"But that ain’t here nor there. Are you on to take my offer o’ half shares in this?" The whole man was still loathsome to me, and I cried out: "No, no! And would to Heaven I had never heard of this horrible and accursed quest." "Well," drawled Canlan, "I ’m gettin’ some tired o’ havin’ no sleep nights for sittin’ listenin’ for fellers follerin’ me up. Not that they ’d kill me in my sleep. I guess I ’m too precious like for that. I ’ve been keepin’ myself up on tanglefoot all the way in, but I did n’t bring nigh enough for them mountains, and it’s give out. It’s give out this last day and a night, and by jiminy, I ’m gettin’ them again. I feel ’em comin’ on. It ain’t good for a man like me wantin’ my tonic. Say," and his face twitched again, "I ’m jest holdin’ myself together now by fair devil’s desperation; when I get to the end o’ this journey I ’m gettin’ some scared my brain-pan will jest——" he stopped abruptly and began on a fresh track: "Well, it’s natural, I guess, for you to feel bad to-night, you bein’ partners o’ them fellers so recent. But you’ll be better come morning. Say, if I lay down and sleep you won’t shoot me sleepin’, eh?" "I won’t do that," said I. "That’s a bargain, then," he cried, and before I could say another word he threw himself down beside the fire. He drew his hand over his brow and showed me it wet. "That’s for wantin’ the liquor," he said. "A man what don’t know the crave can’t understand it. I know what I need though. Sleep,—that’s what I need; and I ’m jest goin’ to force myself to sleep." I made no reply, but looked on him as he lay, and perceived that his ghastly face was all clammy in the fire-sheen as he reclined in this attempt to steady his unstrung nerves. For me, I sat on, scarcely heeding the noises of the midnight forest. I heard a mud-turtle ever and again, with that peculiar sound as of a pump being worked. That was a sound new to me then, but the other cries—of the wildcats and wolves—I heeded little. Once or twice I thought of taking a brand from the fire to light me round to the camp across the lake, that I might discover whether, indeed, both my friends were dead. But, as I turned over this thought of return in my mind, Canlan brought down his arms again from above his head where they had lain relaxed, and, opening his eyes, rolled on his side and looked up at me. "Don’t you do it," he said. "Do what?" I inquired. "What you was thinkin’ of," he replied. "And what was that?" "You know," he said, thickly and grimly, "and I know. Two men alone in the mountains can’t ever hide their thoughts from each other. Mind you that!" "What was I thinking of doing, then?" I asked. "That’s all right," he said. "You can’t bluff me." "Well, what then?" I cried, irritated. He sat up.