A figure appeared on the path up ahead. As he came closer the man's face was familiar, but his name eluded Johnny. "Mayor DeReggio!" he called. "I wanted to tell you my wife thinks...." His voice trailed off. He scuffed his feet in the dust of the path and squinted. "Johnny Hope!" he cried. "By the Robots, keep away. I have a wife and children." "I only wanted to see Hamilton once more." "We don't care what you wanted." "He brought a warning," Mayor DeReggio explained. "The Shining Ones are coming." The man held his distance, but spat on the ground in disgust. "Look at him? You heed his warning? Look. He's a Shining One himself. It's some kind of a trick you've fallen for." DeReggio shrugged hopelessly. "You'll have to go, Johnny." Already the man was sprinting back down the path toward Hamilton. "I'll bring some of my friends," he called back over his shoulder. "We'll see about this. We'll see if a damned Shining One can go parading around Hamilton Village any time he wants. And you've got some explaining to do, DeReggio." Then the man was gone. DeReggio turned to Johnny, almost shaking hands with him from force of habit, then drawing away in self-conscious confusion. "Good luck, boy. We'll be moving, despite what Lawford said. Don't try to follow us." "I hope I haven't got you into any trouble." "It won't be the first time." "Thanks for the prayer. They would have liked that." When DeReggio looked up, Johnny Hope had vanished into the woods. * * * * * Starbuck led one party of Shining Ones toward Hamilton from the north while Keleher took the main band in from the east. They never reached the Village though. Each leader saw the black pall of smoke rising long before he reached Hamilton. Each knew the Village had been put to the torch. They met on high ground north-east of the flaming town and watched the fire, fanned by a strong summer wind, burn itself to embers and leave the charred skeleton of a village behind it. "They got word," Starbuck said, waiting for Keleher to draw his own conclusions. "It's happened before, but now--has anybody seen the new man, Johnny Hope?" None of their followers had even heard of him. "Diane would know," Starbuck suggested. "She rarely joins our raiding parties." And Keleher checked, but as he suspected, Diane was not present. "Well, we move on empty handed. Starbuck, you take your men back to the encampment and round up stragglers or anyone who remained behind. We'll wait here." "You're as bad as the people of Hamilton. Always on the run. I don't mean to argue, but--" "Then don't. Men who want to be conscripted by the Robots are free to leave our encampment at any time, get that straight. But I don't want forced conscription of all of us, Starbuck. Understand? The Robots are around." "Well, I was just letting you know how I felt. What about Johnny Hope?"