"Let's check the crater," Scotty suggested. He drew his flashlight, then inched forward across the rubble of the rim. Rick stayed beside him. "Any danger of the beam being seen?" Scotty asked softly. "No. The angle is wrong. If you keep it directed toward the crater, it will be invisible from the sea." Rick watched as Scotty switched the light on. The pencil of light swept downward, and finally lost itself in nothingness. The two boys stared at each other. "The whole island's hollow!" Rick breathed. "I'll say this thing has a crater!" "Plenty deep," Scotty agreed. "Well, that tears it. Nothing to do but go around. You lead the way." Rick felt his way down until at last he was standing on the shoulder of the ancient volcano just below the final sweep upward to the crest. In a moment Scotty joined him. Slowly and carefully they started the long journey around, taking the southern slope as previously agreed. It was hard going. In spots the lava was crumbly and gave under foot or hand. In others it was dense as steel slag. When Rick estimated that over half the distance around the volcano had been covered he called Zircon and reported, then told the big scientist it would be their last contact for a while. Within a hundred feet the lights of the village came in sight far below. The boys paused to survey the situation, and to examine the western part of the island. Most of it was visible from their vantage point. Only the cove where the vintas were kept and the section of village closest to the cliff were out of sight. Rick could see the beach clearly, and wondered if the guards were looking their way. "Go carefully," Scotty whispered. "This is no time to start a landslide." "Good advice," Rick whispered back. "But which way do we go now?" "The slope to the left looks pretty good," Scotty answered softly. "We can cut back when we get down a little." At the bottom of the slope, they found another drift that angled away toward the north. By the time they reached the bottom of it, Rick whispered that they must be directly above the cave. He could see the lighter path of the street that ran from below the shelf toward the western end of the island. Now all that remained was to make their way down to within reach of the scientists. They moved with extreme caution, fearful that the slightest noise would give them away, or that a wrong step would start a rockslide. It was painful work, going down backward most of the way. Once they reached what seemed to be a dead end, and lay on their stomachs surveying a sheer wall nearly twelve feet high. Rick solved the problem by finding a lava boulder big enough and stable enough to serve as a rope anchor. They took an extra length of line Scotty carried and made it fast, then went down the rope hand over hand.