"Pardon, Don Carlos, but I am merely carrying out my duty," said the
Commandante, and turned to Myra again. "Did you see Don Carlos as well
as Cojuelo, señorita, while you were in the outlaw's den?" he inquired.
"Yes, I saw them both together several times," answered Myra. "I heard
Cojuelo threaten to shoot Don Carlos. It was Don Carlos who enabled me
to make my escape, but I thought in my panic that it was Cojuelo who
was trying to overtake me when I cried out to the officer of the Civil
Guards."
"Is there, then, some resemblance between Don Carlos and the brigand
Cojuelo?" asked the Commandante.
Momentarily nonplussed, Myra shook her head.
"I cannot tell," she answered. "El Diablo Cojuelo always wore a cowl
which disguised him."
"Yes, that's right, sir," broke in Tony Standish from the background.
"We never saw the blighter without his cowl. I challenged him to be a
man and meet me face to face, but he would not remove his disguise.
You can take it from me, sir, that the idea that there was any
connection between Cojuelo and Don Carlos is all moonshine."
"Thank you, Mr. Standish," said Don Carlos gravely, and glanced round
at the faces of the officers. "May I take it, señors, that you are
satisfied?"
The Commandante nodded, tugging at his grey moustache.
"Certainly, Don Carlos," he said. "You will understand that it was
necessary for us to investigate the report that the English señorita
had asserted that you were El Diablo Cojuelo, and that your refusal to
deny the fact or to supply any explanation made this examination
necessary. I understand that you may have considered the implication
an insult, and now I can only apologise for troubling you and devote my
energies to hunting down El Diablo Cojuelo. Can you offer us any
assistance in locating his lair in the mountains?"
"You need trouble yourself no longer about El Diablo Cojuelo, señor,"
replied Don Carlos. "He is dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes, he is dead. Señor Standish, as he told you, fired at him and
thought he had missed, but he had sorely wounded the brigand, and when
I tackled Cojuelo afterwards, when he was endeavouring to prevent Miss
Rostrevor from escaping, he collapsed and died at my feet. He will
trouble us no more, señors, and I intend to claim his greatest treasure
as my reward for having made an end to him."