Page 111 (1/2)

The crowd see confidence, but Sam noticed that his jaw clenched, his s to do?" a boy named Jim demanded "Where’s Albert?"

Albert stepped from an inconspicuous position off to one side Hecarefully still, not entirely well even now

He carefully chose a position equidistant between Caine and Sam

"What should we do, Albert?" a voice asked plaintively

Albert didn’t look out at the crowd except for a quick glance up, like he was just ht direction He spoke in a quiet, reasonable ed closer to hear

"I’ kids to work, taking the things they harvest or catch, and redistributing theh a market"

"And getting the best stuff for yourself," soed "I reward myself for the work I do"

This blunt admission left the crowd nonplussed

"Caine has promised that if I stay here he won’t interfere But I don’t trust Caine"

"No, he doesn’t," Toto agreed

"I do trust Sam But"

And now you could hear a pin drop

"ButSam is a weak leader" He kept his eyes down "Sahter ever He’s defended usout how to survive But Sam"-- Albert now turned to hi to step aside When Astrid and the council sidelined you, you put up with it I was part of that myself But you let us push you aside and the council turned out to be useless"

Sam stood stock-still, stone-faced

"Let’s face it, you’re not really the reason things are better here, I am," Albert said "You’re ay braver than anize or plan ahead and you won’t just put your foot down and htly It was hard to hear But far harder was seeing the way the croas nodding, agreeing It was the truth The fact was he’d let the council run things, stepped aside, and then sat around feeling sorry for hio off on an adventure and he hadn’t been here to save the tohen they needed it

"So," Albert concluded, "I’s here, in Perdido Beach But there will be free trading of stuff between Perdido Beach and the lake And Lana has to be allowed to move freely"

Caine bristled at that He didn’t like Albert laying down conditions

Albert wasn’t intimidated "I feed these kids," he said to Caine "I do it ht little bow of the head

"I want you to say it," Albert said with a nod toward Toto