Lost on the Moon Part 24

"I'm going to fall into a crater--a bottomless pit! I'm on the edge of it!" yelled the lad who had jumped.

And, with horror-stricken eyes, Mark saw his chum disappear from sight beyond a pile of rugged rocks, toward which he had leaped. The last glimpse Mark had was of the life-torch, which Jack held up in the air, close to his head.

"Jack--in a crater!" gasped Mark, as he ran forward, holding his own life-torch close to his mouth and nose.

CHAPTER XXI

WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST

Advancing by leaps and bounds, and getting over the ground in a manner most surprising, Mark soon found himself on the edge of the great, yawning crater, into which his chum Jack had started to slide. I say started, for, fortunately, the lad had been saved from death but by a narrow margin.

As Mark gazed down into the depths, which seemed fathomless, and which were as black as night, he saw his friend clinging to a rocky projection on the side of the extinct volcano. Jack had managed to grasp a part of the rough surface as he slid down it after his reckless jump. He looked up and saw Mark.

"Oh, Mark, can't you save me?" he gasped. "Call Professor Henderson!"

"I'll get you up, don't worry!" called Mark, as confidently as he could. "Hold tight, Jack. What has become of your life-torch?"

"I have it here by me. I didn't drop it, and it's on a piece of the rock near my head. Otherwise I couldn't breathe. Oh, this place is fearfully deep. I guess it hasn't any bottom."

"Now, keep still, and don't think about that. Save your strength, hold fast, and I'll get you up."

But, having said that much, Mark was not so sure how next to proceed.

It was going to be no easy task to haul up Jack, and that without ropes or other apparatus. Another matter that added to the danger was the necessity of keeping the life-torch close to one's face in order to prevent death by the poisonous gases.

Mark's first impulse was to hasten back and call the two professors, but he looked over the desolate landscape, and could not see them, and he feared that if he went away Jack might slip and fall into the unknown depths of the crater.

"I've got to get him out alone," decided Mark. "But how can I do it?"

He crawled cautiously nearer to the edge of the extinct volcano and looked down. A few loose stones, dislodged by his weight, rattled down the sides.

"Look out!" cried Jack quickly, "or you'll fall, too!"

"I'll be careful," answered Mark, and then he drew away out of danger, with a queer feeling about his heart, which was beating furiously. Mark had hoped to be able to make his way down the side of the crater to where his chum was and help him up. But a look at the steep sides and the uncertain footing afforded by the loose rocks of lava-like formation showed that this could not be done.

"I've got to think of a different scheme," decided Mark, and, spurred on by the necessity of acting quickly if he was to save Jack, he fairly forced his brain to work. For he saw by the strained look on his chum's face that Jack could not hold out much longer.

"I have it!" cried Mark at length. "My fur coat! I can cut it into strips of hide and make a rope. Then I can lower it down to Jack and haul him up."

He did not think, for the moment, of the cold he would feel when he stripped off the fur garment, and when it did come to him in a flash he never hesitated.

"After all, I've often been out without an overcoat on cold days," he said to himself. "I guess I can stand it for a while, and when Jack is up I can run back to the projectile and keep warm that way."

To think was to act, and Mark laid down his life-torch to take off the big fur coat. The next instant he had toppled over, almost in a faint, and, had he not fallen so that his head was near the small perforated box on the end of the steel rod, whence came the life-giving gas, the lad might have died.

He had forgotten, for the instant, the necessity of always keeping the torch close to his face to prevent the poisonous gases of the moon from overpowering him. Mark soon revived while lying on the ground, and, rising, with his torch in his hand, he looked about him.

"I've got to have my two hands to work with," he mused, "and yet I've got to hold this torch close to my face. Say, a fellow ought to have three hands if he's going to visit the moon. What can I do?"

In an instant a plan came to him. He thrust the pointed end of the steel rod in the crevice of some rocks, and it stood upright, so that the perforated box of chemicals was on a level with his face.

"There," said Mark aloud, "I guess that will work. I can use both my hands now." The plan was a good one. Next, taking off his coat, the lad proceeded to cut it into strips, working rapidly. He called to Jack occasionally, bidding him keep up his courage. "I'll soon have you out," he said cheeringly.

In a few minutes Mark had a long, stout strip of hide, and, taking his life-torch with him, he advanced once more to the edge of the crater.

He stuck the torch in between some rocks, as before, and looked down at Jack.

"I--I can't hold on much longer," gasped the unfortunate lad. "Hurry, Mark!"

"All right. I'm going to haul you up now. Can you hold on with one hand long enough to slip the loop of this rope over your shoulders?"

"I guess so. But where did you get a rope?"

"I made it--cut up my fur coat."

"But you'll freeze!"

"Oh, I guess not. Here it comes, Jack. Get ready!"

Mark lowered the hide rope to his chum. The latter, who managed to get one toe on a small, projecting rock, while he held on with his right hand, used his left to adjust the loop over his shoulders and under his arms.

"Are you all ready?" asked Mark.

"Yes, but can you pull me up?"

"Sure. I'm six times as strong as when on the earth. Hold steady now, and keep the torch close to your face."

Mark had placed some pieces of his fur coat under the rope where it pa.s.sed over the edge of the mouth of the crater to prevent the jagged rocks from cutting the strips of hide.

"Here you come!" he cried to Jack, and he began to haul, taking care to keep his own head near his torch, which was stuck upright. Mark had spoken truly when he said he possessed much more than his usual strength. Any one who has tried to haul up a person with a rope from a hole, and with no pulleys to adjust the strain of the cable, knows what a task it is. But to Mark, on the moon, it was comparatively easy.

Hand over hand he pulled on the hide rope until, with a final heave, he had Jack out of his perilous position. He had pulled him up from the mouth of the crater, and the thick fur coat Jack wore had prevented the sharp rocks from injuring him. In another moment he stood beside Mark, a trifle weak and shaky from his experience, but otherwise unhurt.

"How did you happen to go down there?" asked Mark.

"Not from choice, I a.s.sure you," answered Jack. "I couldn't see the crater when I jumped, as it was hidden by some rocks, and I was into it before I knew it. But don't stand talking here. Put on my coat. I don't need it. I'm warm."

"I will not. I'm not a bit cold. But we may as well get back to the projectile, for they'll be worrying about us." Thereupon Mark broke into a run, for, now that the exertion of hauling up Jack was over, he began to feel cool, and the chilling atmosphere of the moon struck through to his bones.

In a short time the two lads were back at the _Annihilator_, where they found Professors Roumann and Henderson getting a bit anxious about them. Their adventure was quickly related, and the boys were cautioned to be more careful in the future.

"This moon is a curious, desolate place," said Mr. Henderson, "and you can't behave on it as you would on the earth. We have discovered some curious facts regarding it, and when we get back I am going to write a book on them. But I think we have seen enough for the present, so we'll stay in the rest of the day and plan for farther trips."

"Aren't we going to look for those diamonds?" asked Jack, who had almost fully recovered from his recent experience.

"Oh, yes, we will look around for them," a.s.sented Mr. Roumann. "I think, after a day or so, we will move our projectile to another part of the moon. We want to see as much of it as possible."