hey therefore
proceeded at once to dispose of Satellite's body. It was a simple matter
enough--no more than to fling it out of the Projectile into space, just
as the sailors get rid of a dead body by throwing it into the sea. Only
in this operation they had to act, as Barbican recommended, with the
utmost care and dispatch, so as to lose as little as possible of the
internal air, which, by its great elasticity, would violently strive to
escape. The bolts of the floor-light, which was more than a foot in
diameter, were carefully unscrewed, while Ardan, a good deal affected,
prepared to launch his dog's body into space. The glass, worked by a
powerful lever which enabled it to overcome the pressure of the enclosed
air, turned quickly on its hinges, and poor Satellite was dropped out.
The whole operation was so well managed that very little air escaped,
and ever afterwards Barbican employed the same means to rid the
Projectile of all the litter and other useless matter by which it was
occasionally encumbered.

The evening of this third of December wore away without further
incident. As soon as Barbican had announced that the Projectile was
still winging its way, though with retarded velocity, towards the lunar
disc, the travellers quietly retired to rest.

[Illustration: POOR SATELLITE WAS DROPPED OUT.]

CHAPTER VI.

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