Astounding Science Fiction, February 1952 (British Edition) — page 40: what you’re looking at

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

38 off my back if you can read. Whereabouts did you say these books were buried?” She saw where I was leading, then, and with a furious look turned her face away. I heard a loud laugh from Billy Garth, who had been riding.a little behind. “She’s smarter’ you,” he jeered. “How about it, tough guy? Ain’t you tired yet, or do I heat up my knife and do it my way?” J didn’t answer. Billy suddenly spurred his horse alongside and laid hold of the bridle. “O.K., Hunter,” he said. “You're so smart. You figure on poking around in these Ruins for ever looking for an old fool who only has to duck behind a wall to hide?” “Get your hand off,” I said. “ve gone as far into this death trap as Pm going!” he snarled. “We've got the answer right here in this girl. We don’t have to look for her old man. We just string her up by the thumbs in a nice prominent place, and let her holler a while, and he’ll come to us. If you had half the nerve—” I struck his hand off the bridle. He roared and lunged at me, clawing for his hatchet. I caught his wrist and twisted the hatchet out of his grasp. It fell on my horse; I could see the blood gush as the beast screamed and shot forward. All three of us, Molly, Billy and I, fell to the ground in a heap. Something hit my head and that was all I knew for some time. I woke up not wanting to. From the way it hurt to breathe, I knew I must have a couple of cracked ribs. And when I raised my hand to my face, it came away-sticky with blood. With a good deal of effort, I managed to sit up and prop myself against a tree bole. My head was buzzing, and it was a few minutes before my eyes could focus. What puzzled me was, that I was still alive. When the fall knocked me out, Billy doubtless had given me a going-over, but why hadn’t he killed me? He had taken my gun, but my knife was still in its sheath. I had to get. up and move; I knew if I . Just lay there I would soon be too stiff and weak to help myself. After a couple of failures, I got to my feet, and my head cleared. I examined the tracks on the ground, and got a better idea of what had happened. Billy had been scuffling with Molly, she had broken away, run, and he had followed her. He had just been too busy to kill me, or per- haps had thought me already dead. With my knife, I cut strips off my deer- _ shadowy buildings. ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION skin jacket, and bound my chest as well as I could. It helped some. Then, since my horse was gone, I started off on foot down the slope and into the Ruins, follow- ing the tracks. By the position of the sun, I judged I had been unconscious for about two hours. Since Bully was mounted and I was not, I had no hope of overtaking him quickly, but I figured I would do it eventually. The Ruins were beginning in earnest, now, and I lost Billy’s tracks on the hard surface of an old road. It seemed to me that he would not go much farther down the slope, for fear of Radiations. I deter- mined therefore to wait for developments, since Billy would have to make his pres- ence known in some way if he intended to use Molly as bait for her father. It was late afternoon by now. I ate some strips of the morning’s rabbit, which I had shoved into a pocket. Then I climbed to the shattered roof of a small building nearby, and lay down behind the low parapet which surrounded the roof. From this position I had a fairly good view of the surrounding territory, merely by raising my head. It felt good to lie down and rest; my chest hurt with every breath, and my head ~ throbbed. With the coming of twilight, I began to watch very carefully. At last I saw the first flicker of a fire about half a mile south. I got going the best I could, sliding off the roof and racing toward the south as fast as my painful chest would let me. I had to get there first. The remains of a tower stood in a clear- ing. There were no building ruins within at least one hundred yards. Rubble from the tower itself made it very easy to climb to the highest point, about twenty feet above ground. Here, at the top, Billy Garth had built a huge fire. Sprawled at his feet, but plainly visible, was Molly. Her hands and feet were bound. I found a good point of vantage, and settled down comfortably to wait. It wasn’t long before I saw definite signs that some- one was moving about in the perimeter of the Ruins. I advanced quickly, but at that I was almost too late. “Hello!” came a voice out of the “What do you want, you up there with the fire?” Billy Garth roared back, “I got some- thing to trade!” He bent, seized Molly by the hair, and dragged her erect. “Look!” he boomed. “I got a red-headed girl named Eomichook (S@)