tific instruments, tinned foods, biscuits, meat
extracts, condensed milk and coffee, bottled fruits, vegetables, and the
like. Over these the doctor worked his way to the forward compartment,
while I followed him, anxious to explore the interior.

"I will unpack all these goods and put them in their places to-morrow
forenoon," explained the doctor. "Here, in my compartment on the left, I
have my gravity apparatus, battery cells and the like, and a small table
for writing and other work. On the right is the bunk on which I sleep,
and under it is the big telescope, neatly fitted and swinging up easily
into place before the mica window."

"Has the compressed air been put in yet?" I inquired.

"Oh, yes, that had to be done in the city, where they have powerful air
compressors. I would have preferred this purer air out here, but it was
impossible. The air we put in only increased the weight of the
projectile eighteen pounds, but it will be sufficient for two of us for
six months. We were obliged to make the most careful and thorough tests
for leaks in the air-chambers; for if there were any of these, our life
would leak out with the air."

"And such airless satellites as the Moon will make the most desperate
efforts to steal your atmosphere, too!" I added.

"Yes, but we will give them only our foul air as a small stock-in-trade
with which they may begin business. But I see my batteries are
commencing to work nicely. I think I can lift her now. You go outside
and make a hitch with that rope you saw just forward of the middle of
the projectile. Then, when I have neutralized her weight, you tow her
over beyond that clump of trees you saw near the shore. That will be out
of the view of trains."

"Must I concentrate my mind or keep my thoughts fixed on anything?" I
asked quizzically.

"Rubbish! Concentrate it on this. If the projectile starts up, don't try
to hold her with your little rope. Let go quickly, or you may get
uncomfortable holding on!"

I went outside, untied the coil of rope and threw one end over. Meantime
the doctor had opened the forward window, so that he might give
directions, and I said to him,--

"I can't get the rope under her; she is lying flat on the car."

"Wait a moment and I will lift her for you," he replied. The railroad
ties rose a little out of the sand, and there was a slight creaking of
the woodwork of the car as the weight came off. Presently the forward
end of the projectile rose slow