Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space by Jules Verne (free children's ebooks pdf .txt) 📕

OFF ON A COMET
or HECTOR SERVADAC WORKS of JULES VERNE

By Jules Verne

Edited By Charles F. Horne, Ph.D. Professor of English, College of the City of New York; Author of “The Technique of the Novel,” etc.

F. Tyler Daniels Company, Inc.

New York :::: London

Copyright, 1911 By Vincent Parke And Company

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME NINE

OFF ON A COMET OR HECTOR SERVADAC

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I. A CHALLENGE

CHAPTER II. CAPTAIN SERVADAC AND HIS ORDERLY

CHAPTER III. INTERRUPTED EFFUSIONS

CHAPTER IV. A CONVULSION OF NATURE

CHAPTER V. A MYSTERIOUS SEA

CHAPTER VI. THE CAPTAIN MAKES AN EXPLORATION

CHAPTER VII. BEN ZOOF WATCHES IN VAIN

CHAPTER VIII. VENUS IN PERILOUS PROXIMITY

CHAPTER IX. INQUIRIES UNSATISFIED

CHAPTER X. A SEARCH FOR ALGERIA

CHAPTER XI. AN ISLAND TOMB

CHAPTER XII. AT THE MERCY OF THE WINDS

CHAPTER XIII. A ROYAL SALUTE

CHAPTER XIV. SENSITIVE NATIONALITY

CHAPTER XV. AN ENIGMA FROM THE SEA

CHAPTER XVI. THE RESIDUUM OF A CONTINENT

CHAPTER XVII. A SECOND ENIGMA

CHAPTER XVIII. AN UNEXPECTED POPULATION

CHAPTER XIX. GALLIA’S GOVERNOR GENERAL

CHAPTER XX. A LIGHT ON THE HORIZON

CHAPTER XXI. WINTER QUARTERS

CHAPTER XXII. A FROZEN OCEAN

CHAPTER XXIII. A CARRIER-PIGEON

CHAPTER XXIV. A SLEDGE-RIDE

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I. THE ASTRONOMER

CHAPTER II. A REVELATION

CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSOR’S EXPERIENCES

CHAPTER IV. A REVISED CALENDAR

CHAPTER V. WANTED: A STEELYARD

CHAPTER VI. MONEY AT A PREMIUM

CHAPTER VII. GALLIA WEIGHED

CHAPTER VIII. JUPITER SOMEWHAT CLOSE

CHAPTER IX MARKET PRICES IN GALLIA

CHAPTER X. FAR INTO SPACE

CHAPTER XI. A FETE DAY

CHAPTER XII. THE BOWELS OF THE COMET

CHAPTER XIII. DREARY MONTHS

CHAPTER XIV. THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED

CHAPTER XV. A JOURNEY AND A DISAPPOINTMENT

CHAPTER XVI. A BOLD PROPOSITION

CHAPTER XVII. THE VENTURE MADE

CHAPTER XVIII. SUSPENSE

CHAPTER XIX. BACK AGAIN

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME NINE

Among so many effective and artistic tales, it is difficult to give a preference to one over all the rest. Yet, certainly, even amid Verne’s remarkable works, his “Off on a Comet” must be given high rank. Perhaps this story will be remembered when even “Round the World in Eighty Days” and “Michael Strogoff” have been obliterated by centuries of time. At least, of the many books since written upon the same theme as Verne’s, no one has yet succeeded in equaling or even approaching it.

In one way “Off on a Comet” shows a marked contrast to Verne’s earlier books. Not only does it invade a region more remote than even the “Trip to the Moon,” but the author here abandons his usual scrupulously scientific attitude. In order that