited by the arguments of this singular personage.
+
+"Let us proceed," replied Ardan, with perfect coolness, "and come to one
+important fact. A skilful French astronomer, M. Laussedat, in watching
+the eclipse of July 18, 1860, proved that the horns of the solar crescent
+were _rounded and truncated._ Now, this appearance could only have been
+produced by a deviation of the solar rays in traversing the atmosphere
+of the moon. There is no other possible explanation of the fact."
+
+"But is this established as a fact?"
+
+"Absolutely certain!"
+
+A counter-movement here took place in favour of the hero of the meeting,
+whose opponent was now reduced to silence. Ardan resumed the conversation;
+and without exhibiting any exultation at the advantage he had gained,
+simply said,--
+
+"You see, then, my dear sir, we must not pronounce with absolute
+positiveness against the existence of an atmosphere in the moon. That
+atmosphere is, probably, of extreme rarity; nevertheless at the present
+day science generally admits that it exists."
+
+"Not in the mountains, at all events," returned the unknown, unwilling
+to give in.
+
+"No! but at the bottom of the valleys, and not exceeding a few hundred
+feet in height."
+
+"In any case you will do well to take every precaution, for the air will
+be terribly rarified."
+
+"My good sir, there will always be enough for a solitary individual;
+besides, once arrived up there, I shall do my best to economize, and not
+to breathe except on grand occasions!"
+
+A tremendous roar of laughter rang in the ears of the mysterious
+interlocutor, who glared fiercely round upon the assembly.
+
+"Then," continued Ardan, with a careless air, "since we are in accord
+regarding the presence of a certain atmosphere, we are forced to admit
+the presence of a certain quantity of water. This is a happy consequence
+for me. Moreover, my amiable contradictor, permit me to submit to you
+one further observation. We only know one side of the moon's disc; and
+if there is but little air on the face presented to us, it is possible
+that there is plenty on the one turned away from us."
+
+"And for what reason?"
+
+"Because the moon, under the action of the earth's attraction, has
+assumed the form of an egg, which we look at from the smaller end. Hence
+it follows, by Hausen's calculations, that its centre of gravity is
+situated in the other hemisphere. Hence it results that the great mass
+of air and water must have been drawn away to the other face of our
+satellite during the first days of its creation."
+
+"Pure fancies!" cried the unknown.
+
+"No! Pure theories! which are based upon the laws of mechanics, and it
+seems difficult to me to refute them. I appeal then to this meeting, and
+I put it to them whether life, such as exists upon the earth, is possible
+on the surface of the moon?"
+
+Three hundred thousand auditors at once applauded the proposition.
+Ardan's opponent tried to get in another word, but he could not obtain
+a hearing. Cries and menaces fell upon him like hail.
+
+"Enough! enough!" cried some.
+
+"Drive the intruder off!" shouted others.
+
+"Turn him out!" roared the exasperated crowd.
+
+But he, holding firmly on to the platform, did not budge an inch, and let
+the storm pass on, which would soon have assumed formidable proportions,
+if Michel Ardan had not quieted it by a gesture. He was too chivalrous
+to abandon his opponent in an apparent extremity.
+
+"You wished to say a few more words?" he asked, in a pleasant voice.
+
+"Yes, a thousand; or rather, no, only one! If you persevere in your
+enterprise, you must be a--"
+
+"Very rash person! How can you treat me as such? me, who have demanded a
+cylindro-conical projectile, in order to prevent turning round and round
+on my way like a squirrel?"
+
+"But, unhappy man, the dreadful recoil will smash you to pieces at your
+starting."
+
+"My dear contradictor, you have just put your finger upon the true and
+the only difficulty; nevertheless, I have too good an opinion of the
+industrial genius of the Americans not to believe that they will succeed
+in overcoming it."
+
+"But the heat developed by the rapidity of the projectile in crossing
+the strata of air?"
+
+"Oh! the walls are thick, and I shall soon have crossed the atmosphere."
+
+"But victuals and water?"
+
+"I have calculated for a twelvemonth's supply, and I shall be only four
+days on the journey."
+
+"But for air to breathe on the road?"
+
+"I shall make it by chemical process."
+
+"But your fall on the moon, supposing you ever reach it?"
+
+"It will be six times less dangerous than a sudden fall upon the earth,
+because the weight will be only one-sixth as great on the surface of the
+moon."
+
+"Still it will be enough to smash you like glass!"
+
+"What is to prevent my retarding the shock by means of rockets conveniently
+placed, and lighted at the right moment?"
+
+"But after all, supposing all difficulties surmounted, all obstacles
+removed, supposing everything combined to favour you, and granting that
+you may arrive safe and sound in the moon, how will you come back?"
+
+"I am not coming back!"
+
+At this reply, almost sublime in its very simplicity, the assembly became
+silent. But its silence was more eloquent than could have been its cries
+of enthusiasm. The unknown profited by the opportunity and once more
+protested,--
+
+"You will inevitably kill yourself!" he cried; "and your death will be
+that of a madman, useless even to science!"
+
+"Go on, my dear unknown, for truly your prophecies are most agreeable!"
+
+"It really is too much!" cried Michel Ardan's adversary. "I do not know
+why I should continue so frivolous a discussion! Please yourself about
+this insane expedition! We need not trouble ourselves about you!"
+
+"Pray don't stand upon ceremony!"
+
+"No! another person is responsible for your act."
+
+"Who, may I ask?" demanded Michel Ardan in an imperious tone.
+
+"The ignoramus who organized this equally absurd and impossible
+experiment!"
+
+The attack was direct. Barbicane, ever since the interference of the
+unknown, had been making fearful efforts of self-control; now, however,
+seeing himself directly attacked, he could restrain himself no longer.
+He rose suddenly, and was rushing upon the enemy who thus braved him to
+the face, when all at once he found himself separated from him.
+
+The platform was lifted by a hundred strong arms, and the President of
+the Gun Club shared with Michel Ardan triumphal honours. The shield was
+heavy, but the bearers came in continuous relays, disputing, struggling,
+even fighting among themselves in their eagerness to lend their shoulders
+to this demonstration.
+
+However, the unknown had not profited by the tumult to quit his post.
+Besides he could not have done it in the midst of that compact crowd.
+There he held on in the front row with crossed arms, glaring at President
+Barbicane.
+
+The shouts of the immense crowd continued at their highest pitch throughout
+this triumphant march. Michel Ardan took it all with evident pleasure.
+His face gleamed with delight. Several times the platform seemed seized
+with pitching and rolling like a weather-beaten ship. But the two heroes
+of the meeting had good sea-legs. They never stumbled; and their vessel
+arrived without dues at the port of Tampa Town.
+
+Michel Ardan managed fortunately to escape from the last embraces of
+his vigorous admirers. He made for the Hotel Franklin, quickly gained
+his chamber, and slid under the bedclothes, while an army of a hundred
+thousand men kept watch under his windows.
+
+During this time a scene, short, grave, and decisive, took place between
+the mysterious personage and the President of the Gun Club.
+
+Barbicane, free at last, had gone straight at his adversary.
+
+"Come!" he said shortly.
+
+The other followed him on to the quay; and the two presently found
+themselves alone at the entrance of an open wharf on Jones' Fall.
+
+The two enemies, still mutually unknown, gazed at each other.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Barbicane.
+
+
+Illustration: THE PLATFORM WAS SUDDENLY CARRIED AWAY.
+
+
+"Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"So I suspected. Hitherto chance has never thrown you in my way."
+
+"I am come for that purpose."
+
+"You have insulted me."
+
+"Publicly!"
+
+"And you will answer to me for this insult?"
+
+"At this very moment."
+
+"No! I desire that all that passes between us shall be secret. There is
+a wood situated three miles from Tampa, the wood of Skersnaw. Do you know
+it?"
+
+"I know it."
+
+"Will you be so good as to enter it to-morrow morning at five o'clock,
+on one side?"
+
+"Yes! if you will enter at the other side at the same hour."
+
+"And you will not forget your rifle?" said Barbicane.
+
+"No more than you will forget yours," replied Nicholl.
+
+These words having been coldly spoken, the President of the Gun Club and
+the captain parted. Barbicane returned to his lodging; but instead of
+snatching a few hours of repose, he passed the night in endeavouring to
+discover a means of evading the recoil of the projectile, and resolving
+the difficult problem proposed by Michel Ardan during the discussion at
+the meeting.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXI.
+
+   HOW A FRENCHMAN MANAGES AN AFFAIR.
+
+
+While the contract of this duel was being discussed by the president and
+the captain--this dreadful, savage duel, in which each adversary became
+a man-hunter--Michel Ardan was resting from the fatigues of his triumph.
+_Resting_ is hardly an appropriate expression, for American beds rival
+marble or granite tables for hardness.
+
+Ardan was sleeping, then, badly enough, tossing about between the cloths
+which served him for sheets, and he was dreaming of making a more
+comfortable couch in his projectile when a frightful noise disturbed his
+dreams. Thundering blows shook his door. They seemed to be caused by some
+iron instrument. A great deal of loud talking was distinguishable in this
+racket, which was rather too early in the morning. "Open the door," some
+one shrieked, "for Heaven's sake!" Ardan saw no reason for complying with
+a demand so roughly expressed. However, he got up and opened the door
+just as it was giving way before the blows of this determined visitor.
+The secretary of the Gun Club burst into the room. A bomb could not have
+made more noise or have entered the room with less ceremony.
+
+"Last night," cried J. T. Maston, _ex abrupto_, "our president was
+publicly insulted during the meeting. He provoked his adversary, who is
+none other than Captain Nicholl! They are fighting this morning in the
+wood of Skersnaw. I heard all particulars from the mouth of Barbicane
+himself. If he is killed, then our scheme is at end. We must prevent this
+duel; and one man alone has enough influence over Barbicane to stop him,
+and that man is Michel Ardan."
+
+
+Illustration: MASTON BURST INTO THE ROOM.
+
+
+While J. T. Maston was speaking, Michel Ardan, without interrupting him,
+had hastily put on his clothes; and, in less than two minutes, the two
+friends were making for the suburbs of Tampa Town with rapid strides.
+
+It was during this walk that Maston told Ardan the state of the case. He
+told him the real causes of the hostility between Barbicane and Nicholl;
+how it was of old date, and why, thanks to unknown friends, the president
+and the captain had, as yet, never met face to face. He added that it
+arose simply from a rivalry between iron plates and shot, and, finally,
+that the scene at the meeting was only the long-wished-for opportunity
+for Nicholl to pay off an old grudge.
+
+Nothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries
+attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet
+those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies--their quick
+intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy. A single
+mistake, a moment's hesitation, a single false step may cause death. On
+these occasions Yankees are often accompanied by their dogs, and keep up
+the struggle for hours.
+
+"What demons you are!" cried Michel Ardan, when his companion had depicted
+this scene to him with much energy.
+
+"Yes we are," replied J. T. modestly; "but we had better make haste."
+
+Though Michel Ardan and he had crossed the plain still wet with dew, and
+had taken the shortest route over creeks and ricefields, they could not
+reach Skersnaw under five hours and a half.
+
+Barbicane must have passed the border half an hour ago.
+
+There was an old bushman working there, occupied in selling faggots from
+trees that had been levelled by his axe.
+
+Maston ran towards him, saying, "Have you seen a man go into the wood,
+armed with a rifle? Barbicane, the president, my best friend?"
+
+The worthy secretary of the Gun Club thought that his president must be
+known by all the world. But the bushman did not seem to understand him.
+
+"A hunter?" said Ardan.
+
+"A hunter? Yes," replied the bushman.
+
+"Long ago?"
+
+"About an hour."
+
+"Too late!" cried Maston.
+
+"Have you heard any gun-shots?" asked Ardan.
+
+"No!"
+
+"Not one?"
+
+"Not one! that hunter did not look as if he knew how to hunt!"
+
+"What is to be done?" said Maston.
+
+"We must go into the wood, at the risk of getting a ball which is not
+intended for us."
+
+"Ah!" cried Maston, in a tone which could not be mistaken, "I would
+rather have twenty balls in my own head than one in Barbicane's."
+
+"Forward, then," said Ardan, pressing his companion's hand.
+
+A few moments later the two friends had disappeared in the copse. It was
+a dense thicket, in which rose huge cypresses, sycamores, tulip-trees,
+olives, tamarinds, oaks, and magnolias. These different trees had
+interwoven their branches into an inextricable maze, through which the
+eye could not penetrate. Michel Ardan and Maston walked side by side in
+silence through the tall grass, cutting themselves a path through the
+strong creepers, casting curious glances on the bushes, and momentarily
+expecting to hear the sound of rifles. As for the traces which Barbicane
+ought to have left of his passage through the wood, there was not a
+vestige of them visible: so they followed the barely perceptible paths
+along which Indians had tracked some enemy, and which the dense foliage
+darkly overshadowed.
+
+After an hour spent in vain pursuit the two stopped in intensified
+anxiety.
+
+"It must be all over," said Maston, discouraged. "A man like Barbicane
+would not dodge with his enemy, or ensnare him, would not even manoeuvre!
+He is too open, too brave. He has gone straight ahead, right into the
+danger, and doubtless far enough from the bushman for the wind to prevent
+his hearing the report of the rifles."
+
+"But surely," replied Michel Ardan, "since we entered the wood we should
+have heard!"
+
+"And what if we came too late?" cried Maston in tones of despair.
+
+For once Ardan had no reply to make, he and Maston resuming their walk
+in silence. From time to time, indeed, they raised great shouts, calling
+alternately Barbicane and Nicholl, neither of whom, however, answered
+their cries. Only the birds, awakened by the sound, flew past them
+and disappeared among the branches, while some frightened deer fled
+precipitately before them.
+
+For another hour their search was continued. The greater part of the
+wood had been explored. There was nothing to reveal the presence of the
+combatants. The information of the bushman was after all doubtful, and
+Ardan was about to propose their abandoning this useless pursuit, when
+all at once Maston stopped.
+
+"Hush!" said he, "there is some one down there!"
+
+"Some one?" repeated Michel Ardan.
+
+"Yes; a man! He seems motionless. His rifle is not in his hands. What
+can he be doing?"
+
+"But can you recognize him?" asked Ardan, whose short sight was of little
+use to him in such circumstances.
+
+"Yes! yes! He is turning towards us," answered Maston.
+
+"And it is?"
+
+"Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"Nicholl?" cried Michel Ardan, feeling a terrible pang of grief.
+
+"Nicholl unarmed! He has, then, no longer any fear of his adversary!"
+
+"Let us go to him," said Michel Ardan, "and find out the truth."
+
+But he and his companion had barely taken fifty steps when they paused to
+examine the captain more attentively. They expected to find a bloodthirsty
+man, happy in his revenge!
+
+On seeing him, they remained stupefied.
+
+A net, composed of very fine meshes, hung between two enormous
+tulip-trees, and in the midst of this snare, with its wings entangled,
+was a poor little bird, uttering pitiful cries, while it vainly struggled
+to escape. The bird-catcher who had laid this snare was no human being,
+but a venomous spider, peculiar to that country, as large as a pigeon's
+egg, and armed with enormous claws. The hideous creature, instead of
+rushing on its prey, had beaten a sudden retreat and taken refuge in
+the upper branches of the tulip-tree, for a formidable enemy menaced its
+stronghold.
+
+Here, then, was Nicholl, his gun on the ground, forgetful of danger,
+trying if possible to save the victim from its cobweb prison. At last it
+was accomplished, and the little bird flew joyfully away and disappeared.
+
+Nicholl lovingly watched its flight, when he heard these words pronounced
+by a voice full of emotion,--
+
+"You are indeed a brave man!"
+
+He turned. Michel Ardan was before him, repeating in a different tone,--
+
+"And a kindhearted one!"
+
+"Michel Ardan!" cried the captain. "Why are you here?"
+
+"To press your hand, Nicholl, and to prevent you from either killing
+Barbicane or being killed by him."
+
+"Barbicane!" returned the captain. "I have been looking for him for the
+last two hours in vain. Where is he hiding?"
+
+
+Illustration: IN THE MIDST OF THIS SNARE WAS A POOR LITTLE BIRD.
+
+
+"Nicholl!" said Michel Ardan, "this is not courteous! we ought always to
+treat an adversary with respect; rest assured if Barbicane is still alive
+we shall find him all the more easily; because if he has not, like you,
+been amusing himself with freeing oppressed birds, he must be looking
+for _you_. When we have found him, Michel Ardan tells you this, there
+will be no duel between you."
+
+"Between President Barbicane and myself," gravely replied Nicholl, "there
+is a rivalry which the death of one of us--"
+
+"Pooh, pooh!" said Ardan. "Brave fellows like you indeed! you shall not
+fight!"
+
+"I will fight, sir!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Captain," said J. T. Maston, with much feeling, "I am a friend of the
+president's, his _alter ego_, his second self; if you really must kill
+some one, _shoot me!_ it will do just as well!"
+
+"Sir," Nicholl replied, seizing his rifle convulsively, "these jokes--"
+
+"Our friend Maston is not joking," replied Ardan. "I fully understand
+his idea of being killed himself in order to save his friend. But neither
+he nor Barbicane will fall before the balls of Captain Nicholl. Indeed I
+have so attractive a proposal to make to the two rivals, that both will
+be eager to accept it."
+
+"What is it?" asked Nicholl with manifest incredulity.
+
+"Patience!" exclaimed Ardan. "I can only reveal it in the presence of
+Barbicane."
+
+"Let us go in search of him then!" cried the captain.
+
+The three men started off at once; the captain having discharged his
+rifle threw it over his shoulder, and advanced in silence.
+
+Another half-hour passed, and the pursuit was still fruitless. Maston was
+oppressed by sinister forebodings. He looked fiercely at Nicholl, asking
+himself whether the captain's vengeance had been already satisfied, and
+the unfortunate Barbicane, shot, was perhaps lying dead on some bloody
+track. The same thought seemed to occur to Ardan; and both were casting
+inquiring glances on Nicholl, when suddenly Maston paused.
+
+The motionless figure of a man leaning against a gigantic catalpa twenty
+feet off appeared, half-veiled by the foliage. "It is he!" said Maston.
+
+Barbicane never moved. Ardan looked at the captain, but he did not wince.
+Ardan went forward crying,--
+
+"Barbicane, Barbicane!"
+
+No answer! Ardan rushed towards his friend; but in the act of seizing
+his arms, he stopped short and uttered a cry of surprise.
+
+Barbicane, pencil in hand, was tracing geometrical figures in a memorandum
+book, whilst his unloaded rifle lay beside him on the ground.
+
+Absorbed in his studies, Barbicane, in his turn forgetful of the duel,
+had seen and heard nothing.
+
+When Ardan took his hand, he looked up and stared at his visitor in
+astonishment.
+
+"Ah, it is you!" he cried at last. "I have found it, my friend, I have
+found it!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"My plan!"
+
+"What plan?"
+
+"The plan for counteracting the effect of the shock at the departure of
+the projectile!"
+
+"Indeed?" said Michel Ardan, looking at the captain out of the corner of
+his eye.
+
+"Yes! water! simply water, which will act as a spring--ah! Maston,"
+cried Barbicane, "you here also?"
+
+"Himself," replied Ardan; "and permit me to introduce to you at the same
+time the worthy Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"Nicholl!" cried Barbicane, who jumped up at once. "Pardon me, captain,
+I had quite forgotten--I am ready!"
+
+Michel Ardan interfered, without giving the two enemies time to say
+anything more.
+
+
+Illustration: "GO WITH ME, AND SEE WHETHER WE ARE STOPPED
+   ON OUR JOURNEY."
+
+
+"Thank Heaven!" said he. "It is a happy thing that brave men like you two
+did not meet sooner! we should now have been mourning for one or other
+of you. But, thanks to Providence, which has interfered, there is now no
+further cause for alarm. When one forgets one's anger in mechanics or in
+cobwebs, it is a sign that the anger is not dangerous."
+
+Michel Ardan then told the president how the captain had been found
+occupied.
+
+"I put it to you now," said he in conclusion, "are two such good fellows
+as you are made on purpose to smash each other's skulls with shot?"
+
+There was in "the situation" somewhat of the ridiculous, something
+quite unexpected; Michel Ardan saw this, and determined to effect a
+reconciliation.
+
+"My good friends," said he, with his most bewitching smile, "this is
+nothing but a misunderstanding. Nothing more! well! to prove that it is
+all over between you, accept frankly the proposal I am going to make to
+you."
+
+"Make it," said Nicholl.
+
+"Our friend Barbicane believes that his projectile will go straight to
+the moon?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," replied the president.
+
+"And our friend Nicholl is persuaded it will fall back upon the earth?"
+
+"I am certain of it," cried the captain.
+
+"Good!" said Ardan. "I cannot pretend to make you agree; but I suggest
+this:--Go with me, and so see whether we are stopped on our journey."
+
+"What?" exclaimed J. T. Maston, stupefied.
+
+The two rivals, on this sudden proposal, looked steadily at each other.
+Barbicane waited for the captain's answer. Nicholl watched for the
+decision of the president.
+
+"Well?" said Michel. "There is now no fear of the shock!"
+
+"Done!" cried Barbicane.
+
+But quickly as he pronounced the word, he was not before Nicholl.
+
+"Hurrah! bravo! hip! hip! hurrah!" cried Michel, giving a hand to each
+of the late adversaries. "Now that it is all settled, my friends, allow
+me to treat you after French fashion. Let us be off to breakfast!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXII.
+
+   THE NEW CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+
+That same day all America heard of the affair of Captain Nicholl and
+President Barbicane, as well as its singular _denouement_. From that
+day forth, Michel Ardan had not one moment's rest. Deputations from all
+corners of the Union harassed him without cessation or intermission.
+He was compelled to receive them all, whether he would or no. How many
+hands he shook, how many people he was "hail-fellow-well-met" with, it
+is impossible to guess! Such a triumphal result would have intoxicated
+any other man; but he managed to keep himself in a state of delightful
+_semi_-tipsiness.
+
+Among the deputations of all kinds which assailed him, that of "The
+Lunatics" were careful not to forget what they owed to the future
+conqueror of the moon. One day, certain of these poor people, so numerous
+in America, came to call upon him, and requested permission to return
+with him to their native country.
+
+"Singular hallucination!" said he to Barbicane, after having dismissed
+the deputation with promises to convey numbers of messages to friends in
+the moon. "Do you believe in the influence of the moon upon distempers?"
+
+"Scarcely!"
+
+"No more do I, despite some remarkable recorded facts of history. For
+instance, during an epidemic in 1693, a large number of persons died
+at the very moment of an eclipse. The celebrated Bacon always fainted
+during an eclipse. Charles VI. relapsed six times into madness during
+the year 1399, sometimes during the new, sometimes during the full
+moon. Gall observed that insane persons underwent an accession of their
+disorder twice in every month, at the epochs of new and full moon. In
+fact, numerous observations made upon fevers, somnambulisms, and other
+human maladies, seem to prove that the moon does exercise some mysterious
+influence upon man."
+
+"But the how and the wherefore?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Well, I can only give you the answer which Arago borrowed from Plutarch,
+which is nineteen centuries old. 'Perhaps the stories are not true!'"
+
+In the height of his triumph, Michel Ardan had to encounter all the
+annoyances incidental to a man of celebrity. Managers of entertainments
+wanted to exhibit him. Barnum offered him a million dollars to make the
+tour of the United States in his show. As for his photographs, they were
+sold of all sizes, and his portrait taken in every imaginable posture.
+More than half a million copies were disposed of in an incredibly short
+space of time.
+
+But it was not only the men who paid him homage, but the women also. He
+might have married well a hundred times over, if he had been willing to
+settle in life. The old maids, in particular, of forty years and upwards,
+and dry in proportion, devoured his photographs day and night. They
+would have married him by hundreds, even if he had imposed upon them the
+condition of accompanying him into space. He had, however, no intention
+of transplanting a race of Franco-Americans upon the surface of the moon.
+
+He therefore declined all offers.
+
+As soon as he could withdraw from these somewhat embarrassing
+demonstrations, he went, accompanied by his friends, to pay a visit to
+the Columbiad. He was highly gratified by his inspection, and made the
+descent to the bottom of the tube of this gigantic machine which was
+presently to launch him to the regions of the moon.
+
+It is necessary here to mention a proposal of J. T. Maston's. When the
+secretary of the Gun Club found that Barbicane and Nicholl accepted the
+proposal of Michel Ardan, he determined to join them, and make one of
+a snug party of four. So one day he determined to be admitted as one
+of the travellers. Barbicane, pained at having to refuse him, gave him
+clearly to understand that the projectile could not possibly contain
+so many passengers. Maston, in despair, went in search of Michel Ardan,
+who counselled him to resign himself to the situation, adding one or two
+arguments _ad hominem_.
+
+"You see, old fellow," he said, "you must not take what I say in bad part;
+but really, between ourselves, you are in too incomplete a condition to
+appear in the moon!"
+
+"Incomplete?" shrieked the valiant invalid.
+
+"Yes, my dear fellow! imagine our meeting some of the inhabitants up
+there! Would you like to give them such a melancholy notion of what goes
+on down here? to teach them what war is, to inform them that we employ
+our time chiefly in devouring each other, in smashing arms and legs, and
+that too on a globe which is capable of supporting a hundred billions of
+inhabitants, and which actually does contain nearly two hundred millions?
+Why, my worthy friend, we should have to turn you out of doors!"
+
+"But still, if you arrive there in pieces, you will be as _incomplete_
+as I am."
+
+"Unquestionably," replied Michel Ardan; "but we shall not."
+
+In fact, a preparatory experiment, tried on the 18th October, had yielded
+the best results and caused the most well-grounded hopes of success.
+Barbicane, desirous of obtaining some notion of the effect of the shock
+at the moment of the projectile's departure, had procured a 38-inch
+mortar from the arsenal of Pensacola. He had this placed on the bank of
+Hillisborough Roads, in order that the shell might fall back into the
+sea, and the shock be thereby destroyed. His object was to ascertain the
+extent of the shock of departure, and not that of the return.
+
+A hollow projectile had been prepared for this curious experiment. A thick
+padding fastened upon a kind of elastic network, made of the best steel,
+lined the inside of the walls. It was a veritable _nest_ most carefully
+wadded.
+
+"What a pity I can't find room in there," said J. T. Maston, regretting
+that his height did not allow of his trying the adventure.
+
+Within this shell were shut up a large cat, and a squirrel belonging to
+J. T. Maston, and of which he was particularly fond. They were desirous,
+however, of ascertaining how this little animal, least of all others
+subject to giddiness, would endure this experimental voyage.
+
+The mortar was charged with 160 lbs. of powder, and the shell placed in
+the chamber. On being fired, the projectile rose with great velocity,
+described a majestic parabola, attained a height of about a thousand
+feet, and with a graceful curve descended in the midst of the vessels
+that lay there at anchor.
+
+Without a moment's loss of time a small boat put off in the direction of
+its fall; some active divers plunged into the water and attached ropes
+to the handles of the shell, which was quickly dragged on board. Five
+minutes did not elapse between the moment of enclosing the animals and
+that of unscrewing the coverlid of their prison.
+
+Ardan, Barbicane, Maston, and Nicholl were present on board the boat,
+and assisted at the operation with an interest which may readily be
+comprehended. Hardly had the shell been opened when the cat leaped out,
+slightly bruised, but full of life, and exhibiting no signs whatever of
+having made an aerial expedition. No trace, however, of the squirrel
+could be discovered. The truth at last became apparent;--the cat had
+eaten its fellow-traveller!
+
+J. T. Maston grieved much for the loss of his poor squirrel, and proposed
+to add its case to that of other martyrs to science.
+
+After this experiment all hesitation, all fear disappeared.
+
+
+Illustration: THE CAT TAKEN OUT OF THE SHELL.
+
+
+Besides, Barbicane's plans would ensure greater perfection for his
+projectile, and go far to annihilate altogether the effects of the shock.
+Nothing now remained but to go!
+
+Two days later Michel Ardan received a message from the President of the
+United States, an honour of which he showed himself especially sensible.
+
+After the example of his illustrious fellow-countryman, the Marquis de
+la Fayette, the government had decreed to him the title of "Citizen of
+the United States of America."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+   THE PROJECTILE-VEHICLE.
+
+
+On the completion of the Columbiad the public interest centred in the
+projectile itself, the vehicle which was destined to carry the three
+hardy adventurers into space.
+
+The new plans had been sent to Breadwill and Co., of Albany, with the
+request for their speedy execution. The projectile was consequently cast
+on the 2d November, and immediately forwarded by the Eastern Railway to
+Stones Hill, which it reached without accident on the 10th of that month,
+where Michel Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl were waiting impatiently for
+it.
+
+The projectile had now to be filled to the depth of three feet with a
+bed of water, intended to support a watertight wooden disc, which worked
+easily within the walls of the projectile. It was upon this kind of
+raft that the travellers were to take their place. This body of water
+was divided by horizontal partitions, which the shock of the departure
+would have to break in succession. Then each sheet of the water, from
+the lowest to the highest, running off into escape tubes toward the top
+of the projectile, constituted a kind of spring; and the wooden disc,
+supplied with extremely powerful plugs, could not strike the lowest plate
+except after breaking successively the different partitions. Undoubtedly
+the travellers would still have to encounter a violent _recoil_ after
+the complete escapement of the water; but the first shock would be almost
+entirely destroyed by this powerful spring. The upper part of the walls
+were lined with a thick padding of leather, fastened upon springs of the
+best steel, behind which the escape tubes were completely concealed; thus
+all imaginable precautions had been taken for averting the first shock;
+and if they _did_ get crushed, they must, as Michel Ardan said, be made
+of very bad materials.
+
+
+Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE PROJECTILE AT STONE'S HILL.
+
+
+The entrance into this metallic tower was by a narrow aperture contrived
+in the wall of the cone. This was hermetically closed by a plate of
+aluminium, fastened internally by powerful screw-pressure. The travellers
+could therefore quit their prison at pleasure, as soon as they should
+reach the moon.
+
+Light and view were given by means of four thick lenticular glass
+scuttles, two pierced in the circular wall itself, the third in the
+bottom, the fourth in the top. These scuttles then were protected against
+the shock of departure by plates let into solid grooves, which could
+easily be opened outwards by unscrewing them from the inside. Reservoirs
+firmly fixed contained water and the necessary provisions; and fire and
+light were procurable by means of gas, contained in a special reservoir
+under a pressure of several atmospheres. They had only to turn a tap,
+and for six hours the gas would light and warm this comfortable vehicle.
+
+There now remained only the question of air; for allowing for the
+consumption of air by Barbicane, his two companions, and two dogs which
+he proposed taking with him, it was necessary to renew the air of the
+projectile. Now air consists principally of twenty-one parts of oxygen
+and seventy-nine of nitrogen. The lungs absorb the oxygen, which is
+indispensable for the support of life, and reject the nitrogen. The air
+expired loses nearly five per cent. of the former and contains nearly an
+equal volume of carbonic acid, produced by the combustion of the elements
+of the blood. In an air-tight enclosure, then, after a certain time, all
+the oxygen of the air will be replaced by the carbonic acid--a gas fatal
+to life. There were two things to be done then--first, to replace the
+absorbed oxygen; secondly, to destroy the expired carbonic acid; both
+easy enough to do, by means of chlorate of potassium and caustic potash.
+The former is a salt which appears under the form of white crystals;
+when raised to a temperature of 400° it is transformed into chlorate
+of potass, and the oxygen which it contains is entirely liberated. Now
+twenty-eight pounds of chlorate of potassium produce seven pounds of
+oxygen, or 2400 _litres_--the quantity necessary for the travellers
+during twenty-four hours.
+
+Caustic potash has a great affinity for carbonic acid; and it is
+sufficient to shake it in order for it to seize upon the acid and form
+bi-carbonate of potass. By these two means they would be enabled to
+restore to the vitiated air its life-supporting properties.
+
+It is necessary, however, to add that the experiments had hitherto been
+made _in anima vili_. Whatever its scientific accuracy was, they were at
+present ignorant how it would answer with human beings. The honour of
+putting it to the proof was energetically claimed by J. T. Maston.
+
+"Since I am not to go," said the brave artillerist, "I may at least live
+for a week in the projectile."
+
+It would have been hard to refuse him; so they consented to his wish.
+A sufficient quantity of chlorate of potassium and of caustic potash
+was placed at his disposal, together with provisions for eight days.
+And having shaken hands with his friends, on the 12th November, at six
+o'clock a.m., after strictly informing them not to open his prison before
+the 20th, at six o'clock p.m., he slid down the projectile, the plate
+of which was at once hermetically sealed. What did he do with himself
+during that week? They could get no information. The thickness of the
+walls of the projectile prevented any sound reaching from the inside
+to the outside. On the 20th of November, at six p.m. exactly, the plate
+was opened. The friends of J. T. Maston had been all along in a state of
+much anxiety; but they were promptly reassured on hearing a jolly voice
+shouting a boisterous hurrah.
+
+Presently afterwards the secretary of the Gun Club appeared at the top
+of the cone in a triumphant attitude. He had grown fat!
+
+
+Illustration: J. T. MASTON HAD GROWN FAT.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+   THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+On the 20th October in the preceding year, after the close of the
+subscription, the president of the Gun Club had credited the Observatory
+of Cambridge with the necessary sums for the construction of a gigantic
+optical instrument. This instrument was designed for the purpose of
+rendering visible on the surface of the moon any object exceeding nine
+feet in diameter.
+
+At the period when the Gun Club essayed their great experiment, such
+instruments had reached a high degree of perfection, and produced some
+magnificent results. Two telescopes in particular, at this time, were
+possessed of remarkable power and of gigantic dimensions. The first,
+constructed by Herschel, was thirty-six feet in length, and had an
+object-glass of four feet six inches; it possessed a magnifying power
+of 6000. The second was raised in Ireland, in Parsonstown Park, and
+belongs to Lord Rosse. The length of this tube is forty-eight feet, and
+the diameter of its object-glass six feet; it magnifies 6400 times, and
+required an immense erection of brickwork and masonry for the purpose of
+working it, its weight being twelve tons and a half.
+
+Still, despite these colossal dimensions, the actual enlargements
+scarcely exceeded 6000 times in round numbers; consequently, the moon
+was brought within no nearer an apparent distance than thirty-nine miles;
+and objects of less than sixty feet in diameter, unless they were of very
+considerable length, were still imperceptible.
+
+In the present case, dealing with a projectile nine feet in diameter
+and fifteen feet long, it became necessary to bring the moon within an
+apparent distance of five miles at most; and for that purpose to establish
+a magnifying power of 48,000 times.
+
+Such was the question proposed to the Observatory of Cambridge. There
+was no lack of funds; the difficulty was purely one of construction.
+
+After considerable discussion as to the best form and principle of
+the proposed instrument the work was finally commenced. According to
+the calculations of the Observatory of Cambridge, the tube of the new
+reflector would require to be 280 feet in length, and the object-glass
+sixteen feet in diameter. Colossal as these dimensions may appear, they
+were diminutive in comparison with the 10,000 foot telescope proposed by
+the astronomer Hooke only a few years ago!
+
+Regarding the choice of locality, that matter was promptly determined.
+The object was to select some lofty mountain, and there are not many of
+these in the United States. In fact there are but two chains of moderate
+elevation, between which runs the magnificent Mississippi, the "king of
+rivers," as these Republican Yankees delight to call it.
+
+Eastwards rise the Apalachians, the very highest point of which, in New
+Hampshire, does not exceed the very moderate altitude of 5600 feet.
+
+On the west, however, rise the Rocky Mountains, that immense range which,
+commencing at the Straits of Magellan, follows the western coast of
+Southern America under the name of the Andes or the Cordilleras, until
+it crosses the Isthmus of Panama, and runs up the whole of North America
+to the very borders of the Polar Sea. The highest elevation of this range
+still does not exceed 10,700 feet. With this elevation, nevertheless, the
+Gun Club were compelled to be content, inasmuch as they had determined
+that both telescope and Columbiad should be erected within the limits of
+the Union. All the necessary apparatus was consequently sent on to the
+summit of Long's Peak, in the territory of Missouri.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+Neither pen nor language can describe the difficulties of all kinds
+which the American engineers had to surmount, or the prodigies of daring
+and skill which they accomplished. They had to raise enormous stones,
+massive pieces of wrought iron, heavy corner-clamps and huge portions
+of cylinder, with an object-glass weighing nearly 30,000 lbs., above
+the line of perpetual snow for more than 10,000 feet in height, after
+crossing desert prairies, impenetrable forests, fearful rapids, far
+from all centres of population, and in the midst of savage regions, in
+which every detail of life becomes an almost insoluble problem. And yet,
+notwithstanding these innumerable obstacles, American genius triumphed.
+In less than a year after the commencement of the works, towards the close
+of September, the gigantic reflector rose into the air to a height of
+280 feet. It was raised by means of an enormous iron crane; an ingenious
+mechanism allowed it to be easily worked towards all the points of the
+heavens, and to follow the stars from the one horizon to the other during
+their journey through the heavens.
+
+It had cost 400,000 dollars. The first time it was directed towards the
+moon the observers evinced both curiosity and anxiety. What were they
+about to discover in the field of this telescope which magnified objects
+48,000 times? Would they perceive peoples, herds of lunar animals,
+towns, lakes, seas? No! there was nothing which science had not already
+discovered! and on all the points of its disc the volcanic nature of the
+moon became determinable with the utmost precision.
+
+But the telescope of the Rocky Mountains, before doing its duty to the Gun
+Club, rendered immense services to astronomy. Thanks to its penetrative
+power, the depths of the heavens were sounded to the utmost extent; the
+apparent diameter of a great number of stars was accurately measured; and
+Mr. Clark, of the Cambridge staff, resolved the Crab nebula in Taurus,
+which the reflector of Lord Rosse had never been able to decompose.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXV.
+
+   FINAL DETAILS.
+
+
+It was the 22nd of November; the departure was to take place in ten days.
+One operation alone remained to be accomplished to bring all to a happy
+termination; an operation delicate and perilous, requiring infinite
+precautions, and against the success of which Captain Nicholl had laid
+his third bet. It was, in fact, nothing less than the loading of the
+Columbiad, and the introduction into it of 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton.
+Nicholl had thought, not perhaps without reason, that the handling of
+such formidable quantities of pyroxyle would, in all probability, involve
+a grave catastrophe; and at any rate, that this immense mass of eminently
+inflammable matter would inevitably ignite when submitted to the pressure
+of the projectile.
+
+There were indeed dangers accruing as before from the carelessness of
+the Americans, but Barbicane had set his heart on success, and took all
+possible precautions. In the first place, he was very careful as to the
+transportation of the gun-cotton to Stones Hill. He had it conveyed in
+small quantities, carefully packed in sealed cases. These were brought
+by rail from Tampa Town to the camp, and from thence were taken to the
+Columbiad by barefooted workmen, who deposited them in their places by
+means of cranes placed at the orifice of the cannon. No steam-engine was
+permitted to work, and every fire was extinguished within two miles of
+the works.
+
+Even in November they feared to work by day, lest the sun's rays acting
+on the gun-cotton might lead to unhappy results. This led to their
+working at night, by light produced in a vacuum by means of Rühmkorff's
+apparatus, which threw an artificial brightness into the depths of the
+Columbiad. There the cartridges were arranged with the utmost regularity,
+connected by a metallic thread, destined to communicate to them all
+simultaneously the electric spark, by which means this mass of gun-cotton
+was eventually to be ignited.
+
+By the 28th of November 800 cartridges had been placed in the bottom
+of the Columbiad. So far the operation had been successful! But what
+confusion, what anxieties, what struggles were undergone by President
+Barbicane! In vain had he refused admission to Stones Hill; every day
+the inquisitive neighbours scaled the palisades, some even carrying
+their imprudence to the point of smoking while surrounded by bales of
+gun-cotton. Barbicane was in a perpetual state of alarm. J. T. Maston
+seconded him to the best of his ability, by giving vigorous chase to the
+intruders, and carefully picking up the still lighted cigar ends which
+the Yankees threw about. A somewhat difficult task! seeing that more
+than 300,000 persons were gathered round the enclosure. Michel Ardan
+had volunteered to superintend the transport of the cartridges to the
+mouth of the Columbiad; but the president, having surprised him with an
+enormous cigar in his mouth, while he was hunting out the rash spectators
+to whom he himself offered so dangerous an example, saw that he could not
+trust this fearless smoker, and was therefore obliged to mount a special
+guard over him.
+
+At last, Providence being propitious, this wonderful loading came to
+a happy termination, Captain Nicholl's third bet being thus lost. It
+remained now to introduce the projectile into the Columbiad, and to place
+it on its soft bed of gun-cotton.
+
+But before doing this, all those things necessary for the journey had to
+be carefully arranged in the projectile-vehicle. These necessaries were
+numerous; and had Ardan been allowed to follow his own wishes, there
+would have been no space remaining for the travellers. It is impossible
+to conceive of half the things this charming Frenchman wished to convey to
+the moon. A veritable stock of useless trifles! But Barbicane interfered
+and refused admission to anything not absolutely needed. Several
+thermometers, barometers, and telescopes were packed in the instrument
+case.
+
+The travellers being desirous of examining the moon carefully during
+their voyage, in order to facilitate their studies, they took with them
+Boeer and Moedler's excellent _Mappa Selenographica_, a masterpiece of
+patience and observation, which they hoped would enable them to identify
+those physical features in the moon, with which they were acquainted.
+This map reproduced with scrupulous fidelity the smallest details of the
+lunar surface which faces the earth; the mountains, valleys, craters,
+peaks, and ridges were all represented, with their exact dimensions,
+relative positions, and names; from the mountains Doërfel and Leibnitz
+on the eastern side of the disc, to the _Mare frigoris_ of the North
+Pole.
+
+They took also three rifles and three fowling-pieces, and a large quantity
+of balls, shot, and powder.
+
+"We cannot tell whom we shall have to deal with," said Michel Ardan. "Men
+or beasts may possibly object to our visit. It is only wise to take all
+precautions."
+
+These defensive weapons were accompanied by pickaxes, crowbars, saws,
+and other useful implements, not to mention clothing adapted to every
+temperature, from that of the polar regions to that of the torrid zone.
+
+Ardan wished to convey a number of animals of different sorts (not
+indeed a pair of every known species), as he could not see the necessity
+of acclimatizing serpents, tigers, alligators, or any other noxious
+beasts in the moon. "Nevertheless," he said to Barbicane, "some valuable
+and useful beasts, bullocks, cows, horses, and donkeys, would bear the
+journey very well, and would also be very useful to us."
+
+"I dare say, my dear Ardan," replied the president, "but our
+projectile-vehicle is no Noah's ark, from which it differs both in
+dimensions and object. Let us confine ourselves to possibilities."
+
+
+Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE PROJECTILE.
+
+
+After a prolonged discussion, it was agreed that the travellers should
+restrict themselves to a sporting-dog belonging to Nicholl, and to a
+large Newfoundland. Several packets of seeds were also included among the
+necessaries. Michel Ardan, indeed, was anxious to add some sacks full of
+earth to sow them in; as it was, he took a dozen shrubs carefully wrapped
+up in straw to plant in the moon.
+
+The important question of provisions still remained; it being necessary
+to provide against the possibility of their finding the moon absolutely
+barren. Barbicane managed so successfully, that he supplied them with
+sufficient rations for a year. These consisted of preserved meats and
+vegetables, reduced by strong hydraulic pressure to the smallest possible
+dimensions. They were also supplied with brandy, and took water enough
+for two months, being confident, from astronomical observations, that
+there was no lack of water on the moon's surface. As to provisions,
+doubtless the inhabitants of the _earth_ would find nourishment somewhere
+in the _moon_. Ardan never questioned this; indeed, had he done so, he
+would never have undertaken the journey.
+
+"Besides," he said one day to his friends, "we shall not be completely
+abandoned by our terrestrial friends; they will take care not to forget
+us."
+
+"No, indeed!" replied J. T. Maston.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Nothing would be simpler," replied Ardan; "the Columbiad will be always
+there. Well! whenever the moon is in a favourable condition as to the
+zenith, if not to the perigee, that is to say about once a year, could
+you not send us a shell packed with provisions, which we might expect on
+some appointed day?"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried J. T. Maston; "what an ingenious fellow! what a
+splendid idea! Indeed, my good friends, we shall not forget you!"
+
+"I shall reckon upon you! Then, you see, we shall receive news regularly
+from the earth, and we shall indeed be stupid if we hit upon no plan for
+communicating with our good friends here!"
+
+These words inspired such confidence, that Michel Ardan carried all the
+Gun Club with him in his enthusiasm. What he said seemed so simple and
+so easy, so sure of success, that none could be so sordidly attached to
+this earth as to hesitate to follow the three travellers on their lunar
+expedition.
+
+All being ready at last, it remained to place the projectile in the
+Columbiad, an operation abundantly accompanied by dangers and difficulties.
+
+The enormous shell was conveyed to the summit of Stones Hill. There,
+powerful cranes raised it, and held it suspended over the mouth of the
+cylinder.
+
+It was a fearful moment! What if the chains should break under its
+enormous weight? The sudden fall of such a body would inevitably cause
+the gun-cotton to explode!
+
+Fortunately this did not happen; and some hours later the
+projectile-vehicle descended gently into the heart of the cannon and
+rested on its couch of pyroxyle, a veritable bed of explosive eider-down.
+Its pressure had no result, other than the more effectual ramming down
+of the charge of the Columbiad.
+
+"I have lost," said the Captain, who forthwith paid President Barbicane
+the sum of 3000 dollars.
+
+Barbicane did not wish to accept the money from one of his
+fellow-travellers, but gave way at last before the determination of
+Nicholl, who wished before leaving the earth to fulfil all his
+engagements.
+
+"Now," said Michel Ardan, "I have only one thing more to wish for you,
+my brave Captain."
+
+"What is that?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"It is that you may lose your two other bets! Then we shall be sure not
+to be stopped on our journey!"
+
+
+Illustration: AN INNUMERABLE MULTITUDE COVERED THE PRAIRIE ROUND STONE'S
+HILL.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+   FIRE!
+
+
+The first of December had arrived! the fatal day! for, if the projectile
+were not discharged that very night at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., more than
+eighteen years must roll by before the moon would again present herself
+under the same conditions of zenith and perigee.
+
+The weather was magnificent. Despite the approach of winter, the sun
+shone brightly, and bathed in its radiant light that earth which three
+of its denizens were about to abandon for a new world.
+
+How many persons lost their rest on the night which preceded this
+long-expected day! All hearts beat with disquietude, save only the heart
+of Michel Ardan. That imperturbable personage came and went with his
+habitual business-like air, while nothing whatever denoted that any
+unusual matter preoccupied his mind.
+
+After dawn, an innumerable multitude covered the prairie which extends,
+as far as the eye can reach, round Stones Hill. Every quarter of an hour
+the railway brought fresh accessions of sightseers; and, according to
+the statement of the _Tampa Town Observer_, not less than five millions
+of spectators thronged the soil of Florida.
+
+For a whole month previously, the mass of these persons had bivouacked
+round the enclosure, and laid the foundations for a town which was
+afterwards called "Ardan's Town." The whole plain was covered with huts,
+cottages, and tents. Every nation under the sun was represented there;
+and every language might be heard spoken at the same time. It was a
+perfect Babel re-enacted. All the various classes of American society were
+mingled together in terms of absolute equality. Bankers, farmers, sailors,
+cotton-planters, brokers, merchants, watermen, magistrates, elbowed
+each other in the most free-and-easy way. Louisiana Creoles fraternised
+with farmers from Indiana; Kentucky and Tennessee gentlemen and haughty
+Virginians conversed with trappers and the half-savages of the lakes
+and butchers from Cincinnati. Broad-brimmed white hats and Panamas, blue
+cotton trowsers, light coloured stockings, cambric frills, were all here
+displayed; while upon shirt-fronts, wristbands, and neckties, upon every
+finger, even upon the very _ears_, they wore an assortment of rings,
+shirt-pins, brooches, and trinkets, of which the value only equalled
+the execrable taste. Women, children, and servants, in equally expensive
+dress, surrounded their husbands, fathers, or masters, who resembled the
+patriarchs of tribes in the midst of their immense households.
+
+At meal-times, all fell to work upon the dishes peculiar to the Southern
+States, and consumed with an appetite that threatened speedy exhaustion
+of the victualling powers of Florida, fricasseed frogs, stuffed monkey,
+fish chowder, underdone 'possum, and raccoon steaks. And as for the
+liquors which accompanied this indigestible repast! The shouts, the
+vociferations that resounded through the bars and taverns decorated with
+glasses, tankards, and bottles of marvellous shape, mortars for pounding
+sugar, and bundles of straws! "Mint-julep!" roars one of the barmen;
+"Claret sangaree!" shouts another; "Cocktail!" "Brandy-smash!" "Real
+mint-julep in the new style!" All these cries intermingled produced a
+bewildering and deafening hubbub.
+
+But on this day, 1st December, such sounds were rare. No one thought
+of eating or drinking, and at four p.m. there were vast numbers of
+spectators who had not even taken their customary lunch! And, a still
+more significant fact, even the national passion for play seemed quelled
+for the time under the general excitement of the hour.
+
+Up till nightfall, a dull, noiseless agitation, such as precedes great
+catastrophes, ran through the anxious multitude. An indescribable
+uneasiness pervaded all minds, an indefinable sensation which oppressed
+the heart. Every one wished it was over.
+
+However, about seven o'clock, the heavy silence was dissipated. The moon
+rose above the horizon. Millions of hurrahs hailed her appearance. She
+was punctual to the rendezvous, and shouts of welcome greeted her on all
+sides, as her pale beams shone gracefully in the clear heavens. At this
+moment the three intrepid travellers appeared. This was the signal for
+renewed cries of still greater intensity. Instantly the vast assemblage,
+as with one accord, struck up the national hymn of the United States,
+and "Yankee Doodle," sung by five millions of hearty throats, rose like a
+roaring tempest to the farthest limits of the atmosphere. Then a profound
+silence reigned throughout the crowd.
+
+The Frenchman and the two Americans had by this time entered the enclosure
+reserved in the centre of the multitude. They were accompanied by the
+members of the Gun Club, and by deputations sent from all the European
+Observatories. Barbicane, cool and collected, was giving his final
+directions. Nicholl, with compressed lips, his arms crossed behind his
+back, walked with a firm and measured step. Michel Ardan, always easy,
+dressed in thorough traveller's costume, leathern gaiters on his legs,
+pouch by his side, in loose velvet suit, cigar in mouth, was full of
+inexhaustible gaiety, laughing, joking, playing pranks with J. T. Maston.
+In one word, he was the thorough "Frenchman" (and worse, a "Parisian")
+to the last moment.
+
+Ten o'clock struck! The moment had arrived for taking their places in the
+projectile! The necessary operations for the descent, and the subsequent
+removal of the cranes and scaffolding that inclined over the mouth of
+the Columbiad, required a certain period of time.
+
+Barbicane had regulated his chronometer to the tenth part of a second by
+that of Murchison the engineer, who was charged with the duty of firing
+the gun by means of an electric spark. Thus the travellers enclosed
+within the projectile were enabled to follow with their eyes the impassive
+needle which marked the precise moment of their departure.
+
+The moment had arrived for saying "Good-bye!" The scene was a touching
+one. Despite his feverish gaiety, even Michel Ardan was touched. J. T.
+Maston had found in his own dry eyes one ancient tear, which he had
+doubtless reserved for the occasion. He dropped it on the forehead of
+his dear president.
+
+"Can I not go?" he said, "there is still time!"
+
+"Impossible, old fellow!" replied Barbicane. A few moments later, the
+three fellow-travellers had ensconced themselves in the projectile, and
+screwed down the plate which covered the entrance-aperture. The mouth of
+the Columbiad, now completely disencumbered, was open entirely to the
+sky.
+
+The moon advanced upwards in a heaven of the purest clearness, outshining
+in her passage the twinkling light of the stars. She passed over the
+constellation of the Twins, and was now nearing the halfway point between
+the horizon and the zenith. A terrible silence weighed upon the entire
+scene! Not a breath of wind upon the earth! not a sound of breathing
+from the countless chests of the spectators! Their hearts seemed afraid
+to beat! All eyes were fixed upon the yawning mouth of the Columbiad.
+
+Murchison followed with his eye the hand of his chronometer. It wanted
+scarce forty seconds to the moment of departure, but each second seemed
+to last an age! At the twentieth there was a general shudder, as it
+occurred to the minds of that vast assemblage that the bold travellers
+shut up within the projectile were also counting those terrible seconds.
+Some few cries here and there escaped the crowd.
+
+"Thirty-five!--thirty-six!--thirty-seven!--thirty-eight!--thirty-nine!
+--forty! Fire!!!"
+
+
+Illustration: FIRE.
+
+
+Instantly Murchison pressed with his finger the key of the electric
+battery, restored the current of the fluid, and discharged the spark into
+the breach of the Columbiad.
+
+An appalling unearthly report followed instantly, such as can be compared
+to nothing whatever known, not even to the roar of thunder, or the blast
+of volcanic explosions! No words can convey the slightest idea of the
+terrific sound! An immense spout of fire shot up from the bowels of the
+earth as from a crater. The earth heaved up, and with great difficulty
+some few spectators obtained a momentary glimpse of the projectile
+victoriously cleaving the air in the midst of the fiery vapours!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+   FOUL WEATHER.
+
+
+At the moment when that pyramid of fire rose to a prodigious height into
+the air, the glare of the flame lit up the whole of Florida; and for a
+moment day superseded night over a considerable extent of the country.
+This immense canopy of fire was perceived at a distance of 100 miles
+out at sea, and more than one ship's captain entered in his log the
+appearance of this gigantic meteor.
+
+The discharge of the Columbiad was accompanied by a perfect earthquake.
+Florida was shaken to its very depths. The gases of the powder, expanded
+by heat, forced back the atmospheric strata with tremendous violence,
+and this artificial hurricane rushed like a waterspout through the air.
+
+Not a single spectator remained on his feet! Men, women, children, all
+lay prostrate like ears of corn under a tempest. There ensued a terrible
+tumult; a large number of persons were seriously injured. J. T. Maston,
+who, despite of all dictates of prudence had kept in advance of the mass,
+was pitched back 120 feet, shooting like a projectile over the heads of
+his fellow-citizens. Three hundred thousand persons remained deaf for a
+time, and as though struck stupefied.
+
+As soon as the first effects were over, the injured, the deaf, and lastly,
+the crowd in general, woke up with frenzied cries. "Hurrah for Ardan!
+Hurrah for Barbicane! Hurrah for Nicholl!" rose to the skies. Thousands
+of persons, noses in air, armed with telescopes and race-glasses, were
+questioning space, forgetting all contusions and emotions in the one idea
+of watching for the projectile. They looked in vain! It was no longer to
+be seen, and they were obliged to wait for telegrams from Long's Peak.
+The Director of the Cambridge Observatory was at his post on the Rocky
+Mountains; and to him, as a skilful and persevering astronomer, all
+observations had been confided.
+
+
+Illustration: EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSION.
+
+
+Illustration: THE DIRECTOR AT HIS POST.
+
+
+But an unforeseen phenomenon came in to subject the public impatience to
+a severe trial.
+
+The weather, hitherto so fine, suddenly changed; the sky became heavy with
+clouds. It could not have been otherwise after the terrible derangement
+of the atmospheric strata, and the dispersion of the enormous quantity
+of vapour arising from the combustion of 200,000 lbs. of
+pyroxyle!
+
+On the morrow the horizon was covered with clouds--a thick and
+impenetrable curtain between earth and sky, which unhappily extended as
+far as the Rocky Mountains. It was a fatality! But since man had chosen
+so to disturb the atmosphere, he was bound to accept the consequences of
+his experiment.
+
+Supposing, now, that the experiment had succeeded, the travellers having
+started on the 1st of December, at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., were due on
+the 4th at 0h. p.m. at their destination. So that up to that time it
+would have been very difficult after all to have observed, under such
+conditions, a body so small as the shell. Therefore they waited with what
+patience they might.
+
+From the 4th to the 6th of December inclusive, the weather remaining much
+the same in America, the great European instruments of Herschel, Rosse,
+and Foucault, were constantly directed towards the moon, for the weather
+was then magnificent; but the comparative weakness of their glasses
+prevented any trustworthy observations being made.
+
+On the 7th the sky seemed to lighten. They were in hopes now, but their
+hope was of but short duration, and at night again thick clouds hid the
+starry vault from all eyes.
+
+Matters were now becoming serious, when on the 9th, the sun reappeared
+for an instant, as if for the purpose of teasing the Americans. It was
+received with hisses; and wounded, no doubt, by such a reception, showed
+itself very sparing of its rays.
+
+On the 10th, no change! J. T. Maston went nearly mad, and great fears
+were entertained regarding the brain of this worthy individual, which
+had hitherto been so well preserved within his gutta-percha cranium.
+
+But on the 11th one of those inexplicable tempests peculiar to those
+intertropical regions was let loose in the atmosphere. A terrific east
+wind swept away the groups of clouds which had been so long gathering,
+and at night the semi-disc of the orb of night rode majestically amidst
+the soft constellations of the sky.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+   A NEW STAR.
+
+
+That very night, the startling news so impatiently awaited, burst like
+a thunderbolt over the United States of the Union, and thence, darting
+across the ocean, ran through all the telegraphic wires of the globe.
+The projectile had been detected, thanks to the gigantic reflector of
+Long's Peak! Here is the note received by the Director of the Observatory
+of Cambridge. It contains the scientific conclusion regarding this great
+experiment of the Gun Club.
+
+"Long's Peak December 12.
+
+"To the Officers of the Observatory of Cambridge.
+
+"The projectile discharged by the Columbiad at Stones Hill has been
+detected by Messrs. Belfast and J. T. Maston, 12th December, at 8.47
+p.m., the moon having entered her last quarter. This projectile has not
+arrived at its destination. It has passed by the side; but sufficiently
+near to be retained by the lunar attraction.
+
+"The rectilinear movement has thus become changed into a circular motion
+of extreme velocity, and it is now pursuing an elliptical orbit round
+the moon, of which it has become a true satellite.
+
+"The elements of this new star we have as yet been unable to determine;
+we do not yet know the velocity of its passage. The distance which
+separates it from the surface of the moon may be estimated at about 2833
+miles.
+
+"However, two hypothesis come here into our consideration.
+
+"1. Either the attraction of the moon will end by drawing them into
+itself, and the travellers will attain their destination; or,--
+
+"2. The projectile, following an immutable law, will continue to gravitate
+round the moon till the end of time.
+
+"At some future time, our observations will be able to determine this
+point, but till then the experiment of the Gun Club can have no other
+result than to have provided our solar system with a new star.
+
+"J. Belfast."
+
+To how many questions did this unexpected denouement give rise? What
+mysterious results was the future reserving for the investigations of
+science? At all events, the names of Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan
+were certain to be immortalized in the annals of astronomy!
+
+When the despatch from Long's Peak had once become known, there was but
+one universal feeling of surprise and alarm. Was it possible to go to the
+aid of these bold travellers? No! for they had placed themselves beyond
+the pale of humanity, by crossing the limits imposed by the Creator on
+his earthly creatures. They had air enough for _two_ months; they had
+victuals enough for _twelve;--but after that?_ There was only one man
+who would not admit that the situation was desperate,--he alone had
+confidence; and that was their devoted friend J. T. Maston.
+
+Besides, he never let them get out of sight. His home was henceforth the
+post at Long's Peak; his horizon, the mirror of that immense reflector.
+As soon as the moon rose above the horizon, he immediately caught her in
+the field of the telescope; he never let her go for an instant out of
+his sight, and followed her assiduously in her course through the stellar
+spaces. He watched with untiring patience the passage of the projectile
+across her silvery disc, and really the worthy man remained in perpetual
+communication with his three friends, whom he did not despair of seeing
+again some day.
+
+"Those three men," said he, "have carried into space all the resources
+of art, science, and industry. With that, one can do anything; and you
+will see that, some day, they will come out all right."
+
+
+
+
+   ROUND THE MOON:
+
+   A Sequel To
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+      ------------
+
+
+
+
+   PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
+
+   RECAPITULATING THE FIRST PART OF THIS WORK, AND
+      SERVING AS A PREFACE TO THE SECOND.
+
+
+During the year 186--, the whole world was greatly excited by a scientific
+experiment unprecedented in the annals of science. The members of the
+Gun Club, a circle of artillerymen formed at Baltimore after the American
+war, conceived the idea of putting themselves in communication with the
+moon!--yes, with the moon,--by sending to her a projectile. Their
+president, Barbicane, the promoter of the enterprise, having consulted
+the astronomers of the Cambridge Observatory upon the subject, took all
+necessary means to ensure the success of this extraordinary enterprise,
+which had been declared practicable by the majority of competent judges.
+After setting on foot a public subscription, which realized nearly
+1,200,000_l._ they began the gigantic work.
+
+According to the advice forwarded from the members of the Observatory,
+the gun destined to launch the projectile had to be fixed in a country
+situated between the 0 and 28th degrees of north or south latitude, in
+order to aim at the moon when at the zenith; and its initiatory velocity
+was fixed at twelve thousand yards to the second. Launched on the 1st
+of December, at 10hrs. 46m. 40s. p.m., it ought to reach the moon four
+days after its departure, that is on the 5th of December, at midnight
+precisely, at the moment of her attaining her _perigee_, that is her
+nearest distance from the earth, which is exactly 86,410 leagues (French),
+or 238,833 miles _mean distance_ (English).
+
+The principal members of the Gun Club, President Barbicane, Major
+Elphinstone, the secretary Joseph T. Maston, and other learned men, held
+several meetings, at which the shape and composition of the projectile
+were discussed, also the position and nature of the gun, and the quality
+and quantity of the powder to be used. It was decided: 1st, that the
+projectile should be a shell made of aluminium with a diameter of 108
+inches and a thickness of twelve inches to its walls; and should weigh
+19,250 lbs. 2ndly, that the gun should be a Columbiad cast in iron,
+900 feet long, and run perpendicularly into the earth. 3rdly, that the
+charge should contain 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton, which, giving out
+six billions of litres of gas in rear of the projectile, would easily
+carry it towards the orb of night.
+
+These questions determined President Barbicane, assisted by Murchison
+the engineer, to choose a spot situated in Florida, in 27° 7' North
+latitude, and 77° 3' West (Greenwich) longitude. It was on this spot,
+after stupendous labour, that the Columbiad was cast with full success.
+Things stood thus, when an incident took place which increased the
+interest attached to this great enterprise a hundredfold.
+
+A Frenchman, an enthusiastic Parisian, as witty as he was bold, asked
+to be enclosed in the projectile, in order that he might reach the moon,
+and reconnoitre this terrestrial satellite. The name of this intrepid
+adventurer was Michel Ardan. He landed in America, was received with
+enthusiasm, held meetings, saw himself carried in triumph, reconciled
+President Barbicane to his mortal enemy, Captain Nicholl, and, as a
+token of reconciliation, persuaded them both to start with him in the
+projectile. The proposition being accepted, the shape of the projectile
+was slightly altered. It was made of a cylindro-conical form. This species
+of aerial car was lined with strong springs and partitions to deaden the
+shock of departure. It was provided with food for a year, water for some
+months, and gas for some days. A self-acting apparatus supplied the three
+travellers with air to breathe. At the same time, on one of the highest
+points of the Rocky Mountains, the Gun Club had a gigantic telescope
+erected, in order that they might be able to follow the course of the
+projectile through space. All was then ready.
+
+On the 30th November, at the hour fixed upon, from the midst of an
+extraordinary crowd of spectators, the departure took place; and for the
+first time, three human beings quitted the terrestrial globe, and launched
+into interplanetary space with almost a certainty of reaching their
+destination. These bold travellers, Michel Ardan, President Barbicane,
+and Captain Nicholl, ought to make the passage in ninety-seven hours,
+thirteen minutes, and twenty seconds. Consequently, their arrival on
+the lunar disc could not take place until the 5th December at twelve at
+night, at the exact moment when the moon should be full, and not on the
+4th, as some badly-informed journals had announced.
+
+But an unforeseen circumstance, viz., the detonation produced by
+the Columbiad, had the immediate effect of troubling the terrestrial
+atmosphere, by accumulating a large quantity of vapour, a phenomenon
+which excited universal indignation, for the moon was hidden from the
+eyes of the watchers for several nights.
+
+The worthy Joseph T. Maston, the staunchest friend of the three
+travellers, started for the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by the Hon. J.
+Belfast, director of the Cambridge Observatory, and reached the station
+of Long's Peak, where the telescope was erected which brought the moon
+within an apparent distance of two leagues. The honorable secretary of
+the Gun Club wished himself to observe the vehicle of his daring friends.
+
+The accumulation of clouds in the atmosphere prevented all observations
+on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th of December. Indeed it was
+thought that all observations would have to be put off to the 3rd of
+January in the following year; for the moon entering its last quarter on
+the 11th, would then only present an ever-decreasing portion of her disc,
+insufficient to allow of their following the course of the projectile.
+
+At length, to the general satisfaction, a heavy storm cleared the
+atmosphere on the night of the 11th and 12th December, and the moon, with
+half illuminated disc, was plainly to be seen upon the black
+sky.
+
+That very night a telegram was sent from the station of Long's Peak
+by Joseph T. Maston and Belfast to the gentlemen of the Cambridge
+Observatory, announcing that on the 11th of December at 8h. 47m. p.m.,
+the projectile launched by the Columbiad of Stones Hill had been detected
+by Messrs. Belfast and Maston,--that it had deviated from its course
+from some unknown cause, and had not reached its destination; but that
+it had passed near enough to be retained by the lunar attraction; that
+its rectilinear movement had been changed to a circular one, and that
+following an elliptical orbit round the star of night it had become its
+_satellite._ The telegram added that the elements of this new star had
+not yet been calculated; and indeed three observations made upon a star
+in three different positions are necessary to determine these elements.
+Then it showed that the distance separating the projectile from the lunar
+surface "might" be reckoned at about 2833 miles.
+
+It ended with this double hypothesis; either the attraction of the moon
+would draw it to herself, and the travellers thus attain their end; or
+that the projectile, held in one immutable orbit, would gravitate around
+the lunar disc to all eternity.
+
+With such alternatives, what would be the fate of the travellers?
+Certainly they had food for some time. But supposing they did succeed
+in their rash enterprise, how would they return? Could they ever return?
+Should they hear from them? These questions, debated by the most learned
+pens of the day, strongly engrossed the public attention.
+
+It is advisable here to make a remark which ought to be well considered
+by hasty observers. When a purely speculative discovery is announced to
+the public, it cannot be done with too much prudence. No one is obliged
+to discover either a planet, a comet, or a satellite; and whoever makes
+a mistake in such a case exposes himself justly to the derision of the
+mass. Far better is it to wait; and that is what the impatient Joseph T.
+Maston should have done before sending this telegram forth to the world,
+which, according to his idea, told the whole result of the enterprise.
+Indeed this telegram contained two sorts of errors, as was proved
+eventually. 1st, errors of observation, concerning the distance of the
+projectile from the surface of the moon, for on the 11th December it was
+impossible to see it; and what Joseph T. Maston had seen, or thought he
+saw, could not have been the projectile of the Columbiad. 2ndly, errors
+of theory on the fate in store for the said projectile; for in making it
+a satellite of the moon, it was putting it in direct contradiction to
+all mechanical laws.
+
+One single hypothesis of the observers of Long's Peak could ever be
+realized, that which foresaw the case of the travellers (if still alive)
+uniting their efforts with the lunar attraction to attain the surface of
+the disc.
+
+Now these men, as clever as they were daring, _had_ survived the terrible
+shock consequent on their departure, and it is their journey in the
+projectile car which is here related in its most dramatic as well as in
+its most singular details. This recital will destroy many illusions and
+surmises; but it will give a true idea of the singular changes in store
+for such an enterprise; it will bring out the scientific instincts of
+Barbicane, the industrious resources of Nicholl, and the audacious humour
+of Michel Ardan.
+
+Besides this, it will prove that their worthy friend, Joseph T. Maston,
+was wasting his time, while leaning over the gigantic telescope he
+watched the course of the moon through the starry space.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   FROM TWENTY MINUTES PAST TEN TO FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES
+      PAST TEN P.M.
+
+
+As ten o'clock struck, Michel Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl, took leave
+of the numerous friends they were leaving on the earth. The two dogs,
+destined to propagate the canine race on the lunar continents, were
+already shut up in the projectile.
+
+The three travellers approached the orifice of the enormous cast-iron
+tube, and a crane let them down to the conical top of the projectile.
+There, an opening made for the purpose gave them access to the aluminium
+car. The tackle belonging to the crane being hauled from outside, the
+mouth of the Columbiad was instantly disencumbered of its last supports.
+
+Nicholl, once introduced with his companions inside the projectile,
+began to close the opening by means of a strong plate, held in position
+by powerful screws. Other plates, closely fitted, covered the lenticular
+glasses, and the travellers, hermetically enclosed in their metal prison,
+were plunged in profound darkness.
+
+"And now, my dear companions," said Michel Ardan, "let us make ourselves
+at home; I am a domesticated man and strong in housekeeping. We are bound
+to make the best of our new lodgings, and make ourselves comfortable.
+And first let us try and see a little. Gas was not invented for moles."
+
+So saying, the thoughtless fellow lit a match by striking it on the
+sole of his boot; and approached the burner fixed to the receptacle,
+in which the carbonized hydrogen, stored at high pressure, sufficed for
+the lighting and warming of the projectile for a hundred and forty-four
+hours, or six days and six nights. The gas caught fire, and thus lighted
+the projectile looked like a comfortable room with thickly padded walls,
+furnished with a circular divan, and a roof rounded in the shape of a
+dome.
+
+The objects it contained, arms, instruments, and utensils securely
+fastened against the rounds of wadding, could bear the shock of departure
+with impunity. Humanly speaking, every possible precaution had been taken
+to bring this rash experiment to a successful termination.
+
+Michel Ardan examined everything, and declared himself satisfied with
+his installation.
+
+"It is a prison," said he, "but a travelling prison; and, with the right
+of putting my nose to the window, I could well stand a lease of a hundred
+years. You smile, Barbicane. Have you any _arrière-pensée?_ Do you say
+to yourself, 'This prison may be our tomb?' Tomb, perhaps; still I would
+not change it for Mahomet's, which floats in space but never advances an
+inch!"
+
+Whilst Michel Ardan was speaking, Barbicane and Nicholl were making their
+last preparations.
+
+Nicholl's chronometer marked twenty minutes past ten p.m. when the three
+travellers were finally enclosed in their projectile. This chronometer
+was set within the tenth of a second by that of Murchison the engineer.
+Barbicane consulted it.
+
+"My friends," said he, "it is twenty minutes past ten. At forty-seven
+minutes past ten Murchison will launch the electric spark on the wire
+which communicates with the charge of the Columbiad. At that precise
+moment we shall leave our spheroid. Thus we have still twenty-seven
+minutes to remain on the earth."
+
+"Twenty-six minutes thirteen seconds," replied the methodical Nicholl.
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, in a good-humoured tone, "much may be
+done in twenty-six minutes. The gravest questions of morals and politics
+may be discussed, and even solved. Twenty-six minutes well employed are
+worth more than twenty-six years in which nothing is done. Some
+_seconds_ of a Pascal or a Newton are more precious than the whole
+existence of a crowd of raw simpletons--"
+
+
+Illustration: THE GAS CAUGHT FIRE.
+
+
+"And you conclude, then, you everlasting talker?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"I conclude that we have twenty-six minutes left," replied Ardan.
+
+"Twenty-four only," said Nicholl.
+
+"Well, twenty-four, if you like, my noble captain," said Ardan;
+"twenty-four minutes in which to investigate--"
+
+"Michel," said Barbicane, "during the passage we shall have plenty of
+time to investigate the most difficult questions. For the present we must
+occupy ourselves with our departure."
+
+"Are we not ready?"
+
+"Doubtless; but there are still some precautions to be taken, to deaden
+as much as possible the first shock."
+
+"Have we not the water-cushions placed between the partition-breaks,
+whose elasticity will sufficiently protect us?"
+
+"I hope so, Michel," replied Barbicane gently, "but I am not sure."
+
+"Ah, the joker!" exclaimed Michel Ardan. "He hopes!--He is not
+sure!--and he waits for the moment when we are encased to make this
+deplorable admission! I beg to be allowed to get out!"
+
+"And how?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Humph!" said Michel Ardan, "it is not easy; we are in the train, and
+the guard's whistle will sound before twenty-four minutes are over."
+
+"_Twenty_," said Nicholl.
+
+For some moments the three travellers looked at each other. Then they
+began to examine the objects imprisoned with them.
+
+"Everything is in its place," said Barbicane. "We have now to decide how
+we can best place ourselves to resist the shock. Position cannot be an
+indifferent matter; and we must, as much as possible, prevent the rush
+of blood to the head."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl.
+
+"Then," replied Michel Ardan, ready to suit the action to the word, "let
+us put our heads down and our feet in the air, like the clowns in the
+grand circus."
+
+"No," said Barbicane, "let us stretch ourselves on our sides; we shall
+resist the shock better that way. Remember that, when the projectile
+starts, it matters little whether we are in it or before it; it amounts
+to much the same thing."
+
+"If it is only 'much the same thing,' I may cheer up," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Do you approve of my idea, Nicholl?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Entirely," replied the captain. "We've still thirteen minutes and a
+half."
+
+"That Nicholl is not a man," exclaimed Michel; "he is a chronometer with
+seconds, an escape, and eight holes."
+
+But his companions were not listening; they were taking up their last
+positions with the most perfect coolness. They were like two methodical
+travellers in a car, seeking to place themselves as comfortably as
+possible.
+
+We might well ask ourselves of what materials are the hearts of these
+Americans made, to whom the approach of the most frightful danger added
+no pulsation.
+
+Three thick and solidly-made couches had been placed in the projectile.
+Nicholl and Barbicane placed them in the centre of the disc forming the
+floor. There the three travellers were to stretch themselves some moments
+before their departure.
+
+During this time, Ardan, not being able to keep still, turned in his
+narrow prison like a wild beast in a cage, chatting with his friends,
+speaking to the dogs Diana and Satellite, to whom, as may be seen, he
+had given significant names.
+
+"Ah, Diana! Ah, Satellite!" he exclaimed, teazing them; "so you are going
+to show the moon-dogs the good habits of the dogs of the earth! That
+will do honour to the canine race! If ever we do come down again, I will
+bring a cross type of 'moon-dogs,' which will make a stir!"
+
+
+Illustration: DIANA AND SATELLITE.
+
+
+"If there _are_ dogs in the moon," said Barbicane.
+
+"There are," said Michel Ardan, "just as there are horses, cows, donkeys,
+and chickens. I bet that we shall find chickens."
+
+"A hundred dollars we shall find none!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Done, my captain!" replied Ardan, clasping Nicholl's hand. "But, by
+the bye, you have already lost three bets with our president, as the
+necessary funds for the enterprise have been found, as the operation of
+casting has been successful, and lastly, as the Columbiad has been loaded
+without accident, six thousand dollars."
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl. "Thirty-seven minutes six seconds past ten."
+
+"It is understood, captain. Well, before another quarter of an hour
+you will have to count 9000 dollars to the president; 4000 because the
+Columbiad will not burst, and 5000 because the projectile will rise more
+than six miles in the air."
+
+"I have the dollars," replied Nicholl, slapping the pocket of his coat.
+"I only ask to be allowed to pay."
+
+"Come, Nicholl, I see that you are a man of method, which I could never
+be; but indeed you have made a series of bets of very little advantage
+to yourself, allow me to tell you."
+
+"And why?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because, if you gain the first, the Columbiad will have burst, and the
+projectile with it; and Barbicane will no longer be there to reimburse
+your dollars."
+
+"My stake is deposited at the bank in Baltimore," replied Barbicane
+simply; "and if Nicholl is not there, it will go to his heirs."
+
+"Ah, you practical men!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "I admire you the more
+for not being able to understand you."
+
+"Forty-two minutes past ten!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Only five minutes more!" answered Barbicane.
+
+"Yes, five little minutes!" replied Michel Ardan; "and we are enclosed
+in a projectile, at the bottom of a gun 900 feet long! And under this
+projectile are rammed 400,000 lbs. of gun-cotton, which is equal to
+1,600,000 lbs. of ordinary powder! And friend Murchison, with his
+chronometer in hand, his eye fixed on the needle, his finger on the
+electric apparatus, is counting the seconds preparatory to launching us
+into interplanetary space."
+
+"Enough, Michel, enough!" said Barbicane, in a serious voice; "let us
+prepare. A few instants alone separate us from an eventful moment. One
+clasp of the hand, my friends."
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Michel Ardan, more moved than he wished to appear; and
+the three bold companions were united in a last embrace.
+
+"God preserve us!" said the religious Barbicane.
+
+Michel Ardan and Nicholl stretched themselves on the couches placed in
+the centre of the disc.
+
+"Forty seven minutes past ten!" murmured the captain.
+
+"Twenty seconds more!" Barbicane quickly put out the gas and lay down by
+his companions, and the profound silence was only broken by the ticking
+of the chronometer marking the seconds.
+
+Suddenly a dreadful shock was felt, and the projectile, under the force
+of six billions of litres of gas, developed by the combustion of the
+pyroxyle, mounted into space.
+
+
+Illustration: THE COURAGEOUS FRENCHMAN.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   THE FIRST HALF-HOUR.
+
+
+What had happened? What effect had this frightful shock produced? Had
+the ingenuity of the constructors of the projectile obtained any happy
+result? Had the shock been deadened, thanks to the springs, the four
+plugs, the water-cushions, and the partition-breaks? Had they been able
+to subdue the frightful pressure of the initiatory speed of more than
+11,000 yards, which was enough to traverse Paris or New York in a second?
+This was evidently the question suggested to the thousand spectators
+of this moving scene. They forgot the aim of the journey, and thought
+only of the travellers. And if one amongst them--Joseph T. Maston for
+example--could have cast one glimpse into the projectile, what would he
+have seen?
+
+Nothing then. The darkness was profound. But its cylindro-conical
+partitions had resisted wonderfully. Not a rent or a dent anywhere! The
+wonderful projectile was not even heated under the intense deflagration
+of the powder, nor liquefied, as they seemed to fear, in a shower of
+aluminium.
+
+The interior showed but little disorder; indeed, only a few objects had
+been violently thrown towards the roof; but the most important seemed
+not to have suffered from the shock at all; their fixtures were intact.
+
+On the movable disc, sunk down to the bottom by the smashing of the
+partition-breaks and the escape of the water, three bodies lay apparently
+lifeless. Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan-- did they still breathe?
+or was the projectile nothing now but a metal coffin, bearing three
+corpses into space?
+
+Some minutes after the departure of the projectile, one of the bodies
+moved, shook its arms, lifted its head, and finally succeeded in getting
+on its knees. It was Michel Ardan. He felt himself all over, gave a
+sonorous "Hem!" and then said,--
+
+"Michel Ardan is whole. How about the others?"
+
+The courageous Frenchman tried to rise, but could not stand. His head
+swam, from the rush of blood; he was blind; he was like a drunken man.
+
+"Bur-r!" said he. "It produces the same effect as two bottles of Corton,
+though perhaps less agreeable to swallow." Then, passing his hand several
+times across his forehead and rubbing his temples, he called in a firm
+voice,--
+
+"Nicholl! Barbicane!"
+
+He waited anxiously. No answer; not even a sigh to show that the hearts
+of his companions were still beating. He called again. The same silence.
+
+"The devil!" he exclaimed. They look as if they had fallen from a fifth
+story on their heads. "Bah!" he added, with that imperturbable confidence
+which nothing could check, "if a Frenchman can get on his knees, two
+Americans ought to be able to get on their feet. But first let us light
+up."
+
+Ardan felt the tide of life return by degrees. His blood became calm,
+and returned to its accustomed circulation. Another effort restored his
+equilibrium. He succeeded in rising, drew a match from his pocket, and
+approaching the burner lighted it. The receiver had not suffered at all.
+The gas had not escaped. Besides, the smell would have betrayed it; and
+in that case Michel Ardan could not have carried a lighted match with
+impunity through the space filled with hydrogen. The gas mixing with the
+air would have produced a detonating mixture, and the explosion would
+have finished what the shock had perhaps begun. When the burner was lit,
+Ardan leaned over the bodies of his companions: they were lying one on
+the other, an inert mass, Nicholl above, Barbicane underneath.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY RAISED BARBICANE.
+
+
+Ardan lifted the captain, propped him up against the divan, and began to
+rub vigorously. This means, used with judgment, restored Nicholl, who
+opened his eyes, and instantly recovering his presence of mind, seized
+Ardan's hand and looked around him.
+
+"And Barbicane?" said he.
+
+"Each in turn," replied Michel Ardan. "I began with you, Nicholl, because
+you were on the top. Now let us look to Barbicane." Saying which, Ardan
+and Nicholl raised the president of the Gun Club and laid him on the
+divan. He seemed to have suffered more than either of his companions; he
+was bleeding, but Nicholl was reassured by finding that the hemorrhage
+came from a slight wound on the shoulder, a mere graze, which he bound
+up carefully.
+
+Still, Barbicane was a long time coming to himself, which frightened his
+friends, who did not spare friction.
+
+"He breathes though," said Nicholl, putting his ear to the chest of the
+wounded man.
+
+"Yes," replied Ardan, "he breathes like a man who has some notion of that
+daily operation. Rub, Nicholl; let us rub harder." And the two improvised
+practitioners worked so hard and so well that Barbicane recovered his
+senses. He opened his eyes, sat up, took his two friends by the hands,
+and his first words were--
+
+"Nicholl, are we moving?"
+
+Nicholl and Barbicane looked at each other; they had not yet troubled
+themselves about the projectile; their first thought had been for the
+traveller, not for the car.
+
+"Well, are we really moving?" repeated Michel Ardan.
+
+"Or quietly resting on the soil of Florida?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Or at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico?" added Michel Ardan.
+
+"What an idea!" exclaimed the president.
+
+And this double hypothesis suggested by his companions had the effect
+of recalling him to his senses. In any case they could not yet decide
+on the position of the projectile. Its apparent immovability, and the
+want of communication with the outside, prevented them from solving the
+question. Perhaps the projectile was unwinding its course through space.
+Perhaps after a short rise it had fallen upon the earth, or even in the
+Gulf of Mexico--a fall which the narrowness of the peninsula of Florida
+would render not impossible.
+
+The case was serious, the problem interesting, and one that must be
+solved as soon as possible. Thus, highly excited, Barbicane's moral
+energy triumphed over physical weakness, and he rose to his feet. He
+listened. Outside was perfect silence; but the thick padding was enough
+to intercept all sounds coming from the earth. But one circumstance
+struck Barbicane, viz., that the temperature inside the projectile was
+singularly high. The president drew a thermometer from its case and
+consulted it. The instrument showed 81° Fahr.
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed, "yes, we are moving! This stifling heat, penetrating
+through the partitions of the projectile, is produced by its friction on
+the atmospheric strata. It will soon diminish, because we are already
+floating in space, and after having been nearly stifled, we shall have
+to suffer intense cold."
+
+"What!" said Michel Ardan. "According to your showing, Barbicane, we are
+already beyond the limits of the terrestrial atmosphere?"
+
+"Without a doubt, Michel. Listen to me. It is fifty-five minutes past
+ten; we have been gone about eight minutes; and if our initiatory speed
+has not been checked by the friction, six seconds would be enough for us
+to pass through the forty miles of atmosphere which surrounds the globe."
+
+"Just so," replied Nicholl; "but in what proportion do you estimate the
+diminution of speed by friction?"
+
+"In the proportion of one-third, Nicholl. This diminution is considerable,
+but according to my calculations it is nothing less. If, then, we had
+an initiatory speed of 12,000 yards, on leaving the atmosphere this
+speed would be reduced to 9165 yards. In any case we have already passed
+through this interval, and--"
+
+"And then," said Michel Ardan, "friend Nicholl has lost his two bets:
+four thousand dollars because the Columbiad did not burst; five thousand
+dollars because the projectile has risen more than six miles. Now,
+Nicholl, pay up."
+
+"Let us prove it first," said the captain, "and we will pay afterwards.
+It is quite possible that Barbicane's reasoning is correct, and that I
+have lost my nine thousand dollars. But a new hypothesis presents itself
+to my mind, and it annuls the wager."
+
+"What is that?" asked Barbicane quickly.
+
+"The hypothesis that, for some reason or other, fire was never set to
+the powder, we have not started at all."
+
+"My goodness, captain," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that hypothesis is
+worthy of my brain! It cannot be a serious one. For have we not been
+half annihilated by the shock? Did I not recall you to life? Is not the
+president's shoulder still bleeding from the blow it has received?"
+
+"Granted," replied Nicholl; "but one question."
+
+"Well, captain?"
+
+"Did you hear the detonation, which certainly ought to be loud?"
+
+"No," replied Ardan, much surprised; "certainly I did not hear the
+detonation."
+
+"And you, Barbicane?"
+
+"Nor I, either."
+
+"Very well," said Nicholl.
+
+"Well now," murmured the president "why did we not hear the detonation?"
+
+The three friends looked at each other with a disconcerted air. It
+was quite an inexplicable phenomenon. The projectile had started, and
+consequently there must have been a detonation.
+
+"Let us first find out where we are," said Barbicane, "and let down the
+panel."
+
+This very simple operation was soon accomplished.
+
+The nuts which held the bolts to the outer plates of the right-hand
+scuttle gave way under the pressure of the English wrench. These bolts
+were pushed outside, and buffers covered with india-rubber stopped up
+the holes which let them through. Immediately the outer plate fell back
+upon its hinges like a porthole, and the lenticular glass which closed
+the scuttle appeared. A similar one was let into the thick partition on
+the opposite side of the projectile, another in the top of the dome, and
+finally a fourth in the middle of the base. They could, therefore, make
+observations in four different directions: the firmament by the side
+and most direct windows, the earth or the moon by the upper and under
+openings in the projectile.
+
+Barbicane and his two companions immediately rushed to the uncovered
+window. But it was lit by no ray of light. Profound darkness surrounded
+them, which, however, did not prevent the president from exclaiming,--
+
+"No, my friends, we have not fallen back upon the earth; no, nor are we
+submerged in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes! we are mounting into space. See
+those stars shining in the night, and that impenetrable darkness heaped
+up between the earth and us!"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan and Nicholl in one voice.
+
+Indeed, this thick darkness proved that the projectile had left the earth,
+for the soil, brilliantly lit by the moonbeams, would have been visible
+to the travellers, if they had been lying on its surface. This darkness
+also showed that the projectile had passed the atmospheric strata, for
+the diffused light spread in the air would have been reflected on the
+metal walls, which reflection was wanting. This light would have lit
+the window, and the window was dark. Doubt was no longer possible; the
+travellers had left the earth.
+
+
+Illustration: IT WAS AN ENORMOUS DISC.
+
+
+"I have lost," said Nicholl.
+
+"I congratulate you," replied Ardan.
+
+"Here are the nine thousand dollars," said the captain, drawing a roll
+of paper dollars from his pocket.
+
+"Will you have a receipt for it?" asked Barbicane, taking the sum.
+
+"If you do not mind," answered Nicholl; "it is more business-like."
+
+And coolly and seriously, as if he had been at his strong-box, the
+president drew forth his note-book, tore out a blank leaf, wrote a proper
+receipt in pencil, dated and signed it with the usual flourish,* and gave
+it to the captain, who carefully placed it in his pocketbook. Michel
+Ardan, taking off his hat, bowed to his two companions without speaking.
+So much formality under such circumstances left him speechless. He had
+never before seen anything so "American."
+
+* This is a purely French habit.
+
+This affair settled, Barbicane and Nicholl had returned to the window,
+and were watching the constellations. The stars looked like bright points
+on the black sky. But from that side they could not see the orb of night,
+which, travelling from east to west, would rise by degrees towards the
+zenith. Its absence drew the following remark from Ardan.
+
+"And the moon; will she perchance fail at our rendezvous?"
+
+"Do not alarm yourself," said Barbicane; "our future globe is at its
+post, but we cannot see her from this side; let us open the other."
+
+As Barbicane was about leaving the window to open the opposite scuttle,
+his attention was attracted by the approach of a brilliant object. It
+was an enormous disc, whose colossal dimension could not be estimated.
+Its face, which was turned to the earth, was very bright. One might have
+thought it a small moon reflecting the light of the larger one. She
+advanced with great speed, and seemed to describe an orbit round the
+earth, which would intersect the passage of the projectile. This body
+revolved upon its axis, and exhibited the phenomena of all celestial
+bodies abandoned in space.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "what is that? another projectile?"
+
+Barbicane did not answer. The appearance of this enormous body surprised
+and troubled him. A collision was possible, and might be attended with
+deplorable results; either the projectile would deviate from its path,
+or a shock, breaking its impetus, might precipitate it to the earth; or,
+lastly, it might be irresistibly drawn away by the powerful asteroid. The
+president caught at a glance the consequences of these three hypotheses,
+either of which would, one way or the other, bring their experiment to
+an unsuccessful and fatal termination. His companions stood silently
+looking into space. The object grew rapidly as it approached them, and
+by an optical illusion the projectile seemed to be throwing itself before
+it.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "we shall run into one another!"
+
+Instinctively the travellers drew back. Their dread was great, but it
+did not last many seconds. The asteroid passed several hundred yards
+from the projectile and disappeared, not so much from the rapidity of
+its course, as that its face being opposite the moon, it was suddenly
+merged into the perfect darkness of space.
+
+"A happy journey to you," exclaimed Michel Ardan, with a sigh of relief.
+"Surely infinity of space is large enough for a poor little projectile
+to walk through without fear. Now, what is this portentous globe which
+nearly struck us?"
+
+"I know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Oh, indeed! you know everything."
+
+"It is," said Barbicane, "a simple meteorite, but an enormous one, which
+the attraction of the earth has retained as a satellite."
+
+"Is it possible!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "the earth then has two moons
+like Neptune?"
+
+"Yes, my friend, two moons, though it passes generally for having only
+one; but this second moon is so small, and its speed so great, that the
+inhabitants of the earth cannot see it. It was by noticing disturbances
+that a French astronomer, M. Petit, was able to determine the existence
+of this second satellite and calculate its elements. According to his
+observations, this meteorite will accomplish its revolution round the
+earth in three hours and twenty minutes, which implies a wonderful rate
+of speed."
+
+"Do all astronomers admit the existence of this satellite?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"No," replied Barbicane; "but if, like us, they had met it, they could
+no longer doubt it. Indeed, I think that this meteorite, which, had it
+struck the projectile, would have much embarrassed us, will give us the
+means of deciding what our position in space is."
+
+"How?" said Ardan.
+
+"Because its distance is known, and when we met it, we were exactly 4650
+miles from the surface of the terrestrial globe."
+
+"More than 2000 French leagues," exclaimed Michel Ardan. "That beats the
+express trains of the pitiful globe called the earth."
+
+"I should think so," replied Nicholl, consulting his chronometer; "it
+is eleven o'clock, and it is only thirteen minutes since we left the
+American Continent."
+
+"Only thirteen minutes?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Yes," said Nicholl; "and if our initiatory speed of 12,000 yards has
+been kept up, we shall have made about 20,000 miles in the hour."
+
+"That is all very well, my friends," said the president, "but the
+insoluble question still remains. Why did we not hear the detonation of
+the Columbiad?"
+
+For want of an answer the conversation dropped, and Barbicane began
+thoughtfully to let down the shutter of the second side. He succeeded;
+and through the uncovered glass the moon filled the projectile with
+a brilliant light. Nicholl, as an economical man, put out the gas,
+now useless, and whose brilliancy prevented any observation of the
+interplanetary space.
+
+The lunar disc shone with wonderful purity. Her rays, no longer filtered
+through the vapoury atmosphere of the terrestrial globe, shone through
+the glass, filling the air in the interior of the projectile with silvery
+reflections. The black curtain of the firmament in reality heightened the
+moon's brilliancy, which in this void of ether unfavourable to diffusion
+did not eclipse the neighbouring stars. The heavens, thus seen, presented
+quite a new aspect, and one which the human eye could never dream of.
+One may conceive the interest with which these bold men watched the orb
+of night, the great aim of their journey.
+
+In its motion the earth's satellite was insensibly nearing the zenith,
+the mathematical point which it ought to attain ninety-six hours later.
+Her mountains, her plains, every projection was as clearly discernible
+to their eyes as if they were observing it from some spot upon the earth;
+but its light was developed through space with wonderful intensity. The
+disc shone like a platinum mirror. Of the earth flying from under their
+feet, the travellers had lost all recollection.
+
+It was Captain Nicholl who first recalled their attention to the vanishing
+globe.
+
+"Yes," said Michel Ardan, "do not let us be ungrateful to it. Since we
+are leaving our country, let our last looks be directed to it. I wish to
+see the earth once more before it is quite hidden from my eyes."
+
+To satisfy his companions, Barbicane began to uncover the window at the
+bottom of the projectile, which would allow them to observe the earth
+direct. The disc, which the force of the projection had beaten down to
+the base, was removed, not without difficulty. Its fragments, placed
+carefully against the wall, might serve again upon occasion. Then a
+circular gap appeared, nineteen inches in diameter, hollowed out of
+the lower part of the projectile. A glass cover, six inches thick and
+strengthened with upper fastenings, closed it tightly. Beneath was fixed
+an aluminium plate, held in place by bolts. The screws being undone,
+and the bolts let go, the plate fell down, and visible communication was
+established between the interior and the exterior.
+
+Michel Ardan knelt by the glass. It was cloudy, seemingly opaque.
+
+"Well!" he exclaimed, "and the earth?"
+
+"The earth?" said Barbicane. "There it is."
+
+"What! that little thread; that silver crescent?"
+
+"Doubtless, Michel. In four days, when the moon will be full, at the
+very time we shall reach it, the earth will be new, and will only appear
+to us as a slender crescent which will soon disappear, and for some days
+will be enveloped in utter darkness."
+
+"That the earth?" repeated Michel Ardan, looking with all his eyes at
+the thin slip of his native planet.
+
+The explanation given by President Barbicane was correct. The earth,
+with respect to the projectile, was entering its last phase. It was in
+its octant, and showed a crescent finely traced on the dark background
+of the sky. Its light, rendered bluish by the thick strata of the
+atmosphere was less intense than that of the crescent moon, but it was
+of considerable dimensions, and looked like an enormous arch stretched
+across the firmament. Some parts brilliantly lighted, especially on its
+concave part, showed the presence of high mountains, often disappearing
+behind thick spots, which are never seen on the lunar disc. They were
+rings of clouds placed concentrically round the terrestrial globe.
+
+Whilst the travellers were trying to pierce the profound darkness, a
+brilliant cluster of shooting stars burst upon their eyes. Hundreds of
+meteorites, ignited by the friction of the atmosphere, irradiated the
+shadow of the luminous train, and lined the cloudy parts of the disc
+with their fire. At this period the earth was in its perihelium, and
+the month of December is so propitious to these shooting stars, that
+astronomers have counted as many as twenty-four thousand in an hour. But
+Michel Ardan, disdaining scientific reasonings, preferred thinking that
+the earth was thus saluting the departure of her three children with her
+most brilliant fireworks.
+
+Indeed this was all they saw of the globe lost in the shadow, an inferior
+orb of the solar world, rising and setting to the great planets like a
+simple morning or evening star! This globe, where they had left all their
+affections, was nothing more than a fugitive crescent!
+
+Long did the three friends look without speaking, though united in heart,
+whilst the projectile sped onward with an ever-decreasing speed. Then
+an irresistible drowsiness crept over their brain. Was it weariness both
+of body and mind? No doubt; for after the over-excitement of those last
+hours passed upon earth, reaction was inevitable.
+
+"Well," said Nicholl, "since we must sleep, let us sleep."
+
+And stretching themselves on their couches, they were all three soon in
+a profound slumber.
+
+But they had not forgotten themselves more than a quarter of an hour,
+when Barbicane sat up suddenly, and rousing his companions with a loud
+voice, exclaimed,--
+
+"I have found it!"
+
+"What have you found?" asked Michel Ardan, jumping from his bed.
+
+"The reason why we did not hear the detonation of the Columbiad."
+
+"And it is--?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Because our projectile travelled _faster than the sound!_"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   THEIR PLACE OF SHELTER.
+
+
+This curious but certainly correct explanation once given, the three
+friends returned to their slumbers. Could they have found a calmer or
+more peaceful spot to sleep in? On the earth, houses, towns, cottages,
+and country feel every shock given to the exterior of the globe. On sea,
+the vessels rocked by the waves are still in motion; in the air, the
+balloon oscillates incessantly on the fluid strata of divers densities.
+This projectile alone, floating in perfect space, in the midst of perfect
+silence, offered perfect repose.
+
+Thus the sleep of our adventurous travellers might have been indefinitely
+prolonged, if an unexpected noise had not awakened them at about seven
+o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of December, eight hours after their
+departure.
+
+This noise was a very natural barking.
+
+"The dogs! it is the dogs!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, rising at once.
+
+"They are hungry," said Nicholl.
+
+"By Jove!" replied Michel, "we have forgotten them."
+
+"Where are they?" asked Barbicane.
+
+They looked and found one of the animals crouched under the divan.
+Terrified and shaken by the initiatory shock, it had remained in the
+corner till its voice returned with the pangs of hunger. It was the
+amiable Diana, still very confused, who crept out of her retreat, though
+not without much persuasion, Michel Ardan encouraging her with most
+gracious words.
+
+"Come, Diana," said he; "come, my girl! thou whose destiny will be
+marked in the cynegetic annals; thou whom the pagans would have given as
+companion to the god Anubis, and Christians as friend to St. Roch; thou
+who art rushing into interplanetary space, and wilt perhaps be the Eve
+of all Selenite dogs! come, Diana, come here."
+
+Diana, flattered or not, advanced by degrees, uttering plaintive cries.
+
+"Good," said Barbicane; "I see Eve, but where is Adam?"
+
+"Adam?" replied Michel; "Adam cannot be far off; he is there somewhere;
+we must call him. Satellite! here, Satellite!"
+
+But Satellite did not appear. Diana would not leave off howling. They
+found, however, that she was not bruised, and they gave her a pie, which
+silenced her complaints. As to Satellite, he seemed quite lost. They had
+to hunt a long time before finding him in one of the upper compartments
+of the projectile, whither some unaccountable shock must have violently
+hurled him. The poor beast, much hurt, was in a piteous state.
+
+"The devil!" said Michel.
+
+They brought the unfortunate dog down with great care. Its skull had been
+broken against the roof, and it seemed unlikely that he could recover
+from such a shock. Meanwhile, he was stretched comfortably on a cushion.
+Once there, he heaved a sigh.
+
+"We will take care of you," said Michel; "we are responsible for your
+existence. I would rather lose an arm than a paw of my poor Satellite."
+
+Saying which, he offered some water to the wounded dog, who swallowed it
+with avidity.
+
+This attention paid, the travellers watched the earth and the moon
+attentively. The earth was now only discernible by a cloudy disc ending
+in a crescent, rather more contracted than that of the previous evening;
+but its expanse was still enormous, compared with that of the moon, which
+was approaching nearer and nearer to a perfect circle.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY GAVE HER A PIE.
+
+
+"By Jove!" said Michel Ardan, "I am really sorry that we did not start
+when the earth was full, that is to say, when our globe was in opposition
+to the sun."
+
+"Why?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because we should have seen our continents and seas in a new light,--the
+first resplendent under the solar rays, the latter cloudy as represented
+on some maps of the world. I should like to have seen those poles of the
+earth on which the eye of man has never yet rested.
+
+"I dare say," replied Barbicane; "but if the earth had been _full_, the
+moon would have been _new_; that is to say, invisible, because of the
+rays of the sun. It is better for us to see the destination we wish to
+reach, than the point of departure."
+
+"You are right, Barbicane," replied Captain Nicholl; "and, besides, when
+we have reached the moon, we shall have time during the long lunar nights
+to consider at our leisure the globe on which our likenesses swarm."
+
+"Our likenesses!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "they are no more our likenesses
+than the Selenites are! We inhabit a new world, peopled by ourselves--the
+projectile! I am Barbicane's likeness, and Barbicane is Nicholl's. Beyond
+us, around us, human nature is at an end, and we are the only population
+of this microcosm until we become pure Selenites."
+
+"In about eighty-eight hours," replied the captain.
+
+"Which means to say?" asked Michel Ardan.
+
+"That it is half-past eight," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well," retorted Michel; "then it is impossible for me to find even
+the shadow of a reason why we should not go to breakfast."
+
+Indeed the inhabitants of the new star could not live without eating, and
+their stomachs were suffering from the imperious laws of hunger. Michel
+Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function,
+which raised no rival. The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary
+apparatus, and the provision-box furnished the elements of this first
+feast.
+
+The breakfast began with three bowls of excellent soup, thanks to the
+liquefaction in hot water of those precious cakes of Liebig, prepared from
+the best parts of the ruminants of the Pampas. To the soup succeeded some
+beefsteaks, compressed by an hydraulic press, as tender and succulent as
+if brought straight from the kitchen of an English eating-house. Michel,
+who was imaginative, maintained that they were even "red."
+
+Preserved vegetables ("fresher than nature," said the amiable Michel)
+succeeded the dish of meat; and was followed by some cups of tea with
+bread and butter, after the American fashion.
+
+The beverage was declared exquisite, and was due to the infusion of the
+choicest leaves, of which the Emperor of Russia had given some chests
+for the benefit of the travellers.
+
+And lastly, to crown the repast, Ardan brought out a fine bottle of Nuits,
+which was found "by chance" in the provision-box. The three friends drank
+to the union of the earth and her satellite.
+
+And, as if he had not already done enough for the generous wine which
+he had distilled on the slopes of Burgundy, the sun chose to be of the
+party. At this moment the projectile emerged from the conical shadow
+cast by the terrestrial globe, and the rays of the radiant orb struck
+the lower disc of the projectile direct occasioned by the angle which
+the moon's orbit makes with that of the earth.
+
+"The sun!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
+
+"No doubt," replied Barbicane; "I expected it."
+
+"But," said Michel, "the conical shadow which the earth leaves in space
+extends beyond the moon?"
+
+"Far beyond it, if the atmospheric refraction is not taken into
+consideration," said Barbicane. "But when the moon is enveloped in this
+shadow, it is because the centres of the three stars, the sun, the earth,
+and the moon, are all in one and the same straight line. Then the _nodes_
+coincide with the _phases_ of the moon, and there is an eclipse. If we
+had started when there was an eclipse of the moon, all our passage would
+have been in the shadow, which would have been a pity."
+
+
+Illustration: THE SUN CHOSE TO BE OF THE PARTY.
+
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, though we are floating in space, our projectile, bathed in the
+solar rays, will receive their light and heat. It economizes the gas,
+which is in every respect a good economy."
+
+Indeed, under these rays which no atmosphere can temper, either in
+temperature or brilliancy, the projectile grew warm and bright, as if
+it had passed suddenly from winter to summer. The moon above, the sun
+beneath, were inundating it with their fire.
+
+"It is pleasant here," said Nicholl.
+
+"I should think so," said Michel Ardan. "With a little earth spread on
+our aluminium planet we should have green peas in twenty-four hours. I
+have but one fear, which is that the walls of the projectile might melt."
+
+"Calm yourself, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane; "the projectile
+withstood a very much higher temperature than this as it slid through
+the strata of the atmosphere. I should not be surprised if it did not
+look like a meteor on fire to the eyes of the spectators in Florida."
+
+"But then Joseph T. Maston will think we are roasted!"
+
+"What astonishes me," said Barbicane, "is that we have not been. That
+was a danger we had not provided for."
+
+"I feared it," said Nicholl simply.
+
+"And you never mentioned it, my sublime captain," exclaimed Michel Ardan,
+clasping his friend's hand.
+
+Barbicane now began to settle himself in the projectile as if he was
+never to leave it. One must remember that this aerial car had a base
+with a superficies of fifty-four square feet. Its height to the roof
+was twelve feet. Carefully laid out in the inside, and little encumbered
+by instruments and travelling utensils which each had their particular
+place, it left the three travellers a certain freedom of movement. The
+thick window inserted in the bottom could bear any amount of weight, and
+Barbicane and his companions walked upon it as if it were solid plank;
+but the sun striking it directly with its rays lit the interior of the
+projectile from beneath, thus producing singular effects of light.
+
+They began by investigating the state of their store of water and
+provisions, neither of which had suffered, thanks to the care taken to
+deaden the shock. Their provisions were abundant, and plentiful enough
+to last the three travellers for more than a year. Barbicane wished to
+be cautious, in case the projectile should land on a part of the moon
+which was utterly barren. As to water and the reserve of brandy, which
+consisted of fifty gallons, there was only enough for two months; but
+according to the last observations of astronomers, the moon had a low,
+dense, and thick atmosphere, at least in the deep valleys, and there
+springs and streams could not fail. Thus, during their passage, and
+for the first year of their settlement on the lunar continent, these
+adventurous explorers would suffer neither hunger nor thirst.
+
+Now about the air in the projectile. There, too, they were secure.
+Reiset and Regnaut's apparatus, intended for the production of oxygen,
+was supplied with chlorate of potassium for two months. They necessarily
+consumed a certain quantity of gas, for they were obliged to keep the
+producing substance at a temperature of above 400°. But there again they
+were all safe. The apparatus only wanted a little care. But it was not
+enough to renew the oxygen; they must absorb the carbonic acid produced by
+expiration. During the last twelve hours the atmosphere of the projectile
+had become charged with this deleterious gas. Nicholl discovered the
+state of the air by observing Diana panting painfully. The carbonic
+acid, by a phenomenon similar to that produced in the famous Grotto del
+Cane, had collected at the bottom of the projectile owing to its weight.
+Poor Diana, with her head low, would suffer before her masters from the
+presence of this gas. But Captain Nicholl hastened to remedy this state
+of things, by placing on the floor several receivers containing caustic
+potash which he shook about for a time, and this substance, greedy of
+carbonic acid, soon completely absorbed it, thus purifying the air.
+
+An inventory of instruments was then begun. The thermometers and
+barometers had resisted, all but one minimum thermometer, the glass of
+which was broken. An excellent aneroid was drawn from the wadded box
+which contained it and hung on the wall. Of course it was only affected
+by and marked the pressure of the air inside the projectile, but it also
+showed the quantity of moisture which it contained. At that moment its
+needle oscillated between 25.24 and 25.08.
+
+It was fine weather.
+
+Barbicane had also brought several compasses, which he found intact.
+One must understand that under present conditions their needles were
+acting _wildly_, that is without any _constant_ direction. Indeed, at
+the distance they were from the earth, the magnetic pole could have no
+perceptible action upon the apparatus; but the box placed on the lunar
+disc might perhaps exhibit some strange phenomena. In any case it would
+be interesting to see whether the earth's satellite submitted like
+herself to its magnetic influence.
+
+A hypsometer to measure the height of the lunar mountains, a sextant
+to take the height of the sun, glasses which would be useful as they
+neared the moon, all these instruments were carefully looked over, and
+pronounced good in spite of the violent shock.
+
+As to the pickaxes and different tools which were Nicholl's especial
+choice; as to the sacks of different kinds of grain and shrubs which
+Michel Ardan hoped to transplant into Selenite ground, they were stowed
+away in the upper part of the projectile. There was a sort of granary
+there, loaded with things which the extravagant Frenchman had heaped up.
+What they were no one knew, and the good-tempered fellow did not explain.
+Now and then he climbed up by cramp-irons riveted to the walls, but kept
+the inspection to himself. He arranged and rearranged, he plunged his
+hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes, singing in one of the falsest
+of voices an old French refrain to enliven the situation.
+
+Barbicane observed with some interest that his guns and other arms had
+not been damaged. These were important, because, heavily loaded, they
+were to help to lessen the fall of the projectile, when drawn by the
+lunar attraction (after having passed the point of neutral attraction) on
+to the moon's surface; a fall which ought to be six times less rapid than
+it would have been on the earth's surface, thanks to the difference of
+bulk. The inspection ended with general satisfaction, when each returned
+to watch space through the side windows and the lower glass
+coverlid.
+
+There was the same view. The whole extent of the celestial sphere swarmed
+with stars and constellations of wonderful purity, enough to drive an
+astronomer out of his mind! On one side the sun, like the mouth of a
+lighted oven, a dazzling disc without a halo, standing out on the dark
+background of the sky! On the other, the moon returning its fire by
+reflection, and apparently motionless in the midst of the starry world.
+Then, a large spot seemingly nailed to the firmament, bordered by a
+silvery cord: it was the earth! Here and there nebulous masses like large
+flakes of starry snow; and from the zenith to the nadir, an immense ring
+formed by an impalpable dust of stars, the "Milky Way," in the midst of
+which the sun ranks only as a star of the fourth magnitude. The observers
+could not take their eyes from this novel spectacle, of which no
+description could give an adequate idea. What reflections it suggested!
+What emotions hitherto unknown awoke in their souls! Barbicane wished
+to begin the relation of his journey while under its first impressions,
+and hour after hour took notes of all facts happening in the beginning
+of the enterprise. He wrote quietly, with his large square writing, in
+a businesslike style.
+
+
+
+Illustration: ARDAN PLUNGED HIS HAND RAPIDLY INTO CERTAIN
+   MYSTERIOUS BOXES.
+
+
+During this time Nicholl, the calculator, looked over the minutes of
+their passage, and worked out figures with unparalleled dexterity. Michel
+Ardan chatted first with Barbicane, who did not answer him, and then
+with Nicholl, who did not hear him, with Diana, who understood none of
+his theories, and lastly with himself, questioning and answering, going
+and coming, busy with a thousand details; at one time bent over the
+lower glass, at another roosting in the heights of the projectile, and
+always singing. In this microcosm he represented French loquacity and
+excitability, and we beg you to believe that they were well represented.
+The day, or rather (for the expression is not correct) the lapse of
+twelve hours, which forms a day upon earth, closed with a plentiful
+supper carefully prepared. No accident of any nature had yet happened
+to shake the travellers' confidence; so, full of hope, already sure of
+success, they slept peacefully, whilst the projectile under an uniformly
+decreasing speed was crossing the sky.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   A LITTLE ALGEBRA.
+
+
+The night passed without incident. The word "night," however, is scarcely
+applicable.
+
+The position of the projectile with regard to the sun did not change.
+Astronomically, it was daylight on the lower part, and night on the upper;
+so when during this narrative these words are used, they represent the
+lapse of time between the rising and setting of the sun upon the earth.
+
+The travellers' sleep was rendered more peaceful by the projectile's
+excessive speed, for it seemed absolutely motionless. Not a motion
+betrayed its onward course through space. The rate of progress, however
+rapid it might be, cannot produce any sensible effect on the human frame
+when it takes place in a vacuum, or when the mass of air circulates
+with the body which is carried with it. What inhabitant of the earth
+perceives its speed, which, however, is at the rate of 68,000 miles per
+hour? Motion under such conditions is "felt" no more than repose; and
+when a body is in repose it will remain so as long as no strange force
+displaces it; if moving, it will not stop unless an obstacle comes in
+its way. This indifference to motion or repose is called inertia.
+
+Barbicane and his companions might have believed themselves perfectly
+stationary, being shut up in the projectile; indeed, the effect would
+have been the same if they had been on the outside of it. Had it not been
+for the moon, which was increasing above them, they might have sworn that
+they were floating in complete stagnation.
+
+That morning, the 3rd of December, the travellers were awakened by a
+joyous but unexpected noise; it was the crowing of a cock which sounded
+through the car. Michel Ardan, who was the first on his feet, climbed
+to the top of the projectile, and shutting a box, the lid of which
+was partly open, said in a low voice, "Will you hold your tongue? That
+creature will spoil my design!"
+
+But Nicholl and Barbicane were awake.
+
+"A cock!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Why no, my friends," Michel answered quickly; "it was I who wished to
+awake you by this rural sound." So saying, he gave vent to a splendid
+cock-a-doodledoo, which would have done honour to the proudest of
+poultry-yards.
+
+The two Americans could not help laughing.
+
+"Fine talent that," said Nicholl, looking suspiciously at his companion.
+
+"Yes," said Michel; "a joke in my country. It is very Gallic; they play
+the cock so in the best society."
+
+Then turning the conversation,--
+
+"Barbicane, do you know what I have been thinking of all night?"
+
+"No," answered the president.
+
+"Of our Cambridge friends. You have already remarked that I am an
+ignoramus in mathematical subjects; and it is impossible for me to
+find out how the savants of the Observatory were able to calculate what
+initiatory speed the projectile ought to have on leaving the Columbiad
+in order to attain the moon."
+
+"You mean to say," replied Barbicane, "to attain that neutral point where
+the terrestrial and lunar attractions are equal; for, starting from that
+point, situated about nine-tenths of the distance travelled over, the
+projectile would simply fall upon the moon, on account of its weight."
+
+"So be it," said Michel; "but, once more; how could they calculate the
+initiatory speed?"
+
+"Nothing can be easier," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And you knew how to make that calculation?" asked Michel Ardan.
+
+"Perfectly. Nicholl and I would have made it, if the Observatory had not
+saved us the trouble."
+
+"Very well, old Barbicane," replied Michel; "they might have cut off my
+head, beginning at my feet, before they could have made me solve that
+problem."
+
+"Because you do not know algebra," answered Barbicane quietly.
+
+"Ah, there you are, you eaters of _x_¹; you think you have said all when
+you have said 'Algebra.'"
+
+"Michel," said Barbicane, "can you use a forge without a hammer, or
+plough without a ploughshare?"
+
+"Hardly."
+
+"Well, algebra is a tool, like the plough or the hammer, and a good tool
+to those who know how to use it."
+
+"Seriously?"
+
+"Quite seriously."
+
+"And can you use that tool in my presence?"
+
+"If it will interest you."
+
+"And show me how they calculated the initiatory speed of our car?"
+
+"Yes, my worthy friend; taking into consideration all the elements of
+the problem, the distance from the centre of the earth to the centre of
+the moon, of the radius of the earth, of its bulk, and of the bulk of
+the moon, I can tell exactly what ought to be the initiatory speed of
+the projectile, and that by a simple formula."
+
+"Let us see."
+
+"You shall see it; only I shall not give you the real course drawn
+by the projectile between the moon and the earth in considering their
+motion round the sun. No, I shall consider these two orbs as perfectly
+motionless, which will answer all our purpose."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because it will be trying to solve the problem called 'the problem of
+the three bodies,' for which the integral calculus is not yet far enough
+advanced."
+
+"Then," said Michel Ardan, in his sly tone, "mathematics have not said
+their last word?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Well, perhaps the Selenites have carried the integral calculus farther
+than you have; and, by the bye, what is 'integral calculus?'"
+
+"It is a calculation the converse of the differential," replied Barbicane
+seriously.
+
+"Much obliged; it is all very clear, no doubt."
+
+"And now," continued Barbicane, "a slip of paper and a bit of pencil,
+and before a half-hour is over I will have found the required formula."
+
+Half an hour had not elapsed before Barbicane, raising his head, showed
+Michel Ardan a page covered with algebraical signs, in which the general
+formula for the solution was contained.
+
+"Well, and does Nicholl understand what that means?"
+
+"Of course, Michel," replied the captain. "All these signs, which seem
+cabalistic to you, form the plainest, the clearest, and the most logical
+language to those who know how to read it."
+
+"And you pretend, Nicholl," asked Michel, "that by means of these
+hieroglyphics, more incomprehensible than the Egyptian Ibis, you can find
+what initiatory speed it was necessary to give to the projectile?"
+
+"Incontestably," replied Nicholl; "and even by this same formula I can
+always tell you its speed at any point of its transit."
+
+"On your word?"
+
+"On my word."
+
+"Then you are as cunning as our president."
+
+"No, Michel; the difficult part is what Barbicane has done; that is, to
+get an equation which shall satisfy all the conditions of the problem.
+The remainder is only a question of arithmetic, requiring merely the
+knowledge of the four rules."
+
+"That is something!" replied Michel Ardan, who for his life could not
+do addition right, and who defined the rule as a Chinese puzzle, which
+allowed one to obtain all sorts of totals.
+
+"The expression _v_ zero, which you see in that equation, is the speed
+which the projectile will have on leaving the atmosphere."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl; "it is from that point that we must calculate
+the velocity, since we know already that the velocity at departure was
+exactly one and a half times more than on leaving the atmosphere."
+
+"I understand no more," said Michel.
+
+"It is a very simple calculation," said Barbicane.
+
+"Not as simple as I am," retorted Michel.
+
+"That means, that when our projectile reached the limits of the terrestrial
+atmosphere it had already lost one-third of its initiatory speed."
+
+"As much as that?"
+
+"Yes, my friend; merely by friction against the atmospheric strata. You
+understand that the faster it goes the more resistance it meets with from
+the air."
+
+"That I admit," answered Michel; "and I understand it, although your x's
+and zero's, and algebraic formulæ, are rattling in my head like nails
+in a bag."
+
+"First effects of algebra," replied Barbicane; "and now, to finish, we
+are going to prove the given number of these different expressions, that
+is, work out their value."
+
+"Finish me!" replied Michel.
+
+Barbicane took the paper, and began again to make his calculations with
+great rapidity. Nicholl looked over and greedily read the work as it
+proceeded.
+
+"That's it! that's it!" at last he cried.
+
+"Is it clear?" asked Barbicane.
+
+
+Illustration: "DO I UNDERSTAND IT?" CRIED ARDAN;
+   "MY HEAD IS SPLITTING WITH IT."
+
+
+"It is written in letters of fire," said Nicholl.
+
+"Wonderful fellows!" muttered Ardan.
+
+"Do you understand it at last?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Do I understand it?" cried Ardan; "my head is splitting with it."
+
+"And now," said Nicholl, "to find out the speed of the projectile when
+it left the atmosphere, we have only to calculate that."
+
+The captain, as a practical man equal to all difficulties, began to write
+with frightful rapidity. Divisions and multiplications grew under his
+fingers; the figures were like hail on the white page. Barbicane watched
+him, whilst Michel Ardan nursed a growing headache with both hands.
+
+"Very well?" asked Barbicane, after some minutes' silence.
+
+"Well!" replied Nicholl; "every calculation made, _v_ zero, that is to
+say, the speed necessary for the projectile on leaving the atmosphere,
+to enable it to reach the equal point of attraction, ought to be--"
+
+"Yes?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Twelve thousand yards."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Barbicane, starting; "you say--"
+
+"Twelve thousand yards."
+
+"The devil!" cried the president, making a gesture of despair.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Michel Ardan, much surprised.
+
+"What is the matter! why, if at this moment our speed had already
+diminished one-third by friction, the initiatory speed ought to have
+been--"
+
+"Seventeen thousand yards."
+
+"And the Cambridge Observatory declared that 12,000 yards was enough at
+starting; and our projectile, which only started with that speed--"
+
+"Well?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Well, it will not be enough."
+
+"Good."
+
+"We shall not be able to reach the neutral point."
+
+"The deuce!"
+
+"We shall not even get half way."
+
+"In the name of the projectile!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, jumping as if
+it was already on the point of striking the terrestrial globe.
+
+"And we shall fall back upon the earth!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   THE COLD OF SPACE.
+
+
+This revelation came like a thunderbolt. Who could have expected such an
+error in calculation? Barbicane would not believe it. Nicholl revised
+his figures: they were exact. As to the formula which had determined
+them, they could not suspect its truth; it was evident that an initiatory
+velocity of 17,000 yards in the first second was necessary to enable them
+to reach the neutral point.
+
+The three friends looked at each other silently. There was no thought
+of breakfast. Barbicane, with clenched teeth, knitted brows, and hands
+clasped convulsively, was watching through the window. Nicholl had
+crossed his arms, and was examining his calculations. Michel Ardan was
+muttering,--
+
+"That is just like those scientific men: they never do anything else. I
+would give twenty pistoles if we could fall upon the Cambridge Observatory
+and crush it, together with the whole lot of dabblers in figures which
+it contains."
+
+Suddenly a thought struck the captain, which he at once communicated to
+Barbicane.
+
+"Ah!" said he; "it is seven o'clock in the morning; we have already been
+gone thirty-two hours; more than half our passage is over, and we are
+not falling that I am aware of."
+
+Barbicane did not answer, but after a rapid glance at the captain,
+took a pair of compasses wherewith to measure the angular distance
+of the terrestrial globe; then from the lower window he took an exact
+observation, and noticed that the projectile was apparently stationary.
+Then rising and wiping his forehead, on which large drops of perspiration
+were standing, he put some figures on paper. Nicholl understood that the
+president was deducting from the terrestrial diameter the projectile's
+distance from the earth. He watched him anxiously.
+
+"No," exclaimed Barbicane, after some moments, "no, we are not falling!
+no, we are already more than 50,000 leagues from the earth. We have
+passed the point at which the projectile would have stopped if its speed
+had only been 12,000 yards at starting. We are still going up."
+
+"That is evident," replied Nicholl; "and we must conclude that our
+initial speed, under the power of the 400,000 lbs. of gun-cotton, must
+have exceeded the required 12,000 yards. Now I can understand how, after
+thirteen minutes only, we met the second satellite, which gravitates
+round the earth at more than 2000 leagues' distance."
+
+"And this explanation is the more probable," added Barbicane, "because,
+in throwing off the water enclosed between its partition-breaks, the
+projectile found itself lightened of a considerable weight."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl.
+
+"Ah, my brave Nicholl, we are saved!"
+
+"Very well then," said Michel Ardan quietly; "as we are safe, let us have
+breakfast."
+
+Nicholl was not mistaken. The initial speed had been, very fortunately,
+much above that estimated by the Cambridge Observatory; but the Cambridge
+Observatory had nevertheless made a mistake.
+
+The travellers, recovered from this false alarm, breakfasted merrily. If
+they ate a great deal, they talked more. Their confidence was greater
+after than before "the incident of the algebra."
+
+"Why should we not succeed?" said Michel Ardan; "why should we not arrive
+safely? We are launched; we have no obstacle before us, no stones in our
+way; the road is open, more so than that of a ship battling with the sea;
+more open than that of a balloon battling with the wind; and if a ship
+can reach its destination, a balloon go where it pleases, why cannot our
+projectile attain its end and aim?"
+
+"It _will_ attain it," said Barbicane.
+
+"If only to do honour to the Americans," added Michel Ardan, "the only
+people who could bring such an enterprise to a happy termination, and
+the only one which could produce a President Barbicane. Ah, now we are
+no longer uneasy, I begin to think, What will become of us? We shall get
+right royally weary."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl made a gesture of denial.
+
+"But I have provided for the contingency, my friends," replied Michel;
+"you have only to speak, and I have chess, draughts, cards, and dominoes
+at your disposal; nothing is wanting but a billiard-table."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Barbicane; "you brought away such trifles?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Michel, "and not only to distract ourselves, but
+also with the laudable intention of endowing the Selenite smoking divans
+with them."
+
+"My friend," said Barbicane, "if the moon is inhabited, its inhabitants
+must have appeared some thousands of years before those of the earth, for
+we cannot doubt that their star is much older than ours. If then these
+Selenites have existed their hundreds of thousands of years, and if their
+brain is of the same organization as the human brain, they have already
+invented all that we have invented, and even what we may invent in future
+ages. They have nothing to learn from _us_, and we have everything to
+learn from _them_."
+
+"What!" said Michel; "you believe that they have artists like Phidias,
+Michael Angelo, or Raphael?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Poets like Homer, Virgil, Milton, Lamartine, and Hugo?"
+
+"I am sure of it."
+
+"Philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it."
+
+"Scientific men like Archimedes, Euclid, Pascal, Newton?"
+
+"I could swear it."
+
+"Comic writers like Arnal, and photographers like--like Nadar?"
+
+"Certain."
+
+"Then, friend Barbicane, if they are as strong as we are, and even
+stronger--these Selenites--why have they not tried to communicate
+with the earth? why have they not launched a lunar projectile to our
+terrestrial regions?"
+
+"Who told you that they have never done so?" said Barbicane seriously.
+
+"Indeed," added Nicholl, "it would be easier for them than for us, for
+two reasons; first, because the attraction on the moon's surface is six
+times less than on that of the earth, which would allow a projectile to
+rise more easily; secondly, because it would be enough to send such a
+projectile only at 8000 leagues instead of 80,000, which would require
+the force of projection to be ten times less strong."
+
+"Then," continued Michel, "I repeat it, why have they not done it?"
+
+"And I repeat," said Barbicane; "who told you that they have not done
+it?"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Thousands of years before man appeared on earth."
+
+"And the projectile--where is the projectile? I demand to see the
+projectile."
+
+"My friend," replied Barbicane, "the sea covers five-sixths of our globe.
+From that we may draw five good reasons for supposing that the lunar
+projectile, if ever launched, is now at the bottom of the Atlantic or
+the Pacific, unless it sped into some crevasse at that period when the
+crust of the earth was not yet hardened."
+
+"Old Barbicane," said Michel, "you have an answer for everything, and I
+bow before your wisdom. But there is one hypothesis that would suit me
+better than all the others, which is, that the Selenites, being older
+than we, are wiser, and have not invented _gunpowder_."
+
+At this moment Diana joined in the conversation by a sonorous barking.
+She was asking for her breakfast.
+
+"Ah!" said Michel Ardan, "in our discussion we have forgotten Diana and
+Satellite."
+
+Immediately a good-sized pie was given to the dog, which devoured it
+hungrily.
+
+"Do you see, Barbicane," said Michel, "we should have made a second
+Noah's Ark of this projectile, and borne with us to the moon a couple of
+every kind of domestic animal."
+
+"I dare say; but room would have failed us."
+
+"Oh!" said Michel, "we might have squeezed a little."
+
+"The fact is," replied Nicholl, "that cows, bulls, and horses, and all
+ruminants, would have been very useful on the lunar continent, but
+unfortunately the car could neither have been made a stable nor a shed."
+
+"Well, we might at least have brought a donkey, only a little donkey;
+that courageous beast which old Silenus loved to mount. I love those old
+donkeys; they are the least favoured animals in creation; they are not
+only beaten while alive, but even after they are dead."
+
+"How do you make that out?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Why," said Michel, "they make their skins into drums."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at this ridiculous remark.
+But a cry from their merry companion stopped them. The latter was leaning
+over the spot where Satellite lay. He rose, saying,--
+
+"My good Satellite is no longer ill."
+
+"Ah!" said Nicholl.
+
+"No," answered Michel, "he is dead! There," added he, in a piteous tone,
+"that is embarrassing. I much fear, my poor Diana, that you will leave
+no progeny in the lunar regions!"
+
+Indeed the unfortunate Satellite had not survived its wound.
+
+It was quite dead. Michel Ardan looked at his friends with a rueful
+countenance.
+
+"One question presents itself," said Barbicane. "We cannot keep the dead
+body of this dog with us for the next forty-eight hours."
+
+"No! certainly not," replied Nicholl; "but our scuttles are fixed on
+hinges; they can be let down. We will open one, and throw the body out
+into space."
+
+The president thought for some moments, and then said,--
+
+"Yes, we must do so, but at the same time taking very great precautions."
+
+"Why?" asked Michel.
+
+"For two reasons which you will understand," answered Barbicane. "The
+first relates to the air shut up in the projectile, and of which we must
+lose as little as possible."
+
+"But we manufacture the air?"
+
+"Only in part. We make only the oxygen, my worthy Michel; and with
+regard to that, we must watch that the apparatus does not furnish the
+oxygen in too great a quantity; for an excess would bring us very serious
+physiological troubles. But if we make the oxygen, we do not make the
+azote, that medium which the lungs do not absorb, and which ought to
+remain intact; and that azote will escape rapidly through the open
+scuttles."
+
+"Oh! the time for throwing out poor Satellite?" said Michel.
+
+"Agreed; but we must act quickly."
+
+"And the second reason?" asked Michel.
+
+"The second reason is that we must not let the outer cold, which is
+excessive, penetrate the projectile or we shall be frozen to death."
+
+"But the sun?"
+
+"The sun warms our projectile, which absorbs its rays; but it does not
+warm the vacuum in which we are floating at this moment. Where there is
+no air, there is no more heat than diffused light; and the same with
+darkness: it is cold where the sun's rays do not strike direct. This
+temperature is only the temperature produced by the radiation of the
+stars; that is to say, what the terrestrial globe would undergo if the
+sun disappeared one day."
+
+"Which is not to be feared," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Who knows?" said Michel Ardan. "But, in admitting that the sun does not
+go out, might it not happen that the earth might move away from it?"
+
+"There!" said Barbicane, "there is Michel with his ideas."
+
+"And," continued Michel, "do we not know that in 1861 the earth passed
+through the tail of a comet? Or let us suppose a comet whose power of
+attraction is greater than that of the sun. The terrestrial orbit will
+bend towards the wandering star, and the earth, becoming its satellite,
+will be drawn such a distance that the rays of the sun will have no
+action on its surface."
+
+"That _might_ happen, indeed," replied Barbicane, "but the consequences
+of such a displacement need not be so formidable as you suppose."
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"Because the heat and the cold would be equalized on our globe. It has
+been calculated that, had our earth been carried along in its course by
+the comet of 1861, at its perihelion, that is, its nearest approach to
+the sun, it would have undergone a heat 28,000 times greater than that
+of summer. But this heat, which is sufficient to evaporate the waters,
+would have formed a thick ring of cloud, which would have modified that
+excessive temperature; hence the compensation between the cold of the
+aphelion and the heat of the perihelion."
+
+"At how many degrees," asked Nicholl, "is the temperature of the planetary
+spaces estimated?"
+
+"Formerly," replied Barbicane, "it was greatly exaggerated; but now,
+after the calculations of Fourier, of the French Academy of Science, it
+is not supposed to exceed 60° Centigrade below zero."
+
+"Pooh!" said Michel, "that's nothing!"
+
+"It is very much," replied Barbicane; "the temperature which was observed
+in the polar regions, at Melville Island and Fort Reliance, that is 76°
+Fahrenheit below zero."
+
+"If I mistake not," said Nicholl, "M. Pouillet, another savant, estimates
+the temperature of space at 250° Fahrenheit below zero. We shall,
+however, be able to verify these calculations for ourselves."
+
+"Not at present; because the solar rays, beating directly upon our
+thermometer, would give, on the contrary, a very high temperature. But,
+when we arrive in the moon, during its fifteen days of night at either
+face, we shall have leisure to make the experiment, for our satellite
+lies in a vacuum."
+
+"What do you mean by a _vacuum?_" asked Michel. "Is it perfectly such?"
+
+"It is absolutely void of air."
+
+"And is the air replaced by nothing whatever?"
+
+"By the ether only," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And pray what is the ether?"
+
+"The ether, my friend, is an agglomeration of imponderable atoms, which,
+relatively to their dimensions, are as far removed from each other as
+the celestial bodies are in space. It is these atoms which, by their
+vibratory motion, produce both light and heat in the universe."
+
+They now proceeded to the burial of Satellite. They had merely to drop
+him into space, in the same way that sailors drop a body into the sea;
+but, as President Barbicane suggested, they must act quickly, so as to
+lose as little as possible of that air whose elasticity would rapidly
+have spread it into space. The bolts of the right scuttle, the opening
+of which measured about twelve inches across, were carefully drawn,
+whilst Michel, quite grieved, prepared to launch his dog into space.
+The glass, raised by a powerful lever, which enabled it to overcome the
+pressure of the inside air on the walls of the projectile, turned rapidly
+on its hinges, and Satellite was thrown out. Scarcely a particle of air
+could have escaped, and the operation was so successful, that later on
+Barbicane did not fear to dispose of the rubbish which encumbered the
+car.
+
+
+Illustration: SATELLITE WAS THROWN OUT.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   QUESTION AND ANSWER.
+
+
+On the 4th of December, when the travellers awoke after fifty-four
+hours' journey, the chronometer marked five o'clock of the terrestrial
+morning. In time it was just over five hours and forty minutes, half of
+that assigned to their sojourn in the projectile; but they had already
+accomplished nearly seven-tenths of the way. This peculiarity was due to
+their regularly decreasing speed.
+
+Now when they observed the earth through the lower window, it looked
+like nothing more than a dark spot, drowned in the solar rays. No more
+crescent, no more cloudy light! The next day, at midnight, the earth
+would be _new_, at the very moment when the moon would be full. Above,
+the orb of night was nearing the line followed by the projectile, so
+as to meet it at the given hour. All around the black vault was studded
+with brilliant points, which seemed to move slowly; but, at the great
+distance they were from them, their relative size did not seem to change.
+The sun and stars appeared exactly as they do to us upon earth. As to
+the moon, she was considerably larger; but the travellers' glasses, not
+very powerful, did not allow them as yet to make any useful observations
+upon her surface, or reconnoitre her topographically or
+geologically.
+
+Thus the time passed in never-ending conversations all about the
+moon. Each one brought forward his own contingent of particular facts;
+Barbicane and Nicholl always serious, Michel Ardan always enthusiastic.
+The projectile, its situation, its direction, incidents which might
+happen, the precautions necessitated by their fall on to the moon, were
+inexhaustible matters of conjecture.
+
+As they were breakfasting, a question of Michel's, relating to the
+projectile, provoked rather a curious answer from Barbicane, which is
+worth repeating. Michel, supposing it to be roughly stopped, while still
+under its formidable initial speed, wished to know what the consequences
+of the stoppage would have been.
+
+"But," said Barbicane, "I do not see how it could have been stopped."
+
+"But let us suppose so," said Michel.
+
+"It is an impossible supposition," said the practical Barbicane; "unless
+the impulsive force had failed; but even then its speed would diminish
+by degrees, and it would not have stopped suddenly."
+
+"Admit that it had struck a body in space."
+
+"What body?"
+
+"Why that enormous meteor which we met."
+
+"Then," said Nicholl, "the projectile would have been broken into a
+thousand pieces, and we with it."
+
+"More than that," replied Barbicane; "we should have been burnt to
+death."
+
+"Burnt?" exclaimed Michel, "by Jove! I am sorry it did not happen, 'just
+to see.'"
+
+"And you would have seen," replied Barbicane. "It is known now that heat
+is only a modification of motion. When water is warmed--that is to say,
+when heat is added to it--its particles are set in motion."
+
+"Well," said Michel, "that is an ingenious theory!"
+
+"And a true one, my worthy friend; for it explains every phenomenon of
+caloric. Heat is but the motion of atoms, a simple oscillation of the
+particles of a body. When they apply the brake to a train, the train
+comes to a stop; but what becomes of the motion which it had previously
+possessed? It is transformed into heat, and the brake becomes hot.
+Why do they grease the axles of the wheels? To prevent their heating,
+because this heat would be generated by the motion which is thus lost by
+transformation."
+
+"Yes, I understand," replied Michel, "perfectly. For example, when I
+have run a long time, when I am swimming, when I am perspiring in large
+drops, why am I obliged to stop? Simply because my motion is changed into
+heat."
+
+Barbicane could not help smiling at Michel's reply; then, returning to
+his theory, said,--
+
+"Thus, in case of a shock, it would have been with our projectile as
+with a ball which falls in a burning state after having struck the metal
+plate; it is its motion which is turned into heat. Consequently I affirm
+that, if our projectile had struck the meteor, its speed thus suddenly
+checked would have raised a heat great enough to turn it into vapour
+instantaneously."
+
+"Then," asked Nicholl, "what would happen if the earth's motion were to
+stop suddenly?"
+
+"Her temperature would be raised to such a pitch," said Barbicane, "that
+she would be at once reduced to vapour."
+
+"Well," said Michel, "that is a way of ending the earth which will
+greatly simplify things."
+
+"And if the earth fell upon the sun?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"According to calculation," replied Barbicane, "the fall would develope
+a heat equal to that produced by 16,000 globes of coal, each equal in
+bulk to our terrestrial globe."
+
+"Good additional heat for the sun," replied Michel Ardan, "of which the
+inhabitants of Uranus or Neptune would doubtless not complain; they must
+be perished with cold on their planets."
+
+"Thus, my friends," said Barbicane, "all motion suddenly stopped produces
+heat. And this theory allows us to infer that the heat of the solar disc
+is fed by a hail of meteors falling incessantly on its surface. They have
+even calculated--"
+
+"Oh, dear!" murmured Michel, "the figures are coming."
+
+"They have even calculated," continued the imperturbable Barbicane, "that
+the shock of each meteor on the sun ought to produce a heat equal to that
+of 4000 masses of coal of an equal bulk."
+
+"And what is the solar heat?" asked Michel.
+
+"It is equal to that produced by the combustion of a stratum of coal
+surrounding the sun to a depth of forty-seven miles."
+
+"And that heat--"
+
+"Would be able to boil two billions nine hundred millions of cubic
+myriameters* of water."
+
+  *The myriameter is equal to rather more than 10,936 cubic yards
+   English.--(Ed.)
+
+"And it does not roast us!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"No," replied Barbicane, "because the terrestrial atmosphere absorbs
+four-tenths of the solar heat; besides, the quantity of heat intercepted
+by the earth is but a billionth part of the entire radiation."
+
+"I see that all is for the best," said Michel, "and that this atmosphere
+is a useful invention; for it not only allows us to breathe, but it
+prevents us from roasting."
+
+"Yes!" said Nicholl, "unfortunately, it will not be the same in the
+moon."
+
+"Bah!" said Michel, always hopeful. "If there are inhabitants, they must
+breathe. If there are no longer any, they must have left enough oxygen
+for three people, if only at the bottom of ravines, where its own weight
+will cause it to accumulate, and we will not climb the mountains; that
+is all." And Michel, rising, went to look at the lunar disc, which shone
+with intolerable brilliancy.
+
+"By Jove!" said he, "it must be hot up there!"
+
+"Without considering," replied Nicholl, "that the day lasts 360 hours!"
+
+"And to compensate that," said Barbicane, "the nights have the same
+length; and as heat is restored by radiation, their temperature can only
+be that of the planetary space."
+
+"A pretty country, that!" exclaimed Michel. "Never mind! I wish I was
+there! Ah! my dear comrades, it will be rather curious to have the earth
+for our moon, to see it rise on the horizon, to recognize the shape
+of its continents, and to say to oneself, 'There is America, there is
+Europe;' then to follow it when it is about to lose itself in the sun's
+rays! By-the-bye, Barbicane, have the Selenites eclipses?"
+
+"Yes, eclipses of the sun," replied Barbicane, "when the centres of the
+three orbs are on a line, the earth being in the middle. But they are
+only partial, during which the earth, cast like a screen upon the solar
+disc, allows the greater portion to be seen."
+
+"And why," asked Nicholl, "is there no total eclipse? Does not the cone
+of the shadow cast by the earth extend beyond the moon?"
+
+"Yes, if we do not take into consideration the refraction produced by the
+terrestrial atmosphere. No, if we take that refraction into consideration.
+Thus delta be the horizontal parallel, and _p_ the apparent
+semidiameter--"
+
+"Oh!" said Michel. "Do speak plainly, you man of algebra!"
+
+"Very well;" replied Barbicane, "in popular language the mean distance
+from the moon to the earth being sixty terrestrial radii, the length of
+the cone of the shadow, on account of the refraction, is reduced to less
+than forty-two radii. The result is that when there are eclipses, the
+moon finds itself beyond the cone of pure shadow, and that the sun sends
+her its rays, not only from its edges, but also from its centre."
+
+"Then," said Michel, in a merry tone, "why are there eclipses, when there
+ought not to be any?"
+
+"Simply because the solar rays are weakened by this refraction, and
+the atmosphere through which they pass extinguishes the greater part of
+them!"
+
+"That reason satisfies me," replied Michel. "Besides we shall see when
+we get there. Now, tell me, Barbicane, do you believe that the moon is
+an old comet?"
+
+"There's an idea!"
+
+"Yes," replied Michel, with an amiable swagger, "I have a few ideas of
+that sort."
+
+"But that idea does not spring from Michel," answered Nicholl.
+
+"Well, then, I am a plagiarist."
+
+"No doubt about it. According to the ancients, the Arcadians pretend
+that their ancestors inhabited the earth before the moon became her
+satellite. Starting from this fact, some scientific men have seen in the
+moon a comet whose orbit will one day bring it so near to the earth that
+it will be held there by its attraction."
+
+"Is there any truth in this hypothesis?" asked Michel.
+
+"None whatever," said Barbicane, "and the proof is, that the moon has
+preserved no trace of the gaseous envelope which always accompanies
+comets."
+
+"But," continued Nicholl, "before becoming the earth's satellite,
+could not the moon, when in her perihelion, pass so near the sun as by
+evaporation to get rid of all those gaseous substances?"
+
+"It is possible, friend Nicholl, but not probable."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because--Faith I do not know."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel, "what hundreds of volumes we might make of all
+that we do not know!"
+
+"Ah! indeed. What time is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Three o'clock," answered Nicholl.
+
+"How time goes," said Michel, "in the conversation of scientific men such
+as we are! Certainly, I feel I know too much! I feel that I am becoming
+a well!"
+
+Saying which, Michel hoisted himself to the roof of the projectile, "to
+observe the moon better," he pretended. During this time his companions
+were watching through the lower glass. Nothing new to note!
+
+When Michel Ardan came down, he went to the side scuttle; and suddenly
+they heard an exclamation of surprise!
+
+"What is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+The president approached the window, and saw a sort of flattened sack
+floating some yards from the projectile. This object seemed as motionless
+as the projectile, and was consequently animated with the same ascending
+movement.
+
+"What is that machine?" continued Michel Ardan. "Is it one of the bodies
+of space which our projectile keeps within its attraction, and which will
+accompany it to the moon?"
+
+"What astonishes me," said Nicholl, "is that the specific weight of the
+body, which is certainly less than that of the projectile, allows it to
+keep so perfectly on a level with it."
+
+"Nicholl," replied Barbicane, after a moment's reflection, "I do not know
+what the object is, but I do know why it maintains our level."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because we are floating in space, my dear captain, and in space bodies
+fall or move (which is the same thing) with equal speed whatever be their
+weight or form; it is the air, which by its resistance creates these
+differences in weight. When you create a vacuum in a tube, the objects
+you send through it, grains of dust or grains of lead, fall with the same
+rapidity. Here in space is the same cause and the same effect."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl, "and everything we throw out of the projectile
+will accompany it until it reaches the moon."
+
+"Ah! fools that we are!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"Why that expletive?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Because we might have filled the projectile with useful objects, books,
+instruments, tools, &c. We could have thrown them all out, and all would
+have followed in our train. But happy thought! Why cannot we walk outside
+like the meteor? Why cannot we launch into space through the scuttle?
+What enjoyment it would be to feel oneself thus suspended in ether, more
+favoured than the birds who must use their wings to keep themselves up!"
+
+
+Illustration: IT WAS THE BODY OF SATELLITE.
+
+
+"Granted," said Barbicane, "but how to breathe?"
+
+"Hang the air, to fail so inopportunely!"
+
+"But if it did not fail, Michel, your density being less than that of
+the projectile, you would soon be left behind."
+
+"Then we must remain in our car?"
+
+"We must!"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel, in a loud voice.
+
+"What is the matter," asked Nicholl.
+
+"I know, I guess, what this pretended meteor is! It is no asteroid which
+is accompanying us! It is not a piece of a planet."
+
+"What is it then?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"It is our unfortunate dog! It is Diana's husband!"
+
+Indeed, this deformed, unrecognizable object, reduced to nothing, was
+the body of Satellite, flattened like a bagpipe without wind, and ever
+mounting, mounting!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   A MOMENT OF INTOXICATION.
+
+
+Thus a phenomenon, curious but explicable, was happening under these
+strange conditions.
+
+Every object thrown from the projectile would follow the same course and
+never stop until it did. There was a subject for conversation which the
+whole evening could not exhaust.
+
+Besides, the excitement of the three travellers increased as they drew
+near the end of their journey. They expected unforeseen incidents, and
+new phenomena; and nothing would have astonished them in the frame of
+mind they then were in. Their over-excited imagination went faster than
+the projectile, whose speed was evidently diminishing, though insensibly
+to themselves. But the moon grew larger to their eyes, and they fancied
+if they stretched out their hands they could seize it.
+
+The next day, the 5th of November, at five in the morning, all three
+were on foot. That day was to be the last of their journey, if all
+calculations were true. That very night, at twelve o'clock, in eighteen
+hours, exactly at the full moon, they would reach its brilliant disc.
+The next midnight would see that journey ended, the most extraordinary
+of ancient or modern times. Thus from the first of the morning, through
+the scuttles silvered by its rays, they saluted the orb of night with a
+confident and joyous hurrah.
+
+The moon was advancing majestically along the starry firmament. A few
+more degrees, and she would reach the exact point where her meeting with
+the projectile was to take place.
+
+According to his own observations, Barbicane reckoned that they would
+land on her northern hemisphere, where stretch immense planes, and where
+mountains are rare. A favourable circumstance if, as they thought, the
+lunar atmosphere was stored only in its depths.
+
+"Besides," observed Michel Ardan, "a plain is easier to disembark upon
+than a mountain. A Selenite, deposited in Europe on the summit of Mont
+Blanc, or in Asia on the top of the Himalayas, would not be quite in the
+right place."
+
+"And," added Captain Nicholl, "on a flat ground, the projectile will
+remain motionless when it has once touched; whereas on a declivity it
+would roll like an avalanche, and not being squirrels we should not come
+out safe and sound. So it is all for the best."
+
+Indeed, the success of the audacious attempt no longer appeared doubtful.
+But Barbicane was preoccupied with one thought; but not wishing to make
+his companions uneasy, he kept silence on the subject.
+
+The direction the projectile was taking towards the moon's northern
+hemisphere, showed that her course had been slightly altered. The
+discharge, mathematically calculated, would carry the projectile to the
+very centre of the lunar disc. If it did not land there, there must have
+been some deviation. What had caused it? Barbicane could neither imagine
+nor determine the importance of the deviation, for there were no points
+to go by.
+
+He hoped, however, that it would have no other result than that of
+bringing them near the upper border of the moon, a region more suitable
+for landing.
+
+Without imparting his uneasiness to his companions, Barbicane contented
+himself with constantly observing the moon, in order to see whether the
+course of the projectile would not be altered; for the situation would
+have been terrible if it failed in its aim, and being carried beyond
+the disc should be launched into interplanetary space. At that moment,
+the moon, instead of appearing flat like a disc, showed its convexity.
+If the sun's rays had struck it obliquely, the shadow thrown would have
+brought out the high mountains, which would have been clearly detached.
+The eye might have gazed into the crater's gaping abysses, and followed
+the capricious fissures which wound through the immense plains. But all
+relief was as yet levelled in intense brilliancy. They could scarcely
+distinguish those large spots which give to the moon the appearance of
+a human face.
+
+"Face, indeed!" said Michel Ardan; "but I am sorry for the amiable sister
+of Apollo. A very pitted face!"
+
+But the travellers, now so near the end, were incessantly observing
+this new world. They imagined themselves walking through its unknown
+countries, climbing its highest peaks, descending into its lowest depths.
+Here and there they fancied they saw vast seas, scarcely kept together
+under so rarefied an atmosphere, and watercourses emptying the mountain
+tributaries. Leaning over the abyss, they hoped to catch some sounds
+from that orb for ever mute in the solitude of space. That last day left
+them.
+
+They took down the most trifling details. A vague uneasiness took
+possession of them as they neared the end. This uneasiness would have
+been doubled had they felt how their speed had decreased. It would
+have seemed to them quite insufficient to carry them to the end. It was
+because the projectile then "weighed" almost nothing. Its weight was
+ever decreasing, and would be entirely annihilated on that line where
+the lunar and terrestrial attractions would neutralize each other.
+
+But in spite of his preoccupation, Michel Ardan did not forget to prepare
+the morning repast with his accustomed punctuality. They ate with a good
+appetite. Nothing was so excellent as the soup liquefied by the heat of
+the gas; nothing better than the preserved meat. Some glasses of good
+French wine crowned the repast, causing Michel Ardan to remark that
+the lunar vines, warmed by that ardent sun, ought to distil even more
+generous wines; that is, if they existed. In any case, the far-seeing
+Frenchman had taken care not to forget in his collection some precious
+cuttings of the Médoc and Côte d'Or, upon which he founded his hopes.
+
+Reiset and Regnault's apparatus worked with great regularity. Not an
+atom of carbonic acid resisted the potash; and as to the oxygen, Captain
+Nicholl said "it was of the first quality." The little watery vapour
+enclosed in the projectile mixing with the air tempered the dryness; and
+many apartments in London, Paris, or New York, and many theatres, were
+certainly not in such a healthy condition.
+
+But that it might act with regularity, the apparatus must be kept in
+perfect order; so each morning Michel visited the escape regulators,
+tried the taps, and regulated the heat of the gas by the pyrometer.
+Everything had gone well up to that time, and the travellers, imitating
+the worthy Joseph T. Maston, began to acquire a degree of embonpoint,
+which would have rendered them unrecognizable if their imprisonment had
+been prolonged to some months. In a word, they behaved like chickens in
+a coop; they were getting fat.
+
+In looking through the scuttle Barbicane saw the spectre of the dog,
+and other divers objects which had been thrown from the projectile
+obstinately following them. Diana howled lugubriously on seeing the
+remains of Satellite, which seemed as motionless as if they reposed on
+the solid earth.
+
+"Do you know, my friends," said Michel Ardan, "that if one of us had
+succumbed to the shock consequent on departure, we should have had a
+great deal of trouble to bury him? What am I saying? to _etherize_ him,
+as here ether takes the place of earth. You see the accusing body would
+have followed us into space like a remorse."
+
+"That would have been sad," said Nicholl.
+
+"Ah!" continued Michel, "what I regret is not being able to take a walk
+outside. What voluptuousness to float amid this radiant ether, to bathe
+oneself in it, to wrap oneself in the sun's pure rays. If Barbicane had
+only thought of furnishing us with a diving apparatus and an air-pump,
+I could have ventured out and assumed fanciful attitudes of feigned
+monsters on the top of the projectile."
+
+"Well, old Michel," replied Barbicane, "you would not have made a feigned
+monster long, for in spite of your diver's dress, swollen by the expansion
+of air within you, you would have burst like a shell, or rather like a
+balloon which has risen too high. So do not regret it, and do not forget
+this--as long as we float in space, all sentimental walks beyond the
+projectile are forbidden."
+
+Michel Ardan allowed himself to be convinced to a certain extent. He
+admitted that the thing was difficult but not _impossible_, a word which
+he never uttered.
+
+The conversation passed from this subject to another, not failing for
+an instant. It seemed to the three friends as though, under present
+conditions, ideas shot up in their brains as leaves shoot at the first
+warmth of spring. They felt bewildered. In the middle of the questions
+and answers which crossed each other, Nicholl put one question which did
+not find an immediate solution.
+
+"Ah, indeed!" said he; "it is all very well to go to the moon, but how
+to get back again?"
+
+His two interlocutors looked surprised. One would have thought that this
+possibility now occurred to them for the first time.
+
+"What do you mean by that, Nicholl?" asked Barbicane gravely.
+
+"To ask for means to leave a country," added Michel, "when we have not
+yet arrived there, seems to me rather inopportune."
+
+"I do not say that, wishing to draw back," replied Nicholl; "but I repeat
+my question, and I ask, 'How shall we return?'"
+
+"I know nothing about it," answered Barbicane.
+
+"And I," said Michel, "if I had known how to return, I would never have
+started."
+
+
+Illustration: "I COULD HAVE VENTURED OUT ON THE TOP OF
+   THE PROJECTILE."
+
+
+"There's an answer!" cried Nicholl.
+
+"I quite approve of Michel's words," said Barbicane; "and add, that the
+question has no real interest. Later, when we think it advisable to
+return, we will take counsel together. If the Columbiad is not there,
+the projectile will be."
+
+"That is a step certainly. A ball without a gun!"
+
+"The gun," replied Barbicane, "can be manufactured. The powder can be
+made. Neither metals, saltpetre, nor coal can fail in the depths of
+the moon, and we need only go 8000 leagues in order to fall upon the
+terrestrial globe by virtue of the mere laws of weight."
+
+"Enough," said Michel with animation. "Let it be no longer a question of
+returning: we have already entertained it too long. As to communicating
+with our former earthly colleagues, that will not be difficult."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By means of meteors launched by lunar volcanos."
+
+"Well thought of, Michel," said Barbicane in a convinced tone of voice.
+"Laplace has calculated that a force five times greater than that of
+our gun would suffice to send a meteor from the moon to the earth, and
+there is not one volcano which has not a greater power of propulsion than
+that."
+
+"Hurrah!" exclaimed Michel; "these meteors are handy postmen, and
+cost nothing. And how we shall be able to laugh at the post-office
+administration. But now I think of it--"
+
+"What do you think of?"
+
+"A capital idea. Why did we not fasten a thread to our projectile, and
+we could have exchanged telegrams with the earth?"
+
+"The deuce!" answered Nicholl. "Do you consider the weight of a thread
+250,000 miles long nothing?"
+
+"As nothing. They could have trebled the Columbiad's charge; they could
+have quadrupled or quintupled it!" exclaimed Michel, with whom the verb
+took a higher intonation each time.
+
+"There is but one little objection to make to your proposition," replied
+Barbicane, "which is that, during the rotary motion of the globe, our
+thread would have wound itself round it like a chain on a capstan, and
+that it would inevitably have brought us to the ground."
+
+"By the thirty-nine stars of the Union!" said Michel, "I have nothing
+but impracticable ideas to-day; ideas worthy of J. T. Maston. But I have
+a notion that, if we do not return to earth, J. T. Maston will be able
+to come to us."
+
+"Yes, he'll come," replied Barbicane; "he is a worthy and a courageous
+comrade. Besides, what is easier? Is not the Columbiad still buried
+in the soil of Florida? Is cotton and nitric acid wanted wherewith to
+manufacture the pyroxile? Will not the moon again pass to the zenith of
+Florida? In eighteen years' time will she not occupy exactly the same
+place as to-day?"
+
+"Yes," continued Michel, "yes, Marston will come, and with him our
+friends Elphinstone, Blomsberry, all the members of the Gun Club, and they
+will be well received. And by and by they will run trains of projectiles
+between the earth and the moon! Hurrah for J. T. Maston!"
+
+It is probable that, if the Hon. J. T. Maston did not hear the hurrahs
+uttered in his honour, his ears at least tingled. What was he doing then?
+Doubtless posted in the Rocky Mountains, at the station of Long's Peak,
+he was trying to find the invisible projectile gravitating in space. If
+he was thinking of his dear companions, we must allow that they were not
+far behind him; and that, under the influence of a strange excitement,
+they were devoting to him their best thoughts.
+
+But whence this excitement, which was evidently growing upon the
+tenants of the projectile? Their sobriety could not be doubted. This
+strange irritation of the brain, must it be attributed to the peculiar
+circumstances under which they found themselves, to their proximity to
+the orb of night, from which only a few hours separated them, to some
+secret influence of the moon acting upon their nervous system? Their
+faces were as rosy as if they had been exposed to the roaring flames
+of an oven; their voices resounded in loud accents; their words escaped
+like a champagne cork driven out by carbonic acid; their gestures became
+annoying, they wanted so much room to perform them; and, strange to say,
+they none of them noticed this great tension of the mind.
+
+"Now," said Nicholl, in a short tone, "now that I do not know whether we
+shall ever return from the moon, I want to know what we are going to do
+there?"
+
+"What we are going to do there?" replied Barbicane, stamping with his
+foot as if he was in a fencing saloon; "I do not know."
+
+"You do not know!" exclaimed Michel, with a bellow which provoked a
+sonorous echo in the projectile.
+
+"No, I have not even thought about it," retorted Barbicane, in the same
+loud tone.
+
+"Well, I know," replied Michel.
+
+"Speak, then," cried Nicholl, who could no longer contain the growling
+of his voice.
+
+"I shall speak if it suits me," exclaimed Michel, seizing his companions'
+arms with violence.
+
+"_It must_ suit you," said Barbicane, with an eye on fire and a threatening
+hand. "It was you who drew us into this frightful journey, and we want
+to know what for."
+
+"Yes," said the captain, "now that I do not know where I am going, I want
+to know _why_ I am going."
+
+"Why?" exclaimed Michel, jumping a yard high, "why? To take possession
+of the moon in the name of the United States; to add a fortieth State to
+the Union; to colonize the lunar regions; to cultivate them, to people
+them, to transport thither all the prodigies of art, of science, and
+industry; to civilize the Selenites, unless they are more civilized than
+we are; and to constitute them a republic, if they are not already one!"
+
+"And if there are no Selenites?" retorted Nicholl, who, under the
+influence of this unaccountable intoxication, was very contradictory.
+
+"Who said that there were no Selenites?" exclaimed Michel in a threatening
+tone.
+
+"I do," howled Nicholl.
+
+"Captain," said Michel, "do not repeat that insolence, or I will knock
+your teeth down your throat!"
+
+The two adversaries were going to fall upon each other, and the incoherent
+discussion threatened to merge into a fight, when Barbicane intervened
+with one bound.
+
+"Stop, miserable men," said he, separating his two companions; "if there
+are no Selenites, we will do without them."
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Michel, who was not particular; "yes, we will do without
+them. We have only to make Selenites. Down with the Selenites!"
+
+"The empire of the moon belongs to us," said Nicholl. "Let us three
+constitute the republic."
+
+"I will be the congress," cried Michel.
+
+"And I the senate," retorted Nicholl.
+
+"And Barbicane, the president," howled Michel.
+
+"Not a president elected by the nation," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Very well, a president elected by the congress," cried Michel; "and as
+I am the congress, you are unanimously elected!"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! for President Barbicane," exclaimed Nicholl.
+
+"Hip! hip! hip!" vociferated Michel Ardan.
+
+Then the President and the Senate struck up in a tremendous voice the
+popular song "Yankee Doodle," whilst from the Congress resounded the
+masculine tones of the "Marseillaise."
+
+Then they struck up a frantic dance, with maniacal gestures, idiotic
+stampings, and somersaults like those of the boneless clowns in the
+circus. Diana, joining in the dance, and howling in her turn, jumped to
+the top of the projectile. An unaccountable flapping of wings was then
+heard amidst most fantastic cock-crows, while five or six hens fluttered
+like bats against the walls.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY STRUCK UP A FRANTIC DANCE.
+
+
+Then the three travelling companions, acted upon by some unaccountable
+influence above that of intoxication, inflamed by the air which had set
+their respiratory apparatus on fire, fell motionless to the bottom of
+the projectile.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   AT SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND
+      FOURTEEN LEAGUES.
+
+
+What had happened? Whence the cause of this singular intoxication, the
+consequences of which might have been very disastrous? A simple blunder
+of Michel's, which, fortunately, Nicholl was able to correct in time.
+
+After a perfect swoon, which lasted some minutes, the captain, recovering
+first, soon collected his scattered senses. Although he had breakfasted
+only two hours before, he felt a gnawing hunger, as if he had not eaten
+anything for several days. Everything about him, stomach and brain, were
+overexcited to the highest degree. He got up and demanded from Michel a
+supplementary repast. Michel, utterly done up, did not answer.
+
+Nicholl then tried to prepare some tea destined to help the absorption
+of a dozen sandwiches. He first tried to get some fire, and struck a
+match sharply. What was his surprise to see the sulphur shine with so
+extraordinary a brilliancy as to be almost unbearable to the eye. From
+the gas-burner which he lit rose a flame equal to a jet of electric
+light.
+
+A revelation dawned on Nicholl's mind. That intensity of light, the
+physiological troubles which had arisen in him, the overexcitement of
+all his moral and quarrelsome faculties,--he understood all.
+
+"The oxygen!" he exclaimed.
+
+And leaning over the air apparatus, he saw that the tap was allowing
+the scentless colourless gas to escape freely, life-giving, but in its
+pure state producing the gravest disorders in the system. Michel had
+blunderingly opened the tap of the apparatus to the full.
+
+
+Illustration: "THE OXYGEN!" HE EXCLAIMED.
+
+
+Nicholl hastened to stop the escape of oxygen with which the atmosphere
+was saturated, which would have been the death of the travellers, not by
+suffocation, but by combustion. An hour later, the air less charged with
+it restored the lungs to their normal condition. By degrees the three
+friends recovered from their intoxication; but they were obliged to sleep
+themselves sober over their oxygen as a drunkard does over his wine.
+
+When Michel learnt his share of the responsibility of this incident,
+he was not much disconcerted. This unexpected drunkenness broke the
+monotony of the journey. Many foolish things had been said while under
+its influence, but also quickly forgotten.
+
+"And then," added the merry Frenchman, "I am not sorry to have tasted
+a little of this heady gas. Do you know, my friends, that a curious
+establishment might be founded with rooms of oxygen, where people whose
+system is weakened could for a few hours live a more active life. Fancy
+parties where the room was saturated with this heroic fluid, theatres
+where it should be kept at high pressure; what passion in the souls of
+the actors and spectators! what fire, what enthusiasm! And if, instead of
+an assembly only a whole people could be saturated, what activity in its
+functions, what a supplement to life it would derive. From an exhausted
+nation they might make a great and strong one, and I know more than one
+state in old Europe which ought to put itself under the regime of oxygen
+for the sake of its health!"
+
+Michel spoke with so much animation that one might have fancied that the
+tap was still too open. But a few words from Barbicane soon scattered
+his enthusiasm.
+
+"That is all very well, friend Michel," said he, "but will you inform
+us where these chickens came from which have mixed themselves up in our
+concert?"
+
+"Those chickens?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Indeed, half a dozen chickens and a fine cock were walking about, flapping
+their wings and chattering.
+
+"Ah, the awkward things!" exclaimed Michel. "The oxygen has made them
+revolt."
+
+"But what do you want to do with these chickens?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"To acclimatize them in the moon, by Jove!"
+
+"Then why did you hide them?"
+
+"A joke, my worthy president, a simple joke, which has proved a miserable
+failure. I wanted to set them free on the lunar continent, without
+saying anything. Oh, what would have been your amazement on seeing these
+earthly-winged animals pecking in the lunar fields!"
+
+"You rascal, you unmitigated rascal," replied Barbicane, "you do not
+want oxygen to mount to the head. You are always what _we_ were under
+the influence of the gas; you are always foolish!"
+
+"Ah, who says that we were not wise then?" replied Michel Ardan.
+
+After this philosophical reflection, the three friends set about restoring
+the order of the projectile. Chickens and cock were reinstated in their
+coup. But whilst proceeding with this operation, Barbicane and his two
+companions had a most desired perception of a new phenomenon. From the
+moment of leaving the earth, their own weight, that of the projectile,
+and the objects it enclosed, had been subject to an increasing diminution.
+If they could not prove this loss of the projectile, a moment would
+arrive when it would be sensibly felt upon themselves and the utensils
+and instruments they used.
+
+It is needless to say that a _scale_ would not show this loss; for the
+weight destined to weigh the object would have lost exactly as much as
+the object itself; but a spring steelyard for example, the tension of
+which was independent of the attraction, would have given a just estimate
+of this loss.
+
+We know that the attraction, otherwise called the _weight_, is in
+proportion to the densities of bodies, and inversely as the squares of
+the distances. Hence this effect: If the earth had been alone in space, if
+the other celestial bodies had been suddenly annihilated, the projectile,
+according to Newton's laws, would weigh less as it got farther from the
+earth, but without ever losing its weight _entirely_, for the terrestrial
+attraction would always have made itself felt, at whatever distance.
+
+But, in reality, a time must come when the projectile would no longer
+be subject to the law of weight, after allowing for the other celestial
+bodies whose effect could not be set down as zero. Indeed, the
+projectile's course was being traced between the earth and the moon.
+As it distanced the earth, the terrestrial attraction diminished: but
+the lunar attraction rose in proportion. There must then come a point
+where these two attractions would neutralize each other: the projectile
+would possess weight no longer. If the moon's and the earth's densities
+had been equal, this point would have been at an equal distance between
+the two orbs. But taking the different densities into consideration, it
+was easy to reckon that this point would be situated at 47-60ths of the
+whole journey, i.e. at 78,114 leagues from the earth. At this point, a
+body having no principle of speed or displacement in itself, would remain
+immovable for ever, being attracted equally by both orbs, and not being
+drawn more towards one than towards the other.
+
+Now if the projectile's impulsive force had been correctly calculated, it
+would attain this point without speed, having lost all trace of weight,
+as well as all the objects within it. What would happen then? Three
+hypotheses presented themselves.
+
+1. Either it would retain a certain amount of motion, and pass the point
+of equal attraction, and fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess of
+the lunar attraction over the terrestrial.
+
+2. Or, its speed failing, and unable to reach the point of equal
+attraction, it would fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess of the
+lunar attraction over the terrestrial.
+
+3. Or, lastly, animated with sufficient speed to enable it to reach the
+neutral point, but not sufficient to pass it, it would remain for ever
+suspended in that spot like the pretended tomb of Mahomet, between the
+zenith and the nadir.
+
+Such was their situation; and Barbicane clearly explained the consequences
+to his travelling companions, which greatly interested them. But how
+should they know when the projectile had reached this neutral point
+situated at that distance, especially when neither themselves, nor the
+objects enclosed in the projectile, would be any longer subject to the
+laws of weight?
+
+Up to this time, the travellers, whilst admitting that this action was
+constantly decreasing, had not yet become sensible to its total absence.
+
+But that day, about eleven o'clock in the morning, Nicholl having
+accidentally let a glass slip from his hand, the glass, instead of
+falling, remained suspended in the air.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that is rather an amusing piece of natural
+philosophy."
+
+And immediately divers other objects, firearms and bottles, abandoned
+to themselves, held themselves up as by enchantment. Diana too, placed
+in space by Michel, reproduced, but without any trick, the wonderful
+suspension practised by Caston and Robert Houdin. Indeed the dog did not
+seem to know that she was floating in air.
+
+The three adventurous companions were surprised and stupefied, despite
+their scientific reasonings. They felt themselves being carried into the
+domain of wonders! they felt that _weight_ was really wanting to their
+bodies. If they stretched out their arms, they did not attempt to fall.
+Their heads shook on their shoulders. Their feet no longer clung to the
+floor of the projectile. They were like drunken men having no stability
+in themselves.
+
+
+Illustration: "AH! IF RAPHAEL HAD SEEN US THUS."
+
+
+Fancy has depicted men without reflection, others without shadow. But
+here _reality,_ by the neutralisation of attractive forces, produced men
+in whom nothing had any weight, and who weighed nothing themselves.
+
+Suddenly Michel, taking a spring, left the floor and remained suspended
+in the air, like Murillo's monk of the _Cusine des Anges._
+
+The two friends joined him instantly, and all three formed a miraculous
+"Ascension" in the centre of the projectile.
+
+"Is it to be believed? is it probable? is it possible?" exclaimed Michel;
+"and yet it is so. Ah! if Raphael had seen us thus, what an 'Assumption'
+he would have thrown upon canvas!"
+
+"The 'Assumption' cannot last," replied Barbicane. "If the projectile
+passes the neutral point, the lunar attraction will draw us to the moon."
+
+"Then our feet will be upon the roof," replied Michel.
+
+"No," said Barbicane, "because the projectile's centre of gravity is very
+low; it will only turn by degrees."
+
+"Then all our portables will be upset from top to bottom, that is a
+fact."
+
+"Calm yourself, Michel," replied Nicholl; "no upset is to be feared; not
+a thing will move, for the projectile's evolution will be imperceptible."
+
+"Just so," continued Barbicane; "and when it has passed the point of equal
+attraction, its base, being the heavier, will draw it perpendicularly to
+the moon; but, in order that this phenomenon should take place, we must
+have passed the neutral line."
+
+"Pass the neutral line!" cried Michel; "then let us do as the sailors do
+when they cross the equator."
+
+A slight side movement brought Michel back towards the padded side;
+thence he took a bottle and glasses, placed them "in space" before his
+companions, and, drinking merrily, they saluted the line with a triple
+hurrah. The influence of these attractions scarcely lasted an hour;
+the travellers felt themselves insensibly drawn towards the floor, and
+Barbicane fancied that the conical end of the projectile was varying a
+little from its normal direction towards the moon. By an inverse motion
+the base was approaching first; the lunar attraction was prevailing
+over the terrestrial; the fall towards the moon was beginning, almost
+imperceptibly as yet, but by degrees the attractive force would become
+stronger, the fall would be more decided, the projectile, drawn by its
+base, would turn its cone to the earth, and fall with ever-increasing
+speed on to the surface of the Selenite continent; their destination
+would then be attained. Now nothing could prevent the success of their
+enterprise, and Nicholl and Michel Ardan shared Barbicane's joy.
+
+Then they chatted of all the phenomena which had astonished them one
+after the other, particularly the neutralization of the laws of weight.
+Michel Ardan, always enthusiastic, drew conclusions which were purely
+fanciful.
+
+"Ah, my worthy friends," he exclaimed, "what progress we should make
+if on earth we could throw off some of that weight, some of that chain
+which binds us to her; it would be the prisoner set at liberty; no more
+fatigue of either arms or legs. Or, if it is true that in order to fly
+on the earth's surface, to keep oneself suspended in the air merely by
+the play of the muscles, there requires a strength a hundred and fifty
+times greater than that which we possess, a simple act of volition, a
+caprice, would bear us into space, if attraction did not exist."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl, smiling; "if we could succeed in suppressing
+weight as they suppress pain by anæsthesia, that would change the face
+of modern society!"
+
+"Yes," cried Michel, full of his subject, "destroy weight, and no more
+burdens!"
+
+"Well said," replied Barbicane; "but if nothing had any weight, nothing
+would keep in its place, not even your hat on your head, worthy Michel;
+nor your house, whose stones only adhere by weight; not a boat, whose
+stability on the water is caused only by weight; not even the ocean,
+whose waves would no longer be equalized by terrestrial attraction; and
+lastly, not even the _atmosphere,_ whose atoms, being no longer held in
+their places, would disperse in space!"
+
+"That is tiresome," retorted Michel; "nothing like these matter-of-fact
+people for bringing one back to the bare reality."
+
+"But console yourself, Michel," continued Barbicane, "for if no orb
+exists from whence all laws of weight are banished, you are at least
+going to visit one where it is much less than on the earth."
+
+"The moon?"
+
+"Yes, the moon, on whose surface objects weigh six times less than on
+the earth, a phenomenon easy to prove."
+
+"And we shall feel it?" asked Michel.
+
+"Evidently, as 200 lbs. will only weigh 30 pounds on the surface of the
+moon."
+
+"And our muscular strength will not diminish?"
+
+"Not at all; instead of jumping one yard high, you will rise eighteen
+feet high."
+
+"But we shall be regular Herculeses in the moon!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl; "for if the height of the Selenites is in
+proportion to the density of their globe, they will be scarcely a foot
+high."
+
+"Lilliputians!" ejaculated Michel; "I shall play the part of Gulliver.
+We are going to realize the fable of the giants. This is the advantage
+of leaving one's own planet and overrunning the solar world."
+
+"One moment, Michel," answered Barbicane; "if you wish to play the part
+of Gulliver, only visit the inferior planets, such as Mercury, Venus, or
+Mars, whose density is a little less than that of the earth; but do not
+venture into the great planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; for
+there the order will be changed, and you will become Lilliputian."
+
+"And in the sun?"
+
+"In the sun, if its density is thirteen hundred and twenty-four thousand
+times greater, and the attraction is twenty-seven times greater than
+on the surface of our globe, keeping everything in proportion, the
+inhabitants ought to be at least two hundred feet high."
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Michel; "I should be nothing more than a pigmy, a
+shrimp!"
+
+"Gulliver with the giants," said Nicholl.
+
+"Just so," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And it would not be quite useless to carry some pieces of artillery to
+defend oneself."
+
+"Good," replied Nicholl; "your projectiles would have no effect on the
+sun; they would fall back on the earth after some minutes."
+
+"That is a strong remark."
+
+"It is certain," replied Barbicane; "the attraction is so great on this
+enormous orb, that an object weighing 70,000 lbs. on the earth would
+weigh but 1920 lbs. on the surface of the sun. If you were to fall upon
+it you would weigh--let me see--about 5000 lbs., a weight which you
+would never be able to raise again."
+
+"The devil!" said Michel; "one would want a portable crane. However, we
+will be satisfied with the moon for the present; there at least we shall
+cut a great figure. We will see about the sun by and by."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IX.
+
+   THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEVIATION.
+
+
+Barbicane had now no fear of the issue of the journey, at least as far
+as the projectile's impulsive force was concerned; its own speed would
+carry it beyond the neutral line; it would certainly not return to earth;
+it would certainly not remain motionless on the line of attraction. One
+single hypothesis remained to be realized, the arrival of the projectile
+at its destination by the action of the lunar attraction.
+
+It was in reality a fall of 8296 leagues on an orb, it is true, where
+weight could only be reckoned at one-sixth of terrestrial weight; a
+formidable fall, nevertheless, and one against which every precaution
+must be taken without delay.
+
+These precautions were of two sorts, some to deaden the shock when the
+projectile should touch the lunar soil, others to delay the fall, and
+consequently make it less violent.
+
+To deaden the shock, it was a pity that Barbicane was no longer able to
+employ the means which had so ably weakened the shock at departure, that
+is to say, by water used as springs and the partition-breaks.
+
+The partitions still existed but water failed, for they could not use
+their reserve, which was precious, in case during the first days the
+liquid element should be found wanting on lunar soil.
+
+And indeed this reserve would have been quite insufficient for a spring.
+The layer of water stored in the projectile at their departure, and on
+which the waterproof disc lay, occupied no less than three feet in depth,
+and spread over a surface of not less than fifty-four square feet. Besides,
+the cistern did not contain one fifth part of it; they must therefore
+give up this efficient means of deadening the shock of arrival. Happily,
+Barbicane, not content with employing water, had furnished the movable
+disc with strong spring plugs, destined to lessen the shock against the
+base after the breaking of the horizontal partitions. These plugs still
+existed; they had only to readjust them and replace the movable disc;
+every piece, easy to handle, as their weight was now scarcely felt, was
+quickly mounted.
+
+The different pieces were fitted without trouble, it being only a matter
+of bolts and screws; tools were not wanting, and soon the reinstated
+disc lay on its steel plugs, like a table on its legs. One inconvenience
+resulted from the replacing of the disc, the lower window was blocked
+up; thus it was impossible for the travellers to observe the moon from
+that opening while they were being precipitated perpendicularly upon
+her; but they were obliged to give it up; even by the side openings they
+could still see vast lunar regions, as an aeronaut sees the earth from
+his car.
+
+This replacing of the disc was at least an hour's work. It was past twelve
+when all preparations were finished. Barbicane took fresh observations
+on the inclination of the projectile, but to his annoyance it had not
+turned over sufficiently for its fall; it seemed to take a curve parallel
+to the lunar disc. The orb of night shone splendidly into space, while
+opposite, the orb of day blazed with fire.
+
+Their situation began to make them uneasy.
+
+"Are we reaching our destination?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Let us act as if we were about reaching it," replied Barbicane.
+
+"You are sceptical," retorted Michel Ardan. "We shall arrive, and that,
+too, quicker than we like."
+
+This answer brought Barbicane back to his preparations, and he occupied
+himself with placing the contrivances intended to break their descent.
+We may remember the scene of the meeting held at Tampa Town, in Florida,
+when Captain Nicholl came forward as Barbicane's enemy and Michel Ardan's
+adversary. To Captain Nicholl's maintaining that the projectile would
+smash like glass, Michel replied that he would break their fall by means
+of rockets properly placed.
+
+Thus, powerful fireworks, taking their starting-point from the base and
+bursting outside, could, by producing a recoil, check to a certain degree
+the projectile's speed. These rockets were to burn in space, it is true;
+but oxygen would not fail them, for they could supply themselves with
+it, like the lunar volcanoes, the burning of which has never yet been
+stopped by the want of atmosphere round the moon.
+
+Barbicane had accordingly supplied himself with these fireworks, enclosed
+in little steel guns, which could be screwed on to the base of the
+projectile. Inside, these guns were flush with the bottom; outside, they
+protruded about eighteen inches. There were twenty of them. An opening
+left in the disc allowed them to light the match with which each was
+provided. All the effect was felt outside. The burning mixture had been
+already rammed into each gun. They had, then, nothing to do but to raise
+the metallic buffers fixed in the base, and replace them by the guns,
+which fitted closely in their places.
+
+This new work was finished about three o'clock, and after taking all
+these precautions there remained but to wait. But the projectile was
+perceptibly nearing the moon, and evidently succumbed to her influence
+to a certain degree; though its own velocity also drew it in an oblique
+direction. From these conflicting influences resulted a line which might
+become a tangent. But it was certain that the projectile would not fall
+directly on the moon; for its lower part, by reason of its weight, ought
+to be turned towards her.
+
+Barbicane's uneasiness increased as he saw his projectile resist the
+influence of gravitation. The Unknown was opening before him, the Unknown
+in interplanetary space. The man of science thought he had foreseen the
+only three hypotheses possible--the return to the earth, the return to
+the moon, or stagnation on the neutral line; and here a fourth hypothesis,
+big with all the terrors of the Infinite, surged up inopportunely. To
+face it without flinching, one must be a resolute savant like Barbicane,
+a phlegmatic being like Nicholl, or an audacious adventurer like Michel
+Ardan.
+
+Conversation was started upon this subject. Other men would have
+considered the question from a practical point of view; they would have
+asked themselves whither their projectile carriage was carrying them.
+Not so with these; they sought for the cause which produced this effect.
+
+"So we have become diverted from our route," said Michel; "but why?"
+
+"I very much fear," answered Nicholl, "that, in spite of all precautions
+taken, the Columbiad was not fairly pointed. An error, however small,
+would be enough to throw us out of the moon's attraction."
+
+"Then they must have aimed badly?" asked Michel.
+
+"I do not think so," replied Barbicane. "The perpendicularity of the gun
+was exact, its direction to the zenith of the spot incontestible; and
+the moon passing to the zenith of the spot, we ought to reach it at the
+full. There is another reason, but it escapes me."
+
+"Are we not arriving too late?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Too late?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Yes," continued Nicholl. "The Cambridge Observatory's note says that the
+transit ought to be accomplished in ninety-seven hours thirteen minutes
+and twenty seconds; which means to say, that _sooner_ the moon will _not_
+be at the point indicated, and that _later_ it will have passed it."
+
+"True," replied Barbicane. "But we started the 1st of December, at
+thirteen minutes and twenty-five seconds to eleven at night; and we
+ought to arrive on the 5th at midnight, at the exact moment when the moon
+would be full; and we are now at the 5th of December. It is now half past
+three in the evening; half past eight ought to see us at the end of our
+journey. Why do we not arrive?"
+
+"Might it not be an excess of speed?" answered Nicholl; "for we know now
+that its initial velocity was greater than they supposed."
+
+"No! a hundred times, No!" replied Barbicane. "An excess of speed, if the
+direction of the projectile had been right, would not have prevented us
+reaching the moon. No, there has been a deviation. We have been turned
+out of our course."
+
+"By whom? by what?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"I cannot say," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Very well, then, Barbicane," said Michel, "do you wish to know my
+opinion on the subject of finding out this deviation?"
+
+"Speak."
+
+"I would not give half a dollar to know it. That we have deviated is a
+fact. Where we are going to matters little; we shall soon see. Since we
+are being borne along in space we shall end by falling into some centre
+of attraction or other."
+
+Michel Ardan's indifference did not content Barbicane. Not that he was
+uneasy about the future, but he wanted to know at any cost _why_ his
+projectile had deviated.
+
+But the projectile continued its course sideways to the moon, and with
+it the mass of things thrown out. Barbicane could even prove, by the
+elevations which served as landmarks upon the moon, which was only 2000
+leagues distant, that its speed was becoming uniform--fresh proof that
+there was no fall. Its impulsive force still prevailed over the lunar
+attraction, but the projectile's course was certainly bringing it nearer
+to the moon, and they might hope that at a nearer point the weight,
+predominating, would cause a decided fall.
+
+The three friends, having nothing better to do, continued their
+observations; but they could not yet determine the topographical position
+of the satellite; every relief was levelled under the reflection of the
+solar rays.
+
+They watched thus through the side windows until eight o'clock at night.
+The moon had then grown so large in their eyes that it filled half of
+the firmament. The sun on one side, and the orb of night on the other,
+flooded the projectile with light.
+
+At that moment Barbicane thought he could estimate the distance which
+separated them from their aim at no more than 700 leagues. The speed of
+the projectile seemed to him to be more than 200 yards, or about 170
+leagues a second. Under the centripetal force, the base of the projectile
+tended towards the moon; but the centrifugal still prevailed; and it was
+probable that its rectilineal course would be changed to a curve of some
+sort, the nature of which they could not at present determine.
+
+Barbicane was still seeking the solution of his insoluble problem. Hours
+passed without any result. The projectile was evidently _nearing_ the
+moon, but it was also evident that it would never _reach_ her. As to the
+nearest distance at which it would pass her, that must be the result of
+the two forces, attraction and repulsion, affecting its motion.
+
+"I ask but one thing," said Michel; "that we may pass near enough to
+penetrate her secrets."
+
+"Cursed be the thing that has caused our projectile to deviate from its
+course," cried Nicholl.
+
+And, as if a light had suddenly broken in upon his mind, Barbicane
+answered, "Then cursed be the meteor which crossed our path."
+
+"What?" said Michel Ardan.
+
+"What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicholl.
+
+"I mean," said Barbicane in a decided tone, "I mean that our deviation
+is owing solely to our meeting with this erring body."
+
+"But it did not even brush us as it passed," said Michel.
+
+"What does that matter? Its mass, compared to that of our projectile,
+was enormous, and its attraction was enough to influence our course."
+
+"So little?" cried Nicholl.
+
+"Yes, Nicholl; but however little it might be," replied Barbicane, "in a
+distance of 84,000 leagues, it wanted no more to make us miss the moon."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER X.
+
+   THE OBSERVERS OF THE MOON.
+
+
+Barbicane had evidently hit upon the only plausible reason of this
+deviation. However slight it might have been, it had sufficed to modify
+the course of the projectile. It was a fatality. The bold attempt had
+miscarried by a fortuitous circumstance; and unless by some exceptional
+event, they could now never reach the moon's disc.
+
+Would they pass near enough to be able to solve certain physical and
+geological questions until then insoluble? This was the question, and
+the only one, which occupied the minds of these bold travellers. As to
+the fate in store for themselves, they did not even dream of it.
+
+But what would become of them amid these infinite solitudes, these who
+would soon want air? A few more days, and they would fall stifled in
+this wandering projectile. But some days to these intrepid fellows was a
+century; and they devoted all their time to observe that moon which they
+no longer hoped to reach.
+
+The distance which then separated the projectile from the satellite
+was estimated at about 200 leagues. Under these conditions, as regards
+the visibility of the details of the disc, the travellers were farther
+from the moon than are the inhabitants of the earth with their powerful
+telescopes.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TELESCOPE AT PARSONTOWN.
+
+
+Indeed, we know that the instrument mounted by Lord Rosse at Parsonstown,
+which magnifies 6500 times, brings the moon to within an apparent
+distance of sixteen leagues. And more than that, with the powerful one
+set up at Long's Peak, the orb of night, magnified 48,000 times, is
+brought to within less than two leagues, and objects having a diameter
+of thirty feet are seen very distinctly. So that, at this distance, the
+topographical details of the moon, observed without glasses, could not
+be determined with precision. The eye caught the vast outline of those
+immense depressions inappropriately called "seas," but they could not
+recognize their nature. The prominence of the mountains disappeared
+under the splendid irradiation produced by the reflection of the solar
+rays. The eye, dazzled as if it was leaning over a bath of molten silver,
+turned from it involuntarily; but the oblong form of the orb was quite
+clear. It appeared like a gigantic egg, with the small end turned towards
+the earth. Indeed the moon, liquid and pliable in the first days of its
+formation, was originally a perfect sphere; but being soon drawn within
+the attraction of the earth, it became elongated under the influence
+of gravitation. In becoming a satellite, she lost her native purity of
+form; her centre of gravity was in advance of the centre of her figure;
+and from this fact some savants draw the conclusion that the air and
+water had taken refuge on the opposite surface of the moon, which is
+never seen from the earth. This alteration in the primitive form of the
+satellite was only perceptible for a few moments. The distance of the
+projectile from the moon diminished very rapidly under its speed, though
+that was much less than its initial velocity,--but eight or nine times
+greater than that which propels our express trains. The oblique course
+of the projectile, from its very obliquity, gave Michel Ardan some hopes
+of striking the lunar disc at some point or other. He could not think
+that they would never reach it. No! he could not believe it; and this
+opinion he often repeated. But Barbicane, who was a better judge, always
+answered him with merciless logic.
+
+"No, Michel, no! We can only reach the moon by a fall, and we are not
+falling. The centripetal force keeps us under the moon's influence, but
+the centrifugal force draws us irresistibly away from it."
+
+This was said in a tone which quenched Michel Ardan's last hope.
+
+The portion of the moon which the projectile was nearing was the northern
+hemisphere, that which the Selenographic maps place below; for these
+maps are generally drawn after the outline given by the glasses, and we
+know that they reverse the objects. Such was the _Mappa Selenographica_
+of Boeer and Moedler which Barbicane consulted. This northern hemisphere
+presented vast plains, dotted with isolated mountains.
+
+At midnight the moon was full. At that precise moment the travellers
+should have alighted upon it, if the mischievous meteor had not diverted
+their course. The orb was exactly in the condition determined by the
+Cambridge Observatory. It was mathematically at its perigee, and at the
+zenith of the twenty-eighth parallel. An observer placed at the bottom
+of the enormous Columbiad, pointed perpendicularly to the horizon, would
+have framed the moon in the mouth of the gun. A straight line drawn
+through the axis of the piece would have passed through the centre of
+the orb of night. It is needless to say, that during the night of the
+5th--6th of December, the travellers took not an instant's rest. Could
+they close their eyes when so near this new world? No! All their feelings
+were concentrated in one single thought:--See! Representatives of the
+earth, of humanity, past and present, all centred in them! It is through
+their eyes that the human race look at these lunar regions, and penetrate
+the secrets of their satellite! A strange emotion filled their hearts as
+they went from one window to the other.
+
+Their observations, reproduced by Barbicane, were rigidly determined. To
+take them, they had glasses; to correct them, maps.
+
+As regards the optical instruments at their disposal, they had excellent
+marine glasses specially constructed for this journey.
+
+They possessed magnifying powers of 100. They would thus have brought the
+moon to within a distance (apparent) of less than 2000 leagues from the
+earth. But then, at a distance which for three hours in the morning did
+not exceed sixty-five miles, and in a medium free from all atmospheric
+disturbances, these instruments could reduce the lunar surface to within
+less than 1500 yards!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+
+   FANCY AND REALITY.
+
+
+"Have you ever seen the moon?" asked a professor, ironically, of one of
+his pupils.
+
+"No, sir!" replied the pupil, still more ironically, "but I must say I
+have heard it spoken of."
+
+In one sense, the pupil's witty answer might be given by a large majority
+of sublunary beings. How many people have heard speak of the moon who
+have never seen it--at least through a glass or a telescope! How many
+have never examined the map of their satellite!
+
+In looking at a selenographic map, one peculiarity strikes us. Contrary
+to the arrangement followed for that of the Earth and Mars, the continents
+occupy more particularly the southern hemisphere of the lunar globe.
+These continents do not show such decided, clear, and regular boundary
+lines as South America, Africa, and the Indian peninsula. Their angular,
+capricious, and deeply indented coasts are rich in gulfs and peninsulas.
+They remind one of the confusion in the islands of the Sound, where the
+land is excessively indented. If navigation ever existed on the surface
+of the moon, it must have been wonderfully difficult and dangerous; and
+we may well pity the Selenite sailors and hydrographers; the former,
+when they came upon these perilous coasts, the latter when they took the
+soundings of its stormy banks.
+
+
+Illustration: HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE HEARD SPEAK OF THE MOON.
+
+
+We may also notice that, on the lunar sphere, the south pole is much more
+continental than the north pole. On the latter, there is but one slight
+strip of land separated from other continents by vast seas. Towards the
+south, continents clothe almost the whole of the hemisphere. It is even
+possible that the Selenites have already planted the flag on one of
+their poles, whilst Franklin, Ross, Kane, Dumont d'Urville, and Lambert
+have never yet been able to attain that unknown point of the terrestrial
+globe.
+
+As to islands, they are numerous on the surface of the moon. Nearly
+all oblong or circular, and as if traced with the compass, they seem to
+form one vast Archipelago, equal to that charming group lying between
+Greece and Asia Minor, and which mythology in ancient times adorned with
+most graceful legends. Involuntarily the names of Naxos, Tenedos, and
+Carpathos, rise before the mind, and we seek vainly for Ulysses' vessel
+or the "clipper" of the Argonauts. So at least it was in Michel Ardan's
+eyes. To him it was a Grecian Archipelago that he saw on the map. To
+the eyes of his matter-of-fact companions, the aspect of these coasts
+recalled rather the parcelled-out land of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia;
+and where the Frenchman discovered traces of the heroes of fable, these
+Americans were marking the most favourable points for the establishment
+of stores in the interests of lunar commerce and industry.
+
+After wandering over these vast continents, the eye is attracted by still
+greater seas. Not only their formation, but their situation and aspect
+remind one of the terrestrial oceans; but again, as on earth, these seas
+occupy the greater portion of the globe. But in point of fact, these
+are not liquid spaces, but plains, the nature of which the travellers
+hoped soon to determine. Astronomers, we must allow, have graced these
+pretended seas with at least odd names, which science has respected up to
+the present time. Michel Ardan was right when he compared this map to a
+"Tendre card," got up by a Scudary or a Cyrano de Bergerac. "Only," said
+he, "it is no longer the sentimental card of the seventeenth century, it
+is the card of life, very neatly divided into two parts, one feminine,
+the other masculine; the right hemisphere for woman, the left for man."
+
+In speaking thus, Michel made his prosaic companions shrug their
+shoulders. Barbicane and Nicholl looked upon the lunar map from a very
+different point of view to that of their fantastic friend. Nevertheless,
+their fantastic friend was a little in the right. Judge for yourselves.
+
+In the left hemisphere stretches the "Sea of Clouds," where human reason
+is so often shipwrecked. Not far off lies the "Sea of Rains," fed by all
+the fever of existence. Near this is the "Sea of Storms," where man is
+ever fighting against his passions, which too often gain the victory.
+Then, worn out by deceit, treasons, infidelity, and the whole body of
+terrestrial misery, what does he find at the end of his career? that vast
+"Sea of Humours," barely softened by some drops of the waters from the
+"Gulf of Dew!" Clouds, rain, storms, and humours,--does the life of man
+contain aught but these? and is it not summed up in these four words?
+
+The right hemisphere, "dedicated to the ladies," encloses smaller seas,
+whose significant names contain every incident of a feminine existence.
+There is the "Sea of Serenity," over which the young girl bends; "The
+Lake of Dreams," reflecting a joyous future; "the Sea of Nectar," with its
+waves of tenderness and breezes of love; "The Sea of Fruitfulness;" "The
+Sea of Crises;" then the "Sea of Vapours," whose dimensions are perhaps
+a little too confined; and lastly, that vast "Sea of Tranquillity," in
+which every false passion, every useless dream, every unsatisfied desire
+is at length absorbed, and whose waves emerge peaceably into the "Lake
+of Death!"
+
+What a strange succession of names! What a singular division of the moon's
+two hemispheres, joined to one another like man and woman, and forming
+that sphere of life carried into space! And was not the fantastic Michel
+right in thus interpreting the fancies of the ancient astronomers? But
+whilst his imagination thus roved over "the seas," his grave companions
+were considering things more geographically. They were learning this new
+world by heart. They were measuring angles and diameters.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+
+   OROGRAPHIC DETAILS.
+
+
+The course taken by the projectile, as we have before remarked, was
+bearing it towards the moon's northern hemisphere. The travellers were
+far from the central point which they would have struck, had their course
+not been subject to an irremediable deviation. It was past midnight; and
+Barbicane then estimated the distance at 750 miles, which was a little
+greater than the length of the lunar radius, and which would diminish
+as it advanced nearer to the North Pole. The projectile was then not
+at the altitude of the equator; but across the tenth parallel, and from
+that latitude, carefully taken on the map to the pole, Barbicane and his
+two companions were able to observe the moon under the most favourable
+conditions. Indeed, by means of glasses, the above named distance was
+reduced to little more than fourteen miles. The telescope of the Rocky
+Mountains brought the moon much nearer; but the terrestrial atmosphere
+singularly lessened its power. Thus Barbicane, posted in his projectile,
+with the glasses to his eyes, could seize upon details which were almost
+imperceptible to earthly observers.
+
+"My friends," said the president, in a serious voice, "I do not know
+whither we are going; I do not know if we shall ever see the terrestrial
+globe again. Nevertheless, let us proceed as if our work would one day
+be useful to our fellow-men. Let us keep our minds free from every other
+consideration. We are astronomers; and this projectile is a room in the
+Cambridge University, carried into space. Let us make our observations!"
+
+This said, work was begun with great exactness; and they faithfully
+reproduced the different aspects of the moon, at the different distances
+which the projectile reached.
+
+At the time that the projectile was as high as the tenth parallel,
+north latitude, it seemed rigidly to follow the twentieth degree, east
+longitude. We must here make one important remark with regard to the map
+by which they were taking observations. In the selenographical maps where,
+on account of the reversing of the objects by the glasses, the south
+is above and the north below, it would seem natural that, on account of
+that inversion, the east should be to the left hand, and the west to the
+right. But it is not so. If the map were turned upside down, showing the
+moon as we see her, the east would be to the _left_, and the west to the
+_right_, contrary to that which exists on terrestrial maps. The following
+is the reason of this anomaly. Observers in the northern hemisphere
+(say in Europe) see the moon in the south,-- according to them. When
+they take observations, they turn their backs to the north, the reverse
+position to that which they occupy when they study a terrestrial map. As
+they turn their backs to the north, the east is on their left, and the
+west to their right. To observers in the southern hemisphere (Patagonia
+for example), the moon's west would be quite to their left, and the east
+to their right, as the south is behind them. Such is the reason of the
+apparent reversing of these two cardinal points, and we must bear it in
+mind in order to be able to follow President Barbicane's
+observations.
+
+With the help of Boeer and Moedler's _Mappa Selenographica_, the travellers
+were able at once to recognise that portion of the disc enclosed within
+the field of their glasses.
+
+"What are we looking at, at this moment?" asked Michel.
+
+"At the northern part of the 'Sea of Clouds,'" answered Barbicane. "We
+are too far off to recognize its nature. Are these plains composed of
+arid sand, as the first astronomer maintained? Or are they nothing but
+immense forests, according to M. Warren de la Rue's opinion, who gives
+the moon an atmosphere, though a very low and a very dense one? That we
+shall know by and by. We must affirm nothing until we are in a position
+to do so."
+
+This "Sea of Clouds" is rather doubtfully marked out upon the maps. It
+is supposed that these vast plains are strewn with blocks of lava from
+the neighbouring volcanoes on its right, Ptolemy, Purbach, Arzachel.
+But the projectile was advancing, and sensibly nearing it. Soon there
+appeared the heights which bound this sea at this northern limit. Before
+them rose a mountain radiant with beauty, the top of which seemed lost
+in an eruption of solar rays.
+
+"That is--?" asked Michel.
+
+"Copernicus," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Let us see Copernicus."
+
+This mount situated in 9° north latitude and 20° east longitude,
+rose to a height of 10,600 feet above the surface of the moon. It is
+quite visible from the earth; and astronomers can study it with ease,
+particularly during the phase between the last quarter and the new
+moon, because then the shadows are thrown lengthways from east to west,
+allowing them to measure the heights.
+
+This Copernicus forms the most important of the radiating system, situated
+in the southern hemisphere, according to Tycho Brahé. It rises isolated
+like a gigantic lighthouse on that portion of the Sea of Clouds, which is
+bounded by the "Sea of Tempests," thus lighting by its splendid rays two
+oceans at a time. It was a sight without an equal, those long luminous
+trains, so dazzling in the full moon, and which, passing the boundary
+chain on the north, extends to the "Sea of Rains." At one o'clock of the
+terrestrial morning, the projectile, like a balloon borne into space,
+overlooked the top of this superb mountain. Barbicane could recognize
+perfectly its chief features. Copernicus is comprised in the series of
+ringed mountains of the first order, in the division of great circles.
+Like Kepler and Aristarchus, which overlook the Ocean of Tempests,
+sometimes it appeared like a brilliant point through the cloudy light,
+and was taken for a volcano in activity. But it is only an extinct
+one,--like all on that side of the moon. Its circumference showed a
+diameter of about twenty-two leagues. The glasses discovered traces of
+stratification produced by successive eruptions, and the neighbourhood
+was strewn with volcanic remains which still choked some of the craters.
+
+"There exist," said Barbicane, "several kinds of circles on the surface
+of the moon, and it is easy to see that Copernicus belongs to the
+radiating class. If we were nearer, we should see the cones bristling on
+the inside, which in former times were so many fiery mouths. A curious
+arrangement, and one without an exception on the lunar disc, is that
+the interior surface of these circles is the reverse of the exterior,
+and contrary to the form taken by terrestrial craters. It follows, then,
+that the general curve of the bottom of these circles gives a sphere of
+a smaller diameter than that of the moon."
+
+"And why this peculiar disposition?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"We do not know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"What splendid radiation!" said Michel. "One could hardly see a finer
+spectacle, I think."
+
+"What would you say, then," replied Barbicane, "if chance should bear us
+towards the southern hemisphere?"
+
+"Well, I should say that it was still more beautiful," retorted Michel
+Ardan.
+
+At this moment the projectile hung perpendicularly over the circle. The
+circumference of Copernicus formed almost a perfect circle, and its steep
+escarpments were clearly defined. They could even distinguish a second
+ringed enclosure. Around spread a greyish plain, of a wild aspect, on
+which every relief was marked in yellow. At the bottom of the circle,
+as if enclosed in a jewel case, sparkled for one instant two or three
+eruptive cones, like enormous dazzling gems. Towards the north the
+escarpments were lowered by a depression which would probably have given
+access to the interior of the crater.
+
+In passing over the surrounding plains, Barbicane noticed a great number
+of less important mountains; and among others a little ringed one called
+Guy Lussac, the breadth of which measured twelve miles.
+
+Towards the south, the plain was very flat, without one elevation,
+without one projection. Towards the north, on the contrary, till where it
+was bounded by the Sea of Storms it resembled a liquid surface agitated
+by a storm, of which the hills and hollows formed a succession of waves
+suddenly congealed. Over the whole of this, and in all directions, lay
+the luminous lines, all converging to the summit of Copernicus.
+
+The travellers discussed the origin of these strange rays; but they could
+not determine their nature any more than terrestrial observers.
+
+"But why," said Nicholl, "should not these rays be simply spurs of
+mountains which reflect more vividly the light of the sun?"
+
+"No," replied Barbicane; "if it was so, under certain conditions of the
+moon, these ridges would cast shadows, and they do not cast any."
+
+And indeed, these rays only appeared when the orb of day was in opposition
+to the moon, and disappeared as soon as its rays became oblique.
+
+"But how have they endeavoured to explain these lines of light?" asked
+Michel; "for I cannot believe that savants would ever be stranded for
+want of an explanation."
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane; "Herschel has put forward an opinion, but he
+did not venture to affirm it."
+
+"Never mind. What was the opinion?"
+
+"He thought that these rays might be streams of cooled lava which shone
+when the sun beat straight upon them. It may be so; but nothing can
+be less certain. Besides, if we pass nearer to Tycho, we shall be in a
+better position to find out the cause of this radiation."
+
+
+Illustration: "THIS PLAIN WOULD THEN BE NOTHING BUT AN IMMENSE
+   CEMETERY."
+
+
+"Do you know, my friends, what that plain, seen from the height we are
+at, resembles?" said Michel.
+
+"No," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well; with all those pieces of lava lengthened like rockets, it
+resembles an immense game of spelikans thrown pell-mell. There wants but
+the hook to pull them out one by one."
+
+"Do be serious," said Barbicane.
+
+"Well, let us be serious," replied Michel quietly; "and instead of
+spelikans, let us put bones. This plain would then be nothing but an
+immense cemetery, on which would repose the mortal remains of thousands
+of extinct generations. Do you prefer that high-flown comparison?"
+
+"One is as good as the other," retorted Barbicane.
+
+"My word, you are difficult to please," answered Michel.
+
+"My worthy friend," continued the matter-of-fact Barbicane, "it matters
+but little what it _resembles_, when we do not know what it _is_."
+
+"Well answered," exclaimed Michel. "That will teach me to reason with
+savants."
+
+But the projectile continued to advance with almost uniform speed around
+the lunar disc. The travellers, we may easily imagine, did not dream of
+taking a moment's rest. Every minute changed the landscape which fled
+from beneath their gaze. About half-past one o'clock in the morning, they
+caught a glimpse of the tops of another mountain. Barbicane, consulting
+his map, recognized Eratosthenes.
+
+It was a ringed mountain 9000 feet high, and one of those circles so
+numerous on this satellite. With regard to this, Barbicane related
+Kepler's singular opinion on the formation of circles. According to that
+celebrated mathematician, these crater-like cavities had been dug by the
+hand of man.
+
+"For what purpose?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"For a very natural one," replied Barbicane. "The Selenites might have
+undertaken these immense works and dug these enormous holes for a refuge
+and shield from the solar rays which beat upon them during fifteen
+consecutive days."
+
+"The Selenites are not fools," said Michel.
+
+"A singular idea," replied Nicholl; "but it is probable that Kepler did
+not know the true dimensions of these circles, for the digging of them
+would have been the work of giants quite impossible for the Selenites."
+
+"Why? if weight on the moon's surface is six times less than on the
+earth?" said Michel.
+
+"But if the Selenites are six times smaller?" retorted Nicholl.
+
+"And if there are no Selenites?" added Barbicane.
+
+This put an end to the discussion.
+
+Soon Eratosthenes disappeared under the horizon without the projectile
+being sufficiently near to allow of close observation. This mountain
+separated the Apennines from the Carpathians. In the lunar orography they
+have discerned some chains of mountains, which are chiefly distributed
+over the northern hemisphere. Some, however, occupy certain portions of
+the southern hemisphere also.
+
+About two o'clock in the morning Barbicane found that they were above the
+twentieth lunar parallel. The distance of the projectile from the moon
+was not more than 600 miles. Barbicane, now perceiving that the projectile
+was steadily approaching the lunar disc, did not despair, if of reaching
+her, at least of discovering the secrets of her configuration.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   LUNAR LANDSCAPES.
+
+
+At half-past two in the morning, the projectile was over the thirteenth
+lunar parallel and at the effective distance of 500 miles, reduced by
+the glasses to five. It still seemed impossible, however, that it could
+ever touch any part of the disc. Its motive speed, comparatively so
+moderate, was inexplicable to President Barbicane. At that distance from
+the moon it must have been considerable, to enable it to bear up against
+her attraction. Here was a phenomenon the cause of which escaped them
+again. Besides, time failed them to investigate the cause. All lunar
+relief was defiling under the eyes of the travellers, and they would not
+lose a single detail.
+
+Under the glasses the disc appeared at the distance of five miles. What
+would an aeronaut, borne to this distance from the earth, distinguish on
+its surface? We cannot say, since the greatest ascension has not been
+more than 25,000 feet.
+
+This, however, is an exact description of what Barbicane and his companions
+saw at this height. Large patches of different colours appeared on the
+disc. Selenographers are not agreed upon the nature of these colours.
+There are several, and rather vividly marked. Julius Schmidt pretends
+that, if the terrestrial oceans were dried up, a Selenite observer could
+not distinguish on the globe a greater diversity of shades between the
+oceans and the continental plains than those on the moon present to a
+terrestrial observer. According to him, the colour common to the vast
+plains known by the name of "seas" is a dark grey mixed with green and
+brown. Some of the large craters present the same appearance. Barbicane
+knew this opinion of the German selenographer, an opinion shared by Boeer
+and Moedler. Observation has proved that right was on their side, and not
+on that of some astronomers who admit the existence of only grey on the
+moon's surface. In some parts green was very distinct, such as springs,
+according to Julius Schmidt, from the seas of Serenity and Humours.
+Barbicane also noticed large craters, without any interior cones, which
+shed a bluish tint similar to the reflection of a sheet of steel freshly
+polished. These colours belonged really to the lunar disc, and did not
+result, as some astronomers say, either from the imperfection in the
+objective of the glasses or from the interposition of the terrestrial
+atmosphere.
+
+Not a doubt existed in Barbicane's mind with regard to it, as he observed
+it through space, and so could not commit any optical error. He considered
+the establishment of this fact as an acquisition to science. Now, were
+these shades of green, belonging to tropical vegetation, kept up by a
+low dense atmosphere? He could not yet say.
+
+Farther on, he noticed a reddish tint, quite defined. The same shade had
+before been observed at the bottom of an isolated enclosure, known by
+the name of Lichtenburg's circle, which is situated near the Hercynian
+mountains, on the borders of the moon; but they could not tell the nature
+of it.
+
+They were not more fortunate with regard to another peculiarity of the
+disc, for they could not decide upon the cause of it.
+
+Michel Ardan was watching near the president, when he noticed long
+white lines, vividly lighted up by the direct rays of the sun. It was
+a succession of luminous furrows, very different from the radiation of
+Copernicus not long before; they ran parallel with each other.
+
+Michel, with his usual readiness, hastened to exclaim,-- "Look there!
+cultivated fields!"
+
+
+Illustration: "WHAT GIANT OXEN."
+
+
+"Cultivated fields!" replied Nicholl, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"Ploughed, at all events," retorted Michel Ardan; "but what labourers
+those Selenites must be, and what giant oxen they must harness to their
+plough to cut such furrows!"
+
+"They are not furrows," said Barbicane; "they are _rifts_."
+
+"Rifts? stuff!" replied Michel mildly; "but what do you mean by 'rifts'
+in the scientific world?"
+
+Barbicane immediately enlightened his companion as to what he knew about
+lunar rifts. He knew that they were a kind of furrow found on every part
+of the disc which was not mountainous; that these furrows, generally
+isolated, measured from 400 to 500 leagues in length; that their breadth
+varied from 1000 to 1500 yards, and that their borders were strictly
+parallel; but he knew nothing more either of their formation or their
+nature.
+
+Barbicane, through his glasses, observed these rifts with great attention.
+He noticed that their borders were formed of steep declivities; they
+were long parallel ramparts, and with some small amount of imagination
+he might have admitted the existence of long lines of fortifications,
+raised by Selenite engineers. Of these different rifts some were perfectly
+straight, as if cut by a line; others were slightly curved, though still
+keeping their borders parallel; some crossed each other, some cut through
+craters; here they wound through ordinary cavities, such as Posidonius or
+Petavius; there they wound through the seas, such as the Sea of Serenity.
+
+These natural accidents naturally excited the imaginations of these
+terrestrial astronomers. The first observations had not discovered these
+rifts. Neither Hevelius, Cassim, La Hire, nor Herschel seemed to have
+known them. It was Schroeter who in 1789 first drew attention to them.
+Others followed who studied them, as Pastorff, Gruithuysen, Boeer, and
+Moedler. At this time their number amounts to seventy; but, if they
+have been counted, their nature has not yet been determined; they are
+certainly not fortifications, any more than they are the ancient beds of
+dried-up rivers; for, on one side, the waters, so slight on the moon's
+surface, could never have worn such drains for themselves; and, on the
+other, they often cross craters of great elevation.
+
+We must, however, allow that Michel Ardan had "an idea," and that,
+without knowing it, he coincided in that respect with Julius Schmidt.
+
+"Why," said he, "should not these unaccountable appearances be simply
+phenomena of vegetation?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Barbicane quickly.
+
+"Do not excite yourself, my worthy president," replied Michel; "might it
+not be possible that the dark lines forming that bastion were rows of
+trees regularly placed?"
+
+"You stick to your vegetation, then?" said Barbicane.
+
+"I like," retorted Michel Ardan, "to explain what you savants cannot
+explain; at least my hypothesis has the advantage of indicating why these
+rifts disappear, or seem to disappear, at certain seasons."
+
+"And for what reason?"
+
+"For the reason that the trees become invisible when they lose their
+leaves, and visible when they regain them."
+
+"Your explanation is ingenious, my dear companion," replied Barbicane,
+"but inadmissible."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, so to speak, there are no seasons on the moon's surface, and
+that, consequently, the phenomena of vegetation of which you speak cannot
+occur."
+
+Indeed, the slight obliquity of the lunar axis keeps the sun at an almost
+equal height in every latitude. Above the equatorial regions the radiant
+orb almost invariably occupies the zenith, and does not pass the limits
+of the horizon in the polar regions; thus, according to each region,
+there reigns a perpetual winter, spring, summer, or autumn, as in the
+planet Jupiter, whose axis is but little inclined upon its orbit.
+
+
+Illustration: HE COULD DISTINGUISH NOTHING BUT DESERT BEDS.
+
+
+What origin do they attribute to these rifts? That is a question difficult
+to solve. They are certainly anterior to the formation of craters and
+circles, for several have introduced themselves by breaking through their
+circular ramparts. Thus it may be that, contemporary with the latter
+geological epochs, they are due to the expansion of natural forces.
+
+But the projectile had now attained the 40° of lunar lat., at a distance
+not exceeding 400 miles. Through the glasses objects appeared to be only
+four miles distant.
+
+At this point, under their feet, rose Mount Helicon, 1520 feet high,
+and round about the left rose moderate elevations, enclosing a small
+portion of the "Sea of Rains," under the name of the Gulf of Iris. The
+terrestrial atmosphere would have to be one hundred and seventy times more
+transparent than it is, to allow astronomers to make perfect observations
+on the moon's surface; but in the void in which the projectile floated
+no fluid interposed itself between the eye of the observer and the
+object observed. And more, Barbicane found himself carried to a greater
+distance than the most powerful telescopes had ever done before, either
+that of Lord Rosse or that of the Rocky Mountains. He was, therefore,
+under extremely favourable conditions for solving that great question
+of the habitability of the moon; but the solution still escaped him; he
+could distinguish nothing but desert beds, immense plains, and towards
+the north, arid mountains. Not a work betrayed the hand of man; not a
+ruin marked his course; not a group of animals was to be seen indicating
+life, even in an inferior degree. In no part was there life, in no part
+was there an appearance of vegetation. Of the three kingdoms which share
+the terrestrial globe between them, one alone was represented on the
+lunar and that the mineral.
+
+"Ah, indeed!" said Michel Ardan, a little out of countenance; "then you
+see no one?"
+
+"No," answered Nicholl; "up to this time not a man, not an animal, not
+a tree! After all, whether the atmosphere has taken refuge at the bottom
+of cavities, in the midst of the circles, or even on the opposite face
+of the moon, we cannot decide."
+
+"Besides," added Barbicane, "even to the most piercing eye a man cannot
+be distinguished farther than three miles and a half off; so that, if
+there are any Selenites, they can see our projectile, but we cannot see
+them."
+
+Towards four in the morning, at the height of the fiftieth parallel, the
+distance was reduced to 300 miles. To the left ran a line of mountains
+capriciously shaped, lying in the full light. To the right, on the
+contrary, lay a black hollow resembling a vast well, unfathomable and
+gloomy, drilled into the lunar soil.
+
+This hole was the "Black Lake;" it was Pluto, a deep circle which can be
+conveniently studied from the earth, between the last quarter and the
+new moon, when the shadows fall from west to east.
+
+This black colour is rarely met with on the surface of the satellite. As
+yet it has only been recognized in the depths of the circle of Endymion,
+to the east of the Cold Sea, in the northern hemisphere, and at the
+bottom of Grimaldi's circle, on the equator, towards the eastern border
+of the orb.
+
+Pluto is an annular mountain, situated in 51° north latitude, and 9°
+east longitude. Its circuit is forty-seven miles long and thirty-two
+broad.
+
+Barbicane regretted that they were not passing directly above this vast
+opening. There was an abyss to fathom, perhaps some mysterious phenomenon
+to surprise; but the projectile's course could not be altered. They must
+rigidly submit. They could not guide a balloon, still less a projectile,
+when once enclosed within its walls. Towards five in the morning the
+northern limits of the Sea of Rains was at length passed. The mounts
+of Condamine and Fontenelle remained--one on the right, the other on
+the left. That part of the disc beginning with 60° was becoming quite
+mountainous. The glasses brought them to within two miles, less than
+that separating the summit of Mont Blanc from the level of the sea. The
+whole region was bristling with spikes and circles. Towards the 60°
+Philolaus stood predominant at a height of 5550 feet with its elliptical
+crater, and seen from this distance, the disc showed a very fantastical
+appearance. Landscapes were presented to the eye under very different
+conditions from those on the earth, and also very inferior to
+them.
+
+The moon having no atmosphere, the consequences arising from the absence
+of this gaseous envelope have already been shown. No twilight on her
+surface; night following day and day following night with the suddenness
+of a lamp which is extinguished or lighted amidst profound darkness,--no
+transition from cold to heat, the temperature falling in an instant from
+boiling point to the cold of space.
+
+Another consequence of this want of air is that absolute darkness
+reigns where the sun's rays do not penetrate. That which on earth is
+called diffusion of light, that luminous matter which the air holds in
+suspension, which creates the twilight and the daybreak, which produces
+the _umbræ_ and the _penumbræ_, and all the magic of _chiaro-oscuro_,
+does not exist on the moon. Hence the harshness of contrasts, which only
+admit of two colours, black and white. If a Selenite were to shade his
+eyes from the sun's rays, the sky would seem absolutely black, and the
+stars would shine to him as on the darkest night. Judge of the impression
+produced on Barbicane and his three friends by this strange scene! Their
+eyes were confused. They could no longer grasp the respective distances
+of the different plains. A lunar landscape without the softening of the
+phenomena of _chiaro-oscuro_ could not be rendered by an earthly landscape
+painter: it would be spots of ink on a white page--nothing
+more.
+
+This aspect was not altered even when the projectile, at the height of
+80°, was only separated from the moon by a distance of fifty miles; nor
+even when, at five in the morning, it passed at less than twenty-five
+miles from the mountain of Gioja, a distance reduced by the glasses to
+a quarter of a mile. It seemed as if the moon might be touched by the
+hand! It seemed impossible that, before long, the projectile would not
+strike her, if only at the north pole, the brilliant arch of which was
+so distinctly visible on the black sky.
+
+Michel Ardan wanted to open one of the scuttles and throw himself on to
+the moon's surface! A very useless attempt; for if the projectile could
+not attain any point whatever of the satellite, Michel, carried along by
+its motion, could not attain it either.
+
+At that moment, at six o'clock, the lunar pole appeared. The disc only
+presented to the travellers' gaze one half brilliantly lit up, whilst
+the other disappeared in the darkness. Suddenly the projectile passed
+the line of demarcation between intense light and absolute darkness, and
+was plunged in profound night!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   THE NIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR HOURS
+      AND A HALF.
+
+
+At the moment when this phenomenon took place so rapidly, the projectile
+was skirting the moon's north pole at less than twenty-five miles
+distance. Some seconds had sufficed to plunge it into the absolute
+darkness of space. The transition was so sudden, without shade, without
+gradation of light, without attenuation of the luminous waves, that the
+orb seemed to have been extinguished by a powerful blow.
+
+"Melted, disappeared!" Michel Ardan exclaimed, aghast.
+
+Indeed, there was neither reflection nor shadow. Nothing more was to be
+seen of that disc, formerly so dazzling. The darkness was complete, and
+rendered even more so by the rays from the stars. It was "that blackness"
+in which the lunar nights are insteeped, which last three hundred and
+four hours and a half at each point of the disc, a long night resulting
+from the equality of the translatory and rotary movements of the moon. The
+projectile, immerged in the conical shadow of the satellite, experienced
+the action of the solar rays no more than any of its invisible points.
+
+In the interior, the obscurity was complete. They could not see each
+other. Hence the necessity of dispelling the darkness. However desirous
+Barbicane might be to husband the gas, the reserve of which was small,
+he was obliged to ask from it a fictitious light, an expensive brilliancy
+which the sun then refused.
+
+"Devil take the radiant orb!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "which forces us
+to expend gas, instead of giving us his rays gratuitously."
+
+"Do not let us accuse the sun," said Nicholl, "it is not his fault, but
+that of the moon, which has come and placed herself like a screen between
+us and it."
+
+"It is the sun!" continued Michel.
+
+"It is the moon!" retorted Nicholl.
+
+An idle dispute, which Barbicane put an end to by saying,--
+
+"My friends, it is neither the fault of the sun nor of the moon; it is
+the fault of the _projectile_, which, instead of rigidly following its
+course, has awkwardly missed it. To be more just, it is the fault of that
+unfortunate meteor which has so deplorably altered our first direction."
+
+"Well," replied Michel Ardan, "as the matter is settled, let us have
+breakfast. After a whole night of watching it is fair to build ourselves
+up a little."
+
+This proposal meeting with no contradiction, Michel prepared the repast
+in a few minutes. But they ate for eating's sake, they drank without
+toasts, without hurrahs. The bold travellers being borne away into gloomy
+space, without their accustomed cortège of rays, felt a vague uneasiness
+at their hearts. The "strange" shadow so dear to Victor Hugo's pen bound
+them on all sides. But they talked over the interminable night of three
+hundred and fifty-four hours and a half, nearly fifteen days, which the
+law of physics has imposed on the inhabitants of the moon.
+
+Barbicane gave his friends some explanation of the causes and the
+consequences of this curious phenomenon.
+
+"Curious indeed," said they; "for, if each hemisphere of the moon is
+deprived of solar light for fifteen days, that above which we now float
+does not even enjoy during its long night any view of the earth so
+beautifully lit up. In a word she has no moon (applying this designation
+to our globe) but on one side of her disc. Now if this were the case
+with the earth,--if, for example, Europe never saw the moon, and she
+was only visible at the Antipodes, imagine to yourself the astonishment
+of a European on arriving in Australia."
+
+
+Illustration: "IT IS THE FAULT OF THE MOON."
+
+
+"They would make the voyage for nothing but to see the moon!" replied
+Michel.
+
+"Very well!" continued Barbicane, "that astonishment is reserved for the
+Selenites who inhabit the face of the moon opposite to the earth, a face
+which is ever invisible to our countrymen of the terrestrial globe."
+
+"And which we should have seen," added Nicholl, "if we had arrived here
+when the moon was new, that is to say fifteen days later."
+
+"I will add, to make amends," continued Barbicane, "that the inhabitants
+of the visible face are singularly favoured by nature, to the detriment
+of their brethren on the invisible face. The latter, as you see, have
+dark nights of 354 hours, without one single ray to break the darkness.
+The other, on the contrary, when the sun which has given its light for
+fifteen days sinks below the horizon, see a splendid orb rise on the
+opposite horizon. It is the earth, which is thirteen times greater than
+that diminutive moon that we know;--the earth which develops itself
+at a diameter of two degrees, and which sheds a light thirteen times
+greater than that qualified by atmospheric strata--the earth which only
+disappears at the moment when the sun reappears in its turn!"
+
+"Nicely worded!" said Michel, "slightly academical perhaps."
+
+"It follows, then," continued Barbicane, without knitting his brows,
+"that the visible face of the disc must be very agreeable to inhabit,
+since it always looks on either the sun when the moon is full, or on the
+earth when the moon is new."
+
+"But," said Nicholl, "that advantage must be well compensated by the
+insupportable heat which the light brings with it."
+
+"The inconvenience, in that respect, is the same for the two faces, for
+the earth's light is evidently deprived of heat. But the invisible face
+is still more searched by the heat than the visible face. I say that for
+_you_, Nicholl, because Michel will probably not understand."
+
+"Thank you," said Michel.
+
+"Indeed," continued Barbicane, "when the invisible face receives at
+the same time light and heat from the sun, it is because the moon is
+new; that is to say, she is situated between the sun and the earth. It
+follows, then, considering the position which she occupies in opposition
+when full, that she is nearer to the sun by twice her distance from the
+earth; and that distance may be estimated at the two-hundredth part of
+that which separates the sun from the earth, or in round numbers 400,000
+miles. So that invisible face is so much nearer to the sun when she
+receives its rays."
+
+"Quite right," replied Nicholl.
+
+"On the contrary," continued Barbicane.
+
+"One moment," said Michel, interrupting his grave companion.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"I ask to be allowed to continue the explanation."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"To prove that I understand."
+
+"Get along with you," said Barbicane, smiling.
+
+"On the contrary," said Michel, imitating the tone and gestures of the
+president, "on the contrary, when the visible face of the moon is lit by
+the sun, it is because the moon is full, that is to say, opposite the
+sun with regard to the earth. The distance separating it from the radiant
+orb is then increased in round numbers to 400,000 miles, and the heat
+which she receives must be a little less."
+
+"Very well said!" exclaimed Barbicane. "Do you know, Michel, that, for
+an amateur, you are intelligent."
+
+"Yes," replied Michel coolly, "we are all so on the Boulevard des
+Italiens."
+
+Barbicane gravely clasped the hand of his amiable companion, and continued
+to enumerate the advantages reserved for the inhabitants of the visible
+face.
+
+Amongst others, he mentioned eclipses of the sun, which only take place
+on this side of the lunar disc; since, in order that they may take place,
+it is necessary for the moon to be _in opposition_. These eclipses,
+caused by the interposition of the earth between the moon and the sun,
+can last _two hours_; during which time, by reason of the rays refracted
+by its atmosphere, the terrestrial globe can appear as nothing but a
+black point upon the sun.
+
+"So," said Nicholl, "there is a hemisphere, that invisible hemisphere
+which is very ill supplied, very ill treated, by nature."
+
+"Never mind," replied Michel; "if we ever become Selenites, we will
+inhabit the visible face. I like the light."
+
+"Unless, by any chance," answered Nicholl, "the atmosphere should be
+condensed on the other side, as certain astronomers pretend."
+
+"That would be a consideration," said Michel.
+
+Breakfast over, the observers returned to their post. They tried to
+see through the darkened scuttles by extinguishing all light in the
+projectile; but not a luminous spark made its way through the darkness.
+
+One inexplicable fact preoccupied Barbicane. Why, having passed within
+such a short distance of the moon--about twenty-five miles only--why
+the projectile had not fallen? If its speed had been enormous, he could
+have understood that the fall would not have taken place; but, with
+a relatively moderate speed, that resistance to the moon's attraction
+could not be explained. Was the projectile under some foreign influence?
+Did some kind of body retain it in the ether? It was quite evident that
+it could never reach any point of the moon. Whither was it going? Was
+it going farther from, or nearing, the disc? Was it being borne in that
+profound darkness through the infinity of space? How could they learn,
+how calculate, in the midst of this night? All these questions made
+Barbicane uneasy, but he could not solve them.
+
+Certainly, the invisible orb was _there_, perhaps only some few miles
+off; but neither he nor his companions could see it. If there was any
+noise on its surface, they could not hear it. Air, that medium of sound,
+was wanting to transmit the groanings of that moon which the Arabic
+legends call "a man already half granite, and still breathing."
+
+One must allow that that was enough to aggravate the most patient
+observers. It was just that unknown hemisphere which was stealing from
+their sight. That face which fifteen days sooner, or fifteen days later,
+had been, or would be, splendidly illuminated by the solar rays, was then
+being lost in utter darkness. In fifteen days where would the projectile
+be? Who could say? Where would the chances of conflicting attractions
+have drawn it to? The disappointment of the travellers in the midst of
+this utter darkness may be imagined. All observation of the lunar disc
+was impossible. The constellations alone claimed all their attention;
+and we must allow that the astronomers Faye, Charconac, and Secchi, never
+found themselves in circumstances so favourable for their
+observation.
+
+Indeed, nothing could equal the splendour of this starry world, bathed
+in limpid ether. Its diamonds set in the heavenly vault sparkled
+magnificently. The eye took in the firmament from the Southern Cross to
+the North Star, those two constellations which in 12,000 years, by reason
+of the succession of equinoxes, will resign their part of polar stars,
+the one to Canopus in the southern hemisphere, the other to Wega in
+the northern. Imagination loses itself in this sublime Infinity, amidst
+which the projectile was gravitating, like a new star created by the
+hand of man. From a natural cause, these constellations shone with a soft
+lustre; they did not _twinkle_, for there was no atmosphere which, by
+the intervention of its layers unequally dense and of different degrees
+of humidity, produces this scintillation. These stars were soft eyes,
+looking out into the dark night, amidst the silence of absolute
+space.
+
+
+Illustration: NOTHING COULD EQUAL THE SPLENDOR OF THIS STARRY WORLD.
+
+
+Long did the travellers stand mute, watching the constellated firmament,
+upon which the moon, like a vast screen, made an enormous black hole.
+But at length a painful sensation drew them from their watchings. This
+was an intense cold, which soon covered the inside of the glass of the
+scuttles with a thick coating of ice. The sun was no longer warming the
+projectile with its direct rays, and thus it was losing the heat stored
+up in its walls by degrees. This heat was rapidly evaporating into space
+by radiation, and a considerably lower temperature was the result. The
+humidity of the interior was changed into ice upon contact with the
+glass, preventing all observation.
+
+Nicholl consulted the thermometer, and saw that it had fallen to seventeen
+degrees (centigrade) below zero.* So that, in spite of the many reasons
+for economizing, Barbicane, after having begged light from the gas, was
+also obliged to beg for heat. The projectile's low temperature was no
+longer endurable. Its tenants would have been frozen to death.
+
+*1° Fahr. (Ed.)
+
+"Well!" observed Michel, "we cannot reasonably complain of the monotony
+of our journey! What variety we have had, at least in temperature. Now
+we are blinded with light and saturated with heat, like the Indians of
+the Pampas! now plunged into profound darkness, amidst the cold like the
+Esquimauxs of the north pole. No, indeed! we have no right to complain;
+nature does wonders in our honour."
+
+"But," asked Nicholl, "what is the temperature outside?"
+
+"Exactly that of the planetary space," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Then," continued Michel Ardan, "would not this be the time to make the
+experiment which we dared not attempt when we were drowned in the sun's
+rays?"
+
+"It is now or never," replied Barbicane, "for we are in a good position
+to verify the temperature of space, and see if Fourier or Pouillet's
+calculations are exact."
+
+"In any case it is cold," said Michel. "See! the steam of the interior
+is condensing on the glasses of the scuttles. If the fall continues, the
+vapour of our breath will fall in snow around us."
+
+"Let us prepare a thermometer," said Barbicane.
+
+We may imagine that an ordinary thermometer would afford no result under
+the circumstances in which this instrument was to be exposed. The mercury
+would have been frozen in its ball, as below forty-two degrees below
+zero* it is no longer liquid. But Barbicane had furnished himself with
+a spirit thermometer on Wafferdin's system, which gives the minima of
+excessively low temperatures.
+
+*-44° Fahr.
+
+Before beginning the experiment, this instrument was compared with an
+ordinary one, and then Barbicane prepared to use it.
+
+"How shall we set about it?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Nothing is easier," replied Michel Ardan, who was never at a loss.
+"We open the scuttle rapidly; throw out the instrument; it follows the
+projectile with exemplary docility; and a quarter of an hour after, draw
+it in."
+
+"With the hand?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"With the hand," replied Michel.
+
+"Well then, my friend, do not expose yourself," answered Barbicane, "for
+the hand that you draw in again will be nothing but a stump frozen and
+deformed by the frightful cold."
+
+"Really!"
+
+"You will feel as if you had had a terrible burn, like that of iron at
+a white heat; for whether the heat leaves our bodies briskly or enters
+briskly, it is exactly the same thing. Besides, I am not at all certain
+that the objects we have thrown out are still following us."
+
+"Why not?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because, if we are passing through an atmosphere of the slightest
+density, these objects will be retarded. Again, the darkness prevents
+our seeing if they still float around us. But in order not to expose
+ourselves to the loss of our thermometer, we will fasten it, and we can
+then more easily pull it back again."
+
+
+Illustration: "THE VAPOR OF OUR BREATH WILL FALL IN SNOW
+   AROUND US."
+
+
+Barbicane's advice was followed. Through the scuttle rapidly opened,
+Nicholl threw out the instrument which was held by a short cord, so that
+it might be more easily drawn up. The scuttle had not been opened more
+than a second, but that second had sufficed to let in a most intense
+cold.
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "it is cold enough to freeze a white
+bear."
+
+Barbicane waited until half an hour had elapsed, which was more than time
+enough to allow the instrument to fall to the level of the surrounding
+temperature. Then it was rapidly pulled in.
+
+Barbicane calculated the quantity of spirits of wine overflowed into the
+little phial soldered to the lower part of the instrument, and said,--
+
+"A hundred and forty degrees centigrade* below zero!"
+
+*-218° Fahr. (Ed.)
+
+M. Pouillet was right and Fourier wrong. That was the undoubted temperature
+of the starry space. Such is, perhaps, that of the lunar continents, when
+the orb of night has lost by radiation all the heat which fifteen days
+of sun have poured into her.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XV.
+
+   HYPERBOLA OR PARABOLA.
+
+
+We may, perhaps, be astonished to find Barbicane and his companions so
+little occupied with the future reserved for them in their metal prison
+which was bearing them through the infinity of space. Instead of asking
+where they were going, they passed their time making experiments, as if
+they had been quietly installed in their own study.
+
+We might answer that men so strong-minded were above such anxieties--that
+they did not trouble themselves about such trifles--and that they had
+something else to do than to occupy their minds with the future.
+
+The truth was that they were not masters of their projectile; they could
+neither check its course, nor alter its direction.
+
+A sailor can change the head of his ship as he pleases; an aeronaut can
+give a vertical motion to his balloon. They, on the contrary, had no power
+over their vehicle. Every maneuver was forbidden. Hence the inclination
+to let things alone, or as the sailors say, "let her run."
+
+Where did they find themselves at this moment, at eight o'clock in the
+morning of the day called upon the earth the 6th of December? Very
+certainly in the neighbourhood of the moon, and even near enough for her
+to look to them like an enormous black screen upon the firmament. As to
+the distance which separated them, it was impossible to estimate it. The
+projectile, held by some unaccountable force, had been within four miles
+of grazing the satellite's north pole.
+
+
+Illustration: A DISCUSSION AROSE.
+
+
+But since entering the cone of shadow these last two hours, had the
+distance increased or diminished? Every point of mark was wanting by
+which to estimate both the direction and the speed of the projectile.
+
+Perhaps it was rapidly leaving the disc, so that it would soon quit the
+pure shadow. Perhaps, again, on the other hand, it might be nearing it
+so much that in a short time it might strike some high point on the
+invisible hemisphere, which would doubtlessly have ended the journey much
+to the detriment of the travellers.
+
+A discussion arose on this subject, and Michel Ardan, always ready with
+an explanation, gave it as his opinion that the projectile, held by the
+lunar attraction, would end by falling on the surface of the terrestrial
+globe like an aërolite.
+
+"First of all, my friend," answered Barbicane, "every aërolite does not
+fall to the earth; it is only a small proportion which do so; and if we
+had passed into an aërolite, it does not necessarily follow that we
+should ever reach the surface of the moon."
+
+"But how if we get near enough?" replied Michel.
+
+"Pure mistake," replied Barbicane. "Have you not seen shooting stars rush
+through the sky by thousands at certain seasons?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, these stars, or rather corpuscules, only shine when they are
+heated by gliding over the atmospheric layers. Now, if they enter the
+atmosphere, they pass at least within forty miles of the earth, but they
+seldom fall upon it. The same with our projectile. It may approach very
+near to the moon, and yet not fall upon it."
+
+"But then," asked Michel, "I shall be curious to know how our erring
+vehicle will act in space?"
+
+"I see but two hypotheses," replied Barbicane, after some moments'
+reflection.
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"The projectile has the choice between two mathematical curves, and it
+will follow one or the other according to the speed with which it is
+animated, and which at this moment I cannot estimate."
+
+"Yes," said Nicholl, "it will follow either a parabola or a hyperbola."
+
+"Just so," replied Barbicane. "With a certain speed it will assume the
+parabola, and with a greater the hyperbola."
+
+"I like those grand words," exclaimed Michel Ardan; "one knows directly
+what they mean. And pray what is your parabola, if you please?"
+
+"My friend," answered the captain, "the parabola is a curve of the
+second order, the result of the section of a cone intersected by a plane
+parallel to one of its sides."
+
+"Ah! ah!" said Michel, in a satisfied tone.
+
+"It is very nearly," continued Nicholl, "the course described by a bomb
+launched from a mortar."
+
+"Perfect! And the hyperbola?"
+
+"The hyperbola, Michel, is a curve of the second order, produced by the
+intersection of a conic surface and a plane parallel to its axis, and
+constitutes two branches separated one from the other, both tending
+indefinitely in the two directions."
+
+"Is it possible!" exclaimed Michel Ardan in a serious tone, as if they
+had told him of some serious event. "What I particularly like in your
+definition of the hyperbola (I was going to say hyperblague) is that it
+is still more obscure than the word you pretend to define."
+
+Nicholl and Barbicane cared little for Michel Ardan's fun. They were deep
+in a scientific discussion. What curve would the projectile follow? was
+their hobby. One maintained the hyperbola, the other the parabola. They
+gave each other reasons bristling with _x_. Their arguments were couched
+in language which made Michel jump. The discussion was hot, and neither
+would give up his chosen curve to his adversary.
+
+This scientific dispute lasted so long that it made Michel very impatient.
+
+"Now, gentlemen cosines, will you cease to throw parabolas and hyperbolas
+at each other's heads? I want to understand the only interesting question
+in the whole affair. We shall follow one or other of these curves? Good.
+But where will they lead us to?"
+
+"Nowhere," replied Nicholl.
+
+"How, nowhere?"
+
+"Evidently," said Barbicane, "they are open curves, which may be prolonged
+indefinitely."
+
+"Ah, savants!" cried Michel; "and what are either the one or the other
+to us from the moment we know that they equally lead us into infinite
+space?"
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not forbear smiling. They had just been
+creating "art for art's sake." Never had so idle a question been raised
+at such an inopportune moment. The sinister truth remained that, whether
+hyperbolically or parabolically borne away, the projectile would never
+again meet either the earth or the moon.
+
+What would become of these bold travellers in the immediate future? If
+they did not die of hunger, if they did not die of thirst, in some days,
+when the gas failed, they would die from want of air, unless the cold
+had killed them first. Still, important as it was to economize the gas,
+the excessive lowness of the surrounding temperature obliged them to
+consume a certain quantity. Strictly speaking, they could do without its
+_light_, but not without its _heat_. Fortunately the caloric generated by
+Reiset's and Regnaut's apparatus raised the temperature of the interior
+of the projectile a little, and without much expenditure they were able
+to keep it bearable.
+
+But observations had now become very difficult. The dampness of the
+projectile was condensed on the windows and congealed immediately. This
+cloudiness had to be dispersed continually. In any case they might hope
+to be able to discover some phenomena of the highest interest.
+
+But up to this time the disc remained dumb and dark. It did not answer
+the multiplicity of questions put by these ardent minds; a matter which
+drew this reflection from Michel, apparently a just one,--
+
+"If ever we begin this journey over again, we shall do well to choose
+the time when the moon is at the full."
+
+"Certainly," said Nicholl, "that circumstance will be more favourable.
+I allow that the moon, immersed in the sun's rays, will not be visible
+during the transit, but instead we should see the earth, which would
+be full. And what is more, if we were drawn round the moon, as at this
+moment, we should at least have the advantage of seeing the invisible
+part of her disc magnificently lit."
+
+"Well said, Nicholl," replied Michel Ardan. "What do you think, Barbicane?"
+
+"I think this," answered the grave president: "If ever we begin this
+journey again, we shall start at the same time and under the same
+conditions. Suppose we had attained our end, would it not have been
+better to have found continents in broad daylight than a country plunged
+in utter darkness? Would not our first installation have been made under
+better circumstances? Yes, evidently. As to the _invisible_ side, we
+could have visited it in our exploring expeditions on the lunar globe.
+So that the time of the full moon was well chosen. But we ought to have
+arrived at the end; and in order to have so arrived, we ought to have
+suffered no deviation on the road."
+
+"I have nothing to say to that," answered Michel Ardan. "Here is, however,
+a good opportunity lost of observing the other side of the moon."
+
+But the projectile was now describing in the shadow that incalculable
+course which no sight-mark would allow them to ascertain. Had its
+direction been altered, either by the influence of the lunar attraction,
+or by the action of some unknown star? Barbicane could not say. But
+a change had taken place in the relative position of the vehicle; and
+Barbicane verified it about four in the morning.
+
+The change consisted in this, that the base of the projectile had
+turned towards the moon's surface, and was so held by a perpendicular
+passing through its axis. The attraction, that is to say the _weight_,
+had brought about this alteration. The heaviest part of the projectile
+inclined towards the invisible disc as if it would fall upon it.
+
+Was it falling? Were the travellers attaining that much desired end? No.
+And the observation of a sign-point, quite inexplicable in itself, showed
+Barbicane that his projectile was not nearing the moon, and that it had
+shifted by following an almost concentric curve.
+
+This point of mark was a luminous brightness, which Nicholl sighted
+suddenly, on the limit of the horizon formed by the black disc. This
+point could not be confounded with a star. It was a reddish incandescence
+which increased by degrees, a decided proof that the projectile was
+shifting towards it and not falling normally on the surface of the moon.
+
+"A volcano! it is a volcano in action!" cried Nicholl; "a disembowelling
+of the interior fires of the moon! That world is not quite extinguished."
+
+"Yes, an eruption," replied Barbicane, who was carefully studying the
+phenomenon through his night glass. "What should it be, if not a volcano?"
+
+"But, then," said Michel Ardan, "in order to maintain that combustion,
+there must be air. So an atmosphere _does_ surround that part of the
+moon."
+
+"_Perhaps_ so," replied Barbicane, "but not necessarily. The volcano,
+by the decomposition of certain substances, can provide its own oxygen,
+and thus throw flames into space. It seems to me that the deflagration,
+by the intense brilliancy of the substances in combustion, is produced
+in pure oxygen. We must not be in a hurry to proclaim the existence of
+a lunar atmosphere."
+
+The fiery mountain must have been situated about the 45° south latitude
+on the invisible part of the disc; but, to Barbicane's great displeasure,
+the curve which the projectile was describing was taking it far from
+the point indicated by the eruption. Thus he could not determine its
+nature exactly. Half an hour after being sighted, this luminous point
+had disappeared behind the dark horizon; but the verification of this
+phenomenon was of considerable consequence in their selenographic studies.
+It proved that all heat had not yet disappeared from the bowels of this
+globe; and where heat exists, who can affirm that the vegetable kingdom,
+nay, even the animal kingdom itself, has not up to this time resisted
+all destructive influences? The existence of this volcano in eruption,
+unmistakably seen by these earthly savants, would doubtless give rise
+to many theories favourable to the grave question of the habitability of
+the moon.
+
+Barbicane allowed himself to be carried away by these reflections. He
+forgot himself in a deep reverie in which the mysterious destiny of the
+lunar world was uppermost. He was seeking to combine together the facts
+observed up to that time, when a new incident recalled him briskly to
+reality. This incident was more than a cosmical phenomenon; it was a
+threatened danger, the consequences of which might be disastrous in the
+extreme.
+
+Suddenly, in the midst of the ether, in the profound darkness, an
+enormous mass appeared. It was like a moon, but an incandescent moon
+whose brilliancy was all the more intolerable as it cut sharply on the
+frightful darkness of space. This mass, of a circular form, threw a
+light which filled the projectile. The forms of Barbicane, Nicholl, and
+Michel Ardan, bathed in its white sheets, assumed that livid spectral
+appearance which physicians produce with the fictitious light of alcohol
+impregnated with salt.
+
+
+Illustration: A PREY TO FRIGHTFUL TERROR.
+
+
+"By Jove!" cried Michel Ardan, "we are hideous. What is that
+ill-conditioned moon?"
+
+"A meteor," replied Barbicane.
+
+"A meteor burning in space?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This shooting globe suddenly appearing in shadow at a distance of at most
+200 miles, ought, according to Barbicane, to have a diameter of 2000
+yards. It advanced at a speed of about one mile and a half per second.
+It cut the projectile's path and must reach it in some minutes. As it
+approached it grew to enormous proportions.
+
+Imagine, if possible, the situation of the travellers! It is impossible
+to describe it. In spite of their courage, their _sang-froid_, their
+carelessness of danger, they were mute, motionless with stiffened limbs,
+a prey to frightful terror. Their projectile, the course of which they
+could not alter, was rushing straight on this ignited mass, more intense
+than the open mouth of an oven. It seemed as though they were being
+precipitated towards an abyss of fire.
+
+Barbicane had seized the hands of his two companions, and all three
+looked through their half-open eyelids upon that asteroid heated to a
+white heat. If thought was not destroyed within them, if their brains
+still worked amidst all this awe, they must have given themselves up for
+lost.
+
+Two minutes after the sudden appearance of the meteor (to them two
+centuries of anguish) the projectile seemed almost about to strike it,
+when the globe of fire burst like a bomb, but without making any noise
+in that void where sound, which is but the agitation of the layers of
+air, could not be generated.
+
+Nicholl uttered a cry, and he and his companions rushed to the scuttle.
+What a sight! What pen can describe it? What palette is rich enough in
+colours to reproduce so magnificent a spectacle?
+
+It was like the opening of a crater, like the scattering of an immense
+conflagration. Thousands of luminous fragments lit up and irradiated
+space with their fires. Every size, every colour, was there intermingled.
+There were rays of yellow and pale yellow, red, green, grey--a crown
+of fireworks of all colours. Of the enormous and much-dreaded globe
+there remained nothing but these fragments carried in all directions,
+now become asteroids in their turn, some flaming like a sword, some
+surrounded by a whitish cloud, and others leaving behind them trains of
+brilliant cosmical dust.
+
+These incandescent blocks crossed and struck each other, scattering
+still smaller fragments, some of which struck the projectile. Its left
+scuttle was even cracked by a violent shock. It seemed to be floating
+amidst a hail of howitzer shells, the smallest of which might destroy it
+instantly.
+
+The light which saturated the ether was so wonderfully intense, that
+Michel, drawing Barbicane and Nicholl to his window, exclaimed, "The
+invisible moon, visible at last!"
+
+And through a luminous emanation, which lasted some seconds, the whole
+three caught a glimpse of that mysterious disc which the eye of man now
+saw for the first time. What could they distinguish at a distance which
+they could not estimate? Some lengthened bands along the disc, real clouds
+formed in the midst of a very confined atmosphere, from which emerged
+not only all the mountains, but also projections of less importance; its
+circles, its yawning craters, as capriciously placed as on the visible
+surface. Then immense spaces, no longer arid plains, but real seas,
+oceans, widely distributed, reflecting on their liquid surface all the
+dazzling magic of the fires of space; and, lastly, on the surface of the
+continents, large dark masses, looking like immense forests under the
+rapid illumination of a brilliance.
+
+Was it an illusion, a mistake, an optical illusion? Could they give a
+scientific assent to an observation so superficially obtained? Dared
+they pronounce upon the question of its habitability after so slight a
+glimpse of the invisible disc?
+
+
+Illustration: WHAT A SIGHT.
+
+
+But the lightnings in space subsided by degrees; its accidental
+brilliancy died away; the asteroids dispersed in different directions
+and were extinguished in the distance. The ether returned to its
+accustomed darkness; the stars, eclipsed for a moment, again twinkled in
+the firmament, and the disc, so hastily discerned, was again buried in
+impenetrable night.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVI.
+
+   THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
+
+
+The projectile had just escaped a terrible danger, and a very unforeseen
+one. Who would have thought of such a rencontre with meteors? These
+erring bodies might create serious perils for the travellers. They were
+to them so many sandbanks upon that sea of ether which, less fortunate
+than sailors, they could not escape. But did these adventurers complain
+of space? No, not since nature had given them the splendid sight of a
+cosmical meteor bursting from expansion, since this inimitable firework,
+which no Ruggieri could imitate, had lit up for some seconds the invisible
+glory of the moon. In that flash, continents, seas, and forests had
+become visible to them. Did an atmosphere, then, bring to this unknown
+face its life-giving atoms? Questions still insoluble, and for ever
+closed against human curiosity!
+
+It was then half past three in the afternoon. The projectile was
+following its curvilinear direction round the moon. Had its course been
+again altered by the meteor? It was to be feared so. But the projectile
+must describe a curve unalterably determined by the laws of mechanical
+reasoning. Barbicane was inclined to believe that this curve would be
+rather a parabola than a hyperbola. But admitting the parabola, the
+projectile must quickly have passed through the cone of shadow projected
+into space opposite the sun. This cone, indeed, is very narrow, the
+angular diameter of the moon being so little when compared with the
+diameter of the orb of day; and up to this time the projectile had
+been floating in this deep shadow. Whatever had been its speed (and it
+could not have been insignificant) its period of occultation continued.
+That was evident, but perhaps that would not have been the case in a
+supposed rigidly parabolical trajectory,--a new problem which tormented
+Barbicane's brain, imprisoned as he was in a circle of unknowns which he
+could not unravel.
+
+
+Illustration: "THE SUN!"
+
+
+Neither of the travellers thought of taking an instant's repose. Each
+one watched for an unexpected fact, which might throw some new light on
+their uranographic studies. About five o'clock, Michel Ardan distributed,
+under the name of dinner, some pieces of bread and cold meat, which were
+quickly swallowed without either of them abandoning their scuttle, the
+glass of which was incessantly encrusted by the condensation of vapour.
+
+About forty-five minutes past five in the evening, Nicholl, armed with
+his glass, sighted towards the southern border of the moon, and in the
+direction followed by the projectile, some bright points cut upon the
+dark shield of the sky. They looked like a succession of sharp points
+lengthened into a tremulous line. They were very bright. Such appeared
+the terminal line of the moon when in one of her octants.
+
+They could not be mistaken. It was no longer a simple meteor. This
+luminous ridge had neither colour nor motion. Nor was it a volcano in
+eruption. And Barbicane did not hesitate to pronounce upon it.
+
+"The sun!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What! the sun?" answered Nicholl and Michel Ardan.
+
+"Yes, my friends, it is the radiant orb itself lighting up the summit
+of the mountains situated on the southern borders of the moon. We are
+evidently nearing the south pole."
+
+"After having passed the north pole," replied Michel. "We have made the
+circuit of our satellite, then?"
+
+"Yes, my good Michel."
+
+"Then, no more hyperbolas, no more parabolas, no more open curves to
+fear?"
+
+"No, but a _closed_ curve."
+
+"Which is called--"
+
+"An ellipse. Instead of losing itself in interplanetary space, it is
+probable that the projectile will describe an elliptical orbit around
+the moon."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"And that it will become _her_ satellite."
+
+"Moon of the moon!" cried Michel Ardan.
+
+"Only, I would have you observe, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane,
+"that we are none the less lost for that."
+
+"Yes, in another manner, and much more pleasantly," answered the careless
+Frenchman with his most amiable smile.
+
+
+Illustration: "LIGHT AND HEAT; ALL LIFE IS CONTAINED IN THEM."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVII.
+
+   TYCHO.
+
+
+At six in the evening the projectile passed the south pole at less than
+forty miles off, a distance equal to that already reached at the north
+pole. The elliptical curve was being rigidly carried out.
+
+At this moment the travellers once more entered the blessed rays of the
+sun. They saw once more those stars which move slowly from east to west.
+The radiant orb was saluted by a triple hurrah. With its light it also
+sent heat, which soon pierced the metal walls. The glass resumed its
+accustomed appearance. The layers of ice melted as if by enchantment; and
+immediately, for economy's sake, the gas was put out, the air apparatus
+alone consuming its usual quantity.
+
+"Ah!" said Nicholl, "these rays of heat are good. With what impatience
+must the Selenites wait the reappearance of the orb of day."
+
+"Yes," replied Michel Ardan, "imbibing as it were the brilliant ether,
+light and heat, all life is contained in them."
+
+At this moment the bottom of the projectile deviated somewhat from the
+lunar surface, in order to follow the slightly lengthened elliptical
+orbit. From this point, had the earth been at the full, Barbicane and
+his companions could have seen it, but immersed in the sun's irradiation
+she was quite invisible. Another spectacle attracted their attention,
+that of the southern part of the moon, brought by the glasses to within
+450 yards. They did not again leave the scuttles, and noted every detail
+of this fantastical continent.
+
+Mounts Doerfel and Leibnitz formed two separate groups very near the
+south pole. The first group extended from the pole to the eighty-fourth
+parallel, on the eastern part of the orb; the second occupied the eastern
+border, extending from the 65° of latitude to the pole.
+
+On their capriciously formed ridge appeared dazzling sheets, as mentioned
+by Pere Secchi. With more certainty than the illustrious Roman astronomer,
+Barbicane was enabled to recognize their nature.
+
+"They are snow," he exclaimed.
+
+"Snow?" repeated Nicholl.
+
+"Yes, Nicholl, snow; the surface of which is deeply frozen. See how they
+reflect the luminous rays. Cooled lava would never give out such intense
+reflection. There must then be water, there must be air on the moon. As
+little as you please, but the fact can no longer be contested." No, it
+could not be. And if ever Barbicane should see the earth again, his notes
+will bear witness to this great fact in his selenographic observations.
+
+These mountains of Doerfel and Leibnitz rose in the midst of plains of a
+medium extent, which were bounded by an indefinite succession of circles
+and annular ramparts. These two chains are the only ones met with in
+this region of circles. Comparatively but slightly marked, they throw up
+here and there some sharp points, the highest summit of which attains an
+altitude of 24,600 feet.
+
+But the projectile was high above all this landscape, and the projections
+disappeared in the intense brilliancy of the disc. And to the eyes of the
+travellers there reappeared that original aspect of the lunar landscapes,
+raw in tone, without gradation of colours, and without degrees of shadow,
+roughly black and white, from the want of diffusion of light.
+
+
+Illustration: HE DISTINGUISHED ALL THIS.
+
+
+But the sight of this desolate world did not fail to captivate them by its
+very strangeness. They were moving over this region as if they had been
+borne on the breath of some storm, watching heights defile under their
+feet, piercing the cavities with their eyes, going down into the rifts,
+climbing the ramparts, sounding these mysterious holes, and levelling all
+cracks. But no trace of vegetation, no appearance of cities; nothing but
+stratification, beds of lava, overflowings polished like immense mirrors,
+reflecting the sun's rays with overpowering brilliancy. Nothing belonging
+to a _living_ world--everything to a dead world, where avalanches,
+rolling from the summits of the mountains, would disperse noiselessly at
+the bottom of the abyss, retaining the motion, but wanting the sound. In
+any case it was the image of death, without its being possible even to
+say that life had ever existed there.
+
+Michel Ardan, however, thought he recognized a heap of ruins, to which
+he drew Barbicane's attention. It was about the 80th parallel, in 30°
+longitude. This heap of stones, rather regularly placed, represented a
+vast fortress, overlooking a long rift, which in former days had served
+as a bed to the rivers of prehistorical times. Not far from that, rose
+to a height of 17,400 feet the annular mountain of Short, equal to the
+Asiatic Caucasus. Michel Ardan, with his accustomed ardour, maintained
+"the evidences" of his fortress. Beneath it he discerned the dismantled
+ramparts of a town; here the still intact arch of a portico, there two
+or three columns lying under their base; farther on, a succession of
+arches which must have supported the conduit of an aqueduct; in another
+part the sunken pillars of a gigantic bridge, run into the thickest parts
+of the rift. He distinguished all this, but with so much imagination in
+his glance, and through glasses so fantastical, that we must mistrust
+his observation. But who could affirm, who would dare to say, that the
+amiable fellow did not really see that which his two companions would
+not see?
+
+Moments were too precious to be sacrificed in idle discussion. The
+Selenite city, whether imaginary or not, had already disappeared afar off.
+The distance of the projectile from the lunar disc was on the increase,
+and the details of the soil were being lost in a confused jumble. The
+reliefs, the circles, the craters and plains alone remained, and still
+showed their boundary lines distinctly. At this moment, to the left,
+lay extended one of the finest circles of lunar orography, one of the
+curiosities of this continent. It was Newton, which Barbicane recognized
+without trouble, by referring to the _Mappa Selenographica_.
+
+Newton is situated in exactly 77° south lat., and 16° east long. It
+forms an annular crater, the ramparts of which, rising to a height of
+21,300 feet, seemed to be impassable.
+
+Barbicane made his companions observe that the height of this mountain
+above the surrounding plain was far from equalling the depth of its
+crater. This enormous hole was beyond all measurement, and formed a
+gloomy abyss, the bottom of which the sun's rays could never reach.
+There, according to Humboldt, reigns utter darkness, which the light of
+the sun and the earth cannot break. Mythologists could well have made it
+the mouth of hell.
+
+"Newton," said Barbicane, "is the most perfect type of these annular
+mountains, of which the earth possesses no sample. They prove that
+the moon's formation, by means of cooling, is due to violent causes;
+for whilst under the pressure of internal fires the reliefs rise to
+considerable height, the depths withdraw far below the lunar level."
+
+"I do not dispute the fact," replied Michel Ardan.
+
+Some minutes after passing Newton, the projectile directly overlooked
+the annular mountain of Moret. It skirted at some distance the summits
+of Blancanus, and at about half-past seven in the evening reached the
+circle of Clavius.
+
+This circle, one of the most remarkable of the disc, is situated in 58°
+south lat., and 15° east long. Its height is estimated at 22,950 feet.
+The travellers, at a distance of twenty-four miles (reduced to four by
+their glasses), could admire this vast crater in its entirety.
+
+
+
+Illustration: CAN YOU PICTURE TO YOURSELVES?
+
+
+"Terrestrial volcanoes," said Barbicane, "are but molehills compared
+with those of the moon. Measuring the old craters formed by the first
+eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna, we find them little more than three miles
+in breadth. In France the circle of Cantal measures six miles across; at
+Ceyland the circle of the island is forty miles, which is considered the
+largest on the globe. What are these diameters against that of Clavius,
+which we overlook at this moment?"
+
+"What is its breadth?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"It is 150 miles," replied Barbicane. "This circle is certainly the most
+important on the moon, but many others measure 150, 100, or 75 miles."
+
+"Ah! my friends," exclaimed Michel, "can you picture to yourselves what
+this now peaceful orb of night must have been when its craters, filled
+with thunderings, vomited at the same time smoke and tongues of flame.
+What a wonderful spectacle then, and now what decay! This moon is nothing
+more than a thin carcase of fireworks, whose squibs, rockets, serpents
+and suns, after a superb brilliancy, have left but sadly broken cases.
+Who can say the cause, the reason, the motive force of these cataclysms?"
+
+Barbicane was not listening to Michel Ardan; he was contemplating those
+ramparts of Clavius, formed by large mountains spread over several
+miles. At the bottom of the immense cavity burrowed hundreds of small
+extinguished craters, riddling the soil like a colander, and overlooked
+by a peak 15,000 feet high.
+
+Around the plain appeared desolate. Nothing so arid as these reliefs,
+nothing so sad as these ruins of mountains, and (if we may so express
+ourselves) these fragments of peaks and mountains which strewed the soil.
+The satellite seemed to have burst at this spot.
+
+The projectile was still advancing, and this movement did not subside.
+Circles, craters, and uprooted mountains succeeded each other incessantly.
+No more plains; no more seas. A never-ending Switzerland and Norway. And
+lastly, in the centre of this region of crevasses, the most splendid
+mountain on the lunar disc, the dazzling Tycho, in which posterity will
+ever preserve the name of the illustrious Danish astronomer.
+
+In observing the full moon in a cloudless sky no one has failed to remark
+this brilliant point of the southern hemisphere. Michel Ardan used every
+metaphor that his imagination could supply to designate it by. To him this
+Tycho was a focus of light, a centre of irradiation, a crater vomiting
+rays. It was the tire of a brilliant wheel, an _asteria_ enclosing the
+disc with its silver tentacles, an enormous eye filled with flames, a
+glory carved for Pluto's head, a star launched by the Creator's hand,
+and crushed against the face of the moon!
+
+Tycho forms such a concentration of light that the inhabitants of the
+earth can see it without glasses, though at a distance of 240,000 miles!
+Imagine, then, its intensity to the eye of observers placed at a distance
+of only fifty miles! Seen through this pure ether, its brilliancy was so
+intolerable that Barbicane and his friends were obliged to blacken their
+glasses with the gas smoke before they could bear the splendour. Then
+silent, scarcely uttering an interjection of admiration, they gazed, they
+contemplated. All their feelings, all their impressions, were concentrated
+in that look, as under any violent emotion all life is concentrated at
+the heart.
+
+Tycho belongs to the system of radiating mountains, like Aristarchus
+and Copernicus; but it is of all the most complete and decided, showing
+unquestionably the frightful volcanic action to which the formation of
+the moon is due. Tycho is situated in 43° south lat., and 12° east
+long. Its centre is occupied by a crater fifty miles broad. It assumes
+a slightly elliptical form, and is surrounded by an enclosure of annular
+ramparts, which on the east and west overlook the outer plain from a
+height of 15,000 feet. It is a group of Mont Blancs, placed round one
+common centre and crowned by radiating beams.
+
+What this incomparable mountain really is, with all the projections
+converging towards it, and the interior excrescences of its crater,
+photography itself could never represent. Indeed, it is during the full
+moon that Tycho is seen in all its splendour. Then all shadows disappear,
+the foreshortening of perspective disappears, and all proofs become
+white--a disagreeable fact; for this strange region would have been
+marvellous if reproduced with photographic exactness. It is but a group
+of hollows, craters, circles, a network of crests; then, as far as the
+eye could see, a whole volcanic network cast upon this encrusted soil.
+One can then understand that the bubbles of this central eruption have
+kept their first form. Crystallized by cooling, they have stereotyped
+that aspect which the moon formerly presented when under the Plutonian
+forces.
+
+The distance which separated the travellers from the annular summits of
+Tycho was not so great but that they could catch the principal details.
+Even on the causeway forming the fortifications of Tycho, the mountains
+hanging on to the interior and exterior sloping flanks rose in stories
+like gigantic terraces. They appeared to be higher by 300 or 400 feet
+to the west than to the east. No system of terrestrial encampment could
+equal these natural fortifications. A town built at the bottom of this
+circular cavity would have been utterly inaccessible.
+
+Inaccessible and wonderfully extended over this soil covered with
+picturesque projections! Indeed, nature had not left the bottom of
+this crater flat and empty. It possessed its own peculiar orography, a
+mountainous system, making it a world in itself. The travellers could
+distinguish clearly cones, central hills, remarkable positions of the soil,
+naturally placed to receive the chefs-d'oeuvre of Selenite architecture.
+There was marked out the place for a temple, here the ground of a forum,
+on this spot the plan of a palace, in another the plateau for a citadel;
+the whole overlooked by a central mountain of 1500 feet. A vast circle,
+in which ancient Rome could have been held in its entirety ten times
+over.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, enthusiastic at the sight; "what a grand
+town might be constructed within that ring of mountains! A quiet city,
+a peaceful refuge, beyond all human misery. How calm and isolated those
+misanthropes, those haters of humanity might live there, and all who have
+a distaste for social life!"
+
+"All! It would be too small for them," replied Barbicane simply.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+   GRAVE QUESTIONS.
+
+
+But the projectile had passed the enceinte of Tycho, and Barbicane and
+his two companions watched with scrupulous attention the brilliant rays
+which the celebrated mountain shed so curiously all over the horizon.
+
+What was this radiant glory? What geological phenomenon had designed
+these ardent beams? This question occupied Barbicane's mind.
+
+Under his eyes ran in all directions luminous furrows, raised at the edges
+and concave in the centre, some twelve miles, others thirty miles broad.
+These brilliant trains extended in some places to within 600 miles of
+Tycho, and seemed to cover, particularly towards the east, the northeast
+and the north, the half of the southern hemisphere. One of these jets
+extended as far as the circle of Neander, situated on the 40th meridian.
+Another by a slight curve furrowed the Sea of Nectar, breaking against
+the chain of Pyrenees, after a circuit of 800 miles. Others, towards the
+west, covered the Sea of Clouds and the Sea of Humours with a luminous
+network. What was the origin of these sparkling rays, which shone on the
+plains as well as on the reliefs, at whatever height they might be? All
+started from a common centre, the crater of Tycho. They sprang from him.
+Herschel attributed their brilliancy to currents of lava congealed by the
+cold; an opinion, however, which has not been generally adopted. Other
+astronomers have seen in these inexplicable rays a kind of _moraines_,
+rows of erratic blocks, which had been thrown up at the period of Tycho's
+formation.
+
+"And why not?" asked Nicholl of Barbicane, who was relating and rejecting
+these different opinions.
+
+"Because the regularity of these luminous lines, and the violence
+necessary to carry volcanic matter to such distances, is inexplicable."
+
+"Eh! by Jove!" replied Michel Ardan, "it seems easy enough to me to
+explain the origin of these rays."
+
+"Indeed?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Indeed," continued Michel. "It is enough to say that it is a vast star,
+similar to that produced by a ball or a stone thrown at a square of
+glass!"
+
+"Well!" replied Barbicane, smiling. "And what hand would be powerful
+enough to throw a ball to give such a shock as that?"
+
+"The hand is not necessary," answered Nicholl, not at all confounded;
+"and as to the stone, let us suppose it to be a comet."
+
+"Ah! those much-abused comets!" exclaimed Barbicane. "My brave Michel,
+your explanation is not bad; but your comet is useless. The shock which
+produced that rent must have come from the inside of the star. A violent
+contraction of the lunar crust, while cooling, might suffice to imprint
+this gigantic star."
+
+"A contraction! something like a lunar stomach-ache," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Besides," added Barbicane, "this opinion is that of an English savant,
+Nasmyth, and it seems to me to sufficiently explain the radiation of
+these mountains."
+
+"That Nasmyth was no fool!" replied Michel.
+
+Long did the travellers, whom such a sight could never weary, admire
+the splendours of Tycho. Their projectile, saturated with luminous
+gleams in the double irradiation of sun and moon, must have appeared
+like an incandescent globe. They had passed suddenly from excessive cold
+to intense heat. Nature was thus preparing them to become Selenites.
+Become Selenites! That idea brought up once more the question of the
+habitability of the moon. After what they had seen, could the travellers
+solve it? Would they decide for or against it? Michel Ardan persuaded his
+two friends to form an opinion, and asked them directly if they thought
+that men and animals were represented in the lunar world.
+
+
+Illustration: A VIOLENT CONTRACTION OF THE LUNAR CRUST.
+
+
+"I think that we can answer," said Barbicane; "but according to my
+idea the question ought not to be put in that form. I ask it to be put
+differently."
+
+"Put it your own way," replied Michel.
+
+"Here it is," continued Barbicane. "The problem is a double one, and
+requires a double solution. Is the moon _habitable?_ Has the moon ever
+been _inhabitable?_"
+
+"Good!" replied Nicholl. "First let us see whether the moon is habitable."
+
+"To tell the truth, I know nothing about it," answered Michel.
+
+"And I answer in the negative," continued Barbicane. "In her actual
+state, with her surrounding atmosphere certainly very much reduced,
+her seas for the most part dried up, her insufficient supply of water
+restricted, vegetation, sudden alterations of cold and heat, her days
+and nights of 354 hours; the moon does not seem habitable to me, nor does
+she seem propitious to animal development, nor sufficient for the wants
+of existence as we understand it."
+
+"Agreed," replied Nicholl. "But is not the moon habitable for creatures
+differently organized from ourselves?"
+
+"That question is more difficult to answer, but I will try; and I ask
+Nicholl if _motion_ appears to him to be a necessary result of _life_,
+whatever be its organization?"
+
+"Without a doubt!" answered Nicholl.
+
+"Then, my worthy companion, I would answer that we have observed the
+lunar continent at a distance of 500 yards at most, and that nothing
+seemed to us to move on the moon's surface. The presence of any kind
+of life would have been betrayed by its attendant marks, such as divers
+buildings, and even by ruins. And what have we seen? Everywhere and always
+the geological works of nature, never the work of man. If, then, there
+exist representatives of the animal kingdom on the moon, they must have
+fled to those unfathomable cavities which the eye cannot reach; which
+I cannot admit, for they must have left traces of their passage on those
+plains which the atmosphere must cover, however slightly raised it may be.
+These traces are nowhere visible. There remains but one hypothesis, that
+of a living race to which motion, which is life, is foreign."
+
+"One might as well say, living creatures which do not live," replied
+Michel.
+
+"Just so," said Barbicane, "which for us has no meaning."
+
+"Then we may form our opinion?" said Michel.
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well," continued Michel Ardan, "the Scientific Commission assembled
+in the projectile of the Gun Club, after having founded their argument
+on facts recently observed, decide unanimously upon the question of the
+habitability of the moon--_'No!_ the moon is not habitable.'"
+
+This decision was consigned by President Barbicane to his notebook, where
+the process of the sitting of the 6th of December may be seen.
+
+"Now," said Nicholl, "let us attack the second question, an indispensable
+complement of the first. I ask the honourable Commission, if the moon is
+not habitable, has she ever been inhabited, Citizen Barbicane?"
+
+"My friends," replied Barbicane, "I did not undertake this journey in
+order to form an opinion on the past habitability of our satellite; but I
+will add that our personal observations only confirm me in this opinion.
+I believe, indeed I affirm, that the moon has been inhabited by a human
+race organized like our own; that she has produced animals anatomically
+formed like the terrestrial animals; but I add that these races, human
+or animal, have had their day, and are now for ever extinct!"
+
+"Then," asked Michel, "the moon must be older than the earth?"
+
+"No!" said Barbicane decidedly, "but a world which has grown old quicker,
+and whose formation and deformation have been more rapid. Relatively,
+the organizing force of matter has been much more violent in the interior
+of the moon than in the interior of the terrestrial globe. The actual
+state of this cracked twisted, and burst disc abundantly proves this.
+The moon and the earth were nothing but gaseous masses originally. These
+gases have passed into a liquid state under different influences, and
+the solid masses have been formed later. But most certainly our sphere
+was still gaseous or liquid, when the moon was solidified by cooling,
+and had become habitable."
+
+"I believe it," said Nicholl.
+
+"Then," continued Barbicane, "an atmosphere surrounded it, the waters
+contained within this gaseous envelope could not evaporate. Under the
+influence of air, water, light, solar heat, and central heat, vegetation
+took possession of the continents prepared to receive it, and certainly
+life showed itself about this period, for nature does not expend herself
+in vain; and a world so wonderfully formed for habitation must necessarily
+be inhabited.
+
+"But," said Nicholl, "many phenomena inherent in our satellite might
+cramp the expansion of the animal and vegetable kingdom. For example,
+its days and nights of 354 hours?"
+
+"At the terrestrial poles they last six months," said Michel.
+
+"An argument of little value, since the poles are not inhabited."
+
+"Let us observe, my friends," continued Barbicane, "that if in the actual
+state of the moon its long nights and long days created differences
+of temperature insupportable to organization, it was not so at the
+historical period of time. The atmosphere enveloped the disc with a
+fluid mantle; vapour deposited itself in the shape of clouds; this
+natural screen tempered the ardour of the solar rays, and retained the
+nocturnal radiation. Light, like heat, can diffuse itself in the air;
+hence an equality between the influences which no longer exists, now that
+that atmosphere has almost entirely disappeared. And now I am going to
+astonish you."
+
+"Astonish us?" said Michel Ardan.
+
+"I firmly believe that at the period when the moon was inhabited, the
+nights and days did not last 354 hours!"
+
+"And why?" asked Nicholl quickly.
+
+"Because most probably then the rotary motion of the moon upon her axis
+was not equal to her revolution, an equality which presents each part of
+her disc during fifteen days to the action of the solar rays."
+
+"Granted," replied Nicholl, "but why should not these two motions have
+been equal, as they are really so?"
+
+"Because that equality has only been determined by terrestrial attraction.
+And who can say that this attraction was powerful enough to alter the
+motion of the moon at that period when the earth was still fluid?"
+
+"Just so," replied Nicholl; "and who can say that the moon has always
+been a satellite of the earth?"
+
+"And who can say," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that the moon did not exist
+before the earth?"
+
+Their imaginations carried them away into an indefinite field of
+hypothesis. Barbicane sought to restrain them.
+
+"Those speculations are too high," said he; "problems utterly insoluble.
+Do not let us enter upon them. Let us only admit the insufficiency of the
+primordial attraction; and then by the inequality of the two motions of
+rotation and revolution, the days and nights could have succeeded each
+other on the moon as they succeed each other on the earth. Besides, even
+without these conditions, life was possible."
+
+"And so," asked Michel Ardan, "humanity has disappeared from the moon?"
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane, "after having doubtless remained persistently
+for millions of centuries; by degrees the atmosphere becoming rarefied,
+the disc became uninhabitable, as the terrestrial globe will one day
+become by cooling."
+
+"By cooling?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Barbicane; "as the internal fires became extinguished,
+and the incandescent matter concentrated itself, the lunar crust cooled.
+By degrees the consequences of these phenomena showed themselves in the
+disappearance of organized beings, and by the disappearance of vegetation.
+Soon the atmosphere was rarefied, probably withdrawn by terrestrial
+attraction; then aerial departure of respirable air, and disappearance
+of water by means of evaporation. At this period the moon becoming
+uninhabitable, was no longer inhabited. It was a dead world, such as we
+see it to-day."
+
+"And you say that the same fate is in store for the earth?"
+
+"Most probably."
+
+"But when?"
+
+"When the cooling of its crust shall have made it uninhabitable."
+
+"And have they calculated the time which our unfortunate sphere will take
+to cool?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And you know these calculations?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"But speak, then, my clumsy savant," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "for you
+make me boil with impatience!"
+
+"Very well, my good Michel," replied Barbicane quietly, "we know what
+diminution of temperature the earth undergoes in the lapse of a century.
+And according to certain calculations, this mean temperature will, after
+a period of 400,000 years, be brought down to zero!"
+
+"Four hundred thousand years!" exclaimed Michel. "Ah! I breathe again.
+Really I was frightened to hear you; I imagined that we had not more than
+50,000 years to live."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at their companion's
+uneasiness. Then Nicholl, who wished to end the discussion, put the
+second question, which had just been considered again.
+
+"Has the moon been inhabited?" he asked.
+
+The answer was unanimously in the affirmative. But during this discussion,
+fruitful in somewhat hazardous theories, the projectile was rapidly
+leaving the moon; the lineaments faded away from the travellers' eyes,
+mountains were confused in the distance; and of all the wonderful,
+strange, and fantastical form of the earth's satellite, there soon
+remained nothing but the imperishable remembrance.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIX.
+
+   A STRUGGLE AGAINST THE IMPOSSIBLE.
+
+
+For a long time Barbicane and his companions looked silently and sadly
+upon that world which they had only seen from a distance, as Moses saw
+the land of Canaan, and which they were leaving without a possibility of
+ever returning to it. The projectile's position with regard to the moon
+had altered, and the base was now turned to the earth.
+
+This change, which Barbicane verified, did not fail to surprise them.
+If the projectile was to gravitate round the satellite in an elliptical
+orbit, why was not its heaviest part turned towards it, as the moon turns
+hers to the earth? That was a difficult point.
+
+In watching the course of the projectile they could see that on leaving
+the moon it followed a course analogous to that traced in approaching
+her. It was describing a very long ellipse, which would most likely
+extend to the point of equal attraction, where the influences of the
+earth and its satellite are neutralized.
+
+Such was the conclusion which Barbicane very justly drew from facts
+already observed, a conviction which his two friends shared with him.
+
+"And when arrived at this dead point, what will become of us?" asked
+Michel Ardan.
+
+"We don't know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"But one can draw some hypotheses, I suppose?"
+
+"Two," answered Barbicane; "either the projectile's speed will be
+insufficient, and it will remain for immovable on this line of double
+attraction--"
+
+"I prefer the other hypothesis, whatever it may be," interrupted Michel.
+
+"Or," continued Barbicane, "its speed will be sufficient, and it will
+continue its elliptical course, to gravitate for ever around the orb of
+night."
+
+"A revolution not at all consoling," said Michel, "to pass to the state
+of humble servants to a moon whom we are accustomed to look upon as our
+own handmaid. So that is the fate in store for us?"
+
+Neither Barbicane nor Nicholl answered.
+
+"You do not answer," continued Michel impatiently.
+
+"There is nothing to answer," said Nicholl.
+
+"Is there nothing to try?"
+
+"No," answered Barbicane. "Do you pretend to fight against the impossible?"
+
+"Why not? Do one Frenchman and two Americans shrink from such a word?"
+
+"But what would you do?"
+
+"Subdue this motion which is bearing us away."
+
+"Subdue it?"
+
+"Yes," continued Michel, getting animated, "or else alter it, and employ
+it to the accomplishment of our own ends."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"That is your affair. If artillerymen are not masters of their projectile
+they are not artillerymen. If the projectile is to command the gunner,
+we had better ram the gunner into the gun. My faith! fine savants! who
+do not know what is to become of us after inducing me--"
+
+"Inducing you!" cried Barbicane and Nicholl. "Inducing you! What do you
+mean by that?"
+
+"No recrimination," said Michel. "I do not complain; the trip has pleased
+me, the projectile agrees with me; but let us do all that is humanly
+possible to do to fall somewhere, even if only on the moon."
+
+
+Illustration: AROUND THE PROJECTILE WERE THE OBJECTS WHICH
+   HAD BEEN THROWN OUT.
+
+
+"We ask no better, my worthy Michel," replied Barbicane, "but means fail
+us."
+
+"We cannot alter the motion of the projectile?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor diminish its speed?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Not even by lightening it, as they lighten an overloaded vessel?"
+
+"What would you throw out?" said Nicholl. "We have no ballast on board;
+and indeed it seems to me that if lightened it would go much quicker."
+
+"Slower."
+
+"Quicker."
+
+"Neither slower nor quicker," said Barbicane, wishing to make his two
+friends agree; "for we float in space, and must no longer consider
+specific weight."
+
+"Very well," cried Michel Ardan in a decided voice; "then there remains
+but one thing to do."
+
+"What is it?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Breakfast," answered the cool, audacious Frenchman, who always brought
+up this solution at the most difficult juncture.
+
+In any case, if this operation had no influence on the projectile's
+course, it could at least be tried without inconvenience, and even with
+success from a stomachic point of view. Certainly Michel had none but
+good ideas.
+
+They breakfasted then at two in the morning; the hour mattered little.
+Michel served his usual repast, crowned by a glorious bottle drawn from
+his private cellar. If ideas did not crowd on their brains, we must
+despair of the Chambertin of 1853. The repast finished, observations
+began again. Around the projectile, at an invariable distance, were
+the objects which had been thrown out. Evidently, in its translatory
+motion round the moon, it had not passed through any atmosphere, for
+the specific weight of these different objects would have checked their
+relative speed.
+
+On the side of the terrestrial sphere nothing was to be seen. The earth
+was but a day old, having been new the night before at twelve; and two
+days must elapse before its crescent, freed from the solar rays, would
+serve as a clock to the Selenites, as in its rotary movement each of its
+points after twenty-four hours repasses the same lunar meridian.
+
+On the moon's side the sight was different; the orb shone in all her
+splendour amidst innumerable constellations, whose purity could not be
+troubled by her rays. On the disc, the plains were already returning to
+the dark tint which is seen from the earth. The other part of the nimbus
+remained brilliant, and in the midst of this general brilliancy Tycho
+shone prominently like a sun.
+
+Barbicane had no means of estimating the projectile's speed, but
+reasoning showed that it must uniformly decrease, according to the laws of
+mechanical reasoning. Having admitted that the projectile was describing
+an orbit round the moon, this orbit must necessarily be elliptical;
+science proves that it must be so. No motive body circulating round an
+attracting body fails in this law. Every orbit described in space is
+elliptical. And why should the projectile of the Gun Club escape this
+natural arrangement? In elliptical orbits, the attracting body always
+occupies one of the foci; so that at one moment the satellite is nearer,
+and at another farther from the orb around which it gravitates. When the
+earth is nearest the sun she is in her perihelion; and in her aphelion
+at the farthest point. Speaking of the moon, she is nearest to the earth
+in her perigee, and farthest from it in her apogee. To use analogous
+expressions, with which the astronomers' language is enriched, if the
+projectile remains as a satellite of the moon, we must say that it is
+in its "aposelene" at its farthest point, and in its "periselene" at its
+nearest. In the latter case, the projectile would attain its maximum of
+speed; and in the former its minimum. It was evidently moving towards
+its aposelenitical point; and Barbicane had reason to think that its
+speed would decrease up to this point, and then increase by degrees as
+it neared the moon. This speed would even become _nil_, if this point
+joined that of equal attraction. Barbicane studied the consequences of
+these different situations, and thinking what inference he could draw
+from them, when he was roughly disturbed by a cry from Michel Ardan.
+
+"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "I must admit we are downright simpletons!"
+
+"I do not say we are not," replied Barbicane; "but why?"
+
+"Because we have a very simple means of checking this speed which is
+bearing us from the moon, and we do not use it!"
+
+"And what is the means?"
+
+"To use the recoil contained in our rockets."
+
+"Done!" said Nicholl.
+
+"We have not used this force yet," said Barbicane, "it is true, but we
+will do so."
+
+"When?" asked Michel.
+
+"When the time comes. Observe, my friends, that in the position occupied
+by the projectile, an oblique position with regard to the lunar disc,
+our rockets, in slightly altering its direction, might turn it from the
+moon instead of drawing it nearer?"
+
+"Just so," replied Michel.
+
+"Let us wait, then. By some inexplicable influence, the projectile is
+turning its base towards the earth. It is probable that at the point
+of equal attraction, its conical cap will be directed rigidly towards
+the moon; at that moment we may hope that its speed will be _nil_; then
+will be the moment to act, and with the influence of our rockets we may
+perhaps provoke a fall directly on the surface of the lunar disc."
+
+"Bravo!" said Michel. "What we did not do, what we could not do on our
+first passage at the dead point, because the projectile was then endowed
+with too great a speed."
+
+"Very well reasoned," said Nicholl.
+
+"Let us wait patiently," continued Barbicane. "Putting every chance on
+our side, and after having so much despaired, I may say I think that we
+shall gain our end."
+
+This conclusion was a signal for Michel Ardan's hips and hurrahs. And
+none of the audacious boobies remembered the question that they themselves
+had solved in the negative. No! the moon is not inhabited; no! the moon
+is probably not habitable. And yet they were going to try every thing to
+reach her.
+
+One single question remained to be solved. At what precise moment the
+projectile would reach the point of equal attraction, on which the
+travellers must play their last card. In order to calculate this to
+within a few seconds, Barbicane had only to refer to his notes, and
+to reckon the different heights taken on the lunar parallels. Thus the
+time necessary to travel over the distance between the dead point and
+the south pole would be equal to the distance separating the north pole
+from the dead point. The hours representing the time travelled over
+were carefully noted, and the calculation was easy. Barbicane found that
+this point would be reached at one in the morning on the night of the
+7th--8th of December. So that, if nothing interfered with its course,
+it would reach the given point in twenty-two hours.
+
+The rockets had primarily been placed to check the fall of the projectile
+upon the moon, and now they were going to employ them for a directly
+contrary purpose. In any case they were ready, and they had only to wait
+for the moment to set fire to them.
+
+"Since there is nothing else to be done," said Nicholl, "I make a
+proposition."
+
+"What is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"I propose to go to sleep."
+
+"What a motion!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
+
+"It is forty hours since we closed our eyes," said Nicholl. "Some hours
+of sleep will restore our strength."
+
+
+Illustration: "THESE PRACTICAL PEOPLE HAVE SOMETIMES MOST
+   OPPORTUNE IDEAS."
+
+
+"Never," interrupted Michel.
+
+"Well," continued Nicholl, "every one to his taste; I shall go to sleep."
+And stretching himself on the divan, he soon snored like a forty-eight
+pounder.
+
+"That Nicholl has a good deal of sense," said Barbicane, "presently I
+shall follow his example." Some moments after his continued base supported
+the captain's barytone.
+
+"Certainly," said Michel Ardan, finding himself alone, "these practical
+people have sometimes most opportune ideas."
+
+And with his long legs stretched out, and his great arms folded under
+his head, Michel slept in his turn.
+
+But this sleep could be neither peaceful nor lasting, the minds of these
+three men were too much occupied, and some hours after, about seven in
+the morning, all three were on foot at the same instant.
+
+The projectile was still leaving the moon, and turning its conical part
+more and more towards her.
+
+An explicable phenomenon, but one which happily served Barbicane's ends.
+
+Seventeen hours more, and the moment for action would have arrived.
+
+The day seemed long. However bold the travellers might be, they were
+greatly impressed by the approach of that moment which would decide
+all--either precipitate their fall on to the moon, or for ever chain
+them in an immutable orbit. They counted the hours as they passed too
+slow for their wish; Barbicane and Nicholl were obstinately plunged in
+their calculations, Michel going and coming between the narrow walls,
+and watching that impassive moon with a longing eye.
+
+At times recollections of the earth crossed their minds. They saw once
+more their friends of the Gun Club, and the dearest of all, J. T. Maston.
+At that moment, the honourable secretary must be filling his post on
+the Rocky Mountains. If he could see the projectile through the glass of
+his gigantic telescope, what would he think? After seeing it disappear
+behind the moon's south pole, he would see them reappear by the north
+pole! They must therefore be a satellite of a satellite! Had J. T. Maston
+given this unexpected news to the world? Was this the dénouement of this
+great enterprise?
+
+But the day passed without incident. The terrestrial midnight arrived.
+The 8th of December was beginning. One hour more, and the point of equal
+attraction would be reached. What speed would then animate the projectile?
+They could not estimate it. But no error could vitiate Barbicane's
+calculations. At one in the morning this speed ought to be and would be
+_nil._
+
+Besides, another phenomenon would mark the projectile's stopping-point on
+the neutral line. At that spot the two attractions, lunar and terrestrial,
+would be annulled. Objects would "weigh" no more. This singular fact,
+which had surprised Barbicane and his companions so much in going, would
+be repeated on their return under the very same conditions. At this
+precise moment they must act.
+
+Already the projectile's conical top was sensibly turned towards the
+lunar disc, presented in such a way as to utilize the whole of the recoil
+produced by the pressure of the rocket apparatus. The chances were in
+favour of the travellers. If its speed was utterly annulled on this dead
+point, a decided movement towards the moon would suffice, however slight,
+to determine its fall.
+
+"Five minutes to one," said Nicholl.
+
+"All is ready," replied Michel Ardan, directing a lighted match to the
+flame of the gas.
+
+"Wait!" said Barbicane, holding his chronometer in his hand.
+
+At that moment weight had no effect. The travellers felt in themselves
+the entire disappearance of it. They were very near the neutral point,
+if they did not touch it.
+
+"One o'clock," said Barbicane.
+
+Michel Ardan applied the lighted match to a train in communication with
+the rockets. No detonation was heard in the inside, for there was no air.
+But, through the scuttles Barbicane saw a prolonged smoke, the flames of
+which were immediately extinguished.
+
+
+Illustration: ARDEN APPLIED THE LIGHTED MATCH.
+
+
+The projectile sustained a certain shock, which was sensibly felt in the
+interior.
+
+The three friends looked and listened without speaking, and scarcely
+breathing. One might have heard the beating of their hearts amidst this
+perfect silence.
+
+"Are we falling?" asked Michel Ardan, at length.
+
+"No," said Nicholl, "since the bottom of the projectile is not turning
+to the lunar disc!"
+
+At this moment, Barbicane, quitting the scuttle, turned to his two
+companions. He was frightfully pale, his forehead wrinkled, and his lips
+contracted.
+
+"We are falling!" said he.
+
+"Ah!" cried Michel Ardan, "on to the moon?"
+
+"On to the earth!"
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, adding philosophically, "well, when
+we came into this projectile we were very doubtful as to the ease with
+which we should get out of it!"
+
+And now this fearful fall had begun. The speed retained had borne the
+projectile beyond the dead point. The explosion of the rockets could not
+divert its course. This speed in going had carried it over the neutral
+line, and in returning had done the same thing. The laws of physics
+condemned _it to pass through every point which it had already gone
+through_. It was a terrible fall, from a height of 160,000 miles, and no
+springs to break it. According to the laws of gunnery, the projectile
+must strike the earth with a speed equal to that with which it left the
+mouth of the Columbiad, a speed of 16,000 yards in the last second.
+
+But to give some figures of comparison, it has been reckoned that an
+object thrown from the top of the towers of Notre Dame, the height of
+which is only 200 feet, will arrive on the pavement at a speed of 240
+miles per hour. Here the projectile must strike the earth with a speed
+of 115,200 miles per hour.
+
+"We are lost!" said Michel coolly.
+
+"Very well! if we die," answered Barbicane, with a sort of religious
+enthusiasm, "the result of our travels will be magnificently spread.
+It is His own secret that God will tell us! In the other life the soul
+will want to know nothing, either of machines or engines! It will be
+identified with eternal wisdom!"
+
+"In fact," interrupted Michel Ardan, "the whole of the other world may
+well console us for the loss of that inferior orb called the moon!"
+
+Barbicane crossed his arms on his breast, with a motion of sublime
+resignation, saying at the same time,--
+
+"The will of heaven be done!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XX.
+
+   THE SOUNDINGS OF THE "SUSQUEHANNA."
+
+
+"Well, lieutenant, and our soundings?"
+
+"I think, sir, that the operation is nearing its completion," replied
+Lieutenant Bronsfield. "But who would have thought of finding such a
+depth so near in shore, and only 200 miles from the American coast?"
+
+"Certainly, Bronsfield, there is a great depression," said Captain
+Blomsberry. "In this spot there is a submarine valley worn by Humboldt's
+current, which skirts the coast of America as far as the Straits of
+Magellan."
+
+"These great depths," continued the lieutenant, "are not favourable for
+laying telegraphic cables. A level bottom, like that supporting the
+American cable between Valentia and Newfoundland, is much better."
+
+"I agree with you, Bronsfield. With your permission, lieutenant, where
+are we now?"
+
+"Sir, at this moment we have 3508 fathoms of line out, and the ball which
+draws the sounding lead has not yet touched the bottom; for if so, it
+would have come up of itself."
+
+"Brook's apparatus is very ingenious," said Captain Blomsberry; "it gives
+us very exact soundings."
+
+"Touch!" cried at this moment one of the men at the fore-wheel, who was
+superintending the operation.
+
+The captain and the lieutenant mounted the quarter-deck. "What depth have
+we?" asked the captain.
+
+"Three thousand six hundred and twenty-seven fathoms," replied the
+lieutenant, entering it in his note-book.
+
+"Well, Bronsfield," said the captain, "I will take down the result. Now
+haul in the sounding line. It will be the work of some hours. In that time
+the engineer can light the furnaces, and we shall be ready to start as
+soon as you have finished. It is ten o'clock, and with your permission,
+lieutenant, I will turn in."
+
+"Do so, sir; do so!" replied the lieutenant obligingly.
+
+The captain of the "Susquehanna," as brave a man as need be, and the
+humble servant of his officers, returned to his cabin, took a brandy-grog,
+which earned for the steward no end of praise, and turned in, not without
+having complimented his servant upon his making beds, and slept a peaceful
+sleep.
+
+It was then ten at night. The eleventh day of the month of December was
+drawing to a close in a magnificent night.
+
+The "Susquehanna," a corvette of 500 horse-power, of the United States'
+navy, was occupied in taking soundings in the Pacific Ocean about
+200 miles off the American coast, following that long peninsula which
+stretches down the coast of New Mexico.
+
+The wind had dropped by degrees. There was no disturbance in the air.
+Their pennant hung motionless from the maintop-gallant-mast truck.
+
+Captain Jonathan Blomsberry (cousin-german of Colonel Blomsberry, one of
+the most ardent supporters of the Gun Club, who had married an aunt of
+the captain and daughter of an honourable Kentucky merchant,)--Captain
+Blomsberry could not have wished for finer weather in which to bring to
+a close his delicate operations of sounding. His corvette had not even
+felt the great tempest, which by sweeping away the groups of clouds on
+the Rocky Mountains, had allowed them to observe the course of the famous
+projectile.
+
+Everything went well, and with all the fervour of a Presbyterian, he did
+not forget to thank heaven for it. The series of soundings taken by the
+"Susquehanna," had for its aim the finding of a favourable spot for the
+laying of a submarine cable to connect the Hawaiian Islands with the
+coast of America.
+
+
+Illustration: "I FANCY I SEE THEM."
+
+
+It was a great undertaking, due to the instigation of a powerful company.
+Its managing director, the intelligent Cyrus Field, purposed even covering
+all the islands of Oceania with a vast electrical network, an immense
+enterprise, and one worthy of American genius.
+
+To the corvette Susquehanna had been confided the first operations of
+sounding. It was on the night of the 11th--12th of December, she was in
+exactly 27° 7' north lat., and 41° 37' west long., on the meridian of
+Washington.
+
+The moon, then in her last quarter, was beginning to rise above the
+horizon.
+
+After the departure of Captain Blomsberry, the lieutenant and some
+officers were standing together on the poop. On the appearance of
+the moon, their thoughts turned to that orb which the eyes of a whole
+hemisphere were contemplating. The best naval glasses could not have
+discovered the projectile wandering around its hemisphere, and yet all
+were pointed towards that brilliant disc which millions of eyes were
+looking at at the same moment.
+
+"They have been gone ten days," said Lieutenant Bronsfield at last. "What
+has become of them?"
+
+"They have arrived, lieutenant," exclaimed a young midshipman, "and
+they are doing what all travellers do when they arrive in a new country,
+taking a walk!"
+
+"Oh! I am sure of that, if you tell me so, my young friend," said
+Lieutenant Bronsfield, smiling.
+
+"But," continued another officer, "their arrival cannot be doubted.
+The projectile was to reach the moon when full on the 5th at midnight.
+We are now at the 11th of December, which makes six days. And in six
+times twenty-four hours, without darkness, one would have time to settle
+comfortably. I fancy I see my brave countrymen encamped at the bottom of
+some valley, on the borders of a Selenite stream, near a projectile half
+buried by its fall amidst volcanic rubbish, Captain Nicholl beginning
+his levelling operations, President Barbicane writing out his notes, and
+Michel Ardan embalming the lunar solitudes with the perfume of his--"
+
+"Yes! it must be so, it is so!" exclaimed the young midshipman, worked
+up to a pitch of enthusiasm by this ideal description of his superior
+officer.
+
+"I should like to believe it," replied the lieutenant, who was quite
+unmoved. "Unfortunately direct news from the lunar world is still
+wanting."
+
+"Beg pardon, lieutenant," said the midshipman, "but cannot President
+Barbicane write?"
+
+A burst of laughter greeted this answer.
+
+"No letters!" continued the young man quickly. "The postal administration
+has something to see to there."
+
+"Might it not be the telegraphic service that is at fault?" asked one of
+the officers ironically.
+
+"Not necessarily," replied the midshipman, not at all confused. "But it
+is very easy to set up a graphic communication with the earth."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By means of the telescope at Long's Peak. You know it brings the moon
+to within four miles of the Rocky Mountains, and that it shows objects on
+its surface of only nine feet in diameter. Very well; let our industrious
+friends construct a gigantic alphabet; let them write words three fathoms
+long, and sentences three miles long, and then they can send us news of
+themselves?"
+
+The young midshipman, who had a certain amount of imagination, was loudly
+applauded; Lieutenant Bronsfield allowing that the idea was possible,
+but observing that if by these means they could _receive_ news from the
+lunar world they could not send any from the terrestrial, unless the
+Selenites had instruments fit for taking distant observations at their
+disposal.
+
+"Evidently," said one of the officers; "but what has become of the
+travellers? what they have done, what they have seen, that above all
+must interest us. Besides, if the experiment has succeeded (which I do
+not doubt), they will try it again. The Columbiad is still sunk in the
+soil of Florida. It is now only a question of powder and shot; and every
+time the moon is at her zenith a cargo of visitors may be sent to her."
+
+"It is clear," replied Lieutenant Bronsfield, "that J. T. Maston will
+one day join his friends."
+
+"If he will have me," cried the midshipman, "I am ready!"
+
+"Oh! volunteers will not be wanting," answered Bronsfield; "and if it
+were allowed, half of the earth's inhabitants would emigrate to the
+moon!"
+
+This conversation between the officers of the Susquehanna was kept up
+until nearly one in the morning. We cannot say what blundering systems
+were broached, what inconsistent theories advanced by these bold spirits.
+Since Barbicane's attempt, nothing seemed impossible to the Americans.
+They had already designed an expedition, not only of savants, but of a
+whole colony towards the Selenite borders, and a complete army, consisting
+of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, to conquer the lunar world.
+
+At one in the morning, the hauling in of the sounding-line was not yet
+completed; 1670 fathoms were still out, which would entail some hours'
+work. According to the commander's orders, the fires had been lighted,
+and steam was being got up. The Susquehanna could have started that very
+instant.
+
+At that moment (it was seventeen minutes past one in the morning)
+Lieutenant Bronsfield was preparing to leave the watch and return to his
+cabin, when his attention was attracted by a distant hissing noise. His
+comrades and himself first thought that this hissing was caused by the
+letting off of steam; but lifting their heads, they found that the noise
+was produced in the highest regions of the air. They had not time to
+question each other before the hissing became frightfully intense, and
+suddenly there appeared to their dazzled eyes an enormous meteor, ignited
+by the rapidity of its course and its friction through the atmospheric
+strata.
+
+This fiery mass grew larger to their eyes, and fell, with the noise
+of thunder, upon the bowsprit, which it smashed close to the stem, and
+buried itself in the waves with a deafening roar!
+
+A few feet nearer, and the Susquehanna would have foundered with all on
+board!
+
+At this instant Captain Blomsberry appeared, half dressed, and rushing on
+to the forecastle-deck, whither all the officers had hurried, exclaimed,
+"With your permission, gentlemen, what has happened?"
+
+And the midshipman, making himself as it were the echo of the body,
+cried, "Commander, it is 'they' come back again!"
+
+
+Illustration: A FEW FEET NEARER.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXI.
+
+   J. T. MASTON RECALLED.
+
+
+"It is 'they' come back again!" the young midshipman had said; and
+every one had understood him. No one doubted but that that meteor was
+the projectile of the Gun Club. As to the travellers which it enclosed,
+opinions were divided regarding their fate.
+
+"They are dead!" said one.
+
+"They are alive!" said another; "the crater is deep, and the shock was
+deadened."
+
+"But they must have wanted air," continued a third speaker; "they must
+have died of suffocation."
+
+"Burnt!" replied a fourth; "the projectile was nothing but an incandescent
+mass as it crossed the atmosphere."
+
+"What does it matter!" they exclaimed unanimously; "living or dead, we
+must pull them out!"
+
+But Captain Blomsberry had assembled his officers, and "with their
+permission," was holding a council. They must decide upon something
+to be done immediately. The more hasty ones were for fishing up the
+projectile. A difficult operation, though not an impossible one. But the
+corvette had no proper machinery, which must be both fixed and powerful;
+so it was resolved that they should put in at the nearest port, and give
+information to the Gun Club of the projectile's fall.
+
+This determination was unanimous. The choice of the port had to be
+discussed. The neighbouring coast had no anchorage on 27° lat. Higher
+up, above the peninsula of Monterey, stands the important town from which
+it takes its name; but, seated on the borders of a perfect desert, it
+was not connected with the interior by a network of telegraphic wires,
+and electricity alone could spread these important news fast enough.
+
+Some degrees above opened the bay of San Francisco. Through the capital
+of the gold country communication would be easy with the heart of the
+Union. And in less than two days the "Susquehanna," by putting on high
+pressure, could arrive in that port. She must therefore start at once.
+
+The fires were made up; they could set off immediately. Two thousand
+fathoms of line were still out, which Captain Blomsberry, not wishing to
+lose precious time in hauling in, resolved to cut.
+
+"We will fasten the end to a buoy," said he, "and that buoy will show us
+the exact spot where the projectile fell."
+
+"Besides," replied Lieutenant Bronsfield, "we have our situation
+exact--27° 7' north lat. and 41° 37' west long."
+
+"Well, Mr. Bronsfield," replied the captain, "now, with your permission,
+we will have the line cut."
+
+A strong buoy, strengthened by a couple of spars, was thrown into the
+ocean. The end of the rope was carefully lashed to it; and, left solely
+to the rise and fall of the billows, the buoy would not sensibly deviate
+from the spot.
+
+At this moment the engineer sent to inform the captain that steam was
+up and they could start, for which agreeable communication the captain
+thanked him. The course was then given north-north-east, and the corvette,
+wearing, steered at full steam direct for San Francisco. It was three in
+the morning.
+
+Four hundred and fifty miles to cross; it was nothing for a good vessel
+like the "Susquehanna." In thirty-six hours she had covered that distance;
+and on the 14th of December, at twenty-seven minutes past one at night,
+she entered the bay of San Francisco.
+
+At the sight of a ship of the national navy arriving at full speed, with
+her bowsprit broken, public curiosity was greatly roused. A dense crowd
+soon assembled on the quay, waiting for them to disembark.
+
+After casting anchor, Captain Blomsberry and Lieutenant Bronsfield
+entered an eight-oared cutter, which soon brought them to land.
+
+They jumped on to the quay.
+
+"The telegraph?" they asked, without answering one of the thousand
+questions addressed to them.
+
+The officer of the port conducted them to the telegraph-office through
+a concourse of spectators. Blomsberry and Bronsfield entered, while the
+crowd crushed each other at the door.
+
+Some minutes later a fourfold telegram was sent out--the first to the
+Naval Secretary at Washington; the second to the Vice-President of the Gun
+Club, Baltimore; the third to the Hon. J. T. Maston, Long's Peak, Rocky
+Mountains; the fourth to the Sub-Director of the Cambridge Observatory,
+Massachusetts.
+
+It was worded as follows:--
+
+
+   "In 20° 7' north lat., and 41° 37' west long., on the 12th of December,
+    at 17 past one in the morning, the projectile of the Columbiad fell
+        into the Pacific. Send instructions.--Blomsberry, Commander
+        'Susquehanna.'"
+
+
+Five minutes afterwards the whole town of San Francisco learned the news.
+Before six in the evening the different States of the Union had heard
+the great catastrophe; and after midnight, by the cable, the whole of
+Europe knew the result of the great American experiment.
+
+We will not attempt to picture the effect produced on the entire world
+by that unexpected denouement.
+
+On receipt of the telegram the Naval Secretary telegraphed to the
+Susquehanna to wait in the bay of San Francisco without extinguishing
+her fires. Day and night she must be ready to put to sea.
+
+The Cambridge Observatory called a special meeting; and, with that
+composure which distinguishes learned bodies in general, peacefully
+discussed the scientific bearings of the question. At the Gun Club there
+was an explosion. All the gunners were assembled. Vice-President the
+Hon. Wilcome was in the act of reading the premature despatch, in which
+J. T. Maston and Belfast announced that the projectile had just been
+seen in the gigantic reflector of Long's Peak, and also that it was held
+by lunar attraction, and was playing the part of under satellite to the
+lunar world.
+
+We know the truth on that point.
+
+But on the arrival of Blomsberry's despatch, so decidedly contradicting
+J. T. Maston's telegram, two parties were formed in the bosom of the Gun
+Club. On one side were those who admitted the fall of the projectile, and
+consequently the return of the travellers; on the other, those who believed
+in the observations of Long's Peak, concluded that the commander of the
+Susquehanna had made a mistake. To the latter the pretended projectile
+was nothing but a meteor! nothing but a meteor, a shooting globe, which
+in its fall had smashed the bows of the corvette. It was difficult to
+answer this argument, for the speed with which it was animated must have
+made observation very difficult. The commander of the Susquehanna and
+her officers might have made a mistake in all good faith; one argument
+however, was in their favour, namely, that if the projectile had fallen
+on the earth, its place of meeting with the terrestrial globe could only
+take place on this 27° north lat., and (taking into consideration the
+time that had elapsed, and the rotary motion of the earth) between the
+forty-first and the forty-second degree of west longitude. In any case,
+it was decided in the Gun Club that Blomsberry brothers, Bilsby, and
+Major Elphinstone should go straight to San Francisco, and consult as to
+the means of raising the projectile from the depths of the ocean.
+
+These devoted men set off at once; and the railroad, which will soon
+cross the whole of central America, took them as far as St. Louis, where
+the swift mail-coaches awaited them. Almost at the same moment in which
+the Secretary of Marine, the Vice-President of the Gun Club, and the
+Sub-Director of the Observatory received the despatch from San Francisco,
+the Honourable J. T. Maston was undergoing the greatest excitement he
+had ever experienced in his life, an excitement which even the bursting
+of his pet gun, which had more than once nearly cost him his life, had
+not caused him. We may remember that the Secretary of the Gun Club had
+started soon after the projectile (and almost as quickly) for the station
+in Long's Peak, in the Rocky Mountains, J. Belfast, Director of the
+Cambridge Observatory, accompanying him. Arrived there, the two friends
+had installed themselves at once, never quitting the summit of their
+enormous telescope. We know that this gigantic instrument had been set up
+according to the reflecting system, called by the English "front view."
+This arrangement subjected all objects to but one reflection, making
+the view consequently much clearer; the result was that, when they were
+taking observations, J. T. Maston and Belfast were placed in the upper
+part of the instrument and not in the lower, which they reached by a
+circular staircase, a masterpiece of lightness, while below them opened
+a metal well terminated by the metallic mirror, which measured 280 feet
+in depth.
+
+It was on a narrow platform placed above the telescope that the two
+savants passed their existence, execrating the day which hid the moon
+from their eyes, and the clouds which obstinately veiled her during the
+night.
+
+What, then, was their delight when, after some days of waiting, on the
+night of the 5th of December, they saw the vehicle which was bearing their
+friends into space! To this delight succeeded a great deception, when,
+trusting to a cursory observation, they launched their first telegram
+to the world, erroneously affirming that the projectile had become a
+satellite of the moon, gravitating in an immutable orbit.
+
+From that moment it had never shown itself to their eyes--a disappearance
+all the more easily explained, as it was then passing behind the moon's
+invisible disc; but when it was time for it to reappear on the visible
+disc, one may imagine the impatience of the fuming J. T. Maston and his
+not less impatient companion. Each minute of the night they thought they
+saw the projectile once more, and they did not see it. Hence constant
+discussions and violent disputes between them, Belfast affirming that
+the projectile could not be seen, J. T. Maston maintaining that "it had
+put his eyes out."
+
+"It is the projectile!" repeated J. T. Maston.
+
+"No," answered Belfast; "it is an avalanche detached from a lunar
+mountain."
+
+"Well, we shall see it to-morrow."
+
+"No, we shall not see it any more. It is carried into space."
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"No!"
+
+And at these moments, when contradictions rained like hail, the well-known
+irritability of the Secretary of the Gun Club constituted a permanent
+danger for the Honorable Belfast. The existence of these two together
+would soon have become impossible; but an unforeseen event cut short
+their everlasting discussions.
+
+During the night, from the 14th to the 15th of December, the two
+irreconcilable friends were busy observing the lunar disc, J. T. Maston
+abusing the learned Belfast as usual, who was by his side; the Secretary
+of the Gun Club maintaining for the thousandth time that he had just seen
+the projectile, and adding that he could see Michel Ardan's face looking
+through one of the scuttles, at the same time enforcing his argument by
+a series of gestures which his formidable hook rendered very unpleasant.
+
+At this moment Belfast's servant appeared on the platform (it was
+ten at night) and gave him a despatch. It was the commander of the
+"Susquehanna's" telegram.
+
+Belfast tore the envelope and read, and uttered a cry.
+
+"What!" said J. T. Maston.
+
+
+Illustration: THE UNFORTUNATE MAN HAD DISAPPEARED.
+
+
+"The projectile!"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Has fallen to the earth!"
+
+Another cry, this time a perfect howl, answered him. He turned towards J.
+T. Maston. The unfortunate man, imprudently leaning over the metal tube,
+had disappeared in the immense telescope. A fall of 280 feet! Belfast,
+dismayed, rushed to the orifice of the reflector.
+
+He breathed. J. T. Maston, caught by his metal hook was holding on by
+one of the rings which bound the telescope together, uttering fearful
+cries.
+
+Belfast called. Help was brought, tackle was let down, and they hoisted
+up, not without some trouble, the imprudent Secretary of the Gun Club.
+
+He reappeared at the upper orifice without hurt.
+
+"Ah!" said he, "if I had broken the mirror?"
+
+"You would have paid for it," replied Belfast severely.
+
+"And that cursed projectile has fallen?" asked J. T. Maston.
+
+"Into the Pacific!"
+
+"Let us go!"
+
+A quarter of an hour after the two savants were descending the declivity
+of the Rocky Mountains; and two days after, at the same time as their
+friends of the Gun Club, they arrived at San Francisco, having killed
+five horses on the road.
+
+Elphinstone, the brothers Blomsberry, and Bilsby rushed towards them on
+their arrival.
+
+"What shall we do?" they exclaimed.
+
+"Fish up the projectile," replied J. T. Maston, "and the sooner the
+better."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXII.
+
+   RECOVERED FROM THE SEA.
+
+
+The spot where the projectile sank under the waves was exactly known;
+but machinery to grasp it and bring it to the surface of the ocean was
+still wanting. It must first be invented, then made. American engineers
+could not be troubled with such trifles. The grappling-irons once fixed,
+by their help they were sure to raise it in spite of its weight, which
+was lessened by the density of the liquid in which it was plunged.
+
+But fishing-up the projectile was not the only thing to be thought of.
+They must act promptly in the interest of the travellers. No one doubted
+that they were still living.
+
+"Yes," repeated J. T. Maston incessantly, whose confidence gained over
+everybody, "our friends are clever people, and they cannot have fallen
+like simpletons. They are alive, quite alive; but we must make haste if
+we wish to find them so. Food and water do not trouble me; they have
+enough for a long while. But air, air, that is what they will soon want;
+so quick, quick!"
+
+And they did go quick. They fitted up the Susquehanna for her new
+destination. Her powerful machinery was brought to bear upon the
+hauling-chains. The aluminium projectile only weighed 19,250 lbs., a
+weight very inferior to that of the transatlantic cable which had been
+drawn up under similar conditions. The only difficulty was in fishing-up
+a cylindro-conical projectile, the walls of which were so smooth as to
+offer no hold for the hooks. On that account Engineer Murchison hastened
+to San Francisco, and had some enormous grappling-irons fixed on an
+automatic system, which would never let the projectile go if it once
+succeeded in seizing it in its powerful claws. Diving-dresses were also
+prepared, which through this impervious covering allowed the divers to
+observe the bottom of the sea. He also had put on board an apparatus
+of compressed air very cleverly designed. There were perfect chambers
+pierced with scuttles, which, with water let into certain compartments,
+could draw it down into great depths. These apparatuses were at San
+Francisco, where they had been used in the construction of a submarine
+breakwater; and very fortunately it was so, for there was no time to
+construct any. But in spite of the perfection of the machinery, in spite
+of the ingenuity of the savants entrusted with the use of them, the
+success of the operation was far from being certain. How great were the
+chances against them, the projectile being 20,000 feet under the water!
+And if even it was brought to the surface, how would the travellers
+have borne the terrible shock which 20,000 feet of water had perhaps
+not sufficiently broken? At any rate they must act quickly. J. T. Maston
+hurried the workmen day and night. He was ready to don the diving-dress
+himself, or try the air apparatus, in order to reconnoitre the situation
+of his courageous friends.
+
+But in spite of all diligence displayed in preparing the different
+engines, in spite of the considerable sum placed at the disposal of
+the Gun Club by the Government of the Union, five long days (five
+centuries!) elapsed before the preparations were complete. During this
+time public opinion was excited to the highest pitch. Telegrams were
+exchanged incessantly throughout the entire world by means of wires and
+electric cables. The saving of Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan was
+an international affair. Every one who had subscribed to the Gun Club
+was directly interested in the welfare of the travellers.
+
+At length the hauling-chains, the air-chambers, and the automatic
+grappling-irons were put on board. J. T. Maston, Engineer Murchison, and
+the delegates of the Gun Club, were already in their cabins. They had
+but to start, which they did on the 21st of December, at eight o'clock
+at night, the corvette meeting with a beautiful sea, a north-easterly
+wind, and rather sharp cold. The whole population of San Francisco was
+gathered on the quay, greatly excited but silent, reserving their hurrahs
+for the return. Steam was fully up, and the screw of the Susquehanna
+carried them briskly out of the bay.
+
+It is needless to relate the conversations on board between the officers,
+sailors, and passengers. All these men had but one thought. All these
+hearts beat under the same emotion. Whilst they were hastening to help
+them, what were Barbicane and his companions doing? What had become
+of them? Were they able to attempt any bold maneuver to regain their
+liberty? None could say. The truth is that every attempt must have
+failed! Immersed nearly four miles under the ocean, this metal prison
+defied every effort of its prisoners.
+
+On the 23rd inst., at eight in the morning, after a rapid passage, the
+Susquehanna was due at the fatal spot. They must wait till twelve to
+take the reckoning exactly. The buoy to which the sounding line had been
+lashed had not yet been recognized.
+
+At twelve, Captain Blomsberry, assisted by his officers who superintended
+the observations, took the reckoning in the presence of the delegates of
+the Gun Club. Then there was a moment of anxiety. Her position decided,
+the Susquehanna was found to be some minutes to westward of the spot
+where the projectile had disappeared beneath the waves.
+
+The ship's course was then changed so as to reach this exact point.
+
+At forty-seven minutes past twelve they reached the buoy, it was in
+perfect condition, and must have shifted but little.
+
+"At last!" exclaimed J. T. Maston.
+
+"Shall we begin?" asked Captain Blomsberry.
+
+"Without losing a second."
+
+
+Illustration: THE DESCENT BEGAN.
+
+
+Every precaution was taken to keep the corvette almost completely
+motionless. Before trying to seize the projectile, Engineer Murchison
+wanted to find its exact position at the bottom of the ocean. The
+submarine apparatus destined for this expedition was supplied with air.
+The working of these engines was not without danger, for at 20,000 feet
+below the surface of the water, and under such great pressure, they were
+exposed to fracture, the consequences of which would be dreadful.
+
+J. T. Maston, the Brothers Blomsberry, and Engineer Murchison, without
+heeding these dangers, took their places in the air-chamber. The
+commander, posted on his bridge, superintended the operation, ready to
+stop or haul in the chains on the slightest signal. The screw had been
+shipped, and the whole power of the machinery collected on the capstan
+would have quickly drawn the apparatus on board. The descent began at
+twenty-five minutes past one at night, and the chamber, drawn under by
+the reservoirs full of water, disappeared from the surface of the ocean.
+
+The emotion of the officers and sailors on board was now divided between
+the prisoners in the projectile and the prisoners in the submarine
+apparatus. As to the latter, they forgot themselves, and, glued to the
+windows of the scuttles, attentively watched the liquid mass through
+which they were passing.
+
+The descent was rapid. At seventeen minutes past two, J. T. Maston
+and his companions had reached the bottom of the Pacific; but they saw
+nothing but an arid desert, no longer animated by either fauna or flora.
+By the light of their lamps, furnished with powerful reflectors, they
+could see the dark beds of the ocean for a considerable extent of view,
+but the projectile was nowhere to be seen.
+
+The impatience of these bold divers cannot be described, and having an
+electrical communication with the corvette, they made a signal already
+agreed upon, and for the space of a mile the Susquehanna moved their
+chamber along some yards above the bottom.
+
+Thus they explored the whole submarine plain, deceived at every turn by
+optical illusions which almost broke their hearts. Here a rock, there a
+projection from the ground, seemed to be the much-sought-for projectile;
+but their mistake was soon discovered, and then they were in despair.
+
+"But where are they? where are they?" cried J. T. Maston. And the poor
+man called loudly upon Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan, as if his
+unfortunate friends could either hear or answer him through such an
+impenetrable medium! The search continued under these conditions until
+the vitiated air compelled the divers to ascend.
+
+The hauling in began about six in the evening, and was not ended before
+midnight.
+
+"To-morrow," said J. T. Maston, as he set foot on the bridge of the
+corvette.
+
+"Yes," answered Captain Blomsberry.
+
+"And on another spot?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+J. T. Maston did not doubt of their final success, but his companions,
+no longer upheld by the excitement of the first hours, understood all
+the difficulty of the enterprise. What seemed easy at San Francisco,
+seemed here in the wide ocean almost impossible. The chances of success
+diminished in rapid proportion; and it was from chance alone that the
+meeting with the projectile might be expected.
+
+The next day, the 24th, in spite of the fatigue of the previous day, the
+operation was renewed. The corvette advanced some minutes to westward,
+and the apparatus, provided with air, bore the same explorers to the
+depths of the ocean.
+
+The whole day passed in fruitless research; the bed of the sea was a
+desert. The 25th brought no other result, nor the 26th.
+
+It was disheartening. They thought of those unfortunates shut up in
+the projectile for twenty-six days. Perhaps at that moment they were
+experiencing the first approach of suffocation; that is, if they had
+escaped the dangers of their fall. The air was spent, and doubtless with
+the air all their _morale_.
+
+"The air, possibly," answered J. T. Maston resolutely, "but their _morale_
+never!"
+
+On the 28th, after two more days of search, all hope was gone. This
+projectile was but an atom in the immensity of the ocean. They must give
+up all idea of finding it.
+
+But J. T. Maston would not hear of going away. He would not abandon the
+place without at least discovering the tomb of his friends. But Commander
+Blomsberry could no longer persist, and in spite of the exclamations of
+the worthy Secretary, was obliged to give the order to sail.
+
+On the 29th of December, at nine a.m., the "Susquehanna," heading N.E.,
+resumed her course to the bay of San Francisco.
+
+It was ten in the morning; the corvette was under half steam, as if
+regretting to leave the spot where the catastrophe had taken place, when
+a sailor, perched on the maintop gallant crosstrees, watching the sea,
+cried suddenly,--
+
+"A buoy on the lee bow!"
+
+The officers looked in the direction indicated, and by the help of
+their glasses saw that the object signalled had the appearance of one
+of those buoys which are used to mark the passages of bays or rivers.
+But, singularly to say, a flag floating on the wind surmounted its cone,
+which emerged five or six feet out of water. This buoy shone under the
+rays of the sun as if it had been made of plates of silver. Commander
+Blomsberry, J. T. Maston, and the delegates of the Gun Club were mounted
+on the bridge, examining this object straying at random on
+the waves.
+
+All looked with feverish anxiety, but in silence. None dared give
+expression to the thoughts which came to the minds of all.
+
+The corvette approached to within two cables' lengths of the object.
+
+A shudder ran through the whole crew. That flag was the American flag!
+
+At this moment a perfect howling was heard; it was the brave J. T. Maston
+who had just fallen all in a heap. Forgetting on the one hand that his
+right arm had been replaced by an iron hook, and on the other that a
+simple gutta-percha cap covered his brain-box, he had given himself a
+formidable blow.
+
+They hurried towards him, picked him up, restored him to life. And what
+were his first words?
+
+"Ah! trebly brutes! quadruply idiots! quintuply boobies that we are!"
+
+"What is it?" exclaimed every one around him.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Come, speak!"
+
+"It is, simpletons," howled the terrible Secretary, "it is that the
+projectile only weighs 19,250 lbs.!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And that it displaces twenty-eight tons, or in other words 56,000 lbs.,
+and that consequently _it floats!_"
+
+Ah! what stress the worthy man laid on the verb "float!" And it was
+true! All, yes! all these savants had forgotten this fundamental law,
+namely, that on account of its specific lightness, the projectile, after
+having been drawn by its fall to the greatest depths of the ocean, must
+naturally return to the surface. And now it was floating quietly at the
+mercy of the waves.
+
+The boats were put to sea. J. T. Maston and his friends had rushed into
+them! Excitement was at its height! Every heart beat loudly whilst they
+advanced to the projectile. What did it contain? Living or dead? Living,
+yes! living, at least unless death had struck Barbicane and his two
+friends since they had hoisted the flag. Profound silence reigned on
+the boats. All were breathless. Eyes no longer saw. One of the scuttles
+of the projectile was open. Some pieces of glass remained in the frame,
+showing that it had been broken. This scuttle was actually five feet
+above the water.
+
+A boat came alongside, that of J. T. Maston, and J. T. Maston rushed to
+the broken window.
+
+At that moment they heard a clear and merry voice, the voice of Michel
+Ardan, exclaiming in an accent of triumph,--
+
+"White all, Barbicane, white all!"
+
+Barbicane, Michel Ardan, and Nicholl were playing at dominoes!
+
+
+Illustration: WHITE ALL BARBICANE.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+   THE END
+
+
+We may remember the intense sympathy which had accompanied the travellers
+on their departure. If at the beginning of the enterprise they had excited
+such emotion both in the old and new world, with what enthusiasm would
+they be received on their return! The millions of spectators which had
+beset the peninsula of Florida, would they not rush to meet these sublime
+adventurers? Those legions of strangers, hurrying from all parts of the
+globe towards the American shores, would they leave the Union without
+having seen Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan? No! and the ardent
+passion of the public was bound to respond worthily to the greatness of
+the enterprise. Human creatures who had left the terrestrial sphere, and
+returned after this strange voyage into celestial space, could not fail
+to be received as the prophet Elias would be if he came back to earth. To
+see them first, and then to hear them, such was the universal longing.
+
+Barbicane, Michel Ardan, Nicholl, and the delegates of the Gun Club,
+returning without delay to Baltimore, were received with indescribable
+enthusiasm. The notes of President Barbicane's voyage were ready to be
+given to the public. The _New York Herald_ bought the manuscript at a
+price not yet known, but which must have been very high. Indeed, during
+the publication of "A Journey to the Moon," the sale of this paper
+amounted to five millions of copies. Three days after the return of
+the travellers to the earth, the slightest detail of their expedition
+was known. There remained nothing more but to see the heroes of this
+superhuman enterprise.
+
+The expedition of Barbicane and his friends round the moon had enabled
+them to correct the many admitted theories regarding the terrestrial
+satellite. These savants had observed _de visu_, and under particular
+circumstances. They knew what systems should be rejected, what retained
+with regard to the formation of that orb, its origin, its habitability.
+Its past, present, and future had even given up their last secrets. Who
+could advance objections against conscientious observers, who at less
+than twenty-four miles distance had marked that curious mountain of
+Tycho, the strangest system of lunar orography? How answer those savants
+whose sight had penetrated the abyss of Pluto's circle? How contradict
+those bold ones whom the chances of their enterprise had borne over that
+invisible face of the disc, which no human eye until then had ever seen?
+It was now their turn to impose some limit on that Selenographic science,
+which had reconstructed the lunar world as Cuvier did the skeleton of a
+fossil, and say, "The moon _was_ this, a habitable world, inhabited before
+the earth! The moon _is_ that, a world uninhabitable, and now uninhabited."
+
+To celebrate the return of its most illustrious member and his two
+companions, the Gun Club decided upon giving a banquet, but a banquet
+worthy of the conquerors, worthy of the American people, and under such
+conditions that all the inhabitants of the Union could directly take part
+in it.
+
+All the head lines of railroads in the State were joined by flying rails;
+and on all the platforms, lined with the same flags, and decorated with
+the same ornaments, were tables laid and all served alike. At certain
+hours, successively calculated, marked by electric clocks which beat
+the seconds at the same time, the population were invited to take their
+place at the banquet tables. For four days, from the 5th to the 9th of
+January, the trains were stopped as they are on Sundays on the railways
+of the United States, and every road was open. One engine only at full
+speed, drawing a triumphal carriage, had the right of travelling for
+those four days on the railroads of the United States. The engine was
+manned by a driver and a stoker, and bore, by special favour, the Hon.
+J. T. Maston, Secretary of the Gun Club. The carriage was reserved for
+President Barbicane, Colonel Nicholl, and Michel Ardan. At the whistle
+of the driver, amid the hurrahs, and all the admiring vociferations
+of the American language, the train left the platform of Baltimore. It
+travelled at a speed of 160 miles in the hour. But what was this speed
+compared with that which had carried the three heroes from the mouth of
+the Columbiad?
+
+Thus they sped from one town to the other, finding whole populations
+at table on their road, saluting them with the same acclamations,
+lavishing the same bravos! They travelled in this way through the east
+of the Union, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine,
+and New Hampshire; the north and the west by New York, Ohio, Michigan,
+and Wisconsin; returning to the south by Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas,
+Texas, and Louisiana; they went to the southeast by Alabama and Florida,
+going up by Georgia and the Carolinas, visiting the centre by Tennessee,
+Kentucky, Virginia, and Indiana, and, after quitting the Washington
+station, re-entered Baltimore, where for four days one would have thought
+that the United States of America were seated at one immense banquet,
+saluting them simultaneously with the same hurrahs! The apotheosis was
+worthy of these three heroes whom fable would have placed in the rank of
+demigods.
+
+And now will this attempt, unprecedented in the annals of travels, lead
+to any practical result? Will direct communication with the moon ever be
+established? Will they ever lay the foundation of a travelling service
+through the solar world? Will they go from one planet to another, from
+Jupiter to Mercury, and after awhile from one star to another, from the
+Polar to Sirius? Will this means of locomotion allow us to visit those
+suns which swarm in the firmament?
+
+To such questions no answer can be given. But knowing the bold ingenuity
+of the Anglo-Saxon race, no one would be astonished if the Americans seek
+to make some use of President Barbicane's attempt.
+
+
+Illustration: THE APOTHEOSIS WAS WORTHY OF THE THREE HEROES.
+
+
+Thus, some time after the return of the travellers, the public received
+with marked favour the announcement of a company, limited, with a capital
+of a hundred million of dollars, divided into a hundred thousand shares
+of a thousand dollars each, under the name of the "_National Company
+of Interstellary Communication._" President Barbicane; Vice-president,
+Captain Nicholl; Secretary, J. T. Maston; Director of Movements, Michel
+Ardan.
+
+And as it is part of the American temperament to foresee everything in
+business, even failure, the Honourable Harry Trolloppe, judge commissioner,
+and Francis Drayton, magistrate, were nominated beforehand!
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor inconsistencies in the spelling of character names have been
+regularized.
+
+The spelling of the names of historical scientists "Boeer and Moedler"
+have been regularized to be consistent as possible with the author's
+inconsistent spelling, which today are spelled variously but perhaps
+most commonly "Beer and Moedler".
+
+Obvious minor typesetting errors have been silently corrected.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
+IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 44278-8.txt or 44278-8.zip *******
+
+
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diff --git a/44278-8.zip b/44278-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..625525a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/44278-8.zip
diff --git a/44278-h.zip b/44278-h.zip
index 2f0af94..516b565 100644
--- a/44278-h.zip
+++ b/44278-h.zip
diff --git a/44278-h/44278-h.htm b/44278-h/44278-h.htm
index 04284ee..ca77039 100644
--- a/44278-h/44278-h.htm
+++ b/44278-h/44278-h.htm
@@ -57,29 +57,26 @@ p { text-indent: 0em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.49em; }
 </style>
 </head>
 <body>
-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours
-  and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules Verne</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
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-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jules Verne</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 24, 2013 [eBook #44278]<br />
-[Most recently updated: October 4, 2022]</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: an anonymous volunteer
-    from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</div>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT ***</div>
-
+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in
+Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules
+Verne, Translated by Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King</h1>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
-<h4 class="centered">E-text prepared by by </h4>
+<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a
+href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p>
+<p>Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It</p>
+<p>Author: Jules Verne</p>
+<p>Release Date: November 24, 2013  [eBook #44278]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4 class="centered">E-text prepared by by an anonymous volunteer<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive<br />
+    (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
 <table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
   <tr>
@@ -9194,7 +9191,7 @@ asked Michel Ardan.</p>
 <p>"We don't know," replied Barbicane.</p>
 <p>"But one can draw some hypotheses, I suppose?"</p>
 <p>"Two," answered Barbicane; "either the projectile's speed will be
-insufficient, and it will remain for ever immovable on this line of double
+insufficient, and it will remain for immovable on this line of double
 attraction—"</p>
 <p>"I prefer the other hypothesis, whatever it may be," interrupted
 Michel.</p>
@@ -10245,448 +10242,362 @@ variously but perhaps most commonly "Beer and Moedler".</i></small></p>
 <p><small><i>Cover art titling was done by the transcriber, who puts any
 claim of copyright in the public domain.</i></small></p>
 
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT ***</div>
-<div style='text-align:left'>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 44278-h.txt or 44278-h.zip *******</p>
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diff --git a/44278.txt b/44278.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37303a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/44278.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12460 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in
+Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It, by Jules
+Verne, Translated by Louis Mercier and Eleanor E. King
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It
+
+
+Author: Jules Verne
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 24, 2013  [eBook #44278]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
+IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***
+
+
+E-text prepared by by an anonymous volunteer from page images generously
+made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 44278-h.htm or 44278-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h/44278-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44278/44278-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/fromearthtomoond00vern
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+   A carat character is used to denote superscription. A
+   single character following the carat is superscripted
+   (example: n^2).
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustration: Frontispiece. PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
+
+
+FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS
+AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT:
+
+by
+
+JULES VERNE,
+
+Author of "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth."
+
+Translated from the French by
+Louis Mercier, M.A., (Oxon,) and Eleanor E. King.
+
+With Eighty Full Page Illustrations.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York:
+Scribner, Armstrong & Company.
+1874.
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._
+
+------------------
+
+A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
+
+With 53 Illustrations. One Vol. 12mo, $2.00.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+ROUND THE MOON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE GUN CLUB
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+EFFECT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HISTORY OF THE CANNON
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ONE ENEMY _v._ TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FLORIDA AND TEXAS
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+URBI ET ORBI
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+STONES HILL
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+PICKAXE AND TROWEL
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE FETE OF THE CASTING
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE COLUMBIAD
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE PASSENGER OF THE "ATLANTA"
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A MONSTER MEETING
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+ATTACK AND RIPOSTE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+HOW A FRENCHMAN MANAGES AN AFFAIR
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE NEW CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE PROJECTILE-VEHICLE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+FINAL DETAILS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+FIRE!
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+FOUL WEATHER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A NEW STAR
+
+
+
+ROUND THE MOON
+
+
+PRELIMINARY CHAPTER
+
+RECAPITULATORY
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FROM TWENTY MINUTES PAST TEN TO FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES PAST TEN P.M.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE FIRST HALF-HOUR
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THEIR PLACE OF SHELTER
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A LITTLE ALGEBRA
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE COLD OF SPACE
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+QUESTION AND ANSWER
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A MOMENT OF INTOXICATION
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AT SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LEAGUES
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEVIATION
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE OBSERVERS OF THE MOON
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FANCY AND REALITY
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+OROGRAPHIC DETAILS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LUNAR LANDSCAPES
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE NIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR HOURS AND A HALF
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HYPERBOLA OR PARABOLA
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+TYCHO
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+GRAVE QUESTIONS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A STRUGGLE AGAINST THE IMPOSSIBLE
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE SOUNDINGS OF THE "SUSQUEHANNA"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+J. T. MASTON RECALLED
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+RECOVERED FROM THE SEA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE END
+
+
+      ------
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+      ------
+
+   ROUND THE MOON.
+
+
+
+
+   LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+ The Artillery-men of the Gun Club
+
+ President Barbicane
+
+ Meeting of the Gun Club
+
+ The Torchlight Procession
+
+ Cambridge Observatory
+
+ The Moon's Disc
+
+ Barbicane holds forth
+
+ The Rodman Columbiad
+
+ Cannon at Malta in the time of the Knights
+
+ Ideal Sketch of J. T. Maston's Gun
+
+ The invention of Gunpowder by the Monk Schwartz
+
+ Captain Nicholl
+
+ Nicholl published a number of Letters in the Newspapers
+
+ It became necessary to keep an eye upon the Deputies
+
+ The Subscription was opened
+
+ The Manufactory at Coldspring, near New York
+
+ Tampa Town, previous to the undertaking
+
+ They were compelled to ford several Rivers
+
+ The Work progressed regularly
+
+ The Casting
+
+ Tampa Town, after the undertaking
+
+ The Banquet in the Columbiad
+
+ President Barbicane at his Window
+
+ Michel Ardan
+
+ The Meeting
+
+ Projectile Trains for the Moon
+
+ Attack and Riposte
+
+ The Platform was suddenly carried away
+
+ Maston burst into the Room
+
+ In the midst of this Snare was a poor little Bird
+
+ "Go with me, and see whether we are stopped on our journey"
+
+ The Cat taken out of the Shell
+
+ The Arrival of the Projectile at Stones Hill
+
+ J. T. Maston had grown fat
+
+ The Telescope of the Rocky Mountains
+
+ The Interior of the Projectile
+
+ An innumerable Multitude covered the Prairie round Stones Hill
+
+ Fire!!
+
+ Effect of the Explosion
+
+ The Director at his Post
+
+ The Gas caught fire
+
+ Diana and Satellite
+
+ The courageous Frenchman
+
+ They raised Barbicane
+
+ It was an enormous Disc
+
+ They gave her a pie
+
+ The Sun chose to be of the party
+
+ Ardan plunged his hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes
+
+ "Do I understand it?" cried Ardan; "my head is splitting with it".
+
+ Satellite was thrown out
+
+ It was the Body of Satellite
+
+ "I could have ventured out on the top of the Projectile"
+
+ They struck up a frantic dance
+
+ "The Oxygen!" he exclaimed
+
+ "Ah! if Raphael had seen us thus"
+
+ The Telescope at Parsonstown
+
+ How many people have heard speak of the Moon!
+
+ "This plain would then be nothing but an immense Cemetery"
+
+ "What Giant Oxen!"
+
+ He could distinguish nothing but Desert Beds
+
+ "It is the fault of the Moon"
+
+ Nothing could equal the splendour of this starry world
+
+ "The vapour of our breath will fall in snow around us"
+
+ A Discussion arose
+
+ A Prey to frightful Terror
+
+ What a sight!
+
+ "The Sun!"
+
+ "Light and Heat; all Life is contained in them"
+
+ He distinguished all this
+
+ Can you picture to yourselves
+
+ A violent Contraction of the Lunar Crust
+
+ Around the Projectile were the Objects which had been thrown out
+
+ "These practical people have sometimes most inopportune ideas"
+
+ Ardan applied the lighted Match
+
+ "I fancy I see them"
+
+ A few feet nearer
+
+ The unfortunate man had disappeared
+
+ The Descent began
+
+ "White all, Barbicane"
+
+ The Apotheosis was worthy of the three Heroes
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+
+       ------
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was
+established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland. It is well
+known with what energy the taste for military matters became developed
+amongst that nation of ship-owners, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Simple
+tradesmen jumped their counters to become extemporized captains, colonels,
+and generals, without having ever passed the School of Instruction at
+West Point: nevertheless, they quickly rivalled their compeers of the
+old continent, and, like them, carried off victories by dint of lavish
+expenditure in ammunition, money, and men.
+
+But the point in which the Americans singularly distanced the Europeans
+was in the science of _gunnery._ Not, indeed, that their weapons retained
+a higher degree of perfection than theirs, but that they exhibited
+unheard-of dimensions, and consequently attained hitherto unheard-of
+ranges. In point of grazing, plunging, oblique, or enfilading, or
+point-blank firing, the English, French, and Prussians have nothing to
+learn; but their cannon, howitzers, and mortars are mere pocket-pistols
+compared with the formidable engines of the American artillery.
+
+This fact need surprise no one. The Yankees, the first mechanicians in
+the world, are engineers--just as the Italians are musicians and the
+Germans metaphysicians--by right of birth. Nothing is more natural,
+therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to
+the science of gunnery. Witness the marvels of Parrott, Dahlgren, and
+Rodman. The Armstrong, Palliser, and Beaulieu guns were compelled to bow
+before their transatlantic rivals.
+
+Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to
+share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries.
+Given _four,_ they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready
+for work; _five,_ they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully
+constituted. So things were managed in Baltimore. The inventor of a new
+cannon associated himself with the caster and the borer. Thus was formed
+the nucleus of the "Gun Club." In a single month after its formation it
+numbered 1833 effective members and 30,565 corresponding members.
+
+One condition was imposed as a _sine qua non_ upon every candidate for
+admission into the association, and that was the condition of having
+designed, or (more or less) perfected a cannon; or, in default of a
+cannon, at least a firearm of some description. It may, however, be
+mentioned that mere inventions of revolvers, five-shooting carbines,
+and similar small arms, met with but little consideration. Artillerists
+always commanded the chief place of favour.
+
+The estimation in which these gentlemen were held, according to one
+of the most scientific exponents of the Gun Club, was "proportional to
+the masses of their guns, and in the direct ratio of the square of the
+distances attained by their projectiles."
+
+The Gun Club once founded, it is easy to conceive the result of the
+inventive genius of the Americans. Their military weapons attained colossal
+proportions, and their projectiles, exceeding the prescribed limits,
+unfortunately occasionally cut in two some unoffending pedestrians.
+These inventions, in fact, left far in the rear the timid instruments of
+European artillery.
+
+It is but fair to add that these Yankees, brave as they have ever proved
+themselves to be, did not confine themselves to theories and formulae,
+but that they paid heavily, in _propria persona,_ for their inventions.
+Amongst them were to be counted officers of all ranks, from lieutenants
+to generals; military men of every age, from those who were just making
+their _debut_ in the profession of arms up to those who had grown old on
+the gun-carriage. Many had found their rest on the field of battle whose
+names figured in the "Book of Honour" of the Gun Club; and of those who
+made good their return the greater proportion bore the marks of their
+indisputable valour. Crutches, wooden legs, artificial arms, steel hooks,
+caoutchouc jaws, silver craniums, platinum noses, were all to be found in
+the collection; and it was calculated by the great statistician Pitcairn
+that throughout the Gun Club there was not quite one arm between four
+persons and exactly two legs between six.
+
+Nevertheless, these valiant artillerists took no particular account of
+these little facts, and felt justly proud when the despatches of a battle
+returned the number of victims at tenfold the quantity of the projectiles
+expended.
+
+One day, however--sad and melancholy day!--peace was signed between
+the survivors of the war; the thunder of the guns gradually ceased,
+the mortars were silent, the howitzers were muzzled for an indefinite
+period, the cannon, with muzzles depressed, were returned into the
+arsenal, the shot were repiled, all bloody reminiscences were effaced;
+the cotton-plants grew luxuriantly in the well-manured fields, all
+mourning garments were laid aside, together with grief; and the Gun Club
+was relegated to profound inactivity.
+
+Some few of the more advanced and inveterate theorists set themselves
+again to work upon calculations regarding the laws of projectiles. They
+reverted invariably to gigantic shells and howitzers of unparalleled
+calibre. Still, in default of practical experience what was the value
+of mere theories? Consequently, the club-rooms became deserted, the
+servants dozed in the antechambers, the newspapers grew mouldy on the
+tables, sounds of snoring came from dark corners, and the members of the
+Gun Club, erstwhile so noisy in their seances, were reduced to silence
+by this disastrous peace and gave themselves up wholly to dreams of a
+Platonic kind of artillery.
+
+"This is horrible!" said Tom Hunter one evening, while rapidly carbonizing
+his wooden legs in the fireplace of the smoking-room; "nothing to do!
+nothing to look forward to! what a loathsome existence! When again shall
+the guns arouse us in the morning with their delightful reports?"
+
+"Those days are gone by," said jolly Bilsby, trying to extend his missing
+arms. "It was delightful once upon a time! One invented a gun, and hardly
+was it cast, when one hastened to try it in the face of the enemy! Then
+one returned to camp with a word of encouragement from Sherman or a
+friendly shake of the hand from M'Clellan. But now the generals are gone
+back to their counters; and in place of projectiles, they despatch bales
+of cotton. By Jove, the future of gunnery in America is lost!"
+
+"Ay! and no war in prospect!" continued the famous James T. Maston,
+scratching with his steel hook his gutta-percha cranium. "Not a cloud in
+the horizon! and that too at such a critical period in the progress of
+the science of artillery! Yes, gentlemen! I who address you have myself
+this very morning perfected a model (plan, section, elevation, &c.) of
+a mortar destined to change all the conditions of warfare!"
+
+"No! is it possible?" replied Tom Hunter, his thoughts reverting
+involuntarily to a former invention of the Hon. J. T. Maston, by which,
+at its first trial, he had succeeded in killing three hundred and
+thirty-seven people.
+
+
+Illustration: THE ARTILLERY MEN OF THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+"Fact!" replied he. "Still, what is the use of so many studies worked
+out, so many difficulties vanquished? It's mere waste of time! The New
+World seems to have made up its mind to live in peace; and our bellicose
+_Tribune_ predicts some approaching catastrophes arising out of this
+scandalous increase of population."
+
+"Nevertheless," replied Colonel Blomsberry, "they are always struggling
+in Europe to maintain the principle of nationalities."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, there might be some field for enterprise down there; and if they
+would accept our services--"
+
+"What are you dreaming of?" screamed Bilsby; "work at gunnery for the
+benefit of foreigners?"
+
+"That would be better than doing nothing here," returned the colonel.
+
+"Quite so," said J. T. Maston; "but still we need not dream of that
+expedient."
+
+"And why not?" demanded the colonel.
+
+"Because their ideas of progress in the Old World are contrary to our
+American habits of thought. Those fellows believe that one can't become
+a general without having served first as an ensign; which is as much as
+to say that one can't point a gun without having first cast it oneself!"
+
+"Ridiculous!" replied Tom Hunter, whittling with his bowie-knife the arms
+of his easy-chair; "but if that be the case there, all that is left for
+us is to plant tobacco and distil whale-oil."
+
+"What!" roared J. T. Maston, "shall we not employ these remaining
+years of our life in perfecting fire-arms? Shall there never be a fresh
+opportunity of trying the ranges of projectiles? Shall the air never again
+be lighted with the glare of our guns? No international difficulty ever
+arise to enable us to declare war against some transatlantic power? Shall
+not the French sink one of our steamers, or the English, in defiance of
+the rights of nations, hang a few of our countrymen?"
+
+"No such luck," replied Colonel Blomsberry; "nothing of the kind is likely
+to happen; and even if it did, we should not profit by it. American
+susceptibility is fast declining, and we are all going to the dogs."
+
+"It is too true," replied J. T. Maston, with fresh violence; "there are
+a thousand grounds for fighting, and yet we don't fight. We save up our
+arms and legs for the benefit of nations who don't know what to do with
+them! But stop--without going out of one's way to find a cause for
+war--did not North America once belong to the English?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Tom Hunter, stamping his crutch with fury.
+
+"Well then," replied J. T. Maston, "why should not England in her turn
+belong to the Americans?"
+
+"It would be but just and fair," returned Colonel Blomsberry.
+
+"Go and propose it to the President of the United States," cried J. T.
+Maston, "and see how he will receive you."
+
+"Bah!" growled Bilsby between the four teeth which the war had left him;
+"that will never do!"
+
+"By Jove!" cried J. T. Maston, "he mustn't count on my vote at the next
+election!"
+
+"Nor on ours," replied unanimously all the bellicose invalids.
+
+"Meanwhile," replied J. T. M., "allow me to say that, if I cannot get an
+opportunity to try my new mortars on a real field of battle, I shall say
+good-bye to the members of the Gun Club, and go and bury myself in the
+prairies of Arkansas!"
+
+"In that case we will accompany you," cried the others.
+
+Matters were in this unfortunate condition, and the club was threatened
+with approaching dissolution, when an unexpected circumstance occurred
+to prevent so deplorable a catastrophe.
+
+On the morrow after this conversation every member of the association
+received a sealed circular couched in the following terms:--
+
+   "BALTIMORE, _Oct._ 3.
+
+   "The President of the Gun Club has the honour to inform his colleagues
+   that, at the meeting of the 5th instant, he will bring before them
+   a communication of an extremely interesting nature. He requests,
+   therefore, that they will make it convenient to attend in accordance
+   with the present invitation.--Very cordially,
+
+   Impey Barbicane, P.G.C."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   PRESIDENT BARBICANE'S COMMUNICATION.
+
+
+On the 5th of October, at 8 p.m., a dense crowd pressed towards the
+saloons of the Gun Club at No. 21, Union Square. All the members of
+the association resident in Baltimore attended the invitation of their
+president. As regards the corresponding members, notices were delivered
+by hundreds throughout the streets of the city, and, large as was the
+great hall, it was quite inadequate to accommodate the crowd of _savants_.
+They overflowed into the adjoining rooms, down the narrow passages, into
+the outer courtyards. There they ran against the vulgar herd who pressed
+up to the doors, each struggling to reach the front ranks, all eager to
+learn the nature of the important communication of President Barbicane;
+all pushing, squeezing, crushing with that perfect freedom of action which
+is peculiar to the masses when educated in ideas of "self-government."
+
+On that evening a stranger who might have chanced to be in Baltimore
+could not have gained admission for love or money into the great hall.
+That was reserved exclusively for resident or corresponding members; no
+one else could possibly have obtained a place; and the city magnates,
+municipal councillors, and "select men" were compelled to mingle with the
+mere townspeople in order to catch stray bits of news from the interior.
+
+Nevertheless the vast hall presented a curious spectacle. Its immense
+area was singularly adapted to the purpose. Lofty pillars formed of
+cannon, superposed upon huge mortars as a base, supported the fine
+ironwork of the arches, a perfect piece of cast-iron lacework. Trophies
+of blunderbuses, matchlocks, arquebuses, carbines, all kinds of fire-arms,
+ancient and modern, were picturesquely interlaced against the walls.
+The gas lit up in full glare myriads of revolvers grouped in the form
+of lustres, whilst groups of pistols, and candelabra formed of muskets
+bound together, completed this magnificent display of brilliance. Models
+of cannon, bronze castings, sights covered with dents, plates battered by
+the shots of the Gun Club, assortments of rammers and sponges, chaplets
+of shells, wreaths of projectiles, garlands of howitzers--in short, all
+the apparatus of the artillerist, enchanted the eye by this wonderful
+arrangement and induced a kind of belief that their real purpose was
+ornamental rather than deadly.
+
+At the further end of the saloon the president, assisted by four
+secretaries, occupied a large platform. His chair, supported by a carved
+gun-carriage, was modelled upon the ponderous proportions of a 32-inch
+mortar. It was pointed at an angle of ninety degrees, and suspended upon
+trunnions, so that the president could balance himself upon it as upon
+a rocking-chair, a very agreeable fact in the very hot weather. Upon the
+table (a huge iron plate supported upon six carronnades) stood an inkstand
+of exquisite elegance, made of a beautifully chased Spanish piece, and a
+sonnette, which, when required, could give forth a report equal to that
+of a revolver. During violent debates this novel kind of bell scarcely
+sufficed to drown the clamour of these excitable artillerists.
+
+In front of the table benches arranged in zigzag form, like the
+circumvallations of a retrenchment, formed a succession of bastions and
+curtains set apart for the use of the members of the club; and on this
+especial evening one might say, "All the world was on the ramparts." The
+president was sufficiently well known, however, for all to be assured
+that he would not put his colleagues to discomfort without some very
+strong motive.
+
+Impey Barbicane was a man of forty years of age, calm, cold, austere;
+of a singularly serious and self-contained demeanour, punctual as a
+chronometer, of imperturbable temper and immovable character; by no means
+chivalrous, yet adventurous withal, and always bringing practical ideas
+to bear upon the very rashest enterprises; an essentially New-Englander,
+a Northern colonist, a descendant of the old anti-Stuart Roundheads,
+and the implacable enemy of the gentlemen of the South, those ancient
+Cavaliers of the mother-country. In a word, he was a Yankee to the
+backbone.
+
+Barbicane had made a large fortune as a timber-merchant. Being nominated
+Director of Artillery during the war, he proved himself fertile in
+invention. Bold in his conceptions, he contributed powerfully to
+the progress of that arm and gave an immense impetus to experimental
+researches.
+
+He was a personage of the middle height, having, by a rare exception
+in the Gun Club, all his limbs complete. His strongly-marked features
+seemed drawn by square and rule; and if it be true that, in order to
+judge of a man's character one must look at his profile, Barbicane, so
+examined, exhibited the most certain indications of energy, audacity,
+and _sang-froid._
+
+At this moment he was sitting in his armchair, silent, absorbed, lost in
+reflection, sheltered under his high-crowned hat--a kind of black silk
+cylinder which always seems firmly screwed upon the head of an American.
+
+Just when the deep-toned clock in the great hall struck eight, Barbicane,
+as if he had been set in motion by a spring, raised himself up. A profound
+silence ensued, and the speaker, in a somewhat emphatic tone of voice,
+commenced as follows:--
+
+"My brave colleagues, too long already a paralyzing peace has plunged
+the members of the Gun Club in deplorable inactivity. After a period of
+years full of incidents we have been compelled to abandon our labours,
+and to stop short on the road of progress. I do not hesitate to state,
+boldly, that any war which should recall us to arms would be welcome!"
+(_Tremendous applause!_)
+
+
+Illustration: PRESIDENT BARBICANE.
+
+
+"But war, gentlemen, is impossible under existing circumstances; and,
+however we may desire it, many years may elapse before our cannon shall
+again thunder in the field of battle. We must make up our minds, then,
+to seek in another train of ideas some field for the activity which we
+all pine for."
+
+The meeting felt that the president was now approaching the critical
+point, and redoubled their attention accordingly.
+
+"For some months past, my brave colleagues," continued Barbicane, "I
+have been asking myself whether, while confining ourselves to our own
+particular objects, we could not enter upon some grand experiment worthy
+of the nineteenth century; and whether the progress of artillery science
+would not enable us to carry it out to a successful issue. I have been
+considering, working, calculating; and the result of my studies is the
+conviction that we are safe to succeed in an enterprise which to any
+other country would appear wholly impracticable. This project, the result
+of long elaboration, is the object of my present communication. It is
+worthy of yourselves, worthy of the antecedents of the Gun Club; and it
+cannot fail to make some noise in the world."
+
+A thrill of excitement ran through the meeting.
+
+Barbicane, having by a rapid movement firmly fixed his hat upon his head,
+calmly continued his harangue:--
+
+"There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen _the
+Moon,_ or, at least, heard speak of it. Don't be surprised if I am about
+to discourse to you regarding this Queen of the Night. It is perhaps
+reserved for us to become the Columbuses of this unknown world. Only enter
+into my plans, and second me with all your power, and I will lead you
+to its conquest, and its name shall be added to those of the thirty-six
+States which compose this Great Union."
+
+"Three cheers for the Moon!" roared the Gun Club, with one voice.
+
+"The moon, gentlemen, has been carefully studied," continued Barbicane;
+"her mass, density, and weight; her constitution, motions, distance, as
+well as her place in the solar system, have all been exactly determined.
+Selenographic charts have been constructed with a perfection which equals,
+if it does not even surpass, that of our terrestrial maps. Photography
+has given us proofs of the incomparable beauty of our satellite; in short,
+all is known regarding the moon which mathematical science, astronomy,
+geology, and optics can learn about her. But up to the present moment no
+direct communication has been established with her."
+
+A violent movement of interest and surprise here greeted this remark of
+the speaker.
+
+"Permit me," he continued, "to recount to you briefly how certain ardent
+spirits, starting on imaginary journeys, have penetrated the secrets
+of our satellite. In the seventeenth century a certain David Fabricius
+boasted of having seen with his own eyes the inhabitants of the moon. In
+1649 a Frenchman, one Jean Baudoin, published a 'Journey performed from
+the Earth to the Moon by Domingo Gonzalez,' a Spanish Adventurer. At
+the same period Cyrano de Bergerac published that celebrated 'Journeys
+in the Moon' which met with such success in France. Somewhat later
+another Frenchman, named Fontenelle, wrote 'The Plurality of Worlds,'
+a _chef-d'oeuvre_ of its time. About 1835 a small treatise, translated
+from the _New York American_, related how Sir John Herschell, having
+been despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of making there
+some astronomical calculations, had, by means of a telescope brought to
+perfection by means of internal lighting, reduced the apparent distance of
+the moon to eighty yards! He then distinctly perceived caverns frequented
+by hippopotami, green mountains bordered by golden lace-work, sheep with
+horns of ivory, a white species of deer and inhabitants with membranous
+wings, like bats. This _brochure,_ the work of an American named Locke,
+had a great sale. But, to bring this rapid sketch to a close, I will
+only add that a certain Hans Pfaal, of Rotterdam, launching himself in
+a balloon filled with a gas extracted from nitrogen, thirty-seven times
+lighter than hydrogen, reached the moon after a passage of nineteen
+hours. This journey, like all the previous ones, was purely imaginary;
+still, it was the work of a popular American author--I mean Edgar Poe!"
+
+
+Illustration: MEETING OF THE GUN CLUB.
+
+
+"Cheers for Edgar Poe!" roared the assemblage, electrified by their
+president's words.
+
+"I have now enumerated," said Barbicane, "the experiments which I
+call purely paper ones, and wholly insufficient to establish serious
+relations with the Queen of Night. Nevertheless, I am bound to add that
+some practical geniuses have attempted to establish actual communication
+with her. Thus, a few years ago, a German geometrician proposed to
+send a scientific expedition to the steppes of Siberia. There, on those
+vast plains, they were to describe enormous geometric figures, drawn
+in characters of reflecting luminosity, amongst which was the prop.
+regarding the 'square of the hypothenuse,' commonly called the '_Ass's
+bridge_' by the French. 'Every intelligent being,' said the geometrician,
+'must understand the scientific meaning of that figure. The Selenites, do
+they exist, will respond by a similar figure; and, a communication being
+thus once established, it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall
+enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.' So spoke the
+German geometrician; but his project was never put into practice, and up
+to the present day there is no bond in existence between the earth and
+her satellite. It is reserved for the practical genius of Americans to
+establish a communication with the sidereal world. The means of arriving
+thither are simple, easy, certain, infallible--and that is the purpose
+of my present proposal."
+
+A storm of acclamations greeted these words. There was not a single
+person in the whole audience who was not overcome, carried away, lifted
+out of himself by the speaker's words!
+
+Long continued applause resounded from all sides.
+
+As soon as the excitement had partially subsided, Barbicane resumed his
+speech in a somewhat graver voice.
+
+"You know," said he, "what progress artillery science has made during
+the last few years, and what a degree of perfection firearms of every
+kind have reached. Moreover, you are well aware that, in general terms,
+the resisting power of cannon and the expansive force of gunpowder are
+practically unlimited. Well! starting from this principle, I ask myself
+whether, supposing sufficient apparatus could be obtained constructed
+upon the conditions of ascertained resistance, it might not be possible
+to project a shot up to the moon?"
+
+At these words a murmur of amazement escaped from a thousand panting
+chests; then succeeded a moment of perfect silence, resembling that
+profound stillness which precedes the bursting of a thunderstorm. In
+point of fact, a thunderstorm did peal forth, but it was the thunder of
+applause, of cries, and of uproar which made the very hall tremble. The
+president attempted to speak, but could not. It was fully ten minutes
+before he could make himself heard.
+
+"Suffer me to finish," he calmly continued. "I have looked at the
+question in all its bearings, I have resolutely attacked it, and by
+incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an
+initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, and aimed at the moon, must
+necessarily reach it. I have the honour, my brave colleagues, to propose
+a trial of this little experiment."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   EFFECT OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATION.
+
+
+It is impossible to describe the effect produced by the last words of
+the honorable president--the cries, the shouts, the succession of roars,
+hurrahs, and all the varied vociferations which the American language
+is capable of supplying. It was a scene of indescribable confusion and
+uproar. They shouted, they clapped, they stamped on the floor of the
+hall. All the weapons in the museum discharged at once could not have more
+violently set in motion the waves of sound. One need not be surprised at
+this. There are some cannoneers nearly as noisy as their
+own guns.
+
+Barbicane remained calm in the midst of this enthusiastic clamour; perhaps
+he was desirous of addressing a few more words to his colleagues, for by
+his gestures he demanded silence, and his powerful alarum was worn out
+by its violent reports. No attention, however, was paid to his request.
+He was presently torn from his seat and passed from the hands of his
+faithful colleagues into the arms of a no less excited crowd.
+
+Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word
+"impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived
+by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for
+mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between
+Barbicane's proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have
+allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible. A thing with
+them is no sooner said than done.
+
+The triumphal progress of the president continued throughout the evening.
+It was a regular torchlight procession. Irish, Germans, French, Scotch,
+all the heterogeneous units which make up the population of Maryland
+shouted in their respective vernaculars; and the "vivas," "hurrahs," and
+"bravos" were intermingled in inexpressible enthusiasm.
+
+Just at this crisis, as though she comprehended all this agitation
+regarding herself, the Moon shone forth with serene splendour, eclipsing
+by her intense illumination all the surrounding lights. The Yankees
+all turned their gaze towards her resplendent orb, kissed their hands,
+called her by all kinds of endearing names. Between eight o'clock and
+midnight one optician in Jones'-Fall Street made his fortune by the sale
+of opera-glasses.
+
+Midnight arrived, and the enthusiasm showed no signs of diminution.
+It spread equally among all classes of citizens--men of science,
+shopkeepers, merchants, porters, chair-men, as well as "greenhorns,"
+were stirred in their innermost fibres. A national enterprise was at
+stake. The whole city, high and low, the quays bordering the Patapsco,
+the ships lying in the basins, disgorged a crowd drunk with joy, gin,
+and whisky. Every one chattered, argued, discussed, disputed, applauded,
+from the gentleman lounging upon the barroom settee with his tumbler of
+sherry-cobbler before him down to the waterman who got drunk upon his
+"knock-me-down" in the dingy taverns of Fell Point.
+
+About 2 a.m., however, the excitement began to subside. President
+Barbicane reached his house, bruised, crushed, and squeezed almost
+to a mummy. A Hercules could not have resisted a similar outbreak of
+enthusiasm. The crowd gradually deserted the squares and streets. The
+four railways from Philadelphia and Washington, Harrisburg and Wheeling,
+which converge at Baltimore, whirled away the heterogeneous population
+to the four corners of the United States, and the city subsided into
+comparative tranquillity.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION.
+
+
+On the following day, thanks to the telegraphic wires, five hundred
+newspapers and journals, daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly, all
+took up the question. They examined it under all its different aspects,
+physical, meteorological, economical, or moral, up to its bearings on
+politics or civilization. They debated whether the moon was a finished
+world, or whether it was destined to undergo any further transformation.
+Did it resemble the earth at the period when the latter was destitute as
+yet of an atmosphere? What kind of spectacle would its hidden hemisphere
+present to our terrestrial spheroid? Granting that the question at
+present was simply that of sending a projectile up to the moon, every one
+must see that that involved the commencement of a series of experiments.
+All must hope that some day America would penetrate the deepest secrets
+of that mysterious orb; and some even seemed to fear lest its conquest
+should not sensibly derange the equilibrium of Europe.
+
+The project once under discussion, not a single paragraph suggested a doubt
+of its realization. All the papers, pamphlets, reports--all the journals
+published by the scientific, literary, and religious societies enlarged
+upon its advantages; and the Society of Natural History of Boston, the
+Society of Science and Art of Albany, the Geographical and Statistical
+Society of New York, the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the
+Smithsonian of Washington sent innumerable letters of congratulation to
+the Gun Club, together with offers of immediate assistance and money.
+
+From that day forward Impey Barbicane became one of the greatest citizens
+of the United States, a kind of Washington of Science. A single trait of
+feeling, taken from many others, will serve to show the point which this
+homage of a whole people to a single individual attained.
+
+Some few days after this memorable meeting of the Gun Club, the manager
+of an English company announced, at the Baltimore theatre, the production
+of "Much ado about Nothing." But the populace, seeing in that title an
+allusion damaging to Barbicane's project, broke into the auditorium,
+smashed the benches, and compelled the unlucky director to alter his
+playbill. Being a sensible man, he bowed to the public will and replaced
+the offending comedy by "As you like it;" and for many weeks he realized
+fabulous profits.
+
+
+Illustration: CAMBRIDGE OBSERVATORY.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
+
+
+Barbicane, however, lost not one moment amidst all the enthusiasm of which
+he had become the object. His first care was to reassemble his colleagues
+in the board-room of the Gun Club. There, after some discussion, it was
+agreed to consult the astronomers regarding the astronomical part of the
+enterprize. Their reply once ascertained, they could then discuss the
+mechanical means, and nothing should be wanting to ensure the success of
+this great experiment.
+
+A note couched in precise terms, containing special interrogatories,
+was then drawn up and addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in
+Massachusetts. This city, where the first University of the United States
+was founded, is justly celebrated for its astronomical staff. There are
+to be found assembled all the most eminent men of science. Here is to
+be seen at work that powerful telescope which enabled Bond to resolve
+the nebula of Andromeda, and Clarke to discover the satellite of Sirius.
+This celebrated institution fully justified on all points the confidence
+reposed in it by the Gun Club.
+
+So, after two days, the reply so impatiently awaited was placed in the
+hands of President Barbicane.
+
+It was couched in the following terms:--
+
+"_The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the President of the Gun
+Club at Baltimore._
+
+"CAMBRIDGE, _Oct._ 7.
+
+"On the receipt of your favour of the 6th inst., addressed to the
+Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the Members of the Baltimore
+Gun Club, our staff was immediately called together, and it was judged
+expedient to reply as follows:--
+
+"The questions which have been proposed to it are these,--
+
+"'1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?
+
+"'2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its
+satellite?
+
+"'3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed
+with sufficient initial velocity? and, consequently, at what moment ought
+it to be discharged in order that it may touch the moon at a particular
+point?
+
+"'4. At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most
+favourable position to be reached by the projectile?
+
+"'5. What point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed at which is
+intended to discharge the projectile?
+
+"'6. What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment of the
+projectile's departure?'
+
+"Regarding the _first_ question, 'Is it possible to transmit a projectile
+up to the moon?'
+
+"_Answer_.--Yes; provided it possess an initial velocity of 1200 yards
+per second; calculations prove that to be sufficient. In proportion as
+we recede from the earth the action of gravitation diminishes in the
+inverse ratio of the square of the distance; that is to say, _at three
+times a given distance the action is nine times less._ Consequently, the
+weight of a shot will decrease, and will become reduced to zero at the
+instant that the attraction of the moon exactly counterpoises that of
+the earth; that is to say, at 47/52 of its passage. At that instant the
+projectile will have no weight whatever; and, if it passes that point,
+it will fall into the moon by the sole effect of the lunar attraction.
+The _theoretical possibility_ of the experiment is therefore absolutely
+demonstrated; its success must depend upon the power of the engine
+employed.
+
+"As to the _second question_, 'What is the exact distance which separates
+the earth from its satellite?'
+
+"_Answer._--The moon does not describe a circle round the earth, but
+rather an _ellipse_, of which our earth occupies one of the _foci;_ the
+consequence, therefore, is, that at certain times it approaches nearer
+to, and at others it recedes farther from, the earth; in astronomical
+language, it is at one time in _apogee_, at another in _perigee._ Now the
+difference between its greatest and its least distance is too considerable
+to be left out of consideration. In point of fact, in its apogee the moon
+is 247,552 miles, and in its perigee, 218,657 miles only distant; a fact
+which makes a difference of 28,895 miles, or more than one ninth of the
+entire distance. The perigee distance, therefore, is that which ought to
+serve as the basis of all calculations.
+
+"To the _third_ question:--
+
+"_Answer._--If the shot should preserve continuously its initial velocity
+of 12,000 yards per second, it would require little more than nine
+hours to reach its destination; but, inasmuch as that initial velocity
+will be continually decreasing, it results that, taking everything into
+consideration, it will occupy 300,000 seconds, that is 83hrs. 20m. in
+reaching the point where the attraction of the earth and moon will be
+_in equilibrio._ From this point it will fall into the moon in 50,000
+seconds, or 13hrs. 53m. 20sec. It will be desirable, therefore, to
+discharge it 97hrs. 13m. 20sec. before the arrival of the moon at the
+point aimed at.
+
+"Regarding question _four_, 'At what precise moment will the moon present
+herself in the most favourable position, &c.?'
+
+"_Answer_.--After what has been said above, it will be necessary, first
+of all, to choose the period when the moon will be in perigee, and also
+the moment when she will be crossing the zenith, which latter event will
+further diminish the entire distance by a length equal to the radius of
+the earth, i.e. 3919 miles; the result of which will be that the final
+passage remaining to be accomplished will be 214,976 miles. But although
+the moon passes her perigee every month, she does not reach the zenith
+always at _exactly the same moment._ She does not appear under these two
+conditions simultaneously, except at long intervals of time. It will be
+necessary, therefore, to wait for the moment when her passage in perigee
+shall coincide with that in the zenith. Now, by a fortunate circumstance,
+on the 4th December in the ensuing year the moon _will_ present these two
+conditions. At midnight she will be in perigee, that is, at her shortest
+distance from the earth, and at the same moment she will be crossing the
+zenith.
+
+"On the _fifth_ question, 'At what point in the heavens ought the cannon
+to be aimed?'
+
+"_Answer_.--The preceding remarks being admitted, the cannon ought to
+be pointed to the zenith of the place. Its fire, therefore, will be
+perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; and the projectile will soonest
+pass beyond the range of the terrestrial attraction. But, in order that
+the moon should reach the zenith of a given place, it is necessary that
+the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary;
+in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0 deg. and 28 deg.
+of lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique,
+which would seriously militate against the success of the experiment.
+
+"As to the _sixth_ question, 'What place will the moon occupy in the
+heavens at the moment of the projectile's departure?'
+
+"_Answer_.--At the moment when the projectile shall be discharged
+into space, the moon, which travels daily forward 13 deg. 10' 35", will
+be distant from the zenith point by four times that quantity, i.e. by
+52 deg. 42' 20", a space which corresponds to the path which she will
+describe during the entire journey of the projectile. But, inasmuch as
+it is equally necessary to take into account the deviation which the
+rotary motion of the earth will impart to the shot, and as the shot
+cannot reach the moon until after a deviation equal to 16 radii of the
+earth, which, calculated upon the moon's orbit, are equal to about eleven
+degrees, it becomes necessary to add these eleven degrees to those which
+express the retardation of the moon just mentioned: that is to say, in
+round numbers, about 64 degrees. Consequently, at the moment of firing
+the visual radius applied to the moon will describe, with the vertical
+line of the place, an angle of sixty-four degrees.
+
+"These are our answers to the questions proposed to the Observatory of
+Cambridge by the members of the Gun Club:--
+
+"To sum up,--
+
+"1st. The cannon ought to be planted in a country situated between
+between 0 deg. and 28 deg. of N. or S. lat.
+
+"2ndly. It ought to be pointed directly towards the zenith of the place.
+
+"3rdly. The projectile ought to be propelled with an initial velocity of
+12,000 yards per second.
+
+"4thly. It ought to be discharged at 10hrs. 46m. 40sec. of the 1st
+December of the ensuing year.
+
+"5thly. It will meet the moon four days after its discharge, precisely
+at midnight on the 4th December, at the moment of its transit across the
+zenith.
+
+"The members of the Gun Club ought, therefore, without delay, to commence
+the works necessary for such an experiment, and to be prepared to set
+to work at the moment determined upon; for, if they should suffer this
+4th December to go by, they will not find the moon again under the same
+conditions of perigee and of zenith until eighteen years and eleven days
+afterwards.
+
+"The Staff of the Cambridge Observatory place themselves entirely at
+their disposal in respect of all questions of theoretical astronomy; and
+herewith add their congratulations to those of all the rest of America.
+
+
+   "For the Astronomical Staff,
+
+   "J. M. BELFAST,
+
+   "_Director of the Observatory of Cambridge._"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON.
+
+
+An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in
+that unknown centre around which the entire world revolves, might have
+beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of
+the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place;
+a general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto
+errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically
+according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and
+composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are
+strewed.
+
+These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion around
+their own central point. This centre, formed of indefinite molecules,
+began to revolve round its own axis during its gradual condensation;
+then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its
+bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated,
+and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one
+principal star, the centre of the nebulous mass.
+
+By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the
+other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central
+star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and
+gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars. Thus was formed
+the _Nebulae,_ of which astronomers have reckoned up nearly 5000.
+
+Amongst these 5000 nebulae there is one which has received the name of
+the Milky Way, and which contains eighteen millions of stars, each of
+which has become the centre of a solar world.
+
+If the observer had then specially directed his attention to one of the
+more humble and less brilliant of these stellar bodies, a star of the
+fourth class, that which is arrogantly called the Sun, all the phenomena
+to which the formation of the Universe is to be ascribed would have
+been successively fulfilled before his eyes. In fact, he would have
+perceived this sun, as yet in the gaseous state, and composed of moving
+molecules, revolving round its axis in order to accomplish its work of
+concentration. This motion, faithful to the laws of mechanics, would
+have been accelerated with the diminution of its volume; and a moment
+would have arrived when the centrifugal force would have overpowered the
+centripetal, which causes the molecules all to tend towards the centre.
+
+Another phenomenon would now have passed before the observer's eye, and
+the molecules situated on the plane of the equator escaping, like a stone
+from a sling of which the cord had suddenly snapped, would have formed
+around the sun sundry concentric rings resembling that of Saturn. In
+their turn, again, these rings of cosmical matter, excited by a rotary
+motion round the central mass, would have been broken up and decomposed
+into secondary nebulosities, that is to say, into planets. Similarly he
+would have observed these planets throw off one or more rings each, which
+became the origin of the secondary bodies which we call satellites.
+
+Thus, then, advancing from atom to molecule, from molecule to nebulous
+mass, from that to a principal star, from star to sun, from sun to planet,
+and hence to satellite, we have the whole series of transformations
+undergone by the heavenly bodies during the first days of the world.
+
+Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their elliptical
+orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in their turn possess
+satellites. Uranus has eight, Saturn eight, Jupiter four, Neptune possibly
+three, and the Earth _one._ This last, one of the least important of the
+entire solar system, we call _the Moon_; and it is she whom the daring
+genius of the Americans professed their intention of conquering.
+
+
+Illustration: THE MOON'S DISC.
+
+
+The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying
+appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a
+considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.
+
+From the time of Thales of Miletus, in the fifth century b.c., down to
+that of Copernicus in the fifteenth and Tycho Brahe in the sixteenth
+century a.d., observations have been from time to time carried on with
+more or less correctness, until in the present day the altitudes of the
+lunar mountains have been determined with exactitude. Galileo explained
+the phenomena of the lunar light produced during certain of her phases
+by the existence of mountains, to which he assigned a mean altitude of
+27,000 feet. After him Hevelius, an astronomer of Dantzic, reduced the
+highest elevations to 15,000 feet; but the calculations of Riccioli
+brought them up again to 21,000 feet.
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century Herschell, armed with a powerful
+telescope, considerably reduced the preceding measurements. He assigned
+a height of 11,400 feet to the maximum elevations, and reduced the mean
+of the different altitudes to little more than 2400 feet. But Herschell's
+calculations were in their turn corrected by the observations of Halley,
+Nasmyth, Bianchini, Gruithuysen, and others; but it was reserved for
+the labours of Boeer and Maedler finally to solve the question. They
+succeeded in measuring 1905 different elevations, of which six exceed
+15,000 feet, and twenty-two exceed 14,400 feet. The highest summit of all
+towers to a height of 22,606 feet above the surface of the lunar disc. At
+the same period the examination of the moon was completed. She appeared
+completely riddled with craters, and her essentially volcanic character
+was apparent at each observation. By the absence of refraction in the
+rays of the planets occulted by her we conclude that she is absolutely
+devoid of an atmosphere. The absence of air entails the absence of water.
+It became, therefore, manifest that the Selenites, to support life under
+such conditions, must possess a special organization of their own, must
+differ remarkably from the inhabitants of the earth.
+
+At length, thanks to modern art, instruments of still higher perfection
+searched the moon without intermission, not leaving a single point of
+her surface unexplored; and notwithstanding that her diameter measures
+2150 miles, her surface equals the 1-15th part of that of our globe, and
+her bulk the 1-49th part of that of the terrestrial spheroid--not one
+of her secrets was able to escape the eyes of the astronomers; and these
+skilful men of science carried to even greater degree their prodigious
+observations.
+
+Thus they remarked that, during full moon, the disc appeared scored in
+certain parts with _white_ lines; and, during the phases, with _black._
+On prosecuting the study of these with still greater precision, they
+succeeded in obtaining an exact account of the nature of these lines.
+They were long and narrow furrows sunk between parallel ridges, bordering
+generally upon the edges of the craters. Their length varied between
+ten and 100 miles, and their width was about 1600 yards. Astronomers
+called them chasms, but they could not get any farther. Whether these
+chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not they were unable
+thoroughly to ascertain.
+
+The Americans, amongst others, hoped one day or other to determine this
+geological question. They also undertook to examine the true nature
+of that system of parallel ramparts discovered on the moon's surface
+by Gruithuysen, a learned professor of Munich, who considered them to
+be "a system of fortifications thrown up by the Selenitic engineers."
+These two points, yet obscure, as well as others, no doubt, could not be
+definitively settled except by direct communication with the moon.
+
+Regarding the degree of intensity of its light, there was nothing more
+to learn on this point. It was known that it is 300,000 times weaker
+than that of the sun, and that its heat has no appreciable effect upon
+the thermometer. As to the phenomenon known as the "ashy light," it is
+explained naturally by the effect of the transmission of the solar rays
+from the earth to the moon, which give the appearance of completeness to
+the lunar disc, while it presents itself under the crescent form during
+its first and last phases.
+
+Such was the state of knowledge acquired regarding the earth's satellite,
+which the Gun Club undertook to perfect in all its aspects, cosmographic,
+geological, political, and moral.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   THE PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE
+      UNITED STATES.
+
+
+The immediate result of Barbicane's proposition was to place upon the
+orders of the day all the astronomical facts relative to the Queen of
+Night. Everybody set to work to study assiduously. One would have thought
+that the moon had just appeared for the first time, and that no one had
+ever before caught a glimpse of her in the heavens. The papers revived
+all the old anecdotes in which the "sun of the wolves" played a part;
+they recalled the influences which the ignorance of past ages ascribed
+to her; in short, all America was seized with seleno-mania, or had become
+moon-mad.
+
+The scientific journals, for their part, dealt more especially with the
+questions which touched upon the enterprise of the Gun Club. The letter
+of the Observatory of Cambridge was published by them, and commented upon
+with unreserved approval.
+
+Until that time most people had been ignorant of the mode in which the
+distance which separates the moon from the earth is calculated. They took
+advantage of this fact to explain to them that this distance was obtained
+by measuring the parallax of the moon. The term parallax proving "caviare
+to the general," they further explained that it meant the angle formed
+by the inclination of two straight lines drawn from either extremity
+of the earth's radius to the moon. On doubts being expressed as to the
+correctness of this method, they immediately proved that not only was
+the mean distance 234,347 miles, but that astronomers could not possibly
+be in error in their estimate by more than 70 miles either way.
+
+To those who were not familiar with the motions of the moon, they
+demonstrated that she possesses two distinct motions, the first being
+that of rotation upon her axis, the second that of revolution round the
+earth, accomplishing both together in an equal period of time, that is
+to say, in 27-1/3 days.
+
+The motion of rotation is that which produces day and night on the
+surface of the moon; save that there is only one day and one night in
+the lunar month, each lasting 354-1/3 hours. But, happily for her, the
+face turned towards the terrestrial globe is illuminated by it with an
+intensity equal to the light of fourteen moons. As to the other face,
+always invisible to us, it has of necessity 354 hours of absolute night,
+tempered only by that "pale glimmer which falls upon it from the stars."
+
+Some well-intentioned but rather obstinate persons, could not at first
+comprehend how, if the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth
+during her revolution, she can describe one turn round herself. To such
+they answered, "Go into your dining-room, and walk round the table in
+such a way as always to keep your face turned towards the centre; by the
+time you will have achieved one complete round you will have completed
+one turn round yourself, since your eye will have traversed successively
+every point of the room. Well, then, the room is the heavens, the table
+is the earth, and the moon is yourself." And they would go away delighted.
+
+So, then, the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth;
+nevertheless, to be quite exact, it is necessary to add that, in
+consequence of certain fluctuations of north and south, and of west and
+east, termed her libration, she permits rather more than the half, that
+is to say, five-sevenths, to be seen.
+
+As soon as the ignoramuses came to understand as much as the Director of
+the Observatory himself knew, they began to worry themselves regarding
+her revolution round the earth, whereupon twenty scientific reviews
+immediately came to the rescue. They pointed out to them then that the
+firmament, with its infinitude of stars, may be considered as one vast
+dial-plate, upon which the moon travels, indicating the true time to all
+the inhabitants of the earth; that it is during this movement that the
+Queen of Night exhibits her different phases; that the moon is _full_
+when she is in _opposition_ with the sun, that is when the three bodies
+are on the same straight line, the earth occupying the centre; that she
+is _new_ when she is in _conjunction_ with the sun, that is, when she
+is between it and the earth; and lastly, that she is in her _first_ or
+_last_ quarter, when she makes with the sun and the earth an angle of
+which she herself occupies the apex.
+
+Regarding the altitude which the moon attains above the horizon, the
+letter of the Cambridge Observatory had said all that was to be said
+in that respect. Every one knew that this altitude varies according to
+the latitude of the observer. But the only zones of the globe in which
+the moon passes the zenith, that is, the point directly over the head
+of the spectator, are of necessity comprised between the twenty-eighth
+parallels and the equator. Hence the importance of the advice to try
+the experiment upon some point of that part of the globe, in order that
+the projectile might be discharged perpendicularly, and so the soonest
+escape the action of gravitation. This was an essential condition to the
+success of the enterprise, and continued actively to engage the public
+attention.
+
+Regarding the path described by the moon in her revolution round the
+earth, the Cambridge Observatory had demonstrated that this path is a
+re-entering curve, not a perfect circle, but an ellipse, of which the
+earth occupies one of the _foci_. It was also well understood that it is
+farthest removed from the earth during its _apogee,_ and approaches most
+nearly to it at its _perigee._
+
+Such then was the extent of knowledge possessed by every American on the
+subject, and of which no one could decently profess ignorance. Still,
+while these true principles were being rapidly disseminated many errors
+and illusory fears proved less easy to eradicate.
+
+For instance, some worthy persons maintained that the moon was an ancient
+comet which, in describing its elongated orbit round the sun, happened to
+pass near the earth, and became confined within her circle of attraction.
+These drawing-room astronomers professed so to explain the charred aspect
+of the moon--a disaster which they attributed to the intensity of the
+solar heat; only, on being reminded that comets have an atmosphere, and
+that the moon has little or none, they were fairly at a loss for a reply.
+
+Others again, belonging to the doubting class expressed certain fears as
+to the position of the moon. They had heard it said that, according to
+observations made in the time of the Caliphs, her revolution had become
+accelerated in a certain degree. Hence they concluded, logically enough,
+that an acceleration of motion ought to be accompanied by a corresponding
+diminution in the distance separating the two bodies; and that, supposing
+the double effect to be continued to infinity, the moon would end by
+one day falling into the earth. However, they became reassured as to
+the fate of future generations on being apprised that, according to the
+calculations of Laplace, this acceleration of motion is confined within
+very restricted limits, and that a proportional diminution of speed will
+be certain to succeed it. So, then, the stability of the solar system
+would not be deranged in ages to come.
+
+There remains but the third class, the superstitious. These worthies were
+not content merely to rest in ignorance; they must know all about things
+which had no existence whatever, and as to the moon, they had long known
+all about her. One set regarded her disc as a polished mirror, by means
+of which people could see each other from different points of the earth
+and interchange their thoughts. Another set pretended that out of one
+thousand new moons that had been observed, nine hundred and fifty had been
+attended with remarkable disturbances, such as cataclysms, revolutions,
+earthquakes, the deluge, &c. Then they believed in some mysterious
+influence exercised by her over human destinies--that every Selenite
+was attached to some inhabitant of the earth by a tie of sympathy; they
+maintained that the entire vital system is subject to her control, &c.,
+&c. But in time the majority renounced these vulgar errors, and espoused
+the true side of the question. As for the Yankees, they had no other
+ambition than to take possession of this new continent of the sky, and to
+plant upon the summit of its highest elevation the star-spangled banner
+of the United States of America.
+
+
+Illustration: BARBICANE HOLDS FORTH.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL.
+
+
+The Observatory of Cambridge in its memorable letter had treated the
+question from a purely astronomical point of view. The mechanical part
+still remained.
+
+President Barbicane had, without loss of time, nominated a Working
+Committee of the Gun Club. The duty of this Committee was to resolve the
+three grand questions of the cannon, the projectile, and the powder. It
+was composed of four members of great technical knowledge, Barbicane (with
+a casting vote in case of equality), General Morgan, Major Elphinstone,
+and J. T. Maston, to whom were confided the functions of secretary. On
+the 8th of October the Committee met at the house of President Barbicane,
+3, Republican Street. The meeting was opened by the president himself.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, "we have to resolve one of the most important
+problems in the whole of the noble science of gunnery. It might appear,
+perhaps, the most logical course to devote our first meeting to the
+discussion of the engine to be employed. Nevertheless, after mature
+consideration, it has appeared to me that the question of the projectile
+must take precedence of that of the cannon, and that the dimensions of
+the latter must necessarily depend upon those of the former."
+
+"Suffer me to say a word," here broke in J. T. Maston. Permission
+having been granted, "Gentlemen," said he, with an inspired accent, "our
+president is right in placing the question of the projectile above all
+others. The ball we are about to discharge at the moon is our ambassador
+to her, and I wish to consider it from a moral point of view. The
+cannon-ball, gentlemen, to my mind, is the most magnificent manifestation
+of human power. If Providence has created the stars and the planets,
+man has called the cannon-ball into existence. Let Providence claim
+the swiftness of electricity and of light, of the stars, the comets,
+and the planets, of wind and sound--we claim to have invented the
+swiftness of the cannon-ball, a hundred times superior to that of the
+swiftest horses or railway train. How glorious will be the moment when,
+infinitely exceeding all hitherto attained velocities, we shall launch
+our new projectile with the rapidity of seven miles a second! Shall it
+not, gentlemen--shall it not be received up there with the honours due
+to a terrestrial ambassador?"
+
+Overcome with emotion the orator sat down and applied himself to a huge
+plate of sandwiches before him.
+
+"And now," said Barbicane, "let us quit the domain of poetry and come
+direct to the question."
+
+"By all means," replied the members, each with his mouth full of sandwich.
+
+"The problem before us," continued the president, "is how to communicate
+to a projectile a velocity of 12,000 yards per second. Let us at present
+examine the velocities hitherto attained. General Morgan will be able to
+enlighten us on this point."
+
+"And the more easily," replied the general, "that during the war I was
+a member of the Committee of experiments. I may say, then, that the
+100-pounder Dahlgrens, which carried a distance of 5000 yards, impressed
+upon their projectile an initial velocity of 500 yards a second. The
+Rodman Columbiad threw a shot weighing half a ton a distance of six
+miles, with a velocity of 800 yards per second--a result which Armstrong
+and Palisser have never obtained in England."
+
+"This," replied Barbicane, "is, I believe, the maximum velocity ever
+attained?"
+
+"It is so," replied the general.
+
+
+Illustration: THE RODMAN COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+"Ah!" groaned J. T. Maston, "if my mortar had not burst--"
+
+"Yes," quietly replied Barbicane, "but it did burst. We must take, then,
+for our starting-point this velocity of 800 yards. We must increase it
+twenty-fold. Now, reserving for another discussion the means of producing
+this velocity, I will call your attention to the dimensions which it will
+be proper to assign to the shot. You understand that we have nothing to
+do here with projectiles weighing at most but half a ton."
+
+"Why not?" demanded the major.
+
+"Because the shot," quickly replied J. T. Maston, "must be big enough to
+attract the attention of the inhabitants of the moon, if there are any?"
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane, "and for another reason more important still."
+
+"What mean you?" asked the major.
+
+"I mean that it is not enough to discharge a projectile, and then take
+no further notice of it; we must follow it throughout its course, up to
+the moment when it shall reach its goal."
+
+"What?" shouted the general and the major in great surprise.
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Barbicane composedly, "or our experiment would
+produce no result."
+
+"But then," replied the major, "you will have to give this projectile
+enormous dimensions."
+
+"No! Be so good as to listen. You know that optical instruments have
+acquired great perfection; with certain telescopes we have succeeded in
+obtaining enlargements of 6000 times and reducing the moon to within forty
+miles' distance. Now, at this distance, any objects sixty feet square
+would be perfectly visible. If, then, the penetrative power of telescopes
+has not been further increased, it is because that power detracts from
+their light; and the moon, which is but a reflecting mirror, does not
+give back sufficient light to enable us to perceive objects of lesser
+magnitude."
+
+"Well, then, what do you propose to do?" asked the general. "Would you
+give your projectile a diameter of sixty feet?"
+
+"Not so."
+
+"Do you intend, then, to increase the luminous power of the moon?"
+
+"Exactly so. If I can succeed in diminishing the density of the atmosphere
+through which the moon's light has to travel I shall have rendered her
+light more intense. To effect that object it will be enough to establish
+a telescope on some elevated mountain. That is what we will do."
+
+"I give it up," answered the major. "You have such a way of simplifying
+things. And what enlargement do you expect to obtain in this way?"
+
+"One of 48,000 times, which should bring the moon within an apparent
+distance of five miles; and, in order to be visible, objects need not
+have a diameter of more than nine feet."
+
+"So, then," cried J. T. Maston, "our projectile need not be more than
+nine feet in diameter."
+
+"Let me observe, however," interrupted Major Elphinstone, "this will
+involve a weight such as--"
+
+"My dear major," replied Barbicane, "before discussing its weight, permit
+me to enumerate some of the marvels which our ancestors have achieved in
+this respect. I don't mean to pretend that the science of gunnery has
+not advanced, but it is as well to bear in mind that during the middle
+ages they obtained results more surprising, I will venture to say, than
+ours. For instance, during the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II.,
+in 1453, stone shot of 1900 lbs. weight were employed. At Malta, in the
+time of the knights, there was a gun of the fortress of St. Elmo which
+threw a projectile weighing 2500 lbs. And, now, what is the extent of
+what we have seen ourselves? Armstrong guns discharging shot of 500 lbs.,
+and the Rodman guns projectiles of half a ton! It seems, then, that if
+projectiles have gained in range, they have lost far more in weight. Now,
+if we turn our efforts in that direction, we ought to arrive, with the
+progress of science, at ten times the weight of the shot of Mahomet II.
+and the Knights of Malta."
+
+
+Illustration: CANNON AT MALTA IN THE TIME OF THE KNIGHTS.
+
+
+"Clearly," replied the major; "but what metal do you calculate upon
+employing?"
+
+"Simply cast iron," said General Morgan.
+
+"But," interrupted the major, "since the weight of a shot is proportionate
+to its volume, an iron ball of nine feet in diameter would be of
+tremendous weight."
+
+"Yes, if it were solid, not if it were hollow."
+
+"Hollow? then it would be a shell?"
+
+"Yes, a shell," replied Barbicane; "decidedly it must be. A solid shot of
+108 inches would weigh more than 200,000 lbs., a weight evidently far too
+great. Still, as we must reserve a certain stability for our projectile,
+I propose to give it a weight of 20,000 lbs."
+
+"What, then, will be the thickness of the sides?" asked the major.
+
+"If we follow the usual proportion," replied Morgan, "a diameter of 108
+inches would require sides of two feet thickness, or less."
+
+"That would be too much," replied Barbicane; "for you will observe that
+the question is not that of a shot intended to pierce an iron plate: it
+will suffice, therefore, to give it sides strong enough to resist the
+pressure of the gas. The problem, therefore, is this--What thickness
+ought a cast-iron shell to have in order not to weigh more than 20,000
+lbs.? Our clever secretary will soon enlighten us upon this point."
+
+"Nothing easier," replied the worthy secretary of the Committee; and,
+rapidly tracing a few algebraical formulae upon paper, among which
+_n_^2 and _x_^2 frequently appeared, he presently said,--
+
+"The sides will require a thickness of less than two inches."
+
+"Will that be enough?" asked the major doubtfully.
+
+"Clearly not!" replied the president.
+
+"What is to be done, then?" said Elphinstone, with a puzzled air.
+
+"Employ another metal instead of iron."
+
+"Copper?" said Morgan.
+
+"No; that would be too heavy. I have better than that to offer."
+
+"What then?" asked the major.
+
+"Aluminium!" replied Barbicane.
+
+"Aluminium?" cried his three colleagues in chorus.
+
+"Unquestionably, my friends. This valuable metal possesses the whiteness
+of silver, the indestructibility of gold, the tenacity of iron, the
+fusibility of copper, the lightness of glass. It is easily wrought, is
+very widely distributed, forming the base of most of the rocks, is three
+times lighter than iron, and seems to have been created for the express
+purpose of furnishing us with the material for our projectile."
+
+"But, my dear president," said the major, "is not the cost price of
+aluminium extremely high?"
+
+"It was so at its first discovery, but it has fallen now to nine dollars
+the pound."
+
+"But still, nine dollars the pound!" replied the major, who was not
+willing readily to give in; "even that is an enormous price."
+
+"Undoubtedly, my dear major; but not beyond our reach."
+
+"What will the projectile weigh then?" asked Morgan.
+
+"Here is the result of my calculations," replied Barbicane. "A shot of
+108 inches in diameter, and 12 inches in thickness, would weigh, in
+cast-iron, 67,440 lbs.; cast in aluminium, its weight will be reduced to
+19,250 lbs."
+
+"Capital!" cried the major; "but do you know that, at nine dollars the
+pound, this projectile will cost--"
+
+"One hundred and seventy-three thousand and fifty dollars ($173,050).
+I know it quite well. But fear not, my friends; the money will not be
+wanting for our enterprise, I will answer for it. Now what say you to
+aluminium, gentlemen?"
+
+"Adopted!" replied the three members of the Committee. So ended the first
+meeting. The question of the projectile was definitively settled.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   HISTORY OF THE CANNON.
+
+
+The resolutions passed at the last meeting produced a great effect
+out of doors. Timid people took fright at the idea of a shot weighing
+20,000 lbs. being launched into space; they asked what cannon could ever
+transmit a sufficient velocity to such a mighty mass. The minutes of the
+second meeting were destined triumphantly to answer such questions. The
+following evening the discussion was renewed.
+
+"My dear colleagues," said Barbicane, without further preamble, "the
+subject now before us is the construction of the engine, its length, its
+composition, and its weight. It is probable that we shall end by giving
+it gigantic dimensions; but however great may be the difficulties in the
+way, our mechanical genius will readily surmount them. Be good enough,
+then, to give me your attention, and do not hesitate to make objections
+at the close. I have no fear of them. The problem before us is how to
+communicate an initial force of 12,000 yards per second to a shell of 108
+inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 lbs. Now when a projectile is launched
+into space, what happens to it? It is acted upon by three independent
+forces, the resistance of the air, the attraction of the earth, and the
+force of impulsion with which it is endowed. Let us examine these three
+forces. The resistance of the air is of little importance. The atmosphere
+of the earth does not exceed forty miles. Now, with the given rapidity,
+the projectile will have traversed this in five seconds, and the period
+is too brief for the resistance of the medium to be regarded otherwise
+than as insignificant. Proceeding, then, to the attraction of the earth,
+that is, the weight of the shell, we know that this weight will diminish
+in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance. When a body left to
+itself falls to the surface of the earth, it falls five feet in the first
+second; and if the same body were removed 257,542 miles farther off, in
+other words, to the distance of the moon, its fall would be reduced to
+about half a line in the first second. That is almost equivalent to a
+state of perfect rest. Our business, then, is to overcome progressively
+this action of gravitation. The mode of accomplishing that is by the
+force of impulsion."
+
+"There's the difficulty," broke in the major.
+
+"True," replied the president; "but we will overcome that, for this force
+of impulsion will depend upon the length of the engine and the powder
+employed, the latter being limited only by the resisting power of the
+former. Our business, then, to-day is with the dimensions of the cannon."
+
+"Now, up to the present time," said Barbicane, "our longest guns have
+not exceeded twenty-five feet in length. We shall therefore astonish the
+world by the dimensions we shall be obliged to adopt. It must evidently
+be, then, a gun of great range, since the length of the piece will
+increase the detention of the gas accumulated behind the projectile; but
+there is no advantage in passing certain limits."
+
+"Quite so," said the major. "What is the rule in such a case?"
+
+"Ordinarily the length of a gun is 20 to 25 times the diameter of the
+shot, and its weight 235 to 240 times that of the shot."
+
+"That is not enough," cried J. T. Maston impetuously.
+
+"I agree with you, my good friend; and, in fact, following this proportion
+for a projectile nine feet in diameter, weighing 30,000 lbs., the gun
+would only have a length of 225 feet, and a weight of 7,200,000 lbs."
+
+"Ridiculous!" rejoined Maston. "As well take a pistol."
+
+"I think so too," replied Barbicane; "that is why I propose to quadruple
+that length, and to construct a gun of 900 feet."
+
+The general and the major offered some objections; nevertheless, the
+proposition, actively supported by the secretary, was definitively
+adopted.
+
+"But," said Elphinstone, "what thickness must we give it?"
+
+"A thickness of six feet," replied Barbicane.
+
+"You surely don't think of mounting a mass like that upon a carriage?"
+asked the major.
+
+"It would be a superb idea, though," said Maston.
+
+"But impracticable," replied Barbicane. "No; I think of sinking this
+engine in the earth alone, binding it with hoops of wrought iron, and
+finally surrounding it with a thick mass of masonry of stone and cement.
+The piece once cast, it must be bored with great precision, so as to
+preclude any possible windage. So there will be no loss whatever of
+gas, and all the expansive force of the powder will be employed in the
+propulsion."
+
+"One simple question," said Elphinstone: "is our gun to be rifled?"
+
+"No, certainly not," replied Barbicane; "we require an enormous initial
+velocity; and you are well aware that a shot quits a rifled gun less
+rapidly than it does a smooth-bore."
+
+"True," rejoined the major.
+
+The Committee here adjourned for a few minutes to tea and sandwiches.
+
+On the discussion being renewed, "Gentlemen," said Barbicane, "we must
+now take into consideration the metal to be employed. Our cannon must
+be possessed of great tenacity, great hardness, be infusible by heat,
+indissoluble, and inoxydable by the corrosive action of acids."
+
+"There is no doubt about that," replied the major; "and as we shall have
+to employ an immense quantity of metal, we shall not be at a loss for
+choice."
+
+
+Illustration: IDEAL SKETCH OF J. T. MASTON'S GUN.
+
+
+"Well, then," said Morgan, "I propose the best alloy hitherto known,
+which consists of 100 parts of copper, 12 of tin, and 6 of brass."
+
+"I admit," replied the president, "that this composition has yielded
+excellent results, but in the present case it would be too expensive, and
+very difficult to work. I think, then, that we ought to adopt a material
+excellent in its way and of low price, such as cast iron. What is your
+advice, major?"
+
+"I quite agree with you," replied Elphinstone.
+
+"In fact," continued Barbicane, "cast iron cost ten times less than
+bronze; it is easy to cast, it runs readily from the moulds of sand,
+it is easy of manipulation, it is at once economical of money and of
+time. In addition, it is excellent as a material, and I well remember
+that during the war, at the siege of Atlanta, some iron guns fired one
+thousand rounds at intervals of twenty minutes without injury."
+
+"Cast iron is very brittle, though," replied Morgan.
+
+"Yes, but it possesses great resistance. I will now ask our worthy
+secretary to calculate the weight of a cast-iron gun with a bore of nine
+feet and a thickness of six feet of metal."
+
+"In a moment," replied Maston. Then, dashing off some algebraical formulae
+with marvellous facility, in a minute or two he declared the following
+result:--
+
+"The cannon will weigh 68,040 tons. And, at two cents a pound, it will
+cost--?"
+
+"2,510,701 dollars."
+
+Maston, the major, and the general regarded Barbicane with uneasy looks.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," replied the president, "I repeat what I said yesterday.
+Make yourselves easy; the millions will not be wanting."
+
+With this assurance of their president the Committee separated, after
+having fixed their third meeting for the following evening.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IX.
+
+   THE QUESTION OF THE POWDERS.
+
+
+There remained for consideration merely the question of powders.
+The public awaited with interest its final decision. The size of the
+projectile, the length of the cannon being settled, what would be the
+quantity of powder necessary to produce impulsion?
+
+It is generally asserted that gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth
+century by the monk Schwartz, who paid for his grand discovery with his
+life. It is, however, pretty well proved that this story ought to be
+ranked amongst the legends of the middle ages. Gunpowder was not invented
+by any one; it was the lineal successor of the Greek fire, which, like
+itself, was composed of sulphur and saltpetre. Few persons are acquainted
+with the mechanical power of gunpowder. Now this is precisely what is
+necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the importance of the
+question submitted to the committee.
+
+A litre of gunpowder weighs about 2 lbs.; during combustion it produces
+400 litres of gas. This gas, on being liberated and acted upon by a
+temperature raised to 2400 degrees, occupies a space of 4000 litres:
+consequently the volume of powder is to the volume of gas produced by
+its combustion as 1 to 4000. One may judge, therefore, of the tremendous
+pressure of this gas when compressed within a space 4000 times too
+confined. All this was, of course, well known to the members of the
+committee when they met on the following evening.
+
+The first speaker on this occasion was Major Elphinstone, who had been
+the director of the gunpowder factories during the war.
+
+
+Illustration: THE INVENTION OF GUNPOWDER BY THE MONK SCHWARTZ.
+
+
+"Gentlemen," said this distinguished chemist, "I begin with some figures
+which will serve as the basis of our calculation. The old 24-pounder shot
+required for its discharge 16 lbs. of powder."
+
+"You are certain of the amount?" broke in Barbicane.
+
+"Quite certain," replied the major. "The Armstrong cannon employs only
+75 lbs. of powder for a projectile of 800 lbs., and the Rodman Columbiad
+uses only 160 lbs. of powder to send its half-ton shot a distance of six
+miles. These facts cannot be called in question, for I myself raised the
+point during the depositions taken before the Committee of Artillery."
+
+"Quite true," said the general.
+
+"Well," replied the major, "these figures go to prove that the quantity
+of powder is not increased with the weight of the shot; that is to say,
+if a 24-pounder shot requires 16 lbs. of powder;--in other words, if in
+ordinary guns we employ a quantity of powder equal to two-thirds of the
+weight of the projectile, this proportion is not constant. Calculate,
+and you will see that in place of 333 lbs. of powder, the quantity is
+reduced to no more than 160 lbs."
+
+"What are you aiming at?" asked the president.
+
+"If you push your theory to extremes, my dear major," said J. T. Maston,
+"you will get to this, that as soon as your shot becomes sufficiently
+heavy you will not require any powder at all."
+
+"Our friend Maston is always at his jokes, even in serious matters,"
+cried the major; "but let him make his mind easy, I am going presently
+to propose gunpowder enough to satisfy his artillerist's propensities.
+I only keep to statistical facts when I say that during the war, and for
+the very largest guns, the weight of powder was reduced, as the result
+of experience, to a tenth part of the weight of the shot."
+
+"Perfectly correct," said Morgan; "but before deciding the quantity of
+powder necessary to give the impulse, I think it would be as well--"
+
+"We shall have to employ a large-grained powder," continued the major,
+"its combustion is more rapid than that of the small."
+
+"No doubt about that," replied Morgan, "but it is very destructive, and
+ends by enlarging the bore of the pieces."
+
+"Granted; but that which is injurious to a gun destined to perform long
+service is not so to our Columbiad. We shall run no danger of an explosion;
+and it is necessary that our powder should take fire instantaneously in
+order that its mechanical effect may be complete."
+
+"We must have," said Maston, "several touch-holes, so as to fire it at
+different points at the same time."
+
+"Certainly," replied Elphinstone; "but that will render the working of
+the piece more difficult. I return then to my large-grained powder, which
+removes those difficulties. In his Columbiad charges Rodman employed a
+powder as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply dried in
+cast-iron pans. This powder was hard and glittering, left no trace upon
+the hand, contained hydrogen and oxygen in large proportion, took fire
+instantaneously, and, though very destructive, did not sensibly injure
+the mouth-piece."
+
+Up to this point Barbicane had kept aloof from the discussion; he left
+the others to speak while he himself listened; he had evidently got an
+idea. He now simply said, "Well, my friends, what quantity of powder do
+you propose?"
+
+The three members look at one another.
+
+"Two hundred thousand pounds," at last said Morgan.
+
+"Five hundred thousand," added the major.
+
+"Eight hundred thousand," screamed Maston.
+
+A moment of silence followed this triple proposal; it was at last broken
+by the president.
+
+"Gentlemen," he quietly said, "I start from this principle, that the
+resistance of a gun, constructed under the given conditions, is unlimited.
+I shall surprise our friend Maston, then, by stigmatizing his calculations
+as timid; and I propose to double his 800,000 lbs. of powder."
+
+"Sixteen hundred thousand pounds?" shouted Maston, leaping from his seat.
+
+"Just so."
+
+"We shall have to come then to my ideal of a cannon half a mile long; for
+you see 1,600,000 lbs. will occupy a space of about 20,000 cubic feet;
+and since the contents of your cannon do not exceed 54,000 cubic feet,
+it would be half full; and the bore will not be more than long enough
+for the gas to communicate to the projectile sufficient impulse."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the president, "I hold to that quantity of powder.
+Now, 1,600,000 lbs. of powder will create 6,000,000,000 of litres of gas.
+Six thousand millions! You quite understand?"
+
+"What is to be done then?" said the general.
+
+"The thing is very simple; we must reduce this enormous quantity of
+powder, while preserving to it its mechanical power."
+
+"Good; but by what means?"
+
+"I am going to tell you," replied Barbicane quietly. "Nothing is more
+easy than to reduce this mass to one quarter of its bulk. You know that
+curious cellular matter which constitutes the elementary tissues of
+vegetables? This substance is found quite pure in many bodies, especially
+in cotton, which is nothing more than the down of the seeds of the cotton
+plant. Now cotton, combined with cold nitric acid, becomes transformed
+into a substance eminently insoluble, combustible, and explosive. It was
+first discovered in 1832, by Braconnot, a French chemist, who called it
+xyloidine. In 1838 another Frenchman, Pelouze, investigated its different
+properties, and finally, in 1846, Schonbein, Professor of Chemistry at
+Bale, proposed its employment for purposes of war. This powder, now
+called pyroxyle, or fulminating cotton, is prepared with great facility
+by simply plunging cotton for fifteen minutes in nitric acid, then
+washing it in water, then drying it, and it is ready for use."
+
+"Nothing could be more simple," said Morgan.
+
+"Moreover, pyroxyle is unaltered by moisture--a valuable property to us,
+inasmuch as it would take several days to charge the cannon. It ignites
+at 170 degrees in place of 240, and its combustion is so rapid that one
+may set light to it on the top of ordinary powder, without the latter
+having time to ignite."
+
+"Perfect!" exclaimed the major.
+
+"Only it is more expensive."
+
+"What matter?" cried J. T. Maston.
+
+"Finally, it imparts to projectiles a velocity four times superior to
+that of gunpowder. I will even add, that if we mix with it one-eighth
+of its own weight of nitrate of potass, its expansive force is again
+considerably augmented."
+
+"Will that be necessary?" asked the major.
+
+"I think not," replied Barbicane. "So, then, in place of 1,600,000 lbs.
+of powder, we shall have but 400,000 lbs. of fulminating cotton; and
+since we can, without danger, compress 500 lbs. of cotton into 27 cubic
+feet, the whole quantity will not occupy a height of more than 180 feet
+within the bore of the Columbiad. In this way the shot will have more
+than 700 feet of bore to traverse under a force of 6,000,000,000 litres
+of gas before taking its flight towards the moon."
+
+At this junction J. T. Maston could not repress his emotion; he flung
+himself into the arms of his friend with the violence of a projectile,
+and Barbicane would have been stove in if he had not been bomb-proof.
+
+This incident terminated the third meeting of the Committee.
+
+Barbicane and his bold colleagues, to whom nothing seemed impossible,
+had succeeded in solving the complex problems of projectile, cannon,
+and powder. Their plan was drawn up, and it only remained to put it in
+execution.
+
+"A mere matter of detail, a bagatelle," said J. T. Maston.
+
+
+Illustration: CAPTAIN NICHOLL
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER X.
+
+   ONE ENEMY _v._ TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS OF FRIENDS.
+
+
+The American public took a lively interest in the smallest details of
+the enterprise of the Gun Club. It followed day by day the discussions of
+the committee. The most simple preparation for the great experiment, the
+questions of figures which it involved, the mechanical difficulties to
+be resolved--in one word, the entire plan of work--roused the popular
+excitement to the highest pitch.
+
+The purely scientific attraction was suddenly intensified by the following
+incident:--
+
+We have seen what legions of admirers and friends Barbicane's project
+had rallied round its author. There was, however, one single individual
+alone in all the States of the Union who protested against the attempt
+of the Gun Club. He attacked it furiously on every opportunity, and human
+nature is such that Barbicane felt more keenly the opposition of that one
+man than he did the applause of all the others. He was well aware of the
+motive of this antipathy, the origin of this solitary enmity, the cause
+of its personality and old standing, and in what rivalry of self-love it
+had its rise.
+
+This persevering enemy the President of the Gun Club had never seen.
+Fortunate that it was so, for a meeting between the two men would
+certainly have been attended with serious consequences. This rival was a
+man of science, like Barbicane himself, of a fiery, daring, and violent
+disposition; a pure Yankee. His name was Captain Nicholl; he lived at
+Philadelphia.
+
+Most people are aware of the curious struggle which arose during the
+Federal war between the guns and the armour of iron-plated ships. The
+result was the entire reconstruction of the navy of both the continents;
+as the one grew heavier, the other became thicker in proportion. The
+"Merrimac," the "Monitor," the "Tennessee," the "Weehawken" discharged
+enormous projectiles themselves, after having been armour-clad against
+the projectiles of others. In fact they did to others that which they
+would not they should do to them--that grand principle of immorality
+upon which rests the whole art of war.
+
+Now if Barbicane was a great founder of shot, Nicholl was a great forger
+of plates; the one cast night and day at Baltimore, the other forged day
+and night at Philadelphia. As soon as ever Barbicane invented a new shot,
+Nicholl invented a new plate, each followed a current of ideas essentially
+opposed to the other. Happily for these citizens, so useful to their
+country, a distance of from fifty to sixty miles separated them from one
+another, and they had never yet met. Which of these two inventors had
+the advantage over the other it was difficult to decide from the results
+obtained. By last accounts, however, it would seem that the armour-plate
+would in the end have to give way to the shot; nevertheless, there were
+competent judges who had their doubts on the point.
+
+At the last experiment the cylindro-conical projectiles of Barbicane stuck
+like so many pins in the Nicholl plates. On that day the Philadelphia
+iron-forger then believed himself victorious, and could not evince
+contempt enough for his rival; but when the other afterwards substituted
+for conical shot simple 600 lb. shells, at very moderate velocity, the
+captain was obliged to give in. In fact, these projectiles knocked his
+best metal plate to shivers.
+
+Matters were at this stage, and victory seemed to rest with the shot,
+when the war came to an end on the very day when Nicholl had completed
+a new armour-plate of wrought steel. It was a masterpiece of its kind,
+and bid defiance to all the projectiles in the world. The captain had it
+conveyed to the Polygon at Washington, challenging the President of the
+Gun Club to break it. Barbicane, peace having been declared, declined to
+try the experiment.
+
+
+Illustration: NICHOLL PUBLISHED A NUMBER OF LETTERS IN THE
+   NEWSPAPERS.
+
+
+Nicholl, now furious, offered to expose his plate to the shock of any
+shot, solid, hollow, round, or conical. Refused by the president, who
+did not choose to compromise his last success.
+
+Nicholl, disgusted by this obstinacy, tried to tempt Barbicane by offering
+him every chance. He proposed to fix the plate within two hundred yards
+of the gun. Barbicane still obstinate in refusal. A hundred yards? Not
+even _seventy-five!_
+
+"At fifty then!" roared the captain through the newspapers. "At twenty-five
+yards!! and I'll stand behind!!!"
+
+Barbicane returned for answer that, even if Captain Nicholl would be so
+good as to stand in front, he would not fire any more.
+
+Nicholl could not contain himself at this reply; threw out hints of
+cowardice; that a man who refused to fire a cannon-shot was pretty near
+being afraid of it; that artillerists who fight at six miles' distance
+are substituting mathematical formulas for individual courage.
+
+To these insinuations Barbicane returned no answer; perhaps he never
+heard of them, so absorbed was he in the calculations for his great
+enterprise.
+
+When his famous communication was made to the Gun Club, the captain's
+wrath passed all bounds; with his intense jealousy was mingled a feeling
+of absolute impotence. How was he to invent anything to beat this 900-feet
+Columbiad? What armour-plate could ever resist a projectile of 30,000
+lbs. weight? Overwhelmed at first under this violent shock, he by and by
+recovered himself, and resolved to crush the proposal by the weight of
+his arguments.
+
+He then violently attacked the labours of the Gun Club, published a
+number of letters in the newspapers, endeavoured to prove Barbicane
+ignorant of the first principles of gunnery. He maintained that it was
+absolutely impossible to impress upon any body whatever a velocity of
+12,000 yards per second; that even with such a velocity a projectile of
+such a weight could not transcend the limits of the earth's atmosphere.
+Further still, even regarding the velocity to be acquired, and granting
+it to be sufficient, the shell could not resist the pressure of the gas
+developed by the ignition of 1,600,000 lbs. of powder; and supposing
+it to resist that pressure, it would be the less able to support that
+temperature; it would melt on quitting the Columbiad, and fall back in
+a red-hot shower upon the heads of the imprudent spectators.
+
+Barbicane continued his work without regarding these attacks.
+
+Nicholl then took up the question in its other aspects. Without touching
+upon its uselessness in all points of view, he regarded the experiment
+as fraught with extreme danger, both to the citizens, who might sanction
+by their presence so reprehensible a spectacle, and also to the towns
+in the neighbourhood of this deplorable cannon. He also observed that
+if the projectile did not succeed in reaching its destination (a result
+absolutely impossible), it must inevitably fall back upon the earth,
+and that the shock of such a mass, multiplied by the square of its
+velocity, would seriously endanger every point of the globe. Under the
+circumstances, therefore, and without interfering with the rights of free
+citizens, it was a case for the intervention of Government, which ought
+not to endanger the safety of all for the pleasure of one individual.
+
+Spite of all his arguments, however, Captain Nicholl remained alone in
+his opinion. Nobody listened to him, and he did not succeed in alienating
+a single admirer from the President of the Gun Club. The latter did not
+even take the pains to refute the arguments of his rival.
+
+Nicholl, driven into his last entrenchments, and not able to fight
+personally in the cause, resolved to fight with money. He published,
+therefore, in the _Richmond Inquirer_ a series of wagers, conceived in
+these terms, and on an increasing scale:--
+
+No. 1 (1000 dols.).--That the necessary funds for the experiment of the
+Gun Club will not be forthcoming.
+
+No. 2 (2000 dols.).--That the operation of casting a cannon of 900 feet
+is impracticable, and cannot possibly succeed.
+
+No. 3 (3000 dols.).--That it is impossible to load the Columbiad, and
+that the pyroxyle will take fire spontaneously under the pressure of the
+projectile.
+
+No. 4 (4000 dols.).--That the Columbiad will burst at the first fire.
+
+No. 5 (5000 dols.).--That the shot will not travel farther than six
+miles, and that it will fall back again a few seconds after its discharge.
+
+It was an important sum, therefore, which the captain risked in his
+invincible obstinacy. He had no less than 15,000 dollars at stake.
+
+Notwithstanding the importance of the challenge, on the 19th of May
+he received a sealed packet containing the following superbly laconic
+reply:--
+
+
+   "Baltimore, _Oct._ 19.
+
+   "Done.
+
+   "Barbicane."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+
+   FLORIDA AND TEXAS.
+
+
+One question yet remained to be decided: it was necessary to choose
+a favourable spot for the experiment. According to the advice of the
+Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be fired perpendicularly to the
+plane of the horizon, that is to say, towards the zenith. Now the moon
+does not traverse the zenith, except in places situated between 0 deg.
+and 28 deg. of latitude. It became, then, necessary to determine exactly
+that spot on the globe where the immense Columbiad should be cast.
+
+On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club, Barbicane
+produced a magnificent map of the United States. "Gentlemen," said he,
+in opening the discussion, "I presume that we are all agreed that this
+experiment cannot and ought not to be tried anywhere but within the
+limits of the soil of the Union. Now, by good fortune, certain frontiers
+of the United States extend downwards as far as the 28th parallel of the
+north latitude. If you will cast your eye over this map, you will see
+that we have at our disposal the whole of the southern portion of Texas
+and Florida."
+
+It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast on the soil
+of either Texas or Florida. The result, however, of this decision was to
+create a rivalry entirely without precedent between the different towns
+of these two states.
+
+The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses the peninsula
+of Florida, dividing it into two nearly equal portions. Then, plunging
+into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coast of
+Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it
+cuts an angle, it continues its course over Mexico, crosses the Sonora,
+Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore,
+only those portions of Texas and Florida which were situated below this
+parallel which came within the prescribed conditions of latitude.
+
+Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance; it is
+simply studded with forts raised against the roving Indians. One solitary
+town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favour of its situation.
+
+In Texas, on the contrary, the towns are much more numerous and important.
+Corpus Christi, in the county of Nuaces, and all the cities situated on
+the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio on the Web, Rio Grande City
+on the Starr, Edinburgh in the Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville
+in the Cameron, formed an imposing league against the pretensions of
+Florida. So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridan
+deputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly short space of time. From
+that very moment President Barbicane and the influential members of the
+Gun Club were besieged day and night by formidable claims. If seven cities
+of Greece contended for the honour of having given birth to Homer, here
+were two entire states threatening to come to blows about the question
+of a cannon.
+
+The rival parties promenaded the streets with arms in their hands; and at
+every occasion of their meeting a collision was to be apprehended which
+might have been attended with disastrous results. Happily the prudence
+and address of President Barbicane averted the danger. These personal
+demonstrations found a division in the newspapers of the different
+states. The _New York Herald_ and the _Tribune_ supported Texas, while
+the _Times_ and the _American Review_ espoused the cause of the Floridan
+Deputies. The members of the Gun Club could not decide to which to give
+the preference.
+
+Texas produced its array of twenty-six counties; Florida replied that
+twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a country only one-sixth
+part of the size.
+
+Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida with a far smaller
+territory, boasted of being much more densely populated with 56,000.
+
+The Texians, through the columns of the _Herald_, claimed that some regard
+should be had to a state which grew the best cotton in all America,
+produced the best green oak for the service of the navy, and contained
+the finest oil, besides iron mines, in which the yield was fifty per
+cent. of pure metal.
+
+To this the _American Review_ replied that the soil of Florida, although
+not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for the moulding and
+casting of the Columbiad, consisting as it did of sand and argillaceous
+earth.
+
+"That may be all very well," replied the Texians; "but you must first
+get to this country. Now the communications with Florida are difficult,
+while the coast of Texas offers the bay of Galveston, which possesses
+a circumference of fourteen leagues, and is capable of containing the
+navies of the entire world!"
+
+"A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest of Florida,
+"that of Galveston Bay _below the 29th parallel!_ Have _we_ not got the
+bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon _the_ 28_th degree_, and
+by which ships can reach Tampa Town by direct route?"
+
+"A fine bay! half choked with sand!" "Choked yourselves!" returned the
+others.
+
+Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavoured to draw
+her adversary away on to fresh ground; and one morning the _Times_ hinted
+that, the enterprise being essentially American, it ought not to be
+attempted upon other than purely American territory.
+
+To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much so as you?
+Were not Texas and Florida both incorporated into the Union in 1845?"
+
+
+Illustration: IT BECAME NECESSARY TO KEEP AN EYE UPON THE DEPUTIES.
+
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied the _Times_; "but we have belonged to the Americans
+ever since 1820."
+
+"Yes!" returned the _Tribune_; "after having been Spaniards or English
+for 200 years, you were sold to the United States for five million
+dollars!"
+
+"Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not Louisiana bought from
+Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?"
+
+"Scandalous!" roared the Texan deputies. "A wretched little strip of
+country like Florida to dare to compare itself to Texas, who, in place
+of selling herself, asserted her own independence, drove out the Mexicans
+in March 2, 1836, and declared herself a federal republic after the
+victory gained by Samuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over
+the troops of Santa Anna!--a country, in fine, which voluntarily annexed
+itself to the United States of America!"
+
+"Yes; because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" replied Florida.
+
+"Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable. A
+sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in
+the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keep an eye upon the
+deputies.
+
+President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents,
+letters full of menaces showered down upon his house. Which side ought
+he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, the facility of
+communication, the rapidity of transport, the claims of both states were
+evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions, they had nothing to do
+with the question.
+
+This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicane resolved
+to get rid of it at once. He called a meeting of his colleagues, and
+laid before them a proposition which, it will be seen, was profoundly
+sagacious.
+
+"On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on now between Florida
+and Texas, it is clear that the same difficulties will recur with all
+the towns of the favoured state. The rivalry will descend from state to
+city, and so on downwards. Now Texas possesses _eleven_ towns within the
+prescribed conditions, which will further dispute the honour and create
+us new enemies, while Florida has only _one._ I go in, therefore, for
+Florida and Tampa Town."
+
+This decision, on being made known, utterly crushed the Texan deputies.
+Seized with an indescribable fury, they addressed threatening letters to
+the different members of the Gun Club by name. The magistrates had but
+one course to take, and they took it. They chartered a special train,
+forced the Texians into it whether they would or no; and they quitted
+the city with a speed of thirty miles an hour.
+
+Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time to hurl one
+last and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries.
+
+Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between
+two seas, they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the
+discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first shot.
+
+"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity worthy
+of the days of ancient Sparta.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+
+   URBI ET ORBI.
+
+
+The astronomical, mechanical, and topographical difficulties resolved,
+finally came the question of finance. The sum required was far too great
+for any individual, or even any single state, to provide the requisite
+millions.
+
+President Barbicane undertook, despite of the matter being a purely
+American affair, to render it one of universal interest, and to request
+the financial co-operation of all peoples. It was, he maintained, the
+right and the duty of the whole earth to interfere in the affairs of its
+satellite. The subscription opened at Baltimore extended properly to the
+whole world--_Urbi et orbi._
+
+This subscription was successful beyond all expectation; notwithstanding
+that it was a question not of _lending_ but of _giving_ the money. It
+was a purely disinterested operation in the strictest sense of the term,
+and offered not the slightest chance of profit.
+
+The effect, however, of Barbicane's communication was not confined to
+the frontiers of the United States; it crossed the Atlantic and Pacific,
+invading simultaneously Asia and Europe, Africa and Oceania. The
+observatories of the Union placed themselves in immediate communication
+with those of foreign countries. Some, such as those of Paris, Petersburg,
+Berlin, Stockholm, Hamburg, Malta, Lisbon, Benares, Madras, and others,
+transmitted their good wishes; the rest maintained a prudent silence,
+quietly awaiting the result. As for the observatory at Greenwich, seconded
+as it was by the twenty-two astronomical establishments of Great Britain,
+it spoke plainly enough. It boldly denied the possibility of success,
+and pronounced in favour of the theories of Captain Nicholl. But this
+was nothing more than mere English jealousy.
+
+On the 8th of October President Barbicane published a manifesto full of
+enthusiasm, in which he made an appeal to "all persons of good will upon
+the face of the earth." This document, translated into all languages,
+met with immense success.
+
+Subscription lists were opened in all the principal cities of the Union,
+with a central office at the Baltimore Bank, 9, Baltimore Street.
+
+In addition, subscriptions were received at the following banks in the
+different states of the two continents:--
+
+At Vienna, with S. M. de Rothschild.
+" Petersburg, Stieglitz and Co.
+" Paris, The Credit Mobilier.
+" Stockholm, Tottie and Arfuredson.
+" London, N. M. Rothschild and Son.
+" Turin, Ardouin and Co.
+" Berlin, Mendelssohn.
+" Geneva, Lombard, Odier, and Co.
+" Constantinople, The Ottoman Bank.
+" Brussels, J. Lambert.
+" Madrid, Daniel Weisweller.
+" Amsterdam, Netherlands Credit Co.
+" Rome, Torlonia and Co.
+" Lisbon, Lecesne.
+" Copenhagen, Private Bank.
+" Rio Janeiro, do.
+" Monte Video, do.
+" Valparaiso and Lima, Thomas la Chambre and Co.    " Mexico, Martin
+Daran and Co.
+
+Three days after the manifesto of President Barbicane 4,000,000 of dollars
+were paid into the different towns of the Union. With such a balance
+the Gun Club might begin operations at once. But some days later advices
+were received to the effect that the foreign subscriptions were being
+eagerly taken up. Certain countries distinguished themselves by their
+liberality; others untied their purse-strings with less facility--matter
+of temperament. Figures are, however, more eloquent than words, and here
+is the official statement of the sums which were paid in to the credit
+of the Gun Club at the close of the subscription.
+
+
+Illustration: THE SUBSCRIPTION WAS OPENED.
+
+
+Russia paid in as her contingent the enormous sum of 368,733 roubles.
+No one need be surprised at this, who bears in mind the scientific taste
+of the Russians, and the impetus which they have given to astronomical
+studies--thanks to their numerous observatories.
+
+France began by deriding the pretensions of the Americans. The moon
+served as a pretext for a thousand stale puns and a score of ballads,
+in which bad taste contested the palm with ignorance. But as formerly
+the French paid before singing, so now they paid after having had their
+laugh, and they subscribed for a sum of 1,253,930 francs. At that price
+they had a right to enjoy themselves a little.
+
+Austria showed herself generous in the midst of her financial crisis. Her
+public contributions amounted to the sum of 216,000 florins--a perfect
+godsend.
+
+52,000 rix-dollars were the remittance of Sweden and Norway; the amount
+is large for the country, but it would undoubtedly have been considerably
+increased had the subscription been opened in Christiania simultaneously
+with that at Stockholm. For some reason or other the Norwegians do not
+like to send their money to Sweden.
+
+Prussia, by a remittance of 250,000 thalers, testified her high approval
+of the enterprise.
+
+Turkey behaved generously; but she had a personal interest in the matter.
+The moon, in fact, regulates the cycle of her years and her fast of
+Ramadan. She could not do less than give 1,372,640 piastres; and she gave
+them with an eagerness which denoted, however, some pressure on the part
+of the Government.
+
+Belgium distinguished herself among the second-rate states by a grant of
+513,000 francs--about two centimes per head of her population.
+
+Holland and her colonies interested themselves to the extent of 110,000
+florins, only demanding an allowance of five per cent, discount for
+paying ready money.
+
+Denmark, a little contracted in territory, gave nevertheless 9000 ducats,
+proving her love for scientific experiments.
+
+The Germanic Confederation pledged itself to 34,285 florins. It was
+impossible to ask for more; besides, they would not have given it.
+
+Though very much crippled, Italy found 200,000 lire in the pockets of
+her people. If she had had Venetia she would have done better; but she
+had not.
+
+The States of the Church thought that they could not send less than
+7040 Roman crowns; and Portugal carried her devotion to science as far
+as 30,000 cruzados. It was the widow's mite--eighty-six piastres; but
+self-constituted empires are always rather short of money.
+
+257 francs, this was the modest contribution of Switzerland to the
+American work. One must freely admit that she did not see the practical
+side of the matter. It did not seem to her that the mere despatch of a
+shot to the moon could possibly establish any relation of affairs with
+her; and it did not seem prudent to her to embark her capital in so
+hazardous an enterprise. After all, perhaps she was right.
+
+As to Spain, she could not scrape together more than 110 reals. She
+gave as an excuse that she had her railways to finish. The truth is,
+that science is not favourably regarded in that country, it is still
+in a backward state; and moreover, certain Spaniards, not by any means
+the least educated, did not form a correct estimate of the bulk of the
+projectile compared with that of the moon. They feared that it would
+disturb the established order of things. In that case it were better to
+keep aloof; which they did to the tune of some reals.
+
+
+Illustration: THE MANUFACTORY AT COLDSPRING, NEAR NEW YORK.
+
+
+There remained but England; and we know the contemptuous antipathy with
+which she received Barbicane's proposition. The English have but one
+soul for the whole twenty-six millions of inhabitants which Great Britain
+contains. They hinted that the enterprise of the Gun Club was contrary to
+the "principle of non-intervention." And they did not subscribe a single
+farthing.
+
+At this intimation the Gun Club merely shrugged its shoulders and
+returned to its great work. When South America, that is to say, Peru,
+Chili, Brazil, the provinces of La Plata and Columbia, had poured forth
+their quota into their hands, the sum of 300,000 dollars, it found itself
+in possession of a considerable capital, of which the following is a
+statement:--
+
+United States subscriptions . . 4,000,000 dollars.
+Foreign subscriptions    . . . . 1,446,675 "
+
+                                 ------------------
+Total,                           5,446,675 "
+
+
+Such was the sum which the public poured into the treasury of the Gun
+Club.
+
+Let no one be surprised at the vastness of the amount. The work of
+casting, boring, masonry, the transport of workmen, their establishment
+in an almost uninhabited country, the construction of furnaces and
+workshops, the plant, the powder, the projectile, and incidental expenses,
+would, according to the estimates, absorb nearly the whole. Certain
+cannon shots in the Federal war cost 1000 dollars a-piece. This one of
+President Barbicane, unique in the annals of gunnery, might well cost
+five thousand times more.
+
+On the 20th of October a contract was entered into with the manufactory
+at Coldspring, near New York, which during the war had furnished the
+largest Parrott cast-iron guns. It was stipulated between the contracting
+parties that the manufactory of Coldspring should engage to transport
+to Tampa Town, in southern Florida, the necessary materials for casting
+the Columbiad. The work was bound to be completed at latest by the 15th
+of October following, and the cannon delivered in good condition under
+penalty of a forfeit of 100 dollars a day to the moment when the moon
+should again present herself under the same conditions--that is to say,
+in eighteen years and eleven days.
+
+The engagement of the workmen, their pay, and all the necessary details
+of the work, devolved upon the Goldspring Company.
+
+This contract, executed in duplicate, was signed by Barbicane, President
+of the Gun Club, of the one part, and T. Murphison, director of the
+Coldspring manufactory, of the other, who thus executed the deed on
+behalf of their respective principals.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   STONES HILL.
+
+
+When the decision was arrived at by the Gun Club, to the disparagement of
+Texas, every one in America, where reading is an universal acquirement,
+set to work to study the geography of Florida. Never before had there
+been such a sale for works like _Bertram's Travels in Florida, Roman's
+Natural History of East and West Florida, William's Territory of Florida,_
+and _Cleland on the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane in Florida._ It became
+necessary to issue fresh editions of these works.
+
+Barbicane had something better to do than to read. He desired to see
+things with his own eyes, and to mark the exact position of the proposed
+gun. So, without a moment's loss of time, he placed at the disposal of
+the Cambridge Observatory the funds necessary for the construction of a
+telescope, and entered into negotiations with the house of Breadwill and
+Co., of Albany, for the construction of an aluminium projectile of the
+required size. He then quitted Baltimore, accompanied by J. T. Maston,
+Major Elphinstone, and the manager of the Coldspring Factory.
+
+On the following day, the four fellow-travellers arrived at New Orleans.
+There they immediately embarked on board the "Tampico," a despatch-boat
+belonging to the Federal navy, which the Government had placed at their
+disposal; and, getting up steam, the banks of the Louisiana speedily
+disappeared from sight.
+
+The passage was not long. Two days after starting, the "Tampico,"
+having made four hundred and eighty miles, came in sight of the coast of
+Florida. On a nearer approach Barbicane found himself in view of a low,
+flat country of somewhat barren aspect. After coasting along a series of
+creeks abounding in lobsters and oysters, the "Tampico" entered the bay
+of Espiritu Santo, where she finally anchored in a small natural harbour,
+formed by the _embouchure_ of the River Hillisborough, at seven p.m., on
+the 22d October.
+
+Our four passengers disembarked at once. "Gentlemen," said Barbicane,
+"we have no time to lose; tomorrow we must obtain horses, and proceed to
+reconnoitre the country."
+
+Barbicane had scarcely set his foot on shore when three thousand of the
+inhabitants of Tampa Town came forth to meet him, an honour due to the
+president who had signalized their country by his choice.
+
+Declining, however, every kind of ovation, Barbicane ensconced himself
+in a room of the Franklin Hotel.
+
+On the morrow some of those small horses of the Spanish breed, full of
+vigour and of fire, stood snorting under his windows; but instead of
+_four_ steeds, here were _fifty,_ together with their riders. Barbicane
+descended with his three fellow-travellers; and much astonished were they
+all to find themselves in the midst of such a cavalcade. He remarked that
+every horseman carried a carbine slung across his shoulders and pistols
+in his holsters.
+
+On expressing his surprise at these preparations, he was speedily
+enlightened by a young Floridan, who quietly said,--
+
+"Sir, there are Seminoles there."
+
+"What do you mean by Seminoles?"
+
+"Savages who scour the prairies. We thought it best, therefore, to escort
+you on your road."
+
+"Pooh!" cried J. T. Maston, mounting his steed.
+
+"All right," said the Floridan; "but it is true enough, nevertheless."
+
+"Gentlemen," answered Barbicane, "I thank you for your kind attention;
+but it is time to be off."
+
+
+Illustration: TAMPA TOWN PREVIOUS TO THE UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+It was five a.m. when Barbicane and his party, quitting Tampa Town,
+made their way along the coast in the direction of Alifia Creek. This
+little river falls into Hillisborough Bay twelve miles above Tampa Town.
+Barbicane and his escort coasted along its right bank to the eastward.
+Soon the waves of the bay disappeared behind a bend of rising ground,
+and the Floridan "champagne" alone offered itself to view.
+
+Florida, discovered on Palm Sunday, in 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon, was
+originally named _Pascha Florida_. It little deserved that designation
+with its dry and parched coasts. But after some few miles of tract the
+nature of the soil gradually changes and the country shows itself worthy
+of the name. Cultivated plains soon appear, where are united all the
+productions of the northern and tropical floras, terminating in prairies
+abounding with pineapples and yams, tobacco, rice, cotton-plants, and
+sugar-canes, which extend beyond reach of sight, flinging their riches
+broadcast with careless prodigality.
+
+Barbicane appeared highly pleased on observing the progressive elevation
+of the land; and in answer to a question of J. T. Maston, replied,--
+
+"My worthy friend, we cannot do better than sink our Columbiad in these
+high grounds."
+
+"To get nearer to the moon, perhaps?" said the secretary of the Gun Club.
+
+"Not exactly," replied Barbicane, smiling; "do you not see that amongst
+these elevated plateaus we shall have a much easier work of it? No
+struggles with the water-springs, which will save us long and expensive
+tubings; and we shall be working in daylight instead of down a deep and
+narrow well. Our business, then, is to open our trenches upon ground some
+hundreds of yards above the level of the sea."
+
+"You are right, sir," struck in Murchison, the engineer; "and, if I
+mistake not, we shall ere long find a suitable spot for our purpose."
+
+"I wish we were at the first stroke of the pickaxe," said the president.
+
+"And I wish we were at the _last_," cried J. T. Maston.
+
+About ten a.m. the little band had crossed a dozen miles. To fertile
+plains succeeded a region of forests. There perfumes of the most varied
+kinds mingled together in tropical profusion. These almost impenetrable
+forests were composed of pomegranates, orange-trees, citrons, figs,
+olives, apricots, bananas, huge vines, whose blossoms and fruits rivalled
+each other in colour and perfume. Beneath the odorous shade of these
+magnificent trees fluttered and warbled a little world of brilliantly
+plumaged birds.
+
+J. T. Maston and the major could not repress their admiration on finding
+themselves in presence of the glorious beauties of this wealth of
+nature. President Barbicane, however, less sensitive to these wonders,
+was in haste to press forward; the very luxuriance of the country was
+displeasing to him. They hastened onwards, therefore, and were compelled
+to ford several rivers, not without danger, for they were infested with
+huge alligators from fifteen to eighteen feet long. Maston courageously
+menaced them with his steel hook, but he only succeeded in frightening
+some pelicans and teal, while tall flamingos stared stupidly at the
+party.
+
+At length these denizens of the swamps disappeared in their turn; smaller
+trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets--a few isolated
+groups detached in the midst of endless plains over which ranged herds
+of startled deer.
+
+"At last," cried Barbicane, rising in his stirrups, "here we are at the
+region of pines!"
+
+"Yes! and of savages too," replied the major.
+
+In fact, some Seminoles had just come in sight upon the horizon; they
+rode violently backwards and forwards on their fleet horses, brandishing
+their spears or discharging their guns with a dull report. These hostile
+demonstrations, however, had no effect upon Barbicane and his companions.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY WERE COMPELLED TO FORD SEVERAL RIVERS.
+
+
+They were then occupying the centre of a rocky plain, which the sun
+scorched with its parching rays. This was formed by a considerable
+elevation of the soil, which seemed to offer to the members of the Gun
+Club all the conditions requisite for the construction of their Columbiad.
+
+"Halt!" said Barbicane, reining up. "Has this place any local appellation?"
+
+"It is called Stones Hill," replied one of the Floridans.
+
+Barbicane, without saying a word, dismounted, seized his instruments,
+and began to note his position with extreme exactness. The little band,
+drawn up in rear, watched his proceedings in profound silence.
+
+At this moment the sun passed the meridian. Barbicane, after a few
+moments, rapidly wrote down the result of his observations, and said,--
+
+"This spot is situated 1800 feet above the level of the sea, in 27 deg.
+7' N. lat. and 5 deg. 7' W. long. of the meridian of Washington. It
+appears to me by its rocky and barren character to offer all the
+conditions requisite for our experiment. On that plain will be raised
+our magazines, workshops, furnaces, and workmen's huts; and here, from
+this very spot," said he, stamping his foot on the summit of Stones
+Hill, "hence shall our projectile take its flight into the regions of
+the Solar World."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   PICKAXE AND TROWEL.
+
+
+The same evening Barbicane and his companions returned to Tampa Town;
+and Murchison, the engineer, re-embarked on board the "Tampico" for New
+Orleans. His object was to enlist an army of workmen, and to collect
+together the greater part of the materials. The members of the Gun Club
+remained at Tampa Town, for the purpose of setting on foot the preliminary
+works by the aid of the people of the country.
+
+Eight days after its departure, the "Tampico" returned into the bay
+of Espiritu Santo, with a whole flotilla of steamboats. Murchison had
+succeeded in assembling together fifteen hundred artisans. Attracted
+by the high pay and considerable bounties offered by the Gun Club, he
+had enlisted a choice legion of stokers, iron-founders, lime-burners,
+miners, brickmakers, and artisans of every trade, without distinction of
+colour. As many of these people brought their families with them, their
+departure resembled a perfect emigration.
+
+On the 31st October, at ten o'clock in the morning, the troop disembarked
+on the quays of Tampa Town; and one may imagine the activity which
+pervaded that little town, whose population was thus doubled in a single
+day.
+
+During the first few days they were busy discharging the cargo brought
+by the flotilla, the machines, and the rations, as well as a large number
+of huts constructed of iron plates, separately pieced and numbered. At
+the same period Barbicane laid the first sleepers of a railway fifteen
+miles in length intended to unite Stones Hill with Tampa Town. On the
+first of November Barbicane quitted Tampa Town with a detachment of
+workmen; and on the following day the whole town of huts was erected
+round Stones Hill. This they enclosed with palisades; and in respect of
+energy and activity, it might have shortly been mistaken for one of the
+great cities of the Union. Everything was placed under a complete system
+of dicipline, and the works were commenced in most perfect order.
+
+The nature of the soil having been carefully examined, by means of
+repeated borings, the work of excavation was fixed for the 4th of
+November.
+
+On that day Barbicane called together his foremen and addressed them as
+follows:--"You are well aware, my friends, of the object with which I
+have assembled you together in this wild part of Florida. Our business
+is to construct a cannon measuring nine feet in its interior diameter,
+six feet thick, and with a stone revetment of nineteen and a half feet
+in thickness. We have, therefore, a well of sixty feet in diameter
+to dig down to a depth of nine hundred feet. This great work must be
+completed _within eight months,_ so that you have 2,543,400 cubic feet
+of earth to excavate in 255 days; that is to say, in round numbers, 2000
+cubic feet per day. That which would present no difficulty to a thousand
+navvies working in open country will be of course more troublesome in
+a comparatively confined space. However, the thing must be done, and
+I reckon for its accomplishment upon your courage as much as upon your
+skill."
+
+At eight o'clock in the morning the first stroke of the pickaxe was
+struck upon the soil of Florida; and from that moment that prince of
+tools was never inactive for one moment in the hands of the excavators.
+The gangs relieved each other every three hours.
+
+On the 4th of November fifty workmen commenced digging, in the very
+centre of the enclosed space on the summit of Stones Hill, a circular
+hole sixty feet in diameter. The pickaxe first struck upon a kind of
+black earth, six inches in thickness, which was speedily disposed of.
+To this earth succeeded two feet of fine sand, which was carefully laid
+aside as being valuable for serving for the casting of the inner mould.
+After the sand appeared some compact white clay, resembling the chalk
+of Great Britain, which extended down to a depth of four feet. Then the
+iron of the picks struck upon the hard bed of the soil; a kind of rock
+formed of petrified shells, very dry, very solid, and which the picks
+could with difficulty penetrate. At this point the excavation exhibited
+a depth of six feet and a half and the work of the masonry was begun.
+
+At the bottom of this excavation they constructed a wheel of oak, a kind
+of circle strongly bolted together, and of immense strength. The centre
+of this wooden disc was hollowed out to a diameter equal to the exterior
+diameter of the Columbiad. Upon this wheel rested the first layers of
+the masonry, the stones of which were bound together by hydraulic cement,
+with irresistible tenacity. The workmen, after laying the stones from
+the circumference to the centre, were thus enclosed within a kind of
+well twenty-one feet in diameter. When this work was accomplished, the
+miners resumed their picks and cut away the rock from underneath the
+_wheel_ itself, taking care to support it as they advanced upon blocks
+of great thickness. At every two feet which the hole gained in depth they
+successively withdrew the blocks. The _wheel_ then sank little by little,
+and with it the massive ring of masonry, on the upper bed of which the
+masons laboured incessantly, always reserving some vent holes to permit
+the escape of gas during the operation of casting.
+
+This kind of work required on the part of the workmen extreme nicety and
+minute attention. More than one, in digging underneath the wheel, was
+dangerously injured by the splinters of stone. But their ardour never
+relaxed, night or day. By day they worked under the rays of the scorching
+sun; by night, under the gleam of the electric light. The sounds of
+the picks against the rock, the bursting of mines, the grinding of the
+machines, the wreaths of smoke scattered through the air, traced around
+Stones Hill a circle of terror which the herds of buffaloes and the war
+parties of the Seminoles never ventured to pass. Nevertheless, the works
+advanced regularly, as the steam-cranes actively removed the rubbish.
+Of unexpected obstacles there was little account; and with regard to
+foreseen difficulties, they were speedily disposed of.
+
+
+Illustration: THE WORK PROGRESSED REGULARLY.
+
+
+At the expiration of the first month the well had attained the depth
+assigned for that lapse of time, viz. 112 feet. This depth was doubled
+in December, and trebled in January.
+
+During the month of February the workmen had to contend with a sheet of
+water which made its way right across the outer soil. It became necessary
+to employ very powerful pumps and compressed engines to drain it off,
+so as to close up the orifice from whence it issued; just as one stops
+a leak on board ship. They at last succeeded in getting the upper hand
+of these untoward streams; only, in consequence of the loosening of the
+soil, the wheel partly gave way, and a slight partial settlement ensued.
+This accident cost the life of several workmen.
+
+No fresh occurrence thenceforward arrested the progress of the operation;
+and on the 10th of June, twenty days before the expiration of the period
+fixed by Barbicane, the well, lined throughout with its facing of stone,
+had attained the depth of 900 feet. At the bottom the masonry rested upon
+a massive block measuring thirty feet in thickness, whilst on the upper
+portion it was level with the surrounding soil.
+
+President Barbicane and the members of the Gun Club warmly congratulated
+their engineer Murchison: the cyclopean work had been accomplished with
+extraordinary rapidity.
+
+During these eight months Barbicane never quitted Stones Hill for a
+single instant. Keeping ever close by the work of excavation, he busied
+himself incessantly with the welfare and health of his workpeople, and
+was singularly fortunate in warding off the epidemics common to large
+communities of men, and so disastrous in those regions of the globe which
+are exposed to the influences of tropical climates.
+
+Many workmen, it is true, paid with their lives for the rashness inherent
+in these dangerous labours; but these mishaps are impossible to be
+avoided, and they are classed amongst details with which the Americans
+trouble themselves but little. They have in fact more regard for human
+nature in general than for the individual in particular.
+
+Nevertheless, Barbicane professed opposite principles to these, and
+put them in force at every opportunity. So, thanks to his care, his
+intelligence, his useful intervention in all difficulties, his prodigious
+and humane sagacity, the average of accidents did not exceed that of
+transatlantic countries, noted for their excessive precautions, France,
+for instance, among others, where they reckon about one accident for
+every two hundred thousand francs of work.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XV.
+
+   THE FETE OF THE CASTING.
+
+
+During the eight months which were employed in the work of excavation
+the preparatory works of the casting had been carried on simultaneously
+with extreme rapidity. A stranger arriving at Stones Hill would have been
+surprised at the spectacle offered to his view.
+
+At 600 yards from the well, and circularly arranged around it as a central
+point, rose 1200 reverberating ovens, each six feet in diameter, and
+separated from each other by an interval of three feet. The circumference
+occupied by these 1200 ovens presented a length of two miles. Being all
+constructed on the same plan, each with its high quadrangular chimney,
+they produced a most singular effect.
+
+It will be remembered that on their third meeting the Committee had
+decided to use cast-iron for the Columbiad, and in particular the _white_
+description. This metal in fact is the most tenacious, the most ductile,
+and the most malleable, and consequently suitable for all moulding
+operations; and when smelted with pit coal, is of superior quality for
+all engineering works requiring great resisting power, such as cannon,
+steam-boilers, hydraulic presses, and the like.
+
+Cast-iron, however, if subjected to only one single fusion, is rarely
+sufficiently homogeneous; and it requires a second fusion completely to
+refine it by dispossessing it of its last earthly deposits. So before
+being forwarded to Tampa Town, the iron ore, molten in the great furnaces
+of Coldspring, and brought into contact with coal and silicium heated to
+a high temperature, was carburized and transformed into cast-iron. After
+this first operation, the metal was sent on to Stones Hill. They had,
+however, to deal with 136,000,000 lbs. of iron, a quantity far too costly
+to send by railway. The cost of transport would have been double that of
+material. It appeared preferable to freight vessels at New York, and to
+load them with the iron in bars. This, however, required not less than
+sixty-eight vessels of 1000 tons, a veritable fleet, which, quitting New
+York on the 3rd of May, on the 10th of the same month ascended the Bay
+of Espiritu Santo, and discharged their cargoes, without dues, in the
+port at Tampa Town. Thence the iron was transported by rail to Stones
+Hill, and about the middle of January this enormous mass of metal was
+delivered at its destination.
+
+It will be easily understood that 1200 furnaces were not too many to
+melt simultaneously these 60,000 tons of iron. Each of these furnaces
+contained nearly 140,000 lbs. weight of metal. They were all built after
+the model of those which served for the casting of the Rodman gun, they
+were trapezoidal in shape, with a high elliptical arch. These furnaces,
+constructed of fireproof brick, were especially adapted for burning
+pit coal, with a flat bottom upon which the iron bars were laid. This
+bottom, inclined at an angle of 25 deg., allowed the metal to flow into
+the receiving troughs; and the 1200 converging trenches carried the
+molten metal down to the central well.
+
+The day following that on which the works of the masonry and boring had
+been completed, Barbicane set to work upon the central mould. His object
+now was to raise within the centre of the well, and with a coincident
+axis, a cylinder 900 feet high, and 9 feet in diameter, which should
+exactly fill up the space reserved for the bore of the Columbiad. This
+cylinder was composed of a mixture of clay and sand, with the addition of
+a little hay and straw. The space left between the mould and the masonry
+was intended to be filled up by the molten metal, which would thus form
+the walls six feet in thickness. This cylinder, in order to maintain its
+equilibrium, had to be bound by iron bands, and firmly fixed at certain
+intervals by cross-clamps fastened into the stone lining; after the
+castings these would be buried in the block of metal, leaving no external
+projection.
+
+
+Illustration: THE CASTING.
+
+
+This operation was completed on the 8th of July, and the run of the metal
+was fixed for the following day.
+
+"This fete of the casting will be a grand ceremony," said J. T. Maston
+to his friend Barbicane.
+
+"Undoubtedly," said Barbicane; "but it will not be a public fete."
+
+"What! will you not open the gates of the enclosure to all comers?"
+
+"I must be very careful, Maston. The casting of the Columbiad is an
+extremely delicate, not to say a dangerous operation, and I should prefer
+its being done privately. At the discharge of the projectile, a fete if
+you like--till then, no!"
+
+The president was right. The operation involved unforeseen dangers, which
+a great influx of spectators would have hindered him from averting. It was
+necessary to preserve complete freedom of movement. No one was admitted
+within the enclosure except a delegation of members of the Gun Club,
+who had made the voyage to Tampa Town. Among these was the brisk Bilsby,
+Tom Hunter, Colonel Blomsberry, Major Elphinstone, General Morgan, and
+the rest of the lot to whom the casting of the Columbiad was a matter
+of personal interest. J. T. Maston became their cicerone. He omitted no
+point of detail; he conducted them throughout the magazines, workshops,
+through the midst of the engines, and compelled them to visit the whole
+1200 furnaces one after the other. At the end of the twelve-hundredth
+visit they were pretty well knocked up.
+
+The casting was to take place at 12 o'clock precisely. The previous
+evening each furnace had been charged with 114,000 lbs. weight of metal
+in bars disposed cross-ways to each other, so as to allow the hot air
+to circulate freely between them. At daybreak the 1200 chimneys vomited
+their torrents of flame into the air, and the ground was agitated with
+dull tremblings. As many pounds of metal as there were to _cast_, so many
+pounds of coal were there to _burn_. Thus there were 68,000 tons of coal
+which projected in the face of the sun a thick curtain of smoke. The heat
+soon became insupportable within the circle of furnaces, the rumbling of
+which resembled the rolling of thunder. The powerful ventilators added
+their continuous blasts and saturated with oxygen the glowing plates. The
+operation, to be successful, required to be conducted with great rapidity.
+On a signal given by a cannon-shot each furnace was to give vent to the
+molten iron and completely to empty itself. These arrangements made,
+foremen and workmen waited the preconcerted moment with an impatience
+mingled with a certain amount of emotion. Not a soul remained within the
+enclosure. Each superintendent took his post by the aperture of the run.
+
+Barbicane and his colleagues, perched on a neighbouring eminence,
+assisted at the operation. In front of them was a piece of artillery
+ready to give fire on the signal from the engineer. Some minutes before
+midday the first driblets of metal began to flow; the reservoirs filled
+little by little; and, by the time that the whole melting was completely
+accomplished, it was kept in abeyance for a few minutes in order to
+facilitate the separation of foreign substances.
+
+Twelve o'clock struck! A gunshot suddenly pealed forth and shot its
+flame into the air. Twelve hundred melting-troughs were simultaneously
+opened and twelve hundred fiery serpents crept towards the central
+well, unrolling their incandescent curves. There, down they plunged
+with a terrific noise into a depth of 900 feet. It was an exciting and
+a magnificent spectacle. The ground trembled, while these molten waves,
+launching into the sky their wreaths of smoke, evaporated the moisture
+of the mould and hurled it upwards through the vent-holes of the stone
+lining in the form of dense vapour-clouds. These artificial clouds
+unrolled their thick spirals to a height of 1000 yards into the air.
+A savage, wandering somewhere beyond the limits of the horizon, might
+have believed that some new crater was forming in the bosom of Florida,
+although there was neither any eruption, nor typhoon, nor storm, nor
+struggle of the elements, nor any of those terrible phenomena which
+nature is capable of producing. No, it was man alone who had produced
+these reddish vapours, these gigantic flames worthy of a volcano itself,
+these tremendous vibrations resembling the shock of an earthquake, these
+reverberations rivalling those of hurricanes and storms; and it was his
+hand which precipitated into an abyss, dug by himself, a whole Niagara
+of molten metal!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVI.
+
+   THE COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+Had the casting succeeded? They were reduced to mere conjecture. There
+was indeed every reason to expect success, since the mould had absorbed
+the entire mass of the molten metal; still some considerable time must
+elapse before they could arrive at any certainty upon the matter.
+
+The patience of the members of the Gun Club was sorely tried during this
+period of time. But they could do nothing. J. T. Maston escaped roasting
+by a miracle. Fifteen days after the casting an immense column of smoke
+was still rising in the open sky and the ground burnt the soles of the
+feet within a radius of 200 feet round the summit of Stones Hill. It was
+impossible to approach nearer. All they could do was to wait with what
+patience they might.
+
+"Here we are at the 10th August," exclaimed J. T. Maston one morning,
+"only four months to the 1st of December! We shall never be ready in
+time!" Barbicane said nothing, but his silence covered serious irritation.
+
+However, daily observations revealed a certain change going on in the
+state of the ground. About the 15th August the vapours ejected had
+sensibly diminished in intensity and thickness. Some days afterwards the
+earth exhaled only a slight puff of smoke, the last breath of the monster
+enclosed within its circle of stone. Little by little the belt of heat
+contracted, until on the 22d August Barbicane, his colleagues, and the
+engineer were enabled to set foot on the iron sheet which lay level upon
+the summit of Stones Hill.
+
+"At last!" exclaimed the President of the Gun Club, with an immense sigh
+of relief.
+
+The work was resumed the same day. They proceeded at once to extract the
+interior mould, for the purpose of clearing out the boring of the piece.
+Pickaxes and boring irons were set to work without intermission. The
+clayey and sandy soils had acquired extreme hardness under the action of
+the heat; but by the aid of the machines, the rubbish on being dug out
+was rapidly carted away on railway waggons; and such was the ardour of
+the work, so persuasive the arguments of Barbicane's dollars, that by
+the 3rd of September all traces of the mould had entirely disappeared.
+
+Immediately the operation of boring was commenced; and by the aid of
+powerful machines, a few weeks later, the inner surface of the immense
+tube had been rendered perfectly cylindrical, and the bore of the piece
+had acquired a thorough polish.
+
+At length, on the 22nd of September, less than a twelvemonth after
+Barbicane's original proposition, the enormous weapon, accurately bored,
+and exactly vertically pointed, was ready for work. There was only the
+moon now to wait for; and they were pretty sure that she would not fail
+in the rendezvous.
+
+The ecstacy of J. T. Maston knew no bounds, and he narrowly escaped a
+frightful fall while staring down the tube. But for the strong hand of
+Colonel Blomsberry, the worthy secretary, like a modern Erostratus, would
+have found his death in the depths of the Columbiad.
+
+The cannon was then finished; there was no possible doubt as to its
+perfect completion. So, on the 6th of October, Captain Nicholl opened
+an account between himself and President Barbicane, in which he debited
+himself to the latter in the sum of 2000 dollars. One may believe that
+the Captain's wrath was increased to its highest point, and must have
+made him seriously ill. However, he had still three bets of three, four,
+and five thousand dollars, respectively; and if he gained two out of
+these, his position would not be very bad. But the money question did
+not enter into his calculations; it was the success of his rival in
+casting a cannon against which iron plates sixty feet thick would have
+been ineffectual, that dealt him a terrible blow.
+
+After the 23rd of September the enclosure of Stones Hill was thrown open
+to the public; and it will be easily imagined what was the concourse of
+visitors to this spot! There was an incessant flow of people to and from
+Tampa Town and the place, which resembled a procession, or rather, in
+fact, a pilgrimage.
+
+It was already clear to be seen that, on the day of the experiment itself,
+the aggregate of spectators would be counted by millions; for they were
+already arriving from all parts of the earth upon this narrow strip of
+promontory. Europe was emigrating to America.
+
+Up to that time, however, it must be confessed, the curiosity of the
+numerous comers was but scantily gratified. Most had counted upon
+witnessing the spectacle of the casting, and they were treated to
+nothing but smoke. This was sorry food for hungry eyes; but Barbicane
+would admit no one to that operation. Then ensued grumbling, discontent,
+murmurs; they blamed the President, taxed him with dictatorial conduct.
+His proceedings were declared "un-American." There was very nearly a
+riot round Stones Hill; but Barbicane remained inflexible. When, however,
+the Columbiad was entirely finished, this state of closed doors could
+no longer be maintained; besides it would have been bad taste, and even
+imprudence, to affront the public feeling. Barbicane, therefore, opened
+the enclosure to all comers; but, true to his practical disposition, he
+determined to coin money out of the public curiosity.
+
+It was something, indeed, to be enabled to contemplate this immense
+Columbiad; but to descend into its depths, this seemed to the Americans
+the _ne plus ultra_ of earthly felicity. Consequently, there was not
+one curious spectator who was not willing to give himself the treat of
+visiting the interior of this metallic abyss. Baskets suspended from
+steam-cranes permitted them to satisfy their curiosity. There was a
+perfect mania. Women, children, old men, all made it a point of duty to
+penetrate the mysteries of the colossal gun. The fare for the descent was
+fixed at five dollars per head; and despite this high charge, during the
+two months which preceded the experiment, the influx of visitors enabled
+the Gun Club to pocket nearly 500,000 dollars!
+
+
+Illustration: TAMPA TOWN AFTER THE UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+It is needless to say that the first visitors of the Columbiad were the
+members of the Gun Club. This privilege was justly reserved for that
+illustrious body. The ceremony took place on the 25th September. A basket
+of honour took down the President, J. T. Maston, Major Elphinstone,
+General Morgan, Colonel Blomsberry, and other members of the club, to
+the number of ten in all. How hot it was at the bottom of that long tube
+of metal! They were half suffocated. But what delight! What ecstasy! A
+table had been laid with six covers on the massive stone which formed
+the bottom of the Columbiad, and lighted by a jet of electric light
+resembling that of day itself. Numerous exquisite dishes, which seemed
+to descend from heaven, were placed successively before the guests, and
+the richest wines of France flowed in profusion during this splendid
+repast, served nine hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth!
+
+The festival was animated, not to say somewhat noisy. Toasts flew
+backwards and forwards. They drank to the earth and to her satellite, to
+the Gun Club, the Union, the moon, Diana, Phoebe, Selene, the "peaceful
+courier of the night"! All the hurrahs, carried upwards upon the sonorous
+waves of the immense acoustic tube, arrived with the sound of thunder
+at its mouth; and the multitude ranged round Stones Hill heartily united
+their shouts with those of the ten revellers hidden from view at the
+bottom of the gigantic Columbiad.
+
+J. T. Maston was no longer master of himself. Whether he shouted or
+gesticulated, ate or drank most, would be a difficult matter to determine.
+At all events, he would not have given his place up for an empire, "not
+even if the cannon--loaded, primed, and fired at that very moment--were
+to blow him in pieces into the planetary world."
+
+
+Illustration: THE BANQUET IN THE COLUMBIAD.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVII.
+
+   A TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH.
+
+
+The great works undertaken by the Gun Club had now virtually come to an
+end; and two months still remained before the day for the discharge of
+the shot to the moon. To the general impatience these two months appeared
+as long as years! Hitherto the smallest details of the operation had been
+daily chronicled by the journals, which the public devoured with eager
+eyes.
+
+Just at this moment a circumstance, the most unexpected, the most
+extraordinary and incredible, occurred to rouse afresh their panting
+spirits, and to throw every mind into a state of the most violent
+excitement.
+
+One day, the 30th September, at 3.47 p.m., a telegram, transmitted by
+cable from Valentia (Ireland) to Newfoundland and the American mainland,
+arrived at the address of President Barbicane.
+
+The President tore open the envelope, read the despatch, and, despite
+his remarkable powers of self-control, his lips turned pale and his eyes
+grew dim, on reading the twenty words of this telegram.
+
+Here is the text of the despatch, which figures now in the archives of
+the Gun Club:--
+
+
+   "France, Paris,
+
+   "30 _September_, 4 _a.m._
+
+   "Barbicane, Tampa Town, Florida, United States.
+
+   "Substitute for your spherical shell a cylindro-conical projectile.
+    I shall go inside. Shall arrive by steamer 'Atlanta.'
+
+   "Michel Ardan."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+   THE PASSENGER OF THE "ATLANTA."
+
+
+If this astounding news, instead of flying through the electric wires,
+had simply arrived by post in the ordinary sealed envelope, Barbicane
+would not have hesitated a moment. He would have held his tongue about
+it, both as a measure of prudence, and in order not to have to reconsider
+his plans. This telegram might be a cover for some jest, especially as
+it came from a Frenchman. What human being would ever have conceived the
+idea of such a journey? and, if such a person really existed, he must be
+an idiot, whom one would shut up in a lunatic ward, rather than within
+the walls of the projectile.
+
+The contents of the despatch, however, speedily became known; for
+the telegraphic officials possessed but little discretion, and Michel
+Ardan's proposition ran at once throughout the several States of the
+Union. Barbicane had, therefore, no further motive for keeping silence.
+Consequently, he called together such of his colleagues as were at the
+moment in Tampa Town, and without any expression of his own opinions
+simply read to them the laconic text itself. It was received with every
+possible variety of expressions of doubt, incredulity, and derision from
+every one, with the exception of J. T. Maston, who exclaimed, "It is a
+grand idea, however!"
+
+When Barbicane originally proposed to send a shot to the moon every one
+looked upon the enterprise as simple and practicable enough--a mere
+question of gunnery; but when a person, professing to be a reasonable
+being, offered to take passage within the projectile, the whole thing
+became a farce, or, in plainer language a _humbug._
+
+
+Illustration: PRESIDENT BARBICANE AT HIS WINDOW.
+
+
+One question, however, remained. Did such a being exist? This telegram
+flashed across the depths of the Atlantic, the designation of the vessel
+on board which he was to take his passage, the date assigned for his
+speedy arrival, all combined to impart a certain character of reality to
+the proposal. They must get some clearer notion of the matter. Scattered
+groups of inquirers at length condensed themselves into a compact crowd,
+which made straight for the residence of President Barbicane. That worthy
+individual was keeping quiet with the intention of watching events as they
+arose. But he had forgotten to take into account the public impatience;
+and it was with no pleasant countenance that he watched the population
+of Tampa Town gathering under his windows. The murmurs and vociferations
+below presently obliged him to appear. He came forward, therefore, and
+on silence being procured, a citizen put point-blank to him the following
+question:--"Is the person mentioned in the telegram, under the name of
+Michel Ardan, on his way here? Yes or no."
+
+"Gentlemen," replied Barbicane, "I know no more than you do."
+
+"We must know," roared the impatient voices.
+
+"Time will show," calmly replied the President.
+
+"Time has no business to keep a whole country in suspense," replied the
+orator. "Have you altered the plans of the projectile according to the
+request of the telegram?"
+
+"Not yet, gentlemen; but you are right! we must have better information
+to go by. The telegraph must complete its information."
+
+"To the telegraph!" roared the crowd.
+
+Barbicane descended; and heading the immense assemblage, led the way to
+the telegraph office. A few minutes later a telegram was despatched to
+the secretary of the underwriters at Liverpool, requesting answers to
+the following queries:--
+
+"About the ship 'Atlanta'--when did she leave Europe? Had she on board
+a Frenchman named Michel Ardan?"
+
+Two hours afterwards Barbicane received information too exact to leave
+room for the smallest remaining doubt.
+
+"The steamer 'Atlanta' from Liverpool put to sea on the 2nd October,
+bound for Tampa Town, having on board a Frenchman borne on the list of
+passengers by the name of Michel Ardan."
+
+That very evening he wrote to the house of Breadwill and Co., requesting
+them to suspend the casting of the projectile until the receipt of
+further orders. On the 20th October, at 9 a.m., the semaphores of the
+Bahama Canal signalled a thick smoke on the horizon. Two hours later a
+large steamer exchanged signals with them. The name of the Atlanta flew
+at once over Tampa Town. At four o'clock the English vessel entered the
+Bay of Espiritu Santo. At five it crossed the passage of Hillisborough
+Bay at full steam. At six she cast anchor at Port Tampa. The anchor had
+scarcely caught the sandy bottom when 500 boats surrounded the "Atlanta,"
+and the steamer was taken by assault. Barbicane was the first to set foot
+on deck, and in a voice of which he vainly tried to conceal the emotion,
+called "Michel Ardan."
+
+"Here!" replied an individual perched on the poop.
+
+Barbicane, with arms crossed, looked fixedly at the passenger of the
+"Atlanta."
+
+He was a man of about 42 years of age, of large build, but slightly
+round-shouldered. His massive head momentarily shook a shock of reddish
+hair, which resembled a lion's mane. His face was short with a broad
+forehead, and furnished with a moustache as bristly as a cat's, and little
+patches of yellowish whisker upon full cheeks. Round, wildish eyes,
+slightly near-sighted, completed a physiognomy essentially _feline._ His
+nose was firmly shaped, his mouth particularly sweet in expression, high
+forehead, intelligent and furrowed with wrinkles like a newly-ploughed
+field. The body was powerfully developed and firmly fixed upon long legs.
+Muscular arms, and a general air of decision gave him the appearance of
+a hardy, jolly companion. He was dressed in a suit of ample dimensions,
+loose neckerchief, open shirt-collar, disclosing a robust neck; his cuffs
+were invariably unbuttoned, through which appeared a pair of red hands.
+
+
+Illustration: MICHEL ARDEN.
+
+
+On the bridge of the steamer, in the midst of the crowd, he bustled to
+and fro, never still for a moment, "dragging his anchors," as the sailors
+say, gesticulating, making free with everybody, biting his nails with
+nervous avidity. He was one of those originals which nature sometimes
+invents in the freak of a moment, and of which she then breaks the mould.
+
+Amongst other peculiarities, this curiosity gave himself out for a
+sublime ignoramus, "like Shakespeare," and professed supreme contempt
+for all scientific men. Those "fellows," as he called them, "are only
+fit to mark the points, while we play the game." He was, in fact, a
+thorough Bohemian, adventurous, but not an adventurer; a hair-brained
+fellow, a kind of Icarus, only possessing relays of wings. For the rest,
+he was ever in scrapes, ending invariably by falling on his feet, like
+those little pith figures which they sell for children's toys. In two
+words, his motto was "I have my opinions," and the love of the impossible
+constituted his ruling passion.
+
+Such was the passenger of the "Atlanta," always excitable, as if boiling
+under the action of some internal fire by the character of his physical
+organization. If ever two individuals offered a striking contrast to each
+other, these were certainly Michel Ardan and the Yankee Barbicane; both,
+moreover, being equally enterprising and daring, each in his own way.
+
+The scrutiny which the President of the Gun Club had instituted regarding
+this new rival was quickly interrupted by the shouts and hurrahs of the
+crowd. The cries became at last so uproarious, and the popular enthusiasm
+assumed so personal a form, that Michel Ardan, after having shaken hands
+some thousands of times, at the imminent risk of leaving his fingers
+behind him, was fain at last to make a bolt for his cabin.
+
+Barbicane followed him without uttering a word.
+
+"You are Barbicane, I suppose?" said Michel Ardan in a tone of voice in
+which he would have addressed a friend of twenty years' standing.
+
+"Yes," replied the President of the G. C.
+
+"All right! how d'ye do, Barbicane? how are you getting on--pretty well?
+that's right."
+
+"So," said Barbicane without further preliminary, "you are quite
+determined to go."
+
+"Quite decided."
+
+"Nothing will stop you?"
+
+"Nothing. Have you modified your projectile according to my telegram."
+
+"I waited for your arrival. But," asked Barbicane again, "have you
+carefully reflected?"
+
+"Reflected? have I any time to spare? I find an opportunity of making a
+tour in the moon, and I mean to profit by it. There is the whole gist of
+the matter."
+
+Barbicane looked hard at this man who spoke so lightly of his project
+with such complete absence of anxiety. "But, at least," said he, "you
+have some plans, some means of carrying your project into execution?"
+
+"Excellent, my dear Barbicane; only permit me to offer one remark:--My
+wish is to tell my story once for all, to everybody, and then to have
+done with it; then there will be no need for recapitulation. So, if you
+have no objection, assemble your friends, colleagues, the whole town,
+all Florida, all America if you like, and to-morrow I shall be ready to
+explain my plans and answer any objections whatever that may be advanced.
+You may rest assured I shall wait without stirring. Will that suit you?"
+
+"All right," replied Barbicane.
+
+So saying, the President left the cabin and informed the crowd of the
+proposal of Michel Ardan. His words were received with clappings of hands
+and shouts of joy. They had removed all difficulties. To-morrow every
+one would contemplate at his ease this European hero. However, some of
+the spectators, more infatuated than the rest, would not leave the deck
+of the "Atlanta." They passed the night on board. Amongst others, J.
+T. Maston got his hook fixed in the combing of the poop, and it pretty
+nearly required the capstan to get it out again.
+
+"He is a hero! a hero!" he cried, a theme of which he was never tired of
+ringing the changes; "and we are only like weak, silly women, compared
+with this European!"
+
+As to the president, after having suggested to the visitors it was time
+to retire, he re-entered the passenger's cabin, and remained there till
+the bell of the steamer made it midnight.
+
+But then the two rivals in popularity shook hands heartily and parted on
+terms of intimate friendship.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIX.
+
+   A MONSTER MEETING.
+
+
+On the following day Barbicane, fearing that indiscreet questions might
+be put to Michel Ardan, was desirous of reducing the number of the
+audience to a few of the initiated, his own colleagues for instance. He
+might as well have tried to check the Falls of Niagara! He was compelled,
+therefore, to give up the idea, and to let his new friend run the chances
+of a public conference. The place chosen for this monster meeting was a
+vast plain situated in the rear of the town. In a few hours, thanks to the
+help of the shipping in port, an immense roofing of canvas was stretched
+over the parched prairie, and protected it from the burning rays of the
+sun. There 300,000 people braved for many hours the stifling heat while
+awaiting the arrival of the Frenchman. Of this crowd of spectators a first
+set could both see and hear; a second set saw badly and heard nothing
+at all; and as for the third, it could neither see nor hear anything at
+all. At three o'clock Michel Ardan made his appearance, accompanied by
+the principal members of the Gun Club. He was supported on his right by
+President Barbicane, and on his left by J. T. Maston, more radiant than
+the midday sun and nearly as ruddy. Ardan mounted a platform, from the
+top of which his view extended over a sea of black hats. He exhibited not
+the slightest embarrassment; he was just as gay, familiar, and pleasant
+as if he were at home. To the hurrahs which greeted him he replied by
+a graceful bow; then, waving his hand to request silence, he spoke in
+perfectly correct English as follows:--
+
+
+Illustration: THE MEETING.
+
+
+"Gentlemen, despite the very hot weather I request your patience for a
+short time while I offer some explanations regarding the projects which
+seem to have so interested you. I am neither an orator nor a man of
+science, and I had no idea of addressing you in public; but my friend
+Barbicane has told me that you would like to hear me, and I am quite at
+your service. Listen to me, therefore, with your 600,000 ears, and please
+to excuse the faults of the speaker. Now pray do not forget that you see
+before you a perfect ignoramus whose ignorance goes so far that he cannot
+even understand the difficulties! It seemed to him that it was a matter
+quite simple, natural, and easy to take one's place in a projectile and
+start for the moon! That journey must be undertaken sooner or later;
+and, as for the mode of locomotion adopted, it follows simply the law of
+progress. Man began by walking on all-fours; then, one fine day, on two
+feet; then in a carriage; then in a stage-coach; and lastly by railway.
+Well, the projectile is the vehicle of the future, and the planets
+themselves are nothing else! Now some of you, gentlemen, may imagine that
+the velocity we propose to impart to it is extravagant. It is nothing
+of the kind. All the stars exceed it in rapidity, and the earth herself
+is at this moment carrying us round the sun at three times as rapid a
+rate, and yet she is a mere lounger on the way compared with many others
+of the planets! And her velocity is constantly _decreasing._ Is it not
+evident, then, I ask you, that there will some day appear velocities far
+greater than these, of which light or electricity will probably be the
+mechanical agent?
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," continued the orator, "in spite of the opinions of
+certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon
+this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we
+shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the
+same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from
+Liverpool to New York! Distance is but a relative expression, and must
+end by being reduced to zero."
+
+The assembly, strongly predisposed as they were in favour of the French
+hero, were slightly staggered at this bold theory. Michel Ardan perceived
+the fact.
+
+"Gentlemen," he continued with a pleasant smile, "you do not seem quite
+convinced. Very good! Let us reason the matter out. Do you know how long
+it would take for an _express train_ to reach the moon? Three hundred
+days; no more! And what is that? The distance is no more than nine times
+the circumference of the earth; and there are no sailors or travellers,
+of even moderate activity, who have not made longer journeys than that
+in their lifetime. And now consider that I shall be only ninety-seven
+hours on my journey. Ah! I see you are reckoning that the moon is a long
+way off from the earth, and that one must think twice before making the
+experiment. What would you say, then, if we were talking of going to
+Neptune, which revolves at a distance of more than two thousand seven
+hundred and twenty millions of miles from the sun! And yet what is that
+compared with the distance of the fixed stars, some of which, such as
+Arcturus, are at billions of miles distant from us? And then you talk
+of the _distance_ which separates the planets from the sun! And there
+are people who affirm that such a thing as distance exists. Absurdity,
+folly, idiotic nonsense! Would you know what I think of our own solar
+universe? Shall I tell you my theory? It is very simple! In my opinion
+the solar system is a solid, homogeneous body; the planets which compose
+it are in _actual contact_ with each other; and whatever space exists
+between them is nothing more than the space which separates the molecules
+of the densest metal, such as silver, iron, or platinum! I have the
+right, therefore, to affirm, and I repeat, with the conviction which must
+penetrate all your minds, 'Distance is but an empty name; distance does
+not really exist!'"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried one voice (need it be said it was that of J. T. Maston?).
+"Distance does not exist!" And overcome by the energy of his movements,
+he nearly fell from the platform to the ground. He just escaped a severe
+fall, which would have proved to him that distance was by no means _an
+empty name._
+
+
+Illustration: PROJECTILE TRAINS FOR THE MOON.
+
+
+"Gentlemen," resumed the orator, "I repeat that the distance between the
+earth and her satellite is a mere trifle, and undeserving of serious
+consideration. I am convinced that before twenty years are over one half
+of our earth will have paid a visit to the moon. Now, my worthy friends,
+if you have any question to put to me, you will, I fear, sadly embarrass
+a poor man like myself; still I will do my best to answer you."
+
+Up to this point the President of the Gun Club had been satisfied with the
+turn which the discussion had assumed. It became now, however, desirable
+to divert Ardan from questions of a practical nature, with which he was
+doubtless far less conversant. Barbicane, therefore, hastened to get in
+a word, and began by asking his new friend whether he thought that the
+moon and the planets were inhabited.
+
+"You put before me a great problem, my worthy President," replied the
+orator, smiling. "Still, men of great intelligence, such as Plutarch,
+Swedenborg, Bernardin de St. Pierre, and others have, if I mistake not,
+pronounced in the affirmative. Looking at the question from the natural
+philosopher's point of view, I should say that _nothing useless_ existed
+in the world; and, replying to your question by another, I should venture
+to assert, that if these worlds are _habitable_, they either are, have
+been, or will be inhabited."
+
+"No one could answer more logically or fairly," replied the president.
+"The question then reverts to this: _Are_ these worlds habitable? For my
+own part I believe they are."
+
+"For myself, I feel certain of it," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Nevertheless," retorted one of the audience, "there are many arguments
+_against_ the habitability of the worlds. The conditions of life must
+evidently be greatly modified upon the majority of them. To mention
+only the planets, we should be either broiled alive in some, or frozen
+to death in others, according as they are more or less removed from the
+sun."
+
+"I regret," replied Michel Ardan, "that I have not the honour of personally
+knowing my contradictor, for I would have attempted to answer him. His
+objection has its merits, I admit; but I think we may successfully combat
+it, as well as all others which affect the habitability of the other
+worlds. If I were a _natural philosopher,_ I would tell him that if less
+of caloric were _set in motion_ upon the planets which are nearest to
+the sun, and more, on the contrary, upon those which are farthest removed
+from it, this simple fact would alone suffice to equalize the heat, and
+to render the temperature of those worlds supportable by beings organized
+like ourselves. If I were a _naturalist_, I would tell him that, according
+to some illustrious men of science, nature has furnished us with instances
+upon the earth of animals existing under very varying conditions of life;
+that fish respire in a medium fatal to other animals; that amphibious
+creatures possess a double existence very difficult of explanation; that
+certain denizens of the seas maintain life at enormous depths, and there
+support a pressure equal to that of fifty or sixty atmospheres without
+being crushed; that several aquatic insects, insensible to temperature,
+are met with equally among boiling springs and in the frozen plains
+of the Polar Sea; in fine, that we cannot help recognizing in nature a
+diversity of means of operation oftentimes incomprehensible, but not the
+less real. If I were a _chemist_, I would tell him that the aerolites,
+bodies evidently formed exteriorly of our terrestrial globe, have, upon
+analysis, revealed indisputable traces of carbon, a substance which
+owes its origin solely to organized beings, and which, according to the
+experiments of Reichenbach, must necessarily itself have been _endued
+with animation._ And lastly, were I a theologian, I would tell him that
+the scheme of the Divine Redemption, according to St. Paul, seems to be
+applicable, not merely to the earth, but to all the celestial worlds.
+But, unfortunately I am neither theologian, nor chemist, nor naturalist,
+nor philosopher; therefore, in my absolute ignorance of the great laws
+which govern the universe, I confine myself to saying in reply, 'I do not
+know whether the worlds are inhabited or not; and since I do not know,
+_I am going to see!_"
+
+Whether Michel Ardan's antagonist hazarded any further arguments or
+not it is impossible to say, for the uproarious shouts of the crowd
+would not allow any expression of opinion to gain a hearing. On silence
+being restored, the triumphant orator contented himself with adding the
+following remarks:--
+
+"Gentlemen, you will observe that I have but slightly touched upon
+this great question. There is another altogether different line of
+arguments in favour of the habitability of the stars, which I omit for
+the present. I only desire to call attention to one point. To those who
+maintain that the planets are _not_ inhabited one may reply:--You might
+be perfectly in the right, if you could only show that the earth is the
+_best possible world,_ spite of what Voltaire has said. She has but _one_
+satellite, while Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune have each several,
+an advantage by no means to be despised. But that which renders our own
+globe so uncomfortable is the inclination of its axis to the plane of its
+orbit. Hence the inequality of days and nights; hence the disagreeable
+diversity of the seasons. On the surface of our unhappy spheroid we
+are always either too hot or too cold; we are frozen in winter, broiled
+in summer; it is the planet of rheumatism, coughs, bronchitis; while
+on the surface of Jupiter, for example, where the axis is but slightly
+inclined, the inhabitants may enjoy uniform temperatures. It possesses
+zones of perpetual springs, summers, autumns, and winters; every Jovian
+may choose for himself what climate he likes, and there spend the whole
+of his life in security from all variations of temperature. You will, I
+am sure, readily admit this superiority of Jupiter over our own planet,
+to say nothing of his years, which each equal twelve of ours! Under
+such auspices, and such marvellous conditions of existence, it appears
+to me that the inhabitants of so fortunate a world must be in every
+respect superior to ourselves. All we require, in order to attain to
+such perfection, is the mere trifle of having an axis of rotation less
+inclined to the plane of its orbit!"
+
+"Hurrah!" roared an energetic voice, "let us unite our efforts, invent
+the necessary machines, and rectify the earth's axis!"
+
+A thunder of applause followed this proposal, the author of which was, of
+course, no other than J. T. Maston. And, in all probability, if the truth
+must be told, if the Yankees could only have found a point of application
+for it, they would have constructed a lever capable of raising the earth
+and rectifying its axis. It was just this deficiency which baffled these
+daring mechanicians.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XX.
+
+   ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
+
+
+As soon as the excitement had subsided, the following words were heard
+uttered in a strong and determined voice:--
+
+"Now that the speaker has favoured us with so much imagination, would he
+be so good as to return to his subject, and give us a little practical
+view of the question?"
+
+All eyes were directed towards the person who spoke. He was a little
+dried-up man, of an active figure, with an American "goatee" beard.
+Profiting by the different movements in the crowd, he had managed by
+degrees to gain the front row of spectators. There, with arms crossed
+and stern gaze, he watched the hero of the meeting. After having put
+his question he remained silent, and appeared to take no notice of
+the thousands of looks directed towards himself, nor of the murmur of
+disapprobation excited by his words. Meeting at first with no reply, he
+repeated his question with marked emphasis, adding, "We are here to talk
+about the _moon_ and not about the _earth_."
+
+"You are right, sir," replied Michel Ardan; "the discussion has become
+irregular. We will return to the moon."
+
+"Sir," said the unknown, "you pretend that our satellite is inhabited.
+Very good; but if Selenites do exist, that race of beings assuredly must
+live without breathing, for--I warn you for your own sake--there is
+not the smallest particle of air on the surface of the moon."
+
+At this remark Ardan pushed up his shock of red hair; he saw that he was
+on the point of being involved in a struggle with this person upon the
+very gist of the whole question. He looked sternly at him in his turn
+and said,--
+
+"Oh! so there is no air in the moon? And pray, if you are so good, who
+ventures to affirm that?"
+
+"The men of science."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Really."
+
+"Sir," replied Michel, "pleasantry apart, I have a profound respect for
+men of science who do possess science, but a profound contempt for men
+of science who do not."
+
+"Do you know any who belong to the latter category?"
+
+"Decidedly. In France there are some who maintain that, mathematically,
+a bird cannot possibly fly; and others who demonstrate theoretically that
+fishes were never made to live in water."
+
+"I have nothing to do with persons of that description, and I can quote,
+in support of my statement, names which you cannot refuse deference to."
+
+"Then, sir, you will sadly embarrass a poor ignorant, who, besides, asks
+nothing better than to learn."
+
+"Why, then, do you introduce scientific questions if you have never
+studied them?" asked the unknown somewhat coarsely.
+
+"For the reason that 'he is always brave who never suspects danger.' I
+know nothing, it is true; but it is precisely my very weakness which
+constitutes my strength."
+
+"Your weakness amounts to folly," retorted the unknown in a passion.
+
+"All the better," replied our Frenchman, "if it carries me up to the
+_moon._"
+
+Barbicane and his colleagues devoured with their eyes the intruder who had
+so boldly placed himself in antagonism to their enterprise. Nobody knew
+him, and the president, uneasy as to the result of so free a discussion,
+watched his new friend with some anxiety. The meeting began to be somewhat
+fidgety also, for the contest directed their attention to the dangers,
+if not the actual impossibilities, of the proposed expedition.
+
+
+Illustration: ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
+
+
+"Sir," replied Ardan's antagonist, "there are many and incontrovertible
+reasons which prove the absence of an atmosphere in the moon. I might
+say that, _a priori_, if one ever did exist, it must have been absorbed
+by the earth; but I prefer to bring forward indisputable facts."
+
+"Bring them forward then, sir, as many as you please."
+
+"You know," said the stranger, "that when any luminous rays cross a
+medium such as the air, they are deflected out of the straight line; in
+other words, they undergo _refraction._ Well! When stars are occulted by
+the moon, their rays, on grazing the edge of her disc, exhibit not the
+least deviation, nor offer the slightest indication of refraction. It
+follows, therefore, that the moon cannot be surrounded by an atmosphere."
+
+"In point of fact," replied Ardan, "this is your chief, if not your _only_
+argument; and a really scientific man might be puzzled to answer it. For
+myself, I will simply say that it is defective, because it assumes that
+the angular diameter of the moon has been completely determined, which
+is not the case. But let us proceed. Tell me, my dear sir, do you admit
+the existence of volcanoes on the moon's surface?"
+
+"_Extinct_, yes! In activity, no!"
+
+"These volcanoes, however, were at one time in a state of activity?"
+
+"True! but, as they furnished themselves the oxygen necessary for
+combustion, the mere fact of their eruption does not prove the presence
+of an atmosphere."
+
+"Proceed again, then; and let us set aside this class of arguments in
+order to come to direct observations. In 1715 the astronomers Louville
+and Halley, watching the eclipse of the 3rd May, remarked some very
+extraordinary scintillations. These jets of light, rapid in nature, and
+of frequent recurrence, they attributed to thunderstorms generated in
+the lunar atmosphere."
+
+"In 1715," replied the unknown, "the astronomers Louville and Halley
+mistook for lunar phenomena some which were purely terrestrial, such as
+meteoric or other bodies which are generated in our own atmosphere. This
+was the scientific explanation at the time of the facts; and that is my
+answer now."
+
+"On again, then," replied Ardan; "Herschel, in 1787, observed a great
+number of luminous points on the moon's surface, did he not?"
+
+"Yes! but without offering any solution of them. Herschel himself never
+inferred from them the necessity of a lunar atmosphere. And I may add
+that Boeer and Moedler, the two great authorities upon the moon, are
+quite agreed as to the entire absence of air on its surface."
+
+A movement was here manifest among the assemblage, who appeared to be
+growing excited by the arguments of this singular personage.
+
+"Let us proceed," replied Ardan, with perfect coolness, "and come to one
+important fact. A skilful French astronomer, M. Laussedat, in watching
+the eclipse of July 18, 1860, proved that the horns of the solar crescent
+were _rounded and truncated._ Now, this appearance could only have been
+produced by a deviation of the solar rays in traversing the atmosphere
+of the moon. There is no other possible explanation of the fact."
+
+"But is this established as a fact?"
+
+"Absolutely certain!"
+
+A counter-movement here took place in favour of the hero of the meeting,
+whose opponent was now reduced to silence. Ardan resumed the conversation;
+and without exhibiting any exultation at the advantage he had gained,
+simply said,--
+
+"You see, then, my dear sir, we must not pronounce with absolute
+positiveness against the existence of an atmosphere in the moon. That
+atmosphere is, probably, of extreme rarity; nevertheless at the present
+day science generally admits that it exists."
+
+"Not in the mountains, at all events," returned the unknown, unwilling
+to give in.
+
+"No! but at the bottom of the valleys, and not exceeding a few hundred
+feet in height."
+
+"In any case you will do well to take every precaution, for the air will
+be terribly rarified."
+
+"My good sir, there will always be enough for a solitary individual;
+besides, once arrived up there, I shall do my best to economize, and not
+to breathe except on grand occasions!"
+
+A tremendous roar of laughter rang in the ears of the mysterious
+interlocutor, who glared fiercely round upon the assembly.
+
+"Then," continued Ardan, with a careless air, "since we are in accord
+regarding the presence of a certain atmosphere, we are forced to admit
+the presence of a certain quantity of water. This is a happy consequence
+for me. Moreover, my amiable contradictor, permit me to submit to you
+one further observation. We only know one side of the moon's disc; and
+if there is but little air on the face presented to us, it is possible
+that there is plenty on the one turned away from us."
+
+"And for what reason?"
+
+"Because the moon, under the action of the earth's attraction, has
+assumed the form of an egg, which we look at from the smaller end. Hence
+it follows, by Hausen's calculations, that its centre of gravity is
+situated in the other hemisphere. Hence it results that the great mass
+of air and water must have been drawn away to the other face of our
+satellite during the first days of its creation."
+
+"Pure fancies!" cried the unknown.
+
+"No! Pure theories! which are based upon the laws of mechanics, and it
+seems difficult to me to refute them. I appeal then to this meeting, and
+I put it to them whether life, such as exists upon the earth, is possible
+on the surface of the moon?"
+
+Three hundred thousand auditors at once applauded the proposition.
+Ardan's opponent tried to get in another word, but he could not obtain
+a hearing. Cries and menaces fell upon him like hail.
+
+"Enough! enough!" cried some.
+
+"Drive the intruder off!" shouted others.
+
+"Turn him out!" roared the exasperated crowd.
+
+But he, holding firmly on to the platform, did not budge an inch, and let
+the storm pass on, which would soon have assumed formidable proportions,
+if Michel Ardan had not quieted it by a gesture. He was too chivalrous
+to abandon his opponent in an apparent extremity.
+
+"You wished to say a few more words?" he asked, in a pleasant voice.
+
+"Yes, a thousand; or rather, no, only one! If you persevere in your
+enterprise, you must be a--"
+
+"Very rash person! How can you treat me as such? me, who have demanded a
+cylindro-conical projectile, in order to prevent turning round and round
+on my way like a squirrel?"
+
+"But, unhappy man, the dreadful recoil will smash you to pieces at your
+starting."
+
+"My dear contradictor, you have just put your finger upon the true and
+the only difficulty; nevertheless, I have too good an opinion of the
+industrial genius of the Americans not to believe that they will succeed
+in overcoming it."
+
+"But the heat developed by the rapidity of the projectile in crossing
+the strata of air?"
+
+"Oh! the walls are thick, and I shall soon have crossed the atmosphere."
+
+"But victuals and water?"
+
+"I have calculated for a twelvemonth's supply, and I shall be only four
+days on the journey."
+
+"But for air to breathe on the road?"
+
+"I shall make it by chemical process."
+
+"But your fall on the moon, supposing you ever reach it?"
+
+"It will be six times less dangerous than a sudden fall upon the earth,
+because the weight will be only one-sixth as great on the surface of the
+moon."
+
+"Still it will be enough to smash you like glass!"
+
+"What is to prevent my retarding the shock by means of rockets conveniently
+placed, and lighted at the right moment?"
+
+"But after all, supposing all difficulties surmounted, all obstacles
+removed, supposing everything combined to favour you, and granting that
+you may arrive safe and sound in the moon, how will you come back?"
+
+"I am not coming back!"
+
+At this reply, almost sublime in its very simplicity, the assembly became
+silent. But its silence was more eloquent than could have been its cries
+of enthusiasm. The unknown profited by the opportunity and once more
+protested,--
+
+"You will inevitably kill yourself!" he cried; "and your death will be
+that of a madman, useless even to science!"
+
+"Go on, my dear unknown, for truly your prophecies are most agreeable!"
+
+"It really is too much!" cried Michel Ardan's adversary. "I do not know
+why I should continue so frivolous a discussion! Please yourself about
+this insane expedition! We need not trouble ourselves about you!"
+
+"Pray don't stand upon ceremony!"
+
+"No! another person is responsible for your act."
+
+"Who, may I ask?" demanded Michel Ardan in an imperious tone.
+
+"The ignoramus who organized this equally absurd and impossible
+experiment!"
+
+The attack was direct. Barbicane, ever since the interference of the
+unknown, had been making fearful efforts of self-control; now, however,
+seeing himself directly attacked, he could restrain himself no longer.
+He rose suddenly, and was rushing upon the enemy who thus braved him to
+the face, when all at once he found himself separated from him.
+
+The platform was lifted by a hundred strong arms, and the President of
+the Gun Club shared with Michel Ardan triumphal honours. The shield was
+heavy, but the bearers came in continuous relays, disputing, struggling,
+even fighting among themselves in their eagerness to lend their shoulders
+to this demonstration.
+
+However, the unknown had not profited by the tumult to quit his post.
+Besides he could not have done it in the midst of that compact crowd.
+There he held on in the front row with crossed arms, glaring at President
+Barbicane.
+
+The shouts of the immense crowd continued at their highest pitch throughout
+this triumphant march. Michel Ardan took it all with evident pleasure.
+His face gleamed with delight. Several times the platform seemed seized
+with pitching and rolling like a weather-beaten ship. But the two heroes
+of the meeting had good sea-legs. They never stumbled; and their vessel
+arrived without dues at the port of Tampa Town.
+
+Michel Ardan managed fortunately to escape from the last embraces of
+his vigorous admirers. He made for the Hotel Franklin, quickly gained
+his chamber, and slid under the bedclothes, while an army of a hundred
+thousand men kept watch under his windows.
+
+During this time a scene, short, grave, and decisive, took place between
+the mysterious personage and the President of the Gun Club.
+
+Barbicane, free at last, had gone straight at his adversary.
+
+"Come!" he said shortly.
+
+The other followed him on to the quay; and the two presently found
+themselves alone at the entrance of an open wharf on Jones' Fall.
+
+The two enemies, still mutually unknown, gazed at each other.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Barbicane.
+
+
+Illustration: THE PLATFORM WAS SUDDENLY CARRIED AWAY.
+
+
+"Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"So I suspected. Hitherto chance has never thrown you in my way."
+
+"I am come for that purpose."
+
+"You have insulted me."
+
+"Publicly!"
+
+"And you will answer to me for this insult?"
+
+"At this very moment."
+
+"No! I desire that all that passes between us shall be secret. There is
+a wood situated three miles from Tampa, the wood of Skersnaw. Do you know
+it?"
+
+"I know it."
+
+"Will you be so good as to enter it to-morrow morning at five o'clock,
+on one side?"
+
+"Yes! if you will enter at the other side at the same hour."
+
+"And you will not forget your rifle?" said Barbicane.
+
+"No more than you will forget yours," replied Nicholl.
+
+These words having been coldly spoken, the President of the Gun Club and
+the captain parted. Barbicane returned to his lodging; but instead of
+snatching a few hours of repose, he passed the night in endeavouring to
+discover a means of evading the recoil of the projectile, and resolving
+the difficult problem proposed by Michel Ardan during the discussion at
+the meeting.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXI.
+
+   HOW A FRENCHMAN MANAGES AN AFFAIR.
+
+
+While the contract of this duel was being discussed by the president and
+the captain--this dreadful, savage duel, in which each adversary became
+a man-hunter--Michel Ardan was resting from the fatigues of his triumph.
+_Resting_ is hardly an appropriate expression, for American beds rival
+marble or granite tables for hardness.
+
+Ardan was sleeping, then, badly enough, tossing about between the cloths
+which served him for sheets, and he was dreaming of making a more
+comfortable couch in his projectile when a frightful noise disturbed his
+dreams. Thundering blows shook his door. They seemed to be caused by some
+iron instrument. A great deal of loud talking was distinguishable in this
+racket, which was rather too early in the morning. "Open the door," some
+one shrieked, "for Heaven's sake!" Ardan saw no reason for complying with
+a demand so roughly expressed. However, he got up and opened the door
+just as it was giving way before the blows of this determined visitor.
+The secretary of the Gun Club burst into the room. A bomb could not have
+made more noise or have entered the room with less ceremony.
+
+"Last night," cried J. T. Maston, _ex abrupto_, "our president was
+publicly insulted during the meeting. He provoked his adversary, who is
+none other than Captain Nicholl! They are fighting this morning in the
+wood of Skersnaw. I heard all particulars from the mouth of Barbicane
+himself. If he is killed, then our scheme is at end. We must prevent this
+duel; and one man alone has enough influence over Barbicane to stop him,
+and that man is Michel Ardan."
+
+
+Illustration: MASTON BURST INTO THE ROOM.
+
+
+While J. T. Maston was speaking, Michel Ardan, without interrupting him,
+had hastily put on his clothes; and, in less than two minutes, the two
+friends were making for the suburbs of Tampa Town with rapid strides.
+
+It was during this walk that Maston told Ardan the state of the case. He
+told him the real causes of the hostility between Barbicane and Nicholl;
+how it was of old date, and why, thanks to unknown friends, the president
+and the captain had, as yet, never met face to face. He added that it
+arose simply from a rivalry between iron plates and shot, and, finally,
+that the scene at the meeting was only the long-wished-for opportunity
+for Nicholl to pay off an old grudge.
+
+Nothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries
+attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet
+those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies--their quick
+intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy. A single
+mistake, a moment's hesitation, a single false step may cause death. On
+these occasions Yankees are often accompanied by their dogs, and keep up
+the struggle for hours.
+
+"What demons you are!" cried Michel Ardan, when his companion had depicted
+this scene to him with much energy.
+
+"Yes we are," replied J. T. modestly; "but we had better make haste."
+
+Though Michel Ardan and he had crossed the plain still wet with dew, and
+had taken the shortest route over creeks and ricefields, they could not
+reach Skersnaw under five hours and a half.
+
+Barbicane must have passed the border half an hour ago.
+
+There was an old bushman working there, occupied in selling faggots from
+trees that had been levelled by his axe.
+
+Maston ran towards him, saying, "Have you seen a man go into the wood,
+armed with a rifle? Barbicane, the president, my best friend?"
+
+The worthy secretary of the Gun Club thought that his president must be
+known by all the world. But the bushman did not seem to understand him.
+
+"A hunter?" said Ardan.
+
+"A hunter? Yes," replied the bushman.
+
+"Long ago?"
+
+"About an hour."
+
+"Too late!" cried Maston.
+
+"Have you heard any gun-shots?" asked Ardan.
+
+"No!"
+
+"Not one?"
+
+"Not one! that hunter did not look as if he knew how to hunt!"
+
+"What is to be done?" said Maston.
+
+"We must go into the wood, at the risk of getting a ball which is not
+intended for us."
+
+"Ah!" cried Maston, in a tone which could not be mistaken, "I would
+rather have twenty balls in my own head than one in Barbicane's."
+
+"Forward, then," said Ardan, pressing his companion's hand.
+
+A few moments later the two friends had disappeared in the copse. It was
+a dense thicket, in which rose huge cypresses, sycamores, tulip-trees,
+olives, tamarinds, oaks, and magnolias. These different trees had
+interwoven their branches into an inextricable maze, through which the
+eye could not penetrate. Michel Ardan and Maston walked side by side in
+silence through the tall grass, cutting themselves a path through the
+strong creepers, casting curious glances on the bushes, and momentarily
+expecting to hear the sound of rifles. As for the traces which Barbicane
+ought to have left of his passage through the wood, there was not a
+vestige of them visible: so they followed the barely perceptible paths
+along which Indians had tracked some enemy, and which the dense foliage
+darkly overshadowed.
+
+After an hour spent in vain pursuit the two stopped in intensified
+anxiety.
+
+"It must be all over," said Maston, discouraged. "A man like Barbicane
+would not dodge with his enemy, or ensnare him, would not even manoeuvre!
+He is too open, too brave. He has gone straight ahead, right into the
+danger, and doubtless far enough from the bushman for the wind to prevent
+his hearing the report of the rifles."
+
+"But surely," replied Michel Ardan, "since we entered the wood we should
+have heard!"
+
+"And what if we came too late?" cried Maston in tones of despair.
+
+For once Ardan had no reply to make, he and Maston resuming their walk
+in silence. From time to time, indeed, they raised great shouts, calling
+alternately Barbicane and Nicholl, neither of whom, however, answered
+their cries. Only the birds, awakened by the sound, flew past them
+and disappeared among the branches, while some frightened deer fled
+precipitately before them.
+
+For another hour their search was continued. The greater part of the
+wood had been explored. There was nothing to reveal the presence of the
+combatants. The information of the bushman was after all doubtful, and
+Ardan was about to propose their abandoning this useless pursuit, when
+all at once Maston stopped.
+
+"Hush!" said he, "there is some one down there!"
+
+"Some one?" repeated Michel Ardan.
+
+"Yes; a man! He seems motionless. His rifle is not in his hands. What
+can he be doing?"
+
+"But can you recognize him?" asked Ardan, whose short sight was of little
+use to him in such circumstances.
+
+"Yes! yes! He is turning towards us," answered Maston.
+
+"And it is?"
+
+"Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"Nicholl?" cried Michel Ardan, feeling a terrible pang of grief.
+
+"Nicholl unarmed! He has, then, no longer any fear of his adversary!"
+
+"Let us go to him," said Michel Ardan, "and find out the truth."
+
+But he and his companion had barely taken fifty steps when they paused to
+examine the captain more attentively. They expected to find a bloodthirsty
+man, happy in his revenge!
+
+On seeing him, they remained stupefied.
+
+A net, composed of very fine meshes, hung between two enormous
+tulip-trees, and in the midst of this snare, with its wings entangled,
+was a poor little bird, uttering pitiful cries, while it vainly struggled
+to escape. The bird-catcher who had laid this snare was no human being,
+but a venomous spider, peculiar to that country, as large as a pigeon's
+egg, and armed with enormous claws. The hideous creature, instead of
+rushing on its prey, had beaten a sudden retreat and taken refuge in
+the upper branches of the tulip-tree, for a formidable enemy menaced its
+stronghold.
+
+Here, then, was Nicholl, his gun on the ground, forgetful of danger,
+trying if possible to save the victim from its cobweb prison. At last it
+was accomplished, and the little bird flew joyfully away and disappeared.
+
+Nicholl lovingly watched its flight, when he heard these words pronounced
+by a voice full of emotion,--
+
+"You are indeed a brave man!"
+
+He turned. Michel Ardan was before him, repeating in a different tone,--
+
+"And a kindhearted one!"
+
+"Michel Ardan!" cried the captain. "Why are you here?"
+
+"To press your hand, Nicholl, and to prevent you from either killing
+Barbicane or being killed by him."
+
+"Barbicane!" returned the captain. "I have been looking for him for the
+last two hours in vain. Where is he hiding?"
+
+
+Illustration: IN THE MIDST OF THIS SNARE WAS A POOR LITTLE BIRD.
+
+
+"Nicholl!" said Michel Ardan, "this is not courteous! we ought always to
+treat an adversary with respect; rest assured if Barbicane is still alive
+we shall find him all the more easily; because if he has not, like you,
+been amusing himself with freeing oppressed birds, he must be looking
+for _you_. When we have found him, Michel Ardan tells you this, there
+will be no duel between you."
+
+"Between President Barbicane and myself," gravely replied Nicholl, "there
+is a rivalry which the death of one of us--"
+
+"Pooh, pooh!" said Ardan. "Brave fellows like you indeed! you shall not
+fight!"
+
+"I will fight, sir!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Captain," said J. T. Maston, with much feeling, "I am a friend of the
+president's, his _alter ego_, his second self; if you really must kill
+some one, _shoot me!_ it will do just as well!"
+
+"Sir," Nicholl replied, seizing his rifle convulsively, "these jokes--"
+
+"Our friend Maston is not joking," replied Ardan. "I fully understand
+his idea of being killed himself in order to save his friend. But neither
+he nor Barbicane will fall before the balls of Captain Nicholl. Indeed I
+have so attractive a proposal to make to the two rivals, that both will
+be eager to accept it."
+
+"What is it?" asked Nicholl with manifest incredulity.
+
+"Patience!" exclaimed Ardan. "I can only reveal it in the presence of
+Barbicane."
+
+"Let us go in search of him then!" cried the captain.
+
+The three men started off at once; the captain having discharged his
+rifle threw it over his shoulder, and advanced in silence.
+
+Another half-hour passed, and the pursuit was still fruitless. Maston was
+oppressed by sinister forebodings. He looked fiercely at Nicholl, asking
+himself whether the captain's vengeance had been already satisfied, and
+the unfortunate Barbicane, shot, was perhaps lying dead on some bloody
+track. The same thought seemed to occur to Ardan; and both were casting
+inquiring glances on Nicholl, when suddenly Maston paused.
+
+The motionless figure of a man leaning against a gigantic catalpa twenty
+feet off appeared, half-veiled by the foliage. "It is he!" said Maston.
+
+Barbicane never moved. Ardan looked at the captain, but he did not wince.
+Ardan went forward crying,--
+
+"Barbicane, Barbicane!"
+
+No answer! Ardan rushed towards his friend; but in the act of seizing
+his arms, he stopped short and uttered a cry of surprise.
+
+Barbicane, pencil in hand, was tracing geometrical figures in a memorandum
+book, whilst his unloaded rifle lay beside him on the ground.
+
+Absorbed in his studies, Barbicane, in his turn forgetful of the duel,
+had seen and heard nothing.
+
+When Ardan took his hand, he looked up and stared at his visitor in
+astonishment.
+
+"Ah, it is you!" he cried at last. "I have found it, my friend, I have
+found it!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"My plan!"
+
+"What plan?"
+
+"The plan for counteracting the effect of the shock at the departure of
+the projectile!"
+
+"Indeed?" said Michel Ardan, looking at the captain out of the corner of
+his eye.
+
+"Yes! water! simply water, which will act as a spring--ah! Maston,"
+cried Barbicane, "you here also?"
+
+"Himself," replied Ardan; "and permit me to introduce to you at the same
+time the worthy Captain Nicholl!"
+
+"Nicholl!" cried Barbicane, who jumped up at once. "Pardon me, captain,
+I had quite forgotten--I am ready!"
+
+Michel Ardan interfered, without giving the two enemies time to say
+anything more.
+
+
+Illustration: "GO WITH ME, AND SEE WHETHER WE ARE STOPPED
+   ON OUR JOURNEY."
+
+
+"Thank Heaven!" said he. "It is a happy thing that brave men like you two
+did not meet sooner! we should now have been mourning for one or other
+of you. But, thanks to Providence, which has interfered, there is now no
+further cause for alarm. When one forgets one's anger in mechanics or in
+cobwebs, it is a sign that the anger is not dangerous."
+
+Michel Ardan then told the president how the captain had been found
+occupied.
+
+"I put it to you now," said he in conclusion, "are two such good fellows
+as you are made on purpose to smash each other's skulls with shot?"
+
+There was in "the situation" somewhat of the ridiculous, something
+quite unexpected; Michel Ardan saw this, and determined to effect a
+reconciliation.
+
+"My good friends," said he, with his most bewitching smile, "this is
+nothing but a misunderstanding. Nothing more! well! to prove that it is
+all over between you, accept frankly the proposal I am going to make to
+you."
+
+"Make it," said Nicholl.
+
+"Our friend Barbicane believes that his projectile will go straight to
+the moon?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," replied the president.
+
+"And our friend Nicholl is persuaded it will fall back upon the earth?"
+
+"I am certain of it," cried the captain.
+
+"Good!" said Ardan. "I cannot pretend to make you agree; but I suggest
+this:--Go with me, and so see whether we are stopped on our journey."
+
+"What?" exclaimed J. T. Maston, stupefied.
+
+The two rivals, on this sudden proposal, looked steadily at each other.
+Barbicane waited for the captain's answer. Nicholl watched for the
+decision of the president.
+
+"Well?" said Michel. "There is now no fear of the shock!"
+
+"Done!" cried Barbicane.
+
+But quickly as he pronounced the word, he was not before Nicholl.
+
+"Hurrah! bravo! hip! hip! hurrah!" cried Michel, giving a hand to each
+of the late adversaries. "Now that it is all settled, my friends, allow
+me to treat you after French fashion. Let us be off to breakfast!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXII.
+
+   THE NEW CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+
+That same day all America heard of the affair of Captain Nicholl and
+President Barbicane, as well as its singular _denouement_. From that
+day forth, Michel Ardan had not one moment's rest. Deputations from all
+corners of the Union harassed him without cessation or intermission.
+He was compelled to receive them all, whether he would or no. How many
+hands he shook, how many people he was "hail-fellow-well-met" with, it
+is impossible to guess! Such a triumphal result would have intoxicated
+any other man; but he managed to keep himself in a state of delightful
+_semi_-tipsiness.
+
+Among the deputations of all kinds which assailed him, that of "The
+Lunatics" were careful not to forget what they owed to the future
+conqueror of the moon. One day, certain of these poor people, so numerous
+in America, came to call upon him, and requested permission to return
+with him to their native country.
+
+"Singular hallucination!" said he to Barbicane, after having dismissed
+the deputation with promises to convey numbers of messages to friends in
+the moon. "Do you believe in the influence of the moon upon distempers?"
+
+"Scarcely!"
+
+"No more do I, despite some remarkable recorded facts of history. For
+instance, during an epidemic in 1693, a large number of persons died
+at the very moment of an eclipse. The celebrated Bacon always fainted
+during an eclipse. Charles VI. relapsed six times into madness during
+the year 1399, sometimes during the new, sometimes during the full
+moon. Gall observed that insane persons underwent an accession of their
+disorder twice in every month, at the epochs of new and full moon. In
+fact, numerous observations made upon fevers, somnambulisms, and other
+human maladies, seem to prove that the moon does exercise some mysterious
+influence upon man."
+
+"But the how and the wherefore?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Well, I can only give you the answer which Arago borrowed from Plutarch,
+which is nineteen centuries old. 'Perhaps the stories are not true!'"
+
+In the height of his triumph, Michel Ardan had to encounter all the
+annoyances incidental to a man of celebrity. Managers of entertainments
+wanted to exhibit him. Barnum offered him a million dollars to make the
+tour of the United States in his show. As for his photographs, they were
+sold of all sizes, and his portrait taken in every imaginable posture.
+More than half a million copies were disposed of in an incredibly short
+space of time.
+
+But it was not only the men who paid him homage, but the women also. He
+might have married well a hundred times over, if he had been willing to
+settle in life. The old maids, in particular, of forty years and upwards,
+and dry in proportion, devoured his photographs day and night. They
+would have married him by hundreds, even if he had imposed upon them the
+condition of accompanying him into space. He had, however, no intention
+of transplanting a race of Franco-Americans upon the surface of the moon.
+
+He therefore declined all offers.
+
+As soon as he could withdraw from these somewhat embarrassing
+demonstrations, he went, accompanied by his friends, to pay a visit to
+the Columbiad. He was highly gratified by his inspection, and made the
+descent to the bottom of the tube of this gigantic machine which was
+presently to launch him to the regions of the moon.
+
+It is necessary here to mention a proposal of J. T. Maston's. When the
+secretary of the Gun Club found that Barbicane and Nicholl accepted the
+proposal of Michel Ardan, he determined to join them, and make one of
+a snug party of four. So one day he determined to be admitted as one
+of the travellers. Barbicane, pained at having to refuse him, gave him
+clearly to understand that the projectile could not possibly contain
+so many passengers. Maston, in despair, went in search of Michel Ardan,
+who counselled him to resign himself to the situation, adding one or two
+arguments _ad hominem_.
+
+"You see, old fellow," he said, "you must not take what I say in bad part;
+but really, between ourselves, you are in too incomplete a condition to
+appear in the moon!"
+
+"Incomplete?" shrieked the valiant invalid.
+
+"Yes, my dear fellow! imagine our meeting some of the inhabitants up
+there! Would you like to give them such a melancholy notion of what goes
+on down here? to teach them what war is, to inform them that we employ
+our time chiefly in devouring each other, in smashing arms and legs, and
+that too on a globe which is capable of supporting a hundred billions of
+inhabitants, and which actually does contain nearly two hundred millions?
+Why, my worthy friend, we should have to turn you out of doors!"
+
+"But still, if you arrive there in pieces, you will be as _incomplete_
+as I am."
+
+"Unquestionably," replied Michel Ardan; "but we shall not."
+
+In fact, a preparatory experiment, tried on the 18th October, had yielded
+the best results and caused the most well-grounded hopes of success.
+Barbicane, desirous of obtaining some notion of the effect of the shock
+at the moment of the projectile's departure, had procured a 38-inch
+mortar from the arsenal of Pensacola. He had this placed on the bank of
+Hillisborough Roads, in order that the shell might fall back into the
+sea, and the shock be thereby destroyed. His object was to ascertain the
+extent of the shock of departure, and not that of the return.
+
+A hollow projectile had been prepared for this curious experiment. A thick
+padding fastened upon a kind of elastic network, made of the best steel,
+lined the inside of the walls. It was a veritable _nest_ most carefully
+wadded.
+
+"What a pity I can't find room in there," said J. T. Maston, regretting
+that his height did not allow of his trying the adventure.
+
+Within this shell were shut up a large cat, and a squirrel belonging to
+J. T. Maston, and of which he was particularly fond. They were desirous,
+however, of ascertaining how this little animal, least of all others
+subject to giddiness, would endure this experimental voyage.
+
+The mortar was charged with 160 lbs. of powder, and the shell placed in
+the chamber. On being fired, the projectile rose with great velocity,
+described a majestic parabola, attained a height of about a thousand
+feet, and with a graceful curve descended in the midst of the vessels
+that lay there at anchor.
+
+Without a moment's loss of time a small boat put off in the direction of
+its fall; some active divers plunged into the water and attached ropes
+to the handles of the shell, which was quickly dragged on board. Five
+minutes did not elapse between the moment of enclosing the animals and
+that of unscrewing the coverlid of their prison.
+
+Ardan, Barbicane, Maston, and Nicholl were present on board the boat,
+and assisted at the operation with an interest which may readily be
+comprehended. Hardly had the shell been opened when the cat leaped out,
+slightly bruised, but full of life, and exhibiting no signs whatever of
+having made an aerial expedition. No trace, however, of the squirrel
+could be discovered. The truth at last became apparent;--the cat had
+eaten its fellow-traveller!
+
+J. T. Maston grieved much for the loss of his poor squirrel, and proposed
+to add its case to that of other martyrs to science.
+
+After this experiment all hesitation, all fear disappeared.
+
+
+Illustration: THE CAT TAKEN OUT OF THE SHELL.
+
+
+Besides, Barbicane's plans would ensure greater perfection for his
+projectile, and go far to annihilate altogether the effects of the shock.
+Nothing now remained but to go!
+
+Two days later Michel Ardan received a message from the President of the
+United States, an honour of which he showed himself especially sensible.
+
+After the example of his illustrious fellow-countryman, the Marquis de
+la Fayette, the government had decreed to him the title of "Citizen of
+the United States of America."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+   THE PROJECTILE-VEHICLE.
+
+
+On the completion of the Columbiad the public interest centred in the
+projectile itself, the vehicle which was destined to carry the three
+hardy adventurers into space.
+
+The new plans had been sent to Breadwill and Co., of Albany, with the
+request for their speedy execution. The projectile was consequently cast
+on the 2d November, and immediately forwarded by the Eastern Railway to
+Stones Hill, which it reached without accident on the 10th of that month,
+where Michel Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl were waiting impatiently for
+it.
+
+The projectile had now to be filled to the depth of three feet with a
+bed of water, intended to support a watertight wooden disc, which worked
+easily within the walls of the projectile. It was upon this kind of
+raft that the travellers were to take their place. This body of water
+was divided by horizontal partitions, which the shock of the departure
+would have to break in succession. Then each sheet of the water, from
+the lowest to the highest, running off into escape tubes toward the top
+of the projectile, constituted a kind of spring; and the wooden disc,
+supplied with extremely powerful plugs, could not strike the lowest plate
+except after breaking successively the different partitions. Undoubtedly
+the travellers would still have to encounter a violent _recoil_ after
+the complete escapement of the water; but the first shock would be almost
+entirely destroyed by this powerful spring. The upper part of the walls
+were lined with a thick padding of leather, fastened upon springs of the
+best steel, behind which the escape tubes were completely concealed; thus
+all imaginable precautions had been taken for averting the first shock;
+and if they _did_ get crushed, they must, as Michel Ardan said, be made
+of very bad materials.
+
+
+Illustration: THE ARRIVAL OF THE PROJECTILE AT STONE'S HILL.
+
+
+The entrance into this metallic tower was by a narrow aperture contrived
+in the wall of the cone. This was hermetically closed by a plate of
+aluminium, fastened internally by powerful screw-pressure. The travellers
+could therefore quit their prison at pleasure, as soon as they should
+reach the moon.
+
+Light and view were given by means of four thick lenticular glass
+scuttles, two pierced in the circular wall itself, the third in the
+bottom, the fourth in the top. These scuttles then were protected against
+the shock of departure by plates let into solid grooves, which could
+easily be opened outwards by unscrewing them from the inside. Reservoirs
+firmly fixed contained water and the necessary provisions; and fire and
+light were procurable by means of gas, contained in a special reservoir
+under a pressure of several atmospheres. They had only to turn a tap,
+and for six hours the gas would light and warm this comfortable vehicle.
+
+There now remained only the question of air; for allowing for the
+consumption of air by Barbicane, his two companions, and two dogs which
+he proposed taking with him, it was necessary to renew the air of the
+projectile. Now air consists principally of twenty-one parts of oxygen
+and seventy-nine of nitrogen. The lungs absorb the oxygen, which is
+indispensable for the support of life, and reject the nitrogen. The air
+expired loses nearly five per cent. of the former and contains nearly an
+equal volume of carbonic acid, produced by the combustion of the elements
+of the blood. In an air-tight enclosure, then, after a certain time, all
+the oxygen of the air will be replaced by the carbonic acid--a gas fatal
+to life. There were two things to be done then--first, to replace the
+absorbed oxygen; secondly, to destroy the expired carbonic acid; both
+easy enough to do, by means of chlorate of potassium and caustic potash.
+The former is a salt which appears under the form of white crystals;
+when raised to a temperature of 400 deg. it is transformed into chlorate
+of potass, and the oxygen which it contains is entirely liberated. Now
+twenty-eight pounds of chlorate of potassium produce seven pounds of
+oxygen, or 2400 _litres_--the quantity necessary for the travellers
+during twenty-four hours.
+
+Caustic potash has a great affinity for carbonic acid; and it is
+sufficient to shake it in order for it to seize upon the acid and form
+bi-carbonate of potass. By these two means they would be enabled to
+restore to the vitiated air its life-supporting properties.
+
+It is necessary, however, to add that the experiments had hitherto been
+made _in anima vili_. Whatever its scientific accuracy was, they were at
+present ignorant how it would answer with human beings. The honour of
+putting it to the proof was energetically claimed by J. T. Maston.
+
+"Since I am not to go," said the brave artillerist, "I may at least live
+for a week in the projectile."
+
+It would have been hard to refuse him; so they consented to his wish.
+A sufficient quantity of chlorate of potassium and of caustic potash
+was placed at his disposal, together with provisions for eight days.
+And having shaken hands with his friends, on the 12th November, at six
+o'clock a.m., after strictly informing them not to open his prison before
+the 20th, at six o'clock p.m., he slid down the projectile, the plate
+of which was at once hermetically sealed. What did he do with himself
+during that week? They could get no information. The thickness of the
+walls of the projectile prevented any sound reaching from the inside
+to the outside. On the 20th of November, at six p.m. exactly, the plate
+was opened. The friends of J. T. Maston had been all along in a state of
+much anxiety; but they were promptly reassured on hearing a jolly voice
+shouting a boisterous hurrah.
+
+Presently afterwards the secretary of the Gun Club appeared at the top
+of the cone in a triumphant attitude. He had grown fat!
+
+
+Illustration: J. T. MASTON HAD GROWN FAT.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+   THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+On the 20th October in the preceding year, after the close of the
+subscription, the president of the Gun Club had credited the Observatory
+of Cambridge with the necessary sums for the construction of a gigantic
+optical instrument. This instrument was designed for the purpose of
+rendering visible on the surface of the moon any object exceeding nine
+feet in diameter.
+
+At the period when the Gun Club essayed their great experiment, such
+instruments had reached a high degree of perfection, and produced some
+magnificent results. Two telescopes in particular, at this time, were
+possessed of remarkable power and of gigantic dimensions. The first,
+constructed by Herschel, was thirty-six feet in length, and had an
+object-glass of four feet six inches; it possessed a magnifying power
+of 6000. The second was raised in Ireland, in Parsonstown Park, and
+belongs to Lord Rosse. The length of this tube is forty-eight feet, and
+the diameter of its object-glass six feet; it magnifies 6400 times, and
+required an immense erection of brickwork and masonry for the purpose of
+working it, its weight being twelve tons and a half.
+
+Still, despite these colossal dimensions, the actual enlargements
+scarcely exceeded 6000 times in round numbers; consequently, the moon
+was brought within no nearer an apparent distance than thirty-nine miles;
+and objects of less than sixty feet in diameter, unless they were of very
+considerable length, were still imperceptible.
+
+In the present case, dealing with a projectile nine feet in diameter
+and fifteen feet long, it became necessary to bring the moon within an
+apparent distance of five miles at most; and for that purpose to establish
+a magnifying power of 48,000 times.
+
+Such was the question proposed to the Observatory of Cambridge. There
+was no lack of funds; the difficulty was purely one of construction.
+
+After considerable discussion as to the best form and principle of
+the proposed instrument the work was finally commenced. According to
+the calculations of the Observatory of Cambridge, the tube of the new
+reflector would require to be 280 feet in length, and the object-glass
+sixteen feet in diameter. Colossal as these dimensions may appear, they
+were diminutive in comparison with the 10,000 foot telescope proposed by
+the astronomer Hooke only a few years ago!
+
+Regarding the choice of locality, that matter was promptly determined.
+The object was to select some lofty mountain, and there are not many of
+these in the United States. In fact there are but two chains of moderate
+elevation, between which runs the magnificent Mississippi, the "king of
+rivers," as these Republican Yankees delight to call it.
+
+Eastwards rise the Apalachians, the very highest point of which, in New
+Hampshire, does not exceed the very moderate altitude of 5600 feet.
+
+On the west, however, rise the Rocky Mountains, that immense range which,
+commencing at the Straits of Magellan, follows the western coast of
+Southern America under the name of the Andes or the Cordilleras, until
+it crosses the Isthmus of Panama, and runs up the whole of North America
+to the very borders of the Polar Sea. The highest elevation of this range
+still does not exceed 10,700 feet. With this elevation, nevertheless, the
+Gun Club were compelled to be content, inasmuch as they had determined
+that both telescope and Columbiad should be erected within the limits of
+the Union. All the necessary apparatus was consequently sent on to the
+summit of Long's Peak, in the territory of Missouri.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+Neither pen nor language can describe the difficulties of all kinds
+which the American engineers had to surmount, or the prodigies of daring
+and skill which they accomplished. They had to raise enormous stones,
+massive pieces of wrought iron, heavy corner-clamps and huge portions
+of cylinder, with an object-glass weighing nearly 30,000 lbs., above
+the line of perpetual snow for more than 10,000 feet in height, after
+crossing desert prairies, impenetrable forests, fearful rapids, far
+from all centres of population, and in the midst of savage regions, in
+which every detail of life becomes an almost insoluble problem. And yet,
+notwithstanding these innumerable obstacles, American genius triumphed.
+In less than a year after the commencement of the works, towards the close
+of September, the gigantic reflector rose into the air to a height of
+280 feet. It was raised by means of an enormous iron crane; an ingenious
+mechanism allowed it to be easily worked towards all the points of the
+heavens, and to follow the stars from the one horizon to the other during
+their journey through the heavens.
+
+It had cost 400,000 dollars. The first time it was directed towards the
+moon the observers evinced both curiosity and anxiety. What were they
+about to discover in the field of this telescope which magnified objects
+48,000 times? Would they perceive peoples, herds of lunar animals,
+towns, lakes, seas? No! there was nothing which science had not already
+discovered! and on all the points of its disc the volcanic nature of the
+moon became determinable with the utmost precision.
+
+But the telescope of the Rocky Mountains, before doing its duty to the Gun
+Club, rendered immense services to astronomy. Thanks to its penetrative
+power, the depths of the heavens were sounded to the utmost extent; the
+apparent diameter of a great number of stars was accurately measured; and
+Mr. Clark, of the Cambridge staff, resolved the Crab nebula in Taurus,
+which the reflector of Lord Rosse had never been able to decompose.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXV.
+
+   FINAL DETAILS.
+
+
+It was the 22nd of November; the departure was to take place in ten days.
+One operation alone remained to be accomplished to bring all to a happy
+termination; an operation delicate and perilous, requiring infinite
+precautions, and against the success of which Captain Nicholl had laid
+his third bet. It was, in fact, nothing less than the loading of the
+Columbiad, and the introduction into it of 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton.
+Nicholl had thought, not perhaps without reason, that the handling of
+such formidable quantities of pyroxyle would, in all probability, involve
+a grave catastrophe; and at any rate, that this immense mass of eminently
+inflammable matter would inevitably ignite when submitted to the pressure
+of the projectile.
+
+There were indeed dangers accruing as before from the carelessness of
+the Americans, but Barbicane had set his heart on success, and took all
+possible precautions. In the first place, he was very careful as to the
+transportation of the gun-cotton to Stones Hill. He had it conveyed in
+small quantities, carefully packed in sealed cases. These were brought
+by rail from Tampa Town to the camp, and from thence were taken to the
+Columbiad by barefooted workmen, who deposited them in their places by
+means of cranes placed at the orifice of the cannon. No steam-engine was
+permitted to work, and every fire was extinguished within two miles of
+the works.
+
+Even in November they feared to work by day, lest the sun's rays acting
+on the gun-cotton might lead to unhappy results. This led to their
+working at night, by light produced in a vacuum by means of Ruehmkorff's
+apparatus, which threw an artificial brightness into the depths of the
+Columbiad. There the cartridges were arranged with the utmost regularity,
+connected by a metallic thread, destined to communicate to them all
+simultaneously the electric spark, by which means this mass of gun-cotton
+was eventually to be ignited.
+
+By the 28th of November 800 cartridges had been placed in the bottom
+of the Columbiad. So far the operation had been successful! But what
+confusion, what anxieties, what struggles were undergone by President
+Barbicane! In vain had he refused admission to Stones Hill; every day
+the inquisitive neighbours scaled the palisades, some even carrying
+their imprudence to the point of smoking while surrounded by bales of
+gun-cotton. Barbicane was in a perpetual state of alarm. J. T. Maston
+seconded him to the best of his ability, by giving vigorous chase to the
+intruders, and carefully picking up the still lighted cigar ends which
+the Yankees threw about. A somewhat difficult task! seeing that more
+than 300,000 persons were gathered round the enclosure. Michel Ardan
+had volunteered to superintend the transport of the cartridges to the
+mouth of the Columbiad; but the president, having surprised him with an
+enormous cigar in his mouth, while he was hunting out the rash spectators
+to whom he himself offered so dangerous an example, saw that he could not
+trust this fearless smoker, and was therefore obliged to mount a special
+guard over him.
+
+At last, Providence being propitious, this wonderful loading came to
+a happy termination, Captain Nicholl's third bet being thus lost. It
+remained now to introduce the projectile into the Columbiad, and to place
+it on its soft bed of gun-cotton.
+
+But before doing this, all those things necessary for the journey had to
+be carefully arranged in the projectile-vehicle. These necessaries were
+numerous; and had Ardan been allowed to follow his own wishes, there
+would have been no space remaining for the travellers. It is impossible
+to conceive of half the things this charming Frenchman wished to convey to
+the moon. A veritable stock of useless trifles! But Barbicane interfered
+and refused admission to anything not absolutely needed. Several
+thermometers, barometers, and telescopes were packed in the instrument
+case.
+
+The travellers being desirous of examining the moon carefully during
+their voyage, in order to facilitate their studies, they took with them
+Boeer and Moedler's excellent _Mappa Selenographica_, a masterpiece of
+patience and observation, which they hoped would enable them to identify
+those physical features in the moon, with which they were acquainted.
+This map reproduced with scrupulous fidelity the smallest details of the
+lunar surface which faces the earth; the mountains, valleys, craters,
+peaks, and ridges were all represented, with their exact dimensions,
+relative positions, and names; from the mountains Doerfel and Leibnitz
+on the eastern side of the disc, to the _Mare frigoris_ of the North
+Pole.
+
+They took also three rifles and three fowling-pieces, and a large quantity
+of balls, shot, and powder.
+
+"We cannot tell whom we shall have to deal with," said Michel Ardan. "Men
+or beasts may possibly object to our visit. It is only wise to take all
+precautions."
+
+These defensive weapons were accompanied by pickaxes, crowbars, saws,
+and other useful implements, not to mention clothing adapted to every
+temperature, from that of the polar regions to that of the torrid zone.
+
+Ardan wished to convey a number of animals of different sorts (not
+indeed a pair of every known species), as he could not see the necessity
+of acclimatizing serpents, tigers, alligators, or any other noxious
+beasts in the moon. "Nevertheless," he said to Barbicane, "some valuable
+and useful beasts, bullocks, cows, horses, and donkeys, would bear the
+journey very well, and would also be very useful to us."
+
+"I dare say, my dear Ardan," replied the president, "but our
+projectile-vehicle is no Noah's ark, from which it differs both in
+dimensions and object. Let us confine ourselves to possibilities."
+
+
+Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE PROJECTILE.
+
+
+After a prolonged discussion, it was agreed that the travellers should
+restrict themselves to a sporting-dog belonging to Nicholl, and to a
+large Newfoundland. Several packets of seeds were also included among the
+necessaries. Michel Ardan, indeed, was anxious to add some sacks full of
+earth to sow them in; as it was, he took a dozen shrubs carefully wrapped
+up in straw to plant in the moon.
+
+The important question of provisions still remained; it being necessary
+to provide against the possibility of their finding the moon absolutely
+barren. Barbicane managed so successfully, that he supplied them with
+sufficient rations for a year. These consisted of preserved meats and
+vegetables, reduced by strong hydraulic pressure to the smallest possible
+dimensions. They were also supplied with brandy, and took water enough
+for two months, being confident, from astronomical observations, that
+there was no lack of water on the moon's surface. As to provisions,
+doubtless the inhabitants of the _earth_ would find nourishment somewhere
+in the _moon_. Ardan never questioned this; indeed, had he done so, he
+would never have undertaken the journey.
+
+"Besides," he said one day to his friends, "we shall not be completely
+abandoned by our terrestrial friends; they will take care not to forget
+us."
+
+"No, indeed!" replied J. T. Maston.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Nothing would be simpler," replied Ardan; "the Columbiad will be always
+there. Well! whenever the moon is in a favourable condition as to the
+zenith, if not to the perigee, that is to say about once a year, could
+you not send us a shell packed with provisions, which we might expect on
+some appointed day?"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried J. T. Maston; "what an ingenious fellow! what a
+splendid idea! Indeed, my good friends, we shall not forget you!"
+
+"I shall reckon upon you! Then, you see, we shall receive news regularly
+from the earth, and we shall indeed be stupid if we hit upon no plan for
+communicating with our good friends here!"
+
+These words inspired such confidence, that Michel Ardan carried all the
+Gun Club with him in his enthusiasm. What he said seemed so simple and
+so easy, so sure of success, that none could be so sordidly attached to
+this earth as to hesitate to follow the three travellers on their lunar
+expedition.
+
+All being ready at last, it remained to place the projectile in the
+Columbiad, an operation abundantly accompanied by dangers and difficulties.
+
+The enormous shell was conveyed to the summit of Stones Hill. There,
+powerful cranes raised it, and held it suspended over the mouth of the
+cylinder.
+
+It was a fearful moment! What if the chains should break under its
+enormous weight? The sudden fall of such a body would inevitably cause
+the gun-cotton to explode!
+
+Fortunately this did not happen; and some hours later the
+projectile-vehicle descended gently into the heart of the cannon and
+rested on its couch of pyroxyle, a veritable bed of explosive eider-down.
+Its pressure had no result, other than the more effectual ramming down
+of the charge of the Columbiad.
+
+"I have lost," said the Captain, who forthwith paid President Barbicane
+the sum of 3000 dollars.
+
+Barbicane did not wish to accept the money from one of his
+fellow-travellers, but gave way at last before the determination of
+Nicholl, who wished before leaving the earth to fulfil all his
+engagements.
+
+"Now," said Michel Ardan, "I have only one thing more to wish for you,
+my brave Captain."
+
+"What is that?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"It is that you may lose your two other bets! Then we shall be sure not
+to be stopped on our journey!"
+
+
+Illustration: AN INNUMERABLE MULTITUDE COVERED THE PRAIRIE ROUND STONE'S
+HILL.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+   FIRE!
+
+
+The first of December had arrived! the fatal day! for, if the projectile
+were not discharged that very night at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., more than
+eighteen years must roll by before the moon would again present herself
+under the same conditions of zenith and perigee.
+
+The weather was magnificent. Despite the approach of winter, the sun
+shone brightly, and bathed in its radiant light that earth which three
+of its denizens were about to abandon for a new world.
+
+How many persons lost their rest on the night which preceded this
+long-expected day! All hearts beat with disquietude, save only the heart
+of Michel Ardan. That imperturbable personage came and went with his
+habitual business-like air, while nothing whatever denoted that any
+unusual matter preoccupied his mind.
+
+After dawn, an innumerable multitude covered the prairie which extends,
+as far as the eye can reach, round Stones Hill. Every quarter of an hour
+the railway brought fresh accessions of sightseers; and, according to
+the statement of the _Tampa Town Observer_, not less than five millions
+of spectators thronged the soil of Florida.
+
+For a whole month previously, the mass of these persons had bivouacked
+round the enclosure, and laid the foundations for a town which was
+afterwards called "Ardan's Town." The whole plain was covered with huts,
+cottages, and tents. Every nation under the sun was represented there;
+and every language might be heard spoken at the same time. It was a
+perfect Babel re-enacted. All the various classes of American society were
+mingled together in terms of absolute equality. Bankers, farmers, sailors,
+cotton-planters, brokers, merchants, watermen, magistrates, elbowed
+each other in the most free-and-easy way. Louisiana Creoles fraternised
+with farmers from Indiana; Kentucky and Tennessee gentlemen and haughty
+Virginians conversed with trappers and the half-savages of the lakes
+and butchers from Cincinnati. Broad-brimmed white hats and Panamas, blue
+cotton trowsers, light coloured stockings, cambric frills, were all here
+displayed; while upon shirt-fronts, wristbands, and neckties, upon every
+finger, even upon the very _ears_, they wore an assortment of rings,
+shirt-pins, brooches, and trinkets, of which the value only equalled
+the execrable taste. Women, children, and servants, in equally expensive
+dress, surrounded their husbands, fathers, or masters, who resembled the
+patriarchs of tribes in the midst of their immense households.
+
+At meal-times, all fell to work upon the dishes peculiar to the Southern
+States, and consumed with an appetite that threatened speedy exhaustion
+of the victualling powers of Florida, fricasseed frogs, stuffed monkey,
+fish chowder, underdone 'possum, and raccoon steaks. And as for the
+liquors which accompanied this indigestible repast! The shouts, the
+vociferations that resounded through the bars and taverns decorated with
+glasses, tankards, and bottles of marvellous shape, mortars for pounding
+sugar, and bundles of straws! "Mint-julep!" roars one of the barmen;
+"Claret sangaree!" shouts another; "Cocktail!" "Brandy-smash!" "Real
+mint-julep in the new style!" All these cries intermingled produced a
+bewildering and deafening hubbub.
+
+But on this day, 1st December, such sounds were rare. No one thought
+of eating or drinking, and at four p.m. there were vast numbers of
+spectators who had not even taken their customary lunch! And, a still
+more significant fact, even the national passion for play seemed quelled
+for the time under the general excitement of the hour.
+
+Up till nightfall, a dull, noiseless agitation, such as precedes great
+catastrophes, ran through the anxious multitude. An indescribable
+uneasiness pervaded all minds, an indefinable sensation which oppressed
+the heart. Every one wished it was over.
+
+However, about seven o'clock, the heavy silence was dissipated. The moon
+rose above the horizon. Millions of hurrahs hailed her appearance. She
+was punctual to the rendezvous, and shouts of welcome greeted her on all
+sides, as her pale beams shone gracefully in the clear heavens. At this
+moment the three intrepid travellers appeared. This was the signal for
+renewed cries of still greater intensity. Instantly the vast assemblage,
+as with one accord, struck up the national hymn of the United States,
+and "Yankee Doodle," sung by five millions of hearty throats, rose like a
+roaring tempest to the farthest limits of the atmosphere. Then a profound
+silence reigned throughout the crowd.
+
+The Frenchman and the two Americans had by this time entered the enclosure
+reserved in the centre of the multitude. They were accompanied by the
+members of the Gun Club, and by deputations sent from all the European
+Observatories. Barbicane, cool and collected, was giving his final
+directions. Nicholl, with compressed lips, his arms crossed behind his
+back, walked with a firm and measured step. Michel Ardan, always easy,
+dressed in thorough traveller's costume, leathern gaiters on his legs,
+pouch by his side, in loose velvet suit, cigar in mouth, was full of
+inexhaustible gaiety, laughing, joking, playing pranks with J. T. Maston.
+In one word, he was the thorough "Frenchman" (and worse, a "Parisian")
+to the last moment.
+
+Ten o'clock struck! The moment had arrived for taking their places in the
+projectile! The necessary operations for the descent, and the subsequent
+removal of the cranes and scaffolding that inclined over the mouth of
+the Columbiad, required a certain period of time.
+
+Barbicane had regulated his chronometer to the tenth part of a second by
+that of Murchison the engineer, who was charged with the duty of firing
+the gun by means of an electric spark. Thus the travellers enclosed
+within the projectile were enabled to follow with their eyes the impassive
+needle which marked the precise moment of their departure.
+
+The moment had arrived for saying "Good-bye!" The scene was a touching
+one. Despite his feverish gaiety, even Michel Ardan was touched. J. T.
+Maston had found in his own dry eyes one ancient tear, which he had
+doubtless reserved for the occasion. He dropped it on the forehead of
+his dear president.
+
+"Can I not go?" he said, "there is still time!"
+
+"Impossible, old fellow!" replied Barbicane. A few moments later, the
+three fellow-travellers had ensconced themselves in the projectile, and
+screwed down the plate which covered the entrance-aperture. The mouth of
+the Columbiad, now completely disencumbered, was open entirely to the
+sky.
+
+The moon advanced upwards in a heaven of the purest clearness, outshining
+in her passage the twinkling light of the stars. She passed over the
+constellation of the Twins, and was now nearing the halfway point between
+the horizon and the zenith. A terrible silence weighed upon the entire
+scene! Not a breath of wind upon the earth! not a sound of breathing
+from the countless chests of the spectators! Their hearts seemed afraid
+to beat! All eyes were fixed upon the yawning mouth of the Columbiad.
+
+Murchison followed with his eye the hand of his chronometer. It wanted
+scarce forty seconds to the moment of departure, but each second seemed
+to last an age! At the twentieth there was a general shudder, as it
+occurred to the minds of that vast assemblage that the bold travellers
+shut up within the projectile were also counting those terrible seconds.
+Some few cries here and there escaped the crowd.
+
+"Thirty-five!--thirty-six!--thirty-seven!--thirty-eight!--thirty-nine!
+--forty! Fire!!!"
+
+
+Illustration: FIRE.
+
+
+Instantly Murchison pressed with his finger the key of the electric
+battery, restored the current of the fluid, and discharged the spark into
+the breach of the Columbiad.
+
+An appalling unearthly report followed instantly, such as can be compared
+to nothing whatever known, not even to the roar of thunder, or the blast
+of volcanic explosions! No words can convey the slightest idea of the
+terrific sound! An immense spout of fire shot up from the bowels of the
+earth as from a crater. The earth heaved up, and with great difficulty
+some few spectators obtained a momentary glimpse of the projectile
+victoriously cleaving the air in the midst of the fiery vapours!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+   FOUL WEATHER.
+
+
+At the moment when that pyramid of fire rose to a prodigious height into
+the air, the glare of the flame lit up the whole of Florida; and for a
+moment day superseded night over a considerable extent of the country.
+This immense canopy of fire was perceived at a distance of 100 miles
+out at sea, and more than one ship's captain entered in his log the
+appearance of this gigantic meteor.
+
+The discharge of the Columbiad was accompanied by a perfect earthquake.
+Florida was shaken to its very depths. The gases of the powder, expanded
+by heat, forced back the atmospheric strata with tremendous violence,
+and this artificial hurricane rushed like a waterspout through the air.
+
+Not a single spectator remained on his feet! Men, women, children, all
+lay prostrate like ears of corn under a tempest. There ensued a terrible
+tumult; a large number of persons were seriously injured. J. T. Maston,
+who, despite of all dictates of prudence had kept in advance of the mass,
+was pitched back 120 feet, shooting like a projectile over the heads of
+his fellow-citizens. Three hundred thousand persons remained deaf for a
+time, and as though struck stupefied.
+
+As soon as the first effects were over, the injured, the deaf, and lastly,
+the crowd in general, woke up with frenzied cries. "Hurrah for Ardan!
+Hurrah for Barbicane! Hurrah for Nicholl!" rose to the skies. Thousands
+of persons, noses in air, armed with telescopes and race-glasses, were
+questioning space, forgetting all contusions and emotions in the one idea
+of watching for the projectile. They looked in vain! It was no longer to
+be seen, and they were obliged to wait for telegrams from Long's Peak.
+The Director of the Cambridge Observatory was at his post on the Rocky
+Mountains; and to him, as a skilful and persevering astronomer, all
+observations had been confided.
+
+
+Illustration: EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSION.
+
+
+Illustration: THE DIRECTOR AT HIS POST.
+
+
+But an unforeseen phenomenon came in to subject the public impatience to
+a severe trial.
+
+The weather, hitherto so fine, suddenly changed; the sky became heavy with
+clouds. It could not have been otherwise after the terrible derangement
+of the atmospheric strata, and the dispersion of the enormous quantity
+of vapour arising from the combustion of 200,000 lbs. of
+pyroxyle!
+
+On the morrow the horizon was covered with clouds--a thick and
+impenetrable curtain between earth and sky, which unhappily extended as
+far as the Rocky Mountains. It was a fatality! But since man had chosen
+so to disturb the atmosphere, he was bound to accept the consequences of
+his experiment.
+
+Supposing, now, that the experiment had succeeded, the travellers having
+started on the 1st of December, at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., were due on
+the 4th at 0h. p.m. at their destination. So that up to that time it
+would have been very difficult after all to have observed, under such
+conditions, a body so small as the shell. Therefore they waited with what
+patience they might.
+
+From the 4th to the 6th of December inclusive, the weather remaining much
+the same in America, the great European instruments of Herschel, Rosse,
+and Foucault, were constantly directed towards the moon, for the weather
+was then magnificent; but the comparative weakness of their glasses
+prevented any trustworthy observations being made.
+
+On the 7th the sky seemed to lighten. They were in hopes now, but their
+hope was of but short duration, and at night again thick clouds hid the
+starry vault from all eyes.
+
+Matters were now becoming serious, when on the 9th, the sun reappeared
+for an instant, as if for the purpose of teasing the Americans. It was
+received with hisses; and wounded, no doubt, by such a reception, showed
+itself very sparing of its rays.
+
+On the 10th, no change! J. T. Maston went nearly mad, and great fears
+were entertained regarding the brain of this worthy individual, which
+had hitherto been so well preserved within his gutta-percha cranium.
+
+But on the 11th one of those inexplicable tempests peculiar to those
+intertropical regions was let loose in the atmosphere. A terrific east
+wind swept away the groups of clouds which had been so long gathering,
+and at night the semi-disc of the orb of night rode majestically amidst
+the soft constellations of the sky.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+   A NEW STAR.
+
+
+That very night, the startling news so impatiently awaited, burst like
+a thunderbolt over the United States of the Union, and thence, darting
+across the ocean, ran through all the telegraphic wires of the globe.
+The projectile had been detected, thanks to the gigantic reflector of
+Long's Peak! Here is the note received by the Director of the Observatory
+of Cambridge. It contains the scientific conclusion regarding this great
+experiment of the Gun Club.
+
+"Long's Peak December 12.
+
+"To the Officers of the Observatory of Cambridge.
+
+"The projectile discharged by the Columbiad at Stones Hill has been
+detected by Messrs. Belfast and J. T. Maston, 12th December, at 8.47
+p.m., the moon having entered her last quarter. This projectile has not
+arrived at its destination. It has passed by the side; but sufficiently
+near to be retained by the lunar attraction.
+
+"The rectilinear movement has thus become changed into a circular motion
+of extreme velocity, and it is now pursuing an elliptical orbit round
+the moon, of which it has become a true satellite.
+
+"The elements of this new star we have as yet been unable to determine;
+we do not yet know the velocity of its passage. The distance which
+separates it from the surface of the moon may be estimated at about 2833
+miles.
+
+"However, two hypothesis come here into our consideration.
+
+"1. Either the attraction of the moon will end by drawing them into
+itself, and the travellers will attain their destination; or,--
+
+"2. The projectile, following an immutable law, will continue to gravitate
+round the moon till the end of time.
+
+"At some future time, our observations will be able to determine this
+point, but till then the experiment of the Gun Club can have no other
+result than to have provided our solar system with a new star.
+
+"J. Belfast."
+
+To how many questions did this unexpected denouement give rise? What
+mysterious results was the future reserving for the investigations of
+science? At all events, the names of Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan
+were certain to be immortalized in the annals of astronomy!
+
+When the despatch from Long's Peak had once become known, there was but
+one universal feeling of surprise and alarm. Was it possible to go to the
+aid of these bold travellers? No! for they had placed themselves beyond
+the pale of humanity, by crossing the limits imposed by the Creator on
+his earthly creatures. They had air enough for _two_ months; they had
+victuals enough for _twelve;--but after that?_ There was only one man
+who would not admit that the situation was desperate,--he alone had
+confidence; and that was their devoted friend J. T. Maston.
+
+Besides, he never let them get out of sight. His home was henceforth the
+post at Long's Peak; his horizon, the mirror of that immense reflector.
+As soon as the moon rose above the horizon, he immediately caught her in
+the field of the telescope; he never let her go for an instant out of
+his sight, and followed her assiduously in her course through the stellar
+spaces. He watched with untiring patience the passage of the projectile
+across her silvery disc, and really the worthy man remained in perpetual
+communication with his three friends, whom he did not despair of seeing
+again some day.
+
+"Those three men," said he, "have carried into space all the resources
+of art, science, and industry. With that, one can do anything; and you
+will see that, some day, they will come out all right."
+
+
+
+
+   ROUND THE MOON:
+
+   A Sequel To
+
+   FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.
+
+      ------------
+
+
+
+
+   PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
+
+   RECAPITULATING THE FIRST PART OF THIS WORK, AND
+      SERVING AS A PREFACE TO THE SECOND.
+
+
+During the year 186--, the whole world was greatly excited by a scientific
+experiment unprecedented in the annals of science. The members of the
+Gun Club, a circle of artillerymen formed at Baltimore after the American
+war, conceived the idea of putting themselves in communication with the
+moon!--yes, with the moon,--by sending to her a projectile. Their
+president, Barbicane, the promoter of the enterprise, having consulted
+the astronomers of the Cambridge Observatory upon the subject, took all
+necessary means to ensure the success of this extraordinary enterprise,
+which had been declared practicable by the majority of competent judges.
+After setting on foot a public subscription, which realized nearly
+1,200,000_l._ they began the gigantic work.
+
+According to the advice forwarded from the members of the Observatory,
+the gun destined to launch the projectile had to be fixed in a country
+situated between the 0 and 28th degrees of north or south latitude, in
+order to aim at the moon when at the zenith; and its initiatory velocity
+was fixed at twelve thousand yards to the second. Launched on the 1st
+of December, at 10hrs. 46m. 40s. p.m., it ought to reach the moon four
+days after its departure, that is on the 5th of December, at midnight
+precisely, at the moment of her attaining her _perigee_, that is her
+nearest distance from the earth, which is exactly 86,410 leagues (French),
+or 238,833 miles _mean distance_ (English).
+
+The principal members of the Gun Club, President Barbicane, Major
+Elphinstone, the secretary Joseph T. Maston, and other learned men, held
+several meetings, at which the shape and composition of the projectile
+were discussed, also the position and nature of the gun, and the quality
+and quantity of the powder to be used. It was decided: 1st, that the
+projectile should be a shell made of aluminium with a diameter of 108
+inches and a thickness of twelve inches to its walls; and should weigh
+19,250 lbs. 2ndly, that the gun should be a Columbiad cast in iron,
+900 feet long, and run perpendicularly into the earth. 3rdly, that the
+charge should contain 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton, which, giving out
+six billions of litres of gas in rear of the projectile, would easily
+carry it towards the orb of night.
+
+These questions determined President Barbicane, assisted by Murchison
+the engineer, to choose a spot situated in Florida, in 27 deg. 7' North
+latitude, and 77 deg. 3' West (Greenwich) longitude. It was on this spot,
+after stupendous labour, that the Columbiad was cast with full success.
+Things stood thus, when an incident took place which increased the
+interest attached to this great enterprise a hundredfold.
+
+A Frenchman, an enthusiastic Parisian, as witty as he was bold, asked
+to be enclosed in the projectile, in order that he might reach the moon,
+and reconnoitre this terrestrial satellite. The name of this intrepid
+adventurer was Michel Ardan. He landed in America, was received with
+enthusiasm, held meetings, saw himself carried in triumph, reconciled
+President Barbicane to his mortal enemy, Captain Nicholl, and, as a
+token of reconciliation, persuaded them both to start with him in the
+projectile. The proposition being accepted, the shape of the projectile
+was slightly altered. It was made of a cylindro-conical form. This species
+of aerial car was lined with strong springs and partitions to deaden the
+shock of departure. It was provided with food for a year, water for some
+months, and gas for some days. A self-acting apparatus supplied the three
+travellers with air to breathe. At the same time, on one of the highest
+points of the Rocky Mountains, the Gun Club had a gigantic telescope
+erected, in order that they might be able to follow the course of the
+projectile through space. All was then ready.
+
+On the 30th November, at the hour fixed upon, from the midst of an
+extraordinary crowd of spectators, the departure took place; and for the
+first time, three human beings quitted the terrestrial globe, and launched
+into interplanetary space with almost a certainty of reaching their
+destination. These bold travellers, Michel Ardan, President Barbicane,
+and Captain Nicholl, ought to make the passage in ninety-seven hours,
+thirteen minutes, and twenty seconds. Consequently, their arrival on
+the lunar disc could not take place until the 5th December at twelve at
+night, at the exact moment when the moon should be full, and not on the
+4th, as some badly-informed journals had announced.
+
+But an unforeseen circumstance, viz., the detonation produced by
+the Columbiad, had the immediate effect of troubling the terrestrial
+atmosphere, by accumulating a large quantity of vapour, a phenomenon
+which excited universal indignation, for the moon was hidden from the
+eyes of the watchers for several nights.
+
+The worthy Joseph T. Maston, the staunchest friend of the three
+travellers, started for the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by the Hon. J.
+Belfast, director of the Cambridge Observatory, and reached the station
+of Long's Peak, where the telescope was erected which brought the moon
+within an apparent distance of two leagues. The honorable secretary of
+the Gun Club wished himself to observe the vehicle of his daring friends.
+
+The accumulation of clouds in the atmosphere prevented all observations
+on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th of December. Indeed it was
+thought that all observations would have to be put off to the 3rd of
+January in the following year; for the moon entering its last quarter on
+the 11th, would then only present an ever-decreasing portion of her disc,
+insufficient to allow of their following the course of the projectile.
+
+At length, to the general satisfaction, a heavy storm cleared the
+atmosphere on the night of the 11th and 12th December, and the moon, with
+half illuminated disc, was plainly to be seen upon the black
+sky.
+
+That very night a telegram was sent from the station of Long's Peak
+by Joseph T. Maston and Belfast to the gentlemen of the Cambridge
+Observatory, announcing that on the 11th of December at 8h. 47m. p.m.,
+the projectile launched by the Columbiad of Stones Hill had been detected
+by Messrs. Belfast and Maston,--that it had deviated from its course
+from some unknown cause, and had not reached its destination; but that
+it had passed near enough to be retained by the lunar attraction; that
+its rectilinear movement had been changed to a circular one, and that
+following an elliptical orbit round the star of night it had become its
+_satellite._ The telegram added that the elements of this new star had
+not yet been calculated; and indeed three observations made upon a star
+in three different positions are necessary to determine these elements.
+Then it showed that the distance separating the projectile from the lunar
+surface "might" be reckoned at about 2833 miles.
+
+It ended with this double hypothesis; either the attraction of the moon
+would draw it to herself, and the travellers thus attain their end; or
+that the projectile, held in one immutable orbit, would gravitate around
+the lunar disc to all eternity.
+
+With such alternatives, what would be the fate of the travellers?
+Certainly they had food for some time. But supposing they did succeed
+in their rash enterprise, how would they return? Could they ever return?
+Should they hear from them? These questions, debated by the most learned
+pens of the day, strongly engrossed the public attention.
+
+It is advisable here to make a remark which ought to be well considered
+by hasty observers. When a purely speculative discovery is announced to
+the public, it cannot be done with too much prudence. No one is obliged
+to discover either a planet, a comet, or a satellite; and whoever makes
+a mistake in such a case exposes himself justly to the derision of the
+mass. Far better is it to wait; and that is what the impatient Joseph T.
+Maston should have done before sending this telegram forth to the world,
+which, according to his idea, told the whole result of the enterprise.
+Indeed this telegram contained two sorts of errors, as was proved
+eventually. 1st, errors of observation, concerning the distance of the
+projectile from the surface of the moon, for on the 11th December it was
+impossible to see it; and what Joseph T. Maston had seen, or thought he
+saw, could not have been the projectile of the Columbiad. 2ndly, errors
+of theory on the fate in store for the said projectile; for in making it
+a satellite of the moon, it was putting it in direct contradiction to
+all mechanical laws.
+
+One single hypothesis of the observers of Long's Peak could ever be
+realized, that which foresaw the case of the travellers (if still alive)
+uniting their efforts with the lunar attraction to attain the surface of
+the disc.
+
+Now these men, as clever as they were daring, _had_ survived the terrible
+shock consequent on their departure, and it is their journey in the
+projectile car which is here related in its most dramatic as well as in
+its most singular details. This recital will destroy many illusions and
+surmises; but it will give a true idea of the singular changes in store
+for such an enterprise; it will bring out the scientific instincts of
+Barbicane, the industrious resources of Nicholl, and the audacious humour
+of Michel Ardan.
+
+Besides this, it will prove that their worthy friend, Joseph T. Maston,
+was wasting his time, while leaning over the gigantic telescope he
+watched the course of the moon through the starry space.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER I.
+
+   FROM TWENTY MINUTES PAST TEN TO FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES
+      PAST TEN P.M.
+
+
+As ten o'clock struck, Michel Ardan, Barbicane, and Nicholl, took leave
+of the numerous friends they were leaving on the earth. The two dogs,
+destined to propagate the canine race on the lunar continents, were
+already shut up in the projectile.
+
+The three travellers approached the orifice of the enormous cast-iron
+tube, and a crane let them down to the conical top of the projectile.
+There, an opening made for the purpose gave them access to the aluminium
+car. The tackle belonging to the crane being hauled from outside, the
+mouth of the Columbiad was instantly disencumbered of its last supports.
+
+Nicholl, once introduced with his companions inside the projectile,
+began to close the opening by means of a strong plate, held in position
+by powerful screws. Other plates, closely fitted, covered the lenticular
+glasses, and the travellers, hermetically enclosed in their metal prison,
+were plunged in profound darkness.
+
+"And now, my dear companions," said Michel Ardan, "let us make ourselves
+at home; I am a domesticated man and strong in housekeeping. We are bound
+to make the best of our new lodgings, and make ourselves comfortable.
+And first let us try and see a little. Gas was not invented for moles."
+
+So saying, the thoughtless fellow lit a match by striking it on the
+sole of his boot; and approached the burner fixed to the receptacle,
+in which the carbonized hydrogen, stored at high pressure, sufficed for
+the lighting and warming of the projectile for a hundred and forty-four
+hours, or six days and six nights. The gas caught fire, and thus lighted
+the projectile looked like a comfortable room with thickly padded walls,
+furnished with a circular divan, and a roof rounded in the shape of a
+dome.
+
+The objects it contained, arms, instruments, and utensils securely
+fastened against the rounds of wadding, could bear the shock of departure
+with impunity. Humanly speaking, every possible precaution had been taken
+to bring this rash experiment to a successful termination.
+
+Michel Ardan examined everything, and declared himself satisfied with
+his installation.
+
+"It is a prison," said he, "but a travelling prison; and, with the right
+of putting my nose to the window, I could well stand a lease of a hundred
+years. You smile, Barbicane. Have you any _arriere-pensee?_ Do you say
+to yourself, 'This prison may be our tomb?' Tomb, perhaps; still I would
+not change it for Mahomet's, which floats in space but never advances an
+inch!"
+
+Whilst Michel Ardan was speaking, Barbicane and Nicholl were making their
+last preparations.
+
+Nicholl's chronometer marked twenty minutes past ten p.m. when the three
+travellers were finally enclosed in their projectile. This chronometer
+was set within the tenth of a second by that of Murchison the engineer.
+Barbicane consulted it.
+
+"My friends," said he, "it is twenty minutes past ten. At forty-seven
+minutes past ten Murchison will launch the electric spark on the wire
+which communicates with the charge of the Columbiad. At that precise
+moment we shall leave our spheroid. Thus we have still twenty-seven
+minutes to remain on the earth."
+
+"Twenty-six minutes thirteen seconds," replied the methodical Nicholl.
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, in a good-humoured tone, "much may be
+done in twenty-six minutes. The gravest questions of morals and politics
+may be discussed, and even solved. Twenty-six minutes well employed are
+worth more than twenty-six years in which nothing is done. Some
+_seconds_ of a Pascal or a Newton are more precious than the whole
+existence of a crowd of raw simpletons--"
+
+
+Illustration: THE GAS CAUGHT FIRE.
+
+
+"And you conclude, then, you everlasting talker?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"I conclude that we have twenty-six minutes left," replied Ardan.
+
+"Twenty-four only," said Nicholl.
+
+"Well, twenty-four, if you like, my noble captain," said Ardan;
+"twenty-four minutes in which to investigate--"
+
+"Michel," said Barbicane, "during the passage we shall have plenty of
+time to investigate the most difficult questions. For the present we must
+occupy ourselves with our departure."
+
+"Are we not ready?"
+
+"Doubtless; but there are still some precautions to be taken, to deaden
+as much as possible the first shock."
+
+"Have we not the water-cushions placed between the partition-breaks,
+whose elasticity will sufficiently protect us?"
+
+"I hope so, Michel," replied Barbicane gently, "but I am not sure."
+
+"Ah, the joker!" exclaimed Michel Ardan. "He hopes!--He is not
+sure!--and he waits for the moment when we are encased to make this
+deplorable admission! I beg to be allowed to get out!"
+
+"And how?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Humph!" said Michel Ardan, "it is not easy; we are in the train, and
+the guard's whistle will sound before twenty-four minutes are over."
+
+"_Twenty_," said Nicholl.
+
+For some moments the three travellers looked at each other. Then they
+began to examine the objects imprisoned with them.
+
+"Everything is in its place," said Barbicane. "We have now to decide how
+we can best place ourselves to resist the shock. Position cannot be an
+indifferent matter; and we must, as much as possible, prevent the rush
+of blood to the head."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl.
+
+"Then," replied Michel Ardan, ready to suit the action to the word, "let
+us put our heads down and our feet in the air, like the clowns in the
+grand circus."
+
+"No," said Barbicane, "let us stretch ourselves on our sides; we shall
+resist the shock better that way. Remember that, when the projectile
+starts, it matters little whether we are in it or before it; it amounts
+to much the same thing."
+
+"If it is only 'much the same thing,' I may cheer up," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Do you approve of my idea, Nicholl?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Entirely," replied the captain. "We've still thirteen minutes and a
+half."
+
+"That Nicholl is not a man," exclaimed Michel; "he is a chronometer with
+seconds, an escape, and eight holes."
+
+But his companions were not listening; they were taking up their last
+positions with the most perfect coolness. They were like two methodical
+travellers in a car, seeking to place themselves as comfortably as
+possible.
+
+We might well ask ourselves of what materials are the hearts of these
+Americans made, to whom the approach of the most frightful danger added
+no pulsation.
+
+Three thick and solidly-made couches had been placed in the projectile.
+Nicholl and Barbicane placed them in the centre of the disc forming the
+floor. There the three travellers were to stretch themselves some moments
+before their departure.
+
+During this time, Ardan, not being able to keep still, turned in his
+narrow prison like a wild beast in a cage, chatting with his friends,
+speaking to the dogs Diana and Satellite, to whom, as may be seen, he
+had given significant names.
+
+"Ah, Diana! Ah, Satellite!" he exclaimed, teazing them; "so you are going
+to show the moon-dogs the good habits of the dogs of the earth! That
+will do honour to the canine race! If ever we do come down again, I will
+bring a cross type of 'moon-dogs,' which will make a stir!"
+
+
+Illustration: DIANA AND SATELLITE.
+
+
+"If there _are_ dogs in the moon," said Barbicane.
+
+"There are," said Michel Ardan, "just as there are horses, cows, donkeys,
+and chickens. I bet that we shall find chickens."
+
+"A hundred dollars we shall find none!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Done, my captain!" replied Ardan, clasping Nicholl's hand. "But, by
+the bye, you have already lost three bets with our president, as the
+necessary funds for the enterprise have been found, as the operation of
+casting has been successful, and lastly, as the Columbiad has been loaded
+without accident, six thousand dollars."
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl. "Thirty-seven minutes six seconds past ten."
+
+"It is understood, captain. Well, before another quarter of an hour
+you will have to count 9000 dollars to the president; 4000 because the
+Columbiad will not burst, and 5000 because the projectile will rise more
+than six miles in the air."
+
+"I have the dollars," replied Nicholl, slapping the pocket of his coat.
+"I only ask to be allowed to pay."
+
+"Come, Nicholl, I see that you are a man of method, which I could never
+be; but indeed you have made a series of bets of very little advantage
+to yourself, allow me to tell you."
+
+"And why?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because, if you gain the first, the Columbiad will have burst, and the
+projectile with it; and Barbicane will no longer be there to reimburse
+your dollars."
+
+"My stake is deposited at the bank in Baltimore," replied Barbicane
+simply; "and if Nicholl is not there, it will go to his heirs."
+
+"Ah, you practical men!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "I admire you the more
+for not being able to understand you."
+
+"Forty-two minutes past ten!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Only five minutes more!" answered Barbicane.
+
+"Yes, five little minutes!" replied Michel Ardan; "and we are enclosed
+in a projectile, at the bottom of a gun 900 feet long! And under this
+projectile are rammed 400,000 lbs. of gun-cotton, which is equal to
+1,600,000 lbs. of ordinary powder! And friend Murchison, with his
+chronometer in hand, his eye fixed on the needle, his finger on the
+electric apparatus, is counting the seconds preparatory to launching us
+into interplanetary space."
+
+"Enough, Michel, enough!" said Barbicane, in a serious voice; "let us
+prepare. A few instants alone separate us from an eventful moment. One
+clasp of the hand, my friends."
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Michel Ardan, more moved than he wished to appear; and
+the three bold companions were united in a last embrace.
+
+"God preserve us!" said the religious Barbicane.
+
+Michel Ardan and Nicholl stretched themselves on the couches placed in
+the centre of the disc.
+
+"Forty seven minutes past ten!" murmured the captain.
+
+"Twenty seconds more!" Barbicane quickly put out the gas and lay down by
+his companions, and the profound silence was only broken by the ticking
+of the chronometer marking the seconds.
+
+Suddenly a dreadful shock was felt, and the projectile, under the force
+of six billions of litres of gas, developed by the combustion of the
+pyroxyle, mounted into space.
+
+
+Illustration: THE COURAGEOUS FRENCHMAN.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER II.
+
+   THE FIRST HALF-HOUR.
+
+
+What had happened? What effect had this frightful shock produced? Had
+the ingenuity of the constructors of the projectile obtained any happy
+result? Had the shock been deadened, thanks to the springs, the four
+plugs, the water-cushions, and the partition-breaks? Had they been able
+to subdue the frightful pressure of the initiatory speed of more than
+11,000 yards, which was enough to traverse Paris or New York in a second?
+This was evidently the question suggested to the thousand spectators
+of this moving scene. They forgot the aim of the journey, and thought
+only of the travellers. And if one amongst them--Joseph T. Maston for
+example--could have cast one glimpse into the projectile, what would he
+have seen?
+
+Nothing then. The darkness was profound. But its cylindro-conical
+partitions had resisted wonderfully. Not a rent or a dent anywhere! The
+wonderful projectile was not even heated under the intense deflagration
+of the powder, nor liquefied, as they seemed to fear, in a shower of
+aluminium.
+
+The interior showed but little disorder; indeed, only a few objects had
+been violently thrown towards the roof; but the most important seemed
+not to have suffered from the shock at all; their fixtures were intact.
+
+On the movable disc, sunk down to the bottom by the smashing of the
+partition-breaks and the escape of the water, three bodies lay apparently
+lifeless. Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan-- did they still breathe?
+or was the projectile nothing now but a metal coffin, bearing three
+corpses into space?
+
+Some minutes after the departure of the projectile, one of the bodies
+moved, shook its arms, lifted its head, and finally succeeded in getting
+on its knees. It was Michel Ardan. He felt himself all over, gave a
+sonorous "Hem!" and then said,--
+
+"Michel Ardan is whole. How about the others?"
+
+The courageous Frenchman tried to rise, but could not stand. His head
+swam, from the rush of blood; he was blind; he was like a drunken man.
+
+"Bur-r!" said he. "It produces the same effect as two bottles of Corton,
+though perhaps less agreeable to swallow." Then, passing his hand several
+times across his forehead and rubbing his temples, he called in a firm
+voice,--
+
+"Nicholl! Barbicane!"
+
+He waited anxiously. No answer; not even a sigh to show that the hearts
+of his companions were still beating. He called again. The same silence.
+
+"The devil!" he exclaimed. They look as if they had fallen from a fifth
+story on their heads. "Bah!" he added, with that imperturbable confidence
+which nothing could check, "if a Frenchman can get on his knees, two
+Americans ought to be able to get on their feet. But first let us light
+up."
+
+Ardan felt the tide of life return by degrees. His blood became calm,
+and returned to its accustomed circulation. Another effort restored his
+equilibrium. He succeeded in rising, drew a match from his pocket, and
+approaching the burner lighted it. The receiver had not suffered at all.
+The gas had not escaped. Besides, the smell would have betrayed it; and
+in that case Michel Ardan could not have carried a lighted match with
+impunity through the space filled with hydrogen. The gas mixing with the
+air would have produced a detonating mixture, and the explosion would
+have finished what the shock had perhaps begun. When the burner was lit,
+Ardan leaned over the bodies of his companions: they were lying one on
+the other, an inert mass, Nicholl above, Barbicane underneath.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY RAISED BARBICANE.
+
+
+Ardan lifted the captain, propped him up against the divan, and began to
+rub vigorously. This means, used with judgment, restored Nicholl, who
+opened his eyes, and instantly recovering his presence of mind, seized
+Ardan's hand and looked around him.
+
+"And Barbicane?" said he.
+
+"Each in turn," replied Michel Ardan. "I began with you, Nicholl, because
+you were on the top. Now let us look to Barbicane." Saying which, Ardan
+and Nicholl raised the president of the Gun Club and laid him on the
+divan. He seemed to have suffered more than either of his companions; he
+was bleeding, but Nicholl was reassured by finding that the hemorrhage
+came from a slight wound on the shoulder, a mere graze, which he bound
+up carefully.
+
+Still, Barbicane was a long time coming to himself, which frightened his
+friends, who did not spare friction.
+
+"He breathes though," said Nicholl, putting his ear to the chest of the
+wounded man.
+
+"Yes," replied Ardan, "he breathes like a man who has some notion of that
+daily operation. Rub, Nicholl; let us rub harder." And the two improvised
+practitioners worked so hard and so well that Barbicane recovered his
+senses. He opened his eyes, sat up, took his two friends by the hands,
+and his first words were--
+
+"Nicholl, are we moving?"
+
+Nicholl and Barbicane looked at each other; they had not yet troubled
+themselves about the projectile; their first thought had been for the
+traveller, not for the car.
+
+"Well, are we really moving?" repeated Michel Ardan.
+
+"Or quietly resting on the soil of Florida?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Or at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico?" added Michel Ardan.
+
+"What an idea!" exclaimed the president.
+
+And this double hypothesis suggested by his companions had the effect
+of recalling him to his senses. In any case they could not yet decide
+on the position of the projectile. Its apparent immovability, and the
+want of communication with the outside, prevented them from solving the
+question. Perhaps the projectile was unwinding its course through space.
+Perhaps after a short rise it had fallen upon the earth, or even in the
+Gulf of Mexico--a fall which the narrowness of the peninsula of Florida
+would render not impossible.
+
+The case was serious, the problem interesting, and one that must be
+solved as soon as possible. Thus, highly excited, Barbicane's moral
+energy triumphed over physical weakness, and he rose to his feet. He
+listened. Outside was perfect silence; but the thick padding was enough
+to intercept all sounds coming from the earth. But one circumstance
+struck Barbicane, viz., that the temperature inside the projectile was
+singularly high. The president drew a thermometer from its case and
+consulted it. The instrument showed 81 deg. Fahr.
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed, "yes, we are moving! This stifling heat, penetrating
+through the partitions of the projectile, is produced by its friction on
+the atmospheric strata. It will soon diminish, because we are already
+floating in space, and after having been nearly stifled, we shall have
+to suffer intense cold."
+
+"What!" said Michel Ardan. "According to your showing, Barbicane, we are
+already beyond the limits of the terrestrial atmosphere?"
+
+"Without a doubt, Michel. Listen to me. It is fifty-five minutes past
+ten; we have been gone about eight minutes; and if our initiatory speed
+has not been checked by the friction, six seconds would be enough for us
+to pass through the forty miles of atmosphere which surrounds the globe."
+
+"Just so," replied Nicholl; "but in what proportion do you estimate the
+diminution of speed by friction?"
+
+"In the proportion of one-third, Nicholl. This diminution is considerable,
+but according to my calculations it is nothing less. If, then, we had
+an initiatory speed of 12,000 yards, on leaving the atmosphere this
+speed would be reduced to 9165 yards. In any case we have already passed
+through this interval, and--"
+
+"And then," said Michel Ardan, "friend Nicholl has lost his two bets:
+four thousand dollars because the Columbiad did not burst; five thousand
+dollars because the projectile has risen more than six miles. Now,
+Nicholl, pay up."
+
+"Let us prove it first," said the captain, "and we will pay afterwards.
+It is quite possible that Barbicane's reasoning is correct, and that I
+have lost my nine thousand dollars. But a new hypothesis presents itself
+to my mind, and it annuls the wager."
+
+"What is that?" asked Barbicane quickly.
+
+"The hypothesis that, for some reason or other, fire was never set to
+the powder, we have not started at all."
+
+"My goodness, captain," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that hypothesis is
+worthy of my brain! It cannot be a serious one. For have we not been
+half annihilated by the shock? Did I not recall you to life? Is not the
+president's shoulder still bleeding from the blow it has received?"
+
+"Granted," replied Nicholl; "but one question."
+
+"Well, captain?"
+
+"Did you hear the detonation, which certainly ought to be loud?"
+
+"No," replied Ardan, much surprised; "certainly I did not hear the
+detonation."
+
+"And you, Barbicane?"
+
+"Nor I, either."
+
+"Very well," said Nicholl.
+
+"Well now," murmured the president "why did we not hear the detonation?"
+
+The three friends looked at each other with a disconcerted air. It
+was quite an inexplicable phenomenon. The projectile had started, and
+consequently there must have been a detonation.
+
+"Let us first find out where we are," said Barbicane, "and let down the
+panel."
+
+This very simple operation was soon accomplished.
+
+The nuts which held the bolts to the outer plates of the right-hand
+scuttle gave way under the pressure of the English wrench. These bolts
+were pushed outside, and buffers covered with india-rubber stopped up
+the holes which let them through. Immediately the outer plate fell back
+upon its hinges like a porthole, and the lenticular glass which closed
+the scuttle appeared. A similar one was let into the thick partition on
+the opposite side of the projectile, another in the top of the dome, and
+finally a fourth in the middle of the base. They could, therefore, make
+observations in four different directions: the firmament by the side
+and most direct windows, the earth or the moon by the upper and under
+openings in the projectile.
+
+Barbicane and his two companions immediately rushed to the uncovered
+window. But it was lit by no ray of light. Profound darkness surrounded
+them, which, however, did not prevent the president from exclaiming,--
+
+"No, my friends, we have not fallen back upon the earth; no, nor are we
+submerged in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes! we are mounting into space. See
+those stars shining in the night, and that impenetrable darkness heaped
+up between the earth and us!"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan and Nicholl in one voice.
+
+Indeed, this thick darkness proved that the projectile had left the earth,
+for the soil, brilliantly lit by the moonbeams, would have been visible
+to the travellers, if they had been lying on its surface. This darkness
+also showed that the projectile had passed the atmospheric strata, for
+the diffused light spread in the air would have been reflected on the
+metal walls, which reflection was wanting. This light would have lit
+the window, and the window was dark. Doubt was no longer possible; the
+travellers had left the earth.
+
+
+Illustration: IT WAS AN ENORMOUS DISC.
+
+
+"I have lost," said Nicholl.
+
+"I congratulate you," replied Ardan.
+
+"Here are the nine thousand dollars," said the captain, drawing a roll
+of paper dollars from his pocket.
+
+"Will you have a receipt for it?" asked Barbicane, taking the sum.
+
+"If you do not mind," answered Nicholl; "it is more business-like."
+
+And coolly and seriously, as if he had been at his strong-box, the
+president drew forth his note-book, tore out a blank leaf, wrote a proper
+receipt in pencil, dated and signed it with the usual flourish,* and gave
+it to the captain, who carefully placed it in his pocketbook. Michel
+Ardan, taking off his hat, bowed to his two companions without speaking.
+So much formality under such circumstances left him speechless. He had
+never before seen anything so "American."
+
+* This is a purely French habit.
+
+This affair settled, Barbicane and Nicholl had returned to the window,
+and were watching the constellations. The stars looked like bright points
+on the black sky. But from that side they could not see the orb of night,
+which, travelling from east to west, would rise by degrees towards the
+zenith. Its absence drew the following remark from Ardan.
+
+"And the moon; will she perchance fail at our rendezvous?"
+
+"Do not alarm yourself," said Barbicane; "our future globe is at its
+post, but we cannot see her from this side; let us open the other."
+
+As Barbicane was about leaving the window to open the opposite scuttle,
+his attention was attracted by the approach of a brilliant object. It
+was an enormous disc, whose colossal dimension could not be estimated.
+Its face, which was turned to the earth, was very bright. One might have
+thought it a small moon reflecting the light of the larger one. She
+advanced with great speed, and seemed to describe an orbit round the
+earth, which would intersect the passage of the projectile. This body
+revolved upon its axis, and exhibited the phenomena of all celestial
+bodies abandoned in space.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "what is that? another projectile?"
+
+Barbicane did not answer. The appearance of this enormous body surprised
+and troubled him. A collision was possible, and might be attended with
+deplorable results; either the projectile would deviate from its path,
+or a shock, breaking its impetus, might precipitate it to the earth; or,
+lastly, it might be irresistibly drawn away by the powerful asteroid. The
+president caught at a glance the consequences of these three hypotheses,
+either of which would, one way or the other, bring their experiment to
+an unsuccessful and fatal termination. His companions stood silently
+looking into space. The object grew rapidly as it approached them, and
+by an optical illusion the projectile seemed to be throwing itself before
+it.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "we shall run into one another!"
+
+Instinctively the travellers drew back. Their dread was great, but it
+did not last many seconds. The asteroid passed several hundred yards
+from the projectile and disappeared, not so much from the rapidity of
+its course, as that its face being opposite the moon, it was suddenly
+merged into the perfect darkness of space.
+
+"A happy journey to you," exclaimed Michel Ardan, with a sigh of relief.
+"Surely infinity of space is large enough for a poor little projectile
+to walk through without fear. Now, what is this portentous globe which
+nearly struck us?"
+
+"I know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Oh, indeed! you know everything."
+
+"It is," said Barbicane, "a simple meteorite, but an enormous one, which
+the attraction of the earth has retained as a satellite."
+
+"Is it possible!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "the earth then has two moons
+like Neptune?"
+
+"Yes, my friend, two moons, though it passes generally for having only
+one; but this second moon is so small, and its speed so great, that the
+inhabitants of the earth cannot see it. It was by noticing disturbances
+that a French astronomer, M. Petit, was able to determine the existence
+of this second satellite and calculate its elements. According to his
+observations, this meteorite will accomplish its revolution round the
+earth in three hours and twenty minutes, which implies a wonderful rate
+of speed."
+
+"Do all astronomers admit the existence of this satellite?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"No," replied Barbicane; "but if, like us, they had met it, they could
+no longer doubt it. Indeed, I think that this meteorite, which, had it
+struck the projectile, would have much embarrassed us, will give us the
+means of deciding what our position in space is."
+
+"How?" said Ardan.
+
+"Because its distance is known, and when we met it, we were exactly 4650
+miles from the surface of the terrestrial globe."
+
+"More than 2000 French leagues," exclaimed Michel Ardan. "That beats the
+express trains of the pitiful globe called the earth."
+
+"I should think so," replied Nicholl, consulting his chronometer; "it
+is eleven o'clock, and it is only thirteen minutes since we left the
+American Continent."
+
+"Only thirteen minutes?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Yes," said Nicholl; "and if our initiatory speed of 12,000 yards has
+been kept up, we shall have made about 20,000 miles in the hour."
+
+"That is all very well, my friends," said the president, "but the
+insoluble question still remains. Why did we not hear the detonation of
+the Columbiad?"
+
+For want of an answer the conversation dropped, and Barbicane began
+thoughtfully to let down the shutter of the second side. He succeeded;
+and through the uncovered glass the moon filled the projectile with
+a brilliant light. Nicholl, as an economical man, put out the gas,
+now useless, and whose brilliancy prevented any observation of the
+interplanetary space.
+
+The lunar disc shone with wonderful purity. Her rays, no longer filtered
+through the vapoury atmosphere of the terrestrial globe, shone through
+the glass, filling the air in the interior of the projectile with silvery
+reflections. The black curtain of the firmament in reality heightened the
+moon's brilliancy, which in this void of ether unfavourable to diffusion
+did not eclipse the neighbouring stars. The heavens, thus seen, presented
+quite a new aspect, and one which the human eye could never dream of.
+One may conceive the interest with which these bold men watched the orb
+of night, the great aim of their journey.
+
+In its motion the earth's satellite was insensibly nearing the zenith,
+the mathematical point which it ought to attain ninety-six hours later.
+Her mountains, her plains, every projection was as clearly discernible
+to their eyes as if they were observing it from some spot upon the earth;
+but its light was developed through space with wonderful intensity. The
+disc shone like a platinum mirror. Of the earth flying from under their
+feet, the travellers had lost all recollection.
+
+It was Captain Nicholl who first recalled their attention to the vanishing
+globe.
+
+"Yes," said Michel Ardan, "do not let us be ungrateful to it. Since we
+are leaving our country, let our last looks be directed to it. I wish to
+see the earth once more before it is quite hidden from my eyes."
+
+To satisfy his companions, Barbicane began to uncover the window at the
+bottom of the projectile, which would allow them to observe the earth
+direct. The disc, which the force of the projection had beaten down to
+the base, was removed, not without difficulty. Its fragments, placed
+carefully against the wall, might serve again upon occasion. Then a
+circular gap appeared, nineteen inches in diameter, hollowed out of
+the lower part of the projectile. A glass cover, six inches thick and
+strengthened with upper fastenings, closed it tightly. Beneath was fixed
+an aluminium plate, held in place by bolts. The screws being undone,
+and the bolts let go, the plate fell down, and visible communication was
+established between the interior and the exterior.
+
+Michel Ardan knelt by the glass. It was cloudy, seemingly opaque.
+
+"Well!" he exclaimed, "and the earth?"
+
+"The earth?" said Barbicane. "There it is."
+
+"What! that little thread; that silver crescent?"
+
+"Doubtless, Michel. In four days, when the moon will be full, at the
+very time we shall reach it, the earth will be new, and will only appear
+to us as a slender crescent which will soon disappear, and for some days
+will be enveloped in utter darkness."
+
+"That the earth?" repeated Michel Ardan, looking with all his eyes at
+the thin slip of his native planet.
+
+The explanation given by President Barbicane was correct. The earth,
+with respect to the projectile, was entering its last phase. It was in
+its octant, and showed a crescent finely traced on the dark background
+of the sky. Its light, rendered bluish by the thick strata of the
+atmosphere was less intense than that of the crescent moon, but it was
+of considerable dimensions, and looked like an enormous arch stretched
+across the firmament. Some parts brilliantly lighted, especially on its
+concave part, showed the presence of high mountains, often disappearing
+behind thick spots, which are never seen on the lunar disc. They were
+rings of clouds placed concentrically round the terrestrial globe.
+
+Whilst the travellers were trying to pierce the profound darkness, a
+brilliant cluster of shooting stars burst upon their eyes. Hundreds of
+meteorites, ignited by the friction of the atmosphere, irradiated the
+shadow of the luminous train, and lined the cloudy parts of the disc
+with their fire. At this period the earth was in its perihelium, and
+the month of December is so propitious to these shooting stars, that
+astronomers have counted as many as twenty-four thousand in an hour. But
+Michel Ardan, disdaining scientific reasonings, preferred thinking that
+the earth was thus saluting the departure of her three children with her
+most brilliant fireworks.
+
+Indeed this was all they saw of the globe lost in the shadow, an inferior
+orb of the solar world, rising and setting to the great planets like a
+simple morning or evening star! This globe, where they had left all their
+affections, was nothing more than a fugitive crescent!
+
+Long did the three friends look without speaking, though united in heart,
+whilst the projectile sped onward with an ever-decreasing speed. Then
+an irresistible drowsiness crept over their brain. Was it weariness both
+of body and mind? No doubt; for after the over-excitement of those last
+hours passed upon earth, reaction was inevitable.
+
+"Well," said Nicholl, "since we must sleep, let us sleep."
+
+And stretching themselves on their couches, they were all three soon in
+a profound slumber.
+
+But they had not forgotten themselves more than a quarter of an hour,
+when Barbicane sat up suddenly, and rousing his companions with a loud
+voice, exclaimed,--
+
+"I have found it!"
+
+"What have you found?" asked Michel Ardan, jumping from his bed.
+
+"The reason why we did not hear the detonation of the Columbiad."
+
+"And it is--?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Because our projectile travelled _faster than the sound!_"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER III.
+
+   THEIR PLACE OF SHELTER.
+
+
+This curious but certainly correct explanation once given, the three
+friends returned to their slumbers. Could they have found a calmer or
+more peaceful spot to sleep in? On the earth, houses, towns, cottages,
+and country feel every shock given to the exterior of the globe. On sea,
+the vessels rocked by the waves are still in motion; in the air, the
+balloon oscillates incessantly on the fluid strata of divers densities.
+This projectile alone, floating in perfect space, in the midst of perfect
+silence, offered perfect repose.
+
+Thus the sleep of our adventurous travellers might have been indefinitely
+prolonged, if an unexpected noise had not awakened them at about seven
+o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of December, eight hours after their
+departure.
+
+This noise was a very natural barking.
+
+"The dogs! it is the dogs!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, rising at once.
+
+"They are hungry," said Nicholl.
+
+"By Jove!" replied Michel, "we have forgotten them."
+
+"Where are they?" asked Barbicane.
+
+They looked and found one of the animals crouched under the divan.
+Terrified and shaken by the initiatory shock, it had remained in the
+corner till its voice returned with the pangs of hunger. It was the
+amiable Diana, still very confused, who crept out of her retreat, though
+not without much persuasion, Michel Ardan encouraging her with most
+gracious words.
+
+"Come, Diana," said he; "come, my girl! thou whose destiny will be
+marked in the cynegetic annals; thou whom the pagans would have given as
+companion to the god Anubis, and Christians as friend to St. Roch; thou
+who art rushing into interplanetary space, and wilt perhaps be the Eve
+of all Selenite dogs! come, Diana, come here."
+
+Diana, flattered or not, advanced by degrees, uttering plaintive cries.
+
+"Good," said Barbicane; "I see Eve, but where is Adam?"
+
+"Adam?" replied Michel; "Adam cannot be far off; he is there somewhere;
+we must call him. Satellite! here, Satellite!"
+
+But Satellite did not appear. Diana would not leave off howling. They
+found, however, that she was not bruised, and they gave her a pie, which
+silenced her complaints. As to Satellite, he seemed quite lost. They had
+to hunt a long time before finding him in one of the upper compartments
+of the projectile, whither some unaccountable shock must have violently
+hurled him. The poor beast, much hurt, was in a piteous state.
+
+"The devil!" said Michel.
+
+They brought the unfortunate dog down with great care. Its skull had been
+broken against the roof, and it seemed unlikely that he could recover
+from such a shock. Meanwhile, he was stretched comfortably on a cushion.
+Once there, he heaved a sigh.
+
+"We will take care of you," said Michel; "we are responsible for your
+existence. I would rather lose an arm than a paw of my poor Satellite."
+
+Saying which, he offered some water to the wounded dog, who swallowed it
+with avidity.
+
+This attention paid, the travellers watched the earth and the moon
+attentively. The earth was now only discernible by a cloudy disc ending
+in a crescent, rather more contracted than that of the previous evening;
+but its expanse was still enormous, compared with that of the moon, which
+was approaching nearer and nearer to a perfect circle.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY GAVE HER A PIE.
+
+
+"By Jove!" said Michel Ardan, "I am really sorry that we did not start
+when the earth was full, that is to say, when our globe was in opposition
+to the sun."
+
+"Why?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because we should have seen our continents and seas in a new light,--the
+first resplendent under the solar rays, the latter cloudy as represented
+on some maps of the world. I should like to have seen those poles of the
+earth on which the eye of man has never yet rested.
+
+"I dare say," replied Barbicane; "but if the earth had been _full_, the
+moon would have been _new_; that is to say, invisible, because of the
+rays of the sun. It is better for us to see the destination we wish to
+reach, than the point of departure."
+
+"You are right, Barbicane," replied Captain Nicholl; "and, besides, when
+we have reached the moon, we shall have time during the long lunar nights
+to consider at our leisure the globe on which our likenesses swarm."
+
+"Our likenesses!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "they are no more our likenesses
+than the Selenites are! We inhabit a new world, peopled by ourselves--the
+projectile! I am Barbicane's likeness, and Barbicane is Nicholl's. Beyond
+us, around us, human nature is at an end, and we are the only population
+of this microcosm until we become pure Selenites."
+
+"In about eighty-eight hours," replied the captain.
+
+"Which means to say?" asked Michel Ardan.
+
+"That it is half-past eight," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well," retorted Michel; "then it is impossible for me to find even
+the shadow of a reason why we should not go to breakfast."
+
+Indeed the inhabitants of the new star could not live without eating, and
+their stomachs were suffering from the imperious laws of hunger. Michel
+Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function,
+which raised no rival. The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary
+apparatus, and the provision-box furnished the elements of this first
+feast.
+
+The breakfast began with three bowls of excellent soup, thanks to the
+liquefaction in hot water of those precious cakes of Liebig, prepared from
+the best parts of the ruminants of the Pampas. To the soup succeeded some
+beefsteaks, compressed by an hydraulic press, as tender and succulent as
+if brought straight from the kitchen of an English eating-house. Michel,
+who was imaginative, maintained that they were even "red."
+
+Preserved vegetables ("fresher than nature," said the amiable Michel)
+succeeded the dish of meat; and was followed by some cups of tea with
+bread and butter, after the American fashion.
+
+The beverage was declared exquisite, and was due to the infusion of the
+choicest leaves, of which the Emperor of Russia had given some chests
+for the benefit of the travellers.
+
+And lastly, to crown the repast, Ardan brought out a fine bottle of Nuits,
+which was found "by chance" in the provision-box. The three friends drank
+to the union of the earth and her satellite.
+
+And, as if he had not already done enough for the generous wine which
+he had distilled on the slopes of Burgundy, the sun chose to be of the
+party. At this moment the projectile emerged from the conical shadow
+cast by the terrestrial globe, and the rays of the radiant orb struck
+the lower disc of the projectile direct occasioned by the angle which
+the moon's orbit makes with that of the earth.
+
+"The sun!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
+
+"No doubt," replied Barbicane; "I expected it."
+
+"But," said Michel, "the conical shadow which the earth leaves in space
+extends beyond the moon?"
+
+"Far beyond it, if the atmospheric refraction is not taken into
+consideration," said Barbicane. "But when the moon is enveloped in this
+shadow, it is because the centres of the three stars, the sun, the earth,
+and the moon, are all in one and the same straight line. Then the _nodes_
+coincide with the _phases_ of the moon, and there is an eclipse. If we
+had started when there was an eclipse of the moon, all our passage would
+have been in the shadow, which would have been a pity."
+
+
+Illustration: THE SUN CHOSE TO BE OF THE PARTY.
+
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, though we are floating in space, our projectile, bathed in the
+solar rays, will receive their light and heat. It economizes the gas,
+which is in every respect a good economy."
+
+Indeed, under these rays which no atmosphere can temper, either in
+temperature or brilliancy, the projectile grew warm and bright, as if
+it had passed suddenly from winter to summer. The moon above, the sun
+beneath, were inundating it with their fire.
+
+"It is pleasant here," said Nicholl.
+
+"I should think so," said Michel Ardan. "With a little earth spread on
+our aluminium planet we should have green peas in twenty-four hours. I
+have but one fear, which is that the walls of the projectile might melt."
+
+"Calm yourself, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane; "the projectile
+withstood a very much higher temperature than this as it slid through
+the strata of the atmosphere. I should not be surprised if it did not
+look like a meteor on fire to the eyes of the spectators in Florida."
+
+"But then Joseph T. Maston will think we are roasted!"
+
+"What astonishes me," said Barbicane, "is that we have not been. That
+was a danger we had not provided for."
+
+"I feared it," said Nicholl simply.
+
+"And you never mentioned it, my sublime captain," exclaimed Michel Ardan,
+clasping his friend's hand.
+
+Barbicane now began to settle himself in the projectile as if he was
+never to leave it. One must remember that this aerial car had a base
+with a superficies of fifty-four square feet. Its height to the roof
+was twelve feet. Carefully laid out in the inside, and little encumbered
+by instruments and travelling utensils which each had their particular
+place, it left the three travellers a certain freedom of movement. The
+thick window inserted in the bottom could bear any amount of weight, and
+Barbicane and his companions walked upon it as if it were solid plank;
+but the sun striking it directly with its rays lit the interior of the
+projectile from beneath, thus producing singular effects of light.
+
+They began by investigating the state of their store of water and
+provisions, neither of which had suffered, thanks to the care taken to
+deaden the shock. Their provisions were abundant, and plentiful enough
+to last the three travellers for more than a year. Barbicane wished to
+be cautious, in case the projectile should land on a part of the moon
+which was utterly barren. As to water and the reserve of brandy, which
+consisted of fifty gallons, there was only enough for two months; but
+according to the last observations of astronomers, the moon had a low,
+dense, and thick atmosphere, at least in the deep valleys, and there
+springs and streams could not fail. Thus, during their passage, and
+for the first year of their settlement on the lunar continent, these
+adventurous explorers would suffer neither hunger nor thirst.
+
+Now about the air in the projectile. There, too, they were secure.
+Reiset and Regnaut's apparatus, intended for the production of oxygen,
+was supplied with chlorate of potassium for two months. They necessarily
+consumed a certain quantity of gas, for they were obliged to keep the
+producing substance at a temperature of above 400 deg. But there again
+they were all safe. The apparatus only wanted a little care. But it was
+not enough to renew the oxygen; they must absorb the carbonic acid
+produced by expiration. During the last twelve hours the atmosphere of
+the projectile had become charged with this deleterious gas. Nicholl
+discovered the state of the air by observing Diana panting painfully. The
+carbonic acid, by a phenomenon similar to that produced in the famous
+Grotto del Cane, had collected at the bottom of the projectile owing to
+its weight. Poor Diana, with her head low, would suffer before her masters
+from the presence of this gas. But Captain Nicholl hastened to remedy this
+state of things, by placing on the floor several receivers containing
+caustic potash which he shook about for a time, and this substance, greedy
+of carbonic acid, soon completely absorbed it, thus purifying the air.
+
+An inventory of instruments was then begun. The thermometers and
+barometers had resisted, all but one minimum thermometer, the glass of
+which was broken. An excellent aneroid was drawn from the wadded box
+which contained it and hung on the wall. Of course it was only affected
+by and marked the pressure of the air inside the projectile, but it also
+showed the quantity of moisture which it contained. At that moment its
+needle oscillated between 25.24 and 25.08.
+
+It was fine weather.
+
+Barbicane had also brought several compasses, which he found intact.
+One must understand that under present conditions their needles were
+acting _wildly_, that is without any _constant_ direction. Indeed, at
+the distance they were from the earth, the magnetic pole could have no
+perceptible action upon the apparatus; but the box placed on the lunar
+disc might perhaps exhibit some strange phenomena. In any case it would
+be interesting to see whether the earth's satellite submitted like
+herself to its magnetic influence.
+
+A hypsometer to measure the height of the lunar mountains, a sextant
+to take the height of the sun, glasses which would be useful as they
+neared the moon, all these instruments were carefully looked over, and
+pronounced good in spite of the violent shock.
+
+As to the pickaxes and different tools which were Nicholl's especial
+choice; as to the sacks of different kinds of grain and shrubs which
+Michel Ardan hoped to transplant into Selenite ground, they were stowed
+away in the upper part of the projectile. There was a sort of granary
+there, loaded with things which the extravagant Frenchman had heaped up.
+What they were no one knew, and the good-tempered fellow did not explain.
+Now and then he climbed up by cramp-irons riveted to the walls, but kept
+the inspection to himself. He arranged and rearranged, he plunged his
+hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes, singing in one of the falsest
+of voices an old French refrain to enliven the situation.
+
+Barbicane observed with some interest that his guns and other arms had
+not been damaged. These were important, because, heavily loaded, they
+were to help to lessen the fall of the projectile, when drawn by the
+lunar attraction (after having passed the point of neutral attraction) on
+to the moon's surface; a fall which ought to be six times less rapid than
+it would have been on the earth's surface, thanks to the difference of
+bulk. The inspection ended with general satisfaction, when each returned
+to watch space through the side windows and the lower glass
+coverlid.
+
+There was the same view. The whole extent of the celestial sphere swarmed
+with stars and constellations of wonderful purity, enough to drive an
+astronomer out of his mind! On one side the sun, like the mouth of a
+lighted oven, a dazzling disc without a halo, standing out on the dark
+background of the sky! On the other, the moon returning its fire by
+reflection, and apparently motionless in the midst of the starry world.
+Then, a large spot seemingly nailed to the firmament, bordered by a
+silvery cord: it was the earth! Here and there nebulous masses like large
+flakes of starry snow; and from the zenith to the nadir, an immense ring
+formed by an impalpable dust of stars, the "Milky Way," in the midst of
+which the sun ranks only as a star of the fourth magnitude. The observers
+could not take their eyes from this novel spectacle, of which no
+description could give an adequate idea. What reflections it suggested!
+What emotions hitherto unknown awoke in their souls! Barbicane wished
+to begin the relation of his journey while under its first impressions,
+and hour after hour took notes of all facts happening in the beginning
+of the enterprise. He wrote quietly, with his large square writing, in
+a businesslike style.
+
+
+
+Illustration: ARDAN PLUNGED HIS HAND RAPIDLY INTO CERTAIN
+   MYSTERIOUS BOXES.
+
+
+During this time Nicholl, the calculator, looked over the minutes of
+their passage, and worked out figures with unparalleled dexterity. Michel
+Ardan chatted first with Barbicane, who did not answer him, and then
+with Nicholl, who did not hear him, with Diana, who understood none of
+his theories, and lastly with himself, questioning and answering, going
+and coming, busy with a thousand details; at one time bent over the
+lower glass, at another roosting in the heights of the projectile, and
+always singing. In this microcosm he represented French loquacity and
+excitability, and we beg you to believe that they were well represented.
+The day, or rather (for the expression is not correct) the lapse of
+twelve hours, which forms a day upon earth, closed with a plentiful
+supper carefully prepared. No accident of any nature had yet happened
+to shake the travellers' confidence; so, full of hope, already sure of
+success, they slept peacefully, whilst the projectile under an uniformly
+decreasing speed was crossing the sky.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IV.
+
+   A LITTLE ALGEBRA.
+
+
+The night passed without incident. The word "night," however, is scarcely
+applicable.
+
+The position of the projectile with regard to the sun did not change.
+Astronomically, it was daylight on the lower part, and night on the upper;
+so when during this narrative these words are used, they represent the
+lapse of time between the rising and setting of the sun upon the earth.
+
+The travellers' sleep was rendered more peaceful by the projectile's
+excessive speed, for it seemed absolutely motionless. Not a motion
+betrayed its onward course through space. The rate of progress, however
+rapid it might be, cannot produce any sensible effect on the human frame
+when it takes place in a vacuum, or when the mass of air circulates
+with the body which is carried with it. What inhabitant of the earth
+perceives its speed, which, however, is at the rate of 68,000 miles per
+hour? Motion under such conditions is "felt" no more than repose; and
+when a body is in repose it will remain so as long as no strange force
+displaces it; if moving, it will not stop unless an obstacle comes in
+its way. This indifference to motion or repose is called inertia.
+
+Barbicane and his companions might have believed themselves perfectly
+stationary, being shut up in the projectile; indeed, the effect would
+have been the same if they had been on the outside of it. Had it not been
+for the moon, which was increasing above them, they might have sworn that
+they were floating in complete stagnation.
+
+That morning, the 3rd of December, the travellers were awakened by a
+joyous but unexpected noise; it was the crowing of a cock which sounded
+through the car. Michel Ardan, who was the first on his feet, climbed
+to the top of the projectile, and shutting a box, the lid of which
+was partly open, said in a low voice, "Will you hold your tongue? That
+creature will spoil my design!"
+
+But Nicholl and Barbicane were awake.
+
+"A cock!" said Nicholl.
+
+"Why no, my friends," Michel answered quickly; "it was I who wished to
+awake you by this rural sound." So saying, he gave vent to a splendid
+cock-a-doodledoo, which would have done honour to the proudest of
+poultry-yards.
+
+The two Americans could not help laughing.
+
+"Fine talent that," said Nicholl, looking suspiciously at his companion.
+
+"Yes," said Michel; "a joke in my country. It is very Gallic; they play
+the cock so in the best society."
+
+Then turning the conversation,--
+
+"Barbicane, do you know what I have been thinking of all night?"
+
+"No," answered the president.
+
+"Of our Cambridge friends. You have already remarked that I am an
+ignoramus in mathematical subjects; and it is impossible for me to
+find out how the savants of the Observatory were able to calculate what
+initiatory speed the projectile ought to have on leaving the Columbiad
+in order to attain the moon."
+
+"You mean to say," replied Barbicane, "to attain that neutral point where
+the terrestrial and lunar attractions are equal; for, starting from that
+point, situated about nine-tenths of the distance travelled over, the
+projectile would simply fall upon the moon, on account of its weight."
+
+"So be it," said Michel; "but, once more; how could they calculate the
+initiatory speed?"
+
+"Nothing can be easier," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And you knew how to make that calculation?" asked Michel Ardan.
+
+"Perfectly. Nicholl and I would have made it, if the Observatory had not
+saved us the trouble."
+
+"Very well, old Barbicane," replied Michel; "they might have cut off my
+head, beginning at my feet, before they could have made me solve that
+problem."
+
+"Because you do not know algebra," answered Barbicane quietly.
+
+"Ah, there you are, you eaters of _x_^1; you think you have said all
+when you have said 'Algebra.'"
+
+"Michel," said Barbicane, "can you use a forge without a hammer, or
+plough without a ploughshare?"
+
+"Hardly."
+
+"Well, algebra is a tool, like the plough or the hammer, and a good tool
+to those who know how to use it."
+
+"Seriously?"
+
+"Quite seriously."
+
+"And can you use that tool in my presence?"
+
+"If it will interest you."
+
+"And show me how they calculated the initiatory speed of our car?"
+
+"Yes, my worthy friend; taking into consideration all the elements of
+the problem, the distance from the centre of the earth to the centre of
+the moon, of the radius of the earth, of its bulk, and of the bulk of
+the moon, I can tell exactly what ought to be the initiatory speed of
+the projectile, and that by a simple formula."
+
+"Let us see."
+
+"You shall see it; only I shall not give you the real course drawn
+by the projectile between the moon and the earth in considering their
+motion round the sun. No, I shall consider these two orbs as perfectly
+motionless, which will answer all our purpose."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because it will be trying to solve the problem called 'the problem of
+the three bodies,' for which the integral calculus is not yet far enough
+advanced."
+
+"Then," said Michel Ardan, in his sly tone, "mathematics have not said
+their last word?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Well, perhaps the Selenites have carried the integral calculus farther
+than you have; and, by the bye, what is 'integral calculus?'"
+
+"It is a calculation the converse of the differential," replied Barbicane
+seriously.
+
+"Much obliged; it is all very clear, no doubt."
+
+"And now," continued Barbicane, "a slip of paper and a bit of pencil,
+and before a half-hour is over I will have found the required formula."
+
+Half an hour had not elapsed before Barbicane, raising his head, showed
+Michel Ardan a page covered with algebraical signs, in which the general
+formula for the solution was contained.
+
+"Well, and does Nicholl understand what that means?"
+
+"Of course, Michel," replied the captain. "All these signs, which seem
+cabalistic to you, form the plainest, the clearest, and the most logical
+language to those who know how to read it."
+
+"And you pretend, Nicholl," asked Michel, "that by means of these
+hieroglyphics, more incomprehensible than the Egyptian Ibis, you can find
+what initiatory speed it was necessary to give to the projectile?"
+
+"Incontestably," replied Nicholl; "and even by this same formula I can
+always tell you its speed at any point of its transit."
+
+"On your word?"
+
+"On my word."
+
+"Then you are as cunning as our president."
+
+"No, Michel; the difficult part is what Barbicane has done; that is, to
+get an equation which shall satisfy all the conditions of the problem.
+The remainder is only a question of arithmetic, requiring merely the
+knowledge of the four rules."
+
+"That is something!" replied Michel Ardan, who for his life could not
+do addition right, and who defined the rule as a Chinese puzzle, which
+allowed one to obtain all sorts of totals.
+
+"The expression _v_ zero, which you see in that equation, is the speed
+which the projectile will have on leaving the atmosphere."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl; "it is from that point that we must calculate
+the velocity, since we know already that the velocity at departure was
+exactly one and a half times more than on leaving the atmosphere."
+
+"I understand no more," said Michel.
+
+"It is a very simple calculation," said Barbicane.
+
+"Not as simple as I am," retorted Michel.
+
+"That means, that when our projectile reached the limits of the terrestrial
+atmosphere it had already lost one-third of its initiatory speed."
+
+"As much as that?"
+
+"Yes, my friend; merely by friction against the atmospheric strata. You
+understand that the faster it goes the more resistance it meets with from
+the air."
+
+"That I admit," answered Michel; "and I understand it, although your x's
+and zero's, and algebraic formulae, are rattling in my head like nails
+in a bag."
+
+"First effects of algebra," replied Barbicane; "and now, to finish, we
+are going to prove the given number of these different expressions, that
+is, work out their value."
+
+"Finish me!" replied Michel.
+
+Barbicane took the paper, and began again to make his calculations with
+great rapidity. Nicholl looked over and greedily read the work as it
+proceeded.
+
+"That's it! that's it!" at last he cried.
+
+"Is it clear?" asked Barbicane.
+
+
+Illustration: "DO I UNDERSTAND IT?" CRIED ARDAN;
+   "MY HEAD IS SPLITTING WITH IT."
+
+
+"It is written in letters of fire," said Nicholl.
+
+"Wonderful fellows!" muttered Ardan.
+
+"Do you understand it at last?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Do I understand it?" cried Ardan; "my head is splitting with it."
+
+"And now," said Nicholl, "to find out the speed of the projectile when
+it left the atmosphere, we have only to calculate that."
+
+The captain, as a practical man equal to all difficulties, began to write
+with frightful rapidity. Divisions and multiplications grew under his
+fingers; the figures were like hail on the white page. Barbicane watched
+him, whilst Michel Ardan nursed a growing headache with both hands.
+
+"Very well?" asked Barbicane, after some minutes' silence.
+
+"Well!" replied Nicholl; "every calculation made, _v_ zero, that is to
+say, the speed necessary for the projectile on leaving the atmosphere,
+to enable it to reach the equal point of attraction, ought to be--"
+
+"Yes?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Twelve thousand yards."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Barbicane, starting; "you say--"
+
+"Twelve thousand yards."
+
+"The devil!" cried the president, making a gesture of despair.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Michel Ardan, much surprised.
+
+"What is the matter! why, if at this moment our speed had already
+diminished one-third by friction, the initiatory speed ought to have
+been--"
+
+"Seventeen thousand yards."
+
+"And the Cambridge Observatory declared that 12,000 yards was enough at
+starting; and our projectile, which only started with that speed--"
+
+"Well?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Well, it will not be enough."
+
+"Good."
+
+"We shall not be able to reach the neutral point."
+
+"The deuce!"
+
+"We shall not even get half way."
+
+"In the name of the projectile!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, jumping as if
+it was already on the point of striking the terrestrial globe.
+
+"And we shall fall back upon the earth!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER V.
+
+   THE COLD OF SPACE.
+
+
+This revelation came like a thunderbolt. Who could have expected such an
+error in calculation? Barbicane would not believe it. Nicholl revised
+his figures: they were exact. As to the formula which had determined
+them, they could not suspect its truth; it was evident that an initiatory
+velocity of 17,000 yards in the first second was necessary to enable them
+to reach the neutral point.
+
+The three friends looked at each other silently. There was no thought
+of breakfast. Barbicane, with clenched teeth, knitted brows, and hands
+clasped convulsively, was watching through the window. Nicholl had
+crossed his arms, and was examining his calculations. Michel Ardan was
+muttering,--
+
+"That is just like those scientific men: they never do anything else. I
+would give twenty pistoles if we could fall upon the Cambridge Observatory
+and crush it, together with the whole lot of dabblers in figures which
+it contains."
+
+Suddenly a thought struck the captain, which he at once communicated to
+Barbicane.
+
+"Ah!" said he; "it is seven o'clock in the morning; we have already been
+gone thirty-two hours; more than half our passage is over, and we are
+not falling that I am aware of."
+
+Barbicane did not answer, but after a rapid glance at the captain,
+took a pair of compasses wherewith to measure the angular distance
+of the terrestrial globe; then from the lower window he took an exact
+observation, and noticed that the projectile was apparently stationary.
+Then rising and wiping his forehead, on which large drops of perspiration
+were standing, he put some figures on paper. Nicholl understood that the
+president was deducting from the terrestrial diameter the projectile's
+distance from the earth. He watched him anxiously.
+
+"No," exclaimed Barbicane, after some moments, "no, we are not falling!
+no, we are already more than 50,000 leagues from the earth. We have
+passed the point at which the projectile would have stopped if its speed
+had only been 12,000 yards at starting. We are still going up."
+
+"That is evident," replied Nicholl; "and we must conclude that our
+initial speed, under the power of the 400,000 lbs. of gun-cotton, must
+have exceeded the required 12,000 yards. Now I can understand how, after
+thirteen minutes only, we met the second satellite, which gravitates
+round the earth at more than 2000 leagues' distance."
+
+"And this explanation is the more probable," added Barbicane, "because,
+in throwing off the water enclosed between its partition-breaks, the
+projectile found itself lightened of a considerable weight."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl.
+
+"Ah, my brave Nicholl, we are saved!"
+
+"Very well then," said Michel Ardan quietly; "as we are safe, let us have
+breakfast."
+
+Nicholl was not mistaken. The initial speed had been, very fortunately,
+much above that estimated by the Cambridge Observatory; but the Cambridge
+Observatory had nevertheless made a mistake.
+
+The travellers, recovered from this false alarm, breakfasted merrily. If
+they ate a great deal, they talked more. Their confidence was greater
+after than before "the incident of the algebra."
+
+"Why should we not succeed?" said Michel Ardan; "why should we not arrive
+safely? We are launched; we have no obstacle before us, no stones in our
+way; the road is open, more so than that of a ship battling with the sea;
+more open than that of a balloon battling with the wind; and if a ship
+can reach its destination, a balloon go where it pleases, why cannot our
+projectile attain its end and aim?"
+
+"It _will_ attain it," said Barbicane.
+
+"If only to do honour to the Americans," added Michel Ardan, "the only
+people who could bring such an enterprise to a happy termination, and
+the only one which could produce a President Barbicane. Ah, now we are
+no longer uneasy, I begin to think, What will become of us? We shall get
+right royally weary."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl made a gesture of denial.
+
+"But I have provided for the contingency, my friends," replied Michel;
+"you have only to speak, and I have chess, draughts, cards, and dominoes
+at your disposal; nothing is wanting but a billiard-table."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Barbicane; "you brought away such trifles?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Michel, "and not only to distract ourselves, but
+also with the laudable intention of endowing the Selenite smoking divans
+with them."
+
+"My friend," said Barbicane, "if the moon is inhabited, its inhabitants
+must have appeared some thousands of years before those of the earth, for
+we cannot doubt that their star is much older than ours. If then these
+Selenites have existed their hundreds of thousands of years, and if their
+brain is of the same organization as the human brain, they have already
+invented all that we have invented, and even what we may invent in future
+ages. They have nothing to learn from _us_, and we have everything to
+learn from _them_."
+
+"What!" said Michel; "you believe that they have artists like Phidias,
+Michael Angelo, or Raphael?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Poets like Homer, Virgil, Milton, Lamartine, and Hugo?"
+
+"I am sure of it."
+
+"Philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it."
+
+"Scientific men like Archimedes, Euclid, Pascal, Newton?"
+
+"I could swear it."
+
+"Comic writers like Arnal, and photographers like--like Nadar?"
+
+"Certain."
+
+"Then, friend Barbicane, if they are as strong as we are, and even
+stronger--these Selenites--why have they not tried to communicate
+with the earth? why have they not launched a lunar projectile to our
+terrestrial regions?"
+
+"Who told you that they have never done so?" said Barbicane seriously.
+
+"Indeed," added Nicholl, "it would be easier for them than for us, for
+two reasons; first, because the attraction on the moon's surface is six
+times less than on that of the earth, which would allow a projectile to
+rise more easily; secondly, because it would be enough to send such a
+projectile only at 8000 leagues instead of 80,000, which would require
+the force of projection to be ten times less strong."
+
+"Then," continued Michel, "I repeat it, why have they not done it?"
+
+"And I repeat," said Barbicane; "who told you that they have not done
+it?"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Thousands of years before man appeared on earth."
+
+"And the projectile--where is the projectile? I demand to see the
+projectile."
+
+"My friend," replied Barbicane, "the sea covers five-sixths of our globe.
+From that we may draw five good reasons for supposing that the lunar
+projectile, if ever launched, is now at the bottom of the Atlantic or
+the Pacific, unless it sped into some crevasse at that period when the
+crust of the earth was not yet hardened."
+
+"Old Barbicane," said Michel, "you have an answer for everything, and I
+bow before your wisdom. But there is one hypothesis that would suit me
+better than all the others, which is, that the Selenites, being older
+than we, are wiser, and have not invented _gunpowder_."
+
+At this moment Diana joined in the conversation by a sonorous barking.
+She was asking for her breakfast.
+
+"Ah!" said Michel Ardan, "in our discussion we have forgotten Diana and
+Satellite."
+
+Immediately a good-sized pie was given to the dog, which devoured it
+hungrily.
+
+"Do you see, Barbicane," said Michel, "we should have made a second
+Noah's Ark of this projectile, and borne with us to the moon a couple of
+every kind of domestic animal."
+
+"I dare say; but room would have failed us."
+
+"Oh!" said Michel, "we might have squeezed a little."
+
+"The fact is," replied Nicholl, "that cows, bulls, and horses, and all
+ruminants, would have been very useful on the lunar continent, but
+unfortunately the car could neither have been made a stable nor a shed."
+
+"Well, we might at least have brought a donkey, only a little donkey;
+that courageous beast which old Silenus loved to mount. I love those old
+donkeys; they are the least favoured animals in creation; they are not
+only beaten while alive, but even after they are dead."
+
+"How do you make that out?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Why," said Michel, "they make their skins into drums."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at this ridiculous remark.
+But a cry from their merry companion stopped them. The latter was leaning
+over the spot where Satellite lay. He rose, saying,--
+
+"My good Satellite is no longer ill."
+
+"Ah!" said Nicholl.
+
+"No," answered Michel, "he is dead! There," added he, in a piteous tone,
+"that is embarrassing. I much fear, my poor Diana, that you will leave
+no progeny in the lunar regions!"
+
+Indeed the unfortunate Satellite had not survived its wound.
+
+It was quite dead. Michel Ardan looked at his friends with a rueful
+countenance.
+
+"One question presents itself," said Barbicane. "We cannot keep the dead
+body of this dog with us for the next forty-eight hours."
+
+"No! certainly not," replied Nicholl; "but our scuttles are fixed on
+hinges; they can be let down. We will open one, and throw the body out
+into space."
+
+The president thought for some moments, and then said,--
+
+"Yes, we must do so, but at the same time taking very great precautions."
+
+"Why?" asked Michel.
+
+"For two reasons which you will understand," answered Barbicane. "The
+first relates to the air shut up in the projectile, and of which we must
+lose as little as possible."
+
+"But we manufacture the air?"
+
+"Only in part. We make only the oxygen, my worthy Michel; and with
+regard to that, we must watch that the apparatus does not furnish the
+oxygen in too great a quantity; for an excess would bring us very serious
+physiological troubles. But if we make the oxygen, we do not make the
+azote, that medium which the lungs do not absorb, and which ought to
+remain intact; and that azote will escape rapidly through the open
+scuttles."
+
+"Oh! the time for throwing out poor Satellite?" said Michel.
+
+"Agreed; but we must act quickly."
+
+"And the second reason?" asked Michel.
+
+"The second reason is that we must not let the outer cold, which is
+excessive, penetrate the projectile or we shall be frozen to death."
+
+"But the sun?"
+
+"The sun warms our projectile, which absorbs its rays; but it does not
+warm the vacuum in which we are floating at this moment. Where there is
+no air, there is no more heat than diffused light; and the same with
+darkness: it is cold where the sun's rays do not strike direct. This
+temperature is only the temperature produced by the radiation of the
+stars; that is to say, what the terrestrial globe would undergo if the
+sun disappeared one day."
+
+"Which is not to be feared," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Who knows?" said Michel Ardan. "But, in admitting that the sun does not
+go out, might it not happen that the earth might move away from it?"
+
+"There!" said Barbicane, "there is Michel with his ideas."
+
+"And," continued Michel, "do we not know that in 1861 the earth passed
+through the tail of a comet? Or let us suppose a comet whose power of
+attraction is greater than that of the sun. The terrestrial orbit will
+bend towards the wandering star, and the earth, becoming its satellite,
+will be drawn such a distance that the rays of the sun will have no
+action on its surface."
+
+"That _might_ happen, indeed," replied Barbicane, "but the consequences
+of such a displacement need not be so formidable as you suppose."
+
+"And why not?"
+
+"Because the heat and the cold would be equalized on our globe. It has
+been calculated that, had our earth been carried along in its course by
+the comet of 1861, at its perihelion, that is, its nearest approach to
+the sun, it would have undergone a heat 28,000 times greater than that
+of summer. But this heat, which is sufficient to evaporate the waters,
+would have formed a thick ring of cloud, which would have modified that
+excessive temperature; hence the compensation between the cold of the
+aphelion and the heat of the perihelion."
+
+"At how many degrees," asked Nicholl, "is the temperature of the planetary
+spaces estimated?"
+
+"Formerly," replied Barbicane, "it was greatly exaggerated; but now,
+after the calculations of Fourier, of the French Academy of Science, it
+is not supposed to exceed 60 deg. Centigrade below zero."
+
+"Pooh!" said Michel, "that's nothing!"
+
+"It is very much," replied Barbicane; "the temperature which was observed
+in the polar regions, at Melville Island and Fort Reliance, that is 76
+deg. Fahrenheit below zero."
+
+"If I mistake not," said Nicholl, "M. Pouillet, another savant, estimates
+the temperature of space at 250 deg. Fahrenheit below zero. We shall,
+however, be able to verify these calculations for ourselves."
+
+"Not at present; because the solar rays, beating directly upon our
+thermometer, would give, on the contrary, a very high temperature. But,
+when we arrive in the moon, during its fifteen days of night at either
+face, we shall have leisure to make the experiment, for our satellite
+lies in a vacuum."
+
+"What do you mean by a _vacuum?_" asked Michel. "Is it perfectly such?"
+
+"It is absolutely void of air."
+
+"And is the air replaced by nothing whatever?"
+
+"By the ether only," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And pray what is the ether?"
+
+"The ether, my friend, is an agglomeration of imponderable atoms, which,
+relatively to their dimensions, are as far removed from each other as
+the celestial bodies are in space. It is these atoms which, by their
+vibratory motion, produce both light and heat in the universe."
+
+They now proceeded to the burial of Satellite. They had merely to drop
+him into space, in the same way that sailors drop a body into the sea;
+but, as President Barbicane suggested, they must act quickly, so as to
+lose as little as possible of that air whose elasticity would rapidly
+have spread it into space. The bolts of the right scuttle, the opening
+of which measured about twelve inches across, were carefully drawn,
+whilst Michel, quite grieved, prepared to launch his dog into space.
+The glass, raised by a powerful lever, which enabled it to overcome the
+pressure of the inside air on the walls of the projectile, turned rapidly
+on its hinges, and Satellite was thrown out. Scarcely a particle of air
+could have escaped, and the operation was so successful, that later on
+Barbicane did not fear to dispose of the rubbish which encumbered the
+car.
+
+
+Illustration: SATELLITE WAS THROWN OUT.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VI.
+
+   QUESTION AND ANSWER.
+
+
+On the 4th of December, when the travellers awoke after fifty-four
+hours' journey, the chronometer marked five o'clock of the terrestrial
+morning. In time it was just over five hours and forty minutes, half of
+that assigned to their sojourn in the projectile; but they had already
+accomplished nearly seven-tenths of the way. This peculiarity was due to
+their regularly decreasing speed.
+
+Now when they observed the earth through the lower window, it looked
+like nothing more than a dark spot, drowned in the solar rays. No more
+crescent, no more cloudy light! The next day, at midnight, the earth
+would be _new_, at the very moment when the moon would be full. Above,
+the orb of night was nearing the line followed by the projectile, so
+as to meet it at the given hour. All around the black vault was studded
+with brilliant points, which seemed to move slowly; but, at the great
+distance they were from them, their relative size did not seem to change.
+The sun and stars appeared exactly as they do to us upon earth. As to
+the moon, she was considerably larger; but the travellers' glasses, not
+very powerful, did not allow them as yet to make any useful observations
+upon her surface, or reconnoitre her topographically or
+geologically.
+
+Thus the time passed in never-ending conversations all about the
+moon. Each one brought forward his own contingent of particular facts;
+Barbicane and Nicholl always serious, Michel Ardan always enthusiastic.
+The projectile, its situation, its direction, incidents which might
+happen, the precautions necessitated by their fall on to the moon, were
+inexhaustible matters of conjecture.
+
+As they were breakfasting, a question of Michel's, relating to the
+projectile, provoked rather a curious answer from Barbicane, which is
+worth repeating. Michel, supposing it to be roughly stopped, while still
+under its formidable initial speed, wished to know what the consequences
+of the stoppage would have been.
+
+"But," said Barbicane, "I do not see how it could have been stopped."
+
+"But let us suppose so," said Michel.
+
+"It is an impossible supposition," said the practical Barbicane; "unless
+the impulsive force had failed; but even then its speed would diminish
+by degrees, and it would not have stopped suddenly."
+
+"Admit that it had struck a body in space."
+
+"What body?"
+
+"Why that enormous meteor which we met."
+
+"Then," said Nicholl, "the projectile would have been broken into a
+thousand pieces, and we with it."
+
+"More than that," replied Barbicane; "we should have been burnt to
+death."
+
+"Burnt?" exclaimed Michel, "by Jove! I am sorry it did not happen, 'just
+to see.'"
+
+"And you would have seen," replied Barbicane. "It is known now that heat
+is only a modification of motion. When water is warmed--that is to say,
+when heat is added to it--its particles are set in motion."
+
+"Well," said Michel, "that is an ingenious theory!"
+
+"And a true one, my worthy friend; for it explains every phenomenon of
+caloric. Heat is but the motion of atoms, a simple oscillation of the
+particles of a body. When they apply the brake to a train, the train
+comes to a stop; but what becomes of the motion which it had previously
+possessed? It is transformed into heat, and the brake becomes hot.
+Why do they grease the axles of the wheels? To prevent their heating,
+because this heat would be generated by the motion which is thus lost by
+transformation."
+
+"Yes, I understand," replied Michel, "perfectly. For example, when I
+have run a long time, when I am swimming, when I am perspiring in large
+drops, why am I obliged to stop? Simply because my motion is changed into
+heat."
+
+Barbicane could not help smiling at Michel's reply; then, returning to
+his theory, said,--
+
+"Thus, in case of a shock, it would have been with our projectile as
+with a ball which falls in a burning state after having struck the metal
+plate; it is its motion which is turned into heat. Consequently I affirm
+that, if our projectile had struck the meteor, its speed thus suddenly
+checked would have raised a heat great enough to turn it into vapour
+instantaneously."
+
+"Then," asked Nicholl, "what would happen if the earth's motion were to
+stop suddenly?"
+
+"Her temperature would be raised to such a pitch," said Barbicane, "that
+she would be at once reduced to vapour."
+
+"Well," said Michel, "that is a way of ending the earth which will
+greatly simplify things."
+
+"And if the earth fell upon the sun?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"According to calculation," replied Barbicane, "the fall would develope
+a heat equal to that produced by 16,000 globes of coal, each equal in
+bulk to our terrestrial globe."
+
+"Good additional heat for the sun," replied Michel Ardan, "of which the
+inhabitants of Uranus or Neptune would doubtless not complain; they must
+be perished with cold on their planets."
+
+"Thus, my friends," said Barbicane, "all motion suddenly stopped produces
+heat. And this theory allows us to infer that the heat of the solar disc
+is fed by a hail of meteors falling incessantly on its surface. They have
+even calculated--"
+
+"Oh, dear!" murmured Michel, "the figures are coming."
+
+"They have even calculated," continued the imperturbable Barbicane, "that
+the shock of each meteor on the sun ought to produce a heat equal to that
+of 4000 masses of coal of an equal bulk."
+
+"And what is the solar heat?" asked Michel.
+
+"It is equal to that produced by the combustion of a stratum of coal
+surrounding the sun to a depth of forty-seven miles."
+
+"And that heat--"
+
+"Would be able to boil two billions nine hundred millions of cubic
+myriameters* of water."
+
+  *The myriameter is equal to rather more than 10,936 cubic yards
+   English.--(Ed.)
+
+"And it does not roast us!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"No," replied Barbicane, "because the terrestrial atmosphere absorbs
+four-tenths of the solar heat; besides, the quantity of heat intercepted
+by the earth is but a billionth part of the entire radiation."
+
+"I see that all is for the best," said Michel, "and that this atmosphere
+is a useful invention; for it not only allows us to breathe, but it
+prevents us from roasting."
+
+"Yes!" said Nicholl, "unfortunately, it will not be the same in the
+moon."
+
+"Bah!" said Michel, always hopeful. "If there are inhabitants, they must
+breathe. If there are no longer any, they must have left enough oxygen
+for three people, if only at the bottom of ravines, where its own weight
+will cause it to accumulate, and we will not climb the mountains; that
+is all." And Michel, rising, went to look at the lunar disc, which shone
+with intolerable brilliancy.
+
+"By Jove!" said he, "it must be hot up there!"
+
+"Without considering," replied Nicholl, "that the day lasts 360 hours!"
+
+"And to compensate that," said Barbicane, "the nights have the same
+length; and as heat is restored by radiation, their temperature can only
+be that of the planetary space."
+
+"A pretty country, that!" exclaimed Michel. "Never mind! I wish I was
+there! Ah! my dear comrades, it will be rather curious to have the earth
+for our moon, to see it rise on the horizon, to recognize the shape
+of its continents, and to say to oneself, 'There is America, there is
+Europe;' then to follow it when it is about to lose itself in the sun's
+rays! By-the-bye, Barbicane, have the Selenites eclipses?"
+
+"Yes, eclipses of the sun," replied Barbicane, "when the centres of the
+three orbs are on a line, the earth being in the middle. But they are
+only partial, during which the earth, cast like a screen upon the solar
+disc, allows the greater portion to be seen."
+
+"And why," asked Nicholl, "is there no total eclipse? Does not the cone
+of the shadow cast by the earth extend beyond the moon?"
+
+"Yes, if we do not take into consideration the refraction produced by the
+terrestrial atmosphere. No, if we take that refraction into consideration.
+Thus delta be the horizontal parallel, and _p_ the apparent
+semidiameter--"
+
+"Oh!" said Michel. "Do speak plainly, you man of algebra!"
+
+"Very well;" replied Barbicane, "in popular language the mean distance
+from the moon to the earth being sixty terrestrial radii, the length of
+the cone of the shadow, on account of the refraction, is reduced to less
+than forty-two radii. The result is that when there are eclipses, the
+moon finds itself beyond the cone of pure shadow, and that the sun sends
+her its rays, not only from its edges, but also from its centre."
+
+"Then," said Michel, in a merry tone, "why are there eclipses, when there
+ought not to be any?"
+
+"Simply because the solar rays are weakened by this refraction, and
+the atmosphere through which they pass extinguishes the greater part of
+them!"
+
+"That reason satisfies me," replied Michel. "Besides we shall see when
+we get there. Now, tell me, Barbicane, do you believe that the moon is
+an old comet?"
+
+"There's an idea!"
+
+"Yes," replied Michel, with an amiable swagger, "I have a few ideas of
+that sort."
+
+"But that idea does not spring from Michel," answered Nicholl.
+
+"Well, then, I am a plagiarist."
+
+"No doubt about it. According to the ancients, the Arcadians pretend
+that their ancestors inhabited the earth before the moon became her
+satellite. Starting from this fact, some scientific men have seen in the
+moon a comet whose orbit will one day bring it so near to the earth that
+it will be held there by its attraction."
+
+"Is there any truth in this hypothesis?" asked Michel.
+
+"None whatever," said Barbicane, "and the proof is, that the moon has
+preserved no trace of the gaseous envelope which always accompanies
+comets."
+
+"But," continued Nicholl, "before becoming the earth's satellite,
+could not the moon, when in her perihelion, pass so near the sun as by
+evaporation to get rid of all those gaseous substances?"
+
+"It is possible, friend Nicholl, but not probable."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because--Faith I do not know."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel, "what hundreds of volumes we might make of all
+that we do not know!"
+
+"Ah! indeed. What time is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Three o'clock," answered Nicholl.
+
+"How time goes," said Michel, "in the conversation of scientific men such
+as we are! Certainly, I feel I know too much! I feel that I am becoming
+a well!"
+
+Saying which, Michel hoisted himself to the roof of the projectile, "to
+observe the moon better," he pretended. During this time his companions
+were watching through the lower glass. Nothing new to note!
+
+When Michel Ardan came down, he went to the side scuttle; and suddenly
+they heard an exclamation of surprise!
+
+"What is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+The president approached the window, and saw a sort of flattened sack
+floating some yards from the projectile. This object seemed as motionless
+as the projectile, and was consequently animated with the same ascending
+movement.
+
+"What is that machine?" continued Michel Ardan. "Is it one of the bodies
+of space which our projectile keeps within its attraction, and which will
+accompany it to the moon?"
+
+"What astonishes me," said Nicholl, "is that the specific weight of the
+body, which is certainly less than that of the projectile, allows it to
+keep so perfectly on a level with it."
+
+"Nicholl," replied Barbicane, after a moment's reflection, "I do not know
+what the object is, but I do know why it maintains our level."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because we are floating in space, my dear captain, and in space bodies
+fall or move (which is the same thing) with equal speed whatever be their
+weight or form; it is the air, which by its resistance creates these
+differences in weight. When you create a vacuum in a tube, the objects
+you send through it, grains of dust or grains of lead, fall with the same
+rapidity. Here in space is the same cause and the same effect."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl, "and everything we throw out of the projectile
+will accompany it until it reaches the moon."
+
+"Ah! fools that we are!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"Why that expletive?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"Because we might have filled the projectile with useful objects, books,
+instruments, tools, &c. We could have thrown them all out, and all would
+have followed in our train. But happy thought! Why cannot we walk outside
+like the meteor? Why cannot we launch into space through the scuttle?
+What enjoyment it would be to feel oneself thus suspended in ether, more
+favoured than the birds who must use their wings to keep themselves up!"
+
+
+Illustration: IT WAS THE BODY OF SATELLITE.
+
+
+"Granted," said Barbicane, "but how to breathe?"
+
+"Hang the air, to fail so inopportunely!"
+
+"But if it did not fail, Michel, your density being less than that of
+the projectile, you would soon be left behind."
+
+"Then we must remain in our car?"
+
+"We must!"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel, in a loud voice.
+
+"What is the matter," asked Nicholl.
+
+"I know, I guess, what this pretended meteor is! It is no asteroid which
+is accompanying us! It is not a piece of a planet."
+
+"What is it then?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"It is our unfortunate dog! It is Diana's husband!"
+
+Indeed, this deformed, unrecognizable object, reduced to nothing, was
+the body of Satellite, flattened like a bagpipe without wind, and ever
+mounting, mounting!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VII.
+
+   A MOMENT OF INTOXICATION.
+
+
+Thus a phenomenon, curious but explicable, was happening under these
+strange conditions.
+
+Every object thrown from the projectile would follow the same course and
+never stop until it did. There was a subject for conversation which the
+whole evening could not exhaust.
+
+Besides, the excitement of the three travellers increased as they drew
+near the end of their journey. They expected unforeseen incidents, and
+new phenomena; and nothing would have astonished them in the frame of
+mind they then were in. Their over-excited imagination went faster than
+the projectile, whose speed was evidently diminishing, though insensibly
+to themselves. But the moon grew larger to their eyes, and they fancied
+if they stretched out their hands they could seize it.
+
+The next day, the 5th of November, at five in the morning, all three
+were on foot. That day was to be the last of their journey, if all
+calculations were true. That very night, at twelve o'clock, in eighteen
+hours, exactly at the full moon, they would reach its brilliant disc.
+The next midnight would see that journey ended, the most extraordinary
+of ancient or modern times. Thus from the first of the morning, through
+the scuttles silvered by its rays, they saluted the orb of night with a
+confident and joyous hurrah.
+
+The moon was advancing majestically along the starry firmament. A few
+more degrees, and she would reach the exact point where her meeting with
+the projectile was to take place.
+
+According to his own observations, Barbicane reckoned that they would
+land on her northern hemisphere, where stretch immense planes, and where
+mountains are rare. A favourable circumstance if, as they thought, the
+lunar atmosphere was stored only in its depths.
+
+"Besides," observed Michel Ardan, "a plain is easier to disembark upon
+than a mountain. A Selenite, deposited in Europe on the summit of Mont
+Blanc, or in Asia on the top of the Himalayas, would not be quite in the
+right place."
+
+"And," added Captain Nicholl, "on a flat ground, the projectile will
+remain motionless when it has once touched; whereas on a declivity it
+would roll like an avalanche, and not being squirrels we should not come
+out safe and sound. So it is all for the best."
+
+Indeed, the success of the audacious attempt no longer appeared doubtful.
+But Barbicane was preoccupied with one thought; but not wishing to make
+his companions uneasy, he kept silence on the subject.
+
+The direction the projectile was taking towards the moon's northern
+hemisphere, showed that her course had been slightly altered. The
+discharge, mathematically calculated, would carry the projectile to the
+very centre of the lunar disc. If it did not land there, there must have
+been some deviation. What had caused it? Barbicane could neither imagine
+nor determine the importance of the deviation, for there were no points
+to go by.
+
+He hoped, however, that it would have no other result than that of
+bringing them near the upper border of the moon, a region more suitable
+for landing.
+
+Without imparting his uneasiness to his companions, Barbicane contented
+himself with constantly observing the moon, in order to see whether the
+course of the projectile would not be altered; for the situation would
+have been terrible if it failed in its aim, and being carried beyond
+the disc should be launched into interplanetary space. At that moment,
+the moon, instead of appearing flat like a disc, showed its convexity.
+If the sun's rays had struck it obliquely, the shadow thrown would have
+brought out the high mountains, which would have been clearly detached.
+The eye might have gazed into the crater's gaping abysses, and followed
+the capricious fissures which wound through the immense plains. But all
+relief was as yet levelled in intense brilliancy. They could scarcely
+distinguish those large spots which give to the moon the appearance of
+a human face.
+
+"Face, indeed!" said Michel Ardan; "but I am sorry for the amiable sister
+of Apollo. A very pitted face!"
+
+But the travellers, now so near the end, were incessantly observing
+this new world. They imagined themselves walking through its unknown
+countries, climbing its highest peaks, descending into its lowest depths.
+Here and there they fancied they saw vast seas, scarcely kept together
+under so rarefied an atmosphere, and watercourses emptying the mountain
+tributaries. Leaning over the abyss, they hoped to catch some sounds
+from that orb for ever mute in the solitude of space. That last day left
+them.
+
+They took down the most trifling details. A vague uneasiness took
+possession of them as they neared the end. This uneasiness would have
+been doubled had they felt how their speed had decreased. It would
+have seemed to them quite insufficient to carry them to the end. It was
+because the projectile then "weighed" almost nothing. Its weight was
+ever decreasing, and would be entirely annihilated on that line where
+the lunar and terrestrial attractions would neutralize each other.
+
+But in spite of his preoccupation, Michel Ardan did not forget to prepare
+the morning repast with his accustomed punctuality. They ate with a good
+appetite. Nothing was so excellent as the soup liquefied by the heat of
+the gas; nothing better than the preserved meat. Some glasses of good
+French wine crowned the repast, causing Michel Ardan to remark that
+the lunar vines, warmed by that ardent sun, ought to distil even more
+generous wines; that is, if they existed. In any case, the far-seeing
+Frenchman had taken care not to forget in his collection some precious
+cuttings of the Medoc and Cote d'Or, upon which he founded his hopes.
+
+Reiset and Regnault's apparatus worked with great regularity. Not an
+atom of carbonic acid resisted the potash; and as to the oxygen, Captain
+Nicholl said "it was of the first quality." The little watery vapour
+enclosed in the projectile mixing with the air tempered the dryness; and
+many apartments in London, Paris, or New York, and many theatres, were
+certainly not in such a healthy condition.
+
+But that it might act with regularity, the apparatus must be kept in
+perfect order; so each morning Michel visited the escape regulators,
+tried the taps, and regulated the heat of the gas by the pyrometer.
+Everything had gone well up to that time, and the travellers, imitating
+the worthy Joseph T. Maston, began to acquire a degree of embonpoint,
+which would have rendered them unrecognizable if their imprisonment had
+been prolonged to some months. In a word, they behaved like chickens in
+a coop; they were getting fat.
+
+In looking through the scuttle Barbicane saw the spectre of the dog,
+and other divers objects which had been thrown from the projectile
+obstinately following them. Diana howled lugubriously on seeing the
+remains of Satellite, which seemed as motionless as if they reposed on
+the solid earth.
+
+"Do you know, my friends," said Michel Ardan, "that if one of us had
+succumbed to the shock consequent on departure, we should have had a
+great deal of trouble to bury him? What am I saying? to _etherize_ him,
+as here ether takes the place of earth. You see the accusing body would
+have followed us into space like a remorse."
+
+"That would have been sad," said Nicholl.
+
+"Ah!" continued Michel, "what I regret is not being able to take a walk
+outside. What voluptuousness to float amid this radiant ether, to bathe
+oneself in it, to wrap oneself in the sun's pure rays. If Barbicane had
+only thought of furnishing us with a diving apparatus and an air-pump,
+I could have ventured out and assumed fanciful attitudes of feigned
+monsters on the top of the projectile."
+
+"Well, old Michel," replied Barbicane, "you would not have made a feigned
+monster long, for in spite of your diver's dress, swollen by the expansion
+of air within you, you would have burst like a shell, or rather like a
+balloon which has risen too high. So do not regret it, and do not forget
+this--as long as we float in space, all sentimental walks beyond the
+projectile are forbidden."
+
+Michel Ardan allowed himself to be convinced to a certain extent. He
+admitted that the thing was difficult but not _impossible_, a word which
+he never uttered.
+
+The conversation passed from this subject to another, not failing for
+an instant. It seemed to the three friends as though, under present
+conditions, ideas shot up in their brains as leaves shoot at the first
+warmth of spring. They felt bewildered. In the middle of the questions
+and answers which crossed each other, Nicholl put one question which did
+not find an immediate solution.
+
+"Ah, indeed!" said he; "it is all very well to go to the moon, but how
+to get back again?"
+
+His two interlocutors looked surprised. One would have thought that this
+possibility now occurred to them for the first time.
+
+"What do you mean by that, Nicholl?" asked Barbicane gravely.
+
+"To ask for means to leave a country," added Michel, "when we have not
+yet arrived there, seems to me rather inopportune."
+
+"I do not say that, wishing to draw back," replied Nicholl; "but I repeat
+my question, and I ask, 'How shall we return?'"
+
+"I know nothing about it," answered Barbicane.
+
+"And I," said Michel, "if I had known how to return, I would never have
+started."
+
+
+Illustration: "I COULD HAVE VENTURED OUT ON THE TOP OF
+   THE PROJECTILE."
+
+
+"There's an answer!" cried Nicholl.
+
+"I quite approve of Michel's words," said Barbicane; "and add, that the
+question has no real interest. Later, when we think it advisable to
+return, we will take counsel together. If the Columbiad is not there,
+the projectile will be."
+
+"That is a step certainly. A ball without a gun!"
+
+"The gun," replied Barbicane, "can be manufactured. The powder can be
+made. Neither metals, saltpetre, nor coal can fail in the depths of
+the moon, and we need only go 8000 leagues in order to fall upon the
+terrestrial globe by virtue of the mere laws of weight."
+
+"Enough," said Michel with animation. "Let it be no longer a question of
+returning: we have already entertained it too long. As to communicating
+with our former earthly colleagues, that will not be difficult."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By means of meteors launched by lunar volcanos."
+
+"Well thought of, Michel," said Barbicane in a convinced tone of voice.
+"Laplace has calculated that a force five times greater than that of
+our gun would suffice to send a meteor from the moon to the earth, and
+there is not one volcano which has not a greater power of propulsion than
+that."
+
+"Hurrah!" exclaimed Michel; "these meteors are handy postmen, and
+cost nothing. And how we shall be able to laugh at the post-office
+administration. But now I think of it--"
+
+"What do you think of?"
+
+"A capital idea. Why did we not fasten a thread to our projectile, and
+we could have exchanged telegrams with the earth?"
+
+"The deuce!" answered Nicholl. "Do you consider the weight of a thread
+250,000 miles long nothing?"
+
+"As nothing. They could have trebled the Columbiad's charge; they could
+have quadrupled or quintupled it!" exclaimed Michel, with whom the verb
+took a higher intonation each time.
+
+"There is but one little objection to make to your proposition," replied
+Barbicane, "which is that, during the rotary motion of the globe, our
+thread would have wound itself round it like a chain on a capstan, and
+that it would inevitably have brought us to the ground."
+
+"By the thirty-nine stars of the Union!" said Michel, "I have nothing
+but impracticable ideas to-day; ideas worthy of J. T. Maston. But I have
+a notion that, if we do not return to earth, J. T. Maston will be able
+to come to us."
+
+"Yes, he'll come," replied Barbicane; "he is a worthy and a courageous
+comrade. Besides, what is easier? Is not the Columbiad still buried
+in the soil of Florida? Is cotton and nitric acid wanted wherewith to
+manufacture the pyroxile? Will not the moon again pass to the zenith of
+Florida? In eighteen years' time will she not occupy exactly the same
+place as to-day?"
+
+"Yes," continued Michel, "yes, Marston will come, and with him our
+friends Elphinstone, Blomsberry, all the members of the Gun Club, and they
+will be well received. And by and by they will run trains of projectiles
+between the earth and the moon! Hurrah for J. T. Maston!"
+
+It is probable that, if the Hon. J. T. Maston did not hear the hurrahs
+uttered in his honour, his ears at least tingled. What was he doing then?
+Doubtless posted in the Rocky Mountains, at the station of Long's Peak,
+he was trying to find the invisible projectile gravitating in space. If
+he was thinking of his dear companions, we must allow that they were not
+far behind him; and that, under the influence of a strange excitement,
+they were devoting to him their best thoughts.
+
+But whence this excitement, which was evidently growing upon the
+tenants of the projectile? Their sobriety could not be doubted. This
+strange irritation of the brain, must it be attributed to the peculiar
+circumstances under which they found themselves, to their proximity to
+the orb of night, from which only a few hours separated them, to some
+secret influence of the moon acting upon their nervous system? Their
+faces were as rosy as if they had been exposed to the roaring flames
+of an oven; their voices resounded in loud accents; their words escaped
+like a champagne cork driven out by carbonic acid; their gestures became
+annoying, they wanted so much room to perform them; and, strange to say,
+they none of them noticed this great tension of the mind.
+
+"Now," said Nicholl, in a short tone, "now that I do not know whether we
+shall ever return from the moon, I want to know what we are going to do
+there?"
+
+"What we are going to do there?" replied Barbicane, stamping with his
+foot as if he was in a fencing saloon; "I do not know."
+
+"You do not know!" exclaimed Michel, with a bellow which provoked a
+sonorous echo in the projectile.
+
+"No, I have not even thought about it," retorted Barbicane, in the same
+loud tone.
+
+"Well, I know," replied Michel.
+
+"Speak, then," cried Nicholl, who could no longer contain the growling
+of his voice.
+
+"I shall speak if it suits me," exclaimed Michel, seizing his companions'
+arms with violence.
+
+"_It must_ suit you," said Barbicane, with an eye on fire and a threatening
+hand. "It was you who drew us into this frightful journey, and we want
+to know what for."
+
+"Yes," said the captain, "now that I do not know where I am going, I want
+to know _why_ I am going."
+
+"Why?" exclaimed Michel, jumping a yard high, "why? To take possession
+of the moon in the name of the United States; to add a fortieth State to
+the Union; to colonize the lunar regions; to cultivate them, to people
+them, to transport thither all the prodigies of art, of science, and
+industry; to civilize the Selenites, unless they are more civilized than
+we are; and to constitute them a republic, if they are not already one!"
+
+"And if there are no Selenites?" retorted Nicholl, who, under the
+influence of this unaccountable intoxication, was very contradictory.
+
+"Who said that there were no Selenites?" exclaimed Michel in a threatening
+tone.
+
+"I do," howled Nicholl.
+
+"Captain," said Michel, "do not repeat that insolence, or I will knock
+your teeth down your throat!"
+
+The two adversaries were going to fall upon each other, and the incoherent
+discussion threatened to merge into a fight, when Barbicane intervened
+with one bound.
+
+"Stop, miserable men," said he, separating his two companions; "if there
+are no Selenites, we will do without them."
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Michel, who was not particular; "yes, we will do without
+them. We have only to make Selenites. Down with the Selenites!"
+
+"The empire of the moon belongs to us," said Nicholl. "Let us three
+constitute the republic."
+
+"I will be the congress," cried Michel.
+
+"And I the senate," retorted Nicholl.
+
+"And Barbicane, the president," howled Michel.
+
+"Not a president elected by the nation," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Very well, a president elected by the congress," cried Michel; "and as
+I am the congress, you are unanimously elected!"
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! for President Barbicane," exclaimed Nicholl.
+
+"Hip! hip! hip!" vociferated Michel Ardan.
+
+Then the President and the Senate struck up in a tremendous voice the
+popular song "Yankee Doodle," whilst from the Congress resounded the
+masculine tones of the "Marseillaise."
+
+Then they struck up a frantic dance, with maniacal gestures, idiotic
+stampings, and somersaults like those of the boneless clowns in the
+circus. Diana, joining in the dance, and howling in her turn, jumped to
+the top of the projectile. An unaccountable flapping of wings was then
+heard amidst most fantastic cock-crows, while five or six hens fluttered
+like bats against the walls.
+
+
+Illustration: THEY STRUCK UP A FRANTIC DANCE.
+
+
+Then the three travelling companions, acted upon by some unaccountable
+influence above that of intoxication, inflamed by the air which had set
+their respiratory apparatus on fire, fell motionless to the bottom of
+the projectile.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER VIII.
+
+   AT SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND
+      FOURTEEN LEAGUES.
+
+
+What had happened? Whence the cause of this singular intoxication, the
+consequences of which might have been very disastrous? A simple blunder
+of Michel's, which, fortunately, Nicholl was able to correct in time.
+
+After a perfect swoon, which lasted some minutes, the captain, recovering
+first, soon collected his scattered senses. Although he had breakfasted
+only two hours before, he felt a gnawing hunger, as if he had not eaten
+anything for several days. Everything about him, stomach and brain, were
+overexcited to the highest degree. He got up and demanded from Michel a
+supplementary repast. Michel, utterly done up, did not answer.
+
+Nicholl then tried to prepare some tea destined to help the absorption
+of a dozen sandwiches. He first tried to get some fire, and struck a
+match sharply. What was his surprise to see the sulphur shine with so
+extraordinary a brilliancy as to be almost unbearable to the eye. From
+the gas-burner which he lit rose a flame equal to a jet of electric
+light.
+
+A revelation dawned on Nicholl's mind. That intensity of light, the
+physiological troubles which had arisen in him, the overexcitement of
+all his moral and quarrelsome faculties,--he understood all.
+
+"The oxygen!" he exclaimed.
+
+And leaning over the air apparatus, he saw that the tap was allowing
+the scentless colourless gas to escape freely, life-giving, but in its
+pure state producing the gravest disorders in the system. Michel had
+blunderingly opened the tap of the apparatus to the full.
+
+
+Illustration: "THE OXYGEN!" HE EXCLAIMED.
+
+
+Nicholl hastened to stop the escape of oxygen with which the atmosphere
+was saturated, which would have been the death of the travellers, not by
+suffocation, but by combustion. An hour later, the air less charged with
+it restored the lungs to their normal condition. By degrees the three
+friends recovered from their intoxication; but they were obliged to sleep
+themselves sober over their oxygen as a drunkard does over his wine.
+
+When Michel learnt his share of the responsibility of this incident,
+he was not much disconcerted. This unexpected drunkenness broke the
+monotony of the journey. Many foolish things had been said while under
+its influence, but also quickly forgotten.
+
+"And then," added the merry Frenchman, "I am not sorry to have tasted
+a little of this heady gas. Do you know, my friends, that a curious
+establishment might be founded with rooms of oxygen, where people whose
+system is weakened could for a few hours live a more active life. Fancy
+parties where the room was saturated with this heroic fluid, theatres
+where it should be kept at high pressure; what passion in the souls of
+the actors and spectators! what fire, what enthusiasm! And if, instead of
+an assembly only a whole people could be saturated, what activity in its
+functions, what a supplement to life it would derive. From an exhausted
+nation they might make a great and strong one, and I know more than one
+state in old Europe which ought to put itself under the regime of oxygen
+for the sake of its health!"
+
+Michel spoke with so much animation that one might have fancied that the
+tap was still too open. But a few words from Barbicane soon scattered
+his enthusiasm.
+
+"That is all very well, friend Michel," said he, "but will you inform
+us where these chickens came from which have mixed themselves up in our
+concert?"
+
+"Those chickens?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Indeed, half a dozen chickens and a fine cock were walking about, flapping
+their wings and chattering.
+
+"Ah, the awkward things!" exclaimed Michel. "The oxygen has made them
+revolt."
+
+"But what do you want to do with these chickens?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"To acclimatize them in the moon, by Jove!"
+
+"Then why did you hide them?"
+
+"A joke, my worthy president, a simple joke, which has proved a miserable
+failure. I wanted to set them free on the lunar continent, without
+saying anything. Oh, what would have been your amazement on seeing these
+earthly-winged animals pecking in the lunar fields!"
+
+"You rascal, you unmitigated rascal," replied Barbicane, "you do not
+want oxygen to mount to the head. You are always what _we_ were under
+the influence of the gas; you are always foolish!"
+
+"Ah, who says that we were not wise then?" replied Michel Ardan.
+
+After this philosophical reflection, the three friends set about restoring
+the order of the projectile. Chickens and cock were reinstated in their
+coup. But whilst proceeding with this operation, Barbicane and his two
+companions had a most desired perception of a new phenomenon. From the
+moment of leaving the earth, their own weight, that of the projectile,
+and the objects it enclosed, had been subject to an increasing diminution.
+If they could not prove this loss of the projectile, a moment would
+arrive when it would be sensibly felt upon themselves and the utensils
+and instruments they used.
+
+It is needless to say that a _scale_ would not show this loss; for the
+weight destined to weigh the object would have lost exactly as much as
+the object itself; but a spring steelyard for example, the tension of
+which was independent of the attraction, would have given a just estimate
+of this loss.
+
+We know that the attraction, otherwise called the _weight_, is in
+proportion to the densities of bodies, and inversely as the squares of
+the distances. Hence this effect: If the earth had been alone in space, if
+the other celestial bodies had been suddenly annihilated, the projectile,
+according to Newton's laws, would weigh less as it got farther from the
+earth, but without ever losing its weight _entirely_, for the terrestrial
+attraction would always have made itself felt, at whatever distance.
+
+But, in reality, a time must come when the projectile would no longer
+be subject to the law of weight, after allowing for the other celestial
+bodies whose effect could not be set down as zero. Indeed, the
+projectile's course was being traced between the earth and the moon.
+As it distanced the earth, the terrestrial attraction diminished: but
+the lunar attraction rose in proportion. There must then come a point
+where these two attractions would neutralize each other: the projectile
+would possess weight no longer. If the moon's and the earth's densities
+had been equal, this point would have been at an equal distance between
+the two orbs. But taking the different densities into consideration, it
+was easy to reckon that this point would be situated at 47-60ths of the
+whole journey, i.e. at 78,114 leagues from the earth. At this point, a
+body having no principle of speed or displacement in itself, would remain
+immovable for ever, being attracted equally by both orbs, and not being
+drawn more towards one than towards the other.
+
+Now if the projectile's impulsive force had been correctly calculated, it
+would attain this point without speed, having lost all trace of weight,
+as well as all the objects within it. What would happen then? Three
+hypotheses presented themselves.
+
+1. Either it would retain a certain amount of motion, and pass the point
+of equal attraction, and fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess of
+the lunar attraction over the terrestrial.
+
+2. Or, its speed failing, and unable to reach the point of equal
+attraction, it would fall upon the moon by virtue of the excess of the
+lunar attraction over the terrestrial.
+
+3. Or, lastly, animated with sufficient speed to enable it to reach the
+neutral point, but not sufficient to pass it, it would remain for ever
+suspended in that spot like the pretended tomb of Mahomet, between the
+zenith and the nadir.
+
+Such was their situation; and Barbicane clearly explained the consequences
+to his travelling companions, which greatly interested them. But how
+should they know when the projectile had reached this neutral point
+situated at that distance, especially when neither themselves, nor the
+objects enclosed in the projectile, would be any longer subject to the
+laws of weight?
+
+Up to this time, the travellers, whilst admitting that this action was
+constantly decreasing, had not yet become sensible to its total absence.
+
+But that day, about eleven o'clock in the morning, Nicholl having
+accidentally let a glass slip from his hand, the glass, instead of
+falling, remained suspended in the air.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that is rather an amusing piece of natural
+philosophy."
+
+And immediately divers other objects, firearms and bottles, abandoned
+to themselves, held themselves up as by enchantment. Diana too, placed
+in space by Michel, reproduced, but without any trick, the wonderful
+suspension practised by Caston and Robert Houdin. Indeed the dog did not
+seem to know that she was floating in air.
+
+The three adventurous companions were surprised and stupefied, despite
+their scientific reasonings. They felt themselves being carried into the
+domain of wonders! they felt that _weight_ was really wanting to their
+bodies. If they stretched out their arms, they did not attempt to fall.
+Their heads shook on their shoulders. Their feet no longer clung to the
+floor of the projectile. They were like drunken men having no stability
+in themselves.
+
+
+Illustration: "AH! IF RAPHAEL HAD SEEN US THUS."
+
+
+Fancy has depicted men without reflection, others without shadow. But
+here _reality,_ by the neutralisation of attractive forces, produced men
+in whom nothing had any weight, and who weighed nothing themselves.
+
+Suddenly Michel, taking a spring, left the floor and remained suspended
+in the air, like Murillo's monk of the _Cusine des Anges._
+
+The two friends joined him instantly, and all three formed a miraculous
+"Ascension" in the centre of the projectile.
+
+"Is it to be believed? is it probable? is it possible?" exclaimed Michel;
+"and yet it is so. Ah! if Raphael had seen us thus, what an 'Assumption'
+he would have thrown upon canvas!"
+
+"The 'Assumption' cannot last," replied Barbicane. "If the projectile
+passes the neutral point, the lunar attraction will draw us to the moon."
+
+"Then our feet will be upon the roof," replied Michel.
+
+"No," said Barbicane, "because the projectile's centre of gravity is very
+low; it will only turn by degrees."
+
+"Then all our portables will be upset from top to bottom, that is a
+fact."
+
+"Calm yourself, Michel," replied Nicholl; "no upset is to be feared; not
+a thing will move, for the projectile's evolution will be imperceptible."
+
+"Just so," continued Barbicane; "and when it has passed the point of equal
+attraction, its base, being the heavier, will draw it perpendicularly to
+the moon; but, in order that this phenomenon should take place, we must
+have passed the neutral line."
+
+"Pass the neutral line!" cried Michel; "then let us do as the sailors do
+when they cross the equator."
+
+A slight side movement brought Michel back towards the padded side;
+thence he took a bottle and glasses, placed them "in space" before his
+companions, and, drinking merrily, they saluted the line with a triple
+hurrah. The influence of these attractions scarcely lasted an hour;
+the travellers felt themselves insensibly drawn towards the floor, and
+Barbicane fancied that the conical end of the projectile was varying a
+little from its normal direction towards the moon. By an inverse motion
+the base was approaching first; the lunar attraction was prevailing
+over the terrestrial; the fall towards the moon was beginning, almost
+imperceptibly as yet, but by degrees the attractive force would become
+stronger, the fall would be more decided, the projectile, drawn by its
+base, would turn its cone to the earth, and fall with ever-increasing
+speed on to the surface of the Selenite continent; their destination
+would then be attained. Now nothing could prevent the success of their
+enterprise, and Nicholl and Michel Ardan shared Barbicane's joy.
+
+Then they chatted of all the phenomena which had astonished them one
+after the other, particularly the neutralization of the laws of weight.
+Michel Ardan, always enthusiastic, drew conclusions which were purely
+fanciful.
+
+"Ah, my worthy friends," he exclaimed, "what progress we should make
+if on earth we could throw off some of that weight, some of that chain
+which binds us to her; it would be the prisoner set at liberty; no more
+fatigue of either arms or legs. Or, if it is true that in order to fly
+on the earth's surface, to keep oneself suspended in the air merely by
+the play of the muscles, there requires a strength a hundred and fifty
+times greater than that which we possess, a simple act of volition, a
+caprice, would bear us into space, if attraction did not exist."
+
+"Just so," said Nicholl, smiling; "if we could succeed in suppressing
+weight as they suppress pain by anaesthesia, that would change the face
+of modern society!"
+
+"Yes," cried Michel, full of his subject, "destroy weight, and no more
+burdens!"
+
+"Well said," replied Barbicane; "but if nothing had any weight, nothing
+would keep in its place, not even your hat on your head, worthy Michel;
+nor your house, whose stones only adhere by weight; not a boat, whose
+stability on the water is caused only by weight; not even the ocean,
+whose waves would no longer be equalized by terrestrial attraction; and
+lastly, not even the _atmosphere,_ whose atoms, being no longer held in
+their places, would disperse in space!"
+
+"That is tiresome," retorted Michel; "nothing like these matter-of-fact
+people for bringing one back to the bare reality."
+
+"But console yourself, Michel," continued Barbicane, "for if no orb
+exists from whence all laws of weight are banished, you are at least
+going to visit one where it is much less than on the earth."
+
+"The moon?"
+
+"Yes, the moon, on whose surface objects weigh six times less than on
+the earth, a phenomenon easy to prove."
+
+"And we shall feel it?" asked Michel.
+
+"Evidently, as 200 lbs. will only weigh 30 pounds on the surface of the
+moon."
+
+"And our muscular strength will not diminish?"
+
+"Not at all; instead of jumping one yard high, you will rise eighteen
+feet high."
+
+"But we shall be regular Herculeses in the moon!" exclaimed Michel.
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl; "for if the height of the Selenites is in
+proportion to the density of their globe, they will be scarcely a foot
+high."
+
+"Lilliputians!" ejaculated Michel; "I shall play the part of Gulliver.
+We are going to realize the fable of the giants. This is the advantage
+of leaving one's own planet and overrunning the solar world."
+
+"One moment, Michel," answered Barbicane; "if you wish to play the part
+of Gulliver, only visit the inferior planets, such as Mercury, Venus, or
+Mars, whose density is a little less than that of the earth; but do not
+venture into the great planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; for
+there the order will be changed, and you will become Lilliputian."
+
+"And in the sun?"
+
+"In the sun, if its density is thirteen hundred and twenty-four thousand
+times greater, and the attraction is twenty-seven times greater than
+on the surface of our globe, keeping everything in proportion, the
+inhabitants ought to be at least two hundred feet high."
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Michel; "I should be nothing more than a pigmy, a
+shrimp!"
+
+"Gulliver with the giants," said Nicholl.
+
+"Just so," replied Barbicane.
+
+"And it would not be quite useless to carry some pieces of artillery to
+defend oneself."
+
+"Good," replied Nicholl; "your projectiles would have no effect on the
+sun; they would fall back on the earth after some minutes."
+
+"That is a strong remark."
+
+"It is certain," replied Barbicane; "the attraction is so great on this
+enormous orb, that an object weighing 70,000 lbs. on the earth would
+weigh but 1920 lbs. on the surface of the sun. If you were to fall upon
+it you would weigh--let me see--about 5000 lbs., a weight which you
+would never be able to raise again."
+
+"The devil!" said Michel; "one would want a portable crane. However, we
+will be satisfied with the moon for the present; there at least we shall
+cut a great figure. We will see about the sun by and by."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER IX.
+
+   THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEVIATION.
+
+
+Barbicane had now no fear of the issue of the journey, at least as far
+as the projectile's impulsive force was concerned; its own speed would
+carry it beyond the neutral line; it would certainly not return to earth;
+it would certainly not remain motionless on the line of attraction. One
+single hypothesis remained to be realized, the arrival of the projectile
+at its destination by the action of the lunar attraction.
+
+It was in reality a fall of 8296 leagues on an orb, it is true, where
+weight could only be reckoned at one-sixth of terrestrial weight; a
+formidable fall, nevertheless, and one against which every precaution
+must be taken without delay.
+
+These precautions were of two sorts, some to deaden the shock when the
+projectile should touch the lunar soil, others to delay the fall, and
+consequently make it less violent.
+
+To deaden the shock, it was a pity that Barbicane was no longer able to
+employ the means which had so ably weakened the shock at departure, that
+is to say, by water used as springs and the partition-breaks.
+
+The partitions still existed but water failed, for they could not use
+their reserve, which was precious, in case during the first days the
+liquid element should be found wanting on lunar soil.
+
+And indeed this reserve would have been quite insufficient for a spring.
+The layer of water stored in the projectile at their departure, and on
+which the waterproof disc lay, occupied no less than three feet in depth,
+and spread over a surface of not less than fifty-four square feet. Besides,
+the cistern did not contain one fifth part of it; they must therefore
+give up this efficient means of deadening the shock of arrival. Happily,
+Barbicane, not content with employing water, had furnished the movable
+disc with strong spring plugs, destined to lessen the shock against the
+base after the breaking of the horizontal partitions. These plugs still
+existed; they had only to readjust them and replace the movable disc;
+every piece, easy to handle, as their weight was now scarcely felt, was
+quickly mounted.
+
+The different pieces were fitted without trouble, it being only a matter
+of bolts and screws; tools were not wanting, and soon the reinstated
+disc lay on its steel plugs, like a table on its legs. One inconvenience
+resulted from the replacing of the disc, the lower window was blocked
+up; thus it was impossible for the travellers to observe the moon from
+that opening while they were being precipitated perpendicularly upon
+her; but they were obliged to give it up; even by the side openings they
+could still see vast lunar regions, as an aeronaut sees the earth from
+his car.
+
+This replacing of the disc was at least an hour's work. It was past twelve
+when all preparations were finished. Barbicane took fresh observations
+on the inclination of the projectile, but to his annoyance it had not
+turned over sufficiently for its fall; it seemed to take a curve parallel
+to the lunar disc. The orb of night shone splendidly into space, while
+opposite, the orb of day blazed with fire.
+
+Their situation began to make them uneasy.
+
+"Are we reaching our destination?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Let us act as if we were about reaching it," replied Barbicane.
+
+"You are sceptical," retorted Michel Ardan. "We shall arrive, and that,
+too, quicker than we like."
+
+This answer brought Barbicane back to his preparations, and he occupied
+himself with placing the contrivances intended to break their descent.
+We may remember the scene of the meeting held at Tampa Town, in Florida,
+when Captain Nicholl came forward as Barbicane's enemy and Michel Ardan's
+adversary. To Captain Nicholl's maintaining that the projectile would
+smash like glass, Michel replied that he would break their fall by means
+of rockets properly placed.
+
+Thus, powerful fireworks, taking their starting-point from the base and
+bursting outside, could, by producing a recoil, check to a certain degree
+the projectile's speed. These rockets were to burn in space, it is true;
+but oxygen would not fail them, for they could supply themselves with
+it, like the lunar volcanoes, the burning of which has never yet been
+stopped by the want of atmosphere round the moon.
+
+Barbicane had accordingly supplied himself with these fireworks, enclosed
+in little steel guns, which could be screwed on to the base of the
+projectile. Inside, these guns were flush with the bottom; outside, they
+protruded about eighteen inches. There were twenty of them. An opening
+left in the disc allowed them to light the match with which each was
+provided. All the effect was felt outside. The burning mixture had been
+already rammed into each gun. They had, then, nothing to do but to raise
+the metallic buffers fixed in the base, and replace them by the guns,
+which fitted closely in their places.
+
+This new work was finished about three o'clock, and after taking all
+these precautions there remained but to wait. But the projectile was
+perceptibly nearing the moon, and evidently succumbed to her influence
+to a certain degree; though its own velocity also drew it in an oblique
+direction. From these conflicting influences resulted a line which might
+become a tangent. But it was certain that the projectile would not fall
+directly on the moon; for its lower part, by reason of its weight, ought
+to be turned towards her.
+
+Barbicane's uneasiness increased as he saw his projectile resist the
+influence of gravitation. The Unknown was opening before him, the Unknown
+in interplanetary space. The man of science thought he had foreseen the
+only three hypotheses possible--the return to the earth, the return to
+the moon, or stagnation on the neutral line; and here a fourth hypothesis,
+big with all the terrors of the Infinite, surged up inopportunely. To
+face it without flinching, one must be a resolute savant like Barbicane,
+a phlegmatic being like Nicholl, or an audacious adventurer like Michel
+Ardan.
+
+Conversation was started upon this subject. Other men would have
+considered the question from a practical point of view; they would have
+asked themselves whither their projectile carriage was carrying them.
+Not so with these; they sought for the cause which produced this effect.
+
+"So we have become diverted from our route," said Michel; "but why?"
+
+"I very much fear," answered Nicholl, "that, in spite of all precautions
+taken, the Columbiad was not fairly pointed. An error, however small,
+would be enough to throw us out of the moon's attraction."
+
+"Then they must have aimed badly?" asked Michel.
+
+"I do not think so," replied Barbicane. "The perpendicularity of the gun
+was exact, its direction to the zenith of the spot incontestible; and
+the moon passing to the zenith of the spot, we ought to reach it at the
+full. There is another reason, but it escapes me."
+
+"Are we not arriving too late?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Too late?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Yes," continued Nicholl. "The Cambridge Observatory's note says that the
+transit ought to be accomplished in ninety-seven hours thirteen minutes
+and twenty seconds; which means to say, that _sooner_ the moon will _not_
+be at the point indicated, and that _later_ it will have passed it."
+
+"True," replied Barbicane. "But we started the 1st of December, at
+thirteen minutes and twenty-five seconds to eleven at night; and we
+ought to arrive on the 5th at midnight, at the exact moment when the moon
+would be full; and we are now at the 5th of December. It is now half past
+three in the evening; half past eight ought to see us at the end of our
+journey. Why do we not arrive?"
+
+"Might it not be an excess of speed?" answered Nicholl; "for we know now
+that its initial velocity was greater than they supposed."
+
+"No! a hundred times, No!" replied Barbicane. "An excess of speed, if the
+direction of the projectile had been right, would not have prevented us
+reaching the moon. No, there has been a deviation. We have been turned
+out of our course."
+
+"By whom? by what?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"I cannot say," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Very well, then, Barbicane," said Michel, "do you wish to know my
+opinion on the subject of finding out this deviation?"
+
+"Speak."
+
+"I would not give half a dollar to know it. That we have deviated is a
+fact. Where we are going to matters little; we shall soon see. Since we
+are being borne along in space we shall end by falling into some centre
+of attraction or other."
+
+Michel Ardan's indifference did not content Barbicane. Not that he was
+uneasy about the future, but he wanted to know at any cost _why_ his
+projectile had deviated.
+
+But the projectile continued its course sideways to the moon, and with
+it the mass of things thrown out. Barbicane could even prove, by the
+elevations which served as landmarks upon the moon, which was only 2000
+leagues distant, that its speed was becoming uniform--fresh proof that
+there was no fall. Its impulsive force still prevailed over the lunar
+attraction, but the projectile's course was certainly bringing it nearer
+to the moon, and they might hope that at a nearer point the weight,
+predominating, would cause a decided fall.
+
+The three friends, having nothing better to do, continued their
+observations; but they could not yet determine the topographical position
+of the satellite; every relief was levelled under the reflection of the
+solar rays.
+
+They watched thus through the side windows until eight o'clock at night.
+The moon had then grown so large in their eyes that it filled half of
+the firmament. The sun on one side, and the orb of night on the other,
+flooded the projectile with light.
+
+At that moment Barbicane thought he could estimate the distance which
+separated them from their aim at no more than 700 leagues. The speed of
+the projectile seemed to him to be more than 200 yards, or about 170
+leagues a second. Under the centripetal force, the base of the projectile
+tended towards the moon; but the centrifugal still prevailed; and it was
+probable that its rectilineal course would be changed to a curve of some
+sort, the nature of which they could not at present determine.
+
+Barbicane was still seeking the solution of his insoluble problem. Hours
+passed without any result. The projectile was evidently _nearing_ the
+moon, but it was also evident that it would never _reach_ her. As to the
+nearest distance at which it would pass her, that must be the result of
+the two forces, attraction and repulsion, affecting its motion.
+
+"I ask but one thing," said Michel; "that we may pass near enough to
+penetrate her secrets."
+
+"Cursed be the thing that has caused our projectile to deviate from its
+course," cried Nicholl.
+
+And, as if a light had suddenly broken in upon his mind, Barbicane
+answered, "Then cursed be the meteor which crossed our path."
+
+"What?" said Michel Ardan.
+
+"What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicholl.
+
+"I mean," said Barbicane in a decided tone, "I mean that our deviation
+is owing solely to our meeting with this erring body."
+
+"But it did not even brush us as it passed," said Michel.
+
+"What does that matter? Its mass, compared to that of our projectile,
+was enormous, and its attraction was enough to influence our course."
+
+"So little?" cried Nicholl.
+
+"Yes, Nicholl; but however little it might be," replied Barbicane, "in a
+distance of 84,000 leagues, it wanted no more to make us miss the moon."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER X.
+
+   THE OBSERVERS OF THE MOON.
+
+
+Barbicane had evidently hit upon the only plausible reason of this
+deviation. However slight it might have been, it had sufficed to modify
+the course of the projectile. It was a fatality. The bold attempt had
+miscarried by a fortuitous circumstance; and unless by some exceptional
+event, they could now never reach the moon's disc.
+
+Would they pass near enough to be able to solve certain physical and
+geological questions until then insoluble? This was the question, and
+the only one, which occupied the minds of these bold travellers. As to
+the fate in store for themselves, they did not even dream of it.
+
+But what would become of them amid these infinite solitudes, these who
+would soon want air? A few more days, and they would fall stifled in
+this wandering projectile. But some days to these intrepid fellows was a
+century; and they devoted all their time to observe that moon which they
+no longer hoped to reach.
+
+The distance which then separated the projectile from the satellite
+was estimated at about 200 leagues. Under these conditions, as regards
+the visibility of the details of the disc, the travellers were farther
+from the moon than are the inhabitants of the earth with their powerful
+telescopes.
+
+
+Illustration: THE TELESCOPE AT PARSONTOWN.
+
+
+Indeed, we know that the instrument mounted by Lord Rosse at Parsonstown,
+which magnifies 6500 times, brings the moon to within an apparent
+distance of sixteen leagues. And more than that, with the powerful one
+set up at Long's Peak, the orb of night, magnified 48,000 times, is
+brought to within less than two leagues, and objects having a diameter
+of thirty feet are seen very distinctly. So that, at this distance, the
+topographical details of the moon, observed without glasses, could not
+be determined with precision. The eye caught the vast outline of those
+immense depressions inappropriately called "seas," but they could not
+recognize their nature. The prominence of the mountains disappeared
+under the splendid irradiation produced by the reflection of the solar
+rays. The eye, dazzled as if it was leaning over a bath of molten silver,
+turned from it involuntarily; but the oblong form of the orb was quite
+clear. It appeared like a gigantic egg, with the small end turned towards
+the earth. Indeed the moon, liquid and pliable in the first days of its
+formation, was originally a perfect sphere; but being soon drawn within
+the attraction of the earth, it became elongated under the influence
+of gravitation. In becoming a satellite, she lost her native purity of
+form; her centre of gravity was in advance of the centre of her figure;
+and from this fact some savants draw the conclusion that the air and
+water had taken refuge on the opposite surface of the moon, which is
+never seen from the earth. This alteration in the primitive form of the
+satellite was only perceptible for a few moments. The distance of the
+projectile from the moon diminished very rapidly under its speed, though
+that was much less than its initial velocity,--but eight or nine times
+greater than that which propels our express trains. The oblique course
+of the projectile, from its very obliquity, gave Michel Ardan some hopes
+of striking the lunar disc at some point or other. He could not think
+that they would never reach it. No! he could not believe it; and this
+opinion he often repeated. But Barbicane, who was a better judge, always
+answered him with merciless logic.
+
+"No, Michel, no! We can only reach the moon by a fall, and we are not
+falling. The centripetal force keeps us under the moon's influence, but
+the centrifugal force draws us irresistibly away from it."
+
+This was said in a tone which quenched Michel Ardan's last hope.
+
+The portion of the moon which the projectile was nearing was the northern
+hemisphere, that which the Selenographic maps place below; for these
+maps are generally drawn after the outline given by the glasses, and we
+know that they reverse the objects. Such was the _Mappa Selenographica_
+of Boeer and Moedler which Barbicane consulted. This northern hemisphere
+presented vast plains, dotted with isolated mountains.
+
+At midnight the moon was full. At that precise moment the travellers
+should have alighted upon it, if the mischievous meteor had not diverted
+their course. The orb was exactly in the condition determined by the
+Cambridge Observatory. It was mathematically at its perigee, and at the
+zenith of the twenty-eighth parallel. An observer placed at the bottom
+of the enormous Columbiad, pointed perpendicularly to the horizon, would
+have framed the moon in the mouth of the gun. A straight line drawn
+through the axis of the piece would have passed through the centre of
+the orb of night. It is needless to say, that during the night of the
+5th--6th of December, the travellers took not an instant's rest. Could
+they close their eyes when so near this new world? No! All their feelings
+were concentrated in one single thought:--See! Representatives of the
+earth, of humanity, past and present, all centred in them! It is through
+their eyes that the human race look at these lunar regions, and penetrate
+the secrets of their satellite! A strange emotion filled their hearts as
+they went from one window to the other.
+
+Their observations, reproduced by Barbicane, were rigidly determined. To
+take them, they had glasses; to correct them, maps.
+
+As regards the optical instruments at their disposal, they had excellent
+marine glasses specially constructed for this journey.
+
+They possessed magnifying powers of 100. They would thus have brought the
+moon to within a distance (apparent) of less than 2000 leagues from the
+earth. But then, at a distance which for three hours in the morning did
+not exceed sixty-five miles, and in a medium free from all atmospheric
+disturbances, these instruments could reduce the lunar surface to within
+less than 1500 yards!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+
+   FANCY AND REALITY.
+
+
+"Have you ever seen the moon?" asked a professor, ironically, of one of
+his pupils.
+
+"No, sir!" replied the pupil, still more ironically, "but I must say I
+have heard it spoken of."
+
+In one sense, the pupil's witty answer might be given by a large majority
+of sublunary beings. How many people have heard speak of the moon who
+have never seen it--at least through a glass or a telescope! How many
+have never examined the map of their satellite!
+
+In looking at a selenographic map, one peculiarity strikes us. Contrary
+to the arrangement followed for that of the Earth and Mars, the continents
+occupy more particularly the southern hemisphere of the lunar globe.
+These continents do not show such decided, clear, and regular boundary
+lines as South America, Africa, and the Indian peninsula. Their angular,
+capricious, and deeply indented coasts are rich in gulfs and peninsulas.
+They remind one of the confusion in the islands of the Sound, where the
+land is excessively indented. If navigation ever existed on the surface
+of the moon, it must have been wonderfully difficult and dangerous; and
+we may well pity the Selenite sailors and hydrographers; the former,
+when they came upon these perilous coasts, the latter when they took the
+soundings of its stormy banks.
+
+
+Illustration: HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE HEARD SPEAK OF THE MOON.
+
+
+We may also notice that, on the lunar sphere, the south pole is much more
+continental than the north pole. On the latter, there is but one slight
+strip of land separated from other continents by vast seas. Towards the
+south, continents clothe almost the whole of the hemisphere. It is even
+possible that the Selenites have already planted the flag on one of
+their poles, whilst Franklin, Ross, Kane, Dumont d'Urville, and Lambert
+have never yet been able to attain that unknown point of the terrestrial
+globe.
+
+As to islands, they are numerous on the surface of the moon. Nearly
+all oblong or circular, and as if traced with the compass, they seem to
+form one vast Archipelago, equal to that charming group lying between
+Greece and Asia Minor, and which mythology in ancient times adorned with
+most graceful legends. Involuntarily the names of Naxos, Tenedos, and
+Carpathos, rise before the mind, and we seek vainly for Ulysses' vessel
+or the "clipper" of the Argonauts. So at least it was in Michel Ardan's
+eyes. To him it was a Grecian Archipelago that he saw on the map. To
+the eyes of his matter-of-fact companions, the aspect of these coasts
+recalled rather the parcelled-out land of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia;
+and where the Frenchman discovered traces of the heroes of fable, these
+Americans were marking the most favourable points for the establishment
+of stores in the interests of lunar commerce and industry.
+
+After wandering over these vast continents, the eye is attracted by still
+greater seas. Not only their formation, but their situation and aspect
+remind one of the terrestrial oceans; but again, as on earth, these seas
+occupy the greater portion of the globe. But in point of fact, these
+are not liquid spaces, but plains, the nature of which the travellers
+hoped soon to determine. Astronomers, we must allow, have graced these
+pretended seas with at least odd names, which science has respected up to
+the present time. Michel Ardan was right when he compared this map to a
+"Tendre card," got up by a Scudary or a Cyrano de Bergerac. "Only," said
+he, "it is no longer the sentimental card of the seventeenth century, it
+is the card of life, very neatly divided into two parts, one feminine,
+the other masculine; the right hemisphere for woman, the left for man."
+
+In speaking thus, Michel made his prosaic companions shrug their
+shoulders. Barbicane and Nicholl looked upon the lunar map from a very
+different point of view to that of their fantastic friend. Nevertheless,
+their fantastic friend was a little in the right. Judge for yourselves.
+
+In the left hemisphere stretches the "Sea of Clouds," where human reason
+is so often shipwrecked. Not far off lies the "Sea of Rains," fed by all
+the fever of existence. Near this is the "Sea of Storms," where man is
+ever fighting against his passions, which too often gain the victory.
+Then, worn out by deceit, treasons, infidelity, and the whole body of
+terrestrial misery, what does he find at the end of his career? that vast
+"Sea of Humours," barely softened by some drops of the waters from the
+"Gulf of Dew!" Clouds, rain, storms, and humours,--does the life of man
+contain aught but these? and is it not summed up in these four words?
+
+The right hemisphere, "dedicated to the ladies," encloses smaller seas,
+whose significant names contain every incident of a feminine existence.
+There is the "Sea of Serenity," over which the young girl bends; "The
+Lake of Dreams," reflecting a joyous future; "the Sea of Nectar," with its
+waves of tenderness and breezes of love; "The Sea of Fruitfulness;" "The
+Sea of Crises;" then the "Sea of Vapours," whose dimensions are perhaps
+a little too confined; and lastly, that vast "Sea of Tranquillity," in
+which every false passion, every useless dream, every unsatisfied desire
+is at length absorbed, and whose waves emerge peaceably into the "Lake
+of Death!"
+
+What a strange succession of names! What a singular division of the moon's
+two hemispheres, joined to one another like man and woman, and forming
+that sphere of life carried into space! And was not the fantastic Michel
+right in thus interpreting the fancies of the ancient astronomers? But
+whilst his imagination thus roved over "the seas," his grave companions
+were considering things more geographically. They were learning this new
+world by heart. They were measuring angles and diameters.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+
+   OROGRAPHIC DETAILS.
+
+
+The course taken by the projectile, as we have before remarked, was
+bearing it towards the moon's northern hemisphere. The travellers were
+far from the central point which they would have struck, had their course
+not been subject to an irremediable deviation. It was past midnight; and
+Barbicane then estimated the distance at 750 miles, which was a little
+greater than the length of the lunar radius, and which would diminish
+as it advanced nearer to the North Pole. The projectile was then not
+at the altitude of the equator; but across the tenth parallel, and from
+that latitude, carefully taken on the map to the pole, Barbicane and his
+two companions were able to observe the moon under the most favourable
+conditions. Indeed, by means of glasses, the above named distance was
+reduced to little more than fourteen miles. The telescope of the Rocky
+Mountains brought the moon much nearer; but the terrestrial atmosphere
+singularly lessened its power. Thus Barbicane, posted in his projectile,
+with the glasses to his eyes, could seize upon details which were almost
+imperceptible to earthly observers.
+
+"My friends," said the president, in a serious voice, "I do not know
+whither we are going; I do not know if we shall ever see the terrestrial
+globe again. Nevertheless, let us proceed as if our work would one day
+be useful to our fellow-men. Let us keep our minds free from every other
+consideration. We are astronomers; and this projectile is a room in the
+Cambridge University, carried into space. Let us make our observations!"
+
+This said, work was begun with great exactness; and they faithfully
+reproduced the different aspects of the moon, at the different distances
+which the projectile reached.
+
+At the time that the projectile was as high as the tenth parallel,
+north latitude, it seemed rigidly to follow the twentieth degree, east
+longitude. We must here make one important remark with regard to the map
+by which they were taking observations. In the selenographical maps where,
+on account of the reversing of the objects by the glasses, the south
+is above and the north below, it would seem natural that, on account of
+that inversion, the east should be to the left hand, and the west to the
+right. But it is not so. If the map were turned upside down, showing the
+moon as we see her, the east would be to the _left_, and the west to the
+_right_, contrary to that which exists on terrestrial maps. The following
+is the reason of this anomaly. Observers in the northern hemisphere
+(say in Europe) see the moon in the south,-- according to them. When
+they take observations, they turn their backs to the north, the reverse
+position to that which they occupy when they study a terrestrial map. As
+they turn their backs to the north, the east is on their left, and the
+west to their right. To observers in the southern hemisphere (Patagonia
+for example), the moon's west would be quite to their left, and the east
+to their right, as the south is behind them. Such is the reason of the
+apparent reversing of these two cardinal points, and we must bear it in
+mind in order to be able to follow President Barbicane's
+observations.
+
+With the help of Boeer and Moedler's _Mappa Selenographica_, the travellers
+were able at once to recognise that portion of the disc enclosed within
+the field of their glasses.
+
+"What are we looking at, at this moment?" asked Michel.
+
+"At the northern part of the 'Sea of Clouds,'" answered Barbicane. "We
+are too far off to recognize its nature. Are these plains composed of
+arid sand, as the first astronomer maintained? Or are they nothing but
+immense forests, according to M. Warren de la Rue's opinion, who gives
+the moon an atmosphere, though a very low and a very dense one? That we
+shall know by and by. We must affirm nothing until we are in a position
+to do so."
+
+This "Sea of Clouds" is rather doubtfully marked out upon the maps. It
+is supposed that these vast plains are strewn with blocks of lava from
+the neighbouring volcanoes on its right, Ptolemy, Purbach, Arzachel.
+But the projectile was advancing, and sensibly nearing it. Soon there
+appeared the heights which bound this sea at this northern limit. Before
+them rose a mountain radiant with beauty, the top of which seemed lost
+in an eruption of solar rays.
+
+"That is--?" asked Michel.
+
+"Copernicus," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Let us see Copernicus."
+
+This mount situated in 9 deg. north latitude and 20 deg. east longitude,
+rose to a height of 10,600 feet above the surface of the moon. It is
+quite visible from the earth; and astronomers can study it with ease,
+particularly during the phase between the last quarter and the new
+moon, because then the shadows are thrown lengthways from east to west,
+allowing them to measure the heights.
+
+This Copernicus forms the most important of the radiating system, situated
+in the southern hemisphere, according to Tycho Brahe. It rises isolated
+like a gigantic lighthouse on that portion of the Sea of Clouds, which is
+bounded by the "Sea of Tempests," thus lighting by its splendid rays two
+oceans at a time. It was a sight without an equal, those long luminous
+trains, so dazzling in the full moon, and which, passing the boundary
+chain on the north, extends to the "Sea of Rains." At one o'clock of the
+terrestrial morning, the projectile, like a balloon borne into space,
+overlooked the top of this superb mountain. Barbicane could recognize
+perfectly its chief features. Copernicus is comprised in the series of
+ringed mountains of the first order, in the division of great circles.
+Like Kepler and Aristarchus, which overlook the Ocean of Tempests,
+sometimes it appeared like a brilliant point through the cloudy light,
+and was taken for a volcano in activity. But it is only an extinct
+one,--like all on that side of the moon. Its circumference showed a
+diameter of about twenty-two leagues. The glasses discovered traces of
+stratification produced by successive eruptions, and the neighbourhood
+was strewn with volcanic remains which still choked some of the craters.
+
+"There exist," said Barbicane, "several kinds of circles on the surface
+of the moon, and it is easy to see that Copernicus belongs to the
+radiating class. If we were nearer, we should see the cones bristling on
+the inside, which in former times were so many fiery mouths. A curious
+arrangement, and one without an exception on the lunar disc, is that
+the interior surface of these circles is the reverse of the exterior,
+and contrary to the form taken by terrestrial craters. It follows, then,
+that the general curve of the bottom of these circles gives a sphere of
+a smaller diameter than that of the moon."
+
+"And why this peculiar disposition?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"We do not know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"What splendid radiation!" said Michel. "One could hardly see a finer
+spectacle, I think."
+
+"What would you say, then," replied Barbicane, "if chance should bear us
+towards the southern hemisphere?"
+
+"Well, I should say that it was still more beautiful," retorted Michel
+Ardan.
+
+At this moment the projectile hung perpendicularly over the circle. The
+circumference of Copernicus formed almost a perfect circle, and its steep
+escarpments were clearly defined. They could even distinguish a second
+ringed enclosure. Around spread a greyish plain, of a wild aspect, on
+which every relief was marked in yellow. At the bottom of the circle,
+as if enclosed in a jewel case, sparkled for one instant two or three
+eruptive cones, like enormous dazzling gems. Towards the north the
+escarpments were lowered by a depression which would probably have given
+access to the interior of the crater.
+
+In passing over the surrounding plains, Barbicane noticed a great number
+of less important mountains; and among others a little ringed one called
+Guy Lussac, the breadth of which measured twelve miles.
+
+Towards the south, the plain was very flat, without one elevation,
+without one projection. Towards the north, on the contrary, till where it
+was bounded by the Sea of Storms it resembled a liquid surface agitated
+by a storm, of which the hills and hollows formed a succession of waves
+suddenly congealed. Over the whole of this, and in all directions, lay
+the luminous lines, all converging to the summit of Copernicus.
+
+The travellers discussed the origin of these strange rays; but they could
+not determine their nature any more than terrestrial observers.
+
+"But why," said Nicholl, "should not these rays be simply spurs of
+mountains which reflect more vividly the light of the sun?"
+
+"No," replied Barbicane; "if it was so, under certain conditions of the
+moon, these ridges would cast shadows, and they do not cast any."
+
+And indeed, these rays only appeared when the orb of day was in opposition
+to the moon, and disappeared as soon as its rays became oblique.
+
+"But how have they endeavoured to explain these lines of light?" asked
+Michel; "for I cannot believe that savants would ever be stranded for
+want of an explanation."
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane; "Herschel has put forward an opinion, but he
+did not venture to affirm it."
+
+"Never mind. What was the opinion?"
+
+"He thought that these rays might be streams of cooled lava which shone
+when the sun beat straight upon them. It may be so; but nothing can
+be less certain. Besides, if we pass nearer to Tycho, we shall be in a
+better position to find out the cause of this radiation."
+
+
+Illustration: "THIS PLAIN WOULD THEN BE NOTHING BUT AN IMMENSE
+   CEMETERY."
+
+
+"Do you know, my friends, what that plain, seen from the height we are
+at, resembles?" said Michel.
+
+"No," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well; with all those pieces of lava lengthened like rockets, it
+resembles an immense game of spelikans thrown pell-mell. There wants but
+the hook to pull them out one by one."
+
+"Do be serious," said Barbicane.
+
+"Well, let us be serious," replied Michel quietly; "and instead of
+spelikans, let us put bones. This plain would then be nothing but an
+immense cemetery, on which would repose the mortal remains of thousands
+of extinct generations. Do you prefer that high-flown comparison?"
+
+"One is as good as the other," retorted Barbicane.
+
+"My word, you are difficult to please," answered Michel.
+
+"My worthy friend," continued the matter-of-fact Barbicane, "it matters
+but little what it _resembles_, when we do not know what it _is_."
+
+"Well answered," exclaimed Michel. "That will teach me to reason with
+savants."
+
+But the projectile continued to advance with almost uniform speed around
+the lunar disc. The travellers, we may easily imagine, did not dream of
+taking a moment's rest. Every minute changed the landscape which fled
+from beneath their gaze. About half-past one o'clock in the morning, they
+caught a glimpse of the tops of another mountain. Barbicane, consulting
+his map, recognized Eratosthenes.
+
+It was a ringed mountain 9000 feet high, and one of those circles so
+numerous on this satellite. With regard to this, Barbicane related
+Kepler's singular opinion on the formation of circles. According to that
+celebrated mathematician, these crater-like cavities had been dug by the
+hand of man.
+
+"For what purpose?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"For a very natural one," replied Barbicane. "The Selenites might have
+undertaken these immense works and dug these enormous holes for a refuge
+and shield from the solar rays which beat upon them during fifteen
+consecutive days."
+
+"The Selenites are not fools," said Michel.
+
+"A singular idea," replied Nicholl; "but it is probable that Kepler did
+not know the true dimensions of these circles, for the digging of them
+would have been the work of giants quite impossible for the Selenites."
+
+"Why? if weight on the moon's surface is six times less than on the
+earth?" said Michel.
+
+"But if the Selenites are six times smaller?" retorted Nicholl.
+
+"And if there are no Selenites?" added Barbicane.
+
+This put an end to the discussion.
+
+Soon Eratosthenes disappeared under the horizon without the projectile
+being sufficiently near to allow of close observation. This mountain
+separated the Apennines from the Carpathians. In the lunar orography they
+have discerned some chains of mountains, which are chiefly distributed
+over the northern hemisphere. Some, however, occupy certain portions of
+the southern hemisphere also.
+
+About two o'clock in the morning Barbicane found that they were above the
+twentieth lunar parallel. The distance of the projectile from the moon
+was not more than 600 miles. Barbicane, now perceiving that the projectile
+was steadily approaching the lunar disc, did not despair, if of reaching
+her, at least of discovering the secrets of her configuration.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   LUNAR LANDSCAPES.
+
+
+At half-past two in the morning, the projectile was over the thirteenth
+lunar parallel and at the effective distance of 500 miles, reduced by
+the glasses to five. It still seemed impossible, however, that it could
+ever touch any part of the disc. Its motive speed, comparatively so
+moderate, was inexplicable to President Barbicane. At that distance from
+the moon it must have been considerable, to enable it to bear up against
+her attraction. Here was a phenomenon the cause of which escaped them
+again. Besides, time failed them to investigate the cause. All lunar
+relief was defiling under the eyes of the travellers, and they would not
+lose a single detail.
+
+Under the glasses the disc appeared at the distance of five miles. What
+would an aeronaut, borne to this distance from the earth, distinguish on
+its surface? We cannot say, since the greatest ascension has not been
+more than 25,000 feet.
+
+This, however, is an exact description of what Barbicane and his companions
+saw at this height. Large patches of different colours appeared on the
+disc. Selenographers are not agreed upon the nature of these colours.
+There are several, and rather vividly marked. Julius Schmidt pretends
+that, if the terrestrial oceans were dried up, a Selenite observer could
+not distinguish on the globe a greater diversity of shades between the
+oceans and the continental plains than those on the moon present to a
+terrestrial observer. According to him, the colour common to the vast
+plains known by the name of "seas" is a dark grey mixed with green and
+brown. Some of the large craters present the same appearance. Barbicane
+knew this opinion of the German selenographer, an opinion shared by Boeer
+and Moedler. Observation has proved that right was on their side, and not
+on that of some astronomers who admit the existence of only grey on the
+moon's surface. In some parts green was very distinct, such as springs,
+according to Julius Schmidt, from the seas of Serenity and Humours.
+Barbicane also noticed large craters, without any interior cones, which
+shed a bluish tint similar to the reflection of a sheet of steel freshly
+polished. These colours belonged really to the lunar disc, and did not
+result, as some astronomers say, either from the imperfection in the
+objective of the glasses or from the interposition of the terrestrial
+atmosphere.
+
+Not a doubt existed in Barbicane's mind with regard to it, as he observed
+it through space, and so could not commit any optical error. He considered
+the establishment of this fact as an acquisition to science. Now, were
+these shades of green, belonging to tropical vegetation, kept up by a
+low dense atmosphere? He could not yet say.
+
+Farther on, he noticed a reddish tint, quite defined. The same shade had
+before been observed at the bottom of an isolated enclosure, known by
+the name of Lichtenburg's circle, which is situated near the Hercynian
+mountains, on the borders of the moon; but they could not tell the nature
+of it.
+
+They were not more fortunate with regard to another peculiarity of the
+disc, for they could not decide upon the cause of it.
+
+Michel Ardan was watching near the president, when he noticed long
+white lines, vividly lighted up by the direct rays of the sun. It was
+a succession of luminous furrows, very different from the radiation of
+Copernicus not long before; they ran parallel with each other.
+
+Michel, with his usual readiness, hastened to exclaim,-- "Look there!
+cultivated fields!"
+
+
+Illustration: "WHAT GIANT OXEN."
+
+
+"Cultivated fields!" replied Nicholl, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"Ploughed, at all events," retorted Michel Ardan; "but what labourers
+those Selenites must be, and what giant oxen they must harness to their
+plough to cut such furrows!"
+
+"They are not furrows," said Barbicane; "they are _rifts_."
+
+"Rifts? stuff!" replied Michel mildly; "but what do you mean by 'rifts'
+in the scientific world?"
+
+Barbicane immediately enlightened his companion as to what he knew about
+lunar rifts. He knew that they were a kind of furrow found on every part
+of the disc which was not mountainous; that these furrows, generally
+isolated, measured from 400 to 500 leagues in length; that their breadth
+varied from 1000 to 1500 yards, and that their borders were strictly
+parallel; but he knew nothing more either of their formation or their
+nature.
+
+Barbicane, through his glasses, observed these rifts with great attention.
+He noticed that their borders were formed of steep declivities; they
+were long parallel ramparts, and with some small amount of imagination
+he might have admitted the existence of long lines of fortifications,
+raised by Selenite engineers. Of these different rifts some were perfectly
+straight, as if cut by a line; others were slightly curved, though still
+keeping their borders parallel; some crossed each other, some cut through
+craters; here they wound through ordinary cavities, such as Posidonius or
+Petavius; there they wound through the seas, such as the Sea of Serenity.
+
+These natural accidents naturally excited the imaginations of these
+terrestrial astronomers. The first observations had not discovered these
+rifts. Neither Hevelius, Cassim, La Hire, nor Herschel seemed to have
+known them. It was Schroeter who in 1789 first drew attention to them.
+Others followed who studied them, as Pastorff, Gruithuysen, Boeer, and
+Moedler. At this time their number amounts to seventy; but, if they
+have been counted, their nature has not yet been determined; they are
+certainly not fortifications, any more than they are the ancient beds of
+dried-up rivers; for, on one side, the waters, so slight on the moon's
+surface, could never have worn such drains for themselves; and, on the
+other, they often cross craters of great elevation.
+
+We must, however, allow that Michel Ardan had "an idea," and that,
+without knowing it, he coincided in that respect with Julius Schmidt.
+
+"Why," said he, "should not these unaccountable appearances be simply
+phenomena of vegetation?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Barbicane quickly.
+
+"Do not excite yourself, my worthy president," replied Michel; "might it
+not be possible that the dark lines forming that bastion were rows of
+trees regularly placed?"
+
+"You stick to your vegetation, then?" said Barbicane.
+
+"I like," retorted Michel Ardan, "to explain what you savants cannot
+explain; at least my hypothesis has the advantage of indicating why these
+rifts disappear, or seem to disappear, at certain seasons."
+
+"And for what reason?"
+
+"For the reason that the trees become invisible when they lose their
+leaves, and visible when they regain them."
+
+"Your explanation is ingenious, my dear companion," replied Barbicane,
+"but inadmissible."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because, so to speak, there are no seasons on the moon's surface, and
+that, consequently, the phenomena of vegetation of which you speak cannot
+occur."
+
+Indeed, the slight obliquity of the lunar axis keeps the sun at an almost
+equal height in every latitude. Above the equatorial regions the radiant
+orb almost invariably occupies the zenith, and does not pass the limits
+of the horizon in the polar regions; thus, according to each region,
+there reigns a perpetual winter, spring, summer, or autumn, as in the
+planet Jupiter, whose axis is but little inclined upon its orbit.
+
+
+Illustration: HE COULD DISTINGUISH NOTHING BUT DESERT BEDS.
+
+
+What origin do they attribute to these rifts? That is a question difficult
+to solve. They are certainly anterior to the formation of craters and
+circles, for several have introduced themselves by breaking through their
+circular ramparts. Thus it may be that, contemporary with the latter
+geological epochs, they are due to the expansion of natural forces.
+
+But the projectile had now attained the 40 deg. of lunar lat., at a
+distance not exceeding 400 miles. Through the glasses objects appeared
+to be only four miles distant.
+
+At this point, under their feet, rose Mount Helicon, 1520 feet high,
+and round about the left rose moderate elevations, enclosing a small
+portion of the "Sea of Rains," under the name of the Gulf of Iris. The
+terrestrial atmosphere would have to be one hundred and seventy times more
+transparent than it is, to allow astronomers to make perfect observations
+on the moon's surface; but in the void in which the projectile floated
+no fluid interposed itself between the eye of the observer and the
+object observed. And more, Barbicane found himself carried to a greater
+distance than the most powerful telescopes had ever done before, either
+that of Lord Rosse or that of the Rocky Mountains. He was, therefore,
+under extremely favourable conditions for solving that great question
+of the habitability of the moon; but the solution still escaped him; he
+could distinguish nothing but desert beds, immense plains, and towards
+the north, arid mountains. Not a work betrayed the hand of man; not a
+ruin marked his course; not a group of animals was to be seen indicating
+life, even in an inferior degree. In no part was there life, in no part
+was there an appearance of vegetation. Of the three kingdoms which share
+the terrestrial globe between them, one alone was represented on the
+lunar and that the mineral.
+
+"Ah, indeed!" said Michel Ardan, a little out of countenance; "then you
+see no one?"
+
+"No," answered Nicholl; "up to this time not a man, not an animal, not
+a tree! After all, whether the atmosphere has taken refuge at the bottom
+of cavities, in the midst of the circles, or even on the opposite face
+of the moon, we cannot decide."
+
+"Besides," added Barbicane, "even to the most piercing eye a man cannot
+be distinguished farther than three miles and a half off; so that, if
+there are any Selenites, they can see our projectile, but we cannot see
+them."
+
+Towards four in the morning, at the height of the fiftieth parallel, the
+distance was reduced to 300 miles. To the left ran a line of mountains
+capriciously shaped, lying in the full light. To the right, on the
+contrary, lay a black hollow resembling a vast well, unfathomable and
+gloomy, drilled into the lunar soil.
+
+This hole was the "Black Lake;" it was Pluto, a deep circle which can be
+conveniently studied from the earth, between the last quarter and the
+new moon, when the shadows fall from west to east.
+
+This black colour is rarely met with on the surface of the satellite. As
+yet it has only been recognized in the depths of the circle of Endymion,
+to the east of the Cold Sea, in the northern hemisphere, and at the
+bottom of Grimaldi's circle, on the equator, towards the eastern border
+of the orb.
+
+Pluto is an annular mountain, situated in 51 deg. north latitude, and 9
+deg. east longitude. Its circuit is forty-seven miles long and thirty-two
+broad.
+
+Barbicane regretted that they were not passing directly above this vast
+opening. There was an abyss to fathom, perhaps some mysterious phenomenon
+to surprise; but the projectile's course could not be altered. They must
+rigidly submit. They could not guide a balloon, still less a projectile,
+when once enclosed within its walls. Towards five in the morning the
+northern limits of the Sea of Rains was at length passed. The mounts
+of Condamine and Fontenelle remained--one on the right, the other on
+the left. That part of the disc beginning with 60 deg. was becoming quite
+mountainous. The glasses brought them to within two miles, less than
+that separating the summit of Mont Blanc from the level of the sea. The
+whole region was bristling with spikes and circles. Towards the 60 deg.
+Philolaus stood predominant at a height of 5550 feet with its elliptical
+crater, and seen from this distance, the disc showed a very fantastical
+appearance. Landscapes were presented to the eye under very different
+conditions from those on the earth, and also very inferior to
+them.
+
+The moon having no atmosphere, the consequences arising from the absence
+of this gaseous envelope have already been shown. No twilight on her
+surface; night following day and day following night with the suddenness
+of a lamp which is extinguished or lighted amidst profound darkness,--no
+transition from cold to heat, the temperature falling in an instant from
+boiling point to the cold of space.
+
+Another consequence of this want of air is that absolute darkness
+reigns where the sun's rays do not penetrate. That which on earth is
+called diffusion of light, that luminous matter which the air holds in
+suspension, which creates the twilight and the daybreak, which produces
+the _umbrae_ and the _penumbrae_, and all the magic of _chiaro-oscuro_,
+does not exist on the moon. Hence the harshness of contrasts, which only
+admit of two colours, black and white. If a Selenite were to shade his
+eyes from the sun's rays, the sky would seem absolutely black, and the
+stars would shine to him as on the darkest night. Judge of the impression
+produced on Barbicane and his three friends by this strange scene! Their
+eyes were confused. They could no longer grasp the respective distances
+of the different plains. A lunar landscape without the softening of the
+phenomena of _chiaro-oscuro_ could not be rendered by an earthly landscape
+painter: it would be spots of ink on a white page--nothing
+more.
+
+This aspect was not altered even when the projectile, at the height of
+80 deg., was only separated from the moon by a distance of fifty miles;
+nor even when, at five in the morning, it passed at less than twenty-five
+miles from the mountain of Gioja, a distance reduced by the glasses to
+a quarter of a mile. It seemed as if the moon might be touched by the
+hand! It seemed impossible that, before long, the projectile would not
+strike her, if only at the north pole, the brilliant arch of which was
+so distinctly visible on the black sky.
+
+Michel Ardan wanted to open one of the scuttles and throw himself on to
+the moon's surface! A very useless attempt; for if the projectile could
+not attain any point whatever of the satellite, Michel, carried along by
+its motion, could not attain it either.
+
+At that moment, at six o'clock, the lunar pole appeared. The disc only
+presented to the travellers' gaze one half brilliantly lit up, whilst
+the other disappeared in the darkness. Suddenly the projectile passed
+the line of demarcation between intense light and absolute darkness, and
+was plunged in profound night!
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   THE NIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR HOURS
+      AND A HALF.
+
+
+At the moment when this phenomenon took place so rapidly, the projectile
+was skirting the moon's north pole at less than twenty-five miles
+distance. Some seconds had sufficed to plunge it into the absolute
+darkness of space. The transition was so sudden, without shade, without
+gradation of light, without attenuation of the luminous waves, that the
+orb seemed to have been extinguished by a powerful blow.
+
+"Melted, disappeared!" Michel Ardan exclaimed, aghast.
+
+Indeed, there was neither reflection nor shadow. Nothing more was to be
+seen of that disc, formerly so dazzling. The darkness was complete, and
+rendered even more so by the rays from the stars. It was "that blackness"
+in which the lunar nights are insteeped, which last three hundred and
+four hours and a half at each point of the disc, a long night resulting
+from the equality of the translatory and rotary movements of the moon. The
+projectile, immerged in the conical shadow of the satellite, experienced
+the action of the solar rays no more than any of its invisible points.
+
+In the interior, the obscurity was complete. They could not see each
+other. Hence the necessity of dispelling the darkness. However desirous
+Barbicane might be to husband the gas, the reserve of which was small,
+he was obliged to ask from it a fictitious light, an expensive brilliancy
+which the sun then refused.
+
+"Devil take the radiant orb!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "which forces us
+to expend gas, instead of giving us his rays gratuitously."
+
+"Do not let us accuse the sun," said Nicholl, "it is not his fault, but
+that of the moon, which has come and placed herself like a screen between
+us and it."
+
+"It is the sun!" continued Michel.
+
+"It is the moon!" retorted Nicholl.
+
+An idle dispute, which Barbicane put an end to by saying,--
+
+"My friends, it is neither the fault of the sun nor of the moon; it is
+the fault of the _projectile_, which, instead of rigidly following its
+course, has awkwardly missed it. To be more just, it is the fault of that
+unfortunate meteor which has so deplorably altered our first direction."
+
+"Well," replied Michel Ardan, "as the matter is settled, let us have
+breakfast. After a whole night of watching it is fair to build ourselves
+up a little."
+
+This proposal meeting with no contradiction, Michel prepared the repast
+in a few minutes. But they ate for eating's sake, they drank without
+toasts, without hurrahs. The bold travellers being borne away into gloomy
+space, without their accustomed cortege of rays, felt a vague uneasiness
+at their hearts. The "strange" shadow so dear to Victor Hugo's pen bound
+them on all sides. But they talked over the interminable night of three
+hundred and fifty-four hours and a half, nearly fifteen days, which the
+law of physics has imposed on the inhabitants of the moon.
+
+Barbicane gave his friends some explanation of the causes and the
+consequences of this curious phenomenon.
+
+"Curious indeed," said they; "for, if each hemisphere of the moon is
+deprived of solar light for fifteen days, that above which we now float
+does not even enjoy during its long night any view of the earth so
+beautifully lit up. In a word she has no moon (applying this designation
+to our globe) but on one side of her disc. Now if this were the case
+with the earth,--if, for example, Europe never saw the moon, and she
+was only visible at the Antipodes, imagine to yourself the astonishment
+of a European on arriving in Australia."
+
+
+Illustration: "IT IS THE FAULT OF THE MOON."
+
+
+"They would make the voyage for nothing but to see the moon!" replied
+Michel.
+
+"Very well!" continued Barbicane, "that astonishment is reserved for the
+Selenites who inhabit the face of the moon opposite to the earth, a face
+which is ever invisible to our countrymen of the terrestrial globe."
+
+"And which we should have seen," added Nicholl, "if we had arrived here
+when the moon was new, that is to say fifteen days later."
+
+"I will add, to make amends," continued Barbicane, "that the inhabitants
+of the visible face are singularly favoured by nature, to the detriment
+of their brethren on the invisible face. The latter, as you see, have
+dark nights of 354 hours, without one single ray to break the darkness.
+The other, on the contrary, when the sun which has given its light for
+fifteen days sinks below the horizon, see a splendid orb rise on the
+opposite horizon. It is the earth, which is thirteen times greater than
+that diminutive moon that we know;--the earth which develops itself
+at a diameter of two degrees, and which sheds a light thirteen times
+greater than that qualified by atmospheric strata--the earth which only
+disappears at the moment when the sun reappears in its turn!"
+
+"Nicely worded!" said Michel, "slightly academical perhaps."
+
+"It follows, then," continued Barbicane, without knitting his brows,
+"that the visible face of the disc must be very agreeable to inhabit,
+since it always looks on either the sun when the moon is full, or on the
+earth when the moon is new."
+
+"But," said Nicholl, "that advantage must be well compensated by the
+insupportable heat which the light brings with it."
+
+"The inconvenience, in that respect, is the same for the two faces, for
+the earth's light is evidently deprived of heat. But the invisible face
+is still more searched by the heat than the visible face. I say that for
+_you_, Nicholl, because Michel will probably not understand."
+
+"Thank you," said Michel.
+
+"Indeed," continued Barbicane, "when the invisible face receives at
+the same time light and heat from the sun, it is because the moon is
+new; that is to say, she is situated between the sun and the earth. It
+follows, then, considering the position which she occupies in opposition
+when full, that she is nearer to the sun by twice her distance from the
+earth; and that distance may be estimated at the two-hundredth part of
+that which separates the sun from the earth, or in round numbers 400,000
+miles. So that invisible face is so much nearer to the sun when she
+receives its rays."
+
+"Quite right," replied Nicholl.
+
+"On the contrary," continued Barbicane.
+
+"One moment," said Michel, interrupting his grave companion.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"I ask to be allowed to continue the explanation."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"To prove that I understand."
+
+"Get along with you," said Barbicane, smiling.
+
+"On the contrary," said Michel, imitating the tone and gestures of the
+president, "on the contrary, when the visible face of the moon is lit by
+the sun, it is because the moon is full, that is to say, opposite the
+sun with regard to the earth. The distance separating it from the radiant
+orb is then increased in round numbers to 400,000 miles, and the heat
+which she receives must be a little less."
+
+"Very well said!" exclaimed Barbicane. "Do you know, Michel, that, for
+an amateur, you are intelligent."
+
+"Yes," replied Michel coolly, "we are all so on the Boulevard des
+Italiens."
+
+Barbicane gravely clasped the hand of his amiable companion, and continued
+to enumerate the advantages reserved for the inhabitants of the visible
+face.
+
+Amongst others, he mentioned eclipses of the sun, which only take place
+on this side of the lunar disc; since, in order that they may take place,
+it is necessary for the moon to be _in opposition_. These eclipses,
+caused by the interposition of the earth between the moon and the sun,
+can last _two hours_; during which time, by reason of the rays refracted
+by its atmosphere, the terrestrial globe can appear as nothing but a
+black point upon the sun.
+
+"So," said Nicholl, "there is a hemisphere, that invisible hemisphere
+which is very ill supplied, very ill treated, by nature."
+
+"Never mind," replied Michel; "if we ever become Selenites, we will
+inhabit the visible face. I like the light."
+
+"Unless, by any chance," answered Nicholl, "the atmosphere should be
+condensed on the other side, as certain astronomers pretend."
+
+"That would be a consideration," said Michel.
+
+Breakfast over, the observers returned to their post. They tried to
+see through the darkened scuttles by extinguishing all light in the
+projectile; but not a luminous spark made its way through the darkness.
+
+One inexplicable fact preoccupied Barbicane. Why, having passed within
+such a short distance of the moon--about twenty-five miles only--why
+the projectile had not fallen? If its speed had been enormous, he could
+have understood that the fall would not have taken place; but, with
+a relatively moderate speed, that resistance to the moon's attraction
+could not be explained. Was the projectile under some foreign influence?
+Did some kind of body retain it in the ether? It was quite evident that
+it could never reach any point of the moon. Whither was it going? Was
+it going farther from, or nearing, the disc? Was it being borne in that
+profound darkness through the infinity of space? How could they learn,
+how calculate, in the midst of this night? All these questions made
+Barbicane uneasy, but he could not solve them.
+
+Certainly, the invisible orb was _there_, perhaps only some few miles
+off; but neither he nor his companions could see it. If there was any
+noise on its surface, they could not hear it. Air, that medium of sound,
+was wanting to transmit the groanings of that moon which the Arabic
+legends call "a man already half granite, and still breathing."
+
+One must allow that that was enough to aggravate the most patient
+observers. It was just that unknown hemisphere which was stealing from
+their sight. That face which fifteen days sooner, or fifteen days later,
+had been, or would be, splendidly illuminated by the solar rays, was then
+being lost in utter darkness. In fifteen days where would the projectile
+be? Who could say? Where would the chances of conflicting attractions
+have drawn it to? The disappointment of the travellers in the midst of
+this utter darkness may be imagined. All observation of the lunar disc
+was impossible. The constellations alone claimed all their attention;
+and we must allow that the astronomers Faye, Charconac, and Secchi, never
+found themselves in circumstances so favourable for their
+observation.
+
+Indeed, nothing could equal the splendour of this starry world, bathed
+in limpid ether. Its diamonds set in the heavenly vault sparkled
+magnificently. The eye took in the firmament from the Southern Cross to
+the North Star, those two constellations which in 12,000 years, by reason
+of the succession of equinoxes, will resign their part of polar stars,
+the one to Canopus in the southern hemisphere, the other to Wega in
+the northern. Imagination loses itself in this sublime Infinity, amidst
+which the projectile was gravitating, like a new star created by the
+hand of man. From a natural cause, these constellations shone with a soft
+lustre; they did not _twinkle_, for there was no atmosphere which, by
+the intervention of its layers unequally dense and of different degrees
+of humidity, produces this scintillation. These stars were soft eyes,
+looking out into the dark night, amidst the silence of absolute
+space.
+
+
+Illustration: NOTHING COULD EQUAL THE SPLENDOR OF THIS STARRY WORLD.
+
+
+Long did the travellers stand mute, watching the constellated firmament,
+upon which the moon, like a vast screen, made an enormous black hole.
+But at length a painful sensation drew them from their watchings. This
+was an intense cold, which soon covered the inside of the glass of the
+scuttles with a thick coating of ice. The sun was no longer warming the
+projectile with its direct rays, and thus it was losing the heat stored
+up in its walls by degrees. This heat was rapidly evaporating into space
+by radiation, and a considerably lower temperature was the result. The
+humidity of the interior was changed into ice upon contact with the
+glass, preventing all observation.
+
+Nicholl consulted the thermometer, and saw that it had fallen to seventeen
+degrees (centigrade) below zero.* So that, in spite of the many reasons
+for economizing, Barbicane, after having begged light from the gas, was
+also obliged to beg for heat. The projectile's low temperature was no
+longer endurable. Its tenants would have been frozen to death.
+
+*1 deg. Fahr. (Ed.)
+
+"Well!" observed Michel, "we cannot reasonably complain of the monotony
+of our journey! What variety we have had, at least in temperature. Now
+we are blinded with light and saturated with heat, like the Indians of
+the Pampas! now plunged into profound darkness, amidst the cold like the
+Esquimauxs of the north pole. No, indeed! we have no right to complain;
+nature does wonders in our honour."
+
+"But," asked Nicholl, "what is the temperature outside?"
+
+"Exactly that of the planetary space," replied Barbicane.
+
+"Then," continued Michel Ardan, "would not this be the time to make the
+experiment which we dared not attempt when we were drowned in the sun's
+rays?"
+
+"It is now or never," replied Barbicane, "for we are in a good position
+to verify the temperature of space, and see if Fourier or Pouillet's
+calculations are exact."
+
+"In any case it is cold," said Michel. "See! the steam of the interior
+is condensing on the glasses of the scuttles. If the fall continues, the
+vapour of our breath will fall in snow around us."
+
+"Let us prepare a thermometer," said Barbicane.
+
+We may imagine that an ordinary thermometer would afford no result under
+the circumstances in which this instrument was to be exposed. The mercury
+would have been frozen in its ball, as below forty-two degrees below
+zero* it is no longer liquid. But Barbicane had furnished himself with
+a spirit thermometer on Wafferdin's system, which gives the minima of
+excessively low temperatures.
+
+*-44 deg. Fahr.
+
+Before beginning the experiment, this instrument was compared with an
+ordinary one, and then Barbicane prepared to use it.
+
+"How shall we set about it?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Nothing is easier," replied Michel Ardan, who was never at a loss.
+"We open the scuttle rapidly; throw out the instrument; it follows the
+projectile with exemplary docility; and a quarter of an hour after, draw
+it in."
+
+"With the hand?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"With the hand," replied Michel.
+
+"Well then, my friend, do not expose yourself," answered Barbicane, "for
+the hand that you draw in again will be nothing but a stump frozen and
+deformed by the frightful cold."
+
+"Really!"
+
+"You will feel as if you had had a terrible burn, like that of iron at
+a white heat; for whether the heat leaves our bodies briskly or enters
+briskly, it is exactly the same thing. Besides, I am not at all certain
+that the objects we have thrown out are still following us."
+
+"Why not?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"Because, if we are passing through an atmosphere of the slightest
+density, these objects will be retarded. Again, the darkness prevents
+our seeing if they still float around us. But in order not to expose
+ourselves to the loss of our thermometer, we will fasten it, and we can
+then more easily pull it back again."
+
+
+Illustration: "THE VAPOR OF OUR BREATH WILL FALL IN SNOW
+   AROUND US."
+
+
+Barbicane's advice was followed. Through the scuttle rapidly opened,
+Nicholl threw out the instrument which was held by a short cord, so that
+it might be more easily drawn up. The scuttle had not been opened more
+than a second, but that second had sufficed to let in a most intense
+cold.
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "it is cold enough to freeze a white
+bear."
+
+Barbicane waited until half an hour had elapsed, which was more than time
+enough to allow the instrument to fall to the level of the surrounding
+temperature. Then it was rapidly pulled in.
+
+Barbicane calculated the quantity of spirits of wine overflowed into the
+little phial soldered to the lower part of the instrument, and said,--
+
+"A hundred and forty degrees centigrade* below zero!"
+
+*-218 deg. Fahr. (Ed.)
+
+M. Pouillet was right and Fourier wrong. That was the undoubted temperature
+of the starry space. Such is, perhaps, that of the lunar continents, when
+the orb of night has lost by radiation all the heat which fifteen days
+of sun have poured into her.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XV.
+
+   HYPERBOLA OR PARABOLA.
+
+
+We may, perhaps, be astonished to find Barbicane and his companions so
+little occupied with the future reserved for them in their metal prison
+which was bearing them through the infinity of space. Instead of asking
+where they were going, they passed their time making experiments, as if
+they had been quietly installed in their own study.
+
+We might answer that men so strong-minded were above such anxieties--that
+they did not trouble themselves about such trifles--and that they had
+something else to do than to occupy their minds with the future.
+
+The truth was that they were not masters of their projectile; they could
+neither check its course, nor alter its direction.
+
+A sailor can change the head of his ship as he pleases; an aeronaut can
+give a vertical motion to his balloon. They, on the contrary, had no power
+over their vehicle. Every maneuver was forbidden. Hence the inclination
+to let things alone, or as the sailors say, "let her run."
+
+Where did they find themselves at this moment, at eight o'clock in the
+morning of the day called upon the earth the 6th of December? Very
+certainly in the neighbourhood of the moon, and even near enough for her
+to look to them like an enormous black screen upon the firmament. As to
+the distance which separated them, it was impossible to estimate it. The
+projectile, held by some unaccountable force, had been within four miles
+of grazing the satellite's north pole.
+
+
+Illustration: A DISCUSSION AROSE.
+
+
+But since entering the cone of shadow these last two hours, had the
+distance increased or diminished? Every point of mark was wanting by
+which to estimate both the direction and the speed of the projectile.
+
+Perhaps it was rapidly leaving the disc, so that it would soon quit the
+pure shadow. Perhaps, again, on the other hand, it might be nearing it
+so much that in a short time it might strike some high point on the
+invisible hemisphere, which would doubtlessly have ended the journey much
+to the detriment of the travellers.
+
+A discussion arose on this subject, and Michel Ardan, always ready with
+an explanation, gave it as his opinion that the projectile, held by the
+lunar attraction, would end by falling on the surface of the terrestrial
+globe like an aerolite.
+
+"First of all, my friend," answered Barbicane, "every aerolite does not
+fall to the earth; it is only a small proportion which do so; and if we
+had passed into an aerolite, it does not necessarily follow that we
+should ever reach the surface of the moon."
+
+"But how if we get near enough?" replied Michel.
+
+"Pure mistake," replied Barbicane. "Have you not seen shooting stars rush
+through the sky by thousands at certain seasons?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, these stars, or rather corpuscules, only shine when they are
+heated by gliding over the atmospheric layers. Now, if they enter the
+atmosphere, they pass at least within forty miles of the earth, but they
+seldom fall upon it. The same with our projectile. It may approach very
+near to the moon, and yet not fall upon it."
+
+"But then," asked Michel, "I shall be curious to know how our erring
+vehicle will act in space?"
+
+"I see but two hypotheses," replied Barbicane, after some moments'
+reflection.
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"The projectile has the choice between two mathematical curves, and it
+will follow one or the other according to the speed with which it is
+animated, and which at this moment I cannot estimate."
+
+"Yes," said Nicholl, "it will follow either a parabola or a hyperbola."
+
+"Just so," replied Barbicane. "With a certain speed it will assume the
+parabola, and with a greater the hyperbola."
+
+"I like those grand words," exclaimed Michel Ardan; "one knows directly
+what they mean. And pray what is your parabola, if you please?"
+
+"My friend," answered the captain, "the parabola is a curve of the
+second order, the result of the section of a cone intersected by a plane
+parallel to one of its sides."
+
+"Ah! ah!" said Michel, in a satisfied tone.
+
+"It is very nearly," continued Nicholl, "the course described by a bomb
+launched from a mortar."
+
+"Perfect! And the hyperbola?"
+
+"The hyperbola, Michel, is a curve of the second order, produced by the
+intersection of a conic surface and a plane parallel to its axis, and
+constitutes two branches separated one from the other, both tending
+indefinitely in the two directions."
+
+"Is it possible!" exclaimed Michel Ardan in a serious tone, as if they
+had told him of some serious event. "What I particularly like in your
+definition of the hyperbola (I was going to say hyperblague) is that it
+is still more obscure than the word you pretend to define."
+
+Nicholl and Barbicane cared little for Michel Ardan's fun. They were deep
+in a scientific discussion. What curve would the projectile follow? was
+their hobby. One maintained the hyperbola, the other the parabola. They
+gave each other reasons bristling with _x_. Their arguments were couched
+in language which made Michel jump. The discussion was hot, and neither
+would give up his chosen curve to his adversary.
+
+This scientific dispute lasted so long that it made Michel very impatient.
+
+"Now, gentlemen cosines, will you cease to throw parabolas and hyperbolas
+at each other's heads? I want to understand the only interesting question
+in the whole affair. We shall follow one or other of these curves? Good.
+But where will they lead us to?"
+
+"Nowhere," replied Nicholl.
+
+"How, nowhere?"
+
+"Evidently," said Barbicane, "they are open curves, which may be prolonged
+indefinitely."
+
+"Ah, savants!" cried Michel; "and what are either the one or the other
+to us from the moment we know that they equally lead us into infinite
+space?"
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not forbear smiling. They had just been
+creating "art for art's sake." Never had so idle a question been raised
+at such an inopportune moment. The sinister truth remained that, whether
+hyperbolically or parabolically borne away, the projectile would never
+again meet either the earth or the moon.
+
+What would become of these bold travellers in the immediate future? If
+they did not die of hunger, if they did not die of thirst, in some days,
+when the gas failed, they would die from want of air, unless the cold
+had killed them first. Still, important as it was to economize the gas,
+the excessive lowness of the surrounding temperature obliged them to
+consume a certain quantity. Strictly speaking, they could do without its
+_light_, but not without its _heat_. Fortunately the caloric generated by
+Reiset's and Regnaut's apparatus raised the temperature of the interior
+of the projectile a little, and without much expenditure they were able
+to keep it bearable.
+
+But observations had now become very difficult. The dampness of the
+projectile was condensed on the windows and congealed immediately. This
+cloudiness had to be dispersed continually. In any case they might hope
+to be able to discover some phenomena of the highest interest.
+
+But up to this time the disc remained dumb and dark. It did not answer
+the multiplicity of questions put by these ardent minds; a matter which
+drew this reflection from Michel, apparently a just one,--
+
+"If ever we begin this journey over again, we shall do well to choose
+the time when the moon is at the full."
+
+"Certainly," said Nicholl, "that circumstance will be more favourable.
+I allow that the moon, immersed in the sun's rays, will not be visible
+during the transit, but instead we should see the earth, which would
+be full. And what is more, if we were drawn round the moon, as at this
+moment, we should at least have the advantage of seeing the invisible
+part of her disc magnificently lit."
+
+"Well said, Nicholl," replied Michel Ardan. "What do you think, Barbicane?"
+
+"I think this," answered the grave president: "If ever we begin this
+journey again, we shall start at the same time and under the same
+conditions. Suppose we had attained our end, would it not have been
+better to have found continents in broad daylight than a country plunged
+in utter darkness? Would not our first installation have been made under
+better circumstances? Yes, evidently. As to the _invisible_ side, we
+could have visited it in our exploring expeditions on the lunar globe.
+So that the time of the full moon was well chosen. But we ought to have
+arrived at the end; and in order to have so arrived, we ought to have
+suffered no deviation on the road."
+
+"I have nothing to say to that," answered Michel Ardan. "Here is, however,
+a good opportunity lost of observing the other side of the moon."
+
+But the projectile was now describing in the shadow that incalculable
+course which no sight-mark would allow them to ascertain. Had its
+direction been altered, either by the influence of the lunar attraction,
+or by the action of some unknown star? Barbicane could not say. But
+a change had taken place in the relative position of the vehicle; and
+Barbicane verified it about four in the morning.
+
+The change consisted in this, that the base of the projectile had
+turned towards the moon's surface, and was so held by a perpendicular
+passing through its axis. The attraction, that is to say the _weight_,
+had brought about this alteration. The heaviest part of the projectile
+inclined towards the invisible disc as if it would fall upon it.
+
+Was it falling? Were the travellers attaining that much desired end? No.
+And the observation of a sign-point, quite inexplicable in itself, showed
+Barbicane that his projectile was not nearing the moon, and that it had
+shifted by following an almost concentric curve.
+
+This point of mark was a luminous brightness, which Nicholl sighted
+suddenly, on the limit of the horizon formed by the black disc. This
+point could not be confounded with a star. It was a reddish incandescence
+which increased by degrees, a decided proof that the projectile was
+shifting towards it and not falling normally on the surface of the moon.
+
+"A volcano! it is a volcano in action!" cried Nicholl; "a disembowelling
+of the interior fires of the moon! That world is not quite extinguished."
+
+"Yes, an eruption," replied Barbicane, who was carefully studying the
+phenomenon through his night glass. "What should it be, if not a volcano?"
+
+"But, then," said Michel Ardan, "in order to maintain that combustion,
+there must be air. So an atmosphere _does_ surround that part of the
+moon."
+
+"_Perhaps_ so," replied Barbicane, "but not necessarily. The volcano,
+by the decomposition of certain substances, can provide its own oxygen,
+and thus throw flames into space. It seems to me that the deflagration,
+by the intense brilliancy of the substances in combustion, is produced
+in pure oxygen. We must not be in a hurry to proclaim the existence of
+a lunar atmosphere."
+
+The fiery mountain must have been situated about the 45 deg. south
+latitude on the invisible part of the disc; but, to Barbicane's great
+displeasure, the curve which the projectile was describing was taking
+it far from the point indicated by the eruption. Thus he could not
+determine its nature exactly. Half an hour after being sighted, this
+luminous point had disappeared behind the dark horizon; but the
+verification of this phenomenon was of considerable consequence in their
+selenographic studies. It proved that all heat had not yet disappeared
+from the bowels of this globe; and where heat exists, who can affirm
+that the vegetable kingdom, nay, even the animal kingdom itself, has not
+up to this time resisted all destructive influences? The existence of
+this volcano in eruption, unmistakably seen by these earthly savants,
+would doubtless give rise to many theories favourable to the grave
+question of the habitability of the moon.
+
+Barbicane allowed himself to be carried away by these reflections. He
+forgot himself in a deep reverie in which the mysterious destiny of the
+lunar world was uppermost. He was seeking to combine together the facts
+observed up to that time, when a new incident recalled him briskly to
+reality. This incident was more than a cosmical phenomenon; it was a
+threatened danger, the consequences of which might be disastrous in the
+extreme.
+
+Suddenly, in the midst of the ether, in the profound darkness, an
+enormous mass appeared. It was like a moon, but an incandescent moon
+whose brilliancy was all the more intolerable as it cut sharply on the
+frightful darkness of space. This mass, of a circular form, threw a
+light which filled the projectile. The forms of Barbicane, Nicholl, and
+Michel Ardan, bathed in its white sheets, assumed that livid spectral
+appearance which physicians produce with the fictitious light of alcohol
+impregnated with salt.
+
+
+Illustration: A PREY TO FRIGHTFUL TERROR.
+
+
+"By Jove!" cried Michel Ardan, "we are hideous. What is that
+ill-conditioned moon?"
+
+"A meteor," replied Barbicane.
+
+"A meteor burning in space?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This shooting globe suddenly appearing in shadow at a distance of at most
+200 miles, ought, according to Barbicane, to have a diameter of 2000
+yards. It advanced at a speed of about one mile and a half per second.
+It cut the projectile's path and must reach it in some minutes. As it
+approached it grew to enormous proportions.
+
+Imagine, if possible, the situation of the travellers! It is impossible
+to describe it. In spite of their courage, their _sang-froid_, their
+carelessness of danger, they were mute, motionless with stiffened limbs,
+a prey to frightful terror. Their projectile, the course of which they
+could not alter, was rushing straight on this ignited mass, more intense
+than the open mouth of an oven. It seemed as though they were being
+precipitated towards an abyss of fire.
+
+Barbicane had seized the hands of his two companions, and all three
+looked through their half-open eyelids upon that asteroid heated to a
+white heat. If thought was not destroyed within them, if their brains
+still worked amidst all this awe, they must have given themselves up for
+lost.
+
+Two minutes after the sudden appearance of the meteor (to them two
+centuries of anguish) the projectile seemed almost about to strike it,
+when the globe of fire burst like a bomb, but without making any noise
+in that void where sound, which is but the agitation of the layers of
+air, could not be generated.
+
+Nicholl uttered a cry, and he and his companions rushed to the scuttle.
+What a sight! What pen can describe it? What palette is rich enough in
+colours to reproduce so magnificent a spectacle?
+
+It was like the opening of a crater, like the scattering of an immense
+conflagration. Thousands of luminous fragments lit up and irradiated
+space with their fires. Every size, every colour, was there intermingled.
+There were rays of yellow and pale yellow, red, green, grey--a crown
+of fireworks of all colours. Of the enormous and much-dreaded globe
+there remained nothing but these fragments carried in all directions,
+now become asteroids in their turn, some flaming like a sword, some
+surrounded by a whitish cloud, and others leaving behind them trains of
+brilliant cosmical dust.
+
+These incandescent blocks crossed and struck each other, scattering
+still smaller fragments, some of which struck the projectile. Its left
+scuttle was even cracked by a violent shock. It seemed to be floating
+amidst a hail of howitzer shells, the smallest of which might destroy it
+instantly.
+
+The light which saturated the ether was so wonderfully intense, that
+Michel, drawing Barbicane and Nicholl to his window, exclaimed, "The
+invisible moon, visible at last!"
+
+And through a luminous emanation, which lasted some seconds, the whole
+three caught a glimpse of that mysterious disc which the eye of man now
+saw for the first time. What could they distinguish at a distance which
+they could not estimate? Some lengthened bands along the disc, real clouds
+formed in the midst of a very confined atmosphere, from which emerged
+not only all the mountains, but also projections of less importance; its
+circles, its yawning craters, as capriciously placed as on the visible
+surface. Then immense spaces, no longer arid plains, but real seas,
+oceans, widely distributed, reflecting on their liquid surface all the
+dazzling magic of the fires of space; and, lastly, on the surface of the
+continents, large dark masses, looking like immense forests under the
+rapid illumination of a brilliance.
+
+Was it an illusion, a mistake, an optical illusion? Could they give a
+scientific assent to an observation so superficially obtained? Dared
+they pronounce upon the question of its habitability after so slight a
+glimpse of the invisible disc?
+
+
+Illustration: WHAT A SIGHT.
+
+
+But the lightnings in space subsided by degrees; its accidental
+brilliancy died away; the asteroids dispersed in different directions
+and were extinguished in the distance. The ether returned to its
+accustomed darkness; the stars, eclipsed for a moment, again twinkled in
+the firmament, and the disc, so hastily discerned, was again buried in
+impenetrable night.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVI.
+
+   THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
+
+
+The projectile had just escaped a terrible danger, and a very unforeseen
+one. Who would have thought of such a rencontre with meteors? These
+erring bodies might create serious perils for the travellers. They were
+to them so many sandbanks upon that sea of ether which, less fortunate
+than sailors, they could not escape. But did these adventurers complain
+of space? No, not since nature had given them the splendid sight of a
+cosmical meteor bursting from expansion, since this inimitable firework,
+which no Ruggieri could imitate, had lit up for some seconds the invisible
+glory of the moon. In that flash, continents, seas, and forests had
+become visible to them. Did an atmosphere, then, bring to this unknown
+face its life-giving atoms? Questions still insoluble, and for ever
+closed against human curiosity!
+
+It was then half past three in the afternoon. The projectile was
+following its curvilinear direction round the moon. Had its course been
+again altered by the meteor? It was to be feared so. But the projectile
+must describe a curve unalterably determined by the laws of mechanical
+reasoning. Barbicane was inclined to believe that this curve would be
+rather a parabola than a hyperbola. But admitting the parabola, the
+projectile must quickly have passed through the cone of shadow projected
+into space opposite the sun. This cone, indeed, is very narrow, the
+angular diameter of the moon being so little when compared with the
+diameter of the orb of day; and up to this time the projectile had
+been floating in this deep shadow. Whatever had been its speed (and it
+could not have been insignificant) its period of occultation continued.
+That was evident, but perhaps that would not have been the case in a
+supposed rigidly parabolical trajectory,--a new problem which tormented
+Barbicane's brain, imprisoned as he was in a circle of unknowns which he
+could not unravel.
+
+
+Illustration: "THE SUN!"
+
+
+Neither of the travellers thought of taking an instant's repose. Each
+one watched for an unexpected fact, which might throw some new light on
+their uranographic studies. About five o'clock, Michel Ardan distributed,
+under the name of dinner, some pieces of bread and cold meat, which were
+quickly swallowed without either of them abandoning their scuttle, the
+glass of which was incessantly encrusted by the condensation of vapour.
+
+About forty-five minutes past five in the evening, Nicholl, armed with
+his glass, sighted towards the southern border of the moon, and in the
+direction followed by the projectile, some bright points cut upon the
+dark shield of the sky. They looked like a succession of sharp points
+lengthened into a tremulous line. They were very bright. Such appeared
+the terminal line of the moon when in one of her octants.
+
+They could not be mistaken. It was no longer a simple meteor. This
+luminous ridge had neither colour nor motion. Nor was it a volcano in
+eruption. And Barbicane did not hesitate to pronounce upon it.
+
+"The sun!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What! the sun?" answered Nicholl and Michel Ardan.
+
+"Yes, my friends, it is the radiant orb itself lighting up the summit
+of the mountains situated on the southern borders of the moon. We are
+evidently nearing the south pole."
+
+"After having passed the north pole," replied Michel. "We have made the
+circuit of our satellite, then?"
+
+"Yes, my good Michel."
+
+"Then, no more hyperbolas, no more parabolas, no more open curves to
+fear?"
+
+"No, but a _closed_ curve."
+
+"Which is called--"
+
+"An ellipse. Instead of losing itself in interplanetary space, it is
+probable that the projectile will describe an elliptical orbit around
+the moon."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"And that it will become _her_ satellite."
+
+"Moon of the moon!" cried Michel Ardan.
+
+"Only, I would have you observe, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane,
+"that we are none the less lost for that."
+
+"Yes, in another manner, and much more pleasantly," answered the careless
+Frenchman with his most amiable smile.
+
+
+Illustration: "LIGHT AND HEAT; ALL LIFE IS CONTAINED IN THEM."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVII.
+
+   TYCHO.
+
+
+At six in the evening the projectile passed the south pole at less than
+forty miles off, a distance equal to that already reached at the north
+pole. The elliptical curve was being rigidly carried out.
+
+At this moment the travellers once more entered the blessed rays of the
+sun. They saw once more those stars which move slowly from east to west.
+The radiant orb was saluted by a triple hurrah. With its light it also
+sent heat, which soon pierced the metal walls. The glass resumed its
+accustomed appearance. The layers of ice melted as if by enchantment; and
+immediately, for economy's sake, the gas was put out, the air apparatus
+alone consuming its usual quantity.
+
+"Ah!" said Nicholl, "these rays of heat are good. With what impatience
+must the Selenites wait the reappearance of the orb of day."
+
+"Yes," replied Michel Ardan, "imbibing as it were the brilliant ether,
+light and heat, all life is contained in them."
+
+At this moment the bottom of the projectile deviated somewhat from the
+lunar surface, in order to follow the slightly lengthened elliptical
+orbit. From this point, had the earth been at the full, Barbicane and
+his companions could have seen it, but immersed in the sun's irradiation
+she was quite invisible. Another spectacle attracted their attention,
+that of the southern part of the moon, brought by the glasses to within
+450 yards. They did not again leave the scuttles, and noted every detail
+of this fantastical continent.
+
+Mounts Doerfel and Leibnitz formed two separate groups very near the
+south pole. The first group extended from the pole to the eighty-fourth
+parallel, on the eastern part of the orb; the second occupied the eastern
+border, extending from the 65 deg. of latitude to the pole.
+
+On their capriciously formed ridge appeared dazzling sheets, as mentioned
+by Pere Secchi. With more certainty than the illustrious Roman astronomer,
+Barbicane was enabled to recognize their nature.
+
+"They are snow," he exclaimed.
+
+"Snow?" repeated Nicholl.
+
+"Yes, Nicholl, snow; the surface of which is deeply frozen. See how they
+reflect the luminous rays. Cooled lava would never give out such intense
+reflection. There must then be water, there must be air on the moon. As
+little as you please, but the fact can no longer be contested." No, it
+could not be. And if ever Barbicane should see the earth again, his notes
+will bear witness to this great fact in his selenographic observations.
+
+These mountains of Doerfel and Leibnitz rose in the midst of plains of a
+medium extent, which were bounded by an indefinite succession of circles
+and annular ramparts. These two chains are the only ones met with in
+this region of circles. Comparatively but slightly marked, they throw up
+here and there some sharp points, the highest summit of which attains an
+altitude of 24,600 feet.
+
+But the projectile was high above all this landscape, and the projections
+disappeared in the intense brilliancy of the disc. And to the eyes of the
+travellers there reappeared that original aspect of the lunar landscapes,
+raw in tone, without gradation of colours, and without degrees of shadow,
+roughly black and white, from the want of diffusion of light.
+
+
+Illustration: HE DISTINGUISHED ALL THIS.
+
+
+But the sight of this desolate world did not fail to captivate them by its
+very strangeness. They were moving over this region as if they had been
+borne on the breath of some storm, watching heights defile under their
+feet, piercing the cavities with their eyes, going down into the rifts,
+climbing the ramparts, sounding these mysterious holes, and levelling all
+cracks. But no trace of vegetation, no appearance of cities; nothing but
+stratification, beds of lava, overflowings polished like immense mirrors,
+reflecting the sun's rays with overpowering brilliancy. Nothing belonging
+to a _living_ world--everything to a dead world, where avalanches,
+rolling from the summits of the mountains, would disperse noiselessly at
+the bottom of the abyss, retaining the motion, but wanting the sound. In
+any case it was the image of death, without its being possible even to
+say that life had ever existed there.
+
+Michel Ardan, however, thought he recognized a heap of ruins, to which
+he drew Barbicane's attention. It was about the 80th parallel, in 30 deg.
+longitude. This heap of stones, rather regularly placed, represented a
+vast fortress, overlooking a long rift, which in former days had served
+as a bed to the rivers of prehistorical times. Not far from that, rose
+to a height of 17,400 feet the annular mountain of Short, equal to the
+Asiatic Caucasus. Michel Ardan, with his accustomed ardour, maintained
+"the evidences" of his fortress. Beneath it he discerned the dismantled
+ramparts of a town; here the still intact arch of a portico, there two
+or three columns lying under their base; farther on, a succession of
+arches which must have supported the conduit of an aqueduct; in another
+part the sunken pillars of a gigantic bridge, run into the thickest parts
+of the rift. He distinguished all this, but with so much imagination in
+his glance, and through glasses so fantastical, that we must mistrust
+his observation. But who could affirm, who would dare to say, that the
+amiable fellow did not really see that which his two companions would
+not see?
+
+Moments were too precious to be sacrificed in idle discussion. The
+Selenite city, whether imaginary or not, had already disappeared afar off.
+The distance of the projectile from the lunar disc was on the increase,
+and the details of the soil were being lost in a confused jumble. The
+reliefs, the circles, the craters and plains alone remained, and still
+showed their boundary lines distinctly. At this moment, to the left,
+lay extended one of the finest circles of lunar orography, one of the
+curiosities of this continent. It was Newton, which Barbicane recognized
+without trouble, by referring to the _Mappa Selenographica_.
+
+Newton is situated in exactly 77 deg. south lat., and 16 deg. east long.
+It forms an annular crater, the ramparts of which, rising to a height of
+21,300 feet, seemed to be impassable.
+
+Barbicane made his companions observe that the height of this mountain
+above the surrounding plain was far from equalling the depth of its
+crater. This enormous hole was beyond all measurement, and formed a
+gloomy abyss, the bottom of which the sun's rays could never reach.
+There, according to Humboldt, reigns utter darkness, which the light of
+the sun and the earth cannot break. Mythologists could well have made it
+the mouth of hell.
+
+"Newton," said Barbicane, "is the most perfect type of these annular
+mountains, of which the earth possesses no sample. They prove that
+the moon's formation, by means of cooling, is due to violent causes;
+for whilst under the pressure of internal fires the reliefs rise to
+considerable height, the depths withdraw far below the lunar level."
+
+"I do not dispute the fact," replied Michel Ardan.
+
+Some minutes after passing Newton, the projectile directly overlooked
+the annular mountain of Moret. It skirted at some distance the summits
+of Blancanus, and at about half-past seven in the evening reached the
+circle of Clavius.
+
+This circle, one of the most remarkable of the disc, is situated in 58
+deg. south lat., and 15 deg. east long. Its height is estimated at 22,950
+feet. The travellers, at a distance of twenty-four miles (reduced to four
+by their glasses), could admire this vast crater in its entirety.
+
+
+
+Illustration: CAN YOU PICTURE TO YOURSELVES?
+
+
+"Terrestrial volcanoes," said Barbicane, "are but molehills compared
+with those of the moon. Measuring the old craters formed by the first
+eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna, we find them little more than three miles
+in breadth. In France the circle of Cantal measures six miles across; at
+Ceyland the circle of the island is forty miles, which is considered the
+largest on the globe. What are these diameters against that of Clavius,
+which we overlook at this moment?"
+
+"What is its breadth?" asked Nicholl.
+
+"It is 150 miles," replied Barbicane. "This circle is certainly the most
+important on the moon, but many others measure 150, 100, or 75 miles."
+
+"Ah! my friends," exclaimed Michel, "can you picture to yourselves what
+this now peaceful orb of night must have been when its craters, filled
+with thunderings, vomited at the same time smoke and tongues of flame.
+What a wonderful spectacle then, and now what decay! This moon is nothing
+more than a thin carcase of fireworks, whose squibs, rockets, serpents
+and suns, after a superb brilliancy, have left but sadly broken cases.
+Who can say the cause, the reason, the motive force of these cataclysms?"
+
+Barbicane was not listening to Michel Ardan; he was contemplating those
+ramparts of Clavius, formed by large mountains spread over several
+miles. At the bottom of the immense cavity burrowed hundreds of small
+extinguished craters, riddling the soil like a colander, and overlooked
+by a peak 15,000 feet high.
+
+Around the plain appeared desolate. Nothing so arid as these reliefs,
+nothing so sad as these ruins of mountains, and (if we may so express
+ourselves) these fragments of peaks and mountains which strewed the soil.
+The satellite seemed to have burst at this spot.
+
+The projectile was still advancing, and this movement did not subside.
+Circles, craters, and uprooted mountains succeeded each other incessantly.
+No more plains; no more seas. A never-ending Switzerland and Norway. And
+lastly, in the centre of this region of crevasses, the most splendid
+mountain on the lunar disc, the dazzling Tycho, in which posterity will
+ever preserve the name of the illustrious Danish astronomer.
+
+In observing the full moon in a cloudless sky no one has failed to remark
+this brilliant point of the southern hemisphere. Michel Ardan used every
+metaphor that his imagination could supply to designate it by. To him this
+Tycho was a focus of light, a centre of irradiation, a crater vomiting
+rays. It was the tire of a brilliant wheel, an _asteria_ enclosing the
+disc with its silver tentacles, an enormous eye filled with flames, a
+glory carved for Pluto's head, a star launched by the Creator's hand,
+and crushed against the face of the moon!
+
+Tycho forms such a concentration of light that the inhabitants of the
+earth can see it without glasses, though at a distance of 240,000 miles!
+Imagine, then, its intensity to the eye of observers placed at a distance
+of only fifty miles! Seen through this pure ether, its brilliancy was so
+intolerable that Barbicane and his friends were obliged to blacken their
+glasses with the gas smoke before they could bear the splendour. Then
+silent, scarcely uttering an interjection of admiration, they gazed, they
+contemplated. All their feelings, all their impressions, were concentrated
+in that look, as under any violent emotion all life is concentrated at
+the heart.
+
+Tycho belongs to the system of radiating mountains, like Aristarchus
+and Copernicus; but it is of all the most complete and decided, showing
+unquestionably the frightful volcanic action to which the formation of
+the moon is due. Tycho is situated in 43 deg. south lat., and 12 deg. east
+long. Its centre is occupied by a crater fifty miles broad. It assumes
+a slightly elliptical form, and is surrounded by an enclosure of annular
+ramparts, which on the east and west overlook the outer plain from a
+height of 15,000 feet. It is a group of Mont Blancs, placed round one
+common centre and crowned by radiating beams.
+
+What this incomparable mountain really is, with all the projections
+converging towards it, and the interior excrescences of its crater,
+photography itself could never represent. Indeed, it is during the full
+moon that Tycho is seen in all its splendour. Then all shadows disappear,
+the foreshortening of perspective disappears, and all proofs become
+white--a disagreeable fact; for this strange region would have been
+marvellous if reproduced with photographic exactness. It is but a group
+of hollows, craters, circles, a network of crests; then, as far as the
+eye could see, a whole volcanic network cast upon this encrusted soil.
+One can then understand that the bubbles of this central eruption have
+kept their first form. Crystallized by cooling, they have stereotyped
+that aspect which the moon formerly presented when under the Plutonian
+forces.
+
+The distance which separated the travellers from the annular summits of
+Tycho was not so great but that they could catch the principal details.
+Even on the causeway forming the fortifications of Tycho, the mountains
+hanging on to the interior and exterior sloping flanks rose in stories
+like gigantic terraces. They appeared to be higher by 300 or 400 feet
+to the west than to the east. No system of terrestrial encampment could
+equal these natural fortifications. A town built at the bottom of this
+circular cavity would have been utterly inaccessible.
+
+Inaccessible and wonderfully extended over this soil covered with
+picturesque projections! Indeed, nature had not left the bottom of
+this crater flat and empty. It possessed its own peculiar orography, a
+mountainous system, making it a world in itself. The travellers could
+distinguish clearly cones, central hills, remarkable positions of the soil,
+naturally placed to receive the chefs-d'oeuvre of Selenite architecture.
+There was marked out the place for a temple, here the ground of a forum,
+on this spot the plan of a palace, in another the plateau for a citadel;
+the whole overlooked by a central mountain of 1500 feet. A vast circle,
+in which ancient Rome could have been held in its entirety ten times
+over.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, enthusiastic at the sight; "what a grand
+town might be constructed within that ring of mountains! A quiet city,
+a peaceful refuge, beyond all human misery. How calm and isolated those
+misanthropes, those haters of humanity might live there, and all who have
+a distaste for social life!"
+
+"All! It would be too small for them," replied Barbicane simply.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+   GRAVE QUESTIONS.
+
+
+But the projectile had passed the enceinte of Tycho, and Barbicane and
+his two companions watched with scrupulous attention the brilliant rays
+which the celebrated mountain shed so curiously all over the horizon.
+
+What was this radiant glory? What geological phenomenon had designed
+these ardent beams? This question occupied Barbicane's mind.
+
+Under his eyes ran in all directions luminous furrows, raised at the edges
+and concave in the centre, some twelve miles, others thirty miles broad.
+These brilliant trains extended in some places to within 600 miles of
+Tycho, and seemed to cover, particularly towards the east, the northeast
+and the north, the half of the southern hemisphere. One of these jets
+extended as far as the circle of Neander, situated on the 40th meridian.
+Another by a slight curve furrowed the Sea of Nectar, breaking against
+the chain of Pyrenees, after a circuit of 800 miles. Others, towards the
+west, covered the Sea of Clouds and the Sea of Humours with a luminous
+network. What was the origin of these sparkling rays, which shone on the
+plains as well as on the reliefs, at whatever height they might be? All
+started from a common centre, the crater of Tycho. They sprang from him.
+Herschel attributed their brilliancy to currents of lava congealed by the
+cold; an opinion, however, which has not been generally adopted. Other
+astronomers have seen in these inexplicable rays a kind of _moraines_,
+rows of erratic blocks, which had been thrown up at the period of Tycho's
+formation.
+
+"And why not?" asked Nicholl of Barbicane, who was relating and rejecting
+these different opinions.
+
+"Because the regularity of these luminous lines, and the violence
+necessary to carry volcanic matter to such distances, is inexplicable."
+
+"Eh! by Jove!" replied Michel Ardan, "it seems easy enough to me to
+explain the origin of these rays."
+
+"Indeed?" said Barbicane.
+
+"Indeed," continued Michel. "It is enough to say that it is a vast star,
+similar to that produced by a ball or a stone thrown at a square of
+glass!"
+
+"Well!" replied Barbicane, smiling. "And what hand would be powerful
+enough to throw a ball to give such a shock as that?"
+
+"The hand is not necessary," answered Nicholl, not at all confounded;
+"and as to the stone, let us suppose it to be a comet."
+
+"Ah! those much-abused comets!" exclaimed Barbicane. "My brave Michel,
+your explanation is not bad; but your comet is useless. The shock which
+produced that rent must have come from the inside of the star. A violent
+contraction of the lunar crust, while cooling, might suffice to imprint
+this gigantic star."
+
+"A contraction! something like a lunar stomach-ache," said Michel Ardan.
+
+"Besides," added Barbicane, "this opinion is that of an English savant,
+Nasmyth, and it seems to me to sufficiently explain the radiation of
+these mountains."
+
+"That Nasmyth was no fool!" replied Michel.
+
+Long did the travellers, whom such a sight could never weary, admire
+the splendours of Tycho. Their projectile, saturated with luminous
+gleams in the double irradiation of sun and moon, must have appeared
+like an incandescent globe. They had passed suddenly from excessive cold
+to intense heat. Nature was thus preparing them to become Selenites.
+Become Selenites! That idea brought up once more the question of the
+habitability of the moon. After what they had seen, could the travellers
+solve it? Would they decide for or against it? Michel Ardan persuaded his
+two friends to form an opinion, and asked them directly if they thought
+that men and animals were represented in the lunar world.
+
+
+Illustration: A VIOLENT CONTRACTION OF THE LUNAR CRUST.
+
+
+"I think that we can answer," said Barbicane; "but according to my
+idea the question ought not to be put in that form. I ask it to be put
+differently."
+
+"Put it your own way," replied Michel.
+
+"Here it is," continued Barbicane. "The problem is a double one, and
+requires a double solution. Is the moon _habitable?_ Has the moon ever
+been _inhabitable?_"
+
+"Good!" replied Nicholl. "First let us see whether the moon is habitable."
+
+"To tell the truth, I know nothing about it," answered Michel.
+
+"And I answer in the negative," continued Barbicane. "In her actual
+state, with her surrounding atmosphere certainly very much reduced,
+her seas for the most part dried up, her insufficient supply of water
+restricted, vegetation, sudden alterations of cold and heat, her days
+and nights of 354 hours; the moon does not seem habitable to me, nor does
+she seem propitious to animal development, nor sufficient for the wants
+of existence as we understand it."
+
+"Agreed," replied Nicholl. "But is not the moon habitable for creatures
+differently organized from ourselves?"
+
+"That question is more difficult to answer, but I will try; and I ask
+Nicholl if _motion_ appears to him to be a necessary result of _life_,
+whatever be its organization?"
+
+"Without a doubt!" answered Nicholl.
+
+"Then, my worthy companion, I would answer that we have observed the
+lunar continent at a distance of 500 yards at most, and that nothing
+seemed to us to move on the moon's surface. The presence of any kind
+of life would have been betrayed by its attendant marks, such as divers
+buildings, and even by ruins. And what have we seen? Everywhere and always
+the geological works of nature, never the work of man. If, then, there
+exist representatives of the animal kingdom on the moon, they must have
+fled to those unfathomable cavities which the eye cannot reach; which
+I cannot admit, for they must have left traces of their passage on those
+plains which the atmosphere must cover, however slightly raised it may be.
+These traces are nowhere visible. There remains but one hypothesis, that
+of a living race to which motion, which is life, is foreign."
+
+"One might as well say, living creatures which do not live," replied
+Michel.
+
+"Just so," said Barbicane, "which for us has no meaning."
+
+"Then we may form our opinion?" said Michel.
+
+"Yes," replied Nicholl.
+
+"Very well," continued Michel Ardan, "the Scientific Commission assembled
+in the projectile of the Gun Club, after having founded their argument
+on facts recently observed, decide unanimously upon the question of the
+habitability of the moon--_'No!_ the moon is not habitable.'"
+
+This decision was consigned by President Barbicane to his notebook, where
+the process of the sitting of the 6th of December may be seen.
+
+"Now," said Nicholl, "let us attack the second question, an indispensable
+complement of the first. I ask the honourable Commission, if the moon is
+not habitable, has she ever been inhabited, Citizen Barbicane?"
+
+"My friends," replied Barbicane, "I did not undertake this journey in
+order to form an opinion on the past habitability of our satellite; but I
+will add that our personal observations only confirm me in this opinion.
+I believe, indeed I affirm, that the moon has been inhabited by a human
+race organized like our own; that she has produced animals anatomically
+formed like the terrestrial animals; but I add that these races, human
+or animal, have had their day, and are now for ever extinct!"
+
+"Then," asked Michel, "the moon must be older than the earth?"
+
+"No!" said Barbicane decidedly, "but a world which has grown old quicker,
+and whose formation and deformation have been more rapid. Relatively,
+the organizing force of matter has been much more violent in the interior
+of the moon than in the interior of the terrestrial globe. The actual
+state of this cracked twisted, and burst disc abundantly proves this.
+The moon and the earth were nothing but gaseous masses originally. These
+gases have passed into a liquid state under different influences, and
+the solid masses have been formed later. But most certainly our sphere
+was still gaseous or liquid, when the moon was solidified by cooling,
+and had become habitable."
+
+"I believe it," said Nicholl.
+
+"Then," continued Barbicane, "an atmosphere surrounded it, the waters
+contained within this gaseous envelope could not evaporate. Under the
+influence of air, water, light, solar heat, and central heat, vegetation
+took possession of the continents prepared to receive it, and certainly
+life showed itself about this period, for nature does not expend herself
+in vain; and a world so wonderfully formed for habitation must necessarily
+be inhabited.
+
+"But," said Nicholl, "many phenomena inherent in our satellite might
+cramp the expansion of the animal and vegetable kingdom. For example,
+its days and nights of 354 hours?"
+
+"At the terrestrial poles they last six months," said Michel.
+
+"An argument of little value, since the poles are not inhabited."
+
+"Let us observe, my friends," continued Barbicane, "that if in the actual
+state of the moon its long nights and long days created differences
+of temperature insupportable to organization, it was not so at the
+historical period of time. The atmosphere enveloped the disc with a
+fluid mantle; vapour deposited itself in the shape of clouds; this
+natural screen tempered the ardour of the solar rays, and retained the
+nocturnal radiation. Light, like heat, can diffuse itself in the air;
+hence an equality between the influences which no longer exists, now that
+that atmosphere has almost entirely disappeared. And now I am going to
+astonish you."
+
+"Astonish us?" said Michel Ardan.
+
+"I firmly believe that at the period when the moon was inhabited, the
+nights and days did not last 354 hours!"
+
+"And why?" asked Nicholl quickly.
+
+"Because most probably then the rotary motion of the moon upon her axis
+was not equal to her revolution, an equality which presents each part of
+her disc during fifteen days to the action of the solar rays."
+
+"Granted," replied Nicholl, "but why should not these two motions have
+been equal, as they are really so?"
+
+"Because that equality has only been determined by terrestrial attraction.
+And who can say that this attraction was powerful enough to alter the
+motion of the moon at that period when the earth was still fluid?"
+
+"Just so," replied Nicholl; "and who can say that the moon has always
+been a satellite of the earth?"
+
+"And who can say," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "that the moon did not exist
+before the earth?"
+
+Their imaginations carried them away into an indefinite field of
+hypothesis. Barbicane sought to restrain them.
+
+"Those speculations are too high," said he; "problems utterly insoluble.
+Do not let us enter upon them. Let us only admit the insufficiency of the
+primordial attraction; and then by the inequality of the two motions of
+rotation and revolution, the days and nights could have succeeded each
+other on the moon as they succeed each other on the earth. Besides, even
+without these conditions, life was possible."
+
+"And so," asked Michel Ardan, "humanity has disappeared from the moon?"
+
+"Yes," replied Barbicane, "after having doubtless remained persistently
+for millions of centuries; by degrees the atmosphere becoming rarefied,
+the disc became uninhabitable, as the terrestrial globe will one day
+become by cooling."
+
+"By cooling?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Barbicane; "as the internal fires became extinguished,
+and the incandescent matter concentrated itself, the lunar crust cooled.
+By degrees the consequences of these phenomena showed themselves in the
+disappearance of organized beings, and by the disappearance of vegetation.
+Soon the atmosphere was rarefied, probably withdrawn by terrestrial
+attraction; then aerial departure of respirable air, and disappearance
+of water by means of evaporation. At this period the moon becoming
+uninhabitable, was no longer inhabited. It was a dead world, such as we
+see it to-day."
+
+"And you say that the same fate is in store for the earth?"
+
+"Most probably."
+
+"But when?"
+
+"When the cooling of its crust shall have made it uninhabitable."
+
+"And have they calculated the time which our unfortunate sphere will take
+to cool?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And you know these calculations?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"But speak, then, my clumsy savant," exclaimed Michel Ardan, "for you
+make me boil with impatience!"
+
+"Very well, my good Michel," replied Barbicane quietly, "we know what
+diminution of temperature the earth undergoes in the lapse of a century.
+And according to certain calculations, this mean temperature will, after
+a period of 400,000 years, be brought down to zero!"
+
+"Four hundred thousand years!" exclaimed Michel. "Ah! I breathe again.
+Really I was frightened to hear you; I imagined that we had not more than
+50,000 years to live."
+
+Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at their companion's
+uneasiness. Then Nicholl, who wished to end the discussion, put the
+second question, which had just been considered again.
+
+"Has the moon been inhabited?" he asked.
+
+The answer was unanimously in the affirmative. But during this discussion,
+fruitful in somewhat hazardous theories, the projectile was rapidly
+leaving the moon; the lineaments faded away from the travellers' eyes,
+mountains were confused in the distance; and of all the wonderful,
+strange, and fantastical form of the earth's satellite, there soon
+remained nothing but the imperishable remembrance.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XIX.
+
+   A STRUGGLE AGAINST THE IMPOSSIBLE.
+
+
+For a long time Barbicane and his companions looked silently and sadly
+upon that world which they had only seen from a distance, as Moses saw
+the land of Canaan, and which they were leaving without a possibility of
+ever returning to it. The projectile's position with regard to the moon
+had altered, and the base was now turned to the earth.
+
+This change, which Barbicane verified, did not fail to surprise them.
+If the projectile was to gravitate round the satellite in an elliptical
+orbit, why was not its heaviest part turned towards it, as the moon turns
+hers to the earth? That was a difficult point.
+
+In watching the course of the projectile they could see that on leaving
+the moon it followed a course analogous to that traced in approaching
+her. It was describing a very long ellipse, which would most likely
+extend to the point of equal attraction, where the influences of the
+earth and its satellite are neutralized.
+
+Such was the conclusion which Barbicane very justly drew from facts
+already observed, a conviction which his two friends shared with him.
+
+"And when arrived at this dead point, what will become of us?" asked
+Michel Ardan.
+
+"We don't know," replied Barbicane.
+
+"But one can draw some hypotheses, I suppose?"
+
+"Two," answered Barbicane; "either the projectile's speed will be
+insufficient, and it will remain for immovable on this line of double
+attraction--"
+
+"I prefer the other hypothesis, whatever it may be," interrupted Michel.
+
+"Or," continued Barbicane, "its speed will be sufficient, and it will
+continue its elliptical course, to gravitate for ever around the orb of
+night."
+
+"A revolution not at all consoling," said Michel, "to pass to the state
+of humble servants to a moon whom we are accustomed to look upon as our
+own handmaid. So that is the fate in store for us?"
+
+Neither Barbicane nor Nicholl answered.
+
+"You do not answer," continued Michel impatiently.
+
+"There is nothing to answer," said Nicholl.
+
+"Is there nothing to try?"
+
+"No," answered Barbicane. "Do you pretend to fight against the impossible?"
+
+"Why not? Do one Frenchman and two Americans shrink from such a word?"
+
+"But what would you do?"
+
+"Subdue this motion which is bearing us away."
+
+"Subdue it?"
+
+"Yes," continued Michel, getting animated, "or else alter it, and employ
+it to the accomplishment of our own ends."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"That is your affair. If artillerymen are not masters of their projectile
+they are not artillerymen. If the projectile is to command the gunner,
+we had better ram the gunner into the gun. My faith! fine savants! who
+do not know what is to become of us after inducing me--"
+
+"Inducing you!" cried Barbicane and Nicholl. "Inducing you! What do you
+mean by that?"
+
+"No recrimination," said Michel. "I do not complain; the trip has pleased
+me, the projectile agrees with me; but let us do all that is humanly
+possible to do to fall somewhere, even if only on the moon."
+
+
+Illustration: AROUND THE PROJECTILE WERE THE OBJECTS WHICH
+   HAD BEEN THROWN OUT.
+
+
+"We ask no better, my worthy Michel," replied Barbicane, "but means fail
+us."
+
+"We cannot alter the motion of the projectile?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor diminish its speed?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Not even by lightening it, as they lighten an overloaded vessel?"
+
+"What would you throw out?" said Nicholl. "We have no ballast on board;
+and indeed it seems to me that if lightened it would go much quicker."
+
+"Slower."
+
+"Quicker."
+
+"Neither slower nor quicker," said Barbicane, wishing to make his two
+friends agree; "for we float in space, and must no longer consider
+specific weight."
+
+"Very well," cried Michel Ardan in a decided voice; "then there remains
+but one thing to do."
+
+"What is it?" said Nicholl.
+
+"Breakfast," answered the cool, audacious Frenchman, who always brought
+up this solution at the most difficult juncture.
+
+In any case, if this operation had no influence on the projectile's
+course, it could at least be tried without inconvenience, and even with
+success from a stomachic point of view. Certainly Michel had none but
+good ideas.
+
+They breakfasted then at two in the morning; the hour mattered little.
+Michel served his usual repast, crowned by a glorious bottle drawn from
+his private cellar. If ideas did not crowd on their brains, we must
+despair of the Chambertin of 1853. The repast finished, observations
+began again. Around the projectile, at an invariable distance, were
+the objects which had been thrown out. Evidently, in its translatory
+motion round the moon, it had not passed through any atmosphere, for
+the specific weight of these different objects would have checked their
+relative speed.
+
+On the side of the terrestrial sphere nothing was to be seen. The earth
+was but a day old, having been new the night before at twelve; and two
+days must elapse before its crescent, freed from the solar rays, would
+serve as a clock to the Selenites, as in its rotary movement each of its
+points after twenty-four hours repasses the same lunar meridian.
+
+On the moon's side the sight was different; the orb shone in all her
+splendour amidst innumerable constellations, whose purity could not be
+troubled by her rays. On the disc, the plains were already returning to
+the dark tint which is seen from the earth. The other part of the nimbus
+remained brilliant, and in the midst of this general brilliancy Tycho
+shone prominently like a sun.
+
+Barbicane had no means of estimating the projectile's speed, but
+reasoning showed that it must uniformly decrease, according to the laws of
+mechanical reasoning. Having admitted that the projectile was describing
+an orbit round the moon, this orbit must necessarily be elliptical;
+science proves that it must be so. No motive body circulating round an
+attracting body fails in this law. Every orbit described in space is
+elliptical. And why should the projectile of the Gun Club escape this
+natural arrangement? In elliptical orbits, the attracting body always
+occupies one of the foci; so that at one moment the satellite is nearer,
+and at another farther from the orb around which it gravitates. When the
+earth is nearest the sun she is in her perihelion; and in her aphelion
+at the farthest point. Speaking of the moon, she is nearest to the earth
+in her perigee, and farthest from it in her apogee. To use analogous
+expressions, with which the astronomers' language is enriched, if the
+projectile remains as a satellite of the moon, we must say that it is
+in its "aposelene" at its farthest point, and in its "periselene" at its
+nearest. In the latter case, the projectile would attain its maximum of
+speed; and in the former its minimum. It was evidently moving towards
+its aposelenitical point; and Barbicane had reason to think that its
+speed would decrease up to this point, and then increase by degrees as
+it neared the moon. This speed would even become _nil_, if this point
+joined that of equal attraction. Barbicane studied the consequences of
+these different situations, and thinking what inference he could draw
+from them, when he was roughly disturbed by a cry from Michel Ardan.
+
+"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "I must admit we are downright simpletons!"
+
+"I do not say we are not," replied Barbicane; "but why?"
+
+"Because we have a very simple means of checking this speed which is
+bearing us from the moon, and we do not use it!"
+
+"And what is the means?"
+
+"To use the recoil contained in our rockets."
+
+"Done!" said Nicholl.
+
+"We have not used this force yet," said Barbicane, "it is true, but we
+will do so."
+
+"When?" asked Michel.
+
+"When the time comes. Observe, my friends, that in the position occupied
+by the projectile, an oblique position with regard to the lunar disc,
+our rockets, in slightly altering its direction, might turn it from the
+moon instead of drawing it nearer?"
+
+"Just so," replied Michel.
+
+"Let us wait, then. By some inexplicable influence, the projectile is
+turning its base towards the earth. It is probable that at the point
+of equal attraction, its conical cap will be directed rigidly towards
+the moon; at that moment we may hope that its speed will be _nil_; then
+will be the moment to act, and with the influence of our rockets we may
+perhaps provoke a fall directly on the surface of the lunar disc."
+
+"Bravo!" said Michel. "What we did not do, what we could not do on our
+first passage at the dead point, because the projectile was then endowed
+with too great a speed."
+
+"Very well reasoned," said Nicholl.
+
+"Let us wait patiently," continued Barbicane. "Putting every chance on
+our side, and after having so much despaired, I may say I think that we
+shall gain our end."
+
+This conclusion was a signal for Michel Ardan's hips and hurrahs. And
+none of the audacious boobies remembered the question that they themselves
+had solved in the negative. No! the moon is not inhabited; no! the moon
+is probably not habitable. And yet they were going to try every thing to
+reach her.
+
+One single question remained to be solved. At what precise moment the
+projectile would reach the point of equal attraction, on which the
+travellers must play their last card. In order to calculate this to
+within a few seconds, Barbicane had only to refer to his notes, and
+to reckon the different heights taken on the lunar parallels. Thus the
+time necessary to travel over the distance between the dead point and
+the south pole would be equal to the distance separating the north pole
+from the dead point. The hours representing the time travelled over
+were carefully noted, and the calculation was easy. Barbicane found that
+this point would be reached at one in the morning on the night of the
+7th--8th of December. So that, if nothing interfered with its course,
+it would reach the given point in twenty-two hours.
+
+The rockets had primarily been placed to check the fall of the projectile
+upon the moon, and now they were going to employ them for a directly
+contrary purpose. In any case they were ready, and they had only to wait
+for the moment to set fire to them.
+
+"Since there is nothing else to be done," said Nicholl, "I make a
+proposition."
+
+"What is it?" asked Barbicane.
+
+"I propose to go to sleep."
+
+"What a motion!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
+
+"It is forty hours since we closed our eyes," said Nicholl. "Some hours
+of sleep will restore our strength."
+
+
+Illustration: "THESE PRACTICAL PEOPLE HAVE SOMETIMES MOST
+   OPPORTUNE IDEAS."
+
+
+"Never," interrupted Michel.
+
+"Well," continued Nicholl, "every one to his taste; I shall go to sleep."
+And stretching himself on the divan, he soon snored like a forty-eight
+pounder.
+
+"That Nicholl has a good deal of sense," said Barbicane, "presently I
+shall follow his example." Some moments after his continued base supported
+the captain's barytone.
+
+"Certainly," said Michel Ardan, finding himself alone, "these practical
+people have sometimes most opportune ideas."
+
+And with his long legs stretched out, and his great arms folded under
+his head, Michel slept in his turn.
+
+But this sleep could be neither peaceful nor lasting, the minds of these
+three men were too much occupied, and some hours after, about seven in
+the morning, all three were on foot at the same instant.
+
+The projectile was still leaving the moon, and turning its conical part
+more and more towards her.
+
+An explicable phenomenon, but one which happily served Barbicane's ends.
+
+Seventeen hours more, and the moment for action would have arrived.
+
+The day seemed long. However bold the travellers might be, they were
+greatly impressed by the approach of that moment which would decide
+all--either precipitate their fall on to the moon, or for ever chain
+them in an immutable orbit. They counted the hours as they passed too
+slow for their wish; Barbicane and Nicholl were obstinately plunged in
+their calculations, Michel going and coming between the narrow walls,
+and watching that impassive moon with a longing eye.
+
+At times recollections of the earth crossed their minds. They saw once
+more their friends of the Gun Club, and the dearest of all, J. T. Maston.
+At that moment, the honourable secretary must be filling his post on
+the Rocky Mountains. If he could see the projectile through the glass of
+his gigantic telescope, what would he think? After seeing it disappear
+behind the moon's south pole, he would see them reappear by the north
+pole! They must therefore be a satellite of a satellite! Had J. T. Maston
+given this unexpected news to the world? Was this the denouement of this
+great enterprise?
+
+But the day passed without incident. The terrestrial midnight arrived.
+The 8th of December was beginning. One hour more, and the point of equal
+attraction would be reached. What speed would then animate the projectile?
+They could not estimate it. But no error could vitiate Barbicane's
+calculations. At one in the morning this speed ought to be and would be
+_nil._
+
+Besides, another phenomenon would mark the projectile's stopping-point on
+the neutral line. At that spot the two attractions, lunar and terrestrial,
+would be annulled. Objects would "weigh" no more. This singular fact,
+which had surprised Barbicane and his companions so much in going, would
+be repeated on their return under the very same conditions. At this
+precise moment they must act.
+
+Already the projectile's conical top was sensibly turned towards the
+lunar disc, presented in such a way as to utilize the whole of the recoil
+produced by the pressure of the rocket apparatus. The chances were in
+favour of the travellers. If its speed was utterly annulled on this dead
+point, a decided movement towards the moon would suffice, however slight,
+to determine its fall.
+
+"Five minutes to one," said Nicholl.
+
+"All is ready," replied Michel Ardan, directing a lighted match to the
+flame of the gas.
+
+"Wait!" said Barbicane, holding his chronometer in his hand.
+
+At that moment weight had no effect. The travellers felt in themselves
+the entire disappearance of it. They were very near the neutral point,
+if they did not touch it.
+
+"One o'clock," said Barbicane.
+
+Michel Ardan applied the lighted match to a train in communication with
+the rockets. No detonation was heard in the inside, for there was no air.
+But, through the scuttles Barbicane saw a prolonged smoke, the flames of
+which were immediately extinguished.
+
+
+Illustration: ARDEN APPLIED THE LIGHTED MATCH.
+
+
+The projectile sustained a certain shock, which was sensibly felt in the
+interior.
+
+The three friends looked and listened without speaking, and scarcely
+breathing. One might have heard the beating of their hearts amidst this
+perfect silence.
+
+"Are we falling?" asked Michel Ardan, at length.
+
+"No," said Nicholl, "since the bottom of the projectile is not turning
+to the lunar disc!"
+
+At this moment, Barbicane, quitting the scuttle, turned to his two
+companions. He was frightfully pale, his forehead wrinkled, and his lips
+contracted.
+
+"We are falling!" said he.
+
+"Ah!" cried Michel Ardan, "on to the moon?"
+
+"On to the earth!"
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, adding philosophically, "well, when
+we came into this projectile we were very doubtful as to the ease with
+which we should get out of it!"
+
+And now this fearful fall had begun. The speed retained had borne the
+projectile beyond the dead point. The explosion of the rockets could not
+divert its course. This speed in going had carried it over the neutral
+line, and in returning had done the same thing. The laws of physics
+condemned _it to pass through every point which it had already gone
+through_. It was a terrible fall, from a height of 160,000 miles, and no
+springs to break it. According to the laws of gunnery, the projectile
+must strike the earth with a speed equal to that with which it left the
+mouth of the Columbiad, a speed of 16,000 yards in the last second.
+
+But to give some figures of comparison, it has been reckoned that an
+object thrown from the top of the towers of Notre Dame, the height of
+which is only 200 feet, will arrive on the pavement at a speed of 240
+miles per hour. Here the projectile must strike the earth with a speed
+of 115,200 miles per hour.
+
+"We are lost!" said Michel coolly.
+
+"Very well! if we die," answered Barbicane, with a sort of religious
+enthusiasm, "the result of our travels will be magnificently spread.
+It is His own secret that God will tell us! In the other life the soul
+will want to know nothing, either of machines or engines! It will be
+identified with eternal wisdom!"
+
+"In fact," interrupted Michel Ardan, "the whole of the other world may
+well console us for the loss of that inferior orb called the moon!"
+
+Barbicane crossed his arms on his breast, with a motion of sublime
+resignation, saying at the same time,--
+
+"The will of heaven be done!"
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XX.
+
+   THE SOUNDINGS OF THE "SUSQUEHANNA."
+
+
+"Well, lieutenant, and our soundings?"
+
+"I think, sir, that the operation is nearing its completion," replied
+Lieutenant Bronsfield. "But who would have thought of finding such a
+depth so near in shore, and only 200 miles from the American coast?"
+
+"Certainly, Bronsfield, there is a great depression," said Captain
+Blomsberry. "In this spot there is a submarine valley worn by Humboldt's
+current, which skirts the coast of America as far as the Straits of
+Magellan."
+
+"These great depths," continued the lieutenant, "are not favourable for
+laying telegraphic cables. A level bottom, like that supporting the
+American cable between Valentia and Newfoundland, is much better."
+
+"I agree with you, Bronsfield. With your permission, lieutenant, where
+are we now?"
+
+"Sir, at this moment we have 3508 fathoms of line out, and the ball which
+draws the sounding lead has not yet touched the bottom; for if so, it
+would have come up of itself."
+
+"Brook's apparatus is very ingenious," said Captain Blomsberry; "it gives
+us very exact soundings."
+
+"Touch!" cried at this moment one of the men at the fore-wheel, who was
+superintending the operation.
+
+The captain and the lieutenant mounted the quarter-deck. "What depth have
+we?" asked the captain.
+
+"Three thousand six hundred and twenty-seven fathoms," replied the
+lieutenant, entering it in his note-book.
+
+"Well, Bronsfield," said the captain, "I will take down the result. Now
+haul in the sounding line. It will be the work of some hours. In that time
+the engineer can light the furnaces, and we shall be ready to start as
+soon as you have finished. It is ten o'clock, and with your permission,
+lieutenant, I will turn in."
+
+"Do so, sir; do so!" replied the lieutenant obligingly.
+
+The captain of the "Susquehanna," as brave a man as need be, and the
+humble servant of his officers, returned to his cabin, took a brandy-grog,
+which earned for the steward no end of praise, and turned in, not without
+having complimented his servant upon his making beds, and slept a peaceful
+sleep.
+
+It was then ten at night. The eleventh day of the month of December was
+drawing to a close in a magnificent night.
+
+The "Susquehanna," a corvette of 500 horse-power, of the United States'
+navy, was occupied in taking soundings in the Pacific Ocean about
+200 miles off the American coast, following that long peninsula which
+stretches down the coast of New Mexico.
+
+The wind had dropped by degrees. There was no disturbance in the air.
+Their pennant hung motionless from the maintop-gallant-mast truck.
+
+Captain Jonathan Blomsberry (cousin-german of Colonel Blomsberry, one of
+the most ardent supporters of the Gun Club, who had married an aunt of
+the captain and daughter of an honourable Kentucky merchant,)--Captain
+Blomsberry could not have wished for finer weather in which to bring to
+a close his delicate operations of sounding. His corvette had not even
+felt the great tempest, which by sweeping away the groups of clouds on
+the Rocky Mountains, had allowed them to observe the course of the famous
+projectile.
+
+Everything went well, and with all the fervour of a Presbyterian, he did
+not forget to thank heaven for it. The series of soundings taken by the
+"Susquehanna," had for its aim the finding of a favourable spot for the
+laying of a submarine cable to connect the Hawaiian Islands with the
+coast of America.
+
+
+Illustration: "I FANCY I SEE THEM."
+
+
+It was a great undertaking, due to the instigation of a powerful company.
+Its managing director, the intelligent Cyrus Field, purposed even covering
+all the islands of Oceania with a vast electrical network, an immense
+enterprise, and one worthy of American genius.
+
+To the corvette Susquehanna had been confided the first operations of
+sounding. It was on the night of the 11th--12th of December, she was in
+exactly 27 deg. 7' north lat., and 41 deg. 37' west long., on the meridian
+of Washington.
+
+The moon, then in her last quarter, was beginning to rise above the
+horizon.
+
+After the departure of Captain Blomsberry, the lieutenant and some
+officers were standing together on the poop. On the appearance of
+the moon, their thoughts turned to that orb which the eyes of a whole
+hemisphere were contemplating. The best naval glasses could not have
+discovered the projectile wandering around its hemisphere, and yet all
+were pointed towards that brilliant disc which millions of eyes were
+looking at at the same moment.
+
+"They have been gone ten days," said Lieutenant Bronsfield at last. "What
+has become of them?"
+
+"They have arrived, lieutenant," exclaimed a young midshipman, "and
+they are doing what all travellers do when they arrive in a new country,
+taking a walk!"
+
+"Oh! I am sure of that, if you tell me so, my young friend," said
+Lieutenant Bronsfield, smiling.
+
+"But," continued another officer, "their arrival cannot be doubted.
+The projectile was to reach the moon when full on the 5th at midnight.
+We are now at the 11th of December, which makes six days. And in six
+times twenty-four hours, without darkness, one would have time to settle
+comfortably. I fancy I see my brave countrymen encamped at the bottom of
+some valley, on the borders of a Selenite stream, near a projectile half
+buried by its fall amidst volcanic rubbish, Captain Nicholl beginning
+his levelling operations, President Barbicane writing out his notes, and
+Michel Ardan embalming the lunar solitudes with the perfume of his--"
+
+"Yes! it must be so, it is so!" exclaimed the young midshipman, worked
+up to a pitch of enthusiasm by this ideal description of his superior
+officer.
+
+"I should like to believe it," replied the lieutenant, who was quite
+unmoved. "Unfortunately direct news from the lunar world is still
+wanting."
+
+"Beg pardon, lieutenant," said the midshipman, "but cannot President
+Barbicane write?"
+
+A burst of laughter greeted this answer.
+
+"No letters!" continued the young man quickly. "The postal administration
+has something to see to there."
+
+"Might it not be the telegraphic service that is at fault?" asked one of
+the officers ironically.
+
+"Not necessarily," replied the midshipman, not at all confused. "But it
+is very easy to set up a graphic communication with the earth."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By means of the telescope at Long's Peak. You know it brings the moon
+to within four miles of the Rocky Mountains, and that it shows objects on
+its surface of only nine feet in diameter. Very well; let our industrious
+friends construct a gigantic alphabet; let them write words three fathoms
+long, and sentences three miles long, and then they can send us news of
+themselves?"
+
+The young midshipman, who had a certain amount of imagination, was loudly
+applauded; Lieutenant Bronsfield allowing that the idea was possible,
+but observing that if by these means they could _receive_ news from the
+lunar world they could not send any from the terrestrial, unless the
+Selenites had instruments fit for taking distant observations at their
+disposal.
+
+"Evidently," said one of the officers; "but what has become of the
+travellers? what they have done, what they have seen, that above all
+must interest us. Besides, if the experiment has succeeded (which I do
+not doubt), they will try it again. The Columbiad is still sunk in the
+soil of Florida. It is now only a question of powder and shot; and every
+time the moon is at her zenith a cargo of visitors may be sent to her."
+
+"It is clear," replied Lieutenant Bronsfield, "that J. T. Maston will
+one day join his friends."
+
+"If he will have me," cried the midshipman, "I am ready!"
+
+"Oh! volunteers will not be wanting," answered Bronsfield; "and if it
+were allowed, half of the earth's inhabitants would emigrate to the
+moon!"
+
+This conversation between the officers of the Susquehanna was kept up
+until nearly one in the morning. We cannot say what blundering systems
+were broached, what inconsistent theories advanced by these bold spirits.
+Since Barbicane's attempt, nothing seemed impossible to the Americans.
+They had already designed an expedition, not only of savants, but of a
+whole colony towards the Selenite borders, and a complete army, consisting
+of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, to conquer the lunar world.
+
+At one in the morning, the hauling in of the sounding-line was not yet
+completed; 1670 fathoms were still out, which would entail some hours'
+work. According to the commander's orders, the fires had been lighted,
+and steam was being got up. The Susquehanna could have started that very
+instant.
+
+At that moment (it was seventeen minutes past one in the morning)
+Lieutenant Bronsfield was preparing to leave the watch and return to his
+cabin, when his attention was attracted by a distant hissing noise. His
+comrades and himself first thought that this hissing was caused by the
+letting off of steam; but lifting their heads, they found that the noise
+was produced in the highest regions of the air. They had not time to
+question each other before the hissing became frightfully intense, and
+suddenly there appeared to their dazzled eyes an enormous meteor, ignited
+by the rapidity of its course and its friction through the atmospheric
+strata.
+
+This fiery mass grew larger to their eyes, and fell, with the noise
+of thunder, upon the bowsprit, which it smashed close to the stem, and
+buried itself in the waves with a deafening roar!
+
+A few feet nearer, and the Susquehanna would have foundered with all on
+board!
+
+At this instant Captain Blomsberry appeared, half dressed, and rushing on
+to the forecastle-deck, whither all the officers had hurried, exclaimed,
+"With your permission, gentlemen, what has happened?"
+
+And the midshipman, making himself as it were the echo of the body,
+cried, "Commander, it is 'they' come back again!"
+
+
+Illustration: A FEW FEET NEARER.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXI.
+
+   J. T. MASTON RECALLED.
+
+
+"It is 'they' come back again!" the young midshipman had said; and
+every one had understood him. No one doubted but that that meteor was
+the projectile of the Gun Club. As to the travellers which it enclosed,
+opinions were divided regarding their fate.
+
+"They are dead!" said one.
+
+"They are alive!" said another; "the crater is deep, and the shock was
+deadened."
+
+"But they must have wanted air," continued a third speaker; "they must
+have died of suffocation."
+
+"Burnt!" replied a fourth; "the projectile was nothing but an incandescent
+mass as it crossed the atmosphere."
+
+"What does it matter!" they exclaimed unanimously; "living or dead, we
+must pull them out!"
+
+But Captain Blomsberry had assembled his officers, and "with their
+permission," was holding a council. They must decide upon something
+to be done immediately. The more hasty ones were for fishing up the
+projectile. A difficult operation, though not an impossible one. But the
+corvette had no proper machinery, which must be both fixed and powerful;
+so it was resolved that they should put in at the nearest port, and give
+information to the Gun Club of the projectile's fall.
+
+This determination was unanimous. The choice of the port had to be
+discussed. The neighbouring coast had no anchorage on 27 deg. lat. Higher
+up, above the peninsula of Monterey, stands the important town from which
+it takes its name; but, seated on the borders of a perfect desert, it
+was not connected with the interior by a network of telegraphic wires,
+and electricity alone could spread these important news fast enough.
+
+Some degrees above opened the bay of San Francisco. Through the capital
+of the gold country communication would be easy with the heart of the
+Union. And in less than two days the "Susquehanna," by putting on high
+pressure, could arrive in that port. She must therefore start at once.
+
+The fires were made up; they could set off immediately. Two thousand
+fathoms of line were still out, which Captain Blomsberry, not wishing to
+lose precious time in hauling in, resolved to cut.
+
+"We will fasten the end to a buoy," said he, "and that buoy will show us
+the exact spot where the projectile fell."
+
+"Besides," replied Lieutenant Bronsfield, "we have our situation
+exact--27 deg. 7' north lat. and 41 deg. 37' west long."
+
+"Well, Mr. Bronsfield," replied the captain, "now, with your permission,
+we will have the line cut."
+
+A strong buoy, strengthened by a couple of spars, was thrown into the
+ocean. The end of the rope was carefully lashed to it; and, left solely
+to the rise and fall of the billows, the buoy would not sensibly deviate
+from the spot.
+
+At this moment the engineer sent to inform the captain that steam was
+up and they could start, for which agreeable communication the captain
+thanked him. The course was then given north-north-east, and the corvette,
+wearing, steered at full steam direct for San Francisco. It was three in
+the morning.
+
+Four hundred and fifty miles to cross; it was nothing for a good vessel
+like the "Susquehanna." In thirty-six hours she had covered that distance;
+and on the 14th of December, at twenty-seven minutes past one at night,
+she entered the bay of San Francisco.
+
+At the sight of a ship of the national navy arriving at full speed, with
+her bowsprit broken, public curiosity was greatly roused. A dense crowd
+soon assembled on the quay, waiting for them to disembark.
+
+After casting anchor, Captain Blomsberry and Lieutenant Bronsfield
+entered an eight-oared cutter, which soon brought them to land.
+
+They jumped on to the quay.
+
+"The telegraph?" they asked, without answering one of the thousand
+questions addressed to them.
+
+The officer of the port conducted them to the telegraph-office through
+a concourse of spectators. Blomsberry and Bronsfield entered, while the
+crowd crushed each other at the door.
+
+Some minutes later a fourfold telegram was sent out--the first to the
+Naval Secretary at Washington; the second to the Vice-President of the Gun
+Club, Baltimore; the third to the Hon. J. T. Maston, Long's Peak, Rocky
+Mountains; the fourth to the Sub-Director of the Cambridge Observatory,
+Massachusetts.
+
+It was worded as follows:--
+
+
+   "In 20 deg. 7' north lat., and 41 deg. 37' west long., on the 12th of
+   December, at 17 past one in the morning, the projectile of the
+   Columbiad fell into the Pacific. Send instructions.--Blomsberry,
+   Commander 'Susquehanna.'"
+
+
+Five minutes afterwards the whole town of San Francisco learned the news.
+Before six in the evening the different States of the Union had heard
+the great catastrophe; and after midnight, by the cable, the whole of
+Europe knew the result of the great American experiment.
+
+We will not attempt to picture the effect produced on the entire world
+by that unexpected denouement.
+
+On receipt of the telegram the Naval Secretary telegraphed to the
+Susquehanna to wait in the bay of San Francisco without extinguishing
+her fires. Day and night she must be ready to put to sea.
+
+The Cambridge Observatory called a special meeting; and, with that
+composure which distinguishes learned bodies in general, peacefully
+discussed the scientific bearings of the question. At the Gun Club there
+was an explosion. All the gunners were assembled. Vice-President the
+Hon. Wilcome was in the act of reading the premature despatch, in which
+J. T. Maston and Belfast announced that the projectile had just been
+seen in the gigantic reflector of Long's Peak, and also that it was held
+by lunar attraction, and was playing the part of under satellite to the
+lunar world.
+
+We know the truth on that point.
+
+But on the arrival of Blomsberry's despatch, so decidedly contradicting
+J. T. Maston's telegram, two parties were formed in the bosom of the Gun
+Club. On one side were those who admitted the fall of the projectile, and
+consequently the return of the travellers; on the other, those who believed
+in the observations of Long's Peak, concluded that the commander of the
+Susquehanna had made a mistake. To the latter the pretended projectile
+was nothing but a meteor! nothing but a meteor, a shooting globe, which
+in its fall had smashed the bows of the corvette. It was difficult to
+answer this argument, for the speed with which it was animated must have
+made observation very difficult. The commander of the Susquehanna and
+her officers might have made a mistake in all good faith; one argument
+however, was in their favour, namely, that if the projectile had fallen
+on the earth, its place of meeting with the terrestrial globe could only
+take place on this 27 deg. north lat., and (taking into consideration the
+time that had elapsed, and the rotary motion of the earth) between the
+forty-first and the forty-second degree of west longitude. In any case,
+it was decided in the Gun Club that Blomsberry brothers, Bilsby, and
+Major Elphinstone should go straight to San Francisco, and consult as to
+the means of raising the projectile from the depths of the ocean.
+
+These devoted men set off at once; and the railroad, which will soon
+cross the whole of central America, took them as far as St. Louis, where
+the swift mail-coaches awaited them. Almost at the same moment in which
+the Secretary of Marine, the Vice-President of the Gun Club, and the
+Sub-Director of the Observatory received the despatch from San Francisco,
+the Honourable J. T. Maston was undergoing the greatest excitement he
+had ever experienced in his life, an excitement which even the bursting
+of his pet gun, which had more than once nearly cost him his life, had
+not caused him. We may remember that the Secretary of the Gun Club had
+started soon after the projectile (and almost as quickly) for the station
+in Long's Peak, in the Rocky Mountains, J. Belfast, Director of the
+Cambridge Observatory, accompanying him. Arrived there, the two friends
+had installed themselves at once, never quitting the summit of their
+enormous telescope. We know that this gigantic instrument had been set up
+according to the reflecting system, called by the English "front view."
+This arrangement subjected all objects to but one reflection, making
+the view consequently much clearer; the result was that, when they were
+taking observations, J. T. Maston and Belfast were placed in the upper
+part of the instrument and not in the lower, which they reached by a
+circular staircase, a masterpiece of lightness, while below them opened
+a metal well terminated by the metallic mirror, which measured 280 feet
+in depth.
+
+It was on a narrow platform placed above the telescope that the two
+savants passed their existence, execrating the day which hid the moon
+from their eyes, and the clouds which obstinately veiled her during the
+night.
+
+What, then, was their delight when, after some days of waiting, on the
+night of the 5th of December, they saw the vehicle which was bearing their
+friends into space! To this delight succeeded a great deception, when,
+trusting to a cursory observation, they launched their first telegram
+to the world, erroneously affirming that the projectile had become a
+satellite of the moon, gravitating in an immutable orbit.
+
+From that moment it had never shown itself to their eyes--a disappearance
+all the more easily explained, as it was then passing behind the moon's
+invisible disc; but when it was time for it to reappear on the visible
+disc, one may imagine the impatience of the fuming J. T. Maston and his
+not less impatient companion. Each minute of the night they thought they
+saw the projectile once more, and they did not see it. Hence constant
+discussions and violent disputes between them, Belfast affirming that
+the projectile could not be seen, J. T. Maston maintaining that "it had
+put his eyes out."
+
+"It is the projectile!" repeated J. T. Maston.
+
+"No," answered Belfast; "it is an avalanche detached from a lunar
+mountain."
+
+"Well, we shall see it to-morrow."
+
+"No, we shall not see it any more. It is carried into space."
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"No!"
+
+And at these moments, when contradictions rained like hail, the well-known
+irritability of the Secretary of the Gun Club constituted a permanent
+danger for the Honorable Belfast. The existence of these two together
+would soon have become impossible; but an unforeseen event cut short
+their everlasting discussions.
+
+During the night, from the 14th to the 15th of December, the two
+irreconcilable friends were busy observing the lunar disc, J. T. Maston
+abusing the learned Belfast as usual, who was by his side; the Secretary
+of the Gun Club maintaining for the thousandth time that he had just seen
+the projectile, and adding that he could see Michel Ardan's face looking
+through one of the scuttles, at the same time enforcing his argument by
+a series of gestures which his formidable hook rendered very unpleasant.
+
+At this moment Belfast's servant appeared on the platform (it was
+ten at night) and gave him a despatch. It was the commander of the
+"Susquehanna's" telegram.
+
+Belfast tore the envelope and read, and uttered a cry.
+
+"What!" said J. T. Maston.
+
+
+Illustration: THE UNFORTUNATE MAN HAD DISAPPEARED.
+
+
+"The projectile!"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Has fallen to the earth!"
+
+Another cry, this time a perfect howl, answered him. He turned towards J.
+T. Maston. The unfortunate man, imprudently leaning over the metal tube,
+had disappeared in the immense telescope. A fall of 280 feet! Belfast,
+dismayed, rushed to the orifice of the reflector.
+
+He breathed. J. T. Maston, caught by his metal hook was holding on by
+one of the rings which bound the telescope together, uttering fearful
+cries.
+
+Belfast called. Help was brought, tackle was let down, and they hoisted
+up, not without some trouble, the imprudent Secretary of the Gun Club.
+
+He reappeared at the upper orifice without hurt.
+
+"Ah!" said he, "if I had broken the mirror?"
+
+"You would have paid for it," replied Belfast severely.
+
+"And that cursed projectile has fallen?" asked J. T. Maston.
+
+"Into the Pacific!"
+
+"Let us go!"
+
+A quarter of an hour after the two savants were descending the declivity
+of the Rocky Mountains; and two days after, at the same time as their
+friends of the Gun Club, they arrived at San Francisco, having killed
+five horses on the road.
+
+Elphinstone, the brothers Blomsberry, and Bilsby rushed towards them on
+their arrival.
+
+"What shall we do?" they exclaimed.
+
+"Fish up the projectile," replied J. T. Maston, "and the sooner the
+better."
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXII.
+
+   RECOVERED FROM THE SEA.
+
+
+The spot where the projectile sank under the waves was exactly known;
+but machinery to grasp it and bring it to the surface of the ocean was
+still wanting. It must first be invented, then made. American engineers
+could not be troubled with such trifles. The grappling-irons once fixed,
+by their help they were sure to raise it in spite of its weight, which
+was lessened by the density of the liquid in which it was plunged.
+
+But fishing-up the projectile was not the only thing to be thought of.
+They must act promptly in the interest of the travellers. No one doubted
+that they were still living.
+
+"Yes," repeated J. T. Maston incessantly, whose confidence gained over
+everybody, "our friends are clever people, and they cannot have fallen
+like simpletons. They are alive, quite alive; but we must make haste if
+we wish to find them so. Food and water do not trouble me; they have
+enough for a long while. But air, air, that is what they will soon want;
+so quick, quick!"
+
+And they did go quick. They fitted up the Susquehanna for her new
+destination. Her powerful machinery was brought to bear upon the
+hauling-chains. The aluminium projectile only weighed 19,250 lbs., a
+weight very inferior to that of the transatlantic cable which had been
+drawn up under similar conditions. The only difficulty was in fishing-up
+a cylindro-conical projectile, the walls of which were so smooth as to
+offer no hold for the hooks. On that account Engineer Murchison hastened
+to San Francisco, and had some enormous grappling-irons fixed on an
+automatic system, which would never let the projectile go if it once
+succeeded in seizing it in its powerful claws. Diving-dresses were also
+prepared, which through this impervious covering allowed the divers to
+observe the bottom of the sea. He also had put on board an apparatus
+of compressed air very cleverly designed. There were perfect chambers
+pierced with scuttles, which, with water let into certain compartments,
+could draw it down into great depths. These apparatuses were at San
+Francisco, where they had been used in the construction of a submarine
+breakwater; and very fortunately it was so, for there was no time to
+construct any. But in spite of the perfection of the machinery, in spite
+of the ingenuity of the savants entrusted with the use of them, the
+success of the operation was far from being certain. How great were the
+chances against them, the projectile being 20,000 feet under the water!
+And if even it was brought to the surface, how would the travellers
+have borne the terrible shock which 20,000 feet of water had perhaps
+not sufficiently broken? At any rate they must act quickly. J. T. Maston
+hurried the workmen day and night. He was ready to don the diving-dress
+himself, or try the air apparatus, in order to reconnoitre the situation
+of his courageous friends.
+
+But in spite of all diligence displayed in preparing the different
+engines, in spite of the considerable sum placed at the disposal of
+the Gun Club by the Government of the Union, five long days (five
+centuries!) elapsed before the preparations were complete. During this
+time public opinion was excited to the highest pitch. Telegrams were
+exchanged incessantly throughout the entire world by means of wires and
+electric cables. The saving of Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan was
+an international affair. Every one who had subscribed to the Gun Club
+was directly interested in the welfare of the travellers.
+
+At length the hauling-chains, the air-chambers, and the automatic
+grappling-irons were put on board. J. T. Maston, Engineer Murchison, and
+the delegates of the Gun Club, were already in their cabins. They had
+but to start, which they did on the 21st of December, at eight o'clock
+at night, the corvette meeting with a beautiful sea, a north-easterly
+wind, and rather sharp cold. The whole population of San Francisco was
+gathered on the quay, greatly excited but silent, reserving their hurrahs
+for the return. Steam was fully up, and the screw of the Susquehanna
+carried them briskly out of the bay.
+
+It is needless to relate the conversations on board between the officers,
+sailors, and passengers. All these men had but one thought. All these
+hearts beat under the same emotion. Whilst they were hastening to help
+them, what were Barbicane and his companions doing? What had become
+of them? Were they able to attempt any bold maneuver to regain their
+liberty? None could say. The truth is that every attempt must have
+failed! Immersed nearly four miles under the ocean, this metal prison
+defied every effort of its prisoners.
+
+On the 23rd inst., at eight in the morning, after a rapid passage, the
+Susquehanna was due at the fatal spot. They must wait till twelve to
+take the reckoning exactly. The buoy to which the sounding line had been
+lashed had not yet been recognized.
+
+At twelve, Captain Blomsberry, assisted by his officers who superintended
+the observations, took the reckoning in the presence of the delegates of
+the Gun Club. Then there was a moment of anxiety. Her position decided,
+the Susquehanna was found to be some minutes to westward of the spot
+where the projectile had disappeared beneath the waves.
+
+The ship's course was then changed so as to reach this exact point.
+
+At forty-seven minutes past twelve they reached the buoy, it was in
+perfect condition, and must have shifted but little.
+
+"At last!" exclaimed J. T. Maston.
+
+"Shall we begin?" asked Captain Blomsberry.
+
+"Without losing a second."
+
+
+Illustration: THE DESCENT BEGAN.
+
+
+Every precaution was taken to keep the corvette almost completely
+motionless. Before trying to seize the projectile, Engineer Murchison
+wanted to find its exact position at the bottom of the ocean. The
+submarine apparatus destined for this expedition was supplied with air.
+The working of these engines was not without danger, for at 20,000 feet
+below the surface of the water, and under such great pressure, they were
+exposed to fracture, the consequences of which would be dreadful.
+
+J. T. Maston, the Brothers Blomsberry, and Engineer Murchison, without
+heeding these dangers, took their places in the air-chamber. The
+commander, posted on his bridge, superintended the operation, ready to
+stop or haul in the chains on the slightest signal. The screw had been
+shipped, and the whole power of the machinery collected on the capstan
+would have quickly drawn the apparatus on board. The descent began at
+twenty-five minutes past one at night, and the chamber, drawn under by
+the reservoirs full of water, disappeared from the surface of the ocean.
+
+The emotion of the officers and sailors on board was now divided between
+the prisoners in the projectile and the prisoners in the submarine
+apparatus. As to the latter, they forgot themselves, and, glued to the
+windows of the scuttles, attentively watched the liquid mass through
+which they were passing.
+
+The descent was rapid. At seventeen minutes past two, J. T. Maston
+and his companions had reached the bottom of the Pacific; but they saw
+nothing but an arid desert, no longer animated by either fauna or flora.
+By the light of their lamps, furnished with powerful reflectors, they
+could see the dark beds of the ocean for a considerable extent of view,
+but the projectile was nowhere to be seen.
+
+The impatience of these bold divers cannot be described, and having an
+electrical communication with the corvette, they made a signal already
+agreed upon, and for the space of a mile the Susquehanna moved their
+chamber along some yards above the bottom.
+
+Thus they explored the whole submarine plain, deceived at every turn by
+optical illusions which almost broke their hearts. Here a rock, there a
+projection from the ground, seemed to be the much-sought-for projectile;
+but their mistake was soon discovered, and then they were in despair.
+
+"But where are they? where are they?" cried J. T. Maston. And the poor
+man called loudly upon Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan, as if his
+unfortunate friends could either hear or answer him through such an
+impenetrable medium! The search continued under these conditions until
+the vitiated air compelled the divers to ascend.
+
+The hauling in began about six in the evening, and was not ended before
+midnight.
+
+"To-morrow," said J. T. Maston, as he set foot on the bridge of the
+corvette.
+
+"Yes," answered Captain Blomsberry.
+
+"And on another spot?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+J. T. Maston did not doubt of their final success, but his companions,
+no longer upheld by the excitement of the first hours, understood all
+the difficulty of the enterprise. What seemed easy at San Francisco,
+seemed here in the wide ocean almost impossible. The chances of success
+diminished in rapid proportion; and it was from chance alone that the
+meeting with the projectile might be expected.
+
+The next day, the 24th, in spite of the fatigue of the previous day, the
+operation was renewed. The corvette advanced some minutes to westward,
+and the apparatus, provided with air, bore the same explorers to the
+depths of the ocean.
+
+The whole day passed in fruitless research; the bed of the sea was a
+desert. The 25th brought no other result, nor the 26th.
+
+It was disheartening. They thought of those unfortunates shut up in
+the projectile for twenty-six days. Perhaps at that moment they were
+experiencing the first approach of suffocation; that is, if they had
+escaped the dangers of their fall. The air was spent, and doubtless with
+the air all their _morale_.
+
+"The air, possibly," answered J. T. Maston resolutely, "but their _morale_
+never!"
+
+On the 28th, after two more days of search, all hope was gone. This
+projectile was but an atom in the immensity of the ocean. They must give
+up all idea of finding it.
+
+But J. T. Maston would not hear of going away. He would not abandon the
+place without at least discovering the tomb of his friends. But Commander
+Blomsberry could no longer persist, and in spite of the exclamations of
+the worthy Secretary, was obliged to give the order to sail.
+
+On the 29th of December, at nine a.m., the "Susquehanna," heading N.E.,
+resumed her course to the bay of San Francisco.
+
+It was ten in the morning; the corvette was under half steam, as if
+regretting to leave the spot where the catastrophe had taken place, when
+a sailor, perched on the maintop gallant crosstrees, watching the sea,
+cried suddenly,--
+
+"A buoy on the lee bow!"
+
+The officers looked in the direction indicated, and by the help of
+their glasses saw that the object signalled had the appearance of one
+of those buoys which are used to mark the passages of bays or rivers.
+But, singularly to say, a flag floating on the wind surmounted its cone,
+which emerged five or six feet out of water. This buoy shone under the
+rays of the sun as if it had been made of plates of silver. Commander
+Blomsberry, J. T. Maston, and the delegates of the Gun Club were mounted
+on the bridge, examining this object straying at random on
+the waves.
+
+All looked with feverish anxiety, but in silence. None dared give
+expression to the thoughts which came to the minds of all.
+
+The corvette approached to within two cables' lengths of the object.
+
+A shudder ran through the whole crew. That flag was the American flag!
+
+At this moment a perfect howling was heard; it was the brave J. T. Maston
+who had just fallen all in a heap. Forgetting on the one hand that his
+right arm had been replaced by an iron hook, and on the other that a
+simple gutta-percha cap covered his brain-box, he had given himself a
+formidable blow.
+
+They hurried towards him, picked him up, restored him to life. And what
+were his first words?
+
+"Ah! trebly brutes! quadruply idiots! quintuply boobies that we are!"
+
+"What is it?" exclaimed every one around him.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Come, speak!"
+
+"It is, simpletons," howled the terrible Secretary, "it is that the
+projectile only weighs 19,250 lbs.!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And that it displaces twenty-eight tons, or in other words 56,000 lbs.,
+and that consequently _it floats!_"
+
+Ah! what stress the worthy man laid on the verb "float!" And it was
+true! All, yes! all these savants had forgotten this fundamental law,
+namely, that on account of its specific lightness, the projectile, after
+having been drawn by its fall to the greatest depths of the ocean, must
+naturally return to the surface. And now it was floating quietly at the
+mercy of the waves.
+
+The boats were put to sea. J. T. Maston and his friends had rushed into
+them! Excitement was at its height! Every heart beat loudly whilst they
+advanced to the projectile. What did it contain? Living or dead? Living,
+yes! living, at least unless death had struck Barbicane and his two
+friends since they had hoisted the flag. Profound silence reigned on
+the boats. All were breathless. Eyes no longer saw. One of the scuttles
+of the projectile was open. Some pieces of glass remained in the frame,
+showing that it had been broken. This scuttle was actually five feet
+above the water.
+
+A boat came alongside, that of J. T. Maston, and J. T. Maston rushed to
+the broken window.
+
+At that moment they heard a clear and merry voice, the voice of Michel
+Ardan, exclaiming in an accent of triumph,--
+
+"White all, Barbicane, white all!"
+
+Barbicane, Michel Ardan, and Nicholl were playing at dominoes!
+
+
+Illustration: WHITE ALL BARBICANE.
+
+
+
+
+   CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+   THE END
+
+
+We may remember the intense sympathy which had accompanied the travellers
+on their departure. If at the beginning of the enterprise they had excited
+such emotion both in the old and new world, with what enthusiasm would
+they be received on their return! The millions of spectators which had
+beset the peninsula of Florida, would they not rush to meet these sublime
+adventurers? Those legions of strangers, hurrying from all parts of the
+globe towards the American shores, would they leave the Union without
+having seen Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan? No! and the ardent
+passion of the public was bound to respond worthily to the greatness of
+the enterprise. Human creatures who had left the terrestrial sphere, and
+returned after this strange voyage into celestial space, could not fail
+to be received as the prophet Elias would be if he came back to earth. To
+see them first, and then to hear them, such was the universal longing.
+
+Barbicane, Michel Ardan, Nicholl, and the delegates of the Gun Club,
+returning without delay to Baltimore, were received with indescribable
+enthusiasm. The notes of President Barbicane's voyage were ready to be
+given to the public. The _New York Herald_ bought the manuscript at a
+price not yet known, but which must have been very high. Indeed, during
+the publication of "A Journey to the Moon," the sale of this paper
+amounted to five millions of copies. Three days after the return of
+the travellers to the earth, the slightest detail of their expedition
+was known. There remained nothing more but to see the heroes of this
+superhuman enterprise.
+
+The expedition of Barbicane and his friends round the moon had enabled
+them to correct the many admitted theories regarding the terrestrial
+satellite. These savants had observed _de visu_, and under particular
+circumstances. They knew what systems should be rejected, what retained
+with regard to the formation of that orb, its origin, its habitability.
+Its past, present, and future had even given up their last secrets. Who
+could advance objections against conscientious observers, who at less
+than twenty-four miles distance had marked that curious mountain of
+Tycho, the strangest system of lunar orography? How answer those savants
+whose sight had penetrated the abyss of Pluto's circle? How contradict
+those bold ones whom the chances of their enterprise had borne over that
+invisible face of the disc, which no human eye until then had ever seen?
+It was now their turn to impose some limit on that Selenographic science,
+which had reconstructed the lunar world as Cuvier did the skeleton of a
+fossil, and say, "The moon _was_ this, a habitable world, inhabited before
+the earth! The moon _is_ that, a world uninhabitable, and now uninhabited."
+
+To celebrate the return of its most illustrious member and his two
+companions, the Gun Club decided upon giving a banquet, but a banquet
+worthy of the conquerors, worthy of the American people, and under such
+conditions that all the inhabitants of the Union could directly take part
+in it.
+
+All the head lines of railroads in the State were joined by flying rails;
+and on all the platforms, lined with the same flags, and decorated with
+the same ornaments, were tables laid and all served alike. At certain
+hours, successively calculated, marked by electric clocks which beat
+the seconds at the same time, the population were invited to take their
+place at the banquet tables. For four days, from the 5th to the 9th of
+January, the trains were stopped as they are on Sundays on the railways
+of the United States, and every road was open. One engine only at full
+speed, drawing a triumphal carriage, had the right of travelling for
+those four days on the railroads of the United States. The engine was
+manned by a driver and a stoker, and bore, by special favour, the Hon.
+J. T. Maston, Secretary of the Gun Club. The carriage was reserved for
+President Barbicane, Colonel Nicholl, and Michel Ardan. At the whistle
+of the driver, amid the hurrahs, and all the admiring vociferations
+of the American language, the train left the platform of Baltimore. It
+travelled at a speed of 160 miles in the hour. But what was this speed
+compared with that which had carried the three heroes from the mouth of
+the Columbiad?
+
+Thus they sped from one town to the other, finding whole populations
+at table on their road, saluting them with the same acclamations,
+lavishing the same bravos! They travelled in this way through the east
+of the Union, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine,
+and New Hampshire; the north and the west by New York, Ohio, Michigan,
+and Wisconsin; returning to the south by Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas,
+Texas, and Louisiana; they went to the southeast by Alabama and Florida,
+going up by Georgia and the Carolinas, visiting the centre by Tennessee,
+Kentucky, Virginia, and Indiana, and, after quitting the Washington
+station, re-entered Baltimore, where for four days one would have thought
+that the United States of America were seated at one immense banquet,
+saluting them simultaneously with the same hurrahs! The apotheosis was
+worthy of these three heroes whom fable would have placed in the rank of
+demigods.
+
+And now will this attempt, unprecedented in the annals of travels, lead
+to any practical result? Will direct communication with the moon ever be
+established? Will they ever lay the foundation of a travelling service
+through the solar world? Will they go from one planet to another, from
+Jupiter to Mercury, and after awhile from one star to another, from the
+Polar to Sirius? Will this means of locomotion allow us to visit those
+suns which swarm in the firmament?
+
+To such questions no answer can be given. But knowing the bold ingenuity
+of the Anglo-Saxon race, no one would be astonished if the Americans seek
+to make some use of President Barbicane's attempt.
+
+
+Illustration: THE APOTHEOSIS WAS WORTHY OF THE THREE HEROES.
+
+
+Thus, some time after the return of the travellers, the public received
+with marked favour the announcement of a company, limited, with a capital
+of a hundred million of dollars, divided into a hundred thousand shares
+of a thousand dollars each, under the name of the "_National Company
+of Interstellary Communication._" President Barbicane; Vice-president,
+Captain Nicholl; Secretary, J. T. Maston; Director of Movements, Michel
+Ardan.
+
+And as it is part of the American temperament to foresee everything in
+business, even failure, the Honourable Harry Trolloppe, judge commissioner,
+and Francis Drayton, magistrate, were nominated beforehand!
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor inconsistencies in the spelling of character names have been
+regularized.
+
+The spelling of the names of historical scientists "Boeer and Moedler"
+have been regularized to be consistent as possible with the author's
+inconsistent spelling, which today are spelled variously but perhaps
+most commonly "Beer and Moedler".
+
+Obvious minor typesetting errors have been silently corrected.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, DIRECT
+IN NINETY-SEVEN HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES: AND A TRIP ROUND IT***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 44278.txt or 44278.zip *******
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