When the water was knee-deep, each man took one of the children in his arms. They braced themselves against the stability of the concrete post, and waited, too tired for panic. They did not talk. Even the children had not talked much since abandoning the car.
It was getting dark. The tramp spoke up suddenly. "Can you pray?"
"Uh—not very well."
"Okay. I'll try, then." He took a deep breath. "Merciful Father, Whose all-seeing eye notes even the sparrow in its flight, have mercy on these Thy unworthy servants. Deliver them from this peril, if it be Thy will." He paused, and then added, "And make it as fast as You can, please. Amen."
The darkness closed in, complete and starless. They could not see the water, but they could feel it and hear it. It was warm—it felt no worse when it soaked their armpits than it had around their ankles. They had the kids on their shoulders now, with their backs braced against the submerged post. There was little current.
Once something bumped against them in the darkness—a dead steer, driftwood, a corpse—they had no way of knowing. It nudged them and was gone. Once he thought he saw a light, and said suddenly to the tramp, "Have you still got that flashlight you swiped from me?"
There was a long silence and a strained voice answered, "You recognized me."
"Of course. Where's the flashlight?"
"I traded it for a drink in Centro.
"But, look, Mac," the voice went on reasonably, "if I hadn't borrowed it, it would be in your car. It wouldn't be here. And if I did have it in my pocket, it'd be soaked and wouldn't work."
"Oh, forget it!"
"Okay." There was silence for a while, then the voice went on, "Pal, could you hold both the kids a while?"
"I guess so. Why?"
"This water is still coming up.. It'll be over our heads, maybe. You hang onta the kids; I'll boost myself up on the post. I'll sit on it and wrap my legs around it. Then you hand me the kids. That way we gain maybe eighteen inches or two feet."
"And what happens to me?"
"You hang onto my shoulders and float with your head out of the water."
"Well—we'll try it."
It worked. The kids clung to the tramp's sides, supported by water and by his arms. The driver hung onto~-the tramp where he could,' first to his belt, then, as the waters rose and his toes no longer touched bottom, to the collar of his coat.
They were still alive.
"I wish it would get light. It's worse in the darkness."
"Yeah," said the tramp. "If it was light, maybe somebody ‘ud see us."
"How?"
"Airplane, maybe. They always send out airplanes, in floods."
He suddenly began to shake violently, as the horror came over him, and the memory of another flood when there had been no rescuing airplanes.
The tramp said sharply, "What's the matter, Mac? Are you cracking up?"
"No, I'm all right. I just hate water."
"Want to swap around? You hold the kids for a while and I'll hang on and float."
"Uh... No, we might drop one. Stay where you are."
"We can make it. The change'll do you good." The tramp shook the children. "Hey, wake up! Wake up, honey—and hold tight."
The kids were transferred to his shoulders while he gripped the post with his knees and the tramp steadied him with an arm. Then he eased himself cautiously onto the top of the post, as the tramp got off and floated free, save for one anchoring hand. "You all right?" he said to the tramp.
The hand squeezed his shoulder in the darkness. "Sure, Got a snootful of water."
"Hang on."
"Don't worry—I will!"
He was shorter than the tramp; he had to sit erect to keep his head out of water. The children clung tightly. He kept them boosted high.
Presently the tramp spoke. "You wearing a belt?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Hold still." He felt a second hand fumbling at his waist, then his trousers loosened as the belt came away. "I'm going to strap your legs to the post. That's the bad part about it; your legs cramp. Hold tight now. I'm going under."
He felt hands under water, fumbling at his legs. Then there was the tension of the belt being tightened around his knees. He relaxed to the pressure. It was a help; he found he could hold his position without muscular effort.
The tramp broke water near him. "Where are you?" the voice was panicky.
"Here! Over here!" he tried to peer into the inky darkness; it was hopeless. "Over this way!" The splashing seemed to come closer. He shouted again, but no hand reached out of the darkness. He continued to shout, then shouted and listened intermittently. It seemed to him that he heard splashing long after the sound had actually ceased.
He stopped shouting only when his voice gave out. Little Laura was sobbing on his shoulder. Tommy was trying to get her to stop. He could tell from their words that they had not understood what had happened and he did not try to explain.
When the water dropped down to his waist, he moved the kids so that they sat on his lap. This let him rest his arms, which had grown almost unbearably tired as the receding water ceased to support the weight of the children. The water dropped still more, and the half dawn showed him that the ground beneath him was, if not dry, at least free from flood.
He shook Tommy awake. "I can't get down, kid. Can you unstrap me?"
The boy blinked and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and seemed to recall his circumstances without dismay. "Sure. Put me down."
The boy loosened the buckle after some difficulty and the man cautiously unwound himself from his perch. His legs refused him when he tried to stand; they let him and the girl sprawl in the mud.
"Are you hurt?" he asked her as he sat up..
"No," she answered soberly.
He looked around. It was getting steadily lighter and he could see the hills to the west; it now appeared that the water no longer extended between the hills and themselves. To the east was another story; the Salton Sea no longer existed as such. An unbroken sheet of water stretched from miles to the north clear to the southern horizon.
His car was in sight; the wash was free of water except for casual pools. He walked down, toward the automobile, partly to take the knots out of his legs, pertly to see if the car could ever be salvaged. It was there that he found the tramp.
The body lay wedged against the right rear wheel, as if carried down there by undertow.
He walked back toward the kids. "Stay away from the car," he ordered. "Wait here. I've got something to do." He went back to the car and found the keys still in the ignition lock. He opened the trunk with some difficulty and got out a short spade he kept for desert mishaps.
It was not much of a grave, just a shallow trench in the wet sand, deep enough to receive and cover a man, but he promised himself that he would come back and do better. He had no time now. The waters, he thought, would be back with high tide. He must get himself and the children to the hills.
Once the body was out of sight, he called out to the boy and the girl, "You can come here now." He had one more chore. There was drift about, yucca stalks, bits of wood. He selected two pieces of unequal length, then dug around in his tool chest for bits of wire. He wired the short piece across the longer, in a rough cross, then planted the cross in the sand near the head of the grave.
He stepped back and looked at it, the kids at his side.
His lips moved silently for a moment, then he said, "Come on, kids. We got to get out of here." He picked up the little girl, took the boy by the hand, and they walked away to the west, the sun shining on their backs.