They _did_ wait—all the long day to follow.
And in all that time, no one came.
They did the same things that they had done the day before—reading by
the light of the earth, which they feared they would never see again;
reading until their eyes blurred and the battery had gone dead in their
only flashlight.
Garry and Patch did not read much. Instead, they spent most of their
time looking out over the cold gray dust, and up into the black sky,
looking hopefully for some moving object against the bleak wilderness
and wanting to be the first to spot it should it appear. But it never
appeared, and bed-time came, but no one was in the spirit for sleep. And
yet, since there was little else to do, everyone prepared for bed.
Garry and Patch lay awake in their adjoining seats, talking in low
voices to each other.
“Garry, we’ve been through a lot of close calls since we left the
orphanage,” Patch was saying, “but this looks like _it_, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know, Patch. I just don’t know,” his friend replied with a
troubled sigh. “It sure doesn’t look good. I won’t ever really give up
hope, though. There’s still a chance that a rescue ship will come—maybe
during the night.”
“But what if it doesn’t?” Patch asked. “What if it doesn’t come tonight
or tomorrow—or the next night? How will we feel when we finally _know_
that we won’t be saved?”
“You shouldn’t think like that, Patch. It’ll make you miserable. You’ve
got to keep hoping, even when it doesn’t make sense,” Garry said.
“It’s funny about Ben,” Patch went on. “I mean about what he did. He
meant to save us, but it’s turned out that he’s made it worse for us. It
would have been better if we had crashed along with the _Carefree_,
because then it would have been over quickly.”
“You know the saying, Patch: ‘Where there’s life there’s hope.’ And I
believe that.”
Patch said no more, and before long Garry heard him snoring softly. This
made Garry feel better, and presently he too fell asleep.
Garry and Patch woke the next morning to the sound of subdued voices
around them. For a brief moment Garry wondered if help had come during
the night. He searched the faces he saw, and quickly his hopes were
dashed. Instead of happy faces, they were haggard ones that showed the
lack of sleep, and there were no new faces among them.
“No one came last night, did they?” Patch asked Captain Eaton.
The skipper shook his head and tugged at his beard that, by now, had
become scraggly and untidy looking. The others moved in close, and Garry
noticed all at once that he and Patch were the center of attention. He
had a feeling then that something important was about to be said.
“Garry, Patch,” Captain Eaton said slowly, “you respect my judgment and
my experience, don’t you?”
“Sure,” the boys answered together, puzzled looks on their faces.
“Well then, you do believe I would do the best I knew for all of us,
don’t you?”
Garry and Patch nodded again.
“I’ve got something to say to the two of you,” the captain continued,
“and it’s very important to me that you abide by my decision. Will you
promise to do so if I tell you it will be to your best interests?”
The boys thought a moment, then nodded together, trusting the man they
had come to admire and respect.
Just then Garry noticed the pair of space suits lying on the floor
nearby, and they looked as if work had been done on them. They seemed to
have been made smaller by the adjustable straps with which all such
space suits were equipped.
“As you can see, fellows,” the captain said, “the rest of us didn’t
sleep much, but we were grateful that the two of you could, because it
gave us time to come to our decision.”
Garry and Patch watched the captain’s face intently, the suspense
building up in them moment by moment. Garry had a hunch that he and
Patch would not like what they were going to hear.
The captain took a deep breath and said, “I’ll come right out with it.
The rest of us are forced to face the sad fact that rescue isn’t coming.
But there’s no reason for everyone to perish. Garry, we decided that you
and Patch....”
As his voice trailed off, Garry saw the picture. “You want us to take
the space suits and—and go out there.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision to reach, Garry,” Mac spoke. “We may be
sending the two of you to a worse fate than would happen to you here.
But in that way there lies a _chance_ for you. Here the chances would be
very little. We are all agreed on that.”
“But why us?” Garry protested. “Why not two of the rest of you? We
thought we had become one of you by now. We should all have drawn lots
to see who would go. It’s not democratic this way.”
“It’s because we’re kids, isn’t it?” Patch asked. “You’re packing us off
like children to bed! We won’t leave you here!”
“Remember your promise, fellows,” Captain Eaton said. “This is the way
we want it. Believe us, we really do—unanimously.”
“There’s even a chance you might make heroes of yourselves,” Isaac
added. “You may find someone who can come and rescue us before it’s too
late.”
“We realize it won’t be easy for you to leave us behind, and it won’t be
easy to set out across unknown country for an unknown destination. It’ll
take courage, gentlemen, plenty of courage, more courage than it will
require for us to stay on here,” Mr. Klecker said.
Garry could find no further argument. The others were too much against
him and Patch. They simply would not have it any other way. In the end
the boys gave in, but they felt guilty for accepting what was seemingly
the only way to survival.
Some time later the boys were ready to start out. The space suits still
were a little large, but they would serve. Garry wore the luminous green
suit, Patch the luminous orange one. The boots were so large that Garry
and Patch had to wear them over their shoes. The helmets were big and
bulky, but in the moon’s light gravity they were not too heavy.
When the boys were sealed in the suits completely, Captain Eaton ran a
careful check on them—the air pressure and temperature, and the
“walkie-talkie” radios that would enable the boys to talk to each other.
Finally, the fellows were loaded down with all the supplies they could
be expected to need. This included spare oxygen tanks, water bottles,
and liquid food in tubes. These tubes could be squeezed through an
opening in the helmet so that one in a space suit could take nourishment
without opening his helmet.
Garry argued against taking nearly all of the spare supplies and leaving
their friends with very little.
“You must take them,” Captain Eaton insisted. “If you do not have enough
to get you to the settlement, there is no purpose in starting out at
all. Now, no more arguments.”
There finally came the moment of parting, which everyone dreaded.
Garry’s heart was heavy at the thought of leaving these people he had
grown so fond of in such a short time. Very likely he and Patch would
never see any of them again.
Garry could see that the men’s eyes were troubled and sorrowful. They
didn’t seem to know just how to say farewell. Isaac and Gino gave a
little nervous wave of their hands. Mr. Klecker shook hands formally.
Mac gave them a warm pat on the back.
Captain Eaton walked slowly over to the air lock with the boys—slowly,
as if he did not want to let them go. Garry and Patch had removed their
helmets and held them in their hands. The captain had his arms around
their shoulders, embracing them like a father.
“Well, don’t let’s be sissies about this,” the captain said with forced
lightheartedness. “Let’s just pretend that you boys are going on a short
trip and that you’ll be back in a little while. No sad words, no tears,
eh?”
“That’s how we want it, Captain Eaton,” Garry answered, but his throat
was so tight he could hardly speak.
“Whatever you do, don’t give up,” their older friend advised. “Take care
of yourselves and don’t lose your heads if you meet a crisis. And don’t
come back, whatever happens. It won’t help.”
The captain took a piece of paper from Mac and gave it to Garry. “Mac
and I have plotted your course as nearly as we can from what we remember
of this territory. We both had a course in lunar study at one time.
Follow these landmarks closely. You will be heading straight for the
mining settlement, and if, by chance, a search flier should be coming
from that direction, try to catch their attention by waving. They will
probably be looking for you, and your bright-colored suits will make you
stand out pretty strong against the gray ground.”
Garry was studying the penciled map. “What is this gray part that you’ve
shown here, Captain?”
“It’s an area of rugged rock formations,” the captain explained. “You’ve
got to go through it, as there is no way around. You must proceed with
extreme caution, because we haven’t any flashlights left to give you.
And, owing to the fact that there is just a trace of air on Luna, the
earthshine can’t penetrate into the shadows. You will literally have to
inch yourselves along until you’re in the open again.”
The captain explained more of the dangers in this area and showed Garry
and Patch other points on the map and what they stood for.
Finally, the boys had their last look at the man who had been the best
friend to them that they had ever known. Garry studied the captain’s
brave, forced smile, and he could see the elderly man’s efforts to keep
himself under control.
Captain Eaton wiped his moist palm on his trousers and then pushed the
button that swung open the inner door of the air lock.
“There’s something I must tell both of you before you go,” he said. “I
made application for adoption of you two as my sons just before we had
the accident. I have a friend in a high position back on earth who, I
felt, could put through the papers quickly if they were approved. I
never told you this, though, because I did not want to raise your hopes
falsely in case the adoption was not approved. But I couldn’t let you go
not knowing what I had tried to do.”
“We would have liked you for a father,” Patch said.
Garry was too choked up to say anything except, “Let’s go, Patch, before
we change our minds and never go at all.”
“Yes, that is better,” the captain said. “Good-by, boys, and may God go
with you.”
The boys pulled on their helmets, and Captain Eaton helped fit them
tightly. Then he made a little farewell wave with his hand and motioned
the boys into the air lock. A moment later the door swished shut. The
outer door opened, and the bleak face of Luna beckoned to them. They
stepped out into the gray dust, and the “snowshoe” plates added to the
bottom of their boots kept them from sinking too deeply into the moon
dust.
They were now on their own.