unded to guard them.... Mr. Keaveney, you'll
begin setting up something in the way of an ARP-organization. You'll
have to get along on what nobody else wants. You will also consult
with Colonel Jarman, and with Colonel Wallingsby. Better get started
on it now. Just think of everything around here that could go wrong in
case of an air attack, and try to do something about it in advance."

VIII

At 0245, an attack developed on the north-western corner of the
Reservation, in the direction of the explosives magazines. It turned
out to be relatively trivial. Remnants of the mob that had been broken
up by air attack on the road had gotten together and were making
rushes in small bands, keeping well spread out. Beating them off took
considerable ammunition, but it was accomplished with negligible
casualties to the defenders. They finally stopped coming around
daylight.

In the meantime, Themistocles M'zangwe called from Konkrook. "About
six hundred of Kankad's people have gotten in, already, in the
damnedest collection of vehicles you ever saw," he reported. "Kankad
must be using every scrap of contragravity he has; it's a regular
airborne Dunkirk-in-reverse. Kankad sent word that he's coming here in
person, as soon as he has things organized at his place. And the
geeks, here, have scraped together an air-force of their
own--farm-lorries, aircars, that sort of thing--and they're using them
to bomb us here and at the mainland farm, mostly with nitroglycerine.
We've shot down about twenty of them, but they're still coming. They
tried a boat-attack across the Channel. We've been doing some bombing,
ourselves; we made a down-payment for Eric Blount and Hendrik Lemoyne.
Took a fifty-ton tank off a fuel-lorry, fitted it with a detonator,
filled it with thermoconcentrate, and ferried it over on the Elmoran
and dumped it on the Keegarkan Embassy. It must have landed in the
middle of the central court; in about fifteen seconds, flames were
coming out every window in the place." His face became less jovial.
"We had something pretty bad happen here, too," he said. "That
Konkrook Fencibles rabble of Prince Jaizerd's mutinied, along with the
others; they got into the hospital and butchered everybody in the
place, patients and staff. The Kragans got there too late to save
anybody, but they wiped out the Fencibles. Jaizerd himself was the
only one they took alive, and he didn't stay that way very long."

"How are you making out