Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-10
oyered with, CRYSTALS

ed down INTO the interior. Here the
splendor of tho crystals was greater than
on the outer slopes, and the broad floor
of the crater, thousands of feet beneath
us, shone and sparkled with overwhelm.
ing radiance as if it were an immense
bin of diamonds, while peak in the
center famed like n stupendous tiara
incrusted with selected gems.
Eager to sec what these crystals were,
tho car was now allowed rapidly to
drop into the interior Of tho crater.
With great caution we brought it to
rest upon the blazing ground. for the
sharp edges Of the crystals would GER
tainly have torn the metallic sides Of
the car If it had come into violent con-
tact with them.
Downing our alright suits and step
ping carefully out upon this wonderful
footing, we attempted to detach some Of
the crystals. Many of them were firmly
fastened, but few-some of astonish-
ing size-wore readily loosened.
a moments inspection showed that
we had stumbled upon the most marvel
GUS work of the forces of capitalization
that human eyes had ever rested upon.
Some time in the past history of the
moon there had been an enormous out.
flow of molten material from the crater.
This had overspread the walls and par
TALLY filled up the interior, and later its
surface had lowered into gems as thick
as blossoms in bed of pansies.
The whole mass flashed prismatio
l.
sity We gazed, at first speechless with
smazement.
at cannot be- surely it cannot beP'
said Professor Moissan at length.
But it is, 3" said another member of
the party.
"Are these diamonds?" asked third.
II cannot yet tell, 4" replied the pro-
fessor. "They have the brilliancy of
diamonds, bit they may be something
else. "
Moon jewels, +" suggested third
"And worth untold millions what
ever they are, remarked another
These magnificent crystals, some of
which appeared to be almost flawless,
varied III size from the dimensions of u
hazelnut to geometrical solids several
inches in diameter. We carefully select.
ed as many as it was convenient to carry
and placed them in the car for future
examinations We had solved another
long standing lunar problem and had
perhaps opened up an ipychaustible
mine of wealth which might eventually
20 far toward reimbursing tho earth for
H.. id ,t L,1
The invasion of the Martians.
On returning to Cape Heraclides we
found that the other expeditions had
arrived at the rendezvous ahead of us
Their members had wonderful stories tC
tell of whas they had seen, but nothing
caused quite so much establishment as
shat which we had to tell and to show
The party which had gone to visi,
Plato and the lunar Alps brought back,
however, information which, in scien
tihc sense, was no less interesting thar
what we had been able to gather.
They had found within the curious
ring of Plato, which is circle of
mountains 80 miles i'll diameter, in
closing level plain remarkably smooth
over most Of its surface, unmistakablt
evidences OF former inhabitation.
gigantic city had evidently at one time
existed near the center of this great
plain. The outlines of its walls and the
foundation marks of some of its i'm
mense buildings were plainly made out,
and elaborate plans of this vanished
capital Of tho moon were prepared by
several members of the party.
One of them was fortunate enough tC
discover an even more precious relic Of
the ancient lunarians. 1t was piece Of
petrifed skull bone, representing but {
small portion Of the head to which il
had belonged, but yet sufficient to en-
able the anthropologists, who immedi
ately fell TO examining it, to draw idea
representations of the head as it mus
have been in life-the head of gian
Of enormous size, which, if it had pos
sessed "a highly organized brain of pro
portionate magnitude, must have givei
to its possessor intellectual powers i'm
mensely greater than any of the de
scendants Of Adam have ever been en-
dowed with.
Indeed one of the professors was Ger
tain that some little concretions foun'
on the interior of the piece of skull wer
petrifled portions of tho brain matter 1t
self, and he set to work with the micro
scope to examine its organic quality.
In the meantime the repairs to tn
electrical ships had been completed
and, although these discoveries upol
the moon had created most profoun
sensation among the members of the ex
petition and aroused an almost irresist
ible desire to continue the exploration
thus happily begun, yet everybody knew
that these things were aside from tn
main purpose in view and that W
should be false to our duty in wasting
moment more upon the moon than wa
absolutely necessary to put the ships i
proper condition to proceed on thei
warlike voyage.
Everything being prepared then, W
left tho moon with great regret, Just A
hours after we had landed upon its sui
face, carrying with us deterininatio
to revisit il and learn more of its won
derful secrets in case we should surviv
the dangers which we We're going to face
A day or two after leaving the moo
we had another adventure with war
dering inhabitant of space who
brought us into far greater peril tina
had our encounter with the meteor.
The airships had been partitioned O
30 that portion Of the interior coul
be darkened in order to serve az SLEEP
inc cban,bar xuharein accordipu IN th