d walk toward him. When they were
within twenty feet of one another, the soldier stopped and saluted.

"Major General Pitt requests a meeting with you, sir," the soldier said,
trembling and trying hard not to.

"Do not be frightened," George said. "I see you intend me no harm."

The soldier reddened. "Will you accompany me?"

"Certainly."

The two turned toward the east and started to walk.

* * * * *

Five miles east of Brentwood lies a small community named Minerva.
Population: 200. The highway from Brentwood to Chicago cuts the town in
two. In the center of town, on the north side of the road, stands a new
building--the Minerva Town Hall--built the year before with money raised
by the residents. It was the largest and most elaborate building in
Minerva, which had been evacuated three days before.

On this morning the town hall was occupied by army men. Maj. Gen. Pitt
fretted and fumed at the four officers and twenty enlisted men waiting
in the building.

"It's an indignity!" he railed at the men who were forced to listen to
him. "We have orders to talk appeasement with him! Nuts! We lose a few
men, a few planes and now we're ready to meet George halfway. What's
this country coming to? There ought to be something that would knock him
out. Why should we have to send in _after_ him? It's disgusting!"

The major general, a large man with a bristling white mustache and a red
face, stamped back and forth in the council room. Some of the officers
and men smiled to themselves. The general was a well known fighting man.
Orders he had received hamstrung him and, as soldiers, they sympathized
with him.

"What kind of men do we have in the higher echelons?" He asked everybody
in general and nobody in particular. "They won't even let us have a
field telephone. We're supposed to make a report by radio. Now isn't
that smart?" He shook his head, looked the men over. "An appeasement
team, that's what you are, when you ought to be a combat team to lick
hell out of George.

"Why were you all assigned to this particular duty? I never saw any of
you before and I understand you're all strangers to each other, too.
Hell, what will they do next? Appeasement. I never appeased anybody
before in my whole life. I'd rather spit in his eye. What am I supposed
to talk about? The weather? What authority do I have to yak with a
walking collection of nuts and bolts!"

An officer strode into the room and