A dozen times the determination to return for her almost won.

But each time came the other picture--a vision of ceaseless flight, of hiding, of hunger and cold and never ending hardship, and at the last, inevitable as the dawning of another day--prison, and possibly the hangman.
Not until late that afternoon did Peter see the old Jolly Roger in the face of his master.

And Jolly Roger said: "We've made up our mind, Pied-Bot.

We can't go back.

We'll hit north and spend the winter along the edge of the Barren Lands.