Hiram’s shoulders slumped in relief. He nodded to himself for a bit, and then spoke again.
“A wee time past, I said I wished to speak wi’ ye about a matter.”
Jamie remembered. In fact, Crombie had approached him on the way to Lodge that night. Which made him feel more kindly toward the man; he couldn’t have had a hand in what was afoot, if he’d wanted a favor from Jamie at that point.
“Ye did. About a’ Chraobh Ard, I think ye said?”
“Aye. I wanted to ask if ye’d maybe take him as a member of your militia.”
Well, that was a surprise. He’d been expecting a request that Jamie let Cyrus court Frances officially, and he would have said no to that. But this …
“Why?” he asked bluntly.
“He’s sixteen,” Hiram said, shrugging as though this was a complete answer. And it was. A boy that age needed badly to start being a man. And if he hadn’t got a man’s proper work to do …
The other side of the matter was plain, too. Hiram Crombie was anxious that his family should now be seen to stand solidly with Jamie, and Cyrus was his offered hostage. That’s reassuring, Jamie thought wryly. He thinks we might win.
Jamie spat in his palm and offered it.
“Done,” he said. “Send him to me tomorrow, just afore dawn. I’ll have a horse for him.”
SILVIA HAD VOLUNTEERED to rise early—very early—and make the gallons of brose and porridge to feed the militia. The warm, creamy smell crept up the stairs and eased me into wakefulness like a soft hand on my cheek. I stretched luxuriously in the warm bed and rolled over, enjoying the picture of Jamie, long-legged as a stork and stark naked, bent over the washstand to peer into the looking glass as he shaved by candlelight. Dawn was no more yet than a fading of the stars outside the dark window.
“Getting all spruced up for the gang?” I asked. “Are you doing something formal with them this morning?”
He drew the razor over his pulled-down upper lip, then flicked the foam to the side of the basin.
“Aye, horse drills. It’ll just be the mounted men today. With the Tall Tree, we’ll have twenty-one.” He grinned at me in the mirror, his teeth as white as the shaving soap. “Enough for a decent cattle raid.”
“Can Cyrus ride?” I was surprised at that; the Crombies, Wilsons, MacReadys, and Geohagens were all fisher-folk who had come to us—by God knew what circuitous and difficult means—from Thurso. They were, for the most part, openly afraid of horses, and almost none of them could ride.
Jamie drew the blade up his neck, craned his head to evaluate the results, and shrugged.
“We’ll find out.”
He rinsed the razor, dried it on the worn linen towel, then used the towel to wipe his face.
“If I mean them to take it seriously, Sassenach, they’d best think I do.”
THE SKY WAS lightening, but it was still dark on the ground and only a few of the men had gathered when Cyrus Crombie came down out of the trees above New House. The men glanced at him in surprise, but when Jamie greeted him, they all nodded and muttered, “Madainn mhath,” or grunted in acknowledgment.
“Here, lad,” Jamie said, thrusting a wooden cup of hot brose into the Tall Tree’s hand. “Warm your belly, and come meet Miranda. She belongs to Frances, but the lass says she’s willing to lend ye the mare until we can find ye a horse of your own.”
“Frances? Oh. I-I thank her.” The Tall Tree glowed a bit and glanced shyly at the house, and then at the horse. Miranda was a big mare, stout and broad-backed, and with a gentle, accommodating manner.
Young Ian had come down now, in buckskins and jacket, his hair plaited and hanging down his back, Tòtis following him. He glanced round the group of men, nodding, then kissed Tòtis’s forehead and lifted his chin toward the porch. Then Ian came for his own brose, lifting a brow in the direction of Cyrus.
“A’ Chraobh Ard will be joining us, a bhalaich,” Jamie said casually. “Will ye show him the way of it, to saddle and bridle Miranda, while I tell the men what we’re about?”
“Aye,” Ian said, swallowing hot barley broth and exhaling a cloud of white steam. “And what are we about?”
“Cavalry drills.” That made Ian raise both brows and glance over his shoulder at the group of men, who looked like what they were—farmers. They all owned horses, and could ride from the Ridge to Salem without falling off, but beyond that …
“Simple cavalry drills,” Jamie clarified. “Riding slowly.”