it it from the candle; the others
filled and lighted pipes. The Toon Leader reprimed his pistol,
then holstered it, took off his belt and laid it aside, an
example the others followed.

They drank ceremoniously, and then seated themselves at the
table. As they did, two more men entered the room. They were
introduced as Alexander Barrett, the gunsmith and Stanley
Markovitch, the distiller.

The Toon Leader began by asking, "You come, then, from the west?"

"Are you from Utah?" the gunsmith interrupted, suspiciously.

"Why, no, we're from Arizona. A place called Fort Ridgeway,"
Loudons said.

The others nodded, in the manner of people who wish to conceal
ignorance. It was obvious that none of them had ever heard of
Fort Ridgeway, or Arizona either.

"You say you come from a fort? Then the wars aren't over yet?"
Sarge Hughes asked.

"The wars have been over for a long time. You know how terrible
they were. You know how few in all the countries were left
alive," Loudons said.

"None that we know of, beside ourselves and the Scowrers, until
you came," the Toon Leader said.

"We have found only a few small groups, in the whole country, who
have managed to save anything of the Old Times. Most of them
lived in little villages and cultivated land. A few had horses or
cows. None, that we have ever found before, made guns and powder
for themselves. But they remembered that they were men, and did
not eat one another.

"Whenever we find a group of people like this, we try to persuade
them to let us help them."

"Why?" the Toon Leader asked. "Why do you do this for people that
you have never met before? What do you want from them--from
us--in return for your help?"

He was speaking to Altamont, rather than to Loudons. It seemed
obvious that he believed Altamont to be the leader and Loudons
the subordinate.

"Because we are trying to bring back the best of the Old Times,"
Altamont told him. "Look, you have had troubles, here. So have
we, many times. Years when the crops didn't ... didn't...." He
looked at Loudons, aware that his partner should be talking now,
and also suddenly aware that Loudons had recognized the situation
and left the leadership up to him....

"... years that the crops failed. Years of storms, or floods.
Troubles with those beast-men in the woods.

"And you were alone, as we were, with no one to help.

"We want to put all men who are still men in touch with one
another, so that they can help