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.