"Why, we're rushing right at the moon! I can see the mountains and
craters on it as plain as though we were but five miles away!"

"Then we must be nearly there," observed Jack. "Let's tell the others,
Mark."

They hurried to inform the two professors, who at once left their
tables of figures and entered the steering chamber. Then, after gazing
through the glass, Mr. Henderson announced: "Friends, we will land on
the moon in half an hour. Get ready."

"Are we really going to be walking around the moon inside of thirty
minutes?" asked Mark.

"I don't know about walking around on it," answered the German. "We
first have to see if there is an atmosphere there for us to breathe,
and whether the temperature is such as we can stand. But the
Annihilator will soon be there."

The speed of the Cardite motor was increased, and so rapidly did the
projectile approach Luna that glasses were no longer needed to
distinguish the surface of the moon.

There she floated in space, a great, silent ball, but not like the
earth, pleasantly green, with lakes and rivers scattered about in
verdant forests. No, for the moon presented a desolate surface to the
gaze of the travellers. Great, rugged mountain peaks arose all about
immense caverns that seemed hundreds of miles deep. The surface was
cracked and seamed, as if by a moonquake. Silence and terrible