The First Men in the Moon

Making o

e actual making was concerned. On the 14th of O

out the furnace tending. Gibbs, who had previously seen to this, had suddenly attempted to shift it to the man who had been a gardener, on the score that coal was soil, being dug, and therefore could not possibly fall within the province of a joiner; the man who had been a jobbing gardener alleged, however, that coal was a metallic or ore-like substance, let alone that he was cook. But Spargus insisted on Gibbs doing the coaling, seeing that he was a joiner

upon the verandah. His active little figure was black against the autumnal sunset, and to the right the chimneys of his house just rose above a glori

vertaking them came a huge white flame. The trees about the building swayed and whirled and tore themselves to pieces, that sprang towards

andah towards Cavor's house, an

he screaming air. I saw one of my chimney pots hit the ground within six yards of me, leap a score of feet, and so hurry in great strides towards the focus of the disturbance. Cavor, kicking and flapping, came d

pped edgeways, hit the ground and fell flat, and then the worst was over. The aerial commotion fell swiftly until it was a mere strong gale, and I beca

g was flattened and swaying with the gale. I glanced back to see if my bungalow was still in a general way standing, then staggered forwards

hat had banked itself against a portion of his garden wall I perceived something stir. I made a run for this, but before I reached it a brown object separated itself,

hat it was Cavor, caked in the mud in which he had rolled. He leant

h emotion, little lumps of mud kept falling from it. He looked as damaged and pitiful

" he gasped; "

!" said I. "Good

done

on earth caused

that it wasn't an explosion at all. The wind hurled me int

t "not much good." At the time he laboured under the impression that his three attendants had perished in the whirlwind. Happily this was incorrect. Dir

e sat in arm-chairs and panted. All the windows were broken, and the lighter articles of furniture were in great disorder, but no irrevocable damage was done. Happily the kitchen door had stood the pressure u

ed; "quite correct. I've d

an't be a rick standing, or a fence or a tha

upset. My mind was preoccupied with another problem, and I'm ap

t you see you've done thousan

'm not a practical man, of course, but don't

he exp

erlook these little things. It's that zuzzoo business on a larger scale. Inadv

ff is opaque to gravitation, that it cuts of

said I.

f roof and ceiling and floor above it ceased to have weight. I suppose you know-everybody knows nowadays-that, as a usual thing, the air has weight, t

at," said

not over the Cavorite was exerting a pressure of fourteen pounds and a half to the square in upon this suddenly weightless air. Ah! you begin to see! The air all about the Cavorite crushed in upon the air above it with ir

chimney in the atmosphere. And if the Cavorite itself hadn't been loose and

e air would be rushing up and up ov

he said. "A h

atmosphere of the earth away! It would have robbed the world of air! I

orld as one peels a banana, and flung it thousands of miles. It would have dropped back again, of cour

ise how all my expectations had been upse

u know, and I cannot consent for one moment to add the burthen of practical considerations to my theorising. Later on, when you have come in with your practical mind, and Cavorite is floated-floated is the word, isn't it?-and it has realised all you anticipate for it, we may set matters right with these persons. But not now-not now. If no other explanation is offered, people, in the present unsatisfactory state of meteorological science, will ascribe all this to a cyclone; there might be a public subscription, and as my house has collapsed and been burnt, I should in that case receive a considerable share in the compensation, which would be extremely helpful to the prosec

d and re

es, I reflected, is no or

ter begin by looking for a trowel," and I led the

n the other hand I was young, my affairs were in a mess, and I was in just the mood for reckless adventure-with a chance of something good at the end of it. I had quite settled in my mind that I was to have half at least in that aspect of the affair. Fortunately I held my bungalow, as I have

an to have doubts about the gun-carriage and the patent boots. We set to work at once to reconstruct his laboratory and proceed with our e

net of ours, we will. But-there must be risks! There must be. In experimental work there always are. And here, as a practical man, you must come in. For my own part it seems to me we might make it edgeways, perhaps, and very thin. Yet I don't know. I have a certain dim

o before it became absolutely necessary to decide upon the precise form and method of our second attempt. Our only hitch was th