put it behind him without much examination. Jealousy? Surely not.
How could he be jealous of a thing that had begun life by eating its own mother? It was blood-kin to Roland, yes-his true son, if you wanted to be picky about it-but that was no more than an accident.
Wasn't it?
Jake became aware that Roland was looking at him closely, looking in a way that made Jake uneasy.
"Penny for em, dimmy-da," the gunslinger said.
"Nothing," Jake said. 'Just wondering where he's laid up."
"Hard to tell," Roland said. "There's got to be a hundred holes in this hill alone. Come."
Roland led the way back around the boulder where Jake had found the stiff black hairs, and once he was there, he began to methodically scuff away the tracks Mordred had left behind.
"Why are you doing that?" Jake asked, more sharply than he had intended.
"There's no need for Eddie and Susannah to know about this," Roland said. "He only means to watch, not to interfere in our business. At least for the time being."
How do you know, Jake wanted to ask, but that twinge came again-the one that absolutely couldn't be jealousy-and he decided not to. Let Roland think whatever he wanted.
Jake, meanwhile, would keep his eyes open. And if Mordred should be foolish enough to show himself...
"It's Susannah I'm most concerned about," Roland said.
"She's the one most likely to be distracted by the chap's presence.
And her thoughts would be the easiest for him to read."
"Because she's its mother," Jake said. He didn't notice the change of pronoun, but Roland did.
"The two of them are connected, aye. Can I count on you to keep your mouth shut?"
"Sure."
"And try to guard your mind-that's important, as well."
"I can try, but..." Jake shrugged in order to say that he didn't really know how one did that.
"Good," Roland said. "And I'll do the same."
The wind gusted again. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" had changed to (Jake was pretty sure) a Beatles tune, the one with the chorus that ended Beep-beep-mmm-beep-beep, yeah! Did they know that one in the dusty, dying towns between Gilead and Mejis? Jake wondered. Were there Shebs in some of those towns that played "Drive My Car" jagtime on out-of-tune pianos while the Beams weakened and the glue that held the worlds together slowly stretched into strings and the worlds themselves sagged?
He gave his head a hard, brisk shake, trying to clear it.
Roland was still watching him, and Jake felt an uncharacteristic flash of irritation. "I'll keep my mouth shut, Roland, and at least try to keep my thoughts to myself. Don't worry about me."
"I'm not worried," Roland said, and Jake found himself fighting the temptation to look inside his dinh's head and find out if that was actually true. He still thought looking was a bad idea, and not just because it was impolite, either. Mistrust was very likely a kind of acid. Their ka-tet was fragile enough already, and there was much work to do.
"Good," Jake said. "That's good."
"Good!" Oy agreed, in a hearty that's settled tone that made them both grin.
"We know he's there," Roland said, "and it's likely he doesn't know we know. Under the circumstances, there's no better way for things to be."
Jake nodded. The idea made him feel a little calmer.
Susannah came to the mouth of the cave at her usual speedy crawl while they were walking back toward it. She sniffed at the air and grimaced. When she glimpsed them, the grimace turned into a grin. "I see handsome men! How long have you boys been up?"
"Only a little while," Roland said.
"And how are you feeling?"
"Fine," Roland said. "I woke up with a headache, but now it's almost gone."
"Really?" Jake asked.
Roland nodded and squeezed the boy's shoulder.
Susannah wanted to know if they were hungry. Roland nodded. So did Jake.
"Well, come on in here," she said, "and we'll see what we can do about that situation."
THREE
Susannah found powdered eggs and cans of Prudence corned beef hash. Eddie located a can-opener and a small gas-powered hibachi grill. After a litde muttering to himself, he got it going and was only a bit startled when the hibachi began talking.
"Hello! I'm three-quarters filled with Gamry Bottled Gas, available at Wal-Mart, Burnaby's, and other fine stores! When you call for Gamry, you're calling for quality! Dark in here, isn't it? May I help you with recipes or cooking times?"
"You could help me by shutting up," Eddie said, and the grill spoke no more. He found himself wondering if he had offended it, then wondered