The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-12-05

J chemist and maker of artificial dia-
monds, fairly danced with delight.
''Voila VOLTA, VOLTA - was all that
he could say.
When we were comparatively near,
the mountain no longer seemed to glow
with a uniform radiance, evenly dis
tributed over its entire surface, but now
innumerabe points of light, all as bright
as so many little suns blazed away at
us. 1t was evident that we had before
us mountain composed of, or at least
covered with, crystals.
Without stopping to alight ON the
outer slopes of the great ring shaped
range of peaks which composed Aristar
chus we sailed over their rim and look
ed down into the interior Here the
splendor of the 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 a stupendous tiara
incrusted with selected gems
Eager to see what these crystals were,
tllo CdI was uOW dllOW6u ldplulJ W
drop into the interior of the 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-were readily loosened.
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
rays of indescribable beauty and inten-
sity. We gazed. at first speeohless with
amazement
1T cannot be; surely it cannot bep'
said Professor Moissan at length.
"But it is, +" said another member of
the party
"Are these diamonds?'' asked third
II cannot yet tell, " replied the pro-
lessor. "They have the brilliancy Of
diamonds, but 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 in size from the dimensions of a
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
examination. We had solved another
long standing lunar problem and had
perhaps opened up an inxehaustible
mine of wealth which might eventually
go far toward reimbursing the earth for
the damage which it had suffered from
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 to
tell of what they had seen, but nothing
caused quite so much establishment as
that which we bad to tell and to show.
The party which had gone to visit
Plato and the lunar Alps brought back,
however, information which, in scien-
tifio sense, was no less interesting than
what we had been able to gather.
They had found within the curious
ring of Plato, which is circle Of
mountains so miles in diameter, in
closing level plain remarkably smooth
over most Of its surface, unmistakable
evidences of former inhabitation. A
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 the moon were prepared by
several members of the party.
One of them was fortunate enough to
discover an even more precious relic Of
the ancient lunarians. 1t was piece Of
petrified skull bone, representing but a
small portion of the head to which it
had belonged, but yet sufficient to en-
able the anthropologists, who immedi-
ately fell to examining it, to draw ideal
representations of the head as it must
have been in life-the head of giant
of enormous size, which, if it had pos
sessed highly organized brain Of pro-
portionate magnitude, must have given
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 found
on the interior of the piece of skull were
petrified portions of the brain matter it.
self, and he set to work with the micro
scope to examine it's organic quality.
In the meantime the repairs to the
electrical ships had been completed,
and, although these discoveries upon
the moon had created most profound
sensation among the members of the ex-