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Updated: June 6, 2025
"My brave comrades," said he in a quiet tone, "I start from this principle, that the resistance of our cannon, in the given conditions, is unlimited. I shall, therefore, surprise the Honourable J.T. Maston when I tell him that he has been timid in his calculations, and I propose to double his 800,000 lbs. of powder."
J. T. Maston, who, despite all dictates of prudence, had kept in advance of the mass, was pitched back 120 feet, shooting like a projectile over the heads of his fellow-citizens. Three hundred thousand persons remained deaf for a time, and as though struck stupefied. As soon as the first effects were over, the injured, the deaf, and lastly, the crowd in general, woke up with frenzied cries.
"Yes, half a mile, and that will be half too short." "Come, Maston," answered Morgan, "you exaggerate." "No, I do not," said the irate secretary; "and I really do not know why you tax me with exaggeration." "Because you go too far." "You must know, sir," answered J.T. Maston, looking dignified, "that an artilleryman is like a cannon-ball, he can never go too far."
"You are right, sir," struck in Murchison, the engineer; "and, if I mistake not, we shall ere long find a suitable spot for our purpose." "I wish we were at the first stroke of the pickaxe," said the president. "And I wish we were at the last," cried J. T. Maston. About ten A.M. the little band had crossed a dozen miles. To fertile plains succeeded a region of forests.
"Ah!" cried he at last; "you here! I have found it, my friend, I have found it!" "What?" "The way to do it." "The way to do what?" "To counteract the effect of the shock at the departure of the projectile." "Really?" said Michel, 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 too!"
The principal members of the Gun Club, the president, Barbicane, Major Elphinstone, the secretary, J.T. Maston, and other savants, held several meetings, in which the form and composition of the bullet were discussed, as well as the disposition and nature of the cannon, and the quality and quantity of the powder to be employed.
"Our friend Maston is always at his jokes, even in serious matters," cried the major; "but let him make his mind easy, I am going presently to propose gunpowder enough to satisfy his artillerist's propensities.
"Englishmen are nowhere!" said J.T. Maston, pointing his formidable steel hook eastward. "Then," resumed Barbicane, "a speed of 800 yards is the maximum obtained at present." "Yes," answered Morgan. "I might add, however," replied J.T. Maston, "that if my mortar had not been blown up " "Yes, but it was blown up," replied Barbicane with a benevolent gesture.
They thought of those unfortunates shut up in the projectile for twenty-six days. Perhaps at that moment they were experiencing the first approach of suffocation; that is, if they had escaped the dangers of their fall. The air was spent, and doubtless with the air all their morale. "The air, possibly," answered J. T. Maston resolutely, "but their morale never!"
But at last, to the general satisfaction, a strong tempest during the night between the 11th and 12th of December cleared the atmosphere, and the half-moon was distinctly visible on the dark background of the sky. That same night a telegram was sent from Long's Peak Station by J.T. Maston and Belfast to the staff of the Cambridge Observatory.
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