Overhead, they could see the Queen of Night coming
nearer and nearer to the line followed by the Projectile, and evidently
approaching the point where both should meet at the appointed moment.
All around, the black vault of heaven was dotted with luminous points
which seemed to move somewhat, though, of course, in their extreme
distance their relative size underwent no change. The Sun and the stars
looked exactly as they had appeared when observed from the Earth. The
Moon indeed had become considerably enlarged in size, but the
travellers' telescopes were still too weak to enable them to make any
important observation regarding the nature of her surface, or that might
determine her topographical or geological features.
Naturally, therefore, the time slipped away in endless conversation. The
Moon, of course, was the chief topic. Each one contributed his share of
peculiar information, or peculiar ignorance, as the case might be.
Barbican and M'Nicholl always treated the subject gravely, as became
learned scientists, but Ardan preferred to look on things with the eye
of fancy. The Projectile, its situation, its direction, the incidents
possible to occur, the precautions necessary to take in order to break
the fall on the Moon's surface--these and many other subjects furnished
endless food for constant debate and inexhaustible conjectures.
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