This evidently should have been all done before the disc had been
finally laid on its springs. But as this had to be lifted up again in
order to reach the bottom of the Projectile, more work was to be done
than was strictly necessary. Though the labor was not very hard,
considering that gravity had as yet scarcely made itself felt, M'Nicholl
and Ardan were not sorry to have their little joke at Barbican's
expense. The Frenchman began humming
"_Aliquandoque bonus dormitat Homerus,_"
to a tune from _Orphee aux Enfers_, and the Captain said something
about the Philadelphia Highway Commissioners who pave a street one day,
and tear it up the next to lay the gas pipes. But his friends' humor was
all lost on Barbican, who was so wrapped up in his work that he probably
never heard a word they said.
Towards three o'clock every preparation was made, every possible
precaution taken, and now our bold adventurers had nothing more to do
than watch and wait.
The Projectile was certainly approaching the Moon. It had by this time
turned over considerably under the influence of attraction, but its own
original motion still followed a decidedly oblique direction.
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