“The eye. See! It’s gone. Never mind, it’s gone.” He relaxed, and his face turned gray and his eyes closed for a moment, then he said again, “I must go to them.”
“You can’t go. You’re delirious, man.”
Then the stranger’s lips twitched and he almost smiled. “Because I saw it? I saw it watching me. It often is, and it’s not delirium. I can go. I am quite myself.”
That half smile on the young man’s face was reassuring and appealing. The big man could not resist it.
“See here, are you enough yourself to take care of yourself, if I leave you and go after them––whoever they are?”
“Yes, oh, yes.”
“Will you be prudent––stay right here, eat very sparingly? Are they back on the plain? If so, there is a long ride ahead of me, but my horse is fresh. If they are not off the trail by which you came, I can reach them.”
“I did not once leave the trail after––there was no other way I could take.”
“Would they likely stay right where you left them?”