Produced by Anne Soulard, Tiffany Vergon, Joshua Hutchinson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. LOST ON THE MOON OR IN QUEST OF THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS BY ROY ROCKWOOD CHAPTER I. A WONDERFUL STORY II. SOMETHING ABOUT OUR HEROES III. PREPARING FOR A VOYAGE IV. AN ACCIDENT V. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY VI. ON THE TRACK VII. MARK IS CAPTURED VIII. JACK IS PUZZLED IX. A DARING PLOT X. "HOW STRANGE MARK ACTS" XI. READY FOR THE MOON XII. MARK'S ESCAPE XIII. A DIREFUL THREAT XIV. OFF AT LAST XV. THE SHANGHAI MAKES TROUBLE XVI. "WILL IT HIT US?" XVII. TURNING TURTLE XVIII. AT THE MOON XIX. TORCHES OF LIFE XX. ON THE EDGE OF A CRATER XXI. WASHINGTON SEES A GHOST XXII. A BREAKDOWN XXIII. LOST ON THE MOON XXIV. DESOLATE WANDERINGS XXV. THE PETRIFIED CITY XXVI. SEEKING FOOD XXVII. THE BLACK POOL XXVIII. THE SIGNAL FAILS XXIX. THE FIELD OF DIAMONDS XXX. BACK TO EARTH--CONCLUSION CHAPTER I A WONDERFUL STORY "Well, what do you think of it, Mark?" asked Jack Darrow, as he laid aside a portion of a newspaper, covered with strange printed characters. "Great; isn't it?" "You don't mean to tell me that you believe that preposterous story, do you, Jack?" And Mark Sampson looked across the table at his companion in some astonishment. "Oh, I don't know; it may be true," went on Jack, again picking up the paper and gazing thoughtfully at it. "I wish it was." "But think of it!" exclaimed Mark. "Why, if such a thing exists, and if we, or some one else, should attempt to bring all those precious stones to this earth, it would revolutionize the diamond industry of the world. It can't be true!" "Well, here It is, in plain print. You can read it for yourself, as you know the Martian language as well as I do. It states that a large field of 'Reonaris' was discovered on the moon near Mare Tranquilitatis (or Tranquil Ocean, I suppose that could be translated), and that the men of Mars brought back some of the Reonaris with them. Here, read it, if you don't believe me." "Oh, I believe you, all right--that is, I think you have translated that article as well as you can. But suppose you have made some error? We didn't have much time to study the language of Mars while we were there, and we might make some mistake in the words. That article might be an account of a dog-fight on the red planet, instead of an account of a trip to the moon and the discovery of a field of Reonaris; eh, Jack?"