The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 — page 109: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A MONTH IN THE MOON. 109 He would have been much surprised not to have made this discovery. And yet he had doubted up to this very moment ; but now all doubt was at an end. In less than eleven hours the moon h¥@ already come appreciably nearer to the earth. ‘The problem was solved. ‘The undertaking was accomplished. The magnet of Tehbali was having the expected effect, and by its added power increasing the attraction of the terrestrial globe. Norbert was at first almost stunned by the startling success of his efforts. He must have been in_a kind of vertigo all night, for on waking in the morning he found himself stretched on a sofa, head aching and limbs bruised, without any recollection of how he came there. He ran to the magnetometer. The tension was still at the maximum. The sun was rising, and would set the parabolic mirrors in action. There was no reason why the experiment should not go on to the end by itself. How impatiently did the young astronomer await the return of the moon to continue his observations. . She rose that day at thirty six minutes after four o’clock in the afternoon. Long before the time Norbert had his eye glued to the telescope, in readiness to take a fresh measurement. No sooner did she appear above the horizon than it became perfectly clear that it would be quite useless to take a micro- metric measurement, for since the evening before her diameter had more than doubled. She now described an arc of one degree, six minttes, twenty eight seconds. : The increase was so remarkable that everyone was struck by it. Soon groups of Arabs stood about the plain, contemplating the moon with aston- ishment. Doubtless they considered the phenomenon to be a favorable augury, for they did not seem to be in the least terrified. At three o’clock in the morning, shortly before the moon set, Norbert dis- covered that her diameter had again increased, and now measured nearly two degrees. On the third day the moon appeared in the east at forty two minutes after five o’clock. It was not as yet very bright, the sun now being in the west, but the circumference was immense ; the moon now described an arc of nine degrees! ‘That is to say, forty full moons of this size would have sufficed, if close together, to fill up the entire circumference of the horizon. When evening came, and the sun, having set a little before seven, left the enormous lunar globe reigning alone in the heavens, a feeling of indescribable dread came to all who looked at her. She was, be it remembered, only as yet in the eleventh day of lunation. .- In the abnormal moonlight, almost as bright as day, they could discern from the top of the terrace the behavior of the Arabs in the plain below. Prostrated on the earth with extended arms, the Mahdists were evidently dis- turbed. The sound of the tom tom could be plainly heard, and in the still evening air the voices of the imams and dervishes floated up, as in deep earnest tones they implored aloud the Divine protection. These supplications went on all night until about thirty seven minutes past three in the morning, when the moon disappearing beneath the horizon, CoORmMiclooolks 3