Don't
you see how they have circled out on all sides so as to surround us? Then
when we get as high as we can go, they'll simply close in, and we'll be
trapped."
"Oh, no, we won't," Edmund replied.
"I don't see why."
"Because they can't go as high as we can."
"The deuce they can't! I guess they understand these ships as well as you
do."
"Can a fish live out of water?" asked Edmund, laughing.
"What's that got to do with it?"
"Why, it's plain enough. These people are used to breathing an atmosphere
surcharged with oxygen and twice as dense as that of the earth. It
doesn't trouble our breathing, simply giving us more energy; but we can
live where they would gasp for breath. Air impossibly rare for them is
all right for us, and that's what I am in search of, and we shall find it
if we can get high enough."
The beauty and simplicity of this unexpected plan struck us all with
admiration, and Jack, his doubts instantly turning to enthusiasm, cried:
"By Jo, Edmund, you're a trump! I'd like to get a gaff into the gills of
that catfish, Ingra, when he begins to blow. By Jo, I'd pickle him and
make a present of him to the Museum of Natural History.
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