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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lost on the Moon, by Roy Rockwood
+#5 in our series by Roy Rockwood
+
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+
+
+Title: Lost on the Moon
+       or In Quest Of The Field of Diamonds
+
+Author: Roy Rockwood
+
+Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7473]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 6, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ON THE MOON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon, Joshua Hutchinson
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+LOST ON THE MOON
+OR
+IN QUEST OF THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+
+     I. A WONDERFUL STORY
+    II. SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES
+   III. PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE
+    IV. AN ACCIDENT
+     V. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
+    VI. ON THE TRACK
+   VII. MARK IS CAPTURED
+  VIII. JACK IS PUZZLED
+    IX. A DARING PLOT
+     X. "HOW STRANGE MARK ACTS"
+    XI. READY FOR THE MOON
+   XII. MARK'S ESCAPE
+  XIII. A DIREFUL THREAT
+   XIV. OFF AT LAST
+    XV. THE SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE
+   XVI. "WILL IT HIT US?"
+  XVII. TURNING TURTLE
+ XVIII. AT THE MOON
+   XIX. TORCHES OF LIFE
+    XX. ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER
+   XXI. WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST
+  XXII. A BREAKDOWN
+ XXIII. LOST ON THE MOON
+  XXIV. DESOLATE WANDERINGS
+   XXV. THE PETRIFIED CITY
+  XXVI. SEEKING FOOD
+ XXVII. THE BLACK POOL
+XXVIII. THE SIGNAL FAILS
+  XXIX. THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS
+   XXX. BACK TO EARTH--CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A WONDERFUL STORY
+
+
+"Well, what do you think of it, Mark?" asked Jack Darrow, as he laid
+aside a portion of a newspaper, 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!"
+
+"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, instead 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 translated
+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."
+
+"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 anything 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?"
+
+"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 smiling, 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 colored man, "but did I done heah
+you' to promulgate some conversationess regarding de transmigatorability
+ob diamonds?"
+
+"Do you mean, were we talking about diamonds?" inquired Mark.
+
+"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 Henderson'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 joke!" 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 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 aim, the latter lad asked:
+
+"Did you want to see us about anything particular, 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 diamonds, 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 diamond story demonstrated to
+them sooner than either expected. Following the colored man, the lads,
+Jack carrying 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, test tubes, alembecs, Bunsen burners, globes, and
+various 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 Professor 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, enthusiastically. "Look
+here, Professor Henderson, 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 the 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 companion.
+
+"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 diamonds 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 carefully 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 going over the article, but
+when he had finished, he looked at the two boys, and said: "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 Reonaris?" 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 diamonds? 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 laboratory of the scientist. It
+was broken by Washington 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, the colored 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." 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 projectile, 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 Cardite, 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. Henderson thoughtfully.
+
+"You'll go, too, won't you, Mark?" asked Jack.
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to be left behind. I'll go 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 other books of this series,
+Professor Amos 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, an old
+hunter, always went with them.
+
+Mark and Jack were orphans, who had been adopted by Professor
+Henderson, who spent all his time making wonderful machines for
+transportation, or conducting strange experiments.
+
+The two boys had been rescued by Professor Henderson and Washington
+White from a train wreck. Although both boys were badly hurt, they were
+nursed back to health by the eminent scientist, who soon learned to
+care for the lads as though they had been his own sons.
+
+They aided the professor, as soon as they were able, in constructing an
+airship, called the _Electric Monarch_, in which Professor Henderson
+hoped to be able to reach the North Pole. The boys thoroughly enjoyed
+the trip through the air, and had many thrills fighting the savage
+Eskimos. Finally, they succeeded in passing over the exact spot of the
+North Pole during a violent snowstorm.
+
+Not satisfied with their experiences after conquering the North, the
+adventurers set out for the Antarctic regions in a submarine boat. This
+trip, even more remarkable than the first, took them to many strange
+places in the South Atlantic. They were trapped for a time in the
+Sargasso Sea, and they walked on the ocean floor in new diving suits,
+one of the professor's marvelous inventions.
+
+It was on the voyage to the south that, coming 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 whirlpool, into which the
+_Porpoise_, their submarine boat, was nearly drawn by the powerful
+suction.
+
+The chasm might lead to the center of the earth, it was suggested, and,
+after thinking the matter over, on their return from the Antarctic,
+Professor Henderson decided to build a craft in which they might solve
+the mystery.
+
+The details of the voyage they took in the _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 voyages, 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
+professor, and Andy Sudds went off on occasional hunting 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 Professor 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 proposition. He said if the old
+scientist and his young friends would build the proper kind of a
+projectile, they could make a trip to the planet Mars, by means of a
+wonderful motor, operated by a power called Etherium, of which Mr.
+Roumann 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 believed gave the planet its
+rosy hue. He had an idea that it would prove of great value.
+
+But, though every precaution was taken, the 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 themselves up, and the powerful
+motors were started. Off it shot, at the rate of one hundred miles a
+second, 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 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 projectile.
+
+Among the other curiosities brought away by our friends, was a
+newspaper printed in Mars, for the inhabitants of that place where much
+further 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 Reonaris. 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."
+
+"I'd like to go," said Jack. "How about you, Professor Henderson? Oh,
+by the way, Washington said you wanted to see Mark and me, but I was so
+interested in this news item, that I forgot to ask what it as about."
+
+"I merely wanted to inquire when you and Mark thought of resuming your
+studies at college," 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," remarked 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 professor 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, passing 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. Anyhow, 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 what 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 getting on his hat and coat,
+for the night was chilly, his chum went on:
+
+"Mark, if I didn't know, that we had left Axtell, the crazy machinist,
+up on Mars, I'd say that this was his writing. But, of course, it's
+impossible."
+
+"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 the road from the professor's house. The
+two boys kept well together, and they were watching 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."
+
+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
+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
+morrow, for their trip to the moon.
+
+There was much to be done, but their experience 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 preparing the food supply,
+since he was to act as 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
+construction 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 making air or water, and
+scores of scientific instruments.
+
+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 wireless vibrations, from large plates of metal, and
+these plates were the invention of Professor Roumann.
+
+Perhaps to some of my readers it may seem 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 journey, 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,
+however, but 252,972 miles, at the most, must be traversed--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 computed as being 238,840 miles, it
+can readily be seen that at no time was the voyage to be considered 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 announced
+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
+neighborhood. 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
+projectile, which was soon to be shot through space.
+
+"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 occupies 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 today,
+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 looked 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 professor was going to attempt
+to reach it. Perhaps 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 apparatus 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' 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 colored 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 notion 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 astronomers 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. 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, Washington 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 inventor did not
+want the secret of his Cardite motor to become known.
+
+The work went on from day to day, good progress being made. The boys
+were of great assistance, for they were practical mechanics, and had
+had considerable experience.
+
+"Well, I shall try the Cardite motor to-morrow," announced Professor
+Roumann one night, after a hard day's work on the projectile.
+
+"Do you think it will work?" asked Mr. Henderson.
+
+"I think so, yes. My experiments have made me hopeful."
+
+"And if it does work, when can we start?" asked Jack.
+
+"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 Professor 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 machine 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 substance he had secured from Mars. Then he closed
+the heavy metal box that held it, and, looking about to see if all was
+in readiness, he motioned 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 unlike 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 backward,
+while Professor Roumann was hurled the entire length of the engine
+room.
+
+"The 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 explosion, 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 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
+wandered toward the disabled Cardite motor, he exclaimed:
+
+"Some enemy has done this! The motor was tampered with. The resistance
+block was loosened, 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. Henderson poured out some aromatic spirits of ammonia
+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 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 professor 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
+projectile 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. Roumann. "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 Henderson. "We must be on our
+guard. I wonder if Washington----"
+
+At that moment there sounded a violent pounding 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
+conducted 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
+exploded."
+
+"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 in readiness for any
+intruders, the old hunter followed the colored man outside the big
+shed.
+
+Meanwhile Professor Roumann and Mr. Henderson were carefully examining
+the exploded motor.
+
+"I should have looked at the breech plug before 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 loosened 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 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 seconds, 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 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 Professor 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 diamonds will drop."
+
+"Then we must not throw them upon the market," 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.
+
+"Mark," said Jack in a low voice, as they followed 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 Henderson and Roumann. The
+scientists were deep in a discussion of various technical matters,
+which discussion, 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 blowing 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 to find Dick Johnson, and ask him just where it 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 direction, so that will help some."
+
+"Sure. Well, then, let's find Dick."
+
+To the inquiries of the two lads from the projectile, Dick Johnson
+replied that, as he had asserted 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?"
+
+"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 on 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 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 anything. 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, anyhow. 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 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 trapper. "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 homestead, 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 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," declared 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 handsome 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. "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 forgotten 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."
+
+"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 anything 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, while Mark strolled
+on down the road, in the direction of the old Preakness house. He was
+thinking of many things, chiefly of the wonderful journey that lay
+before them, and he was wondering 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 forests, 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 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 going 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 action 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
+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 Virginia 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 himself."
+
+Past the old gateway Mark continued, intending to proceed along the
+highway until he got directly 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 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 anything 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 highway, 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 material 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
+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 person we're looking for?"
+
+Mark hardly knew what to do. He stood in the road, undecided, and
+fairly stared at the man, who had left the porch, and was walking down
+the weed-grown path. He was looking straight at Mark, but if the
+stranger was the person who had written the note, and if he recognized
+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, determining to do some questioning on his own account.
+
+"Me live here?" cried the man, as if indignant "Well, hardly! I was
+just passing, and, happening to see the old place, and having a
+fondness for antiques, I stepped in. But it is in bad shape. I should
+say tramps make it their hangout."
+
+"It has that name," said Mark.
+
+There was a pause for a moment, and the lad was a trifle embarrassed.
+The man was gazing 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," answered 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 antiques, 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 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 owners," 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 no harm in helping him, as long as it was
+outside. The man saw the hesitation 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
+suspicious. Suddenly he became aware of a peculiar 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.
+
+"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 prisoner 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, urging 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."
+
+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 toward 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 separated
+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.
+
+"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 ramshackle 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
+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, tumbled-down house and waited. All was still.
+Occasionally 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 agreement and wait for me at
+the barn. Well, here goes."
+
+Though he spoke bravely, it was not without a 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 inside?"
+
+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 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 occasional farmer urging his
+horses along, that be 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
+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 professors. There was a cheerful light glowing from
+many windows, and Jack also noticed an illumination 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 protoids 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?"
+
+"I done did. Dat's what I done. Supper's cold. But where am Massa
+Mark?"
+
+"What! Isn't Mark home?" cried Jack, starting 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 captive
+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."
+
+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 moment 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 position, first taking the
+precaution, however, of binding his hands and feet.
+
+"There," whispered the man, when he had finished, "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 mysterious 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 hiding place," he said to
+himself. "It couldn't be better for what I want. Now to see what
+happens 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 awakening the unfortunate lad; and he
+struggled to loosen his bonds, but they were too strongly tied. He
+endeavored to answer Jack, but only a meaningless 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 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?" demanded 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."
+
+"But why do you want to be revenged on us?"
+
+"Because of what you have done!" 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 blindfold 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 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 attempt 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, 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 perhaps 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.
+
+"Will you tell me your name?" asked Marie 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 yourself.
+Otherwise I shall have to tie you up."
+
+Mark considered a moment. It was not pleasant 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 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 candle 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. Consequently 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 opening 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
+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 opening 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 tonight."
+
+"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
+attention. 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 something in Mark's ear, as if he
+was afraid the very walls would hear.
+
+"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 determined 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 believed 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 become a
+rich man."
+
+"I don't want riches--I want revenge!" exclaimed 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
+entrance, 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 outcome of it; how his chum had failed to meet him
+at the rendezvous, and how Jack had searched through the old house
+without result.
+
+"There's but one thing to do," declared Professor 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 searching 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?" suggested 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 locate 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 remember 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."
+
+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 received with
+thanks, and, bringing two more lanterns with them, Mr. Hampton and his
+man added considerable to the illumination.
+
+They went through the old mansion from garret 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 departed, 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
+country. The two scientists were too old for such work, and, as the aid
+of the police was not desired, 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 related, 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,
+Professor?" 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.
+
+"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 whispered.
+
+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 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 gladness. "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 hospital. 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.
+
+"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?"
+
+"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 professors 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 doctoring. Come here where I can see."
+
+"No--no--the--light hurts my eyes," was the hasty reply. "I guess I'll
+go to bed, so as to be all ready to start in the morning. Why don't you
+leave for the moon to-night, professor?"
+
+"There are still a few little details to look after. But are you sure
+you are well enough to go with us? We may meet with hardships up on the
+moon."
+
+"Oh, I'm all ready to go," was the answer. "I'd start to-night if I
+could. But now I must get to bed."
+
+"Don't you want supper?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I had some just before I left the hospital."
+
+"What hospital was it?" inquired Andy Sudds. "I was in one once, and I
+didn't like it. There wa'nt enough air for me."
+
+"I forget the name of the place," came the reply. "I can't think
+clearly. I need sleep."
+
+The newcomer kept in the shadows of the room, as if the light hurt his
+eyes, and appeared restless and ill at ease. With the hand that was not
+in a sling he pulled the bandages closer about his face.
+
+"Can't you tell us more about what happened?" asked Jack, for Mark was
+not usually so reticent, and his chum noticed it.
+
+"There isn't much to tell," was the response. "I went to the old house,
+and I was looking around when I happened to tumble down stairs. I must
+have been knocked unconscious, but when I came to I crawled outside. A
+farmer was driving past, and I asked him to take me to a hospital."
+
+"Why didn't you come home?" asked Mr. Henderson.
+
+"Oh, I didn't want to make any trouble and delay work on the
+projectile. I figured that I could be with you in a few hours, and you
+wouldn't worry. But they insisted that I must stay in the hospital when
+they got me there. Then I lost consciousness again, and couldn't manage
+to let you know where I was. But I'm all right now."
+
+"Why didn't you wait for me at the barn, when I went to send the
+telegram, as you promised you would?" asked Jack, who felt a little
+hurt at his chum's neglect.
+
+"Did I promise to wait for you at some barn?"
+
+"Yes; don't you remember?" and Jack gazed at the bandaged figure in
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes--I--I guess I do. But I want to go to bed now," and pulling
+the cloths closer about his face the injured one started from the
+apartment.
+
+"Here. That's not the way up to your room. The stairs are over here,"
+called Jack, for he saw the newcomer taking the wrong direction.
+
+"Oh, yes. Guess my mind must be wandering," and with an uneasy laugh
+the injured one turned about. They heard him going up stairs, and a
+little later Jack followed. He found that Mark's room was not occupied.
+
+"Hi, Mark! Where are you?" he called, in some alarm.
+
+"Here," was the answer, and the voice came from Jack's own apartment.
+
+"Well, you're in the wrong bunk."
+
+"Am I? Well, I must have made another mistake. My head can't be right,"
+and with that the other came out and hastily went into the adjoining
+apartment.
+
+For a moment Jack stood in the hall. He looked at the door that had
+closed behind the bandaged figure.
+
+"There's something wrong," said Jack in a low voice. "How strange Mark
+acts! I wonder what can be the matter?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+READY FOR THE MOON
+
+
+There were busy times for the moon-voyagers the next day. They were up
+early, for at the last moment many little details needed to be settled.
+The Cardite motor had been thoroughly repaired, for the damage caused
+by the unknown enemy had done no permanent harm.
+
+When the injured one appeared the bandage on his head seemed larger
+than ever, and his features were almost hidden. He still wore his arm
+in a sling.
+
+"Well, how do you feel?" asked Jack, looking narrowly at the figure. He
+could not get rid of a suspicion that something was wrong with Mark.
+
+"Oh, I'm feeling pretty fair," was the mumbled answer. "I didn't sleep
+much, though."
+
+"Well, take care of yourself," advised Jack. "We are about ready to
+start. We'll get off about noon, Professor Henderson says. Don't try to
+do anything and injure your broken arm. You certainly had a tough time
+of it."
+
+"Yes, I guess I did. I can't do much to help you."
+
+"You don't need to. We're all but finished. Just hang around and watch
+me work. There isn't much to do."
+
+But though Jack gave an invitation to remain near him, the other seemed
+to prefer being off by himself. He wandered in and out of the
+projectile, now and then helping Andy or Washington to carry light
+objects into the _Annihilator_. But all the while he was careful not to
+disturb the bandage on his face, and several times he stopped to
+readjust it. Nor did he talk much, which Jack ascribed to his statement
+that his teeth hurt him. And when the bandaged figure did speak, it was
+in mumbling tones, very different from Mark's usually cheerful ones.
+
+"Well," remarked Professor Roumann, after a final inspection of the big
+Cardite motor--the one that was to be depended on to carry them to the
+moon--"I think we are about ready to leave this earth. How about it,
+Professor Henderson?"
+
+"Yes, I think so. Have you made any calculation as to speed?"
+
+"Yes, we will not have to move nearly as fast as we did when we went to
+Mars. We only have to cover a quarter of a million of miles at the
+most, and probably less than that. The motor will send us along at the
+rate of about a mile a second, which is three thousand six hundred
+miles an hour, or eighty-six thousand four hundred miles a--day. At
+that rate we would be at the moon in less than three days.
+
+"But I don't want to travel as fast as that," the German went on. "I
+want time to make some scientific observations on the way, and so I
+have reduced the speed of the Cardite motor by half, though should we
+need to hasten our trip we can do so."
+
+"Then we'll be about a week on the way?" asked Jack.
+
+"About that, yes," 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 Professor Henderson quickly.
+
+"I mean could we go to Mars if we wanted to?"
+
+"You don't mean to say you want to go back there, and run the chance of
+being attacked by the savage Martians, do you?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I was only asking," and the other seemed confused.
+
+"Well, of course, we _could_ go there, as we have plenty of supplies
+and enough of the Cardite," said Mr. Roumann. "But I think the moon
+will be the limit of our trip this time."
+
+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 frequently 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 atmosphere 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.
+
+"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 accident. 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 certainly 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 _Annihilator_ 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 Henderson, 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. 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!" 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 Henderson 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 clothing, 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 desire to escape
+and punish the scoundrel responsible 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 bitterly, "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
+projectile, and they never will be the wiser!"
+
+"They'll soon discover that you are disguised 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 water 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
+released 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 overheard 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 myself 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 revealed.
+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 return 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 redoubled his efforts. Strand by strand the cords
+parted. He put all his efforts into one last attempt, and to his great
+joy he felt his hands separate. 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 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!" exulted 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
+already 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 secret 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 man with them under the impression that
+they have me. I must escape! I will!"
+
+Once more he began the tiresome task of seeking 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
+before. It was sunk deep in a board.
+
+"I'll press that and see what happens!" he exclaimed.
+
+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 deliverance. "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
+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 morning--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
+villain 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 distant 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!"
+
+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 terrible time! I was captured by that mysterious man, and
+he's got my clothes. I must get home quick!"
+
+Dick heard, but scarcely understood. However, he comprehended that his
+friend was in trouble, 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!"
+
+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! 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 perhaps the fowl had not yet seen enough of this
+earth. At any rate, when he flew from the projectile, uttering loud
+crows, and landed some distance 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, looking 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 voluminous 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 Jenkins! I've a good notion to start the projectile
+myself. I know how to operate the Cardite motor. Only I suppose those
+two professors 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 specimen ob de chicken fambly
+dat I eber seed," observed Washington, breathing heavily, for his run
+had winded him.
+
+"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 anxiously for the tremor which would indicate that
+the projectile had left the earth. In another moment 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 explosions, 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 motorcycle," 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: "Wait! Wait! Don't go without me! You've 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 bandaged up--
+his queer actions--I--I----"
+
+Words failed the youth. Throwing wide open the door, he sprang out of
+the projectile. A moment 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 covered 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 Henderson, as he, too, ran out of
+the _Annihilator_. "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 ragged 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
+mysterious 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 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 window 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 prisoner!
+
+"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 Professor 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 puzzled 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.
+
+"Now we're in for another delay," remarked Jack ruefully, as he gazed
+at the smashed window. "It seems as if we'd never get started for the
+moon."
+
+"Oh, yes, we will," declared Professor Henderson. "We have some extra
+heavy plate glass in the shop, and we can soon put in another
+observation 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 fancied 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," announced Professor Roumann.
+"Our Cardite motor will soon take us out of the shadow of the earth,
+and we will be in perpetual sunshine until 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 dollar 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 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 Henderson read slowly the note Dick
+had brought. Then he passed it to Professor Roumann. The latter shook
+his shaggy gray hair, and murmured something 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 careful inspection to show it."
+
+"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 anxious 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
+asylum is where he belongs, though I can sympathize with him on account
+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
+Washington, 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 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 attention 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!"
+
+"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 him," announced the officer. "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 forward in the grip of the constable, he remarked 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 hurried to headquarters, reaching there just before the
+prisoner was brought in. The boys were assured by the chief that the
+man, who was evidently 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.
+
+"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 under 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. Washington 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 scientist.
+
+He pulled toward him the main starting lever of the Cardite motor,
+while Professor Roumann opened the valve which admitted to the plates
+and cylinders the mysterious force that was to send them on their way.
+
+"Elevate the bow!" called Professor Henderson.
+
+"Elevated it is," answered the German, as he turned a wheel which
+directed the negative gravity force against the surface of the ground
+and tilted up the nose of the _Annihilator_, as a skyrocket is slanted
+in a trough before the fuse is ignited.
+
+"Throw over the switch," directed Mr. Henderson, and the other
+scientist, with a quick motion, 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 Henderson 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 apparatus.
+
+Then, with a rush and a roar, the big steel car, resembling an enormous
+cigar, soared away from the earth, like some gigantic piece of
+fireworks, and shot toward the sky.
+
+"We're off!" shouted Mark.
+
+"For the moon!" added Jack.
+
+And the _Annihilator_ soared upward and onward, 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 working smoothly, Professor Henderson made his way to
+the pilot house forward, where Mark and Jack were in charge of the
+steering gears. The projectile 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 projectile
+is capable. Why, we're only going about twenty miles a second," and he
+spoke as if that was a mere nothing.
+
+"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 projectile, and so delicately
+poised was the machinery, that the terrifically fast rate of travel,
+rivalling 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 hundred 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
+thoroughly test the Cardite motor first. Then, when he finds that it
+works all right, we may go faster. But we will 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 German 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 projectile 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 the comet? If we are in danger of hitting another
+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 instruments
+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
+running 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 landscape
+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
+balloonist had never ventured.
+
+Mark and Jack sat for a few minutes in the 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 hatful 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 adjusting 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 investigations, and those of Langley, threw some doubts on
+this. There is said to be no air blanket about 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!" interrupted Washington White, his
+black face grinning 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 am roasted, laik I done heah yo' talkin' 'bout jest
+now, an' 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, hurried to where the various
+pieces of apparatus were sending the projectile forward through space.
+Already there was an appreciable slackening 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.
+
+"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 scattered 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
+Shanghai, 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 _Annihilator_ 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. "Underneath the motor, where they are supposed to be
+out of all reach, are several self-adjusting levers. They control the
+speed, and also, by being moved in a certain direction, they will shut
+down the apparatus. The rooster crawled beneath 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.
+
+"How did the rooster get in here?" asked Jack.
+
+"I 'spects dat's my fault," answered Washington. "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. Roumann. "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, discussing 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," remarked Jack. "I declare, it gives me an
+appetite!"
+
+"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 Professor Henderson. The
+novelty of dining as 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 second."
+
+"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 happens."
+
+"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 hundred 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 fervently. 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. Henderson. The motor was fairly whining now, as if in
+protest.
+
+"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!"
+
+"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
+machinery."
+
+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 motor, 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. "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 together.
+
+"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 engine 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," responded his chum.
+
+The next instant they were in the engine room, where Mr. Roumann was
+bending over the Cardite 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.
+
+"Then there's going to be a fearful collision!" cried Jack, and he
+blurted out the fact of the nearness 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 perfect
+English. Then, murmuring something in his own tongue, he leaped away
+from the motor, calling 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 fearful 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 increase it.
+
+Meanwhile Professor Roumann had set in motion 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 Roumann had, with the aid of
+Mr. Henderson, constructed a machine which, when a negative current of
+electricity was sent into it, would force away any object that was
+approaching the _Annihilator_. In a few moments the boys at the
+Cardite 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 moving 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. There was nothing to do but to wait
+and gradually slow up the projectile as much as possible. The boys
+could hear the professors in the pilothouse 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 motor, shivered as though
+she had plunged into the unknown depths of some mighty sea. The roaring
+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 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 boss
+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 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!"
+
+"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 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 projectile for
+Luna, and kept it on that course, she would, by the time we reached
+her, been in another 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 calculated 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 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 matters 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 evening, for
+it was perpetual daylight) they began to make their preparations for
+landing. Their wonderful journey through space was nearing an end.
+
+"I guess that crazy Axtell fellow was only joking 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
+barometer 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 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
+staggering 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 excited exclamations of
+Professors Henderson and Roumann.
+
+"We're turning turtle!" suddenly yelled Jack. "The projectile is
+turning over in the air! Something has gone wrong! Perhaps this is the
+revenge 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 moving 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 missing hitting our friends. Of course, the
+machinery 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.
+
+"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 tampering
+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 emptied on my head! Oh, golly! What happened?"
+
+The aged scientist looked toward the German. The latter was gazing up
+at the motionless Cardite 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. Roumann. "I think I will soon be
+able to right the craft."
+
+He labored desperately, but he was at a disadvantage, for the
+_Annihilator_ was not now moving smoothly 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
+whenever 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
+magnet. 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
+provide 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."
+
+"Is the machine all right now?" asked Jack.
+
+"It will be in a few minutes. Here, take this magnet and put it as far
+away 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. Roumann 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 places.
+Then, like some great fish turning over in the water, the _Annihilator_
+turned over in 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 space ship 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 scattered 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 of
+the moon, was shooting through space at their former 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 Axtell 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
+before, 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 narrowly averted.
+
+Washington made more soup, and soon had a fine meal ready, over which
+the travellers discussed 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 think we
+will go even more slowly on the remainder 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 following 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 entered the steering chamber. Then, after gazing
+through the glass, Mr. Henderson announced: "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 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 rugged, 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 Professor 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 machine."
+
+The Cardite motor was stopped. The projectile 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. Henderson threw over the steering
+wheel. The _Annihilator_ moved more slowly. Then came a gentle 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, peering 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 projectile."
+
+
+
+
+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
+Professor Roumann.
+
+"Do you think it would be dangerous to venture 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 temperature
+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 consisted of an
+aperture in the two sides of the projectile permitting certain delicate
+instruments to be thrust out, so that the conditions they indicated
+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 thermometer 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 hundred 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. For they had landed
+on the moon in bright sunlight.
+
+"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 better student than was his
+chum, "don't you remember that the moon rotates on its axis once a
+month, or in about twenty-eight days, to be exact, and so 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 twenty-eight degrees. But now about the atmosphere."
+"We will test that directly," went on the German. "It will take some
+time longer, though."
+
+Various instruments were brought forth and thrust out of the opening in
+the side of the projectile, 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
+cannot 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 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
+perilous 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. Roumann. "But I must first conduct some
+further experiments. 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
+projectile."
+
+"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 outside?"
+
+"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. Henderson. "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 oxygen and other elements, which, when brought in
+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 temperature and its poisonous
+"atmosphere" (if such it can be termed), there was an uncanny feeling
+about stepping forth into the midst of the desolation that was on every
+side.
+
+For it was desolate--terribly so! Not a sound broke the stillness.
+There was no life--no motion--as far as could be seen. Not a tree or
+shrub relieved the rugged monotony of the landscape. It was like a dead
+world.
+
+"And to think that people may have once lived here," observed Jack, in
+a low voice.
+
+"Yes, and to think that there may be people on the other side of the
+moon even now," added Mark. "We must take a look if it's possible."
+
+"Well," remarked Mr. Henderson, after a while, "are we going out and
+see what it's like or not."
+
+"Of course, we are," said Jack. "Come on, Mark, I'm not afraid."
+
+"Me either. Do we have to do anything to the torches to make them
+operate, Professor Roumann?"
+
+"Merely press this lever," and the scientist showed them where there
+was one in the handle of the steel rod. "As soon as that is pressed, it
+admits a liquid to the chemicals and the oxygen gas is formed, rising
+all around you, like a protecting vapor. After that it is automatic."
+
+"How long will the supply of chemical last?" inquired Jack.
+
+"Each one is calculated to give out gas for nearly two weeks," was the
+reply; "possibly for a little longer. But come, I want to see how they
+work. Here is your life-torch, Professor Henderson, and there is one
+for you, too, Andy, and Washington."
+
+"'Scuse me!" exclaimed the colored man hastily, as he started back
+toward the kitchen.
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" asked Jack. "Don't you want to go out, and
+walk around the moon, and pick up diamonds?"
+
+"Diamonds am all right," answered Washington, "but I jest done fo'got
+dat I ain't fed my Shanghai rooster to-day, an' I 'spects he's mighty
+hungry. You folks go on out an' pick up a few obde sparklers, an' when
+I gits de Shanghai fed I'll prognosticate myse'f inter conjunction wif
+yo' all."
+
+"You mean you'll join us?" asked Mark.
+
+"Dat's what I means, suah."
+
+"Why, I do believe Washington's afraid!" cried Jack jokingly.
+
+"Askeered! Who's afraid?" retorted the colored man boldly. "Didn't I
+done tole yo' dat I got t' feed my rooster? Heah him crowin' now? Yo'
+all go 'long, an' I'll meet yo' later," and with that Washington
+disappeared quickly.
+
+"Well, he'll soon pluck up courage and come out," declared Professor
+Henderson. "Let him go now, and we'll go out and see what it is like on
+the moon."
+
+"I hope we find those diamonds," murmured Jack, and Mark smiled.
+
+In order not to admit the poisonous gases into the projectile, it was
+decided to leave the Annihilator and return to it by means of a double
+door, forming a sort of air lock. It was similar to the water lock used
+on the submarine. That is, the adventurers entered a chamber built in
+between the two steel walls of their craft. The interior door was then
+sealed shut automatically. Next the outer door was opened, and they
+could step directly to the surface of the moon and into the deadly
+atmosphere.
+
+"Well, are we all ready?" asked Mr. Roumann, as he picked up one of the
+chemical torches.
+
+"I guess so," responded Andy Sudds, who had his gun with him. "I hope I
+see some game. I haven't had a shot in a long while."
+
+"You're not likely to up here," spoke Mr. Henderson. "Game is scarce on
+the moon, unless it's some of that green cheese Washington talked
+about."
+
+They entered the air lock and fastened the door behind them. Then
+Professor Roumann pressed on the lever that swung open the outer
+portal.
+
+"Hold your torches close to your head," he called. "The moon atmosphere
+may be too strong for us at first until we create a mist of oxygen
+about us."
+
+Out upon the surface of the moon they stepped, probably the first earth
+beings so to do, though they had evidence that the inhabitants of Mars
+had preceded them.
+
+For a moment they all gasped for breath, but only for a moment. Then
+the gas began to flow from the life-torches, and they could breathe as
+well as they had done while in the projectile, or while on the earth.
+
+"Well, if this isn't great!" cried Jack, gazing about him.
+
+"It certainly beats anything I ever saw," came from Mark.
+
+"Wonderful, wonderful," murmured Professor Henderson. "We will be able
+to gain much valuable scientific knowledge here, Professor Roumann. We
+must at once begin our observations."
+
+"I agree with you," spoke the German.
+
+Andy Sudds said nothing. He was looking around for a sight of game,
+with his rifle in readiness. But not a sign of life met his eager eyes.
+
+Once they were outside the projectile it was even more desolate than it
+had seemed when they looked from the observation windows. It was
+absolutely still. Not a breath of wind fanned their cheeks, for where
+there is no air to be heated and cooled there could be no wind which is
+caused by the differences of temperature of the air, the cold rushing
+in to fill the vacuum caused by the rising of the hot vapors. Clad in
+their fur-lined garments, which effectually defied the cold, the
+adventurers stepped out.
+
+Over the rugged ground they went, gazing curiously about them. It was
+like being in the wildest part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains of our
+earth, and, in fact, the surface of the moon was not unlike the
+mountainous and hilly sections of the earth. There were no long ranges
+of rugged peaks, though, but rather scattered pinnacles and deep
+hollows, great craters adjoining immense, towering steeples of rocks,
+with comparatively level ground in between.
+
+The life-torches worked to perfection. As our friends carried them,
+there arose about their bodies a cloud of invisible vapor, which,
+however, was as great a protection from the poisonous gases as a coat
+of mail would have been.
+
+"This is great!" exclaimed Jack. "It's much better than to have to put
+on a diving-suit and carry a cylinder of oxygen or compressed air about
+on our shoulders."
+
+They strolled away from the projectile and gazed back at it. Nothing
+moved--not a sound broke the stillness. There was only the blazing
+sunlight, which, however, did not seem to warm the atmosphere much, for
+it was very chilly. On every side were great rocks, rugged and broken,
+with here and there immense fissures in the surface of the moon,
+fissures that seemed miles and miles long.
+
+"Well, here's where I look for diamonds," called Jack, as he stepped
+boldly out, followed by Mark. "Let's see who'll find the first
+sparkler."
+
+"All right," agreed his chum, and they strolled away together, slightly
+in advance of the two professors and Andy, who remained together, the
+scientist discussing the phenomena on every side and the hunter looking
+in vain for something to shoot. But he had come to a dead world.
+
+Almost before they knew it Jack and Mark had gone on quite some
+distance. Though they were not aware of it at that moment, it was much
+easier to walk on the moon than it was on the earth, for they weighed
+only one sixth as much, and the attraction of gravitation was so much
+less.
+
+But suddenly Jack remembered that curious fact, and, stooping, he
+picked up a stone. He cast it from him, at the same time uttering a
+yell.
+
+"What's the matter?" called Mark.
+
+"Look how far I fired that rock!" shouted Jack. "Talk about it being
+easy! why, I believe I could throw a mile if I tried hard!"
+
+"It goes six times as far as it would on the earth," spoke his chum,
+"and we can also jump six times as far."
+
+"Then let's try that!" proposed Jack. "There's a nice level place over
+there. Come on, I'll wager that I can beat you."
+
+"Done!" agreed Mark, and they hurried to the spot, their very walking
+being much faster than usual.
+
+"I'll go first," proposed Jack, "and you see if you can come up to me."
+He poised himself on a little hummock of rock, balanced himself for a
+moment, and then hurled himself through space.
+
+Prepared as he was, in a measure, for something strange, he never
+bargained for what happened. It was as if he had been fired from some
+catapult of the ancient Romans. Through the air he hurtled, like some
+great flying animal, covering fifty feet from a standing jump.
+
+"Say, that's great!" yelled Mark. "Here I come, and I'll beat----"
+
+He did not finish, for a cry of horror came from Jack.
+
+"I'm going to fall into a crater--a bottomless pit! I'm on the edge of
+it!" yelled the lad who had jumped.
+
+And, with horror-stricken eyes, Mark saw his chum disappear from sight
+beyond a pile of rugged rocks, toward which he had leaped. The last
+glimpse Mark had was of the life-torch, which Jack held up in the air,
+close to his head.
+
+"Jack--in a crater!" gasped Mark, as he ran forward, holding his own
+life-torch close to his mouth and nose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST
+
+
+Advancing by leaps and bounds, and getting over the ground in a manner
+most surprising, Mark soon found himself on the edge of the great,
+yawning crater, into which his chum Jack had started to slide. I say
+started, for, fortunately, the lad had been saved from death but by a
+narrow margin.
+
+As Mark gazed down into the depths, which seemed fathomless, and which
+were as black as night, he saw his friend clinging to a rocky
+projection on the side of the extinct volcano. Jack had managed to
+grasp a part of the rough surface as he slid down it after his reckless
+jump. He looked up and saw Mark.
+
+"Oh, Mark, can't you save me?" he gasped. "Call Professor Henderson!"
+
+"I'll get you up, don't worry!" called Mark, as confidently as he
+could. "Hold tight, Jack. What has become of your life-torch?"
+
+"I have it here by me. I didn't drop it, and it's on a piece of the
+rock near my head. Otherwise I couldn't breathe. Oh, this place is
+fearfully deep. I guess it hasn't any bottom."
+
+"Now, keep still, and don't think about that. Save your strength, hold
+fast, and I'll get you up."
+
+But, having said that much, Mark was not so sure how next to proceed.
+It was going to be no easy task to haul up Jack, and that without ropes
+or other apparatus. Another matter that added to the danger was the
+necessity of keeping the life-torch close to one's face in order to
+prevent death by the poisonous gases.
+
+Mark's first impulse was to hasten back and call the two professors,
+but he looked over the desolate landscape, and could not see them, and
+he feared that if he went away Jack might slip and fall into the
+unknown depths of the crater.
+
+"I've got to get him out alone," decided Mark. "But how can I do it?"
+
+He crawled cautiously nearer to the edge of the extinct volcano and
+looked down. A few loose stones, dislodged by his weight, rattled down
+the sides.
+
+"Look out!" cried Jack quickly, "or you'll fall, too!"
+
+"I'll be careful," answered Mark, and then he drew away out of danger,
+with a queer feeling about his heart, which was beating furiously. Mark
+had hoped to be able to make his way down the side of the crater to
+where his chum was and help him up. But a look at the steep sides and
+the uncertain footing afforded by the loose rocks of lava-like
+formation showed that this could not be done.
+
+"I've got to think of a different scheme," decided Mark, and, spurred
+on by the necessity of acting quickly if he was to save Jack, he fairly
+forced his brain to work. For he saw by the strained look on his chum's
+face that Jack could not hold out much longer.
+
+"I have it!" cried Mark at length. "My fur coat! I can cut it into
+strips of hide and make a rope. Then I can lower it down to Jack and
+haul him up."
+
+He did not think, for the moment, of the cold he would feel when he
+stripped off the fur garment, and when it did come to him in a flash he
+never hesitated.
+
+"After all, I've often been out without an overcoat on cold days," he
+said to himself. "I guess I can stand it for a while, and when Jack is
+up I can run back to the projectile and keep warm that way."
+
+To think was to act, and Mark laid down his life-torch to take off the
+big fur coat. The next instant he had toppled over, almost in a faint,
+and, had he not fallen so that his head was near the small perforated
+box on the end of the steel rod, whence came the life-giving gas, the
+lad might have died.
+
+He had forgotten, for the instant, the necessity of always keeping the
+torch close to his face to prevent the poisonous gases of the moon from
+overpowering him. Mark soon revived while lying on the ground, and,
+rising, with his torch in his hand, he looked about him.
+
+"I've got to have my two hands to work with," he mused, "and yet I've
+got to hold this torch close to my face. Say, a fellow ought to have
+three hands if he's going to visit the moon. What can I do?"
+
+In an instant a plan came to him. He thrust the pointed end of the
+steel rod in the crevice of some rocks, and it stood upright, so that
+the perforated box of chemicals was on a level with his face.
+
+"There," said Mark aloud, "I guess that will work. I can use both my
+hands now." The plan was a good one. Next, taking off his coat, the lad
+proceeded to cut it into strips, working rapidly. He called to Jack
+occasionally, bidding him keep up his courage. "I'll soon have you
+out," he said cheeringly.
+
+In a few minutes Mark had a long, stout strip of hide, and, taking his
+life-torch with him, he advanced once more to the edge of the crater.
+He stuck the torch in between some rocks, as before, and looked down at
+Jack.
+
+"I--I can't hold on much longer," gasped the unfortunate lad. "Hurry,
+Mark!"
+
+"All right. I'm going to haul you up now. Can you hold on with one hand
+long enough to slip the loop of this rope over your shoulders?"
+
+"I guess so. But where did you get a rope?"
+
+"I made it--cut up my fur coat."
+
+"But you'll freeze!"
+
+"Oh, I guess not. Here it comes, Jack. Get ready!"
+
+Mark lowered the hide rope to his chum. The latter, who managed to get
+one toe on a small, projecting rock, while he held on with his right
+hand, used his left to adjust the loop over his shoulders and under his
+arms.
+
+"Are you all ready?" asked Mark.
+
+"Yes, but can you pull me up?"
+
+"Sure. I'm six times as strong as when on the earth. Hold steady now,
+and keep the torch close to your face."
+
+Mark had placed some pieces of his fur coat under the rope where it
+passed over the edge of the mouth of the crater to prevent the jagged
+rocks from cutting the strips of hide.
+
+"Here you come!" he cried to Jack, and he began to haul, taking care to
+keep his own head near his torch, which was stuck upright. Mark had
+spoken truly when he said he possessed much more than his usual
+strength. Any one who has tried to haul up a person with a rope from a
+hole, and with no pulleys to adjust the strain of the cable, knows what
+a task it is. But to Mark, on the moon, it was comparatively easy.
+
+Hand over hand he pulled on the hide rope until, with a final heave, he
+had Jack out of his perilous position. He had pulled him up from the
+mouth of the crater, and the thick fur coat Jack wore had prevented the
+sharp rocks from injuring him. In another moment he stood beside Mark,
+a trifle weak and shaky from his experience, but otherwise unhurt.
+
+"How did you happen to go down there?" asked Mark.
+
+"Not from choice, I 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 Jack was over, he
+began to feel cool, and the chilling atmosphere of the moon struck
+through to his bones.
+
+In a short time the two lads were back at the _Annihilator_, where
+they found Professors Roumann and Henderson getting a bit anxious about
+them. Their adventure was quickly related, and the boys were cautioned
+to be more careful in the future.
+
+"This moon is a curious, desolate place," said Mr. Henderson, "and you
+can't behave on it as you would on the earth. We have discovered some
+curious facts regarding it, and when we get back I am going to write a
+book on them. But I think we have seen enough for the present, so we'll
+stay in the rest of the day and plan for farther trips."
+
+"Aren't we going to look for those diamonds?" asked Jack, who had
+almost fully recovered from his recent experience.
+
+"Oh, yes, we will look around for them," assented 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 living cabin.
+
+"Has yo' got one ob dem torch-light processions 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, walking 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 professors were in the midst of a discussion as to
+where would be the best place to move the projectile next, they heard
+him running along the corridor 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 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 announcement 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, Washington?"
+
+"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 argument.
+
+"Well, tell us about it," suggested Jack.
+
+"It were jest dis way," began Washington earnestly, and with occasional
+glances over his shoulder, "I were walkin' along, sort ob lookin' fer
+dem sparklin' diamonds, an' I didn't see none, 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 theory," declared Jack.
+"It shows that the Martians 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 uttered 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 distinguishable.
+
+"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
+characteristics 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 partly distinguishable, was found four hundred
+feet down in an old copper mine, where the dripping 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.
+
+"Then the moon was once inhabited?" asked Jack at length.
+
+"I believe so--yes," answered Professor Henderson.
+
+"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 scientist. "Perhaps he was off
+alone in the mountains 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, and to that end I suggest that we set our
+projectile 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 Washington.
+
+"We sure did," answered Jack. "You weren't mistaken that time."
+
+They got ready to move the projectile, but decided to remain over night
+where they were. "Over night" being the way they spoke of it, though,
+as I have said, there was perpetual daylight 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 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 photograph 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, finding 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 approaching the side of the
+moon which from time 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 professors 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. Henderson. 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 Henderson, running in from the
+pilot-house, for an automatic signal there had apprised him that
+something was wrong.
+
+"There's a bad break," said Jack ruefully.
+
+"A bad break! I should say there was," remarked 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 negative
+electrical plates merely having been smashed by a piece of the broken
+connecting rod of the air pump. It was only a short time before the
+motor was ready to run again.
+
+But it could not be successfully operated without the air and water
+pumps, and it was necessary 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, announced 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 Henderson announced that the air and water pumps were
+now in good shape again.
+
+"Then let's get under way at once," suggested 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 looking 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
+observation 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 portion 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 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 particularly large and deep crater, and a few minutes
+later when Mark, who was in the engine room, attempted to speed up the
+Cordite 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 response to various movements of the lever, the
+machine seemed to go slower and slower.
+
+The German came in answer to the summons.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, "that motor is broken again. We shall have to stop
+once more for repairs. 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 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."
+
+"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 bottle 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 side.
+
+"Boys, I'm going to have a look down that," he said. "It may contain a
+bear or wildcat, and I can get a shot."
+
+"Guess there isn't much danger of a bear being 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 unfathomable 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," answered 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 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 wonder 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."
+
+"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!"
+
+"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 awestruck voice, and he gazed on
+the chill and desolate scene all about them; the great pinnacles of
+rocks, in fantastic form; the immense black caverns 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 cheerful 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.
+
+"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."
+
+"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," declared Mark stoutly.
+
+"Hu! You're like the Indian," spoke Jack. "The Indian who got lost in
+the woods. He insisted 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."
+
+"Hu! Those diamonds!" exploded Mark. "I think this whole thing is a
+wild-goose chase, anyhow! If it hadn't been for those diamonds we
+wouldn't have come to the moon. I don't believe 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
+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 locating 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 hungry 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 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 knowledge 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 remain 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.
+
+"Well, let's move on again," suggested Jack. "We feel better now, and
+maybe we'll have better luck."
+
+They started off, tramping over the rugged surface 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 projectile 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. Even climbing to one of the high peaks,
+whence they had a view of the surrounding country, afforded them no
+trace of the _Annihilator_, 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 something 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
+situation. 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 moon, which contained no living
+creatures save themselves, 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.
+
+"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 about 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 actions, was ready to shoulder part of the
+responsibility 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 better 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 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 would be safe to
+start out in search of the wanderers.
+
+"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 _Annihilator_ 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.
+
+"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 accepted all the blame for
+their misadventure. But the boys would not suffer him to thus accuse
+himself, 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 Washington used to make! and how they would have
+even exchanged their chance of filling their pockets 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 moment, 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 because 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 sufferings and worry had made
+the old hunter simple-minded.
+
+"What is it?" asked Andy, shaking it in the air.
+
+"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 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 proceeded 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
+vibrations 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 intervals 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 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 _Annihilator_ 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 farther, and they had sat about on
+bleak rocks shivering, and had eaten their scanty meals--shivering
+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
+remained 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 towered 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 astonishment 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 artificial 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 guardhouse 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 inhabited
+part of the moon!"
+
+His words thrilled them. They pressed forward 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
+desolation. 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, beyond 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
+water. To pass on over the crater seemed the only thing to do.
+
+"Come ahead," called Jack boldly. They followed 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 between two peaks, similar to
+those at the beginning. 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
+companions 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 similar chemicals, and the
+people were turned to rocks."
+
+It was uncanny, and for a moment they hesitated on the edge of the
+city, which lay in a sort of cup-like valley, surrounded on all sides
+by 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 contemplated 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.
+
+"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
+hurrying here and there, dogs running about, children 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
+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 wonders 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 occupations 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 bygone 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 in the windows what seemed to be chunks of 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 sandwich 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!"
+
+"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 perfectly 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 thousand years old, yet it grows when
+they plant it, and they can make bread of it.
+
+"Now, maybe we can find some wheat or something to eat in some of these
+houses. If there's meat, it will be perfectly preserved, for the
+temperature 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 enthusiasm. "Think of having a
+loaf of bread and some beefsteak thousands of years old. I suppose they
+had beefsteak here," he added cautiously.
+
+"Some kind of meat, anyhow," agreed Jack. "Well, let's look for a place
+that was once a 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 enthusiasm. "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 appeared to be a stove. It was
+more like a brick oven, however, than a modern range, though in dishes
+that were now stone something was being cooked when the catastrophe
+occurred.
+
+"There's meat, I'll wager!" cried Jack, pointing 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, "Nothing 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 sufficient
+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, smiting 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, chuckling 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 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 happened 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 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 chewing 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.
+
+"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 moisture. They tried to chew some of the pale green
+vegetation that grew more plentiful on this side 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 existence, 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 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 crater, 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
+bad. By some curious chemical action, which they never understood, the
+liquid had been prevented 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 hidden 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
+reflection, 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.
+
+"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 projectile.
+
+"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 noticed 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
+in. By Mark's computation there was only three more days of daylight
+left. What would happen in the desolate darkness?
+
+As they were returning from the black pool, with their water bottles
+filled, and put inside the 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."
+
+"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
+remained there idly, until Andy roused the boys to a sense of their
+responsibility by urging upon 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
+terrible 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 everything 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 the 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
+several 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 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
+temperature 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
+projectile 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 disbelieving 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, 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!" exclaimed 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 diamonds,
+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 overburdened 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
+rending 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, 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
+discovering 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. As they were about to
+go in, ready to hide themselves 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
+roaring in the atmosphere.
+
+"It's her--it's the _Annihilator!_" shouted Jack, leaping about.
+
+"Wait," counselled Andy, who dreaded the terrible 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
+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!"
+
+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, increasing their speed. They came
+to a great crater that lay between them and the projectile, but
+fortunately there was across the middle of it a natural 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!" shouted Jack, and he sprang fearlessly forward, fairly
+running over the narrow path, which had a sheer descent of thousands 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 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
+Jack, and then by turns he and Mark and Andy told of their terrible
+adventures while they were lost on the moon.
+
+On their part Professors Roumann and Henderson stated how they had
+waited in vain for the return of the wanderers, and had then, by
+strenuous work, managed to make the necessary repairs without the
+missing tool. Then they set 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 sparklers?" 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 gathered up to satisfy even Washington White, who declared that he
+would be the best decorated colored 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 museum in
+which Professor Roumann was interested, the _Annihilator_ was sealed
+shut.
+
+And it was only just in time, for with the suddenness of an eclipse
+intense darkness settled down, and the temperature, as indicated by a
+thermometer thrust outside, showed a drop of a hundred degrees.
+
+"We never could have lived out there," said Jack.
+
+"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 wanderings, and told how they had managed to live
+during the time they were lost. The two professors 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 excitement, they hovered about in the air over Bayside
+until dark, when they gently descended almost 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 diamonds.
+
+"We certainly made some very valuable scientific observations,"
+asserted Mr. Henderson, "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 diamonds made inter a stick-pin
+fo' my red necktie," was the answer.
+
+"Oh, you'd better wait until morning," suggested Professor Henderson.
+
+They gathered about the table in the cozy dining 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 universe now. I wonder where we can go
+next?"
+
+"I'm going to bed right after supper," announced 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 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.
+Professor 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 remained at home, the two
+professors busy over their scientific work, and the boys engaged with
+their studies, while Andy occasionally went hunting, 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
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lost on the Moon, by Roy Rockwood
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lost on the Moon, by Roy Rockwood
+#5 in our series by Roy Rockwood
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Lost on the Moon
+       or In Quest Of The Field of Diamonds
+
+Author: Roy Rockwood
+
+Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7473]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 6, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ON THE MOON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon, Joshua Hutchinson
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+LOST ON THE MOON
+OR
+IN QUEST OF THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+
+     I. A WONDERFUL STORY
+    II. SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES
+   III. PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE
+    IV. AN ACCIDENT
+     V. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
+    VI. ON THE TRACK
+   VII. MARK IS CAPTURED
+  VIII. JACK IS PUZZLED
+    IX. A DARING PLOT
+     X. "HOW STRANGE MARK ACTS"
+    XI. READY FOR THE MOON
+   XII. MARK'S ESCAPE
+  XIII. A DIREFUL THREAT
+   XIV. OFF AT LAST
+    XV. THE SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE
+   XVI. "WILL IT HIT US?"
+  XVII. TURNING TURTLE
+ XVIII. AT THE MOON
+   XIX. TORCHES OF LIFE
+    XX. ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER
+   XXI. WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST
+  XXII. A BREAKDOWN
+ XXIII. LOST ON THE MOON
+  XXIV. DESOLATE WANDERINGS
+   XXV. THE PETRIFIED CITY
+  XXVI. SEEKING FOOD
+ XXVII. THE BLACK POOL
+XXVIII. THE SIGNAL FAILS
+  XXIX. THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS
+   XXX. BACK TO EARTH--CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A WONDERFUL STORY
+
+
+"Well, what do you think of it, Mark?" asked Jack Darrow, as he laid
+aside a portion of a newspaper, 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!"
+
+"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, instead 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 translated
+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."
+
+"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 anything 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?"
+
+"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 smiling, 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 colored man, "but did I done heah
+you' to promulgate some conversationess regarding de transmigatorability
+ob diamonds?"
+
+"Do you mean, were we talking about diamonds?" inquired Mark.
+
+"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 Henderson'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 joke!" 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 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 aim, the latter lad asked:
+
+"Did you want to see us about anything particular, 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 diamonds, 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 diamond story demonstrated to
+them sooner than either expected. Following the colored man, the lads,
+Jack carrying 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, test tubes, alembecs, Bunsen burners, globes, and
+various 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 Professor 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, enthusiastically. "Look
+here, Professor Henderson, 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 the 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 companion.
+
+"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 diamonds 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 carefully 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 going over the article, but
+when he had finished, he looked at the two boys, and said: "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 Reonaris?" 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 diamonds? 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 laboratory of the scientist. It
+was broken by Washington 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, the colored 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." 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 projectile, 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 Cardite, 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. Henderson thoughtfully.
+
+"You'll go, too, won't you, Mark?" asked Jack.
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to be left behind. I'll go 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 other books of this series,
+Professor Amos 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, an old
+hunter, always went with them.
+
+Mark and Jack were orphans, who had been adopted by Professor
+Henderson, who spent all his time making wonderful machines for
+transportation, or conducting strange experiments.
+
+The two boys had been rescued by Professor Henderson and Washington
+White from a train wreck. Although both boys were badly hurt, they were
+nursed back to health by the eminent scientist, who soon learned to
+care for the lads as though they had been his own sons.
+
+They aided the professor, as soon as they were able, in constructing an
+airship, called the _Electric Monarch_, in which Professor Henderson
+hoped to be able to reach the North Pole. The boys thoroughly enjoyed
+the trip through the air, and had many thrills fighting the savage
+Eskimos. Finally, they succeeded in passing over the exact spot of the
+North Pole during a violent snowstorm.
+
+Not satisfied with their experiences after conquering the North, the
+adventurers set out for the Antarctic regions in a submarine boat. This
+trip, even more remarkable than the first, took them to many strange
+places in the South Atlantic. They were trapped for a time in the
+Sargasso Sea, and they walked on the ocean floor in new diving suits,
+one of the professor's marvelous inventions.
+
+It was on the voyage to the south that, coming 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 whirlpool, into which the
+_Porpoise_, their submarine boat, was nearly drawn by the powerful
+suction.
+
+The chasm might lead to the center of the earth, it was suggested, and,
+after thinking the matter over, on their return from the Antarctic,
+Professor Henderson decided to build a craft in which they might solve
+the mystery.
+
+The details of the voyage they took in the _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 voyages, 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
+professor, and Andy Sudds went off on occasional hunting 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 Professor 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 proposition. He said if the old
+scientist and his young friends would build the proper kind of a
+projectile, they could make a trip to the planet Mars, by means of a
+wonderful motor, operated by a power called Etherium, of which Mr.
+Roumann 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 believed gave the planet its
+rosy hue. He had an idea that it would prove of great value.
+
+But, though every precaution was taken, the 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 themselves up, and the powerful
+motors were started. Off it shot, at the rate of one hundred miles a
+second, 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 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 projectile.
+
+Among the other curiosities brought away by our friends, was a
+newspaper printed in Mars, for the inhabitants of that place where much
+further 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 Reonaris. 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."
+
+"I'd like to go," said Jack. "How about you, Professor Henderson? Oh,
+by the way, Washington said you wanted to see Mark and me, but I was so
+interested in this news item, that I forgot to ask what it as about."
+
+"I merely wanted to inquire when you and Mark thought of resuming your
+studies at college," 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," remarked 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 professor 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, passing 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. Anyhow, 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 what 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 getting on his hat and coat,
+for the night was chilly, his chum went on:
+
+"Mark, if I didn't know, that we had left Axtell, the crazy machinist,
+up on Mars, I'd say that this was his writing. But, of course, it's
+impossible."
+
+"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 the road from the professor's house. The
+two boys kept well together, and they were watching 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."
+
+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
+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
+morrow, for their trip to the moon.
+
+There was much to be done, but their experience 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 preparing the food supply,
+since he was to act as 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
+construction 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 making air or water, and
+scores of scientific instruments.
+
+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 wireless vibrations, from large plates of metal, and
+these plates were the invention of Professor Roumann.
+
+Perhaps to some of my readers it may seem 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 journey, 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,
+however, but 252,972 miles, at the most, must be traversed--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 computed as being 238,840 miles, it
+can readily be seen that at no time was the voyage to be considered 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 announced
+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
+neighborhood. 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
+projectile, which was soon to be shot through space.
+
+"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 occupies 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 today,
+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 looked 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 professor was going to attempt
+to reach it. Perhaps 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 apparatus 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' 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 colored 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 notion 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 astronomers 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. 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, Washington 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 inventor did not
+want the secret of his Cardite motor to become known.
+
+The work went on from day to day, good progress being made. The boys
+were of great assistance, for they were practical mechanics, and had
+had considerable experience.
+
+"Well, I shall try the Cardite motor to-morrow," announced Professor
+Roumann one night, after a hard day's work on the projectile.
+
+"Do you think it will work?" asked Mr. Henderson.
+
+"I think so, yes. My experiments have made me hopeful."
+
+"And if it does work, when can we start?" asked Jack.
+
+"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 Professor 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 machine 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 substance he had secured from Mars. Then he closed
+the heavy metal box that held it, and, looking about to see if all was
+in readiness, he motioned 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 unlike 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 backward,
+while Professor Roumann was hurled the entire length of the engine
+room.
+
+"The 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 explosion, 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 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
+wandered toward the disabled Cardite motor, he exclaimed:
+
+"Some enemy has done this! The motor was tampered with. The resistance
+block was loosened, 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. Henderson poured out some aromatic spirits of ammonia
+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 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 professor 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
+projectile 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. Roumann. "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 Henderson. "We must be on our
+guard. I wonder if Washington----"
+
+At that moment there sounded a violent pounding 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
+conducted 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
+exploded."
+
+"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 in readiness for any
+intruders, the old hunter followed the colored man outside the big
+shed.
+
+Meanwhile Professor Roumann and Mr. Henderson were carefully examining
+the exploded motor.
+
+"I should have looked at the breech plug before 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 loosened 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 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 seconds, 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 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 Professor 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 diamonds will drop."
+
+"Then we must not throw them upon the market," 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.
+
+"Mark," said Jack in a low voice, as they followed 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 Henderson and Roumann. The
+scientists were deep in a discussion of various technical matters,
+which discussion, 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 blowing 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 to find Dick Johnson, and ask him just where it 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 direction, so that will help some."
+
+"Sure. Well, then, let's find Dick."
+
+To the inquiries of the two lads from the projectile, Dick Johnson
+replied that, as he had asserted 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?"
+
+"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 on 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 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 anything. 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, anyhow. 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 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 trapper. "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 homestead, 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 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," declared 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 handsome 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. "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 forgotten 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."
+
+"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 anything 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, while Mark strolled
+on down the road, in the direction of the old Preakness house. He was
+thinking of many things, chiefly of the wonderful journey that lay
+before them, and he was wondering 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 forests, 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 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 going 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 action 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
+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 Virginia 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 himself."
+
+Past the old gateway Mark continued, intending to proceed along the
+highway until he got directly 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 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 anything 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 highway, 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 material 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
+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 person we're looking for?"
+
+Mark hardly knew what to do. He stood in the road, undecided, and
+fairly stared at the man, who had left the porch, and was walking down
+the weed-grown path. He was looking straight at Mark, but if the
+stranger was the person who had written the note, and if he recognized
+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, determining to do some questioning on his own account.
+
+"Me live here?" cried the man, as if indignant "Well, hardly! I was
+just passing, and, happening to see the old place, and having a
+fondness for antiques, I stepped in. But it is in bad shape. I should
+say tramps make it their hangout."
+
+"It has that name," said Mark.
+
+There was a pause for a moment, and the lad was a trifle embarrassed.
+The man was gazing 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," answered 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 antiques, 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 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 owners," 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 no harm in helping him, as long as it was
+outside. The man saw the hesitation 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
+suspicious. Suddenly he became aware of a peculiar 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.
+
+"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 prisoner 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, urging 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."
+
+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 toward 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 separated
+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.
+
+"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 ramshackle 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
+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, tumbled-down house and waited. All was still.
+Occasionally 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 agreement and wait for me at
+the barn. Well, here goes."
+
+Though he spoke bravely, it was not without a 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 inside?"
+
+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 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 occasional farmer urging his
+horses along, that be 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
+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 professors. There was a cheerful light glowing from
+many windows, and Jack also noticed an illumination 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 protoids 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?"
+
+"I done did. Dat's what I done. Supper's cold. But where am Massa
+Mark?"
+
+"What! Isn't Mark home?" cried Jack, starting 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 captive
+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."
+
+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 moment 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 position, first taking the
+precaution, however, of binding his hands and feet.
+
+"There," whispered the man, when he had finished, "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 mysterious 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 hiding place," he said to
+himself. "It couldn't be better for what I want. Now to see what
+happens 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 awakening the unfortunate lad; and he
+struggled to loosen his bonds, but they were too strongly tied. He
+endeavored to answer Jack, but only a meaningless 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 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?" demanded 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."
+
+"But why do you want to be revenged on us?"
+
+"Because of what you have done!" 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 blindfold 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 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 attempt 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, 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 perhaps 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.
+
+"Will you tell me your name?" asked Marie 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 yourself.
+Otherwise I shall have to tie you up."
+
+Mark considered a moment. It was not pleasant 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 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 candle 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. Consequently 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 opening 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
+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 opening 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 tonight."
+
+"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
+attention. 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 something in Mark's ear, as if he
+was afraid the very walls would hear.
+
+"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 determined 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 believed 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 become a
+rich man."
+
+"I don't want riches--I want revenge!" exclaimed 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
+entrance, 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 outcome of it; how his chum had failed to meet him
+at the rendezvous, and how Jack had searched through the old house
+without result.
+
+"There's but one thing to do," declared Professor 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 searching 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?" suggested 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 locate 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 remember 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."
+
+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 received with
+thanks, and, bringing two more lanterns with them, Mr. Hampton and his
+man added considerable to the illumination.
+
+They went through the old mansion from garret 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 departed, 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
+country. The two scientists were too old for such work, and, as the aid
+of the police was not desired, 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 related, 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,
+Professor?" 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.
+
+"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 whispered.
+
+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 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 gladness. "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 hospital. 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.
+
+"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?"
+
+"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 professors 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 doctoring. Come here where I can see."
+
+"No--no--the--light hurts my eyes," was the hasty reply. "I guess I'll
+go to bed, so as to be all ready to start in the morning. Why don't you
+leave for the moon to-night, professor?"
+
+"There are still a few little details to look after. But are you sure
+you are well enough to go with us? We may meet with hardships up on the
+moon."
+
+"Oh, I'm all ready to go," was the answer. "I'd start to-night if I
+could. But now I must get to bed."
+
+"Don't you want supper?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I had some just before I left the hospital."
+
+"What hospital was it?" inquired Andy Sudds. "I was in one once, and I
+didn't like it. There wa'nt enough air for me."
+
+"I forget the name of the place," came the reply. "I can't think
+clearly. I need sleep."
+
+The newcomer kept in the shadows of the room, as if the light hurt his
+eyes, and appeared restless and ill at ease. With the hand that was not
+in a sling he pulled the bandages closer about his face.
+
+"Can't you tell us more about what happened?" asked Jack, for Mark was
+not usually so reticent, and his chum noticed it.
+
+"There isn't much to tell," was the response. "I went to the old house,
+and I was looking around when I happened to tumble down stairs. I must
+have been knocked unconscious, but when I came to I crawled outside. A
+farmer was driving past, and I asked him to take me to a hospital."
+
+"Why didn't you come home?" asked Mr. Henderson.
+
+"Oh, I didn't want to make any trouble and delay work on the
+projectile. I figured that I could be with you in a few hours, and you
+wouldn't worry. But they insisted that I must stay in the hospital when
+they got me there. Then I lost consciousness again, and couldn't manage
+to let you know where I was. But I'm all right now."
+
+"Why didn't you wait for me at the barn, when I went to send the
+telegram, as you promised you would?" asked Jack, who felt a little
+hurt at his chum's neglect.
+
+"Did I promise to wait for you at some barn?"
+
+"Yes; don't you remember?" and Jack gazed at the bandaged figure in
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes--I--I guess I do. But I want to go to bed now," and pulling
+the cloths closer about his face the injured one started from the
+apartment.
+
+"Here. That's not the way up to your room. The stairs are over here,"
+called Jack, for he saw the newcomer taking the wrong direction.
+
+"Oh, yes. Guess my mind must be wandering," and with an uneasy laugh
+the injured one turned about. They heard him going up stairs, and a
+little later Jack followed. He found that Mark's room was not occupied.
+
+"Hi, Mark! Where are you?" he called, in some alarm.
+
+"Here," was the answer, and the voice came from Jack's own apartment.
+
+"Well, you're in the wrong bunk."
+
+"Am I? Well, I must have made another mistake. My head can't be right,"
+and with that the other came out and hastily went into the adjoining
+apartment.
+
+For a moment Jack stood in the hall. He looked at the door that had
+closed behind the bandaged figure.
+
+"There's something wrong," said Jack in a low voice. "How strange Mark
+acts! I wonder what can be the matter?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+READY FOR THE MOON
+
+
+There were busy times for the moon-voyagers the next day. They were up
+early, for at the last moment many little details needed to be settled.
+The Cardite motor had been thoroughly repaired, for the damage caused
+by the unknown enemy had done no permanent harm.
+
+When the injured one appeared the bandage on his head seemed larger
+than ever, and his features were almost hidden. He still wore his arm
+in a sling.
+
+"Well, how do you feel?" asked Jack, looking narrowly at the figure. He
+could not get rid of a suspicion that something was wrong with Mark.
+
+"Oh, I'm feeling pretty fair," was the mumbled answer. "I didn't sleep
+much, though."
+
+"Well, take care of yourself," advised Jack. "We are about ready to
+start. We'll get off about noon, Professor Henderson says. Don't try to
+do anything and injure your broken arm. You certainly had a tough time
+of it."
+
+"Yes, I guess I did. I can't do much to help you."
+
+"You don't need to. We're all but finished. Just hang around and watch
+me work. There isn't much to do."
+
+But though Jack gave an invitation to remain near him, the other seemed
+to prefer being off by himself. He wandered in and out of the
+projectile, now and then helping Andy or Washington to carry light
+objects into the _Annihilator_. But all the while he was careful not to
+disturb the bandage on his face, and several times he stopped to
+readjust it. Nor did he talk much, which Jack ascribed to his statement
+that his teeth hurt him. And when the bandaged figure did speak, it was
+in mumbling tones, very different from Mark's usually cheerful ones.
+
+"Well," remarked Professor Roumann, after a final inspection of the big
+Cardite motor--the one that was to be depended on to carry them to the
+moon--"I think we are about ready to leave this earth. How about it,
+Professor Henderson?"
+
+"Yes, I think so. Have you made any calculation as to speed?"
+
+"Yes, we will not have to move nearly as fast as we did when we went to
+Mars. We only have to cover a quarter of a million of miles at the
+most, and probably less than that. The motor will send us along at the
+rate of about a mile a second, which is three thousand six hundred
+miles an hour, or eighty-six thousand four hundred miles a--day. At
+that rate we would be at the moon in less than three days.
+
+"But I don't want to travel as fast as that," the German went on. "I
+want time to make some scientific observations on the way, and so I
+have reduced the speed of the Cardite motor by half, though should we
+need to hasten our trip we can do so."
+
+"Then we'll be about a week on the way?" asked Jack.
+
+"About that, yes," 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 Professor Henderson quickly.
+
+"I mean could we go to Mars if we wanted to?"
+
+"You don't mean to say you want to go back there, and run the chance of
+being attacked by the savage Martians, do you?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I was only asking," and the other seemed confused.
+
+"Well, of course, we _could_ go there, as we have plenty of supplies
+and enough of the Cardite," said Mr. Roumann. "But I think the moon
+will be the limit of our trip this time."
+
+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 frequently 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 atmosphere 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.
+
+"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 accident. 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 certainly 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 _Annihilator_ 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 Henderson, 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. 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!" 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 Henderson 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 clothing, 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 desire to escape
+and punish the scoundrel responsible 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 bitterly, "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
+projectile, and they never will be the wiser!"
+
+"They'll soon discover that you are disguised 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 water 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
+released 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 overheard 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 myself 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 revealed.
+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 return 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 redoubled his efforts. Strand by strand the cords
+parted. He put all his efforts into one last attempt, and to his great
+joy he felt his hands separate. 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 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!" exulted 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
+already 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 secret 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 man with them under the impression that
+they have me. I must escape! I will!"
+
+Once more he began the tiresome task of seeking 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
+before. It was sunk deep in a board.
+
+"I'll press that and see what happens!" he exclaimed.
+
+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 deliverance. "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
+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 morning--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
+villain 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 distant 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!"
+
+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 terrible time! I was captured by that mysterious man, and
+he's got my clothes. I must get home quick!"
+
+Dick heard, but scarcely understood. However, he comprehended that his
+friend was in trouble, 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!"
+
+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! 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 perhaps the fowl had not yet seen enough of this
+earth. At any rate, when he flew from the projectile, uttering loud
+crows, and landed some distance 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, looking 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 voluminous 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 Jenkins! I've a good notion to start the projectile
+myself. I know how to operate the Cardite motor. Only I suppose those
+two professors 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 specimen ob de chicken fambly
+dat I eber seed," observed Washington, breathing heavily, for his run
+had winded him.
+
+"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 anxiously for the tremor which would indicate that
+the projectile had left the earth. In another moment 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 explosions, 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 motorcycle," 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: "Wait! Wait! Don't go without me! You've 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 bandaged up--
+his queer actions--I--I----"
+
+Words failed the youth. Throwing wide open the door, he sprang out of
+the projectile. A moment 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 covered 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 Henderson, as he, too, ran out of
+the _Annihilator_. "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 ragged 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
+mysterious 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 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 window 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 prisoner!
+
+"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 Professor 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 puzzled 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.
+
+"Now we're in for another delay," remarked Jack ruefully, as he gazed
+at the smashed window. "It seems as if we'd never get started for the
+moon."
+
+"Oh, yes, we will," declared Professor Henderson. "We have some extra
+heavy plate glass in the shop, and we can soon put in another
+observation 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 fancied 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," announced Professor Roumann.
+"Our Cardite motor will soon take us out of the shadow of the earth,
+and we will be in perpetual sunshine until 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 dollar 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 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 Henderson read slowly the note Dick
+had brought. Then he passed it to Professor Roumann. The latter shook
+his shaggy gray hair, and murmured something 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 careful inspection to show it."
+
+"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 anxious 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
+asylum is where he belongs, though I can sympathize with him on account
+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
+Washington, 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 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 attention 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!"
+
+"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 him," announced the officer. "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 forward in the grip of the constable, he remarked 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 hurried to headquarters, reaching there just before the
+prisoner was brought in. The boys were assured by the chief that the
+man, who was evidently 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.
+
+"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 under 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. Washington 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 scientist.
+
+He pulled toward him the main starting lever of the Cardite motor,
+while Professor Roumann opened the valve which admitted to the plates
+and cylinders the mysterious force that was to send them on their way.
+
+"Elevate the bow!" called Professor Henderson.
+
+"Elevated it is," answered the German, as he turned a wheel which
+directed the negative gravity force against the surface of the ground
+and tilted up the nose of the _Annihilator_, as a skyrocket is slanted
+in a trough before the fuse is ignited.
+
+"Throw over the switch," directed Mr. Henderson, and the other
+scientist, with a quick motion, 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 Henderson 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 apparatus.
+
+Then, with a rush and a roar, the big steel car, resembling an enormous
+cigar, soared away from the earth, like some gigantic piece of
+fireworks, and shot toward the sky.
+
+"We're off!" shouted Mark.
+
+"For the moon!" added Jack.
+
+And the _Annihilator_ soared upward and onward, 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 working smoothly, Professor Henderson made his way to
+the pilot house forward, where Mark and Jack were in charge of the
+steering gears. The projectile 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 projectile
+is capable. Why, we're only going about twenty miles a second," and he
+spoke as if that was a mere nothing.
+
+"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 projectile, and so delicately
+poised was the machinery, that the terrifically fast rate of travel,
+rivalling 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 hundred 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
+thoroughly test the Cardite motor first. Then, when he finds that it
+works all right, we may go faster. But we will 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 German 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 projectile 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 the comet? If we are in danger of hitting another
+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 instruments
+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
+running 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 landscape
+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
+balloonist had never ventured.
+
+Mark and Jack sat for a few minutes in the 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 hatful 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 adjusting 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 investigations, and those of Langley, threw some doubts on
+this. There is said to be no air blanket about 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!" interrupted Washington White, his
+black face grinning 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 am roasted, laik I done heah yo' talkin' 'bout jest
+now, an' 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, hurried to where the various
+pieces of apparatus were sending the projectile forward through space.
+Already there was an appreciable slackening 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.
+
+"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 scattered 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
+Shanghai, 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 _Annihilator_ 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. "Underneath the motor, where they are supposed to be
+out of all reach, are several self-adjusting levers. They control the
+speed, and also, by being moved in a certain direction, they will shut
+down the apparatus. The rooster crawled beneath 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.
+
+"How did the rooster get in here?" asked Jack.
+
+"I 'spects dat's my fault," answered Washington. "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. Roumann. "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, discussing 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," remarked Jack. "I declare, it gives me an
+appetite!"
+
+"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 Professor Henderson. The
+novelty of dining as 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 second."
+
+"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 happens."
+
+"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 hundred 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 fervently. 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. Henderson. The motor was fairly whining now, as if in
+protest.
+
+"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!"
+
+"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
+machinery."
+
+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 motor, 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. "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 together.
+
+"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 engine 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," responded his chum.
+
+The next instant they were in the engine room, where Mr. Roumann was
+bending over the Cardite 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.
+
+"Then there's going to be a fearful collision!" cried Jack, and he
+blurted out the fact of the nearness 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 perfect
+English. Then, murmuring something in his own tongue, he leaped away
+from the motor, calling 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 fearful 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 increase it.
+
+Meanwhile Professor Roumann had set in motion 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 Roumann had, with the aid of
+Mr. Henderson, constructed a machine which, when a negative current of
+electricity was sent into it, would force away any object that was
+approaching the _Annihilator_. In a few moments the boys at the
+Cardite 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 moving 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. There was nothing to do but to wait
+and gradually slow up the projectile as much as possible. The boys
+could hear the professors in the pilothouse 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 motor, shivered as though
+she had plunged into the unknown depths of some mighty sea. The roaring
+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 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 boss
+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 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!"
+
+"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 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 projectile for
+Luna, and kept it on that course, she would, by the time we reached
+her, been in another 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 calculated 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 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 matters 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 evening, for
+it was perpetual daylight) they began to make their preparations for
+landing. Their wonderful journey through space was nearing an end.
+
+"I guess that crazy Axtell fellow was only joking 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
+barometer 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 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
+staggering 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 excited exclamations of
+Professors Henderson and Roumann.
+
+"We're turning turtle!" suddenly yelled Jack. "The projectile is
+turning over in the air! Something has gone wrong! Perhaps this is the
+revenge 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 moving 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 missing hitting our friends. Of course, the
+machinery 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.
+
+"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 tampering
+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 emptied on my head! Oh, golly! What happened?"
+
+The aged scientist looked toward the German. The latter was gazing up
+at the motionless Cardite 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. Roumann. "I think I will soon be
+able to right the craft."
+
+He labored desperately, but he was at a disadvantage, for the
+_Annihilator_ was not now moving smoothly 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
+whenever 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
+magnet. 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
+provide 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."
+
+"Is the machine all right now?" asked Jack.
+
+"It will be in a few minutes. Here, take this magnet and put it as far
+away 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. Roumann 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 places.
+Then, like some great fish turning over in the water, the _Annihilator_
+turned over in 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 space ship 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 scattered 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 of
+the moon, was shooting through space at their former 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 Axtell 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
+before, 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 narrowly averted.
+
+Washington made more soup, and soon had a fine meal ready, over which
+the travellers discussed 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 think we
+will go even more slowly on the remainder 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 following 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 entered the steering chamber. Then, after gazing
+through the glass, Mr. Henderson announced: "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 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 rugged, 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 Professor 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 machine."
+
+The Cardite motor was stopped. The projectile 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. Henderson threw over the steering
+wheel. The _Annihilator_ moved more slowly. Then came a gentle 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, peering 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 projectile."
+
+
+
+
+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
+Professor Roumann.
+
+"Do you think it would be dangerous to venture 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 temperature
+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 consisted of an
+aperture in the two sides of the projectile permitting certain delicate
+instruments to be thrust out, so that the conditions they indicated
+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 thermometer 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 hundred 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. For they had landed
+on the moon in bright sunlight.
+
+"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 protégé. "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 better student than was his
+chum, "don't you remember that the moon rotates on its axis once a
+month, or in about twenty-eight days, to be exact, and so 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 twenty-eight degrees. But now about the atmosphere."
+"We will test that directly," went on the German. "It will take some
+time longer, though."
+
+Various instruments were brought forth and thrust out of the opening in
+the side of the projectile, 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
+cannot 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 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
+perilous 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. Roumann. "But I must first conduct some
+further experiments. 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
+projectile."
+
+"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 outside?"
+
+"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. Henderson. "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 oxygen and other elements, which, when brought in
+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 temperature and its poisonous
+"atmosphere" (if such it can be termed), there was an uncanny feeling
+about stepping forth into the midst of the desolation that was on every
+side.
+
+For it was desolate--terribly so! Not a sound broke the stillness.
+There was no life--no motion--as far as could be seen. Not a tree or
+shrub relieved the rugged monotony of the landscape. It was like a dead
+world.
+
+"And to think that people may have once lived here," observed Jack, in
+a low voice.
+
+"Yes, and to think that there may be people on the other side of the
+moon even now," added Mark. "We must take a look if it's possible."
+
+"Well," remarked Mr. Henderson, after a while, "are we going out and
+see what it's like or not."
+
+"Of course, we are," said Jack. "Come on, Mark, I'm not afraid."
+
+"Me either. Do we have to do anything to the torches to make them
+operate, Professor Roumann?"
+
+"Merely press this lever," and the scientist showed them where there
+was one in the handle of the steel rod. "As soon as that is pressed, it
+admits a liquid to the chemicals and the oxygen gas is formed, rising
+all around you, like a protecting vapor. After that it is automatic."
+
+"How long will the supply of chemical last?" inquired Jack.
+
+"Each one is calculated to give out gas for nearly two weeks," was the
+reply; "possibly for a little longer. But come, I want to see how they
+work. Here is your life-torch, Professor Henderson, and there is one
+for you, too, Andy, and Washington."
+
+"'Scuse me!" exclaimed the colored man hastily, as he started back
+toward the kitchen.
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" asked Jack. "Don't you want to go out, and
+walk around the moon, and pick up diamonds?"
+
+"Diamonds am all right," answered Washington, "but I jest done fo'got
+dat I ain't fed my Shanghai rooster to-day, an' I 'spects he's mighty
+hungry. You folks go on out an' pick up a few obde sparklers, an' when
+I gits de Shanghai fed I'll prognosticate myse'f inter conjunction wif
+yo' all."
+
+"You mean you'll join us?" asked Mark.
+
+"Dat's what I means, suah."
+
+"Why, I do believe Washington's afraid!" cried Jack jokingly.
+
+"Askeered! Who's afraid?" retorted the colored man boldly. "Didn't I
+done tole yo' dat I got t' feed my rooster? Heah him crowin' now? Yo'
+all go 'long, an' I'll meet yo' later," and with that Washington
+disappeared quickly.
+
+"Well, he'll soon pluck up courage and come out," declared Professor
+Henderson. "Let him go now, and we'll go out and see what it is like on
+the moon."
+
+"I hope we find those diamonds," murmured Jack, and Mark smiled.
+
+In order not to admit the poisonous gases into the projectile, it was
+decided to leave the Annihilator and return to it by means of a double
+door, forming a sort of air lock. It was similar to the water lock used
+on the submarine. That is, the adventurers entered a chamber built in
+between the two steel walls of their craft. The interior door was then
+sealed shut automatically. Next the outer door was opened, and they
+could step directly to the surface of the moon and into the deadly
+atmosphere.
+
+"Well, are we all ready?" asked Mr. Roumann, as he picked up one of the
+chemical torches.
+
+"I guess so," responded Andy Sudds, who had his gun with him. "I hope I
+see some game. I haven't had a shot in a long while."
+
+"You're not likely to up here," spoke Mr. Henderson. "Game is scarce on
+the moon, unless it's some of that green cheese Washington talked
+about."
+
+They entered the air lock and fastened the door behind them. Then
+Professor Roumann pressed on the lever that swung open the outer
+portal.
+
+"Hold your torches close to your head," he called. "The moon atmosphere
+may be too strong for us at first until we create a mist of oxygen
+about us."
+
+Out upon the surface of the moon they stepped, probably the first earth
+beings so to do, though they had evidence that the inhabitants of Mars
+had preceded them.
+
+For a moment they all gasped for breath, but only for a moment. Then
+the gas began to flow from the life-torches, and they could breathe as
+well as they had done while in the projectile, or while on the earth.
+
+"Well, if this isn't great!" cried Jack, gazing about him.
+
+"It certainly beats anything I ever saw," came from Mark.
+
+"Wonderful, wonderful," murmured Professor Henderson. "We will be able
+to gain much valuable scientific knowledge here, Professor Roumann. We
+must at once begin our observations."
+
+"I agree with you," spoke the German.
+
+Andy Sudds said nothing. He was looking around for a sight of game,
+with his rifle in readiness. But not a sign of life met his eager eyes.
+
+Once they were outside the projectile it was even more desolate than it
+had seemed when they looked from the observation windows. It was
+absolutely still. Not a breath of wind fanned their cheeks, for where
+there is no air to be heated and cooled there could be no wind which is
+caused by the differences of temperature of the air, the cold rushing
+in to fill the vacuum caused by the rising of the hot vapors. Clad in
+their fur-lined garments, which effectually defied the cold, the
+adventurers stepped out.
+
+Over the rugged ground they went, gazing curiously about them. It was
+like being in the wildest part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains of our
+earth, and, in fact, the surface of the moon was not unlike the
+mountainous and hilly sections of the earth. There were no long ranges
+of rugged peaks, though, but rather scattered pinnacles and deep
+hollows, great craters adjoining immense, towering steeples of rocks,
+with comparatively level ground in between.
+
+The life-torches worked to perfection. As our friends carried them,
+there arose about their bodies a cloud of invisible vapor, which,
+however, was as great a protection from the poisonous gases as a coat
+of mail would have been.
+
+"This is great!" exclaimed Jack. "It's much better than to have to put
+on a diving-suit and carry a cylinder of oxygen or compressed air about
+on our shoulders."
+
+They strolled away from the projectile and gazed back at it. Nothing
+moved--not a sound broke the stillness. There was only the blazing
+sunlight, which, however, did not seem to warm the atmosphere much, for
+it was very chilly. On every side were great rocks, rugged and broken,
+with here and there immense fissures in the surface of the moon,
+fissures that seemed miles and miles long.
+
+"Well, here's where I look for diamonds," called Jack, as he stepped
+boldly out, followed by Mark. "Let's see who'll find the first
+sparkler."
+
+"All right," agreed his chum, and they strolled away together, slightly
+in advance of the two professors and Andy, who remained together, the
+scientist discussing the phenomena on every side and the hunter looking
+in vain for something to shoot. But he had come to a dead world.
+
+Almost before they knew it Jack and Mark had gone on quite some
+distance. Though they were not aware of it at that moment, it was much
+easier to walk on the moon than it was on the earth, for they weighed
+only one sixth as much, and the attraction of gravitation was so much
+less.
+
+But suddenly Jack remembered that curious fact, and, stooping, he
+picked up a stone. He cast it from him, at the same time uttering a
+yell.
+
+"What's the matter?" called Mark.
+
+"Look how far I fired that rock!" shouted Jack. "Talk about it being
+easy! why, I believe I could throw a mile if I tried hard!"
+
+"It goes six times as far as it would on the earth," spoke his chum,
+"and we can also jump six times as far."
+
+"Then let's try that!" proposed Jack. "There's a nice level place over
+there. Come on, I'll wager that I can beat you."
+
+"Done!" agreed Mark, and they hurried to the spot, their very walking
+being much faster than usual.
+
+"I'll go first," proposed Jack, "and you see if you can come up to me."
+He poised himself on a little hummock of rock, balanced himself for a
+moment, and then hurled himself through space.
+
+Prepared as he was, in a measure, for something strange, he never
+bargained for what happened. It was as if he had been fired from some
+catapult of the ancient Romans. Through the air he hurtled, like some
+great flying animal, covering fifty feet from a standing jump.
+
+"Say, that's great!" yelled Mark. "Here I come, and I'll beat----"
+
+He did not finish, for a cry of horror came from Jack.
+
+"I'm going to fall into a crater--a bottomless pit! I'm on the edge of
+it!" yelled the lad who had jumped.
+
+And, with horror-stricken eyes, Mark saw his chum disappear from sight
+beyond a pile of rugged rocks, toward which he had leaped. The last
+glimpse Mark had was of the life-torch, which Jack held up in the air,
+close to his head.
+
+"Jack--in a crater!" gasped Mark, as he ran forward, holding his own
+life-torch close to his mouth and nose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST
+
+
+Advancing by leaps and bounds, and getting over the ground in a manner
+most surprising, Mark soon found himself on the edge of the great,
+yawning crater, into which his chum Jack had started to slide. I say
+started, for, fortunately, the lad had been saved from death but by a
+narrow margin.
+
+As Mark gazed down into the depths, which seemed fathomless, and which
+were as black as night, he saw his friend clinging to a rocky
+projection on the side of the extinct volcano. Jack had managed to
+grasp a part of the rough surface as he slid down it after his reckless
+jump. He looked up and saw Mark.
+
+"Oh, Mark, can't you save me?" he gasped. "Call Professor Henderson!"
+
+"I'll get you up, don't worry!" called Mark, as confidently as he
+could. "Hold tight, Jack. What has become of your life-torch?"
+
+"I have it here by me. I didn't drop it, and it's on a piece of the
+rock near my head. Otherwise I couldn't breathe. Oh, this place is
+fearfully deep. I guess it hasn't any bottom."
+
+"Now, keep still, and don't think about that. Save your strength, hold
+fast, and I'll get you up."
+
+But, having said that much, Mark was not so sure how next to proceed.
+It was going to be no easy task to haul up Jack, and that without ropes
+or other apparatus. Another matter that added to the danger was the
+necessity of keeping the life-torch close to one's face in order to
+prevent death by the poisonous gases.
+
+Mark's first impulse was to hasten back and call the two professors,
+but he looked over the desolate landscape, and could not see them, and
+he feared that if he went away Jack might slip and fall into the
+unknown depths of the crater.
+
+"I've got to get him out alone," decided Mark. "But how can I do it?"
+
+He crawled cautiously nearer to the edge of the extinct volcano and
+looked down. A few loose stones, dislodged by his weight, rattled down
+the sides.
+
+"Look out!" cried Jack quickly, "or you'll fall, too!"
+
+"I'll be careful," answered Mark, and then he drew away out of danger,
+with a queer feeling about his heart, which was beating furiously. Mark
+had hoped to be able to make his way down the side of the crater to
+where his chum was and help him up. But a look at the steep sides and
+the uncertain footing afforded by the loose rocks of lava-like
+formation showed that this could not be done.
+
+"I've got to think of a different scheme," decided Mark, and, spurred
+on by the necessity of acting quickly if he was to save Jack, he fairly
+forced his brain to work. For he saw by the strained look on his chum's
+face that Jack could not hold out much longer.
+
+"I have it!" cried Mark at length. "My fur coat! I can cut it into
+strips of hide and make a rope. Then I can lower it down to Jack and
+haul him up."
+
+He did not think, for the moment, of the cold he would feel when he
+stripped off the fur garment, and when it did come to him in a flash he
+never hesitated.
+
+"After all, I've often been out without an overcoat on cold days," he
+said to himself. "I guess I can stand it for a while, and when Jack is
+up I can run back to the projectile and keep warm that way."
+
+To think was to act, and Mark laid down his life-torch to take off the
+big fur coat. The next instant he had toppled over, almost in a faint,
+and, had he not fallen so that his head was near the small perforated
+box on the end of the steel rod, whence came the life-giving gas, the
+lad might have died.
+
+He had forgotten, for the instant, the necessity of always keeping the
+torch close to his face to prevent the poisonous gases of the moon from
+overpowering him. Mark soon revived while lying on the ground, and,
+rising, with his torch in his hand, he looked about him.
+
+"I've got to have my two hands to work with," he mused, "and yet I've
+got to hold this torch close to my face. Say, a fellow ought to have
+three hands if he's going to visit the moon. What can I do?"
+
+In an instant a plan came to him. He thrust the pointed end of the
+steel rod in the crevice of some rocks, and it stood upright, so that
+the perforated box of chemicals was on a level with his face.
+
+"There," said Mark aloud, "I guess that will work. I can use both my
+hands now." The plan was a good one. Next, taking off his coat, the lad
+proceeded to cut it into strips, working rapidly. He called to Jack
+occasionally, bidding him keep up his courage. "I'll soon have you
+out," he said cheeringly.
+
+In a few minutes Mark had a long, stout strip of hide, and, taking his
+life-torch with him, he advanced once more to the edge of the crater.
+He stuck the torch in between some rocks, as before, and looked down at
+Jack.
+
+"I--I can't hold on much longer," gasped the unfortunate lad. "Hurry,
+Mark!"
+
+"All right. I'm going to haul you up now. Can you hold on with one hand
+long enough to slip the loop of this rope over your shoulders?"
+
+"I guess so. But where did you get a rope?"
+
+"I made it--cut up my fur coat."
+
+"But you'll freeze!"
+
+"Oh, I guess not. Here it comes, Jack. Get ready!"
+
+Mark lowered the hide rope to his chum. The latter, who managed to get
+one toe on a small, projecting rock, while he held on with his right
+hand, used his left to adjust the loop over his shoulders and under his
+arms.
+
+"Are you all ready?" asked Mark.
+
+"Yes, but can you pull me up?"
+
+"Sure. I'm six times as strong as when on the earth. Hold steady now,
+and keep the torch close to your face."
+
+Mark had placed some pieces of his fur coat under the rope where it
+passed over the edge of the mouth of the crater to prevent the jagged
+rocks from cutting the strips of hide.
+
+"Here you come!" he cried to Jack, and he began to haul, taking care to
+keep his own head near his torch, which was stuck upright. Mark had
+spoken truly when he said he possessed much more than his usual
+strength. Any one who has tried to haul up a person with a rope from a
+hole, and with no pulleys to adjust the strain of the cable, knows what
+a task it is. But to Mark, on the moon, it was comparatively easy.
+
+Hand over hand he pulled on the hide rope until, with a final heave, he
+had Jack out of his perilous position. He had pulled him up from the
+mouth of the crater, and the thick fur coat Jack wore had prevented the
+sharp rocks from injuring him. In another moment he stood beside Mark,
+a trifle weak and shaky from his experience, but otherwise unhurt.
+
+"How did you happen to go down there?" asked Mark.
+
+"Not from choice, I 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 Jack was over, he
+began to feel cool, and the chilling atmosphere of the moon struck
+through to his bones.
+
+In a short time the two lads were back at the _Annihilator_, where
+they found Professors Roumann and Henderson getting a bit anxious about
+them. Their adventure was quickly related, and the boys were cautioned
+to be more careful in the future.
+
+"This moon is a curious, desolate place," said Mr. Henderson, "and you
+can't behave on it as you would on the earth. We have discovered some
+curious facts regarding it, and when we get back I am going to write a
+book on them. But I think we have seen enough for the present, so we'll
+stay in the rest of the day and plan for farther trips."
+
+"Aren't we going to look for those diamonds?" asked Jack, who had
+almost fully recovered from his recent experience.
+
+"Oh, yes, we will look around for them," assented 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 living cabin.
+
+"Has yo' got one ob dem torch-light processions 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, walking 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 professors were in the midst of a discussion as to
+where would be the best place to move the projectile next, they heard
+him running along the corridor 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 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 announcement 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, Washington?"
+
+"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 argument.
+
+"Well, tell us about it," suggested Jack.
+
+"It were jest dis way," began Washington earnestly, and with occasional
+glances over his shoulder, "I were walkin' along, sort ob lookin' fer
+dem sparklin' diamonds, an' I didn't see none, 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 theory," declared Jack.
+"It shows that the Martians 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 uttered 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 distinguishable.
+
+"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
+characteristics 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 partly distinguishable, was found four hundred
+feet down in an old copper mine, where the dripping 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.
+
+"Then the moon was once inhabited?" asked Jack at length.
+
+"I believe so--yes," answered Professor Henderson.
+
+"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 scientist. "Perhaps he was off
+alone in the mountains 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, and to that end I suggest that we set our
+projectile 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 Washington.
+
+"We sure did," answered Jack. "You weren't mistaken that time."
+
+They got ready to move the projectile, but decided to remain over night
+where they were. "Over night" being the way they spoke of it, though,
+as I have said, there was perpetual daylight 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 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 photograph 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, finding 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 approaching the side of the
+moon which from time 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 professors 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. Henderson. 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 Henderson, running in from the
+pilot-house, for an automatic signal there had apprised him that
+something was wrong.
+
+"There's a bad break," said Jack ruefully.
+
+"A bad break! I should say there was," remarked 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 negative
+electrical plates merely having been smashed by a piece of the broken
+connecting rod of the air pump. It was only a short time before the
+motor was ready to run again.
+
+But it could not be successfully operated without the air and water
+pumps, and it was necessary 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, announced 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 Henderson announced that the air and water pumps were
+now in good shape again.
+
+"Then let's get under way at once," suggested 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 looking 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
+observation 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 portion 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 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 particularly large and deep crater, and a few minutes
+later when Mark, who was in the engine room, attempted to speed up the
+Cordite 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 response to various movements of the lever, the
+machine seemed to go slower and slower.
+
+The German came in answer to the summons.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, "that motor is broken again. We shall have to stop
+once more for repairs. 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 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."
+
+"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 bottle 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 side.
+
+"Boys, I'm going to have a look down that," he said. "It may contain a
+bear or wildcat, and I can get a shot."
+
+"Guess there isn't much danger of a bear being 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 unfathomable 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," answered 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 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 wonder 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."
+
+"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!"
+
+"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 awestruck voice, and he gazed on
+the chill and desolate scene all about them; the great pinnacles of
+rocks, in fantastic form; the immense black caverns 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 cheerful 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.
+
+"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."
+
+"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," declared Mark stoutly.
+
+"Hu! You're like the Indian," spoke Jack. "The Indian who got lost in
+the woods. He insisted 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."
+
+"Hu! Those diamonds!" exploded Mark. "I think this whole thing is a
+wild-goose chase, anyhow! If it hadn't been for those diamonds we
+wouldn't have come to the moon. I don't believe 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
+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 locating 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 hungry 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 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 knowledge 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 remain 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.
+
+"Well, let's move on again," suggested Jack. "We feel better now, and
+maybe we'll have better luck."
+
+They started off, tramping over the rugged surface 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 projectile 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. Even climbing to one of the high peaks,
+whence they had a view of the surrounding country, afforded them no
+trace of the _Annihilator_, 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 something 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
+situation. 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 moon, which contained no living
+creatures save themselves, 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.
+
+"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 about 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 actions, was ready to shoulder part of the
+responsibility 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 better 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 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 would be safe to
+start out in search of the wanderers.
+
+"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 _Annihilator_ 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.
+
+"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 accepted all the blame for
+their misadventure. But the boys would not suffer him to thus accuse
+himself, 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 Washington used to make! and how they would have
+even exchanged their chance of filling their pockets 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 moment, 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 because 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 sufferings and worry had made
+the old hunter simple-minded.
+
+"What is it?" asked Andy, shaking it in the air.
+
+"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 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 proceeded 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
+vibrations 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 intervals 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 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 _Annihilator_ 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 farther, and they had sat about on
+bleak rocks shivering, and had eaten their scanty meals--shivering
+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
+remained 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 towered 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 astonishment 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 artificial 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 guardhouse 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 inhabited
+part of the moon!"
+
+His words thrilled them. They pressed forward 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
+desolation. 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, beyond 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
+water. To pass on over the crater seemed the only thing to do.
+
+"Come ahead," called Jack boldly. They followed 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 between two peaks, similar to
+those at the beginning. 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
+companions 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 similar chemicals, and the
+people were turned to rocks."
+
+It was uncanny, and for a moment they hesitated on the edge of the
+city, which lay in a sort of cup-like valley, surrounded on all sides
+by 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 contemplated 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.
+
+"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
+hurrying here and there, dogs running about, children 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
+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 wonders 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 occupations 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 bygone 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 in the windows what seemed to be chunks of 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 sandwich 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!"
+
+"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 perfectly 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 thousand years old, yet it grows when
+they plant it, and they can make bread of it.
+
+"Now, maybe we can find some wheat or something to eat in some of these
+houses. If there's meat, it will be perfectly preserved, for the
+temperature 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 enthusiasm. "Think of having a
+loaf of bread and some beefsteak thousands of years old. I suppose they
+had beefsteak here," he added cautiously.
+
+"Some kind of meat, anyhow," agreed Jack. "Well, let's look for a place
+that was once a 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 enthusiasm. "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 appeared to be a stove. It was
+more like a brick oven, however, than a modern range, though in dishes
+that were now stone something was being cooked when the catastrophe
+occurred.
+
+"There's meat, I'll wager!" cried Jack, pointing 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, "Nothing 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 sufficient
+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, smiting 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, chuckling 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 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 happened 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 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 chewing 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.
+
+"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 moisture. They tried to chew some of the pale green
+vegetation that grew more plentiful on this side 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 existence, 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 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 crater, 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
+bad. By some curious chemical action, which they never understood, the
+liquid had been prevented 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 hidden 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
+reflection, 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.
+
+"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 projectile.
+
+"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 noticed 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
+in. By Mark's computation there was only three more days of daylight
+left. What would happen in the desolate darkness?
+
+As they were returning from the black pool, with their water bottles
+filled, and put inside the 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."
+
+"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
+remained there idly, until Andy roused the boys to a sense of their
+responsibility by urging upon 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
+terrible 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 everything 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 the 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
+several 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 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
+temperature 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
+projectile 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 disbelieving 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, 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!" exclaimed 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 diamonds,
+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 overburdened 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
+rending 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, 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
+discovering 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. As they were about to
+go in, ready to hide themselves 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
+roaring in the atmosphere.
+
+"It's her--it's the _Annihilator!_" shouted Jack, leaping about.
+
+"Wait," counselled Andy, who dreaded the terrible 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
+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!"
+
+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, increasing their speed. They came
+to a great crater that lay between them and the projectile, but
+fortunately there was across the middle of it a natural 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!" shouted Jack, and he sprang fearlessly forward, fairly
+running over the narrow path, which had a sheer descent of thousands 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 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
+Jack, and then by turns he and Mark and Andy told of their terrible
+adventures while they were lost on the moon.
+
+On their part Professors Roumann and Henderson stated how they had
+waited in vain for the return of the wanderers, and had then, by
+strenuous work, managed to make the necessary repairs without the
+missing tool. Then they set 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 sparklers?" 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 gathered up to satisfy even Washington White, who declared that he
+would be the best decorated colored 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 museum in
+which Professor Roumann was interested, the _Annihilator_ was sealed
+shut.
+
+And it was only just in time, for with the suddenness of an eclipse
+intense darkness settled down, and the temperature, as indicated by a
+thermometer thrust outside, showed a drop of a hundred degrees.
+
+"We never could have lived out there," said Jack.
+
+"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 wanderings, and told how they had managed to live
+during the time they were lost. The two professors 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 excitement, they hovered about in the air over Bayside
+until dark, when they gently descended almost 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 diamonds.
+
+"We certainly made some very valuable scientific observations,"
+asserted Mr. Henderson, "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 diamonds made inter a stick-pin
+fo' my red necktie," was the answer.
+
+"Oh, you'd better wait until morning," suggested Professor Henderson.
+
+They gathered about the table in the cozy dining 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 universe now. I wonder where we can go
+next?"
+
+"I'm going to bed right after supper," announced 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 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.
+Professor 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 remained at home, the two
+professors busy over their scientific work, and the boys engaged with
+their studies, while Andy occasionally went hunting, 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
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lost on the Moon, by Roy Rockwood
+
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