When Siggy came out, his boyish face as bashfully furious as it had ever been, he waved everyone to him. They gathered around.

“Lewis got hisself a shotgun,” he said. “He took Clyde’s shotgun.” Noticing Annie, he hesitated, frowning, before adding, “Clyde said he didn’t see any baby with him.”

In Annie the feeling was like the demolitioned high-rise she had seen once in a newsreel: a dizzying sensation of collapsing whole and upright into her own dust.

“But this just happened ten minutes or so ago and he took out that way into the woods. He can’t be far and he’s…he’s still naked. Pair up. We’re going to spread out here and move toward the river in twos. He’s armed and dangerous. If you see him don’t confront him. Keep him spotted and call for help.”

As the men began to pair up and move, Clyde appeared in the doorway. He looked stricken. “You all did this,” he screamed. “You all did this, and now you’re going to kill him too.”

“Pair up,” Bennet shouted, to shift everyone’s attention from Clyde, who continued screaming. “Let’s move!”

Annie stayed with Raj and Harry Olsen, who was only fifteen and looked eager to use his new rifle. Less than ten minutes later, a shout came from deeper in the woods, upriver. They ran, joining other clots of men until they arrived at the bluff. She could hear Baby crying and clambered frantically up to the edge of the little plateau, but Raj hooked his arm around her waist to stop her from going any farther.

Lew, naked, stood right at the precipice. He held Baby in one arm, the shotgun, pointing to the ground, in the crook of the other. The sun had cast the leaf shadows of a tall dogwood upon him, so it was hard to see the exact expression on his face as the men spread in a semicircle around the edge of the plateau. Thirty rifles were leveled at Lew. Baby was screaming, his face a mess of tears and snot.

Siggy shouted, “Lewis, you put that baby down now. That’s your baby boy, don’t you harm him.”

Baby let out another wail. Annie could feel the front of her nightgown soaked with her milk. Raj was still gently holding her, but she surprised him, twisting his arm out of the way as she shoved him back and scrambled up onto the plateau.

“Annie, you get back now,” Bennet called sternly. “You get back or I’ll shoot him right here.”

“Lew.” She tried to be calm, to coax. “Lew, come here, darling. It’s Annie. Come here to me. We’ll be all right. You’ll be okay.” She didn’t really know what she was saying. She wanted to get Baby. She wanted Baby to stop crying. As she went to take another step forward, she felt someone clutch her gown at the back and looked around to see Raj, who had also stepped out a little way onto the plateau.