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30 chapters
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
"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
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
"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 littl
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
"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
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
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, n
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
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 ove
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
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
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
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 goo
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
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
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
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 reven
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
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 t
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
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 ri
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
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. "Yo
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
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
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
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'
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
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
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
"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
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
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. Rouman
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
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
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
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 fr
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
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 re
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
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
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
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 argum
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
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 n
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
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
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CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXV
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 t
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CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVI
"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
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CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII
"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 p
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CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVIII
"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 h
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CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXIX
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
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CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXX
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
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