passage led. No sound had come from behind them, and gradually Kruger’s panting slowed as he waited and listened.
“I guess that did it,” he said at last. “Now what do we do? We’re something like half a year late for our talk with that Teacher back at the village; do you think we can persuade him that our lateness was accidental, and that he’ll be in a mood to give back your books?”
Dar thought for some time. Even he had become a little tired of being put off each time he asked for his property, and Kruger’s implied point was a good one. Dar was fair-minded enough to admit to himself that their lateness was not entirely accidental; they should have started back to the village well before the time they became trapped in the crater.
“I wonder why the villagers did not come after us?” he asked suddenly. “They knew about where we were and they certainly were able to find us the other time.”
“That’s a good question and I can’t see any answer offhand. The steam shouldn’t have scared them away; they were used to those geysers.”
“Do you suppose they could have known we were trapped and been satisfied to leave us where we were? A searching party could have heard the steam from a long distance and checked up on us by simply looking over the crater edge.”
“That’s a distinct possibility — except that the trap was so easy to get out of that they would hardly suppose we could be permanently held by it. In that case there would still be guards around, and they’d probably have met us on the way out.”
“Perhaps there was only a single guard, who didn’t think the noise would lead to anything — they might think of the jet as inexhaustible; I’m sure I would have. In that case he might only have just started for reinforcements. I’m armed, and he might not feel it his duty to attempt Our capture single-handed.”
“A possibility which we have no means of checking — except by waiting here to see whether the soldiers turn out. Should we do that?”
“I — guess not.” Dar was still a little reluctant in his answer. “You were probably right all along. We have been wasting time and I have only sixteen years. We had better start for the Ice Ramparts once more and hope we can get there in time to return here with enough aid to get the books.”
“That suits me — it always has. This steam bath gets no more comfortable with time; in fact, I’d swear it got a little hotter each year. Let’s go — and fast.” They suited action to the word and left mountain and city behind them without further discussion.
Travel was a little easier along the seacoast. The beach was usually of hard-packed sand, though it was almost always narrow — Abyormen had no moon massive enough to raise noticeable tides, and this close to the pole even those caused by Theer were not enough to measure. Kruger had been a little doubtful about their traveling on a surface that took their tracks so clearly, but Dar pointed out that they had told enough since their capture to give any would-be pursuers the proper direction. Speed, and speed alone, was all that would serve the fugitives at this point.
There were numerous animals in the forest, which came unbroken to the beach, and none of them seemed to have any particular fear of the travelers. Time and again Dar’s crossbow knocked over their dinner, which was dissected on the spot and eaten either as they traveled or during the occasional stops which were needed for sleep.
Once or twice the tips of volcanic cones could be seen well inland, but only once did one of them hamper their travel in any way. Then they had to spend some hours working their way across a small field of lava which had flowed into the sea at some time in the past.
Usually they could see the coast for miles behind them, and oftener than not one of Dar’s eyes was turned in that direction, but the only moving things he ever saw were wild animals, usually quite unconcerned with the travelers.
The trip became a monotony of walking in steaming heat or unpleasantly warm rain. Occasionally Kruger interrupted the traveling with a bath in the sea; warm though the water was, the refreshment resulting from the swim made him feel the risk was worth while. He did this only when Dar wanted to rest, since the Abyormenite had no use for swimming and seemed to think of little except the amount of time they were spending en route.
They had no precise means of measuring the distance they traveled, so that not even Dar could guess when the islands they were seeking would appear; but appear they eventually did. Dar gave a grunt of relief when the first of the little humps appeared far out on the horizon.
“Fifteen years to go. We’ll make it yet.” His confidence may have been a trifle misplaced, but Kruger’s ignorance of the scale of the maps he had seen kept him from realizing that the island chain by which Dar meant to proceed led across eight hundred miles of ocean, and that almost as much land lay between its end and the point on the ice cap which was their goal. He assumed the native’s judgment to be sound and almost relaxed.
“How do we get across the sea?” he contented himself with asking.
“We float.” And Dar Lang Ahn meant it.
This worried Kruger, and his worry did not grow less as time went on. It became increasingly evident that Dar intended to make his trip on a raft, which was the only sort of craft their tools would allow them to build; and even his ignorance of the distance to be covered did not make the boy any happier at the prospect. There was no provision being made for sails; when Kruger mentioned this and finally managed to explain what sails were the pilot explained that the wind always blew against them anyway. They would have to paddle.
“Does the wind
“Not enough to matter.”
“But how do you know?”
“I have been flying this route all my life, and a glider cannot be flown by one who does not know what the currents are doing.”
“Didn’t you say that this island chain marked the air route your gliders always take to the Ice Ramparts?” Kruger asked suddenly.
“Those coming from Kwarr, yes.”
“Then why haven’t we seen any?”
“You have not been looking up. I have seen three since we reached this spot. If your eyes were only on the sides of your head and stuck out a little more…”
“Never mind my optical deficiencies! Why didn’t you signal them?”
“How?”
“You were going to reflect sunlight from your belt buckles when I found you; or we could light a fire.”
“Your fire-lighter is in the keeping of our friends whom we have left behind, and even if we lighted one you should know by now that one of my people would not approach a fire. If the pilot saw the smoke he would avoid it and more than likely report it as a new center of volcanic activity.”
“But how about the reflection? Your buckles are still shiny!”
“How does one aim a beam of light from a mirror? I was using the method when you found me because it was the only possible one; I would have been as dead, had you not appeared, as I shall be less than fifteen years from now.”
“Can’t you see the beam of light that the buckle reflects?”
“No. I once saw a mirror so perfectly flat that one could see the ray of sunlight coming from it if there were a little haze in the air, but my buckles are not in that class.”
“Then if they spread the beam it should be that much easier to hit something with it. Why do you not try, at least?”
“I think it would be a waste of time, but if you can suggest a way of pointing the beam reasonably closely you may try the next time a glider comes in sight.”
“Let me see the buckles, please.”
Dar complied with the air of one amusing a rather dull child. Kruger examined the plates of metal carefully. They were more nearly flat than Dar’s words had led him to hope, rectangular in shape, about two inches wide and four long. Two holes about an inch square were present in each one, and between these a single small circular hole which in service held a peg for securing the leather straps threaded through the larger openings. Kruger smiled as he finished his examination, but handed them back to their owner without any comment except, “I’ll take you up on
