The Pearl (Alternate Ending)

The sun descended behind the bare stone teeth of the mountain, and Kino had set their course for a faint, dark fissure in range. If there was any water to be found in this dry, desolate trek; it could be found there where he could see, even at such a distance, a hint of foliage.  And if there were any route to be taken through the stony granite range, it would be through here.  It had its danger, for the trackers would think of it too, but the empty water bottle and taste of bitterness at their throats would not let such a consideration come to mind. Kino and Juana struggled wearily up the steep slope toward the fissure.

High in this grey Stone Mountain, within the fissure, situated an oasis of the dessert; a paradise for weary travelers and a haven for all that seek it. Within this oasis was a bubbling spring of fresh water which ran from the summit of the mountain, to a dip midway below, penciled its way down to the spring and ran slowly along a small channel that leaped of the edge of the mountain and disappeared altogether. Yet a pencil’s width of water was all that was needed to keep it alive. Surrounding the spring was a shore of sand and tiny quartz pebbles which was overshadowed by a canopy of foliage created by the immense branches of trees and their intertwining vines. They walls were overgrown with ivy and wild grape and hollow caves checkered the walls.  Upon the ground were dwarf palm trees, patches of brush, tall pampas, maidenhair ferns and the other thing, besides water, that  Kino and Juana had longed to see since their march along the Granite Mountains; grass. Cat-tails grew tall around the water’s edge and the shore was laden with the prints of the creatures drawn to the spring; wild sheep and deer, ocelots and pumas, mice and raccoons. The spring was a place of life and death for it was there that relieved the lives of both plants and animals in the dry and unforgiving land, and it was there that provided game for predators.

The sun and almost completed its decent when Kino and Juana had finally made it to the water pool. They stopped to catch there breath at the top and then made there way to the pool to get a drink. Kino filled his palms with water from the pool and sat, and drank long and thirstily while Juana filled her bottle just enough to give Coyotito a drink. After having his drink Kino reclined at the foot of a large tree to relax his muscles and Juana remained at the pool. She dampened the end of the skirt in the water and used it to clean Coyotito’s face.  Coyotito was weary and uttered meek cries of fatigue until Juana gave him her breast, and he was comforted by the silence which was broken every now and again by the whistle of the breeze, and he was comforted by  the subtle beating of his mother’s heart. Meanwhile, Kino slipped the pearl out of his shirt pocket and took it out of the small deer skin pouch in which it was concealed. He stared at in wonder of the good things that can come from it; Coyotito’s education, his marriage to Juana, but yet all he could see was the image of his brutal actions- a man, dead at the hands of Kino and his throat reddened with the blood shed by Kino’s great knife.  He turned away in hope of retreating from is wrongdoing in the past and instead saw something of greater worry – the trackers. For it was in looking off of the mountain that he saw that the trackers were nearing. The song of the enemy played savagely in his head. His back grew tense with both anger and fair.

“How far?” asked Juana, for she knew that only one thing could strike fear into him right now.

“They’ll be here by sundown”  he replied. And it was so that panic flight began again.

Kino searched each and every of the hollow caves that he was capable of reaching , searching for one that was capable of housing them or the night, for Kino knew that hiding was the only option – running would just tire them out and leave more clues for the trackers to follow. Juana quickly filled her bottle to the top. Kino found a cave deep enough and wide enough to keep tem concealed during the night. Juana gathered all baggage that they had traveled and moved cautiously to prevent leaving behind any signs. Kino supported Juana and Coyotito on their ascent into the cave, for it was rather high off the wall.

“I’ll join you shortly” he said.

He made his way midway above the next wall, climbing the wild grape and leaving signs for the trackers to follow. He made his way back down again, searched for any small traces that they might have left behind and after seeing that it was safe, climbed into the cave with Juana and his son.

Nightfall came. They were settled in the cave and awaited the arrival of the trackers. They knew that they were nearing when the sounds of the night fell shortly silent as if there were predators near. The cave lit up in a gloom of the fire that burned outside, the aroma of fresh tobacco filled the air and in the distance the tongue of the city could be heard. They peered through opening in the cave like owls would from there roost in the mast of a great tree and saw that though the trackers were here, not a horse was in sight. The trackers had to leave their horse at the bottom of the mountain for the climb was too much of a steep one. As Kino stared, the only thing that his eyes fell upon was the rifle situated on one of the tracker’s waist.   

It was getting late. Two of the trackers were curled in their sleeping bags, asleep, while the other sat keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary. Kino new that staying put was not going to save them and that the trackers were bound to find them by morning.

“We have to stop them” he whispered to Juana, “By morning they will find us”

“What if you are killed? Do not go” she pleaded.

“We will all be killed if I do not” he replied, “two of them are asleep, the other, keeping watch with the rifle. If I can get to him I can get them all”

Juana understood this and knew it was true, she knew it was their only chance for survival.

“I will wait till the fire goes out and then strike” he said.

It was nearing midnight when the fire was finally out, and yet the one tracker still sat their enjoying his fine Cuban delight. He looked into Juana’s eyes and gently touched her face, and leaned in to her so that they touched forehead to forehead and watched Coyotito sleep in her arms for a moment. Kino had striped off his white shirt, knowing that no matter how dirty it was, its white colour would stand out against the night. His own brown skin would make better camouflage for him. He slipped his knife into the side of his pants and slowly, steadily and stealthily began his decent out of the cave. It took him great time to find his way down. Freezing where he lay each time the moonlight glanced upon him. Trying his best to keep his grip every time there was neither ledge nor vine to grasp. Keeping quiet every time a creature of the night flew past him. He was at the bottom now, hiding in the brush for the opportune moment, when a cry came from the cave. The tracker stood up, staring. Kino knew that it was now or never. He drew his knife and bolted. Onto the tracker’s back he pounced, plunging his knife into the man’s chest and almost instantly retrieving it together with the rifle. Kino was now no longer a man, but a predator hunting the game provided by the spring. Still holding the dead man by his back, he launched the knife onto another before hew had time to strike. Before he knew it the last was up and running, but Kino did not make much of it as he briefly ended his pace with the pull of a trigger…

It was weeks later. Kino, Juana and Coyotito were returning home from the capital, but this time not on foot, but on horseback. Kino on his appaloosa steed and Juana, with Coyotito in her arms, riding side saddle on her silver stallion. It wasn’t long before the word that they were alive had spread through all of La Paz. He greeted his brother dearly and bestowed upon him a girt of three hundred pesos. Everyone in all of La Paz was ecstatic for Kino’s success. The golden band which Juana wore on the fourth finger of her right hand was all the announcement needed of their engagement. And Kino proudly invited Juan Tomas and his family to their new home of stone and plaster right on the outskirts of the village.