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The Survivor by Edwin g Wood.
As the two men lay on the sand

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that night, it seemed to John
Binns that he could reach up over his

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head and pluck a handful of the
coldly glittering stars. So near did they

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seem they were bright to night.
They tortured him, seeming to mock his

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suffering. There was one star that
fascinated him. It was larger and brighter

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than the rest, and he lay
staring at it until his eyes smarted.

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He licked his dry lips, running
his tongue between them, and cringing at

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the file like rasp. He stole
a look at his companion lying near,

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and slyly drew the canteen with its
fast diminishing precious contents to his mouth.

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He had no thought for his weaker
companion, Dick Webb. When Dick could

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not suppress a groan, Bin's close
set eyes narrowed and gleamed evilly, and

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he muttered imprecations against the frailer man. He was angry with Webb. The

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two had had an argument concerning the
world old law of the survival of the

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fittest. He had contended that the
law among men had held the same as

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it did among the brute creation.
The strong survived, the weak perished.

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Didn't all the big animals prey on
the smaller ones. Of course, Webb

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pointed out that brains were far superior
to brute strength, and that brute strength

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frequently defeated its own purpose. His
argument had been convincing enough to arouse the

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ire of Bins. He knew that
Webb was his superior so far as intellect

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went, and it angered him.
Well, he'd show the weakling that there

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was another way of taking care of
yourself besides using physical strength. There was

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a fox like cunning that didn't require
the brains that Web seemed to think he

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had either. If it were not
for the puny Web, he Bins,

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the stronger of the two, and
therefore the more fit to live, might

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have a chance, a fighting chance
of getting out of the desert alive.

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They were lost. What food they
had carried with them was gone, and

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the water was running low. Water
was the worst problem. The moisture of

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the body dries up rapidly in these
hot sands. Bin's tongue was rough,

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his throat began to echo, his
lips to crack. The two men could

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not last much longer, one of
them simply must be left there which one

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not beIN. He loved life too
well to think of sacrificing it for a

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weakling, whom, in his opinion, the world would never miss, and

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Bins himself was normally a strong man. Bin's fear of death was a morbid

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one. It was this fear that
had led him, from the beginning of

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their mishap, to take craftily more
than his portion of water and give Dick

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less. It was all Dick's fault, anyway, for had he not gotten

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Bins into this fool's chase after gold. He cursed himself for having been so

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silly as to be led away from
his former life, where he had lived

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fairly well on what he picked up
by his wits. The man at his

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side stirred, mumbled something in a
half delirious way, then asked for water.

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beIN sat up, his little eyes
that were set almost into the sides

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of his nose, glared at Webb. You've had your share, he snarled

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water. The weaker man croaked,
insistently, holding out a tin cup.

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Bins would not permit the others to
drink from the canteen, the risk of

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his getting more than his share was
too great. Bins had carried through the

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bluff of economizing by pointing out to
Dick that it was better to measure his

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allowance. He was scrupulous in doling
out his own portion when Dick was looking.

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Then later he always tapped the canteen
on the sly. He carried the

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canteen containing what was left of the
water himself under an apparently generous impulse.

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He was the stronger of the two, therefore the one to shoulder the most

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of the burden. Dick again held
out his cup in a trembling hand and

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demanded a drink. Hell snarled Bins. He moved his hand impatiently toward the

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canteen, paused, why should he
waste the precious life sustaining fluid on this

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half dead man. He couldn't last, that was evident. Every drop that

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Dick drank now lessened beIN's chance of
getting out. It was a sinful waste

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to pour water down the throat of
a man so nearly gone. It would

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be much better to let the poor
devil die and be done with it.

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It would be really a mercy to
put him out of his misery. Of

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course, it would nobody'd ever know
the difference, and then Bins would have

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a chance, a small chance,
of pulling through. He had never killed

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a man. The thought of murder
made him creepy. But this feeling was

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not born of any value he placed
on the life of a fellow human.

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It was rather of the dread of
punishment and a superstitious fear. He had

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heard of men who had taken life, being ever after unable to sleep,

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the victim being always present in the
slayer's imagination. All rot, of course,

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but the thought made his scalp prickle. But this would not be murder.

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It would simply be the old old
law of self preservation. Dick was

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becoming impatient in his demand for water. You haven't been plagued, fair,

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you swindling thief, he finally cried
out, in a weak voice, at

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the thought of his having been discovered. Bins's anger flared up, as though

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the accusation had been unjust. Hate
filled him, and his hand moved back

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shot forward. A spurt of flame
leaped out, and the pleading Dick slumped

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to the sand. Bin's deathly sick
now mopped his face with a shaking hand

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and stood staring dazedly at the thing
on the ground. Then he backed away.

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God, he muttered as he looked
in fascination at the huddled form.

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At last, tearing his eyes from
the horrible object, he turned and ran,

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frantically, stumbling over the uneven ground, fall again and again, up

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again, and on and on until
he fell exhausted. He lay panting for

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some time he did not know how
long, with eyes wide open. After

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a while he began to doze fitfully, only to awaken each time with a

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start. For the figure with the
cup was always before him. He enacted

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the scene time and again, the
pleading man, the flash of the gun,

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the slow sinking to the ground of
his companion. At last he became

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calmer, got up and started on
again. Hadn't any idea which way he'd

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been running. It might have been
in a circle. That would never do.

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He must find something to go by. There was that bright star over

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there, the one that had fascinated
him so, hanging above the horizon.

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If he kept toward that, he
would at least keep a general course.

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Good old star. He'd follow it
as long as it shone. He staggered

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on. If only he could get
rid of that infernal thing before his eyes,

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that huddled thing on the ground.
But wouldn't he have been a fool

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to give away the water, wouldn't
he? He had as good a right

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to his life as any other fellow, Sure, a better right than that

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thing he had left back there.
It would have died anyway. He stopped

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and stared, beginning to sweat the
faint shadows cut by the sand dunes assumed

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grotesque shapes. One of the smaller
sand heaps looked like that thing. He

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leaned forward, peering intently. He
could have sworn it moved. He laughed

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aloud. He was a fool to
get the jumps that way. Then he

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stumbled again. In his horror,
he had forgotten to drink, although his

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throat was torturing him. He imagined
another one of those damnable shapes moved.

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He went forward and kicked at it
savagely. He went on again, staggering,

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half delirious and growing weak in the
knees. Suddenly he again stopped and

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stared. Still another shape. Well, he wouldn't be fooled this time.

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He staggered forward to kick it.
The thing sat up and held out that

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intolerable cup. Bins plunged forward and
fell on his face. The shape crawled

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to his fell over him, searching
for the canteen, finally found it,

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raised it to its lips and sucked
at the contents, then tried feebly to

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turn the fallen bins over to pour
the few remaining drops of water down his

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throat. At daylight, a party
of men found two bodies lying on the

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sand. A man stooped over one
of them. This here guy, he

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said, is breathing, yet looks
like he's been burnt by a bullet side

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of his head. Ain't nothing much
the matter but starvation, though, reckon,

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we can bring him round, all
right. What about the other one,

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bill? Bill turned the other body
over, face up. The two

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close set little eyes stared up at
the sky, which they did not see.

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Couldn't be any debtor, announced Bill. Funny too, He went on,

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musingly that this guy should be the
first to peter out. He's a

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whole lot huskier than the other one. The End of The Survivor by Edwin

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g. Wood