He would have done it, probably, would have crowded past Bassett on
the narrow trail and headed back toward capture, but for his horse. It
balked and whirled on the ledge, but it would not pass Bassett. Dick
swore and kicked it, his face ugly and determined, but it refused
sullenly. He slid out of the saddle then and tried to drag it on, but he
was suddenly weak and sick. He staggered. Bassett was off his horse in
a moment and caught him. He eased him onto a boulder, and he sat there,
his shoulders sagging and his whole body twitching.
"Been drinking my head off," he said at last. "If I had a drink now I'd
straighten out." He tried to sit up. "That's what's the matter with me.
I'm funking, of course, but that's not all. I'd give my soul for some
whisky."' "I can get you a drink, if you'll come on about a mile," Bassett coaxed.
"At the cabin you and I talked about yesterday."
"Now you're talking." Dick made an effort and got to his feet, shaking
off Bassett's assisting arm. "For God's sake keep your hands off me," he
said irritably. "I've got a hangover, that's all."
He got into his saddle without assistance and started off up the trail.
Bassett once more searched the valley, but it was empty save for a deer
drinking at the stream far below. He turned and followed.
He was fairly hopeless by that time, what with Dick's unexpected
resistance and the change in the man himself. He was dealing with
something he did not understand, and the hypothesis of delirium did
not hold. There was a sort of desperate sanity in Dick's eyes. That
statement, now, about drinking his head off--he hadn't looked yesterday
like a drinking man. But now he did. He was twitching, his hands shook.
On the rock his face had been covered with a cold sweat. What was
that the doctor yesterday had said about delirium tremens? Suppose he
collapsed? That meant capture.
He did not need to guide Dick to the cabin. He turned off the trail
himself, and Bassett, following, saw him dismount and survey the ruin
with a puzzled face. But he said nothing. Bassett waiting outside to tie
the horses came in to find him sitting on one of the dilapidated chairs,
staring around, but all he said was: "Get me that drink, won't you? I'm going to pieces." Bassett found his
tin cup where he had left it on a shelf and poured out a small amount of
whisky from his flask.