"Lost on the moon!" added Jack, in an awestruck voice, and he gazed on the chill and desolate scene all about them; the great pinnacles of rocks, in fantastic form; the immense black caverns of craters on either hand; the sickly green vegetation.
"Lost on the moon!" whispered Mark, and there was not even an echo of his voice to keep them company. Only a chill, desolate silence!
CHAPTER XXIV
DESOLATE WANDERINGS
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 the trouble. There are so many corners, and we have taken so many wrong turns, that we"re all confused. I think the best thing to do will be to stay here a while and pull ourselves together."
"That"s right," spoke old Andy. "Many a time in the woods I"ve got all confused-like, and then I"d sit down and think, and I"d get on the right path in a few minutes after."
"The trouble here is," said Jack, "that there are no woods. If there were we might know how to get out of them. But think of it! Lost on the moon, in the midst of a whole lot of queer mountain peaks, and big holes that would hold half a dozen cities of the United States at the same time, and never know it! This is a fearful place to be lost in!"
"I"m not going to admit that we"re lost," declared Mark stoutly.
"Hu! You"re like the Indian," spoke Jack. "The Indian who got lost in the woods. He insisted that it wasn"t he who was lost, that it was his wigwam that couldn"t be found. He knew where he himself was all the while. That"s our case, I suppose. We"re here, but the projectile is lost."
"Ha! ha!" laughed Andy Sudds. "That"s a pretty good joke!"
"But not being able to find the projectile is no joke," went on Mark, who always took matters more seriously than did his chum. "What are we going to do?" he added. "We can"t stay here like this."
"Maybe we"ll have to," declared Jack. "We certainly can"t get off the moon--at least, not until we reach the projectile, and I"d like to discover those diamonds before we go back."
"Hu! Those diamonds!" exploded Mark. "I think this whole thing is a wild-goose chase, anyhow! If it hadn"t been for those diamonds we wouldn"t have come to the moon. I don"t believe there are any diamonds here, anyhow."
"Well, I can"t prove it to you now, but I will before we get back,"
a.s.serted Jack. "We"ll be wearing diamonds, as the song says."
"Diamonds aren"t going to keep us warm when we"re freezing," went on Mark, who seemed bound to look on the dark side, "and we can"t eat "em when we"re hungry. A lot of good they"ll do us if we do find them!"
"Oh, cheer up!" suggested Jack cheerfully. "And, speaking of eating, what"s the matter with having some lunch? What did we bring it along for if we"re not going to eat? Let"s begin."
His good spirits were contagious, not that Andy needed any special cheering up, but Mark did. In a few minutes they were seated on some rugged rocks, and, with their life-torches stuck in cracks, so that the perforated metal boxes of chemicals would be on a level with their faces, they opened the baskets they had been fore-sighted enough to bring with them.
"Why, I feel better already," a.s.serted Jack, as he munched some sandwiches which Washington White had made. "As soon as we"ve finished we"ll have another hunt for the projectile, and I"ll wager that we"ll find it."
"I wouldn"t finish if I were you," suggested Andy, who was eating sparingly.
"Finish what?" asked Jack.
"All your lunch. You see," the old hunter went on, "we may find the projectile, and, again, we may not. I"m inclined to think we"re not so very far from it, but we may be some time locating it in among all these peaks and craters. So it will be the best plan to save some of our lunch and drinking water until--well, until we"re hungry again,"
and he carefully put back into his basket the remains of the food.
"You don"t mean to say you think we"ll be all day finding the Annihilator, do you?"
Jack paused, with a sandwich half way to his mouth as he asked this question.
"Well, it"s best to be on the safe side," spoke Andy guardedly. "We may find it, and, again, we may not. Save your powder against the time of need, I say--by powder meaning victuals and drink. We can"t drop in a restaurant up here, and I don"t see much game to shoot, and I should hate to eat such fodder as this," and he poked with his foot some sickly green vines, growing on the ground.
The boys" faces, which had become more cheerful, a.s.sumed a serious look. Jack stopped eating at once and placed back in the basket his remaining sandwiches. He also corked up the bottle of water, which was kept from freezing by means of a fur pouch in which it was carried.
"If there"s a possibility of being lost some time," spoke Mark, "we"d better figure out just how long our food will last," and he examined the contents of his basket.
Fortunately Washington White, with a knowledge of the appet.i.tes of the chums, had filled the baskets with lavish hands. There was, they found, food enough to last them three days, if they ate sparingly, and there was enough water for half that time, providing they only took small sips when thirsty. But they had noticed, in one or two places, little pools of liquid, which they had not tasted, but which might prove to be drinking water. Certainly they would need more if they were destined to remain away from the projectile for very long.
"Well, then," observed Mark, when the food calculation was over, "it appears that we can remain lost for about three days, at the most."
"Oh, but we"ll be back home--I mean in the projectile--long before that," declared Jack.
"I wish I was sure of that," murmured Andy with a dubious shake of his head.
"Well, let"s move on again," suggested Jack. "We feel better now, and maybe we"ll have better luck."
They started off, tramping over the rugged surface of the moon, while the sun shone with tepid heat down on them. They had to go this way and that to avoid the immense fissures in the ground or the yawning craters, which loomed deep, and in awful silence, in their path.
Sometimes they climbed small mountains or crawled in and out of small craters, slipping and stumbling.
They were not cold, for their fur garments kept them comfortably warm, and there was no wind to make the freezing temperature search through the crevices of their clothing. But it was the desolate silence, the utter absence of any form of life save the pale green vegetation that got on their nerves. It was like being in a dead world--on a planet that seemed about to dissolve into s.p.a.ce.
They began their further search for the projectile with hope in their hearts, but this gradually gave way to despair as they wandered on over the desolate surface, and saw nothing but the same rugged peaks, the same yawning caverns and the innumerable craters, large and small.
On they wandered, looking on all sides for the missing projectile, but they had no glimpse of it. Even climbing to one of the high peaks, whence they had a view of the surrounding country, afforded them no trace of the _Annihilator_, They were utterly lost.
Old Andy, who, by reason of his experience as a trapper and hunter, had taken the lead, came to a halt. He looked around helplessly. He did not know what to do.
"Well, boys," he remarked at length, "I don"t like to say it, but I can"t seem to get anywhere. I give up."
"Give up?" murmured Jack, in blank dismay.
"Yes, for the time being," said the old man. "I"m all played out. I guess we all are. We must have a rest. Here"s a sort of cave. Let"s crawl in and have a sleep. Then maybe we can do something to-morrow--no, not to-morrow, for they don"t have that on the moon, where the day is fourteen days long--but after we sleep we may be able to find our way back. Anyhow, I"ve got to get some sleep," and without another word the old hunter went into the cave, and, fixing his life-torch near his head, where the fumes from it would dissipate the poisonous gases of the moon, he closed his eyes, and was soon in slumber.
"I--I guess we"d better do the same," said Jack, and Mark nodded. They were both sick at heart.
CHAPTER XXV
THE PETRIFIED CITY
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.