he thing was undoubtedly a starfish, and of light, spongy stone. Its color was a pale blue and the ambulacral suckers were clearly discernible on all five rays.
"Lord! You're sure this is from the moon?" Bart turned the starfish over in his hand and gazed stupidly at his friend.
"Certainly, you nut. Think I had it up my sleeve? But here, watch again, there's something else."
The crackling, misty light again filled the bowl.
"Suppose," Bart ventured, "you bring in something large—big as a house, let's say. What would it do to your machine?"
"Can't. The ray'll only pick up stuff that'll enter the bowl. Look—here's the next arrival."
The mysterious light died down and the scientist picked up the second object with trembling fingers. It was a knife of beautiful workmanship, fashioned from obsidian and obviously the work of human hands.
"There! Didn't I tell you?" Van gloated. "Guess that shows there were living beings on the moon."
He made minute changes in the adjustment of his marvelous instrument and Bart watched in dazed astonishment as object after object materialized before their eyes. There were fragments of strange minerals; more fossils, marine life, mostly; a roughly beaten silver plate; three diamonds, none of which was as large as what Van had taken to New York, but all of considerable value.
"This'll be something for the papers, Van!" Bart Madison was visioning the fame that was to come to his friend.