Sheldon aired his doubts of course, and suggested the “wonderful sun-lit appearance” merely a reflection or another of Saunders’s fake auroras. But he (Sheldon) honestly believed this “atmospheric exhibition” a deep, Simon-pure aurora at last. Then the argument was on which lasted for hours, and though they were really fond of each other, the energy displayed for flinging out insults without coming to blows was about as wonderful as the Sun visiting the polar regions once a month. During the night we escaped from the shadowy quarry-land, and light as a bird skimmed over the old, familiar plains of ice and snow. Saxe. began making calculations; we never interfered with him, he delighted in figuring out just how long it would take the _Propellier_ to cover this or that distance, and as his calculations always went wrong we didn’t bother him. Sheldon and Saunders suddenly became very busy and pre-occupied, and for no particular reason we all grew much elated and nervous with energy. Saunders said it was the atmosphere, and the farther we advanced in the vigor-producing air the livelier we would become. We certainly were very jubilant and chatted in excited consultation over the great progress made during that week, when a sudden sharp, whizzing sound, coming from the _Propellier_ warned us of disaster. The machine stopped with a jerk, the cars banged together and we were thrown from our feet, then with a dying spurt the doomed _Propellier_ bounded forward. In panic we bolted from the car, but did not escape entirely, though we suffered little injury. The four of us were hurled high in the air by the explosion; one, two, three, like cannonading, then all was quiet, and Saxe.’s life-work, his brilliant invention, was destroyed. Destruction was complete. Saxe. ran around the wreck wringing his hands, muttering incoherently. The top of the _Propellier_ was blown clean away, the cylinders torn wide open, and the diamond prod had shot up in the air with such force that apparently it never came down again. We were unable to find it. Both cars were overturned, one entirely wrecked, but the other was hardly damaged and was to be our sole future conveyance. We tried to be cheerful, but Saxe. took it hard and considerable time was wasted humoring him; he obstinately believed he could do something with his wrecked machine. We righted the last remaining car and stored everything in it that escaped the explosion; then we buried the _Propellier_, and courageously formed new plans. It seemed easier and wiser to advance, so the word was: “Forward!” We hauled the car in pairs, changing every two hours: Saxe. and Saunders, Sheldon and myself. It would never do to yoke Sheldon and Saunders together, they would consume all steam in argument.