"It is not only that, señor. You have a fine horse, one which beat Don Cazar's Oro, is that not so?"
"Yes. Shiloh ..."
"And to you that one is above all other horses. If you lost him, you would be—like hungry ... inside you, is that not also so?"
"Yes!" Her earnestness triggered that instant response from him.
"So it is with me since I have seen Nieve. Men find such a horse; for years they follow the band in which it runs to snare it. They will suffer broken bones, as did my father,[pg 144] and hunger, and thirst, because there is one tossing head, one set of flying heels before them. Sometimes they are lucky and they catch that one. If they do not, there is in them a pinch of winter even when the desert sun is hot. Once I loved all horses—now there is this one which I must have!"
"I hope you get her!"
"Señor, last season I hoped. This season—this season I have belief that my hopes will come true. Ah, look, the Indio!"
She pointed with quirt and Drew glanced left. He saw what appeared to be an outcrop of rock among many others move, then rise on sturdy legs to meet them.
Running Fox, a brown blanket twisted over one shoulder, the rest of him stripped down to breechclout and moccasins, padded up to Hilario Trinfan and spoke in the guttural Pima. The mustanger translated.
"The horses are still there. But there is a camp of two men on the north slope above the canyon. Both men are Anglos. They are armed with rifles and take turns watching."