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diff --git a/old/64613-0.txt b/old/64613-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cf3158d..0000000 --- a/old/64613-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11772 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Buffalo Bill's Weird Warning, by Colonel -Prentiss Ingraham - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Buffalo Bill's Weird Warning - Dauntless Dell's Rival - -Author: Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - -Release Date: February 23, 2021 [eBook #64613] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Edwards, Susan Carr and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO BILL'S WEIRD WARNING *** - - - - - Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning - - OR, - - Dauntless Dell’s Rival - - - BY - Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - - Author of the celebrated “Buffalo Bill” stories published in the - BORDER STORIES. For other titles see catalogue. - - - [Illustration: Colophon] - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION - PUBLISHERS - 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York - - - - - +----------------------------------+ - | | - | Copyright, 1908 | - | By STREET & SMITH | - | ----- | - | Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning | - | | - +----------------------------------+ - - - (Printed in the United States of America) - - All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign - languages, including the Scandinavian. - - - - - CONTENTS - - PAGE - IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY 1 - I. MYSTERIOUS DOINGS. 5 - II. ANOTHER STRANGER IN CAMP. 18 - III. CAPTAIN LAWLESS. 30 - IV. THE INDIAN GIRL. 37 - V. WAH-COO-TAH AGAIN. 50 - VI. AT THE FORTY THIEVES MINE. 63 - VII. LAYING THE “GHOST.” 78 - VIII. THE FIGHT AT THE ORE-DUMP. 89 - IX. DELL AND CAYUSE ALSO DELAYED. 95 - X. THE STRANGER AND THE STEER. 107 - XI. A GIFT WITH A STRING TO IT. 119 - XII. THE “FORTY THIEVES MINE.” 131 - XIII. DELL AND WAH-COO-TAH. 144 - XIV. LITTLE CAYUSE ON GUARD. 163 - XV. THE RESCUE OF NOMAD AND WILD BILL. 176 - XVI. THE CURTAIN-ROCK. 183 - XVII. THE TURN OF FORTUNE’S WHEEL. 195 - XVIII. THE ROUND-UP AT SPANGLER’S. 202 - XIX. THE STAGE FROM MONTEGORDO. 209 - XX. DOUBLE-CROSSED. 222 - XXI. BUFFALO BILL AND GENTLEMAN JIM. 234 - XXII. LETTER, RING, AND LOCKET. 241 - XXIII. PICTURE-WRITING. 253 - XXIV. ON THE WAY TO MEDICINE BLUFF. 260 - XXV. A COWED OUTLAW. 273 - XXVI. CHAVORTA GORGE AND PIMA. 280 - XXVII. A BUSY TIME FOR CAYUSE. 293 - XXVIII. A HAPPY REUNION. 300 - XXIX. CONCLUSION. 309 - - - - - IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY - - (BUFFALO BILL). - - -It is now some generations since Josh Billings, Ned Buntline, and -Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, intimate friends of Colonel William F. -Cody, used to forgather in the office of Francis S. Smith, then -proprietor of the _New York Weekly_. It was a dingy little office on -Rose Street, New York, but the breath of the great outdoors stirred -there when these old-timers got together. As a result of these -conversations, Colonel Ingraham and Ned Buntline began to write of -the adventures of Buffalo Bill for Street & Smith. - -Colonel Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa, February 26, 1846. -Before he had reached his teens, his father, Isaac Cody, with his -mother and two sisters, migrated to Kansas, which at that time was -little more than a wilderness. - -When the elder Cody was killed shortly afterward in the Kansas -“Border War,” young Bill assumed the difficult rôle of family -breadwinner. During 1860, and until the outbreak of the Civil War, -Cody lived the arduous life of a pony-express rider. Cody volunteered -his services as government scout and guide and served throughout -the Civil War with Generals McNeil and A. J. Smith. He was a -distinguished member of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry. - -During the Civil War, while riding through the streets of St. Louis, -Cody rescued a frightened schoolgirl from a band of annoyers. In true -romantic style, Cody and Louisa Federci, the girl, were married March -6, 1866. - -In 1867 Cody was employed to furnish a specified amount of buffalo -meat to the construction men at work on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. -It was in this period that he received the sobriquet “Buffalo Bill.” - -In 1868 and for four years thereafter Colonel Cody served as scout -and guide in campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. It was -General Sheridan who conferred on Cody the honor of chief of scouts -of the command. - -After completing a period of service in the Nebraska legislature, -Cody joined the Fifth Cavalry in 1876, and was again appointed chief -of scouts. - -Colonel Cody’s fame had reached the East long before, and a great -many New Yorkers went out to see him and join in his buffalo hunts, -including such men as August Belmont, James Gordon Bennett, Anson -Stager, and J. G. Heckscher. In entertaining these visitors at Fort -McPherson, Cody was accustomed to arrange wild-West exhibitions. In -return his friends invited him to visit New York. It was upon seeing -his first play in the metropolis that Cody conceived the idea of -going into the show business. - -Assisted by Ned Buntline, novelist, and Colonel Ingraham, he started -his “Wild West” show, which later developed and expanded into “A -Congress of the Rough Riders of the World,” first presented at Omaha, -Nebraska. In time it became a familiar yearly entertainment in the -great cities of this country and Europe. Many famous personages -attended the performances, and became his warm friends, including Mr. -Gladstone, the Marquis of Lorne, King Edward, Queen Victoria, and the -Prince of Wales, now King of England. - -At the outbreak of the Sioux, in 1890 and 1891, Colonel Cody served -at the head of the Nebraska National Guard. In 1895 Cody took up the -development of Wyoming Valley by introducing irrigation. Not long -afterward he became judge advocate general of the Wyoming National -Guard. - -Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) died in Denver, Colorado, on January -10, 1917. His legacy to a grateful world was a large share in -the development of the West, and a multitude of achievements in -horsemanship, marksmanship, and endurance that will live for ages. -His life will continue to be a leading example of the manliness, -courage, and devotion to duty that belonged to a picturesque phase -of American life now passed, like the great patriot whose career it -typified, into the Great Beyond. - - - - - BUFFALO BILL’S WEIRD WARNING. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - MYSTERIOUS DOINGS. - - -“What was that, Crawling Bear?” - -“Ugh! Fire-gun make um big ‘boom.’” - -“It was a fire-gun, all right, but where did the report come from? -That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” - -Two horsemen were riding along a bleak, desolate-looking cañon, on -route to the mining-camp known as Sun Dance. One was a white man, and -the other an Indian. The white rider was William Hickok, of Laramie, -better known as “Wild Bill,” and his companion was a Ponca warrior. - -Both Wild Bill and Crawling Bear had keen ears, and the muffled -report of the rifle came to them distinctly--not from right or left, -from ahead or behind, or above, but seemingly from the ground under -their horses’ hoofs. - -Another report reached them, coming from the same place as the first, -and Wild Bill, with a puzzled look, drew rein and rubbed his hand -over his forehead. - -“Am I locoed, or what?” he muttered. “It’s a trick of the echoes, I -reckon. Somebody is having a little gun-play in this vicinity, and -the bottom of the gulch picks up the sound and throws it back to us.” - -The Indian made no response, although from his actions it seemed -quite clear that he did not accept the white man’s explanation. - -Wild Bill rode on, and a sharp turn in the cañon brought him upon -something which led to a revision of his theory concerning the -rifle-shots. - -What he saw was an ore-dump, off at one side of the cañon. The mound -of broken rocks was surmounted by a plank platform. Five horses were -hitched to bushes, not far from the ore-dump, but their riders were -not in evidence. - -Wild Bill halted his horse, once more, and looked from the ore-dump -to the horses, and then around the cañon. While his eyes were busy, -there came a third rifle-shot. - -“By gorry!” he exclaimed, and gave a low laugh. “This thing begins to -clear up a little, Crawling Bear. There’s a _mine_ here, and probably -the mine has a drift running down the gulch. The shots we heard -really came from under us, but they came from the bottom of the mine.” - -“Ugh!” grunted the Ponca. “Why Yellow Eyes make um shoot in mine? No -got um game in mine.” - -“Now you’re shouting, my redskin friend. What there is to shoot at, -in that mine, is a conundrum that your Uncle William is going to work -out. Maybe there’s no game to shoot at down there, but there’s a game -being pulled off that needs looking into.” - -Wild Bill tossed his bridle-reins to the Ponca and slipped down from -the saddle. - -“You go down in mine, huh?” queried Crawling Bear. - -“That’s my intention,” was the answer. - -“Five ponies, five Yellow Eyes down in mine. Mebbyso Crawling Bear -better go with Wild Bill.” - -A smile curled about Wild Bill’s lips. - -“Any old day the odds of five to one make me take a back seat,” said -he, “I hope some friend will hand me a good one and tell me to wake -up. I’m going to hide my hand, Crawling Bear. This is a case of find -out what’s doing, and then make a get-away on the q. t.--in case I -can’t help some unfortunate in distress. You look out for the horses; -and, if I can’t take care of myself, then I’m ready to be planted, -for it will be high time.” - -With that, Wild Bill stepped to the foot of the ore-dump and climbed -carefully to the plank platform. - -An empty ox-hide bucket stood on the platform, off to one side, but -there was no windlass for hoisting the bucket, and there did not -seem to be any ladders for getting down into the shaft. All this -contributed still further to Wild Bill’s perplexity, and at the same -time increased his determination to investigate. - -But, if there were no ladders for getting into the mine, there was -a rope. The upper end of the rope was made fast to the edge of the -opening in the middle of the platform. - -The Laramie man peered down into the shaft. The blackness was -intense, and he could see nothing, not even the gleam of a candle. - -“Can’t tell whether the shaft is fifty feet deep or five hundred,” -he muttered, “but it’s a cinch that none of the men who came here on -those five horses are anywheres around the foot of the shaft. If they -were, they’d jump a piece of lead at me. With my head over the hole, -like this, I’m a good target. Now to go down.” - -For an instant Wild Bill sat on the platform, his feet dangling over -the abyss; then, slowly letting himself down, he grabbed the rope and -began to slide. - -The shooting continued, the echoes booming louder in Wild Bill’s ears -and increasing his curiosity. Wild Bill was down fifty feet before he -touched bottom. The shaft was not so deep, after all. - -Leaving the lower end of the rope, he groped his way around the shaft -wall until he found the opening of the level. In traversing the -level, he dropped to his hands and knees, and crawled. - -The level crooked to right and left, and, after Wild Bill had covered -something like fifty feet of it, he began to hear voices, and to see -a glow of light in the distance. - -Pushing his head and shoulders around a turn, he suddenly beheld a -queer scene, right at the end of the level. - -Five men were there, and four of them carried lighted candles. The -fifth man had no candle, but was armed with a shotgun. - -The men had all the earmarks of scoundrels, and each was heeled with -a brace of six-shooters. The fellow with the shotgun had a belt about -his waist, above his revolver-belt, filled with brass shells. - -Just as Wild Bill came within sight of the group, the man with the -shotgun was “breaking” the piece at the breach, ejecting an empty -shell and replacing it with one that was loaded. Having finished the -loading, the man threw the gun to his shoulder and shot the charge -into the breast of the level. - -“We’re blowin’ a hull lot o’ good stuff inter this bloomin’ country -rock, Clancy,” growled a man with a candle. “Ain’t ye done enough?” - -“I started in with fifteen shells,” replied Clancy, the rascal with -the gun, “an’ thar’s five left. We might jest as well close up the -rock with what we’ve still got.” - -“How do ye know ther feller’ll take his samples from the place ye’re -puttin’ them loads?” - -“He’ll git his samples from the breast o’ the level, won’t he?” -struck in another man with a candle. “By the time we’re done, thar -won’t be a patchin’ he kin pick at but’ll hev its salt. Cap’n -Lawless’ll land him, an’ thar’ll be a hundred thousand ter pass -around. The ‘Forty Thieves’ Mine is a played-out propersition, but -the Easterner won’t find that out until arter us fellers git our -hooks on ther money. Then we’ll hike.” - -Clancy banged another load into the rocks. - -“Why in thunder ain’t Lawless hyer?” asked another of the -candle-bearers. “He ort ter be helpin’ us, seems like.” - -“Don’t you fret none erbout Lawless, Tex,” replied Clancy. “He’ll be -around afore long, ready ter do the fine work an’ land the lobster. -We don’t need him fer this, an’ it’s a heap better fer him not ter -show up in ther cañon while this job o’ salt is bein’ pulled off. If -Lawless ain’t seen around hyer, he won’t be suspected o’ any crooked -work.” - -“What’s Lawless doin’, anyways?” queried the man who had spoken first. - -“I dunno, but I reckon he’s watchin’ thet ole flash-light warrior, -Buffler Bill. Ye see, Andy, Lawless ain’t anyways eager ter tangle -up with Buffler Bill an’ his pards; not but what Lawless could put -ther scout an’ his friends down an’ out--fer head-work, I backs Cap’n -Lawless, o’ ther Forty Thieves, ag’inst all comers, bar none--but -Lawless is jest startin’ inter this hyer profitable field, an’ he -don’t want ter hev no interruptions.” - -“Buffler Bill is workin’ fer ther gov’ment,” said Tex. “He won’t -bother none with the cap’n.” - -“Ye never kin tell about him, Tex,” averred Clancy. “Wharever Buffler -scents any unlawful doin’s, he’s li’ble ter butt in; an’ we don’t -want ter give him no chance ter git fracasin’ round with _us_.” - -“But if he does,” said Tex, “we’re goin’ ter do him up?” - -“We are,” declared Clancy; “him an’ his pards--Nomad an’ ther Injun -kid, Leetle Cayuse. I’m close ter the last ca’tridge, Tex, an’ you -an’ Andy better go up an’ have ther hosses ready. We won’t linger -around ther ore-dump none, arter we come out.” - -Wild Bill, screened by the corner of rock, had heard every word of -this talk. The mysterious doings, in the light of the conversation -among the scoundrels, was now clearly explained. - -The five men were “salting” the worthless mine; that is, they had -loaded the shotgun-shells with fine gold, and were blowing the gold -into the breast of the level. When the intended victim came to take -his samples of the vein, he would chip off pieces of the doctored -rock, and when the rock was assayed, it would show the mine to be a -heavy “gold-producer.” On this showing, unless the intended victim -was warned, a hundred thousand dollars would change hands, and -Captain Lawless, of the Forty Thieves, whoever he was, would be that -much richer. - -“I’ll nip this little scheme in the bud,” thought Wild Bill, as he -drew back and crouched against the wall for Tex and Andy to pass. - -The passing of the men, with their candles, was filled with -considerable danger for Wild Bill. If the two ruffians saw him, there -was bound to be a fight, for it would not do to let Wild Bill get -away with the information he had discovered. - -Wild Bill drew his revolvers and made himself as small as possible. -Had there been time, he would have hastened back to the shaft, along -the level, and climbed the rope. But he knew he could not have gotten -half-way up before Tex and Andy would have located him. It was better -for Wild Bill to stay right where he was, and hope for the best. - -The whole affair, as Wild Bill had planned it, was reckless in the -extreme; but he was daring by nature, and rarely counted the cost -before making a leap in the dark. - -This must have been his evil day, and the beginning of a series of -evil days, as will soon appear. Tex and Andy were stumbling past him, -when the former, tripping on a stone that lay on the bottom of the -level, fell sideways, dropping his candle and falling full on the man -from Laramie. - -The candle was extinguished, but Tex, encountering the intruder, gave -vent to a wild yell of alarm. Wild Bill’s fist shot out, and Tex -crumpled flat along the floor of the level; the blow was followed -by another, which landed on the point of Andy’s jaw, and threw him -against the hanging wall. His candle also dropped, and Wild Bill set -his foot on the sputtering flame. - -By then Clancy and the other three had started at a run to see what -was the trouble. Wild Bill, berating his hard luck, rushed toward the -shaft, but he was running in the dark--a circumstance which brought -him many a bruise and bump. Behind him came three men with two -candles, but Tex and Andy were temporarily out of the race. - -From time to time, as he stumbled onward, Wild Bill looked backward -over his shoulder. Suddenly he saw Clancy halt, lift the shotgun, and -shoot along the level. - -Quick as a flash, Wild Bill dropped flat. He had no desire to stop a -charge from a brass shell, even though it was of gold. - -The fine yellow metal whistled over his head. As the echo of the shot -clamored in the level, Wild Bill sprang up and forged onward with a -reckless laugh. - -“They can’t salt _me_,” he muttered, “but I may be able to salt one -of them with lead.” - -He paused long enough to chance a shot from his six-shooter. A yell -of pain came from Clancy. The shotgun clattered to the rocks, and he -grabbed at his right arm. - -The other two men thereupon began using their revolvers, accompanying -their shooting with savage yells. - -Wild Bill, pushing flat against the foot wall, deliberately snuffed -the two candles that remained alight. His wrist had been grazed by -one of the ruffians’ bullets, but it was a small injury, and he gave -it scant attention. - -As soon as the level was entirely plunged in darkness, he ran on to -the shaft which, by then, was only a few feet away. - -The time had passed for fighting. It was up to him to retreat, and to -see how quick he could get to the top of the shaft, and out of it. - -Jabbing his revolver back into his belt, he laid hold of the rope and -started aloft, hand over hand. - -Clancy and the rest, meanwhile, had not remained inactive. They -must have been considerably in the dark as to the identity of their -enemy, but they realized that he had caught them red-handed, and that -the success of their whole plot might hang on their capturing him. -Therefore they pushed forward desperately, Clancy in a rage because -of his wound. Tex and Andy, having revived sufficiently from the -sledge-hammer blows they had received, had joined the others. - -“Don’t strike any matches,” Wild Bill heard Clancy yell, “and don’t -light no candles. We don’t want the whelp ter make targets o’ us. -Ketch him, thet’s all! Consarn his picter! he’s given me a game arm. -I want ter play even fer thet, anyhow.” - -Above him, Wild Bill could see a square patch of daylight as he -climbed. His progress was slow, however, and he knew that when Clancy -and the rest got to the shaft, they would see him swinging in mid-air -between them and the lighted background. - -As Wild Bill looked up, he saw the head of Crawling Bear leaning over -the opening and looking down. - -“Cover that hole, Crawling Bear!” roared Wild Bill. “They’re after -me, the whole five of ’em. Look alive, now.” - -The Ponca was quick-witted, and must have realized the situation. His -head vanished from the patch of light the instant Wild Bill ceased -speaking. - -Climbing hand over hand was slow work. Wild Bill’s arms were strong, -and he did his best, but his best did not carry him upward nearly so -swiftly as he could have wished. - -Sounds of scrambling feet came from below him, followed by the voice -of Tex. - -“Thar he is! See him squirm, will ye? Pepper him! Turn loose at him!” - -Just then the hole above suddenly darkened. Wild Bill was still a -target, but not so plain. - -The shaft echoed with a patter of reports. A sharp, stinging blow -struck the heel of Wild Bill’s boot, the broad brim of his hat shook, -and he was raked along one side as by a red-hot iron. - -“Wow!” he muttered; “if they put a piece of lead into one of my -arms----” - -And just then that is exactly what they did. It was Wild Bill’s left -arm. The strength went out of the arm in a flash, and Wild Bill only -saved himself from dropping back to the bottom of the shaft by a -fierce grip on the rope with his right hand. - -How could he climb now? The outlook was anything but reassuring. - -All this time the Laramie man felt a movement of the rope, as though -Crawling Bear, at the top of the shaft, was tinkering with it under -the cover he had placed over the opening. - -“I reckon he ain’t climbin’ no more,” roared the voice of Clancy, -from the depths. “Lay holt, thar, Tex, an’ see if ye kain’t crawl up -an’ haul ther whelp back. He’s winged, mebby, an’ kain’t climb.” - -This, as we know, was Wild Bill’s condition. He had twisted the rope -about one of his legs, and was able to maintain his place, but, if he -did not drop downward, neither could he move upward an inch. - -Tex, evidently, had grabbed the rope, for it tightened cruelly around -Wild Bill’s leg. - -The Laramie man’s arm did not seem to have been very seriously -injured. So far as he could judge, what the arm was suffering from, -more than anything else, was the shock of the bullet. - -Twisting the arm about the rope, he drew his knife from its scabbard -at his belt, and bent downward. A quick slash severed the rope in -twain, and a heavy fall and a chorus of oaths came from the shaft’s -bottom. Tex had dropped upon some of his companions, for the moment -demoralizing them. - -This move of Wild Bill’s, while necessary for his safety, almost -proved disastrous to him as well as to Tex. - -Wild Bill’s left arm was not to be depended upon. At the critical -moment it gave with him; and, had he not dropped the knife and -gripped the rope with his right hand, he would have followed Tex onto -the heads of Clancy and the others. - -Before the disorder at the bottom of the shaft could be righted, -and the scoundrels again begin their revolver-work, Wild Bill felt -himself started upward with a jerk. - -Crawling Bear was taking a hand! Just what he had done Wild Bill did -not know, but that his means, whatever they were, were effectual, -was proved by the swiftness with which Wild Bill was hauled to the -platform. - -In less than half a minute after Wild Bill started upward, his head -struck against a blanket covering the mouth of the shaft, and he was -snaked out onto the planks, and lay blinking in the sun. - -At the foot of the ore-dump stood the Ponca with a hand on the bridle -of Wild Bill’s horse. The Laramie man saw in an instant what his red -companion had done. - -After covering the mouth of the shaft with his blanket, he had -secured the picket-rope from Wild Bill’s saddle and had tied one end -to the horn; the other end he had secured to the rope leading down -into the shaft, and had then cut the shaft-rope. By leading Wild -Bill’s horse across the cañon from the foot of the ore-dump, the -Ponca had been able to get his white companion to the surface by -horse-power. - -“You’re all to the good, Crawling Bear!” declared Wild Bill, sitting -up at the edge of the ore-dump and pulling off his coat. “I had a -close call, down there, and I reckon those yaps would have got me if -it hadn’t been for you.” - -Crawling Bear untied the rope from the saddle-horn and began coiling -it in. When he had removed the rope spliced to the end of the -picket-rope, he hung the coil in its proper place at Wild Bill’s -saddle. - -“Wild Bill hurt, huh?” he asked, mounting the side of the dump. - -“A gouge through the fleshy part of the arm, that’s all,” the Laramie -man answered, examining the injury. “The bullet flickered along the -muscles and went on about its business.” - -Wild Bill had cut away the sleeve of his flannel shirt in order to -examine the injury. Out of the bottom of the sleeve he improvised a -bandage, and Crawling Bear helped him put it in place. - -When the arm was roughly bandaged, Wild Bill thrust his hand into the -breast of his shirt. - -“I’m worth a dozen dead men yet,” he went on, “but that outfit sure -had it in for me. Don’t know as I can blame them, though, as they’ve -got a hundred thousand at stake. I’m going to fool them out of that -hundred thousand--watch my smoke.” - -He looked at the bullet-hole through the brim of his hat, then at his -left boot, from which the heel was missing, and finally at the place -where a bullet had raked along the side of his clothes, after which -he laughed grimly. - -“They had a good many chances at me, Crawling Bear,” he proceeded, -“but they didn’t make good. We’ve got ’em bottled up in that mine -now, and we’ll keep ’em there until I can get Pard Cody to Sun Dance. -I’ve got a notion he’ll enjoy meeting that gang of trouble-makers.” - -The Ponca picked up his blanket from the platform and threw it over -his shoulders. - -“Yellow Eyes?” he queried. - -“You bet! They’re white tinhorns, every last man of them. It’s up to -you and me to call their little game. It’s a salting proposition, -with a tenderfoot standing to lose a hundred thousand in good, hard -money. Let’s ride for Sun Dance and get there as quick as we can.” - -“What about um five _caballos_?” asked the Ponca, his small, beady -eyes gloating over the five horses belonging to Clancy and his outfit. - -“Oh, we’ll leave them. Haven’t time to bother with ’em, anyhow.” - -Wild Bill descended the slope lamely and climbed into his saddle. -A few moments later, he and the Ponca were continuing on along the -cañon toward Sun Dance. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - ANOTHER STRANGER IN CAMP. - - -Sun Dance was a very small mining-camp, perched on a shelf up the -side of Sun Dance Cañon. “Six ’dobies stuck on a side hill,” was the -trite and not very elegant way the camp was often described. - -The sort of mining indulged in was both quartz and -placer--placer-mining in the gulch and quartz-mining in the -neighboring hills. Only the placer-miners lived in the camp; the -quartz-miners had camps of their own, and only came to Sun Dance for -supplies. - -The camp could be reached in two ways: From the bottom of the cañon -by a steep climb, and from the top by a stiff descent. - -The stage from Montegordo reached camp by way of the cañon’s rim, -which was its only feasible route; but Wild Bill and Crawling Bear -came from below, and gained the settlement by spurring their horses -up the slope. - -Just where the trail crawled over the edge of the flat, there was a -sign-board with the rudely lettered words: “No Shootin’ Aloud in Sun -Dance.” As an indication of how seriously the sign was taken, it may -be mentioned that the lettering could hardly be read for bullet-holes. - -By day the camp was practically dead, all the miners being at work on -their placers, and only storekeepers, gamblers, resort proprietors, -and the man who “ran” the hotel being visible. For the most part, -these worthies smoked their pipes and cigarettes during the day, or -played cards among themselves merely to pass the time. - -With night everything changed. The camp became a boisterous, -rollicking place. - -Miners flocked in, bet their yellow dust on the turn of a card or -a whirl of the wheel, sampled the camp’s “red-eye,” and very often -forgot the warning of the sign, and indulged in shooting that was -very _loud_ and occasionally fatal. - -The name of the one hotel in the camp was the “Lucky Strike.” The -proprietor was one Abijah Spangler, a leviathan measuring six foot -ten, up and down, and ten foot six--or so it was said--east and west -at his girth-line. Anyway, Abijah Spangler weighed 300 pounds, and -when he sat down it took two chairs to hold him. - -When Wild Bill and Crawling Bear halted in front of the Lucky Strike, -Bije Spangler was sitting down, dripping with perspiration and -agitating the air with a ragged palm-leaf fan. - -“You the boss of this hangout?” inquired Wild Bill, surveying -Spangler’s huge bulk with much interest. - -“I run it, you bet,” answered Spangler, ruffling his double-chin and -wondering at the red handkerchief about Wild Bill’s arm. - -“Got accommodations for two?” queried the Laramie man. - -“Fer two _whites_, yes--meals, four bits, and a bed, a dollar. -But”--and here Bije Spangler cast a disapproving eye on the Ponca--“I -don’t feed or house Injuns fer no money. Not meanin’ any disrespect -fer yerself, neighbor,” added Spangler hastily, noting the glint -that rose in Wild Bill’s eye, “but I couldn’t keep open house fer -reds without sp’ilin’ the repertation o’ my hotel.” - -The Ponca sat up stiff and straight on his horse. - -“Where I stay, he stays,” averred Wild Bill; “what’s good enough for -him is good enough for me. He’s plum white, all but his skin.” - -“So’s a Greaser,” grunted Spangler, “or a Chink. Sorry to appear -disobligin’, ’specially as you-all seems to have run inter trouble -somewheres. You’re welcome to stop, but the Injun’ll have ter camp -out in the chaparral.” - -Wild Bill was in no mood for arguing the case, and he was about to -ride on, when the Ponca leaned forward and stopped him. - -“You want um Ponca take paper-talk to Pa-e-has-ka, hey?” he asked. - -“Sure I do, Crawling Bear,” replied Wild Bill, “but I don’t want you -to start for Sill until you have rested yourself and your horse.” - -“Ugh! no want um rest. Feel plenty fine. Me take um paper-talk now.” - -Wild Bill saw that Crawling Bear meant what he said. The camp not -appearing to be a very safe place for a red man, anyhow, the Laramie -man decided to let his companion have his way. - -“Got a place where I can write?” inquired Wild Bill. - -“Go through the office an’ inter the bar,” replied Spangler. “You can -write on one of the tables, an’ I reckon the barkeep can skeer up a -patchin’ o’ paper and a lead-pencil.” - -Leaving his horse with the Ponca, Wild Bill went into the barroom, -and had soon written a few words to Buffalo Bill, asking him to come -to Sun Dance as soon as possible. Returning to Crawling Bear, Wild -Bill handed him the folded note and a dozen silver dollars. - -“Why you give um Ponca dinero?” asked the Indian. - -“That’s for carrying the message to Buffalo Bill,” said the Laramie -man. - -“Buffalo Bill?” wheezed Spangler, stirring a little in his chair. -“You a friend of Buffalo Bill’s?” - -“Yes,” answered Wild Bill, whirling on the fat man. “My name’s -Hickok.” - -“Wild Bill!” muttered Spangler. “Say, that’s different. Any Injun -friend o’ Wild Bill’s can stop with me. I’ll break my rules for you, -and----” - -Hoofs clattered. Crawling Bear, not waiting further, was off for the -edge of the “flat” on his return journey to Sill. - -“You’re too late,” said Wild Bill curtly. “What’s your label.” - -“Spangler is my handle.” - -“Any strangers in town, Spangler?” - -“Only you.” - -“When’s the next stage due from Montegordo?” - -“To-morrow afternoon.” - -“Well, I’m going to stay with you until to-morrow afternoon, anyhow. -Call some one to take care of my horse; and if I can have a room all -to myself, I want it.” - -“That’ll cost extry,” said Spangler. “If ye’re goin’ to throw on -style with a private room, you’ll have to bleed ten dollars’ worth.” - -“That’s the size of my stack. Hustle, now. I’m fagged, and want to -lie down.” - -Spangler lifted his voice and gave a husky yell. In answer to the -signal, a Mexican showed himself around the corner of the house, who -took Wild Bill’s horse. Then once more Spangler indulged in a wheezy -shout. This was the signal for a Chinaman to present himself. After a -few words with Spangler, the Chinaman led Wild Bill into the house, -through the office and the drinking-part of the establishment, and -into a small, corner room, with a window looking out upon the street. - -There was a cot in the room, and Wild Bill flung himself down wearily -upon it. In a few minutes he was fast asleep. - -He awoke in time for supper, put a fresh bandage around his arm, -and went out into the hotel dining-room. Everything about the Lucky -Strike was exceedingly primitive, and the table, the service, and the -food were about what one would expect in a pioneer mining-camp. Wild -Bill, however, was used to such accommodations and fare. - -Following the meal, he smoked a couple of pipes in front of the -hotel, saying nothing to anybody, but keeping up a lot of thinking. - -The Forty Thieves--so ran the current of his thoughts--was a -played-out mine. Those five men, under orders from one Captain -Lawless, were salting it. The name of the mine was suggestive, and so -was the name of the man who was engineering the salting operations. - -“Captain Lawless, of the Forty Thieves!” said Wild Bill to himself. -“That has sure got a regular rough-house sound. When Pard Cody hears -it, I’ll bet money it will ruffle his hair the wrong way. Crawling -Bear will get that paper-talk through some time to-night, and Cody -will be here to-morrow afternoon. When he arrives, we’ll prance out -to the Forty Thieves and snake those five trouble-makers out of that -hole in the ground; then, if Captain Lawless wants to take a whack at -us, he’s welcome.” - -Wild Bill took no part in the hilarious doings of the camp that -night. By 10 o’clock he had locked himself in his room and got into -bed. His arm was a bit painful, so that he was an hour or more in -getting to sleep. When he was once asleep, however, he did not wake -until morning. - -His arm felt better. He could use his hand as well as usual. There -was some pain in the arm, but it was not severe. - -Following breakfast, he went to one of the general stores and bought -a new flannel shirt, a pair of boots, and a bowie, to take the place -of the one he had lost in the mine. - -After that, he sat in front of the Lucky Strike and smoked until -dinner-time; and, after dinner, he smoked until four-thirty, when the -stage pulled over the rim of the cañon and slid down the slope with -the hind wheels tied. - -The stage drew up in front of the hotel, and a mail-bag was thrown -off. There was one passenger, a man in a linen duster, and clearly a -stranger. - -“He’s the one,” said Wild Bill to himself, knocking the ashes out of -his pipe and getting out of his chair. “The chap doesn’t look much -like an easy mark, though. I wonder if he has any notion he’s taking -long chances with that hundred thousand of his?” - -Just then Wild Bill experienced something like a jolt. A man rode -up along the trail that led from the cañon bottom, drew rein in -front of the hotel, dismounted, dropped his bridle-reins over a -hitching-post, and followed the stranger into the Lucky Strike. - -The man had his right arm in a sling, and it didn’t take two looks -to inform Wild Bill that the fellow was none other than Clancy! -Clancy, the man who had been blowing gold into the Forty Thieves with -a shotgun! Clancy, the man Wild Bill had left, with four others, -bottled up in the Forty Thieves’ shaft! - -Clancy did not pay any attention to Wild Bill. It seemed very -probable that neither Clancy, nor any of those with him in the mine, -had been able to see Wild Bill distinctly enough to recognize him in -another place and in broad day. - -Then, too, the Laramie man had a new shirt of a different color -from the blue one he had worn in the mine, and he showed no sign of -injury. All this would help to keep Clancy from recognizing him, even -if he had got a tolerably good look at him in the Forty Thieves. - -Reassured on this point, Wild Bill fell to canvassing another. How -had Clancy managed to escape from the shaft? - -Clancy and the rest must have had help. Some other member of the gang -must have been abroad in the cañon, and no doubt happened along and -gave his aid. - -Wild Bill was disappointed. He had hoped the five would be kept in -the Forty Thieves until Buffalo Bill reached Sun Dance. - -Strolling into the office of the hotel, Wild Bill saw Clancy in close -conversation with the man in the linen duster. They were off by -themselves in one corner, and were conversing in low, animated tones. - -“Clancy is going to hold the man until this Captain Lawless shows -up,” thought Wild Bill. “I must have a word with that tenderfoot and -show him how he is going to be gold-bricked. I’d hate myself to death -if I ever allowed that gang of robbers to get away with his hundred -thousand.” - -Wild Bill, having settled the situation in his mind, strolled out to -the front of the hotel, filled his pipe again, and seated himself in -the chair he had occupied for most of the day. - -He was waiting for the stranger, and he had not long to wait. Clancy -came out, unhitched his horse, climbed into the saddle, and clattered -back toward the bottom of the cañon. A few minutes later the stranger -followed, pulled up a chair a few feet from Wild Bill’s, and seated -himself. - -“Howdy,” said Wild Bill, with a friendly nod, by way of breaking the -ice. - -“How do you do, sir?” answered the stranger, with all the elaborate -courtesy of an Easterner. “Will you try one of these?” - -He offered Wild Bill a cigar, and the latter accepted it amiably. - -“Stranger, I take it?” pursued Wild Bill. - -“Well, yes,” answered the other. “I came in on the afternoon stage -from Montegordo.” - -“Looking up the mines?” - -A suspicious look crossed the stranger’s face. - -“Figuring on examining the Forty Thieves,” pursued Wild Bill, “with -the intention of handing out one hundred thousand cold plunks for the -same?” - -The stranger laughed. - -“You seem to be pretty well informed,” he remarked. “I haven’t told a -soul about my business here, but you reel it right off, first clatter -out of the box.” - -“Steer wide of the Forty Thieves, pilgrim,” said Wild Bill earnestly. -“That proposition is a trap for the unwary. I know. It cost me some -trouble to find out what I’m telling you, but you take my word for -it, and let the property alone.” - -“Who are you?” inquired the stranger, with sudden interest. - -“My name’s Hickok, William Hickok.” - -The stranger hitched restlessly in his chair. - -“The man I’ve heard so much about under the sobriquet of Wild Bill?” -he asked. - -“Tally! That’s the time you got your bean on the right number.” - -The stranger fell silent for a space. - -“My name is Smith,” said he finally; “J. Algernon Smith, of Chicago, -and what you tell me is mighty surprising.” He drew his chair closer. -“Would you mind telling me just what you have found out?” - -“Sure I wouldn’t mind. I’m hungry to cut into this game, and even up -with the pack of tinhorns that gave me a hot half-hour yesterday.” - -And thereupon Wild Bill began telling what he had seen and heard in -the level of the Forty Thieves. When he had finished, J. Algernon -Smith was wide-eyed and staring. - -“Really,” he managed to gasp, “this is most astounding.” - -“I reckon it’s all that,” mildly answered Wild Bill. “The very name -of that mine, though, is enough to make a man think some. Who’s the -fellow you’re going to deal with?” - -“His name, I believe, is James Lawless.” - -“That’s another name that’s bad medicine.” - -“I’d never thought of the names in that light.” - -“That fellow that was talking with you, right after you got out of -the stage, was Clancy, the scoundrel that was blowing gold into the -rock with a shotgun. What did he want?” - -“Why, he was telling me that Lawless hadn’t got here yet, and he was -warning me not to say anything to anybody about my business in Sun -Dance.” - -“You couldn’t blame him for that,” remarked Wild Bill dryly. - -“He asked me to meet him at the foot of the slope, in the bottom of -the cañon, immediately after supper,” went on the stranger, “so we -could have a quiet talk.” - -“You can see how they’re working it, can’t you?” returned Wild Bill. -“They’re trying to keep this business dark until Lawless shows up, -and meanwhile Clancy is going to keep your interest at fever-heat by -all kinds of stringing. Any objection to my going along with you when -you meet Clancy?” - -“No, indeed, Wild Bill. I was about to suggest that myself. I am sure -I’m very much obliged to you for your interest in me, and----” - -“Stow that,” interrupted Wild Bill. “It isn’t my interest in you, -particularly, that leads me to take a hand, but it’s more a desire to -see every man get what’s coming to him. _Sabe?_” - -At that moment the Chinaman came out in front of the hotel and -pounded on a gong. - -“Suppa leddy!” he announced. - -The stranger did not remove his linen duster. It covered him from -his neck to his heels, and Wild Bill thought he kept it on so as not -to soil his Eastern clothes. He and the Laramie man sat at the same -table, and next to each other. - -When the meal was over, J. Algernon Smith excused himself for a -minute, and said he would rejoin Wild Bill in front of the hotel, and -they would at once take their way down the slope to the bottom of the -cañon. - -Wild Bill waited for five minutes before J. Algernon Smith rejoined -him, and they started across the “flat” toward the top of the slope. - -“A tenderfoot has got to keep his eyes skinned,” said Wild Bill, “or -he’ll collide with more trouble, in this western country, than he -ever dreamed was turned loose.” - -“I presume you are right,” said J. Algernon Smith. “Only fancy -blowing gold into a mine with a shotgun!” He laughed a little. “If -they knew that, back in Chicago, they’d make game of me,” he added. -“You haven’t told any one about this, have you?” - -“Not a soul but you.” - -“I’m glad of that, I can tell you. I’d hate to have the business get -out. Of course, I hadn’t bought the mine yet. I was going to take -samples, you know, and have them assayed; then, if the assays showed -up well, the deal would have been made.” - -It was very dark, at that hour, on the slope leading down into the -cañon. Bushes fringed the horse-trail, in places, and there was quite -a patch of chaparral at the foot of the slope. - -Here Wild Bill and J. Algernon Smith came to a halt. - -“Clancy doesn’t seem to be around,” said Wild Bill. “Maybe you’d -better tune up with a whistle, or a yell, so that he’ll know where -you are.” - -J. Algernon Smith stared into the depths of a thicket. - -“It looks to me as though there was a man in there,” said he. “Can -you see any one, Mr. Hickok?” - -Wild Bill took a step forward. His back was to his companion, and, -while he was peering into the bushes, he heard a hasty step behind -him. - -He started to turn; and, at that precise instant, a heavy blow, dealt -with some hard instrument, landed on the back of his head. - -He staggered, but, with a fierce effort, rallied all his strength, -and turned around. In the darkness he saw the yellow duster pressing -upon him. It was Smith, and Smith was about to land another -treacherous blow. - -Wild Bill’s head was reeling, but he had sense enough left to -understand that he had made some sort of a mistake, and that Smith -was other than he had seemed. - -Evading the blow aimed at him, the Laramie man gripped Smith by the -throat. Ultimately, in spite of his unsteady condition, Wild Bill -might have got the best of his antagonist had not Clancy taken a part -in the struggle. - -The latter plunged through the bushes and assaulted Wild Bill from -behind. - -At Clancy’s second blow, Wild Bill’s reason fled, and he dropped -helplessly on the rocks. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - CAPTAIN LAWLESS. - - -How long Wild Bill remained unconscious he never knew, but it must -have been a considerable time. He had been struck down at the foot -of the rocky slope, and when he opened his eyes he was lying in the -level of the Forty Thieves. - -Wild Bill had no difficulty in recognizing the level, for three or -four candles were burning in niches of the rock, and lighted the -place sufficiently for him to make observations. - -The Laramie man’s unconsciousness had lasted long enough for his -captors to remove him from the slope four or five miles down the -cañon and lower him into the mine. - -His hands and feet were bound, and a savage pain from his left arm, -cramped around behind him, in no wise mitigated the discomforts of -his situation. His head, too, was aching, and his brain was still -dizzy. - -He was surrounded by seven men, all but one of whom he recognized. -Clancy was one, Tex was another, and Andy was a third. The faces of -two more he remembered to have seen in the level with Clancy the day -before. - -Another of the men, of course, was J. Algernon Smith, in his linen -duster. - -The seventh of the outfit was the fellow whose face was strange to -Wild Bill. - -The prisoner lay snugly against the hanging wall of the level. He -had made no stir when he opened his eyes, and his captors did not -know that he had recovered his senses. They were talking, and Wild -Bill was content to lie quietly and listen. - -“He got away from you,” Smith was saying, “and when he went he took -the rope with him. How did you get out?” - -“We was in hyer all night, cap’n,” replied Clancy; “me with this game -arm, an’ all the rest more er less knocked about an’ stove up. We -didn’t hev no water, er grub, er nothin’, an’ I had about calculated -that we’d starve ter death; then, jest as things were lookin’ mighty -dark fer us, Seth, thar, happened erlong, and we heerd him hollerin’ -down the shaft.” - -“I was left in Sun Dance,” spoke up Seth, who was the fellow Wild -Bill had failed to recognize, “ter watch the stage an’ see if you, er -Bingham, come in on it. Nothin’ came that arternoon, but the mail----” - -“It will be two or three days before Bingham arrives here,” -interjected Smith. “Go on, Seth.” - -“As the night passed,” proceeded Seth, “an’ Clancy an’ the rest -didn’t come back ter Sun Dance, I began ter feel anxious about ’em. -Arter breakfast in the mornin’, I couldn’t stand the unsartinty any -longer, so I saddled up an’ rode down the cañon. Seen the five hosses -bunched tergether in the scrub, so I knowed the boys must be in the -mine. When I climbed the ore-dump, I seen the rope layin’ on the -platform, an’ I couldn’t savvy the layout, not noways. I got down on -my knees, stuck my head inter the shaft, an’ let off a yell. The yell -was answered, an’ it wasn’t long afore I knowed what had happened. -I drapped a riata down, an’ spliced on the rope layin’ on the -platform, an’ purty soon the boys was on top o’ ground.” - -“We all thort the game was up,” said Clancy, when Seth had finished. -“The feller that had came nosin’ inter the mine had drapped his -bowie, an’ we found the name, ‘Wild Bill,’ burned inter the handle. -‘Thunder!’ I says ter the boys; ‘if thet was Wild Bill we had down -here, I ain’t wonderin’ none he got away. He’s a reg’lar tornader! -The wonder is,’ I says, ‘thet some o’ us didn’t git killed.’ In the -arternoon I rode ter Sun Dance ter meet the stage myself, an’ thet’s -how I come ter meet ye, cap’n, an’ ter tell ye a leetle o’ what took -place. But I reckon us fellers ain’t got any kick comin’ _now_.” -Clancy gave a husky laugh. “Wild Bill drapped inter yore hands, -cap’n, like er reg’lar tenderfoot. It was a slick play, yere bringin’ -him along when ye come ter meet me at the foot o’ thet slope. The -minit ye jumped at him I knowed somethin’ was up, an’ I wasn’t more’n -a brace o’ shakes in takin’ a hand.” - -“It was a tight squeak,” said Smith. “We came within a hair’s breadth -of having this whole story get out. If it had ever reached Bingham’s -ears it would have cost this gang a cool hundred thousand.” - -“Ye’re sure Wild Bill didn’t do any talkin’?” - -“He says he didn’t, and I believe he told the truth.” - -“But thar was some ’un with him. He didn’t git out o’ the shaft -without help.” - -“That man was a Ponca Indian. He didn’t stop in Sun Dance long, but -was sent out of camp by Wild Bill, with a paper-talk for Buffalo -Bill, at Fort Sill.” - -“Consarn it!” grunted Tex moodily. “Ain’t we goin’ ter work through -this trick without hevin’ Buffler Bill mixed up in it?” - -A muttered oath escaped the lips of Smith. - -“If Buffler Bill mixes up in this,” said he, “we’ll take care of him, -just as we’re going to take care of Wild Bill. There’s seven of us, -and I’ve got the nerve to think I’m as good a man as Buffalo Bill.” - -“You’ve got nerve enough for anything, Smith,” spoke up Wild Bill, -“but when you compare yourself with Cody, you’re a little bit wide of -your trail.” - -A sudden silence fell over the gang. All of them turned their eyes on -the prisoner, and Smith got up and stepped toward him. - -“Got your wits back, have you?” Smith demanded, with a scowl. - -“I didn’t have much sense when I started in to do you a friendly -turn,” said Wild Bill. “That’s where I went lame. Who are you, -anyhow?” - -A hoarse laugh broke from the man’s lips. The next moment he had -stripped away the linen duster, revealing a tall, supple form clad -in gaudy costume. About the shoulders was a short jacket of black -velvet, strung with silver-dollar buttons that flashed in the -candlelight; about the waist was a silken sash of red, supporting a -brace of silver-mounted derringers. Boots made of fancy leather arose -to the knee, and a black sombrero capped the flashy apparel. - -“In the first place,” said the man, with a fiendish grin, “my name is -not Smith, but Lawless.” - -“Well, I’ll be hanged!” muttered Wild Bill. “You’re Lawless, and I -jumped right at you, in the Lucky Strike Hotel, supposing you were -the tenderfoot who’s coming here to drop into your game! That’s a big -one on me, and I reckon that fool play makes me deserve all I’ve -got coming. Well, well! This would be plumb comical if it wasn’t so -blamed serious.” - -“It _is_ serious--for you,” said Captain Lawless. “What you know -stands between me and my men and one hundred thousand dollars. Why -did you mix up in this thing, in the first place?” - -“I heard shooting down in this mine, and was curious to find out what -it meant.” - -“You found out--and that’s what’s going to make you trouble.” - -Lawless turned away. - -“Is everything ready, Clancy?” he asked. - -“The fuses are all ready ter light.” - -“Then snake him off down the level and we’ll finish this right up. -See that you make a good job of it.” - -Obeying a gesture from Clancy, Andy and Tex caught Wild Bill by the -shoulders and dragged him some ten feet toward the shaft of the mine. -Seth followed with a candle. - -A stub crosscut opened off the level at this point, and Wild Bill was -dragged into this and along it for fifteen feet, as he judged. That -brought him to the end of the crosscut, which proved to be a blind -wall. - -“We’re going to put you in a pocket, Wild Bill,” said Lawless, who -had followed, “and leave you there. You’ll not be able to bother -anybody; and, of course, you’ll never live to get out, even if you’re -not killed by the blast.” - -“I’m not following you very clearly,” said Wild Bill. “Is it your -intention to send me across the divide?” - -“That’s it. You know too much, and we can’t take any chances with -you. Look here.” - -Lawless passed to the entrance of the crosscut and waved the candle -back and forth. In the candlelight. Wild Bill saw the ends of three -fuses, placed on a line. - -“At the end of each fuse,” explained Lawless calmly, “there’s a heavy -charge of powder. Clancy loaded the holes, and he knows just what a -charge will do when it’s put down in any given place. He has set this -blast so as to wall up the crosscut and leave you in a rock cell. -Clancy says that you won’t be hurt by the flying rock when the blast -goes off, but that you’ll be walled in so you can’t get out. You’ll -not have any water or food, and you’ll not have much air. That can’t -be helped.” - -“You’re a fiend!” gritted Wild Bill, glaring at the calm face of -Lawless. - -“This job of salt is going to win out. Bingham will find less gold in -the Forty Thieves than he imagined; but, if he digs away the barrier -we’re going to throw up, he’ll find something else here that will -surprise him.” - -“Why can’t you use a bullet or a knife, if you’re bound to put me out -of the way?” called Wild Bill. “What do you want to go to all this -trouble for?” - -“This will look like an accident, if you’re ever found.” - -“Look like an accident!” answered Wild Bill ironically. “How do you -figure that, if I’m ever found with my hands and feet tied?” - -“If Clancy is right, and you’re not hit by flying rock, or smothered -before an hour or two, you’ll get rid of the ropes.” - -“And you’re _white_!” muttered Wild Bill, as though it was hard for -him to couple such a murderous act with a man of that color. “Why, -you inhuman scoundrel, you ought to be black as the ace of spades, -and to wear horns! This may be the end of me, but it won’t be the -end of this business for you. My pard, Bill Cody, is coming to Sun -Dance Cañon to meet me. If he doesn’t meet me, he’ll know something -is wrong, and when he runs out the trail, you’ll owe him something. -_And whatever you owe Cody, you’ll pay!_” - -“If I ever owe Cody anything,” scowled Lawless, “I’ll pay him just as -I’m paying you. I didn’t pip my shell yesterday. You’re wide of your -trail, Hickok, if you think I’m not able to take care of myself.” - -Lawless disappeared from the mouth of the crosscut. - -“Touch off the blasts,” Wild Bill heard him say to Clancy; “all the -rest of you,” he added, “go on to the shaft. We’ve got to make a -quick getaway as soon as the fuses are fired.” - -Then, with staring eyes, Wild Bill saw Clancy take a candle and bend -down. From one fuse to another went the candle gleam, leaving a -sputtering blue flame at the end of each fuse. - -Having finished his work, Clancy whirled and raced after Lawless and -the rest, who had already started for the shaft. - -Turning on his side, with his face against the rocks, Wild Bill -waited for the deafening detonation which was to throw a barrier of -rock across the mouth of the crosscut and wall him up in a living -tomb. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - THE INDIAN GIRL. - - -“Whatever d’ye think Wild Bill wants us fur, Buffler?” - -“I haven’t any idea, Nick, but he’ll think we’re a long time getting -to Sun Dance.” - -“That paper-tork o’ his had a hard time reachin’ us, an’ we’ve had er -hard time gittin’ through ter Sun Dance--leastways, you an’ Dell hev -had. But we kain’t be so pizen fur from ther camp now.” - -“This short cut we’re taking through the hills will bring us into the -cañon above the camp. Dell and Cayuse will come in below. We ought to -get to the place we’re going a good two hours ahead of them.” - -The king of scouts, and his old trapper pard, Nick Nomad, were riding -through the rough country on their way to Sun Dance. - -It was early morning, and the trapper and his pards had been in the -saddle all night. - -A number of things had conspired to delay them in taking the trail in -answer to Wild Bill’s “paper-talk.” Among other things, Crawling Bear -had been slain by hostile Cheyennes, and Hickok’s note had come into -the scout’s hands by another messenger. - -Some distance back on the Sun Dance trail, the scout and Nomad had -separated from Dell Dauntless, Buffalo Bill’s girl pard, and the -Piute boy, Little Cayuse, the scout and the trapper to travel “’cross -lots,” and Dell and Cayuse to follow the regular trail. - -This would bring Buffalo Bill and Nomad into Sun Dance a little -earlier than if they had kept to the trail, and they were already so -late that they were anxious to save even an hour or two. - -The course they took was a rugged one, and they had to climb steep -hills and ridges, and urge their mounts over ground that would have -tried the strongest nerves. - -But it was all for Pard Hickok, and no loyal pard ever called on -Buffalo Bill in vain. - -The scout, however, was vastly puzzled to account for the business -that had led to the call. In his note, Wild Bill had not written a -word about that. - -“Wild Bill must hev tangled up with somethin’ purty fierce,” remarked -Nomad, “or he’d never hev sent in a hurry-up call like thet.” - -“It may not be anything that concerns Wild Bill, Nick, but something -that concerns _us_,” the scout returned. “Hickok may not be in -trouble; on the contrary, he may know something we’ve got to know in -order to avoid trouble ourselves.” - -“Kerect, Buffler. I hadn’t thort o’ ther thing in thet light afore. -We ain’t neither of us very much in ther habit o’ side-steppin’ when -trouble hits ther pike an’ p’ints fer us. This hyar trouble is er -quare thing, pard; plumb quare. Some o’ the people has trouble all -ther time, an’ all ther people has trouble some o’ the time, but all -ther people kain’t hev trouble all ther time.” - -The scout laughed. - -“What of it, anyhow, Nick?” he asked. - -“Nothin’. I was jest torkin’ ter give my bazoo exercise. No man -knows jest when trouble is goin’ ter hit him. Sometimes he kin see -et a good ways off, like er choo-choo train. He kin hyer ther bell -an’ ther whistle, an’ ef he’s a-walkin’ on ther track, he’s er ijut -ef he don’t step off, an’ let et go by. An’ then, ag’in, trouble -comes on ye around a sharp curve. The despatcher mixes orders, -er somethin’, an’ afore ye know et ye’re tangled up in a head-on -collision. Now, thet’s what I call----” - -Nomad was interrupted. As if to illustrate his rambling remarks, the -crack of a rifle was heard in the distance, followed by a shrill -scream. - -The two pards, at that moment, were on the crest of a rocky ridge. -Instinctively they stopped their horses and shot their glances in the -direction from which the report and the scream reached them. What -they saw set their pulses to a swifter beat. - -Speeding toward them along the foot of the ridge was an Indian girl. -She was mounted on a sorrel cayuse, and the pony was getting over -the ground like a streak. The girl was bending forward, her blanket -flying in the wind behind, and her quirt was dropping on the pony’s -withers with lightninglike rapidity. - -She was being pursued by an Indian buck, armed with a rifle. The buck -seemed savagely determined to overtake the girl. He was mounted on a -larger, and evidently a fleeter, horse, for at every stride he came a -shade closer. - -“Is thet ther ceremony o’ ther fastest hoss, Buffler?” queried the -startled Nomad. “Ef ther buck ketches ther gal, will she marry him? -Hey?” - -“That isn’t the ceremony of the fastest horse, Nick,” answered the -scout. “The buck wouldn’t be shooting at the girl if it was.” - -“Mebbyso he was jest shootin’ ter skeer her.” - -“It’s not the right way to win a bride--or a Cheyenne bride. As near -as I can make out, those two are Cheyennes.” - -“Ther gal’s a Cheyenne, but at this distance I take ther buck fer a -Ponca.” - -“I reckon you’re right, Nick. The buck is a Ponca and the girl a -Cheyenne. There’s a good deal of bad blood between the Cheyennes and -the Poncas just now, and we can’t overlook the fact that the under -dog, in this case, is a squaw. We’ll save her.” - -“Shore we’ll save her!” averred Nomad. “I knowed ye’d be fer doin’ -thet all along. We’re jest fixed right ter slide down this hill and -sashay in between ther two.” - -“That Ponca is getting ready to shoot again!” exclaimed Buffalo Bill, -as he started his horse, Bear Paw, down the descent. “The next bullet -may not go as wide as the first, and I reckon we’d better give the -buck something to think about, so he’ll let the girl alone.” - -As he charged down the slope, Buffalo Bill pulled his forty-five out -of his belt and shook a load in the Ponca’s direction. - -The range was too great for pistol-work, but the scout succeeded in -his design of giving the buck “something to think about.” - -The crack of the revolver and the “sing” of the bullet caused the -buck to lower the rifle he had half-raised, and to turn his eyes in -the direction of the white men. The girl also, for the first time, -saw that help was near. She flung up one hand in a mute appeal. - -“Don’t ye fret none, gal!” roared Nomad. “We’ll look out fer _you_!” - -The girl, apparently taking courage from the shot fired in the buck’s -direction, and from the reassuring tone of Nomad’s voice, slowed down -her pony. - -A few moments later the pards reached the foot of the ridge and laid -their horses across the Ponca’s path. The Ponca, without speaking, -tried to go around them. This was the girl’s signal to turn her pony -and circle back until she was under the lee of Bear Paw. - -“No, ye don’t, Injun!” cried the trapper, kicking in with his spurred -heels and getting in front of the Ponca at a jump. “Mebbyso ye kin -git eround me, but ye kain’t git eround _this_!” and Nomad leveled a -revolver. - -The Indian sat back on his horse and glared angrily at Nomad, at the -scout, and at the girl. - -“Me take um squaw,” grunted the Ponca. “Her b’long to Ponca.” - -“She’s a Cheyenne,” said the scout. “How can a Cheyenne belong to a -Ponca?” - -“Me buy um squaw with ponies,” asserted the Indian. “Me take her from -Cheyenne village, and she make um run. Ugh! Give Big Thunder squaw.” - -“You bought this girl of the Cheyennes?” demanded the scout. - -“Wuh! Pay um all same so many ponies.” - -The Ponca held up five fingers. - -Buffalo Bill looked at the girl attentively. He had never seen a -prettier Indian girl. Her features were regular, and her large, -liquid-black eyes gave her countenance almost a Spanish cast. Her -garments were of buckskin, beaded and fringed, and her blanket was -of a subdued color, clean and new. Broad silver bands encircled -her forearms and her shapely wrists, and her hands were small and -delicately formed. - -The buck, on the other hand, was a rough-looking specimen of a Ponca. - -“Speakin’ free an’ free, as between men an’ feller sports,” observed -Nomad, “I kain’t blame ther gal none fer runnin’ erway.” - -“Me know um Pa-c-has-ka,” said Big Thunder calmly. “Him friend of -Poncas, and him got good heart. Him no let squaw get away from Ponca -brave.” - -“What is your name?” asked the scout of the girl. - -“Wah-coo-tah,” was the answer. - -“That’s a Sioux name.” - -“Me Cheyenne, no Sioux. Name Wah-coo-tah.” - -The girl had a rippling, musical voice, very different from the -usually hard, strident voices of Indian women. - -“Very well, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout, “I’ll take your word for -it. Why was the Ponca chasing you?” - -“Me no like um.” - -“Did your father sell you to the Ponca?” - -“Ai. Me no like um, me run ’way. Him ketch Wah-coo-tah, then -Wah-coo-tah kill herself.” - -Here was a knotty point for the scout. Having bought the girl, by the -girl’s own admission, the Ponca certainly had a right to take her for -his squaw. But the scout could not justify himself in his own mind if -he allowed the vicious-looking Ponca to take the fair Cheyenne. - -“Where will you go, Wah-coo-tah, if you get away from the Ponca?” - -“Me go where me be safe,” she said. - -“How much time do you want to get away?” - -The girl turned on her pony’s back and pointed to the top of a -distant hill. - -“So far,” she answered. - -“All right. We’ll hang onto the Ponca until you get there.” - -Before the scout could stop her, Wah-coo-tah caught his hand and -pressed it to her lips. Then she turned her pony and galloped off. - -Big Thunder sat silently on his horse for a space, his eyes -glittering fiendishly. Suddenly he jerked his rifle to his shoulder. -Nomad, watching him like a cat, struck up the barrel, and the bullet -plunged skyward. - -Quick as a catamount the Ponca dropped the weapon and hurled himself -from his horse’s back--not at Nomad, but at Buffalo Bill. He had a -drawn knife in his hand, and, as he landed on the scout’s horse, he -made a venomous, whole-arm stab with it. - -But if the Ponca was quick, the scout was a shade quicker. Twisting -about in his saddle, Buffalo Bill clutched the Ponca’s knife-wrist -with his right hand, and, with his left, took a firm grip of the -Ponca’s throat. - -A second later and the struggle carried them both to the ground. - -Big Thunder was a powerful Indian, and the nude, upper-half of his -wiry body was liberally besmeared with bear’s grease. The grease made -him as slippery as an eel. Nevertheless, the scout knew how to deal -with him. - -A crushing pressure at the wrist caused the knife to drop. With the -Ponca practically disarmed, the fight became one of mere wrestling -and fisticuffs. - -Big Thunder slipped his oily throat clear of the scout’s fingers, but -the scout’s hand, leaping upward from the throat, took a firm grip of -the scalp-lock. Holding the Ponca’s head to the ground, Buffalo Bill -released his wrist, and got his right hand about the throat in such a -manner that it could not slip; then, kneeling on the ground, he held -the Ponca in that position until he was half-throttled. - -“Waugh!” jubilated Nomad. “Jest see how Pard Buffler tames ther red -savage. I’m darned ef et ain’t as good as a show. Goin’ ter strangle -him, Buffler? Better do et. Ef ye don’t, he’ll camp on yore trail -an’, sooner er later, ye’ll hev ter kill him ter prevent his takin’ -yer scalp.” - -The scout saw that the Indian had been punished enough for his -attack, and suddenly sprang away from him. - -“Don’t worry, pard,” sang out Nomad; “I’ve got him kivered.” - -For a second or two the Ponca lay on the ground, gasping for breath; -then, as he struggled to his feet, the point of the trapper’s -revolver lifted with him, the trapper’s menacing eye gleaming along -the barrel. - -“Easy, thar, Ponk!” warned Nomad; “make er single hosstyle move, an’ -ye’ll be er good Injun afore ye kin say Jack Robinson.” - -Big Thunder, seeing how he was corralled, grunted savagely, drew -himself to his full height, and folded his arms. - -“Injun thought Pa-e-has-ka friend of Poncas!” he exclaimed scathingly. - -“I’m the friend of the Poncas, all right, Big Thunder,” answered the -scout, “but the girl did not want to go with you.” - -“Ponca buy her, make um go!” - -“Not while I’m around. Keep your hands off that girl, understand?” - -“Ponca no keep hands off Pa-e-has-ka. Bymby, Pa-e-has-ka’s scalp dry -in Big Thunder’s lodge; Big Thunder make um Cheyenne girl tie um -scalp on hoop, hang um up.” - -“Hyer ther pizen red!” snarled the trapper. “Hadn’t I better rattle -this hyar pepper-box o’ mine at ther threatenin’ varmint?” - -“No.” The scout looked in the direction taken by the girl. She had -got far beyond the point to which she had drawn his attention, and -had vanished. “I reckon Wah-coo-tah’s all right, Nick. Put up your -gun and we’ll ride on to Sun Dance.” - -Unconcernedly, the scout walked to Bear Paw and mounted. - -Big Thunder, still erect and with his arms folded, followed the -scout’s movements with eyes of hate. - -“Come on, pard,” said the scout, starting for the next “rise.” - -“Mebbyso he’ll open up on ye with thet rifle o’ his, Buffler,” -demurred Nomad. - -“He’ll not do that,” was Buffalo Bill’s confident reply, as he -spurred on. - -Nomad lowered his revolver, but kept his vigilant gaze on the Ponca -as he followed his pard. When they crossed the next hill, the last -they saw of Big Thunder he was still glaring after them. - -“Ye’ve made er enemy out o’ thet red, Buffler,” observed the trapper, -pushing his revolver back into its holster. - -“I suppose so,” said the scout thoughtfully. “The worst of it is, -Nick, I can’t blame the Indian. According to the laws and customs of -the red man he is in the right. I had no business interfering between -him and Wah-coo-tah.” - -“Any white man would hev done et!” asserted the trapper. - -“Any white man who had the right kind of a heart,” qualified the -scout. - -“Wah-coo-tah ain’t er common Injun squaw.” - -“That’s why I helped her.” - -“All this hyar,” commented Nomad, “on’y illustrates what I was er -sayin’ erbout trouble. This excitement come around ther curve, -full-tilt, an’ hit us squar’ in ther face. Thar wasn’t no dodgin’ et.” - -Half an hour later the pards descended into Sun Dance Cañon, and an -hour’s ride down the cañon brought them to the foot of the slope -leading to the “flat,” and the mining-camp. - -“We’re a good two hours ahead o’ Dell an’ Cayuse,” asserted Nomad, -while they were climbing the slope. - -“I hope we’re in time for Hickok’s business, whatever it is,” -answered the scout. - -Bije Spangler, as usual, was occupying a couple of chairs in front of -the Lucky Strike. The ragged, palm-leaf fan was working slowly, and -he watched the pards approach with a speculative eye. Spangler had no -difficulty in detecting that they were persons of consequence. - -“‘Lucky Strike Hotel,’” said the scout, reading from the sign. “Are -you the proprietor?” he went on, dropping his eyes to the huge bulk -of humanity in the two chairs. - -“I run this joint,” wheezed Spangler, “but I ain’t high-toned enough -ter call myself a proprietor.” - -“Can we stop here?” - -“Can if ye got the price.” - -“We want a room by ourselves.” - -“Only got one private room, an’ that was took by a feller that -vamosed last night without settlin’ up. Reckon ye kin hev that, -seein’ as I don’t know whether the feller’s ever comin’ back er not. -J. Algernon Smith sorter opined he’d like a room by hisself, too, so -I reckon he’d think he had fust claim on the room, on’y he vamosed as -myster’ously as Wild Bill.” - -“What’s that?” demanded the scout, pulling himself together with a -jerk, and peering sharply into the flabby face of Spangler. “Was Wild -Bill Hickok staying here?” - -“He was.” - -“And you say he left last night?” - -“Him an’ J. Algernon went away tergether. That was right after supper -last night, an’ neither of ’em has come back yet.” - -“How long has Wild Bill been here?” - -“He come day before yesterday, on hossback, with er Injun. J. -Algernon come yesterday arternoon, on the Montegordo stage. Both of -’em’s skedaddled. Who might you be, neighbor?” - -“Cody’s my name----” - -Spangler tried to express his surprise and delight, but only -succeeded in emitting a throaty gurgle; he likewise tried to get up -and grab the scout’s hand, but his sudden flop displaced one of the -chairs, and he slumped to the ground in a quivering heap. - -Nomad got behind him and boosted him up. - -“This hyar camp must be er healthy place,” remarked Nomad, “ef et -grows many ombrays o’ yore size.” - -“It ain’t as healthy as it looks,” said Spangler. “Buffalo Bill, I’m -glad ter meet ye. Ye kin have this hull hotel if ye want it. I’ll -call a man ter take keer o’ yer hosses.” - -“I take care of my horse myself,” replied Buffalo Bill. “Show me the -stable, Spangler.” - -Spangler waddled to the corner of the house and pointed to a brush -shelter in the rear. - -“What d’ye think o’ this, Buffler?” asked the trapper perplexedly, as -he and his pard led their mounts to the stable. - -“I don’t know what to think of it _yet_,” answered the scout, with a -troubled frown. - -“Wild Bill was hyar, an’ vanished last night.” - -“He vanished with a man called J. Algernon Smith. If we’re to believe -Spangler, both Smith and Hickok departed unexpectedly. It looks bad, -on the face of it, but----” - -The rear of the stable was open. As the scout looked in, he saw and -recognized Wild Bill’s horse. - -“Et’s Wild Bill’s animile, shore enough,” muttered Nomad, following -the scout’s eyes with his own. “Hickok wouldn’t pull out ter go any -great distance without his hoss.” - -“It wouldn’t seem so,” the scout answered, leading Bear Paw into an -empty stall. - -Removing the saddle, he rubbed Bear Paw down carefully with the -saddle-blanket, then tore off a layer of hay from a bale, and -loosened it out in the manger. - -Nomad, deeply thoughtful, had been caring for his own horse in the -same way. - -Presently the pards left the stable and walked back to the front of -the hotel. - -Spangler was again seated on his chairs, plying the fan. He was -talking with a man in a long linen duster. - -“Buffalo Bill,” called Spangler, “shake hands with J. Algernon Smith, -of Chicago. Smith,” went on Spangler, blowing like a porpoise, “this -here is the Buffalo Bill ye read so much about.” - -The scout’s eyes instantly engaged the face of J. Algernon Smith. -Smith, after a moment’s hesitation, stretched out his hand. - -The scout was an expert in character-reading, and, inasmuch as Smith -was the last man seen with Wild Bill, he gave him keen attention. - -“Well!” exclaimed Smith, “you’re the gentleman Wild Bill has been -expecting. He told me about you.” - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - WAH-COO-TAH AGAIN. - - -“Oh, he did, eh?” queried the scout. “Do you happen to know, Mr. -Smith, where Wild Bill is now?” - -“Why,” fluttered Smith, “isn’t he here?” - -“No. He left here last night, right after supper, and hasn’t been -back since.” - -“Say, but that’s odd!” - -“Spangler, here, says that you went with him.” - -“I did go with him, as far as the slope leading down into the -cañon. I have a friend living above here--a man I used to know in -Chicago--and I called on him. He insisted that I should stay all -night in his cabin, and I did so.” - -“What is your friend’s name, Mr. Smith?” - -“Seth Coomby.” - -“Do you know such a man, Spangler?” asked the scout, turning to the -hotel proprietor. - -“Sure I know him,” answered Spangler. “He has a little, -three-dollar-a-day placer up the gulch.” - -“You say,” went on Buffalo Bill, once more facing Smith, “that you -left Wild Bill on the slope leading into the cañon?” - -“Yes.” - -“And you haven’t seen him since?” - -“Why, no. I supposed he was here. You don’t think he met with foul -play, do you? I took a big liking to Wild Bill.” - -“You didn’t have him very long, did you?” asked the scout keenly. “I -understand you only arrived in camp yesterday afternoon, and that you -and Wild Bill started for the slope right after supper. Not much time -to take a liking to a man. Did you know Wild Bill before you came to -Sun Dance?” - -“No; never saw him before I got here. We got acquainted with each -other before supper, and had a little talk over our cigars. Then we -ate supper together, and then I started for Coomby’s, and Wild Bill -walked with me as far as the slope. Say, I’m all broke up about this.” - -“Wasn’t you talkin’ with a feller in the office afore ye got ter -talkin’ with Wild Bill?” put in Spangler. - -“That was Clancy,” said Smith. - -“Yep,” returned Spangler, with a shake of his fat sides, “I know -him, all right; and”--here Spangler gave the scout a significant -glance--“Clancy ain’t got none too good a repertation in this camp.” - -“You surprise me!” exclaimed J. Algernon Smith. - -The fellow’s actions were ingenuous. He talked and acted like an -Easterner, but he _looked_ like a Westerner, for all that. - -“You understand, Mr. Smith,” pursued the scout, with the glint in -his eyes that had taken the nerve of many a wily schemer, “that Wild -Bill is my friend, and that I am anxious about him. If he has met -with foul play, as you just suggested, I shall have something to say -to the scoundrels back of it--later. Just now, though, I want all -the information I can get. You will pardon me if I ask you what this -Clancy had to say to you.” - -Smith stiffened. - -“What Clancy had to say, Buffalo Bill,” he replied, “is, of course, -my own business. Nevertheless, under the circumstances, I recognize -your right to press inquiries. If you will step aside with me, I will -explain.” - -Buffalo Bill walked apart with Smith. - -“In order to figure this matter down to where you will have a -thorough understanding of it, Buffalo Bill,” went on Smith, in a tone -that seemed perfectly frank and open, “I shall have to tell you my -business in this camp--and that business is one I was told to keep -dark. I have come here from Chicago to examine a mine with the view -of purchasing it. Clancy came to me from the owner of the mine, who -is shortly expected in this camp. What Clancy told me was that the -owner would be here to-morrow or next day, and Clancy advised me -not to tell any one why I was here. That is all. It is news to me -if Clancy does not bear a good reputation. But I don’t suppose that -affects the mine, anyway. I shall not purchase the property until I -take my ore-samples and have them assayed. Then----” - -“What is the name of the mine?” broke in the scout. - -“It is called the Forty Thieves.” - -“Queer name for an honest mine,” said the scout. - -“That’s right; but they have queer names for mines--some of them -almost laughable. For instance, I have heard of the Pauper’s Dream, -the P. D. Q., the----” - -“Who owns this mine, Mr. Smith?” - -“A man by the name of Lawless; Captain Lawless he calls himself.” - -The scout started. - -“Have you heard of the fellow?” asked Smith eagerly. - -“I have heard of a squawman who calls himself by that name, but whom -the Indians call ‘Fire-hand.’ He is said to be an out-and-out rascal.” - -“Great glory!” cried Smith. “It looks as though I had landed right -in the hands of the Philistines. Have you ever seen this Captain -Lawless, Buffalo Bill?” - -“Never. One of my pards, Little Cayuse, has seen him, but I have not.” - -“When will your pard, Little Cayuse, be here?” - -The scout’s eyes narrowed. - -“What is that to you, Mr. Smith?” he demanded. - -“Why, merely that I should like to have Lawless pointed out to me -before I talk with him. If I don’t like his looks, I’ll get away from -here without examining the Forty Thieves.” - -These words were the only ones spoken by Smith that struck the scout -as peculiar. On the whole, however, Smith had stood the scout’s -questioning well. - -Buffalo Bill turned away and walked back to Spangler. Smith went on -into the hotel. - -“What do you know about the Forty Thieves Mine, Spangler?” asked -Buffalo Bill. - -“I know it’s no good, Buffalo Bill,” said Spangler, with a choppy -laugh. - -“Where is it?” - -“Five miles down the gulch.” - -“Who owns it?” - -“Give it up. It’s changed hands so many times there ain’t no keepin’ -track o’ the owners.” - -“Do you know a man who calls himself Captain Lawless?” - -“I’ve heerd tell o’ such a chap, but I ain’t never seen him.” - -“Well,” said the scout thoughtfully, “show me into the room Wild Bill -occupied. I and my pard will stay in it till Wild Bill gets back. Go -for the saddles, Nick,” the scout added. “We’ll keep them in the room -with us.” - -Spangler yelled for the Chinaman, and the latter showed the scout -to the room recently occupied by Wild Bill. When left alone in the -place, the scout looked over it carefully. - -The first objects to strike his attention were a pair of boots. He -picked them up and looked at them. The heel of one was missing--the -reason, no doubt, the boots had been discarded. - -On a chair lay a blue-flannel shirt. Wild Bill had worn such a shirt, -but it might also have belonged to any number of men. The left sleeve -was cut away close to the shoulder, and around the edge of the -abbreviated sleeve were evidences of dried blood. - -Deeply puzzled, the scout laid the shirt aside. Wild Bill’s saddle -lay on the floor, and near it his war-bag. There was a box of -cartridges in the bag, and a few other odds and ends, but nothing -that would give the remotest clue to Wild Bill’s whereabouts. - -While the scout was examining the bag, Nomad came in with the -riding-gear. There was an odd look upon the old trapper’s face. - -“Found out anythin’, Buffler?” he asked. - -“No.” - -“Didn’t J. Algernon enlighten ye none?” - -“Not to speak of. I’ve a sneaking idea, though”--and here the scout -dropped his voice guardedly--“that Smith has put me next to a -pay-streak.” - -“Pay-streak? Whar?” - -“Why, in an old, played-out mine five miles down the gulch--a mine -called the Forty Thieves.” - -“Forty Thieves! What fool ever tacked sich er label onter a mine?” - -“Pass the ante, Nick. If what Smith says is true, though, a man by -the name of Captain Lawless is mixed up with the Forty Thieves.” - -Nomad stared. - -“Meanin’ thet whelp of er squawman ther Cheyennes calls Fire-hand, -Buffler?” he asked. - -“The same.” - -“Things are heatin’ up some, eh? Ye don’t reckon Wild Bill hes got -tangled up any with Lawless, do ye?” - -“I don’t know what to think--just yet.” - -“Waal, while ye’re fiddlin’ eround fer a start, I’m goin’ ter give ye -a surprise.” - -“What sort of a surprise?” - -Nomad drew close to the scout, and whispered in his ear. - -“Thet Injun gal, Wah-coo-tah, is out ter the barn, an’ wants ter see -ye immejiate.” - -That was a surprise, certainly. How was it that the girl, whom the -pards had left in the hills, had reached Sun Dance so soon after -their arrival? And what was her business with the scout? - -Buffalo Bill started for the door, but Nomad caught his arm. - -“Ef thar’s anythin’ crooked goin’ on in this camp, Buffler,” said the -trapper, “like as not ye’re bein’ watched. What excuse ye got fer -goin’ ter ther barn, arter ther hosses hev been attended to, an’ ther -ridin’-gear brought in? Ye ort ter hev one, ye know. Hyar! I’ll fix -ye out.” - -Nomad dipped into his war-bag and brought out a bottle of -horse-liniment. - -“Take this, Buffler,” he whispered, “an’ purtend ye’re goin’ ter rub -thet stuff on Bear Paw’s off hind leg. Thet gal, Wah-coo-tah, is -chuck full o’ important news o’ some kind, but she wouldn’t say er -word ter me, ’ceptin’ I was ter send Pa-e-has-ka ter see her.” - -Buffalo Bill took the bottle of liniment and left the room. Out in -front he halted for a word with Spangler. - -“My horse strained a tendon coming from Sill,” said he, showing the -bottle, “and I’ve got to take care of him.” - -“I got a Mexican that kin do it fer ye, Buffalo Bill,” said Spangler. - -“I never let any one take care of Bear Paw but myself,” the scout -answered, as he started for the stable. - -So far as the scout could discover he was not watched by any one. The -camp, as usual during the day, was quiet, and he could not see any -one in the vicinity of the hotel. - -When he got into the stable he stood for a moment looking around. -Wah-coo-tah was not in evidence, and he turned to go out again. -Before he could leave, however, the low, musical voice of the girl -floated to his ear: - -“Pa-e-has-ka no go. Wah-coo-tah make talk with him.” - -The voice came from overhead. Buffalo Bill looked up and saw -Wah-coo-tah gazing down at him through the brushy thatch that covered -the stable’s roof. - -“Why don’t you come down here, Wah-coo-tah?” asked the scout. - -“Wah-coo-tah ’fraid. No can take chances. Me stay here; when me -through talk, me crawl back through bushes to bottom of cañon.” - -“Have you seen anything of Big Thunder? Has he bothered you any since -you got away from him?” - -“Ponca no bother Wah-coo-tah. Him bother Pa-e-has-ka, because -Pa-e-has-ka save Wah-coo-tah. Big Thunder him in Sun Dance Cañon. Me -watch um come; so me come, tell Pa-e-has-ka look out.” - -“Is that why you brought me out here, Wah-coo-tah?” asked the scout, -disappointed. “I’m not afraid of Big Thunder.” - -“Big Thunder all same snake, but him no rattle. Him strike, but him -no rattle first.” - -“He won’t bother me, Wah-coo-tah, so don’t fret about that. Where are -you going, now that you have left Big Thunder? You won’t dare go back -to your people, because they would give you to Big Thunder again.” - -“My mudder no give me up to Big Thunder. My fadder he do that. Me -stay in hills till me git good chance, kill Big Thunder.” - -“No, no, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout earnestly, “you must not do -that.” - -“Me no like um. Him try kill Wah-coo-tah.” - -“Well, even at that, you don’t want the Ponca’s blood upon your -hands. Why are you afraid to show yourself here in this camp?” - -“Mebbyso my fadder see me.” - -“Is your father in Sun Dance?” - -“Him Fire-hand, Cap’n Lawless.” - -This was a big surprise for Buffalo Bill. He began now to understand -why Wah-coo-tah was so much more comely than the usual Indian girl. -Her father was an American, her mother a Cheyenne. - -And it was the girl’s father who had sold her, for five ponies, to -Big Thunder! That proved to Buffalo Bill, more than anything he had -yet heard against Lawless, what a thorough scoundrel the man was. - -“I will protect you against Lawless, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout. - -“Him got plenty Yellow Eyes to help um,” returned the girl. - -“Well, he hasn’t reached the camp yet. I have been told he won’t be -here until to-morrow, or next day.” - -“Him all same in camp now, Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“Where?” - -“Him stay in hotel. Me see you talk with um in front of hotel.” - -The scout was even more startled than he had been before. - -“Who is he, Wah-coo-tah?” he demanded. - -“Him man long yellow coat.” - -“Smith!” muttered the scout, a glitter coming into his eyes. - -Then it flashed through Buffalo Bill’s mind that if Lawless would -play the rôle of Smith, he must be doing it for some underhanded -purpose. Quite possibly that purpose had something to do with Wild -Bill, and his mysterious disappearance from the camp. - -“Wah-coo-tah,” went on the scout, speaking in a low voice and -hurriedly, “I came to Sun Dance looking for a friend of mine by the -name of Wild Bill. I was delayed in getting to Sun Dance. When I -reached here, though, I discovered that Wild Bill had disappeared -last night. Immediately after supper he was last seen with the man -who calls himself Smith, but who you tell me is your father, Captain -Lawless. The two walked down the slope into the cañon. Lawless says -he left Wild Bill and went to stay the night with a friend named Seth -Coomby, and that he didn’t see where Wild Bill went, and doesn’t know -anything about where he is now. If you can find out anything about -him, I’d like to have you do it.” - -The girl’s eyes sparkled at the thought of being able to render -Pa-e-has-ka a service, and so, in a measure, pay him back for what he -had done for her. - -“Me find out ’bout Wild Bill,” said she. “Listen, Pa-e-has-ka. Bymby, -in two, three hour, you go to top of road that leads down into cañon. -Look down cañon. You see um Wah-coo-tah’s blanket wave in wind, you -git um horse and come. _Sabe?_” - -“I understand. Have you had anything to eat, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Me got plenty ‘jerked’ venison. Me all right. You watch heap sharp -for blanket; and you watch heap sharp for Big Thunder. Wah-coo-tah go -now. Good-by.” - -The girl disappeared from the roof, and the scout, amazed by what he -had overheard, left the stable and walked back to the hotel. - -J. Algernon Smith was none other than Captain Lawless, and Captain -Lawless was none other than Wah-coo-tah’s father! - -Why should Lawless be impersonating Smith, unless he had some ax to -grind? What that ax was, Buffalo Bill was determined to find out. - -He went to the apartment taken by Nomad and himself, and expected to -find Nomad there; but the trapper was not in the room. - -Having replaced the bottle of liniment in his pard’s war-bag, the -scout returned to the front of the hotel. Just then he was more -particularly interested in finding Smith than in locating Nomad, but -neither one nor the other was in evidence. - -The Chinaman came out and pounded the dinner-gong. Buffalo Bill -waited for a few minutes, hoping Nomad would present himself, but he -did not. Thereupon the scout hung his hat on a peg in the office and -went into the dining-room. - -He took his time over the meal, keeping his eyes on the alert for a -glimpse of Nomad or Lawless. His watchfulness, however, was without -result. - -Puzzled and uneasy, he finished his meal and went out to where -Spangler was holding down his chairs in the shade of the hotel. - -“How far up the gulch does Seth Coomby live, Spangler?” he asked. - -“’Bout two mile,” replied Spangler. - -“What’s become of Smith? Do you know?” - -“Not me. He’s harder ter keep track of than the Irishman’s flea. But, -with all his comin’s an’ goin’s, I kin tell him he’s goin’ ter pay -fer the meals he misses, an’ the bunks he hires an’ don’t sleep in.” - -“Have you seen my pard recently?” - -“I hevn’t seen him, nuther. Mebby he went off with Smith? Your pards -hev a great habit of walkin’ off with Smith and not comin’ back -ag’in. Wild Bill did it last night, an’ mebby Nomad did it while you -was rubbin’ liniment on yer hoss.” - -“Did you see Nomad going off with Smith?” - -“Nary. I ain’t seen either one of ’em since they was here in front o’ -my place an’ you was talkin’ with Smith.” - -“I’m going away for a little while,” said the scout, “and if Nomad -returns while I am gone, tell him to stay here and wait for me.” - -“Sure I will.” - -The scout took to the horse-trail and moved off toward the slope -leading down into the cañon. - -What he wanted just now was to locate Smith. Had the fellow, fearing -discovery at the scout’s hands, skipped out? - -Nomad had not suspected Smith of being other than he seemed any more -than had the scout. Had Smith taken advantage of this and lured Nomad -away, just as he might have lured Wild Bill? - -The scout was going to Seth Coomby’s with the rather vague hope of -finding Lawless there. It was only two miles, and the scout had made -up his mind that he would walk the distance, for a change. - -As he halted at the top of the slope, his eyes instinctively scanned -the cañon, up and down. - -Down the cañon, against the right-hand wall, he saw something -fluttering from the rocks. At once he thought of Wah-coo-tah, and -of her promise to flaunt her blanket so he could see it in case she -found out anything and needed him. - -All thought of visiting Seth Coomby’s in search of Lawless passed at -once from Buffalo Bill’s mind. - -He had looked down the cañon in the hope of seeing something of Dell -Dauntless and Little Cayuse, who were already long overdue at Sun -Dance. Dell and Cayuse were not in sight, and the glimpse of that -fluttering blanket, with its call to immediate action, gave the scout -plenty to think of aside from his missing pards. - -Whirling on his track, he returned to the hotel and went to his room -after his riding-gear. - -“Reckoned ye wouldn’t go ter Coomby’s, eh, Buffalo Bill?” spoke up -Spangler. - -“I reckoned I’d ride instead of walk,” the scout answered. “I’m -expecting two other pards of mine to show up in Sun Dance before -long. One of them is a young lady. She is to have the room which -Nomad and I are occupying. If they, or Nomad, come before I get -back, don’t fail to tell them to stay here and wait for me.” - -“Ye kin gamble on it that I will,” Spangler answered. - -The scout was not long in getting the gear onto Bear Paw and striking -a swift gait for the bottom of the gulch. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - AT THE FORTY THIEVES MINE. - - -The blanket was fluttering from the top of a big pile of boulders -lying at the foot of the cañon wall. As the scout left the bottom of -the slope and emerged from the chaparral on his way down the cañon, -the blanket suddenly disappeared. - -“Wah-coo-tah has seen me coming,” he thought, “and has taken away the -blanket.” - -In this he was correct, for when he had drawn up Bear Paw abreast -of the pile of boulders, Wah-coo-tah rode out into the trail. She -scanned the trail carefully in both directions, and then urged her -cayuse alongside of Bear Paw. - -“What have you discovered, Wah-coo-tah?” asked Buffalo Bill. - -“Wild Bill ride to Forty Thieves Mine last night with Lawless,” said -the girl. - -“Did he go there of his own free will, or was he taken by force?” - -“No _sabe_ Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“Did Wild Bill leave the mine?” - -“No _sabe_. Mebbyso him no leave mine. If him leave, then him come -back Sun Dance--and him no come back.” - -“Where did you discover this?” - -“Me ride down trail, see two Yellow Eyes, Coomby and Clancy, riding -up trail. Me hide in bushes while Yellow Eyes pass. When they pass, -they talk. Me hear um. From what they say me know Wild Bill ride to -Forty Thieves Mine last night with Fire-hand.” - -This information of Wah-coo-tah’s was of immense importance. It was a -lucky bit of gossip that had come the girl’s way while she was hiding -in the bushes to let Coomby and Clancy pass. - -If Wild Bill had gone to the mine with Lawless of his own free will, -he would have taken his horse. Force had been used to compel Hickok -to go to the mine, Buffalo Bill was sure of it. - -“Are Seth Coomby and Clancy friends of Fire-hand?” asked the scout. - -“Ai. They come many times to Fire-hand’s lodge among the Cheyennes. -Me know um. Pa-e-has-ka see um Big Thunder?” inquired the girl, an -anxious light coming into her eyes. - -“No,” answered the scout. “That Ponca is the least of my worries.” - -“Him ride up gulch while Wah-coo-tah wait behind rocks. Me take down -blanket while he go. Me sure he go to Sun Dance, find Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“He wasn’t in Sun Dance. Will you go with me to the mine, -Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Me stay here, watch for Ponca.” - -“That is useless, Wah-coo-tah. I don’t like to leave you here alone, -with the Ponca and your father both loose in the gulch.” - -“Me keep away from um,” said the girl, a soft light creeping into her -large eyes as she looked at the scout. - -“I will see you again?” - -“Ai. Me help um Pa-e-has-ka find Wild Bill.” - -“Have you seen anything of Fire-hand, or my pard, Nomad, since you -left Sun Dance following my talk with you this afternoon?” - -“No see um. Me see only Coomby and Clancy, and Big Thunder.” - -“Well, if you’re determined to stay here, Wah-coo-tah,” said the -scout, “we’ll have to separate. My pard, Nomad, is missing now, as -well as Wild Bill. This Forty Thieves Mine looks like a good place to -go to hunt for them--for Wild Bill, at least. Take care of yourself, -girl. Pa-e-has-ka is your friend, and will stand by you, don’t forget -that.” - -Again the soft light came into the girl’s eyes. The scout, with a -rattle of his spurs, darted down the cañon. Looking back as he rode, -he saw Wah-coo-tah taking up her station behind the rocks. - -Buffalo Bill, who had a calculating eye for distance, measured the -miles as he rode. One, two, three, four, five he counted. As a proof -of the accuracy of his count, the word “five” had hardly dropped from -his lips before he saw, a little way ahead of him, the ore-dump of -the Forty Thieves. - -Drawing down to a more cautious pace, he swept his eyes over the -surroundings. There was no sign of any living thing in that part of -the cañon. - -He went bushwhacking in the scrub, and found places where horses had -been recently tethered, but there were no horses in the vicinity -of the ore-dump now aside from Bear Paw. If there were no horses -around, it seemed to follow, naturally, that there could be no one -in the mine. The scout, however, was determined to find that out by -observation. He would pay a visit to the workings and see for himself. - -Securing Bear Paw in the depths of a thicket, where he could not be -easily seen by any chance passer along the trail, the scout left the -bushes warily and made his way to the ore-dump. - -The ox-hide bucket was on the platform at the top of the dump, and on -the slope of the little elevation lay a pick. - -The Forty Thieves may have been a played-out proposition, but some -sort of work had been prosecuted there very recently. - -Making as little noise as possible, the scout climbed the ore-dump to -the platform and knelt down on the planks. - -He looked into the cavernous depths of the shaft, and listened -intently. He could neither see nor hear anything. - -Buffalo Bill had been perhaps half an hour looking about through the -thickets for signs of men and horses, so that, from the time he had -separated from Wah-coo-tah farther up the cañon, until he reached the -top of the ore-dump, something like an hour and a half had passed. - -At least one of the scout’s enemies had been making the most of this -hour and a half. - -As the scout slowly climbed the side of the ore-dump, his every -movement was watched by a pair of glittering eyes in the bushes. The -owner of the eyes had not been in the thicket when the scout had done -his bushwhacking, but had glided to the copse when the scout left his -horse and pushed into the open. - -As the scout knelt on the platform, his back was toward the gleaming, -malevolent eyes. - -Big Thunder--for the man in the thicket was the Ponca--thought that -the hour for his revenge had struck. Slowly his rifle arose to his -shoulder, he drew a bead on the form that topped the ore-dump, and -one long finger caressed the rifle’s trigger. - -The finger, however, did not press the trigger. At the critical -moment, Big Thunder lowered the rifle, and laid it carefully down -beside him. - -There might be other white men in the vicinity, and the sound of -the rifle-shot would be heard. In that case, Big Thunder would have -difficulty in escaping after he had secured his revenge. - -Starting to a crouching posture, the Ponca rested his right hand -on the hilt of his skinning-knife. He would use the knife, coming -upon the kneeling form of the scout before he was aware that danger -threatened. - -With the noiseless tread of a puma the savage left his concealment. -The shadow of a cloud does not cross the ground more silently than -did the moccasined feet of the vengeful Ponca. Like a specter of -ill omen he gained the foot of the ore-dump, and began climbing it -without displacing a stone, or a thimbleful of sand. - -Yet, as it happened, the Ponca was not unseen, even though the scout -was oblivious of his presence. Another Indian, with a tread as -silent, emerged from the bushes. - -It was Wah-coo-tah. - -She looked about her quickly, saw the Ponca mounting the ore-dump, -taking up the pick as he went, and hastened breathlessly toward the -shaft. - -Wah-coo-tah was unarmed. Big Thunder had seen to that when he took -the girl from the lodge of her people. - -So, as Wah-coo-tah glided toward the shaft, she armed herself with a -stone. - -Big Thunder, coming close to the scout, suddenly swung the pick high -in air. The scout, intent on probing whatever mystery lay at the -bottom of the Forty Thieves shaft, seemed unconscious of everything -that was going forward at the surface. - -“Pa-e-has-ka!” screamed the Indian girl, as she flung the stone. - -That wild cry of Wah-coo-tah’s broke the thrall of silence that had -hovered over the tragic scene. The scout looked upward, saw the -Ponca’s gleaming eyes and the raised pick, and saw the stone strike -the Ponca’s uplifted arm. - -The pick fell, but was deflected by the stone, and its point bit -murderously into the stout planks of the platform. - -Another instant and the scout had come to hand-grips with his red -foe. Cody had had no time to draw knife or revolver, but the Ponca -had succeeded in getting his own blade half-out of its scabbard -before the white man closed with him. - -A look into Big Thunder’s eyes convinced the scout that he would -fight to the death, that he had come there either to kill or be -killed. - -The struggle was, at the beginning, for the possession of the Ponca’s -half-drawn knife. - -The oiled body of the savage slipped and wriggled in the scout’s -hands, now pressing him closer, now dragging away, and every instant -the redskin’s hand plucked steadily and resolutely at the knife. - -Wah-coo-tah, excited and apprehensive, came to the top of the -ore-dump, dodging this way and that to keep out of the way of the -combatants, and seeking to be of service to Pa-e-has-ka. - -With a magnificent effort, in which his greased arm and head slipped -through the scout’s gripping fingers, Big Thunder managed to get the -knife from its sheath. - -“Get away, Wah-coo-tah!” panted the scout. - -The girl drew back a pace, stooping to pick up another stone, and, if -she got a chance to hurl it without striking the scout. - -Once, twice, three times the murderous weapon rose in the air, but -the scout evaded each blow by hurling himself to the right and left -at the critical moment when the blade fell. - -Wonderful indeed was it to note the agility of the white man, -bending, twisting, side-stepping with all the grace and swiftness of -a panther. - -The scout sought to draw a revolver, but the Ponca watched his hands -and pressed him closely whenever his fingers came close to the -hand-grip of one of the Colts. - -Suddenly the combatants broke apart, seemingly by tacit agreement. -Quick as a dart, Big Thunder whirled sideways, and launched a -sweeping blow at Wah-coo-tah. - -Buffalo Bill detected the movement at his beginning. The moment’s -grace afforded him would have been sufficient to allow him to draw -the revolver he had been trying to get hold of, but he would not have -had time to draw the revolver and shoot before the girl would have -stopped the swinging knife. - -Without making a try at his revolver, he reached out with both hands, -caught the girl’s arm, and jerked her roughly from her feet. - -Wah-coo-tah fell on the edge of the ore-dump and rolled down its -steep side, while the Ponca’s knife flashed through the sunlight over -the spot where she had stood a second before. - -The scout leaped to the farther edge of the platform, his right hand -flying to his belt. - -Undaunted by his failure to strike the girl, Big Thunder was alert on -the instant and ready to balk the scout’s attempt to get his revolver. - -Between him and the scout yawned the hole in the platform. The Ponca -sprang across it, but his moccasined feet tripped on the ox-hide -bucket, and his leap fell short. - -The toes of his moccasins caught the edge of the opening, he reeled -there for a fraction of a second, seeking to recover his balance, -then lurched backward, striking his spine and head against the -opposite side of the opening. - -For the space of a breath the scout saw him, doubled up in the square -hole, every muscle gone limp, and arms and hands helpless to save -him; then the form disappeared downward, and could be heard striking -and bounding against the rocky walls of the shaft. Finally there came -a sudden crash from far below, then death-like silence. - -Buffalo Bill sank down on the platform, limp and breathless. -Wah-coo-tah stole upward to him, knelt at his side, and peered -curiously down into the shaft. - -“Him dead,” she breathed; “Ponca him killed. Pa-e-has-ka save -Wah-coo-tah again.” - -“It’s about a stand-off, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout. “If it hadn’t -been for you the Ponca would have sunk that pick into my back. But I -hadn’t much to do with his falling into that hole. That was more of a -happenchance than anything else. He stumbled against the bucket.” - -“Him bad Ponca,” said the girl, with visible satisfaction. “Heap -good thing he fall into hole. He no fall into hole, then he ketch -Wah-coo-tah, mebbyso, and some time kill Pa-e-has-ka. Me heap glad.” - -“You saw him riding up the cañon?” - -“Ai. Me know he come. Him pass rocks trailing Pa-e-has-ka’s horse. -Then me follow.” - -“He was mighty quiet about it,” muttered the scout. “I reckon that’s -the first time a redskin ever caught me napping, but I was so wrapped -up in that shaft that I hadn’t sense for anything else. The Ponca -left his horse down the gulch, I suppose, and stole up on me?” - -“All same,” said the girl. “When he leave um cayuse, me leave um -cayuse, too. When he crawl through chaparral, me crawl through -chaparral, too. Then me come out, watch um Ponca while he lift -pick. Right off, me throw um rock and give yell. Pa-e-has-ka great -warrior!” finished the girl, admiration in her eyes. - -“That fight was nothing to brag about, Wah-coo-tah,” answered the -scout deprecatingly. “I think I should have got the red in the end, -but, as it turned out, an accident brought the fight to a close. -There was more reason in your hiding out and watching for the Ponca -than I had imagined.” - -“Me know um Ponca,” said the girl. - -The scout, having regained his breath, again knelt by the opening, -and looked and listened. All was silent as before. - -He pushed one hand into the opening and felt for a ladder, or a rope, -but he could find neither. Wah-coo-tah, divining what he was looking -for, hurried down the side of the ore-dump and returned with some -twenty feet of rope which she had seen lying there. Silently she -offered it to the scout. - -“That may help, Wah-coo-tah,” said Buffalo Bill, “but I hardly think -it is long enough. I’ll go for my riata.” - -Having gone into the thicket and secured the riata from his saddle, -the scout spliced it to the twenty feet of rope found by the girl, -then lowered the spliced ropes down into the shaft, and made the -upper end fast to the platform. - -“Ponca dead,” said the girl. “Why Pa-e-has-ka go down and look?” - -“I’m not going down to look at the Ponca, Wah-coo-tah, but to look -for Wild Bill,” the scout answered. “You say you overheard talk -between Seth Coomby and Clancy which led you to believe Wild Bill had -come out to this mine with Lawless. Lawless returned to Sun Dance, -and it may be he left Wild Bill here. I’m going down to find out.” - -“Wah-coo-tah go, too?” the girl asked. - -“Wah-coo-tah stay here,” the scout answered, throwing off his -coat and hat. “Keep watch. If you see any one coming, fire two -revolver-shots so that I may know, and climb back to the ore-dump. -_Sabe?_” - -“Me _sabe_, but me no got gun.” - -“Take this one,” and the scout laid one of his forty-fives in the -girl’s hand. - -“Me watch,” said the girl. “Pa-e-has-ka trust Wah-coo-tah.” - -After a precautionary glance around, the scout lowered himself -through the opening and slid rapidly down the rope. At the lower end -of it, his foot touched against something soft and yielding. Stepping -over the object, he took a match from his pocket, and struck it -against the wall of the shaft. - -The object on the shaft’s bottom was what he had supposed it to -be--the body of the Ponca. The Indian was dead. - -Paying no further heed to the Ponca, the scout started along the -level, lighting his way with matches. He had not proceeded far before -he picked up a half-burned candle, and was able to continue his -investigations to better purpose. - -As he continued on along the crooked drift, the gleam of the candle -sparkled on another object at his feet. He bent and picked it up, -finding it to be an empty brass shell. - -“Queer place for a shell,” he muttered, “particularly for a -shotgun-shell. Who has been using a shotgun down here, and why?” - -That old mine Buffalo Bill had conceived to hold a “pay-streak” for -him, but as he proceeded onward without finding any trace of Wild -Bill, he began to think that there was not so much of a pay-streak as -he had imagined. - -Then, the next minute, as he drew close to the end of the level, one -of those surprises which occasionally drop across a person’s path -with results undreamed of presented itself. - -Ahead of him, in the flickering glow of the candle, he saw a form -stretched out at the side of the level. - -“Hickok!” he cried, running forward. - -The form gave out an incoherent gurgle, and the scout fell to -his knees and flashed the candle in front of the man’s face. An -exclamation of astonishment escaped his lips. - -The man was not Wild Bill, but Nomad! - -The old trapper was securely roped and gagged. Although he could not -talk, his eyes, wide open and peering upward into his pard’s face, -spoke volumes. - -Wedging the candle in between two stones of the hanging wall, the -scout proceeded to strip the ropes from his old pard. - -The trapper’s first words were surprising. - -“Let’s git out o’ hyar!” he gasped, floundering to his feet and -grabbing his pard’s arm. - -“Wait a minute, Nick,” demurred the scout, “and don’t be in such a -rush. What are you afraid of?” - -“This hyar is ther Forty Thieves Mine, an’ it’s ha’nted. I been -layin’ hyar in er cold sweat fer ther last two hours. Waugh! I kin -stand flesh-an’-blood enemies, but when ye come down ter ghosts an’ -whiskizoos, I’m shy my ante. Let’s hustle, Buffler!” - -“Nick,” said the scout sternly, “pull yourself together and try -and corral a little common sense. I came down here looking for -Wild Bill, and I find you. Sit down, and tell me how you got here. -What happened, anyway? You needn’t worry about those who captured -you coming along and taking us by surprise. Wah-coo-tah is on the -ore-dump, keeping watch for us. She’ll fire a couple of shots if -anything goes wrong.” - -Nomad, after casting a wild look around him, into the dark, hunched -up on the floor of the level, close to Buffalo Bill. - -“Et ain’t nothin’ human I’m afeared of, Buffler,” he declared, -“but spooks an’ whiskizoos sartinly gits onter my narves. Waugh! I -wouldn’t stay alone in this hyar pizen mine ef ye was ter pay me fer -et. When ye found me I was tied up an’ couldn’t git erway, an’ I’m -tellin’ ye I come mighty nigh kickin’ ther bucket jest on account o’ -bein’ skeered. Br-r-r! Keep right alongside er me, Buffler.” - -“What happened to you?” demanded the scout curtly. - -Nomad rubbed his eyes, took another look around, and then replied. - -“I come out o’ our room when ye went ter tork with Wah-coo-tah, and -thet feller Smith was sneakin’ off inter ther bresh alongside the -hotel. I hadn’t no idee what he was up ter, but his actions was -mighty suspicious, so I made up my mind I’d foller him and see what -was ther matter with him. He----” - -Nomad gave another gasp and grabbed at his pard’s arm. - -“D’ye hyer anythin,’ Buffler?” he demanded. - -“Not a thing,” returned the scout. “Why, Nick, I never saw your -nerves in such shape before. Forget about the spooks; at least, until -you tell me what I want to know.” - -The old trapper gulped, calmed himself with an effort, and went on. - -“Waal, as I was er sayin’, Smith acted mighty quare. He slid through -ther bushes ter ther slope leadin’ down inter ther cañon, an’ then -he went down ther cañon, keepin’ in ther bushes all ther way. I was -right arter him all ther time, kase I’d made up my mind ter keep ter -ther trailin’ so long as he acted suspicious thet away. - -“I reckon we must hev tramped two er three miles, hanging ter ther -scrub all ther way, an’ never once showin’ ourselves in ther trail. -Then”--and Nomad’s voice dropped wonderingly--“somethin’ happened -ter me. Et come from behind, an’ I ain’t yet shore in my mind as ter -what et was. Everythin’ got black in front er my eyes, an’ I didn’t -remember nothin’ more till I come to in this place, roped an’ gagged -like ye found me. - -“Thar was two er three men around me, an’ one of ’em was Smith, ther -feller I was trailin’. Thet feller ain’t no Easterner, Buffler, ye -kin take my word fer thet.” - -“Wah-coo-tah opened my eyes regarding J. Algernon Smith, Nick,” -returned the scout. “The fellow’s a fake. His name is not Smith, but -Lawless.” - -“What!” cried Nomad. “Cap’n Lawless?” - -“The same; and he is supposed to own this mine. Captain Lawless, too, -is Wah-coo-tah’s father.” - -“Wuss an’ wuss!” muttered Nomad, falling back against the wall. “This -hyar is sartinly a day fer surprises. Ther gang, with Lawless at -ther head, is workin’ some game. When they left me, Lawless told the -fellers with him thet Bingham was expected on this arternoon’s stage -from Montegordo, although who Bingham is, or why they’re expectin’ -him, is too many fer me. Lawless said Bingham wouldn’t come ter -ther Forty Thieves ontil ter-morrer, even ef he did git in on this -arternoon’s stage, an’ thet they could come back hyar an’ take keer -o’ me ter-night. Then they hiked out, an’, I reckon, pulled up ther -ladders arter ’em.” - -The scout mused for a moment. - -“You were trailing Lawless,” said he, “and some one of Lawless’ men -must have been trailing you. When the fellow behind you got the -opportunity, he let drive at the back of your head.” - -“Thet’s ther way o’ et. But how did ye know I was hyar, Buffler?” - -“I didn’t know. I came here looking for Wild Bill, for I was told -that he had come here, yesterday afternoon, with Lawless.” - -“Who told ye thet?” - -“Wah-coo-tah.” - -Thereupon the scout, as hurriedly as he could, without neglecting any -of the important details, informed his old pard of events that had -recently taken place. - -Just as the scout finished his recital, Nomad gave a smothered yell, -and leaped as though he had been thrown from a catapult. - -“Thar et is ergin,” he gasped huskily. “Hyer et, Buffler?” - -The scout listened. - -What he heard was a muffled sound, as of a groan, echoing dully along -the underground passage. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - LAYING THE “GHOST.” - - -“Waugh!” chattered Nomad. “I been er layin’ hyar in mortil agony fer -two long hours, hyerin’ thet sound. Ther Forty Thieves Mine is bad -medicine; thar’s been crooked bizness o’ some kind hyar, an’ et’s -ha’nted. Let’s skin out, Buffler! Br-r-r, but I got er bad attack o’ -ther shakes.” - -“Nonsense!” exclaimed the scout impatiently. “I don’t believe in -ghosts. That sound, whatever it is, has a very human note, it seems -to me.” - -“Human?” whooped Nomad; “_human_? Et’s a whiskizoo, warnin’ us ter -make ourselves plumb absent, er take ther consequences.” - -“Listen!” commanded the scout. - -The groaning noise was repeated, and there was certainly something -unearthly about it, there in that ill-omened place. This time, -however, it was followed by a tapping as of one stone against another. - -“Ain’t this orful, Buffler?” muttered the old trapper, brushing his -sleeve across his dripping forehead. “I don’t reckon we’re ever goin’ -ter live ter git out o’ hyar.” - -The scout gave no further attention to Nomad, but took the candle -down from the wall and started slowly along the level in the -direction of the shaft. - -“Hello!” he shouted, at the top of his voice. - -The voice answered with another groan--less a groan, perhaps, than -spoken words, jumbled together by distance and a muffling barrier. - -The scout called again, and again; apparently, he was answered. -Groping along, the wall, calling and trying to locate the place from -which the answers came, he halted suddenly at what seemed to be a -break in the side of the level. - -The break was of broken rocks and not, like the rest of the walls, of -a single mass of stone. Picking up a splintered fragment, the scout -tapped with it on the débris. The tapping was returned, clearly from -the opposite side. - -Nomad’s fears had been giving way to curiosity, and he followed the -scout’s movements with deep interest. - -“Is that you, Wild Bill?” yelled the scout, his lips close to the -break in the wall. - -Something was returned--a single monosyllable, which sounded very -much like “Yes.” - -“Snarlin’ catermounts!” exclaimed old Nomad. “Ye don’t mean ter say, -pard, thet Wild Bill has been makin’ them noises?” - -“It seems likely,” replied the scout, starting for the shaft. - -“Whar is he? An’ what’s he doin’ in er solid wall?” - -“It isn’t a solid wall. He’s somewhere back of that broken stone, and -it’s up to us to get him out as quick as possible.” - -Reaching the shaft, Buffalo Bill lifted his face. “Wah-coo-tah!” he -called. - -The girl’s head appeared over the opening. - -“Haul up the rope,” instructed the scout, “and then tie the pick to -it and let it down.” - -The girl obeyed the order. While she was doing it, the scout told -Nomad to take the candle and go through the drift hunting for any -tools he could find. - -By the time Buffalo Bill had returned to the break in the wall -with the pick, Nomad was waiting for him with two more half-burned -candles, and with a shovel. - -“Ther shovel is all I could find, Buffler,” said the trapper. - -“That’s enough, Nick. We have a pick and shovel, and there are only -two of us to work. Light all the candles, and wedge them into the -wall in places where they will give us the most light. We’ve got -to hurry. There’s no telling how much air Wild Bill has in there, -nor how long he can hold out. What’s more, Lawless and his gang may -return at any moment and interrupt our work.” - -While he was talking, the scout began driving the pick into the mass -of débris, throwing the broken stones to right and left. - -After lighting and placing the candles where they would best serve -the scout’s purpose, Nomad fell to with the shovel. - -The efforts of the two pards were concentrated upon a limited space, -well toward the top of the barrier. It was only necessary to make a -hole large enough for Wild Bill to crawl through, and that is what -they strove to do. As they continued digging, however, the loosened -stones fell from above, so that it was necessary to force an opening -from about the middle of the barrier upward to the roof of the level. - -The scout and the trapper worked like galley-slaves. By degrees the -voice on the other side of the wall became clearer as the barrier -diminished; then, suddenly, the voice ceased altogether. - -“What does thet mean?” panted Nomad, pausing a second to peer at his -pard. - -“Hickok!” shouted the scout, likewise pausing. - -No answer came back. - -“It means,” went on Buffalo Bill, “that we’ve got to work faster than -ever. Wild Bill has succumbed to the foul air, and he’ll die if we -don’t get him out before many minutes.” - -They jumped at the barrier like madmen, and to such good purpose did -they ply pick and shovel, that, a few moments after Wild Bill had -ceased to call to them, the scout’s pick went through the wall, and a -mass of broken stones tumbled outward, leaving a good-sized opening. - -Without waiting an instant, Buffalo Bill seized a candle and forced -himself through the breach. - -When he let himself down on the other side, he found that he was in -a chamber, about as wide as the main level and twice as deep. On the -floor Wild Bill lay sprawled, a heap of knotted rope beside him. - -“Is he thar, Buffler?” called Nomad from the level. - -“Yes.” - -“Alive?” - -“I think so. The foul air got the best of him. Stand by to take him -as I push him through.” - -“Send him erlong,” answered the old trapper. “I’m blamed ef this -ain’t ther strangest thing We, Us an’ Comp’ny ever went up ag’inst.” - -Buffalo Bill put down his candle and lifted the limp form from -the rocky floor. Nomad reached through and caught the form by the -shoulders, dragging it to the other side and laying it down on the -bottom of the level. - -The next moment the scout had clambered clear of the breach and -rejoined his pard. - -“Hadn’t we better take him ter ther surface, Buffler?” asked Nomad. -“Mebbyso a leetle water ’u’d help ter bring him ’round.” - -“Pure air is all he needs,” the scout replied, “although, I suppose, -if he has been shut up there long, both water and food would be -acceptable.” - -“This hyar must be ther work o’ thet skunk, Lawless,” growled Nomad. - -“No doubt of it.” - -“But whyever did he treat Wild Bill like thet?” - -“We’ll know in a few minutes. Ah!” the scout added, noticing Wild -Bill’s breast expand convulsively, “he’s coming to himself.” - -The scout took off his hat and fanned the air in front of Wild Bill’s -face. Then, presently, Wild Bill’s eyelids flickered open, and his -dazed eyes stared upward at the scout. - -“By gorry!” were Wild Bill’s first words, “you were a deuce of a long -time getting to Sun Dance, Cody.” - -“We were, that,” answered the scout, considerably relieved, “but we -got here at last.” - -“And right in the nick,” added Wild Bill, floundering to a sitting -posture; “another ten minutes and it would have been all day with me. -Got anything to eat or drink?” - -“Nick,” said the scout, “go to the shaft and tell Wah-coo-tah that we -have found Wild Bill, and that he is hungry and thirsty. See what she -can do.” - -“On ther jump,” returned Nomad, taking one of the candles and -scrambling for the shaft. - -“You’ve evidently had a rough time of it, Hickok,” observed the scout. - -“Rough? That’s too mild a word. What day is this?” - -“Wednesday afternoon.” - -“And I was walled up in that stub-end of a crosscut Monday night. -It seemed like a year instead of two nights and going on two days. -Woosh! Of all the tortures that have ever been tried on me, that was -the worst.” - -“Are you hurt any?” - -“Not to speak of. Limp as a rag, that’s all. The air wasn’t any too -good, and, of course, it kept getting worse and worse.” - -Just then Nomad came back from the shaft. He had a piece of jerked -beef and a square cloth, soaked in water. - -Wild Bill took the cloth and wrung it out against his lips, then ate -a little of the jerked beef. - -“I’m not as hungry or thirsty as I thought I was,” said he. “I’m used -to going without water or food for days at a stretch.” - -“Who holed you up in that way?” asked the scout. - -“A man in a linen duster. He blew into Sun Dance Tuesday afternoon, -on the Montegordo stage, and said his name was J. Algernon Smith, of -Chicago. That tinhorn, pards, is sure the original two-tongue man. -His right name is Lawless, and he’s a thirty-second degree confidence -man and desperado.” - -“We have already had dealings with J. Algernon,” said the scout -grimly. “We walked into his trap, I reckon, about as easily as you -did. But go on, Hickok. If you feel able, give us the whole of it.” - -“I’m able, all right--getting stronger every minute. Pure air was the -main thing, and I’m making the most of it.” - -Then, at considerable length, Wild Bill set forth his experiences, -beginning with his ride to Sun Dance with Crawling Bear, and his -investigation of the shooting in the mine. - -“A job of salt!” muttered Buffalo Bill. “The atmosphere is beginning -to clear.” - -“Lawless,” proceeded Wild Bill, “is expecting a man here to take -ore-samples from the mine. If the mine pans out, according to -schedule, a hundred thousand is to change hands. That would be quite -a plum to fall into the hands of a squawman like Lawless.” - -“It will never fall into the hands of Lawless _now_.” - -“I should say not,” said Hickok; “and let us emphasize the ‘now.’ -Seeing the stranger get off the Montegordo stage, I thought he was -the come-on, and, always being ready to stretch out a helping hand -to the unfortunate, I stretched out a hand to Lawless--and Lawless -played me to a fare-you-well. He acted the part of the Eastern -come-on to the life.” - -“The Easterner’s name is Bingham, not Smith,” said the scout. - -“It was all one to me, at that stage of the game,” and Wild Bill -proceeded with his account. - -The way he had been lured to the slope, ostensibly to meet Clancy, -and the way Clancy had unexpectedly met him from behind with a club, -was told; then followed a description of what took place in the mine, -the setting off of the three blasts, and the retreat of Lawless and -his men. - -“I closed my eyes,” said Wild Bill, “when the charges went off. -Lawless had told me that Clancy was a master hand at setting off -giant powder, and that he had drilled the holes in such a way that I -wouldn’t be touched by flying rock, but would be neatly and securely -walled into a rocky chamber. I wasn’t taking Lawless’ word for -anything, and expected as much as could be that I would be hit by a -splinter of rock, and wiped out. I wasn’t much caring, between the -three of us. Death seemed certain, anyway, and I was rather hoping it -would be quick, rather than long-drawn out. - -“But Clancy must have known his business. After my ears had recovered -from the jar, I opened my eyes, and discovered several things. But -I didn’t discover them by sight, for I was in the blackest kind of -night. - -“The first of my discoveries was this, that I wasn’t hurt by the -explosion. The next discovery was that the powder-fumes had not -entered my chamber as thickly as I supposed they would do. Most of -the fumes must have passed into the level, from some cause that -I can’t exactly figure out. However that may be, the absence of -powder-smoke left the little air I had just that much clearer and -purer. - -“I was bound hand and foot, and I made it my first business to get -loose. The sharp corner of a stone helped me, for I sat up and chafed -my bonds over it, and soon had my hands free. To get the rope off my -ankles, after that, was mere child’s play. - -“As soon as I was able to move around, I sounded the barrier between -me and the drift. It seemed thick enough, and I reached for a new -knife I had bought in Sun Dance, with the idea of using it to dig -with. But Lawless had stripped me of knife and guns. Not having the -knife, I worked with my hands. - -“It was a slow job, Cody, but I wonder if you’ve ever noticed how -a man will work when his life is at stake? Well, that was me, just -then. I sailed into that wall with my hands and finger-nails, and -I would have gone at it with my teeth if I hadn’t had the use of my -hands. - -“After about fifty years--that’s what it seemed like, anyhow--I -noticed that I was getting weak, and that I wasn’t making much of a -hole in the barrier. The air was getting bad, too, and I thought I’d -better give up my plan as a bad job. If I got out, I thought, the -chances were I’d fall right back into the hands of Lawless and his -men again. - -“So I quit work on the barrier and laid down and went to sleep. When -I woke up and realized where I was, the old hope of making my escape -took hold of me. I hadn’t the strength to work, so I began to yell, -and to tap on the wall. - -“I hadn’t much of an idea that any one would hear me but Lawless and -his gang, but I was that desperate I felt I must do something.” - -Wild Bill fell silent for a space, studying the flickering candles on -the wall of the level. - -“I wonder,” he resumed finally, “if you fellows know what it means to -feel that you are in the last ditch, with a lot of buckaroos throwing -in the sand, when, all at once, something snakes you out of what -was meant to be your grave, and lands you in safety, with ground to -spare? Well, if you’ve ever experienced that, you’ll understand how I -felt when I heard an answer to one of my yells, and, a little later, -heard blows of a pick. - -“I didn’t know who it was out here in the level, but a sneaking idea -took possession of me that it was Bingham, the fellow who had come to -the Forty Thieves to chip ore-samples. I had that idea when the foul -air became too much for me, and I dozed off. So it was something of -a surprise when I opened my eyes and saw Pard Cody. - -“Well, when all’s said and done, here I am, alive and kicking, and -able to tote my guns and face trouble just as I’ve done in the past. -All that bothers me now is playing even with Lawless. I’d like mighty -well, though, to hear how you fellows came to be in the mine.” - -“Nomad brought me here,” said the scout. “He was trapped by J. -Algernon Smith in a similar way to what you were, and he was brought -here and left in the level, bound and gagged. I came to find you, and -found him. He was in a sorry fix, Nick was, Hickok. He told me he had -heard ghosts, and he was for leaving the mine on the run.” - -The old trapper wore a sheepish look. - -“Waal,” he grunted, “them noises I heerd shore sounded like they mout -be ghosts. No human bein’ ever made sich sounds, accordin’ ter my -thinkin’.” - -“It’s blamed lucky for me,” observed Wild Bill, “that Cody isn’t -superstitious. If he had been, Bill Hickok would have been company -front with his finish. But tell me everything. I’m like a man that -has been in solitary confinement for so long that the mere sound of -a human voice is refreshing. Talk to me, you fellows, and I’ll lean -back against the wall and listen.” - -Hickok was fully informed of preceding events by the scout and the -trapper, Wah-coo-tah being brought into the recital, since she alone -had furnished the scout the tip that had led him to the mine. - -“From what you say of the girl,” remarked Wild Bill, “she seems to be -of a different caliber from that of her tinhorn father.” - -“She is,” averred the scout, “if I’m any judge of character.” - -“It’s a good thing for her the Ponca slipped into the shaft. But for -that, he’d have caught her, sooner or later. An Injun isn’t giving up -five good ponies just to let himself be beaten out of his bargain.” - -Wild Bill got to his feet and gave himself a shake. - -“Feel like climbing fifty feet of rope, Hickok?” asked the scout. - -“I feel like trying,” was the reply, “but whether I could get to the -top or not is a horse of another color.” - -“We kin rig a tackle an’ snake ye up,” said Nomad; “all ye got ter do -is ter hang in er noose, an’----” - -Nomad stopped short. From a distance came the reports of two -revolver-shots, fired in quick succession. - -“Trouble!” shouted the scout, snatching a candle from the wall and -leaping away in the direction of the shaft. “That’s the signal -Wah-coo-tah was to give us if any of that gang of scoundrels came -this way.” - -“I’m hopin’ ther trouble won’t reach ther gal afore we kin shin up -ther rope an’ jine her,” cried the trapper. - -“We’ll not be of much account in a gun-fight, Nomad,” said Wild Bill. -“You’re not heeled, and neither am I.” - -When Nomad and Wild Bill reached the bottom of the shaft, Buffalo -Bill was already on his way up the rope. A rattle of revolver-firing -came from the ore-dump, and the king of scouts climbed toward it with -frantic haste. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - THE FIGHT AT THE ORE-DUMP. - - -When Buffalo Bill raised his head and shoulders above the edge of the -platform, bullets flew about his ears like a swarm of angry bees. He -could not see the Indian girl, and he could not see any enemies, but -a shout from the girl called his attention as soon as he had pulled -himself out on the planks. - -“Here, Pa-e-has-ka!” the girl called. - -Her voice came from the side of the cañon, and the scout saw her head -lifted over a heap of boulders. - -Bullets continued to sweep the ore-platform, but, before the scout -hurried to join Wah-coo-tah, he knelt, picked up his hat and coat, -and called to his pards. - -“Stay where you are!” he ordered. “You haven’t any guns, and you’d -only be in the way.” - -Having delivered these instructions, he whirled and leaped down the -side of the ore-dump. Bullets from behind boulders across the cañon -followed him as he ran, yet he managed to gain the barrier, behind -which Wah-coo-tah had taken refuge, without injury. - -“Who are the men?” were the scout’s first words. - -“My fadder and the other Yellow Eyes,” replied the girl. - -“How many, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Seven.” - -“That means the whole gang is here,” observed the scout, thinking -dejectedly of his brace of Colts, which were all the firearms he and -his pards had. “Where are the gang’s horses, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“No _sabe_,” answered the girl. “Mebbyso cayuses left up the gulch. -When they come they walk, creep ’long behind rocks. Me no see um till -they come close. Then me shoot, and they begin to shoot, too. No like -um. Heap bad Yellow Eyes.” - -“Have they got rifles?” - -“No got um rifles; got revolvers.” - -“If there are seven of them, and they have each a brace of -six-shooters, then they have fourteen revolvers to our two. Unless -something unexpected happens, they’re going to give us a run for our -money.” - -Very cautiously Buffalo Bill looked over the top of the boulders and -sized up the enemy’s position. Lawless and his men appeared to be -scattered up and down the opposite side of the cañon, every one of -them back of a boulder. - -The firing was not so brisk as it had been, and it was quite probable -that Lawless was himself taking stock of the situation before -allowing matters to go any further. As a point to this conclusion -of the scout’s, the head of Lawless, capped with its black sombrero -showed above the top of a boulder almost directly opposite where the -scout was standing. - -Quick as lightning, Buffalo Bill let fly a bullet at the black hat. -Lawless ducked down just in time to save himself; and, the next -moment, Buffalo Bill himself was obliged to drop, for bullets began -to fly thick and fast. - -“Stop your shooting!” - -It was the voice of Lawless, and went ringing down the cañon. -Instantly the fusillade ceased. - -“Buffalo Bill!” called Lawless. - -“What do you want?” asked the scout, keeping under cover. - -“You have my girl over there, and if you’ll give her up, we’ll let -you and your pards go, providing you agree to return to Fort Sill and -not go back to Sun Dance.” - -Wah-coo-tah, crouching behind the stones, put out her hands and -caught the scout’s arm imploringly. - -“No, no!” she breathed. - -“You want to sell the girl to some other buck for five ponies, eh?” -called Buffalo Bill, in a tone of contempt. - -“It’s none of your business what I want to do. She’s a fiery jade, -and there’s no living in the same lodge with her. Will you give her -up?” - -“Certainly not. She doesn’t want to go back to you.” - -“I can make you give her up,” stormed Lawless. “The officers at Fort -Sill, if I laid the case before them, would force you to turn the -girl over to her people.” - -“You’ll not lay the case before the officers at Sill,” taunted -the scout; “they’d like mighty well to have you come there and -try it. You’re a pretty sort of man to have charge of a girl like -Wah-coo-tah!” - -“For the last time”--and Lawless’ voice shook with rage--“are you -going to let me have my daughter?” - -“And for the last time. No!” roared the scout. - -“Then you’ll never leave this cañon alive. Go on with your shooting, -boys!” - -The last words were a command to the members of the gang, and the -crack of weapons again resounded. All the shooting, however, was -a waste of good ammunition. The bullets hissed through the air or -patted harmlessly against the rocks. So long as the fighters kept -themselves hidden there was no danger of casualties. - -Changing his position, Buffalo Bill threw himself down at full -length, and looked out around the end of the boulder breastwork that -shielded him and Wah-coo-tah. - -What he saw filled him with consternation. While he had been -parleying with Lawless, two of Lawless’ men had left their boulders -and stolen up on the ore-dump. Under the protection of the rock pile, -the two rascals were making for the platform. - -Was it their intention to cut the rope that was hanging in the -shaft? the scout asked himself. If it was, and if Nomad or Wild Bill -happened at the moment to be climbing upward, cutting the rope would -drop them downward, and perhaps cause them to meet the doom that had -overtaken the Ponca. - -In the hope of keeping the two men from the platform, the scout -concentrated his fire upon the ore-dump. The men on the other side -of it were carrying out their plans warily, and the scout was given -little chance at them. - -When they reached the top of the ore-dump, the scoundrels pushed two -boulders onto the platform to shield their bodies from the scout’s -bullets; then, pushing the stones in front of them, they crawled, -snakelike, toward the shaft opening. - -The scout’s bullets slapped and hissed against the moving stones, but -without doing any damage to the men behind them. All the scoundrels -laughed. They seemed to understand the scout’s fears and the laugh -was a taunt because they considered that they had baffled him. - -Buffalo Bill was just planning a rush back to the ore-dump--a -daredevil charge across the open with every outlaw’s weapon firing at -him--when something happened which he had not looked for. - -The stones on the platform were close to the opening, when, with -startling suddenness, old Nomad popped through the hole like a -Jack-in-the-box. He took in the situation at a glance, and dropped -down on the two desperadoes. - -One of the men started to jump up and run, but Nomad’s fist shot out -like a battering-ram, and the villain pitched head first down the -rocky side of the dump. - -The men across the cañon did not dare shoot at the trapper for fear -of wounding their friends. Nomad understood this, and took full -benefit of the grace allowed him. - -The scoundrel who still remained on the dump chanced to be Seth -Coomby. Nomad dropped a heavy knee on Coomby’s chest, and ripped the -revolvers out of his hands. Shoving one revolver into the breast of -his shirt, he picked Coomby up by the scruff of the neck, held him in -front as a breastwork, and started down the slope, firing as he went, -and forcing Coomby ahead of him. - -But Nomad was not making for the boulders where the scout had taken -refuge, but for the other side of the cañon, where Lawless and the -rest of his men were doing their fighting. - -It was a reckless piece of work on Nomad’s part. The old trapper, -however, was filled with rage at the way Lawless and his men had -treated him. He wanted to play “even,” and was willing to take -chances to do so. - -Hardly had Nomad reached the bottom of the ore-dump, when Wild Bill -showed himself on the platform. Whether the outlaws were too much -occupied watching Nomad’s work with Coomby, or whether they were -paralyzed at Wild Bill’s appearance, yet the fact remains that they -did not fire at him. - -Coomby’s companion on the ore-dump--none other than the man who has -figured as “Andy”--had dropped one of his revolvers at the time he -was overturned by the old trapper’s fist. - -Wild Bill’s quick eye caught sight of the weapon, and he picked it -up, flourished it in the air with a yell, and leaped after Nomad -toward the opposite side of the cañon. - -The scout, witnessing the trend of affairs, decided that he ought to -take part in the charge of his pards. Unless the attack was hotly -pressed, neither Nomad nor Wild Bill would come out of the skirmish -alive. - -At the very moment when Buffalo Bill threw himself across the -boulders, a thump of horses’ feet came from down the cañon. - -“We’re coming, pard!” whooped a shrill, feminine voice. - -The scout looked down the gulch and saw Dauntless Dell and Little -Cayuse plying quirt and spur, and hurrying to take part in the combat. - -“Hyar comes our other two pards!” jubilated Nomad. “Now, ye varmints, -will ye hunt yer holes?” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - DELL AND CAYUSE ALSO DELAYED. - - -From the moment Dauntless Dell’s shrill cry echoed through the cañon, -panic struck at the hearts of Captain Lawless and his men. The -villainous crew saw five determined foes bearing down on them. - -“Scatter!” yelled Captain Lawless, and immediately suited his actions -to the word. - -Keeping themselves under cover of the rocks, the stampeded scoundrels -finally gained the shelter of the scrub, and could be heard thrashing -about in a mad endeavor to get to their horses and away. - -At this point, Nomad’s ardor got the better of him, and caused him to -lose his prisoner, Coomby. - -Pushing fiercely toward the bushes, and shoving Coomby ahead of him, -Nomad was making a wild effort to keep up the fight. - -Coomby, unable to stand up under the pressure exerted on him from -behind, stumbled over a stone. Nomad, who could not stop his headlong -rush, went sprawling over Coomby, and both lay for an instant in a -tangle on the ground. - -Fear did for Coomby what the lust for battle could not do for Nomad; -and the outlaw succeeded in beating the trapper in getting up, and -was off and away before he could be caught. - -Dell and Cayuse shot on along the cañon in pursuit. Buffalo Bill got -astride Bear Paw, Nomad found Wah-coo-tah’s pony, and Wild Bill -picked up the cayuse belonging to the dead Ponca. - -Lawless and his men had torn their horses loose from the bushes where -they had been secured, and had lost themselves in the chaparral. - -The scout and his pards hunted the cañon through, up and down and -from side to side, but without result. Lawless and his gang had made -their escape. - -“Whar ther bloomin’ blazes did they go, anyways?” demanded Nomad, his -voice heavy with chagrin and disappointment, when he and the rest -of the scout’s party rounded up once more in the vicinity of the -ore-dump. - -“They know the country better than we do, Nick,” said Buffalo Bill, -“and they have made a clean get-away.” - -“Waugh, but et shore glooms me up!” growled the trapper. “I got er -bone ter pick with thet outfit.” - -“So have I,” put in Wild Bill, with a soothing grin, “but I reckon -the bone can wait. What’s the use of being in a rush, Nomad?” - -“We kin afford ter wait, as fur as thet goes, but I like ter make a -clean up as I purceed.” - -“We’ve had enough of this for a while,” put in the scout. “Hickok has -been pretty active for a man who has been so long without anything to -eat or drink, and it will be close to supper-time when we get back -to Spangler’s. We’ll ride for Sun Dance, and leave Lawless and his -men to be dealt with later. Ah!” the scout added, facing about in his -saddle. “Come here, Wah-coo-tah. I was just wondering what had become -of you.” - -During the flight and pursuit, the scout had lost track of the Indian -girl. She now came around the base of the ore-dump and hurried toward -him. - -Dell Dauntless and Cayuse scrutinized the girl curiously. - -“Who is she, Buffalo Bill?” asked Dell. - -“Wah-coo-tah is her name,” the scout answered. “She is the daughter -of Fire-hand, otherwise Captain Lawless.” - -“Ugh!” muttered Little Cayuse. - -“His daughter!” echoed Dell. - -“She’s a friend of ours, though, for all that,” said the scout, -taking in a kindly grip the hand Wah-coo-tah held out to him. - -With a swing, he landed the girl on Bear Paw’s back at the -saddle-cantle. - -“You see,” explained the scout, “Nomad and I saved Wah-coo-tah from -a Ponca warrior who had bought her from Lawless for five ponies. -Wah-coo-tah was not pleased with her father’s arrangement, and -broke away from the Ponca. Nomad and I happened to be near enough -to interfere in her behalf. She did not forget what we had done for -her, but has rendered us good service in this affair of Wild Bill’s. -In fact, if it hadn’t been for Wah-coo-tah, it is probable Wild Bill -would have lost his life, and perhaps Nomad, too.” - -Dell Dauntless spurred her white cayuse, Silver Heels, alongside of -Bear Paw, and took Wah-coo-tah’s hand. - -“If you have done all this,” smiled Dell engagingly, “you’re -entitled to the friendship of all of us. You must be a brave girl, -Wah-coo-tah.” - -The Cheyenne maiden studied Dell for a few moments, then turned away -rather curtly. - -“What’s the matter with her?” whispered Dell to Wild Bill. - -“Well, she thinks she’s got first lien on the scout,” laughed Wild -Bill, “and you look to her like a claimant for first honors.” - -At that Dell laughed, too. - -“You can’t tell about these Injuns,” went on Wild Bill, “especially -when they happen to be breeds. Wah-coo-tah is mighty pretty, though.” - -“Do you think so?” asked Dell. - -“I do, for a fact. What’s more, I’ll never forget what she has done -for me.” - -After Buffalo Bill had dismounted and got his riata from the shaft, -he climbed into his saddle again and gave the word that started the -party for Sun Dance. - -“You and Cayuse are several hours behind schedule, Dell,” said the -scout. “Did you meet with trouble on the way?” - -“We lost the trail,” said Dell, “and it took us several hours to find -it.” - -“Rather queer that Cayuse should have gone astray like that,” -commented the scout, with a look at the Piute. - -Cayuse seemed very much abashed. - -“It wasn’t his fault, pard,” went on Dell. “I thought we could take a -short cut, just as you and Nomad did, and maybe save an hour. That, -as I figured it, would bring us into Sun Dance not more than an hour -behind you. Cayuse said we couldn’t do it, and that the country was -so hard to travel even jack-rabbits couldn’t get over it. I had my -way, though, and the upshot of it was that we had to give up and go -back to the trail. But the trail was hard to find, and that’s where -we lost our time. You seem to have been having plenty of excitement -on this part of the range,” Dell added, with a questioning look -around at the scout and his pards, “and Cayuse and I have missed all -of it.” - -“Ye had er taste o’ ther excitement, Dell, when ye rode inter thet -leetle shoot-fiesta o’ our’n,” spoke up Nomad. - -“Umph!” grunted Cayuse. “That no fight. Him all over before Yellow -Hair and Cayuse come.” - -“How did it happen, Buffalo Bill?” asked Dell. - -“There’s a whole lot of it, pard,” the scout answered, “and to get -at it from all sides would take a heap of time. Over our supper, at -Spangler’s, is where we can hold our powwow. Wild Bill there hasn’t -had anything to eat for two days.” - -“Don’t keep reminding me of it, Cody,” said Wild Bill. “Just because -you mentioned the fact, I’ve got to pull my belt up another hole. If -that starvation-act of mine is referred to many times more, I’ll be -cut in two.” - -Dell laughed at the grimace which accompanied the words. - -“What sort of business did you want Buffalo Bill for, Wild Bill?” she -asked. - -“I had a bunch of rascals holed up in that mine back there, and -wanted Pard Cody to come on and help me run them in. By the time Cody -got here, the rascals had got out and had run _me_ in.” - -“But what was the work?” - -“A job of salt, Miss Dauntless. Lawless and his gang were blowing -fine gold into a played-out mine with a shotgun. I saw some of the -performance. While I was looking on, two of the gang saw me. I -managed to get away, but it was a close call; then, the next day, my -charitable and amiable disposition steered me right into the bunch of -trouble-makers once more, and they had me so I couldn’t move. That -paper-talk I sent to Buffalo Bill went astray, I understand, and -Crawling Bear was killed by Cheyennes. Too bad, too bad! I think -Crawling Bear stacked up closer to a white man than many other -Indians I’ve known. By the way, Cody, what are you going to do with -Wah-coo-tah?” - -“There’s nothing for me to do, I reckon, but to send her back to the -Cheyennes.” - -“No, no!” cried Wah-coo-tah. “Me no go back to Cheyennes.” - -“It’s like this, Wah-coo-tah,” explained the scout. “The Ponca who -gave up the five ponies for you is dead, and your father won’t dare -show himself among the Cheyennes after what has happened here in Sun -Dance Cañon. You’ll be perfectly safe with your people.” - -“Me want to stay with Pa-e-has-ka!” averred Wah-coo-tah. “Pa-e-has-ka -good friend of Wah-coo-tah. No like to go back to Cheyennes.” - -“What did I tell you?” Wild Bill whispered in Dell’s ear. - -“Of course,” flared Dell, “Wah-coo-tah couldn’t travel with the scout -and his pards.” - -“Of course not!” agreed Wild Bill. “Petticoat pards are all right, -but they make a heap of trouble, now and then. You’ll be going back -to your ranch in Arizona, one of these days, I suppose----” - -“Just as soon as I can,” snapped Dell, and Wild Bill wondered what it -was that had put an edge to her temper. - -The shadows were lengthening across the flat in Sun Dance Cañon when -Buffalo Bill and his pards rode up to the door of the Lucky Strike -Hotel. - -The bulky proprietor was sitting in front, as usual, but his ragged -palm-leaf fan lay beside him. The cool of the evening was always -grateful to Bije Spangler. - -“Whoof!” sputtered Spangler, as the cavalcade of riders drew to a -halt in front of his establishment. “What’s this, Buffalo Bill? You -escortin’ a band o’ Injuns ter a new reserve, or what?” - -“We’re here to stay with you for a while, Spangler,” said the scout. - -“It’s agin’ my rules ter take in any reds,” averred Spangler. - -“You’ll have to take these in,” said the scout. “The boy is my Piute -pard, Little Cayuse, and the girl is the daughter of Captain Lawless. -Miss Dauntless, my girl pard, will share the room Wild Bill occupied, -and which Nomad and I later put up in, with Wah-coo-tah. The rest of -us will bunk where we can. And a word to you, Spangler,” the scout -added, dropping down from his saddle, “anything you say against one -of my pards, white or red, you say against me. Just remember that.” - -The tone in which the scout spoke sent a shiver through Spangler. - -“No harm meant, no harm meant,” he sputtered. “O’ course, Buffalo -Bill, whatever you say goes.” - -“It’s an honor to your one-horse hangout for a boy like Little -Cayuse, or a girl like Wah-coo-tah, to stay in it. Is supper ready?” - -“The Chink jest come out an’ hammered the gong,” said Spangler. “Walk -right in an’ set down whenever ye’re ready.” - -The party dismounted and went into the hotel office. Cayuse led away -the horses, and saw that they were properly cared for. - -Buffalo Bill, Nomad, Wild Bill, Cayuse, Dell Dauntless, Wah-coo-tah, -and one other, had a table all to themselves. The “one other” was a -slender little man in a neat black suit, which spoke relentlessly of -the East. - -The little man was painfully pale, and seemed dismayed to find -himself surrounded by such an assortment of white men and Indians. - -His first “break” was to ask the Chinaman who waited on their table -for a napkin. The Chinaman went back and exchanged some heated words -with the other Chinaman in the kitchen; then both Chinamen went out -in front of the hotel and held a low conversation with Spangler. As -a result, Spangler waddled into the dining-room, and walked to where -the little man in black was sitting. - -“Looky here, you!” rumbled Spangler, his great body shaking all over -with suppressed wrath, “was you the one as asked the Chink fer a -napkin?” - -“I--I have always been accustomed to eating with napkins,” answered -the little man, with a frightened, upward glance. - -“Mebby you take this here eatin’-joint fer the Palmer House, hey? Or -mebby it’s the Delmonico restaurant ye think it is? I’ve run this -feedin’-place fer two years, an’ this here’s the first time any one -who has ever fed here has insulted me!” - -“I had no intention of insulting you, sir, I assure you,” said the -little man. “I--I--why, it is customary to have napkins at meals -in--in Chicago, where I come from.” - -“Out here ye kin use the back o’ yer hand fer a napkin,” growled -Spangler, “an’ if ye’re afeared o’ gittin’ anythin’ on yer clothes, -why, don’t wear clothes that’s so easy sp’iled. Do ye _sabe_ my -pidgin? If ye don’t, an’ if what I say don’t set well, ye kin take -yer ole carpet bag an’ hike.” - -Under this wheezy torrent of words the little man wilted. When -Spangler turned around and waddled off, the stranger was ready to -throw aside his knife and fork and eat with his fingers if any one -had suggested it. - -“My friend,” said the scout, smothering a laugh and leaning toward -the stranger, “does your name happen to be Bingham?” - -The little man jumped. - -“It is,” said he; “Alonzo Bingham.” - -“And you hail from Chicago.” - -“I do, yes, sir.” - -“You have come here to look over the Forty Thieves Mine with a view -to buying it of Captain Lawless?” - -“Why, my gracious!” cried Alonzo Bingham, “how did you ever find out -about that?” - -“Isn’t it a fact?” asked Buffalo Bill. - -“Yes, it is a fact, although I’m troubled to know where you got your -information.” - -“We troubled some ter git et, Mr. Bingham,” put in Nomad, with a wink -at Wild Bill. - -“Exactly,” said Wild Bill, “and I hope I’ll never be troubled so much -in the same way again. I don’t believe I could stand it.” - -“As I understand, Mr. Bingham,” proceeded the scout, “if the rock you -took from the Forty Thieves assayed properly, you were to pay Lawless -a hundred thousand for the mine?” - -“I and some friends were going to form a syndicate and buy the mine, -if it proved as represented,” said Mr. Bingham. - -“Ther comp’ny you an’ yer friends hev formed,” announced Nomad -gravely, “ain’t a marker ter ther skindicate thet was formed at this -end o’ ther line.” - -“I--I am at a loss to understand you, gentlemen,” said Mr. Bingham, -wrinkling his brows. - -“Lawless and some friends of his,” explained Buffalo Bill, “have -salted the mine.” - -“Salted the mine? Really, what does that mean? I never heard of such -a thing.” - -Nomad sank back in his chair with a groan. - -“Draw er diagram o’ et fer him, somebody. He’s got ter hev et -pictered out.” - -“It’s this way, Mr. Bingham,” proceeded the scout. “Lawless and his -friends went to the mine and filled the rocks in the end of the level -with gold. Understand? When you go there to get your samples, you -will find rock that has been doctored. It will assay way up, but the -assays will fool you. It’s a case of plain robbery, and nothing more.” - -“Dear me!” said Alonzo Bingham, looking worried. - -“Look here, Cody,” said Wild Bill, dropping his voice and taking -something out of his pocket. “You’re telling friend Bingham the truth -about the salting, but you’re wide of your trail when you say the -Forty Thieves is worthless. Cast your eyes over that.” - -Wild Bill rolled upon the table a piece of ore as big as an egg. It -was the sort of ore occasionally described as “gold with some quartz -in it.” - -Little wires of yellow metal covered it all over, encasing it like a -spider-web. - -“Jumpin’ cougars!” breathed Nomad. - -“What in the world!” piped Alonzo Bingham. - -“Great Scott!” exclaimed Buffalo Bill, picking up the ore-sample. -“Where did you get that, Hickok?” - -“I found the pay-streak that the original owners of the Forty Thieves -must have lost,” chuckled Wild Bill. “That bit of ore almost cost me -my life, Cody. It came from that walled-off end of the stub-drift. -The explosion at the entrance jarred down some rock and uncovered -the pay-streak. I struck a match, when I first found myself with -hands and feet free, and that pay-streak was the first thing I saw. -When I realized that burning matches consumed oxygen, and that oxygen -was the only thing to keep me alive, I quit striking lights, and, -almost mechanically, dropped that bit of ore into my pocket.” - -“Mr. Bingham,” said the scout, “I beg your pardon. The Forty Thieves, -from this showing made by my friend, Mr. Hickok, looks like a good -purchase. But Lawless doesn’t know anything about that pay-streak. In -negotiating for the mine, if I were you I wouldn’t say anything about -it.” - -“When he goes out to find Lawless and close up the deal,” said -Wild Bill, “Mr. Bingham, I’m afraid, will have to do a good deal -of hunting. In his efforts to beat somebody, Lawless has salted -a bonanza onto Mr. Bingham and his Chicago syndicate. All I ask, -Mr. Bingham, for this friendly tip I have given you, is that you -communicate with me as soon as you find Captain Lawless, of the Forty -Thieves.” - -“I shall be glad to do so,” returned Mr. Bingham. - -During the rest of that meal the scout and his pards discussed their -adventures, pro and con, all more or less for the benefit of Dell and -Little Cayuse. - -Mr. Bingham, sitting by, heard everything. He learned, as the story -fell graphically from Wild Bill’s lips, how the Laramie man had been -knocked down, tied hand and foot, carried to the Forty Thieves, -placed in the end of the crosscut, and then walled into a living tomb -by a neatly placed blast. - -Mr. Bingham also heard of the adventures that had befallen old Nomad, -and of the manner in which he had been bowled over, carried to the -mine, and subsequently released by the scout. - -The talk ended in a description of the battle that had taken place in -the cañon, when there was so much shooting and no casualties--plenty -of noise and excitement, but no one “gouged er skelped,” as Nomad put -it. - -For some time Mr. Bingham had been growing even more pale than usual. -Long before the scout and his pards were done with their talk, the -Chicago man had excused himself, and tottered feebly from the room. - -Next morning, when the scout and his friends met at the -breakfast-table, there were two less at the board than at supper the -evening before. - -Mr. Bingham especially was noticeable by his absence. Spangler -explained that he had said he wouldn’t buy a mine in such a country -if some one would offer him a second Comstock lode for the price of -a square meal. Not daring to remain longer in such a lawless region, -Mr. Bingham had hired Spangler’s Mexican to take him to Montegordo in -Spangler’s buckboard during the night. - -Wah-coo-tah had likewise disappeared from the hotel during the night, -and her cayuse had vanished from the stable. So quietly had the girl -left, that Dell, in whose room and with whom she was lodging, had not -been aware of her going. - -“I presume,” said Buffalo Bill, “that Wah-coo-tah has gone back to -her people.” - -“That’s the best place for her, pard,” said Dell. - -“No doubt about that,” returned the scout. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - THE STRANGER AND THE STEER. - - -“Whoop-ya! Looket thar, will ye? By the great horn spoon! Cut fer the -kitchen, Wing Hi, an’ fetch me the rope that’s hangin’ thar. D’ye -hear, yeh goggle-eyed yaller mug? Wake up an’ move--quick, afore -I kick yer half-way thar. Wow! Never seen sich er thing as thet -afore--an’ comin’ right down on ther camp, lickity larrup.” - -The mining settlement of Sun Dance, baking in the mid-day heat -half-way up the wall of Sun Dance Cañon, stirred languidly with the -whooping words that clattered among its adobes. - -There was not much life in Sun Dance during the day--night was its -period of excitement and activity--but what little life there was -began to show itself. - -Gentleman Jim, the gambler, was dozing in a hammock stretched between -two posts in the shade of the “Alcazar.” He heard the wild yell, -located it as coming from the vicinity of the Lucky Strike Hotel, got -out of the hammock, and went to investigate. - -In the street he met Hoppy Smith, barkeeper at the Dew Drop; One-eye -Perkins, postmaster and proprietor of the general store; Stump -Hathaway, boss of the Spread Eagle honkatonk, and Lonesome Pete, -who had ridden in from up the gulch to get a supply of tobacco and -cigarette-paper. - -“What’s the trouble?” asked Gentleman Jim. - -“I’m by,” replied Hoppy Smith, halting in his wild rush down -the street and resting his game leg. “Somebody dropped a remark, -seemedlike, over around the Lucky Strike.” - -“Dropped a remark?” echoed One-eye Perkins. “The feller’s mouth went -off like a string of bombs!” - -“All o’ that,” averred Stump Hathaway. “The noise jumped me out of a -sound sleep.” - -“I thort, fer a brace o’ shakes,” struck in Pete, “thet Injuns was -up, an’ raidin’ ther camp. My skin began walkin’ all over me with -cold feet.” - -The party had paused for only a few moments. During most of the -talking a rapid movement was being made in the direction of the Lucky -Strike. - -Spangler sat in the shade, in front, taking a comfortable catnap on -his two chairs. - -“Wake up, Spang!” cried Gentleman Jim, giving Spangler a shake that -made him quiver like a bowl of jelly. - -Spangler opened his eyes, wheezed, and made a convulsive gesture with -his ragged palm-leaf fan. - -“What’s ter pay, Jim?” he demanded. - -“Didn’t ye hear that yell, a minit ago?” inquired Hoppy Smith. - -“Didn’t hear nothin’.” - -“It come from this a-way,” said Lonesome Pete. “Reckon nothin’ short -of er cannon kin wake you, Spang, arter ye once drop off.” - -“It ain’t often that anythin’ happens in camp durin’ the day,” -returned Spangler. “If you fellers got business anywheres else, don’t -let me detain ye a minit.” - -Spangler settled the broad of his back against the wall behind him -once more, apparently bent on continuing his nap. Just then, however, -Hank Tenny, a “digger” from up the gulch, plunged around the corner -of the hotel, wild-eyed and full of excitement. - -He carried a riata, and was making it ready for action when he hove -in sight. - -Behind Tenny came Wing Hi, the dining-room boy, and right at Wing -Hi’s heels came Wong Looey, the hotel cook. - -“Was that you, Tenny, that let off that yell?” shouted Gentleman Jim. - -“Well, I reckon,” answered Tenny. - -“What’s the rip?” - -“Cast yer eyes up at the rim o’ the cañon.” - -What the men saw was startling in the extreme. - -A red steer was flickering along the rim of the cañon, head down, and -flecks of foam covering its dusty hide. To the steer’s back a man -was tied. Both steer and man could be plainly seen, and the unusual -spectacle brought exclamations of astonishment from every onlooker. - -The man was stretched out along the steer’s back, and securely roped -in that position. Whether he was alive or not it was impossible for -those on the “flat” to tell. The unfortunate man did not move--but -the ropes alone would have prevented that. - -“Great glee-ory!” gasped Hoppy Smith. - -“Wust thing o’ the kind I ever seen!” averred Lonesome Pete. - -“Must be Injuns are playin’ didoes some’rs around here!” chimed in -Stump Hathaway. - -“You’re shy, Stump,” said Gentleman Jim. “Whoever knew Injuns to -treat a white like that? So far as I can see, the man on the steer -still has his scalp. What’re you going to do, Hank?” he added to the -man with the rope. - -“It’s dollars ter doughnuts,” said Tenny, “thet the steer’ll foller -the stage-trail right down inter camp. If thet’s the case, I’m goin’ -to drop a rope over them horns.” - -For quite a long distance the stage-trail followed the rim of the -cañon. Hank Tenny had sighted the steer and the man when they rushed -into sight. Wing Hi had got the rope for him, and immediately -afterward Tenny had rushed for the front of the hotel. - -“I had jest put my cabyo in the stable,” said Tenny, while he and all -the rest continued to watch the rim of the gulch, “an’ was walkin’ -fer the front o’ the hotel, when I fust seen the critter. Nacherly I -let off er yell, an’ follered it up by tellin’ ther Chink ter git a -rope fer me. Jest as soon’s I got my hands on the rope, I started for -the front o’ the----” - -“By George!” exclaimed Gentleman Jim. “The steer has taken the turn, -and is sashaying right down on us!” - -Tenny’s forecast had proved correct. The maverick, whirling from the -rim to the down-grade, could be seen charging down the steep slope. - -Without a word, Hank Tenny made a rush along the street toward the -point where the trail entered it. There he went into hiding around -the corner of the Alcazar. - -“Keep away, you fellers!” he yelled. “Don’t show yerselves, kase if -ye do ye’ll skeer the critter off. Jest hang around the background, -an’ watch how I rope ’im.” - -Clustered about the front of the Lucky Strike, Gentleman Jim, -Spangler, Hoppy Smith, and the rest watched succeeding events with -intense interest. - -They saw the steer charge into the street, saw Tenny’s right arm -shoot out, and the noose settle over the steer’s horns, and then they -saw Tenny make a frantic effort and take a half-hitch with the end -of the rope around a hitching-post. - -A long breath escaped the onlookers. For an instant they experienced -a feeling of relief; then, the next instant, the relief gave way to -wildest anxiety. - -The hitching-post, loosened by long use, had been torn from the -ground the tremendous strain placed upon it by the steer. Tenny, -hanging to the extreme end of the rope, had turned a somersault in -the air and landed on his head. The steer, with its helpless burden, -dashed on across the road and vanished behind the walls of the Spread -Eagle honkatonk. - -“The animile is chasin’ straight fer the precipice!” bawled Lonesome -Pete, beginning to run. “It’ll go over the precipice an’ the man’ll -be done fer!” - -This dread dénouement seemed very likely to happen. At the edge of -the “flat” there was a steep bank, dropping sheer downward to the bed -of the cañon. In one place, the trail from below followed a steep -slope--but the steer was not headed toward the slope, but toward the -precipice. - -Maddened by the unsuccessful attempt made to stop its flight, and -still further frenzied by the yells of the men, there was small doubt -but that the steer would hurl itself over the edge of the high bank, -break its own neck, and crush out the life of the man on its back--in -case the man happened to be still alive. - -“Who’s got a gun?” shouted Gentleman Jim, as all hands plunged along -after the steer. “Get a rifle, somebody!” - -“We’d be as li’ble ter hit the man as ter hit the steer,” puffed -Hoppy Smith. - -“It’s a chance we’ll have to take,” averred Gentleman Jim -breathlessly. - -“But there ain’t a rifle among the lot o’ us,” said Stump Hathaway, -“an’ no time ter git one.” - -At the rear of the Spread Eagle the men came to a halt. A level -stretch lay between them and the top of the bank. The steer was -almost across the stretch, and pounding onward without lessening its -speed in the least. - -“The fellow is as good as done for,” said Gentleman Jim, leaning -against the wall of the Spread Eagle and drawing his sleeve across -his dripping forehead. - -“He’ll go over in spite o’ fate,” muttered Hank Tenny, joining the -group at the rear of the honkatonk. “Who’d hev thought thet rotten -post would hev let go like it did? If it hadn’t been for that, I’d -hev stopped the maverick.” - -“When a man’s time comes,” said Gentleman Jim, “he’ll get his due, -whether by bullet, or water, or six feet of rope--or a red maverick -steer. Too bad, too bad! Ah, the steer sees the break in the ground -ahead, and is getting ready to go over. If we only had a rifle----” - -Gentleman Jim was interrupted by an abrupt _crang_, and a puff of -white smoke arising from a thicket of scrub off toward the edge of -the “flat.” Astonishment filled all beholders. While the echoes of -the rifle-shot were dancing musically up and down the gulch, the -steer was seen to leap into the air and to come down in a heap at the -very brink of the high bank. - -A second later a lithe form sprang out from among the bushes and -started hastily for the fallen animal. It was the form of a girl in a -natty brown sombrero, buckskin blouse, and short skirt, and tan shoes -and leggings. In her right hand, as she hurried, she swung a rifle. - -“Dell Dauntless!” shouted Gentleman Jim; “Buffalo Bill’s girl pard -has turned the trick. Bravo! A neater shot was never fired in Sun -Dance Cañon!” - -And “bravo! bravo!” jubilated the others as they followed Gentleman -Jim toward the steer and the stranger--a stranger who might be in -luck, and who might not, according as to whether he had come through -that Mazeppalike ride alive or dead. - -When Gentleman Jim and the others came close to the steer, Dell -Dauntless had already cut away the ropes, freed the stranger, and -dragged him to one side. The girl’s shot had sped true, and the steer -lay dead, with a bullet through its heart. - -“Miss Dauntless,” said Gentleman Jim, removing his sombrero, “I take -off my hat to you. Your rifle got in its work in the very nick of -time. Half a minute more, and the steer would have been over the -bank. You’re a wonderful hand with a rifle.” - -“Well,” smiled the girl, with a deprecating shake of the head, “that -steer was a good-sized target, and what excuse could I have made if I -had missed?” - -“The steer was on the run, Miss Dauntless,” said Gentleman Jim, “and -you had to put a bit of lead into a vital place.” - -“I happened to be in a favorable position,” said Dell. “Any one of -you, who happened to be placed as I was, and with a rifle in your -hands, could have done the same thing. While waiting for Buffalo -Bill and the rest of my pards to come back from down the gulch, I -was taking a stroll to the edge of the ‘flat’ to see if they were -in sight. I heard the yells from the camp, saw the steer coming, -and went down on one knee and bided my time. That was all,” she -finished, turning away. “Instead of talking, we’d better be giving -our attention to the stranger.” - -“Correct,” returned Gentleman Jim, stepping to the stranger’s side -and sinking to his knees. - -The stranger was young--evidently well under thirty--and had every -appearance of being a placer-miner. He wore a flannel shirt, blue -overalls, and rubber boots, all earth and water-stained. His hat was -gone, as might be expected, and there was no revolver-belt at his -waist, and no sign of weapons elsewhere about him. - -“Any of you boys ever seen the man before?” asked Gentleman Jim. - -None of the men could remember the stranger’s face. - -Gentleman Jim laid one hand on his breast. - -“His ticker’s going,” said he. “Hand me a flask, one of you.” - -Lonesome Pete dug into his hip pocket and brought up a pint-flask. -Unscrewing the top, he handed the flask to the gambler. The latter -lifted the stranger’s head and allowed some of the liquor to trickle -into the throat of the unconscious man. - -The effect was well-nigh magical. A minute afterward, and while -Pete was in the act of transferring the flask to his pocket, the -stranger’s eyes opened. - -For a space, the eyes were blank and void of realization. The -man’s glance passed vacantly about from one face to another; then, -suddenly, he sat up and began rubbing his hands and arms where the -rope had chafed them. - -“How do you feel, pilgrim?” asked Gentleman Jim. - -“Feel like I’d been tangled up with a cyclone,” answered the man. -“Where am I?” - -“You’re in Sun Dance Cañon.” - -“This is where I was bound fer, but I wasn’t expectin’ ter git here -on a maverick longhorn. You fellows roped the critter?” - -“I tried ter,” spoke up Hank Tenny, “but the animile yanked a -snub-post up by the roots an’ got away from me. He was headin’ fer -the edge o’ thet precipice, thar, with the idee o’ jumpin’ over an’ -takin’ you with him, when this young lady, who happened ter be handy -by with a gun, let drive with a bullet. It’s the bullet thet saved -ye, pilgrim.” - -The stranger swerved his eyes to Dell. - -“I’m obliged to ye, miss,” said he. “What might yer name be?” - -“Dell Dauntless,” said the girl. - -“Buffalo Bill’s girl pard!” exclaimed the stranger, his dull eyes -lighting a little. “I won’t forget this, Dell Dauntless.” - -“It’s nothing--nothing at all,” deprecated Dell. “Any one else would -have done the same thing, had they been situated as I was.” - -“Some one else,” said the stranger grimly, “might have put a bullet -inter me instead o’ the steer. Howsumever, we’ll let that pass, fer -now. My name’s Blake, Henry Blake,” he went on, addressing generally -the men who were grouped about him. “I left Pass Dure Cañon yesterday -mornin’ with a bag o’ dust, calculatin’ ter come ter Sun Dance an’ -take ther stage fer Montegordo. Just under the lee of Medicine -Bluff I was stopped by Cap’n Lawless and some o’ his murderous -scoundrels----” - -“Captain Lawless!” exclaimed Gentleman Jim, astonished, and the words -were taken up and echoed by all the other bystanders--Dell Dauntless -being particularly interested. - -“That’s right,” pursued Blake, a savage frown gathering about his -brows, “it was Cap’n Lawless, of the Forty Thieves, an’ no one else. -I know the whelp by sight, but, if I hadn’t known him, he’d have -settled my doubts, fer he told me himself who he was.” - -“I thought Lawless and his gang had been chased out of the country -for good,” said Gentleman Jim. “Buffalo Bill and his pards gave him -the worst of it, and we had all made up our minds, here in Sun Dance, -that Lawless would profit by the lesson.” - -“Well, he didn’t,” continued Blake. “He’s on deck like always, an’ -up ter his old tricks. He lifted my bag o’ dust, my guns, what stuff -I had in my clothes, and my horse. I was held a pris’ner all last -night, in the outlaws’ camp by Medicine Bluff. This morning that -maverick steer was roped and thrown, and I was tied to the brute’s -back. Lawless told me I was going to Sun Dance, and that I was to -carry a message to some enemies of his. It was a written message, and -consequently it wouldn’t make much difference whether I reached Sun -Dance alive or dead.” - -A fierce scowl returned to Blake’s face. - -“I’m hopin’,” he went on, “that I’ll live to play even with that -whelp an’ cutthroat. He’s as cold-blooded as a channel catfish, an’ -as murderous as a Sioux Injun. If I ever git a chance at him----” -Blake finished with a vengeful glare and a tense gripping of his big, -sinewy hands. - -“You say the message is written?” queried Gentleman Jim. - -“Yes,” answered Blake. “If I got here alive I was ter ask fer a -gambler called Gentleman Jim.” - -“Which is me,” said the gambler. “So far as I know, Lawless hasn’t -ever crossed my trail. Why he makes himself my enemy is more than I -can tell.” - -“The message ain’t fer you, Gentleman Jim,” said Blake. - -“But you just said----” - -“Wait till I tell ye the whole of it. Lawless said I was to ask for -you, and that I was ter tell ye Lawless believed ye was that rare -thing, a square gambler. This message fer Buffalo Bill----” - -“Ah!” murmured Dell, her interest growing. “Then the message is for -the king of scouts?” - -“That’s the way I sense it,” answered Blake. “It’s fer the king of -scouts, but it’s ter be given ter Gentleman Jim.” - -“Talk about yer puzzles!” cut in Lonesome Pete. “This takes the -banner an’ leads the percession, I reckon. Lawless sends a message -ter one man an’ tells ye ter give it ter another.” - -“How do you explain that, Blake?” asked Gentleman Jim. - -“I don’t explain it,” continued Blake, “an’ I’ve told ye all I know.” - -He dipped into the breast of his shirt and removed a long envelope, -soiled by much handling. - -“There it is,” said he, handing the envelope to Gentleman Jim. “If -I’d petered out before the steer got here, ye might have found that -on me, an’ ye might not. It was Lawless’ roundabout way o’ doin’ the -thing.” - -“He and his gang,” remarked Gentleman Jim, “must have chased the -steer toward Sun Dance, and have drawn off only when sure the brute -would come peltering down into the camp.” - -“That must be the way of it, although I lost my senses some time -ago. I’m purty husky, but what I went through on that steer’s back is -somethin’ I never want ter go through ag’in.” - -Dell looked over Gentleman Jim’s shoulder while he read the writing -on the envelope. - -“A message for Buffalo Bill,” read the writing; “to be delivered to -Gentleman Jim, in Sun Dance, and by him opened in the presence of the -scout.” - -“That’s plain enough; eh, Miss Dauntless?” said the gambler. - -“It’s plain enough,” agreed the girl, “but a brain-twisting puzzle, -nevertheless. If the scout----” - -At that instant a fall of hoofs struck on the ears of each member of -the group. All eyes turned in the direction of the trail leading up -and out of the cañon. - -Four riders were approaching that particular part of the “flat.” -Buffalo Bill, on his big black horse, Bear Paw, was in the lead. -Behind the scout came Wild Bill, Nick Nomad, and Little Cayuse. - -“Well, well!” exclaimed Gentleman Jim, “this couldn’t have happened -better.” - -Putting their horses to the gallop, Buffalo Bill and his pards were -soon drawing rein close to the group near the dead steer. - -“What’s been going on here, friends?” queried the king of scouts, -sweeping a curious eye over the scene before him. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - A GIFT WITH A STRING TO IT. - - -Dell Dauntless pushed forward and explained the situation to the -scout and his pards. - -“Waugh!” tuned up old Nomad in customary fashion, “what sort of er -pizen deal is Lawless tryin’ ter pull off? Me no like um; hey, Wild -Bill?” - -“It’s sure a queer layout,” pondered Hickok. “The fact that Lawless -is behind it makes it a cinch that it doesn’t mean any good to We, Us -& Co. Whatever you do, Cody, remember that.” - -“Where can we see you in half an hour, Gentleman Jim?” the scout -inquired, turning to the gambler. - -“In my private room at the Alcazar,” answered the gambler. - -“We’ll be there,” said the scout. “That’s your steer, Dell,” he -added. “You’d better turn the carcass over to Tenny for the use of -Spangler, at the Lucky Strike. We haven’t had any fresh meat there -for a couple of days, and I think we’d all appreciate it.” - -“Pete an’ me’ll take keer o’ the brute, Buffalo Bill,” said Tenny. -“Tell Spangler to send his Chinks over here and get the beef.” - -Dell accompanied her pards to the hotel, and waited while they put -up their horses. Meantime, Spangler, delighted with the prospect -of securing a supply of fresh beef, had despatched his Chinamen -to the place where Tenny and Pete were making the carcass ready. -Henry Blake, worn out by his rough experience, went to the general -bunk-room and turned in. - -Half an hour after the scout and his pards had got back to the camp -they were all in Gentleman Jim’s private room at the Alcazar. Dell -formed one of the party. - -The gambler closed the door securely, so that no one not interested -could hear anything that went on in the room. To say that all were -curious would state their feelings mildly. - -“Open up ther paper-talk, Gentleman Jim,” urged the old trapper, the -moment the door was closed, “an’ let’s git next ter what’s doin’. I’m -bracin’ myself fer somethin’ onexpected ter happen.” - -“I hope,” said Wild Bill, “that what we’re going to hear will give us -a chance to lay Lawless by the heels.” - -“What makes it seem mighty queer that this letter should be entrusted -to me,” remarked Gentleman Jim, tearing an end off the envelope, “is -that I never met Lawless in my life, so far as I know.” - -Leaning back in his chair, the gambler drew from the envelope a -folded, legal-looking document, and two separate sheets of paper, -likewise folded. - -“What sort of a document is that, Gentleman Jim?” asked the scout, -nodding toward the legal-looking paper. - -The gambler examined the document and gave a low whistle. - -“It’s a quit-claim deed to the Forty Thieves,” said he. - -A chorus of surprised exclamations greeted the words. - -“In whose name is the deed made out?” the scout queried. - -“Buffalo Bill.” - -This was even more astounding. Nomad tried to say something, but was -held speechless by his amazement. All the others were in like case. -A strange silence fell over the room, broken only by the rustling of -paper as Gentleman Jim examined the deed. - -“Amazing as this may appear,” said the gambler presently, “yet the -deed has seemingly been executed in proper form. It is signed by -Lawless, witnessed by Seth Coomby and Andy Streibel, and bears the -seal and acknowledgment of a notary in Montegordo. It is dated three -days ago.” - -“I’m clear over my head,” muttered the scout. “Lawless and I are -enemies. Why should he make me a gift like that?” - -“Come to simmer the thing down, Buffalo Bill,” said the gambler, “it -isn’t much of a gift, after all. The mine is worthless. Lawless knows -that, or he wouldn’t have tried to ‘salt’ it and sell it to that -Chicago man.” - -“Lawless undoubtedly _thinks_ the mine is worthless,” mused the scout. - -“Well, isn’t it?” - -“Not by a hull row of ’dobies!” put in old Nomad. “Buffler, ye’re in -luck! Lawless laid out ter hand ye a mine thet was no good; he’ll -feel like kickin’ himself when he diskivers ther Forty Thieves is er -bonanza--er reg’lar whale of er good thing. Why, et’s got er reef on -et that makes ther Comstock Lode look like er limestone stringer.” - -“Is that right?” demanded Gentleman Jim. - -“It is,” went on Buffalo Bill. “Wild Bill made the discovery first. -We have just come in from an exhaustive examination of the property, -and we found that the Forty Thieves has an exceedingly rich vein. -Lawless, in presenting me with the mine, has over-reached himself. -He didn’t know of this rich vein--no one but myself and my pards -knew of it. Back of all this, however, the puzzle still remains: Why -should Lawless wish to present me with even a worthless mine? I’m -still over my head.” - -Gentleman Jim picked up the folded papers which he had drawn from the -envelope with the deed. - -“One of these is addressed to you, Buffalo Bill,” said he, “and the -other is addressed to me. Perhaps they will shed a little light on -the situation.” - -Buffalo Bill took the paper the gambler handed to him, opened it, -read it through, and then laughed. - -“What’s et erbout, pard?” asked Nomad. - -“Listen,” said the scout, and read aloud: “‘You may think you’ve -downed me, Buffalo Bill, but you have another guess coming. I am -giving you a deed to the Forty Thieves Mine. The mine is no good. We -both know that. So the deed is not given to you from any desire on -my part to tender you a token of my esteem. _The gift is a dare._ -Gentleman Jim is to hold the deed, and give it to you only after you -have passed three consecutive days and nights in the Forty Thieves -Mine. Gentleman Jim, I know by report, is a square gambler. He will -see to it that my conditions are faithfully executed. After you have -passed three consecutive days and nights in the mine, you are to -go to Gentleman Jim and get the deed, making the transfer legal by -filing the deed for record in Montegordo--that is, if you consider a -worthless mine worth bothering with to that extent. Take your pards, -or as many more men as you wish, with you into the mine--_but you -must stay there for three consecutive days and nights_. That will be -all. If you live to claim the deed you are welcome to it. Where’s -your nerve?’” - -Buffalo Bill, with a queer smile playing about the corners of his -mouth, refolded the paper and stowed it carefully away in his pocket. - -“Of course,” he remarked, “Lawless thinks he has a trap laid for me -in the Forty Thieves.” - -“He’s got something up his sleeve, all right,” agreed Wild Bill, “but -if he thinks you haven’t got the nerve to hang out in that mine for -three days and nights, why, he’s wide of his trail, that’s all.” - -“Ther mine’s wuth ther risk,” said Nomad. - -“I’m not thinking so much about the mine, Nick,” went on the scout, -“as I am about the chance this fool proposition of Lawless’ gives -me to lay alongside of him. That villain ought to have his claws -clipped, and I reckon I and my pards are the ones to do it.” - -A vociferous affirmative came from Nomad, Wild Bill, Little Cayuse, -and Dell. - -“He’s a deep one,” remarked Gentleman Jim. “The mine is evidently -a trap, and he’s luring you into it. It is also perfectly evident -that he knows you will not fulfil his terms for the mine itself, but -simply because he gives you a dare.” - -“Buffler Bill an’ pards never takes a dare,” said Nomad. - -“We’ll meet Lawless half-way in this one,” said the scout resolutely. -“By doing so, we can, not only get the mine, but likewise capture -Lawless.” - -“Sure!” cried Wild Bill. “Are your pards in with you on the deal, -Cody?” - -“On one consideration only,” was the answer. - -“What’s that?” - -“Why, that if we stay out the three consecutive days and nights -successfully, we are all to be joint owners of the mine.” - -Silence followed the words. - -“If all of you share the risk,” smiled the scout, “you ought also to -share the profits.” - -That brought an agreement. - -“Of course,” the scout went on, “I am not dropping into Lawless’ -plans because I want to dare him to do his worst, or because the -mine lures me to it, but simply and solely because this promises an -opportunity for capturing one of the worst trouble-makers in the -country. If the mine comes to us, it will be incidental to our main -purpose. What is there in your letter, Gentleman Jim?” - -“Nothing, except that I am to keep the deed and hand it over to -you after you have passed the three days and nights in the mine, -providing you are alive and able to claim it.” An apprehensive look -crossed the gambler’s face. “It’s a gift with a string to it--and I’d -give a hundred, this minute, if I knew exactly what the string was.” - -“Well, Gentleman Jim,” said the scout, rising. “I give notice that -to-night, at six o’clock, I and some of my pards will go down into -the Forty Thieves. This is Monday, and I shall not come to the -surface until Thursday afternoon, unless the capture of Captain -Lawless makes it necessary.” - -Silence followed the scout’s words. It was broken by a long-drawn-out -and mournful cry, coming from no one knew where: - -“_Wa-hoo-ha-a-a! Pa-e-has-ka go to Forty Thieves, Pa-e-has-ka die! -Nuzhee Mona! Nuzhee Mona!_” - -It was a soft voice, as it might have been the voice of a sighing -spirit, and the echoes breathed sobbingly through the room. - -While Buffalo Bill, Dell Dauntless and the others stared at each -other in bewilderment, Little Cayuse flung himself into the center of -the room. Crouching there, and peering about him with eyes in which -there was an unearthly light, the boy breathed huskily: - -“_Geegoho! Geegoho!_” Then he listened, rapt, entranced erect, and -rigid as a statue. - -“_Nuzhee Mona! Nuzhee Mona!_” breathed the voice, the last word dying -away in a whisper. - -Little Cayuse flung his hands to his face, groaned aloud, then rushed -to the door, tore it open--and vanished. - -It would be hard to describe the effect which this bit of by-play -had on those in the room. As a matter of fact, the effect of it on -each one was different. All were surprised, and more or less puzzled, -but each, according to his nature, gave the event a different -construction. - -Nomad, superstitious and imaginative, read in the sighing voice an -instrumentality that was not human. It was a warning from a class of -spirits to whom the old trapper referred as the “whiskizoos.” - -Dell was astounded and apprehensive, Wild Bill frankly puzzled, -Gentleman Jim grimly incredulous, and the scout began looking about -him in a matter-of-fact way to locate the place from which the voice -emanated. - -“Waugh!” growled Nomad; “me no like um. All same whiskizoo. Better -think et over, Buffler. Et won’t do ter go agin’ a warnin’ from ther -spirit-land.” - -“_Where_ did it come from?” murmured Dell. “What was it?” - -“There was flesh and blood back of it,” averred the scout. “Spirits -have never mixed up in my affairs, and they’re not going to begin it -now.” - -He strode to a door in one corner of the room, and threw it open. The -door led into a closet, but the closet was empty. - -“I wouldn’t put it past Lawless any to set some one on to do a thing -like that,” remarked Wild Bill, with a low laugh. “He’s trying your -nerve, Cody.” - -“What’s under the floor, Gentleman Jim?” inquired the scout, striking -the floor with his heel. - -“A basement,” answered the gambler, “where the proprietor of the -Alcazar stores his ‘wet’ goods.” - -“And what’s above?” went on the scout, lifting his eyes. - -“Cedar rafters and a mud roof.” - -“Let’s go down to the basement.” - -The scout and the gambler left the room, descended into the cellar by -a narrow flight of stairs leading from the main part of the Alcazar, -and found nothing but kegs and casks. - -“Whoever spoke,” said Buffalo Bill, “spoke from here. Mere clap-trap -for the sake of scaring me out.” - -“Lawless never had it done,” said Gentleman Jim. “Your pard, Wild -Bill, is wide of his trail if he thinks that.” - -“No,” mused the scout, “Lawless wasn’t back of it. He seems too -anxious to get me into the Forty Thieves to try to make me turn back.” - -“It was a woman’s voice.” - -“I’m thinking of that.” - -When the scout and the gambler returned to the latter’s room, it was -unnecessary for them to repeat to Wild Bill, Nomad, and Dell the -result of their investigations. Every word spoken by Buffalo Bill -and Gentleman Jim while in the basement had been distinctly heard by -those overhead. - -“That proves,” declared the scout, “that the speaker was in the -basement.” - -“What did the speaker mean by those words, _Nuzhee Mona_?” asked Dell. - -“Give it up, Dell,” replied Buffalo Bill. “Mere gibberish, perhaps, -although they suggest the Omaha tongue, to me.” - -“To me, too,” put in Wild Bill. - -“And what was that Little Cayuse said? And why did he groan and run -away?” - -“The boy’s an Indian,” said the scout, “and his blood crops out in -queer ways, now and then. I don’t know what he said, nor why he ran -away. But he won’t stay away for long, we may be sure of that.” - -“He knows,” said Nomad, “thet Injun spooks was speakin’. Et skeered -him, an’ he lit out.” - -“Then it’s the first time,” said the scout derisively, “we ever saw -the boy scared. But we can’t lose time here, pards. We must cut for -the Lucky Strike and get our share of that red maverick that came -so near proving the death of Blake. After dinner there will be some -preparations to make, and by six o’clock, sharp, we must be down in -the shaft and level of the Forty Thieves.” - -“Buffalo Bill’s mine!” laughed Wild Bill. “Come on, Cody. That three -days’ stunt looks easy to me, in spite of our ‘spirit-warning’ and -the evil intentions of Captain Lawless.” - -“I try to be square,” said Gentleman Jim, as he followed the scout -and his pards to the front of the Alcazar, “and if you stay in the -Forty Thieves for three consecutive days and nights you get the deed. -If you don’t, Buffalo Bill, I shall have to burn it up.” - -“Don’t be too quick with your burning, that’s all,” returned the -scout grimly. - -“I’ll give you plenty of time to come and claim the property.” - -“Dollars to doughnuts,” remarked Hickok lightly, “the scout will -exchange Lawless for the deed. I’ve a feeling that that whelp is due -for a kibosh, and that Cody is going to give it to him.” - -“I hope so, with all my heart,” said Gentleman Jim fervently. - -As the scout, the trapper, Wild Bill, and Dell passed along the -camp-street toward the Lucky Strike Hotel, Little Cayuse hastened -around the rear of the Dew Drop resort and joined them. - -The boy’s face was heavy with foreboding. - -“Where have you been, Cayuse?” asked the scout sharply. - -“Try find um spirit,” answered Cayuse gravely. “Find out, mebbyso, -how we save um Pa-e-has-ka.” - -Wild Bill gave a scoffing laugh, and Cayuse stared at him rebukingly. - -“We no find out how to save um Pa-e-has-ka,” said the boy, with great -gravity, “then Pa-e-has-ka die.” - -He whirled on the scout. - -“You still think you go to mine, stay there for three sleeps?” he -demanded. - -“Certainly I’m going.” - -A look of woeful resignation crossed the boy’s face. - -“Pa-e-has-ka die,” said he, “then Little Cayuse die, too--but not -till Little Cayuse take Lawless’ scalp.” - -All this talk of the Piute’s rendered Nick Nomad mighty uneasy. - -“What was et thet ther spirit said, Cayuse?” asked the trapper. - -Cayuse shook his head and did not answer. - -“What was et ye said ter ther spirit?” - -Still Cayuse kept a still tongue. - -“I don’t like ther outlook, Buffler,” said Nomad, with a gruesome -shake of his shaggy head. “Ther kid ’u’d tork, only he hates ter -gloom us up.” - -“There are times, old pard,” said the scout, “when you seem to be shy -even an average amount of horse-sense. If you continue to talk and -act as though you were locoed, I won’t take you to the mine at all, -but will leave you in Sun Dance.” - -Nomad, at that, pulled himself together and tried to look as though -he wasn’t in the least apprehensive. - -“And the same with Little Cayuse,” continued the scout, turning to -the Piute. “You’ve got to stop this foolishness. Buffalo Bill’s pards -ought to be level-headed, and not go off the jump every time they -hear or see something they can’t understand. We’re out after Lawless, -just remember that, and certainly we’re sharp enough to match our -wits against his. If we’re not, then Lawless and his gang may win out -against us, and welcome.” - -Cayuse shut his teeth hard and walked on ahead. Nomad, in a feeble -attempt to dispel his fears, began to whistle softly. - -As they came within sight of the Lucky Strike Hotel, they saw three -men grouped about the door. One of the men was the fat proprietor, -Spangler, and the other two were Hank Tenny and Lonesome Pete. - -“What’s that outfit looking at?” queried Wild Bill. - -“Something on the door,” returned Dauntless Dell. “They appear to be -excited.” - -“Must be somethin’ mighty important,” put in Nomad, “ter drag thet -fat boy out o’ his two chairs. Spang never moves from them chairs -except ter foller ther shade, er eat his meals, er go ter bed. But -somethin’s got him goin’ now, thet’s shore.” - -“What’s the matter?” called the scout, when he and his pards came -close to the front of the hotel. - -“We’re tryin’ ter figger it out, Buffalo Bill,” wheezed Spangler. -“Jest take a look at this an’ tell me what it means--if ye kin.” - -Spangler, Pete, and Tenny moved away from the door. Pinned to the -wood by a crude dagger was a ragged square of birch bark. On the -bark, where the words had evidently been traced with the dagger’s -point, was this, in printed characters: - -_Nuzhee Mona._ - -Just that, and nothing more. Nomad and Little Cayuse stared, then -turned away. Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill laughed, and the former -tore away the piece of bark and cast it from him with a gesture of -contempt; then, jerking the dagger from the wood, he carried it on -into the hotel. Hickok followed, a jesting remark on his lips. Dell -trailed after Hickok, but it was plain she could not dismiss the -matter in the same offhand way that he had done. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - THE “FORTY THIEVES MINE.” - - -“Got any idee why that thing was skewered inter my door, Buffalo -Bill?” asked Spangler, waddling into the room of the hotel, which -served as an “office.” - -“Don’t fret about that, Spangler,” said the scout; “it was meant for -me.” - -“Queer kind of a visitin’-card,” said Tenny, sticking his head in at -the door. “‘Nuzhee Mona,’ hey? Queer name fer a man, too.” - -“How did it come there?” queried the scout. - -“That’s what we don’t know,” puffed Spangler. “Half an hour ago it -wasn’t there--I kin take my affidavy on _that_. I had my eyes on the -door jest after the Chinks had come with the meat, an’ it was as bare -as the pa’m o’ my hand. Right arter that I settled down in front an’ -went ter sleep. Tenny an’ Pete woke me up an’ pointed out the thing -ter me.” - -“Then it must have been put up there while you were asleep?” - -“I reckon that was the way of it.” - -“Well, forget it. It’s my business, anyway, and nothing for you to -bother with.” - -At that moment Wing Hi came out of the dining-room and went to the -front of the hotel with his brass gong. While he was pounding his -summons for dinner--a meal which had been delayed on account of the -extra work that had fallen to the two Chinamen--the scout and his -pards went into the dining-room and took their accustomed places at -one of the tables. - -“Nick,” said the scout to his trapper pard, “here’s something for you -and Cayuse to think about: Did either of you ever hear of a spook -that was able to take a piece of birch bark and scratch words on it?” - -The idea rather startled Nomad, but Cayuse kept on quietly with his -eating. - -“Or,” proceeded the scout, with a wink at Wild Bill, “did you ever -hear of a spook that could take an old file and make a dagger out of -it?” - -He laid the blade, with which the birch bark had been fastened to the -door, on the table. - -All eyes turned on it curiously. There was no doubt about its having -been ground down from a file to a double edge and a point. - -“Or,” went on the scout, “who ever knew of a spook stealing to the -front of a hotel and fastening a piece of birch bark to the door, -and using wit enough to do it so quietly that the proprietor of the -hotel, who was asleep in front and not ten feet away, failed to hear -a sound?” - -“I reckon ye tally, pard,” said Nomad. “What ye say must er been ther -work of er human bein’, like ourselves.” - -“Sure,” grinned Wild Bill. “The dagger and the piece of bark prove -that; and the words on the bark prove that the same person who -fastened it to the door was the one who talked at us from the -basement of the Alcazar. Flesh and blood, no doubt of it; and I’ve -got a hunch Lawless is back of the whole layout.” - -The scout was not of Wild Bill’s opinion regarding the question of -Lawless having anything to do with the matter, but recent events were -so obscure that the scout did not attempt to deny something which -_might_ prove to be true. - -As people began to come into the dining-room, the matter was dropped, -and the scout and his pards fell to talking on other topics. - -Directly after dinner preparations were made for a stay of three days -and nights in the Forty Thieves. A lot of canteens were secured, and -Spangler’s culinary-department was drawn upon for a supply of rations. - -By four o’clock Buffalo Bill, Nomad, Wild Bill, Dell, and Cayuse -mounted and rode off down the cañon. Blake, the miner who had been -robbed of his dust and almost killed, was still resting his bruised -limbs on a cot in the general bunk-room. The scout would have -liked to talk further with Blake, but did not esteem the matter of -sufficient importance to wake him for the purpose. - -The romance of mining is full of Fortune’s strange freaks. How the -Forty Thieves had come into the hands of Captain Lawless, Buffalo -Bill did not know. Yet, undoubtedly Lawless had prospected the -property and had settled it, in his own mind, that it was worthless. -Had he not thought it of no value, he would hardly have turned it -over to the scout as a gift, even with “a string to it.” - -Lawless had fooled himself. The rich vein had been lost--it had not -petered out--and, by an accident, Wild Bill had discovered it again. - -A small stream ran through the cañon. The stream was little more than -a rill, flowing for most of the cañon’s length under the sand and -rocks, and appearing on the surface only occasionally, where bed-rock -forced the water upward into pools. - -At one of these pools, close to the ore-dump of the mine, the scout -and his pards halted and dismounted. The canteens were filled, and -two riatas were spliced together and dropped into the shaft with one -end secured to the platform on the top of the dump. - -When everything was ready for the descent, the scout placed to one -side a bag of the rations brought from Sun Dance. - -“Now, pards,” said he, addressing his friends, “we are not to forget -for an instant that, by going down into the Forty Thieves, we are -playing directly into the hands of Lawless and his gang. Lawless -has something up his sleeve, and we’re going to try and beat him at -his own game. To do this successfully, we can’t _all_ go down the -shaft. The surface must be watched as well as the mine workings; and -our horses have got to be taken care of. This party will have to be -divided, and I have chosen Dell and Cayuse to look after the mounts -and keep keen eyes on the vicinity of the ore-dump.” - -Dell’s face fell at this, and the Piute looked his disappointment. -But whenever Buffalo Bill gave an order, there was no setting it -aside. - -“Hickok, Nomad, and I,” pursued the scout, “will go into the mine. -As soon as we are down there, Dell and Cayuse will proceed to lower -our canteens and rations--all but the bag which I have set aside for -their use. Then, when the water and grub are lowered, Dell and Cayuse -will pull up the rope and take the horses along the cañon. A quarter -of a mile below the mine a gully breaks into the cañon wall. The -gully is full of scrub, and it will be a good place to hide the live -stock. While one of them watches the stock, the other will watch the -ore-dump.” - -“But why pull up the rope, Buffalo Bill?” asked Dell. “If anything -goes wrong, you wouldn’t have any way of getting out of the shaft.” - -“If anything goes wrong, Dell,” returned the scout, “it will be up -here. If you and Cayuse keep careful watch, you will be able to -notify Nomad, Wild Bill, and me, and drop the rope for us. If, on -the other hand, any of Lawless’ gang should escape your eyes and try -to come down the shaft, they won’t have our rope to use. Understand? -The three of us are going down there to stay for three days. Your -instructions are simple enough, and I reckon you understand them. -Eternal vigilance is the price of success in this undertaking.” - -With that, Buffalo Bill sat down on the edge of the planks and slowly -lowered himself into the black maw of the shaft. - -“All right, pards!” came his muffled voice from the darkness, a few -moments later. - -Wild Bill descended next, and Nomad next. When they reached the -bottom of the shaft, the scout had secured one of the candles left in -the mine during their recent visit, and had lighted it. - -“Everything looks like it did when we was hyar last,” said Nomad, -peering about him in the flickering gleam of the candle. - -“Nothing is changed,” returned Buffalo Bill, “and there’s no one here -besides ourselves. I have been to the end of the level, and I am -positive of it. Haul up the rope, Dell,” he shouted, “and lower the -grub and the water.” - -Dell and Cayuse, their forms silhouetted against the background of -sky overhead, could be seen bending over the mouth of the shaft and -pulling up the rope. - -In a little while the provision-bags and the canteens were lowered, -untied from the end of the rope and carried by Nomad and Wild Bill -into the level. - -“Now,” cried the scout, “haul up the rope, Dell, and go off to the -gully with the horses.” - -“You’re sure there’s no one down there besides yourselves?” called -the girl anxiously. - -The scout’s reassuring laugh bounded upward between the rocky walls. - -“We’re absolutely sure, Dell. We’re safe enough down here. If there’s -any trouble, the chances are that you and Cayuse will see the most of -it. Don’t do any worrying about us.” - -“I don’t know,” answered Dell, “but I’ve got a feeling that there are -some--some disagreeable surprises in store for all of us.” - -“Let ’em come!” whooped Wild Bill. “We’re not looking for trouble, -but you can bet your spurs we’re not going to dodge any.” - -Slowly the rope was drawn upward, untied from the plank platform, and -Dell and Cayuse vanished from the mouth of the shaft. - -Wild Bill, having carried his load of water and food into the level, -had returned to the scout in the shaft; but Nomad had pushed along -toward the end of the level. - -The surprises began at once, and almost at the very moment Dell and -Cayuse left the ore-dump. This, the first of the strange events, was -ushered in by a wild yell from the old trapper. - -“By gorry!” exclaimed Wild Bill, dashing into the level, “Nomad’s -struck a snag, first crack out of the box.” - -The trapper had secured a candle when he and Wild Bill began carrying -the canteens and provision-bags into the level. The scout likewise -had a candle, and made haste to follow Hickok into the pitch-dark -passage. - -Cody could not imagine what it was that had brought that yell from -his old pard. It wasn’t a shout of fear, but rather of surprise and -consternation. Apart from his superstitious vagaries, the old trapper -did not know the meaning of the word “fear.” - -Wild Bill, stumbling along somewhat in the lead of the scout, kept -watching for the glimmer of Nomad’s candle. The tunnel was full of -angles, and Wild Bill went clear to the breast of it, and whirled -around with his back to the rocks. He had not found a trace of the -trapper in the entire length of the level! - -“Well!” exclaimed Wild Bill, looking blankly into the scout’s face. -“What sort of a hocus-pocus do you call this, Cody? Disagreeable -surprises! By gorry, Dell was right. We no more than get into the -mine before they’re sprung on us.” - -Without speaking, Buffalo Bill turned and picked his way back to the -shaft, sweeping the candlelight about him and examining every nook -and cranny as he went. - -He saw nothing of Nomad. - -Midway between the breast of the level and the shaft was the opening -into the short “drift.” - -Still keeping his thoughts to himself, the scout whirled away from -the shaft and went into the “drift.” The cross-section dimensions -of the “drift” were the same as those of the main level, but it was -scarcely more than fifteen feet long. - -A débris of broken stone littered the floor of the “drift,” but the -scout was not long in discovering that his old pard was not there. - -Setting the candle down on a rock, he made a trumpet of his hands. - -“Nomad!” he roared, at the top of his voice. - -The echoes boomed through the underground galleries, but echoes alone -answered the scout’s call. - -“I’ll give it up,” said Buffalo Bill, dropping down on the stone -beside the candle. “Nick isn’t in the mine, that’s sure.” - -“And he didn’t get out of the mine through the shaft,” observed -Wild Bill. “There may be an air-shaft somewhere that we don’t know -anything about. If Nomad found such a shaft, it would be easy for him -to give us the slip.” - -“There isn’t such a shaft!” declared the scout. “Even if there was, -Hickok, why should Nick give us the slip?” - -“He wouldn’t want to, of course; but he was in the mine one minute, -and out of it the next. He met with foul play, and it was of the -mighty sudden kind. Lawless is back of it--that goes without saying.” - -“I presume you are right,” said the scout, “and if you _are_ right, -Hickok, there’s more to this mine than we have yet begun to discover.” - -“There must be old workings, Cody, which have been closed up.” - -“Nick’s disappearance can’t be explained in any other way. I suppose -Nick saw Lawless or one of his men, and was struck down before he -could do anything more than give that one yell; then he was dragged -through some hole that we haven’t been able to find.” - -Buffalo Bill got up and took the candle. - -“I didn’t come here to lose any of my pards, Hickok,” he went on, -“and I don’t intend to. We’ve got to find the route Nick traveled -when he left, and follow it.” - -“We’ll get him back,” averred Wild Bill, with a resolute snap of the -jaws, “no matter how much of a ‘plant’ Lawless has down here.” - -Thereupon the two stepped back into the main level. Holding his -candle in one hand and a stone in the other, each proceeded toward -the breast of the passage, tapping on the walls as they went. - -This maneuver proved fruitless. The stone walls gave back no hollow -sound, and, for all their ears could detect, they might as well have -been tapping against a mountain of granite. - -Never before had the king of scouts been so deeply perplexed. An -outlet from the mine seemed such a simple thing to find, and yet it -had baffled him. The whole mystery, in a less matter-of-fact mind -than the scout’s, or Wild Bill’s, would have taken on a supernatural -aspect. - -“I’m up the biggest kind of a stump, Cody,” admitted Wild Bill, “and -the more we try to solve the riddle, the higher up I get. The stone -in the wall seems to be as solid as Gibraltar, and if there was a -hole--even a masked opening--leading to another passage, there would -certainly be some kind of a ‘break’ in the side of the level. But -there isn’t any break--the walls are continuous.” - -“About where, in this level,” said the scout, “would you say Nomad -was when he gave that yell?” - -“He could not have been far from the place where we left the canteens -and the provisions--perhaps about half-way between there and the end -of the level.” - -Buffalo Bill went back to the spot indicated by Wild Bill. Flashing -the candle about side walls and roof, something met his eyes. He -examined it for a moment, and then called Hickok. - -What the latter saw, when he gained the scout’s side, were words, -written with candle-smoke, on the light-colored stone of the roof: - -“_Nuzhee Mona!_” - -“What in Sam Hill do those words mean?” cried Wild Bill. - -“I wish I knew,” said the scout. “If we knew the meaning of the words -we might get a clue to this tangle. Possibly a friend traced the -words.” - -“And perhaps an enemy--Lawless, for instance. If he put those words -there, Cody, they mean a threat of some kind.” - -“The voice we heard in the Alcazar was the voice of a friend; the -voice used those two words; it was the hand of that same speaker that -pinned that piece of bark to the door of the hotel; and, it naturally -follows, the same hand must have put the words on the roof of this -tunnel.” - -“You make out a good case, Cody, but why all this secrecy? Why -doesn’t the person, if really a friend, come out face to face with -you and tell you what to expect, instead of dodging around cellars, -visiting hotel doors mysteriously, and then sneaking into the Forty -Thieves, and leaving those two words?” - -“We don’t know what the woman has to work against, or how she is -hampered in her attempts to warn us.” - -“Woman?” echoed Wild Bill. - -“Certainly. That voice we heard in the Alcazar was a woman’s voice.” - -“An Indian, too, by gorry! Have you any idea who it could be?” - -The scout was thoughtful for a moment. - -“Who could this mysterious friend be, if not Wah-coo-tah?” he said -finally. - -“By gorry, you’ve hit it!” exclaimed Wild Bill. “I hadn’t thought of -Wah-coo-tah. She is very friendly toward you, but she doesn’t like -Dell a little bit. Say, I’ll bet a hundred against a last year’s -bird’s nest that Wah-coo-tah’s the girl who was trying to steer us -away from this trap.” - -“The more I think about it,” said the scout, “the more reasonable it -seems. The girl, when she left the hotel, went back to her father. -While with him she found out about his plans concerning us. No doubt -she is watched, and finds it impossible to show herself openly to us -and tell what she knows. But all this isn’t helping us to find Nick.” - -“Lawless has got him, Cody, and probably he will try the same means -for getting us. We’ll have to be on our guard every minute, or----” - -At that instant Buffalo Bill flung down his own candle and knocked -the candle out of Hickok’s hand; then, hurling himself against his -companion, he bore him to the floor of the level, and dropped beside -him. - -Before the astounded Wild Bill could ask a question as to the reason -for such an unexpected action, a spurt of flame lit up the passage, -and a rattle of revolver-shots echoed deafeningly between the narrow -walls. - -“Lie still!” whispered the scout in Wild Bill’s ear. Then, with a -groan, he cried huskily: “I’m hit! They’ve got us, Hickok.” - -A fall of swift feet resounded in the passage, coming rapidly nearer -the two pards; but all was dark, and the scout, scarcely breathing, -lay silently where he was, and waited. - -Wild Bill understood the ruse he was playing, and immediately assumed -his own part. - -The feet came close, and, from the sound of them, the scout tried to -estimate the number of men in the party. Three, four, five--there -were five, at least, and where had they come from? They were running -from the direction of the breast of the level, so they must have -entered the passage by the same way Nomad had been taken out of it. - -“Now, Hickok!” the scout suddenly cried, when he thought the men had -come close enough. - -As one man the two pards leaped erect, and flung themselves through -the pitchy darkness at their unseen foes. - -The scout caught one burly form in his hands, felt the point of a -knife dig into his sleeve, and struck out with his fist. The man went -down. Another took his place, and, in the narrow confines of the -level, a fierce hand-to-hand fight was soon in progress. - -Not a word was spoken by the combatants. Only the sound of their -labored breathing, the shuffling of their feet on the rocky floor, -and the thump of fists, broke the tomblike stillness of the mine. - -Neither the scout nor Wild Bill dared use a revolver. Unable, as they -were, to see a hand before their eyes, they might have hurt each -other by promiscuous shooting. - -Both the pards were putting up a gallant fight against odds; and, -just when it seemed as though they were to win out, Buffalo Bill was -caught by a random blow, whirled half-around; and sent stumbling -over a stone on the floor of the passage. - -He tried desperately to regain his balance, failed, and plunged -headlong into the rocky wall. The next instant his senses left him, -and he knew no more. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - DELL AND WAH-COO-TAH. - - -When the scout opened his eyes, the exciting events which he had -recently passed through seemed more like a dream than anything else. -As his brain slowly cleared, and he was able to pick up the broken -thread of occurrences more firmly, he began to wonder at what he saw. - -He was lying in the level, and a lighted candle stood on a rock near -his head. Beside him knelt Dell Dauntless, bending over and allowing -a trickle of water to fall upon his face from one of the canteens. - -“How are you now, Buffalo Bill?” the girl asked. - -“Nothing worth mentioning has happened to me, Dell,” he answered, -pushing aside the canteen and sitting up. “I took a tumble over that -rock where you’ve put the candle, and struck my head against the wall -of the passage. It was a small thing to knock a man out.” - -“It must have been a harder blow than you supposed.” - -“No discount on that, pard; still, it isn’t anything to make a fuss -over.” - -He picked up his hat and put it on, then gave the girl an inquiring -look. - -“How is it I find you here?” - -“Cayuse was in the gully with the horses,” Dell explained, “and I -was reconnoitering around the ore-dump. Everything had been pretty -quiet, up above, and Cayuse and I hadn’t seen a soul. I was close -to the mouth of the shaft when I heard something like a volley of -revolver-shots. I wasn’t sure there had been firing down here, -though, until I had crept to the mouth of the shaft and sniffed -burned powder. Cayuse and I had left the spliced riatas hidden in the -bushes near the ore-dump, and I ran for the ropes, dropped one end -down and made the other fast to the platform. Then I lowered myself -into the mine.” - -“You took a lot of chances, Dell,” muttered the scout, brushing a -hand across his eyes. “You found me lying here, eh?” - -“Yes.” - -“And you didn’t see any one else?” - -“No. What’s become of Nomad and Wild Bill?” - -The scout couldn’t understand why Lawless and his gang hadn’t -finished him, nor why he hadn’t been dragged away to the same -mysterious place to which Nomad had been taken; but he didn’t stop -to debate these matters just then. Getting quickly to his feet, he -snatched up the candle and went along the level, looking for Wild -Bill, just as he and Wild Bill had gone hunting for Nomad a little -while before. - -The smell of burned powder was strong, and a slight fog of it was -drifting toward the shaft. - -Buffalo Bill, followed by Dell, went to the end of the tunnel and -back again without finding any trace of Wild Bill. The scout sat down -on a rock and took his aching head between his hands. - -“This is a brain-twister, if there ever was one,” he muttered. - -“What do you mean by that, pard?” Dell inquired. - -“Well,” he answered, looking up, “we hadn’t been down here fifteen -minutes until Nomad had disappeared.” - -“Disappeared?” - -“Yes. Wild Bill and I heard him give a yell, but when we went to look -for him he had vanished.” - -“There must be a secret passage leading into another part of the -mine, and----” - -“Hickok and I made up our minds to that, but if there is a secret -passage we failed to locate it. While we were talking the matter -over, I heard a sound of stealthy movements between us and the breast -of the level, and I had just time to throw down my candle and knock -the light out of Wild Bill’s hand, and then to drag Wild Bill flat -down on the floor of the level, when a volley was fired. We had a -hand-to-hand fight, and right in the middle of it I stumbled over -that stone and rammed my head into the wall. And now Hickok has -followed Nomad--where? And why is it I wasn’t taken away with Hickok? -I can’t make head or tail to this thing, Dell, and it’s getting onto -my nerves. Nothing happens as you would expect it to happen. The mine -seems bewitched.” - -“We’d better get out of here,” Dell suggested. - -“I came here to stay three days and nights,” said the scout doggedly, -“and----” - -“But with Nomad and Wild Bill gone, what could you and I do against -men who have a secret retreat in the mine? They have every advantage, -pard. They can make an attack when they want to, and can get away in -a hurry and without leaving a clue as to where they go. Of course, -these men are Lawless and his gang, and they not only have the -advantage in the point of numbers, but they have also a knowledge of -these underground workings.” - -“Lawless prepared the mine as a trap for us,” said the scout, -“and, while I was expecting underhand work and surprises when we -came down here, I was not counting upon hidden passages and secret -levels. I won’t abandon Nomad and Hickok to their fate, but I’ll go -up to the surface and take a look around. There may be a concealed -shaft somewhere in the vicinity of the ore-dump. After I make an -examination of the surface, I’ll come back down here.” - -“Will it be wise,” asked Dell, “for us to come back down here alone? -Hadn’t we better send Cayuse to Sun Dance for more men? Pete, and -Tenny, and Blake would probably be glad to come down here and help.” - -“Dell,” said the scout earnestly, “I’ve got just pride enough about -me to want to wind this up without any outside aid. I’ll be an hour -on the surface, not longer; then I’ll come down here again and leave -you at the top of the shaft.” - -“You’ll be taking your life in your hands,” said Dell. - -“I don’t think so. Lawless and his men could have killed me, or have -snaked me out of the tunnel with Hickok. They didn’t do it; and that -proves that they have some reason for sparing me and leaving me in -the level. I can’t leave here without doing something for Wild Bill -and Nomad.” - -The scout started toward the shaft with the candle. As Dell followed, -she kicked against something on the floor. Picking the object up, she -found it to be a pine knot, soaked in kerosene. - -“That gang that attacked Wild Bill and me,” said the scout, “probably -brought that along with them. They didn’t have time to light it, and -it was lost in the scuffle. We’ll make use of it ourselves,” and he -held the candle to the oil-soaked knot. - -The torch blazed up on the instant, and the scout blew out his candle -and put it in his pocket. - -They went on to the shaft, and, when they got there, another one of -Dell’s “disagreeable surprises” awaited them. The rope which Dell had -left swinging from the plank platform was gone! - -The girl recoiled with a cry of dismay. - -“I’m getting used to this sort of thing, Dell,” said the scout -grimly. “The unexpected is sure to happen in this mine--you meet it -at every turn.” - -“Could Cayuse have pulled up the rope?” - -“Hardly. It’s a safe guess he wouldn’t leave the horses.” - -“Then it must have been Lawless and his men?” - -“That’s the way I figure it.” - -“If that’s the case, it naturally follows that the outlaws have some -way of getting to the surface, aside from using this shaft?” - -“That’s right, pard. Lawless and his men appear to have everything -their own way. They can come and go as they please, and they can -dodge in on us and dodge away again without leaving any clue. If you -were on the surface, the loss of the rope wouldn’t bother me very -much. I have just found out what I was going up to discover. There -_is_ a concealed shaft, and the outlaws had to make use of it in -order to get to the top of the ore-dump and pull up that rope.” - -“You think they knew I was down here?” - -“It’s an easy guess. Now that we’re likely to have to stay down here -for a while, we had better make ourselves as secure as possible. The -safest place in the mine, it strikes me, is that ‘drift’ where Wild -Bill found the gold. We’ll carry our grub-sacks and water-cans in -there, then put out the light, lay low, and wait for developments. -We’ll have plenty of them, if I’m any prophet. I never saw such a -place for things to happen.” - -While Dell held the torch, Buffalo Bill picked up some of the -canteens and provision-bags and carried them into the “drift.” A few -canteens were left in the level, and Dell went back for them. - -The scout, in the dark end of the short passage, was stowing away the -bags and canteens, when he heard an unusual sound just beyond the -opening leading into the “drift.” He glanced up and stared toward the -place where Dell was standing with the torch. - -The unexpected had happened, just as the scout had surmised it would, -but nevertheless he was mightily taken aback by what he saw. - -An Indian girl was standing in front of Dell. The newcomer had a -catamount skin over her back and a knife in the uplifted hand. Dell, -it was plain, had been startled by the Indian girl’s appearance--as -well she might be; and no less by her appearance than by the fierce -hostility that gleamed in her black eyes. - -In three leaps the scout gained the level and had grasped the Indian -girl’s uplifted arm. - -“Wah-coo-tah!” thundered Buffalo Bill; “what does this mean?” - -The Indian girl stared into the scout’s face, and her upraised arm -slowly dropped. As the scout’s grip relaxed, she drew away a step, -and a soft look came into her eyes. - -“Pa-e-has-ka,” she murmured, “why you come here? You no want um -mine--know um no good. You want um Lawless, but you no ketch um. -Lawless kill Pa-e-has-ka, all same.” - -“Wah-coo-tah,” asked the scout, “where are my pards, Nomad and Wild -Bill?” - -“Lawless got um.” - -“That’s what I supposed; but where has Lawless taken them?” - -“All same secret level.” - -“Are they in any immediate danger?” - -“Lawless no kill um _yet_. Him wait till he kill um Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“Why didn’t he kill me a while ago, when he had the chance?” - -“Him wait to kill you another way. _Nuzhee Mona!_” - -Here were the same words that had already aroused the curiosity of -the scout and his pards. Wah-coo-tah, it was now proved, had spoken -them in the basement of the Alcazar, pinned them to the hotel door -with the dagger, and written them in smoke on the roof of the level. - -“How did you get here, Wah-coo-tah?” asked the scout. - -“Come by secret door in rocks,” answered the girl. - -“Have you been trying to warn me, and keep me away?” - -“Ai, but Pa-e-has-ka no stay away. Him here now, and him die.” - -“Why did you leave the hotel like you did?” - -Wah-coo-tah glared over the scout’s shoulder at Dell Dauntless. - -“No like um yellow hair squaw,” she said savagely. - -“What harm have I ever done you, Wah-coo-tah?” asked Dell. - -“Huh!” said the Indian girl scornfully, hunching up her shoulders and -folding her arms. “Me like um Pa-e-has-ka; you like um.” - -At that a light dawned on the scout. He could scarcely believe the -evidence of his senses. As soon as he became certain there was no -mistake, an amused laugh broke from his lips. He would have laughed -had his situation been ten times as perilous as it was. - -A faint smile curved around Dell’s red lips. Wah-coo-tah, watching -and listening with catlike vigilance, lashed herself into another -burst of temper. - -“Me come here to kill Yellow Hair!” she cried. “Me watch up top o’ -ground; me see her come down shaft; then me pull up rope, come by -secret door into tunnel.” - -Like a panther, Wah-coo-tah flung herself toward Dell. - -With a quick move, the scout placed himself in Wah-coo-tah’s way. -Her lifted knife dropped until the point touched his breast, and she -stood in front of him with flashing eyes and heaving bosom, a living -picture of murderous hate. - -“There, there, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout, reaching up his hands -and unclasping her fingers from the knife. “You’re making a big -mistake.” He took the weapon from her resisting grasp and slid it -into his pocket. “You don’t understand the situation at all. Yellow -Hair Pa-e-has-ka’s pard, all same Nomad, Wild Bill, and Little -Cayuse. Wah-coo-tah Pa-e-has-ka’s pard, too. _Sabe?_” - -The girl was only half-convinced, only half-placated. - -“Ugh!” she muttered, “me no like um Yellow Hair.” - -“If you want to be friends with Pa-e-has-ka, Wah-coo-tah,” proceeded -the scout earnestly, “you must also be friends with Yellow Hair.” - -“No!” Wah-coo-tah screamed in sudden frenzy; “mebbyso, bymby, me kill -um Yellow Hair.” - -“That’s the Indian of it,” muttered the scout. “When you’re dealing -with a redskin you never can tell which way the cat is going to jump.” - -Looking Wah-coo-tah in the eyes, he addressed her directly. - -“If you wanted to warn me,” said he, “why didn’t you come out, face -to face?” - -“Lawless watch Sun Dance Camp,” answered Wah-coo-tah. “Mebbyso he see -Wah-coo-tah make talk with Pa-e-has-ka, he kill Wah-coo-tah.” - -“Ah! so that’s the way of it? You came to the Alcazar when we were -talking with the gambler?” - -“All same under floor; try make Pa-e-has-ka stay ’way from mine. -Pa-e-has-ka no stay. Me get into Alcazar by window in cellar; get out -same way.” - -“Can you write, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“My father he teach me how to make letters.” - -“And you made letters on a piece of bark and pinned them to the hotel -door with a dagger?” - -“All same. When me come from Alcazar me watch. See um Pa-e-has-ka, -Yellow Hair, and rest Pa-e-has-ka’s pards come from Alcazar, meet -Piute, hold powwow; then me put birch bark on hotel door. Hope -mebbyso Pa-e-has-ka see um--no go to mine.” - -“You came back to the Forty Thieves from Sun Dance?” - -“Ai.” - -“And you came into this level, took a candle, and wrote those words -on the wall with the candle-smoke?” - -“Ai. Me no like to think Pa-e-has-ka die. Pa-e-has-ka big brave. -Wah-coo-tah like um.” - -“Don’t be foolish, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout. “Such talk is for -_zinga zingas_ (children).” - -“Mebbyso Yellow Hair talk like that,” said Wah-coo-tah angrily, “you -no say she talk like _zinga zinga_.” - -“Yellow Hair has too much sense to talk in that way.” - -“Huh!” exclaimed the Indian girl contemptuously. - -“How is Lawless planning to get even with me, Wah-coo-tah?” went on -the scout. “Why didn’t he take me out of this level at the time he -dragged Wild Bill away?” - -“Him got better way to kill Pa-e-has-ka. No want to use um knife or -bullet. Pa-e-has-ka die in Forty Thieves Mine.” - -“How?” - -“_Nuzhee Mona!_” - -“What does that mean?” - -The girl shook her head, and shivered as though struck by a draft of -icy air. - -“Tell me what the words mean!” insisted the scout. - -“_Nuzhee Mona_ all same god of Injun; god slay Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“I reckon I’m able to defend myself against any of these heathen -gods,” said the scout. - -“Pa-e-has-ka no save himself from _Nuzhee Mona_.” - -“We’ll see. How many men has Lawless with him?” - -“So many,” and Wah-coo-tah held up seven fingers. “Clancy, Seth -Coomby, Tex, Andy, all same three Injun--Cheyennes.” - -“Lawless fixed up this mine for a trap, eh?” - -“Mine been fixed for many moons. Lawless got bad heart, do bad things -white man no like. Him fix mine so he get away when white pony -soldiers come to ketch um.” - -“This ‘plant’ of his was originally devised for his own safety, -then? Well, I reckon he thinks he is putting it to good use now. If -you had come to me in Sun Dance, Wah-coo-tah, and had told me about -the layout here, I would have taken extra measures looking to the -safety of my pards and myself.” - -“Pa-e-has-ka great brave, but him no can fight Lawless. Lawless -Wah-coo-tah’s father, but Wah-coo-tah no like um. Wah-coo-tah know, -when Lawless driven by Pa-e-has-ka from gulch, that Lawless make try -kill Pa-e-has-ka. So Wah-coo-tah go to Lawless, learn what he try -to do, then warn Pa-e-has-ka. Pa-e-has-ka no pay any ’tention,” and -rebuke and sadness lurked in the last words. - -“Had I known more, Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout, “I should have paid -more attention. Are Wild Bill and Nomad bound?” - -“Ai. Lawless no let um get ’way.” - -“Are all of the outlaws watching them?” - -“Plenty men watch um.” - -“Won’t it be possible for Dell and me to go through the secret door -you speak about, and rescue my pards? I can’t leave them in the hands -of Lawless.” - -“Pa-e-has-ka want to die, _quick_? Him go through secret door, him be -shot down, _pronto_. Door watched all time.” - -“How did you get through it to come here?” - -“Cheyenne watch um door. Cheyenne like um Wah-coo-tah, let -Wah-coo-tah come.” - -“See here, Wah-coo-tah,” went on the scout, “can’t you contrive to -set Nomad and Wild Bill free, then get them past the Cheyenne at the -secret door?” - -“What good, huh? Then you all die here by _Nuzhee Mona_.” - -“We’ll take our chances with _Nuzhee Mona_ if you’ll help my pards.” - -Wah-coo-tah bowed her head in thought for a moment; then, drawing -herself erect, she took a swift step toward the scout. - -“Mebbyso Pa-e-has-ka send Yellow Hair away, huh? Then Wah-coo-tah -save um pards Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“Why is she so bitter against me?” breathed Dell. “As she puts -it now, I am standing between Nomad and Wild Bill and safety.” -She whirled on Wah-coo-tah. “How can Pa-e-has-ka send me away, -Wah-coo-tah? We are in the mine--there is no way out, for you have -taken away the rope.” - -“Mebbyso me go back, let down rope, then Pa-e-has-ka and his pards -get ’way, huh? Injun girl more able to do things than white squaw. -Wah-coo-tah save Pa-e-has-ka, Nomad, and Wild Bill, you promise go -’way never see Pa-e-has-ka again?” - -Wah-coo-tah bent her hard, stony eyes on the white face of Dell. - -The Indian girl must have understood the struggle that was taking -place in Dell’s breast, for a gloating exultation overspread her -face. Dell was her enemy, and she exulted in the torture she had -caused. - -“Yes,” said Dell slowly: “if you will save Nomad and Wild Bill, and -then let down the rope so that we may all get out of this mine, I--I -will leave Buffalo Bill and never see him again.” - -At that instant, Wah-coo-tah’s keen ear detected something that led -her to snatch the torch from Dell’s hand and crush out the flame -under her moccasins. - -“Good!” she muttered, in reply to Dell’s promise. “Me save um. Just -now Lawless come; get in here, _quick_.” - -With her hands, Wah-coo-tah pushed the scout and Dell through the -mouth of the “drift.” - -While they crouched there, the scout fingering his revolvers, they -heard stealthy movements along the tunnel in their direction. - -“Pa-e-has-ka make parley with Lawless,” whispered Wah-coo-tah to the -scout. “Pa-e-has-ka tell um Lawless Pa-e-has-ka kill um Wah-coo-tah -if Lawless no get back through secret door. _Sabe?_” - -The scout understood. The stealthy sounds were coming nearer and -nearer along the tunnel, and the scout would rather have met his -enemies with bullets than with words, but just then Wah-coo-tah’s -plan seemed best. - -“Lawless!” the scout cried. - -The movements stopped, and a low, mocking laugh came out of the heavy -gloom. - -“Who speaks?” demanded a voice. - -“Buffalo Bill.” - -“What do you want, Buffalo Bill?” - -“I want you to stand where you are, and not come another step this -way.” - -“What you want, and what you’ll get,” was the taunting reply, “are -two different things. I have the upper hand here. You came to the -Forty Thieves thinking you would trap the trappers; and you thought I -did not know Wild Bill had discovered that rich vein in the ‘drift.’ -I knew about that when I made out that deed, and I knew very well the -rich vein would tempt you to come here. However, I let you suppose I -thought the Forty Thieves worthless, and that I was summoning you -here to pit my strength against yours.” - -Captain Lawless gave another laugh--a laugh that held a ringing note -of triumph. - -“I am not the fool you think me,” he went on. “The Forty Thieves is -a bonanza, but it will never belong to you. You and your pards are -on my trail, and when you are out of the way, I can take possession -of the mine and work it myself. There is a method in my plans. -Your greed to get possession of the mine, which you knew to be -valuable, and which you believed I thought worthless, has placed you -in the jaws of death. Two of your pards are already in my hands. -By to-morrow noon their scalps will swing from the girdles of my -Cheyennes; but you--well, yours is to be a different fate. That is -why I left you here when I could have had you dragged away with -Hickok; that is why I did not let a Cheyenne knife do its work with -you; and so sure was I that I would ‘get’ you, that I did not even -trouble to remove your weapons.” - -Silence followed Lawless’ words. - -“How did you learn about the rich vein?” asked the scout. - -“When you thought you chased me and my men out of the cañon, some -days ago,” replied Lawless, still in his high, mocking voice, “we -took refuge in the secret workings of the mine. We were here when -you rode off; and it was then we examined the drift and saw the vein -of gold. More than that, I was lurking close at hand when you and -your pards came here on your last visit and looked over the vein for -yourselves. I am obliged to you, Buffalo Bill, for spoiling that deal -of mine with Bingham. Thinking the mine worthless, I was on the -point of handing him a bonanza. Now, as soon as you and your pards -are out of the way, I shall have the bonanza for myself--and not -a man in Sun Dance Cañon will lift a hand to interfere with me in -working the mine.” - -“What fate have you selected for me, Lawless?” - -“In two hours it will be sunrise. Listen, then, and you will hear -your doom rushing upon you. _Nuzhee Mona!_” and a diabolical laugh -came with the last words. - -“I have heard scoundrels of your stamp make their threats before,” -flung back the scout defiantly. “Talk is cheap.” - -“You will find that I am not making empty threats. You will be caught -like a rat in a trap.” - -“If my fate is not to overtake me before sunrise, why have you come -into this part of the mine now?” - -“I am looking for that girl of mine.” - -“Then you need look no farther. She came spying upon me, and I have -her here, a prisoner.” - -An exclamation of anger escaped Lawless. - -“Turn her loose, at once!” he commanded. - -“I shall keep her as a hostage for my own safety,” said the scout. -“Whatever fate comes to me, will come to her; and if you do not -instantly leave this level, she shall suffer.” - -Lawless called out something in the Cheyenne tongue. Wah-coo-tah -answered, and her words were like the screech of an enraged panther. - -“Wah-coo-tah,” went on Lawless, “is ready to die to help her father, -if need be. Your fate will come to you at sunrise, Buffalo Bill, and -I will have my revenge, even if it is necessary to sacrifice the -girl. That ought to show you I mean business.” - -“It shows me that you are a more contemptible scoundrel than I had -supposed,” answered the scout calmly. “Are you going to get out of -this level?” - -“At once. Farewell, Buffalo Bill, king of scouts! The government -will look far before another man is found to take your place. When -you crossed the path of Captain Lawless, of the Forty Thieves, you -tackled a bigger job than you had imagined.” - -Sounds of retreating steps came along the level, fading abruptly into -silence. - -“He doesn’t think much of Wah-coo-tah,” said Dell, “from the way he -talks.” - -“He doesn’t think much of any one but himself,” replied the scout. -“What did he say to you, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Him want to know if Pa-e-has-ka speak true when he say he ketch um -Wah-coo-tah,” answered the girl. “Me tell um me here, but that me no -tell Pa-e-has-ka way into secret passage, and that mebbyso me get -’way before _Nuzhee Mona_ come.” She gave a low, sibilant laugh. “Me -fool Lawless,” she added. “Bymby me get back, fool um some more. -Me hate um! Him my father, but me hate um. He try sell me to Ponca -warrior for five ponies.” - -“Wah-coo-tah,” spoke up Dell, “will have to get away from here and -liberate Nomad and Wild Bill and ourselves before sunrise. If she -waits beyond that time it will be too late.” - -“Mebbyso Lawless no let _Nuzhee Mona_ go till Wah-coo-tah get through -secret door. We got plenty time. Lawless give Wah-coo-tah chance to -save herself.” - -Silence fell for a space, and then the scout took the candle from his -pocket, lighted it, and opened one of the provision-bags. - -They all felt the need of food and water, and began a leisurely meal, -relying on Wah-coo-tah’s confidence that _Nuzhee Mona_--whatever that -mystical name represented--would not be released until she had had a -chance to effect her escape. - -In the midst of their meal, they were all three startled by a -perceptible quivering of the rocks about them, followed by a muffled -explosion that rolled like distant thunder. - -A cry fell from Wah-coo-tah’s lips, and she leaped to her feet -excitedly. - -Loosened stones could be heard crashing from the roof of the level to -the floor. - -“What is it?” exclaimed Dell, in consternation. - -“Wah-coo-tah!” cried Buffalo Bill, springing up and catching the -Indian girl by the arm. “Is this Lawless’ work? What is he doing?” - -The girl started for the level, but halted and turned back. - -“Yellow Hair make um promise to leave Buffalo Bill, huh, if I save -um?” she said quickly. - -“Yes, yes,” returned Dell. “Only be quick!” - -Wah-coo-tah raced into the level and along it toward the breast. The -stones had stopped falling by that time, and the scout and Dell, with -the candle, hastened to follow the Indian girl. - -Suddenly, as they ran around a sharp angle of the corridor, they saw -Wah-coo-tah. She stood in a blaze of light that poured over her from -a square opening in the wall. She cried out something, and tried -to push into the opening, but she was met by a clattering volley of -shots, and reeled backward with a groan. Then, silently, the door -closed over the glare, and only the gleam of the scout’s candle -lighted the level. - -“They’ve shot her!” murmured Dell; “Lawless has shot his own -daughter!” - -“Perhaps not Lawless, but some of his men!” returned the scout. “Oh, -the fiends! the dastards! They thought she was helping us, and that -is the way they took to stop it.” - -Running to the girl’s side, the scout knelt down. A trickle of red -was running over the girl’s breast. The catamount skin, which she had -worn over her back, had fallen off. - -“Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout gently, “are you hurt?” - -“Me live to fool um yet!” answered Wah-coo-tah spasmodically. “You -help me, Pa-e-has-ka! Quick! Take me to shaft.” - -“You can’t move----” - -“Ai, all same you help.” - -She struggled fiercely, and Buffalo Bill, seeing her determination, -helped her up. Dell took the candle and tried to be of some -assistance, but Wah-coo-tah, with all her waning strength, repulsed -her. Even in that tragic moment, she would have none of Dell. - -Supporting the girl, the scout led her, reeling, back along the level -and toward the shaft. - -Before they had covered much more than half the distance, a low -roaring broke on their ears. Wah-coo-tah, flinging her hands to her -breast, gave a convulsive spring. - -“_Nuzhee Mona!_” she wailed, and sank limply in the scout’s arms. - -“Water, Dell!” cried the scout. “Hurry.” - -As Dell darted into the “drift,” the scout listened, while the -roaring grew louder and louder. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - LITTLE CAYUSE ON GUARD. - - -The gully, which the scout had selected as a fitting place to hide -the horses, was admirably adapted to the purpose. - -The mouth broke into the wall of the cañon some fifteen feet above -the cañon’s bed, and a slope, formed of ancient washings from the -gully, led upward to the entrance of it. - -It was narrow, filled with a growth of scrub, and its bed sloped -upward from the point where it entered the cañon. - -Besides, it was a _blind_ gully, running into the hills for a few -hundred feet and terminating in a sheer wall. All the other walls -were equally steep and unscalable. There was no getting into the -gully in any way except from the cañon. - -Little Cayuse took due account of all these advantages, and gave a -grunt of satisfaction. The horses he tethered among the bushes, and -then returned to the gully’s mouth, and sat down to watch and wait. - -Hours passed, and the boy, through all that time, sat like a bronze -statue, wonderfully alert, but neither hearing nor seeing anything -that claimed his attention. Perhaps he would not have been so calm -and passive could he have known what was taking place in the depths -of the Forty Thieves! - -The sun went down, daylight faded out of the west, and one by one -the stars stole over the sky. Cayuse watched them as they brightened -overhead. - -At last he began wondering about Dell. She had been a long time on -watch at the shaft, and it had been agreed between them that she -should come to the gully, in three hours, and look out for the horses -while Cayuse watched the shaft. More than three hours had passed, and -Dell had not come. - -The boy stepped out into the cañon and cast his eyes in the direction -of the mine. The defile was plunged in gloom, and Cayuse could see -nothing. - -He threw back his head and gave the bark of a timber-wolf. No answer -came. He tried again, but still without securing a response. - -It was a signal well known among the scout’s pards, and if Dell had -heard it she would surely have signified that she had by a similar -answer. - -Why had she not heard? - -A thrill of alarm ran through the boy. He feared something had -happened to the girl, and he stole cautiously forward to investigate. - -As he neared the ore-dump, he saw a figure on the platform, over the -shaft. It was the form of a woman--he could tell that much--and he -supposed it was Dell. - -“Yellow Hair!” he called. - -The figure started up, holding something, and darted down the side of -the dump and out of sight among the dusky bushes. - -Cayuse glided after the form, and before it had disappeared he -discovered that it was the form of an Indian girl, and made up his -mind that it was Wah-coo-tah. - -Knowing Wah-coo-tah was a friend of Buffalo Bill’s, the boy called -her name, and darted into the bushes after her. When he got into the -chaparral, however, Wah-coo-tah had disappeared. - -Puzzled by Wah-coo-tah’s actions, Little Cayuse climbed to the top of -the ore-dump and peered into the black shaft. - -At that time, the scout and Dell were talking in the main level, and -the boy could not see or hear anything of them. He felt under the rim -of the platform. Not finding a rope, he naturally concluded that Dell -was not in the mine. Ignorant of the fact that Wah-coo-tah herself -had removed the rope, the boy naturally supposed that Dell had fallen -into the hands of Lawless and his men. - -Skulking about in the chaparral, he hunted for some traces of the -white scoundrels. He was unsuccessful. Knowing that much might depend -upon the horses, he could not leave the animals unwatched, and so, -with a heavy heart, he made his way back to the gully. - -For hour after hour the boy continued his lonely vigil, imagining all -sorts of things, but unable to do anything to settle his misgivings. -In the east he saw a gray streak of dawn hovering above the rim of -the cañon, and realized with a start that the night had passed, and -that day was at hand. - -Perhaps, he reasoned, as daylight gathered and brightened the -surroundings, he might be able to discover what had become of Dell. -Meantime, the horses must not be neglected. - -There was a pool in front of the gully’s mouth, and Cayuse led the -animals down, one at a time, and let them drink. - -By the time he had finished this duty, the morning was well advanced -toward sunrise. As he picked his way out of the scrub in the -direction of the cañon, casting about in his mind as to the best -course for him to follow in looking for Dell, he came to a sudden and -astounded halt. - -Looking out through the narrow opening into the cañon, he had -abruptly caught sight of three mounted men, and of another on foot. - -The man on foot he recognized as Captain Lawless, Buffalo Bill’s -enemy; those on the horses Cayuse also knew, and they were Clancy, -Seth Coomby, and the scoundrel called “Tex,” all three members of -Lawless’ gang. - -Dropping instantly to his knees, Cayuse crept closer to the mouth of -the gully. There, crouching behind a boulder, he watched and listened -with sharp eyes and ears. - -The men were talking, and from his present position the boy could -hear them distinctly. - -“I want you, Clancy,” Lawless was saying, “to set off those blasts as -soon as you can fire the fuses. The time to wipe out Buffalo Bill and -his pards has come. Quick work will do the trick.” - -“An’ what’s ter become o’ us, arterwards?” asked Tex moodily. -“Pickin’ off a lot of fellers like Buffler Bill and his pards is -li’ble ter mean somethin’ ter _us_.” - -“If you’re getting cold feet, Tex,” snapped Lawless, “now’s your time -to quit. Ride out of this cañon, if you want to, and go where you -please. If you do that, however, you’ll not come in for anything we -get out of the Forty Thieves. There’ll be just so much more for the -rest of us, and I’m figuring the mine will make us rich.” - -“Don’t be a fool, Tex,” growled Seth Coomby. “Who’s goin’ ter -know thet we done fer the scout an’ his pards? It’ll look like er -accident.” - -“Accident, nothin’,” scoffed Tex. “Didn’t the cap’n send the deed -ter Gentleman Jim, an’ along with ther deed didn’t he send a line -_darin’_ the scout ter stay three days an’ nights in the mine? Shore -he did! An’ thet means, when Buffler Bill an’ his pards aire done up, -thet the hull bloomin’ job is tacked onter us.” - -“Are you going with Clancy and Coomby, Tex,” demanded Lawless -angrily, “or are you going to cut yourself out of this herd? Make up -your mind, for we haven’t any time to spare.” - -“I’m game ter go on,” returned Tex. “I’m in so fur, now, thet it -don’t make much diff’rence, anyways.” - -“That’s the way ter talk!” approved Clancy. - -“Sure you’ve placed those loads right, Clancy?” asked Lawless, -turning to the other man, now that the business with Tex was settled. - -“You bet! Them blasts’ll do the trick. Meanwhile, cap’n, you see to -it that no one gits on top o’ the dump an’ lets down a rope.” - -“If any one tries to do that,” scowled Lawless, “he’ll be shot off -the dump. One of the Cheyennes is watching, and has his orders. But -who is there to help Buffalo Bill out of the hole? We’ve captured -the only two men he had with him, and he’s now bottled up in the -level and shaft, powerless to do anything to help himself. But ride -on, ride on. You boys understand what’s wanted, and there’s no use -wasting time in further parley.” - -At that, the party separated, Clancy, Seth Coomby, and Tex riding -down the cañon, and Lawless retreating toward the cañon wall. - -The alarm of Little Cayuse had increased almost to a panic. What he -had heard had struck him like a blow between the eyes. - -Nomad and Wild Bill captured! Buffalo Bill helpless in the depths of -the mine, and a horrible doom of some kind about to be released and -sent down upon him! - -What should he do? - -That was the question that ran through Little Cayuse’s brain like a -searing-iron. - -If he went back to the ore-dump, and tried to let down a rope to -the scout, the Cheyenne would kill him; if he followed Lawless--but -Lawless had already vanished; at least, Little Cayuse concluded, he -could follow the three basemen down the cañon, and perhaps might find -a way to interfere with their nefarious designs. - -Rushing back up the gully, Cayuse untied Navi, twisted the buckskin -thong into a hackamore, and bounded upon the pinto’s bare back; then, -riding cautiously out into the cañon, he made after Clancy, Coomby, -and Tex. - -Never had the faithful Piute boy felt that more was required of him, -and never had he felt so doubtful of his own powers. - -Following three men in broad daylight, and at the same time keeping -out of their sight, was a difficult piece of work. What helped Cayuse -most, however, was the fact that the three white men were utterly -unsuspicious. They seemed to feel that they had no enemies at large -in the cañon, and they did no watching along the back track. - -For the rest of it, the Piute took advantage of every patch of brush -and every convenient boulder that lay along his course. - -Two miles down the defile, as Cayuse judged, the three horsemen -turned their mounts and set them directly at the high wall. In this -place the wall was a steep slope, yet the horses scaled it and -vanished over the rim with their riders. - -For Cayuse to take Navi up the slope might mean discovery, and yet -the boy knew that he himself must climb to the top of the wall if he -was to learn what work the three men were to do. - -Hitching Navi in a convenient thicket, at the foot of the wall, -Cayuse took his small repeating rifle and started on foot up the -ascent. - -He climbed the steep slope swiftly and so carefully that he did not -displace a single stone. Where he gained the cañon’s rim there was a -fringe of hazels, and he was able to crawl over into the bushes and -peer through them, thus keeping out of sight. - -In front of him was a lake, its surface almost level with the top of -the cañon wall, and a comparatively thin barrier of stone keeping its -waters out of the cañon. - -The three white men had taken their horses well around the edge of -the lake, and were dismounting. There was little talk among them. -Clancy and Coomby had thrown off their coats and Tex was holding the -three horses. - -Presently Clancy and Coomby returned around the edge of the lake and -halted for a space at the cañon’s rim. Cayuse, scarcely breathing, -crouched lower among the hazels and watched with staring eyes. - -“Thar’ll be a reg’lar tidal wave goin’ along ther cañon in a couple -o’ shakes,” said Clancy, with an evil laugh. - -“It’ll rush down on ther mine,” said Coomby, “purvidin’ the cap’n is -right in his calkerlations.” - -“He’s gin’rally right.” - -“Seems ter me, though, the water’ll flow directly a_way_ from the -mine.” - -“From hyer ter the mine, Coomby, the bed o’ the cañon pitches -down-hill, in spite o’ the fact thet, taken by an’ large, this Sun -Dance deefile pitches to’ther way. The lake is down-cañon from the -mine, but the bed o’ the cañon is down-grade all the way from hyer -ter the Forty Thieves.” - -“Waal, we’ll see. Let’s git down ter the fuses.” - -Thereupon the two men lowered themselves over the top of the wall. - -Cayuse, craning his neck, was able to see them applying a match to -the ends of the fuses. The men climbed quickly to the top of the -wall, and stood there, peering downward at the sputtering flames. - -By that time the horror of the situation, so far as Buffalo Bill was -concerned, had flashed over the boy. - -It was Lawless’ plan to blow away the stone barrier separating the -waters of the lake from the cañon! The waters, thus released, would -rush over the cañon wall, down the cañon, and flood the shaft and -level of the Forty Thieves! If Buffalo Bill was in the mine, he would -be drowned--there was no possible way for him to escape. - -With every nerve tense, Cayuse pulled himself to one knee and lifted -his rifle to his shoulder. If he could shoot down the two men and -extinguish the blazing fuses---- - -This was the boy’s thought, and he would have executed the plan, or -tried to, had not fate played against him. The slight noise he made -in shifting to his knee and lifting the rifle had been heard. - -“What’s thet, thar in the bresh?” yelled Coomby. - -“I heerd er noise, too,” began Clancy, “an’----” - -Just then the Piute’s repeater spit forth a bullet. The piece of lead -was aimed at Clancy, but the instant the trigger was pulled Clancy -jumped forward to investigate the bushes. - -The bullet, therefore, missed Clancy by an inch. - -That shot was enough for the two scoundrels. Jerking out their -revolvers, they sent a volley into the hazels. That Cayuse was not -killed out of hand was due to the quickness with which he rolled over -the edge of the wall. - -He shot down the slope head over heels, and was half-way to the place -where he had left Navi before he could regain his footing. He was -bruised, but that was no time to take account of bruises. His life -had been saved, although Clancy and Coomby were dancing around like -madmen on the top of the wall and still taking potshots at him. - -Muttering anathemas on his hard luck, the boy raced in a zigzag line -toward the thicket where his horse was waiting, tore the animal loose, -leaped to his back, and sped off up the cañon. - -He looked back over his shoulder as he raced and saw that Clancy -and Coomby had beat a retreat from the vicinity of the blasts; and, -while he looked, the boy saw a veritable geyser of broken stones leap -upward and outward from the cañon wall. - -A great gap had been torn through the barrier, and the boy saw a -Niagaralike flood leap through the opening and roll, foaming and -roaring, down the cañon. - -Could he beat that flood to the gully? Cayuse’s life depended on it, -and Navi was fleet and well in the lead. - -Two miles lay between Cayuse and safety, but the miles were -down-grade--Clancy had said so, and he had got his information from -Lawless. Lawless probably knew, for the vengeful and murderous leader -had so far laid his plans cunningly and well. - -Navi seemed to understand what depended upon him. The roar from -behind filled his ears and frightened him. In a perfect frenzy, he -stretched himself out in a race that was to save his rider from death. - -And what of Buffalo Bill, in the level of the Forty Thieves? - -Something like a sob rushed through the lips of Little Cayuse. He -shook one clenched hand behind him, toward a wall of water that -filled the cañon from side to side, tossing and churning itself to -foam and throwing arms of spray high into the air. - -The roar was deafening. Water continued to pour through the break -in the cañon wall and to push forward the flood that raced down the -defile. - -How Navi ever covered those two miles Little Cayuse never knew. He -realized, after what seemed like a thousand years of torment but -which in reality was less than a thousand seconds, that he was caught -by the rushing waters half-way up the slope leading from the cañon’s -bed to the mouth of the gully. - -With Navi almost swept from his feet, and a greater flood following -the first on-rush of water, Cayuse was only saved from being drowned -by a riata that dropped over his shoulders just as he was being torn -from Navi’s back. - -Hanging to the rope with one hand while the noose tightened about his -body, and with the other hand clinging to the end of the hackamore, -Cayuse and the pinto were brought, wet and floundering, into the -mouth of the gully. - -Utterly exhausted, the boy straightened out on the rocks, while Navi, -with drooping head and lathered hide, puffed and panted beside him. - -“Blamed if it ain’t Buffler Bill’s Injun pard!” cried a voice, above -the rush and swirl of water. - -“How the blazes does he happen ter be hyer? He got out o’ that -cloud-burst by the skin o’ his teeth, an’ no more.” - -This was from a second speaker, and yet a third chimed in with: - -“Where’s Buffalo Bill an’ the rest o’ his pards? That’s what gits me. -D’ye think they was caught by the flood?” - -Little Cayuse turned over on his back and looked up. - -Hank Tenny, Lonesome Pete, and Henry Blake were beside him, each with -an arm hooked through the loop of his bridle. - -Cayuse rose to his knees and struck one hand fiercely against his -forehead. His eyes were on the tumbling waters which, by then, had -filled the valley from wall to wall and were creeping slowly up -toward the gully. - -“Whar’d ye come from, kid?” asked Hank Tenny. - -“Whar’s Buffler Bill?” inquired Lonesome Pete. - -“What’s the matter with ye?” demanded Blake. “Have ye gone plumb -daft?” - -Staggering to his feet, the boy made his way to the side of the -gully’s mouth and began to climb. - -“What ails the kid?” muttered Tenny. “’Pears like he didn’t hev no -sense at all.” - -“Whar ye goin’?” Pete roared after Cayuse. - -Cayuse called back something which was drowned by the rush of the -water, and beckoned with his hand. - -“Kain’t hear what he says,” said Blake, “but he wants us ter foller. -We’d better go, I reckon. The hosses will be safe enough here.” - -Dropping their bridle-reins, the three men proceeded to follow the -boy. - -It was a stiff climb to the top of the gully wall, but when the men -pulled themselves over and got alongside Cayuse, they had a good view -of the ore-dump of the Forty Thieves--or, rather, of the place where -the ore-dump ought to be. - -The dump, some seven or eight feet high, together with the entire -flat on which it had been piled, _was covered with water_! - -The boy, his eyes fixed on the swirling, seething flood, dropped to -his knees and began a weird, monotonous chant. The rush of air along -the troubled waves caught up the boy’s voice and tossed it back and -forth in uncanny cadences. Now high, now low, swelled the chant, as -the Piute words burst from the Indian’s lips. - -“Thunder!” Blake shouted in Tenny’s ears, “it’s a death-song.” - -“Whose death is he croonin’ erbout?” returned Tenny; “Buffler Bill’s?” - -“It’s hard ter tell who he’s----” - -Blake broke off with a wild yell. At that instant the morning sun -struck fire from a blade which Cayuse had plucked from his belt and -lifted above his bare breast, point down. - -The boy’s hand dropped, but Pete was quick to catch the descending -arm, hang to it, and wrench the knife from the hand. - -“Darn!” whooped Pete, “the leetle red was goin’ ter knife hisself! It -was his own death-song he was singin’. He thinks his pard, Buffler -Bill, has hit the long trail, an’ he’s pinin’ ter foller. Whoever -heerd o’ sich doin’s? Stop yer squirmin’, Cayuse,” Pete added to the -boy, who was fighting to free himself. “We ain’t goin’ ter let ye -kick the bucket, now thet we went ter all thet trouble ter snake ye -in out o’ the wet.” - -With a tremendous effort, Cayuse jerked free of Pete’s hands, whirled -about, and suddenly grew calm. Pete, Tenny, and Blake started toward -him. - -Cayuse turned on them, his eyes glittering like a catamount’s in the -dark, laid a finger on his lips, and pointed. - -The eyes of the white men, following the boy’s finger, rested on a -point of the cañon wall, fifty feet below, and to the right of them. - -At this place there was a sort of shelf on the wall, a small level, -covered with an undergrowth of bushes. Horsemen were riding out of -the bushes, and striking into a path that mounted upward toward the -top of the wall. - -Lawless, a look of gloating triumph on his face, was in the lead. At -his heels rode three Cheyenne bucks, and two of the bucks carried -each a white prisoner, bound hand and foot, across his pony behind -him. - -One of the prisoners, as those above could see, was old Nomad. - -And the other was Wild Bill! - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - THE RESCUE OF NOMAD AND WILD BILL. - - -Following the two Cheyennes, behind whom were the prisoners, rode -another white man. This white man Cayuse recognized as Andy. Andy -brought up the rear of the little procession. - -“Hyer’s a how-de-do!” exclaimed Hank Tenny. “Is thet Lawless an’ his -gang, kid?” - -“All same,” said Cayuse. “White men git um guns, _muy pronto_; then -we make run to top of cañon, ketch um Lawless, save Nomad and Wild -Bill.” - -“All the guns we got,” answered Lonesome Pete, “are strapped on us. -Them fellers has rifles.” - -“At close quarters,” put in Blake, “our six-shooters are better than -rifles. I’m plumb anxious ter try out these new barkers o’ mine. -Then, too,” he added darkly, “I owe Lawless somethin’, an’ here’s -my chance ter even up. Couldn’t let it slip, nohow. Follow me, you -fellows!” - -Blake took to the rocks, with which the country contiguous to the top -of the cañon was covered, and worked his way swiftly toward the point -where the path Lawless and his men were following came over the edge -of the wall. - -Pete, Tenny, and Little Cayuse leaped briskly after Blake. The -lust for combat was running hot in the veins of all, and this, in -particular, was true of the Piute boy. - -The latter’s grief over the fate of Buffalo Bill had given place to -a feeling of hope. Nomad and Wild Bill were alive, and there was a -possibility that the scout was equally well off. - -The hope was slight enough, for Cayuse remembered the talk he had -overheard between Lawless, Clancy, Coomby, and Tex, and from that he -had gathered that the flood was to do the work for the scout. But, in -spite of appearances, it might be that the flood had failed. - -The thought was enough to take Cayuse out of his gloom and dejection -and to send him eagerly into a pitched battle with the outlaws. -Whatever else befell, at least Nomad and Wild Bill could be rescued. - -Before Blake and the others reached the top of the path, Lawless -had ridden over the edge of the wall and laid his course among the -boulders. Blake’s account was with Lawless himself, and the miner -drew one of his brand-new revolvers and ran after the leader of the -outlaws. - -Pete, Tenny, and Cayuse, on the other hand, were thinking only of -rescuing Nomad and Wild Bill; so, crouching among the rocks, they -waited for the first Cheyenne to climb off the slope, and then gave -their attention to the two Indians behind him. - -Pete selected one of the two Indians, and Tenny the other. As they -rose from behind the rocks to use their weapons, they were seen by -the Cheyennes. - -A furious yell from the savages spread the alarm. The Cheyenne ahead -turned back, but Lawless already had his hands full with Blake and -could give no help to the rest of his gang. - -The crack of six-shooters began instantly, while the yell of alarm -was still on the lips of the Cheyennes. Of the two with the -prisoners, one fell at the first fire; the pony gave a frightened -jump, and Nomad, who was laid across the pony’s back, tumbled to the -ground. - -Cayuse had lost his rifle at the time he had had his encounter with -Clancy and Coomby. Pete had given him back his knife, but a knife was -of little account in such a combat. - -The instant the Cheyenne dropped from his pony, Cayuse leaped to the -side of the savage and drew a couple of six-shooters from the belt at -his waist. - -Meanwhile, the other Cheyenne with Wild Bill behind him, had dug his -heels into the sides of his cayuse and was making a terrific effort -to get away. He used a revolver, by way of holding his white foes -in check, but his shooting, owing to the plunging of his horse, was -anything but accurate. - -The Indian who was not hampered with a prisoner had whirled his pony -about, thrown his rifle to his shoulder, and was drawing a bead on -Tenny. - -As Cayuse straightened up, after securing the revolvers from the -slain Cheyenne, he saw the leveled rifle and realized Tenny’s peril. -The only thing that would save Tenny was a quick shot. - -Without taking aim, Cayuse let fly a bullet. As fortune would -have it, the bullet struck the Cheyenne in the arm. The rifle was -discharged, but, its aim being deflected at the moment the trigger -was pulled, Tenny was saved by the fraction of an inch. - -The Cheyenne, with one arm useless, decided he had had enough of the -fight, and headed his horse the other way. - -Wild Bill, on the back of the other Cheyenne’s horse, had taken -account of what was going on, and managed to twist himself around -and drop. As he fell, Andy, who was galloping past, sent a bullet at -him; but Andy was riding too fast, and had fired in too much of a -hurry. Wild Bill escaped the bullet, and the long strides of Andy’s -horse had carried the outlaw too far for another shot. - -Meanwhile, Blake had been doing his utmost to shoot Lawless. He -succeeded in putting a bullet into the scoundrel’s shoulder, and, in -exchange, got one through the wrist himself. It was Blake’s right -wrist, and his six-shooter dropped. - -As Blake bent down to recover the weapon, Andy and the Cheyennes -galloped past. Lawless was reeling in his saddle, and he would have -fallen had not Andy spurred alongside and steadied him with one arm. - -Thus the two white men and the two Indians, having lost their -prisoners, plunged away among the rocks, leaving the field to Cayuse, -Pete, Tenny, and Blake. - -When Blake, with a handkerchief bound about his injured wrist, got -back to the top of the path, he found his jubilant companions just -freeing Nomad and Wild Bill. - -“What luck, Blake?” cried Pete. - -“He stopped one o’ my bullets,” Blake answered, “an’ one o’ his men -had ter help him get away.” - -“Was ye hurt?” asked Tenny. - -“Winged,” was Blake’s sententious response, “but I don’t reckon it -amounts to much. Anyway, I’d have been glad to get a bullet through -both wrists fer the chance o’ hittin’ Lawless. Mebby I haven’t paid -him all up fer the ride he give me on that steer, but I’ve gone a -long ways to’rds settlin’ the account.” - -Nomad and Wild Bill, having been freed of their ropes, sat up and -began rubbing their benumbed limbs. - -“Whar’s Buffler?” asked Nomad. - -“Thet’s more’n we knows, _amigos_,” replied Pete. “We ain’t seen him -sense yesterday, when you all tripped anchor an’ sailed out o’ Sun -Dance.” - -“Waal, Pete,” went on Nomad, “ef ye kain’t tell me whar Buffler is, -mebbyso ye kin ease my mind some as ter how you an’ Tenny an’ Blake -happened ter be eround hyar ter lend Leetle Cayuse a helpin’ hand?” - -“We was ridin’ down ther gulch, this mornin’,” went on Pete, “jest -ter see what was goin’ on at ther Forty Thieves. Blake allowed he -was some cur’ous, an’ I knowed Tenny an’ I was. Jest as we got clost -ter ther ore-dump, we seen a slather o’ water, high as the wall of -a ’dobie, makin’ a dead-set at us. We climbed out o’ the way, and -stood thar ter watch ther flood slam past. While we was lookin’, we -seen Cayuse tryin’ ter git out o’ the cañon. Tenny is some punkins -at riata-throwin’, so he uncoils his rope an’ draps it over Cayuse’s -head; then we hauls Cayuse in, bronk an’ all. We crawled up on the -gully wall, a little arter that, an’ seen Lawless an’ his outfit -climbin’ up the side o’ the cañon, so we all made a _pasear_ around -among the rocks with the intention o’ headin’ the gang off, an’ -gittin’ you fellers out o’ their hands. I reckon we done it, hey?” - -“I reckon you did, old sport,” said Wild Bill, “and you’ve got our -gratitude. They were after our scalps, those fellows, and they’d have -taken them before they had carried us far from the cañon. That’s the -sort of a duck Lawless is. I’ve been mixed up with him enough so that -I know his caliber. Whoosh!” and Wild Bill got up and stretched his -arms. “I’m feeling like a back number this trip, Nomad. The way the -pair of us was snaked out of that level, leaving pard Cody to take -care of himself, is something I’m going to remember with regret as -long as I live. I say, Cayuse!” - -The boy, who had been standing at the edge of the cañon, turned -around. - -“Where did all that water come from, do you know?” went on Wild Bill. - -“From down-gulch,” said Cayuse. - -“And flowed up-hill, eh?” - -“Thet’s what bothered me,” said Pete, “whar it all come from an’ why -it was flowin’ contrary ter natur’.” - -“It wasn’t flowin’ contrary ter natur’,” said Tenny. “Jest below hyer -the gulch bottom pitches this way, an’ thar’s quite a sink a mile -farther to’rds Sun Dance. I’ve noticed thet lots o’ times while I was -goin’ an’ comin’. But whar the water come from is a mystery. Thar -ain’t been no cloud-burst, as fur as I’ve seen.” - -Cayuse, in a very few words, explained where the water had come from. - -As Lawless’ diabolical plot to wipe out the scout was borne in upon -the mind of old Nomad, his rage became tremendous. - -“Confound ther pizen, no-’count whelp!” he shouted, shaking his fists -in the direction the outlaws had taken. “Instid o’ snakin’ Buffler -out o’ thet level, he left him thar ter drown! Did ther water come up -over ther top o’ thet ore-dump?” he asked suddenly, turning to Pete -and the others. - -“The water buried thet ore-dump clean out o’ sight!” declared Pete. - -Nomad stood for an instant as though stricken, then rushed for the -rim of the cañon and looked down. - -The waters were receding as quickly as they had risen. The ore-dump -of the Forty Thieves was already shouldering aside the waves. - -Nomad stared, realized what must have happened, then flung himself -down and covered his face with his hands. - -Wild Bill scowled, his eyes glittered, and he whirled away from the -cañon. - -“If Captain Lawless has wiped out Cody, the best and truest pard a -man ever had,” said he, between his clenched teeth, “Nomad and I will -run out his trail--and, at the end of it, we’ll take all the pay the -murderous whelp can give us.” - -“Ye speak true, Hickok,” growled Nomad, looking up; “Lawless owes us -er heap, an’ he’ll hev ter settle.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE CURTAIN-ROCK. - - -The scout, his girl pard, and Wah-coo-tah, it will be recalled, were -left in the level of the Forty Thieves, hurrying, as fast as the -Indian girl’s wound would permit, toward the shaft. - -Dell, returning from the drift with a flask of water, was about to -hand the flask to Buffalo Bill when Wah-coo-tah started forward with -a sudden access of strength. - -“_Pronto, pronto_,” breathed the girl; “mebbyso I live to fool -Lawless and save um Pa-e-has-ka--mebbyso.” - -“What is it?” asked Dell wildly, following the scout and Wah-coo-tah -and listening to the seething roar. - -“_Nuzhee Mona, Nuzhee Mona!_” wailed Wah-coo-tah; “him Rain Walker, -Big Water, Flood!” - -“Ah!” muttered the scout: “there has been a cloud-burst in the cañon, -and the water is coming down on us!” - -“No cloud-burst, Pa-e-has-ka,” said Wah-coo-tah huskily; “_Nuzhee -Mona_ all same lake, close to cañon, high up. Lawless him use -giant-powder, blow away rock, let _Nuzhee Mona_ down into the -cañon----” - -The girl broke off abruptly. They had reached the shaft, and -Wah-coo-tah, throwing herself down, tried to pull a boulder away from -the foot of the wall. The task was too much for her strength. - -“Quick, Pa-e-has-ka!” she panted. - -The scout laid hold of the stone, Dell holding the candle for him to -see, and threw the stone to one side. - -“See um iron?” gasped Wah-coo-tah. “My eyes all same go blind, no can -see.” - -Dell, her hands shaking under the menace of weird, unknown perils, -held the candle lower. - -“Here’s an iron bar, Wah-coo-tah!” cried the scout. - -The roar from the cañon was now so great that it was necessary for -him to raise his voice in order to be heard. - -“Pull um bar, Pa-e-has-ka,” screamed Wah-coo-tah, “_pronto, pronto_!” - -Seizing the bar with both hands, Buffalo Bill gave a long, steady -pull. A screech of rusted machinery followed, and the bar gave -slowly; and slowly, high up toward the top of the shaft, a curtain of -rock obtruded itself across the well, and by degrees closed out the -daylight. - -Then, when the bar would yield no more, and not a ray of light -came from above, Buffalo Bill took his hands from the lever and -straightened up. - -A swishing roar passed over their heads, and drops of water trickled -down on them. - -“Saved!” murmured Dell, leaning nervelessly against the side of the -shaft. - -“Aye,” said the scout, as the baffled waters thrashed and tossed -about the ore-dump, “saved in the nick of time, and by a method I had -not dreamed of. That bar, Dell, works a rock curtain near the mouth -of the shaft. By pulling the bar, the curtain is shoved across the -opening, below the platform. When I first saw this mine, I wondered -if it was not in danger of being flooded by a cloud-burst. In order -to avoid the danger, it must be that Lawless contrived the rock -curtain. Was that the way of it, Wah-coo-tah?” - -There was no answer from the Indian girl, and the scout looked down, -to discover that she had fallen in a limp heap on the shaft bottom. - -“We have neglected her wound too long, Dell,” said the scout. “She -has fainted, I suppose, as she came so near doing while we were on -our way to the shaft. We will get her back to the ‘drift’ and do what -we can for her.” - -Picking Wah-coo-tah up in his arms, Buffalo Bill carried her back -along the level and into the “drift.” There she was laid down on the -rocky floor, the scout’s rolled-up coat serving as a pillow for her -head. - -While Dell bathed the Indian girl’s face with water, and chafed her -temples, the scout was examining her wound. - -“What do you think, Buffalo Bill?” Dell asked, as the scout -straightened up on his knees. - -“It’s a bad wound,” he answered, shaking his head. “What the girl -needs is a doctor, and there is not much time to lose. And to think,” -he added, in a fierce undertone, “that it was her own father’s men -who did this! I always knew a squawman was pretty low down, but I -never thought him as mean as that.” - -With handkerchiefs and torn cloths they made shift to get a bandage -about Wah-coo-tah’s wound; then they sat beside her and waited for -her to recover consciousness. - -“She saved us,” said Dell tremulously, “and it may be that she has -given her life to do it.” - -“The girl has a good heart,” returned the scout, “and you might -wonder at that, considering what sort of a father she had.” - -“This _Nuzhee Mona_ is a lake, then?” asked Dell. - -“I believe, now, that I have heard of such a lake, but this is the -first time I have connected that name with it.” - -“I thought Wah-coo-tah said it was the name of an Indian deity.” - -“All same,” came softly from the lips of Wah-coo-tah, and the scout -and Dell looked, to see that her eyes had opened. “_Nuzhee Mona_ all -same god, Rain Walker, Flood. You _sabe_?” - -“The god of the waters, Wah-coo-tah?” returned the scout. - -“Ai,” she answered; “him god of waters and name of lake, ’way up, -alongside cañon. Lawless blow out um rock, and let water come. Him -think Pa-e-has-ka no understand about rock door at top of shaft, and -that _Nuzhee Mona_ come into mine, fill it, strangle scout. Ai, ai! -but we fool um. Lawless shoot Wah-coo-tah so she no tell Pa-e-has-ka.” - -“Was it Lawless himself who fired that shot?” demanded Buffalo Bill. - -“Ai. Me speak to um first.” - -“What did you say to him, Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Me say, let Pa-e-has-ka out through secret door with Wah-coo-tah. If -you no let us out, me say, Wah-coo-tah show Pa-e-has-ka how to slide -door across shaft. That make Lawless heap mad, and he shoot. But we -fool um,” she crooned; “Pa-e-has-ka live, and we fool um Lawless. Ah, -ah!” - -“How do you feel, Wah-coo-tah?” the scout asked, in a kindly tone. - -“Like pretty soon me go to better place, to the hunting-grounds of -all good Cheyennes.” - -“No, no, Wah-coo-tah,” whispered Dell, bending down and taking one -of the girl’s hands; “you are going to get well. We shall take you to -a doctor, at Sun Dance, and he will cure you.” - -“You like Wah-coo-tah to get well?” the Indian girl asked. - -“Yes, yes,” breathed Dell tearfully; “I want you to live so I can -prove to you that I am your friend, always your friend.” - -“Mebbyso Yellow Hair talk with two tongues?” - -“No, Wah-coo-tah,” said Dell earnestly, “I never talk with two -tongues.” - -“Mebbyso; but Wah-coo-tah Injun. If she get well, go back to -Cheyennes, mebbyso her sold again to some Injun she no like. Better -Wah-coo-tah die, better Yellow Hair stay with Pa-e-has-ka, be -Pa-e-has-ka’s pard.” - -“Wah-coo-tah,” interposed the scout, “will Lawless and his men stay -in the other part of the mine?” - -“No; him leave when him think flood come. Him think _Nuzhee Mona_ -come into other part of mine, too, you _sabe_?” - -“Then we can get out through that secret door?” - -“Ai.” - -“The quicker we get out the quicker we can take you to Sun Dance; and -the quicker you get into the doctor’s hands, the more chance there is -of saving your life.” - -Wah-coo-tah smiled a little at that. - -“You like to save Wah-coo-tah, but Wah-coo-tah no care. Ou, di! Take -me to secret door, Pa-e-has-ka. Me show you how to get through.” - -Cody looked at Dell, and nodded. Thereupon Dell picked up the candle, -and the scout gathered the Indian girl in his arms. With the coat -under her arm, Dell led the way along the level to the place where -she and Buffalo Bill had seen the glare breaking through the wall. - -Here the scout laid Wah-coo-tah down, took the candle, and hunted -over the wall for the crevice that would mark the edge of the stone -door. So cleverly was the door fitted into the rock that it defied -detection. - -“See um big black stone, Pa-e-has-ka?” Wah-coo-tah asked, turning her -head toward the wall. - -The scout saw the stone, and laid his hand on it. - -“Push,” said the girl. - -Cody made ready to use considerable strength, but found that it -was not necessary, for the big stone was so nicely balanced that -it yielded at a touch. The entire stone swung outward, leaving a -ragged gap two feel wide by three feet in height. Beyond the gap was -darkness. - -“Lawless gone,” said Wah-coo-tah weakly; “all safe, Pa-e-has-ka. We -go on now. Go on till you see um daylight.” - -“That’s our cue, Dell,” said the scout. “The outlaws must all be -gone. If water had come into the mine, the flood would surely have -forced the stone door and let it into the secret level. Lawless and -his men would not dare to remain here. Take the candle, pard, and -lead the way.” - -After the scout had again taken Wah-coo-tah in his arms, Dell picked -up the coat and the candle and forced her way through the secret door. - -The passage in which the scout and Dell found themselves ran at right -angles with the main level. It was no larger than the passage they -had left, but presently it opened out and formed a sort of chamber. - -In this chamber there were evidences that both men and horses had -recently made the place a rendezvous. - -“Horses in a mine!” exclaimed the scout. “I wonder how Lawless got -the animals down here?” - -“Plenty soon you find um out, Pa-e-has-ka,” murmured Wah-coo-tah. - -After leaving the wide part of the passage, the bore narrowed to its -original dimensions, and the floor took the form of a slope. - -“We’re climbing!” exclaimed Dell. - -“This secret shaft is an incline,” returned the scout. “It’s clear, -now, how the horses got down here. I’m beginning to understand, too, -how it was that Lawless and his men disappeared so mysteriously that -time we thought we had chased them out of the cañon. All they did, -then, was to ride to the top of this incline and hide themselves away -in the underground workings of the Forty Thieves.” - -It was a long climb they had to the top of the subterranean slope; -but after a while they saw a glow of daylight ahead of them. The glow -brightened and brightened, until they came out of the inclined shaft -and stood upon a brush-grown shelf jutting out from the cañon wall. -Here the scout put down his burden, and all of them rested and filled -their lungs with the pure outdoor air. - -“I never expected to get out of that hole alive,” said the scout. “If -I had known more about the mine than I did, I should not have been so -brash about going into it; but who’d ever have expected to find such -a layout of secret passages and inclined shafts? Lawless did a good -deal of dead work hunting for that lost vein.” - -“If we only knew where Nomad and Wild Bill were,” said Dell, “I -should feel easier in my mind.” - -The scout’s brow clouded. - -“Of course Lawless and his men took them along when they left the -mine.” The scout turned to Wah-coo-tah. “Where would Lawless be apt -to go from here, Wah-coo-tah?” he asked. - -“Mebbyso to Medicine Bluff,” the girl answered. - -“Then, as soon as I get you to Sun Dance, I’m going to pick up a -few men and ride post-haste for Medicine Bluff. I can’t believe -that Lawless would put Nomad and Wild Bill out of the way; still, -a scoundrel who would shoot his own daughter would be capable of -anything.” - -“He would!” averred Dell fervently. “I’m worried about Nomad and Wild -Bill, and we must ride for Medicine Bluff as soon as we can.” - -“I wonder just where we are?” said the scout, getting to his feet and -pushing through the bushes to the edge of the shelf. - -Dell did not follow but remained beside Wah-coo-tah. - -“You tell Wah-coo-tah,” said the Indian girl, as soon as they were -alone, “that you leave Pa-e-has-ka as soon as Wah-coo-tah get you out -of mine; and you say,” the girl added sharply, “that you no talk with -the double tongue.” - -“If you insist that I leave the scout and his pards,” said Dell, “I -will. I have a ranch in Arizona, and my mother is there. I intended -to leave my pards very soon, anyway, but I should like to stay with -them until Lawless is captured and forced to pay the penalty of his -crimes.” - -“You go then?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then Wah-coo-tah glad you stay. Mebbyso Yellow Hair got good heart, -and Wah-coo-tah got bad heart? _Quien sabe?_” - -“No, no, Wah-coo-tah,” whispered Dell, “you’ve got a good heart, and -you’re a brave girl; only there are some things you don’t understand.” - -She took the girl’s hand, bent over, and touched her lips to her -forehead. Wah-coo-tah’s eyes softened under the caress. - -“Me no hate you any more,” the Indian girl whispered. “Wah-coo-tah -all same Yellow Hair’s friend.” - -Just then the scout came back from the edge of the shelf and noticed, -with much satisfaction, the friendliness of the two girls toward each -other. - -“We’re on a little ledge, half-way up the cañon wall,” he announced. -“From the edge of the shelf I could look down on the ore-dump and -shaft of the Forty Thieves. The flood has been ’way over the top of -the dump, for the platform, and the stones are dripping wet, but the -water is receding rapidly.” - -“How are we to get away from here?” asked Dell. - -“There’s a bridle-path to the top of the cañon and another one to the -bottom, but I think we had better get out by the top of the cañon -and take that route to Sun Dance. There’s no telling how much water -we would find between here and the camp if we tried to follow the -bottom of the gulch. Our first move must be to get the horses from -the gully. I suppose it will be best to leave you here, Dell, to stay -with Wah-coo-tah, while I go for the horses.” - -“I will take care of Wah-coo-tah, pard,” returned Dell, pressing the -Indian girl’s hand affectionately as she spoke. “You ought to find -Cayuse in the gully.” - -“Wherever the horses are, I think I am pretty certain to find the -boy. Whenever he is told to do a thing, he generally does it, so I -feel confident he has stayed with the live stock. I won’t be gone -long,” the scout added, as he took to the bridle-path and began the -ascent. - -In mounting to the top of the cañon the scout was able to observe -below him the extent of the flood which had been turned into the -defile by the blasting operations of Captain Lawless. - -A line on the opposite wall of the gulch showed him the height the -water had reached, and indicated how quickly the Forty Thieves would -have been flooded had not the curtain of rock been thrown across the -top of the shaft. - -He shivered as his imagination pictured the plight of Dell and -Wah-coo-tah and himself, down in the level, with the water pouring in -upon them, and Lawless and his men keeping them back from the secret -door with their rifles. - -“It’s a long road that has no turning,” thought the scout grimly, -“and Lawless has run up a score which I shall call upon him to -settle. When I am done with him, I shall come back to the Forty -Thieves and stay out the three consecutive days and nights; then, -when I have earned the deed, I shall turn the property over to -Wah-coo-tah--if she lives; and if she does not live, then it shall go -to Wah-coo-tah’s mother, the Cheyenne woman.” - -This procedure was strictly in line with the scout’s generous nature. -As for staying in Sun Dance Cañon and developing the Forty Thieves, -the very thought of it brought a smile to his lips. - -He could not imagine himself turning from the free life of the plains -and mountains to the narrow confines of a mine and the life of a -miner. - -First, however, he must trail down Captain Lawless and rescue old -Nomad and Wild Bill. He would not allow himself to suppose that -Lawless would deal cold-bloodedly with his pards, and thought only of -pursuing the outlaw to Medicine Bluff and effecting a rescue. - -While he was climbing upward, and turning these matters over in his -mind, he little dreamed that within a few minutes Chance was to -strike one more unexpected note in the odd tune she had recently been -playing for his benefit. - -Yet so it fell out when, presently, Buffalo Bill stepped from the -path he had been following onto level ground at the brink of the -cañon. - -What he saw first was a dead Cheyenne; beyond the Cheyenne was a -group consisting of five men and a boy. The men were in close and -animated conversation, and did not see the scout. - -To his amazement, the scout discovered that two of the men were Nomad -and Wild Bill; the other three were Lonesome Pete, Hank Tenny, and -Henry Blake. The boy, of course, was Cayuse. - -“Buffler has been my pard fer many a year,” old Nomad was saying, in -a husky voice, “an’ I was hopin’, when he cashed in, thet fate might -let the pair o’ us be standin’ shoulder ter shoulder, so thet we both -mout begin ther long trail tergether. I’ve never felt wuss in my life -than what I does this minit, Buffler!” and the old trapper lifted -his face skyward, “whyever didn’t ye wait fer yer old pard Nick?” - -“How long do you want me to wait, Nick?” called the scout. - -For an instant the entire group seemed paralyzed; then Nomad turned -slowly around, stared for a moment, let off a cry that was half-joy -and half-consternation, and galloped toward the scout with both hands -outstretched. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - THE TURN OF FORTUNE’S WHEEL. - - -“Kin I believe my eyes?” roared Nomad, as, gripping both the scout’s -hands, he stood staring into his face. “Is et shorely my pard, -Buffler, as I had given up as drowned like er rat in er trap down -thar in ther Forty Thieves? Howlin’ hyeners! Why, his clothes ain’t -even wet! Say, what new brand o’ Cody-luck was flashed on ye at this -hyer turn o’ fortune’s wheel? Tell me, pard!” - -“Tell us all,” chimed in Wild Bill, as he and the rest crowded around -the scout; “we want to know, Cody.” - -“Fortune’s wheel has turned queerly for all of us,” answered the -scout, “but I think we’d better put off our explanations until some -more favorable time--over some more of that maverick steer at the -Lucky Strike, for instance. Eh, Blake?” - -“I’m eating that steer with a good deal o’ relish,” grinned Blake. -“If you say so, Buffalo Bill, we’ll wait till then.” - -“Where Yellow Hair, Pa-e-has-ka?” asked Little Cayuse. - -“She’s safe, boy,” answered the scout. “What have you done with the -horses?” - -“They’re safe, too, Buffler,” spoke up Lonesome Pete. - -“Everybody seems to be safe,” smiled the scout, “with the exception -of Blake. What ails your wrist?” he added to the miner. - -“Exchanged tokens of esteem with Lawless,” explained Blake; “I put -a bullet inter his shoulder, an’ he recippercated by puttin’ another -across my wrist. Not much more’n a scratch, howsumever, but I’m -almost willing to bet I’ve put Lawless down an’ out.” - -“Too good ter be true,” muttered Nomad. - -“Talking about bein’ safe,” said Hank Tenny, “ye come within one o’ -losin’ yer Piute pard, Buffler Bill.” - -“How’s that? Did Lawless have a try at him?” - -“Nary. Cayuse, thinkin’ you was wiped out, sung a leetle death-song -all fer himself. Ef Pete, thar, hadn’t been quick, Cayuse would have -put a knife into his own breast.” - -The scout turned and looked at the boy. Their eyes met, and what -passed between them will never be known, but the scout reached out a -kindly hand, drew the boy toward him and patted him on the shoulder. - -“Cayuse would do a lot for Pa-e-has-ka,” said he, “and he knows -Pa-e-has-ka would do a lot for him; but when Pa-e-has-ka takes the -long trail, as some time he must, he does not want to think that -Cayuse will sing his death-song and follow. This life was made to -live as long as we can; then, when our time comes to quit it, to pass -out like brave men who have fought well and are willing to go. - -“But,” and here the scout turned briskly away, “enough of this. -Wah-coo-tah is on the shelf, below the brink of the cañon, and Dell -is with her----” - -“Wah-coo-tah?” exclaimed Nomad. - -“Yes--she was the ‘spirit,’ Nick, who spoke to us from the cellar of -the Alcazar, and she may become a spirit in reality if something is -not done for her very soon. She was shot, by Lawless himself, in the -level of the Forty Thieves.” - -“By Lawless!” echoed Wild Bill angrily. “There’s a hound for you. His -own daughter, _amigos_.” - -“Lawless is capable of anything,” went on the scout; “but just now -that is neither here nor there. Dell and I were in the level and it -was Wah-coo-tah who saved our lives. She must be taken as soon as -possible to Sun Dance. Is there a doctor there, or shall we have to -take her to Montegordo?” - -“Gentleman Jim,” said Hank Tenny, “is a better man with the surgeon’s -knife and with medicine than he is with the keerds. He ampertated -Gusty Williams’ leg, thet time a blast went off an’ smashed it, an’ -he----” - -“Gentleman Jim will do, anyhow, until we can get another doctor from -Montegordo. But we need the horses. Is it possible to get them up -here from the gully?” - -“Wuh!” said Little Cayuse. - -“He means,” said Pete, “thet we kin git the critters up the same way -us fellers come. But it’ll be a scramble.” - -“We’ll do it, though,” declared Hank Tenny. “Leave the scout with his -pards, boys, an’ we’ll go arter the hosses.” - -Blake, Tenny, Pete, and Cayuse started off among the boulders toward -the point where the gully entered the cañon. Blake assured Cayuse it -wouldn’t be necessary for him to go along, but Cayuse would let no -one besides himself do anything with Navi. - -“While the horses are coming, pards,” said the scout to Nomad and -Wild Bill, “we might go down to the shelf and bring up Wah-coo-tah. -Two of us can carry her up easier than she could ride.” - -“Thet’s the tork,” seconded Nomad. - -They descended to the shelf and broke through the brush before the -astounded eyes of Dell Dauntless. - -“Why--why----” the girl faltered, “is that really you, Nomad? And -Wild Bill, too! Oh, what luck! Where did you find them, pard?” and -she shifted her gaze to the scout. - -“I found them on top of the cañon wall,” answered the scout, “and -Nick, there, was in a complaining mood.” - -“Shucks, Buffler,” muttered Nomad. - -“He was complaining because I had crossed the divide without taking -him along,” smiled the scout. “How is Wah-coo-tah?” - -“Me all right,” spoke up Wah-coo-tah for herself. - -“She’s far from all right, Buffalo Bill,” said Dell. “I’m anxious to -get her where she can receive medical aid.” - -“It won’t be long now until we have her in Sun Dance,” returned the -scout. “Cayuse, Lonesome Pete, Hank Tenny, and Henry Blake have gone -to bring the horses from the gully.” - -“Cayuse is all right, too?” cried Dell. - -“Chipper as a cricket,” said Wild Bill. “All he needed to make him -a happy Indian was a glimpse of the scout, alive and hearty. Cayuse -has had it, and he’s feeling fine, thank you. And we hope,” he added, -turning a sympathetic glance upon Wah-coo-tah, “that you will soon be -feeling fine, too. You’ve done a heap for the scout and Dell--Cody -has told us about it--and the whole possé of us feel like we couldn’t -do enough for you. We’re going to carry you up the hill, Nomad and -me, so you’ll be able to travel just as soon as the horses come -along.” - -“You plenty good to Injun girl,” said Wah-coo-tah. - -Never before in her whole life, perhaps, had she been treated with -such consideration. The lot of an Indian woman is a hard one, from -the very time she begins it, on a papoose-board, until she leaves it, -and is wrapped in her best blanket and hoisted into some tree, or -buried deep under a pile of rocks. - -Lifting Wah-coo-tah gently, old Nomad and Wild Bill carried her up -the steep path, taking care to make the journey as comfortable for -her as possible. - -When they reached the top of the wall, Cayuse, Pete, Tenny, and -Blake were coming with the horses. Bear Paw threw up his head and -whinnied at the sight of the scout, and Navi, Cayuse’s pinto, and -Silver Heels, Dell’s white cayuse, likewise seemed to recognize their -owners; but Hide-rack, Nomad’s mount, didn’t seem to care a particle -whether his owner was around or not. - -“Pizen old critter, anyway,” said Nomad. “Honest, he’s so plumb full -o’ pizen ye kin scrape strychnin off’n his neck with er shingle. But -he’s so blame indiff’rent ter me thet I like him fer et. Et shows -character; an’ I ain’t got no tender feelin’s when I gives him er -wallopin’. Whoa, ye onnery, knock-kneed, gangle-legged ole speciment, -you! Ye’ll never know how nigh ye come ter losin’ me, an’ I reckon ye -don’t keer. But hyar I am, big as life, so don’t ye git sassy.” - -As soon as Buffalo Bill was astride Bear Paw, he took Wah-coo-tah up -in front of him. - -The return to Sun Dance was then begun. - -For a time the riders picked their way along the rim of the cañon -among the boulders; then, striking the Montegordo trail, they had a -better course, and rode faster. - -From time to time the trail gave them glimpses of the bottom of the -cañon. The flood had almost entirely subsided, save in one place -where the down-grade struck the rise that continued to the foot of -the “flat” on which the mining-camp was perched. In the low place a -lake had formed, extending for a mile up and down the gulch. - -“Lucky thar wasn’t any placer-miners at work in this part o’ ther -gulch,” remarked Blake. “Ef thar had been, they’d hev had little -chance o’ escapin’ with their lives.” - -“The flood never got very clost ter Sun Dance,” observed Tenny. “The -old gulch is too much up an’ down; thar ain’t no decent river as -would run through it.” - -“I reckon _Nuzhee Mona_ Lake is down some,” said Pete. “It couldn’t -lose all thet water without feelin’ it. I’ve thought, fer a long -time, thar’d be doin’s if anythin’ ever happened ter thet wedge o’ -stone thet kept it out o’ the cañon. I don’t reckon all the wedge was -blowed out, kase if the hull lake had spilled over it would make more -of a showin’.” - -“It made a big enough showin’ ter suit me,” said Tenny. “When I seen -thet wall o’ water rushin’ at me, I went over my ‘Now I lay mes’ -for’ard, back’ard, an’ sideways.” - -“An’ scramble!” cried Pete; “gee, man, how us huskies scrambled fer -thet gully. Oh, I reckon, arter all, thar was water enough.” - -Half an hour later the horsemen filed down the cañon top toward the -camp of Sun Dance. - -“Last time I traveled this hyer road,” said Blake, “I didn’t know a -thing about it.” - -“An’ ye wouldn’t never hev knowed a thing about it if it hadn’t ’a’ -been fer Dell Dauntless,” spoke up Tenny. - -“As I said afore, an’ now say ag’in,” said Blake, turning in his -saddle and removing his sombrero--a new one, recently purchased at -the place where he had secured his six-shooters--“I take off my hat -to Dell Dauntless.” - -“We all do that,” added Wild Bill, “and likewise to Wah-coo-tah.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - THE ROUND-UP AT SPANGLER’S. - - -Wah-coo-tah was taken to the Lucky Strike Hotel and placed in Dell’s -room; the room from which, one night not long before, she had taken -French leave. Nomad stopped at the Alcazar and summoned Gentleman Jim. - -Cayuse, Pete, Blake, and Tenny took care of the horses, and Buffalo -Bill, Wild Bill, and Dell sat in Dell’s room and waited anxiously for -Gentleman Jim to come. - -When he arrived, which he did in a very few moments, he carried a -professional-looking grip. - -“Your three days are not up yet, Buffalo Bill,” said Gentleman Jim, -with a smile. - -“I’m going back to the Forty Thieves to-morrow,” returned the scout, -“to finish them up. I didn’t know you were a doctor, Gentleman Jim.” - -Something of a sad expression crossed the gambler’s face. - -“I used to be a doctor back East,” he answered, and turned to the cot -where Wah-coo-tah was lying. - -The scout knew, as did every one else in Sun Dance Cañon, that -Gentleman Jim’s past held a story--and not a particularly pleasant -story, either. But just what that story was no living man had ever -heard from the gambler’s lips. - -Gentleman Jim’s soft, white hands moved about Wah-coo-tah with almost -womanly tenderness. After he had made a brief examination, he opened -the satchel and took out an instrument-case. - -“I shall hurt you a little, Wah-coo-tah,” said he, “but it can’t be -helped. You can bear it without taking anything to smother the pain?” - -“Ai,” said the girl; “me used to pain; me stand um, all right.” - -For two or three minutes the probe was deep in the wound, and all the -time Dell held Wah-coo-tah’s hands and soothed her with gentle words. -At last Gentleman Jim straightened up and dropped a small piece of -lead on the table. - -“That is what did the harm,” said he. “Now we will dress and bandage -the wound, and I think Wah-coo-tah will get along well enough.” - -“There is no danger?” asked Dell. - -“There is always danger of blood-poisoning in a case like this, but I -think in Wah-coo-tah’s case the danger is quite remote.” - -Wing Hi was pounding his supper-gong when Gentleman Jim finally -finished his work, and left the Lucky Strike. - -“She’ll get well, Buffalo Bill,” he said to the scout, as he passed -through the office. - -“I’m glad of that,” answered the scout. “I’m going to get a deed to -that mine, Jim, and turn it over to Wah-coo-tah.” - -“That would be like you, Cody,” the gambler said. - -This favorable news concerning Wah-coo-tah put the scout and his -pards into an agreeable mood, and when they “sat in” at their table, -in the dining-room, that evening, they were in the best of spirits. -Dell was not with them, as she preferred to take her supper in her -room, where she could be with Wah-coo-tah; but Lonesome Pete, Hank -Tenny, and Henry Blake were of the supper-party, and the fresh meat -was heartily enjoyed. - -As on another occasion when the scout and his pards had returned from -a conflict with Captain Lawless and his followers, the meal was made -the occasion for an exchange of experiences, to the end that the -tangled skein of events might be set right in everybody’s mind, and -thoroughly understood. - -Buffalo Bill led off with the contents of the envelope Blake had -brought into camp in such an unusual manner, following it up with the -talk in the Alcazar, and the voice of warning that had come from the -cellar; then he followed the recital down to where he and his pards -had reached the mine, and he and Wild Bill and Nomad had gone into -the shaft, leaving Cayuse and Dell to take care of the horses. - -“You were the first one to disappear, Nick,” the scout said, at this -point, “so you had better tell us what happened to you.” - -“Waal, et happened so pesky quick thet what I recomember is sort o’ -hazy,” said the old trapper. “You had jest been through ther level, -Buffler, an’ ye said thar wasn’t any one down thar but us. When I -drapped ther truck I had kerried from ther shaft, I moseyed off -toward ther breast o’ ther level with my candle. I hadn’t gone fur, -afore a hole opened up in ther wall alongside o’ me, an’ a light -shot out thet made my candle look like er glow-worm alongside of er -locomotive head-light. Nacherly I let off er yell; then I was grabbed -afore I could use my fists er guns, an’ snaked inter another part o’ -ther mine. - -“Mebby I wasn’t surprised when Lawless looked down at me an’ told er -couple o’ Cheyennes how ter tie me so’st I couldn’t move. Arter I was -in thet condition I was snaked off ter a place whar the level was -wider, and whar thar was some hosses, an’ left thar ter commune with -myself. - -“Next thing I knowed Wild Bill was dragged alongside er me ter keep -me comp’ny. He told o’ the fight you an’ him had had, an’ how he -didn’t know but mebby you mout be killed, Buffler. While he was -sayin’ thet, Lawless yelps out from somewhere thet ye wasn’t killed, -but thet ye was goin’ ter be some time along erbout sunrise. - -“Arter thet not er bloomin’ thing happened ter Wild Bill an’ me till -we was loaded onter cayuses behind them Cheyenne bucks, an’ kerried -up ter ther top o’ ther gulch wall. I knowed them onnery outlaws had -er mortgage on my skelp, an’ I was expectin’ ’em ter foreclose any -ole minit, so ye kin imagine how surprised I was when Pete, Tenny, -Blake, an’ Cayuse leaped out from behind the rocks an’ purceeded ter -make things interestin’. I reckon thet’s all o’ et, so fur’s I’m -mixed in ther scrimmage.” - -“And you’ve told my part of it, Nick,” said Wild Bill. “Knocked down -in that fight Buffalo Bill and I was having, my wits took a vacation. -When they got back again I was alongside of you, in the other part of -the mine.” - -“Now it’s up to you, Cayuse,” said the scout. “We’ll get all these -fag-ends bunched together, and then I’ll finish off with what -happened to Dell and me.” - -Cayuse was more gifted with the hand-talk than he was with English. -He was extremely brief, but his information--concerning, as it did, -the letting loose of the waters of the lake--was most valuable. - -“He don’t star hisself none,” commented Hank Tenny, “but I bet ye he -was a hull lot of a hero, all the same.” - -“He always is,” said the scout. - -“Me lose um gun,” mourned Little Cayuse. - -“I’ll get you another, boy, silver-mounted,” said the scout, and -Cayuse’s eyes sparkled. - -The scout now plunged into the run of events, and wound up the -recital. - -“Ain’t et astonishin’ what things kin happen ter a feller?” remarked -Nomad, who had been neglecting his meal to listen, open-mouthed, -to his pard’s yarn; “an’ ain’t Buffler ther boy ter git things ter -comin’ his way, right in ther nick? Jest s’posin’, now, anythin’ had -gone wrong with thet thar stone curtain at ther top o’ ther shaft. -Why, ef thar had, us fellers could hev gone fishin’ in ther Forty -Thieves.” - -“Fishing for _me_,” added the scout grimly. - -“By gorry, yes!” exclaimed Wild Bill. “But the rock curtain worked -like a charm, the flood covered the ore-dump, and rippled over the -top of the curtain, and Buffalo Bill, Dell, and Wah-coo-tah were as -dry as if they had been here in the Lucky Strike. A little thing now -and then makes a heap of difference in the run of events.” - -“It was a lucky thing for Cayuse,” spoke up the scout, “that Tenny, -Blake, and Pete took it into their heads to ride down the gulch. -If they hadn’t---- Well, I don’t like to think of what might have -happened if Tenny’s rope hadn’t helped Cayuse into the mouth of the -gully. I don’t know how Buffalo Bill & Company could get along and -do a successful business without their Piute pard.” - -“Ugh,” grunted Cayuse; “Pa-e-has-ka make Piute boy feel like squaw -with string of glass beads.” - -“Ye’re a desarvin’ little feller,” said Hank Tenny, “an’ I’d be -tickled ter death ef I had ye fer a pard o’ mine. But you must like -the scout er heap er ye wouldn’t hev tried ter tag arter him on the -long trail.” - -Cayuse bent his head and made no reply to this. Nor did the scout -make any comment. What each felt was locked in his own breast. - - * * * * * - -True to his word, on the following day the scout, Wild Bill, and -Nomad returned to the mine and hived themselves up in it for three -days and nights. They beguiled the time with “seven-up.” - -Nothing went wrong with them at all, and Dell rode out every day to -report how Wah-coo-tah was getting along. The Indian girl continued -steadily to improve. - -While at the mine the mechanism that worked the “rock curtain” was -examined by the pards and found to be very cleverly contrived. They -all decided that it had been placed in the shaft for the purpose the -scout had already supposed, viz: to keep out of the mine any floods -that might come down from above. - -When the scout and his pards returned to Sun Dance, the scout took -his deed, made out another in the name of Wah-coo-tah Lawless, and -sent both to Montegordo to be recorded. He did this with the entire -approval of all his pards. - -“And now,” said Wild Bill, when the deed had been duly executed, -recorded, and delivered, “we still have Lawless to find and lay by -the heels.” - -“We can’t make any plans about that,” answered the scout, “until we -learn whether Lawless got over the effects of Blake’s bullet or not.” - -“That’s so,” agreed Wild Bill, “but I’m hoping for the best.” - -Just what he meant by “the best” he did not explain. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - THE STAGE FROM MONTEGORDO. - - -“What’s yer name, anyhow?” asked Lonesome Pete. - -The man in the “boiled” shirt, the red vest, and the tight trousers -coughed and looked embarrassed. - -“I almost hate to tell you,” said he. - -“Whoa-up, thar, yeh gangle-legged Piute!” yelled Chick Billings, -the stage-driver, reaching for the off-leader with his whip-lash. -“Calls hisself a hoss, that critter does,” he added to Pete and the -stranger; “but he acts more like a blame’ coyote.” - -“Thar’s a hull lot o’ folks out hyer as kinder fergits what their -names useter be,” went on Pete, addressing the stranger. “A feller’s -got a right ter change his name when he crosses the Missoury, comin’ -West, if so be he thinks proper.” - -“Not me--not on your life!” exclaimed the stranger hastily. “My -record is clear----” - -“Every ole hardshell in these parts, some on ’em with half a dozen -notches, ’ll say that,” cut in Pete, with considerable sarcasm. - -The stranger laughed. He had a pink-and-white complexion, and his -laugh was mixed up with a vivid blush. - -“Sakes alive!” muttered Pete dismally. “If ye had on a sunbunnit, -ye’d look like er schoolgal.” - -“You see,” and the stranger’s laugh became a trifle more masculine, -“my name is Reginald----” - -“Wow!” grunted Pete. - -“De Bray, Reginald de Bray,” finished the speaker. “I don’t think -there’s much in a name, you know, but everybody out in this country -sort of pokes fun at mine.” - -Lonesome Pete threw back his head, filled his lungs with air, and -released his voice with a roaring “He-haw, he-haw!” after the fashion -of a restive mule. - -Chick Billings laughed. - -Reginald de Bray pulled a little note-book from his pocket and made a -mark in it with a lead-pencil. - -“What’s that fur?” asked Chick Billings. - -“I’m just keeping track,” answered the young man softly, as he put -away the pencil and the book. - -“Keepin’ track o’ what?” asked Lonesome Pete distrustfully. - -“Why, of the number of times that ‘he-haw’ racket has been worked -on me when I’ve told my name. Your performance was the thirty-sixth -time.” - -Reginald de Bray heaved a long breath of patient resignation. - -The Montegordo stage--which was nothing more than a mountain-wagon -drawn by four horses--was well on the road to Sun Dance. - -Pete and De Bray were riding with the driver. On the seat behind was -a woman--a slender figure of a woman she was, with her face closely -veiled. The woman’s seatmate was a rough-and-ready miner named -Hotchkiss. - -The seat behind the woman and Hotchkiss was occupied by Little Cayuse. - -These six--the driver, Pete, De Bray, the woman, Hotchkiss, and -the Indian boy--comprised the load. Around the Indian was heaped a -carpetbag, two grips, and a mail-pouch. - -The woman had not spoken a word since leaving Montegordo. Hotchkiss -was almost as silent, being thoughtful and busying himself with his -pipe. The Indian was like a graven image, so far as talking was -concerned; but, unlike an image, nothing in his vicinity escaped his -keen eyes and ears. - -Conversation was confined entirely to the three on the driver’s seat. - -“Ho-hum!” yawned Lonesome Pete, stretching his long arms. “This hyer -ride is plumb tiresome. _Mister_ De Bray,” he added, with elaborate -politeness, “the sight o’ such a gent as yerself, in these parts, is -almost as uncommon as the sight of a lady,” and his eyes shifted over -his shoulder significantly. “Mind tellin’ what yer bizness is in this -section?” - -“Just looking around the West, that’s all,” replied Reginald de Bray -buoyantly. - -“Ain’t seen much of it yit, hev ye?” - -“Just started.” - -“So I reckoned,” muttered Lonesome Pete. “Them clothes o’ your’n is -a danger-signal. A real collar an’ a b’iled shirt, say nothin’ of a -red vest, is purty nigh a death-warrant fer a man in these parts. The -cimiroons what inhabit this hyer waste don’t like sich displays. As -soon as we git ter Sun Dance, I’d advise ye ter duck inter a store -an’ git inter a rig less noticeable.” - -“Why--why,” fluttered De Bray, “I hadn’t any idea that--that----” - -“Course ye didn’t,” interrupted Lonesome Pete soothingly. “Ye’re -plumb tender in the feet, an’ yer clothes give ye away. Arter takin’ -yer sizin’, the hull camp would want ter hev fun with ye, an’ ye kin -bank on it that it ’u’d be rough fun.” - -“I heard that Mr. Buffalo Bill was in Sun Dance,” said De Bray, “and -I have long wanted to meet him. That’s principally why I came this -way from Montegordo.” - -“He’s thar, all right,” said Pete. “That’s one o’ his pards on the -back seat--Leetle Cayuse, they calls him.” - -“By Jove!” muttered De Bray, turning squarely around and staring in -awe at the Piute boy. “I’ve heard of that Indian,” he went on, facing -about. “He don’t look very dangerous, though, does he?” - -“He’s retirin’, an’ about the size of a minner, when thar’s nothin’ -doin’, but when he digs up the hatchet an’ hits the war-path, he -looks like er whale.” - -“Is Dauntless Dell in Sun Dance, too?” - -“Big as life! An’ Nick Nomad is thar, an’ likewise Wild Bill.” - -“Oh, oh!” murmured Reginald de Bray, in a spasm of excitement. “I -wonder if the king of scouts would take my little hand in his and -lead me off to where the reds and the white outlaws are thickest? Do -you think he would?” - -There was something in the words that brought Pete’s eyes with a -start to the tenderfoot’s face. - -“Give it up,” said Pete gruffly. “’Pears ter me, _Mister_ De Bray, -that the best place fer you is behind a bomb-proof shelter some’r’s. -S’posin’, now, we was ter meet up with a lot o’ highwaymen? S’posin’ -they was ter come out from behind the rocks, reg’lar fire-eatin’ -handy-boys that ye dassen’t say ‘No’ to. How’d ye like _that_?” - -“Br-r-r!” shivered Reginald de Bray. “You--you don’t think there’s -any chance of that happening, do you?” - -“As long as that pirate, Cap’n Lawless, is loose in the country, -anything’s li’ble ter happen.” - -The woman on the seat behind leaned forward, and asked, with some -apprehension: - -“Robbers? Is it possible, sir, that we shall meet with any?” - -“I don’t want to alarm ye none, madam,” answered Lonesome Pete, who -was merely talking for the effect his words would have on De Bray, -“so don’t take what I say too much ter heart.” - -“I have a hundred dollars with me,” faltered the woman, “and--and -if I do not find the--the person I am looking for in Sun Dance, I -shall have to use the money to take me to some other place. It would -be hard for a woman to find herself without funds in this dreary -country!” - -“That’s so!” averred Lonesome Pete sympathetically. - -“Pete, thar, is only gassin’,” struck in Hotchkiss, knocking the -ashes from his pipe and slowly filling it again, “He’s tryin’ ter -string the Easterner, mum, so don’t be in a takin’.” - -“But my money!” murmured the woman. “I believe I will hide it, just -to be on the safe side.” - -“I’ve got a hundred dollars, too,” said Reginald de Bray. “When I get -through looking around in Sun Dance, and travel back to Montegordo, -there’ll be a draft there for me; but it would be mighty awkward to -lose that hundred.” - -The woman, taking a handkerchief from the bosom of her dress, had -untied one corner and removed a roll of crumpled bills. For a few -moments she sat thoughtfully, the bills in her hand. At last she -lifted her hands, removed her hat--at the same time being very -careful not to displace the veil that covered her face--and took -the hat on her lap. The hat was covered with millinery folderols, -none too new and all very dusty. In among the feathers and artificial -flowers she stowed her hundred dollars, and Hotchkiss chuckled as he -watched. - -“Good place, mum,” averred Hotchkiss. “Purvidin’ thar was really -goin’ ter be a hold-up, ye couldn’t find a better.” - -“How would you like to put my money with yours, madam?” asked -Reginald de Bray. - -“I shall be glad to oblige you, sir,” answered the woman. - -Hotchkiss glared at De Bray, and Lonesome Pete shifted disquietly. -The woman had a soft, low voice, and it looked rather brutal for the -tenderfoot to unload the responsibility of caring for his own money -upon such a person. - -However, De Bray’s hundred was passed over, and the woman tucked it -into the foliage and replaced the hat on her head. - -“Now,” she said, with a relieved sigh, “if the worst should happen, I -have done what little I could to save my money.” - -“I don’t think ye need ter worry none,” said Hotchkiss, glaring at -Pete for having started the talk about road-agents. - -After this there was silence in the mountain-wagon for a good -half-hour. De Bray lighted a cigarette. He also tried to talk, but -his attempts were met with chilling silence. Pete, Chick Billings, -and Hotchkiss had marked him down in their minds as about the poorest -specimen of a tenderfoot they had ever met, and they wanted nothing -more to do with him. - -At the end of a half-hour a surprise was sprung. The stage-trail, -winding along toward the rim of Sun Dance Cañon, entered a stretch -where great heaps of boulders massed themselves along each side. - -Suddenly a shout, grimly menacing, rang from behind one of the -boulders. - -“Halt!” - -Everybody in the stage gave a startled jump. The unexpected had -happened. - -Over the tops of the boulders, on each side of the trail, appeared -masked faces and leveled rifles. - -Chick Billings, recovering from the first shock of surprise, seized -his lines in a firmer grip and raised his whip. - -“Don’t be a fool, driver!” went on the voice of the unseen speaker. -“The leaders are covered, and you and every one in the stage are -under our muzzles. You can’t fight, and you can’t run away. Throw up -your hands, all of you!” - -Lonesome Pete swore under his breath; Hotchkiss muttered angrily; -Chick Billings, with a resigned oath, dropped the lines and shoved -his hands into the air; De Bray was queerly quiet--considering the -fact that he was a recent importation, and the woman, collapsing back -in her seat, made not a sound. - -As for Little Cayuse, he had vanished from the rear seat, but in the -general excitement this fact had not been noticed. - -Immediately following his last command, the leader of the road-agents -presented himself, riding around a barricade of boulders. - -He was well mounted, and, taken altogether, was a striking figure of -a man. - -His face was concealed by a silk handkerchief, tied just under his -eyes. He wore a black sombrero, short, black velvet jacket, with -silver-dollar buttons, dark corduroy trousers, and knee-boots of -patent leather, with silver spurs at the heels. A gaudy sash about -his waist supported a pair of revolvers. - -With the guns on each side of the trail drawing a bead on the leaders -of the team, and on those in the wagon, the chief of the highwaymen -did not find it necessary to draw his own weapons. - -Pulling his horse to a halt at one side of the wagon, opposite the -front seat, the leader’s black eyes calmly surveyed those whom the -rest of his gang held at his mercy. - -“Cap’n Lawless!” muttered Lonesome Pete. - -With a low laugh, the leader of the robbers pulled the silk -handkerchief from his face and thrust it into his pocket. - -“I see that I am recognized,” said he coolly. “Very well. It will -neither help nor harm matters, as I should probably be suspected of -this hold-up, anyway. Throw your property out here in front of me, -beside the trail.” - -“You ought to know bloomin’ well,” said Chick Billings, “that the -driver of this ’ere stage hasn’t any _dinero_ about his clothes. I -got a bar o’ chewin’, but----” - -“I wasn’t referring to you,” cut in Lawless, “but to the others. The -man on your left, who seems to have met me before--I’d like to hear -from him first.” - -“Shucks!” returned Pete; “I’m just comin’ back from Montegordo, whar -I’ve been ter see the sights. How kin ye expect me ter hev any money?” - -Lawless pulled out a watch and studied its face. - -“I’ve got just three minutes to make a clean-up,” he scowled; “and if -I’m not done by that time, my men will open up on the lot of you. You -ought to have some consideration for the lady, seems to me.” - -“See how much consideration _you’ve_ got fer her!” snapped Hotchkiss, -throwing a well-worn wallet on the ground, in front of Lawless. - -“Any jewelry?” asked the robber. - -“Do I look like a feller that kerried it?” sneered the miner. - -Pete pulled a handful of silver money out of his pocket, and threw it -after Hotchkiss’ pocketbook. - -“Now, you,” went on Lawless, nodding to De Bray. - -“Honest,” quavered De Bray, “I haven’t got more’n a couple of dollars -about me!” - -“What the blazes is a man dressed like you doing in this country with -no more than that? That won’t do. If you don’t want to be sent back -East in a box, you’ll strip yourself, and be quick about it. It looks -to me as though you thought I didn’t mean business.” Lawless’ passive -face twisted itself into a demoniacal expression, and he jerked one -of his six-shooters from his sash and leveled it. “I’ll give you just -a minute, my friend,” he added, “before I shoot you off that seat!” - -“Don’t be too quick with your shooting,” begged De Bray, and -immediately began pulling his pockets inside-out. - -One of the pockets contained two silver dollars. De Bray flung them -down at the trailside. - -“I told you!” he exclaimed. - -“You’ve got more than that!” snapped Lawless. “Fork over, or I’ll -shake a load out of this gun!” - -De Bray’s eyes grew glassy, and he shivered. - -“I--I did have a little more,” he answered; “but--but----” - -“But what?” roared Lawless. “Do you think I’m going to stay here all -day, palavering with you?” - -He made a threatening gesture with his six-shooter. - -“I gave it to the lady behind me,” said De Bray desperately. “She hid -it among the flowers in her hat, along with----” - -Hotchkiss swore a great oath. - -“Kill him, Lawless! He ain’t fit ter live!” - -Lonesome Pete reached over with a clenched fist, and Chick Billings -turned half-around in the seat, with the evident intention of hurling -De Bray into the trail. - -“Steady, there, all of you!” ordered Lawless. “Keep your places, and -hold up your hands. Who’s bossing this game, anyhow? I don’t care a -rap what you do with the tenderfoot after I get away from here, but -just now it’s my innings. The Easterner has saved his life--you can’t -blame him for that.” He spurred his horse a step forward. “Madam,” he -added, to the trembling woman, “I’ll trouble you to take your money -from the hat and throw it into the road. Did this tenderfoot speak -the truth?” - -“Y-y-yes!” gasped the woman. - -“Then give me the money.” - -“Oh, sir,” pleaded the woman, stretching out her hands -supplicatingly, “let me keep what’s mine, and----” - -“I’m a man of business, and not of sentiment,” said Lawless harshly, -“and I may add that I’m not in this dangerous business for my health. -The money, quick!” - -With a sob, the woman lifted her shaking hands to her hat, tore away -the roll of bills, and dropped it beside the rest of the plunder on -the ground. - -“The meanest coyote thet ever skulked around these hyer hills,” cried -the indignant Hotchkiss, “stacks up purty high alongside o’ _you_, -Cap’n Lawless!” - -“Another yaup like that,” said Lawless savagely, “and I’ll give you -your ticket!” - -Life is dear to every man, and Hotchkiss, knowing that another word -from him would spell his doom and not result in any benefit to the -woman, or any one else, smothered his righteous wrath and glared at -the man on the horse. - -Hot words had also been on Pete’s lips, but he held them back. - -“Lawless,” he said, “the rest o’ us aire men, an’ what we got we kin -lose, but this hyer happens ter be a woman, an’----” - -“Cork!” interrupted Lawless sententiously. Then, again facing the -woman, he went on: “Any rings?” - -“One,” she whispered; “just one!” - -“Throw it after the money!” - -“Have you no heart?” wailed the woman. “Spare me the ring!” - -“Throw it on the ground!” - -Lawless, when he so willed, could be fair-spoken and act the -gentleman; but at heart he was a demon, and Hotchkiss’ taunt had -driven him to do his worst. - -The ring, a plain gold band and plainly a wedding-ring, was dropped -on the ground. - -“There’s a locket at your neck,” pursued Lawless relentlessly, -flashing his fiercely mocking eyes at the scowling Hotchkiss, “and I -must have that.” - -The woman tore away her veil, revealing a middle-aged face that must -once have been very beautiful, and was even now comely withal the -lines of sorrow and suffering that crossed it. - -A pair of hazel eyes pleaded for the locket, pleaded even more than -lips could have done, but fruitlessly. - -Slowly the woman unclasped the golden chain, half-stretched the -round locket toward Lawless, then drew back the hand and pressed the -trinket to her bosom. - -“No, no!” she gasped; “I would rather you took my life!” - -Leaning suddenly forward in his saddle, Lawless caught the locket -away with brutal force. - -“This is no time to go against my orders,” he snapped, as the woman, -utterly unnerved, sank back in her seat and covered her face with her -hands. “Drive on, you!” he added to the driver of the stage. “Don’t -stop until you have gone two miles, and don’t one of you dare to look -back while you are within gunshot of this place. You’ll be covered as -long as you’re within range--mark that!” - -Chick Billings stooped down and picked up his lines. - -“G’lang, ye pack o’ buzzards!” he spat out at the horses. “Git us out -o’ hyer in a hurry, or I’ll be cuttin’ loose an’ makin’ a fool o’ -myself.” - -Snap, snap went the whip about the leaders’ ears, and the four-horse -team bounded away. - -Agreeably to orders, no one looked backward; but the final words of -the scoundrelly Lawless followed them: - -“Buffalo Bill is in Sun Dance. Tell him how Captain Lawless made his -clean-up; and tell him that if he wants to follow me and my men, and -make a clean-up of his own, we’re only too anxious for him to try!” - -What those in the wagon thought was not made known. Hotchkiss, -Lonesome Pete, and Chick Billings were furious; Reginald de Bray was -quiet and filled with a strange calm; the woman was crying softly in -her hands. - -The trail made a curve at that point, to avoid a shallow offset of -Sun Dance Cañon. When the stage had got well around this curve, two -miles from the scene of the hold-up, and almost opposite it, Billings -jerked back on the bits, and brought his team to a stop. - -“Why,” cried De Bray, starting up from his seat and looking backward, -“what’s become of the little Indian, Buffalo Bill’s pard?” - -But Chick Billings was not thinking of Little Cayuse just then; nor -was Lonesome Pete, nor Hotchkiss. - -“You ornery whelp!” breathed Billings, gripping De Bray about the -shoulders, “hyer’s whar ye gits yours, an’ git it plenty! Thar’s a -rope under the seat, Pete. Lay holt o’ it, an’ reave a noose in the -end. We ain’t fur from a tree hyer, an’ I reckons we know what ter -do!” - -Without a word, the irate Pete reached under the seat. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - DOUBLE-CROSSED. - - -“What’s the matter with you fellows, anyhow?” asked De Bray. - -“Ye ain’t fit ter live,” said Lonesome Pete. - -“That’s right,” cut in Hotchkiss. “Ye didn’t hev the nerve ter call -Lawless’ bluff, but had ter rough things up fer the little woman back -hyer.” - -“You don’t understand the layout, my friends,” said De Bray, his eyes -twinkling and the shadow of a smile hovering about the corners of his -mouth. - -His manner was one of cool unconcern. Billings, Pete, and Hotchkiss -could not understand him, but this did not in the least tend to -placate them. There had been a mysterious note in the tenderfoot’s -manner ever since the stage had left Montegordo. Billings, Pete, and -Hotchkiss, however, were in no mood to figure out a conundrum. Taking -De Bray as they found him, he was a pretty low-down proposition. - -Pete, having brought out the rope, was engaged in making a slip-noose -in the end of it. Hotchkiss was pushing back his sleeves in a -businesslike way. Billings had firm hold of De Bray’s arm. - -At this point, the woman leaned forward and dropped a trembling hand -on Billings’ shoulder. - -“You are not going to hurt him?” she pleaded, in her soft, gentle -voice. - -“It’ll be about as painless, mum, as sich things usually aire,” said -Hotchkiss. - -“I am the cause of this,” she went on, “and I could not bear to think -that a human life has been sacrificed on my account.” - -“He sure looks human,” said Lonesome Pete, trying the slip-knot with -his hands, “although he didn’t act it, not noways.” - -“Anyhow,” spoke up De Bray, “you might put this off until we get to -Sun Dance--out of consideration for the lady’s feelings, if not for -mine.” - -“The lady won’t see a thing,” said Billings. “The tree I referred to -is out o’ sight around them rocks.” - -“I can tell you something,” pursued De Bray, “that will open your -eyes, but I don’t think it’s safe to let the secret out before we -reach Sun Dance.” - -“Thet’s a play ter gain time,” averred Hotchkiss, “an’ it won’t go -down with _us_.” - -“Your temper is hot just now,” said De Bray, “and all of you will -feel different when you give it a chance to cool.” - -“I hopes,” growled Pete, “that when I see a real lady imposed on I’ll -allers have the sand ter take her part, whether I’m in temper or out -o’ it.” - -Hotchkiss jumped from the wagon. - -“Throw him out ter me, Chick,” said he. - -“Please, please do not let this go any further,” said the woman, -stretching out her hands earnestly. “He did only what any one would -have done to save his life. What are a ring, and a locket, and two -hundred dollars compared with a human life? What you intend doing -would be a terrible thing--so terrible that I can hardly believe -you’re in earnest. For _my_ sake, spare him!” - -Hotchkiss drew his sleeve over his forehead. - -“Pussonly,” said he, “if the whelp ain’t hung, he ort ter be tarred -an’ feathered.” - -“I ain’t never goin’ ter let it be said,” ground out Chick Billings, -who noted that Hotchkiss was wavering, “that anythin’ like what jest -happened took place on a stage o’ mine an’ me never doin’ nothin’ ter -play even.” - -“I’d hate ter hev it said in Sun Dance,” said Pete, “that us fellers -allowed sich a whelp as this Easterner ter pollute the camp with his -presence--knowin’ the things about him that we do.” - -“The hangin’,” finished Billings, “will purceed. Hotchkiss, ye kin -help er not, jest as ye please.” - -“I’ll help, o’ course,” said Hotchkiss; “but it’s my natur’ allers -ter oblige er lady, when it’s possible. Sorry, mum,” he finished, -turning to the woman, “but ye see how it is.” - -Reginald de Bray threw back his head and laughed. The mirth seemed -untimely. - -“Quit it!” snorted Chick Billings. “Ye ort ter be sayin’ yer prayers, -’stead o’ laffin’.” - -“You fellows force my hand,” answered De Bray. “Take your hands off -me for a minute, Billings, so I can show you something.” - -“An’ when I let go my hands,” jeered Billings, “ye’ll make er break.” - -“Hold a gun on me, one of you,” suggested De Bray. - -Hotchkiss drew a revolver. As he leveled it, Billings released De -Bray. The latter, bending down, pulled up his trousers and drew -something from the top of his shoe. The object proved to be a roll of -bills. De Bray opened out the roll on his knee, and the eyes of those -about him began to widen. - -The bill on top of the pile was of the $1,000 variety. As De Bray -thumbed over the rest of the bills, it was seen that they were all of -the same denomination. - -“Waal, I’ll be jiggered!” muttered Billings. - -“Wouldn’t thet rattle yer spurs?” gasped Pete. - -“Thar’s money enough ter start a Fust National Bank,” commented the -astounded Hotchkiss. - -“I was told in Montegordo,” explained De Bray, “that it was a little -bit reckless for a man to carry twenty thousand dollars in cash over -the trail between there and Sun Dance. But I’ve got to get to the -camp and see Buffalo Bill, and, inasmuch as I’ve usually been able to -take care of myself, I thought I’d risk it. - -“I don’t think any of us expected to meet highwaymen. When Lonesome -Pete mentioned the subject, though, I thought it a good chance to -take time by the forelock, as the saying is, and make myself secure -against a possible surprise. So I asked the lady”--here he turned -with one of his rosy smiles toward the woman in the back seat--“to -hide my hundred in her bonnet, along with her own. - -“I don’t think there’s the least doubt,” he went on, “but that the -little trick saved my twenty thousand for me. As soon as we get to -Sun Dance I shall reimburse the lady for the money and jewelry she -lost. All I can say at the present time is that----” - -De Bray stopped suddenly. The attention of every one in the -mountain-wagon was focused upon De Bray and his pile of bills. -Abruptly a movement of swift feet was heard, followed by a frightened -jump on the part of the leaders of the team. - -On the instant all eyes were lifted. A masked man, with a rifle slung -from his shoulders by a strap, was holding the leaders by the bits. -Beside the masked man stood Captain Lawless, he having reappeared on -that part of the trail as if by magic. Six masked men, with rifles at -their shoulders, had sprung up around the stage as though out of the -very ground. - -“Sorry to bother you again,” said Lawless, “but I changed my plans -somewhat when I saw that gold locket, and I and my men have scrambled -across the arm of the cañon. If you hadn’t stopped here so long, -we shouldn’t have been able to overtake you. Lucky thing we did, -as twenty thousand is something of a haul. Right here is where you -fellows are going to get the double-cross.” - -This second surprise was even more telling than the first had been. -Billings and the rest had not dreamed of encountering Lawless and his -gang a second time. It is popularly supposed that lightning never -strikes twice in the same place, yet here was proof to the contrary. - -What was there about the woman’s locket to bring the road-agent and -his rascally followers across the arm of the cañon? Whatever it was, -the change in Lawless’ plan had worked out badly for De Bray. De Bray -had his $20,000 on his knee, and no subterfuge could now avail to -save the funds. - -Billings, Pete, and Hotchkiss realized that they themselves were to -blame. If they had not halted so long on the road for the purpose -of palavering with De Bray, and if they had not forced him to an -explanation, his money might have been saved. - -Hotchkiss had his revolver in his hand. The hand had dropped at his -side, and he was pondering the advisability of resistance. There were -eight of the road-agents--eight against three, and if resistance was -offered, the fight which followed would surely imperil the woman. -Hotchkiss, brave though he was, hesitated to do anything that would -endanger one of the gentler sex. - -Lawless came closer to De Bray. - -“For a tenderfoot,” said Lawless, “you’re a fine specimen of a fox; -but here’s where I call you. Fork over!” - -He held out his hand. - -“Bound to take what I’ve got, are you?” queried De Bray. - -His tone was noticeably cool and his manner steady. - -“The pickings were slim before,” flung back Lawless. “This will be a -raise worth while, and----” - -At that instant something happened. Dropping the money into the -bottom of the stage, like lightning De Bray flung himself across the -forward wheel, gripped Lawless by the throat, and bore him to the -ground. - -For an Easterner, inexperienced in Western ways, Reginald de Bray -showed an abnormal amount of pluck and rough-and-ready incentive. - -Pete, Billings, and Hotchkiss were not slow in following up his -attack. - -Hotchkiss, already on the ground, sprang to the side of the wagon and -pushed the woman into the bottom of the box. - -“Down!” he cried, and no sooner had he placed the woman in -comparative safety than the rifles of the road-agents began to talk. - -Bullets slapped into the side of the wagon, sang through the air, and -in other ways made their presence disagreeably apparent. - -Lonesome Pete fired his six-shooter, and one of the masked men -dropped his rifle and fell face-downward; before he could fire again, -a piece of lead caught him in the shoulder and flung him down -against the dashboard, dazed, helpless, and out of the fight. - -Billings, plying his whip frantically, tried to drive the leaders -over the man at their heads. The robber, although lifted from his -feet with every jump of the frightened horses, managed to keep his -hold. - -One of the robbers rushed to the spot where De Bray was struggling -with the leader of the gang, and fetched the Easterner a blow with -the stock of his gun. De Bray pitched forward to the ground, and lay -silent. - -Lawless jumped to his feet. A bullet from Hotchkiss’ revolver whipped -past his ear and struck the man at the horses’ heads. The man let go -his hold with a wild yell, and the four-horse team would have sped -onward but for Lawless. - -The leader of the gang in no uncertain way demonstrated his prowess. -A bullet from one of his weapons tore its way through Hotchkiss’ arm, -and sent the miner reeling backward against the mountain-wagon. - -The wagon was already leaping over the ground, and Hotchkiss slid -from the revolving rear wheel and sprawled full length across the -trail. - -Quick as thought, Lawless made a flying jump for the driver’s seat, -and, as luck would have it, gained a position at Billings’ side. - -A blow from the butt of his revolver sent Billings down on the -crouching form of Lonesome Pete, and Lawless caught the lines as they -were flickering over the dashboard. - -Throwing himself back on the bits with all his strength, the leader -of the robbers brought the frantic horses to a halt. - -The short, sharp battle was practically over. Numbers had won. De -Bray was still lying unconscious on the ground; Hotchkiss was lifting -himself on his uninjured arm, and staring at his revolver, which lay -at a distance from him; Pete and Billings were huddled against the -dashboard, and four masked men had their rifles leveled to prevent -any further act of resistance. - -“Take the horses’ heads, one of you!” yelled Lawless. “No more -shooting; we’ve got this little game right where we want it. -The woman has fainted. Two of you take her and carry her to the -horses--one of you is enough to keep track of this bunch.” - -While two of the scoundrels, swinging their rifles over their -shoulders, advanced and lifted the woman from the place where -Hotchkiss had put her, another went to the heads of the plunging -leaders. - -The minute the man had the leaders well in hand, Lawless bent down, -collected the scattered bills, and stuffed them into his pocket. - -The woman, limp and unconscious, was carried out of sight. - -Lawless, grabbing Billings by the collar and jerking him upright, -stared venomously into his eyes. - -“See what’s happened!” growled Lawless, “and you have only yourselves -to blame. Here’s something else for you to tell Buffalo Bill--and -it’s something more to make him take my trail and try for a clean-up. -That’s what I want. I’m ready for the king of scouts, and we’ll see -how he comes out. Meanwhile, here’s something for you to deliver to -Gentleman Jim, in Sun Dance--a locket, a ring, and a note. He’ll -understand. Tell him that Lawless never forgets his debts.” - -By then, the two men who had carried away the woman reappeared. They -picked up the fallen desperado and likewise bore him out of sight -among the boulders. - -Leaping down from the wagon, Lawless walked quickly to the man who -had been wounded by Hotchkiss. The fellow was sitting up at the -trailside. Lawless helped him to his feet and supported him toward -the rocks. - -“That will do,” he called to the man with the gun and to the man who -was holding the horses. “Now for a quick getaway.” - -By then, Chick Billings was able to take the lines. When the horses -were released, he held them where they were, and watched the robbers -vanish. - -Following this, Chick Billings swore, easing his pent-up feelings -after the manner of stage-drivers generally. - -“Pete!” he called. - -“Hyer,” answered Pete. - -“Bad hurt?” - -“Nicked in the shoulder.” - -“Waal, brace up, pard. We got ter git out o’ this. The quicker we git -ter Sun Dance an’ set a possé on the track o’ these hyer scoundrels, -the more show o’ success the possé’ll hev. I say, Hotchkiss!” - -“Coming,” replied the miner, getting to his feet and picking up his -revolver. “Thet was brisk, while it lasted,” he said grimly, walking -toward De Bray. - -“If thar’d been one or two more o’ us,” mourned Pete, “we might hev -had a diff’rent story ter tell in Sun Dance. How’s De Bray?” - -“I’ll do,” De Bray himself answered, climbing slowly to his feet and -picking up his hat. “I--I never thought the butt of a musket was so -hard,” and he put both hands to the back of his head. - -“Yer money is gone, De Bray,” announced Billings. - -“So I supposed,” was the calm rejoinder. - -“Look hyer,” cried Lonesome Pete, wincing with the pain of his wound, -but unable to repress his curiosity, “ye’re no tenderfoot. That dodge -ye worked, an’ the way ye went fer Lawless, proves thet.” - -“Maybe I’m not a tenderfoot,” answered De Bray; “but that’s all you -lads need to know. How did Lawless and his gang manage to overhaul us -here?” - -“They come across the arm o’ the gulch,” explained Billings. “The -stage-trail winds around the arm, an’ they made a short cut.” - -“But why? My brain isn’t just as clear as it might be, and I can’t -figure it out.” - -“None o’ the rest o’ us kin figger it out, either,” said Hotchkiss. -“Somethin’ about thet locket sent Lawless arter us ag’in--an’ arter -the woman.” - -“The woman?” queried De Bray, startled. - -“Yep; the villains took her away.” - -“It’s a big mystery,” put in Billings. “Lawless left a note, the -ring, an’ the locket fer me ter take ter Gentleman Jim.” - -“Who’s Gentleman Jim?” asked De Bray. - -“He’s erbout the only squar’ gambler I knows anythin’ erbout. He -hangs out in Sun Dance, an’ is a friend o’ Buffler Bill’s.” - -“They came back to get the woman,” mused De Bray, “and they got here -just in time to see me showing you fellows all that money.” - -“We’re some ter blame, I reckon,” said Hotchkiss. “If we hadn’t -stopped hyer as long as we did, roughin’ things up with you, this -wouldn’t hev happened. It give Lawless an’ his outfit a chance ter -come up with us ag’in.” - -“I can’t blame you,” answered De Bray; “it certainly seemed pretty -low-down, the way I acted. The thing looked wrong, but needed an -explanation to set it right. The quicker we get to Sun Dance, the -better.” - -“Right ye aire,” seconded Pete. “Climb in, you two, an’ we’ll vamose.” - -De Bray and Hotchkiss got into the wagon and took the second seat. - -“I don’t reckon it ’u’d do us any good ter try ter see whar thet gang -went with ther woman, hey?” said Pete. - -“Thar ain’t any o’ us in shape ter foller the whelps,” answered -Hotchkiss. “We’ll git ter Sun Dance an’ lay the hull play before -Buffler Bill. He’ll know what ter do if any one will.” - -“You _bet_!” emphasized Pete. - -“Besides,” struck in Billings, as he set the horses to a gallop, “one -o’ Buffler Bill’s pards is somehow mixed up in this.” - -“Meanin’ Little Cayuse?” asked Pete. - -“Who else?” returned Billings. - -“Blame’ queer whar thet kid went ter, all of a sudden. He must hev -got out o’ the wagon before Lawless an’ his gang come down on us, -thet fust time. Anyways, it seems sure Lawless didn’t see him.” - -“Maybe he was scared,” hazarded De Bray. - -“Him? Scared?” Pete threw back his head and laughed huskily. “Why, -De Bray, thet leetle Piute is skeer-proof. More’n likely he got an -idee in his heathen mind, an’ laid out ter kerry it through. He’ll be -heerd of, if I’m any prophet.” - -“Well,” muttered De Bray, “I’m out twenty thousand, but I’d say -good-by to the money with pleasure if we could only have that little -lady back in this wagon with us.” - -“I’d have stopped a bullet with my other arm for that,” put in -Hotchkiss. - -“Too bloomin’ bad!” growled Pete, trying to tie up his shoulder with -a handkerchief. “Whyever did he want ter take the woman away with -him, this hyer whelp of a Lawless? He wasn’t figgerin’ on thet the -fust time.” - -“Thet locket had everythin’ ter do with it,” said Billings. - -“That letter you’re to take to Gentleman Jim may give us a clue to -the scoundrel’s actions,” suggested De Bray. - -“Thet’s what I’m hopin’,” remarked Hotchkiss. - -“You say this Gentleman Jim is a square gambler, and a friend of the -scout’s?” - -“Yes. He got mixed up with ther scout in the matter o’ the Forty -Thieves Mine, an’ it was Lawless as done the mixin’. At fust, it -seems, Lawless trusted Gentleman Jim; an’ then, bekase Gentleman Jim -did ther squar’ thing, Lawless got a grudge at him. Runnin’ off ther -woman has somethin’ ter do with thet grudge, an’ I’ll bet money on -it.” - -“We’ll know more,” spoke up De Bray, through his clenched teeth, -“before we’re many hours older.” - -And in this De Bray was right. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - - BUFFALO BILL AND GENTLEMAN JIM. - - -Unaware of the exciting events transpiring on the Montegordo trail, -the little adobe camp of Sun Dance lay sweltering in peaceful quiet -on its “flat” half-way up the wall of Sun Dance Cañon. - -In front of the Lucky Strike Hotel Spangler was dozing in the shade, -wondering, whenever he opened his drowsy eyes and had a lucid -thought, why in Sam Hill the stage did not show up. - -Old Nomad and Wild Bill were playing a game of seven-up in the room -of the Lucky Strike, which was called, by virtue of its function, the -“office.” - -Dell Dauntless was in a room off the office, reading a book to -Wah-coo-tah, who was sitting up in a chair, blanketed and pillowed. - -In Gentleman Jim’s private room in the Alcazar the scout and the -gambler were talking. - -As a rule, the king of scouts had no more use for a gambler than he -had for any other robber, but there was something about the quiet, -polished Gentleman Jim, and his reputation for “squareness,” that -attracted the scout. Then, too, Gentleman Jim was a good deal of a -mystery, and there is always something attractive about a mystery. - -Gentleman Jim had a “past,” but, up to that moment, he had never -spoken to any one about it. The scout, it may be observed, was with -the other at the gambler’s own request. Evidently, Jim had something -on his mind of which he wished to relieve himself. - -The two men had lighted cigars, and were smoking as they talked. - -“It’s history now, Buffalo Bill,” the gambler was saying, “how -Lawless sent to me a deed for the Forty Thieves Mine, executed in -your name, with the understanding that the mine was to be yours if -you went out to it and remained for three consecutive days and nights -in its shaft and underground workings; it’s history, too, how you -went there, fell into a trap Lawless had set for you, and were only -saved from death by Wah-coo-tah; and it’s history how Lawless and his -men escaped, and are now at large, still laying their traps to get -the best of you--and me.” - -“Laying their traps to get the best of _you_?” repeated the scout, -puzzled. “I don’t understand it that way. What has Lawless got -against you? Didn’t he send that deed to you, trusting you with it, -and telling you to turn it over to me as soon as I had remained in -the mine for the three days and nights?” - -“That is why he has taken a grudge against me--for giving you the -deed.” - -“You only carried out his instructions.” - -“I know that; but there is something you do not know, Buffalo Bill, -and I have brought you here to tell you about it. You thought Lawless -had been seriously, perhaps mortally, wounded, at the time you and -your pards escaped from the mine?” - -The scout nodded. - -“Well, I don’t think he was even severely wounded. At any rate, -while you were in the mine, staying out the three days and nights, I -received a letter from Lawless.” - -“A letter?” echoed the scout. “Why didn’t you tell me about that -before, Gentleman Jim?” - -“It was a threatening letter, and I didn’t want to bother you with -it. Lawless, it appears, had gigged back on his proposition. He said -you had gone to the mine, and you had not stayed there for the length -of time he had specified. That it had not been his intention to give -you two trials, and that, consequently, when you went back to the -mine the second time, and stayed out the required three days, you -were not fulfilling your part of the contract. Of course, it was only -a quibble. Lawless had seen that he had failed to play even with you, -and that he was going to lose the mine. In his letter to me, he said -that if I did not leave the deed on a black boulder at the foot of -Medicine Bluff on the night the letter reached my hands, he would put -me on his blacklist along with you, and deal with me accordingly.” A -slight smile curled the gambler’s lips. “I was not intimidated. When -you had stayed in the mine the length of time agreed on, I gave you -the deed; you made out another deed to Wah-coo-tah Lawless, and the -Forty Thieves now stands, in the recorder’s office at Montegordo, in -the name of Wah-coo-tah. It is out of Lawless’ hands.” - -“The mine should belong to Wah-coo-tah,” said the scout, “and you did -exactly right, Gentleman Jim. Lawless is a contemptible scoundrel, -with no more heart in him than a timber-wolf. In losing the mine, he -got his come-up-with for that part of his trickery.” - -“I am not afraid of Lawless. But what is Wah-coo-tah going to do with -the mine, Buffalo Bill? She knows no more about mining than a babe in -arms.” - -“I have foreseen that part of the difficulty,” the scout returned. -“A friend of mine in Denver, by the name of Reginald de Bray----” - -“Reginald de Bray!” laughed Gentleman Jim. “That sounds as though -there wasn’t much of a man back of it.” - -“Exactly; and the name has fooled more people than I know how to tell -about. De Bray looks the part, too. He is a mining-man, however, -and one in a thousand. I have interested him in the Forty Thieves, -and have advised Wah-coo-tah to sell him a half-interest for twenty -thousand dollars, and then to let De Bray go ahead and develop the -property. He’ll do it, and give Wah-coo-tah every cent that is coming -to her. My last advices from De Bray assured me that he would be here -on the afternoon stage. I sent Little Cayuse to Montegordo to see if -he reached there, and, if he did not, to forward a telegram to him, -telling him to hurry. Little Cayuse will also come in on the stage. - -“Whenever De Bray travels, he takes it upon himself to act as -guileless as he looks, and as his name suggests him to be. This is a -whim of his, but he turns it to good account, now and again. He’ll -be here, I’m sure, and then the matter of the Forty Thieves Mine can -be wound up, and I and my pards can take to the trail and finish our -affair with Lawless.” - -“You’re going to run Lawless to earth?” - -“I am; and I shall not leave this part of the country until I have -done so.” - -Gentleman Jim got up and took a thoughtful turn about the room. The -scout watched him curiously. Suddenly the gambler came to a halt in -front of the scout. - -“Buffalo Bill,” said he, “I presume you are aware that all gamblers -are more or less superstitious and given to premonitions. I have a -premonition that there is something on the cards for me, important -if not vital. What it is I do not know, but events are forming which -will make or mar me. If the worst happens, I have ten thousand -dollars in the First National at Montegordo--honest money, not even -won by the cards in honest games--and this I want you to hold in -trust. I have drawn a check for the amount in your name; if need -arise, you will find the check here.” - -Gentleman Jim stepped to his desk, and pulled out a concealed drawer. -The scout nodded, and the gambler closed the drawer. - -“I am to hold the money in trust--for whom?” Buffalo Bill asked. - -A sad look crossed the gambler’s face. - -“For the only woman I ever loved,” he answered, sinking into a chair; -“for my wife, Alice Brisco, if she is living.” - -“How am I to find her?” - -“We must leave that to fate,” Gentleman Jim answered, with a -foreboding shake of the head. “All I know about Alice you will find -in that drawer, with the check. If the money is never claimed, it is -to be yours.” - -“You’re gloomy to-day, old man,” said Buffalo Bill. “This talk of -premonitions is all foolishness.” - -“Not in this case,” asserted the gambler, with vehemence. “Something, -for good or ill, is going to happen to me and make a decided change -in my affairs. If the worst comes, you are the one man I know whom I -can trust.” - -Seeing that Gentleman Jim was deeply impressed by his forebodings, -the scout remained silent. For a long time they sat, smoking and -gazing thoughtfully into the wreathes of vapor that floated about -them. - -“What a fool a man can sometimes make of himself!” the gambler -exclaimed abruptly. “Five years ago I was a physician, in an Eastern -city, with a large practise, a loving wife, a happy home--everything -a man could need to have comfort and make life a success. The -gambling fever took hold of me--perhaps it was in my blood, and had -to come out. Be that as it may, I neglected my practise for the -cards, losing--losing all the time--money, friends, reputation. My -wife’s people heard how I was going, and took Alice away from me. I -promised to do better, and she came back. Once more I went to the -dogs, and she left me for good. Getting together the remnants of my -fortune, I sent the pitiable sum to Alice, then I came West and made -gambling my profession. I have tried to be square, and have been -fairly successful. But what is it all worth, Buffalo Bill, compared -to the love and companionship of a woman? There is no happiness for -me, and never has been since I cut away from every tie that made life -worth living.” - -The gambler, stirred by some slumbering impulse, got up and once more -began pacing the room. - -“This,” he went on, “is what the cards have done for me. They have -robbed me of everything that made existence worth while, and here -I am in Sun Dance, an outcast, a pariah, a human bird of prey that -wrings the wherewithal to live from the honest toil of others. -I--I----” - -He stopped, one clenched hand lifted in air. The hand dropped -nervelessly, and he broke off with a bitter laugh. - -“What’s the use of crying over spilled milk?” he added. “I have made -my game, and I must play it through. What I have said, Buffalo Bill, -is between ourselves. No other man has ever heard it from my lips -before--and I speak now because I trust you.” - -“Your trust, Gentleman Jim,” returned the scout, with feeling, “shall -not be betrayed.” - -The gambler started to say something more, then suddenly wheeled -about and peered through a window. - -“By Jove!” he exclaimed, startled. “The stage is coming into camp, -and it looks as though they had had trouble of some kind.” - -“Is there a stranger aboard?” inquired the scout, starting up. - -“Yes.” - -“Ah! That will be De Bray. And Little Cayuse?” - -“I can’t see him.” - -The scout’s brow clouded. - -“His orders were to come in with to-day’s stage,” said he, “and -Little Cayuse never disobeys orders. You’re right, Jim, something -surely has gone wrong.” - -With that, the scout hurried from the room, through the deserted -Alcazar and out into the street, Gentleman Jim following curiously. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - - LETTER, RING, AND LOCKET. - - -The sides of the mountain-wagon were splintered in several places, -and the only one of the wagon’s four passengers who did not show any -visible signs of wear and tear was the mild-faced stranger who sat in -front with Chick Billings. - -Billings had bound a handkerchief around his head, over the bruise -made by the butt of Lawless’ revolver, and Hotchkiss wore a bandage -around his arm, while Pete was similarly decorated at the shoulder. - -Buffalo Bill and Gentleman Jim appeared to be the only two who had -glimpsed the stage. Spangler dozed in front of the hotel, and Wild -Bill and Nomad shuffled, and dealt and played, oblivious of the fact -that the stage was coming, and that it had met with any trouble. - -“Buffler Bill, by hokey!” cried Chick Billings. - -“Ye’re the feller we’re lookin’ fer!” chimed in Lonesome Pete. - -“You bet y’u!” added Hotchkiss. - -The moment Billings drew to a halt, De Bray tumbled over the wheel -and grabbed the scout’s welcoming hand. - -“Hello, Cody!” cried the Denver man. “You’re looking husky as ever.” - -“Feeling that way,” answered the scout, with a smile. “You appear to -stack up pretty well, De Bray.” - -“Then I stack up a whole lot better than I feel. I’ve got a lump on -the back of my head as big as your fist, and a hole in my pocket as -big as a tunnel.” - -“A hole in your pocket?” - -“It was big enough for twenty thousand to slip through.” - -“Why--why, I thought ye didn’t know Buffler Bill?” gasped Lonesome -Pete. - -“He was sayin’,” added Hotchkiss, “that he wanted Buffler Bill ter -take his little hand an’ show him the sights. Woof! Darned if he -ain’t deceived us all around.” - -“What happened to you fellows, anyhow?” asked the scout. “It’s a -clear case that something went wrong. Did the stage slip over the rim -of the cañon?” - -“Worse’n thet,” said Chick Billings. “We met Lawless an’ his gang -twicet.” - -“Fust time wasn’t so bad,” added Pete, one hand wandering to his -injured shoulder; “but the second time--wow! Say, thar was fireworks, -ground-an’-lofty tumblin’, an’ a hull lot o’ other trimmin’s.” - -“Do you mean to say you’ve been through a hold-up?” demanded Buffalo -Bill, his brow clouding, “and that Lawless was back of it?” - -“He wasn’t back o’ it, Buffler Bill,” said Pete, “not as any one -could notice. He was right up front, mighty conspickerous.” - -“Did he appear to be injured in any way?” - -“Injured? Him? Waal, not so’s ter interfere with his moving about. He -was mighty soople; an’ the way he got around was a caution. I know -what ye’re thinkin’, Buffler Bill. Ye’re thinkin’ how Hank Blake, -from Pass Dure Cañon, allowed he’d notched Lawless, mebby fer keeps. -But the whelp didn’t show any signs. He seemed as well as ever, an’ -about twicet as active.” - -“This is a pretty layout,” muttered Buffalo Bill. “How many men were -with Lawless?” - -“Seven; but thar ain’t so many, by one,” came from Hotchkiss. “Pete -dropped one of ’em, an’ I put another on the retired list.” - -“An’ he sent word ter you, Buffler,” spoke up Pete; “Lawless did. He -said ye was ter be told he’d made er clean-up, an’ thet he was achin’ -ter hev you trail arter him an’ his gang an’ try ter make a clean-up -o’ yer own.” - -“Then he’ll get what he wants,” said the scout grimly. - -“Ain’t got so many passengers as we left Montegordo with by two,” -mourned Billings. - -“How’s that?” the scout asked quickly. “I was expecting Cayuse back -on this stage, and----” - -“Waal, he left ’Gordo with the stage, all right, an’ he was roostin’ -on ther back seat with the mail an’ ther luggage up to jest afore -we hit Lawless fer the fust time. About then ther leetle Piute -disappeared.” - -“Did Lawless or his men see him, do you know?” - -“I reckon not; Cayuse was gone when ther gang come down on us.” - -The scout’s face cleared. - -“The boy’s all right,” said he; “he scented trouble, and ten to one -he’s trailing the gang. We’ll hear from him. But you spoke of two -passengers. Who was the other?” - -“T’other was a woman----” - -“A woman!” exclaimed both the scout and Gentleman Jim, becoming -mightily interested. - -“Exactly,” said Billings. - -“Did the woman disappear with Little Cayuse?” asked the scout. - -“Nary, she didn’t. I wisht it had been thet away, but it wasn’t. -Lawless had her kerried off, second time he come down on us.” - -“The scoundrel!” muttered the scout between his teeth, his eyes -flashing. “What was the woman’s name?” - -“She didn’t say what her name was.” - -“Why was she coming to Sun Dance?” - -“Lookin’ fer a man, I think, jedgin’ from somethin’ she said; an’ I -reckon, also, jedgin’ from somethin’ else she said, thet she wasn’t -more’n half-expectin’ ter find the man.” - -“Well,” said the scout briskly, “tell us the whole of this, and tell -it quick. You, Hotchkiss. Time is scarce, and we want the important -points.” - -Hotchkiss jumped into the recital, and carried it through quickly. -What made the greatest impression on the scout and the gambler was -that part of the story which had to do with the ring and the locket. - -“I’ll take them, and the letter,” said Gentleman Jim, stretching out -his hand. - -Billings handed him the locket. At the mere sight of it Gentleman -Jim’s face went pallid. Opening it quickly, he stared with glassy -eyes at two pictures the locket revealed, a low groan dropped from -his lips, and he staggered back. - -“What is it, Jim?” asked the scout, stepping toward the gambler. - -Gentleman Jim did not reply. Apparently beside himself, he did not -wait for the note and the ring, but turned about unsteadily and -reeled into the Alcazar. - -Those in the buckboard, and around it, stared after him. - -“I never seen Gentleman Jim in sich a takin’ as thet afore,” mumbled -Chick Billings. - -“What ails him, anyways?” asked Pete. - -“Mebby the woman was some kin o’ his,” suggested Hotchkiss. - -“Possibly,” answered the scout shortly. “Give me the ring and the -note; and I’ll take them to him in a few moments.” - -Billings tendered the remaining two articles to the scout, and he -dropped them into his pocket. - -“Drive on to the post-office and the hotel, Billings,” went on the -scout. “Wild Bill and Nomad are at the hotel--tell them just what you -have told me, and say that I want them to get our horses ready for -the trail. It’s the war-path for us, and _muy pronto_. First, though, -I must have a talk with Gentleman Jim. This note may contain clues of -some value. De Bray,” he added, to the Denver man, “you’re playing in -hard luck----” - -“That wasn’t all of my pile, though,” cut in De Bray; “remember, I’m -still in on the deal as soon as I can get more dinero from home.” - -“We’ll talk of that later. Go on to the hotel and introduce yourself -to my pards there. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” - -The stage trundled on. De Bray walking beside it, and the scout -hurried into the Alcazar, through the big, deserted gambling-hall to -the door of Gentleman Jim’s private room. - -The door was open. Through it he could see the gambler, seated at -his desk. His head was bowed in his arms, and the locket lay open in -front of him. - -It was hardly a time to intrude on a man, unnerved by grief as the -gambler was at that moment, but other matters connected with Lawless -were pressing. - -The scout entered the room and passed to the gambler’s side. - -“Jim!” - -The gambler locked up with a start. - -“I’m glad you came, Cody,” said he, in a hoarse voice. “See, here.” -He picked up the locket. It contained two pictures, one of a -fair-faced woman and the other plainly that of Gentleman Jim himself. -“This--this,” faltered the gambler, “belonged to Alice! It was she -whom those scoundrels stole away--and to play even with me on account -of that mine!” - -“We’ll talk of that later, Jim,” said the scout, laying the ring -on the table and dropping the note beside it. “There are the other -two things Billings brought. Let’s read the note. It may contain -something of importance.” - -Although the note was the main thing in Buffalo Bill’s mind, and -the contents of it what he wanted to get at as quickly as possible, -yet he could not show impatience when Gentleman Jim picked up the -wedding-ring first. - -“This was Alice’s,” said he, in a low voice. “I gave it to her--it -seems as though that was in another life and in another world. -Look!”--and he held up the gold band and indicated some tiny -lettering on the inside--“there’s my name and hers--‘James to Alice,’ -and the date. Sad memories, Buffalo Bill,” said he, with a long sigh, -dropping the ring beside the locket. - -“She must have been coming here to you,” said the scout. - -“Yes--coming to me!” Gentleman Jim’s eyes flashed murderously. “And -now to have Lawless strike such a blow at my happiness, to---- But -I’ll find her! By Heaven, I’ll follow that scoundrel to the ends of -earth, if necessary, and get Alice away from him. Then I’ll make him -pay--pay to the uttermost.” - -“That’s the way to talk, Gentleman Jim,” approved the scout. “I -intend to take the trail just as soon as we can get our plans into -working shape. The note may guide us. Read it.” - -Gentleman Jim picked up the note and read it aloud. - - “‘GENTLEMAN JIM, Sun Dance. - - “‘You have probably heard, by now, how I held up the stage. I took - from your wife what money she had, and all her jewelry--which - didn’t amount to much. Of course, until I saw your picture in - the locket, I hadn’t any idea the woman was your wife. Having - discovered this, my scheme is laid to take her away from the stage - and hold her until a deed, properly executed to me by Wah-coo-tah - Lawless, for the Forty Thieves Mine, is left on the black boulder - at Medicine Bluff. The girl, under care of Buffalo Bill’s girl - pard, I understand is getting well, there in Sun Dance. You can - have the deed executed at once, and leave it for me at midnight, - to-night, at the place stated. On the day following, your wife will - be given a horse and sent into camp. If you do not leave the deed, - as stated, you will never see your wife again. This is the last - call. - - “‘CAPTAIN LAWLESS.’” - -“The inhuman brute!” broke from the scout’s lips. - -“You understand the situation, Buffalo Bill?” asked the gambler. “I -am so overcome by what has happened that I am hardly able to think or -plan. But your head is clear. Put yourself in my place, then do for -me as you would do for yourself.” - -“In the first place,” said the scout, after a few moments’ thought, -“Lawless is not a man to be trusted, anyway we plan.” - -“I know that,” breathed Gentleman Jim. - -“Even if you allowed him to intimidate you, and even if Wah-coo-tah -would give a deed, if the document was taken to Medicine Bluff -to-night, you have no assurance that you could trust Lawless to send -your wife here to-morrow.” - -“I understand.” - -“It seems to me, then,” pursued the scout, “that the one thing to do -is to take Lawless’ trail at the earliest possible moment.” - -“Where shall we pick it up?” - -“At the place where the trail curves around the arm of the gulch.” - -“But how shall we follow the trail when we once find it? Lawless is -cunning. He will blind his course.” - -“Little Cayuse will help us.” - -“Ah! I had forgotten Little Cayuse. You think the boy is on the track -of the gang?” - -“I am as sure of that as I am that I stand here this minute. It is -just like Cayuse. He scented trouble before the first hold-up, and he -got out of the stage before the thieves saw him. It’s a safe bet that -he’s on the track of Lawless right now.” - -“I believe you are right,” mused the gambler. “Cayuse is our one -hope. If he cannot help us find Lawless, no one and nothing else can. -The scoundrel has laid other plans to get even with you, Buffalo -Bill, and he will be wary in carrying them out. He will profit -by past experience, and will make sure he has you safe before he -strikes.” - -“He is not counting on Little Cayuse,” said the scout grimly, “and we -are. The boy has never yet failed me.” - -“Lawless is eager for you to follow him,” pursued the gambler; “that -was the word he sent by Billings.” - -“That was only bluster,” said the scout lightly. “Lawless’ weak point -is bluster. He lays clever plans, but he usually overreaches himself. -Offering to give me the Forty Thieves Mine if I would stay in it for -three days and nights is only a sample of his harebrained schemes.” - -“What a cur the scoundrel must be,” growled Gentleman Jim, “to take -such trinkets from a woman!” - -“He was no more of a cur then than he was when he shot his own -daughter,” said the scout. - -“I suppose not, but what has happened to-day hits me nearer home. If -I can get Alice back----” - -“You can,” said the scout, with quiet confidence. - -“Well, when I do, I shall change my whole course of life. I shall -never touch another card as long as I live. Alice and I will go back -East, and I will return to my old profession and make another name -for myself. I am only forty-five----” - -“Just in your prime, Gentleman Jim!” interposed the scout heartily. - -“Not too old to carve out another place for myself, do you think?” - -“Certainly not!” and the scout reached over and caught his friend’s -hand in a hearty grip. “You have too good stuff in you to waste your -talents on cards and the green table.” - -“Well, let us think for a little.” The gambler settled back in his -chair. “The first hold-up gave Lawless the ring and the locket. He -saw my picture in the locket, and my first name in the ring. From -that it was easy for him to figure out that Alice was my wife, and -that she was going to me at Sun Dance. By cutting across the arm -of the gulch, he and his men could overtake the stage. On the way, -Lawless wrote that note. When he came up with the stage, he found -those aboard wrangling over what they were going to do to your -friend, De Bray.” - -“They had got over wrangling, I reckon,” said the scout. “De Bray had -shown them twenty one-thousand-dollar bills, and had explained his -actions. De Bray’s intentions were all right, and he would have won -out, and nothing would have happened, if Billings hadn’t insisted on -stopping the stage. As it is, Mrs. Brisco is missing, and so is De -Bray’s twenty thousand, along with a little more money belonging to -Pete and Hotchkiss. This ‘clean-up’ of mine, as Lawless has referred -to it, is going to be comprehensive.” The scout’s eyes flashed -resolutely. “We are not only going to rescue Mrs. Brisco, but we are -also going to get back De Bray’s money, and wind up the career of -Lawless into the bargain.” - -Gentleman Jim, suddenly alert and feverishly eager, bounded to his -feet. - -“When do we start?” he asked. - -“As soon as we can get ready. I believe my old pard must be getting -the horses under saddle now.” - -“I’ll be ready by the time you are,” said the gambler. - -Opening the secret drawer, he started to put the locket and the ring -into it; then, changing his mind, he put only the ring into the -drawer, and placed the locket in an inside pocket of his coat. - -“Great events,” said Buffalo Bill, “sometimes hang upon trifling -incidents.” - -He had reference to Lawless’ getting the locket, looking at the -pictures inside, and suddenly making up his mind to overhaul the -stage and spirit away the gambler’s wife. - -At the same time, the placing of the locket in his breast pocket by -Gentleman Jim, though a trifling incident, was destined to have a -vital bearing on the trend of the gambler’s affairs. - -Leaving Gentleman Jim to make his preparations, the scout hurried out -of the Alcazar and off down the street toward the Lucky Strike Hotel. - -Spangler was wabbling excitedly about in front of his hostelry, -spluttering his ideas and opinions regarding the double hold-up to -Dell Dauntless. At sight of the scout, the girl ran toward him, her -eyes sparkling. - -“At last, pard,” she cried, “your chance has come to bring things to -a finish in this matter of Captain Lawless.” - -“Right you are, Dell,” he answered: “and the chance has come somewhat -before I had expected it.” - -“Of course I’m going with you,” said Dell. - -“Who will stay with Wah-coo-tah?” - -“She says she can take care of herself now, and wants me to go.” - -“You understand don’t you, Dell, that Lawless expects us to follow -him, and that he has probably prepared another of his ingenious traps -for us?” - -“I understand; but this trap, whatever it is, will fail, just as that -other one did at the mine.” - -“Of course! But I think I would rather you stayed here. We have men -enough, you know.” - -“This is the last time I shall ever ride with you, pard,” said -Dell. “I am going back to Arizona, you know, as soon as Lawless is -captured. You’re going to let me go, aren’t you? For the last time?” - -Dell’s intention of returning to Arizona had been talked over among -the pards for several days. Dell’s ranch, the “Double D,” was needing -her, and she and the rest of the pards were near the time when their -trails forked. Under those conditions, the scout could not deny the -girl her wish. - -“All right, Dell,” said Buffalo Bill, “but I hope this ride will not -be the last we have together.” - -“I thought it would be all right,” said Dell, “so I asked Nomad and -Wild Bill to bring up Silver Heels with the rest of the horses.” - -Dell ran into the hotel to make ready, and just as the scout was -turning away he saw a fog of dust down the street. Two riders soon -broke out of the fog, and had evidently ridden into camp from the -upper rim of the cañon. - -One of the riders was Hank Tenny, and the other was a Cheyenne Indian. - -Both horsemen drew to a halt in front of Buffalo Bill. - -“What’s to pay, Hank?” queried Buffalo Bill, staring at Tenny’s face -keenly. “Got something up your sleeve?” - -“Not me, Buffler,” replied Tenny, “but the red has.” He turned to the -Cheyenne. “Out with it, Hawk,” said he. “Here’s the scout, the feller -ye was wantin’ ter find.” - -The Indian leaned forward from the back of his horse, jerked a strip -of birch-bark from his girdle, and thrust it into the scout’s hand. - -“Little Cayuse send um,” said he. “Me heap good Cheyenne, all same -friend Little Cayuse, Buff’ Bill. Me bring um.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - PICTURE-WRITING. - - -As renegade Cheyennes had been helping Lawless in his criminal work, -Buffalo Bill was not taking offhand this Indian’s word that he was a -friend. - -“You know Little Cayuse?” queried the scout. - -“Wuh!” answered the Cheyenne; “me know um for long time.” - -“When did he give you this?” The scout held up the piece of -birch-bark. - -The Indian pointed to the sky, indicating the place of the sun an -hour before. - -“Where?” went on the scout. - -“On trail to Pass Dure.” - -“I reckon I know what ye’re gittin’ at, pard,” said Hank Tenny. “Some -Cheyennes hev been helpin’ Lawless, an’ ye think mebby thet the Hawk -ain’t straight. But I know him, an’ ye kin take my word fer it thet -he’s straight goods. What’s the matter, anyways? ’Pears like thar was -somethin’ unusual goin’ on hyer.” - -At that moment, Wild Bill and Nomad came galloping around the hotel -from the direction of the stable. They rode their own horses, and -were leading the scout’s big black, Bear Paw, and Dell’s cayuse, -Silver Heels. - -“My pards will tell you what’s up, Tenny,” said the scout, and turned -and went into the hotel office. - -Dell was just coming out of her room, spurred, “heeled,” and ready -for her ride with her pards. - -“Here’s something, Dell,” called the scout, dropping into a chair -by a table and laying the piece of birch-bark in front of him. “A -Cheyenne just rode in with this and said Little Cayuse gave it to -him.” - -“Some of Cayuse’s picture-writing!” exclaimed Dell, drawing near and -leaning on the table beside the scout. “It must be a clue to the -course taken by Lawless and his gang--that is, if it isn’t a trick -Lawless is trying to play on you.” - -“I don’t think it’s a trick,” the scout answered. “Unless I’m wide -of my trail, Lawless doesn’t know Cayuse is following him, so he -wouldn’t have any reason to send in a treacherous red with a piece of -birch-bark and say the same came from the boy. Besides, Tenny rode -into camp with the Indian, and says he is straight goods.” - -“Good!” murmured Dell exultantly. “That means, pard, we’ve got a -clue, first clatter out of the box.” - -She studied the picture for a space. - -“That looks like Cayuse’s work,” she said finally, “and that little -horse, down in the right-hand corner, is the way he always signs his -name. But I can’t make anything out of it. Can you?” - -It took a keen mind to decipher the Piute boy’s communications. -Having a keen mind himself, he credited everybody else with the same -shrewdness, and drew his symbols with a free hand. - -The strip of bark was comparatively fresh, and the picture was -drawn with a knife-point on the soft surface that had lain next the -tree. Wherever the steel point had traveled it had left a plainly -perceptible line. - -“Off to the right here,” mused the scout, “is an odd-looking hill.” - -“It looks about as much like an adobe house as it does like a hill,” -countered Dell. - -“Trees don’t grow on adobe houses, Dell. That thing on top of the -hill is a tree.” - -“Right you are,” assented the girl. “What are those two figures -at the top? They seem to be drawn on the margin, and are merely a -suggestion of something, it strikes me, and have nothing to do with -the main picture.” - -The figures to which Dell referred were drawn close to the edge of -the piece of bark, and were exactly alike. Evidently they represented -one and the same man; but over one was drawn a pair of mule’s ears. - -“By George!” exclaimed the scout. “Those figures represent a white -man, with a mustache and a sash. Who but Lawless wears a sash? A belt -is good enough for every one else in these parts.” - -“It’s Lawless,” agreed Dell, “but why are there two of him? And what -do those mule’s ears mean over one of the figures?” - -“Give it up; that’s something for us to puzzle out later. That part -of it is only what you might call a marginal note, anyway. The main -picture shows Lawless again, with a figure that is plainly intended -to represent a white woman. The woman is Mrs. Brisco, whom Lawless -and his gang carried away.” - -“Mrs. Brisco?” queried Dell. “I thought no one on the stage knew her -name?” - -“Some facts,” answered the scout vaguely, “were brought out by that -note Billings brought to Gentleman Jim from Lawless.” - -The scout did not intend, as yet, to reveal Gentleman Jim’s secret -even to Dell. In his own good time, Gentleman Jim himself could tell -the people of Sun Dance about his wife. - -“Those six marks,” went on the scout, indicating the marks as he -spoke, “represent six followers, showing the gang to be composed of -seven members, all told.” - -“I understood from Billings that there were eight, all told.” - -“One was killed by Pete, during the fight that took place at the -time of the second hold-up,” explained the scout. Then, proceeding -to decipher the picture, he went on: “Back of the marks is an Indian -with an eagle-feather. That, of course, is Cayuse, trailing. Over -there, in the upper left-hand corner, is a cross representing the -four cardinal points of the compass. The hill appears to be northwest -of us.” - -While this conversation had been going on in the office, the -horses had clattered up, and Tenny had been engaged in an excited -conversation with Nomad and Wild Bill. Presently some one else joined -them, and they all came into the hotel. - -“Got any clues from thet pictur’, Buffler?” - -The scout looked up and saw the old trapper, Wild Bill, Gentleman -Jim, and Hank Tenny. - -“It’s from Cayuse, all right,” answered the scout. - -“Good enough!” exclaimed the gambler, pressing closer to the table. -“It’s a clue, is it, Cody?” - -“Yes. Little Cayuse is following the gang, which consists of seven, -including Lawless. They have a white woman prisoner along.” - -A tremor ran through Gentleman Jim’s lithe form at mention of the -woman prisoner; but he quickly pulled himself together, and bent his -eager eyes upon the crude drawing. - -“There’s a hill there,” pursued the scout, laying one finger on the -queer-shaped elevation. “Dell thought it might be a house, but I -claim it’s a hill because that thing on top of it is a tree. It lies -northwest of here, and the gang with their prisoner are apparently -headed toward the hill.” - -Gentleman Jim gave a start. - -“Look here, Tenny,” he called. The cowboy miner leaned over beside -him. “Doesn’t that look like Medicine Bluff?” asked the gambler. - -“It shore does!” declared Tenny. “Thar’s a lone tree on the Bluff, -too.” - -Gentleman Jim turned his eyes on the scout. - -“Did Little Cayuse know anything about Medicine Bluff, Buffalo Bill? -Had he ever seen it?” - -“Sure he’d seen it!” struck in Wild Bill. “The boy used to be a -bugler with one of the companies at Fort Sill. He has traveled all -over this part of the country with the doughboys.” - -“Hickok is right,” agreed the scout. “If Cayuse ever saw that hill -once, he’d be able to draw it a hundred years from now. He never -forgets anything.” - -“Then,” murmured Gentleman Jim, “Lawless and his gang are headed for -Medicine Bluff with my--with their prisoner, and our clue is a hot -one. There’ll be no need to go to the arm of the gulch, to pick up -the trail on the scene of the second hold-up, for, if this is really -from Cayuse, we can mount and ride straight for the Bluff, thereby -saving time.” - -“Thet’s our cue!” exulted Nomad. “Ye kin trust Leetle Cayuse ter do -a thing like this up proper, ev’ry time. Thet kid ain’t got his ekal -anywhar in ther West. I’ll back him agin’ all comers, white er red, -bar none o’ ther same size an’ y’ars.” - -“Are you ready for the trail, Gentleman Jim?” inquired the scout. - -“I will be, as soon as I look after Hotchkiss and Pete,” the gambler -answered. “It will only take a few moments to take care of their -injuries.” - -While he was with Hotchkiss and Pete, the scout and the rest of his -pards went out in front. Wing Hi was just depositing four war-bags on -the ground near the horses. Wild Bill had had the bags filled with -rations. - -All swung to the backs of their horses, and the war-bags were -strapped at the saddle-cantles. Presently Gentleman Jim issued -hurriedly from the hotel and climbed into his saddle. - -“Hotchkiss and Pete are all right,” he announced. “The only thing -that worries them is that they can’t take part in this expedition. -If they were to try that, however, I wouldn’t answer for the -consequences.” - -“They have done their part,” said the scout. “Spurs and quirts, boys!” - -Spurs rattled, quirts swished, and the party rode off at a gallop, -heading for the rim of the gulch. - -There were six of them--Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, Nomad, Dell -Dauntless, Gentleman Jim, and Hank Tenny. Before they had reached the -slope leading to the gulch, a yell was heard behind them, and out of -a cloud of dust broke De Bray, mounted on a sorrel cayuse, and with -a rifle across the saddle in front of him. He was still wearing his -“boiled” shirt, collar, red vest, and white trousers, making, all -together, a somewhat unusual figure for a foray such as the scout and -his pards were then starting upon. - -The scout turned in his saddle and looked back; then with a laugh, he -remarked: - -“It’s a safe bet, pards, we couldn’t lose De Bray.” - -“Is he going along with us, in _that_ rig?” queried Wild Bill. - -“I presume he didn’t have time to change, Hickok; but he’ll give a -good account of himself in any rig.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - ON THE WAY TO MEDICINE BLUFF. - - -“What do you fellows mean by trying to cut me out like this?” cried -Reginald de Bray, as he spurred alongside the scout and his pards. -There was more of jest than rebuke in his voice, however, as became -apparent when he added: “You know, I’m in on this deal to the tune of -twenty thousand.” - -“Well, De Bray,” laughed the scout, “I had supposed that maybe that -lump on the back of your head was giving you trouble, and that you -were willing to trust me to look after your twenty thousand and stay -in Sun Dance along with Hotchkiss and Pete.” - -“It was a stiff blow I got on the back of my head, but it wasn’t hard -enough to knock me out of a picnic like this.” - -“This won’t be much of a picnic,” said Wild Bill, with a sarcastic -look at the Denver man’s clothes. “You look like you were got up for -a hoe down.” - -“Bother the clothes!” exclaimed De Bray; “the time was short, and I -couldn’t change them. I bought this gun and forty rounds”--he slapped -his new rifle and the ammunition-belt at his waist--“and then went -with a man to buy this horse. All that was necessary, of course, and -while I was about it you fellows came within one of giving me the -slip. Here I am, though, with one eye out for trouble and the other -scanning the hazy distance for my lost dinero. Lawless overlooked my -watch during that double mix-up we had with him, and I had to pledge -it for the gun, the ammunition, the horse, and the riding-gear.” - -“You needn’t have done that, De Bray,” said the scout. “You could -have had the outfit charged to me.” - -“Didn’t have time to think of that,” caroled the Denver man blithely. - -“You act,” said Wild Bill, somewhat mystified by the way the Denver -man carried himself, “as though losing twenty thousand was an -every-day affair with you.” - -“If I do, then I’m acting a whole lot different from what I feel. -Twenty thousand is quite a bunch of money, but if I never saw it -again it wouldn’t break me.” - -When they had climbed to the rim of the cañon, Buffalo Bill resigned -the lead to Gentleman Jim and Tenny, who were both perfectly familiar -with the country and competent to lay a straight course for Medicine -Bluff. - -These two rode in the lead: behind them came Dell and the scout, then -Nomad, and lastly Wild Bill and De Bray, the two latter hobnobbing -as they rode and getting better acquainted. Wild Bill found, as did -every one else with whom the Denver man came in contact, that his -stirrup companion improved upon acquaintance. - -“I wish I could understand the whole of that picture Little Cayuse -drew for us,” remarked Dell, as they galloped across the level -country that stretched northwesterly from Sun Dance Cañon. - -“What bothers you, pard?” queried the scout. - -“That ‘marginal note,’ as you called it,” replied Dell. “What do -those mule’s ears mean?” - -“If it comes to that,” laughed the scout, “they may not be mule’s -ears.” - -“If they’re anything else, then the mystery is only deepened.” - -“Let’s forget the mystery, for now. The main part of the diagram is -clear enough, and Medicine Bluff lies ahead of us.” - -“I suppose, Buffler,” sang out the old trapper from behind, “thet -ther nub o’ this pizen bizness is gittin’ ther woman back.” - -“That’s the main point, Nick,” answered the scout. “After that, we -can think of the money lost by those on the stage. The woman must be -safely rescued.” - -“I wish ter thunder, pard,” went on Nomad, “thet ye’d sent me ter -Montegordo along with Cayuse. Ef ye had, ’stead o’ settin’ in ther -Lucky Strike Hotel, watchin’ Hickok put et all over me at this game -they calls seven-up, I’d er been mixed in with things wuth while. -Seems like excitement has been side-steppin’ from in front er me ever -sence thet fracas at ther Forty Thieves.” - -“Which was as many as seven days ago,” returned the scout. “Can’t you -stand a week’s lull, Nick?” - -“I dunno, pard. I’m so used ter things happenin’ thet ef a day comes -in an’ slides out without somethin’ doin’, I begins ter think trouble -hes took er vacation. So fur Leetle Cayuse appears ter be hevin’ all -ther fun.” - -“You may have all the ‘fun’ you want, and more, too, before we have -run out this trail.” - -“Here’s hopin’,” said the old warrior. - -The sun had set about the time the party left the top of Sun Dance -Cañon; the darkness deepened, the stars lighted up in the vault, and -a crescent moon began to brighten. Night was no bar to the ready -knowledge of Gentleman Jim and Hank Tenny, however, and they led the -scout and his pards along a bee-line as near as the nature of the -country would permit. - -Three hours of saddle-work brought the riders into rough country; -low hills, bare and sterile, but steep-sided, surrounded them--hills -where time was saved by going around rather than by seeking to climb -over. - -At last, four hours out of Sun Dance, Tenny and Gentleman Jim drew -rein in a shallow valley, and waited for those behind to catch up. - -“We’re close to Medicine Bluff,” announced Gentleman Jim. “It is no -more than a mile from here, and this valley divides into two branches -just ahead of us. The right-hand fork will bring us out at the -western foot of the Bluff, and the left-hand fork will land us on the -eastern side. There’s a slope on the eastern side by which the top of -the Bluff can be reached, but it seems to me that the western side -would be the one where the outlaws are most likely to be found. Which -course shall we take, Buffalo Bill? It’s up to you.” - -“We’ll take both forks of the valley,” answered the scout promptly. - -“You mean-----” - -“I mean that we’ll divide into two parties. If the scoundrels we -seek are hiding around the Bluff, and if they have laid any sort -of a trap, we can bother them by riding into their game in two -detachments. Tenny and you, Gentleman Jim, are familiar with the -country, so you’ll have to be separated. Tenny, Dell, and I will -travel the left-hand fork; that will leave you, Nomad, Wild Bill, and -De Bray to go to the right. Your force will be a little stronger than -ours, but it may be that you are going into more dangerous ground. We -can come together again at the Bluff.” - -“Correct!” exclaimed Gentleman Jim. “This clean-up, Buffalo Bill, -must be finished to-night. The--the prisoner must not be left in -the hands of that gang a minute longer than necessary. I have ten -thousand dollars for the man who brings her to me before sunrise----” - -“Jim,” interrupted the scout, “not one of us would take your money. -We’ll work just as hard for you as though there was a million dollars -at stake.” - -“That’s like you, Buffalo Bill,” said Gentleman Jim; “and right here -I want you all to know that the prisoner is my wife.” - -Startled exclamations came from those not in the secret, and in the -midst of the surprise Gentleman Jim used his spurs and started along -the valley. - -“Come on,” he flung back over his shoulder, “all those who are to -travel with me.” - -Nomad, Wild Bill, and De Bray detached themselves from the party -and galloped after the gambler. Tenny, Buffalo Bill, and the girl -watched them vanish into the darkness that lay like a pall over the -right-hand fork, then themselves spurred into the left-hand branch of -the valley. - -“His wife!” whispered Dell, in amazement. “Didn’t you say the woman’s -name was Mrs. Brisco, Buffalo Bill?” - -“Yes. Gentleman Jim’s name is Brisco; James Brisco, although Sun -Dance Cañon has never known him by any other name than that of -Gentleman Jim.” - -“Right ye aire, Buffler Bill!” exclaimed Tenny. “Gentleman Jim has -allers been a queer fish--generous, squar’, an’ a man o’ nerve -whenever nerve was needed. But everybody knows thar was somethin’ in -his past life which he was keepin’ close. However, thet’s ther case -with purty nigh every one in the gulch, an’ no one has ever showed a -pryin’ dispersition so fur as Gentleman Jim is consarned.” - -“But--well, he’s a gambler,” said Dell. “Even a ‘square’ gambler -might be in better business.” - -“Gentleman Jim _will_ be in better business before many days,” said -the scout. “His wife was coming to Sun Dance to find him, and Jim is -eager to meet her, and then to turn his back on the gambling-table, -return East and pick up his medical profession where he broke it off. -When he leaves Sun Dance, mark my words, he’ll be a credit to any -community that has the luck to get him.” - -“I hope we shall find Mrs. Brisco,” said Dell softly. - -“That’s what we’re here for,” said the scout briskly. - -The walls of the left-hand fork began to narrow, and the ground under -the horses’ hoofs to become rugged and difficult. - -“We’ll do more travelin’ ter cover ther mile thet separates us from -the Bluff,” averred Tenny, “than Jim an’ his party will. T’other fork -o’ ther valley is tollable easy, compared ter this ’un. They’ll be at -the Bluff afore we aire, too, an’ if they meet up with any trouble, -it’ll be some leetle time afore we come close enough ter help. If I -was ter choose trails, I’d shore hev picked out----” - -Tenny was interrupted by a spurt of fire from overhead, followed by -the _sping_ of a rifle. His horse jumped, and his hat was whipped off -as effectively as though some hand had reached out of the gloom and -torn it from his head. - -“Outlaws!” cried the scout, his quick wit instantly busying itself -with the situation; “press close to the right wall--quick!” - -The horses were swerved in the direction indicated, and a jab of -the spurs carried them into the heavy shadow of the wall at a dozen -jumps. - -There, in the screen of thick darkness, the scout and his two -companions awaited further developments. - -If Lawless and his men were back of that rifle-shot, they were slow -in following up the attack. The one shot was all that was fired, and -ominous silence followed it. Not a sound was heard by the scout and -his friends aside from the heavy breathing of their horses. - -“Thet was blame’ sudden,” muttered Hank Tenny, “an’ blame’ near bein’ -a bull’s-eye, too. I felt ther wind o’ thet bullet, an’ ther way it -snatched off my head-gear made it look as though it wanted ter take -my head with it.” - -“A miss is as good as a mile, Hank,” said the scout, in a low tone. - -While he spoke, his eyes were searching the darkness in the direction -from which the shot had come. - -“I ain’t grumblin’ none,” continued Tenny. - -“The bullet came from the top of the wall,” put in Dell. - -“Yes; the men, whoever they may be, are up there.” - -“’Course they’re the gang we’re arter,” remarked Tenny, “but they’re -showin’ their hands consider’ble this side o’ the Bluff. I reckon,” -he finished grimly, “thet ye picked the likeliest fork, Buffler Bill, -when ye come ter ther left. We’ve cut out this bunch o’ trouble for -our own.” - -“Why don’t they follow up the surprise?” queried Dell restively. -“A surprise like that doesn’t amount to much unless it is followed -up--and followed up quick.” - -“I can’t understand why the scoundrels are holding their fire,” mused -Buffalo Bill, “unless it is because they can’t locate us, and don’t -want to waste their ammunition. Hold my horse, Dell.” - -The scout flung the girl his reins and slipped quietly down from his -saddle. - -“What are you going to do, pard?” whispered the girl anxiously. - -“A little scouting,” he replied, “in order to determine what we’re up -against. That shot came from the wall, across the valley. Can I climb -the wall over there, Tenny?” - -“It’ll be a hard scramble,” was the reply, “but I reckon Buffler Bill -kin do whatever he sets out ter try. Leastways, thet’s how it seems -from the fashion ye’ve been doin’ things sence ye hit Sun Dance.” - -“Wait for me here,” said the scout, moving slowly away through the -gloom. “If you hear me whistle, Tenny, leave your horse with Dell and -come over, for it’s barely possible I shall need you.” - -Emerging cautiously from the heavy shadow of the bank, the scout -dropped to his knees and crawled across the valley. The bottom of the -valley was fairly light, and had the scout not taken advantage of -the boulders and depressions, he could easily have been seen by the -marksman on the wall, and almost as easily have been snuffed out by a -bullet. - -But he was a master of the sort of work that now engaged his -attention, and he gained the opposite wall without being seen. - -The wall was steep and covered with sharp rocks. The rocks, while -making the scout’s climb more difficult, at the same time served to -shield him from the view of any one above. - -To make such a hard ascent without loosening a stone, or sending a -spurt of sand down the wall, was the task the scout had set for -himself; and that he accomplished it, in the semidarkness, was an -added proof of the powers that had made him what he was--king of -scouts and prince of Indian-fighters. - -And, strange as it may seem, this feat was performed almost under the -very nose of a watchful outlaw. The scout, of course, knew nothing -about the outlaw’s location while he was making the climb. The -discovery came as a surprise when he had crawled over the brink of -the wall. - -The first object he beheld was a horse, standing about a hundred feet -from the rim of the valley. The horse had an empty saddle, and there -were no other horses in its vicinity. - -The scout immediately drew the conclusion that a lone outlaw -had fired the shot at Tenny--perhaps an outpost, placed at that -particular point to watch the approach to the Bluff. - -Then, just as he had settled this question to his satisfaction, he -crawled, snakelike, around a boulder, and saw the man himself. - -The man was lying flat down on the other side of the boulder, a rifle -in his hands and his eyes scanning the valley. It was plain enough -that he was waiting for some sight or sound that would locate the -party which had already been a target for him. - -Still crawling, although with redoubled vigilance, the scout -attempted to come close enough to take the man at unawares and effect -a capture. In this he was not successful. The scraping sounds of his -forward movement, indistinct almost as the tread of a puma, suddenly -struck on the ears of the man with the gun. - -He started up, and, just as he rose, the scout sprang erect, and came -to hand-grips with him. - -“Buffler Bill!” gasped the outlaw. - -“Tex!” exclaimed the scout, with a short laugh. “You’re not much of a -sniper, Tex. What are you doing with your ears?” - -The outlaw swore heartily, and began to fight. - -Buffalo Bill had seen this man, whom Lawless and his gang called -‘Tex,’ and it was easy to recognize the fellow’s huge bulk, in spite -of the screening darkness. - -A powerful man was Tex, and he marshaled all his strength for what he -must have believed to be a fight for life. - -At close quarters Tex could not use his rifle--in fact, that weapon -had dropped the instant the scout had grabbed him--so he sought to -break away and draw one of his revolvers. - -Buffalo Bill understood perfectly well what Tex’s intentions were, -and hung to him with a grip of iron. - -Finding himself unable to get clear of the scout’s hands, Tex -attempted to draw a bowie that swung in front of him from his belt. - -In a mix-up like that a knife was far and away more dangerous than a -revolver. - -Back and forth, and around and around the two men strained, and the -scout was not long in discovering that he had never met a man more -worthy of his strength and prowess than was Tex. - -Time and again Tex got a hand on the knife-hilt, and time and again -the scout caught the hand and wrenched it away, always with the -blade still in its scabbard, although once or twice the blade was -half-drawn. - -For either combatant to gain an advantage seemed out of the question. -The contest, the scout early made up his mind, was to be one of -endurance. - -After the first exchange of words neither of the men spoke. Breath -was valuable, and could not be wasted. - -But steadily the giant frame of Tex was worn down, and his hard -breathing and husky gasps told of the effort he was making to keep -the battle at even odds. - -The scout, on the contrary, was a man of iron endurance. After ten -minutes of nerve-wracking struggle, he was apparently as fresh as -when he had begun the fight. - -“Yield!” panted the scout. - -“Give up an’ stretch a rope, hey?” wheezed Tex; “not me!” - -For certain reasons, later to be explained, the scout wanted to -capture Tex uninjured, or practically so. But some rough work was -necessary, and the chance for it came as Tex finished his defiance. - -Several times the pair had weaved about on the brink of the wall. As -the final word left the ruffian’s lips, he and the scout were again -in that position. - -Calling upon all his strength, the scout lifted the outlaw bodily -and flung him backward. Tex’s hands were torn away from the scout’s -buckskin shirt, and he keeled over backward, down the slope. - -The big fellow fell heavily, and began rolling and bounding down the -steep descent. The gloom swallowed up his rolling figure, and then -the rattle of rocks and loosened débris suddenly ceased. - -The scout stood for a second, breathing hard and looking downward -into the darkness; then, giving vent to a sharp whistle, he started -down the bank. - -The whistle was returned from close at hand--from part way up the -slope, in fact--and was followed by the voice of Tenny. - -“What d’ye want, Buffler Bill?” - -“There’s a man down there somewhere: see if you can find him.” - -“Did ye hev a fracas with the feller?” - -“Yes, and he went over the bank. It’s Tex, one of Lawless’ men. I -want to capture him alive, if I can.” - -“I heerd a scramble over hyer,” went on Tenny, floundering about -on the slope, “an’ reckoned ye might be needin’ me, so I started -acrost without waitin’ fer ye ter whistle. I didn’t know but thet---- -Woof!” Tenny broke off his remarks abruptly. “Hyer he is, Buffler--I -stumbled right over him. He’s wrapped around a big stone, an’ as limp -as a rag. Reckon he busted his neck--an’ good enough fer him, if he -did.” - -Lowering himself carefully downward, the scout presently reached the -place where Tex had been halted in his rough descent of the slope. - -“He’s all right,” said the scout, after a moment’s examination. -“Stunned, that’s all. We’ll get a rope on him before he comes to his -senses.” - -“I’ll hev ter go acrost the valley ter my hoss ter git a rope,” said -Tenny. - -“Tex’s horse is just over the brink of the wall. Bring the animal. -The chances are you’ll find a riata coiled at the saddle-horn, and -there’ll be a heap of satisfaction in tying Tex with his own rope.” - -“Thar’d be more satisfaction in hangin’ him with it,” growled Tenny, -as he scrambled to the top of the wall and disappeared. - -While Tenny was gone, the scout stripped the outlaw of his knife and -six-shooters. - -The capture of Tex was an unexpected stroke of luck, but just how -much luck there was in it the scout could not tell until later. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - - A COWED OUTLAW. - - -Tex was bound and half-dragged and half-carried down the slope -to the bottom of the valley. Bringing his horse down was a hard -proposition, but Tenny managed to accomplish it by throwing a couple -of somersaults and barking his shins on the rocks. - -It was very evident that Tex was the only one of Lawless’ men in that -immediate vicinity, and the scout and his pards considered themselves -fairly secure. Dell rode out from under the sheltering bank leading -Bear Paw and Tenny’s mount. She had heard enough of the conversation -between the scout and Tenny to understand what had happened. - -“He’s a good fighter, Dell,” said the scout, when she and Tenny had -both reached his side and they were grouped about Tex and waiting for -him to recover his wits. “If he had been as good with his rifle as he -is with his hands, Tenny would have been out of the reckoning by now.” - -“Did you catch him napping, pard?” - -“I blundered right onto him. If his ears had been sharp, he would -have heard me climbing up the bank, for I reached the top only a few -yards from where he was lying, waiting for a chance to take a shot -across the valley.” - -“Whyever did ye want ter ketch him alive?” asked Tenny. - -“He’s a weak sister, Tenny, in the sense that his allegiance to -Lawless’ gang is none too hard and fast. I know that from things I -have heard. I think we can use Tex; at any rate, I intend to see what -I can do with him.” - -Just then Tex gave a gurgle and sat up, straining at the rope around -his hands. - -“Don’t break loose,” taunted Tenny. “It’s yer own rope we’ve put on -ye, an’ you ort ter know how strong it is.” - -“No one but Buffler Bill could hev ketched me like that,” growled -Tex. “I’ve allers said he was a powerful sort of er man--too powerful -for us fellers ter buck ag’inst with any show o’ winnin’ out. He’s -beat Lawless twicet at his own game, an’ I reckon he’ll beat him -agin.” - -“I reckon I will, Tex,” said the scout. “Do you want us to take you -to Fort Sill and turn you over to the soldiers?” - -“Might as well go ter Fort Sill as ter any other place,” said Tex, -with resignation. “I’m up a stump, anyways. It don’t make any -diff’rence whether I’m shot er strung up; they both mean the same -thing in the end. Thunder! I allers reckoned if I hung onter Lawless -long enough this is what ’u’d happen. I didn’t want ter be took -alive! Why didn’t ye use a gun on me, Buffler Bill?” - -“Because I had other plans,” said the scout briefly. “Where’s -Lawless?” - -Tex was silent. - -“Where has he taken Mrs. Brisco?” - -Still Tex would not find his tongue. - -“Why don’t you answer me?” asked the scout. - -“Ye want ter know a heap,” answered Tex, after a brief period of -reflection. “What good is it goin’ ter do me ter tell ye all that?” - -“That depends on whether you tell the truth or not.” - -“Git down ter brass tacks,” said Tex. “Jest what d’ye mean by sayin’ -that?” - -“I mean that if you will answer my questions truthfully, just as soon -as Lawless is down and out, I’ll set you at liberty--providing you’ll -agree to leave the country.” - -“I don’t reckon thar’s anythin’ ter be gained by buckin’ you further -than what I hev,” mused Tex. “I’ve had plenty of it lately, an’ it -ain’t never amounted ter nothin’, ’cept ter git us fellers deeper -an’ deeper in the hole. I begun as an honest miner, over thar in Sun -Dance Cañon, but Coomby talked me over ter helpin’ Lawless, sayin’ as -how we’d all git a slice o’ the Forty Thieves if we hung on. Now the -mine has been deeded ter Wah-coo-tah Lawless, an’ us fellers won’t -git none o’ it onless Wah-coo-tah Lawless makes out a deed ter Cap’n -Lawless, an’ ther deed is left at ther black rock at Medicine Bluff -ter-night. Is that deed goin’ ter be left?” - -“Not that anybody knows of,” said the scout. - -“Thet’s what I told Lawless; but when he gits the bit in his teeth, -thar ain’t no doin’ anythin’ with him.” - -“I have just begun my clean-up,” said the scout, “and Lawless and his -men will be down and out before I’m through. You’re down and out now, -Tex, and this is the beginning. You can save yourself, however, if -you want to answer my questions. We shall wipe out the gang with or -without your information, but you may be able to tell us something -that will make the job a trifle easier. What’s the word?” - -“How do I know ye’ll turn me loose if I tell ye what I know?” - -“You have my word,” said the scout shortly. “If that isn’t good -enough for you, we’ll stop negotiations right here, and I’ll send you -over to Sill.” - -“Waal, I’d a heap rather take chances with you than ter take ’em at -Sill,” answered the cowed desperado. “What d’ye want ter know?” - -“First off, how did you happen to be on the top of the bank?” - -“I was watchin’ fer you, er some o’ the others from Sun Dance. -Lawless knowed he’d be follered arter the news o’ the hold-up got ter -the camp. I was watchin’ this road ter Medicine Bluff, an’ Coomby was -watchin’ the other.” - -“Why did you fire at us?” - -“Bekase I’d feel a heap safer in my mind if I knowed Buffler Bill had -been picked off.” - -“You tried to pick off Tenny here, and not me.” - -“I was waitin’ for a chance at you when ye jumped me up behind thet -boulder,” was the rueful answer. - -“How did you know I wasn’t coming to Medicine Bluff to leave the -deed?” - -“How does a feller know thet water won’t run up-hill? Thet wasn’t -ther kind of er play ter ketch you, an’ thet’s what I told Lawless. I -ain’t felt easy a minit sence you was in Sun Dance Cañon.” - -“Well, we’ll let that pass. Where is Mrs. Brisco?” - -“Some’r’s around Medicine Bluff, at last accounts. I don’t know jest -whar. I come away ter watch this fork afore Lawless decided jest whar -he’d take her.” - -“Is she being well treated?” - -“She gits the best ther camp affords.” - -“Is Lawless with her?” - -“By now, I reckon, he’s on his way ter Pima Camp, in Chavorta Gorge.” - -“Why is he going to Pima Camp?” - -“He’s made up his mind he ain’t got men enough. Andy was put out o’ -bizness at ther time o’ ther hold-up, an’ sence then he’s passed out -o’ ther game fer keeps. Lonesome Pete kin cut a notch, too, fer Eph -Singer--we left him under a pile o’ rocks on ther way ter Medicine -Bluff. Thet leaves on’y six in ther gang, countin’ Lawless hisself. -Now I’m out, thar’s on’y five.” - -“Coomby’s watching the other fork of the valley?” - -“Yes.” - -“And Lawless has gone to Pima?” - -“I jest told ye thet.” - -“Did he go alone?” - -“He did. He wants ter pick up some men at Pima, if he kin.” - -“Then there are only three outlaws at Medicine Bluff with the woman?” - -“Yes, purvidin’ she’s at the Bluff. I ain’t a-sayin’ whar she is, -kase I don’t know.” - -“Where are the renegade Cheyennes who used to help Lawless in his -villainy?” - -“Stampeded. They was all afeared o’ Buffler Bill. I ain’t blamin’ ’em -none, either. I reckon Lawless’ll hev the time o’ his life gittin’ -handy boys at Pima, when they hear it’s Buffler Bill they’re ter -fight.” - -The scout turned to Tenny. - -“How far is it to Pima from here, Hank?” he asked. - -“Ten mile,” replied Tenny. - -“How must a man travel to get there?” - -“Waal, if I was goin’ thar from hyer, I’d git up on the top o’ thet -bank an’ head due south, keepin Medicine Bluff allers ter the right. -When I’d gone five mile, I could see the ridge thet holds Chavorta -Gorge. Kain’t miss the gorge. Once inter it, ye foller up ter Pima. -But what ye thinkin’ o’ doin’, Buffler Bill?” - -“Dell and I are going to Pima,” said the scout, “and overhaul Lawless -before he can enlist any more miscreants to carry out his nefarious -plans. The iron is hot, and Pima is the place to strike. Not only can -we capture Lawless,” added the scout, “but we can prevent him from -adding to his force of trouble-makers.” - -“You an’ Miss Dauntless aire goin’ ter Pima, ye say?” - -“Yes.” - -“An’ what am I ter do?” - -“You’re to tie Tex to his horse and travel on to Medicine Bluff, -effecting a juncture with Nomad’s party. Tell them what has happened; -then the lot of you can ride on to Pima. Remember my promise to Tex, -Tenny. If his information pans out, he’s going to be a free man. Tell -Nomad and Wild Bill what I have promised.” - -“I don’t want ter go ter Medicine Bluff,” demurred Tex unexpectedly. - -“Why not?” answered the scout. “You’ll not suffer any harm from my -pards.” - -“Waal, I jest don’t want ter go thar, thet’s all. It ain’t yore pards -I’m fearin’, but Coomby an’ the rest.” - -“Nomad and Wild Bill have men enough with them to protect you, and -that is where you’re going.” - -“Jest remember what ye said, Buffler Bill,” went on Tex; “ye said -thet ther minit Lawless was down an’ out, I was ter be turned loose.” - -“Yes.” - -“All right then. I jest want it understood.” - -“You’re keeping something back, Tex,” said the scout, studying the -ruffian’s face as keenly as he could in the faint light. - -“I’m bankin’ my life on the result, ain’t I?” returned Tex. “What I’m -keepin’ ter myself ain’t goin’ ter interfere none with yore affairs, -an’ it’s li’ble ter mean a hull lot ter me.” - -“Well, have it your way. As you say, it is very likely your life -swings in the balance.” - -The scout and Tenny, between them, swung Tex to the back of his horse -and tied him there. Immediately afterward, the rest mounted, and -Tenny took the bridle of Tex’s horse, to lead the animal on toward -Medicine Bluff. - -“Pima is a tough camp, Buffler,” observed Tenny, “an’ thet’s why -Lawless went thar ter git fresh men. Every whelp in Pima is of ther -same caliber as Tex thar, an’ I’m afeared you an’ Miss Dauntless aire -goin’ ter hev yer hands full.” - -“Not so full but that we can handle the work, all right,” answered -the scout confidently. “A bold stroke, just now, will settle Lawless -for good and all. The risk is worth taking. Come on, Dell,” he added -to his girl pard; “we’re for Chavorta Gorge and Pima.” - -Tenny rode slowly on along the valley in the direction of Medicine -Bluff, while the scout and Dell pushed their horses at the wall up -which the scout had climbed a little while before. - -The scout understood that his suddenly conceived plan for capturing -Lawless was a desperate one; but, had he realized just how desperate -it was, he would have waited, before carrying it out, to get some -more of his pards to go with him. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - - CHAVORTA GORGE AND PIMA. - - -Buffalo Bill and Dell found it a long ten miles to Chavorta Gorge and -Pima, mainly because the night mixed up their landmarks, and they -went astray in the barren hills. - -Early daylight found them on the crest of an eminence scanning the -country to the west and south. Away to the west they discerned a -distant uplift, which they took to be Medicine Bluff. To the south -stretched a ridge, but there was no sign of a gap in the ridge -leading to Chavorta Gorge. - -“We’re too far to the east, Dell,” hazarded the scout, “and have been -following down the ridge. If we turn west, and keep our eyes on the -ridge as we ride, I believe we shall find the gorge.” - -“By the time we find it, and get to Pima,” returned Dell, “we may -discover that Lawless has secured his new men and gone back to -Medicine Bluff. If it turns out that way, Nomad, Wild Bill and the -rest may have more on their hands than they can take care of.” - -“Tenny will warn them. It is true we have lost a lot of time, but I -don’t want to turn back from Pima now, when there’s still a chance of -accomplishing our work there.” - -They pointed their horses westward, and rode as swiftly as the nature -of the ground would permit. - -“If Lawless has a permanent headquarters near Medicine Bluff,” -suggested Dell, “it may be that Nomad, Wild Bill, Gentleman Jim, and -De Bray have already found Mrs. Brisco.” - -“I’m hoping for the best,” returned the scout. “If that has happened, -Dell, it is up to you and me to give as good an account of ourselves -at Pima, as the rest of our pards have done, or will do, at the -bluff.” - -Half an hour’s riding in a westerly direction proved the truth of -the scout’s theory regarding the location of Chavorta Gorge. From a -hilltop a look toward the ridge showed them a rent in its buttressed -side. - -“There’s the gorge!” exclaimed Dell. - -“Good!” cried the scout. “Now to get into it, and make the best time -possible to Pima.” - -The sun was mounting as they entered the gorge, but the gash was so -deep and narrow that even at midday a spectral twilight reigned in -its depths. - -It was a bleak and dismal defile, walled in by gray masses of -granite, and with hardly any silt in its bed. The river that had once -flowed through the gorge had long since found other channels, and -what gold the place yielded had to be dug from the rock crevices with -iron hooks and rods. - -The scout had heard all about Chavorta Gorge, although this was the -first time he had ever inspected it, and as he and Dell clattered -along through the gloom, he explained the method of mining in vogue -in the place. - -“The outcasts of respectable mining-camps flock to the gorge,” the -scout added, “and prod and gouge at these granite walls for the -nuggets once brought down the defile by the vanished stream. The -place has a hard name, and rightly so, for an outcast miner is about -as hard a citizen as one can find anywhere in the West.” - -“Are there many people at Pima?” asked the girl. - -“I suppose the camp is about the size of Sun Dance, although my -information is rather limited on that point.” - -“What can we do against even a small camp?” - -“The miners, I reckon, have heard of Buffalo Bill,” said the scout, -with a flash of the eyes; “they know he is in Uncle Sam’s service, -and they’ll think twice before they invite a company of regulars over -here to drive them out and wind up their layout.” - -“The very name of Buffalo Bill,” said Dell, her face lighting with -admiration, “has a power everywhere. See how it stampeded the -Cheyennes and caused them to break away from Lawless! And see, too, -how fearful Tex was, and how ready to save his own neck when he found -you had captured him.” - -“It isn’t so much the name, pard,” laughed the scout, “as the fact -that the United States army is behind it.” - -A few miles of twilight brought the scout and the girl to a point -where the walls of the gorge began to open out. More daylight entered -the depths and dispelled the gloom. The walls were as high and as -rugged as ever, but they continued to swerve away from each other. - -An abrupt turn in the gorge brought the riders suddenly within sight -of the camp. - -Knowing that there was no flood to be feared, the founders of Pima -had built the camp in the very bottom of the defile. Timber was -plentiful on the ridge, and logs had been lowered from the top of the -walls and used in the construction of cabins. - -Perhaps there were a dozen buildings, all told, in the camp. They -were disreputable structures, entirely in keeping with the character -of those who occupied them. - -The scout halted Bear Paw while he scanned the camp critically. A few -horses were feeding out behind one of the buildings, but there was -not a human being in sight. Among the feeding horses was one that was -equipped with riding-gear. - -“Where are the miners?” queried Dell. “Are they up the gorge -somewhere, prying their nuggets out of the rocks? This camp is even -quieter than Sun Dance during the day.” - -“Listen!” said the scout. “There seems to be plenty of life in one of -the buildings.” - -A roar of voices broke fitfully from a large log structure in the -midst of the huddled cabins. The roar died away in silence, and then -rose again, proving that there was excitement of some sort going on -in the place. - -“If Lawless is in this camp,” observed Buffalo Bill, “that’s where I -shall find him. I want you to stay with the horses, Dell,” he added, -as he dismounted, “and, if I need you, ride at once to that cabin. We -may have to get out of the gorge in a hurry.” - -“Look well to yourself, pard,” adjured Dell, reaching forward and -taking hold of Bear Paw’s bridle-reins. - -“I always do that,” said he. “The crack of a revolver will be your -cue to gallop into the camp.” - -Sitting anxiously in her saddle, Dell watched Buffalo Bill stride -rapidly in among the log cabins. - -No one appeared to ask the scout questions or to dispute his -progress, and it was quite evident that every miner who was not at -work in the gorge was at that moment in the structure toward which -the scout was laying his course. - -This fact, of itself, held a portentous significance. Had Lawless -gathered the men of the camp in that building in order to harangue -them and take his pick of those willing to join his gang? - -As the scout came nearer the structure, he noted the massive logs -used in its walls; the wide, high door, the gaping loopholes, cut at -intervals at shoulder height, and the strong oaken shutters swinging -at the windows. - -“It has the appearance of a fort,” he said to himself. “I wonder if -the people of Pima take refuge there when the Indians are up, or if -they fear the military more than they do the reds?” - -A rude sign, on the front wall of the building, near the door, bore -the words: “The Taim Tiger.” - -The scout chuckled over the sign, for the “Taim” appealed to him -humorously. - -“That’s about the way to spell it,” he muttered. “I don’t think the -sort of tiger they keep here is overly tame. Perhaps, though, I shall -be able to clip its claws--we’ll see.” - -At the side of the door he halted and looked back to where he had -left Dell. The girl was sitting like a statue on her white cayuse. - -Buffalo Bill waved his hat to her reassuringly, and then stepped -through the wide door of The Tame Tiger. - -There were not so many men inside the resort as Buffalo Bill had -expected to find. The swift glance he cast around him showed him -seven or eight, including a heavy-set person behind a rough board -bar, and a supple individual clad in black, with shiny knee-boots and -a gaudy sash about his waist. - -The man in black, naturally, the scout was overjoyed to find. The -scout was not unacquainted with the appearance of Lawless, and this -man, even at a rear view, answered the outlaw’s description. - -The man behind the bar turned half-around as the scout entered, -and stared at him suspiciously. The others in the room, including -the man in black, were too much occupied with their own particular -business to pay the scout any attention. - -Buffalo Bill moved slowly over to the bar and leaned against it. - -“There are good pickings everywhere in these parts,” the man in black -was saying, “and, with a little nerve, they’re easily got at. How -did I pull off that deal on the Sun Dance trail yesterday? How did I -take down over twenty thousand dollars at one clip for myself and the -boys who were in on the game with me? It was because I know how! I -want more men, and if any of you are game enough to ride to Medicine -Bluff with me this morning, you’ve got a chance. It’s not often that -Captain Lawless has to go drumming for men, and the chance won’t come -your way again.” - -It was plain that Lawless had been spending money freely for liquor. -The men who listened to him were in an amiable and receptive mood. -While he indulged in his particularly bold talk, roars of approval, -such as the scout and Dell had heard at the edge of camp, went up -again and again. - -A roar, louder than any of the rest, greeted the finish of Lawless’ -remarks. It was this noise, more like Bedlam turned loose than -anything else, that drowned the warning shout of the man behind the -bar. The barkeeper realized that Lawless was going too far in the -presence of a stranger. It was not the barkeeper’s shout that drew -the outlaw’s attention to Buffalo Bill, but the sudden quiet that -fell over the rowdies to whom he had been talking. - -These men, all of them with vicious faces, had suddenly become aware -of the scout’s presence. Lawless, observing the direction of their -glances, whirled about. - -At sight of the scout, leaning unconcernedly back against the bar, -the outlaw’s face went blank. He recoiled a step, staring as though -he could scarcely believe his eyes. - -The next moment, apparently assuring himself that he was not -dreaming, he cried out an oath and jerked a revolver from his sash. - -Silence had fallen over the room. The ruffians spread out, some of -them, it seemed likely, for the purpose of helping Captain Lawless, -and others with the intention of bolting, or dodging under the -tables, in case bullets began to fly. - -“Don’t shoot,” said the scout, transfixing Lawless with a steady -glance. - -He made no move to draw his own revolvers. When he got ready to draw, -he would do it so quickly that the movement would be imperceptible. - -Lawless, bent on making a show of himself for the benefit of possible -recruits, did not make an attempt to use the revolver he had drawn. - -“Well, now,” said he, “if here isn’t Buffalo Bill, the great and -only W. F. Cody, flash-light warrior and so-called king of scouts! -Why”--and Lawless turned a mocking glance into the faces of the men -behind him--“he blows right into Pima as though he belonged here. I -wonder if he knows he’s off his beat?” - -“I wonder!” said the scout, with a jeering undernote. “You’re off -your beat, too, just a little. Drumming up recruits, eh?” The scout -turned his eyes on the men who had spread themselves out behind -Lawless. “This scoundrel”--and the scout indicated the man in black -with a contemptuous nod--“is a murderous outlaw. He lost two men -at the time of the hold-up he has just been bragging about, and he -finds it necessary to get more men in order to fight the force I have -brought against him. That’s what he wants you for--to help fight me -and my pards and save the twenty thousand dollars he took from the -man on the Sun Dance stage. His chestnuts are still in the fire, and -he wants you to help him rake them out.” - -“That’ll do you!” shouted Lawless, waving his revolver. “You came -into this honkatonk on your feet, Buffalo Bill, but you’ll be -_carried_ out. I’ve had enough of your meddling, and here and now is -the place for me to settle the score I have run up against you.” - -“You’ll settle no scores, Captain Lawless,” said the scout; “on the -contrary, the law you have so long defied has reached out after you, -and inside of two days you will be turned over to the authorities at -Fort Sill.” - -“I will, eh?” sneered the bandit. “By whom?” - -“By me.” - -“You talk as though you were a whole company of doughboys! But that’s -your style--all talk and nothing doing. Now you’re up against me and -these men, all of whom are going to join my band of free-lances. -We’re eight against you.” - -Buffalo Bill did not reply to Lawless at once. There was a bit of -work for him to do, and before he answered the outlaw he had to do -it, or find himself completely at the mercy of those in The Tame -Tiger. - -His back was to the bar, and he was facing Lawless and the ruffians -in the room; but, although his face was turned from the barkeeper, he -did not allow the actions of that worthy to escape his notice. - -Out of the tails of his eyes the scout saw the barkeeper duck down -and pick up a heavy wooden mallet. As soon as he had the mallet in -his hands, the barkeeper began a stealthy movement in the scout’s -direction, along the inside of the bar. - -A heavy bottle stood on the bar conveniently to the scout’s -hand. Just as the barkeeper had raised the mallet to deal the -scout a treacherous blow from behind, the intended victim made a -lightninglike move. - -It was difficult for those who were looking on to see exactly what -had happened. The scout did something, there was a crash of broken -glass, and the barkeeper wilted down behind the rough boards. The -bottle had vanished from the scout’s elbow. - -“You say you are eight against me,” said Buffalo Bill as calmly as -though nothing had happened, “but what are eight criminals against -the authority of the United States government? Lawless, you are my -prisoner!” - -This calm statement was astounding, not only to Lawless himself, -but to the others in the room as well. The quietly effective way in -which Buffalo Bill had back-capped the barkeeper had made a profound -impression upon the rascals whom Lawless was trying to interest in -his criminal operations. Now to have the scout call Lawless his -prisoner hinted of more power than he visibly possessed. How could -one man stand up against eight and appear so confident? - -Anxious eyes wandered to the door, but no force was in evidence in -that direction. - -“He’s bluffing!” cried Lawless. “He knows that all we’ve got to do in -order to nail him is to make a surround, and his only hope is to make -us think he’s got friends outside.” - -Lawless realized that he could not dally with the situation any -longer. If he would save himself, and get the better of Buffalo Bill, -he must act now, or never. - -“Say, you fellows!” Lawless cried to the ruffians, “are you going to -stand there like a lot of dummies, and let one man come into this -camp and run it? Are you going to let Buffalo Bill knock down the -barkeeper of this joint, and never lift a hand to interfere? Buffalo -Bill! Pah! He’s no more of a man than any of the rest of you. He’s -the government’s hired man, that’s all----” - -Lawless’ remarks glided into the crack of a revolver and the snarl of -a bullet. Under cover of his talk, the outlaw had fired from his hip; -but his haste, and the unusual position of the weapon, had militated -against the accuracy of his aim. - -The scout’s hat-brim was seen to twitch, but the scout still stood -leaning back against the bar, as calm and unruffled as before. - -“Your hand isn’t as steady as it ought to be, Lawless,” remarked the -scout. “I repeat, you are my prisoner. I want to take you out of -Chavorta Gorge alive, but, if you make another attempt on me with -that revolver, you’ll leave the gorge feet first.” - -Then, keeping his steely gaze fixed on Lawless, the scout stepped -toward him. - -“Keep away from me!” shouted the outlaw, backing toward the door. -“One or the other of us will never leave this place alive, and that -shot goes as it lays.” He turned partly toward the rest of the men, -addressing them, but keeping his eyes on the scout. “What are you -hanging back for?” he demanded fiercely. “What sort of fighters are -you, anyhow? If you want to join my gang, show me what you can do. -I’m holding my hand, just to give you the chance.” - -This was a sure-enough bluff, and it brought a laugh from the scout; -then, suddenly, Dell Dauntless, on her white cayuse, appeared in the -wide, high doorway. The girl’s face was white and determined, and she -held her riata ready for a throw. - -What had brought such a plan into the girl’s head the scout could not -guess, but it was plain that she had a set purpose in mind, and was -there with the determination to carry it through at all hazards. - -If Lawless had heard the hoof-falls of Silver Heels, he gave them -no heed. He dared not. To turn his face from the scout even for an -instant would have spelled inevitable disaster for him. And yet -the outlaw was not entirely ignorant of the danger behind him. The -startled exclamations of the others in the resort apprised him of the -fact that something unusual was taking place at the door. - -In order to cut short the tension of the moment, Lawless started to -lift his revolver for another and a better shot at Buffalo Bill. -Before his arm was half-raised, a noose dropped over his head and -tightened about his body at the elbows. - -It was an easy throw for Dell, and she at once set Silver Heels to -backing, drawing the rope taut and preventing the astounded bandit -from struggling clear of the noose. - -“Bravo, Dell!” shouted Buffalo Bill, as the girl backed slowly -through the doorway, dragging the squirming Captain Lawless at the -end of the rope. - -The instant the outlaw had vanished from the room, the scout faced -the gaping and amazed men he had left behind. - -“I don’t know whether any of you really intended to join Lawless’ -gang or not,” said he sternly; “but, if you did, I have kept you from -making a bad mistake. The reputation of this camp of yours is none -too good, and if you want to stay in the gorge and dig your gold out -of the rocks, I’d advise you to be a little less ready to take up -with such scoundrels as Lawless. That will be all!” - -And the scout, with the final word, went out of The Tame Tiger and -closed the door after him. - -Dell was still backing Silver Heels over the ground outside, not -daring to let the riata grow slack between her and Lawless, for fear -the latter would be able to widen the noose and free himself. - -Running up to the helpless bandit, the scout threw him to the ground -and held him there. - -“Cast off the rope, Dell,” he shouted, “and bring Bear Paw! Hurry up, -pard. We’ve got this camp paralyzed, for the moment, but there’s no -telling what will happen if we don’t make a quick getaway.” - -Dell flung the end of her rope from the saddle-horn, and, while the -scout made the struggling Lawless secure, wrist and ankle, she rode -around the side of The Tame Tiger, and brought Bear Paw from the -place where she had left him. - -By the time Bear Paw had been led to the place where the scout was -waiting, the door of The Tame Tiger had been thrown open, and those -inside were piling out. The men were shouting angrily and waving -their revolvers. - -“Back!” cried Dell, drawing her six-shooters and leveling them. “The -first of you that pulls a trigger will never live to try it a second -time!” - -Lifting Lawless in his arms, the scout flung him across Bear Paw and -then leaped into the saddle. - -“All ready, Dell!” he called. - -Silver Heels spun around on his hind feet, and the scout and the girl -shot out of the camp, the former holding Lawless at the saddle-cantle -as he galloped. - -Bullets were fired after the pards, but it was a harmless and -half-hearted volley. - -Buffalo Bill and Dell Dauntless were safe--and they had captured -Captain Lawless! - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - - A BUSY TIME FOR CAYUSE. - - -Little Cayuse did not like the white man’s villages. There was -nothing about them that attracted him in the least. While in -Montegordo, whither he had been sent by the scout, he attached -himself to a seat in the railroad-station, spent the night there, and -watched, the next morning, while a man wearing a red vest got off the -west-bound train. - -That red vest captured the boy’s fancy, and he decided that some -time, when the chance offered, he would buy one for himself. - -With his doting eyes on the vest, he had gone up to the man wearing -it, and asked: - -“You De Bray, mebbyso?” - -“Why, yes,” answered the stranger, “that’s my name. Who are you, and -what of it?” - -“You take um stage for Sun Dance, huh?” - -“The first one I can get. But, say! Look here a minute----” - -Cayuse did not stop for anything further. Whirling about, he made -off, tearing up the telegram the scout had given to him to send in -case De Bray did not arrive. - -Cayuse, a couple of hours later, was in the Sun Dance stage when De -Bray climbed onto the front seat with Pete and Chick Billings. - -During the entire journey, up to the point where the first hold-up -had been planned to occur, Cayuse had kept strictly to himself on the -back seat. But he was all eyes and ears, even if he did not use his -tongue, and among the rocks that hemmed in the stage-trail ahead he -had caught a strange glimmer, as of the sun on steel. - -That was his signal to drop out at the rear of the mountain-wagon, -and flicker from sight among the rocks like a scared coyote. But -Cayuse wasn’t scared--he was only curious. - -He had seen rifles sparkle in the sun before, and he was pretty sure -he had caught a gleam of gun-barrels. - -From a safe place among the rocks he witnessed the first hold-up. -When the stage pulled out, and the outlaws grouped together to take -stock of their spoil, Cayuse saw Lawless--whom he knew by sight--open -the locket and stare at the pictures inside. - -Then he overheard Lawless plan to cross the arm of the gulch and -overhaul the stage again. Cayuse, much to his disappointment, was -powerless to warn those in the stage. He was afoot, and the driver of -the stage was going fast toward Sun Dance. The boy might have raced -across the arm of the gulch, but he could not have beaten the mounted -thieves. He followed the thieves, however, picking his cautious way -among the rocks and carefully keeping himself out of sight. - -By the time he had reached the scene of the second hold-up, the -fighting was over and the stage was once more bounding along toward -Sun Dance. - -Hidden safely only a few yards from where the outlaws had left their -horses, Cayuse saw the white woman, and heard her plead for release -as soon as she had recovered from her swoon. He heard, also, a number -of other things which he considered of more importance. - -“We’ll go to Medicine Bluff,” said Lawless to one of his men, “and -make sure whether Lawless is going to get well of his wound, or cash -in.” - -This remark puzzled the boy. Captain Lawless was speaking, and yet he -was speaking of another Captain Lawless! What did it mean? He cocked -up his ears to hear something more that would throw some light on the -mystery. - -“Ye’ll find him deader’n a smelt,” remarked one of the robbers. -“What’s the use o’ botherin’ with him any longer? Rigged out in his -clothes, ye look enough like him ter be twins. Nobody’ll ever know -the difference between the two o’ ye, an’ if the deed is left at the -black rock, ye kin take over the mine without any one ever bein’ the -wiser.” - -“Keno,” said the bogus Captain Lawless; “I’ll try it on.” - -Thus a light dawned on Cayuse’s brain. The real Lawless was dead, -or dying, and a counterfeit Lawless had taken his clothes and was -playing the rôle in order to get the Forty Thieves Mine! - -Some of Buffalo Bill’s pards might have made post-haste for Sun Dance -with this news, but that wasn’t the little Piute’s way. The outfit of -robbers might go to Medicine Bluff, and they might not. Cayuse would -follow them and make sure just where they did go. - -Naturally, they outdistanced him, but when they had vanished, he -continued to follow their trail. Close to Pass Dure Cañon luck -struck across the boy’s path, for he met Hawk, the Cheyenne. Hawk -was trailing a cayuse behind him, and the cayuse was burdened with a -couple of white-tail deer. - -After making sure that Hawk was a friend, and willing to do a service -for pay, the Piute made a deal with him. For a ten-dollar gold -piece, which Cayuse extracted from his medicine-bag, the Cheyenne -agreed to carry a message to Buffalo Bill, at Sun Dance, and to lend -Cayuse the led horse. - -The two deer were unshipped and hung to the limb of a tree where they -would be safe from coyotes, wolves, and other “varmints.” While the -Cheyenne was taking care of the deer, Cayuse was skinning his piece -of bark from a tree and drawing his diagram. - -He proceeded fairly well until he got to the point where he wished to -tell the scout that there were two men posing as Captain Lawless. The -communication of this fact seemed beyond the art of picture-writing; -but the boy attempted it by drawing two figures to represent Lawless, -and placing a pair of mule’s ears over one, to signify that there was -something wrong with that particular figure. - -When the Cheyenne and the Piute parted, the Cheyenne had the gold -piece and Cayuse had the led horse. They went in different directions. - -It was dusk when Cayuse reached Medicine Bluff, hitched his borrowed -horse in the brush, and went scouting to see what he could find. - -His principal discovery was a gully running away from the foot of the -Bluff on its western side. The robbers were coming and going at the -mouth of the gully, and the boy made up his mind that there was a -rendezvous somewhere in the defile. - -In order to settle his suspicions, he watched his chance and got into -the gully. The place was thickly grown with bushes, and for an Indian -to dodge enemies in such a chaparral was an easy matter. - -About a hundred yards from the mouth of the gully Cayuse found an -overhanging ledge of rock where the outlaws had made their camp. - -Three of the outlaws sat in front of the dark opening under the -ledge, talking together in low voices. Captain Lawless--that is, -the counterfeit Captain Lawless--was not one of the three. What had -become of him? Cayuse asked himself; and what had become of the -captive white woman who had been taken from the stage? - -At first the boy was tempted to think that the supposed Lawless had -taken the white captive away somewhere; and then, a little later, he -began to think those three robbers might be guarding her, and that -she was under the ledge. - -He resolved to find out whether the woman was there, and, in order to -do this, began a risky advance upon the three white men. - -The bushes ran almost to the edge of the overhanging rock, and Cayuse -was able to creep through them until he was within a few feet of -the nearest of the three men. In order to pass the men, it would be -necessary to cross a narrow open space. Could he do it? Capture was -probable, and capture, in Cayuse’s case, would mean death. However, -that was not the first time the boy had faced death in what he -believed to be the line of duty. - -Flinging himself at full length on the ground, he undulated his way -clear of the bushes, like a crawling snake. The backs of the three -men were toward him. - -When he was half-way between the edge of the dusky covert and the -pitchy blackness of the opening under the ledge, one of the men -started and turned around. - -Cayuse flattened out and, scarcely breathing, lay like a stone. -The shadows of the gully deceived the man, and he turned away again -without seeing Cayuse. - -A minute later the boy was under the ledge and safe in the deep -gloom. On hands and knees he crawled about, groping to find a bound -form. If the white woman was there, he reasoned, she would, no doubt, -be bound and gagged, so that she could not move or speak. - -In his blind search, his fingers encountered a form, but the -flesh was cold and lifeless, and the boy recoiled. Dead! Had the -scoundrels, then, slain the white squaw? Cayuse believed so, for -palefaces, like the supposed Lawless and his gang have evil hearts -and are equal to anything. - -Grievously disappointed, the boy crawled from under the ledge, and -attempted to pass the white men once more. The luck that had been -with him the first time, however, failed him now. In the midst of -his reckless work, one of the men got up and started to go under the -ledge. As fate would have it, the man stumbled over Cayuse, who was -lying squarely in his path. - -“A spy!” yelped the man. - -The other two bounded to their feet. Revolvers exploded, and one of -the weapons was Cayuse’s. One of the three men dropped to his knees, -and the Piute, with a flying leap, sprang clear over his head and -dropped into the bushes. - -Cayuse did not lift himself erect, but flattened along the ground. -Bullets spattered above him, among the bushes, and, while he listened -to them, the echoes were suddenly taken up by a crashing of the -undergrowth toward the mouth of the gully. - -“Whoop-ya! This way, fellers, ter ther scene o’ trouble! Ef them -pizen outlaws hev anythin’ ter do with et, we’ll rout ’em out in -reg’lar Buffler Bill style. Straight up ther gully, Hickok! Ef ye see -er bullet comin’ to’ard ye in ther night, jest dodge, an’ keep on -goin’.” - -A quiver of excitement ran pulsing through Cayuse’s body. It was the -voice of Nomad! - -The next moment there was a change in the situation. The outlaws were -now resisting attack, and the fight was at close quarters. - -Cayuse started up to take a part in the fight, rushed out toward the -scene of the scrimmage, and was grabbed by a quick hand and flung to -the ground. A knee dropped on his chest, and a hand with a knife was -lifted above him. - -“Wild Bill!” the boy gasped breathlessly. - -“Well, what do you think of that!” exclaimed Wild Bill. “Blamed if it -ain’t Cayuse, and I came within a hair of giving him his send-off! -How do you happen to be right in the thick of this gang o’ thieves, -boy?” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - - A HAPPY REUNION. - - -The fight between the three outlaws and those who had just come into -the gully was brief but decisive. The newcomers were piloted by -Gentleman Jim, and consisted of the gambler, De Bray, Nomad, and Wild -Bill. - -This party had kept their uninterrupted way along the right-hand fork -of the valley. Coomby had seen them, and had hastened toward the -gully to give the alarm. Before he had rounded the base of the bluff -he encountered Hank Tenny. Tenny had come, on orders from Buffalo -Bill, looking for the rest of the scout’s pards. Having a prisoner -along, Tenny was anxious to avoid trouble; but when he saw one lone -outlaw coming in his direction through the moon and starlight, he -dismounted, bided his time, and was having it nip and tuck with the -outlaw when Gentleman Jim and the others reached the scene. - -The outlaw was captured, and Tenny had time to explain where and why -the scout and Dell had left for Chavorta Gorge and Pima before the -attack on Cayuse carried the pards into the gully. - -So, while the fight in the gully was going on, Tenny remained at the -foot of the bluff, with two prisoners to watch, instead of one. - -“Me follow stage-robbers,” Little Cayuse explained, in answer to Wild -Bill’s demand for information. - -“Cayuse, hey?” cried Nomad, coming to the spot where the boy and -Wild Bill were standing. “Ye’re a reg’lar brick, son!” he went on, -dropping an approving hand on the Piute’s shoulder. “Ye kin tell us -how ye come ter be hyar later, but jest now we’re anxious ter find -the white woman thet was taken from ther stage. Hev ye seen her, -Cayuse?” - -“White squaw all same dead,” said Cayuse. - -A husky groan came from the dark, and Gentleman Jim staggered through -the bushes and caught the boy’s arm in a convulsive grip. - -“Where, where?” he asked. - -“Under stone,” said Cayuse. “You go there you find um.” - -“De Bray! Wild Bill!” groaned Gentleman Jim, sinking down on the -ground and covering his face with his hands. “You go--I--I can’t! To -think,” muttered the stricken gambler, “that I should be too late, -after all! Too late, too late! Where’s Lawless?” he cried, looking -up as the word, pulsing with murderous hate, came through his lips. -“Where is the scoundrel who----” - -“Thar, thar, Jim,” interposed Nomad soothingly, “don’t be in sich er -takin’ till we make sure. Et’s darker’n a stack o’ black cats in this -gully, an’ mebbyso Cayuse has made er mistake.” - -“He hasn’t made a mistake,” returned the gambler. “I have felt in my -bones, for the past week, that something was on the cards to make or -mar me. This is it! Allie, my wife, was to come to me, and--and we -were not destined to meet.” - -Forgetting about Lawless, in his great sorrow, Gentleman Jim once -more flung his hands over his face and crouched on the ground. - -“You watch him, De Bray,” whispered Wild Bill to the Denver man. -“Nomad and I will take a look into this cave under the rock.” - -All three outlaws were badly wounded and beyond stirring up any more -trouble. Little Cayuse made it his business to watch them, while De -Bray kept a solicitous eye on Gentleman Jim. - -Under the ledge, Wild Bill struck a match and peered about him. His -eyes, almost immediately, fell on the form of Mrs. Brisco. She was -bound hand and foot, and a handkerchief was tied over her lips; but -her eyes were wide open and staring appealingly up into Wild Bill’s -face. - -“Nomad--here!” called Hickok. - -The trapper hurried to the side of his pard. - -“Waugh!” muttered Nomad, mystified. “Thet’s erbout ther wust mistake -I ever knowed Cayuse ter make. Mrs. Brisco is alive! However did -Cayuse git ther notion she wasn’t?” - -Kneeling down, the old trapper, with quick but gentle hands, removed -the cords from Mrs. Brisco’s wrists and ankles. - -“My husband!” whispered the woman, tearing the handkerchief from her -face. “I heard his voice a moment ago. Where is he?” - -“He thinks ye’re dead, mum,” said Nomad softly. “Go out ter him. -Et’ll be the happiest surprise o’ his life ter see ye well and -hearty. Et ain’t often things turns out like this in rale life, -Hickok,” the trapper added, watching Mrs. Brisco hurry out into the -gully and approach her husband. - -“Only in books, old pard,” returned Wild Bill, “do you run across -such a happenchance in the workings of fate. But I’m mighty glad this -thing has happened to Gentleman Jim.” - -“Same here,” said Nomad. - -The two watched while the woman fluttered to the side of her grieving -husband. - -“Jim!” they heard her call brokenly. - -The gambler leaped erect, stared for a second like one in a trance, -and then opened his arms. - -“Allie! Allie! Thank heaven for this!” - -Wild Bill and Nomad turned away. - -“Blame’ funny,” growled the old trapper, “how the smoke from them -pesky sulfur matches blurrs a feller’s eyes.” - -“That’s right,” said Wild Bill, drawing the back of his hand across -his face, “although I never noticed it before.” - -“Whatever do ye reckon give Cayuse ther idee thet Mrs. Brisco was -dead?” - -“I pass. The idea, however the boy got it, gave a powerful wrench to -Gentleman Jim’s nerves, and----” - -Mechanically, Wild Bill had struck another match and moved off toward -the back of the cavernlike room under the ledge. He halted suddenly, -staring at a form on the ground in front of him. - -“Thunder!” he exclaimed. “Why, here’s Lawless, now.” - -“Shore et is!” added Nomad, dropping down. “Lawless ain’t wearin’ -ther same clothes he useter, but et’s him, an’, somehow, he’s saved -ther hangman a job. He’s cashed in, Hickok.” - -“What killed him?” - -“A bullet. Thar’s er wound in his side.” - -“Nick,” said Wild Bill, with a sudden thought, “do you remember the -shot Henry Blake fired at Lawless?” - -“Shore I remember et.” - -“Well, that is what did the work for him.” - -“I ain’t thinkin’ thet way, Wild Bill. Thet shot o’ Blake’s was fired -a week ago, an’ et wasn’t no later’n this arternoon thet Lawless took -his men agin’ ther stage a couple o’ times.” - -“That’s a fact!” murmured Wild Bill, puzzled. “And we’re overlooking -what Hank Tenny said about Buffalo Bill and Dell going to Chavorta -Gorge after Lawless. How can----” - -“No use of me watching Gentleman Jim any more,” said De Bray, coming -in under the ledge just then. “Seen anything of my twenty thousand, -any of you fellows?” - -“There’s the man that maybe took it, De Bray,” said Wild Bill, -striking another match and indicating the body of Lawless, “and,” he -added enigmatically, “maybe didn’t.” - -“He looks like the fellow, all right,” said De Bray, bending down and -pushing his hands into the dead man’s pockets, “but he isn’t wearing -the same clothes.” - -“Him Lawless, all same,” spoke up the voice of Cayuse; “paleface that -rob stage him not Lawless, only look like um and wear um clothes.” - -“Hey?” cried the startled Nomad, whirling on the boy. “Come ag’in -with thet, Cayuse.” - -Cayuse repeated his words, adding: “Me crawl in here, try find white -woman. No find white woman, find um Lawless, instead. You _sabe_? -Think um Lawless white woman, all same dead. Ugh! Him plenty dark, -Little Cayuse in heap big hurry, make um mistake.” - -“It’s all right, the way it has turned out, Cayuse,” said Wild Bill. -“Under the circumstances, the mistake was only a natural one to make, -but it gave Gentleman Jim quite a jolt. How about the outlaws?” - -“Two of um gone to happy place,” said the boy; “other one him live, -mebbyso.” - -“‘Happy place,’” grunted Nomad. “Thet ain’t what I’d call et’, hey, -Wild Bill?” - -“Not exactly,” said Wild Bill. “Suppose we use up our matches trying -to help De Bray locate his money?” - -They searched for an hour, but fruitlessly. - -“They’ve buried it, or something,” said De Bray, when the search was -given up. “In the morning it might be a good thing to ride to this -Chavorta Gorge place, and see what’s going on over there.” - -“Good idea,” approved Wild Bill. - -At that moment Gentleman Jim called Nomad and the rest, and they went -out, to find the gambler and his wife standing side by side, the -gambler’s arm about his wife’s waist. - -“Boys,” said Gentleman Jim, in a voice resonant with feeling, “they -say it’s always darkest just before dawn. It has seemed to have been -that way with me. This little woman, dearer to me than any one else -in the world, has been hunting the West over for a year, trying to -locate me. It was in Montegordo that she got the clue that brought -her toward Sun Dance. What do you think that clue was?” - -None of the others could guess. - -“Why,” exclaimed Gentleman Jim happily, “it was a published account -of Buffalo Bill’s exploits, that time he went to Forty Thieves Mine, -to stay for three days and nights. My name--or, rather, my sobriquet -of ‘Gentleman Jim’--was mixed up in the account, and Allie took a -chance on that sobriquet belonging to me. You have all seen how it -turned out. She and I are going back to Sun Dance now. I’ll leave you -to wind up the rest of this affair, for I’m too happy myself to be of -much use to anybody. If you ride to Chavorta Gorge in the morning, -don’t fail to tell Buffalo Bill what has happened.” - -Three horses belonging to the outlaws were found, farther along the -gully. One of these horses was tendered to Mrs. Brisco for her use, -and she and her husband started for Sun Dance without further delay. - -A little later Hank Tenny, with three prisoners, all on led horses, -was started in the same direction. Two horses carried the prisoners. -One was the man who had been wounded in the gully, and he was given a -horse to himself: the other two men--Coomby and Tex--were secured to -the remaining Cayuse. - -It was sunrise before Little Cayuse, on his borrowed Cheyenne pony, -Wild Bill, Nomad, and De Bray mounted and started for Chavorta Gorge. - -They had Gentleman Jim’s instructions as to the course they should -take, but these instructions were unnecessary, now that Cayuse -was one of the party. The boy, in his soldiering days, had become -familiar with the country, and proved an excellent guide. - -But Nomad and his pards never reached Chavorta Gorge. Half a dozen -miles from the gap, and about midway between the ridge and Medicine -Bluff, the party met the scout and Dell. - -Behind the scout, and securely roped to Bear Paw, was the leader of -the men who had held up the stage--the bogus Captain Lawless. - -As the two parties approached each other, Buffalo Bill thrust a hand -into his pocket and held up a roll of bills. - -“How does this look to you, De Bray?” the scout cried, as he galloped -forward. - -“What is it, Buffalo Bill?” asked De Bray. “Money?” - -“I should say so! Twenty one-thousand-dollar bills.” - -“Then all I can say is that it looks good to me; but I think I feel -better over the fact that Mrs. Brisco has been found, alive and well, -than I do over the recovery of my money.” - -“Then she has been found?” asked Dell, her eyes dancing. - -“Thet’s what,” said Nomad; “she was over by Medicine Bluff. Lawless -was there, too----” - -The scout had halted, his horse to shake hands with his pards and -congratulate them; but, at these words from Nomad, he turned a -startled look in his old pard’s direction. - -“What are you talking about, Nick?” Buffalo Bill demanded. “How -could you find Lawless at Medicine Bluff, when he was at Pima?” - -“Let Cayuse tell yer erbout thet,” grinned Nomad. - -“Me send um picture-writing,” spoke up Cayuse. “Make um two pictures, -all same, burro’s ears over one. You no _sabe_? One Captain Lawless, -other no Captain Lawless. Both look all same.” - -Dell laughed. - -“But I can’t understand, Cayuse,” said she, “how you’d expect Buffalo -Bill to guess that from a pair of burro’s ears.” - -“Him hard thing to tell on birch-bark,” said Little Cayuse. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - - CONCLUSION. - - -In the evening of the day he and Dell had visited Chavorta Gorge, -Buffalo Bill and his pards reached Sun Dance. There was a pleasant -reunion of friends at the supper-table in the Lucky Strike Hotel. -Wah-coo-tah formed one of the party, and Mr. and Mrs. Brisco were -also there. Hank Tenny, Lonesome Pete, and Hotchkiss had started for -Fort Sill in a buckboard, taking the bogus Captain Lawless and the -other three prisoners with them. This departure of the prisoners was -the opening topic discussed at the table that evening. - -The departure of the prisoners led up to the other matters connected -with the double stage-robbery, and a general discussion was indulged -in, whereby every point that was at all obscured was cleared up to -the satisfaction of all. - -Mrs. Brisco, it developed, had been taken direct from the scene of -the second hold-up to the gully near Medicine Bluff. While she was -there, guarded by the three outlaws, Lawless had breathed his last. -The terrible experiences Mrs. Brisco had gone through had seemed to -her, just as a later event had seemed to her husband, the darkest -hour of the night that was to herald the dawn. - -“You said, Buffalo Bill,” remarked Gentleman Jim, during the course -of the conversation, “that great events sometimes hang on trifling -circumstances. Please look at this.” - -He drew the memorable locket from his pocket. The trinket had been -knocked out of shape, and there was a deep dent in the center. - -“When I left here to go to Medicine Bluff with you, Buffalo Bill,” -pursued Gentleman Jim, “I put that locket in the breast pocket of -my coat. During our fight with the outlaws in the gully, one of the -scoundrels fired his revolver at me, pointblank. I felt a shock at -my breast, but thought little of it until, when I went to return the -locket to Allie, I discovered it in that condition. There was also,” -he added, touching the breast of his coat, “this bullet-hole over -my heart. Undoubtedly, that locket, which got Allie into so much -trouble, squared the account by saving my life.” - -“Things turn out thet way sometimes, Gentleman Jim,” said Nomad, -“purvidin’ ye hev what we call Cody-luck.” - -“Cody-luck has been with us all through our work at Medicine Bluff,” -averred James Brisco. - -“And in Chavorta Gorge,” supplemented Dell, with a soft look at the -scout. - -“Especially in Chavorta Gorge,” spoke up De Bray, thinking of his -twenty thousand. - -“And here’s hoping that Cody-luck will be with the king of scouts and -his pards, and with some of the rest of us, as long as we live!” said -Brisco. - -“Amen to that!” were the words that ran round the board. - - * * * * * - -But little more remains to be told concerning the work of the king of -scouts in and near Sun Dance Cañon. - -De Bray looked over the Forty Thieves Mine, pronounced it a bonanza, -bought his half-interest and forthwith began making the property a -heavy producer of the yellow metal. Not only did he enrich himself -out of the mine, but he likewise made Wah-coo-tah wealthy. The Indian -girl and her Cheyenne mother went to live in a “white man’s town”; -Wah-coo-tah was educated, and ultimately married a man of good family. - -The man who posed as Captain Lawless and carried out the -stage-robberies, it afterward developed, was swayed originally by a -desire to get his hands on the Forty Thieves Mine. He and Lawless, it -was stated by Tex, had often exchanged parts, finding it easy to do -so because of their close resemblance to each other. Who the bogus -Lawless was was never discovered. Under his assumed name he was sent -to a military prison, along with the other prisoners. Tex, of course, -was given his freedom, according to the scout’s promise. - -Hawk, the Cheyenne, remained in Sun Dance until Cayuse returned the -borrowed pony, then left the camp to pick up his deer-meat and go on -to the village of his people. - -Dell Dauntless, owing to force of unforeseen circumstances, did not -at once return to her Arizona ranch, as she had intended. Fate linked -her destiny with that of the scout and his pards for a time longer. - -Mr. and Mrs. James Brisco left Sun Dance, and Jim gave up the cards, -just as he had told Buffalo Bill he intended doing. They went East, -and, as the scout had prophesied, Brisco gave attention to his -medical practise, and ultimately became a credit to the community in -which he cast his lot. - -Forty-five is not an advanced age, and no man is really ever too old -to begin retrieving an evil past. - -Lonesome Pete and Hank Tenny continued to live and mine in Sun Dance -Cañon. Always firm friends, their chief delight, for years after -the exciting events herein described, was to meet and live over the -doings of Buffalo Bill and his pards, when they had sojourned in -the gulch and had run out the trail of Captain Lawless of the Forty -Thieves. - - - THE END. - - - No. 67 of the BORDER STORIES, entitled “Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride,” - is a thriller that takes us right over the plains, and makes us - feel the wind rushing through our hair, as we ride with the great - scout up hill and down dale. - - - - - BOOKS FOR YOUNG MEN - - MERRIWELL SERIES - - Stories of Frank and Dick Merriwell - - PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS - - _Fascinating Stories of Athletics_ - - - A half million enthusiastic followers of the Merriwell brothers - will attest the unfailing interest and wholesomeness of these - adventures of two lads of high ideals, who play fair with - themselves, as well as with the rest of the world. - - These stories are rich in fun and thrills in all branches of sports - and athletics. They are extremely high in moral tone, and cannot - fail to be of immense benefit to every boy who reads them. - - They have the splendid quality of firing a boy’s ambition to - become a good athlete, in order that he may develop into a strong, - vigorous right-thinking man. - - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 1--Frank Merriwell’s School Days By Burt L. Standish - 2--Frank Merriwell’s Chums By Burt L. Standish - 3--Frank Merriwell’s Foes By Burt L. Standish - 4--Frank Merriwell’s Trip West By Burt L. Standish - 5--Frank Merriwell Down South By Burt L. Standish - 6--Frank Merriwell’s Bravery By Burt L. Standish - 7--Frank Merriwell’s Hunting Tour By Burt L. Standish - 8--Frank Merriwell in Europe. By Burt L. Standish - 9--Frank Merriwell at Yale By Burt L. Standish - 10--Frank Merriwell’s Sports Afield By Burt L. Standish - 11--Frank Merriwell’s Races By Burt L. Standish - 12--Frank Merriwell’s Party. By Burt L. Standish - 13--Frank Merriwell’s Bicycle Tour By Burt L. Standish - 14--Frank Merriwell’s Courage By Burt L. Standish - 15--Frank Merriwell’s Daring By Burt L. Standish - 16--Frank Merriwell’s Alarm By Burt L. Standish - 17--Frank Merriwell’s Athletes By Burt L. Standish - 18--Frank Merriwell’s Skill By Burt L. Standish - 19--Frank Merriwell’s Champions By Burt L. Standish - 20--Frank Merriwell’s Return to Yale By Burt L. Standish - 21--Frank Merriwell’s Secret By Burt L. Standish - 22--Frank Merriwell’s Danger By Burt L. Standish - 23--Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty By Burt L. Standish - 24--Frank Merriwell in Camp By Burt L. Standish - 25--Frank Merriwell’s Vacation By Burt L. Standish - 26--Frank Merriwell’s Cruise By Burt L. Standish - 27--Frank Merriwell’s Chase By Burt L. Standish - 28--Frank Merriwell in Maine By Burt L. Standish - 29--Frank Merriwell’s Struggle By Burt L. Standish - 30--Frank Merriwell’s First Job By Burt L. Standish - 31--Frank Merriwell’s Opportunity By Burt L. Standish - 32--Frank Merriwell’s Hard Luck By Burt L. Standish - 33--Frank Merriwell’s Protégé By Burt L. Standish - 34--Frank Merriwell on the Road By Burt L. Standish - 35--Frank Merriwell’s Own Company By Burt L. Standish - 36--Frank Merriwell’s Fame By Burt L. Standish - 37--Frank Merriwell’s College Chums By Burt L. Standish - 38--Frank Merriwell’s Problem By Burt L. Standish - 39--Frank Merriwell’s Fortune By Burt L. Standish - 40--Frank Merriwell’s New Comedian By Burt L. Standish - 41--Frank Merriwell’s Prosperity By Burt L. Standish - 42--Frank Merriwell’s Stage Hit By Burt L. Standish - 43--Frank Merriwell’s Great Scheme By Burt L. Standish - 44--Frank Merriwell in England By Burt L. Standish - 45--Frank Merriwell on the Boulevards By Burt L. Standish - 46--Frank Merriwell’s Duel By Burt L. Standish - 47--Frank Merriwell’s Double Shot By Burt L. Standish - 48--Frank Merriwell’s Baseball Victories By Burt L. Standish - 49--Frank Merriwell’s Confidence By Burt L. Standish - 50--Frank Merriwell’s Auto By Burt L. Standish - 51--Frank Merriwell’s Fun By Burt L. Standish - 52--Frank Merriwell’s Generosity By Burt L. Standish - 53--Frank Merriwell’s Tricks By Burt L. Standish - 54--Frank Merriwell’s Temptation By Burt L. Standish - 55--Frank Merriwell on Top. By Burt L. Standish - 56--Frank Merriwell’s Luck By Burt L. Standish - 57--Frank Merriwell’s Mascot By Burt L. Standish - 58--Frank Merriwell’s Reward By Burt L. Standish - 59--Frank Merriwell’s Phantom By Burt L. Standish - 60--Frank Merriwell’s Faith By Burt L. Standish - 61--Frank Merriwell’s Victories By Burt L. Standish - 62--Frank Merriwell’s Iron Nerve By Burt L. Standish - 63--Frank Merriwell in Kentucky By Burt L. Standish - 64--Frank Merriwell’s Power By Burt L. Standish - 65--Frank Merriwell’s Shrewdness By Burt L. Standish - - In order that there may be no confusion, we desire to say that the - books listed below will be issued during the respective months in - New York City and vicinity. They may not reach the readers at a - distance promptly, on account of delays in transportation. - - - To Be Published in July, 1923. - - 66--Frank Merriwell’s Set Back By Burt L. Standish - 67--Frank Merriwell’s Search By Burt L. Standish - - - To Be Published in August, 1923. - - 68--Frank Merriwell’s Club By Burt L. Standish - 69--Frank Merriwell’s Trust By Burt L. Standish - - - To Be Published in September, 1923. - - 70--Frank Merriwell’s False Friend By Burt L. Standish - 71--Frank Merriwell’s Strong Arm By Burt L. Standish - - - To Be Published in October, 1923. - - 72--Frank Merriwell As Coach By Burt L. Standish - 73--Frank Merriwell’s Brother By Burt L. Standish - 74--Frank Merriwell’s Marvel By Burt L. Standish - - - To Be Published in November, 1923. - - 75--Frank Merriwell’s Support By Burt L. Standish - 76--Dick Merriwell At Fardale By Burt L. Standish - - - To Be Published in December, 1923. - - 77--Dick Merriwell’s Glory By Burt L. Standish - 78--Dick Merriwell’s Promise By Burt L. Standish - - - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - | Read _and_ Learn | - | | - | There is a world of knowledge and instruction in the | - | stories of the adventures of Frank Merriwell and his | - | brother Dick, published in the Merriwell series. These | - | justly popular stories of sports, both indoors and out, | - | are what every athletic American boy not only wants but | - | actually needs for his physical and mental development. | - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - | 15c | - | | - | is the right price--the fair price under present conditions. | - | | - | Therefore, the | - | | - | S. & S. Novels | - | | - | sell at fifteen cents, no more, no less. | - | | - | We have an established reputation for fair dealing | - | acquired during sixty years of active publishing. | - | | - | The reduction in the price of our novels means that | - | we are living up to our reputation. | - | | - | | - | STREET & SMITH CORPORATION | - | 79 Seventh Avenue New York City | - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - WESTERN STORIES ABOUT - - BUFFALO BILL - - Price, Fifteen Cents - - Red-blooded Adventure Stories for Men - - - There is no more romantic character in American history than - William F. Cody, or as he was internationally known, Buffalo Bill. - He, with Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, Wild Bill Hickok, General - Custer, and a few other adventurous spirits, laid the foundation of - our great West. - - There is no more brilliant page in American history than the - winning of the West. Never did pioneers live more thrilling - lives, so rife with adventure and brave deeds as the old scouts - and plainsmen. Foremost among these stands the imposing figure of - Buffalo Bill. - - All of the books in this list are intensely interesting. They were - written by the close friend and companion of Buffalo Bill--Colonel - Prentiss Ingraham. They depict actual adventures which this pair - of hard-hitting comrades experienced, while the story of these - adventures is interwoven with fiction; historically the books are - correct. - - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 1--Buffalo Bill, the Border King By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 2--Buffalo Bill’s Raid By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 3--Buffalo Bill’s Bravery By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 4--Buffalo Bill’s Trump Card By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 5--Buffalo Bill’s Pledge By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 6--Buffalo Bill’s Vengeance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 7--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Grip By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 8--Buffalo Bill’s Capture By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 9--Buffalo Bill’s Danger Line By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 10--Buffalo Bill’s Comrades By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 11--Buffalo Bill’s Reckoning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 12--Buffalo Bill’s Warning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 13--Buffalo Bill at Bay By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 14--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Pards By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 15--Buffalo Bill’s Brand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 16--Buffalo Bill’s Honor By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 17--Buffalo Bill’s Phantom Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 18--Buffalo Bill’s Fight With Fire By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 19--Buffalo Bill’s Danite Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 20--Buffalo Bill’s Ranch Riders By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 21--Buffalo Bill’s Death Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 22--Buffalo Bill’s Trackers By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 23--Buffalo Bill’s Mid-air Flight By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 24--Buffalo Bill, Ambassador By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 25--Buffalo Bill’s Air Voyage By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 26--Buffalo Bill’s Secret Mission By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 27--Buffalo Bill’s Long Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 28--Buffalo Bill Against Odds By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 29--Buffalo Bill’s Hot Chase By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 30--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Ally By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 31--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Trove By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 32--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Foes By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 33--Buffalo Bill’s Crack Shot By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 34--Buffalo Bill’s Close Call By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 35--Buffalo Bill’s Double Surprise By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 36--Buffalo Bill’s Ambush By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 37--Buffalo Bill’s Outlaw Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 38--Buffalo Bill’s Border Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 39--Buffalo Bill’s Bid for Fame By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 40--Buffalo Bill’s Triumph By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 41--Buffalo Bill’s Spy Trailer By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 42--Buffalo Bill’s Death Call By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 43--Buffalo Bill’s Body Guard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 44--Buffalo Bill’s Still Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 45--Buffalo Bill and the Doomed Dozen By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 46--Buffalo Bill’s Prairie Scout By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 47--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Guide By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 48--Buffalo Bill’s Bonanza By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 49--Buffalo Bill’s Swoop By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 50--Buffalo Bill and the Gold King By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 51--Buffalo Bill, Deadshot By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 52--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Bravos By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 53--Buffalo Bill’s Big Four By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 54--Buffalo Bill’s One-armed Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 55--Buffalo Bill’s Race for Life By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 56--Buffalo Bill’s Return By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 57--Buffalo Bill’s Conquest By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 58--Buffalo Bill to the Rescue By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 59--Buffalo Bill’s Beautiful Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 60--Buffalo Bill’s Perilous Task By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 61--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Find By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 62--Buffalo Bill’s Blind Lead By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 63--Buffalo Bill’s Resolution By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 64--Buffalo Bill, the Avenger By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 65--Buffalo Bill’s Pledged Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 66--Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 67--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 68--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Stampede By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 69--Buffalo Bill’s Mine Mystery By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 70--Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 71--Buffalo Bill’s Daring Dash By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 72--Buffalo Bill on Hand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 73--Buffalo Bill’s Alliance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 74--Buffalo Bill’s Relentless Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 75--Buffalo Bill’s Midnight Ride By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 76--Buffalo Bill’s Chivalry By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 77--Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 78--Buffalo Bill’s Private War By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 79--Buffalo Bill’s Diamond Mine By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 80--Buffalo Bill’s Big Contract By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 81--Buffalo Bill’s Woman Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 82--Buffalo Bill’s Ruse By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 83--Buffalo Bill’s Pursuit By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 84--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Gold By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 85--Buffalo Bill in Mid-air By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 86--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Mission By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 87--Buffalo Bill’s Verdict By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 88--Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 89--Buffalo Bill’s Camp Fires By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 90--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Nerve By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 91--Buffalo Bill’s Rival By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 92--Buffalo Bill’s Lone Hand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 93--Buffalo Bill’s Sacrifice By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 94--Buffalo Bill’s Thunderbolt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 95--Buffalo Bill’s Black Fortune By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 96--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Work By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 97--Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 98--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Train By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 99--Buffalo Bill’s Bowie Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 100--Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Man By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 101--Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 102--Buffalo Bill: Peacemaker By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 103--Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 104--Buffalo Bill’s Barricade By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 105--Buffalo Bill’s Test By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 106--Buffalo Bill’s Powwow By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 107--Buffalo Bill’s Stern Justice By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 108--Buffalo Bill’s Mysterious Friend By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 109--Buffalo Bill and the Boomers By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 110--Buffalo Bill’s Panther Fight By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 111--Buffalo Bill and the Overland Mail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 112--Buffalo Bill on the Deadwood Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 113--Buffalo Bill in Apache Land By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 114--Buffalo Bill’s Blindfold Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 115--Buffalo Bill and the Lone Camper By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 116--Buffalo Bill’s Merry War By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 117--Buffalo Bill’s Star Play By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 118--Buffalo Bill’s War Cry By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 119--Buffalo Bill on Black Panther’s Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 120--Buffalo Bill’s Slim Chance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 121--Buffalo Bill Besieged By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 122--Buffalo Bill’s Bandit Round-up By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 123--Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 124--Buffalo Bill’s Lightning Raid By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 125--Buffalo Bill in Mexico By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 126--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 127--Buffalo Bill’s Tireless Chase By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 128--Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 129--Buffalo Bill’s Sure Guess By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 130--Buffalo Bill’s Record Jump By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 131--Buffalo Bill in the Land of Dread By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 132--Buffalo Bill’s Tangled Clue By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 133--Buffalo Bill’s Wolf Skin By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - - - - - _Adventure Stories_ - - _Detective Stories_ - - _Western Stories_ - - _Love Stories_ - - _Sea Stories_ - - - All classes of fiction are to be found among the Street & - Smith novels. Our line contains reading matter for every one, - irrespective of age or preference. - - The person who has only a moderate sum to spend on reading matter - will find this line a veritable gold mine. - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION, - 79 Seventh Avenue, - New York, N. Y. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - The Table of Contents at the beginning of the book was created by - the transcriber. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation such as “get-away”/“getaway” - have been maintained. - - Minor punctuation and spelling errors have been silently corrected - and, except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the - text, especially in dialogue, and inconsistent or archaic usage, - have been retained. - - Page 2: “A Congress of the Rough-riders” changed to “A Congress of - the Rough Riders”. - - Page 11: “Wild Bill set his foot on the supttering” changed to - “Wild Bill set his foot on the sputtering”. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO BILL'S WEIRD WARNING *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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