The Project Gutenberg EBook of Faithfully Yours, by Lou Tabakow

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Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: Lou Tabakow

Release Date: February 10, 2008 [EBook #24566]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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FAITHFULLY YOURS

BY LOU TABAKOW

Illustrated by Emsh

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's Note |
| |
| This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction |
| December 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any |
| evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was |
| renewed. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

_If it's too impossibly difficult to track down and recapture an
escaped criminal ... there's a worse thing one might do...._

[Illustration]

JULY 18, 1949 A.D.

_The fugitive lay face down in the fetid undergrowth, drawing in
spasmodic lungfuls of air through cracked and swollen lips. Long before,
his blue workshirt had been ripped to ribbons and his exposed chest
showed a spiderwork of scratches, where branches and brambles had sought
to restrain him in his frenzied flight. Across his back from shoulder to
shoulder ran a deeper cut around which the caked blood attested to the
needle-sharp viciousness of a thorn bush a mile to the north. With each
tortured breath he winced, as drops of sweat ran down, following the
spiderwork network and burning like acid. Incessantly he rubbed his
bruised torso with mud-caked palms to dislodge the gnats and mosquitoes
that clung to him, gorging shamelessly._

_To the east he could see the lights of Fort Mudge where the railroad
cut through on its way to Jacksonville. He had planned to ride the
freight into Jacksonville but by now they were stopping every train and
searching along every foot of the railroad right of way. In the