o-day. If your advice is
needed, I will call you at once; but, no doubt, we shall do very well
till we arrive within a few thousand miles of the moon. We will slacken
speed very gradually from about two o'clock in the afternoon, so as not
to approach the orb too rapidly."

I had, indeed, as he said, had a long, tiring day, having risen soon
after four o'clock yesterday morning, and it was now nearly 2 "A.M." by
terrestrial time; so, thanking him for his kind consideration, I bade
them both "good night," and gladly proceeded to bed, John following soon
after.

He was as good as his word, and actually allowed me to sleep on until
nearly half-past three in the "afternoon," when he roused me, and,
having dressed, I snatched a hasty meal and then at once proceeded to
the machine-room, where my first act was to look at the moon. There it
was below us, but still slightly ahead of the _Areonal_; and its
magnificence was so overpowering, that it almost seemed to take my
breath away, although I was fairly well prepared for the sight. Many
times when viewing it through the telescope I have almost lost myself in
admiration of the sublime spectacle it presents; but what I had seen on
those occasions could not be compared with the splendour of the view now
before us.

Here, without any atmosphere to dim or otherwise mar the view, the
brilliancy of the lighted portion of the disc was absolutely dazzling,
whilst the extreme delicacy of its varied tints and the subtle nuances
of colour, which we now saw to perfection, were most charming and
delightful to any one endowed with artistic perceptions. We were only
about four thousand miles from this beautiful orb, its angular diameter
measuring about thirty degrees, or nearly sixty times its apparent
diameter, as seen from the earth; thus it appeared to cover a very large
circle on the sky.

John and M'Allister told me they had both been gazing upon the splendid
scene for a very long time with astonishment and delight equal to my
own; and the latter went on to say, "Professor, did you ever see such a
sight in your life? I never did, and could never have imagined that
anything could be so beautiful! Mon, it's worth many a journey like this
to see such a bonnie thing!"

"You are quite right in saying that, M'Allister," I answered; "it is,
indeed, a grand and marvellous sight! I can assure you that when I have
been observing the moon in its full and glowing splendour, it has often
seemed