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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Long</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Storied</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Montoya</strong> 32the back <strong>of</strong> the truck instead <strong>of</strong> on the back <strong>of</strong> a horse. <strong>The</strong> lieutenant himself sat down in the cab nextto the driver.<strong>The</strong> truck again clattered out past the wagons, but this time the driver had passengers <strong>and</strong> amore serious intent. <strong>The</strong> headlights made a cone <strong>of</strong> light in front <strong>of</strong> the truck as it headed out into thedesert. <strong>The</strong> truck itself was little more than a flatbed with a canvas ro<strong>of</strong>, <strong>and</strong> from the back <strong>Jose</strong> hadhis choice <strong>of</strong> where to turn his attention. He couldn't decide if he wanted to watch where he was goingor where he had been. He watched the lights <strong>and</strong> the wagons <strong>and</strong> the men at the assembly point getsmaller <strong>and</strong> smaller through the dust spun up by the truck, until at last he couldn't see them any longer.He turned his attention to the cone <strong>of</strong> light in front <strong>of</strong> the truck, but found there was a tangiblesameness to the small slice <strong>of</strong> the desert that he could see. He struggled hard to stay awake.At last, at some order from the lieutenant, the driver halted the truck <strong>and</strong> killed the engine. <strong>The</strong>lieutenant got down <strong>and</strong> ordered the troopers out <strong>of</strong> the truck. Each man was to go out five hundredyards in a different direction <strong>and</strong> take up a post. <strong>Jose</strong> grabbed El Flaco <strong>and</strong> headed out. <strong>The</strong> only noisewas that <strong>of</strong> a faint breeze caressing the desert, <strong>and</strong> the scuffle <strong>of</strong> the troopers' boots as they walked outin their own chosen directions. By the time <strong>Jose</strong> felt he had walked five hundred yards, even the noisefrom the other troopers had vanished. He found a rock that was big enough to lean against as he sat onthe ground, <strong>and</strong> he started to listen.Here <strong>and</strong> there he could hear slight rustlings begin as the true citizens <strong>of</strong> the desert, the smallanimals who fought out a day-by-day existence here, forgot his still presence <strong>and</strong> started to move again.He listened to their comings <strong>and</strong> goings, moments <strong>of</strong> motion <strong>and</strong> moments <strong>of</strong> waiting, until even hisbreathing seemed in time with the rhythms <strong>of</strong> the night. He was content to stay that way, certain thatno human could come up on him without being out <strong>of</strong> synch with the night. That was when he heardthe laughter.It came from somewhere in front <strong>of</strong> him, where no one should have been. It was a low