a piece of withered leaf was caught in her dark, flowing hair. The
graying man watched them, and only wished he could smile.

Then night came again, and they slept.

*

Four days had passed, with Lawrence gone much of the time. He never
said where he was going, or gave any indication that something unusual
was at hand. But on the fifth day, as the sun sank and the shadows
grew deep around them, he said simply,

"I've got something to do tonight."

He was, if possible, tighter than ever, and at the evening meal ate
little. Then he rose, ruffled the boy's head, and disappeared into the
second shallow chamber of the back.

He was gone a long time, and the girl took the boy outside, and when
she returned he had still not come out. Then as she knelt on the
ground, playing some game with the child, a man emerged from the back
and she nearly collapsed from fear.

She ran to the wall, seized the rifle and would have shot. But a
familiar voice stayed her.

"Put down the rifle, Elonna, or one of these times you really will
shoot." The voice, she thought, came from the stranger, a square,
Russian-looking man with dark eyes and a shaved head. He was clad in
the blue and black of a Cantonese army officer, the emblem of the
clenched white fist sewn to his breast, a small black cross in its
center. His face wore the sharp look of command but his eyes, in that
moment, seemed to contradict it.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "And what have you done with Lawrence?"

"I'm right here, Elonna." The officer opened his jacket and unfastened
the garment beneath, pulling it open at the neck to reveal a dark
collar and chest, with tight curls of hair like thorny bushes covering
his breast.

"Lawrence!" One of her hands lost its grip on the rifle. "You scared
me half to death."

"I'm sorry for that. I thought you had gone out."

At that moment she realized two things: that he was going into great
danger, and that she cared for him very much.

"When must you go?"

"Very soon." He resealed the uniform.

"Be careful, will you?"

"Yes." He pulled a different weapon from among the equipment against
the wall, examined it carefully. "I have to go." He started for the
door. She stopped him halfway and embraced him, her eyes gleaming at
the corners.

"Be careful."

"I will." He pulled away and stood in the entrance. He looked back at
her strangely, hesitated as if wanting to say more, then turned and was