In the Distance

Håkan, John Lorimer, and the scientist’s convoy move at a torturously slow pace across the barren salt flats of Saladillo. Lorimer’s men grow mutinous as their water supplies dwindle, but he persuades them to stay by insisting that he knows how to find water in the desolate waste. They continue on their journey, and begin to suffer severe dehydration. The convoy discovers a wrecked wagon containing the skeletons of a family. In despair, one of the men tries to attack Lorimer, but Håkan intervenes. Soon afterward, they reach brine pits, and Lorimer boils the brine to produce potable water. The naturalist spends an entire day examining specimens in the brine pits and falls ill. The feverish man tearfully beseeches Håkan not to let the men take him away: “Please. I’ll be fine. Never again will I come back here. If we leave. In my life. Promise me. I have. Nothing. I have. Just sunstroke. I have. Tell them. Money. I have. Nothing. Please. Please” (73). The next morning, the convoy places the scientist in his wagon and reverses course.