"Yet it is perfectly true notwithstanding," answered Barbican. "At such
a moment the Sun is not eclipsed, because we can see him: and then again
he is eclipsed because we see him only by means of a few of his rays,
and even these have lost nearly all their brightness in their passage
through the terrestrial atmosphere!"

"Barbican is right, friend Michael," observed the Captain slowly: "the
same phenomenon occurs on earth every morning at sunrise, when
refraction shows us

'_the Sun new ris'n
Looking through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams._'"

"He must be right," said Ardan, who, to do him justice, though quick at
seeing a reason, was quicker to acknowledge its justice: "yes, he must
be right, because I begin to understand at last very clearly what he
really meant. However, we can judge for ourselves when we get
there.--But, apropos of nothing, tell me, Barbican, what do you think of
the Moon being an ancient comet, which had come so far within the sphere
of the Earth's attraction as to be kept there and turned into a
satellite?"

"Well, that _is_ an original idea!" said Barbican with a smile.

"My ideas generally are of that category," observed Ardan with an
affectation of dry pomposity.

"Not this time, however, friend Michael," observed M'Nicholl.