and grabbed Roger's uniform. He pulled, and slowly
the cadet's form slid from beneath the casing.

"All right, Astro," said Tom, "I've got 'im."

Astro began to lower the casing in the same manner in which he had
lifted it. He eased it back down to the floor on his knees and dropped
it the last few inches. He sat on the floor beside it and hung his head
between his knees.

"Are you all right, Astro?" asked Tom.

"Never mind me," panted Astro between deep gasps for breath, "just see
if hot-shot is O.K."

Tom quickly ran his hands up and down Roger's arms and legs, his chest,
collarbone and at last, with gently probing fingers, his head.

"No broken bones," he said, still looking at Roger, "but I don't know
about internal injuries."

"He wasn't pinned under that thing," said Astro at last. "It was resting
on a beam. No weight was on him."

"Uh--huh--ahhh--uhhhh," moaned Roger.

"Roger," said Tom gently, "Roger, are you all right?"

"Uh--huh?--Ohhhh! My head!"

"Take it easy, hot-shot," said Astro, "that head of yours is O.K.
Nothing--but _nothing_ could hurt it!"

"Ooohhhh!" groaned Roger, sitting up. "I don't know which is worse,
feeling the way I do, or waking up and listening to you again!"

Tom sat back with a smile. Roger's remark clinched it. No one was hurt.

"Well," said Astro at last, "where do we go from here?"

"First thing I suggest we do is take a survey and see what's left," said
Tom.

"I came up from the power deck," said Astro, "all the way through the
ship. You see this radar deck?" He made a sweeping gesture around the
room that looked like a junk heap. "Well, it's in good shape, compared
to the rest of the ship. The power deck has the rocket motors where the
master panel should be and the panel is ready to go into what's left of
the reactant chamber. The jet boat is nothing but a worthless piece of
junk!"

The three boys considered the fate of the jet boat soberly. Finally
Astro broke the silence with a question. "Where do you think we are?"

"Somewhere in the New Sahara desert," answered Tom. "I had the chart
projector on just before we splashed in, but I can't tell you any more
than that."

"Well, at least we have plenty of water," sighed Roger.

"You _had_ plenty of water. The tanks were smashed when we came in. Not
even a puddle left in a corner."

"Of course it might rain," said Roger.

Tom gave a short laugh. "The last time it rained in this place dinosaurs
were roamin