"Can you tell me the meaning of this, Mr. Henderson? You're a scientific sharp and know a whole lot of things. My cook just went to the galley door to throw out a pot of slops and something--some mysterious force--snatched the heavy iron pot out of his hand and it went sailing off over the ship's rail. Can you explain that?" "Wasn't it the wind snatched it away?" asked Jack Darrow, before the professor was ready to answer. "Don't seem to be no wind blowing just at present," said Captain Sproul. "Wait!" commanded the professor. "Order every companionway and hatch closed. Do not allow a man to go on deck, nor to open a deadlight. We must exist upon the air that remains in the vessel for the present." "What do you mean?" gasped the skipper. "There is no air outside!" declared Professor Henderson, solemnly. "We are flying through space where no atmosphere exists. The iron pot merely remained poised in space--our planet, far, far, heavier, is falling through this awful void." "What sort o' stuff are you talkin'?" demanded Captain Sproul, growing positively white beneath his tan. "We began to fall several minutes ago," said the professor, pointing to the indicator of one of the delicate instruments before him on the chart table. "The balance of attraction between the earth and the sun has become disturbed and we are plunging--" "Into the sun?" shrieked Mark Sampson, springing to his feet. "No! no! Toward the earth! Toward the earth!" reiterated Professor Henderson. "Her attraction has proved the greater. We are falling with frightful velocity toward the sphere from which we were blown off into space so many weeks ago." "I reckon I'm crazy," groaned Captain Sproul "I hear you folks talkin', but I don't understand a thunderin' word you say." "You can feel that the air in here is vitiated; can't you?" demanded Professor Henderson. The boys had already felt that it was more difficult to breathe. They heard cries all over the ship. Washington White burst into the room, crying: "Oh, lawsy-massy me, Perfesser! We is done bein' smothercated. De breaf am a-leabin' our bodies fo' suah." The negro fell in a swoon, overturning the table and sending the professor's instruments crashing to the floor. The others, struggling for breath, likewise sank beside Wash. The lights all over the ship were suddenly snuffed out. Every soul aboard lost consciousness as, rushing at unreckoned speed through the universe, the torn-away world descended toward its parent planet. How long they were unconscious none of the survivors ever learned. When they _did_ finally struggle to sense again, it was with the sound of the rushing of mighty waters in their ears. The _Orion_ was afloat! She was being tossed upon the bosom of a wind-lashed ocean, and a hurricane, the like of which the two boys had never experienced before, was at its height. Captain Sproul rose to his feet, panting for breath, but with his senses all alert. He shouted: