hsisnq'Bcpk 
 
 90 
 ..A 
 
 s> 
 
 ...21.1 :,UL..-...-..A 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/lostonmoonorinquOOrock 
 
IN THE VALLEY BELOW THE WANDERERS 
 
 THERE WAS A CITY. 
 
 Lost on the Moon Paee 213 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Or 
 
 In Quest of the Field of Diamonds 
 
 BY 
 
 ROY ROCKWOOD 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THROUGH THE AIR TO THE NORTH POLE," " UNDER 
 
 THE OCEAN TO THE SOUTH POLE," " FIVE THOUSAND MILES 
 
 UNDERGROUND," " THROUGH SPACE TO MARS," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY 
 
BOOKS BY ROY ROCKWOOD 
 THE GREAT MARVEL SERIES 
 
 i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated 
 
 THROUGH THE AIR TO THE NORTH POLE 
 Or The Wonderful Cruise of the Electric Monarch 
 
 UNDER THE OCEAN TO THE SOUTH POLE 
 Or The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder 
 
 FIVE THOUSAND MILES UNDERGROUND 
 Or The Mystery of the Centre of the Earth 
 
 THROUGH SPACE TO MARS 
 
 Or The Longest Journey on Record 
 
 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Or In Quest of the Field of Diamonds 
 
 Copyright, 191 1, by 
 Cupples & Leon Company 
 
 Lost on the Moon 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A Wonderful Story . I 
 
 II. Something about Our Heroes .... 10 
 
 III. Preparing for a Voyage ... . . 21 
 
 IV. An Accident 26 
 
 V. The Work of an Enemy 33 
 
 VI. On the Track 41 
 
 VII. Mark is Captured 47 
 
 VIII. Jack is Puzzled ......... 58 
 
 IX. A Daring Plot 66 
 
 X. "How Strange Mark Acts" 77 
 
 XI. Ready for the Moon 89 
 
 XII. Mark's Escape 95 
 
 XIII. A Direful Threat 103 
 
 XIV. Off at Last 113 
 
 XV. The Shanghai Makes Trouble . . . . 122 
 
 XVI. "Will it Hit Us?" 130 
 
 XVII. Turning Turtle 137 
 
 XVIII. At the Moon 146 
 
 XIX Torches of Life 156 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XX. On the Edge of a Crater 162 
 
 XXI. Washington Sees a Ghost 170 
 
 XXII. A Breakdown 179 
 
 XXIII. Lost on the Moon 188 
 
 XXIV. Desolate Wanderings 197 
 
 XXV. The Petrified City 204 
 
 XXVI. Seeking Food 214 
 
 XXVII. The Black Pool 222 
 
 XXVIII. The Signal Fails 230 
 
 'XXIX. The Field of Diamonds 233 
 
 XXX. Back to Earth — Conclusion . . » t . 239 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A WONDERFUL STORY 
 
 "Well, what do you think of it, Mark?" asked 
 Jack Darrow, as he laid aside a portion of a news- 
 paper, covered with strange printed characters. 
 "Great; isn't it?" 
 
 "You don't mean to tell me that you believe that 
 preposterous story, do you, Jack?" And Mark 
 Sampson looked across the table at his companion 
 in some astonishment. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know; it may be true," went on 
 Jack, again picking up the paper and gazing 
 thoughtfully at it. "I wish it was." 
 
 "But think of it!" exclaimed Mark. "Why, if 
 such a thing exists, and if we, or some one else, 
 should attempt to bring all those precious stones 
 to this earth, it would revolutionize the diamond 
 industry of the world. It can't be true!" 
 
 s 
 
2 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Well, here it is, in plain print. You can read 
 it for yourself, as you know the Martian language 
 as well as I do. It states that a large field of 
 'Reonaris' was discovered on the moon near Mare 
 Tranquilitatis (or Tranquil Ocean, I suppose that 
 could be translated), and that the men of Mars 
 brought back some of the Reonaris with them. 
 Here, read it, if you don't believe me." 
 
 "Oh, I believe you, all right—that is, I think 
 you have translated that article as well as you can. 
 But suppose you have made some error? We 
 didn't have much time to study the language of 
 Mars while we were there, and we might make 
 some mistake in the words. That article might 
 be an account of a dog-fight on the red planet, in- 
 stead of an account of a trip to the moon and the 
 discovery of a field of Reonaris; eh, Jack?" 
 
 "Of course, I'm likely to have made an error, 
 for it isn't easy to translate this stuff." And Jack 
 gazed intently at the strangely printed page, which 
 was covered with characters not unlike Greek. "I 
 may be wrong," went on the lad, "but you must 
 remember that I translated some other articles in 
 this paper, and Professor Henderson also trans- 
 lated them substantially as I did, and Professor 
 Roumann agreed with him. There is Reonaris 
 on the moon, and I wish we could go there and 
 get some." 
 
A WONDERFUL STORY 3 
 
 "But maybe after you got the Reonaris it would 
 turn out to be only common crystals," objected 
 Mark. 
 
 "No!" exclaimed Jack. "Reonaris is what the 
 Martians call it in their language, and that means 
 diamonds. I'm sure of it!" 
 
 "Well, I don't agree with you," declared the 
 other lad. 
 
 "Don't be cranky and contrary," begged Jack. 
 
 "I'm not; but what's the use of believing any- 
 thing so wild and weird as that? It's a crazy 
 yarn!" 
 
 "It's nothing of the sort! There are diamonds 
 on the moon ; and I can prove it !" 
 
 "Well, don't get excited," suggested Mark 
 calmly. "I don't believe it; that's all. You're 
 mistaken about what Reonaris is; that's what you 
 are." 
 
 "I am not!" Jack had arisen from his chair, 
 and seemed much elated. In his hand he held 
 clinched the paper which had caused the lively 
 discussion. It was as near to a disagreement as 
 Jack Darrow and Mark Sampson had come in 
 some time. 
 
 "Sit down," begged Mark. 
 
 "I'll not!" retorted Jack. "I'm going to prove 
 to you that I'm right." 
 
 "How are you going to do it?" 
 
4 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "I'm going to get Professor Henderson and 
 Professor Roumann to translate this article for 
 you, and then you can ask them what Reonaris is. 
 Guess that'll convince you; won't it?" 
 
 "Maybe; but why don't you ask Andy Sudds 
 or Washington White to give their opinion?" 
 
 "Don't get funny," advised the other lad 
 sharply, and then, seeing that his chum was smil- 
 ing, Jack laughed, cooled down a bit, looked at the 
 paper which he had crumpled in his hand, and 
 said: 
 
 "I guess I was getting a little too excited. But 
 I'm sure I'm right. Here's the paper I brought 
 from Mars to prove it, and the only thing there's 
 any doubt about is whether or not Reonaris means 
 diamonds. I'll ask " 
 
 At that moment the door of the library, in 
 which Jack and Mark were seated, was cautiously 
 opened, and a black, woolly head was thrust in. 
 Then two widely-opened eyes gazed at the boys. 
 
 "What's the matter, Washington?" asked Jack, 
 with a laugh. 
 
 " 'Scuse me, Massa Jack," answered the col- 
 ored man, "but did I done heah you' to promul- 
 gate some conversationess regarding de transmi- 
 gatorability ob diamonds?" 
 
 "Do you mean, were we talking about dia 
 monds?" inquired Mark. 
 
A WONDERFUL STORY 5 
 
 "Dat's what I done said, Massa Mark." 
 
 "No, you didn't say it, but you meant it, I 
 guess," went on Jack. "Yes, we were talking 
 about diamonds, Washington. I know a place 
 that's full of them." 
 
 "Where?" inquired the colored man, thrusting 
 his head farther into the room, and opening his 
 eyes to their fullest extent. "Ef it ain't violatin' 
 no confidences, Massa Jack, would yo' jest kindly 
 mention it to yo's truly," and Professor Hender- 
 son's faithful servant, who had followed him into 
 many dangers, looked at the two boys, who, of 
 late years, had shared the labors of the well- 
 known scientist. "Where am dose diamonds, 
 Massa Jack?" 
 
 "On the moon," was the answer. 
 
 "On de moon? Ha! Ha! Dat's a jokel" 
 And Washington began to laugh. "On de moon! 
 Ha! Ho!" 
 
 "Well, you can read it for yourself," went on 
 the lad, tossing the paper over to the colored man. 
 The latter picked it up, gazed at it, first from one 
 side, and then from the other. Next he turned it 
 upside down, but, as this did not make the article 
 any clearer, he turned the paper back again. 
 Then he remarked, with a puzzled air: 
 
 "Well, I neber could read without mah glasses, 
 Massa Jack, so I guess I'll hab t' let it go until 
 
6 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 annoder time. Diamonds on de moon, eh? Dat's 
 wonderful! I wonder what dey'll be doin' next? 
 But I'se got t' go. Diamonds on de moon, eh? 
 Diamonds on de moon!" 
 
 As Washington turned to leave the room, for 
 he had entered it when Jack and Mark were 
 talking to him, the latter lad asked: 
 
 "Did you want to see us about anything par- 
 ticular,, Wash?" 
 
 "Why, I suah did," was the reply. "I did come 
 t' tell yo' dat Perfesser Henderson would be 
 pleased to hold some conversations wid yo', but 
 when Massa Jack done mentioned about dem dia- 
 monds, I clean fo'got it. Diamonds on de moon, 
 eh?" 
 
 "Well, if the professor wants us we'd better 
 go," suggested Mark. "Come on, Jack, and stop 
 dreaming about Reonaris and the moonbeams. 
 Get back to earth." 
 
 "All right; laugh if you want to," said Jack 
 sturdily, "but the time will come, Mark, when 
 you'll find out that I'm right." 
 
 "How?" asked Mark. 
 
 "I don't know, but I'm sure I can prove what 
 I say." 
 
 The two boys were to have the wonderful dia- 
 mond story demonstrated to them sooner than 
 either expected. 
 
A WONDERFUL STORY 7 
 
 Following the colored man, the lads, Jack car- 
 rying the paper, made their way to the laboratory 
 of Professor Henderson. His door was open, 
 and the aged man, whose hair and beard were 
 now white with age, was bending over a table 
 covered with papers, chemical apparatus, tes* 
 tubes, alembecs, Bunsen burners, globes, and vari- 
 ous pieces of apparatus. Another man, not quite 
 so old as was Mr. Henderson, was on the point of 
 leaving the apartment. 
 
 "Ah, boys," remarked the older professor, as 
 he caught sight of them, "I hope I didn't disturb 
 you by sending for you." 
 
 "No; Jack and I were only having a red-hot 
 discussion about diamonds on the moon," said 
 Mark, with a laugh. 
 
 "Diamonds on the moon!" exclaimed Profes- 
 sor Henderson. 
 
 "Diamonds on the moon?" repeated his friend, 
 Prof. Santell Roumann. "Is this a joke, boys?" 
 
 "Mark thinks so, but I don't!" cried Jack, en- 
 thusiastically. "Look here, Professor Hender- 
 son, and also Mr. Roumann. Here is one of the 
 newspapers that we brought back with us in our 
 projectile, the Annihilator, after our trip to Mars. 
 I have been translating some of the articles in it, 
 and to-night I came across one that told of a trip 
 made by some of the inhabitants of Mars to thfc 
 
8 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 moon, in a sort of projectile, like ours, only more 
 on the design of an aeroplane. 
 
 "They landed on the moon, the article states, 
 and found a big field, or deposit, of Reonaris, 
 which I claim are diamonds. Mark says I'm 
 wrong, but, Professor Henderson, isn't Reonaris 
 to the Martians what diamonds are to us?" 
 
 "It certainly is," agreed the older scientist, and 
 he looked for confirmation to his scholarly com- 
 panion. 
 
 "Reonaris is substantially a diamond," said 
 Professor Roumann. "It has the same chemical 
 constitution, and also the diamond's hardness and 
 brilliancy. But I don't understand how any dia- 
 monds can be on the moon." 
 
 "You can read this for yourself," suggested 
 Jack, passing over the paper, which was one of 
 some souvenirs brought back from what was the 
 longest journey on record, ever taken by human 
 beings. 
 
 Mr. Roumann adjusted his glasses, and care- 
 fully read the article that was printed in such 
 strange characters. As he perused it, he nodded 
 his head thoughtfully from time to time. Then 
 he passed the paper to Professor Henderson. 
 
 The older scientist was somewhat longer in go- 
 ing over the article, but when he had finished, he 
 looked at the two boys, and said: 
 
A WONDERFUL STORY 9 
 
 "Jack is right! This is an account of a trip 
 made to the moon by some of the Martians, who 
 have advanced much further in the art of air 
 navigation than have we. Some of the words I 
 am not altogether familiar with, but in the main, 
 that is what the paper states." 
 
 "And doesn't it tell about them finding a field 
 of ReonarJs?" asked Jack eagerly, for he was 
 anxious to prove to his chum that he was right. 
 
 "Yes, it does," replied Mr. Henderson,, 
 
 "And Reonaris is diamonds, isn't it?" asked 
 Jack. 
 
 "It is," answered Professor Roumann gravely. 
 
 "Then," cried Jack, "what's to hinder us from 
 going to the moon, and getting some of those dia- 
 monds? The Martians must have left some! 
 Let's go to the moon and get them ! We can do 
 it in the projectile with which we made the journey 
 to Mars. Let's start for the moon!" 
 
 For a moment there was silence in the labora- 
 tory of the scientist. It was broken by Washing- 
 ton White, who remarked: 
 
 "Good land a' massy! Annodder ob dem trips 
 through de air! Well, I ain't goin' to no moon — 
 no sah ! ! Ef I went dere, I'd suah get looney, 
 an' I has troubles enough now wid'out dat, I suah 
 has!" And, shaking his head dubiously s the col- 
 ored man shuffled from the room. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES 
 
 "Are you in earnest in proposing this trip?" 
 asked Professor Henderson of Jack. The lad, 
 with flushed face and bright eyes, stood in the 
 centre of the apartment, holding the paper which 
 the aged scientist had returned to him. 
 
 "I certainly am," was the reply. "It ought not 
 to be a difficult undertaking, after our trip to the 
 North Pole through the air, the one to the South 
 Pole under water, our journey to the centre of 
 the earth, and our flight to Mars. Why, a trip to 
 the moon ought to be a little pleasure jaunt, like 
 an automobile tour. Can't we go, Professor?" 
 
 "From the standpoint of possibility, I presume 
 we could make a trip to the moon," the scientist 
 admitted. "It would not take so long, nor would 
 it be as dangerous, as was our trip to Mars. And 
 yet, I don't know that I care to go. I am getting 
 along in years, and I have money enough to live 
 on. Even a field of diamonds hardly sounds 
 attractive to me." 
 
 ie 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES n 
 
 Jack's face showed the disappointment he felt. 
 
 "And yet," went on the aged scientist with a 
 smile, "there are certain attractions about another 
 trip through space. I had hoped to settle down in 
 life now, and devote my time to scientific study 
 and the writing of books. But this is something 
 new. We never have been to the moon, and " 
 
 "There are lots of problems about it that are 
 still unsolved!" cried Jack eagerly. "You will be 
 able to discover if the moon has an atmosphere 
 and moisture ; and also what the other side — the 
 one that is always turned away from us — looks 
 like." 
 
 "It does sound tempting," went on the aged 
 scientist slowly. "And we could do it in our pro- 
 jectile, the Annihilator. It is in good working 
 order; isn't it, Professor Roumann?" 
 
 "Couldn't be better. If you ask me, I, for one, 
 would like to make a trip to the moon. It would 
 give me a better chance to test the powers of Car- 
 dite, that wonderful red substance we brought 
 from Mars. I can use that in the Etherium 
 motor. If you left it to me, I'd say, 'go to the 
 moon.' " 
 
 "Well, perhaps we will," spoke Mr. Hender- 
 son thoughtfully. 
 
 "You'll go, too, won't you, Mark?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Oh, I'm not going to be left behind. I'll go 
 
12 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 if the rest do, but I don't believe you'll find any 
 diamonds on the moon. If there ever were any, 
 the Martians took them," for Mark had been 
 partly convinced after the confirmation by the two 
 professors of Jack's translation. 
 
 "I'll take a chance on the sparklers," said his 
 chum. "But now, let's go into details, and figure 
 out when we can start. It ought not to take very 
 long to get ready." 
 
 As has been explained in detail in the former 
 books of this series, Professor Henderson and 
 the two lads, Mark Sampson and Jack Darrow, 
 had undertaken many strange voyages together. 
 Sometimes they were accompanied by friends and 
 assistants, while Washington White, a sort of 
 servant, helper and man-of-all-work, and Andy 
 Sudds, a veteran hunter, always went with them. 
 
 Mark and Jack were orphans, and had been 
 adopted by Professor Henderson, who spent all 
 his time in making wonderful machines for trans- 
 portation, or in conducting strange experiments. 
 
 In the first book of the series, entitled 
 "Through the Air to the North Pole," there was 
 given an account of how the professor and Wash- 
 ington White rescued the boys from a train wreck, 
 took them to the workshop of the scientist, and 
 cared for them. 
 
 They aided the professor, as soon as they were 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES 13 
 
 able, in constructing an airship, called the Electric 
 Monarch, in which Mr. Henderson hoped to be 
 able to reach the N orth Pole. How the boys en- 
 joyed the trip through the air, how they fought 
 the savage Esquimaux, and how, finally, they suc- 
 ceeded in passing over the exact spot of the North 
 Pole during a violent snow-storm, is all told in the 
 first book. 
 
 Not satisfied to rest from their labors after 
 conquering the North, the adventurers set out for 
 the South Pole, and their adventures seeking it, 
 are related in the second volume, called "Under 
 the Ocean to the South Pole." On this trip they 
 went beneath the surface of the seas in a subma- 
 rine boat, and many were the perils through which 
 they passed. 
 
 It was on their voyage to the south, that, com- 
 ing to the surface one day, the adventurers saw a 
 strange island in the Atlantic ocean, far from the 
 coast of South America. On it was a great whirl- 
 pool, into which the Porpoise, the submarine boat, 
 was nearly drawn by suction. 
 
 The chasm might lead to the centre of the 
 earth, it was suggested, and, after thinking the 
 matter over, on their return from the South Pole, 
 Professor Henderson decided to build a craft in 
 which they might solve the mystery. 
 
 The details of the voyage they took in the 
 
14 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Flying Mermaid, are told of in the third volume, 
 entitled "Five Thousand Miles Underground." 
 The Mermaid could sail on the water, or float in 
 the air like a balloon. In this craft the travellers 
 descended into the centre of the earth, and had 
 many wonderful adventures. They nearly lost 
 their lives, and had to escape, after running 
 through danger of the spouting water, leaving 
 their craft behind. 
 
 For some time they undertook no further voy- 
 ages, and the two boys, who lived with Professor 
 Henderson in a small town on the coast of Maine, 
 were sent to attend the Universal Electrical and 
 Chemical College. Washington remained at 
 home to minister to the wants of the old profes- 
 sor, and Andy Sudds went off on occasional hunt- 
 ing trips. 
 
 But the spirit of adventure was still strong in 
 the hearts of the boys and the professor. One 
 day, in the midst of some risky experiments at 
 college, Jack and Mark, as related in "Through 
 Space to Mars," received a telegram from Pro- 
 fessor Henderson, calling them home. 
 
 There they found their friend entertaining as 
 a guest Professor Santell Roumann, who was 
 almost as celebrated as was Mr. Henderson, in 
 the matter of inventions. 
 
 Professor Roumann made a strange proposi- 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES 15 
 
 tion. He said if the old scientist and his young 
 friends would build the proper kind of a pro- 
 jectile, they could make a trip to the planet Mars, 
 by means of a wonderful motor, operated by » 
 power called Etherium, of which Mr. Roumanh 
 held the secret. 
 
 After some discussion, the projectile, called the 
 Annihilator, from the fact that it annihilated 
 space, was begun. It was two hundred feet long, 
 ten feet in diameter in the middle, and shaped 
 like a cigar. It consisted of a double shell of 
 strong metal, with a non-conducting gas between 
 the two sides. 
 
 Within it were various machines, besides the 
 Etherium motor, which would send the projectile 
 along at the rate of one hundred miles a second. 
 This great speed was necessary in order to reach 
 the planet Mars, which, at the time our friends 
 started for it, was about thirty-five millions of 
 miles away from this earth. It has since receded 
 some distance farther than this. 
 
 Finally all was in readiness for the start to 
 Mars. Professor Roumann wanted to prove that 
 the planet was inhabited, and he also wanted to 
 get some of a peculiar substance, which he be- 
 lieved gave the planet its rosy hue. He had an 
 idea that it would prove of great value. 
 
 But, though every precaution was taken, the 
 
16 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 adventurers were not to get away from the earth 
 safely. Almost at the last minute, a crazy 
 machinist, named Fred Axtell, who was refused 
 work on the projectile, tried to blow it up with a 
 bomb. He partly succeeded, but the damage was 
 repaired, and the start made. 
 
 Inside the projectile our friends shut them- 
 selves up, and the powerful motors were started. 
 Off it shot, at the rate of one hundred miles a sec- 
 ond, but the travellers were as comfortable as in 
 a Pullman car. They had plenty to eat and drink, 
 they manufactured their own air and water, and 
 they slept when they so desired. 
 
 But Axtell, the crazy machinist, had hidden 
 himself aboard, and, in mid-air, he tried to wreck 
 the projectile. He was caught, and locked up in 
 a spare room, but, when Mars was reached, he 
 escaped. 
 
 The book tells how our friends were welcomed 
 by the Martians, how they learned the language, 
 saw many strange sights, and finally got on the 
 track of the Cardite, or red substance, which the 
 German professor, Mr. Roumann, had come so 
 far to seek. This Cardite was capable of great 
 force, and, properly controlled, could move great 
 weights and operate powerful machinery. 
 
 Our friends wanted to take some back to earth 
 with them, but when they attempted to store it in 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES 17 
 
 their projectile, they met with objections, for the 
 Martians did not want them to take any. They 
 had considerable trouble, and the crazy machinist 
 led an attack of the soldiers of the red planet 
 against our friends, the adventurers in the pro- 
 jectile. 
 
 Among the other curiosities brought away by 
 our friends, was a newspaper printed in Mars, 
 for the inhabitants of that place where much fur- 
 ther advanced along certain lines than we are on 
 this earth, but in the matter of newspapers they 
 had little to boast of, save that the sheets were 
 printed by wireless electricity, no presses being 
 needed. 
 
 As told at the opening of this story, Jack had 
 noticed on one of the sheets they brought back, 
 an account of how some of the Martians made a 
 trip to the moon, and discovered a field of Reon- 
 aris. This trip was made shortly before our 
 friends made their hasty departure, and it 
 was undertaken by some Martian adventurers 
 on another part of the red planet than where the 
 projectile landed, and so Professor Henderson 
 and his friends did not hear of it at the time. 
 
 "Well, then, suppose we make the attempt to 
 go to the moon," said Professor Roumann, after 
 a long discussion in the laboratory. "It will not 
 take long to get ready." 
 
18 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "I'd like to go," said Jack. "How about you, 
 Professor Henderson? Oh, by the way, Wash- 
 ington said you wanted to see Mark and me, but 
 I was so interested in this news item, that I forgot 
 to ask what it was about." 
 
 "I merely wanted to inquire when you and 
 Mark thought of resuming your studies at col- 
 lege," said the aged man, "but, since this matter 
 has come up, it will be just as well if you do not 
 arrange to resume your lessons right away." 
 
 "We can study while making the trip to the 
 moon," suggested Mark. 
 
 "Not much," declared Jack, with a laugh. 
 "There'll be too much to see." 
 
 "Well, we'll discuss that later," went on Mr. 
 Henderson. "Practically speaking, I think the 
 voyage can be made, and, the more I think of it, 
 the better I like the idea. We will look over the 
 projectile in the morning, and see what needs to 
 be done to it to get it ready for another trip 
 through space." 
 
 "Not much will have to be done, I fancy," re- 
 marked the German scientist. "But I want to 
 make a few improvements in the Cardite motor, 
 which I will use in place of the Etherium one, that 
 took us to Mars." 
 
 A little later there came a knock on the rear 
 door of the rambling old house where the pro- 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES 19 
 
 fessor lived and did much of his experimental 
 work. 
 
 "I'll go," volunteered Jack, and when he 
 opened the portal there stood on the threshold a 
 small boy, Dick Johnson, one of the village lads. 
 
 "What is it you want, Dick?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Here's a note for you," went on the boy, pass- 
 ing over a slip of paper. "I met a man down the 
 road, and he gave me a quarter to bring it here. 
 He said it was very important, and he's waiting 
 for you down by the white bridge over the creek." 
 
 "Waiting for who?" asked Jack. 
 
 "For Mark, I guess; but I don't know. Any- 
 how, the note's for him." 
 
 "Hum ! This is rather strange," mused Mark. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Why, this note. It says: 'It is important 
 that I see you. I will wait for you at the white 
 bridge.' That's all there is to it." 
 
 "No name signed?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Not a name. But I'll just take a run down 
 and see who it is. I'll not be long. Much 
 obliged, Dick." 
 
 The boy who had brought the note turned to 
 leave the house, and Mark prepared to follow. 
 Jack said: 
 
 "Let me see that note." 
 
 He scanned it closely, and, as Mark was get- 
 
20 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 ting on his hat and coat, for the night was chilly, 
 his chum went on : 
 
 "Mark, if I didn't know that we had left Ax* 
 tell, the crazy machinist, up on Mars, I'd say that 
 this was his writing. But, of course, it's im- 
 possible." 
 
 "Of course — impossible," agreed Mark. 
 
 "But, there's one thing, though," continued 
 Jack. 
 
 "What's that?" asked Mark. 
 
 "I don't like the idea of you going off alone 
 in the dark, to meet a man who doesn't sign his 
 name to the note he wrote. So, if you have no 
 objections, I'll go with you. No use taking any 
 chances." 
 
 "I don't believe I run any risk," said Mark, 
 "but I'll be glad of your company. Come along. 
 Maybe it's only a joke." And the two lads 
 started off together in the darkness toward the 
 white bridge. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE 
 
 "Seems like rather an odd thing; doesn't it?" 
 remarked Jack, as he and his chum walked along. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "This note." 
 
 "Oh, yes. But what made you think the writing 
 looked like that of the crazy machinist who tried 
 to wreck the projectile?" 
 
 "Because I once saw some of the crazy letters 
 he sent us, and he wrote just like the man who 
 gave Dick this note. But come on, let's hustle, 
 and see what's up." 
 
 In a few minutes they came in sight of the 
 white bridge, which was about a quarter of a mile 
 down L he road from the professor's house. The 
 two boys kept well together, and they were watch- 
 ing for a first sight of the man in waiting. 
 
 "See anything?" asked Jack. 
 
 "No; do you?" 
 
 "Not a thing. Wait until we get closer. He 
 may be in the shadow. It's dark now." 
 
 21 
 
22 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Almost as Jack spoke, the moon, which had 
 been hidden behind a bank of clouds, peeped out, 
 making the scene comparatively bright. The boys 
 peered once more toward the bridge, and, as they 
 did so, they saw a figure step from the shadows, 
 stand revealed for an instant in the middle of the 
 structure, and then, seemingly after a swift glance 
 toward the approaching chums, the person darted 
 off in the darkness. 
 
 "Did you see that?" cried Jack. 
 
 "Sure," assented Mark. "Guess he didn't want 
 to wait for us. Why, he's running to beat the 
 band!" 
 
 "Let's take after him," suggested Jack, and, 
 nothing loath, Mark assented. The two lads 
 broke into a run, but, as they leaped forward, the 
 man also increased his pace, and they could hear 
 his feet pounding out a tattoo on the hard road. 
 
 The two youths reached the bridge, and sped 
 across it. They glanced hastily on either side, 
 thinking possibly the man might have had some 
 companions, but no one was in sight, and the 
 stranger himself was now out of view around a 
 bend in the highway. 
 
 "No use going any farther," suggested Jack, 
 pulling up at the far side of the bridge. "There 
 are two roads around the bend, and we couldn't 
 
PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE 23 
 
 tell which one he'd take. Besides, it might not 
 be altogether safe to risk it." 
 
 Mark and Jack, on their return, told Professor 
 Henderson and the German scientist something 
 of their little excursion. 
 
 "But who could he have been?" asked Mr. 
 Roumann. "Perhaps if you ask the boy who 
 brought the note he can tell you." 
 
 "We'll do it in the morning," decided Mark. 
 
 "It's peculiar that he wanted Mark to meet 
 him," spoke Amos Henderson. "Have you any 
 enemies that you know of, Mark?" 
 
 "Not a one. But what makes you think this 
 man was an enemy, Professor?" 
 
 "From the fact that he ran when he saw you 
 and Jack together. Evidently he expected to get 
 Mark out alone." 
 
 They discussed the matter for some time, and 
 then the boys and the scientists retired to bed, 
 ready to begin active preparations on the mor- 
 row, for their trip to the moon. 
 
 There was much to be done, but their experi- 
 ence in making other wonderful trips, particularly 
 the one to Mars, stood the travellers in good 
 stead. They knew just how to go to work. 
 
 To Washington was entrusted the task of pre- 
 paring the food supply, since he was to act as 
 
24 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 cook. Andy Sudds was instructed to look after 
 the clothing and other supplies, except those of a 
 scientific nature, while the two young men were to 
 act as general helpers to the two professors. 
 
 As the Annihilator has been fully described in 
 the volume entitled, "Through Space to Mars," 
 there is no need to dwell at any length on the con- 
 struction of the projectile in which our friends 
 hoped to travel to the moon. Sufficient to say 
 that it was a sort of enclosed airship, capable of 
 travelling through space — that is, air or ether — at 
 enormous speed, that there were contained within 
 it many complicated machines, some for operating 
 the projectile, some for offence or defence against 
 enemies, such as electric guns, apparatus for mak- 
 ing air or water, and scores of scientific instru- 
 ments. 
 
 The Annihilator was controlled either from the 
 engine room, or from a pilot house forward. As 
 for the motive power it was, for the trip to the 
 moon, to be of that wonderful Martian substance, 
 Cardite, which would operate the motors. 
 
 The projectile moved through space by the 
 throwing off of waves of energy, similar to wire- 
 less vibrations, from large plates of metal, and 
 these plates were the invention of Professor Rou- 
 mann. 
 
 Perhaps to some of my readers it may seem 
 
PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE 25 
 
 strange to speak so casually of a trip to the moon, 
 but it must be remembered that our friends had 
 already accomplished a much more difficult jour- 
 ney, namely, that to Mars. So the moon voyage 
 was not to daunt them. 
 
 Mars, as I have said, was thirty-five millions of 
 miles away from the earth when the Annihilator 
 was headed toward it. To reach the moon, how- 
 ever, but 252,972 miles, at the most, must be tra- 
 versed — a little more than a quarter of a million 
 miles. As the distance from the earth to the moon 
 varies, being between the figures I have named, 
 and 221,614 miles, with the average distance com- 
 puted as being 238,840 miles, it can readily be 
 seen that at no time was the voyage to be consid- 
 ered as comparing in distance with the one to 
 Mars. 
 
 But there were other matters to be taken into 
 consideration, and our friends began to ponder 
 on them in the days during which they made their 
 preparations. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AN ACCIDENT 
 
 Washington White was kept busy getting 
 together the food for the voyage, and he had 
 about completed his task, while Andy Sudds an» 
 nounced one morning that his department was 
 ready for inspection, and that he thought he 
 would go hunting until the projectile was ready to 
 start. 
 
 "Well, if you see anything of that queer man 
 who sent me the note, just ask him what he meant 
 by it," suggested Mark, for inquiry from the boy 
 who had brought the message, developed the fact 
 that Dick did not know the man, nor had he ever 
 seen him before. He was a stranger in the neigh- 
 borhood. But, as nothing more resulted from it, 
 the two lads gave the matter no further thought. 
 
 "How soon before we will be ready to start?" 
 asked Jack one day, while he and his chum, with 
 the two professors, were working over the pro- 
 jectile, which was soon to be shot through space. 
 
 26 
 
AN ACCIDENT 27 
 
 "In about two weeks," replied Mr. Roumann. 
 "I want to make a few changes in the Cardite 
 plates, which will replace the ones used on the 
 Etherium motor. Then I want to test them, and, 
 if I find that they work all right, as I hope, we 
 will seal ourselves up in the Annihilator, and start 
 for the moon." 
 
 "Are you going to try to go around it, and land 
 on the side turned away from us?" asked Mark, 
 who had been studying astronomy lately. 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" asked Jack. 
 "Doesn't the moon turn around?" 
 
 "Not as the earth does," replied his chum; "or, 
 rather, to be more exact, it rotates exactly as the 
 earth does, on its axis; but, in doing this it occu- 
 pies precisely the same time that it takes to make 
 a revolution about our planet. So that, in the 
 long run, to quote from my astronomy, it keeps 
 the same side always toward the earth; and to- 
 day, or, to be more correct, each night that the 
 moon is visible, we see the same face and aspect 
 that Galileo did when he first loked at it through 
 his telescope, and, unless something happens, the 
 same thing will continue for thousands of years." 
 
 "Then we've never seen the other side of the 
 moon?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Never; and that's why I wondered if the pro- 
 fessor was going to attempt to reach it. Perhaps 
 
28 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 there are people there, and air and water, for it 
 is practically certain that there is neither moisture 
 nor atmosphere on this side of Luna." 
 
 "Wow ! Then maybe we'd better not go," said 
 Jack, with a shiver. "What will we do, if we get 
 thirsty?" 
 
 "Oh, I guess we can manage, with all the ap- 
 paratus we have, to distill enough water," said 
 Professor Henderson, with a smile. "Then, too, 
 we will take plenty with us, and, of course, tanks 
 of oxygen to breathe. But it will be interesting to 
 see if there are people on the moon." 
 
 "If there are any, they must have a queer time," 
 went on Mark. 
 
 "Why?" asked Jack, who wasn't very fond of 
 study. 
 
 "Why? Because the moon is only about one 
 forty-ninth the size of the earth. Its diameter is 
 2,163 miles — only a quarter of the earth's — and, 
 comparing the force of gravity, ours is much 
 greater. A body that weighs six pounds on 
 the earth, would weigh only one pound on the 
 moon, and a man on the moon could jump six 
 times as high as he can on this earth, and throw 
 a stone six times as far." 
 
 "What's dat?" inquired Washington White 
 quickly, nearly dropping some packages he was 
 carrying into the projectile. "What was yo' 
 
AN ACCIDENT 29 
 
 pleased t' saggasiate, in remarkin' concernin' de 
 untranquility ob the densityness ob stones jumpin' 
 ober a man what is six times high?" he asked. 
 
 "Do you mean what did I say?" asked Mark 
 solemnly. 
 
 "Dat's what I done asked yo'," spoke the col- 
 ored man gravely. 
 
 "Well, you didn't, but perhaps you meant to," 
 went on the youth, and he repeated his remarks. 
 
 " 'Scuse me, I guess I'd better not go on dish 
 yeah trip after all," came from Washington. 
 
 "Why not?" demanded Professor Henderson. 
 
 " 'Cause I ain't goin' t' no place whar ef yo' 
 wants t' take a little jump yo' has t' go six times 
 as far as yo' does when yo' is on dis yeah earth. 
 An' s'posin' some ob dem moon men takes a no- 
 tion t' throw a stone at me? Whar'll I be, when 
 a stone goes six times as far as it does on heah? 
 No, sah, I ain't goin' !" 
 
 "But perhaps there are no men on the moon," 
 said Mark quickly. "It is only a theory of astron- 
 omers that I'm talking about." 
 
 "Oh, only a theory; eh?" asked Washington 
 quickly. 
 
 "That's all." 
 
 "Oh, if it's only a theory, den I reckons it's 
 all right," came from the colored man. "I didn't 
 know it were a theory. Dat makes it all right. 
 
30 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 It's jest in theory, am it, Massa Mark, dat a stone 
 goes six times as far?" 
 
 "That's all." 
 
 "Oh, well, den, why didn't yo' say so fust, dat it 
 was only a theory? I don't mind theories. I — I 
 used t' eat 'em boiled an' roasted befo' de wah." 
 And, with a contented smile on his face, Wash- 
 ington went into the projectile, to finish stowing 
 things away in his kitchen lockers. 
 
 The big projectile was housed in the shed where 
 it had been constructed, and the professor and 
 the boys were working over it there, carefully 
 guarded from curious eyes, for the German in- 
 ventor did not want the secret of his Cardite 
 motor to become known. 
 
 The work went on from day to day, good prog- 
 ress being made. The boys were of great assis- 
 tance, for they were practical mechanics, and had 
 had considerable experience. 
 
 "Well, I shall try the Cardite motor to-mor- 
 row," announced Professor Roumann one night, 
 after a hard day's work on the projectile. 
 
 "Do you think it will work?" asked Mr. Hen- 
 derson. 
 
 "I think so, yes. My experiments have made 
 me hopeful." 
 
 "And if it does work, when can we start?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
AN ACCIDENT 31 
 
 "Two days later; that is, if everything else is 
 in readiness, the food and other supplies on 
 board." 
 
 "They are all ready to be stowed away," said 
 Andy Sudds, who had been hunting all day. 
 
 It was an anxious assemblage that gathered 
 inside the big shed the next day, to watch Pro- 
 fessor Roumann try the Cardite motor. Would 
 it work as well as had the Etherium one? Would 
 it send them along through space at enormous 
 speed? True, they would not have to travel so 
 far, nor so fast, but more power would be needed, 
 since, as it was feared no food, water, nor air 
 could be had on the moon, many more supplies 
 were to be taken along than on the trip to Mars, 
 and this made the projectile heavier. 
 
 "We will test the Cardite in this small motor 
 first," said Mr. Roumann, as he pointed to a ma- 
 chine in the projectile used for winding a cable 
 around a windlass when there was necessity for 
 hauling the Annihilator about, without sending it 
 into the air. 
 
 Into the receptacle of the motor, the German 
 professor placed some of the wonderful red sub- 
 stance he had secured from Mars. Then he 
 closed the heavy metal box that held it, and, look- 
 ing about to see if all was in readiness, he mo- 
 
32 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 tioned to those watching him that he was about to 
 shift the lever that would start the motor. 
 
 "If it works as well as I hope it will," he said, 
 "it ought to pull the projectile slowly across the 
 shop — a task that would be impossible in a motor 
 of this size, if operated by electricity, gasoline, or 
 any other force at present in use. And, if this 
 small motor will do that, I know the large ones 
 will send us through space to the moon. All 
 ready, now." 
 
 Slowly the professor shoved over the lever, 
 while Jack, Mark and the others watched him 
 carefully. They were standing back of him, in 
 the engine room of the projectile. 
 
 There was a clicking sound as the lever snapped 
 into place. This was succeeded by a buzzing 
 hum, as the motor began to absorb the great 
 power from the red substance, which was not un- 
 like radium in its action. There was a trembling 
 to the great projectile. 
 
 "She's moving!" cried Jack. 
 
 Hardly had he spoken when there was a flash 
 of red fire, a sound as of a bursting bomb, and 
 everyone was knocked from his feet, over back- 
 ward, while Professor Roumann was hurled the 
 entire length of the engine room. 
 
 "Th«? Cardite motor has exploded!" cried 
 Mark. "Professor Roumann is killed!" 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE WORK OF AN ENEMY 
 
 Jack's first act, on arising from amid a mass 
 of tools, into which he had been tossed by the ex- 
 plosion, was to run to where Professor Roumann 
 lay in a semi-conscious condition. An instant later 
 Mark slowly arose, and made his way to where 
 Professor Henderson was rubbing his forehead 
 in a dazed fashion. 
 
 "Are you hurt?" asked Mark, of his aged 
 friend. 
 
 "I think not," answered Mr. Henderson slowly, 
 "but I fear Mr. Roumann is. See to him; I'm all 
 right." 
 
 "He's breathing," cried Jack, who had bent 
 over the German. "He isn't dead, at any rate." 
 
 "But he may be, unless he gets attention," said 
 Professor Henderson. "Get my medicine chest, 
 Mark, and we'll see what we can do for him." 
 
 Jack had raised the head of the injured man on 
 his arm, and was giving him some water from a 
 glass. This partially revived the German, and 
 
 33 
 
,34 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 he opened his eyes. He looked around, into the 
 faces of his friends, as if scarcely comprehending 
 what had happened, and then, as his gaze wan- 
 dered toward the disabled Cardite motor, he ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 "Some enemy has done this ! The motor was 
 tampered with. The resistance block was loos- 
 ened, and that caused the force of the Cardite 
 to shoot out at the rear. We must watch out for 
 the work of this enemy!" 
 
 "Don't distress yourself about that now," 
 urged Mr. Henderson. "Are you badly hurt? 
 Do you need a doctor?" 
 
 The German slowly drank the rest of the water 
 which Jack gave him, and then gradually arose 
 to a standing position. 
 
 "I am all right," he said faintly, "except that I 
 feel a trifle dizzy. Something hit me on the head, 
 and the fumes from the Cardite took away my 
 breath for a moment. I think I shall be all right 
 soon." 
 
 "Here is the medicine chest!" exclaimed Mark, 
 coming back into the engine room. Mr. Hen- 
 derson poured out some aromatic spirits of am- 
 monia into a graduated glass, added a little water, 
 and gave it to his fellow inventor, who, after 
 drinking it, declared that he felt much better. 
 There was a cut on his forehead, where a piece of 
 
THE WORK OF AN ENEMY 35 
 
 the broken motor had struck him, but, otherwise,,, 
 he did not seem injured externally. 
 
 As for the boys, they were only stunned, nor 
 was Mr. Henderson more than momentarily 
 shocked. In a few minutes the German profes- 
 sor was almost himself again. 
 
 "We must try to discover who our enemy is," 
 he said earnestly, as he looked over the disabled 
 motor. "He might have blown up the whole pro- 
 jectile by tampering as he did with the machinery. 
 Had I been testing the large, instead of the small 
 motor, there would have been nothing left of the 
 Annihilator, or us, either. Who could have done 
 this? If that crazy machinist is around 
 again " 
 
 "I don't believe he could get here from Mars," 
 interrupted Jack, with a smile. 
 
 "Hardly," added Mark. 
 
 "No, I guess he is still on the Red Planet, so 
 it couldn't have been him," went on Mr. Rou- 
 mann. "But it was some one." 
 
 Jack and Mark at once thought of the odd man 
 who had sent Mark the note, and then had run 
 away. 
 
 "Could it have been him?" suggested Jack. 
 
 "It's possible," remarked Professor Hender- 
 son. "We must be on our guard. I wonder if 
 Washington " 
 
36 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 At that moment there sounded a violent pound* 
 ing on the exterior of the projectile, and the voice 
 of the colored man could be heard calling: 
 
 "Am anything de mattah? Andy Sudds an' I 
 is out heah, an' we heard suffin goin' on in dere. 
 Am anybody hurted?" 
 
 "It's all over now, Wash," replied Jack, for 
 the two boys, and the two professors, had shut 
 themselves up in the projectile while they con- 
 ducted the experiment. Jack opened the door 
 of the Annihilator and stepped out, being met by 
 the colored man and the old hunter. 
 
 "You haven't seen any suspicious characters 
 around, have you, Wash?" asked Mark. "Some 
 one has been tampering with a motor, and it ex- 
 ploded." 
 
 "Nobody's been around since I've been here," 
 announced Andy Sudds, with a significant glance 
 at his gun. 
 
 "Maybe it's some ob dem moon-men, what 
 don't laik de idea ob us goin' dere arter dere 
 diamonds," volunteered the colored man. 
 
 "Perhaps," admitted Jack, with a smile. "But 
 certainly some one has been around here who had 
 no business to be, and we must find out who it 
 was. Better take a look around, Wash." 
 
 "I'll help him," said Andy, and, with his rifle 
 
THE WORK OF AN ENEMY Z7 
 
 In readiness for any intruders, the old hunter fol- 
 lowed the colored man outside the big shed. 
 
 Meanwhile Professor Roumann and Mr. Hen- 
 derson were carefully examining the exploded 
 motor. 
 
 "I should have looked at the breech plug be- 
 fore turning on the power," said the German, 
 "but I had no reason to suspect that anything was 
 wrong." He went on to explain that the explosion 
 was something like that which occurs when the 
 breech-block of a big navy gun is not properly in 
 place. The force of the Cardite, instead of being 
 directed against the piston-heads of the motor, 
 shot out backward, and almost into the face of the 
 professor, who was operating the machine. 
 
 "But what could be their object?" asked Mark. 
 "Who would want to injure us, or damage the 
 projectile?" 
 
 "Some enemy, of course," declared Jack. "But 
 who? The crazy machinist is out of it, and as 
 for that man who sent the note to you, he seemed 
 too big a coward to attempt anything like this." 
 
 "Some one evidently sneaked in here and loos- 
 ened the breech-plug," went on Mark, "and it was 
 evidently done with the idea of delaying us. The 
 enemy could not have desired to utterly disable 
 the projectile, or else he would have tampered 
 
38 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 with the large motor, instead of the small one." 
 
 "Yes, the object seems to have been to delay 
 us," admitted Professor Henderson; "yet, I can't 
 understand why. Whoever did it evidently knows 
 something about machinery." 
 
 "I hope they did not discover the secret of my 
 Cardite motor," said. Professor Roumann quickly. 
 
 "They hardly had time," declared Mark. "We 
 have been in or around the projectile nearly every 
 minute of the day, and whoever it was, must have 
 watched his chance, slipped in, stayed a few sec- 
 onds, and then slipped out again." 
 
 They went carefully over the entire projectile, 
 but could find no further damage done. Nor were 
 there any traces of the person who had so nearly 
 caused a tragedy. Washington and Andy, after 
 a careful search outside the shed, had to admit 
 that they had no clews. 
 
 "Well, the only thing to do is to go to work and 
 build a new small motor," announced Professor 
 Roumann, after once more looking over the 
 debris of the one that had exploded. 
 
 "Will it take long?" asked Jack. 
 
 "About two weeks. Fortunately, I can use some 
 of the parts of this one, or we would be delayed 
 longer." 
 
 "Still two weeks is quite a while," suggested 
 Mark. "Perhaps there'll be no diamonds left on 
 
THE WORK OF AN ENEMY 39 
 
 the moon when we get there, Jack," and he smiled 
 jokingly. 
 
 "Oh, I fancy there will. The article in the 
 paper from Mars says there was a whole field of 
 them." 
 
 "This brings up another matter," said Profes- 
 sor Henderson. "What will happen if we bring 
 back bushels and bushels of diamonds? — which, 
 in view of what the paper says, may be possible. 
 We will swamp the market, and the value of dia- 
 monds will drop." 
 
 "Then we must not throw them upon the mar- 
 ket," decided Professor Roumann. "The scarcity 
 of an article determines its value. If we do find 
 plenty of diamonds, it will give me a chance to 
 conduct some experiments I have long postponed 
 because of a lack of the precious stones. We can 
 use them for laboratory purposes, and need not 
 sell them. In fact, with the Cardite we brought 
 back from Mars, we have no lack of money, so 
 we really do not need the diamonds." 
 
 It was decided, in view of the shock and upset 
 caused by the explosion, that no further work 
 would be done that day, and so, after carefully 
 locking the shed, and posting Andy on guard with 
 his gun, the boys and the professor went into the 
 house to discuss matters, and plan for work the 
 next day. 
 
40 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Mark," said Jack in a low voice, as they fol- 
 lowed the two scientists, "I think it's up to us to 
 try to find that mysterious man who sent the note. 
 I think he did this mean trick!" 
 
 "So do I, and we'll have a hunt for him. Let's 
 go now." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ON THE TRACK 
 
 The two boys gazed after Professors Hender« 
 son and Roumann. The scientists were deep in a 
 discussion of various technical matters, which dis- 
 cussion, it was evident, made them oblivious to 
 everything else. 
 
 "Shall we ask them?" inquired Jack in a 
 whisper. 
 
 "No; what's the use?" queried Mark. "Let's 
 go off by ourselves, and perhaps we can discover 
 something. If we could once get on the trail of 
 the man who wrote the note, I think we could put 
 our hands on the person responsible for the blow- 
 ing up of the motor." 
 
 "I agree with you. We won't bother them 
 about our plans," and he waved his hand toward 
 the scientists, who had, by this time, entered the 
 house. 
 
 "In the first place," said Mark, as he and his 
 chum turned from the yard, and walked along a 
 quiet country road, "I think our best plan will be 
 td /ind Dick Johnson, and ask him just where it 
 
42 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 was he met the man who gave him a quarter to 
 bring the note to me." 
 
 "What for?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Why, then, we can tell where to start from. 
 Perhaps Dick can give us a description of the man, 
 or tell from what direction he came. Then we'll 
 know how to begin on the trail." 
 
 "That's a good idea, I guess. We know where 
 he disappeared to, or, rather, in nearly what direc- 
 tion, so that will help some." 
 
 "Sure. Well, then, let's find Dick." 
 
 To the inquiries of the two lads from the pro- 
 jectile, Dick Johnson replied that, as he had as- 
 serted once before, that the man was a stranger 
 to him. 
 
 "He was tall, and had a big black mustache," 
 Dick described, "but he kept his hat pulled down 
 over his eyes, so I couldn't see his face very well. 
 Anyhow, it was dark when I met him." 
 
 "Where did you meet him?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Not far from your house. He was standing 
 on the corner, where you turn down to go to the 
 woollen mill, and, as I passed him, he asked me if 
 I wanted to earn a quarter." 
 
 "Of course you said you did," suggested Jack. 
 
 "Sure," replied Dick. "Then he gave me the 
 note, and told me where to take it, and I did. 
 That wasn't wrong, was it?" 
 
ON THE TRACK 43 
 
 "No; only there seems to be something queer 
 about the man, and we want to find out what it 
 is," replied Mark. 
 
 "What was the man doing when you saw him?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 "Standing, and sort of looking toward your 
 house." 
 
 "Looking toward our house?" repeated Jack. 
 "Was he anywhere near the big shed where we 
 build the machines?" 
 
 "Well, I couldn't say. Maybe he might have 
 been." 
 
 "I guess that's all you can tell us," put in Mark, 
 with a glance at his chum, to warn him not to go 
 too much into details with Dick, for they did not 
 want it known that some enemy had tried to 
 wreck the projectile. 
 
 "Yes, I can't tell you any more," admitted the 
 small lad. 
 
 "Well, here's a quarter for what you did tell 
 us," said Jack, "and if you see that man again, and 
 he gives you a note for us, just keep your eye or 
 him, watch where he goes, and tell us. Then you 
 will get a half-dollar." 
 
 "Gee ! I'll be on the watch," promised Dick, 
 his eyes shining at the prospect of so much money. 
 
 "Come on," suggested Jack to his chum, after 
 the small chap had departed. "Let's go down by 
 
44 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 the white bridge and make some inquiries of 
 people living in that vicinity. They may have 
 seen a stranger hanging around, and, perhaps we 
 can get on his trail that way." 
 
 "All right," agreed Mark, and they walked on 
 together. 
 
 They had gone quite a distance away from 
 the bridge, and had made several inquiries, but 
 had met with no success, and they were about to 
 give up and go back home. 
 
 "I know one person we haven't inquired of yet," 
 said Mark, as they tramped along. 
 
 "Who's that?" 
 
 "Old Bascomb, who lives alone in a shack on 
 the edge of the creek. You know the old codger 
 who traps muskrats." 
 
 "Oh, sure; but I don't believe he'd know any- 
 thing. If he did, he's so cranky he wouldn't tell 
 you." 
 
 "Maybe he would, if we gave him a little money 
 for some smoking tobacco. It's worth trying, any- 
 how. Bascomb goes around a great deal, and he 
 may have met a strange man in his travels." 
 
 "Well, go ahead; we'll ask him." 
 
 The muskrat trapper did not prove to be in a 
 very pleasant frame of mind, but, after Mark had 
 given him a quarter, Bascomb consented to answer 
 a few questions. The boys told him about looking 
 
ON THE TRACK 45 
 
 for a strange man, describing him as best they 
 could, though they did not tell why they wanted 
 to find him. 
 
 "Wa'al, now, I shouldn't be surprised but what 
 I know the very fellow you want," said the trap- 
 per. "I met him a couple of days back, an' I 
 think he's still hanging around. Fust I thought 
 he was after some of my traps, but when I found 
 he wa'ant, I didn't pay no more attention to him. 
 He looked jest like you say." 
 
 "Where was he?" asked Jack eagerly. 
 
 "Walkin' along the creek, sort of absent-minded 
 like." 
 
 "You don't know where he lives, or whether he 
 is staying in this vicinity, do you?" inquired Mark. 
 
 "Ya'as, I think I do," replied the trapper. 
 
 "Where?" cried Jack eagerly. 
 
 "Wa'al, you know the old Preakness home* 
 stead, down by the bend of the creek, about four 
 mile below here?" 
 
 "Sure we know it," answered Mark. "We 
 used to go in swimming not far from there." 
 
 "Wa'al, the old house has been deserted now 
 for quite a spell," went on the trapper, "and there 
 ain't nobody lived in it but tramps. But the other 
 night, when I was comin' past, with a lot of rats 
 I'd jest taken out of my traps, I see a light in the 
 old house. Thinks I, to myself, that there's more 
 
46 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 tramps snoozin' in there, and I didn't reckon it 
 was none of my business, so I kept on. But jest 
 as I was walking past the main gate, some one 
 come out of the house and hurried away. I had 
 a good look at him, an'- " 
 
 "Who was it?" asked Mark impatiently, for 
 the old trapper was a slow talker. 
 
 "It was the same man you're lookin' for," de- 
 clared Bascomb. "I'm sure of it, an' he's hangin' 
 out in the old Preakness house. If you want t' 
 see him, why don't you go there?" 
 
 "We will!" cried Jack. "Come on, Mark. I 
 think we're on the trail at last." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MARK IS CAPTURED 
 
 Eagerly the boys hurried forward, intent on 
 making the best time possible to the old Preakness 
 homestead, which was a landmark for miles 
 around, and which, in its day, had been a hand- 
 some house and estate. Now it was fallen into 
 ruins, for there was a dispute among the heirs, 
 and the property was in the Chancery Court. 
 
 "Do you think we'll find him there?" asked 
 Mark, as they made their way along the dusty 
 highway. 
 
 "Hard to tell. Yet, if he's hanging out in this 
 neighborhood, that would be as good a place as 
 any, for him to hide in." 
 
 "I wonder who he can be, anyhow? And how 
 he knows me?" 
 
 "Give it up. Evidently he isn't a tramp, 
 though he stays in a place where there are plenty 
 of the Knights of the Road." 
 
 The boys increased their pace, and were soon 
 on the main road leading to the Preakness house, 
 and about a mile away from it. 
 
 47 
 
48 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "We'll soon be there now," remarked Jack. 
 "Then we'll see if we can find that man." 
 
 As he spoke, the lad put his hand in his pocket, 
 and, a moment later, he uttered a startled cry. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Mark, in some 
 alarm. 
 
 "Matter? Why, gee whiz! If I haven't for- 
 gotten to send that telegram Professor Henderson 
 gave me ! It's to order some special tools to take 
 along on our trip to the moon. They didn't come, 
 and the professor wrote out a message urging the 
 factory to hurry the shipment. He gave it to me 
 to send, just before the accident to the motor, but 
 when that happened it knocked it out of my mind, 
 I guess. I stuck the telegram in my pocket, and 
 here it is yet," and Jack drew forth a crumpled 
 paper. "Wouldn't that make you tired?" he 
 asked. "It's important, and ought to go at once. 
 The professor won't like it." 
 
 "I'll tell you what to do," suggested Mark, 
 after a moment's thought. "The telegraph office 
 isn't so far away from here. You can cut across 
 lots, and be there in fifteen or twenty minutes. Tell 
 'em to rush the message, and it may be in time yet. 
 Anyhow, we're going to be delayed because of the 
 accident to the motor, so it won't make so much 
 difference. But come on, let's start, and we can 
 hurry back." 
 
MARK IS CAPTURED 49 
 
 "I guess that's the best plan," remarked Jack 
 dubiously, for he did not fancy a half-hour's 
 tramp across the fields and back again. Then, as 
 he thought of something else, he called out: 
 
 "Say, Mark, there's no use of both of us going 
 to the telegraph office. I'll go alone, as it's my 
 fault, and you can stay here, and watch to see if 
 that strange man appears on the scene. I'll not 
 be long, and you can wait for me here." 
 
 "How would it be if I went on a little nearer to 
 the Preakness house?" asked Mark. "I can meet 
 you there just as well as here, and something may 
 develop." 
 
 "Good idea ! You go on, and when I come 
 back, I'll take the road that leads through the old 
 slate quarry, and save some time that way. I'll 
 meet you right near the old barn that stands on 
 the Gilbert property, just before you reach the 
 Preakness grounds." 
 
 "All right ; I'll be there, but don't run your legs 
 off. We're out for all day, and there isn't any- 
 thing that needs to be done at home, or around 
 the projectile, so take your time." 
 
 "Oh, I'll not go to sleep," declared Jack. "I 
 want to see if we can't solve the mystery of the 
 man who writes such queer notes." 
 
 Jack started off across the fields at a swift pace, 
 svhile Mark strolled on down the road, in the 
 
SO LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 direction of the old Preakness house. He was 
 thinking of many things, chiefly of the wonderful 
 journey that lay before them, and he was wonder- 
 ing what the moon would look like when they got 
 to it. 
 
 That it would be a wild, desolate place, he had 
 no doubt, for the evidences of the telescopes of 
 astronomers pointed that way, and, as is well 
 known, the most powerful instruments can now 
 bring the moon to within an apparent distance of 
 one hundred miles of the earth. This is true of 
 the Lick telescope, which has a magnifying power 
 of 2,500 and an object lens a yard across. 
 
 But, with this powerful telescope, it has been 
 impossible to distinguish any such objects as for- 
 ests, cities, or any evidences of life on the moon — 
 that is, on the side that has always been turned 
 toward us. 
 
 Almost unconsciously, Mark went on faster 
 than he intended, and, before he knew it, he had 
 arrived at the barn where he had promised to wait 
 for his chum. Mark looked at his watch, and 
 found that he would still have some time to linger 
 before he could expect Jack to return. He sat 
 down on a stone beside the fence, and looked 
 about him. The day was warm for fall, and the 
 last of the crickets were chirping away, while, in 
 
MARK IS CAPTURED 51 
 
 distant fields, men could be seen husking corn, or 
 drawing in loads of yellow pumpkins. 
 
 "I wonder if we'll have pumpkin pie on the 
 moon," thought Mark. "Though, of course, we 
 won't. I guess all we'll have to eat will be what 
 Washington takes along in the projectile — that is, 
 unless we find people on the other side of the 
 place." 
 
 He sat on the stone for some minutes longer, 
 and then, tiring of the inactivity, he arose and 
 strolled about. Something seemed to draw him in 
 the direction of the old house, which he knew was 
 just around the bend in the road. 
 
 "I guess there wouldn't be any harm in my go- 
 ing along and taking a peep at it," mused the lad. 
 "It will be some time before Jack returns, and I 
 may be able to catch a glimpse of our man. I 
 think I'll go up where I can see the place, and I 
 can come back in time to meet Jack. I'll do it. 
 Maybe the fellow might escape while I'm 
 waiting." 
 
 Mark thus tried to justify himself for his ac- 
 tion in not keeping to his agreement with his chum. 
 Of course it was not an important matter, Mark 
 thought, though the results of his simple action 
 were destined to be more far-reaching than he 
 imagined. He thought he would be back in time 
 
52 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 to meet Jack, and so he strolled on, going more 
 cautiously now, for, in a few minutes he would 
 come in sight of the old, deserted house, and he 
 did not know what he might find there. 
 
 Mark's first sight of the Preakness homestead 
 was of two old stone posts, that had once formed 
 a fine gateway. The posts were in ruins, now, 
 and half fallen down, being covered with Vir- 
 ginia creeper, the leaves of which were now a 
 vivid red, mingled with green. 
 
 "Nothing very alarming there," said Mark, 
 half aloud. He could just catch a glimpse of the 
 roof of the house over the tops of the trees, 
 which had not yet shed all their leaves. "Guess 
 I'll go on a little farther. Maybe our friend, the 
 enemy, is sitting on the front porch, sunning him- 
 self." 
 
 Past the old gateway Mark continued, intend- 
 ing to proceed along the highway until he got di- 
 rectly in front of the old mansion. There, he 
 knew, he would have a good view, unobstructed 
 by trees or shrubbery. 
 
 When the lad got to this place in the road, he 
 paused, and stooped over, as if tying the lace of 
 his shoe, for it was his intention to pass himself 
 off, if possible, as a casual passer-by, so that in 
 case the mysterious man should be in the house, 
 his suspicions would not be aroused by seeing the 
 
MARK IS CAPTURED 53 
 
 youth to whom he had written the note staring in 
 at him. 
 
 And, while he was apparently fussing with his 
 shoe, Mark was narrowly eying the old house. 
 
 "Not a very inviting place," thought Mark. 
 "I don't see why any man who could afford any- 
 thing better, would stay there — unless he has 
 some strong motive for lingering in this section. 
 And that's probably what this fellow has, and I'd 
 like to discover it. Well, I don't see any signs of 
 him, so I guess I might as well go back, and wait 
 for Jack. He'll be along soon." 
 
 He stood up, took a good look at the house, 
 and was about to retrace his steps down the high- 
 way, when he saw the sagging front door of the 
 old mansion slowly open. It creaked on the 
 rusty hinges, and Mark stared with all his might 
 as he saw a man emerge, a man who did not look 
 like a tramp, for his clothes were of good mate- 
 rial and cut, and fit him well. Nor did he wear 
 a stubbly growth of beard, but, on the contrary, 
 his face was clean shaven. The man was about 
 Mark's size, perhaps a little taller, and nearly as 
 stout. He stood on the sagging porch, and 
 gazed off toward the road. 
 
 "Well, if that's the man Dick Johnson got the 
 note from he's changed mightily in appearance," 
 thought Mark, as he looked at the fellow. "He 
 
54 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 isn't very tall, and he hasn't any black mustache. 
 But of course he may have shaved that off, and I 
 suppose in the dark, and when one is in a hurry 
 to earn a quarter, it's hard to say whether a man 
 is tall or short. I wonder if this can be the per- 
 son we're looking for?" 
 
 Mark hardly knew what to do. He stood in 
 the road, undecided, and /airly stared at the 
 man, who had left the porch, and was walking 
 down the wred-grown path. He was looking 
 straight at Mark, but if the stranger was the per- 
 son who had written the note, and if he recog- 
 nized the lad, he gave no sign to that effect. 
 
 "Good afternoon," said the man, as he paused 
 at the gap in the front wall, where once a gate 
 had been. "Pleasant day, isn't it." 
 
 "Ye — yes," stammered Mark, wondering what 
 to say next. 
 
 "Live around here?" went on the man. 
 
 "Not very far off." 
 
 "Ah, then you know this old shack?" 
 
 "Well, I don't get over here very often. Do 
 you live here?" ventured Mark boldly, determin- 
 ing to do some questioning on his own account. 
 
 "Me live here?" cried the man, as if indig- 
 nant. "Well, hardly! I was just passing, and, 
 happening to see the old place, and having a fond- 
 ness for antiques, I stepped in. But it is in bad 
 
MARK IS CAPTURED 55 
 
 shape. I should say tramps make it their hang- 
 out." 
 
 "It has that name," said Mark. 
 
 There was a pause for a moment, and the lad 
 was a trifle embarrassed. The man was gaz- 
 ing boldly at him. 
 
 "I guess I've made a mistake," thought Mark. 
 "This can't be the man we want. He doesn't live 
 here, and he doesn't look like him. I'd better 
 be getting back to meet Jack." 
 
 "Are you engaged at anything in particular?" 
 questioned the man taking a few steps nearer the 
 youth. 
 
 "No, I'm not working, but I expect to take a 
 trip, shortly, with some friends of mine," an- 
 swered Mark. 
 
 "Ah, is that so?" and there was polite inquiry 
 in the man's voice. "Are you going far?" 
 
 "Quite a distance." Mark wondered what the 
 man would say if he told him he was going to 
 the moon. 
 
 "I wonder if you would do me a favor?" went 
 on the man. "As I was passing through this old 
 house I saw, on one of the outer doors, an old- 
 fashioned knocker. I am a collector of an- 
 tiques, and I would very much like to have that. 
 But I need help in getting it off. I do not intend 
 to steal it, but if it is left here some tramp may 
 
56 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 destroy it, and that would be too bad. I intend 
 to remove it, and then hunt up the owners of this 
 place, and purchase it from them." 
 
 "It will be hard to discover who are the own- 
 ers," replied Mark, "as the title is in dispute." 
 
 "So much the better for me. Will you help 
 me remove the knocker? I will pay you for your 
 time." 
 
 Mark hesitated. He did not like the man's 
 manner, and there was a shifty, uneasy look about 
 his eyes. Still he might be all right. But Mark 
 did not like the idea of going into the old house 
 with him alone. It might be safe, and, again, it 
 might not. But the knocker was on an outside 
 door. There could be on harm in helping him, 
 as long as it was outside. The man saw the hesi- 
 tation in the lad's manner. 
 
 "It will not take us long," the stranger said. 
 "I want you to help me pry off the knocker, as 
 I have no screw-driver to remove it. I will pay 
 you well." 
 
 As he spoke he came nearer to Mark, and the 
 lad noticed that the man's right hand was held 
 behind his back. This struck Mark as rather 
 suspiciousr Suddenly he became aware of a pe- 
 culiar odor in the air — a sweet, sickish odor. He 
 started back in alarm, all his former suspicions 
 aroused. The man seemed to leap toward him. 
 
MARK IS CAPTURED 57 
 
 "Look out!" suddenly cried the fellow. "Look 
 behind you!" 
 
 Involuntarily Mark turned. He saw nothing 
 alarming. The next instant he felt himself 
 grasped in the strong arms of the man, and a 
 cloth that smelled strongly of the strange, sweetly 
 sickish odor was pressed over the lad's face. 
 
 "Here! Stop! Let me go! Help! Help!" 
 cried Mark. Then his voice died out. He felt 
 weak and sick, and sank back, an inert mass in 
 the man's arms. 
 
 "I guess I've got you this time," whispered the 
 fellow, as he gazed down on Mark's white face. 
 "I'll put you where you won't get away, either," 
 and, picking up the youth, he carried him a pris- 
 oner into the deserted house. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 JACK IS PUZZLED 
 
 Whistling merrily, with his mind as much on 
 the big field of diamonds he expected to discover 
 on the moon, as it was on anything else, Jack 
 Darrow crossed over the meadows toward the 
 telegraph office. 
 
 "By Jinks! It certainly will be great to fly 
 through space once more," he mused. "Of 
 course it isn't much of a trip, only a quarter of a 
 million miles at most, but it will be a little outing 
 for us, and then those diamonds!" 
 
 A trip of a quarter of a million miles only a 
 little outing! But then what can be expected of 
 lads who had gone to Mars and back again? 
 
 Jack lost no time in reaching the telegraph 
 office, where he left the message to be sent, urg- 
 ing the operator to "rush" it, which that official 
 promised to do. 
 
 " 'Twon't be no great hardship on me, neither," 
 he said with a cheerful grin, "seein' as how this is 
 the only one I've had to send to-day. I'll get it 
 right off for you, Jack." 
 
 58 
 
JACK IS PUZZLED 59 
 
 Jack meant to hurry back, but, just as he was 
 turning out of the main village street, to cut 
 across lots, and join Mark at the place agreed 
 upon, Jack saw two dogs fighting. It was with 
 the best intentions in the world that he ran to- 
 ward them, for he wanted to separate them. 
 However a man was ahead of him, and soon had 
 the two beasts apart. But Jack lingered several 
 moments to see if there would be a renewal of the 
 hostilities. There wasn't, and he hurried on. 
 In a short time he was within sight of the barn, 
 where his chum had agreed to meet him. 
 
 "Mark!" cried Jack, when he came within 
 hailing distance. 
 
 There was no response. 
 
 "Maybe he's hiding to fool me," thought the 
 lad. "I'll give him another call." 
 
 Neither was there a reply to this shout, and 
 Jack, with a vague feeling of fear in his heart, 
 hurried forward, climbed the fence that sepa- 
 rated the field from the highway, and fairly ran 
 toward the barn. 
 
 A glance sufficed to show that Mark was not 
 in sight, and, thinking that his chum might be on 
 the other side, Jack went around the structure. 
 
 "Oh, you Mark!" he called. "I'm back! 
 Let's get a move on and go to the old house." 
 
 Silence was the only answer. 
 
60 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "That's queer," murmured Jack, when he had 
 made a circuit of the place, and had seen no sight 
 of his friend. "I wonder if anything could have 
 happened to him? Perhaps he went inside, and 
 has fallen down the hay mow. I'll take a look." 
 
 He made a thorough inspection of the ram- 
 shackle old structure, but there was no evidence 
 that Mark had entered it, and Jack was soon 
 quite assured that no harm had befallen his friend 
 in there. Then a sudden thought came to him. 
 
 "Why, of course!" he exclaimed aloud. "I 
 should have thought of that before. Mark got 
 tired of waiting, and went on to the Preakness 
 house. I might have known. I'll go on and 
 catch up to him there." 
 
 Jack had reasoned correctly, but he could not 
 know what had taken place with only the old, 
 grim, deserted mansion for a witness. With a 
 lighter heart he set off down the road. 
 
 It did not take him long, at the pace he kept 
 up, to come within sight of the old gateway, with 
 the creeper twining over the pillars. Then he 
 caught a glimpse of the house, and he at once 
 slackened his footsteps. 
 
 "No use rushing into this thing," he reasoned 
 in a whisper. "Mark may be in hiding, taking 
 an observation of the mysterious man, and I don't 
 
JACK IS PUZZLED 61 
 
 want to spoil it, by butting in. Guess I'll lie low 
 for a while, and see what develops." 
 
 Crouching down beside some bushes that lined 
 the roadway Jack looked toward the silent, tum- 
 bled-down house and waited. All was still. Oc- 
 casionally a shutter flapped in the wind, the hinges 
 creaking dismally, or some of the loose window- 
 panes rattled as the sash was blown to and fro. 
 It was not a pleasant aspect, and as the afternoon 
 was waning, and the sun was going down, while 
 a cool wind sprang up, Jack was anything but 
 comfortable in his place of observation. 
 
 And the one objection to it was that there was 
 nothing to observe. Not a sign of life was to be 
 seen about the place, and the broken windows, like 
 so many unblinking eyes, stared out on the fields 
 and road. 
 
 "Oh pshaw!" exclaimed Jack at length, "I'm 
 not going to sit here this way! I'm going up and 
 take a look. It can't bite me, and if that man's 
 in there I can give him some sort of a talk that 
 will make it look all right. I'm going closer. 
 Maybe Mark's inside there, waiting for me, 
 though it's queer why he didn't keep his agree- 
 ment and wait for me at the barn. Well, here 
 goes." 
 
 Though he spoke bravely, it was not without a 
 
62 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 little feeling of apprehension that Jack started 
 toward the old mansion. He kept a close watch 
 for the advent of any person or persons who 
 might be in the house, but, when he reached the 
 front porch, and had seen no one, he felt more 
 at ease. 
 
 "Hello, Mark!" he cried boldly. "Are you in- 
 side?" 
 
 He paused for an answer. None came. 
 
 "This is getting rather strange," murmured 
 Jack, who was now quite puzzled as to what to 
 make of the whole matter. "Mark must be 
 here, yet why doesn't he answer me? Oh, you 
 Mark!" he shouted at the top of his voice. 
 
 There was only silence, and, after waiting a few 
 moments Jack made up his mind that the best 
 plan would be to enter the house and look around. 
 
 He made a hasty search through the lower 
 rooms, but saw no sign of Mark. It was the 
 same upstairs, and on the third floor there was 
 no evidence of his chum. Jack called again, but 
 got no reply. 
 
 "The garret next, and then the cellar," he told 
 himself, and these two places, darker and more 
 dismal than any other parts of the old mansion, 
 were soon explored. 
 
 "Well, if Mark came here he's not here now," 
 thought Jack, "and there's no use in my staying 
 
JACK IS PUZZLED 63 
 
 any longer. Maybe something happened that he 
 had to go back home. Perhaps he's trailing the 
 man. We should have made up some plan to be 
 followed in case anything like that happened." 
 
 Deciding that the best thing he could do would 
 be to go back home Jack came out of the old 
 house. As he did so he gave a final call: 
 
 "Mark! Oh, you Mark! Are you anywhere 
 about?" 
 
 What was that? Was it an answer, or merely 
 the echo of his own voice? Jack started, and 
 then, as he heard another sound, he said: 
 
 "Only the wind squeaking a shutter. Mark 
 isn't here." 
 
 If Jack had only known ! 
 
 Through the quickly-gathering darkness Jack 
 turned his steps toward home. On the way along 
 the country road he kept a sharp lookout for any 
 sign of his chum, and, also, he looked to see if he 
 could catch a glimpse of any person who might 
 answer the description of the man they suspected 
 of tampering with the Cardite motor. 
 
 But the road was deserted, save for an occa- 
 sional farmer urging his horses along, that he 
 might the more quickly get home to supper. 
 
 "It's mighty strange," mused Jack, as he kept 
 on. "I don't think Mark did just right, and yet, 
 perhaps, when it's all explained, he may have 
 
64 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 good reasons for what he did. Maybe I'm 
 wrong to worry about him, and, just as likely as 
 not, he's safe home, wondering what kept me. 
 But he might have known that I'd come back to 
 the barn where I said I'd meet him. Of course 
 that dog-fight delayed me a little, but not much." 
 
 It was quite dark when Jack reached the house 
 where he and his chum lived with the two pro- 
 fessors. There was a cheerful light glowing 
 from many windows, and Jack also noticed an il- 
 lumination in the shed where the projectile was 
 housed. 
 
 "Guess they're working on it, to get it in shape 
 for the trip, sooner than they expected," he 
 mused. 
 
 Jack was met at the door by Washington 
 White. 
 
 "Hello, Wash!" greeted the lad. 
 
 "Good land a' massy! Where hab yo' been 
 transmigatorying yo'se'f during de period when 
 the conglomeration of carbohydrates and pro- 
 toids hab been projected on to de interplanetary 
 plane ob de rectangle?" 
 
 "Do you mean where have I been while supper 
 was getting ready?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Dat's 'zackly what I means, Massa Jack." 
 
 "Then why don't you say it?" 
 
JACK IS PUZZLED 65 
 
 "I done did. Dat's what I done. Supper's 
 cold. But where am Massa Mark?" 
 
 "What! Isn't Mark home?" cried Jack, start- 
 ing back in alarm. 
 
 "No, Massa Jack, we ain't seed him sence yo' 
 two went off togedder. Where yo' all been?" 
 
 "Mark not home!" gasped Mark. "Where is 
 Professor Henderson, Wash? I must speak to 
 him at once." 
 
 "He am out in de shed wif Massa Roumann." 
 
 With fear in his heart Jack dashed out toward 
 the big shed. 
 
 "Ain't yo' goin' t' hab some supper?" called 
 Washington. 
 
 "I don't want any supper — yet," flung back 
 Jack over his shoulder. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 A DARING PLOT 
 
 Mark Sampson lay an inert mass in the arms 
 of the man who had attacked him. Through the 
 sagging door of the old, deserted house the cap- 
 tive lad was carried, and up creaking stairs. 
 
 "I guess no one saw me," whispered the man. 
 "I'm safe, so far, and I can work my scheme to 
 perfection. Everything turned out well for me. 
 I was just wondering how I could get this youth 
 in my power, and he fairly walked into my hands ! 
 Now to keep him safe until I can take his place 
 in the projectile, and have my revenge. I have 
 waited a long time for it, but it has come at 
 last!" 
 
 Pausing at the head of the creaking stairs the 
 man looked behind him, to make sure that he 
 was not being followed, but not a sound broke 
 the stillness of the old house, save the rattle and 
 bang of the ruined shutters. 
 
 "I'm safe! Safe!" exulted the man, with a 
 cruel chuckle. "Now to bind him, and hide him 
 in the secret chamber." 
 
 66 
 
A DARING PLOT 67 
 
 He laid Mark down on a pile of bagging in a 
 corner of a room at the head of the stairs. Then, 
 still glancing behind him, as if fearful of being 
 observed, the man walked over to a mantlepiece, 
 fumbled about a bit of carving that adorned the 
 centre, and pressed on a certain spot. A mo- 
 ment later the mantle seemed to swing out, and 
 there was revealed a secret room, the existence 
 of which would never have been suspected by the 
 casual observer. 
 
 Taking some of the bags from the pile where 
 the unconscious lad was, the man made a rude 
 bed in the secret room. Then he carried Mark 
 in, and placed him in a fairly comfortable posi- 
 tion, first taking the precaution, however, of bind- 
 ing his hands and feet. 
 
 "There," whispered the man, when he had fin- 
 ished, "I guess you'll not get away in a hurry. 
 Now I'll wait until dark, and then I'll give you 
 something to eat, for I don't want you to starve. 
 But I must keep in hiding, for, very likely, there'll 
 be a search made for him. Guess I'd better stay 
 here, and see what happens," and the mysteri- 
 ous man pressed the spring that sent the mantle 
 back into place again, hiding all traces of the 
 secret room. 
 
 "It's a good thing I stumbled upon this hid- 
 ing place," he said to himself. "It couldn't be 
 
68 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 better for what I want. Now to see what hap- 
 pens next." 
 
 He did not have long to wait, for in a short 
 time Jack, as we have seen, appeared on the 
 scene, and began his search. At the sound of his 
 voice, calling for Mark, the man started in his 
 hiding place, and glanced uneasily at Mark. 
 
 "He may hear, and wake up," he whispered. 
 
 Jack came upstairs in the deserted house, and 
 continued his search there, calling from time to 
 time. He gave one loud shout at the head of 
 the stairs, and the very thing that the man feared 
 would happen came to pass. 
 
 The effect of the drug having worn off, Mark 
 stirred uneasily, and started up. He heard Jack's 
 cry, and uttered a half-articulate answer. In an 
 instant the man was at his side, and had quickly 
 gagged him. This had the further effect of awak- 
 ening the unfortunate lad, and he struggled to 
 loosen his bonds, but they were too strongly tied. 
 He endeavored to answer Jack, but only a mean- 
 ingless mumble resulted, for the gag was effective. 
 
 "All you have to do is to keep quiet," urged 
 the man, as he knelt beside Mark in the darkness. 
 "As soon as your chum goes, I'll take that thing 
 out of your mouth, and give you something to 
 eat." 
 
 Jack's voice died away, and presently, as the 
 
JACK IS PUZZLED 69 
 
 ears of the man told him, the boy left the old 
 house. Waiting some time, to make sure that he 
 would not return, the man removed the knot of 
 rags from Mark's mouth, and slightly loosened 
 his bonds, first warning him, however, that if he 
 attempted to escape he would be harshly dealt 
 with. 
 
 "But what right have you to keep me here?" 
 demanded the youth. "Who are you, and what 
 have I done to you, that you should treat me this 
 way? Are you crazy? Don't you know that 
 you are liable to arrest for this?" 
 
 "No one can arrest me," boasted the fellow. 
 
 "But why have you made me a prisoner?" de- 
 manded Mark. 
 
 "For reasons of my own. You'll see very 
 soon." 
 
 "But what have I done to you?" persisted the 
 lad. "I never saw you before, that I know of, 
 unless you are the man who sent me the note, and 
 who ran when my chum and I came to the bridge 
 to meet you." 
 
 "I'm the man," was the answer, with a chuckle. 
 
 "Then you must be the one who tried to wreck 
 our projectile," went on Mark. 
 
 "Yes, I did that, and now I am sorry for it, 
 for I have thought of a much better scheme for 
 getting even, and having my revenge on you." 
 
70 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "But why do you want to be revenged on us?'*' 
 
 "Because of what you have done I" and the 
 man's voice took on an ugly tone. 
 
 "But what did we do?" begged Mark. 
 
 "You'll know soon enough," was the answer, 
 with a cunning laugh, and then Mark was sure 
 he had to deal with a lunatic. He ceased his 
 struggles to loosen the bonds, and resolved to 
 meet cunning with cunning. He would bide his 
 time. 
 
 "Will you promise to be quiet, and not kick 
 up a fuss if I get you something to eat?" asked 
 the man. 
 
 "Yes; but I'd rather have a drink of water 
 first. I feel sick." 
 
 "Very well, you shall have some water. I'll 
 have to go out and get it, but I must first blind- 
 fold you, so that you will not discover the secret 
 of this room." 
 
 Mark could not help himself, for he was bound, 
 and when the man had tied a handkerchief over 
 his eyes, Mark heard his captor moving about. 
 
 Next there came a sound as of some heavy 
 body, or object, being pushed across the room. 
 Mark felt a draught of wind on his face, but it 
 ceased instantly, and he knew that he was alone. 
 He tried to work the bandage from over his eyes, 
 and he endeavored to loosen his bonds, for he 
 
A DARING PLOT 71 
 
 did not consider that this violated his promise. 
 But it was of no effect. 
 
 Presently he heard the moving, shoving sound 
 again, and once more felt the wind on his face. 
 Then he heard the voice of his captor speaking. 
 
 "Here is food and drink. I'm going to untie 
 your hands so you can eat, but mind, no fighting, 
 for I'm a desperate man, and I won't stand any 
 nonsense!" 
 
 He fumbled about the bonds, and soon Mark 
 was free to stand up and use his hands. The 
 bandage was taken from his eyes, and he was 
 able to peer about his prison by the light of a 
 candle which his captor had brought. 
 
 Mark's first glance was at the man. He was 
 the same one who had emerged from the house 
 to attack and drug him, but as for recognizing 
 in him the person who had been at the bridge, this 
 was impossible. As far as Mark could tell he 
 had never seen the man before, nor did he answer 
 the description given by Dick Johnson. 
 
 There was little danger that Mark would at- 
 tempt violence. He was too weak, and his jailer 
 seemed a powerful fellow. Then, too, the lad 
 felt ill from the effects of the drug. 
 
 "Drink some water, and eat a bit, and you'll 
 feel better," urged the man, which advice Mark 
 followed, though his appetite was not of the best, 
 
12 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 and he was much worried as to what his friends 
 would think about his strange disappearance. 
 
 "What do you intend to do with me?" asked 
 Mark, when he felt a little better from the effects 
 of the food and drink. The man had sat on an 
 old soap box, and watched his captive while he 
 ate. 
 
 "Do with you? Why, I'm going to keep you 
 here until your friends have left in the projectile," 
 was the answer. 
 
 "But why don't you want me to go with them?" 
 
 "Oh, I have my reasons. You'll find out soon 
 enough. You can't go, that's all." 
 
 "But why do you take such an interest in me? 
 Why didn't you capture my chum Jack, too, while 
 you were about it?" 
 
 "Two reasons. One was that Jack wouldn't 
 answer my purpose, and the other was that I 
 didn't have a chance to get him. You walked 
 right into my trap, just when I was doing my 
 best to think of another plan to get hold of you, 
 since my first one failed." 
 
 "But what is your purpose?" insisted the lad. 
 "What do you want with me ?" He thought per- 
 haps if he questioned the man closely enough he 
 might discover something that would give him 
 a clew, or might aid him to escape. 
 
 "You'll learn soon enough," was the answer. 
 
A DARING PLOT 73 
 
 "Will you tell me your name?" asked Mark 
 quietly. 
 
 "No — why should I?" was the quick reply. "If 
 I told you who I was you would at once know why 
 I have made you a captive here. No ; you shall 
 hear all in good time, but that will not be until 
 I am ready. 
 
 "Now," went on his captor, after a period of 
 silence, "I shall have to bind and blindfold you 
 again." 
 
 "Why?" asked Mark, in some alarm. 
 
 "Because I don't want you to see how I get in 
 and out of this room, and that's the only way I 
 can guard my secret. Though if you promise not 
 to remove the bandage from your eyes within 
 five minutes from the time I leave you, I will not 
 have to tie your hands and feet. After I am 
 gone you may take the handkerchief off, but 
 when you hear me rap on the wall, ready to come 
 back again, you must once more blindfold your- 
 self. Otherwise I shall have to tie you up." 
 
 Mark considered a moment. It was not pleas- 
 ant to be tied with the cruel ropes, and he felt 
 that in time he could penetrate the mystery of how 
 the room opened, even if he did not see his jailer 
 enter and leave. 
 
 "I promise," he said finally. 
 
 "That's good. It simplifies matters. Now 
 
74 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 you can blindfold yourself, and I trust to your 
 honor. You may remove the bandage in five 
 minutes, but when you hear me knock, you must 
 replace it until I am in the apartment. Then 
 you can take it off again." 
 
 There was little choice but to obey, and Mark 
 tied the handkerchief over his eyes. He listened 
 intently, heard the man moving about the room, 
 felt the wind on his cheeks, and then came silence. 
 
 He waited until he thought five minutes had 
 passed, and then took off the bandage. The can- 
 dle was burning where the man had set it, but the 
 fellow himself was gone. He had taken with 
 him the broken dishes, and remains of the food 
 Mark had not eaten. The glass and a pitcher 
 of water stood on a broken table, and Mark took 
 a big drink. 
 
 "Now to see if I can't get out of this place," he 
 murmured to himself. 
 
 Mark had invented many pieces of apparatus, 
 and he was considered a good mechanician. Con- 
 sequently he went about his task in a systematic 
 manner. He examined the walls carefully by the 
 candle, which he carried in his hand, but no open- 
 ing was apparent. 
 
 "Of course, there must be some secret spring 
 to press," said the lad. "That's how he gets in 
 and out. A section of the wall moves, but where 
 
A DARING PLOT 75 
 
 it is I can't see. It will take time. I must look 
 at every inch." 
 
 He was in the midst of his investigations when 
 there sounded on the wall back of him three raps. 
 
 "Ha ! At least, that tells me where the open- 
 ing is," thought the lad. "It's on that side, but 
 now I have to put that blamed bandage on. Well, 
 I may be able to escape yet." 
 
 True to his promise, he blindfolded himself 
 well, and presently he heard a noise, felt a 
 draught of air, and he knew his captor was in the 
 room. 
 
 "You can now take off the handkerchief," said 
 the man. "I have brought you some more bags 
 for bed clothing. It isn't much, but it is all I 
 have. They will keep you warm to-night." 
 
 "Are you going to imprison me over night?" 
 asked Mark. 
 
 "Yes, and I'll stay here with you. No one can 
 find us here. The secret room is well hidden. 
 But first I have another matter that needs atten- 
 tion. I am going to ask you a question." 
 
 "What?" asked the captive, wondering what 
 strange request the mentally unbalanced man 
 would make now. 
 
 The man leaned forward and whispered some- 
 thing in Mark's ear, as if he was afraid the very 
 walls would hear. 
 
76 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "I'll not do it!" cried the youth. "I'll never 
 aid you to deceive my friends, for that is your 
 object. I'll never do it!" 
 
 "Then I shall have to use force," was the de- 
 termined response. "You may take your choice!" 
 
 Poor Mark did not know what to do, yet there 
 was little he could choose between. The man had 
 him in his power, yet the lad was terribly afraid 
 of the result of the daring scheme which he knew 
 was in the mind of the lunatic, for such he be- 
 lieved the man to be. 
 
 "Will you not give up this plan?" begged 
 Mark. "I know Professor Henderson will pay 
 you any sum in reason to let me go. You can be- 
 come a rich man." 
 
 "I don't want riches — I want revenge !" ex- 
 claimed the man. And he glared at Mark, while 
 throughout the dismal, deserted house there 
 sounded the rattle and bang of the flapping 
 shutters. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 mark's strange actions 
 
 Jack Darrow fairly burst into the big shed 
 where the two scientists were at work over the 
 ruined motor. They looked up at his excitable en- 
 trance, and Mr. Henderson called out: 
 
 "Why, Jack, what's the matter?" 
 
 "Quite a lot, I'm afraid," answered the lad, 
 and there was that in his voice which alarmed 
 the professors. 
 
 "What do you mean?" inquired Mr. Roumann, 
 laying aside some of the damaged motor plates. 
 
 "Mark's gone!" gasped Jack. 
 
 "Gone! Where?" exclaimed Mr. Henderson. 
 
 "I don't know, but he went to the deserted 
 house, where we thought the mysterious man was 
 hiding, and since then I can't find him." 
 
 Then the frightened lad proceeded to explain 
 what he and Mark had undertaken, and the out- 
 come of it; how his chum had failed to meet him 
 at the rendezvous, and how Jack had searched 
 through the old house without result. 
 
 77 
 
78 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "There's but one thing to do," declared Pro- 
 fessor Henderson, when he had listened to the 
 story. "We must go back there and make a more 
 thorough search." 
 
 "What — to-night?" exclaimed the German. 
 
 "Surely. Why not? We can't leave Mark 
 there all alone. He may be hurt, or in trouble." 
 "That's what I think," said Jack. "I'll tell 
 Washington and Andy, and we'll go back and 
 hunt for him. Poor Mark! If he had only 
 waited for me, perhaps this would never have 
 happened, and if I hadn't stopped at the dog-fight 
 maybe Mark would have waited for me. Well, 
 it's too late to worry about that now. The thing 
 is to find him, and I guess we can." 
 
 Jack would not stop longer than to snatch a 
 hasty bite of supper before he joined the search? 
 ing party. Washington and he carried lanterns, 
 while Andy Sudds had his trusty rifle, and the two 
 professors brought up in the rear, armed with 
 stout clubs, for Jack's account of the affair made 
 them think that perhaps they might have to deal 
 with a violent man. 
 
 "Hadn't you better notify the police?" sug- 
 gested Andy. "A couple of constables would be 
 some help." 
 
 "Not very much," declared Jack. "Besides, 
 there are only two in Bayside, and it's hard to lo- 
 
MARK'S STRANGE ACTIONS 79 
 
 cate either one when you want them. I guess we 
 can manage alone." 
 
 "Yes, I would rather not notify the police if it 
 can be avoided," said Professor Henderson. 
 
 The searching party hurried along the country 
 highway, which was now deserted, as it was quite 
 dark. Their lanterns flashed from side to side, 
 but they had no hope of getting any trace of Mark 
 until they came to the old barn, at least, though 
 Jack wished several times that he might meet his 
 chum running toward them along the road. 
 
 They reached the barn in due course, and while 
 Washington, Jack and Andy began a search of it, 
 the two scientists went up to the house of the man 
 who owned it and enlisted his aid. They asked 
 him if he had seen Mark around that afternoon, 
 but the farmer had not. 
 
 "But me an' my hired man'll come out and help 
 you hunt through the barn," he said. "I remem- 
 ber once, when I was a lad, that my brother fell 
 off the hay mow and lay unconscious in a manger 
 for five hours before we found him. Maybe that's 
 what's happened to this young man," suggested 
 Mr. Hampton, which was the farmer's name. 
 
 "I looked around pretty well this afternoon," 
 explained Jack, when the farmer and his man had 
 reached the barn, "but, of course, I didn't know 
 all the nooks and corners." 
 
8o LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 A thorough search of the structure, however, 
 failed to reveal the presence of Mark, and then 
 the farmer volunteered to accompany the party 
 on to the old Preakness house. His offer was re- 
 ceived with thanks, and, bringing two more lan- 
 terns with them, Mr. Hampton and his man 
 added considerable to the illumination. 
 
 They went through the old mansion from gar- 
 ret to cellar, and called repeatedly, but there was 
 no answer. And good reason, for in the secret 
 room, with his captive, the mysterious man heard 
 the first approach of the searching party, and he 
 quickly bound Mark and gagged him, so that he 
 could not answer. 
 
 There was nothing to do but to leave, and it 
 was with sad hearts that Jack and his friends de- 
 parted, their search having been unavailing. They 
 turned toward home, which they reached quite 
 late, but found nothing disturbed. 
 
 No one in Professor Henderson's house slept 
 much that night, and in the morning pale and wan 
 faces looked at each other, all asking the same 
 question: 
 
 "Where is Mark?" 
 
 But no one could answer. 
 
 They talked over the matter, and decided that 
 Jack, with Andy and Washington, should form 
 a searching party to scour the surrounding coun- 
 
MARK'S STRANGE ACTIONS 81 
 
 try. The two scientists were too old for such 
 work, and, as the aid of the police was not de- 
 sired, it was felt that the three could do all that 
 was necessary. 
 
 Accordingly, while Professor Henderson and 
 his German friend went to work on the damaged 
 motor, which did not need as much repairing as at 
 first was thought to put it in working shape again, 
 Jack and the two men started off to hunt for 
 Mark. 
 
 They were gone all that day, returning very 
 much discouraged at dusk, saying that they could 
 get no trace of him. 
 
 "I don't see where he can be!" exclaimed Jack 
 desperately, for, though the two lads were not re- 
 lated, they had been friends so long, and had 
 shared so many pleasures and dangers together, 
 that they were like brothers. "You won't start 
 for the moon until you find him, will you, Pro- 
 fessor?" asked Jack. 
 
 "No, indeed; though we could start to-morrow 
 if he was here," replied the aged scientist. "The 
 special tools came to-day, and the motor has been 
 repaired. We have tested it, and the Cardite 
 power works even better than did the Etherium 
 apparatus." 
 
 "Then we can start as soon as Mark is found?" 
 asked Andy Sudds. 
 
82 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Yes, for everything has been put inside the 
 projectile, and all that remains is to haul it out 
 of the shed, point it at the moon, and start the 
 motor." 
 
 "Then I guess I'll give my gun a final cleaning, 
 and get ready. There may be good hunting on 
 the moon," said the old hunter. 
 
 Jack was tired from his long tramp that day, 
 searching for his missing chum, but before he 
 went to bed he wanted to go out and take a look 
 at the big projectile, which was now ready to start 
 for the moon. 
 
 As he turned around the corner of the immense 
 shed to enter the door, he was startled by seeing 
 a figure coming toward him. Jack started, rubbed 
 his eyes, and peered again. 
 
 "Is it possible? Can I be mistaken?" he whis- 
 pered. 
 
 The figure came nearer. Jack, who had come 
 to a halt, broke into a run. 
 
 "Mark! Mark!" he cried joyously. "Oh, 
 you've come back! Where have you been?" 
 
 Jack was about to clasp his chum in his arms 
 when he saw that Mark's arm was in a sling, and 
 that his face was all bandaged up, so that scarcely 
 any of his features showed. Had it not been for 
 the clothes, and a certain stoutness of which Mark 
 
MARK'S STRANGE ACTIONS 83 
 
 never could seem to get rid, Jack would scarcely 
 have known his friend. 
 
 "Why, Mark, what happened?" cried Jack. 
 "Have you met with an accident? Where have 
 you been? In a hospital? What became of you? 
 Why didn't you wait for me?" 
 
 "I can't answer all those questions at once," 
 Was the reply, and Jack thought Mark's voice was 
 curiously muffled and hoarse, entirely unlike his 
 usual tones. But he ascribed that to the bandages 
 around the mouth. 
 
 "Well, answer one at a time then," said Jack, 
 and there was an undefinable, strange air about 
 his chum which cooled Jack's first impulse of glad- 
 ness. "Whatever happened to you, Mark? Are 
 you hurt?" 
 
 "I was — yes," came the reply, in short, jerky 
 tones. "I had an accident, and I've been in a hos- 
 pital. That's why I couldn't send you word. But 
 I'm all right now. When does the projectile 
 start?" 
 
 "To-morrow, now that you're here. But tell 
 me more about it. Where were you hurt?" 
 
 "On my head and arm." 
 
 "No; I mean where did the accident occur?" 
 
 "Oh, in the old house where I went to — to look 
 for that man." 
 
 "Did you find him?" asked Jack eagerly. 
 
84 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "No. He's not there now." 
 
 "Well, never mind. We won't bother about 
 him. Come on to the house. My, but I'm glad 
 to see you again! And so will the others be." 
 
 In his enthusiasm at seeing his chum again Jack 
 wanted to hug him. He approached Mark, but 
 the latter cried out: 
 
 "Look out! Don't come too close!" 
 
 "Why not? Have you caught some disease?" 
 
 "No, but you might hurt my broken arm!" 
 
 "Oh, is it broken? That's tough luck. Did 
 you fall?" 
 
 "Yes — in the old house. I fell down stairs." 
 
 "And your head is all bandaged up, too," went 
 on Jack, trying to peer into his friend's face 
 through the roll of bandages. 
 
 "Look out! Don't come too near!" again 
 warned the other. "You might jostle against me, 
 and knock off some of the bandages." 
 
 "Did you lose some of your teeth, the reason 
 your voice sounds so funny?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Yes, I did knock out a few when I tumbled. 
 But don't bother about me. I'll be all right soon. 
 Let's go in the house. I want to go to bed." 
 
 "But they'll all want to see you, and hear about 
 the accident, Mark," insisted Jack. "My, but 
 we've been all worked up about you. How did 
 you happen to be taken to a hospital?" 
 
MARK'S STRANGE ACTIONS 85 
 
 "A farmer came along, and I hailed him. Then 
 I lost consciousness, and couldn't let you know 
 where I was. But never mind the details. I'm 
 anxious to get started on the trip to the moon. 
 Couldn't we start to-night?" 
 
 "I don't believe so. You need rest. But come 
 on in the house." Then Jack hurried on ahead, 
 calling: "Mark's found! Mark is back!" 
 
 His cries brought all of the others out on the 
 porch, and at first they could scarcely believe the 
 good news, but soon Jack and the new arrival 
 came in sight. As Jack had been, the two pro- 
 fessors and the others were startled when they 
 saw how Mark was bundled up in bandages. 
 
 "He fell down stairs," explained Jack. 
 
 "Come over here where it's light, so I can see 
 you," suggested Professor Henderson. "Perhaps 
 some of the bandages have slipped off since you 
 came from the hospital. Why did you come 
 alone? Why didn't you send us word where you 
 were as soon as you were conscious, and we would 
 have come for you." 
 
 "Oh, I didn't want to bother you," explained 
 the bundled-up figure. "I managed to walk it all 
 right." 
 
 "But your injuries may need attention," insisted 
 Mr. Henderson. "I know something about doc- 
 toring. Come here where I can see." 
 
86 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "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 hos- 
 pital." 
 
 "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 re- 
 ply. "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 
 
MARK'S STRANGE ACTIONS 87 
 
 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 de- 
 lay 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 con- 
 sciousness 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 apart- 
 ment. 
 
 "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. 
 
88 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "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 mis- 
 take. 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-voyagcrs 
 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 fea- 
 tures 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 mum- 
 bled 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 cer- 
 tainly had a tough time of it." 
 
 89 
 
90 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "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 projec- 
 tile, 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 usu- 
 ally 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 Hender- 
 son?" 
 
 "Yes, I think so. Have you made any calcula- 
 tion 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, 
 
READY FOR THE MOON 91 
 
 tfuid 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 sci- 
 entific observations on the way, and so I have re- 
 duced 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," assented 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 Pro- 
 fessor 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 
 
92 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 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." 
 
 The work went on, the last things to be put 
 aboard the projectile being a number of scientific 
 instruments. The injured one wandered in and 
 out, now being in the house and again in the big 
 shed. He seemed restless and ill at ease, and fre- 
 quently he walked to the front gate and gazed 
 down the road. 
 
 "You seem to be looking for some one," spoke 
 Jack. "Are you expecting your girl to come along 
 and bid you good-by, Mark?" 
 
 "Who — me? No, I — I was just looking to 
 see if — if it was going to rain." 
 
 "Rain? Well, rain won't make much difference 
 to us soon. We will be outside of the earth's at- 
 mosphere in a jiffy after we have started, and 
 then rain won't worry us. Is your stateroom all 
 fixed up?" 
 
 "No, I didn't think of that. Guess I'd better 
 look after it." 
 
 The two started together for the projectile. 
 The stout one entered first, and made his way 
 through the engine room and main cabin to the 
 compartment off which the staterooms opened. 
 He entered one. 
 
READY FOR THE MOON 93 
 
 "Here, that's not yours," cried Jack. "That's 
 where Professor Henderson sleeps. Yours is 
 next to mine." 
 
 "That's right; I forgot," mumbled the other. 
 "I must be getting absent minded since my acci- 
 dent. But I'll be all right soon. I'll get my room 
 to rights, and then probably we'll start." 
 
 "I guess so," answered Jack, but he shook his 
 head as he gazed after his chum. "Mark has cer- 
 tainly changed," he murmured. "I wish he'd take 
 those bandages off, so I could get a look at his 
 face." 
 
 The last details were completed. The big An-* 
 nihilator had been run out on trucks into the yard 
 surrounding the shed, ready to be hurled through 
 the air. The shop, shed and house had been locked 
 up and given in charge of a caretaker, who would 
 remain on guard until our friends returned. 
 
 "Are we all ready?" asked Professor Hender- 
 son, as he stood ready to close the main entrance 
 door and seal it hermetically. 
 
 "All ready, I guess," answered Jack. The 
 stout one had gone to his stateroom, where he 
 could be heard moving about. 
 
 "I'm ready," announced Professor Roumann. 
 "Say the word and I'll start the motor." He was 
 in the engine room, looking over the machinery. 
 
94 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 At that moment there came a loud yell from the 
 galley where Washington White was. 
 
 "Heah, heah! Come back!" cried the colored 
 man. "My Shanghai rooster is got loose 1" he 
 yelled, and, an instant later, the fowl came sailing 
 out of the projectile, with Washington in full 
 chase after him. 
 
 "I'll help you catch him," volunteered Jack, 
 springing to the cook's aid, while Professor Hen- 
 derson laughed, and a bandaged figure, looking 
 from a stateroom port, wondered at the delay in 
 starting the projectile. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 mark's escape 
 
 Mark Sampson was alone in the deserted 
 house. Bound hand and foot, stripped of his cloth- 
 ing, and attired in some old garments that the 
 tramps who made a hanging-out place of the old 
 mansion had cast aside, the unfortunate lad was 
 stretched on a pile of bagging, his heart beating 
 partly with fear and partly with rage over a de- 
 sire to escape and punish the scoundrel responsi- 
 ble for his plight. 
 
 The man who had captured him, after taking 
 away Mark's clothes, had chuckled, as though at 
 some joke. 
 
 "You may think this is funny," spoke the lad bit- 
 terly, "but you won't be so pleased when my 
 friends get after you." 
 
 "They'll never get after me," boasted the man. 
 "This is a good joke. To think that I can pass 
 myself off as you; that I can join them in the pro- 
 jectile, and they never will be the wiser!" 
 
 "They'll soon discover that you are disguised 
 95 
 
96 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 as me," declared Mark, "and when they do they'll 
 have you arrested." 
 
 "Yes, but they'll not discover it until we have 
 left the earth, and are on our way to the moon. 
 Then it will be too late to turn back, and my object 
 will have been accomplished. I will be with them 
 in the Annihilator, and I'll have my revenge ! 
 The projectile is due to sail to-morrow, and I'll be 
 on hand. I'm going to leave you now. I have 
 left orders with a friend of mine that you are to be 
 released to-morrow night. In the meanwhile you 
 will have to be as comfortable as you can. I wish 
 you no harm, but I must keep you here. 
 
 "I will feed you well before I go, and put some 
 Tvater where you can get it. But I must leave you 
 tied. I'll not gag you, for, no matter how you 
 yell, no one will hear you. I have posted a notice 
 in front of this place that it is under the watch of 
 the police, so no tramps will venture in, and your 
 friends will not come back. 
 
 "Now, just make yourself comfortable here, 
 and I'll go to the moon in your place. I think I 
 shall enjoy the trip. As I said, you will be re- 
 leased to-morrow night, several hours after the 
 projectile has left the earth." 
 
 "How do you know it is to start to-morrow 
 morning?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Oh, I have been spying around, and I over- 
 
MARK'S ESCAPE 97 
 
 heard the professors talking. I know a thing or 
 two, and I'll be on hand, on time, in your place! 
 Now, I have to leave you. I've left ten dollars 
 to pay for your suit, which I need to disguise my- 
 self with." 
 
 Then the man was gone, and Mark was left 
 with his bitter thoughts to keep him company. The 
 whole daring scheme of the man had been re- 
 vealed. He did look something like Mark, and, 
 attired in the lad's clothes, and by keeping his face 
 concealed, he might pass himself off as Jack's 
 chum; at least, until after the projectile had 
 started. 
 
 "And then, as he says, it will be too late to re- 
 turn to earth and get me," thought Mark bitterly. 
 "Oh, why did I ever try to learn this man's secret? 
 Who is he, anyhow? Why didn't I wait for Jack 
 at the barn, as I promised? It's all my fault. I 
 wonder if I can't get loose?" 
 
 Mark struggled several hours desperately and 
 at last he felt the ropes giving slightly. He re- 
 doubled his efforts. Strand by strand the cords 
 parted. He put all his efforts into one last at- 
 tempt, and to his great joy he felt his hands sep- 
 arate. He was partly free ! 
 
 But scarcely half his task was accomplished. 
 He had yet to discover the secret of the hidden 
 room — a room, as he afterward learned, which 
 
98 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 had been built during slavery days to conceal the 
 poor black men who were escaping from the 
 South. 
 
 "But now I have my hands to work with!" ex- 
 ulted Mark. 
 
 Resting a bit after his strenuous labors, he took a 
 long drink of water and attacked the ropes on his 
 feet. They were comparatively easy to loosen, 
 and soon he stood up unbound. 
 
 "Now for the secret panel!" he exclaimed, for 
 he was convinced that it was by some such means 
 that his captor had entered and left. As has al- 
 ready been explained, Mark knew on which side 
 of his prison the opening was likely to be — it 
 Would be where the warning knocks had sounded. 
 He began a minute inspection of that wall. 
 
 But if Mark hoped to speedily discover the se- 
 cret he was doomed to disappointment. He went 
 over every inch of the surface, seemingly, and 
 pressed on every depression or projection that met 
 his eye, as he passed the candle flame along the 
 wall. 
 
 Success did not reward him, and, as hour after 
 hour passed, and the candle burned lower and 
 lower, Mark began to despair. 
 
 "I must escape before the projectile leaves," he 
 murmured. "It will never do to let them take that 
 
MARK'S ESCAPE 99 
 
 man with them under the impression that they 
 have me. I must escape! I will!" 
 
 Once more he began the tiresome task of seek- 
 ing the secret spring. The candle was spluttering 
 in the socket now. It would burn hardly another 
 minute. Desperately Mark sought. 
 
 At last, just as the candle gave a dying gasp 
 and flared brightly up prior to going out, the lad 
 saw a small screw head he had not noticed be- 
 fore. It was sunk deep in a board. 
 
 "I'll press that and see what happens !" he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 With a suddenness that was startling, he found 
 himself in total darkness. The candle had burned 
 out, but he had his finger on the screw. He pressed 
 it with all his force. 
 
 There was a rumbling sound in the darkness, 
 a movement as if some heavy body had slid out 
 of the way, and Mark felt a breath of air on his 
 cheeks. Then he saw a dim light. 
 
 "Oh, I'm out! I'm out!" he cried joyously, 
 breathing a prayer of thankfulness at his deliv- 
 erance. "I'm free ! I pushed on the right spring, 
 and the panel slid back!" 
 
 He fairly leaped forward. The morning light 
 was streaming in through the broken windows. 
 He saw himself in the old hall of the mansion, at 
 
ioo LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 the head of the stairs, in a sort of anteroom, the 
 mantle of which apartment had swung aside to 
 give him egress from the secret chamber through 
 a hole in the wall. He was free ! 
 
 "But am I in time?" he cried. "It is morn- 
 ing — and about ten o'clock, I should judge. I've 
 been working to get free all night. Will I be in 
 time?" 
 
 He gave one last look behind at his prison and 
 sprang down the rickety stairs. He had but one 
 thought — to reach home in time to unmask the vil- 
 lain who was impersonating him — to be in time to 
 make the journey to the moon. 
 
 "But it's several miles, and I can't walk very 
 fast," murmured Mark. "I'm too stiff and weak. 
 How can I do it?" 
 
 He thought of making his way to the nearest 
 farm house, and asking for the loan of a horse 
 and carriage, but he looked so much like a tramp 
 that no farmer would lend him a horse. 
 
 "And I need to make speed," he murmured. 
 
 At that moment he heard a noise down the 
 road. It was a steady "chug-chug," like some dis- 
 tant motor-boat, but there was no water near at 
 hand. 
 
 "A motorcycle!" exclaimed Mark. "Some one 
 is coming on a motorcycle. Oh, if I could only 
 borrow it!" 
 
MARK'S ESCAPE ioi 
 
 He ran down into the road. He could see the 
 rider now. To his joy it was Dick Johnson— the 
 lad who had brought him the mysterious note. 
 
 "Hi Dick ! Dick ! hold on !" cried Mark. 
 
 The lad on the motor gave one glance at the 
 ragged figure that had hailed him. Then he 
 turned on more power to escape from what he 
 thought was a savage tramp. 
 
 "Wait ! Stop ! I want that motorcycle !" cried 
 Mark. 
 
 "Well, you're not going to get it!" yelled 
 back Dick. "I'll send the police after you." 
 
 Mark couldn't understand. Then a glance 
 down at his ragged garments showed him what 
 was the matter. 
 
 "Wait! Hold on, Dick!" he cried, running 
 forward. "I'm Mark Sampson! I've had a ter- 
 rible time ! I was captured by that mysterious 
 man, and he's got my clothes. I must get home 
 quick!" 
 
 Dick heard, but scarcely understood. Howr 
 ever, he comprehended that his friend was in trou- 
 ble, and he wanted to help him. He slowed up, 
 and Mark reached him. 
 
 "Lend me your motorcycle, Dick," begged 
 Mark. "I must get home in a hurry to unmask 
 a scoundrel. I'll leave your machine for you at 
 our house. I won't hurt it. I'm in a hurry! Get 
 off!" 
 
io* LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Somewhat dazed, Dick dismounted, and Mark 
 climbed into the saddle. He began to pedal, and 
 then threw in the gasolene and spark. The cycle 
 chugged off. 
 
 "I'll leave it for you at our house," Mark 
 called back. "I'm going on a trip to the moon, 
 and I don't want to be late." 
 
 He was fast disappearing in a cloud of dust, 
 while Dick, gazing after him, remarked: 
 
 "Well, I always thought those fellows were 
 crazy to go off in projectiles and things like that, 
 and now I'm sure of it. Going to the moon I 
 Well, I only hope he doesn't take my motorcycle 
 there!" 
 
 Mark sped on, turning the handle levers to get 
 the last notch of speed out of the cycle. Would 
 he be in time? 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A DIREFUL THREAT 
 
 Perhaps Washington White's Shanghai rooster 
 did not care to make the trip to the moon, or per- 
 haps the fowl had not yet seen enough of this 
 earth. At any rate, when he flew from the pro- 
 jectile, uttering loud crows, and landed some dis- 
 tance away, he began to run back toward the coop 
 in the rear of the yard. 
 
 "Cotch him, cotch him!" yelled the colored 
 man. "Dat's a valuable bird!" 
 
 "We'll get him when he goes in the coop," said 
 Jack, who found it difficult to run and laugh at the 
 same time. 
 
 "Shall I fire my rifle off and scare him?" asked 
 Andy Sudds. 
 
 "No, you might kill him or scare him t' 
 death," objected Washington. 
 
 "Come on, Mark, and help," cried Jack, look- 
 ing toward the projectile, where a figure was 
 peering from the glass-covered port of the main 
 cabin. 
 
 But the figure, whose hand was done up in vol- 
 103 
 
104 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 uminous bandages, did not come out, and Jack 
 wondered the more at what he thought was a 
 growing strangeness on the part of his chum. 
 
 Jack, followed by Andy and Washington, raced 
 off after the rooster, while the two professors, 
 somewhat amused, rather chaffed at the delay. 
 But afterward they were glad of it. 
 
 "Just my luck!" muttered the bandaged one. 
 "This delay comes at the wrong time. Why don't 
 they go on without that confounded rooster? If 
 we stay here too long, that fellow Mark may get 
 loose and spoil the whole thing, or Jenkins may 
 go and release him before the time set. It would 
 be just like Jenk'ns ! I've a good notion to start 
 the projectile myself. I know how to operate the 
 Cardite motor. Only I suppose those two pro- 
 fessors are on guard in the engine room. I'll 
 have to wait until they catch that rooster, I guess, 
 but I'd like to wring his neck!" 
 
 The chase after the fowl was kept up. 
 
 "I've got him now!" cried Jack a little later, 
 as the fowl, evidently now much exhausted, ran 
 into another fence corner, where Jack caught 
 him, and shut him up in the coop in the projectile. 
 
 "Yo' suttinly am de mos' contrary-minded spec- 
 imen ob de chicken fambly dat I eber seed," ob- 
 served Washington, breathing heavily, for his 
 run had winded him. 
 
A DIREFUL THREAT 105 
 
 "Well, are we all ready to start now?" asked 
 Professor Henderson. "No more live stock 
 loose, is there, Jack?" 
 
 "I think not." 
 
 "Where's Mark? Wasn't he helping you catch 
 the rooster?" 
 
 "No, he's inside. Shall I seal the door?" 
 
 "Yes, and I'll tell Professor Roumann that 
 we're about to start. All ready for the moon 
 trip!" 
 
 Jack was pulling the steel portal toward him. 
 An eager face, peering from a port, waited anx- 
 iously for the tremor which would indicate that 
 the projectile had left the earth. In another mo- 
 ment they would be off. 
 
 But what was that sound coming from down 
 the highway. A steady chug-chug — a sort of 
 roar, as of a battery of rapid-fire guns going off 
 in double relays! And, mingled with the explo- 
 sions, there was a voice shouting: 
 
 "Wait! Hold on! Don't go without me! 
 I'm Mark Sampson ! Don't start the projectile !" 
 
 "Somebody must be in a mighty hurry on a mo- 
 torcycle," thought Jack, as he paused a moment 
 before fastening the door. Then the shouts came 
 to his ears. 
 
 "Mark Sampson!" he cried. 
 
 Again came the cry* 
 
to6 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Wait ! Wait ! Don't go without me ! YouVe 
 got that mysterious man on board !" 
 
 "Mark Sampson!" murmured Jack again. 
 "That's his voice sure enough ! I wonder — can 
 it be possible — that man — with his head all band- 
 aged up — his queer actions — I — I " 
 
 Words failed the youth. Throwing wide open 
 the door, he sprang out of the projectile. A mo- 
 ment later there dashed into the yard, where the 
 great projectile rested, a strange figure astride of 
 a puffing motorcycle. The figure was torn and 
 ragged, and the nondescript garments were cov- 
 ered with dust, for Mark had had a fall. But 
 there was no mistaking the face that peered 
 eagerly forward. 
 
 "Jack!" cried the youth on the machine. 
 
 "Mark!" ejaculated the lad who had sprung 
 from the projectile. "What has happened? Who 
 is the fellow who has been masquerading as 
 you?" 
 
 "A scoundrel and a villain! Let me get at 
 him!" and, slamming on the brakes, as he shut 
 off the power, Mark leaped from the motorcycle, 
 stood it up against the projectile, and clasped his 
 chum by the hand. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Professor Hen- 
 derson, as he, too, ran out of the Annihilator, 
 
A DIREFUL THREAT 107 
 
 "What does that tramp want, Jack? Give him 
 some money, and get back in here; we ought to 
 have started long ago." He looked at the rag- 
 ged figure. 
 
 "This isn't a tramp," cried Jack. "It's 
 Mark!" 
 
 "Mark! I thought " 
 
 "There have been strange doings," gasped the 
 lad in tramp's garments. "I have just escaped 
 from being kept a prisoner. Where is the mys- 
 terious man? Oh, I'm glad I arrived in time! 
 Were you about to start?" 
 
 "That's what we were," replied Jack. "Oh, 
 Mark, but I'm glad to see you again! I didn't 
 know what to think. You acted so strange — or, 
 rather, the fellow we thought was you had me 
 guessing!" 
 
 "Good land a' massy!" exclaimed Washington 
 White, as he stood in the doorway, with Andy 
 Sudds behind him. "Am dere two Marks? 
 What's up, anyhow?" 
 
 "Don't let that fellow get away — the fellow 
 who passed himself off as me!" shouted Mark. 
 "Lock him up ! There's some mystery about him 
 that must be explained. He's a dangerous man 
 to be at large." 
 
 Professor Henderson turned back to enter the 
 
108 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 projectile. Jack advised Andy to get his gun 
 ready, with which to threaten the scoundrel in 
 case of necessity. 
 
 At that instant there sounded a crash of glass, 
 and the whole front of the big observation win- 
 dow in the side of the Annihilator was smashed 
 to atoms. A figure leaped — a figure which no 
 longer had its head bandaged, and whose arm 
 ,was no longer in a sling — the figure of a man — 
 .the mysterious man who had held Mark a pris- 
 oner! 
 
 "There he goes!" shouted Jack. "Catch him, 
 somebody! Andy, where's your gun?" 
 
 "I'll have it in a jiffy!" cried the hunter, as he 
 dashed back to get it. 
 
 But the man did not linger. Scrambling to his 
 feet after his fall, caused by his leap from the 
 broken window, which he had smashed with a 
 sledge hammer as soon as he understood that his 
 game was up, he raced out of the yard. He 
 turned long enough to shake his fist at the group 
 assembled around the projectile, and then leaped 
 away, calling out some words which they could 
 not hear. 
 
 "Let's take after him," proposed Mark. 
 
 "Come on," seconded Jack. 
 
 "No, let him go; he's a desperate man, and 
 you came just in time to unmask him," said Pro- 
 
A DIREFUL THREAT 109 
 
 fessor Henderson. "He might harm you if you 
 took after him. Let him go. He has not done 
 much damage. We can easily replace the broken 
 window. But I can't understand what his object 
 was in disguising himself as Mark. He certainly 
 looked like you, Mark, especially when he kept 
 his face concealed. Why did he do it?" 
 
 "He wanted to go to the moon in my place," 
 answered the former prisoner of the deserted 
 house. 
 
 "But why?" insisted Jack. 
 
 "Because, I think, he's crazy, and he didn't 
 really know what he did want. But he certainly 
 had me well concealed," spoke Mark. "I'm free 
 now, however, and as soon as I get some decent 
 clothes on I'll go with you to the moon. I 
 wouldn't want the moon people to see me dressed 
 this way." 
 
 "How did it happen?" asked Jack. "Tell us 
 all about it. My! but I certainly have been puz- 
 zled since you — or rather since the person we 
 thought was you — came back last night all bunged 
 up. Give us the story." 
 
 "I will; give me a chance. I guess that villain 
 is gone for good." Andy Sudds came out with his 
 gun, and insisted on taking a look down the road 
 and around the premises. The man was nowhere 
 in sight. 
 
no LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Now we're in for another delay," remarked 
 Jack ruefully, as he gazed at the smashed win- 
 dow. "It seems as if we'd never get started for 
 the moon." 
 
 "Oh, yes, we will," declared Professor Hen- 
 derson. "We have some extra heavy plate glass 
 in the shop, and we can soon put in another ob- 
 servation window." 
 
 "Let's get right to work then," proposed Jack. 
 "That man may come back. Did you learn who 
 he was, Mark?" 
 
 "No, he wouldn't tell his name, and he said he 
 was doing this to get revenge on us for some fan- 
 cied wrong. I can't imagine who he is. But let's 
 work and talk at the same time. I'll tell you all 
 that happened to me," which he did briefly. 
 
 Mark soon got rid of the tramp clothes, and 
 donned an extra suit which had been packed in his 
 trunk in the projectile. Then he helped replace 
 the broken window, which, in spite of their haste, 
 took nearly all the rest of the day to put in place. 
 
 "Shall we wait and start to-morrow?" asked 
 Jack, when four o'clock came. "It will soon be 
 dark." 
 
 "Darkness will make no difference to us," an- 
 nounced Professor Roumann. "Our Cardite mo- 
 tor will soon take us out of the shadow of the 
 earth, and we will be in perpetual sunshine until 
 
A DIREFUL THREAT m 
 
 we reach the moon. As we are all ready, we 
 might as well start now." 
 
 They all agreed with this, and, after a final 
 inspection of the projectile, the travellers entered 
 it, and Jack was once more about to seal the big 
 door. 
 
 Before he could do so there came riding into 
 the yard, on his motorcycle, which he had claimed 
 that afternoon, Dick Johnson. 
 
 "Wait a minute," he cried. "I've got a letter 
 for you. It's from that man!" 
 
 "What — another thing to delay us?" cried 
 Jack, but he called to Professor Roumann not to 
 start the motor, and ran to take from Dick the 
 letter which the lad held out. 
 
 "That same man who gave me the one for 
 Mark gave me this, and he paid me a half a dol- 
 lar to bring it here," said the boy. 
 
 "All right," answered Jack impatiently. 
 
 He looked at the note. It was addressed to 
 the "Moon Travellers," and, considering that he 
 was one, the youth tore open the envelope. In 
 the dim light of the fading day he read the bold 
 handwriting. 
 
 "I have fixed you," the letter began. "You will 
 never get to the moon. I shall have my revenge. 
 You took my brother Fred Axtell to Mars and 
 left him there. I determined to get him back, and 
 
ii2 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 to that end I disguised myself as one of the boys, 
 and got aboard. When we were safely away 
 from the earth, I would have compelled you to go 
 to Mars and rescue my brother. But my plan has 
 failed. I will have my revenge, though. You 
 will never reach the moon, even if you do get 
 started. Beware! George, the brother of Fred 
 Axtell, will avenge his fate!" 
 
 "The brother of the crazy machinist!" gasped 
 Jack. "Now I understand his strange actions. 
 He's crazy, too — he wanted to go to Mars — he 
 says we will never reach the moon! Say, look 
 here!" cried Jack, raising his voice. "Here's bad 
 news ! That scoundrel has put some game up on 
 us! Maybe he's tampered with the machinery! 
 It won't be safe to start for the moon until we've 
 looked over everything carefully! He says he's 
 fixed us, and perhaps he has !" 
 
 From the projectile came hurrying the would-be 
 moon travellers, a vague fear in their hearts. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OFF AT LAST 
 
 In the gathering twilight Professor Hender- 
 son read slowly the note Dick had brought. Then 
 he passed it to Professor Roumann. The latter 
 shook his shaggy gray hair, and murmured some- 
 thing in German. 
 
 "Where did you meet the man?" asked Jack 
 of the young motorcyclist. 
 
 "About two miles down the road. He was 
 walking along, sort of talking to himself, and I 
 was afraid of him. He called to me, and offered 
 me a half a dollar to deliver this message. I 
 didn't want to at first, but he said if I didn't he'd 
 hurt me, so I took it. Is it anything bad?" 
 
 "We don't know yet," replied Mark. 
 
 "No, that is the worst of it," added Professor 
 Roumann. "He has made a threat, but we can't 
 tell whether or not he will accomplish it. We are 
 in the dark. He may have done some secret 
 damage to our machinery, and it will take a care- 
 ful inspection to show it." 
 
 "3 
 
H4 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "And will the inspection have to be made 
 now?" asked Jack. 
 
 "I think so," answered Professor Henderson 
 gravely. "It would not be safe to start for the 
 moon and have a breakdown before we got there. 
 We must wait until morning to begin our trip." 
 
 "It will be the safest," spoke the German, and 
 the boys, in spite of the fact that they were anx- 
 ious to get under way, were forced to the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 "Then if we're going to camp here for the 
 night," proposed old Andy, "what's the matter 
 with me and the boys having a hunt for that 
 man? We've put up with enough from him, and 
 it's time he was punished. If we let him go on, 
 he'll annoy us all the while, if not now, then after 
 we get back from the moon. I'm for giving him 
 a chase and having him arrested." 
 
 "He certainly deserves some punishment, if 
 only for the way he treated Mark," was Jack's 
 opinion, his chum having related how he was 
 drugged and kept a prisoner in the secret room, 
 and how he escaped in time to unmask the villain. 
 
 "Well," said Professor Henderson, after some 
 thought, "it might not be a bad plan to see if 
 you could get that scoundrel put in some safe 
 place, where he could make no more trouble for 
 us. I guess the lunatic asvlum is where he be- 
 
OFF AT LAST 115 
 
 longs, though I can sympathize with him on ac- 
 count of his brother. But it was not our fault 
 that the crazy machinist went with us to Mars. 
 He was a stowaway, and went against our wishes, 
 and when he got there he tried to injure us." 
 
 "Then may Mark, Andy and I see if we can 
 find this man?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Yes, but be careful not to get separated; and 
 don't run any risks," cautioned the professor. 
 "Mr. Roumann and I, with the help of Washing- 
 ton, will go carefully over all the machinery, and 
 every part of the projectile, to see if any hidden 
 damage has been done. But don't stay out too 
 late. You had better notify the police. They may 
 be able to give you some aid, and I don't mind 
 letting them know about it now, as we will soon 
 be away from here, because, no matter if they 
 do send detectives or constables spying about now, 
 they can learn none of our secrets." 
 
 Waiting only to partake of a hasty meal, the 
 two boys and the veteran hunter set out, Andy 
 with his gun over his shoulder and his sharp eyes 
 on the lookout for any sign of Axtell, though they 
 hardly expected to find him in the vicinity of the 
 projectile. 
 
 Taking the road, on which Dick Johnson said 
 he had encountered the man, the two lads and 
 Andy proceeded, making inquiries from time to 
 
n6 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 time of persons they met. But no one had seen 
 Axtell, and the insane man, for such he seemed to 
 be, appeared to have dropped out of sight. 
 
 On into the village the searchers went, and 
 there they reported matters to the chief of police, 
 telling him only so much as was necessary to give 
 him an understanding of the situation. 
 
 "I'll send a couple of my best constables right 
 out on the case," said the chief. "We've just 
 appointed two new ones, and I guess they'll be 
 glad to arrest somebody." 
 
 "Let them look out that this fellow doesn't 
 drug them and carry them away," cautioned 
 Mark. 
 
 "Oh, I guess my constables can look out for 
 theirselves," spoke the chief proudly. 
 
 Once more the trailers sallied forth to renew 
 their search. They thought perhaps they might 
 find their man lingering in the town, but a search 
 through the principal streets did not disclose him, 
 and Mark proposed that they return to their 
 home for the night, as he was tired and weary 
 from his experience in the deserted house. 
 
 As they were turning out of the town, their at- 
 tention was attracted by a disturbance on the 
 Street just ahead of them. A woman screamed, 
 and men's voices were heard. Then came cries of: 
 
 "Police! Police!" 
 
OFF AT LAST 117 
 
 "Some one's in trouble!" exclaimed Jack. 
 "Let's go see what it is." 
 
 They broke into a run, and, as they approached, 
 they saw a crowd quickly collect. It seemed to 
 center about a man who was being held by two 
 others, though he struggled to get away. 
 
 "Here, what's the trouble?" the boys heard 
 a constable ask as he shouldered his way into the 
 throng. 
 
 "This fellow tried to snatch this lady's purse 
 and run away with it," explained one of the men 
 who had grabbed the scoundrel. "Stand still, you 
 brute!" he shouted at him, "or I'll shake you to 
 pieces ! Such fellows as you ought to go to the 
 whipping-post!" 
 
 "I'll take charge of himf" announced the offi- 
 cer. "Who is he? Does any one know?" 
 
 "Stranger in town, I guess," volunteered the 
 other man, who had helped capture him. "Need 
 any help, officer?" 
 
 "No, I guess I can manage him. Come along 
 now, and behave yourself, or I'll use my club. It 
 hasn't been tried on any one yet." 
 
 "That's one of the new constables, I guess," 
 said Mark, and Jack nodded. 
 
 The crowd separated to allow the officer to 
 take out his prisoner. As the latter walked for- 
 ward in the grip of the constable, he remarked 
 
n8 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 in a mild voice totally at variance with his bold 
 act: 
 
 "Why, I only wanted a little change to pay my 
 fare to the moon. I'm going there to look for 
 my brother." 
 
 "Crazy as a loon," said one of the men. 
 
 "Or pretending that he is," added the officer. 
 
 "Mark!" cried Jack, pointing at the prisoner, 
 "look!" 
 
 "The man who held me captive !" gasped 
 Mark. "And he's wearing my clothes yet ! But 
 he's in custody now, and we needn't fear any 
 more from him." 
 
 "Unless he gets away," said Jack. 
 
 "We'll go tell the chief who he is, and he'll 
 keep him safe," suggested Mark, and they hur- 
 ried to headquarters, reaching there just before 
 the prisoner was brought in. The boys were as- 
 sured by the chief that the man, who was evi- 
 dently a dangerous lunatic, would be kept where 
 he could do no harm. He would be arraigned 
 later on the serious charge of attempted highway 
 robbery, as well as of being a dangerous lunatic 
 at large. 
 
 When the boys and Andy got back, they found 
 the two professors and Washington still going 
 over the machinery in detail. 
 
OFF AT LAST 119 
 
 "Find anything wrong?" asked Jack, after they 
 had told of the arrest of Axtell. 
 
 "No, but we will have another look in the 
 morning," said Mr. Henderson. "Then, if we 
 find nothing out of order, I think we will take a 
 chance and start." 
 
 A thorough inspection by all hands the next 
 day did not disclose anything wrong, and, a test 
 of the motors and other machinery having shown 
 that it was in good working shape, it was decided 
 to leave the earth. 
 
 "At last, I think, we are really going to get un- 
 der way to the moon," said Jack, as he closed the 
 big main door. This time it was not reopened. 
 All the stores and supplies were in place. The 
 two professors were in the engine room. Wash- 
 ington White was in his galley, getting ready to 
 serve the first meal in the air. Jack and Mark 
 were in the pilot house, ready to do whatever was 
 necessary and anxious to feel the thrill that would 
 tell them the projectile had left the earth. 
 
 "All ready?" asked Professor Henderson, 
 
 "All ready," replied his German assistant. 
 
 "Then here we go!" announced the aged sci- 
 entist. 
 
 He pulled toward him the main starting lever 
 of the Cardite motor, while Professor Roumann 
 opened the valve which admitted to the plates and 
 
120 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 cylinders the mysterious force that was to send 
 them on their way. 
 
 "Elevate the bow!" called Professor Hender- 
 son. 
 
 "Elevated it is," answered the German, as he 
 turned a wheel which directed the negative grav- 
 ity force against the surface of the ground and 
 tilted up the nose of the Annihilator, as a sky- 
 rocket is slanted in a trough before the fuse is 
 ignited. 
 
 "Throw over the switch," directed Mr. Hen- 
 derson, and the other scientist, with a quick mo- 
 tion, snapped it into place, amid a shower of 
 vicious electric sparks that hissed as when hot 
 iron is thrust into water. 
 
 "Steer straight ahead!" called Professor Hen- 
 derson to Mark and Jack, who were in the pilot 
 house. "We'll head for the moon later." 
 
 "Straight ahead it is," answered Jack. 
 
 There was a trembling to the great projectile. 
 Up rose her sharp-pointed bow. She swayed 
 slightly in the air. The trembling increased. The 
 great Cardite motor hummed and throbbed. 
 There was a crackling as from a wireless ap- 
 paratus. 
 
 Then, with a rush and a roar, the big steel 
 car, resembling an enormous cigar, soared away 
 
OFF AT LAST 121 
 
 from the earth, like some gigantic piece of fire- 
 works, and shot toward the sky. 
 
 "We're off!" shouted Mark. 
 
 "For the moon!" added Jack. 
 
 And the Annihilator soared upward and on- 
 ward, while those in her never dreamed of the 
 fearful adventures that were to befall them ere 
 they would again be headed toward the earth. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE 
 
 Remaining in the engine room long enough to 
 see that all the motors and apparatus were work- 
 ing smoothly, Professor Henderson made his way 
 to the pilot house forward, where Mark and Jack 
 were in charge of the steering gears. The pro- 
 jectile could be started and stopped from there, 
 as well as from the engine room, once the motor 
 was set going. 
 
 "Well, boys, how does it feel to be in space 
 once more?" asked the scientist. 
 
 "Fine," answered Mark. "But while I was 
 shut up in that old house I feared I'd never have 
 this chance again." 
 
 "It seems like old times again, to be flying 
 through space," remarked Jack. "My! but we 
 aren't making half the speed of which the pro- 
 jectile is capable. Why, we're only going about 
 twenty miles a second," and he spoke as if that 
 was a mere nothing. 
 
 122 
 
SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE 123 
 
 "Twenty miles is some speed," observed Mark. 
 
 "The earth goes around the sun at the rate of 
 nineteen miles a second, or about seventy-five 
 times as fast as the swiftest cannon-ball, so you 
 see, Jack, you are 'going some,' as the boys say." 
 
 "Yes, but we went much faster when we went 
 to Mars. Still, no matter how fast we travel, 
 you'd never realize it inside here." 
 
 This was true. So well balanced was the pro- 
 jectile, and so delicately poised was the machin- 
 ery, that the terrifically fast rate of travel, rival- 
 ling that of the earth, was no more noticed than 
 we, on this globe, notice our pace of nineteen miles 
 a second around the sun. 
 
 "Everything seems to be all right," observed 
 Professor Henderson, as he looked out of the 
 plate-glass window of the pilot house into a sea 
 of rolling mist, which represented the ether, for 
 they had soon passed through the atmosphere of 
 the earth, which scientists estimate to be two hun- 
 dren miles in thickness. 
 
 "Are we going to move any faster than this?" 
 asked Jack, who seemed possessed of a speed 
 mania. 
 
 "Not right away," replied Mr. Henderson. 
 "Professor Roumann wants to thoroughy test the 
 Cardite motor first. Then, when he finds that it 
 works all right, we may go faster. But we will 
 
124 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 be at the moon soon enough as it is. It is time 
 we headed more directly on our proper way, 
 though, so I think I will ask Mr. Roumann to 
 step here and aid me in getting the projectile on 
 the right course. You boys had better remain 
 also and learn how it is done. You may need to 
 know some time." 
 
 "I'll call the professor here, if he can leave the 
 engine room," said Mark, and he found the Ger- 
 man bending over some complicated apparatus. 
 The scientist announced that the machines would 
 run themselves automatically for a while, so he 
 accompanied the lad back to the pilot-house. 
 
 There, consulting big charts of the heavens, 
 and by making some intricate calculations, which 
 the boys partly understood, the German and Mr. 
 Henderson were able to locate the exact position 
 of the moon, though that body was not then in 
 sight, being behind the earth. 
 
 "That ought to bring us there inside of a week," 
 announced Mr. Henderson, as he fastened the 
 automatic steering apparatus in place. "The pro- 
 jectile will now be held on a straight course, and 
 I hope we shall not have to change it." 
 
 "Could anything cause us to swerve to one 
 side?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Sure," replied Mark. "Don't you remember 
 how, in the trip to Mars, we nearly collided with 
 
SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE 125 
 
 the comet? If we are in danger of hitting an- 
 other one of those things, or even a meteor, we'll 
 steer out of the way, won't we?" 
 
 "Of course. I forgot about that," admitted 
 Jack. 
 
 "Yes," declared Professor Roumann, "we'll 
 have to be on the lookout for wandering meteors 
 or other stray heavenly bodies. But our instru- 
 ments will give us timely warning of them. Now, 
 I think we can leave the projectile to herself 
 while I make sure that all the machinery is run- 
 ning smoothly. You boys may stay here if you 
 like, though there isn't much to see." 
 
 There wasn't. It was totally unlike taking a 
 trip on earth, where the ever-varying scenery 
 makes a journey pleasant. There was no land- 
 scape to greet the eye now. It was even unlike a 
 trip in a balloon, for in that sort of air-craft, at 
 least for a time, a glimpse of the earth can be 
 had. Now there was nothing but a white blanket 
 of mist to be seen, which rolled this way and that. 
 Occasionally it was dispelled, and the full, golden 
 sunlight bathed the projectile. The earth had 
 long since dropped out of sight, for it required 
 only a few seconds to put the Annihilator high up 
 in a position where even the most intrepid bal- 
 loonist had never ventured. 
 
 Mark and Jack sat for a few minutes in the 
 
126 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 pilot-house, looking out into the ether. But they 
 soon tired of seeing absolutely nothing. 
 
 "I wonder what we'll do when we get to the 
 moon?" asked Jack of his chum. 
 
 "Why, I suppose you'll make a dive for a hat- 
 ful of diamonds, won't you? That is, if you still 
 believe that Martian newspaper account." 
 
 "I sure do." 
 
 The boys found the two professors busy ad- 
 justing some of the delicate scientific instruments 
 with which they expected to make observations on 
 the trip, and after they reached the moon. 
 
 "What is your opinion, Professor Roumann, 
 of the temperature at the moon's surface?" asked 
 Mr. Henderson. 
 
 "I am in two minds about it," was the reply. 
 "A few years ago, I see by an astronomy, Lord 
 Rosse inferred from his observations that the 
 temperature rose at its maximum (or about three 
 days after full moon) far above that of boiling 
 water." 
 
 "Boiling water!" ejaculated Mark. "Wow! 
 That won't be very nice. I don't want to be 
 boiled like a lobster!" 
 
 "Wait a moment," cautioned Mr. Roumann, 
 with a smile. "Later, Lord Rosse's own investi- 
 gations, and those of Langley, threw some doubts 
 on this. There is said to be no air blanket about 
 
SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE 127 
 
 the moon, as there is about the earth, so that the 
 moon loses heat as fast as it receives it; and it 
 now seems more probable that the temperature 
 never rises above the freezing point of water, just 
 as is the case on our highest mountains." 
 
 "That's better," came from Jack. "We can 
 stand a low temperature more easily than we can 
 to be boiled; eh, Jack?" 
 
 "Sure. But I don't want to be frozen or boiled 
 either, if I can help it. Guess I'll wear my fur 
 suit that we brought back from the North Pole 
 with us." 
 
 "I agree with you, Professor Roumann, about 
 the temperature," announced Mr. Henderson, 
 "so we must make up our minds to shiver, rather 
 than melt. But we are prepared for that." 
 
 "What about there being no air on the moon?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 "Oh, we can manufacture our own oxygen," 
 said Mark. "We can walk around with an air 
 tank on our shoulders, as we did when we went 
 beneath the surface of the ocean. Now, I guess 
 
 "Dinner am served in de dining car!" inter- 
 rupted Washington White, his black face grin- 
 ning cheerfully. He used to be a waiter in a 
 Pullman, and he was proud of it. "First call fo* 
 dinner!" he went on. "Part ob it am boiled, part 
 
128 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 am roasted, laik I done heah yo' talkin' 1 bout jest 
 now, an 5 part am frozed — dat's de ice cream," 
 he added hastily, lest there be a mistake about it. 
 
 "Well, that sounds good," observed Mark. 
 "Come on, everybody," and he led the way to the 
 dining cabin. 
 
 They had not been at the table more than a 
 few minutes, and had begun on the "boiled" part 
 of the meal, which was the soup, when from the 
 engine room there came a curious, whining noise, 
 as when an electric motor slows up. 
 
 "What's that?" cried Professor Henderson, 
 jumping up from his seat in alarm. 
 
 "Something wrong in the engine room," cried 
 Mr. Roumann. 
 
 The two scientists, followed by the boys, hur- 
 ried to where the various pieces of apparatus 
 were sending the projectile forward through 
 space. Already there was an appreciable slack- 
 ening of speed. 
 
 "The Cardite motor has stopped!" cried Mr. 
 Roumann. "Something has happened to it!" 
 
 "Can it be the result of the damage which that 
 lunatic did?" asked Mr. Henderson. 
 
 "Perhaps," spoke Jack. "If I had him 
 here " 
 
 "We are falling!" shouted Mark, looking at an 
 indicator which marked their speed and motion. 
 
SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE 129 
 
 "Can't we start some other motor?" asked 
 Jack. 
 
 At that instant from beneath the now silent 
 Cardite machine there came a prolonged crow. 
 
 "My Shanghai rooster!" shouted Washington. 
 "He am in dar!" 
 
 A second later the rooster scrambled out, 
 scratching vigorously. Grains of corn were scat- 
 tered about. The motor started up again, and 
 the projectile resumed its onward way. 
 
 "The rooster stopped it!" cried Jack. "He 
 went under it to get some corn, and he must have 
 deranged one of the levers. Oh, you old Shang- 
 hai, you nearly gave us all heart disease!" 
 
 And the rooster crowed louder than before, 
 while his colored owner "shooed" him out of the 
 engine room. The trouble was over speedily, and 
 the Annildlator was once more speeding toward 
 the moon. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 "will it hit us?" 
 
 "Well, for a trouble-maker, give me a rooster 
 every time," spoke Jack, as, after an examination 
 of the machinery, it was found that nothing was 
 out of order. "How do you think it happened, 
 Professor Henderson?" 
 
 "It never could have happened except in just 
 that way," was the reply of Mr. Roumann. "Un- 
 derneath the motor, where they are supposed to 
 be out of all reach, are several self-adjusting 
 levers. They control the speed, and also, by be- 
 ing moved in a certain direction, they will shut 
 down the apparatus. The rooster crawled be- 
 neath the machine, an act that I never figured on, 
 for I knew it was too small for any of us to 
 reach with our hands or arms, even had we so 
 desired. But the Shanghai's feathers must have 
 brushed against the levers, and that stopped the 
 action of the Cardite motor. However, I'm 
 glad it was no worse." 
 
 "Yes, let's finish dinner now, if everything is all 
 right," proposed Mark. 
 
 130 
 
"WILL IT HIT US?" 131 
 
 "How did the rooster get in here?" asked Jack. 
 
 "I 'spects dat's my fault," answered Wash- 
 ington. "I took him out ob his coop fo' a little 
 exercise dis mawnin', an' he run in heah." 
 
 "That explains it, I think," said Mr. Rou- 
 mann. "Well, Washington, don't let it happen 
 again. We don't want to be dashed downward 
 through space all on account of a rooster." 
 
 "No, indeedy; I'll lock him up good an' tight 
 arter dis," promised the colored man. 
 
 They resumed the interrupted dinner, discuss- 
 ing the possibility of what might have happened, 
 and congratulating themselves that it did not take 
 place. 
 
 "It certainly seems like old times to be eating 
 while travelling along like a cannon-ball," re- 
 marked Jack. "I declare, it gives me an ap- 
 petite!" 
 
 "You didn't need any," retorted his chum. 
 "But say! maybe things don't taste good to me, 
 after what I got while that fellow Axtell had me 
 a prisoner! Jack, I'll have a little more of that 
 cocoanut pie, if you don't mind." 
 
 Jack passed over the pastry, and Mark took a 
 liberal piece. Then Washington brought in the ice 
 cream, which was frozen on board by means of 
 an ammonia gas apparatus, the invention of Pro- 
 fessor Henderson. The novelty of dining as 
 
132 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 comfortably as at home, yet being thousands of 
 miles above the earth, and, at the same time, 
 speeding along like a cannon-ball, did not impress 
 our friends as much as it had during their trip to 
 Mars. 
 
 "Well, we're making a little better time now," 
 observed Mark, as he and the others rose from 
 the table and went to the engine room. "The gauge 
 shows that we're making twenty-five miles a sec- 
 ond." 
 
 "We will soon go much faster," announced 
 Professor Roumann. "I have not yet had a 
 chance to test my Cardite motor to its fullest 
 speed, and I think I will do so. I wish to see if 
 it will equal my Etherium machine. I'll turn on 
 the power gradually now, and we'll see what hap- 
 pens." 
 
 "How fast do you think it ought to send us 
 along?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Oh, perhaps one hundred and twenty-five 
 miles a second. You know we went a hundred 
 miles a second when we headed for Mars. I 
 would not be surprised if we made even one hun- 
 dred and thirty miles a second with the Cardite." 
 
 "Whew ! If we ever hit anything going like 
 that!" exclaimed old Andy Sudds. 
 
 "We'd go right through it," finished Jack fer= 
 vently. 
 
"WILL IT HIT US?" 133 
 
 The professor was soon ready for the test. 
 Slowly he shoved over the controlling lever. The 
 Cardite motor hummed more loudly, like some 
 great cat purring. Louder snapped the electrical 
 waves. The air vibrated with the enormous speed 
 of the valve wheels, and there was a prickling 
 sensation as the power flowed into the positive and 
 negative plates, by which the projectile was moved 
 through space. 
 
 "Watch the hand of the speed indicator, boys," 
 directed Professor Roumann, "while Professor 
 Henderson and I manipulate the motor. Call out 
 the figures to us, for we must keep our eyes on the 
 valves." 
 
 Slowly the speed indicator hand, which was 
 like that of an automobile speedometer, swept 
 over the dial. 
 
 "Fifty miles a second," read off Mark. The 
 two professors shoved the levers over still more. 
 
 "Seventy-five," called Jack. 
 
 "Give it a little more of the positive current," 
 directed Mr. Roumann. 
 
 "Ninety miles a second," read Mark a few 
 moments later. 
 
 "We are creeping up, but we have not yet 
 equalled our former speed," spoke Mr. Hender- 
 son. The motor was fairly whining now, as if in 
 protest. 
 
134 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "One hundred and five miles," announced 
 Jack. 
 
 "Ha! That's some better!" ejaculated the 
 German. "I think we shall do it." Once more 
 he advanced the speed lever a notch. 
 
 "One hundred and thirty!" fairly shouted 
 Mark. "We are beating all records!" 
 
 "And we will go still farther beyond them !" 
 cried Mr. Roumann. "Watch the gauge, boys!" 
 
 To the last notch went the speed handle. There 
 was a sharp crackling, snapping sound, as if the 
 metal of which the motor was composed was 
 strained to the utmost. Yet it held together. 
 
 The hand of the dial quivered. It hung on the 
 one hundred and thirty mark for a second, as if 
 not wanting to leave it, and then the steel pointer 
 swept slowly on in a circle, past point after point. 
 
 "One hundred and thirty-five — one hundred 
 and forty," whispered Jack, as if afraid to speak 
 aloud. The two professors did not look up from 
 the motor. They looked at the oil and lubricating 
 cups. Already the main shaft was smoking with 
 the heat of friction. 
 
 "Look! look!" whispered Mark hoarsely. 
 
 "One hundred and fifty-three miles a second!" 
 exclaimed Jack. "You've done it, Professor 
 Roumann!" 
 
"WILL IT HIT US?" 135 
 
 "Yes, I have," spoke the German, with a sigh 
 of satisfaction. "That is faster than mortal man 
 ever travelled before, and I think no one will ever 
 equal our speed. We have broken all records- — 
 even our own. Now I will slow down, but we 
 must do it gradually, so as not to strain the ma- 
 chinery." 
 
 He slipped back the speed lever, notch by 
 notch. The hand of the dial began receding, but 
 it still marked one hundred and twenty miles a 
 second. 
 
 Suddenly, above the roar and hum of the mo- 
 tor, there sounded the voice of Andy. 
 
 "Professor!" he shouted. "We're heading 
 right toward a big, black stone! Is that the 
 moon?" 
 
 "The moon? No, we are not half way there," 
 said Mr. Henderson. "Are you sure, Andy?" 
 
 "Sure? Yes! I saw it from the window in the 
 pilot-house. We are shooting right toward it." 
 
 "Look to the motor, and I'll see what it is," 
 directed Mr. Henderson to his friend. Followed 
 by the boys, he hurried to the steering tower. His 
 worst fears were confirmed. 
 
 Speeding along with a swiftness unrivalled even 
 by some stars, the projectile was lurching toward 
 a great, black heavenly body. 
 
136 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "It's a meteor! An immense meteor!" cried 
 Professor Henderson, "and it's coming right 
 toward us." 
 
 "Will it hit us?" gasped Mark and Jack to- 
 gether. 
 
 "I don't know. We must try to avoid it. Boys, 
 notify Professor Roumann at once. We are in 
 grave danger!" 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 TURNING TURTLE 
 
 Together Mark and Jack leaped for the en- 
 gine room. Their faces showed the fear they felt. 
 Even before they reached it, they realized that, 
 at the awful speed at which they were travelling, 
 and the fearful velocity of the meteor, there 
 might be a crash in mid-air which would destroy 
 the projectile and end their lives. 
 
 "I wonder if we can steer clear of it?" gasped 
 Jack. 
 
 "If it's possible the professor will do it," re- 
 sponded his chum. 
 
 The next instant they were in the engine room, 
 where Mr. Roumann was bending over the Car- 
 dite motor. 
 
 "Shut off the power!" yelled Jack. 
 
 "We are going to hit a meteor!" gasped Mark. 
 
 The German looked up with a startled glance. 
 
 "Slow down?" he repeated. "It is impossible 
 to slow down at once ! We are going ninety miles 
 a second !" He pointed to the speed gauge. 
 
 137 
 
138 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Then there's going to be a fearful collision!'* 
 cried Jack, and he blurted out the fact of the near- 
 ness of the heavenly wanderer. 
 
 "So!" exclaimed Professor Roumann. "Dot is 
 bat! ferry bat!" and he lapsed into the broken 
 language that seldom marked his almost per- 
 fect English. Then, murmuring something in his 
 own tongue, he leaped away from the motor, call- 
 ing to the boys : 
 
 "Slow it down gradually! Keep pulling the 
 speed lever toward you ! I will set in motion the 
 repelling apparatus and go to help Professor 
 Henderson steer out of the way. It is our only 
 chance!" 
 
 Mark and Jack took their places beside the 
 Cardite motor, which was still keeping up a fear- 
 ful speed, though not so fast as at first. To stop 
 it suddenly would mean that the cessation of 
 strain could not all be diffused at once, and serious; 
 damage might result. 
 
 The only way was to come gradually down to 
 the former speed, and, while Mark kept his eyes 
 on the indicator, Jack pulled the lever toward 
 him, notch by notch. 
 
 "She's down to seventy-five miles a second," 
 whispered Mark. They were as anxious now to 
 reduce speed as they had been before to in- 
 crease it. 
 
TURNING TURTLE 139 
 
 Meanwhile Professor Roumann had set in mo- 
 tion a curious bit of apparatus, designed to repel 
 stray meteors or detached bits of comets. As is 
 well known, bodies floating in space, away from 
 the attraction of gravitation, attract or repel each 
 other as does a magnet or an electrically charged 
 object. 
 
 Acting on this law of nature, Professor Rou- 
 mann had, with the aid of Mr. Henderson, con- 
 structed a machine which, when a negative cur- 
 rent of electricity was sent into it, would force 
 away any object that was approaching the An- 
 nihilator. In a few moments the boys at the Car- 
 dite motor heard the hum, the throb and crackling 
 that told them that the repelling apparatus was at 
 work. 
 
 But would it act in time ? Or would the meteor 
 prove too powerful for it? And, if it did, would 
 the two scientists be able to steer the swiftly mov- 
 ing projectile out of the way of the big, black 
 stone, as the old hunter called it? 
 
 These were questions that showed on the faces 
 of the two lads as they bent over the motor. 
 
 "We're only going fifty miles a second now," 
 whispered Jack. 
 
 Mark nodded his head. "Can't you pull the 
 lever over faster?" he asked. 
 
 "I don't dare," replied his chum. 
 
140 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 There was nothing to do but to wait and grad» 
 ually slow up the projectile as much as possible. 
 The boys could hear the professors in the pilot- 
 house shifting gears, valves and levers to change 
 the course of the projectile. Andy Sudds and 
 Washington White, with fear on their faces, 
 looked into the engine room, waiting anxiously 
 for the outcome. 
 
 "Hab — hab we hit it yet?" asked Washington, 
 moving his hands nervously. 
 
 "I reckon not, or we'd know it," said the 
 hunter. 
 
 "No, not yet," answered Jack, in a low voice. 
 "How much are we making now, Mark?" 
 
 "Only thirty a second." 
 
 "Good! She's coming down." 
 
 Hardly had he spoken than there sounded a 
 noise like thunder, or the rushing of some mighty 
 wind. The projectile, which was trembling 
 throughout her length from the force of the mo- 
 tor, shivered as though she had plunged into the 
 unknown depths of some mighty sea. The roar- 
 ing increased. Mark and Jack looked at each 
 other. Washington White fell upon his knees and 
 began praying in a loud voice. Old Andy grasped 
 his gun, as though to say that, even though on the 
 brink of eternity, he was ready. 
 
 Then, with a scream as of some gigantic shell 
 
TURNING TURTLE 141 
 
 from a thousand-inch rifle, something passed 
 over the Annihilator; something that shook the 
 great projectile like a leaf in the wind. And then 
 the scream died away, and there was silence. For 
 a moment no one spoke, and then Jack whispered 
 hoarsely: 
 
 "We've passed it." 
 
 "Yes," added Mark, "we're safe now." 
 
 "By golly! I knowed we would!" fairly yelled 
 Washington, leaping to his feet. "I knowed dat 
 no old meteor could kerflumox us ! Perfesser 
 Henderson he done jumped our boat ober it laik a 
 hunter jumps his hoss ober a fence. Golly! I'se 
 feelin' better now!" 
 
 "How did you avoid it?" asked Mark of the 
 professor. 
 
 "With the help of the repelling machine and 
 by changing our course. But we did it only just in 
 time. It was an immense meteor, much larger 
 than at first appeared, and it was blazing hot. 
 Had it struck us, there would have been nothing 
 left of us or the projectile either but star dust. 
 But we managed to pass beneath it, and now we 
 are safe." 
 
 They congratulated each other on their lucky 
 escape, and then busied themselves about various 
 duties aboard the air-craft. The rest of the day 
 was spent in making minor adjustments to some 
 
142 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 of the machines, oiling others, and in planning 
 what they would do when they reached the moon. 
 
 In this way three days and nights passed, 
 mainly without incident. They slept well on 
 board the Annihilator, which was speeding so 
 swiftly through space — slept as comfortably as 
 they had on earth. Each hour brought them 
 nearer the moon, and they figured on landing on 
 the surface of that wonderful and weird body in 
 about three days more. 
 
 It was on the morning of the fourth day when, 
 as Mark and Jack were taking their shift in the 
 engine room, that Jack happened to glance from 
 the side observation window, which was near the 
 Cardite motor. What he saw caused him to cry 
 out in surprise. 
 
 "I say, Mark, look here! There's the moon 
 over there. We're not heading for it at all I" 
 
 "By Jove! You're right!" agreed his chum. 
 "We're off our course!" 
 
 "We must tell Professor Henderson!" cried 
 Jack. "I'll do it. You stay here and watch 
 things." 
 
 A few seconds later a very much alarmed youth 
 was rapidly talking to the two scientists, who were 
 in the pilot-house. 
 
 "Some unknown force must have pulled us off 
 
TURNING TURTLE 143 
 
 our course," Jack was saying. "The moon is 
 away off to one side of us." 
 
 To his surprise, instead of being alarmed, Mr. 
 Roumann only smiled. 
 
 "It's true," insisted Jack. 
 
 "Of course, it is," agreed Mr. Henderson. 
 "We can see it from here, Jack," and he pointed 
 to the observation window, from which could be 
 noticed the moon floating in the sky at the same 
 time the sun was shining, a phenomenon which is 
 often visible on the earth early in the morning at 
 certain of the moon's phases. 
 
 "Will we ever get there?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Of course," replied Mr. Roumann. "You 
 must remember, Jack, that the moon is moving at 
 the same time we are. Had I headed the projec- 
 tile for Luna, and kept it on that course, she 
 would, by the time we reached her, been in an- 
 other part of the firmament, and we would have 
 overshot our mark. So, instead, I aimed the 
 Annihilator at a spot in the heavens where I cal- 
 culated the moon would be when we arrived 
 there. And, if I am not mistaken, we will reach 
 there at the same time, and drop gently down on 
 Luna." 
 
 "Oh, is that it?" asked the lad, much relieved. 
 
 "That's it," replied Mr. Henderson. "And 
 
144 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 that's why we seem to be headed away from the 
 moon. Her motion will bring her into the right 
 position for us to land on when the time comes." 
 
 "Then I'd better go tell Mark," said the lad. 
 "He's quite worried." He soon explained mat- 
 ters to his chum, and together they discussed the 
 many things necessary to keep in mind when one 
 navigates the heavens. 
 
 That day saw several thousand more miles 
 reeled off on the journey to the moon, and that 
 evening (or rather what corresponded to even- 
 ing, for it was perpetual daylight) they began to 
 make their preparations for landing. Their won- 
 derful journey through space was nearing an end. 
 
 "I guess that crazy Axtell fellow was only jok- 
 ing when he said we'd never reach the moon," 
 ventured Jack. "Nothing has happened yet." 
 
 "Only the meteor," said Mark, "and he 
 couldn't know about that. I guess he didn't get 
 a chance to damage any of the machinery." 
 
 "No, we seem to be making good time," went 
 on his chum. "I think I'll go and " 
 
 Jack did not finish his sentence. Instead he 
 stared at one of the instruments hanging from the 
 walls of the engine room. It was a sort of ba- 
 rometer to tell their distance from the earth, and 
 it swung to and fro like a pendulum. Now the 
 Instrument was swinging out away from the wall 
 
TURNING TURTLE 145 
 
 to which it was attached. Further and further 
 over it inclined. Jack felt a curious sensation. 
 Mark put his hand to his head. 
 
 "I feel — feel dizzy!" he exclaimed. "What is 
 the matter?" 
 
 "Something has happened," cried Jack. 
 
 The instrument swung over still more. Some 
 tools fell from a work bench, and landed on the 
 steel floor with a crash. The boys were stagger- 
 ing about the engine room, unable to maintain 
 their balance. 
 
 There came cries of fear from the galley, 
 where Washington White was rattling away amid 
 his pots and pans. Andy Sudds was calling to 
 some one, and from the pilot-house came the ex- 
 cited exclamations of Professors Henderson and 
 Roumann. 
 
 "We're turning turtle!" suddenly yelled Jack. 
 "The projectile is turning over in the air! Some- 
 thing has gone wrong! Perhaps this is the re- 
 venge of that crazy man!" and, as he spoke, he 
 fell over backward, Mark following him, while 
 the Annihilator was turned completely over and 
 seemed to be falling down into unfathomable 
 depths. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 AT THE MOON 
 
 Confusion reigned aboard the Annihilator. 
 It had turned completely over, and was now mov- 
 ing through space apparently bottom side up. Of 
 course, being cigar shaped, this did not make any 
 difference as far as the exterior was concerned, 
 but it did make a great difference to those within. 
 
 The occupants of the great shell had fallen and 
 slid down the rounded sides of the projectile, and 
 were now standing on what had been the ceiling. 
 Objects that were not fast had also followed 
 them, scattering all about, some narrowly miss- 
 ing hitting our friends. Of course, the machin- 
 ery was now in the air, over the heads of the 
 travellers. 
 
 This was one of the most serious phases of the 
 accident, for the great Cardite motor was built 
 to run while in the other position, and when it was 
 turned upside down it immediately stopped, and 
 the projectile, deprived of its motive power, at 
 once began falling through space. 
 
 146 
 
AT THE MOON 147 
 
 "What has happened? What caused it?" 
 cried Mark, as he crawled over to where Jack 
 sat on the ceiling, with a dazed look on his face. 
 
 "I don't know. Something went wrong. Here 
 comes Professor Henderson and Mr. Roumann. 
 We'll ask them." 
 
 The two scientists were observed approaching 
 from the pilot-house. They walked along what 
 had been the ceiling, and when they came to the 
 engine room they had to climb over the top part 
 of the door frame. 
 
 "What's wrong?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Our center of gravity has become displaced," 
 answered Mr. Henderson. "The gravity machine 
 has either broken, or some one has been tamper- 
 ing with it. Did either of you boys touch it?" 
 
 "No, indeed!" cried Mark, and his chum 
 echoed his words. 
 
 "I wonder if Washington could have meddled 
 with it?" went on the scientist. 
 
 At that moment the colored cook came along, 
 making his way cautiously into the engine room. 
 He was an odd sight. Bits of carrots, turnips 
 and potatoes were in his hair, while from one 
 ear dangled a bunch of macaroni, and his clothes 
 were dripping wet. 
 
 "My kitchen done turned upside down on me!" 
 wailed Washington, "an' a whole kettle ob soup 
 
148 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 emptied on my head! Oh, golly! What hap- 
 pened?" 
 
 The aged scientist looked toward the German. 
 The latter was gazing up at the motionless Car- 
 dite motor over his head. 
 
 "There is but one way," he answered. "We 
 must restore our centre of gravity to where it was 
 before. Then the projectile will right herself." 
 
 "Can it be done?" asked Mark. 
 
 "It will be quite an undertaking, but we must 
 attempt it. Bring some tables and chairs, so I 
 can stand up and reach the equilibrium machine." 
 
 From where they had fallen to the ceiling, 
 which was now the floor, Jack and Mark brought 
 tables and chairs, and made a sort of stepladder. 
 On this Professor Roumann mounted, and at once 
 began the readjusting of the centre of gravity. 
 
 It was hard work, for he had to labor with his 
 arms stretched up in the air, and any one who has 
 even put up pictures knows what that means. The 
 muscles are unaccustomed to the strain. The 
 German scientist, though a strong man, had to 
 rest at frequent intervals. 
 
 "We're falling rapidly," announced Jack, in a 
 low voice, as he looked at the height gauge. 
 
 "I am doing all I can," answered Mr. Rou- 
 mann. "I think I will soon be able to right the 
 craft." 
 
AT THE MOON 149 
 
 He labored desperately, but he was at a disad- 
 vantage, for the Annihilator was not now mov- 
 ing smoothy through space. With the stopping 
 of the motor she was falling like some wobbly 
 balloon, swaying hither and thither in the ether 
 currents. 
 
 But Professor Roumann was not one to give 
 up easily. He kept at his task, aided occasionally 
 by Professor Henderson and by the boys when- 
 ever they could do anything. 
 
 Finally the German cried out: 
 
 "Ah, I have discovered the trouble. It is that 
 scoundrel Axtell! See!" And reaching into the 
 interior of the machine he pulled out a small mag- 
 net. To it was attached a card, on which was 
 written : 
 
 "I told you I would have my revenge !" It was 
 signed with Axtell's name. 
 
 "This was the dastardly plot he evolved," said 
 Professor Roumann. "He slipped this magnet 
 into the equilibrium machine, knowing that in 
 time it would cause a deflection of the delicate 
 needles, and so shift the centre of gravity. He 
 must have done this as a last resort, and to pro- 
 vide for his revenge in case we discovered him on 
 board after we started. It was a cruel revenge, 
 for had I not discovered it we would soon all be 
 killed." 
 
I5(* LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Is the machine all righl, now?" asked Jack. 
 
 "It will be in a few mirltites. Here, take this 
 magnet and put it as far uway from the engine 
 room as possible." 
 
 It was the work of but a few minutes, now that 
 the disturbing element was removed, to readjust 
 the gravity machine, and Mr. ARoumann called: 
 
 "Look out now, everybody! We're going to 
 turn right side up again!" 
 
 As he spoke he turned a small valve wheel. 
 There was a clanging of heavy ballast weights, 
 which slid down their rods to the proper place. 
 Then, like some great fish turning over in the 
 water, the Annihilator turned Over hi the ether, 
 and was once more on her proper keel, if such a 
 shaped craft can be said to have a keel. 
 
 Of course, the occupants of the projectile went 
 slipping and sliding back, even as they had fallen 
 ceilingward before, but they were prepared for 
 it, and no one was hurt. From the galley came a 
 chorus of cries, as pots and pans once more scat- 
 tered about Washington, but there was no more 
 soup to spill. 
 
 As soon as the Annihilator was righted, the 
 Cardite motor began to work automatically, and 
 once more the projectile, with the seekers oC the 
 moon, were shooting through space at tbnfo; fc#* 
 
AT THE MOON 151 
 
 mer speed. They had lost considerable distance, 
 but it was easy to make it up. 
 
 "Well, that was an experience," remarked 
 Jack, as he and his chum began picking up the 
 tools and other objects that were scattered all 
 about by the change in equilibrium. 
 
 "I should say yes," agreed Mark. "I'm glad 
 it didn't happen at dinner time. That fellow Ax- 
 tell is a fiend to think of such a thing." 
 
 "Indeed, he is ! But we're all right now, 
 though it did feel funny to be turned upside 
 down." 
 
 An inspection of the projectile was made, but 
 they could discover no particular damage done. 
 She seemed to be moving along the same as be- 
 fore, and, except for the upsetting of things in 
 the store-room, it would hardly have been known, 
 an hour later, that a dreadful accident was nar- 
 rowly averted. 
 
 Washington made more soup, and soon had a 
 fine meal ready, over which the travellers dis- 
 cussed their recent experience. 
 
 "And when do you think we will arrive?" 
 asked Jack of Mr. Henderson. 
 
 "We ought to be at the moon inside of two 
 days now. We have not made quite the speed 
 we calculated on, but that does not matter. I 
 
152 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 think we will go even more slowly on the remain* 
 der of the trip, as I wish to take some scientific 
 observations.'* 
 
 "Yes, and so do I," added Mr. Roumann. "I 
 think if we make fifteen miles a second from now 
 on we will be moving fast enough." 
 
 Accordingly the Cardite motor was slowed 
 down, and the projectile shot through space at 
 slightly reduced speed, while the two scientists 
 made several observations, and did some intricate 
 calculating about ether pressure, the distance of 
 heavenly bodies and other matters of interest only 
 to themselves. 
 
 It was on the afternoon of the third day fol- 
 lowing the turning turtle of the Annihilator that 
 Mark, who was looking through a telescope in 
 the pilot-house, called out: 
 
 "I say, Jack, look here !" 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked his chum. 
 
 "Why, we're rushing right at the moon! I can 
 see the mountains and craters on it as plain as 
 though we were but five miles away!" 
 
 "Then we must be nearly there," observed 
 Jack. "Let's tell the others, Mark." 
 
 They hurried to inform the two professors, 
 who at once left their tables of figures and en- 
 tered the steering chamber. Then, after gazing 
 through the glass, Mr. Henderson announced : 
 
AT THE MOON 153 
 
 "Friends, we will land on the moon in half an 
 hour. Get ready." 
 
 "Are we really going to be walking around the 
 moon inside of thirty minutes?" asked Mark. 
 
 "I don't know about walking around on it," 
 answered the German. "We first have to see if 
 there is an atmosphere there for us to breathe, 
 and whether the temperature is such as we can 
 stand. But the Annihilator will soon be there." 
 
 The speed of the Cardite motor was increased, 
 and so rapidly did the projectile approach Luna 
 that glasses were no longer needed to distinguish 
 the surface of the moon. 
 
 There she floated in space, a great, silent ball, 
 but not like the earth, pleasantly green, with lakes 
 and rivers scattered about in verdant forests. No, 
 for the moon presented a desolate surface to the 
 gaze of the travellers. Great, rugged mountain 
 peaks arose all about immense caverns that 
 seemed hundreds of miles deep. The surface 
 was cracked and seamed, as if by a moonquake. 
 Silence and terrible loneliness seemed to confront 
 them. 
 
 "Maybe it's better on some other part of the 
 surface," said Jack, in a low voice. 
 
 "Perhaps," agreed Mark. "It's certainly not 
 inviting there." 
 
 Nearer and nearer they came to the moon. It 
 
154 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 no longer looked like a great sphere, for they 
 were so close that their vision could only take in 
 part of the surface, and it began to flatten out, 
 as the earth does to a balloonist. 
 
 And the nearer they came to it the more rug- 
 ged, the more terrible, the more desolate did it 
 appear. Would they be able to find a place to 
 land, or would they go hurtling down into some 
 awful crater, or be dashed upon the sharp peak 
 of some mountain of the moon? 
 
 It was a momentous question, and anxious were 
 the faces of the two professors. 
 
 "Mr. Henderson, if you will undertake to 
 steer to some level place, I will take charge of the 
 motor," suggested Mr. Roumann. "I will 
 gradually reduce the speed, and get the repelling 
 machine in readiness, so as to render our landing 
 gentle." 
 
 "Very well," responded the aged scientist, as he 
 grasped the steering wheel. 
 
 The progress of the Annihilator was gradually 
 checked. More and more slowly it approached 
 the moon. The mountains seemed even higher 
 now, and the craters deeper. 
 
 "What a terrible place," murmured Jack. "I 
 shouldn't want to live there." 
 
 "Me either," said Mark. 
 
 "Can you see a place to land?" called Profes- 
 
AT THE MOON 155 
 
 sor Roumann through the speaking-tube from the 
 engine room to the steering tower. 
 
 "Yes, we seem to be approaching a fairly level 
 plateau," was Mr. Henderson's reply. 
 
 "Very well, then, I'll start the repelling ma- 
 chine." 
 
 The Cardite motor was stopped. The projec- 
 tile was now being drawn toward the moon by the 
 gravity force of the dead ball that once had been 
 a world like ours. Slowly and more slowly moved 
 the great projectile. 
 
 There was a moment of suspense. Mr. Hen- 
 derson threw over the steering wheel. The An- 
 nihilator moved more slowly. Then came a gen- 
 tle shock. The dishes in the galley rattled, and 
 there was the clank of machinery. The Shanghai 
 rooster crowed. 
 
 "We're on the moon at last!" cried Jack, peer- 
 ing from an observation window at the rugged 
 surface outside. 
 
 "Yes; and now to see what it's like," added 
 Mark. "We'll go outside, and " 
 
 "Wait," cautioned Professor Roumann. "First 
 we must see if we can breathe on the moon, and 
 whether the temperature will support life. I must 
 make some tests before we venture out of the pro- 
 jectile." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 TORCHES OF LIFE 
 
 The natural inclination of the boys to rush out 
 on the surface of the moon to see what it was like 
 was checked by the words of caution from Profes- 
 sor Roumann. 
 
 "Do you think it would be dangerous to ven- 
 ture outside the projectile?" asked Jack, as he 
 looked from the window and noted the rugged, 
 uneven surface of the moon. 
 
 "Very much so," was the answer. "According 
 to most astronomers, there is absolutely no air 
 on the moon, also no moisture, and the tempera- 
 ture is either very high or around the freezing 
 point. We must find out what it is." 
 
 "How can we?" inquired Mark. 
 
 "I'll soon show you," went on the German. 
 "Professor Henderson, will you kindly assist 
 me." 
 
 When it had been decided to come to the moon 
 in quest for the field of diamonds, certain changes 
 had been made in the Annihilator to fit it for new 
 conditions that might be met. One of these con- 
 sisted of an aperture in the two sides of the pro- 
 
 156 
 
TORCHES OF LIFE 157 
 
 jectile permitting certain delicate instruments to 
 be thrust out, so that the conditions they indi- 
 cated could be read on dials or graduated scales 
 from within. 
 
 "We will first make a test of the temperature," 
 said Mr. Roumann, "as that will be the easiest." 
 Accordingly a thermometer was put outside, and 
 those in the air-craft anxiously watched the red 
 column of spirits. The temperature was marked 
 as seventy-five inside the Annihilator, but the ther- 
 mometer had not been outside more than a second 
 before it began falling. 
 
 "Good!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson, as he 
 noted it. "The temperature is going down. I'd 
 rather have it too cold than too hot. We can 
 stand a minus fifty of cold better than two hun- 
 dred and twelve of heat. We have fur garments 
 with us." 
 
 "It is still going down," remarked Jack, as he 
 saw the red column drop down past the thirty 
 mark. 
 
 "Below freezing," added Mark. 
 
 The spirits fell in the tube until they touched 
 twenty-eight degrees, and there they remained. 
 
 "Twenty-eight degrees," remarked Professor 
 Henderson. "That isn't so bad. At least, we 
 can stand that if we are warmly clad." 
 
 "Yes, but it will be colder to-night," said Jack. 
 
158 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 For they had landed on the moon in bright sun- 
 light. 
 
 "To-night?" questioned the German scientist, 
 with a smile. 
 
 "Yes, it's always colder when the sun goes 
 down," went on the lad. 
 
 "You have forgotten one thing," said Mr. 
 Henderson, with a smile at his young protege. 
 "You must remember, Jack, that the nights and 
 days here are each fourteen days long — that is, 
 fourteen of our days." 
 
 "How's that?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Why," broke in Mark, who was a trifle bef» 
 ter student than was his chum, "don't you remem- 
 ber that the moon rotates on its axis once a month, 
 or in about twenty-eight days, to be exact, and t»o 
 half of that time is day and half night, just as on 
 our earth, when it revolves on its axis in twenty- 
 four hours, half the time is day and half the time 
 is night." 
 
 "Sure, I ought to have remembered," declared 
 Jack. 
 
 "Mark is right," added Mr. Henderson. 
 "And, as we have most fortunately arrived on the 
 moon at the beginning of the long day, we will 
 have fourteen days of sunshine, during which we 
 may expect the temperature to remain at about 
 
TORCHES OF LIFE 159 
 
 twenty-eight degrees. But now about the atmos- 
 phere." 
 
 "We will test that directly," went on the Ger- 
 man. "It will take some time longer, though." 
 
 Various instruments were brought forth and 
 thrust out of the opening in the side of the pro- 
 jectile, which opening was so arranged that it was 
 closed hermetically while the instruments were 
 put forth. Then the readings of the dials or 
 scales were taken, and computations made. In 
 fact, some of what corresponded to the moon's 
 atmosphere was secured in a hollow steel cup 
 and brought inside the Annihilator for analysis, 
 
 "Well," remarked Professor Roumann, as he 
 bent over a test tube, the contents of which he 
 had put through several processes, "I am afraid 
 we eannot breathe on the moon." 
 
 "Can't breathe on It?" gasped Jack. "Then we 
 can't go out and walk around it." 
 
 "I didn't say that," resumed the German, with 
 a smile. "I said we couldn't breathe the moon's 
 atmosphere. In fact there is nothing there that 
 we would call atmosphere. There is absolutely 
 no oxygen, and there are a number of poisonous 
 gases that would instantly cause death if inhaled." 
 
 "Then how are we to get out and hunt for 
 those diamonds, Professor?" went on Jack. "Gee 
 
160 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 whiz ! if I'd known that, I wouldn't have come. 
 This is tough luck!" 
 
 "Maybe the professor can suggest a way out 
 of the difficulty, boys," spoke Mr. Henderson. 
 "It certainly would be too bad if, after our peril- 
 ous trip, we couldn't get out of our cage and walk 
 around the moon." 
 
 "I think perhaps I can discover a way so that 
 it will be safe to venture forth," said Mr. Rou- 
 mann. "But I must first conduct some further ex- 
 periments. In the meanwhile suppose you boys 
 get out some fur-lined garments, for, though it is 
 only twenty-eight degrees, we will need to be well 
 clad after the time spent inside this warm pro- 
 jectile." 
 
 "It does look as if he expected to get us out," 
 remarked Jack, as he and his chum went to where 
 Andy Sudds was. 
 
 "Yes, you'll get a chance to pick up diamonds 
 after all, Jack. That is, if there are any here." 
 
 "Of course there are diamonds. You wait and 
 see," and then, with the help of the old hunter, 
 they took from the store-room their fur garments. 
 
 It was half an hour before the warm clothes 
 were sorted out, and then the boys went back to 
 where the two professors were. 
 
 "Well," asked Jack cautiously, "can we go out- 
 side?" 
 
TORCHES OF LIFE 161 
 
 "I think so," answered the German cheerfully. 
 "But you must always be careful to carry one of 
 these with you," and he handed to each of the 
 boys a steel rod about two feet long, at the end 
 of which was a small iron box, with perforations 
 in the sides and top. 
 
 "What is this?" asked Jack. "It looks like a 
 magician's wand." 
 
 "And that is exactly what it is," said Mr. Hen- 
 derson. "As there is no atmosphere fit to breathe 
 on the moon, we have been forced to make our 
 own, boys. You each hold what may be called 
 torches of life. To venture out without them 
 would mean instant death by suffocation or 
 poison." 
 
 "And will these save our lives?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Roumann. "In the iron boxes 
 on those rods are certain chemicals, rich in oxy- 
 gen and other elements, which, when brought m 
 contact with the gases on the moon, will dispel a 
 cloud of air about whoever carries them — air such 
 as we find on our earth. So, boys, be careful 
 never to venture out without the torches of life. 
 I had them prepared in anticipation of some such 
 emergency as this, and all that was necessary was 
 to put in the chemicals. This I have done, and 
 now, if you wish, you may go out and stroll about 
 the moon." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER 
 
 There was a little hesitation after Professor 
 Roumann had spoken. Even though he assured 
 them all that it would be safe to venture out on 
 the surface of the moon, with its chilling tempera- 
 ture and its poisonous "atmosphere" (if such it 
 can be termed), there was an uncanny feeling 
 about stepping forth into the midst of the desola- 
 tion that was on every side. 
 
 For it was desolate — terribly so ! Not a sound 
 broke the stillness. There was no life — no mo- 
 tion — as far as could be seen. Not a tree or 
 shrub relieved the rugged monotony of the land- 
 scape. 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." 
 
 162 
 
ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER 163 
 
 "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 Rou- 
 mann?" 
 
 "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 oxy- 
 gen 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 Hen- 
 derson, and there is one for you, too, Andy, and 
 Washington." 
 
 " 'Scuse me!" exclaimed the colored man hast- 
 ily, 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 Washing- 
 ton, "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 ob 
 
164 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 de 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 col- 
 ored 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 Annihil- 
 ator 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 
 
ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER 165 
 
 directly to the surface of the moon and into the 
 deadly atmosphere. 
 
 "Well, are we all ready?" asked Mr. Rou- 
 mann, 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. Hen- 
 derson. "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. 
 
166 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Well, if this isn't great!" cried Jack, gazing 
 about him. 
 
 "It certainly beats anything I ever saw," came 
 from Mark. 
 
 "Wonderful, wonderful," murmured Profess 
 sor Henderson. "We will be able to gain much 
 valuable scientific knowedge here, Professor Rou- 
 mann. 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 readi- 
 ness. 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 hillv sections 
 
ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER 167 
 
 «f the earth. There were no long ranges of rug- 
 ged peaks, though, but rather scattered pinnacles 
 and deep hollows, great craters adjoining im- 
 mense, towering steeples of rocks, with compara- 
 tively 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 sur- 
 face of the moon, fissures that seemed miles ai?d 
 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 pro- 
 
i68 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 fessors 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 
 
ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER 169 
 
 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 
 space. 
 
 Prepared as he was, in a measure, for some- 
 thing strange, he never bargained for what hap- 
 pened. 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, cover- 
 ing 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. 
 
 "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 rug- 
 ged 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, fortu- 
 nately, 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 projec- 
 tion 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 
 
 170 
 
WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST 171 
 
 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. 
 
172 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 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," de- 
 cided 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 gar- 
 ment, and when it did come to him in a flash he 
 never hesitated. 
 
 "After all, I've often been out without an over- 
 coat 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, 
 
WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST 173 
 
 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 neces- 
 sity 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 per- 
 forated 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 
 
174 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 of hide, and, taking his life-tore!^ 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 passed over the edge of 
 the mouth of the crater to prevent the jagged 
 rocks from cutting the strips of hide. 
 
WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST 175 
 
 "Here youTome !" 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 injur- 
 ing him. In another moment he stood beside 
 Mark, a trifle weak and shaky from his experi- 
 ence, but otherwise unhurt. 
 
 "How did you happen to go down there?" 
 asked Mark. 
 
 "Not from choice, I assure 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 
 
176 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Jack was over, he began to feel cool, and the chill- 
 ing 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 Rou- 
 mann 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 
 further 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," as- 
 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." 
 
 They sat discussing various matters, and, while 
 doing so, Washington White peered into the liv- 
 ing cabin. 
 
WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST 177 
 
 "Has yo' got one ob dem torch-light proces- 
 sions t' spare?" he asked. 
 
 "Torch-light processions?" queried Mark. 
 "What do you think this is, an election, Wash?" 
 
 "I guess he means a life-torch," suggested Jack. 
 "Are you going out, Wash?" 
 
 "Yais, sah, I did think I'd take a stroll around. 
 Maybe I kin find a diamond fo' my tie." 
 
 Laughing, Jack provided the colored man with 
 one of the torches, instructing him how to use it, 
 and presently Washington was seen outside, walk- 
 ing gingerly around, as though he expected to go 
 through the crust of the moon any moment. 
 Pretty soon, however, he got more courage and 
 tramped boldly along, peering about on the 
 ground for all the world, as Mark said, as if 
 he was looking for chestnuts. 
 
 They paid no attention to the cook for some 
 little time until, when the boys and the two pro- 
 fessors were in the midst of a discussion as to 
 where would be the best place to move the pro- 
 jectile next, they heard him running along the cor- 
 ridor toward the cabin. 
 
 "Wash is in a hurry," observed Jack. 
 
 The next instant they sprang to their feet at 
 the sight of the frightened face of the colored 
 man peering in on them. He was as near white 
 
178 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 as a negro can ever be, which is a sort of chalk 
 color, and his eyes were wide open with fear. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Jack. 
 
 "A ghost! I done seen de ghost ob a dead 
 man!" gasped the colored man. 
 
 "A ghost?" repeated Mark. 
 
 "Yais, sah, right out yeah ! He's lyin' down in 
 a hole — a dead man. Golly! but I'se a scared 
 coon, I is !" and Washington looked over his 
 shoulder as though he feared the "ghost" had 
 followed him. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 A BREAKDOWN 
 
 At first they were inclined to regard the an- 
 nouncement of Washington lightly, but the too 
 evident fright of the colored man showed that 
 there was some basis for his fear. 
 
 "Tell us just what you saw, and where it was," 
 said Mr. Henderson. "Was the man alive, Wash- 
 ington?" 
 
 "No, sah. How could a ghost be alive? Dey 
 is all dead ones, ghosts am!" 
 
 "There are no such things as ghosts," said Mr. 
 Henderson sternly. 
 
 "Den how could I see one?" demanded the cook 
 triumphantly, as if there was no further argu- 
 ment. 
 
 "Well, tell us about it," suggested Jack. 
 
 "It were jest dis way," began Washington ear- 
 nestly, and with occasional glances over his shoul- 
 der, "I were walkin' along, sort ob lookin' fer 
 dem sparklin' diamonds, an' I didn't see none, 
 179 
 
l8o LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 when all on a suddint I looked down in a hole, 
 and dere I seen HIM !" and he brought out the 
 word with a jerk. 
 
 "Saw what — who?" asked Mr. Roumann. 
 
 "De ghost — de dead man. He were lyin' all 
 curled up, laik he were asleep, an' when I seed 
 him, I didn't stop t' call him t' dinner, yo' can 
 make up yo' minds t' dat all." 
 
 "Can you show us the place?" inquired Jack. 
 
 "Yais, sah, massa Jack, dat's what I kin. I'll 
 point it out from dish yeah winder, but I ain't 
 g'wine dar ag'in; no, sah, 'scuse me!" 
 
 "Well, show us then," suggested Mark. "I 
 wonder what it can be ?" he went on. 
 
 "Maybe one of the people who came from 
 Mars after the diamonds, who was forgotten 
 and left here, and who died," said Jack. 
 
 "It's possible," murmured Mr. Henderson. 
 "However, we'll go take a look. Get on your fur 
 coats, boys, and take the life-torches. Will you 
 come, Andy?" 
 
 "Sure. It's got to be more than a ghost to 
 scare me," said the hunter. 
 
 They emerged from the projectile and walked 
 in the direction Washington had pointed, holding 
 their gas torches near their heads and talking of 
 what they might see. 
 
 "This will be evidence in favor of my diamond 
 
A BREAKDOWN 181 
 
 theory," declared Jack. "It shows that the Mar- 
 tians were here." 
 
 "Wait and see what it is," suggested his chum. 
 
 They walked along a short distance farther, 
 and then Mark spoke. 
 
 "That ought to be the place over there," he 
 said, pointing to a depression between two tall 
 pinnacles of black rock. 
 
 Jack sprang forward, and a moment later ut- 
 tered a cry of astonishment. 
 
 "Here it is !" he called. "A dead man !" 
 
 "A dead man?" echoed Professor Henderson. 
 
 "A petrified man," added Jack, in awe-struck 
 tones. "He's turned to stone." 
 
 A few seconds later they were all grouped 
 around the strange object — it was a man no 
 longer, but had once been one. It was a petrified 
 human being, a full-grown man, to judge by the 
 size, and it was a solid image in stone, even the 
 garments with which he had been clothed being 
 turned to rock. 
 
 For a moment no one spoke, and they gazed in 
 silence at what was an evidence of former life on 
 the moon. The man was huddled up, with the 
 knees drawn toward the stomach and the arms 
 bent around the body, as if the man had died in 
 agony. The features were scarcely distinguish- 
 able. 
 
182 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "That man was never an inhabitant of Mars,* 
 spoke Professor Henderson, in a low voice. "He 
 is much too large, and he has none of the char- 
 acteristics of the Martians." 
 
 "I agree with you," came from Mr. Roumann, 
 
 "Then who is he?" asked Jack. 
 
 "I think," said the aged scientist, "that we are 
 now gazing on all that was once mortal of one of 
 the inhabitants of the moon." 
 
 "An inhabitant of the moon?" gasped Mark. 
 
 "Yes; why not?" went on Mr. Henderson. "I 
 believe the moon was once a planet like our earth 
 — perhaps even a part of it, and I think that it 
 was inhabited. In time it cooled so that life could 
 no longer be supported, or, at least, this side of 
 the moon presents that indication. The people 
 were killed — frozen to death, and by reason of 
 the chemical action of the gases, or perhaps from 
 the moon being covered with water in which was 
 a large percentage of lime, they were turned to 
 stone. That is what happened to this poor man." 
 
 ''Such a thing is possible," admitted Professor 
 Roumann gravely. 
 
 And, indeed, it is, as the writer can testify, for 
 in the Metropolitan Museum in New York there 
 are the remains of an ancient South American 
 miner, whose body has been turned into solid 
 copper. The corpse, of which the features are 
 
A BREAKDOWN 183 
 
 partly distinguishable, was found four hundred 
 feet down in an old copper mine, where the drip- 
 ping from hidden springs, the waters of which 
 were rich in copper sulphate, had converted the 
 man's body into a block of metal, retaining its 
 natural shape. The body is drawn up in agony, 
 and there is every indication that the man was 
 killed by a cave-in of the mine. Some of his tools 
 were found near him. 
 
 They remained gazing at the weird sight of the 
 petrified man for some time. 
 
 u Then the moon was once inhabited?" asked 
 Jack at length. 
 
 "I believe so — yes," answered Professor Hen- 
 derson. 
 
 "Then where are the other people?" asked 
 Mark. "There must be more than one left. Why 
 was this man off here alone?" 
 
 "We don't know," responded the German sci- 
 entist. "Perhaps he was off alone in the moun- 
 tains when death overtook him, or perhaps all 
 his companions were buried under an upheaval of 
 rock. We can only theorize." 
 
 "It will be something else to put in the book 
 I am to write," said Mr. Henderson. "But, now 
 that we have evidence of former life on the moon, 
 we must investigate further. We will make an 
 attempt to go to the other side of the country, 
 
184 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 and to that end I suggest that we set our projec- 
 tile in motion and travel a bit. There is little 
 more to see here." 
 
 This plan met with general approval, and, after 
 some photographs had been taken of the petrified 
 man, and the professors had made notes, and set 
 down data regarding him, and had tried to guess 
 how long he had been dead, they went back to 
 the Annihilator. 
 
 "Well, did yo' all see him?" asked Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 "We sure did," answered Jack. "You weren't 
 mistaken that time." 
 
 They got ready to move the projectile, but de- 
 cided to remain over night where they were. 
 "Over night" being the way they spoke of it, 
 though, as I have said, there was perpetual day- 
 light for fourteen days at a time on the moon. 
 
 Professors Roumann and Henderson made a 
 few more observations for scientific purposes. 
 They found traces of some vegetation, but it was 
 of little value for food, even to the lower forms 
 of animal life, they decided. There was also a 
 little moisture noticed at certain hours of the day. 
 But, in the main, the place where they had landed 
 was most desolate. 
 
 "I hope we get to a better place soon," said 
 
A BREAKDOWN 185 
 
 Jack, just before they sealed themselves up in the 
 projectile to travel to a new spot. 
 
 As distance was comparatively small on the 
 moon, for her diameter is only a little over two 
 thousand miles and the circumference only about 
 six thousand six hundred miles, the Annihilator 
 could not be speeded up. If it went too fast, it 
 would soon be off the moon and into space again. 
 
 Accordingly the Cardite motor was geared to 
 send the big craft along at about forty miles an 
 hour, and at times they went even slower than 
 that, when they were passing over some part of 
 the surface which the professors wished to photo- 
 graph or observe closely. 
 
 They did not rise high into the air, but flew 
 along at an elevation of about two hundred feet, 
 steering in and out to avoid the towering peaks 
 scattered here and there. Occasionally they found 
 themselves over immense craters that seemed to 
 have no bottom. 
 
 For two days they moved here and there, find- 
 ing no further signs of life, neither petrified nor 
 natural, though they saw many strange sights, and 
 some valuable pictures and scientific data was 
 obtained. 
 
 It was on the third day, when they were ap- 
 proaching the side of the moon which from time 
 
186 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 immemorial has been hidden from view of the 
 inhabitants of the earth, that Jack, who was with 
 Mark in the engine room, while the two profes- 
 sors were in the pilot-house, remarked to his 
 chum: 
 
 "Mark, doesn't it strike you that the water 
 pump and the air apparatus aren't working just 
 right?" 
 
 "They don't seem to be operating very 
 smoothly," admitted Mark, after an examination. 
 
 "That's what I thought. Let's call Mr. Hen- 
 derson. The machinery may need adjusting." 
 
 Jack started from the engine room to do this, 
 and as he paused on the threshold there was a 
 sudden crash. Part of the air pump seemed to 
 fly off at a tangent, and a second later had 
 smashed down on the Cardite motor. This 
 stopped in an instant, and the projectile began 
 falling. Fortunately it was but a short distance 
 above the moon's surface, and came down with 
 a jar, which did not injure the travellers. 
 
 But there was sufficient damage done to the 
 machinery, for with the breaking of the air pump 
 the water apparatus also went out of commission, 
 and together with the breakdown of the Cardite 
 motor had fairly stalled the Annihilator. 
 
 "What's the matter?" cried Professor Hender- 
 son, running in from the pilot-house, for an auto- 
 
A BREAKDOWN 187 
 
 matic signal there had apprised him that some- 
 thing was wrong. 
 
 "There's a bad break," said Jack ruefully. 
 
 "A bad break! I should say there was," re- 
 marked the scientist. "I think we'll have to lay 
 up for repairs." And he called Mr. Roumann. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Notwithstanding that they were somewhat 
 accustomed to having accidents happen, it was 
 not with the most pleasant feelings in the world 
 that the moon travellers contemplated this one. 
 It meant a delay, and a delay was the one thing 
 they did not want just now. 
 
 They desired to get to the other side of the 
 moon while the long period of sunshine gave 
 them an opportunity for observation. True 
 there was some time yet ere the long night of 
 fourteen days would settle down, but they felt 
 that they would need every hour of sunshine. 
 
 "Well, it's tough luck, but it can't be helped," 
 said Mark. 
 
 "No, let's get right to work," suggested Jack. 
 
 They got out their tools and started to repair 
 the two pumps. It was found that the Cardite 
 motor was not badly damaged, one of the nega- 
 tive electrical plates merely having been smashed 
 
 m 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 189 
 
 by a piece of the broken connecting rod of the air 
 pump. It was only a short time before the mo- 
 tor was ready to run again. 
 
 But it could not be successfully operated with- 
 out the air and water pumps, and it was neces- 
 sary to fix them next. New gaskets were needed, 
 while an extra valve and some sliding gears had 
 to be replaced. 
 
 "It's an all day's job," remarked Professor 
 Henderson. 
 
 But many hands made light work, and even 
 Washington and Andy were called upon to do 
 their share. By dinner time the work was more 
 than half done, and Professor Roumann an- 
 nounced that he and Mr. Henderson would finish 
 it if Jack and Mark would take a look at the 
 exterior of the projectile, to see if any repairs 
 were needed to that. 
 
 The boys found that some of the exterior 
 piping had become loosed at the joints, because 
 of the jar of the sudden descent, and, taking the 
 necessary tools outside, while they stuck their 
 life-torches upright near them, they labored away. 
 
 At four o'clock the two lads had their task 
 completed, and at the same time Professor Hen- 
 derson announced that the air and water pumps 
 were now in good shape again. 
 
 "Then let's get under way at once," suggested 
 
190 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Mr. Roumann. "We have lost enough time as it 
 is. Hurry inside, boys, and we'll start." 
 
 The two chums were glad enough to do so, and 
 in a few minutes they were again moving 
 through the air toward the unknown portion of 
 the moon. 
 
 Below the travellers, as they could see by look- 
 ing down through a plate-glass window in the 
 floor of the projectile, were the same rugged 
 peaks, the same large and small craters that had 
 marked the surface of the moon from the time 
 they had first had a glimpse of it. There was an 
 uninteresting monotony about it, unrelieved by 
 any save the very sparest vegetation. 
 
 "I am beginning to think more and more that we 
 will find people on the other side of this globe," 
 remarked Mr. Roumann, as he made an observa- 
 tion through a telescope. 
 
 "What strengthens your belief?" inquired Mr. 
 Henderson. 
 
 "The fact that the vegetation is growing 
 thicker. There are many more plants below us 
 now than there were before. This part of the 
 moon is better able to support life than the por- 
 tion we have just come from." 
 
 This seemed to be so, but they were still some 
 distance from the opposite side of the moon. 
 
 "I don't see anything of those diamonds you 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 191 
 
 talked so much about, Jack," said Mark, with a 
 smile, a little later. "I guess all the Reonaris you 
 get you can put in a hollow tooth." 
 
 "You wait," was all Jack replied. 
 
 The projectile was slowed up to permit the two 
 professors to make some notes regarding a par- 
 ticularly large and deep crater, and a few min- 
 utes later when Mark, who was in the engine 
 room, attempted to speed up the Cardite motor it 
 would not respond. 
 
 "Humph! I wonder what's wrong?" he asked 
 of Jack. 
 
 "Better call Mr. Roumann, and not try to 
 fix it yourself," suggested his chum, when, in re- 
 sponse to various movements of the lever, the ma- 
 chine seemed to go slower and slower. 
 
 The German came in answer to the summons. 
 
 "Ha I" he exclaimed, "that motor is broken 
 again. We shall have to stop once more for re- 
 pairs. I shall need to take it all apart, I fear. 
 Get me the negative plate remover, will you, 
 Mark?" 
 
 The lad went to the tool chest for it. He 
 opened the lid and fumbled about inside. 
 
 "It doesn't seem to be here," he announced. 
 
 "What! the negative plate remover not 
 there?" cried the professor. "Why, it must 
 
192 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 be. It is one of the new tools we got, and It has 
 not been used for anything; has it?" 
 
 "Oh, by Jinks !" cried Jack suddenly. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked his chum. 
 
 "That plate remover! Don't you remember 
 you and I had it when we were fixing the pipes 
 outside the projectile, when we had the other 
 breakdown? We must have left it back there on 
 the ground." 
 
 Jack and his chum gazed blankly at each 
 other. 
 
 "I guess we did," admitted Mark dubiously. 
 
 "And it is the only one we have," said Mr. 
 Roumann. "We need it very much, too, for the 
 projectile can't very well be moved without it." 
 
 "How can we get it?" asked Jack. "I'm sorry. 
 It was my fault." 
 
 "It was as much mine as yours," asserted 
 Mark. "I guess it's up to us to go back after 
 it. It isn't far. We can easily walk it." 
 
 There seemed to be nothing else to do, and, 
 after some discussion, it was decided to have the 
 two boys walk back after the missing tool, which 
 was a very valuable one. 
 
 "Take fresh life-torches with you," advised 
 Mr. Henderson, "and you had better carry some 
 food with you. It may be farther back than you 
 think, and you may get hungry." 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 193 
 
 "I guess it will be a good thing to take some 
 lunch along," admitted Jack. "And some water, 
 too. We can't get a drink here unless we come 
 to a spring, and we haven't seen any since we 
 arrived." 
 
 "I'll go with you, if you don't mind," said 
 Andy. "I may see something to shoot." 
 
 The three of them, each one carrying a freshly 
 charged vapor-torch, a basket of food and a bot- 
 tle of water, started off, well wrapped in their 
 fur coats. Andy had a compass to enable them 
 to make their way back to where the tool was 
 left, for, amid the towering peaks and the valley- 
 like depressions, very little of the level surface 
 of the moon could be seen at a time. 
 
 They walked on for several hours, every now 
 and then hoping that they had reached the place 
 where the projectile had been halted, and where 
 they expected to find the tool. But so many places 
 looked alike that they were deceived a number 
 of times. 
 
 At length, however, they reached the spot and 
 found the instrument where Jack had carelessly 
 dropped it. They picked it up and turned to go 
 back, when Andy Sudds saw a large crater off to 
 one sidt. 
 
 "Boys, I'm going to have a look down that," 
 
i 9 4 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 he said. "It may contain a bear or wildcat, and I 1 
 can get a shot." 
 
 "Guess there isn't much danger of a bear be- 
 ing on the moon," said Mark, but the old hunter 
 leaned as far over the edge of the crater as he 
 dared. 
 
 "No, there's nothing here," he announced, with 
 almost a sigh, and he straightened up. As he did 
 so there came a tinkling sound, as if some one 
 had dropped a piece of money. 
 
 "What's that?" asked Jack. 
 
 "By heck! It's the compass!" cried Andy. 
 "It slipped from my pocket when I stooped over. 
 Now it's gone!" 
 
 There was no question of that. They could 
 hear the instrument tinkling far down in the un- 
 fathomable depths, striking from side to side of 
 the crater as it went down and down. 
 
 "We'll never see that again," spoke Mark 
 dubiously. 
 
 "Can we get back to the projectile without it?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 "Oh, I fancy I can pick my trail back," an- 
 swered the hunter. "It isn't going to be easy, for 
 there are no landmarks to guide me, but I'll do 
 my best. I ought to have known better than to 
 put a compass in that pocket." 
 
 It was not with very light hearts that they 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 195 
 
 started back, and for a time they went cautiously. 
 Then, as they seemed to get on familiar ground, 
 they increased their pace and covered several 
 miles. 
 
 "Say," remarked Jack, as he sat down on a 
 big stone. "I don't know how the rest of you 
 feel, but I'm tired. We've come quite a distance 
 since we picked up that tool." 
 
 "Yes, farther than it took us to find it after 
 we left the projectile," added Mark. "I won- 
 der if we're going right?" 
 
 The two boys looked at Andy. He scratched 
 his head in perplexity. 
 
 "I can't be sure, but it seems to me that we 
 came past here," he said. "I seem to remember 
 that big rock." 
 
 "There are lots like it," observed Jack. 
 
 "Suppose we try over to the left," spoke Mark, 
 after they had rested for ten minutes. 
 
 They swerved in that direction, and, after 
 keeping on that trail for some time, and becoming 
 more and more convinced that it was the wrong 
 one, they turned to the right. That did not 
 bring them to familiar ground, and there was no 
 sight of the projectile. 
 
 "Let's go straight ahead," suggested Andy, 
 after a puzzled pause. "I think that will be 
 best." 
 
196 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Well, which way is straight ahead?" asked 
 Mark. 
 
 "That's so, it is hard to tell," admitted the 
 hunter. "I wish I hadn't lost that compass." 
 
 They wandered about for an hour longer. 
 They could seem to make no progress, though 
 they covered much ground. Suddenly Jack called 
 out: 
 
 "Say, we've been going around in a circle I" 
 
 "In a circle?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Yes," went on his chum. "Here's the very 
 rock I sat down on a while ago. I remember it, 
 for I scratched my initials on it." 
 
 Jack pointed out the letters. There was no 
 disputing it. They had made a complete circle. 
 For a moment they maintained silence in the face 
 of this alarming fact. Then Mark exclaimed: 
 
 "I guess we're lost!" 
 
 "Lost on the moon!" added Jack, in an awe- 
 struck voice, and he gazed on the chill and deso- 
 late scene all about them; the great pinnacles of 
 rocks, in fantastic form; the immense black cav- 
 erns of craters on either hand; the sickly green 
 vegetation. 
 
 "Lost on the moon!" whispered Mark, and 
 there was not even an echo of his voice to keep 
 them company. Only a chill, desolate silence! 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 DESOLATE WANDERINGS 
 
 For a moment the three stood helplessly there 
 and stared at each other. They could scarcely 
 comprehend their situation at first. Then, with a 
 glance at the cold and quiet scene all about them, 
 a look up at the sun, which was the only cheer- 
 ful object in the whole landscape, Jack observed: 
 
 "Oh, I say, come on now, don't let's give up 
 this way! We have only taken a wrong turn, 
 and I'll wager that the projectile will be just 
 around the corner. Come on," and he started off t 
 
 "Yes," said Mark, "that 's the trouble. There 
 are so many corners, and we have taken so many 
 wrong turns, that we're all confused. I think 
 the best thing to do will be to stay here a while 
 and pull ourselves together." 
 
 "That's right," spoke old Andy. "Many a 
 time in the woods I've got all confused-like, and 
 then I'd sit down and think, and I'd get on the 
 right path in a few minutes after." 
 
 197 
 
198 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "The trouble here is," said Jack, "that there 
 are no woods. If there were we might know how 
 to get out of them. But think of it! Lost on 
 the moon, in the midst of a whole lot of queer 
 mountain peaks, and big holes that would hold 
 half a dozen cities of the United States at the 
 same time, and never know it ! This is a fearful 
 place to be lost in!" 
 
 "I'm not going to admit that we're lost," de- 
 clared Mark stoutly. 
 
 "Hu! You're like the Indian," spoke Jack. 
 "The Indian who got lost in the woods. He in- 
 sisted that it wasn't he who was lost, that it was 
 his wigwam that couldn't be found. He knew 
 where he himself was all the while. That's our 
 case, I suppose. We're here, but the projectile is 
 lost." 
 
 "Ha ! ha !" laughed Andy Sudds. "That's a 
 pretty good joke!" 
 
 "But not being able to find the projectile is no 
 joke," went on Mark, who always took matters 
 more seriously than did his chum. "What are we 
 going to do?" he added. "We can't stay here 
 like this." 
 
 "Maybe we'll have to," declared Jack. "We 
 certainly can't get off the moon — at least, not until 
 we reach the projectile, and I'd like to discover 
 those diamonds before we go back." 
 
DESOLATE WANDERINGS 199 
 
 "Hu! Those diamonds!" exploded Mark. "I 
 think this whole thing is a wild-goose chase, any- 
 how! If it hadn't been for those diamonds we 
 wouldn't have come to the moon. I don't be- 
 lieve there are any diamonds here, anyhow." 
 
 "Well, I can't prove it to you now, but I will 
 before we get back," asserted Jack. "We'll be 
 wearing diamonds, as the song says." 
 
 "Diamonds aren't going to keep us warm when 
 We're freezing," went on Mark, who seemed bound 
 to look on the dark side, "and we can't eat 'em 
 when we're hungry. A lot of good they'll do us 
 if we do find them!" 
 
 "Oh, cheer up!" suggested Jack cheerfully. 
 "And, speaking of eating, what's the matter with 
 having some lunch? What did we bring it along 
 for if we're not going to eat? Let's begin." 
 
 His good spirits were contagious, not that 
 Andy needed any special cheering up, but Mark 
 did. In a few minutes they were seated on some 
 rugged rocks, and, with their life-torches stuck 
 in cracks, so that the perforated metal boxes of 
 chemicals would be on a level with their faces, 
 they opened the baskets they had been fore- 
 sighted enough to bring with them. 
 
 "Why, I feel better already," asserted Jack, as 
 he munched some sandwiches which Washington 
 White had made. "As soon as we've finished 
 
ado LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 we'll have another hunt for the projectile, and 
 I'll wager that we'll find it." 
 
 "I wouldn't finish if I were you," suggested 
 Andy, who was eating sparingly. 
 
 "Finish what?" asked Jack. 
 
 "All your lunch. You see," the old hunter 
 went on, "we may find the projectile, and, again, 
 we may not. I'm inclined to think we're not so 
 very far from it, but we may be some time locat- 
 ing it in among all these peaks and craters. So 
 it will be the best plan to save some of our lunch 
 and drinking water until — well, until we're hun- 
 gry again," and he carefully put back into his 
 basket the remains of the food. 
 
 "You don't mean to say you think we'll be all 
 day finding the Annihilator, do you?" 
 
 Jack paused, with a sandwich half way to his 
 mouth as he asked this question. 
 
 "Well, it's best to be on the safe side," spoke 
 Andy guardedly. "We may find it, and, again, 
 we may not. Save your powder against the time 
 of need, I say — by powder meaning victuals and 
 drink. We can't drop in a restaurant up here, 
 and I don't see much game to shoot, and I should 
 hate to eat such fodder as this," and he poked 
 with his foot some sickly green vines, growing on 
 the ground. 
 
 The boys' faces, which had become more 
 
DESOLATE WANDERINGS 201 
 
 cheerful, assumed a serious look. Jack stopped 
 eating at once and placed back in the basket his 
 remaining sandwiches. He also corked up the 
 bottle of water, which was kept from freezing by 
 means of a fur pouch in which it was carried. 
 
 "If there's a possibility of being lost some 
 time," spoke Mark, "we'd better figure out just 
 how long our food will last," and he examined 
 the contents of his basket. 
 
 Fortunately Washington White, with a knowl- 
 edge of the appetites of the chums, had filled the 
 baskets with lavish hands. There was, they found, 
 food enough to last them three days, if they ate 
 sparingly, and there was enough water for half 
 that time, providing they only took small sips 
 when thirsty. But they had noticed, in one or 
 two places, little pools of liquid, which they had 
 not tasted, but which might prove to be drinking 
 water. Certainly they would need more if they 
 were destined to remain away from the projectile 
 for very long. 
 
 "Well, then," observed Mark, when the food 
 calculation was over, "it appears that we can re- 
 main lost for about three days, at the most." 
 
 "Oh, but we'll be back home — I mean in the 
 projectile — long before that," declared Jack. 
 
 "I wish I was sure of that," murmured Andy 
 with a dubious shake of his head. 
 
202 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Well, let's move on again," suggested Jack. 
 "We feel better now, and maybe we'll have bet- 
 ter luck." 
 
 They started off, tramping over the rugged sur- 
 face of the moon, while the sun shone with tepid 
 heat down on them. They had to go this way and 
 that to avoid the immense fissures in the ground 
 or the yawning craters, which loomed deep, and 
 in awful silence, in their path. Sometimes they 
 climbed small mountains or crawled in and out 
 of small craters, slipping and stumbling. 
 
 They were not cold, for their fur garments 
 kept them comfortably warm, and there was no 
 wind to make the freezing temperature search 
 through the crevices of their clothing. But it was 
 the desolate silence, the utter absence of any form 
 of life save the pale green vegetation that got on 
 their nerves. It was like being in a dead world 
 — on a planet that seemed about to dissolve into 
 space. 
 
 They began their further search for the projec- 
 tile with hope in their hearts, but this gradually 
 gave way to despair as they wandered on over 
 the desolate surface, and saw nothing but the 
 same rugged peaks, the same yawning caverns 
 and the innumerable craters, large and small. 
 
 On they wandered, looking on all sides for the 
 missing projectile, but they had no glimpse of it. 
 
DESOLATE WANDERINGS 203 
 
 Even climbing to one of the high peaks, whence 
 they had a view of the surrounding country, 
 afforded them no trace of the Ann'ihilator. They 
 were utterly lost. 
 
 Old Andy, who, by reason of his experience 
 as a trapper and hunter, had taken the lead, came 
 to a halt. He looked around helplessly. He did 
 not know what to do. 
 
 "Well, boys," he remarked at length, "I don't 
 like to say it, but I can't seem to get anywhere. 
 I give up." 
 
 "Give up?" murmured Jack, in blank dismay. 
 
 "Yes, for the time being," said the old man. 
 "I'm all played out. I guess we all are. We must 
 have a rest. Here's a sort of cave. Let's crawl 
 in and have a sleep. Then maybe we can do some- 
 thing to-morrow — no, not to-morrow, for they 
 don't have that on the moon, where the day is 
 fourteen days long — but after we sleep we may be 
 able to find our way back. Anyhow, I've got to 
 get some sleep," and without another word the 
 old hunter went into the cave, and, fixing his life- 
 torch near his head, where the fumes from it 
 would dissipate the poisonous gases of the moon, 
 he closed his eyes, and was soon in slumber. 
 
 "I — I guess we'd better do the same," said 
 Jack, and Mark nodded. They were both sick at 
 heart. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE PETRIFIED CITY 
 
 For a time, after they had entered the cave, 
 which was in the side of a rugged mountain, the 
 boys talked in low tones of their perilous situ- 
 ation. For that it was perilous they both knew. 
 Had they been on the earth, lost in some desolate 
 part of it, away from civilization, their plight' 
 would have been bad enough with what little 
 food they possessed. 
 
 But on the far-off moon — the dead moonj 
 which contained no living creatures save them- 
 selves, as far as they could tell — with no form of 
 animal life that might serve to keep them from 
 starving, with only the scantiest of vegetation, 
 their situation was most deplorable. 
 
 "And then there's another thing," said Mark, 
 as if he was cataloguing a list of their troubles. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Jack. "I guess we have 
 all the troubles that belong to us, and more, too." 
 
 "Well, what are we going to do when the life- 
 torches give out, and we can't breathe any more?" 
 asked Mark dubiously. 
 
 204 
 
THE PETRIFIED CITY 205 
 
 "Well, I guess it'll be all up with us then, if we 
 don't starve to death in the meanwhile," answered 
 Jack. "But I'm afraid we will get out of food 
 before the torches are exhausted. They were 
 freshly filled before we started out after that 
 tool, and they'll last for two weeks. So we don't 
 have to worry ?.bout that. 
 
 "By Jinks ! this is all my fault, anyhow, it 
 seems. If I hadn't seen that item in the Martian 
 paper about the diamonds, we never would have 
 come here, and if I hadn't left that tool on the 
 ground outside of the projectile we wouldn't 
 have had to come back after it, and we wouldn't 
 have become lost. So I guess it's up to me, as the 
 boys say." 
 
 "Oh, nonsense!" exclaimed Mark, who, as 
 soon as he heard his chum blaming his own ac- 
 tions, was ready to shoulder part of the respon- 
 sibility himself. "We all wanted to come to the 
 moon," he went on, "and, as for leaving the tool 
 and forgetting it, I'm as much at fault as you 
 are. Let's go to sleep, and maybe we'll feel bet- 
 ter when we wake up." 
 
 It was a new role for Mark — to be cheerful in 
 the face of difficulties — and Jack appreciated it. 
 They stretched out on the hard, rocky floor of the 
 cavern, taking care to fix their life-torches so that 
 
206 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 the fumes would dispel the poisonous gases. Then 
 the two lads joined Andy in slumberland. 
 
 Meanwhile, as may be imagined, those aboard 
 the projectile were very anxious about the fate 
 of the two boys and the hunter. They could not 
 understand what delayed them, and, though they 
 guessed the real cause, after several hours had 
 passed, there was nothing the two scientists 
 could do. 
 
 They could not move the projectile until it had 
 been repaired, and this could not be done without 
 the tool — at least, they did not believe so then. 
 Nor did Mr. Henderson and the German think it 
 tvould be safe to start out in search of the wan- 
 derers. 
 
 "For," said Mr. Henderson, "if we went we 
 would easily get lost amid these peaks ourselves, 
 and they are so much alike and in such numbers 
 that there is no distinguishing feature about them. 
 We had better stay here in charge of the An- 
 nihilator until the boys and Andy come back. 
 They can't be away much longer now." 
 
 So worn out and exhausted were the boys and 
 the hunter that they slept for several hours in the 
 cave, and the rest did them good. They awoke 
 in better spirits, and, after a frugal meal and a 
 sip of the fast-dwindling water, they started off 
 once more to locate the projectile. 
 
THE PETRIFIED CITY 207 
 
 "I'm a regular amateur hunter to go and lose 
 my compass," complained old Andy. "I ought 
 to have it fastened to me, like a baby does the 
 rattle-box. I ought to kick myself," and he ac- 
 cepted all the blame for their misadventure. But 
 the boys would not suffer him to thus accuse him- 
 self, and they insisted that they would shortly be 
 with the two professors and Washington in the 
 Annihilator once more. 
 
 "Well, it can't come any too soon," said Jack, 
 "for I am beginning to feel the need of a square 
 meal and a big drink of water." 
 
 "So am I," said Mark, "but let's not think 
 of it." 
 
 All that day they wandered on, crossing the 
 rugged mountains, climbing towering peaks, and 
 descending into deep valleys. At times they 
 skirted the lips of craters, to look shudderingly 
 into the depths of which made them dizzy, for 
 the bottoms were lost to sight in the black gloom 
 that enshrouded the yawning holes. 
 
 Their food was getting less and less, and what 
 there was of it was most unpalatable, for the 
 bread was stale and dry, though the meat kept 
 perfectly in that freezing temperature. How 
 they longed for a hot cup of coffee, such as Wash- 
 ington used to make ! and how they would have 
 even exchanged their chance of filling their pock- 
 
208 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 ets with the moon diamonds for a good meal, 
 such as was so often served in the projectile! 
 
 On and on they went. Once, as they were 
 crossing the lip of a great crater, Mark became 
 dizzy, and would have fallen had not Jack 
 caught him. Mark had forgotten, for the mo- 
 ment, and had lowered his life-torch, so that his 
 mouth and nose were not enclosed in the film 
 of vapor that emanated from the perforated box. 
 
 "You must be careful," Andy warned them. 
 
 "What's the use?" asked Mark despondently. 
 "I don't believe we'll ever find the projectile." 
 
 "Of course we will !" exclaimed Jack. "I know 
 we can't be far from it, only we can't see it be- 
 cause of the mountains. If we only had some way 
 of letting them know where we are, they could 
 signal to us." 
 
 "By gum!" suddenly exclaimed Andy. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Jack, for the old 
 hunter was capering about like a boy. 
 
 "Matter? Why, the matter is that I'm a 
 double-barrelled dunce," was the answer. "Look 
 here; do you see that?" and he held up his rifle. 
 
 "Sure," replied Jack, wondering if their suffer- 
 ings and worry had made the old hunter simple- 
 minded. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Andy, shaking it in the 
 air. 
 
THE PETRIFIED CITY 209 
 
 "Your rifle," answered Mark, looking at Jack 
 in surprise. 
 
 "Of course," answered the hunter, "and a rifle 
 is made to be fired off, and here I've been carrying 
 mine for nearly three days now, and I haven't 
 shot it once. You wanted a signal to make the 
 folks in the projectile hear us. Well, here it is! 
 I guess they can hear this, and when they do 
 they can come and get us, for we don't seem able 
 to reach them. I'll just fire some signal shots." 
 
 "That's the stuff !" cried Jack, and Andy pro- 
 ceeded to discharge his rifle. 
 
 The report the gun made in that quiet place 
 was tremendous, and the effect was curious, for, 
 there being no air in the ordinary acceptance of 
 the word, there was no echo. It was as if one 
 had hit two shingles together. Merely a loud, 
 sharp sound, and then an utter silence, the vi* 
 brations being swallowed up instantly. 
 
 "Do you think they can hear that?" asked 
 Andy. 
 
 "It sounds loud enough," answered Jack. 
 "Shoot some more," which the old hunter did. 
 They wandered on still farther, firing at inter- 
 vals all that day, but there came no answering 
 report or calls to direct them to the projectile. 
 They climbed once more to the tops of towering 
 peaks, but there they found their range of vision 
 
210 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 limited by peaks still higher, while there were 
 great valleys, in one of which, whether near or 
 far they could not tell, they knew the Annthilator 
 was hidden. 
 
 They had almost lost track of time now, and 
 they did not know how far they had wandered. 
 They had sought out lonely caves to sleep in 
 when they were so weary they could go no far- 
 ther, and they had sat about on bleak rocks shiv- 
 ering, and had eaten their scanty meals — shiver- 
 ing because in spite of their fur garments they 
 were cold, as they did not eat enough to keep 
 their blood properly circulating. They could not 
 when they did not have the food to eat! 
 
 Andy used up all but a few of his cartridges in 
 firing signals, but to no purpose. Their water was 
 all but gone, and of their food only enough re- 
 mained for a day longer, though their life-torches 
 still gave forth plenty of vapor. 
 
 "Well, what's to be done?" asked Jack, as 
 they sat about, looking helplessly at one another. 
 
 "Might as well give up," suggested Mark 
 bitterly. 
 
 "Give up? Not a bit of it!" cried Andy, as 
 cheerfully as he could. "Let's keep on. We'll 
 find the projectile sooner or later." 
 
 So they kept on. It was while making their 
 way between two great mountain peaks that tow- 
 
THE PETRIFIED CITY 211 
 
 ered above their heads on either side, thousands 
 of feet up, making a sort of natural gateway, 
 that Jack, who was in the lead, cried out in aston- 
 ishment at the sight that met his gaze when he 
 had passed the pinnacles. 
 
 "Look!" he shouted, pointing forward. 
 
 What he indicated was a great crater — larger 
 and deeper than any they had yet met with. It 
 seemed a mile across, and, if gloom and darkness 
 were any indications, it was a hundred miles 
 deep. 
 
 But it was not the size of the great hole in the 
 ground, not its fearful gloom, that attracted their 
 attention. What did was a great natural or arti- 
 ficial bridge of stone that was thrown across the 
 middle of it from edge to edge. A bridge of 
 stone that spanned the abyss; a roadway, fifty 
 feet wide, which reached into some unknown land, 
 connecting it with the desolate country in which 
 our friends had been wandering. 
 
 "A bridge of stone across the cavern," said 
 Jack, "but see. Here is a house of stone. This 
 was the guard-house, I'll wager — the guard- 
 house at the entrance to some city, and that bridge 
 is the means by which the inhabitants entered and 
 left. Maybe we are at the edge of the inhab- 
 ited part of the moon!" 
 
 His words thrilled them. They pressed for- 
 
212 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 ward to the beginning of the bridge across the 
 crater. They looked into the stone hut. Clearly 
 it had been made by hands, for it was composed 
 of blocks of stone, neatly fitted together. Jack's 
 theory seemed confirmed. 
 
 Mark peered into the house, and uttered a 
 cry of alarm. 
 
 "There's a petrified man in there!" he gasped. 
 
 Jack and Andy looked in at the open window. 
 They saw, sitting at a table, which was also of 
 rock, a man, evidently a soldier, or rather he had 
 been, for he was nothing but stone now, like the 
 hut in which he dwelt. 
 
 The wanderers looked at each other with fear 
 on their faces. What dreadful mystery were 
 they about to penetrate ? 
 
 "Let's cross the bridge," suggested Jack, in a 
 low voice. "Maybe this marks the end of deso- 
 lation. Perhaps we may find life and food across 
 the crater." 
 
 "But — but the petrified man !" gasped Mark. 
 
 "What of it? He won't hurt us. Maybe 
 there are live men, who will take care of us, be- 
 yond there," and Jack pointed across the bridge 
 of stone. 
 
 There was nothing to keep them where they 
 were — in the land of desolation. They could 
 not live much longer there, with no food and 
 
THE PETRIFIED CITY 213 
 
 water. To pass on over the crater seemed the 
 only thing to do. 
 
 "Come ahead," called Jack boldly. They fol- 
 lowed him. They kept in the middle of the road, 
 for to approach the edge, where there was a sheer 
 descent of so many feet that it made them dizzy 
 to think of it, filled them with terror. On they 
 hurried until, in a short time, they had crossed 
 the great chasm. 
 
 The road over the crater came to an end be- 
 tween two peaks, similar to those at the begin- 
 ning. Jack was the first to pass them, and as he 
 emerged he once more uttered a cry — a cry of 
 fear and wonder. 
 
 And well he might, for in a valley below the 
 wanderers there was a city. A great city, with 
 wonderful buildings, with wide streets well laid 
 out — a city in which figures of many men and 
 women could be seen — little children too ! A fair 
 city, teeming with life, it seemed! 
 
 But then, as they looked again, struck by the 
 curious quiet that prevailed, they knew, that they 
 were gazing down on a city of the dead — a city 
 where the inhabitants had been turned to stone, 
 even as had the soldier on guard in his lonely 
 hut. 
 
 They had come upon a petrified city of the 
 moon! 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 SEEKING FOOD 
 
 "Well, if this isn't the limit!" burst out Jack, 
 when he had stood and contemplated the silent 
 city for several moments, which also his com- 
 panions did. "After all our wanderings and 
 troubles, when we do find a place, it isn't any 
 good to us. I don't suppose there is a square 
 meal in the whole town! Isn't it wonderful, 
 though — every person turned to stone!" 
 
 "Wonderful!" gasped old Andy. "I never 
 saw anything like it in all my life ! What do you 
 reckon did it, boys?" 
 
 "The same thing that turned the man in the 
 hut, and the one Washington thought was a ghost, 
 into stone," answered Mark. "There was a rain 
 of some lime-water, or a liquid charged with sim- 
 ilar chemicals, and the people were turned to 
 rocks." 
 
 It was uncanny, and for a moment they hesi- 
 tated on the edge of the city, which lay in a sort 
 of cup-like valley, surrounded on all sides by 
 
 214 
 
SEEKING FOOD 215 
 
 towering peaks of the moon mountains. The 
 bridge over which they had come afforded the 
 only entrance to the city, and in times of war 
 (provided the inhabitants of the moon ever 
 fought) the passage must have been well guarded. 
 
 It was evidently a time of peace when the 
 calamity that turned the inhabitants to stone came 
 upon them, for only one soldier was in the guard 
 hut — doubtless being there merely to give an 
 alarm, or possibly to keep out undesirable 
 strangers. 
 
 "Well, are we going to stand here all day?" 
 asked Jack of his companions, when they had con- 
 templated the silent city for five minutes longer. 
 
 "I say, let's go down there and see what we can 
 find. I'm getting hungry." 
 
 "There'll be nothing there to eat," declared 
 Mark. "If there ever was anything, it's now 
 stone. Think of a loaf of bread like a brick, and 
 a chunk of meat like some great rock!" 
 
 "Let's go down, anyhow," added Andy, and 
 they advanced. 
 
 As they got down into the streets, the weird 
 effect came over them more strongly. It was as 
 if they had suddenly entered some large town, 
 and at their advent every living person had been 
 turned into an image. 
 
 "Wonderful, wonderful!" murmured Jack. 
 
216 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "I've read of the uncovering of the ancient 
 buried cities, and how they found women in the 
 kitchen baking bread, and men at their work, but 
 this goes ahead of that, for here the people are 
 not dust — they are statues !" 
 
 "It certainly is wonderful," agreed Mark. "I 
 only wish the two professors could see this. They 
 could write several books about it. This proves 
 that the moon was once inhabited, though it is 
 dead now. The projectile should have come to 
 this part of the moon." 
 
 "Maybe they'll bring it here, when we get back 
 and tell them what we've seen," suggested Jack. 
 
 "Yes, if we ever do get back," went on his 
 chum, with a return of his gloomy thoughts. 
 
 The strangeness of the scenes all about them 
 can scarcely be imagined. Think of looking at a 
 city street teeming with life, men and women hur- 
 rying here and there, dogs running about, chil- 
 dren at their play, and then suddenly seeing that 
 same street become as dead as some mountain, 
 with the people represented as stones on that same 
 mountain, and you can get some idea of what our 
 friends looked upon. 
 
 Here was a woman, looking in a store window, 
 probably at some bargains, though even the very 
 window and store itself was now stone, and the 
 
SEEKING FOOD 217 
 
 woman was like a block of marble. Near her 
 was a little child, also turned to stone, and there 
 were a number of men, standing together on a 
 street corner as if they had been talking politics 
 when the calamity overtook them. 
 
 There were shops where the workers had been 
 turned to stone at their benches, there were 
 houses at the windows of which stone faces peered 
 out, and there were parks on the benches of which 
 sat men, women and children, stiff and solid — 
 creatures of stone ! Truly it was a city of the 
 dead! 
 
 The wanderers walked about, seeing new won- 
 ders on every side. They spoke in whispers at 
 times, as though at the sound of a loud voice 
 the silent ones would awaken and resume the oc- 
 cupations or pleasures they had left off centuries 
 ago. 
 
 Another strange part of it was that the people 
 were not so very different from those of the 
 earth. They were exactly the same in size and 
 feature, but their clothing, as nearly as could be 
 told from the stone garments, seemed of a by- 
 gone fashion, such as was in vogue hundreds of 
 years ago. There were no horses observed, 
 though there were stone dogs and cats, and the 
 shops given over to the sale of food contained 
 
218 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 in the windows what seemed to be chunks o£ 
 meat, loaves of bread, and pies and cakes, though 
 now they were only pieces of rock. 
 
 "It's just as if one of our cities and the people 
 in it should be suddenly petrified," said Mark. 
 "It's almost like the earth up here; only they 
 don't seem to have gotten to trolley cars yet." 
 
 "Maybe they would if the moon hadn't cooled 
 off when it did, and killed them all," suggested 
 Jack. "But, I say, let's get down to something 
 more practical than theorizing." 
 
 "What, for instance?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Looking for something to eat," went on Jack. 
 "I'm nearly starved, and I have only half a sand- 
 wich left. I want to eat it, yet, if I do, I don't 
 know where I'm going to get more. And as for 
 water, I'd give a handful of diamonds, if I had 
 them, for half a glass of even warm water." 
 
 "Yes, we do need food and water badly," said 
 Andy. 
 
 "Then let's look for it," suggested Jack. "If 
 we can find food in any of these houses or shops, 
 I don't believe the people will care if we take it." 
 
 "Find food here?" cried Mark. "Why, you 
 must be crazy! All the food is turned to stone, 
 and what isn't would be spoiled! Why, no one 
 has been alive here for thousands and thousands 
 of years!" 
 
SEEKING FOOD 219 
 
 "That's nothing," asserted Jack. "Don't you 
 remember reading how, in the arctic regions, they 
 have found the bodies of prehistoric elephants 
 and mastodons encased in blocks of ice, where 
 they have been for centuries. The meat is per- 
 fectly preserved because of the cold. And what 
 of the grains of wheat they find in the coffins of 
 Egyptian mummies? Some of that is three thou- 
 sand years old, yet it grows when they plant it, 
 and they can make bread of it. 
 
 "Now, maybe we can find some wheat or some- 
 thing to eat in some of these houses. If there's 
 meat, it will be perfectly preserved, for the tem- 
 perature is below freezing." 
 
 "That may be," admitted Mark, convinced, in 
 spite of himself, "but it's turned to stone, I tell 
 you." 
 
 "The outside part may be," said Jack, "but if 
 we can crack off the outside layer of stone we may 
 find some good meat inside. I'm going to look, 
 anyhow." 
 
 "That's not a bad idea !" cried Andy with en- 
 thusiasm. "Think of having a loaf of bread and 
 some beefsteak thousands of years old. I sup- 
 pose they had beefsteak here," he added cau- 
 tiously. 
 
 "Some kind of meat, anyhow," agreed Jack. 
 "Well, let's look for a place that was once a 
 
220 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 restaurant or hotel, and we'll see what luck we 
 have. Come on." 
 
 They walked along the silent streets, with their 
 silent occupants, and finally Jack found what he 
 was seeking. It was an eating place, to judge by 
 the appearance, and at tables inside were seated 
 stone men and women. 
 
 "Back to the kitchen!" cried Jack with enthu- 
 siasm. "There's where we'll find food, if there 
 is any!" 
 
 "It'll be all stone," declared Mark, but he and 
 Andy followed Jack. 
 
 They came to the place where was what ap- 
 peared to be a stove. It was more like a brick 
 oven, however, than a modern ran!ge, though 
 in dishes that were now stone something was be- 
 ing cooked when the catastrophe occurred. 
 
 "There's meat, I'll wager!" cried Jack, point- 
 ing to several objects on a table. They looked 
 like chunks of beef, but when Mark struck them 
 with the end of his life-torch they gave forth a 
 sound as if a rock had been tapped. 
 
 "What did I tell you?" Mark asked. "Noth- 
 ing but rocks. And the bread is also a stone," he 
 added bitterly. 
 
 "You're right," admitted Jack, with a sigh. 
 "And I'm getting hungrier than ever." They 
 all were. For days they had been without suffi- 
 
SEEKING FOOD ' 221 
 
 cient food, and now, when it was almost within 
 their reach, they were denied it by this curious 
 trick of nature. With pale and wan faces they 
 gazed at each other, wetting their parched lips, 
 for they had some time since taken the last of 
 their scant supply of water, and they were very 
 thirsty. 
 
 "I guess it's all up with us," murmured Mark. 
 "We'll soon be like these poor people here — 
 blocks of stone." 
 
 "If we only could change this meat back into 
 it's original shape," spoke Jack musingly, smit- 
 ing his fist against a block of beef. 
 
 Suddenly Andy uttered a cry. 
 
 "I have it!" he fairly shouted. 
 
 "What?" asked Jack. 
 
 "I have a plan to get meat out of this hunk 
 of stone!" 
 
 The two boys gazed at the old hunter as though 
 they thought he had lost his reason, but, chuck- 
 ling gleefully, Andy took from his pouch several 
 cartridges, and proceeded to remove the wads, 
 and pour the powder from the paper shells out 
 on the stone table. 
 
 "I'll have some meat for us," he muttered. 
 "We shan't starve now!" 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE BLACK POOL 
 
 "What are you going to do, Andy?" asked 
 Jack, as he watched the old hunter. 
 
 "What am I going to do? Why, I'm going 
 to blast out some of this meat, that's what I'm 
 going to do ! I heard you boys talking about 
 elephants and other things being preserved for 
 centuries in a cake of ice, and, if that's true, why 
 won't the meat in this petrified city be preserved 
 just as well? It's always below freezing here, 
 and that's cold enough." 
 
 "But the meat has turned to stone," objected 
 Mark. 
 
 "Only the outside part of it, to my thinking," 
 answered Andy. "I believe that inside these 
 lumps of rock we'll find good, fresh meat !" 
 
 "But how are you going to get it?" asked Jack. 
 
 "Just as I told you — blast it out with some of 
 the powder from my cartridges. I used to be a 
 miner before I turned hunter, and when we 
 wanted gold we used to fire a charge in some 
 
 222 
 
THE BLACK POOL 223 
 
 rocks. Now we want meat, and I'm going to do 
 the same thing. I'll put some powder underneath 
 this block of stone that looks as if it was a chunk 
 of roast beef, and we'll see what happens. It's 
 lucky I saved some of my cartridges." 
 
 While he was talking the old hunter had taken 
 some of the powder and put it back in one of the 
 paper shells. Then, making a fuse by twisting 
 some powder grains in a piece of paper he hap- 
 pened to have in his pocket, he inserted it in the 
 improvised bomb, using some dirt and small 
 stones with which to tamp down the charge. He 
 discovered a crack in the big stone, which they 
 hoped would prove to be a chunk of roast beef, 
 and Andy put the cartridge in that. 
 
 "Look out now, boys," he called, "I'm going 
 to light the fuse. I didn't make a heavy charge, 
 but it might do some damage, so we'll go outside." 
 
 They hurried from the place, with its silent 
 guests and waiters, and reached the street. A 
 moment later there sounded a dull explosion. 
 
 "Now, let's see what we've got!" called Jack. 
 
 Back to the kitchen they ran, the two boys in 
 the lead. 
 
 "Why — why — the stone has disappeared!" 
 cried Jack, in disappointment, as he glanced all 
 around. 
 
 "Yes, but look here," added Mark. "Here are 
 
224 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 bits of meat," and he picked up from the stone 
 table some scraps of meat. 
 
 "Is it really roast beef?" cried Jack. "Good 
 to eat?" 
 
 Mark smelled of it. Then he put the morsel 
 cautiously to his lips. The next instant it had 
 disappeared. It was proof enough. 
 
 "Good! I should say it was good!" exclaimed 
 Mark. "I wish there was more of it! What 
 happened to the rock of meat, Andy?" 
 
 "I used too heavy a charge, and it blew all to 
 pieces. I'll know better next time. There are 
 lots more chunks of meat, and we'll soon have a 
 feast. I'll make another bombshell." 
 
 He worked rapidly while Jack sampled some 
 of the shreds of meat that had been scattered 
 about by the explosion. The beef was perfectly 
 cooked, and in spite of its great age it was as fresh 
 and palatable as frozen meat ever is. Besides 
 the heat generated by the explosion had partly 
 thawed it, so that there was no trouble in chew- 
 ing it. 
 
 Once more came the explosion, a slight one 
 this time, and when the adventurers re-entered 
 the kitchen they found that what had been a lump 
 of stone had been broken open, and the middle 
 part, like the kernel of a nut, was sweet and good. 
 It was cooked, so they did not have to eat it raw. 
 
THE BLACK POOL 225 
 
 "Say, maybe this isn't good!" exclaimed Jack, 
 chewing away. "It's the best ever!" 
 
 "And there's enough in this city to keep us 
 alive for months, if we can't find the projectile 
 in that time," declared Andy. 
 
 "Don't you think we will?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Of course, but I was only just mentioning it. 
 Now, eat all you want, boys, I have quite a few 
 cartridges left. I didn't fire away as many as I 
 thought I did, and we can blast out a dinner any 
 time we want it. So eat hearty!" 
 
 They needed no second invitation, and for the 
 first time in several days they had enough to eat. 
 It was comfortable in the petrified restaurant, 
 too, for they could move about without carrying 
 their life-torches constantly in their hand. The 
 gases from the perforated boxes filled the rooms, 
 and were not quickly dispelled by the poisonous 
 vapors as they were outside, so they could walk 
 around in comparative freedom. 
 
 "Now, if we could only blast out a loaf of bread, 
 we'd be all right," said Jack. They found some 
 petrified loaves, but on breaking one open it was 
 found to be stone all the way through. 
 
 Spurred on by an overwhelming thirst, they 
 wandered about the dead city, but found no moist- 
 ure. They tried to chew some of the pale green 
 vegetation that grew more plentiful on this side 
 
LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 of the moon, but it was exceedingly bitter, and 
 they could not stand it, though there was some 
 juice in it. 
 
 They crossed the city, and wandered out into 
 the country beyond. It appeared to have been a 
 fertile land before the stone death settled down 
 on it. They saw farmers in the fields, turned into 
 images, beside the oxen with which they had been 
 plowing. But nowhere was there a sign of water. 
 Had it not been for a frozen rice pudding, they 
 would have perished that first day in the stone 
 city. 
 
 As it was, they dragged out a miserable ex- 
 istence, eating from time to time of the blasted 
 meat. But even this palled on them after a while, 
 for their lips were parched and cracked, and their 
 tongues were swollen in their mouths. 
 
 "I can't stand this any longer!" cried Jack. 
 
 "What are you going to do?" asked Mark. 
 
 "Go out and look for water. There must be 
 some in the country outside if there isn't any in 
 this city. I'm going to have a look. Besides, 
 if I'm going to die, I might as well die while I'm 
 busy. I'm not going to sit here in this dreadful 
 place and give up." 
 
 His words urged them to follow him, and, with 
 lagging steps, for they were weak and faint, they 
 
THE BLACK POOL 227 
 
 went from the restaurant, which they had made 
 their home since coming to the petrified city. 
 
 Out into the open fields they went, but their 
 search seemed likely to be in vain. Between times 
 of looking for the water they scanned the sky 
 for a sight of the projectile, which, hoping against 
 hope, they thought they might see hovering over 
 them. But there was no sight of it. 
 
 They came to a vast, level plain, girt with 
 mountains, a lonesome place, where there was no 
 sign of life. Listlessly they walked over it. 
 
 Suddenly Andy, who was in the lead, uttered a 
 cry and sprang forward. The boys ran to him, 
 and found the old hunter gazing into the depths 
 of a great black pool, which filled a depression 
 in the surface of the moon. It was a small cra- 
 ter, and was filled, nearly to the top, with some 
 black liquid, which gloomily reflected back the 
 light of the sun. 
 
 "I'm going to have a drink!" cried Andy, and 
 before the boys could stop him he threw himself 
 face downward at the edge of the black pool. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE SIGNAL FAILS 
 
 "Stop ! Don't drink that ! It may be poison !" 
 yelled Jack. 
 
 "Pull him back!" shouted Mark, and together 
 they advanced on the old hunter. They tried to 
 drag him away from the black pool, but Andy 
 shook them off. 
 
 "Let — me — alone !" he gasped, as he bent over 
 the uninviting liquid and drank deeply. "It's 
 water, I tell you — good water — and I'm almost 
 — dead — from — thirst !" 
 
 "Water? Is that water?" cried Jack. 
 
 "Well, it's the nearest thing to it that I've 
 tasted since I've been lost on the moon," spoke 
 Andy, as he slowly arose. "My, but that was 
 good!" he added fervently. 
 
 "But — water?" gasped Mark. "How can 
 there be water here?" 
 
 "Taste and see," invited the old hunter. 
 
 They hesitated a moment, and then followed 
 his example. The liquid — water it evidently had 
 once been — had a peculiar taste, but it was not 
 
 228 
 
THE SIGNAL FAILS 229 
 
 bad. By some curious chemical action, which 
 they never understood, the liquid had been pre- 
 vented from evaporating, nor was it frozen or 
 petrified as was everything else on the moon. 
 
 What gave the liquid its peculiar black color 
 they could not learn. Sufficient for them that it 
 was capable of quenching their thirst, and they 
 all drank deeply and refilled their bottles. 
 
 "Now, I feel like eating again," spoke Andy, 
 "We can take some of this back with us, and 
 have a good meal on blasted meat. Whenever 
 we get thirsty we'll have to make a trip back 
 here for water." 
 
 The boys agreed with him. They examined 
 the black pool. It appeared to be filled by hid- 
 den springs, though there was no bubbling, and 
 the surface was as unruffled as a mirror. The 
 liquid was not very inviting, being as black as 
 ink, but the color appeared to be a sort of re- 
 flection, for when the water, if such it was, had 
 been put into bottles it at once became clear, nor 
 did it stain their faces or hands. 
 
 "Well, it's another queer thing in this queer 
 moon," said Jack. "I wish the two professors 
 could see this place. They'd have lots to write 
 about." 
 
 "I wonder if we'll ever see them again?" asked 
 Mark 
 
230 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Sure," replied Jack hopefully. "We'll fill 
 our lunch baskets, take a lot of water along, and 
 have another hunt for the projectile soon." 
 
 They did, but with no success. For several 
 days more they lived in the petrified city, the 
 meat encased in its block of stone, which Andy 
 blasted from time to time, and the black water 
 keeping them alive. From time to time they 
 went out in the surrounding country, looking for 
 the projectile. But they could not find the place 
 where they had left it, nor could they find even 
 the place where they had picked up the lost tool 
 that had cost them so much suffering. They were 
 more completely lost than ever. They crossed 
 back and forth on the bridge over the crater 
 chasm, and penetrated for many miles in a radius 
 from that, marking their way by chipping off 
 pieces of the rocky pinnacles, as they did not 
 want to leave the petrified city behind. 
 
 From some peaks they caught glimpses of other 
 towns that had fallen under the strange spell of 
 the petrification. Some were larger and some 
 smaller than the one they called "home." 
 
 Jack proposed visiting some of them, thinking 
 they might find better food, but Mark and Andy 
 decided it was best to stay where they were, as 
 they were nearer the supposed location of the pro- 
 jectile. 
 
THE SIGNAL FAILS 231 
 
 "I think they'll manage to fix it up somehow, 
 so it will move," said Andy, "and then they'll 
 come to look for us. I hope it will be soon, 
 though." 
 
 "Why?" asked Jack, struck by something in 
 the tone of the old hunter. 
 
 "Because," replied Andy, "I am afraid our life- 
 torches won't last much longer. Mine seems to 
 be weakening. I have to hold it very close to my 
 face now to breathe in comfort, while at first 
 the oxygen from it was so strong that I could hold 
 it two feet off and never notice the poisonous 
 moon vapors." 
 
 This was a new danger, and, thinking of it, the 
 faces of the boys became graver than ever. 
 Death seemed bound to get them somehow. 
 
 Two more days went by. They had now been 
 lost on the moon over a week. Each one now no- 
 ticed that his life-torch was weakening. How 
 much longer would they last? They dared not 
 answer that question. They could only hope. 
 
 The sun, too, was moving away from them. 
 Soon the long night would set Jn. By Mark's 
 computation there was only three more days of 
 daylight left. What would happen in the deso- 
 late darkness? 
 
 As they were returning from the black pool, 
 with their water bottles filled, and put inside the 
 
232 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 fur bags to prevent the frost from reaching them, 
 Mark happened to gaze over across a line of 
 towering peaks. What he saw caused him to gasp 
 in astonishment. 
 
 "Jack! Andy! See!" he whispered hoarsely, 
 pointing a trembling finger at the sky. 
 
 There, outlined against the cloudless heavens, 
 was a long, black shape, floating through the air 
 about two miles distant. 
 
 "The projectile! The Annihilator!" yelled 
 Jack. "Shout! Call to them! Wave your hands! 
 Andy, fire your gun ! They have started off, and 
 they can't see us. We must make them hear!" 
 
 Together they raised their voices in a mighty 
 shout. The old hunter fired his gun several times. 
 They waved their hands frantically. 
 
 But the projectile never swerved from its 
 course. On it moved slowly, those in it paying no 
 heed to the wanderers, for they did not hear them. 
 Andy fired his gun again, but the signal failed, 
 and a few minutes later the Annihilator was lost 
 to sight behind a great peak. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS 
 
 Dumbly the wanderers gazed at each other. 
 They could not comprehend it at first. That the 
 projectile, on which their very lives depended in 
 this dead world of the moon, should float away 
 and leave them seemed incredible. Yet they had 
 witnessed it. 
 
 "Do — do you really think we saw it — saw the 
 Annihilator, Mark?" asked Jack in a low voice, 
 after several minutes had passed. 
 
 "Saw it? Of course, we saw it. We've seen 
 the last of it, I'm afraid. But what do you 
 mean?" 
 
 "I — I thought maybe I was out of my head, 
 and I only saw a vision," answered Jack. "You 
 know — a sort of mirage. It was real, then?" 
 
 "Altogether too real," spoke Andy Sudds 
 grimly. "They didn't see us nor hear us. We're 
 left behind!" 
 
 "But can't we do something?" demanded 
 Mark. "Let's start off and try to catch them. 
 They were going slow." 
 233 
 
234 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "The wonder to me is how they moved at all,'* 
 said Jack. "I thought the machinery wouldn't 
 work until we got back with the lost tool." 
 
 "Probably the two professors found some way 
 of patching up the motor," was Mark's opinion, 
 and later they found that this was so. 
 
 For some time they remained staring in the 
 direction in which the projectile had vanished, as 
 if they might see it reappear, but the great steel 
 shell did not poke its sharp nose in among the 
 towering peaks which hid it from view. Probably 
 it was many miles away now. 
 
 "Well," remarked old Andy at length, "we've 
 got to make the best of it. We won't have many 
 more days of light, and we must gather what food 
 we can, put it where we can find it in the dark, and 
 also bring in some water from the black pool. 
 We can store that in some of the stone tables. 
 By turning them upside down they will make 
 good troughs, and it won't freeze. We must 
 work while we have light, for soon the long 
 night will come." 
 
 The sight of the projectile going away seemed 
 to take the heart out of all of them, and they did 
 not know what to do. For some time they re- 
 mained there idly, until Andy roused the boys 
 to a sens^ $f iheir responsibility by urging upon 
 
THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS 235 
 
 them the necessity of getting together a store of 
 meat and water. 
 
 As they had about exhausted the limited food 
 supply in the ancient restaurant, they sought and 
 found another and larger one. There they had the 
 good fortune to come upon some whole sides of 
 beef and lamb, which were petrified on the outside, 
 but which, when they had blasted off the outer 
 shell of stone, gave them good food. 
 
 They made several trips to the black pool, and 
 brought in all the liquid they could, for they did 
 not want to have to go outside the petrified city 
 into the wild and desolate country beyond, after 
 the dismal night had settled down. They feared 
 they would become lost again. 
 
 Their lonely situation seemed to grow upon 
 them. The appalling silence all about terrified 
 them. The weird sight of the petrified men and 
 women in the petrified city got on their nerves. 
 
 They had done all they could. A store of meat 
 had been blasted out and put away. It would 
 keep outside of the stone shell now, for the 
 weather was getting colder with the advent of the 
 long night. 
 
 This fact worried them. With the temperature 
 at twenty-eight when the sun was shining, what 
 might it not fall to in the darkness? The terri- 
 
236 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 ble cold of the arctic regions might be nothing 
 compared to the frostiness of the dead moon in 
 the shadow. Their fur garments, thick as they 
 were, might be no more protection than so much 
 paper. And they had no means of making a 
 fire, nor anything to burn on one had they been 
 capable of kindling it, for Andy had used the last 
 of his cartridges to blast with, and where every- 
 thing was petrified there was no wood. 
 
 Then, too, their life-torches were giving out. 
 The emanations of oxygen were weaker, and they 
 had to hold them almost under their noses to 
 breathe the vital vapor. 
 
 One day, or rather what corresponded to a 
 day, for they had lost all track of time, Andy 
 Sudds arose from the stone bench on which their 
 meager meal had been served. He started from 
 ithe restaurant where they had taken up their 
 abode. 
 
 "Where are you going?" asked Jack. 
 
 "I'm going to make one last attempt to find 
 the projectile before it gets too dark," answered 
 the hunter. "We can go out, look around for sev- 
 eral hours, and get back before darkness sets in. 
 We might as well do it as sit here doing nothing. 
 Then, too, we can bring in some more water. 
 We'll need all we can store away." 
 
 "I'll go with you," volunteered Jack, and 
 
THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS 237 
 
 Mark, not wanting to be left alone in the dead 
 city, followed. Carrying their life-torches and 
 wrapping their fur garments closely about them, 
 for it had grown much colder, they sallied forth. 
 
 They found a thin film of ice on the black pool, 
 showing that it would probably freeze when it 
 got cold enough, though the ordinary tempera- 
 ture of thirty-two degrees had not affected it. 
 They filled their water bottles, and then Andy 
 proposed that they take a new path — one they had 
 not tried before. 
 
 They hardly knew where they were going, but 
 ever as they tramped on they cast anxious looks 
 upward to see if they might descry the projec- 
 tile hovering over them. But they did not see it. 
 
 Jack had taken the lead, and was walking 
 along, glancing idly about. He came to a place 
 where two peaks were so close together that it 
 was all he could do to squeeze through. But the 
 moment he had passed the defile and looked out 
 on a broad, level field, he came to a sudden stop. 
 His companions, who pressed after him, saw 
 him rub his eyes and shake his head, as if disbe- 
 lieving the evidence of what lay before him. 
 Then Jack murmured: 
 
 "It can't be true ! It can't be true !" 
 
 "What?" called Mark. 
 
 "There! Those," answered his chum. "See, 
 
238 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 the field is covered with diamonds! We have 
 found the diamonds of the moon — the field of 
 Reonaris that the men of Mars discovered! 
 There are the diamonds — millions of them !" 
 
 "Diamonds!" exlaimed Mark. He squeezed 
 through the defile, and stood beside Jack. Before 
 him in the fading light of the sun was a broad 
 field, girt around with towering cliffs, and the 
 surface of the field was covered with white stones. 
 
 Jack sprang forward and gathered up a double 
 handful. He let them run through his fingers in 
 a sparkling stream. Old Andy came up to the 
 boys. 
 
 "They're only glass or crystals," he said. 
 
 "They are not glass or crystals !" declared 
 Mark, who had made a study of gems. "I should 
 say they were diamonds, probably meteoric dia- 
 monds, very rare and valuable. Why, there is 
 the ransom of a thousand kings spread out before 
 us!" 
 
 He fell upon his knees and began to scoop up 
 the gems. His chum was making a little heap 
 of the stones. 
 
 "The ransom of a thousand kings !" murmured 
 Jack. "More diamonds than in all the world— 
 and I'd give my share for a good ham sandwich !" 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 BACK TO EARTH CONCLUSION 
 
 At any other time the discovery of such a vast 
 store of wealth would have set the wanderers 
 half wild with joy. Now they only accepted the 
 fact dully, for the perils of their situation over- 
 burdened them. As Jack had said, they needed 
 food more than the gems, for at best the supply 
 they had blasted out could not last long, and 
 when that was gone where were they to get more, 
 for there were no more cartridges, and the rend- 
 ing force of powder was needed to open the rocky 
 meat. 
 
 "I knew we'd find the diamonds," murmured 
 Jack, as he began to fill the pockets of his fur 
 coat. "I'm right, after all, Mark, you see." 
 
 "Yes, but what good will it do us? What's the 
 good of even carrying any away. We can never 
 use them." 
 
 "That's so," agreed Jack, in a low voice. "I 
 might as well leave them here." 
 
 But somehow the desire to pick up gems which., 
 239 
 
240 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 when they were cut and polished, would rival 
 many of the famous diamonds of history was too 
 strong to be resisted. Though he was afraid he 
 would never get back to earth to enjoy them, 
 Jack could not help putting in his pockets a goodly 
 supply of the largest of the precious stones. Andy 
 did the same, and Mark, in spite of his gloomy 
 feelings, stuffed his pockets. They worked with 
 their torches held close to their faces, and in the 
 search for the better stones they literally walked 
 over millions of dollars' worth of the gems. 
 
 For there, stretched out before them, was an 
 actual field of diamonds. As Mark had said, 
 they were of meteoric origin, that is, a meteor had 
 burst over that particular portion of the moon, 
 and the chemical action had created the diamonds, 
 which had fallen in a shower in the field. 
 
 "If you boys have all you want, then let's get 
 back to the city," suggested Andy. "No telling 
 when it will be night now." 
 
 They followed his advice, and soon were going 
 back by way of the black pool. It seemed more 
 lonesome than ever, after the excitement of dis- 
 covering the field of diamonds, and even Jack, 
 glad as he was to have his theory vindicated, got 
 tired of referring to it. His triumph meant little 
 to him now. 
 
 They were at the entrance to the petrified city. 
 
BACK TO EARTH— CONCLUSION 241 
 
 As they were about to go in, ready to hide them- 
 selves in the deepest part of the restaurant, away 
 from the terrible cold and appalling darkness they 
 felt would soon be upon them, Mark came to a 
 sudden halt. He glanced quickly up into the air 
 and cried out: 
 "Hark!" 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Jack, as they 
 stood in a listening attitude. 
 
 "I heard a noise," whispered Mark. "It 
 sounded — I'm sure it sounded — like the crackling 
 of the wireless motor waves of the projectile. 
 Listen!" 
 
 Faintly through the silence came a sound as if 
 there was a discharge of an electric current. It 
 increased in volume, and there was a faint roar' 
 ing in the atmosphere. 
 
 "It's her — it's the Annihilator!" shouted Jack, 
 leaping about. 
 
 "Wait," counselled Andy, who dreaded the ter- 
 rible disappointment should the boys be mistaken. 
 The sound came nearer. The crackling could 
 plainly be made out now. The sun was out of 
 sight, but there was still the glow which follows 
 sunset. 
 
 The boys were eagerly scanning the heavens. 
 Their hearts beat high with hope. Suddenly, in 
 the olive-tinted sky just above a range of rugged 
 
242 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 peaks, a black shape loomed. A black shape, as 
 of a great cigar, pointed at both ends. It shot 
 into full view. 
 
 "The projectile!" yelled Jack. 
 
 "The Annihilator!" gasped Mark. 
 
 "Thank Heaven, they have found us in time !" 
 exclaimed Andy fervently, and the three stretched 
 out their arms toward the craft from which they 
 had been parted so long. It was as if they tried 
 to pull it down to them. 
 
 "Do they see us?" 
 
 "Will they pass us by?" 
 
 "Make a noise so they'll hear us !" 
 
 "Wave to them!" 
 
 "Oh, if they leave us now !" 
 
 Questions, ejaculations and entreaties came 
 rapidly from the lips of the wanderers. They 
 raised their voices in a shout They leaped up 
 and down. They wildly waved their hands and 
 life-torches. 
 
 Then, to their inexpressible joy, they saw the 
 course of the projectile change. It was headed 
 toward them, and a few minutes later it settled 
 slowly to the ground about half a mile away. 
 
 "Come on!" cried Jack. "We must hurry to 
 them, or soon it will be too dark to see them, or 
 for them to find us. It's our last chance; don't 
 let's lose it!" 
 
BACK TO EARTH— CONCLUSION 243 
 
 He sprang forward, the others after him, and 
 together they ran toward the projectile. They 
 could see the two professors and Washington 
 White emerging from the steel car, waving their 
 hands. 
 
 On rushed the lost wanderers, over the rough 
 stones, skirting the great cliffs, falling into small 
 craters, crawling out again, just missing several 
 times being precipitated into yawning caverns, 
 and stumbling over petrified bodies that strewed 
 the ground. 
 
 Ever did they hasten onward though, increas- 
 ing their speed. They came to a great crater that 
 lay between them and the projectile, but for- 
 tunately there was across the middle of it a nat- 
 ural bridge of stone. But it was narrow — ■ 
 scarcely wide enough for one at a time. 
 
 "We can never cross on that!" cried Mark, 
 halting. 
 
 "We've got to I" shouted Jack, and he sprang 
 fearlessly forward, fairly running over the nar- 
 row path, which had a sheer descent of thou- 
 sands of feet on either side. 
 
 Mark, though fearful that he would become 
 dizzy and fall, followed Andy. They were soon 
 across the narrow bridge, and speeding on toward 
 the Annihilator. Five minutes later they had 
 reached it, and were being wildly welcomed by 
 
244 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 the two professors and Washington White, who 
 had advanced to meet them. 
 
 "I 'clar t' goodness-gladness !" exclaimed the 
 colored man, "I am suttinly constrained t' espress 
 my approbation ob de deleterous manner in which 
 yo' all has come back t' dis continuous territory." 
 
 "Do you mean you're glad to see us, Wash?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 "Dat's what I done said," was the answer, with 
 a cheerful grin, "an' I might also remark dat 
 dinner am serbed in de dinin' car." 
 
 "Hurrah!" cried Jack. "That's the best news 
 I've heard in a week. No more blasted beef for 
 mine ! Give me ham and eggs !" 
 
 "But what happened to you? Where have you 
 been? We have searched all over for you, and 
 were just giving you up for dead, and going back 
 to the earth," said Professor Henderson. "We 
 caught sight of you at the last minute." 
 
 "Oh, you mustn't go back until you go to 
 the field of diamonds!" cried Jacck, and then by 
 turns he and Mark and Andy told of their ter- 
 rible adventures while they were lost on the moon. 
 
 On their part Professors Roumann and Hen- 
 derson stated how they had waited in vain for the 
 return of the wanderers, and had then, by stren- 
 uous work, managed to make the necessary re- 
 pairs without the missing tool. Then they set 
 
BACK TO EARTH— CONCLUSION 245 
 
 out to discover the lost ones, but succeeded only 
 just in time, for it was now quite dusk. 
 
 "An' did yo' all really discober dem spark- 
 lers?" asked Washington, as he served what the 
 boys thought was the finest dinner they had ever 
 tasted. 
 
 "We sure did," replied Jack. "Here are a 
 couple for that red necktie of yours," and he 
 passed over two big diamonds. 
 
 It did not take long to move the projectile to 
 the field of the sparkling gems, and by means of 
 a powerful search-light enough were soon gath- 
 ered up to satisfy even Washington White, who 
 declared that he would be the best decorated col- 
 ored man in Bayside when they got back. The two 
 professors made what observations they could in 
 the petrified city in the fast-gathering darkness, 
 and then, having taken a petrified man into the 
 projectile with them to deposit in a scientific mu- 
 seum in which Professor Roumann was interested, 
 the Annihilator was sealed shut. 
 
 And it was only just in time, for with the sud- 
 denness of an eclipse intense darkness settled 
 down, and the temperature, as indicated by a ther- 
 mometer thrust outside, showed a drop of a hun- 
 dred degrees. 
 
 "We never could have lived out there," said 
 Jack. 
 
246 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 "Well, we'll soon be back on earth," observed 
 Mark, and a little later the Cardite motor was 
 out in operation, and the journey back to this 
 world begun. 
 
 Little of moment happened on the return trip. 
 The boys went more into detail about their wan- 
 derings, and told how they had managed to live 
 during the time they were lost. The two pro* 
 fessors and Washington spoke of their worry and 
 anxiety, and their vain search for the wanderers. 
 
 As they were anxious to get back home, the 
 motor was speeded to the limit, and in much less 
 time than they had made the trip to the moon 
 they had arrived in sight of the earth again. 
 As they did not want to create too much excite- 
 ment, they hovered about in the air over Bay- 
 side until dark, when they gently descended al- 
 most in the very spot from which they had started. 
 
 "Well," remarked Jack, as he stepped out on 
 the earth once more, "it was quite an experience 
 to go to the moon, and I suppose being lost there 
 wasn't the worst thing that could happen to us, but 
 all the same I'm glad to be back." 
 
 "So am I," declared Mark. "It was worth 
 while going," and he felt of his pocketful of dia- 
 monds. 
 
 "We certainly made some very valuable sci- 
 entific observations," asserted Mr. Henderson, 
 
BACK TO EARTH— CONCLUSION 247 
 
 "and we will be able to prove that the moon was 
 once inhabited." 
 
 Washington White was carefully lifting out his 
 Shanghai rooster, which was uttering loud crows. 
 As soon as he had set the fowl on the ground, the 
 colored man started off. 
 
 "Where are you going?" asked Mark. 
 
 "I'm going t' a jewelery shop t' hab my dia- 
 monds made inter a stick-pin fo' my red necktie," 
 was the answer. 
 
 "Oh, you'd better wait until morning," sug- 
 gested Professor Henderson. 
 
 They gathered about the table in the cozy din- 
 ing room of their home, while Washington got a 
 meal ready. Every one was talking about what 
 a wonderful trip they had had. 
 
 "The only trouble is," said Jack, "that we've 
 been to about all the interesting places in this uni- 
 verse now. I wonder where we can go next?" 
 
 "I'm going to bed right after supper," an- 
 nounced Mark. "Maybe I'll discover a new 
 land in my dreams." 
 
 The moon voyagers had a great store of gems, 
 and, as they did not wish to bring down values by 
 disposing of them, they only sold a few, which, 
 because of their great size and brilliancy, brought 
 a large price. Several jewelers wanted to know 
 where the diamonds came from, but the secret 
 
248 LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 was well kept. Most of the gems were used for 
 scientific purposes, but Mark and Jack gave some 
 to certain of their friends. 
 
 The petrified man proved a great curiosity, and 
 a history of it, in two large volumes, can be seen 
 in the museum where the body is exhibited. Pro- 
 fessor Henderson wrote the account, and also 
 published quite an extensive history of the trip to 
 the moon, which was considered by scientists and 
 laymen to be a most remarkable journey. 
 
 But, though our friends had been to many 
 strange places, it was reserved for them to have 
 yet still more wonderful adventures, though for 
 a time after returning from the moon they re- 
 mained at home, the two professors busy over 
 their scientific work, and the boys engaged with 
 their studies, while Andy occasionally went hunt- 
 ing, and Washington got the meals and, between 
 times, fed his rooster and admired the diamonds 
 in his red necktie. And now we will bid our 
 friends good-by. 
 
 THE END 
 
THE GREAT MARVEL SERIES 
 
 t RY AID PYDDPRS = 
 
 ril 4i 
 
 
 i 
 
 BY AIR. EXPRESS 
 TO VENUS 
 
 Roy Rockwood 
 
 By ROY RGCKWOOD 
 
 121110. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in 
 Colors. 
 Price, per volume, 50 cents. 
 Postage 10 cents extra. 
 
 Since the days of Jules Verne, tales of 
 flying machines and submarine boats have 
 enjoyed increasing popularity. Stories of 
 adventures, in strange places, with peculiar 
 people and queer animals, make this series 
 noteworthy and popular. 
 
 1. THROUGH THE AIR TO THE NORTH POLE 
 
 The tale of -a wonderful cruise to the frozen north and adventures 
 with a degree of reality that is almost convincing. 
 
 2. UNDER THE OCEAN TO THE SOUTH POLE 
 
 A marvelous trip from Maine to the South Pole, telling of adven- 
 tures with the sea-monsters and savages. 
 
 3. FIVE THOUSAND MILES UNDERGROUND 
 
 A cruise to the center of the earth through an immense hole 
 found at an island in the ocean. 
 
 4. THROUGH SPACE TO MARS 
 
 This book tells how the journey was made in a strange craft and 
 what happened on Mars. 
 
 5. LOST ON THE MOON 
 
 Strange adventures on the planet which is found to be a land of 
 desolation and silence. 
 
 6. ON A TORN=AWAY WORLD 
 
 After a tremendous convulsion of nature the adventurers find 
 themselves captives on a vast "island in the air." 
 
 7. THE CITY BEYOND THE CLOUDS 
 
 The City Beyond the Clouds is a weird place, full of surprises, and 
 the impish Red Dwarfs caused no end of trouble. 
 
 8. BY AIR EXPRESS TO VENUS 
 
 Our heroes are captured by strange inhabitants of the inside world 
 and have a series of adventures as wonderful as they are absorbing. 
 
 Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue 
 
 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY. Publishers 
 
 New York 
 
MYSTERY AND ADVENTURE 
 BOOKS FOR BOYS 
 
 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Colored 
 
 jackets. 
 
 Price 50 cents per volume. 
 
 Postage 10 cents additional. 
 
 SOUTH FROM HUDSON BAY* 
 
 by E. C. Brill 
 
 A thrilling tale of the coming of 
 settlers from France and Switzerland 
 to the wilderness of the Prairie 
 country of the Red River district, 
 and the adventures of three boys who 
 find themselves entangled in the fate 
 of the little colony. 
 
 YELLOW- SAND* 
 
 THE SECRET CACHE, by E. C. Brill 
 
 The father of two boys, a fur hunter, has been seriously in- 
 jured by an Indian. Before he dies he succeeds in telling the 
 younger son about a secret cache of valuable furs. The directions 
 are incomplete but the boys start off to find the Cache, and with 
 the help of men from a nearby settlement capture the Indian and 
 bring him to justice. 
 
 THE ISLAND OF YELLOW SANDS, by E. C. Brill 
 
 An exciting story of Adventure in Colonial Days in the primi- 
 tive country around Lake Superior, when the forest and waters 
 were the hunting ground of Indians, hunters and trappers. 
 
 LOST CITY OF THE AZTECS, by J. A. Lath 
 
 Four chums find a secret code stuck inside the binding of an old 
 book written many years ago by a famous geologist. The boys 
 finally solve the code and learn of the existence of the remnant 
 of a civilized Aztec tribe inside an extinct crater in the southern 
 part of Arizona. How they find these Aztecs, and their many 
 stirring adventures makes a story of tremendous present-day scien- 
 tific interest that every boy will enjoy. 
 
 These books may be purchased wherever books are sold 
 
 Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue 
 
 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New Yorlr 
 
THE BOMBA BOOKS 
 
 By ROY ROCKWOOD 
 
 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With Colored 
 
 jacket. 
 
 Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 
 
 cents additional. 
 
 Bomba lived far back in the jungles of 
 the Amazon with a half-demented natu- 
 ralist who told the lad nothing of his past. 
 The jungle boy was a lover of. birds, and 
 hunted animals with a bow and arrow and 
 his trusty machete. He had only a primi- 
 tive education, and his daring adventures 
 will be followed with breathless interest 
 by thousands. 
 
 1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY 
 
 2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING 
 
 MOUNTAIN 
 
 3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT 
 
 CATARACT 
 
 4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND 
 
 5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED 
 
 CITY 
 
 6. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON TERROR TRAIL 
 
 7. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE SWAMP OF 
 
 DEATH 
 
 8. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE SLAVES 
 9„ BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON THE UNDER- 
 GROUND RIVER 
 
 10. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE LOST 
 
 EXPLORERS 
 
 11. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN A STRANGE LAND 
 
 12. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE 
 
 PYGMIES 
 
 13. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE 
 
 CANNIBALS 
 
 14. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE PAINTED 
 
 HUNTERS 
 
 15. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE RIVER 
 
 DEMONS 
 
 16. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE HOSTILE 
 
 CHIEFTAIN 
 
 These books may be purchased wherever books are sold 
 
 Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue 
 
 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York 
 
THE BOB DEXTER SERIES 
 
 By WILLARD F. BAKER 
 
 Author of "The Boy Ranchers Series" 
 
 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in colors. Price 
 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional. 
 This is a new line of stories for boys, by the 
 author of the Boy Ranchers series. The Bob 
 Dexter books are detective stories, yet they are 
 without the objectionable features of the impos- 
 sible characters and absurd situations that mark 
 so many of the books in that class. These stories 
 deal with the up-to-date adventures of a normal, 
 healthy lad who has a great desire to solve mys- 
 teries, and the volumes relate in an entertaining 
 way how he does it. 
 
 S. BOB DEXTER AND THE CLUB- 
 HOUSE MYSTERY 
 
 or The Missing Golden Eagle 
 This story tells how the Boys' Athletic Club was despoiled of its trophies 
 in a strange manner, and how, among other things stolen, was the Golden 
 Eagle mascot. 
 
 2. BOB DEXTER AND THE BEACON BEACH 
 
 MYSTERY or The Wreck of the Sea Hawk 
 When Bob and his chum went to Beacon Beach for their vacation, they 
 were plunged into a strange series of events, not the least of which was the 
 sinking of the Sea Hawk. 
 
 3. BOB DEXTER AND THE STORM MOUNTAIN 
 
 MYSTERY or The Secret of the Log Cabin 
 Bob Dexter came upon a man mysteriously injured and befriended him, 
 which led Bob into the midst of a series of strange events. 
 
 4. BOB DEXTER AND THE AEROPLANE MYSTERY 
 
 or The Secret of the Jint San 
 Bob and his chums witness the mysterious disappearance of an aeroplano 
 and find excitement in their exploration of an unknown cave. 
 
 5. BOB DEXTER AND THE SEAPLANE MYSTERY 
 
 or The Secret of the White Stones 
 Bob Dexter, while on a vacation, captures a band of criminals, and solves 
 a mystery in which millions of dollars in gems and jewelry had been stolen. 
 
 6. BOB DEXTER AND THE RED AUTO MYSTERY 
 
 or The Secret of the Flying Car 
 A story of a mysterious red auto is packed with many hair-raising adven* 
 tures. Bob comes to the rescue and captures the criminals. 
 
 7. BOB DEXTER AND THE RADIO MYSTERY 
 
 or The Secret of the Counterfeiters 
 When Bob and his chums resolve to clear up a baffling mystery they do 
 it with many narrow escapes. 
 
 These books may be purchased wherever books are sold 
 Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue 
 
 I 
 CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY. Publishers New York 
 
v^