“I took it all in and made up my mind that it would be valuable for me to haunt when I returned to the valley with the force I was going to ask you to let me have, and which you have kindly given me. “I rode on up the valley to the settlement of Silver Lake City without meeting a soul. “That city, as they call it, is beautifully situated, and is composed of adobe houses, the people seeming to have very little to do. Some mine in the mountains, others of the men are cowboys on the ranches down the valley, there are several stores, saloons, and a blacksmith shop or two, with an old mission chapel and a priest. There is a halfway inn there, and if the landlord is not a villain, then his looks belie him. “I told him I was looking for a ranch, and he told me there was none for sale. “I asked him about the deserted hacienda, and he said that no one would live there, as it was haunted by evil spirits, and he either believed it, or could lie with as straight a face as I ever saw. “He said the place belonged to some one in Mexico, who had inherited it; that every one who had last lived there had died overnight, from what cause no one knew, for there were no signs of violence upon them, but all were found dead in the morning, as also every horse, cow, sheep, and dog in the walled-in place.” “This is a remarkable story, Cody.” “Yes, but he told it as the truth, and there stands the deserted hacienda, with the graves, thirty-three in number, in one corner of the grounds. “I asked the landlord as much as I dared, to try and find out who the maiden and the Mexican officer were. From what I could learn from him, if the one I rescued was the one he had in mind, the young lady is known as Suelo, the Recluse. She is the daughter of a Mexican nobleman, I heard, but lives alone at her hacienda, which is a fine one, with only her servants and a score of Mexican cattlemen, and all appear to worship her. “But no one in the valley knows much about her, the landlord said, and who the Mexican officer was he did not know. “I did not tell him I had rescued them, but merely said I had met them, and her beauty and his fine looks and uniform impressed me. “I called upon the priest, but he was absent, and so I determined to bring the bracelet on with me, and when I go back I shall look up the owner, and then, sir, I shall take the deserted hacienda as my ranch.” “Well, Cody, you are the best judge of just what to do; but I assure you I will not only be anxious about you, but will watch the result with great interest. If you need aid I will give you letters to the nearest posts, so you will be able to call on them for what men you may wish.” “Thank you, sir. My idea was to stop at the government corrals on my way down--for you know they send the cattle southward to feed in winter--and borrow a lot of steers and horses to drive to my ranch and care for, thus carrying out the idea that I had gone to the valley to settle and make it my home.