The Semi-weekly leader., 1905-11-29

| 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 this last was correct was eyi
dent; yet now it had never been discovered
by the earth's astronomers was a puzzle
| to me-
That is a simple matter of explana-
| tion,' said our leader; this asteroid has
never been discovered, for the same rea-
| son that many small but important things
have been for years overlooked by scien-
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 tele-
scopes of our astronomers is the moon,
/ distant a quarter of a million miles, Can
| you not understand that no astronomer
| would ever train his instrument so as to
| focus an object less than hundred miles
distant.
"That sounds reasonable, yet I asked
him how it was that it had never been
| seen with the naked eye.
Simpler still,' he answered, because
this little planet is less than ten miles in
diameter. So small an object, with a
earth's atmosphere, would never be no.
| ticed, and having no light of its own
could not be seen at any time. It is a.
mere speck in the sky, and no man can
| tell how long it has foated around our
| earth. There may be many more of
them. but for the present we win confne
ourselves to this one, and soon shall land
| and see what there is to see.'
"An aneroid barometer was then let
| through the trap in the floor, in order to
ascertain the pressure of the atmosphere
before we dared to open the car and step
onto the little world we had discovered.
The planet was growing larger every mo-
ment, and we were now within less than
a mile of its surface. The instrument
showed that the pressure was eight
les An 4hr fx1nT, -.
equaled that on high mountains on the
| earth, so we were safe to land The
thermometer attached to the car at this
time showed an entire lack of breeze and
| We gently dropped to the surface of the
| .Nebula, as / had volunteered to call the
| discovery. AS we looked upon the land
scape, it seemed as If we had suddenly
dropped into Southern California. and I
could not possibly Justify this condition
/ of yerdnre with the small size of the tiny
world, for such little thing could not be
/ expected to obstrnct enough of the heat
| of the sun to produce such a condition.
Puzzled. I myself dropped thermometer
| through the trapdoor and noted its reg
ister. II was eighty degrees-a fact that
further surprised me-and I said so.
dare say we shall find that there
are other sources of heat besides the SUM-
| SAID one OF my companions; ana no
sooner had we opened the car door ana
/ begun to climb down the anchor rome
which had been cast out. than we dis
covered the correctness of his prophecy.
There Were boiling springs everywhere
and the verdure was magnificent.
Tying the anchor rope aboutAa bowl
DER we began survey of our world
But st>of all, took good look at the
earth we had left a few hours before
| 1t was more magnificent sight than
words can ever tell It filed almost the
entire dome of the sky. ana tae continent
i of North America looked exactly as it
| does on raised globe such as we have
| In schooLrooms. / could locate San
Francisco as well as If Ind had man
and pointer; and from that Western me-
Iropolis could trace the outline OF the
United States to the city of Chicago and
| SO on to the gateway of Europe-New
i York. Tt was wonderful The air was
not SO rare as to be hard on lungs used
| TO mountain conditions; but some OF the
party complained, and one suffered nose
bleed. There was rfppling brook near
at hand, its banks lined with plant life,
and / went toward IT to get a drink.
felt wonderfully eiated in mind and body,
and ran lightly toward IT, falling on my
chest, and quenching my thirst with the
most refreshing water / had ever drank.
| The stream was not more than ten feet
wide, and, as far as we could see from
where we stood. there was no narrower
/ place.. We wanted to cross II, and
though ! an. I took few steps back
ward, and then ran toward the bank and
4 sprang into the air.
| soared through that afr IKE a bird,
and landed at least twenty yards beyond
/ the farther bank NV companions, as [
alighted with the ease of feather, first
looked bewildered, and then broke into
peais OF almost nnceasing laughter. For
they understood the reason before did.
emo. Wen, the explanation Is as sim
lpie as all the others have been, and fol-