But Curiosity was talking to her daughters, and it was their turn to run. Polly started throwing things in to a basket at her mother's directions. Daisy opened the back door and shouted for Galileo, gave up and went out after him.

After a while Curiosity set Hannah down on a stool and smoothed her hair. Then she went off to tell the judge what had happened, and where she was going. Before the last of her skirts had disappeared through the door, Hannah was up again and off to finish her errands.

On the slope below Little Muddy, she heard a rifle shot. Hannah made herself stand still until the wind brought the acrid smell of the gunpowder to her, and then she set off again. She found Bears crouched next to his kill, reloading his gun.

Hannah loved Bears; she would have married him herself if she had been old enough. Whatever language came out when she opened her mouth, he understood; he understood even when she didn't talk. Curiosity knew how to hold little girls, but Runs-from-Bears had a different kind of comfort to offer. He slung the rifle around, lifted the doe over his shoulders, and they set off running together.

There was a comfort in running, when the rhythm was right. Hannah ran hard behind Bears, keeping her toes turned inward on the faint forest path, relieved to have him lead the way. She kept her eyes focused on the flashing heels of his moccasins, looking up every now and then, because she must, to the doe. Seeing the long, elegant arch of her neck and the dark eyes, glazed and lifeless.

* * *

They had no power to force Elizabeth back from the shadow lands until she was ready to come, but there were things they could do for her. The women stripped away the wet clothes and wound her like an infant in fur and doeskin. Falling—Day burned thistle and hawthorn to give strength to her heart and blood; she steeped little—man—root in corn water and dribbled it into her mouth, spoon by spoon. Richard Todd watched without comment. When Falling—Day began to sing a healing song to summon Bone—in—Her—Back home to them, he left quietly.

Falling—Day watched him go. The gaunt lines of his face spoke of the injuries he had suffered, but there was something else: over the long summer some of the anger which had always burned so bright in him had gone out. She wondered what he knew of her youngest, her Otter. When there was time—when Bone—in—Her—Back had come back from the shadow lands—she thought she might be able to talk to Richard Todd about that.

While her mother mashed dried flag—lily root and precious sunflower oil into a poultice, Many-Doves washed the blood from Elizabeth's face and hair, working carefully around the dressing that bound the wound closed. When she had finished, she put her ear to Elizabeth's belly to try to hear the child's music: the beat of a strong heart. Her own child flexed and turned under her heart, as if he heard it too.

Liam had been watching from the corner, hoping for some work, some way to help. But the women did not need him, and he could not run errands as Hannah did. When the medicine smoke tickled his throat and made his eyes water, he finally got up and went out to the porch, where Richard Todd was drying out in the sun. Dutch Ton had disappeared, but Axel was there, wanting the story. Liam told it in a hoarse voice.

"By God Almighty," Axel said for the tenth time. "I wish Nathaniel was here."

At the thought of Nathaniel, Liam could barely swallow.

Axel was squinting at him. "You didn't push her in, did you, boy?"

"No!" His head came up and his color, too; he could feel himself burning like a torch.

"He didn't have anything to do with it. She saw somebody she didn't expect to see and she slipped, knocked her head, and went under. That's all." Todd had taken off what was left of his shirt and he wrung it with a twist.

"That's all it was," Liam echoed.

"What were you two doing up there, climbing around on the rocks—a breeding woman, and you with your leg the way it is?"

Liam felt Richard's sharp gaze on him, and his belly filled with dread. Had he seen Doves come through the falls? Did he know the secret of the cave? Dutch Ton might know, too, if he had caught sight of Many-Doves , and understood what he saw.

"She wanted to show me something," he mumbled. And, without meeting Todd's eye: "Where did Ton go to?"

"I passed him on my way here," Axel said. "He was headed down to the village, seemed like. Was he traveling with you, Todd?"

Richard shook his head. "I found him helping himself to the larder," he said. "I hadn't seen him since March, but Elizabeth had. He gave me these for her." He pulled a silver hair clasp and a ring out of his pocket. "Lingo took them off her, I guess."

There was a silence as they thought of Jack Lingo, and what Elizabeth had experienced at his hands.

"No wonder she started at the sight of Ton," said Axel.

Richard's head turned toward the forest and the sound of horses coming fast. "That'll be the judge."

"Not alone, sounds like."

The judge pulled up in front of the porch, with Galileo and Curiosity close behind. The men sat and stared at Richard Todd, but Curiosity slid down from behind Galileo's back in a flurry of bright skirts.

"I might've knowed that you and trouble would show up here together," she said. "Ain't you ever satisified, Richard? What have you done to her now?"

Liam came to his feet to tell them the truth of it, but Axel had already stepped out, one hand raised in a peaceful gesture. "Hold up, now. Alfred, Curiosity. Galileo. First off, she's alive and it looks like there weren't no real damage—"