“That boat down there on the edge of the lake,” he asked, “is it always kept there?”
“Where else would you keep a boat? In the kitchen?”
“Who does it belong to?”
“The ranch.”
“Does anyone ever use it?”
“Sometimes.”
“What for?”
“Fishing.”
As usual in his attempts to pry information out of Ascención, Jupe wasn’t getting very far. But there was still one thing he had to know.
The blond woman Bob had seen across the lake was almost certainly the American woman who had phoned Jupe. So she was probably also the one who had sawed through the oars. But how had she made the journey back and forth across the water? She would have had to do that early the previous morning or maybe during the night.
“If you wanted to get to that village on the other side of the lake,” he asked Ascención, “how would you do it?”
“Walk.”
“But the lake’s very deep.”
“It isn’t deep up there.” The Mexican pointed toward the river that flowed into the upper end of the lake. “There are stepping stones.”
Jupe nodded. That seemed like a possible answer. The American woman had crossed to Dusty’s ranch on the stepping stones, tampered with the oars, then crossed back to phone Jupe from the village.
And if she was the same blond woman Jupe had glimpsed that first night in the moonlight, then Ascención knew her.
“Do you have any friends in the village?” Jupe asked.
“I know the man who owns the bar, the cantina. He’s my cousin.”
“Any American friends? A woman with blond hair?”
They had reached the gate into Blondie’s field. Ascención turned and faced Jupe. He looked the American in the eye.
“It was stupid what she did,” he said suddenly, his tongue loosened. “I told her it was stupid. But she’s very frightened. And when people are frightened, they sometimes do senseless things. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. But he touched Jupe’s shoulder.
“Be careful in the mountains, amigo,” he warned him. “It’s dangerous in the mountains.”
Blondie was galloping excitedly to meet Jupe. He opened the gate and she rubbed her muzzle against him. Jupiter scratched her behind the ears. Blondie was growing on him. She still wouldn’t let Ascención touch her. The Mexican had to stand at a distance while he told Jupe how to bridle her with a rope.
“You’ll have to ride her without a saddle,” he explained. “No matter how much she likes you, she won’t put up with being saddled. She’ll roll over and over on the ground until she tears the cinch loose.”
Jupe’s eyes widened.
Dusty had loaded the back seat of the Jeep with their supplies. Sacks of beans and rice, oats for the horse, sugar and coffee, sleeping bags, a rifle. Pete and Bob had to squeeze in back among all the provisions. Jupe sat in front with the rancher, holding Blondie on a long lead. She trotted beside the Jeep and the horse box trailed behind it.
He looked back as they drove through the gate at the bottom of the field. Ascención was standing on the porch. He raised his right hand just before Jupe lost sight of him.
It wasn’t so much a goodbye as a gesture of warning.
Winding up into the hills, Dusty had to drive very slowly, keeping his speed down to five or six miles an hour, so that Blondie could keep up with the Jeep without tiring herself. For the first hour they were on a dusty road littered with stones. Then that petered out into little more than a track threading between the pine trees.
After another hour, Dusty pulled to a stop to let the engine cool. When the rancher turned off the motor, Jupe could hear the sound of running water. Blondie was tugging at the rope.
“I guess she’s thirsty,” he told Dusty. “Probably hungry, too. I’d better go with her so she won’t try to run off.”
Jupe let the little burro lead him to the edge of a mountain stream. The water looked clear and inviting. Jupe realized he was thirsty too. Ascención had told him it was okay to drink from running streams in the Sierra Madre, although not from any lakes or ponds. He kneeled down and drank from his cupped hands. Blondie lowered her head and drank beside him.
When she had enough to drink, the burro began to graze. They hadn’t brought along any supplies for her on the trip. Unlike the horse, Blondie could look out for herself. Ascención had told them burros were great foragers. “As good as goats,” the Mexican had said.
After Blondie had grazed for several minutes, Jupe heard Dusty calling impatiently from the Jeep. Jupe tried to lead the burro back to it. No matter how hard he pulled on the rope, saying, “Come on. Come on, you stubborn little animal,” she wouldn’t move. He had to wait until she had eaten her fill of grass.
Dusty was gunning the engine furiously when Jupe and Blondie got back. The others had all finished the lunch Ascención had packed for them. Jupe managed to gulp down his sandwich with one hand as the Jeep bounced over the ruts. He still held Blondie’s lead with the other hand. Dusty drove another three hours, until even the dirt track disappeared.
“We’ll have to leave the Jeep here,” he said.
They unloaded the supplies. Pete led the horse out of its box. Dusty drove both vehicles under some trees and they covered them with pine branches. Then the rancher packed the heavier bundles onto the horse, and Blondie let Jupe fasten the sleeping bags across her shoulders.
“You lead the way,” Dusty told Jupe when they were ready to go. “Just let the burro have her head and pick the trail.”
Jupe exchanged glances with his friends.
They set off again. Jupe sat astride Blondie, bare-back. Pete and Bob, carrying only their own back-packs, followed him on foot. Dusty came last, riding the heavily loaded horse with the rifle in his saddle holster.
Jupe found it was a full-time job keeping his seat on the burro. He couldn’t let his mind wander for a second. They were soon above the tree line, climbing gullies so steep and rocky that Pete and Bob had to scramble up them on all fours. Blondie took them in her stride. Ascención had said she could live off the land like a goat. She could climb like a goat, too. Jupe had to keep his arms around her neck so he wouldn’t slide off over her rump.
At least he was having an easier time of it than Dusty. Compared to the burro, the horse was clumsy and halting. The rancher often had to dismount and tug the unwilling animal over the rocks by her bridle. He was losing ground and was soon a quarter of a mile behind Pete and Bob.
Jupe decided to stop for a while to give the others a chance to catch up.
“Whoa,” he shouted into Blondie’s ear. “W-h-o-a!”
But the burro had no intention of stopping. She was enjoying her climb and wasn’t going to wait for anybody. Jupe was getting annoyed with her stubbornness. He tugged on her bridle to show her who was boss. She didn’t pay any attention to that either.
Then suddenly she stopped dead.
She did it so unexpectedly that Jupe almost pitched forward over her ears. They had reached a ledge of level ground. Weeds were growing up through the stones. A clump of cactus stood directly in front of them.
Jupe guessed Blondie probably wanted to graze again. He relaxed and dismounted. This seemed a good place for him to take a rest too. He could see a flat rock beside the cactus. He started toward it.
Blondie instantly stretched out her neck, blocking his way. When he tried to slip past her, she grabbed the loose hem of his T-shirt between her teeth and jerked him back.
“Okay, what do you want now?” Jupe asked angrily. “If you want to graze, go ahead. But don’t graze on my T-shirt.” He tried to pull it loose from her teeth. She held on.