gunsmith, and Mordecai Ricci, the miller, to inspect the gunshop
and the grist mill. They were later joined by a half dozen more
of the village craftsmen and so also visited the forge and
foundry, the sawmill and the wagon shop. Altamont additionally
looked at the flume, a rough structure of logs lined with sheet
aluminum; and at the nitriary, a shed-roofed pit in which
potassium nitrate was extracted from the community's animal
refuse.

But he reversed matters when it came to visiting the powder mill
on the island: he became the host and took them by helicopter to
the island and then for a trip up the river.

The guests were a badly-scared lot, for the first few minutes, as
they watched the ground receding under them through the
transparent plastic nose. Then, when nothing serious seemed to be
happening, exhilaration took the place of fear. By the time they
set down on the tip of the island, the eight men were confirmed
aviation enthusiasts.

The trip up-river was an even bigger success, the high point
coming when Altamont set his controls for Hover, pointed out a
snarl of driftwood in the stream, and allowed his passengers to
fire one of the machine-guns at it.

The lead balls of their own black-powder rifles would have
plunked into the water-logged wood without visible effect. The
copper-jacketed machine-gun bullets ripped it to splinters.

They returned for a final visit to the distillery awed by what
they had seen.

VI

"Monty, I don't know what the devil to make of this crowd,"
Loudons said, that evening, after the feast, when they had
entered the helicopter and were preparing to retire.

"We've run into some weird communities--that lot down in New
Mexico who live in the church and claim that they have a divine
mission to redeem the world by prayer, fasting, and flagellation.

"Or those yogis in Los Angeles--"

"Or the Blackout Boys in Detroit!" Altamont interrupted. He had
good reason to remember them.

"That's understandable," Loudons said, "after what their
ancestors went through in the last war. And so are the others, in
their own way.

"But this crowd here!" Loudons put down his cigar and began
chewing on his mustache, a sure sign that he was more than
puzzled: he was a very worried man.

Altamont respected his partner's abilities in this area. However,
he also knew that the best way to get his friend to work any
problem was to have him do it in conversation.

"What has you stop