"Next time it's going to get us," I remarked to Jim.
But there was no next time. We had seen the moon for the last time, though of course we did not then know it.
It was about four hours later that the moon and the earth collided. Fortunately for us, we were lying flat on the rocks in our sleeping bags. It was our only way of keeping warm, and besides, we had thought it better to get what rest we could before the moon appeared again with its accompanying tidal wave. As I said, we had got so used to earthquakes that we did not notice them.
Then it happened....
When I recovered consciousness, at first, I could not think where I was. I looked around in bewilderment and at the same moment realized that a warm rain was drenching me. My bones ached terribly. A few feet away Jim lay as if he were dead.
I crawled out of my sleeping bag and went over and shook him. He opened his eyes and looked at me blankly for a moment. Then he groaned and tried to grin. "So we're not dead after all?"
"We'll be drowned if we stay here." I said wearily. "Let's try to get inside the cabin. My, it's hot!"
"Hot?" questioned Jim, trying to rise. "So it is. I think all my bones are broken."
After half rising and half crawling we made our way to the plane.
There was not a trace of ice or snow. The sky was covered with heavy low-lying clouds from which the rain was pouring, but the burnished copper glow had entirely disappeared. It was a perfectly normal sky, or would have been in the tropics. It was daylight, but there was no sun to be seen.