Jeffrey Carter, leading one hundred fifty people away from the pod, had managed to get everyone to the river at the top of the plateau on which the pod had rested. While the stragglers were still coming toward the river, he was standing on the edge of the plateau looking downriver. Below him was a wide valley that seemed to have fewer trees than the current plateau. As he gazed across the river and then upriver, he had come to the conclusion that the trees were thinning more downriver. He had only the observations he could make from his current position, but it didn’t make him feel any better about proceeding further downriver. He had decided that they had gone far enough for one day and gave word to make camp.
Everyone was doing what they could, individually, to make camp while the strag
