She looked at him sadly. "What difference does it make?"
But his jubilation was not to be dampened. "We won't be here forever. Um-um!" He smacked his lips, almost danced. "Radium! We'd better get back a ways, we're too close to the stuff as it is."
They retreated to the edge of the stricken vegetation. Even here the plants were sickly, wilted. Half a dozen of them were coated with red, rust-like scales.
Jennifer suddenly grabbed his shoulder, shook him. "Come out of your daze, Midas," she laughed a little hysterically. "Look at the plants. They're dead. Don't you see. It's killed them. Wouldn't it kill the plant men, too."
But Norman shook his head. "They know as much if not more about radium than we do. It's dangerous, yes, but it's not a weapon." Suddenly he dropped to his knees beside a dwarf shrub. It was one of those covered with the red scales. "But, by Jupiter, this may be."
"What is it?" said the girl in a stifled voice.
"Blight!"
"What?" she asked in astonishment.
"Blight!" he repeated. "Don't you see? It's blight. Look." He pointed to the scabrous red scale attacking the shrub.
She shook her head in bewilderment.