CHAPTER XXV
FINAL DETAILS
It was the 22nd of November; the departure was to take place inten days. One operation alone remained to be accomplished tobring all to a happy termination; an operation delicate andperilous, requiring infinite precautions, and against thesuccess of which Captain Nicholl had laid his third bet. It was,in fact, nothing less than the loading of the Columbiad, and theintroduction into it of 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton. Nicholl hadthought, not perhaps without reason, that the handling of suchformidable quantities of pyroxyle would, in all probability,involve a grave catastrophe; and at any rate, that this immensemass of eminently inflammable matter would inevitably ignite whensubmitted to the pressure of the projectile.
There were indeed dangers accruing as before from thecarelessness of the Americans, but Barbicane had set his hearton success, and took all possible precautions. In the firstplace, he was very careful as to the transportation of thegun-cotton to Stones Hill. He had it conveyed in smallquantities, carefully packed in sealed cases. These werebrought by rail from Tampa Town to the camp, and from thencewere taken to the Columbiad by barefooted workmen, who depositedthem in their places by means of cranes placed at the orifice ofthe cannon. No steam-engine was permitted to work, and everyfire was extinguished within two miles of the works.
Even in November they feared to work by day, lest the sun's raysacting on the gun-cotton might lead to unhappy results. This ledto their working at night, by light produced in a vacuum by meansof Ruhmkorff's apparatus, which threw an artificial brightnessinto the depths of the Columbiad. There the cartridges werearranged with the utmost regularity, connected by a metallic thread,destined to communicate to them all simultaneously the electricspark, by which means this mass of gun-cotton was eventuallyto be ignited.
By the 28th of November eight hundred cartridges had beenplaced in the bottom of the Columbiad. So far the operation hadbeen successful! But what confusion, what anxieties, what struggleswere undergone by President Barbicane! In vain had he refusedadmission to Stones Hill; every day the inquisitive neighborsscaled the palisades, some even carrying their imprudence to thepoint of smoking while surrounded by bales of gun-cotton.Barbicane was in a perpetual state of alarm. J. T. Mastonseconded him to the best of his ability, by giving vigorouschase to the intruders, and carefully picking up the stilllighted cigar ends which the Yankees threw about. A somewhatdifficult task! seeing that more than 300,000 persons weregathered round the enclosure. Michel Ardan had volunteered tosuperintend the transport of the cartridges to the mouth of theColumbiad; but the president, having surprised him with anenormous cigar in his mouth, while he was hunting out the rashspectators to whom he himself offered so dangerous an example,saw that he could not trust this fearless smoker, and wastherefore obliged to mount a special guard over him.
At last, Providence being propitious, this wonderful loadingcame to a happy termination, Captain Nicholl's third bet beingthus lost. It remained now to introduce the projectile into theColumbiad, and to place it on its soft bed of gun-cotton.
But before doing this, all those things necessary for thejourney had to be carefully arranged in the projectile vehicle.These necessaries were numerous; and had Ardan been allowed tofollow his own wishes, there would have been no space remainingfor the travelers. It is impossible to conceive of half thethings this charming Frenchman wished to convey to the moon.A veritable stock of useless trifles! But Barbicane interferedand refused admission to anything not absolutely needed.Several thermometers, barometers, and telescopes were packed inthe instrument case.
The travelers being desirous of examing the moon carefullyduring their voyage, in order to facilitate their studies,they took with them Boeer and Moeller's excellent _MappaSelenographica_, a masterpiece of patience and observation,which they hoped would enable them to identify those physicalfeatures in the moon, with which they were acquainted.This map reproduced with scrupulous fidelity the smallestdetails of the lunar surface which faces the earth; themountains, valleys, craters, peaks, and ridges were allrepresented, with their exact dimensions, relative positions,and names; from the mountains Doerfel and Leibnitz on theeastern side of the disc, to the _Mare frigoris_ of the North Pole.
They took also three rifles and three fowling-pieces, and alarge quantity of balls, shot, and powder.
"We cannot tell whom we shall have to deal with," said Michel Ardan."Men or beasts may possibly object to our visit. It is only wiseto take all precautions."
These defensive weapons were accompanied by pickaxes, crowbars,saws, and other useful implements, not to mention clothingadapted to every temperature, from that of polar regions to thatof the torrid zone.
Ardan wished to convey a number of animals of different sorts,not indeed a pair of every known species, as he could not seethe necessity of acclimatizing serpents, tigers, alligators, orany other noxious beasts in the moon. "Nevertheless," he saidto Barbicane, "some valuable and useful beasts, bullocks, cows,horses, and donkeys, would bear the journey very well, and wouldalso be very useful to us."
"I dare say, my dear Ardan," replied the president, "but ourprojectile-vehicle is no Noah's ark, from which it differs both indimensions and object. Let us confine ourselves to possibilities."
After a prolonged discussion, it was agreed that the travelersshould restrict themselves to a sporting-dog belonging toNicholl, and to a large Newfoundland. Several packets of seedswere also included among the necessaries. Michel Ardan, indeed,was anxious to add some sacks full of earth to sow them in; asit was, he took a dozen shrubs carefully wrapped up in straw toplant in the moon.
The important question of provisions still remained; it beingnecessary to provide against the possibility of their findingthe moon absolutely barren. Barbicane managed so successfully,that he supplied them with sufficient rations for a year.These consisted of preserved meats and vegetables, reduced bystrong hydraulic pressure to the smallest possible dimensions.They were also supplied with brandy, and took water enough fortwo months, being confident, from astronomical observations,that there was no lack of water on the moon's surface. As toprovisions, doubtless the inhabitants of the _earth_ would findnourishment somewhere in the _moon_. Ardan never questionedthis; indeed, had he done so, he would never have undertakenthe journey.
"Besides," he said one day to his friends, "we shall not becompletely abandoned by our terrestrial friends; they will takecare not to forget us."
"No, indeed!" replied J. T. Maston.
"Nothing would be simpler," replied Ardan; "the Columbiad willbe always there. Well! whenever the moon is in a favorablecondition as to the zenith, if not to the perigee, that is tosay about once a year, could you not send us a shell packedwith provisions, which we might expect on some appointed day?"
"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried J. T. Matson; "what an ingenious fellow!what a splendid idea! Indeed, my good friends, we shall notforget you!"
"I shall reckon upon you! Then, you see, we shall receive newsregularly from the earth, and we shall indeed be stupid if wehit upon no plan for communicating with our good friends here!"
These words inspired such confidence, that Michel Ardan carriedall the Gun Club with him in his enthusiasm. What he saidseemed so simple and so easy, so sure of success, that nonecould be so sordidly attached to this earth as to hesitate tofollow the three travelers on their lunar expedition.
All being ready at last, it remained to place the projectile inthe Columbiad, an operation abundantly accompanied by dangersand difficulties.
The enormous shell was conveyed to the summit of Stones Hill.There, powerful cranes raised it, and held it suspended over themouth of the cylinder.
It was a fearful moment! What if the chains should break underits enormous weight? The sudden fall of such a body wouldinevitably cause the gun-cotton to explode!
Fortunately this did not happen; and some hours later theprojectile-vehicle descended gently into the heart of the cannonand rested on its couch of pyroxyle, a veritab
le bed ofexplosive eider-down. Its pressure had no result, other thanthe more effectual ramming down of the charge in the Columbiad.
"I have lost," said the captain, who forthwith paid PresidentBarbicane the sum of three thousand dollars.
Barbicane did not wish to accept the money from one of hisfellow-travelers, but gave way at last before the determinationof Nicholl, who wished before leaving the earth to fulfill allhis engagements.
"Now," said Michel Ardan, "I have only one thing more to wishfor you, my brave captain."
"What is that?" asked Nicholl.
"It is that you may lose your two other bets! Then we shall besure not to be stopped on our journey!"