con finished his ominous
statement, the government geologist strode into the room.

"We're in trouble," he stated. "I'm only a few minutes ahead of
soldiers. I came out of the trail onto the road and saw them just coming
off the dirt road onto the pavement. They shouted for me to stop, but I
wasn't of a mind to tangle with troops. I came as fast as I could."

"Are they coming here?" Hartson Brant asked quickly.

"They're either coming here or marching into Calor. Those are the only
two places the road leads. My guess is that they're marching here."

Rick said swiftly, "Connel got to Guevara! And Guevara is going to make
sure we don't spread the word!"

"Rick is probably right," Zircon snapped. "I suggest we clear out. If
we're captured, we'll be unable to operate at all."

"Grab the supplies and get into the jeeps," Hartson Brant ordered.
"Quickly! Rick, you and Scotty move fast. Get your stuff into the jeep,
then take as much dynamite as you can. Go up the road to where you have
a good view and act as lookouts. Give us as much warning as you can.
We'll take the rest of the dynamite and the equipment in the other
jeeps!"

Rick and Scotty dashed to their room. They threw clothes into their
bags, slammed them shut without bothering to pack neatly, and hurried
out into the parking lot. Rick backed the jeep up to the pump shed while
Scotty ran to the door. To the policeman on duty he explained only that
they were in a great hurry.

The boys took time to load six cases, plus one of the detonators and a
roll of wire, then they got into the jeep and roared off up the road
toward the pumice works.

"We've probably got ten minutes," Scotty estimated. "If they're marching
at a normal pace, it would take them a little less than a half hour to
walk from the pumice works."

Rick drove a half mile up the road to where he had a good view of
several hundred yards and stopped the jeep. "We'll be able to spot them
from here." He turned the jeep around, ready to run as soon as the
troops came in sight. "Where do you suppose the soldiers came from?"

"Probably from a camp near San Souci," Scotty guessed. "Otherwise,
they'd have come up the main road from Calor. There's probably a camp on
the western shore somewhere."

"Wish we had some way of slowing them down," Rick mused. "We need a
mortar or a few military rockets. But all we've got is some dynamite,
and we can't throw that very far."

"Why do we have to throw it?" Scott