Chapter 6

INSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION.

On the fourth of December, the Projectile chronometers marked five
o'clock in the morning, just as the travellers woke up from a pleasant
slumber. They had now been 54 hours on their journey. As to lapse of
_time_, they had passed not much more than half of the number of hours
during which their trip was to last; but, as to lapse of _space_, they
had already accomplished very nearly the seven-tenths of their passage.
This difference between time and distance was due to the regular
retardation of their velocity.

They looked at the earth through the floor-light, but it was little more
than visible--a black spot drowned in the solar rays. No longer any sign
of a crescent, no longer any sign of ashy light. Next day, towards
midnight, the Earth was to be _new_, at the precise moment when the Moon
was to be _full_. Overhead, they could see the Queen of Night coming
nearer and nearer to the line followed by the Projectile, and evidently
approaching the point where both should meet at the appointed moment.
All around, the black vault of heaven was dotted with luminous points
which seemed to move somewhat, though, of course, in their extreme
distance their relative size underwent no change. The Sun and the stars
looked exactly as they had appeared when observed from the Earth. The
Moon indeed had become considerably enlarged in size, but the
travellers' telescopes were still too weak to enable them to make any
important observation regarding the nature of her surface, or that might
determine her topographical or geological features.

Naturally, therefore, the time slipped away in endless conversation. The
Moon, of course, was the chief topic. Each one contributed his share of
peculiar information, or peculiar ignorance, as the case might be.
Barbican and M'Nicholl always treated the subject gravely, as became
learned scientists, but Ardan preferred to look on things with the eye
of fancy. The Projectile, its situation, its direction, the incidents
possible to occur, the precautions necessary to take in order to break
the fall on the Moon's surface--these and many other subjects furnished
endless food for constant debate and inexhaustible conjectures.

For instance, at breakfast that morning, a question of Ardan's regarding
the Projectile drew from Barbican an answer curious enough to be
reported.

"Suppose, on the night that we were shot up from Stony Hill," said
Ardan, "suppose the Projectile had encountered some obstacle powerful
enough to stop it--what would be the consequence of the sudden halt?"

"But," replied Barbican, "I don't understand what obstacle it could have
met powerful enough to stop it."