"Oh! I will avenge myself on that man!" the hacendero shouted, passionately.
The stranger's eyes flashed with a lurid light though the holes in his mask.
"You will find your son and Father Seraphin with Valentine. Red Cedar intends to start this evening at the head of a band of gambusinos, to go into the deserts of the Rio Gila in search of a placer, which his accomplice, Fray Ambrosio, had indicated to him."
"Fray Ambrosio!" the hacendero repeated, in stupor.
"Yes. Your former chaplain, who served as spy to the squatter, revealed your plans to him, and provided him the means to enter the hacienda and carry off your daughter."
"Good," Don Miguel said, in a hollow voice. "I will remember."
"Red Cedar, I know not with what design, is taking your daughter with him into the desert."
"I will follow him, were it for a thousand leagues," Don Miguel said, resolutely. "Thanks to you for having instructed me so fully. But whence comes the interest you take in me so gratuitously, since, as you say, I do not know you?"
"You shall learn at a later date, Don Miguel. Now, before I leave you, one last word—an earnest warning."
"I listen attentively, caballero."