they could see New York. They also saw the ocean dotted for
miles with points in which they recognized the marine spiders and
cruisers of the North Atlantic squadron, and the ships on the
home station, which they knew were watching them through their
glasses.

"I see," said Cortlandt, "that Deepwaters has been as good as his
word, and has his ships on the watch to rescue us in case we
fail."

"Yes," replied Bearwarden, "he is the right sort. When he gave
that promise I knew his men would be there."

They soon perceived that they had reached the void of space, for,
though the sun blazed with a splendour they had never before
seen, the firmament was intensely black, and the stars shone as
at midnight. Here they began to change their course to a curve
beginning with a spiral, by charging the Callisto apergetically,
and directing the current towards the moon, to act as an aid to
the lunar attraction, while still allowing the earth to repel,
and their motion gradually became the resultant of the two
forces, the change from a straight line being so gradual,
however, that for some minutes they scarcely perceived it. The
coronal streamers about the sun, such as are visible on earth
during a total eclipse, shone with a halo against the
ultra-Cimmerian background, bursting forth to a height of twenty
or thirty thousand miles above the surface in vast cyclonic
storms, producing so rapid a motion that a column of incandescent
gas may move ten thousand miles in less than ten minutes.
Whether these great streaks were in part electrical phenomena