"You've done this before."
"Fence?"
"Work."
Elias drove a post into the earth.
"Everyone works."
"Not everyone works like they're trying to outrun something."
The hammer stopped.
Elias looked at her.
She immediately regretted saying it.
But he only replied, "You notice too much."
"I've been told that."
By noon, Mara had prepared lunch.
Beans, cornbread, smoked meat.
Elias sat outside rather than inside the cabin.
Mara noticed.
"You don't like houses?"
"I like houses."
"You won't go inside."
"That's different."
"Why?"
Elias looked toward the hills.
"Too many memories in walls."
Mara didn't ask again.
After lunch, she finally told him why the fence mattered.
Her father had built the homestead twelve years earlier.
After his death, Mara and Ruth had stayed.
Their mother had died before that.
The land was theirs.
But a cattle buyer named Silas Vane had decided it should belong to him.
"He offered money," Mara said.
"You refused."
"Twice."
"Then he threatened you."
"Three times."
Elias's expression changed.
"Does he own land nearby?"
"Five thousand acres."
"And he wants yours?"
"He wants the creek."
Elias understood.
Water.
The oldest reason for violence on the frontier.
Mara continued.
"The creek crosses our property. Vane's cattle are dying because his southern wells went dry."
"So he wants your water."
"He wants us gone."
Elias looked at the repaired fence.
"Why hasn't he already done it?"
Mara smiled without humor.
"Because we're still here."
That evening, Elias stayed.
Ruth built a fire outside.
Mara brought blankets.
The three of them sat beneath the stars.
Elias found himself strangely comfortable.
That frightened him.
Ruth looked at him.
"You really never stay anywhere?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I leave before people become important."
Ruth stared into the fire.
"That's a lonely way to live."
"It works."
"Does it?"
Elias didn't answer.
Then came a sound.
A horse.
Then another.
Ranger raised his head.
Elias stood.
Mara grabbed her rifle.
Three riders emerged from the darkness.
Silas Vane was in the middle.
He wore a black hat and a silver watch chain.
Two armed men rode beside him.
Vane smiled.
"Evening."
Mara stood.
"You've been told not to come here."
Vane ignored her.
His eyes settled on Elias.
"Who's your friend?"
"No friend of yours," Elias said.
Vane laughed.
"Careful, stranger."
He pointed toward the fence.
"You fixed that?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Elias shrugged.
"Didn't like seeing it broken."
Vane looked at Mara.
"You have until Friday."
"For what?"
"To sell."
"And if we don't?"
Vane's smile disappeared.
"Then things get difficult."
He turned his horse.
Before leaving, he looked back.
"That fence won't save you."
Elias watched the riders disappear.
Ruth whispered, "He'll come back."
Elias looked at the darkness.
"Yes."
Mara looked at him.
"You should leave."
Elias shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
He looked toward the road.
Then toward the cabin.
Then at the two women.
"I fixed the fence."
Mara frowned.
"What does that have to do with anything?"