Summary

A Storm Breaks – It is a hot, humid, June day. Sam Gribley, now about the age of thirteen, looks over his land and all that he has built, including a millhouse and a root cellar. Sam’s family has departed Bitter Mountain, except for his younger sister, Alice, who is currently unseen by Sam. Sam’s domesticated, trained peregrine falcon, Frightful, sits nearby. Sam is afraid Frightful will one day leave him, as she nearly did the year before when a male peregrine falcon – a tercel – tried to court her, but she returned to Sam.

Frightful is so trained she can adjust her feathers and body posture to alert Sam as to whether a human is coming near, or another bird. Someone is now approaching, and Sam worries it might be a black bear. Baron Weasel, a weasel who...