Project Gutenberg 2008-10-09 Public domain in the USA. 187 Browne, Howard 1907 1999 Pollard, John Carleton, H. B. Hard Guy Produced from Amazing Stories April 1956 and was first published in Amazing Stories November 1942. 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.) Reading ease score: 87.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery 31750 2025-06-11T07:15:47.478060 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 117882 2025-06-11T07:15:51.543079 application/epub+zip 116701 2025-06-11T07:15:49.259040 application/epub+zip 70704 2025-06-11T07:15:48.059049 application/epub+zip 232237 2025-06-11T07:15:53.286014 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 225506 2025-06-11T07:15:50.826048 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 91599 2022-09-12T11:39:25.422624 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 25951 2025-06-11T07:15:47.218019 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 25855 2008-10-09T08:44:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 9909 2008-10-09T08:44:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19181 2025-06-11T07:15:53.452993 application/rdf+xml 9039 2025-06-11T07:15:48.628029 image/jpeg 2550 2025-06-11T07:15:48.337044 image/jpeg 116067 2025-06-11T07:15:47.487033 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia