His salvation then was flight. He ran, staggering, stumbling. He plunged forward on his face and heard a bullet scream over him.
"Oh, Captain!" he moaned. "Can't you come and get me? Can't you?"
He snarled his determination to rally those senses that tried to roam off into vagaries. He got to his hands and knees and crawled, inch by inch. He heard another shot, but it went wild. He got to his feet and reeled on. They thought they'd done for him when he fell! He heard himself laughing crazily at the joke.
"Oh, you'll laugh, too—Captain!" he growled. "It's a joke—you'll—if I can only get to—you!"
His numb, lagging legs seemed to make conscious efforts to hold him back. His head became as heavy as his feet and rolled about on his neck, now straight forward, now swinging from side to side. His arms flopped as no arm ever should flop. And he heard the blood bubbling under his vest. Perhaps he would never get there! Perhaps he was done for!
"Oh, no—I can't quit before—I get to—you, Captain!" he muttered as he fell again. "You're waiting—where I told you to wait! I've got to—get—there!"
Of only one thing in this borderland between consciousness and insensibility was he certain—the Captain was waiting. The Captain was waiting! If he could get that far— It was the climax of all things. To reach his horse; to touch him; to put his arms about those ankles as he fell and hold them close; to answer trust with trust. For through all this the Captain had waited!
The shack where he had left the horse swam before his eyes. He heard the breath making sounds in his throat as he crawled on toward it, counting each hand-breadth traveled an achievement. He tried to call out to the horse, but the words clogged and he could not make his voice carry.
"Just a moment, boy!" he whispered. "Only—a moment longer—then you won't have—to wait!"
He was conscious again that his pursuers fired from behind. It was moonlight once more, and they could see him as he reeled on toward the shack. He sprawled again as his foot met a stone, and the guns ceased to crash.