"It's past midnight and the woman hasn't kept her promise to bring the girls," Evan said. "I'm thinking she won't."
"We'll give her some more time," Ben replied. "It could be things haven't quieted down enough for her to get away with them."
"I hope that's it."
The two men, with four horses, were concealed in a patch of brush a hundred yards below the homes of the cowboys. From that location they could see the front of the walled hacienda. No one could be seen near the remains of the barn, now only a large mound of glowing embers.
"She acted damn scared that I would kill her boys," Ben said. "Seems my ugly mug made her think I was a real mean hombre. Evan, there was something really odd about my talk with her. She didn't include Ramos in our bargain."
"Could be she hasn't forgiven him for carrying her off to Mexico."
"What would you think if you were a woman and a strange man of a foreign country kidnapped you and carried you off with just one thing in his mind?"
"I'd be damn mad."
"Right. And the only reason she's stayed was because of her sons."
"Something's happening," Evan said.
"I see it."
A horse-drawn buggy had come out through the gate set in the wall of the compound and turned toward the homes of the cowboys. Two coal-oil lanterns were fastened to the left and right side of the front of the vehicle. They were glowing yellow eyes lighting the way in the darkness. A pair of guards with rifles were visible walking beside the buggy.
"I should have known that Ramos wouldn't let his wife go outside without some of his pistoleros going with her," Ben said.
"The woman could use them as an excuse for not bringing the girls." Evan still couldn't believe it would be this easy to free them.
"We'll soon know."
The buggy stopped at the house of the woman nearing her birthing time. Helena climbed down and spoke to the men with her. They extinguished the lanterns and followed the woman into the house.
"Time to see if she brought Maude and Rachel," Ben said. "Stay with the horses and be ready to fight or ride or both, for we don't know what I'll find. Could be something we sure don't want."
"I'll be here and ready."
Ben went quietly through the darkness toward the buggy. As he drew close, he could see the horses watching him. He pulled his pistol, cocking it under his hand to muffle the sound and went up to the buggy.
He could make out a blanket-covered mound in the rear floor of the vehicle. The form was large enough to be two people. Was it a pair of Ramos's pistoleros waiting there to shoot him?
"Maude, Rachel?" Ben whispered. His pistol was aimed to shoot if the wrong response came.
"Ben, is that you?" Maude whispered back.
Immediately the blanket was flung off and the two girls sat up. Their faces burned beautifully white in the darkness.
Maude sprang down from the buggy and into Ben's arms. She hugged him fiercely to her, and whispered into his ear. "I knew that if anybody came to get me, it would be you."
Ben held Maude tightly against him, breathing in the pleasing woman smell of her. Her pleasure at his presence delighted him. She was the only person in his world to act as if the wound to his face was but a minor blemish and he was still the Ben Hawkins as of old. He kissed her on the cheek with his crumpled lips, and she did not flinch at their touch.
"We've got to hurry," Ben said, releasing Maude from his arms. He picked up the blanket and bundled it under his arm. "Follow me close behind," he said, and led them into the darkness.
"Are you by yourself?" Rachel asked as they moved.
"No. A friend of yours is with me."
"Evan?"
"Who but Evan would kill a man for you? Then come chasing into Mexico after you?" Ben intended to make Rachel understand just how much Evan loved her.
"Redpath is dead?" Rachel said in wonder.
"Dead as can be," Ben replied. "There's Evan and the horses," he said as the outlines of the animals with the man holding their reins came into view ahead in the night.
Rachel hastened ahead of Ben and Maude and called out. "Oh, Evan, I'm so glad to see you. Thank you for coming to help me." She had seen Maude's impassioned greeting of Ben. She could do no less for Evan. She clasped her arms around him.
Rachel felt the thinness of Evan's body, his bones sharp against her body. The journey south to rescue her had been hard on him.
Evan returned Rachel's embrace. "I'm glad the Valdes woman kept her promise and brought you to us."
"What did you do to frighten her so much?" Rachel asked. "She was shaking while she was preparing us to leave."
"Ben did that."
"No time to talk," Ben said. "Evan, help Rachel up on her horse. We've got to be a long ways from here come sunup."
As he guided Maude to her horse, he realized the women were dressed in shirt and trousers. "Where did the clothes come from?" he asked.
"The woman gave us these in place of our dresses for she knew we would have to be riding horse back," Maude said.
"Which way?" Evan asked as he reined his mount close to Ben.
"Ramos will most likely think we'll ride fast as we can for the border. I'd like to fool him if we can. We'll go south for several miles and then west for another day. Then we'll work our way north on the far side of a mountain range called Sierra Las Tunas. It's a much longer route, but should be a hell of a lot safer."
"So you know that country?" Evan said.
"I rode over part of it once. However, most of it will be new to me and we'll just have to take it as it comes."
"How long do you think it'll take us to reach the States?" Rachel asked.
"I don't care how long it takes, not now," Maude said. She reached out through the darkness and touched Ben's arm.
"Several days," Ben said. Maude had voiced his exact thoughts. He sent his horse off.
They forded the black water of the Santa Isabel River. Hours later they passed south of Laguna Bustillos. Just before daylight, they reached the extreme upper headwaters of the Santa Maria River. The first drop of the river came from a spring flowing from a deep cleft in the side of a pine-forested mountain.
Ben called a halt beside the spring. The riders dismounted and stood stiff and weary.
"I'd guess you know where we are since you came straight to the spring," Evan said.
"I found it one day by accident." Ben didn't want to waste words explaining how Ramos had once been hunting him and the horses he had stolen, and cutting him off from a race straight to the border, had forced him into a roundabout route. "We'll stay here tonight. Tomorrow we have to get provisions for a long journey."
Ben spread their only blanket on a mat of pine needles beneath a giant ponderosa. "You three rest on this while I stake out the horses."
"I'll help you," Evan said.
"That's not needed, Evan," Ben said, short-tempered. He instantly regretted his tone. That came from being damn tired after not having slept for two days. "Rest and save your strength for when it's really needed," he said in a kinder voice.
"Like when?" Evan came back, ill-tempered.
"Like tomorrow. We have no food and no bedrolls. There's a town name of Mateo about twelve miles west of here. You'll have to go there and buy a packhorse and the other things we need for a long trip. I can't do that, but you can. Does that answer your question?"
Without a further word, Ben took up the reins of the horses. He led the animals to the small meadow below the spring, where he staked them out to graze.
When he returned, Maude spoke to him. "Ben, there's a little bit of room here on the blanket beside me."
Ben sank down on the edge of the blanket. Maude put her arm across his chest. He felt her hip and shoulder pressing against him. Her touch gave him a grand feeling of being accepted, of belonging. He wanted to say something to her, speak words that told her how much he cared. At the moment, he could think of nothing appropriate to say.
He took her hand in his and went to sleep the happiest he had ever been in all his life.