THE GREETING OF WARRIORS Without delay, everything was put in complete readiness for whatever eventualities might develop.

If these strange people meant peace and wanted it, the Legion would give them peace.

If war, then by no means was the Legion to be unprepared.
The gangplank was put down from the starboard port in the lower gallery.

The helicopters were cut off.

Nothing was left running but one engine, at half-speed, to furnish current for the apparatus the Master had decided to use in dealing with the Jannati Shahr folk in case of need--some of this having been evolved on the run from Mecca.
Four hampers were carried down the gangplank and set on the grass, about fifty feet ahead of _Nissr's_ huge beak, that towered in air over the men like an eagle over sparrows.