They had not been more than a mile from the Crevice when the storm struck.
He glanced across to Barren Butte, rising steeply from the farther end of the lake.

But he did not think of going to the mine up there, except to tell himself that he'd rot on the desert before he ever asked there for help.

He had his reasons, you remember.

A man like Casey can face humiliation from men much easier than he can face a woman who had misjudged him and scorned him.

Unless, of course, he has a million dollars in his pocket and knows that she knows it.
Having discarded Barren Butte from his plans--rather, having declined to consider it at all--he knew that he must find his supplies, or he must find water somewhere in the Crazy Woman hills.