The contributions of multistep direct reactions with different sequences of the leading continuum nucleons are presented for neutron scattering by niobium at incident energy of 26 MeV. The multistep cross sections are calculated within the framework of the Feshbach, Kerman and Koonin theory using non-DWBA matrix elements. The one-step cross sections include excitations of both incoherent particle--hole pairs and coherent collective vibrations. The results show that the dominant sequences involve only neutrons in the continuum, while sequences involving protons can be neglected.

PACS numbers: 25.40.Fq, 24.60.Gv