by Jules Verne
CHAPTER XX.
ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
As soon as the excitement had subsided, the following words were hearduttered in a strong and determined voice:--
"Now that the speaker has favoured us with so much imagination, would hebe so good as to return to his subject, and give us a little practicalview of the question?"
All eyes were directed towards the person who spoke. He was a littledried-up man, of an active figure, with an American "goatee" beard.Profiting by the different movements in the crowd, he had managed bydegrees to gain the front row of spectators. There, with arms crossedand stern gaze, he watched the hero of the meeting. After having puthis question he remained silent, and appeared to take no notice ofthe thousands of looks directed towards himself, nor of the murmur ofdisapprobation excited by his words. Meeting at first with no reply, herepeated his question with marked emphasis, adding, "We are here to talkabout the _moon_ and not about the _earth_."
"You are right, sir," replied Michel Ardan; "the discussion has becomeirregular. We will return to the moon."
"Sir," said the unknown, "you pretend that our satellite is inhabited.Very good; but if Selenites do exist, that race of beings assuredly mustlive without breathing, for--I warn you for your own sake--there isnot the smallest particle of air on the surface of the moon."
At this remark Ardan pushed up his shock of red hair; he saw that he wason the point of being involved in a struggle with this person upon thevery gist of the whole question. He looked sternly at him in his turnand said,--
"Oh! so there is no air in the moon? And pray, if you are so good, whoventures to affirm that?"
"The men of science."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Sir," replied Michel, "pleasantry apart, I have a profound respect formen of science who do possess science, but a profound contempt for menof science who do not."
"Do you know any who belong to the latter category?"
"Decidedly. In France there are some who maintain that, mathematically,a bird cannot possibly fly; and others who demonstrate theoretically thatfishes were never made to live in water."
"I have nothing to do with persons of that description, and I can quote,in support of my statement, names which you cannot refuse deference to."
"Then, sir, you will sadly embarrass a poor ignorant, who, besides, asksnothing better than to learn."
"Why, then, do you introduce scientific questions if you have neverstudied them?" asked the unknown somewhat coarsely.
"For the reason that 'he is always brave who never suspects danger.' Iknow nothing, it is true; but it is precisely my very weakness whichconstitutes my strength."
"Your weakness amounts to folly," retorted the unknown in a passion.
"All the better," replied our Frenchman, "if it carries me up to the_moon._"
Barbicane and his colleagues devoured with their eyes the intruder who hadso boldly placed himself in antagonism to their enterprise. Nobody knewhim, and the president, uneasy as to the result of so free a discussion,watched his new friend with some anxiety. The meeting began to be somewhatfidgety also, for the contest directed their attention to the dangers,if not the actual impossibilities, of the proposed expedition.
Illustration: ATTACK AND RIPOSTE.
"Sir," replied Ardan's antagonist, "there are many and incontrovertiblereasons which prove the absence of an atmosphere in the moon. I mightsay that, _a priori_, if one ever did exist, it must have been absorbedby the earth; but I prefer to bring forward indisputable facts."
"Bring them forward then, sir, as many as you please."
"You know," said the stranger, "that when any luminous rays cross amedium such as the air, they are deflected out of the straight line; inother words, they undergo _refraction._ Well! When stars are occulted bythe moon, their rays, on grazing the edge of her disc, exhibit not theleast deviation, nor offer the slightest indication of refraction. Itfollows, therefore, that the moon cannot be surrounded by an atmosphere."
"In point of fact," replied Ardan, "this is your chief, if not your _only_argument; and a really scientific man might be puzzled to answer it. Formyself, I will simply say that it is defective, because it assumes thatthe angular diameter of the moon has been completely determined, whichis not the case. But let us proceed. Tell me, my dear sir, do you admitthe existence of volcanoes on the moon's surface?"
"_Extinct_, yes! In activity, no!"
"These volcanoes, however, were at one time in a state of activity?"
"True! but, as they furnished themselves the oxygen necessary forcombustion, the mere fact of their eruption does not prove the presenceof an atmosphere."
"Proceed again, then; and let us set aside this class of arguments inorder to come to direct observations. In 1715 the astronomers Louvilleand Halley, watching the eclipse of the 3rd May, remarked some veryextraordinary scintillations. These jets of light, rapid in nature, andof frequent recurrence, they attributed to thunderstorms generated inthe lunar atmosphere."
"In 1715," replied the unknown, "the astronomers Louville and Halleymistook for lunar phenomena some which were purely terrestrial, such asmeteoric or other bodies which are generated in our own atmosphere. Thiswas the scientific explanation at the time of the facts; and that is myanswer now."
"On again, then," replied Ardan; "Herschel, in 1787, observed a greatnumber of luminous points on the moon's surface, did he not?"
"Yes! but without offering any solution of them. Herschel himself neverinferred from them the necessity of a lunar atmosphere. And I may addthat Boeer and Moedler, the two great authorities upon the moon, arequite agreed as to the entire absence of air on its surface."
A movement was here manifest among the assemblage, who appeared to begrowing excited by the arguments of this singular personage.
"Let us proceed," replied Ardan, with perfect coolness, "and come to oneimportant fact. A skilful French astronomer, M. Laussedat, in watchingthe eclipse of July 18, 1860, proved that the horns of the solar crescentwere _rounded and truncated._ Now, this appearance could only have beenproduced by a deviation of the solar rays in traversing the atmosphereof the moon. There is no other possible explanation of the fact."
"But is this established as a fact?"
"Absolutely certain!"
A counter-movement here took place in favour of the hero of the meeting,whose opponent was now reduced to silence. Ardan resumed the conversation;and without exhibiting any exultation at the advantage he had gained,simply said,--
"You see, then, my dear sir, we must not pronounce with absolutepositiveness against the existence of an atmosphere in the moon. Thatatmosphere is, probably, of extreme rarity; nevertheless at the presentday science generally admits that it exists."
"Not in the mountains, at all events," returned the unknown, unwillingto give in.
"No! but at the bottom of the valleys, and not exceeding a few hundredfeet in height."
"In any case you will do well to take every precaution, for the air willbe terribly rarified."
"My good sir, there will always be enough for a solitary individual;besides, once arrived up there, I shall do my best to economize, and notto breathe except on grand occasions!"
A tremendous roar of laughter rang in the ears of the mysteriousinterlocutor, who glared fiercely round upon the assembly.
"Then," continued Ardan, with a careless air, "since we are in accordregarding the presence of a certain atmosphere, we are forced to admitthe presence of a certain quantity of water. This is a happy consequencefor me. Moreover, my amiable contradictor, permit me to submit to youone further observation. We only know one side of the moon's disc; andif there is but little air on the face presented to us, it is possiblethat there is plenty on the one turned away from us."
"And for what reason?"
"Because the moon, under the action of the earth's attraction, hasassumed the form of an egg, which we look at from the smaller end. Henceit follows, by Hausen's calculations, that its
centre of gravity issituated in the other hemisphere. Hence it results that the great massof air and water must have been drawn away to the other face of oursatellite during the first days of its creation."
"Pure fancies!" cried the unknown.
"No! Pure theories! which are based upon the laws of mechanics, and itseems difficult to me to refute them. I appeal then to this meeting, andI put it to them whether life, such as exists upon the earth, is possibleon the surface of the moon?"
Three hundred thousand auditors at once applauded the proposition.Ardan's opponent tried to get in another word, but he could not obtaina hearing. Cries and menaces fell upon him like hail.
"Enough! enough!" cried some.
"Drive the intruder off!" shouted others.
"Turn him out!" roared the exasperated crowd.
But he, holding firmly on to the platform, did not budge an inch, and letthe storm pass on, which would soon have assumed formidable proportions,if Michel Ardan had not quieted it by a gesture. He was too chivalrousto abandon his opponent in an apparent extremity.
"You wished to say a few more words?" he asked, in a pleasant voice.
"Yes, a thousand; or rather, no, only one! If you persevere in yourenterprise, you must be a--"
"Very rash person! How can you treat me as such? me, who have demanded acylindro-conical projectile, in order to prevent turning round and roundon my way like a squirrel?"
"But, unhappy man, the dreadful recoil will smash you to pieces at yourstarting."
"My dear contradictor, you have just put your finger upon the true andthe only difficulty; nevertheless, I have too good an opinion of theindustrial genius of the Americans not to believe that they will succeedin overcoming it."
"But the heat developed by the rapidity of the projectile in crossingthe strata of air?"
"Oh! the walls are thick, and I shall soon have crossed the atmosphere."
"But victuals and water?"
"I have calculated for a twelvemonth's supply, and I shall be only fourdays on the journey."
"But for air to breathe on the road?"
"I shall make it by chemical process."
"But your fall on the moon, supposing you ever reach it?"
"It will be six times less dangerous than a sudden fall upon the earth,because the weight will be only one-sixth as great on the surface of themoon."
"Still it will be enough to smash you like glass!"
"What is to prevent my retarding the shock by means of rockets convenientlyplaced, and lighted at the right moment?"
"But after all, supposing all difficulties surmounted, all obstaclesremoved, supposing everything combined to favour you, and granting thatyou may arrive safe and sound in the moon, how will you come back?"
"I am not coming back!"
At this reply, almost sublime in its very simplicity, the assembly becamesilent. But its silence was more eloquent than could have been its criesof enthusiasm. The unknown profited by the opportunity and once moreprotested,--
"You will inevitably kill yourself!" he cried; "and your death will bethat of a madman, useless even to science!"
"Go on, my dear unknown, for truly your prophecies are most agreeable!"
"It really is too much!" cried Michel Ardan's adversary. "I do not knowwhy I should continue so frivolous a discussion! Please yourself aboutthis insane expedition! We need not trouble ourselves about you!"
"Pray don't stand upon ceremony!"
"No! another person is responsible for your act."
"Who, may I ask?" demanded Michel Ardan in an imperious tone.
"The ignoramus who organized this equally absurd and impossibleexperiment!"
The attack was direct. Barbicane, ever since the interference of theunknown, had been making fearful efforts of self-control; now, however,seeing himself directly attacked, he could restrain himself no longer.He rose suddenly, and was rushing upon the enemy who thus braved him tothe face, when all at once he found himself separated from him.
The platform was lifted by a hundred strong arms, and the President ofthe Gun Club shared with Michel Ardan triumphal honours. The shield washeavy, but the bearers came in continuous relays, disputing, struggling,even fighting among themselves in their eagerness to lend their shouldersto this demonstration.
However, the unknown had not profited by the tumult to quit his post.Besides he could not have done it in the midst of that compact crowd.There he held on in the front row with crossed arms, glaring at PresidentBarbicane.
The shouts of the immense crowd continued at their highest pitch throughoutthis triumphant march. Michel Ardan took it all with evident pleasure.His face gleamed with delight. Several times the platform seemed seizedwith pitching and rolling like a weather-beaten ship. But the two heroesof the meeting had good sea-legs. They never stumbled; and their vesselarrived without dues at the port of Tampa Town.
Michel Ardan managed fortunately to escape from the last embraces ofhis vigorous admirers. He made for the Hotel Franklin, quickly gainedhis chamber, and slid under the bedclothes, while an army of a hundredthousand men kept watch under his windows.
During this time a scene, short, grave, and decisive, took place betweenthe mysterious personage and the President of the Gun Club.
Barbicane, free at last, had gone straight at his adversary.
"Come!" he said shortly.
The other followed him on to the quay; and the two presently foundthemselves alone at the entrance of an open wharf on Jones' Fall.
The two enemies, still mutually unknown, gazed at each other.
"Who are you?" asked Barbicane.
Illustration: THE PLATFORM WAS SUDDENLY CARRIED AWAY.
"Captain Nicholl!"
"So I suspected. Hitherto chance has never thrown you in my way."
"I am come for that purpose."
"You have insulted me."
"Publicly!"
"And you will answer to me for this insult?"
"At this very moment."
"No! I desire that all that passes between us shall be secret. There isa wood situated three miles from Tampa, the wood of Skersnaw. Do you knowit?"
"I know it."
"Will you be so good as to enter it to-morrow morning at five o'clock,on one side?"
"Yes! if you will enter at the other side at the same hour."
"And you will not forget your rifle?" said Barbicane.
"No more than you will forget yours," replied Nicholl.
These words having been coldly spoken, the President of the Gun Club andthe captain parted. Barbicane returned to his lodging; but instead ofsnatching a few hours of repose, he passed the night in endeavouring todiscover a means of evading the recoil of the projectile, and resolvingthe difficult problem proposed by Michel Ardan during the discussion atthe meeting.
