"What news?" asked Bartholomew.
"Why about this comet that's hastening towards us," replied Mr. Pond.
"What's a comet?" inquired Bartholomew.
"A comet," said Mr. Pond, in the tones he used when he was teaching the children, "a comet is a heavenly body of fire which rushes round space at a prodigious rate of speed. It's rushing towards us now, sir, at millions and millions of miles a day!"
"How big is it?" asked Bartholomew.
"Much bigger than what our earth is, Mr. Flitcroft," answered the school-master. "Its tail is twenty millions of miles long."
"And you say it's coming here?" continued Bartholomew.
"So the scientific gentlemen are agreed, sir," said Mr. Pond. "Yes, this vast body of fire is rushing upon us as wild beasts rush on their prey. It may be mercifully turned aside and only brush us with its tail; it may crash right upon us, and then——"
Mr. Pond finished with an expressive "Ah!" and Bartholomew gaped at him.
"Is it all true?" he asked. "Is it in the newspapers?"