[Illustration:
WHITE PIGEONS HERALDED THE APPROACH OF VENUS
(p. 164)
]
ON A LARK TO THE PLANETS
_A SEQUEL TO_
“_The Wonderful Electric Elephant_”
_BY_
FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY
_Author of_
“Billy Whiskers” “Billy Whiskers’ Kids” “Billy Whiskers, Jr.” Etc.
_Illustrated by WINIFRED D. ELROD_
AKRON, OHIO
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.
NEW YORK _1904_ CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1904,
By THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
MADE BY
THE WERNER COMPANY
AKRON, OHIO
LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO
JULIET MARIE BREITUNG
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
White pigeons heralded the approach of Venus, _Frontispiece_
They found them enclosed in little jeweled acorns, 26
Coming toward them were two beautiful beings, 50
The giant raised his sword, 76
They reminded one of the alchemists of old, 100
They were soon gliding through canal after canal, 126
All the choruses are heavenly and harmonious, 150
CHAPTER I.
Nearer and nearer toward strange and unexplored regions, higher and
higher sailed the Wonderful Elephant, borne along by the great silken
balloon. Harold and Ione, the Prince and the little Princess slept
peacefully.
It was midnight by the hands of the clock, but the boundless aerial
space through which they sped was lighted by myriads upon myriads of
twinkling stars. On and still on through diamond-specked space the
Elephant floated safely. Above, below, to right, to left, and round
about in all directions, flashing, glittering globes of light were to be
seen and of such dazzling hues and colors as had never been dreamed of
by earth-bound mortals. The planet Neptune was wrapped in a bluish-green
vapor; Uranus seemed a blinding white; Saturn emitted a yellow light;
Jupiter shone like a glorious, crimson jewel; Mars blazed forth fiery
red beams, while Mercury seemed bathed in a metallic green color.
Our young travelers had watched these silent orbs until from sheer
exhaustion they had fallen asleep. Suddenly, with a quick jerk, the
balloon came to a dead halt.
“Mercy, what can be the matter!” said Ione, springing up. “Do you
suppose that the balloon can’t carry us any higher?”
“I am sure I don’t know,” answered Harold, only half awake, “still it
can’t be that, for the old man said he had visited Mars and several
other planets. Something must be out of order, however. Wait until I
look in his book of directions and find what ought to be done.”
While Harold consulted the book, they all waited in great suspense, for
what would become of them all should the balloon fail to carry them on?
Their anxiety was soon set at rest, however, for this is what Harold
found in the book:
“The atmosphere extends some forty miles above the earth, then an
imaginary line is reached beyond which the forces of the earth cease to
act; while the Sun, by its great power of attraction, draws everything
toward it with irresistible force. If you wish to cross this line and
pass upward, use extra pressure and inflate the balloon to its utmost
capacity. It will then carry you across and you will find that you are
attracted toward the Sun, as before you were attracted toward the earth.
Steer for any planet which you wish to visit and you can safely land
upon it.”
When Harold stopped reading there was dead silence for a few minutes,
then he said, “Prince, will you kindly press that electric button at
your right? We can then watch the balloon inflate and carry us over the
line.”
Slowly but surely, with much creaking and crackling of the silken cover,
the balloon became fully inflated, while the little Princess with
strained, frightened eyes watched through one of the peep-holes, in
mortal terror lest at each creak it might burst and they be hurled to
the earth.
No such thing happened, but instead, the balloon gave a sudden bound and
commenced rising at an alarming rate of speed; in fact, so fast were
they approaching the Moon that they feared they would dash against one
of its mountain tops. Harold found on consulting their time-indicator
that they were traveling at a rate of speed equal to that of a ray of
light, which is one hundred and sixty thousand miles per second. And it
takes light moving at that rate of speed eight minutes and seven seconds
to reach the earth.
“Look, every one look!” cried Ione. “What is that glistening, sparkling
light that seems to ripple and flow like a stream of water?”
“It is the Milky Way,” said Harold. “From the earth it looks like
millions upon billions of stars sweeping a pathway through the heavens,
but now that we are nearer, it seems like one continuous stream of
silver fire.”
“Isn’t it perfectly beautiful?” exclaimed the girls in chorus.
Looming up before them was what appeared to be a large red island that
floated in the heavens as a pond lily floats upon the surface of water.
It seemed to get its color, not from anything red upon the island
itself, but from red rays of light that fell directly upon it from the
planet Mars.
Far in the distance floated other cloud-islands, each bathed in a color
corresponding to the hue of the planet from which the rays came. They
afterward found that these islands accompanied the different planets in
their orbits much as our Moon does the earth. From the earth they have
the appearance of stars, not islands.
Look in what direction one would, countless flashing rainbow islands
could be seen whirling and twirling in fantastic manner like giant
spinning wheels, forming geometric figures of every conceivable design
as they sped on their way, while through them all, in imposing, majestic
lines swept the planets.
“What do you say to our first visiting the island of Mercury, that being
the one nearest the sun, and then taking the others in order?” said
Harold.
They all agreed to this plan.
“Now, I am going to state a few astronomical facts, dull as you may find
them, for they are things you all should know, and I think the girls
have little conception of the millions of miles distant these planets
are, or of their size and the time it takes for light from them to reach
us.
“Now, just out of curiosity I am going to ask you how large you think
these planets are which you look at every night, and how far away they
seem. I advise you to begin your guessing about Venus, as it is best
seen from here.”
“Well, let me see,” said Ione; “Venus looks to be about the size of a
cheese, but, of course, I know that in reality it is almost as large as
the earth.”
“Now, princess, what do you say?”
“It looks to me to be about the size of a barrel-head and that it is
twice as large as the earth.”
“You are both wrong, and to show you how much you are in error, here are
a few figures. Mercury is thirty-six million miles distant from the sun
and it takes eighty-eight days to make one revolution in its orbit round
the sun, consequently its year is only eighty-eight days, instead of
three hundred, sixty-five and one quarter days as ours is. Wouldn’t you
like to live where the years were that long? Then you could have four
Christmas Days where now you have but one,” said Harold.
“Mercury,” he continued, “has the shortest year of all of the planets
and Neptune the longest, its year being sixty thousand, one hundred and
twenty-six days in length. Just think, if you lived upon Neptune you
would have a Christmas once in about nineteen years reckoned by our
time. The length of year varies with the other planets—but enough of
statistics. I know they are uninteresting to girls. How would it please
you to hurry on to Mercury’s Satellite Island to see what it looks like
and if it is inhabited?”
“I am sure it is inhabited,” said the Prince, who was looking through
the telescope, “for I can see tall figures moving along its shore.”
Faster and faster sailed the balloon, dragging the Elephant after it
until they were within a minute’s distance from the island. Bathed in
beautiful clear, greenish-white atmosphere, hundreds of people were
standing on the beach of the island, which is swept by mighty currents
of air even as our sea shores are swept by the tides, and were watching
the approach of the queer-shaped, clumsy object from an unknown world. A
little jolt and the Elephant’s feet touched the shore.