He forgot even the strangeness of the fate that
had sent them wandering through these forbidden regions, like a
bewildered comet that had lost its way. With what a soft sweet light
every star glowed! No matter what its magnitude, the stream that flowed
from it looked calm and holy. No twinkling, no scintillation, no
nictitation, disturbed their pure and lambent gleam. No atmosphere here
interposed its layers of humidity or of unequal density to interrupt the
stately majesty of their effulgence. The longer he gazed upon them, the
more absorbing became their attraction. He felt that they were great
kindly eyes looking down even yet with benevolence and protection on
himself and his companions now driving wildly through space, and lost
in the pathless depths of the black ocean of infinity!
He soon became aware that his friends, following his example, had
interested themselves in gazing at the stars, and were now just as
absorbed as himself in the contemplation of the transcendent spectacle.
For a long time all three continued to feast their eyes on all the
glories of the starry firmament; but, strange to say, the part that
seemed to possess the strangest and weirdest fascination for their
wandering glances was the spot where the vast disc of the Moon showed
like an enormous round hole, black and soundless, and apparently deep
enough to permit a glance into the darkest mysteries of the infinite.
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