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The explosive bolts went into action. There was an explosion that made itself felt in the skin of the rocket, and the grinding of metal as the first stage detached. Rick's battered brains swam back to consciousness. For an instant he couldn't recall what had happened, then he realized he had survived the first-stage acceleration. He was in bad shape, he knew.
"Forty it is," Rick agreed, and found another rock. The work went on, gradually assuming the proportions of a dream or a nightmare. Pick up a rock, tote it forty paces, drop it. Then thirty-five paces as the passageway got cluttered. Now and then they had to join forces to lug a particularly big piece. Rick's watch showed him that two hours had gone by. "Let's take a break," he suggested. "Okay."
"There's your answer, Doctor," Dick Earle said. "Thank you. Now I ask for a unanimous opinion. Can we fly our winged horse on this new schedule?" The shout sent Prince Machiavelli skittering up to Rick's neck and down inside his shirt. Pegasus was committed to flight! The problem of the Earthman was looming larger, Rick thought. The next target for the saboteur would be his own project.
Rick's mind raced. Somehow they had to warn the scientists, and they had to get out from under the muzzles of the guns! What could these men want of them? The stranger sat down on the other bed. His pistol muzzle was centered precisely on Rick's belt buckle. "We want information. Give it to us without any trouble and we'll go away. Give us a hard time and you'll regret it."
To-morrow night I'll come and see you." "Very well, Adam, I Oh, my God, what's that!" A rending breaking noise in the distance, a dull rumble, and a burst of shouts and cries. "The rick's down! There's been an accident!" They both started running down the hill. "Father!" panted the girl, "father!" "He's all right!" shouted her companion, "I can see him. But there's some one down.
His eyes opened wide as he suddenly realized that a rousing cat-dog fight was taking place on his stomach! Scotty ran in and leaped for the battlers. He grabbed the spitting, snarling cat and held it high. Dismal let out a wail of anguish as he realized his hated enemy was out of reach. Rick shouted, "Down, boy!" Dismal leaped high and landed again with four feet bunched on Rick's stomach.
In every case marked 'bright, 'silvery, or 'shiny, the sun was high and the observer could see the sun reflecting from the object." "It seems pretty clear," Steve agreed. "Now, we have only one really close-range sighting, and that was Rick's. How sure are you that the object was black?" Rick shrugged. "I know enough not to trust my eyes completely in wind and rain.
Hassan turned a sharp corner and Giza lay before them, up a gradual, rising slope. In the immediate foreground was the Sphinx. Rick's first impression was that it was disappointingly small, as the great pyramids behind it were truly enormous. He could see all three Giza pyramids now.
His bid had been the only one, and he became owner at what was close to a salvage price. It was Rick's pride that his chief possessions had been bought with his own money, and the houseboat was no exception. Like his first plane, the Cub, he expected the houseboat to pay its own way.
Hartson Brant, Rick's dad and head of the island scientific foundation, came into the kitchen in time to hear the last remark. "Can I listen too?" he asked. "With milk and doughnuts to help, of course." Rick personally poured the milk for his father and added doughnuts to the plate, just to save time. He couldn't admit it to Scotty, of course, but he was plenty curious in spite of his skepticism.
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