, and pull away.

There was a ring of burned white along the ground, a sickening smell in
the air, but the thing was dead.

Russell Clyde grabbed the ladder as it swung toward him, and climbed up.
The soles of his boots were gone and the sides were strings of raw,
half-eaten leather. His legs and knees bore ugly patches of red where
the slime had touched.

"Well done!" called Boulton to Burl from the cabin. "Come on up before
something else comes along!"

Burl grabbed the ladder. He took two steps on the swaying, swinging rope
as the helicopter started to climb and suddenly he felt himself losing
strength. He became dizzy and tried to hold on, but began to lose
consciousness. Dimly he heard Boulton yell at him, "The oxygen, the
other tank, turn it on!"

The second tank was still dangling from his chest.

Fighting for consciousness, Burl twisted the nozzle. There was a hiss
and he felt air blow against him. Miraculously, his senses cleared, and
holding the oxygen tank tight against him, he climbed up the ladder and
into the safety of the helicopter.

Chapter 10. _The Dying Planet_

Russell Clyde was confined to his bunk during the next four days, his
feet wrapped in bandages and ointment. Fortunately the digestive juices
of the Venusian amoeba had only just begun their attack upon the skin
after eating through the footgear. Except for some painful blisters and
rawness, his condition was not serious.

The little stateroom was cramped, containing as it did two bunks, one
above the other, like the cabin of a liner. What with a couple of
built-in lockers for clothes, and a bolted-down chair and a reading
lamp, it was not a place to spend any more time than necessary. The lack
of a window added to the inhospitality of the room. But Burl had
accepted long ago the fact that a spaceship could not yet be considered
a luxury liner. In time, the A-G drive would permit such things, but the
_Magellan_ was an experimental vessel turned by emergency into a
warship.

During those four days, Burl spent most of his time with Russ, getting
to know him better, and talking about the trip. The young astronomer was
not at all chagrined by his misadventure. In fact, the whole experience
had him quite buoyed up.

"What a wonderful place for biologists to study! Venus will be a Mecca
for scientific learning!"

"But not for anything else, I don't think," said Burl. "Anyway, we're in
for another experience now. Mars is our n