THE GLORIES OF THE HEAVENS.
For a month after the last events were chronicled the _Sirius_ pursued
its way steadily towards Mars, without a single exceptional incident.
On the second of February, however, when we were about four and a
quarter millions of miles from our destination, we were dreadfully
alarmed by a series of majestic natural phenomena.
On the evening of the day just mentioned, or, rather, what would have
been evening could we have distinguished night from day, the sun, for
the first time since we left the shadow of Earth, began to shine less
brightly. As the hours went by he became more and more indistinct,
just as he appears through a fog on earth, and finally his fiery rays
were hidden behind vast banks of cloud. The blazing light now became a
depressing gloom, just as before a thunderstorm. Our dog evidently felt
ill at ease, and whined and trembled as with great fear.
Rapidly the gloom increased. Darker and darker grew the fathomless void
which we were crossing, until we were surrounded by one vast blackness,
such as no dweller on Earth could ever conceive. The _Sirius_ was
lighted with incandescent lamps, but these only served to make the
awful darkness more profound. This terror-inspiring gloom seemed to
enter our very souls; we could not only see it, we could absolutely
feel it. The Sun seemed as though he had finally burnt himself out, and
disappeared for ever from the spangled firmament, leaving all within
the focus of his once-glorious rays in unutterable chaotic blackness.
It was as though we had penetrated into the very womb of the universe,
where no light could ever be!
"I think this is absolutely the most dreadful of our many weird
experiences," said Temple to the Doctor.
"It is sublimely grand," answered the Doctor, "and only shows how
infinitely little man knows of the forces of Nature away from his own
planet."
"Doctor, there is something wrong with our compasses. The needles
are revolving with great velocity. I trust the presence of all this
electricity round us will not injure any"--
Before Graham could finish, the whole firmament seemed lit up with a
dazzling purple light, and a moment afterwards we were struck dumb with
horror at the awful sound which followed it. For a moment the _Sirius_
seemed about to fall to pieces; every bolt and plate in her vibrated,
and we gave ourselves up for lost. The frightful explosion was like
nothing heard on Earth: ten thousand thunder-claps in one would be but
a feeble imitation of that terrible discharge, which was gone in a
moment without a single echo to mark its departure!
Far in the distance we could hear mighty cracking sounds coming nearer
and nearer, and then dying away in space. Clap after clap of this awful
thunder shook the very vault of heaven in their awful intensity;
and flash after flash of brilliant light lit up the vast void across
which we were travelling. How the _Sirius_ escaped utter annihilation
amidst all this mighty display was a mystery to us all. It oscillated
tremendously, as though at the mercy of conflicting currents, and
reeled like a ship in a heavy gale. What appeared to be glowing meteors
rushed by us with a deafening roar, or exploded with a terrible crash.
Vast expanses of space were filled with brilliant light, sometimes
like glowing mountains and cave-grottoes of fire. Vast sheets of blue
and yellow flame rolled up with a crackling noise like huge scrolls
of parchment, or curled and twisted into the most grotesque shapes.
Purple, yellow, and blue tongues of flame shot across the darkness,
sometimes silently as the sheet-lightning of Earth, but more often
followed by loud and sharp reports.
Great quantities of fine magnetic dust accumulated on the balcony
of the _Sirius_, and once a large globe of purple fire dropped on
the roof, and bounded away again into space. As the electrical
discharges gradually became less violent, the whole vault of space
above us was lit up with one vast aurora, whose enchanting glories
were utterly beyond description. Every colour of the rainbow, every
combination of colour that man could conceive, was there, all blended
into one gorgeous flare of tinted light. Temple, Graham, and Sandy,
though no cowards, were at last compelled to turn their amazed and
wonder-stricken faces from this appalling scene; but Doctor Hermann,
with blanched cheeks, watched the wonderful phenomena, cool and
intrepid among all the fiery strife, controlling his emotions with
what must have been an almost superhuman effort of will.
Throughout this period of unparalleled darkness our air was very bad,
and the condensers working at their utmost pressure could scarcely keep
up a sufficient supply of breathable atmosphere. Most of our electrical
apparatus was thrown out of order. We were able to generate little
electricity during this wonderful phenomenon, and had it not been for
the store of this force we always had by us, our engines would have
been stopped. We failed absolutely to obtain water from the ether, so
long as we were surrounded by these meteoric clouds.
The view of the heavens through our telescope was now exceedingly
beautiful.
During the first week of March, a stupendous comet made its appearance
between the _Sirius_ and Earth, and such was its exceeding brilliancy
that for days it was visible to the naked eye.
Another uneventful month passed away, the only occurrence of interest
being the apparently rapidly increasing size of Mars. On the 7th of
April our distance from Earth was 32,000,000 miles, which consequently
left us about 2,000,000 more miles to travel. Even in the brilliant
sunlight Mars was visible without the aid of a glass, and presented a
singularly beautiful and ruddy aspect. We were, as yet, too far away to
distinguish much of its physical features, but we saw enough to excite
our curiosity and interest to the very utmost.
Every available moment of our waking hours was spent in discussing the
physical conditions of Mars, and in making our plans for the time when
we should land upon its surface. Daily we were more and more convinced
of the similarity between the physical conditions of the Earth and
Mars, the most important fact of all being the undoubted presence of
an atmosphere of considerable density. The satellites of Mars were now
becoming very bright and conspicuous.
The _Sirius_ continued its rapid flight through space with
uninterrupted speed. Our time was mostly spent in astronomical
observation, and in discussing the beauties of the firmament as
revealed by our telescopes. We never seemed to tire of witnessing the
glories of the heavens.
An interesting fact which we could not fail to observe was the
apparently much smaller size of the sun's disc, and a sensible decrease
both in the amount of his light and the warmth of his rays.
Life in the _Sirius_ went uniformly on. It seemed ages since we were on
earth, or had communion with our fellow-men.
Every day, Graham carefully recorded the distance we had travelled,
and made his report to the Doctor. Our machinery still worked with
beautiful precision, and required but little scrutiny or attention.
"Well, Doctor," said Temple, one day after work was over, "suppose you
give us an idea of our distance from Mars, and our probable date of
arrival?"
"What is our distance for the past twenty-four hours, Graham?" asked
the Doctor.
"Twenty-eight thousand eight hundred miles," he answered.
"Then we are still travelling at our reduced speed of twelve hundred
miles per hour," rejoined the Doctor. "Well, our last computation of
the Earth's distance was made on the 7th of April. It is now the 17th
of May. One rate of speed has been maintained throughout this interval,
so that we are now 33,123,200 miles from Earth, and just 876,800 miles
from the planet Mars. That distance we shall cover in a little over
thirty days. If all goes well, we shall reach Mars on the 18th of June."
"Your remarks fill me with the strangest sensations," answered Temple.
"Whatever may come to pass," said the Doctor, "let me impress upon
you the importance of keeping cool, and as free from excitement as
possible. Our next thirty days will be the strangest that mortal man
has ever yet experienced!"