The second celestial apparition was a faint, pearly cone of light slanting up the eastern sky. It became brighter and brighter towards the horizon, hinting of great fires just concealed below the edge of the Moon. Here was a pale glory that no man had ever seen from Earth, save during the few moments of a total eclipse. It was the corona, harbinger of the lunar dawn, giving notice that before long the Sun would smite this sleeping land.
