"Jules Verne. Off on a Comet. WORKS" - читать интересную книгу автора

But Captain Servadac could not altogether enter into his
servant's enthusiasm. If this were actually the moon, her distance
from the earth must have been increased by some millions of miles.
He was rather disposed to suspect that it was not the earth's
satellite at all, but some planet with its apparent magnitude
greatly enlarged by its approximation to the earth. Taking up
the powerful field-glass which he was accustomed to use in his
surveying operations, he proceeded to investigate more carefully
the luminous orb. But he failed to trace any of the lineaments,
supposed to resemble a human face, that mark the lunar surface;
he failed to decipher any indications of hill and plain;
nor could he make out the aureole of light which emanates from
what astronomers have designated Mount Tycho. "It is not the moon,"
he said slowly.

"Not the moon?" cried Ben Zoof. "Why not?"

"It is not the moon," again affirmed the captain.

"Why not?" repeated Ben Zoof, unwilling to renounce his first impression.

"Because there is a small satellite in attendance."
And the captain drew his servant's attention to a bright speck,
apparently about the size of one of Jupiter's satellites seen
through a moderate telescope, that was clearly visible just
within the focus of his glass.

Here, then, was a fresh mystery. The orbit of this planet was
assuredly interior to the orbit of the earth, because it accompanied
the sun in its apparent motion; yet it was neither Mercury nor Venus,
because neither one nor the other of these has any satellite at all.

The captain stamped and stamped again with mingled vexation,
agitation, and bewilderment. "Confound it!" he cried,
"if this is neither Venus nor Mercury, it must be the moon;
but if it is the moon, whence, in the name of all the gods,
has she picked up another moon for herself?"

The captain was in dire perplexity.



CHAPTER VIII

VENUS IN PERILOUS PROXIMITY


The light of the returning sun soon extinguished the glory of the stars,
and rendered it necessary for the captain to postpone his observations.