"Acid spray," Conley explained laconically. "Don't worry, you'll realize the use for it before long."
Now the real trip began.
"Kaarji, you and Lewis take the first sled," Conley instructed. "We'll follow."
The Martian nodded. The motors purred and the sleds moved slowly away.
"Yes, we'll follow him," Wessel murmured. "Just as long as he sticks fairly close to the radite veins, we will. This is what I'm going by." And he touched the little metallic device at his wrist, which Jim knew was susceptible through super-sensitive coils to all radite emanations within a radius of several miles.
Conley frowned but nodded mute agreement. And now for the first time it really dawned on Jim that he and Kaarji were apart from these other men. He and the Martian were up here seeking, not radite deposits, but something else. The same thing but for different reasons. Jim determined to try, at the first opportunity, to probe into that big Martian's mind.
Now they were speeding into the real Polar vastness. Kaarji's sled ahead of them dipped and rose across long icy undulations. The terrain was wide and white and peaceful as far as Jim could see. He began to wonder why men had never been able to penetrate very far up here. Even afoot it ought not to be hard, but this was ridiculously easy! As he huddled there in his place on the sled he was very warm and cozy beneath his coat of Praaka fur. He began to get drowsy....
Jim awoke with a start from the deep, firm depths of somnolence. He was aware that they had been moving for a long time, probably many hours. Now the sky was dark above him and he could see a few stars. But something had shattered his drowsiness to jerk him back to reality, and he wondered what it was.