Earth Abides by George R. Stewart EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Authors: George R. Stewart
- Language: English
- Genre: Classic American Literature
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- Size: 2 MB
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… and the government of the United States of America is herewith
suspended, except in the District of Columbia, as of the emergency.
Federal officers, including those of the Armed Forces, will put themselves
under the orders of the governors of the various states or of any other
functioning local authority. By order of the Acting President. God save the
people of the United States.…
Here is an announcement which has just come in from the Bay Area
Emergency Council. The West Oakland Hospitalization Center has been
abandoned. Its functions, including burials at sea, are now concentrated at
the Berkeley Center. That is all.…
Keep tuned to this Station, which is the only one now in operation in
northern California. We shall inform you of developments, as long as it is
possible.
Just as he pulled himself up to the rock-ledge, he heard a sudden rattle, and
felt a prick of fangs. Automatically he jerked back his right hand; turning
his head, he saw the snake, coiled and menacing. It was not a large one, he
noted, even at the moment when he raised his hand to his lips and sucked
hard at the base of the index-finger, where a little drop of blood was oozing
out.
“Don’t waste time by killing the snake!” he remembered.
He slid down from the ledge, still sucking. At the bottom he saw the
hammer lying where he had left it. For a moment he thought he would go
on and leave it there. That seemed like panic; so he stooped and picked it up
with his left hand, and went on down the rough trail.
He did not hurry. He knew better than that. Hurry only speeded up a man’s
heart, and made the venom circulate faster. Yet his heart was pounding so
rapidly from excitement or fear that hurrying or not hurrying, it seemed,
should make no difference. After he had come to some trees, he took his
handkerchief and bound it around his right wrist. With the aid of a twig he
twisted the handkerchief into a crude tourniquet.
Walking on, he felt himself recovering from his panic. His heart was
slowing down. As he considered the situation, he was not greatly afraid. He
was a young man, vigorous and healthy. Such a bite would hardly be fatal,
even though he was by himself and without good means of treatment.
Now he saw the cabin ahead of him. His hand felt stiff. Just before he got to
the cabin, he stopped and loosened the tourniquet, as he had read should be
done, and let the blood circulate in the hand. Then he tightened it again.
He pushed open the door, dropping the hammer on the floor as he did so. It
fell, handle up, on its heavy head, rocked back and forth for a moment, and
then stood still, handle in the air.
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