A Journey in Other Worlds [83]
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
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