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big.”
    “And now you want me to find it for you?”
    “No. I want you to help me find it. But first I want your word that you won’t kill it when we do. Leave that to me.”
    Fargo was taking the measure of this man as they talked, and he liked what he saw. Namo wasn’t foaming at the mouth with rage; the Cajun had thought this out and knew exactly what he was doing. “In your letter you mentioned a thousand dollars.”
    “All the money I have, yes. And it is yours if you agree to help.”
    “Let’s say I do. I can’t stick around forever. I can stay a month. Not much more.”
    “I will take what I can get.”
    “And what if we don’t find it? What if I try my best and I don’t have any more luck than you’ve had?”
    “You will still get your money. Half today and the rest when you decide you have had enough.”
    Fargo started to extend his arm to shake on the deal.
    “We can start in the morning. Clovis and Halette won’t be any bother, I assure you.”
    “Wait. You’re taking your kids along?”
    “ Oui . I can’t leave them home alone. Not with Halette as she is.”
    Fargo studied the man more closely. “They’d be safer in your cabin than out in the swamp with us.”
    “I disagree. And they are my children. It is my decision.”
    Fargo withdrew his hand and sat back. “I don’t know as I like it.”
    “You’re having second thoughts?”
    “Third and fourth thoughts,” Fargo responded. “I won’t deny I can use the money. It will buy me a week or two of poker and women in St. Jo. But I don’t need it so bad that I’ll agree to going after this so-called monster with your kids along.”
    Namo Heuse frowned. He glanced at his daughter and then at his son and drummed his fingers on the table. “How can I make you understand? I love them. I love them more than anything. I’ve already lost their mother and I couldn’t bear to lose them, too.”
    “Then leave them at home.” Fargo had an inspiration. “Better yet, leave them with relatives. Or with friends here in the settlement.”
    “I wouldn’t want to impose on anyone in Gros Ville.”
    “Now you’re just making excuses.” Fargo gestured at the bar. “Liana might do it. She’s been real friendly to me.”
    “I can’t let my daughter out of my sight.”
    “Then hunt the thing yourself.” Fargo considered that the end of the matter. “I’ll take twenty dollars for my expenses and we’ll call it even.”
    Namo Heuse put his hand on Halette’s shoulder. “Look at her. Look at how she is. Now watch.” He pushed back his chair, got up, and made for the bar. Barely had he taken half a dozen steps when Halette began to tremble and to whimper. She didn’t turn her head to see where he had gone. She just sat there whimpering.
    Her brother, Clovis, bowed his head.
    Namo turned around and came back. Reclaiming his seat, he gave his daughter’s arm a tender squeeze. “She does that every time I leave her side. She doesn’t talk. She doesn’t cry. She just makes that sound.”
    Fargo took a long swallow of whiskey. “It’s too dangerous in the swamp. You’re taking too great a risk.”
    “Do you think I don’t know that?” Namo rubbed a hand across his face, and only then did Fargo realize how bone weary the man was. It showed in the deep lines and in his haunted eyes. “But what choice do I have? I must find the thing. I must kill it. Or never again hold my head high as a man should.”
    “But the danger,” Fargo persisted.
    “Clovis is old enough. He understands the risks. And Emmeline was his mother. As for Halette—” Namo regarded his daughter with the undeniable love of a devoted father. “You see what happens when I leave her. The doctor says she could have fits if I am away too long. Convulsions, he called them. He said they could kill her. You talk about risks? I don’t dare leave her alone.”
    “Damn.”
    “Yes. Damn. What is the saying, monsieur? I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Between