"Afraid!" we both exclaimed. "Afraid of what?"
"Afraid of The Badger," replied the young fellow, breaking into a laugh as he noted the mystified look which came over both our faces.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Why should he—or anybody—be afraid of a badger?"
"I said The Badger," replied our friend. "You have never heard of him, evidently—El Tejon, The Badger."
We both shook our heads.
"What is he?" I asked. "A man?"
"Yes—or a wild beast. It is hard to say which. He is a Mexican who once lived in the village here, I believe. For some reason which I cannot understand—for my uncle won't talk about it, though I have asked him several times—for some reason The Badger conceived a violent hatred for the padron; whether he went crazy or not, I don't know, but anyhow he committed a murderous assault upon him, hurting him badly—knocked out all his front teeth with a stone, for one thing—and then escaped into the mountains. That was twelve years ago, and as far as any one knows he is there yet, if he is still alive."
"And wasn't any attempt ever made to capture him?" asked Dick.
"Once," replied Antonio. "According to the padron's story, he went out with six of his cow-men to try to run The Badger to earth; but the attempt was a failure, as was only to be expected, for the cow-men were very unwilling to go. They trembled at the very name of El Tejon, who was a man of immense strength and a great hunter, and they feared that instead of catching him, he would catch one of them. And the event showed that they had reason. They had been out several days, had ridden all over the lower part of the north mountain without seeing a sign of their man, and were coming back, single file, down a narrow gully, when the padron's horse suddenly, and seemingly without cause, fell down, stone dead. The rider, of course, fell too, and striking his head against a stone he lay for a moment stunned. No one could think what had happened to the horse, until presently one of the men noticed blood upon the rocks, and turning the animal over they were all scared out of their wits by seeing the head of an arrow sticking out between his ribs."