springs, the four plugs, the water-cushions, and the partition-breaks?
Had they been able to subdue the frightful pressure of the initiatory
speed of more than 11,000 yards, which was enough to traverse Paris
or New York in a second? This was evidently the question suggested
to the thousand spectators of this moving scene. They forgot the
aim of the journey, and thought only of the travelers. And if
one of them– Joseph T. Maston for example– could have cast one
glimpse into the projectile, what would he have seen?
Nothing then. The darkness was profound. But its cylindro-
conical partitions had resisted wonderfully. Not a rent or a
dent anywhere! The wonderful projectile was not even heated
under the intense deflagration of the powder, nor liquefied,
as they seemed to fear, in a shower of aluminum.
The interior showed but little disorder; indeed, only a few
objects had been violently thrown toward the roof; but the most
important seemed not to have suffered from the shock at all;
their fixtures were intact.
On the movable disc, sunk down to the bottom by the smashing of
the partition-breaks and the escape of the water, three bodies
lay apparently lifeless. Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan–
did they still breathe? or was the projectile nothing now but a
metal coffin, bearing three corpses into space?
Some minutes after the departure of the projectile, one of
the bodies moved, shook its arms, lifted its head, and finally
succeeded in getting on its knees. It was Michel Ardan. He felt
himself all over, gave a sonorous “Hem!” and then said:
“Michel Ardan is whole. How about the others?”
The courageous Frenchman tried to rise, but could not stand.
His head swam, from the rush of blood; he was blind; he was a
drunken man.
“Bur-r!” said he. “It produces the same effect as two bottles
of Corton, though perhaps less agreeable to swallow.”
Then, passing his hand several times across his forehead and
rubbing his temples, he called in a firm voice:
“Nicholl! Barbicane!”
He waited anxiously. No answer; not even a sigh to show that
the hearts of his companions were still beating. He called again.
The same silence.
“The devil!” he exclaimed. “They look as if they had fallen
from a fifth story on their heads. Bah!” he added, with that
imperturbable confidence which nothing could check, “if a
Frenchman can get on his knees, two Americans ought to be able
to get on their feet. But first let us light up.”
Ardan felt the tide of life return by degrees. His blood became
calm, and returned to its accustomed circulation. Another effort
restored his equilibrium. He succeeded in rising, drew a match
from his pocket, and approaching the burner lighted it.
The receiver had not suffered at all. The gas had not escaped.
Besides, the smell would have betrayed it; and in that case
Michel Ardan could not have carried a lighted match with
impunity through the space filled with hydrogen. The gas mixing
with the air would have produced a detonating mixture, and the
explosion would have finished what the shock had perhaps begun.
When the burner was lit, Ardan leaned over the bodies of his
companions: they were lying one on the other, an inert mass,
Nicholl above, Barbicane underneath.
Ardan lifted the captain, propped him up against the divan, and
began to rub vigorously. This means, used with judgment,
restored Nicholl, who opened his eyes, and instantly recovering
his presence of mind, seized Ardan’s hand and looked around him.
“And Barbicane?” said he.
“Each in turn,” replied Michel Ardan. “I began with you,
Nicholl, because you were on the top. Now let us look
to Barbicane.” Saying which, Ardan and Nicholl raised the
president of the Gun Club and laid him on the divan. He seemed
to have suffered more than either of his companions; he was
bleeding, but Nicholl was reassured by finding that the
hemorrhage came from a slight wound on the shoulder, a mere
graze, which he bound up carefully.
Still, Barbicane was a long time coming to himself, which
frightened his friends, who did not spare friction.
“He breathes though,” said Nicholl, putting his ear to the chest