peated the professor, with decision.

"Trash!" cried Ben Zoof. "The earth will be too far off!"

"Not too far off for us to come across her orbit at 42 minutes and 35.6
seconds past two o'clock on the morning of this coming 1st of January."

"Thanks, my dear professor--many thanks. You have given me all the
information I required;" and, with a low bow and a gracious smile, the
captain withdrew. The orderly made an equally polite bow, and followed
his master. The professor, completely nonplussed, was left alone.

Thirteen days, then--twenty-six of the original Gallian days, fifty-two
of the present--was all the time for preparation that now remained.
Every preliminary arrangement was hurried on with the greatest
earnestness.

There was a general eagerness to be quit of Gallia. Indifferent to
the dangers that must necessarily attend a balloon ascent under such
unparalleled circumstances, and heedless of Lieutenant Procope's warning
that the slightest check in their progress would result in instantaneous
combustion, they all seemed to conclude that it must be the simplest
thing possible to glide from one atmosphere to another, so that they
were quite sanguine as to the successful issue of their enterprise.
Captain Servadac made a point of showing himself quite enthusiastic in
his anticipations, and to Ben Zoof the going up in a balloon was the
supreme height of his ambition. The count and the lieutenant, of colder
and less demonstrative temperament, alike seemed to realize the possible
perils of the undertaking, but even they were determined to put a bold
face upon every difficulty.

The sea had now become navigable, and three voyages were made to Gourbi
Island in the steam launch, consuming the last of their little reserve
of coal.

The first voyage had been made by Servadac with several of the sailors.
They found the gourbi and the adjacent building quite uninjured by
the severity of the winter; numbers of little rivulets intersected the
pasture-land; new plants were springing up under the influence of the
equatorial sun, and the luxuriant foliage was tenanted by the birds
which had flown back from the volcano. Summer had almost abruptly
succeeded to winter, and the days, though only three hours long, were
intensely hot.

Another of the voyages to the island had been to collect the dry grass
and straw which was necessary for inflating the balloon. Had the balloon
been less cumbersome it would have been conveyed