eems an awful long way from home--I mean America--doesn't it? I often
wonder what they are thinking about us on the dear old Earth. I don't
suppose any one ever expects to see us again. However, it's no good
getting homesick in the middle of a journey when you're outward bound.
And now what is the programme as regards His Majesty King Jove? We shall
visit the satellites of course?"

"Certainly," replied Redgrave; "in fact, I shouldn't be surprised if our
visit was confined to them."

"What! do you mean to say we shan't land on Jupiter after coming nearly
six hundred million miles to see him? That would be disappointing. But
why not? don't you think he's ready to be visited yet?"

"I can't say that, but you must remember that no one has the remotest
notion of what there is behind the clouds or whatever they are which
form those bands. All we really know about Jupiter is that he is of
enormous size, for instance, he's over twelve hundred times bigger than
the Earth and that his density isn't much greater than that of
water--and my humble opinion is that if we're able to go through the
clouds without getting the _Astronef_ red-hot we shall find that Jupiter
is in the same state as the Earth was a good many million years ago."

"I see," said Zaidie, "you mean just a mass of blazing, boiling rock and
metal which will make islands and continents some day; and that what we
call the cloud-bands are the vapours which will one day make its seas.
Well, if we can get through these clouds we ought to see something worth
seeing. Just fancy a whole world as big as that all ablaze like molten
iron! Do you think we shall be able to see it, Lenox?"

"I'm not so sure about that, little woman. We shall have to go to work
rather cautiously. You see Jupiter is far bigger than any world we've
visited yet, and if we got too close to him the _Astronef's_ engines
might not be powerful enough to drive us away again. Then we should
either stop there till the R. Force was exhausted or be drawn towards
him and perhaps drop into an ocean of molten rock and metal."

"Thanks!" said Zaidie, with a shrug of her shapely shoulders. "That
_would_ be an ignominious end to a journey like this, to say nothing of
the boiling oil part of it; so I suppose you'll make stopping-places of
the satellites and use their attraction to help you to resist His
Majesty's."

"Your Ladyship's reasoning is perfect. I propose to visit them in turn,
beginning with Calisto