"Maybe we'll have to," declared Jack. "We certainly can't get off the
moon--at least, not until we reach the projectile, and I'd like to
discover those diamonds before we go back."

"Hu! Those diamonds!" exploded Mark. "I think this whole thing is a
wild-goose chase, anyhow! If it hadn't been for those diamonds we
wouldn't have come to the moon. I don't believe there are any diamonds
here, anyhow."

"Well, I can't prove it to you now, but I will before we get back,"
asserted Jack. "We'll be wearing diamonds, as the song says."

"Diamonds aren't going to keep us warm when we're freezing," went on
Mark, who seemed bound to look on the dark side, "and we can't eat 'em
when we're hungry. A lot of good they'll do us if we do find them!"

"Oh, cheer up!" suggested Jack cheerfully. "And, speaking of eating,
what's the matter with having some lunch? What did we bring it along
for if we're not going to eat? Let's begin."

His good spirits were contagious, not that Andy needed any special
cheering up, but Mark did. In a few minutes they were seated on some
rugged rocks, and, with their life-torches stuck in cracks, so that the
perforated metal boxes of chemicals would be on a level with their
faces, they opened the baskets they had been fore-sighted enough to
bring with them.

"Why, I feel better already," asserted Jack, as he munched some
sandwiches which Washington White had made. "As soon as we've finished
we'll have another hunt for the projectile, and I'll wager that we'll