Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/252

232 an Australian park. I sha'n't forget the date in a hurry; it's marked in my memory with the blackest of black inks."

"You forget," said the man, "that, as you have come from Australia, you have gained twelve hours. You have traveled faster than the sun, and have consequently arrived here eleven hours before you started from the other side. You are now having yesterday over again."

"But how about that snow?" said William. "When I left Australia it was during a sweltering hot summer's day, and when I arrived here the ground was covered with snow. How do you explain that?"

"Simply enough. You must remember that, Australia being below the equator, there is a difference of six months between the seasons here and there. You have your summer while we have our winter, and vice versa. January 5, which comes during your hottest summer weather, is with us the period of snow and blizzards, and you might well have arrived in a regular northeaster."

It was exactly true. William had left the Australian side at eleven o'clock on the morning of January 6, and had arrived at the New York end of the tube at about twelve o'clock of the night