Ruth had made supper after all outside over the campfire and brought Kid some of the winter stew as a peace offering. Kid needing her to stay angry had made comments about the quality of it though it tasted just fine.

Ruth was already waiting for him the next morning. She sat there silently, her body rigid with angry tension, as Kid packed the few things they'd brought into the house.

"I got to say I'm enjoying this peace and quiet," he said as he climbed up beside her. He wasn't really, but it seemed like the thing to say to get an argument going.

She started to open her mouth. He could tell she wanted to say something to him in reply, but she showed remarkable restraint.

Folks had to be told of their leaving. They found Señor Martinez chewing the fat with some other men in front of the general store.

He came out to meet them. Since it was just a short walk to main street, he knew their coming in the wagon meant they were going. "Leaving already?"

"A last minute decision," Ruth said with a tight smile. "But we got something to take care of. Came up kind of sudden like. We got your little stove cleaned up though."

"You could have if you want it. My wife got a more new model."

"That's sweet, but we're always on the move. We couldn't lug a heavy thing like that around."

"I understand. I will tell others there will be no revival today. A shame. I enjoyed the last one."

A fact that prickled Ruth's conscience, but she wasn't the one who'd asked for a divorce. She tried to stomp on the bitter thought, knowing she must have played an equal part in the dissolution, but she wished she knew what that part was. Kid seemed determined not to tell her.

After saying goodbye to Señor Martinez, they set off.

When Kid couldn't take the silence anymore, he asked, "It's killing you to keep quiet, ain't it?"

"Are you trying to say I'm loud?" she demanded.

"If the shoe fits," he said, leaving the phrase unfinished.

"There's a whole lot I could say to you, but none of it would be charitable. So don't tempt me into sin."

She must have meant it too because Kid saw her lips working in prayer, no doubt praying for more charitable thoughts.

They'd gotten a couple miles when Ruth spotted something in the distance. She gave a gasp when she realized what it was. "There's a man over there."

"You sure?"

"I'm not blind," she retorted.

"Well, I ain't either. Where?"

She pointed and there was a man lying prostrate on the sandy ground about a couple hundred feet to the left.

Against his better judgment, he brought the wagon closer to investigate. He'd barely brought it to a stop when she hopped down. "Ain't you got any sense? You trying to break your neck?"

"Would you hush up? It's my neck."

The man's chest was bare. He wore only moccasin boots and a long loin cloth unless one counted the bandana tied around his forehead and the paint on his cheeks. That was an Apache man and a warrior one at that. Fortunately though, the man was out cold. His lips were dry and cracked and he was flushed with fever.

Ruth moved over to his feet. "I'll help you lift him," she said.

"Into the wagon?"

"Where else? We can't just leave him out here."

"We don't have time to stop and tend to every person we meet along the way. And certainly not this one. Can't you see he's dangerous?"

"What has gotten into you? It's like you're somebody I don't even know. There's a man hurt. That's all that matters. Have some compassion."

He looked at the man again. He'd hit his head against a rock. He must've gotten in a scuffle with somebody and they left him for dead. Probably one of his own kind because a white man would've most likely finished him off or collected the reward being offered. Kid hesitated at picking up the other end of him because it wouldn't be a happy, grateful man if they got him back to health, but Ruth was right. It was the right thing to do, so he helped her carry him to the back of the wagon.

Kid went back to take a closer look at the weapon that had been laying beside the man. He picked up the strange club that was made from the jawbone of some animal. The teeth on it were polished and it had hide and beads decorating it. It was almost pretty in a way, but no doubt it could do some damage if the sharpened edge of the bone was any indication.

"Leave it. He won't be needing that."

"I wasn't intending on giving it to him, but it is interesting to look at." He almost forgot he and Ruth were fighting. He held the weapon up so she could see. "Look, they fight with the jawbone of an ass. I think they'd like to hear the story of Sampson, don't you?"

"I'd bring a revival to them if I could, but I don't think it'd work out too well."

Kid set the club back down and came back to the wagon. "At least you got enough brains to realize that," he said as he returned to the wagon. "Do you know his scalp's worth a 100 pesos? We ought to collect and be on our merry way." It wasn't really a serious comment. He knew Ruth wouldn't go for it and he'd come to the decision that he couldn't kill a man in cold blood. Capture a man to face a trial or shoot him in self defense, yes, but not simply for money.

"And do you know he's worth an immeasurable fortune in God's eyes?"

"Maybe so, but you know he wouldn't show you the same courtesy if it had been him that happened upon you, don't you? If you were lucky enough to be taken captive, which you wouldn't be as a married woman, they'd mutilate you. Them and the Comanche. They're not nice people."

"How can you expect them to act godly when they ain't been introduced to God? Don't change what we have to do cause we know better. If we know what is good and don't do it, that's the same as sinning and I can heal this man's body, not through faith, but by tending to him."

"You got a fine argument, but what if he's some kind of chief's son and they send in a whole tribe of Apache after him? You going to be ready for that?"

"I don't think that's very likely. I do think we should take him back to Tuscon. He's in need of shelter as the nights are probably too chilly for him to be in the open air and maybe there's a doctor we can call on if things don't improve."

"You're inviting trouble to our doorstep, to Tuscon's doorstep. And we should be on our way to California."

"You got a woman you're in an all-fire hurry to marry or something?"

"Oh, yeah, cause I meet so many women traveling in a wagon with you. I got one hiding back there under your pew benches."

"Then you can wait a little while longer. God will watch over us and Tuscon."

He hoped it was true that he had enough time to wait. He had to find some way to make some money and see that she was taken care of after he was gone and Tuscon seemed too sleepy to make fast money, but he hadn't tried very hard. He'd always been a decent card player. Ruth was against gambling, but that didn't much matter right now. "What about the people in Tucson? You think they're going to let you bring an Indian into their midst?"

"What they don't know, won't hurt them. No one says we got to announce our business. But if we're going to make it back before nightfall, we better go instead of standing around arguing all day."

Ruth got into the back with their new Indian friend. Kid kept stealing looks back to make sure he hadn't come to or was even getting close to it. He still thought this was a bad idea.

"We're almost there. Time to cover him up and come up here with me," Kid informed her when they got close.

Señor Martinez was right where they'd left him. "You ran into trouble?"

He'd hit it right on the nose, Kid thought.

"No," Ruth answered. "Kid just decided he didn't feel too well. He wants to rest up a little bit."

"I am sorry to hear, Señor Cole. Of course you are welcome to stay in the small house again. Nothing serious I hope?"

"Nothing a little rest won't cure him of," Ruth replied. For someone who didn't lie very often, it came quite natural to her. Kid almost believed her himself.

They rode onto the house.

Ruth kept the blankets on so it wouldn't be immediately obvious that they were carting a man inside.

"You are the craziest woman I have ever met in my life," Kid told her between grunts as they carried their heavy load.

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day," she said sarcastically.

It was one of the only things he had truly meant too. How did she think they were going to successfully hide an Apache right on the edge of town? She was thinking with her heart, not her head. He loved her for it, but it didn't make the situation any easier.