weapon-belts to the girls behind him. He found two of the heavy
big-game rifles, and several bandoliers of ammunition for them. He
tossed out carbines, and boxes of carbine and pistol cartridges. He
found two bomb-bags, each containing six light anti-personnel grenades
and a big demolition-bomb. Glancing, now and then, at the forward
screen, he caught glimpses of blue sky and green-tinted plains below.

"All right!" the pilot yelled. "We're coming in for a landing! A couple
of you stand by to get the hatch open."

There was a jolt, and all sense of movement stopped. A cloud of white
smoke drifted past the screens. The girls got the hatch open; snatching
up weapons and bedding-wrapped bundles they all scrambled up out of the
boat.

There was fire outside. The boat had come down upon a grassy plain; now
the grass was burning from the heat of the jets. One by one, they ran
forward along the top of the rocket-boat, jumping down to the ground
clear of the blaze. Then, with every atom of strength they possessed
they ran away from the doomed boat.

* * * * *

The ground was rough, and the grass high, impeding them. One of the
girls tripped and fell; without pausing, two others pulled her to her
feet, while another snatched up and slung the carbine she had dropped.
Then, ahead, Kalvar Dard saw a deep gully, through which a little stream
trickled.

They huddled together at the bottom of it, waiting, for what seemed like