His breath came with a curious spasmodic whistling sound. 'I don't think I can make it to Uaxuanoc,' he whispered. 'You get out of here.'
'Wait!' I said, and went back to the body of the dead man. He was carrying a big water-bottle that held about a half-gallon, arid he had a knapsack. I searched the pockets and came up with matches, cigarettes, a wicked- looking switchblade knife and a few other odds and ends. The knapsack contained a few items of clothing, not very clean, three tins of bully beef, a round, flat loaf about the size of a dinner plate, and a hunk of dried beef, I took all this sniff back to Harry. 'We can eat now,' I said He shook his head slowly. 'I'm not hungry. Get out of here, will you? While you still have time.'
'Don't be a damned fool,' I said. 'I'm not going to leave you here.'
His head dropped on one side. 'Please yourself,' he said, and coughed convulsively, his face screwed up in agony.
It was then I realized he was dying. The flesh on his face had fallen in so that his head looked like a skull and, as he coughed, blood spurted from his mouth and stained the leaves at his side. I couldn't just walk away and leave him. no matter what the danger from the chicleros, so I stayed at his side and tried to encourage him.
He would take no food or water and, for a time, he was delirious; but he rallied after about an hour and could speak rationally. He said. 'You ever been in Tucson, Mr, Wheale?'
'No, I haven't.' I said. 'And my name is Jemmy.'
'Are you likely to be in Tucson?'
I said, 'Yes. Harry; I'll be in Tucson.'
'See my sister,' he said. 'Tell her why I'm not going back.'
'I'll do that,' I said gently.
'Never had a wife,' he said. 'Nor girl-friends -- not seriously. Moved around too much, I guess. But me and my sister were real close.'
'I'll go and see her,' I said. 'I'll tell her all about it.'
He nodded and closed his eyes, saying no more. After half an hour he had a coughing fit and a great gout of red blood poured from his mouth.
Ten minutes later he died.
Ten
They chased me like hounds chase the fox. I've never been much in favour of blood sports and this experience reinforced my distaste because it gave me a very good idea of what it's like to be on the wrong end of a hunt. I also had the disadvantage of not knowing the country, while the hounds were hunting on their home ground. It was a nerve-racking and sweaty business.
It began not long after Harry died. I couldn't do much about Harry although I didn't like just leaving him there for the forest scavengers. I began to dig a grave, using Harry's machete, but I came across rock close to the surface and had to stop In the end I laid him out with his arms folded across his chest and said goodbye.
That was a mistake, of course, and so was the attempt at a grave. If I had left Harry as he was when he died, just a tumbled heap at the foot of a tree, then I might have got clean away. The body of the dead chiclero was found, and so was Harry's body, a little further in the forest; if I had left him alone then Gatt's men might not even have suspected that I existed. But dead men don't attempt to dig their own graves, nor do they compose themselves for their end in such a neat manner, and the hunt was on.
But maybe I'm wrong, because I did take as much loot from the dead chiclero as I could. It was too precious to leave behind. I took his rifle, his pack, the contents of his pockets, a bandolier stuffed with cartridges .and a nice new machete, as sharp as a razor and much better than those I had been using. I would have taken his clothing too, for use as a disguise, had I not heard voices on the trail. That scared me off and I slipped away into the forest, intent on putting as much distance between me and those voices as I could.
I don't know if they discovered the bodies then or at a later time because, in my hurry to get away, I got thoroughly lost for the rest of the day. All I knew was that Gatt's trail to Uaxuanoc was somewhere to the west, but by the time I'd figured that out it was too dark to do anything about it, and I spent the night up a tree.
Oddly enough, I was in better shape than at any time since the helicopter crashed. I had food and nearly three quarts of water. I was more accustomed to moving in the forest and did not have to do as much useless chopping with the machete, and one man can go where two men can't -- especially when one of the two is sick. Without poor Harry I was more mobile. Then again, I had the rifle. I didn't know what I was going to to do with it, but I stuck to it on general principles.
The next morning, as soon as it was light enough to see, I headed west, hoping to strike the trail. I travelled a hell of a long way and I thought I'd made a terrible mistake. I knew if I didn't find that trail then I'd never 'find Uaxuanoc, and I'd probably leave my bones somewhere in the forest when my food and water ran out, so I was justifiably anxious. I didn't find the trail, but I nearly ran into a bullet as someone raised a shout and took a shot at me.
The bullet went high and clipped leaves from a bush, and I took to my heels and got out of there fast. From then on there was a strange, slow-motion chase in the humid green dimness of the forest floor. The bush was so thick that you could be standing right next to a man and not know he was there if he were quiet enough. Imagine putting the Hampton Court maze into one of the big tropical houses at Kew, populating it with a few armed thugs with murder in their hearts, and you in the middle, the object of their unloving attentions.
I tried to move as quietly as I could, but my knowledge of woodcraft dates back to Fenimore Cooper and I wasn't so good at the Silent Savage bit. But then, neither were the chicleros. They crashed about and shouted one to the other, and a couple of shots were loosed off at random but nowhere near me. After a while I began to get over my immediate fright and the conviction grew upon me that if I chose a thickish bit of forest and just stood still I was as likely to get away with it as if I kept on running.
So I did that and stood screened by leaves with my hands sweaty on the rifle until the noise of pursuit disappeared. I didn't move out immediately, either. The greatest danger was the man more brainy than the others who would be doing me same as me -- just standing quietly and waiting for me to come into view. So I waited a full hour before moving, and then, again, I headed west.
This time I found the trail. I burst into it unexpectedly, but luckily there wasn't anyone in sight. I hastily
