He stood up, flushed and tormented.
“You’re just down on her because Herman is in love with her,” he said.
“What makes you think so?”
“I don’t know.” He scuffed the moss with his foot and added, “You can always tell if you’re that way yourself. I don’t want to talk about it any more,” walking away from me.
Presently he came back stiffly.
“You must come with me,” he said; “you can’t stay here. I was told to look after you.”
“What time did Herman go?” I asked as we went down together.
“Just after Council. Mancha wanted to go, but they said his place was at River Ward. If he had been there all this time the Far-Folk mightn’t have got through. They let Herman do what he liked, because if it hadn’t been for him they wouldn’t have found out about the stealing so soon. And look here”—he showed me a spray of toyon berries—“I went and found this after the trackers had gone. I felt around in the dark and found it. It was the last thing she touched. It was only half broken off. She hadn’t expected to go away; she was surprised and she left it half broken off.” He put it up in his tunic again. “I don’t know why she went away with Ravenutzi, but I know she never told him where the Treasure was.”
He was so certain of that, I had no heart to trouble him with doubts. As we came down the trail we saw the top of Windy Covers all alive, rippled and streaked with motion.
“Some one is coming,” Lianth volunteered.