fe, and
that's not worth much at present."

"All right; hold on. We'll be along in a few minutes."

"Loudons is bringing the helicopter," he told the others. "All we have
to do is hold on, here, till he comes."

A naked savage raised his head from behind what might, two hundred
years ago, have been a cement park-bench, a hundred yards away.
Reader Stamford Rawson promptly killed him and began reloading.

"I think you're right, Tenant," he said. "The Scowrers have never
attacked in bands like this before. They must have had a powerful
reason, and I can think of only one."

"That's what I'm beginning to think, too," Verner Hughes agreed. "At
least, we have eliminated the third of your possibilities, Tenant. And
I think probably the second, as well."

Altamont wondered what they were double-talking about. There wasn't
any particular mystery about the mass attack of the wild men to him.
Debased as they were, they still possessed speech and the ability to
transmit experiences. No matter how beclouded in superstition, they
still remembered that aircraft dropped bombs, and bombs killed people,
and where people had been killed, they would find fresh meat. They had
seen the helicopter circling about, and had heard the blasting; every
one in the area had been drawn to the scene as soon as Loudons had
gone down the river.

Maybe they had forgotten that aircraft also carried guns. At least,
when they sprang to their feet and started to run at the return of the
helicopter, many did not run far.

* * * * *

Altamont and Loudons shook hands many times in front of the Aitch-Cue
House, and listened to many good wishes, and repeated their promise to
return. Most of the microfilmed books were still stored in the old
church; they were taking away with them only the catalogue and a few
of the more important works. Finally, they entered the helicopter. The
crowd shouted farewell, as they rose.

Altamont, at the controls, waited until they had gained five thousand
feet, then turned on a compass-course for Colony Three.

"I can't wait till we're in radio-range of the Fort, to report this,
Jim," he said. "Of all the wonderful luck! And I don't yet know which
is more important; finding those books, or finding those people. In a
few years, when we can get them supplied with modern equipment and
instructed in its use--"

"I'm not very happy about it, Monty," Loudons confessed. "I keep
thinking about w