Page:A thousand years hence. Being personal experiences (IA thousandyearshen00gree).djvu/367

 the greater, turn respectively upon their axis, and usually in periods of twenty to twenty-four hours, we were interested in noticing this fact, especially in standing upon one of the smaller orbs. On the way back to Vesta we descried and gave chase to one very little fellow, of not more than a foot through, and having caught him and transferred him to our decks, we found him to be a light vesicular-looking stuff, chiefly composed of certain sulphates and phosphates, and not altogether unworthy the cost and trouble of capture and freight.

And so, having completed all our business here, we started again straight for home; and after threading the planetoid archipelago with the usual precautions and success, we were able to make a direct and rapid course to earth, which we safely reached, after an absence, in all, of rather less than five weeks.