Shall we go down and see?"
"But how?" she said.
He pointed towards the _Astronef_. She nodded her helmeted head, and
they went back towards the vessel.
A few minutes later the Space-Navigator had risen from her resting-place
with an impetus which rapidly carried her over half of the vast crater,
and then she began to drop slowly into the depths. She grounded gently,
and presently they were standing on the ground about a mile from the
central cone. This time, however, Redgrave had taken the precaution to
bring a magazine rifle and a couple of revolvers with him in case any
strange monsters, relics of the vanished fauna of the moon, might still
be taking refuge in these mysterious depths. Zaidie, although like a
good many American girls she could shoot excellently well, carried no
weapon more offensive than the photographic apparatus aforesaid.
The first thing that Redgrave did when they stepped out on to the sandy
surface of the plain was to stoop down and strike a wax match. There was
a tiny glimmer of light, which was immediately extinguished.
"No air here," he said, "so we shall find no living beings--at any rate,
none like ourselves."
They found the walking exceedingly easy, although their boots were
purposely weighted in order to counteract, to some extent, the great
difference in gravity.
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