Owing to our
location on Venus, still at a long distance from the center of the
sunward hemisphere, the sun was not directly overhead, but inclined at a
large angle to the vertical, so that when we began to approach the upper
surface of the vault, and the vapor thinned out, we saw through one of
the windows a pulsating patch of light, growing every moment brighter and
more distinct, until as we shot out of the clouds it instantly sharpened
into a huge round disk of blinding brilliance.
"The sun! The sun!" we cried.
We had not seen it for months. When it had gleamed out for a short time
during our drift across the water from the land of ice into the belt of
tempests, we had been too much occupied with our safety to pay attention
to it; but now the wonder of it awed us. Four times as large and four
times as bright and hot as it appears from the earth, its rays seemed to
smite with terrific energy. Juba, wearing his eye shades, shrank into a
corner and hid his face.
"It is well that we are protected by the walls of the car and the thick
glass windows," said Edmund, "for I do not doubt that there are solar
radiations in abundance here which scarcely affect us on the earth, but
which might prove dangerous or even mortal if we were exposed to their
full force.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275