human
Get back! he cried,
gpt
I'm goin' across! Go back to Win!
human
They'll shoot if I don't stay right here! Ike can't hold 'em but a few minutes, at best. They'd have you at their mercy. This boat moves slowly.
gpt
You go back! he roared.
human
Can't you see it won't do? You can't come! God, girl, can't you see it? The touch of you drives me crazy!
gpt
Don't be a fool! And I won't see you shot--so there! Oh, Tex, it's you who can't see--I do love you--like a sister. I always think of you as my big brother--I never had a real one.
human
I don't want no sister! What'll folks say? This big brother stuff won't go--by a damn sight!
gpt
There comes that horrible Long Bill, cried the girl, and before the Texan could make a move to stop her, she seized an ax from the bottom of the boat and brought it's keen edge down upon the mooring line. The flat-boat shuddered and moved, slowly at first, then faster as it worked into the current. The Texan gazed dumbfounded at the rapidly widening strip of water that separated them from the shore. But he found scant time to stare idly at the water. All about them it's surface was clogged with floating debris. The river had risen to within a foot of the slender cable that held the boat on its course, and the unwieldy craft was trembling and jerking as uprooted trees and masses of flotsam caught on the line, strained it almost to the point of snapping and then rolled under by the force of the current, allowed the line to spring into place again. Slowly, the boat, swept by the force of the flood, worked out into the stream, adding its own weight to the strain on the line. The craft shuddered as a tree-trunk struck her side, and seizing a pole, the man shoved her free. The rushing water sucked and gurgled at the edge of the boat, and Alice stepped nearer to the Texan.
human
We're moving, anyway, she said,
gpt
We can't see, because it's cloudin' up, an' we can't hear 'em because the river's makin' such a racket. With the pull there is on the boat, we ain't ever goin' to get her past the middle--if I could, I'd work her back right now where we come from.
human
They'd shoot you!
gpt
If they did it would only be me they'd get--the river won't be so particular.
human
You mean--we're in danger?
gpt
Danger! The naïve question angered the cowboy.
human
Oh, no we ain't in any danger, not a bit in the world. We're just as safe as if we was sittin' on a keg of powder with the fuse lit. There's nothin' in the world can hurt us except this little old Mizoo, an' it wouldn't think of such a thing----
gpt
Don't try to be sarcastic, Tex, you do it very clumsily.
human
Maybe I do, but I ain't clumsy at guessin' that of all the tight places I've ever be'n in, this is the tightest. How far can you swim?
gpt
Not a stroke.
human
So can I.
gpt
Anyway, it's better than being lost in a dust storm--we won't shrivel up and die of thirst.
human
No, we won't die of thirst, all right. But you an' me have sure stumbled into a fine mess. What'll Win think, an' what'll everyone else think? If we go under, they'll never know any different, an' if we do happen to get across, it'll be some several days before this river gets down to where we can get back, an' I can see from here what a lovely time we're goin' to have explainin' things to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.
gpt
You seem to be a born pessimist. We're not going under, and what's to prevent us from waiting out here until the men on the bank go away, and then going back where we started from?
human
With the force of water the way it is, he explained,
gpt
Maybe the river will start to fall,
human
Maybe it won't. We've had enough rain this spring for four summers already--an' more comin'.
gpt
We'll get out someway. The Texan knew that the words were forced. And his heart bounded with admiration for this girl who could thus thrust danger to the winds and calmly assert that there would be a way out. A nearer flash of lightning was followed by louder thunder.
human
Sure, we'll get out, he agreed, heartily.
gpt
I didn't mean we wouldn't get out. I was just lookin' the facts square in the face. There ain't any jackpot that folks can get into that they can't get out of--somehow.
human
Oh, does something awful always happen out here? the girl asked almost plaintively.
gpt
Why can't things be just--just normal, like they ought to be?
human
It ain't the country, it's the folks. Get the right combination of folks together, an' somethin's bound to happen, no matter where you're at.