Elias nodded.
"Yes."
"Before questions?"
"Mostly."
The old man looked at Mara.
She said something dryly.
He almost laughed.
Then he faced Elias again.
"My name is Dosela."
"Elias Ward."
"I know."
That bothered Elias.
"You know me?"
Dosela looked toward the well.
"I knew your father."
Elias's grip tightened around the rifle.
"My father has been dead seventeen years."
"I know."
Mara removed the copper disk from beneath her shirt.
She handed it to Dosela.
The old man studied it.
Then looked directly at Elias.
"We came because she found this."
Elias frowned.
"She was already wearing it."
"No."
Mara shook her head.
"I found it yesterday."
"Where?"
"At burned camp north."
Elias looked toward the hundreds of riders.
"All of them came because of a piece of copper?"
Dosela's expression hardened.
"No."
"They came because three wells are dead."
Elias said nothing.
Dosela pointed north.
For generations, several Apache family groups had moved through the high valley during the driest months.
They knew where water remained after shallow springs disappeared.
Over the previous six months, something had changed.
Two springs had become unusable.
At another, several horses became sick.
Then an old seep disappeared after blasting work along a nearby ridge.
Mara had been sent with three others to inspect what was happening.
They found abandoned drilling equipment.
Empty powder crates.
Survey stakes.
Then men appeared.
Shots were fired.
Mara's horse went down.
She escaped into the rocks.
The others separated.
She had walked south through the night before Elias found her.
"What company?" Elias asked.
Mara looked toward him.
"San Aurelio Development."
Elias felt his stomach tighten.
The name was familiar.
Too familiar.
San Aurelio had spent nearly two years buying ranches throughout the valley.
Its representatives claimed a railroad spur would eventually pass through the region.
Most people laughed at them.
Then drought came.
Cattle died.
Debts increased.
Suddenly San Aurelio's offers looked attractive.
Elias had received five.
He rejected every one.
The last had arrived three weeks earlier.
$18,000 for Ward Ranch.
Almost twice what the property should have been worth.
He had thrown the letter into a drawer.
"Why would a land company destroy water?" Elias asked.
Dosela replied,
"Maybe so land without water becomes cheap."
Elias looked toward his cattle.
Then toward his well.