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Chapter III - Their Place of Shelter
This curious but certainly correct explanation once given, the
three friends returned to their slumbers. Could they have found
a calmer or more peaceful spot to sleep in? On the earth,
houses, towns, cottages, and country feel every shock given to
the exterior of the globe. On sea, the vessels rocked by the
waves are still in motion; in the air, the balloon oscillates
incessantly on the fluid strata of divers densities.
This projectile alone, floating in perfect space, in the midst
of perfect silence, offered perfect repose.
Thus the sleep of our adventurous travelers might have been
indefinitely prolonged, if an unexpected noise had not awakened
them at about seven o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of
December, eight hours after their departure.
This noise was a very natural barking.
"The dogs! it is the dogs!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, rising at once.
"They are hungry," said Nicholl.
"By Jove!" replied Michel, "we have forgotten them."
"Where are they?" asked Barbicane.
They looked and found one of the animals crouched under the divan.
Terrified and shaken by the initiatory shock, it had remained
in the corner till its voice returned with the pangs of hunger.
It was the amiable Diana, still very confused, who crept out of
her retreat, though not without much persuasion, Michel Ardan
encouraging her with most gracious words.
"Come, Diana," said he: "come, my girl! thou whose destiny will
be marked in the cynegetic annals; thou whom the pagans would
have given as companion to the god Anubis, and Christians as
friend to St. Roch; thou who art rushing into interplanetary
space, and wilt perhaps be the Eve of all Selenite dogs! come,
Diana, come here."
Diana, flattered or not, advanced by degrees, uttering
plaintive cries.
"Good," said Barbicane: "I see Eve, but where is Adam?"
"Adam?" replied Michel; "Adam cannot be far off; he is there
somewhere; we must call him. Satellite! here, Satellite!"
But Satellite did not appear. Diana would not leave off howling.
They found, however, that she was not bruised, and they gave her
a pie, which silenced her complaints. As to Satellite, he seemed
quite lost. They had to hunt a long time before finding him in
one of the upper compartments of the projectile, whither some
unaccountable shock must have violently hurled him. The poor
beast, much hurt, was in a piteous state.
"The devil!" said Michel.
They brought the unfortunate dog down with great care. Its skull
had been broken against the roof, and it seemed unlikely that he
could recover from such a shock. Meanwhile, he was stretched
comfortably on a cushion. Once there, he heaved a sigh.
"We will take care of you," said Michel; "we are responsible for
your existence. I would rather lose an arm than a paw of my
poor Satellite."
Saying which, he offered some water to the wounded dog, who
swallowed it with avidity.
This attention paid, the travelers watched the earth and the
moon attentively. The earth was now only discernible by a
cloudy disc ending in a crescent, rather more contracted than
that of the previous evening; but its expanse was still
enormous, compared with that of the moon, which was approaching
nearer and nearer to a perfect circle.
"By Jove!" said Michel Ardan, "I am really sorry that we did not
start when the earth was full, that is to say, when our globe
was in opposition to the sun."
"Why?" said Nicholl.
"Because we should have seen our continents and seas in a new
light-- the first resplendent under the solar rays, the latter
cloudy as represented on some maps of the world. I should like
to have seen those poles of the earth on which the eye of man
has never yet rested.
"I dare say," replied Barbicane; "but if the earth had been
_full_, the moon would have been _new_; that is to say,
invisible, because of the rays of the sun. It is better
for us to see the destination we wish to reach, than the point
of departure."
"You are right, Barbicane," replied Captain Nicholl; "and,
besides, when we have reached the moon, we shall have time
during the long lunar nights to consider at our leisure the
globe on which our likenesses swarm."
"Our likenesses!" exclaimed Michel Ardan; "They are no more our
likenesses than the Selenites are! We inhabit a new world,
peopled by ourselves-- the projectile! I am Barbicane's
likeness, and Barbicane is Nicholl's. Beyond us, around us,
human nature is at an end, and we are the only population of
this microcosm until we become pure Selenites."
"In about eighty-eight hours," replied the captain.
"Which means to say?" asked Michel Ardan.
"That it is half-past eight," replied Nicholl.
"Very well," retorted Michel; "then it is impossible for me to
find even the shadow of a reason why we should not go to breakfast."
Indeed the inhabitants of the new star could not live without
eating, and their stomachs were suffering from the imperious
laws of hunger. Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared
chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.
The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary apparatus, and
the provision box furnished the elements of this first feast.
The breakfast began with three bowls of excellent soup, thanks to
the liquefaction in hot water of those precious cakes of Liebig,
prepared from the best parts of the ruminants of the Pampas.
To the soup succeeded some beefsteaks, compressed by an hydraulic
press, as tender and succulent as if brought straight from the
kitchen of an English eating-house. Michel, who was imaginative,
maintained that they were even "red."
Preserved vegetables ("fresher than nature," said the amiable
Michel) succeeded the dish of meat; and was followed by some
cups of tea with bread and butter, after the American fashion.
The beverage was declared exquisite, and was due to the
infusion of the choicest leaves, of which the emperor of Russia
had given some chests for the benefit of the travelers.
And lastly, to crown the repast, Ardan had brought out a fine
bottle of Nuits, which was found "by chance" in the
provision-box. The three friends drank to the union of the
earth and her satellite.
And, as if he had not already done enough for the generous wine
which he had distilled on the slopes of Burgundy, the sun chose
to be part of the party. At this moment the projectile emerged
from the conical shadow cast by the terrestrial globe, and the
rays of the radiant orb struck the lower disc of the projectile
direct occasioned by the angle which the moon's orbit makes with
that of the earth.
"The sun!" exclaimed Michel Ardan.
"No doubt," replied Barbicane; "I expected it."
"But," said Michel, "the conical shadow which the earth leaves
in space extends beyond the moon?"
"Far beyond it, if the atmospheric refraction is not taken into
consideration," said Barbicane. "But when the moon is enveloped
in this shadow, it is because the centers of the three stars,
the sun, the earth, and the moon, are all in one and the same
straight line. Then the _nodes_ coincide with the _phases_ of
the moon, and there is an eclipse. If we had started when there
was an eclipse of the moon, all our passage would have been in
the shadow, which would have been a pity."
"Why?"
"Because, though we are floating in space, our projectile,
bathed in the solar rays, will receive light and heat.
It economizes the gas, which is in every respect a good economy."
Indeed, under these rays which no atmosphere can temper, either
in temperature or brilliancy, the projectile grew warm and
bright, as if it had passed suddenly from winter to summer.
The moon above, the sun beneath, were inundating it with their fire.
"It is pleasant here," said Nicholl.
"I should think so," said Michel Ardan. "With a little earth
spread on our aluminum planet we should have green peas in
twenty-four hours. I have but one fear, which is that the
walls of the projectile might melt."
"Calm yourself, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane; "the
projectile withstood a very much higher temperature than this as
it slid through the strata of the atmosphere. I should not be
surprised if it did not look like a meteor on fire to the eyes
of the spectators in Florida."
"But then J. T. Maston will think we are roasted!"
"What astonishes me," said Barbicane, "is that we have not been.
That was a danger we had not provided for."
"I feared it," said Nicholl simply.
"And you never mentioned it, my sublime captain," exclaimed
Michel Ardan, clasping his friend's hand.
Barbicane now began to settle himself in the projectile as if he
was never to leave it. One must remember that this aerial car
had a base with a _superficies_ of fifty-four square feet.
Its height to the roof was twelve feet. Carefully laid out in
the inside, and little encumbered by instruments and traveling
utensils, which each had their particular place, it left the
three travelers a certain freedom of movement. The thick window
inserted in the bottom could bear any amount of weight, and
Barbicane and his companions walked upon it as if it were solid
plank; but the sun striking it directly with its rays lit the
interior of the projectile from beneath, thus producing singular
effects of light.
They began by investigating the state of their store of water
and provisions, neither of which had suffered, thanks to the
care taken to deaden the shock. Their provisions were abundant,
and plentiful enough to last the three travelers for more than
a year. Barbicane wished to be cautious, in case the projectile
should land on a part of the moon which was utterly barren.
As to water and the reserve of brandy, which consisted of fifty
gallons, there was only enough for two months; but according to
the last observations of astronomers, the moon had a low, dense,
and thick atmosphere, at least in the deep valleys, and there
springs and streams could not fail. Thus, during their passage,
and for the first year of their settlement on the lunar
continent, these adventurous explorers would suffer neither
hunger nor thirst.
Now about the air in the projectile. There, too, they were secure.
Reiset and Regnaut's apparatus, intended for the production of
oxygen, was supplied with chlorate of potassium for two months.
They necessarily consumed a certain quantity of gas, for they
were obliged to keep the producing substance at a temperature
of above 400@. But there again they were all safe. The apparatus
only wanted a little care. But it was not enough to renew the
oxygen; they must absorb the carbonic acid produced by expiration.
During the last twelve hours the atmosphere of the projectile had
become charged with this deleterious gas. Nicholl discovered
the state of the air by observing Diana panting painfully.
The carbonic acid, by a phenomenon similar to that produced in
the famous Grotto del Cane, had collected at the bottom of the
projectile owing to its weight. Poor Diana, with her head low,
would suffer before her masters from the presence of this gas.
But Captain Nicholl hastened to remedy this state of things,
by placing on the floor several receivers containing caustic
potash, which he shook about for a time, and this substance,
greedy of carbonic acid, soon completely absorbed it, thus
purifying the air.
An inventory of instruments was then begun. The thermometers
and barometers had resisted, all but one minimum thermometer,
the glass of which was broken. An excellent aneroid was drawn
from the wadded box which contained it and hung on the wall.
Of course it was only affected by and marked the pressure of the
air inside the projectile, but it also showed the quantity of
moisture which it contained. At that moment its needle
oscillated between 25.24 and 25.08.
It was fine weather.
Barbicane had also brought several compasses, which he found intact.
One must understand that under present conditions their needles
were acting _wildly_, that is without any _constant_ direction.
Indeed, at the distance they were from the earth, the magnetic
pole could have no perceptible action upon the apparatus; but
the box placed on the lunar disc might perhaps exhibit some
strange phenomena. In any case it would be interesting to see
whether the earth's satellite submitted like herself to its
magnetic influence.
A hypsometer to measure the height of the lunar mountains, a
sextant to take the height of the sun, glasses which would be
useful as they neared the moon, all these instruments were
carefully looked over, and pronounced good in spite of the
violent shock.
As to the pickaxes and different tools which were Nicholl's
especial choice; as to the sacks of different kinds of grain and
shrubs which Michel Ardan hoped to transplant into Selenite
ground, they were stowed away in the upper part of the projectile.
There was a sort of granary there, loaded with things which the
extravagant Frenchman had heaped up. What they were no one knew,
and the good-tempered fellow did not explain. Now and then he
climbed up by cramp-irons riveted to the walls, but kept the
inspection to himself. He arranged and rearranged, he plunged
his hand rapidly into certain mysterious boxes, singing in one
of the falsest of voices an old French refrain to enliven
the situation.
Barbicane observed with some interest that his guns and other
arms had not been damaged. These were important, because,
heavily loaded, they were to help lessen the fall of the
projectile, when drawn by the lunar attraction (after having
passed the point of neutral attraction) on to the moon's
surface; a fall which ought to be six times less rapid than it
would have been on the earth's surface, thanks to the difference
of bulk. The inspection ended with general satisfaction, when
each returned to watch space through the side windows and the
lower glass coverlid.
There was the same view. The whole extent of the celestial
sphere swarmed with stars and constellations of wonderful
purity, enough to drive an astronomer out of his mind! On one
side the sun, like the mouth of a lighted oven, a dazzling disc
without a halo, standing out on the dark background of the sky!
On the other, the moon returning its fire by reflection, and
apparently motionless in the midst of the starry world. Then, a
large spot seemingly nailed to the firmament, bordered by a
silvery cord; it was the earth! Here and there nebulous masses
like large flakes of starry snow; and from the zenith to the nadir,
an immense ring formed by an impalpable dust of stars, the "Milky
Way," in the midst of which the sun ranks only as a star of the
fourth magnitude. The observers could not take their eyes from
this novel spectacle, of which no description could give an
adequate idea. What reflections it suggested! What emotions
hitherto unknown awoke in their souls! Barbicane wished to begin
the relation of his journey while under its first impressions,
and hour after hour took notes of all facts happening in the
beginning of the enterprise. He wrote quietly, with his large
square writing, in a business-like style.
During this time Nicholl, the calculator, looked over the
minutes of their passage, and worked out figures with
unparalleled dexterity. Michel Ardan chatted first with
Barbicane, who did not answer him, and then with Nicholl, who
did not hear him, with Diana, who understood none of his
theories, and lastly with himself, questioning and answering,
going and coming, busy with a thousand details; at one time bent
over the lower glass, at another roosting in the heights of the
projectile, and always singing. In this microcosm he
represented French loquacity and excitability, and we beg you to
believe that they were well represented. The day, or rather
(for the expression is not correct) the lapse of twelve hours,
which forms a day upon the earth, closed with a plentiful supper
carefully prepared. No accident of any nature had yet happened
to shake the travelers' confidence; so, full of hope, already
sure of success, they slept peacefully, while the projectile
under an uniformly decreasing speed was crossing the sky.
Content of Chapter III - Their Place of Shelter [Jules Verne's novel: A trip around the Moon]
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