(1) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Velocity compared with earth as 1. (2) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Period of revolution in years and days. (3) MOVEMENT IN ORBIT. Orbital velocity in miles per second. (4) Mean diameter in miles (5) Surface compared with earth as 1. (6) Volume compared with earth as 1. (7) Mass compared with earth as 1. 

 Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

 Mercury. .. .. 0. 88 23 to 35 1. 6 3, 000 0. 14 0. 056 0. 13 Venus. .. .. 0. 224 1/2 21. 9 1. 17 7, 700 0. 94 0. 92 0. 78 The Earth. .. 1. 00 18. 5 1. 0 7, 918 1. 00 1. 00 1. 00 Mars. .. .. .. . 1. 88 15. 0 0. 81 4, 230 0. 28 0. 139 0. 124 Asteroids. .. 3. 29 . .. . . .. . From a few to 6. 56 miles to 300 Jupiter. .. .. 11. 86 8. 1 0. 44 86, 500 118. 3 1309. 00 316. 0 Saturn. .. .. . 29. 46 6. 0 0. 32 1, 000 0. 4 760. 0 95. 0 Uranus. .. .. . 84. 02 4. 2 0. 23 31, 900 16. 3 65. 0 14. 7 Neptune. .. . 164. 78 3. 4 0. 18 34, 800 19. 3 90. 0 17. 1 -----------------------------------------------------------------

 (1) Length of day. Hrs. Min. Sec. (2) Length of seasons (3) DENSITY Compared with earth as 1 (4) DENSITY Compared with water as 1 (5) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Compared with earth as 1. (6) FORCE OF GRAVITY AT SURFACE OF PLANET Bodies fall in one second. (7) Inclination of axis. 

 Planets (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

 Mercury. . .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. 1. 24 7. 17 0. 85 13. 7 . .. .. Venus. .. 23 21 22 . .. .. .. . 0. 92 5. 21 0. 83 13. 4 53+ The Earth. . .. .. Spring, 93 1. 00 5. 67 1. 00 16. 09 23 1/2 Summer, 93 Terrestrial days Autumn, 90 Winter, 89 Mars. .. 24 37 23 Spring, 191 0. 96 2. 54 0. 38 6. 2 27 1/2 Summer, 181 Martian days Autumn, 149 Winter, 147 Asteroids. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Jupiter. 9 55 28 . .. .. .. .. 0. 22 1. 29 2. 55 40. 98 1 1/2 Saturn. . 10 29 17 . .. .. .. .. 0. 13 0. 63 1. 15 18. 53 27 Uranus. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. 0. 18 1. 41 0. 91 14. 6 102(?) Neptune. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. 0. 20 0 0. 88 14. 2 . .. .. -----------------------------------------------------------------

"You see, " Ayrault explained, "on Jupiter we shall need our apergeticoutfits to enable us to make long marches, while on Saturn they willnot be necessary, the increase in our weight as a result of thatplanet's size being considerably less than the usual load carried bythe Roman soldier. "

"I do not imagine, " said Cortlandt, "we should long be troubled bygravitation without our apergetic outfits even on Jupiter, for, thoughour weight will be more than doubled, we can take off one quarter ofthe whole by remaining near the equator, their rapid rotation havingapparently been given providentially to all the large planets. Naturewill adapt herself to this change, as to all others, very readily. Although the reclamation of the vast areas of the North American ArcticArchipelago, Alaska, Siberia, and Antarctic Wilkes Land, from thedeath-grip of the ice in which they have been held will relieve thepressure of population for another century, at the end of that time itwill surely be felt again; it is therefore a consolation to feel thatthe mighty planets Jupiter and Saturn, which we are coming to look uponas our heritage, will not crush the life out of any human beings bytheir own weight that may alight upon them. "

Before going to bed that evening they decided to be up early the nextday, to study Jupiter, which was already a brilliant object. 

The following morning, on awakening, they went at once to theirobservatory, and found that Jupiter's disk was plainly visible to thenaked eye, and before night it seemed as large as the full moon. 

They then prepared to check the Callisto's headlong speed, whichJupiter's attraction was beginning to increase. When about two millionmiles from the great planet, which was considerably on their left, theyespied Callisto ahead and slightly on their right, as Deepwaters hadcalculated it would be. Applying a mild repulsion to this--which wasitself quite a world, with its diameter of over three thousand miles, though evidently as cold and dead as the earth's old moon--theyretarded their forward rush, knowing that the resulting motion towardsJupiter would be helped by the giant's pull. Wishing to be in goodcondition for their landing, they divided the remainder of the nightinto watches, two going to sleep at a time, the man on duty standing byto control the course and to get photographic negatives, on which, whenthey were developed, they found two crescent-shaped continents, aspeckled region, and a number of islands. By 7 A. M. , according toEastern standard time, they were but fifty thousand miles fromJupiter's surface, the gigantic globe filling nearly one side of thesky. In preparation for a sally, they got their guns and accoutrementsready, and then gave a parting glance at the car. Their charge ofelectricity for developing the repulsion seemed scarcely touched, andthey had still an abundant supply of oxygen and provisions. Thebarometer registered twenty-nine inches, showing that they had not lostmuch air in the numerous openings of the vestibule. The pressure wasabout what would be found at an altitude of a few hundred feet, part ofthe rarefaction being no doubt due to the fact that they did not closethe windows until at a considerable height above Van Cortlandt Park. 

They saw they should alight in a longitude on which the sun had justrisen, the rocky tops of the great mountains shining like helmets inits rays. Soon they felt a sharp checking of their forward motion, andsaw, from the changed appearance of the stars and the sun, that theyhad entered the atmosphere of their new home. 

Not even did Columbus, standing at the prow of the Santa Maria, withthe New World before him, feel the exultation and delight experiencedby these latter-day explorers of the twenty-first century. Their firstadventures on landing the reader already knows. 

 CHAPTER V. 

 EXPLORATION AND EXCITEMENT. 

When they awoke, the flowers were singing with the volume of acathedral organ, the chant rising from all around them, and the sun wasalready above the horizon. Finding a deep natural spring, in which thewater was at about blood-heat, they prepared for breakfast by taking abath, and then found they had brought nothing to eat. 

"It was stupid of us not to think of it, " said Bearwarden, "yet it willbe too much out of our way to return to the Callisto. "

"We have two rifles and a gun, " said Ayrault, "and have also plenty ofwater, and wood for a fire. All we need is game. "

"The old excuse, that it has been already shot out, cannot hold here, "said Cortlandt. 

"Seeing that we have neither wings nor pneumatic legs, and not knowingthe advantage given us by our rifles, " added Bearwarden, "it should notbe shy either. So far, " he continued, "we have seen nothing edible, though just now we should not be too particular; but near a spring likethis that kind must exist. "

"The question is, " said the professor, "whether the game like warmwater. If we can follow this stream till it has been on the surfacefor some time, or till it spreads out, we shall doubtless find ahuntsman's paradise. "

"A bright idea, " said Bearwarden. "Let's have our guns ready, and, asold Deepwaters would say, keep our weather eye open. "

The stream flowed off in a southeasterly direction, so that byfollowing it they went towards the volcanoes. 

"It is hard to realize, " said the professor, "that those mountains mustbe several hundred miles away, for the reason that they are almostentirely above the horizon. This apparent flatness and wide range ofvision is of course the result of Jupiter's vast size. Withsufficiently keen sight, or aided by a good glass, there is no reasonwhy one should not see at least five hundred miles, with but a slightelevation. "

"It is surprising, " said Ayrault, "that in what is evidently Jupiter'sCarboniferous period the atmosphere should be so clear. Our idea hasbeen that at that time on earth the air was heavy and dense. "

"So it was, and doubtless is here, " replied Cortlandt; "but you mustremember that both those qualities would be given it by carbonic-acidgas, which is entirely invisible and transparent. No gas that would belikely to remain in the air would interfere with sight; water vapour isthe only thing that could; and though the crust of this planet, evennear the surface, is still hot, the sun being so distant, the vapourwould not be, raised much. By avoiding low places near hot springs, weshall doubtless have very nearly as clear an atmosphere as on earth. What does surprise me is the ease with which we breathe. I can accountfor it only by supposing that, the Carboniferous period being alreadywell advanced, most of the carbonic acid is already locked up in theforests or in Jupiter's coal-beds. "

"How, " asked Bearwarden, "do you account for the 'great red spot' thatappeared here in 1878, lasted several years, and then gradually faded?It was taken as unmistakable evidence that Jupiter's atmosphere wasfilled with impenetrable banks of cloud. In fact, you remember many ofthe old books said we had probably never seen the surface. "

"That has puzzled me very much, " replied Cortlandt, "but I neverbelieved the explanation then given was correct. The Carboniferousperiod is essentially one of great forest growth; so there would benothing out of the way in supposing the spot, notwithstanding itslength of twenty-seven thousand miles and its breadth of eight thousandmiles, to have been forest. It occurred in what would correspond tothe temperate region on earth. Now, though the axis of this planet ispractically straight, the winds of course change their direction, andso the temperature does vary from day to day. What is more probablethan that, owing perhaps to a prolonged norther or cold spell, a longstrip of forest lying near the frost line was brought a few degreesbelow it, so that the leaves changed their colours as they do on earth?It would, it seems to me, be enough to give the surface a distinctcolour; and the fact that the spot's greatest length was east and west, or along the lines of latitude, so that the whole of that region mighthave been exposed to the same conditions of temperature, strengthensthis hypothesis. The strongest objection is, that the spot is said tohave moved; but the motion--five seconds--was so slight that it mighteasily have been an error in observation, or the first area affected bythe cold may have been enlarged on one side. It seems to me that thestability the spot DID have would make the cloud theory impossible onearth, and much more so here, with the far more rapid rotation and moreviolent winds. It may also have been a cloud of smoke from a volcanoin eruption, such as we saw on our arrival, though it is doubtfulwhether in that case it would have remained nearly stationary whilegoing through its greatest intensity and fading, which would look asthough the turned leaves had fallen off and been gradually replaced bynew ones; and, in addition to this, the spot since it was first noticedhas never entirely disappeared, which might mean a volcanic regionconstantly emitting smoke, or that the surface, doubtless from somecovering whose colour can change, is normally of a different shade fromthe surrounding region. In any case, we have as yet seen nothing thatwould indicate a permanently clouded atmosphere. "

Though they had walked a considerable distance, the water was not muchcooled; and though the stream's descent was so slight that on earth itscurrent would have been very slow, here it rushed along like a mountaintorrent, the reason, of course, being that a given amount of water onJupiter would depress a spring balance 2. 55 times as much as on theearth. 

"It is strange, " said Ayrault, "that, notwithstanding its great speed, the water remains so hot; you would think its motion would cool it. "

"So it does, " answered the professor. "It of course cools considerablymore in a given period--as, for instance, one minute--than if it weremoving more slowly, but on account of its speed it has been exposed tothe air but a very short time since leaving the spring. "

Just before them the stream now widened into a narrow lake, which theycould see was straight for some distance. 

"The fact is, " said Bearwarden, "this water seems in such haste toreach the ocean that it turns neither to right nor to left, and doesnot even seem to wish to widen out. "

As the huge ferns and palms grew to the water's edge, they concludedthe best way to traverse the lake would be on a raft. Accordingly, choosing a large overhanging palm, Bearwarden and Ayrault fired each anexplosive ball into its trunk, about eighteen inches from the ground. One round was enough to put it in the water, each explosion removingseveral cubic feet of wood. By repeating this process on other treesthey soon had enough large timber for buoyancy, so that they had but tosuperimpose lighter cross-logs and bind the whole together with pliablebranches and creepers to form a substantial raft. The doctor climbedon, after which Bearwarden and Ayrault cast off, having prepared longpoles for navigating. With a little care they kept their bark fromcatching on projecting roots, and as the stream continued to widen tillit was about one hundred yards across, their work became easy. Carriedalong at a speed of two or three miles an hour, they now saw that thewater and the banks they passed were literally alive with reptiles andall sorts of amphibious creatures, while winged lizards sailed fromevery overhanging branch into the water as they approached. Theynoticed also many birds similar to storks and cranes, about the size ofostriches, standing on logs in the water, whose bills were providedwith teeth. 

"We might almost think we were on earth, " said Ayrault, "from the looksof those storks standing on one leg, with the other drawn up, were itnot for their size. "

"How do you suppose they defend themselves, " asked Bearwarden, "fromthe snakes with which the water is filled?"

"I suspect they can give a pretty good account of themselves, " repliedCortlandt, "with those teeth. Besides, with only one leg exposed, there is but a very small object for a snake to strike at. For theirnumber and size, I should say their struggle for existence wascomparatively mild. Doubtless non-poisonous, or, for that matter, poisonous snakes, form a great part of their diet. "

On passing the bend in the lake they noticed that the banks wereslightly higher, while palms, pine-trees, and rubber plants succeededthe ferns. In the distance they now heard a tremendous crashing, whichgrew louder as the seconds passed. It finally sounded like anearthquake. Involuntarily they held their breath and grasped theirweapons. Finally, at some distance in the woods they saw a dark massmoving rapidly and approaching the river obliquely. Palms andpine-trees went down before it like straws, while its head wascontinually among the upper branches. As the monster neared the lake, the water at the edges quivered, showing how its weight shook the banksat each stride, while stumps and tree-trunks on which it stepped werepressed out of sight in the ground. A general exodus of the otherinhabitants from his line of march began; the moccasins slid into thewater with a low splash, while the boa-constrictors and the tree-snakesmoved off along the ground when they felt it tremble, and a number ofnight birds retreated into the denser woods with loud cries at being sorudely disturbed. The huge beast did not stop till he reached thebank, where lie switched his tail, raised his proboscis, and sniffedthe air uneasily, his height being fully thirty feet and his lengthabout fifty. On seeing the raft and its occupants, he looked at themstupidly and threw back his head. 

"He seems to be turning up his nose at us, " said Bearwarden. "All thesame, he will do well for breakfast. "

As the creature moved, his chest struck a huge overhanging palm, tearing it off as though it had been a reed. Brushing it aside withhis trunk, he was about to continue his march, when two rifle reportsrang out together, rousing the echoes and a number of birds thatscreeched loudly. 

 CHAPTER VI. 

 MASTODON AND WILL-O'-THE WISPS. 

Bearwarden's bullet struck the mammoth in the shoulder, while Ayrault'saim was farther back. As the balls exploded, a half-barrelful of fleshand hide was shot from each, leaving two gaping holes. Instantly herushed among the trees, making his course known for some time by hisroars. As he turned, Bearwarden fired again, but the hall flew overhim, blowing off the top of a tree. 

"Now for the chase!" said Ayrault. "There would be no excuse forlosing him. "

Quickly pushing their raft to shore and securing it to the bank, thethree jumped off. Thanks to their rubber boots and galvanic outfitswhich automatically kept them charged, they were as spry as they wouldhave been on earth. The ground all about them, and in a strip twelvefeet wide where the mammoth had gone, was torn up, and the vegetationtrodden down. Following this trail, they struck back into the woods, where in places the gloom cast by the thick foliage was so dense thatthere was a mere twilight, startling as they went numbers of birds ofgrey and sombre plumage, whose necks and heads, and the sounds theyuttered, were so reptilian that the three terrestrials believed theymust also possess poison fangs. 

"The most highly developed things we have seen here, " said Bearwarden, "are the flowers and fireflies, most of the birds and amphibians beingsimply loathsome. "

As they proceeded they found tracks of blood, which were rapidlyattracting swarms of the reptile birds and snakes, which, however, as arule, fled at their approach. 

"I wonder what can have caused that mammoth to move so fast, and tohave seemed so ill at ease?" said the doctor. "His motive certainlywas not thirst, for he did not approach the water in a direct line, neither did he drink on reaching it. One would think nothing short ofan earthquake or a land-slide could trouble him. "

"There can be no land-slide here, " said Ayrault, "for the country istoo flat. "

"And after yesterday's eruptions, " added Bearwarden, "it would seem asthough the volcanoes could have scarcely enough steam left to maketrouble. "

The blood-tracks, continuing to become fresher, showed them they werenearing the game, when suddenly the trail took a sharp turn to theright, even returning towards the lake. A little farther it tookanother sharp turn, then followed a series of doublings, while stillfarther the ground was completely denuded of trees, its torn-up andtrampled condition and the enormous amount of still warm blood showinghow terrific a battle had just taken place. 

While they looked about they saw what appeared to be the trunk of atree about four feet in diameter and six feet long, with a slightcrook. On coming closer, they recognized in it one of the forefeet ofthe mammoth, cut as cleanly as though with a knife from the leg justabove the ankle, and still warm. A little farther they found the hugetrunk cut to slivers, and, just beyond, the body of the unfortunatebeast with three of its feet gone, and the thick hide cut and slashedlike so much paper. It still breathed, and Ayrault, who had a tenderheart, sent an explosive ball into its skull, which ended its suffering. 

The three hunters then surveyed the scene. The largest and mostpowerful beast they had believed could exist lay before them dead, notfrom the bite of a snake or any other poison, but from mechanicalinjuries of which those they had inflicted formed but a very smallpart, and literally cut to pieces. 

"I am curious to see the animal, " said Cortlandt, "capable of doingthis, though nothing short of dynamite bombs would protect us from him. "

"As he has not stopped to eat his victim, " said Bearwarden, "it is fairto suppose he is not carnivorous, and so must have had some othermotive than hunger in making the attack; unless we can suppose that ourapproach frightened him away, which, with such power as he mustpossess, seems unlikely. Let us see, " he continued, "parts of two legsremain unaccounted for. Perhaps, on account of their shape, he hasbeen able the more easily to carry or roll them off, for we know thatelephant foot makes a capital dish. "

"From the way you talk, " said Cortlandt, "one would suppose youattributed this to men. The Goliath we picture to ourselves would be achild compared to the man that could cut through these legs, though thenecessity of believing him to have merely great size does not disprovehis existence here. I think it probable we shall find this is the workof some animal with incisors of such power as it is difficult for us toconceive of. "

"There is no indication here of teeth, " said Bearwarden, "each footbeing taken off with a clean cut. Besides, we are coming to believethat man existed on earth during the greater part, if not the whole, ofour Carboniferous period. "

"We must reserve our decision pending further evidence, " said Cortlandt. 

"I vote we take the heart, " said Ayrault, "and cook it, since otherwisethe mammoth will be devoured before our eyes. "

While Bearwarden and Ayrault delved for this, Cortlandt, with somedifficulty, parted the mammoth's lips and examined the teeth. "Fromthe conical projections on the molars, " said he, "this should beclassed rather as a mastodon than as a mammoth. "

When the huge heart was secured, Bearwarden arranged slices onsharpened sticks, while Ayrault set about starting a fire. He had touse Cortlandt's gun to clear the dry wood of snakes, which, attracteddoubtless by the dead mastodon, came in such numbers that they coveredthe ground, while huge pterodactyls, more venomous-looking than thereptiles, hovered about the opening above. 

Arranging a double line of electric wires in a circle about themastodon and themselves, they sat down and did justice to the meal, with appetites that might have dismayed the waiting throng. Whenever asnake's head came in contact with one wire, while his tail touched theother, he gave a spasmodic leap and fell back dead. If he happened tofall across the wires, lie immediately began to sizzle, a cloud ofsmoke arose, and lie was reduced to ashes. 

"Any time that we are short of mastodon or other good game, " saidAyrault, "we need not hunger if we are not above grilled snake. "

All laughed at this, and Bearwarden, drawing a whiskey-flask from hispocket, passed it to his friends. 

"When we rig our fishing-tackle, " he continued, "and have fresh fishfor dinner, an entree of rattlesnake, roast mastodon for the piece deresistance, and begin the whole with turtle soup and clams, of whichthere must be plenty on the ocean beach, we shall want to stay here therest of our lives. "

"I suspect we shall have to, " replied Ayrault "for we shall become solike Thanksgiving turkeys that the Callisto's door will be too smallfor us. "

While they sat and talked, the flowers and plants about them softlybegan their song, and, as a visual accompaniment, the fire-flies theyhad not before noticed twinkled through the forest. 

"My goodness!" exclaimed Cortlandt, "how time goes here! We started toget breakfast, and now it's growing dark. "

Hastily cutting some thick but tender slices from the mastodon, andimpaling them with the remains of the heart on a sharpened stake, theytook up the wires, and the battery that had been supplying the current, and retraced their steps by the way they had come. Their rubber-linedcowhide boots protected them from all but the largest snakes, and asthese were for the most part already enjoying their gorge, theytrampled with impunity on those that remained in their path. When theyhad covered about half the distance to the raft, a hugeboa-constrictor, which they had mistaken for a branch, fell uponCortlandt, pinioning his arms and bearing him to the ground. Droppingtheir loads, Bearwarden and Ayrault threw themselves upon the monsterwith their hunting-knives with such vim that in a few seconds it beat ahasty retreat, leaving, as it did so, a wake of phosphorescent light. 

"Are you hurt?" asked Bearwarden, helping him up. 

"Not in the least, " replied Cortlandt. "What surprises me is that I amnot. The weight of that boa-constrictor would be very great on earth, and here I should think it would be simply crushing. "

Groping their way through the rapidly growing darkness, they reachedthe raft without further adventure, and, once on the lake, had plentyof light. Two moons, one at three quarters and the other full, shonebrightly, while the water was alive with gymnotuses and other luminouscreatures. Sitting and living upon the cross-timbers, they looked upat the sky. The Great Bear and the north star had exactly the samerelation to each other as when seen from the earth, while the otherconstellations and the Milky Way looked identically as when they had sooften gazed at them before, and some idea of the immensity of space wasconveyed to them. Here was no change; though they had travelled threehundred and eighty million miles, there was no more perceptibledifference than if they had not moved a foot. Perhaps, they thought, to the telescopes--if there are any--among the stars, the sun was seento be accompanied by two small, dark companions, for Jupiter and Saturnmight be visible, or perhaps it seemed merely as a slightly variablestar, in years when sun-spots were numerous, or as the larger planetsin their revolutions occasionally intercepted a part of its light. Asthey floated along they noticed a number of what they took to beWill-o'-the-wisps. Several of these great globules of pale flamehovered about them in the air, near the surface of the water, and anonthey rose till they hung above the trees, apparently having no forwardor horizontal motion except when taken by the gentle breeze, merelysinking and rising. 

"How pretty they are!" said Cortlandt, as they watched them. "Forbodies consisting of marsh gas, they hold together wonderfully. "

Presently one alighted on the water near them. It was considerablybrighter than any glow-worm, and somewhat larger than an arc lamp, being nearly three feet in diameter; it did not emit much light, butwould itself have been visible from a considerable distance. Cortlandttried to touch it with a raft-pole, but could not reach far enough. Presently a large fish approached it, swimming near the surface of thewater. When it was close to the Jack-o'-lantern, or whatever it was, there was a splash, the fish turned up its white under side, and, thebreeze being away from the raft, the fire-ball and its victim slowlyfloated off together. There were frequently a dozen of these greatglobules in sight at once, rising and descending, the observersnoticing one peculiarity, viz. , that their brightness increased as theyrose, and decreased as they sank. 

About two and a half hours after sunset, or midnight according toJupiter time, they fell asleep, but about an hour later Cortlandt wasawakened by a weight on his chest. Starting up, he perceived a hugewhite-faced bat, with its head but a few inches from his. Itsoutstretched wings were about eight feet across, and it fastened itssharp claws upon him. Seizing it by the throat, he struggledviolently. His companions, awakened by the noise, quickly came to hisrescue, grasping him just as he was in danger of being dragged off theraft, and in another moment Bearwarden's knife had entered thecreature's spine. 

"This evidently belongs to the blood-sucking species, " said Cortlandt. "I seem to be the target for all these beasts, and henceforth shallkeep my eyes open at night. "

As day would break in but little over an hour, they decided to remainawake, and they pushed the dead bat overboard, where it was soondevoured by fishes. A chill had come upon the air, and the incessantnoise of the forms of life about them had in a measure ceased. 

Cortlandt passed around a box of quinine as a preventive againstmalaria, and again they lay back and looked at the stars. The mostsplendid sight in their sky now was Saturn. At the comparatively shortdistance this great planet was from them, it cast a distinct shadow, its vast rings making it appear twice its real size. With the firstglimmer of dawn, the fire-balls descended to the surface of the waterand disappeared within it, their lights going out. With a suddennessto which the explorers were becoming accustomed, the sun burst uponthem, rising as perpendicularly as at the earth's equator, and morethan twice as fast, having first tinged the sky with the most brillianthues. 

The stream had left the forest and swamp, and was now flowing throughopen country between high banks. Pushing the raft ashore, they steppedoff on the sand, and, warming up the remains of the mastodon's heart, ate a substantial breakfast. 

While washing their knives in the stream preparatory to leaving it--forthey wished to return to the Callisto by completing the circle they hadbegun--they noticed a huge flat jelly-fish in shallow water. It was sotransparent that they could see the sandy bottom through it. As itseemed to be asleep, Bearwarden stirred up the water around it andpoked it with a stick. The jelly-fish first drew itself together tillit touched the surface of the water, being nearly round, then it slowlyleft the stream and rose till it was wholly in the air, and, notwithstanding the sunlight, it emitted a faint glow. 

"Ah!" exclaimed Bearwarden, "here we have one of our Jack-o'-lanterns. Let us see what it is going to do. "

"It is incomprehensible to me, " said Cortlandt, "how it maintainsitself; for it has neither wings nor visible means of support, yet, asit was able to immerse itself in the stream, thereby displacing avolume of liquid equivalent to its bulk, it must be at least as heavyas water. "

The jelly-fish remained poised in the air until directly above them, when it began to descend. 

"Stand from under!" cried Bearwarden, stepping back. "I, for one, should not care to be touched. "

The great soft mass came directly over the spot on which they had beenstanding, and stopped its descent about three feet from the ground, parallel to which it was slowly carried by the wind. A few yards off, in the direction in which it was moving, lay a long black snake asleepon the sand. When directly over its victim the jelly globule againsank till it touched the middle of the reptile's back. The serpentimmediately coiled itself in a knot, but was already dead. Thejellyfish did not swallow, but completely surrounded its prey, andagain rose in the air, with the snake's black body clearly visiblewithin it. 

"Our Will-o'-the-wisp is prettier by night than by day, " saidBearwarden. "I suggest that we investigate this further. "

"How?" asked Cortlandt. 

"By destroying its life, " replied Bearwarden. "Give it one barrel fromyour gun, doctor, and see if it can then defy gravitation. "

Accordingly Cortlandt took careful aim at the object, abouttwenty-yards away, and fired. The main portion of the jellyfish, withthe snake still in its embrace, sailed away, but many pounds of jellyfell to the ground. Most of this remained where it had fallen, but afew of the larger pieces showed a faint luminosity and rose again. 

"You cannot kill that which is simply a mass of protoplasm, " saidCortlandt. "Doubtless each of those pieces will form a new organism. This proves that there are ramifications and developments of life whichwe never dreamed of. "

 CHAPTER VII. 

 AN UNSEEN HUNTER. 

They calculated that they had come ten or twelve miles from the placeat which they built the raft, while the damp salt breeze blowing fromthe south showed them they were near the ocean. Concluding that largebodies of water must be very much alike on all planets, they decided tomake for a range of hills due north and a few miles off, and tocomplete the circuit of the square in returning to the Callisto. Thesoft wet sand was covered with huge and curious tracks, doubtless madeby creatures that had come to the stream during the night to drink, andthey noticed with satisfaction as they set out that the fresher onesled off in the direction in which they were going. For practice, theyblew off the heads of the boa-constrictors as they hung from the trees, and of the other huge snakes that moved along the ground, withexplosive bullets, in every thicket through which they passed, knowingthat the game, never having been shot at, would not take fright at thenoise. Sometimes they came upon great masses of snakes, intertwinedand coiled like worms; in these cases Cortlandt brought his gun intoplay, raking them with duck-shot to his heart's content. "As thefunction of these reptiles, " he explained, "is to form a soil on whichhigher life may grow, we may as well help along their metamorphosis byartificial means. " They were impressed by the tremendous cannon-likereports of their firearms, which they perceived at once resulted fromthe great density of the Jovian atmosphere. And this was also aconsiderable aid to them in making muscular exertion, for it had justthe reverse effect of rarefied mountain air, and they seldom had toexpand their lungs fully in order to breathe. 

The ground continued to be marked with very large footprints. Oftenthe impressions were those of a biped like some huge bird, except thatoccasionally the creature had put down one or both forefeet, and athick tail had evidently dragged nearly all the time it walked erect. Presently, coming to something they had taken for a large flat rock, they were surprised to see it move. It was about twelve feet wide byeighteen feet long, while its shell seemed at least a foot thick, andit was of course the largest turtle they had ever seen. 

"Twenty-four people could dine at a table of this size with ease, " saidBearwarden, "while it would make soup for a regiment. I wonder if itbelongs to the snapping or diamond-backed species. "

At this juncture the monster again moved. 

"As it is heading in our direction, " resumed Bearwarden, "I vote westrike for a free pass, " and, taking a run, he sprang with his spikedboots upon the turtle's shell and clambered upon the flat top, whichwas about six feet from the ground. He was quickly followed byAyrault, who was not much ahead of Cortlandt, for, notwithstanding hisfifty years, the professor was very spry. The tortoise was almost theexact counterpart of the Glyptodon asper that formerly existed onearth, and shambled along at a jerky gait, about half as fast again asthey could walk, and while it continued to go in their direction theywere greatly pleased. They soon found that by dropping the butts oftheir rifles sharply and simultaneously on either side, just back ofthe head, they could direct their course, by making their steed swerveaway from the stamping. 

"It is strange, " said Ayrault, "that, with the exception of themastodon and this tortoise, we have seen none of the monsters that seemto appear at the close of Carboniferous periods, although the ground iscovered with their tracks. "

"Probably we did not reach the grounds at the right time of day, "replied Bearwarden. "The large game doubtless stays in the woods andjungles till night. "

"I fancy, " said Cortlandt, "we shall find representatives of all thespecies that once lived upon the earth. In the case of the singingflowers and the Jack-o'-lantern jelly-fish, we have, in addition, seendevelopments the existence of which no scientist has ever before evensuspected. "

Occasionally the tortoise stopped, whereupon they poked it from behindwith their knives. It was a vicious-looking brute, and had a hugehorny beak, with which it bit off young trees that stood in its way asthough they had been blades of grass. They were passing through avalley about half a mile wide, bordered on each side by woods, whenBearwarden suddenly exclaimed, "Here we have it!" and, looking forward, they unexpectedly saw a head rise and remain poised about fifteen feetfrom the ground. It was a dinosaur, and belonged to the scaled orarmoured species. In a few moments another head appeared, and toweredseveral feet above the first. The head was obviously reptilian, buthad a beak similar to that of their tortoise. The hind legs weredeveloped like those of a kangaroo, while the small rudimentaryforepaws, which could be used as hands or for going quadruped-fashion, now hung down. The strong thick tail was evidently of great use tothem when standing erect, by forming a sort of tripod. 

"How I wish we could take a pair of those creatures with us when wereturn to the earth!" said Cortlandt. 

"They would be trump cards, " replied Bearwarden, "in a zoologicalgarden or a dime museum, and would take the wind out of the sails ofall the other freaks. "

As they lay flat on the turtle's back, the monsters gazed at themunconcernedly, munching the palm-tree fruit so loudly that they couldbe heard a long distance. 

[Illustration: The ride on the giant tortoise. ]

"Having nothing to fear from a tortoise, " resumed Cortlandt, "they mayallow us to stalk them. We are in their eyes like hippocentaurs, except that we are part of a tortoise instead of part of a horse, orelse they take us for a parasite or fibrous growth on the shell. "

"They would not have much to fear from us as we really are, " repliedBearwarden, "were it not for our explosive bullets. "

"I am surprised, " said Ayrault, "that graminivorous animals should beso heavily armed as these, since there can be no great struggle inobtaining their food. "

"From the looks of their jaws, " replied Cortlandt, "I should say theyare omnivorous, and would doubtless prefer meat to what they are eatingnow. Something seems to have gone wrong with the animal creationhereabouts to-day. "

Their war-horse clanked along like a badly rusted machine, approachingthe dinosaurs obliquely. When only about fifty yards intervened, asthe hunters were preparing to aim, their attention was diverted by atremendous commotion in the woods on their left and somewhat ahead. With the crunching of dead branches and swaying of the trees, a droveof monsters made a hasty exit and sped across the open valley. Someshowed only the tops of their backs above the long grass, while othersshambled and leaped with their heads nearly thirty feet above theground. The dinosaurs instantly dropped on all-fours and joined in theflight, though at about half-minute intervals they rose on their hindlegs and for a few seconds ran erect. The drove passed about half amile before the travellers, and made straight for the woods opposite;but hardly had the monsters been out of sight two minutes when theyreappeared, even more precipitately than before, and fled up the valleyin the same direction as the tortoise. 

"The animals here, " said Bearwarden, "behave as though they were goingto catch a train; only our friend beneath us seems superior to haste. "

"I would give a good deal to know, " said Cortlandt, "what is pursuingthose giants, and whether it is identical or similar to the mutilatorof the mastodon. Nothing but abject terror could make them run likethat. "

"I have a well-formed idea, " said Bearwarden, "that a hunt is going on, with no doubt two parties, one in the woods on either side, and thatthe hunters may be on a scale commensurate with that of their victims. "

"If the excitement is caused by men, " replied Cortlandt, "ourexploration may turn out to be a far more difficult undertaking than weanticipated. But why, if there are men in those woods, do they notshow themselves?--for they could certainly keep pace with the game moreeasily in the open than among the trees. "

"Because, " replied Bearwarden, "the men in the woods are doubtless thebeaters, whose duty it is to drive the game into and up the valley, atthe end of which the killing will be done. "

"We may have a chance to see it, " said Ayrault, "or to take a hand, forwe are travelling straight in that direction, and shall be able to givea good account ourselves if our rights are challenged. "

"Why, " asked Cortlandt, "if the hunting parties that have been in ourvicinity were only beaters, should they have mutilated the mastodon insuch it way that he could not walk? And how were they able to takethemselves off so quickly--for man in his natural state has never beena fast mover? I repeat, it will upset my theories if we find men. "

It was obvious to them that tortoises were not much troubled by theapparently general foe, for the specimen in which they were just theninterested continued his course entirely unconcerned. Soon, however, he seemed to feel fatigue, for he drew his feet and head within hisshell, which he tightly closed, and after that no poking or proddinghad the desired effect. 

"I suspect we must depend on shank's mares for a time, " saidBearwarden, cheerfully, as they scrambled down. 

"We can now see, " said Cortlandt, "why our friend was so unconcerned, since he has but to draw himself within himself to become invulnerableto anything short of a stroke of lightning; for no bird could havepower enough to raise and drop him from a great height upon rocks, asthe eagles do on earth. "

"I suspect, if anxious for turtle soup, " said Bearwarden, "we mustattach a lightning--rod, and wait for a thunderstorm to electrocutehim. "

 CHAPTER VIII. 

 SPORTSMEN'S REVERIES. 

Feeling grateful to the huge tortoise for the good service he hadrendered, they shot a number of the great snakes that were glidingabout on the ground, and placed them where he would find them onawaiting. They then picked their way carefully towards stretches onwhich the grass was shortest. When they had gone about two miles, andhad already reached higher ground, they came to a ridge of rock runningat right angles to their course. This they climbed, and on lookingover the edge of the crest beheld a sight that made their hearts standstill. A monster, somewhat resembling an alligator, except that theback was arched, was waddling about perhaps seventy-five yards fromthem. It was sixty feet long, and to the top of its scales was atleast twenty-five feet high. It was constantly moving, and thetravellers noticed with some dismay that its motion was far more rapidthan they would have supposed it could be. 

"It is also a dinosaur, " said the professor, watching it sharply, "andvery closely resembles the Stegosaurus ungulatus restored in themuseums. The question is, What shall we do with the living specimen, now that we have it?"

"Our chairman, " said Ayrault, "must find a way to kill it, so that wemay examine it closely. "

"The trouble is, " said Bearwarden, "our bullets will explode beforethey penetrate the scales. In the absence of any way of making apassage for an explosive ball by means of a solid one, we must strike avital spot. His scales being no harder than the trunk of a tree, wecan wound him terribly by touching him anywhere; but there is no objectin doing this unless we can kill him, especially as there is no deepstream, such as would have delayed the mastodon in reaching us, toprotect us here. We must spread out so as to divert his attention fromone to another. "

After some consultation it was decided that Cortlandt, who had only ashot-gun, should remain where they were, while Bearwarden and Ayraultmoved some distance to the right and left. At a signal from Cortlandt, who was to attract the monster's attention, the wings were to advancesimultaneously. These arrangements they carried out to the letter. When Bearwarden and Ayrault had gone about twenty-five yards on eitherside, the doctor imitated the peculiar grunting sound of an alligator, at which the colossal monster turned and faced him, while Bearwardenand Ayrault moved to the attack. The plan of this was good, for, withhis attention fixed on three objects, the dinosaur seemed confused, andthough Bearwarden and Ayrault had good angles from which to shoot, there was no possibility of their hitting each other. They thereforeadvanced steadily with their rifles half up. Though their own dangerincreased with each step, in the event of their missing, the chance oftheir shooting wild decreased, the idea being to reach the brainthrough the eye. Cortlandt's part had also its risks, for, beingentirely defenceless with his shot-gun against the large creature, whose attention it was his duty to attract, he staked all on themarksmanship of his friends. Not considering this, however, he stoodhis ground, having the thumb-piece on his Winchester magazine shoved upand ready to make a noisy diversion if necessary in behalf of eitherwing. Having aroused the monster's curiosity, Cortlandt sprang up, waving his arms and his gun. The dinosaur lowered his head as if tocharge, thereby bringing it to a level with the rifles, either of whichcould have given it the fatal shot. But as their fingers pressed thetriggers the reptile soared up thirty feet in the air. Ayrault pulledfor his first sight, shooting through the lower jaw, and shivering thatmember, while Bearwarden changed his aim and sighted straight for theheart. In an instant the monster was down again, just missingAyrault's head as he stepped back, and Bearwarden's rifle poured astream of explosive balls against its side, rending and blowing awaythe heavy scales. Having drawn the dinosaur's attention to himself, heretreated, while Ayrault renewed the attack. Cortlandt, seeing thatthe original plan had miscarried, poured showers of small shot againstthe huge beast's face. Finally, one of Ayrault's balls exploded in thebrain, and all was over. 

"We have killed it at last, " said Bearwarden "but the first attack, though artistic, had not the brilliant results we expected. Thesecreatures' mode of fighting is doubtless somewhat similar to that ofthe kangaroo, which it is said puts its forepaws gently, almostlovingly, on a man's shoulders, and then disembowels him by the rapidmovement of a hind leg. But we shall get used to their method, and cando better next time. "

They then reloaded their weapons and, while Cortlandt examined theirvictim from a naturalist's point of view, Bearwarden and Ayraultsecured the heart, which they thought would be the most edible part, the operation being rendered possible by the amount of armour theexplosive balls had stripped off. 

"To-morrow, " said Bearwarden, "we must make it a point to get somewell-fed birds; for I can roast, broil, or fricassee them to a turn. Life is too short to live on this meat in such a sportsman's paradise. In any case there can be no end of mastodons, mammoths, woollyrhinoceroses, moa birds, and all such shooting. "

As the sun was already near the horizon, they chose a dry, sandy place, to secure as much immunity as possible from nocturnal visits, and, after procuring a supply of water from a pool, proceeded to arrangetheir camp for the night. They first laid out the protection-wires, setting them while the sun still shone. Next they built a fire andprepared their evening meal. While they ate it, twilight became night, and the fire-flies, twinkling in legions in the neighbouring valley, seemed like the lamps of a great city. 

"Their lights, " said Bearwarden, pointing to them, "are not as fine asthe jelly-fish Will-o'-the wisps were last night, but they are not sodangerous. No gymnotus or electric eel that I have ever seen comparedwith them, and I am convinced that any one of us they might havetouched would have been in kingdom come. "

The balmy air soothed the travellers' brows as they reclined againstmounds of sand, while the flowers in the valley sent up their dyingnotes. One by one the moons arose, till four--among them theLilliputian, discovered by Prof. Barnard in 1893--were in the sky, flooding the landscape with their silvery light, and something in thesurroundings touched a sympathetic cord in the men. 

"Oh that I were young again, " said Cortlandt, "and had life before me!I should like to remain here and grow up with this planet, in which wealready perceive the next New World. The beauties of earth are barrencompared with the scenes we have here. "

"You remember, " replied Bearwarden, "how Cicero defends old age in hisDe Senectute, and shows that while it has almost everything that youthhas, it has also a sense of calm and many things besides. "

"Yes, " answered Cortlandt, "but, while plausible, it does not convince. The pleasures of age are largely negative, the old being happy whenfree from pain. "

"Since the highest joy of life, " said Ayrault, "is coming to know ourCreator, I should say the old, being further advanced, would be thehappier of the two. I should never regard this material life asgreatly to be prized for itself. You remember the old song: "'O Youth! When we come to consider The pain, the toil, and the strife, The happiest man of all is The one who has finished his life. '

"I suspect, " continued Ayrault, "that the man who reaches even thelowest plane in paradise will find far more beautiful visions than anywe have here. "

As they had but little rest the night before, they were all tired. Thewarm breeze swayed the long dry grass, causing it to give out a softrustle; all birds except the flitting bats were asleep among the tallferns or on the great trees that spread their branches towards heaven. There was nothing to recall a picture of the huge monsters they hadseen that day, or of the still more to be dreaded terror these hadborne witness to. Thus night closes the activities of the day, and inits serene grandeur the soul has time to think. While they thought, however, drowsiness overcame them, and in a little while all wereasleep. 

The double line of protection-wires encircled them like a silent guard, while the methodical ticking of the alarm-clock that was to wake themat the approach of danger, and register the hour of interruption, formed a curious contrast to the irregular cries of the night-hawks inthe distance. Time and again some huge iguanodon or a hipsohopus wouldpass, shaking the ground with its tread; but so implicit was thetravellers' trust in the vigilance of their mechanical and tirelesswatch, that they slept on as calmly and unconcernedly as though theyhad been in their beds at home, while the tick was as constant andregular as a sentry's march. The wires of course did not protect themfrom creatures having wings, and they ran some risk of a visitationfrom the blood-sucking bats. The far-away volcanoes occasionally sentup sheets of flame, which in the distance were like summer lightning;the torrents of lava and crashes that had sounded so thunderous whennear, were now like the murmur of the ocean's ebb tide, lulling theterrestrials to deeper sleep. The pale moons were at intervalsmomentarily obscured by the rushing clouds in the upper air, only toreappear soon afterwards as serene as before. All Nature seemed atrest. 

Shortly before dawn there was an unusually heavy step. A moment laterthe ever-vigilant batteries poured forth their current, and the clangof the alarm-bell made the still night ring. In an instant the threemen were awake, each resting on one knee, with their backs towards thecentre and their polished barrels raised. It was not long before theyperceived the intruder by the moonlight. A huge monster of theTriceratops prorsus species had entered the camp. It was shapedsomething like an elephant, but had ten or twelve times the bulk, beingover forty feet in length, not including the long, thick tail. Thehead carried two huge horns on the forehead and one on the nose. 

"A plague on my shot-gun!" said Cortlandt. "Had I known how much ofthis kind of game we should see, I too should have brought a rifle. "

The monster was entangled in the wires, and in another second wouldhave stepped on the batteries that were still causing the bell to ring. 

"Aim for the heart, " said Bearwarden to Ayrault. "When you show me hisribs, I will follow you in the hole. "

Ayrault instantly fired for a point just back of the left foreleg. Theexplosion had the same effect as on the mastodon, removing ahalf-barrel of hide, etc; and the next second Bearwarden sent a bulletless than an inch from where Ayrault's had stopped. Before thecolossus could turn, each had caused several explosions in closeproximity to the first. The creature was of course terribly wounded, and several ribs were cracked, but no ball had gone through. With aroar it made straight for the woods, and with surprising agility, running fully as fast as an elephant. Bearwarden and Ayrault kept up arapid fire at the left hind leg, and soon completely disabled it. Thedinosaur, however, supported itself with its huge tail, and continuedto make good time. Knowing they could not give it a fatal wound at theintervening distance, in the uncertain light, they stopped firing andset out in pursuit. Cortlandt paused to stop the bell that still rang, and then put his best foot foremost in regaining his friends. For halfa mile they hurried along, until, seeing by the quantity of blood onthe ground that they were in no danger of losing the game, theydetermined to save their strength. The trail entered the woods by anarrow ravine, passed through what proved to be but a belt of timber, and then turned north to the right. Presently in the semi-darknessthey saw the monster's head against the sky. He was browsing among thetrees, tearing off the young branches, and the hunters succeeded ingetting within seventy-five yards before being discovered. Just as hebegan to run, the two rifles again fired, this time at the right hindleg, which they succeeded in hamstringing. After that the Triceratopsprorsus was at their mercy, and they quickly put an end to itssuffering. 

"The sun is about to rise, " said Bearwarden; "in a few minutes we shallhave enough light. "

They cut out a dozen thick slices of tenderloin steak, and soon werebroiling and eating a substantial breakfast. 

"There are not as many spectators to watch us eat here, " saidCortlandt, "as in the woods. I suggest that, after returning to campfor our blankets and things, we steer for the Callisto, via thisTriceratops, to see what creatures have been attracted by the body. "

On finishing their meal they returned to the place at which they hadpassed the night. Having straightened the protection-wires, which hadbecome twisted, and arranged their impedimenta, they set out, and weresoon once more beside their latest victim. 

 CHAPTER IX. 

 THE HONEY OF DEATH. 

At first nothing seemed to have been disturbed, when they suddenlyperceived that both forelegs were missing. On further examination theyfound that the ponderous tail, seven feet in diameter, was cut throughin two places, the thicker portion having disappeared, and that theheavy bones in this extremity of the vertebral column had been severedlike straws. The cut surfaces were but little cooler than the interiorof the body, showing how recently the mutilation had been effected. 

"By all the gods!" exclaimed Bearwarden, "it is easy to see the methodin this; the hunters have again cut off only those parts that could beeasily rolled. These Jovian fellows must have weapons compared withwhich the old scythe chariots would be but toys, with which theyamputate the legs of their victims. We must see to it that theirscimitars do not come too near to us, and I venture to hope that in ourbullets they will find their match. What say you, doctor?"

"I see no depression such as such heavy bodies would necessarily havemade had they been rolled along the ground, neither does it seem to methat these curious tracks in the sand are those of men. "

The loose earth looked as if the cross-ties of some railroad had beenremoved, the space formerly occupied having been but partly filled, andthese depressions were across the probable direction of motion. 

"Whatever was capable of chasing mastodons and carrying such weights, "said Ayrault, "will, I suspect, have little to fear from us. Probablynothing short of light artillery would leave much effect. "

"I dare say, " replied Bearwarden, "we had better give the unknownquantity a wide berth, though I would give a year's salary to see whatit is like. The absence of other tracks shows that his confreres leave'Scissor-jaw' alone. "

Keeping a sharp lookout in all directions, they resumed their marchalong the third side of the square which was to bring them back to theCallisto. Their course was parallel to the stream, and oncomparatively high ground. Cortlandt's gun did good service, bringingdown between fifty and sixty birds that usually allowed them to get asnear as they pleased, and often seemed unwilling to leave theirbranches. By the time they were ready for luncheon they saw it wouldbe dark in an hour. As the rapidity of the planet's rotation did notgive them a chance to become tired, they concluded not to pitch theircamp, but to resume the march by moonlight, which would be easy in thehigh, open country they were traversing. 

While in quest of fire-wood, they came upon great heaps of bones, mostly those of birds, and were attracted by the tall, bell-shapedflowers growing luxuriantly in their midst. These exhaled a mostdelicious perfume, and at the centre of each flower was a viscousliquid, the colour of honey. 

"If this tastes as well as it looks, " said Bearwarden, "it will come inwell for dessert"; saying which he thrust his finger into the recessesof the flower, intending to taste the essence. Quietly, but like aflash, the flower closed, his hand being nearly caught and badlyscratched by the long, sharp thorns that now appeared at the edges. 

"Ha!" he exclaimed, "a sensitive and you may almost say a man-eatingplant. This doubtless has been the fate of these birds, whose bonesnow lie bleaching at its feet after they have nourished its lips withtheir lives. No doubt the plant has use for them still, since theirskeletons may serve to fertilize its roots. "

Wishing to investigate further, Bearwarden placed one of the birds theyhad shot within the bell of another flower, which immediatelycontracted with such force that they saw drops of blood squeezed out. After some minutes the flower opened, as beautiful as ever, anddischarged an oblong ball compressed to about the size of a hen's egg, though the bird that was placed within it had been as large as a smallduck. Towards evening these flowers sent up their most beautiful song, to hear which flocks of birds came from far and near, alighting on thetrees, and many were lured to death by the siren strains and the honey. 

Before resuming their journey, the travellers paid a parting visit tothe bell-shaped lilies on their pyramids of bones. The flowers wereclosed for the night, and the travellers saw by the moonlight that thewhite mounds were simply alive with diamond-headed snakes. Thesecoiled themselves, flattened their heads, and set up such a hissing onthe explorers' approach that they were glad to retire, and leave thiscurious contrast of hideousness and beauty to the fire-flies and themoons. Marching along in Indian file, the better to avoid treading onthe writhing serpents that strewed the ground, they kept on for abouttwo hours. They frequently passed huge heaps or mounds of bones, evidently the remains of bears or other large animals. The carnivorousplants growing at their centre were often like hollow trees, and mighteasily have received the three travellers in one embrace. But asbefore, the mounds were alive with serpents that evidently made themtheir homes, and raised an angry hiss whenever the men approached. 

"The wonder to me, " said Bearwarden, "is, that these snakes do notprotect the game, by keeping it from the life-devouring plants. It maybe that they do not show themselves by day or when the victims arenear, or that the quadrupeds on which these plants live take apleasure, like deer, in killing them by jumping with all four feet upontheir backs or in some other way, and after that are entrapped by theflowers. "

Shortly after midnight they rested for a half hour, but the dawn foundthem trudging along steadily, though somewhat wearily, and having aboutcompleted the third side of their square. Accordingly, they soon madea right-angle turn to the left, and had been picking their way over therough ground for nearly two hours, with the sun already high in thesky, when they noticed a diminution of light. Glancing up, they sawthat one of the moons was passing across the sun, and that they were onthe eve of a total eclipse. 

"Since all but the fifth moon, " said Cortlandt, "revolve exactly in theplane of Jupiter's equator, any inhabitants that settle there willbecome accustomed to eclipses, for there must be one of the sun, andalso of the moons, at each revolution, or about forty-five hundred inevery Jovian year. The reason we have seen none before is, because weare not exactly on the equator. "

They had a glimpse of the coronal streamers as the last portion of thesun was covered, and all the other phenomena that attend an eclipse onearth. For a few minutes there was a total return to night. Thetwinkling stars and other moons shone tranquilly in the sky, and eventhe noise of the insects ceased. Presently the edge of the sun thathad been first obscured reappeared, and then Nature went through thephenomenon of an accelerated dawn. Without awaiting a full return oflight, the travellers proceeded on their way, and had gone somethingover a hundred yards when Ayrault, who was marching second, suddenlygrasped Bearwarden, who was in front, and pointed to a jet-black massstraight ahead, and about thirty yards from a pool of warm water, fromwhich a cloud of vapour arose. The top of the head was about sevenfeet high, and the length of the body exceeded thirty feet. The sixlegs looked as strong as steel cables, and were about a foot through, while a huge, bony proboscis nine feet in length preceded the body. This was carried horizontally between two and three feet from theground. Presently a large ground sloth came to the pool to drink, lapping up the water at the sides that had partly cooled. In aninstant the black armored monster rushed down the slope with the speedof a nineteenth-century locomotive, and seemed about as formidable. The sloth turned in the direction of the sound, and for a moment seemedparalyzed with fear; it then started to run, but it was too late, forthe next second the enormously exaggerated ant--for such itwas--overtook it. The huge mandible shears that when closed had formedthe proboscis, snapped viciously, taking off the sloth's legs and thencutting its body to slivers. The execution was finished in a fewseconds, and the ponderous insect carried back about half the sloth toits hiding-place, where it leisurely devoured it. 

"This reminds me, " said Bearwarden, "of the old lady who nevercompleted her preparations for turning in without searching forburglars under the bed. Finally she found one, and exclaimed indelight, 'I've been looking for you fifty years, and at last you arehere!' The question is, now that we have found our burglar, what shallwe do with him?"

"I constantly regret not having a rifle, " replied Cortlandt, "though itis doubtful if even that would help us here. "

[Illustration: A battle royal on Jupiter. ]

"Let us sit down and wait, " said Ayrault; "there may be an openingsoon. "

Anon a woolly rhinoceros, resembling the Rhinoceros tichorhinus thatexisted contemporaneously on earth with the mammoth, came to drink thewater that had partly cooled. It was itself a formidable-lookingbeast, but in an instant the monster again rushed from concealment withthe same tremendous speed. The rhinoceros turned in the direction ofthe sound, and, lowering its head, faced the foe. The ant's shears, however, passed beneath the horn, and, fastening upon the left foreleg, cut it off with a loud snap. 

"Now is our chance, " exclaimed Cortlandt; "we may kill the brute beforehe is through with the rhinoceros. "

"Stop a bit, doctor, " said Bearwarden. "We have a good record so far;let us keep up our reputation for being sports. Wait till he canattend to us. "

The encounter was over in less than a minute, three of the rhinoceros'slegs being taken off, and the head almost severed from the body. Taking up the legs in its mandibles, the murderous creature wasreturning to its lair, when, with the cry of "Now for the fray!"Bearwarden aimed beneath the body and blew off one of the fartherarmoured legs, from the inside. "Shoot off the legs on the same side, "he counselled Ayrault, while he himself kept up a rapid fire. Cortlandt tried to disconcert the enemy by raining duck-shot on itsscale-protected eyes, while the two rifles tore off great masses of thehorn that covered the enormously powerful legs. The men separated asthey retreated, knowing that one slash of the great shears would cuttheir three bodies in halves if they were caught together. The monsterhad dropped the remains of the rhinoceros when attacked, and made forthe hunters at its top speed, which was somewhat reduced by the loss ofone leg. Before it came within cutting distance, however, another onthe same side was gone, Ayrault having landed a bullet on a spotalready stripped of armour. After this the men had no difficulty inkeeping out of its way, though it still moved with some speed, snippingoff young trees in its path like grass. Finally, having blown thescales from one eye, the travellers sent in a bullet that exploded inthe brain and ended its career. 

"This has been by all odds the most exciting hunt we have had, " saidAyrault, "both on account of the determined nature and great speed ofthe attack, and the almost impossibility of finding a vulnerable spot. "

"Anything short of explosive bullets, " added Bearwarden, "would havebeen powerless against this beast, for the armour in many places isnearly a foot thick. "

"This is also the most extraordinary as well as most dangerous creaturewith which we have, had to deal, " said Cortlandt, "because it is anenormously enlarged insect, with all the inherent ferocity andstrength. It is almost the exact counterpart of an African soldier-antmagnified many hundred thousand times. I wonder, " he continuedthoughtfully, "if our latter-day insects may not be the deteriorated(in point of size) descendants of the monsters of mythology andgeology, for nothing could be a more terrible or ferocious antagonistthan many of our well-known insects, if sufficiently enlarged. Noanimal now alive has more than a small fraction of the strength, inproportion to its size, of the minutest spider or flea. It may be thatthrough lack of food, difficulties imposed by changing climate, and thenecessity of burrowing in winter, or through some other conditionschanged from what they were accustomed to, their size has been reduced, and that the fire-flies, huge as they seemed, are a step in advance ofthis specimen in the march of deterioration or involution, which willend by making them as insignificant as those on earth. These ants haveprobably come into the woods to lay their eggs, for, from the behaviourof the animals we watched from the turtle, there must have beenseveral; or perhaps a war is in progress between those of a differentcolour, as on earth, in which case the woods may be full of them. Doubtless the reason the turtle seemed so unconcerned at the generaluneasiness of the animals was because he knew he could make himselfinvulnerable to the marauder by simply closing his shell, and we wereunmolested because it did not occur to the ant that any soft-shelledcreatures could be on the turtle's back. "

"I think, " said Bearwarden, "it will be the part of wisdom to return tothe Callisto, and do the rest of our exploring on Jupiter from a safeheight; for, though we succeeded in disabling this beauty, it waslargely through luck, and had we not done so we should probably haveprovided a bon bouche for our deceased friend, instead of standing athis grave. "

Accordingly they proceeded, and were delighted, a few minutes later, tosee the sunlight reflected from the projectile's polished roof. 

 CHAPTER X. 

 CHANGING LANDSCAPES. 

On reaching the Callisto, Ayrault worked the lock he had had placed onthe lower door, which, to avoid carrying a key, was opened by acombination. The car's interior was exactly as they had left it, andthey were glad to be in it again. 

"Now, " said Bearwarden, "we can have a sound and undisturbed sleep, which is what I want more than anything else. No prowlers can troubleus here, and we shall not need the protection-wires. "

They then opened a window in each side--for the large glass plates, admitting the sun when closed, made the Callisto rather warm--andplaced a stout wire netting within them to keep out birds and bats, andthen, though it was but little past noon, got into their comfortablebeds and slept nine hours at a stretch. Their strong metal house wassecurely at rest, receiving the sunlight and shedding the rain and dewas it might have done on earth. No winds or storms, lightnings orfloods, could trouble it, while the multiformed monsters of antiquityand mythology restored in life, with which the terrestrials had beenthrown into such close contact, roamed about its polished walls. Noteven the fiercest could affect them, and they would but see themselvesreflected in any vain assaults. The domed symmetrical cylinder stoodthere as a monument to human ingenuity and skill, and the travellers'last thought as they fell asleep was, "Man is really lord of creation. "

The following day at about noon they awoke, and had a bath in the warmpool. They saw the armoured mass of the great ant evidentlyundisturbed, while the bodies of its victims were already shiningskeletons, and raised a small cairn of stones in memory of the strugglethey had had there. 

"We should name this place Kentucky, " said Bearwarden, "for it isindeed a dark and bloody ground, " and, seeing the aptness of theappellation, they entered it so on their charts. While Ayrault got thebatteries in shape for resuming work. Bearwarden prepared asubstantial breakfast. This consisted of oatmeal and cream kepthermetically sealed in glass, a dish of roast grouse, coffee, pilotbread, a bottle of Sauterne, and another of Rhine wine. 

"This is the last meal we shall take hereabouts, " said their cook, asthey plied their knives and forks beneath the trees, "so here is atoast to our adventures, and to all the game we have killed. " Theydrained their glasses in drinking this, after which Bearwarden regaledthem with the latest concert-hall song which he had at his tongue's end. 

About an hour before dark they re-entered their projectile, and, as amark of respect to their little ship, named the great branch of thecontinent on which they had alighted Callisto Point. They then gotunder way. The batteries had to develop almost their maximum power toovercome Jupiter's attraction; but they were equal to the task, and theCallisto was soon in the air. Directing their apergy to the mountainstowards the interior of the continent, and applying repulsion to anyridge or hill over which they passed, thereby easing the work of thebatteries engaged in supporting the Callisto, they were soon sweepingalong at seventy-five to one hundred miles an hour. By keeping theprojectile just strongly enough charged to neutralize gravitation, theyremained for the most part within two hundred feet of the ground, seldom rising to an altitude of more than a mile, and were thereforeable to keep the windows at the sides open and so obtain anunobstructed view. If, however, at any time they felt oppressed byJupiter's high barometric pressure, and preferred the terrestrialconditions, they had but to rise till the barometer fell to thirty. Then, if an object of interest recalled them to sea-level, they couldkeep the Callisto's inside pressure at what they found on the Jovianmountains, by screwing up the windows. On account of the distance ofsixty-four thousand miles from Jupiter's equator to the pole, theycalculated that going at the speed of a hundred miles an hour, nightand day, it would take them twenty-five terrestrial days to reach thepole even from latitude two degrees at which they started. But theyknew that, if pressed for time, they could rise above the limits of theatmosphere, and move with planetary speed; while, if they wished astill easier method of pursuing their observation, they had but toremain poised between the sun and Jupiter, beyond the latter's upperair, and photograph or map it as it revolved before them. 

By sunset they had gone a hundred miles. Wishing to push along, theyclosed the windows, rose higher to avoid any mountain-tops that mightbe invisible in the moonlight, and increased their speed. The air madea gentle humming sound as they shot through it, and towards morningthey saw several bright points of light in which they recognized, bythe aid of their glasses, sheets of flame and torrents of moltenglowing lava, bursting at intervals or pouring steadily from severalvolcanoes. From this they concluded they were again near an ocean, since volcanoes need the presence of a large body of water to providesteam for their eruptions. 

With the rising sun they found the scene of the day before entirelychanged. They were over the shore of a vast ocean that extended to theleft as far as they could see, for the range of vision often exceededthe power of sight. The coast-line ran almost due north and south, while the volcanoes that dotted it, and that had been luminous duringthe night, now revealed their nature only by lines of smoke andvapours. They were struck by the boldness and abruptness of thescenery. The mountains and cliffs had been but little cut down bywater and frost action, and seemed in the full vigour of their youth, which was what the travellers had a right to expect on a globe that wasstill cooling and shrinking, and consequently throwing up ridges in theshape of mountains far more rapidly than a planet as matured andquiescent as the earth. The absence of lakes also showed them thatthere had been no Glacial period, in the latitudes they were crossing, for a very long time. 

"We can account for the absence of ice-action and scratches, " saidCortlandt, "in one of two ways. Either the proximity of the internalheat to the surface prevents water from freezing in all latitudes, orJupiter's axis has always been very nearly perpendicular to its orbit, and consequently the thermometer has never been much below thirty-twodegrees Fahrenheit; for, at the considerable distance we are now fromthe sun, it is easy to conceive that, with the axis much inclined, there might be cold weather, during the Northern hemisphere's winter, that would last for about six of our years, even as near the equator asthis. The substantiation of an ice-cap at the pole will disprove thefirst hypothesis; for what we took for ice before alighting may havebeen but banks of cloud, since, having been in the plane of theplanet's equator at the time, we had naturally but a very oblique viewof the poles; while the absence of glacial scratches shows, I take it, that though the axis may have been a good deal more inclined than atpresent, it has not, at all events since Jupiter's Palaeozoic period, been as much so as that of Uranus or Venus. The land on Jupiter, corresponding to the Laurentian Hills on earth, must even here haveappeared at so remote a period that the first surface it showed mustlong since have been worn away, and therefore any impressions itreceived have also been erased. 

"Comparing this land with the photographs we took from space, I shouldsay it is the eastern of the two crescent-shaped continents we foundapparently facing each other. Their present form I take to be only theskeleton outline of what they will be at the next period of Jupiter'sdevelopment. They will, I predict, become more like half moons thancrescents, though the profile may be much indented by gulfs and bays, their superficial area being greatly increased, and the interveningocean correspondingly narrowed. We know that North America had a verydifferent shape during the Cretaceous or even the Middle Tertiaryperiod from what it has now, and that the Gulf of Mexico extended upthe valley of the Mississippi as far as the Ohio, by the presence of agreat coral reef in the Ohio River near Cincinnati. We know also thatFlorida and the Southeastern Atlantic States are a very recent additionto the continent, while the pampas of the Argentine Republic have, in ageological sense, but just been upheaved from the sea, by the fact thatthe rivers are all on the surface, not having had time to cut downtheir channels below the surrounding country. By similar reasoning, weknow that the canon of the Colorado is a very old region, though theprecipitateness of its banks is due to the absence of rain, for a localwater-supply would cut back the banks, having most effect where theywere steepest, since at those points it would move with the greatestspeed. Thus the majestic canon owes its existence to two things: thelength of time the river has been at work, and the fact that the waterflowing through it comes from another region where, of course, there israin, and that it is merely in transit, and so affects only the bed onwhich it moves. Granting that this is the eastern of the twocontinents we observed, it evidently corresponds more in shape to theEastern hemisphere on earth than to the New World, both of which areset facing one another, since both drain towards the Atlantic Ocean. But the analogy here holds also, for the past outlines of the Easternhemisphere differed radically from what they are now. TheMediterranean Sea was formerly of far greater extent than we see itto-day, and covered nearly the whole of northern Africa and the oldupheaved sea-bottom that we see in the Desert of Sahara. Much of thisgreat desert, as we know, has a considerable elevation, though part ofit is still below the level of the Mediterranean. 

"Perhaps a more striking proof of this than are the remains of fishesand marine life that are found there, is the dearth of natural harboursand indentations in Africa's northern coast, while just opposite, insouthern Europe, there are any number; which shows that not enough timehas elapsed since Africa's upheaval for liquid or congealed water toproduce them. Many of Europe's best harbours, and Boston's, in ourcountry, have been dug out by slow ice-action in the oft-recurringGlacial periods. The Black and Caspian Seas were larger than we nowfind them; while the Adriatic extended much farther into the continent, covering most of the country now in the valley of the Po. In Europethe land has, of course, risen also, but so slowly that the rivers havebeen able to keep their channels cut down; proof of their ability toperform which feat we see when an ancient river passes through a ridgeof hills or mountains. The river had doubtless been there long beforethe mountains began to rise, but their elevation was so gradual thatthe rate of the river's cutting down equalled or exceeded their comingup; proof of which we have in the patent fact that the ancient river'scourse remains unchanged, and is at right angles to the mountain chain. From all of which we see that the Eastern hemisphere's crescenthollow--of which, I take it, the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seadepressions are the remains--has been gradually filled in, by theelevation of the sea's bottom, and the extension of deltas from thedetrital matter brought from the high interior of the continents by therivers, or by the combined action of the two. Now, since the Gulf ofMexico has been constantly growing smaller, and the Mediterranean isbeing invaded by the land, I reason that similar causes will producelike effects here, and give to each continent an area far greater thanour entire globe. The stormy ocean we behold in the west, whichcorresponds to our Atlantic, though it is far more of a mare clausum inthe geographical sense, is also destined to become a calm and placidinland sea. There are, of course, modifications of and checks to thelaws tending to increase the land area. England was formerly joined tothe continent, the land connecting the two having been rather washedaway by the waves and great tides than by any sinking of the EnglishChannel's bottom, the whole of which is comparatively shallow. Anothercase of this kind is seen in Cape Cod and the islands of Martha'sVineyard and Nantucket, all of which are washing away so rapidly thatthey would probably disappear before the next Glacial period, were wenot engaged in preventing its recurrence. These detached islands andsand-bars once formed one large island, which at a still earlier timeundoubtedly was joined to the mainland. The sands forming the detachedmasses are in a great processional march towards the equator, but it isthe result simply of winds and waves, there being no indication ofsubsidence. Along the coast of New Jersey we see denudation andsinking going on together, the well-known SUNKEN FOREST being aninstance of the latter. The border of the continent proper alsoextends many miles under the ocean before reaching the edge of theAtlantic basin. Volcanic eruptions sometimes demolish parts ofheadlands and islands, though these recompense us in the amount ofmaterial brought to the surface, and in the increased distance theyenable water to penetrate by relieving the interior of part of itsheat, for any land they may destroy. "

 CHAPTER XI. 

 A JOVIAN NIAGARA. 

Four days later, after crossing a ridge of mountains that the pressureon the aneroid barometer showed to be about thirty-two thousand feethigh, and a stretch of flat country a few miles in width, they came toa great arm of the sea. It was about thirty miles wide at its mouth, which was narrowed like the neck of a bottle, and farther inland wasover one hundred miles across, and though their glasses, the clear air, and the planet's size enabled them to see nearly five hundred miles, they could not find its end. In the shallow water along itsshores, and on the islands rising but a few feet above the waves, they saw all kinds of amphibians and sea-monsters. Many of these werealmost the exact reproduction in life of the giant plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, and elasmosaurs, whose remains are preserved in the museumson earth. The reptilian bodies of the elasmosaurs, seventy-five feetin length, with the forked tongues, distended jaws and fangs of asnake, were easily taken for the often described but probably mythicalsea-serpent, as partially coiled they occasionally raised their headstwelve or fifteen feet. 

"Man in his natural state, " said Cortlandt, "would have but smallchance of surviving long among such neighbours. Buckland, I think, once indulged in the jeu d'esprit of supposing an ichthyosaur lecturingon the human skull. 'You will at once perceive, ' said the lecturer, 'that the skull before us belonged to one of the lower order ofanimals. The teeth are very insignificant, the power of the jawstrifling, and altogether it seems wonderful how the creature could haveprocured food. ' Armed with modern weapons, and in this machine, we are, of course, superior to the most powerful monster; but it is not likelythat, had man been so surrounded during the whole of his evolution, hecould have reached his present plane. "

Notwithstanding the striking similarity of these creatures to theirterrestrial counterparts that existed on earth during its correspondingperiod, there were some interesting modifications. The organs oflocomotion in the amphibians were more developed, while the eyes of allwere larger, the former being of course necessitated by the power ofgravity, and the latter by the greater distance from the sun. 

"The adaptability and economy of Nature, " said Cortlandt, "have alwaysamazed me. In the total blackness of the Kentucky Mammoth Cave, whereeyes would be of no use to the fishes, our common mother has given themnone; while if there is any light, though not as much as we areaccustomed to, she may be depended upon to rise to the occasion byincreasing the size of the pupil and the power of the eye. In thedevelopment of the ambulatory muscles we again see her handiwork, probably brought about through the 'survival of the fittest. ' Thefishes and those wholly immersed need no increase in power, for, thoughthey weigh more than they would on earth, the weight of the water theydisplace is increased at the same rate also, and their buoyancy remainsunchanged. If the development of life here so closely follows itslines on earth, with the exception of comparatively slightmodifications, which are exactly what, had we stopped to think, weshould have expected to find, may we not reasonably ask whether shewill not continue on these lines, and in time produce beings likeourselves, but with more powerful muscles and eyes capable of seeingclearly with less light? Reasoning by analogy, we can come to no otherconclusion, unless their advent is anticipated by the arrival ofready-made colonists from the more advanced earth, like ourselves. Inthat case man, by pursuing the same destructive methods that he haspursued in regard to many other species, may exterminate theintervening links, and so arrest evolution. "

Before leaving Deepwaters Bay they secured a pail of its water, whichthey found, on examination, contained a far larger percentage of saltand solid material than the oceans on earth, while a thermometer thatthey immediately immersed in it soon registered eighty-five degreesFahrenheit; both of which discoveries confirmed them in what theyalready knew, namely, that Jupiter had advanced comparatively littlefrom the condition in which the water on the surface is hot, in whichstate the earth once was. 

They were soon beyond the estuary at which they had stopped to studythe forms of life and to make this test, and kept on due north forseveral days, occasionally rising above the air. As their familiaritywith their surroundings increased, they made notes of several things. The mountains covered far more territory at their bases than theterrestrial mountains, and they were in places very rugged and showedvast yawning chasms. They were also wooded farther up their sides, andbore but little snow; but so far the travellers had not found them muchhigher than those on earth, the greatest altitude being the thirty-twothousand feet south of Deepwaters Bay, and one other ridge that wasforty thousand; so that, compared with the size of the planet and itscontinents, they seemed quite small, and the continents themselves werecomparatively level. They also noted that spray was blown in vastsheets, till the ocean for miles was white as milk. The wind oftenattained tornado strength, and the whole surface of the water, aboutwhat seemed to be the storm centre, frequently moved with rapidity inthe form of foam. Yet, notwithstanding this, the waves were never aslarge as those to which they were accustomed on earth. This theyaccounted for very easily by the fact that, while water weighed 2. 55times as much as on earth, the pressure of air was but little more thanhalf as much again, and consequently its effect on all but the verysurface of the heavy liquid was comparatively slight. 

"Gravity is a useful factor here, " observed Cortlandt, as they made anote of this; "for, in addition to giving immunity from waves, it ismost effective in checking the elevation of high mountains ortable-lands in the high latitudes, which we shall doubtless findsufficiently cool, or even cold, while in tropical regions, which mightotherwise be too hot, it interferes with them least, on account ofbeing partly neutralized by the rapid rotation with which all four ofthe major planets are blessed. "

At sunrise the following morning they saw they were approaching anothergreat arm of the sea. It was over a thousand miles wide at its mouth, and, had not the photographs showed the contrary, they would havethought the Callisto had reached the northern end of the continent. Itextended into the land fifteen thousand miles, and, on account of theshape of its mouth, they called it Funnel Bay. Rising to a height, they flew across, and came to a great table-land peninsula, with achain of mountains on either side. The southern range was somethingover, and the northern something less than, five thousand feet inheight, while the table-land between sloped almost imperceptiblytowards the middle, in which, as they expected, they found a rivercompared to which the Mississippi or the Amazon would be but a brook. In honour of the President of the Terrestrial Axis StraighteningCompany, they called this great projection, which averaged about fourthousand miles across by twelve thousand miles long, BearwardenPeninsula. They already noticed a change in climate; the ferns andpalms became fewer, and were succeeded by pines, while the air was alsoa good deal cooler, which was easily accounted for by theiraltitude--though even at that height it was considerably denser than atsea-level on earth--and by the fact that they were already nearlatitude thirty. 

The exposed points on the plateau, as also the summits of the firstmountains they had seen before alighting, were devoid of vegetation, scarcely so much as a blade of grass being visible. Since they couldnot account for this by cold, they concluded that the most probableexplanation lay in the tremendous hurricanes that, produced by theplanet's rapid rotation, frequently swept along its surface, like theearth's trade-winds, but with far more violence. On reaching thenorthern coast of the peninsula they increased their elevation andchanged their course to northeast, not caring to remain long over thegreat body of water, which they named Cortlandt Bay. The thousands ofmiles of foam fast flew beneath them, the first thing attracting theirattention being a change in the ocean's colour. In the eastern shoreof Cortlandt Bay they soon observed the mouth of a river, ten milesacross, from which this tinted water issued in a flood. On account ofits colour, which reminded them of a stream they knew so well, theychristened it the Harlem. 

Believing that an expedition up its valley might reveal something ofinterest, they began the ascent, remaining at an elevation of a fewhundred feet. For about three hundred miles they followed this river, which had but few bends, while its sides became more and moreprecipitous, till it flowed through a canon four and a half milesacross. Though they knew from the wide discoloration of Cortlandt Baythat the volume of water discharged was tremendous, the stream seldommoved at a rate of more than five miles an hour, and for a time wasfree from rocks and rapids, from which they concluded that it must bevery deep. Half an hour later they saw a cloud of steam or mist, whichexpanded, and almost obscured the sky as they approached. Next theyheard a sound like distant thunder, which they took for the prolongederuption of some giant crater, though they had not expected to find oneso far towards the interior of the continent. Presently it became onecontinuous roar, the echo in the canon, whose walls were at this placeover six hundred feet high, being simply deafening, so that the neardischarge of the heaviest artillery would have been completely drowned. 

"One would think the end of the world was approaching!" shoutedCortlandt through his hands. 

"Look!" Bearwarden roared back, "the wind is scattering the mist. "

As he spoke, the vapoury curtain was drawn aside, revealing a waterfallof such vast proportions as to dwarf completely anything they had everseen or even imagined. A somewhat open horseshoe lip, three and a halfmiles straight across and over four miles following the line of thecurve, discharged a sheet of water forty feet thick at the edge into anabyss six hundred feet below. Two islands on the brink divided thissheet of liquid into three nearly equal parts, while myriads ofrainbows hovered in the clouds of spray. Two things especially struckthe observers: the water made but little curve or sweep on passing overthe edge, and then rushed down to the abyss at almost lightning speed, shivering itself to infinitesimal particles on striking any rock orprojection at the side. Its behaviour was, of course, due to itsweight, and to the fact that on Jupiter bodies fall 40. 98 feet thefirst second, instead of sixteen feet, as on earth, and atcorrespondingly increasing speed. 

Finding that they were being rapidly dazed and stunned by the noise, the travellers caused the Callisto to rise rapidly, and were soonsurveying the superb sight from a considerable elevation. Their mindscould grasp but slowly the full meaning and titanic power of what theysaw, and not even the vast falls in their nearness could make theirsignificance clear. Here was a sheet of water three and a half mileswide, averaging forty feet in depth, moving at a rapid rate towards asheer fall of six hundred feet. They felt, as they gazed at it, thatthe power of that waterfall would turn backward every engine and dynamoon the earth, and it seemed as if it might almost put out the fires ofthe sun. Yet it was but an illustration of the action of the solar orbexerted on a vast area of ocean, the vapour in the form of rain beingafterwards turned into these comparatively narrow limits by thetopography of the continent. Compared with this, Niagara, with itsdescent of less than two hundred feet, and its relatively small flow ofwater, would be but a rivulet, or at best a rapid stream. Reluctantly leaving the fascinating spectacle, they pursued theirexploration along the river above the falls. For the first few milesthe surface of the water was near that of the land; there wereoccasional rapids, but few rocks, and the foaming torrent moved atgreat speed, the red sandstone banks of the river being as polished asthough they had been waxed. After a while the obstructionsdisappeared, but the water continued to rush and surge along at a speedof ten or twelve miles an hour, so that it would be easily navigableonly for logs or objects moving in one direction. The surface of theriver was soon on an average fifty feet below the edge of the banks, this depression being one result of the water's rapid motion andweight, which facilitated the carving of its channel. 

When they had followed up the river about sixty miles towards itssource they came upon what at first had the appearance of an ocean. They knew, however, from its elevation, and the flood coming from it, that the water must be fresh, as they soon found it was. This lake wasabout three hundred miles wide, and stretched from northeast tosouthwest. There was rolling land with hills about its shores, and thefoliage on the banks was a beautiful shade of bluish purple instead ofthe terrestrial ubiquitous green. 

When near the great lake's upper end, they passed the mouth of a riveron their left side, which, from its volume, they concluded must be theprincipal source, and therefore they determined to trace it. Theyfound it to be a most beautiful stream, averaging two and a half milesin width, evidently very deep, and with a full, steady current. Afterproceeding for several hours, they found that the general placiditygrew less, the smooth surface occasionally became ruffled by projectingrocks and rapids, and the banks rose till the voyagers again foundthemselves in a ravine or canon. 

During their sojourn on Jupiter they had had but little experience withthe tremendous winds that they knew, from reason and observation, mustrage in its atmosphere. They now heard them whistling over theirheads, and, notwithstanding the protection afforded by the sides of thecanon, occasionally received a gust that made the Callisto swerve. They kept on steadily, however, till sunset, at which time it becamevery dark on account of the high banks, which rose as steeply as thePalisades on the Hudson to a height of nearly a thousand feet. Findinga small island near the eastern bank, they were glad to secure theCallisto there for the night, below the reach of the winds, which they, still heard singing loudly but with a musical note in what seemed tothem like the sky. 

"It is incomprehensible to me. " said Ayrault, as they sat at dinner, "how the sun, at a distance of four hundred and eighty-three millionmiles, can raise the amount of water we have here passing us, andcompared with which the discharge of the greatest river on earth wouldbe insignificant, to say nothing of the stream we ascended beforereaching this. "

"We must remember, " replied Cortlandt, "that many of the conditions aredifferent here from those that exist on earth. We know that some ofthe streams are warm, and even hot, and that the temperature ofDeepwaters Bay, and doubtless that of the ocean also, is considerablyhigher than ours. This would facilitate evaporation. The density ofthe atmosphere and the tremendous winds, of which I suspect we may seemore later, must also help the sun very much in its work of raisingvapour. But the most potent factor is undoubtedly the vast size of thebasin that these rivers drain. "

"The great speed at which the atmospheric currents move, " saidBearwarden, "coupled with the comparative lowness of the mountainchains and the slight obstruction they offer to their passage, mustdistribute the rain very thoroughly, notwithstanding the great unbrokenarea of the continents. There can be no such state of things here asexists in the western part of South America, where the Andes are sohigh that any east-bound clouds, in crossing them, are shoved up so farinto a cold region that all moisture they may have brought from thePacific is condensed into rain, with which parts of the western slopeare deluged, while clouds from the Atlantic have come so far they havealready dispersed their moisture, in consequence of which the regionjust east of the Andes gets little if any rain. It is bad for acontinent to have its high mountains near the ocean from which itshould get its rain, and good for it to have them set well back. "

"I should not be surprised, " said Cortlandt, "if we saw anotherwaterfall to-morrow, though not in the shape of rain. In the hourbefore we stopped we began to see rapids and protruding rocks. Thatmeans that we are coming to a part of the channel that is comparativelynew, since the older parts have had time to wear smooth. I take it, then, that we are near the foot of a retreating cascade, which we mayhope soon to see. That is exactly the order in which we found smoothwater and rapids in river No. 1, which we have named the Harlem. "

After this, not being tired, they used the remaining dark hours forrecording their recent adventures. 

 CHAPTER XII. 

 HILLS AND VALLEYS. 

With the first light they resumed their journey, and an hour aftersetting out they sighted, as Cortlandt had predicted, another cloud ofvapour. The fall--for such it proved to be--was more beautiful thanthe other, for, though the volume of water was not so great, it fell atone leap, without a break, and at the same tremendous speed, a distanceof more than a thousand feet. The canon rang with the echoes, whilethe spray flew in sheets against the smooth, glistening, sandstonewalls. Instead of coming from a river, as the first fall had, thispoured at once from the rocky lip, about two miles across, of a lakethat was eleven hundred feet above the surging mass in the vale below. 

"It is a thousand pities, " said Bearwarden, "that this cataract has gotso near its source; for, at the rate these streams must cut, this onein a few hundred years, unless something is done to prevent it, willhave worn back to the lake, and then good-bye to the falls, which willbecome a series of rapids. Perhaps the first effect will be merely toreduce by a few feet the height of the falls, in which case they willremain in practically the same place. "

About the shores of this lake they saw rhinoceroses with long thickwool, and herds of creatures that much resembled buffaloes. 

"I do not see, " said Bearwarden, "why the identical species should notexist here that till recently, in a geological sense, inhabited theearth. The climate and all other conditions are practically the sameon both planets, except a trifling difference in weight, to whichterrestrials would soon adapt themselves. We know by spectroscopicanalysis that hydrogen, iron, magnesium, and all our best-knownsubstances exist in the sun, and even the stars, while the earthcontains everything we have found in meteorites. Then why make anexception of life, instead of supposing that at corresponding periodsof development the same living forms inhabit all? It would be assumingthe eternal sterilization of the functions of Nature to suppose thatour earth is the only body that can produce them. "

"The world of organic life is so much more complex, " replied Cortlandt, "than that of the crystal, that it requires great continuity. So farwe certainly have seen no men, or anything like them, not even so muchas a monkey, though I suppose, according to your reasoning, Jupiter hasnot advanced far enough to produce even that. "

"Exactly, " replied Bearwarden, "for it will require vast periods; and, according to my belief, at least half the earth's time of habitabilityhad passed before man appeared. But we see Jupiter is admirably suitedfor those who have been developed somewhere else, and it would be anawful shame if we allowed it to lie unimproved till it producesappreciative inhabitants of its own, for we find more to admire in onehalf-hour than its entire present population during its lifetime. Yet, how magnificent this world is, and how superior in its natural state toours! The mountainous horns of these crescent-shaped continentsprotect them and the ocean they enclose from the cold polar marinecurrents, and in a measure from the icy winds; while the elevatedcountry on the horns near the equator might be a Garden of Eden, orideal resort. To be sure, the continents might support a largerpopulation, if more broken up, notwithstanding the advantage resultingfrom the comparatively low mountains along the coasts, and the usefulwinds. A greater subdivision of land and water, more great islandsconnected by isthmuses, and more mediterraneans joined by straits, would be a further advantage to commerce; but with the sources of powerat hand, the resistless winds and water-power, much increased ineffectiveness by their weight, the great tides when several moons areon the same side, or opposite the sun, internal heat near the surface, and abundant coal-supply doubtless already formed and also near thesurface, such small alterations could be made very easily, and wouldserve merely to prevent our becoming rusty. 

"As Jupiter's distance from the sun varies from 506, 563, 000 miles ataphelion to only 460, 013, 000 at perihelion, this difference, inconnection with even the slight inclination of the axis, must make aslight change in seasons, but as the inclination is practicallynothing, almost the entire change results from the difference indistance. This means that the rise or fall in temperature is generalon every degree of latitude, all being warmed simultaneously, more orless, as the planet approaches or departs from the sun. It means alsothat about the same conditions that Secretary Deepwaters suggested asdesirable for the earth, prevail here, and that Jupiter represents, therefore, about the acme of climate naturally provided. On account ofits rapid rotation and vast size, the winds have a tornado's strength, but they are nothing at this distance from the sun to what they wouldbe if a planet with its present rate of rotation and size were whereVenus or even the earth is. In either of these positions no land lifewith which we are acquainted could live on the surface; for the slopeof the atmospheric isobars--i. E. , the lines of equal barometricpressure that produce wind by becoming tilted through unequalexpansion, after which the air, as it were, flows down-hill--would betoo great. The ascending currents about the equator would also, ofcourse, be vastly strengthened; so that we see a wise dispensation ofProvidence in placing the large planets, which also rotate so rapidly, at a great distance from the sun, which is the father of all winds, rotation alone, however rapid, being unable to produce them. "

They found this lake was about six times the size of Lake Superior, andthat several large and small streams ran into its upper end. These hadtheir sources in smaller lakes that were at slightly higher elevations. Though the air was cool, the sun shone brightly, while the ground wascovered with flowers resembling those of the northern climes on earth, of all shapes and lines. Twice a day these sent up their song, andtrees were covered with buds, and the birds twittered gaily. Thestreams murmured and bubbled, and all things reminded the travellers ofearly morning in spring. 

"If anything could reconcile me, " said Bearwarden, "to exchange myactive utilitarian life for a rustic poetical existence, it would bethis place, for it is far more beautiful than anything I have seen onearth. It needs but a Maud Muller and a few cows to complete thepicture, since Nature gives us a vision of eternal peace and repose. "

Somehow the mention of Maud Muller, and the delicate and refinedflowers, whose perfume he inhaled, brought up thoughts that were neverfar below the surface in Ayrault's mind. "The place is heavenlyenough, " said he, "to make one wish to live and remain here forever, but to me it would be Hamlet with Hamlet left out. "

"Ah! poor chap, " said Cortlandt, "you are in love, but you are not tobe pitied, for though the thrusts at the heart are sharp, they may bethe sweetest that mortals know. "

The following morning they reluctantly left the picturesque shores ofLake Serenity, with their beautiful tints and foliage, and resumed thejourney, to explore a number of islands in the ocean in the west, whichwere recorded on their negatives. Ascending to rarefied air, they sawgreat chains of mountains, which they imagined ran parallel to thecoast, rising to considerable altitudes in the east. The tops of allglistened with a mantle of snow in the sunlight, while between theridges they saw darker and evidently fertile valleys. They passed, moving northwest, over large and small lakes, all evidently part of thesame great system, and continued to sweep along for several days with abeautiful panorama, as varying as a kaleidoscope, spread beneath theireyes. They observed that the character of the country graduallychanged. The symmetrically rounded mountains and hills began to showangles, while great slabs of rock were split from the faces. The sidesalso became less vertical, and there was an accumulation of detritalfragments about their bases. These heaps of fractured stone had insome cases begun to disintegrate and form soil, on which there was ascant growth of vegetation; but the sides and summits, whose jaggednessincreased with their height, were absolutely bare. 

"Here, " said Cortlandt, "we have unmistakable evidence of frost and iceaction. The next interesting question is, How recently has denudationoccurred? The absence of plant life at the exposed places, " hecontinued, as if lecturing to a class, "can be accounted for here, asnearer the equator, by the violence of the wind; but I greatly doubtwhether water will now freeze in this latitude at any season of theyear, for, even should the Northern hemisphere's very insignificantwinter coincide with the planet's aphelion, the necessary drop from thepresent temperature would be too great to be at all probable. If, then, it is granted that ice does not form here now, notwithstandingthe fact that it has done so, the most plausible conclusion is that theinclination of Jupiter's axis is automatically changing, as we know theearth's has often done. There being nothing incompatible in this viewwith the evidence at hand, we can safely assume it correct for the timebeing at least. When farther south, you remember, we found no trace ofice action, notwithstanding the comparative slowness with which wedecided that the ridges in the crust had been upheaved on account ofthe resisting power of gravity, and, as I see now, also on account ofJupiter's great mass, which must prevent its losing its heat anythinglike as fast as the earth has, in which I think also we have theexplanation of the comparatively low elevation of the mountains that wefound we could not account for by the power of gravitation alone. [2]From the fact that the exposed surface farther south must be old, onaccount of the slow upheaval and the slight wear to which it isexposed, about the only wearing agent being the wind, which would bepowerless to erase ice-scratches, especially since, on account ofgravity's power, it cannot, like our desert winds, carry muchsand--which, as we know, has cut away the base of the Sphinx--I thinkit is logical to conclude that, though Jupiter's axis is changingnaturally as the earth's has been, it has never varied as much astwenty-three and a half degrees, and certainly to nothing like theextent to which we see Venus and Uranus tilted to-day. "

[2] It is well known that mountain chains are but ridges or foldingsin the crust upheaved as the interior cools and shrinks. This isproved by reason and by experiments with viscous clay or other materialplaced upon a sheet of stretched rubber, which is afterwards allowed tocontract, whereupon the analogues of mountain ridges are thrown up. 

"I follow you, " said Bearwarden, "and do not see how we could arrive atanything else. From Jupiter's low specific gravity, weighing butlittle more than an equal bulk of water, I should say the interior mustbe very hot, or else is composed of light material, for the crust'ssurface, or the part we see, is evidently about as dense as what wehave on earth. These things have puzzled me a good deal, and I havebeen wondering if Jupiter may not have been formed before the earth andthe smaller planets. "

"The discrepancies between even the best authorities, " repliedCortlandt, "show that as yet but little has been discovered from theearth concerning Jupiter's real condition. The two theories that tryto account for its genesis are the ring theory and the nebulous. Weknow that the sun is constantly emitting vast volumes of heat andlight, and that, with the exception of the heat resulting from theimpact of falling meteors, it receives none from outside, the principalsource being the tremendous friction and pressure between the coolingand shrinking strata within the great mass of the sun itself. Aseeming paradox therefore comes in here, which must be considered: Ifthe sun were composed entirely of gas, it would for a time continue togrow hotter; but the sun is incessantly radiating light and heat, andconsequently becoming smaller. Therefore the farther back we go thehotter we find the sun, and also the larger, till, instead of having adiameter of eight hundred and eighty thousand miles, it filled thespace now occupied by the entire solar system. Here is where the twotheories start. According to the first, the revolving nebulous massthrew off a ring that became the planet Neptune, afterwards anotherthat contained the material for Uranus, and so on, the lightestsubstance in the sun being thrown off first, by which they accountedfor the lightness of the four great planets, and finally Mars, theearth, and the small dense planets near the sun. The advocates of thistheory pointed to Saturn's rings as an illustration of the birth of aplanet, or, rather, in that case a satellite. According to this, themajor planets have had a far longer separate existence than the minor, which would account for their being so advanced notwithstanding theirsize. This theory may again come into general acceptance, but for thepresent it has been discredited by the nebulous. According to thissecond theory, at the time the sun filled all the space inside ofNeptune's, orbit, or extended even farther, several centres ofcondensation were formed within the nebulous, gaseous mass. Thegreatest centre became the sun, and the others, large and small, theplanets, which--as a result of the spiral motion of the whole, such asis now going on before our eyes in the great nebulae of fifty-one M. Canuin venaticorum, and many others--began to revolve about thegreatest central body of gas. As the separate masses cooled, theyshrank, and their surfaces or extreme edges, which at first werecontiguous, began to recede, which recession is still going on withsome rapidity on the part of the sun, for we may be sure its diameterdiminishes as its density increases. According to either theory, as Isee it, the major planets, on account of their distance from thecentral mass, have had longer separate existences than the minor, andare therefore more advanced than they would be had all been formed atthe same time. 

"This theory explains the practical uniformity in the chemicalcomposition of all members of this system by assuming that they wereall once a part of the same body, and you may say brothers and sistersof the sun, instead of its offspring. It also makes size the onlyfactor determining temperature and density, but of course modified byage, since otherwise Jupiter would have a far less developed crust thanthat with which we find it. I have always considered the period fromthe molten condition to that with a crust as comparatively short, whichstands to reason, for radiation has then no check; and the period fromthe formation of the crust, which acts as a blanket, to the death of aplanet, as very long. I have not found this view clearly set forth inany of the books I have read, but it seems to me the simplest and mostnatural explanation. Now, granted that the solar system was once anebula, on which I think every one will agree--the same forces thatchanged it into a system of sun and planets must be at work onfifty-one M. Canum venaticorum, Andromeda, and ninety-nine M. Virginis, and must inevitably change them to suns, each with doubtless a systemof planets. 

"If, then, the condition of a nebula or star depends simply on itssize, it is reasonable to suppose that Andromeda, Sirius, and all thevast bodies we see, were created at the same time as our system, whichinvolves the necessity of one general and simultaneous creation day. But as Sirius, with its diameter of twelve million miles, must belarger than some of the nebulae will be when equally condensed, we mustsuppose rather that nebulae are forming and coming into the conditionof bright and dead stars, much as apples or pears on a fruit tree areconstantly growing and developing, so that the Mosaic description ofthe creation would probably apply in point of time only to our system, or perhaps to our globe, though the rest will doubtless pass throughprecisely the same stages. This, I think, I will publish, on ourreturn, as the Cortlandt astronomical doctrine, as the most rational Ihave seen devised, and one that I think we may safely believe, until, perhaps, through increased knowledge, it can be disproved. "

After they crossed a line of hills that ran at right angles to theircourse they found the country more rolling. All streams andwater-courses flowed in their direction, while their aneroid showedthem that they were gradually descending. When they were moving alongnear the surface of the ground, a delicious and refined perfume exhaledby the blue and white flowers, that had been growing smaller as theyjourneyed northward, frequently reached their nostrils. To Cortlandtand Bearwarden it was merely the scent of a flower, but to Ayrault itrecalled mental pictures of Sylvia wearing violets and lilies that hehad given her. He knew that the greatest telescopes on earth could notreveal the Callisto moving about in Jupiter's sunshine, as even a pointof light, at that distance, and, notwithstanding Cortlandt's learningand Bearwarden's joviality, he felt at times extremely lonely. 

They swept along steadily for fifty hours, having bright sunny days andbeautifully moonlit nights. They passed over finely rounded hills andvalleys and well-watered plains. As they approached the ocean and itslevel the temperature rose, and there was more moisture in the air. The plants and flowers also increased in size, again resemblingsomewhat the large species they had seen near the equator. 

"This would be the place to live, " said Bearwarden, looking at ironmountains, silver, copper, and lead formations, primeval forests, richprairies, and regions evidently underlaid with coal and petroleum, notto mention huge beds of aluminum clay, and other natural resources, that made his materialistic mouth water. "It would be joy and delightto develop industries here, with no snow avalanches to clog yourrailroads, or icy blizzards to paralyze work, nor weather that blightsyou with sun-strokes and fevers. On our return to the earth we mustorganize a company to run regular interplanetary lines. We could starton this globe all that is best on our own. Think what boundlesspossibilities may be before the human race on this planet, which onaccount of its vast size will be in its prime when our insignificantearth is cold and dead and no longer capable of supporting life! Thinkalso of the indescribable blessing to the congested communities ofEurope and America, to find an unlimited outlet here! Mars is alreadypast its prime, and Venus scarcely habitable, but in Jupiter we have anew promised land, compared with which our earth is a pygmy, or butlittle more than microscopic. "

"I see, " said Ayrault, "that the possibilities here have no limit; butI do not see how you can compare it to the promised land, since, tillwe undertook this journey, no one had even thought of Jupiter as ahabitable place. "

 "I trace the Divine promise, " replied Bearwarden, "in what youdescribed to us on earth as man's innate longing and desire to rise, and in the fact that the Almighty has given the race unboundedexpansiveness in very limited space. This would look to me as thereturn of man to the garden of Eden through intellectual development, for here every man can sit under his own vine and fig-tree. "

"It seems to me, " said Cortlandt, "that no paradise or heaven describedin anything but the Bible compares with this. According to Virgil'sdescription, the joys on the banks of his river Lethe must have beenmost sad and dreary, the general idleness and monotony apparently beingbroken only by wrestling matches between the children, while the reststrolled about with laurel wreaths or rested in the shade. The pilotPalinurus, who had been drowned by falling overboard while asleep, butwho before that had presumably done his duty, did not seem especiallyhappy; while the harsh, resentful disposition evidently remainedunsoftened, for Dido became like a cliff of Marpesian marble whenAEneas asked to be forgiven, though he had doubtless considered himselfin duty bound to leave her, having been twice commanded to do so byMercury, the messenger of Jove. She, like the rest, seems to have hadno occupation, while the consciences of few appear to have beensufficiently clear to enable them to enjoy unbroken rest. "

"The idleness in the spirit-land of all profane writers, " addedBearwarden, "has often surprised me too. Though I have alwaysrecommended a certain amount of recreation for my staff--in fact, morethan I have generally had myself--an excess of it becomes a bore. Ithink that all real progress comes through thorough work. Why shouldwe assume that progress ceases at death? I believe in the verse thatsays, 'We learn here on earth those things the knowledge of which isperfected in heaven. '"

"According to that, " said Cortlandt, "you will some day be setting theaxis of heaven right, for in order to do work there must be work to bedone--a necessary corollary to which is that heaven is still imperfect. "

"No, " said Bearwarden, bristling up at the way Cortlandt sometimesreceived his speeches, "it means simply that its development, thoughperfect so far as it goes, may not be finished, and that we may be themeans, as on earth, of helping it along. "

"The conditions constituting heaven, " said Ayrault, "may be as fixed asthe laws of Nature, though the products of those conditions might, itseems to me, still be forming and subject to modification thereby. Thereductio ad absurdu would of course apply if we supposed the work ofcreation absolutely finished. "

 CHAPTER XIII. 

 NORTH-POLAR DISCOVERIES. 

Two days later, on the western horizon, they beheld the ocean. Many ofthe streams whose sources they had seen when they crossed the dividefrom the lake basin, and whose courses they had followed, were nowrivers a mile wide, with the tide ebbing and rising within them manyhundreds of miles from their mouths. When they reached the shore linethey found the waves breaking, as on earth, upon the sands, but withthis difference: they had before noted the smallness of the undulationscompared with the strength of the wind, the result of the water'sweight. These waves now reminded them of the behaviour of mercury, orof melted lead when stirred on earth, by the rapidity with which thecrests dropped. Though the wind was blowing an on-shore gale, therewas but little combing, and when there was any it lasted but a second. The one effort of the crests and waves seemed to be to remain at rest, or, if stirred in spite of themselves, to subside. 

When over the surface of the ocean, the voyagers rose to a height ofthirty thousand metres, and after twenty-four hours' travelling saw, ata distance of about two hundred miles, what looked like anothercontinent, but which they knew must be an island. On findingthemselves above it, they rose still higher to obtain a view of itsoutlines and compare its shape with that of the islands in thephotographs they had had time to develop. The length ran fromsoutheast to northwest. Though crossed by latitude forty, andnotwithstanding Jupiter's distance from the sun, the southern side hada very luxuriant vegetation that was almost semi-tropical. Thisthey accounted for by its total immunity from cold, the density of theair at sea-level, and the warm moist breezes it received from the tepidocean. The climate was about the same as that of the Riviera or ofFlorida in winter, and there was, of course, no parching summer. 

"This shows me, " said Bearwarden, "that a country's climate dependsless on the amount of heat it receives from the sun than on the amountit retains; proof of which we have in the tops of the Himalayasperpetually covered with snow, and snow-capped mountains on the veryequator, where they get the most direct rays, and where those rays havebut little air to penetrate. It shows that the presence of asubstantial atmosphere is as necessary a part of the calculation inpractice as the sun itself. I am inclined to think that, with theconstant effect of the internal heat on its oceans and atmosphere, Jupiter could get along with a good deal less solar heat than itreceives, in proof of which I expect to find the poles themselves quitecomfortable. The reason the internal heat is so little taken intoaccount on earth is because, from the thickness of the crust, it cannotmake itself felt; for if the earth were as chilled through as ice, thepeople on the surface would not feel the difference. "

A Jovian week's explorations disclosed the fact that though theisland's general outlines were fairly regular, it had deep-waterharbours, great rivers, and land-locked gulfs and bays, some of whichpenetrated many hundred miles into the interior. It also showed thatthe island's length was about six thousand miles, and its breadth aboutthree thousand, and that it had therefore about the superficial area ofAsia. They found no trace of the great monsters that had been sonumerous on the mainland, though there were plenty of smaller andgentle-looking creatures, among them animals whose build was much likethat of the prehistoric horse, with undeveloped toes on each side ofthe hoof, which in the modern terrestrial horse have disappeared, thehoof being in reality but a rounded-off middle finger. 

 "It is wonderful, " said Bearwarden, "how comparatively narrowa body of water can keep different species entirely separate. Theisland of Sumatra, for instance, is inhabited by marsupials belongingto the distinct Australian type, in which the female, as in thekangaroo, carries the slightly developed young in a pouch; while theMalay peninsula, joined to the mainland, has all the highly developedanimals of Asia and the connected land of the Eastern hemisphere, thenarrow Malacca Strait being all that has kept marsupials and mammalsapart, though the separating power has been increased by the rapidcurrent setting through. This has decreased the chance of creaturescarried to sea on drift-wood or uprooted trees getting safely over tosuch a degree that apparently none have survived; for, had they doneso, we may be certain that the mammals, with the advantage their younghave over the marsupials, would soon have run them out, the marsupialsbeing the older and the less perfect form of life of the two. "

Before leaving the beautiful sea-girt region beneath them, Cortlandtproposed that it be named after their host, which Bearwarden seconded, whereupon they entered it as Ayrault Island on the charts. After thisthey rose to a great height, and flew swiftly over three thousand milesof ocean till they came to another island not quite as large as thefirst. It was four thousand five hundred miles long by something lessthan three thousand wide, and was therefore about the size of Africa. It had several high ranges of mountains and a number of great riversand fine harbours, while murmuring, bubbling brooks flowed through itsforest glades. There were active volcanoes along the northern coast, and the blue, crimson, and purple lines in the luxuriant foliage werethe most beautiful they had ever seen. 

"I propose, " said Bearwarden, "that we christen this Sylvialand. " ThisCortlandt immediately seconded, and it was so entered on the charts. 

"These two islands, " said Bearwarden, "may become the centres ofcivilization. With flying machines and cables to carry passengers andinformation, and ships of great displacement for the interchange ofcommodities, there is no limit to their possible development. Theabsence of large waves will also be very favourable to sea-spiders, which will be able to run at tremendous speeds. The constancy in theeruptions of the volcanoes will offer a great field to Jovianinventors, who will unquestionably be able to utilize their heat forthe production of steam or electricity, to say nothing of aninexhaustible supply of valuable chemicals. They may contain the meansof producing some force entirely different from apergy, and as superiorto electricity as that is to steam. Our earthly volcanoes have beenput to slight account because of the long intervals between eruptions. "

After leaving Sylvialand they went westward to the eastern of the twocrescent continents. It was separated from the island by about sixthousand miles of ocean, and had less width than the western, havingabout the proportions of a three-day crescent, while the western hadthe shape of the moon when four or five days old. They found theheight of the mountains and plateaus somewhat less than on the easterncontinent, but no great difference in other respects, except that, asthey went towards the pole, the vegetation became more like that ofScotland or a north temperate region than any they had seen. Onreaching latitude fifty they again came out over the ocean toinvestigate the speckled condition they had observed there. They founda vast archipelago covering as great an area as the whole PacificOcean. The islands varied from the size of Borneo and Madagascar tothat of Sicily and Corsica, while some contained but a few squaremiles. The surface of the archipelago was about equally dividedbetween land and water. 

"It would take good navigation or an elaborate system of light-houses, "said Bearwarden, "for a captain to find the shortest course throughthese groups. "

The islands were covered with shade trees much resembling those onearth, and the leaves on many were turning yellow and red, for thishemisphere's autumn had already begun. 

"The Jovian trees, " said Cortlandt, "can never cease to bear, thoughthe change of seasons is evidently able to turn their colour, perhapsby merely ripening them. When a ripe leaf falls off, its place isdoubtless soon taken by a bud, for germination and fructification go onside by side. "

Before leaving, they decided to name this Twentieth CenturyArchipelago, since so much of the knowledge appertaining to it had beenacquired in their own day. At latitude sixty the northern arms of thetwo continents came within fifteen hundred miles of each other. Theeastern extension was split like the tail of a fish, the great bayformed thereby being filled with islands, which also extended abouthalf of the distance across. The western extremity shelved verygradually, the sand-bars running out for miles just below the surfaceof the water. 

After this the travellers flew northward at great speed in the upperregions of the air, for they were anxious to hasten their journey. They found nothing but unbroken sea, and not till they reached latitudeeighty-seven was there a sign of ice. They then saw some small bergsand field ice, but in no great quantities. As their outsidethermometer, when just above the placid water--for there were no waveshere--registered twenty-one degrees Fahrenheit, they accounted for thisscarcity of ice by the absence of land on which fresh water couldfreeze, and by the fact that it was not cold enough to congeal the verysalt sea-water. 

Finally they reached another archipelago a few hundred miles in extent, the larger islands of which were covered with a sheet of ice, at theedges of which small icebergs were being formed by breaking off andslowly floating. Finding a small island on which the coating was thin, they grounded the Callisto, and stepped out for the first time inseveral days. The air was so still that a small piece of paperreleased at a height of six feet sank slowly and went as straight asthe string of a plumb-line. The sun was bisected by the line of thehorizon, and appeared to be moving about them in a circle, with onlyits upper half visible. As Jupiter's northern hemisphere was passingthrough its autumnal equinox, they concluded they had landed exactly atthe pole. 

"Now to work on our experiment, " said Cortlandt. "I wonder how we maybest get below the frozen surface?"

"We can explode a small quantity of dynamite, " replied Bearwarden, "after which the digging will be comparatively easy. "

While Cortlandt and Bearwarden prepared the mine, Ayrault brought out apickaxe, two shovels, and the battery and wires with which to ignitethe explosive. They made their preparations within one hundred feet ofthe Callisto, or much nearer than an equivalent amount of gunpowdercould have been discharged. 

"This recalls an old laboratory experiment, or rather lecture, " saidCortlandt, as they completed the arrangements, "for the illustration isnot as a rule carried out. Explode two pounds of powder on an ironsafe in a room with the windows closed, and the windows will be blownout, while the safe remains uninjured. Explode an equivalent amount ofdynamite on top of the safe, and it will be destroyed, while the glasspanes are not even cracked. This illustrates the difference inrapidity with which the explosions take place. To the intensely rapidaction of dynamite the air affords as much resistance as a solidsubstance, while the explosion of the powder is so slow that the airhas time to move away; hence the destruction of the windows in thefirst case, and the safe in the second. "

When they had moved beyond the danger line, Bearwarden, as the party'spractising engineer, pressed the button, and the explosion did therest. They found that the ground was frozen to a depth of but littlemore than a foot, below which it became perceptibly warm. Plying theirshovels vigorously, they had soon dug the hole so deep that its edgeswere above their heads. When the floor was ten feet below thesurrounding level the thermometer registered sixty. 

"This is scarcely a fair test, " said Cortlandt, "since the heat risesand is lost as fast as given off. Let us therefore close the openingand see in what time it will melt a number of cubic feet of ice. "

Accordingly they climbed out, threw in about a cart-load of ice, andcovered the opening with two of the Callisto's thick rugs. In half anhour all the ice had melted, and in another half hour the water was hot. 

"No arctic expedition need freeze to death here, " said Bearwarden, "since all a man would have to do would be to burrow a few feet to beas warm as toast. "

As the island on which they had landed was at one side of thearchipelago, but was itself at the exact pole, it followed that thecentre of the archipelago was not the part farthest north. This in ameasure accounted for the slight thickness of ice and snow, for theisobaric lines would slope, and consequently what wind there was wouldflow towards the interior of the archipelago, whose surface was colderthan the surrounding ocean. The moist air, however, coming almostentirely from the south, would lose most of its moisture bycondensation in passing over the ice-laden land, and so, like theclouds over the region east of the Andes, would have but little left tolet fall on this extreme northern part. The blanketing effect of agreat thickness of snow would also cause, the lower strata of ice tomelt, by keeping in the heat constantly given off by the warm planet. 

"I think there can be no question, " said Cortlandt, "that, as a resultof Jupiter's great flattening at the poles and the drawing of thecrust, which moves faster in Jupiter's rotation than any other part, towards the equator, the crust must be particularly thin here; for, were it as thin all over, there would be no space for the coal-beds, which, judging from the purity of the atmosphere, must be veryextensive. Further, we can recall that the water in the hot springnear which we alighted, which evidently came from a far greater depththan we have here, was not as hot as this. The conclusion is clearthat elsewhere the internal heat is not as near the surface as here. "

"The more I see of Jupiter, " exclaimed Bearwarden enthusiastically, "the more charmed I become. It almost exactly supplies what I havebeen conjuring up as my idea of a perfect planet. Its compensations ofhigh land near the equator, and low with effective internal heat at thepoles, are ideal. The gradual slope of its continental elevations, onaccount of their extent, will ease the work of operating railways, andthe atmosphere's density will be just the thing for our flyingmachines, while Nature has supplied all sources of power so lavishlythat no undertaking will be too great. Though land as yet, to judge byour photographs, occupies only about one eighth of the surface, weknow, from the experience of the other planets, that this is bound toincrease; so that, if the human race can perpetuate itself on Jupiterlong enough, it will undoubtedly have one fourth or a larger proportionfor occupation, though the land already upheaved comprises fully fortytimes the area of our entire globe, which, as we know, is stillthree-fourths water. "

"Since we have reached what we might call the end of Jupiter, and stillhave time, " continued Ayrault, "let us proceed to Saturn, where we mayfind even stranger things than here. I hoped we could investigate thegreat red spot, but am convinced we have seen the beginning of one inTwentieth Century Archipelago, and what, under favourable conditions, will be recognized as such on earth. "

It was just six terrestrial weeks since they had set out, and thereforeFebruary 2d on earth. 

"It would be best, in any case, to start from Jupiter's equator, " saidCortlandt, "for the straight line we should make from the surface herewould be at right angles to Saturn. We shall probably, in spite ofourselves, swing a few degrees beyond the line, and so can get abird's-eye view of some portion of the southern hemisphere. "

"All aboard for Saturn!" cried Bearwarden enthusiastically, in hisjovial way. "This will be a journey. "

 CHAPTER XIV. 

 THE SCENE SHIFTS. 

Having returned the rugs to the Callisto, they applied the maximumpower of the batteries to rising, closed all openings when thebarometer registered thirty, and moved off into space. When Severalthousand miles above the pole, they diverted part of the power toattracting the nearest moon that was in the plane of Jupiter's equator, and by the time their upward motion had ceased were moving well in itsdirection. Their rapid motion aided the work of resisting gravity, since their car had in fact become a small moon, revolving, like thoseof Uranus or that of Neptune, in an orbit varying greatly from theplane of the ecliptic. As they flew south at a height ranging from twothousand to three thousand miles, the planet revolved before them, andthey had a chance of obtaining a thorough view. There were but a fewscattered islands on the side of the Northern hemisphere opposite tothat over which they had reached the pole, and in the varying coloursof the water, which they attributed to temperature or to some substancein solution, they recognized what they had always heard described onearth as the bands of Jupiter, encircling the planet with great belts, the colour varying with the latitude. At about latitude forty-fivethese bands were purple, farther south light olive green, and at theequator a brown orange. Shortly after they swung across the equatorthe ocean again became purple, and at the same time a well-defined andvery brilliant white spot came into view. Its brightness showed slightvariations in intensity, though its general shape remained unchanged. It had another peculiarity, in that it possessed a fairly rapid motionof its own, as it moved eastward across the surface of the ocean. Itexhibited all the phenomena of the storm they had watched in crossingSecretary Deepwaters Bay, but covered a larger area, and was far moreviolent. Their glasses showed them vast sheets of spray driven alongat tremendous speed, while the surface was milky white. 

"This, " said Bearwarden, picking up a book, "solves to my mind themystery of the white spot described by the English writer Chambers, in1889, as follows:

"'During the last few years a brilliant white spot has been visible onthe equatorial border of the great southern belt. A curious fact inconnection with this spot is, that it moves with a velocity of some twohundred and sixty miles per hour greater than the red spot. Denningobtained one hundred and sixty-nine observations of this bright markingduring the years 1880-1883, and determined the period as nine hours, fifty minutes, eight and seven tenths seconds (five and a half minutesless than that of the red spot). Although the latter is now somewhatfaint, the white spot gives promise of remaining visible for manyyears. During the year 1886 a large number of observations of Jupiterwere made at the Dearborn Observatory, Chicago, U. S. , by Prof. G. W. Hough, using the eighteen-and-a-half-inch refractor of the observatory. Inasmuch as these observations are not only of high intrinsic interest, but are in conflict, to some extent, with previous records, a somewhatfull abstract of them will be useful: The object of general interestwas the great red spot. The outline, shape, and size of thisremarkable object has remained without material change from the year1879, when it was first observed here, until the present time. According to our observations, during the whole of this period it hasshown a sharp and well-defined outline, and at no time has it coalescedor been joined to any belt in its proximity, as has been alleged bysome observers. During the year 1885 the middle of the spot was verymuch paler in colour than the margins, causing it to appear as anelliptical ring. The ring form has continued up to the present time. While the outline of the spot has remained very constant, the colourhas changed materially from year to year. During the past three years(1884-'86) it has at times been very faint, so as barely to be visible. The persistence of this object for so many years leads me to infer thatthe formerly accepted theory, that the phenomena seen on the surface ofthe planet are atmospheric, is no longer tenable. The statement sooften made in text-books, that in the course of a few days or monthsthe whole aspect of the planet may be changed, is obviously erroneous. The oval white spots on the southern hemisphere of the planet, ninedegrees south of the equator, have been systematically observed atevery opposition during the past eight years. They are generally foundin groups of three or more, but are rather difficult to observe. Therotation period deduced from them is nearly the same as from the greatred spot. These spots usually have a slow drift in longitude of aboutfive seconds daily in the direction of the planet's rotation, whenreferred to the great red spot; corresponding to a rotation period oftwenty seconds less than the latter. '

"This shows, " continued Bearwarden, "that as long ago as towards theclose of the nineteenth century the old idea that we saw nothing butthe clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere was beginning to change; and alsohow closely the two English writers and Prof. Hough were studying thesubject, though their views did not entirely agree. A white spot ismerely a storm-centre passing round and round the planet, the windrunning a little ahead of the surface, which accounts for its rapidrotation compared with the red spot, which is a fixture. A critic maysay we have no such winds on earth; to which I reply, that winds on aplanet of Jupiter's size, with its rate of rotation--though it is480, 000, 000 miles from the sun and the internal heat is so near thesurface--and with land and water arranged as they are, may and indeedmust be very different from those prevailing on earth, the conditionsproducing and affecting them being so changed. Though the storm-centremoves two hundred and sixty miles an hour, the wind need not blow atthat rate. "

Later they saw several smaller spots drifting eastward, but concludedthat any seaworthy ship might pass safely through them, for, thoughthey were hurricanes of great violence, the waves were small. 

"There would be less danger, " said Bearwarden, "of shipping seas herethan there is on earth; the principal risk to travellers would be thatof being blown from the deck. On account of the air's weight inconnection with its velocity, this would necessitate some precaution. "

The next object of interest was the great red spot. It proved, asCortlandt had predicted, to be a continent, with at that time nospecial colour, though they easily recognized it by comparing itsoutlines with those of the spot in the map. Its length, as theyalready knew, was twenty-seven thousand miles, and its breadth abouteight thousand miles, so that it contained more square miles than theentire surface of the earth, land and water included. 

"It is clear, " said Cortlandt, "that at some season of Jupiter's longyear a change takes place that affects the colour of the leaves--somedrought or prolonged norther; for it is obvious that that is thesimplest explanation. In like manner we may expect that at some timesmore white spots will move across the ocean than at others. "

"On account of the size of these continents and oceans, " saidBearwarden, "it is easy to believe that many climatic conditions mayprevail here that can scarcely exist on earth. But what a magnificentworld to develop, with its great rivers, lakes, and mountains showingat even this distance, and what natural resources must be lying theredormant, awaiting our call! This constantly recurs to my mind. Thesubjugation and thorough opening up of this red spot continent willprobably supply more interesting problems than straightening the axisof the earth. "

"At our next visit, " replied Ayrault, "when we have established regularinterplanetary lines of travel, we may have an opportunity to examineit more closely. " Then they again attracted the nearest moon beyondwhich they had swung, increased the repulsion on Jupiter, and soaredaway towards Saturn. 

"We have a striking illustration of Jupiter's enormous mass, " saidCortlandt, as the apparent diameter of the mighty planet rapidlydecreased, "in the fact that notwithstanding its numerous moons, itstill rotates so rapidly. We know that the earth's days were formerlybut half or a quarter as long as now, having lasted but six or eighthours. The explanation of the elongation is simple: the earth rotatesin about twenty-four hours, while the moon encircles it but once innearly twenty-eight days, so that our satellite is continually drawingthe oceans backward against its motion. These tidal brakes actingthrough the friction of the water on the bottom, its unequal pressure, and the impact of the waves on the shore, are continually retarding itsrotation, so that the day is a fraction of a second longer now than itwas in the time of Caesar. This same action is of course taking placein Jupiter and the great planets, in this case there being five moonsat work. Our moon, we know, rotates on its axis but once while itrevolves about the earth, this being no doubt due to its owncomparative smallness and the great attraction of the earth, which musthave produced tremendous tides before the lunar oceans disappeared fromits surface. "

In crossing the orbits of the satellites, they passed near Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon. 

"This, " said Cortlandt, "was discovered by Galileo in 1610. It isthree thousand four hundred and eighty miles in diameter, while ourmoon is but two thousand one hundred and sixty, revolves at a distanceof six hundred and seventy-eight thousand three hundred miles fromJupiter, completes its revolution in seven days and four hours, and hasa specific gravity of 1. 87. "

In passing, they observed that Ganymede possessed an atmosphere, andcontinents and oceans of large area. 

"Here, " said Bearwarden, "we have a body with a diameter about fivehundred miles greater than the planet Mercury. Its size, lightspecific gravity, atmosphere, and oceans seem to indicate that it isless advanced than that planet, yet you think Jupiter has had a longerseparate existence than the planets nearer the sun?"

"Undoubtedly, " said Cortlandt. "Jupiter was condensed while in thesolar-system nebula, and began its individual existence and itsevolutionary career long before Mercury was formed. The matter now inGanymede, however, doubtless remained part of the Jupiter-system nebulatill after Mercury's creation, and, being part of so great a mass, didnot cool very rapidly. I should say that this satellite has about thesame relation to Jupiter that Jupiter has to the sun, and is thereforeyounger in point of time as well as of development than the mostdistant Callisto, and older, at all events in years, than Europa andIo, both of which are nearer. This supposition is corroborated by thefact that Europa, the smallest of these four, is also the densest, having a specific gravity of 2. 14, its smallness having enabled it toovertake Ganymede in development, notwithstanding the latter's start. In the face of the evidence before us we must believe this, or elsethat, perhaps, as in the case of the asteroid Hilda, something like acollision has rejuvenated it. This might account for its size, and forthe Nautical Almanac's statement that there is a 'small and variable'inclination to its orbit, while Io and Europa revolve exactly in theplane of Jupiter's equator. "

They had about as long a journey before them as they had already madein going from the earth to Jupiter. The great planet soon appeared asa huge crescent, since it was between them and the sun; its moonsbecame as fifth- and sixth-magnitude stars, and in the evening of thenext day Jupiter's disk became invisible to the unaided eye. Sincethere were no way stations, in the shape of planets or asteroids, between Jupiter and Saturn, they kept the maximum repulsion on Jupiteras long as possible, and moved at tremendous speed. Saturn wassomewhat in advance of Jupiter in its orbit, so that their course fromthe earth had been along two sides of a triangle with an obtuse anglebetween. During the next four terrestrial days they sighted severalsmall comets, but spent most of their time writing out their Jovianexperiences. During the sixth day Saturn's rings, although not as muchtilted as they would be later in the planet's season, presented a mostsuperb sight, while they spun in the sun's rays. Soon after this theeight moons became visible, and, while slightly reducing the Callisto'sspeed, they crossed the orbits of Iapetus, Hyperion, and Titan, whenthey knew they were but seven hundred and fifty thousand miles fromSaturn. 

"I am anxious to ascertain, " said Cortlandt, "whether the compositionof yonder rings is similar to that of the comet through which wepassed. I am sure they shine with more than reflected light. "

"We have been in the habit, " said Ayrault, "of associating heat withlight, but it is obvious there is something far more subtle aboutcometary light and that of Saturn's rings, both of which seem to havetheir birth in the intense cold of interplanetary space. "

Passing close to Mimas, Saturn's nearest moon, they supplemented itsattraction, after swinging by, by their own strong pull, bringing theirspeed down to dead slow as they entered the outside ring. At distancesoften of half a mile they found meteoric masses, sometimes lumps thesize of a house, often no larger than apples, while small particleslike grains of sand moved between them. There were two motions. Thering revolved about Saturn, and the particles vibrated amongthemselves, evidently kept apart by a mutual repulsion, which seemedboth to increase and decrease faster than gravitation; for onapproaching one another they were more strongly repelled thanattracted, but when they separated the repulsion decreased faster thanthe attraction, so that after a time divergence ceased, and theyremained at fixed distances. 

The Callisto soon became imbued with motion also, but nothing everstruck it. When any large mass came unusually near, both it and theircar emitted light, and they rapidly separated. The sunlight was not asstrong here as it had been when they entered the comet, and as theypenetrated farther they were better able to observe the omnipresentluminosity. They were somewhat puzzled by the approach of certainlight-centres, which seemed to contain nothing but this concentratedbrightness. Occasionally one of these centres would glow very brightlynear them, and simultaneously recede. At such times the Callisto alsoglowed, and itself recoiled slightly. At first the travellers couldnot account for this, but finally they concluded that the centres mustbe meteoric masses consisting entirely of gases, possessing weightthough invisible. 

"We have again to face, " said Cortlandt, "that singular law that tillrecently we did not suppose existed on earth. All kinds ofsuppositions have been advanced in explanation of these rings. Somewriters have their thickness, looked at from the thin edge, as fourhundred miles, some one hundred, and some but forty. One astronomer ofthe nineteenth century, a man of considerable eminence, was convincedthat they consisted of sheets of liquid. Now, it should be obviousthat no liquid could maintain itself here for a minute, for it wouldeither fall upon the planet as a crushing hail, or, if dependent forits shape on its own tenacity, it would break if formed of the tougheststeel, on account of the tremendous weight. Any number of theorieshave been advanced by any number of men, but in weight we have the rub. No one has ever shown how these innumerable fragments maintainthemselves at a height of but a few thousand miles above Saturn, withstanding the giant's gravitation-pull. Their rate of revolution, though rapid, does not seem fast enough to sustain them. Neither haveI ever seen it explained why the small fragments do not fall upon thelarge ones, though many astronomers have pictured the composition ofthese rings as we find they exist. Nor do we know why the molecules ofa gas are driven farther apart by heat, while their activity is alsoincreased, though if this activity were revolution about one another todevelop the centrifugal, it would not need to be as strong then as whenthey are cold and nearer together. There may be explanations, but Ihave found none in any of the literature I have read. It seems to methat all this leads to but one conclusion, viz. : apergy is the constantand visible companion of gravitation, on these great planets Jupiterand Saturn, perhaps on account of some peculiar influence they possess, and also in comets, in the case of large masses, while on earth itappears naturally only among molecules--those of gases and every othersubstance. "

"I should go a step further, " said Bearwarden, "and say our earth hasthe peculiarity, since it does not possess the influence necessary togenerate naturally a great or even considerable development of apergy. The electricity of thunderstorms, northern lights, and other forcesseems to be produced freely, but as regards apergy our planet's naturalproductiveness appears to be small. "

The omnipresent luminosity continued, but the glow was scarcely brightenough to be perceived from the earth. 

"I believe, however, " said Bearwarden, referring to this, "thatwhenever a satellite passes near these fragments, preferably when itenters the planet's shadow, since that will remove its own light, itwill create such activity among them as to make the luminosity visibleto the large telescopes or gelatine plates on earth. "

"Now, " said Ayrault, "that we have evolved enough theories to keepastronomers busy for some time, if they attempt to discuss them, Isuggest that we alight and leave the abstract for the concrete. "

Whereupon they passed through the inner ring and rapidly sank to theground. 

 BOOK III. 

 CHAPTER I. 

 SATURN. 

Landing on a place about ten degrees north of the equator, so that theymight obtain a good view of the great rings--since ON the line only thethin edge would be visible--they opened a port-hole with the samecaution they had exercised on Jupiter. Again there was a rush of air, showing that the pressure without was greater than that within; but onthis occasion the barometer stopped at thirty-eight, from which theycalculated that the pressure was nineteen pounds to the square inch ontheir bodies, instead of fifteen as at sea-level on earth. Thisdifference was so slight that they scarcely felt it. They alsodiscarded the apergetic outfits that had been so useful on Jupiter, asunnecessary here. The air was an icy blast, and though they quicklyclosed the opening, the interior of the Callisto was considerablychilled. 

"We shall want our winter clothes, " said Bearwarden; "it might be morecomfortable for us exactly on the equator, though the scene at nightwill be far finer here, if we can stand the climate. Doubtless it willalso be warmer soon, for the sun has but just risen. "

"I suspect this is merely one of the cold waves that rush towards theequator at this season, which corresponds to about the 10th of ourSeptember, " replied Cortlandt. "The poles of Saturn must be intenselycold during its long winter of fourteen and three quarter years, for, the axis being inclined twenty-seven degrees from the perpendicular ofits orbit, the pole turned from the sun is more shut off from its heatthan ours, and in addition to this the mean distance--more than eighthundred and eighty million miles--is very great. Since the chemicalcomposition of the air we have inhaled has not troubled our lungs, itis fair to suppose we shall have no difficulty in breathing. "

Having dressed themselves more warmly, and seen by a thermometer theyhad placed outside that the temperature was thirty-eight degreesFahrenheit, which had seemed very cold compared with the warmth insidethe Callisto, they again opened the port-hole, this time leaving itopen longer. What they had felt before was evidently merely a suddengust, for the air was now comparatively calm. 

Finding that the doctor's prediction as to the suitability of the airto their lungs was correct, they ventured out, closing the door as theywent. 

Expecting, as on Jupiter, to find principally vertebrates of thereptile and bird order, they carried guns and cartridges loaded withbuckshot and No. 1, trusting for solid-ball projectiles to theirrevolvers, which they shoved into their belts. They also tooktest-tubes for experiments on the Saturnian bacilli. Hanging a bucketunder the pipe leading from the roof, to catch any rain that mightfall--for they remembered the scarcity of drinking-water onJupiter--they set out in a southwesterly direction. 

Walking along, they noticed on all sides tall lilies immaculately purein their whiteness, and mushrooms and toadstools nearly a foot high, the former having a delicious flavour and extreme freshness, as thoughonly an hour old. They had seen no animal life, or even sign of it, and were wondering at its dearth, when suddenly two large white birdsrose directly in front of them. Like thought, Bearwarden and Ayraulthad their guns up, snapping the thumb-pieces over "safe" and pullingthe triggers almost simultaneously. Bearwarden, having doublebuckshot, killed his bird at the first fire; but Ayrault, having onlyNo. 1, had to give his the second barrel, almost all damage in bothcases being in the head. On coming close to their victims they foundthem to measure twelve feet from tip to tip, and to have a tremendousthickness of feathers and down. 

"From the looks of these beauties, " said Bearwarden, "I should say theyprobably inhabited a pretty cold place. "

"They are doubtless northern birds, " said Cortlandt, "that have justcome south. It is easy to believe that the depth to which thetemperature may fall in the upper air of this planet must be somethingstartling. "

As they turned from the cranes, to which species the birds seemed tobelong, they became mute with astonishment. Every mushroom haddisappeared, but the toadstools still remained. 

"Is it possible we did not see them?" gasped Ayrault. 

"We must inadvertently have walked some distance since we saw them, "said Cortlandt. 

"They were what I looked forward to for lunch, " exclaimed Bearwarden. 

They were greatly perplexed. The mushrooms were all about them whenthey shot the birds, which still lay where they had fallen. 

"We must be very absent-minded, " said the doctor, "or perchance ourbrains are affected by the air. We must analyze it to see if itcontains our own proportion of oxygen and nitrogen. There was a gooddeal of carbonic-acid gas on Jupiter, but that would hardly confuse oursenses. The strange thing is, that we all seem to have been impressedthe same way. "

Concluding that they must have been mistaken, they continued on theirjourney. 

All about they heard a curious humming, as that of bees, or like themurmuring of prayers in a resonant cathedral. Thinking it was the windin the great trees that grew singly around them, they paid no attentionto it until, emerging on an open plain and finding that the soundcontinued, they stopped. 

"Now, " said Bearwarden, "this is more curious than anything we found onJupiter. Here we have an incessant and rather pleasant sound, with novisible cause. "

"It may possibly be some peculiarity of the grass, " replied Cortlandt, "though, should it continue when we reach sandy or bare soil, I shallbelieve we need a dose of quinine. "

"I FEEL perfectly well, " said Ayrault; "how is it with you?"

Each finding that he was in a normal state, they proceeded, determined, if possible, to discover the source from which the sounds came. Suddenly Bearwarden raised his gun to bring down a long-beaked hawk;but the bird flew off, and he did not shoot. "Plague the luck!" saidhe; "I went blind just as I was about to pull. A haze seemed to coverboth barrels, and completely screened the bird. "

"The Callisto will soon be hidden by those trees, " said Cortlandt. "Ithink we had better take our bearings, for, if our crack shot is goingto miss like that, we may want canned provisions. "

Accordingly, he got out his sextant, took the altitude of the sun, gotcross-bearings and a few angles, and began to make a rough calculation. For several minutes he worked industriously, used the rubber at the endof his pencil, tried again, and then scratched out. "That hummingconfuses me so that I cannot work correctly, " said he, "while the mostirrelevant things enter my mind in spite of me, and mix up my figures. "

"I found the same thing, " said Bearwarden, "but said nothing, for fearI should not be believed. In addition to going blind, for a moment Ialmost forgot what I was trying to do. "

Changing their course slightly, they went towards a range of hills, inthe hope of finding rocky or sandy soil, in order to test the sounds, and ascertain if they would cease or vary. 

Having ascended a few hundred feet, they sat down near some trees torest, the musical hum continuing meanwhile unchanged. The ground wasstrewn with large coloured crystals, apparently rubies, sapphires, andemeralds, about the size of hens' eggs, and also large sheets ofisinglass. Picking up one of the latter, Ayrault examined it. Pointsof light and shade kept forming on its surface, from which ringsradiated like the circles spreading in all directions from a place instill water at which a pebble is thrown. He called his companions, andthe three examined it. The isinglass was about ten inches long byeight across, and contained but few impurities. In addition to thespreading rings, curious forms were continually taking shape anddissolving. 

"This is more interesting, " said Bearwarden, "than sounding shells atthe sea-shore. We must make a note of it as another thing to study. "

They then spread their handkerchiefs on a mound of earth, so as to makea table, and began examining the gems. 

"Does it not seem to you, " asked Ayrault, a few minutes later, addressing his companions, "as though we were not alone? I havethought many times there was some one--or perhaps several persons--herebesides ourselves. "

"The same idea has occurred to me, " replied Cortlandt. "I wasconvinced, a moment ago, that a shadow crossed the page on which I wastaking notes. Can it be there are objects about us we cannot see? Weknow there are vibrations of both light and sound that do not affectour senses. I wish we had brought the magnetic eye; perchance thatmight tell us. "

"Anything sufficiently dense to cast a shadow, " said Ayrault, "shouldbe seen, since it would also be able to make an image on our retinas. I believe any impressions we are receiving are produced through ourminds, as if some one were thinking very intently about us, and thatneither the magnetic eye nor a sensitive plate could reveal anything. "

They then returned to the study of the isinglass, which they were ableto split into extremely thin sheets. Suddenly a cloud passed over thetable, and almost immediately disappeared, and then a sharpened pencilwith which Ayrault had been writing began to trace on a sheet of paper, in an even hand, and with a slight frictional sound. 

"Stop!" said Bearwarden; "let us each for himself describe in writingwhat he has seen. "

In a moment they had done this, and then compared notes. In each casethe vision was the same. Then they looked at the writing made by theinvisible hand. "Absorpta est mors in Victoria, " it ran. 

"Gentlemen, " began Bearwarden, as if addressing a meeting, "this cannotbe coincidence; we are undoubtedly and unquestionably in the presenceof a spirit or of several spirits. That they understand Latin, we see;and, from what they say, they may have known death. Time may showwhether they have been terrestrials like ourselves. Though theconditions of life here might make us delirious, it is scarcelypossible that different temperaments like ours should be affected in soprecisely the same way; besides, in this writing we have tangibleproof. "

"It is perfectly reasonable, " said Ayrault, "to conclude it was aspirit, if we may assume that spirits have the power to move thepencil, which is a material object. Nobody doubts nowadays that afterdeath we live again; that being the case, we must admit that we livesomewhere. Space, as I take it, can be no obstacle to a spirit;therefore, why suppose they remain on earth?"

"This is a wonderful place, " said Cortlandt. "We have already seenenough to convince us of the existence of many unknown laws. I wishthe spirit would reveal itself in some other way. "

As he finished speaking, the rays of the distant and cold-looking sunwere split, and the colours of the spectrum danced upon the linencloth, as if obtained by a prism. In astonishment, they rose andlooked closely at the table, when suddenly a shadow that no onerecognized as his own appeared upon the cover. Tracing it to itssource, their eyes met those of an old man with a white robe and beardand a look of great intelligence on his calm face. They knew he hadnot been in the little grove thirty seconds before, and as this wassurrounded by open country there was no place from which he could havecome. 

 CHAPTER II. 

 THE SPIRIT'S FIRST VISIT. 

"Greetings and congratulations, " he said. "Man has steadfastly strivento rise, and we see the results in you. "

"I have always believed in the existence of spirits, " said Cortlandt, "but never expected to see one with my natural eyes. "

"And you never will, in its spiritual state, " replied the shade, "unless you supplement sight with reason. A spirit has merelyexistence, entity, and will, and is entirely invisible to your eyes. "

"How is it, then, that we see and hear you?" asked Cortlandt. "Are youa man, or a spectre that is able to affect our senses?"

"I WAS a man, " replied the spirit, "and I have given myself visible andtangible form to warn you of danger. My colleagues and I watched youwhen you left the cylinder and when you shot the birds, and, seeingyour doom in the air, have been trying to communicate with you. "

"What were the strange shadows and prismatic colours that kept passingacross our table?" asked Bearwarden. 

"They were the obstructions and refractions of light caused by spiritstrying to take shape, " replied the shade. 

"Do you mind our asking you questions?" said Cortlandt. 

"No, " replied their visitor. "If I can, I will answer them. "

"Then, " said Cortlandt, "how is it that, of the several spirits thattried to become embodied, we see but one, namely, you?"

"That, " said the shade, "is because no natural law is broken. On earthone man can learn a handicraft better in a few days than another in amonth, while some can solve with ease a mathematical problem thatothers could never grasp. So it is here. Perhaps I was in afavourable frame of mind on dying, for the so-called supernaturalalways interested me on earth, or I had a natural aptitude for thesethings; for soon after death I was able to affect the senses of thefriends I had left. "

"Are we to understand, then, " asked Cortlandt, "that the reason more ofour departed do not reappear to us is because they cannot?"

"Precisely, " replied the shade. "But though the percentage of thosethat can return and reappear on earth is small, their number is fairlylarge. History has many cases. We know that the prophet Samuel raisedthe witch of Endor at the behest of Saul; that Moses and Elias becamevisible in the transfiguration; and that after his crucifixion andburial Christ returned to his disciples, and was seen and heard by manyothers. "

"How, " asked Bearwarden deferentially, "do you occupy your time?"

"Time, " replied the spirit, "has not the same significance to us thatit has to you. You know that while the earth rotates in twenty-fourhours, this planet takes but about ten; and the sun turns on its ownaxis but once in a terrestrial month; while the years of the planetsvary from less than three months for Mercury to Neptune's one hundredand sixty-four years. Being insensible to heat and cold, darkness andlight, we have no more changing seasons, neither is there any night. When a man dies, " he continued with solemnity, "he comes at once intothe enjoyment of senses vastly keener than any be possessed before. Our eyes--if such they can be called--are both microscopes andtelescopes, the change in focus being effected as instantaneously asthought, enabling us to perceive the smallest microbe or disease-germ, and to see the planets that revolve about the stars. The step of a flyis to us as audible as the tramp of a regiment, while we hear themechanical and chemical action of a snake's poison on the blood of anypoor creature bitten, as plainly as the waves on the shore. We alsohave a chemical and electrical sense, showing us what effect differentsubstances will have on one another, and what changes to expect in theweather. The most complex and subtle of our senses, however, is a sortof second sight that we call intuition or prescience, which we arestill studying to perfect and understand. With our eyes closed itreveals to us approaching astronomical and other bodies, or what ishappening on the other side of the planet, and enables us to view thefuture as you do the past. The eyes of all but the highest angelsrequire some light, and can be dazzled by an excess; but this attributeof divinity nothing can obscure, and it is the sense that will firstenable us to know God. By means of these new and sharpened faculties, which, like children, we are continually learning to use to betteradvantage, we constantly increase our knowledge, and this is next toour greatest happiness. "

"Is there any limit, " asked Bearwarden, "to human progress on theearth?"

"Practically none, " replied the spirit. "Progress depends largely onyour command of the forces of Nature. At present your principalsources of power are food, fuel, electricity, the heat of the interiorof the earth, wind, and tide. From the first two you cannot expectmuch more than now, but from the internal heat everywhere available, tradewinds, and falling water, as at Niagara, and from tides, you canobtain power almost without limit. Were this all, however, yourprogress would be slow; but the Eternal, realizing the shortness ofyour lives, has given you power with which to rend the globe. You havethe action of all uncombined chemicals, atmospheric electricity, theexcess or froth of which you now see in thunderstorms, and theelectricity and magnetism of your own bodies. There is also molecularand sympathetic vibration, by which Joshua not understandingly levelledthe walls of Jericho; and the power of your minds over matter, butlittle more developed now than when I moved in the flesh upon theearth. By lowering large quantities of high-powered explosives to thedeepest parts of the ocean bed, and exploding them there, you canproduce chasms through which some water will be forced towards theheated interior by the enormous pressure of its own weight. At acomparatively slight depth it will be converted into steam and producean earthquake. This will so enlarge your chasm, that a great volume ofwater will rush into the red-hot interior, which will cause a series ofsuch terrific eruptions that large islands will be upheaved. By thereduction of the heat of that part of the interior there will also be ashrinkage, which, in connection with the explosions, will cause theearth's solid crust to be thrown up in folds till whole continentsappear. Some of the water displaced by the new land will also, as aresult of the cooling, be able permanently to penetrate farther, thereby decreasing by that much the amount of water in the oceans, sothat the tide-level in your existing seaports will be but slightlychanged. By persevering in this work, you will become so skilled thatit will be possible to evoke land of whatever kind you wish, at anyplace; and by having high table-land at the equator, sloping off intolow plains towards north and south, and maintaining volcanoes ineruption at the poles to throw out heat and start warm ocean currents, it will be possible, in connection with the change you are now makingin the axis, to render the conditions of life so easy that the earthwill support a far larger number of souls. 

"With the powers at your disposal you can also alter and improveexisting continents, and thereby still further increase the number ofthe children of men. Perhaps with mild climate, fertile soil, anddecreased struggle for existence, man will develop his spiritual side. 

"Finally, you have apergy, one of the highest forces, for it puts youalmost on a plane with angels, and with it you have already visitedJupiter and Saturn. It was impossible that man should remain chainedto the earth during the entire life of his race, like an inferioranimal or a mineral, lower even in freedom of body than birds. Heretofore you have, as I have said, seen but one side in many workingsof Nature, as if you had discovered either negative or positiveelectricity, but not both; for gravitation and apergy are asinseparably combined in the rest of the universe as those two, separated temporarily on earth that the discovery of the utilization ofone with the other might serve as an incentive to your minds. You sawit in Nature on Jupiter in the case of several creatures, suspecting itin the boa-constrictor and Will-o'-the-wisp and jelly-fish, and havestanding illustrations of it in all tailed comets--luminosity in thecase of large bodies being one manifestation--in the rings of thisplanet, and in the molecular motion and porosity of all gases, liquids, and solids on earth; since what else is it that keeps the moleculesapart, heat serving merely to increase its power? God made man in hisown image; does it not stand to reason that he will allow him tocontinue to become more and more like himself? Would he begrudge himthe power to move mountains through the intelligent application ofNature's laws, when he himself said they might be moved by faith? Sofar you have been content to use the mechanical power of water, itsmomentum or dead weight merely; to attain a much higher civilization, you must break it up chemically and use its constituent gases. "

"How, " asked Bearwarden, "can this be done?"

"Force superheated steam, " replied the spirit, "through an intenselyheated substance, as you now do in making water-gas--preferablyplatinum heated by electricity--apply an apergetic shock, and theoxygen and hydrogen will separate like oil and water, the oxygen beingso much the heavier. Lead them in different directions as fast as thewater is decomposed--since otherwise they would reunite--and yoursupply of power will be inexhaustible. "

"Will you not stay and dine with us?" asked Ayrault. "While in theflesh you must be subject to its laws, and must need food to maintainyour strength, like ourselves. "

"It will give me great pleasure, " replied the spirit, "to tarry withyou, and once more to taste earthly food, but most of all to have theblessed joy of being of service to you. Here, all being immaterialspirits, no physical injury can befall any of us; and since no onewants anything that any one else can give, we have no opportunity ofdoing anything for each other. You see we neither eat nor sleep, neither can any of us again know physical pain or death, nor can wecomfort one another, for every one knows the truth about himself andevery one else, and we read one another's thoughts as an open book. "

"Do you, " asked Bearwarden, "not eat at all?"

"We absorb vitality in a sense, " replied the spirit. "As the suncombines certain substances into food for mortals, it also producesmolecular vibration and charges the air with magnetism and electricity, which we absorb without effort. In fact, there is a faint pleasure inthe absorption of this strength, when, in magnetic disturbances, thereis an unusual amount of immortal food. Should we try to resist it, there would eventually be a greater pressure without than within, andwe should assimilate involuntarily. We are part of the intangibleuniverse, and can feel no hunger that is not instantly appeased, neither can we ever more know thirst. "

"Why, " asked Cortlandt reverently, "did the angel with the sword offlame drive Adam from the Tree of Life, since with his soul he hadreceived that which could never die?"

"That was part of the mercy of God, " the shade replied; "forimmortality could be enjoyed but meagrely on earth, where naturallimitations are so abrupt. And know this, ye who are something ofchemists, that had Adam eaten of that substance called fruit, he wouldhave lived in the flesh to this day, and would have been of all men themost unhappy. "

"Will the Fountain of Youth ever be discovered?" asked Cortlandt. 

"That substances exist, " replied the spirit, "that render it impossiblefor the germs of old age and decay to lodge in the body, I know; infact, it would be a break in the continuity and balance of Nature didthey not; but I believe their discovery will be coincident withChrist's second visible advent on earth. You are, however, only on theshore of the ocean of knowledge, and, by continuing to advance ingeometric ratio, will soon be able to retain your mortal bodies tillthe average longevity exceeds Methuselah's; but, except for moreopportunities of doing good, or setting a longer example to yourfellows by your lives, where would be the gain?

"I now see how what appeared to me while I lived on earth insignificantincidents, were the acts of God, and that what I thought injustice ormisfortune was but evidence of his wisdom and love; for we know thatnot a sparrow falleth without God, and that the hairs of our heads arenumbered. Every act of kindness or unselfishness on my part, also, stands out like a golden letter or a white stone, and gives meunspeakable comfort. At the last judgment, and in eternity following, we shall have very different but just as real bodies as those that wepossessed in the flesh. The dead at the last trump will rise clothedin them, and at that time the souls in paradise will receive them also. "

"I wonder, " thought Ayrault, "on which hand we shall be placed in thatlast day. "

"The classification is now going on, " said the spirit, answering histhought, "and I know that in the final judgment each individual willrange himself automatically on his proper side. "

"Do tell me, " said Ayrault, "how you were able to answer my thought. "

"I see the vibrations of the grey matter of your brain as plainly asthe movements of your lips; in fact, I see the thoughts in theembryonic state taking shape. "

When their meal was ready they sat down, Ayrault placing the spirit onhis right, with Cortlandt on his left, and having Bearwarden opposite. On this occasion their chief had given them a particularly good dinner, but the spirit took only a slice of meat and a glass of claret. 

"Won't you tell us the story of your life, " said Ayrault to the spirit, "and your experiences since your death? They would be of tremendousinterest to us. "

"I was a bishop in one of the Atlantic States, " replied the spiritgravely, "and died shortly before the civil war. People came fromother cities to hear my sermons, and the biographical writers havehonoured my memory by saying that I was a great man. I wascontemporaneous with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. Shortly after Ireached threescore and ten, according to earthly years, I caught what Iconsidered only a slight cold, for I had always had good health, but itbecame pneumonia. My friends, children, and grandchildren came to seeme, and all seemed going well, when, without warning, my physician toldme I had but a few hours to live. I could scarcely believe my ears;and though, as a Churchman, I had ministered to others and had alwaystried to lead a good life, I was greatly shocked. I suddenlyremembered all the things I had left undone and all the things Iintended to do, and the old saying, 'Hell is paved with goodintentions, ' crossed my mind very forcibly. In less than an hour I sawthe physician was right; I grew weaker and my pulse fluttered, but mymind remained clear. I prayed to my Creator with all my soul, 'O spareme a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence, and beno more seen. ' As if for an answer, the thought crossed my brain, 'Setthine house in order, for thou shalt not live, but die. ' I then calledmy children and made disposition of such of my property and personaleffects as were not covered by my will. I also gave to each the advicethat my experience had shown me he or she needed. Then came anotherwave of remorse and regret, and again an intense longing to pray; butalong with the thought of sins and neglected duties came also thememory of the honest efforts I had made to obey my conscience, andthese were like rifts of sunshine during a storm. These thoughts, andthe blessed promises of religion I had so often preached in thechurches of my diocese, were an indescribable comfort, and saved mefrom the depths of blank despair. Finally my breathing becamelaboured, I had sharp spasms of pain, and my pulse almost stopped. Ifelt that I was dying, and my sight grew dim. The crisis and climax oflife were at hand. 'Oh!' I thought, with the philosophers and sages, 'is it to this end I lived? The flower appears, briefly blooms amidtroublous toil, and is gone; my body returns to its primordial dust, and my works are buried in oblivion. The paths of life and glory leadbut to the grave. ' My soul was filled with conflicting thoughts, andfor a moment even my faith seemed at a low ebb. I could hear mychildren's stifled sobs, and my darling wife shed silent tears. Thethought of parting from them gave me the bitterest wrench. With myfleeting breath I gasped these words, 'That mercy I showed others, thatshow thou me. ' The darkened room grew darker, and after that I died. In my sleep I seemed to dream. All about were refined and heavenlyflowers, while the most delightful sounds and perfumes filled the air. Gradually the vision became more distinct, and I experienced anindescribable feeling of peace and repose. I passed through fields andscenes I had never seen before, while every place was filled with anall-pervading light. Sometimes I seemed to be miles in air; countlesssuns and their planets shone, and dazzled my eyes, while nobird-of-paradise was as happy or free as I. Gradually it came to methat I was awake, and that it was no dream. Then I remembered my lastmoments, and perceived that I had died. Death had brought freedom, mywork in the flesh was ended, I was indeed alive. 

"'O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?' In mydying moments I had forgotten what I had so often preached--'Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. ' In a moment mylife lay before me like a valley or an open page. All along its pathsand waysides I saw the little seeds of word and deed that I had sownextending and bearing fruit forever for good or evil. I then sawthings as they were, and realized the faultiness of my formerconclusions, based as they had been on the incomplete knowledgeobtained through embryonic senses. I also saw the Divine purpose inlife as the design in a piece of tapestry, whereas before I had seenbut the wrong side. It is not till we have lost the life in the fleshthat we realize its dignity and value, for every hour gives usopportunities of helping or elevating some human being--it may beourselves--of doing something in His service. 

"Now that time is past, the books are closed, and we can do nothingfurther ourselves to alter our status for eternity, however much we maywish to. It is on this account, and not merely to save you from death, which in itself is nothing, that I now tell you to run to the Callisto, seal the doors hermetically, and come not forth till a sudden rush ofair that you will see on the trees has passed. A gust in which evenbirds drop dead, if they are unable to escape, will be here when youreach safety. Do not delay to take this food, and eat none of it whenyou return, for it will be filled with poisonous germs. "

"How can we find you?" asked Ayrault, grasping his hand. "You must notleave us till we know how we can see you again. "

"Think hard and steadfastly of me, you three, " replied the spirit, "ifyou want me, and I shall feel your thought"; saying which, he vanishedbefore their eyes, and the three friends ran to the Callisto. 

 CHAPTER III. 

 DOUBTS AND PHILOSOPHY. 

On reaching it, they climbed the ladder leading to the second-storyopening, and entering through this, they closed the door, screwing ittightly in place. 

"Now, " said Cortlandt, "we can see what changes, if any, this wonderfulgust will effect. "

"He made no strictures on our senses, such as they are, " saidBearwarden, "but implied that evolution would be carried much furtherin us, from which I suppose we may infer that it has not yet gone far. I wish we had recorked those brandy peaches, for now they will befilled with poisonous germs. I wonder if our shady friend could nottell us of an antiseptic with which they might be treated?"

"Those fellows, " thought Ayrault, who had climbed to the dome, fromwhich he had an extended view, "would jeer at an angel, while thedeference they showed the spirit seems, as usual, to have been merelysuperficial. "

"Let us note, " said Cortlandt, "that the spirit thermometer outside hasfallen several degrees since we entered, though, from the time taken, Ishould not say that the sudden change would be one of temperature. "

Just then they saw a number of birds, which had been resting in a clumpof trees, take flight suddenly; but they fell to the ground before theyhad risen far, and were dashed to pieces. In another moment the treesbegan to bend and sway before the storm; and as they gazed, the colourof the leaves turned from green and purple to orange and red. The windblew off many of these, and they were carried along by the gusts, orfluttered to the ground, which was soon strewed with them. It was atypical autumnal scene. Presently the wind shifted, and this wasfollowed by a cold shower of rain. 

"I think the worst is over, " said Bearwarden. "The Sailor's Guide says:

 'When the rain's before the wind, Halliards, sheets, and braces mind; When the wind's before the rain, Soon you can make sail again. '

Doubtless that will hold good here. "

This proved to be correct; and, after a repetition of the precautionsthey had taken on their arrival on the planet in regard to theinhalability of the air, they again sallied forth. They left theirmagazine shot-guns, taking instead the double-barrelled kind, onaccount of the rapidity with which this enabled them to fire the secondbarrel after the first, and threw away the water that had collected inthe bucket, out of respect to the spirit's warning. They noticed apungent odour, and decided to remain on high ground, since they hadobserved that the birds, in their effort to escape, had flown almostvertically into the air. On reaching the grove in which they had seenthe storm, they found their table and everything on it exactly as theyhad left it. Bearwarden threw out the brandy peaches on the ground, exclaiming that it was a shame to lose such good preserves, and theyproceeded on their walk. They passed hundreds of dead birds, and onreaching the edge of the toadstool valley were not a little surprisedto find that every toadstool had disappeared. 

"I wonder, " said the doctor, "if there can be any connection betweenthe phenomenon of the disappearance of those toadstools and the deathof the birds? We could easily discover it if they had eaten them, orif in any other way the plants could have entered their bodies; but Isee no way in which that can have happened. "

Resolving to investigate carefully any other fungi they might see, theyresumed their march. The cold, distant-looking sun, apparently aboutthe size of an orange, was near the horizon. Saturn's rotation on itsaxis occupying only ten hours and fourteen minutes, being but a fewminutes longer than Jupiter's, they knew it would soon be night. Finding a place on a range of hills sheltered by rocks and a clump oftrees of the evergreen species, they arranged themselves as comfortablyas possible, ate some of the sandwiches they had brought, lighted theirpipes, and watched the dying day. Here were no fire-flies to light thedarkening minutes, nor singing flowers to lull them to sleep with theirsong but six of the eight moons, each at a different phase, and withvaried brightness, bathed the landscape in their pale, cold rays; whilefar above them, like a huge rainbow, stretched the great rings ineffulgent sheets, reaching thousands of miles into space, and floodedeverything with their silvery light. 

"How poor a place compared with this, " they thought to themselves, "isour world!" and Ayrault wished that his soul was already free; whilethe dead leaves rustling in the gentle breeze, and the nightwinds, sighing among the trees, seemed to echo his thought. Far above theirheads, and in the vastness of space, the well-known stars andconstellations, notwithstanding the enormous distance they had nowcome, looked absolutely unchanged, and seemed to them emblematic oftranquillity and eternal repose. The days were changed by theirshortness, and by the apparent loss of power in the sun; and thenights, as if in compensation, were magnificently illuminated by thenumerous moons and splendid rings, though neither rings nor satellitesshone with as strong a light as the terrestrial moon. But in nothingoutside of the solar system was there any change; and could AEneas'sPalinurus, or one of Philip of Macedon's shepherds, be brought to lifehere, he would see exactly the same stars in the same positions; and, did he not know of his own death or of the lapse of time, he mightsuppose, so far as the heavens were affected, that he had but fallenasleep, or had just closed his eyes. 

"I have always regretted, " said Cortlandt, "that I was not born athousand years later. "

"Were it not, " added Ayrault, "that our earth is the vestibule tospace, and for the opportunities it opens, I should rather never havelived, for life in itself is unsatisfying. "

"You fellows are too indefinite and abstract for me, " said Bearwarden. "I like something tangible and concrete. The utilitarianism of thetwentieth century, by which I live, paradoxical though it may seem, would be out of place in space, unless we can colonize the otherplanets, and improve their arrangements and axes. "

Mixed with Ayrault's philosophical and metaphysical thoughts were thememories of his sweetheart at Vassar, and he longed, more than hiscompanions, for the spirit's return, that he might ask him if perchancehe could tell him aught of her, and whether her thoughts were then ofhim. 

Finally, worn out by the fatigue and excitement of the day, they setthe protection-wires, more from force of habit than because they fearedmolestation and, rolling themselves in their blankets--for the nightwas cold--were soon fast asleep; Ayrault's last thought having been ofhis fiancee, Cortlandt's of the question he wished to ask the spirit, and Bearwarden's of the progress of his Company in the work ofstraightening the terrestrial axis. Thus they slept seven hundred andninety million miles beyond their earth's orbit, and more than eighthundred million from the place where the earth was then. While theylay unconscious, the clouds above them froze, and before morning therewas a fall of snow that covered the ground and them as they lay uponit. Soon three white mounds were all that marked their presence, andthe cranes and eagles, rising from their roosts in response to thecoming day, looked unconcernedly at all that was human that they hadever seen. Finally, wakened by the resounding cries of these birds, Bearwarden and Cortlandt arose, and meeting Ayrault, who had alreadyrisen, mistook the snowy form before them for the spirit, and thinkingthe dead bishop had revisited them, they were preparing to welcome him, and to propound the questions they had formulated, when Ayrault'sfamiliar voice showed them their mistake. 

"Seeing your white figures, " said he, "rise apparently in response tothose loud calls, reminded me of what the spirit told us of the lastday, and of the awakening and resurrection of the dead. "

The scene was indeed weird. The east, already streaked with the raysof the rising far-away sun, and the pale moons nearing the horizon inthe west, seemed connected by the huge bow of light. The snow on thedark evergreens produced a contrast of colour, while the other treesraised their almost bare and whitened branches against the sky, asthough in supplication to the mysterious rings, which cast their lightupon them and on the ground. As they gazed, however, the rings becamegrey, the moons disappeared, and another day began. Feeling sure thesnow must have cleared the air of any deleterious substances itcontained the day before, they descended into the neighbouring valley, which, having a southerly exposure, was warm in comparison with thehills. As they walked they disturbed a number of small rodents, whichquickly ran away and disappeared in their holes. 

"Though we have seen none of the huge creatures here, " said Cortlandt, "that were so plentiful on Jupiter, these burrowers belong to adistinctly higher scale than those we found there, from which I take itwe may infer that the evolution of the animal kingdom has advancedfurther on this planet than on Jupiter, which is just what we have aright to expect; for Saturn, in addition to being the smaller andtherefore more matured of the two, has doubtless had a longerindividual existence, being the farther from the sun. "

Notwithstanding the cold of the night, the flowers, especially thelilies, were as beautiful as ever, which surprised them not a little, until, on examining them closely, they found that the stems and veinsin the leaves were fluted, and therefore elastic, so that, should thesap freeze, it could expand without bursting the cells, therebyenabling the flowers to withstand a short frost. They noticed thatmany of the curiously shaped birds they saw at a distance from time totime were able to move with great rapidity along the ground, and hadabout concluded that they must have four legs, being similar to wingedsquirrels, when a long, low quadruped, about twenty-five feet fromnostrils to tail, which they were endeavouring to stalk, suddenlyspread two pairs of wings, flapping the four at once, and then soaredoff at great speed. 

"I hope we can get one of those, or at least his photograph, " saidCortlandt. 

"If they go in pairs, " said Bearwarden, "we may find the companionnear. "

At that moment another great winged lizard, considerably larger thanthe first, rose with a snort, not twenty yards on their left. Cortlandt, who was a good shot with a gun at short range, immediatelyraised his twelve-bore and fired both barrels at the monster; but thedouble-B shots had no more disabling effect than if they had beennumber eights. They, however, excited the creature's ire; for, sweeping around quickly, it made straight for Cortlandt, breathing athim when near, and almost overpowering the three men with themalodorous, poisonous cloud it exhaled. Instantly Bearwarden firedseveral revolver bullets down its throat, while Ayrault pulled bothbarrels almost simultaneously, with the muzzles but a few inches fromits side. In this case the initial velocity of the heavy buckshot wasso great, and they were still so close together, that they penetratedthe leathery hide, tearing a large hole. With a roar the woundedmonster beat a retreat, first almost prostrating them with anotherblast of its awful breath. 

"It would take a stronger light than we get here, " said Bearwarden, "toimpress a negative through that haze. I think, " he continued, "I knowa trick that will do the business, if we see any more of thesedragons. " Saying which, he withdrew the cartridges from his gun, andwith his hunting-knife cut the tough paper shell nearly through betweenthe wads separating the powder from the shot, drawing his knifeentirely around. 

"Now, " said he, "when I fire those, the entire forward end of thecartridge will go out, keeping the fifteen buckshot together like aslug, and with such penetration that it will go through a two-inchplank. It is a trick I learned from hunters, and, unless your guns arechoke-bore, in which case it might burst the barrel, I advise you tofollow suit. "

Finding they had brought straight-bored guns, they arranged theircartridges similarly, and set out in the direction in which the wingedlizards or dragons had gone. 

 CHAPTER IV. 

 A PROVIDENTIAL INTERVENTION. 

The valley narrowed as they advanced, the banks rising gently on bothsides. Both dragons had flown straight to a grove of tall, spreadingtrees. On coming near to this, they noticed a faint smell like that ofthe dragon, and also like the trace they found in the air on leavingthe Callisto the day before, after they had sought safety within it. Soon it almost knocked them down. 

"We must get to windward, " said Cortlandt. "I already feel faint, andbelieve those dragons could kill a man by breathing on him. "

Accordingly, they skirted around the grove, and having made a quartercircle--for they did not wish the dragons to wind them--again drewnearer. Tree after tree was passed, and finally they saw an open spacetwelve or fifteen acres in area at the centre of the grove, when theywere arrested by a curious sound of munching. Peering among the trunksof the huge trees, they advanced cautiously, but stopped aghast. Inthe opening were at least a hundred dragons devouring the toadstoolswith which the ground was covered. Many of them were thirty to fortyfeet long, with huge and terribly long, sharp claws, and jaws armedwith gleaming batteries of teeth. Though they had evidently lungs, andthe claws and mouth of an animal, they reminded the observers in manyrespects of insects enormously exaggerated, for their wings, composedof a sort of transparent scale, were small, and moved, as they hadalready seen, at far greater speed than those of a bird. Theirprojecting eyes were also set rigidly in their heads instead ofturning, and consisted of a number of flat surfaces or facets, like afly's eye, so that they could see backward and all around, each facetseeing anything the rays from which came at right angles to itssurface. This beautiful grove was doubtless their feeding-ground, and, as such, was likely to be visited by many more. Concluding it would bewise to let their wounded game escape, the three men were about toretreat, having found it difficult to breathe the air even at thatdistance from the monsters, when the wounded dragon that they hadobserved moving about in a very restless manner, and evidentlysuffering a good deal from the effect of its wounds, espied them, and, with a roar that made the echoes ring, started towards them slowlyalong the ground, followed by the entire herd, the nearer of which nowalso saw them. Seeing that their lives were in danger, the huntersquickly regained the open, and then stretched their legs against thewind. The dragons came through the trees on the ground, and then, raising themselves by their wings, the whole swarm, snorting, anddarkening the air with their deadly breath, made straight for the men, who by comparison looked like Lilliputians. With the slug from hisright barrel Bearwarden ended the wounded dragon's career by shootinghim through the head, and with his left laid low the one following. Ayrault also killed two huge monsters, and Cortlandt killed one andwounded another. Their supply of prepared cartridges was thenexhausted, and they fell back on their revolvers and ineffectivespreading shot. Resolved to sell their lives dearly, they retreated, keeping their backs to the wind, with the poisonous dragons in front. But the breeze was very slight, and they were being rapidly blinded andasphyxiated by the loathsome fumes, and deafened by the hideous roaringand snapping of the dragons' jaws. Realizing that they could not muchlonger reply to the diabolical host with lead, they believed their lasthour had come, when the ground on which they were making their laststand shook, there was a rending of rocks and a rush of imprisonedsteam that drowned even the dragons' roar, and they were separated fromthem by a long fissure and a wall of smoke and vapour. Struggling backfrom the edge of the chasm, they fell upon the ground, and then for thefirst time fully realized that the earthquake had saved them, for thedragons could not come across the opening, and would not venture to flythrough the smoke and steam. When they recovered somewhat from theshock, they cut a number of cartridges in the same way that they hadprepared those that had done them such good service, and kept onebarrel of each gun loaded with that kind. 

[Illustration: The combat with the dragons. ]

"We may thank Providence, " said Bearwarden, "for that escape. I hopewe shall have no more such close calls. "

With a parting glance at the chasm that had saved their lives, and fromwhich a cloud still arose, they turned slightly to the right of theirformer course and climbed the gently rising bank. When near the top, being tired of their exciting experiences, they sat down to rest. Theground all about them was covered with mushrooms, white on top and pinkunderneath. 

"This is a wonderful place for fungi, " said Ayrault. "Here, doubtless, we shall be safe from the dragons, for they seemed to prefer thetoadstools. " As he lay on the ground he watched one particularmushroom that seemed to grow before his eyes. Suddenly, as he looked, it vanished. Dumfounded at this unmistakable manifestation of thephenomenon they thought they had seen on landing, he called hiscompanions, and, choosing another mushroom, the three watched itclosely. Presently, without the least noise or commotion, that alsodisappeared, leaving no trace, and the same fate befell a number ofothers. At a certain point of their development they vanished ascompletely as a bubble of air coming to the surface of water, exceptthat they caused no ripple, leaving merely a small depression wherethey had stood. 

"Well, " said Bearwarden, "in all my travels I never have seen anythinglike this. If I were at a sleight-of-hand performance, and theprestidigitateur, after doing that, asked for my theory, I should say, 'I give it up. ' How is it with you, doctor?" he asked, addressingCortlandt. 

"There must be an explanation, " replied Cortlandt, "only we do not knowthe natural law to which the phenomenon is subject, having had noexperience with it on earth. We know that all substances can beconverted into gases, and that all gases can be reduced to liquids, andeven solids, by the application of pressure and cold. If there is anyway by which the visible substance of these fungi can be converted intoits invisible gases, as water into oxygen and hydrogen, what we haveseen can be logically explained. Perhaps, favoured by some affinity ofthe atmosphere, its constituent parts are broken up and become gases atthis barometric pressure and temperature. We must ask the spirit, ifhe visits us again. "

"I wish he would, " said Ayrault; "there are lots of things I shouldlike to ask him. "

"Presidents of corporations and other chairmen, " said Bearwarden, "arenot usually superstitious, and I, of course, take no stock in thesupernatural; but somehow I have a well-formed idea that our friend thebishop, with the great power of his mind over matter, had a hand inthat earthquake. He seems to have an exalted idea of our importance, and may be exerting himself to make things pleasant. "

At this point the sun sank below the horizon, and they found themselvesconfronted with night. 

"Dear, dear!" said Bearwarden, "and we haven't a crumb to eat. I'llstand the drinks and the pipes, " he continued, passing around hisubiquitous flask and tobacco-pouch. 

"If I played such pranks with my interior on earth, " said Cortlandt, helping himself to both, "as I do on this planet, it would give me noend of trouble, but here I seem to have the digestion of an ostrich. "

So they sat and smoked for an hour, till the stars twinkled and therings shone in their glory. 

 "Well, " said Ayrault, finally, "since we have nothing butmotions to lay on the table, I move we adjourn. "

"The only motion I shall make, " said Cortlandt, who was alreadyundressed, "will be that of getting into bed, " saying which, he rolledhimself in his blanket and soon was fast asleep. 

Having decided that, on account of the proximity of the dragons, a manmust in any event be on the watch, they did not set theprotection-wires. From the shortness of the nights, they divided theminto only two watches of from two hours to two and a half each, sothat, even when constant watch duty was necessary, each man had onefull night's sleep in three. On this occasion Ayrault and Cortlandtwere the watchers, Cortlandt having the morning and Ayrault the eveningwatch. Many curious quadruped birds, about the size of large bears, and similar in shape, having bear-shaped heads, and several creaturesthat looked like the dragons, flew about them in the moonlight; butneither watcher fired a shot, as the creatures showed no desire to makean attack. All these species seemed to belong to the owl or bat tribe, for they roamed abroad at night. 

 CHAPTER V. 

 AYRAULT'S VISION. 

When Ayrault's watch was ended, he roused Cortlandt, who took hisplace, and feeling a desire for solitude and for a last long look atthe earth, he crossed the top of the ridge on the slope of which theyhad camped, and lay down on the farther side. The South wind in theupper air rushed along in the mighty whirl, occasionally carrying filmyclouds across the faces of the moons; but about Ayrault all was still, and he felt a quiet and serene repose. He had every intention ofremaining awake, and was pondering on the steadfastness of the humanheart and the constancy of love, when his meditations began to wander, and, with his last thoughts on Sylvia, he fell asleep. Not a branchmoved, nor did a leaf fall, yet before Ayrault's, sleeping eyes astrange scene was enacted. A figure in white came near and stoodbefore him, and he recognized in it one Violet Slade, a very attractivegirl to whom he had been attentive in his college days. She was atthat time just eighteen, and people believed that she loved him, butfor some reason, he knew not why, he had not proposed. 

"I thought you had died, " he said, as she gazed at him, "but you arenow looking better than ever. "

"From the world's point of view I AM dead, " she replied. "I died andwas buried. It is therefore permissible that I should show you thetruth. You never believed I loved you. I have wished earnestly to seeyou, and to have you know that I did. "

"I did you an injustice, " Ayrault answered, perceiving all that was inher heart. "Could mortals but see as spirits do, there would be nomisunderstandings. "

"I am so glad to see you, " she continued, "and to know you are well. Had you not come here, we could probably not have met until after yourdeath; for I shall not be sufficiently advanced to return to earth fora long time, though my greatest solace while there was my religion, which is all that brought me here. We, however, know that as ourcapacity for true happiness increases we shall be happier, and thatafter the resurrection there will be no more tears. Farewell, " shewhispered, while her eyes were filled with love. 

Ayrault's sleep was then undisturbed for some time, when suddenly anangel, wreathed in light, appeared before him and spoke these words:"He that walked with Adam and talked with Moses has sent me to guardyou while you sleep. No plague or fever, wild beast or earthquake, canmolest you, for you are equally protected from the most powerfulmonster and the most insidious disease-germ. 'Blessed is the man whoseoffences are covered and whose sins are forgiven. ' Sleep on, therefore, and be refreshed, for the body must have rest. "

"A man may rest indeed, " replied Ayrault, "when he has a guardianangel. I had the most unbounded faith in your existence before I sawyou, and believe and know that you or others have often shielded mefrom danger and saved my life. Why am I worthy of so much care?"

"'Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High shall abide underthe shadow of the Almighty, '" answered the angel, and thereupon hebecame invisible, a diffused light taking his place. Shortlyafterwards this paled and completely vanished. 

"Not only am I in paradise, " thought Ayrault; "I believe I am also inthe seventh heaven. Would I might hear such words again!"

A group of lilies then appeared before the sleeper's eyes. In themidst was one lily far larger than the rest, and of a dazzling white. This spoke in a gentle voice, but with the tones of a trombone:

"Thy thoughts and acts are a pleasure to me. Thou hast raised no idolswithin thy heart, and thy faith is as incense before me. Thy name isnow in the Book of Life. Continue as thou hast begun, and thou shaltlive and reign forever. "

Hereupon the earth shook, and Ayrault was awakened. Great boulderswere rolling and crashing down the slope about him, while the dawn wasalready in the east. 

[Illustration: Ayrault's Vision. ]

"My mortal eyes and senses are keener here while I sleep than when Iwake, " he thought, as he looked about him, "for spirits, unable toaffect me while waking, have made themselves felt in my more sensitivestate while I was asleep. Nevertheless, this is none other but thehouse of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 

"The boulders were still in motion when I opened my eyes, " he mused;"can it be that there is hereabouts such a flower as in my dreams Iseemed to see?" and looking beyond where his head had lain, he beheldthe identical lily surrounded by the group that his closed eyes hadalready seen. Thereupon he uncovered his head and departed quickly. Crossing the divide, he descended to camp, where he found Cortlandt indeep thought. 

"I cannot get over the dreams, " said the doctor, "I had in the firstpart of the night. Notwithstanding yesterday's excitement and fatigue, my sleep was most disturbed, and I was visited by visions of my wife, who died long ago. She warned me against skepticism, and seemed muchdistressed at my present spiritual state. "

"I, " said Bearwarden, who had been out early, and had succeeded inbringing in half a dozen birds, "was so disturbed I could not sleep. It seemed to me as though half the men I have ever known came andwarned me against agnosticism and my materialistic tendencies. Theykept repeating, 'You are losing the reality for the shadow. '"

"I am convinced, " said Ayrault, "that they were not altogether dreams, or, if dreams indeed, that they were superinduced by a higher will. Weknow that angels have often appeared to men in the past. May it not bethat, as our appreciativeness increases, these communications willrecur?" Thereupon he related his own experiences. 

"The thing that surprised me, " said Cortlandt, as they finishedbreakfast, "was the extraordinary realism of the scene. We must see ifour visions return on anything but an empty stomach. "

 CHAPTER VI. 

 A GREAT VOID AND A GREAT LONGING. 

Resuming their march, the travellers proceeded along the circumferenceof a circle having a radius of about three miles, with the Callisto inthe centre. In crossing soft places they observed foot-prints formingin the earth all around them. The impressions were of all sizes, andceased when they reached rising or hard ground, only to reappear in theswamps, regulating their speed by that of the travellers. The three menwere greatly surprised at this. 

"You may observe, " said Cortlandt, "that the surface of the impressionis depressed as you watch it, as though by a weight, and you can see, and even hear, the water being squeezed out, though whatever is doingit is entirely invisible. They must be made by spirits sufficientlyadvanced to have weight, but not advanced enough to make themselvesvisible. "

Moved by a species of vandalism, Bearwarden raised his twelve-bore, andfired an ordinary cartridge that he had not prepared for the dragons, at the space directly over the nearest forming prints. There was abrilliant display of prismatic colours, as in a rainbow, and though theimpressions already made remained, no new ones were formed. 

"Now you have done it!" said Cortlandt. "I hoped to be able toinvestigate this further. "

"We shall doubtless see other and perhaps more wonderful things, "replied Bearwarden. "I must say this gives me an uncanny feeling. "

When they had completed a little over half their circle, they came uponanother of the groves with which Saturn seemed to abound, at the edgeof which, in a side-hill, was a cave, the entrance of which wascomposed of rocky masses that had apparently fallen together, the floorbeing but little higher than the surface outside. The arched roof ofthe vestibule was rendered watertight by the soil that had formed uponit, which again was overgrown by vines and bushes. 

"This, " said Bearwarden, "will be a good place to camp, for the cavewill protect us from dragons, unless they should take a notion tobreathe at us from the outside, and it will keep us dry in case ofrain. To-morrow we can start with this as a centre, and make anothercircuit. "

"We can explore Saturn on foot, " said Cortlandt, "and far morethoroughly than Jupiter, on account of its comparative freedom frommonsters. Not even the dragons can trouble us, unless we meet them inlarge numbers. "

Thereupon they set about getting fuel for their fire. Besidescollecting some of the dead wood that was lying all about, they splitup a number of resinous pine and fir trees with explosive bullets fromtheir revolvers, so that soon they not only had a roaring fire, butfilled the back part of the cave with logs to dry, in case they shouldcamp there again at some later day. Neither Cortlandt nor Bearwardenfelt much like sleeping, and so, after finishing the birds thepresident had brought down that morning, they persuaded Ayrault to situp and smoke with them. Wrapping themselves in their blankets--forthere was a chill in the air--they sat about the camp-fire they hadbuilt in the mouth of the cave. Two moons that were at the full roserapidly in the clear, cold sky. On account of their distance from thesun, they were less bright than the terrestrial moon, but they shonewith a marvellously pure pale light. The larger contained the exactfeatures of a man. There was the somewhat aquiline nose, a clear-cutand expressive mouth, and large, handsome eyes, which were shaded bywell-marked eyebrows. The whole face was very striking, but was apersonification of the most intense grief. The expression was indeedsadder than that of any face they had ever seen. The other containedthe profile of a surpassingly beautiful young woman. The handsomeeyes, shaded by lashes, looked straight ahead. The nose was perfect, and the ear small, while the hair was artistically arranged at the topand back of the head. This moon also reflected a pure white ray. Theformer appeared about once and a quarter, the latter but threequarters, the size of the terrestrial moon, and the travellersimmediately recognized them by their sizes and relative positions asTethys and Dione, discovered by J. D. Cassini in March, 1684. The sadface was turned slightly towards that of its companion, and it lookedas if some tale of the human heart, some romance, had been engraved andpreserved for all time on the features of these dead bodies, as theysilently swung in their orbits forever and anon were side by side. 

"In all the ages, " said Cortlandt, "that these moons have wandered withSaturn about the sun, and with the solar system in its journey throughspace, they can never have gazed upon the scene they now behold, for wemay be convinced that no mortal man has been here before. "

"We may say, " said Ayrault, "that they see in our bodies a type of thesource from which come all the spiritual beings that are here. "

"If, as the writers of mythology supposed, " replied Cortlandt, "inanimate objects were endowed with senses, these moons woulddoubtless be unable to perceive the spiritual beings here; for thesatellites, being material, should, to be consistent, have only thosesenses possessed by ourselves, so that to them this planet wouldordinarily appear deserted. "

"I shall be glad, " said Bearwarden, gloomily, "when those moons waneand are succeeded by their fellows, for one would give me an attack ofthe blues, while the other would subject me to the inconvenience offalling in love. "

As he spoke, the upper branches of the trees in the grove began to swayas a cold gust from the north sighed among them. "Lose no moreopportunities, " it seemed to cry, "for life is short and uncertain. Soon you will all be colder than I, and your future, still as easilymoulded as clay, will be set as Marpesian marble, more fixed than thehardest rock. "

"Paradise, " said Cortlandt, "contains sights and sounds that might, Ishould think, arouse sad reminiscences without the aid of the waters ofLethe, unless the joy of its souls in their new resources and the senseof forgiveness outweigh all else. "

With a parting look at the refined, silvery moon, and its sorrow-ladencompanion, they retired to the sheltering cave, piled up the fire, andtalked on for an hour. 

"I do not see how it is, " said Bearwarden, "that these moons, considering their distance from the sun, and the consequently smallamount of light they receive, are so bright. "

"A body's brightness in reflecting light, " replied Cortlandt, "dependsas much on the colour and composition of its own surface as on theamount it receives. It is conceivable that these moons, if placed atthe earth's distance from the sun, would be far brighter than our moon, and that our familiar satellite, if removed to Saturn, would seem verydim. We know how much more brilliant a mountain in the sunlight iswhen clad in snow than when its sides are bare. These moons evidentlyreflect a large proportion of the light they receive. "

When they came out shortly after midnight the girl's-face moon hadalready set, leaving a dark and dreary void in the part of the sky ithad so ideally filled. The inexpressibly sad satellite (on account ofits shorter distance and more rapid rate of revolution) was still abovethe horizon, and, being slightly tilted, had a more melancholy, heart-broken look than before. While they gazed sadly at the emptinessleft by Dione, Cortlandt saw Ayrault's expression change, and, notclearly perceiving its cause, said, wishing to cheer him: "Never mind, Dick; to-morrow night we shall see it again. "

"Ah, prosaic reasoner, " retorted Bearwarden, who saw that this, like somany other things, had reminded Ayrault of Sylvia, "that is but smallconsolation for having lost it now, though I suppose our lot is not sohard as if we were never to see it again. In that moon's face I findthe realization of my fancied ideal woman; while that sad one yonderseems as though some celestial lover, in search of his fate, had becomeenamoured of her, and tried in vain to win her, and the grief in hismind had impressed itself on the then molten face of a satellite to bethe monument throughout eternity of love and a broken heart. If thespirits and souls of the departed have any command of matter, why maynot their intensest thoughts engrave themselves on a moon that, whendead and frozen, may reflect and shine as they did, while immersed inthe depths of space? At first Dione bored me; now I should greatlylike to see her again. "

"History repeats itself, " replied Cortlandt, "and the same phases oflife recur. It is we that are in a changed receptive mood. The changethat seems to be in them is in reality in us. Remain as you are now, and Dione will give you the same pleasure tomorrow that she gaveto-day. "

To Ayrault this meant more than the mere setting to rise again of aheavenly body. The perfume of a flower, the sighing of the wind, suggesting some harmony or song, a full or crescent moon, recalledthoughts and associations of Sylvia. Everything seemed to bring outmemory, and he realized the utter inability of absence to cure theheart of love. "If Sylvia should pass from my life as that moon hasleft my vision, " his thoughts continued, "existence would be butsadness and memory would be its cause, for the most beautiful soundsentail sorrow; the most beautiful sights, intense pain. Ah, " he wenton with a trace of bitterness, while his friends fell asleep in thecave, "I might better have remained in love with science; for whosestudies Nature, which is but a form of God, in the right spirit, is notdependent for his joy or despair on the whims of a girl. She, ofcourse, sees many others, and, being only twenty, may forget me. MustI content myself with philosophical rules and mathematical formulae, when she, whose changefulness I may find greater than the winds thatsigh over me, now loves me no longer? O love, which makes us miserablewhen we feel it, and more miserable still when it is gone!"

He strung a number of copper wires at different degrees of tensionbetween two trees, and listened to the wind as it ranged up and down onthis improvised AEolian harp. It gradually ran into a regular refrain, which became more and more like words. Ayrault was puzzled, and thenamazed. There could be no doubt about it. "You should be happy, " itkept repeating--"you should be happy, " in soft musical tones. 

"I know I should, " replied Ayrault, finally recognizing the voice ofViolet Slade in the song of the wind, "and I cannot understand why I amnot. Tell me, is this paradise, Violet, or is it not rather purgatory?"

The notes ranged up and down again, and he perceived that she wascausing the wind to blow as she desired--in other words, she was makingit play upon his harp. 

"That depends on the individual, " she replied. "It is rather sheol, theplace of departed spirits. Those whose consciences made them happy onearth are in paradise here; while those good enough to reach heaven atlast, but in whom some dross remains, are further refined in spirit, and to them it is purgatory. Those who are in love can be happy in butone way while their love lasts. What IS happiness, anyway?"

"It is the state in which desires are satisfied, my fair Violet, "answered Ayrault. 

"Say, rather, the state in which desire coincides with duty, " repliedthe song. "Self-sacrifice for others gives the truest joy; being withthe object of one's love, the next. You never believed that I lovedyou. I dissembled well; but you will see for yourself some day, asclearly as I see your love for another now. "

"Yes, " replied Ayrault, sadly, "I am in love. I have no reason tobelieve there is cause for my unrest, and, considering every thing, Ishould be happy as man can be; yet, mirabile dictu, I am in--hades, inthe very depths!"

"Your beloved is beyond my vision; your heart is all I can see. Yet Iam convinced she will not forget you. I am sure she loves you still. "

"I have always believed in homoeopathy to the extent of the similiasimilibus curantur, Violet, and it is certain that where nothing elsewill cure a man of love for one woman, his love for another will. Youcan see how I love Sylvia, but you have never seemed so sweet to me asto-day. "

"It is a sacrilege, my friend, to speak so to me now. You are donewith me forever. I am but a disembodied spirit, and escaped hades bythe grace of the Omnipotent, rather than by virtue of any good I did onearth. So far as any elasticity is left in my opportunities, I am deadas yon moon. You have still the gift that but one can give. Withinyour animal body you hold an immortal soul. It is pliable as wax; youcan mould it by your will. As you shape that soul, so will your futurebe. It is the ark that can traverse the flood. Raise it, and it willraise you. It is all there is in yourself. Preserve that gift, andwhen you die you will, I hope, start on a plane many thousands of yearsin advance of me. There should be no more comparison between us thanbetween a person with all his senses and one that is deaf and blind. Though you are a layman, you should, with your faith and frame of mind, soon be but little behind our spiritual bishop. "

"I supposed after death a man had rest. Is he, then, a bishop still?"

"The progress, as he told you, is largely on the old lines. As hestirred men's hearts on earth, he will stir their souls in heaven; andthis is no irksome or unwelcome work. "

"You say he WILL do this in heaven. Is he, then, not there yet?"

"He was not far from heaven on earth, yet technically none of us can bein heaven till after the general resurrection. Then, as we knew onearth, we shall receive bodies, though, as yet, concerning their exactnature we know but little more than then. We are all in sheol--thejust in purgatory and paradise, the unjust in hell. "

"Since you are still in purgatory, are you unhappy?"

"No, our state is very happy. All physical pain is past, and can neverbe felt again. We know that our evil desires are overcome, and thattheir imprints are being gradually erased. I occasionally shed anintangible tear, yet for most of those who strove to obey theirconsciences, purgatory, when essential, though occasionally giving us abitter twinge, is a joy-producing state. Not all the gloriesimaginable or unimaginable could make us happy, were our consciencesill at ease. I have advanced slowly, yet some things are given us atonce. After I realized I had irrevocably lost your love, though for atime I had hoped to regain it, I became very restless; earth seemed aprison, and I looked forward to death as my deliverer. I bore you nomalice; you had never especially tried to win me; the infatuation--thatof a girl of eighteen--had been all on my side. I lived five sad andlonely years, although, as you know, I had much attention. Peoplethought me cold and heartless. How could I have a heart, having failedto win yours, and mine being broken? Having lost the only man I loved, I knew no one else could replace him, and I was not the kind to marryfor pique. People thought me handsome, but I felt myself aged when youceased to call. Perhaps when you and she who holds all your love cometo sheol, she may spare you to me a little, for as a spirit my everythought is known; or perhaps after the resurrection, when I, too, canleave this planet, we shall all soar through space together, and we canstudy the stars as of old. "

"Your voice is a symphony, sweetest Violet, and I love to hear yourwords. Ah, would you could once more return to earth, or that I werean ethereal spirit, that we might commune face to face! I would followyou from one end of Shadowland to the other. Of what use is life tome, with distractions that draw my thoughts to earth as gravitationdrew my body? I wish I were a shade. "

"You are talking for effect, Dick--which is useless here, for I see howutterly you are in love. "

"I AM in love, Violet; and though, as I said, I have no reason to doubtSylvia's steadfastness and constancy, I am very unhappy. I have alwaysheard that time is a balsam that cures all ills, yet I become morewretched every day. "

"Do all you can to preserve that love, and it will bring you joy allyour life. Your happiness is my happiness. What distresses you, distresses me. "

The tones here grew fainter and seemed about to cease. 

"Before you leave me, " cried Ayrault, "tell me how and when I may seeor hear you again. "

"While you remain on this planet, I shall be near; but beyond Saturn Icannot go. "

"Yet tell me, Violet, how I may see you? My love unattained, youperceive, makes me wretched, while you always gave me calm and peace. If I may not kiss the hand I almost asked might be mine, let me havebut a glance from your sweet eyes, which will comfort me so much now. "

"If you break the ice in the pool behind you, you shall see me till theframe melts. "

After this the silence was broken only by the sighing of the wind inthe trees. The pool had suddenly become covered with ice severalinches thick. Taking an axe, Ayrault hewed out a parallelogram aboutthree feet by four and set it on end against the bank. The cold greyof morning was already colouring the east, and in the growing lightAyrault beheld a vision of Violet within the ice. The face was atabout three fourths, and had a contemplative air. The hair wasarranged as he had formerly seen it, and the thoughtful look wasstrongest in the beautiful grey eyes, which were more serious than ofyore. Ayrault stood riveted to the spot and gazed. "I could have beenhappy with her, " he mused, "and to think she is no more!"

As drops fell from the ice, tears rose to his eyes. 

 . . . . . . . 

"What a pretty girl!" said Bearwarden to Cortlandt, as they came uponit later in the day. "The face seems etched or imprinted by somepeculiar form of freezing far within the ice. "

The next morning they again set out, and so tramped, hunted, andinvestigated with varying success for ten Saturnian days. They foundthat in the animal and plant forms of life Nature had often, by someseeming accident, struck out in a course very different from any on theearth. Many of the animals were bipeds and tripeds, the latterarranged in tandem, the last leg being evidently an enormouslydeveloped tail, by which the creature propelled itself as with aspring. The quadrupeds had also sometimes wings, and their bones werehollow, like those of birds. Whether this great motive and liftingpower was the result of the planet's size and the power of gravitation, or whether some creatures had in addition the power of developing adegree of apergetic repulsion to offset it, as they suspected in thecase of the boa-constrictor that fell upon Cortlandt on Jupiter, theycould not absolutely ascertain. Life was far less prolific on Saturnthan on Jupiter, doubtless as a result of its greater distance from thesun, and of its extremes of climate, almost all organic life beingdriven to the latitudes near the equator. There were, as on Jupiter, many variations from the forms of life to which they were accustomed, and adaptations to the conditions in which they found themselves; but, with the exception of the strange manifestations of spirit life, theyfound the workings of the fundamental laws the same. Often when theywoke at night the air was luminous, and they were convinced that ifthey remained there long enough it would be easy to devise sometelegraphic code of light-flashes by which they could communicate withthe spirit world, and so get ideas from the host of spirits that hadalready solved the problem of life and death, but who were not as yetsufficiently developed to be able to return to the earth. One day theystopped to investigate what they had supposed to be an opticalillusion. They observed that leaves and other light substances floatedseveral inches above the surface of the water in the pools. On comingto the edge and making tests, they found a light liquid, as invisibleas air, superimposed upon the water, with sufficient buoyancy tosustain dry wood and also some forms of life. They also observed thatinsects coming close to the surface and apparently inhaling it, rapidlyincreased in size and weight, from which they concluded it must throwoff nitrogen, carbon, or some other nourishment in the form of gas. The depth upon the water was unaffected by rain, which passed throughit, but depended rather on the condition of the atmosphere, from whichit was evidently condensed. There seemed also to be a relation betweenthe amount of this liquid and the activity of the spirits. Finally, when their ammunition showed signs of running low, they decided toreturn to the Callisto, go in it to the other side of the planet, andresume their investigations there. Accordingly, they set out toretrace their steps, returning by a course a few miles to one side ofthe way they had come, and making the cave their objective point. Arriving there one evening about sunset, they pitched their camp. Thecave was sheltered and comfortable, and they made preparation forpassing the night. 

"I shall be sorry, " said Ayrault, as they sat near their fire, "toleave this place without again seeing the bishop. He said we couldimpress him anywhere, but it may be more difficult to do that at theantipodes than here. "

"It does seem, " said Bearwarden, "as though we should be missing it innot seeing him again, if that is possible. Nothing but a poison-stormbrought him the first time, and it is not certain that even in such anemergency would he come again uncalled. "

"I think, " said Ayrault, "as none of the spirits here are malevolent, they would warn us of danger if they could. The bishop's spirit seemsto have been the only one with sufficiently developed power to reappearas a man. I therefore suggest that to-morrow we try to make him feelour thought and bring him to us. "

 CHAPTER VII. 

 THE SPIRIT'S SECOND VISIT. 

Accordingly, the next morning they concentrated their mindssimultaneously on the spirit, wishing with all their strength that heshould reappear. 

"Whether he be far or near, " said Ayrault, "he must feel that, for weare using the entire force of our minds. "

Shadows began to form, and dancing prismatic colours appeared, but asyet there was no sign of the deceased bishop, when suddenly he tookshape among them, his appearance and disappearance being much like thatof stereopticon views on the sheet before a lantern. He held himselferect, and his thoughtful, dignified face had the same calm expressionit had worn before. 

"We attracted your attention, " said Ayrault, "in the way you said wemight, because we longed so to see you. "

"Yes, " added Bearwarden and Cortlandt, "we felt we MUST see you again. "

"I am always at your service, " replied the spirit, "and will answeryour questions. With regard to my visibility and invisibility"--hecontinued, with a smile, "for I will not wait for you to ask theexplanation of what is in your minds--it is very simple. A man's soulcan never die; a manifestation of the soul is the spirit; this hasentity, consciousness, and will, and these also live forever. As inthe natural or material life, as I shall call it, will affects thematerial first. Thus, a child has power to move its hand or a materialobject, as a toy, before it can become the medium in a psychologicalseance. So it is here. Before becoming visible to your eyes, I, by mywill, draw certain material substances in the form of gases from theground, water, or air around me. These take any shape I wish--notnecessarily that of man, though it is more natural to appear as we didon earth--and may absorb a portion of light, and so be able to cast ashadow or break up the white rays into prismatic colours, or they maybe wholly invisible. By an effort of the will, then, I combine andcondense these gases--which consist principally of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon--into flesh, blood, water, or anything else. Youhave already learned on earth that, by the application of heat, everysolid and every liquid substance, which is solid or liquid simplybecause of the temperature at which you find it, can be expanded intogas or gases; and that by cold and pressure every gas can be reduced toa liquid or a solid. On earth the state of a substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, depends simply upon those two conditions. Hereneither thermal nor barometric changes are required, for, by masteringthe new natural laws that at death become patent to our senses, we haveall the necessary control. It requires but an effort of my will to bealmost instantly clothed in human form, and but another effort torearrange the molecules in such a way as to make the envelope visible. Some who have been dead longer, or had a greater natural aptitude thanI, have advanced further, and all are learning; but the difference inthe rate at which spirits acquire control of previously unknown naturallaws varies far more than among individuals on earth. 

"These forms of organic life do not disintegrate till after death; herein the natural state they break down and dissolve into their structuralelements in full bloom, as was done by the fungi. The poisonouselement in the deadly gust, against which I warned you, came from thegaseous ingredients of toadstools, which but seldom, and then only whenthe atmosphere has the greatest affinity for them, dissolveautomatically, producing a death-spreading wave, against which yourmeteorological instruments in future can warn you. The slight fall younoticed in temperature was because the specific heat of these gases ishigh, and to become gas while in the solid state they had to withdrawsome warmth from the air. The fatal breath of the winged lizards--ordragons, as you call them--results from the same cause, the action oftheir digestion breaking up the fungus, which does not kill them, because they exhale the poisonous part in gaseous form with theirbreath. The mushrooms dissolve more easily; the natural separationthat takes place as they reach a certain stage in their developmentbeing precipitated by concussion or shock. 

"Having seen that, as on earth, we gain control of the material first, our acquisitiveness then extends to a better understanding andappreciation of our new senses, and we are continually finding newobjects of beauty, and new beauties in things we supposed we alreadyunderstood. We were accustomed on earth to the marvellous variety thatNature produced from apparently simple means and presented to our verylimited senses; here there is an indescribably greater variety to beexamined by vastly keener senses. The souls in hell have an equallykeen but distorted counterpart of our senses, so that they see in amagnified form everything vile in themselves and in each other. Totheir senses only the ugly and hateful side is visible, so that thebeauty and perfume of a flower are to them as loathsome as theappearance and fumes of a toadstool. As evolution and the tendency ofeverything to perpetuate itself and intensify its peculiarities areinvariable throughout the universe, these unhappy souls and ourselvesseem destined to diverge more and more as time goes on; and while weconstantly become happier as our capacity for happiness increases, their sharpening senses will give them a worse and worse idea of eachother, till their mutual repugnance will know no bounds, and ofeverything concerning which they obtain knowledge through their senses. Thus these poor creatures seem to be the victims of circumstances andthe unalterable laws of fate, and were there such a thing as death, their misery would unquestionably finally break their hearts. Thatthere will be final forgiveness for the condemned, has long been ahuman hope; but as yet they have experienced none, and there is noanalogy for it in Nature. 

"But while you have still your earthly bodies and the opportunitiesthey give you of serving God, you need not be concerned about hell; noone on earth, knowing how things really are, would ever again forsakeHis ways. The earthly state is the most precious opportunity ofsecuring that for which a man would give his all. Even from the mostworldly point of view, a man is an unspeakable fool not to improve histalents and do good. What would those in sheol not give now for butone day in the flesh on earth, of which you unappreciatives may stillhave so many? The well-used opportunities of even one hour might bringjoy to those in paradise forever, and greatly ease the lot of those inhell. In doing acts of philanthropy, however, you must remember thetext of the sermon the doctor of divinity preached to Craniner andRidley just before they perished at the stake: 'Though I give my bodyto be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing'--whichshows that even good deeds must be performed in the proper spirit. 

"A new era is soon to dawn on earth. Notwithstanding your greatmaterial progress, the future will exceed all the past. Man will findevery substance's maximum use, thereby vastly increasing his comfort. Then, when advanced in science and reason, with the power of his sensesincreased by the delicate instruments that you, as the forerunners ofthe coming man, are already learning to make, may he cease to be agroveller, like our progenitors the quadrupeds, and may his thoughtsrise to his Creator, who has brought him to such heights through allthe intricacies of the way. Your preparation for the life to come canalso be greatly aided by intercourse with those who have already died. When you really want to associate spiritually with us, you can do so;for, though perhaps only one in a hundred million can, like me, soclothe himself as to be again visible to mortal eyes, many of us couldaffect gelatine or extremely sensitive plates that would showinterruptions in the ultra-violet chemical rays that, like the thermalred beyond the visible spectroscope, you know exist though you canneither see nor feel them. Spirits could not affect the magnetic eye, because magnetism, though immaterial itself, is induced and affectedonly by a material substance. The impression on the plate, however, like the prismatic colours you have already noticed, can be produced bya slight rarefaction of the hydrogen in the air, so that, though nospirit could be photographed as such, a code and language might beestablished by means of the effect produced on the air by the spirit'smind. I am so interested in the subject of my disquisition that I hadalmost forgotten that your spirits are still subject to therequirements of the body. Last time I dined with you; let me now playthe host. "

"We shall be charmed to dine with you, " said Ayrault, "and shall beonly too glad of anything that will keep you with us. "

"Then, " said the spirit, "as the tablecloth is laid, we need only tohave something on it. Let each please hold a corner, " he continued, taking one himself with his left hand, while he passed his right to hisbrow. Soon flakes as of snow began to form in the air above, andslowly descended upon the cloth; and, glancing up, the three men sawthat for a considerable height this process was going on, the flakesincreasing in size as they fell till they attained a length of severalinches. When there was enough for them all on the table-cloth theshower ceased. Sitting down on the ground, they began to eat thismanna, which had a delicious flavour and marvellous purity andfreshness. 

"As you doubtless have already suspected, " said the spirit, "the basisof this in every case is carbon, combined with nitrogen in its solidform, and with the other gases the atmosphere here contains. You maynotice that the flakes vary in colour as well as in taste, both ofwhich are of course governed by the gas with which the carbon, also inits visible form, is combined. It is almost the same process as thatperformed by every plant in withdrawing carbon from the air and storingit in its trunk in the form of wood, which, as charcoal, is againalmost pure carbon, only in this case the metamorphosis is far morerapid. This is perhaps the natural law that Elijah, by God's aid, invoked in the miracle of the widow's cruse, and that produced themanna that fed the Israelites in the desert; while apergy came in playin the case of the stream that Moses called from the rock in thewilderness, which followed the descendants of Abraham over the roughcountry through which they passed. In examining miracles with theutmost deference, as we have a right to, we see one law running throughall. Even in Christ's miracle of changing the water to wine, there wasa natural law, though only one has dwelt on earth who could make thatchange, which, from a chemist's standpoint, was peculiarly difficult onaccount of the required fermentation, which is the result of adeveloped and matured germ. Many of His miracles, however, are as farbeyond my small power as heaven is above the earth. Much of thesubstance of the loaves and fishes with which He fed the multitude--thecarbon and nitrogenous products--also came from the air, though Hecould have taken them from many other sources. The combination andbuilding up of these in the ordinary way would have taken weeks ormonths, but was performed instantaneously by His mighty power. "

"What natural laws are known to you, " asked Bearwarden, "that we do notunderstand, or concerning the existence of which we are ignorant?"

"Most of the laws in the invisible world, " said the spirit, "are thecounterpart or extension of laws that appear on earth, though you asyet understand but a small part of those, many not having come to yournotice. You, for instance, know that light, heat, and motion areanalogous, and either of the last two can be converted into the other;but in practice you produce motion of the water molecules by theapplication of heat, and seldom reverse it. One of the first things wemaster here is the power to freeze or boil water, by checking themotion of the molecules in one case, and by increasing it, and theirmutual repulsion, in the other. This is by virtue of a simple law, though in this case there is no natural manifestation of it on earthwith which to compare it. While knowledge must be acquired here throughstudy, as on earth, the new senses we receive with the awakening fromdeath render the doing so easy, though with only the senses we hadbefore it would have been next to impossible. 

"At this moment snow is falling on the Callisto; but this you could notknow by seeing, and scarcely any degree of evolution could develop yoursight sufficiently, unassisted by death. With your instruments, however, you could already perceive it, notwithstanding the interveningrocks. 

"Your research on earth is the best and most thorough in the history ofthe race; and could we but give you suggestions as to the direction inwhich to push it, the difference between yourselves and angels might bebut little more than that between the number and intensity of thesenses and the composition of the body. By the combination of naturallaws you have rid yourselves of the impediment of material weight, andcan roam through space like spirits, or as Columbus, by virtue of theconfidence that came with the discovery of the mariner's compass, roamed upon and explored the sea. You have made a good beginning, andwere not your lives so short, and their requirements so peremptory, youmight visit the distant stars. 

"I will show you the working of evolution. Life sleeps in minerals, dreams in plants, and wakes in you. The rock worn by frost and agecrumbles to earth and soil. This enters the substance of theprimordial plant, which, slowly rising; produces the animal germ. After that the way is clear, and man is evolved from protoplasm throughthe vertebrate and the ape. Here we have the epitome of the strugglefor life in the ages past, and the analogue of the journey in the yearsto come. Does not the Almighty Himself make this clear where He saysthrough his servant Isaiah, 'Behold of these stones will I raise upchildren'?--and the name Adam means red earth. God, having brought manso far, will not let evolution cease, and the next stage of life mustbe the spiritual. "

"Can you tell us anything, " asked Ayrault, "concerning the bodies thatthose surviving the final judgment will receive?"

"Notwithstanding the unfolding of knowledge that has come to us here, "replied the spirit, "there are still some subjects concerning which wemust look for information to the inspired writers in the Bible, andevery gain or discovery goes to prove their veracity. We know thatthere are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, and that thespiritual bodies we shall receive in the resurrection will have powerand will be incorruptible and immortal. We also know by analogy andreason that they will be unaffected by the cold and void of space, sothat their possessors can range through the universe for non-nillionsand decillions of miles, that they will have marvellous capacities forenjoying what they find, and that no undertaking or journey will be toodifficult, though it be to the centre of the sun. Though many of uscan already visit the remote regions of space as spirits, none can asyet see God; but we know that as the sight we are to receive with ournew bodies sharpens, the pure in heart will see Him, though He is stillas invisible to the eyes of the most developed here as the ether ofspace is to yours. "

 CHAPTER VIII. 

 CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY. 

The water-jug being empty, Ayrault took it up, and, crossing the ridgeof a small hill, descended to a running-brook. He had filled it, andwas straightening himself, when the stone on which he stood turned, andhe might have fallen, had not the bishop, of whose presence he had beenunaware, stretched out his hand and upheld him. 

"I thought you might need a little help, " he said with a smile, "and sowalked beside you, though you knew it not. Water is heavy, and you maynot yet have become accustomed to its Saturnian weight. "

"Many thanks, my master, " replied Ayrault, retaining his hand. "Wereit not that I am engaged to the girl I love, and am sometimes hauntedby the thought that in my absence she may be forgetting me, I shouldwish to spend the rest of my natural life here, unless I could persuadeyou to go with me to the earth. "

"By remaining here, " replied the spirit, with a sad look, "you would belosing the most priceless opportunities of doing good. Neither will Igo with you; but, as your distress is real, I will tell you of anythinghappening on earth that you wish to know. "

"Tell me, then, what the person now in my thoughts is doing. "

"She is standing in a window facing west, watering some forget-me-notswith a small silver sprinkler which has a ruby in the handle. "

"Can you see anything else?"

"Beneath the jewel is an inscription that runs:

 'By those who in warm July are born A single ruby should be worn; Then will they be exempt and free From love's doubts and anxiety. '"

"Marvellous! Had I any doubts as to your prescience and power, theywould be dispelled now. One thing more let me ask, however: Does shestill love me?"

"In her mind is but one thought, and in her heart is an image--that ofthe man before me. She loves you with all her soul. "

"My most eager wish is satisfied, and for the moment my heart is atrest, " replied Ayrault, as they turned their steps towards camp. "Yet, such is my weakness by nature, that, ere twenty-four hours have passedI shall long to have you tell me again. "

"I have been in love myself, " replied the spirit, "and know thefeeling; yet to be of the smallest service to you gives me far morehappiness than it can give you. The mutual love in paradise exceedseven the lover's love on earth, for it is only those that loved and canlove that are blessed. 

"You can hardly realize, " the bishop continued, as they rejoinedBearwarden and Cortlandt, "the joy that a spirit in paradiseexperiences when, on reopening his eyes after passing death, which isbut the portal, he finds himself endowed with sight that enables him tosee such distances and with such distinctness. The solar system, withthis ringed planet, its swarm of asteroids, and its intra-Mercurialplanets--one of which, Vulcan, you have already discovered--is abeautiful sight. The planets nearest the sun receive such burning raysthat their surfaces are red-hot, and at the equator at perihelion aremolten. These are not seen from the earth, because, rising or settingalmost simultaneously with the sun, they are lost in its rays. Thegreat planet beyond Neptune's orbit is perhaps the most interesting. This we call Cassandra, because it would be a prophet of evil to anyvisitor from the stars who should judge the solar system by it. Thisplanet is nearly as large as Jupiter, being 80, 000 miles in diameter, but has a specific gravity lighter than Saturn. Bode's law, you know, says, Write down 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96. Add 4 to each, and get 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52, 100; and this series of numbers represents very nearlythe relative distances of the planets from the sun. According to thislaw, you would expect the planet next beyond Neptune to be about5, 000, 000, 000 miles from the sun. But it is about 9, 500, 000, 000, sothat there is a gap between Neptune and Cassandra, as between Mars andJupiter, except that in Cassandra's case there are no asteroids to showwhere any planet was; we must, then, suppose it is an exception toBode's law, or that there was a planet that has completely disappeared. As Cassandra would be within the law if there had been an intermediaryplanet, we have good prima facie reason for believing that it existed. Cassandra takes, in round numbers, a thousand years to complete itsorbit, and from it the sun, though brighter, appears no larger than theearth's evening or morning star. Cassandra has also three large moons;but these, when full, shine with a pale-grey light, like the old moonin the new moon's arms, in that terrestrial phenomenon when the earth, by reflecting the crescent's light, and that of the sun, makes the darkpart visible. The temperature at Cassandra's surface is but littleabove the cold of space, and no water exists in the liquid state, itbeing as much a solid as aluminum or glass. There are rivers andlakes, but these consist of liquefied hydrogen and other gases, theheavier liquid collected in deep Places, and the lighter, with lessthan half the specific gravity of ether, floating upon it withoutmixing, as oil on water. When the heavier penetrates to a sufficientdepth, the interior being still warm, it is converted into gas anddriven back to the surface, only to be recondensed on reaching theupper air. Thus it may happen that two rains composed of separateliquids may fall together. There being but little of any otheratmosphere, much of it consists of what you might call the vapour ofhydrogen, and many of the well-known gases and liquids on earth existonly as liquids and solids; so that, were there mortal inhabitants onCassandra, they might build their houses of blocks of oxygen orchlorine, as you do of limestone or marble, and use ice that nevermelts, in place of glass, for transparence. They would also usemercury for bullets in their rifles, just as inhabitants of theintra-Vulcan planets at the other extreme might, if their bodiesconsisted of asbestos, or were in any other way non-combustiblyconstituted, bathe in tin, lead, or even zinc, which ordinarily existin the liquid state, as water and mercury do on the earth. 

"Though Cassandra's atmosphere, such as it is, is mostly clear, for theevaporation from the rivers and icy mediterraneans is slight, thebrightness of even the highest noon is less than an earthly twilight, and the stars never cease to shine. The dark base of the rocky cliffsis washed by the frigid tide, but there is scarcely a sound, for thepebbles cannot be moved by the weightless waves, and an occasionalmurmur is all that is heard. Great rocks of ice reflect the light ofthe grey moons, and never a leaf falls or a bird sings. With theexception of the mournful ripples, the planet is silent as the grave. The animal and plant kingdoms do not exist; only the mineral andspiritual worlds. I say spiritual, because there are souls upon it;but it is the home of the condemned in hell. Here dwell thetransgressors who died unrepentant, and those who were not saved byfaith. This is the one instance in which I do not enjoy my developedsight, for I sometimes glance in their direction, and the vision thatmeets me, as my eyes focus, distresses my soul. Their senses are likean imperfect mirror, magnifying all that is bad in one another, anddistorting anything still partially good when that exists. All thosethings that might at least distract them are hollow, their misery beingthe inevitable result of the condition of mind to which they becameaccustomed on earth and which brought them to Cassandra. But let usturn to something brighter. 

"Though the solar system may seem complex, the sun is but a star amongthe millions in the Milky Way, and, compared with the planetary systemsof Sirius, the stars of the Southern Cross, and the motions of thenebula, it is simplicity itself. Compared with the splendour ofSirius, with its diameter of twelve million miles, the sun, measuringbut eight hundred and forty thousand, becomes insignificant; and thisgiant's system includes groups and clusters of planets, many with threetimes the mass of Jupiter, five and six together, each a differentcolour, revolving about a common centre, while they swing about theirprimary. Their numerous moons have satellites encircling them, withorbits in some cases at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic, sothat they shine perpendicularly on what correspond to the arctic andantarctic regions, while their axes are so inclined that the satellitesturn a complete somersault at each revolution, producing glisteningeffects of ice and snow at the poles. Some of the moons are at a redor white heat, and so prevent the chill of night on the planets, whilethey shine with more than reflected light. In addition to the five orsix large planets in each group, which, however, are many millions ofmiles apart, there is in some clusters a small planet that swingsbackward and forward across the common centre, like a pendulum, but innearly a straight line; and while this multiplicity of motion goes on, the whole aggregation sweeps majestically around Sirius, its mightysun. Our little solar system contains, as we know, about one thousandplanets, satellites, and asteroids large enough to be dignified by thename of heavenly bodies. Vast numbers of the stars have a hundred andeven a thousand times the mass of our sun, and their systems beingrelatively as complex as ours--in some cases even more so--they containa hundred thousand or a million individual bodies. 

"Over sixty million bright or incandescent stars were visible to theterrestrial telescopes a hundred years ago, the average size of whichfar exceeds our sun. To the magnificent telescopes of to-day they areliterally countless, and the number can be indefinitely extended asyour optical resources grow. Yet the number of stars you see isutterly insignificant compared with the cold and dark ones you cannotsee, but concerning which you are constantly learning more, byobserving their effect on the bright ones, both by perturbing them andby obscuring their rays. Occasionally, as you know, a star of thetwelfth or fifteenth magnitude, or one that has been invisible, flaresup for several months to the fourth or fifth, through a collision withsome dark giant, and then returns to what it was in the beginning, agaseous, filmy nebula. These innumerable hosts of dark monsters, though dead, are centres of systems, like most of the stars you can see. 

"A slight consideration of these figures will show that, notwithstanding the number of souls the Creator has given life onearth, each one might in fact have a system to himself; and that, however long the little globe may remain, as it were, a mint, in whichsouls are tried by fire and moulded, and receive their final stamp, they will always have room to circulate, and will be prized accordingto the impress their faces or hearts must show. But Sirius itself ismoving many times faster than the swiftest cannon ball, carrying itssystem with it; and I see you asking, 'To what does all this motiontend?' I will show you. Many quadrillions of miles away, so far thatyour most powerful telescopes have not yet caught a glimmer, rests inits serene grandeur a star that we call Cosmos, because it is thecentre of this universe. Its diameter is as great as the diameter ofCassandra's orbit, and notwithstanding its terrific heat, its specificgravity, on account of the irresistible pressure at and near thecentre, is as great as that of the planet Mercury. This holds all thatyour eyes or mine can see; and the so-called motions of the stars--forwe know that Sirius, among others, is receding--is but the differencein the rate at which the different systems and constellations swingaround Cosmos, though in doing so they often revolve about othersystems or swing round common centres, so that many are satellites ofsatellites many times repeated. The orbits of some are circular, andof others elliptical, as those of comets, and some revolve about eachother, or, as we have seen, about a common point while they performtheir celestial journey. A star, therefore, recedes or advances, asJupiter and Venus with relation to the earth. The planet in thesmaller orbit moves faster than that in the larger, so that theintervening distances wax and wane, though all are going in the samegeneral direction. In the case of the members of the solar system, astronomical record can tell when even a most distant known planet hasbeen in opposition or conjunction; but the earth has scarcely beenhabitable since the sun was last in its present position in its orbitaround Cosmos. The curve that our system follows is of such radiusthat it would require the most precise observations for centuries toshow that it was not a straight line. 

"We call this the universe because it is all that the clearest eyes ortelescopes have been able to see, but it is only a subdivision--infact, but a system on a vaster scale than that of the sun or of Sirius. Far beyond this visible universe, my intuition tells me, are othersystems more gigantic than this, and entirely different in manyrespects. Even the effects of gravitation are modified by the changedcondition; for these systems are spread out flat, like the rings ofthis planet, and the ether of space is luminous instead of black, ashere. These systems are but in a later stage of development than ours;and in the course of evolution our visible universe will be changed inthe same way, as I can explain. 

"In incalculable ages, the forward motion of the planets and theirsatellites will be checked by the resistance of the ether of space andthe meteorites and solid matter they encounter. Meteorites alsoovertake them, and, by striking them as it were in the rear, propelthem, but more are encountered in front--an illustration of which youcan have by walking rapidly or riding on horseback on a rainy day, inwhich case more drops will strike your chest than your back. The samerule applies to bodies in space, while the meteorites encountered havemore effect than those following, since in one case it is the speed ofthe meteor minus that of the planet, and in the other the sum of thetwo velocities. With this checking of the forward motion, thecentrifugal force decreases, and the attraction of the central body hasmore effect. When this takes place the planet or satellite fallsslightly towards the body around which it revolves, thereby increasingits speed till the centrifugal force again balances the centripetal. This would seem to make it descend by fits and starts, but in realitythe approach is nearly constant, so that the orbits are in factslightly spiral. What is true of the planets and satellites is alsotrue of the stars with reference to Cosmos; though many even of thesehave subordinate motions in their great journey. Though the satellitesof the moons revolve about the primaries in orbits inclined at allkinds of angles to the planes of the ecliptics, and even the moons varyin their paths about the planets, the planets themselves revolve aboutthe stars, like those of this system about the sun, in substantiallythe same plane; and what is true of the planets is even more true ofthe stars in their orbits about Cosmos, so that when, afterincalculable ages, they do fall, they strike this monster sun at ornear its equator, and not falling perpendicularly, but in a linevarying but slightly from a tangent, and at terrific speed, they causethe colossus to rotate more and more rapidly on its own axis, till itmust become greatly flattened at the poles, as the earth is slightly, and as Jupiter and Saturn are a good deal. Even though not all thestars are exactly in the plane of Cosmos's equator, as you can see theyare not there are as many above as below it, so that the generalaverage will be there; and as all are moving in the same direction, itis not necessary for all to strike the same line, those striking nearerthe poles, where the circles are smaller, and where the surface is notbeing carried forward so fast by the giant's rotation, will have evenmore effect in increasing its speed, since it will be like attachingthe driving-rods of a locomotive near the axle instead of near thecircumference, and with enough power will produce even greater results. As Cosmos waxes greater from the result of these continual accretions, its attraction for the stars will increase, until those coming from theouter regions of its universe will move at such terrific speed in theirspiral orbits that before coming in contact they will be almostinvisible, having already absorbed all solid matter revolving aboutthemselves. These accessions of moving matter, continually received atand near its equator, will cause Cosmos to spread out like Saturn'srings till it becomes flat, though the balance of forces will be soperfect that it is doubtful whether an animal or a man placed therewould feel much change. 

"But these universes--or, more accurately, divisions of theuniverse--already planes, though the vast surfaces are not so flat asto preclude beautiful and gently rolling slopes, are spirit-lands, andwill be inhabited only by spirits. Then there are great phosphorescentareas, and the colour of the surface changes with every hour of theday, from the most brilliant crimson to the softest shade of blue, radiant with many colours that your eyes cannot now see. There arealso myriads of scented streams, consisting of hundreds of differentand multi-coloured liquids, each with a perfume sweeter than the mostdelicate flower, and pouring forth the most heavenly music as they goon their way. But be not surprised at the magnitude of the change, foris it not written in Revelation, 'I saw a new heaven and a new earth;for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away'? Nor can webe surprised at vastness, sublimity, and beauty such as never wasconceived of, for do we not find this in His word, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the thingswhich God hath prepared for them that love Him'? In this blissfulstate, those that feared God and obeyed their consciences will live onforever; but their rest can never become stagnation, for evolution isone of the most constant laws, and never ceases, and they must alwaysgo onward and upward, unspeakably blessed by the consciences they madetheir rule in life, till in purity and power they shall equal or exceedthe angels of their Lord in heaven. 

"But you men of finite understanding will ask, as I myself should haveasked, How, by the law of hydrostatics, can liquids flow on a plane?Remember that, though these divisions are astronomical or geometricalplanes, their surfaces undulate; but the moving cause is this: At thecentre of these planes is a pole, the analogue, we will say, of themagnetic pole on earth, that has a more effective attraction for a gasthan for a liquid. When liquids approach the periphery of the circle, the rapid rotation and decreased pressure cause them to break up, whereupon the elementary gases return to the centre in the atmosphere, if near the surface, forming a gentle breeze. On nearing the centre, the cause of the separation being removed, the gases reunite to form aliquid, and the centrifugal force again sends this on its journey. "

"Is there no way, " asked Bearwarden, "by which a man may retrievehimself, if he has lost or misused his opportunities on earth?"

"The way a man lays up treasures in heaven, when on earth, " replied thespirit, "is by gladly doing something for some one else, usually insome form sacrificing self. In hell no one can do anything for any oneelse, because every one can have the semblance of anything he wishes bymerely concentrating his mind upon it, though, when he has it, it isbut a shadow and gives him no pleasure. Thus no one can give any oneelse anything he cannot obtain himself; and if he could, since it wouldbe no sacrifice on his part, he would derive no great moral comfortfrom it. Neither can any one comfort any one else by putting his actsor offences in a new light, for every one knows the whole truth abouthimself and everybody else, so that nothing can be made to appearfavourably or unfavourably. All this, however, is supposing there isthe desire to be kind; but how can spirits that were selfish andill-disposed on earth, where there are so many softening influences, have good inclinations in hell, where they loathe one another withconstantly increasing strength?

"Inasmuch as both the good and the bad continue on the lines on whichthey started when on earth, we are continually drawing nearer to God, while they are departing. The gulf may be only one of feeling, butthat is enough. It follows, then, that with God as our limit, which weof course can never reach, their limit, in the geometrical sense, mustbe total separation from Him. Though all spirits, we are told, liveforever, it occurs to me that in God's mercy there may be a gradualend; for though to the happy souls in heaven a thousand years may seemas nothing, existence in hell must drag along with leaden limbs, and asingle hour seem like a lifetime of regret. Since it is dreadful tothink that such unsoothed anguish should continue forever, I have oftenpondered whether it might not be that, by a form of involution andreversal of the past law, the spirit that came to life evolved from themineral, plant, and animal worlds, may mercifully retrace its steps oneby one, till finally the soul shall penetrate the solid rock and hideitself by becoming part of the planet. Many people in my day believedthat after death their souls would enter stately trees, and spreadabroad great branches, dropping dead leaves over the places on whichthey had stood while on earth. This might be the last step in theawful tragedy of the fall and involution of a human soul. In this way, those who had wasted the priceless opportunities given them by Godmight be mercifully obliterated, for it seems as if they would not beneeded in the economy of the universe. The Bible, however, mentions nosuch end, and says unmistakably that hell will last forever; so that inthis supposition, as in many others, the wish is probably father of thethought. "

"But, " persisted Bearwarden, "how about death-bed repentances?"

"Those, " replied the spirit, "are few and far between. The pains ofdeath at the last hour leave but little room for aught but vain regret. A man dies suddenly, or may be unconscious some time before the end. But they do occur. The question is, How much credit is it to be goodwhen you can do no more harm? The time to resist evil and do thatwhich is right is while the temptation is on and in its strength. While life lasts there is hope, but the books are sealed by death. Thetree must fall to one side or the other--there is no middle ground--andas the tree falleth, so it lieth. 

"This, however, is a gloomy subject, and one that in your heart ofhearts you understand. I would rather tell you more of the beautiesand splendours of space--of the orange, red, and blue stars, and of thetremendous cyclonic movements going on within them, which are even moreviolent than the storms that rage in the sun. The clouds, as thespectroscope has already shown, consist of iron, gold, and platinum inthe form of vapour, while the openings revealed by sun-spots, or ratherstar-spots, are so tremendous that a comparatively small one wouldcontain many dozen such globes as the earth. I could tell you also ofthe mysteries of the great dark companions of some of the stars, and ofthe stars that are themselves dark and cold, with naught but thefaraway constellations to cheer them, on which night reigns eternally, and that far outnumber the stars you can see. Also of the multiplicityof sex and extraordinary forms of life that exist there, though on noneof them are there mortal men like those on the earth. 

"Nature, in the process of evolution, has in all these cases gone offon an entirely different course, the most intelligent and highlydeveloped species being in the form of marvellously complex reptiles, winged serpents that sing most beautifully, but whose blood is cold, being prevented from freezing in the upper regions of the atmosphere bythe presence of salt and chemicals, and which are so intelligent thatthey have practically subdued many of these dark stars to themselves. On others, the most highly developed species have hollow, bell-shapedtentacles, into which they inject two or more opposing gases fromopposite sides of their bodies, which, in combination, produce a strongexplosion. This provides them with an easy and rapid locomotion, sincethe explosions find a sufficient resistance in the surrounding air topropel the monsters much faster than birds. These can at pleasure maketheir breath so poisonous that the lungs of any creatures exceptthemselves inhaling it are at once turned to parchment. Others cangive their enemies or their prey an electric shock, sending a boltthrough the heart, or can paralyze the mind physically by an effort oftheir wills, causing the brain to decompose while the victim is stillalive. Others have the same power that snakes have, though vastlyintensified, mesmerizing their victims from afar. 

"Still others have such delicate senses that in a way they commune withspirits, though they have no souls themselves; for in no part or cornerof the universe except on earth are there animals that have souls. Yetthey know the meaning of the word, and often bewail their hard lot inthat no part of them can live when the heart has ceased to beat. 

"Ah, my friends, if we had no souls--if, like the aesthetic reptilia, we knew that when our dust dissolved our existence would be over--weshould realize the preciousness of what we hold so lightly now. Manand the spirits and angels are the only beings with souls, and in noplace except on earth are new souls being created. This gives you thegreatest and grandest idea of the dignity of life and its inestimablevalue. But it is as difficult to describe the higher wonders of thestellar worlds to you as to picture the glories of sunset to a blindman, for you have experienced nothing with which to compare them. Instead of seeing all that really is, you see but a small part. "

 CHAPTER IX. 

 DOCTOR CORTLANDT SEES HIS GRAVE. 

"Is it not distasteful to you, " Cortlandt asked, "to live so near theseloathsome dragons?"

"Not in the least, " replied the spirit. "They affect us no more thanthe smallest micro-organism, for we see both with equal clearness. Since we are not obliged to breathe, they cannot injure us; and, besides, they serve to illustrate the working of God's laws, and thereis beauty in everything for those that have the senses required forperceiving it. A feature of the spiritual world is, that it does notinterfere with the natural, and the natural, except through faith, isnot aware of its presence. "

"Then why, " asked Cortlandt, "was it necessary for the Almighty tobring your souls to Saturn, since there would have been no overcrowdingif you had remained on the earth?"

"That, " replied the spirit, "was part of His wisdom; for the spirit, being able at once to look back into the natural world, if in it, wouldbe troubled at the mistakes and tribulations of his friends. Now, as arule, before a spirit can return to earth, his or her relatives andfriends have also died; or, if he can return before that happens, he isso advanced that he sees the ulterior purpose, and therefore the wisdomof God's ways, and is not distressed thereby. Lastly, as theirexpanding senses grew, it would be painful for the blessed andcondemned spirits to be together. Therefore we are brought here, whereGod reveals Himself to us more and more, and the flight of the othersouls--those unhappy ones--does not cease till they reach Cassandra. "

"Can the souls on Cassandra also leave it in time and roam at will?"asked Cortlandt. 

"I have seen none of them myself in my journeys to other planets; butas the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, and there is noexception to Nature's laws, I can reply that in time they do, and withequal powers their incentive to roam would be greater; for we are drawntogether by common sympathy and pure, requited love, while they aremutually repelled. Of course, some obtain a measure of freedom beforethe rest, and these naturally roam the farthest, and the more they seeand the farther they go, the stronger becomes their abhorrence foreverything they meet. "

"Cannot you spirits help us, and the mortals now on earth, to escapethis fate?"

"The greatest hope for your bodies and souls lies in the communion withthose that have passed through death; for the least of them can tellyou more than the wisest man on earth; and could you all come or sendrepresentatives to the multitudes here who cannot as yet return to you, but few on earth would be so quixotically sinful as to refuse ouradvice. Since, however, the greatest good comes to men from thelearning that they make an effort to secure, it is for you to strive toreach us, who can act as go-betweens from God to you. "

"It seems to me, " said Bearwarden, "that people are better now thanformerly. The sin of idolatry, for instance, has disappeared--has itnot?"

"Men still set up idols of wealth, passion, or ambition in theirhearts. These they worship as in days gone by, only the form haschanged. "

"Could the souls on Cassandra do us bodily or mental injury, if wecould ever reach their planet?" asked Bearwarden. 

"They might oppress and distress you, but your faith would protect youwherever you might go. "

"Can you give us a taste of your sense of prescience?" asked Bearwardenagain; "for, since it is not clear in what degree the condemned receivethis, and neither is it by any means sure that I shall be saved, Ishould like for once in my history to experience this sense ofdivinity, before my entity ends in stone. "

"I will transfer to you my sense of prescience, " replied the spirit, "that you may foresee as prophets have. In so doing, I shall butanticipate, since you will yourselves in time obtain this sense in agreater or less degree. Is there any event in the future you wouldlike to see, in order that, when the vision is fulfilled, it may tendto stablish your faith?"

"Since I am the oldest, " replied the doctor, "and shall probably diebefore my friends, reveal to us, I pray you, the manner of my death andthe events immediately following. This may prove an object-lesson tothem, and will greatly interest me. "

"Your death will be caused by blood-poisoning, brought on by anaccident, " began the spirit. "Some daybreak will find you weak, aftera troubled night, with your bodily resources at a low ebb. Sunset willsee you weaker, with your power of resistance almost gone. Midnightwill find you weaker still, and but little removed from the point ofdeath. A few hours later a kind hand will close the lids of yourhalf-shut eyes, which never again will behold the light. The coffinwill inclose your body, and the last earthly journey begin. Now, " thespirit continued, "you shall all use my sight instead of your own. "

The walls of the cave seemed to expand, till they resembled those of agreat cathedral, while the stalactites appeared to be metamorphosedinto Gothic columns. They found themselves among a large congregationthat had come to attend the last sad rites, while the great organplayed Chopin's "Funeral March. " The high vault and arches receivedthe organ's tone, and a sombre light pervaded the interior. There wasa slight flutter and a craning of necks among those in the pews, as theprocession began to ascend the aisle. While the slow step of thepallbearers and those carrying the coffin sounded on the stone floor, the clear voice of the clergyman that headed the procession soundedthese words through the cathedral: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. " As the bieradvanced, Bearwarden and Ayrault recognized themselves among thepallbearers--the former with grey mustache and hair, the latterconsiderably aged. The hermetically sealed lead coffin was inclosed ina wooden case, and the whole was draped and covered with flowers. 

[Illustration: A look into the future. ]

"Oh, my faith!" cried Cortlandt, "I see my face within, yet it is but adecomposing mass that I once described as I. "

Then again did the minister's voice proclaim, "I am the resurrectionand the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he weredead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shallnever die. "

The bearers gently set down their burden; the minister read theever-impressive chapter of St. Paul to the Corinthians; a bishopsolemnly and silently sprinkled earth on the coffin; and the choir sangthe 398th hymn, beginning with the words, "Hark, hark my soul! angelicsongs are swelling, " which had always been Cortlandt's favourite andthe service was at an end. The bearers again shouldered all that wasleft of Henry Cortlandt, and his relatives accompanied this to thecemetery. 

Then came a sweeping change of scene. A host of monuments andgravestones reflected the sunlight, while a broad river ebbed andflowed between high banks. A sexton and a watchman stood by a granitevault, the heavy door of which they had opened with a large key. Hardby were some gardeners and labourers, and also a crowd ofcuriosity-seekers who had come to witness the last sad rites. Presently a funeral procession appeared. The hearse stopped near theopen vault, over the door of which stood out the name of CORTLANDT, andthe accompanying minister said a short prayer, while all presentuncovered their heads. After this the coffin was borne within and setat rest upon a slab, among many generations of Cortlandts. In thehearts of the relatives and friends was genuine sorrow, but thecuriosity-seekers went their way and gave little thought. "To-morrowwill be like to-day, " they said, "and more great men will die. "

Then came another change of scene, though it was comparatively slight. The sun slowly sank beyond the farther bank of the broad river, and themoon and stars shone softly on the gravestones and crosses. Twogardeners smoked their short clay pipes on a bench before the Cortlandtvault, and talked in a slow manner. 

"He was a great man, " said one, "and if his soul blooms like theflowers on his grave, he must be in paradise, which we know is a finerpark than this. "

"He was expert for the Government when the earth's axis was set right, "said the second gardener, "and he must have been a scholar, for hiscalculations have all come true. He was one of the first three men tovisit the other planets, while the obituaries in the papers say hishistory will be read hereafter like the books of Caesar. After buryingall these great people, I sometimes wish I could do the same formyself, for the people I bury seem to be remembered. " After this theyrelapsed into their meditations, the silence being broken only by anoccasional murmur from the river's steady flow. 

Hereupon the voyagers found they were once more in the cave. The firehad burned low, and the dawn was already in the east. Cortlandt wipedhis forehead, shivered, and looked extremely pale. 

"Thank Heaven, " he cried, "we cannot ordinarily foresee our end; forbut few would attain their predestined ending could they see it inadvance. May the veil not again be raised, lest I faint before it! Ilooked in vain for my soul, " he continued, "but could see it nowhere. "

"The souls of those dying young, " replied the spirit, "sometimes wishto hover near their ashes as if regretting an unfinished life, or theopportunities that have departed; but those dying after middle age areusually glad to be free from their bodies, and seldom think of themagain. "

"I shall append the lines now in my head to my history, " saidCortlandt, "that where it goes they may go also. They can scarcelyfail to be instructive as the conclusions of a man who has seen beyondhis grave. " Whereupon he wrote a stanza in his note-book, and closedit without showing his companions what he had written. 

"May they do all the good you hope, and much more!" replied the spirit, "for the reward in the resurrection morning will vastly exceed all yourlabours now. 

"O, my friends, " the spirit continued most earnestly, addressing thethree, "are you prepared for your death-beds? When your eyes glaze intheir last sleep, and you lose that temporal world and what you perhapsconsidered all, as in a haze, your dim vision will then be displaced bythe true creation that will be eternal. Your unattained ambitions, your hopes, and your ideals will be swallowed in the grave. Your workswill secure you a place in history, and many will remember your namesuntil, in time, oblivion covers your memory as the grass conceals yourtombs. Are you prepared for the time when your eyes become blind, andyour trusted senses fail? Your sorrowing friends will mourn, and theflags of your clubs will fly at half-mast, but no earthly thing canhelp you then. In what condition will the resurrection morning findyou, when your sins of neglect and commission plead for vengeance, asAbel's blood from the ground? After that there can be no change. Theclassification, as I have already told you, is now going on; it willthen be finished. "

"We are the most utterly wretched sinners!" cried Ayrault. "Show ushow we can be saved. "

"As an inhabitant of spirit-land, I will give you worldly counsel, "replied the bishop. "During my earthly administration, as I told you, people came from far to hear me preach. This was because I hadeloquence and earnestness, both gifts of God. But I was a miserablyweak sinner myself. That which I would, I did not, and that which Iwould not that I did; and I often prayed my congregation to follow mysermons rather than my ways. I seemed to do my followers good, andDaniel thus commends my way in his last chapter: 'They that turn manyto righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever, ' and theexplanation is clear. There is no surer way of learning than trying toteach. In teaching my several flocks I was also improved myself. Iwas sown in weakness, but was raised in power, strength being madeperfect in weakness. Therefore improve your fellows, though yourselfyou cannot raise. The knowledge that you have sent many souls toheaven, though you are yourself a castaway, will give you unspeakablejoy, and place you in heaven wherever you may be. Yet remember this:none of us can win heaven; salvation is the gift of God. I have saidas much now as you can remember. Farewell. Improve time while youcan. Fear God and keep His commandments. This is the whole duty ofman. "

So saying, the spirit vanished in a cloud that for a time emitted light. 

"I am not surprised, " said Bearwarden, "that people took long journeysto hear him. I would do so myself. "

"I have never had much fear of death, " said Cortlandt, "but the merethought of it now makes my knees shake, and fills my heart with dread. I thought I saw the most hateful forms about my coffin, and imaginedthat they might be the personification of doubt, coldness, and my othershortcomings, which had come perhaps from sympathy, in invisible form. I was almost afraid to ask the spirit for the explanation. "

"I saw them also, " replied Bearwarden, "but took them to be swarms ofmicrobes waiting to destroy your body, or perhaps trying in vain topenetrate your hermetically sealed coffin. "

Cortlandt seemed much upset, and spent the rest of the day in writingout the facts and trying to assign a cause. Towards eveningBearwarden, who had recovered his spirits, prepared supper, after whichthey sat in the entrance to the cave. 

 CHAPTER X. 

 AYRAULT. 

As the night became darker they caught sight of the earth again, shining very faintly, and in his mind's eye Ayrault saw his sweetheart, and the old, old repining that, since reason and love began, has beenin men's minds, came upon him and almost crushed him. Without sayinganything to his companions, Ayrault left the cave, and, passing throughthe grove in which the spirit had paid them his second visit, wentslowly to the top of the hill about half a mile off, that he might themore easily gaze at the faint star on which he could picture Sylvia. 

"Ah!" he said to himself, on reaching the summit, "I will stay heretill the earth rises higher, and when it is far above me I will gaze atit as at heaven. "

Accordingly, he lay down with his head on a mound of sod, and watchedthe familiar planet. 

"We were born too soon, " he soliloquized; "for had Sylvia and I butlived in the spiritual age foretold by the bishop, we might have heldcommunion, while now our spirits, no matter how much in love, areseparated absolutely by a mere matter of distance. It is a mockery tosee Sylvia's dwelling-place, and feel that she is beyond my vision. Othat, in the absence of something better, my poor imperfect eyes couldbe transformed into those of an eagle, but with a million times thepower! for though I know that with these senses I shall see theresurrection, and hear the last trump, that is but prospective, whilenow is the time I long for sight. "

On the plain he had left he saw his friends' camp-fire, while on theother side of his elevation was a valley in which the insects chirpedsharply, and through which ran a stream. Feeling a desire for solitudeand to be as far removed as possible, he arose and descended towardsthe water. Though the autumn, where they found themselves, was welladvanced, this night was warm, and the rings formed a great arch abovehis head. Near the stream the frogs croaked happily, as if unmindfulof the long very long Saturnian winter; for though they were removedbut about ten degrees from the equator, the sun was so remote and theaxis of the planet so inclined that it was unlikely these individualfrogs would see another summer, though they might live again, in asense, in their descendants. The insects also would soon be frozen andstiff, and the tall, graceful lilies that still clung to life would bewithered and dead. The trees, as if weeping at the evanescence of thelife around them, shed their leaves at the faintest breeze. Thesefluttered to the ground, or, falling into the tranquil stream, werecarried away by it, and passed from sight. Ayrault stood musing andregretting the necessity of such general death. "But, " he thought, "Iwould rather die than lose my love; for then I should have had thetaste of bliss without its fulfilment, and should be worse off thandead. Love gilds the commonplace, and deifies all it touches. Lovesurvives the winter, and in my present frame of mind I should preferearth and cold with it to heaven and spring. Oh, why is my soul soclogged by my body?"

A pillar of stone standing near him was suddenly shattered, and thebishop stood where it had been. 

 "Because, " said the spirit, answering his thought, "it has notyet power to be free. "

"Can a man's soul not rise till his body is dead?" asked Ayrault. 

The spirit hesitated. 

"Oh, tell me, " pleaded Ayrault. "If I could see the girl to whom I amengaged, for but a moment, could be convinced that she loves me still, my mind would be at rest. Free my soul or spirit, or whatever it is, from this body, that I may traverse intervening space and be with her. "

"You will discover the way for yourself in time, " said the spirit. 

"I know I shall at the last day, in the resurrection, when I am nolonger in the flesh. Then I shall have no need of your aid; for we, know that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given inmarriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. It is while I ammortal, and love as mortals do, that I wish to see my promised bride. A spirit may have other joys, and perhaps higher; but you who havelived in the world and loved, show me that which is now my heart'sdesire. You have shown us the tomb in which Cortlandt will lie buried;now help me to go to one who is still alive. "

"I pray that God will grant you this, " said the spirit, "and make meHis instrument, for I see the depth of your distress. " Saying which, he vanished, leaving no trace in his departure except that the pillarof stone returned to its place. 

With this rather vague hope, Ayrault set off to rejoin his companions, for he felt the need of human sympathy. Saturn's rapid rotation hadbrought the earth almost to the zenith, the little point shining withthe unmistakably steady ray of a planet. Huge bats fluttered abouthim, and the great cloud-masses swept across the sky, being part ofSaturn's ceaseless whirl. He found he was in a hypnotic orspiritualistic state, for it was not necessary for him to have his eyesopen to know where he was. In passing one of the pools they hadnoticed, he observed that the upper and previously invisible liquid hadthe bright colour of gold, and about it rested a group of figuresenveloped in light. 

"Why do you look so sad?" they asked. "You are in that abode ofdeparted spirits known as paradise, and should be happy. "

"I suppose I should be happy, were I here as you are, as the reward ofmerit, " he replied. "But I am still in the flesh, and as such amsubject to its cares. "

"You are about to have an experience, " said another speaker. "This dayyour doubts will be at rest, for before another sunset you will knowmore of the woman you love. "

The intensity of the spiritualistic influence here somewhat weakened, for he partially lost sight of the luminous figures, and could nolonger hear what they said. His heart was in his mouth as he walked, and he felt like a man about to set out on his honeymoon, or like abride who knows not whether to laugh or to cry. An indescribableexhilaration was constantly present. 

"I wonder, " thought he, "if a caterpillar has these sensations beforebecoming a butterfly? Though I return to the rock from which I sprang, I believe I shall be with Sylvia to-day. "

Footprints formed in the soft ground all around him, and the air wasfilled with spots of phosphorescent light that coincided with therelative positions of the brains, hearts, and eyes of human beings. These surrounded and often preceded him, as though leading him on, while the most heavenly anthems filled the air and the vault of the sky. 

"I believe, " he thought, with bounding heart, "that I shall beinitiated into the mysteries of space this night. "

At times he could hear even the words of the choruses ringing in hisears, though at others he thought the effect was altogether in his mind. 

"Oh, for a proof, " he prayed, "that no sane man can doubt! My faith isimplicit in the bishop and the vision, and I feel that in some way Ishall return to earth ere the close of another day, for I know I amawake, and that this is no dream. "

A fire burned in the mouth of the cave, within which Bearwarden andCortlandt lay sleeping. The specks of mica in the rocks reflected itslight, but in addition to this a diffused phosphorescence filled theplace, and the large sod-covered stones they used for pillows emittedpurple and dark red flames. 

"Is that you, Dick?" asked Bearwarden, awaking and groping about. "Webuilt up the fire so that you should find the camp, but it seems tohave gone down. " Saying which, he struck a match, whereupon Ayraultceased to see the phosphorescence or bluish light. At that moment apeal of thunder awakened Cortlandt, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

"I think, " said Ayrault, "I will go to the Callisto and get ourmackintoshes before the rain sets in. " Whereupon he left hiscompanions, who were soon again fast asleep. 

The sky had suddenly become filled with clouds, and Ayrault hastenedtowards the Callisto, intending to remain there, if necessary, untilthe storm was over. For about twenty minutes he hurried on through thegrowing darkness, stopping once on high ground to make sure of hisbearings, and he had covered more than half the distance when the raincame on in a flood, accompanied by brilliant lightning. Seeing thehuge, hollow trunk of a fallen tree near, and not wishing to be wetthrough, Ayrault fired several solid shots from his revolver into thecavity, to drive out any wild animals there might be inside, and thenhurriedly crawled in, feet first. He next drew in his head, and wascongratulating himself on his snug retreat, when the sky became luridwith a flash of lightning, then his head dropped forward, and he wasunconscious. 

 CHAPTER XI. 

 DREAMLAND TO SHADOWLAND. 

As Ayrault's consciousness returned, he fancied he heard music. Thoughdistant, it was distinct, and seemed to ring from the ether of space. Occasionally it sounded even more remote, but it was rhythmical andcontinuous, inspiring and stirring him as nothing that he had everheard before. Finally, it was overcome by the more vivid impressionsupon his other senses, and he found himself walking in the streets ofhis native city. It was spring, and the trees were white with buds. The long shadows of the late afternoon stretched across the way, butthe clear sky gave indication of prolonged twilight, and the air waswarm and balmy. Nature was filled with life, and seemed to beproclaiming that the cold was past. 

As he moved along the street he met a funeral procession. 

"What a pity, " he thought, "a man should die, with summer so near athand!"

He was also surprised at the keenness of his sight; for, inclosed ineach man's body, he saw the outline of his soul. But the dead man'sbody was empty, like a cage without a bird. He also read the thoughtsin their minds. 

"Now, " said a large man in the carriage next the hearse, "I may winher, since she is a widow. "

The widow herself kept thinking: "Would it had been I! His life wasessential to the children, while I should scarcely have been missed. Iwish I had no duties here, and might follow him now. "

While pondering on these things, he reached Sylvia's house, and wentinto the little room in which he had so often seen her. The warmsouthwesterly breeze blew through the open windows, and far beyondCentral Park the approaching sunset promised to be beautiful. Thetable was covered with flowers, and though he had often seen thatvariety, he had never before noticed the marvellous combinations ofcolours, while the room was filled with a thousand delicious perfumes. The thrush hanging in the window sang divinely, and in a silver framehe saw a likeness of himself. 

"I have always loved this room, " he thought, "but it seems to me nowlike heaven. "

He sat down in an arm-chair from force of habit, to await his fiancee. 

"Oh, for a walk with Sylvia by twilight!" his thoughts ran on, "for sheneed not be at home again till after seven. "

Presently he heard the soft rustle of her dress, and rose to meet her. Though she looked in his direction, she did not seem to see him, andwalked past him to the window. She was the picture of lovelinesssilhouetted against the sky. He went towards her, and gazed into herdeep-sea eyes, which had a far-away expression. She turned, wentgracefully to the mantelpiece, and took a photograph of herself frombehind the clock. On its back Ayrault had scrawled a boyish versecomposed by himself, which ran:

 "My divine, most ideal Sylvia, O vision, with eyes so blue, 'Tis in the highest degree consequential, To my existence in fact essential, That I should be loved by you. "

As she read and reread those lines, with his whole soul he yearned tohave her look at him. He watched the colour come and go in her clear, bright complexion, and was rejoiced to see in her the personificationof activity and health. Beneath his own effusion on the photograph hesaw something written in pencil, in the hand he knew so well:

 "Did you but know how I love you, No more silly things would you ask. With my whole heart and soul I adore you-- Idiot! goose! bombast!"

And as she glanced at it, these thoughts crossed her mind: "I shallnever call you such names again. How much I shall have to tell you!It is provoking that you stay away so long. "

He came still nearer--so near, in fact, that he could hear the beatingof her heart--but she still seemed entirely unconscious of hispresence. Losing his reserve and self-control, he impulsively graspedat her hands, then fell on his knees, and then, dumfounded, struggledto his feet. Her hands seemed to slip through his; he was not able totouch her, and she was still unaware of his presence. 

Suddenly a whole flood of light and the truth burst upon him. He hadpassed painlessly and unconsciously from the dreamland of Saturn to theshadowland of eternity. The mystery was solved. Like the dead bishop, he had become a free spirit. His prayer was answered, and his body, struck by lightning, lay far away on that great ringed planet. How helonged to take in his arms the girl who had promised herself to him, and who, he now saw, loved him with her whole heart; but he was only animmaterial spirit, lighter even than the ether of space, and theunchangeable laws of the universe seemed to him but the irony of fate. As a spirit, he was intangible and invisible to those in the flesh, andlikewise they were beyond his control. The tragedy of life then dawnedupon him, and the awful results of death made themselves felt. Heglanced at Sylvia. On coming in she had looked radiantly happy; nowshe seemed depressed, and even the bird stopped singing. 

"Oh, " he thought, "could I but return to life for one hour, to tell herhow incessantly she has been in my thoughts, and how I love her!Death, to the aged, is no loss--in fact, a blessing--but now!" and hesobbed mentally in the anguish of his soul. If he could butcommunicate with her, he thought; but he remembered what the departedbishop had said, that it would take most men centuries to do this, andthat others could never learn. By that time she, too, would be dead, perhaps having been the wife of some one else, and he felt a sense ofjealousy even beyond the grave. Throwing himself upon a rug on thefloor, in a paroxysm of distress, he gazed at Sylvia. 

"Oh, horrible mockery!" he thought, thinking of the spirit. "He gaveme worse than a stone when I asked for bread; for, in place of freedom, he sent me death. Could I but be alive again for a few moments!" But, with a bitter smile, he again remembered the words of the bishop, "Whatwould a soul in hell not give for but one hour on earth?"

Sylvia had seated herself on a small sofa, on which, and next to her, he had so often sat. Her gentle eyes had a thoughtful look, while herface was the personification of intelligence and beauty. Sheoccasionally glanced at his photograph, which she held in her hand. 

"Sylvia, Sylvia!" he suddenly cried, rising to his knees at her feet. "I love, I adore you! It was my longing to be with you that brought mehere. I know you can neither see nor hear me, but cannot your soulcommune with mine?"

"Is Dick here?" cried Sylvia, becoming deadly pale and getting up, "oram I losing my reason?"

Seeing that she was distressed by the power of his mind, Ayrault oncemore sank to the floor, burying his face in his hands. 

Unable to endure this longer, and feeling as if his heart must break, he rushed out into the street, wishing he might soothe his anguish witha hypodermic injection of morphine, and that he had a body with whichto divert and suppress his soul. 

Night had fallen, and the electric lamps cast their white rays on theground, while the stars overhead shone in their eternal serenity andcalm. Then was it once more brought home to him that he was a spirit, for darkness and light were alike, and he felt the beginning of thatsense of prescience of which the bishop had spoken. Passing throughthe houses of some of the clubs to which he belonged, he saw his namestill upon the list of members, and then he went to the places ofamusement he knew so well. On all sides were familiar faces, but whatinterested him most was the great division incessantly going on. Herewere jolly people enjoying life and playing cards, who, his foresightshowed him, would in less than a year be under ground--like Mercutio, in "Romeo and Juliet, " to-day known as merry fellows, who to-morrowwould be grave men. 

While his eyes beheld the sun, he had imagined the air felt warm andbalmy. He now saw that this had been a hallucination, for he waschilled through and through. He also perceived that he cast no shadow, and that no one observed his presence. He, on the other hand, saw notonly the air as it entered and left his friends' lungs, but also thesubstance of their brains, and the seeds of disease and death, whosepresence they themselves did not even suspect, and the seventy-five percent of water in their bodies, making them appear like sacks of liquid. In some he saw the germs of consumption; in others, affections of theheart. In all, he saw the incessant struggle between the healthyblood-cells and the malignant, omnipresent bacilli that the cells weretrying to overcome. Many men and women he saw were in love, and hecould tell what all were about to do. Oh, the secrets that wererevealed, while the motives for acts were now laid bare that till thenhe had misunderstood! He had often heard the old saying, that if everyperson in a ball-room could read the thoughts of the rest, the ballwould seem a travesty on enjoyment, rather than real pleasure, and nowhe perceived its force. He also noticed that many were better than hehad supposed, and were trying, in a blundering but persevering way, toobey their consciences. He saw some unselfish thoughts and acts. Manythings that he had attributed to irresolution or inconsistency, heperceived were in reality self-sacrifice. He went on in franticdisquiet, distance no longer being of consequence, and in his roamingchanced to pass through the graveyard in which many generations of hisancestors lay buried. Within the leaden coffins he saw the coldremains; some well preserved, others but handfuls of dust. 

"Tell me, O my progenitors, " he cried, "you whose blood till thismorning flowed in my veins, is there not some way by which I, as aspirit, can commune with the material world? I have always admiredyour judgment and wisdom, and you have all been in Shadowland longerthan I. Give me, I pray you, some ancestral advice. "

The only sound in answer was the hum of the insects that filled theevening air. The moonlight shone softly, but in a ghastly way, on themarble crosses of his vault and those around, and he felt anunspeakable sadness within this abode of the dead. "How manyunfinished lives, " he thought, "have ended beneath these sods!Unimproved talents here are buried in the ground. Unattainedambitions, and those who died before their time; those who tried, in ahalf-hearted way, to improve their opportunities, and accomplishedsomething, and those who neglected them, and did still less--all aretogether here, the just with the unjust, though it be for the lasttime. The grave absorbs their bodies and ends their probationaryrecord, from which there is no appeal. "

Near by were some open graves, ready to receive their occupants, whilea little farther on he recognized the Cortlandt mausoleum, lookingexactly as when shown him, through his second sight, by the spirit onthe previous day. 

From the graves filled recently, and from many others, rose threads ofcoloured matter, in the form of gases, the forerunners of miasma. Henow perceived shadowy figures flitting about on the ground and in theair, from whose eyes poured streams of immaterial tears. Their brains, hearts, and vertebral columns were the parts most easily seen, and theywere filled with an inextinguishable anguish and sorrow that from itsvery intensity made itself seen as a blue flame. The ruffles andknickerbockers in which some of these were attired, evidently by theeffects of the thoughts in their minds, doubtless from force of habitfrom what they had worn on earth while alive, showed that they had beendead at least two hundred years. Ayrault also now found himself instreet clothes, although when in his clubs he had worn a dress suit. 

"Tell me, fellow-spirits, " he said, addressing them, "how can Icommunicate with one that is still alive?"

They looked at him with moist eyes, but answered not a word. 

"I attributed the misery in my heart, " thought Ayrault, "entirely tothe distress at losing Sylvia, which God knows is enough; but though Isuspected it before, I now see, by my companions, that I am in thedepths of hell. "

 CHAPTER XII. 

 SHEOL. 

Failing to find words to convey his thoughts, he threw himself into anopen grave, praying that the earth might hide his soul, as he hadsupposed it some day would hide his body. But the ground was likecrystal, and he saw the white bones in the graves all around him. Unable to endure these surroundings longer, he rushed back to his oldhaunts, where he knew he should find the friends of his youth. He didnot pause to go by the usual way, but passed, without stopping, throughwalls and buildings. Soon he beheld the familiar scene, and heard hisown name mentioned. But there was no comfort here, and what he hadseen of old was but an incident to what he gazed on now. Praying withhis whole heart that he might make himself heard, he stepped upon afoot-stool, and cried:

"Your bodies are decaying before me. You are burying your talents inthe ground. We must all stand for final sentence at the last day, mortals and spirits alike--there is not a shadow of a shade of doubt. Your every thought will be known, and for every evil deed and everyidle word God will bring us into judgment. The angel of death is amongyou and at work in your very midst. Are you prepared to receive him?He has already killed my body, and now that I can never die I wishthere was a grave for my soul. I was reassured by a vision that toldme I was safe, but either it was a hallucination, or I have beenbetrayed by some spirit. Last night I still lived, and my body obeyedmy will. Since then I have experienced death, and with the resultingincreased knowledge comes the loss of all hope, with keener pangs thanI supposed could exist. Oh, that I had now their opportunities, that Imight write a thesis that should live forever, and save millions ofsouls from the anguish of mine! Inoculate your mortal bodies with thegerms of faith and mutual love, in a stronger degree than they dwelt inme, lest you lose the life above. "

But no one heard him, and he preached in vain. 

He again rushed forth, and, after a half-involuntary effort, foundhimself in the street before his loved one's home. Scarcely knowingwhy, except that it had become nature to wish to be near her, he stoodfor a long time opposite her dwelling. 

"O house!" he cried, "inanimate object that can yet enthral me so, Istand before your cold front as a suppliant from a very distant realm;yet in my sadness I am colder than your stones, more alone than in adesolate place. She that dwells within you holds my love. I long forher shadow or the sound of her step. I am more wretchedly in love thanever--I, an impotent, invisible spirit. Must I bear this sorrow inaddition to my others, in my fruitless search for rest? My life willbe a waking nightmare, most bitter irony of fate. "

The trees swayed above his head, and the moon, in its last quarter, looked dreamily at him. 

"Ah, " thought Ayrault, "could I but sleep and be happy! Drowsiness andweariness, fatigue's grasp is on me; or may Sylvia's nearness soothe, as her voice has brought me calm! Quiet I may some day enjoy, butslumber again, never! I see that souls in hades must ever have theirmisdeeds before them. Happy man in this world, the repentant's sinsare forgiven! You lose your care in sleep. Somnolence anddrowsiness--balm of aching hearts, angels of mercy! Mortals, howblessed! until you die, God sends you this rest. When I recall summerevenings with Sylvia, while gentle zephyrs fanned our brows, I wouldchange Pope's famous line to 'Man never is, but always HAS BEENblessed. '"

A clock in a church-steeple now struck three, the sound ringing throughthe still night air. 

"It will soon be time for ghosts to go, " thought Ayrault. "I must nothaunt her dwelling. "

There was a light in Sylvia's study, and Ayrault remained meditativelygazing at it. 

"Happy lamp, " he thought, "to shed your light on one so fair! She cansee you, and you shine, for her. You are better off than I. Wouldthat her soul might shine for me, as your light shines for her! Thelight of my life has departed. O that the darkness were complete! Iam dead, " his thoughts ran on, and when the privilege--bitterword!--that permits me to remain here has expired, I must doubtlessreturn to Saturn, and there in purgatory work out my probation. Butwhat comfort is it that a few centuries hence I may be able to revisitmy native earth?--

 The flowers will bloom in the morning light, And the lark salute the sun, The earth will continue to roll through space, And I may be nearer my final grace, But Sylvia's life-thread will be spun. 

"Even Sylvia's house will be a heap of ruins, or its place will betaken by something else. If I had Sylvia, I should care for nothing;as I have lost her, even this sight, though sweet, must always bringregret. I wish, at all events, I might see Sylvia, if only with thesespirit-eyes, since, as a mortal, she may never gladden my sight again. "

To his surprise, he now perceived that he could see, notwithstandingthe drawn shades. Sylvia was at her writing-desk, in a light-colouredwrapper. She sat there resting her head on her hand, lookingthoughtful but worried. Though it was so late, she had not retired. The thrush that Ayrault had often in life admired, and that she had forsome reason brought up-stairs, was silent and asleep. 

"Happy bird!" he said, "you obtain rest and forgetfulness on coveringyour head; but what wing can cover my soul? I used to wish I mightflutter towards heaven on natural wings like you, little thrush. Now Ican, indeed, outfly you. But whatever I do I'm unhappy, and wherever Igo I'm in hell. What is man in his helpless, first spiritual state?He is but a flower, and withers soon. Had I, like the bishop, beenless blind, and obeyed my conscience clear, I might have returned to mynative earth while Sylvia still sojourns here; and coming thus byvirtue of development, I should be able to commune with her. 

"What is life?" he continued. "In the retrospect, nothing. It seemsto me already as but an infinitesimal point. Things that engrossed me, and seemed of such moment, that overshadowed the duty of obeying myconscience--what were they, and where? Ah, where? They endured but amoment. Reality and evanescence--evanescence and reality. "

The light in Sylvia's room was out now, and in the east he beheld thedawn. The ubiquitous grey which he saw at night was invaded by streamsof glorious crimson and blue that reached far up into the sky. Hegazed at the spectacle, and then once more at that house in which hislove was centred. 

"Would I might be her guardian angel, to guide her in the right andkeep her from all harm! Sleep on, Sylvia. Sweet one, sleep. Yonstars fade beside your eyes. Your thoughts and your soul are fairerfar than the east in this day's sunrise. I know what I have lost. Ah, desolating knowledge! for I have read Sylvia's heart, and know I wasloved as truly as I loved. When Bearwarden and Cortlandt break her thenews--ah, God! will she live, and do they yet know I am dead?"

Again came that spasm to shed spirit tears, and had he not known itimpossible he would have thought his heart must break. 

The birds twittered, and the light grew, but Ayrault lay with his faceupon the ground. Finally the spirit of unrest drove him on. He passedthe barred door of his own house, through which he had entered sooften. It was unchanged, but seemed deserted. Next, he went to thewater-front, where he had left his yacht. Invisibly and sadly he stoodupon her upper deck, and gazed at the levers, in response to his touchon which the craft had cleft the waves, reversed, or turned like athing of life. 

"'Twas a pretty toy, " he mused, "and many hours of joy have I had as Ifloated through life on board of her. "

As he moped along he beheld two unkempt Italians having a piano-organand a violin. The music was not fine, but it touched a chord inAyrault's breast, for he had waltzed with Sylvia to that air, and itmade his heart ache. 

"Oh, the acuteness of my distress, " he cried, "the utter depth of mysorrow! Can I have no peace in death, no oblivion in the grave? I amreminded of my blighted, hopeless love in all kinds of unexpected ways, by unforeseen trifles. Oh, would I might, indeed, die! Mayobliteration be my deliverer!"

"Poor fellows, " he continued, glancing at the Italians, for heperceived that neither of the players was happy; the pianist wasavaricious, while the violinist's natural and habitual jealousydestroyed his peace of mind. 

"Unhappiness seems the common lot, " thought Ayrault. "Earth cannotgive that joy for which we sigh. Poor fellows! though you rack my earsand distress my heart, I cannot help you now. "

 CHAPTER XIII. 

 THE PRIEST'S SERMON. 

It being the first day of the week, the morning air was filled withchimes from many steeples. 

"Divine service always comforted in life, " thought Ayrault, "perchanceit may do so now, when I have reached the state for which it tried toprepare me. "

Accordingly, he moved on with the throng, and soon was ascending theheights of Morningside Park, after which, he entered the cathedral. The priest whose voice had so often thrilled him stood at his post inhis surplice, and the choir had finished the processional hymn. Duringthe responses in the litany, and between the commandments, while thecongregation and the choir sang, he heard their natural voices as ofold ascending to the vaulted roof and arrested there. He now alsoheard their spiritual voices resulting from the earnestness of theirprayers. These were rung through the vaster vault of space, arousing aspiritual echo beyond the constellations and the nebulae. The service, which was that of the Protestant Episcopal Church, touched him asdeeply as usual, after which the rector ascended the steps to thepulpit. 

"The text, this morning, " he began, "is from the eighth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, at the eighteenth verse: 'For I reckonthat the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be comparedto the glory that shall be revealed in us. ' Let us suppose that you orI, brethren, should become a free and disembodied spirit. A minutevein in the brain bursts, or a clot forms in the heart. It may be amere trifle, some unexpected thing, yet the career in the flesh isended, the eternal life of the liberated spirit begun. The soul slipsfrom earth's grasp, as air from our fingers, and finds itself in thefrigid, boundless void of space. Yet, through some longing this soulmight rejoin us, and, though invisible, might hear the church-bellsring, and long to recall some one of the many bright Sunday morningsspent here on earth. Has a direful misfortune befallen this brother, or has a slave been set free? Let us suppose for a moment that thefirst has occurred. 'Vanity of vanities, ' said the old preacher. 'Calamity of calamities, ' says the new. That soul's probationaryperiod is ended; his record, on which he must go, is forever made. Hehas been in the flesh, let us say, one, two, three or four score years;before him are the countless aeons of eternity. He may have had areasonably satisfactory life, from his point of view, and been fairlysuccessful in stilling conscience. That still, small voice doubtlessspoke pretty sharply at first, but after a while it rarely troubledhim, and in the end it spoke not at all. He may, in a way, haveenjoyed life and the beauties of nature. He has seen the fresh leavescome and go, but he forgot the moral, that he himself was but a leaf, and that, as they all dropped to earth to make more soil, his ashesmust also return to the ground. But his soul, friends and brethren, what becomes of that? Ah! it is the study of this question thatmoistens our eyes with tears. No evil man is really happy here, andwhat must be his suffering in the cold, cold land of spirits? Noslumber or forgetfulness can ease his lot in hades, and after hiscondemnation at the last judgment he must forever face the unsoftenedrealities of eternity. No evil thing or thought can find lodgment inheaven. If it could, heaven would not be a happy place; neither canany man improve in the abyss of hell. As the horizon graduallydarkens, and this soul recedes from God, the time spent in the fleshmust come to seem the most infinitesimal moment, more evanescent thanthe tick of a clock. It seems dreadful that for such short misdoings asoul should suffer so long, but no man can be saved in spite ofhimself. He had the opportunities--and the knowledge of this must givea soul the most acute pang. 

"In Revelation, xx, 6, we find these words, 'Blessed and holy is hethat hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hathno power. ' I have often asked myself, May not this mean that thosewith a bad record in the general resurrection after a time cease toexist, since all suffer one death at the close of their period here?

"This is somewhat suggested by Proverbs, xii, 28. 'In the way ofrighteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death. 'This might limit the everlasting damnation, so often repeatedelsewhere, to the lives of the condemned, since to them, in a sense, itwould be everlasting. 

"Let us now turn to the bright picture--the soul that has weathered thestorms of life and has reached the haven of rest. The struggles, temptations, and trials overcome, have done their work of refining witha rapidity that could not have been equalled in any other way, andthough, perhaps, very imperfect still, the journey is ever on. Thereward is tenfold, yet in proportion to what this soul has done, for weknow that the servant who best used his ten talents was made ruler overten cities, while he that increased his five talents by five receivedfive; and the Saviour in whom he trusted, by whose aid he made hisfight, stands ready to receive him, saying, 'Enter thou into the joy ofthy Lord. '

"As the dark, earthly background recedes, the clouds break and theglorious light appears, the contrast heightening the ever-unfolding andincreasing delights, which are as great as the recipients have power toenjoy, since these righteous souls receive their rewards in proportionto the weight of the crosses that they have borne in the right spirit. These souls are a joy to their Creator, and are the heirs of Him inheaven. The ceaseless, sleepless activity that must obtain in bothparadise and hades, and that must make the hearts of the godless growfaint at the contemplation, is also a boundless promise to those whohave Him who is all in all. 

"Where is now thy Saviour? where is now thy God? the unjust man hasasked in his heart when he saw his just neighbour struggling andunsuccessful. Both the righteous and the unrighteous man are dead. The one has found his Saviour, the other is yearly losing God. What isthe suffering of the present momentary time, eased as it is by God'smercy and presence, compared with the glories that await us? Whatwould it be if our lives here were filled with nothing else, as ye knowthat your labour is not vain in the Lord? Time and eternity--thefinite and the infinite. Death was, indeed, a deliverer, and thesunset of the body is the sunrise of the soul. "

The priest held himself erect as a soldier while delivering thissermon, making the great cathedral ring with his earnest and solemnvoice, while Ayrault, as a spirit, saw how absolutely he meant andbelieved every word that he said. 

Nearly all the members of the congregation were moved--some more, someless than they appeared. After the benediction they rapidly dispersed, carrying in their hearts the germs he had sown; but whether these wouldbear fruit or wither, time alone could show. 

Ayrault had noticed Sylvia's father and mother in church, but Sylviaherself was not there, and he was distressed to think she might be ill. 

"Why, " pondered Ayrault, "am I so unhappy? I was baptized, confirmed, and have taken the sacrament. I have always had an unshaken faith, and, though often unsuccessful, have striven to obey my conscience. The spirits also on Saturn kept saying I should be happy. Now, didthis mean it was incumbent upon me to rejoice, because of some blessingI already had, and did not appreciate, or did their prescience showthem some prospective happiness I was to enjoy? The visions also ofViolet, the angel, and the lily, which I believed, and still believe, were no mere empty fancies, should have given me the most unspeakablejoy. It may be a mistake to apply earthly logic to heavenly things, but the fundamental laws of science cannot change. 

"Why am I so unhappy?" he continued, returning to his originalquestion. "The visions gave promise of special grace, perhaps somespecial favour. True, my prayer to see Sylvia was heard, but, considering the sacrifice, this has been no blessing. The requestcannot have been wrong in itself, and as for the manner, there was noarrogance in my heart. I asked as a mortal, as a man of but finiteunderstanding, for what concerned me most. Why, oh why, so wretched?"

 CHAPTER XIV. 

 HIC ILLE JACET. 

At daybreak the thunder-shower passed off, but was followed by a cold, drenching rain. Supposing Ayrault had remained in the Callisto, Bearwarden and Cortlandt did not feel anxious, and, not wishing to bewet through, remained in the cave, keeping up a good fire with the woodthey had collected. Towards evening a cold wind came up, and, thinkingthis might clear the air, they ventured out, but, finding the groundsaturated, and that the rain was again beginning to fall, they returnedto shelter, prepared a dinner of canned meat, and made themselves ascomfortable as possible for the night. 

"I am surprised, " said Cortlandt, "that Dick did not try to return tous, since he had the mackintoshes. "

"I dare say he did try, " replied Bearwarden, "but finding the courseinundated, and knowing we should not need the mackintoshes if weremained under cover, decided to put back. The Callisto is, of course, as safe as a church. "

"I hope, " said Cortlandt, "no harm has come to him on the way. It willbe a weight off my mind to see him safely with us. "

"Should he not turn up in the morning, " replied Bearwarden, "we mustbegin a search for him bright and early. "

Making up the fire as near the entrance of the cave as they could finda dry place, so that Ayrault should see it if he attempted to returnduring the night, they piled on wood, and talked of their recentexperiences. 

"However unwilling I was, " said Cortlandt, "to believe my senses, whichI felt were misleading me, I can no longer doubt the reality of thatspirit bishop, or the truth of what he says. When you look at thequestion dispassionately, it is what you might logically expect. In mydesire to disprove what is to us supernatural, I tried to creatementally a system that would be a substitute for the one he described, but could evolve nothing that so perfectly filled the requirements, orthat was so simple. Nothing seems more natural than that man, havingbeen evolved from stone, should continue his ascent till he discardsmaterial altogether. The metamorphism is more striking in the firstchange than in the second. Granted that the soul is immaterial, andthat it leaves the body after death, what is there to keep it on earth?Gravitation cannot affect it. What is more likely than that it is leftbehind by the earth in its orbit, or that it continues its forwardmotion, but in a straight line, till, reaching the paths of the greaterplanets, it is drawn to them by some affinity or attraction that theearth does not possess, and that the souls held in that manner remainhere on probation, developing like young animals or children, till, bygradually acquired power, resulting from their wills, they are able torise again into space, to revisit the earth, and in time to explore theuniverse? It might easily come about that, by some explainablesympathy, the infant good souls are drawn to this planet, while thecondemned pass on to Cassandra, which holds them by some propertypeculiar to itself, until perhaps they, too, by virtue of their wills, acquire new power, unless involution sets in and they lose what theyhave. The simplicity of the thing is what surprises me now, and thatfor ages philosophers have been racking their brains with everyconceivable fancy, when, by simply extending and following naturallaws, they could discern the whole. "

"It is the old story, " said Bearwarden, "of Columbus and the egg. Schopenhouer and his predecessors appear to have tried every idea butthe right one, and even Darwin and Huxley fell short in theirreasoning, because they tried to obtain more or less than four byputting two with two. "

Thus they sat and talked while the night wore on. Neither thought ofsleeping, hoping all the while that Ayrault might walk in as he had thenight before. 

At last the dawn began to tint the east, and the growing light showedthem that the storm had passed. The upper strata of Saturn'satmosphere being filled with infinitesimal particles of dust, as aresult of its numerous volcanoes, the conditions were highly favourableto beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Soon coloured streaks extended farinto the sky, and though they knew that when the sun's disc appeared itwould seem small, it filled the almost boundless eastern horizon withthe most variegated and gorgeous hues. 

Turning away from the welcome sight--for their minds were ill atease--they found the light strong enough for their search to begin. Writing on a sheet of paper, in a large hand, "Have gone to theCallisto to look for you; shall afterwards return here, " they pinnedthis in a conspicuous place and set out due west, keeping about ahundred yards apart. The ground was wet and slippery, but overhead allwas clear, and the sun soon shone brightly. Looking to right and left, and occasionally shouting and discharging their revolvers, they went onfor half an hour. 

"I have his tracks, " called Bearwarden, and Cortlandt hastened to joinhim. 

In the soft ground, sure enough, they saw Ayrault's footprints, and, from the distance between them, concluded that he must have beenrunning or walking very fast; but the rain had washed down the edges ofthe incision. The trail ascended a gentle slope, where they lost it;but on reaching the summit they saw it again with the feet together, asthough Ayrault had paused, and about it were many other impressionswith the feet turned in, as if the walkers or standers had surroundedAyrault, who was in the centre. 

"I hope, " said Cortlandt, "these are nothing more than the footprintswe have seen formed about ourselves. "

"See, " said Bearwarden, "Dick's trail goes on, and the others vanish. They cannot have been made by savages or Indians, for they seem to havehad weight only while standing. "

They then resumed their march, firing a revolver shot at intervals of aminute. Suddenly they came upon a tall, straight tree, uprooted by thewind and lying diagonally across their path. Following with their eyesthe direction in which it lay, they saw a large, hollow trunk, with thebark stripped off, and charred as if struck by lightning. Obliged topass near this by the uprooted tree-whose thick trunk, upheld by thebranches at the head, lay raised about two feet from the ground--bothsearchers gave a start, and stood still as if petrified. Inside thegreat trunk they saw a head, and, on looking more closely, descriedAyrault's body. Grasping it by the arms, they drew it out. The facewas pale and the limbs were stiff. Instantly Cortlandt unfastened thecollar, while Bearwarden applied a flask to the lips. But they soonfound that their efforts were vain. 

"The spirit!" ejaculated Cortlandt. "Dick may be in a trance, in whichcase he can help us. Let us will hard and long. "

Accordingly, they threw themselves on their faces, closing their eyes, that nothing might distract their concentration. Minutes, which seemedlike ages, passed, and there was no response. 

"Now, " said Bearwarden, "will together, hard. "

Suddenly the stillness was broken by the spirit's voice, which said:

"I felt more than one mind calling, but the effect was so slight Ithought first I was mistaken. I will help you in what you want, forthe young man is not dead, neither is he injured. "

Saying which, he stretched himself upon Ayrault, worked his lungsartificially, and willed with an intensity the observers could feelwhere they stood. Quickly the colour returned to Ayrault's cheeks, andwith the spirit's assistance he sat up and leaned against the tree thathad protected him from the storm. 

"Your promise was realized, " he said, addressing the spirit. "I haveseen what I shall never forget, and lest the anguish--the vision ofwhich I saw--come true, let us return to the earth, and not leave ittill I have tasted in reality the joys that in the spirit I seemed tohave missed. I have often longed in this life to be in the spirit, butnever knew what longing was, till I experienced it as a spirit, to beonce more in the flesh. "

"You see the mercy of God, " said the spirit, "in not ordinarilyallowing the spirits of the departed to revisit earth until they areprepared--that is, until they are sufficiently advanced to go thereunaided--by which time they have come to understand the wisdom of God'slaws. In your case the limiting laws were partially suspended, so thatyou were able to return at once, with many of the faculties and sensesof spirits, but without their accumulated experience. It speaks wellfor your state of preparation that, without having had those disguisedblessings, illness or misfortune, you were not utterly crushed by whatyou saw when temporarily released. While in the trance you were not inhell, but experienced the feelings that all mortals would if allowed toreturn immediately. Thus no lover can return to earth till his fianceehas joined him here, or till, perceiving the benevolence of God's ways, he is not distressed at what he sees, and has the companionship of ahost of kindred spirits. 

"The spirits you saw in the cemetery were indeed in hell, but hadbecome sufficiently developed to revisit the earth, though doing so didnot relieve their distress; for neither the development of theirsenses, which intensifies their capacity for remorse and regret, northeir investigations into God's boundless mercies, which they havedeliberately thrown away, can comfort them. 

"Some of your ancestors are on Cassandra, and others are in purgatoryhere. Though a few faintly felt your prayer, none were able to returnand answer beside their graves. It was at your request and prayer thatHe freed your spirit, but you see how unhappy it made you. "

"I see, " replied Ayrault, "that no man should wish to anticipate theworkings of the Almighty, although I have been unspeakably blessed inthat He made an exception--if I may so call it--in my favour, since, inaddition to revealing the responsibilities of life, it has shown me theinestimable value and loyalty of woman's love. I fear, however, thatmy return to earth greatly distressed the waterer of the flowers youshowed me. "

"She already sleeps, " replied the spirit, "and I have comforted her bya dream in which she sees that you are well. "

"When shall we start?" asked Bearwarden. 

"As soon as you can get ready, " replied Ayrault. "I would not riskrunning short of enough current to generate the apergy needed to get usback. I dare say when I have been on earth a few years, and have donesomething for the good of my soul--which, as I take it, can beaccomplished as well by advancing science as in any other way--I shallpine for another journey in space as I now do to return. "

"How I wish I were engaged, " said Bearwarden, glancing at Cortlandt, and overjoyed at Ayrault's recovery. 

Accordingly, they resumed their march in the direction in which theyhad been going when they found Ayrault, and were soon beside theCallisto. Cortlandt worked the combination lock of the lower entrance, through which they crawled. Going to the second story, they opened alarge window and let down a ladder, on which the spirit ascended attheir invitation. 

Bearwarden and Ayrault immediately set about combining the chemicalsthat were to produce the force necessary to repel them from Saturn. Bubbles of hydrogen were given off from the lead and zinc plates, andthe viscous primary batteries quickly had the wires passing through avacuum at a white heat. 

"I see you are nearly ready to start, " said the spirit, "so I must sayfarewell. "

"Will you not come with us?" asked Ayrault. 

"No, " replied the spirit. "I do not wish to be away as long as it willtake you to reach the earth. The Callisto's atmosphere could notabsorb my body, so that, should I leave you before your arrival, youwould be burdened with a corpse. I may visit you in the spirit, thoughthe desire and effort for communion with spirits, to be of most good, must needs come from the earth. Ere long, my intuition tells me, weshall meet again. 

"The vision of your own grave, " he continued, addressing Cortlandt, "may not come true for many years, but however long your lives may be, according to earthly reckoning, remember that when they are past theywill seem to have been hardly more than a moment, for they are thepersonification of frailty and evanescence. "

He held up his hands and blessed them; and then repeating, "Farewelland a happy return!" descended as he had come up. 

The air was filled with misty shadows, and the pulsating hearts, luminous brains, and centres of spiritual activity quivered withmotion. They surrounded the incarnate spirit of the bishop and set upthe soft, musical hum the travellers had heard so often since theirarrival on Saturn. 

"I now understand, " thought Ayrault, "why the spirits I met keptrepeating that I should be happy. They perceived I was to betranslated, and though they doubtless knew what suffering it wouldcause, they also knew I should be awakened to a sense of greatrealities, of which I understood but little. "

They drew up the ladder and turned on the current, and the Callistoslowly began to rise, while the three friends crowded the window. 

"Good-bye!" called the spirit's pleasant voice, to which the menreplied in chorus. 

The sun had set on the surface of the planet while they made theirpreparations; but as the Callisto rose higher, it seemed to rise again, making the sides of their car shine like silver, and, carefully closingthe two open windows, they watched the fast-receding world, so manytimes larger and more magnificent than their own. 

 CHAPTER XV. 

 MOTHER EARTH. 

"There is something sad, " said Cortlandt, "about the end of everything, but I am more sorry to leave Saturn than I have ever been in takingleave of any other place. "

When beyond the limits of the atmosphere they applied the full current, and were soon once more cleaving the ether at cometary speed, theirmotion towards the sun being aided by that great body itself. 

They quickly passed beyond the outer edge of the vast silvery rings, and then crossed one after another the orbits of the moons, from thelast of which, Iapetus, they obtained their final course in thedirection of the earth. They had an acute feeling of homesickness forthe mysterious planet on which, while yet mortal, they had foundparadise, and had communed with spirits as no modern men ever did. 

Without deviating from their almost straight line, they passed within amillion miles of Jupiter, which had gained in its smaller orbit onSaturn, and a few days later crossed the track of Mars. 

As the earth had completed nearly half a revolution in its orbit sincetheir departure, they here turned somewhat to the right by attractingthe ruddy planet, in order to avoid passing too near the sun. 

"On some future expedition, " said Ayrault, "and when we have a supplyof blue glasses, we can take a trip to Venus, if we can find a possibleseason in her year. Compared with this journey, it would be only likegoing round the block. "

Two days later they had rounded the sun, and laid their course inpursuit of the earth. 

That the astronomers in the dark hemisphere were at their posts and sawthem, was evident; for a brilliant beam of light again flashed forth, this time from a point a little south of the arctic circle, and aftershining one minute, telegraphed this message: "Rejoiced to see youagain. Hope all are well. "

Since they were not sufficiently near the moon's shadow, they directedtheir light-beam into their own, which trailed off on one side, andanswered: "All well, thank you. Have wonderful things to relate. "

The men at the telescopes then, as before, read the message, andtelephoned the light this next question: "When are you coming down, that we may notify the newspapers?"

"We wish one more sight of the earth from this height, by daylight. Weare now swinging to get between it and the sun. "

"We have erected a monument in Van Cortlandt Park, and engraved uponit, 'At this place James Bearwarden, Henry Chelmsford Cortlandt, andRichard Rokeby Ayrault left earth, December 21, A. D. 2000, to visitJupiter. '"

"Add to it, 'They returned on the 10th of the following June. '"

Soon the Callisto came nearly between the earth and the sun, when theastronomers could see it only through darkened glasses, and it appearedalmost as a crescent. The sight the travellers then beheld was superb. It was about 11 A. M. In London, and Europe was spread before them likea map. All its peninsulas and islands, enclosed blue seas, and bayscame out in clear relief. Gradually Russia, Germany, France, theBritish Isles, and Spain moved towards the horizon, as in grandprocession, and at the same time the Western hemisphere appeared. Thehour of day at the longitude above which they hung was about the sameas when they set out, but the sun shone far more directly upon theNorthern hemisphere than then, and instead of bleak December, this wasthe leafy month of June. 

They were loath to end the lovely scene, and would fain have remainedwhere they were while the earth revolved again; but, remembering thattheir friends must by this time be waiting, they shut off the repulsionfrom the earth. 

"We need not apply the apergy to the earth until quite near, " saidAyrault, "since a great part of the top speed will be taken off by theresistance of the atmosphere, especially as we go in base first. Wehave only to keep a sufficiently strong repulsion on the dome toprevent our turning over, and to see that our speed is not great enoughto heat the car. "

When about fifty miles from the surface they felt the expected check, and concluded they had reached the upper limits of the atmosphere. Andthis increased, notwithstanding the decrease in their speed, showinghow quickly the air became dense. 

[Illustration: The return. ]

When about a mile from the earth they had the Callisto well in hand, and allowed it to descend slowly. The ground was already black withpeople, who, having learned where the Callisto was to touch, hadhastened to Van Cortlandt Park. 

"I am overjoyed to see you, " said Sylvia, when she and Ayrault met. "Ihad the most dreadful presentiment that something had gone wrong withyou. One afternoon and evening I was so perplexed, and during thenight had a series of nightmares that I shall never forget. I reallybelieved you were near me, but your nature seemed to have changed, for, instead of its making me happy, I was frightfully distressed. The nextday I was very ill, and unable to get up; but during the morning I fellasleep and had another dream, which was intensely realistic and made mebelieve--yes, convinced me--that you were well. After that dream Isoon recovered; but oh, the anguish of the first!"

Ayrault did not tell her then that he had been near her, and of hisunspeakable suffering, of which hers had been but the echo. 

Three weeks later a clergyman tied the knot that was to unite themforever. 

While Sylvia and Ayrault were standing up to receive thecongratulations of their friends, Bearwarden, in shaking his hand, said:

"Remember, we have been to neither Uranus, nor Neptune, nor Cassandra, which may be as interesting as anything we have seen. Should you wantto take another trip, count me as your humble servant. " And Cortlandt, following behind him, said the same thing. 

Shortly after this, Sylvia went up-stairs to change her dress, and whenshe came down she and Ayrault set out on their journey together throughlife, amid a chorus of cheers and a shower of rice. 

Cortlandt then returned to his department at Washington, and Bearwardenresumed his duties with the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company, inthe presidential chair.