They lifted Earle and set him down near the fire where he would be comfortable for the night. But Mackenzie made a point of interposing a heavy clump of fuzzy cholla cactus between Earle and the peaks. Setting Earle down he said quietly, “You’ll have to make your own way into the ravine. Drag yourself on your elbows. Take it easy-take all the time you want. And go directly that way. Keep the cactus between you and him. If you keep low enough he can’t see you. It’s only fifteen feet. Remember-keep in a straight line. Crawl to that catclaw, go straight under it, slide right down into the ravine. “Okay?”
“Wait-don’t go yet. Something I want to say.”
Mackenzie glanced at the fire. It would need more wood before they left. Shirley began to sponge Earle down with ash-soap. Earle drew a ragged breath and spoke with matter-of-fact controclass="underline"
“I’ve been thinking about this. Had a long time to think it out. It makes sense, so hear me out and keep your protests to yourselves until I’m finished.”
Mackenzie knew what was coming but he only said, “Go ahead.”
“I’m not going to apologize for being a drag on you. It wasn’t my fault, this damn leg. But we haven’t even got anything to make a crutch out of. You’re going to have to carry me-maybe I can hobble along on one foot for a while but I still need somebody’s shoulder for support. Now you just said we’ll have to cross a lot of the ground pretty low. We’ll have to crouch and crawl. I’m not much good for that, am I. I mean it’s all right sliding ten or fifteen feet from here to that gully but that’s not the same thing as miles and miles.”
Shirley said, “Earle, for heaven’s sake we’re not going to leave you here.”
“I asked you to hear me out. Will you let me finish?”
Mackenzie said, “Go on, Earle.”
“I’ve seen how that plastic distillery contraption works. I assume if you made it smaller it would make less water, but it would still make water. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose you were to cut off one-quarter of the plastic and leave it with me. I’d have enough water to live on. There’s enough dried meat and saltbush and grass around here for me to stay alive for quite a while. I’ve got that pit in the ground to keep me out of the sun. I can live as long as you can-probably longer when it comes right down to it because I’ll be staying put while the rest of you are wearing yourselves out. The Good Lord’s provided for me so far-I think he’ll go on providing. Long enough for you to get out of this desert and get a rescue helicopter to me. Now Sam, that fire can’t burn for more than two or three hours after we leave it. Even if Duggai doesn’t come down here until morning he’s bound to come. He’ll see there’s nobody moving and he’ll come down to see if we’ve died or what. When he finds us missing he’ll start following our tracks. It won’t take him long to catch up, will it. But if I keep the fire burning and he sees me moving around in the morning he won’t have any reason to come down here.”
With baleful triumph Earle leaned his head back against the earth. “That’s what I wanted to say.”
Shirley touched Earle’s chest. She lifted her eyes to Mackenzie. “He may be right.”
“No. I’d thought of it but it won’t work.”
“Why on earth shouldn’t it work?”
“For one thing, Earle hasn’t got enough mobility. We’ve pretty much cleaned out the immediate areas for cactus and saltbush. He’d tear his leg to pieces dragging himself across this ground gathering food. For another thing there isn’t that much meat. Even if we left him all we’ve got it wouldn’t do for more than three or four days-and we won’t be out of here that fast. But the main thing’s Duggai. He’s got a telescope on that rifle. He may have binoculars too. He’ll see it’s only Earle down here. He’ll wonder what’s happened to you and me. When we don’t turn up he’ll come down for a look. He’ll find Earl here alone and I imagine he’d kill Earle before he came looking for us.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Earle. I’m grateful for the offer.”
Shirley was staring off into the night-the dark mass of the hills. Mackenzie had been watching them for the past half hour hoping to see Jay but nothing stirred out there.
Earle said, “Survival of the fittest, Sam. Isn’t it better that he kills one of us than all of us?”
“I don’t think you can quantify that kind of thing,” Mackenzie said. “I want us all to live.”
“I still think my idea gives us the best chance of that.”
Shirley said, “What if I cast my vote with Earle? It’s two against one then.” She regarded Earle gravely.
Mackenzie bit a chapped shred off his lip. “I told you. I’m not putting things to a vote.”
She said, “There’s another alternative, you know.”
Earle looked up. “Let’s hear it.”
“I could stay with Earle.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“It’s the sensible solution, Sam. You know it is.”
“I don’t know anything of the kind.”
“He’ll see the two of us here. If he notices you’re gone he’ll think you’ve only gone looking for Jay. It can give you and Jay time to reach the highway and get help for us.”
“How long do you think he’d stay fooled?”
“Sam, anything’s a risk.”
He fought it bitterly. “You’re talking about suicide.”
“I’m not and you know it. I’m trying to give all of us the best chance. Sam-we don’t know if Jay’s alive or dead. He may be injured. He’s already been out there through the heat of one day. We’ve got to find him as fast as we can-and you know Earle’s right, we can’t move quickly if he goes with us. There’s only one choice. You go alone-find Jay, do what you can for him, take him with you if he’s able. Get to the highway. Isn’t that really the only thing we’ve got left?”
“And suppose Duggai ambushes me. Where does that leave you?”
“No worse off than we are anyway.” She scratched her scalp violently. “You can’t go by that-you can’t decide on the basis of suppositions. What if Duggai comes down here now and shoots us all? The only thing we know is we’ve got to make the best of what we have. Earle’s right. You’ve taught us how to stay alive here. We can do it as long as we have to. The only thing Earle can’t do is move. Now you’ve got to be sensible.”
“I don’t like-”
“What you don’t like is the guilt you’ll feel if you let us out of your sight. You’ll feel you’re not doing your best to protect us. You’ll be abandoning us. You can’t help that feeling, Sam, but it’s the wrong emotion to be guided by. Please try to face that.”
He stood brooding down at her and saw a tentative smile waver across Earle’s tiny lips.
“Shirley’s right, you know.”
His heart resisted it; his mind acquiesced.
He gathered the things he would need. The water pouch, plastic lined: he took half the water from the still. A bag of jerked meat. One of the knives. He took Shirley along the jackrabbit run, pretending to dismantle the snares that didn’t exist any longer; he took her along the slope two hundred yards to a new trail and showed her how to rig them. He spent half an hour talking to her, telling her everything that came to mind-every trifle of information that could contribute to survival. “As you accumulate pelts you’ll get enough to make clothes. Soak them in animal fats and dry them in the shade-they’ll stink for a while but they’ll cure out a little softer that way. Wash them down with soap morning and night. Wear them hair-side in against your skin. You’ll sweat less. And don’t forget to keep feeding the still with cactus.”
He cut the raincoat evenly in half-regretted doing it but if he found Jay alive they’d need that much water. Dug a new pit for the still to accommodate the shrunken plastic roof. Tucked two extra pairs of moccasins under his belt. Knelt down by Earle and examined his wasted face. “Don’t go hopeless. It could be a week-could be two weeks.”