It was a narrow canyon.
High walls.
Limited movement.
A perfect place for three hundred hidden warriors.
Corvin turned toward the ridges.
"Move your people."
Tazhaa translated his plan.
Her father listened.
Then he laughed.
It was a dry, gravelly laugh.
Tazhaa looked back at Corvin.
"My father says you think like a wolf."
Corvin shrugged.
"I've been called worse."
Within minutes, three hundred warriors disappeared into the surrounding terrain.
Corvin stood alone.
The sun was climbing.
He had only a few hours.
The Captain and the Gold
Captain Marcus Thorne arrived at eleven.
Eighty cavalrymen rode behind him.
Dust rolled across the valley.
Thorne was broad, red-faced, and visibly angry.
His relationship with Harlan Vance had been profitable.
Now Vance was dead.
And the evidence might be somewhere nearby.
Thorne stopped his horse.
Corvin sat on the porch.
The iron box rested beside him.
A leather bag filled with gold sat nearby.
Thorne's eyes immediately fixed upon it.
"Where is Vance?"
"Dead."
Thorne's face hardened.
"Who killed him?"
"His own greed."
Thorne stared.
Corvin lifted the forged deeds.
"I have his records."
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
Corvin held up another document.
"This one shows payments from Vance to an officer."
Thorne's face changed.
Corvin continued.
"Three hundred dollars a month."
Silence.
"Paid to Captain Marcus Thorne."
The cavalrymen looked at their commander.
Thorne's hand moved toward his pistol.
Corvin saw it.
He had expected this.
Thorne did not care about justice.
He cared about survival.
"You will surrender those papers," Thorne said.
"No."
"You're under arrest."
"On what charge?"
"Treason."
Corvin laughed once.
"That's convenient."
Thorne drew his revolver.
Corvin rose.
Then he grabbed the leather bag.
He mounted his dun horse.
And rode.
"After him!" Thorne shouted.
The cavalry charged.
Corvin led them south.
The Stone Throat waited ahead.
The canyon entrance was barely wide enough for a few horses.
Behind him, eighty cavalrymen thundered closer.
Thorne believed he was hunting a desperate rancher.
He did not realize he was entering a trap.
Corvin reached the narrowest point.
He stopped.
Turned.
Waited.
The cavalry rounded the bend.
Thorne raised his revolver.
"End of the line!"
Corvin looked upward.
"Look up."
Thorne frowned.
Then he saw them.
Three hundred warriors.
They stood along both canyon walls.
Rifles.
Bows.
Every weapon aimed downward.
The soldiers froze.
Horses began to panic.
Dust settled.
No one spoke.
Tazhaa stood above them.
Beside her stood her father.
She held a shotgun.
Thorne looked around.
There was nowhere to run.
Corvin dismounted.
"Drop your weapon."
Thorne's hand shook.
"You can't do this."
"I didn't do anything."
Corvin pointed toward the iron box.
"Vance did."
Thorne looked at the warriors.
Then at the canyon walls.
He understood.
If he fired, his entire column would be destroyed.
His revolver fell from his hand.
It struck the stone.
One by one, the cavalrymen followed.
Gun belts hit the ground.
Rifles were placed aside.
No one wanted to die for a corrupt captain.
Corvin picked up Thorne's revolver.
"You are going back to Fort Bowie."
Thorne stared at him.
"You think they'll believe you?"
Corvin held up the ledger.
"They won't have to believe me."
He lifted the evidence.
"They'll have the papers."
Thorne's face collapsed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Tazhaa raised her hand.
The Apache warriors remained silent.
The massacre everyone had expected never happened.
The canyon remained quiet.
That silence would later become more important than any gunshot.
The Stone Treaty
The cavalry left Cold Springs before sunset.