our friends complain of the new perils now looming up before
them? They never thought of such a thing. On the contrary, they only
considered themselves (after the lapse of a few minutes to calm their
nerves) extremely lucky in having witnessed this fresh glory of
exuberant nature, this transcendent display of fireworks which not only
cast into absolute insignificance anything of the kind they had ever
seen on Earth, but had actually enabled them by its dazzling
illumination to gaze for a second or two at the Moon's mysterious
invisible disc. This glorious momentary glance, worth a whole lifetime
of ordinary existence, had revealed to mortal ken her continents, her
oceans, her forests. But did it also convince them of the existence of
an atmosphere on her surface whose vivifying molecules would render
_life_ possible? This question they had again to leave unanswered--it
will hardly ever be answered in a way quite satisfactory to human
curiosity. Still, infinite was their satisfaction at having hovered even
for an instant on the very verge of such a great problem's solution.

It was now half-past three in the afternoon. The Projectile still
pursued its curving but otherwise unknown path over the Moon's invisible
face. Had this path been disturbed by that dangerous meteor? There was
every reason to fear so--though, disturbance or no disturbance, the
curve it described should still be one strictly in accordance with the
laws of Mechanical Philosophy. Whether it was a parabola or a hyperbola,
however, or whether it was disturbed or not, made very little difference
as, in any case, the Projectile was bound to quit pretty soon the cone
of the shadow, at a point directly opposite to where it had entered it.
This cone could not possibly be of very great extent, considering the
very slight ratio borne by the Moon's diameter when compared with the
Sun's. Still, to all appearances, the Projectile seemed to be quite as
deeply immersed in the shadow as ever, and there was apparently not the
slightest sign of such a state of things coming soon to an end. At what
rate was the Projectile now moving? Hard to say, but certainly not
slowly, certainly rapidly enough to be out of the shadow by this time,
if describing a curve rigidly parabolic. Was the curve therefore _not_
parabolic? Another puzzling problem and sadly bewildering to poor
Barbican, who had now almost lost his reason by attempting to clear up
questions that were proving altoge