--could
they not send us a projectile loaded with provisions which we should
expect by a fixed date?"

"Hurrah!" cried J.T. Maston. "That is not at all a bad idea. Certainly
we will not forget you."

"I depend upon you. Thus you see we shall have news regularly from the
globe, and for our part we shall be very awkward if we do not find means
to communicate with our good friends on earth."

These words inspired such confidence that Michel Ardan with his superb
assurance would have carried the whole Gun Club with him. What he said
seemed simple, elementary, and sure of success, and it would have been
sordid attachment to this earth to hesitate to follow the three
travellers upon their lunar expedition.

When the different objects were placed in the projectile the water was
introduced between the partitions and the gas for lighting purposes laid
in. Barbicane took enough chlorate of potash and caustic potash for two
months, as he feared unforeseen delay. An extremely ingenious machine
working automatically put the elements for good air in motion. The
projectile, therefore, was ready, and the only thing left to do was to
lower it into the gun, an operation full of perils and difficulty.

The enormous projectile was taken to the summit of Stony Hill. There
enormous cranes seized it and held it suspended over the metal well.

This was an anxious moment. If the chains were to break under the
enormous weight the fall of such a mass would inevitably ignite the
gun-cotton.

Happily nothing of the sort happened, and a few hours afterwards the
projectile-compartment rested on its pyroxyle bed, a veritable
fulminating pillow. The only effect of its pressure was to ram the
charge of the gun more strongly.

"I have lost," said the captain, handing the sum of 3,000 dollars to
President Barbicane.

Barbicane did not wish to receive this money from his travelling
companion, but he was obliged to give way to Nicholl, who wished to
fulfil all his engagements before leaving the earth.

"Then," said Michel Ardan, "there is but one thing I wish for you now,
captain."

"What is that?" asked Nicholl.

"It is that you may lose your other two wagers. By that means we shall
be sure not to be stopped on the road."

CHAPTER XXVI.

FIRE!

The 1st of December came, the fatal day, for if the projectile did not
start that very evening at 10h. 46m. and 40s. p.m., more than eighteen
years would elapse before the moon would pre