He wasn’t bluffin’, he was simply desp’rit. “You’ll have to walk with us,” sez I; “come on.”
Tank took one arm, an’ I took the other, an’ we started forth. For the first hour he hung back, and then he began to step out on his own hook. When we rested at noon, he was the freshest one of us. Tank an’ I had ridin’ boots, an’ ridin’ muscles; while he had walkin’ shoes, an’ no muscles at all worth mentionin’. “I can play at this game as well as any one,” sez Horace, chewin’ a blade o’ grass, an’ lookin’ proud of himself.
Tank was purty well fussed up; he wasn’t workin’ out any theories, he had just come along to help pester Horace an’ have a little amusement; but it began to appear to him that his fun was comin’ high-priced.
By nightfall we was all tol’able hungry; but Horace was so set up over bein’ able to put over a full day’s walk on nothin’ to eat that he was purty speechy, an’ it was nine o’clock before he went to sleep. As soon as he had dropped off, I went down to meet Spider Kelley an’ get the grub he had brought out for me ’n’ Tank. He said ’at the other boys wasn’t braggin’ none about their trip the night before; but they were all ready to roast me an’ Tank as soon as we got in. We’d had it fixed that Spider an’ the rest was to take turns worryin’ Horace on the back trip; but Spider said that it looked to him as if I’d win the bet anyway, so he intended to play neutral from that on. As soon as me an’ Tank had eaten, we turned in, an’ all of us slept like logs.
[CHAPTER ELEVEN—BENEFITS OF FASTING]
The next day Horace walked easier ’n any of us. Now I’m tellin’ this to ya straight ’n’ you can believe it or not just as ya please; but that little cuss stepped right along, began to notice the scenery, an’ even cracked a few jokes now an’ again; while me an’ Tank just plodded with our minds fixed on the meal we were goin’ to get that night. Horace had give up all thought o’ meals, so they didn’t pester him any.
At the end of the third day Horace had lost his appetite complete. Friar Tuck had swore that hunger didn’t worry a man more ’n three days, an’ sure enough, it didn’t. Horace didn’t care whether he ever et again or not. He’d get a little dizzy when he’d start out, an’ once in a while he’d feel a bit fainty; but as far as bein’ ravenous went, me an Tank had him beat a mile.
“Where is the joke o’ this fool trip?” growled Tank to me on the evenin’ of the fourth day as we were eatin’ the supper Spider Kelley had brought out. “He ain’t a human at all, Horace ain’t; he’s a reptile, an’ can live without food.”
Spider was tickled a lot, and said he didn’t care if he did lose his bet, that it was worth it to find how everlastin’ tough a little half-hand like Horace could be when drove to it. I’d been thinkin’ it over all day, but I didn’t say anything.
Friar Tuck had said it was a question of will power, more ’n anything else: that if a man just held his thoughts away from food it wouldn’t bother him; but if he kept thinkin’ of it, the digestin’ juices would flow into his stomach an’ make him think he was starvin’; so I was minded to try a new plan next day.