A Journey in Other Worlds [34]
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
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