Читать книгу The Science Fiction Anthology онлайн

66 страница из 776

The four sailors walked matter of factly over to Lon and grabbed at him. They should have taken him completely by surprise, but he had been warned just enough to explode into battle. It was a very pretty fight, for a time. Lon kept three of them busy. One snarled with a wrenched wrist, another spat blood and teeth and a third had a closed eye before the fourth swung a chair. Then Lon hit something with his head. It was the deck, but he didn’t know it.

When he came to, he was hobbled. He was not bound so he couldn’t move, but his hands were handcuffed together, with six inches of chain between for play. His ankles were similarly restricted. He could move, but he could not fight. Blood was trickling down his temple and somebody was holding his head up.

The skipper said impatiently, “All right, stand back.”

Lon’s head was released. The skipper jerked a thumb. Men went out. Lon looked about desperately for Cathy. She was there—dead white and terrified, but apparently unharmed. She stared at Lon in wordless pleading.