Redgrave, as usual, went into the
air-chamber and tried the atmosphere. A second's experience of it was
enough for him. It was unbreathably thin and unbearably cold, although,
when mixed with the air of the _Astronef_, it distinctly freshened it
up. This proved that its composition was, or had been, fit for human
respiration.
"There's only one fault about it," he said, when he rejoined Zaidie in
the sitting-room. "You know what the schoolboy said when he started
kissing his first sweetheart, 'It takes too long to get enough of it.'"
"You seem to be very fond of referring to that particular subject,
Lenox."
"Well, yes; to tell you the truth I am," and then he referred to it
again in another form.
After this they went and put on their breathing-dresses and went for a
welcome stroll along the arid shores of the frozen sea after their
lengthy confinement to the decks of the _Astronef_. The Sun was still
powerful enough to keep them comfortably warm in their dresses, and
there was enough atmosphere to make this warmth diffused instead of
direct. So they were able to step out briskly, and every now and then
open their visors a little and take in a breath or two of the thin,
sharp air, which they found quite exhilarating when mixed with the air
supplied by their own oxygen apparatus.
The attraction of the satellite being only a little more than that of
the Moon--or, say, about a fifth of that of the Earth--they were able to
get along with a series of hops, skips, and jumps which might have
looked rather ridiculous to terrestrial eyes, but which they found a
very pleasant mode of locomotion.
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