observation through the lens in the
floor, when my attention was diverted by the sight of something like a
whitish cloud visible through the upper window on my left hand.
Examined by the telescope, its widest diameter might be at most ten
degrees. It was faintly luminous, presenting an appearance very
closely resembling that of a star cluster or nebula just beyond the
power of resolution. As in many nebulae, there was a visible
concentration in one part; but this did not occupy the centre, but a
position more resembling that of the nucleus of a small tailless
comet. The cloudlet might be a distant comet, it might be a less
distant body of meteors clustering densely in some particular part of
their orbit; and, unfortunately, I was not likely to solve the
problem. Gradually the nebula changed its position, but not its form,
seeming to move downwards and towards the stern of my vessel, as if I
were passing it without approaching nearer. By the time that I was
satisfied of this, hunger and even faintness warned me that I must not
delay preparing my breakfast. When I had finished this meal and
fulfilled some necessary tasks, practical and arithmetical, the hand
of the chronometer indicated the eighth hour of my third day. I turned
again somewhat eagerly to the discometer, which showed an apparent
distance of 360 terrestrial radii, and consequently a movement which
had not materially varied from the rate of 11-1/4 radii per hour. By
this time the diameter of the Earth was not larger in appearance than
about 19', less than two-thirds that of the Sun; and she consequently
appeared as a black disc covering somewhat more than one-third of his
entire surface, but by no means concentrical. The halo had of course
completely disappeared; but with the vernier it was possible to
discern a narrow band or line of hazy grey around the black limb of
the planet. She was moving, as seen from the Astronaut, very slightly
to the north, and more decidedly, though very slowly, to the eastward;
the one motion due to my deliberately chosen direction in space, the
other to the fact that as my orbit enlarged I was falling, though as
yet slowly, behind her. The sun now shone through, the various
windows, and, reflected from the walls, maintained a continuous
daylight within the Astronaut, as well diffused as by the atmosphere
of Earth, strangely contrasting the star-spangled darkness outside.

At the beginning as at the end of my voyage, I steered a