human
Jimsy, she managed not to let her teeth chatter,
gpt
No, Skipper, it's not like a 'Frank Merriwell'; he could always _do_ something....
human
Yes--'Blooey, blooey! Fifteen more redskins bit the dust!'
gpt
Skipper, you _wonder_! You brick!
human
Jimsy, I--there's no use talking about things that may never happen, because _of course_ help will get here, but if it should not--if they should rush us, and we couldn't keep them out --her hoarse voice faltered but her eyes held his--
gpt
No, Skipper.
human
Promise, Jimsy?
gpt
Promise, Skipper. 'Cross my heart!'
human
But of course Yaqui Juan got through to the Grants' _hacienda_! Can you imagine him failing us, Jimsy?
gpt
He'll make it if any man living could. The Indian had slipped through the _insurrectos_ in the first hour, as soon as it had been known that the wires were cut. Unless the Grants, too, were besieged, they would be able to telephone for help for _El Pozo_, and if they were likewise in duress, Yaqui Juan would go on to the next _rancho_,--on and on until he could set the wheels of rescue in motion.
human
I wish to God I had his job. _Doing something_----
gpt
Steady, old boy, he said, putting his frail hand on Jimsy's shoulder.
human
Sit tight! We depend on you. And you're doing --he looked at the decanter, as if measuring its contents with his eye--
gpt
If Skipper were only out of this----
human
And whose fault is it that she's in it?
gpt
Why--Cart'!
human
Whose fault is it, I say? Carter followed him.
gpt
If she hadn't been terrified over you, if she hadn't the insane idea of duty and loyalty to you, would she have come? Would she?
human
Good Lord, Cart'--that's the truth! That shows what a mutt I am. It hasn't struck me before. It's all my fault.
gpt
Whatever happens to Honor--_whatever happens to her_--and death wouldn't be the worst thing, would it?--it's your fault. Do you hear what I say? It's all your fault! In all the years since he had known him Jimsy had never seen Carter Van Meter like this,--cool Carter, with his little elegancies of dress and manner, his studied detachment. This was a different person altogether,--hot-eyed, white-lipped, snarling.
human
Your fault if she dies here, dies of thirst; your fault if they get in here and carry her off, those filthy brutes out there.
gpt
They'll never ... get her,
human
Yes, Carter sneered,
gpt
Oh, for God's sake, Cart'! Jimsy got up and came toward him.
human
Cut it out! What's the good of talking like that? We're in it now, all of us, and we've got to stick it out. I know it's harder on you because you're not strong, but----
gpt
Damn you! 'Not strong--' Not built like an ox--muscles in my brain instead of my legs! Because I cared for something else besides rolling around in the mud with a leather ball in my arms----
human
Key down, old boy.
gpt
That's how you got Honor, when she was a child, with no sense of values, but you haven't held her! You can't hold her.
human
Cart', I'm not going to get sore at you. I know you're about all in. You don't know what you're saying.
gpt
Don't I? Don't I? You listen to me. Honor Carmody never really loved you; it was a silly boy-and-girl, calf love affair, and when she realized it she stood by, of course,--she's that sort. She kept the letter of her promise, but she couldn't keep the spirit.
human
Key down, old top, said Jimsy King again, grinning.
gpt
I'm not going to get sore, but I don't want to use up my breath laughing at you. _Skipper_--going back on me!
human
She hasn't gone back on you; except in her heart. Good God, Jimsy King, what do you think you are to hold a girl like that--with her talent and her success and her future? She's only stuck by you because it was her creed, that's all.
gpt
Look here, Cart', I'm not going to argue with you. It's not on the square to Skipper even to talk about it, but don't be a crazy fool. Would she have come to me here--from Italy, if she didn't----
human
Yes. Yes, she would! She's pledged to see it through--to stand by you as all the other miserable women have stood by the men of your family,--if you're cad enough to let her.
gpt
If I'm--cad enough to let her, said Jimsy in a curiously flat voice. But the mood passed in a flash.
human
It's no use talking like that, Carter. Of course I know I'm not good enough or brainy enough--or _anything_ enough for Skipper, but she thinks I am, and----
gpt
You poor fool, she doesn't think so. I tell you she's only standing by because she said she would. I tell you she cares for some one else.
human
That's a lie,
gpt
I think I can prove it to you,
human
You can't,
gpt
Are you afraid to listen?
human
No, said Jimsy King, wheeling.
gpt
I'm not afraid. Go ahead. Get it off your chest.
human
Well, in the first place,--hasn't she kept you at arm's length here? Hasn't she insisted on being with other people all the time,--on having me with you?
gpt
Cart', I hate to say it, but that's because she's sorry for you.
human
And for herself.
gpt
But I don't believe it, Jimsy would say at intervals.
human
She doesn't care for you, Cart'. She's all mine, Skipper is. She doesn't care for you.
gpt
Wait! Carter took out his wallet of limp leather with his initials on it in delicately wrought gold letters and opened it.
human
I didn't mean to show you this, but I see that I must. It was last summer. I--I lost my head the night before we sailed, and let Honor see.... Then I asked her.... I didn't say, 'Will you marry me?' because I knew there was no hope of that so long as she thought there was a chance of saving you by standing by you. I asked her--something else. And she sent me this wire to the boat at Naples.