This proved that its composition was, or had been, fit for human respiration.
"There's only one fault about it," he said, when he rejoined Zaidie in the sitting-room.

"You know what the schoolboy said when he started kissing his first sweetheart, 'It takes too long to get enough of it.'" "You seem to be very fond of referring to that particular subject, Lenox." "Well, yes; to tell you the truth I am," and then he referred to it again in another form.
After this they went and put on their breathing-dresses and went for a welcome stroll along the arid shores of the frozen sea after their lengthy confinement to the decks of the _Astronef_.

The Sun was still powerful enough to keep them comfortably warm in their dresses, and there was enough atmosphere to make this warmth diffused instead of direct.

So they were able to step out briskly, and every now and then open their visors a little and take in a breath or two of the thin, sharp air, which they found quite exhilarating when mixed with the air supplied by their own oxygen apparatus.
The attraction of the satellite being only a little more than that of the Moon--or, say, about a fifth of that of the Earth--they were able to get along with a series of hops, skips, and jumps which might have looked rather ridiculous to terrestrial eyes, but which they found a very pleasant mode of locomotion.

They were also able to climb the steepest mountainsides with no more trouble than they would have had in walking along a terrestrial plain.
On the heights they found no sign either of animal or vegetable life--only rocks and gravel and sand of a brownish red, apparently uniform in composition.