He backed away from the fire, keeping them covered with the gun.
Away from the firelight the darkness was intense.
‘No!’ he grunted. ‘The woman goes first.’
Even through his twisted brain was a strain of intelligent cunning. He realized that he could not control both of them in the darkness. He moved back closer to Rex, peering at him closely.
‘You stay here,’ he ordered. ‘You move and I’ll kill yuh.’
‘I won’t move,’ promised Rex.
‘Don’t move. I’ll come back for you. If you go away, I’ll find yuh. You can’t get away.’
He grasped Nan by the shoulder and shoved her ahead of him out into the blackness of the cañon. Rex dropped on his knees beside the fire, piling on more wood. His brain was in a whirl. This crazy man was taking Nan away, and he was letting her go.
In an access of fury at himself he flung a stick into the fire, sending up a shower of sparks, and for the first time in his life he cursed openly, bitterly. From far up the cañon came the leering laughter of the crazy Briggs.
Then something snapped in the brain of the young man at the fire, and he ran headlong up the cañon, bruising himself against boulders, being whipped across the face with branches, falling headlong at times.