ot
return to fly its circling mission over the scene of operations. All
they had was Menlik's assurance that while any party of the Red
overlords was away from their well-defended base, the flyer did just
that.

"Might be relaying messages on from a walkie-talkie or something like
that," Buck commented.

"They should reach our ship in two days ... three at the most ... if
they are pushing," Travis said thoughtfully. "It would be a help--if
that flyer is a link in any com unit--to destroy it before its crew
picks up and relays any report of what happens back there."

Jil-Lee grunted. He was surveying the heights above the pocket in which
Menlik and two of the Mongols were piling brush. "There ... there ...
and there...." The Apache's chin made three juts. "If the pilot swoops
for a quick look, our cross fire will take out his blades."

They held a last conference with Menlik and then climbed to the perches
Jil-Lee had selected. Sentries on lookout reported by mirror flash that
Tsoay, Deklay, Lupe, and Nolan were now on the move to join the other
three Apaches. If and when Manulito's trap closed its jaws on the Reds
at the western ship, the news would pass and the Apaches would move out
to storm the enemy fort on the prairie. And should they blast any caller
the helicopter might carry, Menlik and his riders would accompany them.

There it was, just as Menlik had foretold: The wasp from the open
country was flying into the hills. Menlik, on his knees, struck flint to
steel, sparking the fire they hoped would draw the pilot to a closer
investigation.

The brush caught, and smoke, thick and white, came first in separate
puffs and then gathered into a murky pillar to form a signal no one
could overlook. In Travis' hands the grip of the gun was slippery. He
rested the end of the barrel on the rock, curbing his rising tension as
best he could.

To escape any caller on the flyer, the Tatars had remained in the valley
below the Apaches' lookout. And as the helicopter circled in, Travis
sighted two men in its cockpit, one wearing a helmet identical to the
one they had seen on the Red hunter days ago. The Reds' long undisputed
sway over the Mongol forces would make them overconfident. Travis
thought that even if they sighted one of the waiting Apaches, they would
not take warning until too late.

Menlik's bush fire was performing well and the flyer was heading
straight for it. The machine buzzed the smoke once, too high f