He’d thought about sending Jay back to the others and continuing toward the highway on his own. He’d ruled it out-Jay might be seen by Duggai and that might lead Duggai to search northward for Mackenzie; and with two of them striking for the highway the chances of success were doubled; he had other thoughts as well but he wondered if they were shabby rationalizations-perhaps he wanted to keep Jay away from Shirley.
It was a possibility he had to reckon with, but it came to a choice between guilt and sending Jay back and that was no choice at all. He kept Jay with him.
By evening a great toppling tower of cloud loomed overhead. There was no sunset; the light simply faded from the gray air: sky merged with earth along the uncertain twilit horizons. It was a great boon for them because the clouds obscured nearly all the stars and there was no possibility that Duggai might see them cross the open plain.
As soon as it was dark Mackenzie took Jay in tow and they struck out into the soul-sucking darkness.
24
Those first miles were painfully slow because of the bad light. The clouds pressed residual heat back against the earth; it remained warm for hours. Dust rose into Mackenzie’s eyes and teeth, carried on wanton gusts of eccentric wind. There was a thick dampness in the air but it didn’t bode rain.
They had to pick their way with infinite caution. Several times they blundered against shrubs; twice they had to stop to extract spines from their ankles. A portion of sky to the northeast remained clear for a long time and Mackenzie, having memorized a pattern of stars there, guided on it-kept it ahead of his right shoulder.
There was a range of low mountains ahead of them and he wanted to go around its western flank. Once past that buttress they would be permanently out of Duggai’s sight; but there remained miles to cross.
It was too dark to make out the mountains but Mackenzie knew where they were. They settled down to a flat-footed weary march and he realized they were not likely to get beyond the flats by daybreak. The pace was too slow and in this blackness there was no way to crowd it.
It meant another day holed up under Duggai’s jurisdiction and he wasn’t sure he had the patience for that. They would lose precious hours of cool traveling time: they’d have to stop an hour before first light, dig their pits and get out of sight. If it weren’t for Duggai they’d be able to keep walking at least two hours longer before stopping to dig in; and the digging would go faster by daylight.
He was carrying the water sack and they’d filled it with three or four gallons; it was a heavy burden. Jay had taken all the other accoutrements-these consisted pitifully of the food sack, the two brass knives and the spare moccasins. In the food sack were several pounds of dried pork, the remaining shreds of jackrabbit jerky, a few clots of rocksalt, a pair of small thick clay bowls and the folded square of transparent plastic. Like Punjab beggars they lugged their worldly possessions across the flayed arid landscape.
The clouds tumbled eastward on high winds aloft; along the surface of the earth dust devils whirled and greasewood bushes clattered like cicadas. As the slim moon moved west it passed beyond the thicker body of cloud; it began to throw a hazy glow through the trailing sky-fog and this pittance of illumination helped them move faster: no longer was it necessary to test the ground with a prodding toe before putting one’s weight down. Cactus and rocks became vaguely visible against the paler surface of the desert. Several times Mackenzie stubbed a toe against things unseen but they were making a good walking pace now and he revived his hope of passing the end of the mountain range before first light.
It had been sixteen hours since his body had ingested the first mouthfuls of rocksalt; its beneficence had ramified through his system and the muscles no longer had a tendency to cramp. They had consumed the blood of the javelina, its raw marrow and its sun-dried flesh.
His legs were tired but it was not the loose-kneed weakness he’d got used to. He’d lost a good deal of weight and for a time he’d been feeding on his own muscle but it hadn’t gone beyond restoration. Jay had suffered more because he’d begun with less: now his jut-ribbed gauntness was macabre but he was keeping up with the pace: salt and the meal had revived him.
When they reached the edge of the mountain range he judged the moon’s westward angle and saw no suggestion of light to the east. The clouds had gone on toward Tucson, El Paso, the Gulf.
“We’ll go through the foothills instead of around.”
“Won’t that slow us down?”
“A little. But it’ll put high ground between us and Duggai.”
“Good idea.”
So they climbed, striking through canyons and passes, skirting clumps of sandstone boulders and igneous rock. At the trailing end of the range the foothills were of lackadaisical proportion: above to one side the rock cliffs sprouted and the razor spine of the range stood several thousand feet higher than the plain. The low crumple of foothills bordered the range all round; staying within its folds they pressed on. Where canyons narrowed into deep shadow Mackenzie elected to go up and around rather than through: it made for stiffer going but they had light and it minimized the risk of accident.
With the first spread of morning they paused to eat and drink but they were up again and moving within ten minutes. Mackenzie looked back and had a last brief look at the arid plain that had sustained them. Shirley’s campfire winked ten miles away beyond the flank of Duggai’s hills and Jay said explosively: “Thank God.”
“They’ve made it so far,” Mackenzie agreed. Then they went on across the sandy hogback and when they began to descend its northern slope they were beyond any further view of the plain behind them-and beyond Duggai’s view as welclass="underline" a smile stretched Mackenzie’s lips until the chapped skin split painfully and he felt his shoulders lift as they marched steadily downhill in the growing dawn.
The land out ahead was more of the same and that was no surprise but Mackenzie was vaguely disappointed. In a corner of his hopes had rested the improbable chance that they’d been marooned just out of sight of salvation. All the evidence stood against it but it had remained there until now. The span of sand-whacked plain to the north only fulfilled his expectations but it was enough to sunder the relief he’d felt on discovering Shirley’s fire.
They made good time in the freshening light-down the backslope through inconsequential hills and onto the plain. Rock ranges encircled the district but there was a gap between them to the north and they set out toward that passage. It was six or seven miles away and Mackenzie knew they wouldn’t get that far today but they were making better distance than he’d anticipated. At sunrise he stopped to parcel out a ration of water and searched Jay’s physique until Jay blushed.
“I’m trying to judge how many miles you’ve got left in you.”
“You don’t have to put it brutally.”
“If you look at your skin you’ll see what I mean. The sunburn’s starting to tan. The blisters have gone down on your shoulders.”
Jay tucked in his chin to examine himself. “So?”
“If we can add two or three hours’ walking time to each night we can cut a day off our travel time.”
“You want to keep going a few hours, that it?”
“It won’t get scorching hot for another four hours. If we walk for three hours and dig holes under scrub shade we still should be all right. Then start out again a couple of hours before sunset. If our feet hold out we may make it in three nights.”
“I can stick it as long as you can.” There was jealousy in Jay’s defiance; but he didn’t hold Mackenzie’s glance. “I’m just as eager as you are. If we can shave a day off it’ll make a lot of difference.”