Elena followed.
At the top, Jonah looked down.
Six riders waited below.
They weren't Crowe's men.
They were thieves.
Horse thieves.
They wanted the remaining animals.
Jonah fired.
One rider fell.
The others scattered.
The Apache warriors charged.
Within minutes, the ambush was over.
One attacker remained alive.
A young man, perhaps twenty.
He was bleeding from the shoulder.
Tomas approached.
Jonah expected execution.
Instead, Tomas lowered his rifle.
"Why?"
The young man looked at him.
"Cattle are dying."
Jonah frowned.
"So you rob starving people?"
The man looked ashamed.
"I thought you had water."
Jonah said nothing.
The young man began crying.
Jonah handed him a canteen.
Elena stared at him.
"You keep giving away water."
Jonah replied, "Sometimes a man needs water before he remembers how to be human."
The Woman at the Spring
They reached the mountains on the fifth day.
The air was cooler.
Snow remained on the highest peaks.
Jonah searched for the spring.
Nothing.
He checked the map.
Then the rocks.
Nothing.
Elena's face fell.
"Where is it?"
Jonah didn't answer.
He walked fifty yards.
Stopped.
Returned.
Then he noticed a line of green moss beneath a rock wall.
He smiled.
"Here."
He cleared away stones.
A trickle emerged.
Water.
Cold mountain water.
People began crying.
Some laughed.
Children ran forward.
Jonah shouted.
"Slowly!"
They obeyed.
The spring was small.
But it was alive.
They built a temporary camp around it.
For the first time in weeks, nobody had to ration every swallow.
That evening, Tomas called Jonah.
"I owe you a debt."
Jonah shook his head.
"No."
"You brought us here."
"You found your own way."
Tomas smiled.
"Your humility is almost irritating."
Jonah laughed.
It was the first time anyone had heard him laugh.
Later that night, Elena found him sitting beside the spring.
"You should sleep."
"So should you."
"I wanted to thank you."
"You already did."
"No."
She sat beside him.
"I wanted to tell you something."
Jonah waited.
"We were not going south only for water."
He turned.
"Why were you moving?"
Elena looked toward the mountains.
"Our old camp was attacked."
"By soldiers?"
She shook her head.
"Men who wanted our land."
Jonah's expression hardened.
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"How many?"
"Enough."
Jonah stared at the spring.
Then at the dark mountains.
"You can't stay here."
"We know."
"Someone will follow."
"We know that too."
Elena looked at him.
"That is why we need someone who knows where to go."
Jonah looked away.
He already knew what she was asking.
And he knew he was going to say yes.
Crowe's Bargain
Three days later, Silas Crowe arrived.
He came with twelve riders.
Jonah saw them from the ridge.
Elena stood beside him.
"You expected them?"
"No."
"Are they here for us?"
"Probably."
Crowe stopped near the spring.
Jonah rode down alone.
Crowe looked at him.
"You found it."
Jonah said nothing.
Crowe laughed.
"I knew you knew something."
"Leave."
Crowe's expression changed.
"You don't own this spring."
"Neither do you."
Crowe pointed toward the valley.
"I've got two hundred cattle dying."
Jonah looked at the riders.
"Then you need water."
"Exactly."
"There's enough."
Crowe smiled.
"Not for everyone."
Jonah understood.
Crowe wanted the spring.
The Apache group had become an obstacle.
"You want me to drive them away."
"I want you to be practical."
Jonah laughed.
"You're asking me to choose between cattle and children."
"I'm asking you to choose survival."
Jonah dismounted.
"Cattle can be replaced."
Crowe's face hardened.
"People can too."
Jonah's hand moved toward his revolver.
Crowe's men raised rifles.
Elena appeared on the ridge with twenty warriors.
Crowe looked up.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Tomas rode forward.
He said something in Apache.
Elena translated.
"He says this water belongs to everyone who reaches it alive."
Crowe laughed.
"You think words will stop bullets?"
Tomas looked at Jonah.
Jonah looked at Crowe.
"No."
Jonah answered.
"But maybe fear will."
Crowe stared at the armed people surrounding him.
He slowly lowered his hand.
"We'll see."
He turned his horse.
Before leaving, he looked back.
"This isn't finished."
Jonah watched him disappear.
Elena came beside him.
"Was that a victory?"
Jonah shook his head.