Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1911 — A Columbus of Space [ARTICLE]

A Columbus of Space

By Garrett P. Serviss.

Copyright by Frank A. Munsey Co. o CHAPTER XXI. The Land of Night Again. Although the sun was now continually overhead and entirely unclouded, we did not suffer from the heat, because we were running at so great an elevation that the air was rarer than on the loftiest terrestrial mountain, and the rays that struck the outside of the polished car were reflected off without penetrating. But on the planet below us, buried in its blanket of heavy air, the'effect of the intense and unceasing solar radiation was terrific. We had already . seen one of its results in the belt of cyclones, but as we passed over that and entered the central torrid circle we beheld, if possible, still more dreadful of the merciless action of the sun. When we had ldft the region of clouds and storms behind the bare surface the planet became visible, and Edmund kept one side of the car inclined downward to give us a better view from the window. We were many miles above the ground, and the smaller details were not visible, even with our binoculars, but we did not dare to drop lower because of the heat, which, in spite of our great distance, came to our faces, even through the thick glass, like the blast of a furnace. Evidently no life could exist on that scorched surface, and not a drop of water could stay there. Millions of square miles of land lay literally roasting, apd its prevailing dark brick color suggested the idea that it was red-hot There was no temptation to linger here, and In a short while we rose entirely above the atmosphere, in order, as Edmund said, to make it safe for him to turn the “interplanetary knob,” and set the car going at a speed of more than a mile a second. In this way the transit of the torrid circle, though it was thousands of miles broad, was effected in an hour, and upon approaching the opposite border we saw again the ring of swirling clouds that incloses it all around.

Jack, who was now rapidly recovering the use of his limbs, stood with us most of the time at the window, and as he saw the clouds passing far beneath the thought seemed for the time to strike his mind that in circumnavigating the planet we should once more visit the scene of our first adventures on the dark hemisphere. “By Jove! Edmund,” he suddenly sang out, “we’ll have to cross those mountains again!” “Of course we will,” said Edmund, “but it will be a simple matter now. We'll go miles above their tops." “And, hooray! We’ll visit the caverns,” Jack went on, with rising spirits. “Juba, old boy," slapping him on the latter's hairy back, “you are going to see your old home once more, do you understand? But we won't leave you there. No, sirree! We can’t part with you. I want to see you in "New York once.” “But, if Juba should want to stay with his friends”—l began. “Then, he’ll have to stay,” Edmund interrupted, gravely. “And I am going to advise him to stay.” “Ah, Juba won’t want to stay,” said Jack, laughing. “He likes our company too well.” But Edmund’s words and manner set me to worrying again about what was going on belgted our backs at the capital, and I was impatient to return and have it out, and then get away for good. Edmund saw the trend of my thoughts—l believe he was beginning t<T acquire something of Ala’s power of mind-reading—and he said to me, in an aside: “Don’t be so down-hearted. It’ll come out all right. Keep your courage up and help me with the others.” We passed over the storm zone at high speed, and then came the temperate, or inhabited, zone, but the part of it now beneath our eyes was on the opposite side of the planet from the capital. It appeared to be dotted with villages, and occasionally the towers of a considerable city were visible. *Hla. however, informed Edmund that this portion of Venus was mainly devoted to agriculture, and contained no great towers. We were so high that the aeroplanes in sight seemed to be crawling upon the ground. Another belt of clouds ahead soon reminded us that we were rapidly approaching the borders of the night hemisphere, and our expectations became eagerly alive. Ala, especially, was nervously excitable over the prosPsct , _ _ .

Now, at last, she was to enter that mysterious country which none of her people had ever succeeded In penetrating and concerning which so many superstitions and traditions existed. The majestic majordomo, who had behaved with commendable equanimity through all of our adventures thus far, showed a little nervousness, I thought, when Ala explained to him what was about to happen. I watched Juba closely, but his face was Impassive. < The night hemisphere, you will remember, is ringed outside the crystal mountains by another zone of tempests and a broad sea into which the rivers periodically formed by the melding ice pour. We were now so high that the storms did not trouble us, and we admired, at our leisure, the shining expanse of sea surface, whitened with foam, that showed through shifting breaks in the tempestuous clouds. Presently Edmund, who had been watching from the lookout, slowed down and swung the car half way round. “Now’s your chance, - ’ he said. “Take a look at the mountains before we cross them.” We all crowded round the window. There they lay, those terrific ice peaks, in a long glittering line upon the horizon. Their tops were wreathed in struggling clouds, through which occasionally darted a diamond-bright flash where the level sunlight was reflected from some smooth flank of pure ice. “I wonder if we can see the place where we were imprisoned by ttye fall of the car?” said Jack. “No,” Edmund replied. “That is over on the other side. Remember, we are approaching the dark hemisphere at a point opposite to where we left it.” “But the snow mountains seem just the same here.” “To be sure. Why shouldn’t they be the same? The planet is completely ringed with them, for the moistureladen air flows off equally on all sidesof the globe.” We were already at such an elevation that we could clear the mountains and the stormy air that raged above their heads, and Edmund, after fifteen minutes stoppage, resumed the journey. Gradually a marvelous scene opened around us. The air seemed to darken and the stars began to appear. These grew brighter as the night deepened, and soon they glowed with incredible brilliancy. It was so long since my eyes had beheld them that I was astonished by their brightness and their multitude. But the effect upon Ala and her attendants was indescribable. You must remember that none of them had ever seen a star before, and now suddenly they beheld thousands. They could not comprehend the mean ing of the wonderful spectacle, it was such a revelation of the universe as they had never dreamed of. When we had ' passed completely within the realm of darkness, with the crystal mountains once more flaming in fiery shapes behind us, Edmund brought the car to rest He had already started the electric heaters and clothed Ala in furs, and now the rest of us got our Arctic garments from the lockers. "I am going to drop down to the ground,” Edmund said, “in order to take our bearing. A few observations of the stars will enable me to orient myself, and then we can set out with confidence in search of the caverns.” The descent was made rapidly, and then, in our warm clothing, we stepped out of the car upon the icy shingle. Ala shivered at the touch of thfe glacial air, and her maids and the majordomo quickly fled hack into the

shelter of the car. But Edmund wished Ala to remain outside, and he doubled the furs covering her until she intimated that she no longer felt any discomfort from (he cold. Then he got out his instruments of observa tion. But first he pointed out the earth and moon to Ala. That was a thrilling moment to all of us! ( - How splendid the old planet looked up there, and how proud we felt as we watched Edmund endeavoring to make his companion comprehend whst it was that she saw. I think that he succeeded, at least so far that she understood that it was . our world which shown so splendidly- overhead.' “Do you understand what this means?” asked Edmund, suddenly turning to me. “I understand that that is the earth, of course,” I replied. “But are you not surprised to find it still so high overhead here?" Then the truth burst upon me. •“Why, yes,” I exclaimed. “It means that a world year has elapsed since we arrived upon Venus. She has gone round her orbit, and come back into conjunction with the earth.” “More than a year,” Edmund replied. “Some 580 days, for that is about the time frgjn one conjunction to the next.” “Do you mean to say that we have been here almost twenty months?” cried Jack. • C “There is the evidence,” Edmund responded. “Astronomy doesn’t lie.” (To be continued.)