“Is he? When did you discover that?”

“Yesterday. Late mornin’ or thereabouts.”

Before the second runner set off, Wyatt thought. So they were already coming at us from two directions.

“We’re the last, then?”

“That we are, ’ceptin’ Stryker.”

“Stryker’s not coming,” Wyatt said grimly.

“You’ve seen him?” Boone asked, surprised.

“What was left of him. He’s dead. They all are. We came on them late yesterday. Oneida scouting party caught up with them.” Wyatt frowned. “Reverend De Witt was with them.”

“Oneida?” Boone sucked in his cheeks, considering the implications. “God damn.” The scout stared at the ground and then looked up, his head canted. “De Witt, too, you say? Any sign of the boy?”

“Boy?” Wyatt said.

“The Hooper lad. That’s why they were out. Boy ran off and the colonel sent Stryker to look for him. De Witt went with them – volunteered.”

“Ah, hell,” Billy Drew said.

“There was no boy,” a confused Donaldson said.

“Could be the Oneida took him,” Boone muttered, as if talking to himself. “Though that ain’t likely, if’n they were scouts.”

Wyatt shook his head. His mind was racing. “They didn’t.”

Boone squinted at him. “You sound mighty sure of that.”

“Scouts’re dead, too. We caught up with them. Save for one. We think he took off, heading for Ticonderoga, probably to meet up with Clinton’s militia, pass the word the column was near.”

“Didn’t Tewanias say there were six riders?” Jem Beddowes interjected.

“The boy was on his horse,” Boone responded speculatively. “Word is, he went looking for his dog.”

Wyatt cast his mind back to what Tewanias had told them.

“One rode through before.”

Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into place. The sixth rider had to have been the boy. Somehow, the Oneida had passed him by but had then chanced upon the search party and laid their ambush.

Which could mean …

Boone cleared his throat, interrupting Wyatt’s train of thought. “Boat’s waitin’, Lieutenant. Crew’ll want to get underway. Didn’t have no trouble persuadin’ ’em to wait for a while, but we’ve overstayed our welcome and then some. We should leave. Colonel’s a forgivin’ man, but even he has his limitations.” Boone looked over his shoulder and made a beckoning gesture. “We’d best get Nate back here.”

“The boy’s still out there,” Wyatt said heavily.

“Boat ain’t going to wait.”

“Jethro’s right, Lieutenant,” Donaldson cut in. “Even if Tewanias got to the first runner, there’s militia coming up from the south and Clinton’s closing in from the east. They’re practically on our doorstep. And even if we did go back in there, where would we start looking? Grieves me to say it, but the lad’s gone.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I made a promise. I said I’d keep him safe.”