In the Land of the Long White Cloud

that. I still remember how you would whine as a child until I let you ride.” He smiled. “But you won’t remember me. If you’ll allow me to introduce myself…James McKenzie.”
    Fleurette was the one staring now. She finally lowered her gaze awkwardly. What did the man want from her? Should she pretend she had never heard of his fame as a rustler and thief? Not to mention the still inconceivable fact that this man was her father?
    “I…listen, sir, I don’t want you to think that I…that I came to arrest you or anything like that,” she finally began. “I…”
    James McKenzie boomed with laughter but then collected himself and answered the grown-up Fleur just as seriously as he had once upon a time answered the four-year-old girl. “I would never have expected that of you, Miss Warden. You did always have a weakness for bandits. Weren’t you in the company of a certain Ruben Hood for a while?” She saw the roguish gleam in his eye and suddenly recognized him for who he was. She remembered calling him Mr. McKenzie as a child, and how he had always been her special friend.
    Fleurette’s reluctance fell away.
    “I still am!” she replied, taking up the game. “Ruben Hood and I are promised to each other…that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”
    “Aha,” said James. “Sherwood Forest will soon be too small for the growing number in your band. Well, I can help with that, Lady Warden…however, we should move the sheep to somewhere safe first. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place. Would you care to accompany me, Miss Warden, and fill me in on how you and your mother are doing?”
    Fleurette nodded enthusiastically. “Gladly. But…it would be best if you got out of here to somewhere really safe, sir. And perhaps just gave the sheep back. Mr. Sideblossom is on his way with a search party…half an army, my mother says. My grandfather is taking part too. They want to capture you, and me.”
    Fleurette looked around her warily. Until that moment, she had felt safe, but if John Sideblossom was right about his conjectures, then she was on Lionel Station, John Sideblossom’s land. And perhaps he already had an idea of where McKenzie might be hiding out.
    James McKenzie laughed again. “You, Miss Warden? Now what did you do to make someone send a search party after you?”
    Fleur sighed. “Oh, that’s a long story.”
    McKenzie nodded. “Well, let’s put it off then, until we’re safe. Just follow me, and your dog can lend Friday a hand. Then we’ll be gone from here that much sooner.” He whistled for Friday, who seemed toknow exactly what was expected of her. She herded the sheep sideways up the terraces to the west toward the mountains.
    McKenzie mounted his mule. “You needn’t worry, Miss Warden. The area we’ll be riding through is completely safe.”
    Fleurette rode beside him. “Just call me Fleur,” she said. “This is all so…very strange, but it sounds even stranger when my…well, when someone like you calls me ‘Miss.’”
    McKenzie gave her a searching look.
    The two of them rode beside each other in silence for a long time as the dogs herded the sheep over the rocky and uninviting land. There was little grass, and the path was climbing. Fleur wondered whether James McKenzie was leading her up into the mountains but could hardly believe that to be the case.
    “How is it that you…I mean, how did it come about that…” she suddenly blurted out while Niniane expertly felt her way over the stony ground. The path became increasingly difficult as it wound up through a narrow streambed hemmed in by steep walls. “You were foreman on Kiward Station, weren’t you, and…”
    James McKenzie laughed grimly. “You mean, why did a respected and decently paid worker take to stealing livestock? That’s another long story.”
    “But it’s a long way too.”
    McKenzie gave her another of his almost tender glances.
    “All right, Fleur. When I left Kiward Station, I actually intended to buy some land for myself and take up sheep breeding. I had saved up a bit, and a few years before, I would certainly have been successful. But these days…”
    “These days?” Fleur asked.
    “It’s hardly possible anymore to buy pastureland at a decent price. The big farmers—Warden, Beasley, Sideblossom—are slowly claiming it all. Maori land has been considered a possession of the Crown for a few years. The Maori can’t sell it without the governor’s permission. And only a