Lost on the Moon, Roy Rockwood [best reads of all time .txt] 📗

CHAPTER II

SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES

 

“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 little

pleasure jaunt, like an automobile tour. Can’t we go, Professor?”

 

“From the standpoint of possibility, I presume we could make a trip to

the moon,” the scientist admitted. “It would not take so long, nor

would it be as dangerous, as was our trip to Mars. And yet, I don’t

know that I care to go. I am getting along in years, and I have money

enough to live on. Even a field of diamonds hardly sounds attractive to

me.” Jack’s face showed the disappointment he felt.

 

“And yet,” went on the aged scientist with a smile, “there are certain

attractions about another trip through space. I had hoped to settle

down in life now, and devote my time to scientific study and the

writing of books. But this is something new. We never have been to the

moon, and–-”

 

“There are lots of problems about it that are still unsolved!” cried

Jack eagerly. “You will be able to discover if the moon has an

atmosphere and moisture; and also what the other side—the one that is

always turned away from us—looks like.”

 

“It does sound tempting,” went on the aged scientist slowly. “And we

could do it in our projectile, the Annihilator. It is in good working

order; isn’t it, Professor Roumann?”

 

“Couldn’t be better. If you ask me, I, for one, would like to make a

trip to the moon. It would give me a better chance to test the powers

of Cardite, that wonderful red substance we brought from Mars. I can

use that in the Etherium motor. If you left it to me, I’d say, ‘go to

the moon.’”

 

“Well, perhaps we will,” spoke Mr. Henderson thoughtfully.

 

“You’ll go, too, won’t you, Mark?” asked Jack.

 

“Oh, I’m not going to be left behind. I’ll go if the rest do, but I

don’t believe you’ll find any diamonds on the moon. If there ever were

any, the Martians took them.” For Mark had been partly convinced after

the confirmation by the two professors of Jack’s translation.

 

“I’ll take a chance on the sparklers,” said his chum. “But now, let’s

go into details, and figure out when we can start. It ought not to take

very long to get ready.”

 

As has been explained in detail in the other books of this series,

Professor Amos Henderson and the two lads, Mark Sampson and Jack

Darrow, had undertaken many strange voyages together. Sometimes they

were accompanied by friends and assistants, while Washington White, a

sort of servant, helper, and man-of-all-work, and Andy Sudds, an old

hunter, always went with them.

 

Mark and Jack were orphans, who had been adopted by Professor

Henderson, who spent all his time making wonderful machines for

transportation, or conducting strange experiments.

 

The two boys had been rescued by Professor Henderson and Washington

White from a train wreck. Although both boys were badly hurt, they were

nursed back to health by the eminent scientist, who soon learned to

care for the lads as though they had been his own sons.

 

They aided the professor, as soon as they were able, in constructing an

airship, called the Electric Monarch, in which Professor Henderson

hoped to be able to reach the North Pole. The boys thoroughly enjoyed

the trip through the air, and had many thrills fighting the savage

Eskimos. Finally, they succeeded in passing over the exact spot of the

North Pole during a violent snowstorm.

 

Not satisfied with their experiences after conquering the North, the

adventurers set out for the Antarctic regions in a submarine boat. This

trip, even more remarkable than the first, took them to many strange

places in the South Atlantic. They were trapped for a time in the

Sargasso Sea, and they walked on the ocean floor in new diving suits,

one of the professor’s marvelous inventions.

 

It was on the voyage to the south that, coming to the surface one day,

the adventurers saw a strange island in the Atlantic Ocean, far from

the coast of South America. On it was a great whirlpool, into which the

Porpoise, their submarine boat, was nearly drawn by the powerful

suction.

 

The chasm might lead to the center of the earth, it was suggested, and,

after thinking the matter over, on their return from the Antarctic,

Professor Henderson decided to build a craft in which they might solve

the mystery.

 

The details of the voyage they took in the Flying Mermaid, are told

of in the third volume, entitled “Five Thousand Miles Underground.” The

Mermaid could sail on the water, or float in the air like a balloon.

In this craft the travellers descended into the centre of the earth,

and had many wonderful adventures. They nearly lost their lives, and

had to escape, after running through danger of the spouting water,

leaving their craft behind.

 

For some time they undertook no further voyages, and the two boys, who

lived with Professor Henderson in a small town on the coast of Maine,

were sent to attend the Universal Electrical and Chemical College.

Washington remained at home to minister to the wants of the old

professor, and Andy Sudds went off on occasional hunting trips.

 

But the spirit of adventure was still strong in the hearts of the boys

and the professor. One day, in the midst of some risky experiments at

college, Jack and Mark, as related in “Through Space to Mars,” received

a telegram from Professor Henderson, calling them home.

 

There they found their friend entertaining as a guest Professor Santell

Roumann, who was almost as celebrated as was Mr. Henderson, in the

matter of inventions.

 

Professor Roumann made a strange proposition. He said if the old

scientist and his young friends would build the proper kind of a

projectile, they could make a trip to the planet Mars, by means of a

wonderful motor, operated by a power called Etherium, of which Mr.

Roumann held the secret.

 

After some discussion, the projectile, called the Annihilator, from

the fact that it annihilated space, was begun. It was two hundred feet

long, ten feet in diameter in the middle, and shaped like a cigar. It

consisted of a double shell of strong metal, with a non-conducting gas

between the two sides.

 

Within it were various machines, besides the Etherium motor, which

would send the projectile along at the rate of one hundred miles a

second. This great speed was necessary in order to reach the planet

Mars, which, at the time our friends started for it, was about thirty-five millions of miles away from this earth. It has since receded some

distance farther than this.

 

Finally all was in readiness for the start to Mars. Professor Roumann

wanted to prove that the planet was inhabited, and he also wanted to

get some of a peculiar substance, which he believed gave the planet its

rosy hue. He had an idea that it would prove of great value.

 

But, though every precaution was taken, the adventurers were not to get

away from the earth safely. Almost at the last minute, a crazy

machinist, named Fred Axtell, who was refused work on the projectile,

tried to blow it up with a bomb. He partly succeeded, but the damage

was repaired, and the start made.

 

Inside the projectile our friends shut themselves up, and the powerful

motors were started. Off it shot, at the rate of one hundred miles a

second, but the travellers were as comfortable as in a Pullman car.

They had plenty to eat and drink, they manufactured their own air and

water, and they slept when they so desired.

 

But Axtell, the crazy machinist, had hidden himself aboard, and, in

mid-air, he tried to wreck the projectile. He was caught, and locked up

in a spare room, but, when Mars was reached, he escaped.

 

The book tells how our friends were welcomed by the Martians, how they

learned the language, saw many strange sights, and finally got on the

track of the Cardite, or red substance, which the German professor, Mr.

Roumann, had come so far to seek. This Cardite was capable of great

force, and, properly controlled, could move great weights and operate

powerful machinery.

 

Our friends wanted to take some back to earth with them, but when they

attempted to store it in their projectile, they met with objections,

for the Martians did not want them to take any. They had considerable

trouble, and the crazy machinist led an attack of the soldiers of the

red planet against our friends, the adventurers in the projectile.

 

Among the other curiosities brought away by our friends, was a

newspaper printed in Mars, for the inhabitants of that place where much

further advanced along certain lines than we are on this earth, but in

the matter of newspapers they had little to boast of, save that the

sheets were printed by wireless electricity, no presses being needed.

 

As told at the opening of this story, Jack had noticed on one of the

sheets they brought back, an account of how some of the Martians made a

trip to the moon, and discovered a field of Reonaris. This trip was

made shortly before our friends made their hasty departure, and it was

undertaken by some Martian adventurers on another part of the red

planet than where the projectile landed, and so Professor Henderson and

his friends did not hear of it at the time.

 

“Well, then, suppose we make the attempt to go to the moon,” said

Professor Roumann, after a long discussion in the laboratory. “It will

not take long to get ready.”

 

“I’d like to go,” said Jack. “How about you, Professor Henderson? Oh,

by the way, Washington said you wanted to see Mark and me, but I was so

interested in this news item, that I forgot to ask what it as about.”

 

“I merely wanted to inquire when you and Mark thought of resuming your

studies at college,” said the aged man, “but, since this matter has

come up, it will be just as well if you do not arrange to resume your

lessons right away.”

 

“We can study while making the trip to the moon,” suggested Mark.

 

“Not much,” declared Jack, with a laugh. “There’ll be too much to see.”

 

“Well, we’ll discuss that later,” went on Mr. Henderson. “Practically

speaking, I think the voyage can be made, and, the more I think of it,

the better I like the idea. We will look over the projectile in the

morning,