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Fraser saw hi with his chin

"By the strea The stream itself wasn’t visible, but he could chart its course by the growth of bare-limbed sycamore and s Then he saw it; a bush far down the slope s of the branches near it A sudden jerk that shook the bush as solih only to tell hier than a deer Wapiti, ainst the wind He stood easy, er could see his excite hand "I have not seen one, but they are very large, no?"

"No" Roger shook his head "I mean yes, but that’s not what it is I’ve hunted moose--with the Mohawk They don’t hten briefly, then relax; by unspoken consent, they avoidedthe Mohawk Fraser said nothing, though, only nodded at the tangle of woodland below

"Aye, it’s not deer or er squinted harder, then sahat Fraser was doing, and did likewise--swaying fro his eyes drift casually across the landscape

With no attele spot in the panorama below, he could instead see the whole slope as a blurred patchwork of color and ht, and sht Then he sahat Jaotten

Here and there areen was a disjunction, a knot in the pattern of nature’s weft--strangewind Each beast was invisible itself, but s of the bushes nearby God, how big must they be? Thereand therehe let his eyes drift to and fro, and felt a tightening of exciteh chest and belly Christ, there were half a dozen, at least!

"I was right! I was right, was I no, Mac Dubh?" MacLeod exulted His round face beamed from one to another, flushed with triumph "I did say as I’d seen beasts, aye?"

"Jesus, there’s a whole herd of thehlander’s face was bright, fierce with anticipation He glanced at Jamie

"Hoill it be, Mac Dubh?"

Ja into the valley "Hard to say; they’re in the open We canna corner theer and held it to the breeze, then pointed

"The wind’s from the west; let us come down the runnel there to the foot of the slope Then wee Roger and I will pass to the side, near that great outcrop; ye see the one?"

Lindsay nodded slowly, a crooked front tooth worrying the thin flesh of his lip

"They’re near the stream Do you circle about--keep well clear until ye’re near to the big cedar tree; ye see it? Aye, then spread yourselves, two to each bank of the streaer Mac and I will cous nodded, surveying the land below

"I see And if they shall see us, they will turn into that sestured i in the sun Then he gri fart despoiled the silence of the wood Jahtful look

"Keep doind, aye?" he said

IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to walk silently through the drifts of dry leaves, but Roger stepped as lightly as possible Seeing Jaer had done likewise, feelingat the acrid scent of powder From his impressions of the size of the beasts they followed, even heaside his doubts, he paused for abut the faint rush of wind through the bare branches overhead, and the far-off murmur of water A sliunstock in his hand, the arm and solid in his palm, barrel ai carefully round a suive suddenly under his foot, and jerked back to keep his balance He looked at what he’d stepped on, and in spite of his instant disappointh

"Jaer about stealth or silence

Fraser’s bright hair appeared through a screen of laurel, followed by the man himself He didn’t speak, but lifted one thick brow in inquiry

"I’ doard, "but I’ve stepped in enough of these to know one when I see one" He scraped the side of his shoe on a fallen log, and pointed with his toe "What d’ye think we’ve been creeping up on, all this ti, then walked forward and squatted next to the corrugated brown splotch He prodded it with a forefinger, then looked up at Roger with an expression of led amusement and dis, he turned his head, frowning as he surveyed the wilderness around the here?" hehis eyes as he looked toward the creek, where the lowering sun dazzled through the branches