Deliverance - James Dickey [95]
understand that," he said after a little while. "You didn't know what you uz agettin' into, did you?" "No indeed, we didn't," I said. "We sure didn't know it would be anything like this." He thought this over. "You see these big old wide rocks yonder? How come you didn't get out and drag your canoe over 'em, 'stead of trying to come through that-there bad place? How come you to try to ride on through?" "The river's running awful fast, up above here. These are just the very last of the rapids. We had too much speed by then. And this part didn't look as bad as it is; we couldn't see the drop-off until we were right on top of it and going too fast to do anything but go over it. And when it fell off, we fell out." "Then your buddy couldn't be back up yonder in them other rocks now, could he?" "No," I said. "That's why I suggested that y'all start looking for him right here. He wouldn't be in the upstream rocks, but he could be hung up under a rock someplace under the drop-off." "Wouldn't be much of him left, would there?" "I guess not." "You say you started out day before yesterday?" "We started Friday, at about four o'clock in the afternoon." "In two canoes." "Right." "And you lost one of them right here?" "No, a long ways upstream. When we came through here, we were all in one canoe." This was the silence now. It went on for at least a minute. "Your buddy says different." "I'll be damned if he does," I said. "Go ask him." "I already done asked him." "Ask him again, or the one in the hospital." "No; no. You done had a chance to talk to 'em." "Your hearing must not be any too good." "It's good enough. We ain't going to find no body right in here. We're going to find it farther up." "What the hell are you driving at?" I said, and the indignation was real; he was assaulting my story, which had cost me so much time and energy, and, yes, blood. I leaned to the state policeman. "Look, do I have to put up with this? I'll be goddamned if I will, I can tell you. Is he authorized to do this?" "Maybe you better answer a few more questions. Then he can handle it however he wants to." "We found that other canoe -- or half of it -- before you say you even got down in this part of the river." "So what? I told you we lost the other one farther up. Back up in a gorge. If you want to try to go up in there, I can take you and show you where it was." "You know we can't get back up in there." "That's your problem. What the hell is all this about, anyway? We've been through a goddamned bad time, and I'm damned if I want to put up with this kind of shit. Listen: are you the sheriff here?" "Depitty." "Is the sheriff around here?" "He's right over yonder." "Well, go get him. I want to talk to him." He got up and went over to a beefy, Texas-y farmer with a badge, and they came back together. I shook hands with the sheriff, whose name was Bullard. "Sheriff, I don't know what this man has in mind, because he won't tell me. But from what I can gather he thinks we threw one of our party in the river, or something." "Maybe you did," the old man said. "For Christ's sake, for what reason?" "How would I know that? I know you can't get your stories straight, and there aidt no good reason for you to be lyin'." "Easy, Mr. Queen," the sheriff said. Then to me, "What about this?" "What do you mean, what about it? Look, if you can find one person, and I mean one, who'll back up what he says, I'll be perfectly happy to do anything you want me to do -- go back up in the woods with you, wade up the river, join your crew out there dragging -- anything you say. But this man is just confused. He's got some kind of personal stake in this, he doesn't like city people, he's trying to create interest in himself, God knows what. What's the matter, Mr. Queen? People feel like you're not earning your money?" "I'll tell you what's the matter, you city son of a bitch," Queen said, in that country-murderous tone that always bled me white. "My sister called me yesterday and told me her husband had been out hunting and hadn't come back. They ain't nobody off in them woods up yonder.