The two who remained would have to last out till the others returned.

Furthermore, while the dogs, on several ounces each of beans a day, would travel slowly, nevertheless, the men who travelled with them, on a pinch, would have the dogs themselves to eat.

But the men who remained, when the pinch came, would have no dogs.

It was for this reason that Daylight and Elijah took the more desperate chance.

They could not do less, nor did they care to do less.