“So, what is this interest you have in the ricos?” He indicated a general northeast direction with a backwards movement of his head.
“You know of it? The great house and ranch?”
“I’ve been close enough to see it, but I know a little about the Harts.”
Adan took a seat on the grass beside him, “Tell me.”
Dario told him what he knew.
“The original Hart in this country came from Ireland, County Cork, during the great Irish famine. He joined John Glanton when the scalphunter and murderer began raids into Mexico to kill entire families of the long haired campesino farmers and peaceful Indians, not judging between them and the fierce ones, because the Mexican government paid a nice bounty for Apache scalps, and they didn’t check to the validity of where the scalp came from. Men, women, children, the Mexican authorities paid for them all.”
Dario shifted his seat and continued, “When the Mexicans figured out where all the scalps came from, they stopped paying, and tried to get the murderer Glanton in their sights, but he died before they had a chance to do it. So, Hart had to find other work, and that was hard to find in those days. They recently rebuilt Glanton’s home downriver from Presidio. It is called Fort Leaton now. I have never been there myself, but you can see it easily enough from the border.”
Adan said, “Where do you live?”
He indicated south with a casual movement of his arm, “Across the Rio. That’s is where my mother works, in a small café. She also pushes a small boat into the river and sells tacos and tamales to the people playing golf, if they walk the sand bar to her.”
“And your father?”
“He’s dead. They found his body downstream in the river.”
“He drowned?”
“After someone shot him in the back.”
“I am sorry. Was it the Harts?”
“No one knows.”
“Do you feel like continuing your story?”
“Yes, my father has been dead for five years.”
Adan nodded.
Dario said, “The original Hart worked for Milton Faver as a cowhand, but often hunted gold and silver in the mountains around here and in Mexico.”
“Did he find any?”
“Not for years. But after the Apaches were gone and border raiders were not so prevalent, he found a vein of cinnabar near the Christmas mountains, and that led to other finds, and more land for his ranch and under his control. He found silver and a little gold not far from here, and more cinnabar.”
“What is cinnabar?”
“Have you seen the liquid metal the color of silver?”
“Yes.”
“It is called mercury, or quicksilver. That is what it looks like when they process the cinnabar rock.”
“Is the rock silver?”
Dario smiled and shook his head, “No, it is red, in various brightness. The ones I saw that my father showed me were from a vein he found. It was on Hart property, and was as red as the reddest, brightest sunset. It was beautiful.”
“Is that why he was killed?”
“I think so, yes. That is why you have to be careful if you go to the Harts. They are rich and dangerous. They have a man working for them, I do not know his name but I’ve heard whispers among the Mexicans across the river that he is a smuggler of men and drugs and guns, and a killer when the need arises. He is called by people south of the border, La Parca.”
Adan felt a chill along his spine. He said, “The Reaper.”