hunt for that record," I said, knowing that by the simple
process of talking I could keep the entire command continuously informed
as to the situation. "On the hillsides, keep your guns trained on the
circles and stand by. On the hilltops, how many of you are there? Speak
in rotation from Bald Knob around to the east, north, west."

In turn the men called their names. There were twenty of them.

I assigned them by name to cover the various Han ships, numbering the
latter from left to right.

"Train your rockets on their repellor rays about three-quarters of the
way up, between ships and ground. Aim is more important than elevation.
Follow those rays with your aim continuously. Shoot when I tell you, not
before. Deering has the record. The Hans probably have not seen us, or
at least think there are but two of us in the valley, since they're
settling without opening up disintegrators. Any opinions?"

My ear discs remained silent.

"Deering and I remain here until they land and debark. Stand by and keep
alert."

Rapidly and easily the largest of the Han ships settled to the earth.
Three scouted sharply to the south, rising to a higher level. The others
floated motionless about a thousand feet above.

Peeping through a small fissure between two plates, I saw the vast hulk
of the ship come to rest full on the line of our prospective ring
barrage. A door clanged open a couple of feet from the ground, and one
by one the crew emerged.

CHAPTER VI

The "Wyoming Massacre"

"They're coming out of the ship." I spoke quietly, with my hand over
my mouth, for fear they might hear me. "One--two--three--four,
five--six--seven--eight--nine. That seems to be all. Who knows how
many men a ship like that is likely to carry?"

"About ten, if there are no passengers," replied one of my men, probably
one of those on the hillside.

"How are they armed?" I asked.

"Just knives," came the reply. "They never permit hand-rays on the
ships. Afraid of accidents. Have a ruling against it."

"Leave them to us then," I said, for I had a hastily formed plan in my
mind. "You, on the hillsides, take the ships above. Abandon the ring
target. Divide up in training on those repellor rays. You, on the
hilltops, all train on the repellors of the ships to the south. Shoot at
the word, but not before.

"Wilma, crawl over to your left where you can make a straight leap for
the door in that ship. These men are all walking around the wreck