The daily tribune., 1905-12-08

the atmosphere Of the earth, fact that All
scientists accept. Some OF these bodies are
as small as pinheads. while others may be
larger. That tnis last was correct war e,i.
dent; yet how 1t had never been discovered
BY the carth's astronomers was q pussle
to me.
That IL simple matter OF explana-
tfon.' said our leader; this astcroid has
never been discovered. for the same rca-
son that many small but important things
have been for years overlooked by sclen-
lists In search Of greater fields to con.
Quer. 1t Is within less than one hundred
miles of earth, while the very nearest
object that has ever attracted the tee-
scopes OF our astronomers Is the moon
distant quarter of n million miles. Can
you not understand that no astronomer
would ever train his instrument 80 as to
focus an object less than n hundred miles
distant.
That sounds reasonable. yet I nsked
him how 1t was that 1t had never been
seen with the naked eye.
Simpler still,' he answered, because
this little planet Is less than ten miles in
color nearly Identical with that of the
enrth's atmosphere. would never be no.
Herd. and having no light Of Its own
could not be seen at any time. II 10 .
msre fsI ,c .recn, ,on 10 the .sy and no m.n can
carth. There may be many more Of
them, but for the prsssnt We WIN coeAne
ourselves TO this one. ana soon shall land
and see what there v to Dse.'
IAN aneroid barometer vss ther "a,
tnronEh the trap in the floor. In order to
ascertain the pressure Of tho atmosphere
before We dared to open the car ana eter
onto the little world We had dIscoyerrd
The planet wns growing larger every mo-
"en,i ,mi,I asd :, Te were now within less ina.
showed that the pressure was eight
pound. to the square inch. which about
eqnsled that on high mountsins on the
sas,n, san,s 20 We were safe to land. The
time showed an entire lack Of breese, and
We .Gentiy dropped to the surface OF Inc
Ncbnla. as had volunteered to cali the
dlscovcry. As We looked upon the land
scapc. 1t seemed as II we had suddenly
grouped Into Southern California. ana !
could not possibly Justify this condition
or vcrdnre with the small Size ~ the finv
world: Tor such little thing could not be
c-peectcd to obstruct enough Of the bent
ot the sun to produce such a condition
Iryzl"d. ] myself dropped a Thermometer
,hrongh the trnpdoor md noted Its reg.
rtc,. IL was eighty degrccs-n fact that
inrtn"r surprised mc-nnd rnid 80
dare say we shall 0nd ,,,t ,,o-o
nr" other sources Of heat besides tho sun.
sHln on" or my companions: nnd M
sooner nnd We opened the car door ond
begun TO climb down the anchor ronc
which had been cast ont than wc AZ.
covered the correctness of his propbccv.
Thor" wore boiling springs cverywbere.
NJ" ,nr Vetonrr was mn ngnfhrcnt.
,rying The anchor rope nbont n howl.
But FIRST Of ali. took a rooa ,"n. pnn wot,n, ~
earth We had left f~w honr. bc,orc
wo.ds can ever tell Il mica simo,, W. -.
entry dome Of the ny, anl ne cont,vso,
North Am"r,ra ,cnk~d exactly a. !,
II n'eI .cSeo,rscm r. s.'.:d scs. sccn e 70 ssys
rr.nci.co AZ wei, % n I Mad Hsd = Hsc
.nd pntntcr; and from that western NJ.
,ronoIIs couid trar~ the outjiue on fNe
United Htates to the city Of Chicsso ana
10 on TO- tho gateway Of Enrop~-New
York II wns wonderful. The sIr wss
nor 10 rsre ~ 10 bc hard on lnnrs usrd
marty complained. and one snfYcrco nose
h,ccd. There wns y ripp'Inr brook nrsr
NJ hama. fs banks lined with plant nfe.
md went fownrd II 70 ret n drink
fcif wonderfully clntcd In mind ana body.
nnd rnn lightly toward II. falling on INV
chest and qucnchinr my thirst with the
The stream was not more than ten ~,
wide and. ~ far as W. could see from
where We sfooh. thrr~ WIS no nsrrowcr
n'ncc. We wanted IN cross N, and 7
fancied ] could MAX. the ieap. old man
though ] nm. took a few steps back
wara, ard fhsn ran toward the hank and
81 SCARED thrcuKM that air Mke q b'rd.
md landed NJ i-sst twenty yards beyond
the farther hank. Ny companions. ss
nlighfcd with the ease of q feather, Arf
looked bewildercd. awd tAea broke Into
peais OF a'most nncearng laughter. ruv
they understood the reason befors I "a.
''No. Wen. H. ssp,assssss b = ~
pie Ms all the others have bees, and foi.