“Just try us!” cried Texas Jack, and the other men all cried out in the same vein.
“Now, though we are going to get cattle and horses, we drive them south instead of north, and I tell you plainly that we are going to a pleasant valley where I am to turn ranchero, and you are to be my cattlemen.
“That I do this for other motives than posing as a ranchero, you may all be certain, and that there will be hot work ahead of us I feel very confident.
“Does any man wish to remain at the corrals?”
The response to this question of Buffalo Bill was so earnest that he knew he had nothing to fear from any one of his riders.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE HACIENDA.
After an uneventful journey, Buffalo Bill rode up to the little inn where he had before halted, and was greeted by the same Mexican landlord, whom he had not particularly fancied.
Speaking English well, the landlord recognized the handsome scout, and said in a way that was meant to be hospitable, but which was full of curiosity: