By silent agreement, they walked the edges of the trail, Joshua holding the lantern between them. Having talked to Miss Halliday had both clarified some things for Jason, and alarmed him even further. He had held some hope, when they left Lottie's, that Stempel had been right – that Jeremy had stayed a while in town, then started home while Jason and Josh were checking the cabin. With the timeframe now more clear in his mind, Jason knew that Jeremy had left town an hour or two earlier than he had hoped, and that he had been headed for their camp. They hadn't passed him on the trail, which could only mean he was off the trail somewhere. As big as he knew their mountain to be, it suddenly seemed infinitely bigger.

But why was he off the trail? Jeremy wouldn't have gotten lost – he had walked this path almost every day for four years, since the Bolt brothers had started cutting timber on their mountain for their neighbors to build homes with. Even off the trail, he knew these woods inside and out. Endless possibilities tumbled through Jason's mind, like autumn leaves caught in the wind from off the Sound. Bears, cougars, wolves … even Indians weren't entirely unheard of in the forests surrounding Seattle. If Jeremy wasn't in camp, Jason was going house-to-house through the whole community, raising an army to find his brother.

Across the trail from him, Josh suddenly picked up the pace, the lantern swinging wildly as he half-jogged towards an oddly-shaped shadow sticking out of the underbrush. Holding his breath, Jason rushed to join him – if they'd walked right by the boy in their rush to get to town earlier, he'd never forgive himself ….

Joshua was kneeling, picking up one of the objects that had caught his attention. Looking up as Jason crouched beside him, he said, "Jeremy's history book." Heaped together at his knee were a few more books, a slate, a nearly priceless pad of paper, and a familiar lunch pail. Before Jason could respond, Josh stood, lifting the lantern high and glaring into the gloom of the underbrush below the trail. Jason rose at his side, drew a deep breath, and shouted their brother's name into the darkness.

XXXX

Jeremy was cold. There was no getting around that, no ignoring it. He had burrowed into the leaves as deeply as he could, and huddled in on himself as much as his awkward position would let him; but he still shivered violently, and the chattering of his teeth was making it hard to keep singing. Of course, he was running out of songs, anyway. He had sung every song he could think of. If he knew another song, he couldn't remember it. He'd have to get Josh to teach him some more. In the morning, when it was light enough for his brothers to find him.

How long had he been out here, anyway? It certainly seemed like forever. If he'd had time to sing all those songs, maybe it had been. He'd just have to start again, and sing them all over. The forest sounded too big and loud without the sound of his voice, now, anyway. But first he needed to rest his voice for a minute. Resting actually sounded good.

He never seemed to get enough sleep these days. Long after Jason and Joshua were snoring in their bunks, he would still be awake, his mind going around and around the events of the day, trying to find a better way to get through it, one that didn't leave him open to Harry and his crew. He knew Josh had noticed – how, he hadn't a clue – but he thought he had managed to keep it from Jason.

Jason worried a lot more than he used to. When Papa was alive, Jason could always be counted on for an impossible story or lively game to keep his little brothers amused and out of trouble – usually, anyway. And he was still like that some of the time; but he had turned a lot of that energy to finding ways to keep a roof over their heads. Starting a logging business had seemed pretty natural to all of them, since they didn't have much besides trees. Some of the older men in town had pressed Jason to sell out and move his brothers closer to civilization, but they soon found that Jonathan Bolt's sons had inherited their father's stubbornness as well as his mountain. And the business was growing, as Seattle was growing, as Jeremy and Joshua were growing. Jeremy looked forward to the time he could pull his own weight in the operation; with both his brothers to help him, maybe Jason wouldn't have to put so much of himself into his work, and could have more time to relax, now and then. In the meantime, Jeremy wasn't going to give him anymore to worry about than he had to.

But right now, he was cold, and he was tired. He needed to keep singing, or something – why was that again? Maybe if he closed his eyes for a few minutes, he'd remember.

Startled, he forced his eyes open. He couldn't go to sleep here! But he had, for a moment or two, at least. What had wakened him? Blinking hard to keep from nodding off again, he concentrated on listening.

XXX

"Jeremy!" Jason called again, and this time Joshua echoed him. They both paused to listen, straining their ears, trying to filter out the night sounds of the forest.

"Did you hear that?" Josh whispered suddenly. Jason shook his head, and after a moment, Josh called again.

This time, from somewhere below them in the darkness, Jason heard it.

"Joshua?"

Josh began to plunge into the underbrush, but Jason grabbed his shoulder. "Easy, brother, or we'll run right past him."

Josh nodded, and together they picked their way carefully down the mountainside, calling repeatedly so they could center in on Jeremy's replies. After a few minutes, they came upon a collection of fallen pines; and approaching it, found Jeremy huddled on the other side, pinned by a tree trunk as big around as the boy himself was. Scrambling cautiously to him, Jason and Josh knelt on either side, Josh hastily setting the lantern out of the way, as Jeremy tried to roll onto his back where he could see them both.

"Jeremy, what happened?" Jason asked, running an affectionate hand through his brother's hair. The boy looked miserable – he was covered in mud and dead leaves, his shirt was soaked through from the night mist, and he was shivering so hard his teeth rattled.

"I'm s-s-s-stuck," he whispered hoarsely, indicating the log with his chin.

"Well, I can see that," Jason replied, almost laughing from relief. "Let's see about getting you out of there, all right?" Jeremy nodded vigorously, his hair falling into his eyes, and Jason looked up at Joshua across from him. "Get him under the arms, and when I lift the tree, pull him out."

Josh shifted around behind Jeremy and slid his hands under his brother's shoulders, linking his fingers across the damp shirt, while Jason moved over to stand by the offending trunk and find a good hold. When Josh nodded his readiness, Jason lifted slightly, and Josh pulled. Jeremy bit back a yelp of pain as legs that hadn't move in hours suddenly shifted, and he grabbed at Josh's arm across his chest for support as he was rolled onto his back at last.

Dropping the pine trunk where it would be out of the way, Jason quickly bent to pat down both of Jeremy's legs. If there were broken bones, they were a long way from help. He might have to send Josh for a wagon – Lottie would loan them hers – but they would still have to get him up to the trail. And there was no doctor in Seattle …. Relieved, he realized that nothing had been broken, although he suspected that the backs of both Jeremy's lower legs would be badly bruised, when they got into some decent light.

Looking up, he found Joshua still holding Jeremy supported against his own chest, with both arms across the shivering form and breathing a little heavily from the exertion of pulling, heartfelt relief in his face and every line of his body. Jason realized in that moment how frightened Joshua had been, that they might not find Jeremy. He had known, of course, that Josh was worried, but in his own concern, his brother's fear hadn't registered. Josh looked up suddenly and met his gaze, and drawing a deep breath, nodded. It would be all right now.

After a moment, during which the loudest sound in the clearing was Jeremy's chattering teeth, Josh asked, "Are you all right?"

Jeremy nodded. "C-c-c-cold," he breathed, and Jason stripped off his own jacket and started wrapping it around him with Josh's help.

"Let's get you home," Jason said as he worked. "Can you stand?"

"Hmm?"

Jason reached for the lantern and moved it closer to study his brother's face. Jeremy was fighting hard to stay awake, but he was starting to lose the battle. He smiled softly at the dazed look in the boy's eyes.

"Never mind, little brother; we'll carry you."