The Moon, seen from where the children viewed it, was of a pale bluish-greenish tint, except where the rays of the Sun slanted across the mountain peaks and into the deep valleys. It seemed to Johnny and Janey as though they were looking through beautiful blue-green glass down into a dark well; for wherever the Sun did not shine or was not reflected from the mountains into the valleys the Moon’s surface was black—so black that it made the rest of the Moon seem transparent. This seemed to the children very strange. “Say, Sis,” Johnny exclaimed, “this can’t be the Moon after all! It must be some extra big Star.” [Illustration] “I believe it is the Moon,” said his sister, “for, you can see the face of the Man in the Moon quite plainly. But it is a great deal larger than it usually is, and it doesn’t look quite as it does from the earth. But see! There are the Man’s eyes and nose and mouth.” “Yes, I see now,” Johnny admitted. “But it isn’t exactly the same view we have from the Earth.” “You are right, Johnny!” said Janey, after a moment. “It isn’t the same view. We must have passed to the other side of the Moon!” [Illustration] Johnny started the Flying Machine again and steered it toward the Moon. And as they whirled around the side of the Moon the part that resembled a man’s face twisted about until it disappeared. “I can’t tell whether we are getting closer to the Moon or not!” cried Johnny anxiously. Presently, however, they saw the face of the Man in the Moon coming around from the other side. “We must have made a complete circuit of the Moon,” Janey decided. “See, Johnny, the rudder is pulled over to one side! That’s the reason!” Johnny pulled the rudder string until the Flying Machine was aimed right at the Moon, and they approached it at great speed. “Slow up, Johnny!” Janey cried, when they could make out all the mountain tops and valleys very distinctly. “It feels too much as if we were falling when we go so fast.” So Johnny twisted the “Start” spool backwards until they were flying very slowly and seemed to be floating down toward the Moon’s surface as lightly as a feather. [Illustration] The Flying Machine still was headed directly toward the Moon, and this gave the children the impression that they were falling. But Johnny, by pulling the rudder about occasionally, steered the Flying Machine so that they landed among large mushrooms and queer ferns, instead of on the mountain tops or in the deep valleys they had seen on the other side of the Moon. For, although the children did not know this, they had passed around the side of the Moon that always faces the Earth and had alighted in the Magical Land of Noom. [Illustration] CHAPTER II JOHNNY AND JANEY MEET THE STRANGE MAN