a sudden intuition and said, "brooks is evaenating he's getting rid of his surplus

ammunition so that serrurier can't grab

it"
manning looked at him, startled, and then a big grin broke out on his face as, one
after the other, more explosions came in
measured sequence "By God!" he roared there is going to be a hurricane"
seven
favel said tolerantly, "becouse charles seems pleased does not mean that he does
not realize that gravity of the situation it is
merely that he likes to face reality- -he is no shadow boxer,"
The dining - room of the imperiale was stiftingly hot and Couston wished that the
fans would work favel had promised to
get the city electricity plant working as soon as possible but there was no point
in it now he unstuck his shirt from the
small of his back and looked across at wyatt manning isn't the only happy man round
here, he thought, wyatt has made his point at last
but if wyatt was more relaxed he was not too happy; there was much to do and the
time was slipping away, minute by
minute, while favel airly tossrd off inconsequential comments He shrugged irritably
and looked up as favel
addressed him directly, "what is your advice, Mr Wyatt?"
"Evacuation," said wyatt promptly 'Total evacuation of St pierre"
Manning snorted "we're fighting a war, dammit We can't do tow things at once"
"I'm not to sure," said favel in a low voice " charles, come over here--i want to
show you somethings" He took manning by
the arm and lead him to a table, where hey bent over a map and conversed in a
murmur
Wyatt looked across at couston and thought of what he had said just before this
conference began He had been a shade
cynical about favel and his concern for "my people"
" Naturally he's concerned," causton said "st pierre is the biggest town on the
island Itsther source of power- -that's why
he's here now But the power comes from the people in the city, not from the
buildings, and as a politician, he know that were well"
Wyatt had said that favel seemed to be an idealist, and causton laughed "Nonsense!
he,s a thoroughly practical politician,
and there's precious little idealism in politics Serrurier's not the only killer--
favel has done his share"
Wyattthought of the carnage in the place de la liberation moire and was forced to
agree But he could mot agree that favel
was worse than serrurier ater he had seen them both in action
Favel and Manning came back, and favel said," We are in trouble, Mr wyatt The
American evacuation of cap sarrat has
made my task ten times more difficult--it has released a whole new army of
government troops to assault my right flank"
He smiled "Fortunately, we belive that serrurier has taken command himself and i
know of old that be is a bad general
Rocambeanu on my left flank ia another matter altogether, even though his man are
tired and defeated I tell you--if the
positions of serrurier and rocambeanu were reversed then this war would be over in
twelve hours and I would be a dead
man,"
He shook his head sadly "And in these conditon you want me to evacuate the entire
population of our capital city"
"It must be done," said wyatt stolidly
"indeed i agree," said favel "But how?"
"You'll have to make an armistice you'll have"
Manning threw back his head and laughed " An armistice," he scoffed "Do you think
serrurier will agree to an armistice
bow he knows he can crack us like a nut?"
"He will if he knows there's a hurricane coming"
Favel leaned forward and said intensely, "Serrurier is mad, he does not care about
hurricanes He knows this island does
not have hurricans so you told me yourself in your account of your interview with
him"
"He must believe it now," exclaimed wyatt "How else can he account for the
evacuation of cup sarrat base?"
Favel waved his hand "He will find that easy to rationalize The Americans withdrew
because they feared an assault from
the mighty army of serrurier, the black star of the Antilles The Americans ran away
because they were afraid"
Wyatt looked at him in astonishment and men knew that favel was right Any man who
could banish a hurricane would
automatically reason in that grandiloquent and paranoiac manner He said
unwillingly, "perhaps you're right"
"I am right," said favel decisively "so what must we do now? come, I will show you"
He led wyatt to the map tabl "Here
we have St pierre--and hre we have your line which marks the limit of flooding The
population of St pierre will be
evacuated up the negrito vally, but keeping away from the river While this is being
done the army must contain the
assaults ofserrurier and Rocambeau"
"And that's not going to be too bloody easy, "said manning
"I am going to make it less easy," said favel "I want two thousand troops to
supervise the evacuation that leaves one
thousand to withstand serrurier on the right, and two thousand to contain rocambeau
on the left They'll have all the
"Juhio, have a heart," yelled manning "It can't be done that way We haven't the man
to spare If you don't have enough
infantry to protect the guns they'll be overrun you can't do it"
"It must be done,"said favel "there is not much time to move a whole population, we
will need the man to get the people
from their homes, by force if necessary"He looked at his watch "It is now nine-
thirty In ten hours from now i do not want
a single living being left in the city apart from the army You will be in change of
the evacuation, charles Be ruthless If
they won't move, prod them with bayonets, if that fails, then shoot a few to
encourage the others But get them out"
Wyatt listened to pavel's flat voice and, for the first time, knew the truth of
what Causton had implied This was a man
who used power like a weapon, who had the politician's view of people as mass and
not as individuals Pergaps it was
cure thw whole he would destroy the part
"So we get them out," said manning "then what?"
Favel gestured at the map, and said softly, "Then we let serrurier and Rocambeau
have St pierre for the first time in
history men will use a hurricane as a weapon of war "
Wyatt drew in his breath, shocked to the core of his being
He stepped forward and said in a cracked voice, "You can't do that"
"can't |?" Favel swung on him "I've been trying to kill those men with steel, and
if i had my way i would kill every one of
them and they want to kill me and my men Why shouldn't| let the hurricane have
them? God knows how many of my