Lost on the Moon Part 23

There was no life--no motion--as far as could be seen. Not a tree or shrub relieved the rugged monotony of the landscape. It was like a dead world.

"And to think that people may have once lived here," observed Jack, in a low voice.

"Yes, and to think that there may be people on the other side of the moon even now," added Mark. "We must take a look if it's possible."

"Well," remarked Mr. Henderson, after a while, "are we going out and see what it's like or not."

"Of course, we are," said Jack. "Come on, Mark, I'm not afraid."

"Me either. Do we have to do anything to the torches to make them operate, Professor Roumann?"

"Merely press this lever," and the scientist showed them where there was one in the handle of the steel rod. "As soon as that is pressed, it admits a liquid to the chemicals and the oxygen gas is formed, rising all around you, like a protecting vapor. After that it is automatic."

"How long will the supply of chemical last?" inquired Jack.

"Each one is calculated to give out gas for nearly two weeks," was the reply; "possibly for a little longer. But come, I want to see how they work. Here is your life-torch, Professor Henderson, and there is one for you, too, Andy, and Washington."

"'Scuse me!" exclaimed the colored man hastily, as he started back toward the kitchen.

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Jack. "Don't you want to go out, and walk around the moon, and pick up diamonds?"

"Diamonds am all right," answered Washington, "but I jest done fo'got dat I ain't fed my Shanghai rooster to-day, an' I 'spects he's mighty hungry. You folks go on out an' pick up a few obde sparklers, an' when I gits de Shanghai fed I'll prognosticate myse'f inter conjunction wif yo' all."

"You mean you'll join us?" asked Mark.

"Dat's what I means, suah."

"Why, I do believe Washington's afraid!" cried Jack jokingly.

"Askeered! Who's afraid?" retorted the colored man boldly. "Didn't I done tole yo' dat I got t' feed my rooster? Heah him crowin' now? Yo'

all go 'long, an' I'll meet yo' later," and with that Washington disappeared quickly.

"Well, he'll soon pluck up courage and come out," declared Professor Henderson. "Let him go now, and we'll go out and see what it is like on the moon."

"I hope we find those diamonds," murmured Jack, and Mark smiled.

In order not to admit the poisonous gases into the projectile, it was decided to leave the Annihilator and return to it by means of a double door, forming a sort of air lock. It was similar to the water lock used on the submarine. That is, the adventurers entered a chamber built in between the two steel walls of their craft. The interior door was then sealed shut automatically. Next the outer door was opened, and they could step directly to the surface of the moon and into the deadly atmosphere.

"Well, are we all ready?" asked Mr. Roumann, as he picked up one of the chemical torches.

"I guess so," responded Andy Sudds, who had his gun with him. "I hope I see some game. I haven't had a shot in a long while."

"You're not likely to up here," spoke Mr. Henderson. "Game is scarce on the moon, unless it's some of that green cheese Washington talked about."

They entered the air lock and fastened the door behind them. Then Professor Roumann pressed on the lever that swung open the outer portal.

"Hold your torches close to your head," he called. "The moon atmosphere may be too strong for us at first until we create a mist of oxygen about us."

Out upon the surface of the moon they stepped, probably the first earth beings so to do, though they had evidence that the inhabitants of Mars had preceded them.

For a moment they all gasped for breath, but only for a moment. Then the gas began to flow from the life-torches, and they could breathe as well as they had done while in the projectile, or while on the earth.

"Well, if this isn't great!" cried Jack, gazing about him.

"It certainly beats anything I ever saw," came from Mark.

"Wonderful, wonderful," murmured Professor Henderson. "We will be able to gain much valuable scientific knowledge here, Professor Roumann. We must at once begin our observations."

"I agree with you," spoke the German.

Andy Sudds said nothing. He was looking around for a sight of game, with his rifle in readiness. But not a sign of life met his eager eyes.

Once they were outside the projectile it was even more desolate than it had seemed when they looked from the observation windows. It was absolutely still. Not a breath of wind fanned their cheeks, for where there is no air to be heated and cooled there could be no wind which is caused by the differences of temperature of the air, the cold rushing in to fill the vacuum caused by the rising of the hot vapors. Clad in their fur-lined garments, which effectually defied the cold, the adventurers stepped out.

Over the rugged ground they went, gazing curiously about them. It was like being in the wildest part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains of our earth, and, in fact, the surface of the moon was not unlike the mountainous and hilly sections of the earth. There were no long ranges of rugged peaks, though, but rather scattered pinnacles and deep hollows, great craters adjoining immense, towering steeples of rocks, with comparatively level ground in between.

The life-torches worked to perfection. As our friends carried them, there arose about their bodies a cloud of invisible vapor, which, however, was as great a protection from the poisonous gases as a coat of mail would have been.

"This is great!" exclaimed Jack. "It's much better than to have to put on a diving-suit and carry a cylinder of oxygen or compressed air about on our shoulders."

They strolled away from the projectile and gazed back at it. Nothing moved--not a sound broke the stillness. There was only the blazing sunlight, which, however, did not seem to warm the atmosphere much, for it was very chilly. On every side were great rocks, rugged and broken, with here and there immense fissures in the surface of the moon, fissures that seemed miles and miles long.

"Well, here's where I look for diamonds," called Jack, as he stepped boldly out, followed by Mark. "Let's see who'll find the first sparkler."

"All right," agreed his chum, and they strolled away together, slightly in advance of the two professors and Andy, who remained together, the scientist discussing the phenomena on every side and the hunter looking in vain for something to shoot. But he had come to a dead world.

Almost before they knew it Jack and Mark had gone on quite some distance. Though they were not aware of it at that moment, it was much easier to walk on the moon than it was on the earth, for they weighed only one sixth as much, and the attraction of gravitation was so much less.

But suddenly Jack remembered that curious fact, and, stooping, he picked up a stone. He cast it from him, at the same time uttering a yell.

"What's the matter?" called Mark.

"Look how far I fired that rock!" shouted Jack. "Talk about it being easy! why, I believe I could throw a mile if I tried hard!"

"It goes six times as far as it would on the earth," spoke his chum, "and we can also jump six times as far."

"Then let's try that!" proposed Jack. "There's a nice level place over there. Come on, I'll wager that I can beat you."

"Done!" agreed Mark, and they hurried to the spot, their very walking being much faster than usual.

"I'll go first," proposed Jack, "and you see if you can come up to me."

He poised himself on a little hummock of rock, balanced himself for a moment, and then hurled himself through s.p.a.ce.

Prepared as he was, in a measure, for something strange, he never bargained for what happened. It was as if he had been fired from some catapult of the ancient Romans. Through the air he hurtled, like some great flying animal, covering fifty feet from a standing jump.

"Say, that's great!" yelled Mark. "Here I come, and I'll beat----"

He did not finish, for a cry of horror came from Jack.