CHAPTER I.

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A JOURNEY

IN OTHER WORLDS

A ROMANCE OF THE FUTURE

BY JOHN JACOB ASTOR

PREFACE.

The protracted struggle between science and the classics appears

to be drawing to a close, with victory about to perch on the

banner of science, as a perusal of almost any university or

college catalogue shows. While a limited knowledge of both Greek

and Latin is important for the correct use of our own language,

the amount till recently required, in my judgment, has been

absurdly out of proportion to the intrinsic value of these

branches, or perhaps more correctly roots, of study. The

classics have been thoroughly and painfully threshed out, and it

seems impossible that anything new can be unearthed. We may

equal the performances of the past, but there is no opportunity

to surpass them or produce anything original. Even the

much-vaunted "mental training" argument is beginning to pall; for

would not anything equally difficult give as good developing

results, while by learning a live matter we kill two birds with

one stone? There can be no question that there are many forces

and influences in Nature whose existence we as yet little more

than suspect. How much more interesting it would be if, instead

of reiterating our past achievements, the magazines and

literature of the period should devote their consideration to

what we do NOT know! It is only through investigation and

research that inventions come; we may not find what we are in

search of, but may discover something of perhaps greater moment.

It is probable that the principal glories of the future will be

found in as yet but little trodden paths, and as Prof. Cortlandt

justly says at the close of his history, "Next to religion, we

have most to hope from science."

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER

I.-JUPITER.

II.-ANTECEDENTAL

III.-PRESIDENT BEARWARDEN'S SPEECH

IV.-PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD

IN A.D. 2000

V.-DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED

VI.-FAR-REACHING PLANS

VII.-HARD AT WORK

VIII.-GOOD-BYE

BOOK II.

I.-THE LAST OF THE EARTH

II.-SPACE AND MARS

III.-HEAVENLY BODIES

IV.-PREPARING TO ALIGHT

V.-EXPLORATION AND EXCITEMENT

VI.-MASTODON AND WILL-O'-THE-WISP

VII.-AN UNSEEN HUNTER

VIII.-SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES

IX.-THE HONEY OF DEATH

X.-CHANGING LANDSCAPES

XI.-A JOVIAN NIAGARA

XII.-HILLS AND VALLEYS

XIII.-NORTH-POLAR DISCOVERIES

XIV.-THE SCENE SHIFTS

BOOK III.

I-SATURN

II.-THE SPIRIT'S FIRST VISIT

HI.-DOUBTS AND PHILOSOPHY

IV.-A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION

V.-AYRAULT'S VISION

VI.-A GREAT VOID AND A GREAT LONGING

VII.-THE SPIRIT'S SECOND VISIT

VIII.-CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY

IX.-DR. CORTLANDT SEES HIS GRAVE

X.-AYRAULT

XI.-DREAMLAND TO SHADOWLAND

XII.-SHEOL

XIII.-THE PRIEST'S SERMON

XIV.-HIC ILLE JACET

XV.-MOTHER EARTH

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

INCLUDING NINE DRAWINGS BY MR. DAN. BEARD,

AND A DIAGRAM.

----

The Callisto and the Comet

The Callisto was going straight up

The Signals from the Arctic Circle

Diagram of the Comparative Sizes of the Planets

The Ride on the Giant Tortoise

A Battle Royal on Jupiter

The Combat with the Dragons

Ayrault's Vision

They look into the Future

The Return

BOOK I.

A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS.

----

CHAPTER 1.

JUPITER.

Jupiter--the magnificent planet with a diameter of 86,500

miles, having 119 times the surface and 1,300 times the volume of

the earth--lay beneath them.

They had often seen it in the terrestrial sky, emitting its

strong, steady ray, and had thought of that far-away planet,

about which till recently so little had been known, and a burning

desire had possessed them to go to it and explore its mysteries.

Now, thanks to APERGY, the force whose existence the ancients

suspected, but of which they knew so little, all things were

possible.

Ayrault manipulated the silk-covered glass handles, and the

Callisto moved on slowly in comparison with its recent speed,

and all remained glued to their telescopes as they peered through

the rushing clouds, now forming and now dissolving before their

eyes. What transports of delight, what ecstatic bliss, was

theirs! Men had discovered and mastered the secret of apergy,

and now, "little lower than the angels," they could soar through

space, leaving even planets and comets behind.

"Is it not strange," said Dr. Cortlandt, "that though it has been

known for over a century that bodies charged with unlike

electricities attract one another, and those charged with like

repel, no one thought of utilizing the counterpart of

gravitation? In the nineteenth century, savants and Indian

jugglers performed experiments with their disciples and masses of

inert matter, by causing them to remain without visible support

at some distance from the ground; and while many of these, of

course, were quacks, some were on the right track, though they

did not push their research."

President Bearwarden and Ayrault assented. They were steering

for an apparently hard part of the planet's surface, about a

degree and a half north of its equator.

"Since Jupiter's axis is almost at right angles to the plane of

its orbit," said the doctor, "being inclined only about one

degree and a half, instead of twenty-three and a half, as was the

earth's till nearly so recently, it will be possible for us to

have any climate we wish, from constantly warm at the equator to

constantly cool or cold as we approach the poles, without being

troubled by extremes of winter and summer."

Until the Callisto entered the planet's atmosphere, its five

moons appeared like silver shields against the black sky, but now

things were looking more terrestrial, and they began to feel at

home. Bearwarden put down his note-book, and Ayrault returned a

photograph to his pocket, while all three gazed at their new

abode. Beneath them was a vast continent variegated by chains of

lakes and rivers stretching away in all directions except toward

the equator, where lay a placid ocean as far as their telescopes

could pierce. To the eastward were towering and massive

mountains, and along the southern border of the continent smoking

volcanoes, while toward the west they saw forests, gently rolling

plains, and table-lands that would have satisfied a poet or set

an agriculturist's heart at rest. "How I should like to mine

those hills for copper, or drain the swamps to the south!"

exclaimed Col. Bearwarden. "The Lake Superior mines and the

reclamation of the Florida Everglades would be nothing to this."

"Any inhabitants we may find here have so much land at their

disposal that they will not need to drain swamps on account of

pressure of population for some time," put in the doctor.

"I hope we may find some four-legged inhabitants," said Ayrault,

thinking of their explosive magazine rifles. "If Jupiter is

passing through its Jurassic or Mesozoic period, there must be

any amount of some kind of game." Just then a quiver shook the

Callisto, and glancing to the right they noticed one of the

volcanoes in violent eruption. Smoke filled the air in clouds,

hot stones and then floods of lava poured from the crater, while

even the walls of the hermetically sealed Callisto could not

arrest the thunderous crashes that made the interior of the car

resound.

"Had we not better move on?" said Bearwarden, and accordingly

they went toward the woods they had first seen. Finding a firm

strip of land between the forest and an arm of the sea, they

gently grounded the Callisto, and not being altogether sure how

the atmosphere of their new abode would suit terrestrial lungs,

or what its pressure to the square inch might be, they cautiously

opened a port-hole a crack, retaining their hold upon it with its

screw. Instantly there was a rush and a whistling sound as of

escaping steam, while in a few moments their barometer stood at

thirty-six inches, whereupon they closed the opening.

"I fancy," said Dr. Cortlandt, "we had better wait now till we

become accustomed to this pressure. I do not believe it will go

much higher, for the window made but little resistance when we

shut it."

Finding they were not inconvenienced by a pressure but little

greater than that of a deep coal-mine, they again opened the

port, whereupon their barometer showed a further rise to

forty-two, and then remained stationary. Finding also that the

chemical composition of the air suited them, and that they had no

difficulty in breathing, the pressure being the same as that

sustained by a diver in fourteen feet of water, they opened a

door and emerged. They knew fairly well what to expect, and were

not disturbed by their new conditions. Though they had

apparently gained a good deal in weight as a result of their

ethereal journey, this did not incommode them; for though

Jupiter's volume is thirteen hundred times that of the earth, on

account of its lesser specific gravity, it has but three hundred

times the mass--i. e., it would weigh but three hundred times as

much. Further, although a cubic foot of water or anything else

weighs 2.5 as much as on earth, objects near the equator, on

account of Jupiter's rapid rotation, weigh one fifth less than

they do at the poles, by reason of the centrifugal force.

Influenced by this fact, and also because they were 483,000,000

miles from the sun, instead of 92,000,000 as on earth, they had

steered for the northern limit of Jupiter's tropics. And, in

addition to this, they could easily apply the apergetic power in

any degree to themselves when beyond the limits of the Callisto,

and so be attracted to any extent, from twice the pull they

receive from gravitation on earth to almost nothing.

Bearwarden and Ayrault shouldered their rifles, while Dr.

Cortlandt took a repeating shot-gun with No. 4 shot, and, having

also some hunting-knives and a sextant, all three set out in a

northwesterly direction. The ground was rather soft, and a warm

vapor seemed to rise from it. To the east the sky was veiled by

dense clouds of smoke from the towering volcanoes, while on their

left the forest seemed to extend without limit. Clumps of huge

ferns were scattered about, and the ground was covered with

curious tracks.

"Jupiter is evidently passing through a Carboniferous or Devonian

period such as existed on earth, though, if consistent with its

size, it should be on a vastly larger scale," said the doctor.

"I never believed in the theory," he continued, "that the larger

the planet the smaller should be its inhabitants, and always

considered it a makeshift, put forward in the absence of definite

knowledge, the idea being apparently that the weight of very

large creatures would be too great for their strength. Of the

fact that mastodons and creatures far larger than any now living

on earth existed there, we have absolute proof, though

gravitation must have been practically the same then as now."

Just here they came upon a number of huge bones, evidently the

remains of some saurian, and many times the size of a grown

crocodile. On passing a growth of most luxuriant vegetation,

they saw a half-dozen sacklike objects, and drawing nearer

noticed that the tops began to swell, and at the same time became

lighter in colour. Just as the doctor was about to investigate

one of them with his duck-shot, the enormously inflated tops of

the creatures collapsed with a loud report, and the entire group

soared away. When about to alight, forty yards off, they

distended membranous folds in the manner of wings, which checked

their descent, and on touching the ground remained where they

were without rebound.

"We expected to find all kinds of reptiles and birds," exclaimed

the doctor. "But I do not know how we should class those

creatures. They seem to have pneumatic feet and legs, for their

motion was certainly not produced like that of frogs."

When the party came up with them the heads again began to swell.

"I will perforate the air-chamber of one," said Col. Bearwarden,

withdrawing the explosive cartridge from the barrel of his rifle

and substituting one with a solid ball. "This will doubtless

disable one so that we can examine it."

Just as they were about to rise, he shot the largest through the

neck. All but the wounded one, soared off, while Bearwarden,

Ayrault, and Cortlandt approached to examine it more closely.

"You see," said Cortlandt, "this vertebrate--for that is as

definitely as we can yet describe it--forces a great pressure of

air into its head and neck, which, by the action of valves, it

must allow to rush into its very rudimentary lower extremities,

distending them with such violence that the body is shot upward

and forward. You may have noticed the tightly inflated portion

underneath as they left the ground."

While speaking he had moved rather near, when suddenly a

partially concealed mouth opened, showing the unmistakable tongue

and fangs of a serpent. It emitted a hissing sound, and the

small eyes gleamed maliciously.

"Do you believe it is a poisonous species?" asked Ayrault.

"I suspect it is," replied the doctor; "for, though it is

doubtless able to leap with great accuracy upon its prey, we saw

it took some time to recharge the upper air-chamber, so that,

were it not armed with poison glands, it would fall an easy

victim to its more powerful and swifter contemporaries, and would

soon become extinct."

"As it will be unable to spring for some time," said Bearwarden,

"we might as well save it the disappointment of trying," and,

snapping the used shell from his rifle, he fired an explosive

ball into the reptile, whereupon about half the body disappeared,

while a sickening odour arose. Although the sun was still far

above the horizon, the rapidity with which it was descending

showed that the short night of less than five hours would soon be

upon them; and though short it might be very dark, for they were

in the tropics, and the sun, going down perpendicularly, must

also pass completely around the globe, instead of, as in northern

latitudes on earth in summer, approaching the horizon obliquely,

and not going far below it. A slight and diffused sound here

seemed to rise from the ground all about them, for which they

could not account. Presently it became louder, and as the sun

touched the horizon, it poured forth in prolonged strains. The

large trumpet-shaped lilies, reeds, and heliotropes seemed fairly

to throb as they raised their anthem to the sky and the setting

sun, while the air grew dark with clouds of birds that gradually

alighted on the ground, until, as the chorus grew fainter and

gradually ceased, they flew back to their nests. The three

companions had stood astonished while this act was played. The

doctor then spoke:

"This is the most marvellous development of Nature I have seen,

for its wonderful divergence from, and yet analogy to, what takes

place on earth. You know our flowers offer honey, as it were, as

bait to insects, that in eating or collecting it they may catch

the pollen on their legs and so carry it to other flowers,

perhaps of the opposite sex. Here flowers evidently appeal to

the sense of hearing instead of taste, and make use of birds, of

which there are enormous numbers, instead of winged insects, of

which I have seen none, one being perhaps the natural result of

the other. The flowers have become singers by long practice, or

else, those that were most musical having had the best chance to

reproduce, we have a neat illustration of the 'survival of the

fittest.' The sound is doubtless produced by a shrinking of the

fibres as the sun withdraws its heat, in which case we may expect

another song at sunrise, when the same result will be effected by

their expanding."

Searching for a camping-place in which to pass the coming hours,

they saw lights flitting about like will-o'-the-wisps, but

brighter and intermittent.

"They seem to be as bright as sixteen-candle-power lamps, but the

light is yellower, and appears to emanate from a comparatively

large surface, certainly nine or ten inches square," said the

doctor.

They soon gave up the chase, however, for the lights were

continually moving and frequently went out. While groping in the

growing darkness, they came upon a brown object about the size of

a small dog and close to the ground. It flew off with a humming

insect sound, and as it did so it showed the brilliant

phosphorescent glow they had observed.

"That is a good-sized fire-fly," said Bearwarden. "Evidently the

insects here are on the same scale as everything else. They are

like the fire-flies in Cuba, which the Cubans are said to put

into a glass box and get light enough from to read by. Here they

would need only one, if it could be induced to give its light

continuously."

Having found an open space on high ground, they sat down, and

Bearwarden struck his repeater, which, for convenience, had been

arranged for Jupiter time, dividing the day into ten hours,

beginning at noon, midnight being therefore five o'clock.

"Twenty minutes past four," said he, "which would correspond to

about a quarter to eleven on earth. As the sun rises at

half-past seven, it will be dark about three hours, for the time

between dawn and daylight will, of course, be as short as that we

have just experienced between sunset and night."

"If we stay here long," said the doctor, "I suppose we shall

become accustomed, like sailors, to taking our four, or in this

case five, hours on duty, and five hours off."

"Or," added Ayrault, "we can sleep ten consecutive hours and take

the next ten for exploring and hunting, having the sun for one

half the time and the moons for the other."

Bearwarden and Cortlandt now rolled themselves in their blankets

and were soon asleep, while Ayrault, whose turn it was to watch

till the moons rose--for they had not yet enough confidence in

their new domain to sleep in darkness simultaneously--leaned his

back against a rock and lighted his pipe. In the distance he saw

the torrents of fiery lava from the volcanoes reflected in the

sky, and faintly heard their thunderous crashes, while the

fire-flies twinkled unconcernedly in the hollow, and the night

winds swayed the fernlike branches. Then he gazed at the earth,

which, but little above the horizon, shone with a faint but

steady ray, and his mind's eye ran beyond his natural vision

while he pictured to himself the girl of his heart, wishing that

by some communion of spirits he might convey his thoughts to her,

and receive hers. It was now the first week of January on earth.

He could almost see her house and the snow-clad trees in the

park, and knew that at that hour she was dressing for dinner, and

hoped and believed that he was in her heart. While he thus

mused, one moon after another rose, each at a different phase,

till three were at once in the sky. Adjusting the electric

protection- wires that were to paralyze any creature that

attempted to come within the circle, and would arouse them by

ringing a bell, he knocked the ashes from his pipe, rolled

himself in a blanket, and was soon asleep beside his friends.

CHAPTER II.

ANTECEDENTAL.

"Come in!" sounded a voice, as Dr. Cortlandt and Dick Ayrault

tapped at the door of the President of the Terrestrial Axis

Straightening Company's private office on the morning of the 21st

of June, A. D. 2000. Col. Bearwarden sat at his capacious desk,

the shadows passing over his face as April clouds flit across the

sun. He was a handsome man, and young for the important post he

filled--being scarcely forty--a graduate of West Point, with

great executive ability, and a wonderful engineer. "Sit down,

chappies," said he; "we have still a half hour before I begin to

read the report I am to make to the stockholders and

representatives of all the governments, which is now ready. I

know YOU smoke," passing a box of Havanas to the professor.

Prof. Cortlandt, LL. D., United States Government expert,

appointed to examine the company's calculations, was about fifty,

with a high forehead, greyish hair, and quick, grey eyes, a

geologist and astronomer, and altogether as able a man, in his

own way, as Col. Bearwarden in his. Richard Ayrault, a large

stockholder and one of the honorary vice-presidents in the

company, was about thirty, a university man, by nature a

scientist, and engaged to one of the prettiest society girls, who

was then a student at Vassar, in the beautiful town of

Poughkeepsie.

"Knowing the way you carry things in your mind, and the

difficulty of rattling you," said Cortlandt, "we have dropped in

on our way to hear the speech that I would not miss for a

fortune. Let us know if we bother you."

"Impossible, dear boy," replied the president genially. "Since I

survived your official investigations, I think I deserve some of

your attention informally."

"Here are my final examinations," said Cortlandt, handing

Bearwarden a roll of papers. "I have been over all your figures,

and testify to their accuracy in the appendix I have added."

So they sat and chatted about the enterprise that interested

Cortlandt and Ayrault almost as much as Bearwarden himself. As

the clock struck eleven, the president of the company put on his

hat, and, saying au revoir to his friends, crossed the street to

the Opera House, in which he was to read a report that would be

copied in all the great journals and heard over thousands of

miles of wire in every part of the globe. When he arrived, the

vast building was already filled with a distinguished company,

representing the greatest intelligence, wealth, and powers of the

world. Bearwarden went in by the stage entrance, exchanging

greetings as he did so with officers of the company and directors

who had come to hear him. Cortlandt and Ayrault entered by the

regular door, the former going to the Government representatives'

box, the latter to join his fiancee, Sylvia Preston, who was

there with her mother. Bearwarden had a roll of manuscript at

hand, but so well did he know his speech that he scarcely glanced

at it. After being introduced by the chairman of the meeting,

and seeing that his audience was all attention, he began, holding

himself erect, his clear, powerful voice making every part of the

building ring.

CHAPTER III.

PRESIDENT BEARWARDEN'S SPEECH.

"To the Bondholders and Stockholders of the Terrestrial Axis

Straightening Company and Representatives of Earthly Governments.

"GENTLEMEN: You know that the objects of this company are, to

straighten the axis of the earth, to combine the extreme heat of

summer with the intense cold of winter and produce a uniform

temperature for each degree of latitude the year round. At

present the earth's axis--that is, the line passing through its

centre and the two poles--is inclined to the ecliptic about

twenty-three and a half degrees. Our summer is produced by the

northern hemisphere's leaning at that angle towards the sun, and

our winter by its turning that much from it. In one case the

sun's rays are caused to shine more perpendicularly, and in the

other more obliquely. This wabbling, like that of a top, is the

sole cause of the seasons; since, owing to the eccentricity of

our orbit, the earth is actually fifteen hundred thousand miles

nearer the sun during our winter, in the northern hemisphere,

than in summer. That there is no limit to a planet's

inclination, and that inclination is not essential, we have

astronomical proof. Venus's axis is inclined to the plane of her

orbit seventy-five degrees, so that the arctic circle comes

within fifteen degrees of the equator, and the tropics also

extend to latitude seventy-five degrees, or within fifteen

degrees of the poles, producing great extremes of heat and cold.

"Venus is made still more difficult of habitation by the fact

that she rotates on her axis in the same time that she revolves

about the sun, in the same way that the moon does about the

earth, so that one side must be perpetually frozen while the

other is parched.

"In Uranus we see the axis tilted still further, so that the

arctic circle descends to the equator. The most varied climate

must therefore prevail during its year, whose length exceeds

eighty-one of ours.

The axis of Mars is inclined about twenty-eight and two thirds

degrees to the plane of its orbit; consequently its seasons must

be very similar to ours, the extremes of heat and cold being

somewhat greater.

"In Jupiter we have an illustration of a planet whose axis is

almost at right angles to the plane of its orbit, being inclined

but about a degree and a half. The hypothetical inhabitants of

this majestic planet must therefore have perpetual summer at the

equator, eternal winter at the poles, and in the temperate

regions everlasting spring. On account of the straightness of

the axis, however, even the polar inhabitants--if there are

any--are not oppressed by a six months' night, for all except

those at the VERY pole have a sunrise and a sunset every ten

hours--the exact day being nine hours, fifty five minutes, and

twenty-eight seconds. The warmth of the tropics is also tempered

by the high winds that must result from the rapid whirl on its

axis, every object at the equator being carried around by this at

the rate of 27,600 miles an hour, or over three thousand miles

farther than the earth's equator moves in twenty-four hours.

"The inclination of the axis of our own planet has also

frequently considerably exceeded that of Mars, and again has been

but little greater than Jupiter's at least, this is by all odds

the most reasonable explanation of the numerous Glacial periods

through which our globe has passed, and of the recurring mild

spells, probably lasting thousands of years, in which elephants,

mastodons, and other semi-tropical vertebrates roamed in Siberia,

some of which died so recently that their flesh, preserved by the

cold, has been devoured by the dogs of modern explorers.

"It is not to be supposed that the inclining of the axes of

Jupiter, Venus, the Earth, and the other planets, is now fixed;

in some cases it is known to be changing. As long ago as 1890,

Major-Gen. A. W. Drayson, of the British Army, showed, in a work

entitled Untrodden Ground in Astronomy and Geology, that, as a

result of the second rotation of the earth, the inclination of

its axis was changing, it having been 23@ 28' 23" on January 1,

1750, 23@ 27' 55.3" on January 1, 1800, and 23@ 27' 30.9" on

January 1, 1850; and by calculation one hundred and ten years ago

showed that in 1900 (one hundred years ago) it would be 23@ 27'

08.8". This natural straightening is, of course, going on, and

we are merely about to anticipate it. When this improvement was

mooted, all agreed that the EXTREMES of heat and cold could well

be spared. 'Balance those of summer against those of winter by

partially straightening the axis; reduce the inclination from

twenty-three degrees, thirty minutes, to about fifteen degrees,

but let us stop there,' many said. Before we had gone far,

however, we found it would be best to make the work complete.

This will reclaim and make productive the vast areas of Siberia

and the northern part of this continent, and will do much for the

antarctic regions; but there will still be change in temperature;

a wind blowing towards the equator will always be colder than one

blowing from it, while the slight eccentricity of the orbit will

supply enough change to awaken recollections of seasons in our

eternal spring.

"The way to accomplish this is to increase the weight of the pole

leaving the sun, by increasing the amount of material there for

the sun to attract, and to lighten the pole approaching or

turning towards the sun, by removing some heavy substance from

it, and putting it preferably at the opposite pole. This

shifting of ballast is most easily accomplished, as you will

readily perceive, by confining and removing water, which is

easily moved and has a considerable weight. How we purpose to

apply these aqueous brakes to check the wabbling of the earth, by

means of the attraction of the sun, you will now see.

"From Commander Fillmore, of the Arctic Shade and the Committee

on Bulkheads and Dams, I have just received the following by

cable telephone: 'The Arctic Ocean is now in condition to be

pumped out in summer and to have its average depth increased one

hundred feet by the dams in winter. We have already fifty

million square yards of windmill turbine surface in position and

ready to move. The cables bringing us currents from the dynamos

at Niagara Falls are connected with our motors, and those from

the tidal dynamos at the Bay of Fundy will be in contact when

this reaches you, at which moment the pumps will begin. In

several of the landlocked gulfs and bays our system of confining

is so complete, that the surface of the water can be raised two

hundred feet above sea- level. The polar bears will soon have to

use artificial ice. Perhaps the cheers now ringing without may

reach you over the telephone.'"

The audience became greatly interested, and when the end of the

telephone was applied to a microphone the room fairly rang with

exultant cheers, and those looking through a kintograph (visual

telegraph) terminating in a camera obscura on the shores of

Baffin Bay were able to see engineers and workmen waving and

throwing up their caps and falling into one another's arms in

ecstasies of delight. When the excitement subsided, the

president continued:

"Chairman Wetmore, of the Committee on Excavations and

Embankments in Wilkesland and the Antarctic Continent, reports:

'Two hundred and fifty thousand square miles are now hollowed out

and enclosed sufficiently to hold water to an average depth of

four hundred feet. Every summer, when the basin is allowed to

drain, we can, if necessary, extend our reservoir, and shall have

the best season of the year for doing work until the earth has

permanent spring. Though we have comparatively little water or

tidal power, the earth's crust is so thin at this latitude, on

account of the flattening, that by sinking our tubular boilers

and pipes to a depth of a few thousand feet we have secured so

terrific a volume of superheated steam that, in connection with

our wind turbines, we shall have no difficulty in raising half a

cubic mile of water a minute to our enclosure, which is but

little above sea-level, and into which, till the pressure

increases, we can fan or blow the water, so that it can be full

three weeks after our longest day, or, since the present

unimproved arrangement gives the indigenes but one day and night

a year, I will add the 21st day of December.

"'We shall be able to find use for much of the potential energy

of the water in the reservoir when we allow it to escape in June,

in melting some of the accumulated polar ice-cap, thereby

decreasing still further the weight of this pole, in lighting and

warming ourselves until we get the sun's light and heat, in

extending the excavations, and in charging the storage batteries

of the ships at this end of the line. Everything will be ready

when you signal "Raise water."'"

"Let me add parenthetically," said Bearwarden, "that this means

of obtaining power by steam boilers sunk to a great depth is much

to be commended; for, though the amount of heat we can withdraw

is too small to have much effect, the farther towards the centre

our globe can be cooled the deeper will the water of the oceans

be able to penetrate--since it is its conversion into steam that

prevents the water from working its way in farther--and the more

dry land we shall have."

"You see," the president continued, "the storage capacity at the

south pole is not quite as great as at the north, because it is

more difficult to excavate a basin than to close the exits of one

that already exists, which is what we have done in the arctic.

The work is also not so nearly complete, since it will not be

necessary to use the southern reservoir for storing weight for

six months, or until the south pole, which is now at its maximum

declination from the sun, is turned towards it and begins to move

away; then, by increasing the amount of matter there, and at the

same time lightening the north pole, and reversing the process

every six months, we decrease the speed at which the departing

pole leaves the sun and at which the approaching pole advances.

The north pole, we see, will be a somewhat more powerful lever

than the south for working the globe to a straight position, but

we may be sure that the latter, in connection with the former,

will be able to hold up its end."

[The building here fairly shook with applause, so that, had the

arctic workers used the microphone, they might have heard in the

enthusiastic uproar a good counterpart of their own period.]

"I only regret," the president continued, "that when we began

this work the most marvellous force yet discovered--apergy--was

not sufficiently understood to be utilized, for it would have

eased our labours to the point of almost eliminating them. But

we have this consolation: it was in connection with our work that

its applicability was discovered, so that had we and all others

postponed our great undertaking on the pretext of waiting for a

new force, apergy might have continued to lie dormant for

centuries. With this force, obtained by simply blending negative

and positive electricity with electricity of the third element or

state, and charging a body sufficiently with this fluid,

gravitation is nullified or partly reversed, and the earth repels

the body with the same or greater power than that with which it

still attracts or attracted it, so that it may be suspended or

caused to move away into space. Sic itur ad astra, we may say.

With this force and everlasting spring before us, what may we not

achieve? We may some day be able to visit the planets, though

many may say that, since the axes of most of those we have

considered are more inclined than ours, they would rather stay

here. 'Blessed are they that shall inherit the earth,'" he went

on, turning a four-foot globe with its axis set vertically and at

right angles to a yellow globe labelled "Sun"; and again waxing

eloquent, he added: "We are the instruments destined to bring

about the accomplishment of that prophecy, for never in the

history of the world has man reared so splendid a monument to his

own genius as he will in straightening the axis of the planet.

"No one need henceforth be troubled by sudden change, and every

man can have perpetually the climate he desires. Northern Europe

will again luxuriate in a climate that favoured the elephants

that roamed in northern Asia and Switzerland. To produce these

animals and the food they need, it is not necessary to have great

heat, but merely to prevent great cold, half the summer's sun

being absorbed in melting the winter's accumulation of ice.

"When the axis has reached a point at which it inclines but about

twelve degrees, it will become necessary to fill the antarctic

reservoir in June and the Arctic Ocean in December, in order to

check the straightening, since otherwise it might get beyond the

perpendicular and swing the other way. When this motion is

completely arrested, I suggest that we blow up the Aleutian Isles

and enlarge Bering Strait, so as to allow what corresponds to the

Atlantic Gulf Stream in the Pacific to enter the Arctic

Archipelago, which I have calculated will raise the average

temperature of that entire region about thirty degrees, thereby

still further increasing the amount of available land.

"Ocean currents, being the result of the prevailing winds, which

will be more regular than at present, can be counted upon to

continue practically as they are. It may not be plain to you why

the trade winds do not blow towards the equator due south and

north, since the equator has much the same effect on air that a

stove has in the centre of a room, causing an ascending current

towards the ceiling, which moves off in straight lines in all

directions on reaching it, its place being taken by cold currents

moving in opposite directions along the floor. Picture to

yourselves the ascending currents at the equator moving off to

the poles from which they came. As they move north they are

continually coming to parts of the globe having smaller circles

of latitude than those they have left, and therefore not moved

forward as rapidly by the earth's daily rotation as the latitudes

nearer the equator. The winds consequently run ahead of the

surface, and so move east of north--the earth turning towards the

east--while the heavier colder surface currents, rushing towards

the equator to take the place of the ascending column, coming

from regions where the surface whirls comparatively slowly to

those where it is rotating faster, are continually left behind,

and so move southwest; while south of the equator a corresponding

motion results. Though this is not the most exact explanation,

it may serve to make the action clear. I will add, that if any

one prefers a colder or a warmer climate than that of the place

in which he lives, he need only go north or south for an hour;

or, if he prefers his own latitude, he can rise a few thousand

feet in the air, or descend to one of the worked-out coal-mines

which are now used as sanitariums, and secure his object by a

slight change of altitude. Let us speed the departure of racking

changes and extremes of climate, and prepare to welcome what we

believe prevails in paradise--namely, everlasting spring."

Appended to the address was the report of the Government

Examining Committee, which ran: "We have critically examined the

Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company's figures and

calculations, also its statements involving natural philosophy,

physics, and astronomy, all of which we find correct, and hereby

approve.

[Signed] "For the Committee:

"HENRY CHELMSFORD CORTLANDT,

"Chairman."

The Board of Directors having ratified the acts of its officers,

and passed congratulatory resolutions, the meeting adjourned sine

die.

CHAPTER IV.

PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD

IN A. D. 2000.

Prof. Cortlandt, preparing a history of the times at the

beginning of the great terrestrial and astronomical change, wrote

as follows: "This period--A.D. 2000--is by far the most

wonderful the world has as yet seen. The advance in scientific

knowledge and attainment within the memory, of the present

generation has been so stupendous that it completely overshadows

all that has preceded. All times in history and all periods of

the world have been remarkable for some distinctive or

characteristic trait. The feature of the period of Louis XIV was

the splendour of the court and the centralization of power in

Paris. The year 1789 marked the decline of the power of courts

and the evolution of government by the people. So, by the spread

of republican ideas and the great advance in science, education

has become universal, for women as well as for men, and this is

more than ever a mechanical age.

"With increased knowledge we are constantly coming to realize how

little we really know, and are also continually finding

manifestations of forces that at first seem like exceptions to

established laws. This is, of course, brought about by the

modifying influence of some other natural law, though many of

these we have not yet discovered.

"Electricity in its varied forms does all work, having superseded

animal and manual labour in everything, and man has only to

direct. The greatest ingenuity next to finding new uses for this

almost omnipotent fluid has been displayed in inducing the forces

of Nature, and even the sun, to produce it. Before describing

the features of this perfection of civilization, let us review

the steps by which society and the political world reached their

present state.

"At the close of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871, Continental

Europe entered upon the condition of an armed camp, which lasted

for nearly half a century. The primary cause of this was the

mutual dislike and jealousy of France and Germany, each of which

strove to have a larger and better equipped national defence than

the other. There were also many other causes, as the ambition of

the Russian Czar, supported by his country's vast though

imperfectly developed resources and practically unlimited supply

of men, one phase of which was the constant ferment in the Balkan

Peninsula, and another Russia's schemes for extension in Asia;

another was the general desire for colonies in Africa, in which

one Continental power pretty effectually blocked another, and the

latent distrust inside the Triple Alliance. England, meanwhile,

preserved a wise and profitable neutrality.

"These tremendous sacrifices for armaments, both on land and

water, had far-reaching results, and, as we see it now, were

clouds with silver linings. The demand for hardened steel

projectiles, nickel-steel plates, and light and almost

unbreakable machinery, was a great incentive to improvement in

metallurgy while the necessity for compact and safely carried

ammunition greatly stimulated chemical research, and led to the

discovery of explosives whose powers no obstacle can resist, and

incidentally to other more useful things.

"Further mechanical and scientific progress, however, such as

flying machines provided with these high explosives, and

asphyxiating bombs containing compressed gas that could be fired

from guns or dropped from the air, intervened. The former would

have laid every city in the dust, and the latter might have

almost exterminated the race. These discoveries providentially

prevented hostilities, so that the 'Great War,' so long expected,

never came, and the rival nations had their pains for nothing,

or, rather, for others than themselves.

"Let us now examine the political and ethnological results.

Hundreds of thousands, of the flower of Continental Europe were

killed by overwork and short rations, and millions of desirable

and often--unfortunately for us--undesirable people were driven

to emigration, nearly all of whom came to English-speaking

territory, greatly increasing our productiveness and power. As,

we have seen, the jealousy of the Continental powers for one

another effectually prevented their extending their influence or

protectorates to other continents, which jealousy was

considerably aided by the small but destructive wars that did

take place. High taxes also made it more difficult for the

moneyed men to invest in colonizing or development companies,

which are so often the forerunners of absorption; while the

United States, with her coal--of which the Mediterranean states

have scarcely any--other resources, and low taxes, which, though

necessary, can be nothing but an evil, has been able to expand

naturally as no other nation ever has before.

"This has given the English-speakers, especially the United

States, a free hand, rendering enforcement of the Monroe doctrine

easy, and started English a long way towards becoming the

universal language, while all formerly unoccupied land is now

owned by those speaking it.

"At the close of our civil war, in 1865, we had but 3,000,000

square miles, and a population of 34,000,000. The country

staggered beneath a colossal debt of over $4,000,000,000, had an

expensive but essentially perishable navy, and there was an

ominous feeling between the sections. The purchase of Alaska in

1867, by which we added over half a million square miles to our

territory, marked the resumption of the forward march of the

United States. Twenty-five years later, at the presidential

campaign of 1892, the debt had been reduced to $900,000,000,

deducting the sinking fund, and the charge for pensions had about

reached its maximum and soon began to decrease, though no one

objected to any amount of reward for bona fide soldiers who had

helped to save the country. The country's wealth had also

enormously increased, while the population had grown to

65,000,000. Our ancestors had, completed or in building, a navy

of which no nation need be ashamed; and, though occasionally

marred by hard times, there was general prosperity.

"Gradually the different States of Canada--or provinces, as they

were then called--came to realize that their future would be far

grander and more glorious in union with the United States than

separated from it; and also that their sympathy was far stronger

for their nearest neighbours than for any one else. One by one

these Northern States made known their desire for consolidation

with the Union, retaining complete control of their local

affairs, as have the older States. They were gladly welcomed by

our Government and people, and possible rivals became the best of

friends. Preceding and also following this, the States of

Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, tiring of

the incessant revolutions and difficulties among themselves,

which had pretty constantly looked upon us as a big brother on

account of our maintenance of the Monroe doctrine, began to

agitate for annexation, knowing they would retain control of

their local affairs. In this they were vigorously supported by

the American residents and property-holders, who knew that their

possessions would double in value the day the United States

Constitution was signed.

"Thus, in the first place, by the encouragement of our people,

and latterly, apparently, by its own volition, the Union has

increased enormously in power, till it now embraces 10,000,000

square miles, and has a free and enlightened population of

300,000,000. Though the Union established by Washington and his

contemporaries has attained such tremendous proportions, its

growth is by no means finished; and as a result of modern

improvements, it is less of a journey now to go from Alaska to

the Orinoco than it was for the Father of his Country to travel

from New York or Philadelphia to the site of the city named in

his honour.

"Adequate and really rapid transportation facilities have done

much to bind the different parts of the country together, and to

rub off the edges of local prejudice. Though we always favour

peace, no nation would think of opposing the expressed wishes of

the United States, and our moral power for good is tremendous.

The name Japhet means enlargement, and the prophecy seems about

to be literally fulfilled by these his descendants. The bankrupt

suffering of so many European Continental powers had also other

results. It enabled the socialists--who have never been able to

see beyond themselves--to force their governments into selling

their colonies in the Eastern hemisphere to England, and their

islands in the Western to us, in order to realize upon them.

With the addition of Canada to the United States and its loss to

the British Empire, the land possessions of the two powers became

about equal, our Union being a trifle the larger. All danger of

war being removed by the Canadian change, a healthful and

friendly competition took its place, the nations competing in

their growth on different hemispheres. England easily added

large areas in Asia and Africa, while the United States grew as

we have seen. The race is still, in a sense, neck-and-neck, and

the English-speakers together possess nearly half the globe. The

world's recent rate of progress would have been impossible

without this approximation to a universal language. The causes

that checkmated the Continental powers have ceased to exist.

Many millions of men whose principal thought had been to destroy

other members of the race became producers, but it was then too

late, for the heavy armaments had done their work.

"Let us now glance at the times as they are, and see how the

business of life is transacted. Manhattan Island has something

over 2,500,000 inhabitants, and is surrounded by a belt of

population, several miles wide, of 12,000,000 more, of which it

is the focus, so that the entire city contains more than

14,500,000 souls. The several hundred square miles of land and

water forming greater New York are perfectly united by numerous

bridges, tunnels, and electric ferries, while the city's great

natural advantages have been enhanced and beautified by every

ingenious device. No main avenue in the newer sections is less

than two hundred feet wide, containing shade and fruit trees, a

bridle-path, broad sidewalks, and open spaces for carriages and

bicycles. Several fine diagonal streets and breathing-squares

have also been provided in the older sections, and the existing

parks have been supplemented by intermediate ones, all being

connected by parkways to form continuous chains.

"The hollow masts of our ships--to glance at another phase en

passant--carry windmills instead of sails, through which the wind

performs the work, of storing a great part of the energy required

to run them at sea, while they are discharging or loading cargo

in port; and it can, of course, work to better advantage while

they are stationary than when they are running before it. These

turbines are made entirely of light metal, and fold when not in

use, so that only the frames are visible. Sometimes these also

fold and are housed, or wholly disappear within the mast.

Steam-boilers are also placed at the foci of huge concave

mirrors, often a hundred feet in diameter, the required heat

being supplied by the sun, without smoke, instead of by bulky and

dirty coal. This discovery gave commercial value to Sahara and

other tropical deserts, which are now desirable for mill-sites

and for generating power, on account of the directness with which

they receive the sun's rays and their freedom from clouds. Mile

after mile Africa has been won for the uses of civilization, till

great stretches that were considered impassible are as productive

as gardens. Our condensers, which compress, cool, and rarefy

air, enabling travellers to obtain water and even ice from the

atmosphere, are great aids in desert exploration, removing

absolutely the principal distress of the ancient caravan. The

erstwhile 'Dark Continent' has a larger white population now than

North America had a hundred years ago, and has this advantage for

the future, that it contains 11,600,000 square miles, while North

America has less than 9,000,000. Every part of the globe will

soon sustain about as large and prosperous a population as the

amount of energy it receives from the sun and other sources will

warrant; public debts and the efficiency of the governments being

the variable elements.

"The rabbits in Australia, and the far more objectionable

poisonous snakes in South America and India, have been

exterminated by the capture of a few dozen of the creatures in

the infested districts, their inoculation with the virus similar

to the murus tiphi, tuberculosis or any other contagious-germ

complaint to which the species treated was particularly

susceptible, and the release of these individuals when the

disease was seen to be taking hold. The rabbits and serpents

released at once returned to their old haunts, carrying the

plague far and wide. The unfortunate rabbits were greatly

commiserated even by the medicos that wielded the death-dealing

syringe; but, fortunately for themselves, they died easily. The

reptiles, perhaps on account of the wider distribution of the

nerve centres, had more lingering but not painful deaths, often,

while in articulo mortis, leaving the holes with which they

seemed to connect their discomfort, and making a final struggle

along the ground, only to die more quickly as a result of their

exertions. We have applied this also to the potato-bug, locust,

and other insect pests, no victim being too small for the

ubiquitous, subtle germ, which, properly cultivated and utilized,

has become one of man's best friends.

"We have microbe tests that show us as unmistakably whether the

germs of any particular disease--like malaria, typhoid, or

scarlet fever--are present in the air, as litmus-paper shows

alkalinity of a solution. We also inoculate as a preventive

against these and almost all other germ diseases, with the same

success that we vaccinate for smallpox.

"The medicinal properties of all articles of food are so well

understood also, that most cures are brought about simply by

dieting. This, reminds me of the mistakes perpetrated on a

friend of mine who called in Dr. Grave-Powders, one of the

old-school physicians, to be treated for insomnia and dyspepsia.

This old numskull restricted his diet, gave him huge doses of

medicine, and decided most learnedly that he was daily growing

worse. Concluding that he had but a short time to live, my

friend threw away the nauseating medicines, ate whatever he had a

natural desire for, and was soon as well as ever--the obvious

moral of which is, that we can get whatever treatment we need

most beneficially from our food. Our physicians are most serious

and thoughtful men. They never claim to be infallible, but study

scientifically to increase their knowledge and improve the

methods of treatment. As a result of this, fresh air, regular

exercise for both sexes, with better conditions, and the

preservation of the lives of children that formerly died by

thousands from preventable causes, the physique, especially of

women, is wonderfully improved, and the average longevity is

already over sixty.

"Our social structure, to be brief, is based on science, or the

conservation of energy, as the Greek philosophers predicted. It

was known to them that a certain amount of power would produce

only a certain amount of work--that is, the weight of a clock in

descending or a spring in uncoiling returns theoretically the

amount of work expended in raising or coiling it, and in no

possible way can it do more. In practice, on account of

friction, etc., we know it does less. This law, being

invariable, of course limits us, as it did Archimedes and

Pythagoras; we have simply utilized sources of power that their

clumsy workmen allowed to escape. Of the four principal

sources--food, fuel, wind, and tide--including harnessed

waterfalls, the last two do by far the most work. Much of the

electrical energy in every thunderstorm is also captured and

condensed in our capacious storage batteries, as natural hygeia

in the form of rain was and is still caught in our country

cisterns. Every exposed place is crowned by a cluster of huge

windmills that lift water to some pond or reservoir placed as

high as possible. Every stiff breeze, therefore, raises millions

of tons of water which operate hydraulic turbines as required.

Incidentally these storage reservoirs, by increasing the surface

exposed to evaporation and the consequent rainfall, have a very

beneficial effect on the dry regions in the interior of the

continent, and in some cases have almost superseded irrigation.

The windmill and dynamo thus utilize bleak mountain-tops that,

till their discovery, seemed to be but indifferent successes in

Dame Nature's domain. The electricity generated by these, in

connection with that obtained by waterfalls, tidal dynamos,

thunderstorms, chemical action, and slow-moving

quadruple-expansion steam engines, provides the power required to

run our electric ships and water-spiders, railways, and

stationary and portable motors, for heating the cables laid along

the bottom of our canals to prevent their freezing in winter, and

for almost every conceivable purpose. Sometimes a man has a

windmill on his roof for light and heat; then, the harder the

wintry blasts may blow the brighter and warmer becomes the house,

the current passing through a storage battery to make it more

steady. The operation of our ordinary electric railways is very

simple: the current is taken from an overhead, side, or

underneath wire, directly through the air, without the

intervention of a trolley, and the fast cars, for they are no

longer run in trains, make five miles a minute. The entire

weight of each car being used for its own traction, it can ascend

very steep grades, and can attain high speed or stop very

quickly.

"Another form is the magnetic railway, on which the cars are

wedge-shaped at both ends, and moved by huge magnets weighing

four thousand tons each, placed fifty miles apart. On passing a

magnet, the nature of the electricity charging a car is

automatically changed from positive to negative, or vice versa,

to that of the magnet just passed, so that it repels while the

next attracts. The successive magnets are charged oppositely,

the sections being divided halfway between by insulators, the

nature of the electricity in each section being governed by the

charge in the magnet. To prevent one kind of electricity from

uniting with and neutralizing that in the next section by passing

through the car at the moment of transit, there is a "dead

stretch" of fifty yards with rails not charged at all between the

sections. This change in the nature of the electricity is

repeated automatically every fifty miles, and obviates the

necessity of revolving machinery, the rails aiding communication.

"Magnetism being practically as instantaneous as gravitation, the

only limitations to speed are the electrical pressure at the

magnets, the resistance of the air, and the danger of the wheels

bursting from centrifugal force. The first can seemingly be

increased without limit; the atmospheric resistance is about to

be reduced by running the cars hermetically sealed through a

partial vacuum in a steel and toughened glass tube; while the

third has been removed indefinitely by the use of galvanized

aluminum, which bears about the same relation to ordinary

aluminum that steel does to iron, and which has twice the tensile

strength and but one third the weight of steel. In some cases

the rails are made turned in, so that it would be impossible for

a car to leave the track without the road-bed's being totally

demolished; but in most cases this is found to be unnecessary,

for no through line has a curve on its vast stretches with a

radius of less than half a mile. Rails, one hundred and sixty

pounds to the yard, are set in grooved steel ties, which in turn

are held by a concrete road-bed consisting of broken stone and

cement, making spreading rails and loose ballast impossible. A

large increase in capital was necessary for these improvements,

the elimination of curves being the most laborious part,

requiring bridges, cuttings, and embankments that dwarf the

Pyramids and would have made the ancient Pharaohs open their

eyes; but with the low rate of interest on bonds, the slight cost

of power, and great increase in business, the venture was a

success, and we are now in sight of further advances that will

enable a traveller in a high latitude moving west to keep pace

with the sun, and, should he wish it, to have unending day."

CHAPTER V.

DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED.

"In marine transportation we have two methods, one for freight

and another for passengers. The old-fashioned deeply immersed

ship has not changed radically from the steam and sailing vessels

of the last century, except that electricity has superseded all

other motive powers. Steamers gradually passed through the five

hundred-, six hundred-, and seven hundred-foot-long class, with

other dimensions in proportion, till their length exceeded one

thousand feet. These were very fast ships, crossing the Atlantic

in four and a half days, and were almost as steady as houses, in

even the roughest weather.

"Ships at this period of their development had also passed

through the twin and triple screw stage to the quadruple, all

four together developing one hundred and forty thousand indicated

horse-power, and being driven by steam. This, of course,

involved sacrificing the best part of the ship to her engines,

and a very heavy idle investment while in port. Storage

batteries, with plates composed of lead or iron, constantly

increasing in size, had reached a fair state of development by

the close of the nineteenth century.

"During the second decade of the twentieth century the engineers

decided to try the plan of running half of a transatlantic

liner's screws by electricity generated by the engines for

driving the others while the ship was in port, this having been a

success already on a smaller scale. For a time this plan gave

great satisfaction, since it diminished the amount of coal to be

carried and the consequent change of displacement at sea, and

enabled the ship to be worked with a smaller number of men. The

batteries could also, of course, be distributed along the entire

length, and placed where space was least valuable.

"The construction of such huge vessels called for much

governmental river and harbour dredging, and a ship drawing

thirty-five feet can now enter New York at any state of the tide.

For ocean bars, the old system of taking the material out to sea

and discharging it still survives, though a jet of water from

force-pumps directed against the obstruction is also often

employed with quick results. For river work we have discovered a

better method. All the mud is run back, sometimes over a mile

from the river bank, where it is used as a fertilizer, by means

of wire railways strung from poles. These wire cables combine in

themselves the functions of trolley wire and steel rail, and

carry the suspended cars, which empty themselves and return

around the loop for another load. Often the removed material

entirely fills small, saucer-shaped valleys or low places, in

which case it cannot wash back. This improvement has ended the

necessity of building jetties.

"The next improvement in sea travelling was the 'marine spider.'

As the name shows, this is built on the principle of an insect.

It is well known that a body can be carried over the water much

faster than through it. With this in mind, builders at first

constructed light framework decks on large water-tight wheels or

drums, having paddles on their circumferences to provide a hold

on the water. These they caused to revolve by means of machinery

on the deck, but soon found that the resistance offered to the

barrel wheels themselves was too great. They therefore made them

more like centipeds with large, bell-shaped feet, connected with

a superstructural deck by ankle-jointed pipes, through which,

when necessary, a pressure of air can be forced down upon the

enclosed surface of water. Ordinarily, however, they go at great

speed without this, the weight of the water displaced by the bell

feet being as great as that resting upon them. Thus they swing

along like a pacing horse, except that there are four rows of

feet instead of two, each foot being taken out of the water as it

is swung forward, the first and fourth and second and third rows

being worked together. Although, on account of their size, which

covers several acres, they can go in any water, they give the

best results on Mediterraneans and lakes that are free from ocean

rollers, and, under favourable conditions, make better speed than

the nineteenth-century express trains, and, of course, going

straight as the crow flies, and without stopping, they reach a

destination in considerably shorter time.

Some passengers and express packages still cross the Atlantic on

'spiders,' but most of these light cargoes go in a far pleasanter

and more rapid way. The deep-displacement vessels, for heavy

freight, make little better speed than was made by the same class

a hundred years ago. But they are also run entirely by

electricity, largely supplied by wind, and by the tide turning

their motors, which become dynamos while at anchor in any stream.

They therefore need no bulky boilers, engines, sails, or

coal-bunkers, and consequently can carry unprecedentedly large

cargoes with comparatively small crews. The officers on the

bridge and the men in the crow's nest--the way to which is by a

ladder INSIDE the mast, to protect the climber from the

weather--are about all that is needed; while disablement is made

practically impossible, by having four screws, each with its own

set of automatically lubricating motors.

"This change, like other labour-saving appliances, at first

resulted in laying off a good many men, the least satisfactory

being the first to go; but the increase in business was so great

that the intelligent men were soon reemployed as officers at

higher rates of pay and more interesting work than before, while

they as consumers were benefited as much as any one else by the

decreased cost of production and transportation.

"With a view to facilitating interchange still further, our

Government has gradually completed the double coast-line that

Nature gave us in part. This was done by connecting islands

separated from shore by navigable water, and leaving openings for

ingress and exit but a few hundred yards wide. The breakwaters

required to do this were built with cribbing of incorrodible

metal, affixed to deeply driven metallic piles, and filled with

stones along coasts where they were found in abundance or excess.

This, while clearing many fields and improving them for

cultivation, provided just the needed material; since irregular

stones bind together firmly, and, while also insoluble, combine

considerable bulk with weight. South of Hatteras, where stones

are scarce, the sand dredged from parts of the channel was filled

into the crib, the surface of which has a concave metallic cover,

a trough of still water being often the best barrier against the

passage of waves. This double coast-line has been a great

benefit, and propelled vessels of moderate draught can range in

smooth water, carrying very full loads, from Labrador to the

Orinoco. The exits are, of course, protected by a line of

cribbing a few hundred feet to seaward.

"The rocks have been removed from all channels about New York and

other commercial centres, while the shallow places have been

dredged to a uniform depth. This diminishes the dangers of

navigation and considerably decreases the speed with which the

tides rush through. Where the obstructions consisted of reefs

surrounded by deep water, their removal with explosives was easy,

the shattered fragments being allowed to sink to the bottom and

remain there beneath the danger line.

"Many other great works have also been completed. The canals at

Nicaragua have been in operation many years, it having been found

best to have several sizes of locks, and to use the large ones

only for the passage of large vessels. The improved Erie and

Champlain Canals also enable ships four hundred feet long to

reach New York from the Great Lakes via the Hudson River.

"For flying, we have an aeroplane that came in when we devised a

suitable motor power. This is obtained from very light

paper-cell batteries that combine some qualities of the primary

and secondary type, since they must first be charged from a

dynamo, after which they can supply full currents for one hundred

hours--enough to take them around the globe--while partly

consuming the elements in the cells. The power is applied

through turbine screws, half of which are capable of propelling

the flat deck in its inclined position at sufficient speed to

prevent its falling. The moving parts have ball bearings and

friction rollers, lubrication being secured automatically, when

required, by a supply of vaseline that melts if any part becomes

hot. All the framing is of thin but very durable galvanized

aluminum, which has superseded steel for every purpose in which

weight is not an advantage, as in the permanent way on railways.

The air ships, whose length varies from fifty to five hundred

feet, have rudders for giving a vertical or a horizontal motion,

and several strengthening keels that prevent leeway when turning.

They are entirely on the principle of birds, maintaining

themselves mechanically, and differing thus from the unwieldy

balloon. Starting as if on a circular railway, against the wind,

they rise to a considerable height, and then, shutting off the

batteries, coast down the aerial slope at a rate that sometimes

touches five hundred miles an hour. When near the ground the

helmsman directs the prow upward, and, again turning on full

current, rushes up the slope at a speed that far exceeds the

eagle's, each drop of two miles serving to take the machine

twenty or thirty; though, if the pilot does not wish to soar, or

if there is a fair wind at a given height, he can remain in that

stratum of the atmosphere by moving horizontally. He can also

maintain his elevation when moving very slowly, and though the

headway be entirely stopped, the descent is gradual on account of

the aeroplane's great spread, the batteries and motors being

secured to the under side of the deck.

"The motors are so light that they develop two horse power for

every pound of their weight; while, to keep the frames thin, the

necessary power is obtained by terrific speed of the moving

parts, as though a steam engine, to avoid great pressure in its

cylinders, had a long stroke and ran at great piston speed,

which, however, is no disadvantage to the rotary motion of the

electric motor, there being no reciprocating cranks, etc., that

must be started and stopped at each revolution.

"To obviate the necessity of gearing to reduce the number of

revolutions to those possible for a large screw, this member is

made very small, and allowed to revolve three thousand times a

minute, so that the requisite power is obtained with great

simplicity of mechanism, which further decreases friction. The

shafts, and even the wires connecting the batteries with the

motors, are made large and hollow. Though the primary battery

pure and simple, as the result of great recent advances in

chemistry, seems to be again coming up, the best aeroplane

batteries are still of the combination- storage type. These have

been so perfected that eight ounces of battery yield one horse

power for six hours, so that two pounds of battery will supply a

horse power for twenty-four hours; a small fifty-horse-power

aeroplane being therefore able to fly four days with a battery

weight of but four hundred pounds.

"Limestone and clarified acid are the principal parts of these

batteries. It was known long ago that there was about as much

imprisoned solar energy in limestone as in coal, but it was only

recently that we discovered this way of releasing and using it.

"Common salt plays an important part in many of our chemical

reactions. By combining it with limestone, and treating this

with acid jelly, we also get good results on raising to the

boiling-point.

"However enjoyable the manly sport of yachting is on water, how

vastly more interesting and fascinating it is for a man to have a

yacht in which he can fly to Europe in one day, and with which

the exploration of tropical Africa or the regions about the poles

is mere child's play, while giving him so magnificent a

bird's-eye view! Many seemingly insoluble problems are solved by

the advent of these birds. Having as their halo the enforcement

of peace, they have in truth taken us a long step towards heaven,

and to the co-operation and higher civilization that followed we

shall owe much of the success of the great experiment on Mother

Earth now about to be tried.

"Another change that came in with a rush upon the discovery of a

battery with insignificant weight, compact form, and great

capacity, was the substitution of electricity for animal power

for the movement of all vehicles. This, of necessity brought in

good roads, the results obtainable on such being so much greater

than on bad ones that a universal demand for them arose. This

was in a sense cumulative, since the better the streets and roads

became, the greater the inducement to have an electric carriage.

The work of opening up the country far and near, by straightening

and improving existing roads, and laying out new ones that

combine the solidity of the Appian Way with the smoothness of

modern asphalt, was largely done by convicts, working under the

direction of State and Government engineers. Every State

contained a horde of these unprofitable boarders, who, as they

formerly worked, interfered with honest labour, and when idle got

into trouble. City streets had been paved by the municipality;

country roads attended to by the farmers, usually very

unscientifically. Here was a field in which convict labour would

not compete, and an important work could be done. When once this

was made the law, every year showed improvement, while the

convicts had useful and healthful occupation.

"The electric phaetons, as those for high speed are called, have

three and four wheels, and weigh, including battery and motor,

five hundred to four thousand pounds. With hollow but immensely

strong galvanically treated aluminum frames and pneumatic or

cushion tires, they run at thirty-five and forty miles an hour on

country roads, and attain a speed over forty on city streets, and

can maintain this rate without recharging for several days. They

can therefore roam over the roads of the entire hemisphere, from

the fertile valley of the Peace and grey shores of Hudson Bay, to

beautiful Lake Nicaragua, the River Plate, and Patagonia,

improving man by bringing him close to Nature, while they combine

the sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing the

country well.

"To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost every

town and village, two copper pins attached to insulated copper

wires are shoved into smooth-bored holes. These drop out of

themselves by fusing a small lead ribbon, owing to the increased

resistance, when the acid in the batteries begins to 'boil,'

though there is, of course, but little heat in this, the function

of charging being merely to bring about the condition in which

part of the limestone can be consumed, the batteries themselves,

when in constant use, requiring to be renewed about once a month.

A handle at the box seat turns on any part of the attainable

current, for either going ahead or reversing, there being six or

eight degrees of speed for both directions, while the steering is

done with a small wheel.

"Light but powerful batteries and motors have also been fitted on

bicycles, which can act either as auxiliaries for hill-climbing

or in case of head wind, or they can propel the machine

altogether.

"Gradually the width of the streets became insufficient for the

traffic, although the elimination of horses and the consequent

increase in speed greatly augmented their carrying capacity,

until recently a new system came in. The whole width of the

avenues and streets in the business parts of the city, including

the former sidewalks, is given up to wheel traffic, an iron ridge

extending along the exact centre to compel vehicles to keep to

the right. Strips of nickel painted white, and showing a bright

phosphorescence at night, are let into the metal pavement flush

with the surface, and run parallel to this ridge at distances of

ten to fifteen feet, dividing each half of the avenue into four

or five sections, their width increasing as they approach the

middle. All trucks or drays moving at less than seven miles an

hour are obliged to keep in the section nearest the building

line, those running between seven and fifteen in the next,

fifteen to twenty-five in the third, twenty-five to thirty-five

in the fourth, and everything faster than that in the section

next the ridge, unless the avenue or street is wide enough for

further subdivisions. If it is wide enough for only four or

less, the fastest vehicles must keep next the middle, and limit

their speed to the rate allowed in that section, which is marked

at every crossing in white letters sufficiently large for him

that runs to read. It is therefore only in the wide

thoroughfares that very high speed can be attained. In addition

to the crank that corresponds to a throttle, there is a gauge on

every vehicle, which shows its exact speed in miles per hour, by

gearing operated by the revolutions of the wheels.

"The policemen on duty also have instantaneous kodaks mounted on

tripods, which show the position of any carriage at half- and

quarter-second intervals, by which it is easy to ascertain the

exact speed, should the officers be unable to judge it by the

eye; so there is no danger of a vehicle's speed exceeding that

allowed in the section in which it happens to be; neither can a

slow one remain on the fast lines.

"Of course, to make such high speed for ordinary carriages

possible, a perfect pavement became a sine qua non. We have

secured this by the half-inch sheet of steel spread over a

carefully laid surface of asphalt, with but little bevel; and

though this might be slippery for horses' feet, it never

seriously affects our wheels. There being nothing harder than

the rubber ties of comparatively light drays upon it--for the

heavy traffic is carried by electric railways under ground--it

will practically never wear out.

"With the application of steel to the entire surface, car-tracks

became unnecessary, ordinary wheels answering as well as those

with flanges, so that no new tracks were laid, and finally the

car companies tore up the existing ones, selling them in many

instances to the municipalities as old iron. Our streets also

need but little cleaning; neither is the surface continually

indented, as the old cobble-stones and Belgian blocks were, by

the pounding of the horses' feet, so that the substitution of

electricity for animal power has done much to solve the problem

of attractive streets.

"Scarcely a ton of coal comes to Manhattan Island or its vicinity

in a year. Very little of it leaves the mines, at the mouths of

which it is converted into electricity and sent to the points of

consumption by wire, where it is employed for all uses to which

fuel was put, and many others. Consequently there is no smoke,

and the streets are not encumbered with coal-carts; the entire

width being given up to carriages, etc. The ground floors in the

business parts are used for large warehouses, trucks running in

to load and unload. Pedestrians therefore have sidewalks level

with the second story, consisting of glass floors let into

aluminum frames, while all street crossings are made on bridges.

Private houses have a front door opening on the sidewalk, and

another on the ground level, so that ladies paying visits or

leaving cards can do so in carriages. In business streets the

second story is used for shops. In place of steel covering,

country roads have a thick coating of cement and asphalt over a

foundation of crushed stone, giving a capital surface, and have a

width of thirty-three feet (two rods) in thinly settled

districts, to sixty-six feet (four rods) where the population is

greater. All are planted with shade and fruit trees, while the

wide driveways have one or two broad sidewalks. The same rule of

making the slow-moving vehicles keep near the outside prevails,

though the rate of increase in speed on approaching the middle is

more rapid than in cities, and there is usually no dividing

ridge. On reaching the top of a long and steep hill, if we do

not wish to coast, we convert the motors into dynamos, while

running at full speed, and so change the kinetic energy of the

descent into potential in our batteries. This twentieth-century

stage-coaching is one of the delights to which we are heirs,

though horses are still used by those that prefer them.

We have been much aided in our material progress by the facility

with which we obtain the metals. It was observed, some time ago,

that when artesian and oil wells had reached a considerable

depth, what appeared to be drops of lead and antimony came up

with the stream. It finally occurred to a well-borer that if he

could make his drill hard enough and get it down far enough,

keeping it cool by solidified carbonic acid during the

proceeding, he would reach a point at which most of the metals

would be viscous, if not actually molten, and on being freed from

the pressure of the crust they would expand, and reach the

surface in a stream. This experiment he performed near the hot

geysers in Yellowstone Park, and what was his delight, on

reaching a depth scarcely half a mile beyond his usual stopping-

place, to be rewarded by a stream of metal that heralded its

approach by a loud explosion and a great rush of superheated

steam! It ran for a month, completely filling the bed of a

small, dried-up river, and when it did stop there were ten

million tons in sight. This proved the feasibility of the

scheme, and, though many subsequent attempts were less

successful, we have learned by experience where it is best to

drill, and can now obtain almost any metal we wish.

"'Magnetic eyes' are of great use to miners and Civil engineers.

These instruments are something like the mariner's compass, with

the sensitiveness enormously increased by galvanic currents. The

'eye,' as it were, sees what substances are underground, and at

what distances. It also shows how many people are in an

adjoining room--through the magnetic properties of the iron in

their blood--whether they are moving, and in what directions and

at what speed they go. In connection with the phonograph and

concealed by draperies, it is useful to detectives, who, through

a registering attachment, can obtain a record of everything said

and done.

"Our political system remains with but little change. Each State

has still two United States Senators, though the population

represented by each representative has been greatly increased, so

that the Senate has grown numerically much more than the House.

It is the duty of each member of Congress to understand the

conditions existing in every other member's State or district,

and the country's interest always precedes that of party. We

have a comprehensive examination system in the civil service, and

every officeholder, except members of the Cabinet, retains his

office while efficiently performing his duty, without regard to

politics. The President can also be re-elected any number of

times. The Cabinet members, as formerly, usually remain in

office while he does, and appear regularly in Congress to defend

their measures.

"The really rapid transit lines in New York are underground, and

have six tracks, two being used for freight. At all stations the

local tracks rise several feet towards the street and slope off

in both directions, while the express tracks do this only at

stations at which the faster trains stop. This gives the

passengers a shorter distance to descend or rise in the

elevators, and the ascent before the stations aids the brakes in

stopping, while the drop helps the motors to start the trains

quickly in getting away.

"Photography has also made great strides, and there is now no

difficulty in reproducing exactly the colours of the object

taken.

"Telephones have been so improved that one person can speak in

his natural voice with another in any part of the globe, the wire

that enables him to hear also showing him the face of the speaker

though he be at the antipodes. All telephone wires being

underground and kept by themselves, they are not interfered with

by any high-tension electric-light or power wires, thunderstorms,

or anything else.

"Rain-making is another subject removed from the uncertainties,

and has become an absolute science. We produce clouds by

explosions in the atmosphere's heights and by surface air forced

by blowers through large pipes up the side of a mountain or

natural elevation and there discharged through an opening in the

top of a tower built on the highest part. The aeriduct is

incased in a poor heat-conductor, so that the air retains its

warmth until discharged, when it is cooled by expansion and the

surrounding cold air. Condensation takes place and soon serves

to start a rain.

"Yet, until the earth's axis is straightened, we must be more or

less dependent on the eccentricities of the weather, with

extremes of heat and cold, droughts and floods, which last are of

course largely the result of several months' moisture held on the

ground in the form of snow, the congestion being relieved

suddenly by the warm spring rains.

"Medicine and surgery have kept pace with other

improvements--inoculation and antiseptics, as already seen,

rendering most of the germ diseases and formerly dreaded

epidemics impotent; while through the potency of electrical

affinity we form wholesome food-products rapidly, instead of

having to wait for their production by Nature's slow processes.

"The metric system, now universal, superseded the old-fashioned

arbitrary standards, so prolific of mistakes and confusion, about

a century ago.

"English, as we have seen, is already the language of 600,000,000

people, and the number is constantly increasing through its

adoption by the numerous races of India, where, even before the

close of the last century, it was about as important as Latin

during the greatness of Rome, and by the fact that the Spanish

and Portuguese elements in Mexico and Central and South America

show a constant tendency to die out, much as the population of

Spain fell from 30,000,000 to 17,000,000 during the nineteenth

century. As this goes on, in the Western hemisphere, the places

left vacant are gradually filled by the more progressive

Anglo-Saxons, so that it looks as if the study of ethnology in

the future would be very simple.

"The people with cultivation and leisure, whose number is

increasing relatively to the population at each generation, spend

much more of their year in the country than formerly, where they

have large and well-cultivated country seats, parts of which are

also preserved for game. This growing custom on the part of

society, in addition to being of great advantage to the

out-of-town districts, has done much to save the forests and

preserve some forms of game that would otherwise, like the

buffalo, have become extinct.

"In astronomy we have also made tremendous strides. The

old-fashioned double-convex lens used in telescopes became so

heavy as its size grew, that it bent perceptibly from its own

weight, when pointed at the zenith, distorting the vision; while

when it was used upon a star near the horizon, though the glass

on edge kept its shape, there was too much atmosphere between it

and the observed object for successful study. Our recent

telescopes have, therefore, concave plate-glass mirrors, twenty

metres in diameter, like those used for converging the sun's rays

in solar engines, but with curves more mathematically exact,

which collect an immense amount of light and focus it on a

sensitive plate or on the eye of the observer, whose back is

turned to the object he is studying. An electrical field also

plays an important part, the electricity being as great an aid to

light as in the telephone it is to sound. With these placed

generally on high mountain peaks, beyond the reach of clouds, we

have enormously increased the number of visible stars, though

there are still probably boundless regions that we cannot see.

These telescopes have several hundred times the power of the

largest lenses of the nineteenth century, and apparently bring

Mars and Jupiter, when in opposition, within one thousand and ten

thousand miles, respectively, so that we study their physical

geography and topography; and we have good maps of Jupiter, and

even of Saturn, notwithstanding their distance and atmospheric

envelopes, and we are able to see the disks of third-magnitude

stars.

"It seems as if, when we wish any particular discovery or

invention, in whatever field, we had but to turn our efforts in

its direction to obtain our desire. We seem, in fact, to have

awakened in the scenes of the Arabian Nights; yet the mysterious

genius which we control, and which dims Aladdin's lamp, is the

gift of no fairy godmother sustained by the haze of dreams, but

shines as the child of science with fadeless and growing

splendour, and may yet bring us and our little planet much closer

to God.

"We should indeed be happy, living as we do at this apex of

attained civilization, with the boundless possibilities of the

future unfolding before us, on the horizon of which we may fairly

be said to stand.

"We are freed from the rattling granite pavement of only a

century ago, which made the occupant of an omnibus feel like a

fly inside of a drum; from the domination of our local politics

by ignorant foreigners; and from country roads that either filled

the eyes, lungs, and hair of the unfortunates travelling upon

them with dust, or, resembling ploughed and fertilized fields,

saturated and plastered them with mud. These miseries, together

with sea-sickness in ocean travelling, are forever passed, and we

feel that 'Excelsior!' is indeed our motto. Our new and

increasing sources of power have so stimulated production and

manufacturing that poverty or want is scarcely known; while the

development of the popular demand, as a result of the supplied

need, is so great that there is no visible limit to the

diversification of industry or the possibilities of the arts.

"It may seem strange to some that apparently so disproportionate

a number of inventions have been made in the last century. There

are several reasons. Since every discovery or advance in

knowledge increases our chance of obtaining more, it becomes

cumulative, and our progress is in geometric instead of

arithmetical ratio. Public interest and general appreciation of

the value of time have also effectively assisted progress. At

the beginning of each year the President, the Governors of the

States, and the Mayors of cities publish a prospectus of the

great improvements needed, contemplated, and under way within

their jurisdiction--it may be planning a new boulevard, a new

park, or an improved system of sewers; and at the year's end they

issue a resume of everything completed, and the progress in

everything else; and though there is usually a great difference

between the results hoped for and those attained, the effect is

good. The newspapers publish at length the recommendations of

the Executives, and also the results obtained, and keep up public

interest in all important matters.

"Free to delve in the allurement and fascination of science,

emancipated man goes on subduing Nature, as his Maker said he

should, and turning her giant forces to his service in his

constant struggle to rise and become more like Him who gave the

commandments and showed him how he should go.

"Notwithstanding our strides in material progress, we are not

entirely content. As the requirements of the animal become fully

supplied, we feel a need for something else. Some say this is

like a child that cries for the moon, but others believe it the

awakening and craving of our souls. The historian narrates but

the signs of the times, and strives to efface himself; yet there

is clearly a void, becoming yearly more apparent, which

materialism cannot fill. Is it some new subtle force for which

we sigh, or would we commune with spirits? There is, so far as

we can see, no limit to our journey, and I will add, in closing,

that, with the exception of religion, we have most to hope from

science."

CHAPTER VI.

FAR-REACHING PLANS.

Knowing that the rectification of the earth's axis was

satisfactorily begun, and that each year would show an increasing

improvement in climate, many of the delegates, after hearing

Bearwarden's speech, set out for their homes. Those from the

valley of the Amazon and the eastern coast of South America

boarded a lightning express that rushed them to Key West at the

rate of three hundred miles an hour. The railroad had six

tracks, two for through passengers, two for locals, and two for

freight. There they took a "water-spider," six hundred feet long

by three hundred in width, the deck of which was one hundred feet

above the surface, which carried them over the water at the rate

of a mile a minute, around the eastern end of Cuba, through

Windward Passage, and so to the South American mainland, where

they continued their journey by rail.

The Siberian and Russian delegates, who, of course, felt a keen

interest in the company's proceedings, took a magnetic

double-ender car to Bering Strait. It was eighteen feet high,

one hundred and fifty feet long, and had two stories. The upper,

with a toughened glass dome running the entire length, descended

to within three feet of the floor, and afforded an unobstructed

view of the rushing scenery. The rails on which it ran were ten

feet apart, the wheels being beyond the sides, like those of a

carriage, and fitted with ball bearings to ridged axles. The

car's flexibility allowed it to follow slight irregularities in

the track, while the free, independent wheels gave it a great

advantage in rounding curves over cars with wheels and axle in

one casting, in which one must slip while traversing a greater or

smaller arc than the other, except when the slope of the tread

and the centrifugal force happen to correspond exactly. The fact

of having its supports outside instead of underneath, while

increasing its stability, also enabled the lower floor to come

much nearer the ground, while still the wheels were large.

Arriving in just twenty hours, they ran across on an electric

ferry-boat, capable of carrying several dozen cars, to East Cape,

Siberia, and then, by running as far north as possible, had a

short cut to Europe.

The Patagonians went by the all-rail Intercontinental Line,

without change of cars, making the run of ten thousand miles in

forty hours. The Australians entered a flying machine, and were

soon out of sight; while the Central Americans and members from

other States of the Union returned for the most part in their

mechanical phaetons.

"A prospective improvement in travelling," said Bearwarden, as he

and his friends watched the crowd disperse, "will be when we can

rise beyond the limits of the atmosphere, wait till the earth

revolves beneath us, and descend in twelve hours on the other

side."

"True," said Cortlandt, "but then we can travel westward only,

and shall have to make a complete circuit when we wish to go

east."

A few days later there was a knock at President Bearwarden's

door, while he was seated at his desk looking over some papers

and other matters. Taking his foot from a partly opened desk

drawer where it had been resting, he placed it upon the handle of

a handsome brass-mounted bellows, which proved to be

articulating, for, as he pressed, it called lustily, "Come in!"

The door opened, and in walked Secretary of State Stillman,

Secretary of the Navy Deepwaters, who was himself an old sailor,

Dr. Cortlandt, Ayrault. Vice-President Dumby, of the T. A. S.

Co., and two of the company's directors.

"Good-morning," said Bearwarden, as he shook hands with his

visitors. "Charmed to see you."

"That's a great invention," said Secretary Stillman, examining

the bellows. "We must get Congress to make an appropriation for

its introduction in the department buildings in Washington. You

have no idea how it dries my throat to be all the time shouting,

'Come in!'"

"Do you know, Bearwarden," said Secretary Deepwaters, "I'm afraid

when we have this millennium of climate every one will be so well

satisfied that our friend here (pointing to Secretary Stillman

with his thumb) will have nothing to do."

"I have sometimes thought some of the excitement will be gone,

and the struggle of the 'survival of the fittest' will become

less problematical," said Bearwarden.

"The earth seems destined to have a calm old age," said

Cortlandt, "unless we can look to the Cabinet to prevent it."

"This world will soon be a dull place. I wish we could leave it

for a change," said Ayrault. "I don't mean forever, of course,

but just as people have grown tired of remaining like plants in

the places in which they grew. Alan has been a caterpillar for

untold ages; can he not become the butterfly?"

"Since we have found out how to straighten the axis," said

Deepwaters, "might we not go one better, and improve the orbit as

well?--increase the difference between aphelion and perihelion,

and give those that still like a changing climate a chance, while

incidentally we should see more of the world--I mean the solar

system--and, by enlarging the parallax, be able to measure the

distance of a greater number of fixed stars. Put your helm hard

down and shout 'Hard-a-lee!' You see, there is nothing simpler.

You keep her off now, and six months hence you let her luff."

"That's an idea!" said Bearwarden. "Our orbit could be enough

like that of a comet to cross the orbits of both Venus and Mars;

and the climatic extremes would not be inconvenient. The whole

earth being simultaneously warmed or cooled, there would be no

equinoctials or storms resulting from changes on one part of the

surface from intense heat to intense cold; every part would have

a twelve-hour day and night, and none would be turned towards or

from the sun for six months at a time; for, however eccentric the

orbit, we should keep the axis absolutely straight. At

perihelion there would simply be increased evaporation and clouds

near the equator, which would shield those regions from the sun,

only to disappear again as the earth receded.

"The only trouble," said Cortlandt, "is that we should have no

fulcrum. Straightening the axis is simple enough, for we have

the attraction of the sun with which to work, and we have but to

increase it at one end while decreasing it at the other, and

change this as the poles change their inclination towards the

sun, to bring it about. If a comet with a sufficiently large

head would but come along and retard us, or opportunely give us a

pull, or if we could increase the attraction of the other planets

for us, or decrease it at times, it might be done. If the force,

the control of which was discovered too late to help us

straighten the axis, could be applied on a sufficiently large

scale; if apergy----"

"I have it!" exclaimed Ayrault, jumping up. "Apergy will do it.

We can build an airtight projectile, hermetically seal ourselves

within, and charge it in such a way that it will be repelled by

the magnetism of the earth, and it will be forced from it with

equal or greater violence than that with which it is ordinarily

attracted. I believe the earth has but the same relation to

space that the individual molecule has to any solid, liquid, or

gaseous matter we know; and that, just as molecules strive to fly

apart on the application of heat, this earth will repel that

projectile when electricity, which we are coming to look upon as

another form of heat, is properly applied. It must be so, and it

is the manifest destiny of the race to improve it. Man is a

spirit cursed with a mortal body, which glues him to the earth,

and his yearning to rise, which is innate, is, I believe, only a

part of his probation and trial."

"Show us how it can be done," shouted his listeners in chorus.

"Apergy is and must be able to do it," Ayrault continued.

"Throughout Nature we find a system of compensation. The

centripetal force is offset by the centrifugal; and when,

according to the fable, the crystal complained of its hard lot in

being unable to move, while the eagle could soar through the

upper air and see all the glories of the world, the bird replied,

'My life is but for a moment, while you, set in the rock, will

live forever, and will see the last sunrise that flashes upon the

earth.'

"We know that Christ, while walking on the waves, did not sink,

and that he and Elijah were carried up into heaven. What became

of their material bodies we cannot tell, but they were certainly

superior to the force of gravitation. We have no reason to

believe that in miracles any natural law was broken, or even set

aside, but simply that some other law, whose workings we do not

understand, became operative and modified the law that otherwise

would have had things its own way. In apergy we undoubtedly have

the counterpart of gravitation, which must exist, or Nature's

system of compensation is broken. May we not believe that in

Christ's transfiguration on the mount, and in the appearance of

Moses and Elias with him--doubtless in the flesh, since otherwise

mortal eyes could not have seen them--apergy came into play and

upheld them; that otherwise, and if no other modification had

intervened, they would have fallen to the ground; and that apergy

was, in other words, the working principle of those miracles?"

"May we not also believe," added Cortlandt, "that in the

transfiguration Christ's companions took the substance of their

material bodies--the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon--from

the air and the moisture it contained; for, though spiritual

bodies, be their activity magnetic or any other, could of course

pass the absolute cold and void of space without being affected,

no mortal body could; and that in the same manner Elijah's body

dissolved into air without the usual intervention of

decomposition; for we know that, though matter can easily change

its form, it can never be destroyed."

All assented to this, and Ayrault continued: "If apergy can

annul gravitation, I do not see why it should not do more, for to

annul it the repulsion of the earth that it produces must be as

great as its attraction, unless we suppose gravitation for the

time being to be suspended; but whether it is or not, does not

affect the result in this case, for, after the apergetic

repulsion is brought to the degree at which a body does not fall,

any increase in the current's strength will cause it to rise, and

in the case of electro-magnets we know that the attraction or

repulsion has practically no limit. This will be of great

advantage to us," he continued, "for if a projectile could move

away from the earth with no more rapid acceleration than that

with which it approaches, it would take too long to reach the

nearest planet, but the maximum repulsion being at the start by

reason of its proximity to the earth--for apergy, being the

counterpart of gravitation, is subject to Newton's and Kepler's

laws--the acceleration of a body apergetically charged will be

greatest at first. Two inclined planes may have the same fall,

but a ball will reach the bottom of one that is steepest near the

top in less time than on any other, because the maximum

acceleration is at the start. We are all tired of being stuck to

this cosmical speck, with its monotonous ocean, leaden sky, and

single moon that is useless more than half the time, while its

size is so microscopic compared with the universe that we can

traverse its great circle in four days. Its possibilities are

exhausted; and just as Greece became too small for the

civilization of the Greeks, and as reproduction is growth beyond

the individual, so it seems to me that the future glory of the

human race lies in exploring at least the solar system, without

waiting to become shades."

"Should you propose to go to Mars or Venus?" asked Cortlandt.

"No," replied Ayrault, "we know all about Mars; it is but one

seventh the size of the earth, and as the axis is inclined more

than ours, it would be a less comfortable globe than this; while,

as our president here told us in his T. A. S. Company's report,

the axis of Venus is inclined to such a degree that it would be

almost uninhabitable for us. It would be as if colonists tried

to settle Greenland, or had come to North America during its

Glacial period. Neither Venus nor Mars would be a good place

now."

"Where should you propose to go?" asked Stillman.

"To Jupiter, and, if possible, after that to Saturn," replied

Ayrault; "the former's mean distance from the sun is 480,000,000

miles; but, as our president showed us, its axis is so nearly

straight that I think, with its internal warmth, there will be

nothing to fear from cold. Though, on account of the planet's

vast size, objects on its surface weigh more than twice as much

as here, if I am able to reach it by means of apergy, the same

force will enable me to regulate my weight. Will any one go with

me?"

"Splendid!" said Bearwarden. "If Mr. Dumby, our vice-president,

will temporarily assume my office, nothing will give me greater

pleasure."

"So will I go, if there is room for me," said Cortlandt. "I will

at once resign my place as Government expert, and consider it the

grandest event of my life."

"If I were not afraid of leaving Stillman here to his own

devices, I'd ask for a berth as well," said Deepwaters.

"I am afraid," said Stillman, "if you take any more, you will be

overcrowded."

"Modesty forbids his saying," said Deepwaters, "that it wouldn't

do for the country to have all its eggs in one basket."

"Are you not afraid you will find the surface hot, or even

molten?" asked Vice-President Dumby. "With its eighty-six

thousand five hundred mile diameter, the amount of original

internal heat must have been terrific."

"No, said Cortlandt, "it cannot be molten, or even in the least

degree luminous, for, if it were, its satellites would be visible

when they enter its shadow, whereas they entirely disappear."

"I do not believe Jupiter's surface is even perceptibly warm,"

said Bearwarden. "We know that Algol, known to the ancients as

the 'Demon Star,' and several other variable stars, are

accompanied by a dark companion, with which they revolve about a

common centre, and which periodically obscures part of their

light. Now, some of these non-luminaries are nearly as large as

our sun, and, of course, many hundred times the size of Jupiter.

If these bodies have lost enough heat to be invisible, Jupiter's

surface at least must be nearly cold."

"In the phosphorescence of seawater," said Cortlandt, "and in

other instances in Nature, we find light without heat, and we may

soon be able to produce it in the arts by oxidizing coal without

the intervention of the steam engine; but we never find any

considerable heat without light."

"I am convinced," said Bearwarden, "that we shall find Jupiter

habitable for intelligent beings who have been developed on a

more advanced sphere than itself, though I do not believe it has

progressed far enough in its evolution to produce them. I expect

to find it in its Palaeozoic or Mesozoic period, while over a

hundred years ago the English astronomer, Chambers, thought that

on Saturn there was good reason for suspecting the presence of

snow."

"What sort of spaceship do you propose to have?" asked the

vice-president.

"As you have to pass through but little air," said Deepwaters, "I

should suggest a short-stroke cylinder of large diameter, with a

flat base and dome roof, composed of aluminum, or, still better,

of glucinum or beryllium as it is sometimes called, which is

twice as good a conductor of electricity as aluminum, four times

as strong, and is the lightest of all known metals, having a

specific gravity of only two, which last property will be of

great use to you, for of course the more weight you have to

propel the more apergetic repulsion you will have to develop."

"I will get some drawing-paper I left outside in my trap," said

Ayrault, "when with your ideas we may arrive at something

definite," saying which, he left the room.

"He seems very cynical in his ideas of life and the world in

general," said Secretary Stillman, "for a man of his age, and one

that is engaged."

"You see," replied Bearwarden, "his fiancee is not yet a senior,

being in the class of two thousand and one at Vassar, and so

cannot marry him for a year. Not till next June can this sweet

girl graduate come forth with her mortar-board and sheepskin to

enlighten the world and make him happy. That is, I suspect, one

reason why he proposed this trip."

CHAPTER VII.

HARD AT WORK.

In a few moments Ayrault returned with pencils, a pair of

compasses, and paper.

"Let us see, in the first place," said Deepwaters, "how long the

journey will take. Since a stone falls 16.09 feet the first

second, and 64+ feet the next, it is easy to calculate at what

rate your speed would increase with the repulsion twice that of

the ordinary traction. But I think this would be too slow. It

will be best to treble or quadruple the apergetic charge, which

can easily be done, in which case your speed will exceed the

muzzle-velocity of a projectile from a long-range gun, in a few

seconds. As the earth's repulsion decreases, the attraction of

mars and Jupiter will increase, and, there being no resistance,

your gait will become more and more rapid till it is necessary to

reverse the charge to avoid being dashed to pieces or being

consumed like a falling star by the friction in passing through

Jupiter's atmosphere. You can be on the safe side by checking

your speed in advance. You must, of course, be careful to avoid

collisions with meteors and asteroids but if you do, they will be

of use to you, for by attracting or repelling them you can change

your course to suit yourself, and also theirs in inverse ratio to

their masses. Jupiter's moons will be like head and stern lines

in enabling you to choose the part of the surface on which you

wish to land. With apergy it is as essential to have some heavy

body on which to work, within range, as to have water about a

ship's propellers. Whether, when apergy is developed,

gravitation is temporarily annulled, or reversed like the late

attraction of a magnet when the current is changed, or whether it

is merely overpowered, in which case your motion will be the

resultant of the two, is an unsettled and not very important

point; for, though we know but little more of the nature of

electricity than was known a hundred years ago, this does not

prevent our producing and using it."

"Jupiter, when in opposition," he continued, "is about

380,000,000 miles from us, and it takes light, which travels at

the rate of 190,000 miles a second, just thirty-four minutes to

reach the earth from Jupiter. If we suppose the average speed of

your ship to be one- five-hundredth as great, it will take you

just eleven days, nineteen hours and twenty minutes to make the

journey. You will have a fine view of Mars and the asteroids,

and when 1,169,000 miles from Jupiter, will cross the orbit of

Callisto, the fifth moon in distance from the giant planet. That

will be your best point to steer by."

"I think," said Ayrault, "as that will be the first member of

Jupiter's system we pass, and as it will guide us into port, it

would be a good name for our ship, and you must christen her if

we have her launched."

"No, no," said Deepwaters, "Miss Preston must do that; but we

certainly should have a launch, for you might have to land in the

water, and you must be sure the ship is tight."

"Talking of tight ships," said Bearwarden, passing a decanter of

claret to Stillman, "may remind us that it is time to splice the

'main brace.' There's a bottle of whisky and some water just

behind you," he added to Deepwaters, "while three minutes after I

ring this bell," he said, pressing a button and jerking a handle

marked '8,' "the champagne cocktails will be on the desk."

"I see you know his ways," said Stillman to Bearwarden, drooping

his eyes in Deepwaters's direction.

"Oh, yes, I've been here before," replied Deepwaters. "You see,

we navy men have to hustle now-a-days, and can't pass our time in

a high-backed chair, talking platitudes."

At this moment there was a slight rumbling, and eight champagne

cocktails, with the froth still on, and straws on a separate

plate, shot in and landed on a corner of the desk.

"Help yourselves, gentlemen," said Bearwarden, placing them on a

table; "I hope we shall find them cold."

"Do you know," said Deepwaters to Ayrault, while rapidly making

his cocktail disappear, "the Callisto's cost with its outfit will

be very great, especially if you use glucinum, which, though the

ideal metal for the purpose, comes pretty high? I suggest that

you apply to Congress for an appropriation. This experiment

comes under the 'Promotion of Science Act,' and any bill for it

would certainly pass."

"No, indeed," replied Ayrault; "the Callisto trip will be a

privilege and glory I would not miss, and building her will be a

part of it. I shall put in everything conducive to success, but

will come to the Government only for advice."

"I will send a letter to all our ambassadors and consuls," said

Stillman, "to telegraph the department anything they may know or

learn that will be of use in adjusting the batteries, controlling

the machine, or anything else, and will turn over to you in a

succinct form all information that may be relevant, for without

such sorting you would be overwhelmed."

"And I," said Deepwaters, "will order the commanders of our

vessels to give you a farewell salute at starting, and to pick

you up in case you fail. When you have demonstrated the

suitability of apergy," he continued, "and the habitability of

Jupiter and Saturn--,which, with their five and eight moons,

respectively, and rings thrown in, must both be vastly superior

to our little second-rate globe--we will see what can be done

towards changing our orbit, and if we cannot swing a little

nearer to our new world or worlds. Then we'll lower, or rather

raise, the boats in the shape of numerous Callistos, and have a

landing-party ready at each opposition, while a man or two can be

placed in charge of each projectile to bring it back in ballast.

Thus we may soon have regular interplanetary lines."

"As every place seems to have been settled from some other," said

Cortlandt, "I do not see why, with increased scientific

facilities, history should not repeat itself, and this be the

point from which to colonize the solar system; for, for the

present at least, it would seem that we could not get beyond

that."

"As it will be quite an undertaking to change the orbit, said

Deepwaters, "we shall have time meanwhile to absorb or run out

all inferior races, so that we shall not make the mistake of

extending the Tower of Babel."

"He is putting on his war-paint," said Stillman, "and will soon

want a planet to himself."

"I see no necessity for even changing the orbit," said

Bearwarden, "except for the benefit of those that remain. If

this attempt succeeds, it can doubtless be repeated. An increase

in eccentricity would merely shorten the journey, if aphelion

always coincided with opposition, which it would not."

"Let us know how you are getting on," said Deepwaters to Ayrault,

"and be sure you have the Callisto properly christened. Step

lively there, landlubbers!" he called to Stillman; "I have an

appointment at Washington at one, and it is now twenty minutes

past twelve. We can lunch on the way."

Ayrault immediately advertised for bids for the construction of a

glucinum cylinder twenty-five feet in diameter, fifteen feet high

at the sides, with a domed roof, bringing up the total height to

twenty-one feet, and with a small gutter about it to catch the

rain on Jupiter or any other planet they might visit. The sides,

roof, and floor were to consist of two sheets, each one third of

an inch thick and six inches apart, the space between to be

filled with mineral wool, as a protection against the intense

cold of space. There were also to be several keels and supports

underneath, on which the car should rest. Large, toughened

plate-glass windows were to be let into the roof and sides, and

smaller ones in the floor, all to be furnished with thick shades

and curtains. Ayrault also decided to have it divided into two

stories, with ceilings six and a half to seven and a half feet

high, respectively, with a sort of crow's nest or observatory at

the top; the floors to be lattice- work, like those in the

engine-room of a steamer, so that when the carpets were rolled up

they should not greatly obstruct the view. The wide, flat base

and the low centre of gravity would, he saw, be of use in

withstanding the high winds that he knew often prevailed on

Jupiter.

As soon as possible he awarded the contract, and then entering

his smart electric trap, steered for Vassar University along what

was the old post-road--though its builders would not have

recognized it with its asphalt surface, straightened curves, and

easy grades--to ask his idol to christen the Callisto when it

should be finished.

Starting from the upper end of Central Park, he stopped to buy

her a bunch of violets, and then ran to Poughkeepsie in two

hours.

Sylvia Preston was a lovely girl, with blue eyes, brown hair, and

perfect figure, clear white skin, and just twenty. She was

delighted to see him, and said she would love to christen the

Callisto or do anything else that he wished. "But I am so sorry

you are going away," she went on. "I hate to lose you for so

long, and we shall not even be able to write."

"Why couldn't we be married now," he asked, "and go to Jupiter

for our honeymoon?"

"I'm afraid, dear," she answered, "you would be sorry a few years

hence if I didn't take my degree; and, besides, as you have asked

those other men, there wouldn't be room for me."

"We could have made other arrangements," he replied, "had I been

able to persuade you to go."

"Won't you dine with us at Delmonico's this evening, and go to

the play?" she asked. "Papa has taken a box."

"Of course I will," he said, brightening up. "What are you going

to wear?"

"Oh, I suppose something light and cool, for it's so hot," she

answered.

"I'll go now, so as to be ready," he said, getting up and going

towards the door to which Sylvia followed him.

A man in livery stood at the step of the phaeton. Ayrault got in

and turned on the current, and his man climbed up behind.

On turning into the main road Ayrault was about to increase his

speed, when Sylvia, who had taken a short cut appeared at the

wayside carrying her hat in one hand and her gloves in the other.

"I couldn't let you go all by yourself," she said. "The fact is,

I wanted to be with you."

"You are the sweetest thing that ever lived, and I'll love you

all my days," he said, getting down and helping Sylvia to the

seat beside him. "What a nuisance this fellow behind is!" he

continued--referring to the groom-- "for, though he is a Russian,

and speaks but little English, it is unpleasant to feel he is

there."

"You'll have to write your sweet nothings, instead of saying

them," Sylvia replied.

"For you to leave around for other girls to see," answered

Ayrault with a smile.

"I don't know what your other girls do," she returned, "but with

me you are safe."

Ayrault fairly made his phaeton spin, going up the grades like a

shot and down like a bird. On reaching New York, he left Sylvia

at her house, then ran his machine to a florist's, where he

ordered some lilies and roses, and then steered his way to his

club, where he dressed for dinner. Shortly before the time he

repaired to Delmonico's--which name had become historical, though

the founders themselves were long dead--and sat guard at a table

till Sylvia, wearing his flowers and looking more beautiful than

any of them, arrived with her mother and father, and Bearwarden,

whom they knew very well.

"How are the exams getting on, Miss Preston?" Bearwarden asked.

"Pretty well," she replied, with a smile. "We had English

literature yesterday, and natural history the day before. Next

week we have chemistry and philosophy."

"What are you taking in natural history?" asked Bearwarden, with

interest.

"Oh, principally physical geography, geology, and meteorology,"

she replied. "I think them entrancing."

"It must be a consolation," said Ayrault, "when your best hat is

spoiled by rain, to know the reason why. Your average," he

continued, addressing Sylvia, "was ninety in the semi-annuals,

and I haven't a doubt that the finals will maintain your record

for the year."

"Don't be too sure," she replied. "I have been loafing awfully,

and had to engage a 'grind' as a coach."

After dinner they went to the play, where they saw a presentation

of Society at the Close of the Twentieth Century, which Sylvia

and Ayrault enjoyed immensely.

A few days after the Delmonico dinner, while Bearwarden,

Cortlandt, and Ayrault sat together discussing their plans, the

servant announced Ayrault's family physician, Dr. Tubercle

Germiny, who had been requested to call.

"Delighted to see you, doctor," said Ayrault, shaking hands.

"You know Col. Bearwarden, our President, and Dr. Cortlandt--an

LL. D., however, and not a medico."

"I have had the pleasure," replied Dr. Germiny, shaking hands

with both.

"As you may be aware, doctor," said Ayrault, when they were

seated, "we are about to take a short trip to Jupiter, and, if

time allows, to Saturn. We have come to you, as one familiar

with every known germ, for a few precautionary suggestions and

advice concerning our medicine-chest."

"Indeed!" replied Dr. Germiny, "a thorough knowledge of

bacteriology is the groundwork of therapeutics. It is

practically admitted that every ailment, with the exception of

mechanical injuries, is the direct result of a specific germ; and

even in accidents and simple fractures, no matter what may be the

nature of the bruise, a micro-organism soon announces its

presence, so that if not the parent, it is the inseparable

companion, in fact the shadow, of disease. Now, though not the

first cause in this instance, it has been indubitably proved,

that much of the effect, the fever and pain, are produced and

continued by the active, omnipresent, sleepless sperm. Either

kill the micrococcus or heal the wound, and you are free from

both. It being, therefore, granted that the ills of life are in

the air, we have but to find the peculiar nature of the case in

hand, its habits, tastes, and constitution, in order to destroy

it. Impoverish the soil on which it thrives, before its arrival,

if you can foresee the nature of the inoculation to which you

will be exposed, by a dilute solution of itself, and supply it

only with what it particularly dislikes. For an already

established tubercle requiring rapid action of the blood, such as

may well exist among the birds and vertebrates of Jupiter and

Saturn, I suggest a hypodermic rattlesnake injection, while

hydrocyanic acid and tarantula saliva may also come in well. The

combinations that so long destroyed us have already become our

panacea."

"I see you have these poisons at your fingers' ends," said

Ayrault, "and we shall feel the utmost confidence in the remedies

and directions you prescribe."

They found that, in addition to their medicine-chest, they would

have to make room for the following articles, and also many more:

six shot-guns (three double-barrel 12-bores, three magazine

10-bores,) three rifles, three revolvers; a large supply of

ammunition (explosive and solid balls), hunting-knives,

fishing-tackle, compass, sextant, geometrical instruments, canned

food for forty days, appliance for renewing air, clothing, rubber

boots, apergetic apparatus, protection-wires, aneroid barometer,

and kodaks.

CHAPTER VIII.

GOOD-BYE.

At last the preparations were completed, and it was arranged that

the Callisto should begin its journey at eleven o'clock A. M.,

December 21st--the northern hemisphere's shortest day.

Though six months' operations could hardly be expected to have

produced much change in the inclination of the earth's axis, the

autumn held on wonderfully, and December was pronounced very

mild. Fully a million people were in and about Van Cortlandt

Park hours before the time announced for the start, and those

near looked inquiringly at the trim little air-ship, that, having

done well on the trial trip, rested on her longitudinal and

transverse keels, with a battery of chemicals alongside, to make

sure of a full power supply.

The President and his Cabinet--including, of course, the shining

lights of the State and Navy Departments--came from Washington.

These, together with Mr. and Mrs. Preston, and a number of people

with passes, occupied seats arranged at the sides of the

platform; while sightseers and scientists assembled from every

part of the world.

"There's a ship for you!" said Secretary Stillman to the

Secretary of the Navy. "She'll not have to be dry-docked for

barnacles, neither will the least breeze make the passengers

sick."

"That's all you landlubbers think of," replied Deepwaters. "I

remember one of the kings over in Europe said to me, as he

introduced me to the queen: 'Your Secretary of State is a great

man, but why does he always part his hair in the middle?'

"'So that it shall not turn his head,' I replied.

"'But with so gallant and handsome an officer as you to lean

upon,' he answered, 'I should think he could look down on all the

world.' Whereupon I asked him what he'd take to drink."

"Your apology is accepted," replied Secretary Stillman.

Cortlandt also came from Washington, where, as chief of the

Government's Expert Examiners Board, he had temporary quarters.

Bearwarden sailed over the spectators' heads in one of the

Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company's flying machines, while

Ayrault, to avoid the crowd, had come to the Callisto early, and

was showing the interior arrangements to Sylvia, who had

accompanied him. She was somewhat piqued because at the last

moment he had not absolutely insisted on carrying her off, or

offered, if necessary, to displace his presidential and

Doctor-of-Laws friends in order to make room.

"You will have an ideal trip," she said, looking over some

astronomical star-charts and photographic maps of Jupiter and

Saturn that lay on the table, with a pair of compasses, "and I

hope you won't lose your way."

"I shall need no compass to find my way back," replied Ayrault,

"if I ever succeed in leaving this planet; neither will

star-charts be necessary, for you will be a magnet stronger than

any compass, and, compared with my star, all others are dim."

"You should write a book," said Sylvia, "and put some of those

things in it." She was wearing a bunch of forget-me-nots and

violets that she had cut from a small flower-garden of potted

plants Ayrault had sent her, which she had placed in her father's

conservatory.

At this moment the small chime clock set in the Callisto's

wood-work rang out quarter to eleven. As the sounds died away,

Sylvia became very pale, and began to regret in her womanly way

that she had allowed her hero to attempt this experiment.

"Oh," she said, clinging to his arm, "it was very wrong of me to

let you begin this. I was so dazzled by the splendour of your

scheme when I heard it, and so anxious that you should have the

glory of being the first to surpass Columbus, that I did not

realize the full meaning. I thought, also, you seemed rather

ready to leave me," she added gently, "and so said little; you do

not know how it almost breaks my heart now that I am about to

lose you. It was quixotic to let you undertake this journey."

"An undertaker would have given me his kind offices for one even

longer, had I remained here," replied Ayrault. "I cannot live in

this humdrum world without you. The most sustained excitement

cannot even palliate what seems to me like unrequited love."

"O Dick!" she exclaimed, giving him a reproachful glance, "you

mustn't say that. You know you have often told me my reason for

staying and taking my degree was good. My lot will be very much

harder than yours, for you will forget me in the excitement of

discovery and adventure; but I--what can I do in the midst of all

the old associations?"

"Never mind, sweetheart," he said, kissing her hand, "I have

seemed on the verge of despair all the time."

Seeing that their separation must shortly begin, Ayrault tried to

assume a cheerful look; but as Sylvia turned her eyes away they

were suspiciously moist.

Just one minute before the starting-time Ayrault took Sylvia back

to her mother, and, after pressing her hand and having one last

long look into her--or, as he considered them, HIS--deep-sea

eyes, he returned to the Callisto, and was standing at the foot

of the telescopic aluminum ladder when his friends arrived. As

all baggage and impedimenta bad been sent aboard and properly

stowed the day before, the travellers had not to do but climb to

and enter by the second-story window. It distressed Bearwarden

that the north pole's exact declination on the 21st day of

December, when the axis was most inclined, could not be figured

out by the hour at which they were to start, so as to show what

change, if any, had already been brought about, but the

astronomers were working industriously, and promised that, if it

were finished by midnight, they would telegraph the result into

space by flash-light code.

Raising his hat to his fiancee and his prospective

parents-in-law, Ayrault followed them up. To draw in and fold

the ladder was but the work of a moment. As the clocks in the

neighbouring steeples began to strike eleven, Ayrault touched the

switch that would correspond to the throttle of an engine, and

the motors began to work at rapidly increasing speed. Slowly the

Callisto left her resting-place as a Galatea might her pedestal,

only, instead of coming down, she rose still higher.

A large American flag hanging from the window, which, as they

started, fluttered as in a southern zephyr, soon began to flap as

in a stiff breeze as the car's speed increased. With a final

wave, at which a battery of twenty-one field-pieces made the air

ring with a salute, and the multitude raised a mighty cheer, they

drew it in and closed the window, sealing it hermetically in

order to keep in the air that, had an opening remained, would

soon have become rarefied.

Sylvia had waved her handkerchief with the utmost enthusiasm, in

spite of the sadness at her heart. But she now had other use for

it in trying to hide her tears. The Callisto was still going

straight up, with a speed already as great as a cannon ball's,

and was almost out of sight. The multitude then began to

disperse, and Sylvia returned to her home.

Let us now follow the Callisto. The earth and Jupiter not being

exactly in opposition, as they would be if the sun, the earth,

and Jupiter were in line, with the earth between the two, but

rather as shown in the diagram, the Callisto's journey was

considerably more than 380,000,000 miles, the mean opposition

distance. As they wished to start by daylight--i. e., from the

side of the earth turned towards the sun--they could not steer

immediately for Jupiter, but were obliged to go a few hundred

miles in the direction of the sun, then change their course to

something like a tangent to the earth, and get their final right

direction in swinging near the moon, since they must be

comparatively near some material object to bring apergy into

play.

The maximum power being turned on, the projectile shot from the

earth with tremendous and rapidly increasing speed, by the

shortest course--i. e., a straight line--so that for the present

it was not necessary to steer. Until beyond the limits of the

atmosphere they kept the greatest apergetic repulsion focused on

the upper part of their cylinder, so that its point went first,

and they encountered least possible resistance. Looking through

the floor windows, therefore, the travellers had a most superb

view. The air being clear, the eastern border of North America

and the Atlantic were outlined as on a map, the blue of the ocean

and brownish colour of the land, with white snow- patches on the

elevations, being very marked. The Hudson and the Sound appeared

as clearly defined blue ribbons, and between and around the two

they could see New York. They also saw the ocean dotted for

miles with points in which they recognized the marine spiders and

cruisers of the North Atlantic squadron, and the ships on the

home station, which they knew were watching them through their

glasses.

"I see," said Cortlandt, "that Deepwaters has been as good as his

word, and has his ships on the watch to rescue us in case we

fail."

"Yes," replied Bearwarden, "he is the right sort. When he gave

that promise I knew his men would be there."

They soon perceived that they had reached the void of space, for,

though the sun blazed with a splendour they had never before

seen, the firmament was intensely black, and the stars shone as

at midnight. Here they began to change their course to a curve

beginning with a spiral, by charging the Callisto apergetically,

and directing the current towards the moon, to act as an aid to

the lunar attraction, while still allowing the earth to repel,

and their motion gradually became the resultant of the two

forces, the change from a straight line being so gradual,

however, that for some minutes they scarcely perceived it. The

coronal streamers about the sun, such as are visible on earth

during a total eclipse, shone with a halo against the

ultra-Cimmerian background, bursting forth to a height of twenty

or thirty thousand miles above the surface in vast cyclonic

storms, producing so rapid a motion that a column of incandescent

gas may move ten thousand miles in less than ten minutes.

Whether these great streaks were in part electrical phenomena

similar to the aurora borealis, or entirely of intensely heated

material thrown up by explosions within the sun's mass, they

could not tell even from their point of vantage.

"I believe," said Cortlandt, pointing to the streamers, "that

they are masses of gas thrown beyond the sun's atmosphere, which

expand enormously when the pressure to which they are subjected

in the sun is removed--for only in space freed from resistance

could they move at such velocities, and that their brilliancy is

increased by great electrical disturbance. If they were entirely

the play of electrical forces, their change of place would be

practically instantaneous, which, however rapid their movement,

is not the case."

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

THE LAST OF THE EARTH.

Finding that they were rapidly swinging towards their proper

course, and that the earth in its journey about the sun would

move out of their way, they divided their power between repelling

the body they had left and increasing the attraction of the moon,

and then set about getting their house in order.

Bearwarden, having the largest appetite, was elected cook, the

others sagely divining that labour so largely for himself would

be no trial. Their small but business- like-looking electric

range was therefore soon in full blast, with Bearwarden in

command. It had enough current to provide heat for cooking for

four hundred hours, which was an ample margin, and it had this

advantage, that, no matter how much it was used, it could not

exhaust the air as any other form of heat would.

There were also a number of sixteen-candle-power incandescent

lamps, so that when passing through the shadow of a planet, or at

night after their arrival on Jupiter, their car would be brightly

illuminated. They had also a good search-light for examining the

dark side of a satellite, or exploring the spaces in Saturn's

rings. Having lunched sumptuously on canned chicken soup, beef

a la jardiniere, and pheasant that had been sent them by some of

their admirers that morning, they put the bones and the glass can

that had contained the soup into the double-doored partition or

vestibule, placing a large sheet of cardboard to act as a wad

between the scraps and the outside door. By pressing a button

they unfastened the outside door, and the articles to be disposed

of were shot off by the expansion of the air between the

cardboard disk and the inside door; after which the outside door

was drawn back to its place by a current sent through a magnet,

but little power being required to reclose it with no resisting

atmospheric pressure. As the electricity ran along a wire

passing through a hermetically sealed opening in the floor, there

was no way by which more air than that in the vestibule could

escape; and as the somewhat flat space between the doors

contained less than one cubic foot, the air- pressure inside the

Callisto could not be materially lessened by a few openings.

"By filling the vestibule as full as possible," said Bearwarden,

"and so displacing most of its air, we shall be able to open the

outside door oftener without danger of rarefaction."

The things they had discharged flew off with considerable speed

and were soon out of sight; but it was not necessary for them to

move fast, provided they moved at all, for, the resistance being

nil, they would be sure to go beyond the range of vision,

provided enough time was allowed, even if the Callisto's speed

was not being increased by apergy, in which case articles outside

and not affected would be quickly left behind.

The earth, which at first had filled nearly half their sky, was

rapidly growing smaller. Being almost between themselves and the

sun, it looked like a crescent moon; and when it was only about

twenty times the size of the moon they calculated they must have

come nearly two hundred thousand miles. The moon was now on what

a sailor would call the starboard bow--i. e., to the right and

ahead. Being a little more than three quarters full, and only

about fifty thousand miles off, it presented a splendid sight,

brilliant as polished silver, and about twenty-five times as

large as they had ever before seen it with the unaided eye.

It was just ten hours since they had started, and at that moment

9 A. M. in New York; but, though it was night there, the Callisto

was bathed in a flood of sunlight such as never shines on earth.

The only night they would have was on the side of the Callisto

turned away from the sun, unless they passed through some shadow,

which they intended to avoid on account of the danger of

colliding with a meteor in the dark. The moon and the Callisto

were moving on converging lines, the curve on which they had

entered having swung them to the side nearest the earth; but they

saw that their own tremendous and increasing speed would carry

them in front of the moon in its nearly circular orbit. Wishing

to change the direction of their flight by the moon's attraction,

they shut off the power driving them from the earth, whereupon

the Callisto turned its heavy base towards the moon. They were

already moving at such speed that their momentum alone would

carry them hundreds of thousands of miles into space, and were

then almost abreast of the earth's satellite, which was but a few

thousand miles away. The spectacle was magnificent. As they

looked at it through their field glasses or with the unaided eye,

the great cracks and craters showed with the utmost clearness,

sweeping past them almost as the landscape flies past a railway

train. There was something awe-inspiring in the vast antiquity

of that furrowed lunar surface, by far the oldest thing that

mortal eye can see, since, while observing the ceaseless

political or geological changes on earth, the face of this dead

satellite, on account of the absence of air and water and

consequent erosion, has remained unchanged for bygone ages, as it

doubtless will for many more.

They closely watched the Callisto's course. At first it did not

seem to deflect from a straight line, and they stood ready to

turn on the apergetic force again, when the car very slowly began

to show the effect of the moon's near pull; but not till they had

so far passed it that the dark side was towards them were they

heading straight for Jupiter. Then they again turned on full

power and got a send-off shove on the moon and earth combined,

which increased their speed so rapidly that they felt they could

soon shut off the current altogether and save their supply.

"We must be ready to watch the signals from the arctic circle,"

said Bearwarden. "At midnight, if the calculations are finished,

the result will be flashed by the searchlight." It was then ten

minutes to twelve, and the earth was already over four hundred

thousand miles away. Focusing their glasses upon the region near

the north pole, which, being turned from the sun, was towards

them and in darkness, they waited.

"In this blaze of sunlight," said Cortlandt, "I am afraid we can

see nothing."

Fortunately, at this moment the Callisto entered the moon's

tapering shadow.

"This," said Ayrault, "is good luck. We could of course have

gone into the shadow; but to change our course would have delayed

us, and we might have lost part of the chance of increasing our

speed."

"There will be no danger from, meteors or sub-satellites here,"

said Bearwarden, "for anything revolving about the moon at this

distance would be caught by the earth."

The sun had apparently set behind the moon, and they were

eclipsed. The stars shone with the utmost splendour against the

dead-black sky, and the earth appeared as a large crescent, still

considerably larger than the satellite to which they were

accustomed. Exactly at midnight a faint phosphorescent light,

like that of a glow-worm, appeared in the region of Greenland on

the planet they had left. It gradually increased its strength

till it shone like a long white beam projected from a lighthouse,

and in this they beheld the work of the greatest search-light

ever made by man, receiving for a few moments all the electricity

generated by the available dynamos at Niagara and the Bay of

Fundy, the steam engines, and other sources of power in the

northern hemisphere. The beam lasted with growing intensity for

one minute; it then spelled out with clean-cut intervals,

according to the Cable Code: "23@ no' 6". The southern

hemisphere pumps are now raising and storing water at full blast.

We have already begun to lower the Arctic Ocean."

"Victory!" shouted Bearwarden, in an ecstasy of delight. "Nearly

half a degree in six months, with but one pole working. If we

can add at this rate each time to the speed of straightening

already acquired, we can reverse our engines in five years, and

in five more the earth will be at rest and right."

"Look!" said Ayrault, "they are sending something else." The

flashes came in rapid succession, reaching far into space. With

their glasses fixed upon them, they made out these sentences:

"Our telescopes, in whatever part of the earth was turned towards

you, have followed you since you started, and did not lose sight

of you till you entered the moon's shadow. On your present

course you will be in darkness till 12.16, when we shall see you

again."

On receiving this last earthly message, the travellers sprang to

their searchlight, and, using its full power, telegraphed back

the following: "Many thanks to you for good news about earth,

and to Secretary Deepwaters for lending us the navy. Result of

work most glorious. Remember us to everybody. Shadow's edge

approaching."

This was read by the men in the great observatories, who

evidently telephoned to the arctic Signal Light immediately, for

it flashed back: "Got your message perfectly. Wish you greatest

luck. The T. A. S. Co. has decked the Callisto's pedestal with

flowers, and has ordered a tablet set up on the site to

commemorate your celestial journey."

At that moment the shadow swept by, and they were in the full

blaze of cloudless day. The change was so great that for a

moment they were obliged to close their eyes. The polished sides

of the Callisto shone so brightly that they knew they were easily

seen. The power temporarily diverted in sending them the message

then returned to the work of draining the Arctic Ocean, which, as

the north pole was now returning to the sun, was the thing to do,

and the travellers resumed their study of the heavenly bodies.

CHAPTER II.

SPACE AND MARS.

Never before had the travellers observed the stars and planets

under such favourable conditions. No air or clouds intervened,

and as the Callisto did not revolve on its axis there was no

necessity for changing the direction of the glasses. After an

hour of this interesting work, however, as it was already late at

the longitude they had left on earth, and as they knew they had

many days in space before them, they prepared to go to bed. When

ready, they had only to pull down the shades; for, as apergy was

not applied to them, but only to the Callisto, they still looked

upon the floor as down, and closed the heavy curtains to have

night or darkness. They found that the side of the Callisto

turned constantly towards the sun was becoming very warm, the

double-toughened glass windows making it like a greenhouse; but

they consoled themselves with the thought that the sun's power on

them was hourly becoming less, and they felt sure the double

walls and thick upholstery would protect them almost anywhere

within the solar system from the intense cold of space.

"We could easily have arranged," said Ayrault, for night and day

on alternate sides of the Callisto by having strips of metal

arranged spirally on the outside as on the end of an arrow.

These would have started us turning as slowly as we like, since

we passed through the atmosphere at a comparatively low rate of

speed."

"I am afraid," said Cortlandt, "the motion, however slow, would

have made us dizzy. It would be confusing to see the heavens

turning about us, and it would interfere with using the glasses."

The base and one side of the Callisto had constant sunshine,

while the other side and the dome were in the blackest night.

This dome, on account of its shape, sky windows, and the

completeness with which it could be isolated, was an ideal

observatory, and there was seldom a time during their waking

hours for the rest of the journey when it was not occupied by

one, two, or all the observers.

"There is something marvellous," said Cortlandt, "about the

condition of space. Its absolute cold is appalling, apparently

because there is nothing to absorb heat; yet we find the base of

this material projectile uncomfortably warm, though, should we

expose a thermometer in the shade in front, we know it would show

a temperature of three hundred to four hundred degrees below

zero--were the instrument capable of recording it."

Artificial darkness having been obtained, the travellers were

soon asleep, Bearwarden's dreams being regaled with thoughts of

his company's triumph; Ayrault's, naturally, with visions of

Sylvia; while Cortlandt frequently started up, thinking he had

already made some great astronomical discovery.

About 9 A. M., according to seventy-fifth meridian time, the

explorers awoke feeling greatly refreshed. The tank in which the

liquefied oxygen was kept automatically gave off its gas so

evenly that the air remained normal, while the lime contained in

cups absorbed the carbon dioxide as fast as they exhaled it.

They had darkened those windows through which the sun was

actually pouring, for, on account of the emptiness of the

surrounding ether and consequent absence of diffusion of light,

nothing but the inky blackness of space and the bright stars

looked in at the rest. On raising the shades they got an idea of

their speed. A small crescent, smaller than the familiar moon,

accompanied by one still tinier, was all that could be seen of

the earth and its satellite.

"We must," said Bearwarden, "be moving at the rate of nearly a

million miles an hour, from the way we have travelled."

"We must be doing fully a million," replied Cortlandt, "for by

this time we are pretty well in motion, having got a tremendous

start when so near the moon, with it and the earth in line."

By steering straight for Jupiter, instead of for the place it

would occupy ten days later, they knew they would swing past, for

the giant planet, being in rapid motion, would advance; but they

did not object to this, since it would give them a chance to

examine their new world in case they wished to do so before

alighting; while, if they preferred to land at once, they could

easily change their course by means of the moons, the fourth,

from which their car was named, being the one that they knew

would be of most use. Their tremendous speed showed them they

should have time for exploration on their arrival, and that they

would reach their destination sooner than they had expected. The

apergetic force being applied, as we have seen, only to the

Callisto, just as power in starting is exerted on a carriage or

railway car and only through it to the passengers, Ayrault and

his companions had no unusual sensation except loss of weight,

for, when they were so far from the earth, its attraction was

very slight, and no other planet was near enough to take its

place. After breakfast, wishing to reach the dome, and realizing

that it would be unnecessary to climb, each in turn gave a slight

spring and was obliged to put up his hands to avoid striking the

roof. In the cool quiet of the dark dome it was difficult to

believe that only twenty feet away the sun was shining with such

intensity upon the metal base as to make it too hot on the inside

to touch without gloves.

The first thing that attracted their attention was the size and

brilliance of Mars. Although this red planet was over forty

million miles from the earth when they started, they calculated

that it was less than thirty million miles from them now, or five

millions nearer than it had ever been to them before. This

reduction in distance, and the clearness of the void through

which they saw it, made it a splendid sight, its disk showing

clearly. From hour to hour its size and brightness increased,

till towards evening it looked like a small, full moon, the sun

shining squarely upon it. They calculated that on the course

they were moving they should pass about nine hundred thousand

miles to the right or behind it, since it was moving towards

their left. They were interested to see what effect the mass of

Mars would have on the Callisto, and saw here a chance of still

further increasing their speed. Notwithstanding its tremendous

rate, they expected to see the Callisto swerve from its straight

line and move towards Mars, whose orbital speed of nine hundred

miles a minute they thought would take it out of the Callisto's

way, so that no actual collision would occur even if their

air-ship were left to her own devices.

Towards evening they noticed through their glasses that several

apparently island peaks in the southern hemisphere, which was

turned towards them, became white, from which they concluded that

a snow-storm was in progress. The south polar region was also

markedly glaciated, though the icecap was not as extensive as

either of those at the poles of the earth.

"As the Martian winters must be fully as severe as ours," said

Cortlandt, "on account of their length, the planet's distance

from the sun, and the twenty-seven and a half degrees inclination

of its axis, we can account for the smallness of its ice-caps

only by the fact that its oceans cover but one fourth of its

surface instead of three quarters, as on the earth, and there is

consequently a smaller evaporation and rain and snow-fall."

They were too much interested to think of sleeping that night,

and so, after dining comfortably returned to their observatory.

When within four million miles of Mars the Callisto began to

swerve perceptibly, its curve, as when near the moon beginning

with a spiral. They swung on unconcernedly, however, knowing

they could check their approach at any time. Soon Mars appeared

to have a diameter ten times as great as that of the moon, and

promised shortly to occupy almost one side of their sky.

"We must be on the lookout for the satellites," said Cortlandt;

"a collision with either would be worse than a wreck on a desert

island."

They therefore turned their glasses in the direction of the

satellites.

"Until Prof. Hall, at Washington, discovered the two satellites

in 1877," he continued, "Mars was supposed to be without moons.

The outer one, Deimos, is but six miles in diameter, and revolves

about its primary in thirty hours and eighteen minutes, at a

distance of fourteen thousand six hundred miles. As it takes but

little longer to complete a revolution than Mars does to rotate

on its axis, it remains in the Martial sky one hundred and

thirty-two hours between rising and setting, passing through all

the phases from new moon to full and back again four times; that

is, it swings four times around Mars before going below the

horizon. It is one of the smallest bodies discovered with a

telescope. The inner one, Phobos, is considerably larger, having

a diameter of about twenty miles. It is but twenty-seven hundred

miles from Mars's surface, and completes its revolution in seven

hours and thirty-eight minutes, which is shorter than any other

known period, Jupiter's nearest moon being the next, with eleven

hours and fifty- nine minutes. It thus revolves in less than a

third of the time Mars takes to rotate, and must consequently

rise in the west and set in the east, as it is continually

running ahead of the surface of the planet, though the sun and

all the other stars rise and set on Mars in the same way as on

the earth."

When about fifteen thousand miles from Mars, they sighted Deimos

directly ahead, and saw that they should pass on its left--i. e.,

behind--for it was moving across them. The sun poured directly

upon it, making it appear full and showing all its features.

There were small unevennesses on the surface, apparently seventy

or a hundred feet high, which were the nearest approach to

mountains, and they ran in ridges or chains. There were also

unmistakable signs of volcanic action, the craters being large

compared with the size of the planet, but shallow. They saw no

signs of water, and the blackness of the shadows convinced them

there was no air. They secured two instantaneous photographs of

the little satellite as the Callisto swept by, and resumed their

inspection of Mars. They noticed red and brownish patches on the

peaks that had that morning turned white, from which they

concluded that the show had begun to melt under the warm spring

sun. This strengthened the belief they had already formed, that

on account of its twenty-seven and a half degrees inclination the

changes in temperature on Mars must be great and sudden. So

interested were they with this, that they did not at first see a

large and bright body moving rapidly on a course that converged

with theirs.

"We must be ready to repel boarders," said Bearwarden, observing

it for the first time and fixing his glass upon it. "That must

be Phobos."

Not ten miles off they beheld Mars's inner moon, and though their

own speed caused them to overtake and rush by it like a

whirlwind, the satellite's rapid motion in its orbit, in a course

temporarily almost parallel with theirs, served to give them a

chance the better to examine it. Here the mountain ranges were

considerably more conspicuous than on Deimos, and there were

boulders and loose stones upon their slopes, which looked as if

there might at some time have been frost and water on its

surface; but it was all dry now, neither was there any air. The

evidences of volcanic action were also plainly visible, while a

noticeable flattening at the poles showed that the little body

had once rotated rapidly on its axis, though whether it did so

still they had not time to ascertain. When abreast of it they

were less than two miles distant, and they secured several

instantaneous impressions, which they put aside to develop later.

As the radius of Phobos's circle was far shorter than that of the

parabolic curve they were making, it began to draw away, and was

rapidly left behind. Applying the full apergetic force to Mars

and the larger moon, they shot away like an arrow, having had

their speed increased by the planet's attraction while

approaching it, and subsequently by repulsion.

"Either of those," said Bearwarden, looking back at the little

satellites, "would be a nice yacht for a man to explore space on.

He would also, of course, need a sun to warm him, if he wished to

go beyond this system, but that would not have to be a large

affair--in fact, it might be smaller than the planet, and could

revolve about it like a moon."

"Though a sun of that size," replied Cortlandt, "might retain its

heat for the time you wished to use it, the planet part would be

nothing like as comfortable as what we have here, for it would be

very difficult to get enough air-pressure to breathe on so small

a body, since, with its slight gravitation-pull, to secure

fifteen pounds to the square inch, or anything like it, the

atmosphere would have to extend thousands of miles into space, so

that on a cloudy day you would be in darkness. It would be

better, therefore, to have such a sun as you describe and

accompany it in a yacht or private car like this, well stocked

with oxygen and provisions. When passing through meteoric swarms

or masses of solid matter, collision with which is the most

serious risk we run, the car could follow behind its sun instead

of revolving around it, and be kept from falling into it by

partially reversing the attraction. As the gravitation of so

small a sun would be slight, counteracting it for even a

considerable time would take but little from the batteries."

"There are known to be several unclaimed masses," added Ayrault,

"with diameters of a few hundred yards, revolving about the earth

inside the orbit of the moon. If in some way two of these could

be brought into sufficiently violent collision, they would become

luminous and answer very well; the increase in bulk as a result

of the consolidation, and the subsequent heat, about serving to

bring them to the required size. Whenever this sun showed spots

and indications of cooling, it could be made to collide with the

solid head of some comet, or small asteroid, till its temperature

was again right; while if, as a result of these accretions, it

became unwieldy, it could be caused to rotate with sufficient

rapidity on its axis to split, and we should have two suns

instead of one."

"Bravo!" said Bearwarden. "There is no limit to what can be

done. The idea of our present trip would have seemed more

chimerical to people a hundred years ago than this new scheme

appears now."

Thus they sat and talked, or studied maps and star- charts, or

the stars themselves, while the hours quickly passed and they

shot through space. They had now a straight stretch of over

three hundred million miles, and had to cross the orbits of

innumerable asteroids on the way. The apparent size of the sun

had by this time considerably decreased, and the interior of the

Callisto was no longer uncomfortably warm. They divided the day

into twenty-four hours from force of habit, and drew the shades

tightly during what they considered night, while Bearwarden

distinguished himself as a cook.

CHAPTER III.

HEAVENLY BODIES.

The following day, while in their observatory, they saw something

not many miles ahead. They watched it for hours, and in fact all

day, but notwithstanding their tremendous speed they came but

little nearer.

"They say a stern chase is a long one," said Bearwarden; but that

beats anything I have ever seen."

After a while, however, they found they WERE nearer, the time

taken having been in part due to the deceptive distance, which

was greater than they supposed.

"A comet!" exclaimed Cortlandt excitedly. "We shall really be

able to examine it near."

"It's going in our direction," said Ayrault, "and at almost

exactly our speed."

While the sun shone full upon it they brought their camera into

play, and again succeeded in photographing a heavenly body at

close range. The nucleus or head was of course turned towards

the sun; while the tail, which they could see faintly, preceded

it, as the comet was receding towards the cold and dark depths of

space. The head was only a few miles in diameter, for it was a

small comet, and was composed of grains and masses of stone and

meteoric iron. Many of the grains were no larger than peas or

mustard-seeds; no mass was more than four feet in diameter, and

all of them had very irregular shapes. The space between the

particles was never less than one hundred times their masses.

"We can move about within it," said Ayrault, as the Callisto

entered the aggregation of particles, and moved slowly forward

among them.

The windows in the dome, being made of toughened glass, set

somewhat slantingly so as to deflect anything touching them, and

having, moreover, the pressure of the inside air to sustain them,

were fairly safe, while the windows in the sides and base were

but little exposed. Whenever a large mass seemed dangerously

near the glass, they applied an apergetic shock to it and sent it

kiting among its fellows. At these times the Callisto recoiled

slightly also, the resulting motion in either being in inverse

ratio to its weight. There was constant and incessant movement

among the individual fragments, but it was not rotary. Nothing

seemed to be revolving about anything else; all were moving,

apparently swinging back and forth, but no collisions took place.

When the separate particles got more than a certain distance

apart they reapproached one another, but when seemingly within

about one hundred diameters of each other they swung off in some

other direction. The motion was like that of innumerable

harp-strings, which may approach but never strike one another.

After a time the Callisto seemed to become endowed with the same

property that the fragments possessed; for it and they repelled

one another, on a near approach, after which nothing came very

near.

Much of the material was like slag from a furnace, having

evidently been partly fused. Whether this heat was the result of

collision or of its near approach to the sun at perihelion, they

could not tell, though the latter explanation seemed most simple

and probable. When at about the centre of the nucleus they were

in semi-darkness--not twilight, for any ray that succeeded in

penetrating was dazzlingly brilliant, and the shadows, their own

included, were inky black. As they approached the farther side

and the sunlight decreased, they found that a diffused luminosity

pervaded everything. It was sufficiently bright to enable them

to see the dark side of the meteoric masses, and, on emerging

from the nucleus in total darkness, they found the shadow

stretching thousands of miles before them into space.

"I now understand," said Bearwarden, "why stars of the sixth and

seventh magnitude can be seen through thousands of miles of a

comet's tail. It is simply because there is nothing in it. The

reason ANY stars are obscured is because the light in the tail,

however faint, is brighter than they, and that light is all that

the caudal appendage consists of, though what produces it I

confess I am unable to explain. I also see why the tail always

stretches away from the sun, because near by it is overwhelmed by

the more powerful light; in fact, I suspect it is principally in

the comet's shadow that the tail is visible. It is strange that

no one ever thought of that before, or that any one feared the

earth's passing through the tail of a comet. It is obvious to me

now that if there were any material substance, any gas, however

rarefied, in this hairlike[1] accompaniment, it would immediately

fall to the comparatively heavy head,

and surround that as a centre."

[1] Comet means literally a hair.

"How, then," asked Cortlandt, "do you account for the spaces

between those stones? However slight gravitation might be

between some of the grains, if it existed at all, or was

unopposed by some other force, with sufficient time--and they

have eternity--every comet would come together like a planet into

one solid mass. Perhaps some similar force maintains gases in

the distended tail, though I know of no such, or even any

analogous manifestation on earth. If the law on which we have

been brought up, that 'every atom in the universe attracts every

other atom,' were without exceptions or modifications, that comet

could not continue to exist in its present form. Until we get

some additional illustration, however, we shall be short of data

with which to formulate any iconoclastic hypothesis. The source

of the light, I must admit, also puzzles me greatly. There is

certainly no heat to which we can attribute it."

Having gone beyond the fragments, they applied a strong repulsion

charge to the comet, creating thereby a perfect whirlpool among

its particles, and quickly left it. Half an hour later they

again shut off the current, as the Callisto's speed was

sufficient.

For some time they had been in the belt of asteroids, but as yet

they had seen none near. The morning following their experience

with the comet, however, they went to their observatory after

breakfast as usual, and, on pointing their glasses forward,

espied a comparatively large body before them, a little to their

right.

"That must be Pallas," said Cortlandt, scrutinizing it closely.

"It was discovered by Olbers, in 1802, and was the second

asteroid found, Ceres having been the first, in 1801. It has a

diameter of about three hundred miles, being one of the largest

of these small planets. The most wonderful thing about it is the

inclination of its orbit--thirty-five degrees--to the plane of

the ecliptic; which means that at each revolution in its orbit,

it swings that much above and below the imaginary plane cutting

the sun at its equator, from which the earth and other larger

planets vary but little. This no doubt is due to the near

approach and disturbing attraction of some large comet, or else

it was flung above or below the ordinary plane in the catastrophe

that we think befell the large planet that doubtless formerly

existed where we now find this swarm. You can see that its path

makes a considerable angle to the plane of the ecliptic, and that

it is now about crossing the line."

It soon presented the phase of a half moon, but the waviness of

the straight line, as in the case of Venus and Mercury, showed

that the size of the mountains must be tremendous compared with

the mass of the body, some of them being obviously fifteen miles

high. The intense blackness of the shadows, as on the moon,

convinced them there was no trace of atmosphere.

"There being no air," said Cortlandt, "it is safe to assume there

is no water, which helps to account for the great inequalities on

the body's surface, since the mountains will seem higher when

surrounded by dry ocean- bottom than they would if water came

halfway up their sides. Undoubtedly, however, the main cause of

their height is the slight effect of gravitation on an asteroid,

and the fact that the shrinking of the interior, and consequent

folding of the crust in ridges, may have continued for a time

after there was no longer water on the surface to cut them down.

"The temperature and condition of a body," continued Cortlandt,

"seem to depend entirely on its size. In the sun we have an

incandescent, gaseous star, though its spots and the colour of

its rays show that it is becoming aged, or, to be more accurate,

advanced in its evolutionary development. Then comes a great

jump, for Jupiter has but about one fourteen-hundredth of the

mass of the sun, and we expect to find on it a firm crust, and

that the planet itself is at about the fourth or fifth period of

development, described by Moses as days. Saturn is doubtless

somewhat more advanced. The earth we know has been habitable

many hundreds of thousands or millions of years, though three

fourths of its surface is still covered by water. In Mars we see

a further step, three fourths of its surface being land. In

Mercury, could we study it better, or in the larger satellites of

Jupiter or Saturn, we might find a stepping-stone from Mars to

the moon, perhaps with no water, but still having air, and being

habitable in all other respects. In our own satellite we see a

world that has died, though its death from an astronomical point

of view is comparatively recent, while this little Pallas has

been dead longer, being probably chilled through and through.

From this I conclude that all bodies in the solar system had one

genesis, and were part of the same nebulous mass. But this does

not include the other systems and nebulae; for, compared with

them, our sun, as we have seen, is itself advanced and small

beside such stars as Sirius having diameters of twelve million

miles."

As they left Pallas between themselves and the sun, it became a

crescent and finally disappeared.

Two days later they sighted another asteroid exactly ahead. They

examined it closely, and concluded it must be Hilda, put down in

the astronomies as No. 153, and having almost the greatest mean

distance of any of these small bodies from the sun.

When they were so near that the disk was plainly visible to the

unaided eye, Hilda passed between them and Jupiter, eclipsing it.

To their surprise, the light was not instantly shut off, as when

the moon occults a star, but there was evident refraction.

"By George!" said Bearwarden, "here is an asteroid that HAS an

atmosphere."

There was no mistaking it. They soon discovered a small ice-cap

at one pole, and then made out oceans and continents, with

mountains, forests, rivers, and green fields. The sight lasted

but a few moments before they swept by, but they secured several

photographs, and carried a vivid impression in their minds.

Hilda appeared to be about two hundred miles in diameter.

"How do you account for that living world," Bearwarden asked

Cortlandt, "on your theory of size and longevity?"

"There are two explanations," replied Cortlandt, "if the theory,

as I still believe, is correct. Hilda has either been brought to

this system from some other less matured, in the train of a

comet, and been captured by the immense power of "Jupiter, which

might account for the eccentricity of its orbit, or some accident

has happened to rejuvenate it here. A collision with another

minor planet moving in an orbit that crossed its own, or with the

head of a large comet, would have reconverted it into a star,

perhaps after it had long been cold. A comet may first have so

changed the course of one of two small bodies as to make them

collide. This seems to me the most plausible theory. Over a

hundred years ago the English astronomer, Chambers, wrote of

having found traces of atmosphere in some of these minor planets,

but it was generally thought he was mistaken. One reason we know

so little about this great swarm of minor planets is, that till

recently none of them showed a disk to the telescope. Inasmuch

as only their light was visible, they were indistinguishable from

stars, except by their slow motion. A hundred years ago only

three hundred and fifty had been discovered; our photographic

star-charts have since then shown the number recorded to exceed

one thousand."

CHAPTER IV.

PREPARING TO ALIGHT.

That afternoon Ayrault brought out some statistical tables he had

compiled from a great number of books, and also a diagram of the

comparative sizes of the planets. "I have been not a little

puzzled at the discrepancies between even the best authors," he

said, "scarcely any two being exactly alike, while every decade

has seen accepted theories radically changed." Saying which, he

spread out the result of his labours (shown on the following

pages), which the three friends then studied.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(1) Mean distance from sun in millions of miles

(2) Semimajor axis of orbit, earth's distance as 1

(3) Eccentricity of orbit

(4) Planets inclination of orbit to elliptic

(5) Light at perihelion

(6) Light at apehelion

(7) Heat, earth as 1

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Mercury... 36.0 0.387 0.2056 7@0'8" 10.58 4.59 6.67

Venus..... 67.2 0.723 0.0068 3@23'35" 1.94 1.91 1.91

The Earth. 92.9 1.000 0.068 0@0'0" 1.03 0.997 1.00

Mars......141.5 1.524 0.0933 1@51'2" 0.52 0.360 1.43

Asteroids 204.4 to 2.200 0.4 to 5@-35@ 325.2 to 3.500 0.34

Jupiter.. 483.3 5.203 0.0483 1@18'41" 0.04 0.034 0.037

Saturn... 886.0 9.539 0.0561 2@29'40" 0.012 0.0099 0.011

Uranus.. 1781.9 19.183 0.0463 0@46'20" 0.0027 0.0025 0.003

Neptune. 2791.6 30.055 0.0090 1@47'2" 0.0011 0.0011 0.001

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(1) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Velocity compared with earth as 1.

(2) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Period of revolution in years and days.

(3) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Orbital velocity in miles per second.

(4) Mean diameter in miles

(5) Surface compared with earth as 1.

(6) Volume compared with earth as 1.

(7) Mass compared with earth as 1.

Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Mercury..... 0.88 23 to 35 1.6 3,000 0.14 0.056 0.13

Venus.....0.224 1/2 21.9 1.17 7,700 0.94 0.92 0.78

The Earth... 1.00 18.5 1.0 7,918 1.00 1.00 1.00

Mars........ 1.88 15.0 0.81 4,230 0.28 0.139 0.124

Asteroids... 3.29 .... .... From a few to 6.56

miles to 300

Jupiter..... 11.86 8.1 0.44 86,500 118.3 1309.00 316.0

Saturn...... 29.46 6.0 0.32 1,000 0.4 760.0 95.0

Uranus...... 84.02 4.2 0.23 31,900 16.3 65.0 14.7

Neptune.... 164.78 3.4 0.18 34,800 19.3 90.0 17.1

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(1) Length of day. hrs. min. sec.

(2) Length of seasons

(3) DENSITY Compared with earth as 1

(4) DENSITY Compared with water as 1

(5) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Compared with earth as

1.

(6) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Bodies fall in one

second.

(7) Inclination of axis.

Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Mercury. ........ ......... 1.24 7.17 0.85 13.7 .....

Venus... 23 21 22 ........ 0.92 5.21 0.83 13.4 53+

The Earth. ..... Spring, 93 1.00 5.67 1.00 16.09 23 1/2

Summer, 93

Terrestrial days Autumn, 90

Winter,89

Mars... 24 37 23 Spring, 191 0.96 2.54 0.38 6.2 27 1/2

Summer, 181

Martian days Autumn, 149

Winter, 147

Asteroids........................................................

Jupiter. 9 55 28 ......... 0.22 1.29 2.55 40.98 1 1/2

Saturn..10 29 17 ......... 0.13 0.63 1.15 18.53 27

Uranus. ....... ......... 0.18 1.41 0.91 14.6 102(?)

Neptune......... ......... 0.20 0 0.88 14.2 .....

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"You see," Ayrault explained, "on Jupiter we shall need our

apergetic outfits to enable us to make long marches, while on

Saturn they will not be necessary, the increase in our weight as

a result of that planet's size being considerably less than the

usual load carried by the Roman soldier."

"I do not imagine," said Cortlandt, "we should long be troubled

by gravitation without our apergetic outfits even on Jupiter,

for, though our weight will be more than doubled, we can take off

one quarter of the whole by remaining near the equator, their

rapid rotation having apparently been given providentially to all

the large planets. Nature will adapt herself to this change, as

to all others, very readily. Although the reclamation of the

vast areas of the North American Arctic Archipelago, Alaska,

Siberia, and Antarctic Wilkes Land, from the death-grip of the

ice in which they have been held will relieve the pressure of

population for another century, at the end of that time it will

surely be felt again; it is therefore a consolation to feel that

the mighty planets Jupiter and Saturn, which we are coming to

look upon as our heritage, will not crush the life out of any

human beings by their own weight that may alight upon them."

Before going to bed that evening they decided to be up early the

next day, to study Jupiter, which was already a brilliant object.

The following morning, on awakening, they went at once to their

observatory, and found that Jupiter's disk was plainly visible to

the naked eye, and before night it seemed as large as the full

moon.

They then prepared to check the Callisto's headlong speed, which

Jupiter's attraction was beginning to increase. When about two

million miles from the great planet, which was considerably on

their left, they espied Callisto ahead and slightly on their

right, as Deepwaters had calculated it would be. Applying a mild

repulsion to this--which was itself quite a world, with its

diameter of over three thousand miles, though evidently as cold

and dead as the earth's old moon--they retarded their forward

rush, knowing that the resulting motion towards Jupiter would be

helped by the giant's pull. Wishing to be in good condition for

their landing, they divided the remainder of the night into

watches, two going to sleep at a time, the man on duty standing

by to control the course and to get photographic negatives, on

which, when they were developed, they found two crescent-shaped

continents, a speckled region, and a number of islands. By 7 A.

M., according to Eastern standard time, they were but fifty

thousand miles from Jupiter's surface, the gigantic globe filling

nearly one side of the sky. In preparation for a sally, they got

their guns and accoutrements ready, and then gave a parting

glance at the car. Their charge of electricity for developing

the repulsion seemed scarcely touched, and they had still an

abundant supply of oxygen and provisions. The barometer

registered twenty-nine inches, showing that they had not lost

much air in the numerous openings of the vestibule. The pressure

was about what would be found at an altitude of a few hundred

feet, part of the rarefaction being no doubt due to the fact that

they did not close the windows until at a considerable height

above Van Cortlandt Park.

They saw they should alight in a longitude on which the sun had

just risen, the rocky tops of the great mountains shining like

helmets in its rays. Soon they felt a sharp checking of their

forward motion, and saw, from the changed appearance of the stars

and the sun, that they had entered the atmosphere of their new

home.

Not even did Columbus, standing at the prow of the Santa Maria,

with the New World before him, feel the exultation and delight

experienced by these latter-day explorers of the twenty-first

century. Their first adventures on landing the reader already

knows.

CHAPTER V.

EXPLORATION AND EXCITEMENT.

When they awoke, the flowers were singing with the volume of a

cathedral organ, the chant rising from all around them, and the

sun was already above the horizon. Finding a deep natural

spring, in which the water was at about blood-heat, they prepared

for breakfast by taking a bath, and then found they had brought

nothing to eat.

"It was stupid of us not to think of it," said Bearwarden, "yet

it will be too much out of our way to return to the Callisto."

"We have two rifles and a gun," said Ayrault, "and have also

plenty of water, and wood for a fire. All we need is game."

"The old excuse, that it has been already shot out, cannot hold

here," said Cortlandt.

"Seeing that we have neither wings nor pneumatic legs, and not

knowing the advantage given us by our rifles," added Bearwarden,

"it should not be shy either. So far," he continued, "we have

seen nothing edible, though just now we should not be too

particular; but near a spring like this that kind must exist."

"The question is," said the professor, "whether the game like

warm water. If we can follow this stream till it has been on the

surface for some time, or till it spreads out, we shall doubtless

find a huntsman's paradise."

"A bright idea," said Bearwarden. "Let's have our guns ready,

and, as old Deepwaters would say, keep our weather eye open."

The stream flowed off in a southeasterly direction, so that by

following it they went towards the volcanoes.

"It is hard to realize," said the professor, "that those

mountains must be several hundred miles away, for the reason that

they are almost entirely above the horizon. This apparent

flatness and wide range of vision is of course the result of

Jupiter's vast size. With sufficiently keen sight, or aided by a

good glass, there is no reason why one should not see at least

five hundred miles, with but a slight elevation."

"It is surprising," said Ayrault, "that in what is evidently

Jupiter's Carboniferous period the atmosphere should be so clear.

Our idea has been that at that time on earth the air was heavy

and dense."

"So it was, and doubtless is here," replied Cortlandt; "but you

must remember that both those qualities would be given it by

carbonic-acid gas, which is entirely invisible and transparent.

No gas that would be likely to remain in the air would interfere

with sight; water vapour is the only thing that could; and though

the crust of this planet, even near the surface, is still hot,

the sun being so distant, the vapour would not be, raised much.

By avoiding low places near hot springs, we shall doubtless have

very nearly as clear an atmosphere as on earth. What does

surprise me is the ease with which we breathe. I can account for

it only by supposing that, the Carboniferous period being already

well advanced, most of the carbonic acid is already locked up in

the forests or in Jupiter's coal-beds."

"How, asked Bearwarden, "do you account for the 'great red spot'

that appeared here in 1878, lasted several years, and then

gradually faded? It was taken as unmistakable evidence that

Jupiter's atmosphere was filled with impenetrable banks of cloud.

In fact, you remember many of the old books said we had probably

never seen the surface."

"That has puzzled me very much," replied Cortlandt, "but I never

believed the explanation then given was correct. The

Carboniferous period is essentially one of great forest growth;

so there would be nothing out of the way in supposing the spot,

notwithstanding its length of twenty-seven thousand miles and its

breadth of eight thousand miles, to have been forest. It

occurred in what would correspond to the temperate region on

earth. Now, though the axis of this planet is practically

straight, the winds of course change their direction, and so the

temperature does vary from day to day. What is more probable

than that, owing perhaps to a prolonged norther or cold spell, a

long strip of forest lying near the frost line was brought a few

degrees below it, so that the leaves changed their colours as

they do on earth? It would, it seems to me, be enough to give

the surface a distinct colour; and the fact that the spot's

greatest length was east and west, or along the lines of

latitude, so that the whole of that region might have been

exposed to the same conditions of temperature, strengthens this

hypothesis. The strongest objection is, that the spot is said to

have moved; but the motion--five seconds--was so slight that it

might easily have been an error in observation, or the first area

affected by the cold may have been enlarged on one side. It

seems to me that the stability the spot DID have would make the

cloud theory impossible on earth, and much more so here, with the

far more rapid rotation and more violent winds. It may also have

been a cloud of smoke from a volcano in eruption, such as we saw

on our arrival, though it is doubtful whether in that case it

would have remained nearly stationary while going through its

greatest intensity and fading, which would look as though the

turned leaves had fallen off and been gradually replaced by new

ones; and, in addition to this, the spot since it was first

noticed has never entirely disappeared, which might mean a

volcanic region constantly emitting smoke, or that the surface,

doubtless from some covering whose colour can change, is normally

of a different shade from the surrounding region. In any case,

we have as yet seen nothing that would indicate a permanently

clouded atmosphere."

Though they had walked a considerable distance, the water was not

much cooled; and though the stream's descent was so slight that

on earth its current would have been very slow, here it rushed

along like a mountain torrent, the reason, of course, being that

a given amount of water on Jupiter would depress a spring balance

2.55 times as much as on the earth.

"It is strange," said Ayrault, "that, notwithstanding its great

speed, the water remains so hot; you would think its motion would

cool it."

"So it does," answered the professor. "It of course cools

considerably more in a given period--as, for instance, one

minute--than if it were moving more slowly, but on account of its

speed it has been exposed to the air but a very short time since

leaving the spring."

Just before them the stream now widened into a narrow lake, which

they could see was straight for some distance.

"The fact is," said Bearwarden, "this water seems in such haste

to reach the ocean that it turns neither to right nor to left,

and does not even seem to wish to widen out."

As the huge ferns and palms grew to the water's edge, they

concluded the best way to traverse the lake would be on a raft.

Accordingly, choosing a large overhanging palm, Bearwarden and

Ayrault fired each an explosive ball into its trunk, about

eighteen inches from the ground. One round was enough to put it

in the water, each explosion removing several cubic feet of wood.

By repeating this process on other trees they soon had enough

large timber for buoyancy, so that they had but to superimpose

lighter cross-logs and bind the whole together with pliable

branches and creepers to form a substantial raft. The doctor

climbed on, after which Bearwarden and Ayrault cast off, having

prepared long poles for navigating. With a little care they kept

their bark from catching on projecting roots, and as the stream

continued to widen till it was about one hundred yards across,

their work became easy. Carried along at a speed of two or three

miles an hour, they now saw that the water and the banks they

passed were literally alive with reptiles and all sorts of

amphibious creatures, while winged lizards sailed from every

overhanging branch into the water as they approached. They

noticed also many birds similar to storks and cranes, about the

size of ostriches, standing on logs in the water, whose bills

were provided with teeth.

"We might almost think we were on earth," said Ayrault, "from the

looks of those storks standing on one leg, with the other drawn

up, were it not for their size."

"How do you suppose they defend themselves," asked Bearwarden,

"from the snakes with which the water is filled?"

"I suspect they can give a pretty good account of themselves,"

replied Cortlandt, "with those teeth. Besides, with only one leg

exposed, there is but a very small object for a snake to strike

at. For their number and size, I should say their struggle for

existence was comparatively mild. Doubtless non-poisonous, or,

for that matter, poisonous snakes, form a great part of their

diet."

On passing the bend in the lake they noticed that the banks were

slightly higher, while palms, pine-trees, and rubber plants

succeeded the ferns. In the distance they now heard a tremendous

crashing, which grew louder as the seconds passed. It finally

sounded like an earthquake. Involuntarily they held their breath

and grasped their weapons. Finally, at some distance in the

woods they saw a dark mass moving rapidly and approaching the

river obliquely. Palms and pine-trees went down before it like

straws, while its head was continually among the upper branches.

As the monster neared the lake, the water at the edges quivered,

showing how its weight shook the banks at each stride, while

stumps and tree-trunks on which it stepped were pressed out of

sight in the ground. A general exodus of the other inhabitants

from his line of march began; the moccasins slid into the water

with a low splash, while the boa-constrictors and the tree-snakes

moved off along the ground when they felt it tremble, and a

number of night birds retreated into the denser woods with loud

cries at being so rudely disturbed. The huge beast did not stop

till he reached the bank, where lie switched his tail, raised his

proboscis, and sniffed the air uneasily, his height being fully

thirty feet and his length about fifty. On seeing the raft and

its occupants, he looked at them stupidly and threw back his

head.

"He seems to be turning up his nose at us," said Bearwarden.

"All the same, he will do well for breakfast."

As the creature moved, his chest struck a huge overhanging palm,

tearing it off as though it had been a reed. Brushing it aside

with his trunk, he was about to continue his march, when two

rifle reports rang out together, rousing the echoes and a number

of birds that screeched loudly.

CHAPTER VI.

MASTODON AND WILL-O'-THE WISPS.

Bearwarden's bullet struck the mammoth in the shoulder, while

Ayrault's aim was farther back. As the balls exploded, a

half-barrelful of flesh and hide was shot from each, leaving two

gaping holes. Instantly he rushed among the trees, making his

course known for some time by his roars. As he turned,

Bearwarden fired again, but the hall flew over him, blowing off

the top of a tree.

"Now for the chase!" said Ayrault. "There would be no excuse for

losing him."

Quickly pushing their raft to shore and securing it to the bank,

the three jumped off. Thanks to their rubber boots and galvanic

outfits which automatically kept them charged, they were as spry

as they would have been on earth. The ground all about them, and

in a strip twelve feet wide where the mammoth had gone, was torn

up, and the vegetation trodden down. Following this trail, they

struck back into the woods, where in places the gloom cast by the

thick foliage was so dense that there was a mere twilight,

startling as they went numbers of birds of grey and sombre

plumage, whose necks and heads, and the sounds they uttered, were

so reptilian that the three terrestrials believed they must also

possess poison fangs.

"The most highly developed things we have seen here," said

Bearwarden, "are the flowers and fireflies, most of the birds and

amphibians being simply loathsome."

As they proceeded they found tracks of blood, which were rapidly

attracting swarms of the reptile birds and snakes, which,

however, as a rule, fled at their approach.

"I wonder what can have caused that mammoth to move so fast, and

to have seemed so ill at ease?" said the doctor. "His motive

certainly was not thirst, for he did not approach the water in a

direct line, neither did he drink on reaching it. One would

think nothing short of an earthquake or a land-slide could

trouble him."

"There can be no land-slide here," said Ayrault, for the country

is too flat."

"And after yesterday's eruptions," added Bearwarden, "it would

seem as though the volcanoes could have scarcely enough steam

left to make trouble."

The blood-tracks, continuing to become fresher, showed them they

were nearing the game, when suddenly the trail took a sharp turn

to the right, even returning towards the lake. A little farther

it took another sharp turn, then followed a series of doublings,

while still farther the ground was completely denuded of trees,

its torn-up and trampled condition and the enormous amount of

still warm blood showing how terrific a battle had just taken

place.

While they looked about they saw what appeared to be the trunk of

a tree about four feet in diameter and six feet long, with a

slight crook. On coming closer, they recognized in it one of the

forefeet of the mammoth, cut as cleanly as though with a knife

from the leg just above the ankle, and still warm. A little

farther they found the huge trunk cut to slivers, and, just

beyond, the body of the unfortunate beast with three of its feet

gone, and the thick hide cut and slashed like so much paper. It

still breathed, and Ayrault, who had a tender heart, sent an

explosive ball into its skull, which ended its suffering.

The three hunters then surveyed the scene. The largest and most

powerful beast they had believed could exist lay before them

dead, not from the bite of a snake or any other poison, but from

mechanical injuries of which those they had inflicted formed but

a very small part, and literally cut to pieces.

"I am curious to see the animal," said Cortlandt, "capable of

doing this, though nothing short of dynamite bombs would protect

us from him."

"As he has not stopped to eat his victim," said Bearwarden, "it

is fair to suppose he is not carnivorous, and so must have had

some other motive than hunger in making the attack; unless we can

suppose that our approach frightened him away, which, with such

power as he must possess, seems unlikely. Let us see," he

continued, "parts of two legs remain unaccounted for. Perhaps,

on account of their shape, he has been able the more easily to

carry or roll them off, for we know that elephant foot makes a

capital dish."

"From the way you talk," said Cortlandt, "one would suppose you

attributed this to men. The Goliath we picture to ourselves

would be a child compared to the man that could cut through these

legs, though the necessity of believing him to have merely great

size does not disprove his existence here. I think it probable

we shall find this is the work of some animal with incisors of

such power as it is difficult for us to conceive of."

"There is no indication here of teeth," said Bearwarden, "each

foot being taken off with a clean cut. Besides, we are coming to

believe that man existed on earth during the greater part, if not

the whole, of our Carboniferous period."

"We must reserve our decision pending further evidence," said

Cortlandt.

"I vote we take the heart," said Ayrault, "and cook it, since

otherwise the mammoth will be devoured before our eyes."

While Bearwarden and Ayrault delved for this, Cortlandt, with

some difficulty, parted the mammoth's lips and examined the

teeth. "From the conical projections on the molars," said he,

"this should be classed rather as a mastodon than as a mammoth."

When the huge heart was secured, Bearwarden arranged slices on

sharpened sticks, while Ayrault set about starting a fire. He

had to use Cortlandt's gun to clear the dry wood of snakes,

which, attracted doubtless by the dead mastodon, came in such

numbers that they covered the ground, while huge pterodactyls,

more venomous-looking than the reptiles, hovered about the

opening above.

Arranging a double line of electric wires in a circle about the

mastodon and themselves, they sat down and did justice to the

meal, with appetites that might have dismayed the waiting throng.

Whenever a snake's head came in contact with one wire, while his

tail touched the other, he gave a spasmodic leap and fell back

dead. If he happened to fall across the wires, lie immediately

began to sizzle, a cloud of smoke arose, and lie was reduced to

ashes.

"Any time that we are short of mastodon or other good game," said

Ayrault, "we need not hunger if we are not above grilled snake."

All laughed at this, and Bearwarden, drawing a whiskey-flask from

his pocket, passed it to his friends.

"When we rig our fishing-tackle," he continued, "and have fresh

fish for dinner, an entree of rattlesnake, roast mastodon for the

piece de resistance, and begin the whole with turtle soup and

clams, of which there must be plenty on the ocean beach, we shall

want to stay here the rest of our lives."

"I suspect we shall have to," replied Ayrault "for we shall

become so like Thanksgiving turkeys that the Callisto's door will

be too small for us."

While they sat and talked, the flowers and plants about them

softly began their song, and, as a visual accompaniment, the

fire-flies they had not before noticed twinkled through the

forest.

"My goodness! " exclaimed Cortlandt, "how time goes here! We

started to get breakfast, and now it's growing dark."

Hastily cutting some thick but tender slices from the mastodon,

and impaling them with the remains of the heart on a sharpened

stake, they took up the wires, and the battery that had been

supplying the current, and retraced their steps by the way they

had come. Their rubber-lined cowhide boots protected them from

all but the largest snakes, and as these were for the most part

already enjoying their gorge, they trampled with impunity on

those that remained in their path. When they had covered about

half the distance to the raft, a huge boa-constrictor, which they

had mistaken for a branch, fell upon Cortlandt, pinioning his

arms and bearing him to the ground. Dropping their loads,

Bearwarden and Ayrault threw themselves upon the monster with

their hunting-knives with such vim that in a few seconds it beat

a hasty retreat, leaving, as it did so, a wake of phosphorescent

light.

"Are you hurt?" asked Bearwarden, helping him up.

"Not in the least," replied Cortlandt. "What surprises me is

that I am not. The weight of that boa-constrictor would be very

great on earth, and here I should think it would be simply

crushing."

Groping their way through the rapidly growing darkness, they

reached the raft without further adventure, and, once on the

lake, had plenty of light. Two moons, one at three quarters and

the other full, shone brightly, while the water was alive with

gymnotuses and other luminous creatures. Sitting and living upon

the cross-timbers, they looked up at the sky. The Great Bear and

the north star had exactly the same relation to each other as

when seen from the earth, while the other constellations and the

Milky Way looked identically as when they had so often gazed at

them before, and some idea of the immensity of space was conveyed

to them. Here was no change; though they had travelled three

hundred and eighty million miles, there was no more perceptible

difference than if they had not moved a foot. Perhaps, they

thought, to the telescopes--if there are any--among the stars,

the sun was seen to be accompanied by two small, dark companions,

for Jupiter and Saturn might be visible, or perhaps it seemed

merely as a slightly variable star, in years when sun-spots were

numerous, or as the larger planets in their revolutions

occasionally intercepted a part of its light. As they floated

along they noticed a number of what they took to be

Will-o'-the-wisps. Several of these great globules of pale flame

hovered about them in the air, near the surface of the water, and

anon they rose till they hung above the trees, apparently having

no forward or horizontal motion except when taken by the gentle

breeze, merely sinking and rising.

"How pretty they are!" said Cortlandt, as they watched them.

"For bodies consisting of marsh gas, they hold together

wonderfully."

Presently one alighted on the water near them. It was

considerably brighter than any glow-worm, and somewhat larger

than an arc lamp, being nearly three feet in diameter; it did not

emit much light, but would itself have been visible from a

considerable distance. Cortlandt tried to touch it with a

raft-pole, but could not reach far enough. Presently a large

fish approached it, swimming near the surface of the water. When

it was close to the Jack-o'-lantern, or whatever it was, there

was a splash, the fish turned up its white under side, and, the

breeze being away from the raft, the fire-ball and its victim

slowly floated off together. There were frequently a dozen of

these great globules in sight at once, rising and descending, the

observers noticing one peculiarity, viz., that their brightness

increased as they rose, and decreased as they sank.

About two and a half hours after sunset, or midnight according to

Jupiter time, they fell asleep, but about an hour later Cortlandt

was awakened by a weight on his chest. Starting up, he perceived

a huge white-faced bat, with its head but a few inches from his.

Its outstretched wings were about eight feet across, and it

fastened its sharp claws upon him. Seizing it by the throat, he

struggled violently. His companions, awakened by the noise,

quickly came to his rescue, grasping him just as he was in danger

of being dragged off the raft, and in another moment Bearwarden's

knife had entered the creature's spine.

"This evidently belongs to the blood-sucking species," said

Cortlandt. "I seem to be the target for all these beasts, and

henceforth shall keep my eyes open at night."

As day would break in but little over an hour, they decided to

remain awake, and they pushed the dead bat overboard, where it

was soon devoured by fishes. A chill had come upon the air, and

the incessant noise of the forms of life about them had in a

measure ceased.

Cortlandt passed around a box of quinine as a preventive against

malaria, and again they lay back and looked at the stars. The

most splendid sight in their sky now was Saturn. At the

comparatively short distance this great planet was from them, it

cast a distinct shadow, its vast rings making it appear twice its

real size. With the first glimmer of dawn, the fire-balls

descended to the surface of the water and disappeared within it,

their lights going out. With a suddenness to which the explorers

were becoming accustomed, the sun burst upon them, rising as

perpendicularly as at the earth's equator, and more than twice as

fast, having first tinged the sky with the most brilliant hues.

The stream had left the forest and swamp, and was now flowing

through open country between high banks. Pushing the raft

ashore, they stepped off on the sand, and, warming up the remains

of the mastodon's heart, ate a substantial breakfast.

While washing their knives in the stream preparatory to leaving

it--for they wished to return to the Callisto by completing the

circle they had begun--they noticed a huge flat jelly-fish in

shallow water. It was so transparent that they could see the

sandy bottom through it. As it seemed to be asleep, Bearwarden

stirred up the water around it and poked it with a stick. The

jelly- fish first drew itself together till it touched the

surface of the water, being nearly round, then it slowly left the

stream and rose till it was wholly in the air, and,

notwithstanding the sunlight, it emitted a faint glow.

"Ah!" exclaimed Bearwarden, "here we have one of our

Jack-o'-lanterns. Let us see what it is going to do."

"It is incomprehensible to me," said Cortlandt, "how it maintains

itself; for it has neither wings nor visible means of support,

yet, as it was able to immerse itself in the stream, thereby

displacing a volume of liquid equivalent to its bulk, it must be

at least as heavy as water."

The jelly-fish remained poised in the air until directly above

them, when it began to descend.

"Stand from under!" cried Bearwarden, stepping back. "I, for one,

should not care to be touched."

The great soft mass came directly over the spot on which they had

been standing, and stopped its descent about three feet from the

ground, parallel to which it was slowly carried by the wind. A

few yards off, in the direction in which it was moving, lay a

long black snake asleep on the sand. When directly over its

victim the jelly globule again sank till it touched the middle of

the reptile's back. The serpent immediately coiled itself in a

knot, but was already dead. The jellyfish did not swallow, but

completely surrounded its prey, and again rose in the air, with

the snake's black body clearly visible within it.

"Our Will-o'-the-wisp is prettier by night than by day," said

Bearwarden. "I suggest that we investigate this further."

"How?" asked Cortlandt.

"By destroying its life," replied Bearwarden. "Give it one

barrel from your gun, doctor, and see if it can then defy

gravitation."

Accordingly Cortlandt took careful aim at the object, about

twenty-yards away, and fired. The main portion of the jellyfish,

with the snake still in its embrace, sailed away, but many pounds

of jelly fell to the ground. Most of this remained where it had

fallen, but a few of the larger pieces showed a faint luminosity

and rose again.

"You cannot kill that which is simply a mass of protoplasm," said

Cortlandt. "Doubtless each of those pieces will form a new

organism. This proves that there are ramifications and

developments of life which we never dreamed of."

CHAPTER VII.

AN UNSEEN HUNTER.

They calculated that they had come ten or twelve miles from the

place at which they built the raft, while the damp salt breeze

blowing from the south showed them they were near the ocean.

Concluding that large bodies of water must be very much alike on

all planets, they decided to make for a range of hills due north

and a few miles off, and to complete the circuit of the square in

returning to the Callisto. The soft wet sand was covered with

huge and curious tracks, doubtless made by creatures that had

come to the stream during the night to drink, and they noticed

with satisfaction as they set out that the fresher ones led off

in the direction in which they were going. For practice, they

blew off the heads of the boa-constrictors as they hung from the

trees, and of the other huge snakes that moved along the ground,

with explosive bullets, in every thicket through which they

passed, knowing that the game, never having been shot at, would

not take fright at the noise. Sometimes they came upon great

masses of snakes, intertwined and coiled like worms; in these

cases Cortlandt brought his gun into play, raking them with

duck-shot to his heart's content. "As the function of these

reptiles," he explained, "is to form a soil on which higher life

may grow, we may as well help along their metamorphosis by

artificial means." They were impressed by the tremendous

cannon-like reports of their firearms, which they perceived at

once resulted from the great density of the Jovian atmosphere.

And this was also a considerable aid to them in making muscular

exertion, for it had just the reverse effect of rarefied mountain

air, and they seldom had to expand their lungs fully in order to

breathe.

The ground continued to be marked with very large footprints.

Often the impressions were those of a biped like some huge bird,

except that occasionally the creature had put down one or both

forefeet, and a thick tail had evidently dragged nearly all the

time it walked erect. Presently, coming to something they had

taken for a large flat rock, they were surprised to see it move.

It was about twelve feet wide by eighteen feet long, while its

shell seemed at least a foot thick, and it was of course the

largest turtle they had ever seen.

"Twenty-four people could dine at a table of this size with

ease," said Bearwarden, "while it would make soup for a regiment.

I wonder if it belongs to the snapping or diamond-backed

species."

At this juncture the monster again moved.

"As it is heading in our direction," resumed Bearwarden, "I vote

we strike for a free pass," and, taking a run, he sprang with his

spiked boots upon the turtle's shell and clambered upon the flat

top, which was about six feet from the ground. He was quickly

followed by Ayrault, who was not much ahead of Cortlandt, for,

notwithstanding his fifty years, the professor was very spry.

The tortoise was almost the exact counterpart of the Glyptodon

asper that formerly existed on earth, and shambled along at a

jerky gait, about half as fast again as they could walk, and

while it continued to go in their direction they were greatly

pleased. They soon found that by dropping the butts of their

rifles sharply and simultaneously on either side, just back of

the head, they could direct their course, by making their steed

swerve away from the stamping.

"It is strange," said Ayrault, "that, with the

exception of the mastodon and this tortoise, we have seen

none of the monsters that seem to appear at the close of

Carboniferous periods, although the ground is covered

with their tracks."

"Probably we did not reach the grounds at the right time of day,"

replied Bearwarden. "The large game doubtless stays in the woods

and jungles till night."

"I fancy," said Cortlandt, "we shall find representatives of all

the species that once lived upon the earth. In the case of the

singing flowers and the Jack-o'-lantern jelly-fish, we have, in

addition, seen developments the existence of which no scientist

has ever before even suspected."

Occasionally the tortoise stopped, whereupon they poked it from

behind with their knives. It was a vicious-looking brute, and

had a huge horny beak, with which it bit off young trees that

stood in its way as though they had been blades of grass. They

were passing through a valley about half a mile wide, bordered on

each side by woods, when Bearwarden suddenly exclaimed, "Here we

have it!" and, looking forward, they unexpectedly saw a head rise

and remain poised about fifteen feet from the ground. It was a

dinosaur, and belonged to the scaled or armoured species. In a

few moments another head appeared, and towered several feet above

the first. The head was obviously reptilian, but had a beak

similar to that of their tortoise. The hind legs were developed

like those of a kangaroo, while the small rudimentary forepaws,

which could be used as hands or for going quadruped-fashion, now

hung down. The strong thick tail was evidently of great use to

them when standing erect, by forming a sort of tripod.

"How I wish we could take a pair of those creatures with us when

we return to the earth!" said Cortlandt.

"They would be trump cards," replied Bearwarden, "in a zoological

garden or a dime museum, and would take the wind out of the sails

of all the other freaks."

As they lay flat on the turtle's back, the monsters gazed at them

unconcernedly, munching the palm-tree fruit so loudly that they

could be heard a long distance.

"Having nothing to fear from a tortoise," resumed Cortlandt,

"they may allow us to stalk them. We are in their eyes like

hippocentaurs, except that we are part of a tortoise instead of

part of a horse, or else they take us for a parasite or fibrous

growth on the shell."

"They would not have much to fear from us as we really are,"

replied Bearwarden, "were it not for our explosive bullets."

"I am surprised," said Ayrault, "that graminivorous animals

should be so heavily armed as these, since there can be no great

struggle in obtaining their food."

"From the looks of their jaws," replied Cortlandt, "I should say

they are omnivorous, and would doubtless prefer meat to what they

are eating now. Something seems to have gone wrong with the

animal creation hereabouts to-day."

Their war-horse clanked along like a badly rusted machine,

approaching the dinosaurs obliquely. When only about fifty yards

intervened, as the hunters were preparing to aim, their attention

was diverted by a tremendous commotion in the woods on their left

and somewhat ahead. With the crunching of dead branches and

swaying of the trees, a drove of monsters made a hasty exit and

sped across the open valley. Some showed only the tops of their

backs above the long grass, while others shambled and leaped with

their heads nearly thirty feet above the ground. The dinosaurs

instantly dropped on all-fours and joined in the flight, though

at about half-minute intervals they rose on their hind legs and

for a few seconds ran erect. The drove passed about half a mile

before the travellers, and made straight for the woods opposite;

but hardly had the monsters been out of sight two minutes when

they reappeared, even more precipitately than before, and fled up

the valley in the same direction as the tortoise.

"The animals here," said Bearwarden, "behave as though they were

going to catch a train; only our friend beneath us seems superior

to haste."

"I would give a good deal to know," said Cortlandt, "what is

pursuing those giants, and whether it is identical or similar to

the mutilator of the mastodon. Nothing but abject terror could

make them run like that."

"I have a well-formed idea," said Bearwarden, "that a hunt is

going on, with no doubt two parties, one in the woods on either

side, and that the hunters may be on a scale commensurate with

that of their victims."

"If the excitement is caused by men," replied Cortlandt, "our

exploration may turn out to be a far more difficult undertaking

than we anticipated. But why, if there are men in those woods,

do they not show themselves?--for they could certainly keep pace

with the game more easily in the open than among the trees."

"Because," replied Bearwarden, "the men in the woods are

doubtless the beaters, whose duty it is to drive the game into

and up the valley, at the end of which the killing will be done."

"We may have a chance to see it," said Ayrault, "or to take a

hand, for we are travelling straight in that direction, and shall

be able to give a good account ourselves if our rights are

challenged."

"Why," asked Cortlandt, "if the hunting parties that have been in

our vicinity were only beaters, should they have mutilated the

mastodon in such it way that he could not walk? And how were

they able to take themselves off so quickly--for man in his

natural state has never been a fast mover? I repeat, it will

upset my theories if we find men."

It was obvious to them that tortoises were not much troubled by

the apparently general foe, for the specimen in which they were

just then interested continued his course entirely unconcerned.

Soon, however, he seemed to feel fatigue, for he drew his feet

and head within his shell, which he tightly closed, and after

that no poking or prodding had the desired effect.

"I suspect we must depend on shank's mares for a time," said

Bearwarden, cheerfully, as they scrambled down.

"We can now see," said Cortlandt, "why our friend was so

unconcerned, since he has but to draw himself within himself to

become invulnerable to anything short of a stroke of lightning;

for no bird could have power enough to raise and drop him from a

great height upon rocks, as the eagles do on earth."

"I suspect, if anxious for turtle soup," said Bearwarden, "we

must attach a lightning--rod, and wait for a thunderstorm to

electrocute him."

CHAPTER VIII.

SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES.

Feeling grateful to the huge tortoise for the good service he had

rendered, they shot a number of the great snakes that were

gliding about on the ground, and placed them where he would find

them on awaiting. They then picked their way carefully towards

stretches on which the grass was shortest. When they had gone

about two miles, and had already reached higher ground, they came

to a ridge of rock running at right angles to their course. This

they climbed, and on looking over the edge of the crest beheld a

sight that made their hearts stand still. A monster, somewhat

resembling an alligator, except that the back was arched, was

waddling about perhaps seventy- five yards from them. It was

sixty feet long, and to the top of its scales was at least

twenty-five feet high. It was constantly moving, and the

travellers noticed with some dismay that its motion was far more

rapid than they would have supposed it could be.

"It is also a dinosaur," said the professor, watching it sharply,

"and very closely resembles the Stegosaurus ungulatus restored in

the museums. The question is, What shall we do with the living

specimen, now that we have it?"

"Our chairman," said Ayrault, "must find a way to kill it, so

that we may examine it closely."

"The trouble is," said Bearwarden, "our bullets will explode

before they penetrate the scales. In the absence of any way of

making a passage for an explosive ball by means of a solid one,

we must strike a vital spot. His scales being no harder than the

trunk of a tree, we can wound him terribly by touching him

anywhere; but there is no object in doing this unless we can kill

him, especially as there is no deep stream, such as would have

delayed the mastodon in reaching us, to protect us here. We must

spread out so as to divert his attention from one to another."

After some consultation it was decided that Cortlandt, who had

only a shot-gun, should remain where they were, while Bearwarden

and Ayrault moved some distance to the right and left. At a

signal from Cortlandt, who was to attract the monster's

attention, the wings were to advance simultaneously. These

arrangements they carried out to the letter. When Bearwarden and

Ayrault had gone about twenty-five yards on either side, the

doctor imitated the peculiar grunting sound of an alligator, at

which the colossal monster turned and faced him, while Bearwarden

and Ayrault moved to the attack. The plan of this was good, for,

with his attention fixed on three objects, the dinosaur seemed

confused, and though Bearwarden and Ayrault had good angles from

which to shoot, there was no possibility of their hitting each

other. They therefore advanced steadily with their rifles half

up. Though their own danger increased with each step, in the

event of their missing, the chance of their shooting wild

decreased, the idea being to reach the brain through the eye.

Cortlandt's part had also its risks, for, being entirely

defenceless with his shot-gun against the large creature, whose

attention it was his duty to attract, he staked all on the

marksmanship of his friends. Not considering this, however, he

stood his ground, having the thumb-piece on his Winchester

magazine shoved up and ready to make a noisy diversion if

necessary in behalf of either wing. Having aroused the monster's

curiosity, Cortlandt sprang up, waving his arms and his gun. The

dinosaur lowered his head as if to charge, thereby bringing it to

a level with the rifles, either of which could have given it the

fatal shot. But as their fingers pressed the triggers the

reptile soared up thirty feet in the air. Ayrault pulled for his

first sight, shooting through the lower jaw, and shivering that

member, while Bearwarden changed his aim and sighted straight for

the heart. In an instant the monster was down again, just

missing Ayrault's head as he stepped back, and Bearwarden's rifle

poured a stream of explosive balls against its side, rending and

blowing away the heavy scales. Having drawn the dinosaur's

attention to himself, he retreated, while Ayrault renewed the

attack. Cortlandt, seeing that the original plan had miscarried,

poured showers of small shot against the huge beast's face.

Finally, one of Ayrault's balls exploded in the brain, and all

was over.

"We have killed it at last," said Bearwarden "but the first

attack, though artistic, had not the brilliant results we

expected. These creatures' mode of fighting is doubtless

somewhat similar to that of the kangaroo, which it is said puts

its forepaws gently, almost lovingly, on a man's shoulders, and

then disembowels him by the rapid movement of a hind leg. But we

shall get used to their method, and can do better next time."

They then reloaded their weapons and, while Cortlandt examined

their victim from a naturalist's point of view, Bearwarden and

Ayrault secured the heart, which they thought would be the most

edible part, the operation being rendered possible by the amount

of armour the explosive balls had stripped off.

"To-morrow," said Bearwarden, "we must make it a point to get

some well-fed birds; for I can roast, broil, or fricassee them to

a turn. Life is too short to live on this meat in such a

sportsman's paradise. In any case there can be no end of

mastodons, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, moa birds, and all such

shooting."

As the sun was already near the horizon, they chose a dry, sandy

place, to secure as much immunity as possible from nocturnal

visits, and, after procuring a supply of water from a pool,

proceeded to arrange their camp for the night. They first laid

out the protection- wires, setting them while the sun still

shone. Next they built a fire and prepared their evening meal.

While they ate it, twilight became night, and the fire-flies,

twinkling in legions in the neighbouring valley, seemed like the

lamps of a great city.

"Their lights," said Bearwarden, pointing to them, "are not as

fine as the jelly-fish Will-o'-the wisps were last night, but

they are not so dangerous. No gymnotus or electric eel that I

have ever seen compared with them, and I am convinced that any

one of us they might have touched would have been in kingdom

come."

The balmy air soothed the travellers' brows as they reclined

against mounds of sand, while the flowers in the valley sent up

their dying notes. One by one the moons arose, till four--among

them the Lilliputian, discovered by Prof. Barnard in 1893--were

in the sky, flooding the landscape with their silvery light, and

something in the surroundings touched a sympathetic cord in the

men.

"Oh that I were young again," said Cortlandt, "and had life

before me! I should like to remain here and grow up with this

planet, in which we already perceive the next New World. The

beauties of earth are barren compared with the scenes we have

here."

"You remember," replied Bearwarden, "how Cicero defends old age

in his De Senectute, and shows that while it has almost

everything that youth has, it has also a sense of calm and many

things besides."

"Yes," answered Cortlandt, "but, while plausible, it does not

convince. The pleasures of age are largely negative, the old

being happy when free from pain."

"Since the highest joy of life," said Ayrault, "is coming to know

our Creator, I should say the old, being further advanced, would

be the happier of the two. I should never regard this material

life as greatly to be prized for itself. You remember the old

song:

"'O Youth! When we come to consider

The pain, the toil, and the strife,

The happiest man of all is

The one who has finished his life.'

"I suspect," continued Ayrault, "that the man who reaches even

the lowest plane in paradise will find far more beautiful visions

than any we have here."

As they had but little rest the night before, they were all

tired. The warm breeze swayed the long dry grass, causing it to

give out a soft rustle; all birds except the flitting bats were

asleep among the tall ferns or on the great trees that spread

their branches towards heaven. There was nothing to recall a

picture of the huge monsters they had seen that day, or of the

still more to be dreaded terror these had borne witness to. Thus

night closes the activities of the day, and in its serene

grandeur the soul has time to think. While they thought,

however, drowsiness overcame them, and in a little while all were

asleep.

The double line of protection-wires encircled them like a silent

guard, while the methodical ticking of the alarm-clock that was

to wake them at the approach of danger, and register the hour of

interruption, formed a curious contrast to the irregular cries of

the night-hawks in the distance. Time and again some huge

iguanodon or a hipsohopus would pass, shaking the ground with its

tread; but so implicit was the travellers' trust in the vigilance

of their mechanical and tireless watch, that they slept on as

calmly and unconcernedly as though they had been in their beds at

home, while the tick was as constant and regular as a sentry's

march. The wires of course did not protect them from creatures

having wings, and they ran some risk of a visitation from the

blood-sucking bats. The far-away volcanoes occasionally sent up

sheets of flame, which in the distance were like summer

lightning; the torrents of lava and crashes that had sounded so

thunderous when near, were now like the murmur of the ocean's ebb

tide, lulling the terrestrials to deeper sleep. The pale moons

were at intervals momentarily obscured by the rushing clouds in

the upper air, only to reappear soon afterwards as serene as

before. All Nature seemed at rest.

Shortly before dawn there was an unusually heavy step. A moment

later the ever-vigilant batteries poured forth their current, and

the clang of the alarm-bell made the still night ring. In an

instant the three men were awake, each resting on one knee, with

their backs towards the centre and their polished barrels raised.

It was not long before they perceived the intruder by the

moonlight. A huge monster of the Triceratops prorsus species had

entered the camp. It was shaped something like an elephant, but

had ten or twelve times the bulk, being over forty feet in

length, not including the long, thick tail. The head carried two

huge horns on the forehead and one on the nose.

"A plague on my shot-gun!" said Cortlandt. "Had I known how much

of this kind of game we should see, I too should have brought a

rifle."

The monster was entangled in the wires, and in another second

would have stepped on the batteries that were still causing the

bell to ring.

"Aim for the heart," said Bearwarden to Ayrault. "When you show

me his ribs, I will follow you in the hole."

Ayrault instantly fired for a point just back of the left

foreleg. The explosion had the same effect as on the mastodon,

removing a half-barrel of hide, etc; and the next second

Bearwarden sent a bullet less than an inch from where Ayrault's

had stopped. Before the colossus could turn, each had caused

several explosions in close proximity to the first. The creature

was of course terribly wounded, and several ribs were cracked,

but no ball had gone through. With a roar it made straight for

the woods, and with surprising agility, running fully as fast as

an elephant. Bearwarden and Ayrault kept up a rapid fire at the

left hind leg, and soon completely disabled it. The dinosaur,

however, supported itself with its huge tail, and continued to

make good time. Knowing they could not give it a fatal wound at

the intervening distance, in the uncertain light, they stopped

firing and set out in pursuit. Cortlandt paused to stop the bell

that still rang, and then put his best foot foremost in regaining

his friends. For half a mile they hurried along, until, seeing

by the quantity of blood on the ground that they were in no

danger of losing the game, they determined to save their

strength. The trail entered the woods by a narrow ravine, passed

through what proved to be but a belt of timber, and then turned

north to the right. Presently in the semi-darkness they saw the

monster's head against the sky. He was browsing among the trees,

tearing off the young branches, and the hunters succeeded in

getting within seventy-five yards before being discovered. Just

as he began to run, the two rifles again fired, this time at the

right hind leg, which they succeeded in hamstringing. After that

the Triceratops prorsus was at their mercy, and they quickly put

an end to its suffering.

"The sun is about to rise," said Bearwarden; "in a few minutes we

shall have enough light."

They cut out a dozen thick slices of tenderloin steak, and soon

were broiling and eating a substantial breakfast.

"There are not as many spectators to watch us eat here," said

Cortlandt, "as in the woods. I suggest that, after returning to

camp for our blankets and things, we steer for the Callisto, via

this Triceratops, to see what creatures have been attracted by

the body."

On finishing their meal they returned to the place at which they

had passed the night. Having straightened the protection-wires,

which had become twisted, and arranged their impedimenta, they

set out, and were soon once more beside their latest victim.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HONEY OF DEATH.

At first nothing seemed to have been disturbed, when they

suddenly perceived that both forelegs were missing. On further

examination they found that the ponderous tail, seven feet in

diameter, was cut through in two places, the thicker portion

having disappeared, and that the heavy bones in this extremity of

the vertebral column had been severed like straws. The cut

surfaces were but little cooler than the interior of the body,

showing how recently the mutilation had been effected.

"By all the gods!" exclaimed Bearwarden, "it is easy to see the

method in this; the hunters have again cut off only those parts

that could be easily rolled. These Jovian fellows must have

weapons compared with which the old scythe chariots would be but

toys, with which they amputate the legs of their victims. We

must see to it that their scimitars do not come too near to us,

and I venture to hope that in our bullets they will find their

match. What say you, doctor?"

"I see no depression such as such heavy bodies would necessarily

have made had they been rolled along the ground, neither does it

seem to me that these curious tracks in the sand are those of

men."

The loose earth looked as if the cross-ties of some railroad had

been removed, the space formerly occupied having been but partly

filled, and these depressions were across the probable direction

of motion.

"Whatever was capable of chasing mastodons and carrying such

weights," said Ayrault, "will, I suspect, have little to fear

from us. Probably nothing short of light artillery would leave

much effect."

"I dare say," replied Bearwarden, "we had better give the unknown

quantity a wide berth, though I would give a year's salary to see

what it is like. The absence of other tracks shows that his

confreres leave 'Scissor- jaw' alone."

Keeping a sharp lookout in all directions, they resumed their

march along the third side of the square which was to bring them

back to the Callisto. Their course was parallel to the stream,

and on comparatively high ground. Cortlandt's gun did good

service, bringing down between fifty and sixty birds that usually

allowed them to get as near as they pleased, and often seemed

unwilling to leave their branches. By the time they were ready

for luncheon they saw it would be dark in an hour. As the

rapidity of the planet's rotation did not give them a chance to

become tired, they concluded not to pitch their camp, but to

resume the march by moonlight, which would be easy in the high,

open country they were traversing.

While in quest of fire-wood, they came upon great heaps of bones,

mostly those of birds, and were attracted by the tall,

bell-shaped flowers growing luxuriantly in their midst. These

exhaled a most delicious perfume, and at the centre of each

flower was a viscous liquid, the colour of honey.

"If this tastes as well as it looks," said Bearwarden, "it will

come in well for dessert"; saying which he thrust his finger into

the recesses of the flower, intending to taste the essence.

Quietly, but like a flash, the flower closed, his hand being

nearly caught and badly scratched by the long, sharp thorns that

now appeared at the edges.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, "a sensitive and you may almost say a

man-eating plant. This doubtless has been the fate of these

birds, whose bones now lie bleaching at its feet after they have

nourished its lips with their lives. No doubt the plant has use

for them still, since their skeletons may serve to fertilize its

roots."

Wishing to investigate further, Bearwarden placed one of the

birds they had shot within the bell of another flower, which

immediately contracted with such force that they saw drops of

blood squeezed out. After some minutes the flower opened, as

beautiful as ever, and discharged an oblong ball compressed to

about the size of a hen's egg, though the bird that was placed

within it had been as large as a small duck. Towards evening

these flowers sent up their most beautiful song, to hear which

flocks of birds came from far and near, alighting on the trees,

and many were lured to death by the siren strains and the honey.

Before resuming their journey, the travellers paid a parting

visit to the bell-shaped lilies on their pyramids of bones. The

flowers were closed for the night, and the travellers saw by the

moonlight that the white mounds were simply alive with

diamond-headed snakes. These coiled themselves, flattened their

heads, and set up such a hissing on the explorers' approach that

they were glad to retire, and leave this curious contrast of

hideousness and beauty to the fire-flies and the moons. Marching

along in Indian file, the better to avoid treading on the

writhing serpents that strewed the ground, they kept on for about

two hours. They frequently passed huge heaps or mounds of bones,

evidently the remains of bears or other large animals. The

carnivorous plants growing at their centre were often like hollow

trees, and might easily have received the three travellers in one

embrace. But as before, the mounds were alive with serpents that

evidently made them their homes, and raised an angry hiss

whenever the men approached.

"The wonder to me," said Bearwarden, "is, that these snakes do

not protect the game, by keeping it from the life-devouring

plants. It may be that they do not show themselves by day or

when the victims are near, or that the quadrupeds on which these

plants live take a pleasure, like deer, in killing them by

jumping with all four feet upon their backs or in some other way,

and after that are entrapped by the flowers."

Shortly after midnight they rested for a half hour, but the dawn

found them trudging along steadily, though somewhat wearily, and

having about completed the third side of their square.

Accordingly, they soon made a right-angle turn to the left, and

had been picking their way over the rough ground for nearly two

hours, with the sun already high in the sky, when they noticed a

diminution of light. Glancing up, they saw that one of the moons

was passing across the sun, and that they were on the eve of a

total eclipse.

"Since all but the fifth moon," said Cortlandt, "revolve exactly

in the plane of Jupiter's equator, any inhabitants that settle

there will become accustomed to eclipses, for there must be one

of the sun, and also of the moons, at each revolution, or about

forty-five hundred in every Jovian year. The reason we have seen

none before is, because we are not exactly on the equator."

They had a glimpse of the coronal streamers as the last portion

of the sun was covered, and all the other phenomena that attend

an eclipse on earth. For a few minutes there was a total return

to night. The twinkling stars and other moons shone tranquilly

in the sky, and even the noise of the insects ceased. Presently

the edge of the sun that had been first obscured reappeared, and

then Nature went through the phenomenon of an accelerated dawn.

Without awaiting a full return of light, the travellers proceeded

on their way, and had gone something over a hundred yards when

Ayrault, who was marching second, suddenly grasped Bearwarden,

who was in front, and pointed to a jet-black mass straight ahead,

and about thirty yards from a pool of warm water, from which a

cloud of vapour arose. The top of the head was about seven feet

high, and the length of the body exceeded thirty feet. The six

legs looked as strong as steel cables, and were about a foot

through, while a huge, bony proboscis nine feet in length

preceded the body. This was carried horizontally between two and

three feet from the ground. Presently a large ground sloth came

to the pool to drink, lapping up the water at the sides that had

partly cooled. In an instant the black armored monster rushed

down the slope with the speed of a nineteenth-century locomotive,

and seemed about as formidable. The sloth turned in the

direction of the sound, and for a moment seemed paralyzed with

fear; it then started to run, but it was too late, for the next

second the enormously exaggerated ant--for such it was--overtook

it. The huge mandible shears that when closed had formed the

proboscis, snapped viciously, taking off the sloth's legs and

then cutting its body to slivers. The execution was finished in

a few seconds, and the ponderous insect carried back about half

the sloth to its hiding-place, where it leisurely devoured it.

"This reminds me," said Bearwarden, "of the old lady who never

completed her preparations for turning in without searching for

burglars under the bed. Finally she found one, and exclaimed in

delight, 'I've been looking for you fifty years, and at last you

are here!' The question is, now that we have found our burglar,

what shall we do with him?"

"I constantly regret not having a rifle," replied Cortlandt,

"though it is doubtful if even that would help us here."

"Let us sit down and wait," said Ayrault; "there may be an

opening soon."

Anon a woolly rhinoceros, resembling the Rhinoceros tichorhinus

that existed contemporaneously on earth with the mammoth, came to

drink the water that had partly cooled. It was itself a

formidable-looking beast, but in an instant the monster again

rushed from concealment with the same tremendous speed. The

rhinoceros turned in the direction of the sound, and, lowering

its head, faced the foe. The ant's shears, however, passed

beneath the horn, and, fastening upon the left foreleg, cut it

off with a loud snap.

"Now is our chance," exclaimed Cortlandt; "we may kill the brute

before he is through with the rhinoceros."

"Stop a bit, doctor," said Bearwarden. "We have a good record so

far; let us keep up our reputation for being sports. Wait till

he can attend to us."

The encounter was over in less than a minute, three of the

rhinoceros's legs being taken off, and the head almost severed

from the body. Taking up the legs in its mandibles, the

murderous creature was returning to its lair, when, with the cry

of "Now for the fray!" Bearwarden aimed beneath the body and

blew off one of the farther armoured legs, from the inside.

"Shoot off the legs on the same side," he counselled Ayrault,

while he himself kept up a rapid fire. Cortlandt tried to

disconcert the enemy by raining duck-shot on its scale- protected

eyes, while the two rifles tore off great masses of the horn that

covered the enormously powerful legs. The men separated as they

retreated, knowing that one slash of the great shears would cut

their three bodies in halves if they were caught together. The

monster had dropped the remains of the rhinoceros when attacked,

and made for the hunters at its top speed, which was somewhat

reduced by the loss of one leg. Before it came within cutting

distance, however, another on the same side was gone, Ayrault

having landed a bullet on a spot already stripped of armour.

After this the men had no difficulty in keeping out of its way,

though it still moved with some speed, snipping off young trees

in its path like grass. Finally, having blown the scales from

one eye, the travellers sent in a bullet that exploded in the

brain and ended its career.

"This has been by all odds the most exciting hunt we have had,"

said Ayrault, "both on account of the determined nature and great

speed of the attack, and the almost impossibility of finding a

vulnerable spot."

"Anything short of explosive bullets," added Bearwarden, "would

have been powerless against this beast, for the armour in many

places is nearly a foot thick."

"This is also the most extraordinary as well as most dangerous

creature with which we have, had to deal," said Cortlandt,

"because it is an enormously enlarged insect, with all the

inherent ferocity and strength. It is almost the exact

counterpart of an African soldier-ant magnified many hundred

thousand times. I wonder," he continued thoughtfully, "if our

latter-day insects may not be the deteriorated (in point of size)

descendants of the monsters of mythology and geology, for nothing

could be a more terrible or ferocious antagonist than many of our

well-known insects, if sufficiently enlarged. No animal now

alive has more than a small fraction of the strength, in

proportion to its size, of the minutest spider or flea. It may

be that through lack of food, difficulties imposed by changing

climate, and the necessity of burrowing in winter, or through

some other conditions changed from what they were accustomed to,

their size has been reduced, and that the fire-flies, huge as

they seemed, are a step in advance of this specimen in the march

of deterioration or involution, which will end by making them as

insignificant as those on earth. These ants have probably come

into the woods to lay their eggs, for, from the behaviour of the

animals we watched from the turtle, there must have been several;

or perhaps a war is in progress between those of a different

colour, as on earth, in which case the woods may be full of them.

Doubtless the reason the turtle seemed so unconcerned at the

general uneasiness of the animals was because he knew he could

make himself invulnerable to the marauder by simply closing his

shell, and we were unmolested because it did not occur to the ant

that any soft-shelled creatures could be on the turtle's back."

"I think," said Bearwarden, "it will be the part of wisdom to

return to the Callisto, and do the rest of our exploring on

Jupiter from a safe height; for, though we succeeded in disabling

this beauty, it was largely through luck, and had we not done so

we should probably have provided a bon bouche for our deceased

friend, instead of standing at his grave."

Accordingly they proceeded, and were delighted, a few minutes

later, to see the sunlight reflected from the projectile's

polished roof.

CHAPTER X.

CHANGING LANDSCAPES.

On reaching the Callisto, Ayrault worked the lock he had had

placed on the lower door, which, to avoid carrying a key, was

opened by a combination. The car's interior was exactly as they

had left it, and they were glad to be in it again.

"Now," said Bearwarden, "we can have a sound and

undisturbed sleep, which is what I want more than

anything else. No prowlers can trouble us here, and we

shall not need the protection-wires."

They then opened a window in each side--for the large glass

plates, admitting the sun when closed, made the Callisto rather

warm--and placed a stout wire netting within them to keep out

birds and bats, and then, though it was but little past noon, got

into their comfortable beds and slept nine hours at a stretch.

Their strong metal house was securely at rest, receiving the

sunlight and shedding the rain and dew as it might have done on

earth. No winds or storms, lightnings or floods, could trouble

it, while the multiformed monsters of antiquity and mythology

restored in life, with which the terrestrials had been thrown

into such close contact, roamed about its polished walls. Not

even the fiercest could affect them, and they would but see

themselves reflected in any vain assaults. The domed symmetrical

cylinder stood there as a monument to human ingenuity and skill,

and the travellers' last thought as they fell asleep was, "Man is

really lord of creation."

The following day at about noon they awoke, and had a bath in the

warm pool. They saw the armoured mass of the great ant evidently

undisturbed, while the bodies of its victims were already shining

skeletons, and raised a small cairn of stones in memory of the

struggle they had had there.

"We should name this place Kentucky," said Bearwarden, "for it is

indeed a dark and bloody ground," and, seeing the aptness of the

appellation, they entered it so on their charts. While Ayrault

got the batteries in shape for resuming work. Bearwarden

prepared a substantial breakfast. This consisted of oatmeal and

cream kept hermetically sealed in glass, a dish of roast grouse,

coffee, pilot bread, a bottle of Sauterne, and another of Rhine

wine.

"This is the last meal we shall take hereabouts," said their

cook, as they plied their knives and forks beneath the trees, "so

here is a toast to our adventures, and to all the game we have

killed." They drained their glasses in drinking this, after

which Bearwarden regaled them with the latest concert-hall song

which he had at his tongue's end.

About an hour before dark they re-entered their projectile, and,

as a mark of respect to their little ship, named the great branch

of the continent on which they had alighted Callisto Point. They

then got under way. The batteries had to develop almost their

maximum power to overcome Jupiter's attraction; but they were

equal to the task, and the Callisto was soon in the air.

Directing their apergy to the mountains towards the interior of

the continent, and applying repulsion to any ridge or hill over

which they passed, thereby easing the work of the batteries

engaged in supporting the Callisto, they were soon sweeping along

at seventy-five to one hundred miles an hour. By keeping the

projectile just strongly enough charged to neutralize

gravitation, they remained for the most part within two hundred

feet of the ground, seldom rising to an altitude of more than a

mile, and were therefore able to keep the windows at the sides

open and so obtain an unobstructed view. If, however, at any

time they felt oppressed by Jupiter's high barometric pressure,

and preferred the terrestrial conditions, they had but to rise

till the barometer fell to thirty. Then, if an object of

interest recalled them to sea-level, they could keep the

Callisto's inside pressure at what they found on the Jovian

mountains, by screwing up the windows. On account of the

distance of sixty-four thousand miles from Jupiter's equator to

the pole, they calculated that going at the speed of a hundred

miles an hour, night and day, it would take them twenty-five

terrestrial days to reach the pole even from latitude two degrees

at which they started. But they knew that, if pressed for time,

they could rise above the limits of the atmosphere, and move with

planetary speed; while, if they wished a still easier method of

pursuing their observation, they had but to remain poised between

the sun and Jupiter, beyond the latter's upper air, and

photograph or map it as it revolved before them.

By sunset they had gone a hundred miles. Wishing to push along,

they closed the windows, rose higher to avoid any mountain-tops

that might be invisible in the moonlight, and increased their

speed. The air made a gentle humming sound as they shot through

it, and towards morning they saw several bright points of light

in which they recognized, by the aid of their glasses, sheets of

flame and torrents of molten glowing lava, bursting at intervals

or pouring steadily from several volcanoes. From this they

concluded they were again near an ocean, since volcanoes need the

presence of a large body of water to provide steam for their

eruptions.

With the rising sun they found the scene of the day before

entirely changed. They were over the shore of a vast ocean that

extended to the left as far as they could see, for the range of

vision often exceeded the power of sight. The coast-line ran

almost due north and south, while the volcanoes that dotted it,

and that had been luminous during the night, now revealed their

nature only by lines of smoke and vapours. They were struck by

the boldness and abruptness of the scenery. The mountains and

cliffs had been but little cut down by water and frost action,

and seemed in the full vigour of their youth, which was what the

travellers had a right to expect on a globe that was still

cooling and shrinking, and consequently throwing up ridges in the

shape of mountains far more rapidly than a planet as matured and

quiescent as the earth. The absence of lakes also showed them

that there had been no Glacial period, in the latitudes they were

crossing, for a very long time.

"We can account for the absence of ice-action and scratches,"

said Cortlandt, "in one of two ways. Either the proximity of the

internal heat to the surface prevents water from freezing in all

latitudes, or Jupiter's axis has always been very nearly

perpendicular to its orbit, and consequently the thermometer has

never been much below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit; for, at the

considerable distance we are now from the sun, it is easy to

conceive that, with the axis much inclined, there might be cold

weather, during the Northern hemisphere's winter, that would last

for about six of our years, even as near the equator as this.

The substantiation of an ice-cap at the pole will disprove the

first hypothesis; for what we took for ice before alighting may

have been but banks of cloud, since, having been in the plane of

the planet's equator at the time, we had naturally but a very

oblique view of the poles; while the absence of glacial scratches

shows, I take it, that though the axis may have been a good deal

more inclined than at present, it has not, at all events since

Jupiter's Palaeozoic period, been as much so as that of Uranus or

Venus. The land on Jupiter, corresponding to the Laurentian

Hills on earth, must even here have appeared at so remote a

period that the first surface it showed must long since have been

worn away, and therefore any impressions it received have also

been erased.

"Comparing this land with the photographs we took from space, I

should say it is the eastern of the two crescent-shaped

continents we found apparently facing each other. Their present

form I take to be only the skeleton outline of what they will be

at the next period of Jupiter's development. They will, I

predict, become more like half moons than crescents, though the

profile may be much indented by gulfs and bays, their superficial

area being greatly increased, and the intervening ocean

correspondingly narrowed. We know that North America had a very

different shape during the Cretaceous or even the Middle Tertiary

period from what it has now, and that the Gulf of Mexico extended

up the valley of the Mississippi as far as the Ohio, by the

presence of a great coral reef in the Ohio River near Cincinnati.

We know also that Florida and the Southeastern Atlantic States

are a very recent addition to the continent, while the pampas of

the Argentine Republic have, in a geological sense, but just been

upheaved from the sea, by the fact that the rivers are all on the

surface, not having had time to cut down their channels below the

surrounding country. By similar reasoning, we know that the

canon of the Colorado is a very old region, though the

precipitateness of its banks is due to the absence of rain, for a

local water-supply would cut back the banks, having most effect

where they were steepest, since at those points it would move

with the greatest speed. Thus the majestic canon owes its

existence to two things: the length of time the river has been at

work, and the fact that the water flowing through it comes from

another region where, of course, there is rain, and that it is

merely in transit, and so affects only the bed on which it moves.

Granting that this is the eastern of the two continents we

observed, it evidently corresponds more in shape to the Eastern

hemisphere on earth than to the New World, both of which are set

facing one another, since both drain towards the Atlantic Ocean.

But the analogy here holds also, for the past outlines of the

Eastern hemisphere differed radically from what they are now.

The Mediterranean Sea was formerly of far greater extent than we

see it to-day, and covered nearly the whole of northern Africa

and the old upheaved sea-bottom that we see in the Desert of

Sahara. Much of this great desert, as we know, has a

considerable elevation, though part of it is still below the

level of the Mediterranean.

"Perhaps a more striking proof of this than are the remains of

fishes and marine life that are found there, is the dearth of

natural harbours and indentations in Africa's northern coast,

while just opposite, in southern Europe, there are any number;

which shows that not enough time has elapsed since Africa's

upheaval for liquid or congealed water to produce them. Many of

Europe's best harbours, and Boston's, in our country, have been

dug out by slow ice-action in the oft-recurring Glacial periods.

The Black and Caspian Seas were larger than we now find them;

while the Adriatic extended much farther into the continent,

covering most of the country now in the valley of the Po. In

Europe the land has, of course, risen also, but so slowly that

the rivers have been able to keep their channels cut down; proof

of their ability to perform which feat we see when an ancient

river passes through a ridge of hills or mountains. The river

had doubtless been there long before the mountains began to rise,

but their elevation was so gradual that the rate of the river's

cutting down equalled or exceeded their coming up; proof of which

we have in the patent fact that the ancient river's course

remains unchanged, and is at right angles to the mountain chain.

From all of which we see that the Eastern hemisphere's crescent

hollow--of which, I take it, the Mediterranean, Black, and

Caspian Sea depressions are the remains--has been gradually

filled in, by the elevation of the sea's bottom, and the

extension of deltas from the detrital matter brought from the

high interior of the continents by the rivers, or by the combined

action of the two. Now, since the Gulf of Mexico has been

constantly growing smaller, and the Mediterranean is being

invaded by the land, I reason that similar causes will produce

like effects here, and give to each continent an area far greater

than our entire globe. The stormy ocean we behold in the west,

which corresponds to our Atlantic, though it is far more of a

mare clausum in the geographical sense, is also destined to

become a calm and placid inland sea. There are, of course,

modifications of and checks to the laws tending to increase the

land area. England was formerly joined to the continent, the

land connecting the two having been rather washed away by the

waves and great tides than by any sinking of the English

Channel's bottom, the whole of which is comparatively shallow.

Another case of this kind is seen in Cape Cod and the islands of

Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, all of which are washing away so

rapidly that they would probably disappear before the next

Glacial period, were we not engaged in preventing its recurrence.

These detached islands and sand-bars once formed one large

island, which at a still earlier time undoubtedly was joined to

the mainland. The sands forming the detached masses are in a

great processional march towards the equator, but it is the

result simply of winds and waves, there being no indication of

subsidence. Along the coast of New Jersey we see denudation and

sinking going on together, the well-known SUNKEN FOREST being an

instance of the latter. The border of the continent proper also

extends many miles under the ocean before reaching the edge of

the Atlantic basin. Volcanic eruptions sometimes demolish parts

of headlands and islands, though these recompense us in the

amount of material brought to the surface, and in the increased

distance they enable water to penetrate by relieving the interior

of part of its heat, for any land they may destroy."

CHAPTER XI.

A JOVIAN NIAGARA.

Four days later, after crossing a ridge of mountains that the

pressure on the aneroid barometer showed to be about thirty-two

thousand feet high, and a stretch of flat country a few miles in

width, they came to a great arm of the sea. It was about thirty

miles wide at its mouth, which was narrowed like the neck of a

bottle, and farther inland was over one hundred miles across, and

though their glasses, the clear air, and the planet's size

enabled them to see nearly five hundred miles, they could not

find its end. In the shallow water along its shores, and on

the islands rising but a few feet above the waves, they saw

all kinds of amphibians and sea-monsters. Many of these were

almost the exact reproduction in life of the giant plesiosaurs,

dinosaurs, and elasmosaurs, whose remains are preserved in the

museums on earth. The reptilian bodies of the elasmosaurs,

seventy-five feet in length, with the forked tongues, distended

jaws and fangs of a snake, were easily taken for the often

described but probably mythical sea- serpent, as partially coiled

they occasionally raised their heads twelve or fifteen feet.

"Man in his natural state," said Cortlandt, "would have but small

chance of surviving long among such neighbours. Buckland, I

think, once indulged in the jeu d'esprit of supposing an

ichthyosaur lecturing on the human skull. 'You will at once

perceive,' said the lecturer, 'that the skull before us belonged

to one of the lower order of animals. The teeth are very

insignificant, the power of the jaws trifling, and altogether it

seems wonderful how the creature could have procured food.'

Armed with modern weapons, and in this machine, we are, of

course, superior to the most powerful monster; but it is not

likely that, had man been so surrounded during the whole of his

evolution, he could have reached his present plane."

Notwithstanding the striking similarity of these creatures to

their terrestrial counterparts that existed on earth during its

corresponding period, there were some interesting modifications.

The organs of locomotion in the amphibians were more developed,

while the eyes of all were larger, the former being of course

necessitated by the power of gravity, and the latter by the

greater distance from the sun.

"The adaptability and economy of Nature," said Cortlandt, "have

always amazed me. In the total blackness of the Kentucky Mammoth

Cave, where eyes would be of no use to the fishes, our common

mother has given them none; while if there is any light, though

not as much as we are accustomed to, she may be depended upon to

rise to the occasion by increasing the size of the pupil and the

power of the eye. In the development of the ambulatory muscles

we again see her handiwork, probably brought about through the

'survival of the fittest.' The fishes and those wholly immersed

need no increase in power, for, though they weigh more than they

would on earth, the weight of the water they displace is

increased at the same rate also, and their buoyancy remains

unchanged. If the development of life here so closely follows

its lines on earth, with the exception of comparatively slight

modifications, which are exactly what, had we stopped to think,

we should have expected to find, may we not reasonably ask

whether she will not continue on these lines, and in time produce

beings like ourselves, but with more powerful muscles and eyes

capable of seeing clearly with less light? Reasoning by analogy,

we can come to no other conclusion, unless their advent is

anticipated by the arrival of ready-made colonists from the more

advanced earth, like ourselves. In that case man, by pursuing

the same destructive methods that he has pursued in regard to

many other species, may exterminate the intervening links, and so

arrest evolution."

Before leaving Deepwaters Bay they secured a pail of its water,

which they found, on examination, contained a far larger

percentage of salt and solid material than the oceans on earth,

while a thermometer that they immediately immersed in it soon

registered eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit; both of which

discoveries confirmed them in what they already knew, namely,

that Jupiter had advanced comparatively little from the condition

in which the water on the surface is hot, in which state the

earth once was.

They were soon beyond the estuary at which they had stopped to

study the forms of life and to make this test, and kept on due

north for several days, occasionally rising above the air. As

their familiarity with their surroundings increased, they made

notes of several things. The mountains covered far more

territory at their bases than the terrestrial mountains, and they

were in places very rugged and showed vast yawning chasms. They

were also wooded farther up their sides, and bore but little

snow; but so far the travellers had not found them much higher

than those on earth, the greatest altitude being the thirty-two

thousand feet south of Deepwaters Bay, and one other ridge that

was forty thousand; so that, compared with the size of the planet

and its continents, they seemed quite small, and the continents

themselves were comparatively level. They also noted that spray

was blown in vast sheets, till the ocean for miles was white as

milk. The wind often attained tornado strength, and the whole

surface of the water, about what seemed to be the storm centre,

frequently moved with rapidity in the form of foam. Yet,

notwithstanding this, the waves were never as large as those to

which they were accustomed on earth. This they accounted for

very easily by the fact that, while water weighed 2.55 times as

much as on earth, the pressure of air was but little more than

half as much again, and consequently its effect on all but the

very surface of the heavy liquid was comparatively slight.

"Gravity is a useful factor here," observed Cortlandt, as they

made a note of this; "for, in addition to giving immunity from

waves, it is most effective in checking the elevation of high

mountains or table-lands in the high latitudes, which we shall

doubtless find sufficiently cool, or even cold, while in tropical

regions, which might otherwise be too hot, it interferes with

them least, on account of being partly neutralized by the rapid

rotation with which all four of the major planets are blessed."

At sunrise the following morning they saw they were approaching

another great arm of the sea. It was over a thousand miles wide

at its mouth, and, had not the photographs showed the contrary,

they would have thought the Callisto had reached the northern end

of the continent. It extended into the land fifteen thousand

miles, and, on account of the shape of its mouth, they called it

Funnel Bay. Rising to a height, they flew across, and came to a

great table-land peninsula, with a chain of mountains on either

side. The southern range was something over, and the northern

something less than, five thousand feet in height, while the

table-land between sloped almost imperceptibly towards the

middle, in which, as they expected, they found a river compared

to which the Mississippi or the Amazon would be but a brook. In

honour of the President of the Terrestrial Axis Straightening

Company, they called this great projection, which averaged about

four thousand miles across by twelve thousand miles long,

Bearwarden Peninsula. They already noticed a change in climate;

the ferns and palms became fewer, and were succeeded by pines,

while the air was also a good deal cooler, which was easily

accounted for by their altitude--though even at that height it

was considerably denser than at sea- level on earth--and by the

fact that they were already near latitude thirty.

The exposed points on the plateau, as also the summits of the

first mountains they had seen before alighting, were devoid of

vegetation, scarcely so much as a blade of grass being visible.

Since they could not account for this by cold, they concluded

that the most probable explanation lay in the tremendous

hurricanes that, produced by the planet's rapid rotation,

frequently swept along its surface, like the earth's trade-winds,

but with far more violence. On reaching the northern coast of

the peninsula they increased their elevation and changed their

course to northeast, not caring to remain long over the great

body of water, which they named Cortlandt Bay. The thousands of

miles of foam fast flew beneath them, the first thing attracting

their attention being a change in the ocean's colour. In the

eastern shore of Cortlandt Bay they soon observed the mouth of a

river, ten miles across, from which this tinted water issued in a

flood. On account of its colour, which reminded them of a stream

they knew so well, they christened it the Harlem.

Believing that an expedition up its valley might reveal something

of interest, they began the ascent, remaining at an elevation of

a few hundred feet. For about three hundred miles they followed

this river, which had but few bends, while its sides became more

and more precipitous, till it flowed through a canon four and a

half miles across. Though they knew from the wide discoloration

of Cortlandt Bay that the volume of water discharged was

tremendous, the stream seldom moved at a rate of more than five

miles an hour, and for a time was free from rocks and rapids,

from which they concluded that it must be very deep. Half an

hour later they saw a cloud of steam or mist, which expanded, and

almost obscured the sky as they approached. Next they heard a

sound like distant thunder, which they took for the prolonged

eruption of some giant crater, though they had not expected to

find one so far towards the interior of the continent. Presently

it became one continuous roar, the echo in the canon, whose walls

were at this place over six hundred feet high, being simply

deafening, so that the near discharge of the heaviest artillery

would have been completely drowned.

"One would think the end of the world was approaching!" shouted

Cortlandt through his hands.

"Look!" Bearwarden roared back, "the wind is scattering the

mist."

As he spoke, the vapoury curtain was drawn aside, revealing a

waterfall of such vast proportions as to dwarf completely

anything they had ever seen or even imagined. A somewhat open

horseshoe lip, three and a half miles straight across and over

four miles following the line of the curve, discharged a sheet of

water forty feet thick at the edge into an abyss six hundred feet

below. Two islands on the brink divided this sheet of liquid

into three nearly equal parts, while myriads of rainbows hovered

in the clouds of spray. Two things especially struck the

observers: the water made but little curve or sweep on passing

over the edge, and then rushed down to the abyss at almost

lightning speed, shivering itself to infinitesimal particles on

striking any rock or projection at the side. Its behaviour was,

of course, due to its weight, and to the fact that on Jupiter

bodies fall 40.98 feet the first second, instead of sixteen feet,

as on earth, and at correspondingly increasing speed.

Finding that they were being rapidly dazed and stunned by the

noise, the travellers caused the Callisto to rise rapidly, and

were soon surveying the superb sight from a considerable

elevation. Their minds could grasp but slowly the full meaning

and titanic power of what they saw, and not even the vast falls

in their nearness could make their significance clear. Here was

a sheet of water three and a half miles wide, averaging forty

feet in depth, moving at a rapid rate towards a sheer fall of six

hundred feet. They felt, as they gazed at it, that the power of

that waterfall would turn backward every engine and dynamo on the

earth, and it seemed as if it might almost put out the fires of

the sun. Yet it was but an illustration of the action of the

solar orb exerted on a vast area of ocean, the vapour in the form

of rain being afterwards turned into these comparatively narrow

limits by the topography of the continent. Compared with this,

Niagara, with its descent of less than two hundred feet, and its

relatively small flow of water, would be but a rivulet, or at

best a rapid stream. Reluctantly leaving the fascinating

spectacle, they pursued their exploration along the river above

the falls. For the first few miles the surface of the water was

near that of the land; there were occasional rapids, but few

rocks, and the foaming torrent moved at great speed, the red

sandstone banks of the river being as polished as though they had

been waxed. After a while the obstructions disappeared, but the

water continued to rush and surge along at a speed of ten or

twelve miles an hour, so that it would be easily navigable only

for logs or objects moving in one direction. The surface of the

river was soon on an average fifty feet below the edge of the

banks, this depression being one result of the water's rapid

motion and weight, which facilitated the carving of its channel.

When they had followed up the river about sixty miles towards its

source they came upon what at first had the appearance of an

ocean. They knew, however, from its elevation, and the flood

coming from it, that the water must be fresh, as they soon found

it was. This lake was about three hundred miles wide, and

stretched from northeast to southwest. There was rolling land

with hills about its shores, and the foliage on the banks was a

beautiful shade of bluish purple instead of the terrestrial

ubiquitous green.

When near the great lake's upper end, they passed the mouth of a

river on their left side, which, from its volume, they concluded

must be the principal source, and therefore they determined to

trace it. They found it to be a most beautiful stream, averaging

two and a half miles in width, evidently very deep, and with a

full, steady current. After proceeding for several hours, they

found that the general placidity grew less, the smooth surface

occasionally became ruffled by projecting rocks and rapids, and

the banks rose till the voyagers again found themselves in a

ravine or canon.

During their sojourn on Jupiter they had had but little

experience with the tremendous winds that they knew, from reason

and observation, must rage in its atmosphere. They now heard

them whistling over their heads, and, notwithstanding the

protection afforded by the sides of the canon, occasionally

received a gust that made the Callisto swerve. They kept on

steadily, however, till sunset, at which time it became very dark

on account of the high banks, which rose as steeply as the

Palisades on the Hudson to a height of nearly a thousand feet.

Finding a small island near the eastern bank, they were glad to

secure the Callisto there for the night, below the reach of the

winds, which they, still heard singing loudly but with a musical

note in what seemed to them like the sky.

"It is incomprehensible to me." said Ayrault, as they sat at

dinner, "how the sun, at a distance of four hundred and

eighty-three million miles, can raise the amount of water we have

here passing us, and compared with which the discharge of the

greatest river on earth would be insignificant, to say nothing of

the stream we ascended before reaching this."

"We must remember," replied Cortlandt, "that many of the

conditions are different here from those that exist on earth. We

know that some of the streams are warm, and even hot, and that

the temperature of Deepwaters Bay, and doubtless that of the

ocean also, is considerably higher than ours. This would

facilitate evaporation. The density of the atmosphere and the

tremendous winds, of which I suspect we may see more later, must

also help the sun very much in its work of raising vapour. But

the most potent factor is undoubtedly the vast size of the basin

that these rivers drain."

"The great speed at which the atmospheric currents move," said

Bearwarden, "coupled with the comparative lowness of the mountain

chains and the slight obstruction they offer to their passage,

must distribute the rain very thoroughly, notwithstanding the

great unbroken area of the continents. There can be no such

state of things here as exists in the western part of South

America, where the Andes are so high that any east-bound clouds,

in crossing them, are shoved up so far into a cold region that

all moisture they may have brought from the Pacific is condensed

into rain, with which parts of the western slope are deluged,

while clouds from the Atlantic have come so far they have already

dispersed their moisture, in consequence of which the region just

east of the Andes gets little if any rain. It is bad for a

continent to have its high mountains near the ocean from which it

should get its rain, and good for it to have them set well back."

"I should not be surprised," said Cortlandt, "if we saw another

waterfall to-morrow, though not in the shape of rain. In the

hour before we stopped we began to see rapids and protruding

rocks. That means that we are coming to a part of the channel

that is comparatively new, since the older parts have had time to

wear smooth. I take it, then, that we are near the foot of a

retreating cascade, which we may hope soon to see. That is

exactly the order in which we found smooth water and rapids in

river No. 1, which we have named the Harlem."

After this, not being tired, they used the remaining dark hours

for recording their recent adventures.

CHAPTER XII.

HILLS AND VALLEYS.

With the first light they resumed their journey, and an hour

after setting out they sighted, as Cortlandt had predicted,

another cloud of vapour. The fall--for such it proved to be--was

more beautiful than the other, for, though the volume of water

was not so great, it fell at one leap, without a break, and at

the same tremendous speed, a distance of more than a thousand

feet. The canon rang with the echoes, while the spray flew in

sheets against the smooth, glistening, sandstone walls. Instead

of coming from a river, as the first fall had, this poured at

once from the rocky lip, about two miles across, of a lake that

was eleven hundred feet above the surging mass in the vale below.

"It is a thousand pities," said Bearwarden, "that this cataract

has got so near its source; for, at the rate these streams must

cut, this one in a few hundred years, unless something is done to

prevent it, will have worn back to the lake, and then good-bye to

the falls, which will become a series of rapids. Perhaps the

first effect will be merely to reduce by a few feet the height of

the falls, in which case they will remain in practically the same

place."

About the shores of this lake they saw rhinoceroses with long

thick wool, and herds of creatures that much resembled buffaloes.

"I do not see," said Bearwarden, "why the identical species

should not exist here that till recently, in a geological sense,

inhabited the earth. The climate and all other conditions are

practically the same on both planets, except a trifling

difference in weight, to which terrestrials would soon adapt

themselves. We know by spectroscopic analysis that hydrogen,

iron, magnesium, and all our best-known substances exist in the

sun, and even the stars, while the earth contains everything we

have found in meteorites. Then why make an exception of life,

instead of supposing that at corresponding periods of development

the same living forms inhabit all? It would be assuming the

eternal sterilization of the functions of Nature to suppose that

our earth is the only body that can produce them."

"The world of organic life is so much more complex," replied

Cortlandt, "than that of the crystal, that it requires great

continuity. So far we certainly have seen no men, or anything

like them, not even so much as a monkey, though I suppose,

according to your reasoning, Jupiter has not advanced far enough

to produce even that."

"Exactly," replied Bearwarden, "for it will require vast periods;

and, according to my belief, at least half the earth's time of

habitability had passed before man appeared. But we see Jupiter

is admirably suited for those who have been developed somewhere

else, and it would be an awful shame if we allowed it to lie

unimproved till it produces appreciative inhabitants of its own,

for we find more to admire in one half-hour than its entire

present population during its lifetime. Yet, how magnificent

this world is, and how superior in its natural state to ours!

The mountainous horns of these crescent-shaped continents protect

them and the ocean they enclose from the cold polar marine

currents, and in a measure from the icy winds; while the elevated

country on the horns near the equator might be a Garden of Eden,

or ideal resort. To be sure, the continents might support a

larger population, if more broken up, notwithstanding the

advantage resulting from the comparatively low mountains along

the coasts, and the useful winds. A greater subdivision of land

and water, more great islands connected by isthmuses, and more

mediterraneans joined by straits, would be a further advantage to

commerce; but with the sources of power at hand, the resistless

winds and water-power, much increased in effectiveness by their

weight, the great tides when several moons are on the same side,

or opposite the sun, internal heat near the surface, and abundant

coal-supply doubtless already formed and also near the surface,

such small alterations could be made very easily, and would serve

merely to prevent our becoming rusty.

"As Jupiter's distance from the sun varies from 506,563,000 miles

at aphelion to only 460,013,000 at perihelion, this difference,

in connection with even the slight inclination of the axis, must

make a slight change in seasons, but as the inclination is

practically nothing, almost the entire change results from the

difference in distance. This means that the rise or fall in

temperature is general on every degree of latitude, all being

warmed simultaneously, more or less, as the planet approaches or

departs from the sun. It means also that about the same

conditions that Secretary Deepwaters suggested as desirable for

the earth, prevail here, and that Jupiter represents, therefore,

about the acme of climate naturally provided. On account of its

rapid rotation and vast size, the winds have a tornado's

strength, but they are nothing at this distance from the sun to

what they would be if a planet with its present rate of rotation

and size were where Venus or even the earth is. In either of

these positions no land life with which we are acquainted could

live on the surface; for the slope of the atmospheric isobars--i.

e., the lines of equal barometric pressure that produce wind by

becoming tilted through unequal expansion, after which the air,

as it were, flows down-hill--would be too great. The ascending

currents about the equator would also, of course, be vastly

strengthened; so that we see a wise dispensation of Providence in

placing the large planets, which also rotate so rapidly, at a

great distance from the sun, which is the father of all winds,

rotation alone, however rapid, being unable to produce them."

They found this lake was about six times the size of Lake

Superior, and that several large and small streams ran into its

upper end. These had their sources in smaller lakes that were at

slightly higher elevations. Though the air was cool, the sun

shone brightly, while the ground was covered with flowers

resembling those of the northern climes on earth, of all shapes

and lines. Twice a day these sent up their song, and trees were

covered with buds, and the birds twittered gaily. The streams

murmured and bubbled, and all things reminded the travellers of

early morning in spring.

"If anything could reconcile me," said Bearwarden, "to exchange

my active utilitarian life for a rustic poetical existence, it

would be this place, for it is far more beautiful than anything I

have seen on earth. It needs but a Maud Muller and a few cows to

complete the picture, since Nature gives us a vision of eternal

peace and repose."

Somehow the mention of Maud Muller, and the delicate and refined

flowers, whose perfume he inhaled, brought up thoughts that were

never far below the surface in Ayrault's mind. "The place is

heavenly enough," said he, "to make one wish to live and remain

here forever, but to me it would be Hamlet with Hamlet left out."

"Ah! poor chap," said Cortlandt, "you are in love, but you are

not to be pitied, for though the thrusts at the heart are sharp,

they may be the sweetest that mortals know."

The following morning they reluctantly left the picturesque

shores of Lake Serenity, with their beautiful tints and foliage,

and resumed the journey, to explore a number of islands in the

ocean in the west, which were recorded on their negatives.

Ascending to rarefied air, they saw great chains of mountains,

which they imagined ran parallel to the coast, rising to

considerable altitudes in the east. The tops of all glistened

with a mantle of snow in the sunlight, while between the ridges

they saw darker and evidently fertile valleys. They passed,

moving northwest, over large and small lakes, all evidently part

of the same great system, and continued to sweep along for

several days with a beautiful panorama, as varying as a

kaleidoscope, spread beneath their eyes. They observed that the

character of the country gradually changed. The symmetrically

rounded mountains and hills began to show angles, while great

slabs of rock were split from the faces. The sides also became

less vertical, and there was an accumulation of detrital

fragments about their bases. These heaps of fractured stone had

in some cases begun to disintegrate and form soil, on which there

was a scant growth of vegetation; but the sides and summits,

whose jaggedness increased with their height, were absolutely

bare.

"Here," said Cortlandt, "we have unmistakable evidence of frost

and ice action. The next interesting question is, How recently

has denudation occurred? The absence of plant life at the

exposed places," he continued, as if lecturing to a class, "can

be accounted for here, as nearer the equator, by the violence of

the wind; but I greatly doubt whether water will now freeze in

this latitude at any season of the year, for, even should the

Northern hemisphere's very insignificant winter coincide with the

planet's aphelion, the necessary drop from the present

temperature would be too great to be at all probable. If, then,

it is granted that ice does not form here now, notwithstanding

the fact that it has done so, the most plausible conclusion is

that the inclination of Jupiter's axis is automatically changing,

as we know the earth's has often done. There being nothing

incompatible in this view with the evidence at hand, we can

safely assume it correct for the time being at least. When

farther south, you remember, we found no trace of ice action,

notwithstanding the comparative slowness with which we decided

that the ridges in the crust had been upheaved on account of the

resisting power of gravity, and, as I see now, also on account of

Jupiter's great mass, which must prevent its losing its heat

anything like as fast as the earth has, in which I think also we

have the explanation of the comparatively low elevation of the

mountains that we found we could not account for by the power of

gravitation alone.[2] From the fact that the exposed surface

farther south must be old, on account of the slow upheaval and

the slight wear to which it is exposed, about the only wearing

agent being the wind, which would be powerless to erase

ice-scratches, especially since, on account of gravity's power,

it cannot, like our desert winds, carry much sand--which, as we

know, has cut away the base of the Sphinx--I think it is logical

to conclude that, though Jupiter's axis is changing naturally as

the earth's has been, it has never varied as much as twenty-three

and a half degrees, and certainly to nothing like the extent to

which we see Venus and Uranus tilted to-day."

[2] It is well known that mountain chains are but ridges or

foldings in the crust upheaved as the interior cools and shrinks.

This is proved by reason and by experiments with viscous clay or

other material placed upon a sheet of stretched rubber, which is

afterwards allowed to contract, whereupon the analogues of

mountain ridges are thrown up.

"I follow you," said Bearwarden, "and do not see how we could

arrive at anything else. From Jupiter's low specific gravity,

weighing but little more than an equal bulk of water, I should

say the interior must be very hot, or else is composed of light

material, for the crust's surface, or the part we see, is

evidently about as dense as what we have on earth. These things

have puzzled me a good deal, and I have been wondering if Jupiter

may not have been formed before the earth and the smaller

planets."

"The discrepancies between even the best authorities," replied

Cortlandt, "show that as yet but little has been discovered from

the earth concerning Jupiter's real condition. The two theories

that try to account for its genesis are the ring theory and the

nebulous. We know that the sun is constantly emitting vast

volumes of heat and light, and that, with the exception of the

heat resulting from the impact of falling meteors, it receives

none from outside, the principal source being the tremendous

friction and pressure between the cooling and shrinking strata

within the great mass of the sun itself. A seeming paradox

therefore comes in here, which must be considered: If the sun

were composed entirely of gas, it would for a time continue to

grow hotter; but the sun is incessantly radiating light and heat,

and consequently becoming smaller. Therefore the farther back we

go the hotter we find the sun, and also the larger, till, instead

of having a diameter of eight hundred and eighty thousand miles,

it filled the space now occupied by the entire solar system.

Here is where the two theories start. According to the first,

the revolving nebulous mass threw off a ring that became the

planet Neptune, afterwards another that contained the material

for Uranus, and so on, the lightest substance in the sun being

thrown off first, by which they accounted for the lightness of

the four great planets, and finally Mars, the earth, and the

small dense planets near the sun. The advocates of this theory

pointed to Saturn's rings as an illustration of the birth of a

planet, or, rather, in that case a satellite. According to this,

the major planets have had a far longer separate existence than

the minor, which would account for their being so advanced

notwithstanding their size. This theory may again come into

general acceptance, but for the present it has been discredited

by the nebulous. According to this second theory, at the time

the sun filled all the space inside of Neptune's, orbit, or

extended even farther, several centres of condensation were

formed within the nebulous, gaseous mass. The greatest centre

became the sun, and the others, large and small, the planets,

which--as a result of the spiral motion of the whole, such as is

now going on before our eyes in the great nebulae of fifty- one

M. Canuin venaticorum, and many others--began to revolve about

the greatest central body of gas. As the separate masses cooled,

they shrank, and their surfaces or extreme edges, which at first

were contiguous, began to recede, which recession is still going

on with some rapidity on the part of the sun, for we may be sure

its diameter diminishes as its density increases. According to

either theory, as I see it, the major planets, on account of

their distance from the central mass, have had longer separate

existences than the minor, and are therefore more advanced than

they would be had all been formed at the same time.

"This theory explains the practical uniformity in the chemical

composition of all members of this system by assuming that they

were all once a part of the same body, and you may say brothers

and sisters of the sun, instead of its offspring. It also makes

size the only factor determining temperature and density, but of

course modified by age, since otherwise Jupiter would have a far

less developed crust than that with which we find it. I have

always considered the period from the molten condition to that

with a crust as comparatively short, which stands to reason, for

radiation has then no check; and the period from the formation of

the crust, which acts as a blanket, to the death of a planet, as

very long. I have not found this view clearly set forth in any

of the books I have read, but it seems to me the simplest and

most natural explanation. Now, granted that the solar system was

once a nebula, on which I think every one will agree--the same

forces that changed it into a system of sun and planets must be

at work on fifty-one M. Canum venaticorum, Andromeda, and ninety-

nine M. Virginis, and must inevitably change them to suns, each

with doubtless a system of planets.

"If, then, the condition of a nebula or star depends simply on

its size, it is reasonable to suppose that Andromeda, Sirius, and

all the vast bodies we see, were created at the same time as our

system, which involves the necessity of one general and

simultaneous creation day. But as Sirius, with its diameter of

twelve million miles, must be larger than some of the nebulae

will be when equally condensed, we must suppose rather that

nebulae are forming and coming into the condition of bright and

dead stars, much as apples or pears on a fruit tree are

constantly growing and developing, so that the Mosaic description

of the creation would probably apply in point of time only to our

system, or perhaps to our globe, though the rest will doubtless

pass through precisely the same stages. This, I think, I will

publish, on our return, as the Cortlandt astronomical doctrine,

as the most rational I have seen devised, and one that I think we

may safely believe, until, perhaps, through increased knowledge,

it can be disproved."

After they crossed a line of hills that ran at right angles to

their course they found the country more rolling. All streams

and water-courses flowed in their direction, while their aneroid

showed them that they were gradually descending. When they were

moving along near the surface of the ground, a delicious and

refined perfume exhaled by the blue and white flowers, that had

been growing smaller as they journeyed northward, frequently

reached their nostrils. To Cortlandt and Bearwarden it was

merely the scent of a flower, but to Ayrault it recalled mental

pictures of Sylvia wearing violets and lilies that he had given

her. He knew that the greatest telescopes on earth could not

reveal the Callisto moving about in Jupiter's sunshine, as even a

point of light, at that distance, and, notwithstanding

Cortlandt's learning and Bearwarden's joviality, he felt at times

extremely lonely.

They swept along steadily for fifty hours, having bright sunny

days and beautifully moonlit nights. They passed over finely

rounded hills and valleys and well- watered plains. As they

approached the ocean and its level the temperature rose, and

there was more moisture in the air. The plants and flowers also

increased in size, again resembling somewhat the large species

they had seen near the equator.

"This would be the place to live," said Bearwarden, looking at

iron mountains, silver, copper, and lead formations, primeval

forests, rich prairies, and regions evidently underlaid with coal

and petroleum, not to mention huge beds of aluminum clay, and

other natural resources, that made his materialistic mouth water.

"It would be joy and delight to develop industries here, with no

snow avalanches to clog your railroads, or icy blizzards to

paralyze work, nor weather that blights you with sun-strokes and

fevers. On our return to the earth we must organize a company to

run regular interplanetary lines. We could start on this globe

all that is best on our own. Think what boundless possibilities

may be before the human race on this planet, which on account of

its vast size will be in its prime when our insignificant earth

is cold and dead and no longer capable of supporting life! Think

also of the indescribable blessing to the congested communities

of Europe and America, to find an unlimited outlet here! Mars is

already past its prime, and Venus scarcely habitable, but in

Jupiter we have a new promised land, compared with which our

earth is a pygmy, or but little more than microscopic."

"I see," said Ayrault, "that the possibilities here have no

limit; but I do not see how you can compare it to the promised

land, since, till we undertook this journey, no one had even

thought of Jupiter as a habitable place."

"I trace the Divine promise," replied Bearwarden, "in what you

described to us on earth as man's innate longing and desire to

rise, and in the fact that the Almighty has given the race

unbounded expansiveness in very limited space. This would look

to me as the return of man to the garden of Eden through

intellectual development, for here every man can sit under his

own vine and fig-tree."

"It seems to me," said Cortlandt, "that no paradise or heaven

described in anything but the Bible compares with this.

According to Virgil's description, the joys on the banks of his

river Lethe must have been most sad and dreary, the general

idleness and monotony apparently being broken only by wrestling

matches between the children, while the rest strolled about with

laurel wreaths or rested in the shade. The pilot Palinurus, who

had been drowned by falling overboard while asleep, but who

before that had presumably done his duty, did not seem especially

happy; while the harsh, resentful disposition evidently remained

unsoftened, for Dido became like a cliff of Marpesian marble when

AEneas asked to be forgiven, though he had doubtless considered

himself in duty bound to leave her, having been twice commanded

to do so by Mercury, the messenger of Jove. She, like the rest,

seems to have had no occupation, while the consciences of few

appear to have been sufficiently clear to enable them to enjoy

unbroken rest."

"The idleness in the spirit-land of all profane writers," added

Bearwarden, "has often surprised me too. Though I have always

recommended a certain amount of recreation for my staff--in fact,

more than I have generally had myself--an excess of it becomes a

bore. I think that all real progress comes through thorough

work. Why should we assume that progress ceases at death? I

believe in the verse that says, 'We learn here on earth those

things the knowledge of which is perfected in heaven.'"

"According to that," said Cortlandt, "you will some day be

setting the axis of heaven right, for in order to do work there

must be work to be done--a necessary corollary to which is that

heaven is still imperfect."

"No," said Bearwarden, bristling up at the way Cortlandt

sometimes received his speeches, "it means simply that its

development, though perfect so far as it goes, may not be

finished, and that we may be the means, as on earth, of helping

it along."

"The conditions constituting heaven," said Ayrault, "may be as

fixed as the laws of Nature, though the products of those

conditions might, it seems to me, still be forming and subject to

modification thereby. The reductio ad absurdu would of course

apply if we supposed the work of creation absolutely finished."

CHAPTER XIII.

NORTH-POLAR DISCOVERIES.

Two days later, on the western horizon, they beheld the ocean.

Many of the streams whose sources they had seen when they crossed

the divide from the lake basin, and whose courses they had

followed, were now rivers a mile wide, with the tide ebbing and

rising within them many hundreds of miles from their mouths.

When they reached the shore line they found the waves breaking,

as on earth, upon the sands, but with this difference: they had

before noted the smallness of the undulations compared with the

strength of the wind, the result of the water's weight. These

waves now reminded them of the behaviour of mercury, or of melted

lead when stirred on earth, by the rapidity with which the crests

dropped. Though the wind was blowing an on-shore gale, there was

but little combing, and when there was any it lasted but a

second. The one effort of the crests and waves seemed to be to

remain at rest, or, if stirred in spite of themselves, to

subside.

When over the surface of the ocean, the voyagers rose to a height

of thirty thousand metres, and after twenty- four hours'

travelling saw, at a distance of about two hundred miles, what

looked like another continent, but which they knew must be an

island. On finding themselves above it, they rose still higher

to obtain a view of its outlines and compare its shape with that

of the islands in the photographs they had had time to develop.

The length ran from southeast to northwest. Though crossed by

latitude forty, and notwithstanding Jupiter's distance from the

sun, the southern side had a very luxuriant vegetation that was

almost semi-tropical. This they accounted for by its total

immunity from cold, the density of the air at sea-level, and the

warm moist breezes it received from the tepid ocean. The climate

was about the same as that of the Riviera or of Florida in

winter, and there was, of course, no parching summer.

"This shows me," said Bearwarden, "that a country's climate

depends less on the amount of heat it receives from the sun than

on the amount it retains; proof of which we have in the tops of

the Himalayas perpetually covered with snow, and snow-capped

mountains on the very equator, where they get the most direct

rays, and where those rays have but little air to penetrate. It

shows that the presence of a substantial atmosphere is as

necessary a part of the calculation in practice as the sun

itself. I am inclined to think that, with the constant effect of

the internal heat on its oceans and atmosphere, Jupiter could get

along with a good deal less solar heat than it receives, in proof

of which I expect to find the poles themselves quite comfortable.

The reason the internal heat is so little taken into account on

earth is because, from the thickness of the crust, it cannot make

itself felt; for if the earth were as chilled through as ice, the

people on the surface would not feel the difference."

A Jovian week's explorations disclosed the fact that though the

island's general outlines were fairly regular, it had deep-water

harbours, great rivers, and land-locked gulfs and bays, some of

which penetrated many hundred miles into the interior. It also

showed that the island's length was about six thousand miles, and

its breadth about three thousand, and that it had therefore about

the superficial area of Asia. They found no trace of the great

monsters that had been so numerous on the mainland, though there

were plenty of smaller and gentle-looking creatures, among them

animals whose build was much like that of the prehistoric horse,

with undeveloped toes on each side of the hoof, which in the

modern terrestrial horse have disappeared, the hoof being in

reality but a rounded-off middle finger.

"It is wonderful," said Bearwarden, "how comparatively narrow

a body of water can keep different species entirely separate.

The island of Sumatra, for instance, is inhabited by marsupials

belonging to the distinct Australian type, in which the female,

as in the kangaroo, carries the slightly developed young in a

pouch; while the Malay peninsula, joined to the mainland, has all

the highly developed animals of Asia and the connected land of

the Eastern hemisphere, the narrow Malacca Strait being all that

has kept marsupials and mammals apart, though the separating

power has been increased by the rapid current setting through.

This has decreased the chance of creatures carried to sea on

drift-wood or uprooted trees getting safely over to such a degree

that apparently none have survived; for, had they done so, we may

be certain that the mammals, with the advantage their young have

over the marsupials, would soon have run them out, the marsupials

being the older and the less perfect form of life of the two."

Before leaving the beautiful sea-girt region beneath them,

Cortlandt proposed that it be named after their host, which

Bearwarden seconded, whereupon they entered it as Ayrault Island

on the charts. After this they rose to a great height, and flew

swiftly over three thousand miles of ocean till they came to

another island not quite as large as the first. It was four

thousand five hundred miles long by something less than three

thousand wide, and was therefore about the size of Africa. It

had several high ranges of mountains and a number of great rivers

and fine harbours, while murmuring, bubbling brooks flowed

through its forest glades. There were active volcanoes along the

northern coast, and the blue, crimson, and purple lines in the

luxuriant foliage were the most beautiful they had ever seen.

"I propose," said Bearwarden, "that we christen this Sylvialand."

This Cortlandt immediately seconded, and it was so entered on the

charts.

"These two islands," said Bearwarden, "may become the centres of

civilization. With flying machines and cables to carry

passengers and information, and ships of great displacement for

the interchange of commodities, there is no limit to their

possible development. The absence of large waves will also be

very favourable to sea-spiders, which will be able to run at

tremendous speeds. The constancy in the eruptions of the

volcanoes will offer a great field to Jovian inventors, who will

unquestionably be able to utilize their heat for the production

of steam or electricity, to say nothing of an inexhaustible

supply of valuable chemicals. They may contain the means of

producing some force entirely different from apergy, and as

superior to electricity as that is to steam. Our earthly

volcanoes have been put to slight account because of the long

intervals between eruptions."

After leaving Sylvialand they went westward to the eastern of the

two crescent continents. It was separated from the island by

about six thousand miles of ocean, and had less width than the

western, having about the proportions of a three-day crescent,

while the western had the shape of the moon when four or five

days old. They found the height of the mountains and plateaus

somewhat less than on the eastern continent, but no great

difference in other respects, except that, as they went towards

the pole, the vegetation became more like that of Scotland or a

north temperate region than any they had seen. On reaching

latitude fifty they again came out over the ocean to investigate

the speckled condition they had observed there. They found a

vast archipelago covering as great an area as the whole Pacific

Ocean. The islands varied from the size of Borneo and Madagascar

to that of Sicily and Corsica, while some contained but a few

square miles. The surface of the archipelago was about equally

divided between land and water.

"It would take good navigation or an elaborate system of

light-houses," said Bearwarden, "for a captain to find the

shortest course through these groups."

The islands were covered with shade trees much resembling those

on earth, and the leaves on many were turning yellow and red, for

this hemisphere's autumn had already begun.

"The Jovian trees," said Cortlandt, "can never cease to bear,

though the change of seasons is evidently able to turn their

colour, perhaps by merely ripening them. When a ripe leaf falls

off, its place is doubtless soon taken by a bud, for germination

and fructification go on side by side."

Before leaving, they decided to name this Twentieth Century

Archipelago, since so much of the knowledge appertaining to it

had been acquired in their own day. At latitude sixty the

northern arms of the two continents came within fifteen hundred

miles of each other. The eastern extension was split like the

tail of a fish, the great bay formed thereby being filled with

islands, which also extended about half of the distance across.

The western extremity shelved very gradually, the sand-bars

running out for miles just below the surface of the water.

After this the travellers flew northward at great speed in the

upper regions of the air, for they were anxious to hasten their

journey. They found nothing but unbroken sea, and not till they

reached latitude eighty-seven was there a sign of ice. They then

saw some small bergs and field ice, but in no great quantities.

As their outside thermometer, when just above the placid

water--for there were no waves here--registered twenty- one

degrees Fahrenheit, they accounted for this scarcity of ice by

the absence of land on which fresh water could freeze, and by the

fact that it was not cold enough to congeal the very salt

sea-water.

Finally they reached another archipelago a few hundred miles in

extent, the larger islands of which were covered with a sheet of

ice, at the edges of which small icebergs were being formed by

breaking off and slowly floating. Finding a small island on

which the coating was thin, they grounded the Callisto, and

stepped out for the first time in several days. The air was so

still that a small piece of paper released at a height of six

feet sank slowly and went as straight as the string of a

plumb-line. The sun was bisected by the line of the horizon, and

appeared to be moving about them in a circle, with only its upper

half visible. As Jupiter's northern hemisphere was passing

through its autumnal equinox, they concluded they had landed

exactly at the pole.

"Now to work on our experiment," said Cortlandt. "I wonder how we

may best get below the frozen surface?"

"We can explode a small quantity of dynamite," replied

Bearwarden, "after which the digging will be comparatively easy."

While Cortlandt and Bearwarden prepared the mine, Ayrault brought

out a pickaxe, two shovels, and the battery and wires with which

to ignite the explosive. They made their preparations within one

hundred feet of the Callisto, or much nearer than an equivalent

amount of gunpowder could have been discharged.

"This recalls an old laboratory experiment, or rather lecture,"

said Cortlandt, as they completed the arrangements, "for the

illustration is not as a rule carried out. Explode two pounds of

powder on an iron safe in a room with the windows closed, and the

windows will be blown out, while the safe remains uninjured.

Explode an equivalent amount of dynamite on top of the safe, and

it will be destroyed, while the glass panes are not even cracked.

This illustrates the difference in rapidity with which the

explosions take place. To the intensely rapid action of dynamite

the air affords as much resistance as a solid substance, while

the explosion of the powder is so slow that the air has time to

move away; hence the destruction of the windows in the first

case, and the safe in the second."

When they had moved beyond the danger line, Bearwarden, as the

party's practising engineer, pressed the button, and the

explosion did the rest. They found that the ground was frozen to

a depth of but little more than a foot, below which it became

perceptibly warm. Plying their shovels vigorously, they had soon

dug the hole so deep that its edges were above their heads. When

the floor was ten feet below the surrounding level the

thermometer registered sixty.

"This is scarcely a fair test," said Cortlandt, "since the heat

rises and is lost as fast as given off. Let us therefore close

the opening and see in what time it will melt a number of cubic

feet of ice."

Accordingly they climbed out, threw in about a cart-load of ice,

and covered the opening with two of the Callisto's thick rugs.

In half an hour all the ice had melted, and in another half hour

the water was hot.

"No arctic expedition need freeze to death here," said

Bearwarden, "since all a man would have to do would be to burrow

a few feet to be as warm as toast."

As the island on which they had landed was at one side of the

archipelago, but was itself at the exact pole, it followed that

the centre of the archipelago was not the part farthest north.

This in a measure accounted for the slight thickness of ice and

snow, for the isobaric lines would slope, and consequently what

wind there was would flow towards the interior of the

archipelago, whose surface was colder than the surrounding ocean.

The moist air, however, coming almost entirely from the south,

would lose most of its moisture by condensation in passing over

the ice-laden land, and so, like the clouds over the region east

of the Andes, would have but little left to let fall on this

extreme northern part. The blanketing effect of a great

thickness of snow would also cause, the lower strata of ice to

melt, by keeping in the heat constantly given off by the warm

planet.

"I think there can be no question," said Cortlandt, "that, as a

result of Jupiter's great flattening at the poles and the drawing

of the crust, which moves faster in Jupiter's rotation than any

other part, towards the equator, the crust must be particularly

thin here; for, were it as thin all over, there would be no space

for the coal-beds, which, judging from the purity of the

atmosphere, must be very extensive. Further, we can recall that

the water in the hot spring near which we alighted, which

evidently came from a far greater depth than we have here, was

not as hot as this. The conclusion is clear that elsewhere the

internal heat is not as near the surface as here."

"The more I see of Jupiter," exclaimed Bearwarden

enthusiastically, "the more charmed I become. It almost exactly

supplies what I have been conjuring up as my idea of a perfect

planet. Its compensations of high land near the equator, and low

with effective internal heat at the poles, are ideal. The gradual

slope of its continental elevations, on account of their extent,

will ease the work of operating railways, and the atmosphere's

density will be just the thing for our flying machines, while

Nature has supplied all sources of power so lavishly that no

undertaking will be too great. Though land as yet, to judge by

our photographs, occupies only about one eighth of the surface,

we know, from the experience of the other planets, that this is

bound to increase; so that, if the human race can perpetuate

itself on Jupiter long enough, it will undoubtedly have one

fourth or a larger proportion for occupation, though the land

already upheaved comprises fully forty times the area of our

entire globe, which, as we know, is still three-fourths water."

"Since we have reached what we might call the end of Jupiter, and

still have time, continued Ayrault, "let us proceed to Saturn,

where we may find even stranger things than here. I hoped we

could investigate the great red spot, but am convinced we have

seen the beginning of one in Twentieth Century Archipelago, and

what, under favourable conditions, will be recognized as such on

earth."

It was just six terrestrial weeks since they had set out, and

therefore February 2d on earth.

"It would be best, in any case, to start from Jupiter's equator,"

said Cortlandt, "for the straight line we should make from the

surface here would be at right angles to Saturn. We shall

probably, in spite of ourselves, swing a few degrees beyond the

line, and so can get a bird's-eye view of some portion of the

southern hemisphere."

"All aboard for Saturn!" cried Bearwarden enthusiastically, in

his jovial way. "This will be a journey."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SCENE SHIFTS.

Having returned the rugs to the Callisto, they applied the

maximum power of the batteries to rising, closed all openings

when the barometer registered thirty, and moved off into space.

When Several thousand miles above the pole, they diverted part of

the power to attracting the nearest moon that was in the plane of

Jupiter's equator, and by the time their upward motion had ceased

were moving well in its direction. Their rapid motion aided the

work of resisting gravity, since their car had in fact become a

small moon, revolving, like those of Uranus or that of Neptune,

in an orbit varying greatly from the plane of the ecliptic. As

they flew south at a height ranging from two thousand to three

thousand miles, the planet revolved before them, and they had a

chance of obtaining a thorough view. There were but a few

scattered islands on the side of the Northern hemisphere opposite

to that over which they had reached the pole, and in the varying

colours of the water, which they attributed to temperature or to

some substance in solution, they recognized what they had always

heard described on earth as the bands of Jupiter, encircling the

planet with great belts, the colour varying with the latitude.

At about latitude forty-five these bands were purple, farther

south light olive green, and at the equator a brown orange.

Shortly after they swung across the equator the ocean again

became purple, and at the same time a well-defined and very

brilliant white spot came into view. Its brightness showed

slight variations in intensity, though its general shape remained

unchanged. It had another peculiarity, in that it possessed a

fairly rapid motion of its own, as it moved eastward across the

surface of the ocean. It exhibited all the phenomena of the

storm they had watched in crossing Secretary Deepwaters Bay, but

covered a larger area, and was far more violent. Their glasses

showed them vast sheets of spray driven along at tremendous

speed, while the surface was milky white.

"This," said Bearwarden, picking up a book, "solves to my mind

the mystery of the white spot described by the English writer

Chambers, in 1889, as follows:

"'During the last few years a brilliant white spot has been

visible on the equatorial border of the great southern belt. A

curious fact in connection with this spot is, that it moves with

a velocity of some two hundred and sixty miles per hour greater

than the red spot. Denning obtained one hundred and sixty-nine

observations of this bright marking during the years 1880-1883,

and determined the period as nine hours, fifty minutes, eight and

seven tenths seconds (five and a half minutes less than that of

the red spot). Although the latter is now somewhat faint, the

white spot gives promise of remaining visible for many years.

During the year 1886 a large number of observations of Jupiter

were made at the Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, U. S., by Prof.

G. W. Hough, using the eighteen-and-a-half-inch refractor of the

observatory. Inasmuch as these observations are not only of high

intrinsic interest, but are in conflict, to some extent, with

previous records, a somewhat full abstract of them will be

useful: The object of general interest was the great red spot.

The outline, shape, and size of this remarkable object has

remained without material change from the year 1879, when it was

first observed here, until the present time. According to our

observations, during the whole of this period it has shown a

sharp and well-defined outline, and at no time has it coalesced

or been joined to any belt in its proximity, as has been alleged

by some observers. During the year 1885 the middle of the spot

was very much paler in colour than the margins, causing it to

appear as an elliptical ring. The ring form has continued up to

the present time. While the outline of the spot has remained

very constant, the colour has changed materially from year to

year. During the past three years (1884- '86) it has at times

been very faint, so as barely to be visible. The persistence of

this object for so many years leads me to infer that the formerly

accepted theory, that the phenomena seen on the surface of the

planet are atmospheric, is no longer tenable. The statement so

often made in text-books, that in the course of a few days or

months the whole aspect of the planet may be changed, is

obviously erroneous. The oval white spots on the southern

hemisphere of the planet, nine degrees south of the equator, have

been systematically observed at every opposition during the past

eight years. They are generally found in groups of three or

more, but are rather difficult to observe. The rotation period

deduced from them is nearly the same as from the great red spot.

These spots usually have a slow drift in longitude of about five

seconds daily in the direction of the planet's rotation, when

referred to the great red spot; corresponding to a rotation

period of twenty seconds less than the latter.'

"This shows," continued Bearwarden, "that as long ago as towards

the close of the nineteenth century the old idea that we saw

nothing but the clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere was beginning to

change; and also how closely the two English writers and Prof.

Hough were studying the subject, though their views did not

entirely agree. A white spot is merely a storm-centre passing

round and round the planet, the wind running a little ahead of

the surface, which accounts for its rapid rotation compared with

the red spot, which is a fixture. A critic may say we have no

such winds on earth; to which I reply, that winds on a planet of

Jupiter's size, with its rate of rotation--though it is

480,000,000 miles from the sun and the internal heat is so near

the surface--and with land and water arranged as they are, may

and indeed must be very different from those prevailing on earth,

the conditions producing and affecting them being so changed.

Though the storm-centre moves two hundred and sixty miles an

hour, the wind need not blow at that rate."

Later they saw several smaller spots drifting eastward, but

concluded that any seaworthy ship might pass safely through them,

for, though they were hurricanes of great violence, the waves

were small.

"There would be less danger," said Bearwarden, "of shipping seas

here than there is on earth; the principal risk to travellers

would be that of being blown from the deck. On account of the

air's weight in connection with its velocity, this would

necessitate some precaution."

The next object of interest was the great red spot. It proved,

as Cortlandt had predicted, to be a continent, with at that time

no special colour, though they easily recognized it by comparing

its outlines with those of the spot in the map. Its length, as

they already knew, was twenty-seven thousand miles, and its

breadth about eight thousand miles, so that it contained more

square miles than the entire surface of the earth, land and water

included.

"It is clear," said Cortlandt, "that at some season of Jupiter's

long year a change takes place that affects the colour of the

leaves--some drought or prolonged norther; for it is obvious that

that is the simplest explanation. In like manner we may expect

that at some times more white spots will move across the ocean

than at others."

"On account of the size of these continents and oceans," said

Bearwarden, "it is easy to believe that many climatic conditions

may prevail here that can scarcely exist on earth. But what a

magnificent world to develop, with its great rivers, lakes, and

mountains showing at even this distance, and what natural

resources must be lying there dormant, awaiting our call! This

constantly recurs to my mind. The subjugation and thorough

opening up of this red spot continent will probably supply more

interesting problems than straightening the axis of the earth."

"At our next visit," replied Ayrault, "when we have established

regular interplanetary lines of travel, we may have an

opportunity to examine it more closely." Then they again

attracted the nearest moon beyond which they had swung, increased

the repulsion on Jupiter, and soared away towards Saturn.

"We have a striking illustration of Jupiter's enormous mass,"

said Cortlandt, as the apparent diameter of the mighty planet

rapidly decreased, "in the fact that notwithstanding its numerous

moons, it still rotates so rapidly. We know that the earth's

days were formerly but half or a quarter as long as now, having

lasted but six or eight hours. The explanation of the elongation

is simple: the earth rotates in about twenty-four hours, while

the moon encircles it but once in nearly twenty- eight days, so

that our satellite is continually drawing the oceans backward

against its motion. These tidal brakes acting through the

friction of the water on the bottom, its unequal pressure, and

the impact of the waves on the shore, are continually retarding

its rotation, so that the day is a fraction of a second longer

now than it was in the time of Caesar. This same action is of

course taking place in Jupiter and the great planets, in this

case there being five moons at work. Our moon, we know, rotates

on its axis but once while it revolves about the earth, this

being no doubt due to its own comparative smallness and the great

attraction of the earth, which must have produced tremendous

tides before the lunar oceans disappeared from its surface."

In crossing the orbits of the satellites, they passed near

Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.

"This," said Cortlandt, "was discovered by Galileo in

1610. It is three thousand four hundred and eighty miles

in diameter, while our moon is but two thousand one

hundred and sixty, revolves at a distance of six hundred

and seventy-eight thousand three hundred miles from

Jupiter, completes its revolution in seven days and four

hours, and has a specific gravity of 1.87."

In passing, they observed that Ganymede possessed an atmosphere,

and continents and oceans of large area.

"Here," said Bearwarden, "we have a body with a diameter about

five hundred miles greater than the planet Mercury. Its size,

light specific gravity, atmosphere, and oceans seem to indicate

that it is less advanced than that planet, yet you think Jupiter

has had a longer separate existence than the planets nearer the

sun?"

"Undoubtedly," said Cortlandt. "Jupiter was condensed while in

the solar-system nebula, and began its individual existence and

its evolutionary career long before Mercury was formed. The

matter now in Ganymede, however, doubtless remained part of the

Jupiter-system nebula till after Mercury's creation, and, being

part of so great a mass, did not cool very rapidly. I should say

that this satellite has about the same relation to Jupiter that

Jupiter has to the sun, and is therefore younger in point of time

as well as of development than the most distant Callisto, and

older, at all events in years, than Europa and Io, both of which

are nearer. This supposition is corroborated by the fact that

Europa, the smallest of these four, is also the densest, having a

specific gravity of 2.14, its smallness having enabled it to

overtake Ganymede in development, notwithstanding the latter's

start. In the face of the evidence before us we must believe

this, or else that, perhaps, as in the case of the asteroid

Hilda, something like a collision has rejuvenated it. This might

account for its size, and for the Nautical Almanac's statement

that there is a 'small and variable' inclination to its orbit,

while Io and Europa revolve exactly in the plane of Jupiter's

equator."

They had about as long a journey before them as they had already

made in going from the earth to Jupiter. The great planet soon

appeared as a huge crescent, since it was between them and the

sun; its moons became as fifth- and sixth-magnitude stars, and in

the evening of the next day Jupiter's disk became invisible to

the unaided eye. Since there were no way stations, in the shape

of planets or asteroids, between Jupiter and Saturn, they kept

the maximum repulsion on Jupiter as long as possible, and moved

at tremendous speed. Saturn was somewhat in advance of Jupiter

in its orbit, so that their course from the earth had been along

two sides of a triangle with an obtuse angle between. During the

next four terrestrial days they sighted several small comets, but

spent most of their time writing out their Jovian experiences.

During the sixth day Saturn's rings, although not as much tilted

as they would be later in the planet's season, presented a most

superb sight, while they spun in the sun's rays. Soon after this

the eight moons became visible, and, while slightly reducing the

Callisto's speed, they crossed the orbits of Iapetus, Hyperion,

and Titan, when they knew they were but seven hundred and fifty

thousand miles from Saturn.

"I am anxious to ascertain," said Cortlandt, "whether the

composition of yonder rings is similar to that of the comet

through which we passed. I am sure they shine with more than

reflected light."

"We have been in the habit," said Ayrault, "of associating heat

with light, but it is obvious there is something far more subtle

about cometary light and that of Saturn's rings, both of which

seem to have their birth in the intense cold of interplanetary

space."

Passing close to Mimas, Saturn's nearest moon, they supplemented

its attraction, after swinging by, by their own strong pull,

bringing their speed down to dead slow as they entered the

outside ring. At distances often of half a mile they found

meteoric masses, sometimes lumps the size of a house, often no

larger than apples, while small particles like grains of sand

moved between them. There were two motions. The ring revolved

about Saturn, and the particles vibrated among themselves,

evidently kept apart by a mutual repulsion, which seemed both to

increase and decrease faster than gravitation; for on approaching

one another they were more strongly repelled than attracted, but

when they separated the repulsion decreased faster than the

attraction, so that after a time divergence ceased, and they

remained at fixed distances.

The Callisto soon became imbued with motion also, but nothing

ever struck it. When any large mass came unusually near, both it

and their car emitted light, and they rapidly separated. The

sunlight was not as strong here as it had been when they entered

the comet, and as they penetrated farther they were better able

to observe the omnipresent luminosity. They were somewhat

puzzled by the approach of certain light-centres, which seemed to

contain nothing but this concentrated brightness. Occasionally

one of these centres would glow very brightly near them, and

simultaneously recede. At such times the Callisto also glowed,

and itself recoiled slightly. At first the travellers could not

account for this, but finally they concluded that the centres

must be meteoric masses consisting entirely of gases, possessing

weight though invisible.

"We have again to face," said Cortlandt, "that singular law that

till recently we did not suppose existed on earth. All kinds of

suppositions have been advanced in explanation of these rings.

Some writers have their thickness, looked at from the thin edge,

as four hundred miles, some one hundred, and some but forty. One

astronomer of the nineteenth century, a man of considerable

eminence, was convinced that they consisted of sheets of liquid.

Now, it should be obvious that no liquid could maintain itself

here for a minute, for it would either fall upon the planet as a

crushing hail, or, if dependent for its shape on its own

tenacity, it would break if formed of the toughest steel, on

account of the tremendous weight. Any number of theories have

been advanced by any number of men, but in weight we have the

rub. No one has ever shown how these innumerable fragments

maintain themselves at a height of but a few thousand miles above

Saturn, withstanding the giant's gravitation-pull. Their rate of

revolution, though rapid, does not seem fast enough to sustain

them. Neither have I ever seen it explained why the small

fragments do not fall upon the large ones, though many

astronomers have pictured the composition of these rings as we

find they exist. Nor do we know why the molecules of a gas are

driven farther apart by heat, while their activity is also

increased, though if this activity were revolution about one

another to develop the centrifugal, it would not need to be as

strong then as when they are cold and nearer together. There may

be explanations, but I have found none in any of the literature I

have read. It seems to me that all this leads to but one

conclusion, viz.: apergy is the constant and visible companion of

gravitation, on these great planets Jupiter and Saturn, perhaps

on account of some peculiar influence they possess, and also in

comets, in the case of large masses, while on earth it appears

naturally only among molecules--those of gases and every other

substance."

"I should go a step further," said Bearwarden, "and say our earth

has the peculiarity, since it does not possess the influence

necessary to generate naturally a great or even considerable

development of apergy. The electricity of thunderstorms,

northern lights, and other forces seems to be produced freely,

but as regards apergy our planet's natural productiveness appears

to be small."

The omnipresent luminosity continued, but the glow was scarcely

bright enough to be perceived from the earth.

"I believe, however," said Bearwarden, referring to this, "that

whenever a satellite passes near these fragments, preferably when

it enters the planet's shadow, since that will remove its own

light, it will create such activity among them as to make the

luminosity visible to the large telescopes or gelatine plates on

earth."

"Now," said Ayrault, "that we have evolved enough theories to

keep astronomers busy for some time, if they attempt to discuss

them, I suggest that we alight and leave the abstract for the

concrete."

Whereupon they passed through the inner ring and rapidly sank to

the ground.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I.

SATURN.

Landing on a place about ten degrees north of the equator, so

that they might obtain a good view of the great rings--since ON

the line only the thin edge would be visible--they opened a

port-hole with the same caution they had exercised on Jupiter.

Again there was a rush of air, showing that the pressure without

was greater than that within; but on this occasion the barometer

stopped at thirty-eight, from which they calculated that the

pressure was nineteen pounds to the square inch on their bodies,

instead of fifteen as at sea-level on earth. This difference was

so slight that they scarcely felt it. They also discarded the

apergetic outfits that had been so useful on Jupiter, as

unnecessary here. The air was an icy blast, and though they

quickly closed the opening, the interior of the Callisto was

considerably chilled.

"We shall want our winter clothes," said Bearwarden; "it might be

more comfortable for us exactly on the equator, though the scene

at night will be far finer here, if we can stand the climate.

Doubtless it will also be warmer soon, for the sun has but just

risen."

"I suspect this is merely one of the cold waves that rush towards

the equator at this season, which corresponds to about the 10th

of our September," replied Cortlandt. "The poles of Saturn must

be intensely cold during its long winter of fourteen and three

quarter years, for, the axis being inclined twenty-seven degrees

from the perpendicular of its orbit, the pole turned from the sun

is more shut off from its heat than ours, and in addition to this

the mean distance--more than eight hundred and eighty million

miles--is very great. Since the chemical composition of the air

we have inhaled has not troubled our lungs, it is fair to suppose

we shall have no difficulty in breathing."

Having dressed themselves more warmly, and seen by a thermometer

they had placed outside that the temperature was thirty-eight

degrees Fahrenheit, which had seemed very cold compared with the

warmth inside the Callisto, they again opened the port-hole, this

time leaving it open longer. What they had felt before was

evidently merely a sudden gust, for the air was now comparatively

calm.

Finding that the doctor's prediction as to the suitability of the

air to their lungs was correct, they ventured out, closing the

door as they went.

Expecting, as on Jupiter, to find principally vertebrates of the

reptile and bird order, they carried guns and cartridges loaded

with buckshot and No. 1, trusting for solid-ball projectiles to

their revolvers, which they shoved into their belts. They also

took test- tubes for experiments on the Saturnian bacilli.

Hanging a bucket under the pipe leading from the roof, to catch

any rain that might fall--for they remembered the scarcity of

drinking-water on Jupiter--they set out in a southwesterly

direction.

Walking along, they noticed on all sides tall lilies immaculately

pure in their whiteness, and mushrooms and toadstools nearly a

foot high, the former having a delicious flavour and extreme

freshness, as though only an hour old. They had seen no animal

life, or even sign of it, and were wondering at its dearth, when

suddenly two large white birds rose directly in front of them.

Like thought, Bearwarden and Ayrault had their guns up, snapping

the thumb-pieces over "safe" and pulling the triggers almost

simultaneously. Bearwarden, having double buckshot, killed his

bird at the first fire; but Ayrault, having only No. 1, had to

give his the second barrel, almost all damage in both cases being

in the head. On coming close to their victims they found them to

measure twelve feet from tip to tip, and to have a tremendous

thickness of feathers and down.

"From the looks of these beauties," said Bearwarden, "I should

say they probably inhabited a pretty cold place."

"They are doubtless northern birds," said Cortlandt, "that have

just come south. It is easy to believe that the depth to which

the temperature may fall in the upper air of this planet must be

something startling."

As they turned from the cranes, to which species the birds seemed

to belong, they became mute with astonishment. Every mushroom

had disappeared, but the toadstools still remained.

"Is it possible we did not see them?" gasped Ayrault.

"We must inadvertently have walked some distance since we saw

them," said Cortlandt.

"They were what I looked forward to for lunch," exclaimed

Bearwarden.

They were greatly perplexed. The mushrooms were all about them

when they shot the birds, which still lay where they had fallen.

"We must be very absent-minded," said the doctor, "or perchance

our brains are affected by the air. We must analyze it to see if

it contains our own proportion of oxygen and nitrogen. There was

a good deal of carbonic-acid gas on Jupiter, but that would

hardly confuse our senses. The strange thing is, that we all

seem to have been impressed the same way."

Concluding that they must have been mistaken, they continued on

their journey.

All about they heard a curious humming, as that of bees, or like

the murmuring of prayers in a resonant cathedral. Thinking it

was the wind in the great trees that grew singly around them,

they paid no attention to it until, emerging on an open plain and

finding that the sound continued, they stopped.

"Now," said Bearwarden, "this is more curious than anything we

found on Jupiter. Here we have an incessant and rather pleasant

sound, with no visible cause."

"It may possibly be some peculiarity of the grass," replied

Cortlandt, "though, should it continue when we reach sandy or

bare soil, I shall believe we need a dose of quinine."

"I FEEL perfectly well," said Ayrault; "how is it with you?"

Each finding that he was in a normal state, they proceeded,

determined, if possible, to discover the source from which the

sounds came. Suddenly Bearwarden raised his gun to bring down a

long-beaked hawk; but the bird flew off, and he did not shoot.

"Plague the luck!" said he; "I went blind just as I was about to

pull. A haze seemed to cover both barrels, and completely

screened the bird."

"The Callisto will soon be hidden by those trees," said

Cortlandt. "I think we had better take our bearings, for, if our

crack shot is going to miss like that, we may want canned

provisions."

Accordingly, he got out his sextant, took the altitude of the

sun, got cross-bearings and a few angles, and began to make a

rough calculation. For several minutes he worked industriously,

used the rubber at the end of his pencil, tried again, and then

scratched out. "That humming confuses me so that I cannot work

correctly," said he, "while the most irrelevant things enter my

mind in spite of me, and mix up my figures."

"I found the same thing," said Bearwarden, "but said nothing, for

fear I should not be believed. In addition to going blind, for a

moment I almost forgot what I was trying to do."

Changing their course slightly, they went towards a range of

hills, in the hope of finding rocky or sandy soil, in order to

test the sounds, and ascertain if they would cease or vary.

Having ascended a few hundred feet, they sat down near some trees

to rest, the musical hum continuing meanwhile unchanged. The

ground was strewn with large coloured crystals, apparently

rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, about the size of hens' eggs,

and also large sheets of isinglass. Picking up one of the

latter, Ayrault examined it. Points of light and shade kept

forming on its surface, from which rings radiated like the

circles spreading in all directions from a place in still water

at which a pebble is thrown. He called his companions, and the

three examined it. The isinglass was about ten inches long by

eight across, and contained but few impurities. In addition to

the spreading rings, curious forms were continually taking shape

and dissolving.

"This is more interesting," said Bearwarden, "than sounding

shells at the sea-shore. We must make a note of it as another

thing to study."

They then spread their handkerchiefs on a mound of earth, so as

to make a table, and began examining the gems.

"Does it not seem to you," asked Ayrault, a few minutes later,

addressing his companions, "as though we were not alone? I have

thought many times there was some one--or perhaps several

persons--here besides ourselves."

"The same idea has occurred to me," replied Cortlandt. "I was

convinced, a moment ago, that a shadow crossed the page on which

I was taking notes. Can it be there are objects about us we

cannot see? We know there are vibrations of both light and sound

that do not affect our senses. I wish we had brought the

magnetic eye; perchance that might tell us."

"Anything sufficiently dense to cast a shadow," said Ayrault,

"should be seen, since it would also be able to make an image on

our retinas. I believe any impressions we are receiving are

produced through our minds, as if some one were thinking very

intently about us, and that neither the magnetic eye nor a

sensitive plate could reveal anything."

They then returned to the study of the isinglass, which they were

able to split into extremely thin sheets. Suddenly a cloud

passed over the table, and almost immediately disappeared, and

then a sharpened pencil with which Ayrault had been writing began

to trace on a sheet of paper, in an even hand, and with a slight

frictional sound.

"Stop!" said Bearwarden; "let us each for himself describe in

writing what he has seen."

In a moment they had done this, and then compared notes. In each

case the vision was the same. Then they looked at the writing

made by the invisible hand. "Absorpta est mors in Victoria," it

ran.

"Gentlemen, began Bearwarden, as if addressing a meeting, "this

cannot be coincidence; we are undoubtedly and unquestionably in

the presence of a spirit or of several spirits. That they

understand Latin, we see; and, from what they say, they may have

known death. Time may show whether they have been terrestrials

like ourselves. Though the conditions of life here might make us

delirious, it is scarcely possible that different temperaments

like ours should be affected in so precisely the same way;

besides, in this writing we have tangible proof."

"It is perfectly reasonable," said Ayrault, "to conclude it was a

spirit, if we may assume that spirits have the power to move the

pencil, which is a material object. Nobody doubts nowadays that

after death we live again; that being the case, we must admit

that we live somewhere. Space, as I take it, can be no obstacle

to a spirit; therefore, why suppose they remain on earth?"

"This is a wonderful place," said Cortlandt. "We have already

seen enough to convince us of the existence of many unknown laws.

I wish the spirit would reveal itself in some other way."

As he finished speaking, the rays of the distant and cold-looking

sun were split, and the colours of the spectrum danced upon the

linen cloth, as if obtained by a prism. In astonishment, they

rose and looked closely at the table, when suddenly a shadow that

no one recognized as his own appeared upon the cover. Tracing it

to its source, their eyes met those of an old man with a white

robe and beard and a look of great intelligence on his calm face.

They knew he had not been in the little grove thirty seconds

before, and as this was surrounded by open country there was no

place from which he could have come.