"Strip the _Argus_ of everything that can be moved and carry it into
the fort. There should be guns in there and ammunition. It housed a
detachment of the world police force, you remember. They used the
obsolete weapons--never resorted to A-bombs unless necessary.
"We've crossed Salt River, but not the Ohio. That means we'd better
destroy the monorail and the tube crossing and the railway bridge.
We can leave the highway bridge up, but we'll have to fortify it
temporarily."
"Then," broke in Captain Bascom, "you think the Amazons will follow?"
Matt nodded. "They could see us come down not too far off." He paused,
pushing his hand through his short black hair. "But we were north of
Salt River. Now we're south of it. They can't know that. Neither can
they know whether we've crossed the Ohio or not. I imagine they'll send
scout cars."
"That bridge"--he pointed to the arches spanning the Salt river--"is
the only one this side of Shepherdsville.
"It should take a couple of hours for their scout cars to reach us. If
we fortify the bridge so that they have to cross at Shepherdsville,
their main body'll have to go over a hundred miles out of their way. We
can count on from eight to ten hours."
"Not too much time!" Isaac muttered.
"No," Matt agreed, "it isn't." He turned to the palaeontologist. "Fetch
the walkie-talkie and the rifles, Nesbit. You and I and Isaac had
better look over the fort.
"Captain Bascom, will you see that everyone starts at once to packing?
I'll leave this end of the moving up to you."
He touched the button beside the port The ladder slowly descended.