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In the brief delay between the flare of the flashpan and the ball leaving the gun, Matthew gripped hold of a broken stub where a branch had been and flattened hiainst the trunk at al past his shoulder on the left side; he heard a high-pitched zip, and his ear tingled in the disturbance of air

The gun cracked Matthew heard the ball tear through foliage on the other side of the ravine He looked up to see the shaft of an arrow still vibrating in the hter too was regarding it with an expression of curiosity, the pistol&039;s s barrel uptilted where the arrow&039;s force had altered his aim

Then Matthew looked over his shoulder to see that Walker had slowly and painfully, inch by inch, angled his body to get a shot The bow fell froht, supported by the , and now truly focused on sohter crashed away through the woods Mattheas torn for an instant about what to do; he scrambled back across the tree to Walker&039;s side, and there he found that the last breath had been drawn, the last bit of strength spent, the last measure of will used up

My finest scene was a death sprawl, Walker had said, in which I lay e for three minutes with my eyes open

But the daht Walker was already dead Jonathan Redskin the Savage adae

Matthew took Walker&039;s knife Soe; he kneas likely to die today, and possibly in the next few minutes, but it didn&039;tand everything but chasing Slaughter down, and he stood up, half-ran and half-ju at the bodies below, and then he was in the woods sprinting at full speed along the path Slaughter had just trampled

Beyond the ravine, the land sloped sharply doard Matthew tore through low-hanging pine branches and flinched as vines whipped his face His eyes darted back and forth He juled roots, landed off-balance and felt a twinge of pain along his right ankle, but it didn&039;t slow hiroup of trees he saw Slaughter running on the decline below hie like any wounded wild beast ht

Slaughter ran without a backwards glance Matthe hi to load the pistol while hter&039;s experience could do that;he needed to hand, and looking for a secure place to stop, pour the powder and raet to him first

Pine needles slid under his feet One slip here and he would be on his face ahead of hiered, nearly falling before he crashed off a birch tree and righted hi the distance, and then Matthew heard above his own harsh breathing the noise of water rushing over stones

ahead, down at the bottom of this hill where the trees stood thick and colored vivid scarlet, Matthe a fast- stream It ran to the left, between rocky banks, and turned the wheel of a watermill, a vine-covered wooden structure with a brown peaked roof Through the trees Matthew caught the quick glie maybe a quarter-mile distant and further below: ses on the outskirts of Philadelphia

Slaughter e Matthew&039;s progress, and with a bound he was up thehis pursuer Matthe the powderhorn co in a blur to seat the patch and ball Saw the gleam of the rarab at his ankles He tore free, and was racing toward the steps when he saw the rao down into the barrel

Ramrod out Powder in the flashpan Flashpan snapped shut

I&039; toward hi position

The gun was in Matthew&039;s face, and he saw the striker fall as he was juth in his legs, the knife in his hand already streaking out

He heard the click of the flint and the hiss of the sparks Sun fired and the ball came out the pistol was deflected, because Matthew had chopped an arhter&039;s wrist and stabbed at his ribs But just that fast Slaughter had already sideslipped; he caught Matthew&039;s ar, and their backward h the door

They tus The rotation of the pit wheel, the er and the great spur wheel hter fell across a planked floor thick with yellow dust and the decay of thousands of dead leaves blown in through the glassless s Matthew had not let go of the knife, and as he rolled away froot up fast, his face pallid with dust and his eyes full of e of shoulders and chest The arrow&039;s shaft had snapped off at the midpoint in their collision, but the way theno sensation of pain

Slaughter flung the pistol end-over-end at Mattheho dodged aside in tihter then reached into his haversack He brought out a wicked-looking knife with a horn handle Matthew thought it was likely the blade he&039;d used to sever the rope bridge a dark brown stain below its handle testified to other work as well

Without hesitation Slaughter rushed Matthehipping the knife back and forth Matthew retreated, striking here and there with the blade but finding only empty air where a body had been Even wounded, the ility

"Just lie down, lie down," Slaughter breathed, as he circled "Lie down, let me kill you, just lie down"

Matthew had no intention of lying down But he was still backing away, his own knife ready to stab into Slaughter&039;s guts if he had to Slaughter followed, like a hter feinted and drew back Heslow circles in the air Slaughter&039;s eyes never left Matthew&039;s There came another feint followed by a fast strike toward Matthew&039;s chest, which he recognized and dodged almost a second too late He struck out with his own knife, intending to get under Slaughter&039;s guard ar certainty that he was far too slow, for Slaughter&039;s free hand clamped hard on his wrist The horn-handled knife rose up Matthew grasped the arainst the wall a set of shelves collapsed, and with them a box of wooden tools and three or four oak buckets that rolled about the roohter&039;s dust-streaked face came in toward Matthew&039;s Closer, and closer still, until Matthew feared the an to laugh, deeply and slowly, as the increasing pressure froernails dug into his wrist Matthew felt the knife began to slip

"Just a little ht up in his face "Starting to break, isn&039;t iti Listen for the bones to snap!"

and then Slaughter twisted Matthew&039;s wrist so fiercely searing pain coursed along the tortured arh his neck and paralyzed him He cried out, equally in panic as well as pain, as the knife fell frohter released Matthew&039;s wrist to jab at his eyes with the fingernails, an effort Mattheas able to deflect even as he clung desperately to Slaughter&039;s knife arrasped the front of Matthew&039;s buckskin jacket, and with a display of aweso him across the chamber to crash heavily into the base of the opposite wall

Matthew got up on his knees He tasted blood The roohter came toward him al heavily "Dear Matthew! Don&039;t you know by nowi It would take two of you to polish me off alas, there is only-"

One of the wooden buckets ithin Matthew&039;s reach He picked it up and hurled it at the ed, snake-quick, but not quick enough that the bucket didn&039;t glance off his wounded scalp Its passage tore the bandage away, brought a hiss frohter&039;s teeth and caused blood to stream anew from the hideous, raw red furrow above his ear "Da a hand to the injury How dare you, was his tone of voice He blinked rapidly; blood was in his eye "Damn-"

He never finished the second oath, because Matthew had gotten to his feet and now he hit the hter swung out with the knife; it slashed across Matthew&039;s chest, carving through buckskin, waistcoat cloth and shirt linen as cleanly as it had cut through the burnt crust of a ha the planks squeal and tremble Matthew had no time to worry about a slashed chest He stoain did the rab Matthew&039;s leg, and then he reached up and caught the jacket, but the fingers of his other hand had sprung their knuckles and the knife was loose Matthew bent down to get it but again Slaughter&039;s nails came at his face He kicked at the knife, if only to remove it from the killer&039;s immediate choices, and the weapon ofwheels

Slaughter was on his knees The arroound was running criain, but Slaughter just grinned with bloody teeth a fist struck Matthew in the chest and s hitch for air, another blow sht cheekbone and a third hit his jaw and rocked his head back, and then the killer was up and driving him across the floor toward the mechanis gearwheels could very well scrape a face frohter&039;s intent He bent Matthew&039;s face toward the teeth, put a hand on the back of his head and pushed Matthew resisted, the cords andHe thrashed to escape, frantically throwing both elbows, but theMatthe that in another few seconds his fast-dwindling strength would be history, and so too would he be when Slaughter polished hi He heard Slaughter grunt when an elbow crashed against his chest, but it was only a iving up, whether he wanted to or not Tryi He had tried Tried all he could It was not to be and all those deaths all for nothing

Slaughter released one hand to pound him across the back of the head, which loohter leaned forward, as Matthew&039;s face hung inches over the revolving teeth, and whispered soely fah the town, and what fast horse ht ride me downi"

Very soon, now Very soon

Try I&039; hit the wheel

Not his face So that sounded like pebbles Someone had just thrown a handful of pebbles into the room, is what it sounded like Matthew heard theht have been-hit the wheel and bounce off; one struck the side of his neck and gave hihter cast him aside like dirty laundry Matthew fell to his knees He stared down at the floor where his own blood was dripping He was used up, nothing left He thought he was going to pass out in another few seconds, and lie here like a lahter roar The man stalked to the nearest hich looked toward the woods "Who&039;s there, pleasei" The diplomat at work "This is a privateroll past his face His eyes followed it

It was a reen It had within it a swirl of blue

Mattheas dazed He had seen that before Hadn&039;t hei Sohter shouted He reached into his haversack again-his bottoht out the razor, which had an evil glint about it that Matthew had never noted in his own shaving-glass

"So on us," he heard the man mutter "I&039;ll fix &039;em, just you wait there I&039;ll fix &039;em" and then, louder, "Come on in! Where are youi"

Matthew didn&039;t wish to stay for the cutting party He looked over his shoulder at one of the s on the opposite side of the et