"Christopher Rowe - Another Word for Map is Faith" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowe Christopher)

"May as well be two hundred!тАЭ said Carmen, righteous.

Sandy raised her hand, stopped them at the cusp of celebration instead of loosing them. тАЬNot yet,тАЭ she
said. тАЬIt's tonight. It's tonight we'll sing down the glory, tonight we'll make this world the way it was
mapped."
****
The march up the ridge line did not go as smoothly as Sandy might have wished, but the delays and false
starts weren't totally unexpected. She'd known LucasтАФa country boy after allтАФwould take the lead, and
she'd guessed that he would dead-end them into a crumbling gully or two before he picked the right route
through the brambles. If he'd been some kind of natural-born hunter he would never have found his way
to the Lord, or to education.

Ford and his friendsтАФall of them destined for lecture halls and libraries, not fieldworkтАФmade the classic,
the predicted mistake she'd specifically warned against in the rubric she'd distributed for the expedition.
тАЬIf we're distributing 600 pounds of necessities across twenty-two packs,тАЭ she asked Ford, walking
easily beside him as he struggled along a game trail, тАЬhow much weight does that make each of us
responsible for?"

"A little over twenty-seven pounds, ma'am,тАЭ he said, wheezing out the reply.

"And did you calculate that in your head like a mathematician or did you remember it from the syllabus?тАЭ
Sandy asked. She didn't press too hard, the harshness of the lesson was better imparted by the straps
cutting into his shoulders than by her words.

"I remembered it,тАЭ Ford said. And because he really did have the makings of a great scholar and great
scholars are nothing if not owners of their own errors, he added, тАЬIt was in the same paragraph that said
not to bring too many books."

"Exactly,тАЭ she said, untying the leather cords at the top of his pack and pulling out a particularly heavy
looking volume. She couldn't resist looking at the title page before dropping it into her own pack.

"Unchurched Tribes of the Chiapas Highlands: A Bestiary. Think we'll make it to Mexico on this trip,
Ford?тАЭ she asked him, teasing a little.

Ford's faced reddened even more from her attention than it had from the exertions of the climb. He
mumbled something about migratory patterns then leaned into the hike.

If most of the students were meeting their expectations of themselves and one another, then Carmen's
sprightly, sure-footed bounding up the trail was a surprise to most. Sandy, though, had seen the girl in the
gym far more frequently than the other students, most of whom barely met the minimum number of visits
per week required by their advising committees. Carmen was as much an athlete as herself, and the lack
of concern the girl showed about dirt and insects was refreshing.

So it was Carmen who summitted first, and it was her that was looking northeast with a stunned
expression on her face when Sandy and Lucas reached the top side by side. Following Carmen's gaze,
Lucas cursed and called for help in taking off his heavily laden pack before he began unrolling the oilcloth
cases of his instruments.

Sandy simply pursed her lips and began a mental review of her assets: the relative strengths and