ted radiance enough to extinguish the dim luster of stars of the
eighth magnitude. Like the sun, it had risen in the west, and was now
at its full. To mistake its identity with the moon was absolutely
impossible; not even Servadac could discover a trace of the seas,
chasms, craters, and mountains which have been so minutely delineated
in lunar charts, and it could not be denied that any transient hope
that had been excited as to their once again being about to enjoy the
peaceful smiles of "the queen of night" must all be resigned.

Count Timascheff finally suggested, though somewhat doubtfully, the
question of the probability that Gallia, in her course across the zone
of the minor planets, had carried off one of them; but whether it
was one of the 169 asteroids already included in the astronomical
catalogues, or one previously unknown, he did not presume to determine.
The idea to a certain extent was plausible, inasmuch as it has been
ascertained that several of the telescopic planets are of such small
dimensions that a good walker might make a circuit of them in four and
twenty hours; consequently Gallia, being of superior volume, might be
supposed capable of exercising a power of attraction upon any of these
miniature microcosms.

The first night in Nina's Hive passed without special incident; and
next morning a regular scheme of life was definitely laid down. "My lord
governor," as Ben Zoof until he was peremptorily forbidden delighted to
call Servadac, had a wholesome dread of idleness and its consequences,
and insisted upon each member of the party undertaking some special
duty to fulfill. There was plenty to do. The domestic animals required
a great deal of attention; a supply of food had to be secured and
preserved; fishing had to be carried on while the condition of the sea
would allow it; and in several places the galleries had to be further
excavated to render them more available for use. Occupation, then, need
never be wanting, and the daily round of labor could go on in orderly
routine.

A perfect concord ruled the little colony. The Russians and Spaniards
amalgamated well, and both did their best to pick up various scraps
of French, which was considered the official language of the place.
Servadac himself undertook the tuition of Pablo and Nina, Ben Zoof being
their companion in play-hours, when he entertained them with enchanting
stories in the best Parisian French, about "a lovely city at the foot of
a