Deliverance - James Dickey [50]
come on him in a million years. I doubt if we could even find this place again." "There's still time, Lewis," Drew said. "You better be sure you know what you're doing." "I'm sure," Lewis said. "The first rain will kill every sign we made. There's not a dog can follow us here. When we get off this river, we'll be all right. Believe me." We started back. I couldn't tell anything about our back trail, but Lewis kept stopping and looking at a wrist compass, and it seemed to me that we were going more or less in the right direction; it was the direction I would have followed if I had been by myself. We came out upstream of where the canoe was. The water was running toward the river, and we went with it, down the secret pebbles of the creek-bed, stooping under the leaves of low branches, mumbling to ourselves. I felt separated from the others, and especially from Lewis. There was no feeling any longer of helping each other; I believed that if I had stepped into a hole and disappeared the others would not have noticed, but would have gone on faster and faster. Each of us wanted to get out of the woods in the quickest way he could. I know I did, and it would have taken a great physical effort for me to turn back and take one step upstream, no matter what trouble one of the others was in. When we got to the canoe we all got in. Drew and Lewis paddled, and I felt the long surges of Lewis' strokes move us as I wanted us to move. Drew fended off the low branches, and we went back to the river faster than I thought possible. The other canoe was where we had left it, softly shaking against the bank. "Let's get the hell out of here," Bobby said. "Let me figure a minute," Lewis said. "This is no time for vanity or hurt feelings. How much work can you do, Bobby?" "I don't know, Lewis," Bobby said. "I'll try." "It's not your fault," Lewis said. "But trying is not going to be enough. We've got to get the best combinations we can get. I expect I'd better take Bobby with me. Ed, how much have you got left?" "I don't know. Some." "All right. You and Drew take my boat. Bobby and I will take everything we can in the other one. We'll try to keep up with you, but it'll be better if you lead off, so that we can see you if you get into trouble. I hate to tell you, but from what little I know, we haven't hit the rough part of this river yet." "The part that was going to be fun," Bobby said. "The part that's going to knock your stupid brains out if you don't do exactly what I tell you to do," Lewis said, without raising his voice. "Come on; let's get whatever else we can carry out of my canoe. You want out of this, don't you?" We took about ten minutes shifting equipment around. "Take everything, if you can take it, Lewis," I said. "If Drew and I have to go through these damned rapids first, I want a boat I can at least halfway handle. And I don't want things wrapping around me in the water." "I don't blame you," Lew said. "We'll take all we can." "All I want is a weapon," I said. "I'll take my bow." "I'd think twice about that," Lewis said. "If you think tents can be bad, you wait'll those bare broadbeads gore you a few times when you're in the water with them." "I'll take it anyway," I said. "And I sure wish we still had that guy's gun. Why the hell did we leave it with him?" "The gun is better right where it is," Lewis said. "We could have got rid of it later." "No, too risky. Every mile we carried that shotgun with us would increase the danger of our being caught with it. That could be the thing, buddy. That could be the thing." We were ready. Drew crawled into the front of the aluminum canoe. I was glad he was there; I could work with him. He sat with the paddle just out of the river, shaking his head. Neither of us said anything until I told him to push off. It was about four o'clock, and the thought of spending another night in the woods paralyzed me. The problems and the physical work of the burial had taken my mind off our situation, but now the thought of it and of what might happen to us surrounded me; I felt driven into it by a hammer. But