Dawn on a Distant Shore
Page 21

Otter made a negative sound in his throat.
"There's room enough for one," said Moncrieff.
"We still got a chance to get out of here," said Hawkeye. "Although I'll admit it don't look good." He studied Otter for a long moment. "I have the feeling she'll let you get away, if she can keep her father out of it. Ain't that so?"
Otter nodded. "Hen'en." Yes.
Hawkeye cast a glance out the window. In Kahnyen'kehâka he said, "Listen to me. If it comes to that, you slip away as soon as it's safe, and hightail it for Hidden Wolf." He lowered his voice. "Send Runs-from-Bears back here with gold."
Otter blinked his understanding.
In a rush, Hawkeye's voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "Tell Bears to stay clear of this Scotsman. He don't need to know all our business. You understand why I'm talking to you this way?"
The boy's face stilled, and he nodded. Behind him, Robbie's expression was just as thoughtful. Moncrieff started to speak, and thought better of it.
At the door to the hidden stairs there was a light scratching and they all turned together.
"Giselle?" came a hoarse whisper. "I hear you in there. Let me in, sweetings. It's Jonathan." Quinn had found the hidden door at last, and lost his bluster in the process.
"Giselle," he pleaded.
As if she had heard him call, Giselle's voice rose up from the front hall. Her playful tone was gone. She was agitated, out of breath, and coming this way.
Nathaniel flung the door to the hidden staircase open and grabbed an astounded Quinn by the epaulets to drag him into the room.
"Wha--" was all he could get out before Rab tapped him neatly over the ear with his rifle butt. Otter caught him up as he collapsed onto Giselle's Turkish carpet and tossed him onto the bed.
"There," he said. "That's what he wanted anyway."
Giselle was very close, shouting orders down the stairs. Outside, there were new voices in the garden.
Otter caught Nathaniel's eye. Wordlessly, Nathaniel held out his rifle and his powder horn, and Otter took them and climbed into the cubbyhole behind the mirror.
Hawkeye reached in and pressed Otter's shoulder. "We're putting our trust in you, son. Don't leave us sitting in that gaol any longer than you can manage."
They were away, closing the door behind them and down stone steps, Treenie bringing up the rear. As they reached the bottom, candlelight flooded the stairwell from above just as the door below began to swing inward.
"Damnation," whispered Moncrieff.
"Oh, we ain't that far, yet," said Hawkeye. "We'll live to fight another day."
Colonel George Somerville, Viscount Bainbridge, lieutenant governor of Lower Canada, stood in the doorway before them in a circle of lantern light. Pink George, as he was known to his men and most of Montréal. He was in a muddy traveling cloak, his thin face blotched with the cold, his eyes sparkling some deep satisfaction. At his back was a whole unit of redcoats, bayonets at the ready.
A soft sound of surprise from Giselle, above them. Caught out at last, Nathaniel thought. And us with her. If it weren't for Elizabeth waiting for him, he might have found some humor in that.
"Gentlemen." The lieutenant governor peered at them over the top of his spectacles, his chin bedded on his chest.
Treenie growled, her hackles rising.
Somerville raised a brow. "Sergeant Jones," he said, one corner of his mouth jerking downward. "Take the dog outside and shoot it. As for the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed my daughter's little dinner party. There won't be another."
6
"Well, now," said Curiosity, bending over Daniel to peer into his face. "I'd say this boy's eyes'll settle down to green any day." The baby waved his fist at her nose, and she laughed.
"Not hazel?" Elizabeth asked, regarding Many-Doves' son in the nest on her lap. Almost four months old and a solid brick of a child, Blue-Jay smiled up at her. He had his parents' black eyes, the same deep color as the halo of hair that stood out all over his head.
"No, ma'am," said Curiosity, flipping Daniel neatly as she wrapped him in flannel. "Green, like new leaves on the sugar maple. And just as sweet, ain't that so, baby?"
From the other room came his sister's wail, as if this news did not suit her in the least. Elizabeth started up from the rocking chair, but Curiosity stopped her with a look, and dropped Daniel in her lap.
"You stay put," she said. "You got a cabin full of women here to help out, after all. I expect between us we'll see to Miss Lily."
"You needn't coddle me, you know," Elizabeth called. But Curiosity simply flapped her hand behind her as she left the bedroom.
Daniel blinked up at her and cooed, all earnest concentration. Elizabeth answered in kind, and he waved his arms enthusiastically, settling in for a good long talk. Of course Curiosity was right: his eyes would be green, just as Mathilde's would be blue. "Blue as the flaglily in May," Curiosity had declared, and thus she had become Lily to one and all. Elizabeth's own solemn gray and Nathaniel's hazel had somehow gotten lost between the two children, but their father was stamped on each of them nonetheless, from the curve of their earlobes to the shape of their toenails. Of herself Elizabeth saw very little in the babies, with the exception of the curls that framed their faces.
Elizabeth yelped as Blue-Jay tugged hard at her plait. Daniel was examining his own hands, as if to ask them how such a task might be undertaken. In the other room Lily had settled down, probably strapped into a cradleboard on Falling-Day's back, where all of the babies seemed most content. Elizabeth studied the faces before her and blew softly to ruffle their hair, earning crows of delight from both of them.