At the suggestion of the Very Young Man they located without much difficulty a sort of cave amid the rocks, which offered shelter for their rest. Taking turns watching, they passed eight hours in fair comfort, and by noon next day, after another frugal meal they felt thoroughly refreshed and eager to continue the journey. "We sure are doing this classy," observed the Very Young Man. "Think of Rogers—all he could do was fall asleep when he couldn't stay awake any more. Gosh, what chances he took!" "We're playing it safe," agreed the Big Business Man. "But we mustn't take it too easy," added the Doctor. The Very Young Man stretched himself luxuriously and buckled his belt on tighter. "Well, I'm ready for anything," he announced. "What's next?" The Doctor consulted his papers. "We find the circular pit Rogers made in the scratch and we descend into it. We take twelve more pills at the edge of the pit," he said. The Very Young Man leaped to the top of a rock and looked out over the desolate waste helplessly. "How are we going to find the pit?" he asked dubiously. "It's not in sight, that's sure." "It's down there—about five miles," said the Doctor. "I saw it yesterday as we came down." "That's easy," said the Very Young Man, and he started off enthusiastically, followed by the others. In less than two hours they found themselves at the edge of the pit. It appeared almost circular in form, apparently about five miles across, and its smooth, shining walls extended almost perpendicularly down into blackness. Somewhat awed by the task confronting them in getting down into this abyss, the three friends sat down near its brink to discuss their plan of action. "We take twelve pills here," said the Doctor. "That ought to make us small enough to climb down into that." "Do you think we need so many?" asked the Big Business Man thoughtfully. "You know, Frank, we're making an awful lot of work for ourselves, playing this thing so absolutely safe. Think of what a distance down that will be after we have got as small as twelve pills will make us. It might take us days to get to the bottom." "How did Rogers get down?" the Very Young Man wanted to know. "He took the twelve pills here," the Doctor answered. "But as I understand it, he fell most of the way down while he was still big, and then got small afterwards at the bottom." This from the Big Business Man. Contents     67      68      69      70     71      72      73