The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-12-05
[Continued from last week !
CHAPTER VII.

But along the shore of the old sea,
just where the so called bay of Rain
bows separates itself from the abyss of
the sea of Showers, there were found
some stratified rocks in which the fasci-
mated eyes of the explorer beheld the
clear imprint of gigantic human foot,
measuring five feet in length from toe
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 Of the beach
here SO many millions of years ago that
even the Imagination of the biologists
shrank 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 alright suits, connected with
telephone wires, and the spectacle, but
for the impressiveness of the discovery,
would have been laughable in the ex-
IRENE. Bending over the mark in the
rock, nodding their heads together,
pointing with their awkwardly acoou-
tered arms, they looked like an assem-
blage of antediluvian monsters collected
around their prey. Their djsappoint
ment over the fact that no other marks
of anything resembling human habita
ton could be discovered was very great.
Still this footprint in itself was quite
sufficient, as they all declared, to settle
the question of the former inhabitation
~ he 10 &C.. 81
production of many learned volume
after their return to the earth, even if
no further discoveries should be made
in other parts of the lunar world
twas the hope of making such other
discoveries that led to the dispatch Of
the various expeditions | have already
named. had chosen to accompany the
Car that was going to Aristarchus, be-
cause, as every one who had viewed the
moon from the earth was aware, there
was something very mysterious about
that mountain. | knew that it was
crater nearly 80 miles in diameter and
very deep, although its floor was plain
ly visible.
What rendered it remarkable was the
fact that that floor and the walls of the
crater, particularly on the inner side,
glowed with marvellous brightness
which rendered them almost binding
when viewed with powerful telescope.
So bright were they, indeed, that the
eye was unable to see many of the de-
tails which the telescope would have
made visible but for the food 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 lunar
volcano in eruption.
1t had always been a difficult ques-
ton what caused the extraordinary lu-
minosity Of Aristarchus. No end of n.y.
potheses had been invented to account
for it. Now was to assist in settling
these questions forever
From Cape Heraclides to Aristarchus
the distance in an air line was some
thing over 300 miles Our course lay
across the northeastern part of the sea
OF Showers, with enormous cliffs,
mountain masses and peaks shining on
the right, while in the other direction
the view was bounded by the distant
range of the lunar Apennines, some of
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 so
called Harbinger mountains. The SER
rated peaks Of Aristarchus then appear.
ed ahead of us. fairly blazing in the
sunshine
1t seemed rs If a gigantic string Of
diamonds, every one as great as noun
tain peak, had been cast down upon the
barren surface of the moon and left to
waste their brillianoe upon the desert
air Of this abandoned world.
AS we rapidly approached the daz-
zling splendor of the mountain became
almost unbearable to our eyes, and we