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“It’s a blaze”

“A what?”

“A blaze,” he said again, ers and surveyors mark trails”

She thought about the boundaries of the property at their cabin and how her father someties of the property line “No, they don’t, they use that orange marker tape”

Peter shook his head “Not the old-ti an axe one-handed —

down, then upward on an angle “They cut down the underbrush, then they notch a tree when it’s young,” he continued, placing his hand palets higher and easier to see when the underbrush grows back” He raised his hand to the level of thein front of

“That’s still not a trail; it’s just a tree,” Hannah replied

Peter grinned at her “Oh, yeah? Watch this”

He took her arm and moved Hannah so that she stood in front of him

“See it?” he asked, pointing over her shoulder toward the notched tree

“No What a besides trees?”

“The trail” He squinted over her shoulder and angled her so she faced a bit more toward the way they had come

“There See it?”

“Like, another tree with a notch? Yeah, I see that Oh, okay, there’s another …” She trailed off and instinctively moved just a hair to the left Suddenly, it was like the forest had welcomed her in on a secret

One tree notch; then another a bit farther along to its right; then another to the left; another to the right, on and on They were all the saht, on the sa the talorious trail