"I burnin' up," said Joe weakly. "Maybe you killin' me. Give me drink water."
"I got you, Joe," said Taggart speculatively. No mockery now; just a vast, deep satisfaction. "I half believe one good kick in the belly would settle you and you'd tell all you know. I got a hunch...."
"Go slow, Jim." This from the avaricious Young Gallup. "No sense killing him, seeing you haven't found out a thing."
"You're right, Gal. Well, give him a drink, then; half a cup of water and let him think things over.... If he opens up then, O. K. If he don't we'll find the way to open him up."
"Let me go to the spring," said Joe. By now he was on his feet. "I was jus' goin' for water when you come. The spring, she's right there. You can see I don't run away...."
"Go scoop him up a can of water, Cliff," said Taggart. "You sit tight, Joe. You don't go out to-night unless we take you out to put you in a hole!"
"Now!" whispered Deveril sharply. "Now we've got to crawl for it!"
But Cliff Shipton demurred, saying surlily:
"I'm tired out, and I'm sore and stiff and stove-up. Let him go without his water."