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This arrangement subjected all objects to but one reflection, making the view consequently much clearer; the result was that, when they were taking observation, J. T. Maston and Belfast were placed in the upper part of the instrument and not in the lower, which they reached by a circular staircase, a masterpiece of lightness, while below them opened a metal well terminated by the metallic mirror, which measured two hundred and eighty feet in depth.
"The projectile hurled by the Columbiad of Stony Hill was perceived by Messrs. Belfast and J.T. Maston on the 12th of December at 8.47 p.m., the moon having entered her last quarter. "The projectile has not reached its goal. It has deviated to the side, but near enough to be detained by lunar attraction.
They could procure themselves air for two months; they had provisions for one year; but after? The hardest hearts palpitated at this terrible question. One man alone would not admit that the situation was desperate. One alone had confidence, and it was their friend devoted, audacious, and resolute as they the brave J.T. Maston. He resolved not to lose sight of them.
"Nevertheless," continued Barbicane, "after mature deliberation, it seems to me that the question of the projectile ought to precede that of the cannon, and that the dimensions of the latter ought to depend upon the dimensions of the former." J.T. Maston here interrupted the president, and was heard with the attention which his magnificent past career deserved.
But when it ought to have reappeared on the invisible disc the impatience of J.T. Maston and his no less impatient companion may be imagined. At every minute of the night they thought they should see the projectile again, and they did not see it.
"What?" "My plan!" "What plan?" "The plan for countering the effect of the shock at the departure of the projectile!" "Indeed?" said Michel Ardan, looking at the captain out of the corner of his eye. "Yes! water! simply water, which will act as a spring ah! Maston," cried Barbicane, "you here also?"
It was the commander of the Susquehanna's telegram. Belfast tore the envelope and read, and uttered a cry. "What!" said J. T. Maston. "The projectile!" "Well!" "Has fallen to the earth!" Another cry, this time a perfect howl, answered him. He turned toward J. T. Maston. The unfortunate man, imprudently leaning over the metal tube, had disappeared in the immense telescope.
"Maston," said Barbicane, making his bell go off with a crash, "I agree with you that the experiment cannot and ought not to be made anywhere but on the soil of the Union, but if I had been allowed to speak before, and you had glanced at this map, you would know that it is perfectly useless to declare war against our neighbours, for certain frontiers of the United States extend beyond the 28th parallel.
This incident terminated the third meeting of the committee. Barbicane and his bold colleagues, to whom nothing seemed impossible, had succeeding in solving the complex problems of projectile, cannon, and powder. Their plan was drawn up, and it only remained to put it into execution. "A mere matter of detail, a bagatelle," said J. T. Maston. ONE ENEMY v.
As to the traces that Barbicane must have left of his passage through the wood, it was impossible for them to see them, and they marched blindly on in the hardly-formed paths in which an Indian would have followed his adversary step by step. After a vain search of about an hour's length the two companions stopped. Their anxiety was redoubled. "It must be all over," said Maston in despair.
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