“Why not?” asked Old Tom. “The soldiers don’t suspect us. Nothing more natural than a man walking with his daughter, that is, if they see us at all. I know something about giving people the slip.”

“What if something happens here?” asked Sina nervously.

“Don’t lose heart now, woman,” said Old Tom.

We went down the back stairs and out the door as swiftly and quietly as mercury through a thermometer. There was a soldier in front of the house, so we made our way noiselessly for the bushes that bordered the cliff down to the ocean. From there, although the walking was a bit scratchy, we were hidden until we got to the woods.

We walked for a long time soundlessly with the brilliant light of morning creeping over the ocean. Sun sparkled on wave tips, seals splashed, ravens cawed, and sandpipers chirped. They were all the happy normal sounds of the world waking up, but the sound we most wanted to hear was the roar of the Argot coming to land by the cabin. Had the plane already crashed? Had the hermit died alone and unheralded at sea? We were also listening for the sound of soldiers on patrol because we would no longer be alerted by flashlights. We were so tense that although I knew it was best not to speak, I could not help myself. I groped for any topic but the fate of the hermit.

“If we only had a dog,” I said finally. “A dog would alert us to men in the bushes.”

“A dog would alert the men in the bushes to us,” countered Old Tom.

“Still, when this is over, let’s get a dog.”

“Good idea, Franny,” said Old Tom. “Let’s.”

“What kind?” I asked.

“I’ve always wanted a collie,” said Old Tom.

“What, you mean like Lassie?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s get a collie. Why haven’t we gotten one before?”

“I don’t know,” said Old Tom. “There’s all kinds of things you mean to do but don’t get around to.”

“Who is going to put Flying Bob on the side of the road? And where?” I asked.

“Yes, I’ve been wondering that, too,” said Old Tom. “And I’m thinking that, rather than leaving him on the side of the road, we need someone to be in the accident with him. We need someone to drop him there unconscious and when he has a moment of consciousness as he has had off and on all night, to tell him how he got there. She needs to say that he was hitchhiking and then there was a car accident and he hit his head. In other words, she must remember being in the accident. And it must look as though there was an accident. Which means we must use a car that can get dinged. And not our truck—that would be too suspicious.”