Brianna, following his example, leaned over and dropped her fowling piece into her fathers hands before finding her own way down, more slowly.
Im surprised ye didna have at it wi your dirk, Uncle Jamie, Ian was saying. Bear-Killer, is it, that the Tuscarora called ye?
Bree was pleased to see that Jamie had regained his equanimity and gave Ian no more than a pitying look.
Are ye maybe familiar with a saying about how a man grows wiser wi age? he inquired.
Aye, Ian replied, looking baffled.
Well, if ye dinna grow wiser, yere no likely to grow older, Jamie said, leaning the gun against the cliff. And Im old enough to ken better than to fight a bear wi a dirk for a deers carcass. Have ye got anything to eat, lass?
Shed quite forgotten the small bag over her shoulder, but she now took it off and groped inside, removing a small packet of bannocks and cheese supplied by Amy Higgins.
Sit down, she said, handing this to her father. I want to look at your leg.
Its no bad, he said, but he was either too hungry to argue or simply conditioned to accept unwanted medical treatment by her mother, for he did sit down and stretch out the wounded leg.
It wasnt bad, as hed said, though there was a deep puncture wound in his calf, with a couple of long scrapes beside itthese presumably left as hed hastily pulled his foot out of the bears mouth, she thought, feeling a little faint at the vision of this. She had nothing with her of use save a large handkerchief, but she soaked this in the icy water from the rivulet that flowed down the cliff face and cleaned the wound as well as she could.
Could you get tetanus from a bears bite? she wondered, swabbing and rinsing. Shed made sure to have all the kids shots up to dateincluding tetanusbefore theyd left, but a tetanus immunization was only good for what, ten years? Something like that.
The puncture wound was still oozing blood, but not gushing. She wrung out the cloth and tied it firmly but not too tightly around his calf.
Tapadh leat, a gràidh, he said, and smiled at her. Your mother couldna have done better. Here. Hed saved two bannocks and a bit of cheese for her, and she leaned back against the cliff between him and Ian, surprised to discover that she was very hungry, and even more surprised to realize that she wasnt worried by the fact that they were chatting away in the near vicinity of a large carnivorous animal that could undoubtedly kill them all.
Bears are lazy, Ian told her, observing the direction of her glance. If heis it a he-bear, Uncle?has a fine deer down there, hell no bother to climb all the way up here for a scrawny wee snack. Speakin of whichhe leaned past her to address Jamiedid it eat your sandal?
I didna stay to watch, Jamie said, his temper seeming to have calmed as a result of food. But Ive hopes that he didnt. After all, wi a perfectly good pile of steaming deer guts just at hand, why would ye bother wi a piece of old leather? Bears arent fools.
Ian nodded at this and leaned back against the cliff, rubbing his shoulders gently on the sun-warmed stone.
So, then, cousin, he said to Bree. Ye said yed tell me how it was ye came home. As weve likely a bit of time to pass He nodded toward the now-rhythmic noises of tearing flesh and mastication below.
So, then, cousin, he said to Bree. Ye said yed tell me how it was ye came home. As weve likely a bit of time to pass He nodded toward the now-rhythmic noises of tearing flesh and mastication below.
The bottom of her stomach dropped abruptly, and her father, seeing her face, patted her knee.
Dinna trouble yourself, a leannan. Time enough. Perhaps yed rather tell it to everyone, when Roger Macs with ye.
She hesitated for a moment; shed visualized it many times, telling her parents the whole of it, imagined herself and Roger telling the tale together, taking turns but seeing the intent look in her fathers eyes, she realized belatedly that she couldnt have told her part of it honestly in front of Rogershe hadnt even told him everything when shed found him again, seeing how furious he was at the details she had shared.
No, she said slowly. I can tell you now. At least my part of it. And washing down the last bannock crumbs with a handful of cold water, she began.
Yes, her mother did know men, she thought, seeing Ians fist clench on his knee, and hearing the low, involuntary growl her father made at hearing about Rob Camerons cornering her in the study at Lallybroch. She didnt tell them what hed said, the crude threats, the ordersnor what shed done, taking off her jeans at his command, then slashing him across the face with the heavy denim before tackling him and knocking him to the floor. She did mention smashing the wooden box of letters over his head, and the two of them made small hmphs of satisfaction.
Where did that box come from? she interrupted herself to ask her father. Roger found it in his adopted fathers garagethats a place where you park a car, I mean she added when she saw a look of confusion touch Jamies face. Never mind, it was a sort of storage shed. But we always wondered where youd put it at this end?