Puslapio vaizdai
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"I am sure of that!" cried the Captain.

"Well then," said Michel Ardan, "this is the way we will settle it. Both of you take the trip with me, and then you will know certainly whether or not the ball will go to the Moon."

The two rivals looked at each other, and then they shook hands, and agreed to the proposition. J. T. Maston groaned. Nobody had asked him to go.

On the tenth of November, the great passenger-projectile arrived from New York. The great shell came by railway, and was received with delight and enthusiasm.

The inner walls of the projectile were covered with a thick lining of steel springs, and leather padding. Several small windows of enormously thick glass were constructed in the sides of the cone, an ingenious water-spring was constructed to counteract the initial shock at the moment of firing, and everything necessary for the comfort of the travelers was provided. There were receptacles for water and food, and there was a tank of gas sufthat the Frenchman was fully determined | ficient to light and warm them for six upon his project. He had occasion to go days. But there was one little difficulty to the Moon, he said, and here was an ex--they must breathe during the trip, cellent opportunity. He might have to wait a long time before another conveyance would offer itself.

THE INTERIOR OF THE PROJECTILE.

Finding the Frenchman so fully in earnest, Barbicane respected him. Nothing so thoroughly commands respect in this world as earnestness. What it commands in the Moon remained to be seen.

In the meantime a quarrel had arisen between Captain Nichol and Barbicane, and a duel was agreed upon. But on the field Ardan made a proposition.

"Friend Barbicane," he said, "believes that his projectile will go straight to the Moon."

"Certainly, I do," replied the President of the Gun Club.

And friend Nichol believes it will fall back on the earth?"

which it was calculated would last about four days. The oxygen inside the cell certainly would not last them very long. and the carbonic acid gas which they would expire would soon be sufficient to kill them. The question then amounted to this; the oxygen destroyed must be restored; the carbonic acid gas produced must be destroyed. All this is easy enough to do by means of chlorate of potash and caustic potash. The first of these, under a very high temperature gives out oxygen; the second absorbs carbonic acid; thus the valuable oxygen would be produced, and the destructive carbonic acid gas destroyed. The great chemists Messrs. Reiset and Regnault had demonstrated that this operation was easy enough. But as their experiments had only been

tried upon the lower animals, J. T. Maston offered to prove that it would be successful in the case of man..

"Since I cannot take the trip," he said, "shut me up in the shell for eight days. I will thus discover whether or not atmospheric air can be produced by artificial means."

The offer was accepted, and a sufficient quantity of the necessary chemicals, with food enough to last eight days, were placed inside of the shell; and on the twelfth of November, at six o'clock in the evening, J. T. Maston took leave of his friends, mounted the ladder, and disappeared through the aperture in the top of the cone. The cover was then screwed down tight. How he liked it inside it was impossible to know. The walls were so thick that nothing could be heard from him.

On the twentieth of November, precisely at six o'clock in the evening, the hole in the shell was opened. Maston's friends were naturally a little uneasy; but they were soon encouraged by a shout that came from the inside of the shell, and in a moment J. T. Maston appeared on the top of the cone in a triumphant attitude.

He had actually grown fat!

We must now go back a little in our story. On the twentieth of October of the preceding year sufficient money had been paid over to the University of Cambridge to construct a telescope large enough to observe the course of the projectile which was to be sent to the Moon.

And

There was no reason why such a telescope should not be constructed. There was money enough, there was iron enough, and brass enough, and glass enough. the Gun Club had faith enough and energy enough to do almost anything. And so, after great labors, and the most unheard of victories over mechanical difficulties, the telescope was finished. It was two hundred and eighty feet long, and sixteen feet in diameter.

The next question that arose was that of situation, and it was necessary to choose a high mountain. So the requisite materials were taken to one of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains. It was almost as difficult to set up this telescope in the position selected, as it had been to make it. It was necessary to transport enormous stones, weighty pieces of forged metal, heavy corner stones, the vast sections of the cylinder, and the object glass, which weighed itself nearly thirty thousand pounds, into

the region of eternal snow. But all difficulties were surmounted and, in less than a year from the commencement of the work, the great telescope sat proudly on the summit of the rocky peak.

It was now the twenty-second of November. In ten days the great event would take place. There was only one thing now to be done,and that was to load the cannon, and it was rather a delicate operation to stow away four hundred thousand pounds of gun-cotton. But Barbicane was equal to most difficulties, and he had this cannon loaded under his own eyes. The gun-cotton was brought from Pensacola by rail, ten great cartridges at a time, and these were carried to the mouth of the cannon by workmen in their bare feet. They were then lowered to their position by means of windlasses worked by hand. No steam engine was allowed to be used, and fires were forbidden within a distance of two miles. It was even necessary to guard against the heat of the sun, and so all the work was done at night by the light of an electric lamp. The cartridges were placed in order in the bottom of the cannon, and were all connected by wires in such a way that they could be exploded by means of an electric battery. All the wires were united in a single conductor, which ran through a hole in the side of the casting, and then through one of the vents in the stone lining, to the surface of the earth. There this wire was supported on telegraph posts for a distance of two miles, where it was connected with a powerful battery. All that was necessary then, when everything was in order, was to press a little button, and the four hundred thousand pounds of gun-cotton would be instantly ignited.

On the twenty-eighth of November the work of charging the cannon with guncotton was completed. Nothing now remained to be done but to lower the conical shell to its place in the great cannon. But, before this was done, the passenger-projectile was furnished for the journey; a number of thermometers and barometers were placed in a suitable case, and to facilitate their observations on arriving at the Moon, the travelers took with them Beer and Moedler's selenographic map, a most admirable publication which no traveler to the Moon should be without. The travelers also provided pistols, rifles, powder and shot, for there was no knowing what enemies they might meet; and spades, shovels,

saws, hammers and gimlets; for how could they be certain that they would not have to build themselves a lunar habitation?

Michel Ardan would have liked to have carried some animals. He did not desire to take snakes, or tigers, or alligators, for there might be nothing of the kind in the Moon, and he would not care to be the means of introducing them there. All he wanted to take with him was a horse, or an ox, or a cow or two. But Barbicane objected. He never had traveled with a cow on his lap, and he did not want to try it at his age. And so, although Ardan thought it would be a very nice thing to have fresh milk on the trip, it was agreed to take no animals but a couple of dogs.

Several bags of grain of different kinds were packed away in the shell, and Michel Ardan was very anxious to carry along some earth to sow them in. This was not allowed, but he took a bundle of young fruit trees of the most approved varieties, which were carefully wrapped in straw, for transplanting in lunar soil.

Besides all this, food enough for a year was packed in the projectile. There were also about fifty gallons of brandy, and water enough to last for two months. The travelers had no doubt they would find water on the Moon, and food too, for that matter. They were not so certain, however, about brandy.

Everything was now prepared. The great cone was brought to the cannon's mouth, and elevated by enormous windlasses. Here was delicacy and danger. If those chains had broken, the fall of such an immense mass would surely have exploded the gun-cotton, and the shell would have traveled Moon-ward without waiting for its passengers. But nothing untoward happened; and, after several hours' work, the shell was safely lowered to its proper position on the mass of gun-cotton.

As soon as this operation was satisfactorily completed, Captain Nichol paid to President Barbicane three thousand dollars, the amount of the third wager. Barbicane was not willing to receive the money under the circumstances, but Nichol insisted. He wished to pay all his debts before he left this world.

The first day of December now arrived -a very important day. For, if the passenger projectile were not started on its way to the Moon at exactly forty-six minutes and forty seconds after ten o'clock that evening, more than eighteen years would

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elapse before the Moon would again be found in the proper positions of zenith and perigee.

A perfectly enormous crowd surrounded Stone's Hill. From every portion of the United States, and from various parts of the old world, spectators were assembled.

About seven o'clock the Moon arose above the horizon. Grandly and brightly she mounted the skies, punctual to a minute to her appointment. Never did the Moon receive so magnificent a welcome. Cheer after cheer arose from five million throats. Every one was now wild with excitement. Before the applause which greeted the Moon had died away, the three lunar travelers appeared ready for their voyage. On their appearance the applause burst forth with redoubled force; and then, impelled by national enthusiasm, the whole crowd began to sing, in thundering chorus, the national air of Yankee Doodle.

At last the singing ceased; all sound died away, and everybody looked and listened. The three travelers now approached the mouth of the cannon. They shook hands Iwith their friends. It was a touching scene. J. T. Maston wept; and, at this last moment, implored to be allowed to go along. But Barbicane shook his head. It was impossible.

The three companions descended to the shell. They entered it, and screwed the plate over the orifice in the top. Then the windlasses and ladders were removed from the mouth of the cannon.

Everything was ready.

Two miles away, the civil engineer, Murchison, stood, with his finger over the button of the electric battery.

The silence became awful; people scarcely dared to breathe. Every eye was centered on the gaping mouth of the great gun.

Now there were, but forty seconds remaining. Each of these seemed an age. At the twentieth second the crowd fairly trembled with nervous excitement. Some people sobbed, some fainted. Then through the silence came the sound of counting: "thirty-five! thirty-six! thirty-seven!-thirty-eight!-thirty-nine! -forty! FIRE!!!"

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straight jet of fire sprang into the air, and seemed to pierce the very sky, and the whole country, for hundreds of miles, was lighted up. The ground shook as if an earthquake had rumbled beneath it. Not one of that vast assemblage remained upright men, women and children were hurled upon the ground together. The heated gas that arose from the mouth of the cannon in such vast quantities, created a partial vacuum, which was followed by an awful hurricane, which swept down every hut and tent in the vicinity, and every tree within twenty miles; and burst upon the town of Tampa, destroying hundreds of houses, among others St. Mary's Church and the new Exchange building. Great damage was also done to the shipping in the port, many vessels being torn from their anchorage and dashed upon the shore. Ships, even at

a great distance upon the ocean, felt the effects of this artificial storm, and the wreck of the Childe Harold, of Liverpool, which occurred in consequence of the hurricane, was made the subject of diplomatic remonstrances on the part of England, which came near producing war between that country and the United States.

When all was again quiet, and the people could once more stand erect, several millions of telescopes and opera-glasses were pointed towards the Moon. But they could not see the passenger projectile: it had passed entirely out of sight.

Nothing was now to be done but to wait for telegrams from the observatory on the Rocky Mountains.

The projectile was due at the Moon at midnight of the fourth of December; and, from eight o'clock until midnight of that day, it might have been possible, under favorable circumstances, to have watched the course of the shell, which would have appear

ed like a black point moving over a portion of the bright face of the Moon. But from the time of firing until the night of the twelfth of December the sky had been overcast; nothing could be seen. On that night a great wind-storm arose, and the clouds were swept away; and, sailing through the heavens, appeared the glorious Moon. Then came news from the observatory of the Rocky Mountains, which was telegraphed all over the world. The projectile had been perceived through. the great telescope of the Gun Club! The following is the substance of the dispatch:

"The projectile fired from the great gun at Stone's Hill, December first, has been perceived at forty-seven minutes past eight o'clock P. M., December twelfth. The projectile has not reached the Moon. It has passed to one side; but it is near

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OBSERVING THE PASSENGER PROJECTILE.

enough, however, to be retained by the lunar attraction. In this position its movement has been changed to a circular motion of great velocity, and it describes an elliptical orbit around the Moon, of which it has become a satellite. The laws which govern this new star have not yet been calculated; but it is distant from the surface of the Moon about two thousand eight hundred and thirty-three miles. Either the attraction of the Moon will gradually draw the projectile to its surface, in which case the travelers may attain the object of their voyage; or the projectile will continue to revolve around the Moon until the end of time. This question will be settled some day; but, at the present, the experiment of the Gun Club has only resulted in giving a new star to our solar system. J. T. BELFAST. There was nothing more for anybody to do in this business. No assistance could be rendered the unfortunate travelers. One man alone would not admit that the

(Signed)

situation was hopeless: this was the brave, indomitable J. T. Maston. He did not entirely lose sight of his friends. He took up his residence at the observatory on the Rocky Mountains, by the great telescope.

Every night when the Moon was visible he gazed at it through this instrument and watched the passage of the passenger projectile over its glittering face. And thus he remained, as it were, in perpetual communication with his three friends, who probably felt happy, in the certainty they must have felt that the worthy J. T. Maston would keep his eye upon them as long as he lived and the telescope held together.

He did not despair of meeting them some day. "We will correspond with them," he would say, to those who wished to hear," when circumstances permit. I know them. They are ingenious men; and they carry through space all the resources of Art, Science, and Industry. With these they can do what they wish; and you will see that they will yet come out all right."

BOUDOIR PROPHECIES.

ONE day in the Tuileries,

When a south-west Spanish breeze

Brought scandalous news of the Queen,

The fair, proud Empress said,

"My good friend loses her head;

If matters go on this way,

I shall see her shopping some day
In the Boulevart-Capucines."

The saying swiftly went

To the Place of the Orient,

And the stout Queen sneered “Ah well!
You are proud and prude, ma belle !

But I think I will hazard a guess,

I shall see you one day playing chess
With the curé of Carabanchel."

Both ladies, though not over wise,
Were lucky in prophecies.

For the Boulevart shopmen well
Know the form of stout Isabel,

As she buys her modes de Paris;

And after Sedan, in despair,
The Empress, prude and fair,

Went to visit Madame sa Mère

In her villa at Carabanchel

But the Queen was not there to see.

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