"Shall I
ever realize the absurdity of my entering into an argument with a
scientist!"
But this time the Projectile, though advancing northward with a pretty
uniform velocity, had neither gained nor lost in its nearness to the
lunar disc. Each moment altering the character of the fleeting landscape
beneath them, the travellers, as may well be imagined, never thought of
taking an instant's repose. At about half past one, looking to their
right on the west, they saw the summits of another mountain; Barbican,
consulting his map, recognized _Eratosthenes_.
This was a ring mountain, about 33 miles in diameter, having, like
_Copernicus_, a crater of immense profundity containing central cones.
Whilst they were directing their glasses towards its gloomy depths,
Barbican mentioned to his friends Kepler's strange idea regarding the
formation of these ring mountains. "They must have been constructed," he
said, "by mortal hands."
"With what object?" asked the Captain.
"A very natural one," answered Barbican. "The Selenites must have
undertaken the immense labor of digging these enormous pits at places of
refuge in which they could protect themselves against the fierce solar
rays that beat against them for 15 days in succession!"
"Not a bad idea, that of the Selenites!" exclaimed Ardan.
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