High Citadel / Landslide by Desmond Bagley Page A

his watch. It had been an hour and twenty minutes—and they had nine bullets left.
    Forester said, ‘That’s one good thing—we’re safe here. Their rifles won’t shoot round corners. Make your point, Doctor Armstrong.’
    ‘I was thinking of something more on the lines of a prodd or crossbow,’ said Armstrong. ‘Anyone who can use a rifle can use a crossbow and it has an effective range of over a hundred yards.’ He smiled at O’Hara. ‘You can shoot it lying down, too.’
    O’Hara’s mind jumped at it. They could cover the bridge and also the road on the other side where it turned north and followed the edge of the gorge and where the enemy trucks were. He said, ‘Does it have any penetrative power?’
    ‘A bolt will go through mail if it hits squarely,’ said Armstrong.
    ‘What about a petrol tank?’
    ‘Oh, it would penetrate a petrol tank quite easily.’
    ‘Now, take it easy,’ said Forester. ‘How in hell can we make a crossbow?’
    ‘You must understand that I’m merely a theoretician where this is concerned,’ explained Armstrong. ‘I’m nomechanic or engineer. But I described what I want to Willis and he thinks we can make it.’
    ‘Armstrong and I were rooting round up at the camp,’ said Willis. ‘One of the huts had been a workshop and there was a lot of junk lying about—you know, the usual bits and pieces that you find in a metal-working shop. I reckon they didn’t think it worthwhile carting the stuff away when they abandoned the place. There are some flat springs and odd bits of metal rod; and there’s some of that concrete reinforcing steel that we can cut up to make arrows.’
    ‘Bolts,’ Armstrong corrected mildly. ‘Or quarrels, if you prefer. I thought first of making a prodd, you know; that’s a type of crossbow which fires bullets, but Willis has convinced me that we can manufacture bolts more easily.’
    ‘What about tools?’ asked O’Hara. ‘Have you anything that will cut metal?’
    ‘There are some old hacksaw blades,’ Willis said. ‘And I saw a couple of worn-out files. And there’s a hand-powered grindstone that looks as though it came out of the Ark. I’ll make out; I’m good with my hands and I can adapt Armstrong’s designs with the material available.’
    O’Hara looked at Forester, who said slowly, ‘A weapon accurate to a hundred yards built out of junk seems too good to be true. Are you certain about this, Doctor Armstrong?’
    ‘Oh, yes,’ said Armstrong cheerfully. ‘The crossbow has killed thousands of men in its time—I see no reason why it shouldn’t kill a few more. And Willis seems to think he can make it.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve drawn the blueprints there.’ He pointed to a few lines scratched in the dust.
    ‘If we’re going to do this, we’d better do it quickly,’ said O’Hara.
    ‘Right.’ Forester looked up at the sun. ‘You’ve got time to make it up to the camp by nightfall. It’s uphill, but you’ll betravelling light. You go too, Peabody; Willis can use another pair of hands.’
    Peabody nodded quickly. He had no taste for staying too near the bridge.
    ‘One moment,’ said Aguillar, speaking for the first time. ‘The bridge is made of rope and wood—very combustible materials. Have you considered the use of fire? Señor O’Hara gave me the idea when he spoke of petrol tanks.’
    ‘Um,’ said O’Hara. ‘But how to get the fire to the bridge?’
    ‘Everyone think of that,’ said Forester. ‘Now let’s get things moving.’
    Armstrong, Willis and Peabody left immediately on the long trudge up to the camp. Forester said, ‘I didn’t know what to make of Willis—he’s not very forthcoming—but I’ve got him tagged now. He’s the practical type; give him something to do and he’ll get it done, come hell or high water. He’ll do.’
    Aguillar smiled. ‘Armstrong is surprising, too.’
    ‘My God!’ said Forester. ‘Crossbows in this day and age!’
    O’Hara said, ‘We’ve got to think