“A bear! Are you all right?”

“Yes,” he soothed. “It autographed my leg, but I’ll be fine. We think we can come to you tomorrow. What about Cliff? Did he finally show up?”

There was silence for a moment, then, “No, I—Wait a minute. Here is Dr. Abernathy.”

“Eric, this is Chet. What’s this about a bear?”

“Nothing serious. What about Cliff? Have you heard from him?”

“Yes.”

“What?” Eric demanded.

“They captured him at the dam.”

The air went out of Eric’s lungs in a sudden burst of pain. “Oh, no.”

“Yes. We’ve been monitoring the radio broadcasts from Shalev.”

“Was he hurt?”

“No. But—”

“But what?”

“An announcement came over the air about four this afternoon. All citizens of Shalev are to report to the soccer stadium tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock. All stores and businesses, except for critical services, will close at noon. Attendance is compulsory.”

“Attendance at what? What’s going on? And what has that got to do with Cliff?”

Again there was a pause. Then, “They’re putting Cliff on trial.”

Nicole watched Eric tear her long-sleeved, cotton blouse into long strips and bind them tightly around his bandaged leg. He finished and looked up. “Will you hand me my boots, please?”

“Eric, this is insane. You can’t use that leg.” Her voice was pleading, tight with worry.

His chin jerked up, and in the flickering light of the fire, his eyes were glittering, hard, bright. She flinched and finally crawled over to where his hiking boots lay next to his sleeping bag.

“Will you help me put on the left one?”

“No. I won’t help you lose your leg. I understand how you feel about Cliff, but you can’t—”

He leaned over, gritting his teeth against the pain, fumbling with his boot. Finally Nicole shook her head and knelt down in front of him. “I know why you feel this way, but there’s no way you can ride or walk. You can’t help Cliff this way.”

“I’ve taken another pain pill, and I’ll take more if necessary.”

“You can’t even be off the mountain by noon,” she pleaded, “let alone into Shalev.”

“Chet’s going to meet me at the bottom.”

“You won’t make it to the bottom! And if you do, then what? Don’t you think the Major is doing this to lure you down? Don’t you know he’ll be expecting you?”

“I hope so.”

She tied the boot with a vicious yank and looked up at him. “Spoken with the courage of a lion and the brains of a bean.”

His eyes surveyed her for a long moment. “I appreciate your concern, but Nicole, I’ve got to try. You know as well as I, this is no trial. It’s a public hanging, an execution. I’ve got to try!”