"Start walking that way," said Tom, pointing to his left along the bank
of the canal that stretched off in a straight line to the very horizon.
"If we're lucky, we might be able to find something to use as a raft and
then we can ride."
"Think there are any fish in this canal?" asked Astro, gazing out over
the cool blue water.
"Doubt it. At least I've never heard of there being any," replied Tom.
"Well," said Roger, standing up, "you can go a lot farther without food
than you can without water. And we still have that big container of ham
left."
"Yeah, as soon as it gets hot, we just swim instead of walk," said
Astro. "And, believe me, there's going to be a lot of swimming done!"
"Think we might strike anything down that way," asked Roger. He looked
down the canal in the direction Tom had indicated.
"That's the direction of the nearest atmosphere booster station. At
least that was the way it looked on the chart. All of them were built
near the canals."
"How far away do you think it is?" asked Astro.
"Must be at least three hundred miles."
"Let's start moving," said Roger, "and hope we can find something
that'll float us on the canal."
Single file, wearing the space cloths once more as protection against
the sun, they walked along the bank of the canal. When the heat became
unbearable, they dipped the squares of space cloths into the water and
wrapped themselves in them.
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