Long Hunt (9781101559208) by Cameron Judd Page A

that.”
    She nodded and wept.
    Â 
    The sound of approaching horses drew their attention. Riders came over the rise and down toward the house, armed frontiersmen, each with a bit of white cloth tied to his hat. The hats were of many varieties: animal skins, French-styled woven caps, battered tricorns, and common slouch hats, those being the most numerous among the group of nineteen.
    Titus came out of the cabin as they drew near, eyes shifting between him and the corpse by the woodpile. The apparent leader of the group rode down near Titus and dismounted. Micah remained inside with the girl.
    â€œAndrew DeVault,” the man said in a deep, gruff voice. “These here men make up the Cumberland Scouts and we’ve come because we hear there’s been an Indian attack here.” DeVault glanced down at the dead man. “I can see we were told aright.”
    Titus nodded. “I’ve heard of the Cumberland Scouts, gentlemen. My name is Fain. Titus Fain.”
    DeVault froze a moment as a murmur swept through the rank of mounted riflemen. “Fain,” he repeated. “Titus Fain . . . son of Edohi hisself?”
    â€œI am.”
    DeVault handed his rifle to another man and dismounted. He approached Titus with an outstretched hand, and as they shook, examined Titus’s face. He nodded. “I can see it. I can see my friend Edohi in your looks, sir. It’s an honor to meet you. How’s your father?”
    â€œHis ankle bones hurt him a lot these days. All the miles, all the years, you know.”
    â€œWhen you see him next, tell him Andy DeVault sent him greeting.”
    â€œI’ll see him soon, and do that. There’s a little girl in there who survived this, and my partner and me will take her with us to Fort Edohi and find a new situation for her.”
    Titus found himself the object of much attention from the scouts, who were quite familiar with the fame and reputation of his father. It was vaguely uncomfortable for Titus, who shunned attention when possible, but he realized that he provided distraction from the grim job that now fell to the Cumberland Scouts: burying the dead of what would thereafter be known as the Deveraux massacre.
    The best trackers from the group set out to follow the Indians responsible. Titus was inclined to join them, but Mary had attached herself to him and Micah, her emotions boiling at any hint her two saviors might leave her.
    Later, when Titus and Micah rode away from the Deveraux cabin in the late afternoon, a third horse accompanied them, Mary perched on its broad back and looking very small indeed.

CHAPTEREIGHT
    T he first night was spent in the home of a family named Colyer, seven miles from the site of the Deveraux slayings, a home surrounded by a small stockade. Little Mary was almost smothered with pity and gentleness by the mother of the family, a brood of five, all of the children older than Mary except for one boy of two, who toddled about the cabin providing some diversion from the general overcast of gloom and sorrow within the place.
    Oddly, Mary was the least depressed of the group. She seemed to crave the distraction of being among friendly strangers, and found the toddler to be quite entertaining. Titus took pleasure in seeing Mary laugh at the child’s babble and tendency to fall down. He himself could not so easily put behind him the horror of what he had seen at the Deveraux cabin. Nor could Micah, who excused himself regularly to go outside and pace about the cabin clearing, determined to make his body as active as his racing mind, which dwelled on thoughts of the massacre. Only when the hour grew late did he finally begin to settle, eager for sleep and the chance to put a difficult day behind him.
    Titus noticed that Ben Colyer, father of the hosting family, was intensely withdrawn, sitting most of the evening in the corner of the room, leaning forward, staring at the floor with his chin in his hands.
    When the others