FIRST VIEW OF THE METEOR.
On their first evening out from Penang the travellers were sitting near the stern of the steamer, and gazing out over the moonlit waters. The stars were bright in the sky, and the boys were designating the various clusters and constellations, as they had learned them at school, when suddenly there was a flash of light about half-way from the horizon to the zenith, and directly in their line of vision. Then it moved across the heavens from right to left, with a slightly downward course, and, as the youths fixed their eyes upon it, there was an appearance of an explosion, and the sky assumed its former aspect.
"A shooting-star!" Frank exclaimed.
"Or perhaps a meteor," Fred responded.
"Either way you like," said the Doctor, "as both names are used for the phenomenon. It also has the name of 'falling-star,' as the path is generally downward, or apparently so."
Frank asked what a shooting-star, meteor, or falling-star was composed of, and what was the reason of its appearance.
EXPLOSION OF THE METEOR.
"That is a question more easily asked than answered," the Doctor replied. "Scientific men in all parts of the world have devoted a great deal of time and attention to the subject, but they are not, as yet, satisfactorily informed as to the character of the meteor."