d fallen
upon my hands.

"You weigh twenty and a half pounds," he said, and then inquired, "What
did you weigh on Earth?"

"One hundred and eighty-five pounds," I answered, just beginning to
understand that our greatly increased distance from the Earth had much
reduced her attraction for us.

"That is disappointing," he answered, "for we are only eight thousand
miles from home; but our velocity is still constantly increasing."

"I would like to buy things here and sell them at the surface," I
exclaimed.

"You wouldn't make anything by it if you used the ordinary balance
scales," replied the doctor.

Try as hard as I would, I could not accustom my muscles to these new
conditions. They were too gross and clumsy for the fine and delicate
efforts which were now necessary. I was constantly hitting and slapping
myself, though these blows scarcely hurt, and never resulted in bruises.
I attempted a thorough re-training of my muscles, which was to all
intents an utter failure, for weight continued diminishing much more
rapidly than my stubborn muscles could appreciate. After another eight
thousand miles, which were quickly made, we had but one twenty-fifth our
usual weight, which reduced me to seven pounds. And for most of the trip
we weighed practically nothing, suffering many inconveniences on that
account.

CHAPTER IX

Tricks of Refraction

The doctor figured out that we should be quite insensible to any weight
when we were seventy-five thousand miles from the Earth. At fifty
thousand miles I would still weigh a pound, and when we had finished the
first million miles, the entire projectile, with its two occupants and
all its dead weight, would weigh considerably less than an ounce. That
was a mere start on the enormous trip ahead of us; but when that
distance was reached, we could no longer count upon terrestrial gravity
for accelerating our speed. We must travel with our accumulated
momentum, unless by that time the Sun should have taken the place of the
Earth, and with his vaster forces continue to repel us Marsward.

As we sat talking the doctor grew weary, and soon unconsciously dropped
asleep. I left him to enjoy his rest, and, tossing a scrap of ham bone
to Two-spot, I went up to take my place at the telescope.

Mars seemed to be exactly in the right part of the field. I surveyed the
starry stretches ahead with a feeling a little akin to fear. I was
queerly affected by the vast expanse of loneline