“The search party won’t be coming until a few hours yet,” Randy said. “Besides, it’s not very far.”
Ted knew then that Randy, too, was curious about the opening. He was stalling their return.
Ted then came right out with it. “I’d sure like to know what’s on the other side of that rock.”
“Why don’t we go and see?” Randy said eagerly.
“We could go just a little way,” Ted added, glancing at Jill, whose face showed doubt. “Just a few feet even.”
Jill gave in grudgingly, but she got the boys to promise that they wouldn’t go far. “Don’t forget, we’ve got some food back there,” she reminded them, “and I’m getting hungry.”
They left the air cartridges in the cave and walked through the enticing opening, Ted in the lead. He flicked on his flashlight, for it was pitch dark. Ahead of him he saw a narrow passageway. Slowly he moved along it, Randy and Jill right behind him.
They felt themselves tumbling downward.
They felt themselves tumbling downward.
They were completely unprepared for the shock that next came to them. Suddenly the ground dropped away under their feet, and they felt themselves tumbling downward!
All three of them cried out in terror as they fell. Finally Ted felt his body striking a cushioned surface. Then he was rolling down an incline of the same soft material. Down, down, head over heels he went—deeper and deeper into the core of the red planet, it seemed.
At last his body stopped turning. Something crashed into him from behind. Then he heard heavy breathing and gasping and he knew that it was either Randy or Jill who had collided with him.
“Jill? Randy?” he asked in a shuddery voice, still dazed by their rough experience.
“Yes,” Randy’s voice came weakly.
“Jill!” Ted cried. “Where are you?”
“Here I am,” she answered, from a few feet away. “What happened to us?”
“I don’t know,” her brother answered dully. He felt around for broken bones, but he appeared to be uninjured.
“Are you two all right?” he asked Jill and Randy.
They said they thought so. By now Ted could see their forms very faintly. There was light coming from somewhere. Their next task was to try to find a way out of this dismal place.
“I knew we should have gone back!” Jill complained bitterly. “Now we probably never will!”
“I’m sorry, Sis,” Ted said lamely. “You were right. I’m sure glad we changed our air tanks before we left!”
“Let’s start looking for a way to the top,” Randy said. “The search party will never find us down here.”
They discovered that the flashlight had been smashed in the fall. They would have to depend now on catlike vision to show them the way. As nearly as Ted could make out, they were still in a corridor. It stretched mysteriously ahead of them, turning a bend about fifty feet away.
“That seems to be the only way we can go,” Ted said, looking forward. “We certainly can’t climb back up the way we came down.” He looked behind at the steep, rugged incline they had so unexpectedly tumbled down. The slope was covered with a matting of lichens or moss that had broken their fall.
They walked along the corridor. Finally the light at the far end began to get brighter.
“It looks like daylight ahead!” Jill said hopefully.
They increased their pace in the hope of finding a way leading back to the surface of the ground. They made a final turn in the winding underground aisle. Then the corridor abruptly blossomed into a mammoth open area, still underground.
The sight that faced them quickened their heartbeats and made their mouths sag open in amazement. Before them stood a towering iron gate, through which they could see evidence of one-time human habitation!
“What in the world have we found?” Ted exclaimed.
“It must be a city!” Randy burst out. “It is! We’ve found an underground Martian city!”
“A Martian city!” Ted echoed. “Wouldn’t Dad like to be in on this!”
“I don’t care about an old city!” Jill complained. “I just want to get out of here!”
“Maybe we can find a way to the top from in there,” Ted proposed. “There’s no other place we can go.”
The three walked up to the towering gates and began tugging on them. At first the gates would not budge, but after much struggling, the children got one open wide enough on its creaking hinges so that they could squeeze through. Once inside, they began walking along a rocky avenue lined with small buildings and statues. The high dome of the city gleamed with a light of its own, illuminating the entire grand underground area like brilliant moonlight.
“The glow has probably been burning for thousands of years,” Randy remarked, “ever since the first Martians built the city.”
“It’ll probably be thousands of years more before it’ll go out,” Ted added. “It seems to have the natural light that Mr. Garland said some of the Martian caves have.”
They paused before a statue, and all three of them felt chills race up their backs as they realized they were the first Earth humans ever to gaze on the true likeness of a Martian. The man was not very different from Earthmen. He had the usual number of arms and legs, but he was short and spindly and his head was bald. If the color of the statue was correct, the extinct Martians had light-green skins.
“Dad and the other scientists will sure have the time of their lives with this place!” Ted said. “It may even hold the answer to the biggest riddle about what caused the Martians to disappear.”
“Father won’t find out anything about it if we don’t get out of here!” Jill said anxiously.
“There must be a way to the top of the ground somewhere,” Randy answered. “I don’t see how the Martians could have walked up that steep incline we slid down.”
“Maybe the dirt has covered it over during the years,” Ted said. “Maybe there are steps underneath. But I don’t see how we could expect to uncover them. Let’s go on.”
They moved along, searching the uneven rocky streets. It was not a large city, and the three had no trouble keeping their bearings. A check on their air supply showed only an hour and a half of oxygen left in each of their suits. There would be even less were they to hurry and so breathe faster. This time they had no spare cartridges. If they did not find their way topside by that time, they were surely doomed.
After covering part of the city, the children found that the end of it fanned out into five separate narrow streets.
“One of these streets may lead to ground level,” Ted said.
“The only thing to do is try them,” Randy came back.
“We’ll save time if each of us takes a different way,” Ted suggested.
But Jill would have none of this plan. She had no desire to follow a lonely underground avenue by herself. They finally decided that Ted and Jill would go together and Randy agreed to go alone.
“We’ve got to watch out that we don’t get lost,” Ted cautioned. “Don’t go off down any alleyways, Randy. We won’t either.”
“We ought to set a time when we both meet back here,” Randy said.
“I’ve got it,” Ted said. “We’ll count off ten minutes and then start heading back whether we’ve found anything or not. If neither of us has found anything, we’ll try the other streets the same way.”
Ted and Jill took their leave of Randy and set off down the thorofare. They had to hurry because of their dwindling time, and yet they dared not go so fast that they were breathing heavily. The way they followed carried them quite a distance down the deserted street, on both sides of which were crumbling buildings of plaster set close together. By the time the ten minutes was up, Ted and Jill had come to a dead end against a stone wall.
“This way certainly can’t help us,” Ted muttered. “Let’s go back to Randy.”
When they got back and Randy had not returned, Ted became worried. Time was fleeting steadily, and they still were no better off than they had been before. Finally Ted heard a scuffling along the street and saw Randy hurrying his way.
“No luck!” he gasped. “I got sidetracked on the way back. Then I had to run to get here in time.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Ted told him. “Now you’ve got less air than we have. What does your gauge show?”
“Fifty-six minutes,” Randy answered, after checking.
Ted examined his own and asked Jill about hers. “We’ve got an hour and five,” Ted said.
“We’ll have to hurry if we’re going to search the other three streets,” Randy pointed out.
This time Jill agreed to help by going alone so as to save time. They agreed to cut the search period to five minutes, at which time they would come back to their meeting place. Ted had been gone about a minute when he heard someone calling. His heart stirred with hope, and he hustled back at moderate speed to the place from where they had started.
“I think I’ve found a way out!” Jill was crying excitedly.
Fortunately they were able to catch Randy before he got very far, and the two boys followed Jill down the street where she had made her discovery. After a hundred feet or so they came into a big open area and at one side of it there rose a huge stone staircase leading upward.
“There!” Jill cried happily.
“Let’s go up!” Ted urged.
They started up the steps that slowly turned in a half spiral as they ascended. After a long climb, the children found themselves in a large gallery. In spite of their hurry, the three became as hypnotized by the sight of many stone tables or altars arranged in orderly fashion throughout the place. Lying on top of the altars were long oblong cases, fancily decorated.
“These must be coffins!” Randy burst out.
“Let’s get out of here!” Jill pleaded.
Ted’s gaze had turned from the altars to the smooth, rounded walls of the room that were covered with paintings from one end to the other.
“Look!” he exclaimed, running over to the wall. “The Martians had a Michelangelo too! Those pictures seem to tell a story! Say, do you suppose this mural shows the history of the Martian race and what happened to them?”
“I don’t care what they show, Ted!” Jill retorted. “All I want to do is get out of here before our air is gone!”
Ted saw the wisdom of her remark and gave up an impulse to look over the exciting story in pictures. Another flight of stairs was the only way out of the shrine, and without delay the three hurried up. They made a final turn on the stairs and then the subdued glare of Martian sunlight struck their faces. They were finally above ground.
They appeared to have walked into a sporting arena which was surrounded by tiers of stone seats, much in the manner of the ancient Roman Coliseum. As the three of them crossed it through deep powdery dust, they found bones of strange animals scattered over the whole area. There were also the remains of curved swords and scarred shields.
“Ugh!” Jill shuddered. “There’s no telling what terrible things took place on this very spot we’re walking over!”
“There’s an opening over there on the other side,” Randy indicated.
“Let’s go to it,” Ted suggested. “I can’t wait to get off this gruesome field either!”
They moved across the arena briskly, yet not too fast. They headed directly for the opening in the high stone wall that encircled the ancient field of contest. When they reached the entranceway, they passed through and found themselves at the fringe of a forest. A few dozen paces carried them through green corkscrew trees to an open plain.
“I guess the trees around here kept this place from being discovered before now,” Ted said.
“Which way do we go now?” Jill moaned. “We’ve got to find that cave where our air tanks are!”
Ted made a quick orientation of their position in relation to the arena and underground city. “My guess is the cave ought to be in that direction,” he said, pointing southward around the bend of the arena. “What do you think, Randy?”
“It sounds right,” Randy agreed. “Let’s get started.”
They had no more than set out again when Ted suddenly pulled up sharply in his tracks, nearly toppling over backward in the motion.
“Gee! Look what I almost stepped on!” he shouted, pointing in the dust ahead of him.
It was a matlike object, lying flat in the red dust, with rows and rows of fine hairs vibrating over its surface. Ted remembered the deadly carpet plant from his study of Martian botany in school.
“Ted!” Jill screamed, as she saw the danger.
To study the action of the plant for himself, Ted picked up a broken shard of pottery and tossed it onto the plant. Instantly the voracious plant rolled up tightly, enveloping the shard in its sucking folds.
“That’s what would have happened to your foot if you’d stepped on it, Ted,” Randy said in a shivery voice.
They carefully skirted the carpet plant and hurried on, bearing southward in the direction they hoped would bring them to the mouth of the cave that had been the original cause of their trouble.
“How much air time, Randy?” Ted asked, beginning to pant a little.
“Eighteen minutes,” Randy answered, and Ted could hear a nervous whimper from Jill.
“You sure this is right, Ted?” Randy asked worriedly, a few minutes later. “If you’re wrong we’ll die. I’ve only got seven minutes of air left now. It’s really going fast with us hurrying so!”
Ted sighed heavily and felt a clutch of dread in his heart as he studied Jill’s pinched, anxious expression. Theyhadto be headed right! They just couldn’t lose the battle after being so close to salvation.
At last they rounded a huge face of rock that Ted thought he remembered. The cave should be only a few feet away beyond that clump of vegetation, he told himself. They pushed through the curling, tubelike leaves. To their left lay the cave entrance!
Randy gave a cry of relief and dashed into the cave. Ted and his sister entered more slowly; they had a little more time to waste than Randy. When they entered, they found Randy hastily discarding his old oxygen cartridge and replacing it with a new one. When he was through, he helped Jill with hers while Ted attended to his own.
When they were done, they sat down on the floor of the cave and drank in deep, refreshing draughts of the precious gas they had feared they would never breathe again.
“Isn’t this great?” Ted remarked. “Just like a cold drink on a hot day!”
“Speaking of food, I could use some,” Jill said. “I’m starved after all that!”
“Let’s go back and get it,” Randy proposed. “We dropped the food case when the elephant ant was chasing us.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Jill asked.
“If it’s the ant you’re afraid of, they do most of their hunting at night,” Randy reassured her. “I don’t think there’s much chance of meeting it.”
They started out over the trail they had followed in such haste the night before. After a while they found their food case where they had dropped it. All made a run for it at the same time. The sight of food settled their nerves, and they ate nearly all of the supply in the case. When they were through, Randy happened to look up into the distance and jabbed Ted in the ribs.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “Somebody’s coming!”
Ted and Jill leaped to their feet. They shaded their eyes with their gloved hands in order to see better.
“It’s the search party!” Ted burst out.
“Father’s with them!” Jill said joyfully.
“I can see Pops too!” came from Randy.
Ted uttered a deep, long sigh. Their frightening adventure was over at last.
The Kentons had just risen from the supper table after a wonderful meal that had featured fresh fruits and vegetables from their own garden. Two days had passed since the adventure in the Great Martian Forest. This was a night of celebration, and Mr. Matthews was present.
“Now tell us the surprise you had for us, Father,” Jill begged, as they all sat in the living room together. Mrs. Kenton had left cleaning up until later in order to be in on the exciting talk of the evening.
“Not until I know for sure,” Dr. Kenton replied. “I’ll get a phone call in a few minutes about it.”
“Can’t you even tell us what it’sabout?” Jill went on.
“I wouldn’t want to build up false hopes for nothing, Jill,” her father said. “You can wait a little while.”
“It was a privilege to eat in such celebrated company tonight,” Mr. Matthews said, with a wink at the children. “You kids will even get your name in the schoolbooks for finding that fabulous city.”
“It’s the pilot and Mr. Garland who got us to bail out that should get the credit,” Ted said, with a grin. “If it weren’t for them, we’d never have found the underground city.”
“The mural showing the great events in the lives of the ancient Martians was the most important thing of all,” Dr. Kenton remarked. “I was beginning to believe that the greatest riddle of Mars was never going to be solved.” Dr. Kenton had gone to the underground city as soon as he met the young explorers and had heard about their outstanding discovery.
Ted, Jill, and Randy knew the answer now, as did every other colonist on the red planet. The paintings on the wall of the shrine had revealed the baffling riddle. It was simply and clearly portrayed in pictures, just as though the Martians had expected someone someday to know their story. The revelation was that hundreds of years ago all Martians had left their world in large space ships because of Mars’s disappearing oxygen. Apparently there still existed somewhere the remains of a supercivilization which had built these space craft.
“Do you think the animals on Mars will finally die out, Dad?” Ted asked, “as the rest of the oxygen combines with the rocks?”
“Eventually, I would think,” Dr. Kenton replied.
“Where do you suppose the Martians went to find a new home?” Mr. Matthews asked.
“They may still be looking,” the scientist replied. “It’s a long way to the stars, remember, and we’re sure they didn’t land any place in our solar system.”
Just then, Yank came bounding into the room. He too had been permitted inside for the celebration. He had been eating his supper in the kitchen. Ted was amazed to see the color bear run up to his father and stand beside him while the scientist scratched his head.
“You and Yank are friends!” Ted exclaimed.
“We sure are,” Dr. Kenton said. “After you kids left, poor Yank was so lonely he even turned to me. I guess he decided to bury the hatchet when he found out I meant him no harm.”
“I wonder why he was so long making friends,” Jill remarked.
Dr. Kenton took one of Yank’s forepaws and rubbed back the fur, revealing a scar. “Yank is the fellow I hurt accidentally a few years ago,” the scientist said. “I just thought of checking his paw the day you kids left on your trip.”
“He never forgot, did he?” Jill asked.
“Not until I’d convinced him I was sorry,” her father replied, rumpling the soft hair of the bear’s head. “His injury was the reason he was alone in the world. He couldn’t keep up with the pace of his friends.”
“Our family is so safe and cozy here,” Mrs. Kenton said, “I hate to think of you going out into that cold wilderness again on a new expedition, John.”
“Maybe I won’t be going,” Dr. Kenton said, with a mysterious smile.
“What do you mean?” his wife asked in surprise.
Just then the phone buzzed. Dr. Kenton went into the hall to answer it. In a few moments he was back again, and he was smiling happily.
“Kids, how would you like to go back to Earth at the end of the school term?” he asked the children.
“Gee, do you mean that?” Ted exclaimed.
“Oh, Father!” Jill cried out joyously.
“It’s true enough,” their father said. “That’s what the call was about and the surprise I was hoping to have for you.”
“That’s the grandest surprise you could have had,” Mrs. Kenton murmured, unspeakably happy herself.
“The Science Union has offered this trip to you, Jill, you, Randy, and you, Ted, as a reward for your important discovery,” Dr. Kenton went on. “They also want me to go back and give lectures all over the country on our latest findings about Mars. It may keep me there a long time.”
They grabbed Yank’s paws and began dancing.
They grabbed Yank’s paws and began dancing.
“That’s wonderful!” Mrs. Kenton said. “I was afraid you’d have to stay behind here.”
Ted and Jill were so enthusiastic over the proposed trip that they grabbed Yank’s paws and began dancing around with him. Randy stood watching them, not quite sharing their high spirits. When Ted saw him, he grabbed Randy’s hand and made him join in the celebration. A moment later Randy was enjoying himself as much as the rest.
Dr. Kenton said to Randy’s father: “They are in need of some space-port engineers back on Earth. If Randy would like to go with Ted and Jill, would you consider a job like that?”
“You may not know it, John, but I’ve had my application in for such a job for years,” Mr. Matthews answered, highly pleased. “I’ll say I’ll take it!”
“If you kids will stop jumping around a minute,” Dr. Kenton said, “I’ve got something else to say.”
They stopped and listened intently.
“If we go Earthward it may be a long time before we come back to Mars,” he said. “We—or at least you—may never get back.”
“That’s all right with me,” Ted said. “I’ve seen enough of Mars to last me a lifetime! It’s interesting here, but it’s nothing compared to good old Earth.”
“That’s what I say!” Jill chimed in.
“There’s more here that I should like to look into,” the scientist said, with a brooding look on his face. “There are still many unsolved mysteries, such as how these great canals were built, and I’d like to be in on the discovery—if and when it’s ever made.”
“We can take Yank home with us to Virginia, can’t we?” Jill asked anxiously.
“I don’t see why not,” Dr. Kenton answered. “He seemed to adapt himself to our breathing mixture all right.”
Jill hugged the little Martian animal and got a grateful lick in return. Then the Kenton children took Randy aside and began telling him of the wonders of Earth that he would soon be able to see for himself.
“Wait until you enjoy the fun of a swim on a hot day!” Ted said.
“—And the cold air turning your nose red in the winter and the crunch of snow under your feet!” Jill put in.
“It sounds great,” Randy said, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. “I think I’m going to like Earth.”
“I know you will,” Ted said earnestly. “There’s nothing as wonderful as Earth in all the universe!”
It looked as though Ted’s trip to Mars would turn out to be nothing more than a long visit. A few weeks from now he would be a traveler returning home to his beloved land. What wondrous stories he’d tell the kids back there of adventure on the mysterious red planet which hung in the deeps of everlasting night!
THE END
By RICHARD M. ELAM, JR.
Illustrated by CHARLES H. GEER
Ted and Jill Kenton and their parents are en route by space ship to Mars where Dr. Kenton is to pursue scientific research. As they are guided around the flying space ship, a crisis develops. Another space ship is bearing down on their own craft. The ships just manage to scrape by each other, but the Kenton ship is slightly damaged and must make an emergency landing on the moon for repairs.
Here they meet Randy Matthews, whose father is missing on another Martian expedition, and arrangements are made for Randy to join the Kentons. The ship is repaired and takes off to continue the flight to Mars.
There new and exciting adventures befall Jill, Ted, and Randy. They rescue a color bear who becomes their pet; they discover an air leak in their space suits and barely escape with their lives; and eventually after encountering hitherto unknown dangers, they find the lost caves of the early Martians and open the way to research of the earlier civilization.
This book of continuous thrills and excitement will hold the reader spellbound while inspiring real thought of the scientific possibilities of space travel.
This is a Young Heroes Library Volume.
By FRANCIS LYNDE KROLL
Illustrated by CHARLES H. GEER
It was in the days when the Pawnees and the Sioux roamed the plains in search of buffalo herds. In the camp of the Sioux, Chief Great Bear sat at the council fire with his braves who planned to drive the Pawnees from the Sioux hunting grounds.
But Great Bear had other problems. His grandson, Little Bear, was beginning to grow up. He had to be taught how to use a bow and arrow, how to shoot straight, how to saddle a horse, how to ride, and the many things a young Indian needed to learn.
How Great Bear trained his little grandson and how together they tracked a horse thief who stole their horses; how the courage, determination, and ability of Little Bear saved the entire tribe, make absorbing, exciting reading, and when at length Little Bear is finally called “warrior,” the reader has an authentic, historically accurate picture of the real life of a boy in an Indian tribe.
This is a Young Heroes Library Volume.
All the books in the Young Heroes Library are exciting, wholesome books for active youngsters who want to read about heroes in their own age group.
They are written by authors who understand the interests of children, and who are capable of writing in the clear, concise language necessary to be easily understood.
The quality of these books ... the paper, large size type, beautiful illustrations, and colorful dust wrappers, are seldom found in this price range. The contents have already earned the approval of librarians, educators, and youths themselves.
YOUNG SIOUX WARRIORby Francis Lynde Kroll
Story of Little Bear’s education in the ways of his Indian tribe. (Selected by Junior Literary Guild)
Story of Little Bear’s education in the ways of his Indian tribe. (Selected by Junior Literary Guild)
YOUNG BUCKSKIN SPYby Selden Loring
Two American boys in the Revolutionary War help General George Washington beat the British Army.
Two American boys in the Revolutionary War help General George Washington beat the British Army.
YOUNG INFIELD ROOKIEby Charles Coombs
A Little League baseball team scores twice; it wins the championship and renews an ex-major leaguer’s faith in himself.
A Little League baseball team scores twice; it wins the championship and renews an ex-major leaguer’s faith in himself.
YOUNG SAND HILLS COWBOYby Francis Lynde Kroll
A city boy visits a ranch and finds “the big race” a lot tougher than he had expected.
A city boy visits a ranch and finds “the big race” a lot tougher than he had expected.
YOUNG PONY EXPRESS RIDERby Charles Coombs
Danger puts 14-year-old Tod Gilmer in the pony express saddle as he roars across Indian territory.
Danger puts 14-year-old Tod Gilmer in the pony express saddle as he roars across Indian territory.
YOUNG VISITOR TO MARSby Richard M. Elam, Jr.
Fascinating adventures await Jill and Ted Kenton in the world of tomorrow.
Fascinating adventures await Jill and Ted Kenton in the world of tomorrow.
All illustrated by CHARLES H. GEER
GROSSET & DUNLAPPublishers of WORDS:The New DictionaryNew York10, N. Y.