"Murray Leinster - The Best of Murray Leinster (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

eyes half close as the something gulped; and partly choked, and swallowed. She
saw a lump in the monstrous neck move from the relatively slender portion just
behind the head to the feet thick section projecting from the jungle. She saw
the head withdraw into the jungle and instantly be lost to sight.
Cyrus Harding's widow was very pale. She put on her hat and went out of
the front door. She began to walk toward the house of the nearest neighbor. As
she went, she said steadily to herself:
"It's come. I'm crazy. They'll have to put me in an asylum. But I won't
have to stand him anymore. I won't have to stand him any more!"
It was noon of June 5, 1935. The cell door opened and a very grave,
whiskered man in a curious gray uniform came in. He tapped the prisoner gently
on the shoulder.
"I'm Dr. Holloway," he said encouragingly. "Suppose you tell me, suh,
just what happened to you? I'm right sure it can all be straightened out.
The prisoner sputtered: "What-why--dammit," he protested, "I drove down
from Louisville this morning. I had a dizzy spell and, well, I must have
missed my road, because suddenly I noticed that everything around me was
unfamiliar. And then a man in a gray uniform yelled at me, and a minute later
he began to shoot, and the first thing I knew they'd arrested me for having
the American flag painted on my car! I'm a traveling salesman for the Uncle
Sam Candy Bar Co.! Dammit, it's funny when a man can't fly his own country's
flag"
"In your own country, of course," assented the doctor comfortingly. "But
you must know, sir, that we don't allow any flag but our own to be displayed
here. You violated our laws, suh."
"Your laws!" The prisoner stared blankly. "What laws? Where in the
United States is it ifiegal to fly the American flag?"
"Nowhere in the United States, suh." The doctor smiled. "You must have
crossed our border unawares, suh. I will be frank, and admit that it was
suspected you were insane. I see now that it was just a mistake."
"Border-United" The prisoner gasped. "I'm not in the United States? I'm
not? Then where in hell am I?"
"Ten miles, sir, within the borders of the Confederacy," said the
doctor, and laughed. "A queer mistake, sir, but theah was no intention of
insult. You'll be released at once. Theah is enough tension between Washington
and Richmond without another border incident to upset ouah hot-heads."
"Confederacy?" The prisoner choked. "You can't, you don't mean the
Confederate States"
"Of co'se, sir. The Confederate States of North America. Why not?"
The prisoner gulped. "I-I've gone mad!" he stammered. "I must be mad!
There was Gettysburg-there was-"
"Gettysburg? Oh, yes!" The doctor nodded indulgently. "We are very proud
of ouah history, sir. You refer to the battle in the war of separation, when
the fate of the Confederacy rested on ten minutes time. I have often wondered
what would have been the result if Pickett's charge had been driven back. It
was Pickett's charge that gained the day for us, sir. England recognized the
Confederacy two days later, France in another week, and with unlimited credit
abroad we won out. But it was a tight squeeze, suh!"
The prisoner gasped again. He stared out of the window. And opposite the
jail stood an unquestionable courthouse. Upon the courthouse stood a flagpole.