The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bolden's Pets, by F. L. Wallace

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Title: Bolden's Pets

Author: F. L. Wallace

Illustrator: Diehl

Release Date: March 31, 2009 [EBook #28460]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from Galaxy Science
Fiction, October, 1955. Extensive research did not reveal any
evidence that the U. S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

Bolden's Pets

By F. L. WALLACE

Illustrated by DIEHL

_The price of life was a life for a life--which was all the reward the
victim looked for!_

His hands were shaking as he exhibited the gifts. If he were on Earth,
he would be certain it was the flu; in the Centaurus system, kranken.
But this was Van Daamas, so Lee Bolden couldn't say what he had. Man
hadn't been here long enough to investigate the diseases with any degree
of thoroughness. There were always different hazards to overcome as new
planets were settled.

But whatever infection he had, Bolden was not greatly concerned as he
counted out the gifts. He had felt the onset of illness perhaps an hour
before. When he got back to the settlement he'd be taken care of. That
was half a day's flight from here. The base was equipped with the best
medical facilities that had been devised.

He stacked up the gifts to make an impressive show: five pairs of radar
goggles, seven high-velocity carbines, seven boxes of ammunition. This
was the natives' own rule and was never to be disregarded--it had to be
an odd number of gifts.

The Van Daamas native gazed impassively at the heap. He carried a rather
strange bow and a quiver was strapped to his thigh. With one exception,
the arrows were brightly colored, mostly red and yellow. Bolden supposed
this was for easy recovery in case the shot missed. But there was always
one arrow that was stained dark blue. Bolden had observed this
before--no native was ever without that one somber-looking arrow.

The man of Van Daamas stood there and the thin robe that