As soon as Ted reached the ground, he made for the spot where he had seen the supply chutes land. If these were lost, especially the one with the spare air cartridges, Randy and Jill and he could never survive until help came.  
Ted ran down a dusty ravine. His eyes searched clumps of bushes and spiky cactus, and a momentary panic came over him. The chutes were not in sight. Just then he was aware that a strong wind was blowing. The chutes had probably carried farther than he had thought. He searched some more, and his heart quickened with joy when he found the two parachutes within yards of each other, half buried in the sand beyond a big boulder.
 
214
As soon as he had found these, he thought immediately of Randy and Jill. He should have seen them by now. He returned to the spot where he had come down, but they were nowhere around. A new terror crept into his breast. Could the wind have carried them farther up into the forest, possibly into the dangerous part where the brush grew dense as jungle and deadly whip plants thrived? The wind was stronger than ever now, but he ducked into it and renewed his search.
 
He made a thorough examination of the territory all around, but after a half hour’s time he still had not located Jill and Randy. For the sixth time he returned to his original spot where he had left the parachutes of supplies. By now the blood red of approaching sunset was filling the sky, and grotesque shadows were creeping over the ground.
 
215
Ted could not remember when he had felt any more depressed and lonely than he did at this moment. He could imagine all sorts of terrible things happening to his sister and friend. By now, the wind had died down. Thank goodness the blow had not brought on one of those violent dust storms, he thought.
 
Suddenly he heard a noise overhead that quickened hope in him. It had sounded like the drone of a plane! He leaped to his feet from where he had been slumped on the ground and searched the darkening starry sky. Yes, there was a plane! He could hardly believe it when he saw that the number on the wedge-shaped wing was the same as that of the ship from which he had bailed out. That meant that the plane had not crashed after all!
 
As the plane roared overhead, he ran back and forth and waved his hands frantically to get the attention of someone in it. To his dismay the plane kept on going and presently was lost in the approaching twilight.
 
216
He thought the world had ended for him now. Jill and Randy were gone, and hopes of rescue too. But then he heard a crashing of bushes near by. His heart thudded against his ribs in fear. He was remembering that wild animals inhabited this district, and he was totally unarmed.
 
Then he heard his name called. A moment later Randy and Jill came running up! He was never so glad to see two people in his life as he was then.
 
“What happened to you?” he asked them.
 
“The wind carried us down into the forest a little way,” Jill answered. “Oh, Ted, I was scared to death! Those whip plants throw out arms like an octopus at anything that comes near them! I almost got caught by one!”
 
Ted showed them the chutes that held spare air cartridges and food. Unfortunately, Mr. Garland had thrown out only a few supply chutes, not all of them.
 
They had never eaten with space helmets on, but they had learned about the tiny air-lock opening in the facepiece of the helmet that made this possible.
 
“These will last us through the night,” Ted said. “I don’t know what we’ll do after that. A search party probably won’t get here that quick.”
 
217
Just then Jill heard the plane returning. Ted hurriedly explained that this was the one they had been on and that it had not crashed after all. He said that all three of them should run back and forth and wave like everything to try to attract their attention this time.
 
Ted thought that the plane had missed them again, but then he saw it bank and head back toward them. The ship circled overhead for several minutes, and the children saw a parachute drop out. They followed the chute to the ground with their eyes and ran over to it.
 
“Here’s a note,” Ted said, untying an envelope from the chute. He opened it. “It says: ‘Open the long case and you will find a walkie-talkie radio in it. Turn it on, and we’ll speak with you.’”
 
They did this. Then Ted spoke into the mike, “Can you hear me?”
 
218
“Yes,” came Mr. Garland’s voice. “We had just about given up hope of sighting you. The ship went out of control just after you three jumped. But the fire in the engine burned out soon after, and the pilot regained control. We should be able to get back to Lowell Harbor all right, even though we’re crippled. Are you three hurt?”
 
“No, sir, just scared,” Ted answered.
 
“We’ll send you down all the rest of our air cartridges and more food and water,” the teacher went on. “They’ll last you through tomorrow, and by that time a search party should be back in a helicopter. We can’t possibly land, ourselves, because of the terrain and our damaged engine. I’d come down myself to stay with you, but my ankle is broken and I’m afraid I wouldn’t be much help. However, if you want me to....”
 
“I think we’ll be all right,” Ted said bravely, yet feeling an encroaching dread even as he said it.
 ............