“He mightn’t take it kindly, ma’am. He’d figure you was tryin’ to bribe him. He’d still put you across the Sabine tomorrow. Was I you, I’d save my venison. But me, I’d be much obliged to join you and your husband.”

James was about to tell him Annie was his sister, but Annie hastily beat him to it. “I have no husband. This hotheaded young man is just my brother.”

Just her brother, like that didn’t mean much. James grimaced. He would like to have seen Annie get this far without him along. If it had been up to him, she would still be at home in Tennessee.

Shipman removed his hat and bowed slightly from the waist. “Well now, ma’am, I must say that comes as a surprise to me. I’d've figured a handsome young woman like you to already have herself a husband. Must be a lot of blind men back where you-all come from.”

Annie smiled like the sun had just come up.

Shipman said, “I believe you have the advantage of me, ma’am. You know my name, and I don’t know yours.”

“I am Annie Lewis. This is my brother James and my cousin Frank and his wife Hope. And those are their boys, Edward and David. We were on our way to join our brothers Michael and Andrew, down in Austin’s colony.”

Shipman frowned. “Michael Lewis. That name’s got somethin’ familiar about it.” He pondered a moment.

“Would he be the Michael Lewis that married Old Man Villaret’s daughter, from over in Natchitoches?”

Annie said eagerly, “The same. We stopped for a day and got acquainted with the Villarets. Do you know Michael?”

“No, but Old Man Villaret taught me most of what I know about my business. He was in it hisself for a long time. And what he didn’t teach me, Old Eli Pleasant did. I’ve heard Eli speak of Michael Lewis. They was good friends.”

Frank smiled, remembering. “Eli visited us in Tennessee.”

“I still miss that old reprobate. He was killed by some renegade, you know, down in Austin’s colony. Him and me, we used to make trips together, tradin’ goods. Wasn’t nobody slicker when it come to goin’ around the authorities. Made no difference to Eli if they was on the Mexico side or the other one. He forgot more than most of us’ll ever know.”

Annie said, “If he was here, maybe he could figure some way to help us get out of this mess. We didn’t come this far to just turn around and go back to Tennessee.”

James said with irony, “While he was teachin’ you so much about smugglin’, I don’t suppose he taught you a way to go around our problem.”

Shipman made that crooked little grin. “Maybe he did. But things are a little close in this camp, and you don’t know how many ears are listenin’. We’ll talk about it on the other side of the river.”

Frank showed quick misgivings. “I’ve got my family here. I wouldn’t want to do anything that’d put them in danger.”