Fifteen Hundred Miles an Hour

by Charles Dixon

  CHAPTER II.

  WE LEAVE EARTH IN THE "SIRIUS."

  "At last, Graham, all is in readiness for our departure. I think itwas wise, however, that before finally leaving Earth we tested thecapabilities of our carriage." (This trial trip nearly cost the Doctorhis secret. A party of farm-labourers stoutly swore that they had seena big house floating over Whernside, as they came home in the dusk; butthey were only laughed at by their neighbours, and accused of being inliquor.) "We now feel a greater amount of satisfaction and confidencein our undertaking, and the several little details we had overlookedwill be decided improvements."

  "Then you are prepared to start on Saturday, Doctor?"

  "Well, if Temple can manage it, yes. It rests with him now, and we mustnot be too hard or exacting on our generous friend and patron."

  "Ah! Sandy, a telegram from Temple, I suppose," says the Doctor,tearing open the orange-coloured envelope, and hastily reading thebrief message.

  "Yes, Graham, all is well. Temple wires me that he will be here onSaturday to lunch. That means he is ready. We shall start at midnight."

  The remaining days of our stay on Earth were spent by Graham inoverhauling the various machinery and apparatus he had taken such painsin making and fitting, and by the Doctor in anxious consultation ofseveral leading works on astronomy and mathematics, and in carefulrevision of every little detail of his gigantic scheme.

  At last the eventful morning came, the first day of May, 1875. Gloriousindeed was the weather on that memorable day, when, for the first timein the history of mankind, five living creatures were about to leavethis planet on a journey to a far-distant orb.

  Now behold this dauntless little party, as they stand in the Doctor'sgarden, watching their last earthly sunset. The white-haired Doctor isthe central figure of the group.

  As the sun sinks solemnly behind the Pennine peaks, lingering a fewmoments on the gloomy crowns of Whernside, the Doctor points to theclear southern sky, and says: "Well, friends, our stay on Earth is nowvery short. In little over four hours' time we must be gone. Yonder isour destination; the star that sheds such brilliant lustre--brightest,to us, of all heavenly orbs to-night--is our bourne. You see it,Temple? From this night, for two years and a-half, it is to be our onlyguiding light, ever increasing in size and mysterious splendour."

  As the evening gloom crept up the valleys, the scene became more andmore solemn and impressive, and a strange sense of awe seemed to comeover even the bravest heart amongst us. We felt too grave to converse,and the Doctor's remarks were received in silence. At last theoppressive silence was broken by the Doctor exclaiming: "We had betternow go in and dine, after which we must see about getting away. Haveyou finished, Sandy?"

  "Yes, Doctor; everything is neat and tidy."

  "Well, after dinner, we shall be round to inspect your arrangements forour comfort."

  Dinner passed over in comparative silence.

  Each one of the diners now fully realised the solemnity of hisposition, and none seemed to have any desire to make their thoughtsknown to their companions.

  As soon as the meal was over, the ceremony of christening the carriagewas performed by Sandy cracking a bottle of wine against the side, andas the ruddy liquid streamed to the ground, the Doctor pronounced thefew words that gave to the machine its name of _Sirius_.

  "Now, my friends, the all-eventful moment has come," he continued,leading the way to a rope-ladder which was hanging down the dark sideof the _Sirius_, from the doorway high overhead. "Let us bid adieu tothe Earth that bore and fostered us; it may be that our feet touch itssurface for the last time."

  The night was gloriously fine; not a cloud to hide the spangledsky. Sandy and his dog were already inside the _Sirius_; and thelight-hearted Scot could be heard singing snatches of North-countryballads as he hurried to and fro. Sandy was, evidently, little troubledat the thoughts of Earth. This confidence was inspired by the calmcourage of his master.

  Graham mounted next, and was soon busy with the machinery, oiling andwiping with greatest care the shining rods and wheels and cranks,which he loved almost as deeply as a father loves his children.

  John Temple then ascended, a little paler perhaps than usual, but calmand self-possessed as was his wont.

  Doctor Hermann, after carefully walking round the huge machine to seethat all was clear, gave one last look towards the old house, and thento the hills he knew and loved so well, before mounting the swayingladder, which was pulled up after him by Sandy.

  All now were waiting for the final signal, which was to fall from theDoctor's lips. He stood calmly and heroically with the little levergrasped in his right hand, his watch held in his left. One minute tomidnight! Slowly the minute finger crept round the tiny dial, and thelast few seconds of our stay on earth were slipping away.

  "Once more, my friends, I ask you if you still adhere to your intentionof accompanying me. There is yet time to draw back."

  "We are ready and willing, and most anxious to proceed," was the answerfrom all.

  "Then our voyage begins at last," said the Doctor, pressing back theshining lever. "May health and good fortune attend us on our journey,and success crown its termination."

  As the Doctor spoke, the huge machine mounted upwards from its staging,lightly and buoyantly as a bird, into the midnight sky. All wereexceedingly surprised at the extreme steadiness of the carriage, for itfloated upwards and onwards without any disagreeable motion whatever.In fact, it was difficult to believe that the carriage was moving atall.

  As soon as we got fairly under way the Doctor suggested that we shouldgo out on the balcony and take a last look at many old familiarlandmarks, and bid a long farewell to Yorkshire. We were travellingvery slowly, about sixty miles per hour, and nearly four miles abovethe Earth. We soon crossed the fair vale of York, slumbering peacefullyin the gloom, the lights of towns and railways being distinctly visiblefar below us. We passed over grimy Sheffield, with its gleamingfurnaces belching fire and smoke into the night--its glowing coke-ovenslooking like small volcanoes.

  "I intend to travel comparatively slowly from the immediateneighbourhood of Earth," remarked the Doctor, "so that we may enjoythe wonderful sight of that planet's physical features as viewedfrom space. Ere morning dawns we shall be sufficiently distant toget a bird's-eye view of the greater part of Europe; by afternoon,if all goes well, our vision will be extended to the entire Easternhemisphere."

  The _Sirius_ was now heading rapidly away from Earth; under Graham'ssuperintendence, the motors were hourly increasing their speed. Like asheet of molten silver, the German Ocean shimmered in the moonlight.

  It was bitterly cold, and the entire party of travellers were soon gladto return to the warm interior of the _Sirius_, where Sandy had madeeverything ready for our comfort. It was now agreed that each shouldtake his turn at keeping watch and guard generally for two hours,whilst the others slept.

  Graham undertook the first two hours of this duty; and the Doctor,too excited to sleep, remained up with him discussing the novelty oftheir position. As for Sandy, he appeared able to sleep under anycircumstances; and Temple was too methodical in his habits to remain upafter the first sensations of departure had worn away.

  "It seems like a dream to me, Graham, that we are really off at last,"began the Doctor. "I have looked forward to this time for many long andweary years."

  "Ah, Doctor, I cannot describe how I feel to-night. I am more thangratified to see one who has done so much for me, reaping the harvesthe has sown so patiently."

  The heavens were now clouded, and rain began to fall heavily, whichnecessitated closing the port-holes and door, and setting theair-condensers to work. It was the Doctor's intention to travel aslong as possible with these open, so that we could obtain enough airfrom the atmosphere as long as it continued sufficiently dense for ourrequirements, and thus save the condensing apparatus as much wear andtear as possible.

  We soon passed through the rain clouds, and then the view from abovethem was entrancing
ly grand. Far as the eye could reach, below andround us, stretched one vast silvery expanse of cloud, lit up withbrilliant moonbeams, and so solid in appearance that we felt a strangeyearning desire to descend and wander about the fleecy wastes.

  Dawn was now fast spreading over the heavens. All through that night ofexcitement the Doctor and Graham watched together, but Sandy and Templewere up with the first streak of light. The Earth was still enshroudedin shadow.

  But our speed had now to be increased, and by the time the Easternhemisphere was bathed in sunshine we were travelling a thousand milesper hour, shooting upwards to the zenith, but drifting meantime nearlysouth, towards the equator. Hour after hour increased the gloriousaspect of the Earth below, which had the appearance of a shallow basin,the horizon all round us seeming almost level with the _Sirius_. TheEarth's concave, instead of convex appearance, was a puzzle to all butthe Doctor, who lucidly explained the phenomenon to us.

  By mid-day our instruments declared our height above the Earth to beclose upon eight thousand miles! Stupendous as this altitude may seem,none of our party experienced the slightest degree of discomfort, solong as the condensers were kept at work; but a few moments' pause intheir movement produced alarming symptoms, especially in Graham, whosebulky frame (he stood six feet eight, and was well made in proportion,a giant among men) seemed to require a larger amount of air than anyof the rest of us. As we rapidly shot upwards, at a speed fifteentimes greater than the fastest express train, the Earth was constantlychanging in appearance.

  All small objects were entirely lost to view; only the continents,largest islands, oceans, and seas being visible. The land and seachanged colour rapidly, until the former merged from dark brown tonearly black, and the water from deepest blue to yellow of suchdazzling brightness as to be most trying to the eyes. We coulddistinctly see the noble range of snow-capped Himalayas, glitteringbeautifully in a dark setting, but the Cape of Good Hope was lost in adense bank of cloud. As nearly as we could determine, we were now abovethe Persian Gulf; the entire coast-line of the Eastern hemisphere couldbe followed at a glance. Due north and south the polar regions glowedin dazzling whiteness, like two brilliant crescents on the horizon. Theseason of the year was too early to make satisfactory observations ofthe northern polar regions; for even had land extended to that pole,we should have been unable to detect it, as it would, of course, havebeen still lying deep in snow. The south polar region was much morefavourable to our examination, and, beyond the border of eternal iceand snow, a dark mass could be detected in the district of the poleitself, which is probably land, but at the immense distance from whichwe viewed it, it was impossible quite satisfactorily to determine.Although we were such a vast distance from the Earth, she seemed to bequite close, though on a much-reduced scale, and no words can describethe awful grandeur of her appearance. Towards evening we had the novelexperience of seeing an appalling thunderstorm many thousands of milesbelow us, over the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean.

  We had now for hours been depending upon the air from our condensers.In fact we did not find breathable atmosphere for more than fivehundred miles above the surface of the Earth. As the Doctor hadpredicted, the ether in these remote regions was quite dense enough tobe transformed into air suited to the requirements of man. The Doctor'sdelight at all these wonderful scenes was unbounded. His enthusiasmwas almost painful in its intensity. "Glorious! Glorious!" was hisoft-repeated exclamation, as he made rapid notes of the ever-changingphenomena around us. He was too excited to eat; too full of his manyexperiments to rest; too eager to gather this unparalleled scientificharvest, to sleep! Gradually the sun seemed to sink into the waste ofwaters behind the western rim of Earth, throwing a lurid glare acrossthe sea, which now looked like liquid gold, and then turned to deepestpurple as the last rays shot upwards into immeasurable space.

  Faster and faster we sped; the motors at last working to their utmostlimits, the dial registering our speed at precisely fifteen hundredmiles per hour. None of us yet experienced the slightest inconvenience,either from the immense altitude we had reached, or the terriblevelocity with which we were travelling upwards. By midnight, the Doctorcalculated our distance from the Earth to be 25,874 miles. AddressingTemple and Graham, he said:

  "I think, my friends, that we ought to congratulate ourselves on theexceedingly promising state of our enterprise. In the first place, ourcarriage is progressing as favourably as we could wish; everything isin the smoothest working order; our air is of the purest; we have foodin abundance; water in plenty; light and warmth, as much as we desire.Twenty-four hours ago we were on the Yorkshire fells; we are now wellon our way to that New World we are all so eagerly looking forward toreach. When we left Earth, the planet Mars was glimmering low over thesouthern horizon; it is now in our zenith. We are fast approaching thatregion where all earthly influence will be past, and where the powerof her gravitation will cease. We inaugurate our voyage with everyprospect of success."

  "I candidly confess, Doctor, that all my unpleasant feelings of dangerhave passed away. I have every confidence in the good _Sirius_ and hertalented inventor," remarked Temple.

  "The same here, Mr. Temple," said Graham; "I feel perfectly convincedthat--accidents barred, of course--we shall reach our destination intriumph."

  As might naturally be expected in the clear rarefied atmospherethrough which we were travelling, the various heavenly bodies shonemuch more brilliantly than ever they appear from Earth; and the vast,unfathomable vault of space was intensified in colour--very differentfrom the blue of an earthly night-sky, and entirely free from cloud.The moon was perceptibly larger than she appears when viewed fromEarth; but the other orbs only differed in the intensity and brilliancyof their light.

  "Mr. Graham! Doctor! Doctor! the engine is going wrong!" Sandy washeard shouting.

  "Be calm, Sandy," said the Doctor, as he and his two friends hurriedlydescended into the engine-room. It was manifest that something had gonewrong with the machinery, and the anxiety of all was plainly visible asthe Doctor and Graham hastened to make an examination.

  "Thank heaven, the motors are safe," said Graham.

  "It is only the pin out of the rod of one of the condensing pistons,"calmly remarked the Doctor; and Graham soon put all to rights again.

  Some time elapsed before the excitable Sandy could be pacified. Hefully expected we were going to be dashed to pieces on the distantEarth. The Doctor took this opportunity of pointing out to us hownecessary it was to keep a constant watch on our apparatus; for theleast mishap might speedily lead to a calamity so appalling as to senda thrill of horror to the stoutest heart amongst us at the mere thoughtof it.