14
Duncan had lit the lantern in the middle of the night and tried to begin a letter to Sarah, but he finally succumbed to sleep, his head on the table. He woke with a shudder, this time to the gaze of two inquisitive eyes set on his, inches from his face. Fogged as he was with sleep, he did not immediately recognize his visitor. Then a familiar whistle came from below, and she shot away, leaving a large metal disk spinning on the table beside him.
Suddenly he was alert, leaping up to catch a glimpse of Sadie and Hayes as they ran toward the forest. A gray fog hung over the fort, and the candle had gone out, but enough light filtered in for him to recognize the disk. It was a ranger token, a forest coin some called it, inscribed with a large tree on one side and on the other a long rifle
