Telling The Time By Geography

: Secrets of Space
: Pharaoh's Broker

After supper I went up into his compartment, and having arranged the

bulkhead, began the tedious operation at the pump handle. It was a

matter of pure muscular strength, as the effort had to be made to lift

the handle, which snapped back sharply when released. I was working

vigorously when I was suddenly struck dumb at seeing the handle break

off just at the point of leverage, so that it was quite impossible to

operate
it. The doctor heard the handle fall, and looked around in great

vexation.



"That means asphyxiation within twenty-four hours!" he exclaimed.



"Which is plenty of time to think it over," I answered.



After all, why was this pumping necessary? If a way could be devised to

open a valve, all the air would rush out of my compartment as easily as

beer runs out of a bung-hole. In fact, it did rush out a little at a

time, which is what made the handle go down of itself. But any such new

valve would have to be automatically closed, as it would be manifestly

impossible to enter and shut it. I kept on thinking, and finally began

examining the partition between the compartments. There seemed to be

several long screws that went quite through it.



"Doctor, did you ever hear of those wise people who, after every

freshet, shipped the surplus water down the river in boats? Well, it

strikes me this air-pumping is just about as useless labour. Help me

pull in the bulkhead and I will show you something."



I went at once to the cylinder we used for discharging things from the

projectile. With a pair of pliers I chipped off a small piece of the

edge of the closing lid in two places, one near each end. This made two

little irregular holes into the cylinder about eight inches apart. Then

I pushed it half way out, so that one hole was outside and the other

inside. Of course the air rushed through the inner hole into the

cylinder, and thence through the outer hole to the exterior.



"Shut that thing!" cried the doctor, when he saw what I had done. "Do

you wish to suffocate us? That will let the air out perfectly, but how

are you going to close it to admit the condensed air?"



"People unskilled in these matters are so hasty!" I said rather

sarcastically. "Wait until I have finished and you will see."



I found he had a screw-driver, and I loosened one of the long screws

and enlarged the half of its hole toward my compartment. Then I whittled

a block of soft wood, so that it would slide smoothly into this half of

the hole. Driving the screw home again, I just allowed its tip to enter

the end of the block. Then I fastened a piece of stout twine to the

cylinder and the other end to the block of wood, which was almost

opposite it. Pushing the cylinder half way out, I made the twine taut,

and hastening into the doctor's compartment, I thrust in the bulkhead.

The air was rapidly escaping. Waiting long enough for all of it to have

leaked out, I then unscrewed the long screw, which gradually drew in the

block of wood and the twine, and thus pulled the cylinder into the

projectile so that there was no connection with the exterior. Then the

doctor let in the condensed air to a barometric pressure of twenty-six,

and the whole operation was over in a few minutes. My compartment must

have been almost a complete vacuum. When it was over, I cried rather

triumphantly to the doctor,--



"There, you see, one doesn't need a steam pump to make the water run

over Niagara! At this distance from the surface, nature abhors a gas and

prefers a vacuum!" He was inclined to be rather sulky at first, but he

really did not like pumping any better than I did.



I should say it was about five hours later that we noticed it was

growing gradually lighter outside. Mars lost his ruddiness and grew

pale in a grey field. Our view of the Earth was also becoming more and

more misty.



"We are emerging from the black core of the shadow into the

semi-illuminated penumbra," said the doctor. Then he altered his course

experimentally, and found a slightly darker path, but it soon began

changing again to grey.



"There is no use trying to keep in the umbra any longer. It is growing

too narrow. The penumbra will last quite a long time yet, but it will

gradually get fainter and fainter. We shall not plunge at once into the

dreadful light you fear so much. Keep your eyes glued to the Earth. I

can scarcely see Mars any longer. The whole field is getting blank and

white."



The rear vista was also growing a pale white, and I could distinguish

the form of the Earth as a darker object slightly larger than a full

moon when risen. But it was all growing dimmer and dimmer as the

penumbra faded toward the perfect light.



"Mars is completely gone now," said the doctor. "The field of the

telescope is one pale curtain of light. I have steered to the left to go

ahead of him now, as there is no longer any reason for going behind

him."



I heard him working at the telescope as if loosening it from its

fastenings, but I dared not take my eyes from the Earth to see what he

was doing. Presently he called out to me,--



"Make room down there. I must bring the instrument down and observe the

Earth now. Be careful you don't lose sight of her." But the instant he

removed the telescope from its bearings and uncovered his forward

window, I lost all view of the Earth. The new light now entering by his

window, from behind me, made it impossible to see so far.



"Too late!" I cried; "I have lost her! We are alone in limitless space,

without even the company of the planets!"



But while the doctor was carefully lowering the telescope, my eyes were

still searching, and presently I perceived a thin crescent of faintly

brighter light, growing gradually wider. It was like a new moon dimly

seen in a clear part of the sky when the afternoon sun is cloud-hidden.

The doctor stopped to look where I pointed it out to him, and then

changed the wheel a little.



"That is a thin slice of the illuminated part of the Earth," he said.

"We can no longer see the dark side which has been visible to us while

in the shadow. Fortunately our new course a little ahead of Mars will

give us a constant view of this thin crescent."



We now stood the instrument on end over the port-hole window, which

brought the small end near the aperture between the compartments. When

the doctor had secured a focus, he called me to look. The crescent was

greatly magnified, but the outline of the sphere on the other side could

not be seen, nor could anything be distinguished in the centre. Both

the outer and inner edges of the crescent were ragged and irregular in

places, and there were faint darker spots on its surface. I called the

doctor's attention to the fact that the ragged appearance was always in

the form of extending teeth on the outer side of the crescent, and in

the form of notches eaten into its inner edge. He studied all these

appearances carefully and finally said,--



"This crescent is that part of Earth which is just coming into morning.

It is gradually shifting from east to west with the Earth's rotation of

course. What we see now, however, is land almost from pole to pole.

There is a small sea just above the middle, which might be the

Mediterranean. Moreover, it must be mountainous land to cause the ragged

edges and the shadows inside."



Then he turned away to get his globe, and I took the place at the

instrument. He was slowly turning the globe and examining it

thoughtfully as he said to himself,--



"The only continuous land from pole to pole with one interrupting sea

must be over the two Americas or over Europe and Africa. The American

mountain ranges run from north to south, while through Europe and Africa

they are scarce, and almost uniformly run from east to west. Besides,

the sand of Sahara would be sure to show as a large, bright, regular

spot. A section from longitude 70 to 80 west would include the Green

Mountains and the Alleghanies of North America and the Andes of South

America, and in that case the darker spot in the centre would be the

Caribbean Sea."



"Look here!" I cried. "Toward the lower end the inner outline is growing

darker but more regular, and faint streaks or shadows reach through the

brighter light toward the dark greenish regular surface which looks like

water."



He observed closely and said,--



"Those shadows must be cast to westward by the enormous peaks of the

Andes, and the dark greenish surface they reach toward must be the

Pacific Ocean."



Then he consulted his globe while I looked. "The first two to come into

view," he said, "would be the two great peaks in Bolivia, over

twenty-one thousand feet high."



"There are two of them together," I said, "and now others are rapidly

coming into view. There are five more scattered unequally, and then,

lower down, three near together."



"Then there is not the slightest doubt that we see the Lower Andes," he

said. "These last you mention are scattered just as you say along the

border between Chili and Argentina, and the group of three are near

Valparaiso, the peak of Aconcagua being the tallest. But watch now for

the group in Ecuador, about midway between the top and bottom of the

crescent. There are four very large peaks and numerous smaller ones."



"The middle all looks bright yet, like land, with no shadows or greenish

spots. But a queer thing is happening lower down, where the shadows have

ceased lengthening and are now fading. There are several fine points of

light just beyond the outer edge of the crescent. They are mere bright

specks, but gradually they join with the surface, making a rough toothed

edge."



"Ah, that phenomenon has been observed upon the Moon," said he. "That is

the sun shining on the snow-capped peaks first, and then, when the

diminutive outline of the mountain comes into view, it looks like a

tooth."



"The same is happening all down the coast," I reported. "Now I see it on

the lower group of three."



"Give me the instrument," demanded the doctor. "That can be nothing but

the west coast of South America, and if that be the case, the whole

thing will be repeated for the tall group in Ecuador, dominated by

Chimborazo."



As I surrendered the telescope to him, the whole lower part of the

crescent was dark, but with regular edges. Only in the middle, which

should have been about the Equator, and in the upper part, was there the

bright lustre of land reflection. He watched for fully half an hour

before observing anything remarkable. At last he exclaimed,--



"Now they are beginning! Five streaks near together and just at the

Equator. They are almost equidistant from each other, and the next to

the lowest one is the longest. Now the top one begins to fade! Yes, and

a point of light has appeared detached from the outer edge, and now

another and another! They are growing inward toward the surface. Now

they are all connected like five saw teeth; the bottom one is the

shortest, and that next very high one is old Chimborazo."



"Then it is morning at Quito and also at Pittsburg!" I said, tracing up

the 80th meridian.



"Yes, and we have been one complete day and about five hours more

travelling the nine hundred thousand miles that lie between this and

Earth," replied he.



"That makes us one full meal behind time," I said; "but we have

discovered a way to make the Andes call us for breakfast. When the

Pacific Ocean has passed from view, Japan and Australia shall strike

noon for us, and we will have supper and call it night when the Indian

Ocean is gone and darkest Africa has come into view!"



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