hemselves.

Frank Nelsen was perched on his neatly packed blastoff drum in the back
of one of the trucks, as big tires began to turn. Near him, similarly
perched, were Mitch Storey, dark and thoughtful, Gimp Hines with a
triumph in his face, Two-and-Two Baines biting his lip, and Dave Lester
with his large Adam's apple bobbing.

So that was how the Bunch left Jarviston, on a June evening that smelled
of fresh-cut hay and car fumes--home. Perhaps they had chosen this hour
to go because the gathering darkness might soften their haunting
suspicions of complete folly before an adventure so different from the
life they knew--neat streets, houses, beds, Saturday nights, dances,
struggling for a dream at Hendricks'--that even if they survived the
change, the difference must seem a little like death.

Seeking the lifting thread of magical romance again, Frank Nelsen looked
up at the ribbed canvas top of the truck. "Covered wagon," he said.

"Sure--Indians--boom-boom," Two-and-Two chuckled, brightening. "Wild
West... Yeah--_wild_--that's a word I kind of like."

Up ahead, in the other truck, Ramos and Charlie Reynolds had begun to
sing a funny and considerably ribald song. They made lots of lusty,
primitive noise. When they were finished, Ramos, still in a spirit of
humor, corned up an old Mexican number about disappointed love.

_"Adios, Mujer--

Adios para siempre--

Adios..."_

Ramos wailed out the last syllable with lugubrious emphasis.

"Always it's girls," Dave Lester managed to chuckle. "I still don't see
how they expect to find many, Out There."

"If our Eileen has--or will--make it, she won't be the first--or last,"
Frank offered, almost mystically.

"Hey--I was right about the word, _wild_," Two-and-Two mused.
"Yeah--we're all just plum-full of wanting to be wild. Not _mean_ wild,
mostly--constructive wild, instead. And, damn, we'll _do_ it...!
Cripes--we ought to come back to old Paul's place in June, ten years
from now, and tell each other what we've accomplished."

"Damn--that's a fine idea, Two-and-Two!" David Lester piped up. "I'll
suggest it to the other guys, first chance I get...!"

Of course it was another piece of callow whistling in the dark, but it
was a buildup, too. Coming home at a fixed, future time, to compare
glittering successes. Eldorados found and exploited, cities built, giant
businesses established, hearts won, real manhood achieved past
staggering difficulties. But they all had