Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-08-16
A TRIP TO THE sun.

man-~almost as cold, calm and passionless
as he was English For years he had been
a member of the London Beefsteak club.
Sir Fillemup had three friends at the
club. They met every evening to bet They
would bet on anything. One day they bet
on the length of their respective feet Sir
Filemup won by two laps,
Il would be willing to bet that l can
climb up to the sum-" said he.
His friends bet him 100000, and the
money was staked.
~ will start in three days" he said
calmly.
And how long will you be gomez" they
asked.
"Ten days" was the cool response.
From that moment Sir Fillemup absented
himself from the club He was preparing
| for his flight.
His preparations were simple. First he
| procured a suit Of Japan silk, light and
flexible. Then he pulled on pair of boots
of his own invention. The legs reached to
! the armpits. The soles were of gun barrels
arranged perpendicularly.
| From belt at his waist depended two
| 4,oO0-ton columbiads. The guns and column
| biads were so arranged as to load and fire
| themselves so times minute.
The process was SO simple as to make
explanation unnecessary. With the recoil
from the firing of these pieces Sir Fillemup
proposed to secure velocity of 100000
| miles an hour This would enable him to
reach the sun in days and 20 hours
| He calculated to remain there two days.
| Then reversing himself, he proposed to
turn his guns loose again and return TO the
earth in the same time occupied by his
| ascent.
| He had fixed upon May at o'clock in
the morning A framework had been built
| to suspend him until he could get his ord
| nance in working order. At signal the
guns opened, and Sir Fllemup dashed into
the air.
He had not miscalculated his velocity,
though it seemed to him that he ought to
| have reached his destination in about 1C
minutes at the rate he was going. Still his
pedometer showed only rate of 100000
miles an hour.
There was nothing upon which the sun
could reflect, and Sir Fillemup was in
darkness after leaving the earth's atmos
phere, except when he looked straight at
the sun. 1t was to him then perfectly
round ball, affording neither light mol
heat.
He did not feel that he was moving, He
seemed suspended in space. Still he was
nearing the sun. He could see it drawing
| closer.
At the end of the second day he appeared
to be surrounded by u yellow nebula. II
was not dense, but series of not unpleas
ant shocks showed that he was passing
through magnetic influence.
The yellow belt appeared to be composed
of sparks that compelled him to cover his
face and hands. They were apparently
iron filings in Il state Of fusion. His dres:
was protected from danger by fire by {
preparation of alum.
Toward the middle of the third day HI
emerged from this zone and entered en-
other Of intense cold and fearfully dark
Beyond he could see a peculiar mass o
matter, brownish in color and oval il
shape.
Passing through the frigid belt the Diet
onatons of his cannons almost deafenet
him. 1t was clear that he had again en-
tered an atmosphere. During the afternoo,
he passed through the warmer zone, and a
10 o'clock, just IS hours after leaving Thu
earth, he stood on the dun colored mass
He had reached the sun,
What struck him as most peculiar wa
the warm, even temperature. There wa
no intense heat. Everything around CAV
the impression Of iron, not in state of flu
sion, as he expected to find it, but moder
| ate.
No sooner had he landed than his cannon
and guns were torn from him. They stucl
fast to the surface of the sun
He recognized the reason. He was on a.
immense magnet How large he could no
tell. He thought of the yellow zone an,
the cold belt through which he had passe'
and saw the solar principle at a glance.
The sun was but a fountain of electricity
generating heat and light and feeling blu
little of either.
There was no sign of vegetation or an
NAL life. There were no shadows. Eve
the inequality of the surface cast no shade
He walked lonely and shadowless on til
barren creator of all life. Around him, lik
an aurora, CLEANED the yellow mist of tn
outer circle.
There were no stars. There were II
, worlds. He occupied the life giving essence
obliyious to every living thing save hin
self He put in two days on this line, an
) then prepared to depart
> But his cannons and guns were immovs
: BILE. He couldn't wrench the smallest riff
, from its fastenings The magnet held thel
like WISE
Then he remembered that there WAS n
grayitation except to metal. Slipping O
r. a boot, he found he was lighter, becaus
the nails had kept him down. Should i
slip off the other and take step he woul
remain in midair.
He could not fall again to the sun. Il
could not leave it, because he was not witt
in the influence of any other gravitation {
; atmosphere Then he must die in space
few feet from substance.
O. Suddenly he bethought him-the MAJ
netism can he beaten out Of iron by shal
blow. He had no stone to be beat witt
but dripping water is more powerful tina
t rock, since it will wear rock away
He began to expectorate. In an hour
split one cannon loose In another no,
l. the second columbiad was free. He he
$ now exactly time to the minute to retur
But he had not time to release the small
weapons, and without their recoil could
effect his return in the prescribed time?
" He would try it. Starting his columbiat
if he found himself in space. He had no i'd
;, how fast he travelled. His face was turnt
u from the sun, and there was no light. Cor
70 posing himself he slept.
When he came to consciousness, he WI
in the hospital in London, with his thr
friends bending over him, congratulate
him on having won his wager.
He had struck the earth, but not hal
enough to injure him seriously. The re
son was that he had been 10 days witho
air, and when he struck the atmosphere
70 had inhaled so much that he swelled l
Il like balloon.
The swelling burst his boots off, and b
columbiads dropped into the sea, while
floated softly down and reached the groul