“We could make gun powder if we could find a deposit of saltpeter. We already know where there’s a little sulphur. The guns would have to be converted to flintlocks, though, since we don’t have what we need for cartridge priming material. Worse, we’d have to use ceramic bullets. They would be inefficient⁠—too light, and destructive to the bores. But we would need powder for mining if we ever found any iron. And, if we can’t have metal bullets to shoot the Gerns, we can have bombs to blast them with.”

“Suppose,” Johnny Stevens said, “that we never do find the metals to make a ship. How will we ever leave Ragnarok if that happens?”

“There’s another way⁠—a possible way⁠—of leaving here without a ship of our own. If there are no metals we’ll have to try it.”

“Why wait?” Bob Craig demanded. “Why not try it now?”

“Because the odds would be about ten thousand to one in favor of the Gerns. But we’ll try it if everything else fails.”