n't it be nice?"

"You will make a perfect divinity," rejoined the professor with
consummate gallantry. "For my part I shall feel more at home in a
menagerie."

Thus far we had not observed any signs of intelligent beings on the
cloudy globe, and it was still doubtful whether we should not discover
it to be a lifeless world.

Our track did not lie exactly on the orbit of the planet, but
sufficiently beneath it to let her attraction pull the car up towards
her Southern Pole as it passed above us; and by this course of action we
trusted to enjoy a wider field of atmosphere to manoeuvre in, and
probably a safer descent into a cooler climate than we should have
experienced in attempting to land on the equator.

By an illusion familiar in the case of railway trains, it seemed to us
that the car was stationary, and the planet rushing towards us. On it
came like a great shield of silver and ebony, eclipsing the stars and
growing vaster every moment. Under the driving force of the engines and
the gravity of the planet, our car was falling obliquely towards the
orbit, like a small boat trying to cross the bows of an ironclad, and a
collision seemed inevitable. Being on the sunward side we could see more
and more of the illuminated crescent as it drew near, and were filled
with amazement at the sublime spectacle afforded by the strange contrast
between the purple splendour of the solar disc in the black abyss of
ether and the pure white celestial radiance which was reflected from the
atmosphere of the planet.

The climax of magnificence was reached when the approaching surface came
so close as to appear concave, and our little ark floated above a
hemisphere of dazzling brightness under a hemisphere of appalling
darkness faintly relieved by the glimmer of stars and the purple glory
of the sun.

Ere we could express our admiration, however, we were startled by a
magical transformation of the scene. The sky suddenly became blue, the
stars vanished from sight, the sun changed to a golden lustre, and the
broad day was all around us.

"Whatever has happened?" exclaimed Miss Carmichael between alarm and
wonder.

"We have entered the atmosphere of Venus," responded Gazen with
alacrity. "I wonder if it is breathable?"

So saying he opened one of the scuttles, and a whiff of fresh air blew
into the car. Thrusting his nose out, he sniffed cautiously for a while
and then drew several long breaths.

"It seems all right as regard