The Moon Colony Read online

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  THE MOON COLONY

  BY WILLIAM DIXON BELL

  THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING COMPANY

  CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

  Copyright 1937 by

  The Goldsmith Publishing Company

  MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CONTENTS

  I Bullet Proof II The Stowaway III An Arctic Blizzard IV A Flashing Cylinder V Down into the Den VI A Dangerous Scientist VII Ready to Crush Out Life VIII Billy Takes a Part IX Start to the Moon X Toplinsky Calls the Bluff XI Tables Turned and No Eats XII Toplinsky Grinned Slyly to Himself XIII The Landing XIV A Moon Army XV Battling with Crickets XVI Billy Disappears XVII “Something’s Got Me” XVIII In the Chamber of Horrors XIX The Knife Dance XX Mysterious Cavern Lamps XXI Crickets Swarming to War XXII The Wheezing Ramph XXIII Sons of the Great Selina XXIV Behind a Copper Wall XXV Gunpowder vs. Chlorine Gas XXVI Writhing, Wriggling Ramphs XXVII Carza’s Use of Lava Streams XXVIII In the Armory XXIX Out of the Depths

  CHAPTER I

  Bullet Proof

  Julian Epworth reasoned that his departure from Salt Lake City was aprofound secret. The fact that an airship carrying gold was on the wayto Los Angeles convoyed by armed airplanes had been kept inside of theoffice. Because of this Epworth thought that he had an easy job.

  “What’s the big idea about all this fancy maneuvering?” Billy Sandinquired curiously as Epworth gave the order to close up a little onthe other nine planes flying in a straight line ahead in militaryformation. “You are acting as if there is a war on, and if we weretrying to hatch a machine gun nest.”

  “Now that we are up in the air, and there is no chance of a leak Iwill explain. The twin red and green lights that you see ahead are onone of our airplanes carrying a gold shipment consigned to the mint.Recently a plane similarly loaded disappeared, and our company lost amillion dollars. We do not propose that such a steal shall berepeated.”

  “A million! And this crate ahead is carrying that much?”

  “It is carrying two million. But,” Epworth’s lips twisteddeterminedly, “I do not think that an air pirate will be able to getaway with it—not as long as these ten little babies can shoot.”

  Julian Epworth was the head of the secret service of theAtlantic-Pacific Airlines, Inc., and he imagined that his plans hadbeen extremely well laid.

  Billy glanced up at the clear sky, picked up the signals, and, inobedience to Epworth’s command, closed in on the four planes flying onthe left of the large passenger ship in the lead. A ship launchedsecretly into the air in the dead of night, and picked up on thedesert by an escort of ten planes, should certainly be safe from arobber.

  “Not a chance in a million that we will be stopped,” he remarkedthoughtfully. “Look at the moon and the stars! We could see a planeten miles away, and get it long before it could get in shootingdistance.”

  Feeling in a good humor and perfectly safe, Epworth tuned in on theradio—just loud enough to bring the news of the world to them, and notloud enough to give a warning to any other flyer in the sky that mightbe secretly approaching.

  Suddenly Billy leaned toward his companion excitedly, and caught hisarm.

  “Did you hear that? I am speaking about that noise that is coming overthe radio.”

  “Of course I heard it.”

  The radio was saying:

  “This is Clarence Ainslee, astronomical observer at Mount WilsonObservatory. Are you looking at the moon? If not, get a largetelescope and look at the extreme western extremity of the Sea ofVapours. You will see something you never saw before. There is a lakeor sea forming there. At least that is the judgment of astronomers.”

  “What do you think about it?” Billy asked.

  “Horse radish.”

  Both aviators looked toward the bright shining full moon.

  “But,” Epworth remarked, “we could not tell anything with our nakedeyes.”

  “In addition to the appearance of a new lake,” the radio continued,“vegetation is appearing not far from the eastern border of the water.The mystery of this is now puzzling the scientific world.”

  “Let them puzzle,” Epworth muttered as he switched the radio dial. “Ishould worry.”

  “This is the news report from the morning _Blade_,” they heard theradio say. “Station WGCF. The report has just come in that twentymasked men, all of whom spoke a foreign tongue, have robbed the Swift& Co. laboratory. They lined up the seventy chemists and theirassistants, and while the gunmen held them and their helpers thebandits looted the plant. Thousands of dollars in liquid air,saltpeter, and chemicals were carried off in two enormous airplanes,dim shadowy things that stretched out two thousand feet in length.”

  “Some little airplane. I’d like to see it!”

  “Airplane?” Billy snorted indignantly. “They are using dirigibles ofcourse.”

  “What do you suppose they wanted with all that nitrogen andfertilizer?”

  “Couldn’t guess in a million years.”

  Epworth sat up straight. He had caught a view of two wriggling redlights ahead.

  “There are the signals,” he cried excitedly. “Something is going onahead.”

  Both aviators went into action. Epworth seized the controls and Billygrabbed a machine gun. Both were still thinking about the longcylinder-like airplanes described by the radio. Epworth kept his eyesfixed on the airship carrying the gold. A red rocket shot out suddenlyfrom the side of this airplane; followed by another. These signalswere answered by nine planes that were following Epworth’s guidancethrough the silent night lanes.

  To one who did not understand, the sky looked like a pyrotechnicdisplay.

  * * * * *

  Like avenging demons the entire convoy started toward the planesending out the distress signals, sweeping through the sky withoutlights, and their silencers hiding their approach. But what they sawcaused every aviator and every machine gunner to pause for a second inastonishment.

  An immense airship, not less than two thousand feet long, was hoveringover the passenger Douglas, guiding its movements, and twenty men wererunning down a ladder that had been let down into the aviator’s seatof the Douglas.

  Epworth, who was leading the formation of five on the larboard side,did not permit his astonishment to delay action. With a jerk he seizedthe control, slammed the stick into his stomach, banked slightly,leveled out until the side of the big airship was in line with hismachine gun, and with a hoarse cry opened a broadside at the skypirate—for pirate he was certain the big plane was.

  When he fired he was not over one thousand feet from the pirate, andit was impossible to miss. In addition to this he had come up with abig surprise—feeling certain that the air bandits did not know thatthe treasure ship was convoyed. He expected to see his rain of leadtear through the cowling of the stranger and deal death and frenzy.His example was followed by every scout plane on the larboard side. Asecond later the five planes on the starboard swept up and poured afierce rain of lead at the stranger. It was a barrage from both sidesthat it seemed would destroy anything earthly.

  Yet the pirate floated serenely in the air as if it had been bombardedwith peanuts, its secretly-constructed armor turning machine bulletslike pellets.

  Epworth give the signal, and again both formations poured theirhurricane of death at the pirate. But when this bombardment seemed topass harmlessly through the stranger, Epworth changed his tactics. Heaimed at four men who were climbing down the ladder from the pirateinto the Douglas. This time his shots cut the ladder into ribbons, andthe four men
tumbled down into the Douglas. Epworth, while feelingthat he had full authority to do battle, wanted to capture the pirateand not kill the men. In this he succeeded, as to the killing, as thefour pirates fell on top of the Douglas, or into the aviator’s seat.

  At this moment the bandits got to fighting. Two sheets of mysteriousflames burst simultaneously from both sides of the immense thing, andthen all became still.

  But those two broadsides were enough. The ten convoy airships conked,whirled over in the air, and began to fall.

  “Jump, Billy!” Epworth cried out loudly. “Jump!”

  There was need. The battle was over, and the pirate plane, with thestolen Douglas now under complete pirate control, passed away into adim shadow. The twenty occupants of the destroyed convoy planes jumpedout almost at the same second, and sprang as far away from theirfalling crates as possible.

  Epworth’s umbrella opened within ten seconds. He saw Billy shoot bylike a chunk of lead. Billy was his best chum, and his heart sank withthe thought that he would be dashed to pieces against the ground.Frantically he leaned out. Other pilots were going by but he managedto keep his eye on Billy. Finally he straightened up with a cry ofrelief. Billy’s parachute was spreading.

  “Safe,” he cried, “but great heavens what a battle! That plane’s sidesare bullet proof, and it rides the sky as if it owned it.”

  He looked upward. All he could see above his head were the stars.These were blotted out by the rapid approach of the earth, and thepeak of the high mountain passing by him.

  He landed safely but what would the president of the Air Company saywhen he returned with this terrible and unexpected disaster to report?