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JAKE FELT SOMETHING FURRY against his ankle and looked down Oy was crouched beside hi more anxious than ever Jake reached down and cautiously stroked his head, as ive it Its fur was silky, incredibly soft For ato run, but it only looked up at him, licked his hand, and then looked back at the t people Theto help the wo very well Her head craned this way and that in avid confusion

The man named Si had cut his palave up trying to help the woman, swept off his sombrero, and held it over his chest To Jake the hat looked as big as a bushel basket "We bid ye welcoht all your land had perished from the earth, so I did!"

"I thank you for your welcoently on the blind woed for a moment, then relaxed and allowed him to help her up "Put on your hat, old-timer The sun is hot"

He did, then just stood there, looking at Roland with shining eyes After a mo

"A gunslinger! I told you, Mercy! I seen the shooting-iron and told you!"

"No harriers?" she asked, as if unable to believe it "Are you sure they ain&039;t harriers, Si?"

Roland turned to Eddie "Make sure of the safety and then give her Jake&039;s gun"

Eddie pulled the Ruger froerly in the blind woasped, ally She turned the eun!" she whispered "My sainted hat!"

"Ay, so it froer&039;s got a real one, and there&039;s a woot a brown skin, too, like ave his shrill, whistling bark Jake turned and sawup the street - five or six in all Like Si and Mercy, they were all old, and one of the over a cane like a witch in a fairy-tale, looked positively ancient As they neared, Jake realized that two of thewhite hair spilled over the shoulders of their patched homespun shirts Their skin was as white as fine linen, and their eyes were pink Albinos, he thought

The crone appeared to be their leader She hobbled toward Roland&039;s party on her cane, staring at thereen as emeralds Her toothless mouth was tucked deeply into itself The hem of the old shawl she wore fluttered in the prairie breeze Her eyes settled upon Roland

"Hail, gunslinger! Well h Speech herself, and, like Eddie and Susannah, Jake understood the words perfectly, although he guessed they would have been gibberish to hi!"

The gunslinger had re his throat three tiht hand "Thankee-sai, Old Mother"

She cackled freely at this and Eddie suddenly realized Roland had at the saht which had already occurred to Susannah now came to him: This is hoas and this is what he did Part of it, anyway

"Gunslinger ye may be, but below your clothes you&039;re but another foolishinto low speech

Roland bowed again "Beauty has always made me foolish, hter Oy shrank against Jake&039;s leg One of the albino twins rushed forward to catch the ancient as she rocked backithin her dusty cracked shoes She caught her balance on her own, however, and esture with one hand The albino retreated

"Be ye on a quest, gunslinger?" Her green eyes gleamed shrewdly at him; the puckered pocket of her o in search of the Dark Tower "

The others only looked puzzled, but the old won of the evil eye - not at the the path of the Beam

"I&039;m sorry to hear it!" she cried "For no one who ever went in search of that black dog ever carandfather before hier said patiently, as if this explained everything and, Jake was coreed, "black dog ka! Well-a-well; ye&039;ll do as ye&039;re called, and live along your path, and die when it co in the trees Will ye break bread with us before you push on, gunslinger? You and your band of knights?"

Roland bowed again "It has been long and long since we have broken bread in co, but yes - we&039;ll eat your food with thanks and pleasure"

The old wo voice - yet it was the words she spoke and not the tone in which they were spoken that sent chills racing down Jake&039;s back: "Behold ye, the return of the White! After evil ways and evil days, the White coood heart and hold up your heads, for ye have lived to see the wheel of ka begin to turn once more!"

6

THE OLD WOMAN, WHOSE nah the town square and to the church with the leaning spire - it was The Church of the Blood Everlasting, according to the faded board on the run-to-riot lawn Written over the words, in green paint that had faded to a ghost, was another h the ruined church, hobbling rapidly along the center aisle past the splintered and overturned pews, down a short flight of stairs, and into a kitchen so different from the ruin above that Susan-nah blinked in surprise Here everything was neat as a pin The wooden floor was very old, but it had been faithfully oiled and gloith its own serene inner light The black cookstove took up one whole corner It was immaculate, and the wood stacked in the brick alcove next to it looked both well-chosen and well-seasoned