The Project Gutenberg EBook of The People of the Crater, by Andrew North
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Title: The People of the Crater
Author: Andrew North
Illustrator: R. K. Murphy
Neil Austin
Charles McNutt
Release Date: January 14, 2010 [EBook #30960]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration]
The PEOPLE of the CRATER
_A COMPLETE NOVELETTE_
BY ANDREW NORTH
_"Send the Black Throne to dust; conquer the Black Ones, and bring
the Daughter from the Caves of Darkness." These were the tasks Garin
must perform to fulfill the prophecy of the Ancient Ones--and
establish his own destiny in this hidden land!_
_CHAPTER ONE_
_Through the Blue Haze_
Six months and three days after the Peace of Shanghai was signed and the
great War of 1965-1970 declared at an end by an exhausted world, a young
man huddled on a park bench in New York, staring miserably at the gravel
beneath his badly worn shoes. He had been trained to fill the pilot's
seat in the control cabin of a fighting plane and for nothing else. The
search for a niche in civilian life had cost him both health and
ambition.
A newcomer dropped down on the other end of the bench. The flyer studied
him bitterly. _He_ had decent shoes, a warm coat, and that air of
satisfaction with the world which is the result of economic security.
Although he was well into middle age, the man had a compact grace of
movement and an air of alertness.
"Aren't you Captain Garin Featherstone?"
Startled, the flyer nodded dumbly.
From a plump billfold the man drew a clipping and waved it toward his
seat mate. Two years before, Captain Garin Featherstone of the United
Democratic Forces had led a perilous bombing raid into the wilds of
Siberia to wipe out the vast expeditionary army secretly gathering
there. It had been a spectacular affair and had brought the survivors
some fleeting fame.
"You're the sort of chap I've been looking for," the stranger folded t
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