"
"Captain," said Barbican, after a moment's reflection, "I know no more
what that object is than you do, but I can understand very well why it
keeps abreast with the Projectile."
"Very well then, why?"
"Because, my dear Captain, we are moving through a vacuum, and because
all bodies fall or move--the same thing--with equal velocity through a
vacuum, no matter what may be their shape or their specific gravity. It
is the air alone that makes a difference of weight. Produce an
artificial vacuum in a glass tube and you will see that all objects
whatever falling through, whether bits of feather or grains of shot,
move with precisely the same rapidity. Up here, in space, like cause and
like effect."
"Correct," assented M'Nicholl. "Everything therefore that we shall throw
out of the Projectile is bound to accompany us to the Moon."
"Well, we _were_ smart!" cried Ardan suddenly.
"How so, friend Michael?" asked Barbican.
"Why not have packed the Projectile with ever so many useful objects,
books, instruments, tools, et cetera, and fling them out into space once
we were fairly started! They would have all followed us safely! Nothing
would have been lost! And--now I think on it--why not fling ourselves
out through the window? Shouldn't we be as safe out there as that
bolide? What fun it would be to feel ourselves sustained and upborne in
the ether, more highly favored even than the birds, who must keep on
flapping their wings continually to prevent themselves from falling!"
"Very true, my dear boy," observed Barbican; "but how could we breathe?"
"It's a fact," exclaimed the Frenchman.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124