About forty-five minutes past five in the evening, Nicholl, armed with his glass, sighted towards the southern border of the moon, and in the direction followed by the projectile, some bright points cut upon the dark shield of the sky. They looked like a succession of sharp points lengthened into a tremulous line. They were very bright. Such appeared the terminal line of the moon when in one of her octants. They could not be mistaken. It was no longer a simple meteor. This luminous ridge had neither colour nor motion. Nor was it a volcano in eruption. And Barbicane did not hesitate to pronounce upon it. "The sun!" he exclaimed. "What! the sun?" answered Nicholl and Michel Ardan. "Yes, my friends, it is the radiant orb itself lighting up the summit of the mountains situated on the southern borders of the moon. We are evidently nearing the south pole." "After having passed the north pole," replied Michel. "We have made the circuit of our satellite, then?" "Yes, my good Michel." "Then, no more hyperbolas, no more parabolas, no more open curves to fear?" "No, but a _closed_ curve." "Which is called—" "An ellipse. Instead of losing itself in interplanetary space, it is probable that the projectile will describe an elliptical orbit around the moon." "Indeed!" "And that it will become _her_ satellite." "Moon of the moon!" cried Michel Ardan. "Only, I would have you observe, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane, "that we are none the less lost for that." "Yes, in another manner, and much more pleasantly," answered the careless Frenchman with his most amiable smile. Illustration: "LIGHT AND HEAT; ALL LIFE IS CONTAINED IN THEM." CHAPTER XVII. TYCHO. At six in the evening the projectile passed the south pole at less than forty miles off, a distance equal to that already reached at the north pole. The elliptical curve was being rigidly carried out. At this moment the travellers once more entered the blessed rays of the sun. They saw once more those stars which move slowly from east to west. The radiant orb was saluted by a triple hurrah. With its light it also sent heat, which soon pierced the metal walls. The glass resumed its accustomed appearance. The layers of ice melted as if by enchantment; and immediately, for economy's sake, the gas was put out, the air apparatus alone consuming its usual quantity. "Ah!" said Nicholl, "these rays of heat are good. With what impatience must the Selenites wait the reappearance of the orb of day." "Yes," replied Michel Ardan, "imbibing as it were the brilliant ether, light and heat, all life is contained in them."