It seemed to me at first that the Selenites must be standing on
trestle-supported planks,[*] and then I saw that the planks and supports
and the hatchets were really of the same leaden hue as my fetters had
seemed before white light came to bear on them. A number of very
thick-looking crowbars lay about the floor, and had apparently assisted
to turn the dead mooncalf over on its side. They were perhaps six feet
long, with shaped handles, very tempting-looking weapons. The whole
place was lit by three transverse streams of the blue fluid.
[* Footnote: I do not remember seeing any wooden things on the moon; doors
tables, everything corresponding to our terrestrial joinery was made of
metal, and I believe for the most part of gold, which as a metal would,
of course, naturally recommend itself--other things being equal--on
account of the ease in working it, and its toughness and durability.]
We lay for a long time noting all these things in silence. "Well?" said
Cavor at last.
I crouched over and turned to him. I had come upon a brilliant idea.
"Unless they lowered those bodies by a crane," I said, "we must be nearer
the surface than I thought."
"Why?"
"The mooncalf doesn't hop, and it hasn't got wings."
He peered over the edge of the hollow again. "I wonder now--" he began.
"After all, we have never gone far from the surface--"
I stopped him by a grip on his arm. I had heard a noise from the cleft
below us!
We twisted ourselves about, and lay as still as death, with every sense
alert.
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