_If_ the Jovians and the rest have been able to quit
their planets, they have probably succeeded in discovering the invisible
sides of their satellites. But if they have _not_ been able to do so,
why, they're not a bit wiser than ourselves--But what's the matter with
the Projectile? It's certainly shifting!"
Shifting it certainly was. While the path it described as it swung
blindly through the darkness, could not be laid down by any chart for
want of a starting point, Barbican and his companions soon became aware
of a decided modification of its relative position with regard to the
Moon's surface. Instead of its side, as heretofore, it now presented its
base to the Moon's disc, and its axis had become rigidly vertical to the
lunar horizon. Of this new feature in their journey, Barbican had
assured himself by the most undoubted proof towards four o'clock in the
morning. What was the cause? Gravity, of course. The heavier portion of
the Projectile gravitated towards the Moon's centre exactly as if they
were falling towards her surface.
But _were_ they falling? Were they at last, contrary to all
expectations, about to reach the goal that they had been so ardently
wishing for? No! A sight-point, just discovered by M'Nicholl, very soon
convinced Barbican that the Projectile was as far as ever from
approaching the Moon, but was moving around it in a curve pretty near
concentric.
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