e of the moon?"

Three hundred thousand hearers applauded this proposition. Michel
Ardan's adversary wished to speak again, but he could not make himself
heard. Cries and threats were hailed upon him.

"Enough, enough!" said some.

"Turn him out!" repeated others.

But he, holding on to the platform, did not move, and let the storm
pass by. It might have assumed formidable proportions if Michel Ardan
had not appeased it by a gesture. He was too chivalrous to abandon his
contradicter in such an extremity.

"You wish to add a few words?" he asked, in the most gracious tone.

"Yes, a hundred! a thousand!" answered the unknown, carried away, "or
rather no, one only! To persevere in your enterprise you must be--"

"Imprudent! How can you call me that when I have asked for a
cylindro-conical bullet from my friend Barbicane so as not to turn round
on the road like a squirrel?"

"But, unfortunate man! the fearful shock will smash you to pieces when
you start."

"You have there put your finger upon the real and only difficulty; but I
have too good an opinion of the industrial genius of the Americans to
believe that they will not overcome that difficulty."

"But the heat developed by the speed of the projectile whilst crossing
the beds of air?"

"Oh, its sides are thick, and I shall so soon pass the atmosphere."

"But provisions? water?"

"I have calculated that I could carry enough for one year, and I shall
only be four days going."

"But air to breathe on the road?"

"I shall make some by chemical processes."

"But your fall upon the moon, supposing you ever get there?"

"It will be six times less rapid than a fall upon the earth, as
attraction is six times less on the surface of the moon."

"But it still will be sufficient to smash you like glass."

"What will prevent me delaying my fall by means of rockets conveniently
placed and lighted at the proper time?"

"But lastly, supposing that all difficulties be solved, all obstacles
cleared away by uniting every chance in your favour, admitting that you
reach the moon safe and well, how shall you come back?"

"I shall not come back."

Upon this answer, which was almost sublime by reason of its simplicity,
the assembly remained silent. But its silence was more eloquent than its
cries of enthusiasm would have been. The unknown profited by it to
protest one last time.

"You will infallibly kill yourself," he cried, "and your death, which
will be only a m