Annie was acting very pleased because Shipman had agreed to camp with them the night instead of riding on, as if he were doing them a big favor. James had a feeling that they could not have chased him away with a club, not when he had a chance to enjoy another woman-cooked meal or two. And he seemed taken with Annie’s company. Quite a few of the young men back home had shown a similar departure from good judgment. Had they been watching Annie for twenty years from a brother’s close perspective, seeing her critical moods without being swayed by her handsome looks, they might not have tarried.

James said grittily, “Look at him over yonder, that Díaz. I expect he’ll stay there as long as we stay here.”

Shipman glanced up from his coffee. “Longer. He’ll want to be sure you don’t turn around and go right back across.”

“That’s pretty much what I had in mind.”

Shipman had taken time to shave off his several days’ growth of whiskers. It probably made him look better to the women, but James did not see it as much of an improvement. James’s jaw was still sore.

Shipman said, “Try to look at it the way he does. He figures that you’ll figure that very thing. So if you move your wagons east tomorrow, out of his sight, he’ll figure you’re figurin’ that he’ll turn back to Nacogdoches. He’ll figure you’re figurin’ to go back across as soon as you figure he’s left. So he’ll pull off a ways into the woods and wait out of sight, figurin’ to catch you. Like as not, he’ll stay close to the river for two or three days, tryin’ to outsmart you.”

“So how long do you think we’ll have to wait?”

“Was I you, I wouldn’t wait at all. I’d just pull back where they couldn’t see me from across the river, then head south on this side. There’s other good crossin’s down yonder a ways. Then, while he’s still wastin’ his time up here, you head southeast and light a shuck straight for San Felipe. There’s been people crossin’ this river for a long time—folks that didn’t want the authorities lookin’ over their shoulders.”

James looked at his cousin Frank, asking with his eyes.

Frank said dubiously, “Sounds too easy. Things that’re too easy never work like they’re supposed to.”

Shipman shook his head. “Ain’t but a handful of soldiers in all of northern Texas. Them tryin’ to shut off the whole border is like tryin’ to wipe out an ant-bed with a sharp stick.”

Annie and Hope were washing the supper tinware in a pan. Annie said, “I don’t suppose there’d be a regular trail?”

Shipman sipped his coffee, then shook his head. “If there was a trail the soldiers’d know about it. No, you’ll have to make your own way. All you need is a good sense of direction.”

James straightened his back to show his confidence. “You don’t need to worry, sis. I’ve led you this far.”