iptables missing after reboot

After I rebooted my Mandrake 8.1 box, I was unable to get my laptop
connected to the net. I did 'iptables --list' and it was empty. So I
re-ran Mandrake Control Center and did the connection sharing thing and
it was ok. Having to do that after a reboot just ain't right. Is there
something (obviously) that I'm not having start up in the xinetd or rc.d
area?

pete