Galloping off to suns and systems far outside our poor little earth.—Author, chap. i.
An altogether new era of enterprise now opens upon our world. My old friend White dashes into the new scene with characteristic spirit, and Dame Fortune, in spite of her reputed fickleness, walks steadily by his side. His were the earlier chances. Brown and I, being of a rather younger generation, were not quite ready at the first start, and so the first and richest cream of the great new milk-pail had mostly been skimmed off ere we entered upon the game. But, after all, with the huge enlargement of business that followed, we have, both of us, done pretty fairly, notwithstanding all obstacles.
One of the earliest incidents was a challenge from Venus, as to which should be the first to visit personally the other. We accepted, of course, and forthwith strained every effort to secure victory. What a grand opportunity for both Black and White, who were at
