Ted’s fossil would have to wait to be exhumed. In fact, Norris told him, he could sell it as it stood, and let the purchaser do the work. Then it occurred to him to wonder if Ted would not have first to take up a claim,—for it was Government land. Anyway, he would see to it that the boy was rewarded for his find.
The fire now being extinguished, Radcliffe had flown to other battle lines, first taking Rosa—as she insisted—back to her fire outlook. The plan was for the two boys to keep on hunting for the Mexicans, (as the harried Ranger now counted on their doing), joining the rest of the camping party every night, at points they would agree upon. But first, Ace had made a flight to Fresno for supplies and to start his pilot home by train. He then carried them one at a time to where the burros had been left,—and where the lazy rascals still browsed on the rich mountain meadows.
For a day or two, all the boys could talk, think or dream about was the adventures they had just been through. But at last they had relieved their minds to some extent, and one evening around the fire, Norris gave them his long promised explanation of some of the natural wonders they had seen.
“I have already told you,” began Norris, “how the earth probably originated. That much the astronomer has given us. And before the geologist can begin to interpret the evolution of our earth, he has to know what scientists have established in the fields of chemistry, mechanics and geodesy,—the study of the curvature and elevation of the earth’s surface. He then proceeds to theorize, hand in hand with the paleontologist, or student of ancient life. The newest theory is in line with what I learned in 1917 at Yale.”
“It’s all theory, then?” asked Ted.
“Just as all sciences are, to some extent. Did I tell you that when our planetary system was disrupted from the sun, it was less than a hundredth part of the parent body? And our earth is a good deal less than a millionth of the size of our sun, and our sun is among the smaller of the stars of the firmament.”
“Phew!” whistled Long Lester, round eyed, while Ted and Pedro sat motionless.
“Picture the earth and moon, revolving about the sun, gathering by force of their own gravity-pull the tiny planetesimals nearest them, these bodies hurling themselves into the earth mass at the rate of perhaps ten miles a second!––”
“It shore must have het things up some,” said Long Lester.
“It did! Literally melted the rocks. On top of that, this original earth mass, composed of molten rock and gases and water vapor, was condensing. Probably by the time it had engulfed all the stray planetesimals it could, it was anywhere from 200 to 400 times as large as it is now. It has been shrinking ever since.”