Project Gutenberg 2008-10-09 Public domain in the USA. 57 Browne, Howard 1907 1999 Pollard, John Carleton, H. B. Hard Guy Reading ease score: 87.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Hard Guy" by H. B. Carleton is a short science fiction story that was first published in "Amazing Stories" in the early 1940s. The narrative follows a chance encounter between a salesman named Frederick Marden and a hitch-hiker, who reveals himself to be part of a gang known as the Strato Rovers, involved in activities that blend heroism and crime. The story explores themes of appearance versus reality and the nature of moral ambiguity in a futuristic setting. The plot centers around Marden's seemingly mundane act of picking up a hitch-hiker, Mike Eagen. As they travel, the conversation reveals Eagen's involvement with the Strato Rovers, a group that claims to target only criminals, likening themselves to modern-day Robin Hoods. They are on a mission to stop a dangerous figure known as the Black Hornet, who is plotting to sabotage a government ammunition facility. The story culminates in a playful twist, as it is revealed that Eagen is actually an eleven-year-old boy, providing a humorous commentary on the exaggerated nature of his claims and the innocence of youth amidst serious undertones of crime and moral choices. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction 31627 31632 2024-10-11T12:00:34.528437 2023-09-12T05:03:39.178434 text/html text/html 27846 2008-10-09T08:44:20 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 57849 2008-10-09T08:44:22 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 117817 2024-10-11T12:00:38.589379 application/epub+zip 116714 2024-10-11T12:00:36.283362 application/epub+zip 70717 2024-10-11T12:00:35.102377 application/epub+zip 232225 2024-10-11T12:00:40.253386 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 225506 2024-10-11T12:00:37.852361 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 91599 2022-09-12T11:39:25.422624 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 25951 25851 2024-10-11T12:00:34.272409 2023-09-12T05:03:39.017435 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 25855 2008-10-09T08:44:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 9909 2008-10-09T08:44:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20031 2024-10-11T12:00:40.486350 application/rdf+xml 9039 2024-10-11T12:00:35.647367 image/jpeg 2550 2024-10-11T12:00:35.371381 image/jpeg 116026 2024-10-11T12:00:34.538381 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia