First, however, let us see,
Captain, if we agree on some fundamental points. How do we detect the
existence of life? Is it not by _movement_? Is not _motion_ its result,
no matter what may be its organization?"
"Well," said the Captain in a drawling way, "I guess we may grant that."
"Then, dear friends," resumed Barbican, "I must remind you that, though
we have had the privilege of observing the lunar continents at a
distance of not more than one-third of a mile, we have never yet caught
sight of the first thing moving on her surface. The presence of
humanity, even of the lowest type, would have revealed itself in some
form or other, by boundaries, by buildings, even by ruins. Now what
_have_ we seen? Everywhere and always, the geological works of _nature_;
nowhere and never, the orderly labors of _man_. Therefore, if any
representatives of animal life exist in the Moon, they must have taken
refuge in those bottomless abysses where our eyes were unable to track
them. And even this I can't admit. They could not always remain in these
cavities. If there is any atmosphere at all in the Moon, it must be
found in her immense low-lying plains. Over those plains her inhabitants
must have often passed, and on those plains they must in some way or
other have left some mark, some trace, some vestige of their existence,
were it even only a road.
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