. I
told them we were all in this, and they were only creating a nuisance
that complicated things and didn't help at all. Then Mom chimed in.
You know how she does. Never raises her voice. She said real courage
consisted of being terribly frightened, but trying to remain calm in
spite of it. Then she said she was rapidly becoming ashamed of both of
them. That did it. They stuck their chins in the air, wiped off the
tears, and actually managed a smile."

"Good for them!" Rick exclaimed.

Inside the laboratory they went at once to the stockroom. Floodlights
were stored there, among other items. Extension cords were plentiful,
and there were electric outlets on the roof. In a few moments the boys
had strung the lights and Rick had readjusted the board downstairs, so
that all the lights were on a single circuit. That way, they could all
be switched on or off at once.

Joe Blake came to watch. Rick explained what he was doing, and told
Joe of Steve's conversation.

"I know," Joe said. "Steve called me on the radio. He didn't want us
shooting Mike down for trying to land without warning. But how come
you can cut circuits in and out like this?"

"We never know when an experiment will call for electric power in some
unexpected place," Rick explained. "The main board is set up so we can
do just about anything we need to. We can feed normal current in, or
440 volts, and we can cross-link the circuits any way we like."

Scotty checked Rick's work, then took the switch handle. He touched
the contacts briefly, and there was a quick pulse of light as the roof
lighted up and went dark again.

"I'll stand by here," Scotty said. "You stand by at the end of the
runway. Are we going to use gasoline?"

"We'll have to. It would take a while to run power from the house and
hook up lighting units. Gasoline will be quicker and easier. Let's
go."

There was a supply of gasoline for the boats. Rick got a five-gallon
can while Scotty collected newspapers. Two trash cans served as
containers. The cans were filled with newspapers, then drenched in
gasoline and placed at the last possible point of runway that could be
used. If Mike overshot the containers he would land in the sea.

Rick worried about the problem of lighting the containers without
getting burned, then went to the workshop and selected rags. He
twisted the rags loosely and tied them together, poured gasoline into
a bucket and soaked his rag fuse. The last step was to inse