"The
moment I set eyes on the confounded thing, it reminded me of the
Bastille; it is now proving its likeness to a worse place: easy enough
to get into, but no redemption out of it!"
There was no longer any doubt possible on the subject. The terrible fall
had begun. The Projectile had retained velocity enough not only to carry
it beyond the dead point, but it was even able to completely overcome
the feeble resistance offered by the rockets. It was all clear now. The
same velocity that had carried the Projectile beyond the neutral point
on its way to the Moon, was still swaying it on its return to the Earth.
A well known law of motion required that, in the path which it was now
about to describe, _it should repass, on its return through all the
points through which it had already passed during its departure_.
No wonder that our friends were struck almost senseless when the fearful
fall they were now about to encounter, flashed upon them in all its
horror. They were to fall a clear distance of nearly 200 thousand miles!
To lighten or counteract such a descent, the most powerful springs,
checks, rockets, screens, deadeners, even if the whole Earth were
engaged in their construction--would produce no more effect than so many
spiderwebs.
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