Such a thought brought heavy perspiration. Onward, onward: trouble: barking dogs: an explosion of barks, but no sign of agile bodies eager to bite, and Demetrio: cautious: where could he go risk free? Avoid the mud huts, scattered about or clumped together on the wavering horizon. The only adobe building was the train station. Would knowledge of the hamlet’s name be useful? Should he find it out? Better to take to the hills.
If the constant barking frightened him, hearing a voice would have frightened him even more, for to be found soon, a shamefaced discovery, especially with that suitcase full of banknotes, for then: aha, a holdup, aha: to explain why he’d fled: the simplest deduction if captured by more than one. Also, a holdup in such a forsaken setting: divvying up the loot in the dark among the lucky locals: an oblique hypothesis … so improbable. Or maybe they’d call to him from afar: Sir, we have your wife here!!! Come get her, please!!! Or even: Sir, your wife is crying. Don’t leave. Don’t abandon her!!!! In that case, undoubtedly, the brunette would wait at the station until they caught the irresponsible wayfarer: the hunt on horseback, and Godspeed! and with a pack of dogs to sniff him out … At such a thought, Demetrio hastened his pace as much as he could: bad, good, and again bad or rather unhappy, for he could hear the pounding of his own heart as well his own footfalls: would speed resound?: this question slowed him down, then more beats and more steps if only to establish a definitive distance from any such mishap. Before him lay the curve of the night, punctuated by a chaos of stars. No more flickers of huts, nor qualms arising from them. It was good to see a hint of the moon in the crown of a tree. Our wayfarer had to pass that apparition for any relief. He still had a long way to savor it, though suddenly he stopped, because carrying that suitcase … No, he didn’t want to look back, it would be a bad omen. Hence, he set his sights north … where else? The remaining traces of light showed him silhouettes of cacti, huisache, and a rough and tangled tumbleweed, and farther on—perhaps—a jumble of scrub. He knew to avoid such shapes because coiled snakes were known to doze beneath them, his ranch experience now coming in quite handy. As for wanting to sleep, he would have to do so on a flat patch far from any underbrush or spiny shapes, on the hard ground, seen for what it was. But, where could he find such a spot? How much farther had he to go? Demetrio walked about two and a half miles and finally … He could use his suitcase as a pillow. We must take into account the cold winds, and he jacketless and … To sleep exposed but with the certainty that nobody was pursuing him. Otherwise he would have already been found! Demetrio thought he discerned flashing lights behind him: rude and provocative shouts ordering him to stop, or else … Well, let’s imagine shots from a rifle or a pistol, aggressive houndings, a clamor from behind—is that all? In the end, rejected hypotheticals in favor of commodious accommodations, to stretch out fully across the hide of the earth. He’d surely have aches and pains the next morning for not having lain on any padding whatsoever. Demetrio in the guise of a log, and overhead, a world of unknowns: coyotes might approach while he slept. A sniff or two, then gone: contingencies. He would remain rigidly still if he happened to open his eyes. Maybe keep within reach … To be attacked would be quite unfortunate, but why steep oneself in fear?
Next: the glow of a piquant sun. At the caress of its first rays Demetrio made ready to rise and start walking. Achy grumblings, indeed, but how much greater the suffering if he failed by the end of that day to reach a town, one with a hotel. A tall order, but if we consider it under a different light, maybe returning to the train station wasn’t such a bad idea, now that he was convinced he’d encounter no trouble. In fact: from that moment on his intuition would be his guide. So vast were his surroundings that merely locating a hill would offer comfort: and: to walk in that direction. Cottages here, train tracks there.