As night comes on, darkness doesn't descend as we had somewhat expected. In fact, there isn't too much difference in the amount of light upon this section of the Moon than there was during the day. The most noticeable fact is that daylight is yellow while the night light is white. This is due to the Earth reflecting her sunlight upon the Moon as she oscillates on her journey across the Moon heavens. After so long a time, we roll up in our sleeping bags to see how much of the long Moon night we can spend sleeping. Although not aware of feeling tired, we quickly fall into sound sleep, but not for long.
After about six hours of sleep we awaken thoroughly rested and ready to be up and going again. For awhile though, we remain on the ground watching whether we can see any type of insect or reptile life hopping or crawling about in the sands. A few tiny insects are observed hopping about, but nothing of any size.
Remembering the heat of the previous day, we wonder if we would not be wise in returning to the crater district during the cool of the night, but decided against that in favor of investigating new territory. Several miles in the distance and to the left of us extends a long range of mountains, running from this light side into that section that is unseen from the Earth, known as the dark side of the Moon. In this direction our fancy leads us.
As we set out across the sands of the plateau, we take with us a flag that we have brought from the Earth. This flag is made up of all the flags of the nations of the Earth with a small American flag in the middle thereby indicating that Americans had placed it here.
After reaching the mountains and climbing about three thousand feet up the side, we decided to go no farther for this was indeed rough going. Then too, in the distance far up ahead of us we could hear strange noises as if wild animals might be up there. A feeling of apprehension filled us with caution. So here about five miles from our ship, at an elevation of three thousand feet on one of the Moon's mountains we planted the flag of the World.
As we descended towards the foot of the mountain, we remembered the forest we had seen from the air and the little lake beyond it. In this direction now we turned our steps; stopping now and then as we go that we may not miss a thing along the way. We travel another twelve miles along the foot of the mountain ridge.
Here we see a small animal jumping from rock to rock up the mountainside. It looks and jumps much like a kangaroo but it is very small, measuring only about eighteen inches in height. We watch it for some time wondering what it is and how it lives. It has seen us too, but seemed to have not the slightest fear of us as it continues its way on up the mountain.
From this point we turn again across the plateau towards the forest which we can plainly see through our glasses. As we have walked along we have become aware of the fact that the sands of the plateau have given way to a richer soil which is covered with a vegetation or plant life. Even across the tip of the plateau as we head towards the forest, this plant life continues. The atmosphere here too is different. A moisture similar to dew fills the air which seems to give this plant life all it needs to grow. And now we see the first fowl of the air that we have seen since landing on the Moon. What it is, we don't know. It is a lot larger than any bird we have on Earth and beautiful to watch as it glides leisurely through space.
Nearing the forest, we seem to be faced with a solid barrier. The undergrowth is so dense that we cannot even see any tree trunks. We search diligently for some indication of a path leading into this denseness, but find none. From the air this forest didn't seem too wide so we decide to make our own path by hacking our way through. However we quickly learn this isn't necessary for with very little pressure the branches break easily.
As we work our way through this brush, we receive somewhat of a surprise for there are no large trunks to the trees in this forest. Instead, these are immense bushes growing very high and thick. Yet as we penetrate deeper into it, the light of the Earth trickles through the branches, lighting our path as we make it. After about half a mile of this slow progress, we suddenly emerge into the bright clearness again and find ourselves almost upon the shore of the beautiful little lake we had been heading for.