"At Michillimackinac. When I reached there and learned that the prisoner had gone with you I sent interpreters through the camps with offers of reward for news of your whereabouts. Pemaou came. He said he could locate you and I took him as guide."
"He selected his own escort?"
"Yes."
"And you traveled slowly?"
"Very slowly."
I fingered my pipe and bit hard at its stem. "Pemaou has played carefully. He had the woman captured and brought to camp. The time was not ripe for him to use her, so he let me carry her away. But he has had me shadowed. You played well into his hands, for you furnished blankets and provisions. He had no intention of letting you find us. We are equal dupes. I see that I wronged you, monsieur."
He looked down, his breath laboring. I could look at him now without recoil, for a common humiliation bound us. We were white and we had been tricked by a savage. We sat in heavy silence.
At last Starling spoke dully. "Why did Pemaou wait so long?"
I gripped my knife the closer. "That we shall learn when we learn what he has done with the woman."
He looked up with his jaw shaking. "Monsieur, we must make haste."