American Science Fiction #41 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

_ shoulder blades. ae was a brief scuffle and then _ still, knocked. unconscious. by the inscrutable. We around the lake. About twenty feet from the defile entrance Johnny Ea- gle discovered a canoe hidden in. a crevice of the crater wall. I decided against using it to reach the island. Chances of approaching unseen in it were too slim. Besides, the theft of the canoe would reveal our presence. We couldn’t afford that risk with Wie! - Chetzisky playing: God. We would swim out, I decided. But first we went along the shore to recon- noiter the shortest route and in doing So we spied the clearing on the island. I could make out a cabin and a long, slanting structure resembling a ramp. This was it, I was sure. “Johnny, get back to the plane and have the pilot radio Colonel Armstrong that I’ve found Chetzis- ky. Give him all the necessary in- formation.” | CHAPTER 5 WAITED till Johnny Eagle had melted away and then, making my .45..as waterproof as I could, I slid into the lake. It was a short swim to the island — fifty yards or so — but I was pretty well exhausted when I dragged myself out of the water. The cold air knifed into my back and It was welcome re- lief to crawl into the shelter of the undergrowth and rest a while. r With some of my strength back, I _ pushed on cautiously through the, bushes and tightly-packed trees. The first washings of dawn now appeared in the sky. It was the beginning of _ the day that Chetzisky had chosen for the world to die. When I came to the edge of the clearing, I stopped, my eyes probing the morning «grayness. Then stepped quickly out of the brush. Suddenly I stopped dead, afraid even to breathe. Two feet from me an Indian dozed, a rifle across his lap. It was too.late; his eyes blinked open. I hurled myself on him. There e lay -. butt of my .45. Z _I faded back into the undergrowth | * STOPWATCH © ON. THE | WORLD 6s 29 began scouting ' Chetzisky! - planet. ‘asked sharply. and waited. 1 thought ‘I ‘heard: the door of the cabin’ in the clearing open. But nothing happened. I let out a deep breath and start- ed skirting the clearing, keeping in the shadows until I was in front of the ramp-like runway. I stared hard at it, trying to make out the details. At the top of the sloping track Was a cylindrical mass, the size of an oil drum. It reminded me instant- ly of the beer-barre} nuclear reactor, a portable affair, developed by the British physicist Robert Parker. Its purpose dawned on me: This was the trigger of the atomic gun that _Chetzisky held at the temples of a planet. I moved in for a clearer view. As I did I was brought up abruptly by a calm, even voice, its tone of com- mand sharpened in the crisp morn- ing air. “You needn’t move any more, Just raise your hands.” tis I looked in the direction of the speaker, as my hands went up. Out of the shadows in front of me emerged a short man with a rifle, At last! Bundled in.a heavy mackinaw, wearing a fur cap with ear muffs, wool socks rolled over the tops of his high bgots$ he looked grotesque, hardly the ‘intended assassin of a More like a farmer’ who's waited: through a winter night to catch a chicken thief. : “What are you doing here?” he / In his tone I detected a worried uncertainty. I decided on the bold approach. “Where is Professor MacRoberts?” I demanded sternly. Chetzisky lowered his rifle slowly. He seemed surprised; relieved too, “You're looking for Doctor MacRob-° erts?” | “Yes, the University became wor- ried about him and hired me to find him, fearing he might be ill or lost in this wilderness.” “How did you come to track him here?” Chetzisky cocked his head to one side and squinted at me sus- piciously, : : a Pees “Well; it happens, sir, that I'm a> private investigator, specialising in connicloooks.cortn