For a time he watched the desert as it was blotted out before him. Then he turned and slowly entered the observatory.
He lighted a coal-oil lamp, and climbed up on his ladder to open the slit in the conical roof. Down again, he placed the lamp so that it would be behind him during his observation. By pulling a cord he moved the revolving roof until the refractor was pointing through the slit. Then he moved the ladder behind the eye-piece and climbed high upon it, for Mars was not far above the horizon. He placed his eye to the finder and moved the delicately adjusted instrument until he found the image. Next he clambered down and started the driving clock which caused the telescope to follow the object in its course across the sky for two hours and a half. He climbed the ladder again and took his seat, with his head only a few feet from the roof; and, as the eye-piece was already in focus, he began searching the surface of the planet for the region central to Uranius, Nilokeras, and Ganges, moving the instrument slowly.
And there he sat through the unbroken quietude of several hours, his steady, far-seeing right eye fixed on the glowing surface of the distant ball of soft white fire. The atmosphere was remarkably clear to-night, and the planet at times threw off a glow that heightened its brilliancy and dazzled his eye, and then the glow would subside and well-known markings would stand out clearly for an instant. But he gained not even a fleeting glimpse of the figure that he fancied he had seen before, and upon which he had based his hopes of writing his name indelibly on the scientific roster.
How long he had been on watch through the eternal stillness of Spyglass Mountain he did not know, when of a sudden he heard the thud of hoofs outside the observatory. He felt a quick stab of apprehension. He was unarmed. Was it Sweet?
But a familiar voice now called:
“Hey! Tony! Are ye in there? This is California Bill!”
“Yes!” answered Joshua, with a feeling of vast relief. “What on earth are you doing up here this time o’ night?”
“I’ll show ye in a minute,” answered Bill; and then Joshua heard him speak in a lower tone to some one else.
Joshua climbed down from his ladder, loath to leave the eye-piece of the refractor, and opened the door. In came a man whose little pale-blue eyes darted a glance of supreme hatred at him, and then were lowered instantly. California Bill brought up the rear.
“Hello, Cole of Spyglass Mountain,” was his greeting. “I’ve brung a—a thing to see ye to-night, an’ it’s got a tale to tell. Kick them boxes over here so’s we c’n all set down together. Slim Wolfgang he’s gonta talk.”