IX
FOUND!
It was two weeks to a day when the four on the earth, after having seen
very little of each other in the meanwhile, got together for the purpose
of finishing their "revelation" to the Sanusians.
"Mr. Van Emmon and I," stated Billie coolly, as they put on their
bracelets, "have been trying to decide upon the best way of telling them
how to obtain fire."
Neither Smith nor the doctor showed that he noticed her "Mr. Van Emmon."
Evidently the two were still unreconciled.
"I argue," remarked the geologist, "that the simplest method will be a
chemical one. There's lots of ways to produce fire spontaneously, with
chemicals; and this woman Rolla could do it easily."
Billie indulged in a small, superior smile. "He forgets that all these
chemical methods require PURE chemicals. And you don't find them pure in
the natural state. You've got to have fire to reduce them with."
"What's your proposition, then?" from the doctor.
"Optics!" enthusiastically. She produced a large magnifying-glass from
her pocket. "All we have to do is to show Dulnop--he's something of a
mineralogist--how to grind and polish a piece of crystal into this
shape!"
Van Emmon groaned. "Marvelous! Say, if you knew how infernally hard it
is to find even a small piece of crystal, you'd never propose such a
thing! Why, it would take years--Mrs.
Pages:
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88