Chapter XIII
A Son of the Solitudes
Wonderingly Howard watched the man come on. For a moment he believedthat the new-comer had gone both mad and blind. For the roving eyeswere terrible to look into, black pools of misery, and the mouth wasdistended and the stumbling feet did not turn aside for scrub-brush orrock. From the waist up the gaunt coppery body was naked; of a raggedpair of overalls held up by a rawhide thong one leg was gone; the feetwere bare.
'Hey there, _companero_,' called Howard. 'Where are you going?'
It was no longer a question of breed or Indian now. Despite the grimethat made a mask over the face the features were unmistakably those ofa pure-bred Hopi; the shape of the body that of the desert Indian. Hehad the small shoulders, the thin arms and the powerful iron legs ofhis people. He was passing only a dozen steps from Howard. He stoppedat the sound of the voice, stared wildly and then sagged on by. Howardcalled again and then followed, bewildered. The Indian fell twicebefore he came to the spot where there should be water. Here he wentdown on his stomach, putting his face down as though to drink. Howardheard him groan when the bleared eyes saw that instead of water therewas but blazing hot sand. The Indian made no other sound but merelyrolled over on his back and lay very still, eyes shut, jaw dropping,hands lax at his sides.
'You poor devil!' muttered Howard.
He came to the prostrate figure. Now he noted that from thestring-belt there hung at one hip a little buckskin bag; it might haveheld a handful of dried meat. Tied at the other hip was a bundle offeathers that made gay colour against the grey monotony, feathers ofthe bluebird, the redbird, blackbird and dove. Scabbardless, tied witha bit of thong close to the feathers, was a knife with a long blade.
The Indian's chest heaved spasmodically; his breath came in dry gasps.Howard stooped over him and called to him softly. The eyes flew openand, after a heavy gathering of the brows bespeaking the effort made,focussed upon Howard's.
'_Agua_,' pleaded the swollen lips.
Howard took up a sardine tin, the contents of which he had eaten whilehe rested, and, very careful not to spill a drop of the pricelessfluid, poured it half full from his canteen. Then he knelt and put anarm about the gaunt body, lifting it a little, offering the water tothe broken lips. Now he noted that the cloth about the black head ofhair was stained with blood.
He had expected the man to drink thirstily. Instead, manifesting adisplay of will power such as the white man had never seen, the Indiantook the water slowly, held it a moment in his mouth, swallowed it dropby drop.
'More,' he said when the tin was emptied.
Again Howard filled it. Now the Indian sat upright alone and drank.Afterwards he looked at Howard with a long, piercing regard. A secondtime he said 'More.'
Howard with his finger indicated how low his water was.
'Not much water, _companero_,' he said quietly. 'Pretty soon all gone.'
'No more?' queried the Indian sharply.
Howard poured out the third small tin; altogether he was giving thepoor devil only about a cupful when a quart would have been allinadequate. Again the keen black eyes that seemed clearer now and likea bird's probed at him. Again and as before, the Indian drank.
'Me Kish Taka,' he announced slowly and with a certain dignity. 'Comefar, head hurt, much sick, much blood. Pretty soon, no water, die.Now, pretty good.'
Howard grunted. That a man in this fellow's shape should declarehimself as being 'pretty good' was worth any man's snort. He looked asthough he would be dead in ten minutes as he lay back and shut hiseyes. With his eyes still shut, the Indian spoke again:
'You _sabe_ other water-hole?'
'No. I found it dry.'
'Kish Taka _sabe_ water-hole. Sleep now, damn tired, damn hot, headsick. Sun go down, get cold, Kish Taka go there, you come, get water.'
'Where?' demanded Howard quickly. 'How far?' For he was half inclinedto believe that if Kish Taka went to sleep now he would never wake.
The long, thin arm pointed out to the south-west.
'Not too far,' he said. 'Two big high mountain, some tree, waterthere. Maybe twenty-five mile.'
'Good God!' exclaimed Howard. 'Twenty-five miles! Might as well be athousand!'
The Indian did not answer. He was breathing regularly, his lips wereclosed. For five minutes Howard stood looking down upon him and thenhe tiptoed a few yards away; Kish Taka was evidently asleep. Howardset his canteen down in the shade of a bush, found another bush forhimself, and lay as the Indian was lying, on his back, relaxing hisbody. He did not regret having shared his water with an Indian, but hewondered why his destiny at this time of need had sent to him anotherthirsty mouth. Further, he allowed himself to wonder soberly if hewould ever see his green fields again. He measured his chances with asteady mind, and in the end his mouth grew sterner.
'If I've got to cash in this way,' he muttered as his own sort ofprayer, 'I hope I can be as game about it as Kish Taka.'
It struck him that in one thing the Indian was wise. It was as well torest now until after sunset and then to start on again in what coolnessthe evening might afford. Further, it was not in him now to get up andsling his canteen on his back and go on, leaving the fellow wayfarerwhom his fate had given him. He would try to sleep a little, though hehad little enough hope of coaxing the blissful condition of rest andunconsciousness to him. But, physically tired, lulled by the greatstillness, it was but a few minutes when he, too, slept heavily.
He woke and sat up. The day had gone, the stars were out, the air wascool against his cheek. He got to his feet and went to the spot wherehe had left the Indian, half expecting to find the man dead. Insteadhe found no man at all. He looked about him; there was light enough tosee objects at a considerable distance. The desert seemed, as it hadseemed all day, empty. He called and got no answer. It was obviousenough that Kish Taka had rested, waked, gone on.
'Got thirsty,' grunted Howard, 'and just trotted over to a spring onlytwenty-five miles off for a drink! That's the Indian for you.'
His own thirst sprang out upon him, clutching him by the throat. Hestepped to the bush where he had left his canteen and groped for it.When he did not find it, he looked elsewhere, supposing that he hadmade a mistake in the bush. When the truth dawned upon him his wholebody grew rigid, he stood motionless, even for a little his lungssuspended their function. His hands clenched; for some reason andapparently without any act of his will, they were lifted slowly untilthey were above his head. Then they came down slowly until they wereat his sides, still clenched hard. It was his only gesture. He didnot speak aloud. Again he stood still. But through his heart and souland brain, sweeping upward and upward, came such a flood of rage as hehad never known. And with it, born of it, came rushing the frenziedcraving to kill. At last came his dry whisper:
'I am going to last long enough to kill you, Kish Taka, and may Goddamn your soul!'
One hand took up his little bundle of food; the, other dropped to thebutt of his revolver. He went swiftly to the spot where he had leftthe Indian whom he had thought half dead. He estimated again and withgreat care the direction which the lean leathery hand had indicated asthe direction of water. Then, walking swiftly, he struck out into thedesert. Here was not the way to Desert Valley, not the way to Quigley.But here was the path for one man to follow when he sought another manwho had wronged him. The fact that his chances of coming up with theIndian were few did not deter the cattleman; the obscurity of night onthe desert did not give him halt or hesitation. The name of his wrathburned high and hot in his brain and in its lurid light he saw hisdesire fulfilled. Had one tried at the moment to reason with him,Howard would have cursed him and gone on. His anger had spurted up ina brain already mad with the torture of thirst.
And yet that brain was clear enough to guide him in the way he wouldgo. He studied the stars, found the north and set his coursepainstakingly. Presently he began to walk less hurriedly, bentsavagely up
on reserving his strength. When there was some object aheadset visibly against the skyline, a hillock or a clump of bushes, helaid his course by it, checking again and again by the stars. When hehad walked an hour he stopped and rested, lighting a match to look athis watch. He allowed himself exactly five minutes and floundered upand went on again. Doggedly he sought to shut his mind to the painstabbing through his weary feet, to the constriction of his throat, tothe ache of his body so sorely and so long punished. When, had mattersbeen different, he might have cried out: 'God, for a drink!' he nowmuttered dully, 'God, put him into my two hands !'
The fine, delicate machinery of a human brain, like any man-mademechanism of great nicety, may readily be thrown into confusion, itsexquisite balance disturbed, its functioning confounded. Thirst,near-exhaustion, severe bodily distress and, on top of all, blood-lustanger made Alan Howard over into another man. He was possessed,obsessed. As the night wore on endlessly he created for himselfvisions; he came a thousand times upon the Indian; he sank his fingersand thumbs into a corded throat; he beat with his fists at the pulp ofa face. He grew accustomed to his own voice, muttering ceaselessly.He heard himself praying as another man; the burden of his prayers wasalways the same: 'Deliver him, O Lord, into mine hands.' He was halfmad for water and he cursed Kish Taka; he drove his body on when theagonized muscles rebelled and, driving mercilessly, he cursed Kish Taka.
Somehow the night passed and through it he staggered on. He fell as hehad seen the Indian fall; he recalled that the Indian had arisen and herose. Each time that he failed in something that he tried to do it wasas though an imp jeered and taunted him, calling to him: 'Ho! TheIndian is a better man. He is off there in the darkness, laughing atyou!'
There came a time when he stumbled at every step, when he pitchedforward frequently and lay inert and had to gather his strength to getup; when he wondered if he was going mad or if already he had gone mad;when his thirst was a killing agony and he knew that it was in truthkilling him; when he crawled on his hands and knees up slight slopes;when the stars danced and he frowned at them stupidly, seeking theNorth Star, seeking to know which way led to Kish Taka. When the firstfaint glint of dawn sweetened the air he was lying on his back; hefelt, rather than saw, that a new day was blossoming. He collected hiswandering faculties, fought with the lassitude which stole upon himwhenever his senses were not on the alert and sat up. And he wouldhave cried out aloud at what he saw were not his throat and mouth andlips so dry that he was beyond calling out. For yonder, a blurredmoving shape came toward him. The shape was a man's, and he knew thatit was Kish Taka.
Somehow he got to his feet, somehow he dragged his revolver out of itsholster, somehow he took a dozen tottering steps forward. He saw thatKish Taka had seen him and had stopped; that the Indian carried hiscanteen; that he was moving again. Howard lifted his gun, holding itin both hands. He was afraid that even now his quarry would escapehim, that Kish Taka would run and that he could not follow. Hisfingers found the trigger and pressed it as he sought to hold thewavering muzzle steady. There was a loud report that seemed to tearhis brain to broken shreds, his arms dropped lax at his sides, therevolver fell, its muzzle burying itself in the sand. His knees saggedand he went down, settling slowly. As he fell he saw that Kish Takawas running--but not away from him. Running like a deer was Kish Taka,running straight to the fallen man.
For the first time in his life, Howard fainted, The pink dawn wentblack in his eyes, his brain reeled, the booming as of a distant surffilled his ears and then unconsciousness engulfed him. When he, knewanything at all it was that he was sitting up, that two thin brown armswere about his body, that water was trickling down his throat.