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.They were losing their tree cover as they left the sheltering mountains.He knew the Rio Papigochic would continue its leisurely journey across open land better traveled by the light of the moon.He looked ahead and saw what he dreaded—a cloud of dust that had to be someone’s army, heading south as they were.He didn’t know what to do.Please, God, he prayed.“That’s an army, isn’t it?” Addie asked.“I’m afraid it is.” He looked behind them, wondering if they should go back.As he stood there in the river, he noticed an ox pulling a two-wheeled cart that had probably never known the silence of greased wheels.An old man walked alongside the beast, keeping pace.He appeared to be singing, but who could tell, with the noise from the wheels? The wheels had caught his attention for another reason; they were bright red, and the wagon bed was blue.Ammon knew that cart.He let his breath out.“We’re going up on the bank now,” he told his wife.“Hang on.I’ll help you off, and I want you to just stay here with Blanco in the shade of the trees.”She nodded and gripped the pommel, her face serious, unable to hide the fright in her eyes.In a moment Blanco stood on the bank, shaking himself.Addie held out her arms to Ammon and he lifted her down.“Just stay here.” He touched the frown between her eyes, knowing how much she did not want to be left alone.Taking his time—this was Mexico, where only criminals hurried—he walked in the tree line paralleling the road and prayed he was right.With a deep breath, he stepped out from the protection of the trees as the cart made its slow way toward him.He nearly went to his knees in gratitude at the sight of a familiar face, a round one with a white beard that he used to think was Mexico’s San Nicolas.He raised his arm and waved.The old man spoke to his ox and the cart stopped.He peered closer with eyes that Ammon knew were growing milky, then walked toward Ammon, keeping his staff in front of him.A few more feet, and then he laughed, put down the staff, and raised his arm too.If Heavenly Father hadn’t sent Pablo Salinas to them, Ammon decided he didn’t know much about Heavenly Father.“Hello, my son! I have not seen you in a while.I was afraid the armies ran you out of our country!”“Not me! As you say, it is my country too.” Ammon grasped the old man’s extended hand, then found himself in a warm abrazo.Pablo Salinas smelled of wood smoke and old age and wet wool.Pablo Salinas stepped back and took a good look, shaking his head.“Are you injured, my son?” he asked, the concern in his voice warming Ammon even more.“No, no.This is a mountain lion’s blood.My woman killed it.”Pablo took another step back in surprise, his eyes as wide as a child’s.“I have come from Ildefonso—I know, I know, a grandiose name for such a poor village—and what do I hear but a story of a dead mountain lion in a chicken coop.Your woman did that?”“She did.She wanted to save my useless hide.”They laughed together, husbands.“Where is this magnificent woman?” Pablo asked, looking around.While the old man leaned against the big wheel and the ox stood patiently, Ammon told him what had happened.“So you see, my friend, we are in need of a place to hide today.We travel at night, and we are trying to get to San Pedro.”“Better you should go the other way,” Pablo warned, reminding Ammon of Joselito, who had the same advice.“I know.This woman of mine made a promise to help another woman, and she will keep her word.”Pablo nodded.Ammon knew that he had a woman much like Addie, the conscientious kind.He chuckled when Pablo shook his head.“Señor ’Ancock, why do men like us marry women like that?”It was a good question.They looked at each other with understanding.“We dare not travel any more today, not with an army so close.Pablo, I throw myself on your mercy,” Ammon said.It sounded more elegant in Spanish than English, and hopefully contained just a hint of the desperation Ammon felt.He had a lot of faith in the Spanish language.Pablo looked away and thought a long moment, perhaps weighing the rules of friendship against his own safety.Ammon looked away too, so he would not appear to be pleading.Even in dangerous times, men had to be brave.Pablo looked back.He touched Ammon’s arm.“We will find a place for you and a woman who kills mountain lions.A little boy said she used her bare hands! Follow me.We will cross this river and take a safer way to my home.”Addie’s eyes were big with fright as the two of them walked toward her in the sheltering trees.As they came closer, the killer of mountain lions dropped the rock in her hand.He introduced them, and Pablo bowed in that effortless way of Mexican men who like the ladies.“I’ve known Señor Salinas for years,” Ammon told her as Pablo nudged his ox into the river.“He’s so poor.You couldn’t possibly ever have freighted for him,” Addie said as Ammon steadied her in front of him in the saddle.“No.I helped him once with a load of corn, after a wheel came off his cart.” He smiled when she leaned against him.“To hear him tell it, it was pouring rain, and there were Apaches circling his cart and wolves nipping at his ox.Mexicans do like to work over a good tale and make it better.”She chuckled.“You really did freight his corn?”“I did, all the way to Namiquipa.He swears I got him a better price because he came in such style.We had the wheel fixed and I returned him to his ox and cart.”She nodded.When she spoke again, her voice was serious.“Will we be putting him in danger?”“Probably.He has a broken-down barn, and we will sleep there.We’ll take turns keeping watch.”“No mountain lions, please!”BThe sun had passed its zenith when they arrived at Casa Salinas, an adobe structure that had probably seen better days a century ago but which appeared to be standing upright out of sheer habit.They were greeted by a genial dog not much younger than his owner, and a little woman almost as tall as she was round.With an exclamation of delight as though she had been waiting for him for years, she grabbed Ammon and shook him from side to side, which made Addie laugh.“Addie, this is Maria Salinas, Pablo’s better half.” He leaned closer.“She’ll grab you too.”“I want to be grabbed,” his kind wife said.Maria put her hands on Addie’s shoulders, looked in her eyes, said, “Pobrecita,” burst into tears, and hugged Addie to her generous bosom.When Addie was tight in the circle of her arms, Maria glared at Ammon.“You don’t feed her enough,” she declared.With Addie firm in her grip, Maria turned and walked her into the little house that stood up from force of habit, crooning to her.The genial dog followed after giving Ammon a reproachful look too.I’m in heaven, Ammon thought.He looked at Pablo
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