got to deep water past the moored lightship.

We were off!

Well, from there on, it was easy. We let Arthur have his fun with the
Major and the bodyguards--and by the sodden, whimpering shape they
were in when they came out, it must really have been fun for him.
There were just the three of us and only Vern and I had guns--but
Arthur had the _Queen Elizabeth_, and that put the odds on our side.

We gave the Major a choice: row back to Coney Island--we offered him a
boat, free of charge--or come along with us as cabin boy. He cast one
dim-eyed look at the hundred and nine "clerks, typists" and at Amy,
who would never be the hundred and tenth.

And then he shrugged and, game loser, said: "Ah, why not? I'll come
along."

* * * * *

And why not, when you come to think of it? I mean ruling a city is
nice and all that, but a sea voyage is a refreshing change. And while
a hundred and nine to one is a respectable female-male ratio, still it
must be wearing; and eighty to thirty isn't so bad, either. At least,
I guess that was what was in the Major's mind. I know it was what was
in mine.

And I discovered that it was in Amy's, for the first thing she did was
to march me over to the typewriter and say: "You've had it, Sam. We'll
dispose with the wedding march--just get your friend Arthur here to
marry us."

"Arthur?"

"The captain," she said. "We're on the high seas and he's empowered to
perform marriages."

Vern looked at me and shrugged, meaning, you asked for this one, boy.
And I looked at him and shrugged, meaning, it could be worse.

And indeed it could. We'd got our ship; we'd got our ship's
company--because, naturally, there wasn't any use stealing a big ship
for just a couple of us. We'd had to manage to get a sizable colony
aboard. That was the whole idea.

The world, in fact, was ours. It could have been very much worse
indeed, even though Arthur was laughing so hard as he performed the
ceremony that he jammed up all his keys.

--FREDERIK POHL

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Knights of Arthur, by Frederik Pohl

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