"They are doing it on
purpose--come back or you'll be sorry."
We went back, much slower than we came, and in truth we
were sorry.
As we reached our swaddled machine, and sought again to tear
loose its covering, there rose up from all around the sturdy forms,
the quiet determined faces we knew so well.
"Oh Lord!" groaned Terry. "The Colonels! It's all up--they're
forty to one."
It was no use to fight. These women evidently relied on
numbers, not so much as a drilled force but as a multitude
actuated by a common impulse. They showed no sign of fear,
and since we had no weapons whatever and there were at least a
hundred of them, standing ten deep about us, we gave in as
gracefully as we might.
Of course we looked for punishment--a closer imprisonment,
solitary confinement maybe--but nothing of the kind happened.
They treated us as truants only, and as if they quite understood
our truancy.
Back we went, not under an anesthetic this time but skimming
along in electric motors enough like ours to be quite recognizable,
each of us in a separate vehicle with one able-bodied lady on either
side and three facing him.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105