"The best under the circumstances;" observed Barbican; "and I shall
further observe that such a question as yours at present is both useless
and uncalled for. On some future occasion, when we shall consider it
advisable to return, the question will be in order, and we shall discuss
it with all the attention it deserves. Though the Columbiad is at Stony
Hill, the Projectile will still be in the Moon."
"Much we shall gain by that! A bullet without a gun!"
"The gun we can make and the powder too!" replied Barbican confidently.
"Metal and sulphur and charcoal and saltpetre are likely enough to be
present in sufficient quantities beneath the Moon's surface. Besides, to
return is a problem of comparatively easy solution: we should have to
overcome the lunar attraction only--a slight matter--the rest of the
business would be readily done by gravity."
"Enough said on the subject!" exclaimed Ardan curtly; "how to get back
is indefinitely postponed! How to communicate with our friends on the
Earth, is another matter, and, as it seems to me, an extremely easy
one."
"Let us hear the very easy means by which you propose to communicate
with our friends on Earth," asked the Captain, with a sneer, for he was
by this time a little out of humor.
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