all these mute instructors and, looking skyward, fixed my mind on the
shores of another world.




CHAPTER X.

Floating Cities.


Almost everyone is familiar with Ursa Major, or the Great Dipper, that
lies in such bold relief in the region of the northern heavens, and that
apparently revolves around Polaris, the North Star.

The nearer of the two stars that help to form this famous Dipper and
that point toward Polaris, is called Dubhe by our astronomers. This star
and its interesting solar system next claimed my attention.

From Earth I had often looked with admiring wonder at the starry
firmament, and during many an evening I had drawn the imaginary lines
from star to star outlining the Great Dipper, commencing with the end of
the handle and finishing with the star just named at the outer edge, or
rim.

As I came near to Dubhe, I scanned the surrounding skies and was
surprised to find that the whole semblance of my dipper was lost.
Instead of lying in a plane, these stars were widely separated, so far
that a billion miles gives no fair hint of the distance.