ly
barely alive. Within a half hour he was on his way to the hospital at
Calor, crushed and unconscious.

Brad Connel was badly shaken. "I thought he was behind me," the
geologist explained. "But he had gone back to check the cap connection.
At least, that's what he must have gone back for. I fired, then turned
around, and he wasn't there. He was blown fifty feet at least. If only I
had checked! But he was there with me, and I just kept my eye on the
chronometer. He didn't say anything. He just walked off."

There was nothing much to be said. It was the kind of accident that
seems absolutely senseless. Both Connel and Ruiz were old hands with
explosives, yet the San Luzian apparently had wandered back to the
charge just as it went off.

Rick and Scotty walked toward the hot springs behind the hotel and
talked it over.

"Pretty stupid thing for anyone to do," Scotty said soberly.

Rick agreed. "Especially an old hand. Ruiz was supposed to be
experienced, but I can't imagine how a veteran could pull a stunt like
that."

It made absolutely no sense. Ruiz spoke English. Rick knew that from his
conversation with the San Luzian. So he must have known Connel was
counting down, getting ready to push the plunger home. Why would he walk
into the blast, unless he was tired of living? But he didn't believe
Ruiz would try to get himself killed deliberately. The little San Luzian
had seemed like a sane, happy individual.

Rick gave up. Maybe when Connel calmed down a little he could shed more
light on the accident. "The smell from the springs is getting pretty
strong," Scotty remarked.

It certainly was. The wind had been from the hotel toward the hot
springs most of the day, and the odor hadn't been bad. Now, in the
vicinity of the springs, it was making Rick's eyes water and his nose
smart.

"Think we can get close enough for a look?" Rick asked.

"We can try. There's the building ahead."

A cement walk led from the hotel to the springs, rising up a gradual
incline that was not too steep for wheel chairs, or for the elderly. The
boys had heard that many invalids had come here, to bathe in the hot
springs, to drink the mineral water, and to soak in warm mud.

"How'd you like a nice hot mud bath?" Rick asked.

Scotty grinned. "Can't say it appeals to me, but there must be something
to it. There are mud baths and hot springs in Europe, too. With plenty
of customers."

Rick took out his handkerchief and dried eyes th