Ted thought he noticed a flicker of the needle. He blinked his eyes. Yes, it had moved! The others had seen it too.
“It moved!” cried Jill, almost hysterically.
“It certainly did!” her mother burst out. “I saw it!”
The needle continued to climb toward normal. Ted had nothing to say. He was so filled with relief that he was speechless for the moment.
They were all so concerned over the snaillike movement of that all-important needle that they paid no attention to the last few dwindling draughts of air in their suits. Ted was the first to realize that his tank was empty. He began feeling that same lightheadedness he had experienced in his room.
“Our suits,” he cried out. “Pull them off! The room is just about normal!”
He unclipped his own helmet, then pulled it off and drank in precious gulps of fresh air. The others followed suit. Soon the needle was vertical, indicating that normal pressure and air supply had been restored.
It was five minutes before a light came swiftly across the desert, moving in their direction. They heard the pop of an exhaust a moment later as a big-wheeled truck pulled up to a roaring stop outside.
Ted knew it must be the arrival of the emergency cartridges. But they had been five minutes late. A shudder shook him as he realized what a close call this had been. Had they not found the leak when they did, none of them in the house would now be alive to greet the men.
The next afternoon, when Ted, Jill, and Randy arrived home from school, Mrs. Kenton told them that the repairmen had taken care of the leak in the drain. It seemed that the hole had been partially stopped up so that the water had collected and frozen in it, causing the pipe to crack.
Jill had been impatient to talk ever since she had gotten in the house. Now her chance had come. “Mother, you know what Mr. Garland wants us to do?” she asked eagerly.
Mrs. Kenton smiled. “What does he want you to do?” she asked.
“He wants us to bring Yank to school for a demonstration lesson in Martian zoology,” Ted broke in.
Jill’s face clouded over with disappointment. “I wanted to tell her,” she muttered.
“Sorry!” Ted said. “I didn’t know it was a secret.”
Jill slapped at him playfully, but Ted ducked in time.