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Soh the thicket as the travelers ca strealance in its direction, and Matthe it had not been Slaughter taking to his heels

"Drink," said Walker, as if they needed encourageh tangles of brush, hanging vines, and thorns; but Mattheas pleased to note, as Walker indicated all the broken vegetation and the boothter had already blazed this trail

Walker knelt down, cupped his hands for a drink, and left them to their own devices Matthew stretched out, put his face in the cold water and drank directly fro, filled it, and let Faith ease her thirst before she drank Matthew sat up, rubbed his mouth with his buckskin sleeve and watched as the Indian set foot in the stream, which was about a foot deep, and waded to the other side The current swirled around Walker&039;s legs He exaarded the foliage ahead

"Interesting," Walker said He stood up "It seehter doesn&039;t trust you, Matthew He didn&039;t think you&039;d go home, after all"

"What do you meani"

"He didn&039;t come out here He followed the streaive up-gold coins or not-and he&039;san effort to elude us"

"Momma," Faith said quietly "My feet hurt"

"Mine too," Lark answered, and patted her mother&039;s shoulder "We&039;ll just have to bear it"

Matthew got to his own feet, which were certainly no strangers to pain "You&039;re not saying he&039;s gotten away, have youi" he asked urgently

"I&039; an effort We&039;ll have to follow him In the water"

"But which wayi"

Walker pointed to the left, upstream "Huround Unless Slaughter knows I&039;d think that, in which case " He shrugged "I say we go upstream first If I can&039;t find where he came out-and it won&039;t be beyond a hundred yards, o downstream Everyone readyi" He waited for Lark to nod assent, and then he turned and began wading against the current

Lark and Faith folloith Matthew at the rear That had been the order of progression since they&039;d started off, nearly three hours ago Mattheas in fact situated there by Walker&039;s coirl and her mother did not falter and to lend a hand if one of the an adh Walker had been right about their being slowed to a crawl But if the Indian was frustrated about their lack of speed, he didn&039;t show it; he simply plodded on ahead, waited for theain

They weren&039;t in the stream a matter of minutes before Faith slipped She went down on her knees, crying out with pain, and at once Mattheas at her side helping Lark stand her up Walker stopped a distance ahead to , and then he continued forward, his eyes searching the right bank

"I hurt my knee," Faith said "Mom girl and did not weep

"You&039;ll be all right Can you lean on mei"

"Yes&039;m, thank you"

Matthe Lark lower her head and quickly squeeze her eyes shut He said, "Faith, let ainst his shoulder so Lark could keep her own balance

"Thank you, sir," said the child, whose parents should be ever so proud of her ave hilance "Water&039;s cold"

"Yes, it is"

"Mr Shaynei"

Matthew replied, "Yesi"

"How coht you went to London"

"Well, you thought correctly But I&039;e city," Matthew said

"I&039;d like to go someday Mo at the table and-"

Matthew felt the shock go through her Felt her seize up and tre and stood very still, while the current pulled at her dress and decorated it with dead leaves Matthew did not wish to look at her face; he was tensed and ready for the scream

"Faithi" Lark&039;s voice was miraculously steady and as calm as the underwater stones "Deari" She put her arlanced at Matthew, because still Faith would not be , Mr Shayne"

Matthew said, in as gentle a voice as he could irl"

and Faith Burgess, if anything, was a good girl In another few seconds she came back to them, and she breathed deeply of the crisp air and rubbed the back of her neck and picked up the heht knee She did not speak, for perhaps somewhere in her s were best left unsaid, untouched and unremembered She went on, silently, between Lark and Matthew

Matthe that Walker had drawn his bow and nocked an arrow, and was ai it into the woods as he waded forward The Indian had obviously seen sohter allery I do know pistols, sir, as well as I know razors, Slaughter had said to Greathouse and another state: I know the look of captains, because I hterpistols Matthew had heard fro, that a real expert could eye-measure the powder, pour it down, ram the ball and cloth patch, prime the pan and fire a shot within fifteen seconds Of course the faster the process was done, the more chance there was for aboth the pistol and the hand useless pieces of junk

Walker continued along the streaht But in another ht bank, and motioned for the others to come ahead

"He came out here The mark is very fresh, maybe an hour old" Walker showed Matthew an area of crushed weeds and a them the impression of a bootheel When he located twothis way," and pointed to the southeast "Moving slowly His legs are tired and he ate too much" He stood up and returned the arrow to its quiver and the bow to its sheath "Is the woh hera childhood conversation Her eyes were glazed over, her face slack Though her body was here, her "

Walker looked up through the trees toward the sun "about two hours of light left Can we pick up our pacei" He had directed this question to Matthew

"I don&039;t think so"

"all right, then" There was no reason for argus were as they were "If possible, we should be silent froet closer I&039;o ahead a distance, but not so far that I can&039;t see you If you&039;re getting too much off the track, I&039;ll correct you" With that pronouncement, Walker trotted quietly away into the woods, ni branches

Matthew had never bargained to be a pioneer, but he&039;d learned that s in this life were thrust upon you whether you wanted them or not He had not a clue about how to follow Walker&039;s trail a disturbance of leaves and a crushed weed spoke volumes to the Indian, but withheld froht now, and the forest seemed vast and darker Still, Matthew could only do as he was instructed; he started off in what he hoped was Walker&039;s path, and behind him followed his army of two

"Careful here," Matthew said, as softly as was practical, to warn theround abruptly sloped into a hollow full of tangled vines and roots before it rose up again Lark nodded; Faith was still absent, but she clung to Lark&039;s hand and let herself be guided

"Who are youi" Lark asked, co up beside him "a constablei"

"In a way I&039;m a problem-solver In New York"

"What kind of problemsi"

"This kind," he replied He motioned toward a patch of thorns that blocked their way, so they had to change course a few degrees They walked for a while in silence, as Walker had directed, but Matthew found hiain "I&039; to do with it" She paused, and Matthew thought she er that suddenly seehter&039;s claw-nailed hands, closing around his throat "Did youi"

Matthew didn&039;t reply But he kneould have to, eventually; if not here, then somewhere else, for he could not let himself wander a path that had no end

"I am responsible for his escape," Matthew said

He felt Lark staring at hi the way ahead for pitfalls Lark said nothing else Soon he&039;d either picked up his pace or she had drifted back, he wasn&039;t sure which, but he ht as well have been a solitary traveler

They ca Mattheas pleased with his sense of direction, because Walker was kneeling down under a group of oaks at the clearing&039;s edge only a few yards away Before theht of the one they&039;d cli the Lindsay house

Matthew, Lark and Faith approached the Indian They were alht frolass orthe sun He looked up the hillside, toward the top where the trees grew thick

"He&039;s up there," Walker whispered,a look around with his spyglass"

Matthew crouched against an oak&039;s trunk and scanned the hilltop The reflection did not repeat itself "Do you think he&039;s seen usi"

"I don&039;t know"

They waited Slaughterthele quick pass across the clearing In any case, they couldn&039;t stay here forever

after about threewhich both he and Matthew intently watched for any sign of et up there as fast as we can You help the girl and if you see anything, call out"

"all right"

Walker found the trail that Slaughter had already broken through the underbrush, but it was an arduous climb at one point Faith nearly collapsed and had to sit down, still without a word, and Lark sat beside her and rubbed her legs until she could stand once round and alert for movement, his bon and an arrow ready to fly Matthew&039;s own legs were killing him; the h the skin

It took n of Slaughter, except for the bootmarks that Walker easily found It appeared to Walker that Slaughter had clambered up onto the rocks, laid flat and frolass down

and not far frohter had done so, Matthew&039;s black tricorn lay on a sray boulder ahter&039;s haste to put distance between them

Matthew approached his hat He reached out to pick it up

Walker&039;s bow stopped the arm from its intent

"Wait," Walker told him "Step back"

"What&039;re you-"

"Back," Walker repeated, and this time Matthew obeyed

The Indian stretched his own arm out and used the bow&039;s narrow end to tilt the tricorn up as Walker lifted it, the snake that was coiled underneath began to give its warning rattle Fangs struck at the bow Walker swept the rattler off the boulder onto the ground where it slithered away

"Bite you," said Faith, in her dazed and dreamlike voice "Ol&039; Scratch"

Lark stood beside Matthew, and Matthew suddenly realized she had grasped his hand because his fingers were about to be broken

"I would say," Walker reree with that, Matthewi"

"Yes"

"That&039;s probably not a good thing"

"No," Matthew said

"He&039;s left clear tracks Stillslowly The hill wore him out"

"I think we&039;re all worn out"

Walker nodded "I think youred in a cloudless sky as it dropped toward the west "We need to make camp before dark Find someplace as safe as possible"