kills with such a weapon."
10 For three seasons he worked. Again and again his rockets failed,
some blowing up on the launch racks, some flying for a while then either blowing up, or, going out of
control.
11 But finally time after time, his sleek little rockets climbed
skyward with incredible speed. "Now," he said, "if we can get the
guiding system to work, get them to lock onto the noise and find their
target!"
12 For another two seasons he worked, time after time, his missiles
failed to find the loud speaker broadcasting a recording of a plane's
engines. But then one day they blew the top of the tower off. The next
day they did it again, and a few days later, again. "Now," announced
Gray Boar, "we've got to try it against a real plane!"
13 A few days later an old bomber lumbered towards them, and its pilot
bailed out. As the plane began to twist and turn, guided by the
automatic controls Gray Boar had developed, the missile rose behind it.
14 It struck perfectly behind one of the engines, blowing off the wings
on that side, and the plane tumbled to earth.
15 On the ground the crew cheered, but Gray Boar sat on the hood of a
truck, his chin on his hands. It works beautiful," he remarked "under
perfect conditions. But will it work in the field? Let's make
one-hundred of them and find out."
16 Now, almost on the same day the enemy bombers attacked Rail. It was
almost their traditional opening of the war season. But this year, out in the desert beyond Rail, fifty
rocket launchers waited, mounted on their trucks. The telephone line
running from the listening posts ended at the command truck and other
lines went out to each launcher.
17 For two days they waited, but on the third