Ellis kept his eyes steady on her.  “Miller offered to be your benefactor till you got to Fort Randall.  They were having none of it, never mind that there’ll be a mountain of supplies waiting for them as pay for taking you on.  And if you’re wondering, I’m giving my fee back to you.”

“And I’ll spend it where?”  But there was a more important point to consider.  She’d thought about death before.  Now she was thinking about it again, all those rivers she couldn’t ford alone, how long her provisions would last.

“I see where your mind’s going.  I had an answer, but it’d only work if you were set on Fort Randall.  That’s why when you said you might have doubts, I maybe didn’t react in the best possible way.”

“What answer did you have?” Charlotte said, thinking she should have eaten something.  She felt light-headed, dizzy.

Ellis took a moment, then spoke.  “Trust me, though I know at the moment you have no cause to.  Just come with me.”

Charlotte couldn’t even imagine what he was talking about.  “Come with you where?”

“Don’t ask.  Get your horse saddled up and meet us back here.”  He stood up.  His face was unreadable.  “Miller’s coming too.”

A new and horrifying thought came to her.  “I have to know.  You have to tell me where we’re going.”

Ellis watched the sky.  There’d be a beautiful sunset.  No rain at least to add to everyone’s miseries.  He turned back to her.  “To the old one.  He wants to meet you.”

12

12

Charlotte rode up over the ridge between the two of them.  The mare seemed glad for the quickened pace.  Ellis had posted what he said was a reliable boy to stay with her wagon.  She’d quickly hidden the guns.  When the boy eyed her plate of food enviously, she gave it to him.

A mile or two on the other side of the ridge, the land rolled into more forest.  Ellis led them among the trees till they came to a clearing and a campfire.  A pale half moon was rising in the east against the fading sky.  Birds serenaded with their last song of the day accompanied by a chorus of crickets in the underbrush.  The first stars appeared.  Charlotte could hardly breathe.

The old one rose as they dismounted.  The others remained seated.  She saw that Ada had been right.  Each of them wore a blanket though the day’s warmth still held.  She noticed however that the soft breeze carried with it no scent of cooking, no smell of roasted meat.