Suddenly the air rattled with gunfire, this time closer at hand. In the quiet that followed there was the sound of swiftly approaching footsteps. An instant later, Moose crashed into the clearing and jounced to a stop against Marc's chest. "Get outa the way, you civilian!" the thug yelled blindly. "The joint is swarmin' with bulls!" Marc had only barely digested this frenzied bulletin when Floss, Hotstuff, the blousy blonde and the other assorted criminals hurtled drunkenly through the opening. "Cops everywhere!" Hotstuff wailed. He fixed Marc with a cold eye. "Who tipped 'em off, huh?" "I didn't," Marc said. "Where are they?" "Fannin' out!" Floss whined. "Closin' in!" "Both at the same time?" Toffee asked curiously. "Well, I suppose it's better than murder," Marc said hopelessly. During this exchange, the fugitives had collected themselves enough to be aware of the nudists, who, rising, were clutching their greenery to them with trembling fright. "Holy gee!" Floss said. "Will you look at them! What's goin' on here, an open air smoker?" "We do it for our health," the plump woman said defensively. "That's a new angle," Floss said interestedly. "The police!" the skinny man moaned, unaware of Floss' roving eye. "They'll arrest us!" "Boy," Floss said evilly, "what a place for a pair of prunin' shears!" "Floss!" Hotstuff said severely. "This is no time for fun. The cops will be swarmin' all over us in a minute!" "Are we just going to stand here and let them arrest us?" Toffee said. "We're surrounded," Moose said. "We'll have to shoot our way out." "No!" Marc yelled. "Absolutely no more shooting!" "We nudists," the skinny man announced quaveringly, "refuse to have any part in all this." "You shut up!" Moose snarled. The sound of a wailing siren approached from the distance. "Good God, they're on wheels now! They've got us out-pointed." There was a general nervous shuffling as the assembled law-offenders moved forward to view their oncoming fate. The movement was suddenly arrested, however, as a roaring sound, accompanied by the snap and crunch of despoiled underbrush, echoed near at hand. "Holy smoke!" Marc cried, "they're sending in tanks!" "Everybody grab something!" Floss said hysterically. "A lady must defend herself to the end!" "And then what?" Toffee inquired bitterly. Already, the trees and bushes at the end of the clearing were starting to thrash about with frenzied agitation. A tree crashed to earth and, plowing over it, in a veering rush, came the yellow sight-seeing bus. The driver, markedly foggy of eye, leaned his head out the window. "The cops!" he yelled. "They're after me! They've been chasing me to hell and gone all over the place!" With a great grinding of brakes, the bus jolted to a stop. "I gotta get outa here!" He peered down at Marc. "Which way do I go, mister?" "Hey, wait!" Toffee said. "We've all got to get out of here!" She ran around to the door of the bus. "Open up!"