CHAPTER XXI
WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST
Advancing by leaps and bounds, and getting over the ground in a mannermost surprising, Mark soon found himself on the edge of the great,yawning crater, into which his chum Jack had started to slide. I saystarted, for, fortunately, the lad had been saved from death but by anarrow margin.
As Mark gazed down into the depths, which seemed fathomless, and whichwere as black as night, he saw his friend clinging to a rockyprojection on the side of the extinct volcano. Jack had managed tograsp a part of the rough surface as he slid down it after his recklessjump. He looked up and saw Mark.
"Oh, Mark, can't you save me?" he gasped. "Call Professor Henderson!"
"I'll get you up, don't worry!" called Mark, as confidently as hecould. "Hold tight, Jack. What has become of your life-torch?"
"I have it here by me. I didn't drop it, and it's on a piece of therock near my head. Otherwise I couldn't breathe. Oh, this place isfearfully deep. I guess it hasn't any bottom."
"Now, keep still, and don't think about that. Save your strength, holdfast, and I'll get you up."
But, having said that much, Mark was not so sure how next to proceed.It was going to be no easy task to haul up Jack, and that without ropesor other apparatus. Another matter that added to the danger was thenecessity of keeping the life-torch close to one's face in order toprevent death by the poisonous gases.
Mark's first impulse was to hasten back and call the two professors,but he looked over the desolate landscape, and could not see them, andhe feared that if he went away Jack might slip and fall into theunknown depths of the crater.
"I've got to get him out alone," decided Mark. "But how can I do it?"
He crawled cautiously nearer to the edge of the extinct volcano andlooked down. A few loose stones, dislodged by his weight, rattled downthe sides.
"Look out!" cried Jack quickly, "or you'll fall, too!"
"I'll be careful," answered Mark, and then he drew away out of danger,with a queer feeling about his heart, which was beating furiously. Markhad hoped to be able to make his way down the side of the crater towhere his chum was and help him up. But a look at the steep sides andthe uncertain footing afforded by the loose rocks of lava-likeformation showed that this could not be done.
"I've got to think of a different scheme," decided Mark, and, spurredon by the necessity of acting quickly if he was to save Jack, he fairlyforced his brain to work. For he saw by the strained look on his chum'sface that Jack could not hold out much longer.
"I have it!" cried Mark at length. "My fur coat! I can cut it intostrips of hide and make a rope. Then I can lower it down to Jack andhaul him up."
He did not think, for the moment, of the cold he would feel when hestripped off the fur garment, and when it did come to him in a flash henever hesitated.
"After all, I've often been out without an overcoat on cold days," hesaid to himself. "I guess I can stand it for a while, and when Jack isup I can run back to the projectile and keep warm that way."
To think was to act, and Mark laid down his life-torch to take off thebig fur coat. The next instant he had toppled over, almost in a faint,and, had he not fallen so that his head was near the small perforatedbox on the end of the steel rod, whence came the life-giving gas, thelad might have died.
He had forgotten, for the instant, the necessity of always keeping thetorch close to his face to prevent the poisonous gases of the moon fromoverpowering him. Mark soon revived while lying on the ground, and,rising, with his torch in his hand, he looked about him.
"I've got to have my two hands to work with," he mused, "and yet I'vegot to hold this torch close to my face. Say, a fellow ought to havethree hands if he's going to visit the moon. What can I do?"
In an instant a plan came to him. He thrust the pointed end of thesteel rod in the crevice of some rocks, and it stood upright, so thatthe perforated box of chemicals was on a level with his face.
"There," said Mark aloud, "I guess that will work. I can use both myhands now." The plan was a good one. Next, taking off his coat, the ladproceeded to cut it into strips, working rapidly. He called to Jackoccasionally, bidding him keep up his courage. "I'll soon have youout," he said cheeringly.
In a few minutes Mark had a long, stout strip of hide, and, taking hislife-torch with him, he advanced once more to the edge of the crater.He stuck the torch in between some rocks, as before, and looked down atJack.
"I--I can't hold on much longer," gasped the unfortunate lad. "Hurry,Mark!"
"All right. I'm going to haul you up now. Can you hold on with one handlong enough to slip the loop of this rope over your shoulders?"
"I guess so. But where did you get a rope?"
"I made it--cut up my fur coat."
"But you'll freeze!"
"Oh, I guess not. Here it comes, Jack. Get ready!"
Mark lowered the hide rope to his chum. The latter, who managed to getone toe on a small, projecting rock, while he held on with his righthand, used his left to adjust the loop over his shoulders and under hisarms.
"Are you all ready?" asked Mark.
"Yes, but can you pull me up?"
"Sure. I'm six times as strong as when on the earth. Hold steady now,and keep the torch close to your face."
Mark had placed some pieces of his fur coat under the rope where itpassed over the edge of the mouth of the crater to prevent the jaggedrocks from cutting the strips of hide.
"Here you come!" he cried to Jack, and he began to haul, taking care tokeep his own head near his torch, which was stuck upright. Mark hadspoken truly when he said he possessed much more than his usualstrength. Any one who has tried to haul up a person with a rope from ahole, and with no pulleys to adjust the strain of the cable, knows whata task it is. But to Mark, on the moon, it was comparatively easy.
Hand over hand he pulled on the hide rope until, with a final heave, hehad Jack out of his perilous position. He had pulled him up from themouth of the crater, and the thick fur coat Jack wore had prevented thesharp rocks from injuring him. In another moment he stood beside Mark,a trifle weak and shaky from his experience, but otherwise unhurt.
"How did you happen to go down there?" asked Mark.
"Not from choice, I assure you," answered Jack. "I couldn't see thecrater when I jumped, as it was hidden by some rocks, and I was into itbefore I knew it. But don't stand talking here. Put on my coat. I don'tneed it. I'm warm."
"I will not. I'm not a bit cold. But we may as well get back to theprojectile, for they'll be worrying about us." Thereupon Mark brokeinto a run, for, now that the exertion of hauling up Jack was over, hebegan to feel cool, and the chilling atmosphere of the moon struckthrough to his bones.
In a short time the two lads were back at the _Annihilator_, where theyfound Professors Roumann and Henderson getting a bit anxious aboutthem. Their adventure was quickly related, and the boys were cautionedto be more careful in the future.
"This moon is a curious, desolate place," said Mr. Henderson, "and youcan't behave on it as you would on the earth. We have discovered somecurious facts regarding it, and when we get back I am going to write abook on them. But I think we have seen enough for the present, so we'llstay in the rest of the day and plan for farther trips."
"Aren't we going to look for those diamonds?" asked Jack, who hadalmost fully recovered from his recent experience.
"Oh, yes, we will look around for them," assented Mr. Roumann. "Ithink, after a day or so, we will move our projectile to another partof the moon. We want to see as much of it as possible."
They sat discussing various matters, and, while doing so, WashingtonWhite peered into the living cabin.
"Has yo' got one ob dem torch-light processions t' spare?" he asked.
"Torch-light processions?" queried Mark. "What do you think this is, anelection, Wash?"
"I guess he means a life-torch," suggested Jack. "Are you going out,Wash?"
"Yais, sah, I did think I'd take a stroll around. Maybe I ki
n find adiamond fo' my tie."
Laughing, Jack provided the colored man with one of the torches,instructing him how to use it, and presently Washington was seenoutside, walking gingerly around, as though he expected to go throughthe crust of the moon any moment. Pretty soon, however, he got morecourage and tramped boldly along, peering about on the ground for allthe world, as Mark said, as if he was looking for chestnuts.
They paid no attention to the cook for some little time until, when theboys and the two professors were in the midst of a discussion as towhere would be the best place to move the projectile next, they heardhim running along the corridor toward the cabin.
"Wash is in a hurry," observed Jack.
The next instant they sprang to their feet at the sight of thefrightened face of the colored man peering in on them. He was as nearwhite as a negro can ever be, which is a sort of chalk color, and hiseyes were wide open with fear.
"What's the matter?" asked Jack.
"A ghost! I done seen de ghost ob a dead man!" gasped the colored man.
"A ghost?" repeated Mark.
"Yais, sah, right out yeah! He's lyin' down in a hole--a dead man.Golly! but I'se a scared coon, I is!" and Washington looked over hisshoulder as though he feared the "ghost" had followed him.