"

The cloudy surface of Mercury now lay far beneath us, and the glowing
disc of the sun, which appeared four or five times larger than it does
on the earth, had taken a bluish tinge--a proof that we had reached a
very great altitude.

"What a magnificent 'sun-spot!'" exclaimed the professor in a tone of
admiration. "Just take a peep at it."

I placed my eye to the telescope, and saw the glowing surface of the
disc resolved into a marvellous web of shining patches on a dimmer
background, and in the midst a large blotch which reminded me of a
quarry hole as delineated on the plan of a surveyor.

"Have you been able to throw any fresh light on these mysterious
'spots?'" I enquired.

"I am more than ever persuaded they are breaks in the photosphere caused
by eruptions of heated matter, chiefly gaseous from the
interior--eruptions such as might give rise to craters like that of
Womla, or those of the moon, were the sun cooler. No doubt that eminent
authority, Professor Sylvanus Pettifer Possil, regards them as aerial
hurricanes; but the more I see, the more I am constrained to regard
Sylvanus Pettifer Possil as a silly vain asteroid."

While Gazen was yet speaking we both became sensible of an unwonted
stillness in the car.

The machinery had ceased to vibrate.

Our feelings at this discovery were akin to those of passengers in an
ocean steamer when the screw stops--a welcome relief to the monotony of
the voyage, a vague apprehension of danger, and curiosity to learn what
had happened.

"Is there anything wrong, Carmichael?" asked Gazen through the speaking
tube.

There was no response.

"I say, Carmichael, is anything the matter?" he reiterated in a louder
tone.

Still no answer.

We were now thoroughly alarmed, and though it was against the rules, we
descended into the machinery room. The cause of Carmichael's silence was
only too apparent. We saw him lying on the floor beside his strange
machine, with his head leaning against the wall. There was a placid
expression on his face, and he appeared to slumber; but we soon found
that he was either in a faint or dead. Without loss of time we tried the
first simple restoratives at hand, but they proved of no avail.

Gazen went and called Miss Carmichael.

She had been resting in her cabin after her trying experience with the
dragon, and although most anxious about her father, and far from well
herself, she behaved with calm self-possession.

"I think the h