"I know."
"And I've got one well."
Jonah nodded.
Crowe looked toward the children.
"You bring fifty starving people through my territory, and I'll have a hundred dead cattle by morning."
Jonah stared at him.
"You're asking me to leave them here."
"I'm telling you."
"There's no water here."
Crowe's jaw tightened.
"That's not my problem."
Jonah looked at the children again.
Then he turned his horse.
Crowe's hand moved toward his gun.
"Don't."
Jonah stopped.
Crowe said quietly, "You don't want this fight."
Jonah looked over his shoulder.
"No."
Then he pointed north.
"But neither do they."
The silence became heavy.
Crowe finally raised his hand.
His men lowered their rifles.
"Go," he said.
Jonah rode past.
As they crossed the dry riverbed, Elena whispered, "You were afraid."
Jonah nodded.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you show it?"
"Because fear is useful."
"How?"
"It reminds you to keep breathing."
The Hidden Canyon
The old trail disappeared beneath a field of stone.
Jonah dismounted and studied the ground.
Elena waited.
"What are you looking for?"
"Nothing."
She frowned.
"Nothing?"
"Tracks."
He pointed.
"There."
She saw only dust.
Jonah smiled faintly.
"That's why I said nothing."
He led them through a narrow passage between two cliffs.
The walls closed around them until the sky became a thin strip overhead.
Children began to whisper.
Tomas rode behind them.
"What is this place?"
"Old mining country."
Jonah stopped beside a wall.
A rusted metal ring was embedded in the stone.
He pulled.
A section of rock moved.
Behind it was a shallow cavity.
Inside were three clay jars.
Elena stared.
Jonah opened one.
Water.
Not much.
But enough to change everything.
A cheer rose from the group.
Jonah immediately raised his hand.
"Quiet."
The celebration stopped.
He looked at the jars.
"This was hidden."
"By whom?"
"Someone who didn't want to be found."
Elena understood.
"Someone may come looking for it."
"Exactly."
They divided the water carefully.
Every child received some.
The adults received less.
The horses received the rest.
It was not enough to solve the problem.
But it bought them time.
That night, Elena sat beside Jonah.
"You've been here before."
"Once."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
"With your father?"
Jonah looked at her.
"My father died when I was twelve."
"I'm sorry."
Jonah nodded.
"He taught me the land before he died."
"Was he a scout?"
"No."
"What was he?"
Jonah stared into the fire.
"A man who believed knowing the desert was the same as owning it."
"And was he wrong?"
"Completely."
Elena smiled.
Jonah looked at her.
She said, "You are more like him than you think."
Jonah didn't answer.
After a while, he said, "Maybe."
Then he heard something.
A stone falling.
Jonah stood.
His hand moved toward his revolver.
Across the canyon, a shadow disappeared behind the rocks.
Someone had been watching them.
The Ambush
They left before dawn.
Jonah deliberately chose a different route.
The watcher had expected them to travel north.
Jonah instead turned west.
The terrain became rougher.
That was intentional.
A man following them on horseback would lose speed.
By afternoon, Jonah found another set of tracks.
Four riders.
Then six.
They were being followed.
Elena saw his expression.
"How many?"
"Enough."
"Are they Crowe's men?"
"No."
Jonah stopped.
"These tracks are older."
He looked at the ridge.
"They're ahead of us."
The first shot came without warning.
A horse screamed.
People dropped to the ground.
Bullets struck stone.
Jonah dragged a child behind a boulder.
"Stay down!"
Elena returned fire.
Her first shot struck the ridge.
The second drove one attacker from cover.
Warriors spread along the canyon.
The attackers had chosen their position carefully.
Jonah realized their mistake.
"They're trying to scare us toward the river."
Elena looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because the river is a trap."
Jonah pointed.
"There's a narrow pass beyond it."
They were being herded.
Jonah loaded his rifle.
"We go uphill."
Elena stared at him.
"No one can climb that."
"I can."
He looked at the others.
"And they can follow."
The Apache warriors moved.
The attackers fired again.
Jonah climbed.
Rocks shifted beneath his boots.
A bullet struck the stone beside his head.
He continued.