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.