We hiked for several hours and would have got there sooner if the dogs hadn't startled a deer. Teva, the great hunter, insisted on going after it. Slowed by her pregnancy, but only slightly, she moved silently through the darkness. The only way we kept up with her was by following Emmett's squirrel-like skittering through the leaves as he followed and Zip's joyful bounding as he ran along behind, disinterested in deer, but always in favor of a game of tag.
Finally, she abandoned the hunt and returned to us, tongue lolling, happier than she'd been in months. As far as Teva was concerned, we'd finally returned to our senses and moved back to the forest where all intelligent animals belonged.
We entered camp just before dawn. Don had our tent up in five minutes. He'd selected the site when
