Tom grinned, both pleased and touched. “Thanks, fellows.” Then he grew serious. “But I just want to say that everyone here has helped me to reach our destination.”
Then he and the others went to take a closer look at the enormous crater below them. Stretching fifty or sixty miles across, it was rimmed by 148 THE RACE TO THE MOON
towering rock walls. The inner bowl seemed filled with gritty debris and rubble from ancient landslides, a probable deathtrap for anyone falling into it.
Tom gave orders for the depth of the dust layer to be checked by radar. Then he turned to Bud. “Like to do a little exploring by flying carpet?”
“Would I!” Bud grinned enthusiastically. “Pal, I can hardly wait!”
Leaving Hank in charge, Tom descended to the hangar compartment with Bud, Chow, and several others. Here they donned space suits and hauled two of the repelatron donkeys out through the air lock to the landing platform. Chow brought a long, light-metal rod to check the dust layer by his own methods.
“Sort of a longhorn-size cake tester.” The old Westerner chuckled.
The boys mounted their repelatron donkeys and took off in the brilliant sunlight. Bud seethed with excitement.
“Just think, Tom,” he exclaimed over the radio, “we’re actually on the moon! I never thought-”
Bud stopped speaking. His flying platform had suddenly tilted. The next instant it spilled Bud toward disaster!
CHAPTER XVII
AN AMAZING MANEUVER
FRANTICALLY Bud clawed for the nearest support. By luck he managed to grab the repelatron housing and cling to it. But the platform refused to right itself!