"How do you know that they have not made such an attempt ?" "Made it?
When ?" "Thousands of years ago, before the invention of writing, before even the appearance of Man on the Earth." "But the bullet ?" asked Ardan, triumphantly; "Where's the bullet?
Produce the bullet!" "Friend Michael," answered Barbican, with a quiet smile, "you appear to forget that the 5/6 of the surface of our Earth is water.

5 to 1, therefore, that the bullet is more likely to be lying this moment at the bottom of the Atlantic or the Pacific than anywhere else on the surface of our globe.

Besides, it may have sunk into some weak point of the surface, at the early epoch when the crust of the Earth had not acquired sufficient solidity." "Captain," said Ardan, turning with a smile to M'Nicholl; "no use in trying to catch Barby; slippery as an eel, he has an answer for everything.

Still I have a theory on the subject myself, which I think it no harm to ventilate.

It is this: The Selenites have never sent us any projectile at all, simply because they had no gunpowder: being older and wiser than we, they were never such fools as to invent any .-- But, what's that?
Diana howling for her breakfast! Good! Like genuine scientific men, while squabbling over nonsense, we let the poor animals die of hunger.