“Mary deceived you, with my knowledge,” confessed Shonto. “Her ankle isn’t sprained. She has a broken rib. She could never crawl through that chaparral. It would break her in two, almost. But she can walk in an erect position, after a fashion, with me to help her. Anyway, there’s nothing else to be done; we’ll have to try it. And Andy—”
“Why did Mary Temple tell me she had a sprained ankle when she had broken her rib?” demanded Charmian.
“She wanted to force you and me into the wilderness together,” explained Shonto, without a sign of contrition. “That’s what I believe now. I know she doesn’t approve of Andy Jerome as a husband for you. And she has hinted that she wants you to marry me. That’s frank enough, isn’t it? But she told me that she was afraid of putting a stop to your expedition if she confessed to a broken rib. She knew that she could walk with her rib broken—see?—and thought that you would insist on taking her back and spoiling the fun. But if she pleaded a sprained ankle, you would imagine that she couldn’t walk one way or the other, and it would be just as well to leave her there until she could walk again, while you went on with your hunt for the valley. It worked out to her satisfaction, as you see.”
“And now you think she deliberately planned to get you and me to continue the trip together?”
“I’m afraid so,” smiled Shonto, “though I give my word it didn’t occur to me at the time. I never gave a thought to the old trick of making one person think he has had a square deal in drawing straws by the use of two whole matches. You see, there was no short match for Andy to draw. Both matches were whole. The one who drew the long straw was elected to stay in the cañon. When Andy saw that he had drawn an entire match, he didn’t think to ask to see the other one, but considered himself defeated then and there.”
“I think it was abominable of Mary Temple!” the girl said sharply.
“Perhaps it was so,” admitted Shonto. “Nevertheless, the fact remains that she was, and always is, working for what she thinks your best interests. And it struck me as almost noble of her to feign a sprained ankle in order to keep you on the quest. Sending me out with you occurred to her later, I think. At the time she played only to keep your expedition moving—and it called for a certain amount of sacrifice for a crippled, middle-aged woman to remain in that deep cañon all alone.”
Charmian made no further comment on Mary’s well-meant perfidy. She thought deeply for a long time, and when she spoke she reverted to a question that still remained unanswered:
“Why can’t Andy go out with the rest of us if he is able to get to the Valley of Arcana?”
“It will require a great deal more time for us to get out with the crippled Mary than it will for Andy to find you here,” Shonto explained. “And he might— It might happen that he would succumb on the way. Andy Jerome, Charmian, is an experiment. I know that he can hold out for three or four days, but how much longer I don’t know, because I’ve never experimented with him to the extent of shutting off his medicine to find out. Andy is my friend—his family have been my friends for many years. So I really don’t know what would happen if we were many days on the back trail or if a blizzard came on and left us storm-bound in the mountains. But here in the Valley of Arcana, where everything is smiling and there will be an abundance of food for some time to come, he will be safe with you to care for him. I simply can’t risk taking him out.”