The projectile moved through space by the throwing off of waves of
energy, similar to wireless vibrations, from large plates of metal, and
these plates were the invention of Professor Roumann.

Perhaps to some of my readers it may seem strange to speak so casually
of a trip to the moon, but it must be remembered that our friends had
already accomplished a much more difficult journey, namely, that to
Mars. So the moon voyage was not to daunt them.

Mars, as I have said, was thirty-five millions of miles away from the
earth when the _Annihilator_ was headed toward it. To reach the moon,
however, but 252,972 miles, at the most, must be traversed--a little
more than a quarter of a million miles. As the distance from the earth
to the moon varies, being between the figures I have named, and 221,614
miles, with the average distance computed as being 238,840 miles, it
can readily be seen that at no time was the voyage to be considered as
comparing in distance with the one to Mars.

But there were other matters to be taken into consideration, and our
friends began to ponder on them in the days during which they made
their preparations.




CHAPTER IV

AN ACCIDENT