eld up a hand to stem the tide. "Hold
it, hold it," he said. "These are special weapons, and, after all, we've
got to keep those crowds together long enough to bore them to the point
where they go home."

Abe came up with an armful of what looked something like tent-poles.
"The quarterstaffs, eh, Homer?"

"Um-m-m," Crawford said. "Under the circumstances."

"Quarterstaffs?" Cliff Jackson ejaculated.

Abe grinned at him. "Man, just call them pilgrim's staffs. The least
obnoxious looking weapon in the world." He looked at Cliff and Jake.
"You two cats been checked out on quarterstaffs?"

Jake said, "The more I talk to you people, the less I seem to understand
what's going on. Aren't quarterstaffs what, well, Robin Hood and his
Merry Men used to fight with?"

"That's right," Homer said. He took one from Abe and grasping it
expertly with two hands whirled it about, getting its balance. Then
suddenly, he drooped, leaning on it as a staff. His face expressed
weariness. His youth and virility seemed to drop away and suddenly he
was an aged religious pilgrim as seen throughout the Moslem world.

"I'll be damned," Cliff blurted. "Oop, sorry Isobel."

"I'll be damned, too," Isobel said. "What in the world can you do with
that, Homer? I was thinking in terms of you mowing those people down
with machine guns or something."

Crawford stood erect again laughingly, and demonstrated. "It's probably
the most efficient handweapon ever devised. The weapon of the British
yeoman. With one of these you can disarm a swordsman in a matter of
seconds. A good man with a quarterstaff can unhorse a knight in armor
and batter him to death, in a minute or so. The only other handweapon
capable of countering it is another quarterstaff. Watch this, with the
favorable two-hand leverage the ends of the staff can be made to move at
invisibly high speeds."

Bey and Kenny drove up in an aged wheeled truck and Abe and Elmer began
loading equipment.

Crawford looked at Bey who said apologetically, "I had to liberate it.
Didn't have time for all the dickering the guy wanted to go through."

Crawford grunted and looked at Isobel. "Those European clothes won't do.
We've got some spare things along. You can improvise. Men and women's
clothes don't differ that much around here."

"I'll make out all right," Isobel said. "I can change in the plane."

"Hey, Isobel," Abe called out. "Why not dress up like one of these Dogon
babes?"

"Some chance," I