The first question all asked was: Is it genuine or bogus?
real or got up by the stockbrokers?
But a few flashes backwards and forwards over the wires soon settled that point.

The stunning effects of the new blow were hardly over when the _Barbicanites_ began to perceive that the wonderful intelligence was decidedly in their favor.

Was it not a distinct contradiction of the whole story told by their opponents?
If Barbican and his friends were lying at the bottom of the Pacific, they were certainly not circumgyrating around the Moon.

If it was the Projectile that had broken off the bowsprit of the _Susquehanna_, it could not certainly be the Projectile that Belfast had seen only the day previous doing the duty of a satellite.

Did not the truth of one incident render the other an absolute impossibility?
If Bloomsbury was right, was not Belfast an ass?
Hurrah! The new revelation did not improve poor Barbican's fate a bit--no matter for that! Did not the _party_ gain by it?
What would the _Belfasters_ say now?
Would not they hold down their heads in confusion and disgrace?
The _Belfasters_, with a versatility highly creditable to human nature, did nothing of the kind.