Adrift in the Unknown

ubmit his veracity to question. A reformed burglar, therefore, although animated by the

to alibis and so forth, my mind was as empty of astronomical lore as a drained bottle. The profes

taken with the same sincerity in which it is written. I ask no more of the reader than that; and if he is not ave

to the direction of its course. Startling disclosures had somewhat obscur

ing iron stairway two steps at a time. I gained the storeroom close behind

left on descending from the loft some time before. Mounted on a pile of packing cases, he was en

several blocks on the floor, as you can see: Gilhooly began painting that one, and

n my life," said Gilhooly, dabbing away with the b

e. After some coaxing, Meigs got Gilhooly to desc

under another block in the point of the dome, and the pro

ere. He has wasted at least a quart of that anti-gravity mixture, and it is worth its weight in gold. Nay, i

professor pointed to the instrument which stood beneath a window in the sloping roof of the car. "Suppose Gilhooly had demolished that!

a bandanna handkerchief. I placed the lamp on a box beside the bull's-eye la

se with Gilhooly moored between them, and Mar

pply of provisions made ready for us by the farsighted and wonderful man who was conduc

als understandingly, I lifted the lid of

tioned this anti-temperature materia

e fluid in a bath renders the bather impervious to heat or cold, keeping in the animal caloric and keeping out all

will last us several months. The food I have provided is of the ready-prepared kind, mostly in tins, with an alcohol lamp for the brewing

acknowledged Popham. "How long have yo

my castle," smiled Quinn. "The plan was conceived at the time the succ

tive gentlemen," I struck in, "and so co

y, Mr. Munn," replied the pro

mixture have been donated to th

ct that we are falling sunward. If we make landfall on a planet where the heat is several hun

school-day learning is not at fault, the sun, at the hour of our departure, was on the opposi

of the Earth's hemispheres being turned from the sun, and, other things being equal, we should now be falling toward the outer limits of our solar system; but, if I may use the term, the castle wa

n, but, judging from the expression of their f

earth and the sun," observed Markham, "M

ificant," gr

"However, it has long been supposed that there is another group of planets b

s. "Sunward the planets are smaller, but

ed the professor,

civilization to a degree that affords us a promising prospect. Then, again, there are canals on Mars, and, if canals, certainly water transportation. Transportation problems of any sort will interest Gilhooly; indeed, we are prone to think they would bring him back to his n

Popham," returned the professor decidedly. "The inf

Markham, "that we are compelled to p

rforce accept whatever fate throws our way. Possibly we shall become a satellite of the su

s on the professor's face. I do not think he was in earnest, but merely ta

babbled Gilhooly; "make a

ands, Meigs bowed his head, and I

Inasmuch as we are safely interred, what's the use of living? Gilhooly is the only fortu

ve been overthrown as a result of your manipulations of stock in Wall Street? How many bright futures have been wrecked by an adverse trend of the specula

in, attempting to give a more pleasant twist to the con

ly, "and the success or failure of them will depend

t for some equally important question whi

ong journey? It would be a fearful thing to have

nswered the professor, "is ade

ter, the ox

erything necessary to o

man, and that his promises were to be taken at face value.

although I was eager to hear all that was said, "tired nature's sweet