Two Alone Read Online Free PDF Page B

out, but her face twisted with anguish. Actually, the thought of the peroxide bubbling in the gash was as bad as the pain.
    "Breathe through your mouth if you feel like vomiting," he told her tonel e ssly. "I'm almost finished."
    S he squeezed her eyes shut and didn't open them until she heard the sound of ripping cloth. He was tearing another T-shirt int o strips. One by one he wrapped them around her calf, binding her lower leg tightly.
    " T hat'll have to do for now," he said, more to himself than to her. Picking up his knife again, he said, "Raise your hips." She d id, avoiding his eyes. He cu t the leg of her trousers from around her upper thigh. His hands worked beneath her thighs and between them. His call used knuckles brushed against her smooth skin, but she needn't have felt any embarrassment. He could have been cutting up a steak for all the emotion he showed.
    " You damn sure can't walk."
    " I c an!" Rusty insisted frantically.
    She was afraid that he would go of f without her. He was sta nding over her, feet widespread, looking around. His brow was b ee tl ed and beneath his mustache she could tell that he was gnaw ing on the inside of his cheek as though giving something careful consideration. Was he weighing his options? Deciding whether or not to desert her? Or maybe he was thinking of killing her qui ckly and mercifu lly instead of letting her die of her wound.
    Fina lly he bent down and, cuppi ng her armpits in his palms, lifte d her into a sitting position. "Take off your coat and put on that ski jacket."
    With out an argument, she let the fur coa t slide from her shoulders . Using the hatchet he'd brought along, Cooper hacke d down three saplings and stripped them of their branches. Silently Rusty watched as he fashioned them into an H, only placing the crossbar higher than normal. He bound the intersections with rawhide tongs, which he'd taken from the boots of the men they'd buried. Then he took her fur coat and ran a sleeve over each of the tops of the two longer poles. Rusty flinched when he stabbed through the fur and satin lining, gouging out a hole in the bottom of her precious fox coat.
    He glanced up at her. "What's the matter?"
    She swallowed, realizing that he was testing her. "Nothing. " The coat was a gift, that's all."
    He watched her for a few seconds more before making a similar hole in the o the r side. He then ran the poles through the holes. The finished product was a crude travois. No self-respecting American Indian would have claimed it, but Rusty was impressed with his ingenuity and skill. And vas tl y relieved that he obviously didn't plan to leave her behind or otherwise dispose of her.
    He laid the rough contraption on the ground. Turning to her, he caught her under the knees and behind the back and lifted her. He laid her on the soft fur, then piled several pelts on top of her.
    "I didn't see any animal up there with a hide that looked like this," she said, running her hand over a skin of short, fine wool.
    " U m in gmak."
    "Pardon?"
    "That's what the Inuit called the musk-ox. Means 'the bearded one.' It wasn't my kill; I just bought the pelt. It's very warm." He tucked the wool around her and threw another pelt on top of that "It's up to you to stay on and keep covered."
    Standing, he wiped perspiration off his brow with the back of his hand. He winced when he grazed the bump on his temple.
    Rusty would have gone t o bed for a week if she had sustained a blow like that; it must be killing him.
    "Thank you, Cooper," she said softly.
    H e froze, glanced down at her, nodded quickly, then turned an d began ga t hering up their paraphernalia. He t oss e d both bac kpacks onto her lap, along with both rifles. "Hang on to those, too, will you?"
    "Where ar e we going?"
    "Sou t heast," was his succinct reply.
    "Why?"
    "Sooner or later, we'll bump in t o an ou t post of civilization." "Oh." Sh e dreaded moving, anticipating t hat t he journey
    Wasn’ t going t o be a joyride. "May I have