"I see them," Doc nodded. "Caves?"

"You could call 'em that. Really ain't much more than holes.Just about big enough to crawl into and get out of sight, but that's all you need, ain't it?" Ma laughed jovially.

Doc hesitated, shooting a quick glance at Carol's taut face. "It-you think this is necessary, Ma? I mean…"

"Wouldn't have you do it if I didn't think so." There was a hint of tartness in her voice. "It ain't so bad, Doc. There's fresh air seeps in from somewhere, and it ain't really so cramped. Pat Gangloni took it, and you know Pat. Makes two fellas your size with half a man left over."

Doc forced himself to laugh at the joke. "We'll have to strip, I suppose?"

"I'd say so. Unless you want to keep on your unmentionables. They's blankets down there, an' it's kind of hot anyways."

"Fine," Doc said. "Well…"

He unbuttoned his jumper and dropped it to the ground. He sat down and began taking off his shoes and socks. Ma looked at Carol. She said, "Prob'ly need a rope," and disappeared into the darkness.

Carol remained standing, motionless, making no move to remove her clothes.

"Carol," Doc said. Then, "Carol!"

"No-no," Carol said shakily. "No, I can't! How do I know that-that…"

"You're with me. You're riding on my ticket. Now get out of those clothes!"

He stood up, stripped out of the jeans. He unbuckled the money belt and dropped it on top of the pile of clothing. He waited a moment, working up an encouraging smile, storing up warmth for his voice. Then, hand outstretched, he took a step toward Carol.

She backed desperately away from him. "N-no! No!" she gasped. "I know what you're planning! You'll get me down there and…"

"Stop it! What else can you do, anyway?"

"I know you! I'd never get back up again! She's your friend, not mine! She-y-you'd leave me down there under the ground and…"

"Well, here we are." Ma Santis was suddenly back with them. "Trouble?"

"I'm sorry," Doc said. "My wife's a little upset."

"Uu-huh," Ma drawled. "Thought she kind of sounded like she was. Me, I'm just a leetle upset myself. Figured I was goin' a long ways to do you two a favor, and now I ain't so sure. Like to get set straight before I go any farther."

Doc repeated that he was sorry. Ma shifted the shotgun under her arm, and behind her the two mastiffs suddenly came to attention. She waited, staring stonily at Carol. And as if from some great distance, Carol heard her own voice; felt her face stiffen in a conciliatory smile.

She was sorry. She hadn't meant what she said. She was very grateful to Ma. She…

She broke off, stooping to pull the voluminous black dress over her head. Almost eagerly she unfastened the money belt, made a tentative gesture of offering it to the older woman. Ma motioned laconically with the gun. "Just drop it on the pile. An' don't worry about none of it showin' up missing."

"You help yourself to as much as you want," Doc said warmly. "I mean that, Ma. We…"

Ma nodded. She knew he meant it, but she wasn't needin' nothing. "Always thought you was a hell of a guy, Doc. Heard a thing or two to the contrary, but you was always square with me an' mine. Ain't a one of us that didn't think the world of you."

"And I've felt exactly the same way about all of you, Ma."

"But," she continued. "I ain't buyin' in on no one else's fight. I ain't putting myself any further in the middle than I am already. You two got a quarrel, which I hope you ain't, you settle it somewheres else. Elsewise, I'll do the settlin' and it won't be no fun for the party that starts the trouble."

She paused, looking from one to the other, waiting for their acknowledgments of her statement. Carol's was somewhat readier than Doc's.

"Well, that's fine," Ma said mildly. "Now there's some water in them holes; prob'ly a little stale but you can drink it if you're thirsty enough. No grub, o'course. You can do without for as long as you're down there. No smokin' and no matches; ain't enough air to allow it. Well, that about does it, I guess. Want me to help you down, Doc?"

Doc shook his head. "I can make it all right, thanks. Have you any idea how long it will be, Ma?"

"Well, I'd say tomorrow night. But you know how it is, Doc. Come see, come sah." She laughed throatily. "Oh, yeah, I knew! was forgettin' something. Sleepin' pills. Can't tell you where they are exactly, but just feel around an' you'll find 'em."

"Oh, fine. I was just going to ask about them. Now, if you'll just give me a little light for a moment, Ma…"

Ma squatted again, beamed the flashlight down the wall of the pit. Doc studied it, gave her shoulder a pat of thanks, and poised himself on the brink.

"Good night," he said, and shooting a smile at Carol, "and a very good night to you, my dear."

Then he jumped, stiff-legged.

There was an audible grunt as he struck the water.

He went under, and he came up. And then, getting a grip on the bushes, he pushed himself under again.

And stayed under.

"Now, there," Ma said quietly, "there is one hell of a guy. Just in case you didn't know it."

"I know it," Carol said.

She took the rope that Ma handed her, took a turn around her waist with it. Bellying down on the ground, she got her legs over the edge of the pit and squirmed slowly backward. She paused there, halfsuspended in space, breathing very rapidly. Then she looked up and gave Ma the nod to lower her.

"Got somethin' on your mind." Ma held her where she was for a moment. "Maybe you better unload it while you can."

"I-nothing, I guess. I was just going to ask about the sleeping pills. I mean, why you and Doc seem to take it for granted that we'll need them."

"Why?" Ma frowned incredulously. "Hey, you ain't been around much, have you, honey?"

"Well-I used to think so."

"Uh-huh," Ma said. "Mmm-hum. Well, I'll tell you somethin' about them pills. Don't you doubt that you'll need 'em. An' don't wait to take 'em until you do. You gulp you down some right to begin with, an' when them wears off…"

She tugged upward on the rope, then slacked off on it. Carol swung off of the brink, and moved slowly down toward the water.

"Yes?" she called, shivering as her feet touched the water. "When they begin to wear off?"

"Take some more," Ma said.

The hole lay on a slant, and for its first two or three feet it was largely filled with water, making it all but impossible to breathe until one had navigated it.

Carol came through it at a frantic scramble; continued to scramble forward with eyes closed, breath held, until her head butted against the rock at the end of the hole. And then gratefully, gasping in the air, she let herself go prone.

Strangely, it was not absolutely dark. Wherever the faint seepage of air came from, there was an equally faint seepage of light, if only the relative light of the night outside, to relieve the blackness of this hidden cave.

It was like being in a coffin, she thought. A dimly lit, well-ventilated coffin. It wasn't uncomfortable; not yet at least. Merely confining. As long as one was content to remain in it, and did not try to get out…

Abruptly, she cut off the thought.

Fumbling in the dimness, running her hands up to the end of the hole, she encountered the oval canvascovered surface of a water canteen. She shook it, felt the swish and swing of the liquid inside. She laid it down again and continued to fumble until she found a small tightly capped bottle. She got the cap off and sniffed the contents. Taking out one of the capsules, she pinched it and touched her tongue to it.

Mildly bitter; a faintly salty taste. She dropped it back into the bottle and screwed the lid back on.

She didn't need that stuff. She wasn't going to take anything that made her any more helpless than she was already. Ma had told her, in so many words, that she had nothing to fear. She and Doc were both under Ma's protection, until they struck out on their own again. But just the same, she wasn't knocking herself out with goof balls. Ma might be absolutely on the square. She might be. But Doc could outsmart someone like her, without even halfway trying. And if he decided to have things his own way, and if he thought it was safe-well, never mind. But no sleeping pills for her.