"It is not the moon," again affirmed the captain.

"Why not?" repeated Ben Zoof, unwilling to renounce his first impression.

"Because there is a small satellite in attendance."
And the captain drew his servant's attention to a bright speck,
apparently about the size of one of Jupiter's satellites seen
through a moderate telescope, that was clearly visible just
within the focus of his glass.

Here, then, was a fresh mystery. The orbit of this planet was
assuredly interior to the orbit of the earth, because it accompanied
the sun in its apparent motion; yet it was neither Mercury nor Venus,
because neither one nor the other of these has any satellite at all.

The captain stamped and stamped again with mingled vexation,
agitation, and bewilderment. "Confound it!" he cried,
"if this is neither Venus nor Mercury, it must be the moon;
but if it is the moon, whence, in the name of all the gods,
has she picked up another moon for herself?"

The captain was in dire perplexity.



CHAPTER VIII

VENUS IN PERILOUS PROXIMITY