Upon their return to the rancho, Carlos led Crow and LeRue into the hacienda. As they entered the living room, Carlos called out for his father, who answered from somewhere upstairs. Hernando appeared at the head of the stairs. “What is it? What has happened?” he demanded.
“It is the bandits! We have found them!” Carlos replied as he met his father halfway up the stairs. “We must talk father. We have trusted the devil himself!”
Hernando looked down to where Crow and LeRue stood. He could see both men covered in dried blood and his first thought was they had been wounded. He turned to his son and was relieved to see neither blood nor wounds. “Let us go to the dining room where we can sit, and you tell me what has happened.
Twenty minutes later, Hernando sat dumbfounded at what he had jus
