ver before so close within the range
of human vision, was revealing itself. No wonder that Palmyrin Rosette
cared so little to quit his observatory; for throughout those calm,
clear Gallian nights, when the book of the firmament lay open before
him, he could revel in a spectacle which no previous astronomer had ever
been permitted to enjoy.

The glorious orb that was becoming so conspicuous an object was none
other than the planet Jupiter, the largest of all the bodies existing
within the influence of solar attraction. During the seven months that
had elapsed since its collision with the earth, the comet had been
continuously approaching the planet, until the distance between them was
scarcely more than 61,000,000 leagues, and this would go on diminishing
until the 15th of October.

Under these circumstances, was it perfectly certain that no danger
could accrue? Was not Gallia, when its pathway led it into such close
proximity to this enormous planet, running a risk of being attracted
within its influence? Might not that influence be altogether disastrous?
The professor, it is true, in his estimate of the duration of his
comet's revolution, had represented that he had made all proper
allowances for any perturbations that would be caused either by
Jupiter, by Saturn, or by Mars; but what if there were any errors in
his calculations? what if there should be any elements of disturbance on
which he had not reckoned?

Speculations of this kind became more and more frequent, and Lieutenant
Procope pointed out that the danger incurred might be of a fourfold
character: first, that the comet, being irresistibly attracted, might
be drawn on to the very surface of the planet, and there annihilated;
secondly, that as the result of being brought under that attraction, it
might be transformed into a satellite, or even a sub-satellite, of that
mighty world; thirdly, that it might be diverted into a new orbit, which
would never be coincident with the ecliptic; or, lastly, its course
might be so retarded that it would only reach the ecliptic too late to
permit any junction with the earth. The occurrence of any one of these
contingencies would be fatal to their hopes of reunion with the globe,
from which they had been so strangely severed.

To Rosette, who, without family ties which he had never found leisure or
inclination to contract, had no shadow of desire to return to the earth,
it would be only the first of these probabilities