164 "As long as you don't go attacking without
telling me!" agreed The Hawk.
165 For several days she worked in secret, then, one afternoon came to
The Hawk. "We're ready," she announced, "but we'll have to show you way
down the beach around the point where the enemy can't see."
166 The Hawk came along. When he arrived The Lady Hawk signaled her
men,
and they began to send up larger·and larger kites into the air. Finally
they hung two bundles on the ropes, lit the rope that held them, and
let them rise skyward. When they were a great distance into the air,
and far over the water, the bundles suddenly fell away, separating, and
bursting aflame. They looked like falling stars as they hit the water.
167 "We've made about twenty of these," explained The Lady Hawk, "and
we're really getting the trick of dropping them where we want them."
168 "It's quite a trick," agreed The Hawk, "but what good will it do?"
169 "Thatched roofs," continued The Lady Hawk. "This is a coastal city.
Almost every roof in it is made of swamp grass thatching, which right
now, is bone dry."
170 "You're wonderful!" cried The Hawk, "You're wonderful! You can try
tonight, but where did you ever get the idea?"
171 Bright Sword looked embarrassed. "It's a Zoan's children's game,"
he admitted, "'Bombardment'. Except instead of using bundles of swamp
grass, you use colored sacks and try to drop them into a target. Who
would have ever thought that it could be used as a weapon? That you
could use small kites to lift bigger ones, until the lift was enough to
carry this much weight? She's ingenious!"
172 That evening they surrounded the city and waited for a strong
enough wind. When it was right