Staang raised himself to elbows. "Wait, will you not take me with you?"
Boone paused and looked back at the shaggy figure in the gloom. He could see Staang trudging a snowy path with a keg of brandy around his neck. Almost instinctively he patted Staang on the head. "No, old boy," he said. "You stay here and put this in the record."
Braun whispered to Nance, "Evidently the Commander has a dog to whom he's not so stern."
They left Staang to his food and sleep. There was nothing of much interest on Mars except the old, old cities so long deserted.
So the great expedition departed, to go back to Earth to see the invaders—the Martians they had traveled 38,000,000 miles to see on another world. They wanted to tell Earth of the grim and incredible joke that had been played on her ... and Nance meant to have a long talk with Mimsy.