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THEY CAME UPON THE downed airplane three days later

Jake pointed it out first at ht about ten rass As they drew closer, they saw a large dark object at the side of the Great Road

"It looks like a dead bird," Roland said "A big one"

"That&039;s no bird," Eddie said "That&039;s an airplane I&039; off the canopy"

An hour later they stood silently at the edge of the road, looking at the ancient wreck Three plu insolently at the newcoe of the road and shied it at thenantly

One wing had broken off in the crash and lay thirty yards away, a shadow like a diving board in the tall grass The rest of the plane was pretty much intact The canopy had cracked in a starburst pattern where the pilot&039;s head had struck it There was a large, rust-colored stain there

Oy trotted over to where three rusty propeller blades rose frorass, sniffed at them, then returned hastily to Jake

Thea padded leather vest and a helone, his teeth exposed in a final desperate gries but were now only skin-covered bones clutched the wheel His skull was caved in where it had hit the canopy, and Roland guessed that the greenish-gray scales which coated the left side of his face were all that remained of his brains The dead man&039;s head was tilted back, as if he had been sure, even at the ain The plane&039;s rerass On it was a fading insignia which depicted a fist holding a thunderbolt

"Looks like Aunt Talitha rong and the old albino ht of it, after all," Susannah said in an awed voice "That must be David Quick, the outlaw prince Look at the size of hiet him into the cockpit!"

Roland nodded The heat and the years had wasted the man in the mechanical bird to no more than a skeleton wrapped in dry hide, but he could still see how broad the shoulders had been, and the misshapen head was massive "So fell Lord Perth," he said, "and the countryside did shake with that thunder"

Jake looked at hily

"It&039;s froiant ent forth to ith a thousand men, but he was still in his own country when a little boy threw a stone at hiht of his armor bore him down, and he broke his neck in the fall"

Jake said, "Like our story of David and Goliath"

"There was no fire," Eddie said "I bet he just ran out of gas and tried a dead-stick landing on the road He ht have been an outlaw and a barbarian, but he had a yard of guts"

Roland nodded, and looked at Jake "You all right with this?"

"Yes If the guy was still, you know, runny, I ht not be" Jake looked from the dead man in the airplane to the city Lud was h they could see many broken win-dows in the towers, he, like Eddie, had not entirely given up hope of finding sos sort of fell apart in the city once he was gone"

"I think you&039;d win that bet," Roland said

"You know soain "The people who built that city ht have made their own airplanes, but I&039;m pretty sure this is one of ours I did a school paper on air conize it Roland, can I take a closer look?"

Roland nodded "I&039;ll go with you"

Together they walked over to the plane with the high grass swishing at their pants "Look," Jake said "See the ? That&039;s an air-cooled German model, and this is a Focke-Wulf from just before World War II I&039; here?"

"Lots of planes disappear," Eddie said "Take the Berle, for instance That&039;s a place over one of our oceans, Roland It&039;s supposed to be jinxed Maybe it&039;s a great big doorway between our worlds - one that&039;s almost always open" Eddie hunched his shoulders and essayed a bad Rod Serling imitation "Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for turbu-lence: you&039;re flying into the Roland Zone !"

Jake and Roland, ere now standing beneath the plane&039;s renored him

"Boostlooks solid, but it&039;s not - this thing has been here a long time, Jake You&039;d fall"

"Make a step, then"

Eddie said, "I&039;ll do it, Roland"

Roland studied his died, then laced his hands together "This&039;ll do He&039;s light"

Jake shook off his htly into the stirrup Roland had h whether in excitement or alarm, Roland couldn&039;t tell

Jake&039;s chest was now pressing against one of the airplane&039;s rusty flaps, and he was looking right at the fist-and-thunderbolt design It had peeled up a little froe He seized this flap and pulled It ca so easily that he would have fallen backward if Eddie, standing directly behind him, hadn&039;t steadied him with a hand on the butt

"I knew it," Jake said There was another symbol beneath the fist-and-thunderbolt, and noas almost totally revealed It was a swastika "I just wanted to see it You can put ain, but they could see the tail of the plane every tirass like Lord Perth&039;s burial monument

2

IT WAS JAKE&039;S TURN to unslinger&039;s satisfaction, he handed Jake his flint and steel "Let&039;s see how you do"

Eddie and Susannah were sitting off to one side, their arms linked companionably about each other&039;s waist Toward the end of the day, Eddie had found a bright yelloer beside the road and had picked it for her Tonight Susannah earing it in her hair, and every time she looked at Eddie, her lips curved in a sht Roland had noted these things, and they pleased hiood It would have to be deep and strong indeed if it was to survive the months and years ahead

Jake struck a spark, but it flashed inches away fro

"Move your flint in closer," Roland said, "and hold it steady And don&039;t hit it with the steel, Jake; scrape it"

Jake tried again, and this ti There was a little tendril of smoke but no fire

"I don&039;t think I&039;et it Meantiht falls and undressed when day breaks?"