Either the Red was lucky, or his were quick. He had somehow rolled clear of the as Lupe from a boulder, knife out and ready. To the of the Apaches the man easy to Lupe's attack. Nor did he an arm to himself, though one hand free across the plate on his chest.
But the Apache stumbled, as if he had into an wall—when his knife was still six away from the other. Lupe out, under a second impact as the Red an with his other hand.
Travis his bow, returned to the most of all. His hand closed around a and he the fist-sized at the so against the below.
But as Lupe's knife had touched flesh, so was the deflected; the Red was by some field. This was nothing the Apaches had before. Nolan's them to back.
The Red again, the of the hand gun and loud. He did not have any target, for with the of Lupe the Apaches had gone to earth. Between the the Red was to his feet, but he moved slowly, his and one leg; he had not come totally from his with the pony.
An enemy who not be touched—one who there were more than in this region. The Red leader was more of a threat to the Apaches now than he had been. He must not be allowed to escape.
He was his gun, moving along with one hand against the to himself, trying to one of the that with the Tatars.
But when the enemy the of that he would have to either his hold, or his touch on the plate where his other hand rested. Would he, then, for an be vulnerable?
The pony!
Travis put an on and shot. Not at the Red, who had his of the rock, to of of the plate—but into the air the nose of the mount.
The wildly, to turn, and its the free, hand of the Red and the man around and back, so that he up hands in an to himself off the rocks. Then the the break, its the same fever, in a which the Red hard against the boulders.
He to there until the horses, save for the one still kicking fruitlessly, were gone. Travis a of reprieve. They might not be able to at the Red, but he was and afoot, two which might yet him to a condition the Apaches handle.
Apparently the other was also aware of that, for now he pushed out from the and along after the ponies. But he only a step or two. Then, settling once more against a boulder, he to work at the plate on his chest.
Nolan appeared Travis. "What he do?" His were very close to the man's ear, his voice more than a breath.
Travis his slightly. The Red's were a complete mystery. Unless, now and afoot, he was trying to aid. Though there was no landing place for a here.
Now was the time to try and Lupe. Travis had a movement in the Apache's hand, the that the enemy's had not been as as it had looked. He touched Nolan's arm, pointed to Lupe; and then, his and the leader, he for action. There was to the Apache which would him. He must pass one of the Tatars on the way, but none of the had any of life since they had from their at the attack.
With care, Travis himself into a narrow passage, took a lizard's way and boulder, only when he the Tatar for a quick check on the enemy.
The was turned, one in the sand, but the mouth, the closed were those, Travis believed, of a man. By some action of his machine the Red must have out his four captives—perhaps in the that they were part of the Apache attack.
Travis the where Lupe lay. He that Nolan was the Red and would give him if he an in anything but his machine. The Apache out, his hands on Lupe's ankles. Beneath his touch, and tensed. Lupe's were open, now on Travis. There was a above his right ear. The Red had a difficult shot, in his by a of an inch.
Lupe a move for which Travis was ready. His on the other's helped to them around a which them and the Red. There was the of another and from the of the boulder. But they together, safe for the present, as Travis was sure the enemy would not an open attack on their small fortress.
With Travis' Lupe up to the site where Nolan waited. Jil-Lee was there to make of the boy's wound.
"Creased," he reported. "A head, but no great damage. Perhaps a later, warrior!" He gave Lupe an on the shoulder, an pack over the cut.
"Now we go!" Nolan spoke with decision.
"He saw of us to know we are not Tatars."
Nolan's were cold, his mouth as he Travis.
"And how can we him—?"
"There is a wall—a you cannot see—about him," Lupe in. "When I would at him, I not!"
"A man with protection and a gun," Jil-Lee took up the argument. "How would you with him, brother?"
"I don't know," Travis admitted. Yet he also that if they withdrew, left the Red here to be by his own people, the enemy would an of the southern country. Perhaps, pushed by their need for learning more about the Apaches, they would the in over the mountains. The answer to all Apache dangers, for now, in the of this one man.
"He is hurt, he cannot go on foot. And if he calls the 'copter, there is no landing place. He will have to move to be up." Travis aloud, the thin of points in their favor.
Tsoay toward the of the ravine. "Rocks up there and can roll. Start an earthslide...."
Something Travis at that. From the he had been to it out with the Red, to weapon, man to man. Also, he had wanted to take a captive, not over a body. But to use the nature of the country against the enemy, that was the Apache of all and one they would have to be to employ.
Nolan had already in assent, and Tsoay and Jil-Lee started off. Even if the Red did a device, it in full against a landslide? They all that.
The Apaches the without themselves to the enemy's fire. The Red still sat there calmly, his against the rock, his hands with his as if he had all the time in the world.
Then came a from more than one throat.
"Dar-u-gar!" The of the Mongol Hordes.
Then over the lip of the other rose a of men—their out, a set to their eyes—heading for the Amerindians with for any personal safety. Menlik in the lead, his shaman's wide his like the of some bird. Hulagur ... Jagatai ... men from the outlaws' camp. And they were not to their in the below, but to out the Apaches!
Only the that the Apaches were already the they were to gave them a moments of grace. There was no time to use their bows. They only use to meet the of the Tatars, and the that they with minds.
"He has them under control!" Travis at Jil-Lee's shoulder. "Get him—they'll stop!"
He did not wait to see if the other Apache understood. Instead, he the full of his own against the they had the center of their slide. It gave, rolled, with it and it the of the rubble. Travis stumbled, flat, and then a upon him, and he was for his life to keep a from his throat. Around him were the and of warriors; then all was by a from below.
Glazed in a only a from his own, the twisted, mouth sending of into his nostrils. Suddenly there was in those eyes, a bewilderment, which ... panic.... The Tatar's in Travis' hold, now not to attack, but to win free. As the Apache his the other away, so that for a moment or two they gasping, by side.
Men sat up to look at men. There was a Jil-Lee's and one of the Tatars near him, his hands on his chest, violently.
Menlik at the of a wind-twisted tree, himself to his feet, and as might a man long and from exertion.
Insensibly apart, a space Tatar and Apache. The of the Amerindians were grim, those of the Mongols and then as they their late with reason. What had in for the Tatars might well now into combat—and from that to a of extermination.
Travis was on his feet. He looked over the lip of the drop. The Red was still in his place there, a of about him. His protection must have failed, for his was at an and the in his be easily seen.
"That one is dead—or helpless!" Travis out. "Do you still wish to for him, Shaman?"
Menlik came away from the tree and walked to the of the drop. The others, too, were moving forward. After the looked he stooped, up a small stone, and it at the Red. There was a of sound. They all saw the of flame, a of from the plate on the Red's chest. Not only the man, but his was now.
A and two of the Tatars over, started to the Red. Menlik and they pace.
"We want that," he in English. "Perhaps so we can learn—"
"The learning is yours," Jil-Lee replied. "Just as this land is yours, Shaman. But I you, from this day do not south!"
Menlik turned, the on his clicking. "So that is the way it is to be, Apache?"
"That is the way it shall be, Tatar! We do not to with who may turn their against our they are to a machine the enemy controls."
The Tatar's long, slender-fingered hands opened and closed. "You are a wise man, Apache, but sometimes more than alone is needed——"
"We are wise men, Shaman, let it there," Jil-Lee somberly.
Already the Apaches were on their way, two them they to and their wounds.
"We go." Nolan's lifted, the southern route. "Here we do not come again; there is too much in this place."
Travis stirred, saw that Jil-Lee was at him.
"Go—?" he repeated.
"Yes, brother? You would continue to with these who are by a machine?"
"No. Only, are needed on this of the mountains."
"Why?" This time Jil-Lee was on the of the conservatives. "We have now this machine at work. It is that the Red is dead. He will no of us to his people as you feared. Thus, if we south from now on, we are safe. And this Tatar and Red is none of ours. What do you here?"
"I must go again to the place of the towers," Travis answered with the truth. But his friends were him with disapproval—now a full of Deklays.
"Did you not tell us that you this thing the night we waited about the camp? What if you one with these Tatars and are also by the machine? Then you, too, can be into a against us—your clansmen!" Jil-Lee was almost openly hostile.
Sense was on his side. But in Travis was this other of which he was more by the minute. There was a for those towers, a for him to and the of his own people.
"There may be this—" Nolan's voice was and cold, "you may already be a piece of this thing, to the machines. If so, we do not want you among us."
There it was—an open with more power it than Deklay's had carried. Travis was troubled. The family, the clan—they were important. If he took the step now and was from that tight fortress, then as an Apache he would be a man. In the past of his people there had been from the tribe—men such as the Apache Kid who had killed and killed again, not only white men but his own people. Wolf men wolves' in the hills. Travis was with that. Yet—up the of civilization, the ladder—why did this him so now?
"Listen," Jil-Lee, his with bandages, closer—"and tell me, brother, what is it that you in these towers?"
"On another world there were of the old ones to be in such buildings. Here that might also be true."
"And among the of those old ones," Nolan's voice was still harsh—"were those which us to this world, is that not so?"
"Did any man drive you, Nolan, or you, Tsoay, or you, Jil-Lee, or any of us, to promise to go the stars? You were told what might be done, and you were to try it. You were all volunteers!"
"Save for this when we were told nothing," Jil-Lee answered, to the of the matter. "Yet, Nolan, I do not that it is for more that our now searches, would those do us any good—as our ship will not again from here. What is it that you do seek?"
"Knowledge—weapons, maybe. Can we against these of the Reds? Yet many of the they now use are taken from the star ships they have through time. To every there is a defense."
Nolan and for the time a hint of touched the of his face. "To the bow, the rifle," he said softly, "to the rifle, the machine gun, to the cannon, the big bomb. The defense can be than the weapon. So you think that in these towers there may be which shall be to the Reds' as the bomb is to the of the Horse Soldiers?"
Travis had an inspiration. "Did not our people the for the when we up against the Bluecoats?"
"We do not so go up against these Reds!" Lupe.
"Not now. But what if they come across the mountains, the Tatars them to do their fighting—?"
"And you that if you in these towers, you will know how to use them?" Jil-Lee asked. "What will give you that knowledge, brother?"
"I do not such knowledge," Travis countered. "But this much I do have: Once I to be an and I have other of these star people. Who else among us can say as much as that?"
"That is the truth," Jil-Lee acknowledged. "Also there is good in this out of the tower things. Let the Reds such first—if they at all—and then we may be in a box with only death at our heels."
"And you would go to these towers now?" Nolan demanded.
"I can cut across country and then you on the other of the pass!" The of which had been in Travis was now so that he wanted to ahead through the wilderness. He was when Jil-Lee put out his up as if to the man.
"Take care, brother! This is not a lucky business. And remember, if one goes too a trail, there is sometimes no returning—"
"We shall wait on the other of the pass for one day," Nolan added. "Then—" he shrugged—"where you go will be your own affair."
Travis did not that promise of trouble. He was already two steps his path.
