When the Mohawk had indicated for him to start sewing, the boy had experienced both alarm and disbelief. It wasn’t until he’d completed the last stitch that he wondered if it hadn’t been some sort of test. If the Mohawk’s expression on examining the results of his surgery was anything to go by, it was a test he had passed.

A feeling of relief had swept through him. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, it mattered a great deal what the unsmiling warrior chief thought of him.

“Now we rest,” Tewanias told him. “Tomorrow we find Wy-att.”

The boy immediately delved in his bag and produced his tinderbox, but Tewanias shook his head. Though he registered the boy’s puzzled expression, he offered no explanation. He did not want to alarm the boy by telling him that they dare not risk travelling in the dark or lighting a fire in case there were more Oneida scouting parties abroad. Tewanias did not want to run into them or alert them to his presence; not when he was wounded, and especially not with the boy in tow. Admittedly, the boy had more than proved his mettle, but there were some risks that were not worth running.

Tewanias reached for one of the small leather bags he carried at his waist, wincing slightly as he did so. Reaching inside, he drew out two strips of pemmican and offered one to the boy. The dog’s nose twitched at the scent of the dried venison and berries coated in fat. Gnawing off a piece, the boy passed it to Tam who wolfed it down. He remembered the rabbit he’d stowed in his saddlebag. He knew how to skin and cook game, but with no fire, he had no desire to eat the animal raw, though he suspected the Mohawk would not be so squeamish. He took another bite of the pemmican and tried to push the thought of a cooked supper to the back of his mind.

“We will stay here,” Tewanias repeated as the boy chewed. “Tomorrow, we will meet with Wy-att and Owassighsishon.”

The boy frowned. “Owass …?” He stumbled over the rest of the word.

“You call him Col-onel,” Tewanias said.

“Colonel Johnson?”

“John-son, yes.” The Mohawk nodded towards the blanket the boy had removed from the pony’s back. “Now you sleep. I will watch.”

“I can watch, too.”

Tewanias shook his head. He could see the weariness in the boy’s face. “No. Sleep.”