"In his clothing we found some of these." Kaarji fumbled in his pocket, and handed something to Jim.
It was a piece of metal, flat, round and amazingly light. It seemed to have once been part of some ornamentation. What interested Jim, however, was not what it might have been, but rather the metal itself. It was a dull greenish-gray in color and strangely different to the touch from any metal he had ever known. It was somehow reminiscent of radite, but only faintly. In it was a subtle suggestion of—yes, of fabulous strength and power!
In the dim grayness of that Polar night Jim looked at Kaarji and said in a voice he did not recognize as his own:
"Kaarji, do you realize what this means? Up here somewhere there is a city, a former civilization—a M'Tonak! That man you found dead—he reached M'Tonak and was coming back with the news when disaster overtook him! But that might have been many years ago....
"Tell me something, Kaarji. Why have you come up here three times before? Are you seeking M'Tonak?"
"I do not know. Something calls me. Something inside. And I only know that I must go."
"Is that all, just something calling you?"
"That is all. Except that this time it is different. This time I know that I shall reach—whatever is calling me, and I shall not return. I am sure of it."
Jim sat there for a long time, pondering, watching Kaarji pace restlessly back and forth. The Martian was in a strange mood this night. A foreboding mood. Jim gave up puzzling about it, and examined again that strange piece of metal. Here at last was proof of M'Tonak, perhaps the first proof any man outside had ever had! He felt an exuberant hope rising in him.
"Anyway, Kaarji, thanks for telling me about this. Mind if I keep it a while?"