human
How far is it to your home and to your mother?
gpt
About three miles; but I can carry you so easily that I am sure--
human
Too far, the wounded man broke in impatiently.
gpt
I might die before I got there. No, this shall be my deathbed--the soft green grass, canopied by the blue skies--a fitting end, a fitting end,
human
Come, come, and Thure tried to make his voice sound cheery and full of hope.
gpt
Never say die, until you are dead. Just wait until we get home and mother will put new life into you. Now, I'll get on my horse, and Bud will lift you up into my arms, and we'll be home before you know it,
human
No, come back, and the miner impatiently lifted himself up on one elbow.
gpt
Come back. I have no time to waste riding three miles for a deathbed. I-- Again the keen eyes searched the faces of the two boys.
human
I have much to say and little time in which to say it. Get that bearskin off your horse and make me as comfortable as possible on it. And be quick about it; for I am going fast, and, before I go, I want to make you two boys my heirs for saving me from those two villains. The cowardly curs! They hit me from behind! and again the eyes flamed with anger.
gpt
They got the gold I had with me and they got me; but they did not get the secret of Crooked Arm Gulch, nor learn how to find its Golden Elbow. Curse them! If I could but live, I'd--But, what's the use? and he sank back white-lipped on the grass.
human
That knife stab in the breast has done for me. And just when the golden key that unlocks all the doors of pleasure and power was tight-gripped in my very fingers! Just my luck! But, and the look of somber resignation came back into the pain-racked eyes,
gpt
I'll not die like a snarling, whining coyote. I'll meet death, as I have met life--face to face, with both eyes wide open. Now, and he turned to Bud, who had hurried to his horse and, unloosening the bear-skin, had hastened back with it and spread it out on the grass, soft hair up, by the side of the wounded man,