30

"He's a cold-hearted son of a bitch, that's for sure."

"That he is," says Stevo. "And it's not only that poor kid. You saw him slap Sangpo back there, too. Just for giving advice he didn't like. Listen to me, OafarBurea, this is getting serious now. I wonder if our pal ain't got a touch of the old wilderness fever."

You know exactly what Stevo's talking about. You've heard tell of this sort of thing happening to people who spend their time in the earth's wildest places—explorers, mountaineers, sea captains, and the like.

A sort of madness can take hold of them, a self-destructive and obsessive need to press on whatever the cost, to meet their objectives or just to see what's over the next horizon. They lose sight of their own safety and that of their companions, driving farther and farther on, however horrific the losses. Their vision shrinks down to a narrow tunnel with only their mission in sight. Wilderness fever hollows these people out, turning them into Captain Ahabs who drive themselves and their companions ever onward to their deaths in pursuit of imaginary whales.