Lost on the Moon by Roy Rockwood (ebook pdf reader for pc .TXT) 📖

a hasty meal, the two boys and the veteran

hunter set out, Andy with his gun over his shoulder and his sharp eyes

on the lookout for any sign of Axtell, though they hardly expected to

find him in the vicinity of the projectile.

 

Taking the road, on which Dick Johnson said he had encountered the man,

the two lads and Andy proceeded, making inquiries from time to time of

persons they met. But no one had seen Axtell, and the insane man, for

such he seemed to be, appeared to have dropped out of sight.

 

On into the village the searchers went, and there they reported matters

to the chief of police, telling him only so much as was necessary to

give him an understanding of the situation.

 

“I’ll send a couple of my best constables right out on the case,” said

the chief. “We’ve just appointed two new ones, and I guess they’ll be

glad to arrest somebody.”

 

“Let them look out that this fellow doesn’t drug them and carry them

away,” cautioned Mark.

 

“Oh, I guess my constables can look out for theirselves,” spoke the

chief proudly.

 

Once more the trailers sallied forth to renew their search. They

thought perhaps they might find their man lingering in the town, but a

search through the principal streets did not disclose him, and Mark

proposed that they return to their home for the night, as he was tired

and weary from his experience in the deserted house.

 

As they were turning out of the town, their attention was attracted by

a disturbance on the street just ahead of them. A woman screamed, and

men’s voices were heard. Then came cries of: “Police! Police!”

 

“Some one’s in trouble!” exclaimed Jack. “Let’s go see what it is.”

 

They broke into a run, and, as they approached, they saw a crowd

quickly collect. It seemed to center about a man who was being held by

two others, though he struggled to get away.

 

“Here, what’s the trouble?” the boys heard a constable ask as he

shouldered his way into the throng.

 

“This fellow tried to snatch this lady’s purse and run away with it,”

explained one of the men who had grabbed the scoundrel. “Stand still,

you brute!” he shouted at him, “or I’ll shake you to pieces! Such

fellows as you ought to go to the whipping-post!”

 

“I’ll take charge of him,” announced the officer. “Who is he? Does any

one know?”

 

“Stranger in town, I guess,” volunteered the other man, who had helped

capture him. “Need any help, officer?”

 

“No, I guess I can manage him. Come along now, and behave yourself, or

I’ll use my club. It hasn’t been tried on any one yet.”

 

“That’s one of the new constables, I guess,” said Mark, and Jack

nodded.

 

The crowd separated to allow the officer to take out his prisoner. As

the latter walked forward in the grip of the constable, he remarked in

a mild voice totally at variance with his bold act:

 

“Why, I only wanted a little change to pay my fare to the moon. I’m

going there to look for my brother.”

 

“Crazy as a loon,” said one of the men.

 

“Or pretending that he is,” added the officer.

 

“Mark!” cried Jack, pointing at the prisoner, “look!”

 

“The man who held me captive!” gasped Mark. “And he’s wearing my

clothes yet! But he’s in custody now, and we needn’t fear any more from

him.”

 

“Unless he gets away,” said Jack.

 

“We’ll go tell the chief who he is, and he’ll keep him safe,” suggested

Mark, and they hurried to headquarters, reaching there just before the

prisoner was brought in. The boys were assured by the chief that the

man, who was evidently a dangerous lunatic, would be kept where he

could do no harm. He would be arraigned later on the serious charge of

attempted highway robbery, as well as of being a dangerous lunatic at

large. When the boys and Andy got back, they found the two professors

and Washington still going over the machinery in detail.

 

“Find anything wrong?” asked Jack, after they had told of the arrest of

Axtell.

 

“No, but we will have another look in the morning,” said Mr. Henderson.

“Then, if we find nothing out of order, I think we will take a chance

and start.”

 

A thorough inspection by all hands the next day did not disclose

anything wrong, and, a test of the motors and other machinery having

shown that it was in good working shape, it was decided to leave the

earth.

 

“At last, I think, we are really going to get under way to the moon,”

said Jack, as he closed the big main door. This time it was not

reopened. All the stores and supplies were in place. The two professors

were in the engine room. Washington White was in his galley, getting

ready to serve the first meal in the air. Jack and Mark were in the

pilot house, ready to do whatever was necessary and anxious to feel the

thrill that would tell them the projectile had left the earth.

 

“All ready?” asked Professor Henderson.

 

“All ready,” replied his German assistant.

 

“Then here we go!” announced the aged scientist.

 

He pulled toward him the main starting lever of the Cardite motor,

while Professor Roumann opened the valve which admitted to the plates

and cylinders the mysterious force that was to send them on their way.

 

“Elevate the bow!” called Professor Henderson.

 

“Elevated it is,” answered the German, as he turned a wheel which

directed the negative gravity force against the surface of the ground

and tilted up the nose of the Annihilator, as a skyrocket is slanted

in a trough before the fuse is ignited.

 

“Throw over the switch,” directed Mr. Henderson, and the other

scientist, with a quick motion, snapped it into place, amid a shower of

vicious electric sparks that hissed as when hot iron is thrust into

water.

 

“Steer straight ahead!” called Professor Henderson to Mark and Jack,

who were in the pilot house. “We’ll head for the moon later.”

 

“Straight ahead it is,” answered Jack.

 

There was a trembling to the great projectile. Up rose her sharp-pointed bow. She swayed slightly in the air. The trembling increased.

The great Cardite motor hummed and throbbed. There was a crackling as

from a wireless apparatus.

 

Then, with a rush and a roar, the big steel car, resembling an enormous

cigar, soared away from the earth, like some gigantic piece of

fireworks, and shot toward the sky.

 

“We’re off!” shouted Mark.

 

“For the moon!” added Jack.

 

And the Annihilator soared upward and onward, while those in her

never dreamed of the fearful adventures that were to befall them ere

they would again be headed toward the earth.