ing.

A small ridge of rock stretched out into the lake, and rose, and spread,
and formed what was almost a miniature island some fifty feet across.
There were some young trees on it. Sally and Joe climbed down the slope
and out the rocky isthmus that connected it with the shore.

Sally let down the lunch box on a stone and laughed for no reason at all
as the wind blew her hair. It was a cool wind from over the water. And
Joe realized with a shock of surprise that the air felt different and
smelled different when it blew over open water like this. Up to now he
hadn't thought of the dryness of the air in Bootstrap and the Shed.

The lunch basket was tilted a little. Joe picked it up and settled it
more solidly. Then he said: "Hungry?"

There was literally nothing on his mind at the moment but the luxurious,
satisfied feeling of being off somewhere with grass and a lake and
Sally, and a good part of the afternoon to throw away. It felt good. So
he lifted the lid of the lunch basket.

There was a revolver there. It was the other one from the glove
compartment of the car. Sally hadn't left it behind. Joe regarded it and
said ironically: "Happy, carefree youth--that's us! Which are the ham
sandwiches, Sally?"

8

Nevertheless, the afternoon began splendidly. Joe dunked the bottled
soft drinks in the lake to cool. Then he and Sally ate and talked and
laughed. Joe, in particular, had more than the usual capacity for
enjoyment today. He'd been through twenty-four hours of turmoil but now
things began to look better. And there was the arrangement with Sally,
which had a solid satisfactoriness about it. Sally was swell! If she'd
been homely, Joe would have liked her just the same--to talk to and to
be with. But she was pretty--and she was wearing his ring. She'd wrapped
some string around the inside of the band to make it fit.

The only trouble was that Joe was occasionally conscious of the heavy
weight in his right-hand coat pocket.

But they spent at least an hour in contented, satisfying, meaningless
loafing that nobody can describe but that everybody likes to remember
afterward. From time to time Joe looked ashore, when the weight in his
pocket reminded him of danger.

But he didn't look often enough. He was pulling the chilled soft-drink
bottles out of the lake when he saw a movement out of the corner of his
eye. He whirled, his hand in his pocket....

It was the Chief, with Haney and Mike the midget. Th