people had survived.
146 Mountain Glory drove up to him and leaped out of her field car.
"We've got one!" she cried, "something went wrong with it, and it
landed on the mud flats by the river. I've already seen it! It's a
machine, there's no pilot! The engine has no propellers. Its the
damnedest thing I've ever seen! I'm going to get the bomb out of it,
then take the rest of it to the factory for study. That damned engine
is fascinating! I've got to figure out how it works!"
147 Gray Boar boarded a plane and flew south. The enemy seemed to be bypassing the cities and major villages. Leaving
enough troops to pin down their defenders, he pushed steadily north.
Already he was passing Southern. The people were barely getting out of
the way in time.
148 Gray Boar realized what the enemy was doing. He was
heading north in the easiest route for his armor. He probably planned
to take Northern, finish off the cities to the east of the lake, then
move down the west side and clean out all resistance there. He would
cut the Republic in half. Then, he could move east or west at his
leisure, or even south, and finish off Mu.
149 There was a natural defense line half way between Southern and
Eastern. It had been a point of defense many times. Now, it would be
again. By train, by plane, even by ship everything they could gather
was rushed to Eastern.
150 Soon, a line of tanks, artillery and men stretched from the
foothills to the shore of the lake. If they did not stop the enemy
here, there was little chance they could stop them at all. They would
use every trick they knew. Already men were hiding far south of the line.
They would let the enemy pass them and when the battle began, attack
his rear.
151 In the airfields, small private planes had