Chapter 10

THE NEXT DAY WAS UNBELIEVABLY HOT. THE mountain breeze they'd grown accustomed to had deserted them, and there wasn't so much as a whif of a cloud in the sky. The ground seemed harder, rockier, than on the day before, though Jud knew that was only imagination, and tempers grew short, which was not at all imaginary.

They still hadn't made a substantial dent in the plateau, and it wasn't hard to see that it would take them several weeks if they were going to dig up the whole thing. Viola refused to work at all, and Sam was beginning to voice his doubts about existence of the treasure. Jud said nothing, but the old man's enthusiasm-which hadn't waned-was beginning to convince Jud of Cunningham's madness.

Jud found it hard to believe Cunningham was as unreal as he seemed. There was something incongruous about his apparent lunacy. Jud hadn't completely gotten over his first impression of the old man-one that certainly didn't fit with the image now evoked. But if for no other reason than to avoid trouble, he was willing to play along with what seemed more and more like a gag.

At lunch break, no one spoke except Cunningham, who rattled incessantly about how he felt in his bones they would find the gold any minute. He began urging them back to work before they'd even finished their portions of dried beef, and in retaliation, all but Desert Rose lingered in the shade of the bluff long after they'd finished eating.

Desert Rose shrugged at Jud, then got up and followed the old man back to work. Jud was beginning to believe what she'd said about there being no gold. It seemed as if she were just humoring the old man.

Eventually, at Sam's prodding, the others also got up and returned to work. As lazy as he was, Sam wasn't yet willing to give up completely.

The sun grew hotter in the afternoon. Even old Cunningham began to tire, and he discontinued his prattle about the treasure. Grudgingly, they dug. The thud of the picks into the ground became a slow, seemingly endless rhythm.

It reminded Jud of his Army days. He'd once done a stint in the stockade, and for twelve hours a day, six days a week, he and the other prisoners had worked at digging a ditch six feet deep and extending the entire length of the stockade yard. When the ditch was completed and approved by the guard, they would fill it up, pack the dirt down, and begin a new one right next to it. The process was repeated until they'd worked their way clear across the yard. Then they would start over. The fact that the ground had been dug up many times and was relatively soft didn't make the task any more pleasant or fulfilling. In fact, it only served to increase the monotony.

At about three o'clock, the monotony of Jonathan Cunningham's diggings was suddenly broken.

"I found it!" the old man screamed, breaking a silence that had endured for almost an hour.

The others stopped digging, dropped their instruments. Sam scrambled up out of the ditch he'd been working in, dashed halfway across to the bluff where the old man had worked on a continuation of one of his original ditches. He stopped, afraid to go closer.

Jud just stood where he was, scarcely believing what he'd heard.

"I found it!" Cunningham cried again.

The old man lifted his pick and sliced it back into the soft dirt. They all heard the sound of metal striking metal.

"I found something!" the old man cried. "There's something down there!"

Sam broke into a run. When he got to where Cunningham was working, he wrestled the pick away from him and began to dig frantically.

"That's it!" the old man cried. "Gold!"

The three women scurried across to Sam and the old man. Jud walked over, pushing Viola out of the way so he could look into the ditch where Sam was digging madly-in dirt, Jud saw, that had just recently been shoveled back into the ditch.

"Gold!" Cunningham shrieked again, dropping to his knees and beginning to shovel the dirt out with his hands, oblivious to the pick which Sam still wielded furiously.

Sam tossed the pick away and also went to his knees, raking the loose dirt away with his hands, fighting with the old man to be first at what they both envisioned to be a treasure chest. Sam won the race. It was he who uncovered the metallic object the pick had struck.

It wasn't a treasure chest. It was the old man's Army-surplus canteen, which he must have dropped only a short while before, then accidentally buried.

"A canteen!" Sam said in a whisper of incredulity. "A goddamn canteen!"

Sheepishly, Cunningham looked up at Jud. "I thought that was it," he said. "I thought it was the treasure." He gave out an embarrassed little laugh. He took the canteen from Sam, holding it up and staring at it with disbelief. "I thought that was it."

"You goddamn fool!" Sam snapped. "It's your canteen! You just buried it." He looked up at Jud. "The old fart buried it himself."

"I thought it was the gold," the old man repeated. He gave out with a loud burst of laughter, then uncapped the canteen, dented by the blows of the pick, held it up and poured the water into his mouth. Some of it trickled down into his dirt-darkened beard. He looked around at Desert Rose. "I thought it was the gold."

Desert Rose dropped to her knees, reaching out to lay her hand affectionately on the old man's cheek. "It's all right," she said quietly.

"The old fart dug up his own goddamn canteen!" Sam said again.

Viola gave out with a sudden burst of raucous laughter. "You're all crazy!" she cried. "You're all as crazy as this old madman! There's no gold!"

"There is gold!" Cunningham said firmly, surprisingly calm now. "We came so close then-so close to finding it, that time!"

"Shit!" Sam laughed.

Jud turned and walked away. If there'd been any doubt in his mind about the old man's insanity, that last statement had voided it. Cunningham was mad as a hatter. There might well be gold somewhere, but Jud doubted that Cunningham knew where it was.

Jud didn't even care any longer. He was fed up with the whole operation. He wanted to go back to some sort of comfort-a nice bed. A bottle of beer right now would be the most wonderful thing in the world-just a bottle of cold beer, and maybe a little Mexican music while he was drinking it.

He was tired of Sam and Viola Bartell, tired of being made a fool of by a crazy old man. So to hell with it. If there was gold buried on that plateau, they could have it, if they wanted to keep digging. He was finished.

Without looking back, he started down the steep mountain trail. It occurred to him that he'd left his rifle-Cunningham's rifle-back at the diggings. To hell with that too; he wasn't going to shoot anybody. Let Cunningham have the friggin' rifle. All he wanted now was to be cool and rested.

Jud didn't stop at the cabin. He made his way on across the clearing cut through the woods back to the creek, to the very spot where he'd made love to Viola a mere two days ago. That seemed so far away now, like something out of a dream.

Without hesitation, Jud stripped his clothes off and waded into the water. It felt cool and good on his parched, dust-crusted skin. He sprawled in water too shallow for swimming, submerged his head completely, then came up and assumed a cross-legged sitting position. The water came just to his chin.

He sat there for a long time, his mind drifting aimlessly. It was almost like being asleep.

A rustling in the bushes on the bank startled Jud out of his reverie. Checking the impulse to rise, he looked up along the bank.

Sally Cunningham stood there, just at the edge of the cedar trees. She wore the same denim shirt, tied in a knot below her pert little breasts, and the tight jeans. Her face was smudged with dirt, but nonetheless attractive.

"Hello, Jud," she said. She blushed bashfully. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you. I could see you come across the clearing into the woods. I thought this was where you would be."

Jud wasn't sure what to say or do. He glanced at his clothing, piled on the edge of the sandbar. He'd long since grown out of the habit of being embarrassed when a woman saw him nude, but this was just a child. Somehow there seemed to be a difference.

"What.. . what do you want?"

She blushed even more. Her pretty face was almost crimson beneath the streaked dirt. "I want to come in swimming with you," she said.

She reached up and began unbuttoning the shirt.

"I.. . don't think you'd better," Jud stammered, though he couldn't help but be excited by the prospect. Too excited. He'd never be able to control himself.

Ignoring his protest, she finished unbuttoning the shirt, then pulled it off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground beside her. The motion of her arms caused her pert breasts to jiggle slightly. They were small, but perfectly rounded. Her skin was very white, with just a trace of freckles above her vaguely defined cleavage. The pink nipples were taut and inviting, x "Sally, I don't know if you understand what you're doing," Jud cautioned. "I mean, I'm not made of ice. You can't just.. . go swimming naked with me."

He couldn't take his eyes off her torso. There was something so pure and innocent about the two little breasts. The whiteness excited him, partly because of its contrast to Desert Rose's copper flesh, to which he'd become accustomed during the last couple days. He wondered what she would think if she knew he'd taken old Cunningham's granddaughter.

"Sally, I think you'd better put your clothes back on and get out of here," he said, more out of duty than any real desire to have her comply.

She took a deep breath, smiling suggestively. "Do you think I don't understand what I'm doing? I may not be as young and innocent as you think."

She hesitated a moment longer, then unbuttoned her jeans and shimmied out of them. She posed for a moment, letting Jud hungrily survey her body in all its naked beauty. Her thighs were as white as the upper half of her body, bordering on plumpness but in a shapely, appealing way. Her belly was smooth and flat; the creamy skin had a silken texture. The triangle of hair that crested her thighs was as golden as that on her head.

From the proud smile on her face, it was evident that she enjoyed being looked at as much as Jud enjoyed looking.

"Well," she asked at length, "do you want me to come in or not?"

"Yes," Jud croaked.

He was still sitting in the water. She stood on the bank a moment longer, smiling down at him. She no longer blushed, and seemingly wasn't the least bit self-conscious about her nakedness. There was no need for her to be; Jud's approval of what he saw was evident.

She started along the bank to the path which led down to the water, picking her way. Jud got a side view of her-a good look at her ripe, dimpled buttocks.

"Why don't you stand up?" she teased as she started down from the bank. "If you can see me, I should get to see you too."

That made sense, he supposed, though he felt strangely self-conscious as he stood up. Until now, he'd been unaware that he already had a hard-on.

She paused on the sandbar, her eyes drifting appraisingly up and down his body, finally settling at a point just below his waist. She took a step forward, just wetting her feet, and paused again.

"Gosh!" she said, a slight shiver passing through her. "I didn't know it would be so big."

For a moment longer she stared incredulously, then waded slowly out toward him.

Jud still felt a slight misgiving about what he was doing. She seemed just a little too young to be fair game. But she said she knew what she was doing, and he could hardly be expected to turn her down.

He took a few steps toward her, and they met in less than two feet of water. She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her small body against him. He felt her throbbing breasts on his chest, the hard little nipples; felt her belly brush over his prick. She stood on tiptoe, pressing her lips to his, opening her mouth to allow him to slip his tongue between her teeth. Passionately she rolled her torso against his.

At last she drew back far enough to look up at his face. He still felt her thighs touching his, the blonde patch of hair brushing lightly against the base of his cock.

"I'm a mess," she said. "Let me wash off first."

Jud nodded, running his hands gently down her back and across the outward flare of her flanks, then dropping them to his sides, and taking a step back.

Again her eyes descended to his rigid prick. Then she glanced down at her own blonde mound, as if taking note of the difference between them. Then she moved past him and plunged headlong into the shallow water, submerging completely and staying under for what seemed like a long time. At last she came up, gasping for breath.

She stood, several feet from him, just watching, waiting for him to make the next move.

Jud was still hesitant, but he had no intention of turning back. He walked across to her, kissed her lightly on the lips, then led her back to the sandbar-almost the exact spot where he'd had Viola.

Sally turned, her nipples brushing his chest, and looked up at him. Jud leaned down to kiss her, at the same time running his hands down her back and grasping her ripe buttocks, pulling her tight against him.

"Ummm, yes," she purred, running her hands over his back and down to his buttocks, wriggling against him. "You feel so strong!" she said. "It seems like you'll crush me."

She kissed him hard on the lips, then moved around and playfully bit his earlobe. At the same time, he ran one of his hands down the cleft of her buttocks and between her thighs from behind.

"Oh, Jud!" she squealed, wriggling her hips. "It feels so good. It's all so fantastically wonderful!"

He pushed one finger up between her thighs, feeling the damp hair, reaching past it to begin to get her ready. But she struggled out of his grip and stepped away. She looked down at the object of her desires.

"I can't believe it's so big!" she said. Then she looked back at his face, and again she smiled self-consciously. "Can I touch it? Just for a minute?"

Jud swallowed and nodded, his eyes again taking in the pure beauty of her youth.

She stepped forward, reaching out furtively to touch the tip of his pulsing prick. A tingle of excitement passed through his body. Now she encircled it with her hands, running them lightly up and down its length, causing waves of desire to surge in his loins. As she did this, she stared at it in fascination.

When she was almost upon him, Jud took a step forward to meet her. She fell into his arms, pressing the fullness of her bosom against him, her warm and ready loins meeting his and just moving ever so delicately to tease his rigid prick.

"It's so beautiful!" she gasped, leaning closer and closer.

Jud's legs were weak. He needed none of this. Despite the workout he'd had the last few days, he was as ready now as he'd ever been for any woman.

"I want to kiss it, Jud, it's so beautiful." She dropped to her knees before him, sticking her tongue out, lightly teasing the sensitive tip for a moment before she opened her mouth and pushed her head forward. Jud felt the scratch of her teeth, reflecting a lack of experience, but he didn't protest. The sight of this beautiful little nymphet on her knees before him was enough to compensate for the mild discomfort. And the feel of her tongue and the roof of her mouth also made for some compensation.

Jud dropped his hands to her shoulders, massaging her flesh as she began to move her head back and forth, sucking ravenously and making muffled sounds deep in her throat.

It went on for what seemed an eternity-too long, Jud realized. He grabbed her head and pulled her away from him. She surrendered to his will, letting him pull her lips away, then push her down to her back on the sand.

Jud dropped to his knees beside her, leaning over to kiss her on the lips, then began to run his hands over her breasts and stomach, and finally through the tangle of hair between her thighs.

Her breath was fast and gusty now, and her whole body writhed beneath his touch, but she'd closed her thighs tightly, locking them on Jud's hand and preventing his further exploration.

Gently he tried to urge her thighs apart. As he did so, he touched his lips to one of her rigid nipples, taking it in his mouth and sucking and nibbling at it. She resisted to the pressure of his free hand on her thigh, but finally acquiesced and parted her legs, and Jud deftly slid between them, lowering his body to hers and at the same time reaching down to touch her already moist cunt lips.

"Jud!" she gasped. "Jud, I'm afraid! It's too big! It won't go in me!"

Jud coaxed her with his hand, moving his head up from her breasts to look down at her face. Her eyes were wild with fear. And now he knew: She was a virgin.

For a moment he just lay there, feeling a sharp, aching frustration in his groin. He'd gone too far to stop now, yet he knew he had to. He couldn't take advantage of her. He slid his hand from between her thighs and rolled onto the sand beside her. His frustration had become a numb, steady throb.

"Why in the hell didn't you tell me?" he rasped. "Aw, hell! I should have known."

Tears came to her eyes and spilled onto her dimpled cheeks. She looked at him, opening her mouth to speak, but for a moment finding no words.

"Please, Jud," she said at last. "I'll try to be good. Just show me what to do, and I'll do it." , Jud gave a sharp little laugh. "I don't want your cherry, kid." He did want it, but he wasn't going to admit that, even to himself.

"Please, Jud!" she said again. "I want you lo show mc. I want to make love. I was just afraid."

Jud clambered to his feet, trying to ignore the throb in his loins.

"Come on, kid," he said tiredly. "Let's get dressed and go back."

She just lay there, staring pleadingly up at him. She let her arms fall out to each side on the sand, and spread her legs in a position suggesting complete surrender.

"Jud, I want it! If I want it, why can't you give it to me?"

"It should be more important than this," he growled. "It should mean something."

"It does mean something. Just this once, it will still mean something."

"I'm the wrong guy, kid. You'll probably never even see me again."

"I don't care. I want you now. I know you're . . . with Rose, and I shouldn't ask you, but.. . "

She took a step toward him, hesitant at first, but then moved quickly throwing her arms about his neck, pushing her naked breasts against his chest, planting her lips on his and kissing him violently.

Jud had already started over to get his clothes. Now he stopped and turned back toward her. He looked at the white body, lying there waiting for him. He looked at her pleading eyes. Once more he allowed himself to be fully aware of the pounding frustration. Why the hell not? He thought. Perhaps it was better with him than some half-pint kid who'd do a messy job of it. Why the hell not?

He walked slowly back to her. She shivered with anticipation as she watched him drop between her outspread thighs, lowering the full weight of his body onto hers.

He stretched out beside her, kissing her gently and running his hands over her body. She responded by making a parallel exploration of his form.

Jud raised up, leaning down to take one maroon nipple in his mouth, gazing down over her belly at the dark V of hair, at the contoured thighs beyond. She was running her hands lightly over his back. He moved his head away from her nipple, kissing down the rounded lower half of her breast, trailing his tongue on down the indentation on her stomach, pausing for just a moment at her navel before he moved on to the raven hair, between her outspread thighs.

He shifted the direction of his body in relation to hers. As he kissed her moistening pussy, he felt her take his prick in her hand, teasing it for a moment with her fingers before she touched her lips to it.

He felt her tense as he pushed his tongue out, cautiously exploring then pushing into her.

He planted his knees and arched up so he could reach under to seize his prick and fit it to her virgin cunt. Holding it poised at the entrance, he leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

She was panting furiously, arching her hips up to meet the anticipated thrust. He could feel her hands running searchingly across his back, finally coming to rest on his buttocks and trying to tug him downward into her.

He forced his tongue between her teeth, bruising her lips with his own, and then he thrust himself through her barrier.

She gave a sharp gasp, turned her head, drawing her lips away to cry out in pain. Her hands slid down his flanks to his pelvic bone. She pushed up against him, and at the same time he felt her try to retreat.

He hesitated a moment, then thrust again into the tightness.

' "Oh, please! No!" she cried.

Jud nodded, feeling her open her thighs so he could push his hand down to rest on the warm lips. He 'leaned over and touched his lips to one taut, purple nipple sucking gently for a moment, then biting down hard enough to make her whole body stiffen.

And as he did that, he pushed one finger between the moist lips of her cunt, just playing about the entrance, teasing.

He drew his lips away, raising up to watch the expression on her face as he pushed the finger into her, massaging the warm, moist walls, pushing in deeper and deeper, feeling her body tense again and hearing a slight gasp escape from her in spite of herself.

He opened his eyes and saw that hers were tightly closed, her face contorted with the intensity of her sensations, whether pain, pleasure or a mixture of both.

Relentlessly he drove himself into her, ignoring her protests.

When the merger was completely, he lay still for a moment, barely breathing. He felt her arms go up and twine themselves tightly around his back, holding him to her. He knew it was only imagination but it seemed he could feel her heartbeat through the tiny breasts flattened against his chest.

"Oh, Jud!" she whispered in his ear. "Jud, you are making me so happy!"

Still not moving, he kissed her again on the lips, gently, affectionately. But her response was nothing short of animal.

He waited as long as he could before beginning to move, but the very tightness of her made lying still a torment for him. He could feel the moisture of her engulfing him, and somewhere in his mind was a picture of the image of purity and innocence she'd presented as she stood naked on the bank. She would never look like that again, he knew. In a way, it was sad. Her hips began to move, and he responded gently, staving off the urgency throbbing in his loins.

"It hurts," he heard her whisper, half delirious. But neither of them altered the movement of their bodies. He lifted up a bit, bending his neck so he could reach his tongue to a little pink nipple. Her whole body contorted, breaking rhythm completely.

He stopped, dropping his weight to halt her motion, and then began again. She tried to respond, but lacking experience, her attempts only served to disrupt his timing.

"It hurts," she said again.

He kissed her in the ear.

"Just lie still," he whispered. "Put your legs up a little."

She did so, and it opened her a little, cutting down on the delicious friction, but making it less painful for her.

"Now let me do the work," he said.

She stayed the unskilled motion of her hips and let Jud assume the full burden. Despite his urgency, he held himself back, making his thrusts thrusts slow and gentle, increasing the velocity only slightly.

He planted his elbows on the ground and lifted himself a bit, balancing on one of them while slipping his free hand between their bodies to play about at the top of her labia opening, an area that for her would be even more sensitive than the interior.

In doing so he struck an even more vital chord than he'd anticipated. She gave out a sharp cry of pleasure, and despite his objection, she began to move again, driving her loins up to meet his. Now, however, she seemed to be picking up on the rhythm, and as he thrust himself into her and drew himself out he stroked her sensitive clit with matching rhythm.

For a long time Jud held himself back, staving off the impulse to forgot about her and let himself go wild.

"Jud," she whispered, her voice quivering, "I can't go much longer. It's . . . too sore."

He let himself go. He drove hard into her, removing his hand from between them to allow him to go all the way into her. He tossed and twisted violently, and Sally tried her best to respond accordingly, writhing and undulating her hips beneath him. And she screamed a wild, piercing shriek that was half pain, half ecstasy.

Jud reached a crescendo of intensity as he moved into the last mad rush to finality. He felt himself explode, and Sally felt it too, or sensed it, and gave him her own last, frenzied effort in response.

Then it was over. He lay tiredly on her for a while. She wrapped her arms around him, gently stroking his back. At last he kissed her, then gently eased himself out. There was blood on the sand between her legs.

Jud looked down at her. He couldn't remember when he'd felt more tenderness toward someone. He almost wished he could devote more time to her introduction to lovemaking, teaching her how to make it better for her partner, how to enjoy it herself. But he knew that was impossible. It occurred to him that, as an alternative, he would certainly like to run into her a few years hence. She would be filled out, grown up. And she'd be one hell of a woman. That was one thing he had no doubt of.

Jud leaned down and kissed her. When he took his lips away, she was smiling.

"Thank you, Jud. That made me very happy."

He didn't know what to say. Strangely, he was embarrassed. So he said nothing for the moment--just slid off and lay beside her, gently stroking her breasts and belly and thighs.

"You're a wonderful kid," he said at last. "I really mean that."

She looked over at him. Her eyes were moist, but there was still a smile on her face. "I know you mean it," she said. "And I'm glad you did this for me. Very glad, Jud."

CHAPTER ll

THE OTHERS WERE WAITING AT THE CABIN WHEN Jud and Sally returned. Sam sat sullenly at the table, across from Cunningham. Viola was stretched out on her sleeping bag on the floor. Desert Rose had been in the other room, but when she heard Jud and Sally enter, she came to the doorway.

She looked first at Sally, then over at Jud. Their eyes met, and she stared knowingly at him for a moment, then turned away and disappeared into the room. Clearly, she guessed what had happened. Jud debated whether to go in after her, and decided against it. He didn't have to answer to her for anything.

"You went off and left your gun," Sam said, holding Cunningham's rifle up. "Good thing we're partners in this damn treasure hunt, or the old man might have got the drop on us."

"We're gettin' close to that gold," Cunningham said idly, to no one in particular. "Come closer to findin' it today than I ever have."

"I'll rustle up some food," Sally said. She brushed past Jud, touching him lightly on the back as he passed.

"Course you boys seem like sometimes you don't even want to find the gold," Cunningham offered.

Sam glared across the table at him. Their eyes met, then Cunningham looked up at Jud.

"You can't expect that gold to hop up out of the ground and greet you," he continued. "You got to dig for it if you expect to find it."

"Dig!" Sam shouted. "Digging for the daydreams of a goddamn half-witted old lunatic, that's what we're doing!"

Cunningham seemed unperturbed by the abuse. "I been diggin' for that gold well nigh a year, off and on. Where we're digging now's the only place it could be. I already dug up all the other'ns."

Jud looked sharply at the old man. Sam sat there for a moment, then suddenly reached across the table and grabbed Cunningham's shirt collar, standing up and pulling the old man's face up almost to touch his own. Viola had risen to a sitting position.

"What did you say?" Sam rasped.

"I said that gold's got to be there. I said this has got to be the place!"

Sam held Cunningham for a moment longer, then released him and let him drop back into his chair. He turned and looked questioningly at Jud.

Desert Rose reappeared in the doorway. Jud noted with a twinge of guilt that her eyes were red and slightly swollen. But now there was an almost evil smile on her face. "I told you, Jud," she said with quiet superiority.

"Desert Rose has faith in me," Cunningham stated. "She knows that gold's up there."

But Jud knew that wasn't what she'd meant. He watched her turn slowly away and go back out of sight. Then he looked back at Sam.

"What do you think?"

"I think we've been had, but good," Sam said.

"What about those coins?" Viola questioned.

That was the only piece of the puzzle that didn't fit into what was otherwise a perfect explanation-that the old man was completely insane, gold-crazy, and the girls were just humoring him along.

"There's gold up there, all right," Cunningham said. "And I need you boys to help me dig it up."

"I'm through digging," Sam said with finality.

Jud pondered for a moment, then walked across to Sally. He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned close to her, looking intently into her pretty blue eyes. "Where did the coins come from, Sally?" he asked, scarcely above a whisper.

She started to speak, but stopped herself. There was desperation in her face.

"Rose and I . . . got them for him," she stammered at last.

"Where? Where did you get them?"

Again she hesitated. She felt as if she was betraying her grandfather's dream, his last hope. "We got them in Las Cruces."

For a long time Jud just stared at her. She couldn't look him in the eye. She'd given away her grandfather's big secret, destroyed his dream.

"Why did you get them for him?"

Sally bit her lips. She still avoided looking at him. "He was always fascinated by stories about . . . Spanish gold. He'd read everything about it, always talked about going to search for it. We saw the coins.. . we bought them for him as.. . a gift." She glanced furtively up at Jud, then pushed past him and ran out the door.

There wasn't much else she could have told him. The rest was evident. The old man's fascination with Spanish gold had become a mania. He'd seen somewhere a replica of a map-or maybe just imagined it. He'd convinced himself he knew where to find a fortune in gold, and the girls had cared enough for him to play along with his fantasy rather than let him do it alone.

Jud walked over and sat down at the table next to Sam.

"Did you hear?"

"Part of it," Sam said tiredly, staring with icy hatred at the old man.

'There's gold here! There's gold enough for all!"

"Shut up," Sam growled. Then to Jud: "We might as well get the hell out of here. Sorry I got you in this damn goose chase."

Jud smiled. "It's been an experience. We'd better eat and get a good night's sleep before we start back down."

"Think you feel like one more night of that, eh?" Sam grinned, glancing over his shoulder toward the room where Desert Rose was.

For lack of a better response, Jud just winked.

"You're running' out on me?" Cunningham said with utter contempt. He spat on the floor, then got up and walked out of the cabin. Jud heard him talking to Sally in hushed tones for a couple minutes, then they both came into the cabin. Cunningham resumed his seat at the table and sulked, pretending that Jud and Sam didn't exist.

Sally hesitated a moment, then went into the other room. Jud could hear her and Desert Rose whispering, but he couldn't make out what they said. After a moment they both came in, and together they prepared supper. They conscientiously avoided even so much as a glance in Jud's direction.

When supper was ready, Cunningham took his portion and went outside. Sally and Desert Rose followed his example.

"How do you like that?" Sam asked. "Won't even eat with us."

"Stealing his gold was one thing," Jud offered in explanation. "Stealing his dream was something else." After that they ate in silence.

Cunningham and the two women came back in, their plates empty. Cunningham said something about how they didn't grow men any more, then excused himself and gestured for Sally to follow him. She cast a lonesome, regretful look at Jud, then went into the other room after the old man.

Desert Rose started to follow, but Jud intercepted her. He caught her by the arm, holding her with a firm grip. She stared coldly at him.

"Come outside a minute," he said quietly but firmly. "I want to talk to you."

She shook her head. "There's nothing to say."

"I told you to come outside."

Without releasing his grip on her arm, Jud led her toward the door. Reluctantly, she came along, outside and away from the cabin.

"All right, what do you want?" she asked when they were well out of hearing distance of the cabin.

Jud still held her arm. For a long time he just stared into her face. "I'm not going to try to deny what happened this afternoon," he said finally.

"It would do no good. I knew it as soon as you came back, and Sally didn't deny it."

"You have no claim on me."

"No, I don't. I claim nothing of you. I don't even claim that I've known you."

Jud tried to pull her up against him, but she stood firm, refusing to budge. Angrily, he turned loose of her arm.

"I should have known what you were like when I saw you with your friend's wife, by the creek. There are three women here, and now you've had us all. What more do you want from me?"

"There's a lot I want from you."

"You can't have it," she said with what seemed to be finality.

He was tempted to let the subject drop. To hell with her, he tried to tell himself. But he didn't feel that way, and couldn't make himself feel that way. If nothing else, he had-for some reason he didn't quite understand himself-to make her understand.

"You'd rather be Cunningham's woman?" he asked spitefully, immediately sorry he'd said it.

"I have never been Cunningham's woman. He was kind to me after my husband was killed. He took care of me. He was very understanding. Other men just wanted my body. I have never been his woman. It wasn't like that."

"What he said . . . ? "

She laughed coarsely. "He was just.. . putting you on."

Then she pushed past him and walked quickly back to the cabin.

Jud stood still for a moment, staring up at the clear, starry sky. Then he walked back, undressed and got into his sleeping bag. Sam and Viola were already asleep, but tired as he was, Jud lay awake for what seemed a very long time.

The trio of disappointed fortune hunters rose early the next morning and prepared to leave. Cunningham had announced that he was staying in bed, adding that it was the first time he'd slept past sunup in years. His capacity for martyrdom seemed to know no limits.

Sally came to the door and said a furtive good-bye to Jud, watching wistfully as the three of them walked away from the cabin. Desert Rose didn't put in an appearance.

They trudged across the clearing toward the woods. They had a long walk ahead of them, and now they were spurred on by no dreams of Spanish treasure. Sam speculated that if they pushed themselves, they could probably make it to the little town at the foot of the mountain by midnight. Going should be easier downhill, but nobody felt like pushing too hard.

When they reached the edge of the woods, Jud dropped his pack and turned for one last look at the cabin. Desert Rose had gotten under his skin-more so than he could have expected.

"Let's don't have any sad good-byes," Sam said. "You act like you'd like to settle here and live."

Jud ignored him, gazing at the cabin. Thoughts were churning so furiously in his mind that he was scarcely able to sort them: Desert Rose, Sally, old Cunningham . . . and something else; he couldn't quite put his finger on it. There was something about the whole episode that had left him unsettled: Not just their failure to find the mythical treasure, it was as if there'd been a missing link in the ordeal.

He was about to pick up his pack when Desert Rose came out of the cabin. She stood just outside for a moment, gazing across the clearing, and then she started walking briskly toward the woods, not quite in Jud's direction.

He hesitated, then stepped back into the clearing, lifting his arm and waving. She saw him, altered her course and quickened her pace.

"Well, isn't that sweet!" Sam chuckled. "Looks like old Jud may have the Indians after him. Squaws, that is."

"Shut up," Jud snapped, walking out to meet her.

When she was still twenty feet away, her walk became a run. She landed in his arms, her arms around his back, squeezing him tightly, her head buried at his shoulder.

For a long time they just held each other. When she lifted her head so he could see her face, she was crying.

"I'm sorry, Jud. I'm sorry . . . last night."

"It's all right. It's all right," he patted her back as if she were a child.

"I was a bitch," she said. "If I had it to do over. . . God, if I could have you for one more night!"

Jud felt the same way. "It's all right. We.. .we know how we feel now, so it's all right."

She reached up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then tiptoed up to kiss his lips.

"Sometime, Jud," she said calmly, "if I could see you . . . There's so much I should explain."

"It doesn't matter," Jud said.

"In a few days we'll be coming down too. I . . . I can't leave Mr. Cunningham now."

"It's all right."

"But if you're in town when we make it down . . . " Her voice faded. For a moment longer she just looked at him, a strange desperation in her eyes. Then she broke away, turned and ran back toward the cabin.

"Desert Rose!" he called, but she didn't stop.

He watched until she was back in the cabin. Then he turned and went after Sam and Viola.

They trudged on through the trees, each of them now silent and brooding, intent only on getting back to civilization as quickly and uneventfully as possible.

"You don't think we could have made a mistake about that gold, do you?" Sam asked once. "I mean, we wouldn't have dug up any gold if we'd dug up the whole mountain."

"No, I don't think so," Jud said thoughtfully.

It took just less than twenty hours to make the walk from Cunningham's cabin to the settlement at the foot of the mountain. Soon it would be daybreak again, but none of them cared. They went to the town's three-cabin motor lodge, rented a cabin and bought cold drinks from a vending machine to satisfy their thirst. Sam and Viola took the bed, and Jud settled for the floor. He had no trouble sleeping half the day away, and neither did Sam and Viola.

They breakfasted at mid-afternoon, went to a bar and had a few drinks, and then Sam suggested they head back to El Paso.

"You two go on," Jud said. "I think I'm going to stick around here a couple of days."

Sam laughed, and Viola looked at him with unconcealed disappointment.

"You're going to wait for the Indian?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I guess I will," he said.

"Why don't you come on with us?" Viola entreated him, casting him a look he'd come to recognize well by this time. She seemed to have a one track mind-just more and more of the same old thing.

"No, love," Jud said, his tone slightly sarcastic. "I think I'll leave you to Sam. You can handle her, can't you old pal?"

Sam laughed boistrously and slapped Jud on the back. "Let's go, babe. I think our boy here has fallen in love."

Jud watched them go out the door and get in Sam's car and drive away. He ordered another drink and moved to a table by the side window, so he could watch the trail leading down from the mountain.

There was something else that made him stay-not just Desert Rose. She was part of it, but it seemed that a sixth sense held him back. It wasn't a feeling he could put a name to, but he knew there was something he had to find out, and that if he waited, he'd learn soon enough.

It was nearly dusk when he saw them coming down the trail. He finished his beer, got up and walked out onto the porch that fronted the bar.

The three of them were trudging along abreast, Cunningham between the women. Though they were obviously tired, but the old man walked with pride, arrogant and haughty. They had no gear, jut the rifle-which Desert Rose carried-and a burlap bag slung over Cunningham's shoulder.

Jud didn't have to guess what was in the bag; he knew, suddenly. And now it was all beginning to fit together. It was so simple, it made him feel foolish.

Sally and Desert Rose had bought those coins in Las Cruces, why the big fuss over the one that got into Sam's hands? That was the giveaway, or should have been. It would take a lot of stretching the imagination to think someone would go to all that trouble to get a coin back if it were just a plaything for a senile old man.

Cunningham had feigned madness to get rid of his competition. He'd known all along where to find the gold, and had judged Sam and Jud to be ruthless enough to make him tell sooner or later. He'd launched the insanity game as a last-ditch effort to avoid catastrophe, and toward the end he'd probably gotten to enjoy it.

Jud burst out laughing. It wasn't bad at all.

Of course Cunningham had informed the women of his scheme, and they'd played their parts very well-or at least it had worked out that way. For instance, when Sally had admitted that the coins were bought in Las Cruces, her conscience pangs had clearly registered in her face. But it wasn't a betrayal of her grandfather; she was lying to Jud.

And the business with the canteen. Jud laughed aloud again. The canteen episode had been calculated, the last straw to convince them of Cunningham's insanity. The canteen had been buried under more dirt than Cunningham shoveled in a day. He'd intentionally pushed it into the soft dirt, then chopped around until he hit it with his pick.

Still laughing to himself, Jud walked off the porch and started up the trail to meet them. When Desert Rose saw and recognized him, she tried to break into a ran, but she was too tired. She almost fell, steadied herself, and walked as fast as she could. Jud hurried to meet them.

Desert Rose let the rifle drop to the ground as she fell into Jud's arms, smothering him with kisses. At last he broke away, looking past her toward Cunningham. The old man beamed mischievously.

"You knew where it was all along," Jud said.

"Reckon I did."

"Exactly where it was."

"Reckon so."

Jud eyed the burlap bag, which Cunningham had now set on the ground. It didn't look very full.

"I don't guess it's any secret now, where it was."

"Well, for the last three days it's been under a loose plank in the cabin, long about where the table sits."

Jud laughed. This was even better than he'd thought. He and Sam and Viola had practically been sleeping on it.

"We'd a brought it down a couple days ago if you folks hadn't turned up," Cunningham added, rubbing it in.

Jud nodded. "And where did you find it?"

"That first ditch that was dug on the plateau. O' course there's ten or twelve plateaus on that mountain; I just saw a shred of a map, and from it you couldn't tell just where the gold was-just that it was buried against the bluff on a little plateau. I tried eight of 'em before I hit pay dirt."

Jud looked back at the bag at his feet.

"I 'spect you'd like to see it," Cunningham offered.

Jud nodded, and Cunningham leaned down and opened the bag, giving Jud a look at perhaps two handfuls of worn, brown-looking coins.

"Not much there," Jud said. It wasn't hardly what he'd expected.

"About five hundred dollars," Cunningham said.

"That all? I thought it was supposed to be a treasure."

Cunningham smiled. "Those Spaniards come through here over three hundred years ago. Five hundred dollars went a long way in those days."

Jud laughed. He sifted the coins through his hands, then stood up.

"Five hundred ain't much, but it'll git Sally into school. And buy Desert Rose a few dresses to parade around Las Cruces if she's a mind to."

"You know," Jud told Cunningham, "I had a feeling you weren't as crazy as you looked." Then he turned back to Desert Rose, grabbing her and pulling her up against him, kissing her full on the lips. "I wouldn't mind parading you around some myself," he told her. "Of course I'm kind of short on Spanish gold right now; can't find my own, and not quite smart enough to steal somebody else's."

"That's all right. I love you anyway." She kissed him again. "And Jud, I'm sorry I had to lie to you. I'm really sorry but if you were going to be angry about that, it's not much worse than tying somebody up and scaring them half to death, and doing things to them when they can't get away . . . "

"And don't want to get away?" Jud interrupted.

"And don't want to get away," she agreed. "I don't want to get away now, either."

"Don't try," he said.