“Millions of millions!” exclaimed Michel
Ardan; “then savants have measured and
counted these oscillations! All these figures,
friend Barbicane, are savants’ figures,
which reach the ear but say nothing to the mind.”
“But they are obliged to have recourse to figures.”
“No. It would be much better to compare.
A billion signifies nothing. An object of comparison
explains everything. Example—When you
tell me that Uranus is 76 times larger than the earth,
Saturn 900 times larger, Jupiter 1,300 times larger,
the sun 1,300,000 times larger, I am not much wiser.
So I much prefer the old comparisons of the Double
Liegoise that simply tells you, ’The sun
is a pumpkin two feet in diameter, Jupiter an orange,
Saturn a Blenheim apple, Neptune a large cherry, Uranus
a smaller cherry, the earth a pea, Venus a green pea,
Mars the head of a large pin, Mercury a grain of mustard,
and Juno, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas fine grains of
sand!’ Then I know what it means!”
After this tirade of Michel Ardan’s against
savants and their billions, which he delivered
without stopping to take breath, they set about burying
Satellite. He was to be thrown into space like
sailors throw a corpse into the sea.
As President Barbicane had recommended, they had to
act quickly so as to lose as little air as possible.
The bolts upon the right-hand port-hole were carefully
unscrewed, and an opening of about half a yard made,
whilst Michel prepared to hurl his dog into space.
The window, worked by a powerful lever, which conquered
the pressure of air in the interior upon the sides
of the projectile, moved upon its hinges, and Satellite
was thrown out. Scarcely a particle of air escaped,
and the operation succeeded so well that later on
Barbicane did not fear to get rid of all the useless
rubbish that encumbered the vehicle in the same way.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
On the 4th of December, at 5 a.m. by terrestrial reckoning,
the travellers awoke, having been fifty-four hours
on their journey. They had only been five hours
and forty minutes more than half the time assigned
for the accomplishment of their journey, but they had
come more than seven-tenths of the distance.
This peculiarity was due to their regularly-decreasing
speed.
When they looked at the earth through the port-light
at the bottom, it only looked like a black spot drowned
in the sun’s rays. No crescent or pale
light was now to be seen. The next day at midnight
the earth would be new at the precise moment when
the moon would be full. Above, the Queen of Night
was nearing the line followed by the projectile, so
as to meet it at the hour indicated. All around
the dark vault was studded with brilliant specks which
seemed to move slowly; but through the great distance
they were at their relative size did not seem to alter
much. The sun and the stars appeared exactly
as they do from the earth. The moon was considerably
enlarged; but the travellers’ not very powerful
telescopes did not as yet allow them to make very useful
observations on her surface, or to reconnoitre the
topographical or geological details.
