The first buildings caught fire.
Warriors fired from the cliffs.
The attackers responded with rifles.
Daniel rode directly across the open ground.
He wanted Vale to see him.
It worked.
Vale raised a telescope.
"There!"
He pointed.
"That's Cole."
Several riders turned.
Daniel spurred his horse.
Bullets struck the dirt behind him.
He rode toward the gorge.
Vale followed.
Exactly as planned.
But then something went wrong.
Vale did not send twenty men.
He sent nearly everyone.
Daniel looked behind him.
Thirty riders.
Then forty.
His stomach tightened.
They were coming too fast.
He had expected the gorge to narrow gradually.
Instead, he realized Vale knew another route.
The mercenaries began cutting him off.
Daniel pushed his horse harder.
A bullet tore through his coat.
Another struck the saddle.
He ducked.
The gorge entrance appeared ahead.
He was almost there.
Then a rider appeared from the side.
Daniel pulled his horse sharply.
The bay stumbled.
Daniel fell.
He hit the ground hard.
His revolver flew from his hand.
A shadow stood over him.
Marcus Vale.
Vale smiled.
"You should have stayed a cattle hand."
Daniel tried to stand.
Vale kicked him back down.
"You know what I like about men like you?"
Daniel spat blood.
"What?"
"You think honesty matters."
Vale raised his pistol.
A bowstring snapped.
The arrow struck Vale's wrist.
He screamed.
Selene appeared on the ridge.
Daniel rolled away.
Vale fired wildly.
Selene vanished behind the rocks.
Then the canyon exploded.
Not with gunfire.
With stone.
Huge boulders came crashing from the cliffs.
The first blocked the eastern entrance.
The second destroyed one of the wagons.
The mercenaries panicked.
Horses reared.
Men shouted.
Daniel scrambled toward his revolver.
Vale ran.
Daniel chased him.
They disappeared into the narrowest section of the gorge.
Vale turned.
"You think you won?"
Daniel raised his gun.
"No."
He looked behind Vale.
Selene stood there.
Chief Ashen Bear stood beside her.
Dozens of warriors surrounded the gorge.
Daniel lowered his weapon.
"I think you did."
Vale looked around.
For the first time, fear entered his face.
The fighting lasted less than an hour after that.
Without their leader, the mercenaries lost their organization.
Some surrendered.
Others fled.
Several threw their weapons into the dust.
Vale was captured alive.
That mattered.
Ashen Bear wanted him alive because the truth needed to travel farther than a grave.
The maps were taken.
The letters were recovered.
Names were found.
Officials.
Traders.
Investors.
Men who had planned to profit from the destruction of the valley.
Daniel's own name had been written into the plan.
He was supposed to become the villain.
Instead, he became the witness.
Three weeks later, federal investigators arrived.
Vale was taken away in chains.
The hidden village remained.
The mining claims were contested.
The water routes were protected.
And Daniel returned to his ranch.
At least, he tried.
For three days, he worked from sunrise until sunset.
He repaired fences.
Checked cattle.
Fixed the roof.
Cleaned his barn.