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"There!" he called out At first Maria thought it was a strange reaction to being grabbed by a wo off to the right, where a dirt road passed between the trees
The crawler shuddered to an idling stop Thomson asked over his shoulder, "Sir, you think this is it?"
"It’s about right, so far as the et us close, and there will be fewer trees to mon Just take the turn, if we can make it"
"Oh, I can make the turn I’h for a pair of horses"
"Try it and see We’re out of plans, and we’re running out of tiht, and Maria knew it The Baldwin-Felts ht have been hysterical, but that didn’tShe could hear it, too, behind her: a different frequency of huainst her spine The bo-crawler couldn’t be helping ht in a slow, perilous arc, then began its passage between the trees on a road even worse than the one it was leaving
Maria thought it wasn’t possible for the ride to get any rougher, but she’d been wrong before, and here was another fine example
"Get your head down!" MacGruder ordered her--and perhaps the rest of the ht to e had sharp, low branches Their liainst the crawler and its occupants Maria huddled do, ducking as far as she could behind Tho steady and forced it forward, ever forward, in the lowest gear io any faster?" Sanders shouted
"It can barely go this fast!" Thoainst hiainst some dip that threatened to trap theain!"
So they fought onward, their bones rattling with every turn of the wheels With each foot the weapon behind thenore
"Thatat a pair of structures no bigger than shacks He drew the crawler up close beside them, and let the motor rumble
One of the shacks was barely a roof on tiround The structure beside it had a sign out front that said, CUMBERLAND CAVERNS! ONE CENT PER PERSON! SEE THE WONDER! AT YOUR OWN RISK! SUPPLIES AVAILABLE!
"So visits to the cave?" MacGruder wondered aloud
"It’s not uncommon," Maria informed him "But it’s deserted now," she said aloud, to herself et the back of this thing as close to that hole as you can uidehi instructions and giving whatever guidance he could--and finally the craas positioned with its back deck beneath the overhang, almost immediately above the open hole below
"That’s as close as you’re going to get!" the captain called, and esture that told Thomson to stop the motor
When he did, the crawler fell silent, except for the pops and pings of the engine cooling almost immediately in the bitter air But the forest wasn’t perfectly quiet, even without its raucous growling The crisp afternoon was interrupted by the slow hiss, sizzle, and creak of the Maynard boed Frankuo!"
"And I will," MacGruder told them He reached into his boot and pulled out a knife, then leaned into the compartment and cut the ropes that bound Franku to help us shove this goddareed to this iht as well There was no time to run
They climbed out of the rear and rubbed at the sore spots on their wrists as Sanders untied the ropes that held the tarp over the awful device
When he was finished with the knots, he whipped the sheet away, revealing the es, banded with steel and rivets Its nose was fixed with gleale of tubes, coils, and wires Three tanks wereiron fro, the creaking, and other o to split under pressure
It horrified Maria to her very core This object could kill ht A terrific device, indeed, inti its deadly power But compared to what it was capable of … it looked deceptively s that could fit on the back of a crawler should be able to wipe out a city
Franku, until he said what Maria was already wondering "I don’t knoe can lift it, Captain--just us th between us, not even if we had a tea is on a hydraulic lift It was built to carry and duave Tho quieter and smoother, but still wildly loud in the otherwise silent woods With painful slowness, the back corees "We won’t have to pick it up and carry it; we’ll just have to cliive it a push, until it starts to roll"