Asa didn't fancy waiting.
"By authority of Miss Hazeltyne," he said rapidly, "Dorr is no longer manager. I am acting manager." He saw Harriet's eyebrows go up, for she couldn't hear the other end of what was going on. "Disregard Dorr," he continued. "If you can help us get back, Miss Hazeltyne will make changes to benefit all of us."
Before he could say any more his ear was stricken with the noise of loud static. Dorr was making sure no more radio messages got through. Asa quickly told Harriet what had happened.
The girl smiled with one side of her mouth.
"Fine," she said, "but how am I supposed to cross the muck?"
"On my back," Asa turned and entered the helicopter cabin. All the time he had been talking he had been worrying about the fact that he had only three rockets left for his gun. Quickly he checked the ammunition for the machine-gun, found it was the same caliber, and felt that at last one break had gone his way. He took the plastic ammunition belts outside.
"Load your pockets with these," he told the girl, pulling the rockets from their loops. Then, tying the plastic belts together, he fashioned a sling she could sit in with her legs at his sides. Finally he handed her his gun.
"If you see a Slider," he said, "shoot for the head. Now climb on and hold tight to my gun harness and we'll try our luck."
When she was astride his back Asa checked his compass and started jumping. At once he knew that the going would be much harder than he had imagined. Alone he could leap twenty-five yards, but her weight cut him down to about five yards. He kept going, realizing that the task was almost beyond his strength and not daring to tell her that even if his strength held out they might not even find the settlement in this drizzle.