Tie the rope around your shoulder, but leave enough of it
so the next guy can come up. We don't have any way of getting it back
down there!" he warned. "Who's coming up first?"
Tom looked at Roger.
"You're stronger, Tom," said Roger. "You go up now and then you can give
Astro a hand pulling me through."
"All right," agreed Tom. He began pulling the hose back through the
sand. He took the end, cleared it out with a few blasts from the oxygen
bottle and put it in his mouth. Then, after Roger had helped him tie the
rope around his shoulders, he stuffed his nose with the waste cotton. He
stepped to the opening. Roger gave three quick jerks on the rope and
Astro started hauling in.
With Astro's help, Tom was soon free and clear, standing beside Astro on
the jet-boat deck.
"Phoooeeeey!" said Tom, spitting out the sand that had filtered into his
mouth. "I never want to do that again!" He dusted himself off and
flashed his emergency light around the deck. "Look at that!" he said in
amazement. "If we'd kept on digging, we'd have been trapped down there
for--" he paused and looked at Astro who was grinning--"a long, long
time!" He held the light on the sand that was flowing out of the open
hatch of the passenger lounge.
"Come on," urged Astro. "Let's get Roger out of there!"
They called to Roger through the hose and told him to bring two more
emergency lights and the remainder of the Martian water.
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