"Is everything all right?" asked the German.
"I think so," answered the scientist. "This airship doesn't
behave exactly as the ones I constructed before, but it seems to
be moving along at good speed."
"Yes, we have increased our rate of progress," stated Mr.
Roumann. "We are now going nearly fifty-five miles a second. At
that rate we shall be beyond the atmosphere sooner than I
expected."
The remainder of that day they kept on shooting forward toward
Mars, nothing occurring to mark the passage of time, save the
monotonous ticking of various clocks. There was nothing to be
seen, save the glare of sunlight outside.
"Aren't we ever going to meet with world, or a wandering star, or
something?" asked Jack rather discontentedly.
"There's no telling when we may pass near one," said Mr. Roumann.
"S'posin' we hit one?" asked Washington, his eyes becoming large
with fear.
"There's not much danger. My instruments will warn me when we
approach any of the heavenly bodies, and we can steer clear of
them. The only things we have to fear will be comets, and their
orbits are so irregular that there is no telling when we may get
in the path of one.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131