Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World

ur feet touched the ground, "the moo

am glad to find the inhabitants

ht-hearted," I rejoined, "w

g we handled had but a small fraction of the weight it would possess on the earth, and our great air-condensing machines we carried about with ease. But however high we might jump we always returned to the grou

The law of gravitation surely held us, although with less force than we had been accusto

ealed to my

the moon, Doctor, but can you tell me how we are to prevent i

rve of the moon's surface. Now, after we have finished our investigations here, we can start for home on foot. We can cover a good many miles a day, since walking can be no burden here, and we can easily tow our balloon along. As we approach the earth, my impression is that we shall become more a

will never miss us, since we haven't made their acquaintance yet. Science or no science, I object to remaining any longer than necessary in this uncertainty in regard to our future. You know very well we couldn't live long in this temperature and with nothing for our lungs but what comes through t

ther effort to accomplish our errand. But I will not deny that I share something of your feeling, and I will start with you rig

ed, and we were

arted to find the place where the moon would let go of us, the sun set and, with scarcely a minute's warning, we were plunged into darkness and cold. The darkness was relieved by the exceedingly brilliant appearance of the stars, t

that no life such as we were acquainted w

come. In trying to keep warm we would work our air-condensers harder than usual, and the water thus produced

eep ravines. There was no sign of vegetation and not even the soil for it to grow in

that he must be right. We were certainly held to the moon where we were by gravitation. It was just as true that near the surface of the earth its superior attraction would draw all objects to

lly encouraged with the belief that we were actually walking easier and everything was becoming lighte

rther we should be able to mount our car and set sail for the earth again. But with this knowledge we lost at once much of our desire, and thought we would not hasten our departure. Here we were, absolutely floating in the air, and

ing up as far as you and I did. What a place this would be for summer vacations! The moon is a fixture now; it cannot get away. I am sure of that, for the law of gravitation will never release it. So we may as well make what use of it we can, and these delightful sensations will no doubt form the most important discovery that we shall ever make on this dried-up an

d me of my promise to return to our former position on the moon, and we agreed to set out the next day. Having fastened our car se

e crater, and some time before morning we were roused by a violent s

hat?" I e

like a moon-quake,"

ed to follow the doctor's example and

I s

ead ages ago. I hope we haven't camped in the

he moon which is gradually freezing. That operation would sometimes crack

rise, we suddenly emerged from darkness into bright sunlight. We sprang up instinctively to look about

re were we? Then we began to realize gradually that the trembling of the ground was the grating

took away for a time the se

thought you said the moon could never get awa

pulling in one direction just now and are proving too much for the earth's attraction. But what concerns us more at this time is covered by your question, 'What are we going to do now?' And I will answer that I think we will stick to the m

ur condition, so wrapped up were we in the grandeur of the object before our eyes. To those who have never been on the moon in such circumstan

out before us-the greatest object lesson ever seen by the eye of man. As we studied it, recognizing feature after feature, lands and wate

our summer tourists could take in this experience also, it would make a vacation worth having. Isn't it grand? I see you are thinking about

hose friends, I wish you would do so," I rep

ety to realize that we were traveling very rapidly away from it. I had reached a point now where I did not

the remainder of our lives circling around our dear old earth, l

"if, indeed, this rate of speed does not carry us entirely

moon, if we could only keep the earth in sight even, seemed almost endurable now, beside the idea that we might be ca

ind had taken away the balloon part of our air ship, and now threatened every moment to tear the car from its moorings and end our unhappy career at once. Besides this impending catastrophe, it was with the greatest di

terrible suggestion of the doctor's would be realized. We had both made a mental calculation as to how large the earth ought to look from the moon at its normal distance, and as it approached that size we could not hi

of our desperate situation we had some sentiment remaining. The earth was the only home we had ever known, and I am not ashamed to say that we did not like to lose sight of it; especially as there was not the slightest possibility t

earth's attraction, and the dear old earth was fast becoming a less significant ob

ould control my emotions e

ot worth much in our present strange circumstances, but it seems to

ecessary breath in talking. The ether was now so thin that it to

eally believe we would not have lived many days had not something occur