The man had a head start, but he was proceeding so cautiously, so slowly, that Duncan had to pause frequently, hiding behind trees so as not to be spotted. The spidery, nervous aspect of the figure told him it must be Corporal Brandt, which he confirmed as the man emerged in the gray predawn light of the open swath around the sacred rocks.
Brandt placed something on the base stone of the chimney and bowed his head for a few words before continuing up the slope. Duncan paused only long enough to see that the old ranger had deposited a little strand of braided leather with feathers in its folds; then he followed. They climbed steadily for nearly half an hour before he spotted what he knew must be Brandt’s destination, high up on a flat ledge near the top of the treeless avalanche run. Dunca
