The place was suffocating, and the wind blew the alkali dust in.

They had only horrible brandy, and bitter water to drink it with, and I lay there on my back, panting, with the flies crawling over me.

I knew if I stayed any longer it would finish me, and when there came a merciful cool day I got myself into the saddle and started off to find you.

I don't quite know how I made the journey, and during a good deal of it I couldn't see the prairie, but I knew you would feel there was an obligation on you to do something for me.

Of course, I could put it differently." Winston had as little liking for Courthorne as he had ever had, but he remembered the time when he had lain very sick in his lonely log hut.
He also remembered that everything he now held belonged to this man.
"You made the bargain," he said, less decisively.
Courthorne nodded.