yingbixue677

@@@@@ They even talked about what they would do with himIn one of the breaks Ridges said, "When we git him back, we'll give him a Christian burial 'cause he repented And even so they talked without feeling the wordsGoldstein did not want to realize Wilson was dead; he held his mind away from the knowledge rigidly, thinking of nothing, merely sloshing forward through the shallow water upstream, his shoes sliding on the flat smooth rocksThere was something he could not face once he understood And Ridges was bewildered tooHe was not convinced Wilson had begged for forgiveness; it was all jumbled in his mind, and he fastened on the thought that if he could get Wilson back, get him buried decently, the conversion would takeAnd more, both of them felt a natural frustration with having carried him this far only to dieThey wanted to complete their odyssey with success Very slowly now, more slowly than they had moved at any time, they shambled through the water, the litter swaying between themOverhead the trees and foliage met; as before, the river wound a tunnel through the jungleTheir heads drooped, their legs moved stiffly as if afraid of collapsing if they were hinged at the kneeNow when they rested they would flop in the shallow water, leaving Wilson half submerged while they sprawled beside the litter They were almost unconsciousTheir feet blundered along the floor of the stream, crunching on the river pebblesThe water flowing past their heels was chill, but they hardly felt itIn the dim light of the jungle aisle they stumbled onward, following the current dumblyThe animals chattered at their approach, the monkeys screaming and scratching at their haunches, the birds calling to one anotherAnd then as they would pass the animals would be silent, and remain quiet for many minutes after they had goneRidges and Goldstein reeled forward like blind men, their bodies expressing a mute eloquenceBehind them the animals were silent, passing a warning through the congested channels of the jungleIt might have been a funeral march They descended a waterfall from one flat waist-high rock to another, Ridges dropping down first, and standing in the foam while Goldstein slid the litter over, and flopped down to join himThey struggled through the deeper water, which lashed at their thighs, floating the litter between themThey worked along the riverbanks, splashed through shallow water aga