Harvey looked around desperately. "We've got to stop him."
"I say let him go," said Dr. Lurie. "He might find out something of value."
"Get himself killed, more likely." Harvey went to the doorway. "Red!" he shouted. He got no answer. The road was empty as far as he could see in the clotted darkness.
He raced around to the rear of the house and stood still. Faintly he heard the crunch and crackle of steps in the grain field. Red was hitting across country. Harvey raced into the field. "Red!" he shouted.
Harvey found him by the sounds. Brace was coldly angry. "Either you pipe down and come along, or you go on back. Nobody's stopping me. If you try any monkey business, I'll kill you, and I'm not kidding."
Harvey fell in alongside him. "You're the craziest jerk I ever saw."
"Pipe down before you give us away," Brace growled.
The hill loomed ahead of them like a giant blot against the sky. On their left were the thick woods where the settlers gathered timber for fencing and bridging. Straight ahead was a deep stream, traversed by a single bridge.
"That bridge is a likely place for a burglar alarm," Harvey said. "We'd better swim."
They took off their clothes and left them on the bank. They let themselves carefully down into the water and set out, using the breast stroke to keep the oxygen apparatus out of the water. They clambered up on the other side, chilled and shivering, and continued, naked, toward the hill.