“This doesn’t appeal to me,” he growled when at last he crawled through the trap and emerged on the small platform on the dizzy top of the ship. The platform was surrounded by a strong wire railing, but it looked unstable to Wally, who tested it with his hand as David followed through the trap.
This platform is seldom used, except in war time. David stepped up and, slamming down the trap door, stood upon it and faced Wally. The last exotic colors of the Pacific sunset reddened the illimitable space in which they seemed to swing along—the two men cut off from all else living. David was silent.
“Well, I don’t like it,” Wally admitted after a moment. “Too darned much sky! You get a roll up here that you don’t feel in the ship, too. And it’s cold. Why isn’t this railing higher? It isn’t safe; just comes to my waist. So if you’ll just step off that trap, Ellison, we’ll go down.”
“Not yet, Cram.” David spoke quite gently. “I don’t want you to miss any of this. We are riding high—higher every minute. I ordered the ship sent up a mile or so, and we are climbing fast.
“Imagine,” he went on, “how easy it would be for a good husky chap, like me, for instance, to heave another chap over. He’d go bouncing down the side of the ship, clutching, but finding nothing to grab. Then—well, that would be about all. I wonder how long you would have to think, to remember, before you lost consciousness.”
“Lord, what a morbid mind! You want to watch out for yourself,” said Wally with a forced laugh. The sunset shone full on his face. He was chalk white. A sickly fear was spreading through him. “Come on, Ellison, let’s go down. Thanks for the view. I’ve had enough of it. Come on.”
“No hurry,” said David. He stood against the sunset. That or the fact that there was nothing to measure him by, no familiar scale of size, made his big muscular figure look gigantic to Wally’s horrified gaze. For Wally was suddenly tasting a terror past his comprehension. The man was mad. Ellison was mad—mad—mad—mad. The words filled his brain like the beat of a drum.
“Come on, Davie, old chap, let’s go down,” he coaxed.
“No!” thundered David. He took a single step toward Wally across the little platform. With one hand he caught him by the lapels of his coat, and shook him gently.
Wally screamed.