This projectile was very comfortably and conveniently arranged. The walls were padded and there were springs in the floor, so that the inmates might not receive too great a shock when they started. It was furnished with plenty of provisions, with contrivances for lighting and ventilating it, and a machine for manufacturing atmospheric air, which is something that travelers do not expect to find at the moon.
There were thick plate-glass windows in the sides, and everything that could be thought of to make the trip comfortable and safe was found in this curious aerial car.
THE DOGS THAT STARTED FOR THE MOON.
Not only were there three men in the projectile, but it contained two dogs and some chickens. The picture shows the dogs, which were handsome creatures, and it will also give you an idea of the inside arrangements, with the telescope, and the guns hanging on the wall.
The distance from the earth to the moon was to be accomplished in about four days, and after the first shock of the starting, which was quite heavy, notwithstanding the springs and the cushions, our travelers began to make themselves at home.
They talked, they ate and drank and smoked. They took observations out of their windows, and watched the earth recede until it looked like a great moon, and saw the moon approach until it seemed like a little earth.
One of them, the Frenchman, was in such high spirits that if his companions would have allowed him he would have got outside of their little house and stood in triumph on the very top, as it went whizzing through the air.
The artist has given us a picture of how he would have looked if he had stood out there where he wanted to perch himself.
His idea was that as there was as much momentum in him as there was in the projectile, there was no danger of his falling off and being left behind.