Will Archer had known how to navigate through the woods, using skills he’d acquired when he’d been in the army. He’d tried to pass on that knowledge. There were plants, the boy remembered, that grew on certain sides of trees. The habits of animals and birds were also useful. Spiders chose the south side to build their webs because it was the warmest, while woodpeckers dug their holes on the east side of the tree. The boy tried to recall these tips, but to his shame he was unable to. He looked at the dense forest around him, the fear growing inside him as he pictured himself frantically looking for woodpeckers and spiders as darkness fell, leaving him all alone out here with only Tam and Jonah for company.

He tried the compass again. The needle continued to gyrate rapidly. It was no use. Trying to stay calm, he placed the instrument back in the tin and returned the tin to his bag. He looked for the sun again and steered Jonah on to what he hoped was the right heading. There was path of sorts, he saw, leading off in the direction he thought he should take, but was it the right one? Would it lead him to where he needed to go?

He wondered if he should give Jonah his head, but there was no guarantee the horse would take him back to the column. Indeed, there was a strong possibility he’d head south, back to the farm, and that was the last place they should go. That was where the men had come out of the woods and killed Uncle Will and Aunt Beth.

He thought about the lieutenant and his men and how they’d helped to bury the Archers beneath the tree in the meadow, and how they’d taken care of him during the ride to the big house, treating him not as a child but as an equal. He wondered if that was because he’d killed Ephraim Smede. Would they have respected him otherwise? He didn’t know the answer to that.

He remembered the smell of the man he’d hit with the axe: a combination of soiled clothing, sweat, piss and tobacco.

He thought then about Tewanias. He lifted a hand to his throat and the bone turtle that hung there on its leather cord. Lieutenant Wyatt had said it was a totem. The Mohawk chief had called it Anowara.

The gift had been a token of respect. The boy understood that and liked the way it made him feel inside. As he rubbed the amulet between his finger and thumb he wished Tewanias was with him, to guide him through the woods.

As he turned to check that Tam was keeping up, it occurred to him that maybe Tam could find Tewanias. What was it that Lieutenant Wyatt had said?

You might not see us, but we’ll be there.