"
"And famous actors, and singers, and composers, and--and photographers?"
"I could almost swear to it."
"Then, dear boy, since they have gone ahead as far as we and even
farther, why have not those great Selenites tried to start a
communication with the Earth? Why have they not fired a projectile from
the regions lunar to the regions terrestrial?"
"Who says they have not done so?" asked Barbican, coolly.
"Attempting such a communication," observed the Captain, "would
certainly be much easier for them than for us, principally for two
reasons. First, attraction on the Moon's surface being six times less
than on the Earth's, a projectile could be sent off more rapidly;
second, because, as this projectile need be sent only 24 instead of 240
thousand miles, they could do it with a quantity of powder ten times
less than what we should require for the same purpose."
"Then I ask again," said the Frenchman; "why haven't they made such an
attempt?"
"And I reply again," answered Barbican. "How do you know that they have
not made such an attempt?"
"Made it? When?"
"Thousands of years ago, before the invention of writing, before even
the appearance of Man on the Earth.
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