“Not so bad as that, I hope, Señor Otega. The fact is, I fell in love with your beautiful valley, and, anxious to find a home, I decided to settle here, and the old hacienda was the only place I could get. So I came here from the northward, bringing my cattle, horses, outfit, and cowboys with me, and I assure you we shall be most comfortable. You see, I took an early opportunity to call upon you.” But Señor Otega seemed to be lost in thought, and said, in an absent-minded way: “Come in, come in! Why did you come to this valley, señor?” “To settle here, at least for a while.” “You have your people with you?” “Yes, all of them, and real men, too.” “I am glad. But why did you seek a home beneath that doomed roof?” “Do you remember telling me the curse that rested upon this valley? You told me that your daughter had been taken from you by an unseen foe.” “Yes.” “Has she been restored to you?” “Alas, no! She is still a prisoner. Only yesterday I paid the tax of one thousand pesos put upon me.” “It is an outrage.” “It is the seventh I have paid, señor, and I believe there are to be five more, if not still more, before she is returned to us.” “And other families pay this same tax?” “Yes, señor.” “It is infamous.” “But they do not all pay the same sum, señor, for the taxgatherer knows well the circumstances of each of his victims, and collects accordingly. He does not put upon any one a sum that cannot be paid, for when I pay a thousand, a poor man pays a hundred, and one pays five thousand pesos, señor.” “Who is that?” “A young girl, the Señorita Suelo Sada, known as The Fair Hermit.” “Ah! who did you say she was?” “One left a large fortune by a kinsman, who owned the ranch where she lives, and she came here to dwell, but receives no visitors, has no friendships, and lives such a life of utter seclusion we call her here in the valley the hermitess, the beautiful recluse, and other such names.” “Who of her family are with her?” “Not one.” “Does she dwell all alone?” “All alone, señor, save her servants and cattlemen, of whom there are quite a number, but they, too, hold themselves aloof from all others, and the stockmen are known as the hermit cowboys.” “Then how can these secret taxgatherers, as we may call them, make a demand upon the Señorita Sada for so large a sum, as they cannot have any of her loved ones, señor?” “Ah, but they have. She is betrothed to a Mexican officer, I hear, and he came here on a visit to her, was seized on his way home, and is now held a prisoner by these men whom no one knows. I learn the demand is made upon her regularly for five thousand pesos, and she pays it.” “Is the officer a man of any prominence?” “He is a captain of lanceros, señor, in the Mexican army.” “It is strange that his government has taken no steps to release him.” “There is a threat to put him to death if such an attempt is made.” Buffalo Bill did not tell about his rescue of the fair hermit and the officer.