Elijah made the decision. No discussion beforehand. Of course, neither Reuben nor I objected. Rather we were more than glad to comply. Because of what Reuben had told us, we turned our back on the path before us and headed back towards the bivouac of the army of the North.
Elijah had noted another path that branched off near there, so we took that path.
It wound higher into the hills. As we continued we always chose the forks that we judged would parallel our desired course, but avoid the approaches to Sy’s redoubt.
We met no opposition, no patrols. Not even any animals, wild or otherwise.
What did slow us down were those paths that dead ended atop hills.
