w. Suddenly he was running furiously and with all
his strength. He turned down Main Street and headed south. He ran until
he caught sight of the first nomad he had seen since the events in the
Mayor's Council chamber.

The enemy had stopped his horse, rearing high, while he hurled some kind
of incendiary through the window of a house. It exploded inside and
billows of flame and smoke poured out. A heart-tight pain gripped Ken.
He looked wildly about and saw a fragment of brick lying beside a
demolished house nearby.

He snatched up the missile and wound up as if pitching one straight over
the corner of the plate. The horseman saw the motion of his arm and
tried to whirl, but he was too late. The brickbat caught him at the side
of the head and he dropped to the snow without a sound. Ken ran forward
and caught up the nomad's rifle and ammunition belt. The horse had fled
in panic.

Without a backward glance Ken raced on down the street toward the
dwindling sound of battle. The invaders were retreating, streaming from
all directions toward the break in the barrier, firing steadily as they
came. The defenders were trying to block the escape.

Ken dropped behind a barricade next to an older man he didn't know. He
searched for an opening and waited for a rider to cross his sights; then
he squeezed the trigger and the man fell. When he looked up again the
last of the invaders were gone. Only half of those who had come up to
the attack were leaving it.

The men around Ken slowly relaxed their terrible tension. From some
lying prone there were cries of pain. Those who could stand did so and
revealed their drawn faces to one another.

Teams of the medical group began moving again. A horse-drawn wagon was
brought up that had been fitted with boards across the sides so that two
layers of wounded men could be carried at once.

Ken heard sudden hoofbeats behind and turned. Sheriff Johnson rode up
and surveyed the scene. His eye caught Ken's figure standing in the
midst of it, rifle in hand, the captured ammunition belt draped over his
shoulder.

"You!" White anger was on Johnson's face. "You were ordered to stay out
of the frontline!" he thundered. "Any other man would be court-martialed
for such disobedience. Get back where you belong and don't show your
face in this area again. I'll jail you for the rest of the fighting if
you disobey again!"

Half-ashamed, but half only, for his impulsive action, Ken turned and
moved do