d, "Reverend, you know what I'm leaving behind. But you don't
know what I'm going back to."

Nancy started speaking rapidly, as if she was trying to hold back tears.
"Well, what about these things of yours that Marchette brought here?
There's no way you can carry a trunk on foot even as far as Nicole and
Frank's house. Would you like us to keep your things here for you?
Perhaps someday, after you've settled with your tribe"--she swallowed
hard--"you could send for them."

Auguste heard the anguish in her voice but decided to take her words at
only face value. "Yes, I'd be truly grateful if you'd keep them for me.
The only thing I want to take now is my medicine bundle."

Reverend Hale pursed his lips and snorted, but Auguste ignored him.

Auguste thought a moment. "And I can use the surgical instruments. And
at least one book."

"Let it be a Bible," said Hale. Auguste made no answer to that.

As Eli Greenglove struck him down, Auguste remembered, he had been
charging at Raoul with his knife in his hand.

"What happened to my knife?"

"I picked it up," said Nancy in a clipped tone. She stood up and went
over to an elaborately carved oak sideboard, a handsome piece of
furniture that seemed out of place in this simple cabin, and took
Auguste's knife out of a drawer. She handed it to him and he slipped it
into the leather sheath at his belt.

"Thank you, Nancy. My father gave that to me a long time ago." Their
eyes met, and he felt a warmth spread through him. It was going to be
hard to leave her.

Nancy remained standing. "Let's go out to the wagon and see what
Marchette has brought. I can help you carry your trunk in."

Marchette and Reverend Hale both said at the same time, "I can do that!"
The coincidence made everyone laugh nervously.

"No," said Nancy firmly. "Marchette, you're hurt and tired. Father, why
don't you see what consolation you can offer this poor, mistreated
woman. Auguste's trunk can't be that heavy. Come on, Auguste."

Before either Hale or Marchette could answer, Nancy had Auguste out the
door. He glanced back into the room just before the door closed and saw
Hale's fists clenched on either side of his open Bible.

Auguste stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust from the lamplight
inside to the darkness out here. A fat moon hung overhead; he judged it
would be full in two nights. With this much light he'd be in even more
danger tonight. The white-painted steeple of Reverend Hale's l