eemed to be present, and
he was arguing with them, threatening them, even pleading with them.
He came out of that period deeply frightened by what he was doing.
Since then he hadn't been drinking as heavily.

But this was the first time he'd gone to sleep without drinking at
all.

* * * * *

He sat up on the edge of the bed, found himself shaking a little again
after that minor effort, but climbed to his feet anyway, and walked
unsteadily over to the door. He stood there looking out. The cloud
layers always faded away during the night, gathered again at dawn. By
now the sky was almost clear. A green glow over the desert to the left
meant the larger moon was just below the horizon. The little yellow
moon rode high in the sky above it. If they came up together, this
would be the very bright part of the night during which the birds and
other animal life in the valley went about their pursuits as if it
were daytime. He could hear bird-chirpings now against the restless
mutter of the little stream which came down the center of the valley,
starting at the lake at the right end and running out into stagnant
and drying pools a short distance after it entered the desert.

He discovered suddenly he had brought the gun along from the bed with
him and was holding it without having been in the least aware of the
fact. Grinning twistedly at the old and pointless precaution, he
shoved the gun into his trousers pocket, brought out matches, a
crumpled pack of cigarettes, and began to smoke. Very considerate of
them to see to it he wouldn't run out of minor conveniences ... like
leaving him liquor enough to drink himself to death on any time he
felt like it during these five years.

Like leaving him the gun--

From the association's standpoint those things were up to him, of
course, Barney thought bitterly. In either unfortunate event, he
wouldn't be on _their_ consciences.

He felt a momentary spasm of the old hate, but a feeble one, hardly
more than a brief wash of the early torrents of rage. Something had
burned out of him these months; an increasing dullness was moving into
its place--

And just what, he thought, startled, was he doing outside the cabin
door now? He hadn't consciously decided to go that far; it must have
been months, actually, since he had walked beyond the doorway at all.
During the first few weeks he had made half a dozen attempts to
explore his surroundings by night, and l