it shows objects on its surface of only nine feet in diameter.
Very well; let our industrious friends construct a giant
alphabet; let them write words three fathoms long, and sentences
three miles long, and then they can send us news of themselves.”
The young midshipman, who had a certain amount of imagination,
was loudly applauded; Lieutenant Bronsfield allowing that the
idea was possible, but observing that if by these means they
could receive news from the lunar world they could not send any
from the terrestrial, unless the Selenites had instruments fit
for taking distant observations at their disposal.
“Evidently,” said one of the officers; “but what has become of
the travelers? what they have done, what they have seen, that
above all must interest us. Besides, if the experiment has
succeeded (which I do not doubt), they will try it again.
The Columbiad is still sunk in the soil of Florida. It is now
only a question of powder and shot; and every time the moon is
at her zenith a cargo of visitors may be sent to her.”
“It is clear,” replied Lieutenant Bronsfield, “that J. T. Maston
will one day join his friends.”
“If he will have me,” cried the midshipman, “I am ready!”
“Oh! volunteers will not be wanting,” answered Bronsfield; “and
if it were allowed, half of the earth’s inhabitants would
emigrate to the moon!”
This conversation between the officers of the Susquehanna was
kept up until nearly one in the morning. We cannot say what
blundering systems were broached, what inconsistent theories
advanced by these bold spirits. Since Barbicane’s attempt,
nothing seemed impossible to the Americans. They had already
designed an expedition, not only of savants, but of a whole
colony toward the Selenite borders, and a complete army,
consisting of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, to conquer the
lunar world.
At one in the morning, the hauling in of the sounding-line was
not yet completed; 1,670 fathoms were still out, which would
entail some hours’ work. According to the commander’s orders,
the fires had been lighted, and steam was being got up.
The Susquehanna could have started that very instant.
At that moment (it was seventeen minutes past one in the
morning) Lieutenant Bronsfield was preparing to leave the watch
and return to his cabin, when his attention was attracted by a
distant hissing noise. His comrades and himself first thought
that this hissing was caused by the letting off of steam; but
lifting their heads, they found that the noise was produced in
the highest regions of the air. They had not time to question
each other before the hissing became frightfully intense, and
suddenly there appeared to their dazzled eyes an enormous
meteor, ignited by the rapidity of its course and its friction
through the atmospheric strata.
This fiery mass grew larger to their eyes, and fell, with
the noise of thunder, upon the bowsprit, which it smashed close
to the stem, and buried itself in the waves with a deafening roar!
A few feet nearer, and the Susquehanna would have foundered with
all on board!
At this instant Captain Blomsberry appeared, half-dressed, and
rushing on to the forecastle-deck, whither all the officers had
hurried, exclaimed, “With your permission, gentlemen, what
has happened?”
And the midshipman, making himself as it were the echo of the
body, cried, “Commander, it is `they’ come back again!”
CHAPTER XXI
J. T. MASTON RECALLED
“It is `they’ come back again!” the young midshipman had said,
and every one had understood him. No one doubted but that the
meteor was the projectile of the Gun Club. As to the travelers
which it enclosed, opinions were divided regarding their fate.
“They are dead!” said one.
“They are alive!” said another; “the crater is deep, and the
shock was deadened.”
“But they must have wanted air,” continued a third speaker;
“they must have died of suffocation.”
“Burned!” replied a fourth; “the projectile was nothing but an
incandescent mass as it crossed the atmosphere.”
“What does it matter!” they exclaimed unanimously; “living or
dead, we must pull them out!”
But Captain Blomsberry had assembled his officers, and “with
their permission,” was holding a council. They must decide upon
something to be done immediately. The more hasty ones were for