star, as meteors often enter ours. Suppose his
rocket crashed upon a planet, or the star itself, or became a captive
satellite of some celestial body?

It had been at this juncture that the idea of his rocket becoming the
satellite of the earth had presented itself, and he had immediately
incorporated it into his scheme. The professor had figured out the
amount of radium necessary to carry the rocket far enough away from the
earth so that it would not turn around and crash, and still be not so
far away but what the earth's gravitational attraction would keep it
from leaving the vicinity of the earth and the solar system. Like the
moon, it would forever revolve around the earth.

He had chosen an orbit sixty-five thousand miles from the earth for his
rocket to follow. The only fears he had entertained concerned the huge
meteors which careened through space at tremendous rates of speed. He
had overcome this obstacle, however, and had eliminated the
possibilities of a collision with these stellar juggernauts. In the
rocket were installed radium repulsion rays which swerved all
approaching meteors from the path of the rocket as they entered the
vicinity of the space wanderer.

The aged professor had prepared for every contingency, and had set down
to rest from his labors, reveling in the stupendous, unparalleled
results he would obtain. Never would his body undergo decay; and never
would his bones bleach to return to the dust of the earth from which all
men originally came and to which they must return. His body would remain
millions of years in a perfectly preserved state, untouched by the hoary
palm of such time as only geologists and astronomers can conceive.

His efforts would surpass even the wildest dreams of H. Rider Haggard,
who depicted the wondrous, embalming practices of the ancient nation of
Kor in his immortal novel, "She," wherein Holly, under the escort of the
incomparable Ayesha, looked upon the magnificent, lifelike masterpieces
of embalming by the long-gone peoples of Kor.

With the able assistance of a nephew, who carried out his instructions
and wishes following his death, Professor Jameson was sent upon his
pilgrimage into space within the rocket he himself had built. The nephew
and heir kept the secret forever locked in his heart.

* * * * *

Generation after generation had passed upon its way. Gradually humanity
had come to die out, finally disappearing from the e