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your lives may be, according to earthly reckoning, remember that

when they are past they will seem to have been hardly more than a

moment, for they are the personification of frailty and

evanescence."

He held up his hands and blessed them; and then repeating,

"Farewell and a happy return!" descended as he had come up.

The air was filled with misty shadows, and the pulsating hearts,

luminous brains, and centres of spiritual activity quivered with

motion. They surrounded the incarnate spirit of the bishop and

set up the soft, musical hum the travellers had heard so often

since their arrival on Saturn.

"I now understand," thought Ayrault, "why the spirits I met kept

repeating that I should be happy. They perceived I was to be

translated, and though they doubtless knew what suffering it

would cause, they also knew I should be awakened to a sense of

great realities, of which I understood but little."

They drew up the ladder and turned on the current, and the

Callisto slowly began to rise, while the three friends crowded

the window.

"Good-bye!" called the spirit's pleasant voice, to which the men

replied in chorus.

The sun had set on the surface of the planet while they made

their preparations; but as the Callisto rose higher, it seemed to

rise again, making the sides of their car shine like silver, and,

carefully closing the two open windows, they watched the

fast-receding world, so many times larger and more magnificent

than their own.

CHAPTER XV.

MOTHER EARTH.

"There is something sad," said Cortlandt, "about the end of

everything, but I am more sorry to leave Saturn than I have ever

been in taking leave of any other place."

When beyond the limits of the atmosphere they applied the full

current, and were soon once more cleaving the ether at cometary

speed, their motion towards the sun being aided by that great

body itself.

They quickly passed beyond the outer edge of the vast silvery

rings, and then crossed one after another the orbits of the

moons, from the last of which, Iapetus, they obtained their final

course in the direction of the earth. They had an acute feeling

of homesickness for the mysterious planet on which, while yet

mortal, they had found paradise, and had communed with spirits as

no modern men ever did.

Without deviating from their almost straight line, they passed

within a million miles of Jupiter, which had gained in its

smaller orbit on Saturn, and a few days later crossed the track

of Mars.

As the earth had completed nearly half a revolution in its orbit

since their departure, they here turned somewhat to the right by

attracting the ruddy planet, in order to avoid passing too near

the sun.

"On some future expedition," said Ayrault, "and when we have a

supply of blue glasses, we can take a trip to Venus, if we can

find a possible season in her year. Compared with this journey,

it would be only like going round the block."

Two days later they had rounded the sun, and laid their course in

pursuit of the earth.

That the astronomers in the dark hemisphere were at their posts

and saw them, was evident; for a brilliant beam of light again

flashed forth, this time from a point a little south of the

arctic circle, and after shining one minute, telegraphed this

message: "Rejoiced to see you again. Hope all are well."

Since they were not sufficiently near the moon's shadow, they

directed their light-beam into their own, which trailed off on

one side, and answered: "All well, thank you. Have wonderful

things to relate."

The men at the telescopes then, as before, read the message, and

telephoned the light this next question: "When are you coming

down, that we may notify the newspapers?"

"We wish one more sight of the earth from this height, by

daylight. We are now swinging to get between it and the sun."

"We have erected a monument in Van Cortlandt Park, and engraved

upon it, 'At this place James Bearwarden, Henry Chelmsford

Cortlandt, and Richard Rokeby Ayrault left earth, December 21, A.

D. 2000, to visit Jupiter.'"

"Add to it, 'They returned on the 10th of the following June.'"

Soon the Callisto came nearly between the earth and the sun, when

the astronomers could see it only through darkened glasses, and

it appeared almost as a crescent. The sight the travellers then

beheld was superb. It was about 11 A. M. in London, and Europe

was spread before them like a map. All its peninsulas and

islands, enclosed blue seas, and bays came out in clear relief.

Gradually Russia, Germany, France, the British Isles, and Spain

moved towards the horizon, as in grand procession, and at the

same time the Western hemisphere appeared. The hour of day at

the longitude above which they hung was about the same as when

they set out, but the sun shone far more directly upon the

Northern hemisphere than then, and instead of bleak December,

this was the leafy month of June.

They were loath to end the lovely scene, and would fain have

remained where they were while the earth revolved again; but,

remembering that their friends must by this time be waiting, they

shut off the repulsion from the earth.

"We need not apply the apergy to the earth until quite near,"

said Ayrault, "since a great part of the top speed will be taken

off by the resistance of the atmosphere, especially as we go in

base first. We have only to keep a sufficiently strong repulsion

on the dome to prevent our turning over, and to see that our

speed is not great enough to heat the car."

When about fifty miles from the surface they felt the expected

check, and concluded they had reached the upper limits of the

atmosphere. And this increased, notwithstanding the decrease in

their speed, showing how quickly the air became dense.

When about a mile from the earth they had the Callisto well in

hand, and allowed it to descend slowly. The ground was already

black with people, who, having learned where the Callisto was to

touch, had hastened to Van Cortlandt Park.

"I am overjoyed to see you," said Sylvia, when she and Ayrault

met. "I had the most dreadful presentiment that something had

gone wrong with you. One afternoon and evening I was so

perplexed, and during the night had a series of nightmares that I

shall never forget. I really believed you were near me, but your

nature seemed to have changed, for, instead of its making me

happy, I was frightfully distressed. The next day I was very

ill, and unable to get up; but during the morning I fell asleep

and had another dream, which was intensely realistic and made me

believe--yes, convinced me--that you were well. After that dream

I soon recovered; but oh, the anguish of the first!"

Ayrault did not tell her then that he had been near her, and of

his unspeakable suffering, of which hers had been but the echo.

Three weeks later a clergyman tied the knot that was to unite

them forever.

While Sylvia and Ayrault were standing up to receive the

congratulations of their friends, Bearwarden, in shaking his

hand, said:

"Remember, we have been to neither Uranus, nor Neptune, nor

Cassandra, which may be as interesting as anything we have seen.

Should you want to take another trip, count me as your humble

servant." And Cortlandt, following behind him, said the same

thing.

Shortly after this, Sylvia went up-stairs to change her dress,

and when she came down she and Ayrault set out on their journey

together through life, amid a chorus of cheers and a shower of

rice.

Cortlandt then returned to his department at Washington, and

Bearwarden resumed his duties with the Terrestrial Axis

Straightening Company, in the presidential chair.

End