Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World | Page 9

have the queerest sensations of lightness. We
felt as if we were standing on springs, which the least motion would set off and up we
would go toward the sky. Everything 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 ground, and whether
we were on top of the moon or on the bottom of it, it was pretty certain that we could not
fall off, any more than we could have fallen off the earth before we voluntarily but so
rashly left it.
My exhilaration of spirit did not last, for I could not help thinking of our condition. The
law of gravitation surely held us, although with less force than we had been accustomed
to, on account of the smaller size of the moon; and how were we to get away from it?
I again appealed to my companion.
"I do not like the idea of spending the rest of our lives on the moon, Doctor, but can you
tell me how we are to prevent it? Can we ever get back within the earth's attraction
again?"
"I have been pondering the subject myself," he replied, "and I think I can give you some
hope of seeing home once more. If our old measurements of the moon are correct, and if
we are, as I suppose, somewhere near the equator, we must be about fifteen hundred
miles from the earth, following the curve 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
and more light-footed, for we shall be gradually getting back to the earth's attraction.
Somewhere between this point and our planet there must be a spot where the attraction of
both bodies will be equal, and we can stay on the moon or drop off and return to the earth
in our balloon as we please."
"What a curious idea," I answered; "and yet, considering the strange behavior of our sand
bag, I don't know but you are right. And I have only one suggestion to make; that is, that
we start earthward at once and try the experiment. Let the investigations go. If there are
any inhabitants here they 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 these horrid
machines. And what good would come of our discoveries if we are never to get back to
the earth again? I profess to have as much courage left as the ordinary mortal would have,
but in the present circumstances I believe no one would blame us for wanting to settle
this question at once."

"It would seem a trifle ridiculous," said the doctor in reply to this harangue, "for us to
return to our planet without any further effort to accomplish our errand. But I will not
deny that I share something of your feeling, and I will start with you right away, on
condition that you will return here if we find that I am correct in believing we can leave
the moon at our pleasure."
"Agreed," I cried, and we were soon on our way.
So far we had been exposed to the sun and were almost scorched by the intensity of its
rays. We had never experienced anything like such heat and would not have supposed the
human body could endure it. But now, soon after we had started 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, the sky fairly blazing with them, but the cold was almost
unendurable even for the few moments in which we were exposed to it. We secured our
car as speedily as possible, climbed into it, and got a little warmth from our gas heater.
These extremes of temperature convinced us that no life such as we were acquainted with
could exist a great while on the moon.
We found we could make no progress at all by night. We could only shut ourselves up
and wait for the sun to come. In trying to keep warm