"Standing by, Rick. Where are you?"
"Ashore." He described the situation briefly.
"I should have thought of that," Zircon replied. "The eastern shore is to windward. You were bound to have surf. Are you all right?"
"Yes. We're starting out now. We'll talk to you from on top, if it's safe." He hung the little radio around his neck by its lanyard, and stood up. "Ready to climb Mount Everest, brother Scott?"
Scotty stared up at the slope of the volcano. "If you are, brother Brant."
Neither boy was an experienced mountaineer, but both knew the principles of operation. They roped together and started the long climb. It was easy at first. The slopes low down were not steep, and the broken lava gave plenty of hand and footholds. But as they reached a point Rick estimated to be about two hundred feet above the water, the slope steepened sharply.
"Rest a moment," Scotty suggested. "We'll last longer if we take a breather once in a while."
Rick knew Scotty was right, but he resented the need for sitting idly for even a few minutes. He used the five-minute rest period to report to Zircon that all was well.
Rick led the way again as soon as the luminous dial of his wrist watch showed that five minutes had elapsed. Twice he and Scotty were stalled for a brief time, but finally found a route and improved it by hammering the steel spikes in clefts in the rock. With the hammer padded, the sound was muffled to a point where it couldn't be heard more than a few feet away. The spikes could be used to belay their rope on the way down.
The last stage of the upward journey was to the top of the cone. It was nearly vertical, but wide cracks made it less difficult than some of the areas below. Scotty was leading now. He reached the top, then waited for Rick to join him.