But an unforeseen, though easily foreseeable phenomenon, about which nothing could be done, soon put the public’s patience to a harsh test.
The clear weather suddenly changed: the sky darkened and became covered with clouds. How could it have been otherwise, after the terrible displacement of atmospheric layers, and the dispersion of the enormous quantity of vapor that came from the explosion of 400,000 pounds of guncotton. The whole natural order had been disturbed. There is nothing surprising about this, since it has often been observed that the weather can be abruptly modified by the firing of big guns in a naval battle.
The next day the sun rose above a horizon laden with thick clouds, a heavy, impenetrable curtain between the sky and the earth. Unfortunately it extended all the way to the Rocky Mountains. It was a disaster. A chorus of protests arose from all over the globe. But nature paid no heed to it; since men had troubled the atmosphere with their detonation, they would have to take the consequences.
During this first day, everyone tried to see through the thick clouds, but to no avail. Furthermore, everyone was mistaken in looking up, for as a result of the earth’s rotation the projectile was now moving away from the antipodes.
When deep, impenetrable darkness enveloped the earth and the moon rose above the horizon, it could not be seen; it seemed to be deliberately hiding from the audacious men who had shot at it. No observations were possible, and telegrams from Longs Peak confirmed this regrettable fact.
The explorers had left at forty-six minutes and forty seconds past ten o’clock on the evening of December 1; if the experiment was successful, they would arrive on December 4 at midnight. The world resigned itself to waiting till then, especially since it would have been quite difficult to observe an object as small as the projectile under those conditions.
On December 4, between eight o’clock and midnight, it would have been possible to follow the path of the projectile, which would have appeared as a black dot on the bright surface of the moon. But the weather remained mercilessly cloudy. The public’s exasperation knew no bounds. Some people went so far as to shout insults at the moon for not showing itself. A sad turn of events!
J. T. Maston went to Longs Peak in despair. He wanted to see for himself. He had no doubt that his friends had arrived safely. There had been no word that the projectile had fallen on any of the earth’s continents or islands, and J. T. Maston refused to admit the possibility that it might have fallen into one of the oceans that cover three-quarters of the surfaces of the globe.
On December 5 the weather was still unchanged. The great telescopes of the Old World, those of Herschel, Rosse, and Foucault, were constantly aimed at the moon, for the weather was clear in Europe, but their relative weakness made any useful observation impossible.
December 6: same weather. Three-quarters of the world was consumed with impatience. Wild schemes were proposed for dissipating the clouds that had accumulated in the air.
On December 7 the sky seemed to change a little. There was hope, but it did not last long. By evening the thick clouds were again defending the starry firmament against all eyes.
The matter was now becoming serious. On December 11, at eleven minutes past nine in the morning, the moon was to enter its last quarter. After that it would be waning, and even if the sky should clear, the chances of observation would be greatly lessened, for the moon would show a constantly decreasing portion of its surface, and would finally become new: that is, it would rise and set with the sun, whose rays would make it invisible. It would not be full again until January 3, at forty-seven minutes past midnight, and observations could not be resumed until then.
The newspapers published these facts with endless commentaries, and did not conceal from the public that it would have to have angelic patience.
December 8: nothing. On the ninth, the sun came out briefly, as though to taunt the Americans. It was greeted with jeers; apparently offended by this reception, it was extremely stingy with its rays.
On the tenth, there was no change. J. T. Maston nearly went mad, and there were fears for his brain, which had hitherto been so well preserved beneath his rubber skull.
But on the eleventh a great tropical storm arose. Strong east winds swept away the clouds that had been piled up for so long, and that evening the half-consumed disk of the moon passed majestically among the bright constellations of the sky.
CHAPTER 28
A NEW HEAVENLY BODY
THAT SAME night, the exciting news that had been so impatiently awaited burst like a bombshell over every state in the Union, then raced across the ocean and sped along every telegraph wire in the world. The projectile had been sighted, thanks to the gigantic telescope on Longs Peak.
Here is the report drawn up by the director of the Cambridge Observatory. It contains the scientific conclusion of the Gun Club’s great experiment.
Longs Peak, December 12
To the staff of the Cambridge Observatory.
The projectile launched by the cannon at Stone Hill was seen by J. M. Belfast and J. T. Maston on December 12, at 8:47 PM., with the moon in its last quarter.
The projectile has not reached its goal. It passed to one side of it, but near enough to be held by the moon’s gravity. Its rectilinear motion was changed to an extremely rapid circular motion. It has now become a satellite of the moon and is moving in an elliptical orbit around it.
It has not yet been possible to ascertain the movements of this new satellite: neither its speed of rotation nor its speed of revolution is known. Its distance from the surface of the moon may be estimated at approximately 2,830 miles.
There are two possibilities: either lunar gravity will eventually draw the projectile to the surface of the moon and the explorers will reach their destination, or the projectile will be held in a fixed orbit and will continue to move around the moon until the end of time.
Observation will some day determine which is the case, but so far the only result of the Gun Club’s project has been to add a new heavenly body to our solar system.
J. M. Belfast
What a multitude of questions this unexpected outcome raised! What mysteries lay in store for scientific investigation! Thanks to the courage and devotion of three men, the enterprise of sending a projectile to the moon, which at first might have seemed somewhat frivolous, had been an enormous result whose consequences were incalculable. Although the explorers, imprisoned in their new satellite, had not reached their goal, they were at least part of the lunar world: they were circling the moon and, for the first time, human eyes were able to penetrate all its mysteries. The names of Nicholl, Barbicane, and Ardan would be forever famous in the annals of astronomy, for those bold explorers, eager to broaden human knowledge, had fearlessly flung themselves into space and risked their lives in the strangest undertaking of modern times.
When the Longs Peak report became known, there was a feeling of surprise and fear all over the world. Was it possible to go to the aid of those brave inhabitants of the earth? No, because they had placed themselves outside of mankind by going beyond the limits which God had imposed on earthly creatures. They had enough air for two months and enough food for a year. But afterward? Even the most insensitive hearts palpitated at this terrible question.
There was one man who would not grant that the situation was hopeless, who still had confidence. That man was the explorers’ devoted friend, as daring and resolute as they were: the brave J. T. Maston.
He was keeping his eye on them. His residence was now the Longs Peak station, his horizon was the mirror of the huge reflector. As soon as the moon rose each night, he framed it in the field of the telescope, kept it in sight at every moment and assiduously followed it in its movement through space. With unremitting patience he watched the projectile pass across its silvery surface, and thus he remained in constant communion with his three friends, whom he still hoped to see again some day.
“We’ll communicate with them,” he said to anyone who would listen, “as soo
n as circumstances permit. They’ll hear from us and we’ll hear from them! I know them: they’re ingenious men. Among the three of them they’ve taken into space all the resources of art, science, and industry. With that, you can do anything you want! They’ll find a way, you’ll see!”
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