they've gone.  long gone!
they've been gone a week, at least.
we're ten days late.
cheer up. have a look around. i'll start on a fire.
well done, my lad! hector walks to the fire, pleased with himself. bobby unfolds his fist and looks at what he has found, an indian arrowhead with a few inches of broken shaft. he folds his hand over it again, keeping his secret. behind them, nailed to a tree, is a plaque their companions have left. it reads, "pennsylvania boundary expedition 1761, marker 152." also on the plaque someone has written, "we left here, 20th october."
even if we lose their track, we'll still hit the river.  we can't miss that.
much too high. you won't find an indian up here. we just have to keep our heads.  no panic.
you wouldn't.  but he might be a delaware if you did.
why not. we can log the peaks on the far side, just a couple of sightings a day.  keep us busy.
if we keep our heads. i wish i had some tobacco.
barometer.  twenty-eight and three-eighths.  temperature.  * low.  thirty-four.  high.  forty-two and a half.  time.
it's getting worse.  you're nearly five minutes fast now.
exactly.  you should throw yours away.
i see her in the dewy flowers i see her sweet and fair.  his voice rings sharply around the forest. hector far ahead turns around, taken by surprise. bobby has frightened himself too. he eyes the forest all around as the echo of his voice fades. chastened, he begins to sing again, quietly this time, under his breath.
there's not a bonny bird that sings but minds me o' my jean.
let's get out of here.
that was stupid.
sure i saw him.
how the fuck should i know? he was an indian.  and indians don't come in ones.
i'm not going back down there.
why not? he runs off into the forest. then he turns and shouts to hector.
come on!
same as you.
that's it.  kind of short.
that's the one.
what've you got in there?
a gun?
we won't have a fire tonight. we should make a shelter though, in case it snows.
don't even think about bears, hector.
maybe he's lost too.  on his own.  must be delaware.  they were chased up here years ago.  everybody thought they'd cleared off west.  the other side of ohio.  they were an angry lot.  no wonder.  they used to farm on the coast. he looks up at hector, and allows himself a small smile.
go on, read it out.  hector looks up.
i've had to listen to it every night since april.  why not now?
it wasn't funny then.
i had a father like you.  nine months on a whaler and then three weeks at home telling us all how much he missed us.
smell it?
goddam it.  smell it?
where the hell is it coming from? he puts his head out of the shelter.
i can't tell.  a night like this it could carry for miles.
i wish i had a smoke.
what do you mean, you were saving it? you know the rules.  no hoarding, tobacco or food.  you've listened to me for a month, day and night.  wanting a smoke.
you've kept it from me, and you don't even use it.
i have to wait until your birthday for a smoke? who are you.  the fucking king?
i bloody won't.  i'm not smoking on your command.  i bloody won't. there is a brooding silence.
god, your poor children.  what do they have to do for a piece of candy in your house? it's very hard to like you sometimes.  d'you know that?
no.  i'll have it in the morning.
daniel boone?
i can't think of anyone else.  but you're impossible to like sometimes. suddenly bobby grows shy of their growing intimacy.
we should sleep. we've got a lot of running to do in the morning. but hector has other plans. he is in control of their friendship now.
well.  what about alicia?
no.  i'm sorry.
oh no you're not.  it will be a worthwhile night for both of them.
isn't it a beautiful day? hector finishes his writing, tears out the page from his book. he offers it to bobby.
no.
i was going to call it tobacco mountain.  or mount alicia.  but nathaniel's fine.
let's get away from here.
yeah. keep the sun on our backs.
we can move quicker without the horse.  we just have to keep moving.  we have to get away from here. behind them they don't see the figure moving from the cover of one tree to another, and then another figure following the first. they move like ghosts.
quiet. they're on the other side.
we're right in the middle of them.
they were chased here.  they should be on the coast growing corn.
oh-oh.  *
they're behind us. they must think we're stalking the women.  hector looks and sees nothing. fifty indians hold their breath. the forest seems empty. but hector looks at bobby. he is grey-faced, a man who is looking at death. hector knows they are doomed.
do you want to run?
when they catch up.  fight.  it'll be quicker.  fight like hell.