Ardan's eye could take in the whole extent in an easy sweep from the _Southern Cross_ to the _Little Bear_, thus embracing within one glance not only the two polar stars of the present day, but also _Campus_ and _Vega_, which, by reason of the _precession of the Equinoxes_, are to be our polar stars 12,000 years hence.

His imagination, as if intoxicated, reeled wildly through these sublime infinitudes and got lost in them.

He forgot all about himself and all about his companions.

He forgot even the strangeness of the fate that had sent them wandering through these forbidden regions, like a bewildered comet that had lost its way.

With what a soft sweet light every star glowed! No matter what its magnitude, the stream that flowed from it looked calm and holy.