able to enlighten us on this point.” 

 “And the more easily,” replied the general, “that during the war I was a member of the committee of experiments. I may say, then, that the 100-pounder Dahlgrens, which carried a distance of 5,000 yards, impressed upon their projectile an initial velocity of 500 yards a second. The Rodman Columbiad threw a shot weighing half a ton a distance of six miles, with a velocity of 800 yards per second—a result which Armstrong and Palisser have never obtained in England.” 

 “This,” replied Barbicane, “is, I believe, the maximum velocity ever attained?” 

 “It is so,” replied the general. 

 “Ah!” groaned J. T. Maston, “if my mortar had not burst—” 

 “Yes,” quietly replied Barbicane, “but it did burst. We must take, then, for our starting point, this velocity of 800 yards. We must increase it twenty-fold. Now, reserving for another discussion the means of producing this velocity, I will call your attention to the dimensions which it will be proper to assign to the shot. You understand that we have nothing to do here with projectiles weighing at most but half a ton.” 

 “Why not?” demanded the major. 

 “Because the shot,” quickly replied J. T. Maston, “must be big enough to attract the attention of the inhabitants of the moon, if there are any?” 

 “Yes,” replied Barbicane, “and for another reason more important still.” 

 “What mean you?” asked the major. 

 “I mean that it is not enough to discharge a projectile, and then take no further notice of it; we must follow it throughout its course, up to the moment when it shall reach its goal.” 

 “What?” shouted the general and the major in great surprise. 

 “Undoubtedly,” replied Barbicane composedly, “or our experiment would produce no result.” 

 “But then,” replied the major, “you will have to give this projectile enormous dimensions.” 

 “No! Be so good as to listen. You know that optical instruments have acquired great perfection; with certain instruments we have succeeded in obtaining enlargements of 6,000 times and reducing the moon to within forty miles’ distance. Now, at this distance, any objects sixty feet square would be perfectly visible. 

 

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