Chaska explained the story piece by piece.<\/p>\n
In 1857, two years before the deaths Eli remembered, several families entered into a private arrangement unlike anything common in the territory.<\/p>\n
Some families were Apache.<\/p>\n
Others were Mexican settlers.<\/p>\n
Several were Anglo ranchers.<\/p>\n
They shared one essential dependence.<\/p>\n
Water.<\/p>\n
A dependable underground spring ran beneath a long strip of the valley extending from the northern mesas toward the creek south of Eli\u2019s ranch.<\/p>\n
During wet years, no one cared much about ownership.<\/p>\n
During dry years, control of that spring could decide which families remained and which disappeared.<\/p>\n
Most assumed the water source originated on government land.<\/p>\n
A surveyor discovered otherwise.<\/p>\n
The primary access lay beneath several privately held parcels.<\/p>\n
Instead of allowing one family to control the source, four representatives created a trust.<\/p>\n
No single owner would possess the water.<\/p>\n
No parcel could be transferred in a manner that destroyed the shared access.<\/p>\n
It was an unusual agreement.<\/p>\n
Perhaps legally vulnerable depending upon who interpreted it.<\/p>\n
And powerful men despised it.<\/p>\n
Samuel Mercer, Eli\u2019s father, had served as one of its witnesses.<\/p>\n
Eli stared at Chaska.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was my father doing at a meeting like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe spoke Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli almost denied it.<\/p>\n
Then he remembered his father fluently cursing broken equipment in Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also spoke some Apache,\u201d Chaska added.<\/p>\n
That was something Eli had never known.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe helped translate between people who had little reason to trust the same authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serina pushed the silver half-seal toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agreement was authenticated using two pieces that fit together. One remained with the valley families. Your father kept the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is his piece?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat,\u201d Waya said, \u201cis part of why Voss is interested in this ranch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou believe my father hid it here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think he hid it before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died from fever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody replied.<\/p>\n
Their silence spoke first.<\/p>\n
Eli\u2019s eyes sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat have you not told me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaska slowly drew breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we investigated records, we could find no physician\u2019s report connected to the deaths of your parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people out here never saw a physician.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did find burial records.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something cold moved through Eli.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat records?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother\u2019s death was registered three days earlier than your father\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat fits a fever outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cause listed for her was illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my father?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaska hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cGunshot.\u201d<\/p>\n
For several seconds Eli did not move.<\/p>\n
It seemed as though his body had forgotten breathing.<\/p>\n
Then he laughed once.<\/p>\n
There was no humor in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have the wrong man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hoped we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serina took a folded copy from her satchel.<\/p>\n
Eli refused to reach for it.<\/p>\n
Waya opened it instead and laid it on the table.<\/p>\n
Most of the writing meant nothing to him.<\/p>\n
One line did.<\/p>\n
Samuel Mercer.<\/p>\n
August 18, 1858.<\/p>\n
Cause of death: gunshot wound.<\/p>\n
Witness statement: unavailable.<\/p>\n
Eli\u2019s vision narrowed.<\/p>\n
For twenty-one years he had believed his father died from the same sickness as his mother.<\/p>\n
He remembered a closed coffin.<\/p>\n
Adults refusing to allow him to see the body.<\/p>\n
He remembered being told the fever had made it unsafe.<\/p>\n
At twelve years old, grief had made him willing to accept anything that allowed the next hour to arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho told me?\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n
No one answered.<\/p>\n
They did not have to.<\/p>\n
Gideon Pratt.<\/p>\n
Not the old white-bearded Gideon who crossed the field for coffee each morning.<\/p>\n
A younger Gideon.<\/p>\n
Thirty-seven at the time.<\/p>\n
Samuel Mercer\u2019s closest friend.<\/p>\n
The man who had arranged the burials.<\/p>\n
The man who had found Eli temporary shelter afterward.<\/p>\n
The man who had sat at Eli\u2019s table almost every morning for years.<\/p>\n
Eli rose so suddenly that his chair fell.<\/p>\n
Waya moved between him and the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet out of my way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWaya.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was s.h.o.t and the man next door has spent twenty-one years telling me he died from fever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMove.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli\u2019s fist tightened.<\/p>\n
Waya remained still.<\/p>\n
Chaska rose from the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Gideon wanted to hurt you, he had two decades of opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat does not make him truthful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli\u2019s eyes shone with something harsher than simple anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what does?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaska\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer stopped him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not asking you to trust Gideon. We are asking you not to decide why he did something before you know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli stared toward the door.<\/p>\n
Then at the burial record.<\/p>\n
Then at the silver seal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Serina have this in 1869?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
Only slightly.<\/p>\n
Enough for Eli to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bundle in the canyon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Serina nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother gave me the seal after soldiers raided our winter camp. We were taking it north to relatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd those riders were following you because of it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not understand that at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cComanche.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waya\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not Comanche.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli became very still.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw men dressed to appear Comanche.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memory shifted.<\/p>\n
American boots.<\/p>\n
The posture of one rider.<\/p>\n
A saddle decorated with brass hardware.<\/p>\n
A voice shouting in English as Eli disappeared into the canyon.<\/p>\n
He had forgotten that.<\/p>\n
Or chosen not to remember it.<\/p>\n
Chaska spoke quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears afterward, Waya found one of those riders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli turned toward Waya.<\/p>\n
Her eyes were hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had become careless. He was employed as security for a land business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Voss?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis father.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to move under Eli\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n
Chaska rested both palms on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201c The men following us through that canyon were hired riders. They wanted the seal. They were not raiders. \u201d<\/p>\n
Eli looked at Serina.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were carrying evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I had no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you not tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spoke almost no Spanish. You barely knew us. We had also been warned that anyone searching for the seal might be connected to those who wanted it destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for ten years I thought I rescued three strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did rescue three strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI rescued a piece of metal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaska\u2019s answer came sharply.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eli looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou rescued us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence settled.<\/p>\n
She held his gaze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seal was important. Our lives were more important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something changed inside Eli\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
He sat again.<\/p>\n
Serina refolded the burial record.<\/p>\n
Waya returned to the southern window.<\/p>\n
A moment later she went rigid.<\/p>\n
Her head tilted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Waya raised one hand.<\/p>\n
Everyone listened.<\/p>\n
Beyond the ranch came the distant sound of multiple horses.<\/p>\n
Fast.<\/p>\n
Waya looked toward the ridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour riders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaska looked down at the contract.<\/p>\n
Serina closed the wooden case.<\/p>\n
Eli stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cVoss?\u201d<\/p>\n
Waya continued watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis men.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 3: THE SECRET HIS FATHER KEPT Chaska explained the story piece by piece. In 1857, two years before the deaths Eli remembered, several families entered into a private arrangement unlike anything common in the territory. Some families were Apache. Others were Mexican settlers. Several were Anglo ranchers. They shared one essential dependence. Water. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-809","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}