Page:Amazing Stories Volume 10 Number 13.djvu/81

Rh "Pardon me, Ensign Mayer. But if you don't mind discontinuing your moon gazing for a few minutes, I suggest that it might not be a bad idea for you to start signalling to Jimmy."

"A. Z., Chief," Mayer grinned sheepishly as he reached for his thermal suit.

Going out through the airlock, he walked to the prow of the Cosmicraft and broadcasted the agreed signal, repeating it several times. During the intervals between his imitations of the jackant's cry, he could hear them being answered by the genuine calls of these strange creatures.

Returning to the warmth of the spaceship's interior, he discovered that Captain Brink had retired to his sleeping hammock. His deep, stertorous breathing indicated that he was already slumbering soundly.

The hours which followed were far from pleasant to Daniel Mayer. Again and again he repeated the jackant's raucous yell. Again and again he tried without success to penetrate the surrounding darkness with the spaceship's teleview. Again and again he listened with bated breath for the sound of approaching footsteps or for some other noise to indicate that his pal was either safe or a captive.

Finally, when a faint glow in the east gave warning of approaching false dawn, Mayer, no longer able to endure his lonely vigil, decided to awaken Captain Brink.

"What shall we do, Chief?" He said in an anxious voice. "Jimmy hasn't returned yet, and it's almost dawn."

Captain Brink rubbed his eyes, stretched himself and yawned: "Don't worry about Jimmy. He knows how to look after himself."

"But it's almost time for the sun to rise. If he doesn't find us within the next few minutes, he is certain to be discovered."

"I was afraid something like this would happen," Captain Brink muttered. "Have you tried to locate him with the teleview?"

"Yes. But it's been too dark to distinguish anything. Perhaps now—with the faint light of approaching dawn to help—"

Mayer left his sentence hanging in midair, for Captain Brink was already seated before the objective of the teleview.

After ten minutes of rapid scanning and focusing, he exclaimed: "By Jupiter! I believe I see something moving. But how in Hyperion did he get away out there?"

"Where?" Mayer asked in a sepulchral whisper.

"Over there, away the other side of the slavers' village and about fifteen degrees to the north of it. Don't you see him?"

"Darned if I can," Mayer admitted.

"He just ducked behind a little sandhill. That's Jimmy all right."

"But if you can see him, isn't he liable to be discovered by the slavers?"

Brink evaded answering the question directly by saying: "There isn't much cover out there, but, such as it is, Jimmy knows how to take full advantage of it."

"Shall I go out and give the jackant call again?" Mayer asked.

"No," Captain Brink replied. "It is quite obvious that your signals have confused him instead of helping him. Get ready to take off."

Before Mayer had time to utter another word, Captain Brink turned a dial on the control board and the