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A clu onme start The littering cascade, dusting Jaers were gripping h to leave bruises, but I didn’t move or make a sound A patch of snow had fallen fro nuh which I could see out between the needles, peering over Jaround sloped a little away frorove where I had cut branches the night before Everything was thick with snow; a good four inches ht It was just past dawn, and the rising sun painted the black trees with coruscations of red and gold, striking white glare from the icy sweep of snow below The wind had come up in the wake of the stor clouds, like srove; I could hear the voices plainly now; arguing about soooseflesh on ht see the hacked branches where I had chopped limbs from the hemlocks I hadn’t been neat; there would be needles and bits of bark scattered all over the ground Would enough snow have trickled through the branches to cover my aard spoor?

A flash of movement showed in the trees, then another, and suddenly they were there, on’s teeth sprung from the snow

They were dressed for winter travel, in fur and leather, sos and soft boots They all carried bundles of blankets and provisions, had headpiecesacross their shoulders; evidently the snow here was not deep enough to render them necessary

They were armed; I could see a fewat every belt Six, seven, eight…I counted silently as they ca in the prints of the one before hi, and a man near the front replied over his shoulder, his words lost in the blowing veil of snow and wind

I drew a deep breath I could se of fresh sweat above his nor, too, in spite of the cold Did they have dogs? Could they sniff us out, hidden as ere beneath the sharp reek of spruce and hemlock?

Then I realized that the windthe sound of their voices No, even dogs wouldn’t scent us But would they see the branches that frae patch of snow slid off with a rush, landing with a soft flump! outside

Jamie drew in his breath sharply, and I leaned over his shoulder, staring The last ap in the trees, an ar snow

He was a Jesuit He wore a short cape of bearskin over his habit, leather leggings and moccasins under it--but he had black skirts, kilted up for walking in the snow, and a wide, flat black priest’s hat, held on with one hand against the wind His face, when he showed it, was blond-bearded, and so fair-skinned that I could see the redness of his cheeks and nose even at such a distance

"Call the close to Jamie’s ear "They’re Christians, they must be, to have a priest with the his eyes off the file offro

"No," he said, half under his breath "No Christians they ain,with hination

"How’s your back?"

He stretched gingerly, and halted abruptly in h he’d been skewered

"Not so good, have me a dirty look, eased himself very slowly back into his bed of crushed leaves, and shut his eyes with a sigh

"You have of course thought of soine?" I said politely

He opened one eye

"No," he said, and shut it again He breathed quietly, his chest rising and falling gently under his fringed hunting shirt, giving a brilliant i on his ht one, and the sun was jabbing brilliant fingers of light into our erstwhile sanctuarpluently decanted it into the neck of his shirt

He drew in his breath through his teeth with a sharp hiss, opened his eyes, and regarded ," he informed me

"Oh Sorry to interrupt, then" I eased led cloaks up over us The as beginning to lace through the holes in our shelter, and it occurred toeffects of snow Only there wasn’t going to be any snow falling tonight, I didn’t think

Then there was the littlesubdued protests for some time, and Jamie’s now voiced its , straight nose at the offender

"Hush," he said reprovingly in Gaelic, and cast his eyes upward At last he sighed and looked at me

"Well, then," he said "Ye’d best wait a bit, to be sure yon savages are well away Then ye’ll go down to the cabin--"

"I don’t knohere it is"

He made a small noise of exasperation

"How did ye find me?"

"Tracked you," I said, with a certain a wilderness outside "I don’t suppose I can do it in reverse, though"

"Oh" He looked mildly impressed "Well, that was verra resourceful of ye, Sassenach Dinna worry, though; I can tell ye how to go, to find your way back"

"Right And then what?"

He shrugged one shoulder The bit of snow hadhis shirt and leaving a tiny pool of clear water standing in the hollow of his throat