صفحة 177 من 439

He could see the youngster shaking with the horror of it, and

could hear the staccato sobs forcing themselves through the

closed teeth. Something about it, some touch of pathos he could

not account for, moved his not very accessible heart. After all,

he was a slim little kid to be engaged in such a desperate

encounter Fraser remembered his own boyhood and the first time he

had ever seen bloodshed, and, recalling it, he slipped across in

the darkness and laid an arm across the slight shoulder.

"Don't you worry, kid. It's all right. You didn't mean--"