The great work undertaken by the Gun Club was now virtually ended, and yet two months would still elapse before the day the projectile would start for the moon. These two months would seem as long as two years to the universal impatience. Until then the smallest details of each operation had appeared in the newspapers every day, and were eagerly devoured by the public, but now it was to be feared that this "interest dividend" would be much diminished, and every one was afraid of no longer receiving his daily share of emotions.
       They were all agreeably disappointed: the most unexpected, extraordinary, incredible, and improbable incident happened in time to keep up the general excitement to its highest pitch.
       On September 30th, at 3.47 p.m., a telegram, transmitted through the Atlantic Cable, arrived at Tampa Town for President Barbicane.
       He tore open the envelope and read the message, and, notwithstanding his great self-control, his lips grew pale and his eyes dim as he read the telegram.
       The following is the text of the message stored in the archives of the Gun Club:--
       "France, Paris,
       "September 30th, 4 a.m.
       "Barbicane, Tampa Town, Florida, United States.
       "Substitute a cylindro-conical projectile for your spherical shell. Shall go inside. Shall arrive by steamer Atlanta.
       "MICHEL ARDAN."

from the earth to the moon.
   Chapter I. The Gun Club.
   Chapter II. President Barbicane's Communication.
   Chapter III. Effect of President Barbicane's Communication.
   Chapter IV. Answer from the Cambridge Observatory.
   Chapter V. The Romance of the Moon.
   Chapter VI. What it is Impossible to Ignore and What is no Longer Allowed to be Believed in the United States.
   Chapter VII. The Hymn of the Cannon-Ball.
   Chapter VIII. History of the Cannon.
   Chapter IX. The Question of Powders.
   Chapter X. One Enemy Against Twenty-Five Millions of Friends.
   Chapter XI. Florida and Texas.
   Chapter XII. "Urbi et Orbi."
   Chapter XIII. Stony Hill.
   Chapter XIV. Pickaxe and Trowel.
   Chapter XV. The Ceremony of the Casting.
   Chapter XVI. The Columbiad.
   Chapter XVII. A Telegram.
   Chapter XVIII. The Passenger of the Atlanta.
   Chapter XIX. A Meeting.
   Chapter XX. Thrust and Parry.
   Chapter XXI. How a Frenchman Settles an Affair.
   Chapter XXII. The New Citizen of the United States.
   Chapter XXIII. The Projectile Compartment.
   Chapter XXIV. The Telescope of the Rocky Mountains.
   Chapter XXV. Final Details.
   Chapter XXVI. Fire!
   Chapter XXVII. Cloudy Weather.
   Chapter XXVIII. A New Star.
round the moon.
   Preliminary Chapter. Containing a Short Account of the First Part of This Work to Serve as Preface to the Second.
   Chapter I. From 10.20 P.M. to 10.47 P.M.
   Chapter II. The First Half-Hour.
   Chapter III. Taking Possession.
   Chapter IV. A Little Algebra.
   Chapter V. The Temperature of Space.
   Chapter VI. Questions and Answers.
   Chapter VII. A Moment of Intoxication.
   Chapter VIII. At Seventy-Eight Thousand One Hundred and Fourteen Leagues.
   Chapter IX. The Consequences of Deviation.
   Chapter X. The Observers of the Moon.
   Chapter XI. Imagination and Reality.
   Chapter XII. Orographical Details.
   Chapter XIII. Lunar Landscapes.
   Chapter XIV. A Night of Three Hundred and Fifty-Four Hours and a Half.
   Chapter XV. Hyperbola or Parabola.
   Chapter XVI. The Southern Hemisphere.
   Chapter XVII. Tycho.
   Chapter XVIII. Grave Questions.
   Chapter XIX. A Struggle with the Impossible.
   Chapter XX. The Soundings of the Susquehanna.
   Chapter XXI. J.T. Maston Called In.
   Chapter XXII. Picked Up.
   Chapter XXIII. The End.