“Which he gave to me; but do you know that he is dead?”
“I killed him, Señorita Suelo Sada,” calmly said Buffalo Bill.
“You?”
“Yes, I made you a widow, I am glad to say, for that man was the leader of the secret foes of this valley, the one who has put the curse upon it which all have dreaded.”
“God bless you, señor, for those words. You have freed me from worse than death. But only lately did I suspect that he was really bad at heart, and the words I got came to me by a secret letter, and I was told to closely watch his movements and I would discover the truth.
“My servants here are innocent, all in the hacienda, but I believe all the cowboys are guilty, and were members of his band.”
“I know that they were; but let me tell you that they are all prisoners now, for I led my men to their retreat last night, on the cliffs, back of my ranch, and through a secret entrance into the old hacienda, surprised their hidden camp.
“They had there a score of prisoners, men, women, and children, held for ransom, and I learned the story from dying lips, and enough more to enable us, under Señor Otega and his chief of cowboys, to find the secret entrance to the cliffs.
“We set free all who were there, killed the five guards over them, and to-day rounded up and captured your cowboys, seven in number, who shared the ransoms paid with their chief.
“You were not guilty, I know, Señorita Suelo Moro, for such is your name as Dallas Moro’s wife; but you will be so thought by many in this valley, and my advice is that you at once leave here and seek a home elsewhere, where no cloud hangs over your life, and Señor Otega will see to your property here.”