Читать книгу The Runaway Equator, and the Strange Adventures of a Little Boy in Pursuit of It онлайн

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“Dog Star, Dog Star, you don’t know,

Euclid, Vergil, Scipio,

Algebra or Calculus,

My! But you are frivolous.”

“You see,” continued Nimbus, “the Dog Star cares absolutely nothing for manners. He even barks at O’Taurus.”

“And who,” inquired Billy, “is O’Taurus?”

“He’s the Irish Bull,” said Nimbus. “I’ll tell you more about him later. I’ve got to go to meet this Meteor now.”

Billy had noticed that for some time it had been getting brighter and brighter, although the Sun had hidden himself behind a great wall of blue-black clouds. Now he looked through the front windows and saw a great star sweeping rapidly down on them, swishing a long tail behind him.

“Is—is it a comet?” he asked in affright, observing that the motorman rushed into the car, slamming the door after him.

“Comet nothing!” said Nimbus. “It’s only a fourth- class Meteor with a message for me. They’re the A.D.T. boys up here, and he’s probably brought some word from the Equine Ox.”

The Meteor came alongside and Billy read in gold letters across his glowing cap the words: