would have satisfied a poet or set
an agriculturist's heart at rest. "How I should like to mine those
hills for copper, or drain the swamps to the south!" exclaimed Col.
Bearwarden. "The Lake Superior mines and the reclamation of the
Florida Everglades would be nothing to this."

"Any inhabitants we may find here have so much land at their disposal
that they will not need to drain swamps on account of pressure of
population for some time," put in the doctor.

"I hope we may find some four-legged inhabitants," said Ayrault,
thinking of their explosive magazine rifles. "If Jupiter is passing
through its Jurassic or Mesozoic period, there must be any amount of
some kind of game." Just then a quiver shook the Callisto, and
glancing to the right they noticed one of the volcanoes in violent
eruption. Smoke filled the air in clouds, hot stones and then floods
of lava poured from the crater, while even the walls of the
hermetically sealed Callisto could not arrest the thunderous crashes
that made the interior of the car resound.

"Had we not better move on?" said Bearwarden, and accordingly they went
toward the woods they had first seen. Finding a firm strip of land
between the forest and an arm of the sea, they gently grounded the
Callisto, and not being altogether sure how the atmosphere of their new
abode would suit terrestrial lungs, or what its pressure to the square
inch might be, they cautiously opened a port-hole a crack, retaining
their hold upon it with its screw. Instantly there was a rush and a
whistling sound as of escaping steam, while in a few moments their
barometer stood at thirty-six inches, whereupon they closed the opening.

"I fancy," said Dr. Cortlandt, "we had better wait now till we become
accustomed to this pressure. I do not believe it will go much higher,
for the window made but little resistance when we shut it."

Finding they were not inconvenienced by a pressure but little greater
than that of a deep coal-mine, they again opened the port, whereupon
their barometer showed a further rise to forty-two, and then remained
stationary. Finding also that the chemical composition of the air
suited them, and that they had no difficulty in breathing, the pressure
being the same as that sustained by a diver in fourteen feet of water,
they opened a door and emerged. They knew fairly well what to expect,
and were not disturbed by their new conditions. Though they had
apparently gained a good deal