“Jeremiah stood there alone, his big hands empty, watching his brother go. Zeb was the last of his family, and when his family went west they never came back. Linus had come back, but that was before Jeremiah's time. None of the others ever had.

"There must be something out there," he said aloud. "There must be something out there that gets 'em."

Then, half smiling, he added, "Maybe it's the varmint!”