es, was running in from the ruins of the
old Carnegie Tech buildings, and Birdy Edwards sped up the main
road from Schenley Park. Once, twice, as he ran, Murray Hughes
paused, turned, and fired behind him.

Then his pursuers came into sight!

They ran erect, they wore a few rags of skin garments, and they
carried spears and hatchets and clubs, so they were probably
classifiable as men. But their hair was long and unkempt, and
their bodies were almost black with dirt and from the sun. A few
of them were yelling, but most of them ran silently. They ran
more swiftly than the boy they were pursuing: the distance
between them narrowed every moment. There were at least fifty of
them.

Verner Hughes' rifle barked, one of them dropped. As cooly as
though he were shooting squirrels instead of his son's pursuers,
he dropped the butt of the rifle to the ground, poured a charge
of powder, patched a ball and rammed it home, replaced the
ramrod. Tenant Jones fired then, and Birdy Edwards joined them,
beginning to shoot with the telescope-sighted rifle.

The young man who had been north of the Cathedral of Learning had
one of the auto-carbines; luckily, Altamont had providently set
the control for semi-auto before giving it to him. He dropped to
one knee and began to empty the clip, shooting slowly and
deliberately, picking off the runners who were in the lead.

The boy who had started to climb down off the Library halted,
fired his flintlock, and began reloading it.

Altamont, sitting down and propping his elbows on his knees, took
both hands to the automatic which was his only weapon, emptying
the magazine and replacing it. The last three savages he shot in
the back: they had had enough and were running for their lives.

So far, everybody was safe. The boy in the Library came down
through a place where the wall had fallen. Murray Hughes stopped
running and came slowly toward the bunker, putting a fresh clip
into his rifle. The others came drifting in.

* * * * *

"Altamont, calling Loudons," the scientist from Fort Ridgeway was
saying into the radio. "Monty to Jim: can you hear me?"

Silence.

"We'd better get ready for another attack," Birdy Edwards said.
"There's another gang coming from down that way. I never saw so
many Scowrers!"

"Maybe there's a reason, Birdy," Tenant Jones said. "The Enemy is
after big game, this time."

"Jim, where the devil are you?" Altamont fairly yelled