ccount of the neutral tint of their sides, they were swallowed up in the abyss of space. Still it was possible to know where every member of the squa

nary splendor against the intense black background of the firmament. The lights of some of the more distant ships of our squadron were not brighter than the stars in whose neighborhood they seemed

anny E

us. Inside the car, where there was air, the sunlight, streaming throug

the sun's rays touched was visible, the other side was invisible, the light from the sta

a companion on the deck of the ship looked like half a man. So the other electric

ange

eared as half ships, only the

, except at the poles, where there were broad patches of white. It was marvellous to look at this huge orb behind us, while far beyond it shone the blazing sun like an enormous star in the blackest of nights

anifests

ad been anticipated, but against which it would have been diffic

the squadron, nearer by, behaved in the same inexplicable manner. Then two or three of the floating cars seemed to be violently drawn from their courses and hur

on my mind, and I shouted to t

By A

met

earth, I knew that its velocity, assuming it to be travelling in a nearly circular orbit, must be about eighteen miles in a second. With this velocity, then, it plunged like a projectile shot by some mysterious enemy in space directly through our squadron. It had come and was gone before one could utter a sentence of three words. Its appearance, and the effect it had produced upon

ived that an accident had occurred. The ship swayed violently from its course, dazzling flashes played around it, and two or thr

damage might be we could not instantly determine. The course of our ship was immediatel

pace. The store of air contained in the car had immediately rushed out through the openings, and when two or three of us, having donned our air-tight suits as quickly as possible, entered the wrecked car we found all its inmates stretched upon the floor in a condition of asphyxiation. They, as well as

ul Traged

passed, killing two or three

other cars. Fortunately it happened that the disintegrators contained in the wrecked car were not injured. Mr. Edison thought that it would be possible to repair the car itself, and for that purpose he had it attached to the flagship in order that it might be carried on as

ng th

y assumed the appearance of a vast mountainous desert. As we drew nearer its colors became more pronounced; the great flat regions appeared darker; the mountain peaks shone more brilliantly. The huge chasms seemed bottomless and blacker than midnight. Gradually separate mountains appeared. What seemed like e

ntains

t was broken and jagged with mountain masses. Vast crater rings overspread its surface, and in some of these I imagined I could p

lay beneath our eyes, stretching southward into a vast ocean-like expanse, while on the north it was enclosed by an enormous range of mountain cliffs, rising perpendicularly to

nd Mangl

and Ghastly Surface

ot a new one to many of us. We had long been aware that the earth's satellite was a body which had passed beyond the stage of life,

o astronomers under the name of Cape Laplace. The other promontory, at the southeastern termination, is called Cape Heraclides. It was toward the latter that w

ger existent there, this would surely be the place. It was, therefore, with no small degree of curiosity, notwithstanding the unexpectedly frightful and repulsive appearance that the surface of the moon presented, that I now saw myself rapidly approaching the region concerning whose secrets my imagination had so often busied itself. When Mr. E

Human

o present a remarkable resemblance to a human face, unmistakably a feminine countenance, seen in profile, and possessing no small degree of beauty. To my astonishment, this curious human semblance still remai

blance Di

ut instantly afterward I was laughing at my fancy, for M

ho

ia

even while I spoke. A swift change had taken place in the line of sight by

ntial, and, like a pilot who feels his way into an unknown harbor, endeavoring to approach the moon in such a manner that no hidden peril should surprise us. As we thus approached I suddenly perceived, crowning the very apex of the lof

Discovery

ery apex of the lofty peak near the termination of the cap

n Was I

not inhabited now. I cannot describe the exultant feeling which took possession of me at

xclaimed, "when I show th

evidently once been washed by sea waves, because it was marked by long curved r

hich had once, evidently, been the bed of a sea, but which now appeared t

e gradually brought to rest on this lone mountain top of the moon. In accordance with my request, Mr. Edison had the flagship moored

at least two or three days in order that the wrecked car might be repaired. It was found also that the passage of the highly electrified meteor had

ng th

distant from the earth, and on soil which had never before been pressed by the foot of man, we performed that last ceremony of respect which mortals pay to mortality. In the ancient beach at the foot of the peak we made

directions across the moon. One went westward to investigate the great ring plain of Plato

presents a wonderful appearance even from the distance of the earth. The ship in which I, my

the broken walls of the watch tower on the peak, composed of blocks of enormous size, had evidently been the work of creatures

c Human F

byss of the Sea of Showers, there were found some stratified rocks in which the fascinated eyes of the e

Populated t

he clear imprint of a gigantic human foot, m

dventures of the Earth's W

left the impress of his foot in the wet sands of the beach here so many millions of years ago that

eat Fo

mpressiveness of the discovery, would have been laughable in the extreme. Bending over the mark in the rock, nodding their heads together, pointing with their awkwardly accoutred arms, they looked li

former inhabitation of the moon, and it would serve for the production of many a learned volume after t

ons Over

to accompany the car that was going to Aristarchus, because, as every one who had viewed the moon from the earth was aware, there was something ve

wing Mo

e crater, particularly on the inner side, glowed with a marvellous brightne

have made visible but for the flood of light which poured from the mountains. Sir William Herschel had b

luminosity of Aristarchus. No end of hypotheses had been invented to a

Sea of Showers, with enormous cliffs, mountain masses and peaks shining on the right, while in the other direction the view was bounded by the dis

rselves floating directly over the so-called Harbinger Mountains. The serrated

String Of

untain peak, had been cast down upon the barren surface of the moon and l

Mountains

, every one as great as a mountain, had been

re compelled to resort to the device, practiced by all climbers of lofty mountains, where the glare of sunlight

chemist and maker of artificial di

oila!" was all t

ain of

uted over its entire surface, but now innumerable points of light, all as bright as so many little suns, blaze

he interior. Here the splendor of the crystals was greater than on the outer slopes, and the broad floor of the crater, thousands of feet beneath us, shone and sp

rater. With great caution we brought it to rest upon the blazing ground, for the sharp edges of the cryst

l footing we attempted to detach some of the crystals. Many of them were

lth o

ested upon. Some time in the past history of the moon there had been an enormous outflow of molten material from the crater. This had overs

indescribable beauty and intensity. We

t cannot be," said Prof

id another memb

iamonds?" as

ssor. "They have the brilliancy of dia

s," suggest

lions, whatever they

from th

e carefully selected as many as it was convenient to carry and placed them in the car for future examination. We had solved another long standing lunar problem and had, perha

endezvous ahead of us. Their members had wonderful stories to tell of what they had seen

ought back, however, information which, in a scientific sense

, unmistakable evidences of former inhabitation. A gigantic city had evidently at one time existed near the centre of this great plain. The outlines of its walls and the fo

ences of

, but yet sufficient to enable the anthropologists, who immediately fell to examining it, to draw ideal representations of the head as it must have been in life-the head of a giant of enormous size, which, i

s in

the interior of the piece of skull were petrified portions of the brain matter

expedition, and aroused an almost irresistible desire to continue the explorations thus happily begun, yet everybody knew that these things were aside from the main purpose in view,

g from t

we had landed upon its surface, carrying with us a determination to revisit it and to learn mor