"That ugly horse thief has traveled hundreds of miles into our country and in all that time you haven't been able to stop him," Ramos Valdes raged at Carlos. "You had all the fighting men you could ever want and yet you stand there beaten."
Señora Helena Valdes watched the three men of her life, her husband Ramos and sons Carlos and Leo. The four of them were gathered in the big main room of the hacienda. Carlos had finished describing the events of the past several days. Ramos was pacing the floor, his head swiveling as he kept his hard, black eyes on his oldest son. Ramos was a domineering man, quick to anger, and when he rampaged as he did now, he frightened Helena.
Rarely did Helena participate in Ramos's discussions with his sons. She didn't want to know about his methods of doing business, practices that she was certain his sons now followed, for she was afraid of what they were. However, when Leo had returned with the two American girls, and then Carlos had arrived, she had decided to participate. She'd believed the meeting would include much talk about the two girls who were to become her daughters.
"He didn't beat me," Carlos retorted angrily. He began to pace the opposite side of the room. "The four, pistoleros at Samalayuca weren't as tough as they were said to be, not tough enough to kill Hawkins. So I doubled the number I stationed at Terrazas. Hawkins came and took their horses and they never even saw him."
Carlos ceased pacing and fixed his father with a stare. "He was extremely lucky to have escaped the fire trap on Plano de San Augustin. Like a coyote gets lucky and avoids the traps I've seen you set."
Ramos shook his head disdainfully at Carlos. "A coyote's luck is just dumb luck. A man makes his luck."
Ramos knew there was much more to Hawkins than luck. He was a brazen man and hard enough to carry off what he started. He was clever in that he always took the stolen horses to Abilene. This removed the horses far from Valdes's reach. And importantly for Hawkins's safety, that route avoided El Camino Real and denied Valdes the use of fresh horses at his freight stations with which he could run Hawkins down.
Leo moved to stand beside Carlos and spoke. "Father, you said yourself that this Hawkins is the best horse thief who has ever stolen one of your horses. Then the Americans gave away Carlos's plan when they tried to kill Hawkins in El Paso and failed. After that he must have been extra cautious."
"Right," Carlos interjected. "Hawkins hasn't really accomplished anything yet."
Ramos looked at his two sons and nodded. He liked the manner in which Leo had come forward to Carlos's defense. They were becoming tough hombres, and with them working together nobody would be able to defeat them.
"What is done, is done," Ramos said in a forgiving tone. "Hawkins will be someplace close by. It's too late in the day to start a search for him now. Tomorrow we will send every available rider we have out scouring the land for him and the other man."
Ramos spoke directly to Carlos. "Do you think they know about the young women?"
"I believe they do, Father. That is why the second man is here."
"I agree, for I don't think Hawkins would ask another man to help him fight his personal battles."
"He has one of those new repeating rifles and he is deadly with it. That is how he stopped the charge of twenty-five men and saved himself."
"How many of our men has Hawkins killed?"
"Twelve, and wounded four badly. Two of them will most likely die."
"Give me their names." Ramos's riders remained loyal to him because of the fact that they knew he would take care of their families should something fatal befall them.
Helena had been intently observing her menfolk as they discussed Hawkins. She had previously heard them describe the man and his skill at stealing and pictured him as a horribly gruesome phantom. Now, as Carlos listed the dead she saw an amazing, frightening thing occur. The light immediately surrounding the three men began to weaken. Not elsewhere in the room, just in an envelope surrounding them. Within but a moment, they were enclosed within a dark umbra. They were ghost men barely seen through a murky, vaporous shroud. At the same time, dizziness seized Helena and she swayed in her chair. A terrifying premonition jarred her to the very core of her being. The murderous Hawkins was going to kill her husband and beloved sons. She believed it with heartrending conviction.
Then abruptly, the darkness around her menfolk lifted and they stood fully illuminated. However, the premonition remained cold and heavy in Helena's bosom. She had had a third son, two years younger than Leo. A similar shadow had fallen over him one day while she was looking at him. She had made little of it, thinking that it was merely a temporary condition of her eyesight. Then the very next day, he had been shot from ambush by one of Ramos's enemies. She would not disregard the omen this time.
"Let the young women return to their homes in the north," Helena cried out in a voice that overrode the men's conversation.
They turned as one to look at Helena.
"What? What did you say?" Ramos could not believe what he had heard.
"Free the women. Give them a horse and buggy and send them away."
"Helena, why would you suggest such a thing?" Ramos said.
"The man Hawkins has killed a dozen men. Now he is here. We must get him to leave before he kills some of you."
"He won't kill us," Ramos said.
"I fear for all of you. Let the two women go."
"Mother, they are to be our wives," Carlos said. "They will give you beautiful grandchildren."
"I just now had a horrible feeling come over me that Hawkins would destroy our family if we continue to hold the women prisoners." Tears came to her eyes. "Please, oh, please, free them so the man will leave us in peace."
"Yes, let us go home and we will find Ben and take him north with us," Maude said from the hallway off the room. She and Rachel had heard the loud voices, left the room where they had been told to remain, and crept close. Her blood strummed with happiness at the knowledge that Ben had come for her.
Surprised at the presence of the girls, Helena and the men wheeled about to face them.
Carlos looked at Rachel, into her green eyes with the brilliant whites. He had not seen her since his arrival, and now swept his sight over her from head to toe, tracing the womanly curves of her. He realized that he had captured a more beautiful jewel than he had remembered. He thought of her sharing his bed and smiled at his good fortune.
"Lovely Rachel, I will never let you go," Carlos said.
"Never is the correct word," Leo said to Maude. "You belong here with me."
"The Valdes men do not give up anything they desire," Ramos said to Helena. He held her eyes, staring at her with a meaning that she fully understood.