Webb stayed at the back of the group. At least twenty steps behind. This way, he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. Happily, Fritz and Wilhelm were directly in front of him, talking with George. Their voices carried to Webb, but he couldn’t hear the words.
It didn’t matter.
He was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. A person could take longer strides on city sidewalks, but this wasn’t even close to flat and smooth. The rocks felt slippery, even though they were dry. The trail was uneven and frequently took them off the roadbed because the roadbed had broken away.
He had his iPod and his music. He wasn’t worried about running out of power. The solar-powered charger took care of that. But somehow he couldn’t bring himself to put in his earbuds.
It wasn’t that this land was sacred or anything. Sacred was too strong a word. But the mountains were so untouched and the air so crisp and the water that trickled into streams that became rivers that fed the Mackenzie was so pure that it all deserved a respect that did verge on the sacred.
Webb wasn’t going to walk through it and disrespect it in any way whatsoever. He wasn’t going to tell this land that his puny downloads were worth more of his attention. Out here, he understood why George had insisted that not a single thing be left behind on the trail.
That’s why it was a shock to Webb when one of the Germans in front of him tossed an object into the bushes.
And kept walking.
Webb didn’t.
He stepped into the shrubs at the side of the trail and found what the guy had tossed out.
It was a large flashlight full of D batteries that weighed about two pounds and was probably as bright as a car’s headlight. He could understand why the guy didn’t want to carry it, because two pounds was a lot of extra weight in a backpack that already weighed a lot. Plus, it never got dark this time of year, so they didn’t need it anyway.
Webb grimaced at the thoughtlessness of the littering. There was plenty of room in his backpack, so he put the flashlight in his backpack and followed the others again.