PARTISAN REVIEW
"We've got to see the trap," said the little man, and they stepped
up and looked carefully around the great rock. At that moment they
were less than five feet from De Parter, who watched them suspic–
iously, ready for any move to tackle him.
They were soon satisfied, for there the canyon ended, the walls
leaning inward to form a partial cave were smooth, without a hand–
hold anywhere.
Then the party of three was split, De Parter inside the "trap,"
and the pursuers on the outside, where they set up a perpetual watch
that lasted for the next eighteen hours. Out of their pockets they took
a big loaf of rye bread and packages of ham, cheese, and pickles.
"De Parter," said the small one, "Hey there, De Parter."
"What?"
"Want a sandwich?"
"No, and shut up! Remember now,
shut up!"
"O.K., O.K.," said the small man, "Don't get sore."
In a low voice, he asked his companion, "Think this dope'll come
out of it alive?"
"Don't matter much," replied the tall one, "He's cooked already."
Mter that, it was merely a matter of taking a cautious look
around the rock every hour to see if there was any change
in
the
poet, who was seen to be writing with great energy and intensity in
a notebook, right on through the night, using first his flashlight, then,
when the batteries were used up, the full moon that flooded the upper
end of the canyon, his "room," with overwhelming brilliance. In
the half-hour of true darkness after the moon had set and daylight
had not yet come, he burned match after match, reaching into his
pocket and scratching them on the rock in back of him. Through
all this he wrote on, hardly stopping except to tum a page, or to
stretch his arms and legs.
At eleven o'clock
in
the morning, the small man, taking his tum
to look at the poet, heard him say in a hoarse voice, as if saying it
aloud to guide his weary fingers, " .... and that's all," and saw him
fall over in a heap, either to faint or to sleep. The watcher quickly
called his companion, and they set about their job of carrying the
wayward employee back to J.F., his Boss.
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