On the 10th no change.  J.T.  Maston nearly went mad, and fears were entertained for his brain until then so well preserved in its gutta-percha cranium.

But on the 11th one of those frightful tempests peculiar to tropical regions was let loose in the atmosphere.  Terrific east winds swept away the clouds which had been so long there, and in the evening the half-disc of the moon rode majestically amidst the limpid constellations of the sky.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A NEW STAR.

That same night the news so impatiently expected burst like a thunderbolt over the United States of the Union, and thence darting across the Atlantic it ran along all the telegraphic wires of the globe.  The projectile had been perceived, thanks to the gigantic reflector of Long’s Peak.

The following is the notice drawn up by the director of the Cambridge Observatory.  It resumes the scientific conclusion of the great experiment made by the Gun Club:—­

“Long’s Peak, December 12th.

“To the Staff of the Cambridge Observatory.

“The projectile hurled by the Columbiad of Stony Hill was perceived by Messrs. Belfast and J.T.  Maston on the 12th of December at 8.47 p.m., the moon having entered her last quarter.

“The projectile has not reached its goal.  It has deviated to the side, but near enough to be detained by lunar attraction.

“There its rectilinear movement changed to a circular one of extreme velocity, and it has been drawn round the moon in an elliptical orbit, and has become her satellite.

“We have not yet been able to determine the elements of this new star.  Neither its speed of translation or rotation is known.  The distance which separates it from the surface of the moon may be estimated at about 2,833 miles.

“Now two hypotheses may be taken into consideration as to a modification in this state of things:—­

“Either the attraction of the moon will end by drawing it towards her, and the travellers will reach the goal of their journey,

“Or the projectile, maintained in an immutable orbit, will gravitate round the lunar disc till the end of time.

“Observation will settle this point some day, but until now the experiment of the Gun Club has had no other result than that of providing our solar system with a new star.

“J BELFAST.”

What discussions this unexpected denouement gave rise to!  What a situation full of mystery the future reserved for the investigations of science!  Thanks to the courage and devotion of three men, this enterprise of sending a bullet to the moon, futile enough in appearance, had just had an immense result, the consequences of which are incalculable.  The travellers imprisoned in a new satellite, if they have not attained their end, form at least part of the lunar world; they gravitate around the Queen of Night, and for the first time human eyes can penetrate all her mysteries.  The names of Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan would be for ever celebrated in astronomical annals, for these bold explorers, desirous of widening the circle of human knowledge, had audaciously rushed into space, and had risked their lives in the strangest experiment of modern times.