COPYRIGHT INFO

      The Classic Humorous Tales Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC.

      A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

      Over the last year, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has proved to be one of our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

      The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!).

      A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS

      The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)

      RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

      Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

      Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

      TYPOS

      Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

      If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

      —John Betancourt

      Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

      www.wildsidepress.com

      THE MEGAPACK SERIES

      The Adventure Megapack

      The Baseball Megapack

      The Christmas Megapack

      The Second Christmas Megapack

      The Cowboy Megapack

      The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack

      The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack

      The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack

      The E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Ghost Story Megapack

      The Second Ghost Story Megapack

      The Third Ghost Story Megapack

      The Horror Megapack

      The Macabre Megapack

      The Second Macabre Megapack

      The Martian Megapack

      The Military Megapack

      The Mummy Megapack

      The First Mystery Megapack

      The First Science Fiction Megapack

      The Second Science Fiction Megapack

      The Third Science Fiction Megapack

      The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Pinocchio Megapack

      The Pulp Fiction Megapack

      The Rover Boys Megapack

      The Steampunk Megapack

      The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack

      The Tom Swift Megapack

      The Vampire Megapack

      The Victorian Mystery Megapack

      The Werewolf Megapack

      The Western Megapack

      The Wizard of Oz Megapack

      AUTHOR MEGAPACKS

      The B.M. Bower Megapa pack

      The E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      The Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

      The G.A. Henty Megapack

      The Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Andre Norton Megapack

      The Rafael Sabatini Megapack

      THE STRIKE OF ONE, by Elliott Flower

      Danny Burke was discharged.

      A certain distinguished ex-President of the United States probably would have said that he was discharged for “pernicious activity”; but the head of the branch messenger-office merely said that he was “an infernal nuisance.”

      Danny was a good union man. As a matter of fact, he was a boy, and a small boy at that; but he would have scorned any description that did not put him down as “a good union man.” Danny’s environment had been one of uncompromising unionism, and that was what ailed him. He wanted to advance the union idea. To this end, he undertook to organize the other messengers in the branch office, advancing all the arguments that he had heard his mother and his father use in their discussions. The boys thought favorably of the scheme, but most of them were inclined to let some one else do the experimenting. It might result disastrously. Just to encourage them, Danny became insolent, as he had already become inattentive; he told the manager what he would do and what he would not do, and positively declined to deliver a message that would carry his work a few minutes beyond quitting-time.

      Then Danny was discharged—and he laughed. Discharge him! Well, he’d show them a thing or two.

      “We’ll arbitrate,” he announced.

      “Get out!” ordered the manager.

      “You got to arbitrate,” insisted Danny. “You got to confer with your men or you’re goin’ to have a strike!” Danny had heard so much about conferences that he felt he was on safe ground now. “We can’t stand fer no autycrats!” he added. “You got to meet your men fair an’ talk it over. A committee—”

      “Get out!” repeated the manager, rising from his desk, near which the waiting boys were seated.

      “Men,” yelled Danny, “I calls a strike an’ a boycott!”

      Two of the boys rose as if to follow him, but the manager was too quick. He had Danny by the collar before Danny knew what had happened, and the struggling boy was marched to the door and pushed out. The boys who had risen promptly subsided.

      Danny was too astonished for words. In all his extended hearsay knowledge of strikes he never had heard of anything like this. There was nothing heroic in it at all. He had expected a conference, and, instead, he was ignominiously handled and thrust into the street.

      Danny sat down on a pile of paving-stones to think it over. Without reasoning the matter out, he now regarded himself as a union. The other members had deserted him, but he was on a strike; and somehow he had absorbed the idea that the men who were striking were always the union men. So, this being a strike of one, he was an entire union. It did not take him long to decide that the first thing to do was to “picket the plant.” That