Disregarding his own injuries, Tom hastily freed himself from the debris and groped his way to Bud’s side. With a desperate heave, he shoved the beam away, then cradled Bud’s head in his arm. His friend’s eyelids flickered.
“Are you all right?” Tom asked fearfully.
THE EARTHQUAKE 5
The answer came in a groan. “O-oh! … Wow! … What hit me?”
“You got conked by a falling timber. Or grazed, at least,” Tom added thankfully. “If that beam had landed square on your noggin, even a rock-head like you couldn’t have survived!”
Bud managed to grin. “We grow ‘em tough out in California where I come from!” he joked.
Somewhat shakily, Bud got to his feet with Tom’s assistance. Both boys were heartsick as they surveyed the damaged laboratory, wondering where to begin rescue operations.
“It was a quake,” Bud stated grimly. He had heard about the great San Francisco earthquake from his grandfather, and had no doubt about the nature of the tremors.
Just then Tom glimpsed a body protruding from under the wreckage of the telemetering device.
“Mr. Faber!” he gasped.
The two boys scrambled through the clutter of debris toward the spot where the test stand had been erected. Bud seized a slender, steel I beam and managed to pry up the wreckage while Tom carefully extricated Mr. Faber.
The scientist seemed to be badly injured. “We’d better not try to move him,”
Tom decided. “We’ll get an ambulance.”
Of the four other company engineers, two were now stirring and partly conscious. The boys found
6 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X