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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b5c749 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63401 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63401) diff --git a/old/63401-h.zip b/old/63401-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8f41131..0000000 --- a/old/63401-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63401-h/63401-h.htm b/old/63401-h/63401-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 8b7eff5..0000000 --- a/old/63401-h/63401-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1110 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Happy Castaway, by Robert E. Mcdowell. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Castaway, by Emmett McDowell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Happy Castaway - -Author: Emmett McDowell - -Release Date: October 7, 2020 [EBook #63401] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY CASTAWAY *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>The Happy Castaway</h1> - -<p>BY ROBERT E. McDOWELL</p> - -<p>Being space-wrecked and marooned is tough<br /> -enough. But to face the horrors of such a<br /> -planet as this was too much. Imagine Fawkes'<br /> -terrible predicament; plenty of food—and<br /> -twenty seven beautiful girls for companions.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Spring 1945.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p>Jonathan Fawkes opened his eyes. He was flat on his back, and a girl -was bending over him. He detected a frightened expression on the -girl's face. His pale blue eyes traveled upward beyond the girl. The -sky was his roof, yet he distinctly remembered going to sleep on his -bunk aboard the space ship.</p> - -<p>"You're not dead?"</p> - -<p>"I've some doubt about that," he replied dryly. He levered himself to -his elbows. The girl, he saw, had bright yellow hair. Her nose was -pert, tip-tilted. She had on a ragged blue frock and sandals.</p> - -<p>"Is—is anything broken?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"Don't know. Help me up." Between them he managed to struggle to his -feet. He winced. He said, "My name's Jonathan Fawkes. I'm a space pilot -with Universal. What happened? I feel like I'd been poured out of a -concrete mixer."</p> - -<p>She pointed to the wreck of a small space freighter a dozen feet away. -Its nose was buried in the turf, folded back like an accordion. It -had burst open like a ripe watermelon. He was surprised that he had -survived at all. He scratched his head. "I was running from Mars to -Jupiter with a load of seed for the colonists."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said the girl, biting her lips. "Your co-pilot must be in the -wreckage."</p> - -<p>He shook his head. "No," he reassured her. "I left him on Mars. He -had an attack of space sickness. I was all by myself; that was the -trouble. I'd stay at the controls as long as I could, then lock her on -her course and snatch a couple of hours' sleep. I can remember crawling -into my bunk. The next thing I knew you were bending over me." He -paused. "I guess the automatic deflectors slowed me up or I would have -been a cinder by this time," he said.</p> - -<p>The girl didn't reply. She continued to watch him, a faint enigmatic -smile on her lips. Jonathan glanced away in embarrassment. He wished -that pretty women didn't upset him so. He said nervously, "Where am I? -I couldn't have slept all the way to Jupiter."</p> - -<p>The girl shrugged her shoulders.</p> - -<p>"I don't know."</p> - -<p>"You don't know!" He almost forgot his self-consciousness in his -surprise. His pale blue eyes returned to the landscape. A mile across -the plain began a range of jagged foothills, which tossed upward -higher and higher until they merged with the blue saw-edge of a chain -of mountains. As he looked a puff of smoke belched from a truncated -cone-shaped peak. A volcano. Otherwise there was no sign of life: just -he and the strange yellow-headed girl alone in the center of that vast -rolling prairie.</p> - -<p>"I was going to explain," he heard her say. "We think that we are on an -asteroid."</p> - -<p>"We?" he looked back at her.</p> - -<p>"Yes. There are twenty-seven of us. We were on our way to Jupiter, too, -only we were going to be wives for the colonists."</p> - -<p>"I remember," he exclaimed. "Didn't the Jupiter Food-growers -Association enlist you girls to go to the colonies?"</p> - -<p>She nodded her head. "Only twenty-seven of us came through the crash."</p> - -<p>"Everybody thought your space ship hit a meteor," he said.</p> - -<p>"We hit this asteroid."</p> - -<p>"But that was three years ago."</p> - -<p>"Has it been that long? We lost track of time." She didn't take her -eyes off him, not for a second. Such attention made him acutely self -conscious. She said, "I'm Ann. Ann Clotilde. I was hunting when I saw -your space ship. You had been thrown clear. You were lying all in a -heap. I thought you were dead." She stooped, picked up a spear.</p> - -<p>"Do you feel strong enough to hike back to our camp? It's only about -four miles," she said.</p> - -<p>"I think so," he said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jonathan Fawkes fidgeted uncomfortably. He would rather pilot a space -ship through a meteor field than face twenty-seven young women. They -were the only thing in the Spaceways of which he was in awe. Then he -realized that the girl's dark blue eyes had strayed beyond him. A frown -of concentration marred her regular features. He turned around.</p> - -<p>On the rim of the prairie he saw a dozen black specks moving toward -them.</p> - -<p>She said: "Get down!" Her voice was agitated. She flung herself on her -stomach and began to crawl away from the wreck. Jonathan Fawkes stared -after her stupidly. "Get down!" she reiterated in a furious voice.</p> - -<p>He let himself to his hands and knees. "Ouch!" he said. He felt like -he was being jabbed with pins. He must be one big bruise. He scuttled -after the girl. "What's wrong?"</p> - -<p>The girl looked back at him over her shoulder. "Centaurs!" she said. "I -didn't know they had returned. There is a small ravine just ahead which -leads into the hills. I don't think they've seen us. If we can reach -the hills we'll be safe."</p> - -<p>"Centaurs! Isn't there anything new under the sun?"</p> - -<p>"Well, personally," she replied, "I never saw a Centaur until I was -wrecked on this asteroid." She reached the ravine, crawled head -foremost over the edge. Jonathan tumbled after her. He hit the bottom, -winced, scrambled to his feet. The girl started at a trot for the -hills. Jonathan, groaning at each step, hobbled beside her.</p> - -<p>"Why won't the Centaurs follow us into the hills?" he panted.</p> - -<p>"Too rough. They're like horses," she said. "Nothing but a goat could -get around in the hills."</p> - -<p>The gulley, he saw, was deepening into a respectable canyon, then a -gorge. In half a mile, the walls towered above them. A narrow ribbon -of sky was visible overhead. Yellow fern-like plants sprouted from the -crevices and floor of the canyon.</p> - -<p>They flushed a small furry creature from behind a bush. As it sped -away, it resembled a cottontail of Earth. The girl whipped back her -arm, flung the spear. It transfixed the rodent. She picked it up, tied -it to her waist. Jonathan gaped. Such strength and accuracy astounded -him. He thought, amazons and centaurs. He thought, but this is the year -3372; not the time of ancient Greece.</p> - -<p>The canyon bore to the left. It grew rougher, the walls more -precipitate. Jonathan limped to a halt. High boots and breeches, the -uniform of Universal's space pilots, hadn't been designed for walking. -"Hold on," he said. He felt in his pockets, withdrew an empty cigarette -package, crumpled it and hurled it to the ground.</p> - -<p>"You got a cigarette?" he asked without much hope.</p> - -<p>The girl shook her head. "We ran out of tobacco the first few months we -were here."</p> - -<p>Jonathan turned around, started back for the space ship.</p> - -<p>"Where are you going?" cried Ann in alarm.</p> - -<p>He said, "I've got a couple of cartons of cigarettes back at the -freighter. Centaurs or no centaurs, I'm going to get a smoke."</p> - -<p>"No!" She clutched his arm. He was surprised at the strength of her -grip. "They'd kill you," she said.</p> - -<p>"I can sneak back," he insisted stubbornly. "They might loot the ship. -I don't want to lose those cigarettes. I was hauling some good burley -tobacco seed too. The colonists were going to experiment with it on -Ganymede."</p> - -<p>"No!"</p> - -<p>He lifted his eyebrows. He thought, she is an amazon! He firmly -detached her hand.</p> - -<p>The girl flicked up her spear, nicked his neck with the point of it. -"We are going to the camp," she said.</p> - -<p>Jonathan threw himself down backwards, kicked the girl's feet out from -under her. Like a cat he scrambled up and wrenched the spear away.</p> - -<p>A voice shouted: "What's going on there?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He paused shamefacedly. A second girl, he saw, was running toward -them from up the canyon. Her bare legs flashed like ivory. She was -barefooted, and she had black hair. A green cloth was wrapped around -her sarong fashion. She bounced to a stop in front of Jonathan, her -brown eyes wide in surprise. He thought her sarong had been a table -cloth at one time in its history.</p> - -<p>"A man!" she breathed. "By Jupiter and all its little moons, it's a -man!"</p> - -<p>"Don't let him get away!" cried Ann.</p> - -<p>"Hilda!" the brunette shrieked. "A man! It's a man!"</p> - -<p>A third girl skidded around the bend in the canyon. Jonathan backed off -warily.</p> - -<p>Ann Clotilde cried in anguish: "Don't let him get away!"</p> - -<p>Jonathan chose the centaurs. He wheeled around, dashed back the way -he had come. Someone tackled him. He rolled on the rocky floor of the -canyon. He struggled to his feet. He saw six more girls race around the -bend in the canyon. With shouts of joy they flung themselves on him.</p> - -<p>Jonathan was game, but the nine husky amazons pinned him down by sheer -weight. They bound him hand and foot. Then four of them picked him up -bodily, started up the canyon chanting: "<i>He was a rocket riding daddy -from Mars.</i>" He recognized it as a popular song of three years ago.</p> - -<p>Jonathan had never been so humiliated in his life. He was known in the -spaceways from Mercury to Jupiter as a man to leave alone. His nose had -been broken three times. A thin white scar crawled down the bronze of -his left cheek, relic of a barroom brawl on Venus. He was big, rangy, -tough. And these girls had trounced him. Girls! He almost wept from -mortification.</p> - -<p>He said, "Put me down. I'll walk."</p> - -<p>"You won't try to get away?" said Ann.</p> - -<p>"No," he replied with as much dignity as he could summon while being -held aloft by four barbarous young women.</p> - -<p>"Let him down," said Ann. "We can catch him, anyway, if he makes a -break."</p> - -<p>Jonathan Fawkes' humiliation was complete. He meekly trudged between -two husky females, who ogled him shamelessly. He was amazed at the ease -with which they had carried him. He was six feet three and no light -weight. He thought enviously of the centaurs, free to gallop across the -plains. He wished he was a centaur.</p> - -<p>The trail left the canyon, struggled up the precipitate walls. Jonathan -picked his way gingerly, hugged the rock. "Don't be afraid," advised -one of his captors. "Just don't look down."</p> - -<p>"I'm not afraid," said Jonathan hotly. To prove it he trod the narrow -ledge with scorn. His foot struck a pebble. Both feet went out from -under him. He slithered halfway over the edge. For one sickening moment -he thought he was gone, then Ann grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, -hauled him back to safety. He lay gasping on his stomach. They tied a -rope around his waist then, and led him the rest of the way to the top -like a baby on a leash. He was too crestfallen to resent it.</p> - -<p>The trail came out on a high ridge. They paused on a bluff overlooking -the prairie.</p> - -<p>"Look!" cried Ann pointing over the edge.</p> - -<p>A half dozen beasts were trotting beneath on the plain. At first, -Jonathan mistook them for horses. Then he saw that from the withers up -they resembled men. Waists, shoulders, arms and heads were identical to -his own, but their bodies were the bodies of horses.</p> - -<p>"Centaurs!" Jonathan Fawkes said, not believing his eyes.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The girls set up a shout and threw stones down at the centaurs, who -reared, pawed the air, and galloped to a safe distance, from which they -hurled back insults in a strange tongue. Their voices sounded faintly -like the neighing of horses.</p> - -<p>Amazons and centaurs, he thought again. He couldn't get the problem -of the girls' phenomenal strength out of his mind. Then it occurred -to him that the asteroid, most likely, was smaller even than Earth's -moon. He must weigh about a thirtieth of what he usually did, due to -the lessened gravity. It also occurred to him that they would be thirty -times as strong. He was staggered. He wished he had a smoke.</p> - -<p>At length, the amazons and the centaurs tired of bandying insults -back and forth. The centaurs galloped off into the prairie, the girls -resumed their march. Jonathan scrambled up hills, skidded down slopes. -The brunette was beside him helping him over the rough spots.</p> - -<p>"I'm Olga," she confided. "Has anybody ever told you what a handsome -fellow you are?" She pinched his cheek. Jonathan blushed.</p> - -<p>They climbed a ridge, paused at the crest. Below them, he saw a deep -valley. A stream tumbled through the center of it. There were trees -along its banks, the first he had seen on the asteroid. At the head of -the valley, he made out the massive pile of a space liner.</p> - -<p>They started down a winding path. The space liner disappeared behind -a promontory of the mountain. Jonathan steeled himself for the coming -ordeal. He would have sat down and refused to budge except that he knew -the girls would hoist him on their shoulders and bear him into the camp -like a bag of meal.</p> - -<p>The trail debouched into the valley. Just ahead the space liner -reappeared. He imagined that it had crashed into the mountain, skidded -and rolled down its side until it lodged beside the stream. It reminded -him of a wounded dinosaur. Three girls were bathing in the stream. He -looked away hastily.</p> - -<p>Someone hailed them from the space ship.</p> - -<p>"We've caught a man," shrieked one of his captors.</p> - -<p>A flock of girls streamed out of the wrecked space ship.</p> - -<p>"A man!" screamed a husky blonde. She was wearing a grass skirt. She -had green eyes. "We're rescued!"</p> - -<p>"No. No," Ann Clotilde hastened to explain. "He was wrecked like us."</p> - -<p>"Oh," came a disappointed chorus.</p> - -<p>"He's a man," said the green-eyed blonde. "That's the next best thing."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Olga," said a strapping brunette. "Who'd ever thought a man could -look so good?"</p> - -<p>"I did," said Olga. She chucked Jonathan under the chin. He shivered -like an unbroken colt when the bit first goes in its mouth. He felt -like a mouse hemmed in by a ring of cats.</p> - -<p>A big rawboned brute of a girl strolled into the circle. She said, -"Dinner's ready." Her voice was loud, strident. It reminded him of -the voices of girls in the honky tonks on Venus. She looked at him -appraisingly as if he were a horse she was about to bid on. "Bring him -into the ship," she said. "The man must be starved."</p> - -<p>He was propelled jubilantly into the palatial dining salon of the -wrecked liner. A long polished meturilium table occupied the center of -the floor. Automatic weight distributing chairs stood around it. His -feet sank into a green fiberon carpet. He had stepped back into the -Thirty-fourth Century from the fabulous barbarian past.</p> - -<p>With a sigh of relief, he started to sit down. A lithe red-head sprang -forward and held his chair. They all waited politely for him to be -seated before they took their places. He felt silly. He felt like -a captive princess. All the confidence engendered by the familiar -settings of the space ship went out of him like wind. He, Jonathan -Fawkes, was a castaway on an asteroid inhabited by twenty-seven wild -women.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As the meal boisterously progressed, he regained sufficient courage -to glance timidly around. Directly across the table sat a striking, -grey-eyed girl whose brown hair was coiled severely about her head. She -looked to him like a stenographer. He watched horrified as she seized -a whole roast fowl, tore it apart with her fingers, gnawed a leg. She -caught him staring at her and rolled her eyes at him. He returned his -gaze to his plate.</p> - -<p>Olga said: "Hey, Sultan."</p> - -<p>He shuddered, but looked up questioningly.</p> - -<p>She said, "How's the fish?"</p> - -<p>"Good," he mumbled between a mouthful. "Where did you get it?"</p> - -<p>"Caught it," said Olga. "The stream's full of 'em. I'll take you -fishing tomorrow." She winked at him so brazenly that he choked on a -bone.</p> - -<p>"Heaven forbid," he said.</p> - -<p>"How about coming with me to gather fruit?" cried the green-eyed -blonde; "you great big handsome man."</p> - -<p>"Or me?" cried another. And the table was in an uproar.</p> - -<p>The rawboned woman who had summoned them to dinner, pounded the table -until the cups and plates danced. Jonathan had gathered that she was -called Billy.</p> - -<p>"Quiet!" She shrieked in her loud strident voice. "Let him be. He can't -go anywhere for a few days. He's just been through a wreck. He needs -rest." She turned to Jonathan who had shrunk down in his chair. "How -about some roast?" she said.</p> - -<p>"No." He pushed back his plate with a sigh. "If I only had a smoke."</p> - -<p>Olga gave her unruly black hair a flirt. "Isn't that just like a man?"</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't know," said the green-eyed blonde. "I've forgotten what -they're like."</p> - -<p>Billy said, "How badly wrecked is your ship?"</p> - -<p>"It's strewn all over the landscape," he replied sleepily.</p> - -<p>"Is there any chance of patching it up?"</p> - -<p>He considered the question. More than anything else, he decided, he -wanted to sleep. "What?" he said.</p> - -<p>"Is there any possibility of repairing your ship?" repeated Billy.</p> - -<p>"Not outside the space docks."</p> - -<p>They expelled their breath, but not for an instant did they relax -the barrage of their eyes. He shifted position in embarrassment. The -movement pulled his muscles like a rack. Furthermore, an overpowering -lassitude was threatening to pop him off to sleep before their eyes.</p> - -<p>"You look exhausted," said Ann.</p> - -<p>Jonathan dragged himself back from the edge of sleep. "Just tired," he -mumbled. "Haven't had a good night's rest since I left Mars." Indeed -it was only by the most painful effort that he kept awake at all. His -eyelids drooped lower and lower.</p> - -<p>"First it's tobacco," said Olga; "now he wants to sleep. Twenty-seven -girls and he wants to sleep."</p> - -<p>"He is asleep," said the green-eyed blonde.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jonathan was slumped forward across the table, his head buried in his -arms.</p> - -<p>"Catch a hold," said Billy, pushing back from the table. A dozen girls -volunteered with a rush. "Hoist!" said Billy. They lifted him like a -sleepy child, bore him tenderly up an incline and into a stateroom, -where they deposited him on the bed.</p> - -<p>Ann said to Olga; "Help me with these boots." But they resisted every -tug. "It's no use," groaned Ann, straightening up and wiping her bright -yellow hair back from her eyes. "His feet have swollen. We'll have to -cut them off."</p> - -<p>At these words, Jonathan raised upright as if someone had pulled a rope.</p> - -<p>"<i>Cut off whose feet?</i>" he cried in alarm.</p> - -<p>"Not your feet, silly," said Ann. "Your boots."</p> - -<p>"Lay a hand on those boots," he scowled; "and I'll make me another pair -out of your hides. They set me back a week's salary." Having delivered -himself of this ultimatum, he went back to sleep.</p> - -<p>Olga clapped her hand to her forehead. "And this," she cried "is what -we've been praying for during the last three years."</p> - -<p>The next day found Jonathan Fawkes hobbling around by the aid of a -cane. At the portal of the space ship, he stuck out his head, glanced -all around warily. None of the girls were in sight. They had, he -presumed, gone about their chores: hunting, fishing, gathering fruits -and berries. He emerged all the way and set out for the creek. He -walked with an exaggerated limp just in case any of them should be -hanging around. As long as he was an invalid he was safe, he hoped.</p> - -<p>He sighed. Not every man could be waited on so solicitously by -twenty-seven handsome strapping amazons. He wished he could carry it -off in cavalier fashion. He hobbled to the creek, sat down beneath the -shade of a tree. He just wasn't the type, he supposed. And it might be -years before they were rescued.</p> - -<p>As a last resort, he supposed, he could hide out in the hills or join -the centaurs. He rather fancied himself galloping across the plains -on the back of a centaur. He looked up with a start. Ann Clotilde was -ambling toward him.</p> - -<p>"How's the invalid?" she said, seating herself beside him.</p> - -<p>"Hot, isn't it?" he said. He started to rise. Ann Clotilde placed the -flat of her hand on his chest and shoved. "<i>Ooof!</i>" he grunted. He sat -down rather more forcibly than he had risen.</p> - -<p>"Don't get up because of me," she informed him. "It's my turn to cook, -but I saw you out here beneath the trees. Dinner can wait. Jonathan do -you know that you are irresistible?" She seized his shoulders, stared -into his eyes. He couldn't have felt any more uncomfortable had a -hungry boa constrictor draped itself in his arms. He mopped his brow -with his sleeve.</p> - -<p>"Suppose the rest should come," he said in an embarrassed voice.</p> - -<p>"They're busy. They won't be here until I call them to lunch. Your -eyes," she said, "are like deep mysterious pools."</p> - -<p>"Sure enough?" said Jonathan with involuntary interest. He began to -recover his nerve.</p> - -<p>She said, "You're the best looking thing." She rumpled his hair. "I -can't keep my eyes off you."</p> - -<p>Jonathan put his arm around her gingerly. "Ouch!" He winced. He had -forgotten his sore muscles.</p> - -<p>"I forgot," said Ann Clotilde in a contrite voice. She tried to rise. -"You're hurt."</p> - -<p>He pulled her back down. "Not so you could notice it," he grinned.</p> - -<p>"Well!" came the strident voice of Billy from behind them. "We're <i>all</i> -glad to hear that!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jonathan leaped to his feet, dumping Ann to the ground. He jerked -around. All twenty-six of the girls were lined up on the path. Their -features were grim. He said: "I don't feel so well after all."</p> - -<p>"It don't wash," said Billy. "It's time for a showdown."</p> - -<p>Jonathan's hair stood on end. He felt rather than saw Ann Clotilde take -her stand beside him. He noticed that she was holding her spear at a -menacing angle. She said in an angry voice: "He's mine. I found him. -Leave him alone."</p> - -<p>"Where do you get that stuff?" cried Olga. "Share and share alike, say -I."</p> - -<p>"We could draw straws for him," suggested the green-eyed blonde.</p> - -<p>"Look here," Jonathan broke in. "I've got some say in the matter."</p> - -<p>"You have not," snapped Billy. "You'll do just as we say." She took a -step toward him.</p> - -<p>Jonathan edged away in consternation.</p> - -<p>"He's going to run!" Olga shouted.</p> - -<p>Jonathan never stopped until he was back in the canyon leading to the -plain. His nerves were jumping like fleas. He craved the soothing -relaxation of a smoke. There was, he remembered, a carton of cigarettes -at the wreck. He resumed his flight, but at a more sober pace.</p> - -<p>At the spot where he and Ann had first crawled away from the centaurs, -he scrambled out of the gulley, glanced in the direction of his space -ship. He blinked his eyes, stared. Then he waved his arms, shouted and -tore across the prairie. A trim space cruiser was resting beside the -wreck of his own. Across its gleaming monaloid hull ran an inscription -in silver letters: "INTERSTELLAR COSMOGRAPHY SOCIETY."</p> - -<p>Two men crawled out of Jonathan's wrecked freighter, glanced in -surprise at Jonathan. A third man ran from the cruiser, a Dixon Ray -Rifle in his hand.</p> - -<p>"I'm Jonathan Fawkes," said the castaway as he panted up, "pilot for -Universal. I was wrecked."</p> - -<p>A tall elderly man held out his hand. He had a small black waxed -mustache and Van Dyke. He was smoking a venusian cigarette in a -yellow composition holder. He said, "I'm Doctor Boynton." He had a -rich cultivated voice, and a nose like a hawk. "We are members of the -Interstellar Cosmography Society. We've been commissioned to make a -cursory examination of this asteroid. You had a nasty crack up, Mr. -Fawkes. But you are in luck, sir. We were on the point of returning -when we sighted the wreck."</p> - -<p>"I say," said the man who had run out of the cruiser. He was a prim, -energetic young man. Jonathan noted that he carried the ray gun -gingerly, respectfully. "We're a week overdue now," he said. "If you -have any personal belongings that you'd like to take with you, you'd -best be getting them aboard."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jonathan's face broke into a grin. He said, "Do any of you know how to -grow tobacco?"</p> - -<p>They glanced at each other in perplexity.</p> - -<p>"I like it here," continued Jonathan. "I'm not going back."</p> - -<p>"What?" cried the three explorers in one breath.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to stay," he repeated. "I only came back here after the -cigarettes."</p> - -<p>"But it will be three years before the asteroid's orbit brings it back -in the space lanes," said Doctor Boynton. "You don't possibly expect to -be picked up before then!"</p> - -<p>Jonathan shook his head, began to load himself with tools, tobacco -seed, and cigarettes.</p> - -<p>"Odd." Doctor Boynton shook his head, turned to the others. "Though if -I remember correctly, there was quite an epidemic of hermits during -the medieval period. It was an esthetic movement. They fled to the -wilderness to escape the temptation of <i>women</i>."</p> - -<p>Jonathan laughed outright.</p> - -<p>"You are sure you won't return, young man?"</p> - -<p>He shook his head. They argued, they cajoled, but Jonathan was adamant. -He said, "You might report my accident to Universal. Tell them to stop -one of their Jupiter-bound freighters here when the asteroid swings -back in the space ways. I'll have a load for them."</p> - -<p>Inside the ship, Doctor Boynton moved over to a round transparent port -hole. "What a strange fellow," he murmured. He was just in time to see -the castaway, loaded like a pack mule, disappear in the direction from -which he had come.</p> - -<p>Robinson Crusoe was going back to his man (?) Friday—all twenty-seven -of them.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Castaway, by Emmett McDowell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY CASTAWAY *** - -***** This file should be named 63401-h.htm or 63401-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/4/0/63401/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Happy Castaway - -Author: Emmett McDowell - -Release Date: October 7, 2020 [EBook #63401] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY CASTAWAY *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - The Happy Castaway - - BY ROBERT E. McDOWELL - - Being space-wrecked and marooned is tough - enough. But to face the horrors of such a - planet as this was too much. Imagine Fawkes' - terrible predicament; plenty of food--and - twenty seven beautiful girls for companions. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Spring 1945. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Jonathan Fawkes opened his eyes. He was flat on his back, and a girl -was bending over him. He detected a frightened expression on the -girl's face. His pale blue eyes traveled upward beyond the girl. The -sky was his roof, yet he distinctly remembered going to sleep on his -bunk aboard the space ship. - -"You're not dead?" - -"I've some doubt about that," he replied dryly. He levered himself to -his elbows. The girl, he saw, had bright yellow hair. Her nose was -pert, tip-tilted. She had on a ragged blue frock and sandals. - -"Is--is anything broken?" she asked. - -"Don't know. Help me up." Between them he managed to struggle to his -feet. He winced. He said, "My name's Jonathan Fawkes. I'm a space pilot -with Universal. What happened? I feel like I'd been poured out of a -concrete mixer." - -She pointed to the wreck of a small space freighter a dozen feet away. -Its nose was buried in the turf, folded back like an accordion. It -had burst open like a ripe watermelon. He was surprised that he had -survived at all. He scratched his head. "I was running from Mars to -Jupiter with a load of seed for the colonists." - -"Oh!" said the girl, biting her lips. "Your co-pilot must be in the -wreckage." - -He shook his head. "No," he reassured her. "I left him on Mars. He -had an attack of space sickness. I was all by myself; that was the -trouble. I'd stay at the controls as long as I could, then lock her on -her course and snatch a couple of hours' sleep. I can remember crawling -into my bunk. The next thing I knew you were bending over me." He -paused. "I guess the automatic deflectors slowed me up or I would have -been a cinder by this time," he said. - -The girl didn't reply. She continued to watch him, a faint enigmatic -smile on her lips. Jonathan glanced away in embarrassment. He wished -that pretty women didn't upset him so. He said nervously, "Where am I? -I couldn't have slept all the way to Jupiter." - -The girl shrugged her shoulders. - -"I don't know." - -"You don't know!" He almost forgot his self-consciousness in his -surprise. His pale blue eyes returned to the landscape. A mile across -the plain began a range of jagged foothills, which tossed upward -higher and higher until they merged with the blue saw-edge of a chain -of mountains. As he looked a puff of smoke belched from a truncated -cone-shaped peak. A volcano. Otherwise there was no sign of life: just -he and the strange yellow-headed girl alone in the center of that vast -rolling prairie. - -"I was going to explain," he heard her say. "We think that we are on an -asteroid." - -"We?" he looked back at her. - -"Yes. There are twenty-seven of us. We were on our way to Jupiter, too, -only we were going to be wives for the colonists." - -"I remember," he exclaimed. "Didn't the Jupiter Food-growers -Association enlist you girls to go to the colonies?" - -She nodded her head. "Only twenty-seven of us came through the crash." - -"Everybody thought your space ship hit a meteor," he said. - -"We hit this asteroid." - -"But that was three years ago." - -"Has it been that long? We lost track of time." She didn't take her -eyes off him, not for a second. Such attention made him acutely self -conscious. She said, "I'm Ann. Ann Clotilde. I was hunting when I saw -your space ship. You had been thrown clear. You were lying all in a -heap. I thought you were dead." She stooped, picked up a spear. - -"Do you feel strong enough to hike back to our camp? It's only about -four miles," she said. - -"I think so," he said. - - * * * * * - -Jonathan Fawkes fidgeted uncomfortably. He would rather pilot a space -ship through a meteor field than face twenty-seven young women. They -were the only thing in the Spaceways of which he was in awe. Then he -realized that the girl's dark blue eyes had strayed beyond him. A frown -of concentration marred her regular features. He turned around. - -On the rim of the prairie he saw a dozen black specks moving toward -them. - -She said: "Get down!" Her voice was agitated. She flung herself on her -stomach and began to crawl away from the wreck. Jonathan Fawkes stared -after her stupidly. "Get down!" she reiterated in a furious voice. - -He let himself to his hands and knees. "Ouch!" he said. He felt like -he was being jabbed with pins. He must be one big bruise. He scuttled -after the girl. "What's wrong?" - -The girl looked back at him over her shoulder. "Centaurs!" she said. "I -didn't know they had returned. There is a small ravine just ahead which -leads into the hills. I don't think they've seen us. If we can reach -the hills we'll be safe." - -"Centaurs! Isn't there anything new under the sun?" - -"Well, personally," she replied, "I never saw a Centaur until I was -wrecked on this asteroid." She reached the ravine, crawled head -foremost over the edge. Jonathan tumbled after her. He hit the bottom, -winced, scrambled to his feet. The girl started at a trot for the -hills. Jonathan, groaning at each step, hobbled beside her. - -"Why won't the Centaurs follow us into the hills?" he panted. - -"Too rough. They're like horses," she said. "Nothing but a goat could -get around in the hills." - -The gulley, he saw, was deepening into a respectable canyon, then a -gorge. In half a mile, the walls towered above them. A narrow ribbon -of sky was visible overhead. Yellow fern-like plants sprouted from the -crevices and floor of the canyon. - -They flushed a small furry creature from behind a bush. As it sped -away, it resembled a cottontail of Earth. The girl whipped back her -arm, flung the spear. It transfixed the rodent. She picked it up, tied -it to her waist. Jonathan gaped. Such strength and accuracy astounded -him. He thought, amazons and centaurs. He thought, but this is the year -3372; not the time of ancient Greece. - -The canyon bore to the left. It grew rougher, the walls more -precipitate. Jonathan limped to a halt. High boots and breeches, the -uniform of Universal's space pilots, hadn't been designed for walking. -"Hold on," he said. He felt in his pockets, withdrew an empty cigarette -package, crumpled it and hurled it to the ground. - -"You got a cigarette?" he asked without much hope. - -The girl shook her head. "We ran out of tobacco the first few months we -were here." - -Jonathan turned around, started back for the space ship. - -"Where are you going?" cried Ann in alarm. - -He said, "I've got a couple of cartons of cigarettes back at the -freighter. Centaurs or no centaurs, I'm going to get a smoke." - -"No!" She clutched his arm. He was surprised at the strength of her -grip. "They'd kill you," she said. - -"I can sneak back," he insisted stubbornly. "They might loot the ship. -I don't want to lose those cigarettes. I was hauling some good burley -tobacco seed too. The colonists were going to experiment with it on -Ganymede." - -"No!" - -He lifted his eyebrows. He thought, she is an amazon! He firmly -detached her hand. - -The girl flicked up her spear, nicked his neck with the point of it. -"We are going to the camp," she said. - -Jonathan threw himself down backwards, kicked the girl's feet out from -under her. Like a cat he scrambled up and wrenched the spear away. - -A voice shouted: "What's going on there?" - - * * * * * - -He paused shamefacedly. A second girl, he saw, was running toward -them from up the canyon. Her bare legs flashed like ivory. She was -barefooted, and she had black hair. A green cloth was wrapped around -her sarong fashion. She bounced to a stop in front of Jonathan, her -brown eyes wide in surprise. He thought her sarong had been a table -cloth at one time in its history. - -"A man!" she breathed. "By Jupiter and all its little moons, it's a -man!" - -"Don't let him get away!" cried Ann. - -"Hilda!" the brunette shrieked. "A man! It's a man!" - -A third girl skidded around the bend in the canyon. Jonathan backed off -warily. - -Ann Clotilde cried in anguish: "Don't let him get away!" - -Jonathan chose the centaurs. He wheeled around, dashed back the way -he had come. Someone tackled him. He rolled on the rocky floor of the -canyon. He struggled to his feet. He saw six more girls race around the -bend in the canyon. With shouts of joy they flung themselves on him. - -Jonathan was game, but the nine husky amazons pinned him down by sheer -weight. They bound him hand and foot. Then four of them picked him up -bodily, started up the canyon chanting: "_He was a rocket riding daddy -from Mars._" He recognized it as a popular song of three years ago. - -Jonathan had never been so humiliated in his life. He was known in the -spaceways from Mercury to Jupiter as a man to leave alone. His nose had -been broken three times. A thin white scar crawled down the bronze of -his left cheek, relic of a barroom brawl on Venus. He was big, rangy, -tough. And these girls had trounced him. Girls! He almost wept from -mortification. - -He said, "Put me down. I'll walk." - -"You won't try to get away?" said Ann. - -"No," he replied with as much dignity as he could summon while being -held aloft by four barbarous young women. - -"Let him down," said Ann. "We can catch him, anyway, if he makes a -break." - -Jonathan Fawkes' humiliation was complete. He meekly trudged between -two husky females, who ogled him shamelessly. He was amazed at the ease -with which they had carried him. He was six feet three and no light -weight. He thought enviously of the centaurs, free to gallop across the -plains. He wished he was a centaur. - -The trail left the canyon, struggled up the precipitate walls. Jonathan -picked his way gingerly, hugged the rock. "Don't be afraid," advised -one of his captors. "Just don't look down." - -"I'm not afraid," said Jonathan hotly. To prove it he trod the narrow -ledge with scorn. His foot struck a pebble. Both feet went out from -under him. He slithered halfway over the edge. For one sickening moment -he thought he was gone, then Ann grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, -hauled him back to safety. He lay gasping on his stomach. They tied a -rope around his waist then, and led him the rest of the way to the top -like a baby on a leash. He was too crestfallen to resent it. - -The trail came out on a high ridge. They paused on a bluff overlooking -the prairie. - -"Look!" cried Ann pointing over the edge. - -A half dozen beasts were trotting beneath on the plain. At first, -Jonathan mistook them for horses. Then he saw that from the withers up -they resembled men. Waists, shoulders, arms and heads were identical to -his own, but their bodies were the bodies of horses. - -"Centaurs!" Jonathan Fawkes said, not believing his eyes. - - * * * * * - -The girls set up a shout and threw stones down at the centaurs, who -reared, pawed the air, and galloped to a safe distance, from which they -hurled back insults in a strange tongue. Their voices sounded faintly -like the neighing of horses. - -Amazons and centaurs, he thought again. He couldn't get the problem -of the girls' phenomenal strength out of his mind. Then it occurred -to him that the asteroid, most likely, was smaller even than Earth's -moon. He must weigh about a thirtieth of what he usually did, due to -the lessened gravity. It also occurred to him that they would be thirty -times as strong. He was staggered. He wished he had a smoke. - -At length, the amazons and the centaurs tired of bandying insults -back and forth. The centaurs galloped off into the prairie, the girls -resumed their march. Jonathan scrambled up hills, skidded down slopes. -The brunette was beside him helping him over the rough spots. - -"I'm Olga," she confided. "Has anybody ever told you what a handsome -fellow you are?" She pinched his cheek. Jonathan blushed. - -They climbed a ridge, paused at the crest. Below them, he saw a deep -valley. A stream tumbled through the center of it. There were trees -along its banks, the first he had seen on the asteroid. At the head of -the valley, he made out the massive pile of a space liner. - -They started down a winding path. The space liner disappeared behind -a promontory of the mountain. Jonathan steeled himself for the coming -ordeal. He would have sat down and refused to budge except that he knew -the girls would hoist him on their shoulders and bear him into the camp -like a bag of meal. - -The trail debouched into the valley. Just ahead the space liner -reappeared. He imagined that it had crashed into the mountain, skidded -and rolled down its side until it lodged beside the stream. It reminded -him of a wounded dinosaur. Three girls were bathing in the stream. He -looked away hastily. - -Someone hailed them from the space ship. - -"We've caught a man," shrieked one of his captors. - -A flock of girls streamed out of the wrecked space ship. - -"A man!" screamed a husky blonde. She was wearing a grass skirt. She -had green eyes. "We're rescued!" - -"No. No," Ann Clotilde hastened to explain. "He was wrecked like us." - -"Oh," came a disappointed chorus. - -"He's a man," said the green-eyed blonde. "That's the next best thing." - -"Oh, Olga," said a strapping brunette. "Who'd ever thought a man could -look so good?" - -"I did," said Olga. She chucked Jonathan under the chin. He shivered -like an unbroken colt when the bit first goes in its mouth. He felt -like a mouse hemmed in by a ring of cats. - -A big rawboned brute of a girl strolled into the circle. She said, -"Dinner's ready." Her voice was loud, strident. It reminded him of -the voices of girls in the honky tonks on Venus. She looked at him -appraisingly as if he were a horse she was about to bid on. "Bring him -into the ship," she said. "The man must be starved." - -He was propelled jubilantly into the palatial dining salon of the -wrecked liner. A long polished meturilium table occupied the center of -the floor. Automatic weight distributing chairs stood around it. His -feet sank into a green fiberon carpet. He had stepped back into the -Thirty-fourth Century from the fabulous barbarian past. - -With a sigh of relief, he started to sit down. A lithe red-head sprang -forward and held his chair. They all waited politely for him to be -seated before they took their places. He felt silly. He felt like -a captive princess. All the confidence engendered by the familiar -settings of the space ship went out of him like wind. He, Jonathan -Fawkes, was a castaway on an asteroid inhabited by twenty-seven wild -women. - - * * * * * - -As the meal boisterously progressed, he regained sufficient courage -to glance timidly around. Directly across the table sat a striking, -grey-eyed girl whose brown hair was coiled severely about her head. She -looked to him like a stenographer. He watched horrified as she seized -a whole roast fowl, tore it apart with her fingers, gnawed a leg. She -caught him staring at her and rolled her eyes at him. He returned his -gaze to his plate. - -Olga said: "Hey, Sultan." - -He shuddered, but looked up questioningly. - -She said, "How's the fish?" - -"Good," he mumbled between a mouthful. "Where did you get it?" - -"Caught it," said Olga. "The stream's full of 'em. I'll take you -fishing tomorrow." She winked at him so brazenly that he choked on a -bone. - -"Heaven forbid," he said. - -"How about coming with me to gather fruit?" cried the green-eyed -blonde; "you great big handsome man." - -"Or me?" cried another. And the table was in an uproar. - -The rawboned woman who had summoned them to dinner, pounded the table -until the cups and plates danced. Jonathan had gathered that she was -called Billy. - -"Quiet!" She shrieked in her loud strident voice. "Let him be. He can't -go anywhere for a few days. He's just been through a wreck. He needs -rest." She turned to Jonathan who had shrunk down in his chair. "How -about some roast?" she said. - -"No." He pushed back his plate with a sigh. "If I only had a smoke." - -Olga gave her unruly black hair a flirt. "Isn't that just like a man?" - -"I wouldn't know," said the green-eyed blonde. "I've forgotten what -they're like." - -Billy said, "How badly wrecked is your ship?" - -"It's strewn all over the landscape," he replied sleepily. - -"Is there any chance of patching it up?" - -He considered the question. More than anything else, he decided, he -wanted to sleep. "What?" he said. - -"Is there any possibility of repairing your ship?" repeated Billy. - -"Not outside the space docks." - -They expelled their breath, but not for an instant did they relax -the barrage of their eyes. He shifted position in embarrassment. The -movement pulled his muscles like a rack. Furthermore, an overpowering -lassitude was threatening to pop him off to sleep before their eyes. - -"You look exhausted," said Ann. - -Jonathan dragged himself back from the edge of sleep. "Just tired," he -mumbled. "Haven't had a good night's rest since I left Mars." Indeed -it was only by the most painful effort that he kept awake at all. His -eyelids drooped lower and lower. - -"First it's tobacco," said Olga; "now he wants to sleep. Twenty-seven -girls and he wants to sleep." - -"He is asleep," said the green-eyed blonde. - - * * * * * - -Jonathan was slumped forward across the table, his head buried in his -arms. - -"Catch a hold," said Billy, pushing back from the table. A dozen girls -volunteered with a rush. "Hoist!" said Billy. They lifted him like a -sleepy child, bore him tenderly up an incline and into a stateroom, -where they deposited him on the bed. - -Ann said to Olga; "Help me with these boots." But they resisted every -tug. "It's no use," groaned Ann, straightening up and wiping her bright -yellow hair back from her eyes. "His feet have swollen. We'll have to -cut them off." - -At these words, Jonathan raised upright as if someone had pulled a rope. - -"_Cut off whose feet?_" he cried in alarm. - -"Not your feet, silly," said Ann. "Your boots." - -"Lay a hand on those boots," he scowled; "and I'll make me another pair -out of your hides. They set me back a week's salary." Having delivered -himself of this ultimatum, he went back to sleep. - -Olga clapped her hand to her forehead. "And this," she cried "is what -we've been praying for during the last three years." - -The next day found Jonathan Fawkes hobbling around by the aid of a -cane. At the portal of the space ship, he stuck out his head, glanced -all around warily. None of the girls were in sight. They had, he -presumed, gone about their chores: hunting, fishing, gathering fruits -and berries. He emerged all the way and set out for the creek. He -walked with an exaggerated limp just in case any of them should be -hanging around. As long as he was an invalid he was safe, he hoped. - -He sighed. Not every man could be waited on so solicitously by -twenty-seven handsome strapping amazons. He wished he could carry it -off in cavalier fashion. He hobbled to the creek, sat down beneath the -shade of a tree. He just wasn't the type, he supposed. And it might be -years before they were rescued. - -As a last resort, he supposed, he could hide out in the hills or join -the centaurs. He rather fancied himself galloping across the plains -on the back of a centaur. He looked up with a start. Ann Clotilde was -ambling toward him. - -"How's the invalid?" she said, seating herself beside him. - -"Hot, isn't it?" he said. He started to rise. Ann Clotilde placed the -flat of her hand on his chest and shoved. "_Ooof!_" he grunted. He sat -down rather more forcibly than he had risen. - -"Don't get up because of me," she informed him. "It's my turn to cook, -but I saw you out here beneath the trees. Dinner can wait. Jonathan do -you know that you are irresistible?" She seized his shoulders, stared -into his eyes. He couldn't have felt any more uncomfortable had a -hungry boa constrictor draped itself in his arms. He mopped his brow -with his sleeve. - -"Suppose the rest should come," he said in an embarrassed voice. - -"They're busy. They won't be here until I call them to lunch. Your -eyes," she said, "are like deep mysterious pools." - -"Sure enough?" said Jonathan with involuntary interest. He began to -recover his nerve. - -She said, "You're the best looking thing." She rumpled his hair. "I -can't keep my eyes off you." - -Jonathan put his arm around her gingerly. "Ouch!" He winced. He had -forgotten his sore muscles. - -"I forgot," said Ann Clotilde in a contrite voice. She tried to rise. -"You're hurt." - -He pulled her back down. "Not so you could notice it," he grinned. - -"Well!" came the strident voice of Billy from behind them. "We're _all_ -glad to hear that!" - - * * * * * - -Jonathan leaped to his feet, dumping Ann to the ground. He jerked -around. All twenty-six of the girls were lined up on the path. Their -features were grim. He said: "I don't feel so well after all." - -"It don't wash," said Billy. "It's time for a showdown." - -Jonathan's hair stood on end. He felt rather than saw Ann Clotilde take -her stand beside him. He noticed that she was holding her spear at a -menacing angle. She said in an angry voice: "He's mine. I found him. -Leave him alone." - -"Where do you get that stuff?" cried Olga. "Share and share alike, say -I." - -"We could draw straws for him," suggested the green-eyed blonde. - -"Look here," Jonathan broke in. "I've got some say in the matter." - -"You have not," snapped Billy. "You'll do just as we say." She took a -step toward him. - -Jonathan edged away in consternation. - -"He's going to run!" Olga shouted. - -Jonathan never stopped until he was back in the canyon leading to the -plain. His nerves were jumping like fleas. He craved the soothing -relaxation of a smoke. There was, he remembered, a carton of cigarettes -at the wreck. He resumed his flight, but at a more sober pace. - -At the spot where he and Ann had first crawled away from the centaurs, -he scrambled out of the gulley, glanced in the direction of his space -ship. He blinked his eyes, stared. Then he waved his arms, shouted and -tore across the prairie. A trim space cruiser was resting beside the -wreck of his own. Across its gleaming monaloid hull ran an inscription -in silver letters: "INTERSTELLAR COSMOGRAPHY SOCIETY." - -Two men crawled out of Jonathan's wrecked freighter, glanced in -surprise at Jonathan. A third man ran from the cruiser, a Dixon Ray -Rifle in his hand. - -"I'm Jonathan Fawkes," said the castaway as he panted up, "pilot for -Universal. I was wrecked." - -A tall elderly man held out his hand. He had a small black waxed -mustache and Van Dyke. He was smoking a venusian cigarette in a -yellow composition holder. He said, "I'm Doctor Boynton." He had a -rich cultivated voice, and a nose like a hawk. "We are members of the -Interstellar Cosmography Society. We've been commissioned to make a -cursory examination of this asteroid. You had a nasty crack up, Mr. -Fawkes. But you are in luck, sir. We were on the point of returning -when we sighted the wreck." - -"I say," said the man who had run out of the cruiser. He was a prim, -energetic young man. Jonathan noted that he carried the ray gun -gingerly, respectfully. "We're a week overdue now," he said. "If you -have any personal belongings that you'd like to take with you, you'd -best be getting them aboard." - - * * * * * - -Jonathan's face broke into a grin. He said, "Do any of you know how to -grow tobacco?" - -They glanced at each other in perplexity. - -"I like it here," continued Jonathan. "I'm not going back." - -"What?" cried the three explorers in one breath. - -"I'm going to stay," he repeated. "I only came back here after the -cigarettes." - -"But it will be three years before the asteroid's orbit brings it back -in the space lanes," said Doctor Boynton. "You don't possibly expect to -be picked up before then!" - -Jonathan shook his head, began to load himself with tools, tobacco -seed, and cigarettes. - -"Odd." Doctor Boynton shook his head, turned to the others. "Though if -I remember correctly, there was quite an epidemic of hermits during -the medieval period. It was an esthetic movement. They fled to the -wilderness to escape the temptation of _women_." - -Jonathan laughed outright. - -"You are sure you won't return, young man?" - -He shook his head. They argued, they cajoled, but Jonathan was adamant. -He said, "You might report my accident to Universal. Tell them to stop -one of their Jupiter-bound freighters here when the asteroid swings -back in the space ways. I'll have a load for them." - -Inside the ship, Doctor Boynton moved over to a round transparent port -hole. "What a strange fellow," he murmured. He was just in time to see -the castaway, loaded like a pack mule, disappear in the direction from -which he had come. - -Robinson Crusoe was going back to his man (?) Friday--all twenty-seven -of them. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Castaway, by Emmett McDowell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY CASTAWAY *** - -***** This file should be named 63401.txt or 63401.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/4/0/63401/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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