"But why should time seem different because on smaller planet ? "

"I don't know There ! "

"How does one tell time ? "

"Hunger - fatigue - all those things are different Everything is different - everything it seems that since first we came sphere only question of hours - long hours - at most "

"Ten days," ; "that leaves -" I looked up sun for moment, and then saw halfway zenith western edge of things "Four days ! . Cavor, we musn't sit here and dream How begin ? "

I stood up " get fixed point recognise - hoist flag, or handkerchief, or something - and quarter the ground, and work round that "

He stood up beside me

"Yes," , " nothing but to hunt the sphere Nothing find it - certainly find it And -"

" keep on looking "

He look , glanced up sky and down tunnel, and astonished me by sudden gesture of impatience "Oh ! but foolishly ! come pass ! Think how it , things done ! "

" do something yet "

"Never the thing done here below out feet is world Think of what that world ! Think machine we saw, lid shaft ! They were just remote outlying things, and those creatures seen and fought with no more than ignorant peasants, dwellers outskirts, yokels and labourers half akin to brutes Down below ! Caverns beneath caverns, tunnels, structures, ways . It must open out, and be greater and wider and more populous as one descends Assuredly Right down last the central sea that washes round the core moon Think inky waters under the spare lights - if, indeed, their eyes need lights ! Think cascading tributaries pouring down their channels to feed it ! Think tides upon its surface, rush and swirl ebb and flow ! perhaps ships that go upon it, perhaps down mighty cities and swarming ways, and wisdom and order passing the wit of man And die here upon it, and never see the masters be - ruling over these things ! freeze and die here, air will freeze and thaw upon us, and then - ! Then come upon us, come stiff and silent bodies, and find the sphere find, and understand at last too late all the thought and effort that ended here in vain ! "

His voice for all that speech sounded like the voice of someone heard in telephone, weak and far away

"But the darkness,"

"One might get over that "

"How ? "

"I don't know How am I ? One might carry torch, one lamp - The others - might understand "

He stood for moment hands held down and rueful face, staring out over the waste that defied him Then with gesture of renunciation he turned towards me with proposals systematic hunting sphere

" return,"

He looked about him "First of all to earth "

" bring back lamps to carry and climbing irons, and hundred necessary things "

"Yes,"

" take back an earnest of success gold "

He looked at my golden crowbars, and said nothing for space He stood hands clasped behind his back, staring across the crater At last he signed and spoke " the way here, but way isn't always master of way If I take my secret back to earth, happen ? how keep my secret for year, for even part of year Sooner or later it must come out, even if other men rediscover it And then . Governments and powers will struggle hither, fight against one another, and against these moon people; only spread warfare and multiply the occasions of war In little while, in very little while, if I tell my secret, this planet to its deepest galleries strewn with human dead Other things are doubtful, but certain man had any use moon What good would the moon be to men ? Even own planet what have they made but battle-ground and theatre of infinite folly ? Small as his world is, and short as his time, he has still little life down there far more than do No ! Science has toiled too long forging weapons for fools to use time she held her hand Let him find it out for himself again - in thousand years' time "

" methods of secrecy,"

He looked up at me and smiled "After all," , "why should one worry ? little chance finding the sphere, and down below things are brewing It's simply the human habit of hoping till we die that makes us think of return Our troubles are only beginning shown these moon folk violence, given them taste quality, chances are about as good as tiger's that has got loose and killed man in Hyde Park The news of us running down from gallery to gallery, down towards the central parts . . No sane beings will ever take that sphere back to earth after seen of us "

"We aren't improving our chances," said I, "by sitting here "

We stood up side by side

"After all," , separate stick up handkerchief tall spikes here and fasten it firmly, and as centre work over the crater go westward, moving out in semicircles to and fro towards the setting sun move first with your shadow right until at right angles direction of your handkerchief, and then with your shadow left same east look into every gully, examine every skerry of rocks; do all my sphere see the Selenites hide For drink take snow, and if the need of food, kill mooncalf , and eat such flesh as it has - raw - and so each will go his own way "

"And if one of us comes sphere ? "

" come back white handkerchief, and stand and signal other "

"And if neither ? "

Cavor glanced up sun "We go on seeking until the night and cold overtake us "

"Suppose the Selenites have found the sphere and hidden it ? "

He shrugged his shoulders

"Or if presently hunting us ? "

no answer

"You had better take club,"

He shook his head, and stared away from me across the waste

But for moment start He looked round at me shyly, hesitated "Au revoir,"

an odd stab of emotion sense of how we had galled , and particularly how galled him, came "Confound it," thought I, " done better ! " point of asking him to shake hands - , somehow, was how just then - when he put his feet together and leapt away from me towards the north to drift air as dead leaf would do, fell lightly, and leapt again I stood for moment watching him, then faced westward reluctantly, pulled myself together, and with something feeling of man who leaps into icy water, selected leaping point, and plunged forward to explore my solitary half moon world I dropped rather clumsily among rocks, stood up and looked about me, clambered on to rocky slab, and leapt again . .

When presently I looked for Cavor hidden from my eyes, but the handkerchief showed out bravely on its headland, white blaze sun

I determined not to lose sight handkerchief whatever might betide

Chapter 19

Mr Bedford Alone