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The object in his hand was an artificial horizon, a mirror

attached to the sextant which could be fixed at the exact angle

of the horizon should the real horizon be obscured. This valuable

instrument his father had given him on his twenty-first birthday

because the old man had been vastly pleased with his interest in

a science of which he himself knew little or nothing.

Code remembered that, for a year or two, he had pursued this

hobby of his with deep interest and considerable success, and

that his great object in life had been to some day have a small

telescope of his own by which to learn more of the secrets of the

heavens. But, after his father died, he had been forced to take

up the active support of the family, and had let this passion

die.

But how did it happen that the mirror was here?