ng behind the main line to try to surround the enemy. That
was the strategy of the defense, and the gamble on which their entire
fate hung.

If they succeeded they would have the breach closed, leaving no retreat
for the surrounded invader.

The comet slowly appeared, illuminating the scene of battle as if it lay
upon some other planet. The day was clear so far, but a band of stratus
hung low over the western hills. It would probably be snowing by
nightfall, Ken thought.

Through the glasses he recognized the leader of a small patrol that was
moving east on 18th Avenue. It was Tom Wiley, the barber. His men were
mostly students from the college. They were trying to gain a house
farther up the block to provide a covering point from which a general
advance of the line on both sides of them could hinge. Tom could not
see that an opposing patrol had him under observation.

He led his men into the open to cross the street. Ken wanted to shout
for him to go back, but it was impossible to be heard at such distance.
The enemy patrol moved out slightly. They centered Tom and his men in a
murderous burst of rifle fire. The barber fell. Two of the others were
hit, but they managed to reach cover with the rest of their companions.

The body of Tom Wiley lay motionless where it fell in the snow-covered
street. Ken could see the sign, just a block away, that read, "Wiley's
Barber and Beauty Shop." From where Ken stood, the sign, which jutted
out over the sidewalk, seemed to project just above the body of the
fallen barber.

Ken hesitated in his resolve to go down there in the midst of the
fighting. He thought of Johnson's words and Hilliard's orders. Would the
defense strategy succeed? The nomads were trained and toughened by their
weeks of fight for survival, but Mayfield's men were only weakened by
their strained effort to keep the town alive.

On the eastern side of the encirclement a burst of smoke with a core of
orange flame at its center spurted upward from a house. This was
followed by a second and a third and a fourth. Defending fighters ran
from the rear of the burning houses to the row beyond. Behind the screen
of billowing smoke the nomads crept forward to repeat their tactics and
fire the houses where the defenders now had cover. It was obvious they
recognized the danger of encirclement by forces stronger than any they
had anticipated. They were making a desperate effort to straighten their
lines parallel to the b