"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 a.s.sist 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 a.n.a.lysis.
"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 antic.i.p.ation 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 a.s.sured 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.