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