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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Bill's Last Trail, by Ned Buntline
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Wild Bill's Last Trail
+
+Author: Ned Buntline
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21113]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD BILL'S LAST TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Richard Halsey
+
+
+
+
+Wild Bill's Last Trail.
+
+By NED BUNTLINE,
+Author of "Harry Bluff, The Reefer," "Navigator Ned," etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+THE AVENGER.
+
+"Bill! _Wild Bill!_ Is this you, or your ghost? What, in great
+Creation's name, are you doing here?"
+
+"Gettin' toward sunset, old pard--gettin' toward sunset, before I pass
+in my checks!"
+
+The first speaker was an old scout and plainsman, Sam Chichester by
+name, and he spoke to a passenger who had just left the west-ward-bound
+express train at Laramie, on the U.P.R.R.
+
+That passenger was none other than J. B. Hickok, or "Wild Bill," one of
+the most noted shots, and certainly the most desperate man of his age
+and day west of the Mississippi River.
+
+"What do you mean, Bill, when you talk of passing in your checks? You're
+in the very prime of life, man, and---"
+
+"Hush! Talk low! There are listening ears everywhere, Sam! I don't know
+why, but there is a chill at my heart, and I know my time has about run
+out. I've been on East with Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack, trying to show
+people what our plains life is. But I wasn't at home there. There were
+crowds on crowds that came to see us, and I couldn't stir on the streets
+of their big cities without having an army at my heels, and I got sick
+of it. But that wasn't all. There was a woman that fell in love with me,
+and made up her mind to marry me. I told her that I was no sort of a man
+to tie to--that I was likely to be wiped out any day 'twixt sunrise and
+sunset, for I had more enemies than a candidate for President; but she
+wouldn't listen to sense, and so--_we buckled!_ Thank Heaven, I've
+coaxed her to stay East with friends while I've come out here; for, Sam,
+she'll be a widow inside of six weeks!"
+
+"Bill, you've been hitting benzine heavy of late haven't you?
+
+"No; I never drank lighter in my life than I have for a year past. But
+there's a shadow cold as ice on my soul! I've never felt right since I
+pulled on that red-haired Texan at Abilene, in Kansas. You remember, for
+you was there. It was kill or get killed, you know, and when I let him
+have his ticket for a six-foot lot of ground he gave one shriek--it
+rings in my ears yet. He spoke but one word--'Sister!' Yet that word has
+never left my ears, sleeping or waking, from that time to this. I had a
+sister once myself, Sam, and I loved her a thousand times more than I
+did life. In fact I never loved life after I lost her. And I can't tell
+you all about her--I'd choke if I tried. It is enough that she died, and
+the cause of her death died soon after, and I wasn't far away when--when
+he went under. But that isn't here nor there, Sam--let's go and warm up.
+Where do you hang out?"
+
+"I'm in camp close by. I'm heading a party that is bound in for the
+Black Hills. Captain Jack Crawford is along. You know him. And
+California Joe, too."
+
+"Good! It is the first streak of luck I've had in a year. I'll join your
+crowd, Sam, if you'll let me. Captain Jack and Joe are as good friends
+as I ever had--always barring one."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"My old six-shooter here. Truth-Teller I call it. It never speaks
+without saying something. But come, old boy--I see a sign ahead. I must
+take in a little benzine to wash the car-dust out of my throat."
+
+Bill pointed to a saloon near at hand, and the two old scouts and
+companions moved toward it.
+
+As they did so, a young man, roughly dressed, with a face fair and
+smooth, though shadowed as if by exposure to sun and and wind, stepped
+from behind a shade tree, where he had stood while these two talked,
+listening with breathless interest to every word. His hair, a deep, rich
+auburn, hung in curling masses clear to his shoulders, and his blue eyes
+seemed to burn with almost feverish fire as he gazed in the direction
+the scouts had taken.
+
+"So! He remembers Abilene, does he?"
+
+And the tone of the young man was low and fierce us an angered serpent's
+hiss.
+
+"And he thinks his time is near. So do I. But he shall not die in a
+second, as his victim did, I would prolong his agonies for years, if
+every hour was like a living death; a speechless misery. Let him go with
+Sam Chichester and his crowd. The avenger will be close at hand! His
+Truth-Teller will lie when he most depends on it. For I--I have sworn
+that he shall go where he has sent so many victims; go, like them all,
+unprepared, but not unwarned. No, he thinks that death is near; I'll
+freeze the thought to his very soul! He is on the death-trail now? With
+me rests when and where it shall end."
+
+The face of the young man was almost fiendish in its expression as he
+spoke. It seemed as if his heart was the concentration of hate and a
+fell desire for revenge.
+
+He strode along the streets swiftly, and, glancing in at the saloon
+which the two men had entered, paused one second, with his right hand
+thrust within his vest, as if clutching a weapon, and debating in his
+mind whether or not to use it.
+
+A second only he paused, and then muttering, "It is not time yet," he
+passed on.
+
+"He went a little way up the same street and entered a German
+restaurant. Throwing himself heavily on a seat, he said:
+
+"Give me a steak, quick. I'm hungry and dry. Give me a bottle of the
+best brandy in your house."
+
+"We've got der steak, und pread, und peer, und Rhein wine, but no
+prandy," said the German, who kept the place.
+
+"Cook the steak in a hurry, and send for some brandy then!" cried the
+young man, throwing down a golden eagle. "Your beer and wine are like
+dishwater to me. I want fire--fire in my veins now."
+
+"Dunder and blixen! I shouldn't dink as you wus want much more fire as
+dere is in your eyes, young fellow. But I send for your prandy."
+
+The young man threw one glance around the room to see if he were the
+only occupant.
+
+There was another person there, one who had evidently just come in, a
+traveler, judging by a good-sized valise that was on the floor beside
+his chair. This person looked young, for the face, or as much of it as
+was not hidden by a very full black beard, was fair and smooth as that
+of a woman; while the hair which shaded his white brow was dark as
+night, soft and glossy as silk, hanging on short, curling masses about
+his face and neck.
+
+He was dressed rather better than the usual run of travelers; in a good
+black broad-cloth suit--wore a heavy gold watch-chain, had on a fine
+linen shirt, with a diamond pin in the bosom, and appeared to feel quite
+satisfied with himself, from the cool and easy manner in which he gave
+his orders for a good, substantial meal, in a voice rather low and
+musical for one of his apparent age.
+
+The last comer eyed this person very closely, and a smile almost, like
+contempt rose on his face, when the dark-eyed stranger called for claret
+wine, or if they had not that, for a cup of tea.
+
+But his own strong drink was now brought in, and pouring out a glassful
+of undiluted brandy he drank it down and muttered:
+
+"That's the stuff! It will keep up the fire. My veins would stiffen
+without it. It has carried me so far, and it must to the end. Then--no
+matter!"
+
+The stranger or traveler looked as if wondering that the young man could
+take such a fearful dose of fiery liquor, and the wonder must have
+increased when a second glassful was drained before the food was on the
+table.
+
+But the latter came in now, and the traveler and the young man with
+auburn hair, at separate tables, were apparently too busy in disposing
+of the eatables to take any further notice of each other.
+
+When the first had finished, he took a roll of cigarettes from one of
+his pockets, selected one, took a match from a silver box, drawn from
+the same pocket, and lighting his cigarette, threw a cloud of smoke
+above his head.
+
+The second, pouring out his third glass of brandy, sipped it
+quietly--the first two glasses having evidently supplied the fire he
+craved so fiercely.
+
+The traveler, as we may call him, for want of any other knowledge, now
+rose, and as if impelled by natural politeness, tendered a cigarette to
+the other.
+
+The man with auburn hair looked surprised, and his fierce, wild face
+softened a little, as he said:
+
+"Thank you, no. I drink sometimes, like a fish, but I don't smoke.
+Tobacco shakes the nerves, they say, and I want my nerves steady.
+
+"Strong drink will shake them more, I've heard," said the traveler, in
+his low, musical voice. "But you seem to have a steady hand though you
+take brandy as if used to it."
+
+"My hand is steady, stranger." was the reply. "There is not a man on the
+Rio Grande border, where I came from, that can strike a center at twenty
+paces with a revolver as often as I. And with a rifle at one hundred
+yards I can most generally drop a deer with a ball between his eyes, if
+he is looking at me, or take a wild turkey's head without hurting his
+body."
+
+"Then, you are from Texas?"
+
+"Yes, sir. And you?"
+
+"From the East, sir. I have traveled in the South--all over, in
+fact--but my home is in the old Empire State.
+
+"If it isn't impudent, which way are you bound now?"
+
+"I haven't quite decided. I may go to the Black Hills--may remain around
+here awhile--it seems to be rather a pleasant place."
+
+"Yes, for them that like it. I'm off for the Black Hills, myself."
+
+"Ah! with a company?"
+
+"Not much! But there's a company going. I'm one of them that don't care
+much for company, and can take better care of myself alone than with a
+crowd about me."
+
+"So! Well, it is a good thing to be independent. Do you know the party
+that is going?"
+
+"Some of 'em, by sight. The captain is Sam Chichester, and he has
+California Joe, Cap'n Jack, and about twenty more in his party. And Wild
+Bill has just come on the train, and I heard him say he was going with
+the crowd."
+
+"Wild Bill!" cried the stranger, flushing up. "Did you say he was
+going?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then I'd like to go, too--but I'd like to go with another party, either
+just before or behind that party. Do you know Wild Bill?"
+
+"_Know_ him! Who does not? Hasn't he killed more men than any other
+white man in the States and Territories--I'll not say _how_, but is he
+not a hyena, sopped in blood?"
+
+"You do not like him?"
+
+"Who says I don't?"
+
+"_You_ do! Your eyes flash hate while you speak of him."
+
+"Do they? Well, maybe I don't like him as well as I do a glass of
+brandy--maybe I have lost some one I loved by his hand. It isn't at all
+unlikely."
+
+The traveler sighed, and with an anxious look, said:
+
+"You don't bear him any grudge, do you? You wouldn't harm him?"
+
+A strange look passes like a flash over the face of the other: he seemed
+to read the thoughts or wishes of the traveler in a glance.
+
+"Oh, no," he said, with assumed carelessness. "Accidents will happen in
+the best families. It's not in me to bear a grudge, because Bill may
+have wiped out fifteen or twenty Texans, while they were foolin' around
+in his way. As to harm--he's too ready with his six-shooter, old
+Truth-Teller, he calls it, to stand in much danger. I'm quick, but he is
+quicker. You take a good deal of interest in him? Do you know him?"
+
+"Yes; that is, I know him by sight. He is thought a great deal of by an
+intimate friend of mine, and that is why I feel an interest in him."
+
+"And that friend is a woman?"
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"It is a fancy of mine."
+
+"Well, I will not contradict you. For her sake I would hate to see any
+evil befall him."
+
+There was a cynical smile on the face of the young man with auburn hair.
+
+"If a woman loved him, she ought, not to leave him, for his life is
+mighty uncertain," said the latter. "I heard him say to Captain
+Chichester, not half an hour ago, that he didn't believe he would live
+long, and such a man as he is sure to die with his boots on!"
+
+"Did he say that?" asked the traveler.
+
+"Yes; and he seemed to feel it, too. He had to do as I do, fire up with
+something strong to get life into his veins."
+
+"Poor fellow! He had better have staid East when he was there, away from
+this wild and lawless section."
+
+"Stranger, there mayn't be much _law_ out this way, but justice isn't
+always blind out here. If you stay long enough, you may learn that."
+
+"Very likely; but you spoke of going to those Black Hills."
+
+"Yes, I'm going."
+
+"Will you let me go with you?"
+
+"You don't look much like roughing it, and the trip is not only hard,
+but it may be dangerous. The redskins are beginning to act wolfish on
+the plains."
+
+"I think I can stand as much hardship as you. You are light and
+slender."
+
+"But tough as an old buffalo bull, for all that. I've been brought up in
+the saddle, with rifle and lasso in hand. I'm used to wind and weather,
+sunshine and storm--they're all alike to me."
+
+"And Indians?"
+
+"Yes--to Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache. But these Cheyennes and Sioux are
+a tougher breed, they tell me. I'll soon learn them too, I reckon.
+There's one thing sure, I don't go in no crowd of twenty or thirty, with
+wagons or pack mules along to tempt the cusses with, while they make the
+travel slow. You want either a big crowd or a very small one, if you
+travel in an Indian country.
+
+"You have not answered my question yet. Will you let me go through to
+the Black Hills with you?"
+
+"Why don't you go with the other party? They'll take you, I'll bet."
+
+"I do not want to go where Wild Bill will see me. He may think his wife
+has sent me as a spy on his movements and actions."
+
+"His _wife!_ Is he married? It must be something new."
+
+"It is. He was married only a short time ago to a woman who almost
+worships him. She did all she could to keep him from going out into his
+old life again, but she could not."
+
+"You _can_ go with me!" said the other, abruptly, after a keen and
+searching look in the traveler's face.
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Willie Pond."
+
+"Rather a _deep_ Pond, if I know what water is," said the auburn-haired
+man, to himself, and then he asked, in a louder tone, "have you horse
+and arms?"
+
+"No; I just came on the train from the East. But there is money--buy me
+a good horse, saddle, and bridle. I'll see to getting arms."
+
+And Mr. Willie Pond handed the other a five-hundred dollar treasury
+note.
+
+"You don't ask my name, and you trust me with money as if you knew I was
+honest."
+
+"You'll tell me your name when you feel like it!" was the rejoinder. "As
+to your honesty, if I think you are safe to travel with, you're safe to
+trust my money with!"
+
+"You're right. Your money is safe. As to my name, call me Jack. It is
+short, if it isn't sweet. Some time I'll tell you the rest of it."
+
+"All right, Jack. Take your own time. And now get all ready to start
+either ahead or just behind the other party."
+
+"We'll not go ahead. Where will you stay to-night?"
+
+"Wherever you think best."
+
+"All right. This old Dutchman keeps rooms for lodgers. You'd better stay
+here, and if you don't want Bill to see you, keep pretty close in doors.
+He'll be out in the Black Hillers' camp, or in the saloons where they
+sell benzine and run faro banks. Bill is death on cards."
+
+"So I've heard," said Mr. Pond, with a sigh.
+
+Jack now went out, and Pond called the Dutch landlord to him and engaged
+a room.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+PERSIMMON BILL.
+
+As soon as the auburn-haired man who called himself Jack had left the
+German restaurant, he went to a livery-stable near by, called for his
+own horse, which was kept there, and the instant it was saddled he
+mounted, and at a gallop rode westward from the town.
+
+He did not draw rein for full an hour, and then he had covered somewhere
+between eight and ten miles of ground, following no course or trail, but
+riding in a course as straight as the flight of an arrow.
+
+He halted then in a small ravine, nearly hidden by a growth of thick
+brush, and gave a peculiar whistle. Thrice had this sounded, when a man
+came cautiously out of the ravine, or rather out of its mouth. He was
+tall, slender, yet seemed to possess the bone and muscle of a giant. His
+eyes were jet black, fierce and flashing, and his face had a stern,
+almost classic beauty of feature, which would have made him a model in
+the ancient age of sculpture. He carried a repeating rifle, two
+revolvers, and a knife in his belt. His dress was buckskin, from head to
+foot.
+
+"You are Persimmon Bill?" said Jack, in a tone of inquiry. "Yes. Who are
+you, and how came you by the signal that called me out?"
+
+"A woman in town gave it to me, knowing she could trust me."
+
+"Was her first name Addie?"
+
+"Her last name was Neidic."
+
+"All right. I see she has trusted you. What do you want?"
+
+"Help in a matter of revenge."
+
+"Good! You can have it. How much help is wanted?"
+
+"I want one man taken from a party, alive, when he gets beyond civilized
+help, so that I can see him tortured. I want him to die by inches."
+
+"How large is his party, and where are they now?"
+
+"The party numbers between twenty and thirty; they are in camp in the
+edge of Laramie, and will start for the Black Hills in a few days."
+
+"If all the party are wiped out but the one you want, will it matter to
+you?"
+
+"No; they are his friends, and as such I hate them!"
+
+"All right. Get me a list of their numbers and names, how armed, what
+animals and stores they have, every fact, so I can be ready. They will
+never get more than half way to the Hills, and the one you want shall be
+delivered, bound into your hands. All this, and more, will I do for her
+who sent you here!"
+
+"You love her?"
+
+"She loves me! I'm not one to waste much breath on talking love. My
+Ogallalla Sioux warriors know me as the soldier-killer. Be cautious when
+you go back, and give no hint to any one but Addie Neidic that there is
+a living being in Dead Man's Hollow, for so this ravine is called in
+there."
+
+"Do not fear. I am safe, for I counsel with no one. I knew Addie Neidic
+before I came here, met her by accident, revealed myself and wants, and
+she sent me to you."
+
+"It is right. Go back, and be cautious to give the signal if you seek
+me, or you might lose your scalp before you saw me."
+
+"My scalp?"
+
+"Yes; my guards are vigilant and rough."
+
+_"Your guards?"_
+
+Persimmon Bill laughed at the look of wonder in the face of his visitor,
+and with his hand to his mouth, gave a shrill, warbling cry.
+
+In a second this mouth of the ravine was fairly blocked with armed and
+painted warriors--Sioux, of the Ogallalla tribe. There were not less
+than fifty of them.
+
+"You see my guards--red devils, who will do my bidding at all times, and
+take a scalp on their own account every chance they get," said Persimmon
+Bill.
+
+Then he took an eagle feather, with its tip dipped in crimson, from the
+coronet of the chief, and handed it, in the presence of all the Indians,
+to Jack.
+
+"Keep thus, and when out on the plains, wear it in your hat, where it
+can be seen, and the Sioux will ever pass you unharmed, and you can
+safely come and go among them. Now go back, get the list and all the
+news you can, and bring it here as soon as you can. Tell Addie to ride
+out with you when you come next."
+
+Jack placed the feather in a safe place inside his vest, bowed his head,
+and wheeling his horse, turned toward the town. Before he had ridden a
+hundred yards he looked back. Persimmon Bill had vanished, not an Indian
+was in sight, and no one unacquainted with their vicinity could have
+seen a sign to show that such dangerous beings were near.
+
+No smoke rose above the trees, no horses were feeding around, nothing to
+break the apparent solitude of the scene.
+
+"And that was Persimmon Bill?" muttered the auburn-haired rider, as he
+galloped back. "So handsome, it does not seem as if he could be the
+murderer they call him. And yet, if all is true, he has slain tens,
+where Wild Bill has killed one. No matter, he will be useful to me. That
+is all I care for now."
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+A WARNING.
+
+When Wild Bill and Sam Chichester entered the saloon alluded to in our
+first chapter, they were hailed by several jovial-looking men, one of
+whom Wild Bill warmly responded to as California Joe, while he grasped
+the hand of another fine-looking young man whom he called Captain Jack.
+
+"Come, Crawford," said he, addressing the last named, "let's wet up! I'm
+dry as an empty powder-horn!"
+
+"No benzine for me, Bill," replied Crawford, or "Captain Jack." "I've
+not touched a drop of the poison in six months."
+
+"What? Quit drinking, Jack? Is the world coming to an end?"
+
+"I suppose it will sometime. But that has nothing to do with my
+drinking. I promised old Cale Durg to quit, and I've done it. And I
+never took a better trail in my life. I'm fresh as a daisy, strong as a
+full-grown elk, and happy as an antelope on a wide range."
+
+"All right, Jack. But I must drink. Come, boys--all that will--come up
+and wet down at my expense."
+
+California Joe and most of the others joined in the invitation, and
+Captain Jack took a cigar rather than "lift a shingle from the roof," as
+he said.
+
+"Where are you bound, Bill?" asked Captain Jack, as Bill placed his
+empty glass on the counter, and turned around.
+
+"To the Black Hills with your crowd--that is if I live to get there."
+
+"Live! You haven't any thought of dying, have you? I never saw you look
+better."
+
+"Then I'll make a healthy-looking corpse, Jack. For I tell you my time
+is nearly up; I've felt it in my bones this six months. I've seen ghosts
+in my dreams, and felt as if they were around me when I was awake. It's
+no use, Jack, when a chap's time comes he has got to go."
+
+"Nonsense, Bill; don't think of anything like that. A long life and a
+merry one--that's my motto. We'll go out to the Black Hills, dig out our
+fortunes, and then get out of the wilderness to enjoy life."
+
+"Boy, I've never known the happiness outside of the wilderness that I
+have in it. What you kill there is what was made for killing--the food
+we need. What one kills among civilization is only too apt to be of his
+own kind."
+
+And Bill shuddered as if he thought of the many he had sent into
+untimely graves.
+
+"Stuff, Bill! You're half crazed by your dramatic trip. You've acted so
+much, that reality comes strange. Let's go out to camp and have a talk
+about what is ahead of us."
+
+"Not till I buy a horse, Jack. I want a good horse under me once more;
+I've ridden on cars and steamboats till my legs ache for a change."
+
+"There's a sale's stable close by. Let's go and see what stock is
+there," said Sam Chichester.
+
+"Agreed!" cried all hands, and soon Bill and his friends were at the
+stable, looking at some dozen or more horses which were for sale.
+
+"There's the beauty I want," said Wild Bill, pointing to a black horse,
+full sixteen hands high, and evidently a thoroughbred. "Name your price,
+and he is my meat!"
+
+"That horse isn't for sale now. He was spoken for an hour ago, or maybe
+less by a cash customer of mine--a red-haired chap from Texas."
+
+_"Red-haired_ chap from Texas!" muttered Bill, "Red-haired cusses from
+Texas are always crossin' my trail. That chap from Abilene was a Texas
+cattle-man, with hair as red as fire. Where is your cash customer, Mr.
+Liveryman?"
+
+"Gone out riding somewhere," replied the stable-keeper.
+
+"When he comes back, tell him Wild Bill wants that horse, and I reckon
+he'll let Wild Bill buy him, if he knows when he is well off! I wouldn't
+give two cusses and an amen for all the rest of the horses in your
+stable; I want _him!_"
+
+"I'll tell Jack," said the stableman; "but I don't think it will make
+much odds with him. He has as good as bought the horse, for he offered
+me the money on my price, but I couldn't change his five hundred-dollar
+treasury note. It'll take more than a name to scare him. He always goes
+fully armed."
+
+"You tell him what I said, and that I'm a-coming here at sunset for that
+horse," said Bill, and he strode away, followed by his crowd.
+
+An hour later the auburn-haired man from Texas reined in his own horse,
+a fiery mustang from his own native plains, in front of the stable.
+
+Though the horse was all afoam with sweat, showing that it had been
+ridden far and fast; it did not pant or show a sign of weariness. It was
+of a stock which will run from rise of sun to its going down, and yet
+plunge forward in the chill of the coming night.
+
+"You want the Black Hawk horse you spoke for this morning, don't you?"
+asked the stableman, as Jack dismounted.
+
+"Of course I do. I've got the change; there is his price. Three hundred
+dollars you said?"
+
+"Yes; but there's been a chap here looking at that horse who told me to
+tell you his name, and that he intended to take that horse. I told him a
+man had bought it, but he said: 'Tell him Wild Bill wants it, and that
+Wild Bill will come at sunset to take it.'"
+
+"He will?"
+
+It was hissed rather than spoken, while the young Texan's face grew
+white as snow, his blue eyes darkening till they seemed almost black.
+
+"He will! Let him try it! A sudden death is too good for the
+blood-stained wretch! But if he will force it on, why let it come. The
+horse is bought: let him come at sunset if he dares!"
+
+And the young man handed the stable-keeper three one hundred-dollar
+greenback notes.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+"GIVE UP THAT HORSE, OR DIE!"
+
+Leaving the livery-stable, the young Texan went directly to the German
+restaurant, and asked for Willie Pond.
+
+He was shown up to the room, recently engaged by the traveler, and found
+him engaged in cleaning a pair of fine, silver mounted Remington
+revolvers.
+
+"Getting ready, I see," said the Texan. "I have bought you a horse--the
+best in this whole section; I gave three hundred dollars. There is your
+change."
+
+"Keep the two hundred to buy stores with for our trip," said Pond.
+
+"No need of it I've laid in all the stores we need. You can buy yourself
+a couple of blankets and an India-rubber for wet weather. A couple of
+tin cans of pepper and salt is all that I lay in when I'm going to rough
+it on the plains. The man that can't kill all the meat he needs isn't
+fit to go there."
+
+"Maybe you're right. The less we are burdened the better for our horses.
+Are we likely to meet Indians on the route?"
+
+"None that will hurt _me_--or you, when you're in my company. The Sioux
+know me and will do me no harm."
+
+"That is good. The Indians were my only dread."
+
+"I've a favor to ask."
+
+"It is granted before you ask it--what is it?"
+
+"I want to break your horse to the saddle before you try it. You are not
+so used to the saddle, I reckon, as I am. I will take a ride at sunset,
+and bring him around here for you to look at."
+
+"That is right. I am only thankful to have you ride him first, though
+you may find me a better rider than you think!"
+
+"Perhaps. But he looks wild, and I like to tame _wild_ uns. I'll have
+him here between sundown and dark."
+
+"All right. I told you I'd see to getting arms. I had these revolvers,
+and cartridges for them, but I want a light repeating rifle. Get me a
+good one, with as much ammunition as you think I'll need!"
+
+"All right. I'll get a now model Winchester. They rattle out lead faster
+than any other tool I ever carried."
+
+The Texan now left. He had not spoken of Wild Bill's desire to possess
+that horse, because he had an idea that Mr. Willie Pond would weaken,
+and give up the horse, rather than risk bloodshed for its possession.
+And perhaps he had another idea--a mysterious one, which we do not care
+to expose at this stage of the story.
+
+This young Texan hastened from the German restaurant to a small, neat
+house in the outskirts of the town. Knocking in a very peculiar manner,
+he was admitted at once by a tall and strikingly beautiful young woman,
+whom he addressed as if well acquainted with her.
+
+"I'm here, Addie, and I've seen _him._"
+
+"You found him all right, when you told him who sent you, did you not?"
+asked the lady, leading the way to a sitting-room in the rear of the
+cottage.
+
+"Yes, ready to do anything for one you recommend."
+
+"Poor Bill! A braver man and a truer friend never lived. He loves me,
+and I fear it will be his ruin, for he will too often come within the
+reach of those who would destroy him, if they only knew where and how to
+reach him. Persecution and cruelty placed him on the bloody path he has
+had to follow, and now--now he is an outlaw, beyond all chance for
+mercy, should he ever be taken."
+
+"He never will be taken, guarded as he is."
+
+"You saw his guards, then?"
+
+"Yes, forty or fifty of them, and I would rather have them as friends
+than foes. He wants you to ride out with me to meet him when I go next
+with some information that he needs."
+
+"When will that be?" asked the lady.
+
+"In the early morning, or perhaps to-night, if nothing happens to me
+between now and sunset to make it unnecessary!"
+
+"Between now and sunset? That is within two hours. Do you anticipate any
+danger?"
+
+"Not much. I have a little task before me. I have a horse to break, and
+a man known as Will Bill to tame."
+
+"Wild Bill!--the dead-shot, the desperado, who has killed at least one
+man for every year of his life?"
+
+"Yes, the same. But ask me no more questions now. After I have tamed him
+I will report--or, if he has settled me, there will be no need of it."
+
+"Do not run this risk."
+
+"It must be done. He has, in a manner, defied me, and I accept his
+defiance!"
+
+"Surely he does not know---"
+
+"No, he knows nothing of what you would say if I did not interrupt you.
+Nor do I intend he shall at present. It is enough that you know it, and
+will care for both my body and my good name, should I fail."
+
+"You know I will. But you must not fall."
+
+"I do not intend to. I think I can crush him by a look and a word. I
+shall try, at least. If all goes well, I will be here by eight to-night
+to arrange for our visit."
+
+"I hope you will come, and safely."
+
+"I will, Addie. Until the cup of vengeance is full. Heaven will surely
+spare me. But I must go. I have no time to spare."
+
+The young Texan glanced at the chambers of a handsome six-shooter which
+he carried, to see if it was ready for use, replaced it in his belt, and
+then, with a cheerful smile, left the room and house.
+
+Hastening to the stable, he selected a saddle, lengthened the stirrups
+to suit himself, took a stout bridle from among a lot hanging in the
+store-room, and accompanied by the stable-keeper, approached the newly
+purchased Black Hawk horse.
+
+"I may as well have him ready," he said; "for if Wild Bill is to be here
+at sunset, that time is close at hand. You say the horse has not been
+ridden?"
+
+"No," said the stable-keeper. "My regular breaker was not here when I
+bought him. Black Joe tried to mount him, but the horse scared him."
+
+"Well, I'll soon see what he is made of, if I can get saddle and bridle
+on him," said the Texan.
+
+They now together approached the large box stall in which the stallion
+was kept. The horse, almost perfect in symmetry, black as night, with a
+fierce, wild look, turned to front them as they approached the barred
+entrance.
+
+"Steady, boy--steady!" cried the Texan, as he sprang lightly over the
+bars, and at once laid his hand on the arched neck of the horse.
+
+To the wonder of the stableman, the horse, instead of rearing back or
+plunging at the intruder, turned his eyes upon him, and with a kind of
+tremor in his frame, seemed to wait to see what his visitor meant.
+
+"So! Steady, Black Hawk! steady, old boy!" continued the Texan, kindly
+passing his hand over the horse's neck and down his face.
+
+The horse uttered a low neigh, and seemed by his looks pleased with his
+attentions.
+
+"That beats me!" cried the stable-keeper. "Old Joe had to lasso him and
+draw him down to a ringbolt before he could rub him off."
+
+"Hand me the saddle and bridle," said the Texan, still continuing to
+"pet" the beautiful and spirited animal.
+
+In a few seconds, without difficulty, the same kind and skillful hands
+had the horse both saddled and bridled.
+
+The Texan now led the horse out on the street, where quite a crowd
+seemed to be gathering, perhaps drawn there by some rumor of a fight in
+embryo.
+
+And as he glanced up the street the Texan saw Wild Bill himself, with
+his six-shooters in his belt, come striding along, with California Joe
+and a dozen more at his heels.
+
+In a second, the Texan vaulted upon the back of the horse, which made
+one wild leap that would have unseated most riders, and then reared on
+its hind legs as if it would fall back and crush its would-be master.
+
+At this instant, Wild Bill rushing forward, pistol in hand, shouted:
+
+"Give up that horse, or die!"
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+A SQUARE BACK-DOWN.
+
+The Texan paid no heed to the words of the desperado, but bending
+forward on the horse with his full weight, drove his spurs deeply into
+its flanks. Startled and stung with pain, the noble animal, at one wild
+bound, leaped far beyond where Bill and his friends stood, and in a
+second more sped in terrific leaps along the street.
+
+"The cowardly cuss is running away!" yelled Bill derisively.
+
+"It is false! He is _no_ coward! He will tame the horse first and then
+_you_!" cried a voice so close that Bill turned in amazement to see who
+dare thus to speak to him, the _"Terror of the West."_
+
+"A woman!" he muttered, fiercely, as he saw a tall and queenly-looking
+girl standing there, with flashing eyes, which did not drop at his gaze.
+
+_"Yes_--a woman, who has heard of Wild Bill, and neither fears nor
+admires him!" she said, undauntedly.
+
+"Is the fellow that rode off on the horse your husband or lover that you
+take his part?" asked Bill, half angrily and half wondering at the
+temerity of the lovely girl who thus braved his anger.
+
+"He is neither," she replied, scornfully.
+
+"I'm glad of it. I shall not make you a widow or deprive you of a future
+husband when he comes under my fire, if he should be fool enough to come
+back."
+
+"He comes now. See for yourself. He has tamed the horse--now comes your
+turn, coward and braggart!"
+
+Bill was white with anger; but she was a woman, mind no matter what he
+felt, too well he knew the chivalry of the far West to raise a hand or
+even speak a threatening word to her. But he heard men around him murmur
+her name.
+
+It was Addie Neidic.
+
+And then he turned his eyes upon the black horse and rider. The animal,
+completely under control, though flecked with foam, came down the street
+slowly and gently, bearing his rider with an air of pride rather than
+submission. As he passed the German restaurant, the rider raised his hat
+in salutation to Willie Pond, who stood in his window, and said, in a
+cheerful voice:
+
+"Remain in your room. I have news for you and will be there soon."
+
+Without checking his horse the rider kept on until he was within half a
+length of the horse of Wild Bill, then checking the animal, he said, in
+a mocking tone:
+
+"You spoke to me just as I rode away. I've come back to hear you out."
+
+What was the matter with Wild Bill? He stood staring wildly at the
+Texan, his own face white as if a mortal fear had come upon him.
+
+"Where have I seen that face before?" he gasped. "Can the dead come back
+to life?"
+
+The Texan bent forward till his own face almost touched that of Wild
+Bill and hissed out one word in a shrill whisper:
+
+"Sister!"
+
+It was all he said, but the instant Wild Bill heard it, he shrieked out:
+
+"'Tis him--_'tis him I shot at Abilene!_" and with a shuddering groan he
+sank senseless to the pavement.
+
+In an instant Bill's friends, who had looked in wonder at this strange
+scene, sprang to his aid, and, lifting his unconscious form, carried it
+into the saloon where Bill had met Californian Joe, Captain Jack, and
+the rest of their crowd.
+
+Left alone, the young Texan said a few words to Addie Neidic, then
+dismounted and told the stable-keeper to keep that horse saddled and
+bridled, and to get his own Texan mustang ready for use.
+
+"I must be out of town before sunrise, or Wild Bill and his friends may
+have questions to ask that I don't want to answer just now," he said.
+
+And then, he walked a little way with Miss Neidic, talking earnestly.
+But soon he left her, and while she kept on in the direction of her own
+house, he turned and went to the German restaurant.
+
+Entering the room of Willie Pond, he said, abruptly:
+
+"If you want to go to the Black Hills with me on your own horse we'll
+have to leave this section mighty sudden. Wild Bill has set his mind on
+having the horse I bought and broke for you, and he has a rough crowd to
+back him up."
+
+"If I had known Bill wanted the horse so badly I could have got along
+with another," said Pond, rather quietly.
+
+"What! let _him_ have the horse? Why it hasn't its equal on the plains
+or in the mountains. It is a thoroughbred--a regular racer, which a
+sporting man was taking through to the Pacific coast on speculation. He
+played faro, lost, got broke, and put the horse up for a tenth of its
+value. I got him for almost nothing compared to his worth. On that horse
+you can keep out of the way of any red who scours the plains. If you
+don't want him I do, for Wild Bill shall never put a leg over his back!"
+
+"I'll keep him. Don't get mad. I'll keep him and go whenever you are
+ready," said Pond, completely mastered by the excitement which this
+young Texan exhibited.
+
+"Well, we'll get the horses out of town and in a safe place to-night.
+And for yourself, I'll take you to the house of a lady friend of mine to
+stay to-night and to-morrow, and by to-morrow night I'll know all I want
+to about the movements of the other party, and we can move so as to be
+just before or behind them, as you and I will decide best."
+
+"All right, Jack. I leave it to you. Are you sure the horse will be safe
+for me to ride?"
+
+"Yes. A horse like that once broken is broken for life. They never
+forget their first lesson. A mongrel breed, stupid, resentful, and
+tricky, is different. Be ready to mount when I lead him around, I will
+send for your traveling-bag, and you will find it at the house where we
+stop."
+
+"I will be ready," said Pond.
+
+The Texan now left, and Pond watched him as he hurried off to the
+stable.
+
+"The man hates Wild Bill with a deadly hatred!" he murmured. "I must
+learn the cause. Perhaps it is a providence that I have fallen in with
+him, and I have concluded to keep his company to the Black Hills. But I
+must call the landlord and close up my account before the other comes
+back with the horses."
+
+The German was so put out by the sudden giving up of a room, which he
+hoped to make profitable, that he asked an extra day's rent, and to his
+surprise, got it.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+OFF TO THE HILLS.
+
+It was some time before Wild Bill became fully conscious after he was
+carried into the saloon, and when he did come to he raved wildly about
+the red-haired man he shot in Abilene, and insisted it was his ghost,
+and not a real man, he had seen.
+
+Bill's friends tried to cheer and reassure him, and got several stiff
+draughts of liquor down his throat, which finally "set him up." as they
+said, till he began to look natural. But he still talked wildly and
+strangely.
+
+"I told you, Joe," he said to his old friend; "I told you my time was
+nigh up. This hasn't been my first warning. That Abilene ghost has been
+before me a thousand times, and he has hissed that same word,
+'_sister,_' in my ear."
+
+"Bah! old boy. What's the use of your talking foolish. You've seen no
+ghost. That red-haired chap was as live as you are."
+
+"He did have red hair and blue eyes, then?"
+
+"Yes; but there are lots of such all over the world. Red hair and blue
+eyes generally travel in company. But he was nothing to scare you. You
+could have wiped him out with one back-handed blow of your fist, let
+alone usin' shootin' irons, of which there wasn't 'casion, seein' he
+didn't draw."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"I'll go and see. I suppose he is over at the stable."
+
+Joe went out, but soon returned to say that the Texan had just ridden
+off, after paying his bill; the stable-keeper did not know where.
+
+"Let him go," murmured Bill. "If he _is_ a man, and not a ghost, I
+wouldn't raise a hand to hurt him, not for all the gold in the Black
+Hills. He was so like--_so_ like the chap I dropped in Abilene!"
+
+Bill took another drink, but it seemed as if nothing could lift the
+gloom which weighed down his heart. Only once did his face brighten.
+That was when Sam Chichester said there was no use hanging on at Laramie
+any longer for a bigger crowd; they were strong enough now, and would
+start for the Hills inside of four-and-twenty hours.
+
+"That's the talk for me!" cried Bill. "I want to get out of here as soon
+as I can, Joe, and pick me out some sort of a horse. I don't care what,
+so it'll carry me to the Hills, I can't breathe free any longer where
+there's such a lot of folks."
+
+"I'll get you a first-chop horse, Bill," said Joe. "There's some
+half-breeds in a corral just out of town, as tough as grizzlies, and
+heavy enough for your weight or mine."
+
+"I don't weigh down, as I did," said Bill, with a sigh. "I've been
+losin' weight for six months back. No matter. It'll be less trouble to
+tote me when I go under. Remember, boys, when I do, bury me with my
+boots on, just as I die."
+
+"Stop your clatter about dyin', Bill. I'm sick o' that kind of talk.
+It's time enough to talk of death when its clutch is on you."
+
+"I can't help it, Joe, old pard. It keeps a stickin' in my throat, and
+if it didn't come out, I'd choke."
+
+"Let's go to camp," said Chichester. "Can you walk now, Bill?'
+
+"Yes."
+
+And the party rose, took a parting drink with the landlord, and started
+for camp.
+
+Outside, Bill gave a startled, wild glance toward the spot where he had
+seen the Texan; but no one was there now, and he moved on with his
+companions toward their camp, listening to, but not joining in their
+conversation.
+
+On arriving at camp, Chichester, as captain, gave orders that each man
+should report on paper, or verbally, so it could be taken down, just how
+much ammunition he had, the number and kind of his arms, private stores,
+etc., so that if there was not enough to make the trip safely, more
+could be provided. The number and condition of horses, pack-mules, etc.,
+was also to be given.
+
+No man would be fitted to lead such a party did he not consider and post
+himself fully in all these particulars.
+
+Quite a crowd of townspeople followed the party out, for the news soon
+spread that they intended to leave in a short time; so around their
+blazing camp-fire there were many visitors. Toward these Wild Bill cast
+many a stealthy glance, but he did not see the red-haired Texan there.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+THE OUTLAW'S LOVE.
+
+Willie Pond was much surprised when he found that his ride only extended
+to a small but pretty cottage just on the outskirts of the town, where
+the young Texan, introducing him to Miss Neidic as his temporary
+hostess, left him while he took the horses to a safe place of
+concealment not far away.
+
+Miss Neidic look her new visitor into the rear sitting-room, and while
+giving him a cordial welcome, and passing the usual salutations, scanned
+him with a keen and critical eye. The impression left must have been
+rather favorable, for the lady seemed to feel none of the embarrassment
+usual when strangers held a first interview, but talked on as easily and
+naturally as if she had known him half a lifetime.
+
+"How long have you been in town, Mr. Pond?" was one of her many
+questions.
+
+"Only a day. I arrived on the express, westward bound, which passed this
+morning," was the answer.
+
+"Why, that was the same train the desperado, Wild Bill came on."
+
+"Yes, he was pointed out to me by the conductor. But why do you call him
+a desperado?"
+
+"Because that is his character."
+
+"I thought none but outlaws were celled desperadoes."
+
+"There is where the mistake comes in. Most outlaws are desperadoes, but
+a man _can_ be a desperado, and yet not an _outlaw._ If to be always
+ready to shoot for a look or a word--whether his opponent is ready or
+not--is not being a desperado. I do not know what is. But excuse me. He
+may be a friend of yours."
+
+"Oh, no," said Pond, with some confusion in his manner. "But a very dear
+friend of mine married him not long since, and for her sake I feel a
+sort of interest in the man. I fancied that he was rather wild when
+under the influence of liquor, but for all, a brave and generous man,
+when truly himself."
+
+"Brave, as brutes are, when he feels he has the power to _kill_ in his
+hands; but _generous?_ _Never!_" said Miss Neidic.
+
+"You are his enemy."
+
+"No; for he has never done me, personally, an injury; but he has injured
+friends of mine--sent more than one down to untimely graves."
+
+"There, I said it--you are his enemy, because of what he has done to
+your friends.
+
+"I am _not_ his friend, nor do I wish to be the friend of such a man.
+But the enmity of a woman is nothing to him. He looks for friends among
+such men as he now consorts with--California Joe, Sam Chichester, and
+that crowd. I know but one real gentleman in the party, and that one is
+Jack Crawford."
+
+"I know none of them."
+
+"You lose nothing, then, for it is little honor one gains by such
+acquaintances. They suit Wild Bill, for they drink, gamble, and shoot on
+little cause; they are ready for any adventure, never stopping to count
+risks or look back when evil is commenced or ruin wrought, no matter
+what may be its nature."
+
+The entrance of the young Texans now caused a change in the topic of
+conversation.
+
+"I have learned when that party start." he said. "They are making their
+final preparations to-night, and will break camp in this morning early
+enough to make Twenty-mills Creek for their first night's halt--probably
+about ten o'clock."
+
+"Do you propose to go ahead of them?" asked Pond.
+
+"No; it will be more easy and safe to fellow their trail. They will not
+have over fifty animals all told, and there will be lots of feed left
+for us even if we keep close by. And we can get as much game as we need
+any time, for we can use but little. One pack horse will carry all our
+stuff, and still be able to travel at speed, if need be."
+
+"You understand it better than I," said Pond. "Arrange things to suit
+yourself, and I will conform to your plans."
+
+"All right. You had better turn in early, so as to get a good rest. For
+after we are out, long rides and night-watches will tell on you, for you
+are not used to them."
+
+"I will show you to a chamber, your valise is already in it," said Miss
+Neidic.
+
+Mr. Pond followed her, and the Texan was left alone to his thoughts,
+which he carelessly expressed aloud.
+
+"So far all works well," he said. "Mr. Willie Pond is as soft as mush;
+but I've read him through and through. He wouldn't go with me if he
+didn't think he'd have a chance to serve Wild Bill, for, though he shuns
+Bill, he thinks more of Bill than he would have me think, I'll bet Addie
+has found that out."
+
+"Found out what?" said the lady herself, who had returned so noiselessly
+that Jack had not heard her.
+
+"That Mr. Pond, as he calls himself, is a friend of Wild Bill's."
+
+"All of that, and maybe something more, as you may find out before you
+are through your trip."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Nothing but this--keep your eyes open, and study your Mr. Pond
+closely."
+
+"There is nothing dangerous about him?"
+
+Miss Neidic laughed heartily.
+
+"Nothing very dangerous to you, at any rate," she said; "but if they all
+go in the morning, we must see Persimmon Bill to-night."
+
+"That is so. Shall I bring the horses round?"
+
+"No. We might be overheard. I will go to the stables. Get the horses
+ready. I have some things to put up for Bill, and I will come as soon as
+I pack them in a pair of saddle-bags."
+
+Jack now left for the stable, and Miss Neidic, with a woman's
+forethought, began to gather up many little things which might be useful
+to her outlaw lover, who had little chance to procure articles of
+comfort, not to speak of luxury, except when on some raid in the
+settlements.
+
+In ten minutes she was ready and on her way to the stables.
+
+Jack had her own favorite horse saddled, while for himself he chose the
+Black Hawk beauty.
+
+In a few seconds both were mounted, and in the darkness they sped away
+over the same route which Jack had taken when he went to visit Persimmon
+Bill.
+
+Little was said as they rode on, for the horses were kept at a swift
+gallop, and before the hour was up they had approached the ravine as
+near as they deemed safe before giving the signal.
+
+Scarcely was it given before it was answered, and a second later
+Persimmon Bill himself was by the side of Addie Neidic's horse, and she
+was pressed to the outlaw's bosom with a fervor that showed he had a
+heart more than half-human left in his breast.
+
+"It's kind of you, Addie, to come out here in the chill of the night to
+see a wild cuss like me, outlawed by man, and forsaken by Heaven!"
+
+"It's safer to come by night than by day, for you and for me, Bill," she
+said. "And I couldn't bear you should go away again till I had seen you.
+And I've brought you a lot of things I know you'll need."
+
+"I shall not need much of anything, Addie, on the trail I'm soon to
+take. Your friend here I know is safe, or I wouldn't say so much. But
+the truth is, the reds are going to rise in a body all over the north
+and northwest, and we'll sweep the Black Hills, and clean out every
+'blue-coat' that is sent to check the rising. The Sioux have made me a
+big chief, and I'll have my hands full. If you hear of the 'White Elk,'
+as second only to Sitting Bull himself, you'll know who it is."
+
+"You, of course!"
+
+"Yes, Addie; that is the name they have given me. And if the Sioux fight
+as I think they will, and all the northern tribes join, we'll force a
+treaty that will give us all the Black Hills and the Yellowstone, Powder
+River, and Big Horn Country for ourselves forever. Then, my girl, and
+not till then, can I make a safe home for you, and not till then will I
+ask you to be my wife. For then the outlaw will be safe, and can live in
+peace, and look for days of home and happiness."
+
+"Bill, when you ask it, be it in peace or war, I am yours. You are brave
+as the bravest, and had you never been treated wrongfully, would not now
+be a hunted outlaw. I love you, and you know it."
+
+"Yes, Addie, and I love you too well to ask you to share my lot till I
+can see some sunshine. But this stranger has news for me."
+
+Persimmon Bill turned to the Texan, who had drawn his horse away a
+little, so as not to intrude on the conversation between the lovers.
+
+"I have the news you asked for," said Jack. "The party, all told, who
+will start at nine or ten in the morning, and camp twenty miles out
+to-morrow, number twenty-nine men, all well armed, the most of them with
+repeating rifles and six-shooters. Half of them are old scouts, the rest
+are miners, gamblers, and a couple of them are traders. They have fifty
+animals, saddle and pack, and carry no wagons. The mules are loaded
+pretty heavy, at least them that belong to the traders, and are well
+worth capture."
+
+"All right, And there is one of the party you don't want hurt until he
+is in your hands?"
+
+"Yes, that man is Wild Bill. I want him in my power so that I may see
+him die slowly, surely, awfully!"
+
+"There is another man in that party, Bill, who mustn't be hurt. He did
+me a kindness once, down at Cheyenne--saved me from insult and wrong.
+His name is Crawford--Captain Jack, they call him!"
+
+"Yes, I know him. No harm shall befall him, if I can help it."
+
+"Thank you, Bill; you needn't be jealous of him, for it is only what he
+did that makes me ask a favor for him!"
+
+"I know it, Addie."
+
+"No woman on earth can make me jealous of you. I've too much confidence
+in your truth and love. But you'll not attack the party anywhere near
+here?"
+
+"No, not till they are far beyond all the military posts. I want no
+pursuit when I do my work. Our animals are in good order for the
+war-path now, and I want to keep them so. I'm drilling my braves at
+every chance, so as to fit them to meet such men as Crook, Custer, and
+Carr. All they want is drill and discipline to make them the best
+soldiers in the world, and they're coming into it finely."
+
+"Well, you were a soldier yourself long enough to know all that should
+be done."
+
+"A soldier too long, girl--too long a slave to men who held authority
+only to abuse it," said Bill, in a bitter tone. "The cruelty exercised
+on me then turned my best blood to gall, and made me what I am. I hate
+the name, and my blood boils beyond all restraint when my eye falls upon
+a uniform. Rightly have the Sioux called me the "Soldier Killer," for
+never do I let one who wears the button escape if he comes within my
+reach. But you must not stay too long. Good-night--I will not say
+good-by, for we will meet again."
+
+"Good-night, Bill."
+
+"One word to your friend here," added the outlaw. "Follow the trail of
+Chichester, about three hours back, whenever he moves. I will probably,
+for three or four days, be about as far behind you. On the night of the
+third or fourth day out, or, if it is bad weather for travel, a day or
+two later, I will surround you, and take you and your friend prisoners,
+to all appearances. But of course no harm will come to you, and you will
+be free when the other work is done. Then I will close up and wipe out
+Chichester's gang, saving the two who are to be spared. Then I will be
+ready for the war-path, for I need the arms and ammunition these people
+have to finish arming the drilled marines who are specially under me."
+
+"All right, sir; we understand each other," said the Texan, wheeling his
+horse to take the back trail.
+
+Addie Neidic, as if from some uncontrollable reason, turned once more
+toward her lover, and bending from her saddle, threw her arms about his
+tall and splendid form, and kissed him again and again with passionate
+tenderness.
+
+"Do be careful of your life, dear Bill," she said. "You are all in all
+to me. If you perish, life will be valueless to me."
+
+"Addie, I'll try to live for your sake, and work my uttermost to achieve
+what will give you and me peace and quiet in the end. Good-night, once
+more good-night, my beautiful, my own."
+
+"Good night, Bill--God bless you!" she sobbed; as she turned her horse,
+and followed the Texan at a gallop.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+FOILED BY A WOMAN.
+
+It was their last night in town before breaking up camp, and the Black
+Hillers, as they already called themselves, under Chichester, were
+determined to have a lively time of it.
+
+They commenced "wetting up," or pouring down liquid lightning in camp,
+but, being reminded that what they used there would be missed on their
+journey, they started to skin the saloons in town, and finish out their
+spree where it would not diminish their own stores.
+
+As Wild Bill said, they were going where money would be of little
+account, if all the stories about the gold to be found were true; so
+what they spent now they wouldn't have to carry. And they went in, as
+such reckless men generally do, spending their money as freely as they
+could, and drinking with a "looseness" that promised headaches on the
+morrow, if nothing more.
+
+Wild Bill went in on the spree with a rush, as if he wished to drown the
+remembrance of his late fright, and despite the cautions of his friend,
+Captain Jack, who strove hard to keep him within bounds.
+
+California Joe of course was in his element, and in a little while all
+the party became so turbulent that Crawford left them in disgust. For,
+as Addie Neidic had said of him, despite his associations, he was a
+gentleman.
+
+By midnight every saloon had been visited, and many of them pretty well
+cleaned out, and now Bill proposed to go and break a faro bank that some
+of the party spoke of.
+
+"I have seven hundred dollars left out of a thousand my woman gave me
+before I started," said he. "I'll lose that, or break the bank; see if I
+don't."
+
+All of the party who were sober enough went with Bill, and soon he was
+before the green board.
+
+Without even waiting to get the run of the game, be planked a hundred
+dollars on the king, and lost. Without a word, he put two hundred
+dollars more on the same card, and won. He left the four hundred down,
+and in another turn he had eight hundred.
+
+"Luck is with me, boys!" He shouted. "I'll break the bank! Let her swing
+for the king once more, Mr. Dealer!"
+
+To the wonder of all, though it was the last turn of the cards, the
+king won, and Wild Bill picked up sixteen hundred dollars.
+
+His friends now urged him to quit, but the demon of the game had entered
+his soul, and he swore, with a terrible oath, that he would play till he
+broke the bank, or was broke himself.
+
+A new pack was now put in the box, and once more the dealer cried out:
+
+"Make your bets gentlemen--make year bets! The game is ready!"
+
+Bill, with a reckless bravado, as much of rum as of his own nature,
+again laid all his winnings on one card--this time the queen. And with
+wonderful luck--it could be nothing else--he again doubled his pile,
+this time his gains being thirty-two hundred dollars.
+
+"Stop now, Bill!" cried California Joe, "This can't last!"
+
+"It shall last! The bank can't stand more than two more such pulls!"
+shouted Bill, wildly.
+
+And again on the same card he staked his entire winnings.
+
+The dealer and banker were one; he turned pale, but when all bets were
+down, he pulled his cards without a tremor in his hand. But a groan
+broke from his lips as the queen once more came out on the winning side.
+
+Once more Bill's stakes were doubled, and this time he changed his card.
+
+The banker hesitated. His capital would hardly cover the pile if Bill
+won again.
+
+"Keep on," whispered a voice in his ear; "if he breaks you, I'll stake
+your bank."
+
+The banker looked up and saw, though she was disguised in male attire, a
+face he well knew. It was that of Addie Neidic, and he knew she was able
+to keep her word.
+
+Wild Bill had heard the whisper, and his face was white with rage, for
+he thought the bank would succumb before it would risk another chance
+with his wonderful luck.
+
+But he let his money lay where he put it, and cried out to the banker to
+go on with his game if he dared.
+
+The latter; with firm set lips, cried out:
+
+"Game ready, gentlemen--game ready."
+
+The cards were drawn, and once more Wild Bill had won.
+
+Coolly, as if money was no more than waste paper, Bill gathered up the
+pile, and began to thrust it away in his pockets, when the disguised
+woman, Addie Neidic, thrust a roll of thousand dollar notes into the
+hands of the banker, and cried out:
+
+"This bank is good for fifty thousand dollars. Let no braggart go away
+and say he has bluffed the bank, till he breaks it!"
+
+Wild Bill trembled from head to foot.
+
+"I know you!" he hissed. "You are the woman who bluffed me at the
+livery-stable. I'll win your fifty thousand dollars, and then blow the
+top of any man's head off who'll take your part!"
+
+"Play, don't boast; put up your money!" was the scornful reply.
+
+In an instant Bill put every dollar he had won, every cent he had in the
+world, and a gold watch on top of that, on the Jack.
+
+Not another man around the table made a bet. A pin could have been
+heard, had it fallen to the floor, so complete was the silence.
+
+The banker cried out, "Game ready," and slowly drew the cards.
+
+"Jack loses!" he cried, a second after, and Bill's pile, watch and all,
+was raked in.
+
+"Devil! woman or not, you shall die for this!" he shouted, and his hand
+went to his belt.
+
+But even as his hand touched his pistol, he heard that fearful whisper,
+"sister," and saw a white face, wreathed in auburn hair rise over Addie
+Neidic's shoulder, and with a groan, or a groaning cry of terror, he
+fell back insensible to the floor.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+THE GHOST AGAIN APPEARS.
+
+When Wild Bill fell, the banker declared his game closed for the night;
+and while Bill's friends gathered about him and sought to bring him to,
+the woman, Addie Neidic, took up her money, and left by the rear
+entrance, and the banker, with two or three of his friends, escorted her
+home, fearing Bill and his gang might annoy her, if the latter came to
+before she reached her residence.
+
+The auburn-haired Texan did not go with her, but with a slouched hat
+drawn over his head, and a Mexican blanket over his shoulders, stood
+back in a corner, unobserved, to hear Bill's words when he came to, and
+to see what next would appear on the desperado's programme.
+
+"That ghost again! He came to break my luck."
+
+These were the last words that Wild Bill spoke, when recovering his
+consciousness; he glared out upon the crowd with bloodshot eyes.
+
+"It was a woman who broke your luck. Addie Neidic backed the bank, or
+'twould have given in," cried another.
+
+"Who is Addie Neidic?" asked Bill, with a wondering gaze. "Oh! I
+remember--the woman who called me a coward over at the livery-stable.
+Who is she? Where does she live?"
+
+"In a cottage west of town. They say she's rich! Let's go and clean out
+her crib!" cried a ruffian who did not belong to Bill's party, but most
+likely held some spite against Miss Neidic.
+
+"Ay! That's the word! Let's clean out the house and set fire to it!"
+cried another, a chum of the first speaker.
+
+It required but a leader now to set the vile work going. And Wild Bill,
+gradually recovering his reason, but mad with drink, and just realizing
+that every dollar he had, and even his watch was gone, was just the man
+for such a leader.
+
+"I'll go! Show me the house, and we'll teach her to wear her own
+clothes, and let men's games alone!" shouted Wild Bill.
+
+In a moment fifty men were ready to go; but first they made an onslaught
+on the wines and liquors on the sideboard of the gambling-room.
+
+While they were madly pouring these down, the auburn-haired Texan
+slipped from the room, and ran swiftly to the cottage of his fair
+friend.
+
+"Addie," he cried, as she opened the door to his signal, "Wild Bill and
+a crowd of full fifty men are coming here to rob you, and burn your
+house. They are mad with drink, and even if the stranger up stairs will
+fight, we three can hardly hold them at bay, no matter how well we are
+armed."
+
+"We will not try it!" said Addie, calmly. "I had about made up my mind
+to go with Persimmon Bill. He loves me so well that I ought to be able
+and willing to bear hardship for his sake. I care little for the house
+and furniture, though they are mine, and cost me a large sum. I have
+money and jewelry that we can carry off. I will rouse my two servants
+while you call your friend, and we will all be out of the house before
+they come. No one but you knows where your horses are kept. Let that be
+the place of rendezvous, and before daylight we will be safe with my
+lover."
+
+"No; I do not want to be with him yet, Addie. I will take this newly
+found friend and see you safely in reach of Bill, but we will make camp
+elsewhere till Bill's party starts. Then we'll be on his trail, and you
+on ours, as it was agreed upon."
+
+"As you, like, Jack. But we must hurry."
+
+"All right--as soon as I bring my friend down, do you go with him and
+your servants to the stable, carrying off what you can. Leave me here,
+for I want to give Wild Bill one more good scare."
+
+"As you please, but be careful he don't kill you while you scare him.
+Ah! I hear their yells. We must be quick."
+
+Willie Pond had a white, scared face when he came from his chamber, for
+while the Texan told him of the danger, the yells and shouts of the
+drunken ruffians who were approaching could be plainly heard. It seemed
+as if a gang of demons from the lower regions had been let loose on
+earth.
+
+"Come with me," cried Addie Neidic, as Mr. Pond came down with his
+valise in hand. "Be quick, or there will be murder under this roof."
+
+Pond, seemingly dazed and bewildered, obeyed, and out by a rear door
+hastened the fair owner of the doomed house, with her maid, or
+man-servant, and Willie Pond, while the Texan, telling them he soon
+would follow, remained.
+
+Plainly now the shouts and vile threats of the drunken marauders came to
+the ears of the single listener.
+
+"I wish I had a barrel or two of gunpowder here," he muttered. "I'd make
+them sing another tune."
+
+Nearer and nearer they came, and now the Texan extinguished every light
+but one, which he shaded with his hat. Then he looked to the front door
+and windows and saw that they were all barred, except a single shutter
+which he left so he could open it.
+
+A minute later, and the tramp of a hundred hurrying feet came loudly on
+his ear. Then shouts:
+
+"Clean her out. Kill her and burn her crib!"
+
+In a minute the crowd brought up before the closed doors.
+
+"Open your doors, woman, or we'll shatter them!" cried Wild Bill.
+
+"Open, or down goes everything!" shouted the crowd.
+
+"Here, Bill; here is a shutter loose!" cried one.
+
+Wild Bill sprang toward it, and as he did so the shutter flew open; he
+saw a white face surrounded by auburn hair; he heard one gasping
+cry--"sister"--and he fell back in terror, crying out:
+
+"The ghost! the ghost!"
+
+But some one fired a shot, the light went out, and all was dark where
+the light had been.
+
+Bill recovered from his shock almost as soon as he felt it, and joined
+with the shout:
+
+"Down with the doors! Down with the doors."
+
+The crash that followed, told that the frail obstacles had given way,
+and Bill cried out:
+
+"In and clean the crib out. Ghost or no ghost, give us light, and clean
+the crib out!"
+
+Cheer after cheer told that the house was entered, and a minute later,
+torches made from splintered doors and shutters, blazed in a dozen hands
+as the ruffians ran to and for in search of plunder.
+
+"The ghost. Find the ghost, or the woman!" yelled Bill.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+A MYSTERY.
+
+The excited and ruffianly crowd dashed to and fro, overturning the
+furniture, tearing aside curtains, and looking for plunder, but unable
+to find anything of value, beyond the furniture, or to see a single
+living person under the roof. Not a dollar in money, not a piece of
+plate rewarded their search.
+
+"Fire the crib! fire the crib!" came from fifty throats, and almost as
+soon as spoken, the act was consummated.
+
+Wild Bill, angered to find no one on whom to vent his wrath, or shake
+his thirst for revenge, looked on the blaze as it rose with gloomy
+satisfaction, muttering that he only wished the witch of a woman was
+burning in it.
+
+The crowd increased as the flames rose higher and tighter, but no one
+tried to check them, and soon it was but a smoldering mass of ruins
+where the pretty cottage had stood.
+
+But the late occupant, unharmed, was a mile away, and having just paid
+off and discharged her faithful servants, was on the point of mounting
+to ride off with the Texan and Mr. Pond, when the last shout of the
+dispersing crowd reached her ears.
+
+She smiled when she heard it, and said:
+
+"I can afford all the harm they have done, I led but a lonesome life
+there. I feel that the change I am about to make will be for the
+better."
+
+The three, with two loaded horses besides those they rode, now moved
+quietly but swiftly out of the suburbs of the town, where the horses had
+been stabled, and with the Texan leading the way, steered to the
+westward, having no compass but the stars.
+
+For an hour the three rode on, and then, pointing to some timber ahead,
+the Texan said:
+
+"Addie, there is where you will find him whom you seek. Tell him I have
+not altered any of my plans, and that I shall lay in camp to-morrow at
+Lone-tree Spring, an hour's gallop south of the Twenty-mile Creek. The
+next morning I will follow the trail we spoke of. And now, Addie,
+good-by, and don't forgot me."
+
+"You know I will not, I hope yet to see you happy, and to be happier
+than I am now. We shall meet again, perhaps, Mr. Pond, but good-night
+for now."
+
+And while the Texan and Mr. Pond remained still on their horses, she
+rode on, leading one pack-horse, toward a growth of trees seen dimly
+ahead.
+
+The Texan remained where he was until he heard her give the signal and
+receive an answer, and then turning to Pond, he said:
+
+"She is safe; we may as well move on. We have a long ride to where I
+intend to camp."
+
+"All right," said the other, "This night's work seems almost like a
+dream. I can hardly realize that Wild Bill would lead such a disgraceful
+crowd of ruffians, and do such a dastardly act as to burn a woman out of
+house and home."
+
+"Rum takes all the _man_ out of those who use it," said the Texan. "I
+use it myself sometimes, I know, but it is when I feel as if I was all
+giving out, and couldn't go through what was before me. And I feel
+abashed when I think I need such a stimulant to fire up my flagging
+nature."
+
+Pond made no reply, but rode on thoughtfully at the rapid pace which the
+other led, the pack animal keeping close in the rear. At last he asked:
+
+"Who did Miss Neidic expect to meet where we left her?"
+
+"A brave man who loves her dearly, but who has been driven in his
+desperation by cruel injustice to do some work which keeps him outside
+of towns and settlements for the present. His love is returned by her,
+and henceforth she will share his dangers and his hardships."
+
+"None can tell but those who test it, how deeply, how entirely, and how
+lasting a true woman loves," said Pond, with a sigh.
+
+"And none but a woman wronged can tell how bitterly she can hate!" said
+the other, as he dashed his spurs into his horse and galloped on.
+
+Miles were swiftly passed over, and the gray of dawn was just beginning
+to soften night's darkness in the east, when the Texan exclaimed:
+
+"Here we are; now for a rest of one day, at least."
+
+And as he spoke he drew up his horse by the side of a small pool of
+water, which trickled out from under the roots of a single large tree.
+For an acre or so around it there were bushes growing as high as the
+horses, but when light came, no other growth but that of short buffalo
+grass and prickly cactus could be seen.
+
+The Texan unsaddled his horse, and unloaded the pack animal before Pond
+could get his saddle ungirthed. Then the Texan sprang to his assistance,
+finished stripping the horse, and with a long lariat picketed it out in
+the best grass. His own horses he turned loose, saying they never would
+stray from camp.
+
+Then, taking his rifle, he stepped out from camp, saying he was going
+after meat.
+
+In fifteen or twenty minutes, Pond heard the crack of his rifle and in
+less than half an hour the young man was back, with the fat saddle of a
+young antelope on his shoulder.
+
+"Here is meat enough for to-day and to-morrow," he said. "Next day we
+will be on buffalo ground, and we'll have some hump ribs to roast."
+
+Gathering a few dry, light sticks, he soon had a hot and almost
+smokeless fire ablaze. On the coals of this he set his coffee-pot,
+broiled some meat, and while Mr. Pond looked on in surprise, he quickly
+had a nice breakfast of antelope steak, coffee, and a few hard biscuit
+which were in the pack.
+
+While Pond took hold and ate heartily, praising the food by his actions
+much as his words, the Texan ate lightly, yet all that he wanted--not
+touching the bread, but using meat entirely.
+
+"There'll be the more left for you," said he, when Pond noticed that he
+ate no bread. "I never care for anything but meat on the plains. It
+gives bone and muscle, and that is what we need here. The more simple
+the food, the better the health. We use ourselves to salt, but we would
+be just as well off without it. Eat hearty, and take a good nap. We have
+nothing to do to-day. The party whose trail will be our guide to the
+"Hills" will not start till late. We shall not move until to-morrow
+morning, and then I'll show you the coals of the camp-fire which they'll
+light to-night. There will be no need for any shelter but this tree
+overhead. Everything looks clean and dry sky-ward--there's no better
+camping ground than this for a couple on the plains. The water is good,
+feed plenty, and we don't require much fire this time of year."
+
+Pond, tired and sleepy, was only too glad to take the Texan's advice, so
+he spread his blanket, lay down, and soon was in the land of dreams.
+
+Meantime the Texan, with a small field-glass in his hand, mounted the
+tree, and from a perch on its uppermost limbs, scanned the prairie in
+all directions, but most often in the direction from which they had
+come.
+
+Nothing was in sight but wild game, scattered here and there, and he
+soon came down and prepared to take a rest on his own account.
+
+"They'll not pass till afternoon," he muttered, "and I may as well rest
+a few hours while I can in peace and safety."
+
+He took a long and curious look at the form of his sleeping traveling
+companion, and a strange smile flitted over his face, as he muttered:
+
+"A mystery, but I can solve it."
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+IN THE WILDS.
+
+If ever a man was astonished, when he responded to that after midnight
+signal at the mouth of Dead Man's Hollow, it was the outlaw, Persimmon
+Bill. He came from his place of concealment expecting to meet the Texan
+with news, and found instead Addie Neidic, and with her, on a pack
+horse, all the wealth and apparel she had in the world.
+
+"Addie, love, what does this mean?" he cried, as she sprang from the
+horse and threw herself into his arms.
+
+"It means this, Bill. I have come to stay with you, go where you go,
+live as you live, and die where you die!"
+
+"Addie, dearest, did I not tell you to wait till I could give you a home
+in peace and quietness!"
+
+"Yes, Bill, but there were those that would not let me wait. To-night,
+had it not been for thy Texan friend, most likely I would have been
+murdered by a mob of drunken ruffians led on by Wild Bill. Warned in
+time, I escaped with all that I had worth saving, except my house and
+furniture. Those they burned; I saw the blaze from my stable, where I
+went to get my horses to come to you."
+
+"By all that's fiendish, this is more than I can bear! I'll ride in with
+my Sioux and burn the cursed town!"
+
+"No, Bill; for my sake keep cool and hear me. I am glad it is done. I
+was wretched and lonely there--how lonely no words may tell. I was in
+constant anxiety on your account. I trembled daily, hourly, lest I
+should hear of your death or capture. Now I shall be with you, know of
+your safety, or if you are in peril, share the danger with you."
+
+"But, Addie, you can never endure the privations and the fatigue of such
+a life as I must lead at present. Soon I must be on a bloody war-path.
+We will have regular troops to meet, great battles to fight."
+
+"And it will be my glory and pride to be with you in all your perils--to
+show your red allies what a pale-faced woman dares and can do for him
+whom she loves."
+
+"Dearest, I see not how it can be helped. But I grieve to see you
+suffer."
+
+"Do not grieve, my love, while my face is bright with smiles. Do not let
+your heart be heavy while mine is full of joy. Think but this--I am
+thine until death. We will never part while life thrills our veins. Your
+triumphs shall be mine; I will glory in your courage, and in your
+enterprise. I have arms and well know their use. No warrior in all your
+following can ride better than I. That I am fearless I really believe,
+for twice inside of ten hours have I defied Wild Bill in his anger, and
+laughed when his hand was on his pistol. But take me to your camp. I am
+tired, and the night air is chilly; and take care of the pack horse. My
+silver and over one hundred thousand dollars in money is on his back,
+and what clothing I shall need for a time."
+
+"You bring a rich dowry, Addie, but your love is worth more than all the
+treasures the world could show. Come, darling, I will take you as the
+most precious gift a wild, bad man ever received."
+
+"You are not bad, Bill. You are my hero and my love!"
+
+Bill could only press his answer on her lips, and then with the bridle
+of her horses in his hand, and her arm linked in his, he walked back up
+the winding bed of the ravine for near a quarter of a mile.
+
+Then he emerged into an open space where there were full a hundred
+Indian ponies staked out, with their owners lying in groups about near
+small smoldering camp-fires. A few only were on guard, and these on
+seeing their white chief appear paid no apparent attention to the
+companion, though they doubtless saw her. It is the Indian's nature to
+be stoical and never to manifest surprise, no matter what occurs.
+
+Inside the line where the ponies were staked was a small brush house,
+and in front of this Bill halted with his led horses, with his own hands
+unsaddled one and unpacked the other, leaving packs and saddles in front
+of the house.
+
+Well he knew they were as safe there as they would have been behind
+bolts and bars in the settlements--even more safe.
+
+"Come in, my love," he said. "The Sioux will care for the horses. Come
+in and receive the best a fond heart can give in the way of shelter and
+comfort."
+
+"It is all I ask," she murmured, as with him she entered the "Outlaw's
+Home."
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+ON THE TRAIL.
+
+It was high noon when the young Texan woke up and when he rose Pond
+still lay sleeping. The former laughed lightly, as he rose and bathed
+his face in the limpid water, for the beard of the sleeper had got all
+awry, showing that it was false.
+
+"No need for a disguise here," said the Texan. "But let him keep it up.
+When the time comes I'll read him a lesson."
+
+Cutting some antelope stakes, the Texan built up a smokeless fire, and
+had them nicely broiled when Willie Pond woke up.
+
+"Mercy! how I have slept!" he said, as he looked at the sun, already
+fast declining toward the west.
+
+"You are not used to passing sleepless nights," said the Texan. "When we
+are fairly launched into the Indian country you may not sleep so sound.
+Take hold and eat. A hearty eater on the plains generally stands travel
+best. To-morrow, it is likely, we'll have a fifty-mile ride or more, if
+those Black Hillers get sobered down to their work. They'll do well if
+they make their twenty to-day."
+
+Pond went and bathed his face and hands in the limpid water before
+eating, and as he expressed it, "rubbed the sleep" out of his eyes; then
+he went at the toothsome steak with appetite not at all impaired by the
+pure open air he was breathing.
+
+The meal, taken with comfort and deliberation, occupied a half hour or
+more, and as there were no dishes to wash, "clearing up things" only
+consisting in tossing the bones out of the way, wiping their knives on a
+bunch of grass, scouring them with a plunge or two in the dry sand, they
+were all ready for next meal-time.
+
+"Your horse hears something, so does mine," said the Texan, pointing to
+the animals, which suddenly stopped feeding, and with their ears pricked
+forward, looked off to the east-ward.
+
+"I can see nothing. What can alarm them!" said Pond.
+
+"They hear the tramp of the Black Hills party, I think. Horses have far
+better hearing than we have, and will feel a jar of the ground that
+would not attract our attention. I want no better sentinel than my
+mustang, and your Black Hawk seems to take to the watch by instinct. I
+will go up on my look-out post and see if anything is in sight."
+
+Slinging the strap of his field-glass over his shoulder, the Texan
+hurriedly climbed up the tree. Seated among the top-most limbs, he
+adjusted his glass and looked away to the northeast.
+
+"There they are!" he cried.
+
+"Who? What?" exclaimed Pond, rather nervously.
+
+"The Black Hillers, struggling along mighty careless. Their route covers
+half a mile in length; when in good marching order it should not cover a
+hundred yards, with scouts in the rear, front, and on both flanks, at
+twice the distance. That is the way we travel in Texas."
+
+"Wild Bill has been a scout so long I should think he would know all
+about it," said Pond.
+
+"A heap them scouts know who travel with Uncle Sam's troop's!" said the
+Texan, in a tone of contempt. "Let them ride with a gang of Texan
+Rangers a few months and they'd learn something. Your troops can't move,
+or stop to water, without sounding their bugles to tell the Indians
+where they are. In the morning, all day, and at night, it is toot, toot
+with their infernal horns, and the reds know just where to find 'em. One
+of our Texan Ranger bands will travel a hundred miles and you'll not
+hear noise enough to wake a coyote from them all. These Black Hillers
+travel slow to-day. They're sore-headed from their spree, I reckon."
+
+"They deserve to be. Drunkenness always punishes the drunkard. I have no
+pity for them."
+
+"Can you see any sign of them from where you stand?" asked the Texan.
+
+Pond looked carefully off in the direction the other pointed, and
+replied:
+
+"No. They do not even raise dust."
+
+"Then we are safe here from observation. They go too slow to make dust,
+and they're moving over grass any way. It will be dark before they reach
+their camping-ground. But to make the next, which is full fifty miles
+away, they'll have to start earlier. Ah! what does that mean?"
+
+"What startles you?"
+
+"Nothing _startles_ me, but a couple of men from that party have dashed
+out from the line at a gallop, and they ride this way."
+
+"Heaven! I hope Bill--Wild Bill--is not one of them!" cried Pond,
+greatly excited. "Are you sure they are coming here?"
+
+"Riding _this way_ does not assume that they're coming _here!"_ said the
+Texan, coolly. "They may have flanked off to look for some fresh meat.
+Yes, that is it," he added. "They bear up to the north now; they want to
+go ahead of the party so as to kill something fresh for supper. Captain
+Jack kept sober when all the rest were drinking last night, and I'll
+wager he is one of the hunters, and most likely Sam Chichester is the
+other. We're safe from observation, Mr. Pond, so don't get nervous.
+We'll not see Wild Bill to-day."
+
+Pond smiled, but there was a tremor about him that showed he was easy to
+take alarm and hard to get over it.
+
+The Texan came down from the tree and busied himself in gathering some
+dry fuel--small sticks which would make a quick hot blaze and little or
+no smoke. Then he cut off some long thin flakes of antelope flesh from
+the saddle hanging on the tree, and half cooked, half dried it.
+
+"Meat may be a little unhandy to get in the rear of that straggling
+band," he said. "If we have a little on hand, it will do no hurt."
+
+"You are thoughtful," said Pond. "I would make a poor manager, I fear,
+on the plains. I should forget everything until it was needed."
+
+"You are not too old to learn," said the Texan, laughing.
+
+"Excuse my asking the question, but have you long been acquainted with
+that strange and beautiful woman, Addie Neidic?"
+
+"Not very long, myself. But I had a brother who knew her very well, and
+loved her almost to madness, She was his true friend, but she did not
+love him."
+
+"Is he living now?"
+
+"Living? _No!_ If ever you meet Wild Bill--but no, it is my secret. Ask
+me no more about him."
+
+Every word just spoken flew from the Texan's lips like sheets of fire;
+his eyes flashed and his face flushed, while his form trembled from head
+to foot.
+
+"Forgive me! I did not mean to wound your feelings!" said Pond, moved by
+the excitement of the other.
+
+"No matter; I know you didn't. No matter. It will all come right one of
+these days. I wish my heart was stone!"
+
+Pond was silent, for he saw the Texan's eyes fill with tears, and he
+seemed to know that nothing which he could say could soften a grief so
+deeply felt.
+
+The Texan was the first to speak.
+
+"Addie Neidic is a strange, but a noble girl," he said. "Her father was
+a rough sporting man, but her mother was a lady born and bred. The
+mother lived long enough to educate Addie in her own ways, but she died
+just as Addie was budding into beauty. Addie met her lover when he was a
+soldier at Fort Russell, near Cheyenne. After he was driven to desertion
+by cruelty and injustice, she met him from time to time, and when her
+father died, leaving her all his fortune, she moved up to Laramie. I
+think I know now the reason why--she could, meet him more often."
+
+"You said that he was an outlaw."
+
+"Yes; when he deserted he killed the two sentinels who were on guard
+over him, then killed a mounted officer and rode away on his horse. He
+was hunted for by whole companies as fast as they could be mounted, but
+he could not be taken. But after that, if a soldier or an officer rode
+alone a mile or more from the post, he seldom returned, but his body
+told that Persimmon Bill, the 'Soldier Killer,' as he was called, still
+lived around. Wild Bill has done bloody work--cruel work in his time,
+but Persimmon Bill has killed ten men to his one."
+
+"It is strange that an intelligent woman like Addie Neidic should love
+such a man."
+
+"No--he is both a martyr and a hero in her eyes. A more stately form, a
+nobler face, never met favor in the eyes of woman. To his foes fierce
+and relentless, to her he is gentle and kind. She will never meet aught
+but tenderness at his hands."
+
+"I wish I could have seen him."
+
+"You may yet see him, Mr. Pond. He travels the plains as free as the
+antelopes which bound from ridge to ridge. Adopted by the Sioux nation,
+known to them as the 'White Elk,' he has become a great chief, and their
+young braves follow in his lead with a confidence which makes them
+better than the solders sent to subdue them."
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+THE BLACK HILLERS EN ROUTE.
+
+The young Texan had judged rightly when he conjectured that it was Sam
+Chichester and Captain Jack that had ridden out from the straggling
+column of the Black Hillers, as he saw from his eyrie in the tree.
+
+They had two objects in doing so. The ostensible object was to reach the
+camping-ground first with some game for supper, but another was to
+converse, unheard by the others, on the probable dangers of the trip,
+and means to meet and overcome such dangers.
+
+"There is no doubt the Sioux are on the war-path," said Chichester to
+Captain Jack, as they rode on side by side.
+
+"None in the world. They've taken a hundred scalps or more already on
+the Black Hills route. The troops have been ordered to move up the
+Missouri and Yellowstone, and that will make them worse than ever. We'll
+be lucky if we get through without a brush. That was a mean thing, the
+burning out of that Neidic girl last night, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes, Crawford, and if Persimmon Bill ever comes across Wild Bill, _his
+goose is cooked!_ Mark that. There is not a surer shot, or a deadlier
+foe on earth then Persimmon Bill. He has defied the whole border for the
+past three years--ridden right into a military post and shot men down,
+and got away without a scratch. They say he has been adopted by the
+Sioux, and if he has, with such backing he'll do more mischief than
+ever."
+
+"I don't believe Bill would have injured the woman had he been sober. It
+was a mean thing to do any way, and I'm sorry any of our party had a
+hand in it."
+
+"So am I. But look, Jack, you can see tree-tops ahead. That is the
+timber on Twenty-mile Creek. There we camp. We'll spread a little here,
+and the one who sees a fat elk first will drop him. We'll keep within
+sight and hearing of each other, and if one fires the other will close
+on him."
+
+"All right, Sam."
+
+And the brave young scout, all the better for being ever temperate and
+steady, gently diverged to the right, while Chichester bore off to the
+left.
+
+Game in the shape of prairie hens rose right and left as they rode on,
+and every little while a band of antelopes, taking the alarm, would be
+seen bounding over the sandy ridges, while an elk farther off startled
+by the antelope, would take fright and trot off in style.
+
+The two hunters were now nearing the timber, and they rode more slowly
+and with greater caution.
+
+Suddenly, as Chichester rose over a small ridge, he came upon a band of
+a dozen or more noble elk, which trotted swiftly off to the right, where
+Captain Jack, seeing them coming, had sprung from his horse and crouched
+low on the ridge.
+
+Chichester saw his movement, and lowered the rifle which he had raised
+for a flying shot, for he knew by their course the elk would go so close
+to Crawford that he could take his pick among them and make a sure shot.
+
+The result justified his movement, for the noble animals, seeing only a
+riderless horse, scented no danger, and kept on until they were within
+easy pistol-shot of the experienced hunter.
+
+Crack went his rifle, and the largest, fattest elk of the band gave one
+mighty bound and fell, while the rest bounded away in another course,
+fully alarmed at the report of a gun so close and its effects so deadly
+to the leader of the band.
+
+"You've got as nice a bit of meat here as ever was cut up," cried
+Chichester to Captain Jack, as he came in at a gallop, while Crawford
+was cutting the throat of the huge elk. "The boys will have enough to
+choke on when we get to camp."
+
+"I reckon they'll not growl over this," said Jack, laughing. "I never
+had an easier shot. They came down from your wind, and never saw me till
+I raised with a bead on this one's heart."
+
+The two hunters had their meat all cut up and in condition for packing
+to camp when the column came up.
+
+One hour later, just as the sun began to dip beyond the trees on the
+creek side, the party went into camp, and soon, over huge and carelessly
+built camp-fires, slices of elk steak and elk ribs were roasting and
+steaming in a most appetizing way.
+
+The party were hungry, and the hungriest among them were those who had
+drank the hardest the night before, for till now they had not been able
+to eat. But the day's travel had worked some of the poison rum out of
+them, and their empty stomachs craved something good and substantial,
+and they had it in the fresh, juicy elk meat.
+
+It was a hard and unruly crowd to manage on the start. Chichester found
+it difficult to get men to act as sentinels, for they mostly declared
+that there was no danger of Indians and no need to set guards.
+
+Little did they dream that even then, within three hours' ride, or even
+less, there were enough blood-thirsty Sioux to meet them in fair fight,
+and defeat them, too.
+
+Only by standing a watch himself and putting Crawford on for the most
+dangerous hour, that of approaching dawn, did Captain Chichester manage
+to have his first night's camp properly guarded.
+
+Wild Bill, gloomy and morose, said he didn't "care a cuss" if all the
+Indians of the Sioux nation pitched upon them. He knew his time was
+close at hand, and what did it matter to him whether a red wore his
+scalp at his belt or some white man gloried in having wiped him out.
+
+But the night passed without disturbance, and a very early start was
+made next morning.
+
+Chichester made the men all fill their canteens with water, and the
+animals were all led into the stream to drink their fill, for there was
+a long, dry march to the next camping-ground.
+
+Chichester and Captain Jack both knew the route well, for they had both
+been over it in one of the first prospecting parties to the "Hills."
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+POND SEIZED WITH TERROR.
+
+Nothing of note occurred in the little camp at the Lone-tree Spring that
+first night. Just before sunset the young Texan and Willie Pond took a
+gallop of four or five miles to exercise their horses and use themselves
+to the saddle, and when they came back with freshened appetites, ate
+heartily, and afterward slept soundly.
+
+The next morning both woke with the sun, and after a hearty meal the
+pack-horse was loaded, the other animals saddled, and the route taken
+for the Hills.
+
+A ride of six or seven miles brought them into the trail of the larger
+party, and at noon, or a little before, the Texan halted on the
+camping-ground occupied by that party the night before.
+
+The embers of their fires were yet alive, and over them the Texan cooked
+dinner for himself and companion.
+
+Pointing to the bones and scraps of meat thrown around, the Texan
+laughed, and said:
+
+"They've plenty now, but before they get through they'll be more
+careful, for if the Indians are thick, game will be hard to get; and I'm
+thinking they'll find Indians before they're three days out."
+
+"You said the Sioux would be friendly to you?"
+
+"Yes; I have a talisman. Did you not see me put this eagle feather,
+tipped with crimson, in my hat last night before I rode out?"
+
+"Yes. Is that your talisman?"
+
+"It is. It is from the coronet of a Sioux chief, and was given to me as
+a safeguard."
+
+"I wish I had one."
+
+"Keep with me and you will not need it."
+
+"Do not fear that I will go far from you. Alone, I should feel utterly
+lost on these prairies. Where will we camp to-night?"
+
+"Very close to the party that is ahead of us. They will go to a creek
+and a piece of timber that is fully fifty miles from here. About a mile
+from where I think they will camp there is a small ravine, in which we
+will find what grass and water we need. It will be near nightfall when
+we get there, if we do our best in travel. But if we ride hard, we'll
+take the longer rest. I do not care to keep too close to them as a
+general thing, but to-night we can't help it."
+
+Their nooning was short, and taking the precaution to water their horses
+well, and fill their canteens, they rode forward over the well-defined
+trail quite swiftly.
+
+Toward night they could see the trail freshened, but nothing was in
+sight except a distant mark when night fell, which the Texan said was
+the timber where the party ahead would camp. Just as the sun was setting
+smoke was seen to rise in that direction, and the Texan spoke
+contemptuously of the carelessness which would thus expose a
+camping-place to those who were miles distant.
+
+"If a captain of a ranger band would do such a thing in Texas," he said,
+"his men would reduce him to the ranks and put one in his place who knew
+how to be cautious."
+
+"It surely is imprudent. But they are a large party to cook for, and
+must have large fires," said Pond.
+
+The young Texan laughed scornfully.
+
+"Let every man make his own fire, make such fires as you have seen me
+make, and the smoke could not be seen a rifle-shot away," was the
+answer. "That party will never reach the Hills. Mark that! If Indians
+are within twenty miles they'll see a smoke like that. But what is it to
+us? We're safe."
+
+"I am not so selfish as to wish harm to reach them, even if we are
+safe!" said Pond, testily.
+
+"That is as much as to say that I am selfish. Well, I acknowledge it. I
+go in for number one. If they can't take ordinary care of themselves,
+let them suffer."
+
+Willie Pond made no answer, but rode on in silence. Night was now upon
+them, and all was still except the thud of the galloping hoofs upon the
+plain.
+
+Suddenly a gleam of fire was seen far ahead. The Texan noted it, and
+swerved off to the left.
+
+"There is the camp," he said. "I can easily find our resting-place now.
+I was afraid we would not see their fires until we were right up to the
+timber. But they are careless with their fire as they are with their
+smoke. We shall have moonlight in an hour, and in less time we'll be in
+camp."
+
+He rode on now, more slowly, for the horses were tired, and he seemed to
+know so well where to go that there was no haste.
+
+The moon was just above the trees when the Texan led the way into a
+narrow ravine, with heavy timber on either side. Up this, full ten
+minutes they rode, and then an exclamation of pleased wonder broke from
+the lips of Willie Pond. For they came out into an open circular plain
+or area of several acres in extent, covered with rich grass and centered
+by a bright, mirror-like lake.
+
+"What a lovely spot!" cried Pond. "Who on earth would dream of finding
+such a paradise inside of gates so dark and rude."
+
+"One who had been here before," said the Texan. "But speak low, for
+careless as they may be over there in camp, some one might be outside
+listening."
+
+"Why, it is over a mile away, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, along the line of the wood. But over this cliff, were it crossed,
+it is not a quarter of that distance."
+
+And the Texan pointed to a rugged tree-crowned cliff on their right.
+
+"I will be careful," said Pond. "My enthusiasm breaks out when I see
+beautiful things. I can hardly restrain myself."
+
+"We will unsaddle and camp. Our horses are tired, and need food and
+drink," was all that the Texan said.
+
+And he at once unloaded the pack-horse, and unsaddled his mustang.
+
+Pond, becoming more handy, now did the same for Black Hawk, who seemed
+to take quite a fancy to his new master, curving his back proudly under
+his caressing touch.
+
+"Shall I picket him, as we did at the last camp?" asked Pond, when he
+had unsaddled his horse.
+
+"No, let him go with mine. They have been together long enough to mate,
+and they'll feed peaceably in company. Mine will never stray or
+stampede, and the other will not go off alone."
+
+The simple camp was soon fixed; and as they had cooked meat left, and
+biscuit, with plenty of water to drink, both agreed that there was no
+necessity to build any fire.
+
+"The smell of smoke might reach some sharp-nosed scout over there," said
+the Texan, "for the wind blows that way. We'll eat, and then turn in,
+for rest will come good to both of us."
+
+The horses plunged off to the water and drank, and then went to
+cropping the luxuriant grass, while their masters ate their suppers
+with appetites strengthened by their long and wearying ride.
+
+After they had supped, Willie Pond would, as usual, have enjoyed his
+dainty cigarette, had not the Texan warned him that tobacco smoke would
+scent farther than any other, and might be more dangerous, in betraying
+their presence, than anything else.
+
+So Mr. Pond had to forego his smoke. He took a blanket, and moving up to
+a little mossy knoll just under the edge of the cliff, threw himself
+down to sleep.
+
+The Texan also took his blanket, but he lay down near the saddles and
+packs.
+
+Pond was so very weary that he soon fell asleep. How long he slept he
+did not know, but a strange, oppressive dream woke him, and with the
+moonlight, shining full in the valley, while he lay shaded beneath a
+tree and the overhanging cliff, he saw a sight which froze his very
+heart with a mortal terror.
+
+The ravine by which he and his companion had entered was filled with
+mounted Indians, who were riding silently into the little valley.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+CHEATED OF THEIR PREY.
+
+Literally dumb with terror, so weak that he could not rise, Pond saw
+this strange cavalcade moving up toward the little lake, and looked to
+the spot where the Texan had lain down to see if he had yet taken the
+alarm.
+
+To his wonder and redoubled alarm, he saw the Texan not alone, but with
+a white man, dressed in buckskin, by his side, and a woman also,
+apparently in friendly converse, calmly waiting the Indian advance.
+
+Recognizing at a glance the woman as Addie Neidic, Pond realized that
+the man must be no other than Persimmon Bill, and that his followers
+were the blood-thirsty Sioux, whom he headed.
+
+"Heaven help me! There is some fearful treachery here. Wild Bill and his
+companions are lost if they are not warned in time. How can it be done?"
+
+How strangely, as if by intuition, strategy, and cunning thought come to
+some when environed by unlooked-for danger.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation, Pond so arranged his blanket that if
+glanced at it would appear he was yet sleeping under it, for he left his
+hat on the stone where his head had been, and his rifle leaning against
+the tree right over it.
+
+Then, bare-headed, with no weapons but his pistols and knife in his
+belt, he crept off up the hill-side with the silence and stealth of a
+scout who had been a life-time in the business. He wondered at himself
+as he began to scale the mountain-side, not daring to look back, how he
+could creep up amid those fearful crags so noiselessly, and how he could
+have got away unseen, when the Texan and those who were with him were
+not a pistol shot away.
+
+On, on he kept, ever seeking the shadowed spots, where no moonlight
+could reveal his form, until at last he was on the very crest of the
+hill. Looking down he plainly saw the camp-fires of the Black Hillers
+below. They were most likely buried in slumber, and, if they had
+sentinels out, his life would be endangered by a rapid approach. But of
+this he seemed not to think as he hurried almost recklessly down through
+thickets, over crags, and along rugged gulches.
+
+How he got down he hardly knew, but he was down, and rushing toward the
+nearest fire, when he heard a stern, short summons close in his front:
+
+"Halt! Who comes there?"
+
+A man, armed with rifle and pistols, stepped from the shadow of a tree,
+and Pond gasped out:
+
+"A friend. A friend come to save all your lives. There are a hundred
+Indians within a mile of you, led by the desperado Persimmon Bill."
+
+"Who are you?" was the stern inquiry.
+
+"Wild Bill will know me. Take me to him, quick!" was the response.
+
+"To our captain first. Come along!" said the sentinel.
+
+The next moment Willie Pond was in the presence of Sam Chichester and
+Captain Jack, telling his story.
+
+"It looks like truth, and if it is, the quicker we get out of here the
+better. If we can get fifteen or twenty miles the start we may keep it,"
+said Chichester.
+
+"He says Wild Bill knows him. Where is Bill?" cried Jack. "Ah, there he
+comes."
+
+Bill, awakened by hearing his name called, was rising, and now
+approached the party.
+
+Pond sprang forward, and addressed him hurriedly in whispered tones.
+
+Wild Bill for an instant seemed lost in astonishment, his first
+exclamation being, "Great Heaven! you here?"
+
+But after he heard the whispered words he only added, addressing
+Chichester:
+
+"Captain, this friend of mine will not lie. We are in danger, and he has
+risked his life to save us. I want a spare horse for him, and the sooner
+we get from here, the better for our hair."
+
+With as little noise as possible, the whole party were aroused, and the
+danger explained. Quickly the animals were saddled, and in less than
+twenty minutes the camp-ground was all deserted, though more fuel had
+been purposely heaped on the fires to keep up the appearance of
+occupation, if scouts should be sent to examine the camp.
+
+"It lacks four hours yet to daylight!" said Chichester to Captain Jack,
+"We'll get just that much start, for they'll make no attack until just
+as day begins to break. I know the ways of them red cusses only too
+well."
+
+"You haven't much the advantage of me in that kind of knowledge, Sam.
+But if that fellow was anywhere right as to their numbers, and the Sioux
+are well mounted, they'll bother us yet before we get to the hills, no
+matter if we do get eighteen or twenty miles the start!"
+
+"We'll give 'em a long race and a tough tussle before they get our hair
+any way!" said Chichester. "I wonder who that fellow is? Bill seems to
+like him right well, for they ride as close as their horses can move
+together. Bill has supplied him with a hat--he came in bare-headed, you
+know."
+
+"Yes; he must have had a terrible climb to get over to us. The only
+wonder is he got away undiscovered."
+
+"He said he left his blanket in a shape to make them think he was
+sleeping under it."
+
+"He must be an old hand to fool them so nicely."
+
+"He doesn't look like it, He doesn't ride like a scout or a
+plainsman--he sits his horse too gracefully."
+
+"No matter; one thing is certain. Wild Bill knows him well, trusts him,
+and they stick as close together as twins."
+
+"Yes, Captain Jack, I wish you'd take the rear and make those packers
+keep up. There must be no lagging. If a horse or mule fails they must be
+left. I'll keep the advance going."
+
+Thus the Black Hillers swept on at a gallop, knowing that a merciless
+fate was theirs if overtaken by the Sioux.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+THE PURSUIT.
+
+The young Texan had not dreamed of being followed so soon by Persimmon
+Bill and his Indians, and he had lain down to sleep as honestly and
+confidently as Willie Pond, when he dropped down by the saddles and
+pack.
+
+He was aroused by a touch on his shoulder, when he awoke and was
+surprised to find Bill and Addie Neidic standing by his side.
+
+"Where are your Indians?" was the first question the Texan asked, as
+Bill whispered, in a low tone:
+
+"I am here. I have followed the trail a little sooner than I thought I
+would. The Indians are in the ravine waiting for my signal to come in
+and let their horses feed and rest before we attack. Where is your
+friend?" continued Bill.
+
+"Sound asleep under that tree up there. He sleeps like a log, and will
+not wake till I shake him up. I never saw such a sleeper. Yesterday he
+spent most of the day snoring."
+
+"It is well. There is no use of alarming him before we are ready for
+work. I will give the signal, and let my warriors file in."
+
+The outlaw waved a blanket in the air, and the Indians silently filed
+into the valley. At another signal they turned their horses loose to
+graze, and then gathered in groups out on the plain to take food and
+rest themselves while their leader conversed with the Texan, whom having
+seen before, they knew as his friend.
+
+Meantime, the Texan motioning Addie Neidic and her lover to take seats
+on his blanket, conversed with the latter in a low tone on the plan of
+attack.
+
+"I shall not make it until just as day dawns--for two reasons," said the
+outlaw. "First, then they will keep the most careless guard; second,
+when light is coming, we can see how to kill, and how to save the two
+whose lives are to be spared. We will do the work in a hurry when it is
+done. I have given my warriors their orders; most of them know Wild Bill
+and Captain Jack, for both have been on the reservations often when they
+have been in. For these reds can go where I cannot, and get arms and
+ammunition where I would not dare apply for them."
+
+"Shall I not make you and Addie some coffee?" asked the Texan. "I can do
+it without danger, for I have a small alcohol lamp in my pack, which I
+had to keep for use when I could not get fuel.
+
+"It will be refreshing, indeed, if there is no risk in making it," said
+Addie Neidic.
+
+"There is none, and I will soon have it made," was the reply. Shaded
+from even Indian observation by the blanket he raised on some bushes,
+the young Texan speedily made a quart cupful of strong coffee, and
+shared it between the lady and her outlaw lover. It and some cooked meat
+he had gave them strength, and then all three lay down like the others
+to rest for an hour or two, the outlaw bidding one of his warriors keep
+watch, and to wake him when the morning star was seen over the trees in
+the east.
+
+And little dreaming that their intended victims were far away from their
+camp, the Indians and their leader took rest preparation to their deadly
+work.
+
+When his warrior sentinel awoke him, Persimmon Bill found that the
+morning star was well up, and it was full time to be moving toward the
+scene of action.
+
+"You will stay here in the valley, dear Addie, till we come back," he
+said. "We will steal away quietly, and not wake that sleeping stranger
+if it can be helped, for he might, in his terror, fire his gun, or in
+some way give an alarm. Should he wake, hearing firing over there, keep
+him quiet with persuasion or your revolver until we return, and then if
+he is obstreperous, I will quiet him."
+
+"Let me go with you, Bill," she said. "I am not afraid."
+
+"It must not be, dear Addie, There is no need of your being exposed
+_there,_ and it is well to have _him_ watched here. Our main certainty
+of complete success is in a surprise. The least alarm may prevent it."
+
+"I will remain then," she said. "And you need not fear for any alarm
+from him--for I know I can keep him quiet should he wake. I have a keen
+persuader here, if I have to use it."
+
+And she touched a poniard in her belt, which also contained two good
+revolvers.
+
+"An outlaw's bride," she added, smiling, "must be prepared to take care
+of herself."
+
+The Indians now began silently to form their march, as they saw their
+white leader mount, and the young Texan also get his horse. The Black
+Hawk seemed uneasy that his master was not at hand, and the Texan was
+obliged to tie him by the side of the horse ridden by Addie Neidic
+before he would be quiet.
+
+"It is strange that Mr. Pond does not wake with all this noise," said
+the Texan, as he rode off with Persimmon Bill. "But as I told you, he is
+the soundest sleeper I ever traveled with."
+
+The Indians now filed away out of the valley as silently as they entered
+it, for, knowing the close vicinity of the other camp, they were aware
+how necessary it was to be cautious.
+
+And now Addie Neidic stood alone, while the morning star rose higher and
+higher, gazing at what she supposed was the sleeping man on the knoll.
+
+The moon had got so far around that she could see his hat, the rifle
+against the tree, and the outlines of his form, as she believed.
+
+"I will move up and secure his rifle," she thought, after the band had
+been gone some time. "He might wake; and in his first alarm use it
+foolishly."
+
+So she moved with a noiseless step within reach of the gun, and the next
+moment it was in her possession. Then she looked down, to see if he
+showed signs of waking. To her surprise, she saw no motions of a
+breathing form under the blanket. A closer look told her that if a form
+had been beneath the blanket, or a head under that hat, it was gone.
+And, feeling with her hand under the blanket, she, found it cold; no
+warm living form had been there for hours.
+
+"He has been alarmed, seen us, and crept away--perhaps is hiding in
+terror in the brush," she muttered.
+
+She did not even then realize that he might have fled away to alarm the
+other camp. She did not even understand several shrill yells, which
+reached her ear from over the hill. She had not been with the Sioux long
+enough to know their cries. These yells were the signal cries of scouts
+sent in, who had found a deserted camp. She only wondered, after hearing
+the yells, that she did not hear firing--the sounds of battle raging.
+
+While she yet wondered, day dawned, finding her standing there by the
+empty blanket of Willie Pond, holding his rifle, and looking up the hill
+to see if he would not creep out, now that light had come and the
+Indians had gone.
+
+A shrill neigh from the black horse called her attention toward the
+animal, and she saw the Texan riding into the valley on a keen run.
+
+"Where is Bill?" she asked, as she ran to meet the rider, with Pond's
+blanket, hat, and rifle in her hand.
+
+"Gone at full speed with his warriors on the trail of the Black Hillers,
+who have been alarmed in some way, and, have got at least two hours
+start. He sent me back to bring you and Pond along."
+
+"Here is all of Mr. Pond that can be found," said Addie, holding up what
+she had found. "I went to the nest, the bird had flown, and the nest was
+cold."
+
+The Texan rode quickly to the spot, and in a moment saw the trail over
+the ridge made by Pond when he had escaped.
+
+"It was he who gave the alarm--him whom I believed so sleepy!" he
+muttered. "He must have seen Bill and the Indians when they first came,
+arranged his blanket and hat as you found it, and crept over the hill.
+When I cautioned him to keep quiet, I told him how near and in what
+direction they were. I see it all. Green as I took him to be, he has
+outwitted us all!"
+
+"It is so. This is his horse--a noble animal, too. We will take that
+with us."
+
+"Of course; and we must hurry on, for Bill is miles on the trail
+already. He will be even more surprised than we when he knows how the
+Black Hillers got warning. I'll not give much for Mr. Pond's hair," said
+the Texan.
+
+In a few seconds the horse which Addie had ridden was saddled and ready,
+and, leaving his pack-horse behind, but leading the Black Hawk, the
+young Texan, with Addie Neidic by his side, dashed at full speed over
+the valley, and out of the ravine.
+
+Once out on the open plain, they could see far away to the west a cloud
+of dust. It was made by the Sioux under the White Elk, who were pushing
+the horses to their wildest speed on the trail of the fugitives. This
+trail the Texan and Addie Neidic followed at their utmost speed.
+
+The double trail made by the Black Hillers and the pursuing Indians
+would have been plain indeed to follow had not the column of dust served
+as a guide.
+
+With their horses at full speed, and better than the general run of
+Indian ponies, the Texan and his fair companion gained slowly but surely
+on the Indians, and within an hour had passed the rear of their column,
+and were pressing well to the front.
+
+Yet it was noon when they ranged alongside of Persimmon Bill himself,
+and reported the discovery Addie Neidic had made.
+
+"One more scalp ahead of us," was all he said, when he heard the report.
+
+And he pressed on still faster.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+UNLOOKED-FOR AID.
+
+With their heavily-laden pack-horses, lengthy as their start was, the
+party under Chichester saw their pursuers plainly in their rear before
+the day was two-thirds passed, and Captain Jack, hurrying up the rear
+all he could, sent word to Chichester that the reds were gaining
+rapidly.
+
+Chichester sent word back to press the rear forward at its utmost speed.
+He could see timber ahead, and if they could only reach it, they might
+be able to make a stand. Satisfied, from the report of Willie Pond, that
+over one hundred well-armed and well-mounted Indians were on his trail,
+fearful that many of his men would flinch in battle, he dared not, with
+the few that were true, make a stand on the open plain.
+
+Had all been like Wild Bill, California Joe, and Captain Jack, he would
+have halted, rested his horses, and given the reds battle rather than
+fly from even treble his number. But he knew well that a few cowards
+would weaken the rest, and he wanted to get some shelter before he met
+such odds.
+
+The timber was yet fully two hours' ride distant, half of the
+pack-horses had given out and been left, and many of the mounted men
+complained that they could not keep their horses much longer in the
+column.
+
+Sam Chichester had been obliged to slacken the pace in front, and the
+enemy were gaining so fast that the glitter of their arms, could be seen
+even and the dust-cloud that rose above them.
+
+Suddenly another column of dust was seen, and this appeared to come from
+the direction of the timber, though south of the route the Black Hillers
+were taking.
+
+"Men!" muttered Sam Chichester, "there's no use in our running much
+farther. If that new cloud of dust is made by Indian's, all that we can
+do is to sell our lives as dearly as we can. We will soon know one thing
+or the other."
+
+"They're not on the line we're taking. They can't be coming for us,"
+said Captain Jack, who had ridden to the front. "They're coming in our
+flank."
+
+"And night is coming, too," growled California Joe. "If we can keep on
+for two hours more, we'll have darkness to shield us, for no red will
+fight in the dark without he attacks, and has camp-fires to light up
+with."
+
+"We'll keep them, on while an animal will move, and when we must, turn
+and fight for life or vengeance, if we must go under," said Chichester.
+"Forward, men--forward once more!"
+
+Again Captain Jack took the post of honor, for such indeed was the rear
+guard in this case. Suddenly, on looking back, he saw that the Indians,
+instead of gaining, had come to a halt.
+
+"They've given it up! they've given it up!" he cried, sending a
+messenger forward to Captain Chichester to slacken the speed of the
+column.
+
+It was now almost sundown, and the men in the column, choked and
+thirsty, weary beyond expression, could hardly believe the news was
+true. They were soon satisfied, though, that it was; but it was not for
+an hour yet, when twilight was beginning to gather, that they learned
+the real cause of their present safety.
+
+The Indians would have been upon them before night set in, had they not
+first discovered the nature of the dust cloud to the south-west, or
+rather who it was raised by. The field-glass of the Texan, even miles
+and miles away, had detected the flutter of cavalry guidons amid the
+dust, and showed that mounted troops were near enough to come to the aid
+of the Black Hill men before they could be crushed and their scalps
+taken.
+
+So, much against his will, Persimmon Bill was obliged to slacken his
+pace, and soon to turn his course, so, as by a night march, to put his
+warriors beyond the reach of those who might turn on them.
+
+When night fell, Chichester, joined by two companies of cavalry, bound
+for the Hills, under orders to join forces already on the way by another
+route, moved slowly to a camping-ground in the timber, for which he had
+been heading hours back.
+
+The horses of the troops were weak from scant forage, and the commanding
+officer did not feel it his duty to wear them out chasing Indians,
+though he held himself ready to protect the mining party as long as they
+remained with him.
+
+And they were just too willing to go on with such an escort, even with
+the loss of all the pack animals left on their trail; and had Persimmon
+Bill only halted, instead of falling back, he would have found that
+there was no danger of pursuit.
+
+Chichester and Crawford, when they compared notes, and found not a man
+of their party lost, though half its property was gone, felt satisfied
+that it was no worse, for at one time it seemed to both that nothing was
+left to them but to sell their lives as dearly as they could.
+
+In a well-guarded camp all were settled before the moon rose, and never
+was rest more needed by animals and men.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+ON THE DEATH-TRAIL.
+
+Bivouacked on the treeless plain, so far from the old trail and from the
+timber ahead that they could see no sign of the Black Hillers or the
+troops, the next morning's sun rose on the band of Sioux led by
+Persimmon Bill. Used to all kinds of exigencies, the red men did not
+mind either a lack of food or of water for so short a time. They were
+only angered with the thought that those whom they had deemed an easy
+prey had escaped them.
+
+As soon as it was light, Persimmon Bill had the captured pack-horses
+examined, and it was found that several of them were laden with
+provisions. Others had ammunition and stores, and on some of them were
+found kegs of liquor.
+
+These the wary leader at once destroyed, telling his followers that
+there was no foe so deadly to the red man as this fire-water and not one
+drop should pass his lips or theirs. The provisions were at once
+distributed among them, as also the stores, but the liquor was given to
+the thirsty sands, where at least it could do no harm.
+
+Then a council was held by the leader with the chiefs and head warriors
+of the band, and it was decided that it would be foolish to pursue the
+Black Hill people farther, now that troops were with them, unless a
+large band of Sioux could be found. For it is not Indian policy to risk
+battle against odds, or where there is danger of great loss and little
+gain. To reach water and good hunting-grounds was their first necessity;
+after that they could consider where next to go. Sitting Bull was
+rallying all the tribes for war, and the "White Elk" had promised to
+join him.
+
+Gloomily the young Texan heard all this talk, and at its close, when a
+decision had been arrived at, he said:
+
+"Here we must part. I follow the trail of Wild Bill, if I follow it
+alone. I had hoped to see him die a slow and cruel death, where I could
+have heard him plead, and plead in vain for mercy. But that hope is
+gone, if he reaches the Hills in safety. But he cannot live--he shall
+not! I have sworn to kill him, and I will! The spirit of him who fell at
+Abilene cries up from a bloody grave for vengeance, and the cry shall be
+answered. You have been kind to me Addie Neidic, and so has he to whom
+your heart is given. I shall never forget it. But our courses now lie
+apart--I follow yonder trail, while you go I know not where. We may not
+meet again--if we do, I shall tell you Wild Bill is dead!"
+
+"Stay with us. I will yet help you to your vengeance," said Persimmon
+Bill.
+
+"No; it will be too long delayed. I am hot on the death-trail now, and I
+will not leave it. Fear not for me. I shall hover near them till they
+reach the Hills, and then I will not wait long to fulfill my work. When
+the deed is done, if I still think life is precious, and his friends
+press me too hard, I may look for safety, as you have done, with the
+Sioux."
+
+"Come and you shall find in me a sister, and in him a brother," cried
+Addie Neidic.
+
+"_A brother?_ I had one once," came in a low, sobbing cry from the young
+Texan's lips; then, with his head bowed, and scalding tears rolling down
+his cheeks, he drove the spurs into his horse, and sped away swiftly in
+the direction of the old trail.
+
+The Black Hawk horse, saddled and bridled, but riderless, galloped on by
+the side of the Texan's fleet mustang, with no wish to part from his
+company.
+
+"He had death in his eye! He will kill Wild Bill, and we shall never see
+him again," said Persimmon Bill. "The miners are rough, and condemn
+before they try, and hang as soon as condemnation is spoken. I pity the
+boy--for he is but a boy."
+
+Addie Neidic smiled.
+
+"We shall see your boy again," she said, "Something seems to whisper to
+me that his fate is in some way linked with ours. I, too, feel sure that
+he will kill Wild Bill, and then escape to join us. And you, my hero,
+will rise till all these Indian nations call you king. How these who
+follow you look up to you now, obeying every word or sign. And think, on
+these vast plains, and in the endless range of hills, valleys, and
+mountains, there must be countless thousands, who want but a daring,
+skillful leader to make them the best light troops in the world."
+
+"You are ambitions for me, dearest," said Bill, with a strange, sad
+smile. "I hope to prove worthy of your aspirations. But we must move. I
+head now for the Big Horn Valley, to meet Sitting Bull."
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+"SAVE, OH, SAVE MY HUSBAND!"
+
+"Safe and in port at last, as old Cale Durg used to say, when a scout
+was over and he was back in garrison."
+
+This was the joyous exclamation of Captain Jack Crawford, as he turned
+to Sam Chichester when their party rode into the settlement at the
+Deadwood Mines in the Black Hills. Escorted nearly all the way by the
+cavalry they had so providentially met, they had been troubled no more
+by the Indians, and excepting the loss of some horses, and part of their
+"fit-out" and stores, had suffered nothing. Not a man had been hurt, and
+best of all, they came in sober, for the benzine had all gone with the
+lost packs, for it was heaviest on the mules, as it would have been on
+the men, had it not been host.
+
+"I'm glad the trip is over. My temper never has been more tried," said
+Chichester. "The most of the men have had their own way, though when we
+started they promised on honor to obey me as captain. But honor is a
+scarce article with the majority of them. Now they're here, they'll go
+it with a looseness."
+
+"You bet," was Crawford's sententious remark. "Wild Bill will be in his
+element. Look at the signs. Rum, faro, monte, all have a swing here, you
+can swear."
+
+"Men, into line one minute, and then we part!" shouted Captain
+Chichester to his party.
+
+For a wonder, with temptation on every side, the weary riders obeyed,
+and drew up in a straggling line to hear their leader's parting speech.
+
+"Men, I promised to bring you here safely if I could, but to get all of
+you here that I could, any way. I've kept my promise we're here."
+
+"Ay! Three cheers for Sam Chichester!" shouted Wild Bill.
+
+The cheers were given, and Chichester said:
+
+"Thank you, boys. Now do me one favor. You are here in a busy place, and
+I see by the sign that benzine is about as plenty as water. Touch it
+light, and do behave, yourselves, that my name will not be disgraced by
+any of Sam Chichester's crowd. Every man is his own master now, and must
+look out for himself. I wish you all good luck, and shall work hard for
+it myself."
+
+The speech was over, and in a second the line melted away and every man
+was seeking quarters or pitching into the benzine shops.
+
+Wild Bill would have been the first to go there, had not his companion,
+Willie Pond, said, in a low tone:
+
+"Bill, please get quarters for you and me before you do anything else.
+You know what you have promised. Remember, if it had not been for me,
+neither you nor one of this party would ever have got here."
+
+"You're right. But I'm so cussed dry!" muttered Bill. "You're right,
+I'll find housing for us two before a drop passes my lips."
+
+And Bill rode on to the upper part of the town, as it might be called,
+where some men were putting up a new shanty, in fact, just putting the
+finishing touch on it by hanging a door.
+
+"Will you sell that shebang?" asked Bill, of the man who seemed to be
+the head workman.
+
+"Yes, if we get enough. We can build another. What will you give?"
+
+"These two horses, and a century," said Bill, pointing to the animals
+ridden by himself and companion, and holding up a hundred-dollar bill
+which Pond had furnished him.
+
+"O. K. The house is yours!" said the man. "Boys, put for timber, and
+we'll have another up by sunset."
+
+Bill and his companion dismounted, removed their blankets, arms, and
+saddle-bags into the house, gave up the horses and were at home. It did
+not take long to settle there.
+
+* * * * * * * *
+
+Night had fallen on the town of Deadwood, but not the calm which
+generally comes with night where the laborer is but too glad to greet
+the hour of rest. Lights flashing through chinks in rude cabins, lights
+shimmering through canvas walls, songs, shouts, laughter, curses, and
+drunken yells made the place seem like a pandemonium on earth.
+
+Almost every other structure, either tent, cabin, or more pretentious
+framed house, was either a saloon or gambling-hell, or both combined.
+And all these seemed full. The gulches, sinks, and claims that had been
+the scene of busy labor all the day were now deserted, and the gold just
+wrenched from the bowels of the earth was scattered on the gambling
+table, or poured into the drawer of the busy rumseller.
+
+At this same hour, a man rode into the edge of the town on a noble black
+horse, leading a tired mustang. Both of these animals he staked out in a
+patch of grass, leaving the saddles on, and the bridles hanging to the
+saddle-bow of each. Then he placed his rifle against a tree near by,
+took the old cartridges out of a six-shooter and put in fresh ones. This
+done with the greatest deliberation, he pulled his slouch hat well over
+his face, entered the nearest saloon, threw down a silver dollar, and
+called for brandy.
+
+A bottle and glass were set before him. He filled the glass to the brim,
+drank it off, and walked out.
+
+"Here, you red-haired cuss, here!" cried the bar-keeper. "Here's a half
+comin' to you; we only charge half-price when it goes by wholesale!"
+
+The joke fell useless, for the red-haired man had not remained to hear
+it.
+
+In the largest hall in the place, a heavy gambling game was going on.
+There was roulette, faro, and monte, all at different points.
+
+Before the faro-table there was the greatest gathering.
+
+Wild Bill, furnished with money by the person known to us so far as
+Willie Pond, was "bucking against the bank" with, his usual wonderful
+luck, and the crowd centered around him as a character more noted and
+better known than any other who had yet come to Deadwood.
+
+"I'll bet my whole pile on the jack!" shouted Wild Bill, who had taken
+enough strong drink to fit him for anything.
+
+"Do be careful, Bill--do be careful!" said a low, kind voice just behind
+him.
+
+It was that of Willie Pond.
+
+"Oh, go home and mind your business. I'll break this bank to-night, or
+die in the trial!" cried Bill, defiantly.
+
+"You'll die before you break it!" shrieked out a shrill, sharp voice,
+and the red-haired Texan sprang forward with an uplifted bowie-knife,
+and lunged with deadly aim at Bill's heart, even as the person we have
+so long known as Willie Pond shrieked out:
+
+"Save, oh, save my husband!"
+
+But another hand clutched the hilt of the descending knife and the hand
+of a short, thickset, beetle-browed desperado, was shouted, as he drew a
+pistol with his other hand:
+
+"Wild Bill is my game. No one living shall cheat me of my revenge! Look
+at this scar, Bill--you marked me for _life_ and now I mark you for
+_death!_"
+
+And even as he spoke, the man fired, and a death-shot pierced Wild
+Bill's heart.
+
+The latter, who had risen to his feet, staggered toward the Texan, who
+struggled to free his knife-hand from the clutch of the real assassin,
+and with a wild laugh, tore the false hair from the Texan's head. As a
+roll of woman's hair came down in a flood of beauty over her shoulders,
+Bill gasped out:
+
+"Jack McCall, I'm thankful to you, even though you've killed me. Wild
+Bill does not die by the hand of a _woman!"_
+
+A shudder, and all was over, so far as Wild Bill's life went.
+
+His real and true wife wept in silence over his body, while sullen, and
+for a time silent, the supposed Texan stood and gazed at the dead body.
+
+Then she spoke, addressing McCall:
+
+"Villain, you have robbed me of my revenge! for by my hand should that
+man have fallen. No wrong he could have done you can be more bitter than
+that which put me on his death-trail, and made me swear to take his
+life.
+
+"Two years ago a young man left a ranch close to the Rio Grande border
+with a thousand head of cattle, which had been bought from him, to be
+paid for when delivered in Abilene, Kansas. He was noble, brave,
+handsome. He was good and true in all things. He was the only hope of a
+widowed mother, the very idol of a loving sister, whose life seemed
+linked with his. He promised when he left those he loved and who so
+loved him that he would hasten back with the proceeds of the sale, and
+then, with his mother and sister, he would return to the birthplace of
+the three, to the old Northern homestead, where his father's remains
+were buried, buy the old estate, and settle down to a quiet and a happy
+life. Long, anxiously, and prayerfully did that mother and sister wait
+for his return. Did he come? No; but the soul-blighting news came,
+which, like a thunderbolt, struck that mother--my mother--dead! Wild and
+despairing, I heard it--heard _this._
+
+"The son, the brother, who never used a drop of strong drink in all his
+life; who never uttered an oath, or raised a hand in unkindness to man
+or woman, had been murdered--killed without provocation--no chance to
+defend his life, no warning to prepare for another world--shot down in
+mere wantonness. There lies the body of him who did it. Do you wonder
+that, over my dead mother's body, girl though I was, I swore to follow
+to the death him who killed my brother? It is not my fault that I have
+not kept my oath. I would have done it had I known that you, his
+friends, would have torn me limb from limb before his body was cold."
+
+"And served him right!" said an old miner, whose eyes were dimmed with
+moisture while the Texan girl told her story.
+
+"Where is McCall? His act was murder," cried Sam Chichester.
+
+"He has sloped, but I'll take his trail, and if there is law in Montana
+he shall hang," said California Joe, who bounded from the house, when it
+was discovered that the murderer had slipped away in the moment of
+excitement.
+
+How well California Joe kept his promise, history has already recorded.
+Followed over many a weary mile of hill and prairie, McCall was finally
+arrested, tried and convicted, as well by his own boast as the evidence
+of others, and he was hanged.
+
+But one glance at our heroine, for such the red-haired Texan is.
+
+With a look of haughty defiance, she asked:
+
+"Have I done aught that requires my detention here?"
+
+"No," said Captain Jack; "thank Heaven you have not. We'd make a poor
+fist at trying a woman by Lynch law, if you had done what you meant to."
+
+"Then I go, and few will be the white faces I ever see again!" she
+cried.
+
+The next moment she passed out, and as the crowd followed to see whither
+she went, she was seen to spring on a coal-black horse which stood
+unhitched before the door, and on it she rode at wild speed away toward
+the north-west, while a saddled but unridden mustang followed close
+behind her.
+
+The course she took led toward the regions where Sitting Bull, in force,
+awaited the attack of the soldiers then on his trail.
+
+[THE END.]
+
+
+"DIAMOND DICK, JR'S TRUNK CHECK; or, THE MAN IN THE SILVER MASK," by W.
+B, Lawson will be published in the next number (193) of the DIAMOND DICK
+LIBRARY.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Bill's Last Trail, by Ned Buntline
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