"Oh, I'm feeling pretty fair," was the mumbled answer. "I didn't sleep much, though." "Well, take care of yourself," advised Jack. "We are about ready to start. We'll get off about noon, Professor Henderson says. Don't try to do anything and injure your broken arm. You certainly had a tough time of it." "Yes, I guess I did. I can't do much to help you." "You don't need to. We're all but finished. Just hang around and watch me work. There isn't much to do." But though Jack gave an invitation to remain near him, the other seemed to prefer being off by himself. He wandered in and out of the projectile, now and then helping Andy or Washington to carry light objects into the _Annihilator_. But all the while he was careful not to disturb the bandage on his face, and several times he stopped to readjust it. Nor did he talk much, which Jack ascribed to his statement that his teeth hurt him. And when the bandaged figure did speak, it was in mumbling tones, very different from Mark's usually cheerful ones. "Well," remarked Professor Roumann, after a final inspection of the big Cardite motor--the one that was to be depended on to carry them to the moon--"I think we are about ready to leave this earth. How about it, Professor Henderson?" "Yes, I think so. Have you made any calculation as to speed?" "Yes, we will not have to move nearly as fast as we did when we went to Mars. We only have to cover a quarter of a million of miles at the most, and probably less than that. The motor will send us along at the rate of about a mile a second, which is three thousand six hundred miles an hour, or eighty-six thousand four hundred miles a--day. At that rate we would be at the moon in less than three days. "But I don't want to travel as fast as that," the German went on. "I want time to make some scientific observations on the way, and so I have reduced the speed of the Cardite motor by half, though should we need to hasten our trip we can do so." "Then we'll be about a week on the way?" asked Jack. "About that, yes," assented Mr. Roumann. "And could we go farther than to the moon if we wanted to?" inquired the bandaged figure mumblingly. "Farther? What do you mean?" asked Professor Henderson quickly. "I mean could we go to Mars if we wanted to?" "You don't mean to say you want to go back there, and run the chance of being attacked by the savage Martians, do you?" asked Jack. "No, I was only asking," and the other seemed confused. "Well, of course, we _could_ go there, as we have plenty of supplies and enough of the Cardite," said Mr. Roumann. "But I think the moon will be the limit of our trip this time." The work went on, the last things to be put aboard the projectile being a number of scientific instruments. The injured one wandered in and out, now being in the house and again in the big shed. He seemed restless and ill at ease, and frequently he walked to the front gate and gazed down the road.