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captured prize. He turned his head. “What …”
    “Pay attention to your duty, lad,” Quent said sternly. “Colonel Washington, hadn’t you better … ?”
    “Yes, yes …” The lieutenant colonel of the Virginia Regiment shuddered, as if he’d been bewitched and only just shaken off the spell. “Stop!” he screamed. “Stop or we’ll open fire!”
    Tanaghrisson looked up and saw the eight muskets pointing at him and his braves. He raised his hand. Instantly the Indians stopped their butchery andbacked away. The soldiers stepped forward purposefully, as if it were not too late for them to do anything useful.
    The two woodsmen slipped silently into the depths of the forest, Nicole between them. The first time she stumbled Quent picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. Then he and Cormac broke into a trot.
    It was ten minutes before they came to a clearing and stopped. Quent set the young woman on the ground and turned away without a word. The two men approached each other, clasped their left hands, and held them aloft.
“Nekane,”
Quent said. The word meant “little brother” in the Potawatomi language.
    “Sizé,”
Cormac said. Elder brother.
“Ahaw nikan.”
My spirit greets you.
    “Bozho nikan”
And mine you.
    Nicole, still dazed and shivering with the horror of what she’d witnessed, huddled where Quent had left her, understanding nothing.

Chapter Three

    THE OHIO COUNTRY was mostly dense virgin forest, mixed hardwoods and conifers, but the clearing was a small bit of natural upland where the trees had thinned sufficiently to allow dappled sunshine to filter through. Quent and Corm slaked their thirst in the icy water of a rushing stream, then stood ankle deep in daisies and buttercups and let the early morning sun dry the sweat of their run. Nicole was still where Quent had left her, sitting on the ground. Her arms were wrapped around her bent legs, and her face was pressed against her knees.
    Quent took a tin canteen from his belt and filled it from the stream, then carried it to the girl. She drank without looking at him and returned the empty canteen without a word of thanks.
    “You under an obligation to go back to those colonials?” Cormac asked.
    “Not really. Our arrangement’s on a week-by-week basis, and the week ends tomorrow. Besides, Washington’s done what he set out to do. He’ll turn around and head back to the Forks. Tanaghrisson’s sure to send a brave to show them the way.”
    “Washington—that the young officer who was in charge?”
    “Yes.”
    “He appears to need a lot of showing the way.”
    “This is his first command. Got some growing up to do, but I reckon he’ll do it fairly soon. The Ohio Country ages green wood pretty fast.” Quent looked more closely at Cormac. “I said I wasn’t obligated to return to him. I’m not, unless … you figure Washington and his farmers will make it back to Great Meadows without any more trouble?”
    “None I’m aware of,” Cormac said. “Far as I know, it was exactly what it looked like, a sortie to see what was happening at the Forks and suggest it better be stopped.”
    “And that’s not your lookout? You don’t have to report back to anyone?”
    Cormac grinned. “I haven’t joined the French army, if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve a duty, but it’s not to them.”
    Quent saw Corm glance at the woman. She was still resting her head on her knees. “A duty to her?” he asked.
    “Not the way I think you mean. Leave it for now. I’ll explain later.”
    Quent nodded agreement. “Fine. So what are you doing here?”
    “Looking for you.”
    “I thought that might be the case. That’s why I let you know I was close by.” The call of the northern loon had been their private signal since boyhood. “But it doesn’t explain why.”
    “Because Miss Lorene asked me to.”
    Quent nodded. The great shame in Lorene Devrey Hale’s life had been having her husband bed his Potawatomi squaw under the same