"Who said we never loved a challenge!" Raylan answered, vowels longer and more country solely because of how he had to project his voice. As much as he wanted to say 'Hey, lets pause somewhere like the Gull, take a minute to catch our breath,' he could guess that Mathis wasn't going to let them. Pushing on was their own real option now that they'd chosen this course.

He was glad that Tim was feeling it, even as much as he wasn't; he wanted to keep Tim safe, he knew that Tim wanted to keep him safe in return, but they weren't either of them able to hide out from life and this was part of it. Danger was the shit they did, day in and day out. Being in Mathis hadn't taken Raylan's balls, that was for sure. Wasn't going to start handing them over now.

"Gonna be harder out on the sand! Better keep against the rocks when we get there." Which wouldn't have been long if every step into the slowly vanishing dirt street was getting softer and less sturdy. Raylan could already tell he was going to bust his ass at least once.

Once they got closer to the Gull, Raylan hollered for Tim to hold on and paused long enough to peel off his boots, tossing them up onto the Gull's porch. There was no telling if they'd be there when he got back but like hell was he eating dirt today in front of Tim or in this weather. The risk of his feet getting cut up or stepping on something sharp was lesser out on the sand.

Now they could go.