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Words: 110831 in 57 pages
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GRIFTERS' ASTEROID
Harvey and Joe were the slickest con-men ever to gyp a space-lane sucker. Or so they thought! Angus Johnson knew differently. He charged them five buckos for a glass of water--and got it!
Characteristically, Harvey Ellsworth tried to maintain his dignity, though his parched tongue was almost hanging out. But Joe Mallon, with no dignity to maintain, lurched across the rubbish-strewn patch of land that had been termed a spaceport. When Harvey staggered pontifically into the battered metalloy saloon--the only one on Planetoid 42--his tall, gangling partner was already stumbling out, mouthing something incoherent. They met in the doorway, violently.
"We're delirious!" Joe cried. "It's a mirage!"
"What is?" asked Harvey through a mouthful of cotton.
Joe reeled aside, and Harvey saw what had upset his partner. He stared, speechless for once.
In their hectic voyages from planet to planet, the pair of panacea purveyors had encountered the usual strange life-forms. But never had they seen anything like the amazing creature in that colonial saloon.
Paying no attention to them, it was carrying a case of liquor in two hands, six siphons in two others, and a broom and dustpan in the remaining pair. The bartender, a big man resembling the plumpish Harvey in build, was leaning negligently on the counter, ordering this impossible being to fill the partly-emptied bottles, squeeze fruit juice and sweep the floor, all of which the native did simultaneously.
"Nonsense," Harvey croaked uncertainly. "We have seen enough queer things to know there are always more."
He led the way inside. Through thirst-cracked lips he rasped: "Water--quick!"
Without a word, the bartender reached under the counter, brought out two glasses of water. The interplanetary con-men drank noisily, asked for more, until they had drunk eight glasses. Meanwhile, the bartender had taken out eight jiggers and filled them with whiskey.
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