Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 65 — page 151: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION muffied. He forced his eyes to open and Harry appeared to have vanished. In his place was a blind, fumbling bear. Behind the bear was a girl in a torn dress and no coat to hide it. Sam snatched for support at the shelf below the counter. He used the wrong arm, the wounded one, and he fell back with his arm skittering glasses, whole and broken, along the shelf. His shoulder hit an upright and suddenly the pain was cut off and the arm was insensitive. Like a veil, the nausea lifted from his brain. It was quite clear what he had to do.:He got up on his feet again before Harry could disentangle himself from the enveloping mink. He took two precious seconds to de- cide exactly where Harry’s head was. Then he bunched his fist and thudded it down where he judged the barman’s left ear to be. All the venom of revenge and all his remain- ing strength were in the blow. Harry collapsed to the floor, inert. Sam cautiously peeled the 150 coat off Harry’s face with the toe of his shoe. He let the coat flop down and went across to the girl. She had gone round to the customers’ side of the bar and had seated herself at the table on which Sam had left his bottle. He took one of the candles to the table. Max and Harry wouldn’t need it. Lena was no longer the gay beauty she had been yesterday. She was no longer the fiery witch who had first made unfriendly acquaintance with Sam four hours earlier. She was a spiritless, dowdy girl who slumped in her seat in an attitude of utter de- jection and apathy. She looked very small and helpless. “Drink?” asked Sam. She didn’t look up. Sam turned down the collar of his coat, poured most of the whiskey over his gouged shoulder and - sucked the rest from _ the bottle to drown his rising gullet. “It’s too late to feel sorry for yourself,’’ he said. ““You started the brawl. How does it feel to have two men killed for your sake?” connicloooks.Ccomnn)