A clear trail and an hour for meditation,
A long day and the joy to make it fly;
A hard task and the muscle to achieve it,
A fierce noon and a well contented gloam,
A good strife and no great regret to leave it,
A still night and the far red lights of home.”’”
Again the trio lapsed into reverie, which the girl was the one to break.
“I tried to tell Mr. Demarest about your astronomical studies,” she announced, “but I suppose I made a botch of it. He called you a fool, swung away from me, and let it go at that. But of course I couldn’t be expected to explain what you told him about Mars occupying the best position for observation next June, simply because I know nothing about it myself. What did you mean, Joshua?”
“Just what I said,” he told her. “On the eighteenth of June, next year, Mars will be about forty-two million miles from the earth. By the end of August the distance will be increased to sixty-six million miles. And this closeness will not occur again until August, Nineteen twenty-four. So you see that I must hurry to get everything ready to make the most of an opportunity that will not come again for over two years.”
“And what do you hope to find out next June?”