She considered that this whole conversation was getting very strange.  “Because my father left me here and Ellis Gray is going to see me to the next awful place in my life which is out in the desert somewhere.  It was either that or get hanged.  What does it matter to you anyway?”

“It doesn’t.  I’ve been scouting this country and there’s nothing out there right now.  You’ll be safe for a day or two at least.”  Before she had time to react, he abruptly sat up, laid the reins over and turned his horse down the road toward the river.  Then he changed his mind and led his horse back around in a circle to where she stood.  Fear gripped her again.

“What is that gun?” he said.  Now nothing made any sense.

“A new kind of Colt.  It’s my father’s.  It’s the only thing he allows himself to spend money on.  Guns.”

“Do you mind if I see it?”  What difference did anything make at this point?  If he was going to shoot her with her own gun, she didn’t have enough energy left to object.  If he was going to steal it, here, take it, it’s yours.

She handed up the gun.  He tested the weight, opened the chamber, clicked it shut, held out the gun and sighted down its length.

“Go ahead if you want,” she said.   He sighted again carefully, waited, then fired a shot that blew a branch off a tree across the road.  He leaned down and gave her back the gun.

“It’s a good gun,” he said.  “There’s a dead squirrel out there if you feel like finding it.”  He turned again and was gone.

4

4

Charlotte roasted the squirrel with onions and turnips for dinner.  It wasn’t the first one she’d ever cooked.  Even in times of plenty, the Family had always lived simply.  It was one of the Twenty-Seven Rules and her father enforced them strictly.  He said the discipline kept them from temptation, from losing sight of their purpose, of why they were put on this earth.  It also prepared them for the hardships he’d known were coming.  That was his role, to see the future and guide them safely through it.