Special Effects: Red Earth

"No," said Tucker, still working.

"You gotta eat something. We'll be walking back soon you know?"

"I know," said Tucker. He worked for another ten minutes without a pause, then he stopped. He climbed out of his hole and stood beside Stubbs. For a moment he didn't move, then suddenly lunged with his spade and dug the tip into the soft soil. Then he sat down beside Stubbs and opened his pack.

"Good man," said Stubbs, his eyes sparkling with humour, "If you don't get some food into you you'll be as thin as a rake, and I won't be able to see you! Hey! There's a good joke. I won't be able to see you! Get it?"

Tucker didn't show that he'd "got it'.

Able Stubbs was always cracking jokes like this and Tucker quietly despised him for it. Stubbs didn't care what Tucker, or anyone thought. He laughed at his own jokes anyway. He even seemed to enjoy being hated.

The smell of the freshly dug soil filled the air with an earthy fragrance. For Stubbs it meant success. The people who waited three days away would soon come to this place. They would plant crops, build houses, and begin a new life. Perhaps, thought Stubbs, his name would be remembered, along with other great names. He would be known as the Pathfinder who helped to start the New World. And Tucker would share the glory.

"When you go," said Stubbs thoughtfully, "What do you want people to remember you for?"

"I don't know," said Tucker, wondering if Stubbs had read his mind.

"Yes you do," said Stubbs, "You just don't want to tell me."

Tucker made no reply.

Stubbs made no more comments.

Tucker finished his bread and took a long drink from the metal flask, then he reached into his pack and pulled out a gun.

'"Get up," he said.

"What?" said Stubbs.

"'Get up and stand in the hole!"