N01 0010  1       DAN MORGAN TOLD HIMSELF HE WOULD FORGET Ann Turner.
N01 0010 10    He was well rid of her. He certainly didn't want a
N01 0020 11    wife who was fickle as Ann. If he had married her,
N01 0030  8    he'd have been asking for trouble.
N01 0040  1       But all of this was rationalization. Sometimes he
N01 0040  9    woke up in the middle of the night thinking of Ann,
N01 0050  9    and then could not get back to sleep. His plans and
N01 0060  6    dreams had revolved around her so much and for so long
N01 0070  3    that now he felt as if he had nothing. The easiest
N01 0070 14    thing would be to sell out to Al Budd and leave the
N01 0080 11    country, but there was a stubborn streak in him that
N01 0090  7    wouldn't allow it.
N01 0090 10       The best antidote for the bitterness and disappointment
N01 0100  6    that poisoned him was hard work. He found that if he
N01 0110  7    was tired enough at night, he went to sleep simply
N01 0120  2    because he was too exhausted to stay awake. Each day
N01 0120 12    he found himself thinking less often of Ann; each day
N01 0140  9    the hurt was a little duller, a little less poignant.
N01 0150  6       He had plenty of work to do. Because the summer
N01 0160  4    was unusually dry and hot, the spring produced a smaller
N01 0170  2    stream than in ordinary years. The grass in the meadows
N01 0170 12    came fast, now that the warm weather was here. He could
N01 0180 11    not afford to lose a drop of the precious water, so
N01 0190  8    he spent most of his waking hours along the ditches
N01 0200  3    in his meadows.
N01 0200  6       He had no idea how much time Budd would give him.
N01 0210  5    In any case, he had no intention of being caught asleep,
N01 0220  2    so he carried his revolver in its holster on his hip
N01 0220 13    and he took his Winchester with him and leaned it against
N01 0230 10    the fence. He stopped every few minutes and leaned
N01 0240  6    on his shovel as he studied the horizon, but nothing
N01 0250  3    happened, each day dragging out with monotonous calm.
N01 0260  1       When, in late afternoon on the last day in June,
N01 0260 11    he saw two people top the ridge to the south and walk
N01 0270 10    toward the house, he quit work immediately and strode
N01 0280  4    to his rifle. It could be some kind of trick Budd had
N01 0290  3    thought up. No one walked in this country, least of
N01 0290 13    all Ed Dow or Dutch Renfro or any of the rest of the
N01 0300 13    Bar ~B crew. Morgan watched the two figures for a time,
N01 0310  9    puzzled. When they were closer and he saw that one
N01 0320  6    was a woman, he was more puzzled than ever.
N01 0330  1       He cleaned his shovel, left it against the fence,
N01 0330 10    picked up his Winchester, and started downstream. His
N01 0340  6    visitors had crawled through the south fence and were
N01 0350  6    crossing the meadow, angling toward the house. Now
N01 0360  2    he saw that both the man and woman were moving slowly
N01 0360 13    and irregularly, staggering, as if they found it a
N01 0370  8    struggle to remain on their feet.
N01 0380  2       Reaching the house ahead of them, he waited with
N01 0380 11    his Winchester in his hands. They crawled through the
N01 0390  9    north fence and came on toward him, and now he saw
N01 0400  8    that both were young, not more than nineteen or twenty.
N01 0410  3    They were dirty, their clothes were torn, and the girl
N01 0420  2    was so exhausted that she fell when she was still twenty
N01 0420 13    feet from the front door. She lay there, making no
N01 0430  9    effort to get back on her feet. The boy came on to
N01 0440  7    the porch and sat down, his gaze on Morgan as if half
N01 0450  4    expecting him to shoot and not really caring.
N01 0450 12       Morgan hesitated, thinking that if this was a trick,
N01 0460  9    it was a good one. He didn't think it was possible
N01 0470  6    for this couple to be pretending. The boy licked his
N01 0480  4    dry lips. He asked, "Could we have a drink"?
N01 0490  1       Morgan jerked his head toward the front door. "In
N01 0490 10    the kitchen", he said. Leaning his Winchester against
N01 0500  7    the front of the house, he walked to the girl. "Get
N01 0510  7    up. There's water in the house".
N01 0520  1       She didn't move or say anything. Her eyes were glazed
N01 0520 11    as if she didn't hear or even see him. She had reached
N01 0530 11    a point at which she didn't even care how she looked.
N01 0540  8    Her face was very thin, and burned by the sun until
N01 0550  5    much of the skin was dead and peeling, the new skin
N01 0560  2    under it red and angry.
N01 0560  7       Her blond hair was frowzy, her dress torn in several
N01 0570  4    places, and her shoes were so completely worn out that
N01 0580  2    they were practically no protection. It must have hurt
N01 0580 11    her even to walk, for the sole was completely off her
N01 0590 10    left foot and Morgan saw that it was bruised and bleeding.
N01 0600  7       He picked her up, sliding one hand under her shoulders,
N01 0610  5    the other under her knees, and carried her into the
N01 0620  3    house. She was amazingly light, and so relaxed in his
N01 0620 13    arms that he wasn't even sure she was conscious. Any
N01 0630 10    lingering suspicion that this was a trick Al Budd had
N01 0640  9    thought up was dispelled. No girl would go this far
N01 0650  5    to fool a man so she could kill him. Besides, she had
N01 0660  2    a sweet face that attracted him.
N01 0660  8       He put her down on the couch, and going into the
N01 0670  6    kitchen, saw that the boy had dropped into a chair
N01 0680  2    beside the table. They looked a good deal alike, Morgan
N01 0680 12    thought. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes, and there
N01 0690 10    was even a faint similarity of features.
N01 0700  3       Morgan filled the dipper from the water bucket on
N01 0710  3    the shelf, went back into the front room, lifted the
N01 0710 13    girl's head, and held the edge of the dipper to her
N01 0720 11    mouth. She drank greedily, and murmured, "Thank you",
N01 0730  5    as he lowered her head.
N01 0730 10       He stood looking down at her for a moment, wondering
N01 0740 10    what could have reduced her to this condition. He had
N01 0750  7    seen a few nester wagons go through the country, the
N01 0760  4    families almost starving to death, but he had never
N01 0770  1    seen any of them on foot and as bad off as these two.
N01 0770 14       The girl dropped off to sleep. Morgan returned to
N01 0780  8    the kitchen, built a fire, and carried in several buckets
N01 0790  6    of water from the spring which he poured into the copper
N01 0800  4    boiler that he had placed on the stove. He brought
N01 0810  1    his Winchester in from the front of the house, then
N01 0810 11    faced the boy.
N01 0820  1       "Who are you and what happened to you"? he asked.
N01 0830  1       "I'm Billy Jones", the boy answered. "That's my
N01 0830  8    wife Sharon. We ran out of money and we haven't eaten
N01 0840 10    for two days".
N01 0850  1       "What are you doing here"?
N01 0850  6       "Are we in Wyoming"?
N01 0860  1       Morgan nodded. "About five miles north of the line".
N01 0870  1       Jones sighed as if relieved. "We've been looking
N01 0870  9    for work, but all the ranchers have turned us down".
N01 0880  9       "You mean you dragged your wife all over hell's
N01 0890  7    half-acre looking for work"? Morgan demanded. "The
N01 0900  4    town of Buckhorn's only about six miles from here.
N01 0910  3    Why didn't you go there"?
N01 0910  8       "We didn't want town work", Jones said.
N01 0920  5       "This is a mighty empty country", Morgan said. "There's
N01 0930  4    only one more ranch three miles north of here. You'd
N01 0940  4    have starved to death if you'd missed both places".
N01 0950  1       "Then we're lucky we got here. Could you give us
N01 0950 11    a job, Mr& **h"
N01 0960  4       "Morgan. Dan Morgan".
N01 0960  7       He was silent a moment, thinking he could use a
N01 0970  9    man this time of year, and if the girl could cook,
N01 0980  5    it would give him more time in the meadows, but he
N01 0990  2    knew nothing about the couple. They might kill him
N01 0990 11    in his sleep, thinking there was money in the house.
N01 1000  7    He dismissed the possibility at once. The girl's thin
N01 1010  5    face haunted him. It wasn't the face of a killer. He
N01 1020  3    wasn't so sure about the boy. He hadn't shaved for
N01 1020 13    several weeks, his sparse beard giving his face a pathetic,
N01 1030 10    woebegone expression.
N01 1040  1       There was more to this than Jones had told him.
N01 1040 11    They were running from something. He'd be an idiot
N01 1050  9    to let them stay he thought, but he couldn't send them
N01 1060  8    on, either.
N01 1060 10       "I could use some help", Morgan said finally, "but
N01 1070  8    I can't afford to pay you anything. I guess you'd better
N01 1080  7    go on in the morning".
N01 1090  1       "We'll work for our keep", the boy said eagerly.
N01 1090 10    "I've been mucking in a mine in the San Juan, but I
N01 1100 11    used to work on a ranch. Sharon, she's cooked in a
N01 1110  6    restaurant. We'll work hard, Mr& Morgan".
N01 1120  1       "I'll see", Morgan said. "Right now you need a meal
N01 1130  3    and a bath. Your wife's in terrible shape".
N01 1130 11       "I know", Jones said dejectedly.
N01 1140  5       Morgan filled the fire box with wood again, then
N01 1150  5    started supper and set the table. When the meal was
N01 1160  2    ready, he told Jones to wash up, and going into the
N01 1160 13    front room, woke the girl. He said, "I've got some
N01 1170  9    supper ready".
N01 1180  1       She rubbed her eyes and stretched, then sat up,
N01 1180  9    her hands going to her hair. "I'm a mess", she said,
N01 1190  7    and suddenly she was alarmed. "Who are you? How did
N01 1200  5    we get here"?
N01 1200  8       "I'm Dan Morgan. This is the Rafter ~M. You fell
N01 1210  8    down in front of the house, and I carried you in. I
N01 1220  7    gave you a drink and then you went to sleep".
N01 1230  1       "Oh". She stared at him, her eyes wide as she thought
N01 1240  1    about what he had said; then she murmured: "You're
N01 1240 10    very kind, Mr& Morgan. Do you take in all the strays
N01 1250 10    who come by"?
N01 1260  1       "I don't have many strays coming to my front door",
N01 1260 11    he said. "Think you can walk to the table"?
N01 1270  8       "Of course".
N01 1280  1       She got to her feet, staggered, and almost fell.
N01 1280 10    He caught her by an arm and helped her into the kitchen.
N01 1290 10    She sat down at the table, shaking her head. "I'm sorry,
N01 1300  6    Mr& Morgan. I'm usually a very strong woman, but I'm
N01 1310  6    awfully tired".
N01 1310  8       "And hungry", he said. "Start in. It's not much
N01 1320  8    of a meal, but it's what I eat".
N01 1330  3       "Not much of a meal"? the girl cried. "Mr& Morgan,
N01 1340  2    it's the best-looking food I ever saw".
N01 1340 10       He told himself he had never seen two people eat
N01 1350 10    so much. When they were finally satisfied, Jones said,
N01 1360  5    "I think he's going to give us work".
N01 1370  1       The grateful way she looked at Morgan made him ashamed
N01 1380  1    of himself. When he saw the expression in her eyes,
N01 1380 11    he knew he couldn't send them on. She said, "I guess
N01 1390  8    the Lord looks out for fools, drunkards, and innocents".
N01 1400  4       Morgan laughed. "Which are you"?
N01 1410  2       "We're not drunkards", she said. "That's all I'm
N01 1420  3    sure of".
N01 1420  5       She helped him with the dishes, then he brought
N01 1430  3    more water in from the spring before it got dark. He
N01 1430 14    carried the tub from the back of the house where it
N01 1440 11    hung from a nail in the wall. He said: "You'll feel
N01 1450  6    a lot better after you have a bath. Your feet are in
N01 1460  5    bad shape, Mrs& Jones. You'll have to go to town to
N01 1470  3    see the doc".
N01 1470  6       "No, she'll be all right", Jones said quickly. "I
N01 1480  4    mean, we don't have any way to get there and we can't
N01 1490  3    expect you to quit work just to take us to town".
N01 1500  1       "We'll see", Morgan said.
N01 1500  4       "Could you find me a needle and thread"? the girl
N01 1510  5    asked. "My dress needs some work on it".
N01 1520  1       He nodded and, going into the bedroom, brought a
N01 1520 10    needle, thread, and scissors. He said: "I'm going to
N01 1530  9    bed". He nodded at the door in front of him. "That's
N01 1540  9    my spare bedroom. The bed isn't made, but you'll find
N01 1550  6    plenty of blankets there".
N01 1560  1       "You're awfully kind", the girl said. "We'll pay
N01 1560  8    you back if you'll let us. Some way".
N01 1570  6       "It's all right", he said. "I get up early. You'd
N01 1580  6    better sleep".
N01 1580  8       Jones followed him into the front room, closing
N01 1590  7    the door behind him. He said: "If it's all right with
N01 1600  5    you, Mr& Morgan, I'll sleep out here on the couch.
N01 1610  4    We haven't slept together since we started. I just
N01 1620  1    can't take any chances on getting her pregnant, and
N01 1620 10    if we were sleeping together **h"
N01 1630  3       He stopped, embarrassed, and Morgan said, "I understand
N01 1640  3    that, but I don't savvy why you'd go off and leave
N01 1650  1    your jobs in the first place".
N01 1650  7       "We got fired", Jones said. "We had to do something".
N01 1660  7       They were a pair of lost, whipped kids, Morgan thought
N01 1670  5    as he went to bed.
N02 0010  1       Gavin paused wearily. "You can't stay here with
N02 0010  9    me. It's late and you said they'd be here by dawn".
N02 0020 10       "You can't make me go".
N02 0030  4       Gavin sank down again into his chair and began to
N02 0040  2    rock. He was thinking of Rittenhouse and how he had
N02 0040 12    left him there, to rock to death on the porch of the
N02 0050 11    Splendide. It was the only thing in his life for which
N02 0060  7    he felt guilt. Beneath his black shirt his frail shoulders
N02 0070  4    shook and croaks of pain broke from his throat, the
N02 0080  1    stored pain shattering free in slow gasps, terrible
N02 0080  9    to see. Clayton tried to call back the face of the
N02 0090  9    man he had known. Against that other man he could rally
N02 0100  5    his anger; against this bent man in the chair he was
N02 0110  3    powerless.
N02 0110  4       Gavin's lips moved so that Clayton had to stoop
N02 0120  3    to catch the words. "Do you remember Big Charlie"?
N02 0120 12    he whispered. "He stuck with me all these years. Just
N02 0130 10    a half-breed 'pache, never said much, never meant anythin
N02 0140  8    to me, but he stuck with me. He got into a fight with
N02 0150  8    Tom English, your brother's son. It was a fair fight,
N02 0160  6    the boy provoked it- Big Charlie told me so. I believed
N02 0170  3    him. They killed Big Charlie, dumped his body in my
N02 0170 13    rose garden two nights ago. My men, they all left me.
N02 0180 11    Just cleared out. I didn't understand why, Clay. They
N02 0190  7    just all cleared out. I treated them fair **h"
N02 0210  1       He wiped his lips with a sleeve, then stared at
N02 0220  2    Clayton in a childish kind of wonder. "Do you mean"-
N02 0220 12    he asked almost shyly- "you want me to go with you,
N02 0230 11    wherever you're goin"?
N02 0240  2       "Yes".
N02 0240  3       "You don't hate me any more"?
N02 0250  1       Clayton choked, shook his head, murmuring, "No".
N02 0260  1       "Come here". The old man beckoned with one finger
N02 0260 10    and Clayton went forward to him. Gavin slipped his
N02 0270  8    arms around his chest and hugged him fiercely. "All
N02 0280  5    my life", he said, "I tried. I tried. I saw you driftin
N02 0290  5    away- but I tried. And you wanted no part of me when
N02 0300  4    I had so much to give. Now there's nothin left of me.
N02 0310  1    Laurel is gone, my men are gone, Ed is dead- and you
N02 0310 13    come to me, to help me. Oh! God in Heaven, I can't
N02 0320  9    refuse you now. That would mock me too much! Can't
N02 0330  6    let you go way from me again **h" He closed his eyes,
N02 0340  4    ashamed of his tears.
N02 0340  8       "I'll go, Clay".
N02 0350  1       Clayton freed himself from the embrace and stepped
N02 0350  9    back. The eyes followed him fearfully. "The horses.
N02 0360  7    There isn't much time. I'll saddle the horses and bring
N02 0370  7    them round. You get ready".
N02 0380  1       He burst from the hot confinement of the room into
N02 0380 11    the cold night air. Gavin's stallion was in the barn
N02 0390  9    and he tightened the cinches over the saddle blanket,
N02 0400  5    working by touch in the darkness, comforting the animal
N02 0410  3    with easy words. When he had finished he led him and
N02 0420  1    the mare to the porch. The stallion had smelled the
N02 0420 11    mare coming into heat and began to paw the turf, shaking
N02 0430  9    his head. Clayton looped the reins in a knot over the
N02 0450  4    veranda post and patted the warm flesh of his neck.
N02 0460  2    The mare had backed away. "You take it easy, boy",
N02 0460 12    Clayton whispered. "She doesn't want you now. You take
N02 0470  9    it easy, your time will come".
N02 0480  3       Gavin stood on the porch, a thin figure. He had
N02 0490  2    taken a carbine down from the wall and it trailed from
N02 0490 13    his hand, the stock bumping on the wood floor. Clayton
N02 0500  9    called to him and he came slowly down the steps.
N02 0510  5       "Clay", he said, "where are we goin"?
N02 0520  2       "To a ranch in the valley. There's someone there
N02 0530  1    I have to see. We may take her with us- to California.
N02 0530 13    I don't know yet, it's crazy; I have to think about
N02 0540 10    it. But California is where we're goin".
N02 0550  5       "California". Gavin began to nod. "That's a new
N02 0560  5    land. A man could make a mark there. two men, together
N02 0570  2    like us, we could do somethin fine out there, maybe
N02 0570 12    find a place where no one's ever been. Start out fresh,
N02 0580 10    the two of us, like nothin had ever happened".
N02 0590  5       "Yes, like a father and son".
N02 0600  1       "I made you what you are", Gavin whispered. "I made
N02 0610  1    you so you could stand up. I made you a man".
N02 0610 12       "Yes, Gavin, you did".
N02 0620  3       He approached the horse and laid a hand on the stallion's
N02 0630  2    quivering neck. "Help me up, Clay. Help me up, I feel
N02 0640  2    kind of stiff". Clayton lifted him gently into the
N02 0640 11    saddle, like a child. "I hate to leave my garden",
N02 0650  9    Gavin said. "They'll trample it down. I loved my garden".
N02 0660  8       "It will grow again- in California".
N02 0670  5       "I loved this valley", he whispered huskily. "Lived
N02 0680  2    alone here for three years, before any man came. Lived
N02 0690  1    alone by the river. It was nice then, so peaceful and
N02 0690 12    quiet. There was no one but me. I don't want to leave
N02 0700 11    it".
N02 0700 12       Clayton swung into the saddle and whacked the stallion's
N02 0710  9    rump. The two horses broke from the yard, from the
N02 0720  7    circle of light cast by the lamp still burning in the
N02 0730  4    house, into the darkness.
N02 0730  8    #THIRTY-FIVE#
N02 0730 10    THEY RODE at a measured pace through the valley. Dawn
N02 0740 10    would come soon and the night was at its coldest. The
N02 0750  9    moon had sunk below the black crest of the mountains
N02 0760  4    and the land, seen through eyes that had grown accustomed
N02 0770  1    to the absence of light, looked primeval, as if no
N02 0770 11    man had ever trespassed before. It looked as Gavin
N02 0780  7    had first seen it years ago, on those nights when he
N02 0790  6    slept alone by his campfire and waked suddenly to the
N02 0800  3    hoot of an owl or the rustle of a blade of grass in
N02 0800 16    the moon's wind- a savage land, untenanted and brooding,
N02 0810  7    too strong to be broken by the will of men. Gavin sighed
N02 0820  9    bitterly. In that inert landscape the caravan of his
N02 0830  5    desires passed before his mind. He saw them ambushed,
N02 0840  2    strewn in the postures of the broken and the dying.
N02 0840 12    In vain his mind groped to reassemble the bones of
N02 0850  9    the relationships he had sought so desperately, but
N02 0860  5    they would not come to life. The silence oppressed
N02 0870  1    him, made him bend low over the horse's neck as if
N02 0870 12    to hide from a wind that had begun to blow far away
N02 0880 11    and was twisting slowly through the darkness in its
N02 0890  5    slow search.
N02 0890  7       They passed ranches that were framed dark gray against
N02 0900  6    the black hills. Then at last the darkness began to
N02 0910  3    dissolve. A bold line of violet broke loose from the
N02 0920  1    high ridge of the mountains, followed by feathers of
N02 0920 10    red that swept the last stars from the sky. The wan
N02 0930  8    light spread over the ground and the valley revealed
N02 0940  3    in the first glimmer the contours of trees and fences
N02 0950  1    and palely shadowed gullies.
N02 0950  5    ##
N02 0950  6    THEY HAD been seen as soon as they left the ranch,
N02 0960  6    picked out of the darkness by the weary though watchful
N02 0970  2    eyes of two men posted a few hundred yards away in
N02 0970 13    the windless shelter of the trees. The two men whipped
N02 0980  9    their horses into town and flung themselves up the
N02 0990  6    steps of the saloon, crying their intelligence.
N02 1000  1       The men in Pettigrew's were tired from a night's
N02 1010  1    drinking, their faces red and baggy. But the liquor
N02 1010 10    had flushed their courage. They greeted the news angrily,
N02 1020  7    as though they had been cheated of purpose. Lester
N02 1030  4    heard their muttering, saw their eyes reveal their
N02 1040  1    desire. He worked his tongue round and round in the
N02 1040 11    hollow of his cheek and his voice came out of his throat,
N02 1050 10    dry and cracked. "He's leavin. That's what you wanted,
N02 1060  6    isn't it? Clayton is with him, takin him out of the
N02 1070  7    valley. You can't"-
N02 1070 10       "Keep out of this", Purvis snarled. "He's not your
N02 1080  8    brother, he's Gavin's son. You see, he lied to us when
N02 1090  8    he said he was leavin alone".
N02 1100  1       Joe Purvis was thinking back many years. First he
N02 1100 10    thought of the time he had ridden to Gavin and told
N02 1110 10    him how his cattle were being rustled at the far end
N02 1120  6    of the valley. He remembered Gavin's smirk, his own
N02 1130  3    cringing feeling, his impotence. Then he thought of
N02 1130 11    a time when Clayton's horse had fallen lame in the
N02 1140  9    Gap. His wife had said to him: "Nellie is in love with
N02 1150  9    Clayton Roy. He wouldn't even dance with her at Gavin's
N02 1160  7    party. He treats her like she was dirt. And you stand
N02 1170  5    by like a fool and let him do it **h"
N02 1180  1       He remembered Clayton's mocking smile in the saloon
N02 1180  8    when he had asked him what he would do if they brought
N02 1190  9    their cattle to water. It was the night Clayton had
N02 1200  5    tricked them in the poker game. "You're Gavin's son",
N02 1210  2    Joe Purvis had said.
N02 1210  6       He turned to Lester. "You brought him back to this
N02 1220  7    valley thinkin he would help you find your boy. He
N02 1230  4    meant to help Gavin all the time. He made a fool of
N02 1240  1    you, Lester". He swung round to the other men- "We
N02 1240 11    can catch him easy! There are plenty of fresh horses
N02 1250  9    halfway at my place. If we let them go, they won't
N02 1260  7    stay away, they'll find men to ride with them and they'll
N02 1270  4    be back. There's only one way they can get out now
N02 1280  2    and that's through the Gap- if we ride hard we can
N02 1280 13    take them".
N02 1290  1       Lester's hand fluttered to Cabot's shoulder. The
N02 1300  1    boy jerked away.
N02 1300  4       "He killed Tom- do you understand that"? Cabot turned
N02 1310  3    back to the men and he was drunk with the thing they
N02 1320  1    would do, wild to break from the cloying warmth of
N02 1320 11    the saloon into the cold of the ebbing night. He fled
N02 1330  8    through the door and down the steps, running, and the
N02 1340  4    men grunted and followed, pushing Lester to one side
N02 1350  2    where he backed against the wall with the sleeve of
N02 1350 12    his jacket raised before his eyes to shut out the light.
N02 1360  9    Purvis and Silas Pettigrew were the last to leave.
N02 1370  6    They mounted up and rode slowly behind the others at
N02 1380  3    a safe distance.
N02 1380  6    #THIRTY-SIX#
N02 1380  8    IN THE cold dawn the mist swirled low to the ground,
N02 1390  8    then rose with a gust of sudden wind to leave the valley
N02 1400  5    clear. The clouds parted and hard gashes of sunlight
N02 1410  1    swooped down to stain the earth with streaks of white
N02 1410 11    and gold light so that the shadows of the running horses
N02 1420 10    flowed like dark streams over the dazzling snow. When
N02 1430  6    they turned in the saddle they could see the men behind
N02 1440  5    them, strung out on the prairie in a flat black line.
N02 1450  1    The wind of their running was cold and wild, the horses
N02 1450 12    were lathered and their manes streamed like stiff black
N02 1460  8    pennants in the wind.
N02 1470  1       The mare began to tire and Clayton felt the spray
N02 1470 11    of snow from the hoofs of Gavin's stallion. He looked
N02 1480  8    over his shoulder at the thin dotting of pursuers.
N02 1490  5    They neither gained nor fell back. He rode low on the
N02 1500  4    mare's neck. Ahead of him Gavin turned slightly off
N02 1500 13    the trail and pointed for the Gap, no more than a mile
N02 1510 12    away.
N02 1510 13       Gavin's face was bloodless with excitement. He did
N02 1520  8    not look back; he could feel more than hear the staccato
N02 1530  8    beat of hoofs that fanned out across the prairie to
N02 1540  5    the north. He knew who was riding after him- the men
N02 1550  3    he had known all his life, the men who had worked for
N02 1550 15    him, sworn their loyalty to him. Now they were riding
N02 1560  9    to kill him. And he was fleeing, running- fleeing his
N02 1570  5    death and his life at the same time. The land over
N02 1580  4    which he sped was the land he had created and lived
N02 1580 15    in: his valley. With every leaping stride of the horse
N02 1590 10    beneath him he crossed one more patch of earth that
N02 1600  8    had been his, that he would never see again. The Gap
N02 1610  5    looming before him- the place where had confronted
N02 1620  1    Jack English on that day so many years ago- was his
N02 1620 12    exit from all that had meaning to him.
N02 1630  7       California is too far, he thought. He would never
N02 1640  4    reach California. He was too old- when he passed up
N02 1650  2    and through the corridor of pines that lined the trail
N02 1650 12    he could see ahead, he was passing from life.
N03 0010  1       The sentry was not dead. He was, in fact, showing
N03 0010 11    signs of reviving. He had been carrying an Enfield
N03 0020  7    rifle and a holstered navy cap-and-ball pistol. A bayonet
N03 0030  4    hung in a belt scabbard. He was partially uniformed
N03 0040  2    in a cavalry tunic and hat. Mike stripped these from
N03 0040 12    him and donned them. He and Dean tied and gagged the
N03 0050 11    man, using his belt and shirt for the purpose. They
N03 0060  7    dragged him inside the building.
N03 0070  1       Fiske joined them, unsteady on his feet. Julia,
N03 0070  9    seeing the bandage, rushed to him. "You are hurt"!
N03 0080  7    she breathed.
N03 0090  1       "I never felt better in my life", Fiske blustered.
N03 0090  9       He turned to Susan and kissed her on the cheek.
N03 0100  9    "Thank you, My dear", he said. "You are very brave".
N03 0120  6       Mike silenced them. "We'll talk later. First, we've
N03 0130  5    got to get out of here".
N03 0130 11       "We'll grab horses", Dean said. "The main bunch
N03 0140  8    is outside, but there are some over there inside the
N03 0150  8    wall".
N03 0150  9       Mike debated it, trying to decide whether Fiske
N03 0160  6    was strong enough to ride. But it at least offered
N03 0170  3    him a chance for living. He had none here. And, for
N03 0180  1    the sake of Julia and Susan, it had to be tried.
N03 0180 12       The guerrilla bivouac remained silent. Light showed
N03 0190  5    in the orderly room across the parade ground. Someone
N03 0200  4    evidently was on duty there. No doubt there would be
N03 0210  3    men guarding the horses.
N03 0210  7       About a dozen animals were held inside the stockade,
N03 0220  5    as best Mike could make out in the moonlight. Evidently
N03 0230  2    this was a precaution so that mounts would be available
N03 0240  1    in an emergency.
N03 0240  4       He handed the guard's rifle to Fiske. "Dean and
N03 0250  2    myself will try to cut out horses to ride", he said.
N03 0250 13    "We'll stampede the rest. You stay with the ladies.
N03 0260  9    All of you be ready to ride hell for leather".
N03 0270  6       He added, "If this doesn't work out, the three of
N03 0280  6    you barricade yourself in the house and talk terms
N03 0290  2    with them".
N03 0290  4       He handed the bayonet to Dean and kept the pistol.
N03 0300  2    Susan halted Dean and kissed him. She clung to him,
N03 0300 12    talking to him, and dabbing at her eyes.
N03 0310  8       Mike turned away. He was thinking that the way she
N03 0320  6    had responded to his own kiss hadn't meant what he
N03 0330  3    had believed it had. He felt unutterably weary.
N03 0330 11       Dean turned from Susan and took Julia Fortune in
N03 0340  9    his arms. He kissed her also, and with deep tenderness.
N03 0350  6    She too began to weep. He released her and joined Mike.
N03 0360  5    "All right", he said.
N03 0360  9       Mike only said, "Later".
N03 0370  2       "Be careful, McLish"! Susan said fiercely.
N03 0390  1       "The way you were careful"? he snorted. "Running
N03 0400  1    around in the moonlight almost naked and slugging a
N03 0400 10    man with a rock"?
N03 0410  1       He kept going. He wanted no more sentimental scenes
N03 0410 10    with her. He might say or do something foolish. Something
N03 0420 10    all of them would regret. He might tell her how sorry
N03 0430  9    a spectacle she was making of herself, pretending to
N03 0440  5    be blind to the way Julia Fortune had taken Dean's
N03 0450  2    affections from her. And using him, Mike McLish, as
N03 0450 11    a sop to her pride.
N03 0460  5       He handed the bayonet to Dean and kept the pistol.
N03 0470  2    "Stay well back of me", he said. "I'm going to walk
N03 0480  1    up to the horses, bold as brass, pretending I'm one
N03 0480 11    of the guerrillas. There's bound to be someone on guard,
N03 0490  8    but the hat might fool them long enough for me to get
N03 0500  7    close".
N03 0500  8       Holding the pistol concealed, he walked to the rear
N03 0510  6    wall of the stockade. It was pierced by a wagon gate
N03 0520  4    built of two wings. One wing stood open. Mike passed
N03 0520 14    through it and moved toward the dark mass of horses.
N03 0530 10    They were tethered, army style, on stable lines.
N03 0540  6       A voice spoke near-at-hand. "Who's thet"?
N03 0550  2       Just me", Mike said. "Is that you, Bill"?
N03 0560  2       He located his man. The guard stood in the shadow
N03 0570  1    of the stockade wall just out of reach of the moonlight.
N03 0570 12    Mike kept walking and got within arm's reach before
N03 0580  8    the man became suspicious and straightened from his
N03 0590  5    lax slouch.
N03 0590  7       Mike struck with the muzzle of the pistol. But the
N03 0600  6    luck that had been running their way left him. The
N03 0610  3    guard instinctively parried the blow with his rifle.
N03 0610 11    He tried to veer the rifle around to fire into Mike's
N03 0620 10    body.
N03 0630  1       Mike, off balance, managed to bat the muzzle away
N03 0630  9    a moment before it exploded. The bullet went wide.
N03 0640  5    Mike swung the pistol in a savage backlash. This time
N03 0650  3    it connected solidly on the man's temple, felling him.
N03 0660  2       The explosion of the rifle had crashed against the
N03 0660 11    walls of the stockade and the deep echoes were still
N03 0670 10    rolling in the hills. The startled horses began rearing
N03 0680  5    on their tethers.
N03 0680  8       Dean came rushing up. "Are you hit"? he demanded.
N03 0690  8       "No, but the fat's in the fire"! Mike said. "There's
N03 0700  8    no chance now of all of us getting away. You'll have
N03 0710  7    to try it alone".
N03 0710 11       The sentry's saddled horse stood picketed nearby,
N03 0720  7    having been kept handy in case of need.
N03 0730  5       Mike took the bayonet from Dean's hand and slashed
N03 0740  2    the picket line. "Up you go"! he said. "Ride"!
N03 0750  1       Dean resisted Mike's attempt to push him toward
N03 0750  9    the horse. "Why not you"? he protested.
N03 0760  6       "Dammit"! Mike said frantically. "You're lighter
N03 0770  4    than me. It's our only chance now. Try to find these
N03 0780  5    Feds. The rest of us can fort up in the house and hang
N03 0790  3    on until you get back. You're the one that's taking
N03 0790 13    the big chance".
N03 0800  3       Dean still hesitated, but Mike lifted him almost
N03 0810  1    bodily into the saddle and thrust the reins in his
N03 0810 11    hand.
N03 0820  1       "No telling how good this horse is", Mike panted.
N03 0820  9    "Favor him and save something in case you hit trouble.
N03 0830  8    Watch out for Apaches when it comes daylight. Take
N03 0840  5    the pistol. You might need it. We'll still have the
N03 0850  3    rifle, and I might be able to round up some more. I'll
N03 0860  1    stampede the rest of these horses so they can't chase
N03 0860 11    you".
N03 0870  1       Dean leaned from the saddle and gave him a mighty
N03 0870 11    whack on the back. "McLish", he said as he kicked the
N03 0880  8    horse into motion, "I'd be a mighty sad man if we never
N03 0890  9    met again".
N03 0890 11       Then he was on his way at a gallop. Mike ran down
N03 0900  9    the line, slashing picket ropes with the bayonet. He
N03 0910  5    lifted a screeching war whoop. That touched off a total
N03 0920  3    stampede. He darted inside the stockade and freed the
N03 0920 12    horses there. These poured through the gate and joined
N03 0930  9    the flight. The animals thundered away into the moonlight,
N03 0940  6    heading for the ridges.
N03 0950  1       The guerrillas were swarming from their bivouac
N03 0950  7    at the west end of the enclosure.
N03 0960  2       "'Paches"! Mike yelled. "They're stealin' the stock"!
N03 0970  3       He scuttled in shadow along the east wall of the
N03 0980  3    stockade and then followed the south wall until he
N03 0980 12    was at the rear of the two frame buildings. He crouched
N03 0990  9    there.
N03 0990 10       His shout had been taken up and repeated. The guerrillas
N03 1000  9    were running across the parade ground and through the
N03 1010  7    rear gate in the wake of the departing horses. All
N03 1020  3    were carrying guns they had seized up, but they were
N03 1030  1    half-clad or hardly clad at all.
N03 1030  8       Durkin and Calhoun came running from the post. They
N03 1040  5    had pistols in their hands. They bawled questions that
N03 1050  2    were not answered in the uproar. They followed the
N03 1050 11    others toward the east gate. Beyond the stockade rifles
N03 1060  9    began to explode as some of the guerrillas fired at
N03 1070  3    shadows that they imagined were Apaches.
N03 1080  1       Mike made a dash to the rear of the frame buildings.
N03 1080 12    He crawled beneath the two supply wagons which stood
N03 1090  7    between the buildings and peered around a corner. The
N03 1100  5    area was deserted. A man was standing in the open door
N03 1110  3    of the lighted orderly room a few yards to Mike's left,
N03 1120  1    but he, too, suddenly made up his mind and went racing
N03 1120 12    to join the confused activity at the east end of the
N03 1130  9    stockade.
N03 1130 10       Mike crawled to the door and peered in. The orderly
N03 1140  9    room seemed to be deserted. A lantern hung from a peg,
N03 1150  7    giving light. Ducking inside, he found that three rifles
N03 1160  3    were stacked in a corner. A brace of pistols, holstered
N03 1170  1    on belts, hung from a peg, along with ammunition pouches.
N03 1170 11    An ammunition case stood open, containing canisters
N03 1180  6    which contained powder cartridges.
N03 1190  1       Mike seized a blanket from a pallet in a corner,
N03 1190 11    spread it on the floor and used it to form a bag in
N03 1200 13    which he placed his booty.
N03 1210  1       Shouldering the load he peered from the door. His
N03 1210 10    looting of the orderly room had taken only a minute
N03 1220 10    or two and the vicinity was still clear of guerrillas.
N03 1230  6       He looked at the looming hoods of the supply wagons,
N03 1240  5    struck by a new inspiration. He set his bundle down.
N03 1250  2    Snatching the lantern from its peg, he shattered its
N03 1250 11    globe with a blow against a post. He picked up the
N03 1260 10    powder canister and ran out. Bursting paper cartridges,
N03 1270  4    he scattered powder beneath the nearest wagon and dumped
N03 1280  3    the contents of the canister upon it.
N03 1280 10       He shouldered the blanket again, backed off, and
N03 1290  7    tossed the lantern with its open wick beneath the wagon.
N03 1300  5    He turned and raced across the parade ground toward
N03 1310  2    the rock house.
N03 1310  5       Powder flame gushed beneath the wagon. The stockade
N03 1320  3    was brilliantly lighted and the guerrillas sighted
N03 1320 10    him. They realized the truth. Bullets began to snap
N03 1330  9    past him. One struck the muzzle of one of the rifles
N03 1340  8    that projected from the shoulder pack. Its force spun
N03 1350  5    him around, but he recovered and got into stride again.
N03 1360  2       A bullet tore the earth from beneath his foot when
N03 1360 12    he was a stride or two from safety. Another struck
N03 1370 10    him heavily in the thigh and he went down.
N03 1380  5       Guerrillas were racing toward him. Susan and Julia
N03 1390  3    came from the door and dragged him with them. The three
N03 1400  1    of them floundered through the door into the interior
N03 1400 10    and fell in a heap.
N03 1410  1       Susan bounced to her feet and slammed the door.
N03 1410 10    She crouched aside as bullets beat at the portal, chewing
N03 1420  9    into the planks. Some tore entirely through the whipsawed
N03 1430  6    post oak. The iron hinges held, but the planks were
N03 1440  5    in danger of being torn from the crossbars.
N03 1450  1       mike rolled to Susan, grasped her around the knees,
N03 1450 10    dragging her off her feet. He hovered over her to shield
N03 1460  9    her, for spent bullets were thudding against the rear
N03 1470  5    walls.
N03 1470  6       He peered from a loophole. Guerrillas were only
N03 1480  3    a dozen yards away, charging the house. Mike snatched
N03 1490  1    a pistol from the heap of scattered booty and fired.
N03 1490 11    He dropped a man with the first bullet. At the same
N03 1500 10    moment Wheeler Fiske fired the rifle Mike had given
N03 1510  6    him and another guerrilla was hit. That halted the
N03 1520  2    rush. The guerrillas scattered for cover.
N03 1520  8       The wagons were burning fiercely. The mudwagon had
N03 1530  7    caught fire also. The blaze was spreading to the frame
N03 1540  6    buildings.
N03 1540  7       The guerrillas realized they faced a new problem.
N03 1550  6    "Gawdamighty"! one screeched. "There goes our grub
N03 1560  4    an' ammunition"!
N03 1560  6       "Get a bucket line going"! Calhoun shouted. "Hurry!
N03 1570  5    Hurry"!
N03 1570  6       The guerrillas began a frantic search for pails
N03 1580  7    in which to bring water from the spring. But what few
N03 1590  6    containers they found were inadequate. Many of them,
N03 1600  3    in increasing panic, came running with water in their
N03 1600 12    hats in a ludicrous effort. Both buildings were in
N03 1610  9    flames. The heat drove the guerrillas back. The roof
N03 1620  6    of the command post began to buckle.
N03 1630  1       "Drag the wagons to the spring"! Lew Durkin yelled.
N03 1630 10    "Run 'em right into the spring! Hustle"!
N03 1640  7       One of the wagons erupted a massive pillar of flame.
N03 1650  8    A sizable supply of powder had been touched off. The
N03 1660  6    wagons and the coach were beyond saving and so were
N03 1670  3    the buildings.
N03 1670  5       The glow of the fire reached through the openings
N03 1680  2    in the windows, giving light enough to examine Mike's
N03 1680 11    wound. The bullet had torn through the flesh just above
N03 1690 10    the knee, inflicting an ugly gash that was forming
N03 1700  7    a pool of blood on the floor. But it had missed the
N03 1710  5    bone and had passed on through. Susan and Julia ripped
N03 1720  2    strips from their clothing and bound the injury.
N03 1720 10       Mike tested the leg and found that he was able to
N03 1730 10    hobble around on it.
N04 0010  1       "So it wasn't the earthquake that made him return
N04 0010 10    to his village"!
N04 0020  1       "No. Now dammit, I don't want to go into any more
N04 0030  2    explanations. Here comes Jason. Keep this to yourself".
N04 0030 10       Reverend Jason, looking worried, hurried toward
N04 0040  7    us. "Anything wrong, cap'n? The men seem to think so".
N04 0050  9       "Dirion found a large war party south of us. They'll
N04 0060  9    probably attack at dawn", Montero said. He brushed
N04 0070  5    past the clergyman and walked into the center of the
N04 0080  4    camp. Using his hands as a trumpet he shouted, "Fort
N04 0090  1    up! Fort up! There's a large war party on their way"!
N04 0100  1       For a second, engages, cooks, voyageurs appeared
N04 0100  8    struck dumb. Then Little Billy began shouting orders
N04 0110  6    to round up the ponies and fill the water buckets and
N04 0120  5    for the cooks to hurry up with the meal. They all flew
N04 0130  3    into action.
N04 0130  5       "That was a terrible thing to do", I said to Oso.
N04 0140  4    The Aricaras treated us like friends. And here all
N04 0150  1    the time you knew the Sioux would be using our rifles
N04 0150 12    on them! God, what a world you people live in".
N04 0160  8       Oso gave me an unruffled look. "Old Knife's got
N04 0170  5    the largest war party ever seen on the river", he said
N04 0180  3    calmly. "What would you have done in Montero's moccasins?
N04 0190  2    Let Old Knife come up and kill you and your people,
N04 0190 13    or would you steer him on someone else"? He shook his
N04 0200 11    head. "Mr& Manuel did that in the war. That's why the
N04 0210 10    British never got the tribes to fight for the King.
N04 0220  7    Mr& Manuel whispered in the ears of the Sioux that
N04 0230  5    the Cheyennes were comin' to raid 'em for their horses.
N04 0240  2    Then he went on to the Cheyennes and told them that
N04 0240 13    the Sioux was goin' to move up. He did that with all
N04 0250 11    the Nations. Hell, they were fightin' each other so
N04 0260  7    hard they had no time for anyone else. The War Department
N04 0270  5    wrote Mr& Manuel a letter and said he was a hero. I
N04 0280  5    saw that letter. He carried it in a little wallet made
N04 0290  1    of fish skin".
N04 0290  4       "But that was war", I said. "There's no war on now".
N04 0300  5       "You're wrong, Matt. In this country there's a war
N04 0310  4    on every time the grass turns green. First it was the
N04 0320  2    Nations against themselves, then it was them against
N04 0320 10    the whites. And it's goin' to go on like this year
N04 0330 10    after year until the white people take over this land".
N04 0340  6       I remember being told it would happen so fast people
N04 0350  5    would think it took place overnight.
N04 0350 11       "That's why this company's important. Once we get
N04 0360  8    over the mountains others will come along. That's why
N04 0370  7    the Trust don't want us to make it. That bastard Chambers!-
N04 0380  6    Old Knife's not the only chief he'll get to do his
N04 0390  7    dirty work! Before we get through he'll have the Blackfeet
N04 0400  4    hankerin' for our hair and our goods. Well, talkin'
N04 0410  2    ain't goin' to help- let's fort up"!
N04 0410  9       As I dug in behind one of the bales we were using
N04 0420 12    as protection, I grudgingly found myself agreeing with
N04 0430  5    Oso's logic, especially when I imagined what would
N04 0440  3    have happened to Missy if Old Knife's large party of
N04 0450  2    screeching warriors had overrun our company.
N04 0450  8       For, unlike the Sioux and the Crows, the Aricaras
N04 0460  8    are not great horsemen, nor are they aggressive like
N04 0470  5    the savage Blackfeet. More of an agricultural nation,
N04 0480  2    they have relied on their warriors only for defense
N04 0480 11    and for survival in the endless wars of the plains.
N04 0490  9    Still, I was disgusted with myself for agreeing with
N04 0500  6    Montero's methods.
N04 0500  8       Surprisingly, he had told the others what he had
N04 0510  9    done. In the brief moment I had to talk to them before
N04 0520  7    I took my post on the ring of defenses, I indicated
N04 0530  2    I was sickened by the methods men employed to live
N04 0530 12    and trade on the river.
N04 0540  4       "I think Montero did right", Amy said firmly. "Let
N04 0550  2    the savages kill each other What do we care"?
N04 0560  1       Reverend Jason was understandably bitter. "It was
N04 0560  8    a terrible thing to do. Those little children **h".
N04 0570  7       But Oso replied calmly, "Trouble ain't easy to dodge
N04 0580  6    out in this country, rev'rend".
N04 0590  1    #28. ATTACK#
N04 0590  3    GRAY EYES ATTACKED OUR camp just as the first pink
N04 0600  2    threads stitched together the hills and the sky. Our
N04 0600 11    camp was in the center of a wide valley. Montero had
N04 0610 10    set up a strong position, using every bale and box
N04 0620  6    we had in addition to barricades of logs and brush.
N04 0630  2    He had ordered the ponies brought inside the fortified
N04 0630 11    circle and had assigned Pierre and a band of picked
N04 0650 10    engages the job of trying to keep them steady under
N04 0660  6    fire.
N04 0660  7       The pony herd was the one flaw in our defense; the
N04 0670  6    Rees undoubtedly would try to cut down as many of the
N04 0680  4    animals as possible. Wildly bucking horses would make
N04 0680 12    the position difficult to defend against charging warriors.
N04 0690  8       The cooks had prepared one of the best meals we'd
N04 0700  9    had in a long time, and on Montero's orders had baked
N04 0710  6    enough bread to last the day. Buckets were filled,
N04 0720  3    the herd fed and watered. The worst part had been the
N04 0730  1    waiting; although we didn't expect the attack before
N04 0730  9    dawn, the long cloudy night, filled with the sounds
N04 0740  7    of the industrious insects, seemed endless. Coyotes
N04 0750  3    and hunting wolves sounded like signaling Indian scouts,
N04 0760  2    the whinny of a restless pony made one's skin crawl.
N04 0760 12    Oso slept unconcernedly, his rifle cradled in his arms;
N04 0770  9    I didn't catch a wink. Every time I closed my eyes,
N04 0780  9    I saw Gray Eyes rushing at me with a knife.
N04 0790  5       It was a relief when they finally came.
N04 0800  1       They poured through the opening in the valley, then
N04 0800 10    spread out in a long line to come at us, brandishing
N04 0810  9    their lances and filling the morning with their spine-chilling
N04 0820  5    scalp cry.
N04 0820  7       "Oso", Montero called "I'll get Gray Eyes".
N04 0830  6       "That'll be a pleasure to see", the big black murmured
N04 0840  7    as he stared down the barrel of his rifle.
N04 0850  3       "Hold your fire", Montero was shouting. "Wait until
N04 0860  2    my shot. I'll shoot the first man who doesn't".
N04 0870  1       I could see them in my sights. They were about a
N04 0870 12    mile off; under me the ground quivered slightly. At
N04 0880  7    first they were only feathers and dark indistinguishable
N04 0890  4    faces and bodies, hunched over their horses' heads.
N04 0900  2    Gradually they emerged as men. Gray Eyes was in the
N04 0900 12    lead. His face was split by a vermilion streak, his
N04 0910 10    eyes were pools of white; jagged red and black medicine
N04 0920  6    symbols covered his chest. He was naked except for
N04 0930  4    a clout. Next to him was a young boy I was sure had
N04 0940  2    sat near me at one of the trading sessions. His mouth
N04 0940 13    was open, his neck corded with the strain of his screams.
N04 0950  9    I found his chest in my sights. It had a red circle.
N04 0960  7    The circle came nearer and nearer.
N04 0970  1       My God, how long is he going to wait, I thought
N04 0970 12    **h.
N04 0970 13       Montero's rifle cracked. At first I thought he had
N04 0980  9    missed. Gray Eyes remained erect. The feathered lance
N04 0990  6    was still above his head. As he started to slump over,
N04 1000  6    another warrior swung him onto his horse.
N04 1010  1       I squeezed the trigger. At the last second I dropped
N04 1010 11    my sights from the bare chest and bright red circle
N04 1020  9    to the chest of his pony. I saw the pony fall like
N04 1030  7    a stone and the young warrior flew over its head, bouncing
N04 1040  3    like a rubber ball. He started to run but Oso's shot
N04 1050  1    caught him on the wing. He jerked once in the grass
N04 1050 12    and lay still.
N04 1060  1       "If you're goin' to kill 'em- kill 'em"! Oso growled.
N04 1070  2       What else he said was lost in the rattle of gunfire
N04 1080  1    on all sides. The Aricaras broke under the devastating
N04 1080 10    fire, wheeled and retreated.
N04 1090  3       "Lead up! Lead up! They'll be back"! Montero was
N04 1100  3    shouting.
N04 1100  4       Far up the valley I could see the Rees circling
N04 1110  3    and reorganizing. Out in front of our walls the grass
N04 1120  1    was covered with dead and dying men, war shields, lances,
N04 1120 11    blankets and wounded and dead horses. The morning air
N04 1130  8    was filled with the sweetish odor of new-spilled blood,
N04 1140  6    the acrid stench of frightened horses, and the bitterness
N04 1150  4    of burned powder. A horse screamed as it twisted from
N04 1160  1    side to side in a frenzy. A rifle cracked; the square
N04 1160 12    head fell over. One of the warriors suddenly leaped
N04 1170  8    to his feet and began running across the valley to
N04 1180  5    the trees that lined the small creek. His legs pumped
N04 1190  2    furiously, his long black hair streamed out behind
N04 1190 10    him. There was a ragged volley. He was dead before
N04 1200  9    he hit the ground.
N04 1210  1       "For Christ's sake, don't waste your powder on one
N04 1210 10    of 'em"! Montero shouted furiously. "Wait for the charge!
N04 1220  8    The charge, I tell you"!
N04 1230  4       The sharp cries at the end of the valley were faint.
N04 1240  2    They grew louder as the Indians charged again. I could
N04 1240 12    see their faces glistening with sweat and bear grease,
N04 1250  9    their mouths open, shouting their spine-chilling cries.
N04 1260  6       "Gray Eyes is back", Montero said.
N04 1270  3       The war captain had been badly wounded and was fighting
N04 1280  2    to hold his seat. I could see the blood running down
N04 1280 13    his chest. He was riding between two warriors, who
N04 1290  9    held him erect when he started to slump.
N04 1300  4       I forgot to aim. In my sights I watched him looming
N04 1310  3    bigger and bigger. Montero's shot had caught him high
N04 1310 12    in the chest; there was no doubt he was dying. Again
N04 1320 11    we waited for Montero. This time he delayed so long
N04 1330  7    that some of the engages shouted frantically, but they
N04 1340  4    held their fire. The horses were only several lengths
N04 1350  2    away when he fired. The bullet flung Gray Eyes from
N04 1350 12    his horse. Our rolling volley swept most of the other
N04 1360  9    riders from their mounts. But a few reached our wall.
N04 1370  7    I heard the whir of an ax and a Canadian's face burst
N04 1380  3    apart in a bloody spray. I saw Little Billy rise and
N04 1390  2    fire almost point blank and an Indian's face became
N04 1390 11    shattered flesh and bone. A second leaped from his
N04 1400  9    horse to the top of the bale, firing four arrows in
N04 1410  5    such rapid succession it didn't seem possible they
N04 1420  2    were in flight. Men screamed. Oso reached up, jerked
N04 1420 11    the buck from the bale and snapped his neck. Other
N04 1430  9    Indians were running at the ponies, shrilling and waving
N04 1440  6    blankets. Reverend Jason got one, the Canadians the
N04 1450  4    others. I saw the clergyman kneel for a moment by the
N04 1460  2    twitching body of the man he had shot, then run back
N04 1460 13    to his position.
N04 1470  1       The ponies were almost uncontrollable. The pall
N04 1470  8    of dust they raised made it difficult to see when the
N04 1480 10    Aricaras charged again. This time more of them hurdled
N04 1490  7    the barrier. A small Indian dived at Montero, who caught
N04 1500  4    him with a swift upward stroke of his rifle butt. It
N04 1510  2    sounded like a man kicking a melon. Above me a dark
N04 1510 13    rider was whipping his pony with a quirt in an attempt
N04 1520 10    to hurdle the bales.
N04 1530  1       Although my shot killed his horse, he rolled off
N04 1530 10    the bale on top of me. I could smell woodsmoke, grease,
N04 1540  7    and oil. His eyes were dark, fluid, fearful, and he
N04 1550  5    gave a sigh as my knife went in. Coming over the wall
N04 1560  2    he had seemed like a hideous devil. Now under me I
N04 1560 13    could see him for what he really was, a boy dressed
N04 1570 10    up in streaks of paint **h.
N04 1580  1       The Aricaras made one last desperate charge. It
N04 1580  9    was pitiful to see the thin ranks of warriors, old
N04 1590  9    and young, wheeling and twisting their ponies frantically
N04 1600  4    from side to side only to be tumbled bleeding from
N04 1610  2    their saddles by the relentless slam, slam of the cruelly
N04 1610 12    efficient Hawkinses. Others, badly wounded, gripped
N04 1620  6    hands in manes, knees in bellies, held on as long as
N04 1630  8    possible and then, weak from ghastly wounds, slipped
N04 1640  3    sideways, slowly, almost thoughtfully, to be broken
N04 1640 10    under the slashing hoofs. Some gracefully soared from
N04 1650  8    the backs of their wounded, screaming mounts to make
N04 1660  6    one last defiant charge before the lead split their
N04 1670  4    hearts or tore their guts **h.
N04 1670 10       None of them reached our walls again. The few survivors
N04 1680  8    grudgingly turned away. In the distance we could hear
N04 1690  6    the drums and the wail of the death song.
N05 0010  1    She was carrying a quirt, and she started to raise
N05 0010 11    it, then let it fall again and dangle from her wrist.
N05 0020  7       "I saw your fire", she said, speaking slowly, making
N05 0030  5    an effort to control her anger. "You could burn down
N05 0040  4    this whole mountainside with a fire that size. It wouldn't
N05 0050  1    matter to a fool like you. It would to me".
N05 0050 11       "All right", Wilson said quickly. "The fire's too
N05 0060  8    big. And I appreciate the advice".
N05 0070  3       He was losing patience again. An hour before, with
N05 0080  3    the children asleep and nothing but the strange darkness,
N05 0090  1    he would have appreciated company. She had helped him
N05 0090 10    change his mind.
N05 0100  1       "I'm not advising you", she said. "I'm telling you.
N05 0110  1    That fire's too big. Let it burn down. And make sure
N05 0110 12    it's out when you leave in the morning".
N05 0120  7       He was taken aback. It took him a long time to compose
N05 0130  8    himself.
N05 0130  9       "There's some mistake", he said finally. "You're
N05 0140  5    right about the fire. It's bigger than it has to be,
N05 0150  6    though I don't see where it's doing any harm. But you're
N05 0160  4    wrong about the rest of it. I'm not leaving in the
N05 0170  2    morning. Why should I? I own the place".
N05 0170 10       She showed her surprise by tightening the reins
N05 0180  7    and moving the gelding around so that she could get
N05 0190  5    a better look at his face. It didn't seem to tell her
N05 0200  2    anything. She glanced around the clearing, taking in
N05 0200 10    the wagon and the load of supplies and trappings scattered
N05 0210  9    over the ground, the two kids, the whiteface bull that
N05 0220  7    was chewing its cud just within the far reaches of
N05 0230  4    the firelight. She studied it for a long time. Then
N05 0240  1    she turned back to Wilson and smiled, and he wasn't
N05 0240 11    quite sure what she meant by it.
N05 0250  3       "You own this place"? she said, and her tone had
N05 0260  2    softened until it was almost friendly. "You bought
N05 0260 10    it"?
N05 0270  1       "From a man in St& Louis", Wilson said. "Jake Carwood.
N05 0280  1    Maybe you know him".
N05 0280  5       The girl laughed. "I know him. I ought to. My father
N05 0290  6    ran him off here six years ago".
N05 0290 13       Wilson didn't say anything. He stood watching the
N05 0300  8    girl, wondering what was coming next. She had picked
N05 0310  7    up the quirt and was twirling it around her wrist and
N05 0320  4    smiling at him.
N05 0320  7       "Carwood didn't tell you that", she said.
N05 0330  4       "No", Wilson said. "But it's understandable. It's
N05 0340  2    not the kind of thing that a man would be proud of.
N05 0350  1    And it doesn't make any difference. He sold me a clear
N05 0350 12    title. I have it with me, right here. If you want to
N05 0360 11    see"-
N05 0360 12       "Never mind", she said sternly. "It wouldn't matter
N05 0370  8    to my father, and not to me. I meant what I said about
N05 0380 11    that fire. Be sure it's out when you leave. That's
N05 0390  6    all. I'll let you go back to doing the dishes now".
N05 0400  3       It was meant to insult him, and didn't quite succeed.
N05 0410  2    He took the reins just below the bit and held them
N05 0410 13    firmly, and it was his turn to smile now. "I don't
N05 0420 11    mind washing dishes now and then", he said pleasantly.
N05 0430  6    "It doesn't hurt. It might hurt you, though. Somebody
N05 0440  4    might mistake you for a woman".
N05 0450  1       He meant to say more, but he never got the chance.
N05 0450 12    She was quick. She brought the quirt down, slashing
N05 0460  7    it across his cheek, and he tried to step back. She
N05 0470  5    swung the quirt again, and this time he caught her
N05 0480  1    wrist and pulled her out of the saddle.
N05 0480  9       She came down against him, and he tried to break
N05 0490  7    her fall. He grabbed her by the shoulders and went
N05 0500  3    down on one knee, taking her weight so that some of
N05 0500 14    the wind was driven out of him. It made him a little
N05 0510 11    sick, and he let go of her. He got up slowly, and she
N05 0520  8    was already on her feet, and he stood facing her. He
N05 0530  4    wiped the blood from his cheek.
N05 0530 10       "I ought to"- he said. He was shaking with anger,
N05 0540 10    his breath coming in long, painful gasps. "That quirt-
N05 0550  5    I ought to use it on you, where it would do the most
N05 0560  4    good. If you were a man"-
N05 0560 10       "She isn't, mister".
N05 0570  2       The voice came from behind him, and Wilson turned.
N05 0580  1    The fire had gone down, and the man was only a shadow
N05 0580 13    against the trees. But a moment later he brought his
N05 0590  9    horse forward into the light, and Wilson had a good
N05 0600  6    look at him. He was tall and dark-skinned, a half-breed,
N05 0610  3    Wilson thought. And he was handsome, despite the long
N05 0610 12    thin scar that slanted across his cheek.
N05 0620  7       "She's not a man, mister", he said. "I am. If you've
N05 0630  8    got any ideas". He raised the Winchester and pointed
N05 0640  5    it at Wilson's chest.
N05 0640  9       "Put the rifle down, Joseph", the girl said. She
N05 0650  9    seemed irritated. "I thought I told you to stay home".
N05 0660  8       The half-breed eased the Winchester down and rested
N05 0670  5    it across his lap. The scar looked pure white in the
N05 0680  4    half-darkness; his eyes were black and deep-set, and
N05 0680 14    expressionless. "You shouldn't be riding up here after
N05 0690  8    dark, Judith", he said quietly. "I can take care of
N05 0700  9    this. It's no job for you".
N05 0710  2       The girl tapped the quirt impatiently against her
N05 0710 10    knee and glared at him. He took it without flinching.
N05 0720 10       "I said go home, Joseph. You've got no business
N05 0730  8    up here".
N05 0730 10       The half-breed didn't answer this time. But the
N05 0740  7    scar seemed to pull hard at the corner of his mouth,
N05 0750  7    and his eyes were hurt and angry. It made Wilson wonder.
N05 0760  3    He watched the half-breed as he turned silently. They
N05 0770  1    could hear the pony's feet on the dry leaves for a
N05 0770 12    while, then the sound faded out.
N05 0780  4       Wilson brushed the dust from his coat. "Who was
N05 0790  2    that"? he asked. "Your personal guard? You're pretty
N05 0800  1    hard on him".
N05 0800  4       "He works for my father", the girl said, and then
N05 0810  3    seemed to change her mind. "He's a friend. His name's
N05 0820  1    Joseph Sanchez. Is there anything else you want to
N05 0820 10    know"?
N05 0830  1       "Not now", Wilson said. "I guess I'll find out soon
N05 0840  1    enough. You've got blood on your cheek. Not yours.
N05 0840 10    Mine. It must have got there when you fell against
N05 0850  8    me".
N05 0850  9       She wiped it off with the sleeve of her coat.
N05 0860  7       "I'll bet that's as close as you've been to a man
N05 0870  6    since you were a baby", Wilson said.
N05 0880  1       He saw her hand start to work down the leather thong
N05 0880 12    toward the handle of the quirt, and he grabbed her
N05 0890  8    wrist. "Oh, no", he said, and he was without humor
N05 0900  5    now. "I've had enough of that. I've had enough of you.
N05 0910  3    I don't know what goes on around here, and I don't
N05 0920  1    care. I don't know what makes you think you can get
N05 0920 12    away with this kind of business, and I don't care about
N05 0930  9    that, either. You took me by surprise. But I'll know
N05 0940  6    how to handle you next time".
N05 0950  1       She brought up her free hand to hit him, but this
N05 0950 12    time he was quicker. He side-stepped her blow and she
N05 0960  8    fell, stumbling against the gelding. She finally regained
N05 0970  4    her balance and got up in the saddle. Her hat had come
N05 0980  4    off and fallen behind her shoulders, held by the string,
N05 0990  1    and he could see her face more clearly than he had
N05 0990 12    at any time before. He had forgotten that she was so
N05 1000  8    pretty. But her prettiness was what he had noticed
N05 1010  4    first, and all the other things had come afterward:
N05 1020  1    cruelty, meanness, self-will. He had known women like
N05 1020 10    that, one woman in particular. And one had been too
N05 1030  8    many. He watched the girl until she had gone into the
N05 1040  6    trees, and waited until he couldn't hear the sound
N05 1050  2    of her horse any longer, then went up to where the
N05 1050 13    children were sleeping.
N05 1060  2       They weren't sleeping, of course, but they thought
N05 1070  1    they were doing him a favor by pretending. He hadn't
N05 1070 11    shown up too well in their eyes, letting himself be
N05 1080  8    browbeaten by a woman. They expected greater things
N05 1090  4    from him, regardless of how trying the circumstances,
N05 1100  1    and they were disappointed. And determined not to show
N05 1100 10    it. They lay a little too stiffly, with their eyes
N05 1110  9    straining to stay closed.
N05 1120  1       "Go to sleep", he said. "Both of you. There's better
N05 1130  1    things to do than listen to something like that. I'll
N05 1130 11    be down at the creek finishing the dishes, if you want
N05 1140  9    me".
N05 1140 10       He found the pan where he had dropped it and carried
N05 1160  9    it back down to the stream. The coyote was calling
N05 1170  5    again, and he hoped that this time there would be no
N05 1180  3    other sounds to interrupt it. Not tonight, at any rate.
N05 1180 13    He had a feeling that the girl meant trouble. If she
N05 1190 10    did, he could stand it better in the light.
N05 1200  6       He scrubbed absent-mindedly at the pans and reflected
N05 1210  3    on how things had turned out. That afternoon when they
N05 1220  1    had pulled up in front of the broken-down ranch house,
N05 1220 12    his hopes had been high. Already some of the pain had
N05 1230  9    gone from Amelia's death. Not all of it. There would
N05 1240  7    still be plenty of moments of regret and sadness and
N05 1250  3    guilty relief. But they were starting a new life. And
N05 1250 13    they had almost everything they needed: land, a house,
N05 1260  9    two whiteface bulls, three horses.
N05 1270  4       The land wasn't all Wilson had expected of it. Six
N05 1280  4    hundred and forty acres, the old man back in St& Louis
N05 1290  1    had said; good grass, good water. Well, the grass was
N05 1290 11    there, though in some places the ground was too steep
N05 1300  9    for a cow to get to it. The water was there, so much
N05 1310  6    of it that it spread all through the dead orchard.
N05 1320  4    And there was a house; livable perhaps, but badly in
N05 1330  3    need of repairs.
N05 1330  6       In the last analysis, though, Wilson had little
N05 1340  3    cause to complain. The place had been cheap- just the
N05 1350  1    little he had left after Amelia's burial- and it would
N05 1350 11    serve its purpose. There was only one place where Jake
N05 1360  9    Carwood's description had gone badly awry: the peace
N05 1370  7    and quiet. It hadn't started out that way. And he had
N05 1380  6    a feeling- thanks to the girl- that things would get
N05 1390  3    worse before they got better.
N05 1390  8    #2#
N05 1390  9    They had the house cleaned up by noon, and Wilson sent
N05 1400  7    the boy out to the meadow to bring in the horses. He
N05 1410  2    stood on the porch and watched him struggling with
N05 1420  1    the heavy harness, and finally went over to help him.
N05 1420 11    Kathy was already in the wagon. They were going to
N05 1430  8    town, and they were both excited.
N05 1440  1       Wilson backed the team into the traces, and wished
N05 1440 10    they weren't going to town at all. He had an uneasy
N05 1450 10    feeling about it. That girl last night, what was her
N05 1460  6    name? Judith Pierce. It was the only thing about her
N05 1470  4    that was the least bit hard to remember.
N05 1470 12       He finished with the team and filled his pipe and
N05 1480  9    stood looking about him. He had spent two hours riding
N05 1490  7    around the ranch that morning, and in broad daylight
N05 1500  3    it was even less inviting than Judith Pierce had made
N05 1510  1    it seem. There was brush, and stands of pine that no
N05 1510 12    grass could grow under, and places so steep that cattle
N05 1520  8    wouldn't stop to graze. But there was water. There
N05 1530  5    was an artificial lake just out of sight in the first
N05 1540  3    stand of trees, fed by a half dozen springs that popped
N05 1540 14    out of the ground above the hillside orchard. Yes,
N05 1550  9    there was plenty of water, too much, and that was probably
N05 1560  7    the trouble. There were tracks of cattle all over his
N05 1570  6    six hundred and forty acres.
N05 1570 11       The first part of the road was steep, but it leveled
N05 1580 10    off after the second bend and curled gradually into
N05 1590  4    the valley. It was hotter once they reached the flat,
N05 1600  3    and drier, but the grass was better. A warm breeze
N05 1600 13    played across it, moving it like waves. A red-tailed
N05 1610  9    hawk flew in behind them and stayed there, watching
N05 1620  5    for any snakes or rabbits that they might stir up from
N05 1630  4    the side of the road. It took them an hour before they
N05 1630 16    came to the first houses of Kelseyville.
N05 1640  7       The town was about what Wilson expected: one main
N05 1650  5    street with its rows of false-fronted buildings, a
N05 1660  3    water tower, a few warehouses, a single hotel; all
N05 1660 12    dusty and sunbaked. The place was quiet.
N06 0010  1    Such was my state of mind that I did not question the
N06 0010 13    possibility of this; under the circumstances I was
N06 0020  7    only too willing to confess all. I was nearly thirty
N06 0030  5    at the time.
N06 0030  8       I went to the hall in the afternoons only, on these
N06 0040  5    preliminary matters. It was dark and, I sensed, very
N06 0050  2    large; only the counter at one end was lighted by a
N06 0050 13    long fluorescent tube suspended directly above it.
N06 0060  7    Sometimes I was aware of people moving about in the
N06 0070  7    darkness. I would turn away from my writing in the
N06 0090  3    hope of getting a good look at them but I never quite
N06 0090 15    succeeded. A glimpse of three of four vague figures,
N06 0100  9    at the most. Drifting here and there. Squatting, as
N06 0110  6    if waiting. The pulsing glow of a cigarette. Since
N06 0120  4    they could see me but I not them, their presence in
N06 0130  2    the hall disturbed me. The clerk paid them no attention.
N06 0130 12    This impressed me, until I realized how limited was
N06 0140  8    his sphere of influence. His job simply consisted in
N06 0150  6    registering new men. When the phone rang he answered
N06 0160  3    it. His authority extended to the far edge of the counter,
N06 0170  1    no further. None of the men hanging around the hall
N06 0170 11    bothered to speak to him. Baldness was attacking his
N06 0180  7    pate. He spoke to me in a gruff voice, an affectation
N06 0190  4    which quite belied his personality. He wore his white
N06 0200  3    shirt open at the neck, revealing a bit of scrawny
N06 0200 13    pale chest underneath. It was obvious that he wished
N06 0210  8    himself different from the sort of person he thought
N06 0220  6    he was. But it was not easy for him and he often slipped.
N06 0230  3    When one of the men in the hall behind us spat on the
N06 0240  1    floor and scraped his boot over the gob of spittle
N06 0240 11    I noticed how the clerk winced. I felt certain he was
N06 0250  8    really a spineless little man. His hat (the cause of
N06 0260  6    his baldness?) hung on a hook on the wall, and underneath
N06 0270  2    it I could see his tie, knotted, ready to be slipped
N06 0270 13    over his head, a black badge of frayed respectability
N06 0280  9    that ought never to have left his neck. The morning's
N06 0290  7    tabloids were on the counter, and a stack of dog-eared
N06 0300  6    men's magazines. On a shelf in the office behind the
N06 0310  2    counter was a small radio dialed permanently on a station
N06 0310 12    which broadcast only vulgar commercials and cheap popular
N06 0320  8    music. Everything about the clerk was trivial. Once,
N06 0330  7    pressing him, I learned that his job was only part-time,
N06 0340  6    in the afternoons when nothing went on in the hall.
N06 0350  2    Noticing my disappointment he attempted to salvage
N06 0350  9    what scraps and shreds of authority he felt might still
N06 0360  9    be clinging to his person. With distaste I saw him
N06 0370  6    assume a pompous air. When he saw me coming he turned
N06 0380  3    his radio off. He made a show of rearranging my forms
N06 0380 14    on the shelf. He would pick up the ringing phone with
N06 0390 11    studied negligence, then bark into it with gruff importance.
N06 0400  8    What limited knowledge he possessed he forced upon
N06 0410  5    me. In the mornings, I was informed, fluorescent tubes,
N06 0420  2    similar to the one above the counter, illuminated the
N06 0420 11    entire hall. They, and the two large fans which I could
N06 0430 11    dimly see as daylight filtered through their vents,
N06 0440  6    down at the far end of the hall, could be turned on
N06 0450  5    by a master switch situated inside the office. He pointed
N06 0460  2    out the switch to me and for a moment I foolishly believed
N06 0470  1    that he would let deed follow words. I was shown, instead,
N06 0470 12    a batch of white tickets of the sort handed out, he
N06 0480  9    told me, every morning. Now, here was something of
N06 0490  5    obvious importance to me, yet when I reached for the
N06 0500  3    tickets he snatched them away from my hand. He couldn't
N06 0500 13    afford to have anyone mess around with them, he said.
N06 0510 10    Each of those tickets was of great value to its rightful
N06 0520  8    recipient. I withdrew my hand. Later I would remember
N06 0530  5    what this pompous little man had told me about the
N06 0540  2    worth of a ticket.
N06 0540  6       Having nothing else to do except wait for my forms
N06 0550  4    to be processed, I gave myself over to speculations
N06 0550 13    concerning the hall itself. When suitably lighted,
N06 0560  7    what would it look like? The presence of the two exhaust
N06 0570  7    fans seemed to indicate that the hall could become
N06 0580  4    crowded for air. One afternoon, upon receiving permission
N06 0590  1    and the necessary instructions from the clerk, I had
N06 0590 10    visited the toilet adjoining the hall. By counting
N06 0600  8    the number of stalls and urinals I attempted to form
N06 0610  6    a loose estimate of how many men the hall would hold
N06 0620  3    at one time. For although I had crossed a corner of
N06 0620 14    the hall on my way to the toilet I still could not
N06 0630 12    tell for sure how far to the rear the darkness extended.
N06 0640  7    I could observe the two fans down at the end, but their
N06 0650  6    size in themselves meant nothing to me as long as I
N06 0660  3    had no measure of comparison. I had for some time been
N06 0660 14    hoping, in vain, for one of the dim figures to pass
N06 0670 11    between the fan vents and myself. I knew that three
N06 0680  6    or four of them were almost always present in the hall,
N06 0690  4    but what they were doing, and exactly where, I could
N06 0690 14    not tell. It was, I felt, possible that they were men
N06 0710 10    who, having received no tickets for that day, had remained
N06 0720  7    in the hall, to sleep perhaps, in the corners farthest
N06 0730  4    removed from the counter with its overhead light. This
N06 0740  2    light did not penetrate very far back into the hall,
N06 0740 12    and my eyes were hindered rather than aided by the
N06 0750  8    dim daylight entering through the fan vents when I
N06 0760  6    tried to pick out whatever might be lying, or squatting,
N06 0770  2    on the floor below. Also the clerk appeared to disapprove
N06 0780  1    of my frequent curious glances back over my shoulder.
N06 0780 10    No sooner would I turn my head away from the counter
N06 0790  9    before he would address me, at times quite sharply,
N06 0800  4    in order to bring back my attention. And I had hardly
N06 0810  2    finished my business in the toilet on the aforementioned
N06 0810 11    occasion when the lights in that place, like the hall
N06 0820 10    lights controlled from the switch in the office, flicked
N06 0830  7    off and on impatiently. This sort of petty vigilance
N06 0840  4    annoyed me. I felt certain it was self-appointed. It
N06 0850  2    sprang from a type of mentality I'd encountered often
N06 0850 11    enough but certainly had not expected to find here.
N06 0870  8    I decided to see no more of the clerk until the processing
N06 0880  6    of my papers was completed.
N06 0880 11       I felt strongly attached to the hall, however, and
N06 0890  9    hardly a day passed when I did not go to look at it
N06 0900  9    from a distance. I lived in a state of suspense because
N06 0910  3    of it. I could not cling to my past nor did I wish
N06 0920  1    to. I had signed it off on the forms. My future lay
N06 0920 13    solely with the hall, yet what did I know about the
N06 0930  9    hall at this point? Although I had been inside it I
N06 0940  7    had not yet seen it functioning. I wished to prepare
N06 0950  2    myself but did not even know what sort of clothes I
N06 0950 13    ought to be wearing. I did not despair, however; far
N06 0960  9    from it! I was constantly searching for clues around
N06 0970  5    the neighborhood of the hall. Though only a relatively
N06 0980  4    short walk separated it from my own part of town, its
N06 0990  2    character was wholly foreign to me. Large warehouses
N06 0990 10    flanked the street on which the hall fronted. The river
N06 1000  9    was only a few blocks away but an unbroken line of
N06 1010  6    piers prevented me from seeing it. Sometimes I noticed
N06 1020  3    the tops of ships' masts and funnels reaching above
N06 1020 12    the pier roofs. The sounds issuing from beyond- winches
N06 1030  9    whirring, men shouting- indicated great activity and
N06 1040  5    excited me. The hall, on the other hand, appeared lifeless
N06 1050  5    and deserted on these long waterfront afternoons. It
N06 1060  3    resembled nothing I'd ever seen before. Its front was
N06 1070  2    windowless, but irregularities in the masonry might
N06 1070  9    be an indication that windows, now blinded, had once
N06 1080  7    looked out upon the street. I kept circling the block
N06 1090  5    hoping to see, from the street behind it, the rear
N06 1100  2    of the hall. But it was not a tall structure and other
N06 1100 14    buildings concealed it. For weeks I wandered about
N06 1110  8    this neighborhood of warehouses and garages, truck
N06 1120  4    terminals and taxi repair shops, gasoline pumps and
N06 1130  2    longshoremen's lunch counters, yet never did I cease
N06 1130 10    to feel myself a stranger there.
N06 1140  5       I returned to the hall, despite my dislike for the
N06 1150  3    clerk. As I had expected, he insisted that my visits
N06 1160  1    to the hall would do nothing to further the process
N06 1160 11    of my application. Meanwhile spring had passed well
N06 1170  6    into summer. At last, when I put it to him directly,
N06 1180  5    the clerk was forced to admit that the delay in my
N06 1190  1    case was unusual. When I asked him what, if anything,
N06 1190 11    I could do about it, he surprised me by referring me
N06 1200  8    to the director of the hall. I could consult this personage
N06 1210  6    on any weekday morning, though not before ten o'clock.
N06 1220  3    The clerk impressed this upon me: that I should not
N06 1230  2    arrive in the hall before ten o'clock. When I went
N06 1230 12    for my interview with the director I saw why. Although
N06 1240  8    it was dark as usual I could see that the hall had
N06 1250  7    only recently contained a great many people. Cigarette
N06 1260  2    butts littered the floor. The big fans were going,
N06 1260 11    drawing from the large room the remnants of stale smoke
N06 1270 10    which drifted about in pale strata underneath the ceiling.
N06 1280  7    I had felt the draft they were making while mounting
N06 1290  4    the stairs. The staircase itself seemed still to be
N06 1300  3    echoing the heavy footfalls of many men. I stopped
N06 1300 12    by the counter. No one was behind it, but in the rear
N06 1310 10    wall of the office I noticed, for the first time, a
N06 1320  6    door which had been left partially open. Past it I
N06 1330  4    could see part of a desk, a flag in a corner, a rug
N06 1330 17    on the floor. The director's office. I rapped my knuckles
N06 1340 10    on the counter. The director came to the door. I was
N06 1350  9    at once disappointed, although just what I had expected
N06 1360  6    him to look like I could not have explained. He was
N06 1370  3    a man in his late forties, with graying hair, of medium
N06 1380  1    height; he looked dapper in a lightweight summer suit,
N06 1380 10    brown silk tie and green-tinted soft collar. He wore
N06 1390  9    perforated, white-topped shoes; they somehow made me
N06 1400  5    expect to see him launch into a vaudeville tapdance
N06 1410  1    routine any moment. But he came toward me sedately
N06 1410 10    enough, showed me around the counter, offered me a
N06 1420  8    seat inside his office, then walked to a file cabinet
N06 1430  5    and got out my application. I had the impression that
N06 1440  2    he had read my forms, perhaps several times. He did
N06 1440 12    not look at them now. As he lowered himself on the
N06 1450 10    chair behind his desk I wondered what this dapper,
N06 1460  4    slightly ridiculous man could possibly have to do with
N06 1470  3    the workings of the hall. He spoke, in a voice as immaculate
N06 1480  1    as his appearance. Why had I registered? Begging my
N06 1480 10    pardon, he must express his astonishment over seeing
N06 1490  7    a person of my background applying at the hall. He
N06 1500  5    had looked over my forms and was impressed by what
N06 1510  2    he had seen there; indeed, my scholastic qualifications
N06 1510 10    were such that he, a college graduate himself, must
N06 1520  8    envy me them. Was I sure, he asked, that I knew what
N06 1530  7    I was applying for? What sort of men I would come into
N06 1540  5    contact with, at the hall? These questions did not
N06 1541  2    surprise me; I felt certain that the director, like
N06 1550  9    the afternoon clerk, seldom moved beyond the counter,
N06 1560  6    that the hall, to them, was a jungle, a dark and unwelcome
N06 1570  5    place. Though I doubted that he would understand me,
N06 1580  2    I told the director my motives for applying. I had
N06 1580 12    always, I said, hankered after working hard with my
N06 1590  8    hands. This desire, I went on, growing voluble as my
N06 1600  6    conviction was aroused, had mounted at such a rate
N06 1610  3    recently that I now found its realization necessary
N06 1610 11    not only to my physical but also to my spiritual wellbeing.
N06 1620 10    To this effect I had already severed all connections
N06 1630  6    which bound me to my former existence.
N07 0010  1    The flat, hard cap was small, but he thrust it to the
N07 0010 13    back of his head.
N07 0020  1       "Tie him up".
N07 0020  4       "Hell with it".
N07 0020  7       Before they could guess his intention Rankin stepped
N07 0030  8    forward and swung the guard's own gun against the uncovered
N07 0040  7    head, hard. The man went over without sound, falling
N07 0050  4    to the bare floor.
N07 0050  8       Barton said harshly, "Why did you do that"?
N07 0060  6       Rankin sneered at him. "What did you want me to
N07 0070  6    do, kiss him? He dumped me in solitary twice".
N07 0080  1       Barton caught the lighter man's shoulder and swung
N07 0080  9    him around.
N07 0090  2       "Let's get one thing straight, you and me. The only
N07 0100  2    reason we brought you was to get Miller out. If you
N07 0100 13    ever try anything without my orders I'll kill you".
N07 0110  7       Fred Rankin looked at him. It seemed to Barton that
N07 0120  8    the green eyes mocked him, the thin-lipped smile held
N07 0130  5    insolence, but he had no time to waste now.
N07 0140  1       "Come on. Let's move".
N07 0140  5       They filed out through the guard-room door, into
N07 0150  5    the paved square. There were three other men within
N07 0160  1    this prison whom Barton would have liked to liberate,
N07 0160 10    but they were in other cell blocks. There was no chance.
N07 0170 10    They moved slowly, toward the main gate, following
N07 0180  5    the wall. There was no moon. They had chosen this night
N07 0190  4    purposely. They reached the guard house without alerting
N07 0200  1    the men on the walls above, and Powers slipped through
N07 0200 11    the door.
N07 0210  1       Two men were on duty inside, playing pinochle, relaxed.
N07 0210 10    They looked up in surprise as Powers came in.
N07 0220  9       "What are you doing out of the block"?
N07 0230  5       "It's Curtiss", he said, naming the man Rankin had
N07 0240  5    hit. "I've got to have help".
N07 0250  1       They stared at him. The sergeant in charge climbed
N07 0250  9    to his feet.
N07 0260  1       "What's wrong with him"?
N07 0260  5       "He's having some kind of a fit".
N07 0270  4       The sergeant turned to the door. As he passed through
N07 0280  1    it Barton shoved his gun against the man's side.
N07 0280 10       "One sound and you're dead".
N07 0290  5       The sergeant froze. Powers had not followed. Powers
N07 0300  4    was covering the remaining guard. The man half-reached
N07 0310  1    for the cord of the alarm bell. Powers knocked his
N07 0310 11    arm aside. Deliberately, with none of Rankin's viciousness,
N07 0320  7    he laid the barrel of his gun alongside the guard's
N07 0330  7    head.
N07 0330  8       They were free. Even Barton could not quite believe
N07 0340  7    it. It had gone without a hitch. They slid through
N07 0350  4    the wicket in the big gate, ghosted across the dark
N07 0360  1    ground. Five minutes later they reached the horses.
N07 0360  9    Barton was relieved to see that Carl Dill and Emmett
N07 0370  8    Foster had brought extra mounts. He had been worried
N07 0380  5    that with Miller and Rankin added to the escape party
N07 0390  3    they would be short.
N07 0390  7       No one hurried. They walked the horses, heading
N07 0400  4    along the river, Barton and Emmett Foster in the lead,
N07 0410  3    seven men riding quietly through the night.
N07 0410 10       The only thing which would have attracted attention
N07 0420  7    was that two wore the uniform of prison guards, three
N07 0430  5    the striped suits of convicts.
N07 0430 10       Five miles.
N07 0440  2       In a small grove against the river they halted,
N07 0440 11    turning deep into the protection of the trees. Foster
N07 0450  9    had brought extra clothing also. A good man, Emmett.
N07 0460  6    He had been one of the original Night Riders, one who
N07 0470  4    had escaped the trial. It was to him that Barton had
N07 0480  2    sent Carl Dill on Dill's release from the prison.
N07 0490  1       Clyde Miller was crying softly to himself, shedding
N07 0490  8    his striped suit and fumbling into the nondescript
N07 0500  6    butternut pants, the worn brown shirt. Kid Boyd was
N07 0510  4    unusually silent, Rankin watchful, a few paces apart.
N07 0520  1    Barton finished his dressing and extended his hand
N07 0520  9    to Powers.
N07 0530  1       "I won't even try to thank you".
N07 0530  8       The ex-prison guard was embarrassed. He said in
N07 0540  6    a studied voice, "I didn't do it for you. I did it
N07 0550  5    for the valley. You're the only man the Night Riders
N07 0560  1    will follow. We've been starving and I don't like to
N07 0560 11    starve".
N07 0570  1       Barton turned away, his eyes falling upon Rankin
N07 0570  9    beside his horse.
N07 0580  3       "Good luck".
N07 0580  5       The murderer lifted his head. "Meaning you want
N07 0590  4    me to ride out"?
N07 0590  8       "You aren't one of us. There's nothing for you here".
N07 0600  9       "I got no place to go".
N07 0610  3       Barton hesitated. He did not trust Rankin, his violent
N07 0620  2    temper, his killer instinct. But ten years in prison
N07 0620 11    had taught him realities. They were in a fight, outweighed
N07 0630  9    in both numbers and money. It was all right to put
N07 0640  8    a bunch of ranchers onto horses, to call them Night
N07 0650  4    Riders, to set out to attack the largest mining combination
N07 0660  1    the country had ever seen if all they wanted was adventure.
N07 0660 12    But if they really hoped to succeed they needed professionals,
N07 0670 10    men who knew how to use a gun against men, who would
N07 0680 11    match the killers on the other side.
N07 0690  3       "Your choice", he said briefly, and turned to Kid
N07 0700  2    Boyd. "Bury those uniforms so they won't be found".
N07 0710  1       Then Barton touched Carl Dill's arm and moved off,
N07 0710 10    up the river bank. He wanted a careful, uninterrupted
N07 0720  7    report from Dill on the conditions in the valley.
N07 0730  5       They squatted on their heels in the deep mud and
N07 0740  4    Dill found a cigar in his breast pocket, passing it
N07 0740 14    over silently. He too knew the agony of going for weeks,
N07 0750 11    sometimes months without the solace of tobacco.
N07 0760  6       Mitchell Barton drew in the fragrance deeply, letting
N07 0770  3    the smoke lie warm and soothing in his throat for a
N07 0780  3    moment before he exhaled.
N07 0780  7       Through the gloom he could not see the man beside
N07 0790  5    him clearly but he knew him thoroughly. For his first
N07 0800  2    five years in prison, they had shared a cell.
N07 0800 11       Carl Dill was neither a rancher nor a valley man.
N07 0810  9    He had been the auditor for the mining syndicate, and
N07 0820  5    he had stolen fifty thousand dollars of the syndicate's
N07 0830  2    money. He had done time for the theft.
N07 0830 10       The one thing they had in common was their hatred.
N07 0840  9    Both hated Donald Kruger. It had drawn them together,
N07 0850  6    and since his release from prison Dill had worked tirelessly
N07 0860  4    to effect this night's escape.
N07 0860  9       He said now, "I've got the perfect headquarters
N07 0870  7    set up. The old Haskell mine".
N07 0880  2       Mitch Barton knew the place. Twenty years before
N07 0890  1    a group of Easterners had bought out the Haskell claims
N07 0890 11    in the rocky hills south of Grass Valley. They had
N07 0900  8    spent a million dollars, carving in a road, putting
N07 0910  5    up buildings, drilling their haulage tunnel. Then the
N07 0920  2    vein had petered out and the whole project had been
N07 0920 12    abandoned.
N07 0940  1       "The road's washed badly", said Dill, "but there's
N07 0940  9    a trail you can get over with a horse. A company of
N07 0950 12    cavalry couldn't come in there if two men were guarding
N07 0960  9    that trail".
N07 0960 11       Barton nodded. "How do the valley people feel"?
N07 0970  8       "As mad as ever. But Kruger's men keep them off
N07 0980  7    balance, and they don't trust me. I'm an outsider.
N07 0990  5    When they learn you're in the hills though, they'll
N07 1000  2    rally, don't worry about that".
N07 1000  7       Barton waited for a long moment, then asked the
N07 1010  8    question which lay always uppermost in his mind.
N07 1020  4       "My boy. Did you find him"?
N07 1020 10       Dill was silent as if he hated to answer, and Barton
N07 1030 11    had a cold, sick feeling of apprehension.
N07 1040  3       "He's in Morgan's Ferry".
N07 1050  1       Barton half-straightened in surprise.
N07 1050  6       "What's he doing there"?
N07 1060  2       Again Dill hesitated. "Dealing faro".
N07 1070  1       "Dealing faro? How come"?
N07 1070  4       "Your sister-in-law has the faro bank in Cap Ayres'
N07 1080  7    saloon".
N07 1080  8       Barton cursed under his breath. After another long
N07 1090  6    pause he asked, "How many people know who they are"?
N07 1100  5       "Everyone. Your cousin Finley saw to that. He's
N07 1110  4    quite a rat, you know. He sold out to Kruger's men.
N07 1120  1    He's informed them of everything you've ever written
N07 1120  9    him. He wants your ranch".
N07 1130  4       Barton stood up. He said tensely, "All right. Let's
N07 1140  3    go get the boy".
N07 1140  7       Dill had come up also. "I was afraid of this. I
N07 1150  6    almost didn't tell you".
N07 1150 10       "If you hadn't I'd have killed you".
N07 1160  7       Dill's voice tightened. "But you can't ride into
N07 1170  6    the Ferry. That's what they'll expect you to do. They'll
N07 1180  6    be there waiting for you. I understand how you feel
N07 1190  4    about the child **h".
N07 1190  8       "The hell you do". Barton's voice was rougher than
N07 1200  5    Dill had ever heard it. "I never saw him. My wife died
N07 1210  6    in childbirth after I was sent away.
N07 1220  1       "I can't leave him there. Donald Kruger would like
N07 1220  9    nothing better than to hold him as hostage, and I wouldn't
N07 1230 10    entrust a snake to his tender care. I've got to get
N07 1240  7    the boy. Let's ride".
N07 1240 11    #CHAPTER TWO#
N07 1250  2    BARTON'S MEN CUT the telegraph wires in half a dozen
N07 1260  1    places, carrying away whole sections to make repairs
N07 1260  9    more difficult. It was over an hour before their escape
N07 1270  8    was discovered, but still the news that Barton was
N07 1280  5    free flashed across the central portion of the state.
N07 1290  1       It reached Donald Kruger in his massive home in
N07 1290 10    Burlingame. It reached the mines at North San Juan
N07 1300  9    and Bloomfield. It brought men out of bed and sent
N07 1310  8    them into hurried conferences.
N07 1320  1       For everyone involved knew that the whole valley
N07 1320  8    was a powder keg, and Mitchell Barton the fuse which
N07 1330  6    could send it into explosive violence.
N07 1340  1       Creighton Hague sat in his office above the Ione
N07 1340 10    pit. The office was of logs, four rooms, each heated
N07 1350  9    by an iron stove. The building was dwarfed by the scene
N07 1360  7    outside. There a dozen giant monitors played their
N07 1370  3    seventy-five-foot jets of water against the huge seam
N07 1380  1    of tertiary gravel which was the mountainside.
N07 1380  8       The gravel was the bed of an ancient river, buckled
N07 1390  8    in some prehistoric upheaval of earth. It was partially
N07 1400  5    cemented by ages and pressure, yet it crumpled before
N07 1410  2    the onslaught of the powerful streams, the force of
N07 1410 11    a thousand fire hoses, and with the gold it held washed
N07 1420 10    down through the long sluices. A million dollars' of
N07 1430  5    gold a month. A million tons of rock and soil and brush.
N07 1440  5       The monitors ran twenty-four hours each day. Their
N07 1450  2    roar, like the swelling volume of a hundred tornadoes
N07 1450 11    could be heard for miles. Hague, like all who worked
N07 1460 10    near the pits, was partly deafened from the constant
N07 1470  5    assault against his eardrums.
N07 1480  1       He was a big man, wearing a neat flannel shirt against
N07 1480 11    the cold foothill air. Fat showed in loose rolls beneath
N07 1490  8    the shirt. Ten years older than Mitch Barton, he had
N07 1500  6    clawed his way up from mucker in the pits to manager
N07 1510  3    of the operation.
N07 1510  6       He was proud of his accomplishments, proud of his
N07 1520  4    job, proud that Donald Kruger and his associates trusted
N07 1530  1    him. He lived and breathed for the mining company.
N07 1530 10       No man could have reached his spot nor held it without
N07 1540 11    being ruthless, and Hague had made a virtue of ruthlessness
N07 1550  8    all of his life.
N07 1550 12       There came a ghost of noise at the office door and
N07 1560 11    Hague swung to see Kodyke in the entrance from the
N07 1570  6    outer room. Hague had never accustomed himself to Kodyke.
N07 1580  4    The man was tall, thin, with a narrow face and a too-large
N07 1590  4    nose. The eyes always held Hague, eyes of a dead man,
N07 1590 15    lidless as a lizard's, with the fixed intensity of
N07 1600  9    a cobra. Even Hague was repelled by the machinelike
N07 1610  6    deadliness that was Kodyke.
N07 1620  1       He knew nothing about the man's history. Kodyke
N07 1620  8    had appeared at the mine one day bearing a letter from
N07 1630  8    Kruger. Kodyke was to head the dread company police.
N07 1640  4    He ran the change rooms. He threw out the hi-graders.
N07 1650  1    He supervised the cleanups and handled the shipments
N07 1650  9    of raw gold which each week went out to San Francisco.
N07 1660 10       Hague squeezed down his uneasy dislike. He pulled
N07 1670  7    open the top drawer of his desk and drew out a tintype.
N07 1680  6       "This is Mitchell Barton. He broke out of Folsom
N07 1690  4    last night. Apparently he bribed one of the guards.
N07 1700  1    We want him back there or we want him dead".
N07 1700 11       Kodyke took the picture in a lean hand, studying
N07 1710  7    it thoughtfully.
N07 1710  9       "Dangerous"?
N07 1720  1       "Dangerous, yes. You know how the ranchers in the
N07 1730  1    valley are. They blame us for all their troubles. Ten
N07 1730 11    years ago they blew up some of our ditches. It cost
N07 1740  9    us a hundred thousand dollars and thirty days lost
N07 1750  5    time to fix them. We don't want Barton's Night Riders
N07 1760  2    loose again".
N07 1760  4       The gunman nodded, slipping the picture into his
N07 1770  3    breast pocket, saying nothing.
N07 1770  7       Normally Hague wasted no words, but now he found
N07 1780  8    himself unable to stop their flow although he knew
N07 1790  3    Kodyke was aware of all he said.
N08 0010  1    If she sensed any unusual preoccupation on the part
N08 0010 10    of her mother, she did not comment upon it.
N08 0020  6       After they had finished eating, Melissa took Sprite
N08 0030  3    the kitten under her arm- "so that Auntie Grace can
N08 0040  2    teach it about the whistle"- and climbed into the station
N08 0040 12    wagon beside her mother. She had offered to walk, but
N08 0050 10    Pamela knew she would not feel comfortable about her
N08 0060  7    child until she had personally confided her to the
N08 0070  4    care of the little pink woman who chose to be called
N08 0080  1    "Auntie".
N08 0080  2       When they reached their neighbor's house, Pamela
N08 0090  1    said a few polite words to Grace and kissed Melissa
N08 0090 11    lightly on the forehead, the impulse prompted by a
N08 0100  8    stray thought- of the type to which she was frequently
N08 0110  6    subject these days- that they might never see one another
N08 0120  4    again. Then she turned the station wagon around and
N08 0130  1    headed it back down the hill, with the village as her
N08 0130 12    ostensible destination.
N08 0140  1       As she drove, she thought about her plan. It was
N08 0140 11    really quite simple. So simple, in fact, that it might
N08 0150 10    even work- although Pamela, now, in her new frame of
N08 0160  8    mind, was careful not to pretend too much assurance.
N08 0170  4    That mistake, she thought, had cost her dearly these
N08 0180  2    past few days, and she wanted to avoid falling into
N08 0180 12    any more of the traps that the mountain might set for
N08 0190  9    her. She must be cautious so as not to alert the scheming
N08 0200  8    forest.
N08 0200  9       When the station wagon drew abreast of the dusty
N08 0210  6    dirt road that led up to the porch of the Culver house,
N08 0220  2    Pamela turned the wheel, guiding the car to its familiar
N08 0230  1    parking spot close to the house, and stopped. All of
N08 0230 11    her movements were careful and methodical, partaking
N08 0240  6    of the stealth of a criminal who has plotted his felony
N08 0250  5    for months in advance and knows exactly which step
N08 0260  2    to take next in the course of the final execution of
N08 0260 13    his crime. She locked the ignition, removed the keys,
N08 0270  8    stepped out of the car and went into the house. Here,
N08 0280  6    she dropped the keys on a small table beside the door
N08 0290  3    and went upstairs to her bedroom.
N08 0290  9       On her bureau lay a small, brass ornament of simple
N08 0300  7    design and faded engraving- an object which, Pamela
N08 0310  4    believed now, had been the property of her great-grandfather,
N08 0320  1    Major Hiram Munroe Culver. He had belonged to this
N08 0330  1    land and, perhaps, had desecrated it- and this was
N08 0330 10    the only material symbol that remained of him. If she,
N08 0340  8    Pamela, were being held responsible for his crimes,
N08 0350  4    then hers must be the final act of expiation. She would
N08 0360  2    return this symbol to the mountain, as one pours seed
N08 0360 12    back into the soil every Spring **h or as ancient fertility
N08 0370 10    cults demand annual human sacrifice.
N08 0380  3       Slowly and thoughtfully, she slipped the ornament
N08 0390  2    into the pocket of her slacks, moved down the stairs
N08 0390 12    and out of the house. There was only one place where
N08 0400 10    the mountain might receive her- that unnamed, unnameable
N08 0410  4    pool harbored in its secret bosom. Atonement, if atonement
N08 0420  4    were possible, could only be made at that sacred, sacrificial
N08 0430  2    basin. It was there that she would have to enact her
N08 0440  1    renunciation, beg forgiveness.
N08 0440  4       Perhaps it was insane, Pamela thought. Perhaps it
N08 0450  4    was all a vividly conceived dream. But she was caught
N08 0460  2    in it, and she faced the terrible possibility that,
N08 0460 11    if it were a dream, it was one from which she might
N08 0470 10    never awaken.
N08 0470 12       Facing the forest now, she who had not dared to
N08 0480 10    enter it before, walked between two trees at random
N08 0490  5    and headed in what she believed was the direction of
N08 0500  2    the pool. She remembered little of her previous journey
N08 0500 11    there with Grace, and she could but hope that her dedication
N08 0510 10    to her mission would enable her to accomplish it.
N08 0520  7       The forest was open and freely welcoming, extending
N08 0530  3    an enchanted hand. The ground was covered with soft
N08 0540  2    pine needles and the slope was gentle. Birds chirped
N08 0540 11    and chattered in the trees and the sun, all dewy-eyed
N08 0550 10    and soft, caressed her shoulders warmly from time to
N08 0560  5    time. It was not, thought Pamela, such an evil place
N08 0570  4    after all. No wonder Melissa responded so completely
N08 0570 12    to its beckoning.
N08 0580  3       Perhaps she had no reason to fear these trees that
N08 0590  2    whispered their secrets above her head as she passed.
N08 0590 11    Was it not possible, after all, that the forest was
N08 0600  8    in league with her and her child **h that its sympathy
N08 0610  6    lay with the Culvers **h that she had erred in failing
N08 0620  3    to understand this?
N08 0620  6       Pamela felt calm and peaceful as she walked along.
N08 0630  5    The slight flutter that had disturbed the motion of
N08 0640  2    her heart when she entered the forest was gone now,
N08 0640 12    and even the dim groves of trees through which she
N08 0650  8    occasionally passed did not reawaken her fear. She
N08 0660  4    regarded them as signs that she was nearing the glen
N08 0670  2    she sought, and she was glad to at last be doing something
N08 0670 14    positive in her unenunciated, undefined struggle with
N08 0680  7    the mountain and its darkling inhabitants.
N08 0690  3       Having persisted too long in deliberate ignorance
N08 0700  2    and denial of the forces that threatened her, Pamela
N08 0700 11    was relieved now to admit their potency and to be taking
N08 0710 10    definite steps toward grappling with them. A few days
N08 0720  7    ago, she would have thought such an expedition as this
N08 0730  4    utterly ridiculous; today, on the contrary, it seemed
N08 0740  2    utterly reasonable.
N08 0740  4       She did not pause to consider what she would do
N08 0750  4    if her plan should fail; she directed all of her mental
N08 0760  1    and physical energy toward achieving this one goal.
N08 0760  9    If, as she walked, her steps fumbled from time to time,
N08 0770  8    she chose to ignore that omen. If the slope grew steeper
N08 0780  6    and the groves more dim, she tried not to heed. Success
N08 0790  3    depended upon maintaining her equanimity; she must
N08 0790 10    be poised and proud and unafraid in order to prove
N08 0800 10    to the mountain that she was in earnest.
N08 0810  5       The forest took on an impersonal aspect. It did
N08 0820  3    not care what sort of person prowled its woods, plucked
N08 0820 13    at its bark or stripped the berries from its bushes.
N08 0830  9    Unconcerned, indifferent, unmotivated, the forest was
N08 0840  5    simply there- fighting man's depredations with more
N08 0850  3    abundant growth and man's follies with its own musical
N08 0860  1    evening laughter. Red man or white man, pacifist or
N08 0860 10    killer, the forest would accept them all- knowing that
N08 0870  8    it could thrive equally well on slaughter and beneficence;
N08 0880  6    knowing that its ageless mass would always dwarf the
N08 0890  4    short span of time allotted to any man.
N08 0890 12       Pamela shook her head. She must not think about
N08 0900  9    time. That was another one of those traps.
N08 0910  5       In her grim pursuit of tranquillity, Pamela focused
N08 0920  2    her thoughts on her husband. If, when this was all
N08 0920 12    over, she found the words to tell him about it, she
N08 0930 10    wondered if he would ever understand. How could he
N08 0940  5    comprehend her need when he himself was innocent? Indian
N08 0950  2    ghosts would not impinge upon his nights, nor would
N08 0950 11    his days be haunted by the dimly-outlined, ill-conceived
N08 0960 10    figure of her benighted ancestor. His bright, daylight
N08 0970  6    mind would whistle away such images; they would not
N08 0980  5    dare to face his scoffing.
N08 0980 10       Pamela was glad Jim was nowhere near. His presence
N08 0990  8    would have interfered with her duty.
N08 1000  3       The mountainside grew steeper and she slipped once
N08 1010  1    or twice on the smooth pine needles. The trees huddled
N08 1010 11    more closely together, their limbs and leaves intertwined
N08 1020  6    in a coarse curtain against the sun. Bushes and vines
N08 1030  6    abetted the rocks in forming thorny detours for the
N08 1040  1    struggling stranger, and without the direct light of
N08 1040  9    the sun to act as compass, Pamela could no longer be
N08 1050  9    positive of her direction.
N08 1060  1       Nevertheless, she continued to move upward. She
N08 1060  8    was sure she would reach the pool by climbing, and
N08 1070  8    she clung to that belief despite the increasing number
N08 1080  4    of obstacles. The forest had become an alien world
N08 1090  2    where she strove, alone, unprotected, unguided, to
N08 1090  9    deal with whatever hindrances were offered. It was
N08 1100  6    a bold, dark castle of pine boughs that stood like
N08 1110  4    a medieval fortress, eclipsing the sun and human time.
N08 1120  2    At one and the same time, she was within it but still
N08 1120 14    searching for the drawbridge that would give her entry.
N08 1130  9       Silence came into the forest- a solid being that
N08 1140  7    clapped its hand over the murmuring mouths of the birds
N08 1150  5    and the whispered comfort of the trees. Silence walked
N08 1160  2    at Pamela's side, its presence numbingly close, yet
N08 1160 10    too far for her to hear. Silence stood in front of
N08 1170 10    her, waiting, and in back of her, blocking her retreat.
N08 1180  6       She stumbled over the root of a tree that protruded
N08 1190  4    maliciously above the earth. In spite of her attempt
N08 1200  1    to preserve her balance, she fell, bruising her arm
N08 1200 10    on a naked stone. For a moment, she could not catch
N08 1210  8    her breath and then, her breath returning in short,
N08 1220  4    frightened spasms, she lifted herself to her feet laboriously.
N08 1230  2    She started to brush the dirt and bits of leaves off
N08 1230 13    her clothes. Her arm bled slightly, and the offended
N08 1240  9    skin cried out in pain.
N08 1250  2       She looked around. She was bewildered. She seemed
N08 1250 10    to have come such a long distance- too far for her
N08 1260 11    destination which had wilfully been swallowed up in
N08 1270  6    the greedy gloom of the trees. She stood quite still,
N08 1280  3    trying to focus upon a direction in which to turn,
N08 1280 13    a path to follow, a clue to guide her.
N08 1290  9       She was standing in a thick grove. The trees were
N08 1300  5    crowded so closely together that their branches overlapped,
N08 1310  2    virtually shutting out the sun completely. The earth
N08 1320  1    smelled moist and pungent as it might in a cave deprived
N08 1320 12    of the cleansing effect of the sun's rays. She had
N08 1340  8    the feeling that, under the mouldering leaves, there
N08 1350  3    would be the bodies of dead animals, quietly decaying
N08 1360  1    and giving their soil back to the mountain.
N08 1360  9       The thought made Pamela shudder. A terrible chill
N08 1370  7    swept through the grove. Not a breeze exactly, but
N08 1380  5    a pocket of icy air that settled with a loathsome familiarity
N08 1390  2    upon the deep confines of the grove, catching Pamela
N08 1400  1    in a leering embrace. There was a peculiar density
N08 1400 10    about it, a thick substance that could be sensed but
N08 1410  7    never identified, never actually perceived.
N08 1420  1       Where before had she felt or dreamt or imagined
N08 1420 10    such a scene? She already knew this unwholesome, chilling
N08 1430  9    atmosphere that was somehow grotesquely alive. It enclosed
N08 1440  7    her clammy hands and twined around her ankles. It crept
N08 1450  6    into the open neck of her blouse and slid down her
N08 1460  4    body, seeping into her flesh through all the quivering
N08 1460 13    pores of her skin. It crawled across her breasts, suffocating
N08 1470 10    the life in her nipples. It circled her thighs, exploring
N08 1480  9    with its icy tentacles. It entered her body with the
N08 1490  7    ghastly intimacy of an incubus, and its particles,
N08 1500  3    spreading, creeping, crawling, joined themselves into
N08 1510  1    steel bands that constricted her knees so tightly that
N08 1510 10    they ached; stifled her lungs so that her breath came
N08 1520  8    in harsh gasps; clutched her throat and sucked up the
N08 1530  6    moisture in her mouth so that her tongue was dry and
N08 1540  3    hard and stuck to the roof of her mouth and her teeth
N08 1540 15    were clenched together in the rigid fixture of her
N08 1550  8    jaws.
N08 1550  9       She had to get away from here before this demoniac
N08 1560  8    possession swallowed up the liquid of her eyes and
N08 1570  5    sank into the fibers of her brain, depriving her of
N08 1580  2    reason and sight. But she did not know which way to
N08 1580 13    go. The shadows of the trees engulfed her, foreclosing
N08 1590  7    every possible exit from the grove. She had been snared
N08 1600  6    here by a vile sensuality that writhed around her throat
N08 1610  3    in ever-tightening circles.
N08 1610  7       She could not scream, for even if a sound could
N08 1620  7    take shape within her parched mouth, who would hear,
N08 1630  3    who would listen?
N08 1630  6       Does the mountain listen?
N08 1640  1       Pamela groped blindly. She had to escape. She had
N08 1640 10    to move in some direction- any direction that would
N08 1650  7    take her away from this evil place.
N08 1660  2       She thrust forward through the shadows and the trees
N08 1670  1    that resisted her and tried to fling her back. Her
N08 1670 11    own body protested, aching painfully where the blood
N08 1680  6    in her veins had congealed, where cold demon wisps
N08 1690  3    still clung and caressed.
N08 1690  7       Every movement she made seemed unnecessarily noisy.
N08 1700  4    Twigs cracked loudly under her feet; bushes swished
N08 1710  3    and scratched at her slacks; tree branches snapped
N08 1720  1    as she pushed them ruthlessly away from her.
N09 0010  1       Miraculously, she found exactly the right statement.
N09 0010  8    She began it deliberately, so that none of her words
N09 0020  9    would be lost on him.
N09 0030  1       "I want to tell you something Thomas DeMontez Lord.
N09 0030 10    I'm well aware that you've got a pedigree as long as
N09 0040 11    my leg, and that I don't amount to anything. But"-
N09 0050  6       "But it don't matter a-tall", Lord supplied fondly.
N09 0060  6    "To me you'll always be the girl o' my dreams, an'
N09 0070  6    the sweetest flower that grows".
N09 0080  1       Beaming idiotically, he pooched out his lips and
N09 0080  8    attempted to kiss her. She yanked away from him furiously.
N09 0090  7       "You shut up! shu-tt up-pp! I've got something to
N09 0100  7    say to you, and by God you're going to listen. Do you
N09 0110  6    hear me? You're going to listen"!
N09 0120  1       Lord nodded agreeably. He said he wanted very much
N09 0120 10    to listen. He knew that anything a brainy little lady
N09 0130  9    like her had to say would be plumb important, as well
N09 0140  6    as pleasin' to the ear, and he didn't want to miss
N09 0150  4    a word of it. So would she mind speaking a little louder?
N09 0160  1       "I think you stink, Tom Lord! I think you're mean
N09 0170  1    and hateful and stupid, and- louder"? said Joyce.
N09 0180  1       "Uh-huh. So I can hear you while I'm checkin' the
N09 0180 10    car. Looks like we might be in for a speck of trouble".
N09 0190 11       He opened the door and got out. He waited at the
N09 0200  9    car side for a moment, looking down at her expectantly.
N09 0210  4       "Well? Wasn't you goin' to say somethin'"? Then,
N09 0220  3    helpfully, as she merely stared at him in weary silence,
N09 0230  2    "Maybe you could write it down for me, huh? Print it
N09 0240  1    in real big letters, an' I can cipher it out later".
N09 0240 12       "Aah, go on", she said. "Just go the hell on".
N09 0250 10       He grinned, nodded, and walked around to the front
N09 0260  8    of the car. Lips pursed mournfully, he stared down
N09 0270  4    at its crazily sagging left side. Then he hunkered
N09 0280  1    down on the heels of his handmade boots, peered into
N09 0280 11    the orderly chaos of axle, shock absorber, and spring.
N09 0290  8       He went prone on his stomach, the better to pursue
N09 0300  7    his examination. After a time, he straightened again,
N09 0310  2    brushing the red Permian dust from his hands, slapping
N09 0320  1    it from his six-dollar levis and his tailored, twenty-five-dollar
N09 0330  1    shirt.
N09 0330  2       He wore no gun- a strange ommission for a peace
N09 0330 12    officer in this country. Never, he'd once told Joyce,
N09 0340  9    had he encountered any man or situation that called
N09 0350  7    for a gun. And he really feels that way, she thought.
N09 0360  5    That's really all he's got, all he is. Just a big pile
N09 0370  5    of self-confidence in an almost teensy package. If
N09 0380  1    I could make myself feel the same way **h
N09 0380 10       She studied him hopefully, yearningly; against the
N09 0390  5    limitless background of sky and wasteland it was easy
N09 0400  4    to confirm her analysis. Here in the God-forsaken place,
N09 0410  2    the westerly end of nowhere, Tom Lord looked almost
N09 0410 11    insignificant, almost contemptible.
N09 0420  3       He was handsome, with his coal-black hair and eyes,
N09 0430  4    his fine-chiseled features. But she'd known plenty
N09 0440  2    of handsomer guys, and, conceding his good looks, what
N09 0440 11    was there left? He wasn't a big man; rather on the
N09 0450 10    medium side. Neither was he very powerful of build.
N09 0460  7    He could move very quickly, she knew (although he seldom
N09 0470  4    found occasion to do so), but he was more wiry than
N09 0480  1    truly strong. And his relatively small hands and feet
N09 0480 10    gave him an almost delicate appearance.
N09 0490  4       Just nothing, she told herself. Just so darned sure
N09 0500  5    of himself that he puts the Indian sign on everyone.
N09 0510  2    But, by gosh, I want him and I'm going to have him!
N09 0520  1       He caught her eye, came back around the car with
N09 0520 11    the boot-wearer's teetering, half-mincing walk. Why
N09 0530  6    did these yokels still wear boots, anyway, when most
N09 0540  5    had scarcely sat a horse in years? He slid in at her
N09 0550  5    side, tucked a cigar into his mouth, and politely proffered
N09 0560  1    one to her.
N09 0560  4       "Oh, cut it out, Tom"! she snapped. "Can't you stop
N09 0570  3    that stupid clowning for even a minute"?
N09 0580  1       "This ain't your brand, maybe", Lord suggested.
N09 0580  7    "Or maybe you just don't feel like a cigar"?
N09 0590  8       "I feel like getting back to town, that's what I
N09 0600  7    feel like! Now, are you going to take me or am I supposed
N09 0610  6    to walk"?
N09 0610  8       "Might get there faster walkin'", Lord drawled,
N09 0620  4    "seein' as how I got a busted front spring. On the
N09 0630  4    other hand, howsomever, maybe you wouldn't either.
N09 0640  1    I figger it's probl'y a sixty-five-mile walk, and I
N09 0640 12    c'n maybe get this spring patched up in a couple of
N09 0650 10    hours".
N09 0650 11       "How- with what? There's nothing out here but rattlesnakes".
N09 0670  1       "Now, ain't it the truth"? Lord laughed with secret
N09 0670  9    amusement. "Not a danged thing but rattlesnakes, so
N09 0680  8    I reckon I'll get the boss rattler to help me".
N09 0690  7       "Tom! For God's sake"!
N09 0700  1       "Looky". He pointed, cutting her off. "See that
N09 0710  2    wildcat"?
N09 0710  3       She saw it then, the distant derrick of the wildcat-
N09 0720  1    a test well in unexplored country. And even with her
N09 0720 11    limited knowledge of such things, she knew that the
N09 0730  9    car could be repaired there; sufficiently, at least,
N09 0740  5    to get them back into town. A wildcatter had to be
N09 0750  4    prepared for almost any emergency. He had to depend
N09 0750 13    on himself, since he was invariably miles and hours
N09 0760  9    away from others.
N09 0770  1       "Well, let's get going", she said impatiently. "I"-
N09 0780  3    She broke off, frowning. "What did you mean by that
N09 0780 13    rattlesnake gag? Getting the boss rattlesnake to help
N09 0790  8    you"?
N09 0790  9       "Why, I meant what I said", Lord declared. "What
N09 0800  9    else would I mean, anyways"?
N09 0810  2       She looked at him, lips compressed. Then, with a
N09 0820  2    shrug of pretended indifference, she took a compact
N09 0820 10    from her purse and went through the motions of fixing
N09 0830  8    her make-up. In his mood, it was the best way to handle
N09 0840  7    him; that is, to show no curiosity whatsoever. Otherwise,
N09 0850  2    she would be baited into a tantrum- teased and provoked
N09 0860  1    until she lost control of herself, and thus lost still
N09 0860 11    another battle in the maddening struggle of Tom Lord
N09 0870  8    Vs& Joyce Lakewood.
N09 0880  1       The car lurched along at a snail's crawl, the left-front
N09 0880 12    mudguard banging and scraping against the tire, occasionally
N09 0890  8    scraping against the road itself. Lord whistled tunelessly
N09 0900  7    as he fought the steering wheel. He seemed very pleased
N09 0910  6    with himself, as though some intricate scheme was working
N09 0920  4    out exactly as he had planned. Along with this self-satisfaction,
N09 0930  3    however, Joyce sensed a growing tension. It poured
N09 0940  1    out of him like an electric current, a feeling that
N09 0940 11    the muscles and nerves of his fine-drawn body were
N09 0950  8    coiling for action, and that that action would be all
N09 0960  5    that he anticipated.
N09 0960  8       Joyce had seen him like this once before- more than
N09 0970  6    once, actually, but on one particularly memorable occasion.
N09 0980  3    That was the day that he had practically mopped up
N09 0990  2    the main street of Big Sands with Aaron McBride, field
N09 0990 12    boss for the Highlands Oil + Gas Company.
N09 1000  8       Tom had been laying for Aaron McBride for a long
N09 1010  7    time, just waiting to catch him out of line. McBride
N09 1020  3    gave him his opportunity when he showed up in town
N09 1020 13    with a pistol on his hip. He had a legitimate reason
N09 1030 11    for wearing it. It was payday for Highlands, and he
N09 1040  7    was packing a lot of money back into the oil fields.
N09 1050  4    Moreover, as long as the weapon was carried openly,
N09 1060  1    the sheriff's office had made no previous issue of
N09 1060 10    it.
N09 1060 11       "So what's this all about"? he demanded, when Lord
N09 1070  9    confronted him. I'm not the only man in town with a
N09 1080 10    gun, or the only one without a permit".
N09 1090  3       It was the wrong thing to say. By failing to do
N09 1100  1    as he was told instantly- to take out a permit or return
N09 1100 13    the gun to his car- he had played into Lord's hands.
N09 1110  9       The trouble was that he had virtually had to protest.
N09 1120  8    The deputy had forced him to by his manner of accosting
N09 1130  6    him.
N09 1130  7       So, "How about it"? he said. "Why single me out
N09 1140  6    on this permit deal"?
N09 1140 10       "Well, I'll tell you about that", Lord told him.
N09 1150  9    "We aim t' be see-lective, y'know? Don't like to bother
N09 1160  6    no one unless we have to, which I figger we do, in
N09 1170  8    your case. Figger we got to be plumb careful with any
N09 1180  3    of you Highlands big shots".
N09 1180  8       McBride reddened. He himself had heard that there
N09 1190  7    was gangster money in the company, but that had nothing
N09 1200  5    to do with him. He was an honest man doing a hard job,
N09 1210  2    and the implication that he was anything else was unbearable.
N09 1220  1       "Look, Lord", he said hoarsely. "I know you've got
N09 1230  1    a grudge against me, and maybe I can't blame you. You
N09 1230 12    think that Highlands swindled you and I helped 'em
N09 1240  7    do it. But you're all wrong, man! I'm no lawyer. I
N09 1250  6    just do what I'm told, and"-
N09 1260  1       "Uh-huh. An' that could mean trouble with a fella
N09 1260 11    that's workin' for crooks. So you get rid of that pistol
N09 1270 11    right now, Mis-ter McBride. You do that or take you
N09 1280  8    out a permit right now".
N09 1290  1       McBride couldn't do either, of course. Not immediately,
N09 1290  9    as the deputy demanded. Not without a face-saving respite
N09 1300  9    of at least a few minutes. To do so would make his
N09 1310  8    job well-nigh impossible. Oil-field workers were a
N09 1320  4    rough-tough lot. How could he exert authority over
N09 1330  1    them- make them toe the line, as he had to- if he knuckled
N09 1330 13    under to this small-town clown?
N09 1340  5       "I'll get around to it a little later", he mumbled
N09 1350  4    desperately. "Just as soon as I go to the bank, and"-
N09 1360  1       "Huh-uh. Now, Mis-ter McBride", said Lord, and he
N09 1370  4    laid a firmly restraining hand on the field boss's
N09 1370 13    arm.
N09 1380  1       It was strictly the deputy's game, but McBride had
N09 1380 10    gone too far to throw in. Now, he could only play the
N09 1390 12    last card in what was probably the world's coldest
N09 1400  5    deck.
N09 1400  6       He flung off Lord's hand and attempted to push past
N09 1410  7    him, inadvertently shoving him into a storefront.
N09 1420  2       It was practically the last move that McBride made
N09 1430  1    of his own volition.
N09 1430  5       Lord slugged him in the stomach, so hard that the
N09 1440  3    organ almost pressed against his spine. Then, as he
N09 1440 12    doubled, gasping, vomiting the breakfast he had so
N09 1450  8    lately eaten, Lord straightened him with an uppercut.
N09 1460  5    A rabbit punch redoubled him. And then there was a
N09 1470  4    numbing blow to the heart, and another gut-flattening
N09 1470 13    blow to the stomach **h
N09 1480  5       But he couldn't keep up with them. No more could
N09 1490  3    he defend himself against them. He seemed to be fighting
N09 1500  1    not one man but a dozen. And he could no longer think
N09 1500 13    of face-saving, of honor, but only of escape.
N09 1510  7       Why, he's going to kill me, he thought wildly. I
N09 1520  5    meant him no harm. I've given willful hurt to no man.
N09 1530  4    I was just doing my job, just following orders, and
N09 1530 14    for that he's going to kill me. Beat me to death in
N09 1540 12    front of a hundred people.
N09 1550  2       Somehow more terrible than the certainty that he
N09 1550 10    was about to die was the knowledge that Lord would
N09 1560 10    probably not suffer for it: the murder would go unpunished.
N09 1570  7    He, McBride, would be cited as in the wrong, and he,
N09 1580  7    Lord, would go scot-free, an officer who had only done
N09 1590  3    his duty, though perhaps too energetically.
N09 1590  9       McBride staggered into the street, flopped sprawling
N09 1600  7    in the stinging dust. Fear-maddened, fleeing the lengthening
N09 1610  6    shadow of death, he scrambled to his feet again. He
N09 1620  6    couldn't see; he was long past the point of coherent
N09 1630  2    thinking. Dimly, he heard laughter, hoots of derision,
N09 1630 10    but he could not read the racket properly. He could
N09 1640 10    not grasp that Lord had withdrawn from the fight minutes
N09 1650  7    ago, and that his leaden arms were flailing at nothing
N09 1660  4    but the air.
N09 1660  7       He hated them too much to understand- the people
N09 1670  3    of this isolated law-unto-itself world that was Lord's
N09 1680  3    world. This, he was sure, was the way they would act;
N09 1700  1    laughing at a dying man, laughing as a man was beaten
N09 1700 12    to death. And nothing would be done about it. Nothing
N09 1710  8    unless **h
N09 1710 10       Donna! Donna, his young wife, the girl who was both
N09 1720 10    daughter and wife to him. Donna was like he was. She
N09 1730  9    lived by the rules, never compromising, never blinded
N09 1740  3    or diverted by circumstance. And Donna would-
N09 1750  1       When he regained consciousness he was in Lord's
N09 1750  9    house, in the office of Doctor Lord, the deputy's deceased
N09 1760  9    father.
N10 0010  1       The Brannon outfit- known as the Slash-B because
N10 0010 10    of its brand- reached Hondo Creek before sundown. The
N10 0020  9    herd was watered and then thrown onto a broad grass
N10 0030  7    flat which was to be the first night's bedground. Two
N10 0040  3    of the new hands, a Mexican named Jose Amado and a
N10 0050  2    kid known only as Laredo, were picked for the first
N10 0050 12    trick of riding night herd.
N10 0060  3       The rest of the crew offsaddled their mounts and
N10 0070  1    turned them into the remuda. They got tin cups of coffee
N10 0070 12    from the big pot on the coosie's fire, rolled and lighted
N10 0080  9    brown-paper cigarettes, lounged about. There was some
N10 0090  6    idle talk, a listless discussion of this or that small
N10 0100  5    happening during the day's drive. But they deliberately
N10 0110  1    avoided the one subject that had them all curious:
N10 0110 10    the failure of the boss's wife and son to join the
N10 0120 10    outfit. It especially bothered the older hands.
N10 0130  4       The cook, Mateo Garcia, had arrived there long before
N10 0140  4    the herd. He'd started a fire and put coffee on, and
N10 0150  2    now was busy at the work board of his chuck wagon.
N10 0150 13    He was readying a batch of sourdough biscuits for the
N10 0160  8    Dutch oven. Supper would be ready within the hour.
N10 0170  5       The Maguire family was setting up a separate camp
N10 0180  2    nearby. Billie had unhitched the mules from both Tom
N10 0180 11    Brannon's and his father's wagon. Hank had gathered
N10 0190  8    wood for a cookfire, and his wife was busy at it now.
N10 0200  9    Conchita kept an eye on the twins and little Elena,
N10 0210  4    trying to keep them from falling into the creek by
N10 0220  2    which they persisted in playing. Conchita nagged at
N10 0220 10    the younger children, attempting without success to
N10 0230  5    keep her thoughts off Tom Brannon.
N10 0240  1       Tom Brannon had caught up with the outfit shortly
N10 0240 10    after the Maguires joined it, which had been at midday.
N10 0250 10    He'd come alone, without his wife and child. He'd been
N10 0260  8    in an angry mood: Conchita had thought his face almost
N10 0270  6    ugly with the anger in him.
N10 0270 12       She wondered what had taken place in town, between
N10 0280  9    him and his wife. She wished that she could talk to
N10 0290  7    her mother about it. Not that her mother knew what
N10 0300  3    had happened, but they could speculate upon it. But
N10 0300 12    her mother would rebuke her if she mentioned it, and
N10 0310 10    say that it was none of her concern.
N10 0320  4       "Pat, get out of that creek! You too, Sean! Elena,
N10 0330  2    you'll get mud all over your dress"!
N10 0330  9       Even as she called to the children, Conchita let
N10 0340  9    her gaze seek Tom Brannon. Tomas, she called him- as
N10 0350  6    the Mexican hands did. He was in earnest conversation
N10 0360  2    with her father and the old vaquero, Luis Hernandez.
N10 0370  1    Whatever they are talking about? Conchita wondered.
N10 0370  8       It bothered her that she probably would never know.
N10 0380  9    Certainly, she wouldn't dare ask her father afterward.
N10 0390  6    He would tell her not to pry into grownups' affairs-
N10 0400  3    as though she were a little kid like Elena!
N10 0410  1       At the moment, the three men were not saying much
N10 0410 11    of anything. They were sitting on their heels, rider-fashion,
N10 0420  9    over by the still empty calf wagon. Brannon was hunkered
N10 0430  7    down with his broad back to the left rear wheel, with
N10 0440  6    the other two facing him. He held a cigarette in his
N10 0450  3    right hand. It was burning away, forgotten. His face
N10 0450 12    was clouded with unhappiness.
N10 0460  4       He'd told Hank Maguire and Luis Hernandez about
N10 0470  3    his wife's refusal to come with him and about what
N10 0480  1    he now intended to do. They were considering it gravely,
N10 0480 11    neither seeming to like what he planned.
N10 0490  6       Finally Hernandez said, "I could offer you advice,
N10 0500  4    Tomas, but you wouldn't heed it".
N10 0510  1       "Let's hear it, anyway".
N10 0510  4       "Wait a little while. Let Senora Brannon live in
N10 0520  4    her father's house for a time. Give her time to miss
N10 0530  3    you. Maybe she will then come to you. After all, you
N10 0530 14    want the senora as much as you want the boy. You need
N10 0540 11    her even more than you need him".
N10 0550  3       "She won't change her mind", Brannon said. "John
N10 0560  2    Clayton will see to that".
N10 0560  7       "But after a time away from you **h".
N10 0570  5       "A year, Luis? Five? Ten? How long should I wait"?
N10 0580  5    "Maybe in a year, Tomas **h".
N10 0590  1       "In a year she'll like living in Clayton's house
N10 0590  9    too much to come back to me", Brannon said flatly.
N10 0600  8    "And the boy will be too much under his influence by
N10 0610  6    then. I've got to take Danny away from Clayton before
N10 0620  3    I lose him altogether. Hell, in a year or five or ten,
N10 0630  1    the boy will have forgotten me- his own father"!
N10 0630 10       "But to take him and leave his mother behind is
N10 0640 10    not good".
N10 0640 12       "In my place, you'd follow such advice as you give
N10 0650 10    me"?
N10 0660  1       Hernandez looked suddenly uncertain. "That I can't
N10 0660  7    answer, for I can't imagine something like this happening
N10 0670  7    to me. Maybe I should withdraw my advice- no"?
N10 0680  5       Brannon looked at Hank Maguire. "And you? What would
N10 0690  5    you do in my place"?
N10 0690 10       Hank shook his head. "I don't know, Tom. Like Luis,
N10 0700 10    I can't see something like this happening to me. With
N10 0710  8    Maria and me, there's never any problem. Where I go,
N10 0720  6    she goes- and the kids with us. You're going to need
N10 0740  3    your woman. And the boy will need his mother. If you
N10 0740 14    take the one, you'd better take both".
N10 0750  7       Brannon shook his head. "I won't force Beth to come
N10 0760  7    against her will. But I'm going to have my son".
N10 0770  5       They were silent for a little while, each looking
N10 0780  2    glum.
N10 0780  3       Finally Luis Hernandez said, "What must be, must
N10 0790  2    be. I am with you, of course, Tomas".
N10 0790 10       And Hank Maguire added, "So am I, Tom".
N10 0800  6       "All right", Brannon said, rising. "We'll ride out
N10 0810  5    as soon as we've had chuck".
N10 0810 11    ##
N10 0820  1    Brannon timed it so that they rode in an hour after
N10 0820 12    nightfall. They had for cover both darkness and a summer
N10 0830  9    storm. During much of the fifteen-mile ride they had
N10 0840  6    watched a lurid display of lightning in the sky to
N10 0850  3    the east. Later, they'd heard the rumble of thunder
N10 0850 12    and then, just outside Rockfork, they ran into rain.
N10 0860  8    Those who had slickers donned them. The others put
N10 0870  6    on old coats or ducking jackets, whichever they carried
N10 0880  3    behind their saddle cantles.
N10 0880  7       There were seven of them, enough for a show of strength-
N10 0890  9    to run a bluff. It was to be nothing more than that.
N10 0900  6    There was to be no gunplay. If the bluff failed and
N10 0910  3    they ran into trouble, Brannon had told the others,
N10 0910 12    they would withdraw- and he would come after his son
N10 0920 10    another time. He didn't want to put himself outside
N10 0930  6    the law.
N10 0930  8       With him were Hank Maguire, Luis Hernandez, and
N10 0940  5    Luis's son Pedro. The Ramirez brothers were also along.
N10 0950  5    The seventh man was Red Hogan, a wiry little puncher
N10 0960  2    with a wild streak and a liking for hell-raising. They
N10 0960 13    were all good men.
N10 0970  4       It was dark early, because of the storm. Also because
N10 0980  2    of the storm, the streets of Rockfork were deserted.
N10 0980 11    Lighted windows glowed jewel-bright through the downpour.
N10 0990  8    They reined in before the town marshal's office, a
N10 1000  7    box-sized building on Main Street. A lamp burned inside,
N10 1010  5    but Brannon, peering through the window, saw that the
N10 1020  4    office was empty. He'd hoped to catch Jesse Macklin
N10 1030  1    there.
N10 1030  2       "Probably just stepped out", he said. "Maybe to
N10 1040  1    have supper. Red, come along. The rest of you wait
N10 1040 11    here".
N10 1050  1       With Red Hogan, he rode to the Welcome Cafe. Hogan
N10 1050 10    got down from the saddle and had a look inside. "Not
N10 1060  9    there", he said, getting back onto his horse. "Maybe
N10 1070  5    he's at the hotel".
N10 1070  9       They rode to the Rockfork House, a little farther
N10 1080  8    along the opposite side of the street. They reined
N10 1090  5    in there, Brannon remaining in the saddle while Hogan
N10 1100  2    went to look for Jesse Macklin in the hotel dining
N10 1100 12    room. Brannon had no slicker. He'd put on his old brown
N10 1110 11    corduroy coat and it was already soaked. But he felt
N10 1120  8    no physical discomfort. He was only vaguely aware of
N10 1130  5    the sluicing rain. He hardly noticed the blue-green
N10 1140  1    flashes of lightning and the hard claps of thunder.
N10 1140 10       Hogan reappeared, stopped on the hotel porch, lifted
N10 1150  8    a hand in signal. Brannon dismounted and climbed the
N10 1160  5    steps.
N10 1160  6       "He's finished eating", Hogan said. "Sitting with
N10 1170  5    a cup of coffee now. It shouldn't be long".
N10 1180  3       It seemed long, at least to Tom Brannon. He and
N10 1190  2    Hogan waited by the door, one to either side. Macklin
N10 1190 12    was the third man to come out, and he came unhurriedly.
N10 1200 10    He was puffing on a cigar, and he was turning up his
N10 1210  7    coat collar against the rain. It was not until he moved
N10 1220  5    across the porch that he became aware of them, and
N10 1230  1    then it was too late. They closed in fast, kept him
N10 1230 12    from reaching inside his coat for his gun.
N10 1240  6       "Just come along", Brannon told him. "Don't start
N10 1250  4    anything you can't finish".
N10 1250  8       "Now, listen"- Macklin began.
N10 1260  3       "We'll talk over at your office".
N10 1270  1       "Brannon, I warn you"! "Let's go, Marsh al", Brannon
N10 1280  3    said, and took him by the arm.
N10 1280 10       Hogan gripped the lawman's other arm. They escorted
N10 1290  6    him down from the porch and through the rain to his
N10 1300  5    office. The other five Slash-B men followed them inside,
N10 1310  2    crowding the small room. His face was stiff with anger
N10 1310 12    when they let go of his arms. He looked at each of
N10 1320 12    them in turn, Brannon last of all.
N10 1330  4       "I'll remember you", he said. "Every last one of
N10 1340  4    you. As for you, Brannon"-
N10 1340  9       "Put your gun on the desk, Marshal".
N10 1350  4       "Now, hold on, damn it; I won't"-
N10 1360  3       Red Hogan's patience ran out. He lifted the skirt
N10 1370  1    of Macklin's coat, took his gun from its holster, tossed
N10 1370 11    it onto the desk. "Too much fooling around", he said.
N10 1380  8    "Don't press your luck, badge-toter".
N10 1390  4       Brannon said, "Now the key to the lockup, Marshal".
N10 1400  2       "Key"? Macklin said. "What for"?
N10 1410  1       "Can't you guess"? Brannon said. "We're putting
N10 1420  1    you where you won't come to harm. Come on- the key.
N10 1420 12    Get it out"!
N10 1430  2       "Damned if I will. Brannon, you've assaulted a law
N10 1440  2    officer and"-
N10 1440  4       They moved in on him, crowded him from all sides.
N10 1450  3    No man laid a hand on him, but the threat of violence
N10 1450 15    was there. His face took on a sudden pallor, became
N10 1460 10    beaded with sweat, and he seemed to have trouble with
N10 1470  7    his breathing. He held out a moment longer, then his
N10 1480  4    nerve gave under the pressure.
N10 1480  9       He swore, and said, "All right. It's here in my
N10 1490  8    pocket".
N10 1490  9       "Get it out", Brannon ordered. Then, as Macklin
N10 1500  6    obeyed: "Now let's go out back".
N10 1510  2       Resignedly, Macklin turned to the back door. They
N10 1520  1    followed him into the rain and across to the squat
N10 1520 11    stone building fifty feet to the rear. The door of
N10 1530  8    the lockup was of oak planks and banded with strap
N10 1540  3    iron. It was secured by an oversized padlock. Macklin
N10 1550  1    balked again, not wanting to unlock and open the door.
N10 1550 11    They crowded him in that threatening way once more,
N10 1560  8    forced him to give in. Once the door was open, they
N10 1570  5    crowded him inside the dark building. He was uttering
N10 1580  1    threats in a low but savage voice when they closed
N10 1580 11    and padlocked the door.
N10 1590  3       They returned to the street, mounted their horses,
N10 1600  1    rode through the rain to the big house on Houston Street.
N10 1600 12    Its windows glowed with lamplight. Deputy Marshal Luke
N10 1610  7    Harper still stood guard on the veranda, a forlorn,
N10 1620  7    scarecrowish figure in the murky dark. He came to the
N10 1630  5    edge of the veranda, peered down at them with his hand
N10 1640  1    on his gun.
N10 1640  4       "Don't try it", Brannon told him, dismounting and
N10 1650  2    starting up the steps with his men following. "Don't
N10 1650 11    get yourself killed for something that doesn't concern
N10 1660  8    you".
N10 1670  1       He strode past the now frightened man, entered the
N10 1670  9    house. Miguel and Arturo Ramirez remained on the veranda
N10 1680  7    to keep Harper from interfering. The others followed
N10 1690  4    Brannon inside. They trailed him across the wide hallway
N10 1700  4    to the parlor, four roughly garbed and tough-looking
N10 1710  1    men who probably had never before ventured into such
N10 1710 10    a house. They brought to it all the odors that clung
N10 1720  8    to men like themselves, that of their own sweat, of
N10 1730  4    campfire smoke, of horses and cattle. They tracked
N10 1740  1    mud on the oaken floor, on the carpet. Their presence
N10 1740 11    fouled the elegance of that room.
N10 1750  4       And their arrival caught John Clayton and Charles
N10 1760  2    Ansley off guard.
N11 0010  1       The author of the anonymous notes seemed to be all-knowing.
N11 0010 12    For men who had left cattle alone after getting their
N11 0020 10    first notices had received no second. But the day of
N11 0030  8    the deadline came and passed, and the men who had scoffed
N11 0040  6    at the warnings laughed with satisfaction. For, with
N11 0050  2    a single exception, nothing had happened to them.
N11 0050 10       The exception was an Iron Mountain settler named
N11 0060  8    William Lewis. After walking out to his corral that
N11 0070  7    morning, he'd been amazed to see the dust puff up in
N11 0080  5    front of his feet. A split second later, the distant
N11 0090  1    crack of a rifle had sounded. He'd mounted up immediately
N11 0090 11    and raced with a revolver ready toward the spot from
N11 0100  9    which he'd estimated the shot had come. But he had
N11 0110  7    found all of the thickets and points of cover deserted.
N11 0120  3    There had been no sign of a rifleman and no track or
N11 0130  1    trace to show that anyone had been near.
N11 0130  9       Lewis was a man who had made a full-time job of
N11 0140  7    cow stealing. He hadn't even pretended to be farming
N11 0150  3    his spread. His land had never been plowed. He had
N11 0150 13    done his rustling openly and boasted about it. He had
N11 0160 10    received both first and second anonymous notices, and
N11 0170  6    each time he had accused his neighbors of writing them.
N11 0180  4    He had cursed at them and threatened them. He was a
N11 0190  2    man, those neighbors testified later, who didn't have
N11 0190 10    a friend in the world.
N11 0200  4       William Lewis made the rounds of all who lived near
N11 0210  2    him again, that August morning after a bullet landed
N11 0210 11    at his feet, and once more he accused and threatened
N11 0220  8    everyone.
N11 0220  9       "I'll be ready next time"! he raged. "I'll be shootin'
N11 0230 10    right back".
N11 0240  1       He had his chance the very next morning, for exactly
N11 0240 11    the same thing happened again. This time Lewis had
N11 0250  9    his own rifle in his hands, and he threw some answering
N11 0260  7    fire back at the mysterious far-off shot, then spent
N11 0270  4    most of the day searching out the area. He found nothing,
N11 0280  1    but he still refused to give up and move out.
N11 0280 11       "Just let me meet up with that damned bushwhackin'
N11 0290  9    coward face-to-face"! he exploded. "That's all I ask"!
N11 0300  7       He never got that chance. For the unseen, ghostlike
N11 0310  6    rifleman aimed a little higher the third time. A .30-30
N11 0320  6    bullet smashed directly into the center of William
N11 0330  1    Lewis' chest. He slumped against a log fence rail,
N11 0330 10    then tried to lift himself. Two more shots followed
N11 0340  8    in quick succession, dropping him limp and huddled
N11 0350  5    on the ground.
N11 0350  8       An inquest was held, and after a good deal of testimony
N11 0360  7    about the anonymous notes, the county coroner estimated
N11 0370  3    that the shooting had been done from a distance of
N11 0380  1    300 yards. Rumors of the offer Tom Horn had made at
N11 0380 12    the Stockgrowers' Association meeting had leaked out
N11 0390  6    by then, and as a grand jury investigation of the murder
N11 0400  5    got underway, the prosecuting attorney, a Colonel Baird,
N11 0410  4    ordered that the tall stock detective be summoned for
N11 0420  1    questioning.
N11 0420  2       It took some time to locate Horn. He was finally
N11 0430  1    found in the Bates Hole region of Natrona County, two
N11 0430 11    counties away. Prosecutor Baird immediately assumed
N11 0440  6    he was hiding out there after the shooting and began
N11 0450  6    preparing an indictment. But that indictment was never
N11 0460  3    made. For Tom Horn, it turned out, had a number of
N11 0470  1    rancher and cowboy witnesses ready and willing to swear
N11 0470 10    with straight faces that he had been in Bates Hole
N11 0480  9    the day of the killing.
N11 0490  1       The former scout's alibi couldn't be shaken. The
N11 0490  9    authorities had to release him. He immediately rode
N11 0500  7    on to Cheyenne, threw a ten-day drinking spree and
N11 0510  4    dropped some very strong hints among friends.
N11 0520  1       "Dead center at three hundred yards, that coroner
N11 0520  9    said"! he'd grin. "Three shots in that fella 'fore
N11 0530  8    he hit the ground! You reckon there's two men in this
N11 0540  7    state can shoot like that"?
N11 0550  1       Publicly, he denied everything. Privately, he created
N11 0550  8    and magnified an image of himself as a hired assassin.
N11 0560  9    For a blood-chilling ring of terror to the very sound
N11 0570  7    of his name was the tool he needed for the job he'd
N11 0580  4    promised to do.
N11 0580  7    ##
N11 0580  8    Tom Horn was soon back at work, giving his secret employers
N11 0590  5    their money's worth. A good many beef-hungry settlers
N11 0600  2    were accepting the death of William Lewis as proof
N11 0610  1    that the warning notes were not idle threats. The company
N11 0610 11    herds were being raided less often, and cabins and
N11 0620  8    soddies all over the range were standing deserted.
N11 0630  3    But there were other homesteaders who passed the Lewis
N11 0640  2    murder off as a personal grudge killing, the work of
N11 0640 12    one of his neighbors. The rustling problem was by no
N11 0650  8    means solved.
N11 0650 10       Even in the very area where the shooting had been
N11 0660 10    done, cattle were still disappearing. For less than
N11 0670  5    a dozen miles from the unplowed land of the dead man
N11 0680  4    lived another settler who had ignored the warnings
N11 0680 12    that his existence might be foreclosed on- a blatant
N11 0690  8    and defiant rustler named Fred Powell.
N11 0700  3       "Fred was mighty crude about the way he took in
N11 0710  3    cattle" his own hired man, Andy Ross, mentioned later.
N11 0720  1    "Everyone knew it, but he sort of acted like he didn't
N11 0720 12    care who knew it- even after them notes came, even
N11 0730 10    after he'd heard about Lewis, even after he'd been
N11 0740  6    shot at a couple o' times hisself"!
N11 0750  1       On the morning of September 10, 1895, Powell and
N11 0750 10    Ross rose at dawn and began their day's work. Haying
N11 0760 10    time was close at hand, and they needed some strong
N11 0770  7    branches to repair a hay rack. Harnessing a team to
N11 0780  4    a buckboard, they drove out to a willow-lined creek
N11 0790  1    about a half-mile off, then climbed down and began
N11 0790 11    chopping.
N11 0800  1       Andy Ross had just started swinging an ax at his
N11 0800 10    second willow when the distant blast of a rifle sounded.
N11 0810  7    He looked around in surprise, then noticed that Fred
N11 0820  4    Powell was clutching his chest. The hired man ran over
N11 0830  3    to help his boss.
N11 0830  7       "My God, I'm shot"! Powell gasped. And he collapsed
N11 0840  5    and died instantly.
N11 0840  8       Ross had no intention of searching for the assassin.
N11 0850  7    He heaved the dead man onto the buckboard, yelled and
N11 0860  5    lashed at the team and got out of there fast. But he
N11 0870  3    brought back the sheriff and several deputies, and
N11 0870 11    to the lawmen the entire affair seemed a repetition
N11 0880  7    of the Lewis killing.
N11 0890  1       A detailed scouring of the entire area revealed
N11 0890  9    nothing beyond a ledge of rocks that might have been
N11 0900  8    the rifleman's hiding place. There were no tracks of
N11 0910  5    either hoofs or boots. Not even an empty cartridge
N11 0920  1    case could be found.
N11 0920  5       Once again, Tom Horn was the first and most likely
N11 0930  4    suspect, and he was brought in for questioning immediately.
N11 0940  1    Once again, he shook his head, kept his face expressionless
N11 0940 11    and his voice very calm, and had a strongly supported
N11 0950 10    alibi ready. Later, riding in for some lusty enjoyment
N11 0960  7    of the liquor and professional ladies of Cheyenne,
N11 0970  3    he laid claim to the killing with the vague insinuations
N11 0980  1    he made.
N11 0980  3       "Exterminatin' cow thieves is just a business proposition
N11 0990  2    with me", he'd blandly announce. "And I sort o' got
N11 1000  2    a corner on the market".
N11 1000  7       "Tom", a friend asked him once, "how come you bushwhacked
N11 1010  6    them rustlers? They wouldn't o' stood no chance with
N11 1020  6    you in a plain, straight-out shoot-down".
N11 1030  1       He had lots of friends, then as always. Even as
N11 1030 11    he became widely known as a professional killer, nearly
N11 1040  7    every cowboy and rancher in Wyoming seemed proud to
N11 1050  5    call him a friend. No man's name brought more cheers
N11 1060  3    when it was announced in a rodeo.
N11 1060 10       "Well", he explained, "s'posin' you was a nester
N11 1070  6    swingin' the long rope? Which would you be most scairt
N11 1080  7    of- a dry-gulchin' or a shoot-down"?
N11 1090  1       "Yeah, I can see that", the friend was forced to
N11 1100  1    agree. "But **h well, it just don't seem sportin' somehow"!
N11 1110  1       "Sportin'"! The tall sunburnt rustler-hunter stared
N11 1120  1    in amazement. "Sportin'"! he echoed again in soft wonder.
N11 1120 10    "I seen a lot o' things in my time. I found a trooper
N11 1130 13    once the Apache had spread-eagled on an ant hill, and
N11 1140  9    another time we ran across some teamsters they'd caught,
N11 1150  5    tied upside down on their own wagon wheels over little
N11 1160  3    fires until their brains was exploded right out o'
N11 1170  1    their skulls. I heard o' Texas cattlemen wrappin' a
N11 1170 10    cow thief up in green hides and lettin' the sun shrink
N11 1180  9    'em and squeeze him to death. But there's one thing
N11 1190  6    I never seen or heard of, one thing I just don't think
N11 1200  5    there is, and that's a sportin' way o' killin' a man"!
N11 1210  3       After the first two murders, the warning notes were
N11 1220  2    rarely ignored. The lesson had been learned. The examples
N11 1220 11    were plain. When Fred Powell's brother-in-law, Charlie
N11 1230  9    Keane, moved into the dead man's home, the anonymous
N11 1240  8    letter writer took no chances on Charlie taking up
N11 1250  5    where Fred had left off and wasted no time on a first
N11 1260  4    notice:
N11 1260  5       IF YOU DON'T LEAVE THIS COUNTRY WITHIN 3 DAYS, YOUR
N11 1270  5    LIFE WILL BE TAKEN THE SAME AS POWELL'S WAS.
N11 1280  1       This was the message found tacked to the cabin door.
N11 1280 11    Keane left, within three days.
N11 1290  5       All through Albany and Laramie counties, other men
N11 1300  3    were doing the same. Houses of settlers who'd treated
N11 1310  1    the company herds as a natural resource, free for the
N11 1310 11    taking, were sitting empty, with weeds growing high
N11 1320  7    in their yards. The small half-heartedly tended fields
N11 1330  3    of men who'd spent more time rustling cattle than farming
N11 1340  3    were lying fallow. No cow thief could count on a jury
N11 1350  1    of his sympathetic peers to free him any longer. Jury,
N11 1350 11    judge and executioner were riding the range in the
N11 1360  7    form of a single unknown figure that could materialize
N11 1370  4    anywhere, at any time, to dispense an ancient brand
N11 1380  2    of justice the men of the new West had believed long
N11 1380 13    outdated.
N11 1390  1    ##
N11 1390  2    For three straight years, Tom Horn patrolled the southern
N11 1390 11    Wyoming pastures, and how many men he killed after
N11 1400  9    Lewis and Powell (if he killed Lewis and Powell) will
N11 1410  8    never be known. It is possible, although highly doubtful,
N11 1420  4    that he killed none at all but merely let his reputation
N11 1430  3    work for him by privately claiming every unsolved murder
N11 1440  1    in the state. It is also possible, but equally doubtful,
N11 1440 11    that he actually shot down the hundreds of men with
N11 1450  8    which his legend credits him.
N11 1460  1       For that legend was growing explosively, Rumor was
N11 1460  9    insisting he received a price of $600 a man. (The best
N11 1470 11    evidence is that he received a monthly wage of about
N11 1480  6    $125, very good money in an era when top hands worked
N11 1490  3    for $30 and found.) Rumor had it he slipped two small
N11 1500  1    rocks under each victim's head as a sort of trademark.
N11 1500 11    (A detailed search of old coroner's reports fails to
N11 1510  8    substantiate this in the slightest.)
N11 1520  1       One thing was certain- his method was effective,
N11 1520  9    so effective that after a time even the warning notices
N11 1530 10    were often unnecessary. The mere fact that the tall
N11 1540  7    figure with the rifle and field glasses had been seen
N11 1550  5    riding that way was enough to frighten three rustling
N11 1560  1    homesteaders out of the Upper Laramie country in a
N11 1560 10    single week.
N11 1570  1       "My reputation's my stock in trade", Tom mentioned
N11 1570  9    more than once. He evidently couldn't foresee that
N11 1580  8    it might be his downfall in the end.
N11 1590  4       He had made himself the personification of the Devil
N11 1600  2    to the homesteaders. But to the cattlemen who had been
N11 1600 12    facing bankruptcy from rustling losses and to the cowboys
N11 1610  9    who had been faced with lay-offs a few years earlier,
N11 1620  8    he was becoming a vastly different type of legendary
N11 1630  4    figure. Such ranchers as Coble and Clay and the Bosler
N11 1640  2    brothers carried him on their books as a cowhand even
N11 1640 12    while he was receiving a much larger salary from parties
N11 1650 10    unknown. He made their spreads his headquarters, and
N11 1660  5    he helped out in their roundups.
N11 1670  1       In the cow camps, Tom Horn was regarded as a hero,
N11 1670 12    as the same kind of champion he was when he entered
N11 1680  9    and invariably won the local rodeos. The hands and
N11 1690  5    their bosses saw him as a lone knight of the range,
N11 1700  1    waging a dedicated crusade against a lawless new society
N11 1700 10    that was threatening a beloved way of life. The wailing,
N11 1710  9    guitar-strumming minstrels of the cattle kingdom made
N11 1720  6    up songs about him.
N11 1720 10       By 1898, rustling losses had been driven down to
N11 1730  8    the lowest level ever seen in Wyoming.
N12 0010  1       When several minutes had passed and Curt hadn't
N12 0010  9    emerged from the livery stable, Brenner reentered the
N12 0020  7    hotel and faced Summers across the counter.
N12 0030  3       "I have a little job for you, Charlie. I'm sure
N12 0040  2    you won't mind doing me a small favor".
N12 0040 10       Brenner's voice was oily, but Summers wasn't fooled.
N12 0050  8    He moistened his lips uneasily.
N12 0060  2       "What is it you want me to do, Mr& Brenner"?
N12 0070  1       Brenner shrugged carelessly.
N12 0070  4       "It's very simple. I just want you to take a message
N12 0080  9    to Diane Molinari. Tell her to come here to the hotel".
N12 0090  7       Vastly relieved, Summers nodded and started toward
N12 0100  4    the door.
N12 0100  6       "One thing, Summers", Brenner said. "You're not
N12 0110  4    to mention my name. Tell her Curt Adams wants to see
N12 0120  4    her".
N12 0120  5       Summers pulled up short, and turned around.
N12 0130  1       "I don't know, Mr& Brenner", he said haltingly,
N12 0140  1    beginning to get an inkling of Brenner's plans. "It
N12 0140 10    doesn't seem quite right, telling her a thing like
N12 0150  8    that. Couldn't I just"- His voice trailed off into
N12 0160  8    silence.
N12 0160  9       Brenner continued to smile, but his eyes were cold.
N12 0170  6    He turned and looked around at the lobby as though
N12 0180  3    seeing things he hadn't before noticed.
N12 0180  9       "You know, Summers", he said thoughtfully. "Eagle's
N12 0190  6    Nest ought to have a fire company. If someone were
N12 0200  7    to drop a match in here, this place would go up like
N12 0210  5    a haystack". He started toward the stairway, then turned
N12 0220  2    to add, "Tell her to come to Adams's room, that Adams
N12 0230  1    is in trouble. Tell her to hurry".
N12 0230  8       "Yes sir". His face pale, Summers headed for the
N12 0240  6    street.
N12 0240  7    ##
N12 0240  8    Curt's visit to the livery stable had been merely a
N12 0250  7    precaution in case anyone should be watching. He paused
N12 0260  3    only long enough to ascertain that Jess's buckskin
N12 0270  1    was still missing and that his own gray was all right,
N12 0270 12    then climbed through a back window and dropped to the
N12 0280  9    ground outside.
N12 0280 11       The fact that Jess's horse had not been returned
N12 0290  9    to its stall could indicate that Diane's information
N12 0300  4    had been wrong, but Curt didn't interpret it this way.
N12 0310  4    A man like Jess would want to have a ready means of
N12 0320  2    escape in case it was needed. Probably his horse would
N12 0320 12    be close to where he was hiding.
N12 0330  6       From the back of the barn it was a simple matter
N12 0340  2    to reach Black's house without using the street. Curt
N12 0350  1    approached the place cautiously, and watched it several
N12 0350  9    minutes from the protection of a grove of trees.
N12 0360  7       There was a light in Black's front room, but drawn
N12 0370  5    curtains prevented any view of the interior. Curt circled
N12 0380  3    the house and located a barn out back. He could hear
N12 0390  1    horses moving around inside, and nothing else. There
N12 0390  9    was no lock on the door, only an iron hook which he
N12 0400  8    unfastened. He opened the door and went in, pulling
N12 0410  4    it shut behind him.
N12 0410  8       Again he stood in the darkness listening, but there
N12 0420  4    was only the scrape of a shod hoof on a plank floor.
N12 0430  2    He moved ahead carefully, his left hand in front of
N12 0430 12    him, and came to a wooden partition. Horse smell was
N12 0440 10    very strong, and he could hear the crunch of grain
N12 0450  6    being ground between strong jaws. He found a match
N12 0460  3    in his pocket and lit it.
N12 0460  9       There were two horses in the barn, a sway-backed
N12 0470  6    dun and Jess Crouch's buckskin. Curt snuffed out the
N12 0480  3    match.
N12 0480  4       It was certain now that Jess was in the house, but
N12 0490  2    also, presumably, was Stacey Black. Curt wanted to
N12 0490 10    get Jess alone, without interference from anyone, even
N12 0500  7    as spineless a person as the store owner.
N12 0510  5       He studied the problem for a few seconds and thought
N12 0520  3    of a means by which it might be solved. Reaching across
N12 0530  1    the side of the stall, he slapped the buckskin on the
N12 0530 12    rump. The startled animal let out a terrified squeal
N12 0540  7    and thrashed around in the stall.
N12 0550  1       As Curt had hoped, the house door banged open. He
N12 0550 11    slapped the buckskin again and it kicked wildly, its
N12 0560  9    hoofs rattling the side of the stall.
N12 0570  3       Curt moved over beside the door and waited. Presently
N12 0580  1    he heard footsteps crossing the yard, and Jess's smothered
N12 0580 10    curses. The door swung open, and Jess said sourly,
N12 0590  9    "What the hell's the matter with you?"
N12 0600  5       The horse continued to snort. Curt doubted that
N12 0610  4    any animal belonging to Jess would find much reassurance
N12 0620  1    in its owner's voice.
N12 0620  5       Jess cursed again, and entered the barn. A match
N12 0630  5    flared, and he reached above his head to light a lantern
N12 0640  1    which hung from a wire loop. As he crossed to the side
N12 0640 13    of the stall, Curt drew his gun and clicked back the
N12 0650 10    hammer.
N12 0650 11       "Before you try anything", he said. "Remember what
N12 0660  8    happened to Gruller".
N12 0670  1       Jess caught his breath in surprise. He started to
N12 0670 10    reach for his gun, but apparently thought better of
N12 0680  9    it.
N12 0680 10       "That's the stuff", Curt said. "Just hold it that
N12 0690  9    way". He reached out to pull the door shut and fasten
N12 0700  8    it with a sliding bolt. "You and I have a little talking
N12 0710  6    to do, Jess. You won't be needing this". He moved up
N12 0720  4    and lifted Jess's pistol out of its holster.
N12 0730  1       "Damn you, Adams"- Jess was beginning to recover
N12 0730  9    from his initial shock. "We ain't got nothing to talk
N12 0740  8    about. If I don't come back in the house, Breed's going
N12 0750  8    to"-
N12 0750  9       "Your trigger-happy brother isn't in the house.
N12 0760  6    About now he's probably having supper. That long ride
N12 0770  6    the four of you took must've given him a good appetite.
N12 0780  5    Now turn around so I can see your face".
N12 0790  1       Jess turned. There was raw fury in his eyes, and
N12 0790 11    the veins of his neck were swollen.
N12 0800  4       "You're about as dumb as they come, Adams. I don't
N12 0810  3    know what you're up to, but when Brenner"-
N12 0820  1       "You can forget about Brenner, too", Curt said.
N12 0820  9    "It's Ben Arbuckle we're going to talk about".
N12 0830  8       "Arbuckle"? Jess stiffened. "I don't know nothin'
N12 0840  7    about him".
N12 0850  1       "No? I suppose you don't know anything about a piece
N12 0850 10    of two-by-four, either; one with blood all over it,
N12 0860  8    Arbuckle's blood". Curt's fingers put a little more
N12 0870  7    pressure on the trigger of his gun. "So help me, Crouch,
N12 0880  5    I'd like to kill you where you stand, but, before I
N12 0890  3    do, I'm going to hear you admit killing him. Now start
N12 0900  1    talking. Who told you to do it? Was it Dutch Brenner"?
N12 0910  1       Curt was holding Jess's gun in his left hand. He
N12 0910 11    drew back his arm to slash the gunbarrel across Jess's
N12 0920  8    face, but didn't finish the motion. Pistol-whipping
N12 0930  5    an unarmed man might come easy to someone like Jess,
N12 0940  3    but Curt couldn't bring himself to do it.
N12 0940 11       Apparently sensing this, and realizing that it gave
N12 0950  8    him an advantage, Jess became bold.
N12 0960  3       "Having all the guns makes you a big man, don't
N12 0970  1    it, Adams? If we was both armed, you wouldn't talk
N12 0970 11    so tough".
N12 0980  1       "No"? Curt reached out and dropped Jess's pistol
N12 0990  1    back into the holster. He retreated a step and holstered
N12 0990 11    his own.
N12 1000  1       "All right, Crouch; we're on even terms. Now draw"!
N12 1010  1       Sweat bubbled out on Jess's swarthy face. The fingers
N12 1010 10    of his right hand twisted into a claw, but he didn't
N12 1020 11    reach for the gun.
N12 1030  1       Curt, angry enough to be a little reckless, raised
N12 1030 10    his hands shoulder high.
N12 1040  3       "Does this make it any easier, coward"?
N12 1050  1       "I ain't drawin' against you", Jess said thickly.
N12 1050  9    "I heard how you outdrew Chico. I ain't a gunslinger".
N12 1070  1       "No. You're the kind of bastard who sneaks up on
N12 1070 10    a man from behind and hits him with a club. I just
N12 1080  9    wanted to hear you say so".
N12 1090  1       Jess stared at him without answering and let his
N12 1090 10    hands fall to his sides. He had found Curt's weakness,
N12 1100  7    or what to Jess was a weakness, and was smart enough
N12 1110  5    to take advantage of it.
N12 1110 10       Somewhere in the distance, a woman screamed. Curt
N12 1120  7    was too involved in his own problems to pay much attention.
N12 1130  5    He had to make Jess talk, and he had to do it before
N12 1140  4    Stacey Black got curious and came to investigate. Once
N12 1150  1    more he lifted Jess's gun from its holster, only this
N12 1150 11    time he tossed it into the stall with the frightened
N12 1160  8    buckskin. He dropped his own beside it.
N12 1170  3       "We'll do it another way, then", he said harshly.
N12 1180  1       Jess's coarse features twisted in a surprised grin
N12 1180  9    which was smashed out of shape by Curt's fist. With
N12 1190 10    a roar of pain and fury Jess made his attack.
N12 1200  7       Curt managed to duck beneath the man's flailing
N12 1210  3    fist, and drove home a solid left to Jess's mid-section.
N12 1220  1    It was like hitting a sack of salt. Pain shout up Curt's
N12 1230  1    arm clear to the shoulder, but Jess seemed hardly aware
N12 1230 11    that he had been hit. He slammed into the wall, bounced
N12 1240  9    back, and caught Curt with a roundhouse right which
N12 1250  5    sent him spinning. An inch lower and it would have
N12 1260  3    knocked him out. As it was, his vision blurred and
N12 1260 13    for a moment he was unable to move. When his eyes began
N12 1270 10    to focus, he saw Jess charging at him with a pitchfork.
N12 1280  7       Curt twisted to one side, and the tines of the fork
N12 1290  7    bit into the floor. Jess wasted a few seconds trying
N12 1300  2    to yank them loose. It gave Curt time to stagger to
N12 1300 13    his feet.
N12 1310  1       The tines broke off under Jess's twisting, and he
N12 1310 10    swung the handle in an attempt to knock Curt's brains
N12 1320 10    out. His aim was hurried; so the pitchfork whistled
N12 1330  6    over Curt's head.
N12 1330  9       By now Curt was seeing clearly again. He stepped
N12 1340  9    inside Jess's guard and landed two blows to the big
N12 1350  8    man's belly, putting everything he had behind them.
N12 1360  4    They made Jess double over. When his head came down,
N12 1370  1    Curt grabbed him by the hair and catapulted him head
N12 1370 11    first into the wall.
N12 1380  2       The building shook, setting the lantern to swaying,
N12 1380 10    and the buckskin to pitching again. Even Black's old
N12 1390  9    crowbait began to snort, and from the house Black yelled,
N12 1400  9    "Jess! What's going on out there"?
N12 1410  4       Jess didn't seem too sure himself. He lurched drunkenly
N12 1420  3    to his feet, lowered his head, and took one step away
N12 1430  1    from the wall. Curt caught him flush on the nose with
N12 1430 12    a blow which started at the floor.
N12 1440  5       Jess had had enough. Blood gushed from his nose,
N12 1450  3    and he backed off as rapidly as he could, stumbling
N12 1450 13    over his own feet in his frantic haste to get away
N12 1460 10    from Curt's fists.
N12 1470  1       Curt was in almost as bad shape, but he wouldn't
N12 1470 11    quit. He backed Jess into a corner, grabbed a handful
N12 1480  8    of the man's shirtfront, and drew back his right fist.
N12 1490  6       "Tell me about Arbuckle! You killed him, didn't
N12 1500  4    you"?
N12 1500  5       "It was Brenner's idea", Jess mumbled, dabbing at
N12 1510  5    his nose. "He found out about you and Arbuckle talking.
N12 1520  2    He wanted to show the town what happened to anyone
N12 1520 12    who tried to start trouble".
N12 1530  5       "You mean anyone who stood up for his rights", Curt
N12 1540  5    said. He let go of the shirt, and Jess slumped to the
N12 1550  3    floor. Turning his back, Curt crossed to the stall,
N12 1550 12    reached over to untie the buckskin's halter rope, and
N12 1560  9    waved his hand in the animal's face.
N12 1570  3       The buckskin bolted out of the stall. Curt moved
N12 1580  2    in and picked up his gun. He shook loose straw out
N12 1580 13    of the action, and placed the gun in his holster. Leaving
N12 1590  9    Jess's where it lay, he left the stall.
N12 1600  5       "Get up, Crouch. We're going someplace".
N12 1610  1       Jess painfully got to his feet as someone rattled
N12 1610 10    the door.
N12 1620  2       "Who's in there"? Black called fearfully.
N12 1630  1       Curt opened the door, grabbed Black by the shoulder,
N12 1630 10    and pulled him into the barn.
N12 1640  4       "You're staying right here for a while. This dirty
N12 1650  3    coward just admitted killing Arbuckle. I'm going to
N12 1650 11    let him tell it to somebody else". He shoved Black
N12 1660 10    toward the stall, and pointed his pistol at Jess.
N12 1670  7       "Get out of here. You're coming along peacefully,
N12 1680  4    or I'll put a bullet in your leg".
N12 1690  1       Jess stumbled through the door. Curt followed, reaching
N12 1690  9    behind him to shut the door and hook it. Black would
N12 1700 10    have little trouble getting out, but it might delay
N12 1710  6    him a few minutes.
N12 1710 10       "Where're you takin' me"? Jess asked worriedly.
N12 1720  6       "We're going to Marshal Woods's house. Maybe if
N12 1730  6    the marshal hears this himself, it'll make a difference.
N12 1740  5    Somebody in this town must still have some backbone".
N13 0010  1       Over his shoulder he could see Max's loose grin
N13 0010 10    and the Burnsides' glowering faces. "Honey", he whispered.
N13 0020  6    "Soon as we send them on their way and make camp, let's
N13 0030 10    you and me go for a walk down by the Snake- all by
N13 0040  7    ourselves".
N13 0040  8       "Sally", admonished her mother, "you've got all
N13 0050  6    evening to visit with Dan. His wounds need dressing
N13 0060  4    now".
N13 0060  5       Mrs& Jackson's words recalled Dan to his lack of
N13 0070  6    fitness for courting. What a spectacle he was, caked
N13 0080  2    with dirt and sweat and blood, filthy as a pig and
N13 0080 13    naked as an Indian, kissing the finest, the sweetest,
N13 0090  7    the bravest, and absolutely the prettiest girl in this
N13 0100  6    whole wonderful world. He released her reluctantly
N13 0110  1    for her enthusiastic reunion with Old Hap. "Got a lot
N13 0120  1    to tend to, but I'll get back quick as I can", he assured
N13 0120 14    her.
N13 0130  1       Dan could hear Clayton Burnside and Eben Jackson
N13 0130  9    summing up their final reckoning for rental on the
N13 0140  8    oxen. Jackson was doing most of the talking. So long
N13 0150  6    as Sally's pa was coming out best on the haggle, Dan
N13 0160  3    didn't feel the need of putting in his two-bits' worth.
N13 0170  1       Soon as the Burnsides moved on, he'd lead Rex down
N13 0170 11    by the river; there he could shave and scrub himself
N13 0180  9    up for the evening. Damn it, he thought bitterly, picking
N13 0190  6    up his shirt and staring at the fresh bullet hole in
N13 0200  4    the sleeve. If I hadn't got Nate stopped when I did,
N13 0210  3    my duds'd all be shot plumb to hell!
N13 0210 11       He stooped, picked up his ruined hat, and pursed
N13 0220  8    his lips thoughtfully. From the way the wound in his
N13 0230  6    head was itching, Dan knew that it would heal. But
N13 0240  2    his only hat was something else again. "Nate! Nate"!
N13 0250  8    he shouted.
N13 0260  1       The Burnsides, now ready to roll, were purposefully
N13 0260  9    deaf to his cry.
N13 0270  2       "Nate"! he bellowed to the retreating back directly
N13 0280  1    in front of him.
N13 0280  5       "I ain't going to fight you no more". Nate turned
N13 0290  3    his head, attempting to speak in a soothing voice.
N13 0300  1       "I know you ain't"! Dan affirmed, feeling ten feet
N13 0300 10    tall. He moved in close, jerked the handsome, broad-brimmed
N13 0310 10    beaver hat from Nate's head and clamped it on his own.
N13 0320  9    "Here's a present for you", he said, shoving his bullet-riddled
N13 0330  8    hat down over Nate's purpling forehead. "Me and you's
N13 0340  5    trading hats so's you'll have something permanent to
N13 0350  4    remember me by"!
N13 0350  7       Sally left her choring to stand beside Dan. Slipping
N13 0360  6    her hand in his, they silently watched the Burnsides
N13 0370  3    make the bend in the road and disappear from sight.
N13 0380  1    Much as they had to look forward to, they didn't begrudge
N13 0380 12    a moment of the time they spent seeing them go.
N13 0390  9    #40.#
N13 0390 10    AT FIRST Matilda could not believe her own eyes. She
N13 0400  8    had spent too many hours looking ahead, hoping and
N13 0410  4    longing to catch even a glimpse of Dan and finding
N13 0420  1    nothing but emptiness. And now she could see him, looking
N13 0420 11    uncommon handsome, standing there beside Sally Jackson
N13 0430  7    and her folks in front of their trail-worn wagon.
N13 0440  6       Seeing them waiting there at the foot of Emigrant
N13 0450  4    Rock was so overwhelming that, for a good minute after
N13 0460  2    they rounded the bend and started down the grade leading
N13 0460 12    toward them, Matilda could not speak at all. Then,
N13 0470  9    with a glory that almost wiped out the deep, downward
N13 0480  6    sags in her careworn face, Matilda leaned over the
N13 0490  3    wheel and shouted to Hez, who was stumbling along in
N13 0490 13    the heat and the dust on the opposite side of the wagon
N13 0500 12    "Pa! Pa! I can see Dan. And he's with the Jacksons"!
N13 0510 10       "What about Burnsides"? Hez asked, who still believed
N13 0520  8    they'd have them to lick.
N13 0530  3       "They ain't even in sight"! she replied.
N13 0540  1       By then Hez could see for himself, and so could
N13 0540 11    the others. Soon they were all shouting greetings,
N13 0550  7    exchanging smiles, and rejoicing to think that they
N13 0560  5    were all back together again. But even a reunion as
N13 0570  2    joyous as this one did not make a break in the routines
N13 0570 14    of the day. Nor could they stop and find out about
N13 0580  9    all that had happened until they made circle, tended
N13 0590  5    the cattle, tethered the horses, gathered fuel, carried
N13 0600  2    water, and started their cooking fires. Then, and only
N13 0600 11    then, with the Jacksons and Dan as their true guests
N13 0610 10    of honor, did the Harrows take time to catch up on
N13 0620  8    the news. No sooner did they hear of Dan's injury than
N13 0630  5    both Gran and Matilda went into immediate action. The
N13 0640  2    wound in his scalp was examined, pronounced healing,
N13 0640 10    and well doctored with simples, before they dished
N13 0650  7    up the victuals. From then on, in keeping with the
N13 0660  6    traditions they had followed since childhood, the whole
N13 0670  3    group settled down to relish their food. Even Sally,
N13 0670 12    in spite of her gaiety and obvious welcome, followed
N13 0680  9    the old taboo of "quitting the gab when wearing the
N13 0690  6    nosebag".
N13 0690  7       After their supper, the evening turned into a regular
N13 0700  7    "Hoe-Down". Only, they carefully substituted old country
N13 0710  4    folk dances for the Virginia Reels and square dances
N13 0720  3    that were so popular among more worldly trains in the
N13 0730  1    great westward migration. But with Bill O'Connor on
N13 0730  9    the fiddle, and Gran Harrow exuberantly shouting "Glory
N13 0740  7    Be" and "Hallelujah" above their united chant of the
N13 0750  7    lilting old ballads, they played their quaint folk
N13 0760  4    games with all the fervor and abandon of a real celebration.
N13 0770  2       "Golly", Rod exclaimed to Harmony as he dutifully
N13 0780  1    stood by her side among the ringed spectators, "don't
N13 0780 10    that fiddle make you wish the Bible didn't say us Baptists
N13 0790 11    can't dance"?
N13 0800  1       "Nor Methodists, neither", she replied. "Not that
N13 0810  1    it matters to me, being this far along".
N13 0810  9       Rod gave her a warm pat on the shoulder before he
N13 0820  7    replied. "Come spring, you'll be kicking up your heels
N13 0830  5    and feeling coltish again too, gal".
N13 0840  1       At these words of sympathy and understanding, Harmony
N13 0840  9    said generously, "I don't mind setting here along with
N13 0850  8    Gran while you go out and join in the games".
N13 0860  5       Rod shifted his eager eyes from the milling group
N13 0870  2    out in the circle long enough to reply, "I ain't much
N13 0880  1    of a hand for Dare-Base and Farmer-in-the-Dell, but
N13 0880 13    I'd sure like to get in on the handhold and wrestles".
N13 0890 10    He looked down at his big hands and slowly flexed his
N13 0900  7    long fingers. "Don't reckon there's nobody out there,
N13 0910  4    'cept maybe Dan, who can outgrip me, Harmony".
N13 0920  1       With Rod on his way and Matilda visiting with Mrs&
N13 0930  1    Jackson while they searched out familiar names on the
N13 0930 10    face of the cliff, Harmony settled on the edge of the
N13 0940  8    grub box, to ease the pressure of her swollen body
N13 0950  5    on her bone-weary legs, and worried about all that
N13 0960  1    might have happened to Sally. And she was deeply thankful
N13 0960 11    that she could see her now, out there in the midst
N13 0970 10    of a gay, youthful circle, skipping and singing, "Farmer
N13 0980  5    in the dell, Farmer in the dell, Heigh-ho the dairy-oh,
N13 0990  4    the farmer in the dell".
N13 0990  9       At the sight of Sally's happy face and carefree
N13 1000  7    expression, Harmony's dark, brooding eyes quickly brightened
N13 1010  4    with unshed tears. She was glad, completely and unselfishly
N13 1020  3    glad, to see that things were working out the right
N13 1030  1    way for both Sally and Dan. **h And she really tried
N13 1030 12    to go a step further and say she hoped they'd be just
N13 1040  9    as right as they now were for her and for Rod. But
N13 1050  7    she couldn't, not yet. Not with the memory of her folks
N13 1060  4    and the lost Conestoga still holding her close **h.
N13 1070  1       Out in the center of the circle the farmer, who
N13 1070 11    was Dan, wasted no time when they came to the line,
N13 1080  9    "The farmer choose his wife". With a swift swoop of
N13 1090  6    his big arms, he grabbed Sally out of the circle surrounding
N13 1100  3    him, and then kissed her soundly before setting her
N13 1110  1    down so she could stand by his side while they jointly
N13 1110 12    chose the rest of their "outfit". Soon the child, the
N13 1120  8    dog, the cat **h and even the cheese, all joined them
N13 1130  6    out there in the circle.
N13 1130 11       By now Harmony could see that most of the adults
N13 1140  9    in the train were winded and resting, or else siphoned
N13 1150  5    off from the games by the challenging lure of the great
N13 1160  4    cliff towering above them. No matter how many registry
N13 1170  1    rocks they came to on this journey, each one exerted
N13 1170 11    its own appeal. Even strange names seemed to make them
N13 1180  8    feel closer to some kind of civilization when stumbled
N13 1190  3    across out here in this wilderness. Already a few hardy
N13 1200  4    folk from their own train were zealously chipping away
N13 1200 13    at the register rocks, leaving their own records along
N13 1210  9    with those made by the earlier trains. Soon she saw
N13 1220  7    Rod and Hez moving over to join them.
N13 1230  1       No sooner were they through and the guards posted,
N13 1230 10    than the whole camp turned in for a night of sound
N13 1240 10    sleep. For Matilda, it was the first she had known
N13 1250  7    in many a night. Even the knowledge that she was losing
N13 1260  4    another boy, as a mother always does when a marriage
N13 1260 14    is made, did not prevent her from having the first
N13 1270 10    carefree, dreamless sleep that she had known since
N13 1280  6    they dropped down the canyon and into Bear Valley,
N13 1290  2    way, way back there when they were crossing those other
N13 1290 12    mountains.
N13 1300  1    ##
N13 1300  2    Next morning, they moved on again.
N13 1300  8       "My souls' a-gracious"! Gran Harrow exclaimed, watching
N13 1310  7    their rippling muscles as Rod and Dan swung her up
N13 1320  9    into the load. "A body would swear I floated right
N13 1330  5    up here on a cloud"!
N13 1330 10       Rod and Dan released their holds on the arms of
N13 1340  8    her hickory rocker and exchanged embarrassed grins.
N13 1350  3    "Shucks, Gran", they said almost in unison. "That wasn't
N13 1360  2    nothing at all"!
N13 1360  5       Leaning forward in her chair, Gran nearsightedly
N13 1370  3    scrutinized Dan's face. "How's Sally like rubbin' agin
N13 1380  4    that thar little ticklebrush ye're a-raising"?
N13 1390  1       "Quit ragging him, Gran", Rod protested.
N13 1390  7       "I ain't ragging him"! Gran peered again at the
N13 1400  9    week-old blond mustache shadowing Dan's upper lip.
N13 1410  6    "But honest-to-Betsy, I've seed more hair than that
N13 1420  6    on a piece o' bacon".
N13 1420 11       The two tall brothers waited silently while their
N13 1430  6    mother handed Gran her cold snack and water jug, placed
N13 1440  6    the chamber pot beside her feet, and returned to her
N13 1450  3    place at the front of the wagon with Alice.
N13 1450 12       "Rheumatics worse, Pa"? Dan asked Hez, who had limped
N13 1460  9    back from his team to hold the notched-stick chair
N13 1470  8    braces in place while his boys swung up the tailgate
N13 1480  4    and tied it tight at the ends.
N13 1480 11       "My right leg's stiff as a board this morning",
N13 1490  8    he replied. "But the sun'll fry it out'n me onct we
N13 1500  7    git to rolling".
N13 1500 10       The three men stepped out to the side to wait for
N13 1510 10    Captain Clemens' signal.
N13 1520  1       Hez looked up at the high face of Emigrant Rock,
N13 1520 11    official signboard for the Raft River turnoff, and
N13 1530  7    gloated, "Seems funny that them Burnsides never took
N13 1540  5    time to leave their John-Henry up thar".
N13 1550  1       "Wonder what made them hurry so", Rod drawled, giving
N13 1560  1    Dan a sly wink.
N13 1560  5       Dan grinned, and changed the subject. "From now
N13 1570  2    on, Sally and me and her folks aim to give you our
N13 1570 14    turn when it comes up and fall in behind you and Rod's
N13 1580 10    outfit".
N13 1580 11       "Ain't no sense you eating our dust", Rod protested.
N13 1590  9       "Sally and her ma want to trade off on account of
N13 1600 11    Harmony being so far along", Dan explained. "Jackson
N13 1610  4    recruited his critters, and him and me fixed up his
N13 1620  5    wagon while we was waiting for you to catch up. He's
N13 1630  1    got the tightest running gear in the train now. Besides,
N13 1630 11    'tain't no more'n right for me to follow with my black
N13 1640 11    oxen, so's I can unhook and pull up fast if either
N13 1650  8    of you get in a pinch".
N13 1660  1       Captain Clemens' signal shot sent the men hurrying
N13 1660  8    to their waiting teams.
N13 1670  2       "Reckon ye're right, Dan", Hez called back over
N13 1680  1    his shoulder. "I'll shore be needing ye both on the
N13 1680 11    pull out o' the canyon".
N13 1690  3       Rod looked apprehensively ahead at the narrowing,
N13 1700  1    precipice-walled gorge. "We'll double teams zigzagging
N13 1700  8    up the mountain, Harmony", he spoke reassuringly, concerned
N13 1710  7    by the pinched look around her mouth. "Like enough
N13 1720  7    we'll all be up on top by sundown".
N13 1730  2       Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his father's
N13 1740  1    wheels beginning to turn.
N13 1740  5       Before Harmony had a chance to reply, Rod cracked
N13 1750  5    his long whip over his thin oxen's backs **h.
N14 0010  1    While no larger than Dutch Springs, this mining supply
N14 0010 10    town had the appearance of being far busier and more
N14 0020  8    prosperous. Men crowded the streets and freight rigs
N14 0030  4    and teams were moving about. Although they were forced
N14 0040  2    to maintain a sharper watch, this activity enabled
N14 0040 10    them to ride in and rack their broncs without any particular
N14 0050  9    attention being paid them.
N14 0060  2       "Gyp'll be holdin' forth in some bar if he's here
N14 0070  2    at all", Cobb declared, glancing along the street as
N14 0070 11    they stretched their legs.
N14 0080  3       There were no less than six or seven saloons in
N14 0090  2    Ganado, not counting the lower class dives, all vying
N14 0090 11    for the trade of celebrating miners and teamsters.
N14 0100  6    Pat only nodded. "Take one side of the street, and
N14 0110  6    I'll take the other", he proposed. "If you spot Carmer
N14 0120  4    give a yell before you move in".
N14 0120 11       Cobb's assent was tight. "You do the same. It's
N14 0130  9    all I ask, Stevens".
N14 0140  1       Separating, they took different sides of the main
N14 0140  9    drag and systematically combed the bars. Russ visited
N14 0150  7    two places without result and his blood pressure was
N14 0160  6    down to zero. Suddenly it seemed to him insane that
N14 0170  3    they might hope to locate Gyp Carmer so casually, even
N14 0170 13    were he to prove the thief. He tramped out of the Miners
N14 0180 12    Rest with his hopes plummeting, and headed doggedly
N14 0190  6    for the Palace Saloon, the last place of any consequence
N14 0200  6    on this side of the street.
N14 0200 12       The Palace was an elaborate establishment, built
N14 0210  7    practically on stilts in front, with long flights of
N14 0220  6    wooden steps running up to the porch. Behind its ornate
N14 0230  3    facade the notorious dive clung like a bird's nest
N14 0240  1    to the rocky ribs of the canyonside. Russ ran up the
N14 0240 12    steps quickly to the plank porch. The front windows
N14 0250  7    of the place were long and narrow, reaching nearly
N14 0260  3    to the floor and affording an unusually good view of
N14 0270  1    the interior. Heading for the batwings, Cobb glanced
N14 0270  9    perfunctorily through the nearest window, and suddenly
N14 0280  7    dodged aside. Nerves tight as a bowstring, he paused
N14 0290  5    to gather his wits.
N14 0290  9       Against all expectation, Carmer was inside, clearly
N14 0300  5    enjoying himself to the hilt and already so tipsy that
N14 0310  4    it seemed unlikely he was bothering to note anything
N14 0320  1    or anyone about him. Fierce anger surged through Russ.
N14 0320 10    He fought down the impulse to rush in and collar the
N14 0330 10    vicious puncher on the spot.
N14 0340  1       Reaching the porch rail beyond view of the bar windows,
N14 0340 11    he feverishly scanned the busy street below. Stevens
N14 0350  8    was nowhere in sight. Muffling an exclamation, Russ
N14 0360  5    sprang to the nearest steps and ran down. As luck had
N14 0370  5    it, he had not gone twenty feet in the street before
N14 0380  1    Pat appeared.
N14 0380  3       "What luck, Cobb"? he said swiftly.
N14 0390  1       Russ pointed upward. "He's there", he got out tersely,
N14 0400  1    curbing his rising excitement. Hitching his cartridge
N14 0400  8    belt around, Pat glanced upward briefly at the Palace
N14 0410  7    and started that way with Cobb at his side.
N14 0420  4       Climbing the steps steadily, they reached the top
N14 0430  2    and headed for the door. Pat pushed through first.
N14 0430 11    Forced behind him momentarily, Russ followed at once
N14 0440  7    and halted two steps inside. His eyes widened. While
N14 0450  5    five minutes ago the place had presented a scene of
N14 0460  2    easy revelry, with Gyp Carmer a prominent figure, it
N14 0460 11    was now as somnolent and dull as the day before payday.
N14 0470 10    Carmer himself was nowhere to be seen.
N14 0480  4       A man knocked the roulette ball about idly in its
N14 0490  3    track, and another dozed at one of the card tables.
N14 0490 13    Two men murmured with their heads together at the end
N14 0500  8    of the bar, while the sleek-headed bartender absently
N14 0510  3    polished a glass. Looking the setup over, Stevens started
N14 0520  3    coolly for the rear of the place.
N14 0520 10       "Where yuh goin'"?
N14 0530  2       It was the barkeep. Halting, Pat turned to survey
N14 0540  2    him deliberately. He did not reply, going on toward
N14 0540 11    the back. Less assured than the tall, wide-shouldered
N14 0550  7    man in the lead, Cobb followed alertly, a hand on his
N14 0560  6    gun butt. The bartender measured this situation with
N14 0570  2    heavy eyes and decided he wanted no part of it. He
N14 0570 13    said no more.
N14 0580  2       A hall opened in back of the bar, running toward
N14 0580 12    an ell. Pat moved into it. Small rooms, probably for
N14 0590  9    cards, opened off on either side. All the doors were
N14 0600  6    open at this hour except one, and it was toward this
N14 0610  3    that Stevens made his way with Russ close at his shoulder.
N14 0620  1       The door was locked. A single kick made it spring
N14 0620 11    open, shuddering. Pat saw Gyp Carmer staggering forward,
N14 0630  8    a half-filled bottle upraised as if to strike. Russ
N14 0650  6    sprang through to bat it nimbly aside. With a bellow
N14 0660  4    Carmer lunged at him. But he was more than half-drunk,
N14 0670  1    and his faculties were dulled. Cobb unleashed a single
N14 0670 10    powerful jab that sent Gyp reeling wildly and crashing
N14 0680  8    down with a whining groan. He started to struggle up,
N14 0690  6    heaving desperately. Russ gave him a brutal thrust
N14 0700  2    that tumbled him over flat on his stomach. Kneeling,
N14 0700 11    Cobb planted a sturdy knee in the small of his back,
N14 0710 11    holding him pinned.
N14 0720  1       "Okay, Stevens. I've drawn his fangs", he snapped.
N14 0720  9    "Go through his pockets, will you? If we have to we'll
N14 0730 11    take him apart and see what he's made of"!
N14 0740  7       Complying methodically, Pat pulled pocket after
N14 0750  5    pocket inside out without finding a thing. Cobb watched
N14 0760  2    this with hunted eyes, his desperate hope waning by
N14 0760 11    the moment. Stevens was grunting over the last empty
N14 0770  8    pocket when Russ abruptly rose and lunged toward Carmer's
N14 0780  6    hat, which had tumbled half-a-dozen feet away when
N14 0790  4    he first fell. Cobb got it. Straightening up, his eyes
N14 0800  2    ablaze, he held out the battered Stetson.
N14 0800  9       "Look at this"!
N14 0810  2       Inside the crown, stuffed behind the stained sweatband,
N14 0820  1    could be seen thin, crumpled wads of currency. Carmer's
N14 0820 10    ingenious cache for his loot had been found.
N14 0830  8    #14#
N14 0830  9    "By golly, Stevens! You were right", Russ exclaimed,
N14 0840  6    tearing the loose bills out of Carmer's hat. "That
N14 0850  5    is, if we can be sure this is Colcord's money"-
N14 0860  1       Pat grunted. "Where else would he get it? Count
N14 0870  1    what you've got there, Cobb. We can soon tell".
N14 0870 10       Russ ran through the bills and named an amount it
N14 0880 10    was highly unlikely any cowpuncher would come by honestly.
N14 0890  6    Pat nodded. "It's within a hundred of what Crip had",
N14 0900  6    he declared. "We know Penny spent some- and Carmer
N14 0910  5    must have dropped a few dollars getting that load on".
N14 0920  1       Handing the money over, Russ wiped his hands on
N14 0920 10    his pants-legs as if ridding himself of something unclean.
N14 0930  8    His glance at Gyp Carmer was disdainful. "Shall we
N14 0940  6    get out of here"?
N14 0940 10       Leaving the card room, they moved back through the
N14 0950  9    Palace the way they had come. Glowering looks met them
N14 0960  7    in the bar, but there was no attempt to halt them.
N14 0970  4    Pausing in the outside door to glance behind him, Pat
N14 0980  1    looked his unspoken warning and stepped out. He and
N14 0980 10    Cobb clattered down the high steps to the street.
N14 0990  8       Neither spoke till they reached their horses. Pat
N14 1000  4    paused there, looking across at the young fellow. It'll
N14 1010  2    be a pleasure for you to return this money to Colcord
N14 1020  1    and tell him about it, Russ". He started to return
N14 1020 11    it.
N14 1020 12       To his faint surprise Russ held up his hand. "Not
N14 1030 10    me", he ruled decidedly. I've had enough. It was you
N14 1040  7    that tracked it down anyway, Stevens", he pursued strictly.
N14 1050  4    "I'll shove along home".
N14 1060  1       "Whatever you say". Pat swung into the saddle, yet
N14 1060 10    still he delayed, his brows puckered. "You owe it to
N14 1070  8    Penny to give her a chance to explain that she was
N14 1080  6    defending you, really", he observed mildly.
N14 1090  1       "Old Crip wasn't", retorted Cobb tartly. "He'll
N14 1100  1    know when you tell him. But I want this to sink in
N14 1100 13    awhile. Then maybe next time he won't be so quick on
N14 1110  9    the trigger".
N14 1110 11       "Pat had never pretended to give advice in such
N14 1120  9    affairs. "You're the doctor", he returned with a smile.
N14 1130  7    "But I still think Penny's an awful nice girl, Russ"-
N14 1140  6       "You don't have to tell me", flashed Cobb. Giving
N14 1150  5    the other a dark look, he hauled his bronc around and
N14 1160  3    trotted down off the street. Pat let him go, following
N14 1170  1    more leisurely. At the first restaurant he sensibly
N14 1170  9    pulled up to go in for his dinner, and as a consequence
N14 1180  8    did not see Cobb strike the open range at the mouth
N14 1190  5    of the canyon and head straight across the swells for
N14 1200  2    Antler.
N14 1200  3       The truth was, the puncher was both bewildered and
N14 1210  2    dismayed by his own mixed luck. "Penny's always glad
N14 1210 11    to see me over there", he mused bleakly. Yet had he
N14 1220  9    not visited the girl at Saw Buck he would never have
N14 1230  7    been involved in this latest tangle.
N14 1240  1       Over and above that, however, was his growing suspicion
N14 1240 10    of Chuck Stober's part in recent events. "Gyp Carmer
N14 1250  8    couldn't have known about Colcord's money unless he
N14 1260  7    was told- and who else would have told him"? he asked
N14 1270  6    himself. "It's the second time War Ax hands made a
N14 1280  5    play for that money.
N14 1280  9       How much of an accident could that be"?
N14 1290  4       Nearing home, he jerked to attention at the distant
N14 1300  3    crack of a gun. In town no one paid much attention
N14 1300 14    to an occasional shot; but on the range gunfire had
N14 1310  9    a meaning. Hauling up, Russ listened carefully. Two
N14 1320  5    minutes later it came again- a double explosion, followed
N14 1330  3    by a third, sounding more distant.
N14 1330  9       As near as Cobb could determine the shots came from
N14 1340  9    the direction of the Antler ranch house. He tightened
N14 1350  6    up in a twinkling. So far as he knew, only his father
N14 1360  4    could be there. What did it mean? Clapping spurs to
N14 1370  2    the bronc he set off at a sharp canter, with growing
N14 1370 13    alarm.
N14 1380  1       His first glimpse of the ranch house across the
N14 1380 10    brushy swells told him nothing. Still a quarter-mile
N14 1390  7    away, the fresh clap of guns only served to increase
N14 1400  3    his speed. Setting a course straight for the house,
N14 1410  1    he was covering ground fast when an angry bee buzzed
N14 1410 11    past close to his face.
N14 1420  2       When it was followed by a second, whining even closer,
N14 1425  1    Cobb swerved sharply aside into a depression. He knew
N14 1430  9    now what he was up against. Whoever was out there hiding
N14 1440  8    in the brushy cover was besieging the Antler house
N14 1450  4    and, having spotted his approach, was determined to
N14 1460  2    drive him off before he could get into the fight.
N14 1460 12       Cursing himself for having ridden out the last few
N14 1470  9    days without a rifle in his saddle boot, Russ drew
N14 1480  6    his Colt and examined it briefly. If he wondered whether
N14 1490  3    the attackers would allow him to pull away unmolested,
N14 1500  1    he had his answer a moment later.
N14 1500  8       "Over this way! He ain't gone far"! a harsh cry
N14 1510  6    floated to him across the brush.
N14 1520  1       A carbine cracked more loudly, and a slug clipped
N14 1520 10    fragments from the brush off at one side. The would-be
N14 1530  9    assassin had his position figured pretty close. Dismounting,
N14 1540  4    Russ looked about hastily. Toward the west this depression
N14 1550  4    led toward a draw. Leading his pony, he hurried that
N14 1560  2    way, not remounting till he was well below the level
N14 1560 12    of the surrounding range.
N14 1570  2       Swinging up then, and bending forward over the horn,
N14 1580  2    he urged his mount down the meandering draw. He had
N14 1580 12    not covered a hundred yards before a gun crashed from
N14 1590  9    somewhere behind. He had been sighted, and his attacker
N14 1600  6    pumping shot after shot. A shot or two went wild before
N14 1610  4    Cobb felt something tug at his foot. A slug had torn
N14 1620  1    half of his stirrup-guard away. A second twitched his
N14 1620 11    shirtsleeve, and he felt a brief burn on his upper
N14 1630 10    arm. Another snarled close overhead.
N14 1640  1       "Jumping Jerusalem! Let's get out of here"!
N14 1650  1       At the first shot Russ had hurled his mount to the
N14 1650 12    left toward the side of the winding draw. The long
N14 1660  9    minute before he reached effective cover seemed endless.
N14 1670  4    Sweeping a look around, he saw that he was safe for
N14 1680  4    the moment. He heard cries from behind him, but he
N14 1680 14    could make out no words.
N14 1690  5       He dashed madly for the next elbow turn in the draw,
N14 1700  3    and made it. Recklessly hurling the bronc sidewise
N14 1700 11    into an intersecting draw, he plunged forward with
N14 1710  7    undiminished speed. Gradually the wash climbed upward,
N14 1720  5    forcing him toward open range. Yet he must chance it.
N14 1730  3    He clambered out of the dwindling wash, the loose dirt
N14 1740  1    flying behind him, and flashed a look about.
N15 0010  1    Early in November the clouds lifted enough to carry
N15 0010 10    out the assigned missions. And Sweeney Squadron put
N15 0020  6    its first marks on the combat record. Every plane that
N15 0030  5    could fly was sent into the air.
N15 0040  1       Cricket took eight ships and went south across the
N15 0040 10    Straits and along the north coast of Mindanao to Cagayan.
N15 0050  8    Anything the enemy flew or floated was his target.
N15 0060  6    Fleischman with eight was to patrol the Leyte Gulf
N15 0070  2    area, with his main task to get any kamikaze before
N15 0070 12    they got to the ships. Greg himself took two flights,
N15 0080 10    with Todman leading the second, to patrol and look
N15 0090  7    for targets of opportunities around Ormoc on the east
N15 0100  5    coast of Leyte. Each plane carried two five-hundred
N15 0110  1    pound bombs.
N15 0110  3       A weapons carrier took Greg, Todman, Belton, Banjo
N15 0120  2    Ferguson, and Walters and the others the two miles
N15 0120 11    from the bivouac area to the strip. It was a rough
N15 0130 10    long ride through the mud and pot holes. No one had
N15 0140  7    much to say. The sky glowered down at them. There was
N15 0150  3    a feeling that this mission would be canceled like
N15 0150 12    all the others and that this muddy wet dark world of
N15 0160 10    combat would go on forever.
N15 0170  1       The truck dropped them off at the various revetments
N15 0170 10    spread through the jungle. Donovan snatched Greg's
N15 0180  7    chute from him with a belligerent motion and almost
N15 0190  6    ran to the plane with it. His face was dark as the
N15 0200  4    sky above it as he stood on the wing and waited for
N15 0200 16    his pilot. Greg climbed into the cockpit feeling as
N15 0210  9    if he had never been in one before. But his hands and
N15 0220  8    those of Donovan moved automatically adjusting and
N15 0230  3    arranging in the check-out procedure.
N15 0230  9       "I've got her as neat as I can", Donovan said, as
N15 0240 11    he dropped the straps of the Seton harness over Greg's
N15 0250  7    shoulders. "But this goddamn climate. It's for carabao
N15 0260  5    not airplanes".
N15 0260  7       "We'll make out. Don't you worry, chief", Greg replied,
N15 0270  8    wondering if he himself believed it.
N15 0280  3       "Yeah. See you", Donovan said as he jumped off the
N15 0290  3    wing. The expression was his trade-mark, his open sesame
N15 0290 13    to good luck, and his prayer that pilot and plane would
N15 0300 11    always return. At the prearranged time, Greg started
N15 0310  7    the engine and taxied out. From the time the chocks
N15 0320  5    were pulled until the plane was out of sight, he knew
N15 0330  3    Donovan would keep his back to the strip. He wondered
N15 0330 13    where the superstition had originated that it was bad
N15 0340  9    luck for a crew chief to watch his plane take off on
N15 0350  8    a combat mission. Yet long before the scheduled time
N15 0360  3    for return, Donovan would be watching for every speck
N15 0370  1    in the sky.
N15 0370  4       Greg rumbled down the rough metal taxi strip, and
N15 0380  1    one by one the seven members of his flight fell in
N15 0380 12    behind him. The dark brown bombs hanging under each
N15 0390  6    wing looked large and powerful. The pilots' heads looked
N15 0400  4    ridiculously small. The control tower gave him immediate
N15 0410  2    take-off permission, and the clean roar of the engine
N15 0410 12    that took him off the rough strip spoke well of the
N15 0420 11    skill of Donovan.
N15 0430  1       Greg's mission was the last to leave, and as he
N15 0430 11    circled the ships off Tacloban he saw the clouds were
N15 0440  8    dropping down again. To the west, the dark green hills
N15 0450  5    of Leyte were lost in the clouds about halfway up their
N15 0460  3    slopes. Underneath him the sea was a dark and muddied
N15 0460 13    gray. Water splashed against his windshield as he led
N15 0470  9    the flight in and out of showers. The metal strip they
N15 0480  8    had taken off from was coal black against the green
N15 0490  4    jungle around it. He possessed the fighter pilot's
N15 0500  1    horror of bad weather and instrument flying, and he
N15 0500 10    wondered, if the ceiling did drop, whether he and the
N15 0510  9    other flights would be able to find their way back
N15 0520  5    in this unfamiliar territory. He shivered in the warm
N15 0530  2    cockpit.
N15 0530  3       The overcast was solid above him. As far as he could
N15 0540  2    see there was no hole to climb through it. They would
N15 0540 13    have to go west through the narrow river valley that
N15 0550  9    separated Leyte from Samar and hope that it didn't
N15 0560  6    close in before they returned.
N15 0570  1       Greg pushed the radio button on his throttle. "Todman,
N15 0570  9    let's try to go under this stuff. Stay in close and
N15 0580 10    we'll go up the valley".
N15 0590  1       "Roger, Sweeney", Todman called back, and pulled
N15 0590  8    his four in and slightly above Greg.
N15 0600  6       Greg took the formation wide around three ~A-26
N15 0610  5    attack bombers that were headed north over the Gulf.
N15 0620  1    He dropped down to five hundred feet, swinging a little
N15 0620 11    north of the city of Tacloban, and punched into the
N15 0630  9    opening that showed against the mountain.
N15 0640  3       The valley was only a few hundred yards wide with
N15 0650  2    just about room enough for a properly performed
N15 0650 10    hundred-and-eighty-degree
N15 0660  1    turn. It was only a fifteen-minute flight, but before
N15 0660 11    it was through Greg felt himself developing a case
N15 0680  5    of claustrophobia. The ceiling stayed solid above them
N15 0690  5    at about eight hundred feet, and at times the sheer
N15 0700  3    cliffs seemed about to close in. If the other pilots
N15 0700 13    were worried, they did not show it. The formation remained
N15 0710  9    perfect.
N15 0720  1       When the sea was visible ahead of them, the relief
N15 0720 11    was as great as if the sun had come out. He spread
N15 0730  8    the flight out and led them across a point of land
N15 0740  4    and then down the coast. Although they drew light ground
N15 0750  1    fire they saw no signs of activity.
N15 0750  8       Once Todman thought he had spotted a tank and went
N15 0760  7    down to investigate while Greg covered him. "Somebody
N15 0770  2    beat us to it"! Todman said over the radio as he came
N15 0780  2    back up in formation.
N15 0780  6       Visibility continued to be limited, and Greg was
N15 0790  4    never able to get above a thousand feet. It was frustrating.
N15 0800  1    His earphones were constantly full of the sounds of
N15 0800 10    enemy contacts made by other flights. He thought once
N15 0810  8    that he identified the somewhat hysterical voice of
N15 0820  4    Fleischman claiming a kill. But Greg's area remained
N15 0830  3    as placid as a Florida dawn.
N15 0830  9       Finally, as time began to run out, he headed into
N15 0840  8    Ormoc and glide-bombed a group of houses that Intelligence
N15 0850  3    had thought might contain Japanese supplies. The low
N15 0860  3    clouds made bombing difficult. There was not enough
N15 0860 11    room to make the usual vertical bomb run. The accuracy
N15 0870  9    was deplorable. One of Greg's bombs hung up, and he
N15 0880  8    was miles from the target before he could get rid of
N15 0890  5    it. Only one of the flight scored a direct hit and
N15 0900  1    the rest blew up jungle.
N15 0900  6       With their load of bombs gone, the planes moved
N15 0910  2    swiftly and easily. Greg went up tight against the
N15 0910 11    ceiling and led them back to their pass to home. Mercifully,
N15 0920 11    it was still open. Like a man making a deep dive, Greg
N15 0930  9    took full breath and plunged back into the valley.
N15 0940  5    He was about to make a gas check on his flight when
N15 0950  2    Todman's voice broke in: "Sweeneys! Three bogies. Twelve
N15 0960  1    o'clock level".
N15 0960  3       Greg's eyes flicked up from his instrument panel.
N15 0970  2    He saw them, specks against the gray, but closing fast.
N15 0980  1    They were headed straight for each other on a collision
N15 0980 11    course. Friend or enemy? The same old question. And
N15 0990  8    only a few seconds to answer it.
N15 1000  2       "Zeros"! Todman said excitedly, and hopefully.
N15 1010  1       And then he thought Todman might be right. His mind
N15 1010 11    flicked through the mental pictures he had from the
N15 1020  9    hours of Aircraft Identification. He narrowed the shape
N15 1030  5    down to two: either a Zero or a U& S& Navy type aircraft.
N15 1040  5       If it were the enemy, tactically his position was
N15 1050  4    correct. Japanese aircraft were strong on maneuverability,
N15 1060  1    American on speed and firepower. His present maximum
N15 1060  9    altitude, up against the overcast, gave him the opportunity
N15 1070  9    to exploit his advantages. But it also made him conspicuous
N15 1080  8    to the enemy, if it was the enemy, and he hadn't been
N15 1090  7    spotted already. But the closing aircraft showed no
N15 1100  3    sign of deviating from their original course.
N15 1100 10       In seconds, Greg made his decision.
N15 1110  6       He pushed the radio button. "Sweeney Blue, hit the
N15 1120  5    deck. Lots of throttle. Todman, you take the one on
N15 1130  4    the left. I'll take the middle. Belton, the one on
N15 1130 14    the right. If **h if they're Japs. Let's make sure
N15 1140 10    first". Greg had the stick forward and the throttle
N15 1150  9    up before he heard the two "Rogers".
N15 1160  2       The planes, light with most of the gas burned out,
N15 1170  2    responded beautifully. Greg's airspeed indicator was
N15 1170  8    over 350 when he leveled off just above the trees.
N15 1180  9    The opposing aircraft continued to come on. They appeared
N15 1190  6    to be the enemy. Greg wished the Air Corps had continued
N15 1200  4    to camouflage planes. There was, of course, no way
N15 1210  2    for the other planes to get by them. It was a box.
N15 1210 14    But they could turn and escape to the east.
N15 1220  7       Greg pushed the radio button again. "Todman, drop
N15 1230  3    your second element back. If any of us miss, they can
N15 1240  2    pick up the pieces. Now let's make sure they're Japs".
N15 1250  1       Even as he said it, Greg knew they had found the
N15 1250 12    enemy. The shapes were unmistakable and the Rising
N15 1260  7    Suns were showing up, slightly brighter pinpoints in
N15 1270  4    the gray gloom.
N15 1270  7       Greg slapped his hand across the switches that turned
N15 1280  6    on the guns and gun camera and gun sight. The circle
N15 1290  3    with the dot in the center showed up yellow on the
N15 1290 14    reflector glass in front of him. His hands shook. "Arm
N15 1300 10    your guns, Sweeneys".
N15 1310  1       "They're Japs. They're Japs", came a high-pitched
N15 1320  1    voice.
N15 1320  2       "Greg to Sweeney Blue. One pass only. No turns.
N15 1330  3    You'll bust your ass in this canyon. That's an order".
N15 1340  1       He moved the flights over against one wall. It gave
N15 1340 11    them all a chance to make a high-speed climbing turn
N15 1350 11    attack and a break-away that would not take them into
N15 1360  7    the overcast or force a tight-turn recovery. If the
N15 1370  3    turn was too tight, a barrel roll would bring them
N15 1370 13    out. A hell of an altitude for a barrel roll, but it
N15 1380 12    could be done.
N15 1390  1       Greg slammed his throttle to the fire wall and rammed
N15 1390 11    up the ~RPM, and the engine responded as if it had
N15 1400  9    been waiting. The clearly identifiable enemy continued
N15 1410  4    on as if no one else were around. "They haven't seen
N15 1420  3    us", Greg yelled to himself over the engine noise.
N15 1430  1    "They haven't seen us". He hit the radio button. "Now,
N15 1430 11    Sweeneys, now. Let's take 'em home".
N15 1440  6       He hauled back on the stick and felt his cheeks
N15 1450  6    sag. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his wingman
N15 1460  3    move out a bit and shoot up with him. Perfect, he thought.
N15 1470  1       With the rapid rate of closure, the approach from
N15 1470 10    below, the side, and ahead, there would be only a moment
N15 1480 11    when damage could be done. Just like shooting at a
N15 1490  8    duck while performing a half-gainer from a diving board.
N15 1500  5       He tightened his turn. His nose up. It was going
N15 1510  3    to be dangerous. Eight aircraft in this small box.
N15 1510 12    Please, dear God, make my pilots good, he prayed.
N15 1520  9       He took a lead on the enemy, using a distance of
N15 1530  7    five of the radii in his circular sight and then added
N15 1540  4    another. The enemy did not veer. It did not seem possible
N15 1550  1    that they hadn't been spotted. Blind fools.
N15 1550  8       Now!
N15 1560  1       Greg's fingers closed on the stick trigger. The
N15 1560  9    plane rumbled and slowed. Six red lines etched their
N15 1570  8    way into the gray and vanished. As if drawn by a wire
N15 1580  7    the enemy flew into them. Greg tightened his turn until
N15 1590  3    the plane shuddered. Luck was with him. His burst held
N15 1600  1    for a second on the engine section of the plane. The
N15 1600 12    Jap's propeller flew off in pieces. A large piece of
N15 1610  9    engine cowling vanished. It was all Greg had time to
N15 1620  7    see. His maneuvering for the shot had placed him near
N15 1630  3    the overcast, almost inverted and heading up into the
N15 1630 12    clouds. His speed was dropping rapidly. If he spun
N15 1640  9    out now, he would join his opponent on the ground.
N15 1650  6       Wingman, stay clear, he prayed. He pushed stick
N15 1660  3    and rudder and entered the overcast on his back. He
N15 1660 13    fought the panic of vertigo. He had no idea which was
N15 1670 11    up and which was down. He held the controls where they
N15 1680  8    had been. Sweat popped out over him and he felt the
N15 1690  6    slick between his palm and the stick grip. His air
N15 1700  2    speed dropped until he thought he would spin out.
N16 0010  1       Over the rattling of fenders, humming of tires and
N16 0010 10    chattering of gears there was a charming melody of
N16 0020  9    whispers and tiny giggles. Cool air moving slowly through
N16 0030  5    the open or smashed-out side windows hinted of blooming
N16 0040  3    roadside vegetation, and occasionally a faint fragrance
N16 0050  1    of perfume swirled from the back seat.
N16 0050  8       "Moriarty", my driver suddenly exclaimed with something
N16 0060  5    so definite, so final in his tone I once more repeated
N16 0080  4    the absurdity, mustering all my latent powers of hypocrisy
N16 0090  2    to sound convinced.
N16 0090  5       We were coming to an intersection, turning right,
N16 0100  3    chuffing to a stop.
N16 0100  7       Forced to realize that this was the end of a very
N16 0110  8    short line I scanned a road marker and discovered what
N16 0120  2    the end of a slightly longer line would be for the
N16 0120 13    old Mexican: Moriarty, New Mexico.
N16 0130  5       "Gracias. Adios", I said, exhausting my Spanish
N16 0140  5    vocabulary on my host and exchanging one of a scarcely-tapped
N16 0150  5    store of smiles with my host's daughters. I waved with
N16 0160  3    discretion and moderation to the vague golden faces
N16 0160 11    fading through rising dust and the distortions of the
N16 0170  9    back window glass. Then I saw the father's head slightly
N16 0180  7    turn; gauche rainbow shapes replaced the poignant ovals
N16 0190  4    of gold.
N16 0190  6    ##
N16 0190  7    Autos whizzed past. White-shirted and conservatively-cravated
N16 0200  4    drivers stared conspicuously toward the eastern horizon
N16 0210  4    and past my supplicating and accusing gaze.
N16 0220  1       Suddenly a treble auto horn tootley-toot-tootled,
N16 0220  9    and, thumbing hopefully, I saw emergent in windshield
N16 0230  6    flash: red lips, streaming silk of blonde hair and-
N16 0240  5    ah, trembling confusion of hope, apprehension, despair-
N16 0250  1    the leering face of old Herry.
N16 0250  7       "Mor-ee-air-teeeee", he shrieked, his white teeth
N16 0260  6    grossly counterpointing those of the glittering blonde.
N16 0270  4       Over the rapidly-diminishing outline of a jump seat
N16 0280  4    piled high with luggage Herry's black brushcut was
N16 0280 12    just discernible, near, or enviably near that spot
N16 0290  8    where- hidden- more delicately-textured, most beautifully
N16 0300  5    tinted hair must still be streaming back in cool, oh
N16 0310  5    cool wind sweetly perfumed with sagebrush and yucca
N16 0320  1    flowers and engine fumes.
N16 0320  5       Damn his luck. I would have foregone my romantic
N16 0330  3    chances rather than leave a friend sweltering and dusty
N16 0340  1    and- Well, at least I wouldn't have shouted back a
N16 0340 10    taunt.
N16 0350  1       Still nursing anger I listlessly thumbed a car that
N16 0350 10    was slowly approaching, its pre-war chrome nearly blinding
N16 0360  8    me. It was stopping.
N16 0370  1       Just as I straightened up with my duffel bag, I
N16 0370 11    heard: "Sahjunt Yoorick, meet Mrs& Major J& A& Roebuck".
N16 0380  8    The voice was that of Johnson, tail gunner off another
N16 0400  9    crew.
N16 0400 10       Squeezing a look between Johnson's fat jowls and
N16 0410  8    the car frame a handsome and still darkhaired lady
N16 0420  5    inquired "Y'all drahve"?
N16 0430  1       I nodded.
N16 0430  2       "Onleh one thiihng", Mrs& Roebuck continued. "Ahm
N16 0440  2    goin nawth t'jawn mah husbun in Sante Fe, an y'all
N16 0440 12    maht prefuh the suhthuhn rewt. But Corporal Johnson
N16 0450  8    has alreadeh said it didn make no diffrunce t'hi-im".
N16 0460  7       I said that it didn't make any difference to me
N16 0470  6    either, as far as I knew.
N16 0470 12       How far I knew will shortly become apparent. Let
N16 0480  8    me pass over the trip to Sante Fe with something of
N16 0490  5    the same speed which made Mrs& Roebuck "wonduh if the
N16 0500  4    wahtahm speed limit" (35 m&p&h&) "is still in ee-faket".
N16 0510  4       I let up on the accelerator, only to gradually reach
N16 0520  2    again the 60 m&p&h& which would, I hoped, overhaul
N16 0520 11    Herry and the blonde, and as there were cars whose
N16 0530 10    drivers apparently had something more important to
N16 0540  5    catch than had I, Mrs& Major Roebuck settled down to
N16 0550  4    practicing on Corporal Johnson the kittenish wiles
N16 0560  1    she would need when making her duty call on Colonel
N16 0560 11    and Mrs& Somebody in Sante Fe.
N16 0570  4       When Johnson ejaculated "Howsabout my buying us
N16 0580  3    all a nice cold Co-cola, Ma'am"? Mrs& Roebuck smilingly
N16 0590  1    declined and began suddenly to go on about her son,
N16 0590 11    who was "onleh a little younguh than you bawhs".
N16 0600  7       Johnson never would have believed she had a son
N16 0610  7    that age. Mrs& Roebuck thought Johnson was a "sweet
N16 0620  4    bawh t'lah lahk thet", but her Herman was getting to
N16 0630  2    be a man, there was no getting around it. "Just befoh
N16 0630 13    he left foh his academeh we wuh hevin dack-rihs on
N16 0640 10    the vuhranduh, Major Roebuck an Ah, an Huhmun says
N16 0650  6    'May Ah hev one too'? just as p'lite an- an cohnfidunt,
N16 0660  5    an Ah says 'Uh coahse you cain't', but he says 'Whah
N16 0670  5    nawt, you ah hevin one'? an Ah coudn ansuh him an so
N16 0680  4    Ah said 'Aw right, Ah gay-ess, an his fathuh didn uttuh
N16 0690  1    one wohd an aftuh Huhmun was gone, the majuh laughed
N16 0690 11    an tole me thet he an the bawh had been hevin an occasional
N16 0700 11    drink t'gethuh f'ovuh a yeah, onleh an occasional one,
N16 0710  7    but just the same it was behahn mah back, an Ah doan
N16 0720  6    think thet's nahce at all, d'you"?
N16 0730  1       "No, I don't", Johnson said. "I'm a good Baptist,
N16 0740  1    and drinking **h"
N16 0740  4    ##
N16 0740  5    Mrs& Roebuck very kindly let me drive through Sante
N16 0750  3    Fe to a road which would, she said, lead us to Taos
N16 0760  1    and then Raton and "eventshahleh" out of New Mexico.
N16 0760 10    How lightly her "eventshah-leh" passed into the crannies
N16 0770  8    where I was storing dialect material for some vaguely
N16 0780  6    dreamed opus, and how the word would echo. And re-echo.
N16 0790  6       Hardly had Mrs& Roebuck driven off when a rusty
N16 0800  5    pick-up truck, father or grandfather of Senor "Moriarty's"
N16 0810  2    Ford sedan, came screeching to a dust-swirling stop,
N16 0820  1    and a brown face appeared, its nose threatened by shards
N16 0820 11    of what had once been the side window.
N16 0830  7       "Get in, buddies. Get in". The straight, black hair
N16 0840  5    flopped in a vigorous nod, the slender nose plunged
N16 0850  2    toward glass teeth and drew safely back.
N16 0850  9       Johnson unwired the right hand door, whose window
N16 0860  7    was, like the left one, merely loosely-taped fragments
N16 0870  2    of glass, and Johnson wadded himself into a narrow
N16 0880  1    seat made still more narrow by three cases of beer.
N16 0880 11       "In back, buddy", the driver said to me.
N16 0890  8       Quickly but carefully lowering my duffel bag over
N16 0900  6    the low side-rack, I stepped on the running board;
N16 0910  2    it flopped down, sprang back up and gouged my shin.
N16 0910 12    The truck was hurtling forward. I seized the rack and
N16 0920  9    made a western-style flying-mount just in time, one
N16 0930  7    of my knees mercifully landing on my duffel bag- and
N16 0940  2    merely wrecking my camera, I was to discover later-
N16 0950  1    my other knee landing on the slivery truck floor boards
N16 0950 11    and- but this is no medical report.
N16 0960  5       I was again in motion and at a speed which belied
N16 0970  3    the truck's similarity to Senor ~X's Ford turtle. Maybe
N16 0980  2    I would beat old Herry to Siberia after all. Whatever
N16 0980 12    satisfaction that might offer.
N16 0990  4       Something pulled my leg.
N16 1000  1       I drew back, drawing back my foot for a kick. But
N16 1000 11    it was only Johnson reaching around the wire chicken
N16 1010  6    fencing, which half covered the truck cab's glassless
N16 1020  3    rear window. The way his red rubber lips were stretched
N16 1030  1    across his pearly little teeth I though he was only
N16 1030 11    having a little joke, but, no, he wanted me to bend
N16 1040 10    down from the roar of wind so he could roar something
N16 1050  6    into my ear.
N16 1050  9       "Wanna beer"?
N16 1060  1       "Hell, yes", I roared back between dusty lips. Did
N16 1060 10    I want a beer? Did an anteater want ants?
N16 1070  9       "Bueno, amigo. Gracias", I hollered, my first long
N16 1080  7    swallow filling me with confidence and immediately
N16 1090  3    doubling the size of my Spanish vocabulary.
N16 1100  1       At once my ears were drowned by a flow of what I
N16 1100 13    took to be Spanish, but- the driver's white teeth flashing
N16 1110  6    at me, the road wildly veering beyond his glistening
N16 1120  5    hair, beyond his gesticulating bottle- it could have
N16 1140  1    been the purest Oxford English I was half hearing;
N16 1140 10    I wouldn't have known the difference.
N16 1150  6       Johnson was trying to grab the wheel, though the
N16 1160  6    swerve of the truck was throwing him away from it.
N16 1170  2    White teeth suddenly vanishing, the driver slammed
N16 1170  9    the side of his bottle against Johnson's ear.
N16 1180  6       We were off the road, gleaming barbed wire pulling
N16 1190  4    taut. I ducked just as the first strand broke somewhere
N16 1200  2    down the line and came whipping over the sideboards.
N16 1200 11    We were in a field, in a tight, screeching turn. Prairie
N16 1210 11    dogs were popping up and popping down. When I fell
N16 1220  8    on my back, I saw a vulture hovering.
N16 1230  1       Just as I got to my knees, there was again the sound
N16 1240  1    of the fence stretching, and I had time only to start
N16 1240 12    taking my kneeling posture seriously. This time no
N16 1250  6    wire came whipping into the truck.
N16 1260  1       We were back on the road. I regained my squatting
N16 1260 11    position behind the truck cab's rear window. Johnson's
N16 1270  8    left hand was pressed against the side of his head,
N16 1280  7    red cheeks whitening beneath his fingers.
N16 1290  1       "Tee-wah", the driver cackled, his black eyes glittering
N16 1300  1    behind dull silver chicken fencing. "That was Tee-wah
N16 1300 10    I was talking. You thought I was a Mexican, didn't
N16 1310  9    you, buddy"?
N16 1320  1       I nodded.
N16 1320  3       "Hell, that's all right, buddy", the Indian (I now
N16 1330  3    guessed) said. "Drink your beer".
N16 1330  8       Miraculously, the bottle was still in my hand, foam
N16 1340  9    still geysering over my (luckily) waterproof watch.
N16 1350  3    No sooner had I started drinking than the driver started
N16 1360  2    zigzagging the truck. The beer foamed furiously. I
N16 1360 10    drank furiously. A long time. Emptied the bottle.
N16 1370  8       Teeth again flashing back at me, the driver released
N16 1380  7    a deluge of Spanish in which "amigo" appeared every
N16 1390  3    so often like an island in the stormy waves of surrounding
N16 1400  2    sound. I bobbed my head each time it appeared.
N16 1410  1       Suddenly the Spanish became an English in which
N16 1410  8    only one word emerged with clarity and precision, "son
N16 1420  6    of a bitch", sometimes hyphenated by vicious jabs of
N16 1430  5    a beer bottle into Johnson's quivering ribs.
N16 1440  1       A big car was approaching, its chrome teeth grinning.
N16 1440 10    Beyond it the gray road stretched a long, long way.
N16 1450 10    The car was just about to us, its driver's fat, solemn
N16 1460  6    face intent on the road ahead, on business, on a family
N16 1470  4    in Sante Fe- on anything but an old pick-up truck in
N16 1480  2    which two human beings desperately needed rescue.
N16 1480  9       I tossed the bottle. High, so it would only bounce
N16 1490  9    harmlessly but loudly off the car's steel roof. Too
N16 1500  6    high. On unoccupied roadway the bottle shattered into
N16 1510  3    a small amber flash.
N16 1510  7       "Aye-yah-ah-ah"!
N16 1520  1       The Indian was again raising his bottle, but to
N16 1520 10    my astonished relief- probably only a fraction of Johnson's-
N16 1530  9    the bottle this time went to the Indian's lips.
N16 1540  6       Another car was coming, a tiny, dark shape on a
N16 1550  5    far hill. I started looking on the splintery truck
N16 1560  1    bed for a piece of board, a dirt clod- anything I could
N16 1560 13    throw and with better aim than I had thrown the beer
N16 1570 10    bottle.
N16 1570 11       We were slowing. In the ditch sand was white and
N16 1580  8    soft-looking, only an occasional pebble discernible,
N16 1590  3    faintly gleaming. But Johnson couldn't quickly unwire
N16 1600  2    the truck door, and if I escaped, he might suffer.
N16 1610  1       The car was approaching fast. On the truck bed there
N16 1610 10    was nothing smaller than a piece of rusty machinery;
N16 1620  7    with more time I could have loosened a small burr or
N16 1630  6    cotter pin-
N16 1630  8       Suddenly and not a second too soon I thought of
N16 1640  6    the coins in my pocket. There was no time to pick out
N16 1650  3    a penny; I got a coin between my thumb and forefinger,
N16 1650 14    leaned my elbows in a very natural and casual manner
N16 1660 10    on top of the truck cab and flipped my little missile.
N16 1670  7       There was a blur just under my focus of vision,
N16 1680  5    a crash; the car's far windshield panel turned into
N16 1690  2    a silver web with a dark hole in the center.
N16 1690 12       I heard the screech of brakes behind me, an insane
N16 1700  9    burst of laughter beneath me. Looking back I saw a
N16 1710  6    gray-haired man getting out of his halted car and trying
N16 1720  3    to read our license number.
N16 1720  8       "S-s-sahjunt". Johnson's fat hand, another bottle
N16 1730  5    were protruding from the truck cab, and that self-proclaimed
N16 1740  5    Baptist teetotaler, had a bottle at his own lips.
N16 1750  2       Two cars came over a crest, their chrome and glass
N16 1750 12    flashing. The Indian's arm whipped sidewise- there
N16 1760  7    was a flash of amber and froth, the crash of the bottle
N16 1770  8    shattering against the side of the first car.
N16 1780  4       Brakes shrieked behind us. I saw Johnson's bottle
N16 1790  2    snatched from his hand, saw it go in a swirl of foam
N16 1790 14    just behind the second car. This time there was no
N16 1800  9    sound of brakes but the shrieking of women. I looked
N16 1810  5    back at pale ovals framed in the elongated oval of
N16 1820  3    the car's rear window.
N16 1820  7       "Drink, you son of a bitch"! I quickly turned around
N16 1830  5    and began to drink. But the Indian was jabbing another
N16 1840  3    bottle toward Johnson.
N17 0010  1       I guided her to the divan, turned off the ~TV, faced
N17 0010 12    her. She sat quietly, staring at me from the wide eyes.
N17 0020 11    And what eyes they were. Big and dark, a melting, golden
N17 0030  8    brown. Eyes like hot honey, eyes that sizzled. Plus
N17 0040  5    flawless skin, smooth brow and cheeks, lips that looked
N17 0050  2    as if you could get a shock from them. It was a disturbingly
N17 0060  1    familiar face, too, but I couldn't remember where we
N17 0060 10    had met.
N17 0070  1       I said, "Do we know each other, Miss"?
N17 0070  9       "No, I remembered reading about you in the papers
N17 0080  8    and that you lived here, and when it happened all I
N17 0090  6    could think of was"- This time she stopped the rush
N17 0100  3    of words herself. "I'm sorry. Shall I go on"? She smiled.
N17 0110  3    It was her first smile. But worth waiting for.
N17 0120  1       "Sure". I said. "But one word at a time, O&K&"?
N17 0120 11    She was still hugging the stained coat around her,
N17 0140  8    so I said, "Relax, let me take your things. Would you
N17 0150  7    like a drink, or coffee"?
N17 0160  1       "No, thanks". She stood up, pulled the coat from
N17 0160 10    her shoulders and started to slide it off, then let
N17 0170  8    out a high-pitched scream and I let out a low-pitched,
N17 0180  6    wobbling sound like a muffler blowing out. She was
N17 0190  2    wearing nothing beneath the coat. She jerked the coat
N17 0190 11    back on and squeezed it around her again, but not soon
N17 0200  9    enough. There had been a good second or two during
N17 0210  6    which my muffler had been blowing out, and now I was
N17 0220  4    certain I'd seen her somewhere before.
N17 0220 10    ##
N17 0220 11    "I forgot"! she yelped. "Oh, do forgive me. I'm sorry"!
N17 0240  1       "I forgive"-
N17 0240  3       "That's what started all the trouble in the first
N17 0250  3    place. Oh, dear, I'm all unstrung".
N17 0250  9       "You and me both, dear. Haven't we **h haven't I
N17 0260  9    seen you **h. I mean, surely we've"-
N17 0270  3       "You may have seen me on ~TV", she said. "I've done
N17 0280  5    several filmed commercials for"-
N17 0290  1       Then it hit me. "ZING"! I cried.
N17 0290  8       "Why, yes. And you recognized me"?
N17 0300  4       "Yes, indeed. In fact, I was watching you on that
N17 0310  4    little seventeen-inch screen when you rang my bell.
N17 0320  1    Man, you rang- it was in color, too, Miss, and **h
N17 0320 12    Miss? What's your name, anyway? Ah, you were splendid".
N17 0330  8    I sat by her on the divan. "Splendid. In a waterfall
N17 0340  7    **h and all that".
N17 0350  1       "That's the last one we did. That was a fun one".
N17 0350 11       "I'll bet. It was fun for me, all right. I don't
N17 0360 11    mean to pry, but do they hide the swimsuit with the
N17 0370  7    bubbles? I mean: Is advertising honest?
N17 0380  2       "It depends on who does it. I never wear anything
N17 0390  1    at all. It wouldn't- wouldn't seem fair, somehow".
N17 0400  1       "I couldn't agree with you more".
N17 0400  7       "I really do have something important to tell you,
N17 0410  5    Mr& Scott. About the murder".
N17 0420  1       "Murder? Oh, yeah", I said. "Tell me about the murder".
N17 0430  1       She told me. ZING was the creation of two men, Louis
N17 0440  1    Thor and Bill Blake, partners in ZING!, Inc&. They'd
N17 0450  1    peddled the soap virtually alone, and without much
N17 0450  9    success, until about a year ago, when- with the addition
N17 0460  9    of "~SX-21" to their secret formula and the inauguration
N17 0470  6    of a high-powered advertising campaign- sales had soared
N17 0480  4    practically into orbit. Their product had been endorsed
N17 0490  3    by Good Housekeeping, the A&M&A&, and the Veterinary
N17 0500  2    Journal, among other repositories of higher wisdom,
N17 0510  1    and before much longer if you didn't have a cake of
N17 0510 12    their soap in the john, even your best friends would
N17 0520  8    think you didn't bathe.
N17 0530  1       My lovely caller- Joyce Holland was her name- had
N17 0530 10    previously done three filmed commercials for ZING,
N17 0540  7    and this evening, the fourth, a super production, had
N17 0550  5    been filmed at the home of Louis Thor. The water in
N17 0560  4    Thor's big swimming pool had been covered with a blanket
N17 0570  1    of thick, foamy soapsuds- fashioned, of course, from
N17 0570  9    ZING- Joyce had dived from the board into the pool,
N17 0580 12    then swirled and cavorted in her luxurious "bath" while
N17 0590  6    cameras rolled. The finished- and drastically cut-
N17 0600  6    product would begin with a hazy longshot of Joyce entering
N17 0610  3    the suds, then bursting above the pool's surface clad
N17 0620  1    in layers of lavender lather, and I had a hunch this
N17 0620 12    item was going to sell tons and tons of soap; even
N17 0630  9    to clean men and boys.
N17 0640  1       Joyce went on, "When we'd finished, Lou- Mr& Thor-
N17 0640  9    asked me to stay a little longer. He wanted a few stills
N17 0650 12    for magazine ads, he said. Everybody left and I stayed
N17 0660  8    in the pool, then Lou came back alone and leaped into
N17 0670  6    the pool too. And he didn't have any clothes on".
N17 0680  2       "He didn't"!
N17 0680  4       "Yes, he didn't. Did, I mean". She paused. "Did
N17 0690  7    leap into the pool, and didn't have anything on. Anyway,
N17 0700  5    it was evident what he had in mind".
N17 0710  1       "You got away, didn't you"?
N17 0710  6       "Yes. He caught up with me once and grabbed me,
N17 0720  9    but I was all covered with ZING- it's very slippery,
N17 0730  6    you know".
N17 0730  8       "I didn't know. I wouldn't have the stuff in the
N17 0740  8    house. But I'm pleased to hear"-
N17 0750  1       "So I just scooted out of his clutches. I swam like
N17 0760  2    mad, got out of the pool, grabbed my robe, and ran
N17 0760 13    to the car. The keys were still in it, and I was miles
N17 0770 10    away before I remembered that my clothes and purse
N17 0780  6    and everything were still in the little cabana where
N17 0790  2    I'd changed".
N17 0790  4       She'd driven around for a while, Joyce said, then,
N17 0800  4    thinking Louis Thor would have calmed down by that
N17 0810  1    time, she'd gone back to his home on Bryn Mawr Drive,
N17 0810 12    parked in front, and walked toward the pool. While
N17 0820  9    several yards from it, still concealed by the shrubbery,
N17 0830  5    she'd seen two men on her left at the pool's edge.
N17 0840  3    She went on:
N17 0840  6       "A man was holding onto Lou, holding him up. Maybe
N17 0850  5    Lou was only unconscious, but right then I thought
N17 0860  2    he must be dead. The man shoved him into the water,
N17 0860 13    then ran past the cabana. There's a walk there that
N17 0870  9    goes out to Quebec Drive. I was so scared **h well,
N17 0880  7    I just ran to my car and came here".
N17 0890  1       "You know who the other man was"?
N17 0890  8       "No, I never did see his face. I didn't get a good
N17 0900 10    look at him at all, his back was to me, and I was so
N17 0910  8    scared **h It was just somebody in a man's suit. But
N17 0920  3    I'm sure the other one was Lou".
N17 0920 10       What Joyce wanted me to do was go to Thor's house
N17 0930 10    and "do whatever detectives do", and get her clothes-
N17 0940  6    and handbag containing her identification. She realized
N17 0950  3    I'd have to notify the police, but fervently hoped
N17 0960  2    I could avoid mentioning her name.
N17 0960  8       Her impact in the ZING commercials had led to her
N17 0970  7    being considered for an excellent part in an upcoming
N17 0980  5    ~TV series, Underwater Western Eye, a documentary-type
N17 0990  3    show to be sponsored by Oatnut Grits. But if Joyce
N17 1000  1    got involved in murder or salacious scandal, the role
N17 1000 10    would probably go to the sponsor's wife, Mrs& Oatnut
N17 1010  8    Grits. Or at least not to Joyce.
N17 1020  3       "And I so want the part", she said. "The commercials
N17 1030  2    have just been for money, there hasn't been any real
N17 1030 12    incentive for me to do them, but in Underwater Western
N17 1040 10    Eye I'd have a chance to act. I could show what I can
N17 1050 12    do".
N17 1050 13    ##
N17 1050 14    As far as I was concerned, she had already and had
N17 1060 11    dandily shown what she could do. But I promised Joyce
N17 1070  8    I would mention her name, if at all, only as a last
N17 1080  7    resort. Seeming much relieved, she smiled one of those
N17 1090  3    worth-waiting-for smiles, and I smiled all the way
N17 1090 13    into the bedroom. There I got my Colt Special and shoulder
N17 1100 10    harness, slipped my coat on, and went back into the
N17 1110  9    front room.
N17 1110 11       Joyce squirmed a little on the divan. "I'm starting
N17 1120  8    to itch", she said.
N17 1130  1       "Itch"?
N17 1130  2       "Yes, I'm still all covered with that soap. I was
N17 1140  4    loaded with suds when I ran away, and I haven't had
N17 1140 15    a chance to wash it off. Mmmm, it sure itches".
N17 1150 10       "You might as well wait here while I'm gone, so
N17 1160  9    you can use my shower if you'd like".
N17 1170  2       "Oh, I'd love to". I showed her the shower and tub,
N17 1180  3    and she said, smiling, "If you really don't mind, I
N17 1180 13    think I'll get clean in the shower, then soak for a
N17 1190 11    few minutes in your tub. That always relaxes me. Doesn't
N17 1200  7    it you"?
N17 1200  9       "Only when I do it". I shook my head. One of my
N17 1210 12    virtues or vices is a sort of three-dimensional imagination
N17 1220  7    complete with sound effects and glorious living color.
N17 1230  4    "Soak **h as long as you want, Joyce. It'll probably
N17 1240  2    be at least an hour or two before I can check back
N17 1240 14    with you. So you'll have everything all to yourself,
N17 1250  9    doggone **h"
N17 1260  1       I looked at my watch. Ten after nine. Time to go,
N17 1260 12    I supposed. "Well, goodbye", I said.
N17 1270  5       "Goodbye. You'd better hurry".
N17 1280  1       "Oh, you can count on that".
N17 1280  7       She smiled slightly. Softly. Warmly. "Don't hurry
N17 1290  5    too much. I'll be soaking for **h at least half an
N17 1300  7    hour".
N17 1300  8       That was all she said. But suddenly those hot-honey
N17 1310  6    eyes seemed to have everything but swarms of bees in
N17 1320  4    them. However, when there's a job to be done, I'm a
N17 1330  2    monstrosity of grim determination, I like to think.
N17 1330 10    I spun about and clattered through the front room to
N17 1340  8    the door. As I went out, I could hear water pouring
N17 1350  5    in the shower. Hot water. She wouldn't be taking a
N17 1360  3    cold shower. Hell, she couldn't.
N17 1360  8       Bryn Mawr Drive is only two or three miles from
N17 1370  8    the Spartan, and it took me less than five minutes
N17 1380  3    to get there. But the scene was not the quiet, calm
N17 1380 14    scene I'd expected. Four cars were parked at the curb,
N17 1390 10    and two of them were police radio cars. Lights blazed
N17 1400  7    in the big house and surrounding grounds. I followed
N17 1410  4    a shrubbery-lined gravel path alongside the house to
N17 1420  3    the pool. Two uniformed officers, a couple of plain-clothesmen
N17 1430  1    I knew, and two other men stood on a gray cement area
N17 1430 13    next to the pool on my left. At the pool's far end
N17 1440 10    was the little cabana Joyce had mentioned, and on the
N17 1450  6    water's surface floated scattered lavender patches
N17 1460  2    of limp-looking lather. A few yards beyond the group
N17 1460 12    of men, a man's nude body lay face down on a patch
N17 1470 11    of thick green dichondra.
N17 1480  1       Lieutenant Rawlins, one of the plain-clothesmen,
N17 1480  8    spotted me and said, "Hi, Shell", and walked toward
N17 1490  9    me. "How'd you hear about this one"? I grinned, but
N17 1500  8    ignored the question. He didn't push it; Rawlins worked
N17 1510  5    out of Central Homicide and we'd been friends for years.
N17 1520  5       He filled me in. A call to the police had been placed
N17 1530  4    from here a couple of minutes after nine p&m&, and
N17 1540  2    the first police car had arrived two or three minutes
N17 1540 12    after that- 10 minutes ago now. Present at the scene-
N17 1550 11    in addition to the dead man, who was indeed Louis Thor-
N17 1560  7    had been Thor's partner Bill Blake, and Antony Rose,
N17 1570  5    an advertising agency executive who handled the ZING
N17 1580  3    account. Neither of them, I understood, had been present
N17 1590  1    at the filming session earlier.
N17 1590  6       "What were they doing here"? I asked Rawlins.
N17 1600  4       "They were supposed to meet Thor at nine p&m& for
N17 1610  5    a conference concerning the ad campaign for their soap,
N17 1620  2    a new angle based on this ~SX-21 stuff".
N17 1620 11       "Yeah, I've heard more about ~SX-21 than space exploration
N17 1630 10    lately. What is the gunk"?
N17 1640  5       "How would I know? It's a secret. That was the new
N17 1650  5    advertising angle- something about a Lloyd's of London
N17 1660  3    policy to insure the secrecy of the secret ingredient.
N17 1660 12    Actually, only two men know what the formula is, Blake
N17 1670 10    and"- He stopped and looked at Thor's body.
N17 1680  7       I said, "O&K&, so now only Blake knows. How's it
N17 1690  8    strike you, foul or fair"?
N17 1700  1       "Can't say yet. Deputy coroner says it looks like
N17 1700 10    he sucked in a big pile of those thick suds and strangled
N17 1710 11    on 'em. The ~PM might show he drowned instead, but
N17 1720  7    that's what the once-over-lightly gives us. Accident,
N17 1730  4    murder, suicide- take your pick".
N17 1740  1       "I'll pick murder. Anything else"?
N17 1740  6       "According to Rose, he arrived here a couple minutes
N17 1750  7    before nine and spotted Thor in the water, got a hooked
N17 1760  6    pole from the pool-equipment locker and started hauling
N17 1770  2    him out.
N18 0010  1       Too many people think that the primary purpose of
N18 0010 10    a higher education is to help you make a living; this
N18 0020  9    is not so, for education offers all kinds of dividends,
N18 0030  5    including how to pull the wool over a husband's eyes
N18 0040  2    while you are having an affair with his wife. If it
N18 0040 13    were not for an old professor who made me read the
N18 0050 11    classics I would have been stymied on what to do, and
N18 0060  8    now I understand why they are classics; those who wrote
N18 0070  4    them knew people and what made people tick.
N18 0080  1       I worked for my Uncle (an Uncle by marriage so you
N18 0080 12    will not think this has a mild undercurrent of incest)
N18 0090  8    who ran one of those antique shops in New Orleans'
N18 0100  5    Vieux Carre, the old French Quarter. The arrangement
N18 0110  2    I had with him was to work four hours a day. The rest
N18 0120  1    of the time I devoted to painting or to those other
N18 0120 12    activities a young and healthy man just out of college
N18 0130  8    finds interesting.
N18 0130 10       I had a one-room studio which overlooked an ancient
N18 0140  9    courtyard filled with flowers and plants, blooming
N18 0150  5    everlastingly in the southern sun. I had come to New
N18 0160  4    Orleans two years earlier after graduating college,
N18 0160 11    partly because I loved the city and partly because
N18 0170  9    there was quite a noted art colony there. When my Uncle
N18 0180  7    offered me a part-time job which would take care of
N18 0190  5    my normal expenses and give me time to paint I accepted.
N18 0200  1       The arrangement turned out to be excellent. I loved
N18 0200 10    the city and I particularly loved the gaiety and spirit
N18 0210 10    of Mardi Gras. I had seen two of them and we would
N18 0220 10    soon be in another city-wide, joyous celebration with
N18 0230  4    romance in the air; and, when you took a walk you never
N18 0240  3    knew what adventure or pair of sparkling eyes were
N18 0240 12    waiting around the next corner. The very faces of the
N18 0250 10    people bore this expectation of fun and pleasure. It
N18 0260  6    was as if they could hardly wait to get into their
N18 0270  3    costumes, cover their faces with masks and go adventuring.
N18 0280  1       My Uncle and I were not too close socially because
N18 0290  1    of the difference in our ages. Sometimes I wondered
N18 0290 10    vaguely what he did about women for my Aunt, by blood,
N18 0300  9    had died some years ago, but neither of us said anything.
N18 0310  5    One Monday morning I saw him approach the store with
N18 0320  3    a woman and introduce me to her as my new Aunt. They
N18 0320 15    were married over the week-end, though he was easily
N18 0330 10    sixty and she could not have been even thirty. She
N18 0340  7    looked more like twenty-five or six. It was really
N18 0350  4    a May and December combination.
N18 0350  9       My new Aunt was perhaps three or four years older
N18 0360  8    than I and it had been a long time since I had seen
N18 0370  6    as gorgeous a woman who oozed sex. There was something
N18 0380  2    about the contour of her face, her smile that was like
N18 0380 13    New Orleans sunshine, the way she held her head, the
N18 0390 10    way she walked- there was scarcely anything she did
N18 0400  6    which did not fascinate me. Her legs were the full,
N18 0410  4    sexy kind, full bodied like a rare wine and just as
N18 0420  1    tantalizing to the appetite; the calf was magnificent,
N18 0420  9    the ankle perfect.
N18 0430  1       You must forgive me if I seem to dwell too much
N18 0430 12    on her physical aspects but I am an artist, accustomed
N18 0440  9    to studying the physical body. The true artist is like
N18 0450  7    one of those scientists who, from a single bone can
N18 0460  5    reconstruct an animal's entire body. The artist looks
N18 0470  1    at an ankle, a calf, a bosom and, in his mind's eye,
N18 0470 13    the clothes drop away and he sees her as she really
N18 0480 10    is. And that is the way I first saw her when my Uncle
N18 0490  7    brought her into his antique store.
N18 0500  1       That she impressed me instantly was obvious; I was
N18 0500 10    aware that when our eyes met we both quickly averted
N18 0510  8    them. I thought I saw a faint surge of color rise to
N18 0520  6    her neck and quickly suffuse her cheeks. True, she
N18 0530  2    was my Aunt, married to an Uncle related to me only
N18 0530 13    by marriage, but why she had married a man twice her
N18 0540 10    age, and more, perhaps, I did not know or much care.
N18 0550  7       She was standing with her back to the glass door.
N18 0560  4    Her form was silhouetted and with the strong light
N18 0560 13    I could see the outlines of her body, a body that an
N18 0570 12    artist or anyone else would have admired. As it is
N18 0580  8    in so many affairs of the heart, a man and a woman
N18 0590  5    meet and something clicks. Something clicked in this
N18 0600  1    instance, but I treated her circumspectly and I felt
N18 0600 10    that she knew it, for we both kept our distance.
N18 0610  8       When she appeared at the store to help out for a
N18 0620  6    few hours even my looking at her was surreptitious
N18 0630  1    lest my Uncle notice it. And then I became aware that
N18 0630 12    she, too, glanced at me surreptitiously. I felt that
N18 0640  8    her eyes were undressing me as if she were a painter
N18 0650  7    and I a nude model. I dismissed these feelings as wishful
N18 0660  3    thinking but I could not get it out of my head that
N18 0670  1    we had a strong physical attraction for one another
N18 0670 10    and we both feared to dwell on it because of our relationship.
N18 0680  9    When our eyes met the air was filled with an unuttered
N18 0690  6    message of "Me, too". You have probably experienced
N18 0700  2    this. It is nothing you can put your fingers on but
N18 0710  1    the air suddenly fills with a high charge of electricity.
N18 0710 11       Why she married him I do not know. I myself was
N18 0720 11    fond of him but what a young woman half his age saw
N18 0730  7    in him was a mystery to me. He already had that slow
N18 0740  4    pace that comes over the elderly, while she herself
N18 0740 13    had all the signs of one who appreciates the joys of
N18 0750 11    living. Perhaps, with my Uncle, she found a measure
N18 0760  7    of economic security that she needed; or maybe she
N18 0770  4    liked men old enough to be her father; some women with
N18 0780  1    father fixations do.
N18 0780  4       For several weeks we eyed one another almost like
N18 0790  3    sparring partners, and then one day Uncle was slightly
N18 0790 12    indisposed and stayed home; his bride opened the store.
N18 0800  9    I was waiting in front of it when she showed up and
N18 0810 10    told me of my Uncle's indisposition. Even as she was
N18 0820  5    telling me about it I became aware of a give-away flush
N18 0830  2    that suffused her neck and moved upwards to her cheeks,
N18 0830 12    and subconsciously I realized that when she entered
N18 0840  8    the store she did not switch on the lights. The cavernous
N18 0850  8    depth, cluttered with antiques, echoed to her hard
N18 0860  5    heels as she walked directly to the office in the rear
N18 0870  2    and took the seat at his desk. She placed her palms,
N18 0870 13    fingers outspread, on the desk in an odd gesture as
N18 0880 10    if to say, "Now, what next"?
N18 0890  1       I was aware of a humid look in her eyes that told
N18 0890 13    me the time was opportune. There was little likelihood
N18 0900  9    of any customers walking in at that hour. I was standing
N18 0910  9    beside her, watching the outspread palms and wondering
N18 0920  4    about the old horsehair sofa against the wall on which
N18 0930  3    he sometimes napped.
N18 0930  6       I bent and kissed the still pink neck and suddenly
N18 0940  4    she jumped up, and her two arms encircled me in a bear-like
N18 0950  4    crush. Her mouth, which had been so much in my thoughts,
N18 0960  1    was warm and moist and tender. I heard her murmur,
N18 0960 11    "We'd better lock the door".
N18 0970  4       It did not take me long to slip the bolt securely
N18 0980  1    and return to the rear and its couch.
N18 0980  9       When we opened the door again for business and switched
N18 0990  7    on the lights she said:
N18 1000  1       "He will not always be indisposed".
N18 1000  7       "I know. I was thinking about that. How will we
N18 1010  6    work it out"?
N18 1010  9       "I don't know", she said. "You're the man. You figure
N18 1020  9    it out. I've noticed the way you've been looking at
N18 1030  8    me ever since we met".
N18 1040  1       "I guess we both felt it". I said.
N18 1040  9       "I guess so", she said.
N18 1050  3       "But now what"?
N18 1050  6       Even as I said it I realized that an education can
N18 1060  6    be invaluable.
N18 1060  8       "I know what we can do", I said. "Tell him I made
N18 1070 10    a pass at you".
N18 1080  1       She raised a protesting hand with a startled air.
N18 1080  9       "What are you trying to do? Get thrown out? If I
N18 1090 10    even hint at it do you think it will matter that you
N18 1100  6    are his nephew- and not even a blood nephew"?
N18 1110  1       "I don't want to be thrown out and I don't think
N18 1120  1    I will. I think I have a way so we can carry on without
N18 1120 15    his suspecting us".
N18 1130  2       "By telling him you are making passes at me"? she
N18 1140  2    said incredulously.
N18 1140  4       "When I was in college", I grinned, "I remember
N18 1150  4    a poem I had to read in my lit class. I don't even
N18 1160  2    remember who wrote it but it was one of those 15th
N18 1160 13    or 16th century poets. In those days poems often told
N18 1170  8    a story in verse and those boys had some corkers to
N18 1180  6    tell; and now I think we can use the knowledge they
N18 1190  2    passed on to us. Tomorrow Mardi Gras opens officially.
N18 1200  1    A lot of people will roam the streets in costumes and
N18 1200 12    masks, and having a ball. There will be romance and
N18 1210  8    flirtation. If you tell him I made a pass at you he
N18 1220  7    might think you misunderstood something I said or did,
N18 1230  3    so instead of just telling him I made a pass, say I
N18 1230 15    tried to date you and that you agreed so you could
N18 1240 10    prove to him what a louse I really am. We made a rendezvous
N18 1250  8    tomorrow evening at nine on some street near Lake Ponchartrain.
N18 1260  4    And to prove what you tell him about me you suggest
N18 1270  4    that he keep the date instead. You are both the same
N18 1270 15    size. He could use your clothes for a costume and a
N18 1280 11    heavy veil for a mask. When I show up he will know
N18 1290  8    you are a good wife to have told him about it".
N18 1300  3       "But you"- she began.
N18 1300  7       "Don't worry about me. It will turn out all right".
N18 1310 10       "I don't understand", she insisted. "Are you trying
N18 1320  6    to cut your throat"?
N18 1330  1       "No", I chuckled, "I'm just beginning to collect
N18 1330  9    dividends on my investment in education".
N18 1340  6       As we expected, on the following day my Uncle was
N18 1350  7    completely recovered and opened the store as usual
N18 1360  3    at 10 in the morning. I felt that he looked at me coldly
N18 1370  1    and appraisingly and seemed to be uncertain what his
N18 1370 10    attitude towards me should be, but he did not say one
N18 1380 10    word which might indicate that he had been told of
N18 1390  6    advances to his wife.
N18 1390 10       I quit work at my usual hour as if this day was
N18 1400  7    no different from other days. I heard subsequently
N18 1410  1    that my Uncle and Aunt had dinner in a nearby restaurant
N18 1410 12    in the French Quarter after which he went home to get
N18 1420 11    into his costume to keep the date. Shortly before nine
N18 1430  8    I drove my jalopy to the street facing the Lake and
N18 1440  5    parked the car in shadows far enough away from the
N18 1450  2    rendezvous corner but near enough to keep the corner
N18 1450 11    in clear view. A few minutes later I saw my Uncle's
N18 1460  9    car drive up and a woman's figure emerge and walk to
N18 1470  6    the corner. I must say the figure was well made up.
N18 1480  4    If it were not that I knew who it was I could have
N18 1480 17    mistaken it for my Aunt so well did her clothes fit
N18 1490 11    him. In one hand he gripped firmly a parasol though
N18 1500  6    there had been no indication of rain. I suspected why
N18 1510  4    he brought it along.
N18 1510  8       In the half darkness I approached cautiously, making
N18 1520  4    sure he did not see me. He was looking out on the dark
N18 1530  5    waters of the Lake when I came upon him and without
N18 1540  1    wasting words I smacked him hard across the face.
N18 1540 10       "You cheap bitch"! I exclaimed. "You cheap, no good,
N18 1550  8    two-timing bitch! You get a good, loyal husband- smack!-
N18 1560  8    and you fall for a pass by his own nephew! You should-
N18 1570  7    smack!- be ashamed of yourself.
N19 0010  1    He had better write a postcard to Walter. He opened
N19 0010 11    the myth book again and there (along the margin next
N19 0020  7    to Robert Graves' imaginative interpretation of the
N19 0030  4    creation of the Dactyls from Rhea's fingertips) were
N19 0040  2    the names of four Munich bars and Meredith Wilder's
N19 0040 11    address. The bars were marked as Walter had marked
N19 0050  9    them in a small black book kept in a nearly secret
N19 0060  7    drawer. The code, which had probably something to do
N19 0070  4    with sex or some other interest, Nicolas was determined
N19 0080  1    to find out and put to use. A card to Walter would
N19 0080 13    get him an introduction to this Meredith, and that
N19 0090  6    might be good for something. Nicolas called on his
N19 0100  4    muse, a line came back:
N19 0100  9       "Squaresville, man, and all the palazzos are crummy
N19 0110  8    Palasts".
N19 0110  9       That ought to draw a laugh, Nicolas reasoned, as
N19 0130  8    he stored the line away on the wax tape that was his
N19 0140  6    mind.
N19 0140  7       And indeed, his postcard did draw from Walter a
N19 0150  4    letter recommending his friend, the poet Nicolas Manas,
N19 0160  1    to his friend Meredith Wilder. Five days later, on
N19 0160 10    receiving it, Meredith sat drumming his dactyls on
N19 0170  7    his writing table. Dammit! he inwardly cried.
N19 0180  3       His hand was large and square and heavily tanned.
N19 0190  1    The voice crying in him was the voice of guilt. His
N19 0190 12    four weeks in Italy had turned into nearer three months.
N19 0200  9    He had returned to the pension a week ago. Now, he
N19 0210  7    was just in the late poems of Ho^lderlin and therefore
N19 0220  3    had most of the nineteenth century before him- plus
N19 0230  1    next semester's class preparation. He was determined
N19 0230  8    to spend an industrious summer. Well, maybe Manas wouldn't
N19 0240  7    call. Meredith's fingers slowed and stopped over a
N19 0250  7    line before him: Sie la^cheln, die Schwarzen Hexen.
N19 0260  4    The menace of Manas gradually faded as Meredith asked
N19 0280  4    himself should he translate it, 'How the dark fates
N19 0290  2    laughed'? or, more rhythmically, 'The swarthy witches
N19 0290  9    are laughing'? And he missed the point that the swarthy
N19 0300 10    witches might be laughing at him for hoping to escape
N19 0310  9    Nicolas Manas.
N19 0310 11       But Nicolas, too, was being interrupted, that morning.
N19 0320  8       Not by the 11:00 sun which had spread a warmth around
N19 0330  9    his spot of grass in the English Gardens and sent him
N19 0340  6    off to sleep; but by a blond girl in a sweater and
N19 0350  4    skirt who stood a few yards off and tenderly regarded
N19 0360  1    him. Should she wake him? She didn't have the heart.
N19 0360 11    Her heart, her maternal feeling, in fact her **h her
N19 0370  9    being was too busy expressing itself, as quietly thrilled
N19 0380  5    by this sight of her Nicolas curled asleep under a
N19 0390  3    blanket, in a park like a scene from Poussin. She was
N19 0390 14    just not able to break the spell. (Would she have been
N19 0400 11    able to had she known that the blanket belonged to
N19 0410  7    a young ballet dancer Nicolas had found his first night
N19 0420  5    in one of Walter's marked bars? Nicolas: "Look, Nicolas
N19 0430  3    doesn't go to bed with boys- no sex, see? So if all
N19 0440  3    these beers was to get me in bed, man, you just spent
N19 0440 15    a lot of money". Ballet dancer: Protests, tears, and
N19 0450  8    "take what you want, Nicolas, I am a dancer, you are
N19 0460  9    a poet, it is all beautiful". To this meek conjugation
N19 0470  5    Nicolas had replied, "O&K& I can use this blanket.
N19 0480  4    And when you get off this job tonight, well, you can
N19 0490  2    gimme something to eat". And, as a matter of fact,
N19 0490 12    Nicolas had slept in the park only part of one night,
N19 0500 10    when he discovered that Munich's early mornings even
N19 0510  4    in summer are laden with dew. He had always known how
N19 0520  3    to find a bed, and on his own terms. He used the blanket
N19 0530  1    for late morning naps when hosts of the night had gone
N19 0530 12    off to jobs and proved reluctant to leave him in their
N19 0540  9    small rooms with their few possessions. Mary Jane Lerner
N19 0550  5    knew none of this.) Her Nicolas lay curled in the sun
N19 0560  5    like a fawn, black hair falling over his eyes. She
N19 0570  1    was telling herself that this might just be her reward
N19 0570 11    at the end of a long meaningful search for truth. This
N19 0580  8    was surely a reunion in art, it was all that poetry
N19 0590  6    promised.
N19 0590  7       That long night with Nicolas and marijuana in Venice
N19 0600  5    had opened her eyes. His advice, his voice saying his
N19 0610  3    poems, the fact that he had not so much as touched
N19 0610 14    her- on the contrary, he had put his head back and
N19 0620 11    she had stroked his hair- this was all new. Her eyes
N19 0630  7    had opened, she had caught a glimpse of a new faith.
N19 0640  5       The next day he was gone.
N19 0640 11       Mary Jane might not be the most intelligent woman,
N19 0650  8    but she was one of the most determined. Even so, it
N19 0660  5    took her several days to force Walter to tell her Nicolas's
N19 0670  3    whereabouts. Packing a small suitcase, informing her
N19 0680  2    husband whom she found in Harry's Bar that she was
N19 0680 12    taking a train to Germany to get away for a while,
N19 0690  9    patting his arm, refusing a drink, getting on the train-
N19 0700  6    all this had only taken her two hours. She had arrived
N19 0710  4    this morning and come straight to the English Gardens.
N19 0720  1    "Dear girl", Walter had finally said, "he writes me
N19 0720 10    that he is sleeping in the English Gardens". "How like
N19 0730  9    him"! Mary Jane had smilingly said. "His address",
N19 0740  7    Walter added, "is that great foundling home, the American
N19 0750  6    Express. And I will greatly appreciate it if you will
N19 0760  6    not tell your husband **h". For the last half hour
N19 0770  3    Mary Jane had criss-crossed half the length of the
N19 0770 13    Gardens and, at last, come upon her knight. His presence
N19 0780 10    there, asleep in the grass, confirmed all that Mary
N19 0790  7    Jane believed it was in his power to teach her: freedom
N19 0800  5    from the tedium of needs such as hotels, the meaning
N19 0810  1    of nature, how to live, simply, with the angels.
N19 0810 10       She set down her suitcase. Should she wake him?
N19 0820  8    No. Smiling, she sat down on the suitcase and waited
N19 0830  6    and watched.
N19 0830  8       The sun grew hotter as it approached the midday.
N19 0840  6    Nicolas was dreaming he had his head pressed against
N19 0850  2    the dashboard of a speeding car. He began sweating.
N19 0850 11    In his dream he cried, "Slow down, for Chrissake"!
N19 0860  9    He half woke and rolled over with his face in the cooler
N19 0870 10    grass. His nose was tickled. He sneezed. He blew his
N19 0880  6    nose expertly between his fingers. He spit. He half
N19 0890  4    sat up and scratched at the hair on his forehead and
N19 0890 15    then, more vigorously, between his legs. He belched,
N19 0900  8    he stretched.
N19 0910  1       Mary Jane got up, quietly, and walked away.
N19 0910  9       Twenty minutes later she was at the desk of the
N19 0920  9    Gra^fin's pension, her tears dried, signing a hotel
N19 0930  5    form and asking for a bath.
N19 0930 11       Mary Jane belonged to a world acquainted with small
N19 0940  8    attractive hotels and pensions in all the major and
N19 0950  6    minor cities. She had retreated to this world. The
N19 0960  2    Gra^fin, who was charmed by her, told her, "Your sister
N19 0960 12    who was here two years ago has quite dark hair. Families
N19 0970 11    are very interesting. Nevertheless, there is no bath.
N19 0980  7    But a young American has a bath next to his room and
N19 0990  9    I shall ask him if you might use it this once. And
N19 1000  4    then we shall see **h". (The Gra^fin was partial to
N19 1010  2    the word 'shall'.)
N19 1010  5       Meredith was irritated when the Gra^fin knocked
N19 1020  2    at his door and told him, "She is a great beauty! Shall
N19 1030  2    we allow her not to have a bath? Actually, she is a
N19 1030 14    sad beauty, I believe. You shall see her at dinner".
N19 1040  9    Rather erotically he listened to the bath water running;
N19 1050  8    when it stopped he began busily typing, sitting up
N19 1060  4    in a virtuous way. Before dinner, he shaved for the
N19 1070  2    second time that day. A thing he did not like doing,
N19 1070 13    generally. Singing into the mirror and his interested
N19 1080  8    eyes, he was pleased to note, when he stripped for
N19 1090  5    his own bath, that he still had the best part of his
N19 1100  3    Italian sun tan. He flexed his muscles for several
N19 1100 12    minutes, got into the tub, and then grew self-conscious
N19 1110 10    of splashing as he washed.
N19 1120  1       In the small gallery used as the guests' dining
N19 1120 10    room, Meredith sat down at his place and, as always,
N19 1130  9    began teasing the young waitress. He was asking had
N19 1140  6    it been she who left the love note in his sheets (she
N19 1150  3    also served as maid) when he saw the Gra^fin followed
N19 1160  1    by a stately blond girl approaching his table. It would
N19 1160 11    be literary license calculated to glamorize life to
N19 1170  7    say that he, oh, dropped his napkin, so startled was
N19 1180  4    he by Mary Jane's beauty. Yet he did drop his badinage
N19 1190  3    with the ordinary country girl as much in deference
N19 1190 12    to the Gra^fin as acknowledgement that here, indeed,
N19 1200  7    was something special. Mary Jane had made very little
N19 1210  7    effort. Above a dark green skirt she wore a pale green
N19 1220  6    cashmere sweater with, as he soon perceived, no brassiere
N19 1240  1    beneath. Her white blond hair was clean and brushed
N19 1240 10    long straight down to her shoulders. Perhaps her eyes
N19 1250  8    were larger and more of a summer blue for all they
N19 1260  7    had seen and wept that day. She had touched her face,
N19 1270  3    truly a noble and pure face, only with a lip salve
N19 1270 14    which made her lips glisten but no redder than usual.
N19 1280 10    The result was grace and modesty. As she was rather
N19 1290  7    tired this evening, her simple "Thank you for the use
N19 1300  5    of your bath"- when she sat down opposite him- spoken
N19 1310  4    in a low voice, came across with coolnesses of intelligence
N19 1320  1    and control. Meredith began falling in love.
N19 1320  8       Soup: "Only this morning"; veal cutlets: "Oh, I
N19 1330  6    couldn't possibly eat all this"!; wine: "Then you were
N19 1340  6    typing poems this afternoon"?; fruit compote: "If you
N19 1350  5    think I would understand it"; a smile.
N19 1360  3       "What a beautiful room. Like **h as if it were built
N19 1370  2    of books".
N19 1370  4       Having opened the windows onto the terrace, lit
N19 1380  2    the fire, translated the motto, Meredith grinned and
N19 1380 10    took down a little triplet of books bound together
N19 1390  8    in old calfskin. Opening these he brought out a schnapps
N19 1400  6    bottle and small gold thimble-sized glasses hidden
N19 1410  2    inside it. "I think the maids tipple in the afternoon".
N19 1420  1       "Those sweet girls? Oh **h you're joking. It tastes
N19 1430  1    a little like poppyseed. What's its name? Steinha^ger
N19 1430  9    **h" She whispered Steinha^ger to herself, several
N19 1440  7    times, memorizing it. "Would you first read the poem
N19 1450  8    aloud to me and then let me read it to myself"? Meredith's
N19 1460  6    voice was always deep, with rough bass notes in it;
N19 1470  5    in reading, on platforms, even in the large auditorium
N19 1480  1    of the Y&M&H&A&, Poetry Center nights, his voice was
N19 1490  2    intimate, thoughtful, and a trifle shy. His new poem,
N19 1490 11    a love poem, told of a young husband leading his wife
N19 1500  9    upstairs to the bedroom when the lights in the house
N19 1510  6    have failed. The husband points the steps out with
N19 1520  3    his flashlight: "Its white stare filling her pale eyes
N19 1530  1    To the blind brim with appetite, Bleaching her hands
N19 1530 10    that grazed my thighs And sent us from the table in
N19 1540  9    surprise To let the dishes soak all night," (Mary Jane
N19 1550  5    asked herself if Meredith was blushing at this line,
N19 1560  4    or was it the fire?) But he read on. In the bedroom
N19 1570  1    before the husband and wife find their way to the bed,
N19 1570 12    the lights go on: "In dull domestic radiance I watch
N19 1580  8    her staring face, still blind, Start wincing in obedience
N19 1590  6    To dirty waters, counters, pots and pans, Waiting below
N19 1600  5    stairs, in her mind". Mary Jane took the page from
N19 1610  3    him and began reading it, moving her lips with the
N19 1610 13    words. "Oh, it's that myth, about Orpheus and **h What
N19 1620 10    is her name? I can never pronounce it". She repeated
N19 1630  8    "Eurydice". The third time rather urgently. But with
N19 1640  7    her hand poem again. She raised her face and nodded,
N19 1650  5    "It's sweet, and very sad". They discussed the way
N19 1660  3    people never tell each other the things on their minds.
N19 1660 13    They finished the small bottle of Steinha^ger. She
N19 1670  8    confessed she was unhappy, he asked was it her husband?
N19 1680  9    She began to explain, "There was this poet, in Italy
N19 1690  6    **h" He interrupted, "Please don't judge all poets".
N19 1700  4    They smiled.
N19 1700  6       At her door, two or three hours later, Mary Jane
N19 1710  5    whispered, "Everyone is asleep". Kissing her he whispered,
N19 1720  4    several times, "Eurydice". The third time rather urgently.
N19 1730  3    But with her hand softly on his cheek for a last moment,
N19 1740  1    she closed the door and he went back down the hall
N19 1740 12    and into his bed excited, expectant, and finally faintly
N19 1750  7    grinning with the feel of her hand against his mouth.
N20 0010  1       They were west of the Sabine, but only God knew
N20 0010 11    where.
N20 0020  1       For three days, their stolid oxen had plodded up
N20 0020 10    a blazing valley as flat and featureless as a dead
N20 0030  8    sea. Molten glare singed their eyelids an angry crimson;
N20 0040  5    suffocating air sapped their strength and strained
N20 0050  2    their nerves to snapping; dust choked their throats
N20 0050 10    and lay like acid in their lungs. And the valley stretched
N20 0060 10    endlessly out ahead, scorched and baked and writhing
N20 0070  6    in its heat, until it vanished into the throbbing wall
N20 0080  4    of fiery orange brown haze.
N20 0080  9       Ben Prime extended his high-stepped stride until
N20 0090  6    he could lay his goad across the noses of the oxen.
N20 0100  5    "Hoa-whup"! he commanded from his raw throat, and felt
N20 0110  3    the pain of movement in his cracked, black burned lips.
N20 0120  1       He removed his hat to let the trapped sweat cut
N20 0120 11    rivulets through the dust film upon his gaunt face.
N20 0130  8    He spat. The dust-thick saliva came from his mouth
N20 0140  4    like balled cotton. He moved back to the wheel and
N20 0150  1    stood there blowing, grasping the top of a spoke to
N20 0150 11    still the trembling of his played-out limbs. The burning
N20 0160  8    air dried his sweat-soaked clothes in salt-edged patches.
N20 0170  5       He cleared his throat and wet his lips. As cheerfully
N20 0180  4    as possible, he said, "Well, I guess we could all do
N20 0190  3    with a little drink".
N20 0190  7       He unlashed the dipper and drew water from a barrel.
N20 0200  5    They could no longer afford the luxury of the canvas
N20 0210  2    sweat bag that cooled it by evaporation. The water
N20 0210 11    was warm and stale and had a brackish taste. But it
N20 0220  9    was water. Thank the Lord, they still had water!
N20 0230  5       He cleansed his mouth with a small quantity. He
N20 0240  2    took a long but carefully controlled draught. He replenished
N20 0250  1    the dipper and handed it to his young wife riding the
N20 0250 12    hurricane deck. She took it grudgingly, her dark eyes
N20 0260  8    baleful as they met his.
N20 0270  1       She drank and pushed back her gingham bonnet to
N20 0270 10    wet a kerchief and wipe her face. She set the dipper
N20 0280  8    on the edge of the deck, leaving it for him to stretch
N20 0290  6    after it while she looked on scornfully.
N20 0300  1       "What happens when there's no more water"? she asked
N20 0300  9    smolderingly.
N20 0310  1       She was like charcoal, he thought- dark, opaque,
N20 0310  9    explosive. Her thick hair was the color and texture
N20 0330  9    of charcoal. Her temper sparked like charcoal when
N20 0340  5    it first lights up. And all the time, she had the heat
N20 0350  4    of hatred in her, like charcoal that is burning on
N20 0350 14    its under side, but not visibly.
N20 0360  6       A ripple ran through the muscles of his jaws, but
N20 0370  5    he kept control upon his voice.
N20 0370 11       "There must be some water under there". He tilted
N20 0380  8    his homely face toward the dry bed of the river. "We
N20 0390  7    can get it if we dig", he said patiently.
N20 0400  1       "And add fever to our troubles"? she scoffed. "Or
N20 0410  1    do you want to see if I can stand fever, too"?
N20 0410 12       "We can boil it", he said.
N20 0420  5       Her chin sharpened. "We're lost and burning up already",
N20 0430  4    she bit out tensely. "The tires are rattling on the
N20 0440  3    wheels now. They'll roll off in another day. There
N20 0440 12    was no valley like this on your map. You don't even
N20 0450 10    know where we're headed".
N20 0460  1       "Hettie", he said as gently as he could, "we're
N20 0470  1    still headed west. Somewhere, we'll hit a trail".
N20 0470  9       "Somewhere!" she repeated. "Maybe in time to make
N20 0480  8    a cross and dig our graves".
N20 0490  4       His wide mouth compressed. In a way, he couldn't
N20 0500  1    blame her. He had picked out this pathless trail, instead
N20 0500 11    of the common one, in a moment of romantic fancy, to
N20 0510 11    give them privacy on their honeymoon.
N20 0520  3       It had been a mistake, but anything would have been
N20 0530  2    a mistake, as it turned out. It wasn't the roughness
N20 0530 12    and crudity and discomfort of the trip that had frightened
N20 0540  9    her. She had hated the whole idea before they started.
N20 0550  7    Actually, she had hated him before she ever saw him.
N20 0560  5    It had been five days too late before he learned that
N20 0570  2    she'd gone through the wedding ceremony in a semitrance
N20 0570 11    of laudanum, administered by her mother.
N20 0580  6       The bitterness of their wedding night still ripped
N20 0590  5    within him like an open wound. She had jumped away
N20 0600  2    from his shy touch like a cat confronted by a sidewinder.
N20 0600 13    He had left her inviolate, thinking familiarity would
N20 0610  8    gentle her in time. But each mile westward, she had
N20 0620  7    hated him the deeper.
N20 0620 11       He stared at the dipper, turning it over and over
N20 0630  9    in his wide, calloused hands. "I suppose", he muttered,
N20 0640  5    "I can sell the outfit for enough to send you home
N20 0650  5    to your folks, once we find a settlement".
N20 0660  1       "Don't try to be noble"! Her laugh was hard. "They
N20 0670  1    wouldn't have sold me in the first place if there'd
N20 0680 10    been food enough to go around".
N20 0690  3       He winced. "Hettie, they didn't sell you", he said
N20 0700  3    miserably. "They knew I was a good sharecrop farmer
N20 0700 12    back in Carolina, but out West was a chance to build
N20 0710 11    a real farm of our own. They thought it would be a
N20 0720  8    chance for you to make a life out where nobody will
N20 0730  3    be thought any better than the next except for just
N20 0730 13    what's inside of them. Without money or property, what
N20 0740  9    would you have had at Baton Rouge"?
N20 0750  5       "I might have starved, but at least I wouldn't be
N20 0760  4    fried to a crisp and soaked with dirt"!
N20 0770  1       He darkened under his heavy burn. His blue eyes
N20 0770 10    sought the shimmering sea of haze ahead.
N20 0780  5       To his puzzlement, there suddenly was no haze. The
N20 0790  3    valley lay clear, and open to the eye, right up to
N20 0790 14    the sharp-limbed line of gaunt, scoured hills that
N20 0800  7    formed the horizon twenty miles ahead.
N20 0810  3    ##
N20 0810  4    Then he noticed the clouds racing upon them- heavy,
N20 0820  1    ominous, leaden clouds that formed even as they sliced
N20 0820 10    over the crests of the surrounding hills. He had never
N20 0830  8    seen clouds like them before, but he had the primitive
N20 0840  6    feel of danger that gripped a man before a hurricane
N20 0850  3    in Carolina.
N20 0850  5       He hollered hoarsely, "Hang on"! and goaded the
N20 0860  4    oxen as he yelled. He wanted to turn them, putting
N20 0870  1    the wagon against the storm. Too late, he realized
N20 0870 10    that in turning, he had wheeled them onto a patch of
N20 0880  9    sandy ground, instead of atop a grade or ridge.
N20 0890  4       He swung up over the wheel. "You had better get
N20 0900  2    inside", he warned her.
N20 0900  6       But she sat on in stubborn silence.
N20 0910  1       The clouds bulged downward and burst suddenly into
N20 0910  9    a great black funnel. Frozen, they stared at it whirling
N20 0920  9    down the valley, gouging and spitting out boulders
N20 0930  6    and chunks of earth like a starving hound dog cracking
N20 0940  4    marrowbones. The six-ton Conestoga began to whip and
N20 0950  2    shake.
N20 0950  3       Their world turned black. It was filled with dust
N20 0960  1    and wind and sound and violence. The heavens opened,
N20 0960 10    pelting them with hail the size of walnuts. And then
N20 0970  8    came the water- not rain, but solid sheets that sluiced
N20 0980  5    down like water slopping from a bucket. Walls of water
N20 0990  3    rushed down the slopes and filled the hollows like
N20 0990 12    the crests of flash floods. Through the splash of the
N20 1000  9    rising waters, they could hear the roar of the river
N20 1010  7    as it raged through its canyon, gnashing big chunks
N20 1020  3    out of the banks.
N20 1020  7       The jetting, frothing surface of the river reached
N20 1030  4    the level of the runoff. The dangerous current upon
N20 1040  1    the prairie ceased, but the water stood and kept on
N20 1040 11    rising. They cringed under sodden covers, listening
N20 1050  5    to the waves slop against the bottom.
N20 1060  1       The cloudburst cut off abruptly. They were engulfed
N20 1060  9    by the weird silence, broken only by the low, angry
N20 1070 10    murmur of the river. Then the darkness thinned, and
N20 1080  6    there was light again, and then bright sunlight.
N20 1090  2       Beaten with fear and sound and wet and chill, they
N20 1100  1    crawled to the hurricane deck and looked out haggardly
N20 1100 10    at a world of water that reached clear to the surrounding
N20 1110  7    hills. The water level was higher than their hubs.
N20 1120  5    Only the heavy bones of the oxen kept them anchored.
N20 1130  1       There was no real sign of the river now, just a
N20 1130 12    roiling, oily ribbon of liquid movement through muddy
N20 1140  8    waters that reached everywhere. Clumps of brush rode
N20 1150  5    down the ribbon. Now and then, the glistening side
N20 1160  2    of a half-swamped object showed as it swept past.
N20 1170  1       The girl crawled out into the renewing warmth of
N20 1170 10    the sunshine, hugging her shoulders and still trembling.
N20 1180  6    Her face was pale but set and her dark eyes smoldered
N20 1190  5    with blame for Ben.
N20 1190  9       Out of compulsion to say something cheery, Ben Prime
N20 1200  7    blurted, "Well, we were lucky to be on soft ground
N20 1210  6    when the first floodheads hit. At least, the wheels
N20 1220  1    dug in. The soaking will put life back in the wagon,
N20 1220 12    too".
N20 1230  1       His wife didn't give a sign she'd heard. She was
N20 1230 11    watching a tree ride wildly down that roiling current.
N20 1240  8    Somebody was riding the tree. It raced closer and they
N20 1250  7    could see a woman with white hair, sitting astride
N20 1260  2    an upright branch.
N20 1260  5       She did not call out. But as the tree passed, she
N20 1270  5    lifted an arm in gesture of better luck and farewell.
N20 1280  1    They watched the tree until it twisted sharply on a
N20 1280 11    bend. It speared up into the air, then sinking back,
N20 1290  8    the up-jutting branch turned slowly. The pale blob
N20 1300  5    of the woman disappeared.
N20 1300  9       "There's the one who's lucky"! the girl murmured
N20 1310  8    harshly.
N20 1310  9       Ben's eyes strained with the bitter hurt, his homely
N20 1320  9    face slashed with gray and crimson. Then he took off
N20 1330  7    his wet boots and dropped down into the water to talk
N20 1340  5    with the beasts, needing their comfort more than they
N20 1350  1    needed his.
N20 1350  3       It was nearly sundown and he went to the back of
N20 1360  1    the wagon, half-swimming his way, for he was not a
N20 1360 12    tall man. He let down the tailgate and was knocked
N20 1370  7    over by the sluice of water.
N20 1380  1       He sputtered back to his feet and scrambled madly
N20 1380  9    to pull his bags of seed grain forward. They were already
N20 1390  7    swollen to bursting. Of all their worldly belongings,
N20 1400  2    next to the oxen and his gun, the seed grain had been
N20 1410  1    the most treasured. It was spoiled now for seed, and
N20 1410 11    it would sour and mold in three days if they failed
N20 1420  9    to find a place and fuel to dry it. The oxen might
N20 1430  5    as well enjoy it.
N20 1430  9       He examined the water marks on the iron tires when
N20 1440  6    the animals were finished. The waters lay muddy but
N20 1450  3    placid, without a ripple of movement against the wheels;
N20 1450 12    there was not a match-width of damp mark to show they
N20 1460 12    were receding.
N20 1470  1       He doubted if a man could wade as far as the desolate,
N20 1470 13    dry hills that rimmed the valley. A terrible, numbing
N20 1480  8    sense of futility swept over him.
N20 1490  3       He gripped the wheel hard to fight the despondency
N20 1490 12    of defeat. Then he noticed that the dry wood of the
N20 1500 11    wheels had swollen. The spokes were tight again, the
N20 1510  7    iron tires gripped onto the wheels as if of one piece.
N20 1520  6       Hope surged within him. He swung toward the front
N20 1540  1    to give the news to Hettie, then stopped, barred from
N20 1540 11    her by the vehemence of her blame and hate. Still,
N20 1550  9    he felt better. A tight wagon meant so much.
N20 1560  5    ##
N20 1560  6    He got a small fire started and put on bacon and coffee.
N20 1570  3    He poured the water off the sourdough and off the flour,
N20 1580  1    salvaging the chunky, watery messes for biscuits of
N20 1580  9    a sort. Their jams and jellies had not suffered. He
N20 1590  8    found a jar of preserved tomatoes and one of eggs that
N20 1600  6    they had meant to save. Now he broke them open, hoping
N20 1610  2    a good meal might lessen this depression crushing Hettie.
N20 1620  1       His long nose wiggled at the smells of frizzling
N20 1620 10    bacon and heating java, but the fire was low, and he
N20 1630  9    wanted to waste no time. He furled the slashed sides
N20 1640  5    of the canvas tarpaulins, leaving the ribs and wagon
N20 1650  2    open.
N20 1650  3       He looked thoughtfully at his wife's trunk, holding
N20 1660  1    her meager treasures. He said hesitantly, "Hettie,
N20 1660  8    I don't figure your things got wet too much. That's
N20 1670  9    a good trunk. If you want to get them aired **h"
N20 1680  7       She said without turning her head, "After that rain
N20 1690  4    beating in atop the dust, there isn't a thing that
N20 1700  2    won't be streaked".
N20 1700  5       He drew a long breath and opened the trunk and hung
N20 1710  5    out her clothes and spoilables upon the wagon ribs.
N21 0010  1       Sulphur, oil, and copra make the kind of tinder
N21 0010 10    any firebug dreams of. I suppose a Lascar sailor had
N21 0020  8    sneaked a cigarette in the hold and touched off the
N21 0030  5    blaze. Now, roaring up in great oily clouds of smoke
N21 0040  2    and flames, the fierce heat quickly drove us to the
N21 0040 12    stern where we huddled like suffocating sheep, not
N21 0050  7    knowing what to do **h.
N21 0060  1       The lifeboats were stuck fast. We couldn't budge
N21 0060  8    them. I heard a cry from a stoker as a pillar of flame
N21 0070 10    leaped from a hatch and tongued the man's bare back.
N21 0080  5    He sprinted to the rail and leaped overboard into the
N21 0090  3    shark-infested waters.
N21 0090  6       One especially bad detonation shook Lifeboat No&
N21 0100  4    3 which trembled violently in the davits. Brassnose
N21 0110  1    yelled: "Come on, Sommers, Max **h step on it, we got
N21 0120  1    a chance now. Heave on those ropes; the boat's come
N21 0120 11    unstuck".
N21 0130  1       We pulled and swore and yanked and wept, scraping
N21 0130 10    our hands until they bled profusely. The Bonaventure
N21 0140  6    was quivering and lurching like an old spavined mare.
N21 0150  6    Her stern was down and a sharp list helped us to cut
N21 0160  4    loose the lifeboat which dropped heavily into the water.
N21 0170  1       Brassnose, Max and I leaped into the sea and swam
N21 0170 11    to the boat. "Let's get away fast", said Brassnose,
N21 0180  8    shaking water from his mop of bleached hair. "That
N21 0190  7    tub is going to explode all at once".
N21 0200  1       Then the Bonaventure seemed to disintegrate with
N21 0200  8    a roar of live steam, geysers of sparks and flames,
N21 0210 10    and a dense cloud of black-and-orange smoke. Dimly,
N21 0220  6    we heard the voices of men in mortal agony but we couldn't
N21 0230  5    go back into that inferno.
N21 0230 10       Already our leaky lifeboat was filled with five
N21 0240  7    inches of water. "Sommers, you bale while we row",
N21 0250  5    Brassnose commanded.
N21 0250  7       As best as I could determine, we were some 700 miles
N21 0260  7    west of New Guinea, in the Bismark Archipelago. Three
N21 0270  3    days previously, we had steamed past barren Rennell
N21 0280  2    Island in the distance. Now we peered anxiously for
N21 0280 11    any speck of land in the Pacific, for this interminable
N21 0290  9    bailing would have to stop soon. There were gigantic
N21 0300  7    blisters and rope burns on our hands; our muscles were
N21 0310  4    hot wires of pain.
N21 0310  8       Brassnose was strangely silent. The big man with
N21 0320  6    the whitened hair murmured something: his words sounded
N21 0330  3    as if they were in the Manu tongue, which I recognized,
N21 0340  1    having studied the dialect in my Anthropology /6, class
N21 0340 10    at the University of Chicago.
N21 0350  4       He then said something which struck a chord in my
N21 0360  5    memory.
N21 0360  6       "God help us if we're near the island of Eromonga.
N21 0370  3    We'd be in real trouble then. I'd rather keep bailing-
N21 0380  3    or sink".
N21 0380  5       I was puzzled by the remark, then I recalled the
N21 0390  2    voice of mild Professor Howard Griggs three years ago
N21 0390 11    in a university lecture on primitive societies. He
N21 0400  7    had been speaking of this archipelago:
N21 0410  2       "Even when the islands were under German mandate
N21 0420  2    before World War /1,, Europeans gave Eromonga a wide
N21 0420 11    berth. The place is inhabited by several hundred warlike
N21 0430  9    women who are anachronisms of the Twentieth Century-
N21 0440  6    stone age amazons who live in an all-female, matriarchal
N21 0450  6    society which is self-sufficient".
N21 0460  1       I remembered, too, the jesting voice of a classmate,
N21 0460 10    Bobby Pauson: "But how do they reproduce, Dr& Griggs?
N21 0470  8    I'm sure that males have something to do with that
N21 0480  8    process"!
N21 0480  9       There had been classroom guffaws which quickly subsided
N21 0490  7    as Professor Griggs said dryly: "I see your point,
N21 0500  6    Pauson. Of course, males play a role there, but believe
N21 0510  4    me when I say you wouldn't enjoy yourself one bit on
N21 0520  3    Eromonga. Indeed, you wouldn't live long, for the females
N21 0530  1    either drive the men they've seized from neighboring
N21 0530  9    islands back to their boats after exploiting them for
N21 0540  8    amatory purposes, or they destroy them by revolting
N21 0550  4    but ingenious methods. In fact, one important aspect
N21 0560  2    of their very religion is the annihilation of men".
N21 0570  1       "I think I know what you mean, Brassnose", I said.
N21 0570 10    "I know something about Eromonga. Let's hope we come
N21 0580  7    to a safer place".
N21 0590  1       But we didn't. Three hours later, while we were
N21 0590 10    bailing desperately, a dot of land came into view.
N21 0600  8    Foster Lukuklu Frayne made a sign over his heart with
N21 0610  6    his two linked thumbs: I recognized it as an ancient
N21 0620  3    Manu gesture intended to propitiate the Devil.
N21 0620 10       A half-hour passed; we had drifted closer. In a
N21 0630 10    voice so frightened as to seem not his own, the big
N21 0640  8    bo'sun's mate quavered:
N21 0650  1       "Tchalo! It is Eromonga- look hard, you can see
N21 0650  9    with your naked eye the wooden scaffolding on the cliff".
N21 0660  9       I squinted at the looming shoreline. There was a
N21 0670  8    wooden tower or derrick there, something like a ski
N21 0680  5    jump; it was perhaps 80 feet high and had been artfully
N21 0690  3    constructed of logs. A fine example of engineering
N21 0690 11    in a primitive society.
N21 0700  4       "What is the scaffolding for, Brassnose"?
N21 0710  1       He made a sound of despair deep in his throat. It
N21 0710 12    was embarrassing to see strapping, blonde Brassnose
N21 0720  7    comport himself like a child who talks about bogeymen.
N21 0730  7       "Aaa-ee! It is their tultul, the 'jumping platform'
N21 0740  5    of death. It is the last of the three tests of manhood
N21 0750  5    which the women impose, to discover if a male in worthy
N21 0760  3    of survival there. Often, I heard my uncles and cousins
N21 0760 13    speak of it when I was a small boy growing up in Rabaul.
N21 0770 13    They had never seen a tultul but they had heard about
N21 0780  9    it from their fathers".
N21 0790  1       Our lifeboat was filling rapidly and despite what
N21 0790  9    I had heard of the inhabitants of Eromonga, I was glad
N21 0800 10    to see a long and graceful outrigger manned by three
N21 0810  6    bronzed girls glide out of a lagoon into the open sea
N21 0820  5    and toward our craft.
N21 0820  9       I expected Brassnose- as a man with a strain of
N21 0830 10    Melanesian in his blood- to speak to them. But he had
N21 0840  5    turned a sickly green and appeared tongue-tied or panicked.
N21 0850  1       So, I mustered my few words of the Manu dialect
N21 0850 11    and said, "We greet you in peace. In ngandlu. My friends
N21 0860 11    and I come from a ship which was destroyed by fire.
N21 0870 10    We are thirsty and hungry; our sore and burned hands
N21 0880  6    and arms need attention".
N21 0880 10       The girl in the prow of the outrigger turned a smile
N21 0890 11    like a beacon on me. I noted that her full breasts
N21 0900  7    were bare and that she wore a garland of red pandanus
N21 0910  4    fruit in her blue-black hair.
N21 0910 10       She said, "My name is Songau and these girls are
N21 0920  8    Ponkob and Piwen. You are welcome to Eromonga. My people
N21 0930  5    await you on the shore. You shall have food, water
N21 0940  3    and rest".
N21 0940  5       Thirty minutes later, the outrigger grated on sand
N21 0950  3    and other girls, waiting on shore, rushed forward to
N21 0950 12    pull it up on the beach and make it fast with vine
N21 0960 12    ropes to a large boulder. I saw a dozen or so other
N21 0970  8    outriggers moored there.
N21 0970 11       I looked. All my rosy visions of rest and even pleasure
N21 0980 10    on this island vanished at the sight. There was a mound
N21 0990  8    of bleached human bones and skulls at the base of the
N21 1000  6    big wooden derrick. Some had been there for years;
N21 1010  1    others still had whitened shreds of decayed flesh sticking
N21 1010 10    to them.
N21 1020  1       There was one object which sickened yet fascinated
N21 1020  9    me. This was also a corpse- a male, judging from the
N21 1030 10    coral arm bands, the tribal scars still discernible
N21 1040  5    on the maggoty face, the painted bone of the warrior
N21 1050  3    caste which still pierced the septum of the rotting
N21 1050 12    nose.
N21 1060  1       The body may have been two or three weeks' dead.
N21 1060 11    I looked with revulsion at the legs. They were shattered.
N21 1070  9    Many small bones protruded crazily from the shreds
N21 1080  5    of flesh. The man must have leaped to his death from
N21 1090  4    the topmost rung of the tultul.
N21 1090 10       As if divining my thoughts, the girl Songau smiled
N21 1100  7    warmly and said in the casual tone an American woman
N21 1110  5    might use in describing her rose garden:
N21 1120  1       "This is our tultul, a jumping platform, maku. Later,
N21 1130  1    you shall know it better. Is it not well-made? Our
N21 1130 12    old one blew down in a storm at the time of the pokeneu
N21 1140 11    festival fifteen moons ago. It took thirty of our women
N21 1150  8    almost six moons to build this one, which is higher
N21 1160  4    and stronger than the old one. We are very proud of
N21 1170  1    it".
N21 1170  2       "You have every right to be", I replied gravely
N21 1170 11    in the Manu dialect, but my attention was fixed on
N21 1180 10    Brassnose, the biggest and strongest of us. He looked
N21 1190  7    as if he was going to keel over. I felt a queasiness
N21 1200  4    in my own stomach but it wouldn't do to show these
N21 1210  1    girls that we were afraid. Not so soon, anyway.
N21 1210 10       I clapped the big man with the bleached hair on
N21 1220  9    his shoulder and said heartily, hoping it would make
N21 1230  5    an impression on the women: "This one is the maku Frayne.
N21 1240  3    He speaks your language too, for he is the grandson
N21 1250  1    of a chieftain on Taui who made much magic and was
N21 1250 12    strong and cunning. The maku Frayne has inherited this
N21 1260  7    strength from his grandfather".
N21 1270  1       This was the worst thing I could have said. Brassnose
N21 1280  1    turned a stricken face toward me and said brokenly,
N21 1280 10    "Sommers, you meddling Yank, you're a fool! They despise
N21 1290  8    males who brag of their strength; they destroy such
N21 1300  6    men with their damned tests. You've ruined me, blast
N21 1310  4    you"!
N21 1310  5       At first, I thought he was out of his head, talking
N21 1320  5    wildly like this. But a glance at Songau and the other
N21 1330  3    women confirmed what Brassnose had blurted out.
N21 1330 10       The women's faces had hardened after my statement.
N21 1340  8    At a nod from Songau, four lithe and muscular girls
N21 1350  6    darted to Frayne's side and seized him by the arms.
N21 1360  5    The man was an ox and he put up a creditable struggle;
N21 1370  1    but four Eromonga women are more than a match for the
N21 1370 12    strongest male that ever lived.
N21 1380  5       Besides, terror had sapped some of Frayne's vitality
N21 1390  2    and will. My last impression as they led him off to
N21 1400  1    a stockade was of his pale face
N21 1400  8       In the Manu tongue, "eromonga" means manhood- a
N21 1410  4    quality which the women derisively toasted in weekly
N21 1420  3    feasts at which great quantities of a brew like kava
N21 1420 13    were imbibed. In the hut to which I was assigned- Max
N21 1430 11    had his own quarters- my food was brought to me by
N21 1440 10    a wrinkled crone with bare drooping breasts who seemed
N21 1450  4    to enjoy conversing with me in rudimentary phrases.
N21 1460  1       Her name was L'Turu and she told me many things.
N21 1460 11    For an anthropologist, loquacious old L'Turu was a
N21 1470  8    mine of information. Though I had a great dread of
N21 1480  8    the island and felt I would never leave it alive, I
N21 1490  5    eagerly wrote down everything she told me about its
N21 1500  1    women. (Her account was later confirmed by the Scobee-Frazier
N21 1500 11    Expedition from the University of Manitoba in 1951.)
N21 1510  8       From L'Turu, I heard that until about 1850 the people
N21 1520  9    of this island- which was about the size of Guam or
N21 1530  8    smaller- had been of both sexes, and that the normal
N21 1540  5    family life of Melanesian tribes was observed here
N21 1550  1    with minor variations.
N21 1550  4       But in the middle of the last century an island
N21 1560  3    woman named "Karipo" seized a spear in the heat of
N21 1560 13    an inter-tribal battle and rallied the women after
N21 1580  7    their men had fled. Miraculously, Karipo and her women
N21 1590  5    had succeeded in driving a hundred invaders from the
N21 1600  3    isle of Pamasu back to their war canoes, after considerable
N21 1610  1    loss of life on both sides.
N21 1610  7       Karipo was something of a politician as well as
N21 1620  5    a militarist. She quickly exploited the exalted position
N21 1630  2    she now occupied, by harassing the disorganized males
N21 1630 10    and even putting many of them to death. Within a decade
N21 1640 10    or less, few men were left and a feminist society had
N21 1650  8    sprung up.
N21 1650 10       "Karipo was great goddess, told our mothers that
N21 1660  7    men were not necessary except to father children",
N21 1670  3    the crone told me. "All men went away from here. Those
N21 1680  2    who stayed had to pass tests. Few passed". She cackled
N21 1680 12    with mirth, showing the stumps of betel-stained teeth.
N21 1690  9    "Karipo's women then named this place 'Eromonga'- manhood-
N21 1700  7    for just the strongest men could stay here. Come, I
N21 1710  7    show you".
N21 1710  9       The old woman arose stiffly and led me to a clearing
N21 1720  9    where a small hut stood. In the shade of a palm tree
N21 1730  7    in front of the squalid dwelling I saw four figures
N21 1740  2    in a semi-circle on the ground.
N22 0010  1       "I guess he spent the morning getting himself all
N22 0010 10    organized, then headed for home. Maybe to beat up on
N22 0020 10    his squaw". Benson looked up and saw Ramey's long head
N22 0030  7    tilt forward to rub his chin on the stiff edge of the
N22 0040  5    overall bib. Ramey reached out with the tire iron and
N22 0050  2    dislodged a chunk of mud that was caked on the spare
N22 0050 13    tire rack.
N22 0060  1       "I'd like to know just which it is that those guys
N22 0060 12    don't understand, the liquor or automobiles". Somehow
N22 0070  7    the thought of a simple man bewildered by things no
N22 0080  6    one had ever really helped him understand moved the
N22 0090  3    driver. For a moment his hatred toward drunken or careless
N22 0100  1    drivers softened. Maybe the Indian wasn't too much
N22 0100  9    at fault, Ramey thought. Maybe he was only doing the
N22 0110  9    best he knew how, like any of us. Anyway, he doesn't
N22 0120  6    deserve to lie there in the sun and be stared at.
N22 0130  3       "Ever see yourself spread out on the pavement, Benny"?
N22 0140  1    he said to his partner.
N22 0140  6       "You mean dream"?
N22 0150  1       "Not exactly. Just see it". Benson grinned and flipped
N22 0150 10    a rock with his thumb like a marble.
N22 0160  7       "Nope, just you, all the time- sometimes I think
N22 0170  6    it's the only way I'll ever get a decent partner".
N22 0180  2       Ramey smiled but he thought to himself, I always
N22 0190  1    see me too. Never Benny. Whenever he saw someone lying
N22 0190 11    in the dirt, Ramey wondered what the person had been
N22 0200  8    thinking and he would try out thoughts in his own mind.
N22 0210  6    Then he would realize they were really things that
N22 0220  2    only he himself could think. With this realization,
N22 0220 10    sometimes, he saw himself as he looked down.
N22 0230  8       "You seen him yet"? Benson said, referring to the
N22 0240  6    Indian.
N22 0240  7       "He wasn't in the car", Ramey said.
N22 0250  4       "You didn't go clear around", Benson said. "If you
N22 0260  4    want to see something, he's back on the other side
N22 0270  2    by the trunk of the car".
N22 0270  8       "Too long a waiting line", Ramey answered, pretending
N22 0280  4    to joke.
N22 0280  6       A few minutes later the insurance man, a road checker,
N22 0290  6    drove up in the gray coupe with license plates on it
N22 0300  4    from a far-away state. It was a trick they used to
N22 0300 16    try and conceal their identity when they followed trucks
N22 0310  9    to check their speed. Sometimes they just parked at
N22 0330  6    the side of the road and used radar on the trucks as
N22 0340  5    they passed. All the drivers knew about the plates
N22 0350  1    and they also knew about the big floppy straw hat with
N22 0350 12    shredded edges, the kind natives in travel ads wear
N22 0360  8    when they are out joyfully chopping cane. Horsely,
N22 0370  3    an agent on the east end, wore the hat, trying to look
N22 0380  2    like a tourist. It had always seemed strange to Ramey
N22 0380 12    that to disguise himself as a tourist, an ex-truck
N22 0390  9    driver like Horsely would merely pick something outlandish
N22 0400  5    and put it on his head.
N22 0400 11       The insurance man informed them that he had talked
N22 0410  8    to Crumley who was all right and that he would watch
N22 0420  7    the men's personal effects until they towed the rig
N22 0430  4    back to town. He chatted with Ramey and Benson for
N22 0430 14    a minute or so in the meager shade of the trailer.
N22 0440 11    Every so often the diminishing sound of a car came
N22 0450  7    under the trailer as it slowed down for the wreck then
N22 0460  4    speeded up again as it got clear.
N22 0460 11       When they were ready to leave, Benson and Ramey
N22 0470  8    walked back around the rear of the trailer.
N22 0480  3       "There's a body you won't mind looking at", Benson
N22 0490  2    said and they stopped. She had driven up with her husband
N22 0500  1    in a convertible with Eastern license plates, although
N22 0500  9    the two drivers knew nothing at the moment about that.
N22 0510  8    She wore shorts and a loose terry-cloth shirt. Slender
N22 0520  5    and tanned, her dark brown hair was drawn straight
N22 0530  2    back, simply.
N22 0530  4       "What outfit does she drive for"? Benson said.
N22 0540  3       Seeing her caused a lurch in Ramey, a recognition.
N22 0550  1    She might have been someone he had once loved. He had
N22 0550 12    never seen her before, but now he thought of the manner
N22 0560 10    in which he and Benson went in and out of the cities,
N22 0570  8    at each end of their run. The truck routes, the industrial
N22 0580  4    areas with walls grimed with diesel smoke passed briefly
N22 0590  2    through his mind- back alleys were their access to
N22 0590 11    a city and they could never stay. How would you ever
N22 0600 10    see her again? The feeling subsided, it was only a
N22 0610  6    small yearning. Their work was lonely.
N22 0620  1       "What's she doing in this bunch"? Benson said, and
N22 0620 10    Ramey wondered how close their thoughts might have
N22 0630  8    been.
N22 0630  9       The girl looked around at the countryside. Her glance
N22 0640  8    swung past the trailer where the two drivers were standing.
N22 0650  7    It made only a tiny bump over the two men like a tire
N22 0660  5    over a piece of gravel then moved on. She began to
N22 0670  2    watch a blonde-haired man, also in shorts, standing
N22 0670 11    right at the rear of the wrecked car in the one spot
N22 0680  9    that most of the crowd had detoured slightly. What
N22 0690  3    had caught his attention was obscured by the car itself,
N22 0700  2    so that neither the girl nor the truck drivers could
N22 0700 12    see, but Benson knew what it was. The girl took a couple
N22 0710 11    of steps toward the man in shorts when Benson, in that
N22 0720  8    barefoot courtliness Ramey could never decide was real,
N22 0730  5    said, "You don't want to go around there, Ma'am". The
N22 0740  3    girl stopped but did not turn her head or acknowledge
N22 0750  1    that someone had spoken to her.
N22 0750  7       The man stood near the bent levi-clad body of the
N22 0760  6    Indian who lay face down almost under the car. The
N22 0770  2    two drivers moved closer.
N22 0770  6       "What does he want, a spoon"? Benson said to Ramey.
N22 0780  5       One tiny detail in a happening can clog the memory
N22 0790  4    and stick like meat in a crooked tooth, while the rest
N22 0800  1    of the occurrence will go hazy and uncertain. With
N22 0800 10    Ramey it was a dusty work shoe that was half-off the
N22 0810 10    Indian's foot that he would always remember. The laces
N22 0820  5    were broken at the bottom of the eyelets but there
N22 0830  3    was still a bow knot at the top. The slightest twitch
N22 0830 14    would have parted the shoe entirely from the foot,
N22 0840  9    yet the toes were still inside.
N22 0850  2       The two men in overalls stood just behind the blonde-headed
N22 0860  1    man. He wore tennis shorts and a white sweater with
N22 0860 11    a red ~V at the neck, the sleeves pushed above the
N22 0870  9    elbows. He turned and looked at them with clear blue
N22 0880  6    eyes, immaculate eyes. He was very tanned- big hands
N22 0890  5    might have torn him from a Coca-Cola poster.
N22 0900  1       "He's dead, isn't he"? the man said. He turned and
N22 0900 10    bent over the body of the Indian. There was nothing
N22 0910  9    in particular on the man's face. It was simply a matter
N22 0920  7    of curiosity, a natural right to examine.
N22 0930  1       "What's this"? the man said, backing up a step,
N22 0940  1    still looking down. His words were mostly to himself.
N22 0940 10       "Don't". There was a gentle concern in Benson's
N22 0950  8    voice. Ramey looked down and saw the white sneaker
N22 0960  7    at the bottom of the man's tanned leg cautiously nudge
N22 0970  4    a bit of folded, blood-flecked substance lying by itself
N22 0980  2    on the pavement.
N22 0980  5       "But what is it"? the man said with a tone of impatience.
N22 0990  6       But what is it? The man had spoken only once. Ramey
N22 1000  5    heard the words again inside, weakened, the way moving
N22 1010  3    water sounds through a grove of trees, until he was
N22 1010 13    not sure whether it was sound or light-headedness pressing
N22 1020  9    in his ears.
N22 1030  1       The sneaker reached out once more to tap against
N22 1030 10    the mass and Ramey's vision darkened except for an
N22 1040  6    unreasonable clarity of the man's leg. Ramey saw sunlight
N22 1050  5    touch the curly blonde hairs on the brown skin. He
N22 1060  3    stared at the shining, shining circles of hairs and
N22 1060 12    heard the voice of his partner through trees, "Don't
N22 1070  8    do that, fella. Them's brains".
N22 1080  2       The man seemed to sink a little as Ramey brought
N22 1090  1    the tire iron down on his shoulder and it seemed that
N22 1090 12    the blonde head was turning as he hit the man again,
N22 1100 10    with his fist. Ramey swung and caught the man just
N22 1110  6    to the left of his mouth. It was a straight, solid,
N22 1120  2    once-in-a-lifetime shot; he laid all four knuckles
N22 1120 12    in between the man's cheekbone and his chin. Ramey's
N22 1130  8    fist and the air expelled from the man's collapsing
N22 1140  5    cheek made a hollow pop in the air like cupped hands
N22 1150  3    clapping together.
N22 1150  5       The man took two short steps backward then sat down
N22 1160  5    heavily on the pavement. Ramey heard a cry from the
N22 1170  2    girl and felt a slight pain somewhere in his hand.
N22 1170 12    As he watched the man sit suddenly, a detached part
N22 1180  8    of his mind observed how very difficult it was, really,
N22 1190  5    to knock a man off his feet. He hadn't done it this
N22 1200  4    time and he would never again hit anyone so hard.
N22 1210  1       With a thoughtful look, the man sat on the pavement,
N22 1210 11    legs straight out in front of him. His arms hung like
N22 1220  9    empty shirt sleeves, and his mouth was slightly open.
N22 1230  4    After what seemed several seconds, the open mouth grew
N22 1240  2    dark inside then blood began to ooze from it. The man
N22 1240 13    brought one hand up slowly and the fingers fumbled
N22 1250  9    across his face until he touched his mouth. He moaned
N22 1260  6    and pulled the hand away. Even yet there was no realization
N22 1270  4    in his eyes.
N22 1270  7       Ramey could hear the crowd coming up rapidly behind
N22 1280  5    him and the questioning voices coming over his shoulder
N22 1290  2    had no identity or importance to him. He did not look
N22 1290 13    around.
N22 1300  1       "What happened"? someone said.
N22 1300  5       "He's hurt"! A woman's voice said, and then he heard
N22 1310  9    a sort of wail from the man's wife. The man on the
N22 1320  8    ground began to move; one of his hands flattened out
N22 1330  4    on the pavement and supported him. Blood dripped down
N22 1340  2    the front of his sweater, soaking into a dark streak
N22 1340 12    of dirt that ran diagonally across the white wool on
N22 1350  8    his shoulder, as though the bright ~V woven into the
N22 1360  6    neckline had melted, running a darker color.
N22 1370  1       The girl kneeled by her husband with one arm at
N22 1370 11    his back. "Can you hear, can you talk to me"? she begged.
N22 1380 11    An incoherent, puzzled sound came from the red mouth.
N22 1390  8    The girl looked around quickly at several of the people.
N22 1400  6    None of the crowd had stepped forward to help. Then
N22 1410  3    she saw Ramey and her face was misshapen with bewilderment.
N22 1420  1       "Why did you do it- why did you hit him"? she said,
N22 1430  1    her voice rising. Ramey said nothing. A shine in her
N22 1430 11    eyes suddenly became tears and she turned back to her
N22 1440  9    husband again.
N22 1440 11       Behind Ramey feet scraped beneath sharp questioning
N22 1450  7    whispers. No one seemed to know for sure what had happened,
N22 1460  8    nor was there any purpose or responsibility in the
N22 1470  3    muttering feet and urgent voices behind the driver,
N22 1480  1    beyond finding out.
N22 1480  4       Ramey looked around and caught sight of his partner
N22 1490  2    near the front end of the wrecked truck talking to
N22 1490 12    the patrolman. Benson moved his arms, gesturing with
N22 1500  7    an unfamiliar vigor and talking rapidly. Ramey caught
N22 1510  5    a glimpse of the insurance man. Some of the ruddiness
N22 1520  3    was gone from his face and he stared at Ramey. It's
N22 1530  1    all over now, the driver thought as he saw the patrolman
N22 1530 12    turn and walk rapidly down along the trailer toward
N22 1540  7    them. Ramey watched him coming with a vision as clean
N22 1550  6    as the glare on the metal sides of the trailer. He
N22 1560  2    saw the dark sweat spots flip in and out of sight under
N22 1560 14    the patrolman's swinging arms and in the leather holster
N22 1570  8    that swaggered and rolled at the side of his stocky
N22 1580  8    body, the sun left a smoky shine on the narrow strip
N22 1590  4    of blue metal that ran between the horned handles of
N22 1600  1    his pistol.
N22 1600  3       "All right, step back"! the patrolman said to no
N22 1610  3    one in particular as he pushed between the fat man
N22 1610 13    in the baseball cap and a young boy in levis. He walked
N22 1620 10    straight up to the man sitting on the ground and bent
N22 1630  6    over to look at him.
N22 1630 11       "You all right"?
N22 1640  1       "Mough- it's my mough", the man said, trying to
N22 1650  2    talk without moving his lips. His brown face looked
N22 1650 11    gray from dirt streaks where his hand had come off
N22 1660  8    the dusty pavement and rubbed across it.
N23 0010  1    Then he calmly and carefully slugged the remaining
N23 0010  9    five shots into the venomous head- caught in the wicker
N23 0020  7    back of the chair, the eyes dead on him as the life
N23 0030  6    finally went out of the brute. The body continued to
N23 0040  2    lash, but now Keith used the legs of the chair to fork
N23 0040 14    the loathsome, bloody mass out of the bungalow. He
N23 0050  8    slammed the door and listened as his servants ran up,
N23 0060  6    alarmed at the sound of the shots. He heard their chattering,
N23 0070  3    and then the sounds of hacking as they dismembered
N23 0080  1    the snake right on the porch with wood axes.
N23 0080 10       It was only then that he turned to look at Penny.
N23 0090  8       She was sitting on the edge of the bed again, back
N23 0100  6    in the same position where the snake had found her.
N23 0110  2    The fear had not entirely gone from her face, but there
N23 0110 13    were some other emotions now, crowding into her eyes
N23 0120  8    and the lines of her mouth.
N23 0130  1       But her hands were calm, now. She's got guts, thought
N23 0140  1    Keith. She's got more guts than any other woman in
N23 0140 11    the world.
N23 0150  1       "Keith", said Penny, "Keith, you were wonderful.
N23 0150  8    I don't suppose a wife should be grateful to her husband
N23 0160 11    for saving her life, but I am. Thank you, Keith".
N23 0170  9       He smiled at her sincerity. And for the hundredth
N23 0180  6    time that week, he was startled at her beauty. Strange.
N23 0190  3    Seven years they'd been married. He knew her mind pretty
N23 0200  3    well, by now, its quick perceptions and sympathies,
N23 0200 11    its painful insistence on truth and directness, its
N23 0210  7    capacity for love almost too deep for a man to reciprocate,
N23 0220  8    even in part. But her beauty always surprised him anew.
N23 0230  4       "I realize that this is hardly the time to say it,
N23 0240  4    Penny", said Keith. "But knowing you, I know that you're
N23 0250  2    glad to be alive, and grateful- and sorry because I
N23 0250 12    killed the snake, even though I had to. Isn't that
N23 0260 10    so"?
N23 0260 11       Penny lowered her eyes.
N23 0270  4       "Yes", she said, almost in a whisper, as if admitting
N23 0280  4    to a crime.
N23 0280  7       "The snake was beautiful, wasn't it"? asked Keith,
N23 0290  4    his voice getting harsher in spite of himself, as he
N23 0300  3    struggled to control his growing anger. "It was a king
N23 0310  1    cobra, the largest you ever saw, and it deserved to
N23 0310 11    live out its life in the jungle, didn't it? DIDN'T
N23 0320  7    IT?"
N23 0330  1       Penny did not answer. Now, she just sat there looking
N23 0340 10    at him, without an expression except concern for him.
N23 0350  5       "We're all God's creatures, aren't we"? Keith was
N23 0360  5    snarling now. "All of us- every goddam roach and worm
N23 0370  5    and killer in that jungle. You love this village and
N23 0380  2    these stinking brown people because they're God's creatures,
N23 0390  1    too. And you love Ahmiri, that black bastard of a servant
N23 0390 12    even a little more, because he's a beautiful man. And
N23 0400 10    he loves you because you're a beautiful woman. We're
N23 0410  6    all God's creatures, aren't we, Penny? All of us, that
N23 0420  7    is, except me. You hate me, you hate my guts, because
N23 0430  5    I like to hunt. You actually hate me- and we both know
N23 0440  3    it- because I killed that filthy snake. **h Well, why
N23 0440 13    don't you say something"?
N23 0450  3       Penny would not rise to his mood.
N23 0460  1       "There isn't anything left to say, is there, Keith"?
N23 0460 10       She softly let herself into the bed, and took her
N23 0470 11    regular side, away from the door, where she slept better
N23 0480  9    because Keith was between her and the invader. He knew
N23 0490  7    she was not sulking, not even angry at him. Just as
N23 0500  4    he knew that she had stopped loving him.
N23 0500 12       The Brahmaputra has its headwaters in the tableland
N23 0510  7    of the world, the towering white headwalls of the Himalayas
N23 0520  6    that are unknown to man as any other space on the planet.
N23 0530  6    For a brief period each year, the rays of the sun are
N23 0540  4    warm enough to melt some of the snows piled a mile
N23 0540 15    deep at the base of the headwalls, and then the pinnacles
N23 0550 11    glisten in the daytime at high noon, and billions of
N23 0560  8    gallons of water begin their slow seepage under the
N23 0570  4    glaciers and across the rockstrewn hanging valleys
N23 0580  1    on their long, meandering journey to the sea- running
N23 0580 10    east past the sky-carving massifs of Gurla Mandhata
N23 0590  7    and Kemchenjunga, then turning south and curling down
N23 0600  5    through the jungles of Assam, past the Khasi Hills,
N23 0610  2    and into Bengal, past Sirinjani and Madaripur, until
N23 0610 10    the hard water of the melting snows mingles with the
N23 0620 10    soft drainage of fields and at length fans out to meld
N23 0630  8    with the teeming salt depths of the Bay of Bengal.
N23 0640  4       Keith Sterling had looked down on the Brahmaputra
N23 0650  1    more times than he could remember, during the war days
N23 0650 11    when he flew over the Hump of the world, thinking it
N23 0660 11    high adventure in those times before man was guiding
N23 0670  6    himself through outer space. But Keith looked down
N23 0680  3    more than up. He thought of the jungles below him,
N23 0680 13    and of the wild, strange, untracked beauty there and
N23 0690  9    he promised himself that someday he would return, on
N23 0700  7    foot perhaps, to hunt in this last corner of the world
N23 0710  4    where man is sometimes himself the hunted, and animals
N23 0720  1    the lords.
N23 0720  3       At first it had been just a romantic dream of his,
N23 0730  1    the same as the idea of finishing Oxford after the
N23 0730 11    war. But "after the war" was a luxury of a phrase he
N23 0740 10    did not permit himself. Wing Commanders in the ~RAF
N23 0750  5    do not imply survival in the future either in their
N23 0760  3    orders or in their attitudes, to their men or to themselves.
N23 0770  1    And Keith's record of kills made him a man to listen
N23 0770 12    to- a man paradoxically, who might even survive. He
N23 0780  8    became a fighter pilot after the stint over the Hump
N23 0790  7    in the big crates. The ~RAF was Britain's weapon of
N23 0800  3    attrition, and flying a fighter plane was the way her
N23 0810  2    sons could serve her best at this point in the war.
N23 0810 13       He knew how to shoot down Nazis. And he knew that
N23 0820 10    the men talked about him behind his back, saying that
N23 0830  6    he was one up on everybody else- including the pilot
N23 0840  3    of the plane with the swastika on it- because he was
N23 0850  1    chemically incapable of fear. That was true, but only
N23 0850 10    half the truth. The other half he didn't like to recognize,
N23 0860  9    even to himself. He enjoyed the killing. Not defending
N23 0870  6    England, or being an ace, or fighting for humanity.
N23 0880  3    He enjoyed killing. And he would have enjoyed it just
N23 0890  2    as much if he had been a Nazi.
N23 0890 10       Nowadays, we talk as though the blitz were just
N23 0900  5    a short skirmish. The Nazis bombed Britain, so the
N23 0910  3    ~RAF retaliated and shot them all down. Not quite.
N23 0910 12    It was a war of nerves, of stamina, of dogged endurance
N23 0920 11    in which the stupid insistence of the British on their
N23 0930  7    right to their own country became ultimately an unsurmountable
N23 0940  4    obstacle to the Nazis, who were better organized and
N23 0950  3    technically superior. It took a long time before the
N23 0960  1    British tipped the balance.
N23 0960  5       Keith learned too much about air combat, and air
N23 0970  4    killing, to be risked. They grounded him (over his
N23 0970 13    protests- not including his true reason for wanting
N23 0980 10    to fly) and put him in the Command offices.
N23 1000  5       That was where he met Penny.
N23 1010  1       He was aware of her as a frightfully good-looking
N23 1010 10    American ~WAC, a second lieutenant assigned to do the
N23 1020  8    paper work, (regardless of how important she might
N23 1030  4    have thought she was) in the Command offices, but that
N23 1040  3    was all. Penny knew him better, on her part. He had
N23 1040 14    a war reputation, but this was the kind of man women
N23 1050 10    like even without medals. They don't go for bull-like
N23 1060  7    muscle, as a rule. He had strength in his six-foot
N23 1070  5    frame, but it was like the tensile steel in a rapier.
N23 1080  1    He was on the thin side, with big hands, and the kind
N23 1080 13    of wrists that give away the power in forearm and bicep.
N23 1090  9       His hair was black, already greying at the temples
N23 1100  6    in the classic beauty-idiom, the only one permitted
N23 1110  3    to a man. The pretty little twittering ~WACS said he
N23 1120  2    had the look of eagles- and Penny, hating the cliche,
N23 1120 12    had to admit that in this case it applied. Keith was
N23 1130 10    an eagle.
N23 1130 12       Penny and Keith had no romance. No dates or hand-holding.
N23 1140 11    But they met in one searing moment that gave them to
N23 1150  9    one another instantly.
N23 1160  1       The Command offices were in the border country,
N23 1160  9    up north, where the radar systems centralized their
N23 1170  5    intelligence reports, and the fighters were dispatched
N23 1180  3    to harry the enemy. The Nazis knew this, of course,
N23 1190  1    and while their chief quarry was the industrial centers,
N23 1190 10    they let a few drop every time they went over, hoping
N23 1200 10    for a lucky hit.
N23 1210  1       This time, they had been lucky. The Command post
N23 1210  9    was underground, and well camouflaged. But there hadn't
N23 1220  6    been enough time to build it for keeps. There was a
N23 1230  5    measure of protection in its concrete walls and ceiling,
N23 1240  2    but the engineers who hastily installed it were well
N23 1240 11    aware that concrete is not much better than prayer,
N23 1250  8    if as efficacious, when a direct hit comes along.
N23 1260  5       This one was actually more of a "near miss". The
N23 1270  3    bomb plunged into the ground near the Post, but not
N23 1280  1    precisely into the Command room itself. There was a
N23 1280 10    shattering, cracking sound as the concrete started
N23 1290  6    to buckle, the air filled with dust and flying debris,
N23 1300  4    and everyone in the room- men and women hit the floor
N23 1310  2    and used the desks as turtlebacks, as ordered.
N23 1310 10       That is, everyone but Keith and Penny.
N23 1320  6       They stood there, just the two of them, in the rocking,
N23 1330  6    shattering blast. Keith was on his feet because he
N23 1340  2    didn't care at all about life any more: Penny on her
N23 1340 13    feet, proudly, because she cared too much.
N23 1350  7       The bomb was a solitary one. The blast damaged,
N23 1360  5    but did not destroy the room. Keith's eyes met Penny's
N23 1370  3    as they stood there in this strange marriage of destruction.
N23 1380  1    And, as the others began to crawl out from beneath
N23 1380 11    the desks and tend to those wounded, and mark the several
N23 1390 10    killed, he climbed across the debris to Penny and took
N23 1400  7    her hand in his.
N23 1400 11       The chaplain married them, on the next day.
N23 1410  7       After the war, Penny had wanted Keith at least to
N23 1420  5    visit her home with her. She came from Ohio, from what
N23 1430  3    she called a "small farm" of two hundred acres, as
N23 1430 13    indeed it was to farmer-type farmers. But to Keith's
N23 1440 10    London-bred mind, such acreage sounded rather invincible.
N23 1450  6    It wasn't that, however, which decided them not to
N23 1460  5    go to America. Keith told Penny about his dream to
N23 1470  3    return to India and Burma. He stressed the wild beauty
N23 1470 13    of the mountains, and the jungles. He didn't tell her
N23 1480 10    the truth he now freely admitted to himself. He couldn't
N23 1490  7    stop killing. That was his true love, not Penny. The
N23 1500  6    terrible power of a gun, the thing that blasted the
N23 1510  3    soul out of a living body, man or beast, was one he
N23 1510 15    never wanted to lose. And in the hunting land, this
N23 1520 10    hunger was considered to be a noble thing.
N23 1530  6       When they got to Shillong, in Assam, he was happy.
N23 1540  4    This is a paradise for hunters. This was the land of
N23 1540 15    the sladang, the great water buffalo with horns forty
N23 1550  9    inches across the spread. The great black leopards.
N23 1560  6    The sambur buck, the jungle stag that is even more
N23 1570  5    noble than the Scottish elk. He even hunted elephant,
N23 1580  1    although the Asian elephant is not quite as ferocious
N23 1580 10    as his African cousin. But there are big rogues in
N23 1590  8    both countries. These were the ones Keith sought out-
N23 1600  6    the loners, the ones who killed for the joy of it,
N23 1610  4    like himself.
N23 1610  6       He and Penny would go out on tame elephants, raised
N23 1620  2    from babyhood in the keddah. And while he was ever
N23 1630  1    alert for game, and most particularly a tiger, Penny
N23 1630 10    marvelled at the Eden they were traversing. They came
N23 1640  7    upon cheetal deer at woodland pools. Peacocks strutted
N23 1650  4    across their path, preening. There were fantastic flowers
N23 1660  2    without perfume, and gaudy birds without song. Mouse
N23 1670  1    deer played around the feet of the elephants, or fled
N23 1670 11    when the mighty legs thrashed too close. Wild boar
N23 1680  7    watched their progress with little pig eyes, and grunted
N23 1690  5    derision when they didn't consider such game worthy
N23 1700  2    of a shot from the .404's.
N24 0010  1    Now, the next morning, they were anchored at The Elbow
N24 0010 11    and the boat was riding directly over the underwater
N24 0020  7    ledge where the green water turned to deepest blue
N24 0030  4    and the cliff dropped straight down 600 fathoms, with
N24 0040  2    the weighted line beside it; and Robinson Roy, who
N24 0040 11    had gone down this line ten minutes before to set a
N24 0050 10    new depth record for the free dive, was already back
N24 0060  5    on the surface.
N24 0060  8       He and his safety man, Herr Schaffner, swam up to
N24 0070  6    the boarding ladder together. The German courteously
N24 0080  2    indicated that Robinson should mount first. Robinson
N24 0090  1    clambered heavily into the boat, sat down, and stripped
N24 0090 10    off his triple-tank assembly. He was frowning. He took
N24 0100  7    his mask from his forehead and threw it, unexpectedly,
N24 0110  5    across the deck.
N24 0110  8       "Temper, temper", Mrs& Forsythe said, laughing uneasily.
N24 0120  6    A phony blonde hanging onto a bygone youth and beauty,
N24 0130  7    but irreparably stringy in the neck, she was already
N24 0140  4    working on her second gin and tonic, though it was
N24 0150  1    not yet ten A&M&
N24 0150  5       "I loused it", Rob said, with a savage note in his
N24 0160  5    voice. "All I have to do to set the record is to go
N24 0170  2    on down. So instead I come up".
N24 0170  9       "Was it my equipment"? the German asked. "Was it
N24 0180  6    something went bad with the breathing"?
N24 0190  1       "The equipment was fine", Rob stated, standing up.
N24 0200  2    He was a huge young man of twenty-four, clothed in
N24 0200 13    muscle, immensely strong, with a habitual gentleness
N24 0210  6    and diffidence of manner that was submerged under his
N24 0220  5    present agitation. He stared stonily at the floor.
N24 0230  2    "I was down to 275. I've been that far half a dozen
N24 0230 14    times. I don't get it why this time I should pull such
N24 0240 12    a stupid trick".
N24 0250  1       "Well, I get it", Artie said, still on the ladder.
N24 0250 11    "You are a big muscle-bound ape and you got this idea
N24 0260 12    about setting a record. And you also got this little
N24 0270  9    spark in your bird-brain that tells you to turn around
N24 0280  6    before you drown yourself. So you turn around".
N24 0290  1       "No, it wasn't that", Rob said. A note of awe came
N24 0300  1    into his voice. "When I came up, damnit, I thought
N24 0300 11    I was going down. I came up maybe fifty feet before
N24 0310  9    I knew what was happening".
N24 0320  1       "Pressure-happy", Artie said, and climbed in.
N24 0330  1       "That's right", Robinson said. "I was expecting
N24 0330  8    it, sure. But when it happens to you like that, I tell
N24 0340 11    you, and you're a hundred feet from where you thought
N24 0350  7    you were- well, it makes you think. You don't head
N24 0360  4    back down again. Not me, anyway. Not right away". He
N24 0370  2    had his voice under control again: no one became aware
N24 0370 12    that he was terrified by what had just happened to
N24 0380 10    him.
N24 0380 11       Waddell, the newspaperman, was a fellow in his middle
N24 0390  9    forties, with a graying crewcut, heavy-framed glasses,
N24 0400  4    and a large jaw padded with fat. Now he was going to
N24 0410  4    show how much he knew. "Our boy didn't chicken out,
N24 0420  1    no sir. He ran into the rapture of the depths. Nitrogen
N24 0420 12    narcosis. It makes the diver feel drunk".
N24 0430  6       "Well, that's the only way to be", Mrs& Forsythe
N24 0440  5    said, and gave her brassy laugh.
N24 0450  1       "Maybe not, if you're 200 feet under water", Artie
N24 0450  9    said.
N24 0460  1       "Anyway", Waddell went on. "it's nothing to fool
N24 0460  9    with. It can kill you. Personally, I don't blame him
N24 0470  9    for giving up the dive, much as I regret losing the
N24 0480  7    story".
N24 0480  8       "Nobody's giving anything up", Robinson said. He
N24 0490  6    stood there, towering over them all: gentle, mighty,
N24 0500  4    determined, the moving force in the group; and yet
N24 0510  2    like a child among adults. "You think I got you and
N24 0510 13    Artie and Herr Schaffner all the way out here just
N24 0520  9    for the boat ride? I'm going down again".
N24 0530  4       "That's my boy"! Mr& Forsythe exclaimed. "Rob's
N24 0540  3    not going to give up as easy as all that". He was a
N24 0550  4    florid, puffy man in his early sixties, very natty
N24 0550 13    in his yachting cap, striped jacket and white flannels.
N24 0560  8    He went to Key West every fall and winter and was the
N24 0570  8    only man in town who did not know that his title of
N24 0580  5    "Commodore" was never used without irony. Old Commodore
N24 0590  2    Forsythe, who had once lost a fifty-dollar bet on whether
N24 0600  1    he could get both motors started and turn on the running
N24 0600 12    lights without accidentally turning on something else
N24 0610  6    first. Now it did not occur to him even to wonder whether
N24 0620  7    it was wise for Robinson to dive again: Rob was his
N24 0630  4    boy, the kid he had rescued from the streets, the object
N24 0640  1    of his pride.
N24 0640  4       "Why", he went on, "when Rob asked me if he could
N24 0650  4    make his dive on this trip, I didn't think twice about
N24 0660  1    it. I've helped him along ever since he was a youngster
N24 0660 12    hanging around his brother's tackle shop. Hell, I gave
N24 0670  8    him the first decent job he ever had, six, seven- how
N24 0680  8    many years ago was it, Rob"?
N24 0690  1       "Seven years ago, Commodore", Rob said impassively.
N24 0690  8    He was thinking, big deal: skipper on his drunken fishing
N24 0700  9    parties for seven years and no better off than when
N24 0710  8    I started. "Excuse me", he said abruptly. He went down
N24 0720  6    the steps to the galley and sleeping quarters; went
N24 0730  2    into the forward stateroom and locked the door behind
N24 0730 11    him.
N24 0740  1       "When you gotta go, you gotta go", Mrs& Forsythe
N24 0740 10    said.
N24 0750  1       Waddell muttered something about taking a look around
N24 0750  9    and climbed up to the flying bridge. He was disturbed
N24 0760 10    by what had happened on the dive and by what he remembered
N24 0770  9    of a conversation he had had the night before with
N24 0780  4    the German, who had come out of the head while he was
N24 0790  2    fixing himself a drink in the galley.
N24 0790  9       "Hi there, Schaffner", he had said. "Can I make
N24 0800  7    you one"?
N24 0800  9       "No thank you very much", Schaffner had answered
N24 0810  7    in his accented English. "I do not drink so much, thank
N24 0820  8    you".
N24 0820  9       Waddell had looked the man over, trying to size
N24 0830  6    him up. He was in his early forties, rather short and
N24 0840  3    very compactly built, and with a manner that was reserved
N24 0850  1    and stiff despite his efforts to adapt himself to American
N24 0850 11    ways. His open face seemed to promise a sort of innocence,
N24 0860 10    until one looked into his eyes, which had no warmth
N24 0870  7    in them but only alert intelligence. Waddell had heard
N24 0880  4    that he had been a commando in Rommel's Afrika Corps,
N24 0890  2    and he said to himself: I'd hate to run into him in
N24 0890 14    the desert on a dark night. Aloud he had said, making
N24 0900 10    conversation:
N24 0910  1       "Rob tells me he's using your Atlantis equipment
N24 0910  9    on the dive".
N24 0920  1       "Yes", Herr Schaffner had said.
N24 0920  6       "He's one hell of a decent boy. I like that kid".
N24 0930 10       "I agree, yes".
N24 0940  1       "And if the dive goes ~OK he has the exclusive import
N24 0950  1    rights to your line for this country, is that right"?
N24 0950 11       "Well, no", Herr Schaffner said.
N24 0960  5       Waddell turned to face him. "No"? he asked. "But
N24 0970  5    that's what he told me. Why, that's his main reason
N24 0980  4    for making the dive".
N24 0980  8       Shaffner looked at him, altogether without guile,
N24 0990  5    and shrugged his shoulders, making a little spreading
N24 1000  3    gesture with his two hands.
N24 1000  8       "What do you mean"? Waddell asked, frowning.
N24 1010  4       "Please let me explain", the German said earnestly,
N24 1020  5    his face still devoid of deceit. "I have in Europe
N24 1030  3    a gross business of seven million dollars the year.
N24 1030 12    Now I wish to enter the American market, where the
N24 1040 10    competition is very strong. I must have a powerful
N24 1050  7    representative here, a firm with a national distribution
N24 1060  2    and ten, twenty thousand dollars to advertise my products.
N24 1070  2    With all respect to a fine young man, Mr& Roy is not
N24 1070 14    able to provide these necessaries".
N24 1080  5       Waddell was not an eminently moral person, but he
N24 1090  5    did not like what he had just heard. "Did you tell
N24 1100  2    him all this"? he asked.
N24 1100  7       "Perhaps not in so many words", the German said.
N24 1110  5    "But surely you have misunderstood Mr& Roy. Never,
N24 1120  3    never did I offer him the exclusive rights. We spoke
N24 1130  1    of the need for advertising, and I agreed that the
N24 1130 11    deep dive would be most useful for publicity. He was
N24 1140  8    most eager to make the dive; of course, I was willing.
N24 1150  6    But there was no definite agreement about business
N24 1160  2    arrangements".
N24 1160  3       "Well, damn", Waddell said. There was the end of
N24 1170  5    his front-page feature story, with byline. He started
N24 1180  1    out the door.
N24 1180  4       "One moment"! Herr Schaffner said. "You intend to
N24 1190  3    speak with Mr& Roy"?
N24 1190  7       "What else"? Waddell asked.
N24 1200  3       "If you will pardon, I think it would be better
N24 1210  2    if not. Mr& Roy is determined to make this dive. Whatever
N24 1220  1    you tell him he will dive. I know this from my talks
N24 1220 13    with him".
N24 1230  1       "Well, let's let him make up his own mind, ~OK"?
N24 1230 11    Waddell said. "On the basis of the facts".
N24 1240  8       "You will make him unhappy and anxious", the German
N24 1250  7    said. "At 200, 300, 400 feet under the water, when
N24 1260  5    he must be paying very much attention, he will be thinking
N24 1270  3    about what you are telling him. It is not good, Mr&
N24 1280  1    Waddell: you will do him great harm".
N24 1280  8       There was no doubt that Herr Schaffner meant every
N24 1290  6    word of what he said. Waddell came back from the door
N24 1300  5    and sat on a bunk.
N24 1300 10       "I am an honest man", the German said with fervor.
N24 1310  6    "I will give Mr& Roy his due for this dive. I will
N24 1320  5    make him distributor for all of Florida- a big market.
N24 1330  2    All tourists come to Florida. This will help him to
N24 1330 12    get out of his little tackle shop. Yes! But there is
N24 1340 10    no use causing him to worry at this time".
N24 1350  6       The German's words worked on the newspaperman like
N24 1360  3    a reprieve from an odious duty. He took a big swig
N24 1370  1    of his drink. It would be a colossal shame to throw
N24 1370 12    away a story like this. "I think maybe you're right,
N24 1380  7    Schaffner", he said. "He has the distributorship for
N24 1390  5    Florida, you say"?
N24 1390  8       "Yes", the German said. "At least for South Florida".
N24 1400  9       "By God", Waddell said, "we don't want to upset
N24 1410  9    the boy at this time of all times. I guess you're right".
N24 1420  9    He sloshed his drink around and drained it in a few
N24 1430  8    large gulps. The story was shaping up nicely in his
N24 1440  4    mind: the young pioneer, as of old, altruistically
N24 1440 12    braving the unknown; the rewards prompt and juicy in
N24 1450  9    modern big-business America. "Join me in another"?
N24 1460  6    he had asked.
N24 1460  9       "Thank you", the German had said courteously. "I
N24 1470  8    do not drink so much".
N24 1480  1    ##
N24 1480  2    Now, in that same cabin, Robinson fell to his knees
N24 1480 12    beside a bunk. Fear and relief mingled in his churning
N24 1490 10    emotions. He pressed his palms together and addressed
N24 1500  6    himself to the patron saint of divers in a hurried
N24 1510  4    and anxious whisper.
N24 1510  7       "Blessed Saint Nicholas, I thank thee for getting
N24 1520  6    me out of that mess and sending me up instead of down
N24 1530  4    when I was bewildered. And when I make the dive again"-
N24 1540  3    He paused; crossed himself; said a Hail Mary, slowly
N24 1540 12    and with understanding. Folding between his hands the
N24 1550  8    cross that hung from his neck, he took his appeal direct
N24 1560  9    to Headquarters. "Holy Mary, Mother of God, Star of
N24 1570  6    the Sea, stay Thou with me on this next dive. Make
N24 1580  3    it come off all right. Let me set the record this time,
N24 1590  1    and let me get back ~OK, so the German will give me
N24 1590 13    the exclusive. And make my life different and better
N24 1600  8    from this time on. Amen".
N24 1610  1       He crossed himself again and rose. He felt a good
N24 1610 11    deal less shaky. As he reached for the door there was
N24 1620 10    a knock on it and when he opened he found Artie, who
N24 1630  7    came in and sat down on a bunk. Artie had picked up
N24 1640  4    a snorkle and was twirling it on his forefinger. He
N24 1640 14    waited awhile before he said, "Roy, you know your decompression
N24 1650 10    table, don't you"?
N24 1660  3       "You know I know it", Robinson answered warily.
N24 1670  2       "You came straight up from 275 without a stop",
N24 1690  1    Artie said.
N24 1690  3       "Well, I was a little bit confused. Anyway, I wasn't
N24 1700  3    down long enough to matter. You don't see me stretched
N24 1710  1    out on the deck, do you"?
N24 1720  6       "You know what they say about two deep dives in
N24 1730  4    one day", Artie went on, still twirling the snorkle
N24 1730 13    and studying it intently. "I don't think you should
N24 1740  9    go down again".
N25 0010  1       EARLY that day Matsuo saw a marine. The enemy came
N25 0010 11    looming around a bend in the trail and Matsuo took
N25 0020 10    a hasty shot, then fled without knowing the result,
N25 0030  5    ran until breath was a pain in his chest and his legs
N25 0040  4    were rubbery. As his feet slowed, he felt ashamed of
N25 0040 14    the panic and resolved to make a stand. He crossed
N25 0050 10    the next meadow and climbed a tree where the jungle
N25 0060  7    trail resumed.
N25 0060  9       In the leafiest part of the tree, straddling a broad
N25 0070  8    horizontal limb, he could see over the meadow. For
N25 0080  1    a while he was content to let events develop in their
N25 0090  1    good time. He had no doubt the marine was the lead
N25 0090 12    scout of a column, and while his shot had probably
N25 0100  7    bred indecision, they would soon come hunting.
N25 0110  2       His superiors had emphasized that marines tortured
N25 0120  1    others for the sheer pleasure. Yesterday; today; tomorrow:
N25 0120  9    no surrender. His remembering the self-dictate brought
N25 0130  8    no peace- only a faint chill of doubt. He murmured
N25 0140  8    to himself, with firmness: "No surrender". It was best
N25 0150  5    to die fighting the marines. His superiors had also
N25 0160  3    preached this, saying it was the way for eternal honor.
N25 0170  1       What if the marines never came? His comrades were
N25 0170 10    all dead. He had no rice. Then it would be a choice
N25 0180 11    between starvation and suicide.
N25 0190  1       Whichever the way, he would rot in this vast choking
N25 0190 11    green, his wife never to receive an urn of his ashes.
N25 0200 11    He sighed and leaned for a moment against the trunk.
N25 0210  7    His fingers touched the bone handle of a knife. The
N25 0220  5    knife, an ammunition pouch, and a half-filled bottle
N25 0230  1    of purified water hung on his belt. Besides the belt
N25 0230 11    he wore a loin cloth.
N25 0240  2       As he looked up from picking at a leg ulcer, he
N25 0240 13    saw a marine in the jungle across the clearing. Gloom
N25 0250 10    receded.
N25 0250 11       The marine came to the edge of the green jungle
N25 0260 10    mist and stayed, as though debating whether to brave
N25 0270  5    the sunlight. His fatigues made a streak of almost
N25 0280  3    phosphorescent green in the mist.
N25 0280  8       "Come out, come out in the meadow", Matsuo said
N25 0290  7    under his breath.
N25 0290 10       The man leaned against a tree and wiped a sleeve
N25 0300  9    across his face. A signal? Matsuo lifted his rifle,
N25 0320  5    easing the sling under his left upper arm for steadiness.
N25 0330  2       Fresh on his mind were events of the past day when
N25 0340  1    his whole regiment was destroyed in the hills. They
N25 0340 10    had fought from caves, and the marines resorted to
N25 0350  7    burning them out. Even now, like a ringing in his ears,
N25 0360  6    he heard the wooooosh of flame-throwers squirting great
N25 0370  2    orange billows. A wave of flame rippling through their
N25 0380  1    cave had reached Nagamo, his friend, and with a shriek
N25 0380 11    the man bolted through the entrance, then slowed to
N25 0390  7    the jerky walk of a puppet, his uniform blazing. The
N25 0400  4    marines let him advance. When he sank on his knees,
N25 0410  1    they had allowed him to char without administering
N25 0410  9    the stroke of mercy.
N25 0420  2       Matsuo had faked death and was pitched on a stack
N25 0420 12    of corpses, both the burned and the unburned, the latter
N25 0430  9    decomposing rapidly under the tropical sun. The callous
N25 0440  7    marines had laughed at each other's retching, while
N25 0450  3    stacking bodies. Matsuo repeatedly choked down his
N25 0460  2    own nausea. At nightfall he had been able to sneak
N25 0460 12    down a hillside and into the jungle, reeking of death.
N25 0470  8       Apprehensively he peered to the left, to the right
N25 0490  7    into the leafy, vine-crisscrossed maze. He decided
N25 0500  3    that the marines must be deploying around the meadow,
N25 0500 12    with the one left to distract him. He strained his
N25 0510 10    hearing. Cautious feet stepping on leafmold; faint
N25 0520  5    creaking of belts and slings; whispers: he heard none
N25 0530  4    of these. Only the hum of insects and the distant fluttering
N25 0540  2    call of a bird. Because he couldn't hear them, he was
N25 0550  1    more convinced they were there.
N25 0550  6       A spectacle occurred across the meadow: the lone
N25 0560  4    marine took a seat on the ground; leaning sidewise
N25 0570  1    on a tree trunk, he embraced it. Humiliation made Matsuo
N25 0570 11    tremble. While his comrades cocked the trap, that one
N25 0580  9    behaved as if it was some dull maneuver. Taking aim
N25 0590  5    at the man's face, Matsuo squeezed the trigger up to
N25 0600  4    the point of discharge, and then he changed his mind.
N25 0610  1    He wanted the arrogant marine to know fear, and so
N25 0610 11    he aimed above the head.
N25 0620  2       The shot reverberated in diminishing whiplashes
N25 0620  8    of sound. Hush followed. Like a mischievous boy expecting
N25 0630  8    punishment, Matsuo awaited reaction from the jungle.
N25 0640  6    How stupid to give his position away.
N25 0650  2       The jungle did not retort. The sitter remained seated
N25 0660  1    hugging the tree. Before long the atmosphere reverted
N25 0660  9    to its old normalcy, and insects hummed and birds occasionally
N25 0670  7    called. Matsuo puzzled and grew anxious over the complete
N25 0680  7    passiveness, concluding that he was the butt of a devilish
N25 0690  7    joke.
N25 0690  8       Five or so minutes later the marine abruptly pulled
N25 0700  4    up and stepped into sunlight, immediately throwing
N25 0710  1    his hands over his eyes. He went into a whirling dance,
N25 0710 12    a sort of blind chasing of the tail. It ended when
N25 0720  9    he tumbled; but jumping right up, he staggered in no
N25 0730  6    particular direction. He wore no head cover of any
N25 0740  3    kind and, more odd, had no visible weapon.
N25 0740 11       With a sudden decisiveness he lurched in Matsuo's
N25 0750  6    direction, crossing the meadow in a zigzagging gallop.
N25 0760  5    When he got closer to the tree, Matsuo noted the wild
N25 0770  4    look on his face. The pockets of his jacket bulged.
N25 0770 14    Hand grenades.
N25 0780  2       the bobbing head was a poor target, so Matsuo shot
N25 0790  1    him in the upper trunk.
N25 0790  6       The marine spun, clapping a hand high on his chest,
N25 0800  4    and dived forward. In the hush that followed the echoes,
N25 0810  1    Matsuo was tense. They could come on him now without
N25 0810 11    difficulty. Gradually he reached a conclusion. The
N25 0820  7    marine was alone, for they were impatient people and
N25 0830  5    by now would have vied to knock him from the tree.
N25 0840  3       Down the tree he scrambled and knelt at the edge
N25 0840 13    of foliage. The marine was sprawled some thirty yards
N25 0850  9    away, one arm extended. Matsuo jumped when the hidden
N25 0860  6    arm flopped out. Reflex?
N25 0870  1       Rifle leveled on the man, he made a rush. Heat,
N25 0870 11    in the sunlight, pressed in like an invisible crowd.
N25 0880  6       He squatted by the head, gently placing the rifle
N25 0900  1    on the ground. With a snakestrike motion he grasped
N25 0900 10    the hair, and, twisting, pulled the marine over on
N25 0910  9    his back. He was bearded. The bullet had penetrated
N25 0920  5    in the area of the right collarbone; around the hole,
N25 0930  4    blood glistened in a little patch. Maintaining his
N25 0940  1    clutch on the hair, Matsuo watched the closed eyes
N25 0940 10    while rummaging in the jacket pockets. In one: a package
N25 0950  8    of cigarettes and a tinplated lighter, both sticky
N25 0960  4    from the man's bleeding. In the other: a wristwatch
N25 0970  2    with broken crystal wrapped in a dirty handkerchief.
N25 0970 10    One by one he tossed the objects aside. He didn't smoke
N25 0980 11    and could not light fires with a flintless lighter;
N25 0990  6    he had no use any longer for exact time, even had the
N25 1000  5    watch been running. Then there was no saying how many
N25 1010  2    times the marine had blown his nose on the handkerchief.
N25 1020  1       Too bad the marine had no water. From its holder
N25 1020 11    he took his own canteen. The cap was stuck and made
N25 1030  7    a thin rusty squeaking as he applied pressure. The
N25 1040  3    marine's eyes opened, squeezed shut, then opened squinted
N25 1050  1    in the glare.
N25 1050  4       So, alive. Matsuo put the bottle to his own lips.
N25 1060  3    The marine reached up a hand. Matsuo shook his head.
N25 1060 13    "None for you". The marine blinked, soon dropping his
N25 1070  9    hand. Not only had he no canteen, but he lacked even
N25 1080  9    the belt to hang one on. "You came well equipped to
N25 1090  5    die".
N25 1090  6       Some odor made him lean over the man. He sniffed
N25 1100  5    and recognized it. Sake. So that had been his difficulty.
N25 1110  2    Drunk on sake, he must have wandered off from his bivouac.
N25 1120  2       The marine tried to roll on his right side, and
N25 1120 12    moaned. When he rolled on the left side, propping on
N25 1130 10    his left elbow, Matsuo seized his hair and pulled him
N25 1140  7    back over. "Be a good turtle".
N25 1150  1       Awkwardly with one hand Matsuo got the cap back
N25 1150 10    on the water bottle. The smell of sake had freshened
N25 1160  8    yesterday's events in his thoughts. In the caves, with
N25 1170  6    other supplies, they had kept cases of sake.
N25 1180  2       The marine shut his eyes. "Are you a thrower of
N25 1190  1    flame, marine"? Matsuo took the small knife from its
N25 1190 10    scabbard and laid it on the ground, out of the marine's
N25 1200 10    reach and away from their shadows. He waited in his
N25 1210  6    squat, gripping the hair.
N25 1210 10       Every so often he turned the knife. Its blade was
N25 1220 10    dazzling in the intense sunlight. The sun was noon
N25 1230  5    high and Matsuo perspired until his body was dripping.
N25 1240  2    Wet also were the marine's fatigues and the face had
N25 1240 12    an oily film. The man had thrown the left hand over
N25 1250 11    his eyes. Now and again he murmured something that
N25 1260  6    ended in a giggle. He must have saturated himself in
N25 1270  3    the drink, for the bullet not to shock him out of his
N25 1280  1    drunken haze. Matsuo shook his head. Strange.
N25 1280  8       At last he reached for the knife. Even the bone
N25 1290  7    handle scorched, and he retrieved the marine's handkerchief
N25 1300  4    to wrap it. First he barely touched the blade on the
N25 1310  4    hand which shaded the eyes. The marine yelled and flung
N25 1320  1    the hand away. With a firm grip on the man's hair Matsuo
N25 1320 13    applied the blade flat on a cheek. A shrill yelp, kicked
N25 1330 10    legs, and groping hands that circled Matsuo's wrist.
N25 1340  5    Matsuo wrenched free and burned the hands into retreat;
N25 1350  4    burned the other cheek; burned each hand when they
N25 1360  2    came groping again. The marine commenced to weep and
N25 1360 11    it blighted the sense of enjoyment.
N25 1370  5       Matsuo stood up. "A small measure of payment, marine".
N25 1380  4    He dropped the knife in its scabbard, hung the rifle
N25 1390  2    behind a shoulder.
N25 1390  5       The marine, hands on cheeks, rolled by his unwounded
N25 1400  4    side onto his stomach. He ceased weeping.
N25 1410  1       Matsuo walked toward his tree, once glancing back.
N25 1410  8    The marine was still. He would soon die.
N25 1420  5       As Matsuo climbed by using the vines and kicking
N25 1430  3    his feet against the trunk, a mood of gloom immersed
N25 1430 13    him like a jungle shadow. What now? In the jungle,
N25 1440  9    birds were mute, while insects preserved only the monotony
N25 1450  6    of living.
N25 1450  8       Someone called. It was the marine: head lifted,
N25 1460  7    he strained and called. Then he astonished Matsuo by
N25 1470  4    pushing and dragging himself until he sat. He cupped
N25 1480  2    his mouth and yelled. Matsuo hustled the rifle off
N25 1480 11    his shoulder. Once and for all he'd finish this marine
N25 1490  9    who would not die. He aimed, but listened. It sounded
N25 1500  6    as if the man were calling him: "Hey, Japanese **h
N25 1510  3    hey there, Japanese". The man tilted back his head
N25 1520  2    and went through the pantomime of drinking from a container.
N25 1520 12    He performed the act twice more, and the begging in
N25 1530 10    his tone grew more distinct.
N25 1540  1       "Sake"? Matsuo called.
N25 1540  4       The marine nodded vigorously.
N25 1550  2       Matsuo laughed, slung the rifle. The marine was
N25 1560  2    a winehead. His superiors had said that all marines
N25 1560 11    were depraved.
N25 1570  1       The marine slumped forward into a bow like a priest
N25 1570 11    before an idol. Remembering his own thirst, Matsuo
N25 1580  8    took out his water bottle. One swallow was all he would
N25 1590  7    have; he was very thirsty, but he must observe water
N25 1600  3    discipline. His years of campaigning had taught him
N25 1610  1    the value of water discipline.
N25 1610  6       He began to uncap the bottle, the rusty cap squealing
N25 1620  5    on its threads. Popping upright, the marine waved both
N25 1630  2    hands and shouted.
N25 1630  5       Of course it was water he really craved; down in
N25 1640  4    the broil of the sun he was becoming dried out. The
N25 1650  1    marine shouted for it until it seemed that his voice
N25 1650 11    had to crack. Matsuo shook his head. He had no water
N25 1660  8    for an enemy. And when this was gone, he hadn't even
N25 1670  5    a little bitter tablet to purify other water if he
N25 1680  3    were to discover some stagnant jungle pool.
N25 1680 10       He capped the bottle and replaced it. After all,
N25 1690  7    he had less reason to desire it than the marine.
N25 1700  4       Before much longer the marine quieted down. His
N25 1710  1    head slumped. The upper part of his packet had stained
N25 1710 11    dark. "Marine. There is nothing for you", Matsuo said.
N25 1720  8    "Your superiors will certainly beat you for your desertion,
N25 1730  8    besides the dishonor of it. I've nothing for you".
N25 1740  5       From the convulsive quivers of the man's shoulders
N25 1750  4    it was plain he had resumed the weeping. He reminded
N25 1760  1    Matsuo of a similar thing he had witnessed in China.
N25 1760 11    In China it was a baby sitting on a railroad platform,
N25 1770 10    smudged, blood-specked, with the village burning about
N25 1780  6    him and shells exploding.
N26 0010  1       CHAIRS SCRAPED BACK and customers hastily vacated
N26 0010  8    their tables as the tall young buffalo hunter pushed
N26 0020  8    open the swing doors and walked towards the bar. Only
N26 0030  6    Blue Throat and his gang stayed where they were. Blue
N26 0040  4    Throat was slumped with his back against the bar, elbows
N26 0050  1    supporting his massive frame. He leered at the stranger
N26 0050 10    as the distance between them closed.
N26 0060  5       "Since when did they allow beardless kids into the
N26 0070  4    saloon bars of this town, boys"? he asked. "Seems to
N26 0080  2    me I don't remember altering any law about that".
N26 0090  1       He straightened up, alert now as the buffalo hunter
N26 0090 10    came closer. "Stay right here where you are, kid",
N26 0100  7    he called. "I don't aim to have minors breathing down
N26 0110  6    my neck when I'm a-drinking":
N26 0120  1       The stranger ignored him. He didn't stop till he
N26 0120 10    was within three feet of Blue Throat and by that time
N26 0130  9    the gang leader's right hand was on the butt of his
N26 0140  8    revolver.
N26 0140  9       "I'm Billy Tilghman", said the stranger, "and I've
N26 0150  6    come for Pat Conyers' body".
N26 0160  1       "And what makes you think you're going to get it,
N26 0160 11    pretty boy"?
N26 0170  2       "Because I'm asking. Most of the time I get what
N26 0180  2    I ask for".
N26 0180  5       Blue Throat winked at his six cronies. "The kid
N26 0190  3    has no manners, boys. Shall we teach him some"? His
N26 0200  1    gun was half drawn when he asked the question, but
N26 0200 11    the weapon never left its holster. Tilghman's clenched
N26 0210  6    fist swept over in a terrific right cross and clipped
N26 0220  5    the big gunfighter on the side of his chin. His head
N26 0230  2    snapped round and he reeled back, crashing into the
N26 0230 11    table where his buddies were sprawling.
N26 0240  5       Tilghman leapt on to him, dragged him upright and
N26 0250  4    hit him again, this time sending him careening against
N26 0260  1    the bar. A bullet gouged into the bar top an inch from
N26 0260 13    Tilghman's stomach as Blue Throat's henchmen started
N26 0270  7    shooting. Tilghman flung himself aside, dropped on
N26 0280  6    one knee and pulled his own gun.
N26 0290  1       The Colt roared twice and two men dropped, writhing.
N26 0290 10    A third shot doused the light. Somewhere at the far
N26 0300  8    end of the room a voice yelled, "You all right, Billy"?
N26 0310  5       "Yes, George, but I ain't got poor old Pat's body
N26 0320  6    yet. And I aim to have it". He fired again, and somewhere
N26 0330  4    in the gloom a man screamed. Another took off his gun
N26 0340  3    belt and flung his weapons to the floor. "OK, Tilghman,
N26 0350  1    I'm quitting".
N26 0350  3       "And me", said another Blue Throat henchman.
N26 0360  2       Somebody brought a light. Tilghman and his partner,
N26 0370  1    George Rust, herded the men into a corner. "And now",
N26 0370 11    said Tilghman with deadly calm, "I'll repeat what I
N26 0380  8    said. I've come for Pat Conyers' body".
N26 0390  5       In two minutes the body of Tilghman's former comrade,
N26 0400  3    who had been killed by Blue Throat in a gambling brawl
N26 0410  2    the previous night, was carried into the town's funeral
N26 0420  1    parlor to be prepared for decent burial. Blue Throat,
N26 0420 10    nursing an aching jaw and a collosal dose of wounded
N26 0430  8    pride, rode out of town with the survivors of the fight.
N26 0440  5       "That critter will be back tomorrow", predicted
N26 0450  2    George Rust, "and he'll bring fifty of his kind back
N26 0460  2    with him. Blue Throat won't stand for this. He'll shoot
N26 0460 12    up the town".
N26 0470  3       The prediction was correct. The Reverend James Doran
N26 0480  2    had scarcely completed Pat Conyers' last rites on Boot
N26 0490  1    Hill in the township of Petrie, when shots were heard
N26 0490 11    in the distance.
N26 0500  1       "Amen", said the Reverend Doran, grabbing his rifle
N26 0500  9    propped up against a tombstone, "and now my brethren,
N26 0510  9    it would seem that our presence is required elsewhere".
N26 0520  6       Billy Tilghman and his comrades rode off to the
N26 0530  7    battle. Blue Throat, who had ruled the town with his
N26 0540  4    six-shooter for the last six months, certainly had
N26 0540 13    no intention of relinquishing his profitable dictatorship.
N26 0550  6    It was essential that he should restore his formidable
N26 0560  7    reputation as a rip-roaring, ruthless gun-slinger,
N26 0570  4    and this was the time-honored Wild West method of doing
N26 0580  3    it.
N26 0580  4       He rode in at the head of sixty trigger-happy and
N26 0590  1    liquor-crazed desperadoes and took over a livery barn
N26 0590 10    at the entrance to Main Street. The entire length of
N26 0600  8    the street could be raked with rifle fire from this
N26 0610  5    barn. Any posse riding down the street to demand Blue
N26 0620  2    Throat's surrender would be wiped out with one deadly
N26 0620 11    burst of fire.
N26 0630  3       The law-abiding citizens of Petrie had gathered
N26 0640  1    inside Kaster's Store, halfway down the street. Several
N26 0640  9    were firing into the barn when Billy Tilghman arrived.
N26 0650  8    He sized up the situation and shook his head.
N26 0660  5       "If Blue Throat has his way he'll keep us all cooped
N26 0670  5    up in here for days", he said. "There's only one thing
N26 0680  3    to move him fast, and we have it right here in this
N26 0680 15    very store".
N26 0690  2       He called the store owner and together they went
N26 0690 11    into the stockroom. Billy returned with six sticks
N26 0700  8    of dynamite. "I'm gonna drop these into Blue Throat's
N26 0710  7    lap", he announced, "and I'd like every gun to be firing
N26 0720  8    into that barn while I get near enough to toss 'em
N26 0730  5    through the window".
N26 0730  8       He slipped outside, hugging the walls of buildings
N26 0740  6    and dodging into doorways. Blue Throat's men spotted
N26 0750  3    him and a hail of bullets splintered the store fronts
N26 0760  1    and board walk as he passed.
N26 0760  7       Fifty yards away from the barn he dodged inside
N26 0770  4    a barber's shop and came out at the back. Here he couldn't
N26 0780  2    be seen by Blue Throat and his gang. All he had to
N26 0780 14    do was light the fuses of the dynamite sticks, run
N26 0790 10    to within ten yards of an open window in the barn and
N26 0800  8    hurl the sticks through.
N26 0800 12       Billy Tilghman did just that. Within seconds the
N26 0810  8    big barn was blasted into smoking splinters, with every
N26 0820  5    outlaw either dead or injured inside. It was the abrupt
N26 0830  5    end of Blue Throat's dictatorship in Petrie. Though
N26 0840  1    only slightly injured himself the big hoodlum never
N26 0840  9    returned to those parts.
N26 0850  3       To Tilghman the incident was just one of a long
N26 0860  1    list of hair-raising, smash-'em-down adventures on
N26 0860 10    the side of the law which started in 1872 when he was
N26 0870  9    only eighteen years old, and did not end till fifty
N26 0880  5    years later when he was shot dead after warning a drunk
N26 0890  3    to be quiet.
N26 0890  6       Of all the rip-roaring two-fisted tough boys of
N26 0900  2    the Old West, "Uncle Billy Tilghman" stands out head
N26 0900 11    and shoulders. He was the lawman who survived more
N26 0910  9    gunfights than any other famous gun-slinging character
N26 0920  6    in the book. He saw the most action, beat up more badmen
N26 0930  5    with his bare fists, broke up the most gangs and sent
N26 0940  2    more murderers to the gallows than any other U&S& marshal
N26 0950  1    who lived before or after him.
N26 0950  7       For fifty years his guns and ham-like fists shot
N26 0960  5    holes through and battered the daylights out of the
N26 0970  1    enemies of law and order in the frontier towns of the
N26 0970 12    West.
N26 0980  1       The deeds of countless western bandits and outlaws
N26 0980  8    have been glorified almost to the point of hero-worship,
N26 0990  8    but because Billy Tilghman remained strictly on the
N26 1000  4    side of the law throughout his action-packed career,
N26 1010  1    his achievements and the appalling risks he took while
N26 1010 10    taming the West have remained almost unsung.
N26 1020  6       Citizens took the view that a lawman was expected
N26 1030  5    to risk his life on the odd occasion anyway, but this
N26 1040  3    fighting fury of a man risked it regularly over a period
N26 1040 14    of half a century.
N26 1050  4       He came within an ace of being riddled with bullets
N26 1060  1    during his long fight with the Doolin gang which terrorized
N26 1060 11    Oklahoma in the 1890's. Led by Bill Doolin, these mobsters
N26 1070 10    specialized in train robberies but as a sideline they
N26 1080  9    looted stores and robbed banks, making liberal use
N26 1090  5    of their guns. Bill Doolin's ambition, it appeared,
N26 1100  3    was to carve out his name with bullets alongside those
N26 1100 13    of Jesse James and Billy the Kid, and Bill Tilghman
N26 1110 10    had sworn he would stop him.
N26 1120  3       Tilghman knew that some ranchers were hand-in-glove
N26 1140  1    with the Doolin gang. They bought rustled cattle from
N26 1140 10    the outlaw, kept him supplied with guns and ammunition,
N26 1150  8    harbored his men in their houses. Billy decided to
N26 1160  5    set an example by arresting one of the ranchers, named
N26 1170  2    Ed Dunn, who lived at Rock Fort.
N26 1170  9       On a bitterly cold day in January, 1895, accompanied
N26 1180  7    only by Neal Brown as his deputy, Tilghman left the
N26 1190  5    township of Guthrie and headed for Rock Fort and Dunn's
N26 1200  3    ranch. It was snowing hard when they got there and
N26 1210  1    they saw no horses outside. The only evidence of occupation
N26 1210 11    came from the chimney, which was belching out thick
N26 1220  8    smoke.
N26 1220  9       The two lawmen halted their wagon about twenty yards
N26 1230  7    from the door. "Wait here, Neal", said Tilghman. "If
N26 1240  5    I don't come out within half an hour ride back to town
N26 1250  6    and bring out a posse".
N26 1250 11       Leaving his rifle in the wagon, Tilghman walked
N26 1260  6    up to the door and hammered on it. There was no reply
N26 1270  5    so he shoved it open with his foot and stepped inside.
N26 1280  1    Directly opposite the door was a roaring log fire,
N26 1280 10    a welcome sight on that bitterly cold day. Seated near
N26 1290  8    it with his back to the door was the rancher, Ed Dunn.
N26 1300  6       "Hello, Ed", said Tilghman. The rancher grunted
N26 1310  4    an acknowledgement but didn't move.
N26 1320  1       Tilghman closed the door behind him and walked towards
N26 1320  9    the fire. Suddenly he saw something which made his
N26 1330  7    big heart give a sickening lurch and caused the hairs
N26 1340  5    to bristle on the back of his neck. Along each side
N26 1350  1    of the room were six tiered bunks, each one screened
N26 1350 11    off with a curtain.
N26 1360  1       And projecting wickedly through these curtains were
N26 1360  8    the gleaming muzzles of six rifles, all trained on
N26 1370  9    Billy Tilghman. The fighting marshal had walked right
N26 1380  6    into a trap and at any moment six slugs might slam
N26 1390  3    into his hide.
N26 1390  6       Thinking fast, Tilghman never hesitated for one
N26 1400  4    instant. He walked right up to the fire as though blissfully
N26 1410  1    unaware of the guns covering him. The men behind them
N26 1410 11    were Bill Doolin and five of his gang- every man a
N26 1420 11    killer.
N26 1420 12       "Cold day", said Tilghman, placing his hands behind
N26 1430  8    him and casually presenting his backside to the fire.
N26 1440  7    "Just dropped in to ask where Jed Hawkins lives. Can't
N26 1450  5    seem to locate landmarks in this snow".
N26 1460  1       The rancher was trembling. He wouldn't look Tilghman
N26 1460  9    in the face. "Follow the river for five miles", he
N26 1470 10    said hoarsely. "Jed's homestead is on the south bank".
N26 1480  7       Resisting the overwhelming temptation to flng himself
N26 1490  5    out of that bristling death-trap, Tilghman deliberately
N26 1500  3    engaged the nervous rancher in trivial conversation
N26 1510  1    for a good ten minutes. All that time rifle barrels
N26 1510 11    were pointing unwaveringly at his head and body. One
N26 1520  8    false move on his part and he would be a dead man.
N26 1530  7       "Well", he announced, "Guess I'll be going now,
N26 1540  4    Ed, and thanks for the warmup". He strolled back to
N26 1550  2    the door, whistling softly, hands still clasped behind
N26 1550 10    him. He left the house and almost certain death without
N26 1560  9    even increasing his pace and wondered by what remarkable
N26 1570  6    stroke of Providence he had been allowed to come out
N26 1580  5    alive.
N26 1580  6       But he knew well enough that those guns would still
N26 1590  4    be trained on his back as he walked towards the wagon.
N26 1600  1    If he showed signs of collecting his rifle and going
N26 1600 11    back with his deputy to the ranch he would be shot
N26 1610  9    down instantly.
N26 1610 11       Leisurely he climbed on to the wagon next to Neal
N26 1620 10    Brown. "Don't say or do anything", he said softly.
N26 1630  6    "Just get out of here without it looking as though
N26 1640  3    we're in a hurry. That place is crawling with Bill
N26 1650  1    Doolin and his gang".
N26 1650  5       Even as he spoke those words Billy Tilghman's life
N26 1660  3    hung on a thread. Back in the house a hoodlum named
N26 1670  1    Red Buck, sore because Billy had been allowed to leave
N26 1670 11    unscathed, jumped from a bunk and swore he was going
N26 1680 10    after him to kill him right then.
N26 1690  2       "You'll stay right here", commanded Bill Doolin,
N26 1700  1    covering Red with his rifle. "Billy Tilghman is too
N26 1700 10    good a man to shoot in the back. We'll let him go".
N26 1710 10       But the fighting marshal's fifty-year run of immunity
N26 1720  7    from violent death came to a full and final stop one
N26 1730  6    night in a street at Cromwell, Oklahoma, where he had
N26 1740  3    been sent to clean up the gambling and vice rackets.
N26 1750  1       Wiley Lynn, a self-styled prohibition officer, had
N26 1750  8    hit town the previous day and had been drinking ever
N26 1760  7    since. That night he reeled out of Ma Murphy's dance
N26 1770  5    hall and proceeded to disturb the peace by shooting
N26 1780  1    off his revolver.
N27 0010  1    FOR SEVERAL MONTHS now, Jack Carter, a big overgrown
N27 0010 10    boy of fifteen with a fuzzy, pimpled face and greenish
N27 0020  8    catlike eyes with a lot of red in them, had been haunted
N27 0030  8    by a dream, a vision, of a Woman. This Woman had no
N27 0040  4    distinct shape or size and no particular face, but
N27 0040 13    she radiated warmth, a sweet warmth; she would talk
N27 0050  9    to him in a soothing voice about things his mother
N27 0060  6    would have said were not nice and put her hands on
N27 0070  4    him and kiss him passionately. When she would do these
N27 0080  1    things, he would turn blind for an instant and become
N27 0080 11    sick at his stomach. Then he would run to the toilet
N27 0090  8    behind the house. Sometimes he did this three or four
N27 0100  6    times a day, for this Woman was almost always with
N27 0110  2    him. He would feel ashamed each time and wonder whether
N27 0110 12    his mother and father knew- thinking they might see
N27 0120  8    it in his eyes or smell it on him. But they never said
N27 0130  8    anything, so he figured it was all right.
N27 0140  1       And so when Miss Langford came to teach at the one-room
N27 0150  1    Chestnut school, where Jack was a pupil in the eighth
N27 0150 11    grade, the Woman of Jack's mind assumed the teacher's
N27 0160  7    face and figure. He could not keep his eyes off her
N27 0170  7    when at school; when he went home at night, he took
N27 0180  4    her with him in his mind, and she did the things the
N27 0180 16    anonymous Woman used to do, and he did the thing afterwards
N27 0190 11    each time as he used to do. When he awoke in the mornings,
N27 0200 11    she was in his mind and he could hardly wait to get
N27 0210  7    to school to be near her in the flesh.
N27 0220  1       Miss Langford (her first name was Evelyn) was an
N27 0220 10    attractive girl. Tall, blonde, blue-eyes, fair, buxom
N27 0230  8    without being heavy, she cut a fine figure of budding
N27 0240  6    womanhood as she swished among the pupils in her fresh,
N27 0250  4    starched summer dress. Something was beginning to stir
N27 0260  1    and come alive in her, too (it may have been there
N27 0260 12    for a good while, since she was twenty now; but if
N27 0270  7    it had been, it had been smothered until now by fear):
N27 0280  4    you could tell it by the way she watched the older,
N27 0290  1    bigger boys, like Jack. She would look at Jack, with
N27 0290 11    that hidden something in her eyes, and Jack would see
N27 0300  9    the Woman and become breathless and a little sick.
N27 0310  5       School began in August, the hottest part of the
N27 0320  4    year, and for the first few days Miss Langford was
N27 0320 14    very lenient with the children, letting them play a
N27 0330  9    lot and the new ones sort of get acquainted with one
N27 0340  6    another. The first two or three days they went home
N27 0350  3    early.
N27 0350  4       All, that is, except Jack. He hung around the schoolhouse,
N27 0360  3    watching through a window from outside while Miss Langford
N27 0370  2    straightened desks and put the room in order. Once
N27 0370 11    (this was on the third day of school) she kneeled down
N27 0380 10    to pick up some books where they'd dropped on the floor
N27 0390  7    and Jack looked up her dress- at the bare expanse of
N27 0400  6    incredibly white leg. He thought for a moment his heart
N27 0410  3    had stopped beating. About that time Miss Langford
N27 0410 11    straightened up and looked out the window directly
N27 0420  8    at him, he thought, although probably she didn't even
N27 0430  5    see him. He jumped back, ducked and ran, crouching,
N27 0440  2    down the hill away from the school.
N27 0440  9       He didn't look back and he ran until he was out
N27 0450 10    of sight of the schoolhouse and out of breath; then
N27 0460  5    he slowed to a walk. The vision became even stronger
N27 0465  1    now. "I'll get her yet", he muttered to himself. "I've
N27 0470  6    got to get her". That night he dreamed a dream violent
N27 0480  4    with passion, in which he and the Woman, now the teacher,
N27 0490  2    did everything except engage in the act (and this probably
N27 0500  1    only because he had never engaged in the act in reality),
N27 0500 12    and when he awoke the next morning his heart was afire.
N27 0510  9       He ate litle that morning, and his mother became
N27 0520  6    concerned, inasmuch as he usually ate heartily.
N27 0530  2       "What's the matter, honey"? she said, with the solicitude
N27 0540  2    of a middle-aged woman for her only child. "Aren't
N27 0550  1    you hungry"?
N27 0550  3       "No, I'm not hungry", he said, pushing back the
N27 0560  3    bacon and eggs. Outside it was already hot at 7:30
N27 0560 13    A&M&, and it was getting hot in the kitchen. He felt
N27 0570 11    a little sick at his stomach.
N27 0580  3       "Are you sick"?
N27 0580  6       "No", he said. "I'll be all right. I guess it's
N27 0590  8    this hot weather".
N27 0600  1       "Don't you play hard today then. And if you get
N27 0600 11    sick, ask the teacher to let you come home early. Daddy
N27 0610  8    left the car for me, and I'm going to town this afternoon".
N27 0620  6       "O& K&, I won't play hard", he promised.
N27 0630  5       Just then Charles Lever yelled, "Hey, Jack", from
N27 0640  3    the quarry road which ran behind the Carter house,
N27 0650  1    and Jack grabbed the lunch from the table and darted
N27 0650 11    out the kitchen door, yelling "Good-bye, Mom" over
N27 0660  7    his shoulder.
N27 0660  9       "Whaddya say, boy"? Charles said, grinning, showing
N27 0670  7    his huge yellow teeth. Charles, also fifteen, was tall
N27 0680  7    and skinny, scraggly, with straight black hair like
N27 0690  5    an Indian's and sharp brown eyes. He considered himself
N27 0700  2    handsome and seemed to think all the girls were after
N27 0700 12    him.
N27 0710  1       "You know what I done last night"? Charles said
N27 0710 10    as they picked their way over the rocky road which
N27 0720 10    led up the hill away from the Dixie Highway, through
N27 0730  6    a corn field and a patch of woods to the school.
N27 0740  3       Jack knew of course that the tale to be unfolded
N27 0750  1    would involve a girl and probably be dirty, because
N27 0750 10    girls were Charles' only apparent interest. But Jack
N27 0760  6    always derived vicarious sensual thrills from Charles'
N27 0770  4    revelations (even when he suspected his friend of exaggeration
N27 0780  3    or invention), so he usually invited them, as he did
N27 0790  2    now. "No. What"?
N27 0790  5       "I got Margaret Rider in one of them old box cars
N27 0800  6    down there by the quarry".
N27 0800 11       A nude imaginary picture of Miss Langford flashed
N27 0810  6    across Jack's mind. His heart beat faster. "Hell you
N27 0820  5    say"? he said, lapsing into the profanity he often
N27 0830  3    used when away from his parents and especially when
N27 0830 12    he was with Charles. "How'd you do it"?
N27 0840  8       "Hell, I jist got on top of-"
N27 0850  5       "No, I mean how'd you get her to do it"?
N27 0860  3       "Hell, I jist ask her".
N27 0860  8       "Jist like that"?
N27 0870  2       "Hell, yes. She's been hangin' around me a lot here
N27 0880  4    lately, and I figgered I might as well's try it. Besides
N27 0890  1    I heard her old uncle that stays there has been doin'
N27 0890 12    it".
N27 0900  1       "I never heard that".
N27 0900  5       "It's all over Branchville. If you'd get out of
N27 0910  6    your back yard once in a while you might even get her
N27 0920  3    your ownself".
N27 0920  5       "I might try it one of these days", Jack said wonderingly,
N27 0930  4    thinking of Miss Langford.
N27 0930  8    ##
N27 0930  9    WHEN THEY reached the school, a gang of boys and girls
N27 0940 11    were already there playing "crack the whip" in front
N27 0950  8    of the schoolhouse. Miss Langford, in a fresh white
N27 0960  6    dress and low-heeled white sandals, without socks,
N27 0970  2    was out there with them, trying to get them inside.
N27 0980  1       "Time for books", she yelled, jingling a little
N27 0980  8    five-and-dime store bell in her right hand. "Let's
N27 0990  7    go inside".
N27 0990  9       "Oh, come on Miss Langford, play with us just onct",
N27 1000  9    one of the little girls begged, smiling wistfully.
N27 1010  4       "No, not now", said the teacher. "Maybe at dinner
N27 1020  4    time. Come inside now".
N27 1020  8       The children grudgingly stopped playing then and
N27 1030  6    straggled into the schoolhouse.
N27 1040  1       Jack watched Miss Langford all morning. He could
N27 1040  9    think of nothing else save his mental image of her
N27 1050  8    nude figure and what Charles had said that morning
N27 1060  5    about Margaret Rider. Occasionally he would look across
N27 1070  3    the aisle at Margaret, fourteen and demure in a fresh
N27 1070 13    green organdy dress, sitting in the sixth-grade row,
N27 1080  9    and he coud hardly believe she would do what Charles
N27 1090  6    had said she did.
N27 1090 10       At noontime, remembering what the teacher had said
N27 1100  7    about maybe playing with the kids, Jack stayed close
N27 1110  5    to the schoolhouse while all the other big boys, except
N27 1120  2    Charles, went off out the road to play ball. "Why ain't
N27 1130  1    you playin' ball"? he asked Charles suspiciously as
N27 1130  9    they sat in the well-house shade, watching the girls
N27 1140  9    congregate in front of the schoolhouse. "Miss Langford,
N27 1150  4    come out and play with us like you promised", several
N27 1160  3    of the little girls called.
N27 1160  8       "I'd druther stay here and watch the girls", Charles
N27 1170  8    grinned. "Maybe some of 'em will fall down and we'll
N27 1180  8    see up their dress".
N27 1190  1       "Maybe", Jack said idly, watching for Miss Langford.
N27 1190  8       Presently she came out of the schoolhouse. When
N27 1200  8    she appeared, two or three of the little girls jumped
N27 1210  6    up and down, yelling, "Goody, goody".
N27 1220  1       "Let's play with 'em", Jack said, rising from where
N27 1230  1    he sat on the ground and dusting off his overall pants.
N27 1230 12       "O&K&" Charles rose also, and the two of them moved
N27 1240 10    over to join the girls.
N27 1250  3       They played crack the whip a few minutes without
N27 1250 12    mishap. Then when Miss Langford was on the end of the
N27 1260 11    line of girls, Jack, in the middle of the line, gave
N27 1270  9    an extra hard pull and the young teacher sprawled backwards,
N27 1280  4    sitting down hard, her dress flying over her head.
N27 1290  3    While she was struggling to get her skirt down and
N27 1290 13    get on her feet again, Jack ran over, offered her his
N27 1300 11    hand and said, "Gosh, I'm sorry, Miss Langford. I didn't
N27 1310  7    mean to pull so hard".
N27 1320  1       "That's all right", she said, tossing her head back
N27 1330  1    to get the hair out of her eyes. "It was my fault".
N27 1330 13    With one hand she held her skirt down while she took
N27 1340  9    Jack's extended hand with the other. When her hand
N27 1350  6    touched his, fire went through Jack and he felt weak,
N27 1360  3    but he managed somehow to get her on her feet. He thought
N27 1370  1    she gave him that look with the hidden something in
N27 1370 11    it as he let her hand go.
N27 1380  2       "Thank you", she said, dusting herself off.
N27 1390  1       "Will you play with us again, Miss Langford"? one
N27 1390  9    of the little girls said.
N27 1400  3       "No more today. Maybe some other day".
N27 1410  1       "Oh, shucks", the girl said. "I don't believe I'll
N27 1420  1    play any more neither".
N27 1420  5       "Me neither", others said, and soon the game broke
N27 1430  4    up, the children going off in pairs, in larger groups
N27 1440  1    and alone.
N27 1440  3       Jack walked off alone out the road in the searing
N27 1450  1    midday sun, past Robert Allen's three-room, tarpapered
N27 1450  9    house, toward the field where the other boys were playing
N27 1460  9    ball, thinking of what he would do in order to make
N27 1470  8    Miss Langford have him stay in after school- because
N27 1480  2    this was the day he had decided when he thought he
N27 1480 13    saw the look in her eyes.
N27 1490  6       When he came back to the schoolhouse, his mind was
N27 1500  4    made up. He simply would not work his arithmetic problems
N27 1510  1    when the teacher held his class. That should do it,
N27 1510 11    he thought, because Miss Langford had said she was
N27 1520  7    going to be strict about school work. He had considered
N27 1530  5    throwing erasers or flipping paperwads at someone or
N27 1540  2    pulling the hair of the girl sitting in front of him,
N27 1540 13    but he couldn't take a chance on either of these possibilities:
N27 1550 10    the teacher probably would make him stand face-to-wall
N27 1560  9    in a corner instead of stay in after school.
N27 1570  4       The only drawback now to the plan he'd decided on
N27 1580  3    was that someone else might fail to do his work, too,
N27 1580 14    and the teacher would have that person stay late along
N27 1590  9    with Jack. "But I've got to take a chance on it", he
N27 1600 10    told himself desperately.
N27 1610  1       To his surprise his plan worked perfectly. "All
N27 1610  9    right, if you can't do your arithmetic during school
N27 1620  7    hours you can do it after school it out", Miss Langford
N27 1630  5    said firmly, not smiling. "You will stay here thirty
N27 1640  4    minutes after the others go home this afternoon and
N27 1650  1    work your problems".
N27 1650  4       And so when the others stampeded out that afternoon
N27 1670  1    Jack remained docilely in his seat near a window, looking
N27 1670 11    out in what he hoped was a pitiable manner, while the
N27 1680 10    other kids laughed and yelled in at him and made faces
N27 1690  8    as they dispersed, going home. He scarcely saw them.
N27 1700  3    His heart was pounding like a mighty dynamo and he
N27 1700 13    was trying to think, his mind seeming to scream at
N27 1710 10    him like a hurt or frightened child, "How will I do
N27 1720  6    it?
N28 0010  1       On the fringe of the amused throng of white onlookers
N28 0010 11    stood a young woman of remarkable beauty and poise.
N28 0020  8    She munched little ginger cakes called mulatto's belly
N28 0030  5    and kept her green, somewhat hypnotic eyes fixed on
N28 0040  4    a light-colored male who was prancing wildly with a
N28 0040 14    5-foot king snake wrapped around his bronze neck.
N28 0050  8       The youth with the snake had a natural pride and
N28 0060  8    joy of life which appealed to the woman. Lithe and
N28 0070  3    muscular, he had well-molded features, and his light
N28 0080  1    color told of the European ancestors who had been intimate
N28 0080 11    with the slave women of his family.
N28 0090  5       The haughty white girl turned to a distinguished,
N28 0100  1    hawk-faced man standing at her side and murmured: "Look
N28 0110  1    at your watch, Col& Garvier. It is almost time for
N28 0110 11    and calinda to begin".
N28 0120  3       Col& Henri Garvier was one of New Orleans' most
N28 0130  2    important and enlightened slave owners. He chuckled
N28 0130  9    and gave the signal for the dance to start. The slaves
N28 0140 10    ran gaily to the center of Congo Square and gathered
N28 0150  6    around a sweaty youth they called Johnny No-Name.
N28 0160  3       Johnny vigorously pounded two bleached steer bones
N28 0170  2    against the gourd which served as his drum. He showed
N28 0170 12    his gleaming tusks of teeth and bellowed incoherently,
N28 0180  7    his brass earrings jangling discordantly as he shook
N28 0190  5    and trembled in ecstasy.
N28 0190  9       The drummer flogged the gourd with frantic intensity
N28 0200  7    as the dancers began the calinda, a sensual gyration
N28 0210  4    which had long been a favorite of voodoo practitioners
N28 0220  1    and their disciples in the Louisiana slave compounds.
N28 0220  9    The dance was of Haitian origin.
N28 0230  6       The white girl with the penetrating green eyes sipped
N28 0240  4    the lemonade handed to her by a handsome man of about
N28 0250  2    30, who had coppery skin and beetling eyebrows. He
N28 0250 11    was possessive in his manner and, though a slave, obviously
N28 0260  9    was educated after a fashion and imitated the manners
N28 0270  6    of his owners. He proudly wore the blue livery of her
N28 0280  5    house, for the girl was Madame Delphine Lalaurie, wife
N28 0290  2    of the prominent surgeon, Dr& Louis Lalaurie, who bore
N28 0290 11    one of the South's oldest and most cherished names.
N28 0300  9       Delphine was a pace-setter in high society. She
N28 0310  8    was a top horsewoman and one of the city's most gracious
N28 0320  5    hostesses. Although New Orleans was not to learn of
N28 0330  4    it for a spell, she also was a sadist, a nymphomaniac
N28 0330 15    and unobtrusively mad- the perpetrator of some of the
N28 0340  9    worst crimes against humanity ever committed on American
N28 0350  6    soil.
N28 0350  7       Madame Lalaurie gestured with her riding crop toward
N28 0360  7    the 20-year-old youth who was stomping and writhing
N28 0370  4    with the king snake still draped over his bare shoulders.
N28 0380  1    The slender, handsome fellow was called Dandy Brandon
N28 0380  9    by the other slaves. He was gifted with animal magnetism
N28 0390 10    and a potent allure for women of any race. But Dandy
N28 0400  8    had had little experience with girls on his master's
N28 0410  5    plantation in Bayou St& John.
N28 0410 10       Shy, actually, he avoided feminine overtures and
N28 0420  7    seemed truly ignorant of the girls' desires when they
N28 0430  7    sought to make liaisons with him in the open fields,
N28 0440  4    in carriages and in boathouses.
N28 0440  9       This young slave was therefore quite unprepared
N28 0450  5    when Delphine Lalaurie signaled that she wanted him
N28 0460  5    to draw near. The woman eyed the youth with the avidity
N28 0470  2    a coin collector might display toward a rare doubloon
N28 0470 11    which is not yet in his collection.
N28 0480  6       "What is your name, boy? Come a bit closer. I won't
N28 0490  6    bite, you know".
N28 0490  9       He gaped at Madame Lalaurie and sniffed the Paris
N28 0500  6    perfume which emanated from her. Then he smiled shyly.
N28 0510  4    "My name is Dandy Brandon, missy. I belong to Master
N28 0520  3    Alexander Prieur".
N28 0520  5       She said with intense feeling: "Come near, let me
N28 0530  5    feel your arms. You look quite strong and healthy to
N28 0540  3    me, Dandy".
N28 0540  5       Mrs& Lalaurie impatiently propelled the slave toward
N28 0550  4    her waiting carriage. Lifting her skirts, she climbed
N28 0560  1    in, never relinquishing her grip on his arm. The woman
N28 0560 11    seemed utterly unafraid of the snake which coiled on
N28 0570  8    the floor in a torpor.
N28 0580  1       Once inside the luxuriosly-upholstered landau, she
N28 0580  8    drew the curtains and proceeded to give the startled
N28 0590  7    youth the kind of physical examination usually reserved
N28 0600  3    for army inductees. Satisfied at last, and after a
N28 0610  3    few amorous gambits on her part which convinced Delphine
N28 0610 12    that Dandy was capable of learning new arts, she opened
N28 0620 10    the window and called to her liveried driver. This
N28 0630  6    was the big man with the proprietory air and the beetling,
N28 0640  5    shaggy eyebrows.
N28 0640  7       "Aristide! I want you to find Monsieur Prieur at
N28 0650  6    once and give him this money for the boy's purchase.
N28 0660  3    There's $600 in gold in this chamois sack. If the old
N28 0670  2    fool argues about the price, tell him I shall order
N28 0670 12    my husband not to treat him as a patient any longer.
N28 0680 10    Prieur has gout and depends on Louis' pills and bleedings.
N28 0690  6    Besides, he owns 300 slaves. One less shouldn't matter
N28 0700  4    to him".
N28 0700  6       Aristide Devol, the sardonic manservant who had
N28 0710  4    been brought in chains years before from his native
N28 0720  1    Sierra Leone, smiled thinly and touched his well-brushed
N28 0720 10    beaver hat. His bold eyes raked the woman, and a perceptive
N28 0730 11    spectator might sense that there was more to their
N28 0740  8    relationship than that of slave to owner.
N28 0750  2       "Another youth, Madame"? the coachman said softly.
N28 0760  1    "This one is a tender chicken, oui? Such delicate beauty,
N28 0770  1    such fine flesh. It will rip and shred easily for Madame".
N28 0780  1       "Be quiet, Devol! You are forgetting your place".
N28 0780  8       The tall coachman walked off briskly in search of
N28 0790  9    Alexander Prieur. Delphine Lalaurie took the reins
N28 0800  5    in her gloved hands and drove Dandy Brandon- cowering
N28 0810  2    in the back seat of the carriage- to her mansion at
N28 0820  2    677 Perdido Street.
N28 0820  5       Dr& Louis Lalaurie stood on the veranda at the head
N28 0830  5    of the driveway and watched his carriage as it approached
N28 0840  1    the pillared mansion. Dandy, curiosity overcoming his
N28 0840  8    apprehensions, peered out at the doctor from the window
N28 0850  9    of the vehicle. He saw a pint-sized man with a graying
N28 0860  9    spade beard and an unusually large head. Dr& Lalaurie
N28 0870  4    wore a maroon smoking jacket, and his myopic eyes were
N28 0880  3    blurry and glistened behind thick octagonal lenses.
N28 0880 10    He was about 50 years old.
N28 0890  5       "Another young man, my dear? Really, you are most
N28 0900  4    indiscreet to drive him here yourself", he said, frowning
N28 0910  1    with displeasure.
N28 0910  3       Delphine presented her cheek for a kiss, and the
N28 0920  3    physician pecked it like a timid rooster.
N28 0920 10       "Dandy is to be our house guest, Louis. I want the
N28 0930 10    room in the attic prepared for him He is a most unusual
N28 0940  8    lad, quite precocious in many ways. He deserves a better
N28 0950  4    life than just rotting away on the Prieur plantation".
N28 0960  1       "Quite so, my dear. His room will be ready shortly".
N28 0970  1       The physician led the horses to the stable after
N28 0970 10    a cursory glance at the cringing slave. Had Dandy been
N28 0980  9    older or wiser, instinct might have warned him that
N28 0990  6    he would be well advised to flee from the Lalauries'
N28 1000  2    tender care if he valued his life.
N28 1000  9       But he liked the smell of Delphine's perfume. Besides,
N28 1010  7    her endearments and caresses in the carriage had been
N28 1020  6    new and stirring experiences to the simple youth. Also,
N28 1030  3    he was weary of plantation drudgery and monotony.
N28 1040  1       So Dandy Brandon trustingly entered the house with
N28 1040  9    Delphine Lalaurie and trudged up the rear steps to
N28 1050  9    the attic room which was to be his new home. Airless
N28 1060  6    and dingy though it was, the attic represented luxury
N28 1070  2    to a slave who had led a wretched life with six brothers
N28 1070 14    and sisters and assorted relatives in a shanty at Bayou
N28 1080 10    St& John.
N28 1090  1       He bounced exuberantly on the sagging bed and was
N28 1090 10    even more delighted when Madame Lalaurie- after closing
N28 1100  6    the door- showed the slave that the bed was designed
N28 1120  7    for something other than slumber.
N28 1130  1       It was just as well that the ignorant Dandy enjoyed
N28 1130 11    himself to the hilt that first evening, for the room
N28 1140  8    was to become his prison cell. When he finally left
N28 1150  5    the sinister mansion on Perdido Street, he was carried
N28 1160  2    out in a coroner's basket.
N28 1160  7    ##
N28 1160  8    JUST six weeks after Dandy Brandon's arrival at the
N28 1170  6    mansion, the little surgeon and his svelte young wife
N28 1180  5    gave their annual open house and ball, to which only
N28 1190  2    New Orleans' oldest and wealthiest families were invited.
N28 1200  1       A stringed orchestra played softly behind the potted
N28 1200  9    palms, and Delphine circulated graciously among her
N28 1210  5    guests, chatting airily of the forthcoming races, the
N28 1220  4    latest fashions from Paris, and Louisiana politics.
N28 1240  1       Suddenly there was a commotion upstairs, a despairing
N28 1250  1    boyish shriek, and the strains of the waltz faltered
N28 1250 10    and died as the musicians and guests gaped at an apparition
N28 1260  7    descending the marble staircase.
N28 1270  1       It was Dandy Brandon, clad only in a bloody loincloth,
N28 1280  1    emaciated and quaking as if the devil were breathing
N28 1280 10    hard on him. The lad's once superb body was a mass
N28 1290  8    of scars and welts. His pinched face showed the ravages
N28 1300  5    of malnutrition.
N28 1300  7       Feebly he pointed an accusing finger at Madame Lalaurie
N28 1310  6    and shouted: "Evil woman! You did this **h you like
N28 1320  7    to hurt **h to beat people **h I want **h to go home".
N28 1330  4       These were the last words he ever uttered. Convulsively,
N28 1340  1    he spat up some blood and collapsed into the arms of
N28 1340 12    Senator Gaston Berche, crimsoning the frilly shirt
N28 1350  7    and waistcoat the politician wore.
N28 1360  2       Dr& Louis Lalaurie examined the inert form of the
N28 1370  2    slave on the parquet dance floor and pronounced him
N28 1370 11    dead. The ball broke up in confusion. Guests stared
N28 1380  7    with horror at Madame Lalaurie and made speedy departures.
N28 1390  5    Delphine stood like stone, her eyes alive with hate
N28 1400  3    as she looked down at the sheeted corpse.
N28 1400 11       But at the coroner's inquest Delphine told a forthright
N28 1410  8    story.
N28 1420  1       "I saw the boy Dandy at the Congo Square festivities
N28 1420 10    and felt sorry for him. It was our hope to educate
N28 1430  9    him and to give him his freedom when the right time
N28 1440  5    came, for he was a bright and friendly youth who seemed
N28 1450  2    worthy of our interest. After I paid Monsieur Prieur
N28 1450 11    for Dandy, I brought him home, but he was ill at ease
N28 1460 12    and ran away the same night. How he returned in such
N28 1470  8    a ghastly condition, or why, I cannot say. Dr& Lalaurie
N28 1480  5    and I didn't even know he was in the house until the
N28 1490  4    night of our ball when he came down the stairs".
N28 1500  1       She daubed at her swimming eyes with a lacy handkerchief
N28 1500 11    and said with obvious emotion: "That poor boy! He must
N28 1510  9    have fallen in with evil companions, for he was a simple
N28 1520  9    youth and quite trusting and inexperienced. Ruffians
N28 1530  3    must have robbed and beaten him before bringing him
N28 1540  2    back to our house to die. Such a pitiful end"!
N28 1540 12       Though the slave's dying words about the woman troubled
N28 1550  9    the coroner's panel, Dandy's accusation was adjudged
N28 1560  6    an aberration by the jury and disregarded. The Lalauries
N28 1570  5    were at the top rung of the social ladder, and even
N28 1580  3    a jury didn't feel privileged to doubt the veracity
N28 1590  1    of so illustrious a lady. Moreover, runaway slaves
N28 1590  9    frequently got into serious trouble in New Orleans'
N28 1600  6    dives.
N28 1600  7       So the verict was "death at the hands of a person
N28 1610  8    or persons unknown", and the elite of the city, accepting
N28 1620  5    Delphine's testimony, welcomed her and the doctor back
N28 1630  3    into the fold. Once again life went its serene way-
N28 1630 13    soirees, fox hunts, balls and dinners.
N28 1640  6       The excitement over Brandon's bizarre death abated
N28 1650  4    and Madame Lalaurie's stock soared when she resumed
N28 1660  3    her self-imposed chores of visiting the poor and bringing
N28 1670  1    cakes and comfort to destitute patients in the county
N28 1670 10    hospital. Then, on July 2, there occurred another incident
N28 1680  8    which set tongues to wagging at a furious clip.
N28 1690  6       Mrs& Victor Dominique, socially prominent and a
N28 1700  4    neighbor of the Lalauries, chanced to glance out of
N28 1710  1    her parlor window at dusk one evening and beheld an
N28 1710 11    amazing sight. The manservant Devol and his mistress,
N28 1720  6    Delphine Lalaurie, were pursuing a young girl- an octoroon
N28 1730  6    of cameo-like beauty- across the front lawn of the
N28 1740  4    Lalaurie mansion. The girl was not more than 16. She
N28 1750  1    was nude to the waist and her tumbled abundance of
N28 1750 11    black hair did not conceal the knife slashes on her
N28 1760  7    back.
N28 1760  8       The bleeding girl was tiring fast; the coachman
N28 1770  5    and Delphine were gaining on her as she raced down
N28 1780  2    Perdido Street.
N28 1780  4       The fugitive cried out in an oddly sibilant voice:
N28 1790  3    "Help me, somebody! They have pulled out all my teeth
N28 1800  3    and now she will carve out my tongue with her hacksaw!
N29 0010  1    "Bastards", he would say, "all I did was put a beat
N29 0010 12    to that Vivaldi stuff, and the first chair clobbered
N29 0020  7    me"! Since then, and since the pure grain had gotten
N29 0030  7    him divorced from every decent- and even indecent-
N29 0040  3    group from Greenwich Village to the Embarcadero, he
N29 0050  2    had become a sucker-rolling freight-jumper.
N29 0050  9       "There ain't nothin' faster, or lonelier, or more
N29 0060  7    direct than a cannonball freight when you wanna go
N29 0080  5    someplace", Feathertop would say. "The accommodations
N29 0090  1    may not be the poshest, but man! there ain't nobody
N29 0100  1    askin' for your ticket stub, neither".
N29 0110  4       He had been conning the freights for a long, long
N29 0120  7    time now. Ever since the hooch, and the trouble with
N29 0130  3    the Quartet, and Midge and the child. Ever since all
N29 0140  1    that. It had been a very long time that had no form
N29 0140 13    and no end.
N29 0150  1       He was- as he told himself in the vernacular of
N29 0150 11    a trade no longer his own- riding the dark train out.
N29 0160  8    Out and out and never to return again. Till one day
N29 0170  5    the last freight had been jumped, the last pint had
N29 0180  2    been killed, the last beat had been rapped. That was
N29 0180 12    the day it ended.
N29 0190  2    ##
N29 0190  3    THE FREIGHT CAR WAS COLD, early in the morning.
N29 0200  1       He was pressed far back into the corner of the car
N29 0200 12    on his hay sacks, the rattling and tinning of the wheels
N29 0210  8    on the rails almost covering the sound of his ocarina.
N29 0220  6       He held his elbows away from his body, and the little
N29 0230  5    sweet potato trilled neatly and sweetly as he tickled
N29 0240  1    its tune-belly.
N29 0240  4       The train slowed at a road crossing, and the big
N29 0250  3    door slid open; at first gratingly, caught by grains
N29 0250 12    of corn- then with a clash into its slot.
N29 0260 10       The boy lifted the girl by the waist and set her
N29 0270  7    on the lip of the floor. She pulled her legs up under
N29 0280  3    her, to rise, her full peasant skirt drawing up her
N29 0280 13    thighs, and Feathertop's music pffft-ed away. "Now
N29 0290  2    that is a very nice, a very nice", he murmured to himself,
N29 0300  8    back in his corner.
N29 0310  1       A little thing, but the right twist for the action
N29 0310 10    that counted. Hot, that was the word, hot! Hair like
N29 0320  8    a morning-frightened sparrow's wings, with the sun
N29 0330  5    shining down over them. A poet, yet! His thoughts for
N29 0340  2    the swanlike neck, the full, high breasts, the slim
N29 0340 11    waist, and the long legs were less than poetic, however.
N29 0350  9       Zingggg-O!
N29 0360  1       Then the boy straight-armed himself up, twisting
N29 0360  9    at the last moment so he landed sitting.
N29 0370  6       He was less to see, but Feathertop took him in,
N29 0380  4    too, just to keep the records straight.
N29 0380 11       Curly hair, high cheekbones, wide gnomelike mouth,
N29 0390  7    a pair of drummer's blocky hands, and a body that said
N29 0400  8    well, maybe I can wrestle you for ten minutes- but
N29 0410  4    then I'm finished.
N29 0410  7       "We made it, Cappy", the chick said.
N29 0420  4       "Yeah, seems so, don't it", the boy laughed, hugging
N29 0430  3    her close.
N29 0430  5       "Ah-ah"! Feathertop interrupted, standing up, brushing
N29 0440  4    the pig offal from his dirty pants. "None of that.
N29 0450  4    We run a respectable house here".
N29 0450 10       They whirled and saw him, standing there dim in
N29 0460  8    the slatted light from the boarded freight wall. He
N29 0470  4    was big, and filthy, and his toes stuck out of the
N29 0480  2    flapping tops of his shoes. He held the black plastic
N29 0480 12    kazoo lightly.
N29 0490  1       "Come sit", said Feathertop, motioning them toward
N29 0500  1    him. "That crap is softer over here".
N29 0500  8       The girl smiled, and started forward. The boy yanked
N29 0510  6    her back hard, tugging her off her feet, and gathered
N29 0520  4    her into the crook of his arm.
N29 0520 11       "Now stay with me, Kitty", he snapped irritably.
N29 0530  7    "I vowed to take care of you- and that's what I'm gonna
N29 0540  6    do. We don't know this guy".
N29 0550  1       "Oooo, square bit", Feathertop screwed his face
N29 0550  8    up. This guy was strictly from Outsville. But nowhere!
N29 0560  8       "What is with this vow jazz"? Feathertop inquired,
N29 0570  8    lounging against the freight's vibrating wall.
N29 0580  5       "We- we eloped", Cappy said. His head came up and
N29 0590  7    he said it defiantly.
N29 0590 11       "Well, congratulations". Feathertop made an elaborate
N29 0600  6    motion with his hand. These two were going to be easy
N29 0610  8    pickins. They couldn't have much dough, but then none
N29 0620  5    of the freight-bums Feathertop rolled had much. And
N29 0630  3    besides, the chick had a little something the others
N29 0630 12    didn't have. That was gonna be fun collecting!
N29 0640  8       But not just yet. Feathertop was a connoisseur.
N29 0650  6    He liked to savor his meat before he tasted it. "Come
N29 0660  5    sit", he repeated, motioning to the piled hay bags,
N29 0670  3    over the pig leavings. "I'm just a poor ex-jazz man,
N29 0670 14    name of- uh- Boyd Smith". He grinned at them wolfishly.
N29 0690  1       "That ain't your name, Mister", the boy accused.
N29 0690  9       "And you know- you're right"! Feathertop aimed a
N29 0700  8    finger at him.
N29 0710  2       "Oh, come on, Cappy", the girl chided. "He's okay.
N29 0720  2    He's a nice guy". She started to move toward the hay
N29 0720 13    bags, dragging the reluctant Cappy behind her.
N29 0730  7       Feathertop watched the smooth scissoring of her
N29 0740  6    slim, trim legs as she walked to the bags, and tucked
N29 0750  3    them beneath her, smoothing the skirt out in a wide
N29 0750 13    circle. He cleared his throat; it had been a long,
N29 0760 10    hot while since he'd seen anything as nice as this
N29 0770  7    within grabbin' distance.
N29 0780  1       He had it all doped, of course. Slug the kid, grab
N29 0780 12    his dough- at least enough to get to Philadelphia-
N29 0790  6    and then have a rockin' ball with the doll. Hmm- diddle!
N29 0800  6       "Where'd you come from, Mr&- uh- Mr& Smith"? Kitty
N29 0810  4    inquired politely.
N29 0820  1       "Where from"? he mused. "Out. I been riding train
N29 0820  9    for a ways now".
N29 0830  2       They lapsed into silence, and the freight wallowed
N29 0830 10    up a hill, scooted down the other side, shaking and
N29 0840 10    clanking to itself.
N29 0850  1       After a while, Kitty murmured something to Cappy,
N29 0850  9    and he held her close, answering, "We'll just have
N29 0860  7    to wait till we pull into Philly, honey".
N29 0870  3       "What's the matter, she wanna go the bathroom"?
N29 0880  2    Ernie found it immensely funny.
N29 0880  7       The boy scowled at him, and the girl looked shocked.
N29 0890  8       "No! Certainly not, I mean, no that isn't what I
N29 0900  8    said"! she snapped at him. "I only said I was hungry.
N29 0910  7    We haven't had anything to eat all day".
N29 0920  2       Joviality suffused Feathertop Ernie Cargill's voice
N29 0930  1    as he reached behind him, pulling out a battered carpet
N29 0930 11    bag, with leather handles. "Whyn't ya say so, fellow
N29 0940  8    travelers! Why, we got dinner right here. C'mon, buddy,
N29 0950  7    help me set up the kitchen and we'll have food in a
N29 0960  6    minute or two".
N29 0960  9       Cappy looked wary, but he moved off the floorboards
N29 0970  7    and followed the dirty ex-musician to the center of
N29 0980  4    the refuse-littered boxcar.
N29 0980  8       Ernie crouched and opened the carpet bag. He took
N29 0990  7    out a small packet filled with bits of charcoal, a
N29 1000  3    deep pot of thin metal, some sheets of newspaper, a
N29 1000 13    book of matches and a wrinkled and many-times folded
N29 1010 10    piece of tin foil with holes in it. He put the charcoal
N29 1020  8    in the pot, lit the paper with the matches, and carefully
N29 1030  4    stretched the tin foil across the top of the pot.
N29 1040  1       "A charcoal pit, man", he said, indicating the
N29 1040  9    slightly-smoking
N29 1050  1    makeshift brazier. "Fan it", he told Cappy, handing
N29 1050  9    him a sheet of newspaper.
N29 1060  5       "Yeah, but what're we gonna eat? Charcoal"?
N29 1070  2       "Fella", Ernie waggled a dirty finger at the younger
N29 1080  3    man, "you try my ever-lovin' patience". He reached
N29 1090  1    once more into the carpet bag and brought up a package
N29 1090 12    of wieners.
N29 1100  1       "Hot dogs, man. Not the greatest, but they stick
N29 1100 10    to your belly insides".
N29 1110  2       He ripped down the cellophane carefully, and laid
N29 1120  1    three dogs on the tin foil. Almost immediately they
N29 1120 10    began to sizzle. He looked up and grinned.
N29 1130  6       "A Kroger's self-serve", he explained. "I self served".
N29 1140  5    ##
N29 1140  6    WHEN THEY HAD LICKED the last of the wieners' taste
N29 1150  6    from their fingers, they settled back, and Cappy offered
N29 1160  4    Ernie a cigarette. Nice kid, Ernie thought, too bad.
N29 1170  3       "How come you're riding the rods, kids like you"?
N29 1180  1    Ernie asked.
N29 1180  3       Cappy looked down at his wide hands, and did not
N29 1190  3    reply. But surprisingly, Kitty's face came up and she
N29 1190 12    said, "My father. He didn't want us to get married.
N29 1200 10    So we ran away".
N29 1210  1       "Why didn't he want you to get hitched"?
N29 1220  1       This time even she did not answer. She looked down
N29 1220 11    at her hands, too. After a few seconds, she said, "Dad
N29 1230  8    didn't like Cappy. It was my fault".
N29 1240  3       Cappy's head came around sharply. "Your fault, hell!
N29 1250  2    It was all my fault. If I'd been careful it never woulda"-
N29 1260  3    he stopped abruptly.
N29 1260  6       Ernie's eyebrows went up. "What's the matter"?
N29 1270  3       The girl still did not raise her eyes, but she added
N29 1280  5    simply, "I'm pregnant".
N29 1280  8       Cappy raged at himself. "Oh he was stupid, her old
N29 1290  9    man! You never heard nothin' like it: Kitty's gonna
N29 1300  5    go have an abortion, and Kitty's gonna go away to a
N29 1310  6    convent, and Kitty's this and Kitty's that **h like
N29 1320  2    he was nuts or somethin', y'know"?
N29 1320  8       Ernie nodded. This was a slightly different matter.
N29 1330  7    He remembered Midge, and the child. But that had been
N29 1340  6    a time before all this, a time he didn't think about.
N29 1350  3    A time before the white lightning and the bumming had
N29 1360  1    turned him inside out. But these kids weren't like
N29 1360 10    him.
N29 1360 11       Oh crap! he thought, Pull out of it, old son. These
N29 1370 11    are just another couple of characters to roll. What
N29 1380  7    they got, you get. Now forget all this other.
N29 1390  4       "Wanna drink"? Ernie offered, taking the pint of
N29 1400  4    sweet lucy from his jacket pocket.
N29 1400 10       "Yeah. Now that you offer". The answer came from
N29 1410  8    the open door of the boxcar. From the man who had leaped
N29 1420  7    in from the high bank outside, as the train had slowed
N29 1430  3    on the grade.
N29 1430  6       Ernie stared at the man. He was big. Real big, with
N29 1440  5    shoulders out to here, and hair all over him like a
N29 1450  2    grizzly. Road gang, Ernie thought.
N29 1460  3       "You gonna give me a drink, fella"? the big man
N29 1470  8    asked again, taking a step into the boxcar.
N29 1480  2       Ernie hesitated a moment. This character could break
N29 1490  1    him in half. "Sure", he said, and lifted the pint to
N29 1490 12    his own lips. He guzzled down three-quarters of the
N29 1500  8    strong home-blend and proffered the remainder. The
N29 1510  4    man stalked toward them, his big boots heavy on the
N29 1520  3    wooden flooring. He took the bottle with undue belligerence,
N29 1530  1    and making sucking noises with his thick lips, drained
N29 1530 10    it completely.
N29 1540  1       He threw his head back, closed his eyes, and belched
N29 1540 11    ferociously. He belched again, and opening his eyes,
N29 1550  8    threw the bottle out the open door.
N29 1560  3       "Well, now", he said, and reached into his pocket.
N29 1570  1    "I didn't know I was gonna have company in this car".
N29 1580  1       "We're going to Philadelphia", Kitty said, pulling
N29 1580  8    her skirt down around her legs all the more.
N29 1590  8       "No, I don't think so", said the big man, and it
N29 1600  8    was the final clincher for Ernie. He had suspected
N29 1610  3    this guy was trouble, and now he was sure of it.
N29 1620  1       "Maybe you and me will, girlie, but these two ain't
N29 1620 11    goin' nowhere".
N29 1630  1       He advanced on them, and abruptly there was a shocked
N29 1640  1    electricity in the car. Ernie was screaming inside
N29 1640  9    himself: No, damn you, you ain't gonna take my meal
N29 1650  9    ticket away from me!
N29 1660  1       The newcomer stalked toward them, and Kitty shied
N29 1660  9    back, her hand to her mouth. Her scream split up the
N29 1670  9    silence of the car, accompanied by the rattling of
N29 1680  5    the freight, and then Cappy came off the floor, his
N29 1690  2    legs driving him hard. The kid hit the bigger man with
N29 1690 13    an audible thwump! and carried him backward in a footballer's
N29 1700  9    tackle. They went down in a heap and for a long minute
N29 1710 11    there was nothing to see but flailing arms and legs.
N29 1720  5       The kid showed for an instant, and his arm was cocked
N29 1730  4    back. The fist went down into the pile of flesh, and
N29 1740  1    Ernie heard the bigger man's deeper voice go, "Aaawww"!
N29 1740 10       Then they were tumbling again, and the big man reached
N29 1750 11    into the same pocket he had gone for earlier, and came
N29 1760 10    up with a vicious switchblade.
N29 1770  1       He held the knife aloft an instant- an instant enough
N29 1780  1    to press the stud. The blade came out with a snick!
N29 1780 12    He fisted the knife overhand, and drew back to plunge
N29 1790  9    it into the kid's throat.
N29 1800  1       Kitty screamed insanely and her face was white.
N29 1800  9    She grabbed at Feathertop's sleeve and shrieked, "Help
N29 1810  7    him! Help him! Do something"!