Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 218: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Either they’re conserving power and fuel to beat the devil, or else they just don’t gad about very much... “Maybe they’re not the type,” | said. “Maybe that track of theirs is a special-occasions-only affair—you notice we didn’t drive over here. Parked as soon as we got inside. It could answer a lot of my worries.” “About their quietness, is that what you mean?” “Yeah. It gets me, Max.” “Relax—pass the salt or something... .” But | couldn't relax, even after we’d been left to ourselves about five stories up in one of the most gracefully appointed suites Il’d ever been in. | could only think of the way the ancient Britons must Nave felt in their first contact with the civilization of old Marco Polo’s discovery—their first sight of fine glassware, their first touch of silk, first scent of delicate perfume... . Kell-Ill told us he’d be back after we’d had food and Sleep, and Max was saying if the sleeping period was as generous as the portions of food that had been sent In we might come out of the whole thing alive after all. “But | didn’t think it’d be anything like this,” he sighed. He already was stripped to the waist and stretched out on one of the low, wide couches, rubbing his eyes. “You liked it better when we were the only frogs in the pond!” “Oh, go to sleep! And if you can’t do that, think of meat least pity a man who had his five bucks all counted. You don’t snore, do you?” “Softly, but not well.” “G'night, kid,” he said, and | let it go at that. | told myself this was the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco, and that everything would be put back together the way I'd left it four months ago when | woke up, and tried one of the CORniclooo SS CO