"Good Lord!" gasped Stoddard. "I'll say we've got to have visibility! Wait a minute! Let me look around!"
He searched the room for further instruments—to find nothing that in any way met the purpose.
But even as he returned dejected, the professor cried out:
"Here—I've got it! Take a look at this!"
Bending over a small table beside the dial, Stoddard saw mirrored, in its ground-glass surface a hazy circular panorama that at first had no significance. But as he continued to peer down upon the scene, certain familiar aspects loomed out. It was the Earth—and what he was looking at was a view of the North and South American continents!
or some moments Stoddard stared at this amazing panorama in silence; saw it grow rapidly clearer, as the careening rocket plunged like a giant shell toward the earth.
"My God!" he whispered at length in awe. "Do you think you can ever check our speed?"
"I think so," the professor replied, busy over his instruments. "But where do we want to land? How do we know what state we were in?"