Seven and a half minutes later the orbital flight indicator told Tom that the nose of the rocket was beginning to pull slightly to the right. The pull grew stronger and Tom once more briefly gunned
192 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP
the rocket ship motors to bring them back up to the 15,810-mile velocity necessary to keep the Star Spear in an orbital course.
Tom and Bud shook hands. They had escaped a slow death and words were futile to express their feelings.
Tom set up the cameras. As soon as the machines started working, Bud said, “These are going to be the miracle movies of our time. Especially the films we’re taking on the revolving cameras. Those stars are going to show up wonderfully against that blackness of outer space. Say, where are we heading now, Tom?”
“We’re on a diagonal course toward the Arctic Ocean,” Tom replied.
“Pretty close to the abandoned Rotzog base,” Bud remarked.
Fifteen minutes later the boys looked out and saw a marvelous spectacle.
The morning sun gleaming down on the north-polar cap transformed the ice mass into a brilliant giant jewel of blinding beauty.
“What a place the poles would be to keep an operation secret from men in space!” Tom said. “With white equipment a project could never be observed!”
“Say,” Bud spoke up, “where do you suppose Rotzog is? And our rival who took off from Aus^ tralia?”
“I hope they’re a thousand miles behind us and stay there!” Tom answered.
OMINOUS SIGNS 193
“If either of them show up, we’ll have to depend on outmaneuvering them,”