"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 circ.u.mference 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 s.p.a.ce 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 pa.s.sing 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-gla.s.s 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.