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"Look here, Professor," said Munchhausen, peevishly, "what good is all this
highly interesting information to us now?
I mean, it is already becoming intolerably hot in here and we shall be burned
to a crisp in no time. If you know of any way of preventing this, it would be
better than all your other wisdom." '
"The heat of the sun is not so great as is generally imagined," replied
Schuize, coolly. "It must be about 7000 degrees
Centigrade, that is, about twice as hot as the carbons of an electrical
arc-lamp."
"Hot enough to turn us to ashes!" growled the Captain.
The Professor shrugged his shoulders. "All I can say to console you is that
the great comet of 1843 sped through the glowing corona of the sun, 3,823,200
miles in 3 hours,
that is, 354 miles per second. It approached the sun to within a distance of
about the tenth part of its diameter." "And it didn't plunge into it?" asked
Hank. "No! It was protected against that by the violence of its impetus. The
same thing happened with the comets of 1882 and 1883. They did develop an
extraordinary brightness, indeed they could be seen in the daytime right next
to the sun, and the comet of 1882 vanished when it came directly in front of
the sun; it was therefore just as bright as the sun. At the same time, the
comets developed ferrous vapors, a proof that a part of their solid elements
dissolved into flaming gases under the influence of the heat of the corona.
Finally, the comet of 1882
burst into several pieces while flying through the corona."
"A fine bit of consolation you've given us!" grumbled the Captain.
"Is the Professor of the opinion that we are going to plop right down into
this frightful cauldron in spite of our smoked window-panes?" John inquired
anxiously.
"No!" replied Schulze, definitely, "I don't believe that at all; for our speed
surpasses that of the comet of 1843 by more than a hundredfold."
"But that the
Sannah will start to burn or dissolve into glowing vapor, or that all of us
will explode together with it do you believe that?" Munchhausen blustered.
"Since our World-Ship is not a solid, dense mass," rejoined the Professor, "it
seems most probable that it will dissolve into a vaporous cloud. To tell the
truth, I think our last hour has come. But you may believe me, we shall not
feel a thing; in less than a second it will all be over."
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Flitmore pressed a button and in an instant all the portholes of the
Sanndh were closed, that is, the thick protective plates moved into place to
cover the windows from the out
side. At the same time, he turned off all the electric lights and said: "Let
us go down into the innermost room, in the centre of the
Sannah.
In twenty minutes we shall reach the fiery atmosphere of the sun. Then may God
have mercy on
us!"
All of them hurried to the innermost store-room, which was lit by a single
electric globe. All the hatches were closed, after they had passed through
them.
Here the Englishman offered up a short, vigorous prayer, a plea for salvation,
expressing at the same time a devout trust in the will of God, in the event
that their end had been ordained. Then silence fell.
John sat down at the foot of his master, as if to express his desire to follow
him as a loyal servitor even unto death.
Mitzie leaned her head upon her husband's shoulder, Munchhausen held Schulze's
right hand firmly in his grip.
Helias-tra snuggled into Hank's arm and felt its security, while her young
husband was prepared to start the journey into a better life with his wife at
his side.
The two chimpanzees, Dick and Bobs, cowered in a corner and understood nothing
of what was happening; yet they behaved, quite against their custom, so
quietly that it might have been thought that they did realize something of
what was about to happen.
All at once it became terrifically hot; the air seemed to glow and weighed
oppressively upon them. ^
Then Flitmore arose and uttered a hearty thanksgiving for salvation from the
terrible danger of death.
LII THE PLANET MERCURY
THE others did not know how to explain Lord Flit-
more's expression of thanksgiving while they still fancied themselves to be in
the midst of the sun's crucible; for only now did the heat begin to grow
virtually insufferable. Professor Schulze saw it all as clearly as Flitmore.
"We have come out of it alive!" he said, breathing freely again. "But the
Sannah
what must she look like?"
"Are we out of the danger zone?" asked Mitzie, incredulously. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]