Which still didn’t explain the pastor’s role.

Wyatt turned to Tewanias. “The Runner. Can you catch him?”

Tewanias rewarded him with a look, saying nothing.

Stupid question, Wyatt thought. “All right. You catch him and you kill him before he can report back.”

A gleam shone briefly in the Mohawk’s eyes.

“We’ll go after the rest,” Wyatt told the others. “They know the column is somewhere ahead. They’ll be cautious till they have it in sight. That’ll give us a chance to make up the ground.”

“What about the bodies?” Billy Drew asked. “We going to leave them like this?”

“Have to, Billy,” Beddowes said heavily. “Don’t have time to do any burying.”

“Jem’s right,” agreed Wyatt. “We’ve no choice. No telling how close the opposition is, given they’ve sent their Oneida scouts in here. They find five graves and they’re going to figure out that we know they’re here. I’d rather we kept the advantage. It might just give us an edge, providing they don’t pick up our tracks.”

“Don’t seem right, just leaving them,” Donaldson said. He looked at Wyatt. “I’d like to say a few words, Lieutenant, if’n we’ve got time. I’d feel better about it.”

Wyatt read each of their faces in turn and the message in their eyes. They were good men. They knew it could just as easily have been one of them lying there and they were thinking, if that had been the case, they’d have appreciated a prayer to mark their passing. He gave the go ahead.

As Donaldson reached into his pocket for his bible, Wyatt turned to Tewanias. “We’ll see you back at the column.”

Wordlessly, Tewanias handed Wyatt his musket. By the time Donaldson had his hat off and the bible open in his hand, the Mohawk had already slipped away into the woods.

Weariness was setting in.

It had been hard to judge exactly how much time had elapsed since he’d shown Tam the amulet and asked the dog to follow its nose. He knew only that the late afternoon sun was now well beyond the trees and before long it would be sunset. Soon it would be too dark for him to find his way and he would have to find somewhere to bed down for the night. The last time he’d camped out had been the previous summer and he’d had Will Archer for company. This time he had Tam and Jonah. Neither of them could talk, but it was better than being alone.