Wilson wanted to say something to themThey were... Wilson wanted to say something to themThey were good men, he thoughtThey didn't have to carry him this far"Ah 'preciate what you done, men," he mumbledHe had to give them something
"Listen, men, they's a goddam little still Ah been wantin' to build out in the woods yonder some'eres, on'y damn trouble is we never stay put long enoughBut Ah'm gonna git it goin' A last facsimile of enthusiasm worked in himHe believed himself while he spoke"Ain't any 'mount of money a man cain't make ifen he gits one set upJus' turn it out, an' have all y' want to drink yourself He was drifting, and he forced himself back"But Ah git one made soon as we git back, an' Ah'll give you men a
cartier tank must canteenful of it each There was no expression on their gaunt faces, and he shook his headIt wasn't much to offer for what they'd done"Men, Ah'll give ya all y' want to drink anytime, don' matter a goddamYou jus' ast me for it an' it'll be yours He believed all of it; his only regret was that he had not built it already His belly dropped again, and then a spasm seized him, and he slid backward into unconsciousness, grunting once with surprise as he felt himself turning overHis tongue protruded, and his breath gave a last rasping soundHe rolled out of the litter
They pushed him backGoldstein picked up Wilson's wrist and searched for a pulse, but his fingers felt too weak to support the
replicas de bolsas armHe dropped it, and then prodded with his forefinger along the flesh of Wilson's wristBut his fingertips were too bluntedHe could not feel the skinAfter a while he just looked at him
"Yeah," Ridges mumbledHe sighed, thought vaguely of praying Goldstein reeled through the shock, balanced for a moment in his mind all the unutterables
"We might as well be goin'," Ridges mumbledHe stood up heavily, and began to fit the litter straps over his shouldersGoldstein hesitated, and then followed himWhen they were ready, they staggered out onto the flat shallow falls of the river and began moving downstream
They did not think there was anything odd about moving this way with a dead
black quilted bag manThey were too accustomed to picking him up at the end of each halt; the only thing they understood was that they must carry himEven more, neither of them really believed he was deadThey knew it but they did not believe itIf he had shouted for water they would not have been surprised
They even talked about what they would do with himIn one of the breaks Ridges said, "When we git him back, we'll give him a Christian burial 'cause he repented And even so they talked without feeling the wordsGoldstein did not want to realize Wilson was dead; he held his mind away from the knowledge rigidly, thinking of nothing, merely sloshing forward through the shallow water upstream, his
gucci book bags shoes sliding on the flat smooth rocksThere was something he could not face once he understood
And Ridges was bewildered tooHe was not convinced Wilson had begged for forgiveness; it was all jumbled in his mind, and he fastened on the thought that if he could get Wilson back, get him buried decently, the conversion would takeAnd more, both of them felt a natural frustration with having carried him this far only to dieThey wanted to complete their odyssey with success
Very slowly now, more slowly than they had moved at any time, they shambled through the water, the litter swaying between themOverhead the trees and foliage met; as before, the river wound a tunnel through the
second hand chanel jungle