Well," said I, "as you press me--I got it in the moon."

The moon?"

Yes, the moon in the sky."

But how do you mean?"

What I say, confound it!"

Then you have just come from the moon?"

Exactly! through space--in that ball." And I took a delicious mouthful

of egg. I made a private note that when I went back to the moon I would

take a box of eggs.

I could see clearly that they did not believe one word what I told them,

but evidently they considered me the most respectable liar they had ever

met. They glanced at one another, and then concentrated the fire of their

eyes on me. I fancy they expected a clue to me in the way I helped myself

to salt. They seemed to find something significant in my peppering my egg.

These strangely shaped masses of gold they had staggered under held their

minds. There the lumps lay in front of me, each worth thousands of pounds,

and as impossible for any one to steal as a house or a piece of land. As I

looked at their curious faces over my coffee-cup, I realised something of

the enormous wilderness of explanations into which I should have to wander

235

The First Men In The Moon