Lost on the Moon Part 12

"But your injuries may need attention," insisted Mr. Henderson. "I know something about doctoring. Come here where I can see."

"No--no--the--light hurts my eyes," was the hasty reply. "I guess I'll go to bed, so as to be all ready to start in the morning. Why don't you leave for the moon to-night, professor?"

"There are still a few little details to look after. But are you sure you are well enough to go with us? We may meet with hardships up on the moon."

"Oh, I'm all ready to go," was the answer. "I'd start to-night if I could. But now I must get to bed."

"Don't you want supper?" asked Jack.

"No, I had some just before I left the hospital."

"What hospital was it?" inquired Andy Sudds. "I was in one once, and I didn't like it. There wa'nt enough air for me."

"I forget the name of the place," came the reply. "I can't think clearly. I need sleep."

The newcomer kept in the shadows of the room, as if the light hurt his eyes, and appeared restless and ill at ease. With the hand that was not in a sling he pulled the bandages closer about his face.

"Can't you tell us more about what happened?" asked Jack, for Mark was not usually so reticent, and his chum noticed it.

"There isn't much to tell," was the response. "I went to the old house, and I was looking around when I happened to tumble down stairs. I must have been knocked unconscious, but when I came to I crawled outside. A farmer was driving past, and I asked him to take me to a hospital."

"Why didn't you come home?" asked Mr. Henderson.

"Oh, I didn't want to make any trouble and delay work on the projectile. I figured that I could be with you in a few hours, and you wouldn't worry. But they insisted that I must stay in the hospital when they got me there. Then I lost consciousness again, and couldn't manage to let you know where I was. But I'm all right now."

"Why didn't you wait for me at the barn, when I went to send the telegram, as you promised you would?" asked Jack, who felt a little hurt at his chum's neglect.

"Did I promise to wait for you at some barn?"

"Yes; don't you remember?" and Jack gazed at the bandaged figure in surprise.

"Oh, yes--I--I guess I do. But I want to go to bed now," and pulling the cloths closer about his face the injured one started from the apartment.

"Here. That's not the way up to your room. The stairs are over here,"

called Jack, for he saw the newcomer taking the wrong direction.

"Oh, yes. Guess my mind must be wandering," and with an uneasy laugh the injured one turned about. They heard him going up stairs, and a little later Jack followed. He found that Mark's room was not occupied.

"Hi, Mark! Where are you?" he called, in some alarm.

"Here," was the answer, and the voice came from Jack's own apartment.

"Well, you're in the wrong bunk."

"Am I? Well, I must have made another mistake. My head can't be right,"

and with that the other came out and hastily went into the adjoining apartment.

For a moment Jack stood in the hall. He looked at the door that had closed behind the bandaged figure.

"There's something wrong," said Jack in a low voice. "How strange Mark acts! I wonder what can be the matter?"

CHAPTER XI

READY FOR THE MOON

There were busy times for the moon-voyagers the next day. They were up early, for at the last moment many little details needed to be settled.

The Cardite motor had been thoroughly repaired, for the damage caused by the unknown enemy had done no permanent harm.

When the injured one appeared the bandage on his head seemed larger than ever, and his features were almost hidden. He still wore his arm in a sling.

"Well, how do you feel?" asked Jack, looking narrowly at the figure. He could not get rid of a suspicion that something was wrong with Mark.

"Oh, I'm feeling pretty fair," was the mumbled answer. "I didn't sleep much, though."

"Well, take care of yourself," advised Jack. "We are about ready to start. We'll get off about noon, Professor Henderson says. Don't try to do anything and injure your broken arm. You certainly had a tough time of it."

"Yes, I guess I did. I can't do much to help you."

"You don't need to. We're all but finished. Just hang around and watch me work. There isn't much to do."

But though Jack gave an invitation to remain near him, the other seemed to prefer being off by himself. He wandered in and out of the projectile, now and then helping Andy or Washington to carry light objects into the _Annihilator_. But all the while he was careful not to disturb the bandage on his face, and several times he stopped to readjust it. Nor did he talk much, which Jack ascribed to his statement that his teeth hurt him. And when the bandaged figure did speak, it was in mumbling tones, very different from Mark's usually cheerful ones.

"Well," remarked Professor Roumann, after a final inspection of the big Cardite motor--the one that was to be depended on to carry them to the moon--"I think we are about ready to leave this earth. How about it, Professor Henderson?"

"Yes, I think so. Have you made any calculation as to speed?"

"Yes, we will not have to move nearly as fast as we did when we went to Mars. We only have to cover a quarter of a million of miles at the most, and probably less than that. The motor will send us along at the rate of about a mile a second, which is three thousand six hundred miles an hour, or eighty-six thousand four hundred miles a--day. At that rate we would be at the moon in less than three days.

"But I don't want to travel as fast as that," the German went on. "I want time to make some scientific observations on the way, and so I have reduced the speed of the Cardite motor by half, though should we need to hasten our trip we can do so."

"Then we'll be about a week on the way?" asked Jack.

"About that, yes," a.s.sented Mr. Roumann.

"And could we go farther than to the moon if we wanted to?" inquired the bandaged figure mumblingly.

"Farther? What do you mean?" asked Professor Henderson quickly.

"I mean could we go to Mars if we wanted to?"

"You don't mean to say you want to go back there, and run the chance of being attacked by the savage Martians, do you?" asked Jack.

"No, I was only asking," and the other seemed confused.

"Well, of course, we _could_ go there, as we have plenty of supplies and enough of the Cardite," said Mr. Roumann. "But I think the moon will be the limit of our trip this time."