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

CHAPTER VII.
But along the shore of the old sea,
Just where the so called bay of Rain
bows separates itself from the abyss II
the sea of Showers, there were found
some stratiied rocks in which the fasci-
mated eyes of the explorer beheld the
clear imprint Of a gigantic human foot,
measuring five feet in length from tee
TO heel.
The most minute search failed TO re-.
veal another trace Of the presence Of the
ancient giant, who had left the impress
of his foot in the wet sands IF the beach
here so many millions Of years ago that
even the imagination of the biologists
shrnnk from the task of attempting to
fix the precise period.
Around this gigantic footprint gath
cred most of the scientific members Of
the expedition, wearing their oddly
shaped a;r,ight suits, connected with
telephone wires, and the spectacle, but
for the impressiveness of the discovery,
would have been laughable in the ex-
RENE Bending over the mark in tine
rock, nodding their heads together,
PtALNiLb ~ Iva u" lCCOu-
tered arms. they looked like an assem-
blage of a~ntediluvian monsters collected
around their prey. Their disappoint-
ment over the fact that no'other marks
OF anything resembling human habita-
tion could be discovered was very great.
Still this footprint III itself was quite
sufficient, as they all declared. 20 settle
the question OF the former inhabitation
of the moon and it would serve for the
production of many a learned volume
after their return TO the earth. even if
no further discoveries should be made
in other parts of the lunar world.
1t was the hope of making such other
discoveries that led 10 the dispatch Of
the various expeditions l have already
named. | had chosen 10 accompany tho
car that was going 10 .AristarchuS, be-
cause, as every one who had viewed the
moon from the earth was aware, there
was something very mysterious about
that mountain. l knew that it was a
crater nearly 80 miles in diameter and
very deep, although its fioor was plain
ly visible.
What rendered il remarkable was the
fact that that floor and the walls Of tho
crater, particularly on the inner side,
glOwed with "A marvellous brightness
which rendered them almost binding
when viewed with u powerful telescope.
so bright were they, indeed, that the
eye was unable to see many Of the de-
tails which the telescope wolld have
made visible but for the flood Of light
which poured from the mountains. Sir
William Herschel had been so COM
pletely misled by this appearance that
he supposed he was watching a lunar
volcano in eruption.
II had always been a difficult ques-
tion what caused the extraordinary lu-
minosity Of Aristarchus No end Of n.y.
potheses bad been invented TO account
for it. Now | was to assist in settling
these questions forever,
From Cape Her0clides 70 Aristarchus
the distance in ~ air line was some
thing over 300 miles. Our course lay
across the northeastern part of the sea
of Showers, with cliffs,
mountain masses and peaks shining on
the right, while in the other direction
tlt NltN was bNNLNSh W ~ hicNiAAt
range of tho lunar Apennines, some Ct
whose towering peaks, when viewed
from our immense elevation, appeared
as sharp as the Swiss Matterhorn.
When we had arrived within about
100 miles of our destination, we found
ourselves floating directly over the SC
called Harbinger mountains. The SER
rated peaks of Aristarchus then appear.
ed ahead of us, fairly blazing in the
sunshine,
IL seemed as if a gigantic string Of
diamonds, every enc as great rs a noun
tain peak, had been cast down upon the
barren surface of the moon and left te
waste their brilliance upon the desert
air of this abandoned world.
AS we rapidly approached ths daz,
cling splendor of the mountain becam,
almost unbearable to our eyes, and W.
were compelled to resort to the device
practiced by all climbers of lofty NOM
tains, where the glare of sunlight upoI
snow sulfaccs is liable to cause tempo
rary blindness, Of protecting u eye
with neutral tinted glasses.
Professor Moissan, the great Frencl
chemist and maker of artificial dia
monds, fairly danced with delight.
"Voila, VOLTA, voilar' was all tina
he could say.
When we were comparatively near
the mountain no longer seemed TO GLOW
with u uniform radiance, evesly dis
tributed over its entire surface, but nov
innumerable points Of light, all as brigh
as so many little suns, blazed away a
us. 1t was evident that we had befor
us q mountain composed of, or at leaa