“It is the Moon, Brud!” Janey agreed. “See, there is the Man in the Moon’s face as plain as day, and there are mountains and valleys, too. See?”
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.”
“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!”
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.