He picked the man up while the woman watched, and he carried him to the
ship. He climbed to the cabin, working against the surprising weight of
the smaller man. For his age, Fairchild was a very tough, sinewy man
who looked as though he had spent most of his life fighting through
strange and varied wilds, constantly in search of new adventures and
thrills.
Caine laid the man across a bunk built into the rear of the ship's
cabin. The tip end of the wide scar was visible now, showing above
Fairchild's open shirt, and the thin lines about the eyes and mouth
were like written entries in his face, telling of too much Scotch and
perhaps too much of the reddish-haired woman. All that he lacked, Caine
thought wryly, was the empty bank account to show the price he had paid
for the love of the devilish woman.
Caine straightened and walked back through the cabin, snapping off the
radio.
He jumped to the ground. The light was very dim now, and the woman was
only an outline. The screams of kiitz birds were in the air again, and
in the distance, the thrumming monotony of the falls.
"You can use the cabin with your husband, Mrs. Fairchild," Caine said
briskly. "I'll get some blankets and sleep out here."
"Aren't there animals?"
"Not around here," Caine said. "I'll make a fire. If you want something
to eat I'll get it out of the cabin for you."
"No, thank you, Mr. Caine," the woman said, sitting down in her chair.
"I'll just enjoy the rest of my drink, if you don't mind."
"It's up to you," Caine said shortly. He was very careful to keep his
eyes away from her. You handled a woman like that best, he knew, by
keeping your eyes away from her.
He gathered wood from beneath the wet outer layer of the jungle floor.
He bent to light the fire just as the darkness enveloped the clearing.
The flames flickered and licked upward, sending their shifting yellow
light into the surrounding foliage.
Caine straightened from the fire.
"Do you like my dance?" the woman asked, softly.
"I didn't see it for your husband, Mrs. Fairchild," Caine said, and he
returned to the ship where he got several blankets. He placed them near
the fire.
"He's not around now," the woman said.
Caine looked at her finally. "He is as far as I'm concerned."
"You're so noble, Mr. Caine."
"I'm not anything," Caine said. "I'm just a guide who gets paid for
taking people where they want to go. Nothing more, do you understand,
Mrs. Fairchild?"
"No," she said, smiling at him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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