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mouth.
     
    After they had driven for about half an hour, the man called Greg said to him, "Is it true what Marlowe said?"
    "What's a Marlowe?"
    "He's driving the other car…Were you trying to kill us? Do you really want to skip out?"
    Hell laughed, then, "That's right," he said. "You named it."
    "Why?"
    Hell let it hang there for a minute then said, "Why shouldn't I? I'm not anxious to die. I'd like to wait a long time before I try that bit."
    Greg said, "If we don't make it, the population of the continent may be cut in half."
    "If it's a question of them or me, I'd rather it was them."
    "I sometimes wonder how people like you happen."
    "The same way as anybody else, mister, and it's fun for a couple people for a while, and then the trouble starts."
    "What did they ever do to you, Hell?"
    "Nothing. What did they ever do _for_ me? Nothing. Nothing. What do I owe them? The same."
    "Why'd you stomp your brother back at the hall?"
    "Because I didn't want him doing a damn fool thing like this and getting himself killed. Cracked ribs he can get over. Death is a more permanent ailment."
    "That's not what I asked you. I mean, what do you care whether he croaks?"
    "He's a good kid, that's why. He's got a thing for this chick, though, and he can't see straight right now."
    "So what's it to you?"
    "Like I said, he's my brother, and he's a good kid. I like him."
    "How come?"
    "Oh, hell! We've been through a lot together, that's all! What are you trying to do? Psychoanalyze me?"
    "I was just curious."
    "So now you know. Talk about something else if you want to talk, okay?"
    "Okay. You've been this way before, right?"
    "That's right."
    "You been any farther east?"
    "I've been all the way to the Missus Hip."
    "Do you know a way to get across it?"
    "I think so. The bridge is still up at Saint Louis."
    "Why didn't you go across it the last time you were there?"
    "Are you kidding? The thing's packed with cars full of bones. It wasn't worth the trouble to try to clear it."
    "Why'd you go that far in the first place?"
    "Just to see what it was like. I heard all these stories, and I wanted to take a look."
    "What was it like?"
    "A lot of crap. Burned-down towns, big craters, crazy animals, some people...”
    "People? People still live there?"
    "If you want to call them that. They're all wild and screwed up. They wear rags or animal skins, or they go naked. They threw rocks at me till I shot a couple. Then they let me alone."
    "How long ago was that?"
    "Six, maybe seven years ago. I was just a kid then."
    "How come you never told anybody about it?"
    "I did. A coupla my friends. Nobody else ever asked me. We were going to go out there and grab off a couple of the girls and bring them back, but everybody chickened out."
    "What would you have done with them?"
    Tanner shrugged. "I dunno. Screw 'em and sell 'em, I guess.
    "You guys used to do that, down on the Barbary Coast, sell people, I mean, didn't you?"
    Tanner shrugged again. "Used to," he said, "before the Big Raid."
    "How'd you manage to live through that? I thought they'd cleaned the whole place out?"
    "I was doing time," he said. "A.D.W."
    "What's that?"
    "Assault with a deadly weapon."
    "What'd you do after they let you go?"
    "I let them rehabilitate me. They got me a job running the mail."
    "Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Didn't realize it was you, though. You were supposed to be pretty good, doing all right, and ready for a promotion. Then you kicked your boss around and lost your job. How come?"
    "He was always riding me about my record, and about my old gang down on the Coast. Finally, one day I told him to lay off, and he laughed at me, so I hit him with a chain. Knocked out the bastard's front teeth. I'd do it again."
    "Too bad."
    "I was the best driver he had. It was his loss. Nobody else will make the Albuquerque run, not even today. Not unless they really need the money."
    "Did you like the work, though, while you were doing it?"
    "Yeah, I like to drive."
    "You should probably have