Eddie left the Geiger counter switched on much of the time. The way led over the rocks. There was no way of telling, except by the Geiger counter, if any of the rocks were radioactive. The results, however, were quite discouraging. Except for the faint background count, the Geiger counter gave no sign of there being any uranium-bearing ore on Cedar Point.
After a tiring hour and a half of hard climbing over and around the outcroppings, Teena suggested they stop and eat their picnic lunch.
“Might as well,” Eddie said. “Sure doesn’t look like we’re going to find anything out here. Lot of trouble for nothing, huh?”
“Oh, no, Eddie,” Teena disagreed. “We’re having fun aren’t we? After all, you’re supposed to have fun during vacation.”
“Be better, though, to have fun and find some uranium, too,” Eddie said.
Teena laughed. “You sure do want everything,” she remarked.
Eddie switched off the Geiger counter. They found some shade under a wind-twisted oak and ate their lunch. Eddie glanced at the sun. “It must be one o’clock,” he said. “Guess we’d better be starting back. The water will be a little choppier than this morning. Won’t be so easy to row. I don’t want to get home late, or my mom will scalp me.”
“Let’s go,” Teena said. “Anyway, we’ve done enough prospecting out here to know there’s no uranium around.”
On the way back to the boat Eddie tried out the Geiger counter in a couple of places they had missed. The results were the same—negative. He put the Geiger counter into the bottom of the boat, pushed the boat into the water, and jumped in after Teena.
A slight breeze angling in over the bow made rowing difficult. Less than halfway across the bay, Eddie’s arms and shoulders began to ache.