“What will this dead man’s comrades think?”
“In my opinion they will track him, find his trail leading here, then back to the lake, where they will lose it.
“They will see that your horse was halted here, remained for some time, and the tracks will reveal that two men were here, their comrade and you. They will take my footprints for yours, so you must not dismount.
“But when I have removed the body, you must move your horse about all over the spot, to mark out all traces of where it lay, for the ground is soft, I notice, beneath my feet. Then you go on homeward, and continue to gallop until you get there.”
“But that will not explain that dead man’s absence?”
“Yes, for they will believe that, being alone, when he captured you, why you simply bribed him to let you go.”
Going into the timber, Buffalo Bill was not long in finding the horse of the outlaw, and the body of the dead kidnaper was tied across the saddle with his own lariat, and then the animal and that of Señor Otega were moved all about, until every trace of where the man had fallen had been destroyed.
Bidding the señor good night, and promising to pay him another visit in good time, Buffalo Bill walked back to his own horse and the pack animal, turned toward the old ranch, threw the rein of the other over the saddle horn, and started them off at a walk.
Then he returned to the kidnaper’s horse, and led him through the timber, and then back over the two miles to the lake shore. There he overtook his horse and the pack animal, and they were taken into the lake, but at different points.
Along the beach, ankle deep in the lake, they continued their way, over the miles that lay between the point where they had entered the water and the old Mission Ranch.