property that the fragments possessed; for it and they repelled
one another, on a near approach, after which nothing came very
near.

Much of the material was like slag from a furnace, having
evidently been partly fused. Whether this heat was the result of
collision or of its near approach to the sun at perihelion, they
could not tell, though the latter explanation seemed most simple
and probable. When at about the centre of the nucleus they were
in semi-darkness--not twilight, for any ray that succeeded in
penetrating was dazzlingly brilliant, and the shadows, their own
included, were inky black. As they approached the farther side
and the sunlight decreased, they found that a diffused luminosity
pervaded everything. It was sufficiently bright to enable them
to see the dark side of the meteoric masses, and, on emerging
from the nucleus in total darkness, they found the shadow
stretching thousands of miles before them into space.

"I now understand," said Bearwarden, "why stars of the sixth and
seventh magnitude can be seen through thousands of miles of a
comet's tail. It is simply because there is nothing in it. The
reason ANY stars are obscured is because the light in the tail,
however faint, is brighter than they, and that light is all that
the caudal appendage consists of, though what produces it I
confess I am unable to explain. I also see why the tail always
stretches away from the sun, because near by it is overwhelmed by
the more powerful light; in fact, I suspect it is principally in
the comet's shadow that the tail is visible. It is strange that
no one ever thought of that before, or that any one feared the
earth's passing through the tail of a comet. It is obvious to me