Chapter 4 - The Hidden Spring
Samuel noticed the rider several miles outside town.
He did not confront him.
Instead, he changed direction.
The rider followed.
Samuel led him toward a dry wash, then disappeared behind a ridge.
When the stranger passed, Samuel emerged behind him.
The man reached for his pistol.
Samuel's rifle was already aimed.
"Who sent you?"
The man said nothing.
Samuel recognized him.
One of Mercer's riders.
"Rourke?"
Still silence.
Samuel disarmed him.
Then searched his saddlebag.
Inside was a folded document.
A property survey.
Samuel's property.
But there was something strange.
The survey showed a water line running beneath his eastern pasture.
Samuel had never seen it.
He took the document.
The rider escaped while Samuel was distracted.
That evening, the Apache elder returned.
Samuel showed him the paper.
The elder studied it.
"This water is old."
"What does that mean?"
"Our people knew it."
"How?"
The elder pointed toward the mountains.
"Water follows stone."
Samuel frowned.
The elder drew a line in the dirt.
Then another.
"The spring beneath your land connects to a larger underground source."
Samuel stared.
"How large?"
"Enough to change this valley."
Samuel looked toward his pasture.
Suddenly, the attacks made sense.
Mercer didn't want cattle.
Rourke didn't want a ranch.
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They wanted water.
And someone had decided Samuel was standing on top of it.
