“Hold it, skipper!” Arv cried. “Go back over that stretch of lava sand we just passed.”
Tom swiveled the steering repelatrons to turn the ship around, then retraced his course slowly.
“There it is!” Arv shouted. “Tom, I believe that’s a rocket half-buried in the sand!”
Tense with excitement, Tom got up to peer through the telescope, while Bud held the ship hovering over the spot. “You’re right, Arv,” the young inventor said tersely. “Want to come along while I examine it, Bud?”
“Sure do. Take over, will you, Arv?”
The two boys hurried down to the hangar deck, donned their space suits, and carried two repelatron donkeys out through the air lock. They sailed off the ship’s landing platform and swooped downward. What would they find inside? Tom wondered tensely.
As soon as the donkey touched ground, Tom leaped off and ran to examine the rocket more
MOON SEARCH 131
closely. There was no hatch or other opening in the part sticking above the sand.
Eager to find out if the rocket held an occupant, Tom tapped out a message in International Code. He held his ear close to the hull, but could detect no response.
“Bud, we must find out if anyone’s inside!” the young inventor said urgently.
“Help me turn it over!”
CHAPTER XV
THE HALF-BURIED ROCKET
EXCITEDLY the two boys pushed and tugged at the rocket. But it had plowed too deeply into the ground to be loosened easily.
“Now what?” Bud asked.
Lacking digging tools, he and Tom were at a disadvantage.
“Let’s kick at the dirt,” Tom suggested.
Together the boys clawed at the coarse lava 5and with their boots. Finally they freed the rocket and turned it over.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133