The sun no longer described the same arc in his course, and the altering stars were already causing accidents at sea. Knowing their original position, the astronomers found it only too true; they had left their orbit near Venus, and were surely drifting onwards in a new one, in a course leading them direct from the sun, and already they must have passed out of the semi-opaque web of ether with which they had hitherto been surrounded, for only a portion of the solar system was now obscured and they had an uninterrupted view of almost the whole of the heavens, thousands of stars, planets, and planetoids never seen before being now visible to them. Many of them were known on Earth, and Bolford and the other members of the expedition who understood the science of astronomy were in great request, explaining and pointing out the celestial objects as they could locate and recognise them, for it was only natural that the people should be almost feverishly anxious to learn all about those portions of the heavens now seen by them for the first time, and after a few days of this high pressure they were very much fatigued, for all had been working without cessation, calculating, theorising, and taking observations and photographs when the clouds made this possible. The visitors had been accustomed to taking various reviving drinks by dissolving pellets in water, but when they were ejected from the _Regina_ a supply of these pellet-intoxicants had not been included in their stores; they had but some chemical restoratives, so, feeling tired and knowing now where and what the alcohol was, they asked for and drank a small quantity diluted with water, to pull them together. Those in this department also had never thought of such a thing before, but seeing that instead of killing their guests it really made them bright-eyed and alert again, they were easily persuaded to try it, especially as the visitors assured them it would produce good and not harm. At the mere draught the potent spirit ran through their veins like liquid fire, and being previously totally unacquainted with this use of it, its effect was to take away all their weariness as if by magic and make them fresh again. They thanked their new friends profusely for the discovery, and began to take it frequently on the assumption that if a little could revive them, more would do it better, and the following day several of the natives were found in the observatories hopelessly drunk.