BILLY STEELE CHAPTER FIVE: MENACE OF THE MOLE PEOPLE

White Eagle, still weak from his injuries, and Holt's Rangers galloped on pure adrenaline as they raced to find Billy. Soon they reached the Mole people' s hole. Both red and white eyes stared down the black hole. Suddenly, from the darkness sprang another tremor of terror! The giant worm creature attacked the cavalrymen and the Indian wizard with its grotesque dagger-like fangs.

Col. Tim, Big Boy and Jubilee brandished their sabers and pistols, and battled the roaring, nightmarish worm. The super troopers sunk their long knives deeply into the conquering worm's thick flesh while Col. Tim fired bullet after bullet into the creature's coils. As White Eagle, still carrying the magical weapons he gave to Billy as a gift, prepared to lower himself down the hole, the elderly Indian was shoved from his rope ladder by the worm creature's slathering, hot tongue.

The self-sacrificing White Eagle fell upon the same ledge that broke Billy and Cassidy's fall some time before. Now in dire pain, White Eagle raised his throbbing body up and began to call, "Billy, Billy," into the foreboding blackness. Silence was his only reply. Realizing that Billy must have fallen into this hole, Holt's Rangers made a leap for life towards the protruding ledge. Their strong legs and will to survive guided them to the rocky safety zone. The courageous cavalrymen narrowly escaped the worm creature's punishing grasp when they jumped down the orifice.

Soon, Holt's Rangers and White Eagle were reunited on the ledge. And the sharp-eyed Indian quickly spotted the trail left by Billy. But soon, the search party knew that other beings had made their marks in the dirt as well. In mere seconds a troop of mutant mole people surrounded Holt's Rangers and White Eagle. The hideous ones blasted their futuristic ray guns directly at the Col.' s saber.

Zap! The sword was melted before the Col.'s eyes! The surface men stared in sheer amazement as these terrifying mutants used powers that were unimaginable to hold the cavalrymen and Indian at bay. Holt's Rangers and White Eagle were led away in chains, transported miles below the Earth via the capsule cars and tubes, and then they trudged towards the mole creatures' futuristic prison. Billy's magical gifts as well as the cavalrymen's weapons, were confiscated and stored away with Billy's prized black arrowhead and Cassidy's sword-all far from the fingers of those who could use their power to save the American frontier.

Holt's Rangers and White Eagle were quickly ushered to Agar's throne room where Billy and an infected Cassidy remained and forced to listen to Agar's tirade on his brand of purity.

"Col., White Eagle, Big Boy, Jubilee!!! I knew you'd come for me," Billy screamed in joy upon being reunited unexpectedly with his family and best friend.

The Col. and White Eagle were just about to embrace Billy when, they were stopped by a ray gun barrel pointed at their hearts. "If you've harmed these children," Col. Tim warned defiantly at Agar, "No force in science or nature will stop me from holding you personally responsible!"

"I have no intention of hurting the boy," Agar responded. "Once my followers have cleansed the surface world of its sinners, the boy will symbolize the next generation molded in the image of the great creator. He will inspire the remaining surface dwellers to follow the path of righteousness that I have set for them." Soon, the mole creatures brought a dazzling golden robe to Billy and placed it on his shoulders, turning the boy into an idol and tool for Agar's megalomania.