DEVOTED 10 BORDER HISTORY Assued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-Sq Seventh Ave. N.Y. No. 298 NEW YORK, JANUARY 26, 1907. Price, Five Cents veceeed ot dearer eee eae a eee t: at gee as) «The snakes; stand back!’ Buffalo Bill shouted in warning as the enraged redskins rushed — in on him and the marvelous black. 3 aoe = eT GEISE aia = ¥ ss is — Wie —— = ‘ = — = Re ache pleas ™ a ES a Ne Se See ae 4 pees * i ee ie - e £3 | z « ; norragemasa gener te NE ees Sac aaraphao aentaRS SROReA o RNS S Lon x Fi Bic N eather a an RNIN PO a td, RATS tid hr gal lage paisig ag A WEERATY PUBLICATION | DEVOTED TO BORDER HISTORY Issued ee By hese ge 50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. ¥. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, ree Seventh Avenue, N.Y. Entered according to Act of Congress tn the year 1007, tn the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D [Ss> Beware of Wild West imitations of the Buffalo Bill Stories. They are about fi ctitious characters, The Bufia Bill weekly is the only weekly containing the adventures of Buffalo Bill, (Col. W. F. Cody), who is known ‘i over the world as the king of scouts. N. Os 298. NEW YORK, January 26, 1907. Price Five Cents. OR, THE SNAKE-MASTER FROM TIMBUCTOO. By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.” CHAPTER I THE STAGE HOLD-UP The black man with the turban, whose fantastic dress would have attracted attention in any quarter of the civilized world, sat in his corner of the bouncing stage and let his glittering black eyes rest on the young woman who sat almost opposite. His gaze was not pleasant to this woman. More than once when she saw his black eyes directed toward her face she seemed on the point of crying out, or of making complaint to some of the other passengers. At the black man’s feet rested two boxes, exactly alike; and when he was not looking at the girl his gaze was riveted on those boxes. Very seldom, if ever, did he Bee out at the passing landscape. And yet it was a landscape well worth looking at, for the country was somewhat mountainous, and it was wild and remote. The young woman—she was little more than a girl in years—had got into the stage at the town of San Palo, | sates Pe hs in oes ve Memhcek mace. fay Minne gle eth: ney tn ere cnt ete and had looked round anxiously as she did so. The black man was not in the stage at the time. He did not appear until the stage was ready to start and the driver had given his preliminary whirl to his long whip. Then the black came running, carrying the two boxes, and fairly flung himself into the stage. He almost fell over the feet of the girl. She had started to rise and call to the driver and ask to be let out, but she seemed to lack the strength. So she sat silent, staring at the black as a bird is said - to stare at the snake that has fascinated it. Her face had turned white as a sheet. These things the other passengers had not noted. They had looked at the singular black, with his twc boxes, rather than at the girl. Brazos Bill, the driver, swung his whip, piloting his four horses out of the town, and then along the trail that wound through the country beyond. Grim and ageressive was ae Bill, yet discreet, and he knew his business. 2 THE BUFFALO Hence, when a rifle barrel glittered from the top of a rock by the trail, and above the rock appeared the marked face of a man, Brazos Bill swung back on the reins, bringing the stage to an abrupt stop even before the command ‘to “Stop!” rang out. “Hands up!” cried the highwayman. Other masked faces came into view from each side ot the trail, a Brazos Bill jammed his foot hard on the brake lever, while his horses threatened to take the bits in their teeth, for the sight of those masked figures popping up before them so suddenly was too much for their equanimity. Brazos was equal to the occasion. _ “Jes’ consider thet my hands air up while I hang on ter these lines,” he yelled to the road-agents. “Otherwise, ther hearse will be run away with, and everything that’s ° inthe) Some of the road-agents sprang to the heads of the dancing horses. _ The one who was apparently the leader stepped to the stage door, drew it open, and poked in the muzzle of his revolver. “Hands up!’ he Soaindet The girl had given a little shriek of fear when she heard that first command, and now lay back against the cushion, white and trembling. The black man in the turban had grabbed up his two boxes. Hi The ‘other interior passengers were no less startled. “Hands up!’ commanded the masked man. He looked with interest at the pale-faced girl, then j; turned his attention to the other occupants, and particu- | larly to the black. “What’s in them boxes?” he demanded. “Snakes,” came the startling answer. “Hands up, all of you—and step out of the hearse.” “But I no can put my hands up,” sputtered the black, | with a strange twist of his wing clinging to the boxes. | “You see what I have.” “Drop ’em, and git out, and quick!” The sharp command brought obedience. The road-agent looked keenly at the girl, who re- | mained after the others had hastily evacuated the coach. “Come, miss,” he said. She again uttered a little cry of fear. “I think you’re Miss Patty Perkins, daughter of Judge | Perkins, the owner of the big mine at Silverton. If so, you'll bring a fat ransom,” he said coarsely. “But I am not,” she declared. “Well, you look it; and we had word she was to be on this stage. I guess you’re her, all right. So climb out.” He spoke not unkindly, but his tone was a command. She descended, trembling, from the stage, and took her place by the side of the passengers, whom the outlaws i had disarmed and ranged in a row by the trail. BILL STORIES. The outlaws had also been busy, relieving these pas- sengers of their watches and money. The leader drew out the two boxes belonging to the turbaned black. “Snakes in these, eh?” he said, with a doubtful grin. “Yellow snakes of gold, eh?” He put them on the ground, all watching him, for the passengers were apparently as curious as he to know what those singular boxes held. “Snakes !’’ warned the turbaned black. His white teeth gleamed and his eyes were fiery, “What do you do with ’em?’ the road-agent de- manded. “Show!” cried the black. ‘Me show ’em. Me snake- master; me make the big exhibit with the snakes.” The road-agents laughed. They had even known gold from the mines to be carried through in coffins labeled as dead bodies. All sorts of tricks were worked to get it through safely, and they did not doubt this was but one of those tricks. - The leader tried to open the heaviest box. It resisted him. He kicked it, and the lid flew open. Tt was as he expected—the box contained gold-dust in. bags, and gold in bars and coin. “Ha, ha!” he said, thrusting his hand among the shining metal. ‘See the snakes bite me! Ha, ha!’ The face of the black became drawn and anxious. He had hoped the road-agent would open the other box first, would see its contents, and that would satisfy him. “No, no!” he screamed, as the leader turned to the other box. In spite of the warning he had received to remain in the line, the black sprang forward. As he fished for a key in the folds of his clothing, one of the bandits drew down on him, thinking he was reach- ing for a weapon. Paige the gun!” the bandit yelled. In another moment his bullet would have cut the black man down, but at that instant the latter’s hand reap- peared, holding a little key. With savage energy he shouldered aside the road-agent leader, and kneeling by the box inserted the key, and sprung the box open. “See!” he cried dramatically. “What I tell you?” The box cotitained snakes—rattlesnakes chiefly, the deadly reptile of the Western plains and mountains. The serpents squirmed and rattled, and thrust out their tongues, elevating their ugly heads. “See! What I tell?” The road-agent leader sprang back with a curse of fear and astonishment. He had been sure that this box also contained gold. “Keep ’em,” he said, and he tried to laugh to hide his start of fear and surprise. “Thank ye, I don’t want ‘em! i nnn Sp PE In it Be 25 BREE SES IE TRAE ALLELE EADS SS ed SLE AS aS- he e- ie ~« take a—what you call?—a living! _ you're making a mistake.” THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES, — , | : You're welcome to all of them kind. But Ill keep the gold.” “Mebbe there’s gold under the snakes,” bandits ventured. . The leader thereupon looked down into the box of snakes. “Well, he can keep that, too, if it’s there. - Hidin’ gold in a box of snakes would be apt to take it through the dead-line, if anything on earth would. I don’t keer to investigate; if any o’ you boys do, why, go ahead.” None accepted the invitation. A rattlesnake slid out of the box to the ground and threw itself into an angry coil, and that caused the out- laws to draw back. One of them pulled a revolver. “Shoot the durn thing’s head off!” he cried. “No, no?’ squealed the black, in a paroxysm of fear for his pets. He threw himself on the snake, caught it by the neck, tossed it back into the box, and with a kick of his foot closed the box-lid down on it. “No, no!’ he cried. “It is my show, my way for to You kill the snake, one of the and I have no show.” “Where'd you git that?’ asked the leader, indicating the gold. “By my show.” “Your show, eh? by that. We'll take the gold, and thank ye. iter tie hearse.” He indicated the male passengers, and laid his hand on the girl’s arm, she shrinking from him. “All into the hearse but the young lady. We'll. jes’ hold her until her rich old dad comes down with money enough to satisfy us. She’s so durn good-lookin’ that I ruther think he'll be willin’ to plank down about her weight. in gold-dust; so that won’t be so unprofitable.” “But * she stammered; “I am not the person you think. I am Miss Emma Irving.” ; The leader winked knowingly. Well, it must be a good ’un, judgin’ Climb back “They ginerly has other names when it suits ’em; I’ve got two or three different ones myself. Sometimes I’m Jim Blodgett, and sometimes jes’ plain Jim; and some- times I’m Peaceful Joe; and’ag’in I’m Alkali Artie. It’s jes’ a matter of pickin’ new names when you think you need ‘em. I understands the game.” “But—but,” ‘she protested, “really in this instance “Driver,” called the leader, “swing up to the box and move yer team along; we ain’t wantin’ yer company longer.” Brazos Bill complied with alacrity. “Thanks !’’ he cried. wend you eit in! Black. said the leader to the turbaned “No, no!” he protested. “What! Why not?’ “Bad luck for me now.” His eyes gleamed balefully. He squatted by his box of snakes, hovering it almost as a hen hovers chickens. “Get in,” commanded the outlaw. “No,*no! Me no go now! | The outlaw leader laughed. “Oh, well, stay. There ain’t nothin’ ter eat here, and it's a long ways back to the town; but stay, if ye wanter.” He waved*his hand to the driver. “Move on the hearse!” he shouted. “Glad to!” said Brazos Bill with a laugh. He swung hts whip. Its report rang out like that of a pistol. The horses jumped, and the stage rolled on. 17? Bad luck for me! mon ceases} CHAPTER It: THE SNAKE-MASTER FROM TIMBUCTOO. The turbaned black sat on the ground beside the box as the stage rolled in one direction and the road-agents galloped off in another. Suppressed fury blazed in his black eyes, “Me kill—all—all!” he whispered, glaring in the direc- tion taken by the road-agents. He was about to rise, as if to go in pursuit of them. But he heard a sound from the opposite direction, which stopped him. He turned round, and saw a man come into view from the bushes—a tall; handsome man, well armed, and lead- ing a horse. The man was the great scout, Buffalo Bill. The fury that had flamed in the eyes of the black be- came intensified by that sight. A snarl rolled from his mouth: “Ah-h!”? It held the essence of fury and-hate. As if he were one of his own serpents, he dropped in- stantly to the ground, drew the box alongside, and slid from sight behind a big boulder, where he lay flat. Then he listened; and his face grew again fiendish as he heard the step of the scout and the thudding tread of © his horse’s hoofs. “Ah-h! Itis him that I would kill!” He drew from the folds of his loose clothing a keen, carving-knife, which had a point sharp as a stiletto and an edge like a razor. Then he crouched lower, and waited as if intending to spring out upon the scout. The horse led by the scout stopped and snorted. The scout bent his head, listening. His eyes surveyed the trail, Schooled as he was in the language of the plains by which wayfarers read even the a | : THE BUFFALO marks on the ground, he sought to discover what had happened there but a few minutes before. He saw that the stage had passed, and that it had stopped. He saw the hoof-prints of horses; and then indications that the passengers had dismounted, On the grass was a torn paper, an empty purse, and near it an envelope rifled of its contents. The language was plain. There had been here a hold-up of the stage by road- agents but a few minutes before. The thing had been done almost noiselessly; at least there had been no loud shooting. He had been near enough to have heard shots, if they had been fired. As he thus glanced about, the turbaned black behind the boulder clutched his keen, curved knife and glared out at the scout, all unseen by him. . The scout came on, the bridle-rein of his horse on his arm, his eyes on the ground, reading what he saw there. Fle stopped suddenly and bent over, staring at the ground. “A lady!’ he said. “Those are ae the re of a woman’s shoes, I wonder. : He bent forward to look further, trying to determine if the woman had been permitted to reenter the stage, or if she had been carried away by the road-agents. As he thus stooped, the turbaned black made a forward spring at him, like a striking serpent. The curved knife flashed in the air, the intention of the black being to drive it into the scout’s back. But Buffalo Bills hearing was of the keenest. He heard the rustle of the Btaas as the black rose to make his leap. The scout whirled, swinging his gun round with light- ning motion. The black was almost in mid-air, with his knife held aloft. His lips were half-open, as if he wanted to yell in triumph. Then the swinging gun barrel caught him amidship, as it were, | It doubled him up like a jack-knife, hurled him side- | ways to the ground, and fairly knocked the breath out of : 7 him, while his razor-edged blade shot from his hand and | stuck quivering in the grass near-by. , . The scout was equally as quick in the movements which followed that swing of his rifle barrel. | He sprang on the prostrate black man, set his fingers against his throat, and so held him. “Tippoo Tib!” he cried, in breathless amazement. The black struggled, breathing heavily. The scout searched him for other weapons, found a re- volver, which he took; and then removed his choking fingers from Tippoo Tib’s throat. Before the black could rise, the scout had also pos- sessed himself of that murderous knife. BILL STORIES. Tippoo Tib, as the scout had called him, rolled his black eyes, gurgled and gasped, and then became con- scious that sitting before him was the man he had thought to kill. It was not a pleasant sight; for, besides showing him that he had failed utterly, he saw that the white man had his weapons. Buffalo Bill held the knife and the re- volver. | “Ah-h! You!” snarled the black, with something of the manner of the dismayed hyena. “T didn’t know you were in this country, Ttppoo,” said the scout, in an easy manner. “I found your knife stick- ing in the ground over there, and your revolver also strangely came into my possession. If I could trust you I’d restore them gladly. What are you doing here, any- how? Answer me truly, by the beard of the prophet,” The black pressed a hand to his aching side, where the gun barrel had struck, and did not at once answer. “It seems strange to see you here,’ the scout went on. “Td as soon expect to behold one of the pyramids set down amid these rocks. I suppose you can explain it, but I can’t. You ought to be in Timbuctoo, where you belong; or in England, where I last saw you.” Tippoo Tib grinned a sickly grin. “Give knife,” he begged, holding out his black hand. “Not just yet. When. you have answered certain ques- tions. By the way, what is in this box?” The box was on the ground before him. ‘A, present for the friend of Tippoo Vib, ” said the black, with a sinister grin. “ Por mer Well, of course, that ist so, “Will the friend of Tippoo Tib not open the box and see?” said the black craftily. Buffalo Bill was about to incautiously spring the box open, when his quick ear detected a sliding, scaly motion within the box. He remembered the calling of this black, whom he knew to be, in his line, a marvelous man. A shudder’passed through him and a realization that he had probably made a narrow escape. That box held deadly snakes; and Tippoo Tib, he knew, had hoped he would open it, and be bitten, “Kind of you, Tippoo!’’ he said, boring the black with a sharp look. “But I might have expected it. You haven't told me how you came to be here? trouble your snakes.” The eyes of the black burned again, as when he had seen the road-agents ride away with his gold and the girl. “Will the White Sheik listen?” he asked. “I will speak truly, by the beard of the prophet.” vend tell a thousand lies to one truth, Tippoo! go on.’ “T had gold; a box 5 gold like the box beside you.” His language was choicer than when he had spoken to the road-agents, “There is no gold in laa But Don’t lie to me.” I think I shail not ae ee SEES I | oe - rode away with the young lady,’ police. THE BUFFALO ‘No: the white robbers took the box of gold. They came on us here, and they took the box of gold; and they “The young lady ?” “The White Sheik knows her. The beautiful doctor that came to the Wady Halfi.” » “Miss Irving!” the scout gasped in surprise. “The White Sheik.remembers. She is beautiful as the houris of paradise.” . “Yes, you scoundrel, and you followed her, and made her leave the Wady Halfi, and Timbuctoo, to which places she had gone as a medical missionary. She wanted - to help your tribesmen of Upper Africa, and you per- secuted her until she had to leave; and even then you - followed. her—followed her to England, and persecuted her there with your attentions.” “The houris of paradise had not charm for me after I had seen the beautiful white girl,” said Tippoo Tib, ex- hibiting his white teeth. “I followed her to England, as you said; and there I met you. And——” “Why don’t you go on with it? I will, for you. You annoyed her until she asked for the protection of the But you still pursued her. And one day I came upon you, when you were annoying her, and I ham- mered your black face for it.” “Ah-h!” It was like the snarl of a wild beast, a snarl drawn from the black as he recalled that “hammering,” received at the hands of Buffalo Bill. “But what are you doing here? this country ?” “Ah-h!? the snarl again sounded, gurgling in his throat. : “T can see that you did; and you were even in this stage-coach with her. I think I didn’t hammer you chonan there in England. I think I ought to have killed you.’ The black lowered his glittering eyes, up their appearance was much calmer. “Let us be friends,” he begged. “You want your weapons, eh?” “Let Tippoo Tib and the great White Sheik be friends.” “But you haven't: said, what you're doing in this country ?”’ “In the show.” “Oh, in the show business.” “With the snakes,’ Tippoo Tib explained. “Ah, yes, | remember that you were a wonderful snake- charmer in those old days. And you have them here in this box? It’s a good thing I didn’t open it.” He rose to his feet. | Did you follow her to When he looked “Tl give back your weapons, Tippoo, just as soon as I can trust you,” He began to walk about, inspecting the ae made at tne time of the hold-up. 4 : eT TET TT Ga olga ap Paap aaa RMS ee ee i ig FSA PEE A ine r ELal BILE STORIES, Cae “A singular thing,” he muttered. “That rascally black has followed Miss Irving all the way from England, or the Continent, to this place, hounding the life out of her, I'll warrant; and it was his persecuting attentions which forced her to give up her missionary attempts at Wady Half, near Timbuctoo. She told me all about it. A murderous wretch is Tippoo; and I'll have to keep an eye -on him. “But I can thank him for one thing: Without his in- formation I might never have known who the young lady is that has fallen into the hands of these road-agents, They must be Blodgett’s gang.” He stooped and picked up a handkerchief. “Dropped by the girl, I guess.” He looked at it. In a corner were the initials EK. I oe for Emma Irving. “A bright girl,” was his one “She dropped that purposely, as she was taken away. Well, I’m here to run down Blodgett’s gang, and I know of no better starting- place than right here, even if they are in pretty strong force and I have no assistance. Now, what shall 1 do with that rascally Tippoo Tib?” CHAPTER Ii. THE ATTACK OF THE BLACKFEBRT, ‘The question which Buffalo Bill asked was destined to receive an unexpected answer. He returned to the fiery-eyed black man, and began again to question him. Tippoo Tib had opened his box of snakes, and the vicious serpents were squirming. He caught one up on his arm, holding it thus, It clung there, half-coiled, and rattled. The scout stood off and looked in admiration. “You will not get to turn one of those things loose on me, Tippoo,” he said, with meaning. . “The White Sheil and Tippoo Tib be friends,’ black man, sinking his voice to a winning murmur. snake is not for the White Sheik.” “T don’t intend that it shall be. Now, mean to do? Walk back to the town?” . The black eyes flashed again. ‘My gold,” he said, and glanced in i direction taken by the bandits. “Why did you not go on in the stage? a “My gold,’ was again the reply. “Vou hope to get it by following them? You'll meet death, I fancy, if you start out alone, with no one to aid er guide you. Will you go back to the town, and then get out of the country, if 1 restore your revolver and knife? Mind, I don’t trust you; but 1 will take the cart- ridges out of your revolver, and then you can't use it ’ said the “The what do you igre CL ES a against me. And I’m not afraid of the knife, wicked- looking thing though it is.” The black eyes glittered. “T will go,” he said. The scout was close up to him. Suddenly there was a crackling of the bushes, a wild war-cry, and a 8 of Indians rushed out upon the two men. Ignoring the snakes in this new danger, Buffalo Bill sprang to the side of the black, and swung his rifle, the two being at the moment in an angle of the rocky wall there. ; “The snakes; stand back!’ Buffalo Bill shouted in warning as the enraged redskins rushed in on him and the marvelous black. It might have been better for him if te had used the rifle in its natural way, instead of swinging it as e-tlub; though whether that really would have bettered condi- tions cannot be determined. He knocked one of the Indians sprawling. Tippoo Tib uttered a peculiar cry. The rattlesnake which had coiled on his arm shot out its full length, and fastened on the arm of the foremost Indian, who was apparently a chief, judging by his head-feathers. Then Buffalo Bill was beaten to the ground, half- senseless, and the black was knocked sprawling. Z He sprang up, however, with a wriggling motion, and snatching up the escaping snakes he began to thrust them back into the box in spite of the surrounding and threat- ening redskins, who were afraid of the snakes, and now kept clear of them, thus giving him room in which to work. | ae As for the chief who was bitten, he held up his arm in a sort of horror, with the rattlesnake hanging to it, . for the snake had sunk its fangs so deeply that it could not ' be shaken off. With a strange cry the black, closing the box with a kick of his foot, rushed on this Indian. There were now some queer looks and exclamations among the savages, and they were staring at the black man. : : Some of them lifted their tomahawks as if to brain him, yet did not, the weapons dropping from nerveless fingers. The black hurled himself on the bitten chief, over- throwing him with his wild rush. Tearing the snake loose, he held it with one hand, while he began to suck at the wound with his thick, black lips. Buffalo Bill stared stupidly at this, the blow he had re- ceived having made him temporarily unable to do aoa thing else. Seeing what the black was doing, the chief ceased to struggle, and permitted him to suck the wound. The other Indians stood back, gesticulating and utter- ing strange and wondering cries. Me ga THE BUPEALO. BILL. STORIES, They were pointing at the black, and what they said concerned him. Having applied his lips to the wound a short time, Tippoo Tib thrust.a hand into the folds of his garments, where he had some hidden pockets, and brought out a strange-looking metal bottle. This he unstopped, and then poured from it upon the wound a greenish liquid, rubbing it in with his e “Ah-h!” he snarled. He stood up, holding the squirming rattlesnake by the neck. It had wound itself round his arm in a scaly coil that was not pleasant to behold. The astonished Indians weré muttering in increasing excitement. Something in his appearance, in his manner, or in what he had done, had more than amazed them. They pointed and gesticulated, and filled the air with exclamations. Meanwhile Buffalo Bill, slowly recovering, was looking about, and trying to size up the situation from his own personal standpoint. He found that he had been deprived of his weapons; that a blow had knocked him breathless and momentarily half senseless, and that his chances of escape were of the poorest. He was inclined to blame himself for carelessness, in permitting these Indians to catch him napping. He saw they were Blackfeet, as was to have been ex- pected, for he was in Blackfoot territory. He did not yet know, however, that these Blackfeet had been lying in wait for the stage which the road-agents had attacked and robbed, and that only because the road- agents had appeared, and had been in rather strong force, they had remained hidden and silent. For this reason the scout had not heard their advance, for they had been already there, concealed like serpents amid the rocks, only awaiting what they judged to be a good opportunity. The scout now saw that their leader was Little Wolf, whom he knew. | It was Little Wolf whom the snake had bitten, and he was on the ground now, undérgoing the strange medical ministrations of the turbaned black. At that black man Buffalo Bill looked as intently as at any of the redskins. He could not recover from the sur- prise of finding this desert tribesman from North Africa out there in the mountain wilderness of Western Amefica..-- The thing was incongruous; so absolutely unbelievable that it stretched his credulity, even though he saw it with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. For the moment he almost fancied that he was dream- ing, or that the blow he had received had temporarily un- settled the hinges of his mental machinery, so that he could not trust either his ears or his eyes, nor even his memory. one Then he saw that none of this was a dream. seesz THE BUFFALO He began %o cast about, seeking some chance of escape. The Blackfeet were in possession of his horse, as well as of his weapons. One of the Indians, observing his straying glances, in- terpreted them aright, and pointed a gun at him, with threatening words. | The scout sank back against the thal and looked at Tippoo Tib and Little Wolf. He listened now to the strange cries of the other In- dians. As he did so he made an astounding discovery. These Blackfeet were declaring that this strange black man was one of their medicine-men, recently dead, who had thus returned to them. The dying medicine-man had said that he would re- turn, as a black man; and as he had been a master of snakes, and this black man was likewise a snake-charmer, the identity between him and the dead medicine-man was thus established. Yet they were not rushing upon the black, for this dis- covery was too tremendous, and also it was as yet some- what. uncertain. They merely chattered and stared, wondering and ges- ticulating. “If Tippoo only knew what they’re saying he could use it to his own advantage,’ was the thought of the ScOmte He wondered if it would not be best to let the black have this knowledge, through his mastery of the Blackfoot language. © So he said: “Tippoo, you are in luck. These fellows think you’re one of their medicine-men, or, rather, the spirit of one returned, who has lately died. He promised to come back as a black man, and they begin to think, seeing you, that he has kept his promise. It’s a good thing for you, eee as it will keep you from the torture- stake, prob- ably.” He had hardly said it when he realized that it was un- wise. Por the unwisdom of whatever he did just then he could blame his disturbed head, which was humming round like a top, making him dizzy. Tippoo did not understand at once just what Buffalo ~ Bill meant, but he was a shrewd rascal, and he compre- hended soon. There were at Wady Halfi, and in Timbuctoo, men who were the equivalents of the Indian medicine-men of America—sorcerers, who worked charms, made great pretenses, communed supposedly with spirits and demons, and handled snakes and poisons with apparent impunity. Of these Tippoo had himself been one. So that, should he accept the role which these Black- feet wished to give him, he would but be reverting to the which he himself. had gained - BILL STORIES. a nae of the olden time, in the far- away Sacne of Africa. The Indians spoke now to Pipnoe Tib, asking ques- tions. They had expected that he bite of the rattlesnake would speedily finish Little Wolf. But that deadly bite had been rendered harmless. by the quick action of the black, and by the antidote he had poured into the wound, after sucking out all the poison he could. This of itself was enough to raise Tippoo Tib to a very high plane in their estimation. Their old medicine-man had possessed such a secret, but it had never worked suc- cessfully on the bites of real rattlesnakes. Hence, apparently, this medicine-man had returned to the earth, and to his tribe, equipped with more skill and knowledge than when he went away. This corresponded with what they would naturally ex- pect, in a case of the kind. Tippoo Tib did not answer their questions, and they discovered that he could not understand them. But this did not stagger the easy credulity of the Black- feet. mysterious land where he had been after death he should have forgotten the language of his tribe? He would have to learn it anew, probably, as if he were an infant, They said this. to each other, with awed wonder on their faces. Little Wolf lifted himself from the ground by and by. There was a numbness in the arm that had been bitten . and some pain, but the deadly result expected was not “appearing. He saw that the treatment of this black had been effective. been overcome. He stared into the face of Tippoo Tib. He had heard the wondering comments of his fol- lowers, and now he plumply asked the black man if he were the medicine-man returned. Tippoo Tib, seeing that he was addressed, made an an- swer, but it was unintelligible to the chief, Buffalo Bill had more of recovered his usual condi- tion. He was tempted to sae again now, but he did not. He realized that his danger could hardly be greater. Little Wolf was his enemy, and so was Tippoo Tib. CHAPTER fV, THE MARVELOUS BLACK. Having captured the great Long Hair, whom they — hated and feared, the Indians did not tarry long by the © trail, where their position was menaced. They tied the scout to the back of his own horse, threatening him with death if he tried to escape. What more natural, they thought, than that in the - The poison of the rattlesnake had ae oo Tg ag ae THe BURBALO BILE STORIES, The black they placed on one of their best ponies; and He reached into his box, took out one of the deadly ] they set eagle feathers in his hair, making him the snakes, let it coil round his arm, and then, opening his on strangest sight that had ever been seen, though they did mouth, popped the head of the snake into it. to not realize it. It was a disgusting sight, but the absolute fearless- ha Having been informed by Buffalo Bill of the opinion ness of the man fascinated and amazed the redskins. cin held of him by the Indians, Tippoo Tib was disposed to Then he gave it a quick, flourishing whirl in the air, play the assigned rdle, feeling that thus he could secure threw his hand wide open, and the snake was gone. CO! his safety, and that perhaps he could also wreak ven- It had been slipped by marvelous dexterity into some - geance on his old foe, Buffalo Bill. fold of his loose garments, for he was a skilful sleight- sa’ So he did not object when he was adorned with dyed eagle feathers, and he submitted to being mounted on the pony. He clung to his box of snakes, however, knowing it had served him well, and because, also, he valued it highly. The Blackfeet took the trail leit by the road-agents, following it cautiously. “i They had seen the white girl captured and taken away. Little Wolf's eyes had gleamed when he beheld her, and he had thought what an acquisition, she would be to his wigwam. None of the Blackfoot girls were as beautiful as this girl of the paleface race. Hence the cunning Blackfeet followed the road- -agents’ trail, ‘ But Blodgett and his gentlemen of the road were no fools. They rather feared a oa not by Indians, but by a posse led by officers from the town, and they hastened in their flight. Besides, they knew that Buffalo Bill was in that sec- tion of country, and that he had under him a small com- ~of-hand expert; yet it seemed to have vanished into the air, and the Blackfeet stared their astonishment. While they -stared, smoke began to issue from the mouth of the black, and then red flames. He threw his hand to his mouth with a jerking wriggle that dislodged the snake from its hiding-place; and when he drew his hand away the writhing rattler-was in it. Apparently it had come from the midst of that fire and smoke. Cries of superstitious fear came from the Blackfeet, and they edged their ponies away from this necromancer. They were sure now that he was their medicine-man, back from the dead, and possessed of new and marvelous powers gained in that spirt land where he had been sojourning. He had been there long enough, they thought, to lose of all knowledge of the Blackfoot tongue, or perhaps he did not wish yet to use it, for some reason. Their credulity invented causes with amazing facility. : Not the least exercised and startled by the perform- ances of Tippoo Tib was the chief, Little Wolf. Little Wolt’s paining arm still testified to what had he pany of negro soldiers from the nearest fort, a company been done by this man for him. But for the “medicine- a that had gained the name of)the Black Eagles, who were man’ he, Little Wolf, would be at that moment either : fighters to a man and could be depended on in every dead or writhing in the agonies of death. He was not th CMEI Beucy. disposed to regard this as a small performance, naturally. | It was also known to Blodgett and his band that Buffalo Seeing the effect of his skill on these ignorant Indians, 4 Bill had already been scouring the country, looking for Tippoo Tib continued his exhibitions. 4 law violators, and that he had arrested several men in the He caught up one of the snakes, and let it seem to | town, and had sent them away for trial. bite him in the wrist, just over the great artery there, ii If they had but known that the dreaded scout was at the deadliest place imaginable; with the exception of the that moment in the power of Little Wolf’s Blackfeet, they great arteries in his neck, :. would not have worried, but would have rejoiced, even But: that bite was pure deception. . though they hated and feared Little Wolf almost as much In the first place, this particular snake had been de- | b as they did the scout himself. prived of its poison fangs, and so was as harmless as a | ae Buffalo Bill, riding bound in the midst of the Black- toad. But Tippoo Tib, slapping his wrist at the moment 4 . feet, was silent as they went on, his thoughts running to the snake struck, left on his black skin a reddish liquid ] plans of eseape, and to the possible consequences if he which seemed to be blood, and which the Indians believed ~) 4. could not do so. . to be blood oozing from the wounds of the bite. i < Those consequences were likely to be of the most © Then Tippoo Tib deliberately held this arm aloft, and serious character. did nothing to prevent the poison which they supposed to ri He knew that whatever hetell, he could hope for no be there from taking full effect. el assistance from Tippoo Tib, who hated him with a viru- Of course there was no harmful result; and because f)_ id lence passing words to picture. there was not the Blackfeet believed him to be immune . As for that marvelous black, knowing the rédle ie was to snake-bite. ne expected to play, he was not long in testing it, to see its And that was a marvelous thing; for the snake was of a results. the venomous kind th uf } er A rt rar ati tbo ar pg cadet) A RL Nc a dtcoae a eee eat er ae tape et - Buffalo Bill smiled as he watched this “monkey” work on the part of the black. He knew it would be useless to attempt to enlighten the redskins. They would not have believed his statements against their returned “medi- cine-man.” Yet he said by and by to Tippoo Tib, as the latter was concluding : aX ope performance, Tippoo; but I believe I saw you do all those things on the stage once, in Eng- land !” | Tippoo Tib gave him a menacing look. “Say it not,’ he safd. “Oh,. they can’t understand my English, unless I make | it very plain; and they-think, rightly, that you’re a won- ® der. I think that myself.” “T know you, only to kill you later!” the black threat- ened, with deadly emphasis. “It is you have ruined me, and been in my way; and now I see that I can have my revenge for all that. I will kill you; I will eat your heart; I will cut your tongue out. Ah-h!” The deadly intensity of his words and manner cannot be described. _ The redskins could not tell what he said, but they saw the flame of anger in his face and read the hatred in his eyes, and that did not incline them to look more kindly on the Long Hair, whom already, in their minds, they had condemned to death. ; Buffalo Bill saw how critical was his position. Tippoo Tib would soon gain complete ascendency over these Blackfeet, and then he could work his will on his white foe. The situation was full of threat and deadly peril for the scout. CHAPTER OV: TIPPOO TIB PLANS REVENGE. in the mind of Tippoo Tib. He desired to recover the box of gold taken from him by .Blodgett’s road-agents, he wished to get Miss Irving in his power, and he longed to wreak vengeance on Buf- @ falo Bill. It did not take the ay fellow long to find means by which he could communicate with the Indians to a considerable degree of satisfaction. All people who live close to nature, the blacks of Af- # ica as well as the Indians of America, are wonderfully clever in carrying on conversations and in communicating ideas by signs. Tippoo Tib discovered quickly that, though he could not understand a word these redskins said, nor they anything said by him, he could still ‘communicate with them by signs. THE BUPPALO Bru STORIES. Certain objects to be accomplished loomed large now Faia ap nD rm a gt er nettle ili ab Soli sli ¢ sean iigil' And soon he was talking to them in really an admirable way. Having received his tip from Buffalo Bill, he pro- ceeded to impress on them the fact that Loe he had come down from the sky. The sky was there over his head; and by pointing to it, and to himself, and going through certain muscular con- — tortions, he implanted in their minds the ideas he wished to convey. : They watched his every motion with staring eyes. Then they, too, began to make signs; signs so ex- pressive that Buffalo Bill could understand a quite as well as could Tippoo Tib. | They wanted to know what he had seen in that strange spirit land where he had been, and if he was really their old medicine-man, and things of similar import. He succeeded in a little while in making them feel sure he was their medicine-man returned from the skies; and that though he had temporarily lost the power ot speaking to them in the Blackfoot tongue, he had come back possessed with other and marvelous knowledge. Then he managed to convey to them his desire that the pursuit of the road-agents would be pushed with more — vigor, Fe deceubed to them the girl that the road-agents had captured; making sweeping motions over his head and down on his shoulders, to tell them that her hair was long; spreading out his hands round him to inform them that she wore skirts; and in other clever ways conveying 4o them what he desired. Then he told them of the other box, just like the one he carried, and showed them that when shaken it clinked, thus giving them the knowledge—which they already pos- sessed—that it was filled with gold. They had been about to turn aside from the outlaw trail, and go on toward their village on the Ree of the Snake River. Their desire-was for guns and nunc robes and blankets, ponies, and things of that kind, rather than for money or gold-dust, though they had learned the value of gold. Guns, ammunition, blankets, and horses the outlaws had. But the Indians were sure the outlaws would put up a stiff fight; and for that reason they had begun to think, of abandoning a pursuit which they had taken up on the spur of the moment, without consideration, as a rabbit-dog leaps in pursuit of a rabbit through instinct the moment he sees it. They halted now to confer on this request of the medi- cine-man, though they knew they would comply, if he in- sisted. They would have feared to disobey. Yet with an Indian’s love of “talk,” they had to confer about it. They asked him, in signs, what was to be done with the Long Hair; and they made him understand that it Saag a mln ee ABEND Ae Sal 10 THE BUFEALO had been their intention to take him to the village on the Snake River, and there put him to the torture for the edification of the women of the tribe. They described dramatically how he would squirm and scream in the fire, and laughed as they pictured the hor- rid scene of their imaginings. Buffalo Bill viewed all this stolidly. He was not a-fatalist; but if the time had come for him to die he would die heroically, as he had lived. He had many times faced death, and always with that heroic feeling. His life, he knew, had not been wasted, but had been given for the things he thought worth while, and had been filled with manly deeds. The vivid picture drawn by the Blackfeet stirred the frenzy of Tippoo Tib. Tf these red men would put Buffalo Bill to the torture in that manner, he would urge them on, and laugh as_ he beheld the death agonies of his foe. He realized that many things might happen in the attack, he was planning on the road-agents, and that if the pursuit was continued his cruel revenge on the scout might be thwarted or delayed. The Indians might be defeated; or, if not that, Buf- falo Bill might be killed in the fight, or might even escape. There were many contingencies. He was not minded to delay, however, until the Indian village was reached; he had not at all made up his mind that he would go to that village. He meant to use these redskins, and then abandon them as soon as he could. So, in pantomime, he began to demand the immediate death of the scout. He pointed to him, and with motions of hands and body showed what he wanted done. He sprang from his pony, drew a knife harmlessly across his own throat; and then pretended to be heaping up wood and building a fire. ing of his feet, to the spot where he wanted the pyre to be built. Little Wolf comprehended readily. He spoke to his redskins. “What the medicine-man says must be done,” he de- clared. Buffalo Bill was ee from the pony to which he was tied. ve He was then placed with his back against the stone indicated by Tippoo Tib, where he was tied. Fagots were searched for, and were heaped up about his legs, Tippoo Tib became a demon of hate when he saw that. He danced in a frenzy around the man he had doomed to so terrible a death. “Ah-h!” he snarled, that snarl gurgling wolflike in his black throat. ‘‘You interfere; you come in my way! You trouble me, and beat my face, there in England; and it is again the same in this land. But now I have you. I burn you to ashes, and I scatter the ashes into a - pc SO a sh is none of ‘you leit. He pointed, with a stamp-— BILL STORIES, the wind. I kick you in the face, to pay for the blows in England. I stick my knife into you, to make you howl, as you make me howl that time. Ah-h!” -He drew his knife, and motioned back the frantic In- dians, whose bloodthirstiness was rising rapidly under the impetus of the deed they contemplated. He stuck the point of the knife against the scout’s un- protected throat, pushing it until it pricked and brought. blood. “Ah-h!”’ he screeched. “How. you like?” He waved the knife in the air and made frantic passes with it. “Now, I carve you, as you carve the duck; I cut you bit by bit in little slices; and then I burn you until there You get in my way; that way I get you out of it.” He stripped back the scout’s sleeve, and lifted the knife, intending to peel from the scout’s arm a ribbon of flesh. But as he did so there was a crash of rifles. , CHAPTER VE. oe THE GIRL AND THE OUTLAWS. As has been already stated, Blodgett and his outlaws were not fools by any means. They reckoned on pursuit. Thus expecting and fearing pursuit, they naturally kept a sharp outlook to the rear. ° As a result, the Blackfeet were descried coming on, from a tall peak, being seen by Blodgett himself, who had gone up there to get a view of the backward way. Blodgett\knew what that meant. He was sure these were Little Wolt’s band of Blackfeet Indian desperadoes, with whom some months before he and his men had clashed. “We'll show ’em a game worth two of theirs,” he said to his men, when he had descended from his point of observation. ’ They went into ambush at once, and sent men to the tops of certain tall buttes near, who signaled to them as the Blackfeet came on. Miss Irving, the prisoner, saw all this; and after a time she began to understand, in a way, what it portended. She believed that the pursuers were white men; and. i her hopes were, of course, for the defeat of the outlaws. She had been removed from the back of the pony, and now sat on the grass near the watching outlaws, having been warned by Blodgett that if she did not want to get hurt she had better not cry out or make a noise. Her study of the situation in which she had been placed so unexpectedly had much emboldened her. feared these ruffianly men, but the terror that had first gripped her had passed away. She still. echt eS THE BUFFALO They had not believed that her name was Emma Ir- ring, nor anything of herself that she had told them; jut had believed that she was a girl they called Patty Perkins, who was, they said, the daughter of a certain fudge Perkins, who owned mines near Silverton. She began very quickly to see that this was likely to nure to her benefit and guard her safety. | As Patty Perkins, daughter of a rich man, they desired ‘o hold her with the intention of demanding a ransom; ind thinking to get ransom-money, they would treat her well. She saw a signal wee by one of the men on a putte. = : “What does it mean?” she boldly asked Blodgett, who happened to be close by her at the time. “Oh, it’s not your friends,” he said. ‘“Wisht it was. Then we would try ter open negotiations with ‘em, and mebbe they’d cough up the money we want, and we'd let ye go. No, ’tain’t them. It’s Blackfeet. o “Blackfeet !” Her eyes rounded in fright. “Jest that,” he said. “They ain’t purty cattle to deal with; but they’ll be even less handsome to look on when ae: git through with ‘em, if they tumble inter our trap. Which I’m believin’ they’re goin” ter do, from what Sam Dunham wig-wagged jes’ now. You seen the flag?” “Yes,” she answered. te wig-wagged that they was comin’ on, and didn’t seem to s’picion anything.” _“They’re Indians ?” “Injuns, all right, and the wu’st kind. Them Blackfeet ain't too good fer any meanness on earth. We're a purty bad lot, Miss Patty, but we're singin’ angels by ther side of them Blackfeet. They lay awake o’ nights constant, studyin’ out new kinds of deviltry. And they jes’ kill, and do things like it, fer the pure love of blood. We ain't too good, as I say, and as you've been guessin’, but if we could rub them devils out, | reckon even ther men that hate us wust would pass us a vote of thanks for doin’ one good deed, anyhow.” He laughed cynically. Blodgett had spoken kindly to hee having regard for the ransom money he expected her to bring; and she had begun to feel that she was S comparatively safe in his hands. “You're going to fight them?” Werte goin ter rub ‘em out,” He glanced at the butte, and what he saw caused him to open his eyes and show excitement. \ “They've got pris’ners!” he announced. ‘““They’ve been attackin’ somebody, I reckon.” . - He stared at the butte, and at the other buttes whe men were beginning to signal with waving flags. . The other road-agents were looking, and comment among themselves. They were also getting their weap BILL Siorine: © ae in readiness for a fight, rubbing and polishing guns and revolvers, and filling the magazines and the revolver chambers with cartridges. The horses had been removed to some distance, where they were held by a small detail, and were out of sight. Soon the girl saw one of the signaling scouts climb down from the tall butte he occupied and come running at a lope over the level land. “News o’ some kind,” said Blodgett, as if interpreting for her, though he was really speaking to his men. “Nat's hanoun hisself, and that shows it’s important.” From the other buttes signal men began to descend. The road-agents began to strap revolvers to their waists and take up their rifles. They anticipated an im- mediate fight. When the man called Nat es he announced that the Blackfeet had stopped some distance off, and seemed not disposed to come neater, and that they were led by the fantastically clothed black man who had been in the stage-coach. Further, he reported that the Indians had as a prisoner the renowned scout Buffalo Bill. Miss Irving’s eyes lighted strangely as she listened to this report. As the reader has discovered, she knew Buffalo Bill, having met him in England, where he had defended her from the insults of Tippoo Tib. She had heard that he was somewhere in this country ; and it came as a shock to learn now that he was a-prisoner of the Indians whom the outlaws had been watching. “Buffalo Bill!” said Blodgett, and his face darkened. “All the more reason fer us wipin’ capture him.”’ Miss Irving looked at him indignantly. He observed the’ look, and interpreted it according to his own fancy. “T suppose you're vecoann that Cody is hot on your trail, fer ther purpose of rescuin’ you from the hands of the villyuns that holds you, which is us. I don’t think it; er, if he did start out on that wild-goose chase, he’s blundered inter the hands of the Injuns. But I don't understand it about that nigger that was in the stage!” He looked at her earnestly.7 “Did you. ever see him before yot seen him in the stage? He had a queer head-piece on, and his clo’es ee looked as if they’d come out of Noah’s ark! “He got on at the stage-station,”’ was her evasive an- swer. “It’s singular that he should be leading the In- dians. Perhaps your man is mistaken about that?” “Nat,” called Blodgett, “you couldn’t been mistaken about that, I reckon—’bout that queer nigger leadin’ ther eds?’ : Nat declared that he was not mistaken, and said that e “queer nigger’ was certainly in command of the slackfeet. out them durned- Blackfeet. Maybe we'll wipe him out at the same time, er ratnnnaniyer 12. : THE BUFFALO “You didn’t see Little Wolf?” ‘Yes, he was there, but the nigger was doin’ the leadin’ act, as | can swear, and as the other boys will tell ye.” The other ‘“‘boys’”’ reported the same, when they arrived, which they did soon. The last of the scouts on the buttes slipped down and_ came running. “They've gone inter camp there, er air goin’ in, and now's our time ter attack ‘em,’ he panted. Blodgett thought it the time, also. _ So he led his men in the direction of the spot where the Blackfeet had halted, leaving the horses and the girl behind under a guard. A few minutes later Miss Irving heard-the crash of rifles, announcing the road-agent ‘attack. ‘It was the opening of this attack which stepped abruptly the fiendish performance of Tippoo Tib, when he was beginning his torture of Buffalo Bill. CHAPTER VII. A MARVELOUS ESCAPE. Buffalo Bill had been stoically steeling himself to stand the torture to which seemingly he was doomed. His face was pale; on his throat was a trickle of blood, brought there by the sharp point of the knife of the fiendish black. But though his face was pale, that was the only sign he gave that he understood the horror of his position. He knew, even before the Blackfeet did, what that crash of rifles meant. Three of the Blackfeet had been shot down. The others tried to rally under Little Wolf; and then the charging cheer of white men rose on the air—the charging cheer of the road-agents led by Blodgett. They had surprised the Indians, and they meant to “wipe them out.” For a minute or so Tippoo Tib appeared to be panic- stricken, so suddenly had come this assault, completely changing the face of things. Then he regained his nerve; and seizing his box of snakes, which he clutched under one arm, he ran with long leaps to the nearest Blackfoot pony. | f He sprang wildly on its back, took the reins in his teeth, and with his long curved knife waving in his right hand he rushed fiendishly upon the charging white men. Buffalo Bill saw it all; and he expected to see the terrible black fall from the pony, shot through and through by a rifle bullet. Apparently the black bore a deme life. He cut down a white man as the latter raised his eun on him; rode down ancther, fairly trampling on him; and then, with a wild yell that seemed akin to a wolf-howl, he rode straight on, blindly and fanatically, as if he feared neither men nor devils, eee S ae TRE SAO SAAR SGP i ah PE ; bil STORIES, From the standpoint of mere savage ferocity and reck. lessness it was a rare exhibition. : Buffalo Bill did not get to see if the terrible black cut his way through the foe, or was stricken down. _ An Indian came leaping toward him; an Indian who was a sub-chief under Little Wolf. He swung a knife, and the scout’s first thought was that this Blackfoot meant to kill him, seeing that the fight was going against them, and because he did not wish the prisoner to escape. What the Blackfeet meant to do was to release the scout, and still hold him as a prisoner. Thére would be wailing for dead Blackfeet in the Blackfoot village when news of this battle reached it; but if the squaws could have some hated paleface on which to wreak their vengeance it would take something from | the edge of their wailing grief. He wanted the great scout for that paleface. The Blackfoot’s knife flashed through the air, sever- ing the cords that held the scout’s hands and bound his body to the rock. The cords fell away like burnt tow. The Blackfoot was stooping, intending to cut the cords that held the scout’s feet, when he was seen by oné.o7 the outlaws. A rifle cracked in the hands of this outlaw, and with his death yell ringing, the Blackfoot pitched forward, falling at the scout’s feet. The battle was raging furiously. Little Wolf was trying to oe the charging as- sault of the outlaws. Out in front of the rock to which he was bound the scout beheld and heard a very pandemonium. He did not stop to regard it. Stooping, he caught the knife out of the dead hand of the Blackfoot, ripped the bonds from his feet, snatched up the redskin’s rifle, and in another instant was leaping away. He heard was seen. But he did not, feed it. With one quick bound he was behind the big rock that had held him; and there crouching low to escape speeding bullets, he rushed into a growth of bushes. An Indian pony from which the rider had been shot was running by, its rawhide bridle-rein dangling. an outlaw. yell announcing that his action The scout caught the rein with a quick jump, and sprang at a bound to the pony’s back. He did not yell, though he felf like it, He drove his heels into its flanks, and then raced away, carrying the knife and rifle of the dead Indian. Behind him rifles cracked and revolvers popped, while Indian yells and outlaw curses rolled up to thie sky in deafening sound. ‘He thought he heard a yelling pursuit; but he did not Bi cijierce SL las ct gt as Toe BURFALO even look back. Betas him was liberty; behind him was death, either at the hands of Indians or road-agents. As he thus dashed wildly away, he rode, without know- ‘ing it, in the direction of the recent stopping-place of the bandits. | He heard hoofs some altace ahead of him. To avoid the rider there he would have turned aside again, when he heard a scream in a woman’s voice. He brought his pony up with a jerk on the rawhide bit, and listened. It came again, loud and piercing, a scream KE fright “Miss Irving?’ he questioned. He drove the pony on again, heading toward that sound. | As he dashed out of the bushes which lined the way, the bushes under whose cover the bandits had crept up on the Indians unperceived, he beheld a sight that astonished and enraged him: Tippoo Tib had gained that stopping-place where the horses were held, and where Miss Irving was kept a prisoner; and dashing upon her he had lifted her from the ground as if she were but a child, even while his pony swept on. It was a most marvelous performance, though perhaps to be expected of a man who had been in the past one of the finest horsemen of the African desert. _ The outlaw guards, whose attention had been drawn to the fighting, and whose uneasiness had made them for- getful of their task, yelled at Tippoo Tib as he dashed on, and then fired upon him. * ' But the clever rascal swung the girl up behind him as a shield, and they could not hit him for fear of hitting. her. Perhaps they were also too startled to do effective shooting, for they did not even bring down the pony, ' though they shot at it as it raced on. | ‘Then into their midst, and through it, came Buffalo Bill, like a fury, in pursuit of the fleeing black man. “Stop!” Buffalo Bill was yelling, his rage of the volcanic sort. The startled outlaws shot at him as he went headlong . past, but with no better luck than when they were shoot- ing at Tippoo Tib; and so both the black man and the scout passed through their midst unscathed, and out into the bushy, broken country beyond, there to contest, per- haps, for the girl. ~’Stop!” Buffalo Bill yelled again. The Indian pony ridden by. the black was fleet of foot, seeming at first to be a better pony than the one Buffalo Bill had taken. The scout drove his steed furiously, plunging his spurs into its sides with such force that it surpassed itself. He knew he was drawing nearer to the pony ridden py lippoo Tib. “On? he called to his pony. “On!” ape Deine i seziaenpemoee BILL STORIES. { The pony renewed its great spurt, and began again to draw nearer to the pony in front. The sounds of the battle were being left behind. Both ponies were going like the wind. There was a deep gully ahead, and the scout heard the pony in front leap it with what seemed a floundering fall. But when the scout reached the gully the pony had gone on, and he heard it again, racing away with rapidly pounding hoofs. “Over!” he yelled at his own pony. It took the gully, making a leap like a hunter follow- ing the hounds. Then the stern chase continued, Buffalo Bill steadily decreasing the distance. Farther and farther away was the. point where. the battle had raged. It seemed to have died out. Buffalo Bill believed that the Indians had been whipped and captured, or that they had been whipped and scat- tered, “On!” he yelled. Then the pony in front came into view, at a place where the brushy country gave place to an open plain. Buffalo Bill reeled on the back of his steed when he beheld that pony in front. For it was running wild, with nothing on its back. CHAPTER Vill. THE CLEVERNESS OF TIPPOO TIB. The cleverness of Tippoo Tib well-nigh bordered on positive genius, and his success was little less than re- markable. When he discovered that he was being pursued by Buffalo Bill, whom he feared above all other men, he had a feeling of nervous fright. - That the attack of the outlaws should have come at that time of all times, just when it interfered with his malig- nant vegeance, and that the scout should then have es- caped from his bonds in some apparently miraculous way, secured a horse, and was now pursuing him, hinted to his mind of assistance from evil spirits, plicitly believed. He fled then as if a demon pursued hit, his teeth chattering. But he did not oa his precious box, nor the girl. The latter had been so scared by the black pouncing on her in his furious way, that she had sticcumbed, and now lay as limp as a rag, without sign of life or motion. Tippoo Tib was thankful for that, for it rendered her easier to manage.