"
"They've got good legs; make 'em walk," said Jack.
Edmund burst into a laugh.
"Why, Jack," he asked, "how far do you think it is to the other side of
Venus?"
"I don't know," said Jack, "but I suppose it's not very far round her.
How far is it?"
"Five thousand miles, at least, to the edge of the sunlit hemisphere."
Jack whistled.
"By Jo! I wouldn't have believed it."
"Well, it's a fact," said Edmund, "and of course I don't propose to take
several months to make the journey. Now the sight of these fellows at
work has shown me just how it can be done in short order. It's this way:
I'll have iron sleds made, put the natives that I propose to take along
upon them, hitch them by wire cables, which luckily I've got, to the car,
and away we'll spin. The power of the car is practically unlimited, and,
as you have observed, the ground is as flat and smooth as a prairie, and,
moreover, is coated with an icy covering."
Jack glowed with enthusiasm over this project, and was about to indulge
in one of his characteristic outbreaks, when there came an interruption
which ended in a drama that put silver streaks among my coal-black locks!
Some one came in where we were and called off the workmen, who went out
with the others in great haste.
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