, in order to inquire for
the particulars. As the flagship was now overcrowded by the addition
of so many men to its crew, Mr. Edison had them distributed among the
other cars. Fortunately it happened that the disintegrators contained
in the wrecked car were not injured. Mr. Edison thought that it would
be possible to repair the car itself, and for that purpose he had it
attached to the flagship in order that it might be carried on as far as
the moon. The bodies of the dead were transported with it, as it was
determined, instead of committing them to the fearful deep of space,
where they would have wandered forever, or else have fallen like meteors
upon the earth, to give them interment in the lunar soil.

Nearing the Moon.

As we now rapidly approached the moon the change which the appearance of
its surface underwent was no less wonderful than that which the surface of
the earth had presented in the reverse order while we were receding from
it. From a pale silver orb, shining with comparative faintness among the
stars, it slowly assumed the appearance of a vast mountainous desert. As
we drew nearer its colors became more pronounced; the great flat regions
appeared darker; the mountain peaks shone more brilliantly. The huge
chasms seemed bottomless and blacker than midnight. Gradually separate
mountains appeared. What seemed like expanses of snow and immense
glaciers streaming down their sides sparkled with great brilliancy in the
perpendicular rays of the sun. Our motion had now assumed the aspect of
falling. We seemed to be dropping from an immeasurable height and with
an inconceivable velocity, straight down upon those giant peaks.

The Mountains of Luna.

Here and there curious lights glowed upon the mysterious surface of the
moon. Where the edge of the moon cut the sky behind it, it was broken and
jagged with mountain masses. Vast crater rings overspread its surface,
and in some of these I imagined I could perceive a lurid illumination
coming out of their deepest cavities, and the curling of mephitic vapors
around their terrible jaws.

We were approaching that part of the moon which is known to astronomers as
the Bay of Rainbows. Here a huge semi-circular region, as smooth almost
as the surface of a prairie, lay beneath our eyes, stretching southward
into a vast ocean-like expanse, while on the north it was enclosed by an
enormous range of mountain cliffs, rising perpendicularly to a height
of many thousan