Eddie stood where he was a moment longer, hand on the butt of the big revolver, pale face working. Then, without a word, he turned from Roland and grasped Susannah’s arm. He knelt beside her, then slid into the hole. Now there was only Roland, the big revolver slung low on his left hip, looking across the road at the empty arroyo path.

Nine

Benny Slightman was a well-built lad, but he couldn’t move the chunk of rock holding the Tavery boy’s foot. Jake saw that on the first pull. His mind (his cold, cold mind) tried to judge the weight of the imprisoned boy against the weight of the imprisoning stone. He guessed the stone weighed more.

“Francine.”

She looked at him from eyes which were now wet and a little blinded by shock.

“You love him?” Jake asked.

“Aye, with all my heart!”

Heis your heart, Jake thought. Good . “Then help us. Pull him as hard as you can when I say. Never mind if he screams, pull him anyway.”

She nodded as if she understood. Jake hoped she did.

“If we can’t get him out this time, we’ll have to leave him.”

“I’ll never !” she shouted.

It was no time for argument. Jake joined Benny beside the flat white rock. Beyond its jagged edge, Frank’s bloody shin disappeared into a black hole. The boy was fully awake now, and gasping. His left eye rolled in terror. The right one was buried in a sheet of blood. A flap of scalp was hanging over his ear.

“We’re going to lift the rock and you’re going to pull him out,” Jake told Francine. “On three. You ready?”

When she nodded, her hair fell across her face in a curtain. She made no attempt to get it out of the way, only seized her brother beneath the armpits.

“Francie, don’t hurt me,” he moaned.

“Shut up,” she said.

“One,” Jake said. “You pull this fucker, Benny, even if it pops your balls. You hear me?”

“Yer-bugger, just count .”

“Two. Three .”

They pulled, crying out at the strain. The rock moved. Francine yanked her brother backward with all her force, also crying out.

Frank Tavery’s scream as his foot came free was loudest of all.

Ten

Roland heard hoarse cries of effort, overtopped by a scream of pure agony. Something had happened over there, and Jake had done something about it. The question was, had it been enough to put right whatever had gone wrong?