From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It

by Jules Verne

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  FIRE!

  The first of December had arrived! the fatal day! for, if the projectilewere not discharged that very night at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., more thaneighteen years must roll by before the moon would again present herselfunder the same conditions of zenith and perigee.

  The weather was magnificent. Despite the approach of winter, the sunshone brightly, and bathed in its radiant light that earth which threeof its denizens were about to abandon for a new world.

  How many persons lost their rest on the night which preceded thislong-expected day! All hearts beat with disquietude, save only the heartof Michel Ardan. That imperturbable personage came and went with hishabitual business-like air, while nothing whatever denoted that anyunusual matter preoccupied his mind.

  After dawn, an innumerable multitude covered the prairie which extends,as far as the eye can reach, round Stones Hill. Every quarter of an hourthe railway brought fresh accessions of sightseers; and, according tothe statement of the _Tampa Town Observer_, not less than five millionsof spectators thronged the soil of Florida.

  For a whole month previously, the mass of these persons had bivouackedround the enclosure, and laid the foundations for a town which wasafterwards called "Ardan's Town." The whole plain was covered with huts,cottages, and tents. Every nation under the sun was represented there;and every language might be heard spoken at the same time. It was aperfect Babel re-enacted. All the various classes of American society weremingled together in terms of absolute equality. Bankers, farmers, sailors,cotton-planters, brokers, merchants, watermen, magistrates, elbowedeach other in the most free-and-easy way. Louisiana Creoles fraternisedwith farmers from Indiana; Kentucky and Tennessee gentlemen and haughtyVirginians conversed with trappers and the half-savages of the lakesand butchers from Cincinnati. Broad-brimmed white hats and Panamas, bluecotton trowsers, light coloured stockings, cambric frills, were all heredisplayed; while upon shirt-fronts, wristbands, and neckties, upon everyfinger, even upon the very _ears_, they wore an assortment of rings,shirt-pins, brooches, and trinkets, of which the value only equalledthe execrable taste. Women, children, and servants, in equally expensivedress, surrounded their husbands, fathers, or masters, who resembled thepatriarchs of tribes in the midst of their immense households.

  At meal-times, all fell to work upon the dishes peculiar to the SouthernStates, and consumed with an appetite that threatened speedy exhaustionof the victualling powers of Florida, fricasseed frogs, stuffed monkey,fish chowder, underdone 'possum, and raccoon steaks. And as for theliquors which accompanied this indigestible repast! The shouts, thevociferations that resounded through the bars and taverns decorated withglasses, tankards, and bottles of marvellous shape, mortars for poundingsugar, and bundles of straws! "Mint-julep!" roars one of the barmen;"Claret sangaree!" shouts another; "Cocktail!" "Brandy-smash!" "Realmint-julep in the new style!" All these cries intermingled produced abewildering and deafening hubbub.

  But on this day, 1st December, such sounds were rare. No one thoughtof eating or drinking, and at four p.m. there were vast numbers ofspectators who had not even taken their customary lunch! And, a stillmore significant fact, even the national passion for play seemed quelledfor the time under the general excitement of the hour.

  Up till nightfall, a dull, noiseless agitation, such as precedes greatcatastrophes, ran through the anxious multitude. An indescribableuneasiness pervaded all minds, an indefinable sensation which oppressedthe heart. Every one wished it was over.

  However, about seven o'clock, the heavy silence was dissipated. The moonrose above the horizon. Millions of hurrahs hailed her appearance. Shewas punctual to the rendezvous, and shouts of welcome greeted her on allsides, as her pale beams shone gracefully in the clear heavens. At thismoment the three intrepid travellers appeared. This was the signal forrenewed cries of still greater intensity. Instantly the vast assemblage,as with one accord, struck up the national hymn of the United States,and "Yankee Doodle," sung by five millions of hearty throats, rose like aroaring tempest to the farthest limits of the atmosphere. Then a profoundsilence reigned throughout the crowd.

  The Frenchman and the two Americans had by this time entered the enclosurereserved in the centre of the multitude. They were accompanied by themembers of the Gun Club, and by deputations sent from all the EuropeanObservatories. Barbicane, cool and collected, was giving his finaldirections. Nicholl, with compressed lips, his arms crossed behind hisback, walked with a firm and measured step. Michel Ardan, always easy,dressed in thorough traveller's costume, leathern gaiters on his legs,pouch by his side, in loose velvet suit, cigar in mouth, was full ofinexhaustible gaiety, laughing, joking, playing pranks with J. T. Maston.In one word, he was the thorough "Frenchman" (and worse, a "Parisian")to the last moment.

  Ten o'clock struck! The moment had arrived for taking their places in theprojectile! The necessary operations for the descent, and the subsequentremoval of the cranes and scaffolding that inclined over the mouth ofthe Columbiad, required a certain period of time.

  Barbicane had regulated his chronometer to the tenth part of a second bythat of Murchison the engineer, who was charged with the duty of firingthe gun by means of an electric spark. Thus the travellers enclosedwithin the projectile were enabled to follow with their eyes the impassiveneedle which marked the precise moment of their departure.

  The moment had arrived for saying "Good-bye!" The scene was a touchingone. Despite his feverish gaiety, even Michel Ardan was touched. J. T.Maston had found in his own dry eyes one ancient tear, which he haddoubtless reserved for the occasion. He dropped it on the forehead ofhis dear president.

  "Can I not go?" he said, "there is still time!"

  "Impossible, old fellow!" replied Barbicane. A few moments later, thethree fellow-travellers had ensconced themselves in the projectile, andscrewed down the plate which covered the entrance-aperture. The mouth ofthe Columbiad, now completely disencumbered, was open entirely to thesky.

  The moon advanced upwards in a heaven of the purest clearness, outshiningin her passage the twinkling light of the stars. She passed over theconstellation of the Twins, and was now nearing the halfway point betweenthe horizon and the zenith. A terrible silence weighed upon the entirescene! Not a breath of wind upon the earth! not a sound of breathingfrom the countless chests of the spectators! Their hearts seemed afraidto beat! All eyes were fixed upon the yawning mouth of the Columbiad.

  Murchison followed with his eye the hand of his chronometer. It wantedscarce forty seconds to the moment of departure, but each second seemedto last an age! At the twentieth there was a general shudder, as itoccurred to the minds of that vast assemblage that the bold travellersshut up within the projectile were also counting those terrible seconds.Some few cries here and there escaped the crowd.

  "Thirty-five!--thirty-six!--thirty-seven!--thirty-eight!--thirty-nine!--forty! Fire!!!"

  Illustration: FIRE.

  Instantly Murchison pressed with his finger the key of the electricbattery, restored the current of the fluid, and discharged the spark intothe breach of the Columbiad.

  An appalling unearthly report followed instantly, such as can be comparedto nothing whatever known, not even to the roar of thunder, or the blastof volcanic explosions! No words can convey the slightest idea of theterrific sound! An immense spout of fire shot up from the bowels of theearth as from a crater. The earth heaved up, and with great difficultysome few spectators obtained a momentary glimpse of the projectilevictoriously cleaving the air in the midst of the fiery vapours!