'Meaning?'
'Meaning I'm committed. It's too late to agonize. I'm scared, but I'm not uncertain, you know.'
'I guess so.' 'You're kind of nice yourself,' he said.
'Like what?'
'Like not so bossy, not so controlling. Softer, maybe.' 'I just react to you,' she said. 'If you don't push at me, I don't have to push back.'
Newman made a harsh, derisive sound. 'Family that kills together stays together,' he said.
There was movement along the lake and Chris Hood appeared, walking quietly.
Janet said, 'Over here, Chris.'
Hood slid under the tree with them. 'Canoe's in the cove just around the point,' he said. 'I put some rocks in it and sank it in about three feet of water. It's under the water at the base of the only big rock in the cove.'
Newman nodded.
'Remember where it is,' Hood said. 'In case I don't come back with you.'
'Maybe none of us will come back,' Newman said.
'Then it won't matter,' Hood said.
CHAPTER 23.
The trail was little more than a continuous opening in the thick forest. It was laced with greenbrier and slow going. But all around them the greenbrier was thicker, and brush and second-growth saplings were dense and difficult.
Occasionally there were the soft summer droppings of whitetail deer.
'In winter,' Hood said softly, 'the droppings are much more like pellets because the feed is different. In the winter they're eating bark, stuff like that.'
Hood was first as they went single file, the Springfield cradled across his left arm, his right hanging free. Janet came next and Newman was third. They smelled of insect repellent and perspiration. But Newman wasn't tired.
'I'm not that taken up with deer shit, Chris,' Newman said in a loud whisper.
Hood smiled. 'You're in the woods, Aaron, it's good to' know a little about them.'
It was late afternoon. The sun was still high but the; deep woods were dim. They had been walking for three; and a half hours.
'You okay, Janet?' Hood said.
'I'm fine,' she said.
Newman smiled to himself. 'She's in shape, Chris. She; runs three miles a day.'
Hood nodded. Janet looked back at Newman. He; winked at her and made the double-time gesture with his; clenched fist. Ahead there were gunshots. Hood stopped' raised his right hand. They stood motionless.
'Deer maybe,' Newman said.
'Out of season,' Hood said.
'Christ, so am I,' Newman said. 'That didn't seem to' sweat them.'
'Yeah, maybe. I guess they wouldn't be nervous about the game laws, would they?'
They were quiet. No more shots. No sounds. No locust hum. No birdsong. Newman could hear Janet breathing; in front of him. Her shirt below the pack was soaked with sweat, and he could smell the perspiration odor mingled with perfume and insect repellent. He liked it.
A woodpecker began to drum in the darkening trees above them. There was locust hum again. Hood motioned with his hand and they went forward behind him walking with very little noise. The forest was deep with the accumulated leaf-fall of timeless autumns, and the footing was soft. They walked carefully, watching where they walked, not stepping on dead branches.
It must have been like this, Newman thought, when the Saint Francis Indians would raid down into Maine and take prisoners back up to Canada and Rogers' Rangers would chase them. In his imagination he could sense the single file of coppery men and the long-dressed women captives with mop hats on moving in silence, the women stumbling sometimes, and behind them the lank men in fringed buckskins and loose-sleeved shirts moving grimly at the trot, carrying long rifles.
Like us, Newman thought, in pursuit.
The trail opened slightly by a small stream. Newman could smell faintly the acrid edge of gunpowder, a dim nasal memory of Korea. At the stream edge was the buff colored short body of a ground-hog. Where its head had been was a scramble of blood, bone, and tissue. They stopped. They spoke softly.
'Shot it with a big gun,' Hood said.
'No season on these things,' INc-wman said. 'Guess you can shoot them anytime.'
'Not a lot of sport to it,' Hood aid.
'Why shoot a groundhog?' Janeet said.
'Cause it was there,' Newman said.
'They're not choosy,' Hood saiol. 'Remember that.'
They went on. It was nearly dark now and they went more slowly, Hood ahead, listening hard, watching closely, slowing at each trail turn.
For the last hour the trail had meandered, rising slowly. Newman could feel the rise and the added stress of it. He watched Janet carefully.
She did not seem more tired. than he was. They'd canoed and walked all day without eating. He was hungry. It wasn't an insistent hunger, he was too intent on the pursuit and the trail ahead of them to be preoccupied with hunger, but the knowledge that he'd like to eat was always a part of his consciousness.
In front of them, Hood stopped and put his hand up.
He made an exaggerated sniffing gesture with his head. Newman smelled smoke. Hood looked at him; Newman nodded. They could barely see each other now that the evening had gathered. Hood came back and stood close to Janet and Newman.
'I'd guess they're making camp for the night,' he said.
'What do we do?' Janet said.
'We'll find a place to squat and then reconnoiter. If they are making camp we ought to be able to do what we came for tonight and walk out of here.'
'With the rest of them chasing us,' Newman said.
'Kill them all,' Hood said.
'No,' Newman said. 'Five people, Jesus Christ.'
'Aaron, this is like a war,' Janet said.
Newman shook his head. 'I'll murder Karl,' he said. 'Because we have to, because it's right and necessary. But I won't ambush and kill five sleeping men. I can't.'
'Aaron,' Janet began.
Hood said, 'Shhh. First we find a place to locate. Then we'll work out a plan.' He moved off the trail into the thickets. It was impossible to be silent, but they moved quietly. It was fully dark now and they held hands as they moved off the trail. Newman held the Winchester upright before his face as a shield against the branches he could no longer see. He heard Janet yip with pain in front of him.
'Put the gun straight up and down in front of your nose,' he whispered.
'Keep the branches from hitting you in the eye.' She did as he told her.
They found some space where a granite outcropping rose eight feet above them. Newman could see the stars, and in their light he could see around him a short way. They took the packs off and put them down.
'I'm going to eat a granola bar,' Newman said.
'Just one,' Hood said. 'We don't know how long we'll be.'
Newman nodded and bit into the bar.
Hood said, 'Janet, you stick here with the packs; Aaron and I will sneak over for a look, and then when we now what the situation is we'll come back and talk it out.' 'I'll come with you,' she said.
