girls were beginning to tire. "Maybe we’d better rest for a time," Bud suggested.
"No way, Buddo!" said Sandy. She tossed a scoopful of earth over her shoulder and continued to dig. "Think of all that treasure!" she said.
Bud grinned, shaking his head helplessly. "Carry on, girls. I’ll just supervise for a while."
He sat on a flat rock and watched, sore and aching, as the girls plowed up the surface of Purple Mesa. Suddenly a shriek of joy sent him leaping to his feet. Fifty yards away, Bash was jumping up and down, shouting, "We found the treasure! We found it!"
Boggling, Bud dashed over to where the young Pakistani was holding an object aloft. After she had wiped the clinging earth from it, Bud whistled in amazement. It was an ancient turquoise-and-silver ring!
"I can’t believe it!" he said in astonishment. "Let me have one of those rocks!"
In no time he too had forgotten that the trio were cut off from civilization. For another hour the three clawed at the earth, digging one hole after another. The sky turned scarlet, then magenta. Finally the weary searchers were forced to give up as a chilling dusk came on. The treasure hunt was at an end with only one ring to reward their efforts.
Now Purple Mesa took on a rather eerie aspect as lengthening shadows of lavender and violet crept across its surface. Deeper purple hues cast an unreal pallor on their faces. The bone-deep cold of the desert night began to make itself felt.
"If only we had a fire!" moaned Bashalli, her teeth chattering.
"If only we had a railroad track and a jet engine!" Bud retorted wryly.
"I’m getting hungry," Sandy said wistfully.
Bud’s eyes watched the ever-darkening skies for some hopeful sign of a rescuer.
"Tom will be here," he said. "When we don’t return on schedule, he won’t waste a minute in starting a search."
Bud was right. As the last ray of daylight filtered out, the powerful beams of the Sky Queen’s landing lights appeared on the horizon. The huge ship thundered toward them until it was directly overhead. The Flying Lab hovered high over the mesa and began to descend.
The three marooned below waved frantically, caught in the clear beam of the Swift searchlight. Tom,. relieved to see them alive and safe, blinked his lights in answer. He held the ship motionless in the air, keeping the intense blast of the jet lifters away from the trio on the mesa. A landing would be impossible.
Tom’s solution to the rescue problem soon became apparent. He maneuvered the Sky Queen over beyond the edge of the precipice and then slowly permitted the ship to sink down until she was slightly above the mesa top. The wide door of the hangar bay was opened, and Tom and a crewman hurled a ladder of nylon cord across to the castaways. On the third try Bud caught it and managed to hold it taut while first Bashalli, then Sandy, scrambled to the safety of the Sky Queen.
With no one to anchor the ladder, Bud realized that as soon as his feet left the ground the ladder would swing forward under the belly of the Sky Queen and expose him to the intense heat and air blast of the jet lifters. Though the trailing end would slow the swing, he had been weakened by his climb up the shaft, and he wondered if he would be able to climb up, hand over hand, fast enough to escape being blown off the ladder. It was a chance he would have to take.
Stepping onto the first rung, Bud felt the ladder start to move. Quickly he reached up and grasped the next rung, and the next and the next as the end of the ladder dragged across the rocky ground.
"Hurry!" cried Sandy from the bay.
But speed on the twisting, swaying ladder was out of the question. It was all Bud could do to hang on. Terror in his eyes, he looked at the lifters.
The next moment, the ladder was swept toward the fiery blast!
CHAPTER 14
THE PROPHET OF TENDERLY
EVEN AS Bud Barclay was facing the cruel blast of the lifters, the stratoship executed a maneuver Tom had devised before slinging out the
"No way, Buddo!" said Sandy. She tossed a scoopful of earth over her shoulder and continued to dig. "Think of all that treasure!" she said.
Bud grinned, shaking his head helplessly. "Carry on, girls. I’ll just supervise for a while."
He sat on a flat rock and watched, sore and aching, as the girls plowed up the surface of Purple Mesa. Suddenly a shriek of joy sent him leaping to his feet. Fifty yards away, Bash was jumping up and down, shouting, "We found the treasure! We found it!"
Boggling, Bud dashed over to where the young Pakistani was holding an object aloft. After she had wiped the clinging earth from it, Bud whistled in amazement. It was an ancient turquoise-and-silver ring!
"I can’t believe it!" he said in astonishment. "Let me have one of those rocks!"
In no time he too had forgotten that the trio were cut off from civilization. For another hour the three clawed at the earth, digging one hole after another. The sky turned scarlet, then magenta. Finally the weary searchers were forced to give up as a chilling dusk came on. The treasure hunt was at an end with only one ring to reward their efforts.
Now Purple Mesa took on a rather eerie aspect as lengthening shadows of lavender and violet crept across its surface. Deeper purple hues cast an unreal pallor on their faces. The bone-deep cold of the desert night began to make itself felt.
"If only we had a fire!" moaned Bashalli, her teeth chattering.
"If only we had a railroad track and a jet engine!" Bud retorted wryly.
"I’m getting hungry," Sandy said wistfully.
Bud’s eyes watched the ever-darkening skies for some hopeful sign of a rescuer.
"Tom will be here," he said. "When we don’t return on schedule, he won’t waste a minute in starting a search."
Bud was right. As the last ray of daylight filtered out, the powerful beams of the Sky Queen’s landing lights appeared on the horizon. The huge ship thundered toward them until it was directly overhead. The Flying Lab hovered high over the mesa and began to descend.
The three marooned below waved frantically, caught in the clear beam of the Swift searchlight. Tom,. relieved to see them alive and safe, blinked his lights in answer. He held the ship motionless in the air, keeping the intense blast of the jet lifters away from the trio on the mesa. A landing would be impossible.
Tom’s solution to the rescue problem soon became apparent. He maneuvered the Sky Queen over beyond the edge of the precipice and then slowly permitted the ship to sink down until she was slightly above the mesa top. The wide door of the hangar bay was opened, and Tom and a crewman hurled a ladder of nylon cord across to the castaways. On the third try Bud caught it and managed to hold it taut while first Bashalli, then Sandy, scrambled to the safety of the Sky Queen.
With no one to anchor the ladder, Bud realized that as soon as his feet left the ground the ladder would swing forward under the belly of the Sky Queen and expose him to the intense heat and air blast of the jet lifters. Though the trailing end would slow the swing, he had been weakened by his climb up the shaft, and he wondered if he would be able to climb up, hand over hand, fast enough to escape being blown off the ladder. It was a chance he would have to take.
Stepping onto the first rung, Bud felt the ladder start to move. Quickly he reached up and grasped the next rung, and the next and the next as the end of the ladder dragged across the rocky ground.
"Hurry!" cried Sandy from the bay.
But speed on the twisting, swaying ladder was out of the question. It was all Bud could do to hang on. Terror in his eyes, he looked at the lifters.
The next moment, the ladder was swept toward the fiery blast!
CHAPTER 14
THE PROPHET OF TENDERLY
EVEN AS Bud Barclay was facing the cruel blast of the lifters, the stratoship executed a maneuver Tom had devised before slinging out the
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