THROUGH THE SUN IN AN AIRSHIP “_This I hold A secret worth its weight in gold To those who write as I write now; Not to mind where they go, or how— Through ditch, through bog, o’er bridge and stile; Make it but worth the reader’s while, And keep a passage fair and plain, Always to bring him back again._” +Churchill.+ THROUGH THE SUN IN AN AIRSHIP BY JOHN MASTIN, F.S.A. +Scot.+ F.L.S., F.C.S., F.R.A.S., F.R.M.S., R.B.A. AUTHOR OF “PARASITES OF INSECTS,” “THE TRUE ANALYSIS OF MILK,” “PLATE-CULTURE AND STAINING OF AMŒBÆ,” “THE STOLEN PLANET,” “THE IMMORTAL LIGHT,” ETC. ETC. [Illustration: colophon] LONDON CHARLES GRIFFIN & COMPANY, LTD. EXETER STREET, STRAND [_All rights reserved_] Printed by +Ballantyne & Co. Limited+ Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London TO PROFESSOR SIR HUBERT VON HERKOMER C.V.O., R.A., D.C.L., ETC. AS A SLIGHT MARK OF GRATITUDE FOR MANY PAST KINDNESSES THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS FORMER PUPIL THE AUTHOR +Totley Brook+ near +Sheffield+, _June 1909_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. +The Story of the “Regina”+ 1 II. +The “Regina” gives up Her Secret+ 28 III. +Vox Populi+ 41 IV. +Muscæ Vomitoriæ+ 65 V. +An Innocent Offender+ 85 VI. +The Doomed Planet+ 108 VII. +The Story of a Star+ 125 VIII. +A Jovian Bug+ 140 IX. +Testing the Web+ 149 X. +The Conspiracy+ 161 XI. +“The Impregnable Rock”+ 182 XII. +Through Fire and Flame and Mystery+ 198 XIII. +“Vaults of Purple”+ 213 XIV. +Between Two Worlds+ 234 XV. +Joci Causâ+ 253