"I see it. A—a man! He's hanging from the tree there, Biddy. He's killed himself—or somebody has—"
"But nobody is around. I wonder who it is." Biddy's heels beat a veritable tattoo on Buck's little flanks and the burro went into a reluctant trot. Closer they came, closer, until Biddy cried, "Davey—Davey—it's Joe hanging there!"
"You mean the man we're going to find?"
"Yes—yes. He's dead! Davey—somebody did this. Joe would never—"
"That's not important now. See if it's too late!"
Biddy slid off Buck and ran to the tree. She could just reach the waist of the hanging figure. She began to cry and turned a streaming face to Davey. "I—I can't help him! I can't even reach! There's nothing I can do!"
"And I'm helpless too!" Davey had tears in his eyes too—tears of anger as he reached for his two canes and tried to struggle from the jeep.
"You can't, Davey! You'll hurt yourself!"
Davey stopped. "Wait a minute, Biddy. Do you think you could climb the tree and go out on the limb and cut the rope?"
"I haven't got any knife."