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tial velocity of twelve thousand yards per we will make our ball nine feet in diamsecond, and it would certainly reach eter." the moon, provided the cannon was pointed properly. Then the meeting adjourned.

It was determined, after a vast amount of additional scientific calculation by the Gun Club, to fire the ball from some point between the Equator and 28° north or south of the Equator, to point the cannon directly at the zenith and to fire it precisely at thirteen minutes and twenty seconds of eleven o'clock, A.M., on the first day of the next December.

An Executive Committee of the Gun Club held a meeting at the house of President Barbicane, October 8. The matter of the ball was the first thing to be settled. Of what should they make it? How big should it be? And what shape should it have? J. T. Maston was wild with enthusiasm, and, waving in the air his iron hook, with a pen screwed into it, he made a speech full of eloquent figures. J. T. Maston was great on figures; not only figures of speech, but numerical figures. He liked nothing better than to lie awake at night, and calculate with what rapidity a ball weighing three quarters of a certain weight, and moving with a velocity equal to seventeen-nineteenths of some other velocity, would pass over a distance equal to thirteen hundred times the square root of some other distance. And, when he made speeches before the committee he introduced all these calculations.

But the President was a much more practical man. He could perceive in an instant exactly what he wanted, and he settled the question of the size of the ball without any trouble. "You will understand," said he, " that it will be of no use for us to fire a ball at the Moon if we are not able to see whether it gets there or not. So the ball must be big enough for us to see it all the way. Now, with the largest telescope that we are able to make, the smallest object visible on the Moon is sixty feet in diameter."

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Well, then, our ball must be sixty feet in diameter!" cried J. T. Maston.

"No, that will not be necessary," said the President, if we place a telescope on a very high mountain, the atmosphere will be so much rarer that we will be able to see objects on the Moon only nine feet in diameter."

"Splendid!" cried J. T. Maston. "Then

So this matter was settled.

There was now a discussion upon the weight of the ball. Some of the Committee thought a ball nine feet in diameter would be very heavy. The President conceded this fact, especially if the ball were solid, "but," said he, "it will be hollow."

"Hurrah!" cried J. T. Maston. "We will put dispatches in it, and samples of the exports of the United States, with the price list for the current month."

But even this ball, with comparatively thin sides, if made of cast-iron, would be too heavy for the initial velocity intended. to give it. So the Committee went to work to calculate what some other metals would weigh. After spending some time in extracting cube-roots, and elevating xs and ns to the second power, they came to a triumphant conclusion. They would make the ball of aluminum ! They calculated that a ball of that metal would only cost $173,250.

"Hurrah!" cried J. T. Maston, "I didn't think we could get a ball so cheap as that."

At the next session of the Committee the question of the cannon was considered. It was unanimously agreed that it would require a large cannon to carry a ball nine feet in diameter; and, as the cannon of the Gun Club must throw its ball 257,542 miles, so it was evident it would have to be pretty long.

"Yes, indeed," cried J. T. Maston. "Our cannon must be half-a-mile long at the very least!"

"Half-a-mile!" exclaimed the Committee, in astonishment.

"Yes," cried J. T. Maston, "and then it will be too short by at least one-half."

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"I know it," said the President; "for, if we constructed our cannon according to those proportions, it would only be two hundred and twenty-five feet long."

"Perfectly ridiculous!" cried J. T. Maston. "You might as well take a pistol!" "Just so," answered the President, "and for that reason I propose to make our cannon nine hundred feet long."

This was agreed to, and the length of the cannon was settled. It was then determined that the sides should be six feet thick.

"You will probably not mount it on a carriage?" said one of the Committee. "Oh, that would be grand," said J. T. Maston.

"But impracticable," said the President. "I shall cast the gun in the ground, and it will thus have all the resistance of the earth around it."

It was, subsequently, determined to make the cannon of cast-iron, and it was believed that such a gun, perpendicularly and solidly set in the earth, would not be likely to burst.

The Committee then went to work to calculate the weight of a cast-iron cannon, nine hundred feet long, with a bore nine feet in diameter, and with sides six feet thick; and soon ascertained that the cannon would weigh 68,040 tons, and would cost, at two cents a pound, $2,721,600. So this little matter was also settled.

The next day the powder question was before the Committee. One of the members, Major Elphistone, who had had charge of Government gunpowder during the war, and who was therefore supposed to know all about the matter, made a short address. "Now," said he, "a twenty-four pound ball is fired by sixteen pounds of powder. The Armstrong cannon requires seventyfive pounds of powder for an eight hundred pound ball, and the Rodman Columbiad sends a half ton ball six miles with a hundred and sixty pounds of powder. So, you see, the necessary proportion of powder diminishes as the size of the ball in creases."

"I see that," said J. T. Maston, "and if you only make your ball big enough we won't want any powder at all."

The Committee smiled, and the major then stated that he had calculated that the weight of powder necessary in their cannon would be equal to one-tenth the weight of the ball, and it will therefore require 500,ooo pounds of powder.

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"Better have 800,000 pounds," cried J. T. Maston.

The idea of this enormous mass of powder was so impressive and awful, that the Committee, for a few moments, sat in silence. But they were still more astonished when the President directly announced that in his opinion 800,000 pounds would not be enough.

"We will want the force of twice as much powder," said he.

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That will never do!" cried J T. Maston, "never do! 1,600,000 pounds of powder will occupy a space of 22,000 cubic feet and, as the cannon will only hold 54,ooo cubic feet, your powder will nearly half fill it, and there won't be room enough left to give the ball a decent start."

"I know all that," said the President, "and I do not intend to use that much powder-I only want the force of that quantity, and so I propose that, instead of powder, we use gun-cotton, of which 400,000 pounds will be equal to 1,600,000 pounds of powder, and it will occupy so little space that the ball will have more than seven hundred feet to run before taking its grand flight towards the Queen of Night." And so the powder question was settled.

Among the 40,000,000 inhabitants of the United States there was but one man who doubted the success of the great scheme of the Gun Club. This man was Captain Nichol, and he lived in Philadelphia. It was natural for him to be an enemy to the Gun Club, for he was a manufacturer of armor-plates. During the whole war, whenever the artillerists invented a new projectile, or an unusually powerful cannon, Nichol invented a new armor-plate. Whenever Nichol dreamed, President Barbicane of the Gun Club appeared to him in the form of a conical ball which pierced him through and through. And whenever Barbicane dreamed, he saw Nichol in the shape of an immense iron-clad against the impenetrable sides of which he was obliged to batter his unfortunate head. Nichol was on particularly bad terms with Barbicane, because, on the very day on which peace was declared, the former had finished a plate of an entirely new kind of steel armor, and, though he dared the President of the Gun Club, to fire at it his best cannon and his most perfect ball, the proposition was declined. Nichol waxed extremely angry at this, and offered Barbicane the most astounding advantages. He propos

4th. That the cannon would burst at the first fire,

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5th. That the ball would only go about six miles, and would come tumbling back in a few seconds

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3d. That they could not load the cannon, and that the gun-cotton would go off of its own accord before they were ready,

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One question now remained to be decided, and that was-Where should the experiment be tried? The Gun Club held a meeting to consider this subject, and it was agreed that the southern portions of Texas and of Florida lay beyond the twenty-eighth parallel of latitude, and that any place in those sections would answer the purpose.

The question was settled on this basis, and the consequence was that there arose an unparalleled rivalry between the cities. of southern Texas and Florida. The whole country was agitated by the controversy. The newspapers and periodicals took it up, Such publications as the New York Herald, the Philadelphia Post, and the Riverside Magazine sustained Texas, while the Washington Chronicle, the New York Tribune, and the Newark Register stood up boldly for Florida.

The matter became embarrassing. Awar between Florida and Texas was threatened. At last Barbicane settled the matter. "Texas," said he, "has, at least, eleven cities which will answer our purpose very well. Now, if we decide in favor of Texas, those eleven cities will be fighting for the honor of the enterprise. There is but one town in Florida suitably situated; so, let us go for Florida and the town of Tampa!"

The Texas party was disgusted. "A little place like Florida," said their principal organ, "almost an island, squeezed between two seas, will never be able to resist the tremendous concussion, and will be blown away the instant the cannon is fired!"

"All right!" said the Floridians, "let. her blow!"

It now became necessary to raise the money for this great work, and subscription-books were opened in all the principal cities of the Union, and also in various foreign countries.

The total subscriptions from all parts of the world, counting nothing from England, -where not a farthing was subscribed, as the English people expected to have to

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pay the Alabama claims,-amounted to $5,446,675.

Captain Nichol now paid his first wager, one thousand dollars.

On the twentieth of October a contract was made with the Cold Spring Iron Works, near New York, for the transportation of the materials to Tampa, Florida, and for casting there the great gun. It was stipulated that the cannon should be finished, and in perfect order for firing, on the fifteenth of the following October, under forfeiture of one hundred dollars a day until the moon should present herself in the same favorable conditions, which would be in eighteen years and eleven days.

President Barbicane placed at the disposal of the Observatory of Cambridge the necessary funds for the construction of an enormous telescope, and contracted with

the house of Breadwill & Co., of Albany, for the manufacture of the hollow ball of aluminum; and, then, accompanied by J. T. Maston, Major Elphistone of the Gun Club, and J. Murphison, director of the Cold Spring Iron Works, he started for Florida, and arrived at Tampa on the twenty-second of October. But the President of the Gun Club and his companions did not remain long in this little town. They explored the surrounding country and soon selected a suitable location for their operations.

This place was called Stone's Hill and was situated 1920 feet above the level of the sea, in latitude 27° 7', and 5° 7' West longitude. "It is from here," said Barbacane, stamping upon the summit of the hill, "that the projectile of the Gun Club shall take its flight into the depth of the Solar System.".

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EXCAVATING THE PIT FOR THE GREAT CANNON.

This was putting the matter rather strongly, because the ball was only intended to go to the Moon-but it sounded well.

Eight days after this a fleet of steamers arrived at Tampa laden with the material for the great gun and with fifteen hundred workmen. The little town became populous, not only with these, but with thousands of inquisitive persons who gathered from all parts of the country to watch this great undertaking. A railroad was built from Tampa to Stone's Hill, and, in a short time, a village of workmen's houses arose at the latter place. Barbicane was everywhere, and J. T. Maston was with him.

On the 4th of November the works were commenced. By the light of the sun during the day, and under a great electric light at night, the pick and shovel and the steam-engines never ceased to work; and on the roth of June, twenty days inside of the date fixed upon, the well with its lining of masonry had reached the desired depth of nine hundred feet, the stone-work resting on a rock bottom, thirty feet deep.

While the great well had been in course of construction preparations had been making for casting the cannon.

In a wide circle around the open top of the well had been built twelve hundred reverberatory furnaces. These furnaces charmed our old friend J. T. Maston. He had never seen anything more beautiful, he said, not even in Greece, where, however, as he remarked, he had never been.

When the vast pit was finished, President Barbicane and his men went to work to build the great central core. This was to be a solid cylinder, nine hundred feet high, and nine feet in diameter, in other words, exactly the size of the bore of the great cannon.

When this cylinder was finished, a space of about six feet was left around it, between it and the sides of the wall. This space would be filled with the melted iron which was to form the cannon.

The ninth of July was the day appointed for casting, and the evening before each furnace had been charged with a hundred and fourteen thousand pounds of metal, and the fires lighted.

The black smoke covered the sky, and the roar of the furnaces resembled thunder. Barbicane and the Committee of the Gun Club stood on a hill near by, with a small cannon before them which was to be fired when the engineer should signal that all was ready.

Precisely at noon the cannon sounded from the hill.

At this moment twelve hundred valves were opened, and twelve hundred fiery serpents crawled towards the great well, hissing, and glistening, and writhing. Then they plunged, with a dreadful noise, nine hundred feet down. It was an awful spectacle. The earth shook, and clouds of steam escaping from the vents in the walls of the well rose up in a vast column three or four thousand feet high. At last all the melted metal had run into the mould. The Niagara of iron had ceased to flow.

Whether the casting had succeeded or not was a question that could not be determined immediately. Fifteen days after the casting the great cannon was still covered by a vast cloud of smoke, and the ground was so hot, three or four hundred feet from the mouth of the well, that no one could tread upon it. It was the 22nd of August before the ground had cooled sufficiently to allow anybody to approach the casting, and then the workmen, finding

that the interior core was sufficiently cool, proceeded to dig it out, and it was entirely removed by the 3rd of September. The bore was then drilled smooth, and everything was ready.

If the Moon only came along in time, and it was generally believed that she could be depended upon, there was no reason to expect anything but success.

As the cannon was now cast, Captain Nichol paid his second wager-two thousand dollars.

The great event of the casting attracted people from all parts of the country, and. the population of Tampa increased to a hundred and fifty thousand. Excursions were organized to the bottom of the cannon, and a steam elevator was kept going night and day. The proceeds from the sale of tickets for this trip amounted during the season to nearly five hundred thousand dollars.

On the 30th of September, at thirty-seven minutes past three in the afternoon, a telegram, by ocean cable, came to President Barbicane. This was the dispatch:

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Of course this proposition created the greatest excitement in the Gun Club, and throughout the United States. At first everybody treated the proposition with ridicule. Then they began to think about it, and President Barbicane actually wrote to the New York iron founders to defer the casting of the projectile until further orders.

On the twentieth of October the Atlanta arrived at Tampa, and in it was Michel Ardan. He was about forty-two years old, tall, vigorous, nervous, combative, earnest, eminently bold and audacious, and, above all, he was the first man in the solar system who had determined to make a trip from one planet to another. His reception was most enthusiastic, and, after he had shaken hands with about six thousand people he was obliged to retreat to the cabin of the steamer. And there Barbicane had an interview with him.

The President of the Gun Club found

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