The girl's laughter sounded silly.
"I'll do something for you. I'll buy you a barrel of sugar."
Radium. Somewhere in this cavern was a deposit of radium, and Oscar had run into it. The hair of the thlot glowed when in the presence of radio-active energy. Andy was laughing crazily. Radium ... more precious than diamonds. Fortune. The ship on Luna. His! He had forgotten they were locked in the cavern.
"Come on," he yelped. "Lead us to the place where you started glowing."
"It's back in there, in a ball. I don't want to go. Let's get out of here."
"You take us there, or I'll break your damned neck."
"Aw, Boss...."
"Get going."
Oscar, complaining bitterly, started off. They followed.
The cave widened out into an immense chamber. In the center was a crucible of some kind, a cracked, battered crucible filled with glowing matter. Andy scratched his head, moved forward.