Lost on the Moon by Roy Rockwood

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Jack proposed visiting some of them, thinking they might find better
food, but Mark and Andy decided it was best to stay where they were, as
they were nearer the supposed location of the projectile.

"I think they'll manage to fix it up somehow, so it will move," said
Andy, "and then they'll come to look for us. I hope it will be soon,
though."

"Why?" asked Jack, struck by something in the tone of the old hunter.

"Because," replied Andy, "I am afraid our life-torches won't last much
longer. Mine seems to be weakening. I have to hold it very close to my
face now to breathe in comfort, while at first the oxygen from it was
so strong that I could hold it two feet off and never notice the
poisonous moon vapors."

This was a new danger, and, thinking of it, the faces of the boys
became graver than ever. Death seemed bound to get them somehow.

Two more days went by. They had now been lost on the moon over a week.
Each one now noticed that his life-torch was weakening. How much longer
would they last? They dared not answer that question. They could only
hope.

The sun, too, was moving away from them. Soon the long night would set
in. By Mark's computation there was only three more days of daylight
left. What would happen in the desolate darkness?

As they were returning from the black pool, with their water bottles
filled, and put inside the fur bags to prevent the frost from reaching
them, Mark happened to gaze over across a line of towering peaks. What
he saw caused him to gasp in astonishment.

"Jack! Andy! See!" he whispered hoarsely, pointing a trembling finger
at the sky.

There, outlined against the cloudless heavens, was a long, black shape,
floating through the air about two miles distant.

"The projectile! The _Annihilator!_" yelled Jack. "Shout! Call to them!
Wave your hands! Andy, fire your gun! They have started off, and they
can't see us. We must make them hear!"

Together they raised their voices in a mighty shout. The old hunter
fired his gun several times. They waved their hands frantically.

But the projectile never swerved from its course. On it moved slowly,
those in it paying no heed to the wanderers, for they did not hear
them. Andy fired his gun again, but the signal failed, and a few
minutes later the _Annihilator_ was lost to sight behind a great peak.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS

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 head, and I only saw a vision,"
answered Jack. "You know--a sort of mirage. It was real, then?"

"Altogether too real," spoke Andy Sudds grimly. "They didn't see us nor
hear us. We're left behind!"

"But can't we do something?" demanded Mark. "Let's start off and try to
catch them. They were going slow."

"The wonder to me is how they moved at all," said Jack. "I thought the
machinery wouldn't work until we got back with the lost tool."

"Probably the two professors found some way of patching up the motor,"
was Mark's opinion, and later they found that this was so.

For some time they remained staring in the direction in which the
projectile had vanished, as if they might see it reappear, but the
great steel shell did not poke its sharp nose in among the towering
peaks which hid it from view. Probably it was many miles away now.

"Well," remarked old Andy at length, "we've got to make the best of it.
We won't have many more days of light, and we must gather what food we
can, put it where we can find it in the dark, and also bring in some
water from the black pool. We can store that in some of the stone
tables. By turning them upside down they will make good troughs, and it
won't freeze. We must work while we have light, for soon the long night
will come."

The sight of the projectile going away seemed to take the heart out of
all of them, and they did not know what to do. For some time they
remained there idly, until Andy roused the boys to a sense of their
responsibility by urging upon them the necessity of getting together a
store of meat and water.

As they had about exhausted the limited food supply in the ancient
restaurant, they sought and found another and larger one. There they
had the good fortune to come upon some whole sides of beef and lamb,
which were petrified on the outside, but which, when they had blasted
off the outer shell of stone, gave them good food.

They made several trips to the black pool, and brought in all the
liquid they could, for they did not want to have to go outside the
petrified city into the wild and desolate country beyond, after the
dismal night had settled down. They feared they would become lost
again.

Their lonely situation seemed to grow upon them. The appalling silence
all about terrified them. The weird sight of the petrified men and
women in the petrified city got on their nerves.

They had done all they could. A store of meat had been blasted out and
put away. It would keep outside of the stone shell now, for the weather
was getting colder with the advent of the long night.

This fact worried them. With the temperature at twenty-eight when the
sun was shining, what might it not fall to in the darkness? The
terrible cold of the arctic regions might be nothing compared to the
frostiness of the dead moon in the shadow. Their fur garments, thick as
they were, might be no more protection than so much paper. And they had
no means of making a fire, nor anything to burn on one had they been
capable of kindling it, for Andy had used the last of his cartridges to
blast with, and where everything was petrified there was no wood.

Then, too, their life-torches were giving out. The emanations of oxygen
were weaker, and they had to hold them almost under their noses to
breathe the vital vapor.

One day, or rather what corresponded to a day, for they had lost all
track of time, Andy Sudds arose from the stone bench on which their
meager meal had been served. He started from the restaurant where they
had taken up their abode.

"Where are you going?" asked Jack.

"I'm going to make one last attempt to find the projectile before it
gets too dark," answered the hunter. "We can go out, look around for
several hours, and get back before darkness sets in. We might as well
do it as sit here doing nothing. Then, too, we can bring in some more
water. We'll need all we can store away."

"I'll go with you," volunteered Jack, and Mark, not wanting to be left
alone in the dead city, followed. Carrying their life-torches and
wrapping their fur garments closely about them, for it had grown much
colder, they sallied forth.

They found a thin film of ice on the black pool, showing that it would
probably freeze when it got cold enough, though the ordinary
temperature of thirty-two degrees had not affected it. They filled
their water bottles, and then Andy proposed that they take a new path--
one they had not tried before.

They hardly knew where they were going, but ever as they tramped on
they cast anxious looks upward to see if they might descry the
projectile hovering over them. But they did not see it.

Jack had taken the lead, and was walking along, glancing idly about. He
came to a place where two peaks were so close together that it was all
he could do to squeeze through. But the moment he had passed the defile
and looked out on a broad, level field, he came to a sudden stop. His
companions, who pressed after him, saw him rub his eyes and shake his
head, as if disbelieving the evidence of what lay before him. Then Jack
murmured: "It can't be true! It can't be true!"

"What?" called Mark.

"There! Those," answered his chum. "See, the field is covered with
diamonds! We have found the diamonds of the moon--the field of Reonaris
that the men of Mars discovered! There are the diamonds--millions of
them!"

"Diamonds!" exclaimed Mark. He squeezed through the defile, and stood
beside Jack. Before him in the fading light of the sun was a broad
field, girt around with towering cliffs, and the surface of the field
was covered with white stones.

Jack sprang forward and gathered up a double handful. He let them run
through his fingers in a sparkling stream. Old Andy came up to the
boys.

"They're only glass or crystals," he said.

"They are _not_ glass or crystals!" declared Mark, who had made a study
of gems. "I should say they were diamonds, probably meteoric diamonds,
very rare and valuable. Why, there is the ransom of a thousand kings
spread out before us!"

He fell upon his knees and began to scoop up the gems. His chum was
making a little heap of the stones.

"The ransom of a thousand kings!" murmured Jack. "More diamonds than in
all the world--and I'd give my share for a good ham sandwich!"

CHAPTER XXX

BACK TO EARTH--CONCLUSION

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 diamonds," murmured Jack, as he began to fill the
pockets of his fur coat. "I'm right, after all, Mark, you see."

"Yes, but what good will it do us? What's the good of even carrying any
away. We can never use them."

"That's so," agreed Jack, in a low voice. "I might as well leave them
here."

But somehow the desire to pick up gems which, when they were cut and
polished, would rival many of the famous diamonds of history was too
strong to be resisted. Though he was afraid he would never get back to
earth to enjoy them, Jack could not help putting in his pockets a
goodly supply of the largest of the precious stones. Andy did the same,
and Mark, in spite of his gloomy feelings, stuffed his pockets. They
worked with their torches held close to their faces, and in the search
for the better stones they literally walked over millions of dollars'
worth of the gems.

For there, stretched out before them, was an actual field of diamonds.
As Mark had said, they were of meteoric origin, that is, a meteor had
burst over that particular portion of the moon, and the chemical action
had created the diamonds, which had fallen in a shower in the field.

"If you boys have all you want, then let's get back to the city,"
suggested Andy. "No telling when it will be night now."

They followed his advice, and soon were going back by way of the black
pool. It seemed more lonesome than ever, after the excitement of
discovering the field of diamonds, and even Jack, glad as he was to
have his theory vindicated, got tired of referring to it. His triumph
meant little to him now.

They were at the entrance to the petrified city. As they were about to
go in, ready to hide themselves in the deepest part of the restaurant,
away from the terrible cold and appalling darkness they felt would soon
be upon them, Mark came to a sudden halt. He glanced quickly up into
the air and cried out: "Hark!"

"What's the matter?" asked Jack, as they stood in a listening attitude.

"I heard a noise," whispered Mark. "It sounded--I'm sure it sounded--
like the crackling of the wireless motor waves of the projectile.
Listen!"

Faintly through the silence came a sound as if there was a discharge of
an electric current. It increased in volume, and there was a faint
roaring in the atmosphere.

"It's her--it's the _Annihilator!_" shouted Jack, leaping about.

"Wait," counselled Andy, who dreaded the terrible disappointment should
the boys be mistaken. The sound came nearer. The crackling could
plainly be made out now. The sun was out of sight, but there was still
the glow which follows sunset.

The boys were eagerly scanning the heavens, Their hearts beat high with
hope. Suddenly, in the olive-tinted sky just above a range of rugged
peaks, a black shape loomed. A black shape, as of a great cigar,
pointed at both ends. It shot into full view.

"The projectile!" yelled Jack.

"The _Annihilator!_" gasped Mark.

"Thank Heaven, they have found us in time!" exclaimed Andy fervently,
and the three stretched out their arms toward the craft from which they
had been parted so long. It was as if they tried to pull it down to
them.

"Do they see us?"

"Will they pass us by?"

"Make a noise so they'll hear us!"

"Wave to them!"

"Oh, if they leave us now!"

Questions, ejaculations and entreaties came rapidly from the lips of
the wanderers. They raised their voices in a shout. They leaped up and
down. They wildly waved their hands and life-torches.

Then, to their inexpressible joy, they saw the course of the projectile
change. It was headed toward them, and a few minutes later it settled
slowly to the ground about half a mile away.

"Come on!" cried Jack! "We must hurry to them, or soon it will be too
dark to see them, or for them to find us. It's our last chance; don't
let's lose it!"

He sprang forward, the others after him, and together they ran toward
the projectile. They could see the two professors and Washington White
emerging from the steel car, waving their hands.

On rushed the lost wanderers, over the rough stones, skirting the great
cliffs, falling into small craters, crawling out again, just missing
several times being precipitated into yawning caverns, and stumbling
over petrified bodies that strewed the ground.

Ever did they hasten onward though, increasing their speed. They came
to a great crater that lay between them and the projectile, but
fortunately there was across the middle of it a natural bridge of
stone. But it was narrow--scarcely wide enough for one at a time.

"We can never cross on that!" cried Mark, halting.

"We've got to!" shouted Jack, and he sprang fearlessly forward, fairly
running over the narrow path, which had a sheer descent of thousands of
feet on either side.

Mark, though fearful that he would become dizzy and fall, followed
Andy. They were soon across the narrow bridge, and speeding on toward
the _Annihilator_. Five minutes later they had reached it, and were
being wildly welcomed by the two professors and Washington White, who
had advanced to meet them.

"I 'clar t' goodness-gladness!" exclaimed the colored man, "I am
suttinly constrained t' espress my approbation ob de deleterous manner
in which yo' all has come back t' dis continuous territory."

"Do you mean you're glad to see us, Wash?" asked Jack.

"Dat's what I done said," was the answer, with a cheerful grin, "an' I
might also remark dat dinner am serbed in de dinin' car."

"Hurrah!" cried Jack. "That's the best news I've heard in a week. No
more blasted beef for mine! Give me ham and eggs!"

"But what happened to you? Where have you been? We have searched all
over for you, and were just giving you up for dead, and going back to
the earth," said Professor Henderson. "We caught sight of you at the
last minute."

"Oh, you mustn't go back until you go to the field of diamonds!" cried
Jack, and then by turns he and Mark and Andy told of their terrible
adventures while they were lost on the moon.

On their part Professors Roumann and Henderson stated how they had
waited in vain for the return of the wanderers, and had then, by
strenuous work, managed to make the necessary repairs without the
missing tool. Then they set out to discover the lost ones, but
succeeded only just in time, for it was now quite dusk.

"An' did yo' all really discober dem sparklers?" asked Washington, as
he served what the boys thought was the finest dinner they had ever
tasted.

"We sure did," replied Jack. "Here are a couple for that red necktie of
yours," and he passed over two big diamonds.

It did not take long to move the projectile to the field of the
sparkling gems, and by means of a powerful search-light enough were
soon gathered up to satisfy even Washington White, who declared that he
would be the best decorated colored man in Bayside when they got back.
The two professors made what observations they could in the petrified
city in the fast-gathering darkness, and then, having taken a petrified
man into the projectile with them to deposit in a scientific museum in
which Professor Roumann was interested, the _Annihilator_ was sealed
shut.

And it was only just in time, for with the suddenness of an eclipse
intense darkness settled down, and the temperature, as indicated by a
thermometer thrust outside, showed a drop of a hundred degrees.

"We never could have lived out there," said Jack.

"Well, we'll soon be back on earth," observed Mark, and a little later
the Cardite motor was out in operation, and the journey back to this
world begun.

Little of moment happened on the return trip. The boys went more into
detail about their wanderings, and told how they had managed to live
during the time they were lost. The two professors and Washington spoke
of their worry and anxiety, and their vain search for the wanderers.

As they were anxious to get back home, the motor was speeded to the
limit, and in much less time than they had made the trip to the moon
they had arrived in sight of the earth again. As they did not want to
create too much excitement, they hovered about in the air over Bayside
until dark, when they gently descended almost in the very spot from
which they had started.

"Well," remarked Jack, as he stepped out on the earth once more, "it
was quite an experience to go to the moon, and I suppose being lost
there wasn't the worst thing that could happen to us, but all the same
I'm glad to be back."

"So am I," declared Mark. "It was worth while going," and he felt of
his pocketful of diamonds.

"We certainly made some very valuable scientific observations,"
asserted Mr. Henderson, "and we will be able to prove that the moon was
once inhabited."

Washington White was carefully lifting out his Shanghai rooster, which
was uttering loud crows. As soon as he had set the fowl on the ground,
the colored man started off.

"Where are you going?" asked Mark.

"I'm going t' a jewelery shop t' hab my diamonds made inter a stick-pin
fo' my red necktie," was the answer.

"Oh, you'd better wait until morning," suggested Professor Henderson.

They gathered about the table in the cozy dining room of their home,
while Washington got a meal ready. Every one was talking about what a
wonderful trip they had had.

"The only trouble is," said Jack, "that we've been to about all the
interesting places in this universe now. I wonder where we can go
next?"

"I'm going to bed right after supper," announced Mark. "Maybe I'll
discover a new land in my dreams."

The moon voyagers had a great store of gems, and, as they did not wish
to bring down values by disposing of them, they only sold a few, which,
because of their great size and brilliancy, brought a large price.
Several jewelers wanted to know where the diamonds came from, but the
secret was well kept. Most of the gems were used for scientific
purposes, but Mark and Jack gave some to certain of their friends.

The petrified man proved a great curiosity, and a history of it, in two
large volumes, can be seen in the museum where the body is exhibited.
Professor Henderson wrote the account, and also published quite an
extensive history of the trip to the moon, which was considered by
scientists and laymen to be a most remarkable journey.

But, though our friends had been to many strange places, it was
reserved for them to have yet still more wonderful adventures, though
for a time after returning from the moon they remained at home, the two
professors busy over their scientific work, and the boys engaged with
their studies, while Andy occasionally went hunting, and Washington got
the meals and, between times, fed his rooster and admired the diamonds
in his red necktie. And now we will bid our friends good-by.

THE END

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