After that I lost track of time. Day after day of incessant rain ... of steaming swamp.... But at length we reached firm ground and began our advance on foot.
It was Karn who first sighted the ship. Striding in the lead, he suddenly halted at the top of a hill and leveled his arm before him. There it lay, a huge cigar-shaped vessel of blackened arelium steel, half buried in the swamp soil.
"What's that thing on top?" Karn demanded, puzzled.
A rectangular metal envelope had been constructed over the stern quarters of the ship. Above this structure were three tall masts. And suspended between them was a network of copper wire studded with white insulators.
Grannie gazed a long moment through binoculars. "Billy-boy, take three Venusians and head across the knoll," she ordered. "Ezra and I will circle in from the west. Fire a gun if you strike trouble."
But we found no trouble. The scene before us lay steeped in silence. Moments later our two parties converged at the base of the great ship.
A metal ladder extended from the envelope down the side of the vessel. Mid-way we could see a circular hatch-like door.
"Up we go, Billy-boy." Heat gun in readiness, Grannie Annie began to climb slowly.
The silence remained absolute. We reached the door and pulled it open. There was no sign of life.
"Somebody's gone to a lot of trouble here," Ezra Karn observed.