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 ACROSS THE ZODIAC 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Dul<e University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/acrosszodiacstorOOpall 
 
'SUDDENLY, Willi A TKARINC SOUND, TlIK CAR I'AK lEU 
 
 KKOM ITS KASrK.NIN(.;S ■ F)VHtisf>if,t' 
 
ACROSS THE ZODIAC 
 
 H Stoi? of abventuve 
 
 BV 
 
 EDWIN PALLANDER 
 
 WITH A FROXTISl'IECE 
 
 X n ^ n 
 
 DIGBY, LONG & CO, PUBLISHERS 
 1 8 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. A Novel Species of Star, . 
 
 II. ' V/E ViCTIS !' 
 
 III. Into the Desert, . 
 
 IV. Across the Vatna Jokui.l, 
 V. 'Dura Ctravitas,' 
 
 VI. Some Explanations, 
 VII. A Few Days on the Moon, 
 
 VIII. A Buried Nation, 
 
 IX. Comets and Meteors, . 
 
 X. A Lonely World, . 
 
 XI. The Mist of Life, 
 
 XII. The Ringed World, . 
 
 XIII. Across the Dark Sea, 
 
 Xl\'. The Girdle of Fire, . 
 vii 
 
 17 
 23 
 33 
 48 
 60 
 74 
 86 
 
 99 
 "3 
 
 127 
 
 138 
 157 
 168 
 
VIU 
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XV. A Strange Burial, 
 
 XVI. In Tow of a Comet, . 
 XVII. Some Revelations, 
 XVIII. A Mutiny and Its End, 
 XIX. Want of Air,. 
 XX. The Flower Kingdom, 
 XXI. Imprisonment and — . 
 
 XXII. A Fall of Ten Million Miles, 
 
 XXIII. The Last of Captain Chlamyl. 
 
 XXIV. Between Dawn and Sunset, 
 XXV. Conclusion, 
 
 PAGE 
 191 
 
 209 
 
 219 
 
 249 
 271 
 
 278 
 288 
 
 296 
 
 304 
 
ACROSS THE ZODIAC 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A NOVEL SPECIES OF STAR 
 
 The year 1 88 — was in many ways noteworthy to 
 astronomers. 
 
 Not to make mention of Schiaparelli's indefatig- 
 able researches on the surface geography and 
 physical conditions of the earth's sister-planet 
 Mars, which resulted in the publication of those 
 fine charts destined to immortalise the Italian 
 observer's name — not to speak of the learned 
 labours of Secchi, and the ponderous volumes of 
 printed matter which Monsieur Flammarion con- 
 ferred as a heritage on our volatile next-door 
 neighbours — not to dwell on the invaluable boon 
 conferred on the noble science by the works of 
 Sir Robert Ball on the sun, by the discoveries of 
 Palisa among the minor planets, or by Struve's 
 sage calculations concerning the nature of Saturn's 
 mysterious rings — setting all these valuable offer- 
 ings at the shrine of Urania aside for a moment, 
 there was one topic which far outweighed the rest, 
 one all absorbing question which deeply agitated 
 the minds of learned and unlearned, of credulous 
 amateurs and sceptical professors. 
 
 The details concerning the mysterious and 
 puzzling apparition which seemed to defy both 
 
 A 
 
2 Across the Zodiac 
 
 telescopes and transit circles, before which the 
 spectroscope was impotent and the theories of 
 Newton, Laplace, Galileo, Kant, Kepler, Arago, 
 bald and unconvincing, appeared simultaneously 
 in the scientific and commercial periodicals of both 
 hemispheres. In fact, a lucky chance favoured 
 astronomers both in France and America. New 
 York, Washington and Paris had been blessed 
 with cloudless skies for some weeks past. The 
 month was June — an awkward month for accurate 
 observations, owing to the disturbing influence of 
 the heated summer atmosphere, but certainly 
 propitious as far as absence of cloud was con- 
 cerned. The heavens were unveiled to the curious 
 eyes of French and American savants, and a score 
 of giant equatorials eagerly scanned the dark abyss 
 in hopes of wresting from Nature some more of 
 those jewelled secrets which she guards so jealously 
 in her casket. On the night of the 15th, one of 
 the humbler luminaries of the Observatoire Nationate 
 was engaged in making some observations on the 
 occultation of stars behind the moon, when his 
 attention was drawn to a new object which had 
 entered the field of the telescope, and was de- 
 liberately travelling across the silver disc of the 
 earth's satellite in a direction, as far as the observer 
 could judge during his first painful five-minute 
 scrutiny, nearly parallel to the plane of the 
 ecliptic. 
 
 A long, narrow body, cylindrical in shape and 
 opaque in texture, was hovering between the twin 
 peaks of the Hersynian Mountains, proceeding 
 gradually across the moon's surface in the direction 
 of Mount Euler. 
 
 The astronomer rubbed his eyes and called an 
 assistant. An examination of the outer lenses 
 showed that the apparition was due to no dust 
 no the surface of the glasses. No insect could 
 
A Novel Species of Star 3 
 
 possibly have got into the instrument, nor would 
 any insect, of known species, crawl with such 
 accurate and methodical regularity. The oblong 
 shape of the disturbing visitor utterly precluded 
 the possibility of its being a satellite of any sort, 
 kind or description. 
 
 Celestial bodies are, in fact, always spherical. 
 The rotating movement to which they are subjected 
 assures obedience to this natural law. Slight 
 differences of diameter between the poles and the 
 equator, occasioned by centrifugal force, are all 
 that can be counted upon. Decidedly, the theory 
 of a new and undiscovered celestial body was 
 untenable. 
 
 What was it then ? A freak of optics ? a trail of 
 vapour? the debris of a vanished aerolite ? 
 
 This last hypothesis seemed the most reasonable 
 of the lot. Vagrant comets traversing space are as 
 liable to accidents of this kind as express trains. 
 A thousand influences may be at work to produce 
 a breaking up of their constituent parts. Heat, 
 cold, an explosion of mephitic gases, the counter- 
 attraction, of two wandering stars, the shock 
 occasioned by the chance re?icontre with a sister 
 aerolite. All these things may tend to the dis- 
 memberment of the solid shell. 
 
 To calculate the elements, the density, atomic 
 weight and specific gravity of this body would be 
 a lengthy and delicate operation. The eye-piece 
 of the great equatorial was for an hour monopolised 
 by a crowd of excited, gesticulating savants, pro- 
 pounding questions, offering theories, contradicting 
 each other and being in their turn contradicted. 
 
 Here the ruling head of the observatory stepped 
 in. A lynx-eyed old mathematician in a frieze 
 coat, a battered felt hat and voluminous neck-tie. 
 
 At his suggestion the place was cleared and 
 some observations were taken. 
 
4 Across the Zodiac 
 
 The body was evidently a large one. Seen 
 through the twenty-six inch equatorial, its length 
 equalled, or seemed to equal, the diameter of the 
 crater of Tycho. This, if it were travelling actually 
 across the surface of the moon, would give it a 
 length of eighty-seven kilometres or so. 
 
 On the other hand, it might be merely floating 
 in the terrestrial atmosphere — a disenchanting fact 
 which might bring its length down to a paltry 
 hundred feet, or even less. 
 
 This theory, fortunately for the dignity of the 
 apparition, was instantly rejected. The force of 
 gravitation on the earth and for two hundred miles 
 round it, is such that no body can keep up its 
 position as satellite unless it moves with a speed 
 of at least several hundred yards a second. Now, 
 such a speed would, if the strange body were really 
 only circling at such a moderate distance, cause it 
 to traverse the entire lunar disc in a few minutes, 
 or less. During an hour's careful watching, the 
 long black line was noted to have moved regularly 
 across the landscape, from the peaks of Mount 
 Hersynian to a position some hundred and fifty 
 miles south of Mount Aristarchus. Would it 
 continue its even journey, or swerve off in a 
 curve across the lunar Carpathians or across the 
 Sea of Rain ? No. It held steadily on its course, 
 and defied all attempts to convict it of any irregu- 
 larity. 
 
 Modern astronomers are hardly the people to 
 allow grass to grow under their feet, and important 
 discoveries rarely remain secret even for a few 
 hours. 
 
 A telephone connected the Paris Observatory 
 with the observatories of Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, 
 Berlin and Kiev, and the news spread like wildfire. 
 A message despatched to Greenwich resulted in 
 disappointment. England, on whose territory the 
 
A Novel Species of Star 5 
 
 sun is never supposed to set, and in whose capital 
 city the orb of day hardly ever rises, was enveloped 
 in a bank of damp, drizzling cloud, which allowed 
 not even the faintest vestige of a moon to be seen. 
 Greenwich would clearly for once in a way not 
 mingle its voice in the matter. 
 
 But if England was ' out of it,' America was not. 
 
 Within two hours of the first appearance of the 
 strange phenomenon, a telegram was received from 
 Washington, apprising the director of the French 
 Observatory that he was not the only mterested 
 party. Owing to the difference in longitude, 
 Washington being some five hours behind Paris in 
 time, the moon's new satellite would, weather per- 
 mitting, be at the disposition of the worthy Yankee 
 star-gazers long after it had been chased out of 
 existence for the Europeans by the rising sun. 
 After all, what was to prevent the phenomenon 
 being followed systematically through the tele- 
 scopes of a hundred observatories? Nothmg— 
 if only the moon was visible. 
 
 Communication was therefore immediately 
 opened with San Francisco, Pekin, Calcutta, 
 Bombay, Constantinople, Cairo and Algiers. A 
 thousand observers would set to work, and it must 
 be a remarkably smart aerolite to slip through 
 
 their fingers. 
 
 Towards 2 a.m. a new development presented 
 itself to the Parisian savants. The long, black 
 object, which was then about to cross the lunar 
 Apennines, had increased in size. 
 
 The learned Monsieur M , who was officiat- 
 ing at the eye-piece of the vast equatorial, at first 
 refused to believe his eyes. By means of an 
 ingeniously - designed photographic apparatus a 
 ne'^ative was taken and compared with a similar 
 on?, obtained at the first appearance of the strange 
 satellite. Doubt was no longer possible. Ihe 
 
6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 size of the object had increased by one-fourth 
 during the last three hours. 
 
 This immediately toppled over the idea of its 
 being a satellite of either the moon or the earth. 
 It must be a meteorite, and a meteorite of con- 
 siderable size. Nor was that all. It was directing 
 its course towards the earth, and would probably 
 fall on its surface within twenty-four hours. Such 
 occurrences are frequent in all parts of the globe, 
 and rarely formidable. 
 
 The dense layer of atmosphere surrounding our 
 planet is, thanks to the resistance it offers to any 
 penetrating body, an effectual safeguard against 
 meteors, stray comets, aerolites and star - dust 
 generally. The enormous rates of speed with 
 which celestial bodies of all kinds travel are well 
 known — speeds so high as to entirely preclude the 
 possibility of their penetrating the atmospheric 
 couch to any depth. The friction they undergo 
 while passing through the outer layers is sufficient, 
 in most cases, to melt them instantaneously, and a 
 rain of shooting stars is all that remains of the 
 audacious wanderer. The learned Frenchmen 
 shrugged their shoulders. Some quiet hamlet in 
 Italy or Switzerland would have a display of fire- 
 works gratis — that was all. 
 
 Next morning the daily papers announced a 
 brilliant shower of meteorites near Ravenna, the 
 observations taken in Paris and New York were 
 compared ; ' it's all over — the fuss was for nothing,' 
 was the general opinion. 
 
 One man, however, chose to differ. This was 
 the head astronomer of the United States Observ- 
 atory at Washington. He certainly had sense 
 enough to keep his opinion to himself, but still — 
 cylindrical meteorites closely resembling a torpedo 
 boat in shape are not seen floating across the 
 moon's disc every day. The worthy man collected 
 
A Novel Species of Star 7 
 
 his papers, his photographs, his chronometrical 
 data, shut them securely up in his bureau, and 
 waited. 
 
 For some months all went on serenely, and the 
 solar system reposed, figuratively speaking, in calm 
 and regular tranquillity. Then an incident hap- 
 pened which once more made the pulses of star- 
 gazers beat in double-quick time. 
 
 This incident was none other than a second ap- 
 pearance of the mysterious aerolite, which crossed 
 unceremoniously the field of an English telescope 
 on the night of the seventeenth of August between 
 the hours of 10 and 1 1 p.m. 
 
 Nor was this all. 
 
 The extraordinary apparition did not, as on the 
 occasion of its first appearance, merely content 
 itself with floating peacefully through the dark 
 void of night. It shone, it threw out beams of 
 light, leaving a long luminous trail in its wake, 
 like the trail of a high-speed comet. 
 
 Suddenly, while the observer was attentively 
 following its movements, the beam of light was 
 observed to shift its position in a most erratic 
 manner. It wavered, first up, then down, then 
 disappeared altogether for some time. At the 
 end of half-an-hour it again became visible. This 
 time it was the light only, minus the luminous 
 tail. It mounted steadily up through the dark 
 ocean of space, and at length disappeared entirely 
 at a point almost vertically above the head of the 
 observer. Clearly it was no meteor. Meteors do 
 not habitually flee the earth, they are attracted by 
 it. What it resembled most of all was a rocket — 
 but what manner of rocket ! 
 
 The skill of modern pyrotechnists is well known, 
 but what master of the science would undertake to 
 construct such an aerial prodigy? The duration 
 
B Across the Zodiac 
 
 of an ordinary rocket's flight is from ten to thirty 
 seconds. This one had flaunted its magnificence 
 during at least half-an-hour. Besides, how about 
 the shifting beam of Hght ? Rockets do not change 
 the position and angle of their tail at a moment's 
 notice, nor, indeed, do they continue to ascend 
 vertically after their trail of sparks ceases to glow. 
 
 It was a meteorite, evidently, and a meteorite of 
 the most unaccountable peculiarities. 
 
 The American astronomers were telegraphed to. 
 They had seen nothing — nor indeed was it likely 
 that they could have seen anything. A star pass- 
 ing within a paltry few thousand miles of Greenwich 
 would be wholly invisible to the Columbians, and 
 the Greenwich observers had concluded, from the 
 speed and behaviour of the stranger, that it could 
 not have been navigating the heavens at a very 
 much greater distance. 
 
 The details of this were given to the public, 
 of course, in the columns of those journalistic 
 colossi, the Standard, the Daily Telegraph and the 
 Illustrated London News. It is marvellous how 
 indifferent the average Englishman is to the 
 prodigies which Nature performs around him in 
 the solar system. Within a week of the occur- 
 rence the whole affair was forgotten, and the very 
 astronomer who had sighted the phenomenon was 
 ready to give the lie to his own senses and declare 
 himself the victim of a hallucination. 
 
 All these things I remember now clearly enough, 
 though at the time I was too absorbed in other 
 matters to give much heed to them. In fact, I had 
 just been elected member of an expedition for ex- 
 ploring the unknown sources of the Brahmapootra 
 and the northern slopes of the Himalaya Moun- 
 tains. My book on Iceland and my two volumes 
 of published matter respecting the recent eruption 
 of Krakatoa had secured this honour for me. 
 
A A^ovel Species of Star 9 
 
 Yes, the 'distinguished young explorer and geolo- 
 gist, Henry Ralphcourt, Esq., F.R.S., A.S.T.E., etc' 
 had consented to confer his aid in the important 
 matter of surveying the mysterious source of the 
 great sister of the Ganges, and in the still more im- 
 portant matter (as far as the safety of the expedition 
 was concerned) of doctoring the Tibetan Lamas into 
 something approaching amiability. Expeditions in 
 Tibet were usually reputed to end in only two ways. 
 Either the explorers were unceremoniously driven 
 out of the country backwards, or else they were 
 equally unceremoniously massacred. The attempt 
 was now to be made on a somewhat larger scale 
 than heretofore — nearly a hundred persons being 
 deputed to take part in it, out of which sixty were 
 well-seasoned natives armed with quick-firing rifles 
 and cutlasses, besides the usual armament of Bibles 
 and cheap liberty silks — emblems of a great and 
 humane civilisation, where Mahatmas were synony- 
 mous for impostors, and the star of polyandry had 
 not yet risen. 
 
 ' You see, professor,' explained my worthy friend 
 Hatton, whose fame had been assured since his 
 recent return from South Africa in company with 
 two baboons, a lion-cub and an interesting collection 
 of Orange River molluscs. 'You see it's just as 
 well to be on the safe side. If the Bibles don't 
 fetch 'em, I guess that will' 
 
 That was a sleek, shining nickel-plated cannon, 
 of the kind patented by the ingenious Mr Maxim, 
 and warranted to discharge several hundred shots 
 a minute at least — if I remember rightly. 
 
 Ned Hatton patted the shining muzzle of the 
 instrument affectionately with his horny hand, as a 
 man might pat the shoulder of a friend to whose 
 prowess he expected to owe his life in the near 
 future. 
 
 Let me endeavour to describe Ned Hatton. A 
 
lo Ac7^oss the Zodiac 
 
 tall, magnificently bony specimen of humanity, with 
 a complexion slightly sallowed by exposure to 
 tropical suns, and piercing, deep-set eyes, which 
 gave a certain expression of genius, an expression 
 which was the making of him, from an artistic 
 point of view, and served to convert him from a 
 lanky, decidedly ugly son of brother Jonathan 
 into what the P>ench call, not incorrectly, a beau 
 laid. Ned had been, as is usual with most suc- 
 cessful explorers, thrown upon the world to shift 
 for himself at a very early age. He had been suc- 
 cessively, miner, gold-digger, cattle-rancher. South- 
 sea trader, Australian sheep-farmer, and instructor 
 in matters connected with general education to the 
 eldest son of the King of Siam. 
 
 ' The profitablest job I ever had in my life,' Ned 
 used to remark. Then, by way of explanation, 
 * You see, you could swipe such a lot' 
 
 This last was 2. petite dose of brag, for although 
 the King of Siam was famed for the negligent 
 way in which he was wont to leave jewelled sabres, 
 pearl necklaces, golden spittoons, etc., lying around 
 ' kinder promiscuous,' although guards were scarce 
 in the royal palace and policemen unknown, Ned 
 Hatton was the soul of honesty, and precious gems, 
 even when left by the wayside, had no attraction 
 for him. In addition to these virtues, he was 
 singularly courteous, and invariably addressed me 
 respectfully as ' professor ' (my services as lecturer 
 on geology and palaeontology at the University of 
 Cambridge had secured honourable possession of 
 the title for me some years before) — he had seen too 
 much during his life not to know the value of 
 learning and was always inclined to rather over- 
 estimate the worth of a savant than otherwise. 
 This last peculiarity, it must be confessed, was the 
 jewel in Ned's crown, for men of great and purely 
 practical experience are as a rule given to sneering 
 
A Novel Species of Star 1 1 
 
 at theoretical scientists, whom they are somewhat 
 too prone to regard as visionary dreamers. Ex- 
 ceptions prove the rule. Ned Hatton was certainly 
 a very strong exception. 
 
 Our departure for India had been fixed. We 
 were to weigh anchor on the fifteenth of September. 
 It was now nearly a month since anything had been 
 heard of the curious astronomical phenomenon 
 which had puzzled people in June and August. 
 The question seemed buried for good, when, on 
 a certain dark night, either the tenth or eleventh 
 of the month, I am not sure which, an incident 
 happened which served to bring it forward once 
 more. Instead of being a merely telescopic 
 curiosity, however, the phenomenon assumed 
 seriously alarming proportions. From an in- 
 offensive speck of black, gliding noiselessly 
 across the vault of heaven, it became a rush- 
 ing, roaring cometary demon, large enough and 
 noisy enough to frighten half-a-dozen superstitious 
 French villages out of their wits, and set a 
 hundred newspapers into unscientific and un- 
 systematic activity. 
 
 On the evening when the prodigy occurred, the 
 steam yawl, Fleur de Lys, was proceeding leisurely 
 along the coast of Brittany, some ten miles west 
 of St Malo. The sea was enveloped in a thick 
 mantle of fog, a fact that rendered it necessary to 
 proceed at half speed, sounding the whistle loudly 
 at intervals of thirty seconds or so. At ten o'clock, 
 the new moon slightly whitened the mist with its 
 rays. The Fleur de Lys seemed to be floating in 
 a cloud of dense and luminous vapour. 
 
 Suddenly a clamour arose. The engine bells 
 clanged furiously, and the triple - bladed screw 
 churned the water astern into a lurid patch of 
 snowy foam. Through the fog ahead loomed a 
 gigantic shadow, rendered still more gigantic and 
 
1 2 Across the Zodiac 
 
 awe-inspiring by the weird light of the veiled 
 moon. 
 
 The efforts of the machinery being insufficient 
 to stop her, the Fleiir de Lys crashed unceremoni- 
 ously into the side of the ominous-looking stranger, 
 snapping her bowsprit off sharply, and considerably 
 damaging her prow and figure-head. The injuries 
 not being sufficiently grave to retard her progress, 
 the Fleur de Lys reached St Malo at midnight, 
 and the news of her rencontre spread like wildfire 
 through the quiet town. 
 
 What was the vessel ? 
 
 The captain of the Fleur de Lys could not say. 
 She was unlike anything he had ever seen, and 
 had appeared to him to be made of frosted silver. 
 She had made no sign, either by bell or whistle. 
 There seemed to be no life stirring on board of 
 her, no lights, no watch, no helmsman. 
 
 Had the Fleur de Lys damaged her? 
 
 That was hardly likely. From the way in which 
 the yawl rebounded after the shock, it looked as 
 though she had struck a hard, impenetrable body 
 of solid armour-plate, rather than a yielding wall 
 of planks. 
 
 What was her length ? 
 
 It was impossible to guess at her length, even 
 remotely. The Fleur de Lys had drifted away 
 almost immediately, and the stranger ship was 
 lost in the fog before she could be attentively 
 scrutinised. 
 
 The affair was not sufficiently remarkble, how- 
 ever, to prevent the honest maritime population 
 of St Malo from sleeping soundly. Within two 
 or three hours of his landing, even the captain 
 of the damaged Fleur de Lys was snoring loudly 
 beneath his voluminous feather bed. 
 
 Towards four in the morning everyone awoke 
 with a start. The cloaked and hooded watchmen, 
 
A Novel Species of Star 1 3 
 
 silently pacing the streets, paused to cross them- 
 selves devoutly ; the sailors in the harbour sprang 
 to their feet, then fell on their knees, quaking with 
 superstitious fear. 
 
 Across the dark sky, slightly yellowed in the 
 east by the bars of approaching sunrise, a huge 
 shadow, black and terrible, was dashing with a 
 roar like muffled thunder. A fiery tail, some miles 
 in length apparently, swept along the sky in the 
 track of the monster, now striking the clouds, now 
 falling on the sea, wavering hither and thither like 
 a gigantic arm of fire in act of striking. 
 
 The prodigy did not last long. The speed of 
 the monster was such that within a minute of its 
 startling appearance it had disappeared among 
 the southern clouds, its fiery tail being visible 
 for some minutes later. 
 
 St Malo was not the only town favoured by this 
 supernatural sight. In case there might have been 
 any doubt as to the authenticity of the flying 
 demon, news was received and accounts of the 
 phenomenon collected from the towns of Rcnnes, 
 Vitry, Angers, Sammer, Chatellerault, Poitiers, 
 Lussac and Limoges, this last-named one being 
 also the last place where the giant meteor had 
 been seen. 
 
 The event caused a considerable commotion, in 
 the scientific world as well as the journalistic. 
 The consumption of ink during the following week 
 must have been something fabulous. Everyone 
 had an opinion, and everyone hastened to offer it. 
 
 In the midst of the confusing flood of nonsense 
 which poured in from all sides as from a burst- 
 ing reservoir, the learned members of the Paris 
 Observatory managed to collect some really satis- 
 factory data. 
 
 The course of the meteor had been S.S.E. Its 
 speed must have been considerable, as within the 
 
14 Across the Zodiac 
 
 space of a brief quarter-of-an-hour it had been 
 observed at over fifty points, along a line nearly 
 two hundred miles in length. This meant a 
 rapidity of some eight hundred miles per hour. 
 At that rate this noisy visitant from other worlds 
 would take only three hours to go from London 
 to New York, five hours to go from London to San 
 Francisco, eight to go from Paris to Pekin, etc. 
 
 Another significant fact, eminently calculated 
 to set savants at loggerheads with each other, was 
 that the meteor, which had passed comparatively 
 close to the town of St Malo, had gradually risen 
 higher and higher as it proceeded southwards, till, 
 as the citizens of Limoges reported, it had merely 
 appeared as a strip of light far above the clouds 
 before vanishing completely into space, which it 
 did within sight of the principal Limousin observers, 
 at exactly twenty-six minutes past four. Incredible 
 as it was, the aerolitic marvel had travelled away 
 from the earth instead of towards it. This is of 
 course an unheard of thing in the annals of what, 
 for want of a better word, we might call meteorology. 
 Wandering celestial bodies fall on the earth be- 
 cause attracted by it, and for no other reason. 
 
 The newspaper controversy waxed hot and 
 furious. 
 
 Was it a rocket, a flying machine, a shooting 
 star, or (happy inspiration of a daring contributor) 
 a stone hurled from the crater of some distant 
 volcano? A column of figures followed, proving 
 conclusively that stones do occasionally fly from 
 the fiery mouths of volcanoes in action, and fly 
 to a considerable distance, too, as Sir W. Hamilton 
 proved by the examination of stones thrown from 
 the crater of Sicilian Etna. 
 
 This was all very well. No doubt such an 
 occurrence was quite within the range of possi- 
 bilities. Unfortunately, there was one factor want- 
 
A Novel Species of Star 15 
 
 ing to make the explanation plausible. It was an 
 important one — the volcano. 
 
 If theorising could explain the mystery, it would 
 not remain a mystery long. The sun of volcanic 
 debris having abruptly set, astronomy once more 
 came forward. A popular lecturer on cosmical 
 phenomena suggested that a meteor might just 
 skirt the terrestrial atmosphere without being 
 attracted by our planet — if its velocity were 
 sufficient, just as a boat may safely cross dangerous 
 rapids if propelled at a high speed. What, de- 
 manded the Revue des Deux Mondes sarcastically, 
 was the speed necessary to save a meteor from 
 ignominiously alighting on our globe? About 
 twenty thousand miles an hour was the answer. 
 
 This finished the popular lecturer. No body, 
 of any known material, could withstand, at such 
 a rate, the impact of our atmosphere. Even a 
 bomb of pure platinum, the most infusible sub- 
 stance yet discovered, must be instantly vaporised 
 — clearly the aerolite theory did not count for 
 much. 
 
 Was it a flying machine, with an electrical 
 search-light attached ? 
 
 It was not probable. Such machines had never 
 been heard of yet, and even granting that aerial 
 locomotion was a certainty, by what mechanical 
 means could a flying machine pretend to reach a 
 speed of eight hundred miles per hour. Figures 
 were not wanting to show that no known material, 
 however great its strength, could stand a strain 
 that must inevitably wreck engines of any known 
 pattern. No screw could turn with such rapidity, 
 no wings beat the air with sufficient violence — no, 
 the aerostat theory was likewise untenable. 
 
 From among the princes of science, the formidable 
 meteor was gradually but surely banished. Learned 
 men are rarely apt to take an interest in cosmic 
 
1 6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 phenomena which they themselves have not 
 witnessed. The question was made the subject 
 of furious controversy during a period of six 
 weeks or so, then it dwindled and died a solitary 
 death among the archives of the BibliotJieque 
 Nationale and the British Museum Library. 
 
 Though neglected by the learned, it was taken 
 up by the populace. It rapidly became the fashion. 
 ' Meteor ' hats and ' aerolite ' cigar-holders were the 
 rage. A popular publisher brought out a ' comet ' 
 edition of Balzac's novels, and spectacular dramas 
 representing aerial disasters in all their sinister 
 variety took transitory possession of the stage 
 Dust and ashes are the two final states of every- 
 thing mundane, and the strange freak, that had 
 been the terror of so many Breton sailors, was in 
 its turn forgotten, as a riddle to be solved when 
 the sea gives up its dead, not before. 
 
 Owing to various causes, the departure of our 
 Tibet expedition was postponed, and I just 
 lingered long enough in Europe to witness the 
 end of the excitement. On the twenty-third 
 morning of December, we weighed anchor, and 
 with a vague presentiment of future glory filling 
 my breast, I marked the low, sandy promontory of 
 Southampton water disappearing in the grey sea- 
 mist. Ned Hatton, leaning with his back against 
 the railing, indifferent alike to scenery and senti- 
 ment, whistled softly to himself. 
 
 Come sunshine, come storm, we had the sources 
 of the Brahmapootra in our mind's eye. They 
 were a noble goal to aim at, and quite sufficient 
 for any man. 
 
VcB Victis ! 17 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 V^ VICTIS! 
 
 It was certainl}' a fine thing to be so full of hope. 
 
 Unfulfilled ambition is perhaps the most awful 
 thing on earth — except spurned love, of which I 
 can honestly say I know nothing, praise be to Allah. 
 Of our entire expedition, only seven weary men 
 dragged themselves back into Assam, across those 
 cruel, sun-scorched mountains. Ned Hatton and 
 myself were amongst the number. 
 
 A gallant start up the river, a swamp-ridden, 
 fever-laden camp, a score of rascally Tibetan 
 spies, a cold reception in Lhassa, an imaginary 
 insult offered to the Dali Lama, a midnight 
 massacre and a precipitate flight through forests 
 of thorn and tangle, over glacier and snow- 
 blocked pass, under falling rocks and withered 
 pine branches. The scenes of our misery passed 
 rapidly through my head in a disorderly jumble, 
 like pictures in a phantasmagoria, or scenes in a 
 play. 
 
 At least I might have died with the rest of our 
 poor fellows. I, too, might have found a resting- 
 place beneath the shadow of those glorious 
 mountains, with their eternal canopy of snow, 
 with their sunlit peaks dreaming in the blue, far 
 removed from petty mortal cares and sufferings. 
 
 No such luck was mine, however. The voyage 
 home partially restored my health, broken by 
 typhoid and bilious fevers, into something like 
 its normal condition. Whether it was the foggy 
 London air, or the taint of fever that still hung 
 about my system, or the effects of a Himalayan 
 sunstroke, I do not know. What I do know, how- 
 ever, is that three weeks after my arrival in London 
 
 B 
 
iB Across the Zodiac 
 
 saw me once more prostrate — this time with brain 
 fever. 
 
 Hot, shooting pains in the head, visions of 
 heavenly sunset clouds, dwindling down into the 
 cold, uninteresting patterns adorning the wall- 
 paper, glimpses of snowy horrors, needles of ice 
 penetrating my flesh, and feverish falls down 
 endless rocky chasms. Then a face seemed to 
 stare through the darkness, and the yellow glare 
 of a lamp shone in my eyes. 
 
 ' I think he'll pull through now all right. How 
 do you feel, sir?' 
 
 ' Oh, hideously,' was the only possible answer. 
 
 Drowsiness overtook me and I slept. With 
 the first beams of the sun my misery began again. 
 I was truly a wretched failure. All my plans, 
 all my hopes had come to nothing. Never in 
 this life would I follow in the track of the mighty 
 pioneers of geography. I was disgraced and dis- 
 honoured. 
 
 ' Here, drink this,' said someone. 
 
 It was a small dose of laudanum, but it tasted 
 sweet as nectar. Ned, dear, good honest Ned, his 
 dark flashing eyes suffused with pity, was bending 
 over me. 
 
 * How are you, old boy ? ' he continued. * Have 
 the Mahatmas ceased to haunt you ? D — d rogues 
 all of them. Do you remember that old white- 
 robed villain who accused me of stealing his 
 praying-wheel ? I'd like to get my hands on 
 him, that's all. Drink the stuff up. It'll make 
 you go to sleep, and it's not strong enough to 
 hurt a child. You must cultivate Morpheus for 
 all you're worth, and mind — no more falling down 
 precipices. I guess you're about at the bottom of 
 Gaurisankar by this.' 
 
 I smiled feebly and fell back among the white 
 pillows. I was too miserable to answer. One 
 
VcB Vidis ! 19 
 
 idea ever recurring to my tortured mind took 
 visible form, looming ominously through the fog 
 of my half-awakened senses. On the table near 
 my bed stood a tiny black bottle. Ned gave me 
 a compassionate glance, then turned away — to 
 empty his pipe, I think. 
 
 The idea became overwhelming. I feebly 
 stretched out my hand for the bottle and put it 
 to my lips. It was corked, but I tore out the cork 
 with my teeth, and the bitter, sweet taste of the 
 deadly nectar made my brain swim delightfully. 
 
 A cry sounded in my ears, and the phial of poison 
 rolled away across the floor. Ned's face was ashy. 
 
 ' None of that, Hal ! for God's sake none of 
 that,' he exclaimed, \vith a sort of sob. ' I swear, 
 Hal, I'll put you in a strait-jacket if you don't 
 quit this foolery. Bite on the bullet, man ! You 
 never used to be a coward ! ' 
 
 His words awakened, even in my half-paralysed 
 condition, a vague sense of shame. I moaned softly, 
 and fell asleep with his reproaches ringing in my 
 ears like a fugitive lullaby. 
 
 When I awoke the room was deserted. It was 
 evening, and the drawn blinds of the window were 
 coloured crimson, I suppose, by the setting sun. 
 Despite a giddy feeling in my head, my brain was 
 singularly clear. 
 
 * It's evident that I've had a narrow squeak ' 
 thought I. Then I recollected the attempt I had 
 made at committing suicide, and felt rather foolish. 
 On trying to raise myself into an upright posture, 
 I failed dismally, from excessive weakness, and 
 was forced to lie back ignominiously. At least 
 I could think ; and I did that pretty energetically. 
 
 ' After all,' I reflected, ' London is not the only 
 place in the world where a man can make and mar 
 his name. I wish the deuce I could turn my back 
 on it for good. Perhaps if I were to change my 
 
20 Across the Zodiac 
 
 home and emigrate to the South Sea Islands, 
 they'd think more of me there. Who knows? 
 Perhaps I'd be considered a genius in Tahiti or 
 Samoa. In England, I suppose, I'm destined to 
 be a nobody. Anyway I've had the devil's own 
 luck, and my health is wrecked for life.' 
 
 These were gloomy reflections for a young man 
 of twenty-seven, but then I never was an optimist, 
 and all the Schopenhauerian side of my nature 
 came out in that darkened sick-room. 
 
 Next morning I was able to sit up in bed and 
 drink some Liebig. Ned Hatton, pipe in mouth, 
 lounged in a cane-chair hard by, and indulged to 
 the fullest extent in a favourite trick of his, the 
 solace of his meditative moods, viz., giving advice. 
 
 ' You see,' he said in a patronising tone, as 
 though he were lecturing a wayward pupil, * you're 
 really a darned sight too young to take on in this 
 fashion. What have you lost by this business ? ' 
 
 ' Money,' I replied sulkily, ' and the only chance 
 of making a name for myself that's likely to pre- 
 sent itself for many a long day.' 
 
 ' How much did you sink in the concern ? ' he 
 asked carelessly. 
 
 ' Nearly two thousand,' I answered gloomily, 
 ' the result of six years' hard work. Nelthorpe 
 and myself blew it on guns and Bibles. What 
 I'm going to do now, the devil only knows.' 
 
 * You'll fall to lecturing again.' 
 
 ' Where ? ' 
 
 ' At Cambridge, I suppose.' 
 
 ' They've got a new man at Cambridge, a gold- 
 medallist in every university on the face of the 
 globe. They're not likely to kick him out in 
 order to give me another show. He's a German, 
 of course.' 
 
 ' Hustlers — those Germans,' said Ned, reflec- 
 tively, biting the horn mouthpiece of his briar. 
 
VcB Victis! 21 
 
 < Yes— and devilish clever in specialising too,' 
 I put in. ' A German '11 stick at one little point, 
 for nearly a century if necessary. There's no 
 tiring them.' 
 
 ' Why don't you specialise ? ' 
 
 ' Nothing I'd like better— if you'll kindly give 
 me a hint as to what subject you intend my 
 taking up.' 
 
 'A geographical one — correcting the maps of 
 the lesser-known countries.' 
 
 I tossed about uneasily. 
 
 'Great Heavens! man, haven't I just finished 
 making a failure oi one expedition?' 
 
 * That wasn't your fault.' 
 
 ' Tropical climates don't agree with me.' 
 
 'Nobody wants you to have anything to do 
 with them.' 
 
 ' Ah ! so you propose an Arctic journey ? ' 
 
 ' Not exactly that, but — ' 
 
 ' Oh, yes, I know,' I interrupted feverishly, ' there's 
 the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the coast of Nova 
 Zembla and the unknown continents north of 
 Baffin's Bay. It's a magnificent field for re- 
 search, and I believe the maps of those countries 
 err by several degrees. My dear fellow, I assure 
 you — ' 
 
 ' Let me speak,' he interrupted coldly, ' it's not 
 necessary for you to explore either the White 
 Sea, the Kara Sea, the coasts of Nova Zembla 
 or Greenland. There are other countries, more 
 within reach, that you'll find it quite worth your 
 while to travel over with a theodolite. Have you 
 ever thought of Iceland ? ' 
 
 'No,' I answered pettishly, ' I'm not such a fool. 
 The Swedish Geographical Society have marked 
 down every lava-flow during the last half-century 
 nearly.' 
 
 ' On the contrary, there are certain portions — 
 
22 Across the Zodiac 
 
 the Vatna Jokiill, for example — which have rarely- 
 been crossed. And the society you name is about 
 to issue a new map.' 
 
 ' How do you know that ? ' 
 
 'Because I read it in the Standard yesterday 
 morning. Some fellow with a long name is de- 
 puted to survey a part of the island. He's going 
 to cross the Vatna Jokiill in particular — horses 
 and sledges are no good it appears. He's going 
 to do it in a balloon.' 
 
 The old fire suddenly rekindled itself in my 
 breast. 
 
 ' Good Lord ! ' I exclaim.ed, ' what wouldn't I 
 give to be able to do it too.' 
 
 Ned Hatton smiled. 
 
 ' What would you say/ he drawled, ' if the pro- 
 fessor were to ask us both to join his party ? ' 
 
 ' Say ? ' I echoed, ' why, I should say we, too, 
 were about the luckiest fellows in the solar 
 system.' 
 
 ' Well — that's about what we are, I reckon,' 
 answered Ned, deliberately, then — 'just cast your 
 eye over that ! ' 
 
 He flung a letter on the bed. I opened it 
 tremblingly and read as follows : — 
 
 ' Professor Ralphcourt. 
 
 ' Sir, — ' You have possibly heard of my coming 
 expedition to Iceland. As my right-hand man. Pro- 
 fessor Eulcnberg, has, for reasons of his own, chosen 
 to desert me in order to accept the post of lecturer 
 at Cambridge, I find myself forced to seek aid 
 elsewhere. I have heard of you in connection 
 with the Tibet expedition. You have had great 
 misfortune, but may yet live to retrieve your luck. 
 Your friend, Mr Hatton, furnished me with some 
 details about you the other day, and I have come 
 to the conclusion you are just the man we want. 
 
Into the Desert 23 
 
 Tf you will kindly favour me with a call at my 
 hotel, perhaps we shall be able to make some 
 arrangement to our mutual advantage. I shall 
 expect to hear from you, at least, within the next 
 few days. — Believe me, sir, yours sincerely, 
 
 ' NORDENROTHER.' 
 Hotel Langham, Friday. 
 
 ' Nordenrother 1 ' I exclaimed, ' why that's the 
 fellow who explored the high Andes and the 
 Cordilleras three years ago. He's a great man. 
 Ned — I can hardly believe it's true. Luck doesn't 
 turn in that way nowadays. No — it's my fate to 
 remain tied to this beastly city till the end of my 
 days, doing lecturing work at the rate of a hundred 
 and fifty a year.' 
 
 • We'll see about that ! ' replied my companion, 
 sagely. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 INTO THE DESERT 
 
 Ned's wisdom, prophetic or otherwise, was rarely 
 at fault. Within a fortnight of my recovery we 
 were on the sea, bound for Reikjavik. 
 
 Professor Nordenrother was certainly an admir- 
 able specimen of the modern savant. Cool, calcu- 
 lating, courageous, exact as a chronometer and 
 totally indifferent to either hunger, thirst or physical 
 perils — he was the ideal man for a dangerous 
 journey across the icebound northern wastes or 
 through the torrid southern plains. 
 
 In stature he was rather tall, and, like most 
 energetic men, inclined to leanness. A phren- 
 
24 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ologist, examining his head, would have been 
 surprised as much at the entire absence of those 
 bumps which betoken domestic virtues and vices 
 as at the extraordinary development of the sections 
 appertaining to calculation, reflection, foresight and 
 argument. His nose (a fact which is taken by- 
 many people to signify genius) was large and 
 hooked — his religion, which selon les apparences 
 ought to have been Jewish, was conspicuous, as is 
 the case with many clever men, by its total absence 
 of definite form or dogma. Science was his God, 
 and — to be open-minded, there are many worse 
 ones. 
 
 Was this clever man familiar with Iceland ? 
 Undoubtedly. He had already been sent twice 
 there on geographical missions, once by the 
 Swedish and once by the German societies. His 
 life had evidently been an active one, but he bore 
 no traces of anxiety and exertion on his face. He 
 might have been any age between thirty and sixty, 
 but I believe his actual age was forty-two, the fact 
 being confided to me confidentially one day over 
 a tumbler of whisky and soda by the captain of 
 the Fiinen — a grizzled old sea-lion who adored the 
 professor nearly as much as he did his own tar- 
 stained, weather-beaten hulk of a ship. 
 
 The whole of our scientific force really consisted 
 of Nordenrother, Ned Hatton and myself Not 
 that we were expected to perform the difficult 
 journey unaided — far from it. 
 
 A relay of fifty picked Icelanders was to meet 
 us at Reikjavik, and an extra dozen were sent on 
 in advance to Ingolfshofdi and Husavik, the fishing 
 village which lies nearest the mouth of the Jokiillsa 
 River, on the northern coast of the island. 
 
 Everything had been planned, everything fore- 
 seen. From the professor's balloon, packed securely 
 in its rubber-lined case, and lashed firmly down 
 
Into the Desert 25 
 
 under a thick tarpaulin on the after-deck, to the 
 spare shoes for the mules and the metal-soled boots 
 for walking over hot volcanic ashes — from the 
 beginning it was evident that business was meant. 
 
 On the morning of the 23d we sighted land — a 
 misty, indistinct line of cloud to the north-east. 
 The wind was blowing sharply, and I shivered 
 under my sou'-wester. Ned, on my left, was vainly 
 trying to smoke his pipe in the teeth of the gale. 
 
 ' Well, Ned, this is rather different to our last 
 campaign.' 
 
 ' Yes, professor, we run rather more chance of 
 being frozen than baked, I think.' 
 
 ' Unless we fall into a volcano, like Empedocles,' 
 I put in, laughing; ' there are enough of tJicni about, 
 in all conscience. We ought to be able to see the 
 peak of Snaefell already. If it wasn't for this con- 
 founded fog we'd have a better view.' 
 
 ' I wonder what our boss '11 think of it if this sort 
 of weather continues,' said my friend, shaking the 
 mixture of rain and spray from his frieze cape, 
 this damp is death to philosophical instruments, 
 and we've got enough with us to stock all the 
 opticians in Broadway,' 
 
 I was silent. No doubt the ' boss ' had prepared 
 against this mishap. Some sailors of the Fiinen 
 appeared, to make preparations for landing, I 
 suppose. Ned turned to converse with them, 
 leaving me staring blankly out over the wilder- 
 ness of green sea and misty distance. Some fish- 
 ing-smacks passed us, enveloped in a shower of 
 blinding spray. Through the fog a vague shadow 
 loomed faintly, and the crash of billows struck my 
 ear. 
 
 ' Skagi Head,' said someone behind me. I 
 turned and saw Professor Nordenrother. ' A vol- 
 canic promontory, hollowed by the action of the 
 waves,' continued he. ' Iceland is a country torn 
 
26 Across the Zodiac ■ 
 
 by fire and water. You will find it a most interest- 
 ing geological study, sir.' 
 
 ' I believe you, professor. The number of active 
 volcanoes in this small island is, I believe, computed 
 as high as twenty or thirty.' 
 
 ' Nearly a hundred, sir, if you count all the 
 lesser-known central ones,' answered the professor 
 * There, that is Snaefell.' 
 
 A white summit was visible, hanging in the air 
 above a misty base. Half-an-hour later we came 
 in sight of Reikjavik, with its curiously-pointed 
 roofs and gabled belfries. A few windmills were 
 visible, their sails revolving slowly. The wind 
 wafted odours of fish in all stages of decomposi- 
 tion — this was Iceland. 
 
 I have spent the greater part of to-day profitably, 
 in examining this strange northern town, with its 
 rows of gaily painted houses and interminable fish- 
 ing nets. The women are mostly ugly enough, 
 but their costumes are occasionally picturesque, 
 and the long veils of muslin (faldrs) give them 
 (from a distance) a rather graceful appearance. 
 
 There is one thing we have here — a decent 
 hotel. The landlord of the * Alexandra ' boasts 
 of a billiard-room and a piano — two luxuries that I 
 hardly expected to find in such an out-of-the-way 
 place. Our start is fixed for to-morrow morning. 
 I have been personally introduced to the various 
 members of the ' picnic,' as Ned sarcastically calls 
 it. They seem a steady, good - natured lot of 
 fellows, though, I fear, somewhat addicted to 
 indolence. The landlord tells me idleness flows 
 through the veins of every genuine Icelander. This 
 doesn't sound reassuring, but I think we'll manage 
 to pull through nevertheless. 
 
 I shall drop writing this history in the form of a 
 
Into the Desert 27 
 
 journal. The note-book I kept my diary in has 
 gone long since, heaven knows where— perhaps 
 down the crater of a volcano. This being so, I 
 must confine myself to writing my adventures in 
 the past tense. Let me be thankful I am alive to 
 write them at all. Six o'clock on the followincr 
 mornmg saw us partaking amicably of whisky and 
 water m the hotel bar-room, the genial landlord 
 vvishmg us luck many times, and adding, with "reat 
 candour, that he thanked his stars he was not in our 
 shoes. His island was a fine one, to be sure, but, 
 as far as his experience went, it was best when'seen 
 from a window or read of in the papers. Tommy 
 Moore's opmion of Ireland— that it was a ' micrhty 
 fine country to sing about,— would, without much 
 violence, have served to express mine host's senti- 
 ments respecting his land of ice and volcanoes. 
 
 The bulk of our luggage, tents, beds and blankets 
 were confided to the sturdy mules. The rest- 
 philosophical instruments mostly— thermometers, 
 barometers, quadrants, compasses, etc.— had been' 
 carefully packed in boxes lined with indiarubber 
 on account of the damp,'and were to be transported 
 on the shoulders of our Icelandic escort. The 
 balloon, an important item, was divided into two 
 packages. The car, with its accoutrements and 
 the vast sphere of waterproof silk with its bulky 
 and complicated network of hempen cords. Both 
 of these articles were;placed, securely corded down, 
 in waggons of a peculiar construction, adapted for 
 travelling along rough roads, with springs of gal- 
 vanized iron and tyres of hollow indiarubber 
 Quite a crowd of chubby-faced islanders was 
 assembled in the road to see us off. Reikjavik, 
 amongst other things, possessed a university, and 
 the portly president of the temple of learning was 
 among the first to shake us by the hand— a 
 process, by the way, which had to be gone through 
 
28 Across the Zodiac 
 
 at least fifty times before we could get clear of 
 the honest townsfolk. In the south-east a pale 
 yellow light denoted the presence of the all- 
 quickening sun. The atmosphere was dull and 
 heavy, foreboding rain within twenty-four hours. 
 Ned Hatton, hurrying about among the mules and 
 waggons, set an example of activity and industry 
 which the sluggish northmen utterly refused to 
 imitate. Eight o'clock struck from the distant 
 belfry. I turned towards the professor, who was 
 solemnly bidding farewell to the landlord of the 
 'Alexandria' and his family on the hotel steps. 
 
 ' Forward ! ' he said. 
 
 'Forward!' echoed Ned, dealing the nearest mule 
 a whack with the buckle end of his leather belt 
 that made the worthy animal kick out viciously, to 
 the eminent amusement of those enthusiastic spec- 
 tators, a group of loitering Reikjavik schoolboys. 
 
 The wheels of the waggons began to revolve, 
 and the caravan moved off amid the cheers of the 
 onlookers. 
 
 The landscape was typical of what we were to 
 pass through during many a long day. In the 
 far distance, to the north, rose the snowy peaks of 
 Snaefell. Behind us Reikjavik, with its roofs and 
 windmills sharply defined against the cold sky, 
 did not fail to awaken the preliminaries of home- 
 sickness in the breasts of some of our escort. 
 Travel, as I have already explained, is to the 
 Icelander, of all amusements, the most inexplicable. 
 Diminutive stone bridges led across Liliputian 
 streams, tumbling merrily among grey blocks of 
 lava. Occasionally a caravan of donkeys laden 
 with dried fish and seaweed passed us with jingling 
 bells and cracking whips. Here and there in the 
 desolate country among the hollows and on the 
 bleak mountain sides rose faint trails of smoke. 
 They came from tiny springs, much valued by the 
 
hito the Desert 29 
 
 Icelanders on account of their medicinal properties, 
 and because of the yellow patches of sulphur that 
 surround them — a valuable source of revenue to 
 the country, which shares the honours with eider- 
 down, and is, moreover, far more easily collected. 
 
 For some time our march was undistinguished 
 by any incident worth dwelling upon except when 
 occasionally our amusement was aroused by the 
 phlegmatic movements of some honest Icelander 
 whose donkey had incontinently kicked his bundle 
 off. The slowness and deliberation with which 
 the package was picked out of the mud, the 
 methodical dawdling necessary before it could be 
 readjusted on the back of its unruly bearer, all 
 served to give us much valuable insight into the 
 character of these torpid northerners. Ned Hatton 
 stormed at each fresh delay, I could hardly conceal 
 my vexation, the professor alone was serene and 
 unmoved. A beautiful sheet of water confronted 
 us at a turn of the road. It was lake Tjorn. The 
 volcanic rocks that fringed its sides, veined with 
 yellow streaks of sulphur, were the resting-place 
 of countless families of aquatic birds — seagulls, 
 terns, wild ducks and ptarmigan. I noticed some 
 fine specimens of grouse {lagopus alpind), and 
 among the marine birds the handsome silvery gull 
 {lams argejitaius). Ned, the sportsman in his 
 nature rapidly coming to the front, produced a 
 small saloon rifle and began some ineffectual 
 shooting. Later he exchanged the weapon for a 
 more reasonable duck-gun, and brought down half- 
 a-dozen golden plovers, to the delight of Herr 
 Nordenrother, who, I believe, is a bit of a gour- 
 mand as well as a geographer. Presently we fell 
 to conversing. 
 
 * You are a botanist professor ? ' 
 
 ' I have studied botany as well as other subjects, 
 sir. I have not made it a speciality. I fear there 
 
30 Across the Zodiac 
 
 is not much to excite one's admiration here. The 
 flora of Iceland is insignificant at best' 
 
 A few saxifrages and ranunculuses were growing 
 in the interstices of the rocks. I noticed also 
 some specimens of the Pragas octopetala and the 
 wild geranium — only their plants, as it was too 
 early in the year for flowers. 
 
 We came across another interminable train of 
 donkeys, carrying sheep s wool done up in bags of 
 canvas. A score of women, their smiling faces 
 bound round with coloured handkerchiefs, followed 
 the animals, some bearing children on their 
 shoulders, in the Scandinavian fashion, others 
 carrying nets and fishing implements. 
 
 ' Flowers,' continued the professor, as though he 
 were lecturing before an audience of university 
 graduates, ' are the offspring of a country. Their 
 form, their colour, their fragrance even is deter- 
 mined by the nature of the soil surrounding them. 
 To have gorgeous hues, the climate must be 
 proportionately vigorous. Orchids and ranun- 
 culuses of the most striking loveliness expand 
 under the ardent sun of the tropics. In our own 
 temperate zone, the colours are more moderate 
 and the perfumes less intense. Come as far north 
 as this little lonely island and you meet with 
 nothing, even in the heat of summer, but a few 
 pale saxifrages and straggling daisies.' 
 
 ' And men, professor — how about them ? ' 
 
 ' Men, sir, are as directly the produce of a 
 country as flowers. Their intellect, their strength, 
 their reasoning powers are in direct relationship 
 to their surroundings — ^just as much in fact as the 
 hues and perfumes of flowers are.' 
 
 ' Nevertheless, professor,' I objected mildly, 
 ' according to your theory, the most striking human 
 existencies ought to flourish at the equator, 
 whereas — ' 
 
Into the Desert 31 
 
 ' Man's power,' interrupted Herr Nordenrother, 
 ' lay formerly in his muscles. Its total aggregate 
 has not diminished now, but its seat of activity has 
 changed. It is the brain, not the arms, which 
 must now be taken as the principal factor in man's 
 triumphs over Nature — and the most vigorous 
 brains certainly belong to the people of the 
 temperate zone. No doubt this gain is accom- 
 panied by a certain loss in bodily vigour, but then, 
 as machines largely take the place of manual 
 labour in any advanced community, the deficiency 
 is hardly felt.' 
 
 ' Do you think then, professor, that we are 
 really less perfect physically than formerly?' I 
 asked. 
 
 ' I am afraid I am obliged to think so,' answered 
 the professor, smiling. ' When and where did our 
 modern European warrior perform the prodigies 
 related in connection with the victorious legions of 
 Caesar, Sennacherib, Hannibal, Scipio, Ramses, 
 and the rest of the great shadowy existencies who 
 were once the terror of the world ? No — we have 
 advanced mentally, but the temperate zone has 
 been fatal to our bodily energies.' 
 ' Then what is to be done ? ' 
 'Done? Nothing that I know of, sir, unless 
 some kindly astronomical catastrophe changes the 
 obliquity of the ecliptic, and furnishes humanity 
 with a climate equally favourable to mental and 
 bodily development.' 
 
 I nodded. The professor spoke with conviction, 
 like a man who has, after many years' labour, 
 succeeded in solving an important problem. Ned 
 Hatton, gun in hand, was still banging away 
 industriously at the birds. I looked out suspici- 
 ously over the lonely country streaked with white 
 patches of snow and asked myself whether Herr 
 Nordenrother had not been unwise in starting so 
 
32 Across the Zodiac 
 
 early in the year. Suppose the weather changed 
 to snow in grim earnest. We should be caught 
 with a vengeance. And the famous balloon ? 
 Wasn't it a mad scheme, a crazy attempt only 
 worthy of some delirious enthusiast? Surely the 
 professor was not in earnest. We were to traverse 
 Iceland — very good. We were to explore the 
 sources of the mysterious Jokiillsa — good again. 
 As for the balloon expedition, apparently it was a 
 pure piece of scientific bravado. What good 
 could it do us to cross the Vatna Jokiill at a 
 height of several thousand feet? We should 
 neither be able to measure the height of the 
 mountains, the diameter of the volcanic craters, or 
 the width of its unknown glaciers. Crossing the 
 Vatna Jokiill on foot in March was entirely out 
 of the question. Then why had we started so 
 early? The balloon appeared in the light of an 
 excellent practical joke. Where and how were 
 we going to inflate it? Gas was completely 
 unknown in Ingolfshofdi. Perhaps Herr Norden- 
 rother would take upon himself the duty of 
 generating hydrogen gas for the purpose, with 
 broken iron and sulphuric acid. The more I 
 pondered over the idea, the more unreasonable 
 did it appear. I therefore did the best I could 
 under the circumstances. I held my tongue, and 
 contented myself with quietly awaiting develop- 
 ments. 
 
 At noon we halted before a grove of withered, 
 frost-bitten trees. Fires were kindled, and Ned 
 presented us with the golden plovers — rather 
 tough, by the way — spitted on sticks in the 
 African fashion. I'he rest of the men apparently 
 nourished themselves on dried fish and brandy ; 
 at least, that is all they seemed to have provided. 
 At the end of an hour we resumed our march. 
 The distances had evidently been accurately timed 
 
Across the Vatna yokiill "^Ty 
 
 in advance, for at sundown we reached a collection 
 of scattered huts, roofed with sods of turf in the 
 fashion of the country. Whatever merit there 
 may be in the Icelandic architectural style, it 
 cannot be said that it is conducive to comfort — 
 at least, from a civilised European point of view. 
 In one hut, about twelve feet square, we found 
 three families huddled, about eighteen people in 
 all. Ned, declining to take shelter along with 
 people of such ultra-sociable habits, unfurled his 
 small tent and enjoyed what must have been, in 
 spite of his ample wraps, a rather cold slumber, 
 especially trying to a man whose life had hitherto 
 been spent under the glowing sun of the Equator. 
 
 The professor and myself, wrapped in our rough 
 blankets, endured the pestilential atmosphere of 
 the hut and the unmusical howls of a healthy Ice- 
 landic baby till daybreak. In spite of my fatigue, 
 I hardly slept a wink. Our journey may have been 
 interesting, but it had its disadvantages. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ACROSS THE VATNA JOKULL 
 
 Our surveying operations began on the following 
 day. The professor had brought with him a curious 
 collection of maps, large and small, old and new. 
 The errors, or doubtful parts, were marked in red 
 ink. Every hill, every water-course, every lava- 
 flow had its share of attention. Besides the merely 
 topographical part of the work, Herr Nordenrother 
 began a series of interesting experiments on the 
 electrification of the atmosphere, on the variations of 
 the dipping needle, and on the various astronomical 
 peculiarities which the sky of these latitudes 
 
 C 
 
34 Across the Zodiac 
 
 afforded. During these latter investigations we 
 were once or twice favoured with magnificent 
 auroral displays. The phenomenon produced a 
 powerful effect on me. Never shall I forget my 
 sensations when one evening I for the first time 
 beheld the floating streamers of purple and gold, 
 spanning the blue vault in the form of a gigantic 
 arch. Ned and the professor, having witnessed 
 the marvel before, were not particularly impressed 
 with it. As for the Icelanders — it was for them 
 a daily occurrence, and not worth the trouble of 
 noticing. Strange how indifferent familiarity with 
 any beautiful sight makes one. 
 
 On the 6th we skirted the base of fire-breathing 
 Hecla, and our escort gave us some interesting 
 details respecting the terrible eruption of 1878, 
 which, however, I will not weary my readers by 
 recounting. 
 
 The country was full of interest. Geysers, 
 solfataras, smoking wells and gleaming tunnels of 
 ice, filled with strange roaring noises and curling 
 clouds of steam, served to keep our interest alive. 
 Ned superintended the men, the professor and 
 myself wielded the theodolite and compass. I 
 don't think we left a square yard of the country un- 
 explored. I am in a hurry to begin the really marvel- 
 lous part of my adventures, so I must condense. 
 
 On the 1 8th we reached Ingolfshofdi, a fish- 
 ing village situated on the south side of a good- 
 sized inlet. Any plans the professor might have 
 formed for further operations were certainly for 
 the moment nipped in the bud by a violent fall 
 of snow. Luckily, the accommodation here was 
 better than any we had yet found. Stone houses 
 and roaring fires went far to mitigate the horrors 
 of an Icelandic winter. Here, too, the professor 
 took me through some of his plans, which for 
 reasons of his own, perhaps in order to avoid my 
 
Across the Vatna yokilll 35 
 
 accusing him of folly, he had been sufficiently 
 reticent about till then. 
 
 The Vatna Jokiill is an elevated table-land, 
 about fifty miles by eighty in extent. It is seamed 
 by rugged valleys and overtopped by a myriad of 
 unknown peaks, many of them volcanic. Glaciers 
 pursue their methodical course down the mountain 
 sides, and crevasses yawn at every step. It is a 
 complete wilderness of volcanoes and ice, often 
 entirely hidden under a tempest of driving snow. 
 To cross this plateau on foot would be dangerous, 
 without at least knowing something of the ground 
 first. To acquire this necessary experience, Herr 
 Nordenrother had conceived the idea af a balloon 
 excursion. Under the influence of a gentle 
 southerly breeze, we should be enabled to cross 
 the Vatna Jokiill easily and comfortably in four 
 or five hours at the most. We could also note 
 the principal mountain ranges, the craters and 
 valleys. Photographs taken from the car would 
 be of immense value in designing accurate maps. 
 Ned Hatton, when the project was explained to 
 him, shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 Whoever heard of such a thing in the annals of 
 serious scientific exploration ! Cross a country in 
 a balloon ! Let the reverend professor acknow- 
 ledge at once he was going to gratify his weakness 
 for a pleasure trip. The scientific value of the 
 attempt would assuredly be nil. 
 
 'Oh, I don't know, Ned,' I objected. 'Why 
 shouldn't one be able to observe geographical 
 details as well from the car of a balloon as from 
 the ground ? It seems to me that if only we go 
 high enough up, and if the day is clear — ' 
 
 ' Go on,' said Ned, sarcastically. 
 
 * It seems to me we'll be able to get a first class 
 map of the region simply by taking a snap-shot 
 with a camera.' 
 
o 
 
 6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 My practical friend refused to be convinced, 
 however, and went off grumbling. At the end of 
 a week, the weather cleared up and the sun 
 appeared once more, Herr Nordenrother con- 
 sulted barometer and storm-glass attentively. 
 
 ' The winter was over,' he said, as he triumphantly 
 exhibited the instruments to myself and Ned. I 
 smiled and nodded, while my Yankee companion 
 turned away indifferently, after shaking the baro- 
 meter violently once or twice, to persuade it to go 
 down, and so give the lie to the professor. 
 
 As it happened, our chief's weather prophecies 
 turned out to be correct. For a week we had 
 cloudless skies, the snow melted everywhere, and 
 Nature resumed her spring garb. In the distant 
 north, the snowy peaks of Oraefn, one of the 
 largest of Icelandic volcanoes, towered ominously 
 above its fields of ice. On the morning of the ist 
 of April, Herr Nordenrother announced his inten- 
 tion of starting. 
 
 The men were summoned, and the preparations 
 for this strange excursion went on merrily. 
 
 As I had suspected, it was the professor's inten- 
 tion to inflate his balloon with hydrogen — coal 
 gas not being available — generated by allowing 
 sulphuric acid to act on zinc filings or broken bits 
 of iron. 
 
 The materials were readily forthcoming. The 
 acid, in massive stone jars, had been sent on by 
 sea from Reikjavik together with several hundred- 
 weight of granulated iron, and a liberal allowance 
 of galvanised piping to conduct the gas. ?Iydrogen 
 is several times lighter than coal gas, an important 
 fact, which renders a balloon of moderate size only 
 necessary. 
 
 Barrels of wood, similar to those used for trans- 
 porting dried fish, were the only available re- 
 ceptacles for the acid, which, however, being diluted 
 
Across the Vatna yokull t^j 
 
 with five tfmes its bulk of water, would not eat 
 through the wood before the end of the opera ion 
 at least we hoped not. I was enthusiastic ?he 
 professor methodical, Ned Hatton cynical as 'ever 
 We worked hard all the morning, arranging the 
 th'.'' -r, '-^^-^-there were fifty altigether-glln' 
 hem with water from the stream, fitting them wi"h 
 
 nt'tl em '.' "^^^'^l^''^" '' ^^^ ^''^' -^ -" -ct 
 
 lliZ tJT T'^ ^ galvanised iron tube, about 
 thirty feet long by six inches in diameter, led to 
 the balloon. Finally the tops of the barrels we e 
 
 ZtTV^ T'^"^ P'^^^'^° P^^^'^"t leakage 
 and loss of gas. I paused, with grimy hands To 
 contemplate the distant range of snowy hills tiia? 
 we were going to traverse. ^ 
 
 •Well, sir, and what do you think of it?' asked 
 he professor folding his arms and looking at me 
 
 SidL'X." ^'^"^"^^ -yadmiL-onof 
 ; W^ell, professor,' I answered, ' I think the whole 
 thing seems rather vague. If an accident happens 
 to our balloon we shall be prettily caught. How 
 do we know where the wind will carry us to ? ' 
 nerr Nordenrother smiled. 
 
 • Oh I fancy that will not present much difficulty ' 
 he said musingly, 'by rising or falling, as the cas; 
 
 air that will take us in the right direction, There 
 IS a party of men ready to receive us at the other 
 side, with boats to descend the Jokiillsa. Do vou 
 like river^trips, sir ? ' ^ 
 
 I evaded the question adroitly. 
 
 'I did not know,' I remarked carelessly, 'that the 
 Icelandic rivers were fit for navigation. ^ I though? 
 they were all cataracts and rapids ' ^ 
 
 'So they are-in summer. But just now the 
 melting of the snows make them into quite for- 
 
38 Across the Zodiac 
 
 midable masses of water. The waterfalls, of course, 
 will have to be avoided.' 
 
 'What instruments are we going to take, 
 professor ? ' 
 
 'Two theodolites, the usual compendium of 
 telescopes and barometers, and a small photo- 
 graphic camera for topographical views will be 
 sufficient, I imagine,' answered the phlegmatic 
 German, quietly. ' Provisions for a week will be 
 ordinary prudence, though our trip will really only 
 last a day and a night at the most. After all, sir, 
 if you are afraid of a catastrophe, you need not 
 come. There is always plenty of work here which 
 needs attending to, and I wouldn't mind your 
 stopping at Ingolfshofdi — if only to keep an eye on 
 our instruments and supplies. You can rejoin us 
 at Husavik later in the season — by long sea if you 
 are afraid to tempt the mountains.' 
 
 The last sentence was said with a touch of 
 sarcasm. For fear the great man would think me 
 a coward, I hastened to assure him of my intention 
 of following him to the ends of the earth if 
 necessary. Besides, I added, the few details which 
 he had given me till now had rendered me fearful. 
 
 * You never told me you had prepared an escort 
 to meet us at the other side of the Joklill,' I said 
 reproachfully. ' I thought it was a case of crossing 
 Iceland at least.' 
 
 The professor laughed and stroked his beard. 
 
 ' And if it had been a case of crossing Iceland 
 without an escort, would you have been afraid ? ' he 
 asked, in a half-defiant tone. 
 
 This was a poser, and I was silent. 
 
 ' I, sir,' said Herr Nordenrother, drawing himself 
 up proudly, ' would cross the entire world, if neces- 
 sary, in the interests of science. Can you, an 
 Englishman, dare less?' 
 
 I made no answer. Ned, who was superintend- 
 
Across the Vatna Jokiill 39 
 
 ing the caulking of the barrels, began to whistle 
 softly to himself 
 
 ' To-morrow evening,' said the professor, oratoric- 
 ally ,' we shall have crossed those mysterious table- 
 lands, and be standing, uninjured, on the banks of 
 the Jokullsa River/ 
 
 ' It is just as well to have a leader who has con- 
 fidence in himself,' thought I. 'A vacillating 
 captain is worse than one who is prone to dare 
 too much.' 
 
 The glorious sun was already furrowing the 
 ocean with a broad track of gold when I awoke. 
 I dressed hurriedly and descended the ladder, to 
 find my friend Ned endeavouring to swallow some 
 boiling coffee out of a tin mug. 
 
 < Well— and the balloon ? ' I asked jocosely. 
 
 ' We've been getting it ready for the last two 
 hours, while you were having your sleep,' was the 
 answer. ' Here, take this, and look sharp, or his 
 nibs '11 be after us.' 
 
 This was a salted herring, boiled over the turf fire, 
 and tasting very much of smoke. Ned bolted his 
 coffee, seized his overcoat and hurried out. The 
 herring was very nasty, but I managed to swallow 
 it, nevertheless. This done, I muffled myself up 
 warmly and rushed through the door after Ned. 
 
 Our men had certainly not been idle. Under 
 Herr Nordenrother's direction, the balloon was 
 slowly filling, rising; from the ground like a huge 
 yellow bubble. A crowd of villagers stood grouped 
 about in knots of three or four gazing on what to 
 them must have been an extremely novel sight. 
 Some of our companions were pouring acid into 
 the barrels, others were tying and untying the 
 leaden weights of the silk bag. I joined the latter, 
 and proffered my assistance, which was not refused. 
 
 No one could have wished for a better day. The 
 
40 , Across the Zodiac 
 
 wind was blowing steadily from the south, the sea 
 was calm and the sky was of that pure pale blue 
 colour usual in northern latitudes. Filling a balloon 
 is at best a lengthy process, even with well-supplied 
 gas mains at one's command. Four hours were 
 needed to complete the work. At ten o'clock the 
 hugh machine was ready to start, swaying to and 
 fro in the light breeze like some aerial monster im- 
 patient to be free. 
 
 To buckle on the car and to place in it our pro- 
 visions, our instruments and blankets, together with 
 twenty small bags of sand to serve as ballast was 
 the work of a few moments only. My heart beat 
 nervously, and I looked with a certain awe on the 
 impassive countenance of Herr Nordenrother, who 
 was apparently as unmoved as though he were about 
 to take the express train from London to Brighton 
 instead of being on the eve of launching himself into 
 the unknown perils of an ice-bound desert. 
 
 We took our places in the car — the professor, 
 Ned Hatton and myself The men crowded round 
 to shake our hands and wish us luck. 
 
 ' It is a three weeks' farewell only,' remarked the 
 learned German. ' Have you got the maps, Mr 
 Ralphcourt ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, sir.' 
 
 ' And the electroscope ? ' 
 
 ' Here it is, professor,' said Ned, tapping a wooden 
 case which he had secured to the wicker side of the 
 car with straps. 
 
 ' The blankets, provisions, water, ballast, snow- 
 shoes — yes, that is all. Now I think we can let her 
 go. Stand clear there, all of you ! ' 
 
 The ropes were cast off, and the balloon, under 
 the influence of six thousand cubic feet of hydrogen, 
 tore us upwards into the air at a fearful speed. 
 
 What a moment ! I shall never forget it. Sen- 
 sations of the most varied description chased one 
 
Across the Vatna Jokiill 41 
 
 another through my brain without leaving any 
 distinct impression save one of mingled fear and 
 wonder. 
 
 We rose rapidly and without stopping to a 
 height of twelve thousand feet. Iceland was no 
 longer a desert island, it was simply a vast heap, 
 drawn in white and grey. To the south, my eye 
 roamed over the long, waving coast line, fringed 
 with snow-white breakers, stretching away to Cape 
 Portland, with the island of Vestmanneyjar be- 
 yond, a solitary, white wave-swept rock, the haunt 
 of the eider and the gull. To the west rose the 
 gaunt outlines of a huge volcanic mountain chain, 
 overtopped by the giant Hecla. Further north, 
 the great Icelandic desert, a waste of soda and 
 sulphur, stretched away, bordered by a chain of 
 lofty mountains, some of whose peaks were crowned 
 with whitish vapour. To count the total number 
 of volcanoes was difficult. At least fifty were in 
 sight at once, though, of course, the number must 
 have been considerably greater in reality. Here 
 and there, in the valleys, appeared jets and clouds 
 of vapour. They were the far-famed geysers, or 
 boiling springs. Some of the streamlets falling 
 down the broken lava chasms appeared to be in a 
 state of ebullition, but in this I may have been 
 mistaken. The distance was too great to observe 
 the details with any accuracy. 
 
 We were drifting northwards at the rate of about 
 fifteen miles an hour. If this speed kept constant, 
 we should cross the Jokiill in six hours at the 
 most. I shrewdly suspected, however, that the wind 
 would drop as the day wore on, nor, as events 
 proved, was I mistaken. 
 
 At eleven-thirty a diminution of our altitude 
 bcame apparent. The professor consulted his 
 barometer, drew out pencil and note-book, and 
 said, — 
 
42 Ac7'oss the Zodiac 
 
 ' Eight thousand feet only,' 
 
 * So I see professor,' I replied. ' Shall we lighten 
 the car ? ' 
 
 ' I think not/ he answered. ' We can work better 
 at a moderate altitude. I want to take some 
 photographs. Have you the plate-holder there ? ' 
 
 I produced the article he named, and watched 
 while he manipulated the apparatus, which was 
 pointed downwards at an angle of some thirty 
 degrees. We were passing the lofty peak of 
 Mount Oraefa, and a picture of its rugged sides 
 and smoke-crowned summit was easily secured. 
 A few minutes later we were floating over the 
 table-land itself. 
 
 Here, for some reason or other, perhaps owing to 
 the protecting influence of the higher summits 
 that fringed its borders, the wind dropped by 
 degrees, till at length all motion seemed to have 
 stopped. The car had in the meanwhile sunk 
 nearer the earth, and we found ourselves, by one 
 o'clock, hanging, to all appearances motionless, 
 some five hundred feet above a chaos of steaming 
 snow and fantastically piled rocks. I looked at 
 Herr Nordenrother. 
 
 ' The wind is held in check by the mountains,' 
 he said. 'If we chose, we could find a stronger 
 breeze by ascending higher. I think, nevertheless, 
 that we shall get a better view from where we are 
 now, don't you ? ' 
 
 ' But we are not moving,' I urged. 
 
 ' I beg your pardon. Take this telescope and 
 examine the ground.' 
 
 I did as I was requested. 
 
 ' We are moving,' I answered, ' but very slowly 
 — not more than two or three miles an hour.' 
 
 ' That is enough,' replied the professor. ' If the 
 hydrogen shows signs of giving out, we can throw 
 out some ballast' 
 
Across the Vain a Jokull 43 
 
 'We are crossing the crater of a volcano,' said 
 Ned. 
 
 ' Is it possible? ' I exclaimed. 
 
 I put down the barometer and rushed to the 
 edge of the car. 
 
 Only some twenty feet or so beneath us yawned 
 a huge circular opening, some three or four 
 hundred yards in diameter. As the car swept 
 slowly over its rocky edge, a confused murmur 
 was heard, echoing up from the depths beneath. 
 Far down, I caught a glimpse of fiery red, through 
 a fog of white vapour. Explosions and rumblings 
 struck my ear. Clearly we bad to do, not only 
 with a volcano, but with an active one. 
 
 ' If the netting was to break,' mused Ned philo- 
 sophically, scanning the gloomy abyss through his 
 opera-glass, ' I would not give a straw for my life.' 
 
 Hardly had he said these words when I ex- 
 perienced a fearful sensation of choking. A pale, 
 sickly yellow mist undulated round the car — we 
 were suffocating ! we were poisoned ! 
 
 Quick as thought Ned seized a sand-bag and 
 tossed it into space. A violent upward jerk 
 followed, and in the space of some seconds we 
 were breathing the pure air at a height of six 
 thousand feet. Half laughing, half choking, we 
 congratulated ourselves on our lucky escape. 
 
 ' Narrow shave that,' remarked Ned, in intervals 
 between fits of coughing. ' We were nearly gone — 
 moral : steer clear of volcanoes.' 
 
 'A difficult one to follow in a voyage of this 
 kind,' I answered. ' They're strewn around here 
 as thick as currants in a plum cake, and we have 
 no means of directing our course.' 
 
 ' Look at those clouds,' said my companion, 
 pointing away at the far-off eastern horizon, where 
 a low bank of grey was visible. ' Do you think that 
 bodes stormy weather ? ' 
 
44 Across the Zodiac 
 
 'The barometer doesn't say so,' I answered 
 vaguely, 'better ask the professor. Look, we're 
 moving along splendidly now.' 
 
 The change of altitude had, as Herr Nordenrother 
 predicted, brought us into a stronger current of air, 
 and for half-an-hour we sailed briskly along. Ned 
 sketched, the professor took photographs, and I 
 occupied myself with studying closely, from the 
 maps, the geography of this curious region, so deso- 
 late, so vague, and so little known. At half-past 
 two we had again fallen to within a few hundred 
 feet of the plateau, and our rate of travelling dimin- 
 ished in proportion. At the professor's advice, 
 another sand-bag was thrown out, and for the second 
 time we rose far above the mountain tops. 
 
 These manoeuvres continued till towards sunset, 
 when we were rewarded by one of the most glorious 
 sights it is possible to conceive. The red ball of 
 the sun was almost touching the sea-line. Above 
 it hung a dark mass of cloud, its wavy edge tinged 
 with crimson glory. A vast sheaf of luminous rays, 
 in form like a gigantic fan, stretched out across the 
 heavens, seeming to reach the farthest limits of the 
 atmosphere. Overhead, a wilderness of rosy clouds 
 were floating — I say overhead, for we were not 
 above the cloud-line altogether, though patches and 
 flakes of vapour eddied round the car, enveloping it 
 in a rosy mist through which the sun's disc appeared 
 twice its usual size, magnified by the refraction. 
 To the north, between the roseate cloud-continents, 
 the golden and lilac streamers of the aurora were 
 seen spanning the heavens. Beneath us a greyish 
 mist was collecting, in which the black mountain 
 tops appeared scattered like islands in a shadowy 
 ocean. 
 
 As I watched, a change came over the landscape. 
 The delicate shades of pink and pale scarlet became 
 deeper — the grey mists turned to purple. A vague 
 
Across the VatJia Jo kill I 45 
 
 phosphorescent reflection, the light of the auroral 
 fire no doubt, played over the floating mist-forms, 
 the mountain summits grew blacker and more dis- 
 tinct as the balloon sank lower. Here an exclama- 
 tion from Ned roused me from my artistic stupor. 
 
 ' An eruption,' he said. 
 
 The professor let fall his note-book, which he had 
 been annotating by the light of a small portable 
 reading-lamp, and we both hurried to the other side 
 of the car. Ned was not mistaken. At a distance 
 of some five or six miles was a crater on fire. 
 Dense masses of smoke rolled away over the dark 
 country, occasionally the black mass parted to 
 reveal sheaves and fountains of glowing scoria. 
 Rocks heated to whiteness, occasionally forced their 
 way up through the heavy vapour, to burst like 
 shells in the cold sky beyond. A sluggish stream 
 of dark red matter flowed down the side of this 
 nameless mountain, which must have been some 
 seven or eight thousand feet in height at least. 
 
 The balloon was rapidly nearing this furnace, 
 whose explosions and rumblings became more 
 audible every moment. 
 
 ' If we clear it,' muttered Ned 'we're all right, if 
 not—' 
 
 I shuddered. The possibility of being swallowed 
 up in the fire of an unknown crater was not pleasant. 
 We were moving steadily onwards at a speed of 
 nearly ten miles an hour, and the course of the 
 balloon was carrying us straight across the summit 
 of the burning mountain. 
 
 ' Throw out some ballast,' ordered the professor. 
 
 Ned Hatton took up a bag, the last of our store, 
 and tossed it over the side. We rose immediately 
 to an enormous height. 
 
 * I guess that'll do it,' said my companion, con- 
 fidently. 
 
 For half-an-hour or more we floated among the 
 
46 Across the Zodiac 
 
 clouds, which partly veiled the glare of the volcano 
 beneath us. Then, as before, we felt the car sink- 
 ing. A cry escaped from the usually impassive 
 professor. 
 
 ' The wind — the wind — we are not moving ! ' he 
 cried. 
 
 In fact, the position of the currents of air had 
 changed. Instead of rising into a more rapidly 
 moving portion of the atmosphere, we had risen into 
 a zone of almost total tranquillity. A couple of 
 miles still separated us from the glowing mountain, 
 and the rapid lower current was preparing to dash 
 us against its fiery sides. 
 
 The explosions and mutterings became more 
 audible. At the end of a few minutes it was 
 necessary to yell at my companions to make them 
 understand. Even at that distance I could feel the 
 heat and hear the hissing of the melted snow. 
 
 ' If one of those rocks should strike the balloon,' 
 I heard the professor say, ' we shall be burnt like 
 flies ! ' 
 
 A roar from the volcano interrupted him. 
 Through the heavy clouds of yellow smoke a 
 gigantic fountain of fire shot into the sky, corus- 
 cating and flashing in diabolical beauty. A noise 
 of falling rocks followed, and a rain of volcanic 
 meteorites fell, with loud hissings, on either side 
 of the car. 
 
 ' Out with the instruments ! ' shouted Herr 
 Nordenrother. * We must save our lives at any cost.' 
 
 His command was followed to the letter, and the 
 fierce heat diminished as we rose into the pure cool 
 air. 
 
 'Should we clear the mountain? If not, our 
 earthly existence was at an end. I confess not to 
 have any particular leanings towards piety, but 
 during that painful quarter-of-an-hour, I prayed 
 more fervently than I had ever prayed till then 
 
Across the Vatna Jokilll 47 
 
 My devotional exercises were abruptly cut short 
 by a vigorous curse from Ned. 
 
 * We are sinking ! ' he cried. 
 
 I opened my eyes in horror. Through the sur- 
 rounding ocean of cloud, the fiery circle of the dread 
 crater was beginning to glow hideously. We were 
 falling at an angle of about forty-five degrees — 
 straight into its mouth. My shoulder was clutched 
 in a grip of iron. 
 
 ' We must cut away the car ! ' yelled someone (I 
 think it was Ned). ' Cut away the car and hang on 
 to the ropes ! ' 
 
 Of the scene that followed I have no distinct 
 recollection. Drawing my clasp-knife, I held fast 
 to the netting with one hand, while with the other 
 I slashed and tore furiously at the cordage that 
 supported the car. A complex roaring filled the 
 air. We were enveloped in a cloud of stifling, 
 suffocating gas. Paralysed, my hair rising with 
 cold fear, trying to hold my breath in order not to 
 breathe that deadly vapour, I let fall my knife and 
 held on in a half-fainting condition. All sensation 
 seemed to have left me — fear had been driven out 
 of my system by the certainty of approaching death. 
 
 We drifted across the lip of the crater. An ocean 
 of molten lava was roaring some hundred feet 
 beneath me, in waves of yellow, green and gold. 
 Molten rocks flew hissing past me. I was 
 swimming in fire. My cheeks were scorched, and 
 I felt my hair frizzling up. 
 
 Suddenly, with a tearing sound, the car parted 
 from its fastenings and was hurled into the midst 
 of the glowing sea of lava. The balloon gave a 
 great bound — we were saved ! 
 
 At that moment a dreadful explosion rent the 
 air. Tongues of fire shot upwards, a myriad of 
 blazing meteors passed before my eyes. Even in 
 that moment, so full of death-agony, I noticed a 
 
48 Across the Zodiac 
 
 vast belt of white light which seemed to be spanning 
 the dark void behind the volcanic fires. Then came 
 a violent shock, a feeling of being carried along 
 with immense speed, a confused rushing in my ears 
 — and oblivion. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 DURA GK A VITAS 
 
 There is a peculiar state of torpor, induced some- 
 times by any very great peril or excitement in 
 which, the mind being still lucid enough to think, 
 the body is completely dead to physical sensations 
 of any kind. The condition is somewhat analogous 
 to that of a patient under the influence of chloro- 
 form or any other anaesthetic. They see without 
 feeling, they understand their personal hurts with- 
 out that understanding awakening a sense of dread, 
 as it would under normal conditions. 
 
 Such was the state I found myself in on awaken- 
 ing from my insensibility. A sickening conscious- 
 ness of being stifled, a sense of oppressive darkness 
 and a violent pain in the lungs were the first impres- 
 sions that passed through my half-awakened brain. 
 
 Above my head, swinging in space apparently, 
 was a vague, dim circle of light. I believe my 
 reasoning faculties were slowly coming into play, 
 for an undefinable curiosity took possession of me. 
 Where was I ? What had taken place ? ' 
 
 Then, as the mind's awakening was about to 
 open the way for a spell of bodily agony, my brain 
 whirled and a merciful Providence again bereft me 
 of my senses. How long my stupor lasted, I could 
 have hardly divined, at the time. Hours, minutes, 
 days pass with equal rapidity to a man in a trance. 
 Slowly, slowly my brain resumed its thinking 
 
Drira Gravitas 49 
 
 powers, a strange light shone in my eyes, sur- 
 rounding objects began to take visible form— I 
 was awake. 
 
 The first impression was one of overwhelming 
 surprise. I was lying, as far as I could sec, in a 
 ship's cabin — a cabin of the most luxurious type 
 — on a couch, so soft and downy that I hardly 
 felt it, under a ceiling, adorned with graceful paint- 
 ings, shut in by walls of beautifully-panelled wood 
 and shaded by curtains of the finest blue silk. 
 
 I started bolt upright. As I did so, I felt the 
 couch I was lying on rock gently to and fro. 
 Clearly it was a 'hanging berth,' similar to those 
 in use on Atlantic liners and elsewhere. I had to 
 do with civilised people evidently. But this was 
 not all. 
 
 An indescribable influence was at work on me. 
 I hardly felt the weight of my body. A slight 
 effort which I made, to get out of bed, resulted in 
 my rolling prone on the floor and getting severely 
 bumped, not against the floor, but— here was the 
 startling part of it — against the opposite wall. 
 An irresistible force seemed to glue me against 
 the mahogany panels. Above my head was a 
 railing. ^ I grasped it, and with difficulty hauled 
 myself into a standing position. Then I noticed 
 for the first time that my bed, curtains and all, 
 was hanging, not horizontally, but at an angle of 
 about sixty degrees with the floor. 
 
 Whether it was this fact, or the effect of the 
 horrors I had been through, I cannot say, but a 
 fit of shivering terror took possession of me. I 
 sank helpless on my knees, still closely pressed 
 against the wall by that mysterious unknown 
 force, and burst into sobs of mingled nervousness 
 and despair. Presently the suffocating feeling 
 came back, a leaden weight crushed my chest, 
 and, for the third time, I lost consciousness. 
 
 D 
 
50 Ac7^oss the Zodiac 
 
 I must have remained insensible for a consider- 
 able time, for on awaking and looking about me, 
 I found that the situation had slightly changed. 
 My bed, which had frightened me so by its 
 peculiar behaviour, was hanging nearly horizon- 
 tally. I m)'self was lying at full length on the 
 floor, where I had fallen, but the strange influence 
 that had thrown me so violently against the hard 
 panels was no longer at work. I felt less mystified 
 altogether than on the two former occasions. 
 
 A mysterious twilight illumined this curious 
 apartment, as tasteful in its interior decorations 
 as it was mysterious in its behaviour. Above my 
 head, by the side of what I supposed was the door, 
 I perceived a tiny brass box, similar to an electric 
 light switch. 
 
 Actuated by an irresistible impulse, I stretched 
 out my hand and twisted the flat, revolving piece 
 of ebonite that served for a handle. Instantly the 
 twilight m.ade way for a beautiful golden-yellow 
 radiance. 
 
 Four pear-shaped globes of ground glass, sup- 
 ported on gracefully-modelled metal brackets at 
 either side of a costly looking-glass, flooded the 
 apartment with soft light. 
 
 'Come,' thought I, 'this is not so very mysterious 
 after all. It is evident that I have been suffering 
 from an attack of brain fever. Under the circum- 
 stances the worst thing I can do is to lie here. 
 Besides, I'm making a beast of myself. I'll 
 get up.' 
 
 Getting up was this time almost easier done 
 than said. All weight had apparently vanished 
 from my body. I no longer walked along the 
 ground, I glided over its surface without my feet 
 touching, almost. Then, before I could under- 
 stand what was happening, I lost my balance, and 
 fell backwards against the fateful wall, without, 
 
Dura Gravitas 51 
 
 however, hurting myself in the least. My head 
 struck the panels as lightly as though I had only 
 fallen an inch or two instead of six feet. 
 
 At the same instant my eyes fell on one of the 
 cabin windows — there were four in all, I think — 
 and the feeling of horror returned. Outside there 
 was blackness of darkness, illumined by a myriad 
 points of silvery light. Then a revulsion swept over 
 me. I had awakened during the night, that was all. 
 
 But no — surely that was not the darkness of 
 night — those powdery atoms of light could not 
 be the stars ! 
 
 The matter was easily settled. Without moving, 
 for fear of some new horror developing itself, I 
 felt in my inner pocket for my watch. 
 
 It was uninjured, luckily. A chronometer divided 
 into twenty-four hours is useful in cases like this. 
 Mine was of this description. I opened it and 
 looked at the dial. 
 
 Half-past one p.m. 
 
 I raised it to my ear. It was ticking merrily as 
 ever. Then, by way of setting the question at rest 
 for good and all, I boldly determined to go and look 
 out of the window myself 
 
 The mysterious influence held me back, but the 
 stupendous curiosity that had taken possession of 
 me made it of little account. I fell on my hands 
 and knees and began to crawl painfully across the 
 cabin floor. 
 
 Twice I slid back against the wall. Twice I ex- 
 perienced that feeling of impotent terror some- 
 times felt in nightmares when one is brought face 
 to face with some dread mystery never seen by 
 waking eyes. The third time I succeeded, by 
 clutching hold of the furniture, in dragging myself 
 over to the opposite side of the apartment. Then 
 I stood up and looked out through the circular 
 window. 
 
52 Aci^oss the Zodiac 
 
 Were we on the sea ? 
 
 There was no sea visible. 
 
 On the earth ? 
 
 There was no earth in sight — nothing but the 
 most intense blackness strewn with those myriads 
 of powdered jewels — they couldn't be stars. No 
 stars, seen through our terrestrial atmosphere, were 
 ever so steady or so invariable in brilliancy. The 
 displacement of sheets of air, by heat or other 
 causes, produces that intermittent wavering which 
 we call twinkling, and which, in this case, was 
 totally absent. Besides, there are limits to the 
 number of visible stars even on the clearest night. 
 Here there were certainly none. Above, beneath, 
 stretched a universe of silvery gems, a perfect 
 ocean of diamond-dust, with here and there a ruby, 
 an emerald, or a sapphire. 
 
 Some inkling of the tremendous truth must have 
 dawned on me, for my heart began to beat fearfully 
 as I dropped, helpless and gasping for breath, on 
 a magnificently-upholstered lounge that lay in- 
 vitingly near. 
 
 The sound of a key turning in the lock attracted 
 my attention. The door swung open and two men 
 entered. 
 
 ' Where are we ? ' I panted. ' For God's sake tell 
 me where I am.' 
 
 ' Calm yourself, sir. You are among friends, 
 and in no danger whatsoever,' answered the younger 
 man, in a soft voice. 
 
 Then he turned and said some words to his com- 
 panion in a language quite unintelligible to me — I 
 think it must have belonged to the Magyar or 
 Slavonic branches. The words expressed a com- 
 mand of some kind, for the elderly man, a sturdy, 
 sailor-like individual with grey hair and beard, 
 turned on his heel without a word and shuffled out 
 of the door, leaving us alone. 
 
Dura Gravitas 53 
 
 The young man, evidently the commander and 
 owner of this strange vessel, bent over me, and, 
 with a look of sympathy in his dark eyes, inquired, 
 in very good English, how I felt. 
 
 I paused before answering. This unknown 
 individual was one of the most beautiful men I 
 had ever seen. In age, he might have been any- 
 thing between twenty-five and forty. A massive 
 forehead, indicative of great intellect, over which 
 curled wavy masses of silky black hair, a face, oval 
 and perfectly chiselled as that of the Delphian 
 Apollo, and a pair of large, poetic eyes, intensely 
 blue and piercing, like globes of deep sapphire, 
 went to make up a type of male loveliness, that 
 I might perhaps have dreamed of in romance, or 
 read of in legendary fairy tales, but never seen 
 face to face in flesh and blood. I remember at 
 the time it struck me that no woman ever was 
 half so fair, and yet — with all its perfect loveliness 
 and lofty purity, there was something wanting — . 
 I could not say what just then, but I knew it later. 
 
 A genius, and a poet ! Truly I had gone far to 
 find such a combination. Goethe, in his most in- 
 spired moments had never looked like that ! No 
 Lohejigrin had ever glided on swan wings across 
 the dreams of a great master ; no Parsifal had up- 
 held the sacred cup with such divine fire in his 
 eyes. Yet there was something wanting. I felt 
 that between us was a barrier that nothing could re- 
 move. The stranger's beauty, after moving me to 
 awe and admiration, left me cold and unsympathetic. 
 
 Huldebrand might have regarded thus the chilly 
 water-nymph, Undine, or Pygnialio7i his Galatea 
 of icy marble. It was not human, and, despite the 
 great soul that struggled through those dark blue 
 eyes, it — strange though it may seem — ^jarred on 
 me disagreeably. 
 
 My scrutiny of this superior order of mortal 
 
54 Across the Zodiac 
 
 must have been somewhat long, for he repeated 
 his question in a tone of impatience. I put my 
 hand to my head with a dazed gesture. 
 
 'Oh! I'm pretty well,' I stammered; 'but it 
 looks as though I had been rather ill.' 
 
 The stranger laughed musically. 
 
 ' Oh ! that is not surprising,' he said, with a 
 smile. ' And now, pray, whom have I the honour 
 of addressing? ' 
 
 I told him, giving a history of myself and my 
 companions, and an account of our trip to Iceland, 
 which had so nearly culminated in a fearful disaster. 
 Then I started up, and, with anxiety in my voice, 
 asked for news of my companions. 
 
 'Your companion, you mean,' corrected the 
 stranger. * Mr Ned Hatton is confined to his 
 cabin as yet, but I think he will pull through. 
 If there were any others, I fear they have perished.' 
 
 So the learned professor had succumbed. 
 Perhaps it was not surprising, taking it all in all. 
 Like a second Empedocles, he had found a fiery 
 grave. Any grief that I might have experienced 
 at the news of my companion's end was, however, 
 very nmch softened, not to say annihilated, by the 
 overwhelming curiosity I experienced respecting 
 my own miraculous escape. 
 
 ' Where are we now ? ' I asked almost breath- 
 lessly. 
 
 * On board the Astrolabe^, answered the stranger. 
 
 ' You are the owner of this vessel ? ' I continued, 
 inwardly longing to put a decisive question, but for 
 some reason or other fearing to do so. 
 
 ' I am both owner and captain,' replied the young 
 man, with a proud flash of his dark blue eyes. 
 
 ' We are in — Iceland ? ' I queried. 
 
 He shook his head and smiled. 
 
 ' Iceland is a long way off I fear by now. I can- 
 not even say that we are in Europe.' 
 
Dura Gravitas 55 
 
 ' Where on earth are we, then ? ' I asked fear- 
 fully. 
 
 'In space,' answered the blue-eyed stranger, 
 'nearly a hundred and fifty thousand miles from 
 the earth. If you are acquainted with the use of 
 nautical and astronomical instruments, no doubt 
 you will be able to verify the matter yourself soon. 
 The calculation is not a difficult one.' 
 
 I stared. The captain's statement was not so 
 overwhelming as it would have been had not some 
 suspicion of the truth already crossed my mind 
 during that brief glimpse through the window. I 
 shrugged my shoulders slightly. Of what use was 
 it to doubt, when the immediate future would 
 decide whether the stranger were speaking the 
 truth or not. . . 
 
 ' You have been ill, I see ' continued he, pomtmg 
 to the floor and to the couch, where patches and 
 stains of blood were visible, ' but it is altogether a 
 strange matter that you are not smashed to atoms, 
 instead of being alive and in the full enjoyment of 
 your five senses. There is nothing bad in the 
 universe, but that it might have been worse.' 
 
 The captain had chosen a strange moment for 
 uttering this philosophical platitude. 
 
 ' I owe you my life,' 1 said simply, ' and the 
 thought that I may never be able to repay the 
 service is more galling to me than fifty illnesses. 
 He bowed slightly, then continued, — 
 ' I was travelling across Iceland at the rate of 
 a hundred miles an hour only, when your balloon 
 obstructed my path. You were caught up by us, 
 and carried along for a distance of ten or twelve 
 miles, at least, before we were able to take you on 
 board. I fear the curious effects of gravity, which, 
 doubtless, you must have noticed already, have 
 given you cause for anxiety.' 
 I smiled and nodded faintly. 
 
56 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' There is really no danger,' he said apologetic- 
 ally, * and you will soon be accustomed to the 
 peculiarities of my vessel. Fortune has favoured 
 me as well as you, if only for the reason that my 
 Icelandic crossing has secured me a learned com- 
 panion — but come, you must be hungry. Our 
 breakfast awaits us in the saloon, if you will be 
 so kind as to give me your arm — perhaps you 
 would like some hot water first though — please 
 make yourself at home.' 
 
 The captain touched an electric bell. A liveried 
 servant appeared with a copper can. What my 
 new acquaintance called the 'curious effect of 
 gravity' was still at work. The water did not 
 rest at the bottom of the basin, but inclined to 
 one side. I had to hold on to the marble slab to 
 prevent myself falling backwards. As the water 
 touched my face I gave a cry. No wonder ! 
 All the skin was burnt off one side of it. 
 
 ' Let me give you some vaseline,' said the 
 captain, politely, ' it is invaluable for burns and 
 scaldings — there. You will find a brush and comb 
 in the drawer. So — you look better now. Pass 
 your arm through mine — you might fall other- 
 wise. 
 
 He opened the door, and we passed out together. 
 I did not walk, I glided along. It seemed to me 
 even that a positive effort was required to keep 
 on the ground. Every moment I expected to find 
 myself soaring up ceiling-wards. 
 
 We traversed a broad, handsome passage, lit 
 by electric lamps placed at intervals. No doors 
 opened off it, but the walls were tapestried with 
 sombre drapery, relieved here and there by groups 
 of strange weapons, cutlasses, tomahawks, etc., 
 arranged symmetrically, and flashing back the 
 electric light from their polished surfaces. With- 
 out much effort, I might have imagined myself 
 
Dura Gravitas 57 
 
 in the lofty corridor of some baronial castle in 
 Normandy or Poitou. 
 
 At the end of this passage, fully a hundred feet 
 long, I should think, by fifteen high, a curtained 
 door led into a beautifully-furnished drawing- 
 room. 
 
 Vast windows, curved in the oriental fashion 
 and shaded by costly silk blinds, allowed a sub- 
 dued sunlight to linger over the gorgeously- 
 coloured draperies that decked the divans and 
 ottomans. By a curious effect, which I sought in 
 vain to explain, the light penetrated through the 
 windows on one side only — the others might not 
 have existed, for all the light they admitted. 
 
 I had to do with a man whose taste was as fan- 
 tastic as it was luxurious. Colours were mingled 
 indiscriminately, and without any attempt at har- 
 monious arrangement. Blue china vases, adorned 
 with golden dragons, evidently of Chinese origin, 
 reposed on scarlet mats. A magnificent grand 
 piano, draped in grey and gold, was covered with 
 what appeared to be a choice collection of Burmese 
 and Japanese idols. Near the piano, on an inlaid 
 table of ivory and ebony, I noticed several gold 
 crucifixes, a small marble ef^gy of the Virgin and 
 a tiny green statue of the Egyptian Osiris, evidently 
 disinterred from some tomb in far-off Thebes or 
 Memphis. Perhaps the captain's religious beliefs 
 were as mixed as his artistic ideas. Fixed codes 
 were probably as strange to him as they had been 
 to my unfortunate friend, Nordenrother. From 
 the drawing-room we passed into what appeared 
 to be a mingled library and workroom. Several 
 globes stood on pedestals in the corners and the 
 walls, where they were not occupied by book- 
 shelves, were hidden beneath an interesting collec- 
 tion of planispheres and star maps. I recognised 
 Beer and Madlcr's excellent moon-charts, and 
 
58 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Schiaparelli's recently published maps of the 
 planet Mars. 
 
 The captain left me no time for wonder. He 
 opened a door and ushered me into the dining- 
 room. 
 
 It was about twenty feet square, and as lofty 
 as the preceding rooms, that is, about fifteen feet 
 high. The walls were adorned with paintings, let 
 into the panels — historical subjects mostly. Galileo 
 before the Inquisition, Columbus landing on the 
 Bahamas, Sebastian Cabot, Ferdinand Cortes, the 
 Carthaginian Hanno, and a score of others, natur- 
 ally unknown to me. 
 
 ' These men were travellers,' explained my 
 strange companion, ' and I am one with them — 
 — in spirit at least' 
 
 We took our places at the table. The glasses 
 and plates, each bearing the name of the Astrolabe 
 and its device — the winged globe of Ancient Egypt 
 — were standing in a sort of shallow wooden rack, 
 that enabled them to be moved without allowing 
 them to topple over. 
 
 ' Take some of this wine,' proceeded my hand- 
 some companion, handing me a graceful decanter 
 shaped like a parrot with a beak of silver, ' and do 
 not fill your glass too full.' 
 
 I followed his instructions. The wine, like the 
 water a few minutes back, ran up one side of the 
 glass, instead of remaining level, that is, parallel 
 with the table. 
 
 ' It is the attraction of our miserable planet,' 
 put in the captain, with a smile ; ' six or seven hours 
 more will put us out of its reach.' 
 
 I thought I had not heard correctly, and applied 
 myself to the meal in silence. We were served 
 by a solemn domestic, in dark blue livery, whose 
 olive tint and black hair proclaimed his southern 
 origin. The dishes seemed to me to consist mostly 
 
Dura Gravitas 59 
 
 of admirably-preserved meat and vegetables. I 
 recognised the ham of Westphalia, the diminutive 
 sausage of Vienna, more prized than the ' tomacula' 
 of the ancient Romans, some excellent haricots 
 verts, as fresh as if they had been torn from their 
 mother-plant but a ^qvi hours since, Jerusalem 
 artichokes and asparagus. The captain became 
 communicative and entertaining. 
 
 'Yes, professor,' he .said, 'you must have been 
 considerably astonished, on awaking, to find your- 
 self on my boat. There were many curious things 
 which you could not be expected to explain. Ah, 
 sir, you have much to see and much to learn that 
 will be useful to you. Humanity, like moles 
 burrowing in the darkness of the soil, are too apt 
 to judge of the unknown by their knowledge of 
 the known. Their vanity at times carries them 
 so far as to make them believe that the universe 
 was moulded for them, that the earth, with its 
 forests, its oceans, its coal mines, was made solely 
 for their convenience, and for no other purpose — 
 ah, professor, what a foolish thing it is to be 
 a man ! 
 
 I smiled. Certainly no one could accuse this 
 extraordinary being of existing on the same plane 
 with the mediaeval savants whom he professed to 
 despise. 
 
 * Try some of this wine, professor,' he continued, 
 handing me a decanter. ' It is of my own growth, 
 and I can recommend it.' 
 
 1 stared incredulously. 
 
 * Is it possible that you have a vinej^ard on board 
 your vessel ?' I asked in an astonished tone. 
 
 The captain laughed gaily, and his blue eyes 
 danced merrily as he replied, — 
 
 ' No — I am afraid that would be difficult. But I 
 am not wholly an outlaw, sir. From time to time I 
 revisit my native land.' 
 
6o Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' Then you are — ' 
 
 'Roumanian — a native of Transsylvania. Bucha- 
 rest is my town. They are a worthy people, in 
 their way, but ignorant and bigoted — not at all on 
 the same intellectual scale as you or I. Now, pro- 
 fessor, if you have finished, we will begin our journey 
 of exploration round the boat, which, I trust, is to 
 be your home during many a long day. I see you 
 are devoured with curiosity, and curiosity is, to a 
 man in your present situation, of all vices the most 
 excusable.' 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 SOME EXPLANATIONS 
 
 From a small lobby off the dining-room, a stair- 
 case led to the deck. We ascended, the captain 
 still holding me by the arm, as though to prevent 
 my falling. Never shall I forget my sensations 
 when for the first time my eyes gazed on space. I 
 shrank back overwhelmed and horrified. Could 
 any sight ever have equalled this in gloom and 
 grandeur ? 
 
 The deck of the Astrolabe was a covered one, like 
 the second deck of on Atlantic liner. A massive 
 metal covering, seemingly made of polished silver, 
 protected it from end to end, with the exception 
 of two spaces at the bow and stern, which, for 
 purposes of observation, I suppose, were left un- 
 covered. One side of the platform was deluged in 
 sunlight, a sunlight ten times as brilliant as that of 
 the earth, which is necessarily enfeebled and weak- 
 ened by the opacity of our atmosphere — the other 
 side, the one turned towards space, was nothing but 
 
Some Explanations 6i 
 
 a mass of blackness, palely illumined by the light 
 of the stars. 
 
 No light, however powerful, can light up the 
 depths of space. We, living on our little planet, 
 surrounded by two hundred miles of azure air, are 
 apt to argue, from the bright hues of the sky which 
 we daily see above our heads, that space is a per- 
 petual ocean of sunlight. Nothing could be more 
 erroneous. What we see from the earth is merely 
 the reflection of the sun's light on our atmosphere. 
 Beyond that all is darkness, darker than night itself 
 Above me, beneath me, around me, stretched that 
 immense void. The impression of my own in- 
 significance was so overmastering that I could have 
 dropped from sheer fright, had not my attention 
 been suddenly drawn from the horrors of the void 
 to a new object — it was the earth. 
 
 A vast, luminous disc, in size about twelve times 
 the diameter of our moon at her full, hung suspended 
 a little below us, clearly outlined against the inky 
 blackness beyond. No map could have been more 
 plain, no photograph more minute in all its details, 
 continents, peninsulas, islands, all appeared de- 
 lineated against the green oceans with startling 
 accuracy. From the pure snows of the northern 
 pole my eye travelled down over the vast plains of 
 North and South America, here and there veiled 
 by vapoury streaks of cloud, to the'dread Cape Horn, 
 the king of tempests, and the mysterious whiteness 
 beyond, the outlying ice-floes of Graham's Land. 
 
 Half of the Pacific Ocean was enveloped in 
 shadow. The Marquesas Islands were the last 
 landmarks that I could discern — Europe was in- 
 visible, a yellowish patch on the eastern edge of 
 the earth-ball was all I could see of Africa. Down 
 the western half of South America, the snowy 
 Andes made a connected line of white, set off by 
 the golden sands of the burning Atacama Desert. 
 
62 Across the Zodiac 
 
 In the eastern half, the Selvas of the Amazon 
 valley and the grassy plains of Brazil made a huge 
 triangular green patch. It seemed to me that I 
 could even trace the courses of certain rivers — 
 the Parana, the Pilcomayo, the Paraguay and the 
 Uruguay, that giant fourfold sisterhood that mingle 
 their waters to rush together seawards down their 
 long estuary — the Rio de la Plata. I was rapidly 
 losing myself in contemplation of this spectacle, 
 as novel as it was glorious, when a word from the 
 captain of the Astrolabe interrupted my reverie. 
 
 'If you waste all your admiration on the earth, 
 professor,' he said, ' you will have none left to confer 
 on her beautiful satellite — the moon.' 
 
 'The moon?' I exclaimed, for I had entirely 
 forgotten the existence of that valuable luminary. 
 ' I see no moon.' 
 
 ' It is above your head,' answered the captain. 
 
 A revolution took place in my mind. I rushed 
 to the edge of the platform and craned my head 
 upwards. 
 
 Yes — there it was. Mountains, plains, valleys, 
 all complete. A shining semicircle that seemed to 
 cover nearly a quarter of the heavens. 
 
 ' It must be uncomfortable craning your neck like 
 that,' remarked the captain. ' We will turn the 
 Astrolabe round on her axis — then you will be 
 able to contemplate the dead world at your leisure 
 in a horizontal position.' 
 
 He approached the stairway, and called down 
 what appeared to be a speaking tube. Then a 
 wonderful thing followed. 
 
 Sun, earth, stars began to revolve around our 
 vessel in a semicircle — at least the sun, moon and 
 stars did, the earth, being almost directly behind the 
 Astrolabe's stern, kept her position nearly. Slowly 
 the sun rose higher and higher, the shadow of the 
 upper deck crept regularly across the width of the 
 
Some Explanations 63 
 
 vessel, till we were plunged in comparative dark- 
 ness — I say comparative, for the reflected light 
 from the moon's gigantic semicircle, illumined us 
 with a clear cold radiance, like an electric beacon. 
 We ourselves experienced not the slightest sensa- 
 tion from the turning movement. One might have 
 almost thought that the universe was revolving 
 round us. Clearly it was as impossible to ' fall off' 
 the Astrolabe as off the earth. The surprise which 
 this new aerial evolution might have caused me 
 was swallowed up in contemplation of the glorious 
 lunar landscape, which was now almost on a level 
 with my eyes. 
 
 One-half of the disc was, as I have said, com- 
 pletely enveloped in shadow. It was only by the 
 occultation of the shining star-dust behind that I 
 could guess of its existence. 
 
 On the southern border, Tycho, with its gigantic 
 crater and radiating valleys, appeared sharply 
 defined under a noonday sun, like some vast 
 centipede with limbs outstretched in all directions. 
 Beneath it, rising in regular order from the Sea of 
 Clouds, came the three craters, Arrachel, Alphonse 
 and Ptolemy, beautiful in their uniform and mathe- 
 matically constructed circumferences. The Sea of 
 Tranquillity, the Sea of Storms, and the Rainy Sea 
 appeared like black patches on a yellowish ground. 
 I noticed, too, that the mountains on the western 
 edge of the lunar disc were as clearly and sharply 
 defined as those in the centre — a fact that can only 
 be accounted for by the absence of an enveloping 
 atmosphere, which would, owing to the obliquity of 
 the angle, tend either to veil or refract the details. 
 
 It then struck me to ask the captain whether he 
 had ever set foot on the moon, and if so, whether 
 he had found traces of any atmosphere. 
 
 ' Only in the valleys, professor,' he answered. 
 ' Air possesses sufficient weight, as you know to 
 
64 Across the Zodiac 
 
 make it, like water, seek its own level. The 
 higher summits are as devoid of breathable air as 
 the bell glass of a receiver or the globe of an 
 incandescent lamp. After to-morrow, when we 
 shall be making a promenade across the Sea of 
 Clouds — ' 
 
 I started. Was it possible that we were going 
 to land on this lonely planet, where no living 
 creature had set foot during incalculable ages? 
 
 'You will be able to see and verify these facts 
 yourself 
 
 ' Ah, captain ! ' I cried, ' you are certainly a 
 marvellous man. Newton and Galileo were 
 children compared with you ! What a vessel ! 
 What a journey ! I confess I am devoured by 
 curiosity respecting your extraordinary inven- 
 tion. What force keeps you in space? What 
 mechanical agent propels you ? How comes it 
 that I am breathing life-giving air on board, in 
 the midst of a void where till now life has been 
 considered impossible? All these are prodigious 
 mysteries. I feel myself crushed. I am in the 
 position of a man who would fain not believe, 
 and who does not dare to doubt' 
 
 The captain laughed. 
 
 ' There is no such great mystery about my 
 boat,' he said simply, 'and I am sure I shall be 
 most happy to give you as many explanations as 
 you require, if you will kindly follow me into the 
 smoking-room.' 
 
 I cast one last look at the beautiful dead planet, 
 with the geography and physical conditions of 
 which I was destined to become so familiar 
 later on, and descended to the library. The 
 captain drew out a silver cigarette case and 
 placed it on the table. Then he dropped into a 
 chair, motioned me to a seat, and began, — 
 
Some Explanations 65 
 
 * You know, professor, that all bodies floating in 
 space are subject to the laws of gravitation. None 
 can escape — not even the smallest. So powerful 
 and so far-reaching is this force, that two bodies, 
 placed in space at no matter how great a distance, 
 on being released, instantly feel each other's in- 
 fluence across the void, perhaps measured by 
 millions of miles, and, unless diverted from their 
 course by the attraction of some more powerful 
 body, will rush steadily towards each other in a 
 straight line, and eventually collide at a moment 
 which is easily and accurately determinable by 
 the simple laws of dynamics.' 
 
 ' You are also aware that the force of gravita- 
 tion on the surface of any body, that is the force 
 with which extraneous bodies are attracted towards 
 its centre, bears a direct proportion to its mass, 
 density and volume. Thus on the earth, objects 
 allowed to fall from a height of, say a hundred 
 feet, traverse, under the influence of her attraction, 
 nearly five metres during the first second of their 
 fall ; on Mars, owing to the inferior size of the 
 planet, this distance would be reduced to one and 
 three-quarters metres ; on the sun, largest and most 
 powerful of all our neighbours, it would be aug- 
 mented to a hundred and thirty-four metres; 
 lastly on the moon, the distance would only 
 amount to some eighty centimetres. These are 
 the eternal laws of Nature, which nothing can 
 annul or destroy — nevertheless, by exerting a 
 little of that ingenuity of which we human atoms 
 are so justly proud, we may be enabled, if not to 
 destroy Nature's laws, at least to overcome their 
 effects for a short time.' 
 
 ' What ? ' I almost gasped, ' you have succeeded 
 in annulling gravity?' 
 
 ' I did not say so,' answered the captain some- 
 what coldly ; * but if you will listen to me you will 
 
 E 
 
66 Across the Zodiac 
 
 learn that, without exactly annihilating gravitation, 
 I am enabled, by a very simple mechanical contriv- 
 ance^ to produce, for a short time at least, that 
 inertia on the part of my vessel which might be 
 taken by the ignorant to indicate a complete 
 insensibility to natural laws of weight and 
 motion.' 
 
 ' I am all attention, captain.' 
 
 ' In fact, professor, if I cannot exactly construct 
 a ship to fly through space like a meteor or aerolite, 
 I can at least design one that will remain motion- 
 less, or nearly motionless, while the planets, together 
 with their satellites, move to and fro, above it, be- 
 neath it, or around it.' 
 
 A light broke on me all of a sudden. So we 
 were motionless in space ! The stupendous dis- 
 tance we had traversed amounted to nothing ! It 
 was the earth that had moved — not we ourselves ! 
 
 'The peculiarities of rapidly-revolving discs,' 
 pursued the captain, 'have been long observed 
 and studied by men of science in both hemis- 
 pheres. Their strong disinclination to change 
 the position of their axis has been the basis of 
 modern warfare, in a sense. Rifled cannon have, 
 thanks to this peculiarity, brought about an im- 
 portant change in many national relationships, 
 and if, thanks to the savagery inherent in man, 
 the wise decrees of a Higher Power have been 
 made to inflict suffering on thousands, it is only 
 a fitting compensation that the brain of a thinker 
 should have been permitted to bring them into 
 action in another and more peaceful manner.' 
 
 The captain, besides being a scientist, was evi- 
 dently a bit of a philosopher as well. 
 
 'Years ago,' he continued, 'while engaged in 
 making some curious experiments with revolving 
 metal discs in my laboratory at Bucharest, it 
 struck me that a combination might be possible. 
 
Some Explanations 6^ 
 
 which would not only assure the resistance of 
 the various discs to any change in the direction 
 and inclination of their axes, but also their resist- 
 ance to any change of position in space.' 
 
 ' What ? ' I cried, ' is such a combination pos- 
 sible ? ' 
 
 'The Astrolabe, sir,' answered my instructor, 'is 
 a visible and tangible proof of its possibility. I do 
 not say much respecting the efficiency of these 
 arrangements, but such is the rapidity with which 
 our earth and the solar system generally, is 
 hurled through space, that even a very low per- 
 centage of efficiency is sufficient to enable us to 
 travel, apparently, at a rate of from one to a 
 hundred thousand miles an hour.' 
 
 ' But, captain,' I objected, * it is not alone the 
 revolving discs that keep their position in space 
 — the whole mass of our vessel is depending on 
 them.' 
 
 ' That is why the efficiency is so low,' replied the 
 captain ; ' without being able to tell you exactly 
 the percentage of perfection reached, I can never- 
 theless affirm that it is not lower than ten and not 
 higher then twenty per cent. — counting absolute 
 immobility as a hundred.' 
 
 I felt dazed, and buried my face in my hands 
 My companion laughed and lit a cigarette. 
 
 * Why — then,' I faltered, ' how fast does the earth 
 move ? ' 
 
 ' Oh — some tens of millions of miles per hour,' 
 answered the captain. ' You know, professor, that 
 I am not alluding only to the annual journey round 
 the sun.' 
 
 * Then you are referring to — ' 
 
 ' The motion of the entire solar system towards 
 the constellation of Hercules — not only that, but 
 also the vast orbit traced by the colossal unknown 
 sun round which our sun is revolving. In fact, pro- 
 
 '^*^- 
 
68 Across the Zodiac 
 
 fessor, motion is endless in the universe. Nothing 
 is at rest — everything moves, falls, dashes through 
 space with inconceivable velocity. There is no 
 centre, no border, no middle, no end — it is Infinity. 
 We revolve round the sun, it revolves round another 
 sun, which in its turn is doing the same thing. 
 All the forces, added and combined, make a total 
 displacement on the part of our insignificant atom 
 of a world, of which the smallest percentage is an 
 infinite number of miles per hour almost. You 
 will understand, then, that the efficiency of my 
 machines need not necessarily be very high.' 
 
 ' It is marvellous,' I answered, ' but how do you 
 direct your course ? ' 
 
 ' I do not direct my course — I allow it to shape 
 itself,' was the answer. ' Bodies are continually 
 crossing and intercrossing each other in space. 
 What is to prevent me stopping or diminishing 
 the revolutions of my discs when I wish to be 
 attracted by any planet ? ' 
 
 I stared. It was difficult to doubt this man, 
 when the visible proofs were about to unfold them- 
 selves before me. 
 
 'And your air — your atmosphere,' I ventured 
 timidly, ' how can we breathe, travelling through a 
 vacuum ? ' 
 
 'Just in the same way as the earth breathes,' 
 answered the captain, with a smile. ' We carry our 
 atmosphere along with us.' 
 
 ' But this atmosphere must be fearfully rarefied.' 
 
 ' Well, and I do not pretend that it is up to the 
 standard of terrestrial density. Your own incon- 
 venience and suffering when you awoke this morn- 
 ing after a swoon of nearly thirty hours might have 
 guided you to a knowledge of its rarefaction. 
 Nevertheless it is dense enough to exist in. A 
 man can accustom himself to nearly anything in the 
 way of atmospheric variations. In Chili and in 
 
Some Explanations 69 
 
 Peru there are villages whose inhabitants live and 
 make merry at an altitude which would suffocate 
 an Englishman or Dutchman nearly. It is an affair 
 of habit entirely.' 
 
 'You store air under pressure then, captain?' 
 
 ' Professor, ordinary mechanical appliances per- 
 mit me to compress atmospheric air into one- 
 hundreth of its volume. My reservoirs, made, not 
 of iron, but of aluminium, as being lighter and more 
 suitable for my purpose, besides not being liable to 
 rust, are placed in the centre of the vessel. As 
 they are fully a hundred feet in length, the amount 
 they are capable of storing at one time is enormous. 
 The number of cubic feet must be reckoned by 
 millions. On reaching the higher regions of space, 
 the taps are opened, and the enclosed air dilTuses 
 itself about the AstrolabeXxV^ a transparent aureole. 
 I might add that, as most gases are non-conductors 
 of heat and cold, this protecting envelope does 
 much to mitigate the low temperature of space, 
 which, as doubtless you are aware, is twenty or 
 thirty degrees below zero in reality.' 
 
 ' Bravo, captain ! But does not this air tend to 
 dissipate itself in space ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not — no more than the terrestrial at- 
 mosphere. The attraction of the Astrolabe keeps it 
 in place. If I were to approach too near any of 
 the planets or their satellites, the case might be 
 terribly different. This difficulty, however, is got 
 over by my taking care to absorb my own atmos- 
 phere directly the approach of any large body, 
 planet, meteor, or comet is signalled. The pumps 
 are started, and the air is pumped back into the 
 reservoirs, where it is quite safe. The doors are 
 closed, and we live a simple life below deck till the 
 danger is past.' 
 
 ' Nothing could be more simple,' said I. ' It is 
 the principle of a snail retiring into his shell on a 
 
yo Across the Zodiac 
 
 grand scale. But does not the air tend to become 
 exhausted ? ' 
 
 * And what if it does ? Caustic potash to absorb 
 the carbonic acid, and a supply of compressed 
 oxygen gas to rekindle its life-giving properties, are 
 all that is necessary.' 
 
 ' I have no more arguments left,' I said rising, 
 * there is nothing for me to do but to confess my- 
 self vanquished in an encounter with a superior 
 mind. The nature of this marvellous craft, its 
 machinery, its fittings, its interior decorations, all 
 excite my curiosity and imagination. Were I to 
 presume to ask you for a sight of the mysterious 
 engine-room whence its movements are directed, 
 would you refuse me ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not, professor,' replied the captain ; 
 ' learned men need have no secrets from each other. 
 If you will step this way, we will examine the 
 mechanical fittings of the Astrolabe! 
 
 We passed through the splendid drawing-room 
 and along the lofty corridor. The captain tapped 
 the walls at either side. 
 
 ' My air reservoirs are placed behind these parti- 
 tions,' he said. ' The centre of a vessel is the best 
 place for them.' 
 
 ' And the engines — the famous revolving discs ? ' 
 I asked curiously. 
 
 * They are placed in the bow and stern, and along 
 the keel,' answered my companion. ' Even now, 
 under your feet there are a hundred large spinning 
 tops revolving at between two and three thousand 
 revolutions per minute. I might add, that most of 
 them act independently of one another, thus ensur- 
 ing safety in case of accident.' 
 
 ' What astonishes me, sir,' I said, ' is that with 
 such a tremendous expenditure of energy, there 
 should be absolutely no vibration.' 
 
 ' Ah, professor,' replied the captain, ironically. 
 
Some Explanations yi 
 
 'you have evidently not digested the theory of 
 gravitation, or else you have digested it very im- 
 perfectly. What is it that causes an engine, say a 
 two-thousand horse-power one, to shake a vessel ? ' 
 
 ' Its weight — its momentum.' 
 
 ' You mean its weight pure and simple. What has 
 momentum to do with it? Now, on the Astrolabe, 
 the weight of my discs, which on the earth would 
 be considerable, amounts to practically nothing. 
 Light pinions of steel, working in agate sockets, 
 offer practically no frictional resistance whatever. 
 As for the air — they work in vacuo.' 
 
 I stared. The captain's explanations were each 
 more striking than the last. Science evidently 
 offered few insoluble problems to this strange 
 being. 
 
 At the end of the corridor a curtain of thick 
 chintz admitted us to the habitable part of the 
 Astrolabe. Doors opened on the right and left. 
 A manservant with mop and broom was engaged 
 in busily tidying the cabin in which I had passed 
 such an eventful night. 
 
 ' I have put your friend next door to you,' ex- 
 plained the captain. * Would you like to pay him a 
 visit? Let us go softly — he may be still asleep.' 
 
 Poor Ned ! So occupied had I been with my 
 own reflections and impressions, that no thought 
 of my faithful comrade had crossed my mind till 
 then. I experienced a feeling of shame as my 
 handsome companion pushed the door open. 
 
 The room was something similar to mine. The 
 same curtains of gathered silk veiling the port- 
 holes, the same basin-stand of red marble, the same 
 swinging couch with blue curtains — everywhere the 
 same lavish magnificence. 
 
 Ned was sleeping peacefully, like a child, his 
 right arm hanging negligently over the side of the 
 couch, his head resting on his left, which was 
 
72 Across the Zodiac 
 
 bandaged carefully, as though he had received a 
 wound. 
 
 ' A mere skin-deep affair/ said the captain softly, 
 in answer to a questioning look of mine. ' You both 
 had a narrow shave for it. I can really hardly 
 understand how you are alive now. Had our speed 
 been greater than it was, we would have gone clean 
 through your balloon instead of carrying it along 
 with us — now come and leave your friend to his 
 slumbers.' 
 
 We left the apartment and continued our ex- 
 ploration of the Astrolabe. A beautifully-fitted 
 bathroom attracted my attention. The polished 
 taps and pipes of aluminium stood out in bold 
 relief against the slabs of variegated stone which 
 lined the walls. 
 
 ' We use our water over and over again,' explained 
 the captain. ' It is distilled and redistilled, thus 
 rendering it unnecessary to carry more than a 
 certain quantity. Otherwise the consumption 
 would be enormous.' 
 
 ' Certainly,' I said, ' but does not the coal you 
 burn take up space as well as water? ' 
 
 ' Coal ? What do we need coal for ? ' 
 
 ' For distilling the water of course.' 
 
 ' Our water, once used, is conducted by a series 
 of copper pipes into a small boiler. Here the solar 
 heat, which on the Astrolabe is considerable, owing 
 to the thinness of our atmosphere, is brought to 
 play on it by a system of mirrors and reflectors. 
 The heat thus distributed over the surface of the 
 boiler is sufficient to vaporise a cubic foot of water 
 in less than a minute. It is a very economical 
 system — here is the engine-room.' 
 
 A large quadrangular apartment, open at the 
 top, was revealed. The engines, of the six-cylinder 
 type, and strongly built, were placed to work 
 vertically, like those of a screw steamer. At 
 
Some Explanations J^t 
 
 present they were motionless. Not a sound was 
 audible save the faint whirring of the discs beneath 
 the floor. Surprise and wonder were again taking 
 possession of me. 
 
 ' We use neither steam nor gas,' said my com- 
 panion, indicating the massive cylinders with a 
 wave of his hand, * they would not be sufficiently 
 powerful. Pyroxyline is the agent employed. 
 Mixed with ordinary cotton, to prevent its bursting 
 the shell by a too rapid combustion, it gives a 
 power which nothing else can equal. Those levers 
 over there serve to connect the discs with the 
 engine, when it is necessary to set them in motion. 
 A simple multiplying gear of cogged wheels assures 
 rapidity. A high rate of speed being once attained, 
 the discs are disconnected b)' a stroke of the lever, 
 the air is exhausted from the tunnel in which they 
 work — we are off.' 
 
 ' And how long do the discs continue to revolve 
 without bringing the engines to bear on them 
 again ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' About a year and a half,' answered the captain 
 — ' quite that. Owing to the absence of both air 
 and gravity. Were it possible to completely ex- 
 haust all air, and to do away with the infinitesimal 
 friction of the pinions, they would revolve for 
 ever ! ' 
 
 ' Ah, captain ! your wonderful contrivances inspire 
 me as much with pity for the humanity that ignores 
 them, as with admiration for the genius of the man 
 that called them into existence.' 
 
 My companion smiled bitterly. 
 
 ' Perhaps if I were to give my discoveries to the 
 world,' he said, in a low tone, his blue eyes grow- 
 ing large and vague, like those of a man in a 
 reverie, ' I should run some risk of ill-treatment 
 in recompense for my trouble. W^ho knows? 
 Galileo was not the only man that suffered for 
 
74 Across the Zodiac 
 
 possessing too much knowledge. Wisdom is at 
 times a dangerous possession, and never more so 
 than when it aims at the enlightenment and eleva- 
 tion of a foolish humanity.' 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A FEW DAYS ON THE MOON 
 
 Ned Hatton awoke late in the afternoon. Never 
 shall I forget the surprise of my worthy friend 
 when he found where he was, and whither he was 
 going. A deluge of questions poured from his 
 lips, most of which I was able to answer but 
 imperfectly. What was the captain's name, his 
 nationality, his age? When did he calculate 
 returning to earth ? What was our exact where- 
 abouts ? Could one get anything to drink on 
 board? This last request was not so difficult to 
 gratify. I rung the bell and called the steward, 
 whom Ned immediately began to pump. It was 
 no use. The man was a diplomatist, and though 
 he spoke French perfectly, as also did Ned, he 
 would give us no information on any subject relat- 
 ing to the captain's name or origin. 
 
 At least he could tell us where we were. 
 
 As far as he knew, we were seventy thousand 
 miles from the moon — he had heard the chief 
 engineer say so about an hour ago. 
 
 Ned whistled lugubriously, and laughed. 
 
 ' I'll believe it when I see it,' he said. ' Now get 
 me something to drink please, for I'm dying of 
 thirst' 
 
 The steward bowed, vanished and returned with 
 a bottle of some wine, resembling claret, which he 
 handed to us on a salver. 
 
A Few Days 07t the Moon 75 
 
 ' By Jove ! ' exclaimed Ned, whom the sight of a 
 bottle evidently moved to greater enthusiasm than 
 any amount of scientific prodigies, ' these people are 
 uncommonly civil. What a pity we don't even 
 know the captain's name.' 
 
 This last remark was understood by the discreet 
 servant, who gracefully drew a visiting-card from 
 his pocket, which he handed us with another low 
 bow. I read : — 
 
 CArXAIN Chlamyl, 
 
 Commander of the 'Astrolabe.' 
 
 'Chlamyl — Chlamyl,' repeated Ned, tossing off a 
 glass of wine and replacing the glass carelessly on 
 the table, whence it bounded merrily, rolling away 
 across the floor like a conjuring trick, ' Chlamyl — 
 what an outlandish name. Here, let's get up and 
 dress — good Lord ! Hold me up ! What the 
 devil's the matter with me ? ' 
 
 Truly poor Ned must have been strangely con- 
 fused. Aided by the impassive steward, I picked 
 him up and tried to explain matters. It was use- 
 less. Evidently he thought we were playing a 
 practical joke on him. 
 
 ' Look here, Ned,' I said at length, when we had 
 propped him up on the bed and persuaded him to 
 keep quiet for a minute or two, ' do you see this 
 penknife ? ' 
 
 Ned, with a grunt, admitted that he did see it. 
 What's more, it belonged to him. Didn't I re- 
 member having borrowed it to sharpen a pencil 
 about a week ago ? Why the devil didn't I, etc., 
 etc. 
 
 'Look, Ned — now, I'm going to let it fall.' 
 
 And the penknife sailed away gently at an angle 
 of some forty-five degrees. 
 
 Ned shook his head. 
 
']6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' I believe I'm drunk,' said he. ' The cap.'s 
 claret is infernally strong.' 
 
 ' Why, you pig-headed old silly ! ' I burst out, 
 getting exasperated, ' if you don't believe me, look 
 out of the window. It's just over your head.' 
 
 He did as he was told and turned to me with 
 his eyes starting out of his head. 
 
 ' Good G — d, man ! Look ! Just look ! ' he said 
 hoarsely. 
 
 ' I know, I know. I've been admiring the 
 spectacle for the last half-hour myself. Give 
 yourself a wash and brush up, and we'll go on 
 deck — hurry your stumps a bit. The captain '11 
 be curious to see you.' 
 
 Ned had the sense to do as he was told. Several 
 times he was in danger of coming a cropper, but 
 he persisted manfully, and at last succeeded in 
 making himself look presentable. 
 
 We passed down the corridor, through the 
 drawing-room, library and dining-room, Ned 
 stopping several times on the way to testify 
 his admiration for some beautiful work of art 
 or handsome piece of furniture. On deck we 
 found the captain, seated in a cane chair, smoking 
 a cigarette. He rose and greeted us affably. 
 
 'Well, professor — so you have found your friend. 
 I trust Mr Hatton has not suffered too much from 
 the novel forces at work around him, or, at least, 
 that the marvels which he will witness on board this 
 vessel may compensate, in some measure, for any 
 inconvenience he may have had to put up with.' 
 
 Ned grasped the captain's hand. 
 
 ' It is wonderful ! ' he said simply. 
 
 The moon's disc had grown enormously since 
 the morning, and no wonder, for we had traversed 
 a matter of thirty thousand miles in the last four 
 hours. I pointed out to the astonished Ned 
 the various geographical landmarks known to 
 
A Few Days on the Moon jy 
 
 astronomers — the crater of Tycho, the Sea of 
 Dreams, the lunar Apennines, the mysterious 
 region between the Ocean of Vapour and the 
 Sea of Tranquillity, supposed by some learned 
 men, notably by the celebrated M. Flammarion, 
 to be covered with a growth of lunar vegetables. 
 Ned was in ecstasies. Captain Chlamyl corrected 
 my remarks, or refuted them as the case might 
 be — always in a tone of studied and perfect 
 amiability. 
 
 It then possessed my genial companion to ask 
 the captain whether or no the moon was in- 
 habited. 
 
 'Life is not wholly extinct yet,' replied the 
 commander, 'but you will not find the last 
 remnants of a dying fauna particularly interest- 
 ing. Snakes burrow in the sand and tortoises 
 creep along the edge of the marshy pools.' 
 
 ' Then there is water there ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' Only in very small quantities,' answered the 
 captain, ' no large amount could exist in such a 
 rarefied atmosphere. Perhaps you have already 
 noticed the low temperature at which water boils 
 on the Astrolabe. It is in a normal state of 
 evaporation.' 
 
 ' Then how do you manage about the cooking ? ' 
 asked Ned, whose mind was essentially practical. 
 
 * The food is enclosed in boiler-like metal 
 cylinders, surrounded with a network of platinum 
 wire, through which flows a powerful current of 
 electricity. The small amount of water present 
 in the preserved meats is thus evaporated and 
 the food is cooked in its own vapour.' 
 
 'But about the moon,' I continued, 'have you 
 found on its surface any traces of intellectual 
 man ?' 
 
 'Traces there certainly are, professor, but the 
 last survivors of the Selenite race must have 
 
yS Across the Zodiac 
 
 perished over a hundred thousand years ago. 
 The feeble atmosphere of the planet alone pre- 
 serves the more venerable ruins from decay. 
 To-morrow at 9 a.m., if all goes well, we will 
 make our landing, and you will see things for 
 yourself. Are you fond of music, professor ? ' 
 
 * I adore it, captain.' 
 
 ' Then let us go down to the drawing-room. I 
 fear Mr Hatton is beginning to feel cold, and I 
 should not like him to mar his lunar trip by a 
 preliminary attack of influenza. Do you like 
 Wagner ? I will play you the prelude of Parsifal! 
 
 A few minutes later we were seated among the 
 silken cushions of the divans, under the soft electric 
 light. Captain Chlamyl took his seat at the piano, 
 and the ethereal harmonies of that wonderful pre- 
 lude floated round us, like a parting message from 
 the world we had left behind. 
 
 At II p.m. I retired to rest, closing the cur- 
 tains of my windows carefully, to shut out the 
 sunlight, which, owing to some new revolution of 
 the Astrolabe on its axis, was tracing dazzling 
 circles on the opposite wall. My slumber for 
 several hours was deep and unbroken. Towards 
 4 a.m. I was awakened by an unaccustomed 
 noise — a rythmic pant that seemed to shake the 
 vessel. We were evidently drawing near the moon, 
 and Captain Chlamyl was taking the precautionary 
 measure of absorbing his atmosphere, storing it at 
 high pressure in the vast reservoirs of aluminium, 
 to prevent the danger of its being attracted away 
 by the lunar mass. I fell asleep again with the 
 fugitive sing-song lullaby of the engines ringing 
 in my ears — then I awoke with a start. Ned was 
 standing over me, a broad smile on his good- 
 humoured face. 
 
 * Wake up, Hal — they're waiting breakfast for 
 
A Few Days on the Moon 79 
 
 you. The captain says he wants you particularly 
 to make haste, as it'll take some time to get our 
 diving-dresses on and we're to start before sunrise.' 
 
 ' Diving-dresses ? ' I said confusedly. Then with 
 a glance at the clock, which indicated a quarter 
 past 8 a.m. ' Do you mean to say the sun isn't 
 up yet ? ' 
 
 ' No ; it doesn't rise here till three in the after- 
 noon. Look slippy ! ' 
 
 I dressed in a hurry and rejoined Ned in the 
 dining-room, where he was having a tcte-a-tcte 
 breakfast with the captain. 
 
 ' Ha, professor ! ' said the latter heartily, ' better 
 late than never. I was beginning to despair of 
 seeing you. Take some of this macaroni — it's 
 excellent. You see we're obliged to keep the 
 electric light going, on account of its being still 
 dark in these latitudes. Nevertheless, the sight 
 is a fine one. We are crossing the Sea of Sleep. 
 That peak to the north is Mount Macrobus, the 
 one at the other side, far south, is Mount Taruntius,' 
 
 Through the polished glass of the window I 
 beheld a glorious sight. 
 
 Beneath us, at a distance of some five or six 
 miles, lay an interminable stretch of landscape 
 deluged in silvery light, which at first I took for 
 moonlight. A moment's thought, however, re- 
 vealed my error. The moon illumined by the 
 moon ! What a paradox ! No — the flood of light 
 came from our own distant planet, which I per- 
 ceived hanging above, nearly in the zenith, a disc 
 of pale yellow, mottled with green and blue. 
 Under the keel of our vessel, the gaunt mountains 
 seemed to glide away like spectres, vast crescent- 
 shaped shadows, thrown from the circular craters, 
 assumed curiously-distorted forms under the vary- 
 ing perspectives which the Astrolabes rapid speed 
 was continually changing. There were few half- 
 
8o Across the Zodiac 
 
 tones, which require atmospheric reflection to 
 produce them. Nothing but light and shade, 
 pale yellow and silver alternating with black. 
 My heart began to beat excitedly and my hands 
 closed nervously. 
 
 ' Come, come professor, your macaroni will get 
 cold, and as we have far to walk, you must fortify 
 yourself.' 
 
 That brought me out of my trance. I was in a 
 state of absolute ebullition. There were a million 
 things I would like to have said, a million questions 
 I would have liked to ask, but they tripped over 
 one another, and none came as far as my lips. I 
 did the next best thing — I held my tongue and 
 devoured my breakfast with avidity. 
 
 The meal was finished in profound silence. 
 Captain Chlamyl, rising, contemplated the flying 
 landscape for some moments in silence. 
 
 ' We shall be at the base of Mount Archimedes 
 in about half-an-hour,' he said ; * it will be the start- 
 ing point of our excursion. I think, professor, we 
 had better go and put on our diving-dresses. 
 Although I propose a lunar promenade, I cannot 
 create air for us to breathe on the way.' 
 
 ' I thought you said there were animals on the 
 moon, captain,' I ventured to put in ; ' how do they 
 manage? I suppose they require air as well as 
 ourselves.' 
 
 'Quite so, sir — but considerably less. Besides 
 they crawl mostly on the surface of the ground, 
 where perhaps the vital fluid is denser. Anyhow 
 we shall only need our diving-dresses for a short 
 while, till we get into the lower regions. I am 
 going to take you down a volcano, professor, so 
 prepare for something out of the ordinary ! ' 
 
 We proceeded to a room in the crew's quarter, 
 where half-a-dozen men in flannel jackets and 
 corduroy trousers were sitting breakfasting at a 
 
A Few Days on the Moon 8 1 
 
 long wooden table. On our entering, they rose 
 respectfully. 
 
 The captain motioned to them to continue their 
 meal, and gave some orders in the Magyar dialect. 
 Presently two or three diving-dresses were brought 
 in. There were one or two peculiarities about their 
 construction which puzzled me, and I examined 
 them with interest. 
 
 ' You see, professor,' said the captain, ' there are 
 many ways of supplying a diver with air. First, 
 there is the usual way of sending a continual stream 
 down to his nostrils by means of a pump. This, 
 however, attaches him to his vessel, without per- 
 mitting him to move about freely to any great 
 distance. A better system is to carry a knapsack 
 of compressed air with one and use it as required. 
 The idea has already been made use of, and for all 
 practical purposes on our world, it is certainly good 
 enough. Unfortunately, however, it would not do 
 for me. Setting aside the large expenditure of my 
 precious atmosphere, the weight of a heavy metal 
 reservoir would be a great disadvantage — not on 
 the moon it is true, but on other planets where the 
 power of gravity is more intense. The only re- 
 maining alternative, therefore, is to keep purifying 
 the air as fast as I consume it, thus enabling me 
 to consume it over again and again, as long as I 
 please. The system possesses few disadvantages, 
 and is certainly the most profitable for me, both in 
 regard to economy and lightness of the necessary 
 apparatus. 
 
 Here, professor, is a portable cylinder of alumi- 
 nium, constructed to fit on the shoulders, like a 
 knapsack or wallet. The breath from your lungs 
 is made to pass first through a vessel containing a 
 saturated solution of caustic potash. Deprived 
 thus of its poisonous elements, it ascends into the 
 upper part of the cylinder, where it mingles with 
 
 F 
 
82 Across the Zodiac 
 
 an infinitesimal quantity of oxygen from a tiny 
 reservoir. Thus equipped, you are ready for a 
 promenade of at least four hours in atmospheres 
 of any kind, under all manner of strange suns.' 
 
 The captain's explanations now ceased to sur- 
 prise me. I had already had so many proofs of his 
 ingenuity and inventive genuis, that I did not even 
 trouble to express any surprise. Ned Hatton, for 
 whom these mechanical marvels possessed the 
 charm of novelty, stared open-mouthed. 
 
 We encased ourselves rapidly in these splendid 
 dresses, which, I noticed resembled the pattern 
 universally adopted by the French Government, 
 with four lenticular openings, one in front of the 
 eyes, one above, and two at the sides. I drew my 
 first breath somewhat nervously. The air was 
 good and pure — Captain Chlamyl's invention was 
 certainly a great success. Through the glass of 
 his helmet, 1 saw Ned's eyes laughing at me — the 
 situation was evidently to his taste. 
 
 A sinking movement, followed by a slight shock, 
 told me that the Astrolabe had reached terra finna. 
 A double door, contrived so as to close in an air- 
 tight manner, conducted us to a ladder — a minute 
 later I was standing on the surface of the moon. 
 
 He who would paint in words even a common 
 terrestrial landscape, a landscape perhaps visible 
 to him every day for a week, a month or a year, as 
 the case may be, yet ofttimes runs considerable 
 danger of shipwreck, but he who would daringly 
 attempt to describe, not a mere earthly scene, but 
 a view supernatural in its awful beauty — the view 
 of a dead world sleeping in the black void of space — 
 may well consider his steps and measure the chance 
 of failure. 
 
 Imagine, then, a vast moonlit plain, airless, life- 
 less, desolate, stretching away to westward for nearly 
 a hundred miles in a straight line, bordered by a 
 
A Few Days on the Moon 83 
 
 chain of lofty needle - shaped hills of bare rock, 
 standing clear, erect and distinct against the black- 
 ness of night, dreaming in an eternal vigil over the 
 deathly plain beneath, with its burnt-out fuma- 
 roles and ghostly crevasses, seamed with twisted 
 flows of stony lava — gre}',yellow and ruby red — their 
 peaks of gneiss or granite assuming here and there 
 the most fantastic shapes — domes, pinnacles, cups 
 or pyramids — in apparent defiance of all the known 
 laws of equilibrium — they were the lunar Apen- 
 nines, that giant range of gaunt peaks beside which 
 their earthly representatives sink into tamest in- 
 significance. 
 
 On the eastern border of this vast plain, which 
 terrestrial astronomers have, not too poetically or 
 too aptly either, named the Sea of Putrefaction, 
 almost above our heads, as it were, towered the 
 gigantic crater of Archimedes, looking like the 
 frowning wall of some giant fortress, equalling Mont 
 Blanc in height and far surpassing it in width of 
 base and wild ruggedness. To the north, at a 
 distance of some fifty miles or so, rose two lofty 
 volcanoes, one behind the other — Aristillus and 
 Autolycus. Although I had many times con- 
 templated them through the eye-piece of a tele- 
 scope, I grieve to say that I failed utterly to 
 recognise them, till Captain Chlamyl came to my 
 aid by pointing them out to me on a seleno- 
 graphical chart which he extracted from the 
 pocket of his dress for the purpose. 
 
 Our party consisted of four men only, the 
 captain, myself, Ned, and one of the Astrolabe's 
 men, a short, thick-set, muscular-looking individual 
 whom I had noticed cleaning the main crank of 
 the engine on the previous day. Our route was 
 evidently well-known to the captain, for he stepped 
 out briskly in the direction of the huge volcano, 
 whose top, though nearly three miles off, yet 
 
84 Across the Zodiac 
 
 seemed, so colourless and transparent were the 
 lunar solitudes, to be almost within reach of one's 
 hand. Presently the Astrolabe^ with its rows of 
 luminous port-holes, was lost to view among the 
 myriads of small craters and volcanic monticules 
 that dotted the plain on either side. 
 
 Some of these burnt-out seats of Plutonian energy 
 were several hundred yards in diameter, others were 
 no bigger than the basin of an Icelandic geyser. 
 Sometimes, by way of shortening our path, we 
 passed through the broken-down lip of these fan- 
 tastic circles, that I could not help likening in my 
 mind to the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre, and 
 scrambled over the precipitous wall at the other 
 side ; not a very difficult task, for the feeble attrac- 
 tion of this lonely satellite made climbing opera- 
 tions of any kind five times easier than they would 
 have been on the earth. The soil was mostly 
 composed of a soft, friable sand, unfavourable to 
 walking exercise, and, I believe, thickly impregnated 
 with alkaline particles, like the desert plains of 
 western America, so dreaded by travellers in that 
 region. 
 
 The walk was conducted in an absolute silence, 
 for it was well-nigh impossible to communicate 
 our thoughts to one another, except by touching 
 our copper helmets together — an inconvenient ex- 
 pedient at best. Not even our footsteps echoed 
 on the ground. Sound needs an atmosphere to 
 propagate it, and here an eighty-one ton gun 
 would hardly have made more noise than a baby 
 derringer. An hour's silent tramp brought us to 
 the edge of a precipice — nearly a mile in width and 
 fathomless, for all I could see. The scene here 
 was one of unparalleled grandeur. Above us 
 towered the great mountain, its yellow tops seem- 
 ing to kiss the stars, at our feet yawned the hideous 
 abyss, streaked in places with veins of red granite 
 
A Few Days on the Moon 85 
 
 and green serpentine, leading down to a world of 
 shadows beneath — a veritable Inferno, grander 
 than that of Dante, at the sight of which many a 
 sleeper might wish to wake, and many a waking 
 man might deem himself dreaming. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl, after following the edge of 
 this crevasse for about ten minutes, commenced to 
 descend it boldly. Casting one final look at the 
 sleeping plain, with our far-off earth hanging 
 above it in the tranquil zenith, I screwed up my 
 courage and plunged after my companions into 
 the gloom. 
 
 Walking here became comparatively easy. 
 Owing to the difference in gravitation, we slipped 
 and slid over abysses which on our own world 
 would have presented insuperable difficulty, or 
 have been quite impossible to traverse. The de- 
 scent, winding and zigzagging in an irregular 
 manner, occupied about an hour. Long before 
 this time we were enveloped in total darkness. I 
 was groping my way along rather helplessly, when 
 suddenly a light shone in my eyes. It came from 
 an incandescent lamp affixed to the captain's 
 helmet. His companion, the engineer of the pre- 
 vious day, bore a similar light. Thus aided, we 
 saw our way without difficulty. 
 
 The precipice, torn in the soil by some terrible 
 volcanic convulsion, I suppose, must have been 
 about a mile deep. We proceeded carefully along 
 its sandy bottom, which I fancy must once have 
 been the bed of a river, and which I noticed was 
 even then crossed here and there by patches and 
 bands of marshy soil — till under some overhanging 
 rocks a dark tunnelopened before us, I shuddered. 
 The scene was becoming positively terrifying. At 
 either side of the path, which was sloping down- 
 wards in a gentle incline, the rocky walls, veined 
 with streaks of shining mica or volcanic obsidian, 
 
86 Across the Zodiac 
 
 reflected the light of our electric lamps in rivulets 
 of soft fire. Stalactites hung from the roof of this 
 tunnel, and several times I saw streams of moisture 
 trickling down its walls. Captain Chlamyl plunged 
 still lower. We must be nearing the heart of the 
 volcano, extinct, no doubt, for some hundreds of 
 centuries. Ned Hatton, whose diving-costume but 
 ill concealed his natural lankiness of figure, kept 
 passing to and fro between me and the captain's 
 light in a most aggravating manner. Once or twice 
 (must I attribute it to a sort of nervousness ?) I 
 heard rumblings and mutterings, and the disquiet- 
 ing thought of an eruption crossed my mind. 
 Finally we stopped abruptly. 
 
 The captain, proceeding to divest himself of his 
 diving-dress, motioned me to do the same. 
 
 A vast portal, hewn out of the living rock, and 
 resembling, in form, the pylon of an Egyptian 
 temple, yawned before us. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A BURIED NATION 
 
 For a moment I felt astonished, then the explana- 
 tion suggested itself to me of its own accord. 
 
 We were nearly two miles beneath the surface 
 of the moon — any atmosphere that there was must 
 perforce linger in the depths on account of its 
 weight alone. Thus, in this dark tunnel, we were 
 once more surrounded by life-giving air. 
 
 ' Place your dresses and helmets on this rock,' 
 remarked the captain, indicating a table-like 
 formation of granite, ' we shall not need them for 
 some hours, torches will be sufficient to light our 
 way.' 
 
A Buried Nation 87 
 
 The air in this place was dull and singularly 
 warm. Captain Chlamyl's companion produced 
 several Ion? sticks of some resinous substance 
 which, on being lit, burned with a clear br.ght 
 
 "^^ow forward into the City of the Dead,' said 
 
 *V;"rt-rilled strangely. Were we going 
 really to explore a hidden lunar town buried 
 the bowels of these wild mountains? Captain 
 Chlamyl had stopped under the vast ga eway. 
 which must have been fully a hund ed feet h.gh^ 
 
 The red torchlight P'^yf ^'^^''^ "Tf %w 
 obliauelv-slanting walls of hewn stone that 
 formed it two sides. Gigantic characters ap- 
 oea^ed cut deeply in the stone like hieroglyphics, 
 fhoucTh thev more resembled the cuneiform 
 wrUing of t'ke Euphrates than the Pharaonic 
 rnscrS^^tions of the ?Jile. Ned g^-P^d -y^^^™ 
 convulsively. Neither of us spoke, the scene 
 was too impressive. Presently the captain's voice 
 
 broke the spell. , , ■^ 
 
 'Some hundred thousand years ago, he sad, 
 ■ the active life on the moon's surface was drawing 
 to its cfose. Water and air, those indispensable 
 requisites of all animated existence, were begin- 
 ning to fail. A certain quantity of them becarne 
 lost%very year, combining chemically wth the 
 rocks or otherwise receding from the suitace. 
 Soon there remained but a few marshy pools 
 where once there had been seas, and the rarefied 
 Z many degrees below zero in temperature, 
 felied to^upply the lungs with the necessary 
 
 ^'"u:dlr°the^'f cumstances a natural emigration 
 towards the deeper regions took place, and this 
 grit city, which I have named Selenopolis, for 
 ?vant of a better name, was the result of that 
 
88 Across the Zodiac 
 
 emigration. As each step in the history of a 
 planet may, and generally does mean a period 
 reckoned by thousands of years, this town appears 
 to have flourished for an age far exceeding that of 
 Thebes or Alexandria. Tentative explorations 
 on the frozen upper plains, accomplished perhaps 
 by means of contrivances no less scientific than 
 those of my own invention, became rarer and 
 rarer. A high degree of civilisation had no doubt 
 been attained, but all its knowledge and power 
 was unable to save a doomed race from extinction. 
 By degrees the needful water began to recede 
 farther and farther into the heart of the dying 
 world. Countless wells, bored doubtless amid 
 inconceivable sufferings and at the expenditure of 
 almost limitless engineering skill (as you will see 
 for yourself) resulted only in prolonging the 
 misery of these buried unfortunates, who thus 
 dwindled from a nation as great as any which our 
 earth can boast of, to a few solitary groups of 
 starving nomads, wandering among the dark 
 aisles, sightless, homeless, hopeless, seeking, per- 
 haps vainly, the offal that was to prolong the 
 mockery of existence, craving for death, yet 
 clinging to life with the tenacity of a poisoned 
 slave, who hugs the cup that is crushing his heart 
 — even faith had left them, for faith needs moral 
 support of some kind, and from which of these 
 sombre abysses were they to draw a knowledge of 
 the Creator's beauty and wisdom ? Finally the 
 end came. Who can tell who the last survivor 
 was — perhaps an aged man, perhaps a new-born 
 babe, clinging to the breast of a dead mother. 
 Ah, professor, that is the final scene in the 
 history of a planet, the last act in the drama of 
 human existence.' 
 
 Then suddenly rousing himself, — 
 
 ' Let us be off,' he said abruptly. 
 
A Buried Nation 89 
 
 We passed on. A broad street of stone, flat 
 and level as the pavement of a Paris boulevard, 
 shone under the light of the torches. Above our 
 heads was intense blackness — the cavern must have 
 been at least a hundred and fifty feet high, if not 
 more. Shadows loomed at the side of the road. 
 They were the ruins of lunar buildings, yellow 
 and crumbling with age. At first I thought they 
 were built of stones united with mortar or super- 
 imposed in the Egyptian fashion. I soon dis- 
 covered my mistake. There was no attempt at 
 building, the houses were hewn bodily out of the 
 solid rock, resembling in their rough simplicity a 
 series of caverns rather than an agglomeration of 
 human dwellings. 
 
 They were windowless for the most part, for of 
 what use would windows have been in that deep 
 gloom ? and their walls were in some places 
 covered with cuneiform writing. I asked Captain 
 Chamyl whether he had ever discovered the key to 
 this strange alphabet. 
 
 ' No, professor,' he replied, ' and I cannot say 
 that I have been very energetic in searching for 
 it. From an antiquarian's point of view it would 
 no doubt present many curiosities, but I am not 
 an antiquarian, and as a scientist merely, I do not 
 believe the translation of these documents, which 
 probably are purely historical, would furnish us 
 with any new facts respecting the laws of Nature.' 
 
 ' And why not, captain ? ' 
 
 ' Because, sir, the moon was a far shorter-lived 
 planet than our earth — its size alone would vouch 
 for that. Discoveries in science are slow, and I 
 fear the poor Selenitcs had hardly time to arrive 
 at any great perfection. They may have reached 
 the period at which we now are on the earth, but 
 they certainly went no further. This writing is a 
 visible proof of that fact.' 
 
90 Across the Zodiac 
 
 I looked at the captain curiously, and fell to 
 examining the inscriptions. The regularly-traced 
 lines crossed and inter-crossed one another, forming 
 many geometrical combinations, which Ned said 
 reminded him of a Chinese puzzle. The more I 
 looked, the less certain I was of finding a solution 
 of the captain's statement. 
 
 ' He means,' vouchsafed Ned, giving me a dig 
 in the ribs with his elbow, ' that no very civilised 
 people would use that kind of barbaric writing.' 
 
 ' More than that. Master Hatton,' answered the 
 captain, smiling. ' I mean that no highly civilised 
 people would write at all ! ' 
 
 ' You astonish me, sir ! ' I said simply. 
 
 ' Why so, professor ? The art of writing, that is the 
 art of expressing one's ideas by certain pre-arranged 
 combinations of signs, is an extremely slow, un- 
 practical and tedious one. The rate at which an 
 ordinary individual writes is rarely more than sixty 
 or seventy words a minute. This excessive and 
 wearisome slowness of the pen has given rise, in 
 the nineteenth century, to a system of shorthand, 
 which enables experts to record thought at over 
 double that rate. The invention of the phonograph 
 has quadrupled the speed nearly, and the peculiar 
 wonders of mesmerism, which may in course of 
 time permit us to impress on others thoughts which 
 are passing through our brains without rendering 
 it necessary to formulate them in words, will do 
 away with slow and elementary writing altogether 
 in course of time — if only the world lives long 
 enough.' 
 
 To this, as to the captain's other statements, 
 it was impossible to invent an answer. We con- 
 tinued our examination of these Selenite dwellings, 
 the doors of which, hewn squarely out of the light 
 rock, were some of them nearly ten feet high, and 
 broad in proportion, thus seeming to endorse the 
 
A Buried Nation 9 1 
 
 theory of certain astronomers, who, arguing from 
 the standpoint of gravity, maintain that the dwellers 
 on the moon surpassed those of the earth in 
 physical stature. 
 
 In the open space outside, resembling a public 
 square, were several wells, enclosed in the remnants 
 of ruined circular walls. Captain Chlamyl pointed 
 to them and looked at me without speaking. 
 Presently a gigantic building confronted us, its 
 vast pillars looming through the darkness like 
 spectres. 
 
 ' A palace,' said Ned to me. 
 
 It was indeed a dwelling worthy of a king. 
 Steps of lava, forty in number, and rather exceeding 
 the height of our steps on the earth, led up to a 
 row of Titanic columns, twenty feet broad at the 
 base and at least two hundred feet high. The 
 torchlight failed to reach their tops, but our sturdy 
 engineer produced a roll of magnesium wire, and 
 in an instant the whole building, with the silent 
 square in front of it, was enveloped in blinding 
 white radiance. The imposing edifice was evi- 
 dently some public building — perhaps a cathedral. 
 The stone had decayed in places, leaving unsym- 
 metrical gaps and holes. In some of the chinks 
 I perceived lichens growing — dull, colourless plants, 
 not differing much from theirearthly representatives. 
 An exclamation from Ned attracted me. 
 
 ' A statue ! ' he said. 
 
 The figure of a man was visible, standing erect 
 in the centre of this vast temple, his arms crossed 
 on his breast. 
 
 Come now ! thought I, we are on the moon, 
 not on the earth, and this figure looks singularly 
 human ! 
 
 The statue was about thirty feet high. It had 
 the head of a monkey, and was dressed in a gown 
 not unlike the Roman toga. To my surprise, I 
 
92 Across the Zodiac 
 
 noticed that the ears were totally absent — at its 
 feet was a circular ball, about five feet in diameter. 
 
 ' A geographer ! ' suggested Ned. 
 
 ' An astronomer/ corrected Captain Chlamyl, 
 * that globe represents the earth ! ' 
 
 We examined this lunar model of our native 
 planet with interest. North and South America 
 Africa and Australia, were drawn with great clear- 
 ness. Europe was less distinct, and the smaller 
 details were lost in the traces of decay that were 
 visible everywhere over the surface of the stone. 
 Time pressed, however — our supply of torches was 
 not too large, and we had a long way to go back. 
 We passed through endless arcades formed by 
 countless columns of lava or granite, up and down, 
 in and out — there seemed to be no end to this 
 vast place, nor indeed, after the first shock of 
 surprise, was it very interesting. 
 
 ' We were born too late, professor,' then said the 
 captain, ' Had we arrived here some five or six thou- 
 sand years earlier, when the world was young and 
 Thebes was still an affair of the future, we might 
 possibly have found something curious — as matters 
 stand now, everything has been long ago consigned 
 to the sarcophagus of antiquity. Nothing can re- 
 sist the encroachments of age, not even in a dry 
 cavern like this. Not a single human bone, not a 
 solitary bar of iron could survive — stop ! listen a 
 moment ! Do you hear anything ? ' 
 
 We halted and stood motionless, our ears on the 
 alert. The torches sputtered and crackled, dropping 
 their burning sparks on the hard pavement. Captain 
 Chlamyl's finely Grecian profile appeared cut out 
 against the darkness behind as he peered, with a 
 shade of anxiety on his face, far away into the 
 gathering gloom. 
 
 At first I could distinguish nothing, then after 
 a few moments' listening — a faint rustling sound, 
 
A Buried Nation 93 
 
 like the falling of dried leaves, became audible 
 above the hissing of the torches. I was about to 
 go on, when the commander of the Astrolabe 
 stopped me. 
 
 ' Stay where you are,' he said. ' There may be 
 danger in proceeding. Let me see — have any of 
 you got weapons with you ? ' 
 
 I thrilled with horror. The captain was not a 
 man to speak without a reason. His whole appear- 
 ance had changed. The calm look of abstraction 
 on his face had given place to a certain expression 
 of uneasiness. Yet what could molest us in the 
 heart of a dead world ? 
 
 * Perhaps the volcano — ' began Ned. 
 
 * Oh, bother the volcano ! ' answered the captain, 
 irritably. ' Do you think you could manage to fit 
 between those columns over there?' 
 
 A row of square stone pillars, about eighteen 
 inches apart, rose at some little distance. We 
 directed our steps towards them, the captain leading 
 the way I hazarded another question. 
 
 ' Is it a danger you are acquainted with, cap- 
 tain ? ' 
 
 ' What does it matter ? ' he answered nervously, 
 trying the edge of his long dagger against the palm 
 of his hand. ' Yes — no, it has dogged my steps more 
 than once already, but I never had a fair sight of it 
 — get back and keep quiet ! ' 
 
 We stepped back between the protecting 
 columns, holding our torches well above our heads, 
 and, for my part, I felt decidedly frightened. What 
 could this mysterious peril be that the captain had 
 such a profound dread of? A hideous creeping of 
 my spine made my teeth chatter nervously as I 
 pondered over the chances of my being attacked 
 from the back — but no, not far behind me there 
 was a solid wall of stone that nothing could pierce. 
 I was safe there at least. Our four torches 
 
94 Across the Zodiac 
 
 illumined about fifty yards of pavement in front 
 of us, after that all was grisly shadow. I strained 
 my eyes into the darkness, and a host of vague and 
 unreasonable fancies began to crowd on my brain. 
 
 It was not an eruption that Captain Chlamyl 
 dreaded, not a flood or an avalanche — no, it was 
 something of more material form. A man ? An 
 animal of some kind ? 
 
 I shuddered as I pictured to myself a Cyclops 
 with one burning eye in the centre of his forehead, 
 and a huge club of bronze to pound us with. Could 
 it be a hyena ? Troops of them usually prowled 
 about deserted cities, especially when it was dark. 
 No, it must be some more than ordinarily horrible 
 monster, to provoke such nervous dread in the 
 breast of our usually impassive captain. Visions 
 of supernatural horrors,ghouls, ell-women, vampires, 
 were-wolves, crowded into my mind all at once, 
 and I peered fearfully out into the darkness, while 
 a conviction that we were running a near chance 
 of meeting with some horrible death or other forced 
 itself gradually upon me. 
 
 For some minutes nothing was heard. All that 
 struck my ear was the crackling of our torches and 
 the panting breathing of Ned, who was next me, 
 separated by the column of stone, which was about 
 four feet thick. Then again upon the stillness 
 rose that dreadful creeping sound, like a rustling 
 among dead leaves — a sound as if something were 
 being dragged forcibly along the rocky floor, sweep- 
 ing and scraping the stone in its passage. 
 
 Nearer it came and nearer. Presently my 
 horrified eyes could dimly perceive a vast phos- 
 phorescent object moving slowly along about a 
 hundred yards away. A confused sound of hiss- 
 ing struck my ear, and I pressed back against the 
 wall behind, while I mentally cursed the hour 
 that brought me on this extraordinary journey, 
 
A Buried Nation 95 
 
 and shivered all over like a child in a darkened 
 room. 
 
 The phosphorescent object approached, winding 
 about in a most mysterious fashion. Seventy 
 yards — sixty yards — fifty yards — oh, heavens ! 
 
 Before us, rolling its huge length along the 
 smooth floor, its curved back, white as milk, glisten- 
 ing and shining palely in the light of the torches, 
 was the most gigantic serpent I had ever beheld ! 
 
 It was nearly a hundred feet long. Its huge 
 head, in the form of an isosceles triangle, swayed 
 to and fro as the monster paused to look at us. I 
 heard Ned utter an exclamation of horror, and the 
 blood froze in my veins as I contemplated the 
 possibility of one or all of our number falling a 
 prey to this terrible creature, who certainly would 
 have swallowed a man as easily as a shark would 
 swallow a haunch of bacon — and we were unarmed ! 
 
 Of what use would a pitiful revolver, or a tiny 
 steel dagger, be against this beast, whose scaly 
 armour, for all we knew, might be bullet-proof? 
 
 The vast head, still swaying gently backwards 
 and forwards like a cobra about to strike, advanced 
 nearer, and, in the shadow behind, I saw the huge 
 folds of its body roll after it in wavy undulating 
 rings, the tough, horny scales scraping heavily 
 against the pavement, thus producing that ominous 
 noise that had sounded at a distance like the fall- 
 ing of dried leaves. I then noticed a thing that 
 I had not suspected — the monster was blind ! 
 
 Its triangular head, some four feet across at the 
 base of the neck, was absolutely devoid of eyes. 
 Six long feelers, white and phosphorescent as the 
 rest of the body, waved in the air like the tentacles 
 of a sea-anemone. A forked tongue, nearly a yard 
 in length and split into three equal prongs, shot 
 occasionally from between its closed jaws. Though 
 blind, to all appearances, it seemed aware of the 
 
g6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 presence of light, and shifted its head slowly up 
 and down to drink in this new impression, which 
 was in some way acting on or caressing its deadened 
 optic nerves. A momentary sense of pity shot 
 through me as I contemplated the sightless monster, 
 but a sudden advance of its horrible head dispelled 
 the kindly emotion, which gave place to repulsion 
 and sickening fear. The space between the pillars 
 was not sufficiently large to admit its head, unless 
 it chose to turn it sideways, and even then, I 
 calculated breathlessly, the great jaws would not 
 be able to open more than a few inches. Thus, 
 unless it were able to damage me with its tongue, 
 I was comparatively safe. The moral terror was 
 all I had to fear. I tried to shut my eyes — in vain. 
 A dreadful fascination made me open them again. 
 
 The head came nearer by degrees, contemplating 
 us from a height of about fifteen feet, its pale, 
 flesh-coloured tentacles waving like serpents. A 
 strong odour of musk filled the air, and for a 
 moment I wondered whether or not it was poisonous. 
 The triangular head, one of the characteristic points 
 about venomous serpents, seemed to confirm this 
 belief, and I shuddered as I thought of the agonis- 
 ing death that awaited me if the monster succeeded 
 in touching me with its fangs. Presently, half 
 paralysed with terror, I saw the great head sink 
 lower — lower yet, till it was within a few yards of 
 my face. The triangular jaws advanced, and the 
 triple tongue shot out in the direction of my torch. 
 I pressed back against the wall, my spine creeping 
 with accumulation of horror. The white tentacles 
 gently touched the pillars on either side — they 
 seemed to be armed at their ends with curved claws, 
 like the pincers of a lobster — 
 
 ' Throw down the torch ! ' said a voice, which, 
 even in my extremity of terror, I recognised as 
 that of the captain. 
 
A Buried Nation 97 
 
 I did more. I hurled the blazing stick of resin 
 full in the monster's face. 
 
 A horrible rattling, like the noise of artillery, 
 filled the air, echoing and vibrating down the dark 
 aisles of the deserted square. It was followed by 
 the loud bang of a revolver, and the white coils 
 writhed in gigantic rings, rt>lling hither and thither 
 in knots. A crashing of fallen stones and the 
 sting of dust in my eyes obscured everything for 
 a moment — somebody grabbed my shoulder. 
 
 ' Run for it 1 ' shouted Ned. 
 
 And we did run. Most of the torches had been 
 thrown donn — one was still alight, the captain's. 
 With its flickering trail of sparks to guide us, we 
 hurried and stumbled along, that terrible rattle 
 still ringing in our cars, like a ghostly death-knell. 
 Twenty times I fell, severely bruising my face and 
 arms, and each time I fancied I lelt the long, white 
 fangs imbecided in my flesh. What a chase ! How 
 is it possible to adequately describe the horrors of 
 that flight through the darkness? Once, every 
 joint in our bodies half dislocated, we stopped to 
 take breath. But out of the gloom behind us came 
 that dreadful rustling, telling of the foe on our 
 track. We pressed on, and stopped no more till 
 we reached the gate of the town, more dead than 
 alive. 
 
 The march across those frozen plains was accom- 
 plished in silence, for no sound could pierce the 
 massive helmets of copper. Once Ned, stopping 
 me by a gesture, pointed prophetically towards the 
 eastern horizon. 
 
 Through a gap in the bleak sand hills a bright 
 trail of gi'ldcn light was visible — I understood. 
 
 The sunlight was creeping gradually over the 
 darkened surface of this vanished world, and soon 
 the lunar day, equal to fourteen earthly ones, would 
 
 G 
 
98 Across the Zodiac 
 
 dawn over this silent plain. I nodded my head, 
 and through the thick glass of his helmet, I could 
 see Ned's black eyes sparkling. The adventure 
 had certainly not displeased my worthy companion, 
 who, as explorer and trader, had faced many dangers, 
 quite as great, on our own inhabited planet. As for 
 me, I own I felt considerably shaken. Once or 
 twice I even looked back across the white waste 
 of sand and lava, to assure myself that the monster 
 was no longer following us. 
 
 Hallo ! Where was the captain ? 
 
 He had vanished behind one of the crescent- 
 shaped fumaroles. Ned was staring (open-mouthed, 
 I suppose) at the illuminated mountains in the east, 
 the engineer was engaged in apparently examining 
 the ground at his feet, as a prospecting silver miner 
 reconnoitres the rocks before preparing to sink his 
 shaft. 
 
 ' Ned, you fool ! do you want to lose yourself? 
 Come on ! ' 
 
 1 could not make him appreciate these remarks, 
 but I uttered them to myself, nevertheless, as I 
 stepped up to where my thoughtless companion 
 stood, wrapt in silent meditation. 
 
 A rapid gesture from the engineer attracted the 
 attention of both of us. 
 
 He was staring at some marks in the sand — 
 footmarks ? 
 
 We bent down to make sure. 
 
 Yes. Large, unmistakable footprints — hob- 
 nailed boots with square toes, similar to the ones 
 we were then wearing. 
 
 Perhaps they were our own ? No, they led east- 
 ward, away across the level plain in a regular 
 track, as far as the eye could see. I felt puzzled. 
 The engineer stood like a statue, pointing down- 
 wards with hand outstretched. The vague, distant 
 sunlight, striking through the circular glass plates. 
 
Comets and Meteors 99 
 
 lit up his pale face, which was convulsed with 
 horror. I started. What was the matter ? 
 
 The dark eyes were rigidly fixed on the ground, 
 the lips were bloodless, the teeth set. Never had 
 I seen such a curious expression on the face of a 
 man. Agony, fear and fury were mingled in one 
 diabolical contortion of the muscles. There must 
 be some history behind this. For the moment, so 
 intense was my curiosity, that I would have torn 
 off helmet and dress, regardless of consequences, 
 to deluge the man with questions, to seek a solu- 
 tion of this strange mystery. 
 
 A light, clear as a ray from Aldebaran, shone 
 between two far-off crests of rock — the captain was 
 signalling to us. 
 
 Footprints, mystery, all were forgotten. To be 
 abandoned in this drear}' world would be an awful 
 fate. We ran across the shifting sand in the direc- 
 tion of the light . . . 
 
 An hour later we reached and boarded the 
 Astrolabe — just as the first rays of sunlight were 
 striking on the silent crater of Mount Archimedes. 
 
 IX 
 
 COMETS AND METEORS 
 
 During a great part of the following day I re- 
 mained a prisoner in my cabin, the contusions 
 and wounds on my arms and legs being much too 
 serious to make moving about a pleasure. Ned 
 Hatton, his arm in a sling and his face covered 
 with scratches, came in once or twice to talk to me. 
 What we had passed through was certainly a 
 grisl)' experience, but not sufficient to entirely 
 
lOO Across the Zodiac 
 
 stop our lunar excursions, if Captain Chlamyl 
 did not hurry us away too soon. 
 
 Towards nightfall I began to feel hot and un- 
 comfortable. Attributing my sensations to the 
 general feverishness occasioned by my unusual 
 nervous excitement on the previous afternoon, I 
 paid no attention to the matter, and soon drifted 
 off into dreamland. 
 
 At three in the morning I awoke in what felt 
 like a Turkish bath. Perspiration burst from every 
 pore, the air was heavy and stifling, the very 
 blankets felt as though they were made of hot 
 iron. I lit the electric lamps, dragged myself 
 painfully to the door and opened it. 
 
 The vessel could not by any chance be on fire ? 
 thought I. 
 
 Ned, his face still bandaged, his long nightdress 
 flapping ungracefully round his thin legs, looked 
 comically at me from the door of his cabin. 
 
 ' What a fearful heat ! ' he said. 
 
 ' Something's gone wrong somewhere,' I growled. 
 ' I wish our captain would be a little more care- 
 ful, while we are on board at least. There must 
 be ten thousand fires alight under the keel ! ' 
 
 ' Not a bit of it,' replied Ned, ' it's merely the 
 sun ! You never saw such a glare ! Just come 
 and look out here a minute.' 
 
 * Oh ! ' I said simply, ' of course ! ' 
 
 What had happened was not so difficult to 
 explain after all. The long lunar day, equal 
 to fourteen of our terrestrial ones, had dawned. 
 There being no atmosphere worth speaking of to 
 break the vigour of the solar rays, the intense cold 
 of space had instantaneously given place to a 
 temperature fully equal to that of boiling water. 
 We were being cooked by the sun, that was all ! 
 
 ' What on earth is to be done ? ' I asked tremu- 
 lously, after half blinding myself by attempting to 
 
Comets and Meteors i o i 
 
 gaze on the dazzling landscape without, through 
 Ned's port-hole. 
 
 ' Grin and bear it,' was the unconsoling answer, 
 * unless our confounded captain possesses some 
 dodge for cooling off.' 
 
 This did not seem unlikely — the ingenuity of 
 Captain Chlam} 1 was no doubt quite equal to 
 contriving some method (compressed air would 
 have been the simplest) for lowering the tempera- 
 of his boat to suit external variations. Whether 
 this was so or not, he certainly took no steps for 
 our comfort — the corridor, between the reservoirs 
 of air, was coolest, and thither we dragged our 
 mattresses, to await the day or hour when we 
 .should leave this intolerably uncomfortable and 
 inhospitable satellite. 
 
 A clanging of bells awakened me. The curtains 
 parted and a figure in a long red dressing-gown 
 appeared — it was the captain himself 
 
 ' We are going to start,' he said. 
 
 ' Thank heaven ! ' I ejaculated fervently ; ' it was 
 time !' 
 
 A few minutes later the panting rhythm of the 
 engines was b.eard — an ascensional movement 
 began to be felt. 
 
 'We're off!' murmured Ned, 'now let's go and 
 get something to eat.' 
 
 It was not poetical, but it was sound common 
 sense. For some hours we glided noiselessly across 
 the moon's surface, at a speed somewhere between 
 a hundred and five hundred miles an hour. Finally, 
 at ten thirty, the ' translation ' movement carried us 
 away obliquely into the dark regions of space, and 
 our life on board reassumed its usual regularity. The 
 speed of our wonderful vessel increased in an enor- 
 mous ratio as the distance between her keel and the 
 moon's centre augmented, and the efficiency of her 
 machines rose in consequence. I was nevertheless 
 
I02 Across the Zodiac 
 
 considerably surprised when, at 4 p.m., Captain 
 Chlamyl appeared in the drawing-room and — 
 
 ' We have traversed nearly a hundred thousand 
 miles,' he said, ' and I am going to let out our 
 atmosphere.' 
 
 I had been engaged in the examination of some 
 first-rate lunar photographs, presumably taken by 
 the captain on some former visit, but at this remark, 
 delivered in the commander's usual tone of indiffer- 
 ence, I put down the album. 
 
 ' Your rate of travelling is as variable as it is 
 marvellous, captain,' I said, 'but I am puzzled to 
 know how you manage to measure your distances 
 with anything resembling accuracy.' 
 
 ' That presents no difficulty, sir,' replied the com- 
 mander. ' The variations in gravity, as we approach 
 or recede from any planetary body, would alone 
 suffice to give me tolerably accurate results, were 
 it not for the fact that the disturbing influences of 
 other such bodies step in and serve to mar the 
 calculation.' 
 
 ' Precisely, captain, that is exactly what I was 
 driving at. Every star in space exercises some in- 
 fluence on this floating vessel. Therefore a calcu- 
 lation — ' 
 
 ' Which I have no intention of wasting time over,' 
 burst in the captain, laughing. ' No, professor, we 
 have not all of us got the patience of a Leverrier, 
 and even if we had, the time necessary for such 
 work would run into days, weeks even — and these 
 I would not be disposed to give. I employ more 
 direct means.' 
 
 ' I am at a loss to understand you, captain.' 
 
 ' If 3/0U will kindly step this way, professor, 
 matters will soon explain themselves.' 
 
 A small metal staircase conducted us from the 
 crew's quarters to a sort of oval deck-cabin. It was 
 fitted up as a scientific laboratory apparently, for 
 
Comets and Meteors 103 
 
 the walls and shelves were crowded with a medley 
 of instruments, some of them already familiar to 
 me, others of which I could not possibly guess the 
 use. Five oblong panels of toughened glass per- 
 mitted a clear view in every direction. The yellow 
 disc of the moon occupied an enormous angle on 
 the port side, behind us was the earth, of which 
 both poles were nearly equally visible. I concluded, 
 therefore, that the Astrolabe must be travelling 
 nearly parallel to the plane of our earth's ecliptic, 
 nor was I mistaken. 
 
 ' Here, sir,' said Captain Chlamyl, indicating what 
 appeared to be a small telescope, with a manometer 
 dial affixed to it above the eye-piece, ' here is the 
 contrivance which I use to measure our distance — 
 not from any body in space, but from some known 
 centre — the sun, for instance. If I know my dis- 
 tance from the great planet which rules our system, 
 the remaining calculations are easy enough. You 
 understand the laws of radiation, do you not? ' 
 
 ' I fancy so, captain.' 
 
 'Then you will easily comprehend this instru- 
 ment. It is a simple telescope, which, instead of an 
 eye-piece, is furnished with an electric thermopile. 
 The solar heat, concentrated on the cells, generates 
 a current of electricity absolutely proportionate, in 
 a fixed ratio, to cur distance from the orb of day. 
 This dial which you see is merely a galvanometer, 
 registering the strength of current with tolerable 
 accuracy. A table of figures suffices to indicate 
 the number of thousand miles for whatever desfrce 
 the needle swings through — that is all.' 
 
 A loud hissing interrupted my eulogies. A 
 whitish vapour floated round the Astrolabe, en- 
 veloping it from stem to stern in a mantle of 
 steam, which presently grew more transparent, as 
 the liberated air dispersed round us in space. 
 
 ' You can go out on deck now,' said the captain. 
 
I04 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' but I should advise you to fetch a wrap of some 
 kind, as the newly-expanded air will be freezingly 
 cold.' 
 
 I did as I was recommended, and found that the 
 commander was right, the deck of the Astrolabe 
 was more like an ice-house than anything else. 
 
 ' Look, professor,' said my friend Ned, who was 
 hanging over the port railing, meditatively smok- 
 ing a Turkish cigarette and studying lunar geo- 
 graphy, 'look over there a minute, will you. Is 
 that a star, or what ? ' 
 
 A thin trail of light, condensed at one end into 
 a burning focus, was visible against the ebony 
 blackness, standing out clearly among the stars 
 that make up the constellation of Andromeda. 
 
 ' A comet ! ' I said. 
 
 This was a curiosity to be more carefully studied. 
 Descending to the saloon, I pocketed a telescope 
 and returned to examine this celestial stranger. 
 
 Whence had it come ? Whither was it going ? 
 
 It was impossible to say. Its speed, however, 
 must have been prodigious, for it managed to 
 double its size within an hour, and its gigantic tail 
 stretched over an angle of fully ten degrees. 
 
 ' What would happen if that thing should happen 
 to cross our path, professor? ' asked Ned, carelessly. 
 
 We had abandoned the deck on account of the 
 cold, and were sitting on a luxurious sofa before 
 the port window of the saloon. His question set 
 me thinking. Undoubtedly this was the fore- 
 runner of countless other wandering stars that the 
 Astrolabe -was sooner or later bound to come across. 
 
 From a scientific point of view these erratic 
 bodies were, no doubt, highly interesting ; from a 
 physical point of view they might be decidedly 
 dangerous. Indeed, our short experience on the 
 moon was quite sufficient to show me that Captain 
 Chlamyl was not the man to fight shy of danger 
 
Comets and Meteors 105 
 
 in any form. No doubt he had a wholesome 
 respect for it— most people have that, especially 
 clever ones— but as to whether he would go out of 
 his way on its account, as to whether he would 
 think fit to abandon one of his marvellous journeys 
 just on account of running the risk of being 
 smashed— //^^z/ I could only look on as highly 
 problematical. 
 
 * Why, Ned,' I replied, ' there are many things 
 that could happen if we by any chance crossed the 
 orbit of that flying devil. One thing is, that we 
 should certainly have the satisfaction of ending 
 our days gloriously and mysteriously, as well as 
 expeditiously and painlessly.' 
 
 ' Would it be painless ? ' queried Ned, doubtfully. 
 ' Mightn't we get scorched a bit first ? That'd hurt, 
 I guess.' 
 
 ' Much more likely to get suffocated,' I answered, 
 'suffocated and burnt up at the same time! 
 Depends on what sort of an atmosphere the brute 
 has round him. If it's composed of pure carbonic 
 acid gas, or of sulphuretted h>^drogen — ' 
 
 ' Do you think the captain ought to be warned ? ' 
 asked Ned, indolently. ' Suppose he hasn't noticed 
 it !' 
 
 'That's hardly likely,' said I. 'The watch on 
 deck'll let him know soon enough, if he hasn't seen it 
 already. By Jove ! it is coming along at a pace ! ' 
 
 The comet had nearly doubled its size again 
 during our dialogue. Two tails of intense white- 
 ness stretched away behind the glowing head, which 
 shone with a cold lustre, like blue-fire. Even through 
 the thick glass and through the soundless void ^of 
 space, I fancied I could hear it hissing and rush- 
 nig. Long streamers of red and orange now and 
 again broke loose from the main body, and circled 
 about it in rings of fire, compelled, no doubt, by the 
 attraction. 
 
io6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' It is the birth of Saturn over again,' I said. 
 
 ' It'll be the death of iis if it comes much nearer,' 
 was Ned's reply. 
 
 At that moment the door opened and Captain 
 Chlamyl entered. In his hand was a rolled-up 
 map. 
 
 'Ha! professor,' he said, 'so you are admiring 
 our visitor ? Take a good look at him, for neither 
 you or I will ever set eyes on him again.' 
 
 I glanced out of the window at the glowing green 
 focus with its scarlet and yellow rings, 
 
 ' So it is a parabolic comet, captain ? ' I said. 
 
 ' Yes, sir, to judge from its speed, which we have 
 managed to measure pretty well. Bodies can only 
 travel at a certain speed round fixed orbits. Any- 
 thing beyond this certain speed, which has been 
 estimated at about twenty-five miles a second, hurls 
 the body, whether it be star, comet or meteor, 
 clean out into boundless immensity, where it goes 
 on burning and hissing, till in the course of time it 
 burns or hisses itself quite away. Now look at 
 that one ! How far should you say it was off? ' 
 
 I considered. The blueish light was shining 
 with marvellous intensity, almost rivalling the sun 
 itself. 
 
 ' About fifty miles,' I said. 
 
 'A hundred,' said Ned. 
 
 ' About two thousand,' was the captain's reply. 
 
 'Is it possible!' I exclaimed. 'Why it looks as if 
 one could touch it with one's hand. What diameter 
 do you suppose it has ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, I should think it is about three times the 
 size of London.' 
 
 Ned whistled with the air of an unbeliever. 
 
 ' To estimate distance in space with the naked 
 eye is nearly impossible,' continued the captain ; 
 ' mistakes are certain to occur. Does it not look 
 as if it were racing us ? ' 
 
Comets and Meteors 107 
 
 The glowing mass was apparently moving- along 
 in a parallel line with the Astrolabe, but at a much 
 higher speed. Its action, indeed, resembled that 
 of a racer, but a racer by the side of whom we 
 little atoms had not even a chance. Already, 
 having passed us, it was diminishing in size. 
 
 ' In a few hours it will be almost invisible,' said 
 Captain Chlamyl, ' but we have not done with it 
 yet; we have still the tail to face.' 
 
 ' Are we in no danger, captain ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir — at least I think not. The only rcall}^ 
 serious thing that could happen, would be if any 
 of the million aerolites that follow in its track 
 should come near enough to steal our atmosphere, 
 or perhaps to poison it — then — ' 
 
 The captain shrugged his shoulders significantly. 
 No doubt, accustomed as he was to continually 
 gazing at eternit}' in various forms, the prospect of 
 abruptly being absorbed in the fiery centre of some 
 unknown cometary mass had no terrors for him. 
 But for me it was otherwise, and I gazed out after 
 the vanishing comet with feelings better imagined 
 than described. 
 
 ' After all,' I reflected, ' space is large and we are 
 small. It will be a pity if there is not sufficient 
 room for us to wander about without knocking up 
 against a star.' 
 
 Never had prophecy been more correct. We 
 certainly had not seen the last of our green comet. 
 During the next three days at least, meteors and 
 aerolites swarmed past the Astrolabe at varying 
 speeds and distances. As they were only dull 
 masses of cold stone for the most part, it was not 
 easy to distinguish them. Sometimes they glowed 
 in balls of fire, at other times they simply resembled 
 a cloud of 3'ellovv dust, obscuring the farther stars. 
 
 As I had suspected myself, we ran some danger, 
 
io8 Across the Zodiac 
 
 not from the actual masses of aerolitic stone, but 
 from the larger spheres of noxious gas that some- 
 times surrounded them. A very small proportion 
 of carbonic acid, mingled with a breathable atmos- 
 phere, is sufficient to turn it into poison of the 
 deadliest kind, and I could not help thinking it 
 imprudent of our captain to run this risk, when he 
 might have obviated it in so simple a manner. 
 
 Some idea of the kind certainly seemed to strike 
 the commander of the Astrolabe simultaneously 
 with myself, for on the night of the 15 th I heard 
 the pumps working, and in the morning the doors 
 leading to the deck were hermetically sealed, thus 
 making our customary daily exercise impossible. 
 
 To ask the captain for explanations was difficult, 
 to say the least of it. We only saw him at meals — 
 that is, he consumed most of his time in the 
 observatory on deck. When a man's entire mind 
 is given to the solving of some more than ordinarily 
 intricate problem in mathematics or astronomy, to 
 get a straight answer out of him is next to im- 
 possible. Captain Chlamyl's attitude during the 
 next three or four days was one of ' divine abstrac- 
 tion,' and to ' pump ' him on any fixed subject was 
 quite out of the question. Not that we had any- 
 thing to complain of On the contrary, we were 
 delicately and carefully looked after. The food, 
 always good, reached, during these days of confine- 
 ment, the level of a first-class European hotel. It 
 was as though our captain endeavoured to make up 
 in hospitality what he lacked in personal attention. 
 
 The time, on the whole, did not pass slowly. A 
 copious library was always at our disposal. The 
 books of the Astrolabe were carelessly selected and 
 equally carelessly arranged. The uniform and 
 harmonious binding, of black and gold, was given 
 to every member of the captain's shelves. Walter 
 Scott vegetated by the side of Humboldt and 
 
Comets and Meteors 109 
 
 Arago — Victor Hugo reposed alongside of Schopen- 
 hauer — Thackeray, Ball, Swift and Huygens fra- 
 ternised amicably in rows — it was a veritable 
 pandemonium of learning. 
 
 I studied astronomy and physics. Ned perused 
 the novels. When we were tired of reading, we 
 struggled somehow over the keys of the grand 
 piano, and improvised sundry inharmonious duets 
 from our common theatrical reminiscences. Had 
 Captain Chlamyl heard us, he would, I fancy, not 
 have been edified, but his astronomical labours 
 occupied him compjetelj', and he never came near 
 the saloon, nor did he offer to interfere in any way. 
 
 This complete insensibility to our attempted 
 frivolity — this indifference to our doings and con- 
 tinued scientific abstraction on the part of our 
 commander, became galling in the extreme. 
 
 The views taken by Ned and myself of the case 
 were different. My worthy companion, having 
 tired of his literary pursuits, fell to grumbling. 
 
 Life in a hotel was all right for a bit, he said — it 
 was all very well now and again, but to remain shut 
 up under deck for a week or more, without even 
 being permitted the pleasure of a walk, was quite 
 another matter. 
 
 ' If he'd even tell us when he was going to take 
 us back to the earth, and how,' insisted Ned, lolling 
 back among the silken cushions with the amber 
 stem of a gorgeously-decorated ' Hookah ' between 
 his lips, 'it would be all right. The mischief is, 
 not only that we don't know where we are bound 
 for, but also that we seem to have no certain means 
 of getting back again ; if what you tell me about 
 that " translation " movement is right, we have really 
 no chance of getting back at all ! The universe 
 only goes one way, I suppose, and we are letting it 
 slip farther away every day ! ' 
 
 Ned's remarks, delivered in a sleepy soliloquy 
 
no Across the Zodiac 
 
 over the benumbing bowl of nicotine, were, in spite 
 of their drowsy innocence, sufficiently true to be 
 startling. My smart Yankee companion was one of 
 those people who, while capable of great exertions 
 when external influences call their latent energies 
 into existence, relapse nevertheless into dreamy 
 indolence when their surroundings are vague and 
 uncertain. 
 
 This was certainly not my case. The unknown 
 has a vast attraction for some natures, mine 
 amongst others, and this continued uncertainty 
 served to excite me to a high pitch of nervousness. 
 These prolonged studies of the captain must mean 
 something, I thought. Either he was not sure of 
 his route or else some danger was looming. Im- 
 patiently I scrutinised the heavens hour by hour 
 through the polished glass panels of the saloon. 
 For want of something better to do, I fell to lectur- 
 ing Ned on astronomy. My knowledge of the 
 noble science being, unlike that of our captain, of a 
 limited nature, I was forced to draw on Newcomb's 
 admirably written book for references and figures. 
 Ned, reclining at full length on the sofa, with Toi>i 
 Jones in one hand and the stem of the inevitable 
 water-pipe between his lips, nodded drowsy assent, 
 though to this day I am certain he understood not 
 one word of what I was saying. As, even with the 
 enormous speed of our vessel, it remained practically 
 immovable with regard to the distant stars — so vast 
 was the intervening space that the Creator had 
 chosen to place between them and us — I was able 
 to make frequent and excellent use of the various 
 magnificent telescopes which formed part of the 
 captain's scientific accoutrement. 
 
 Day after day, hour after hour, I perused the 
 marvellous universe like an open book and took 
 childish interest in pointing out its beauties to Ned, 
 who listened complacently, more for friendship's 
 
Comets and Meteors 1 1 1 
 
 sake than for the sake of any genuine astronomical 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 Far off, in the abyss, among a wilderness of 
 sprinkled jewellery, glowed those unknown suns 
 those strange systems, shining with a light different 
 to that of our sun — worlds floating in waves of red, 
 green, blue and orange. Seated at the panel, with 
 a book on my knee, and a telescope close to my eye, 
 I lost myself in admiration of this unending abyss, 
 where all was life and colour, where there was 
 neither great nor small, neither up nor down, 
 neither east, west, south or north. Ned, when he 
 was not grumbling, became enthusiastic. Together 
 we admired the far-off gems of the Almighty's 
 jewel-casket, — the constellation of Perseus, with its 
 ruby and sapphire suns, that of Andromeda, shining 
 in topazine and emerald, the pure white diamond- 
 sapphire combination of the Ram, etc. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th, the precautions 
 taken by Captain Chlamyl were explained. I was 
 sitting in the saloon, attentively studying the visible 
 universe with the aid of a splendid planisphere, 
 corrected and annotated by the captain himself, 
 when Ned, who was gazing abstractedly out of the 
 window on the starboard side, uttered a hoarse 
 exclamation. 
 
 ' What is it ? ' I said, turning abruptly. 
 
 ' Look ! ' was the only answer. 
 
 I threw down my chart and hurried to the 
 window. 
 
 * It is a gigantic meteor ! ' I exclaimed. 
 
 * Rather !' answered Ned, ' and passing precious 
 close to us too ! I suppose that's why we've not 
 been allowed up on deck this long while.' 
 
 The meteor, a cold and inert miniature of our own 
 planet, was certainly big enough to steal twenty 
 atmospheres. At its real distance there was no 
 guesing. Pcrh aps it was ten miles off, perhaps a 
 
112 Across the Zodiac 
 
 thousand. It filled up nearly a quarter of the 
 visible heavens, and was travelling the same road 
 as the Astrolabe^ slightly faster however — its size 
 astonished me. 
 
 ' I have never heard of such a body existing 
 hereabouts,' I said. ' We surely cannot be more than 
 a few million miles from the earth. Mars himself is 
 the nearest planet, and he's full fifty million miles 
 off at this time of year.' 
 
 ' What size do you suppose that ball is?' queried 
 Ned, irreverently. 
 
 ' I don't know,' I answered. ' There's no forming 
 any theories about distance here. I should say it's 
 at least a few miles in diameter, and there seem to 
 be plants growing on it.' 
 
 A greenish efflorescence of some kind covered the 
 vast globe in places. This could only be due to 
 some kind of vegetation — lichen or moss probably. 
 It was a wonderful sight, the great sphere hanging 
 immobile in space, three-quarters illumined by the 
 sun, one quarter in shadow. 
 
 ' Do you think there is any air there ? ' asked 
 Ned, curiously. 
 
 ' I don't know,' I answered, * but it is easy to find 
 out.' 
 
 I got the telescope and attentively examined 
 the distant stars as, one by one, they were eclipsed 
 by the floating body of the meteorite. Then I 
 handed the glass to Ned. 
 
 ' Look at Sirius over there,' I said, ' and tell me 
 if you notice anything queer in his appearance just 
 before our travelling companion cuts his light off' 
 
 Ned did as he was desired. For a few moments 
 he was silent, his eye glued to the brass ring. 
 Then he said, — 
 
 ' I see the light blinking and wavering — some- 
 times it goes out altogether.' 
 
 'That is the refraction, friend Ned, and proves 
 
A Lonely World 113 
 
 that the wandering body over there has an atmos- 
 phere possibly denser than that "of the Astrolabe. 
 It may even be inhabited, for all we know.' 
 ' By what, in the name of all that's holy?' 
 ' By small creatures — insects, perhaps, or miscro- 
 scopic beings, pure and simple — foraminifcra, in- 
 fusoria, algae. There must be many worlds inhabited 
 by no loftier creatures. It is the planet that moulds 
 its own inhabitants, not the inhabitants who choose 
 their planet ! ' 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A LONELY WORLD 
 
 The rest of the day passed without incident, and 
 without our setting eyes on Captain Chlamyl. 
 The presence of this .'Solitary meteor evidently 
 occupied him completely. Of the rest of the crew 
 we never saw anything, though sociable Ned made 
 several attempts to strike up an intimacy with 
 some of them, notably with the herculean individual 
 who had accompanied us down the crevasse of 
 Mount Archimedes, and who, on board, seemed to 
 divide his time between cleaning the engine and 
 polishing the ancient armour that depended from 
 the walls of the corridor. This man was apparently 
 of French extraction, and lucid in his comprehen- 
 sion of one's wishes. He was also quick and 
 active — never seeming to be idle for one moment 
 if there was any possibility of finding work. To 
 draw him out on the subject of Captain Chlamyl 
 and his plans was quite out of the question. Some 
 vague dread seemed to stop his tongue whenever 
 he was about to say anything. Ned's questions 
 he bore with ill-concealed uneasiness — always 
 escaping from them when ever he got the chance, 
 
 H 
 
1 14 Across the Zodiac 
 
 and occasionally actually shunning the good- 
 natured American when ever he suspected the 
 latter of any designs on his secrecy. 
 
 The rest of Captain Chlamyl's crew behaved 
 much in the same way. Of their respective nation- 
 alities we could guess nothing, but I think they 
 were either Roumanians or Russians. Being 
 ignorant of both languages, I could not even accost 
 them, and this providential fact probably saved me 
 from many a humiliating failure to draw them out. 
 Every manoeuvre was noiselessly and expeditiously 
 carried out on board. The captain rarely spoke 
 to his men. Signs were used more than anything 
 else, and even these were occasionally so vague 
 that it must have been an admirably-trained crew 
 to be able to interpret them. 
 
 One thing was certain — they were absolutely and 
 completely subservient to the captain. Never was 
 discipline more clearly portrayed than in the rapid, 
 almost nervous, manner with which his lightest 
 orders were executed. Towards Ned and myself 
 the men were certainly deferential and courteous, 
 but their attitude towards the commander was not 
 merely one of civility or respect — it was fear — 
 abject, 5:,'rovelling fear — and I own the sight of this 
 was distasteful to me. Ned Hatton, on whom the 
 reticence of these worthy men acted as an incentive 
 to grumbling, said, — 
 
 ' Why, anyone would take them to be a company 
 of criminals undergoing the penalty of silence!' 
 
 Argument and theory was no good, however. 
 We were forced to content ourselves with observ- 
 ing and wondering. Besides, just at this time we 
 had other things to think about. A new and 
 fantastic adventure claimed our attention. 
 
 It was on the night after we had observed the 
 phenomenon described in the last chapter that 
 Ned made a desperate attempt to draw the attentive 
 
A Lonely Wo7'ld 115 
 
 French steward, who looked after his and my cabin, 
 into conversation. 
 
 He might just as well have saved himself the 
 trouble. Not a solitary answer did he get out of 
 the man. Disappointed and sulky, he came in to 
 complain to mc. 
 
 I was sitting on the edge of my bed, in scanty 
 costume, conning over my notes and finishing the 
 remnant of one of Captain Chlamyl's excellent 
 cigars, when my friend entered and threw himself 
 moodily into a chair. 
 
 ' What's the matter, my boy ? ' I said. 
 ' Oh, nothing. These people are getting tire- 
 some, that's all. Such a set of bores ! One can't 
 get a word out of them. How long do you suppose 
 this journey '11 last ? ' 
 
 ' You'r not sick of it already, friend Ned ? ' 
 ' No, not yet. But I ivill be sick of it in a very 
 short time, if something doesn't happen — Hallo ! 
 you've forgotten to close your blinds. That 
 cursed sun is making mischief with my eyes.' 
 
 ' I didn't know is was at that side of the vessel ! ' 
 said I as I complied. 
 
 ' You never know where it is on board this ship,' 
 grumbled Ned. ' We turn and twist about in a 
 disgraceful way. I suppose there's nothing to be 
 done, is there ? ' 
 
 ' What would you like to do ? ' 
 ' Plan a mutiny and take possession of this craft. 
 We could lock up the captain and awe the crew 
 into subjection. Such things have been done 
 before. I've often read about it, haven't you?' 
 I burst out laughing. 
 
 ' You intolerable idiot ! ' I said. ' What on earth 
 could have put such nonsense into your head ? Ned, 
 much sight-seeing is evidently driving you crazy. 
 And suppose you did succeed in getting hold of 
 this vessel, what would you do with it ? ' 
 
ii6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' Find my way either back to the earth or back 
 to some other inhabited planet — and stay there/ 
 was the answer. 
 
 ' I am afraid we have hardly the necessary 
 knowledge,' I answered, ' Once deprived of the 
 captain's skill and experience, we'd go to wrack 
 and ruin in a very short time. Suppose you 
 hook it and let me get to bed. I'm as sleepy as 
 an owl' 
 
 Ned withdrew, still grumbling to himself, and 
 I turned in. 
 
 Despite my sleepiness, I awoke several times. 
 On the first occasion, for want of something better 
 to do, I stretched out my hand to the blind-cord 
 and pulled up the blind — total darkness. Evidently 
 the Astrolabe had turned on its axis while I had 
 been asleep, and his solar majesty was now light- 
 ing the port side of the ship. 
 
 I fell asleep again and dreamt I was falling 
 through space at a dizzy speed, towards a point 
 that never seemed to come any nearer, and as I 
 fell I grew older. My face became wrinkled, my 
 hair became grey, my back bent itself into a bow, 
 yet I could not die. Sometimes I overtook a 
 flying comet, and rode on it through millions of 
 miles. Then it burnt itself out, and I was left 
 alone again in the great void. But the end came 
 nearer. The distant star (I think it was Andro- 
 meda's emerald sun) grew bigger and bigger. 
 Attended by strings of meteors, I was rushing 
 towards the vortex of destruction. A great jo}' 
 took possession of me as I contemplated the end 
 of my wanderings. Then the green fires roared, 
 and I awoke deluged in sunlight. 
 
 The luminous circle traced by the port-hole 
 was creeping slowly down the wall opposite, 
 pricking out the edges of the china and marble 
 on the basin-stand in lines and dots of yellow 
 
A Lonely World 117 
 
 fire. The Astrolabe was still revolving. T waited 
 till the circular disc, elongated and converted into 
 an oval by the angle, touched the centre of the 
 scarlet carpet. Then I rose on my elbow and 
 looked out of the window. 
 
 I uttered a cry of surprise. The boundless 
 abyss of space was gone. Under the keel of the 
 Astrolabe stretched an acre or two of solid 
 ground, sandy and yellowish in colour, covered 
 here and there by patches of moss — we seemed 
 to be on the rounded summit of a mountain, a 
 mountain which commanded a view of the stellar 
 universe — we must have landed on some planet 
 while I was sleeping. 
 
 I sprang out of bed and dressed in a hurry. 
 In the dining-room I found Captain Chlamyl and 
 Ned breakfasting quietly as though nothing un- 
 usual had occurred. 
 
 'Where are we?' was the first question I asked. 
 
 * On the back of a wandering star, professor,' 
 was the answer. ' A mere mass of rock floating 
 lazily round tiie sun in a fixed orbit ; to the earth 
 an invisible nothing, to us a resting-place in the 
 midst of immensity. If you wish to explore this 
 tiny oasis, you can do so after breakfast. There 
 is a lot to be learnt, even from these unknown 
 and useless star-fragments. It has a slight atmos- 
 phere, so you will not need your diving-dresses.' 
 
 'But this atmosphere must be horribly rarefied, 
 captain,' I said. 
 
 ' It is not very dense, sir, in point of fact,' 
 answered the commander, 'and what is more, the 
 actual surface of the globe is covered to a depth 
 of two feet or so with a layer of almost pure car- 
 bonic acid gas — so take care not to sit or lie 
 down, as in the event of your doing so you will 
 run a great risk of being abruptly smothered, like 
 a dog in the Grotto del Cane at Naples.' 
 
1 1 8 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' What is the diameter of this sphere, captain ? ' 
 
 ' About one mile, sir ; so you will be able to walk 
 round it easily enough. Master Hatton, this will 
 be a capital lesson in physical geography for you, I 
 fancy. The body is an exact miniature of the 
 earth, except for the fact that it is absolutely 
 cold from circumference to centre, which our 
 earth is not' 
 
 ' Then there cannot be any life on it,' said Ned, 
 dogmatically. 
 
 The captain smiled. 
 
 * Why not, Master Hatton ?' he asked. 
 
 ' Why ? ' echoed honest Ned, his face flushing up 
 as he perceived he had let himself in for a poser. 
 ' why, because dead bodies can't support life, can 
 they ? ' 
 
 ' And pray, sir, what would you define as a 
 " dead body " ? ' 
 
 ' A cold one,' replied Ned, who was beginning to 
 get warm. 
 
 ' Indeed, sir ? And yet the icebergs of the 
 North Pole teem with myriads of interesting 
 animalculai. To be cold does not necessarily 
 mean an extinction of life. The most charming 
 flowers bloom on the icy summits of the Andes.' 
 
 ' But there is air there,' objected Ned. ' I mean 
 when a body is cold without possessing an atmos- 
 phere.' 
 
 ' The depths of the ocean. Master Hatton, are 
 almost glacial in temperature, nor is there any 
 air there worth speaking of, yet divers draw 
 some of the earth's most precious delicacies from 
 these dark regions, and I fancy if you were to 
 visit them in a closed bell, the way I have often 
 done, you would not accuse them of lacking ani- 
 mated life. Come, sir, take another glass of this 
 claret, and let yourself be instructed by a man who 
 has long studied the question. Believe me, pro- 
 
A Lonely World 119 
 
 fessor, the word " dead " is one which does not 
 apply to the universe, however well it may suit 
 certain well-meaning but misguided wise men on 
 that far-away little speck that is our home. If I 
 were to affirm that there is not a solitary block of 
 matter in the whole void of space that has not, at 
 certain periods of its history, if not at all periods 
 of it, traces of animated life on it, I would run a 
 great risk of being laughed at — yet so it is. 
 
 ' After all, what is death, professor? Your body 
 decays, and in decaying becomes the birthplace of 
 a million of busy animalculae, who in their turn 
 vanish to be absorbed by the roots and filaments 
 of plants, to become roses, violets, yew-trees — thus 
 we have life springing out of death, and the cold 
 corpse which drew those tears from }ou has 
 blossomed again into graceful life — no, to the 
 intelligent thinker there is no such thing as 
 death. It is a chemical change, that is all. In 
 face of this truth, the theory of uninhabited 
 worlds falls flat. So endless is Nature's inven- 
 tion, so fertile and ingenious are her expedi- 
 ents, so manifold and infinitely varied are the 
 forms under which she produces life, that I 
 cannot imagine any substance existing, from the 
 coldest ice to the hottest vapour, that does not 
 contain, in some form or other, those mysterious 
 and invisible germs which are the foundation of 
 all animated Nature.' 
 
 The captain's eyes glowed enthusiastically. He 
 was transfigured. His attitude and expression v;ere 
 inspired, and I caught a glimpse of a singular past 
 in the life of this man, so far removed from his 
 fellow-men, so isolated on his pinnacle of genius. 
 Certainly, no prophet, unheeded and unhonoured 
 on his own native planet, had ever been blessed 
 with so splendid an opportunity for confirming 
 his views, with such wonderful confidences on the 
 
1 20 Across the Zodiac 
 
 part of that Nature which it had been his life's 
 pleasure to study. 
 
 Breakfast finished, we clad ourselves in our over- 
 coats and sallied forth to explore this diminutive 
 world. As we were standing in the ante-room 
 preparatory to setting out, I received a curious 
 shock. Some order was given by the captain, to 
 which one of the men responded, as usual, with 
 silent alacrity. 
 
 ' You see, Mr Hatton,' said the commander, turn- 
 ing to us with a smile, while his blue eyes gleamed 
 maliciously, 'a mutiny is the last thing my crew 
 would dream of. Despot as I am, my slumbers 
 are calmer than those of the most dearly-loved 
 earthly king. One of your mediaeval satirists com- 
 pared the Holy Roman Empire to a " chaos upheld 
 by Providence." Of us might be said, with equal 
 truth, that we are order itself upheld in chaos.' 
 
 Ned Hatton murmured something, I don't know 
 what, and our eyes met. Then we descended the 
 ladder and stood together with the captain on the 
 surface of this unknown world. 
 
 As I have already said, the ground sloped away 
 in a gently - rounded incline, like the top of a 
 mountain. In spite of the light envelope of 
 oxygen, the air was fearfully cold — the sun glar- 
 ing above us at the zenith, being apparently 
 unable to communicate much heat to this cold 
 remnant of some broken-up world. The soil, of 
 yellowish clay, with here and there a splinter of 
 blackish basaltic rock, was covered with a thick 
 growth of untidily-matted algae, whose vigorous 
 development I was unable to explain till a sudden 
 occurrence enlightened me. 
 
 We were walking along slowly, turning from 
 time to time to look back at the shining decks 
 of the Astrolabe, which were disappearing from 
 view behind the rounded circle, when my lungs 
 
A Lonely World 121 
 
 experienced a choking feeling, as though a warm 
 aromatic fluid were being forced down into them. 
 At the sarhe moment my feet began to sink in the 
 soft soil. Captain Chlamyl, seizing me firmly by 
 the shoulders, dragged me aside. 
 
 ' Look where you're walking ! ' he said severely ; 
 'you nearly went head foremost into a mud- 
 volcano ! ' 
 
 I gazed round mc. Ned was coughing and 
 laughing by turns. At my feet was a stretch of 
 black soil, sparkling and bubbling under the light 
 of the sun. It was a spring of poisonous gas — of 
 carbonic acid, similar to the ones in Java, only on 
 a far smaller scale. 
 
 ' There is some chemical operation going on 
 under the surface, perhaps near the centre of this 
 globe,' explained Captain Chlamyl, 'which gives 
 rise to these bubbles of gas. Most of it goes to 
 feed the plants, the rest hangs about over the 
 surface of the soil, especially over the lower 
 parts.' 
 
 ' How long do you suppose, captain, is it since 
 this planet was in a state of fusion ? ' 
 
 ' Some thousands of years only,' answered the 
 captain ; ' small bodies take a very short time to 
 cool. What's Master Ned looking at?' 
 
 ' Hallo ! ' exclaimed the individual addressed, 
 'the sun's going to set!' 
 
 I turned abruptly, and witnessed a curious sight. 
 
 The glowing disc was sinking towards the 
 horizon with a regular motion like clockwork. 
 Ned's shadow lengthened yard by yard, till it 
 vanished, so to speak, 'over the edge' into space. 
 There was hardly any sunset worth speaking of 
 in that rarefied atmosphere. I could hardly notice 
 any change in the colour of the burning disc as it 
 approached the irregular line of hillocks that 
 bounded our view. 
 
T22 Across the Zodiac 
 
 , Slowly it sank. The shadow crept rapidly up 
 from our feet to our waists, then I saw it run up 
 Ned's tall form, the reflection and diffusion being 
 so insignificant that he appeared to vanish away 
 into nothing, like a ghost. For a second or so his 
 head, vividly illumined, hung between earth and 
 heaven, the way I have sometimes seen the peak 
 of Chimborazo hanging some hours before the 
 dawn, then it vanished and we were left in total 
 darkness, only set off and toned down by the 
 feeble glimmering of the stars. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl pointed westward with his 
 finger. A large star of a greenish colour was 
 rapidly sinking — it was the earth. Venus and 
 Mercury, perhaps on account of their being too 
 near the sun, were invisible. In the zenith. Mars 
 was riding majestically, a glorious red star, larger 
 than the first magnitude, attended by his two 
 satellites, one of which was distinctly visible 
 from where we stood. 
 
 'It is a perfect procession!' said Ned. 'The 
 worlds are defiling before our eyes like regiments 
 at a review.' 
 
 The idea was tinged with a humorous conceit, 
 but really it was excusable, so orderly and brilliant 
 was the panorama of floating planets. 
 
 ' Let us go on,' then said the captain ; ' we shall 
 catch up the sun in a minute or two.' 
 
 We stumbled on, picking our steps carefully to 
 avoid falling into some deadly pool. After about 
 ten minutes walking, a brilliant gleam of light 
 illumined the curved distance before us, pricking 
 out the hillocks in strong relief, then the sun's disc 
 emerged, and it was day. The night had lasted 
 twelve minutes ! 
 
 An idea struck Ned. 
 
 ' Let us visit the North Pole,' said he. 
 
 The project presented no difficulty. We were 
 
A Lonely World 123 
 
 nearly at the equator then. Whereas the whole 
 circumference only measured some three miles 
 or so, a walk of three-quarters of a mile was all 
 that awaited us. 
 
 On our way we passed another spring of gas, 
 similar to the firsthand I noticed streaks of what 
 I took to be burnt ashes among the lichen. 
 
 * Is it pos.--ible,' I said to the captain, ' that 
 savages sometimes come here to light a fire, or 
 that volcanic phenomena still go on from time to 
 time. Look at those mosses! The)' are completely 
 charred ! ' 
 
 ' A body floating through space,' explained the 
 captain, ' is sure to attract many fragments of plane- 
 tary matter in its course. The number of meteors 
 that annually fall on the earth amounts to nearly 
 a million. Owing to the much feebler action of 
 gravity, the number that fall on this small globe 
 would of course be considerably less. However, if 
 you consider the very slight shield of air that pro- 
 tects it from the shocks of these aerial projectiles, 
 you cannot be surprised at finding traces of their 
 destructive work. A very moderate-sized body 
 falling on the surface of this world from an infinite 
 distance would be sufficient to kindle an enormous 
 amount of heat.' 
 
 'The sun doesn't seem to be hurrying himself 
 about setting,' remarked Ned, to whom the glow- 
 ing orb of day seemed to be especially interesting. 
 
 Here a curious vagary was executed by the 
 object in question. Instead of completely dis- 
 appearing and leaving us in darkness, it merely 
 dipped beneath the horizon for a minute or two, 
 then reappeared, skimming lightly along the sur- 
 face of the planet, and, in fact, as I told Ned, 
 reproducing the phenomenon visible on our own 
 world in certain latitudes — the north of Sweden, 
 for instance. 
 
124 Across the Zodiac 
 
 We stood at the pole. Owing to the obhquity 
 of the rays, the icy cold was slightly increased. 
 Our breath, as it left our mouths, actually froze, 
 changing into snow as it fell. I was rapidly pass- 
 ing from wonder to stupefaction. The whole thing 
 was so strange ; Captain Chlamyl alone, being 
 probably blase in such marvels, expressed no 
 surprise whatever. 
 
 ' This planet inclines at an angle of five degrees 
 with the plane of the ecliptic,' was all he said ; then 
 ' Let us return — this cold cannot be healthy, even 
 to such people as we are.' 
 
 I laughed. It was kind of the captain to include 
 Ned and myself in the same category with himself, 
 and I said so. 
 
 'What name would you like to give this planet, 
 sir?' continued the commander of the Astrolabe. 
 ' It is not recognised by our poor earthly people, 
 but then it has its interest for all that. It has its 
 orbit, its life, its chemical laboratory. If you will 
 take the trouble to examine some of those dull- 
 looking mosses under the microscope, I have no 
 doubt you will find them teeming with infusoria — 
 a name is all that is required.' 
 
 ' Your own name, captain,' I suggested. 
 
 ' Sir, my name has already been bestowed on fifty 
 stars of different dimensions. I can therefore 
 afford to be generous. Let us call it Hattonia, 
 after your worthy friend Ned.' 
 
 The new owner of this world bowed politely, and 
 the captain proceeded. 
 
 ' In fact, Mr Ned, a satellite is all that is needed 
 to make your new possession perfect in its little 
 way. You shall give it one yourself 
 
 ' I, sir?' exclaimed Ned, astonished. 
 
 ' Certainly, Master Hatton. Take up that piece 
 of rock yonder and fling it away from you 
 horizontally with all your force.' 
 
A Lonely World 125 
 
 Ned did as he was bid. Lightl)' picking up a 
 mass of volcanic tufa, which on the earth would 
 have weighed at least a ton, but which here only- 
 amounted to a couple of ounces, he flung it away 
 at an angle of thirty degrees with the ground. 
 
 It soared up to a height of a hundred feet, grow- 
 ing smaller and smaller as its distance increased. 
 Then it seemed to fall gracefully, vanishing quickly 
 behind the horizon. We waited anxiously. 
 
 At the end of five minutes or so it reappeared, 
 winging its way over our heads like a large bird, 
 to disappear again behind the western hills. I 
 clapped my hands. Ned raised a shout of triumph. 
 
 ' Had you used a little more strength. Master 
 Hatton,' remarked the commander, coldly, 'you 
 would never have seen your piece of stone again. 
 It would have completely disappeared in space, 
 instead of continuing to circle round your new 
 possession, as it will do — to all eternity. Now let 
 us go on board.' 
 
 How was it that the amazing comedy did not 
 end there ? Why should jealous Fate have kept 
 an accident in store for us at the last ? 
 
 As we advanced, the silvery form of the Astrolabe 
 seemed to dive up from the ground. Overhead 
 the sun was blazingly hot. Ned, into whom the 
 spirit of reckless devilment had entered all of a 
 sudden, amused himself by skipping over the 
 ground in long, flying jumps of twenty or thirty- 
 feet. On our ncaring the Astrolabe an idea struck 
 him. 
 
 ' See me jump over the ship ! ' he exclaimed. 
 
 Before we could stop him, he had taken a spring, 
 and was sailing up into the sky like a rocket. 
 
 The danger he was running had struck Captain 
 Chlamyl and myself at the same moment, for as 
 my unfortunate friend left the ground we made a 
 frantic grab at his boots, missing them ignomini- 
 
126 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ously and bumping our heads together in the 
 most undignified fashion. 
 
 ' Ned ! Ned ! ' I called, horror-struck. His voice, 
 upraised in a wailing cry of fear, reached me faintly. 
 
 'Help! Help!' 
 
 ' The fool ! ' exclaimed Captain Chlamyl in such 
 a contemptuous tone that I could have struck him 
 furiously, had not respect for his genius stayed my 
 hand. As it was, I seized him angrily by the collar. 
 
 ' You must save him ! ' I shouted. 
 
 The captain shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 ' No power on earth can save him I ' he said 
 coldly, ' unless he falls again of his own accord. 
 
 A mist gathered in my brain, and I stared, sick 
 with grief, upwards into the blackness, where the 
 form of my friend was growing smaller and smaller 
 each moment. Then, without warning, the sun 
 sank and left us in darkness. Ned, hanging in 
 the void, lingered for some instants in sunlight, 
 then he, too, vanished, and the sound was only 
 broken by the rushing of the newly-created satel- 
 lite, as it whizzed past through the thin air. 
 
 ' Ned ! ' I called ; ' Ned ! ' 
 
 A bright light shone about me. It came from 
 a large electric lamp on the deck of the Astrolabe. 
 Captain Chlamyl and some sailors were standing 
 on either side of the lantern, examining my poor 
 friend through their opera-glasses, and talking 
 volubly in their Slavonic dialect. Presently the 
 captain said something in French. 
 
 ' He's coming down, professor ! ' 
 
 I started up. Yes, it was true. Ned was 
 descending slowly, revolving on his own axis, so 
 to speak, as he grew larger and larger. Breath- 
 lessly I counted the seconds and minutes. Over 
 our heads he floated, twirling like a top. He 
 made no sound, and the rapidity of his evolutions 
 prevented us from distinguishing his features. 
 
The Mist of Life 127 
 
 He struck the upper deck of the Astrolabe with 
 his foot, and fell over sideways, stiff and stark like 
 a man in a trance. I gave a spring, catching him 
 by the hair and executing a wild aerial pirouette 
 before we both whirled down on the ground 
 together. His lips were blue, his cheeks hollow 
 and contracted. The mouth opened and shut 
 feebly, without making any sound. 
 
 * Ned ! ' I cried ; ' Ned ! don't you know me ? ' 
 
 There was no answer, only the same inarticu- 
 late muttering and gasping. 
 
 ' Take him in,' commanded the captain. 
 
 We bore the poor fellow gently into the saloon 
 and laid him on one of the sofas. A faint colour 
 became gradually visible in his pale cheeks. 
 
 ' He'll pull through,' said the captain, * but he 
 has had a narrow shave. A few minutes longer, 
 and he would have been dead.' 
 
 I shuddered. 
 
 ' You mean he would have vanished into space, 
 captain .-• ' I said. 
 
 ' I mean that he would have been suffocated.' 
 
 ' Suffocated ? ' I exclaimed. 
 
 ' Yes, suffocated, professor,' was the quiet answer. 
 ' One can make aerial trips easily enough on this 
 planet, but one cannot always be sure of finding 
 air to breathe. Your friend jumped beyond the 
 limits of the atmosphere — that is all ! Let us 
 take him into the kitchen, and get him warm. 
 He looks sadly frozen. I think he will be more 
 careful next time.' 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE MI ST OF LIFE 
 
 On the following day Ned was as right as ever. 
 The pride he had momentarily felt in his newly- 
 
128 Across the Zodiac 
 
 acquired territory vanished before the disgust its 
 pecuh'arities caused him. We made several more 
 excursions on its surface, but without discovering 
 anything new. Captain Chlamyl, for reasons of 
 his own, kept hanging on day after day without 
 making an attempt to quit this barren place. 
 Once, being in a communicative mood, he pointed 
 out to me our position on the planisphere of 
 stars. 
 
 ' Why, we are nearly on the orbit of Mars,' I said 
 wonderingly. 
 
 ' Yes, but considerably beneath it,' replied the 
 captain. ' Even in periods of opposition, which 
 only occur once every fifteen years or so, there is 
 still a distance of twenty million miles. Would 
 you like to visit Mars, professor ? ' 
 
 ' Captain, how can you doubt it ? ' 
 
 ' Unfortunately, sir, the voyage is unfeasible just 
 at present, as Mars is too far distant to exert any 
 effective influence on us, and its distance increases 
 every day. Incident to liven our voyage will not 
 be wanting, however. Have you begun your micro- 
 scopic investigation into the nature of Hattonia's 
 inhabitants ? ' 
 
 ' I have discovered three species of salpce, captain 
 — curious little atoms that quite seem to bear out 
 your theory. When are we going to leave this 
 island ? ' 
 
 ' In a few days, professor ; I wish the rotation of 
 this planet on its orbit to get me into the proper 
 position for visiting some of the more distant worlds 
 — Saturn for instance. Here is an excellent map 
 of the ringed star. You can amuse yourself study- 
 ing at your leisure — if my pianoforte-playing does 
 not disturb you.' 
 
 This last was ironical, for the captain's piano- 
 forte performance was quite on a level with his 
 other attainments. He usually played Wagner, 
 
The Mist of Life 129 
 
 and once or twice expressed to me his admiration 
 of the Titanic German master. 
 
 ' He penetrated beyond the confines of the visible 
 world, sir, and such daring must always command 
 my respect,' the captain used to remark. ' What 
 could be a finer expression of chaos that the open- 
 ing of the third act of Siegfried? ' 
 
 After half-an-hour's music, he rose from the piano 
 and left the room. The glittering, shimmering 
 harmonies of the magic fire scene were still ring- 
 ing in my ears, when Ned Hatton opened the door 
 and looked in. 
 ' Is he gone ? ' 
 
 'Yes. What have you got to say? More 
 grumbles ? ' 
 
 ' If you please, Hal, don't be so confoundedly 
 cool with me. I don't like it, especially under the 
 present circumstances, when we're both sailing at 
 imminent risk of smashing into eternity — when I 
 can't even raise my voice above a whisper for fear 
 of being heard. Did you ever see anything like 
 that captain ? I believe he listens at our doors, or 
 else sets some of his d — d crew to do so.' 
 
 ' Nonsense, Ned. He's much too honourable.' ^ 
 'Honourable? — I tell you I'm sure of it. Did 
 you hear that remark he made about mutiny 
 yesterday morning? I swear I believe he goes 
 in for eavesdropping.' 
 
 ' It was a coincidence, my dear fellow, nothing 
 more. Don't get into a stew about nothing. We're 
 all right ; so is the captain.' 
 
 Ned rose, and clenched his fist suggestively. 
 ' If I ever catch one of these fellows spying on 
 me,' he said, I'll — ' 
 
 Here the curtains parted and the captain himself 
 appeared. 
 
 ' Ah, professor,' he began amiably, ' I propose a 
 curious expedition for this afternoon. We will 
 
 I 
 
130 Across the Zodiac 
 
 go and take some instantaneous photographs of 
 Hattonia. Are you a photographer? Perhaps 
 Mr Ned would like to operate himself?' 
 
 We assured the captain that nothing would 
 please us better, and went in to luncheon, Ned 
 looking rather guilty and allowing his eyes to drop 
 before the steady gaze of the commander. 
 
 Two days later the Astrolabe shook herself free 
 from her fetters, and left the planet, plunging 
 boldly out into the dark belt that separates the 
 orbit of Mars from those of the minor planets. 
 Each morning, on entering the saloon, I consulted 
 the charts, on which Captain Chlamyl never failed 
 to mark the route traversed. Since our starting 
 from Iceland on the 5th of April, we had traversed 
 nearly sixty million leagues, and this distance was 
 destined to increase in an enormous ratio as each 
 day brought us farther from the central sun that 
 retarded our movements. 
 
 It was on the afternoon of the 4th of May 
 that I first beheld some of these small stars — 
 Medusa, Flora and Arian, inclining at degrees 
 varying from one to six with the ecliptic. Then 
 Victoria (called after the English queen), Vesta and 
 Clio. As we advanced, the visible number increased, 
 sometimes as many as ten being sighted simul- 
 taneously from the windows by either Ned or 
 myself. 
 
 On the morning of the loth, we started across 
 the gap separating Andromache from Ismene and 
 Hilda, which is the last of the series, 
 
 A strange prodigy awaited us here. Calling me 
 up into the steersman's cabin. Captain Chlamyl 
 pointed at a white speck that loomed vaguely 
 across the bows of the Astrolabe. 
 
 ' Do you see anything there ? ' he said. 
 
 * I see a globe of nebulous something or other,' I 
 answered. 
 
The Mist of Life 131 
 
 * It is a sphere of cold gaseous matter, contracted 
 at the centre into a burning heat/ explained the 
 captain ; ' it is the lemur of a future world, the un- 
 formed mass of vapour that will one day become 
 a seat of life and motion — we are going to cross it.' 
 'To cross it?' I exclaimed. 
 ' Yes, sir, or to traverse it, if the expression pleases 
 you better.' 
 
 ' But I thought, sir, that these nimbi of vapour 
 were in a high state of incandescence.' 
 
 ' Not necessarily, professor. It is the contraction 
 of the vaporous mass that imparts heat to it, and, 
 owing to the ordinary laws of mechanics, the centre 
 of any mass is always the part that becomes 
 heated first.' 
 
 ' Will it not be dangerous for the Astrolabe^ sir, 
 to pass near this burning focus?' 
 
 ' Perhaps so, professor, but we shall manage 
 carefully so as not to come too near. It will be an 
 interesting sight for me as well as for you. I do 
 not remember ever having met with such a nebula 
 before.' 
 
 ' You are not going to traverse it with your 
 atmosphere exposed to the attraction, captain ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir. I should never see an atom of it again. 
 It would be absorbed by the glowing focus. I shall 
 give orders to start the pumps.' 
 
 He pressed a button, and a well-known panting 
 sound announced that the gaseous halo surrounding 
 our vessel was being taken into the reservoirs. I 
 gave a final look at the whitish cloud of vapour 
 through a large binocular telescope, noting streaks 
 and dashes of peculiar colour, due, I suppose, to 
 chemical substances held in suspension — then I 
 rejoined Ned in the saloon. 
 
 ' Well, what's up now ? ' queried the latter ; ' has 
 the cap. been exhibiting any more of his confounded 
 instruments ? ' 
 
132 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' No, friend Ned, but something's going to happen 
 that'll amuse you. We're going to cross the nebula 
 of an unformed world ! ' 
 
 Ned ejaculated, ' Oh Moses ! ' and hurried to the 
 window. 
 
 ' It's no use,' I said, 'you can't see it from there. 
 It's right across our bows, and we won't reach it for 
 some hours yet' 
 
 ' How far is it off? ' 
 
 ' About a hundred thousand miles or so. But 
 what is that to the Astrolabe ? You know she goes 
 at a pace that would shame any express-train, even 
 one driven by a Yankee engineer. I think we may 
 prepare for something wonderful.' 
 
 ' I think we may prepare for something un- 
 commonly nasty in the disaster line,' answered 
 Ned, grimly (since his accident he had grown 
 nervous), ' when mortals like ourselves go where 
 God never intended they should go, they must 
 expect to get smashed.' 
 
 Ned's prophecy was ominous enough, and at a 
 later date I recalled it. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl, whether from cautiousness or 
 from some other reason, slackened his speed some 
 moments later, and it was not till towards 3 p.m., 
 that we struck the mass of shifting vapour, which 
 stretched above and below us like a vast wall of 
 fog. 
 
 The Astrolabe continued to slacken speed, till at 
 last, to judge by the motion of the shifting sheets 
 of vapour, we were only moving at the rate of some 
 fifty miles an hour. The force of translation, com- 
 bined, perhaps, with the gravitation of this vaporous 
 body itself, was pulling us forward, while the 
 attraction of the distant sun was dragging us back. 
 Captain Chlamyl, accustomed, no doubt, to cope 
 with the various forces at work around him in 
 space, managed his apparatus with the greatest 
 
The Mist of Life 133 
 
 nicety, and cautiously threaded his way through 
 the gathering streaks and layers of mist, which 
 undulated round the Astrolabe, rising and falling 
 like the ocean after a storm. The most fantastic 
 shapes appeared. Here a vast circular whirlpool 
 yawned, there a cataract of dark vapour shot down- 
 wards, cleaving the various strata apart with a 
 roaring noise, and spreading out as it reached the 
 denser layer into a huge aigrette of feathery 
 plumes. 
 
 This medium was only transparent to a certain 
 extent. After the first {q\\ minutes we entiapely lost 
 the light of the sun, whose globe shone redly 
 through these wavering clouds, shimmering with 
 heat like the air above an oven. A dull twilight 
 only remained, through which we could still note 
 the vapour-fountains shooting and eddying. An 
 indescribable awe, not unmingled with cowardice, 
 took possession of me. Glancing at the opposite 
 windows, I saw that they were completely yellowed 
 by a layer of fine dust. Ned looked at me fixedly. 
 The gloom here suddenly vanished, and we seemed 
 floating in a sea of white glory. The light from our 
 lantern gave relief to these shifting masses, dividing 
 them into summits of purest alabaster and chasms 
 of black shadow. It was a cloudy panorama rolling 
 away before our eyes. 
 
 At first I was surprised at this rapid movement, 
 but then I recollected that the rotation of this 
 nucleus on its axis would cause the layers of vapour 
 to continually keep shifting their position with 
 regard to the Astrolabe, which was proceeding, 
 apparently, in a straight line, impelled by the 
 translation movement of the universe. 
 
 Several questions here presented themselves. 
 
 Firstly : Would not the continuous impact of 
 these dusty clouds cause the vessel to veer from 
 its even course, thus tending, perhaps, to drag it 
 
134 Across the Zodiac 
 
 across the very centre of this unformed world — 
 into an abyss of fire from which there could be no 
 possible escape ? 
 
 Secondly : Might not the revolving gaseous 
 masses grow denser and denser as we approached 
 the centre, till at last they reached the consistence 
 of fluidity, and we should be miserably drowned, if 
 not boiled, in a tumultuous sea of liquid rock ? 
 
 I tried to explain these theories and fears to Ned, 
 but I gave it up almost immediately, for Ned's 
 fancies are never of the pleasantest, and the 
 stupendous sights we were witnessing through the 
 panels filled him with uneasiness. 
 
 For an hour or so we admired the novel spectacle. 
 Some of these streaks of gas were evidently com- 
 posed of metallic substances, to judge from their 
 varying and brilliant colours, and a spectroscopic 
 investigation (difficult enough to conduct, however) 
 would here have been highly interesting. 
 
 The fine yellow dust, coating the port window, 
 drifted in through the chinks and crannies of this 
 hermetically-sealed vessel ; even the solid walls of 
 aluminium, carefully riveted though they were, 
 proved insufficient to keep it out. It settled on the 
 pages of Ned's book, on the polished ebony of the 
 piano ; it imparted to one's hands that peculiarly 
 dusty feeling which is usually felt at the termination 
 of a long voyage by rail on a hot summer's day. 
 Our lungs did not suffer much. Instead of feeling 
 suffocated, I experienced a strange sensation of 
 delight, mingled with excitement. At first it was 
 merely a genial sort of warmth, a sense of cosy 
 comfort, that spread itself through my being, but 
 soon it gave way to a feeling of elation and buoy- 
 ancy, similar to that induced by champagne or some 
 other kind of wine — was I getting drunk ? I looked 
 at Ned. Clearly he was undergoing the same ex- 
 perience as I, for his eyes were glowing strangely, 
 
The Mist of Life 135 
 
 and his cheeks were flushed. He whistled a lively- 
 tune, beating time stupidly with his hands and feet. 
 Presently : 
 
 ' By George ! ' he said, ' if this continues we 
 won't be able to see at all ! ' 
 
 It had grown darker without, and the light of 
 our brilliant lantern was now nearly unable to 
 pierce the gloomy sheets of matter, that seemed, in 
 corroboration of my own fearful prognostications, 
 to have grown denser as we gradually approached 
 the burning centre. The temperature increased 
 too. Looking at the thermometer, upheld in the 
 tiny hand of a delicate silver statue, I saw, through 
 the increasing stupor of my brain, the mercury 
 marking eighty-two degrees. Ned, rising suddenly, 
 tossed off his jacket, still whistling, and motioned 
 me to do the same. 
 
 A vague rumbling became apparent. Dark 
 streaks of reddish cloud shot across the gloom with 
 a rending noise like a million rockets simul- 
 taneously fired. My stupidity increased, and I 
 wondered drunkenly (the way one is apt to wonder 
 in such cases) whether there was a superabundance 
 of oxygen in the air we were breathing. One can 
 get tipsy on oxygen as on champagne, and it might 
 be that that was at the bottom of my strange 
 delirium. Ned, making horrible grimaces, was 
 shouting furiously at me from his sofa, only a {q\\ 
 yards off, but my ears were deafened by the roaring 
 without and the buzzing in my brain- — I couldn't 
 hear a word he was saying. 
 
 Helpless, motionless, I witnessed everything 
 passively, my eyes wide open, my senses dulled 
 into sleepy contentment. A lurid flame crossed 
 the windows. Even in my state of fearless im- 
 potence, I felt my cheeks pale, and I saw Ned, 
 who had ceased to jabber, staring fearfully with 
 open mouth and eyes protruding. 
 
136 Across the Zodiac 
 
 A great sphere, a perfect sheet of flame, glowing 
 in several colours, mottled in patches of green and 
 blue, streaked with lines and fissures of brightest 
 light, which drowned entirely the power of our poor 
 little lantern, was revealed by the parting of two 
 black, cloudy masses. Triangular tongues of fire, 
 not unlike the corona of the sun during an eclipse, 
 pierced the surrounding envelope of sooty black, to 
 fall back in cascades and rivulets of jewels. The 
 Astrolabe's position changed slightly. I felt it 
 turning horribly — the end was surely near. A 
 strange madness possessed me. Through the misty 
 void of my brain a myriad of strange shapes ap- 
 peared. Life crowded on me — life in all its most 
 uncouth and hideous forms — life as it is given to 
 the mammoth worlds of space, as it glows in the 
 depths of unknown abysses, under the wide sea, 
 among the heavy clouds that crown the tops 
 of fire-breathing mountains. Goblins, spectres, 
 hamadryads, tritons flashing on shell-cars across 
 curving green waves, satyrs with eagle claws and 
 yellow, pointed teeth, winged gryphons, their large, 
 cold eyes shifting restlessly under the thick lids, 
 their triangular scales glittering with a metallic 
 lustre. . . . 
 
 In the heavens behind vast shadows appeared, 
 stretching to the remotest zenith, like columns of 
 transparent porphyry, seen in the light of a 
 phantom sun — a rainbow palace where Nature 
 brooded smiling over her endless handiwork. 
 
 Garlands of glowing unknown flowers hung in 
 festoons around those tall pillars. Their petals 
 curved strangely, dropping tears on the mother-of- 
 pearl steps, tears that changed to blossoms as they 
 fell to be trodden under foot by the passing shapes 
 and spring again into thousandfold life — they 
 were living, these jewelled chalices, with their 
 twining tendrils and drooping blossoms ; their wide, 
 
The Mist of Life 137 
 
 wild eyes sought the Hght, expanding and con- 
 tracting in rings of scarlet and blue. Between the 
 columns with tranquil heads caressed by the waving 
 flowers, Sphinxes brooded calmly, motionless and 
 unmoved amid the effervescence of activity around 
 them. Over the pearly steps, rippling with sea- 
 water, glided a host of strange beings, some beauti- 
 ful, some hideous, all of them wonderful. 
 
 Basilisks, chimeras, iguanodons, vampires, 
 stryges with the hearts of fishes, and serpent- 
 women, their long, needle-shaped teeth glistening 
 with accumulated venom ; hippogriffs, winged 
 steeds that pace the air, armed with shining claws 
 and adorned with flowing white manes ; unicorns, 
 flying serpents, dragons, from whose mouths pale 
 flames issued ; elves, fairies, gnomes, sprites, all the 
 panorama of life was unveiled before me. 
 
 And it was unending. From the serene depths 
 of the sky above me to the glittering slabs of pearl 
 at my feet, with their thick layer of floating 
 blossoms and perfumed flower-dust, all was living, 
 breathing animation. 
 
 I saw the troops of gryphons and other flying 
 monsters form winged processions across the purple 
 sunset, losing themselves at the uttermost ends of 
 space, beyond the farthest pole, among the golden 
 streamers of the northern light. I saw the breath of 
 the thousand flowers rise in vapour, bearing with it 
 a million germs of existence, each of them capable 
 of fertilizing a world. The stones shone, the stars 
 blinked, there was nothing dead anywhere, the 
 very columns seemed to move, to pulsate under the 
 force that vibrated from within. 
 
 Crushed, overwhelmed, my head on fire, my senses 
 staggering before this infinite display of Nature's 
 might, I sank down among those twining myriads 
 of petals, enveloped in a rosy mist that seemed to 
 be carrying me down the last path of oblivion. 
 
138 Across the Zodiac 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE RINGED WORLD 
 
 ' It appears I've been hideously ill,' I remarked as 
 somebody tried to force some aromatic liquid or 
 others down my throat with a table-spoon — it was 
 Ned. I was in my own cabin, and the impassive 
 French steward was smiling coldly over Ned's 
 shoulder. 
 
 ' You've been conducting yourself like a raving 
 lunatic,' was the answer ; ' we've had to hold you 
 down to prevent you killing yourself, I've been 
 a little that way myself, so have all the crew. 
 There was something in the air of that cursed star 
 that knocked us all over. We've got clear of it at 
 last, thank heaven ! ' 
 
 I groaned, and tossed about painfully. There 
 were pains and aches all over me. Ned was look- 
 ing as pale as a ghost — so was the steward. We 
 had evidently been through an ordeal — 
 
 ' Where are we now ? ' I queried. Going back to 
 the earth ? ' 
 
 Ned uttered an oath. 
 
 ' No, by G — 'he exclaimed. * The captain, for 
 want of something better to do, took me up into 
 his laboratory and gave me a long jaw about that 
 patent way he has of measuring distances. It's 
 very ingenious, but when he told me we were a 
 hundred and forty million leagues from the sun, I 
 guess I didn't express much enthusiasm. That'll 
 do, you can go, monsieur.' 
 
 This to the French steward, who withdrew noise- 
 lessly. 
 
 ' Now, my dear Hal,' began Ned, sinking his 
 voice into a whisper, ' what the devil are we to do ? 
 One more experience like this'U be the death of 
 
The Ringed World 1 39 
 
 us. Instead of thinking about returning, Captain 
 Chlamyl is plunging deeper and deeper into space. 
 My own opinion is that he'll never come back. 
 He's talking about visiting Saturn.' 
 
 ' Nonsense ! ' I said incredulously, ' the distance 
 is too great ! Why, we'll never get there. Let's 
 see, there's nearly a matter of four hundred million 
 miles to be traversed still, before we cross its orbit.' 
 
 ' Not to speak of the significant fact that it's not 
 at all so certain that we won't be smashed up when 
 we get there,' put in Ned. ' I think we had better 
 frame a remonstrance.' 
 
 * Frame one by all means, my boy — if you can 
 get the captain to listen to you. But I fear your 
 objections won't amount to much.' 
 
 Ned put his idea into practice. That afternoon 
 he accosted the captain in the saloon. 
 
 ' We are going to cross the orbit of Saturn, sir ? ' 
 
 ' I believe so, Mr Hatton,' answered the com- 
 mander, smiling ; ' but that will not be for some 
 time yet, so calm your fears.' 
 
 ' When are you going to take us back to earth, 
 captain ? ' 
 
 ' I do not know, sir — probably this time next year.' 
 
 ' But, captain, we are prisoners on board this 
 vessel, we're in a perfect dungeon — a dungeon 
 which any moment may be smashed to atoms. 
 Even though the rest of your crew consent to be 
 thus incarcerated, do you think it is quite fair?' 
 
 'Mr Hatton,' interposed the commander, leaning 
 with one elbow on the piano, his legs crossed in- 
 dolently, ' was it for my own pleasure that I 
 carried you off? ' 
 
 ' I do not say so, sir.' 
 
 ' Do you not owe your life to me ? ' 
 
 ' I cannot deny it, captain.' 
 
 ' Then be silent. You are gaining an experience 
 which many mortals would give their lives to gain. 
 
140 Across the Zodiac 
 
 you are seeing sights that no man, save yourself, 
 has ever looked upon. Be content to contemplate 
 Nature's marvels for a short while yet. Even 
 though I wished to take you back to earth, I should 
 not be able to do so — at present. Perhaps you, 
 who no doubt consider yourself quite able to 
 manage this vessel (here Ned crimsoned violently) 
 have some method to suggest — come now, Mr 
 Hatton, if you were master of the Astrolabe^ how 
 would you bring her back to earth ? ' 
 
 The captain smiled maliciously. Ned, divided 
 between a fear of saying something foolish, and 
 the certainty of looking a fool if he remained silent, 
 shuffled about. Presently, — 
 
 ' I should stop the engines and allow the earth's 
 attraction to draw us back,' he said boldly. 
 
 ' Indeed ? ' answered the captain sarcastically, 
 * Then, Mr Hatton, I think, for your own safety at 
 least, it is just as well that I am at the helm. If 
 the engines were to be stopped just now, we would 
 fall into the sun, and perish miserably.' 
 
 Ned stared incredulously, put his hands in his 
 pockets and strolled over to the panel. 
 
 A tiny green star, of the second magnitude, was 
 visible against the ebony blackness of space. 
 Captain Chlamyl pointed to it. 
 
 * Do you think that far-off speck is capable of 
 exerting much influence over us here ? ' he said. 
 
 Ned looked vacantly at me. 
 
 * Then how on earth are we going to get back ? ' 
 he said. 
 
 * That is my affair,' responded the captain, laugh- 
 ing. ' In the meanwhile, let us wait and hope. — How 
 do you feel now, professor ? ' 
 
 ' Much better. Captain. I seem to have been 
 literally out of my mind while we were crossing 
 that nebula. What do you suppose could have 
 been the cause of our sufferings ? ' 
 
The Ringed World 141 
 
 'Well, sir, we entered an electrical focus of life, 
 so to speak. What you absorbed into your lungs 
 were probably the germs of a million unborn exist- 
 ences. We were all affected in much the same 
 way. My crew had a hard time of it, poor fellows, 
 but we pulled through somehow, and I think we 
 shall keep clear of such phenomena in future. It 
 will only be prudence.' 
 
 Jmie ^th. — An uneventful month has passed 
 away. Diary-writing becomes a terrible bore when 
 one has nothing to record. We are slowly drifting 
 into an existence of shell-fish inactivity, which any- 
 thing but agrees with Ned Hatton. 
 
 The distances in space are so enormous that it 
 hardly seems reasonable for any human being to 
 contemplate traversing them. From the last of 
 the minor planets, it will take us fully five months 
 to reach the orbit of Saturn — I think we shall be 
 dead first. 
 
 That is, no. Our life, hitherto monotonous 
 enough, has suddenly become enlivened by a 
 series of curious incidents, which have certainly 
 given us something to think about. 
 
 To begin with, we have succeeded in communi- 
 cating with the crew, that is, with the impassive 
 and discreet French steward who supplies us with 
 hot water in the mornings. 
 
 One night last week, Ned rapped me up at a late 
 hour, and, — 
 
 'The captain's ill,' said he. 
 
 '111?' I answered, vaguely imagining that some 
 disaster was looming. 
 
 'Yes. Got the mumps, or the blues, or some- 
 thing,' was the reply, ' and he wants you to pre- 
 scribe for him.' 
 
 ' Does he?' said I. ' Well, I'll do what I can.' 
 
 The steward conducted me to the captain's cabin, 
 
142 Across the Zodiac 
 
 which was almost enveloped in darkness. Blue 
 screens veiled the glowing lamps, and the thick 
 panels of aluminium protecting the windows had 
 been closed. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl lay on the couch, his face 
 looking rather paler than usual, his eyes shining 
 excitedly. 
 
 ' I don't know what's the matter with me,' he 
 groaned. * My head is splitting, and I am feeling 
 fearfully sick.' 
 
 ' You're nervous and excited,' I said, feeling his 
 pulse ; ' perhaps a little feverish. What have you 
 been doing with yourself all day? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! nothing,' he answered vaguely ; ' only 
 working out the elements of some cometary bodies 
 in the laboratory. What is the specific gravity of 
 sulphuretted hydrogen ? Do you know, professor ? ' 
 
 ' You'd better take some quinine,' I answered, 
 peremptorily, speaking like a doctor to an unruly 
 patient, ' it'll set you up in no time. Have you got 
 a medicine chest?' 
 
 ' There's one behind you. Please be careful not 
 to break any of the bottles. It would be difficult 
 to replace them. Did you notice the shower of 
 aerolites yesterday morning? I fancy they were 
 carrying volumes of gas along with them — at 
 least, our atmosphere has been slightly vitiated. 
 How many grains are you going to give me ? ' 
 
 ' Thirty,' I answered ; ' that will be enough for 
 the present. Why ! — ' 
 
 I stopped, transfixed. The French steward was 
 standing behind me with a curious expression on 
 his face — an expression of eager anticipation, 
 mingled with a singular fear of some kind. He 
 was listening, his hands clenched, his eyes pro- 
 truding, his whole pose indicative of strange ex- 
 citement. He was not attending to me. He did 
 not even seem to notice my presence. 
 
The Ringed World 143 
 
 I turned to the captain. His blue eyes were 
 nearly closed. As I looked at him I got a shock. 
 It somehow seemed to me that he was scrutinising 
 me through the half-closed lids. 
 
 A confused noise of hammering and smashing 
 arose, echoing along the corridor. In the midst of 
 the crash of a breaking door, Ned's voice was heard, 
 shouting my name. The steward's face became 
 livid. Captain Chlamyl half raised himself on his 
 elbow. 
 
 I dashed from the room. Ned, his eyes staring, 
 the blood running from a cut on his cheek, was 
 staggering along the passage, holding his hand to 
 his chest. 
 
 ' I'm being suffocated ! ' he gasped. ' Hold me 
 up, do ! Dash it ! I've smashed my hand up ! ' 
 
 His fingers and knuckles were hideously bruised. 
 Across the carpet lay the fragments of a stout, 
 wooden door. 
 
 'What's the matter?' I queried stupidly. 
 
 'The matter?' spluttered Ned angrily. 'You go 
 and have a look in there, and you'll see what's the 
 matter. Don't go too near, though, or you'll get 
 killed ! ' 
 
 I propped him up against the wall and approached 
 the entrance to his cabin, in the interior of which 
 the lamps were still brightly burning. I had not 
 proceeded two steps before a well-known sensation 
 of warmth in my lungs sent a shiver of fear through 
 me. Ned, behind me, coughed and raved. 
 
 ' Why, it's deadly poison ! ' I exclaimed. 
 
 ' Carbonic acid — at least ! ' vouchsafed Ned. 
 ' How do you think it could have happened ? I 
 was sitting quite still, reading that book you re- 
 commended, when I felt the stuff going down into 
 my lungs, and making me giddy. A pipe must 
 have broken somewhere, I think.' 
 
 At this juncture several of the men put in an 
 
144 Across the Zodiac 
 
 appearance. I tried to explain matters to them, 
 but they paid no attention to me. Ned dragged 
 me along by the arm. 
 
 ' Come out of this ! ' he said. ' I believe we'll be 
 murdered before this journey's over. Where's the 
 captain ? God ! how my hand smarts. Just ask 
 that Johnny for some water, will you ? ' 
 
 We got a basin and bathed his broken wrists, 
 bandaging them with cotton and vaseline, and in- 
 stalling him on an arm-chair in the drawing-room. 
 On leaving the room my eyes met those of the 
 impassive steward. It was only a glance, but it 
 served to keep me awake for the best part of the 
 night. 
 
 Just before retiring I made an attempt to see 
 the captain, but his door was locked, and I con- 
 cluded that he was asleep. 
 
 The door of Ned's cabin was replaced by a heavy 
 curtain. Ned himself, extended at full length on 
 the swinging bed, with both hands under his head, 
 looked at me curiously. 
 
 ' It seems that danger lurks inside the Astrolabe 
 as well as outside,' he said softly. 'After all, it's only 
 a question of time, if they really mean murder.' 
 
 I started. 
 
 ' What nonsense ! ' I exclaimed, ' Captain 
 Chlamyl's far too honourable to harbour any such 
 vile thoughts about us. What a fearful slander, 
 Ned ! Remember he's our host ! ' 
 
 Ned laughed bitterly. 
 
 ' Do you call it hospitality to lock one's guests 
 into their cabin and turn a tap of poisonous gas 
 on them ? ' he queried. 
 
 I shivered uncomfortably. Ned's face was paler 
 than usual. He was evidently in grim earnest. 
 
 ' Did anyone — lock the door?' I stammered. 
 
 * Of course,' answered Ned, quietly, ' else why 
 did I have to break it in order to get out ? ' 
 
The Ringed World 145 
 
 He undid his coat and felt nervously about in his 
 inner pockets. 
 
 'I've got my revolver here,' he said calmly; 'do 
 you think they'll try an attack on me at night?, 
 The door's gone now, so I can't keep them out' 
 
 He clenched his hands nervously and looked 
 round him with an expression of despair. 
 
 ' Hal,' he said, with a sort of sob, ' I can't stand 
 this ! It's awful to be killed like a rat in a trap. 
 I wish the devil that volcano had entirely swallowed 
 us up — I do really. What chance have we here ? 
 None. How many men are there on board do 
 you think ? ' 
 
 • I don't know,' I answered gloomily. * There may 
 be a dozen, there may be two dozen. It's quite 
 impossible to even vaguely estimate the number. 
 The locking of the door is what staggers me. Did 
 you know it was being locked ? ' 
 
 ' No. I never noticed anything till I felt a 
 burning in my lungs.' 
 
 ' How did the stuff get in ? ' I queried. ' Are there 
 any signs of broken pipes anywhere?' 
 
 We fell to examining the walls inch by inch. 
 First the walls, then the ceiling, then the floor, which 
 was thickly carpeted with phormium. There was no 
 trace of any orifice through which the deadly fluid 
 could have been introduced. 
 
 'Perhaps it came through the electric light 
 fittings,' suggested Ned, ' or perhaps a pipe opens 
 under the carpet. There is no knowing what these 
 talented assassins may be up to. I intend to sleep 
 with my revolver under my pillow all night, and 
 the first fellow who puts in an appearance — let 
 him look out, that's all! For the present, I intend 
 to pull up that carpet ! " 
 
 I tried in vain to dissuade him. He fell on his 
 knees and began tearing up the matting, which was 
 fastened down by rows of flat-headed brass nails. 
 
 K 
 
146 Across the Zodiac 
 
 A thick flooring of aluminium, crossed in places by- 
 lines of copper bolts, separated us from the lower 
 portions of the vessel, where the revolving discs 
 were humming monotonously. Not a hole, not 
 a crevice was anywhere visible. We nailed down 
 the matting again, and gazed at each other hope- 
 lessly. Ned, his hands running absent-mindedly 
 through his untidy hair, allowed his eyes to wander 
 over the gorgeous fittings of the apartment which 
 had so nearly become his tomb, over the polished 
 panels of the wall, over the swinging couch with 
 its blue silken curtains and the wash-hand-stand 
 with its flagons and tumblers of iridescent glass. 
 At the bottom of the pink china basin, shaped 
 like the shell of a tridacna, an aluminium plug with 
 a chain attached allowed the water to run off. 
 Ned's eyes flashed to life. 
 
 ' Where does that pipe lead to ? ' he said. 
 
 ' It leads to a copper reservoir,' I answered, 
 recollecting Captain Chlamyl's explanations of the 
 methods he employed to economise water on board 
 the Astrolabe, 'where it is re-distilled and sent 
 back to be used over again — ' 
 
 A step was heard in the passage. Ned flew to 
 the door and drew aside the curtains violently. 
 The French steward was extinguishing the electric 
 lamps one by one before retiring to rest. Presently 
 his task came to an end. He vanished. Ned let 
 the curtains fall softly, and returned to the charge, 
 fingering his revolver nervously meanwhile. 
 
 ' Suppose they use that pipe to convey carbonic 
 acid into my cabin,' he suggested, speaking in a 
 mysterious undertone, ' if I put in the aluminium 
 plug, it'll be all right, won't it?' 
 
 ' Certainly,' I replied in a confident tone, though 
 really my heart was in my boots — certainly, 
 unless — ' 
 
 * Unless what ? ' 
 
The Ringed World 147 
 
 ' Unless they take the stuff from a high-pressure 
 reservoir, in which case your plug '11 be blown out 
 like a bullet from a gun.' 
 
 * That'll make a noise, I reckon,' said Ned. 
 * Anyway, here goes,' And he rammed the plug 
 down the pipe, taking the additional precaution 
 to fill the basin with water above it. 
 
 ' Now they're fixed — for the present,' he said, 
 rubbing his hands. ' As for that captain, I'll settle 
 accounts with him to-morrow. Good-night, old 
 man. If I'm wiped out while I'm asleep, you'll 
 think of me sometimes — ' 
 
 ' Oh, come, come, Ned, this'll never do,' I said 
 patronizingly, slapping my friend on the shoulder 
 in a miserable attempt at gaiety. ' What reason 
 should these fellows have for wanting to get rid 
 of you ? Don't be silly ! ' 
 
 Ned mused. 
 
 ' It was all on account of my confounded 
 jabbering the other night,' he said. ' What a fool 
 I was to be so loose-tongued ! Or perhaps they 
 want to economise provisions — anyway I wouldn't 
 trust that captain of yours the length of my little 
 finger.' 
 
 The object of our mistrust received me civilly 
 the following morning on deck. His condition 
 was slightly improved, but his eyes still shone 
 feverishly and his cheeks were flushed. At first 
 he hardly noticed me. 
 
 ' Captain,' I said, bending over his chair, ' captain, 
 do you feel better this morning?' 
 
 ' Ah, is that you, professor ? ' he said, starting. 
 'How did you sleep? I'm still very weak — but I 
 think that dose of yours did me good. What was 
 that I heard about Mr Hatton ? ' 
 
 I related Ned's strange misadventure. I added — 
 
 ' The poor fellow's perfectly miserable. He's 
 
148 Across the Zodiac 
 
 perfectly persuaded in his own mind that some 
 of the crew are making an attack on his life.' 
 
 I paused, to watch the effect of my words. 
 Captain Chlamyl slightly raised his eyebrows and 
 laughed. 
 
 ' You must cure him of that/ he said carelessly. 
 ' It is not pleasant to travel in company with a 
 lunatic. As for yourself, professor, you know me 
 too well to believe me capable of harbouring such 
 nonsensical designs against anyone. The contem- 
 plation of Nature's grand works is apt to engender 
 pity, perhaps love, for humanity, but certainly not 
 hate. That is Saturn over there.' 
 
 I followed his gaze. The ringed world was 
 hanging above us on the port side, clearly dis- 
 tinguishable from among the masses of stars. I 
 examined it with interest through the captain's 
 powerful binocular. 
 
 Three of its satellites were visible, the other five 
 being apparently hidden behind the body of the 
 planet or behind the semi-transparent rings. The 
 globe itself was slightly eclipsed, owing to the posi- 
 tion of the sun. Round the equator the annular 
 shadow traced a dark band. I observed that the 
 poles were clearer and whiter in colour than the 
 rest of the globe, thus arguing the presence of 
 snow or ice, as in the case of our earth. 
 
 ' I thought the atmosphere of Saturn was so dense 
 as to preclude all possibility of the poles becoming 
 visible ; ' I remarked to the captain, ' certain French 
 savants used to compare its density with that of 
 water.' 
 
 ' Certainly, sir,' answered the captain, ' but its 
 density varies considerably with the latitude. The 
 attraction of its rings plays a considerable part in 
 tending to heap up vast gaseous masses near the 
 equator and produce an ebb-tide, so to speak, in 
 the neighbourhood of the poles, where the cloudy 
 
The Ringed World 149 
 
 envelope is in consequence thinned down to reason- 
 able terrestrial proportions.' 
 
 ' To breathe this atmosphere is impossible, 
 captain ? ' 
 
 ' Quite impossible, sir. Not only would its 
 density and pressure be inconvenient, but it is 
 also rich, too rich, in oxygen gas to be inhaled 
 with security. You would be drunk with the first 
 mouthful. Contrary to our terrestrial plants, how- 
 ever, the Saturnian flora thrive in such an atmo- 
 sphere, whose life-giving qualities are farthcrmore 
 increased by the enormous volume of water- vapour 
 which is held in suspension. Under the circum- 
 stances, it will be necessary to make use of our 
 diving-dresses — but reassure yourself We are a 
 long way off as yet, and who knows whether we are 
 destined to reach it — ah, there is Mr Hatton. We 
 have been talking about you, sir.' 
 
 Ned appeared, enveloped in a rich coat of sables, 
 his teeth chattering with cold. He looked, first at 
 me, then at the captain, without speaking. The 
 latter began affably, — 
 
 ' I was sorry to hear, Mr Hatton, that you had 
 been seriously inconvenienced last night by an 
 escape of gas in your room. The crew are a good 
 set of fellows, but careless sometimes, and accidents 
 naturally happen occasionally. The gases generated 
 by the combustion of pyroxyline in the engines are 
 stored in a strong reservoir previous to being sub- 
 jected to a chemical operation which deprives them of 
 their poisonous qualities. Owing to some stupidity 
 or other on the part of my engineers, a portion 
 escaped and filtered into your room somehow. It 
 was an unfortunate accident, sir, and I trust you 
 will accept an apology for what, if your account is 
 a true one, might have terminated in a very serious 
 disaster.' 
 
 Ned Hatton bowed froggily without replying. 
 
1 50 Across the Zodiac 
 
 During the whole of the next day, the ship's 
 carpenter was busily occupied in replacing the door 
 that Ned had broken. Our captain's mysterious 
 malady became aggravated towards evening, and 
 he vanished into his cabin to court the God of 
 Slumber while the Astrolabe held on her tranquil 
 way across the void that separates the orbits of the 
 minor planets from that of Saturn. 
 
 Lying on one of the canopies in the saloon, I 
 was lazily pursuing one of M. Flammarion's in- 
 teresting frescoes, thinking the while what the 
 French savant would have said had a genii 
 transported him from his quiet study in Paris on 
 board the marvellous vessel that had been my 
 prison for nearly two months and a half, when the 
 steward suddenly entered and commenced to dust 
 the ornaments on the piano. 
 
 Something curious about the action struck me. 
 It seemed so very unusual for the tidying of a 
 room to take place at midnight, farthermore, as 
 dust was an unknown article on the Astrolabe, 
 there could really be no necessity for this mania of 
 cleanliness. Several times he paused to look at 
 me, turning away his eyes when he found he was 
 being noticed. A sudden impulse took possession 
 of me. I addressed him in French. 
 
 ' How is the captain ? ' I said softly. 
 
 The dark eyes gleamed. 
 
 '// dortl replied the steward, in an undertone. 
 My heart gave a bound. Here at last was a 
 chance of getting to the bottom of this mystery. 
 
 * I have been wishing to talk to you for some 
 time past,' I continued, ' but neither myself nor my 
 friend could get a word out of you. Is silence the 
 rule on board this vessel ? ' 
 
 M/z, vion Dieu, monsieur!' (with a shrug of his 
 shoulders) ' what would you have ? When the very 
 walls have ears ! ' 
 
The Ringed World 1 5 j 
 
 Another flash of the black eyes A strancr^ 
 thnll went through me. Evidendy I had o deal 
 Ch am.TYde ^'""S^^der of pirate in C^ptaTj 
 Lhlamyl— a despotic commander whom it was life 
 and death to disobey. Ned's suspicionr„'erc be n^ 
 hideously confirmed. ^ 
 
 'Come into our cabin,' I said, speakin- in a half 
 whisper; 'we will be safer there perhaps.' 
 
 I he man hesitated. 
 
 .' qT-^i^V^^ '^^"^ anywhere here,' he said. 
 btiU— Ned wants to see you,' I insisted. ' You 
 may be able to tell us a good many things we want 
 to^know. You say the captain's asleep ' 
 
 He IS asleep—just now, mojtsieur ; but if he 
 should wake and find me in there with you- ' 
 
 The eyes grevv significant. But I had gone too 
 far to recede. Every scruple vanished before the 
 overwhelmmg mterests at stake. ' Only one 
 moment,' I pleaded— 'just one ' ^ 
 
 Ned'fca\;n'"TheTn"'^'''''"'^^ ^°^^^^^'- ''- 
 co^ducSdTn whis^e^s"^""^ conversation ensued, 
 
 'Who is the captain of this vessel, and where 
 does he come from ? ' wnere 
 
 ' I do not know-he is a pirate and an outlaw.' 
 Asu2,e> '^^'^ >^°" ^^^" - board the 
 ' Two years at least' 
 ' Against your will ? ' 
 
 'Mafoi! w^^mW/r— whatam I todo? Where 
 
 am I to go? There is no T,'r^,-u c v\ nere 
 
 \\i ^ -iiicrc IS no world tor us any more 
 
 We cannot even see the earth.' ^ 
 
 ' How many men are there on board ? ' 
 
 ' Twenty- two, counting the captain. They are a 
 
1 5 2 Across the Zodiac 
 
 crew of thieves and convicts, whom he saved from 
 the mines of Siberia, I think. It is difficult to 
 converse with them, for they do not speak my 
 language, and I do not know a word of theirs.' 
 
 ' What did you say just now about the captain 
 being able to hear what goes on everywhere in the 
 vessel ? How is this possible ? Are their spies on 
 board ? ' 
 
 * No, monsieur ; but I think there must be a tele- 
 phone inside the wall.' He tapped the partition 
 significantly. I looked at Ned. 
 
 It was quite what I should have expected from a 
 man of Captain Chlamyl's inventive genius, yet the 
 diabolical ingenuity of the idea fairly paralysed me. 
 
 ' We'll soon fix that,' said Ned, quietly. Now go 
 on — tell us some more. Do you think there is a plan 
 on foot to murder us ? ' 
 
 ' I hardly know, monsieur — the captain is so dark 
 and mysterious in his plans. However, be sure I 
 will help you to the best of my ability. The event 
 of the night before last was so strange. I knew 
 something was the matter by the way in which the 
 captain behaved towards me. I believe he already 
 suspects me of corresponding with you. Does 
 monsieur understand how the vessel is worked ? ' 
 
 ' I don't,' answered Ned, promptly. ' Do you ? ' 
 he said, turning to me. 
 
 * I'm afraid not,' I answered. ' There are many 
 things about her which I don't understand. The 
 captain has kept a good deal from me. As for 
 steering my way through space — that's quite out of 
 the question.' 
 
 ' Because if monsieur could have done it,' pursued 
 the steward, musingly, 'we might have killed the 
 captain and taken the vessel. It would be very 
 easy. Had any of us understood the management 
 of the machines we might have done it long ago — 
 who knows ? ' 
 
The Ringed World 153 
 
 This was said in the cahnest voice, as though the 
 speaker were discussing an abstract question in 
 philosophy. Ned's eyes met mine. We had evi- 
 dently fallen in with a singularly conscienceless set of 
 pirates. From the captain downwards, ideas of 
 right and wrong seemed to be most shaky on the 
 Astrolabe. The ringing of the distant bell, perhaps 
 in the engine-room, caused the Frenchman to 
 spring up. Ned clutched him by the arm. 
 
 * We are allies ! ' he whispered. 
 
 ' Yes, for life or death ! ' murmured the other, tear- 
 ing himself loose and vanishing through the doorway. 
 
 Such was the brief interview which served to 
 reveal so much to us. Ned, experienced adventurer 
 as he was himself, had only been too correct in his 
 conjectures. W^e were no longer the honoured 
 guests of Captain Chlamyl, but merely human 
 playthings, to be picked up, crushed, and cast 
 aside whenever it suited him. 
 
 For the moment I could see no especial reason 
 why the captain should wish to take our life. We 
 had only been three months with him, and the 
 Astrolabe, if what he had told me was true, was 
 equipped for a two years' cruise. If at the end of 
 that time we did not either succeed in returning to 
 earth, or in at least landing on some inhabitable 
 planet, we should be forced to put some of the 
 horrible expedients of shipwrecked manners into 
 practice. 
 
 ' They'll make us draw lots and eat each other,' 
 suggested Ned. 
 
 ' You mean if we are alive to draw anything,' I 
 said. ' You may be sure Captain Chalmyl and his 
 reservoir of carbonic acid will have put all the 
 superfluous members of this ship's company pain- 
 lessly out of existence long before that' 
 
 Expostulation or resistance was clearly out of 
 
154 Across the Zodiac 
 
 the question. Any attempt at baulking the cap- 
 tain's plans openly w^ould only bring immediate 
 destruction on us both. Terrible, indeed, if the 
 commander kept a telephone in each room to 
 acquaint him with any mutinous designs that his 
 crew might be harbouring and a reservoir of poison 
 wherewith to suffocate the offender in his sleep. 
 
 Ned continually fretted and watched, always 
 sleeping with his revolver under his pillow, always 
 pottering about his cabin tapping the panels, un- 
 screwing the electric light fixtures, in hopes of dis- 
 covering some new murderous contrivance of the 
 captain's, or in hopes of finding the whereabouts of 
 the mysterious tell-tale apparatus that reported 
 our conversations to the commander. 
 
 But here, too, the genius of Captain Chlamyl 
 came to light. Search as he would, Ned could find 
 nothing. It was impossible to open the panels, 
 besides, except by sheer force, and as I pointed 
 out to the angry Ned, no telephone, placed behind 
 solid boards of wood, could possibly be of any great 
 efificiency, unless the captain had invented a new 
 species of telephonic instrument, which, it must be 
 acknowledged, was within the bounds of possibility. 
 
 It was under these circumstances and amid these 
 doubts and curiosities, that our life on board again 
 began to resume its tranquil monotony. Day 
 by day, week by week, the majestic sun grew 
 smaller, Saturn, its eight moons distinctly visible, 
 as regularly augmented in size, till on the 15th of 
 July the rings could be seen by the naked eye, 
 separated into their four distinct bands. It then 
 struck me to interrogate Captain Chlamyl on the 
 nature of this strange corona, and his observations, 
 based as they were on actual knowledge and 
 experience, proved incalculably interesting to me. 
 
 ' They are an agglomeration of small bodies, 
 rotating round each other and on their own axes,' 
 
The Ringed World 155 
 
 he said. ' The rapid rotation of the great planet, 
 while yet in a vaporous condition, may have 
 tended to separate them from the main body. 
 Thus they whirl year after year.' 
 
 ' Each on its own independent orbit ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' Certainly, professor,' replied the captain. 
 ' There is no body in the whole universe which 
 does not move in an orbit of its own. Order is 
 the rule in Nature.' 
 
 ' Nevertheless, captain,' I argued, ' it puzzles me 
 to know how such a vast number of tiny worlds 
 can crowd into a comparatively narrow space, each 
 travelling at a vertiginous speed, without jostling 
 each other in their passage.' 
 
 ' And who said they did so?' 
 
 ' You inferred as much, sir. If this were not the 
 case, the/ings of Saturn would soon cease to exist' 
 
 * And who ever supposed them likely to exist 
 for ever ? Within even the last hundred years, 
 astronomers have recorded a marked diminution 
 in the breadth and density of these annular orna- 
 ments of his Saturnian majesty. Who knows? 
 Perhaps a {q.\\ thousand years more will see the 
 end of them. The number that fall annually 
 along the equator, attracted by the gravitation, is 
 enormous. The motion of these bodies through 
 the dense atmosphere, suddenly checked, turns 
 into heat by the shock, and a ring of smouldering 
 volcanoes burns in a zone of fire round the middle 
 spaces of the great world. Vapours exhaled from 
 thousands of active craters serve in a great measure 
 to compose the heavy, cloudy envelope that has 
 hitherto veiled the surface of this planet from the 
 curious eyes of our terrestrial astronomers — ah, 
 professor, you are going to visit a land of marvels, 
 a misshapen land that has no name, where Pluto 
 and Neptune still strive for the mastery, as they 
 did in earliest ages on our own little earth. 
 
156 Across the Zodiac 
 
 History, sir, usually repeats itself in the universe, 
 and we can judge of what took place on our earth 
 by what we see taking place on the newer and 
 more recent planets. It is to argue by analogy, 
 that is all.' 
 
 * What surprises me, captain,' I said, contemplat- 
 ing the extraordinary personage who spoke care- 
 lessly about inspecting and examining the planets as 
 though he were a general reviewing a few regiments, 
 ' what surprises me, is not so much this marvellous 
 journey we are making now, as that you should 
 have been here before to gather all these facts,' 
 
 ' Why should I not have visited Saturn before, 
 professor ? ' 
 
 ' Because,' I answered, feeling that at last I had 
 a statement to make which the captain would not 
 be able to dispose of so easily, ' because the 
 Saturnian year is equal to nearly thirty of ours, 
 owing to the immense size of the planet's orbit 
 round the central sun — this would make it only 
 possible for you to hit it off, so to speak, once 
 every thirty years. I believe the translation move- 
 ment only acts one way, and for this reason — ' 
 
 ' And why need I necessarily use the translation 
 movement, professor? Do you think there is no 
 other way of crossing space than by staying still 
 and allowing the planets to reel around me ? ' 
 
 ' I do not see any other way, sir.' 
 
 * Ah, professor,' replied the captain, ironically, 
 'decidedly you never would have made a great 
 mechanical genius. Come, be content to study 
 and observe. There is much you have yet to 
 learn, and let us hope Fate will be kind enough to 
 throw enlightenment in your way some day.' 
 
Aa^oss the Dark Sea 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ACROSS THE DARK SEA 
 
 On the morning of the loth of August, we had 
 traversed nearly six hundred miUion miles since 
 our departure from Iceland. As our distance from 
 Saturn diminished, various interesting phenomena 
 presented themselves. 
 
 On the 15th a shower of meteors crossed our 
 path. The ringed planet, nearly ahead of us, 
 equalled in size an apple, held at arm's length. The 
 attraction of this gigantic mass was even now 
 beginning to be felt, and the crowd of meteors 
 were hurrying in the same direction as we our- 
 selves — at a far more rapid pace, however, for they 
 had come from an infinite distance, whereas we 
 had only the comparatively limited movement of 
 translation to help us forward. 
 
 Some of these bodies were nearly a hundred 
 yards in diameter, and surrounded by haloes of 
 various gases, others were mere fragments of rock. 
 Ned and I observed them attentively through the 
 panels of the saloon. Our curiosity was perhaps 
 not unmingled with a certain awe, for had one of 
 these erratic blocks of stone struck the Astrolabe, 
 our chances of salvation would have been small 
 indeed. Each planet, gravitating in whatever 
 direction it pleases — round the sun, or round any- 
 thing else — is a focus from which nothing smaller 
 than itself can escape. The number of aerolites 
 that thus strike the earth each year is estimated 
 at several hundred thousand. Saturn, being nearly 
 seven times the diameter of our modest globe, 
 would attract at least twenty times as many of 
 these wandering fragments. For several days we 
 travelled in the midst of this cortege of meteors. 
 
158 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Once or twice Captain Chlamyl, for prudence sake, 
 was even forced to absorb his atmosphere, for fear 
 of it being stolen. We were confined to the saloon, 
 and Ned recommenced his grumbling. 
 
 On the 25th the space around us was again 
 open, and our walks on the platform again became 
 possible. Captain Chlamyl, elated possibly by 
 the prospect of again setting foot on the wondrous 
 ringed planet, excelled himself in amiability and 
 politeness. Seated together, either in the labora- 
 tory or in the saloon, we conned over together the 
 marvellous book of the universe through the 
 binocular telescopes, and lost ourselves in specula- 
 tions respecting the farther worlds of space, which, 
 even to the mighty Astrolabe, must ever remain 
 unapproachable. 
 
 The more I thought of it, the more I became 
 convinced that Ned's extraordinary accident had 
 been the result of chance, the bursting of an iron 
 boiler-plate or the leakage of a joint. It seemed 
 absolutely and completely impossible that the 
 blue-eyed captain could be a common criminal 
 and murderer — of the French steward we saw 
 nothing. Perhaps, Ned suggested, the commander 
 had suspected our intimacy and forcibly put a 
 stop to it, perhaps (this was the more likely 
 solution) he had nothing particular to communi- 
 cate. September opened in a singular manner. 
 Rudely aroused from a troubled slumber on the 
 night of the loth, I found Ned bending over me, 
 whispering something into my ear. 
 
 I gave him a startled glance, hurried into my 
 slippers, and together on tip-toe we felt our way 
 to my companion's cabin. Against the couch 
 rested a heavily-framed mirror which Ned had 
 evidently finished taking down from its usual 
 place over the basin-stand. A dark cavity was 
 visible in the panelling. Certain small square 
 
Across the Dark Sea 159 
 
 boxes attracted my attention, from the tops of 
 which wires radiated in different directions. 
 
 'They are microphones of an ordinary type,' 
 whispered Ned, ' and sensitive enough to record 
 the noise of growing grass ! ' 
 
 I stared. It was perfectly true. An examina- 
 tion of the ingenious contrivances left no doubt of 
 the purpose for which they were destined. En- 
 sconced in what I should have thought a decidedly 
 unfavourable position, behind the vast looking- 
 glass, the instruments were nevertheless sensitive 
 enough to convey every word of conversation, 
 criminal or otherwise, to the ears of the listening 
 captain. 
 
 This put another colour on our life. The 
 graceful blue-eyed savayit at once made place for 
 the designing pirate. I attentively studied the 
 microphones, which were constructed of carbon 
 rods arranged radially round a common centre, 
 and connected with an induction coil of the 
 Rhumkorfif pattern. Ned flourished a steel pincers 
 triumphantly. 
 
 'I'll soon fix the hash of these scamps!' he 
 muttered between his teeth. With a few rapid 
 snaps he severed three of the wires. Then he 
 lifted the heavy glass back into its place and 
 readjusted the bolts. 
 
 ' We'll be able to talk in peace now, I guess,' 
 he remarked coolly. ' Did you ever see such an 
 accomplished pirate before?' 
 
 I said nothing. The affair was certainly signifi- 
 cant. With Captain Chlamyl's science, with his 
 endless imagination and resource, we were as 
 much in his power as a fluttering canary is in the 
 power of a cruel schoolboy. Whatever the 
 intentions of the commander were when he 
 instituted these clever spying arrangements, they 
 certainly did not argue well for our safety or 
 
1 60 Across the Zodiac 
 
 independence while on the Astrolabe. It is pos- 
 sible that at any other time Ned's discovery- 
 would have been inaugurative of a settled and 
 determined hatred between ourselves and the 
 captain, but just then we were too occupied and 
 excited to pay much heed to these evidences of 
 meditated treachery. 
 
 During the night of the 25th, I awoke with 
 a vague feeling that some disaster was im- 
 pending. As I staggered out of bed to light 
 the lamp, my limbs refused their office, and I fell 
 prostrate against the wall. A few moments' re- 
 flection and a rapid glance through the circular 
 window, however, convinced me that my muscular 
 intoxication was the result of outward circum- 
 stances rather than brain disturbance. We were 
 drawing near Saturn. The huge globe, with its 
 gorgeous panoply of rings, might be several 
 million miles off yet, but it filled fully a quarter of 
 the heavens, and we seemed actually to be touch- 
 ing the outer circumference of the ring, which 
 appeared like a nebula of fine dust, stretching 
 away beneath us in an endless line, like a path of 
 luminous fire. 
 
 I was hurrying on my clothes with a view to 
 proceeding on deck, when a well-known panting 
 noise arrested me. The atmosphere was being 
 taken in. I must content myself with contemplat- 
 ing these wonders through the glass panels. 
 
 Exclamations and noises resounded from the 
 next cabin. Ned was awake and alive to the 
 situation. Together we dragged ourselves for- 
 ward into the saloon. 
 
 The Astrolabe had veered about. The vast planet 
 was now beneath us, and its attraction was becom- 
 ing more pronounced every hour. As we sank 
 lower and lower, the ring, which at first had worn 
 the appearance of a narrow band, broadened out 
 
Across the Dark Sea i6i 
 
 into a sea of rapidly-moving meteorites, whirling and 
 tossing and changing in the light of the sun under 
 the influence of a motion that seemed perpetual. 
 
 It was then 2 a.m. At four we sank majesti- 
 cally past the outlying borders of the great ring, 
 which may have been anywhere between five 
 hundred and five thousand miles distant from our 
 port side. 
 
 The revolving stars, rivalling the sand of the 
 sea in quantity, produced the most singular effects 
 of eclipse on each other, and a continual sparkling 
 radiance, like sunlight reflected from the surface 
 of dancing water, shone from the lower and denser 
 portions of the ring, illumining the polished sides 
 and panels of the Astrolabe with a soft light, re- 
 sembling moonlight. 
 
 Electrical phenomena, something in the nature 
 of an Arctic aurora, occasionally crowned the poles 
 of some of these spinning satellites, and the 
 monotonous whiteness was varied by streamers 
 and runners of purple and blue. At five, the 
 motion of the Astrolabe, which had been slackening 
 during the last hour, seemed to be checked by 
 some invisible obstacle. 
 
 I understood. We had struck the Saturnian 
 atmosphere, and the brilliancy of the ring was 
 being slowly quenched in a sea of floating vapours, 
 which grew denser and denser as we sank lower. 
 The attraction, too, became more pronounced, and, 
 speaking for myself, I experiencd a feeling of 
 deadly faintness, as though I were being crushed 
 down by an unknown weight. 
 
 ' How much worse is this going to get ? ' asked 
 Ned, stretching himself out at full length on the 
 divan and holding his head between his hands. 
 ' A little more'll finish me. I seem to be made of 
 cast-iron. Hadn't we better ring the bell for 
 lights?' 
 
 L 
 
1 62 Across the Zodiac 
 
 In fact, the saloon was growing darker and 
 darker as the clouds gathered about the sides 
 of the Astrolabe. Even the electric search-light, 
 which just then flashed into existence, was unable 
 to wholly dispel the gloom. The vapours wore 
 a yellowish aspect, and seemed to me to be com- 
 posed of salts of iron. 
 
 At five, lurid flashes and sheets of lightning 
 appeared, striking through the gloomy abyss like 
 tongues of fire. Distant explosions struck my ear, 
 and I strained my eyes out into the inky mists, 
 while my heart beat violently. 
 
 ' Confound it,' exclaimed Ned, clutching my hand, 
 * we are entering the infernal regions, I believe ! ' 
 
 I could not be surprised at the remark. Even 
 the brilliant light on deck failed to pierce the 
 blackness, which was almost solid in its intensity. 
 
 Suddenly I uttered a cry. The Astrolabe, strik- 
 ing violently against some hard body, trembled 
 from stem to stern. Strange noises, resembling 
 the splashing of water, re-echoed everywhere, and 
 the panes of glass quivered beneath the impact 
 of some liquid mass. Ned groaned feebly. We 
 were in a pitiable state of terror. 
 
 Then came the sound of an opening door, and 
 the saloon flashed into brilliant light. What a 
 scene of disorder! The chairs and sofas were 
 overturned, the ornaments on the piano were 
 broken, many of them. Captain Chlamyl, enter- 
 ing brusquely, was violently overthrown — the ship 
 rocked horribly. 
 
 ' We have landed ! ' exclaimed the commander, 
 picking himself up and passing his hand across 
 his forehead. 
 
 I was lying prostrate on the sofa, my head 
 splitting with a strange giddiness. 
 
 ' Are we on the ground ? ' I managed to articu- 
 late. 
 
Across the Dark Sea 163 
 
 ' No, sir — on the sea,' was the answer. 
 
 The rocking motion continued steadil}\ I stag- 
 gered to my feet. 
 
 ' Can we go on deck ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' Yes, professor — the atmosphere is breathable, 
 in this region at least.' 
 
 We dragged ourselves through the dining-room 
 and up the iron stairs. A fearful sensation, to 
 which, however, I soon became accustomed, made 
 my lungs contract painfully. I felt like a diver 
 buried in a hundred feet of water. A cold sting 
 in my face roused mc. The deck was rippling 
 with moisture. 
 
 Yes, it was the sea. A sunless void of salt 
 waves, overhung by a heaven of shifting black 
 clouds, torn into ribbons by tempestuous winds 
 and feebly lighted by a far-off scarlet glow that 
 shone along the horizon like a diabolical mirage — 
 the chaos of an unformed world. This was Saturn ! 
 My sensations for the moment are hard to describe. 
 Nearly a dozen sailors of the Astrolabe were col- 
 lected, examining the position of the vessel. Our 
 twin lamps of some fifty-thousand candle-power 
 apiece, revealed every detail within a radius of 
 one mile ; beyond that, all was lost in darkness. 
 
 From the midst of the long aureole of fire that 
 burned on the southern horizon, vast lurid flames 
 were shooting upwards to the zenith, growing 
 dimmer and dimmer as they vanished among the 
 sooty clouds. Then the darkness vanished for a 
 moment, giving way to an intense white moon- 
 light. Ned, looking upwards, his face colourless 
 with excitement, burst into a cry of mingled sur- 
 prise and admiration. 
 
 ' The ring ! ' he exclaimed. 
 
 A vast arch of fire spanned the sky, visible for 
 a moment between two moving columns of vapour. 
 In that brief moment, I thought I discerned, 
 
164 Across the Zodiac 
 
 stretching away to the westward, a jagged line of 
 rocks, fringed with a belt of snowy surf 
 
 ' It is the equatorial sea ! ' said a voice near me. 
 I turned and perceived the captain. 
 
 'The sea that stretches for several thousand 
 miles on either side of the equator,' he resumed. 
 ' We are going to cross it ! ' 
 
 ' To cross it ? ' I cried, 
 
 ' Yes, sir, why not. The soundings are about to 
 be taken. I imagine there is not much danger,' 
 
 Before I could express the surprise which this 
 proposition of the captain's had awakened in me, 
 one of the men, whom I took to be the first 
 lieutenant, had appeared with a sounding line of 
 steel wire, similar to those used on the Atlantic 
 previous to the laying of Cyrus Field's cable. 
 
 Dropped over the port side, the line ran out 
 smoothly to about five thousand feet. Then it 
 stopped. 
 
 ' We may proceed, I think,' said the captain, 
 turning and addressing the men in his strange 
 language. 
 
 ' Is it possible that the Astrolabe sails over water 
 as well as through the air?' I exclaimed won- 
 deringly. 
 
 ' Certainly, professor. The power of my engines 
 is communicated to a propeller situated beneath 
 the stern, and from it we get a speed of nearly 
 fifteen miles an hour. Will you go down, or stay 
 on deck ? ' 
 
 Under the circumstances, devoured as I was by 
 curiosity, I preferred the latter course. A dazzl- 
 ingly white circle of foam, clearly marked on the 
 green water astern, proclaimed that the engines had 
 been set in motion, and the Astrolabe slid rapidly 
 forward over the dark waves of the Saturnian ocean. 
 
 As the force of gravitation on this immense 
 planet is one-third stronger than the force of 
 
Across the Dark Sea 165 
 
 gravitation on the earth, these masses of sea- 
 water were naturally calmer and more glassy 
 than the waves of our own immense seas. At 
 times the Astrolabe rocked fearfully, however, 
 and the mysterious waters seemed to swirl and 
 foam under the influence of some submarine dis- 
 turbance. Pillars of steam occasionally swept 
 across the decks, laden with suffocating volcanic 
 gases, making us hurry towards the stairway with 
 the premonitory symptoms of asphyxia convuls- 
 ing our lungs. 
 
 Towards six in the evening we had traversed a 
 distance of nearly a hundred and fifty miles, and 
 the light on the horizon was beginning to broaden 
 horribly into a sea of fiery flame. 
 
 An overpowering sense of drowsiness took pos- 
 session of me, due, I suppose, to the great pressure 
 of the atmospheric strata and the increased weight 
 of my own body. I tumbled downstairs somehow, 
 and, lying down on my couch, fell into a dreamy 
 sleep. 
 
 A shock awoke me. 
 
 I was lying on the floor of my cabin, bruised 
 and bleeding from several cuts about the head. 
 Voices were answering each other in the interior 
 of the vessel, which was rising and falling in a 
 frightful manner. As I struggled to my feet I 
 fell helplessly back. The Astrolabe seemed to 
 fairly stand on end. 
 
 The door swung open, and Ned's face, pale as 
 that of a man who has been suffering from a pro- 
 longed attack of sea-sickness, peered at me through 
 the dim light. I lit the electric lamps. 
 
 ' What on earth has happened ? ' I moaned. 
 
 ' A volcanic crater, an entire mountain, has 
 risen from the bottom of the sea and nearly 
 swamped us,' was the answer. ' We're all right now 
 but we've had a narrow shave for it' 
 
t66 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Ned had not exaggerated. The saloon, and, 
 indeed, the whole of the ship was filled with a thin 
 choking vapour, of a yellowish colour. Through 
 the panels appeared a vast crater, belching forth 
 torrents of steam and smoke, above an ocean of 
 troubled white foam. 
 
 ' What awful foolishness ! ' I heard Ned mutter. 
 ' We may be consigned to eternitj' any minute.' 
 
 The remark was not devoid of humour. When 
 one has traversed four hundred million miles of 
 space to reach the planet Saturn, the possibility 
 of getting wiped out by a tidal wave is funny in 
 the extreme. In the situation where we found 
 ourselves, however, the suggestion had too much 
 grim earnest about it to rouse any merriment. 
 Drops of cold sweat stood on my forehead, and 
 my hair stiffened with cowardly fear. 
 
 Presently the rocking and pitching movement 
 grew calmer. ' Let us try to get on deck,' sug- 
 gested the American. * Perhaps there we will be 
 able to see something.' 
 
 On the staircase we met the captain. 
 
 * The doors are closed,' said he. 
 
 ' Is there danger outside, then ? ' 
 
 * Yes, sir. We are crossing a poisonous zone 
 of chlorine and other gases, produced by sub- 
 marine springs.' 
 
 'Is it possible?' I exclaimed. 
 
 A strange sight met our gaze through the 
 saloon windows. For a mile round the Astrolabe^ 
 clearly visible in the white glare of our lamps, the 
 ocean was in a state of violent commotion. Jets 
 and fountains of spray rose and fell in a myriad 
 snowy hillocks that sparkled prismatically under 
 the double action of the electric beams that fell 
 from the deck of our vessel and the hellish glare 
 from the line of volcanoes that shut in the distant 
 horizon. The breath of countless subterranean 
 
Across the Dark Sea 167 
 
 laboratories was exhaled thus at the surface of the 
 sea, which produced the appearance of water 
 boiling in a copper. I then understood the cap- 
 tain's manoeuvre. To emerge on deck under the 
 circumstances would mean instant destruction. 
 Nothing could escape with life from the midst of 
 this fetid sea of death. A sudden idea struck me. 
 
 ' Are any of the gases combustible ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' Probably not,' answered the captain, ' else we 
 should be sailing in an ocean of fire, and, I might 
 add, sailing under considerable difficulty. Let 
 us be thankful for small mercies and take events 
 as they present themselves. Be sure we have not 
 seen much yet. There are many marvels in store 
 for us.' 
 
 The engines, keeping up their regular pulsation, 
 soon carried us beyond this troubled region into 
 calmer waters. Excitement drove away sleep, 
 and I ceaselessly scanned this marvellous sea, 
 wondering what new horror the morning would 
 bring, and whether Captain Chlamyl's wonderful 
 vessel would surmount future obstacles as easily 
 as she had those that had already presented them- 
 selves. 
 
 In spite of all my efforts, however, Nature 
 asserted itself, and I slept, with the ceaseless wash 
 of the waves over the glass panels ringing in my 
 ears like a far-off lullaby. 
 
 I was awakened by the French steward, who 
 tapped me gently on the shoulder, and, — 
 
 'Your breakfast is served,' said he. 
 
 Glancing at the chronometer, I saw it was 
 nearly midday. A strange light illumined the 
 windows of the saloon. Without pausing to in- 
 quire its origin, I hurried into the dining-room. 
 
1 68 Across the Zodiac 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE GIRDLE OF FIRE 
 
 Ned and the captain were seated at the table, 
 waited on by two of the Astrolabe's stewards, a 
 grizzly veteran with piercing grey eyes and a 
 young man of twenty-five or thereabouts, whom 
 I had already noticed several times plying his 
 office between the crew's quarters and the kitchen. 
 As I took my seat, a dull shock caused the vessel 
 to tremble all over. The captain rose and gave 
 some hurried instructions to the younger servant. 
 A bell began to ring somewhere near the engine- 
 room, and two massive panels of aluminium slid 
 noiselessly across the windows. 
 
 * We have to be careful occasionally,' remarked 
 the commander, with a pleasant nod to me. * If 
 those glasses were broken, we would find some 
 difficulty in replacing them.' 
 
 A gentle, see-saw motion was felt. I listened 
 vainly for the beating of the screw, however. It was 
 clear we had ceased to move. Not a sound was 
 heard, save the occasional splash of a wave mingled 
 with far-off thunder. 
 
 ' We are no longer moving, captain ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir. While you were sleeping we made 
 another hundred miles at least. We have touched 
 the north side of the great continent that girdles 
 the Saturnian equator, and which, as I told you 
 before, is the seat of volcanic energy in its wildest 
 and most outrageous forms. After breakfast we 
 will take a promenade — for the present I beg you 
 will do justice to the meal, for our cook has to-day 
 put his best foot foremost. What do you take 
 these to be ? ' 
 
 Broiled fish of a brilliant scarlet colour, covered 
 
The Girdle of Fire 169 
 
 with hard scales in the fashion of a lobster, and 
 ornamented with formidable dorsal spines, sharp 
 as needles, were handed round on a napkin. 
 
 ' Can they be Saturnian fish ? ' I exclaimed. 
 
 ' You have guessed right, professor. We did not 
 give ourselves the trouble to fish for them, however. 
 The nets of the Astrolabe are held in place by iron 
 rods on either side of the bows, extending right and 
 left like the triggers of a Whitehead torpedo. A 
 lever on deck raises them to the surface, to enable 
 the fish to be taken out. Some curious specimens 
 came to light this morning, which I have no doubt 
 the cook will be proud to show you if you are 
 really interested in the fauna of these distant worlds. 
 In the meantime, breakfast like a man who will 
 probably not dine till late. Do you prefer red or 
 white wine ? ' 
 
 The meal was excellent. I observed that Ned 
 had not as yet completely vanquished his mistrust 
 of the commander, and that he took care only to 
 taste those dishes that the latter had already par- 
 taken of 
 
 ' Will it be necessary to put on our diving-dresses 
 captain ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' No, sir. The air is breathable in these parts'; at 
 least near the ground and on the sea-level. The 
 fact that we can dispense with our heavy dresses is 
 an enormous advantage, as, owing to the increased 
 power of gravity, walking would become almost 
 impossible if, in addition to the natural weight of 
 our bodies, we were forced to encumber ourselves 
 with heavy helmets and leaden-soled shoes.' 
 
 ' W^hat I am surprised at, captain, is that we are 
 not already inconvenienced by this terrible force. 
 I believe Saturn's diameter equals seven times the 
 diameter of our earth. From that a power — ' 
 
 ' Calm yourself, professor. If we are not crushed 
 down by this mighty attraction, it is because there 
 
1 70 Across the Zodiac 
 
 is another equally potent force that is tending to 
 repulse us from the surface of Saturn, and whirl us 
 off into space. Have you ever seen water fly from 
 a mop that is being trundled rapidly ? ' 
 
 * But, captain,' I answered, ' at this rate, if Saturn 
 were to turn a little faster, we would possess no 
 weight at all ! The centrifugal energy would ex- 
 actly counterbalance the natural attraction.' 
 
 ' I cannot deny it, professor,' 
 
 'May I ask if you have ever, in space, met with 
 planets, in which this was the case ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir ; but it does not follow that there do not 
 exist such worlds. But, as a general rule, the force of 
 rotation only partially counterbalances the attrac- 
 tion of gravity — and that for a very good reason.' 
 Why so, captain ? ' asked Ned. 
 
 ' Because if a planet were to revolve too rapidly 
 on its axis, it would very soon cease to exist. Its 
 component rocks would simply fly apart and lose 
 themselves in space. Shall we go now ? ' 
 
 In the dressing-room we exchanged our comfort- 
 able slippers for thick boots soled with thin sheet- 
 copper. Captain Chlamyl, attired in a coat of seal- 
 skins, with a cap and gloves to match, put a weapon 
 into my hand. It was a single-barrelled rifle of 
 the repeating kind, long since patented in England 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 'What? Is Saturn inhabited then?' I asked. 
 
 ' Enough to render it only prudent to arm our- 
 selves,' answered the captain. ' Do you understand 
 how that acts ? ' 
 
 ' Perfectly, sir. I am ready to start and devoured 
 by curiosity.' 
 
 ' Our lamps!' exclaimed Ned, struck by an idea. 
 
 ' We shall not need them. Master Hatton,' was 
 the commander's reply, and Ned had to content 
 himself with buttoning his coat in silence. 
 
 Our party was a large one — seven including the 
 
The Girdle of Fire 1 7 1 
 
 captain. Among the men I recognised the French 
 steward and the tall man who had accompanied us 
 in our grisly lunar picnic. 
 
 Instead of making our exit by a small side door, 
 we mounted on deck. A scene of the most un- 
 paralleled grandeur confronted us. 
 
 ' Right and left, as far as the eye could reach 
 was a perfect chain of fire-crowned mountains, burn- 
 ing in jets and cascades of scarlet, green and blue, 
 sending up columns and spirals of black smoke, 
 across which, as they intermingled, pale lightnings 
 played incessantly. Nor was this all. High up, 
 above the drifting vapours, the sky seemed to be 
 in flame. Lambent streamers, of a pale golden 
 colour, wavered and undulated in a broad arch 
 over this continent of fire, throwing a soft twilight 
 over the farthest limits of the dark sea. The in- 
 flammable gases, lighter than the surrounding 
 atmosphere, rose of their own accord into higher 
 regions, igniting in their passage across the boiling 
 lava-flows and curving upwards to join the flaming 
 sea above. Sometimes the clouds parted, and a clear 
 white light shone through, mingling weirdly with the 
 lurid red of the smouldering volcanoes. It came 
 from the great ring, spanning the sky like a Titanic 
 arch of moonlight. As for the boasted eight moons 
 themselves, they might just as well have been 
 absent, for all that was seen of them under the 
 thick curtain that hung like a pall over everything. 
 The sea, flecked in places by patches and puffs of 
 steam, undulated peacefully round the Astrolabe. 
 
 We were anchored in what appeared to be a 
 shallow bay, shut in by two protruding peninsulas, 
 formed by glowing lava-streams. The hissing and 
 roaring was indescribable. Everywhere fire and 
 water were in conflict. At times masses of incan- 
 descent rock, hurled aloft by one of the hundred 
 craters, fell with a roar like thunder into the sea, 
 
1 7 2 Across the Zodiac 
 
 which boiled furiously at the contact — rings of white 
 steam, similiar to those produced by an expert 
 smoker with a tobacco-pipe, floated away to con- 
 dense on the colder rocks, and run back ocean- 
 wards in gleaming cascades and rivulets. 
 
 A boat was fastened alongside, into which we 
 descended. Four men sat at the oars, and we flew 
 along over the glassy water, which 1 noticed was 
 boiling in several places. The air under these 
 circumstances could hardly be cool. It was in- 
 tolerably hot owing not so much to the proximity 
 of the spouting lava-streams as to the glare from 
 the burning sky above. We rapidly neared the 
 shore of this dreadful continent, which I could see 
 was overgrown here and there by some kinds of 
 trees — firs and larches for the most part. Cone-bear- 
 ing plants flourish in places where no other varieties 
 can exist, and the carbonic gases from the volcanoes 
 aided rather than checked their growth. It was 
 two in the afternoon when we set foot on solid 
 ground. The men drew up the boat, and deeming 
 our wraps unnecessary, we left them behind, only 
 taking our weapons and belts. 
 
 For half-an-hour we toiled up a gentle slope, 
 composed almost entirely of old lava-flows, and 
 seamed with a million fissures. Surprises greeted 
 us at every turn. Geysers of salt water, larger 
 than the Icelandic ones, roared into the air, break- 
 ing and foaming into rainbow-crossed sheets of 
 spray. On reaching the summit of the incline, 
 an exclamation from Ned made me start. 
 
 A curious and wonderful sight greeted us. 
 Disporting themselves harmlessly in a shallow 
 arm of the sea were a score of strange animals, 
 with long necks and pointed heads. The red 
 light gleamed along their wet scales as they 
 dived and plunged about, rolling among the pink 
 foam like giant porpoises. 
 
The Girdle of Fire 1 7 3 
 
 ' We've struck a shoal of antediluvian dragons ! ' 
 cried Ned. 
 
 ' Very nearly. They are plesiosauruses.' 
 
 The sight was one that would have convulsed 
 a naturalist with delight. Instinctively I wondered 
 what my revered old professor at the university 
 would not have given to be able to share my 
 impressions for a few moments. I was lost in 
 admiration at the symmetrical beauty of these 
 creatures, equally adapted for swimming under 
 the water or on its surface, their smooth, un- 
 dulating necks, curved like a swan's, writhed to 
 and fro like serpents. It seemed to me that I 
 could even distinguish the double row of gleam- 
 ing teeth and the flashing green eyes, armed with 
 thick lenses of horn to protect them from the 
 pressure of the watery strata when diving after 
 their prey. 
 
 Some of the party were warming themselves 
 on the slippery rocks. Graceful when swimming, 
 these creatures were awkward enough when they 
 tried to waddle over solid ground, aided only by 
 their short stumpy fins, shaped something like 
 the flippers of a seal. Hoarse cries escaped them, 
 cries resembling the bark of a sea-lion, only louder, 
 and at times they made a hissing sound, beating 
 the sea furiously with fins and tail. Ned, his 
 human instincts beginning to assert themselves, 
 fingered his gun impatiently. Captain Chlamyl 
 noticed the movement and checked him. 
 
 ' They are very happy like that,' he said simply. 
 ' It would be a pity to disturb them. Your weapon 
 is for defence, not offence. Master Hatton.' 
 
 We continued our walk. A low copse of strange 
 trees confronted us, their branches standing out 
 gaunt and black against the glare behind. In 
 height they were about a hundred feet, broader 
 at the top than at the bottom, which was only a 
 
174 Across the Zodiac 
 
 long trunk, covered with diamond-shaped scales 
 like those on a pine-apple. In the centre of this 
 coppice, which the lava had spared till now, was 
 a small clearing. 
 
 ' Hallo, what's that?' queried Ned. 
 
 A curious jagged object lay on the ground at 
 some distance, like a gigantic bat, with wings out- 
 stretched. One of the men took up a stone and 
 threw it. 
 
 A horrible cry burst on the stillness, and a great 
 shadow rose from the ground, beating the air with 
 its giant wings, and soaring high above the trees. 
 
 ' It is a flying dragon ! ' I cried. 
 
 The monster resembled a lizard in shape, or 
 better still, a crocodile. Its long head, armed 
 with a formidable row of teeth, resembled that of 
 a large bird rather than of a reptile. It flew 
 anxiously round in circles, uttering fearful cries, 
 like the shrieking of a pencil across a slate, or the 
 creaking of a carriage-wheel. Presently the cause 
 of its anxiety was explained. 
 
 ' We frightened it from its nest ! ' said the 
 captain. 
 
 The nest was merely a hollow scooped out in 
 the warm sand. Three greenish eggs, in size 
 larger than those of an ostrich, lay at the bottom. 
 At a word from the commander, one of them was 
 transferred to the wallet, to enrich the museum on 
 board. Leaving the other two intact, we continued 
 our way, slipping and sliding down banks of sand, 
 composed almost wholly of shell-dust and fossil 
 remains. 
 
 Here, while rooting among the stones with my 
 fingers, I was severely stung by a venomous insect 
 of the scorpion type, and suffered great pain for 
 some moments. The offender himself was popped 
 into a bottle with some bichloride of mercury. 
 He will not sting any more strangers in a hurry. 
 
The Gi7'd/e of Fire 175 
 
 The colour effects from the burning craters were 
 positively marvellous. The ordinary flame-tint is 
 a yellowish-golden one. The admixture of certain 
 chemical substances, however, causes this to vary 
 considerably. From a mountain some two thousand 
 feet in height, dominating the sea in cloud-capped 
 solemnity, a stream of ruby-coloured lava escaped, 
 creeping slowly down the rugged sides, half-hidden 
 under a vapoury curtain, and changing to a deeper 
 shade as it cooled. Curious phenomena, too, were 
 produced by the varied nature of the soil over 
 which the flowing streams passed. An orange 
 flood, veined with lemon-coloured fissures, heaped 
 itself up against some obstructing rock, containing, 
 I suppose, nitrate of baryta, or some similar 
 substance. The resisting wall, under the influence 
 of the terrific heat, melted like wax, and a bright 
 green glare attested the effect of the new combina- 
 tion. Too awestruck to speak, we contemplated 
 this fearful display of celestial fireworks in silence. 
 The profuseness and number of the fiery streams 
 was such that it was difficult to know what part 
 of the strange land was quite safe to tread. Behind, 
 before, stretched a shining network of liquid fire. 
 The imprudence of our venture became more 
 apparent each moment. Gusts of hot wind 
 carried with them deadly sulphur fumes, that com- 
 pelled us to hide our faces in our mufflers, like 
 firemen facing the horrors of a burning house. 
 Captain Chlamyl, keeping his eyes fixed on the 
 distant summit of a wooded hill, plodded steadily 
 on. 
 
 A hissing sound on the right attracted us. It 
 was caused by a gigantic column of thin vapour 
 that appeared to rise and almost touch the sky. 
 Before I could reflect on this strange phenomenon, 
 which must have been simply an intermittent form 
 of gas-geyser, I uttered a cry, and sprang back. 
 
176 Across the Zodiac 
 
 The pillar of vapour was transformed Jnto a 
 pillar of flame, which spread out far above our 
 heads into a gigantic flower of fire ! The heat was 
 so intense that we had to put up our arms in a 
 feeble attempt to shield our faces. Evidently the 
 gas was inflammable, and after having risen to a 
 prodigious height, had caught fire in the higher 
 strata. Strange rumblings shook the ground on 
 which we stood, and the solid rocks quivered under 
 the force of the jet. Then, almost instantaneously, 
 the flow of gas was checked, and the pillar collapsed, 
 its last remnants floating away overhead in globes 
 and tongues of rolling light. So great had been 
 the glare, that I experienced a disgreeable sensa- 
 tion in my eyes similar to that felt when one has 
 been gazing at the sun. 
 
 An inspection of the ground revealed a circular 
 pit, ending in a funnel resembling those of the true 
 Icelandic water-geysers. Not only gas, but also 
 stones and sand were thrown out of this curious 
 volcanic vent, as the surrounding ground proved. 
 The fear of a new and sudden explosion prohibited 
 us from making more thorough investigations. 
 Ned, following the custom of the Icelanders, threw 
 stones down the funnel by way of inducing an 
 eruption. His efforts were vain, however, and we 
 were forced to leave, disappointed. 
 
 About a mile farther on, a low hill, fringed with 
 gaunt trees, permitted a view over the surrounding 
 land and sea. On our way thither, several flying 
 dragons were noticed, flapping their way heavily 
 across the smoke, probably searching for food. 
 Twice we halted from sheer weariness and exhaus- 
 tion, but the indomitable captain kept forcing us 
 on. The Astrolabe, looking, with its twin lights, 
 almost stranger than even the phenomena around 
 us, disappeared by degrees, a mere speck on the 
 black water. Above, among the shifting seas of 
 
The Girdle of Fire 1 7 7 
 
 cloud, the crest of a lofty volcano thundered furi- 
 ously. 
 
 'We are treading on the home of an unborn 
 humanity,' said Ned, and he was right. 
 
 Here, among these wild islands and bays, under 
 the very shadow of these flaming hills, would here- 
 after spring up a busy civilisation — a million years 
 hence, perhaps. Harbours would line these dreary 
 coasts, towns would flourish, nations would fall. 
 Perhaps that lonely copse of trees was the site of 
 a future citadel, or of some barbarian garden, 
 rivalling those of Babylon or Thebes in uppish 
 magnificence. Perhaps intelligent iron-clad vessels 
 of war would beat those sombre waters with their 
 noisy screws, or sow destruction from their armoured 
 sides. Perhaps — and at the thought I shuddered 
 strangely — the forerunners of an industrious 
 humanity were even now haunting the dark 
 averns, lonely cave-dwellers, at war with Nature 
 and with each other, dragging out a cruel existence 
 in this savage, primeval world, which, in course of 
 time, they were destined to subdue and conquer. 
 
 So clearly marked did this idea become, that 
 once, as we crossed the mouth of a gloomy cave, 
 down the sides of which mysterious murmurs were 
 echoing, I interrogated that encyclopaedia of know- 
 ledge — the captain — on the subject. 
 
 ' Humanity, like other forms of life,' he answered, 
 ' only comes into existence on a planet when natural 
 circumstances are favourable to its creation and 
 maintenance. This world is hardly yet sufficiently 
 quiet to permit frail men and women to drag their 
 lives out on its surface. Look at our own experi- 
 ences ! Had it not been for the hermetical sealing 
 of the Astrolabe's doors, we would none of us have 
 survived last night. Within the last half-hour we 
 have risked being suffocated fully fifty times, and 
 our excursion is not over yet. Even the animals, 
 
 M 
 
178 Across the Zodiac 
 
 huge and muscular as they are, must have a hard 
 time of it between fire and water — Look there ! ' 
 
 We had reached the crest of the hill. Between 
 the stem of the lofty firs, a curious sight met our 
 gaze. 
 
 At the end of a spit of sand, overgrown here and 
 there by circular patches of lichen, stood some huge 
 animals. There was no difficulty in recognising 
 them. They were mammoth elephants. Ac- 
 customed only to view them in feeble illustration 
 on paper, I was fairly stagggered on beholding 
 them in nature. Never had I seen such strange 
 beasts. 
 
 In height they surpassed that of the loftiest 
 Indian elephant. Vast masses of brownish hair 
 covered their backs, hanging vertically along their 
 vast shoulders in matted clumps, from which the 
 huge tusks, curved like the blade of a scythe, 
 emerged, white and gleaming. The eyes, covered 
 by the thick hair, were totally invisible. Captain 
 Chlamyl, after admiring them for a few moments, 
 turned to Ned. 
 
 'Well, Master Hatton, what do you say to 
 bringing down one of these gigantic beasts ? They 
 are excellent eating, as doubtless you know ? ' 
 
 Ned grinned and looked at me. When had he 
 ever feasted on a mammoth before? 
 
 I reassured him however. What the captain was 
 alluding to was the adventure of some Siberian 
 prisoners, who, while working at the saltmines, had 
 come across the body of a frozen mammoth im- 
 bedded in the ice. The flesh was quite good, 
 although over twenty thousand years old, and a 
 numerous party of these unfortunate exiles had 
 borne testimony to its nutritive qualities. We had 
 dwelt too long on the marvellous Astrolabe to be 
 any longer surprised at such a trifle as a mammoth- 
 hunt. The animals were four in number — a bull, 
 
The Girdle of Fire 179 
 
 two cows and a calf. The latter member of the 
 party measuring some fifteen feet in height at the 
 shoulder — a promising baby. They were occupied 
 in quietly cropping the scanty lichen, pausing every 
 now and then to utter a kind of subdued sigh or 
 snort, like that of a restive horse. Presently, as 
 we watched them, the younger one, forsaking his 
 parents, came ambling down to the beach, and com- 
 menced pumping up sea-water in his trunk and 
 throwing it over his back, screaming hoarsely with 
 pleasure meanwhile. A jagged end of rock was in 
 his way. He curled his trunk round it, and, with a 
 sudden effort, wrenched it bodily out of the sand. 
 In its place appeared a jet of steam, hissing fiercely 
 into the air, enveloping the mammoth's hairy head 
 in a halo of white vapour. 
 
 The bang of a rifle woke the slumbering echoes 
 round us. Ned was on his knees, and the red light 
 gleamed along the long steel barrel of his weapon. 
 Our baby elephant paused for a moment in his 
 trumpeting, scrutinised us disdainfully, and then 
 continued his steam-bath as if nothing had occurred. 
 
 ' I've missed him ! ' exclaimed Ned. 
 
 One of the Astrolabes men, resting his gun on 
 the serrated edge of a rock, took a long aim. As 
 the second bullet struck him, the vast creature 
 seemed to realise his danger, and, raising his trunk 
 aloft, uttered a scream of fear. 
 
 This changed the scene. The cry was answered 
 by a loud roar from the male beast standing some 
 three hundred yards off, and we saw the gleaming 
 tusks swerve slowly round as the monster came 
 slowly forward to rescue his offspring. Even at 
 that distance we could hear the measured tramp of 
 those great feet, crushing the pebbles at every step 
 — what if he should think of attacking us t I looked 
 uneasily round, gauging our chances of escape. 
 
 A loud roar from the volcano made the earth 
 
1 80 Across the Zodiac 
 
 tremble. A gigantic bunch of fiery meteors shot 
 into the air, disappearing for some moments 
 among the clouds, then falling round us with 
 a crashing sound. The sea was flecked with 
 snowy patches, and I saw the stem of a great 
 fir on the hill near by snap off short. One of 
 the falling rocks struck the ground some fifteen 
 yards off, hurling a shower of dust and gravel in 
 our faces. It was awful. Even the mammoth 
 himself was surprised, for he stopped and con- 
 templated us with raised trunk, looking more 
 like an animated hillock than a living animal. 
 At the same moment a horrible shrieking arose, 
 and from their nests among the firs, a whole 
 colony of winged dragons sped away, flapping 
 across the red light like enormous bats, and 
 clattering their long jaws like storks. One of 
 these poor creatures, struck in the wing, fell 
 fluttering down in front of us, beating the sand 
 with its mutilated member, from which the 
 blood was flowing. 
 
 A momentary sense of pity seized our captain. 
 Stepping up to where the poor dragon lay, its 
 triple rows of white teeth working convulsively 
 in the wet sand, he took aim and fired. The 
 flapping of the agonised wings diminished and 
 the green eyes closed. 
 
 I had just time to notice the completion of this 
 humanitarian act, when a shriek from the men, and 
 a dreadful sound like the braying of a thousand 
 trumpets, made me almost jump out of my skin. 
 A gigantic shadow towered above me, looming up 
 like the wall of some mighty fortress. Instinctively 
 I threw myself to one side, and as I did so, a huge 
 brown arm seemed to sweep through the air within 
 a foot or two of my head. 
 
 ' Run for it ! ' yelled someone, and I bolted, 
 scudding along the sand for dear life, as though 
 
The Girdle of Fire 
 
 i8i 
 
 there were ten million devils flying in my wake. 
 At the same time a volley resounded. I heard 
 the whistling of bullets, and turning, I_ saw the 
 mammoth standing up to his knees in water, 
 brandishing his huge trunk as though he were 
 trying to reach some object that had escaped 
 him. 
 
 Could it be that the animal was blind ? Eyes 
 are only useful, and, in fact, only possible where 
 there is constant employment to keep them in 
 order. In this murky twilight, lit only by the 
 intermittent glare of the lava, the sight of any 
 animated being would of necessity be decidedly 
 feeble. The elephant advanced still further into 
 the sea, beating the waves into froth with his 
 trunk, and roaring hoarsely. Above, on the moss- 
 grown incline, stood the two cows, contemplating 
 us in mingled fear and curiosity. The calf, wounded 
 in the leg, I think, dragged himself feebly up to 
 where they stood and commenced pouring out his 
 woes in a series of shrill cries. 
 
 The men of the Astrolabe, kneeling in a row like 
 trained riflemen at a review, were about to pour 
 a second volley on the unfortunate father, when 
 suddenly the scene changed. A wonderful thing 
 happened. At some distance out the ocean seenied 
 to boil, a vast head and neck appeared, overtopping 
 the waves, swaying to and fro like a giant serpent 
 about to strike. Its huge body, in form like an 
 ^gg, and shining like that of a seal, floated between 
 wind and water — it was a plesiosaurus. 
 
 Never had I imagined these creatures could be 
 so vast. The family we had seen bathing on the 
 rocks had not given me any impression of huge 
 bulk — probably because of the distance that had 
 separated us. 
 
 A complex sound of whistling and roaring arose, 
 and, while the sea flew up in columns of foam, the 
 
1 82 Across the Zodiac 
 
 two monsters closed in combat. What a scene ! 
 How can I attempt to describe it ? 
 
 Pale, trembling, nervously pressing myself up 
 into a rocky cavity which opened conveniently near, 
 I shivered all over as I watched that terrible 
 struggle. They were an almost evenly-matched 
 pair, in point of size, but the plesiosaurus had a 
 triple row of teeth against the mammoth's bare 
 trunk and almost useless tusks — useless against 
 such a soft, pliant body as that of his antagonist 
 — besides this, the plesiosaurus was amphibian, and 
 could exist, for a short time at least, beneath 
 water. It was a mighty combat, and terrible 
 to see. 
 
 At first, the mammoth, twining his iron pro- 
 boscis round the other's supple, swan-like throat, 
 tried, to judge from his exertions, to wrench the 
 plesiosaurus's head off. The tough bones and 
 sinews resisted long enough, however, to enable 
 the latter to bury his threefold rows of teeth 
 in the elephant's trunk. 
 
 With a yell of fury the latter undid his grip and 
 strove to wound his enemy with his right tusk. 
 He succeeded partially, for a fearful gaping cavity 
 made its appearance in the side of the amphibian, 
 dying the sea scarlet with a crimson flood, that 
 ebbed and pulsated with every beat of the giant 
 heart within. 
 
 Forsaking his hold on the elephant's trunk, the 
 sea-monster succeeded in biting his antagonist on 
 the leg, and the latter sank down groaning, lying 
 on his side, half-covered with the swaying purple 
 waves — then the end came. 
 
 A rushing sound of slipping pebbles and a hiss 
 of angry foam announced that the ground was 
 slipping from under the mammoth's useless limbs. 
 Bit by bit, inch by inch, he was being dragged 
 under the waves. 
 
The GiJ'dle of Fire 183 
 
 Once, indeed, his vast head, covered with blood, 
 rose through the ring of scarlet foam to hurl a 
 dying challenge at the pitiless sky, then he sank 
 back, and the waves grew calmer as the plesiosaurus 
 dragged him deeper and deeper into the depths of 
 his ocean home. Captain Chlamyl, as calm as 
 though he had been assisting at a performance of 
 one of Wagner's operas, examined the sea for some 
 time through his binocular telescope, then, turning 
 to the men, gave some directions about cutting up 
 the carcase of the calf, whom his two parents, terri- 
 fied probably at the death of their lord, had incon- 
 tinently left to his fate. 
 
 It took nearly twenty bullets to give the young 
 mammoth his quietus. The tusks, harder in struc- 
 ture even than those of our terrestrial mammals, 
 had to be chopped out with a hatchet, and each 
 of them proved a heavy weight for two men. 
 The rest of the flesh was subdivided into pieces 
 of fifteen or twenty pounds each, destined to be 
 salted on the Astrolabe for future use. 
 
 ' What do you say to dining here, gentlemen ? ' 
 remarked the captain, surveying the vast framework 
 of ribs that lay on the strand like the decayed 
 remnant of an ivory vessel. 
 
 ' I am quite agreeable, captain,' I answered. 
 
 'There is one delicacy I can offer you, sir, which 
 not even the pantry of the Astrolabe can muster.' 
 
 * What is that, captain ? ' 
 
 * It is clear, professor, that you have never 
 travelled in equatorial Africa. Elephant's feet 
 are there considered in the same light as we are 
 accustomed to consider caviar or plover's eggs. 
 We shall need no fire to roast them, the ground is 
 hot enough already.' 
 
 What he said was true. A few inches only 
 below the soil the layers of grey ashes and marine 
 deposit of shells were in a high state of incan- 
 
184 Across the Zodiac 
 
 descence. A hole dug with a shovel revealed 
 a smoking cavity, from which sparks and thin 
 spirals of steam issued. 
 
 The gigantic foot, enveloped in seaweed and 
 aromatic lichen, was laid at the bottom and covered 
 over with sand. 
 
 An hour later we sat down to a strange collation. 
 I think I still see the scene — the overhanging 
 mountain crest with its crown of yellow and red, 
 the silent party of men, and, between the rounded 
 sandhills, a glimpse of the dark-green, foam-flecked 
 sea, with its covering of clouds and its shadowy 
 islets half-buried in white spray. 
 
 Hardly were we seated when the deep black over- 
 head, varied by blue flashes, parted abruptly, allow- 
 ing a clear white moonlight to filter through. 
 The wonderful ring spanned the heavens above 
 the burning streamers of gas. It was too beautiful ! 
 Never had such a prodigy been seen by mortal 
 eye. Who knows? Perhaps we were destined 
 never to return to earth alive with our glorious 
 impressions — perhaps — 
 
 Here my reflections were cut short by an un- 
 expected marvel. 
 
 Far in the depths of the sky above us appeared 
 a burning light. So bright was it, so intense, that 
 it stood out against the silvery ring like the sun 
 against a summer heaven. Each rock, each gaunt 
 fir tree was illumined with an electric lustre. The 
 sand revealed its smallest particles, the crests of 
 the waves were tipped with a diamond sheen. 
 Even at that distance a sensation of heat became 
 apparent, increasing as the light grew brighter. 
 
 We rose to our feet. I saw Ned's face, shown 
 off in brilliant relief against a background of jagged 
 trees and wavy bands of smoke, directed upwards, 
 his eyes half-closed, as though they were unable to 
 face the glare. 
 
The Girale of Fire 185 
 
 A fearful sense of scorching heat struck us, like 
 the breath of a simoom, only ten times worse. For 
 an instant the thought struck me that a dreadful 
 catastrophe was about to happen — we were lost ! 
 
 A roaring filled my ears. I closed my eyes. 
 
 When I opened them it was to find myself lying 
 on my back, bruised and half-paralysed, w^ith my 
 head against a stone. The sky overhead was 
 streaked with scarlet. During one moment at 
 least the solid earth had been shaken to its 
 foundations. 
 
 A vast fountain of fire spouted from the bowels 
 of some distant mountain, rising and rising till it 
 spread out over the whole sky like a huge umbrella. 
 A myriad streamers of scarlet bent earthwards, and 
 a swarm of rocks, mingled with fine cinders, came 
 crashing down, breaking into flashes of fire as they 
 struck the hard cliffs with a noise like thunder. 
 
 ' Forward ! ' shouted the captain, and we stumbled 
 along, pell-mell, in an agony of fear, while the pre- 
 liminary warnings of a hurricane began to moan 
 across the land, bending the tall trees in two, and 
 snapping their mighty stems like matches. 
 
 * The sea ! the sea ! ' screamed someone, as a 
 great green wave came rushing up along the 
 heated rocks, glowing and fermenting in that 
 diabolical light. For an instant I beheld the 
 waters closing over me in the form of an arch, 
 through which the flow of the celestial fire shone 
 palely, like a ray from a distant green star, then 
 came a dreadful shock, and I was struggling for 
 dear life in a lukewarm flood that eddied and 
 boiled round me like an army of demons. 
 
 'Help!' I cried. 'Help! Help!' 
 
 Through the murky light, obscured by a fog of 
 almost luminous vapour, I distinguished the outline 
 of a rock on which the forms of some men were 
 visible. I struck out, swimming despairingly, as 
 
1 86 Across the Zodiac 
 
 a man swims who is fighting for dear Hfe against 
 the liquid element. My boots weighed me down. 
 It was with the utmost effort that I could manage 
 to keep afloat, even in that bitter salt water. The 
 flood gurgled in my ears, penetrating through my 
 nostrils, down into my lungs, making me cough 
 convulsively — lights flashed before my eyes. I 
 was sinking ; I was drowning. 
 
 Then a violent pain in my leg roused me to life. 
 I had struck against a hard, resisting object. A 
 hand clutched me by the collar and drew mc 
 forcibly up the rock, round which a broad sea 
 eddied and swirled furiously. The sky was full of 
 meteors. A whirlwind was lashing the waves into 
 fury. Screams came from among the trees, some 
 of which were being invaded and carried away by 
 the rushing water. Gigantic winged monsters were 
 faintly seen as they blundered past, between the 
 wind and the flame, forsaking their shattered nests. 
 
 ' Courage ! We shall have to swim for it ! ' said 
 a voice close to my ear. It was that of the French 
 steward, who had been my providential deliverer. 
 His words stirred me into something like approach- 
 - ing energy. Our solitary companion, one of 
 the Astrolabes engineers, had already dived from 
 the rock, every moment more closely invaded by 
 the sea, and was swimming off in the direction of 
 a vaporous wall, which marked the termination of 
 a superheated stream of volcanic matter. To see 
 the land was impossible. To linger on the rock 
 meant death. Disencumbering myself of my heavy 
 boots, I plunged in. 
 
 The water was warm, and it grew warmer as we 
 approached the curtain of hissing steam, to which 
 the farther lava-flows imparted a rosy-golden 
 colour. Great bubbles of gas rose every now 
 and then to the surface, and our lungs began to 
 ache fearfully. On several occasions my feet 
 
The Girdle of Fire 187 
 
 became entangled in floating masses of kelp and 
 sea-wrack — twice at least I gave myself up for lost. 
 Should we be boiled alive ? 
 
 It seemed likely, for the warmth of the water 
 increased rapidly as we proceeded, and the thick 
 steam prevented us from seeing each other. 
 
 No, we struck the land. A hot, soft strip of 
 volcanic mud mingled with sulphur, over the 
 surface of which danced lambent blue flames. 
 
 ' Hallo ! ' shouted a voice somewhere on the left ; 
 it was Ned's. Three men, the captain and two 
 engineers were standing by him, safe and sound, 
 wringing their dripping clothes. One only was 
 missing, a fair-haired young athlete who filled the 
 office of steward on board. 
 
 Delay, however, was impossible. Death seemed 
 to be floating in the very air we breathed. 
 ' We must be off ! ' said the captain. 
 Half a mile out to sea, the electric lamps of the 
 Astrolabe were dancing up and down on the waves 
 like twin will-o'-the-wisps. A fiery streak shot 
 from her bows, breaking into balls and sjnrals of 
 green. It was a rocket. 
 
 As we neared the rising ground, Ned uttered a 
 cry of horror. During our absence the lava- 
 streams had closed in a compact network of fire, 
 cutting off all chance of returning ; the road itself 
 was in flames. I recognised the very rocks on 
 which we had trodden, as they melted or crumbled 
 away slowly to mingle with the glowing flood 
 undermining their bases. On the small hillock, 
 some hundred yards away, the copse of fir trees 
 was burning. I looked at the captain. If signs 
 went for anything, our frightful situation only 
 formed part of his day's amusement. 
 
 ' It looks as though we were blocked in,' was all 
 he said. Then, in a brusquer voice, ' You are a 
 good swimmer, professor ? ' 
 
1 88 Across the Zodiac 
 
 I had just emerged from one unpleasantly 
 realistic battle with the waves, and felt hardly 
 inclined for another. Nevertheless it was a case 
 of life or death. 
 
 * It will only be a matter of a few hundred yards 
 or so,' continued the commander, ' but there is no 
 time to be lost — come. We must swim out a little 
 way to circumvent this lava-stream, and land again 
 at the point yonder.' 
 
 Choking, breathless, we forced our way across 
 the hot soil, through the dense curtain of vapour 
 that concealed the sea. Then one of our number 
 slipped, stepping into a pool up to his knee. He 
 screamed wildly and scrambled out, falling prone 
 at our feet with expressions of pain and despair. 
 At the same time a gust of fetid wind swept the 
 cloudy curtain aside, revealing the heaving masses 
 of dark water beyond. I uttered a cry. The sea 
 was boiling. 
 
 We were thus shut in between hostile fire and 
 water. Ned, still cool and collected, suggested 
 signalling to the Astrolabe. Blue lights and rockets 
 to the number of a dozen or so had been entrusted 
 to — whom ? 
 
 Whom, of course, but the fair-haired steward 
 who had been swept out of existence by the great 
 wave only a quarter-of-an-hour back. Captain 
 Chlamyl clenched his hands nervously. The men 
 betrayed signs of uneasiness. I was simply 
 paralysed with cold fear. 
 
 We hurried back to our post on the rising 
 ground, where the sulphur fumes were less active, 
 and surveyed the situation. 
 
 ' Those lava-flows do not seem very wide,' mused 
 Ned, almost to himself. ' One might try to jump a 
 couple of them, don't you think ? ' 
 
 The captain seemed to assent. A shiver passed 
 through me. I looked at the blinding, bubbling 
 
The Girdle of Fire 189 
 
 streams of fire, half-hidden by lurid smoke-wreaths, 
 and, as I looked, I hastily made up my mind to be 
 boiled alive in the ocean rather than to risk falling 
 into one of them. 
 
 Ned's horrible proposal seemed to be reasonable 
 enough, however. Out of the many streams of 
 incandescent matter, only one had reached the sea 
 — the one nearest to us, which measured, as far as 
 I could see, some fifteen feet in width at its 
 narrowest part. Fifteen feet ! At college I had 
 jumped twenty-four, but what a difference ! 
 
 Half-a-dozen tired men, most of them middle- 
 aged, fresh from a fatiguing struggle with the 
 inhospitable elements, sick at heart and head, 
 short of breath, half-suffocated in fact, their normal 
 strength reduced to one half at least. What 
 slender chance of success was ours ! 
 
 For a moment we stood still, hesitating, then 
 an exclamation from the captain made my heart 
 jump, 
 
 ' Look ! ' he exclaimed, pointing up the mountain. 
 
 I followed his gaze, and thrilled with horror. A 
 glowing torrent, nearly half-a-mile in width, was 
 sweeping down on us, the trees and mosses burning 
 furiously in its passage. Delay was no longer 
 possible. I turned sick. 
 
 The lava-flow was, as I have said, about fifteen 
 feet wide at its narrowest part. On the near side 
 a broad, flat rock facilitated the 'take off;' on the 
 far side was a similar rock, 
 
 Ned, to whom the affair apparently did not 
 present any unusual difficulty, threw aside his 
 wallet in a business-like manner, clenched his fists 
 winked at me in a rather ghastly fashion, and 
 started off. 
 
 Bravo ! For an instant we caught sight of his 
 gaunt form, suspended in the air above those 
 hellish fires, then he vanished among the smoke, 
 
I go Across the Zodiac 
 
 and we heard him hallooing on the other side. 
 He was over. 
 
 The captain followed, then the four men, one 
 after the other. It was my turn. A loud roaring 
 resounded on the right, the new flow was descend- 
 ing rapidly. A bubbling in the sand at my feet 
 attracted my attention, and I began choking 
 convulsively. Ned's yells reached me feebly, and 
 I thought I could distinguish the captain's voice 
 upraised in encouragement. 
 
 Now for it ! Never shall I forget that horrible 
 moment. Away I went, scudding along in the 
 heavy sand as fast as my tired limbs would allow. 
 1 reached the rock. A million fires scorched my 
 cheeks. Then the wild jump, and the sickening 
 moment of suspension over that hissing cauldron. 
 I rolled over and over on the hard stones, barking 
 my shins and burning my hands fearfully among 
 the loose ashes. I was safe. It was not so awful, 
 after all. 
 
 Half-an-hour afterwards we reached the Astro- 
 labes boat. Securely moored to a projecting rock, 
 it had suffered little damage from the rapid influx 
 of the tide, though it was full to the gunwale with 
 sea-water, in which a promising family of small fish 
 were disporting themselves. 
 
 As we stepped on board, a terrible thing took 
 place on the land we had quitted. The conflict of 
 fire and water began in real earnest. Imagine a 
 stream of molten lava, over a mile wide, pouring 
 into the cold sea in a steady torrent. Hell seemed 
 to be unloosed, and a vast world of vapour curled 
 in rose-tinted majesty towards the remotest zenith. 
 Captain Chlamyl, his teeth set fixedly, looked darkly 
 out over the boiling chaos that had swallowed one 
 of his comrades, and, for a moment at least, his 
 eyes filled with tears. 
 
A Strange Bit rial 1 9 1 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A STRANGE BURIAL 
 
 September 2'^th. — All day long the Astrolabe has 
 held steadily northwards at a rate of from ten to 
 fourteen knots an hour. The awful fate that has 
 overtaken our poor steward did not, I grieve to say, 
 prevent me from sleeping with unusual soundness 
 last night. Alas for the heartlessness of human 
 nature ! When one has glutted oneself with 
 marvels and horrors during a day and a half, one 
 cannot be expected to have much feeling left to 
 bestow on a mere human atom. 
 
 Captain Chlamj'l, unwilling to leave the gloomy 
 spot without making a last attempt to rescue the 
 missing man, ordered out the pinnace, and had the 
 coast-line minutely explored, but without success. 
 Our other sufferer, the one who fell into the pool of 
 boiling sea-water, is in a bad state, and everyone 
 seems anxious on his behalf 
 
 When I rose this morning, we had already 
 started, and the long aluminium hull was trembling 
 beneath the impulse of the screw, making the 
 glasses and plates on the dining-room table jingle 
 musically. 
 
 After breakfast we witnessed an interesting 
 spectacle, the drawing-in of the vast nets with their 
 finny burden. I examined each specimen carefully, 
 classifying and naming them to the best of my 
 ability. 
 
 Above and around us all was darkness, even the 
 distant light from the girdle of volcanoes was dis- 
 appearing, so thick was the fog. 
 
 ' Captain Chlamyl must be a fatalist,' remarked 
 Ned sarcastically, shaking out his pipe into the 
 black waters over the lee tafifrail, ' to navigate at 
 full speed in such a devil of a sea.' 
 
192 Across the Zodiac 
 
 The decks of the Astrolabe were illumined by a 
 double row of incandescent lamps, nestling in 
 circular reflectors of silvered metal. Ahead of her 
 bows, the powerful search-light strove in vain to 
 pierce the darkness, which a falling shower of fine 
 ashes rendered positively opaque. Four of our 
 men, in sou'-westers of indiarubber, were emptying 
 the nets, tossing the fish, one by one, into buckets, 
 and lowering them down the companion-way to be 
 salted. The haul was enormous. Fully half a ton 
 of food was taken on board. 
 
 To enumerate half the specimens that were sub- 
 mitted to my inspection would be a labour of weeks. 
 
 The eyed pteraclis {^Pteraclis ocellatns), at once 
 recognisable by the enormous size of its fins, which 
 are, in fact, larger than the body to which they 
 belong, attracted my attention. It was almost a 
 shame to doom the beautiful creature, glittering in 
 a gorgeous array of gold and silver scales, to the 
 unpoetical frying-pan. Several gobies, resembling 
 vaguely the British ones, only larger, were taken, 
 together with an unusually formidable specimen of 
 the spiny fishing-frog {Lophius piscatorius), a vora- 
 cious animal, to whom no kind of bait comes amiss. 
 
 And then the monsters ? Creatures without a 
 name, Saturnian wonders with six fins, with triple 
 tails and double sets of eyes. Long grey serpents, 
 whose tails, rapidly revolving, imitated to a nicety 
 the action of a screw-propeller. Electrical ones, in 
 form like a Whitehead torpedo, whose heads, shaped 
 like the tail of a gigantic fire-fly, threw out an 
 intense white light, equal to that produced by a 
 carcel burner. Cuttle-fish with twenty arms, double- 
 headed lampreys (Siamese twins Ned called them), 
 rays, clad in scaly armour, like those strange 
 terrestrial mammals, the armadillo and the South 
 American manis — truly Nature has the same re- 
 presentatives everywhere. 
 
A Strange Burial 193 
 
 For more than an hour the unloading of the nets 
 continued. Then the men vanished silently, leav- 
 ing Ned and myself alone. 
 
 That tranquil individual, leaning indolently 
 against the railing, his face begrimed with a layer 
 of ashes, shot a piercing glance at me from under 
 his black eyebrows. 
 
 'You have something to say?' I ventured. 
 
 * I had a conversation with the Frenchy again 
 last night' 
 
 'Indeed? That was clever of you. How did 
 you manage it ? ' 
 
 'Captain Chlamyl was one of the party who 
 manned the pinnace to search for poor Heinemann, 
 the steward. His death makes a vacancy on board 
 which may materially alter the benevolent captain's 
 intentions with regard to ourselves. There are now 
 less mouths to feed.' 
 
 Ned smiled grimly. I was indignant. 
 
 ' Perfect bosh ! ' I exclaimed. ' I don't believe for 
 a minute the captain would intentionally get rid of 
 anyone on such a pretext.' 
 
 'Don't you, Hal? Well— no more do I. That 
 is, I diOXiX. believe anything, but I knoiv a good deal.' 
 
 ' S-s-s-sh ! Talk soft]}-. Telephones dog us 
 at every step here. What did the fellow tell you ? ' 
 
 ' He told me (curse that spray ! ) that the 
 amiable captain was in the habit of occasionally get- 
 ting rid of any man whom he was tired of, or whose 
 services he could dispense with, by the simple 
 process of abandoning him during his slecpon 
 some planet — uninhabited or otherwise. It sounds 
 like bunkum, but from what I've seen, I judge 
 there's a pretty good ballast of sense in the story.' 
 
 I passed my hand across my forehead. The 
 affair was certainly more than ordinarily curious, 
 besides being somewhat terrifying. Abandoned in 
 space ! What a singularly awful prospect ! 
 
 N 
 
194 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' In case you should want what the lawyers call 
 a " precedent," ' continued my inflexible companion, 
 coolly arranging the hood of his overcoat to shelter 
 him from the flying jets of foam, and crossing his 
 legs comfortably, 'one was certainly furnished by 
 those singular footprints we struck while crossing 
 the Sea of Putrefaction, or whatever the devil the 
 name of that place is on the moon. Do you remember 
 the antics our muscular friend went through?' 
 
 Remember them ! They had haunted me in my 
 sleep for weeks afterwards. The expression was a 
 hollow mockery. Through a long vista of pale 
 terrors, of shadowy nightmares, I caught a glimpse 
 of some terrible, sickening crime — some piece of 
 devilish heartlessness — some drama of misery and 
 anguish, that those dreary plains had witnessed — 
 abandoned ! In my mind's eye I saw the haggard 
 face, the wild, hopeless eyes of the condemned 
 wretch, plodding vaguely onwards across that 
 inhospitable desert, onwards towards the light that 
 glimmered in the east, onwards to his death among 
 the sandhills and burnt-out craters of a dead world. 
 
 ' Impossible, Ned ! It's too horrible ! ' 
 
 ' Is it ? It may be horrible, viewed from a merely 
 human point of view, but seen through the eyes 
 and brain of our demon commander, it is merely a 
 picturesque incident, hardly worthy of a second 
 thought. Hal, you have no idea how utterly 
 feelingless the continual contemplation of these 
 sublime things can make a man. No truly great 
 genius ever has a heart.' 
 
 At other times the sentiment would have pro- 
 voked a smile. Now, alas ! I had no smiles left ; 
 nothing but cowardly fear — fear that was none the 
 less intense from the fact that hand in hand with 
 it went a certain fatal admiration for the giant 
 intellect that had planned the dreadful tragedy. 
 
 ' To a philosopher like the captain, Hal, all things 
 
A Strange Burial 195 
 
 are possible,' pursued Ned. ' Right and wrong are 
 merely relative terms, neither of them really exists ! ' 
 
 I leant against the tafifrail and strained my eyes 
 out into the darkness, while my heart grew cold 
 within me. 
 
 Yes. I knew it. I knew that splendid heartless- 
 ness, that cynical disregard for the sufferings of 
 others that conscious greatness breeds in the mind 
 of a man, that cool method of discussing cause and 
 effect that a study of Nature's grand phenomena 
 induces. No — we were not on the same plane as 
 the captain. We were to him as the dust of the 
 universe is to the roaring sun, to the flaming comet 
 that, marking its own path across the void, drags a 
 million existences to death in its fiery embrace. 
 For a moment (may I be forgiven if the thought 
 was blasphemous) 1 realised what it must be to be 
 the Almighty Architect Himself. To be able to 
 contemplate misery unmoved ! to be so wise that 
 evil and good, like greatness and smallness, height, 
 depth and breadth, darkness and light, were 
 nothing but expressions — thoughts formulated 
 by the brain to distinguish the different states of 
 matter, nothing more — it was the magnificent in- 
 difference of an intellect that looked forward to the 
 end of all things, where we — finite minds and small 
 — neglected the ulterior designs of Fate to fret and 
 worry over our transitory grievances. 
 
 Ned, practical as ever, brought me out of my 
 reverie by remarking, — 
 
 ' So you see, Hall, we've nothing to hope from 
 the captain.' 
 
 ' What do you propose doing?' 
 
 ' Well — I don't know exactly. We're a fearfully 
 helpless set, all of us, and quite in that fellow's 
 power. If he were to take it into his head, for 
 instance, to drop us overboard to-night — ' 
 
 I shuddered. The idea was not inviting. 
 
196 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' What was the name of the poor chap they left 
 on the moon ? ' I asked. 
 
 ' Andersen — Jacob Andersen — a Swede,' replied 
 Ned. 'I got that from the Frenchy. It appears he 
 did something to anger the captain one day, while 
 the Astrolabe was circling round the earth at a 
 distance of some fifty thousand miles. He threw a 
 letter overboard — shot it overboard out of a gun, in 
 fact — in the vague hope that it might reach our 
 planet and communicate some facts respecting his 
 whereabouts. Our commander has strong reasons, 
 it seems, for wishing to preserve an incognito, and 
 resents any attempt made by his crew to reveal it 
 to their friends on earth. So you see it is really 
 not in the captain's interest to let us loose again 
 among civilised people — in fact — ' 
 
 ' For God's sake, Ned ! ' I broke in angrily, ' don't 
 go on talking in that strain. It unsettles one. I 
 don't believe a word you're saying. I don't want 
 to believe anything so hideous. Give us a rest, 
 man !' 
 
 Ned merely smiled. 
 
 ' The time will come when you yourself will have 
 to face the bitter truth, Hal — but, till then, I'll drop 
 it if you like. Let's go down. What's that over 
 there ? ' 
 
 A ruddy glow shone through the fog ahead, far 
 above our heads. Presently the wind tore the 
 ashes apart, and a sheaf of fire became visible, 
 suspended in mid-air, like some ghostly torch. 
 
 * A volcano,' suggested Ned, carelessly. ' I'm 
 sick of them ! Let's go down.' 
 
 I assented. Even the sight of an eruption was 
 beginning to lose its charm for me. Besides, I 
 was too agitated by what my companion had dis- 
 closed to feel much interest. I followed Ned down 
 the ladder. 
 
 In the smoking-room we met the captain him- 
 
A Strange Burial 197 
 
 self, pale and emaciated-looking, from his prolonged 
 vigil on the previous night, no doubt. 
 
 ' One of your men is ill, I hear,' I suggested. ' If 
 I can be of any use — of course, I shall be happy. 
 Medicine was one of my studies at the university.' 
 
 ' No, no ! ' answered the captain, vaguely, making 
 a rapid gesture as though to ward off some un- 
 imagined evil. 'It is only a surface burn — a mere 
 singeing of the skin, nothing more. What is it to 
 you ? Leave me ! ' 
 
 There was nothing more to be said. I bowed, 
 and withdrew silently. 
 
 September 29/// — October St/i. — Since our start, 
 ten days ago, we have made nearly four thousand 
 miles, and to-day we have, for the first time on 
 Saturn's surface, beheld the sun. The sun, but 
 how pale and poor in comparison to the same 
 planet seen from our own world ! — a large star, 
 nothing more. 
 
 On the platform this morning I met Ned. 
 
 ' Where are we ? ' I asked. 
 
 The screw was still beating the waters astern 
 into an endless track of white. Overhead, the 
 inky mists had parted, revealing a sky of palest 
 green, across whose outer limits the expanse of 
 rings formed a shadowy arch. Right and left, out 
 of the dark, sea-water, rose pinnacles and crests of 
 rock, some tipped with snow, and furrowed with 
 miniature glaciers of ice. Columns of steam here 
 and there attested Plutonian agency, while an 
 occasional foaming on the waters — patches of 
 floating ashes or scoria, combined with certain 
 undefinable, trembling feelings in our hull, told 
 of the forces at work in the dark caverns beneath 
 these primaeval seas. 
 
 ' Where are we ? ' echoed Ned. ' That's what I 
 wouldn't mind knowing myself. We've struck 
 
19S Across the Zodiac 
 
 another continent during the night, and are at 
 present navigating on the surface of a river.' 
 'A river?' I exclaimed. 
 
 * Yes ; a river some thirty miles wide, I should 
 think,' was the answer. ' Look there — you can see 
 the opposite bank.' 
 
 I took the opera-glass. Ned was not mistaken. 
 A faint, yellow line of sandy cliffs stretched south- 
 wards along the horizon. 
 
 ' It may be an inland sea,' I suggested. 
 
 ' Not by a long shot ! The water's fresh — or 
 nearly so. By the way — you know that poor 
 fellow who burnt himself? He's dead ! Died 
 during the night. The captain's not in a particu- 
 larly good humour in consequence. Look ! what's 
 that ? ' 
 
 A gigantic head, shaped like that of a horse, rose 
 above the water. Two green eyes, shining like a 
 cat's, were contemplating us ; behind, a long white 
 eddy traced a line like the wake of a screw-propeller. 
 
 * A sea-serpent ! ' I exclaimed. 
 
 It was really and truly a serpent. Fins of vast 
 power were attached to the long body, beating the 
 green waves furiously as the monster glided noise- 
 lessly along. To classify this wonderful creature 
 was difficult, as no naturalist had ever yet set eyes 
 on it, except in theory. In my own mind, I decided 
 that it belonged to the order of large amphibious 
 snakes, of which the anaconda and the boa are our 
 earthly representatives. 
 
 For more than half -an -hour the wonderful 
 creature accompanied us, swimming at an easy 
 distance, in a regular parallel line, and diving at 
 intervals, to reappear on the other side of the 
 Astrolabe, having passed beneath the keel like a 
 flash of lightning. Once I thought it was making 
 up its mind to board our vessel, and I uneasily 
 eyed the cabin door — but no. Its intentions were 
 
A Strange Buinal 199 
 
 pacific, and the formidable beat of our screw, no 
 doubt, showed that we were not to be trifled with. 
 Finally, towards ten-thirty, it dived out of sight and 
 disappeared. Overhead, in the sky, appeared a 
 curious sight. Four luminous crescents were riding 
 across the green void in silent beauty — two near 
 the zenith and one on either horizon. 
 
 ' What a gorgeous affair it must be when the 
 whole eight moons are visible,' soliloquised Ned, 
 through his teeth. 
 
 Such a conjunction of circumstances, however, 
 was unlikely, if not impossible. I surveyed the 
 wild scene in silence, while a cold breeze from the 
 land made my teeth chatter. The farther we pro- 
 ceeded, the colder it seemed to get. At twelve a 
 huge bank of fog lifted, disclosing a belt of white 
 ice-covered mountains, some of whose tops were 
 smoking. At the same time the speed of the 
 Astrolabe diminished — it was going to stop. 
 
 ' I vote we go and put on our overcoats,' said 
 Ned. ' 1 11 bet a dollar there's some excursion or 
 other looming.' 
 
 At breakfast I broached the subject to the 
 captain. - 
 
 ' We are going on shore, sir?' I said, in as careless 
 a voice as I could muster. 
 
 He nodded without replying. In spite of the 
 instinctive fear with which this strange being in- 
 spired me, my heart went out to him as I noted his 
 sunken cheeks and tired eyes. Respect for a man 
 is a wonderful thing. Here were we, a company 
 of weak, human beings, cut off from all intercourse 
 with our kind by some hundreds of millions of 
 miles — devoid, even, as far as I could see, of the 
 bare means of retracing our steps. And yet, such, 
 I suppose, was our confidence in that man, that, 
 instead of being ovci whelmed by naturally terrible 
 
200 Across the Zodiac 
 
 reflections respecting our own future, we were 
 tranquilly committing ourselves to his care like 
 children, existing calmly and quietly under circum- 
 stances, of which the bare recollection would be 
 paralysing — an excursion on Saturn ! I had already 
 been through one, and was not experiencing any par- 
 ticular desire to attempt a second. A word from the 
 commander made me change my resolve, however, 
 
 ' If you and Mr Hatton are afraid,' he suggested 
 quietly, ' of course we will excuse you,' 
 
 Ned coloured violently. The sarcasm settled the 
 affair. It is better to die fifty times over than to 
 be laughed at by such a man. We would go, and 
 perish if need be. Look which way I would, 
 annihilation seemed to be our fate anyway. It 
 might just as well come one way as another. 
 
 The trembling of the screw stopped short, and 
 we heard the anchor-chains rattling — two hundred 
 feet of water at least, to judge from the time it took 
 them to strike a bottom. 
 
 Our party was numerous enough — nine men in 
 all. Four of these carried on their shoulders an 
 oblong box, swathed in grey canvas. It was a 
 coffin, containing, no doubt, the body of our poor 
 steward, who had died during the night, 
 
 I was strangely impressed by the scene. Right 
 and left rose a wilderness of gaunt snow mountains, 
 half hidden beneath thick layers of cloud for the 
 most part. Overhead, crossed in places by trails 
 of dark vapour, stretched the gigantic ring, silvery 
 at the zenith, but deepening in colour as it neared 
 the horizon, owing to the refraction of the atmos- 
 pheric strata, A cold grey twilight reigned every- 
 where on the surface of this embryo world, a 
 twilight vaguer and more mysterious than moon- 
 light, yet permitting every detail, far and near, to 
 be seen with the utmost distinctness. 
 
 The Astrolabe, motionless on the dark green 
 
A Stranire Burial 201 
 
 <?> 
 
 water, seemed to be floating in space once more, 
 so calm were the reaches of the river, undisturbed, 
 as far as we could see, by a single living creature. 
 
 The cold was intense, but our jackets of sealskin 
 moderated it enormously. 
 
 Gradually, as we receded farther and farther into 
 the interior of this cloudy continent, a new and 
 indefinable feeling began to oppress me. At first 
 I paid no heed, believing it to result from my over- 
 strung imagination, but presently an exclamation 
 from Ned, who was lagging behind, developed the 
 imaginary feeling into a real grievance. 
 
 ' Phew ! ' gasped my companion, ' I'm glued to 
 the ground. I can't move worth a cent ! ' 
 
 The expression was not unnatural. My legs 
 seemed robbed of their locomotive power. A fearful 
 weight was crushing mc down, causing the blood 
 to leave my head and tingle unpleasantly about the 
 region of my feet. I felt as though a thousand 
 needles were sticking into my limbs, and, resigning 
 myself to the inexplicable influence, I sank down, 
 breathless, on a convenient rock and gasped like a 
 fish out of water. 
 
 Several of our men, muscular giants though they 
 were, evinced a disposition to follow my example. 
 The captain, standing magnificently upright in his 
 armour of skins, smiled faintl}'. 
 
 ' Undo the crutches,' he said, turning to one of 
 his companions, ' lame men need assistance.' 
 
 This sounded suspiciously like humbug, but, as 
 it turned out, there was meaning in the captain's 
 madness. One of the sailors proffered me a pair of 
 stout wooden crutches. I essayed them doubtii:gly, 
 and found myself able to walk easily once more. 
 
 ' Gravity is resuming her rights,' explained the 
 commander. ' We are no longer under the ring ! ' 
 
 He pointed to the sky as he spoke. Light burst 
 in on me all of a sudden. 
 
202 Across the Zodiac 
 
 The powerful attraction of Saturn is nearly equal 
 to twice that of the earth. Hence, our weight 
 became doubled on all parts of the planet which 
 were not situated directly under the vast equatorial 
 rings, whose counter-attraction modified and 
 annulled the crushing force that was now weighing 
 us down. Had we been at the poles instead of 
 where we were (some thousands of miles south of 
 the Saturnian Tropic of Cancer) we would probably 
 have been unable to move a step, crutches or no 
 crutches. 
 
 The men, no doubt accustomed to hard physical 
 toil in all its sinister forms, struggled on manfully, 
 relieving each other at intervals in the arduous task 
 of bearing the heavy coffin, which here weighed 
 nearly half as much again at it would have weighed 
 on our own planet. 
 
 A formidable mountain, of which, thanks to the 
 heavy cloud-masses, only the summit was visible, 
 obstructed our path, blocking up the entire eastern 
 horizon. Glaciers of blue, hummocky ice traced 
 regular lines down its precipitous sides, which 
 every now and again were broken and shattered, 
 disclosing rugged fissures and precipices, seamed 
 with veins of glittering minerals and snowy bands 
 of frozen water. Silent columns of steam curled 
 up here and there, and black circular openings in 
 the ice-flows marked the presence of subterranean 
 springs. 
 
 The grey twilight imparted a ghastly look of 
 desolation to the place, which seemed totally un- 
 inhabited and destitute of animal life. It was a 
 glacial world — dead, cold, deserted. 
 
 Once or twice, nestling in crevices above the 
 floating stream-jets, I noticed some of the most 
 elementary forms of life — foraminifera;, eozoons, 
 yellow funguses that seemed endowed with a strange 
 sensitiveness, cockle-shells, limpets of gigantic size 
 
A Strange Burial 203 
 
 (some measuring two feet in diameter nearly). 
 For a moment it struck me as peculiar that we had 
 come so far without seeing anything more marvel- 
 lous. Who, to gaze on this silent landscape, would 
 believe it to be a glimpse of the far-off planet 
 whose light contributed towards the adornment of 
 the summer nights on his own little world? 
 
 Suddenly, as though a mirage had seized its 
 image and held it fast, the lofty summit with its 
 vapoury crest appeared doubled, photographed, so 
 to speak, on the ground at our feet. I rubbed my 
 eyes. 
 
 A glassy river lay before us. Never had water 
 appeared so smooth before. At the same moment 
 a singular odour assailed my nostrils. The men 
 had halted, uncertain as to how they were to 
 proceed. Every detail, each projecting rock, each 
 cloud, the ring itself, were mirrored with startling 
 fidelity. The river seemed about a hundred yards 
 in width, though, owing to the difficulty of judging 
 distances over water, it may have been wider. Its 
 shores were lined with a peculiar greyish kind of 
 rock, familiar to me from my mineralogical studies. 
 A strange idea struck me. I bent down and 
 touched the water with my finger. 
 
 ' It is oil ! ' I cried, ' petroleum oil !.' 
 
 ' Yes,' answered the captain, ' and uncommonly 
 good petroleum at that. The spring that produces 
 the combustible must not be far off! ' 
 
 Here certainly was something worth looking at. 
 
 ' It would make the fortune of those California 
 millionaires over again,' soliloquised Ned. ' We 
 could literally flood the market with petroleum 
 if we could only import it.' 
 
 Such a consummation was not, however, to be 
 thought of There was certainly enough of ir. 
 For miles right and left, the river of oil stretched 
 away. There was no perceptible current though, 
 
204 Across the Zodiac 
 
 and it more resembled an elongated lake than a 
 river. Examples of similar formations on our 
 native globe were not wanting, though they were 
 mostly on a far smaller scale. The naptha lakes 
 of Mesopotamia and the pitchy deposits of the 
 island of Trinidad were not very unlike after all, and 
 again it struck me what an enormous difference 
 there was between the abstract ravings of visionary 
 enthusiasts like Bernardin de Saint-Pierre or Edgar 
 Poe and the actual living reality. 
 
 They, viewing a host of planets through the 
 medium of an imaginative brain, had conceived 
 rivers of liquid diamonds, cascades of jewels, sylphs, 
 demons, mermaids, trees bearing gold and silver fruit, 
 animals that sung in harmony like trained choristers, 
 and a host of other unnatural impossibilities. But 
 for the singular aspect presented by the green sky, 
 with its pale rings, its four moons and its wonder- 
 fully-coloured layers of mist, I might have believed 
 myself to have been crossing the interior of Iceland. 
 The earth was totally invisible — nor, if it had been 
 visible, would it have been very imposing. A tiny 
 speck of emerald on a ground of aquamarine, nothing 
 more. Instinctively I wondered whether this was 
 all — whether, after, all, some new prodigy would not 
 suddeuly unfold itself before our startled eyes. I 
 wondered uneasily whether it would come in the 
 form of a cosmic phenomenon or a novel problem 
 in natural history. We had faced a giant serpent on 
 the moon, we had wrestled with mammoths, flying 
 dragons and long-necked saurians. What was going 
 to appear next ? 
 
 I was soon to know. 
 
 A vast plateau of smooth white snow unfolded 
 itself before us. At a sign from the captain, the 
 coffin was set down and preparations for the burial 
 were begun. 
 
 I think I can still see the scene, enacted in that 
 
A Strange Burial 205 
 
 mysterious, diffused light, that permitted no shadows 
 to be thrown by any object. As the body was 
 lowered into the cr}'pt, several of the men fell -on 
 their knees. Captain Chlamyl, myself and Ned re- 
 mained standing. From across that desolate waste 
 came a strange sound, floating on the wind like a 
 wail of human pain. 
 
 My blood froze. I touched the commander on 
 the arm. He was staring intently out over the plains 
 towards where the ring disappeared behind a bank 
 of heavy red clouds. 
 
 ' Captain ! ' 
 
 He did not seem to hear. The clods of sand and 
 snow fell heavily on the coffin lid. Some of the 
 men rose to their feet to gaze uneasily about them. 
 There it was again ! That low, wailing sound, 
 that echoed far and wide like the cry of a wounded 
 animal. 
 
 Across the golden crescents spanning the sky, 
 black specks came floating, growing larger and 
 larger, like gigantic bats, flapping up and down, 
 rising and falling, darting to and fro in unsym- 
 metrical lines. 
 
 Now one of them crossed a bright belt of green 
 light where the largest moon shone between two 
 clouds, and I thought that its wings were shaped 
 like those of a dragon. 
 
 ' Have you your revolvers, gentlemen ? ' said the 
 captain, turning abruptly. 
 
 We were all of us armed, but we felt uneasy 
 nevertheless. 
 
 ' What awful brutes ! ' exclaimed Ned. 
 
 As he spoke, a fearful howling arose, and I could 
 see a legion of yellow eyes gleaming horribly under 
 those dark wings. 
 
 'They are flying wolves!' said somebody (I 
 think it was Ned), and at the same moment a 
 revolver-shot made the distant masses of poised ice 
 
2o6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 and snow rattle down on the hard plateau with a 
 sound like the firing of far-off artillery. 
 
 'To the boat!' shouted the captain, as a great 
 shadow fell with a dull thud at my feet, snapping 
 and snarling like a demon, its pointed yellow teeth 
 closing like a steel-trap within an inch of my foot. 
 
 The terrible chase had begun. It was not a 
 chase, properly speaking, for what chance had we 
 struggling men, embarrassed with heavy crutches 
 for the most part, against these winged furies, more 
 awful than those that haunted legendary Orestes. 
 
 I gave myself up for lost, hardly daring to look 
 behind me. The wounded wolf, struggling help- 
 lessly on the snow, was pounced upon by his 
 companions, and during some moments a fearful 
 carnage ensued. The ground was a mass of beat- 
 ing wings and snapping teeth. Another group 
 settled on the newly-made grave, tearing up the 
 soft snow with their paws, scattering it over and 
 around themselves in a white cloud. 
 
 Were they going to abandon us ? 
 
 The hope was soon quelled. We had hardly 
 proceeded a bow-shot from the place when we 
 heard the hungry band once more on our track. 
 
 On they came, their long fulvous bodies be- 
 dabbled in places with hideous streaks of red, their 
 eyes shining like demon stars through the murky 
 light. One great monster flew at our hindermost 
 man, his crutch was wrenched from his grasp and 
 over he rolled, burying his face in the snow to avoid 
 the impact of those dreadful claws and shrieking 
 to us for help in the jabbering dialect of fear. 
 
 Three shots rang out. The vast wings beat the 
 air unevenly, and the brute fell, screaming shrilly, 
 like a dog crushed by the wheel of a cart. 
 
 Our unfortunate follower picked himself up. 
 Ned offered his arm to help him. I had just time 
 to see this much when a violent shock overthrew 
 
A Strange Burial 207 
 
 me, and I felt sharp teeth penetrating my flesh. 
 A horrible growling sounded in my ears and I was 
 shaken as a rat is shaken in the teeth of a cat. 
 
 ' Help ! ' I called feebly. ' Help ! ' 
 
 A strange drowsiness was robbing me of my 
 senses. I think for a moment I must have fainted. 
 
 Then the heavy load rolled off my chest, and I 
 caught sight of two great eyes closing glassily in 
 the death agonies. 
 
 Four wolves lay dead. The rest, to the number 
 of some twenty or thereabouts, were flying uneasily 
 round us in circles, as though uncertain how to 
 commence an attack. 
 
 We struggled on, sinking up to our knees in the 
 snow, shouting encouragements to one another. 
 Once a great grey bi ute, whose fur was falling off 
 in patches like that of a mangy dog, succeeded 
 in overthrowing the captain. Ned, dropping his 
 crutches, coolly stepped up to where the animal was 
 worrying its prey, and grasping one of the wings 
 in his left hand, sent a bullet crashing into the 
 brain. The captain rose, blood streaming from his 
 face where one of the claws had struck him, and — 
 as though not willing to be behindhand in polite- 
 ness, even at such a moment — inclined his head 
 froggily in the direction of the American, who was 
 replacing his revolver. 
 
 The impromptu bow nearly cost him his life, for 
 a second wolf was upon us like a flash, and had it 
 not been for a peculiarly lucky shot of mine, at 
 least one of us would have paid the penalty. 
 
 The horrors of that pursuit still remain indelibly 
 fixed in my memory. Three times I thought we 
 were lost. Most of the crutches w'cre gone, but 
 fear lent strength, and in spite of the crushing 
 weight, we hurried on courageously. 
 
 As we reached the petroleum river, another wolf 
 fell. Ah ! that crossing ! With those slippery 
 
2o8 Across the Zodiac 
 
 rocks to stand upon, those nauseating fumes 
 dimming our senses, and that shrieking army of 
 demons at our back. 
 
 The captain was the first to reach the shore, and 
 in the intervals between my stumbhng jumps, I 
 saw him standing, revolver in hand, his eyes fixed 
 on the snarling pack who were tearing their dying 
 comrade to pieces on the opposite bank. 
 
 I glanced round. The winged monsters were 
 massed together in a dark-brown cluster, rising 
 and falling like bats, striking at each other with 
 their mailed claws, and shrieking discordantly in a 
 dozen keys. 
 
 Presently the noise diminished. With a bound 
 the foremost wolf sprang into the air and sniffed 
 about him, a hideous mass of clotted blood. 
 
 Ah — he saw us ! 
 
 In a second the whole diabolical band were 
 flapping rapidly across the oily surface on our track. 
 I saw the captain bend down and discharge his 
 revolver — seemingly at the water. 
 
 A lambent blue flame flashed into life, oscillat- 
 ing and wavering, growing and expanding, racing 
 ofl' in every direction, pulsating and flowing in 
 pyramids of yellow fire, seething round the black 
 rocks and bounding upwards to the sky, a hell 
 of savage flame more terrible than that of the 
 imaginary Inferno! 
 
 In the scene that followed I had time to bestow 
 admiration on the ingenuity of our commander. 
 I myself would have been the last person to think 
 of firing the lake. It was an inspiration, and it 
 saved our lives. 
 
 The wolves were baffled. For a short moment 
 we beheld those gaunt wings flapping above the 
 roaring fire, then they beat a retreat, and through 
 the dazzling curtain we could hear their shrill cries 
 as we toiled homewards down the ice-bound fields 
 
In Tow of a Co7net 209 
 
 to where the Astrolabe lay cradled on the dark 
 bosom of the river, a haven of rest in an unshapen 
 world of ice and fire. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN TOW OF A COMET 
 
 On the night of the 4th of October we quitted 
 Saturn. 1 was sleeping at the time, unfortunately, 
 and was thus prevented from once more enjoying 
 the magnificent passage of the rings. My coffee 
 was brought me by the French steward, who said, 
 as he drew aside the curtains of the window, — 
 
 ' Monsieur — there is no more land.' 
 
 ' No land ! I said. 
 
 ' No land, no sea, no anything. Will monsieur 
 look ? ' 
 
 I raised myself into a sitting posture, and glanced 
 eagerly through the circular aperture. 
 
 Yes — we were back again in space. But the 
 jump had been made with singular rapidity and 
 ease, for I noticed none of those indescribable dis- 
 orders in my system that had tortured me during 
 that long night — the first I ever passed on Captain 
 Chlamyl's vessel. 
 
 ' Where is Saturn ? ' I queried. 
 
 ' Beneath us, monsieur,' was the answer. 
 
 Ah ! that explained it. Gravity was acting in 
 the correct way, — from below, instead of at an 
 angle. 
 
 ' And the captain, my friend ? ' 
 
 ' He is in bed, sir — with a swelled face ; his wound 
 has broken out again.' 
 
 * Aha ! that accounts for your singular communi- 
 cativeness. Where are we bound for ? ' 
 
 * For the sun, monsieur. I heard the engineer 
 
 O 
 
2IO Across the Zodiac 
 
 talking about it yesterday — but we have not 
 started yet.' 
 
 ' What / want to know,' I muttered between my 
 teeth, ' is how in the name of the devil we're going 
 to get back anyhow. The translation-movement 
 only acts one way, and if we have to wait till 
 Saturn gets on the other side of the sun — ' 
 
 I don't think the steward understood me, for he 
 went on tidying the wash-things in an unconcerned 
 manner. A barking sound in the next cabin roused 
 me. It was Ned's new pet — a baby wolf with 
 wings of soft velvet, and feathers (not fur) of hazel- 
 brown. Presently Ned himself appeared, arrayed 
 in a flaming dressing-gown with the baby in his 
 arms. The little animal dug its claws into the red 
 wool and, putting up its pointed snout, adorned 
 with long bat-like ears, strove to lick its master's 
 face. 
 
 ' He's quite like a dog ! ' said the proud possessor, 
 'and twice as beautiful. Here — I'll put him into 
 bed with you.' 
 
 ' If you do anything of the sort, I'll murder you,' 
 I answered, but before I could even make prepara- 
 tions for carrying out the awful threat, my trusty 
 friend had flung the animal down on the quilt, 
 where it amused itself making frantic dives at my 
 toes, no doubt mistaking them for rats (as Ned 
 calmly hinted.) 
 
 It was decidedly pretty, though its claws were 
 sharp. Imagine a cross between a dog and an 
 owl — a quadruped clothed in silken feathers, with 
 bright orange eyes, long ears, and a pair of bat's 
 wings of russet velvet. In my classifying zeal I 
 named it Liipus CJilamyli — and really, the name 
 was as good as any other. 
 
 ' That reminds me,' began Ned, after he had 
 wasted a good five minutes teasing and caressing 
 master 'Jip' (of all the extraordinary names to 
 
In Tow of a Comet 211 
 
 give an extraordinary animal, this was surely the 
 most so) — ' that reminds me. Do you know the 
 latest ? ' 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders. Ned has a habit, 
 when he is in a good humour, of asking questions 
 for the purpose of 'scoring' one off, and I did 
 not feel in the mood for such nonsense just then. 
 
 ' Seriously,' continued my interrogator, ' has 
 Monsieur Johnny Crapaud ' (with a toss of his 
 head in the direction of the steward) 'told you 
 what we're kicking round here for ? We haven't 
 advanced a yard since morning ! ' 
 
 ' What do }'ou mean ? Aren't we moving ? ' 
 
 * Moving ? We're swaying about in a see-saw 
 fashion several thousand miles above the north 
 pole of Saturn. Does that tell you much ? It's 
 a beautiful sight, but if we have to pay for it with 
 our lives it'll be rather an expensive one.' 
 
 Ned's words roused me quickly enough. I 
 dressed and hastened into the saloon. Under- 
 neath the keel of the Astrolabe a huge, white 
 circle completely filled space. On one side, the 
 ring made a foggy crescent, hardly opaque enough 
 to obscure the larger stars, while on our own level 
 and above us, six moons were floating silently, in 
 various stages of eclipse, some of them casting a 
 vague light over the dark half of the giant planet 
 beneath, two of them being accompanied (so far 
 as we could see) by revolving satellites of their 
 own ; the sun, ahead of the Astrolabe's bows, was 
 shining like a large star, of a peculiar reddish colour, 
 owing, I suppose, to some streaks or bands of 
 ethereal substance that lay between us and him. 
 Beyond — all was blackness of darkness. The earth 
 was totally invisible. 
 
 All day long we admired the marvellous spectacle. 
 Captain Chlamyl never came to offer any ex- 
 planations, and the doors leading on deck re- 
 
2 1 2 Across the Zodiac 
 
 mained hermetically sealed — the near proximity 
 of the planet not permitting the liberation of our 
 atmosphere. 
 
 'What do you bet the captain's up a tree?' 
 inquired Ned. 
 
 To say the least of it, our manoeuvres were 
 peculiar. We did not seem to be stirring. 
 Independent and motionless in space, we watched 
 the circular layers of cloud sweep majestically 
 round as Saturn moved on his axis. Occasionally 
 a shaft of white smoke pierced the envelope for 
 a moment, presenting the appearance of a solar 
 protuberance and indicating probably the seat of 
 some cosmic or volcanic phenomenon on a large 
 scale. Not a sound came to us ; the Astrolabe 
 was cradled in the most profound silence. 
 
 October 6th-?)th. — No change. Everyone seems 
 asleep on board. How are we going to get back ? 
 
 October gth. — Captain Chlamyl appeared at 
 breakfast this morning. I was just engaged in 
 swallowing down some boiling coffee, and rose 
 to receive him as he entered. Ned, who was 
 hand-feeding his pet animal, did the same, 
 
 ' Be seated, sir,' he began ; ' I have much to tell 
 you. I hope you have not been boring yourself 
 too much lately. Unfortunately, my illness — ' 
 
 I interrupted him with an assurance that we 
 had been enormously interested in the phases of 
 Saturn's moons, and had found the study ex- 
 tremely interesting. 
 
 The commander seemed pleased. 
 
 * Well, take your last look at them,' he said, 
 ' for I fear you will not see them again for many 
 a long day.' 
 
 ' Are we leaving Saturn then, captain ? ' I asked, 
 in a voice from which I had made a miserably 
 unsuccessful attempt to banish the desperate 
 curiosity. Ned, at the other side of the table, 
 
In Toiv of a Comet 213 
 
 Avas allowing Jip to lick his hand quietly, not 
 offering to caress the animal, staring fixedly at 
 the table-cloth and fingering his fork nervously. 
 
 ' We start in two hours, sir.' 
 
 I suppose my ignorance must have been written 
 on my face, for the captain proceeded with his 
 explanations easily and naturally, without waiting 
 for me to pump him. 
 
 ' You know, professor, that all bodies traversing 
 space are bound to obey the laws of natural 
 attraction.' 
 
 I nodded. Was the captain going to repeat 
 his lecture on gravitation verbatim ? If so, I 
 must grin and bear it politely. 
 
 * My system of mechanism,' pursued the captain, 
 * enables me to overcome and nullify the force for 
 the time being. Were the engines of the Astrolabe 
 stopped, professor, we should be as amenable to 
 the laws of gravitation as the humblest mass of 
 unintellectual stone.' 
 
 ' Well, captain ? ' I asked, not knowing what 
 he was driving at. 
 
 ' Well, sir. Does it not strike you that this 
 peculiar power enables me to practically choose 
 my own way through space ? By starting my 
 engines or by stopping them, as the case may be, 
 I can be attracted by any body I please.' 
 
 ' Quite so, captain. But permit me to say that 
 if the engines were stopped now — ' 
 
 ' Well, what, professor ? ' 
 
 'You would fall back on Saturn.' 
 
 ' Unless there is another body in sight whose 
 attraction is more powerful, sir.' 
 
 ' And is there such a body ? ' 
 
 ' Perhaps there is, professor. Anyhow, you 
 understand my principles.' 
 
 ' But, sir,' I burst out, in a pitiable state of 
 bewilderment, ' what good can it do to you to 
 
214 Across the Zodiac 
 
 be attracted by some minor planet or other ? At 
 this distance from the sun, our journey round the 
 ecliptic must necessarily be of some fifteen years 
 duration at least, hence — ' 
 
 ' Who spoke of being attracted by a minor planet, 
 professor? If I only wanted to travel round the 
 ecliptic, I might just as well have stopped on 
 Saturn, instead of having traversed nearly two 
 hundred thousand miles during the last twenty- 
 four hours — ' 
 
 I started. Then Ned rushed to the window and 
 drew aside the curtains. 
 
 Yes, there, beneath us, in the void, the huge planet 
 was hanging in its golden girdle, quite as far off as 
 the captain had said. Evidently the Astrolabe had 
 shifted while I slept — but with what prodigious 
 speed ! Greased lightning — that favourite Yankee 
 simile — was nothing to it ! 
 
 I resumed my scat The captain, nothing 
 daunted, was attacking a boiled &g% systematicall}'. 
 Ned, lost in contemplation of the ringed, globe out- 
 side, stood still, his nose almost pasted against the 
 glass, while Jip, whining impatiently, dug his sharp 
 claws into the cloth of his master's trousers, and 
 endeavoured to flap his brown wings. 
 
 The steward entered with a smoking dish of 
 boiled vegetables — peas, I think. For a moment 
 the captain ate in silence, then, — 
 
 ' We are not going round the ecliptic, sir, but 
 diametrically across it ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, certainly ! ' I answered, in a tone from 
 which all the energy in human nature could not 
 banish the sarcasm, 'certainly, captain — you're 
 going to take a short cut, I see ! And, might I ask, 
 what complaisant body is going to do the attract- 
 ing ? Who is going to play the role of locomotive ? ' 
 'An incandescent body of hydrogen gas, sir, 
 some two hundred and fifty miles in diameter, with 
 
hi Tow of a Comet 2 1 5 
 
 a solid nucleus formed by the aggregation of hard, 
 metallic particles.' 
 
 * A comet ! ' I cried. 
 
 * A vagrant wanderer through the realms of space, 
 sir, whose roving course, inclining at an angle of 
 fifteen degrees with Saturn's ecliptic, will carry him 
 to the sun — perhaps round it — at a rate varying 
 from a hundred to two hundred thousand miles 
 an hour ! ' 
 
 Ned's face, stiffly set in a spasm of dogged 
 wonder, confronted me from the other side of the 
 cloth. 
 
 Here was the impossible with a vengeance ! If 
 Captain Chlamyl had intended to astonish me, he 
 certainly succeeded. To be towed by a comet ! 
 Even on board the Astrolabe the idea partook of 
 the supernatural. And yet — it was possible! 
 Actually and truly possible ! 
 
 For some moments nothing was said. Then I 
 ventured another question. 
 
 ' And this comet, sir ? ' 
 
 ' Is hanging far above our heads in the void, 
 professor. The movement of translation is carry- 
 ing us across its tail. You can see it from the 
 observatory — come ! ' 
 
 He rose and led the way. As we left the dining- 
 room, Ned's eyes shot a glance of mingled amuse- 
 ment and weariness at me. The Yankee shoulders 
 were hoisted in a contemptuous shrug. Ned is a 
 difficult man to convince, though he Jias traversed 
 several hundred millon miles of space to get 
 experience. 
 
 The observatory was not as dark as usual. A 
 curious starlight filtered in through the thick panes^ 
 gleaming along the polished metal bars of the 
 electrical instruments, and making the white 
 manometer-faces shine with a ghostly light. 
 
 Above us, space seemed on fire. 
 
2i6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Blue and white streamers, like those of a 
 lengthened aurora, spanned the blackness like a 
 luminous canopy. The fore-runners of the giant 
 tail must even then have been sighted, for, as 1 
 looked, a score of flaming meteors hurried past, 
 scaring me nearly to death and almost making the 
 entire hull of the Astrolabe quiver, though they 
 must have been a wonderful distance away. 
 
 ' They are going to Saturn ! ' said the captain, 
 and a moment's reflection showed me the truth of 
 this statement. Beneath our keel, the ringed planet 
 was demanding toll of every passing wanderer, and 
 no doubt much of this monster's aureole would go 
 to weighten the strange world we had quitted, 
 compelled by the terrible strength of his attraction. 
 
 ' How is it that the main body is not itself 
 diverted from its course and drawn downwards, 
 sir?' I asked, releasing the spring that held the 
 curtain of the bow-window, and lifting my hand to 
 my eyes as a torrent of blue light flooded the 
 apartment. 
 
 ' Its momentum is too great for that, sir. Each 
 trip past a large planet may diminish it in bulk 
 slightly, but, at the rate of its present flight, nothing 
 short of the sun itself could arrest its motion — see, 
 even now we are changing our position ! ' 
 
 The planet under our keel had swept away to 
 the right by several degrees. For several hours I 
 watched these thrilling changes, sometimes from 
 the saloon, sometimes from the observatory, while 
 Ned alternately professed open disbelief and un- 
 easily gnawed his tawny moustache over the 
 thumbed pages of Nicholas Nickleby. 
 
 Towards 4 p.m. (how ridiculously vain all 
 estimates of time seemed on the Astrolabe), the 
 gorgeousness of the. spectacle roused even my 
 torpid companion. 
 
 We were entering the domain of this blue flying 
 
In Tow of a Comet 217 
 
 demon. Glowing balls of green and yellow, twir- 
 ling rapidly on their axes, descended majestically 
 past the windows on the left, while, on the right, 
 Saturn with his eight moons clomb higher and 
 higher. We were turning completely head over 
 heels, and though I had often before witnessed the 
 feat, it nevertheless filled me with interest. 
 
 Higher and higher mounted Saturn, brighter and 
 yet brighter grew the blueish sheen on the left, till 
 the whole saloon was drowned in waves of ebbing, 
 pulsating colour, that crushed and paled the brilliant 
 hues of the Oriental ottomans and Turkish hang- 
 ings. A distinct feeling of heat became apparent, 
 and I wondered, for the fiftieth time since my set- 
 ting foot on Captain Chlamyl's vessel, whether we 
 were going to meet a death by fire, a death more 
 strange than any to be met with among cold lunar 
 volcanoes or Saturnian lava-belts — utter annihila- 
 tion in that seething, streaming blue furnace and 
 an endless peregrination across sunless voids round 
 and round the central sun in an ellipse of wavy 
 flame. What a future ! The Apocalypse was 
 nothing to it ! 
 
 Towards 5 p.m., the Astrolabe had accomplished 
 a complete revolution on her keel. Saturn was 
 above and the comet beneath us. Glued to the 
 crystal panels, we eagerly watched every manoeuvre, 
 our tired eyes shaded by spectacles of smoked glass, 
 e.Kpressly provided by Captain Chlamyl for the safer 
 contemplation of these dazzling cosmic marvels. As 
 the twenty-four hour clock chimed 6 p.m., or its 
 equivalent, I felt the vessel sinking more rapidly. 
 A greyish dust was gradually beginning to cover 
 the outside of the panes, dimming the blue glare 
 and making observation more difficult. 
 
 Something was going to happen. Voices were 
 answering each other across the long corridor, and 
 the engine-bells clanged twice. 
 
2i8 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' They're starting ! ' said Ned, 
 
 He was right. The moment for annulling the 
 attraction of this dangerous mass had arrived. A 
 well-known trembling feeling told me that the discs 
 had begun to revolve. We were not to be drawn 
 into the vortex without a protest. 
 
 Here the door opened and Captain Chlamyl 
 entered. 
 
 ' Well, sir, and what do you think of it ? ' he said. 
 
 I pointed to the darkened windows. We were 
 sailing blindly — almost. 
 
 ' Come into the observatory.' 
 
 I followed him. The bow-window, deluged with 
 light, probably, was closely veiled, but the side- 
 windows, coated with some substance that pre- 
 vented dust from adhering to them, permitted a 
 clear view in all directions. 
 
 Let me attempt to describe the scene. 
 
 We were floating in the midst of a perfect ocean 
 of flying fires, separated by strips and layers of 
 golden dust, which, ahead of our bows, paled and 
 thickened into a blinding mass of azure, crossed at 
 intervals by dark bands. The number of revolving 
 bodies seemed endless, and the distant star-jewellery 
 became almost invisible in the patches of black be- 
 tween the glowing foci. 
 
 For a moment I shuddered, thinking of the con- 
 sequences if one of these beautiful globes should 
 strike the Astrolabe ; but they were hundreds of 
 miles off, and there could be no immediate danger. 
 
 I glanced at the manometer. Its slender needle 
 was trembling at two thousand. The speed of the 
 discs had increased, and the Astrolabe, retained by 
 that inexplicable force, invented and controlled by 
 Captain Chlamyl, slid slowly back towards the 
 darker regions, while the hydrogen world held 
 steadily on its way, burning and fretting in halos 
 and coronas of shifting fire. The long journey 
 
Some Revelations 219 
 
 had begun. Four hundred million miles lay before 
 us — at the end of which lay — what? 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SOME REVELATIONS 
 
 October \^t1i. — The coolness and accuracy of the 
 captain's genius is an ever-increasing wonder to 
 me. Unwilling to navigate in the neighbourhood 
 of so mighty a fellow-traveller, he has allowed the 
 Astrolabe to fall back nearly ten thousand miles. 
 We still move forward with a terrible velocity how- 
 ever, for the momentum imparted by our strange 
 traction-engine lasts practically for ever, in space. 
 Saturn might stop us, but his influence gets weaker 
 hour by hour. We are plunging forward in the 
 wake of the blue comet at a speed which w^ill carry 
 us across the earth's orbit in less than four months 
 — plunging with helmless keel and immovable 
 engines. Our walks on deck are renewed, and life 
 goes on regularly as before. 
 
 November ist. — Still chasing in the wake of our 
 beautiful guide. Idleness is traditionally supposed 
 to breed mischief, and from teaching Jip tricks, 
 poor Ned has once more unpleasantly veered round 
 to gloomy broodings on the variable and unpromis- 
 ing nature of our destiny. 
 
 Not but what he may justly have some reason 
 for it. Captain Chlamyl's manner, always lofty 
 and somewhat condescending, has lately under- 
 gone a change for the worse. 
 
 From a genial, hospitable commander, he has 
 degenerated into a grumbling cynic, silent and 
 morose for the most part. 
 
 ' He's thinking over the inconveniences that are 
 awaiting him in a future world,' said Ned, leaning 
 
2 20 Across the Zodiac 
 
 against the taffrail and absent-mindedly picking 
 his teeth with the end of a steel pen. 
 
 ' That's hard, my boy,' I answered. ' Most of us 
 haven't got so particularly clean a record that we 
 can crow over the captain. Remember the Basuto 
 you knifed, and that Tibetan praying-man whose 
 head you split open that night on the river.' 
 
 ' That was in self-defence, Hal,' quoth Ned, look- 
 ing at me fixedly. ' Our lives were given us to 
 defend. It's a darned sight better to kill a fellow 
 then and there, than to be butchered and left to 
 the vultures. As for this pirate — ' 
 
 ' Sh-h-h ! Not so fast ! ' 
 
 'Why not? He nearly had me yesterday, the 
 murdering blackguard ! ' 
 
 ' For the Lord's sake — ' I began, then my words 
 died in my throat as Ned pulled his left hand — a 
 bandaged bundle of lint and blood-stained flannel 
 —out from under his jacket, and commenced to 
 unwrap the poultices with the air of a man who 
 intends to back his words. 
 
 ' Great Scott, Ned ! Where and how did you 
 get that ? ' 
 
 It was a hideous wound. Three of the fingers 
 were crushed into an almost shapeless mass by 
 some heavy instrument, the flesh was completely 
 stripped off the thumb, disclosing a scraped white 
 piece of bone, half covered by a layer of torn blue 
 muscle. I nearly jumped out of my skin, 
 
 ' Poor old man ! My dear old boy, why ever 
 didn't you tell me? Oh, Ned, tie it up, do! It 
 may mortify.' 
 
 ' No danger ! ' was the grim answer. ' It'll take 
 more than that to kill me. Wounds don't mortify 
 in this atmosphere. I suppose you'll be pestering 
 me with questions about what happened for the 
 next half hour, so I'd better serve up the affair in 
 the form of a narrative. Do you think you could 
 
Some Revelations 2 2 1 
 
 light this cigarette for me. I've only got one hand. 
 Pah ! it makes me sick to think of touching a grain 
 of that fellow's tobacco or a drop of his liquor — 
 there, thanks. I hope to God there isn't a tele- 
 phone under the deck. Perhaps we'd better not sit 
 down. We'll dish his charitable intentions better 
 so. Where do you think I was yesterday afternoon, 
 between four and six ? ' 
 
 'How the deuce am I to know? Reading 
 Dickens in the saloon.' 
 
 * I was drinking whisky and soda in the cap- 
 tain's cabin.' 
 
 ' The devil ! ' 
 
 ' Yes, and he was making up to me for all he 
 was worth. You never heard such civility. 
 Finally, — " One of my engineers is ill," says he, 
 " and Pve had to work the affair by myself all 
 night. That's why Pm feeling so sleepy. Have 
 another drink ? " 
 
 ' " No thankye, cap," said I, for the liquor was 
 beginning to mount to my head. 
 
 ' He rung a bell, and we both lay back in our 
 chairs, him looking at me from under his dark 
 eyelashes and myself trying to appear at my ease, 
 studying the patterns on the ground-glass ceiling 
 till my brain got giddy. 
 
 ' Devil an answer did he get to his ring, although 
 he kept his finger pressed on the button for nearly 
 a minute, and I could hear the clanging of the big 
 bell all down the corridor. Then, — 
 
 ' " Pm afraid they're busy in the engine-room," 
 said he, " we'll have to go and dig them out by 
 ourselves." 
 
 ' With that he rose, and I followed him down 
 the passage, through the heavy blue curtains. 
 
 * " Throw away your cigar," he said, as we opened 
 the door of the engine-room, " there's too much 
 gun-cotton about for smoking to be safe. ' 
 
222 Across the Zodiac 
 
 ' I did as I was told. Half-a-dozen chaps in blue- 
 and-white blouses were crowding round the near 
 crank of the big engines. One fellov/ was stand- 
 ing, with an oil-can in his hand, on the crank 
 itself, while the others were passing him up bits of 
 waste and such like, for him to clean the steel 
 with. 
 
 * I saw our friend the Frenchy standing on one 
 side cleaning his oily fingers with a piece of cotton 
 and looking rather pale. The man who was 
 standing on the crank stepped off on to the plates, 
 shooting a quick glance at me as he did so. 
 
 ' Underneath each of the big cranks there's a 
 large cavity, to give 'em room for working in. 
 The captain said something in his confounded 
 Roumanian dialect, and one of the men got slap 
 down, lowering himself by his hands and knees 
 into that devil's hole, and trying to clean the 
 nuts on the under side of the shaft, or something, 
 I couldn't clearly see what. As I turned my back 
 on the captain and walked along, examining the 
 cranks and fittings, I caught the eye of the 
 Frenchy, and there was warning in it, a kind of a 
 sneaking expression of fear and cowardice mixed. 
 The beggar had something to tell me, but daren't 
 let on before the captain. 
 
 ' At any other time I'd have felt uncomfortable, 
 but five or six whiskys and sodas are enough to 
 upset any fellow, and I took no more notice of our 
 friend's mysterious glances than if we were sailing 
 for a trip on a two-hundred-ton pleasure yacht in 
 the Mediterranean, instead of being cooped up 
 with a set of murdering pirates a few million 
 leagues beyond the ken of the Lick telescope.' 
 
 ' Ned, I CMit believe it, I simply can't^ was all I 
 could say, despairingly. 
 
 ' Can't you, though,' answered my companion, 
 looking out fiercely over the lee taffrail, his 
 
Some Revelations 223 
 
 angular features tinted with diabolical blue from 
 the distant fires, 'can't you, though? Listen to 
 what happened. 
 
 * I was examining the dynamo that feeds the 
 lamps in the saloon, and whistling softly to myself, 
 when the captain orders the Frenchy out to wash 
 dishes in the scullery, I think, and begins talking 
 earnestly with the men. The man underneath 
 the crank came up, tired and panting. Then the 
 captain sends another down to take his place, and 
 starts explaining in his usual cool style, — 
 
 '"There's a new oil-cup going to be fixed on 
 under there," says he. " We're drilling a hole in the 
 steel shaft to screw it tight, and they're working 
 at it from underneath." 
 
 ' " Why not turn the crank round and try it from 
 on top?" says I. 
 
 ' " There isn't anywhere to rest the brace except 
 on the iron floor underneath," he replied. "Steel's 
 very hard to drill." 
 
 '1 looked down between the railing and the 
 crank and saw a fellow in a blue blouse, turning 
 away at something down there in the dark, while 
 another black-whiskered devil hung over the 
 opposite guard rail, pretending to give him light 
 with a bull's eye lantern. Then he comes up 
 sweating like a nigger and the captain makes the 
 black-whiskered chap relieve him. After half-an- 
 hour of this game, — 
 
 ' " I wish you'd take a turn at it," he says, laying 
 his white hand on my shoulder in a fatherly 
 fashion, " the poor fellows are dead beat." 
 
 ' And sure enough they were, sitting in a row on 
 the long bench, gasping like dredged salmon. It's 
 odd how ideas take one. For the life of me I 
 couldn't resist that infernal politeness. The fact 
 that these muscular pirates were so soon exhausted 
 might have started my suspicions, but I put it 
 
2 24 Across the Zodiac 
 
 down to the rarefied air, and in a second I was 
 slithering down into that black pit, straining my 
 eyes to see the work, for it was darker than a 
 wolf's mouth, besides being slippery with oil. 
 
 ' All the weight seemed to have left my body. 
 I suppose I was in the very centre of gravity of 
 the Astrolabe, for my feet actually refused to 
 touch the steel plates, and for a few seconds I 
 floated about ridiculously, grabbing the crank 
 with my hands and besmearing myself with oil as 
 I did so. 
 
 ' I got my bearings quick enough, and managed 
 to get a grip on the handle of the brace. Then a 
 surprise awaited me. 
 
 ' There was no trace of a hole in the shaft. The 
 huge polished roller was as devoid of anything 
 resembling the impression made by a drill as my 
 arm. The brace was merely propped against one 
 of the heavy collars. Not even the commence- 
 ment of a boring was visible. 
 
 ' I had just time to notice all this when a deep 
 hissing began above my head and the light of the 
 lantern vanished suddenly. I felt the handle of 
 the brace swing upwards, nearly striking my face 
 in its passage. There are moments in life when 
 one's thoughts go quicker than lightning. I tell 
 you it was touch and go. I've seen a great 
 hooded cobra preparing to strike at my naked 
 foot as I was getting out of bed, but the jump I 
 executed in the Laswaree bungalow on that 
 grilling September morning in '79 wasn't to be 
 compared with the spring I gave when that brute 
 of a captain started the engine on me. In half a 
 second I was up, the gravity helping me, and 
 hoisting myself over the rail for dear life. As I did so 
 the big crank came thundering round and — there! ' 
 
 He held out his bandaged hand. I felt my 
 heart go down to zero. 
 
Some Revelations 225 
 
 ' You should have heard the screech they gave 
 when I jumped out!' continued Ned. 'For a 
 moment I didn't notice the injury to my left hand, 
 and with my right I lit out at that black-whiskered 
 devil's face, sending him sprawling over backwards 
 among the dynamos. Captain Chlamyl was 
 wonderfully apologetic. I never saw a man take 
 on so. His politeness was only to be equalled by 
 the bungling way in which the murderous trick 
 was contrived. Dash it all ! if / wanted to kill a 
 fellow, I flatter myself I'd manage affairs better. 
 What do you suppose he can mean by all this ? ' 
 
 To say the least of it, Ned was justified in 
 allowing himself to be puzzled a little by Captain 
 Chlamyl's mysterious and bungling accidents. 
 First the strange escape of poisonous gas, then the 
 engine-room disaster — failures, both. Genius and 
 profound scientist as the captain was, it certainly 
 was strange that he should make such childish 
 and uncertain experiments. If he really wanted 
 to kill us, where was the difficulty? Every 
 mouthful we swallowed on board his vessel could, 
 with a little ingenuity, be made a vehicle for the 
 conveyance of some deadly poison or other. 
 What was to hinder our being murdered during 
 our sleep any night ? Even if the worst came to 
 the worst, could he not simply order his crew to 
 make away with us? His authority was that of 
 the most perfectly absolute monarch. No law, 
 human or even divine, fettered him, for all we 
 could see. Truly these horrible adventures were 
 inexplicable. Ned, unconsciously, put his finger 
 on what, to my present way of thinking, is perhaps 
 the nearest solution of the puzzle. 
 
 ' Perhaps he wants to pretend to himself in 
 killing us, that we were stricken down by the hand 
 of God.' 
 
 ' How do you mean ? If he wants to murder us, 
 
 P 
 
226 Across the Zodiac 
 
 he wants to murder us. If we die, he's guilty. Isn't 
 that clear ? ' 
 
 ' No, my dear man. It's wonderful how easily 
 salved some people's consciences are. A little 
 carelessness here and there, a little hint thrown out 
 to one of these rascally servants, perhaps a moment's 
 forgetfulness — and the thing's done. I'll bet you 
 anything you like, the captain's persuaded himself 
 by this that poor Andersen, or whatever his name 
 was, got abandoned on the moon purely by accident. 
 I tell you I'm beginning to see through the 
 beggar. Besides, I got a lot of information out of 
 the Frenchy last night. It appears the captain 
 wept a perfect Niagara of tears when he discovered 
 Andersen was missing.' 
 
 * Nonsense ! ' I said incredulously. 
 
 * Yes, and he refused food for a few days. He 
 carried on like a lunatic, they say.' 
 
 Ned allowed himself to sink down on one of the 
 skylights of frosted glass, through which the electric 
 lights on the corridor were shining palely. Far 
 away across the starboard tafifrail a tongue of blue 
 fire went rolling away, curling and revolving as it 
 progressed till it assumed the shape of a perfect 
 globe. The sun itself, drowned in the unnatural 
 light, was totally invisible. Through the glass 
 panels, I caught sight of the tall helmsman, bending 
 over his instruments in the observatory and tapping 
 the glass faces of the manometers as one taps a 
 weather-glass, to free the needle. We had, during 
 the last {&V4 hours, been steadily drawing nearer 
 and nearer the glowing focus, whose heat, as I 
 stepped from behind the protecting partition of 
 aluminium, shone on one's face like the glare from 
 an open furnace door. 
 
 The man in the observatory stooped forward and 
 touched a button. Presently a rhythmic quiver told 
 mc that the engines were starting. The whole ship 
 
Some Revelations 227 
 
 trembled. We experienced that disagreeable feel- 
 ing that one undergoes in a railway train when the 
 brakes are put on too suddenly. I held on to the 
 railing to steady myself, and looked at Ned. 
 
 ' There's only one thing for it, Hal,' he began, his 
 voice sinking into a kind of inward whisper, * we 
 must supplant the captain.' 
 
 ' Supplant him ! ' I exclaimed. ' What on earth — 
 
 * Seize the vessel, I mean,' continued Ned, still 
 in that same inward voice, that hardly seemed to 
 proceed from his lungs at all, so soft and noiseless 
 it was. I must confess Ned's proposition sent a 
 thrill of fear through me. At heart I believe I am 
 an arrant coward. The idea of seriously opposing 
 this puissant individual and his crew of trained 
 desperadoes was anything but plea'^ing. 
 
 ' Half the men are on our side,' continued Ned, 
 gloating over his scheme, while I racked my brains 
 for some plausible reason for backing out of it. ' Wc 
 are navigating nearly parallel to the ecliptic, and 
 must infallibly reach the earth in course of time — ' 
 
 ' Unless we are waylaid by Jupiter or Mars,' I 
 put in. 
 
 ' No danger,' said Ned quietly. ' Both will be far 
 enough off when we pass their orbits. I examined 
 the charts yesterday. Besides, Captain Chlamyl 
 doesn't intend landing on either planet — confound 
 him!' 
 
 ' Why — what do you know about his intentions ? ' 
 I queried, beginning to feel surprised. 
 
 * I got it from the French}', who in turn got it 
 from the engineer. The captain's already once 
 landed on Mars, and was hunted out of the country 
 by the inhabitants.' 
 
 'Stuff!' 
 
 ' Yes — there seems to have been some danger of 
 his being set up as a god and worshipped. The 
 prospect didn't please the Martian wiseacres, whose 
 
228 Across the Zodiac 
 
 experience, considerably more complete than ours, 
 has taught them to mistrust all religious creeds. 
 Science tried to explain him, and science failing, 
 they kicked him out of the blooming planet. As for 
 Jupiter, landing on him's utterly out of the question. 
 Firstly, he's in a state of perpetual boil ; secondly, 
 his atmosphere's heavy enough to crush one flat ; 
 thirdly, the force of gravitation is so confoundedly 
 strong, that it would be impossible for any of us to 
 walk a step on his surface. It would be the crutch- 
 experience of Saturn over again, only ten times 
 worse. That is why I say the captain will avoid 
 both Jupiter and Mars, Now do you begin to see 
 light ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, I do, I answered, ' and I think you're an 
 extremely ingenious reasoner. Now for the plan 
 of campaign. It seems to me that if the captain is 
 neither going to land on Jupiter or on Mars, he 
 must be going to the earth, therefore — ' 
 
 ' Therefore a fight is unnecessary? Is that what 
 you're trying to get at ? I tell you, Hal, we'll have 
 to fight for our lives if we wish to preserve them. 
 Going back to the earth, indeed ! What if the cap- 
 tain should choose to visit some of the inner planets 
 — Mercury for instance ? We'll be scorched alive.' 
 
 ' Captain Chlamyl won't do anything so silly.' 
 
 'Won't he, though? He did once, about two 
 years back. They cooled the ship's interior with 
 compressed air, while the very glass on the panels 
 was getting ready to melt. The crew were kept at 
 work day and night for several months. The cap- 
 tain went slap round the sun in tow of another 
 and bigger comet than the one that's pulling us 
 along just now. When they were nearly round, the 
 compressed-air machine broke down and three men 
 died. The rest came within an ace of it. The 
 fellow who did the steering, or whatever it's equi- 
 valent is, in the observatory on deck, was roasted 
 
Some Revelations 229 
 
 — roasted alive ! A daisy time they must have 
 had of it ! ' 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders impatiently. Ned has 
 an awkward way of clinching an argument by 
 piling on the horrors till you're smothered under 
 them. The unlikelihood of the contemplated trip 
 might at any other time have made me cynical. 
 Now, however, seeing what we had already been 
 through, was it so very unlikely after all? A 
 sensation of deadly cold crept along my limbs as I 
 thought of being roasted alive, shut up in this 
 aluminium cage like a rat in a steel trap. As I 
 thought, the manhood returned to me. Ned re- 
 newed his entreaties. 
 
 ' What do you want me to do ? ' I said, half- 
 yielding. 
 
 ' Ensure our reaching the earth, by stopping the 
 engines at the right time.' 
 
 ' But the engines aren't moving — at least they 
 may not be moving when we cross the earth's 
 orbit,' I said, feeling rather muddled. 
 
 ' If they aren't moving, then well and good,' was 
 the reply. ' That'll mean that the captain's going to 
 land. We'll have got rid of our traction-comet by 
 that time. The engineer says the captain is going 
 to cut himself loose, so to speak, directly we get 
 across Jupiter's orbit, which is all he is afraid of — 
 the attraction of Jupiter I mean.' 
 
 ' But then — how will we get along ? ' 
 
 ' By our own impetus. Motion in space is per- 
 petual when nothing tends to stop it. We'll go on 
 for ever and ever, Amen, till we butt up against 
 the sun, and then the captain's trips'll come to an 
 end quick enough. How long'll we take to reach 
 the earth ? You ought to know — a mathematical 
 man.' 
 
 I drew out my note-book. 
 
 ' I can only give it to you very roughly,' I said, ' as 
 
230 Across the Zodiac 
 
 neither our exact whereabouts nor the precise rate 
 at which our strange locomotive is travelling are 
 known to me — say eighty thousand miles an hour 
 He can't be going faster than that. The captain said 
 something about four months to me yesterday — ' 
 
 * Did he ? ' exclaimed Ned, eagerly. 
 
 ' Don't be too exuberant. I fancy his estimate 
 was low. Let's see — taking the approximate dis- 
 tance as four hundred millions of miles — ' 
 
 ' Great Caesar ! ' ejaculated Ned. 
 
 ' Yes — that makes — three and six are nine — we 
 can't possibly do it under six months, at the very 
 least.' 
 
 Ned's face fell. 
 
 ' Half a year more of this beastly pirate's society,' 
 he muttered. ' Hal — if you go back on me, I swear 
 I'll murder you in cold blood — you, the captain and 
 myself. I swear to God I will.' 
 
 * I won't fail you, friend Ned.' 
 
 ' And mind, if another of these careless " hand of 
 God " attempts on my life takes place, I shall fight 
 the captain man to man. Either I kill him or he 
 kills me. I believe he's found out about our dishing 
 the telephone wire.' 
 
 ' No ? ' I said horrified. 
 
 * Yes, the French chap hinted as much. So here- 
 after we'll have to be doubly careful. Do you think 
 you could manage to steal a chart ? ' 
 
 ' No — besides it's unnecessary. We can consult 
 the ones in the library ad lib. Of course, if you 
 bungle this affair, we'll all get killed, simply.' 
 
 ' Never fear. I'll make a good job of it. Six 
 months more Hal, just think ! Six months ! ' 
 
 We passed the evening reading and strumming 
 the piano. Captain Chlamyl never appeared. 
 
 ' He is at work,' said the steward, ' and will see 
 nobody.' 
 
A Mutiny and Its End 231 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A MUTINY AND ITS END 
 
 December and January passed in soulless mon- 
 otony. Diary-writing, under the circumstances, 
 becomes an insupportable nuisance, and I have 
 shirked my pen regularly lately, worse luck. There 
 is absolutely nothing to record. Not a star, not a 
 comet (save our blue guide), not a meteor to enliven 
 cur dullness. I wished at times that a catastrophe 
 might happen, if only to break up the unemotional 
 jelly-fish life on board. 
 
 But no — the machinery of the Astrolabe with- 
 stood all strains, and the complex movements 
 necessitated by Captain Chlamyl's navigatory 
 policy were performed with the most scrupulous 
 and dull regularity. 
 
 On the 5th of February we crossed the orbit 
 of Jupiter, and for the first time since my embarka- 
 tion on our daring vessel, I was able to contemplate 
 at my ease this wonderful world, a vast field of 
 battle for fire and water, torn by interior convul- 
 sions and perpetually shrouded in its opaque layers 
 of dark mist which the light of its four satellites 
 vainly strives to pierce. Three of these latter were 
 plainly visible with the naked eye from the deck 
 on the morning of the 6th. 
 
 Europa, Ganymede and lo, the last-named moon 
 gravitating at four hundred and thirty thousand 
 leagues from the central planet, could be clearly dis- 
 tinguished. The fourth, Callisto, was hidden behind 
 the great circular disc, which every moment was 
 carrying farther away from us, away into theabysses 
 of space, on its orbit, five times the size of ours, 
 through the perpetual springtime of its long year, 
 nearly equal to twelve of our terrestrial ones. 
 
232 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Ned, unpoetical as usual, scanning the beautiful 
 planet through his opera-glass, likened it to half a 
 Dutch cheese suspended by some invisible agency 
 against a background of pepper and salt. 
 
 ' It's a cheese that ruled the destiny of monarchs 
 once,' I replied, ' and the victims offered to it on the 
 sacrificial altars of our pagan nations must be 
 reckoned by millions. Since its discovery in the 
 year 3250 by Shi-Hung, the pig-tailed Chinese 
 sage, it has had much to answer for.' 
 
 ' Were the Chinese the only nation that knew of 
 its existence?' queried Ned. 
 
 ' No, my boy. The Babylonians and Chaldeans 
 reckoned it among the known bodies of Heaven, 
 and I fancy it has been observed many thousands 
 of times from the temple-tops of Sardanapalus or 
 Sennacherib. 
 
 'Anyway, it's Jupiter,' assented Ned, 'and that's 
 always a step in advance,' 
 
 ' Are you in a particular hurry to get home, my 
 friend ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, more than that. I'm in a particular hurry 
 to know what's going to become of us. This un- 
 certainty is killing me by inches. The captain's 
 become uncommonly civil lately. I don't half 
 like it.' 
 
 ' Tiineo Danaos et dona ferentes^ I suggested. 
 
 ' Bother your classical quotations. It's no joke 
 for me, I assure you. The captain's as dark as ever 
 about his plans. I tried to pump him the other 
 day and failed hideously.' 
 
 ' If we stick to our fair, blue-eyed guide, we can't 
 help being carried somewhere in the direction of 
 the earth,' I said consolingly. 
 
 'Yes, but that's just what we're not going to do,' 
 answered Ned. ' The captain's going to cut himself 
 loose as soon as we are safely out of Jupiter's range. 
 What he's going to do then, God only knows.' 
 
A Mutiny and Its Eiid 233 
 
 I was silent. We were the playthings of a 
 power mightier than ourselves, and had only to 
 submit to its decrees. 
 
 Five days later, on the afternoon of the nth, the 
 threatened event took place. I was reading a 
 novel on deck, when the clanging of the engine- 
 bells attracted my attention. Ned appeared, an 
 expression of discontent on his face, and turning 
 to the blue focus at our bows, took off his sealskin 
 cap with mock reverence. Through the port-holes 
 and skylights the crew contemplated the scene. 
 It was as if everyone wished to take away a last 
 recollection of the burning mass that had piloted 
 us so safely through nearly two hundred million 
 miles of darkness. 
 
 The comet was hurrying off sunwards, and we 
 were hurrying — where ? 
 
 To the sun also, to judge by our movements. 
 
 Cutting the Astrolabe \oosq seemed to have been 
 a mere matter of form, for during the next fort- 
 night, impelled by our impetus, which in space was 
 all-powerful, we stormed along in the wake of those 
 blue fires, as though we were still under the in- 
 fluence of their attraction. I felt puzzled. Ned's 
 mistrust of the captain increased every hour. 
 
 The 1st of March brought a change. A whim 
 of some kind seized the captain. During the night 
 of the 28th the pumps were heard working, and on 
 trying the door of the central stairway on the 
 following morning, I found it closed. There must 
 be danger without in the shape of some new 
 vagrant body, to account for this sudden taking in 
 of our atmosphere. 
 
 'It's a meteor,' suggested Ned, as we gazed 
 intently out through the port panel at a large star, 
 apparently falling down on us from above. 
 
 ' Neither meteor nor comet, gentlemen,' said a 
 
234 Across the Zodiac 
 
 voice behind us, 'but a planet gravitating on its 
 own separate orbit — Hilda.' 
 
 I turned and saw the captain. 
 
 'Hilda!' I exclaimed. 
 
 The minor planets revolving between Mars and 
 Jupiter had entirely vanished from my memor)^ 
 So we were once more to cross that dangerous belt 
 of tiny worlds. Involuntaril)^ I thought of our last 
 narrow escape in the mist of life, and I began to 
 wonder dimly whether the half-wished-for catas- 
 trophe was indeed looming. 
 
 ' And the earth, captain ? ' queried Ned, com- 
 pressing his lips tightly, as though in anticipation 
 of some dreaded revelation that would widen the 
 breach between himself and the commander. 
 
 ' When are we going to see our native planet 
 again ? ' 
 
 ' All in good time. Master Hatton,' answered the 
 captain, smiling. ' We have plenty of time before 
 us yet to return to our miserable world in. I 
 imagine we are not in any particular difficulty with 
 regard to food. Have you anything to complain 
 of on that score ? ' 
 
 * No, captain,' replied Ned, hurriedly, crimsoning 
 involuntarily, but determined to have it out with 
 the commander now or never, * no, captain, it's 
 not that— but — ' 
 
 ' But what, Master Hatton ? ' inquired the captain, 
 coldly. ' Explain yourself, please.' 
 
 Ned looked at me curiously, and continued in a 
 hard voice, speaking half to himself and half to us, — 
 
 ' Since we have taken up our abode on your 
 vessel, sir, our lives have been placed in jeopardy 
 more than once. Three of your men have actually 
 been killed. The strange escape of carbonic acid 
 gas in my room, eight months back, the equally 
 strange accident to my hand, while working at a 
 supposed defect in your engines.' 
 
A Mutiny and Its End 235 
 
 ' Purely coincidences, Master Hatton.' 
 
 ' I do not say they were anything else, sir. 
 Nevertheless we have narrowly escaped annihila- 
 tion on many other occasions. The perilous cross- 
 ing of the mist of life, the tidal wave of Saturn, the 
 flying wolves. The fact that we enjoy no super- 
 natural immunity from death is proved by the fact 
 that within the last six months you have lost — I 
 may say sacrificed — two of your crew.' 
 
 ' Sir, this is simple insolence.' 
 
 * Added to this the fearful passage round the sun 
 of two years back, and the abandonment of poor 
 Jacob Andersen on the moon.' 
 
 The blow had fallen. The captain's face was 
 ashy white. For a moment I thought he was going 
 to strike Ned. Then, with an effort, he controlled 
 himself, and, avoiding a direct answer to my com- 
 panion's observations, continued in a calm voice, — 
 
 ' And which do you consider preferable, sir, to 
 die a glorious death in some daring adventure, or to 
 die like an ox in a stall and fatten some overfilled 
 graveyard on that poor little planet over there?' 
 
 ' That is not the question, captain. I deny that 
 any man has the right to control the destinies of 
 others the way you do. Personally I would, 
 perhaps, as soon die in a cataclysm as any other 
 way, but I am a free man, and wish to be my own 
 master. This journey through space is interesting, 
 but it must come to an end, and soon.' 
 
 ' Who says so, Master Hatton ? ' 
 
 ' I say so, captain,' replied Ned, drawing himself 
 up stiffly. 
 
 They were a finely-matched pair when all was 
 said, and in a pugilistic encounter I should have 
 been embarrassed to know which one to back. 
 
 The captain's lip curled contemptuously, and a 
 vague idea of danger made me shiver unpleasantly. 
 Certainly, in intellectual force, Ned's opponent had 
 
236 Across the Zodiac 
 
 the best of it, for without his vast knowledge to 
 help us, what could we do ? 
 
 'Perhaps, Master Hatton,' continued the captain, 
 ironically, ' now that you have so accurately 
 mapped out the future campaign of my vessel your- 
 self, it would interest you to know what she is 
 actually going to do? ' 
 
 Ned remained silent. 
 
 ' We have gone far,' resumed the captain, ' but, 
 I repeat it, we shall go farther yet — we shall 
 penetrate into a world of terrors where no man has 
 ever dreamed of penetrating, where the ocean boils 
 incessantly, where the very air carries death with 
 it, where winged beings, clothed in fire-proof armour, 
 flap their way across lakes of molten gold — we 
 shall go to Mercury ! ' 
 
 I uttered an exclamation. Ned clenched his fists. 
 
 ' The Astrolabe herself will be melted ! ' I burst 
 out. 
 
 The captain shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 ' It is the will of a madman ! ' exclaimed Ned. 
 ' It shall not be ! We shall go back to the earth ! ' 
 
 Captain Chlamyl made a step forward. With a 
 rapid gesture he touched the head of a tiny brazen 
 figure standing alone on an agate-topped table. 
 In the corridor a deep-toned bell clanged noisily. 
 Several men appeared. 
 
 ' Seize that man ! ' said the captain in French, 
 indicating Ned. 
 
 The crew hesitated. A light burst in on me. 
 They were divided between their own mutinous 
 feelings and their fear of this tall, blue-eyed genuis, 
 whose will had been law till then. Presently the 
 end came. 
 
 A muscular, brutal-looking fellow, with bushy, 
 overhanging eyebrows, made a dash at the 
 American, in whose right hand gleamed the long 
 barrel of a nickel-plated revolver, the very one 
 
A Mutiny and Its Eiid 237 
 
 that he had carried on that fateful morning nearly 
 a year ago when we had boarded Nordeifrother's 
 balloon at Ingolfshofdi. There was a loud repo t 
 and through the smoke I saw the man fall forward 
 on his face crashmgdc-wn dead amidst the Dresden 
 chma cupids and Chinese idols. 
 
 Again Ned's revolver rose. This time it was 
 evel ed at the captain. In a second, and before 
 
 strl^L r J'^'' ^""^ ^"■"^' ^ ^^^^ ^" -y knees! 
 strivmg to drag those deadly barrels from the 
 grasp of my desperate companion. 
 
 ' Stop ! ' I shouted. ' For God's sake, stop, Ned ' 
 I can't bear It. You'll kill me! ' P. ^^ea. 
 
 The revolver, still hot and smoking, was pressed 
 against my cheek. There was a fearful explosTon 
 a stnig hke the cut of a whip, and I felt the blood 
 lunnnig from the gash that the bullet had made. 
 
 ^o"ed half-swooning.across the carpet, and Ned 
 considerably shaken himself, I think, fell like a log 
 across me, nearly knocking all the breath out of my 
 body as he did so. One of the men caught me by 
 the arm and jerked me violently on to my feet 
 Holding my hand to my gashed cheek, I looked 
 around me in a dazed fashion 
 
 Hal^^';\' 1 .'^^^J^^"-l'\^^^d j-oung skunk 3'ou are, 
 Hal .1 exclaimed Ned. in a voice which I hardly re- 
 cognised, so distorted was it by rage or fear, or both 
 1 he captain had vanished. Half-a-dozen of the 
 V\^irr ^T''"^ '^"""^ "^y companion, grasping 
 e^^l r"n'°''''!"f '^^'"^ ^vith kisses ?ather in 
 
 mon? 7f •?' K '"/ ^T'^^' ^'^ ^°'^^ ^^^^^d cere- 
 mony. 1 fanly broke down 
 
 'Don't kill him!' I sobbed, rocking to and fro 
 on the blood-stained sofa, and holding my pocket 
 liandkerchief to my mutilated ear. < I won't have it i ' 
 
 1 he saloon was crowded in a moment. A score 
 of men, hatred and impotent fury written on their 
 ugly countenances, were all talking at once A 
 
238 Across the Zodiac 
 
 herculean negro, whose arms had been scorched 
 white in some terrible accident (perhaps the awful 
 passage round the sun), brandished a huge steel 
 lever, wrenched from some part of the engine, with 
 ferocious gestures. Some of the others carried 
 knives and cutlasses, while a tall, bony New 
 Zealander, with a bushy head of black hair and 
 silver rings depending from his ears, flourished a 
 heavy stick, weighted at one end with a hexagonal 
 iron nut. The scene that followed was sickening 
 beyond description. These wretches, savages as 
 they were, fell to hacking at the body of the dead 
 man. They gashed his cheeks with knives and 
 spat in his face. It was a perfect hell let loose in 
 a peaceful vessel. 
 
 Half-fainting from loss of blood, the whole thing 
 passed like a dream before my eyes, I saw Ned 
 speaking to me, but could not understand what he 
 was saying. 
 
 The door by which the captain had vanished 
 v/as securely fastened, but a blow from an axe 
 tore it from its hinges, and three of the fiends, 
 headed by the great negro engineer, tore through 
 the aperture and down the long corridor. Suddenly, 
 and without warning, the electric globes that lighted 
 us went out, leaving only a pale starlight, that 
 gleamed hideously over the gashed face of the 
 dead steward and over the shattered fragments of 
 china that covered the floor. At the same moment 
 I heard someone battering at the fastenings of the 
 metal door leading to the deck, and a continuous 
 roaring sound told me that the imprisoned atmos- 
 phere was being liberated. 
 
 Pale, staggering under the load of horrors, half 
 out of my mind, I stumbled to the door, grasping 
 the torn curtains to steady myself One solitary 
 lamp was burning in the passage-way, and by its 
 light I beheld a group of men struggling together 
 
Want of Air 239 
 
 in front of the captain's door, swaying to and fro, 
 throttling each other, trampling each other under 
 foot. 
 
 Then came a fearful shock, that made the entire 
 vessel tremble from stem to stern like an aspen 
 leaf. A terrible glare of yellow light, bright as a 
 lightning flash, shone about me, and I remember 
 nothing more. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WANT OF AIR 
 
 A FEARFUL pain in the lungs and a myriad of stars 
 passing before my eyes in glittering disorder were 
 the first signs of returning animation. 
 
 I was still on the Astrolabe, that w^as certain. 
 Even through the darkness, intensified by my fail- 
 ing senses, I could perceive the circular rings of 
 blue light that formed the windows of the cabin. 
 
 Where was Captain Chlamyl ? Had he suc- 
 cumbed before those desperate men ? And Ned. 
 Was he alive ? 
 
 I struggled to get out of bed. In doing so, I 
 staggered and fell. On putting my hand to my 
 head I found it bandaged and dressed scientifically. 
 Ned, I knew, was an accomplished surgeon. I 
 suppose I must thank him for this, as, indeed, I 
 had to thank him for the wound in the first place. 
 
 A cold nose was pressed against my hand as I 
 lay helpless on the floor. 
 
 ' Hallo, Jip ! We must'nt despair, old boy. Let's 
 see where we are.' 
 
 I scrambled up to the window. 
 
 Still in the zone of the minor planets evidently, 
 for several of them were visible, moving slowly past 
 
240 Aa^oss the Zodiac 
 
 the vessel at distances which it was quite impossible, 
 even vaguely, to estimate. 
 
 And what had happened ? 
 
 I dropped helplessly back into the swinging 
 bunk, trying to collect and classify my recollections. 
 
 There had been a shock, accompanied by a 
 bright glare of light. Could someone have fired 
 on me from behind ? Perhaps there had been an 
 explosion. But no — in that case the Astrolabe 
 would have been completely wrecked, and I would 
 be lying, what was left of me, on the surface of 
 one of those tiny planets whose movements I had 
 just now been watching. 
 
 That the Astrolabe had actually struck against 
 some wandering body was likewise inadmissible. 
 No, Ned or some of his newly-acquired friends 
 were the only people who could enlighten me. I 
 held my breath and listened. Not a sound was 
 heard on board. Presently vague waves of music 
 came to my ears from the direction of the saloon. 
 I thrilled strangely as I recognised the opening 
 bars of the Lohengrin prelude. Captain Chlamyl 
 was alive then ! 
 
 A feeling of wild joy took possession of me. 
 Again I struggled to my feet and fell against the 
 door, drumming feebly on the woodwork with my 
 weak fists, and shouting hoarsely for help. 
 
 The music ceased. Steps echoed along the 
 passage. The door swung open and Captain 
 Chlamyl entered. 
 
 He lifted me in his arms and bore me back to 
 bed. 
 
 'Compose yourself,' he said kindly, 'and don't 
 try to talk. You are badly wounded about the 
 face, and very feeble.' 
 
 ' What on earth has taken place ? ' I groaned. 
 ' The men did^not kill you after all ? I believe it 
 was really a dream.' 
 
Want of Air 241 
 
 * It was a dream that is destined to be followed 
 up by a sufficiently awful waking adventure,' was 
 the reply. ' Three of the mutineers have already 
 lost their lives — and, personally speaking, I am not 
 sorry. We will be better without them.' 
 
 ' And Ned ? ' I queried. 
 
 ' Mr Hatton is under lock and key in his cabin. 
 I think he has received a lesson that will make 
 him shun mutinies for a long time to come.' 
 
 'There has been an explosion of pyroxyline .? ' 
 I suggested. 
 
 ' No, sir ; of hydrogen gas.' 
 
 'On board the Astrolabe?' 
 
 'No, professor. Luckily not. But even as it 
 is, our lives are certainly in a position of extreme 
 danger.' 
 
 ' I am all attention, captain,' I said. 
 
 The startling events of which I had lately been 
 a witness had driven all fear out of my system, and 
 the idea that we might be in danger did not shock 
 me as unpleasantly as it would have done a week 
 back. 
 
 ' When certain bodies of incandescent gas are 
 combined in certain proportions with atmospheric 
 air (the captain spoke as calmly as though he were 
 delivering a lecture on chemistry at a German 
 university), they immediately explode, more or less 
 violently. This is what has happened in the case 
 of the Astrolabe. A glowing body of hydrogen, 
 that is a solid nucleus of rock with a hydroo-en 
 aureole surrounding it, swept past the bows of our 
 vessel at a moderate speed. Those unfortunates 
 had liberated the atmosphere, which prudence had 
 bidden me confine three days back, and the door 
 leading to the deck was actually open. 
 
 _ ' Our supply of air, or nine-tenths of it at least, 
 violently attracted towards the passing meteor, 
 combined with it in explosive proportions, and a 
 
 Q 
 
242 Across the Zodiac 
 
 fearful shock followed as a matter of course, which 
 smashed the windows of the observatory, and caused 
 the entire vessel to revolve through an angle of 
 sixty degrees on her keel. 
 
 ' Providentially enough, the rush of air from the 
 lower parts of the Astrolabe served to violently 
 close the iron door, thus saving the lives of all who 
 were below at the time. The three who were on 
 deck died almost instantaneously. Now do you 
 understand why we are in danger? ' 
 
 A cold sweat covered my forehead. The captain 
 had exaggerated nothing, evidently. A slow death 
 by suffocation threatened us — suffocation all the 
 more horrible on account of its being so prolonged. 
 
 ' What do you propose to do, captain ? ' I asked 
 hoarsely. 
 
 'What I am doing now,' he answered moodily. 
 ' Manufacture oxygen by chemical means and 
 absorb the carbonic acid by means of caustic potash. 
 It is as good a way of dying as any other.' 
 
 ' Why should we not live, captain — if your supply 
 of potash is large enough.' 
 
 ' That is just where the shoe pinches, professor. 
 Most of my store was confined in zinc-lined barrels 
 on deck, aft of the steersman's cabin. The explo- 
 sion swept away eight out of ten. There is enough 
 manganese to last a year — converted into oxygen.' 
 
 Again a sense of horror overpowered me. So 
 our end had come, after all — and what an end ! 
 It was to be the black hole of Calcutta over again, 
 without even the poor consolation of posing as 
 martyrs before a sympathetic posterity. Here truly 
 was a worthy end to Ned's carefully-contrived plots. 
 He had striven against imprisonment to win, instead 
 of liberty, a slow and agonising death. 
 
 But in the meantime we must not brood over 
 our terrible position. We must be awake and doing. 
 
 Stirred into activity by the wildness of the 
 
Want of Air 243 
 
 prospect, I tore myself from the grasp of sickness, 
 and donning my sealskin jacket, set feverishly to 
 work for the common safety. 
 
 Our impoverished atmosphere was not unbearable 
 as yet. A few columns of compressed oxygen, 
 liberated that evening by Captain Chlamyl, restored 
 our spirits for the moment, and again set the 
 sluggish blood bounding through our veins. 
 
 The potash, dissolved in water up to saturation 
 point, was poured into long shallow vessels of 
 copper, and disposed about the ship underneath 
 the floor to receive the foul gas which gravity 
 attracted downwards. 
 
 Ned, leaden-eyed and shaken, assisted dumbly 
 at all these operations. He uttered no complaint, 
 nor did he express any regret. I think he must 
 have felt ashamed of himself somewhat, and he 
 certainly worked like a trooper. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th, Captain Chlamyl 
 announced that we had come to the end of our 
 small below-deck store of potash. The prospect 
 of having to succour the remaining last two barrels 
 puzzled me momentarily, but it did not perplex 
 the captain. One of the men, a round-faced Swede 
 of rather repulsive appearance, donned his diving- 
 dress (similar in construction to those which we 
 had worn on the moon), and made his exit on deck 
 in the following simple manner, — 
 
 Taking up his position in the hall, at the foot 
 of the iron ladder, he allowed the inner doors to 
 be hermetically closed on him. Then, opening the 
 metal panels leading to the deck, he rolled the two 
 half-charred barrels down the ladder, and returned 
 to the crew's quarters uninjured, to receive their 
 applause and congratulations. 
 
 With what eagerness we tore away at the iron 
 rings and singed planks that guarded the vital 
 treasures ! One of the barrels was totally sound, 
 
244 Across the Zodiac 
 
 and its contents were in excellent condition. On 
 opening the other, a surprise awaited us. The 
 entire mass of potash, thanks to some inexplic- 
 able chemical operation which had probably taken 
 place at the very moment of the explosion, was 
 crystallised into solid hexagonal blocks, of a deep 
 amethyst colour, and hard as flint. We sur- 
 veyed the beautiful sparkling mass of gems with 
 feelings difficult to describe. Were the chemical 
 properties of the salt altered? 
 
 Captain Chlamyl, enclosing some of the purple 
 crystals in a thin glass beaker of water, plunged a 
 tube into the liquid and blew softly through it. 
 The test was crucial. No change was visible 
 either in the colour or density of the mixture. 
 The captain, moved to exasperation in spite of 
 his phlegmatic disposition, threw the tube away, 
 and pronounced the stuff useless. 
 
 So we had only one barrel left. Ned, practical 
 as ever, sat down on its edge, and drawing forth 
 a pencil, commenced ciphering something on a bit 
 of paper. Silence took possession of us. No one 
 dared speak, the same thought made everyone 
 tremble. I hardly ventured to meet the captain's 
 gaze. Our practical experience had taught us 
 that nearly six pounds of the chemical were re- 
 quired daily to keep us from suffocation. There 
 were a hundred and twenty pounds in the barrel. 
 
 ' That gives us twenty days, captain,' said Ned, 
 softly, letting his pencil drop and staring before 
 him with wild eyes. 
 
 Twenty days ! And millions of miles of space 
 before us ! 
 
 How many had we actually before us ? The 
 truth was brought home to me in startling fashion 
 on the following morning, when, assuming indif- 
 ference, I asked the captain, casually, where we 
 were. 
 
Want of Air 245 
 
 ' I do not know,' was the answer. 
 
 I thought I had not heard aright, and my face 
 must have betrayed my thoughts, for Captain 
 Chlamyl proceeded in a slightly irritated tone, — 
 
 ' I do not know, professor — I do not know 
 where we are. The explosion utterly wrecked 
 our observatory, which contained the thermo-piles 
 necessary for calculating our distance from the 
 sun. You yourself know as much about it as I 
 do. There is the chart. Several excellent tele- 
 scopes are at your disposal. See what you can 
 make of it.' 
 
 With that he disappeared, leaving me more than 
 ever dumbfounded. According to the most ordinary 
 calculations, we must be still among the minor 
 planets. No — we were rapidly leaving them far 
 behind. I pored over those maddening circles 
 and triangles till my brain throbbed and my head 
 felt ready to split. 
 
 And the sun ? 
 
 ' The sun is under our keel,' replied Ned. 
 
 'No?' I exclaimed incredulously. 
 
 It was a fact, however. We had accomplished 
 a quarter revolution since the morning. These 
 diabolical evolutions were terrifying to the last 
 degree. Captain Chlamyl, a prey to the most 
 profound melancholy, rarely appeared during the 
 next few days. When he ^/c/ appear, it was touch- 
 ing to see the way his rough crew idolised him — 
 the man whom but a bare fortnight back they had 
 vainly sought to kill. They bowed and cringed 
 before him, they vied with one another in feeble 
 proofs of loyalty and devotion. There was some- 
 thing very miserable about it all, and I, for one, 
 felt uncommonly sick. 
 
 On the night of the 15th, it became evident 
 that the means hitherto adopted for getting rid of 
 the carbonic acid gas generated by our breathing 
 
246 Across the Zodiac 
 
 were insufficient. The air seemed to bite into 
 one's lungs. My brain reeled. Several times in 
 the course of the day, I stumbled, once hurting 
 myself severely against the corner of the heavy 
 staircase. In the evening I was distracted by a 
 violent headache. Ned, coughing incessantly, 
 swallowed large draughts of cold water to alleviate 
 the burning pain in his chest, an example which 
 I followed for a time with success. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl, pale but composed, appeared 
 towards one in the morning, 
 
 ' Well, professor, what do you think ? ' he said. • 
 
 ' Think, captain ? ' I answered. * I think our 
 term is coming to an end.' 
 
 The commander stood for a few moments in 
 silence, gloomily scanning the hopeless darkness 
 without through the oblong panel ; presently, — 
 
 ' Perhaps if we were to continually shake the 
 vessels of potash, the carbonic acid would be 
 absorbed more quickly,' he said. 
 
 ' Let us try it, sir,' was all I could answer. 
 
 A new labour thus appeared to increase our 
 misery. Day and night, for three whole days, we 
 relieved each other, keeping the shallow pans in 
 perpetual motion, shaking them as a photographer 
 shakes his developing dish. At the end of that 
 period, the captain's ingenuity served to connect 
 the various pans with the small donkey-engine 
 that worked the search-light dynamo. Chains, 
 moving freely over pulleys of gun-metal, communi- 
 cated an even vibratory motion, which was regu- 
 larly kept up and distributed. That night we 
 were allowed to rest our aching arms, and whether 
 from weariness, or thanks to the superabundance 
 of oxygen in the thin air, I certainly slept soundly. 
 
 On the 2 1st, we made a desperate effort to 
 discover our whereabouts. Captain Chlamyl's in- 
 ventive genius never seemed to desert him Dis- 
 
Want of Air 247 
 
 carding his ordinary method of ascertaining our 
 distance from the sun, viz., by registering the 
 electrical current generated in a thermo-pile, he 
 applied another, not less ingenious device. A 
 photographic camera was produced and pointed 
 downwards, through a window of thick glass, at 
 the distant orb of day. The rapidity with which 
 the solar rays acted on a certain standard sensi- 
 tised surface being already known to him from 
 previous experiment, he tried computing our dis- 
 tance by measuring the length of exposure neces- 
 sary to obtain a picture of the solar disc through 
 plates of ruby glass, graduated in density. 
 The results were curious. 
 
 Impelled by the ever-increasing power of gravi- 
 tation, we were rushing towards the sun at a terrific 
 speed— a speed not less than three million leagues 
 a day! But stop— was it gravitation pure and 
 simple ? 
 
 I shook my head confusedly, as Ned angrily 
 produced a bulky volume from one of the library 
 shelves and tried'to prove, with its aid, that no body, 
 even falling from the remotest parts of space, could 
 ever attain even half that speed. Motion in space, 
 when once started, continues eternally— and the 
 precise amount of impetus which the hydrogen 
 comet had imparted to the Astrolabe was, of course, 
 an entire myster}-. Added to this, there was the 
 formidable explosion that had robbed us of our 
 atmosphere. Could it have increased our speed by 
 any chance? A million cubic feet of explosive 
 gas, expanding suddenly within a short distance 
 of a solid body, weighing (in spite of all ingenious 
 aluminium devices) little less than a thousand tons, 
 would, if that body were on the earth, unquestion- 
 ably shatter it into a thousand fragments, the 
 damage done to any body by an explosive being 
 always directly proportionate to the resistance 
 
248 Aci'oss the Zodiac 
 
 which that body ofifers, in other words, to its 
 moment of inertia. In space the affair was dif- 
 ferent. A ship like the Astrolabe, which on the 
 earth would have equalled a small iron-clad in 
 weight, now weighed but a few pounds, hence, 
 instead of being shattered by an explosion which 
 could have blown up half Paris, it was merely pro- 
 pelled harmlessly into space — helped on its way — 
 as Ned concisely explained. 
 
 Perhaps this was the solution of the mystery, 
 perhaps it was only one more brain-puzzling 
 problem sent by Fate to distract our last miser- 
 able hours. Be that as it might, our sufferings 
 soon become very real. 
 
 Haggard as corpses, the perspiration pouring 
 down their thin faces, the crew lay helpless and 
 inert as logs of wood. Even the desire for life was 
 being slowly driven out of them. Towards even- 
 ing, on the 25th, a sense of warmth and comfort 
 crept over me, Ned, sitting at the foot of the sofa 
 on the carpet, his back resting against the broad 
 velvet curtains, distorted his face into a hideous 
 grin of delight. I understood. 
 
 We were being smothered in oxygen. 
 
 Some independent spirit on board had flooded 
 the vessel with the inebriating gas, and, while ap- 
 parently giving us relief, he was slowly giving us 
 death. 
 
 For hours, through that long night, we dragged 
 on a feelingless existence. The Astrolabe, turning 
 slowly on her keel, permitted the white sunlight to 
 stream in over the ceiling. The electric lights were 
 extinguished, but the clocks were still going, and, 
 with drunken eyes, I saw that it was six in the 
 morning — our last morning alive ! 
 
 The ceiling was ablaze with fire, and the lofty 
 saloon seemed to expand into gigantic proportions. 
 Once Ned tried to raise himself I think I see him 
 
The Floiver Kingdom 249 
 
 still, with bloodshot eyes and trembling hands, 
 feverishly clutching a tall chair back, and staring 
 hopelessly out into the sunny void. It was a last 
 effort. He fell with a cry across me, gibbering 
 inarticulate words with icy-blue lips and sight 
 less gaze. 
 
 Through the phantom realms of my imagination, 
 I saw the yellow radiance vanish — die out as a lamp 
 dies — and it seemed to me that its place was taken 
 by a rosy glow, that vibrated and palpitated around 
 me like a warm mist. I tried to rouse myself, to 
 turn, to gaze out of the panel, but my limbs stiff- 
 ened like cooling metal, and, while still striving to 
 live and breathe, I fell into a dreamless slumber. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 THE FLOWER KINGDOM 
 
 Bang ! Crash ! Bump ! Was I being murdered } 
 
 ' Hold on ! He'll do all right. Wake up, Hal, 
 old boy ! ' 
 
 'Leave me alone!' I murmured, in return to the 
 voice that buzzed through my head like the droning 
 of a distant telephone. 
 
 Someone caught hold of my arms, and someone 
 else grabbed me by the legs. I felt myself being 
 carried up a steep incline, and air — yes, vital air — 
 was pouring into my lungs. 
 
 My eyes opened of their own accord. I was on 
 the deck of the Astrolabe, with several men stand- 
 ing round me. 
 
 ' Where are we ? ' I said feebly, sitting up and 
 rubbing my aching eyes. 
 
 ' Look ! ' said someone near me (it was the cap- 
 tain). I followed his advice, and this is what I saw. 
 
250 Ac7'oss the Zodiac 
 
 We were reposing peacefully at the bottom of 
 what appeared to be an immense valley, shut in 
 by mountains and cliffs of the most fantastic hue. 
 Never had Nature displayed such lavish colours 
 before the eyes of startled man. The blinding rays 
 of blue, purple and gold, seemed to strike the sky 
 itself, which was of a bright rose colour, overhead, 
 softening down at the horizon to a deep greyish 
 purple, through which the sun's disc (Was it the 
 sun ?) shone like a mirror of polished sapphire. 
 Not a cloud, not a streak of vapour was visible in 
 this strange heaven, and the layers of light soft- 
 ened off into each other in a way which no painter, 
 however skilful, could have adequately rendered. 
 From the lofty crests above us, covered in places 
 with white patches of what appeared to be snow, a 
 perfect deluge of fantastic vegetation poured down 
 into the depths, cascades of scarlet creepers, fields 
 of white and blue grass, mottled like Dresden china 
 plates, trees with orange tops that blossomed out 
 like opening roses, swaying gently to and fro in 
 the warm breeze, their slender stems hidden under 
 bushels of light, purple passion flowers (if I may 
 be allowed to institute a comparison with earthly 
 flowers), magnolias, lotuses, water-lilies of uncouth 
 size, golden-leaved ferns, scarlet-blossomed groves 
 of hibiscus — all the panoply of a luxuriant tropical 
 vegetation was outspread before our eyes. 
 
 ' We're in Cashmere,' said Ned. 
 
 I started. 
 
 Back on the earth ? It was too good to be true ! 
 
 Then came the return shock. 
 
 Roses there might be in Cashmere, also magnolia 
 and hibiscus blossoms, but orange trees and a blue 
 sun — never. 
 
 ' Then, where the deuce are we ? ' exclaimed Ned, 
 with something very like disappointment in his tone. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl laughed slightly. 
 
The Floiver Kin(;^dom 251 
 
 ' Oh, in Cashmere if you like, Master Hatton,' 
 he said ironically, 'only I think you will find it 
 difficult to reconcile yourself to the loss of our 
 moon.' 
 
 I rushed to the other side of the deck. From 
 the depths of the sombre valley came a sound of 
 roaring water, and a pyramidal cone of fine steam 
 rose nearly five hundred feet into the air. My eyes 
 roamed impatiently over the sky in all directions. 
 A large star of the first magnitude, of a pale 
 greenish colour, shone resplendently near the 
 eastern horizon, but no moon was visible. I 
 uttered a cry. 
 
 ' We are on Venus ! ' I exclaimed. 
 
 Ned was speechless. Poor fellow! Even the 
 magnificent spectacle thus unfolded before his eyes 
 hardly consoled him for the breakage of his mag- 
 nificent soap-bubble, in whose shining sides he had 
 seen his native planet mirrored once more. 
 
 Yes, we were on Venus, and that splendid green 
 star over there, hanging like a beacon-light above 
 the conical mountain crest, was our mother earth. 
 
 ' Now, professor, if you are not too utterly dumb- 
 founded, we will go to luncheon,' said the captain, 
 smiling, 'and you. Master Hatton, if you will do 
 me the honour.' 
 
 Ned bowed, looking rather foolish. To be thus 
 addressed by the man against whom he had headed 
 an all-but-successful mutiny but a short time back 
 was sufficiently embarrassing indeed. 
 
 As we turned away from the glorious sight, a 
 repulsive spectacle met our gaze. The three dead 
 bodies of the wretched mutineers whom suffocation 
 had so suddenly overtaken lay prone on the deck 
 before us. The explosion had charred their features 
 till they resembled long black statues of burnt 
 wood, in which the eyeballs appeared as small 
 white bulbs of gelatine. The terrible journey 
 
252 Across the Zodiac 
 
 through airless space had crushed them as flat 
 as a pancake, and the burnt remains of cloth- 
 ing flapped idly over their thin bodies. The 
 most hideous Egyptian mummy could not be as 
 hideous. It was death — but death robbed of its 
 grandeur and poetry, deprived of its majesty, of 
 all that sentiment could have lingered over. It 
 was monstrous, misshapen, frightful — and to think 
 that this might be our fate ! 
 
 ' Mark my words, the captain's brooding over 
 some mischief or other,' whispered Ned, as he 
 carefully passed a large tooth-comb through his 
 scant hair, preparatory to rejoining the commander 
 in the dining-room. ' I hate him when he gets so 
 civil. You know what it meant last time.' 
 
 ' Oh, give us a rest ! ' I answered wearily. The 
 miraculous manner in which we had escaped death 
 had restored my confidence in Captain Chlamyl, 
 and I mentally resolved not to listen to any more 
 of my companion's grumbles — a resolution which 
 I intend to abide by, whatever befalls. 
 
 The captain was radiant. I was burning to 
 question him concerning his wonderful conflict 
 with the elements. How had he steered the vessel 
 when we were dying for lack of air ? How had he 
 effected his landing ? What had served to hasten 
 the speed of the Astrolabe ? What supernatural 
 power had guided his reason during that awful 
 night ? He left me no time. This strange being 
 was apparently as familiar with the planet Venus 
 as with his own earth. 
 
 As he sat there, glass in hand, smiling into our 
 awed faces, enchanting us with his strange stories, 
 we felt as though we were really and truly in the 
 presence of a God — a genie of the universe. 
 
 Presently the enchantment vanished to give 
 place to reality. 
 
 ' We are going for a walk, captain ? ' I said. 
 
The Flower Kingdom 253 
 
 ' It is not a walk which I have to propose, 
 professor, it is an excursion. I warn you it will 
 be tiring. You are accustomed to mountaineer- 
 ing?' 
 
 The captain's question was a singular one. I 
 had crossed hundreds of miles of the Himalayan 
 pine forests, I had roughed it in Iceland with 
 Professor Nordenrother, I had, on divers occasions, 
 tempted Providence on the snowy Alpine slopes, 
 and an old trusty alpenstock, long since used for 
 firewood by the unromantic porter of Magdalen 
 College, bore the magical names ' Matterhorn ' and 
 ' Eiger ' engraved on its smooth sides in honourable 
 testimony to my prowess. These adventures, 
 however, took place during my 'training' days. 
 Whether I should be able to perform like athletic 
 feats after being cooped up in the Astrolabe during 
 a period of four months remained to be seen. 
 
 The preparations for this singular picnic 
 astonished me. The atmosphere of Venus being 
 already breathable, we could dispense with our 
 diving-dresses, but other articles of attire, which 
 the peculiar thermometric conditions of the planet 
 rendered necessary, were duly forthcoming. All 
 the paraphernalia of sub-tropical exploring parties 
 had been prepared. Suits of white twill, white 
 umbrellas and smoked glasses gave us the appear- 
 ance of genuine tourists equipped for visiting the 
 pyramid of Cheops or the mosque of Sultan 
 Hassan. Guide-books were all that was wanting. 
 Instead of a Baedeker we had the captain, and, 
 frankly, it was as good a substitute as anyone 
 could wish. We were a moderate-sized party — 
 only four in all. Ned, myself, the captain and the 
 tall steersman, who also officiated as engineer on 
 occasion. The two latter were armed to the teeth. 
 Ned had his revolver; but of this the captain 
 either knew — or cared to know — nothing. I was 
 
2 54 Across the Zodiac 
 
 absolutely unarmed, save for a tiny Swedish knife 
 purchased at Reikjavik more than a year since. 
 
 I remarked as much to the captain. 
 
 ' You will not need a weapon/ he said, and I was 
 forced to be content. 
 
 The Astrolabe was stranded (if I may use the ex- 
 pression) on the summit of a precipitous hill some 
 two thousand feet high, overlooking a deep valley 
 down which a torrent foamed, more violent and 
 rapid than the Swiss ones, fed by the melting 
 snows of the far-off mountain chain, whose peaks 
 were coloured a wonderful blue by the last rays of 
 the dying sun. 
 
 The beauty of this valley, surely as lovely as any 
 in the rose-carpeted gorges of Cashmere or Persia, 
 simply set words at defiance. 
 
 Strange creepers and mosses, imitating in their 
 variegated colouring the living flowers of the deep 
 sea, covered the ground. We crushed these delicate 
 marvels by hundreds at every step. Some of them 
 seemed to be sensitive, for they turned and twisted 
 like living things, coiling round our feet, embarrass- 
 ing us at every turn, enfolding us in an embrace, 
 rather terrifying than charming, for we did not 
 know what strange poisons might not lurk under 
 those fair chalices, poisons for which the utmost 
 earthly medical skill might be of no avail. Night 
 overtook us before we reached the valley. Over- 
 head the azure peaks vanished into thin air, leaving 
 only a vague starlight to guide our steps. As I 
 stumbled along, forcing my way through the tangled 
 mass of shrubs, whose aromatic perfume became 
 intenser as we descended lower, I saw a bright 
 light shining among the pendant bells of giant 
 convulvuli. The captain had lit his electric lamp, 
 an example which was speedily followed by his 
 companion. A dark tunnel of overhanging trees 
 opened before us, ending, as far as we could see, 
 
The Flower Kingdom 255 
 
 in an open plateau, feebly lit by the diffused star- 
 light. 
 
 A sting of fluid in my face made me start. Ned 
 uttered a crj-. 
 
 ' It's raining ! ' 
 
 Overhead the dark, thick leaves formed a per- 
 fectly impenetrable covering, water - tight as a 
 galvanised iron roof 
 
 ' It must come from the trees,' said I. 
 
 As I spoke a second deluge of drops fell. We 
 were enveloped in a shower-bath of thin spray, 
 warm and aromatic like a mist of chloroform. I 
 felt my brain growing curiously stupid. 
 
 'Run for it if you value your life!' shouted 
 someone in front, and I saw myself scudding 
 away through that deadly spray, while the gaunt 
 branches on either side writhed horribly, like a 
 nest of serpents. 
 
 In less time than it takes to tell, we were stand- 
 ing in the open air, panting like stranded fish. 
 Behind us those ghostly trees kept up an inces- 
 sant rustling. 
 
 ' They are the vampire-trees of the equator,' said 
 the captain. ' Had we stopped a moment longer, we 
 would have been eaten alive — look ! ' 
 
 The electric lamps threw a clear light back into 
 the foggy mist, which sprung in a myriad tiny 
 fountains from the long sickle-shaped leaves. 
 Presently the shower ceased and a curious 
 thing happened, that sent a shiver of fear 
 through us. 
 
 Slowly, slowly, like living arms outstretched to 
 grasp their prey, the long spiny branches, twisting 
 and sliding like the tentacles of a mammoth jelly- 
 fish, descended across the path we had traversed, 
 in the moist soil of which our footsteps were still 
 visible. Crossing and intercrossing like threads in 
 a weaving-mill, they swept the soil with an even 
 
256 Across the Zodiac 
 
 swaying movement, reminding one of the action of 
 a scythe in the hands of an experienced reaper. 
 These fearful arms were endowed with human 
 senses — they Hngered over our footprints, turn- 
 ing the earth over with their long spikes, knead- 
 ing it as though they craved, from the dull clay, 
 the satisfaction of a giant hunger. Then they 
 rose again slowly, while a shudder passed across 
 the darkness of the forest, a shudder that seemed 
 half groan, half howl, a cry of wild-beast fury that 
 struck terror to our hearts, so mournful and weird 
 was it. 
 
 ' The forest is bewitched,' said Ned, and really 
 one might be excused for believing it. 
 
 The adventure was significant. The danger of 
 wandering over the surface of this unknown planet 
 was indeed very clear. Death lurked at every 
 corner. What if Captain Chlamyl had led us 
 to the bottom of these sombre crypts to hand 
 us over to a wild and terrible end ? Viewed 
 from a common-sense point of view, it did not 
 seem so improbable. I cursed myself for my 
 folly in ever consenting to join the party, and 
 cursed myself doubly for not having stolen or 
 borrowed a weapon of some kind before leaving 
 the Astrolabe. Ned had his revolver, but that was 
 insufficient for two people. As for my baby knife, 
 it was not worth counting at all. 
 
 As we paused on the rocky edge of the plateau 
 to admire the dark prospect, over which light clouds 
 were beginning to gather, like ghostly veils of thin 
 silk, shrouding the lower parts of the hills and 
 creeping noiselessly through the tall stems of the 
 white-blossomed palms, like smoke from the funnel 
 of a railway engine, a faint cry was wafted to our 
 ears, and against the dark blue strip of light that 
 still lingered over the western hills a tiny speck 
 came floating, like a belated bird. Whom had we 
 
The Flower Kingdo7ii 257 
 
 to deal with ? Some new species of enemy ? We 
 held a hurried consultation. I saw Ned's hand 
 dive abruptly into his pocket, and T knew he was 
 fingering his revolver. 
 
 The cry was repeated. This time it conveyed a 
 meaning. 
 
 ' It is Jip ! ' exclaimed Ned, as the faithful animal 
 fell with a rush at his master's feet, barking with joy 
 and flapping his russet wings at imminent danger 
 of breaking someone's leg. He was a demonstra- 
 tive dog, and, in spite of his fierce Saturnian parent- 
 age, unusually tractable and docile. 
 
 ' Forward ! ' repeated the captain. 
 
 An hour's patient trudging brought us to the 
 very edge of the valley. A broad meadow, carpeted 
 with scarlet lichens, which yielded to the pressure 
 of the foot like a thick Brussels carpet, stretched 
 away as far as the river, whose roaring could be 
 distinctly heard across the intervening band of 
 trees. Every now and then a damp cloud of spray, 
 blown by the wind, was wafted refreshingly to our 
 faces. There was a great waterfall not far off, 
 evidently. That must wait till to-morrow. In the 
 meantime we must rest. 
 
 An exclamation from the captain attracted our 
 attention. Ned, turning to look, uttered a wild 
 hurrah. 
 
 Right and left, conspicuous under the electric 
 light, grew gigantic flowers, in form resembling 
 roses, but with a fainter perfume. The leaves, 
 oblong, with serrated edges, were each as big 
 as a small table, while the blossoms must have 
 surpassed in size those of the famous Victoria 
 Regia, in which a child might have lain cradled 
 comfortably. 
 
 'Look at Jip!' said Ned, 'he's making himself 
 at home.' 
 
 The intelligent animal had flapped his way into 
 R 
 
258 Across the Zodiac 
 
 the very centre of one of the huge pink blossoms, 
 and was apparently preparing to curl himself down 
 to sleep. 
 
 ' One must sometimes learn wisdom in strange 
 temples,' said the captain. ' Let us follow your pet's 
 example, Master Hatton.' 
 
 ' I am quite agreeable, sir,' replied that worthy, 
 scrambling up into one of the roses, which bent 
 slightly under his weight. ' We shall be as well 
 off here as an Odalisque on a Persian divan.' 
 
 I followed suit, and in scaling the slanting leaves, 
 nearly ran myself through the body with one of the 
 thorns — a formidable spear over a yard in length 
 and as thick as a man's wrist. Anything more 
 delightful than that perfumed couch, it would be 
 impossible to conceive. The smooth leaves, tinted 
 as delicately as a sea-shell, yielded to the shape of 
 the body, while the soft, yellow centre, covered with 
 a velvety down, like that on a butterfly's wing, 
 made an ideal pillow. 
 
 For a moment the disagreeable thought of 
 asphyxia passed through my mind ; but the 
 perfume was so faint that my fears vanished 
 and I composed myself down to slumber. 
 
 Above me the universe of stars appeared in an 
 irregular circle, bounded by the semi-transparent 
 leaves of the flower. Then fatigue overpowered me 
 and I floated away into balmy sleep. I awoke with 
 a start, a thousand fires burning in my veins, a 
 thousand poisoned lances sticking into my body. 
 I was choking. I was suffocating. I tried to scream, 
 but a lithe hand had closed around my throat, 
 making articulation impossible. 
 
 As I struggled frantically to tear myself loose, I 
 became aware that the soft leaves of the flower had 
 closed during my slumbers, wrapping me in com- 
 plete darkness — a helpless prisoner, to be slowly 
 devoured by those treacherous tendrils. 
 
The Flower Kingdom 259 
 
 Cries came to my ears, and a dull light shone 
 through the thick red wall. I felt the great blossom 
 swaying to and fro. Then something seemed to 
 crack underneath and I rolled over and over, half- 
 smothered in oily rose leaves. 
 
 The fall disengaged my throat, and I shouted 
 despairingly again for help. The long, tearing 
 sound was heard, the leaves parted, and Ned's form 
 appeared. 
 
 ' Gently, Hal, old boy. Be quiet. Don't struggle 
 or you'll hurt yourself. Wait till I cut these con- 
 founded prickles.' 
 
 He ran the knife swiftly along my sides and 
 limbs, and I rose painfully, shaking myself clear 
 of those murderous filaments, and, though striving 
 to maintain an outward appearance of indifference, 
 inwardly cursing the chance that had brought me 
 to this singularly man-eating planet, where the 
 plants fed on us, instead of we on them. 
 
 The captain and engineer were shaking them- 
 selves and laughing. Ned's face wore an ugly 
 scowl. Above, the eastern sky was rose-tinted 
 with the first glimmering of dawn. The sun's 
 rays, striking against the upper layers of the atmo- 
 .sphere, slightly denser in its consistency than that 
 of the earth, flooded the whole dim plain with a 
 ruddy glow by reflection. 
 
 ' It seems that we have got into a more than 
 usually inhospitable world, sir,' then observed the 
 commander. ' Once before I visited it, but these 
 man-devouring roses are entirely new to me. It 
 certainly behoves us to be careful. Master Hatton. 
 A lily is making overtures to you from the back. 
 Perhaps if you were to speak kindly to it — ' 
 
 The captain's joke threw a new and humorous 
 light on the subject. The flower in question, a 
 lovely sky-blue water-lily, growing on the solid 
 ground at the end of a long stalk, was inclining 
 
26o Across the Zodiac 
 
 familiarly over in Ned's direction, its petals opening 
 and contracting in the fashion of a jelly-fish. Ned, 
 into whom experience had instilled a good deal of 
 prudence, put out his hand and gingerly stroked 
 the velvety leaves. The inner chalice, of a bright 
 orange colour, vibrated curiously, and a long 
 humming sound — one might almost interpret it 
 as an expression of pleasure — came from the 
 beautiful flower. 
 
 ' By Jove ! ' exclaimed Ned, ' it's purring like a 
 cat ; I believe the beggar can really talk ! Did you 
 ever see anything like it?' 
 
 'If we are thinking of going ahead, professor,' 
 remarked Captain Chlamyl, shouldering his gun in 
 a business-like manner and nodding in the direction 
 of the lofty mountains that rose on the other side 
 of the valley, ' we had better be off. When once 
 the sun is up, it will be too hot for walking.' 
 
 The captain was right. We had no time to lose. 
 I hastily dusted the remaining rose fibres from my 
 coat and trousers, and hurried after the two men. 
 Ned, with some reluctance, said adieu to his pet 
 flower, which acknowledged his departure by a 
 prolonged scream of pain, ' like the cry of an ill- 
 used child,' Ned afterwards said. If some of 
 the minor flowers were affectionate, others were 
 certainly not so — at least their affection was of a 
 more awful kind. The tall, yellow-topped trees, 
 like waving polyps of the ocean, grew together on 
 an elevated knoll, dreaming in solitary beauty over 
 this magical plain. 
 
 ' I wonder whether they can talk, too ? ' solilo- 
 quised Ned, picking up a stone and throwing it 
 adroitly right into the heart of one of the flaming 
 yellow crowns. Oh, what a yell broke on the 
 solitude ! The yell of an infuriated lion whose 
 prey has been snatched from his famished jaws. 
 Down bent the graceful head, disclosing a fiery 
 
The Flower Kingdom 261 
 
 centre, convulsively working in a fit of fury — down, 
 lower yet — swaying over the ground like an angry 
 serpent. Though we vvere a good fifty yards away, 
 we started back horrified. And then the other 
 monsters awoke, shaking their plumed heads and 
 laughing in a hideous chorus of roaring, that set the 
 echoes of the valley to work and swept over the 
 dim land like clashing waves — it was a perfect Hell 
 let loose. The laughter, which was ready on my 
 lips, died suddenly, and I felt myself growing livid 
 with uncanny fear. Ned looked awestruck, and 
 the impassive captain even seemed to share some 
 of our feelings. 
 
 ' Look at the ground ! ' whispered Ned, hoarsely, 
 as the frantic yelling died away in ferocious, tiger- 
 like growls. ' Look at the ground ! I believe it's 
 strewn with bones ! ' 
 
 I literally froze as I looked. He was undoubt- 
 edly right. The soil around the base of these terrible 
 vegetables (what a mockery the word seemed) 
 was whitened with the ossified remains of — what ? 
 
 Were there living animals here whom the trees 
 preyed on ? It looked likely. I could even dis- 
 tinguish, here and there, the fragments of what 
 appeared to be a skull, a shattered spinal column, 
 a bony claw, a snowy array of ribs upturned to the 
 sky like the skeleton of a wrecked ship. What 
 strange existencies had here breathed their last, 
 strangled to death by those deathly plumes, bruised 
 and pounded by the iron mandibles that lay con- 
 cealed in the centre of those gorgeous chalices ? 
 Even the visionary wiseacres of a past age, who 
 planned the story of the dreaded upas, had never 
 exceeded this in their fabled descriptions. 
 
 An exclamation from Ned brought me to my 
 senses, 
 
 •Where's J ip?' 
 
 In the excitement of discovery, he had entirely 
 
262 Across the Zodiac 
 
 forgotten his faithful pet. We rushed back to the 
 place where we had passed the night. Among the 
 giant flowers, one, a tall rose, nearly six feet in 
 diameter, swayed its haughty petals to and fro at 
 the end of a massive green stalk fifteen feet in 
 height and covered with iron thorns. 
 
 ' It has grown during the night,' said Ned, rais- 
 ing his axe. 
 
 Presently, the head fell with a crash, and we 
 waded knee-deep in pink rose petals, tearing and 
 cutting away like destructive angels. An over- 
 powering odour of musk and chlorophyll impreg- 
 nated everything. At every stroke our axes sank 
 deep in oily chalices that would have made the 
 fortune of a million Bond Street perfumers. 
 
 As Ned's weapon cleft the inner leaves of the 
 flower, I uttered a cry. 
 
 Our suspicions were confirmed. An almost in- 
 distinguishable mass lay in the heart of the rose, 
 half-covered by a network of slender, yellow fila- 
 ments. It was Jip. 
 
 The murderous tendrils had grown through him 
 while he slept, deadened by the aroma of the huge 
 blossom. Life must have been long extinct, death 
 by asphyxia having preceded death by strangula- 
 tion. A faint murmuring arose from the flowers 
 around us, and I felt my foot seized by some unseen 
 creeper. 
 
 'Let us be off!' I cried, tearing myself loose, 
 while a cold shiver of fear passed down my spine. 
 Jip's fate might be our fate, and the prospect was 
 not an enviable one. 
 
 We soon rejoined the rest of our party, who 
 were standing at some distance on a knoll, recon- 
 noitring this singular landscape. 
 
 Half-a-mile farther on, a roaring curtain of spray 
 rose vertically upwards, like the breath from a 
 volcano's smouldering mouth. Beyond, through 
 
The Floivci' Kingdom 263 
 
 the mists of the morning, loomed the forms of 
 gaunt mountains, their crests of snow slightly- 
 tipped by the first rays of sunlight — not a warm, 
 yellow light such as we are accustomed to, but a 
 cold, greenish-blue colour, like luminous sea-water. 
 
 Presently, the sun rose — what a sun ! Separated 
 from us by only twenty-six million leagues of space, 
 the boiling orb appeared nearly double the size of 
 our earthly luminary, and our thick, white parasols 
 hardly granted an efficient protection against its 
 consuming fires. As we advanced, the roaring 
 became louder. Then, as we reached the edge of 
 the great valley, a sight was unveiled to our startled 
 eyes, more terrible, in its grandeur and loneliness, 
 than even the awful plains of Saturn, beside which 
 the lunar solitudes, the chasm of Mount Archimedes 
 sank into perfect insignificance. 
 
 Haifa league farther on, an entire ocean of water 
 seemed to be falling from the sky. 
 
 Above, where the thick mists hung in opaque 
 layers, the forerunners of the cataract (equal in size 
 to nearly twenty Niagaras) were visible, descend- 
 ing evenly in a gigantic wall of water that must 
 have been quite a hundred miles broad, and so deep 
 that it ended, some thousands of feet below us, in 
 total blackness, darker and more opaque than the 
 night that hangs above the legendary Styx. 
 
 The solar rays, acting on this shifting mass, pro- 
 duced here and there magnificent rainbows, which 
 the peculiar chemical properties of the atmosphere 
 tinted with blueish-violet. The noise was dreadful 
 — we did not shout, we roared at each other. 
 
 On our right, a steep slope, carpeted with un- 
 couth vegetation, led down into the heart of this 
 dreadful abyss. Captain Chlamyl, axe in hand, 
 plunged boldly along, hewing at the entangled 
 mass of creepers that showered their intoxicating 
 pollen around us as we proceeded. 
 
264 Across the Zodiac 
 
 It was a positive sin to hurt these wondrous 
 flowers. We trod under our feet priceless collec- 
 tions of orchids, of ranunculuses, of spiraeas with 
 golden blossoms — algae set with emerald eyes, 
 like gigantic beasts of prey, that hummed and 
 buzzed like angry bees, threatening with scarlet 
 spines and wicked, venomous-looking tendrils. 
 
 A whirling sound overhead attracted our atten- 
 tion, clear and distinct as the noise of an electric 
 bell above the thunder of the cataract. 
 
 ' Dragon-flies ! ' exclaimed Ned. 
 
 Yes, dragon-flies. But dragon-flies fully a yard 
 in length, with bullet-proof cuirasses of iridescent 
 metal, and elongated trunks like those of miniature 
 elephants. We halted, uncertain how to proceed. 
 Indeed, if these beautiful creatures were gifted with 
 weapons of offence in keeping with their imperial 
 loveliness, they might prove awkward antagonists 
 for us puny mortals. 
 
 Apparently, however, their intentions were peace- 
 able. Circling round us, enveloping us with rings 
 of flashing colour, like a swarm of kingfishers, 
 squeaking like bats, the light playing miraculously 
 over their diaphanous wings, they seemed rather 
 to crave our companionship than to resent our in- 
 trusion into their world. 
 
 For an hour the swarm accompanied us, hum- 
 ming past overhead and around like animated 
 Eolian harps. We never ceased to go into ecstasies 
 over the beauty of their forms and the grace of their 
 movements. At the end of this period, too brief, 
 it seemed to me, these graceful creatures vanished 
 suddenly. A dark crypt, wide and deep, lay before 
 us, and the roaring of hidden whirlpools came 
 gloomily to our ears. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl, undaunted as ever, strode 
 forward into the tunnel (for it was nothing else), 
 and we followed, albeit with some misgivings. A 
 
The Flower Kingdom 265 
 
 damp, clammy atmosphere pervaded the place, and 
 indeed, as we proceeded, I was more and more re- 
 minded of a boyish experience of mine, when, on 
 a certain summer's day, I had traversed a dark 
 railway tunnel on foot, in company with an equally 
 adventurous youth. The Irish mail dashed past us 
 when we were half-way through, and the horror of 
 that roaring, black fiend lingers in my memory till 
 to-day. In the present instance, our electric lamps 
 shone palely over the walls of this natural passage- 
 way, which in places might have measured fifty feet 
 in height at least. 
 
 The roaring sound filled everything with its 
 thunder, and soon the solid walls seemed to fairly 
 quake under the impact of some terrible force that 
 was rending the bowels of this strange planet. My 
 heart began to beat fearfully. Ned's face was ashy. 
 
 Then, from the depths of the chasm, came an 
 answering gleam of light, shifting and varying, 
 like the reflection from a watery mass — it was the 
 river. 
 
 It looked about a mile in width, though in reality 
 it must have been far wider. It was probably only 
 one of the many channels that allowed the escape 
 of the mighty Niagara that we had seen falling 
 from the sky. Far above our heads, a thin blueish- 
 green stripe allowed a ghostly light to penetrate 
 this singular canyon, larger and vaster than the 
 Colorado ones, and crossed at intervals by slender 
 rocky bridges, natural archways, whose existence 
 must have dated from the first primaeval cataclysm, 
 unless they had fallen from above in recent times, 
 as Ned fantastically pointed out. 
 
 The river was the most terrible sight of all. Such 
 boiling, eddying waves, such yawning black caul- 
 drons had never been seen before. Edgar Poe's Mos- 
 koe-Strom must have been a fool to it. 
 
 Our captain, a prey to no emotion whatever, 
 
266 Across the Zodiac 
 
 pointed up this horrid valley with his alpenstock, 
 and we followed mechanically, clambering awk- 
 wardly over the polished rocks, that the force of 
 the water had piled in picturesque heaps, forcing 
 them out against the steep sides of its bed, as a 
 glacier forces a moraine. 
 
 A mile further on the roaring diminished, and 
 a calm sheet of dark water lay before us, swelling 
 and surging mysteriously in the spectral twilight. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl pointed to the steep wall, which 
 seemed to be composed of some brownish stone, re- 
 sembling — what shall I say ? Iron ? 
 
 We were treading on heaps of hard, reddish sand. 
 The captain, producing his compass, consulted it. 
 The needle, oscillating strangely, veered round a 
 full revolution, without taking up any settled posi- 
 tion. Ned, stooping, examined a handful of the 
 reddish sand. 
 
 ' It is iron-mould ! ' he cried. ' Those rocks are 
 composed of cast-iron ! ' 
 
 I shivered strangely. The idea of miles upon 
 miles of solid iron is not to be digested without 
 difficulty. Yet here was the visible proof 
 
 The strangest forms were assumed by these 
 ponderous metallic masses. Either under the in- 
 fluence of the water, or through some other agency 
 whose mode of working lay at present hidden, the 
 ramparts were carved, fretted and chiselled into 
 miniature towns, with battlements, spires and pin- 
 nacles. Here a fort, with bastions and rugged 
 escarpments, in Titanic mockery at our tiny earthly 
 ones, frowned darkly, as though forbidding access 
 to the slender minarets beyond. Above all rose the 
 dizzy walls of metal, relieved here and there by 
 streaky white waterfalls that had worn deep ruts 
 in the perishable iron. Indeed, as Ned remarked, — 
 
 ' The whole thing'U eat itself away in course of 
 time.' 
 
The Floiver Kingdom 267 
 
 ' It will combine with the water to form oxide of 
 iron,' I answered ; ' but as to the time necessary for 
 the decomposition of this entire valley — it will be 
 enormous, to say the least of it.' 
 
 ' Especially if this entire planet is composed of 
 iron to its base ! ' remarked Ned. 
 
 A sense of wonder overpowered me. The sup- 
 position, though fantastic enough in all conscience, 
 had nothing absolutely impossible about it. In that 
 case it would simply be a battle between iron and 
 water, the resisting power of one against the 
 chemical subtlety of the other. 
 
 * And in some millions of years,' added the 
 captain, ' this beautiful world will roll, a cold, dead 
 ball of rust, through infinite space ! ' 
 
 The picture thus conjured up threw me into a 
 reverie, from which I was roused by Ned saying, — 
 
 ' Hang philosophy! I know I'm as hungry as a 
 hunter ! ' 
 
 Go-ahead as ever, my worthy friend had certainly 
 anticipated the wishes of the entire party. The 
 sandwiches were spread out on a table-shaped 
 stone, and we feasted in that terrible place quite as 
 heartily as though we had been dining in the oak- 
 panelled saloon of the Astrolabe. A curious sense 
 of drowsiness seized me before we had finished our 
 lunch. Could I attribute it to the presence of these 
 metallic masses ? Since when had inhaled iron- 
 dust been soporific ? 
 
 ' I feel uncommonly inclined to sleep, captain,' 
 I remarked, as the commander, having consulted his 
 watch, was about to make some new proposition. 
 
 ' Well, professor,' was the reply, ' I do not see 
 why you should not indulge your fancy. We are 
 in need of a little rest, and the air up there (point- 
 ing to the summit of the cliffs) will be too hot for 
 breathing just now. Let us wait for the evening 
 to set in before we start.' 
 
268 Across the Zodiac 
 
 In fact, nothing could be more prudent. Ned, 
 producing a voluminous rug, spread it out on the 
 flat ground, and invited me to share it with him. 
 Captain Chlamyl and the robust sailor followed 
 our example, and in a few moments we drifted off 
 into dreamland. 
 
 A dull, rumbling explosion, a whip-like sting of 
 cold water in my face, and a violent pain at the 
 heart, sudden and intense as a death-agony, brought 
 me to my feet with a bound. 
 
 ' Ned ! ' I shouted. ' Ned ! ' 
 
 ' Here you are, Hal ! My lamp's out — help ! ' 
 
 The last exclamation was cut short by a gasp 
 and a splash. Ned had fallen into the water. 
 
 ' Look out there ! ' we heard him shouting. 
 ' Don't come this way ! I can get out by myself. 
 Oh, will nobody light a lamp ? ' 
 
 A bright light shone about us. Following Ned's 
 directions, the captain had set his electrical apparatus 
 going, and the face of my poor friend appeared, 
 peering over a rock, which he strove to clutch with 
 his hands. Beyond all was blackness of darkness. 
 
 I rushed to aid him. What was happening. 
 Had we slept on into the night? Was a thunder- 
 storm breaking loose ? 
 
 From the deep bowels of the earth beneath us 
 came a hoarse rumble, like the premonitory 
 symptoms of an earthquake. Then in the dark- 
 ness a huge mound of water seemed to rise from 
 its liquid bed, slowly, slowly, hissing and bubbling, 
 We had just time to run for our lives to the higher 
 ground, when it burst like an avalanche, and the 
 waves came leaping over the black rocks, drench- 
 ing us to the skin and covering us with clots of 
 thick yellow foam, like the scum on a stagnant 
 mill-pond. 
 
 At the same moment a torrent of white light 
 burst forth overhead. Jagged lightning shot with 
 
The Flower Kingdom 269 
 
 an awful crashing sound across the ravine, illuming 
 the night as with a sheet of trembling flame. 
 
 ' It is an electric storm ! ' said someone in my 
 ear, and the voice (I think it must have been 
 the captain's) was directly smothered under a 
 tempest of crashing thunder, that shook the solid 
 iron cliiTs to their bases and deafened one's ears like 
 the firing of eighty-one-ton guns close at hand. 
 
 We were between the plates of a vast battery. 
 The cliffs above us, surcharged with electricity, 
 hurled lightnings at each other, and the deep river 
 between them boiled furiously at each volley. We 
 were literally covered with a canopy of blue flame, 
 under which each rock, each spot of iron-stained 
 lichen, each ring of foam dotting the troubled lake, 
 stood out with startling distinctness. An intoler- 
 able smell of ozone filled the atmosphere, and 
 under the electric brilliancy, reddish clouds of heavy 
 vapour gathered slowly, twisting and curling in 
 fanciful wreaths like smoke under the roof of a 
 burning house. 
 
 * We shall be suffocated, captain ! ' I exclaimed 
 during one of the lulls in this diabolical display of 
 pyrotechny, and the commander seemed to under- 
 stand me, for he led the way back over the boulders, 
 his face muffled in the ample folds of his wet shawl. 
 
 Hardly had we started, when the storm broke 
 out anew. Ned, drenched to the skin by his recent 
 dip, hobbled along, cursing feebly, his hand, which 
 was bleeding profusely from a cut, tightly enveloped 
 in his muslin veil. As the flaming sheet of light 
 again covered us, I noticed that the clouds had 
 sunk lower. My lungs ached fearfully, and I 
 pressed one hand to my chest in a vain attempt to 
 quiet the gnawing pain. 
 
 A shock overthrew us. We rose fearfully bruised 
 and dazzled under a rain of sparks. A great rock, 
 a mass of iron weighing, perhaps, five hundred tons, 
 
270 Across the Zodiac 
 
 displaced by the violence of the electric discharges, 
 had fallen some thirty feet in front of us. 
 
 ' This way ! ' shouted the captain, and from the 
 summit of a boulder I saw his tiny lamp shining 
 feebly. 
 
 As I scrambled up painfully, I became aware of 
 a dull red light that seemed to be shining around 
 us from on high, distinct and differing from the 
 colour of the blue lightning as the light of red-hot 
 metal differs in appearance from that of the electric 
 arc. 
 
 ' Look ! ' whispered Ned behind me hoarsely, his 
 voice rising into a falsetto of fear, ' look ! the b7'idges 
 are on fire ! ' 
 
 I followed his gaze, and beheld a new and awful 
 sight. The forked display of lightning had ceased, 
 and the pent-up current was rushing across the 
 narrow iron archways, which under its influence 
 were changing from a dull red to a vivid orange- 
 yellow colour. Even at this distance (and they 
 were fully a thousand feet above our heads) we 
 could feel the heat of that terrible furnace, and 
 hear the joints of the metal cracking. 
 
 Over fifty of these glowing horrors were in sight, 
 spanning the huge void like chains of solid fire, 
 while long trails of sparks dropped with a hissing 
 sound into the troubled waters below. Mute, 
 almost paralysed with terror, we watched the 
 awful spectacle. The shining bands above, their 
 mirrored reflections below, formed a perfect avenue 
 of fire on both sides, down which whirlwinds of 
 inky dust poured, striking against the red-hot arches, 
 to rebound in a rain of variegated sparks that settled 
 on the tall iron pinnacles, covering the phantom 
 city with a network of living jewels. 
 
 ' Look ! ' whispered Ned again, ' I believe that 
 one's going to melt ! ' 
 
 An ever-increasing glare made my eyes ache. 
 
Imprisonment a7id — 271 
 
 About a quarter-of-a-mile from us, a vast luminous 
 band of an intense whiteness was beginning to 
 curve slowly downwards, straining and crackling 
 like any over-strained boiler-plate. Then the end 
 came. 
 
 With a loud explosion the causeway parted, and 
 a cascade of white fire poured down into the water. 
 I thought for a moment that we were lost. 
 
 Bathed from head to foot in a rosy cloud, we 
 struggled on, while the vast masses of steam, con- 
 densing rapidly against the cooler cliffs, gushed 
 down the rocks or poured down from overhead in 
 the form of rain. 
 
 Everything has an end, however. Was it the 
 azure sun of Venus that awoke me on the following 
 morning, as I slept the sleep of the just in my 
 comfortable bunk on board the Astrolabe, or was it 
 some new and inexplicable light, shining across 
 the unpeopled spaces of this wild planet which had 
 nearly made us living victims ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 IMPRISONMENT AN D— 
 
 No — this time it was no supernatural phenomenon 
 I had to deal with. The light of a bull's eye lantern 
 was shining in my eyes, and I heard — yes, I heard 
 these words spoken in French, — 
 
 * Will monsieur be so good as to dress himself at 
 once ? ' 
 
 Three men, the French steward and two others, 
 were standing by my bedside. One of them held 
 the lantern. In the cabin all was darkness, and 
 
272 Across the Zodiac 
 
 not a solitary ray of light filtered through the thick 
 blue curtains, I stared about me wonderingly, 
 rubbing my eyes hard to make sure I was really 
 awake. 
 
 'Will monsieur please read this? ' 
 
 This was a polite note, written on pink letter- 
 paper and surmounted by the crest of the Astrolabe. 
 Truly, on this vessel, wonders never ceased : — 
 
 ' Professor Ralphcourt, 
 
 ' Sir, — Circumstances which I cannot control, 
 combined with a desire to avoid the repetition of 
 certain disagreeable passages between myself and 
 your friend Mr Hatton, compel me to require your 
 imprisonment on board my vessel ' — A shudder of 
 fear passed through me. So we were going to be 
 imprisoned ? Well, it was what we might have 
 expected. — 'together with Mr Hatton, till I shall 
 see fit to set you both at liberty again. As to the 
 safety of your lives, you need have no fear. You 
 will be carefully and kindly treated, but any attempt 
 at resistance will, of course, be duly visited by a 
 sufficiently stern retribution. In doing this, I take 
 all the responsibility. I cannot allow the ambi- 
 tions of either you or Mr Hatton to interfere with 
 the common safety. 
 
 'Captain Chlamyl. 
 
 ' March 2.%lh' 
 
 So the die was cast. This was the end of Ned's 
 plotting. And yet there was an atmosphere of 
 respectful civility about the letter which gave me 
 confidence. As the captain hinted, resistance of 
 any kind was out of the question. I rose and 
 dressed in a tremble. The men, unmoved as icicles, 
 offered to help me, but I refused their assistance 
 coldly. 
 
 Imprisonment ! The word had an ugly sound. 
 
Imprisonment and — 273 
 
 There arc political prisoners and prisoners of the 
 law. The latter often get hung. To what category 
 did we belong ? The note promised consideration, 
 even kindness ; yet had not the commander pro- 
 mised the same thing to poor Andersen when he 
 despatched him on his weary death-journey among 
 the lunar volcanoes ! For ought I knew, the 
 captain might be in the act of despatching me to a 
 horrible death. So overwhelmed had I been with 
 wonders and terrors during the past week, however, 
 that the prospect of death did not unnerve me 
 quite as much as it might have done at any other 
 time. I bundled on my clothes and followed the 
 men without a word. A clean, plainly-furnished 
 room in the neighbourhood of the engine-room was 
 ready to receive me. Evidently my own luxurious 
 cabin had not been considered a safe enough 
 asylum. The walls of this apartment seemed more 
 solid than usual, and the door was armed with a 
 formidable array of complex steel hinges, leaving 
 an unpleasant impression on the mind, and suggest- 
 ing unlimited incarceration. 
 
 ' Will monsieur breakfast ? ' 
 
 The French steward seemed all kindness and 
 attention. The bare table was covered with a 
 smooth white cloth, and the meal, consisting of 
 coffee, wheaten bread, two kinds of strange vege- 
 tables (possibly Venusian), and a dish of preserved 
 shell-fish resembling prawns, was served as tidily as 
 the most fastidious epicure could have desired. 
 The captain's notion of prison fare was evidently as 
 original as his notions on all other subjects. 
 
 My attempts to discover Ned's whereabouts 
 were unavailable. The steward could give me 
 no enlightenment. His orders were too strict, he 
 said. Would I like any books ? Books ? Why 
 certainly. I detailed a list of my favourite volumes, 
 which were duly brought from the library and de- 
 
 s 
 
274 Across the Zodiac 
 
 posited on my prison shelf. Then the discreet 
 servitor withdrew, leaving me to my reflections. 
 
 The captain could, after all, only have my pre- 
 servation in view. Had I not saved his life at the 
 risk of my own on that dread morning when Ned's 
 bullet had gashed my cheek ? Had not the careful 
 dressing of my wound and his subsequent kindness 
 towards me proved that I could be no object of 
 hatred to him ? No — my imprisonment meant 
 nothing more or less than my separation from Ned 
 — that was all. The struggle between loyalty to the 
 Astrolabe' s commander and friendship towards my 
 impetuous companion would be too bitter for any 
 frail mortal. We must be separated from each 
 other — the captain was right. 
 
 Though apparently correct in my reasoning, the 
 thought still haunted me that there might be some 
 trap concealed in my prison walls. Suppose 
 carbonic acid were injected while I slept ? Suppose 
 the flooring were to give way, and I were to be 
 hurled, an inanimate, flattened mass, through space. 
 
 I fell on my hands and knees, impatiently 
 examining the planking for traces of an oubliette, 
 a manhole that might bring me to death. In vain. 
 The boards were regularly joined and cemented. 
 Stamping with one's feet produced hardly a sound 
 that would serve to indicate the existence of a 
 hollow space beneath. The floor evidently overlaid 
 the solider plates of aluminium composing the hull 
 of the ship. 
 
 Death was not there, at all events. 
 
 The absurdity of my suspicions soon came 
 forcibly home to me. We had been a whole year 
 on board the Astrolabe. If the captain had wished 
 to kill us, he would have done so ages ago. A few 
 grains of strychnine or stramonium intermingled 
 with our food, and we would both be as dead as 
 the geological specimens in the Berlin museums. 
 
Imprisonment and — 275 
 
 Poison could have speedily removed us, yet we had 
 partaken of no poison. An order given to the crew 
 might have murdered us in our beds, yet no one 
 had even offered to molest us — that is me. As to 
 Ned- 
 Ned the revolutionary, Ned the mutineer, Ned 
 the defiant champion of liberty, who had braved 
 the lion to his face, what would become of him ? 
 In fact, the two attempts (which the captain 
 called coincidences) that had frightened us already 
 wore an ugly look. Ned had practically endeav- 
 oured to kill the commander. Was it to be sup- 
 posed that the captain would not now endeavour to 
 be revenged on him — now that he was in his power ? 
 I spent a miserable afternoon, reading desultory 
 scraps here and there in the books Captain Chlamyl's 
 thoughtfulness had provided for me, and pacing 
 moodily up and down before the solitary circular 
 window that illumined my prison, and which, much 
 to my disgust, was covered with a thick fog of some 
 kind, similiar to that collecting on a damp railway 
 glass, thus rendering a view of any kind impossible. 
 Not a sound was heard in the vast hull, and, for 
 the life of me, I could not tell whether we had 
 left Venus or not. 
 
 Towards 7 p.m., as far as I could guess at the 
 time, the steward came in to lay the table for my 
 evening meal, and while I was eating it the sun 
 rose— that is, the Astrolabe revolved on her keel in 
 such a way as to enable the solar rays to penetrate 
 the circular window. 
 
 'Off again,' I said to myself, wearily. 
 
 On the following morning I was permitted to 
 take some exercise on deck. 
 
 My walk was under strict supervision, it is true. 
 The steersman's cabin, broken by the recent ex- 
 plosion, had been repaired, and through the glass 
 
276 Across the Zodiac 
 
 I was watched attentively by the tall helmsman 
 and his assistant, a delicate-looking man of middle 
 age, with a copper-coloured face, capable of all 
 manner of evil passions. 
 
 Venus, twice the size of the terrestrial moon, was 
 riding majestically in the zenith. The sun's rays, 
 whenever they struck my face, burned so furiously 
 that I was compelled to freeze in the shadow, and 
 the reflection from the burnished aluminium cover- 
 ing was painfully dazzling. 
 
 April 1st. — No sign of the captain yet, though 
 indeed there was not any particular reason why he 
 should honour me with a visit. During the night 
 I suffered somewhat from heat, and impatiently 
 threw all the clothes off my couch. As a result, I 
 awoke in the morning freezing, my limbs blue and 
 my teeth chattering spasmodically. The Astrolabe 
 had revolved during my sleep, and the intense cold 
 of space had succeeded the sun's rays on my side 
 of the vessel. The glass of my window was clear 
 again, and I was able once more to contemplate 
 the star-dust at leisure. 
 
 April 6th. — This morning brought an unexpected 
 surprise. As I was eating my breakfast I found a 
 tiny piece of paper imbedded in the crumb of one 
 of the loaves. It was a note from Ned. 
 
 'Dear old Boy,' it ran, 'I am confined in a 
 small cell somewhere under the main stairway. I 
 have no window, and they only leave the electric 
 light on during six hours out of the twenty-four. 
 I hope this'll reach you. If it reaches the captain 
 instead, it'll be all up with me. My bed is comfort- 
 able, but I am being slowly baked alive, and the 
 boredom of it is driving me mad. I tried to get the 
 steward to take a message to you, but he wouldn't. 
 Good-bye, dear old man. Keep up your spirits any- 
 
Imprisonment and — 277 
 
 how, and send me a line if you possibly can. — 
 Yours, Ned. 
 
 So he was alive ! I shivered and hugged myself 
 with delight. As the door opened to admit the 
 steward, I crushed the note in my hand, and I 
 don't think he suspected anything. 
 
 To correspond with Ned is impossible. I must 
 content myself with waiting. 
 
 April I2th. — During the night I was awakened 
 by a loud, grinding sound, coming from the depths 
 of the ship. I raised myself on my elbow and 
 listened attentively. 
 
 First a rush, then a wheezing pant like the burst- 
 ing open of an escape pipe ; then a long, trembling 
 spasm that seemed to shake the whole vessel. 
 
 Then came the clanking of iron tools, men's 
 voices raised in altercation, and silence. I think 
 I must have dozed off, in spite of my uneasiness, 
 for the first thing I remember is the snapping of 
 the steel locks in the door, and the sound of a well- 
 known voice saying, — 
 
 ' Ah, professor ! you are awake.' 
 
 It was the captain in person. 
 
 His head was bare, his hair was dishevelled, and 
 his face pale as that of a corpse. 
 
 I started up to a sitting posture. 
 
 ' Has anything happened, sir ? ' I asked. 
 
 * You are at liberty, professor,' was the answer, 
 delivered in a strange, husky voice. 
 
 ' At liberty ? ' 
 
 I was afraid I hardly caught his meaning. 
 
 ' An accident has happened, professor — an un- 
 fortunate mistake — a fault in the working — we are 
 falling.' 
 
 ' Back on to the planet, captain ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir — into the sun ! ' 
 
278 Across the Zodiac 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 A FALL OF TEN MILLION MILES 
 
 Neither of us spoke for a minute. The suspense 
 was terrible. 
 
 ' When I cast myself loose from the planet Venus 
 fourteen days ago,' continued the captain, gloomily, 
 ' I was ignorant, as it seems, of our true position in 
 the universe, or rather in our own solar system. 
 The explosion of hydrogen wrecked our astro- 
 nomical instruments sufficiently to render all my 
 attempts at reckoning our whereabouts inaccurate 
 and futile. I landed on Venus, as you know, just 
 in the nick of time to save us from destruction by 
 suffocation. I left the planet, only to find, after a 
 fourteen-day cruise, that we were on the wrong side 
 of the sun ! ' 
 
 * The wrong side ! ' I cried, horrified, although 
 for the moment I hardly understood the cause of 
 my fright. 
 
 ' Yes, sir. The translation movement only acts 
 one way. Suppose, instead of carrying us away 
 from the solar furnace, it should carry us right into 
 its centre ! ' 
 
 My heart began to beat painfully. I was begin- 
 ning to catch a glimpse of the truth. 
 
 ' Then it is the sun that is falling on us ! ' I ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 ' Exactly, sir. We are rushing into its embrace 
 at the rate of half a million miles a day — impelled 
 both by the power of its gigantic attraction and by 
 the force of the translation movement' 
 
 ' But, captain,' I exclaimed, a ray of hope burst- 
 ing upon my mind all of a sudden, ' can we not 
 start the engines and maintain our position evenly 
 in space, as we have done heretofore ? ' 
 
A Fall of Ten Million Miles 279 
 
 'No, professor. The engines are disabled. In 
 fact, had it not been for ihe wreckage of the vacuum 
 tunnel, that is the soul of my mechanical con- 
 trivance, last night, it is possible that I would not 
 have discovered our course for some time to come. 
 The stoppage ofthe discs and the consequent change 
 in position of the sun, with regard to our centre of 
 gravity, opened my eyes to the real facts of the 
 case. To keep you and Mr Hatton imprisoned 
 under such circumstances would be a useless piece 
 of tyranny. In such a crisis it behoves us all to 
 lend our labours for the safety of our vessel. You 
 are free.' 
 
 In the saloon I found Ned, staring through the 
 panel with his hands in his pockets. 
 
 ' Hallo, old man. We're done for now, I reckon,' 
 
 ' It seems so,' I replied simply. 
 
 ' And we're to be burnt alive, burnt like rats in a 
 trap ! ' exclaimed my companion, desperately, ' with- 
 out even a chance of being saved. Well, after all, 
 it serves us right ! ' 
 
 Ned's philosophy might be sound enough, in all 
 conscience, but I could not help thinking that, in 
 the present instance, it was somewhat unconsoling. 
 
 Speaking for myself, though my mind was fully 
 awake to the awfulness of our fate, I felt, strange 
 to say, a certain wild joy, when considering the 
 peculiar grandeur ofthe prospect before me. Never 
 had human being dreamed of such a death ! To 
 be absorbed in the central sun ! Could the sage 
 Empedocles have foreseen my strange destiny, he 
 would doubtless have been envious. Would my 
 moral courage hold out till the end, or would I 
 awake from my gorgeous vision to become a shrink- 
 ing, cowardly mortal ? We would soon see. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl wasted no time in useless 
 speechifying. By midday the engineers were hard 
 at work, trying to repair the damaged machinery, 
 
28o Across the Zodiac 
 
 unfortunately a sufficiently difficult task, owing to 
 the nature of the injury. A vast rent had been 
 made in one of the thin aluminium plates by a 
 loose fragment of one of the revolving discs, which 
 centrifugal force had served to detach from the 
 main body. Assuming that we could manage to 
 stop the rent, would our safety be assured ? The 
 odds were certainly against us. Even supposing 
 that in three or four days we succeeded in closing 
 the rent, would the efficiency of our patched-up 
 machinery sufficiently counter-balance the ever- 
 increasing attraction of the mighty sun ? 
 
 Hardly likely. If Jupiter had been an object of 
 distrust to our captain, when crossing its orbit some 
 months back, was it not probable that we should be, 
 under the influence of the sun's vigour, as impotent 
 as a house-fly in the current of the Niagara River? 
 
 Added to this there was the impetus, which our 
 delay with the engines must necessarily bring about. 
 For three days or more we should be hurrying sun- 
 wards at a speed of five hundred thousand miles in 
 twenty-four hours, which by the time the reparations 
 were completed would, perhaps, rise as high as a 
 million. What hope had we of being able to check 
 this mighty rush ? Less than none. 
 
 The operations in the engine-room went on 
 vigorously. The crew worked day and night. 
 Ned, attired in a thin blue blouse, lent his aid with 
 a will. Mechanical attainments had never been 
 my forte. I could only grind my teeth and jealously 
 watch the speeding hands of the electric chrono- 
 meters, that ticked remorselessly in all the rooms, 
 beating out, only too fast, the remaining seconds 
 of our earthly career. 
 
 Strips of aluminium, torn from the inner parti- 
 tions, were carefully welded together and laid across 
 the gap. Then the vacuum engine began its pant- 
 ing labour, and with anxious eyes Captain Chlamyl 
 
A Fall of Ten Million Miles 281 
 
 and myself watched the needle of the pressure- 
 gauge as the air was rapldlyexhausted. Aluminium, 
 most people know, is as brittle as glass, but capable 
 nevertheless of resisting considerable pressure. On 
 board the Astrolabe^ owing to the rarefied nature of 
 the atmosphere, the strain was not nearly so great 
 as it would have been on the surface of one or other 
 of the larger planets, where the atmospheric column 
 was some hundreds of miles high. The new plates 
 withstood the test — we were saved ! 
 
 A lever connected the pyroxyline-engines with 
 the revolving discs. The ponderous pistons moved, 
 the speed accelerated, five hundred revolutions a 
 minute — six hundred — seven hundred — the excite- 
 ment was painful. At eight hundred and fifty re- 
 volutions there was a formidable explosion, followed 
 by a sound like tearing paper. Dismay was written 
 on all faces. 
 
 ' One of the discs has flown to pieces,' said Captain 
 Cham}d, as the engine stooped short with a series 
 of jerks, like the convulsive spasms of a wounded 
 bird. A fearful rent became visible in the tunnel. 
 One of the men, his arm dripping with blood, tried 
 to close the wound with a piece of waste, while a 
 sympathetic group gathered about him. The 
 captain, biting his lip in silence, watched the 
 luminous rings thrown by the starboard windows 
 travels lowly up from the floor to the ceiling, con- 
 tract and vanish, as the vessel's centre of gravity, 
 momentarily altered by the incipient effort of the 
 engines, once more brought the sun under her 
 keel. 
 
 ' We must try again,' said he. 
 
 The reparative operations recommenced. This 
 time it must be a lengthy piece of work. Not only 
 had the rent in the tunnel to be closed, but the 
 shattered disc had to be replaced — an affair of 
 several days at least. 
 
282 Across the Zodiac 
 
 In the meanwhile the solar heat became incon- 
 venient enough to tax our ingenuity. 
 
 The whole lower half of the Astrolabe was being 
 boiled by degrees. The water in the cisterns grew 
 lukewarm, the food became uneatable, a universal 
 lassitude spread itself over all the men. Nothing 
 daunted. Captain Chlamyl set the freezing-machines 
 to work. Long draughts of air, compressed to six- 
 teen atmospheres, were liberated about the below- 
 deck portions of the ship. Day and night the 
 machines kept at work, and on the morning of the 
 i6th the thermometer had sunk to zero, and the 
 water in the pipes was frozen hard. On deck, how- 
 ever, the tropical temperature still held good. Slices 
 of bread, spiked on the end of a toasting-fork and 
 held out over the taffrail, were roasted brown in less 
 than a minute. 
 
 'What if the keel of our ship should melt?' 
 suggested Ned, and the horrifying prospect fairly 
 took my breath away. 
 
 On the following morning, the 17th, Captain 
 Chlamyl entered the saloon, where I was sitting 
 shivering in a cloak of sea-otter. His eyes were 
 gleaming with a new excitement. He feverishly 
 consulted the map. Then without further 
 preamble, — 
 
 * The discs are repaired,' he said, ' we are going 
 to start.' 
 
 * Ah ! ' I replied carelessly, and really the prospect 
 of a near death had so utterly unstrung my nerves, 
 that I hardly even felt grateful for our visionary 
 chance of a respite. 
 
 He pressed a button. A well-known humming 
 sound told me that the engines were in motion. I 
 held my breath. 
 
 ' Look out for yourself, sir ! ' 
 
 I understood, and sprang back as the flaming 
 glare through the panels struck against my face like 
 
A Fall of Ten Million Miles 283 
 
 living fire. A glass of water, containing flowers 
 half-frozen in a covering of thin frost, cracked with 
 a loud report as the heat struck its side, and the 
 silky fringe of the table-cloth began to smoke. It 
 seemed to me that I could almost feel the heat- 
 waves sweeping round our doomed vessel, and in 
 spite of the intense cold, I felt the glow run along 
 my limbs. 
 
 The Astrolabe accomplished a complete half-re- 
 volution, and the sun was now overhead, expending 
 its strength on the metal covering that shielded the 
 lower deck from stem to stern. A chorus of hurrahs 
 broke out from the direction of the engine-room. 
 
 ' We are saved ! ' I cried. 
 
 Captain Chlamyl did not seem to hear me. I 
 touched his arm timidly. He shook me off with an 
 impatient gesture. 
 
 ' Ah ! ' he exclaimed, ' if my ship were only 
 infusible enough to bear the heat of that pitiless 
 furnace ! ' 
 
 ' But captain — ' 
 
 ' Do you not understand, sir, do you not compre- 
 hend that, in spite of all efforts — oh, God ! — in spite 
 of all efforts, we must and will pass within little less 
 than a million miles of the sun. The impetus we 
 have acquired during the last four days is so power- 
 ful that nothing in the shape of mechanical energy 
 can stay it ! Ah, could we only pass through the 
 zone of the fire, we should be safe ! ' 
 
 I sank on the sofa, terrified into silence. Captain 
 Chlamyl burst into a sort of sob. 
 
 ' No metal can resist it, no cold can quench it,' he 
 said desperately. 
 
 ' Aluminium, captain, is — ' 
 
 ' However strong, however infusible the material of 
 my vessel, professor, it will be melted like wax in that 
 glowing ocean of fire ! You know it as well as I.' 
 
 He began to pace moodily up and down the 
 
284 Across the Zodiac 
 
 saloon, I knew him better than to interrupt his 
 reverie. Presently he stopped before the map and 
 followed with his finger an oval line that, passing 
 within a few hundred thousand miles of the sun, 
 lost itself in space at either side, after describing a 
 vast parabola. 
 
 ' A comet ! ' I cried. 
 
 ' Yes, sir, a comet. A comet whose attraction, 
 acting on our vessel before it had time to enter the 
 fatal zone, might snatch it from the jaws of destruc- 
 tion — do you not see ? ' 
 
 I was dumbfounded. Surely of all wild hopes 
 this was the wildest. Once again a comet was to be 
 our salvation, but how were we to make sure of 
 meeting this celestial traveller? Was it not a 
 million chances to one that we should never cross its 
 orbit at all ? And if we did cross it, who was to 
 guarantee our crossing it at the right moment? A 
 faint hope is, however, better than no hope at all, 
 and my faith in the captain was such that I clung 
 helplessly to him as a drowning man is said to 
 cling to a straw, 
 
 ' Besides,' added the commander, 'there are other 
 methods of working out our salvation, unless I am 
 mistaken.' 
 
 Other methods ! I was indeed well-accustomed 
 to the phrase by this, and for a moment I really 
 and sincerely wondered whether this extraordinary 
 being could be killed at all, or whether he were not 
 some angel clad in a protecting raiment of intelli- 
 gence, against whom death and the powers of dark- 
 ness warred in vain. 
 
 ' The intra-mercurial planets,' continued he, 
 ' might each of them serve as a temporary asylum 
 for us, in spite of their obvious inconveniences in 
 the shape of boiling seas and rivers of molten 
 metal, were it not for the fact that none of them 
 are likely to be directly in our path — ' 
 
A Fall of Ten Million Miles 285 
 
 I laid my finger on the map. 
 
 ' Which are the intra-mercurial planets, captain ? ' 
 I asked. 
 
 ' These two/ he replied, pointing out a couple of 
 tiny black spots, oneof which almost seemed merged 
 in the sun's disc, so near was it. ' Calliope and 
 Orestes I have named them. As for Mercury itself, 
 it is just possible it may help us. Ha\e you not 
 thought of examining it through one of the glasses?' 
 
 * No, sir. Is it in sight ? ' 
 
 * Of course. Six million miles to leeward. See 
 there ! ' 
 
 He pointed through the panel. A large star, 
 half the size of the moon at her full, shone clearly 
 out against the misty background. 
 
 ' I have no means of exactly calculating our dis- 
 tance,' observed the commander, nor can I exactly 
 tell at what moment I will cross that world's orbit. 
 The only way I can do, is by making test experi- 
 ments at frequent intervals — by stopping the discs 
 to see whether the Astrolabe succumbs to its at- 
 tractive power. If it does, well and good, if not — ' 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 ' Look ! We will make an experiment now.' 
 
 He touched the telegraph. Immediately the speed 
 of the discs diminished. With eager eyes and beat- 
 ing heart I watched the distant planet, my eye glued 
 to the long binocular. Presently the round disc, 
 with its bands of striated cloud slid boldly out of 
 the telescopic field. I followed it, and measured the 
 angle approximately. 
 
 ' Five degrees, captain.' 
 
 In fact, the Astrolabe had revolved on her keel 
 through that small angle. The sun still had the 
 best of it. 
 
 Every two hours the experiment was repeated, 
 without our gaining more than two degrees. For 
 worlds I would not live that day over again. 
 
286 Across the Zodiac 
 
 Every chance missed was a dagger stroke. Ned, 
 half-naked, was lounging about aimlessly, mopping 
 his forehead with a large red handkerchief, for in 
 spite of all the freezing operations the heat was 
 beginning to be felt. The coldest place in the 
 vessel was in the engine-room, and thither we ad- 
 journed at intervals. As fast as the artificial atmo- 
 sphere was pumped through the iron reservoirs, so 
 fast did the heat of that terrible sun re-heat it again 
 to an unbearable temperature. To go on deck was 
 impossible. Even in our cooler prison below deck, 
 it was beginning to be a question of hours. 
 
 Next morning (it was the i8th), Captain 
 Chlamyl knocked at my door. 
 
 ' We have crossed the orbit of Mercury,' he said 
 simply. 
 
 ' And we cannot land ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir.' 
 
 He sat down wearily, holding his head in his 
 hands. In the midst of my own grief, I thought of 
 his, and if ever I loved this strange solitary being, 
 so far removed from the sphere of ordinary 
 humanity, I loved him then. After all, what was 
 the loss of my trivial life compared with the loss of 
 this mighty vessel and the still mightier brain that 
 conceived it. 
 
 ' The comet is our only hope then ? ' I said 
 desperately. 
 
 He nodded. Through the open door a gust of 
 heated air came sweeping over my face, like the 
 first blast of the African sirocco — withering, parch- 
 ing heat that dried my blood inside me and made 
 my skin feel brittle like glass. 
 
 * When do we cross its orbit, captain ? ' 
 
 ' On the morning of the 2ist, at 1 1.30 a.m. 
 
 ' We shall be dead first' 
 
 ' Perhaps so, professor.' 
 
 He rose and left me. The heat was terrific. 
 
A Fall of Ten Million Miles 287 
 
 One of the stewards, passing down the corridor on 
 some errand or other, fell prone on his face with a 
 cry, his features swollen and distorted. He had 
 been struck by heat-apoplexy. 
 
 ' Cold water ! ' I cried. ' Water at any price ! ' 
 
 There was no such thing forthcoming. A tall 
 negro brought me a dish of lukewarm fluid, and I 
 bathed the features of the unfortunate man with it, 
 as he lay stretched helplessly on the phormium 
 matting outside my door. Captain Chlamyl 
 appeared, the perspiration pouring down his pale 
 face, his thin lips drawn tight in a convulsion of 
 anguish. The stricken man, supported on either 
 side by two stewards, lolled his head about like a 
 captive animal, while large drops of moisture 
 trickled from his protruding eyes. 
 
 Violent spasms succeeded. In the intervals of 
 the sufferer's mute writhings, inarticulate cries 
 escaped his lips. Terrified, we watched beside the 
 couch where he lay, all day long, and far into the 
 troubled night. Towards i a.m. Captain Chlamyl 
 turned to me, his face looking ghostly and spectral 
 under the electric light. It was all over. The 
 man was dead. 
 
 I think I still see the scene. The sombre drapery 
 of the cabin, the gloomy port-holes and the bowed 
 heads of the men. All night the heat grew more 
 unbearable. Denuded of our clothes, the perspira- 
 tion baked out of us, we lay about in helpless in- 
 activity, while the low humming of the engines 
 echoed through our dizzy brains like a death-knell. 
 
 A distorted face with deep-sunk eyes and hollow 
 cheeks bent over me. It was Ned. 
 
 ' Morning,' he said. 
 
 Above the port-holes a thin streak of intense 
 light broke out. The Astrolabe was beginning to 
 revolve on her keel, and the dreadful 19th of 
 April dawned. 
 
288 Ac7'oss the Zodiac 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE LAST OF CAPTAIN CHLAMYL 
 
 Rushing, whirring, palpitating seconds of time, 
 the ceaseless hum of the engines and the intense 
 sufferings occasioned by the ever-increasing fires 
 without — how adequately describe our impressions? 
 How commit to pale paper the glowing horrors of 
 that last day, the last day consciously passed on 
 the Astrolabe? Even while the details remain 
 fixed in my memory, it is difficult to find words to 
 paint the sufferings we underwent. 
 
 The engine-room, the only place where the tem- 
 perature was in any way bearable, was fairly besieged 
 by the sweating, seething crew of men, on whose 
 gaunt faces Death's angel already seemed to have 
 left his fell mark. 
 
 We had, during our stay on the captain's vessel, 
 slightly overestimated the number of sailors em- 
 ployed to manoeuvre it. They only numbered 
 sixteen in all now. A year back, the number must 
 have been more considerable, for eight had been 
 lost almost under our eyes at various times — in the 
 tidal wave of Saturn, on the moon, thanks to the 
 captain's treachery, in Ned Hatton's mutiny, without 
 counting the steward who had lost his life that 
 morning. 
 
 They had once been a sullen, dogged set of men, 
 brave even to rashness, but now their bravery was 
 fast oozing out of them. Some wept silently, and, 
 faithful even in their last moments of despair, tried 
 to kiss the fringes of their beloved commander's 
 robe. Others gritted their teeth and sulked omin- 
 ously — none spoke, the influence of the captain kept 
 them in check, and the panting of the compressed 
 air-engine was the only sound audible. From time 
 
The Last of Captain Chlamyl 289 
 
 to time one of the engineers roused himself to tighten 
 a screw or pour oil into a brass oil-cup. The port- 
 holes had been closed to prevent the solar rays from 
 entering,andthe rows of incandescent electric lamps 
 diffused a golden light. 
 
 At ten the captain touched me on the shoulder. 
 
 ' I am going to attempt an observ^ation,' he said. 
 ' Will you lend your help ? ' 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 ' Then come into the saloon, sir.' 
 
 We passed out and along the passage. The long 
 drawing-room, deprived of the incessant draughts of 
 cold air during the whole of the preceding night, 
 resembled the hottest room of a Turkish bath. The 
 temperature must have exceeded that of boiling 
 water, for I noticed that the fluid in the vases had 
 all disappeared, and thebeautiful orchidsofunknown 
 planetary origin which till then had flourished in 
 the china pots, were brown and dried. Across the 
 polished back of the grand piano ran three great 
 cracks, and when I caught hold of a costly inlaid 
 chair it fell to pieces in my hands. 
 
 It was the end of the end, apparently. 
 
 * We must open the panels,' then said Captain 
 Chlamyl. 'We can see nothing in this metal prison.' 
 
 ' We shall be roasted ! ' I gasped. 
 
 ' There is no help for it, sir — we must risk that. 
 Besides, the sun is under our keel.' 
 
 The words gave me courage. I grasped the steel 
 handle that worked the shutters and screamed with 
 pain as I did so. It was nearly red-hot. Tearing 
 a pliant metal glove from one of the armed figures 
 in the corridor, the captain set to work, and pre- 
 sently the immense void was open to our eyes. 
 Through the binocular telescope, every minute 
 particle of star-dust seemed visible. Never had 
 astronomers scanned space with such eagerness. 
 Our lives, indeed, depended on the search. Would 
 
 T 
 
290 Across the Zodiac 
 
 this strange comet indeed appear ? Would it be in 
 time? Was it not utterly futile and ridiculous to 
 count of such a slender chance of safety? 
 
 We relieved each other, straining our eyes out 
 into the ocean of powdered diamonds, and hurrying 
 to cool ourselves in the moderate temperature of the 
 corridor. We were devoured by a ravaging thirst, 
 but, fortunately, there was no lack of water now. 
 Fresh from the cooling machines, large draughts of 
 the miraculous fluid diffused new life through our 
 throbbing systems, and unmercifully prolonged our 
 misery. 
 
 Mute, gloomy, my head dazed, my eyes aching, 
 I was sitting before the port panel, when Captain 
 Chlamyl uttered a cry. 
 
 ' Fools that we are ! ' he exclaimed. * It is towards 
 the sun that we must direct our gaze ! ' 
 
 ' Towards the sun ? ' I said. 
 
 ' Yes, sir. The comet has swept round the solar 
 disc, and must, at this instant, be hurrying towards 
 us from beneath.' 
 
 He was right. In the excitement occasioned by 
 our desperate sufferings, the reasonable probabilities 
 of the strange phenomenon had been entirely over- 
 looked and we were scanning the wrong side of 
 space — had been doing so for the last hour in fact. 
 
 The captain touched a bell, and the Astrolabe 
 commenced to revolve on her axis, 
 
 A glare, brighter and more intense than that of 
 molten silver, struck on the ceiling above my head, 
 and a bright sheet of flame told me that the curtains 
 had caught. 
 
 I sprang aside in time to avoid the glow striking 
 my face, and, at the same moment. Captain Chlamyl 
 threw himself on the lever and closed the panels. 
 
 We battered out the flames with our hands, and 
 stamped on the torn-down drapery. Suffocated, 
 broiled, blinded by the stifling smoke, we sought 
 
The Last of Captain Chlamyl 291 
 
 refuge in the hall outside. Water was brought 
 and in a few moments the danger was past. 
 
 'This will never do,' said the captain, desperately. 
 ' We will be broiled alive like moths in the flame 
 of a candle.' 
 
 Two sheets of glass, taken from an interior 
 window, were smoked in the flame of burning 
 paraffin oil, and set against the panels. Through 
 this dense medium we scrutinised the burning focus, 
 whose rays, tempered and softened by the refraction, 
 no longer scorched us with their fierce heat. 
 
 At three the captain handed me the glass. 
 
 ' The comet ! ' said he. 
 
 I breathlessly glued my eye to the binocular. 
 
 Yes. He was not mistaken. It was the comet, 
 but how far off? 
 
 A pale strip of opacity, outlined feebly against 
 the glowing furnace, with the shadowiest trace of a 
 tail, bent into a semi-circle like an Oriental scimitar 
 — how far was it off? 
 
 One day ? Two days ? If the latter, we should 
 b2 dead first. 
 
 The engine-room was the only place in the vessel 
 where the temperature was bearable. The men, 
 converted into savages by their dire necessity, 
 elbowed and pushed each other out of the way in 
 order to get a breath of cool air at the mouth of the 
 machines. The valves were beset by a pushing, 
 struggling mass, which ere long would become wild 
 beasts in real earnest. The captain, mute and im- 
 passive in spite of his great suffering, sought to re- 
 duce the poor fellows to order by his fortitude. Ned, 
 seated in a corner, seemed to be sleeping stupidly. 
 
 In the early part of the afternoon I moved into 
 the adjoining storeroom, using a private key, which 
 the captain had lent me, to open the door. Here, 
 thanks to the absence of all windows, save one small 
 circular one on the starboard side, through which no 
 
292 Ac7'oss the Zodiac 
 
 light but the diffused h'ght of space penetrated, 
 was tolerable cool. It may have been nearly ninety 
 deg. Fahrenheit or more. Here I reclined, my 
 back against a bale of rugs, drowsily awaiting the 
 end, while through the thin wall the wrangling of 
 the crew came to me faintly. 
 
 The burning heat produced a deadly lassitude, 
 through the medium of which, thanks be to a merci- 
 ful Provdence, the more horrible details appeared 
 softened and toned down, like images in a mirage. 
 
 Towards five in the afternoon two of the remain- 
 ing crew succumbed, falling dead like logs across the 
 smooth tiles of the passage-way. Captain Chlamyl 
 vanished, and we were too sick to apprise him of the 
 dreadful occurrences. 
 
 As I sat, moodily listening to the whirring of the 
 engines, Ned touched me on the shoulder. I looked 
 up. He held a revolver in his hand. 
 
 * I am going to make an end, Hal,' said he. 
 
 His face was awful. The bloodshot eyes seemed 
 to start from their dark sockets, his cheeks were dis- 
 figured with dust and grime, and I thought he 
 looked more like an avenging murderer than a 
 suffering Christian. 
 
 ' I am going to make an end, Hal,' he continued. 
 ' This cannot last longer. We shall all be dead by 
 nightfall. There is no use prolonging our misery. 
 I shall die — but before I do so, there are some scores 
 to settle between me and the captain. I am going 
 to kill him — now, at once ! ' 
 
 He grinned hideously, and I saw the hammer of 
 the revolver rise half-way under the nervous pressure 
 of his fingers. 
 
 ' No ! ' I cried, ' no ! for God's sake, Ned ! It will 
 be a wicked crime — a dastardly return for his great 
 hospitality. ' You will not do this ? ' 
 
 * I shall do it ! ' he answered doggedly. ' You may 
 try to stop me if you like.' 
 
The Last of Captain Chlamyl 293 
 
 His eyes were gleaming fiercely with a wild-beast 
 look that sent a thrill of terror through my reehng 
 brain. With a sudden movement I endeavoured to 
 snatch the revolver. , 
 
 In an instant I found myself lymg on my back, 
 bruised and sore, with Ned standmg over me, 
 
 ^"^ He wf; transfigured. His mouth gaped wide, as in 
 a convulsive effort at breathing His hair, long and 
 matted from carelessness engendered by the easy life 
 on board, hung wildly over his flashing eyes Great 
 sobs escaped him. He was going "^ad by degrees 
 His fingers were playing nervously with the pistol 
 Twice I thought he was going to shoot me Snarls 
 like those of an angry dog came from his lips. He 
 w^s irresolute, pausing apparently between murder 
 
 and insanity. ,. , u i. 
 
 ' Ned ! ' I cried. ' Ned, old man ! 
 
 It was all I could do. I was helpless. The Pl^^es 
 of aluminium covering the floor were burning hot and 
 my hands were scalded by degrees, severely burnt in 
 fact though at the moment I noticed nothing. 
 
 Some vague recollection, awakened by me utter- 
 
 incThS nam'e, for a minute or two seemed to raverse 
 
 h? madman's brain, for ^e dropped the revolvei- and 
 
 turned away, muttering absent-mindedly to himself 
 
 As he did so a clamour arose outside. F^er^e ^/^^ 
 were heard. The door was burst open, and halt-a- 
 dozen horrible faces, distorted with P-n and passio^^^^ 
 
 appeared at the opening. One ^^^^ ^^f T' ^^^^^J^^^ 
 occupied the position of cook on board rushed at 
 me with an axe, yelling savagely. Was I to be 
 
 """"t^^r^^^.. weapon, I -anaged to pick .^ 
 Ned's revolver, which went off with a crash, the bullet 
 striking the man in the breast and killing him in- 
 stantaneously. As his body fell heavily against me, 
 I heard a t ger-like growl, and through the glowing 
 
294 Across the Zodiac 
 
 atmosphere I saw Ned and another mutineer locked 
 in mortal combat. 
 
 To and fro they swayed, gripping each other like 
 bears. Ned's face, gashed in several places by his 
 antagonist's long knife, was streaming with blood. 
 Frozen with horror, I watched the savage struggle ; 
 I was helpless, powerless, dying almost, yet my eyes 
 still held good, and I looked on doggedly. Ned, 
 lithe and muscular as a leopard, tried to strangle his 
 opponent by clutching his windpipe. I saw the 
 man's face getting purple under his powerful grasp, 
 the giant limbs relaxed, and the two fell to the 
 ground together. 
 
 At that moment, whether the machines that fed 
 the dynamos had stopped, or whether the conductors 
 had been severed I know not, but suddenly the 
 electric globes that lighted us went out, leaving a 
 total darkness, only set off by the feeble starlight 
 that filtered through the starboard panel. A strange 
 phenomenon was taking place before my eyes. The 
 star-dust, uniformly graded in density, appeared, 
 through the thick refracting medium, to be split up 
 into streaks and patches of pale iridescence, and a 
 slight curvature was visible in the panes — the 
 windows were melting ! At the same time the noise 
 of the engines ceased, and a thin vapour began to 
 rise through the chinks and crevices of the floor. I 
 closed my eyes. No, I was not to die yet. Panting, 
 suffocating, burning in that pitiless furnace, I thought 
 I heard an unaccustomed sound mingling with the 
 roaring in my ears. It was the sound of footsteps 
 falling on the iron floor. Nearer they came — nearer 
 — nearer. The door opened and the spectre of Cap- 
 tain Chlamyl appeared — carrying a torch made of 
 some resinous substance. 
 
 He bent, first over the two combatants, who were 
 lying locked in each other's arms, dead apparently, 
 then over me. 
 
The Last of Captain Chlamyl 295 
 
 I could not speak. It was like a dream, an 
 impotent, awful experience of the nightly hours — 
 and as vague. 
 
 His hair was dishevelled, his eyes burning with 
 fever, the whole beautiful face was disfigured by 
 pain and mental suffering, but its indescribable 
 charm remained, the charm that had worked so 
 powerfully on me that morning when I awoke on 
 board his marvellous craft, that mighty stamp of 
 intelligence and power that had looked coldly on 
 so many marvels, those dark lustrous eyes that 
 seemed to bear the burden of the great brain that 
 gave them light. Every terror, every detail, every 
 supernatural occurrence that had brought colour 
 into our life on the Astrolabe, flashed across my 
 waning senses. The Icelandic crossing, the crevasse 
 of Mount Archimedes, the lonely footprints on the 
 lunar sea, the mist of life, the Saturnian girdle of 
 fire, the flying wolves, the blue comet, our dreadful 
 experience among the man-eating flowers of Venus, 
 imprisonment, and the fearful fight among the 
 perishing wretches who were even now dying or 
 dead — it was a phantasmagoria of impossible 
 wonders, reft from the jealous care of the Almighty 
 by the brain of one lofty genius. 
 
 Lower bent the stately head, lower yet. Was it 
 some sentiment of almost divine compassion that 
 prompted this strange being to take an interest in 
 a poor helpless mortal like myself, or had the 
 cynical soul of this thinker, so far removed from 
 ordinary sympathies, at length become illumined 
 by the divine light of friendship. Tears could not 
 glow in those eyes. The time was past for that, 
 but the pity that shone from those dark orbs re- 
 mains in my heart to this day. 
 
 Did his lips touch my forehead, or was it only the 
 reflex of my own thoughts, speaking through the 
 cloudy mist of a universe which was gradually fading 
 
296 Across the Zodiac 
 
 from my view, dying, not as a lamp dies, in dark- 
 ness, but in a glaring whirlwind of golden flame. . . . 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 BETWEEN DAWN AND SUNSET 
 
 There is a certain state, between dreaming and 
 waking, when the body is really unable to feel any 
 outward impression, when the nerves, wrecked and 
 shattered by some soul-shaking horror, refuse their 
 agonising office, and the tortured fibres of the mind 
 convey no impression to the brain save one of 
 dreamy lassitude, similar in many respects to the 
 indolence experienced by opium-smokers under 
 the influence of their subtle narcotic, similar to the 
 sensations of a mouse when seized by a cat, or a 
 man when caught in the fell grip of a tiger. 
 
 The truth is, that an excess of terror, by para- 
 lysing the active nerves, at the same time deadens 
 them to fresh impressions. A great shock, suddenly 
 received, acts as a brake upon our later feelings, 
 and every succeeding sensation is merely felt 
 through the thickness of the first terror, so to 
 speak. It is pale by comparison, and being such, 
 loses its awfulness. 
 
 A canopy of solid darkness, analysed in the 
 leisurely contemplation of a never-ending swoon, 
 dwindled into the well-known ceiling of my cabin, 
 crossed at intervals by cedar beams and marked 
 with diamonds and crosses of gold. . . . 
 
 It was a vision, and faded as soon as realised. 
 
 At times, during the lulls of my fever, a face 
 seemed to wander across my mental vision — a face, 
 now assuming the familiar lineament's of Ned 
 Hatton, now frowning forth out of the darkness in 
 
Between Dawn and Sunset 297 
 
 the pale features and sunken eyes of Captain 
 Chlamyl. Had the philosopher deserted the 
 realms of space to become a mere human atom ? 
 Was the distant, icy genius about to really descend 
 to my level, mingling himself with the throng of 
 greatness and smallness that peoples our far-off 
 little planet ? 
 
 Far off? There it was nevertheless, its continents 
 and islands distinct under a ghostly radiance that 
 seemed to come from nowhere, save from the 
 misty land of dreams — and its satellite, the moon, 
 with its dead volcanoes sleeping in the light of a 
 phantom sun, lonely and desolate as when the 
 poor mortal atom perished in the sunny waste — 
 Andersen, Andersen. . . . 
 
 But I could not rest. A power stronger than 
 my better nature drove me on. I was falling, fall- 
 ing in immensity, past solitary, unknown planets, 
 bleak worlds of ice and fire lost in the voids of 
 space, dreaming in pathless eternity. . . . 
 
 Then I awoke with a bound, and hands, yes, 
 human hands, were clasping mine. Overhead was 
 the vaulted roof of a tent, and around me faces were 
 clustering, faces unknown to me, perhaps, but still 
 human, and therefore more loveable than the 
 phantoms that had pursued me in my dreams. 
 Was I among men ? I struggled to speak, but 
 sank back senseless. . . . 
 
 • Hal ! Hal ! ' 
 
 It was Ned — dear old Ned. Had I been a 
 billion of miles off, that voice might have re- 
 called me. As it was, I woke and sat up stupidly, 
 mechanically feeling the woollen counterpane, and 
 wondering, after the manner of inter-stellar travel- 
 lers, what planet I was on, and what sun it was that 
 was giving me so feeble a light. 
 
 ' The Astrolabe ! ' I murmured. ' Where are we ? ' 
 
 'Just what I should like to know, old man,' was 
 
298 Across the Zodiac 
 
 the answer. ' Your geographical knowledge ought 
 
 to be able to aid us. I think we have fallen back 
 
 on Venus.' 
 
 ' Venus ! ' I exclaimed, ' and who are these men ? ' 
 'Two sailors from the Astrolabe,' replied Ned, 
 
 ' whom the captain has seen fit to abandon with us.' 
 
 * Abandon ? ' 
 
 Life felt as though it were forsaking my cheeks. 
 The word had an awful meaning. I struggled to 
 sit upright and stared about me, shivering with cold. 
 
 No ! we were certainly no longer on the Astrolabe. 
 A rude tent, supported by primitive-looking wooden 
 poles, sheltered us from the blast of a wind which 
 we could hear howling outside, and the frail walls 
 quaked under the violence of an Arctic gale — so it 
 seemed at least. 
 
 ' We've piled all the available blankets on top 
 of you,' continued Ned, ' so there is no excuse for 
 your being cold.' 
 
 ' But the sun,' I said confusedly, ' the sun ? 
 How did we escape ? ' 
 
 ' How ? Oh ! in the usual way. The comet 
 saved us. You've been senseless for nearly a 
 month — raving mad with fever. We had to tie 
 you down. The captain lost four men, the rest 
 lived to tell the tale.' 
 
 ' Where is the Astrolabe now?' 
 
 * Devil only knows ! Roaming about space, I 
 suppose. We were drugged during our sleep, and, 
 on awakening, found ourselves in this shanty, which 
 I suppose the captain has erected for our benefit. 
 The only question is about the identity of the 
 planet. At first I thought he had abandoned us 
 on some floating aerolite, but the level plains stretch 
 away in all directions, and the whole thing seems 
 to be too big for a mere rock. We've not seen the 
 sun for over a week. Nothing but thick mist and 
 fog. There's a perfect network of lakes and rivers, 
 
Between Dawn and Sunset 299 
 
 crossing and inter-crossing one another like rail- 
 way lines in a junction.' 
 
 'Mars?' I suggested. 
 
 ' We haven't seen the slightest trace of a human 
 habitation,' was the answer. ' Much more likely to 
 be Saturn.' 
 
 ' Impossible ! ' I said. ' Saturn is hundreds of 
 millions of miles off. We could never have done 
 the distance in a month. What do the men say 
 about it ? ' 
 
 ' They know as little as we do. The captain 
 mistrusted them, as he mistrusts everyone, con- 
 found him ! And he plunged us all into one 
 common misfortune. I wish the deuce you were 
 well, Hal, you might help us out of the difficulty.' 
 
 I was silent. Ned's confidence in my powers 
 was, I felt, hardly justifiable. The two men, on 
 scrutinising carefully, I recognised as two of the 
 Astrolabe's sailors, a short, thick - set, bull -dog 
 individual, and his companion, a tall, lanky 
 Swede, whom I had many times noticed in the 
 steersman's cabin and elsewhere. Their greeting 
 was a mute one. The silent pressure of those 
 horny hands said more than a volume of eloquence. 
 
 Abandoned ! Was it the gloomy spectre of 
 Jacob Andersen, risen from his cold grave, that 
 hovered across my dreams that night ? or, was it 
 but another of those fleeting shapes, conjured from 
 that far-off world that was to know me no more ? 
 
 On the following morning I was able to leave 
 my couch. Sickening internal convulsions made 
 me writhe in agony, and my lungs seemed op- 
 pressed under a leaden atmospheric weight, be- 
 neath which it seemed almost impossible to move 
 or breathe. Where were we? How could the 
 mystery be solved ? 
 
 Around us, as far as the eye could reach, stretched 
 a cold, barren, undulating plain, covered with frozen 
 
300 Across the Zodiac 
 
 lichens, and grey, inhospitable mosses. Not a tree, 
 not a house was visible. The sky overhead was of 
 that leaden, ashy hue, common to northern latitudes. 
 Towards evening, as it grew darker, a strange light 
 broke out in the heavens, a perfect pyramid of pale 
 fire seemed to be floating in space. The stars were 
 invisible, and there was not a trace of a moon to be 
 seen anywhere. 
 
 During the night, my strange malady returned, 
 a thousand tons were pressing my head flat, and it 
 required all my resolution to prevent myself scream- 
 ing out in presence of this painfully subtle torture, 
 that defied even explanation. 
 
 It was evident that we had fallen on the surface 
 of some planet where the atmospheric conditions 
 were unlike those we had hitherto been accustomed 
 to. Should we survive ? It seemed unlikely. 
 
 The ironical kindness of Captain Chlamyl had 
 left us provisions enough to last for a week or ten 
 days. The store was gradually drawing to an end, 
 and it became really urgent to set about delivering 
 ourselves if possible. 
 
 ' We must strike to the south,' was Ned's verdict, 
 ' these mists make everything impossible. Do you 
 think you are able to walk, Hal ? ' 
 
 ' I think so,' I answered, with a forced air of 
 gaiety, though, indeed, my spirits were at a very low 
 ebb. ' Have we got any arms ? ' 
 
 ' None — except our knives.' 
 
 ' That's a bad look-out. We may be massacred, 
 or attacked by wild beasts. Anyhow I suppose we 
 are fated to go over to the majority within a day 
 or two. Shall we take the tent with us ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly. Where would we be without it ? ' 
 
 There was no answering this question. It only 
 remained to complete the preparations for our 
 journey. The poles were tied together in a bundle, 
 and entrusted to the muscular Swede. Ned carried 
 
Between Dawn and Sunset 30 1 
 
 the canvas covering, and I shared the remaining 
 provisions with the other sailor of the Astrolabe. 
 Neither of these men could speak a word of English, 
 so our conversation had to be conducted by signs, 
 of all methods the most inconvenient. 
 
 By midday (at least what the Martians might 
 have called midday) we reached the first of the 
 famous canals. 
 
 A sheet of glassy water, with a faint current, 
 nearly five miles wide, on whose banks huge 
 bulrushes waved solemnly. Was this fluid actually 
 water? In my over-excited state I believe I 
 dreamt of all manner of untold marvels, as I bent 
 wonderingly down to carry some of it to my 
 parched lips. 
 
 Yes — water. Neither petroleum, nor molten 
 metal, nor liquid carbonic acid, nor any other 
 planetary marvel. Merely ordinary terrestrial 
 water. I almost experienced a disappointment. 
 
 We travelled all that day without reaching a sign 
 of human habitation. By nightfall the pillar of fire 
 again shone resplendently in the sky, but the clouds 
 were too thick to enable us to distinguish its form. 
 Our provisions were reduced down to enough for 
 one day only. Ned and the two sailors made fruit- 
 less efforts to lay some of the water-fowl low with 
 stones, but the birds were wary and the attempts 
 only resulted in disappointment and vexation. 
 Evidently the Martian representatives of our 
 feathered tribes feared the approach of man — a 
 curious thought, that made the blood run riot in my 
 veins, struck me as Ned called my attention to this 
 fact, and I strained my eyes out across the dreary 
 expense of fog, then up at the pyramidal column 
 of fire, without saying a word. 
 
 Next morning the far-off horizon, opposite to the 
 strange celestial display, began to glow with an 
 unknown scarlet light. A fiery ball of flame (was 
 
302 Across the Zodiac 
 
 it the sun ?) rose slightly above the dark rim 
 of the marshes, and travelled round in a semi-circle, 
 without ever seeming to rise an inch higher towards 
 the zenith. We struck boldly out across the level, 
 occasionally sinking up to our ankles in soft green 
 moss, now pausing to inhale the fresh breeze which 
 seemed to carry with it an odour of aromatics. 
 Towards 4 p.m. Ned uttered a cry and pointed 
 ahead. 
 
 ' Another canal ! ' he said. 
 
 He was right. We had struck a second desert of 
 water, similar to the first. They were the celebrated 
 double canals of Schiaparelli, with which my early 
 studies had made me familiar. Could it be that 
 Mars was really a deserted planet, or were we — 
 Ned guessed my thought, and, as usual, dashed it 
 brutally to the ground. 
 
 ' There is no moon here,' he said, ' and Mars 
 ought to have two.' 
 
 True. The celebrated twin sisterhood Deimos 
 and Phobos were totally wanting in the sky. 
 
 As for the yellow pyramid of flame, it had com- 
 pletely vanished. 
 
 ' What's to be done now ? ' said Ned. 
 
 ' Continue along the canal,' I answered ; ' we can't 
 possibly think of crossing it. I'm not even sure 
 that we can really proceed. I feel completely done 
 up. If we were on Mars, our bodies couldn't 
 possibly manage to weigh so much. I don't under- 
 stand it' 
 
 Ned hastened in with an explanation that was 
 logical enough. 
 
 ' It is merely by contrast with the Astrolabe' he 
 said, and I was forced to be content. 
 
 The men collected firewood while I sat shivering 
 and miserable in my wet boots, trying to solve the 
 mystery of our whereabouts and falling back help- 
 less against a wall of unheard-of wonders. 
 
Between Dawn and Sttnsct 303 
 
 We drank several cups of boiling coffee to warm 
 ourselves and fell to unpacking the tent for the 
 night. Two hours later a new surprise awaited us. 
 
 ' Hallo ! ' said Ned, ' the sun isn't going to set ! ' 
 
 Such was the case indeed. The red disc showed 
 not the slightest sinking tendency. We watched 
 it, doubled in the glassy water, till we fell asleep, 
 and awoke to find it still shining in our eyes with 
 its persistent red glare. 
 
 I may have dozed off shortly after, for I was 
 awakened by Ned shaking me. 
 
 'A boat! Hal,' he said. 
 
 I started up. The rhythmic sound of splashing 
 oars struck my ear and guided my eye to a moving 
 object that was slowly approaching from the 
 direction of the sun, gliding across the burning 
 red trail like a meteor across the disc of a star. 
 The babel of voices also struck my ear. 
 
 ' They are men ! ' cried Ned. 
 
 Men ! My blood froze as I noted the swarthy 
 features, overgrown with hair, it seemed to me, and 
 the fierce dark eyes of the rowers, whose panting 
 breathing came distinctly to our ears. They were 
 muffled from head to foot in shaggy skins, and the 
 oars hissed under the powerful impulse of their 
 arms. Were we going to be attacked ? I saw 
 Ned's right hand steal towards his knife, while 
 with the left he grasped mine in silence. The two 
 sailors, rudely awakened from sleep, stared stupidly 
 before them, as though they had hardly had time 
 to grasp the situation. 
 
 We were soon to know. 
 
 With a shout, the boat crashed into the yielding 
 rushes of the bank, and, quick as thought, a score 
 of muscular giants threw themselves on us. The 
 gleam of weapons passed before our eyes — there 
 was no resistance. We were pinioned, gagged, 
 and thrown helpless into the bottom of the boat. 
 
304 Across the Zodiac 
 
 One sentence, several times repeated, sent a flood 
 of light across my understanding, and, even as I 
 felt myself disabled, a cry of joy burst from my lips. 
 * Yield ! In the name of the Czar ! ' 
 
 We were back on our own world, captives 
 banished by the Russian autocrat to the wilds of 
 Siberia. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 During the confusion of the next few days I had 
 little time in which to brood over my misfortunes 
 and their extraordinary ending. 
 
 Our supernatural journey through the realms 
 of space was ended. What we had taken to be 
 Martian phenomena were simply the familiar 
 curiosities of our own northern hemisphere. The 
 pyramidal cone of fire was the aurora borealis, 
 the twin-canals of Schiaparelli dwindled down 
 into the estuary of a Siberian river — the Petchora, 
 the very sun which had perplexed us by its 
 singular movements was the burning orb that had 
 so nearly proved our grave a month back, seen 
 from high latitudes, where it remained above the 
 horizon for a month at a time. 
 
 Ned — for a moment stunned by the shock of find- 
 ing himself once more on his native planet, soon 
 recovered and produced evidence that at a later 
 date produced our liberation from the hands of the 
 Russian police. The mistake was a sufficiently 
 awkward one. Some days before a party of 
 convicts had escaped from the neighbouring mines, 
 and were roaming unbridled over the steppes — 
 the forces had been ordered out, and everywhere 
 
Conclusion 305 
 
 the unfortunates were being pitilessly pursued. 
 Our primitive encampment, our lonely little tent 
 on the wind-swept bank of the Petchora, had 
 attracted attention, and given rise to the brutal 
 assault that was nevertheless the means of saving 
 all our lifes. 
 
 The mistake, easily discovered, was soon rectified, 
 and the apologies of the governor may be more 
 easily imagined than described. One thing was 
 puzzling — how to explain our presence in Siberia. 
 For deliverance from this predicament we had to 
 thank Ned's fluency in the art of lying. 
 
 For a short half-hour he was closeted with the 
 plethoric little governor of the station. At the 
 end of that time both emerged, beaming, from their 
 hiding-place. And we dined in state with the 
 head jailor (as Ned called him) that very evening. 
 
 I could never really discover what the nature of 
 my companion's falsehood was, for the story he 
 related to me was bald and unconvincing enough. 
 According to him we had left Stockholm for 
 Archangel some months back and had been driven 
 out of our course by erratic winds. The name of 
 our vessel he never seems to have hinted at. On 
 the whole Ned was a most satisfactory fellow to 
 have about when there was any talking to be done, 
 and, indeed, when I consider his generally vast 
 sphere of utility, I am inclined almost to forgive 
 him that little mutiny on board the Astrolabe. 
 
 And now my story is done. Will it bear telling ? 
 Shall I be believed, or laughed at? Nothing but 
 time can answer that weighty question. 
 
 What has become of Captain Chlamyl ? Did 
 he soar away sunwards after leaving us on the 
 banks of the Petchora, or did he bury himself once 
 again in that black abyss of night where together 
 we roamed for one whole year ? Will his daring 
 
 U 
 
3o6 Across the Zodiac 
 
 genius carry him beyond the very confines of the 
 solar system, among those strange suns whose very 
 life is an inscrutable mystery ? 
 
 Everything here is left to conjecture. Is not 
 even the very miracle that saved us from that 
 embrace of fire, covered by a veil of darkness and 
 sleep ? What power guided the lone ship through 
 those dread watches of the night that seemed so 
 near eternity? Was it human, or divine? Be 
 that as it may, nothing save death can dim or mar 
 the admiration and love that both of us feel for 
 him whom we know to be the wisest man that 
 ever lived. 
 
 His fate is a strange one — no man born of 
 woman ever had a stranger. Like the great 
 German Wagner whom he adored, he has pene- 
 trated beyond the confines of the visible world into 
 a land of shadow and gaunt mystery, where hardly 
 anything is real, save the light of his own over- 
 whelming genius. 
 
 What a destiny will be his ! To be merged in 
 the depths of immensity, perhaps chasing in the 
 wake of one of those flying fires to which we owe 
 our lives, perhaps halting to circle round some 
 unknown moon, whose deserted mountains dream 
 incessantly in the dark starlight or under the rays 
 of a fading sun — some lost dead planet whose 
 plains are still haunted by the spectres of a 
 million ancient races — on, on, into the void of an 
 endless night, the vessel and its dead crew, into 
 the regions of forgetfulness and sleep, into a 
 shadowless eternity. 
 
 THE END 
 
 London : Digby, Long & Co., Publishers, 
 1 8 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.G. 
 
^-^^^ NOVEMBER 1896 
 
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Supplementary List s^ 5 
 
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Supplementary List ^ 7 
 
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^ Supplementary List 
 
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Supplementary List 5^ 9 
 
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lo ^ Supplementary List 
 
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Supplementary List 5o» ii 
 
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12 ^ Supplementary List 
 
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I 
 
 Supplementary List ^ 13 
 
 IRoof IRoofcr'6 Sensational IRovcIe 
 
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 LOVE ONLY LENT. 
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