Astounding Science Fiction, February 1952 (British Edition) — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

5 Y aoe hats — - ay * = ‘a. ys » fe ¢ jon JHE BODYGUARD By VERNON W. GLASSER He was a tough, hard man, a mercenary of the time. But he differed a little from the others—he wasn’t convinced times should be like that! ' GOT into this because of that business with the Atom Master, who turned out to be nothing more than a crazy old man living in the Ruins. He thought he was one of the Old Men, and called himself the Atom Master, and claimed he could blow everyone up. Of course, he could do no such thing. I went into the Ruins and brought him out, just a crazy sick old man. It got me some notoriety, because the other boys of the Bodyguard weren’t too anxious to poke around in the Ruins and maybe catch a case of radiation. I’ve been a Bodyguard for five years. Not that I like the work so much, but it’s a good living. We’re the only organized group this side of the mountains, almost two hundred of us, and without us the Chief wouldn’t last very long. That’s why we're called the Bodyguard, and we are all guarding the same body, the Chief's. So one day a couple of months after that Atom Master affair, I got a summons Se) from the Chief himself. ’d met him per- sonally only once before, when I was hired, theugh naturally I'd seen him often in parades, and once had been part of the horseback squad that pulled his car. You don’t waste any time when the Chief sends for you. I put on my best deerskin shirt with the fancy fringes, and went. directly to the Fort. This is an old stone building, pretty well crumbled, and I believe the Old Men had used it for a military purpose. The Chief lives there with his wives, and also uses it as a headquarters. Although it is not in the best repair, it is strong enough to repel almost any kind of attack. Some of the other Bodyguards were lounging around the outside stairs, and I said hello to them. Then I went in, and up another set of stone stairs, to the Official. The Official was supposed to have only one door, though Id heard some of 33 the boys hint that there was a secret ES, Eomicboo (EC)