The Project Gutenberg EBook of Let There Be Light, by Horace Brown Fyfe

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Title: Let There Be Light

Author: Horace Brown Fyfe

Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32592]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Let There Be Light

By Horace B. Fyfe

[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science
Fiction November 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Sidenote: _No matter what the future, one factor must always be
reckoned with--the ingenuity of the human animal._]

The two men attacked the thick tree trunk with a weary savagery. In the
bright sunlight, glistening spatters of sweat flew from them as the old
axes bit alternately into the wood.

Blackie stood nearby, on the gravel shoulder of the highway, rubbing his
short beard as he considered the depth of the white notch. Turning his
broad, tanned face to glance along the patched and cracked concrete to
where squat Vito kept watch, he caught the latter's eye and beckoned.

"Okay, Sid--Mike. We'll take it a while."

The rhythm of the axe-strokes ceased. Red Mike swept the back of a
forearm across the semi-shaven stubble that set him as something of a
dandy. Wordlessly, big Sid ambled up the road to replace Vito.

"Pretty soon, now," boasted Mike, eyeing the cut with satisfaction.
"Think it'll bring them?"

"Sure," replied Blackie, spitting on his hands and lifting one of the
worn tools. "That's what they're for."

"Funny," mused Mike, "how some keep going an' others bust. These musta
been workin' since I was a little kid--since before the last blitz."

"Aw, they don't hafta do much. 'Cept in winter when they come out to
clear snow, all they do is put in a patch now an' then."

Mike stared moodily at the weathered surface of the highway and edged
back to avoid the reflected heat.

"It beats me how they know a spot has cracked."

"I guess there's m