Although Briggs was past middle age, he was as strong as any man in the country, and this, added to his insane fury, would have made him more than a match for any professional wrestler in the world. Rex was not particularly strong, but he was fighting for his life, and for the life of Nan Lane, and he clung to Briggs like a burr.
He had his left arm around Briggs’s neck, his right locked beneath Briggs’s right arm-pit, the while his knees dug into the small of Briggs’s back. Briggs managed to get hold of Rex’s left ankle with his left hand, but Rex promptly locked his other leg around Briggs’s waist, spurring him in the stomache.
Rex’s grip around Briggs’s neck was shutting off his wind; so he let loose of the ankle, using both hands to tear Rex’s arm away from his throat. It gave Rex a chance to release his right arm, but before he could do anything, Briggs had caught his left wrist with his left hand, reached back with his right, grasping Rex’s shoulder, and flung him ten feet away.
Rex landed on one knee, his left arm numb to the shoulder. For several moments Briggs stood there, as though trying to get his balance. Perhaps his disordered brain caused him to forget what was going on for a moment. Rex had got back to his feet now, silhouetted against the light from the fire.
Nan had heard the scuffle and was trying to see what it meant. Then Briggs laughed harshly and started toward Rex, who began backing toward the fire. He did not care to get caught again in those vise-like hands.
Briggs did not hurry. Perhaps he realized that Rex could not escape him, and was playing with him. Nan uttered no sound, as the two men came into the firelight. Rex’s shirt had been almost torn from his body, and one cheek was bleeding from a rasping contact with the wall of the cave.
Rex glanced behind him. There was not much farther he could go. He tried to edge to the left, but Briggs blocked him. It was only a matter of moments before he would be caught. Suddenly he remembered the gun.
‘Nan—the gun!’ he panted. ‘Near the entrance—he dropped it, Nan!’
Briggs shifted his eyes to Nan. He was close enough to stop her if she started. But as he shifted his eyes Rex sprang to the side of the cave, trying to get past Briggs.
But he was not successful. As quick as a flash, Briggs reached out and caught part of Rex’s torn sleeve. Rex tried to back away, but the cave wall was too close. Briggs was slightly crouched, and as he yanked Rex toward him, the young man struck with every ounce of his body in a sweeping uppercut, which caught Briggs flush on the point of the chin.