“I did not come here to pay ransom to robbers; but I came here to settle, and I like our home, haunted though it may be.
“I told you that I intended to help you, and I am here to do so; but, remember, not a word of that to any one, for it might thwart my plan.”
“I will be silent, señor, for something tells me you are here for good, to be relied on. I was going over to the old mission ranch to warn whoever had settled there to leave, for I did not know it was you. Are you sure that nothing disturbed you last night?”
“We heard sounds, the cattle were restless, but no harm befell us, señor, and we’ll take chances, for that is what we are here for.”
“I thought it best to bring at least half a dozen,” was Buffalo Bill’s evasive reply, for he did not wish his force to be known, even to Señor Otega. He had not allowed the two Mexicans who drove the wagon from Silver Lake City to see more than six men beside himself, keeping the others off beyond the cattle.
“It will be best to have just double the number they think I have,” was the chief of scouts’ way of thinking.
Buffalo Bill remained to dinner at the hospitable ranch, and the señora, a sad-faced, lovely woman, gave him a warm greeting, for she had been pleased with his frank and genial manner upon his last visit to their home.
Late in the afternoon the scout started upon his return, the señor accompanying him a few miles on the trail.
Learning that he had just moved in, the Señora Otega insisted that she be allowed to add to his comfort, and when he was ready to go he found a pack horse ready for him to carry along, and it had been loaded with grapes, vegetables, preserves, and a large quantity of choice provisions, which the good lady insisted that he must accept from her.
“Just turn the pack horse loose to-night, and he will come home and give you no further trouble,” said the señor.
The scout was touched by the señora’s kindness, and as he rode away with her husband, he said:
“You told your wife, then, that I was here to help you?”
“Not a word, señor; but I told her when you left a month ago that you were Buffalo Bill, the great military scout, and had promised to be our friend; and, with a woman’s quick intuition where her love is interested, she feels sure that you have come to save our poor daughter.”