The river was nowhere near straight, looping back and forth and actually
flowing slightly north back along itself at one point.
He started counting, measuring the river as it turned through each fivekilometer
square, marking each ten kilometers in the dirt with a line
through it, then the next set of ten. It was involved and took him some
time, but finally he was done.
He counted them.
“One hundred and fifty kilometers,” he said. “One point six kilometers to
a mile. Just under a hundred miles.”
He looked at Derek, who did not move, who made no sign.