[

DEVOTED TO BORDER LIFE

Ussued Weebly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave., N. Y.

NEW YORK, AUGUST 17, 1907. Price, Five Cents

 

 

 

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As the snake made its spring at Buffalo Bill, the dog flashed through the air and set its teet li
in the man’s shoulder.

    
   

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delight an angels and horrible imaginings that would

 

 

DEVOTED 10 BORDER LIFE

 

 

Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 Der year. Entered as Second bass Matter at the N. V. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, yq-8 Seventh Avenue,
N.Y. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1907, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.

[=3~ Beware of Wild West imitations of the Buffalo Bill Stories. They are about fictitious characters. The Buffalo
Bill weekly is the only weekly containing the adventures of Buttate Bill, (Col. W. F. Cody), who is known all

over the ond as the king of scouts.

 

No. 327.

NEW YORK, August 17, 1907.

Price Five Cents.

 

'\ Buffalo Bill and the Wo

—

Master;

a

THE WILD DOGS OF THE HILLS.

J

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

CHAPTER I.
poe MAN Wie FRE Poe.

Brander Ee himself from a sluggish sleep and

glared about, winking heavily at the light which came

in through the narrow cabin window.

His face was yellow and drawn and his eyes big and
bright. He was a, young man, prematurely old; a young
"he with the stamp of an opium-fiend on his features.

here was the light of temporary insanity shining in his
eyes.

“Where is Nell?’ he grunted, as) he looked round,
scowling. |

He lay staring at the window, muttering now and then
Slowly the stare of insanity went out of his

“Opium, the kindest of friends and the worst of mas-
he said. “It gives dreams and visions that would

frighten a very devil. A little while ago I thought a
green dragon was devouring me and spitting me out in

chunks of fire; but now I feel well again—well and
strong !”’

He arose from the cot and said:

“I wonder where Nell is? Why don’t she stay by me?
Perhaps she is falling in love with some one of the gang!
If she is, it will bring the finish of them both.”

He staggered across the cabin, gaining strength as he
walked. and, pulling the door open, looked out.

A big,. fierce dog came leaping and fawning, a to
greet him.

As he stepped outside, other dogs appeared—tlean crea-
tures, seeming more wolf than dogs in their general _
appearance. Yet they fawned on him, licking his hands _
and playing round him.

“A dog is the best friend a man has,’ he muttered.
“Even these half-wolves; see how they love me! Nell
doesn’t love me—not now; though once she did. I won-
der where she is?”

He looked round,
leaping dogs.

The cabin from which he had emerged was but one

reaching down his hands to the

NIT ISIE Te Ir eee? ree oie cS erie Cae

 
 

~ done.

2 | THE BUFFALO

is a number that were ranged i in a row under Be moun-
tain cliff at that point.

They rested on a small plateau, which dropped away
sharply, and then spread out in a rolling, grassy plain.
But behind the cliff wall were mountains, and the out-
thrust spurs of a mountain range were visible on every
side.

Horses grazed not far Off, at a point where a stream
coming down from the mountains flowed out toward the
plain, :

Here and there men were to be seen, singly and in
groups; all rough fellows, like the man who had come
out of the cabin. All were armed, even as he was; and
all were furtive and sinister of face and bearing.

‘He looked off across the mesa and saw many hun-
dreds of cattle grazing. He smiled with a sort of con-
tent. The flare of his eyes denoting a temporary in-
sanity had almost departed, and his sallow features had
become almost pleasant.

“Another thousand head!’ he said. “But we'll want
a thousand more before we make the big drive. There
they air, the beauties; and I’d like to see the officer, or
the ranchman, that could ever find ’em here in Martin’s
Hole! But if they did, we'd fight before we'd lose them
cattle.

“Nell!” he called eer at walking round the oabils

“Where in the name of wonder has that woman gone?’

When he did not see her, he turned back into the
cabin. The opium was beginning to make its influence
felt even more genially. More and more the fretful,
harsh look was going out of his face. Its place was
taken by a sort of grim, sardonic smile. He laughed as
he stepped into the house.

“I forgot this! It’s time to practise the dogs again
and give them some more fun!’

From a closet he dragged out an effigy of leather and
cloth, having a strange, mask-like face. |

The, remarkable thing about this effigy was that the

_tmask which served as its face was remarkably like the

features of Buffalo Bill... The imitation had been cleverly
There was the familiar mustache and imperial,
and the long hair falling down from under a wide-

brimmed hat.

The clothing was identical in every respect with that
known-to be worn habitually by the famous border scout.

“Hello, Cody?!” cried the man gleefully, as he pulled
this figure out into the light. ‘Ready for another bout
with the dogs to-day? Your head must get awfully
stuffy, staying in this closet so long. You'll be glad to
see the light again. I nearly forgot about you. That’s
because of the woman. Cody, women make half the
trouble which the world holds for'a man. You know
that, I reckon; for you "re a wise guy. Now, for the
dogs.”

we

BILE STORIES.

He took the figure in his arms, and carried it to the
door.

As soon as he appeared with it eiide the wolfish
dogs came bounding and yelping round him, each leaps

| ing to seize the effigy.

“Down, you tartars!” said the man in a harsh voice.

Yet he laughed at the eagerness with which hy tried
to reach the figure he held in his arms.

“Tf you go at the real Cody that way, you'll be deine
all right,” he said. “But don’t tear up the fake one till
I give you the word.”

He drove them back, and bore a es out beyond

the cabin.

There he placed. it in a crouching position on the grass,
so that it resembled a man who was aye to creep upon
the cabin.

“Take him!” said the man, clapping his hands.

The wolfish dogs flew at the crouching figure, and at-
tacked it with such eagerness that ae man laughed up-
roariously.

If it had been really a man they would have torn him
to pieces; but this figure, composed chiefly of leather, re-
sisted their. dismembering efforts in a remarkable’ way.

But when they had torn off the mask and seemed
about to rip it into bits, he called them off, striking and
kicking at them when they did not obey quickly.

He caught the mask away from them) straightened
it, and looked at it. .

“Tl have to fix that up again, or it will never pee
like the face of my dear Cody!” he muttered, pushing
and punching it into shape.

He heard a step, and then a little scream. Turning, he

saw the woman at the corner of the cabin.

“Call off the dogs!” she begged.

He grinned.

“They’re not hurting you, air they?”

“No; but they a Mea ’
-“That’s what I’ve got ‘em for, to frighten people,

practising "em again on Cody. There’s a feller up at the

other camp who'll be down here this morning, that ’'m

going to try "em on. He looks enough like Cody to be
his brother. If ties dogs don’t want to tear him, then
Vil miss my guess.”

‘He drove the dogs away, and ae sence

“How many of those dogs have you got?” she asked
nervously.
| “Twenty, here; nee s more at the other place.
I’m getting more all the time.”

“They look like wolves.” :

“Well, they air wolves, partly. That one there is
three-quarters wolf, and the others are half wolf.”

“T should think you’d be afraid :of them ! What do
you keep them for?”

“Tm practising ‘em on Cody, heret Y

He flung the effigy into the cabin. —

And

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_ to stay, and where I was trying to make an honest living;

“Funny thing about that!” he said. “You noticed the
clothes ?”

rY¥es./

‘Well, a month ago, when we knowed that Cody was
down in Crystal Bend trying to get a line on our doings
up here in the Hole, I sent Jim Otway down there to
wipe him out. . Jim ain’t afraid of man er devil, gener-

ally, and we chose him for that reason ; for they say that

- when he’s up ag’inst it Cody will fight like a wild;cat.

“Otway was going to play the sly game—knife him in
the back, ye know. ‘The queer part of it was that Otway
lost his nerve completely. He saw Cody, all right, in
the town there; and he crawled into’Cody’s room, intend-
ing to do him up when he came there in the dark. Then
he weakened, even before Cody came to the room. He
said he didn’t know how it was, but as he lay there un-
der Cody’s bed, waitin’, he got to shakin’ like a man
with the ague, and then he got that oa that-he aban-
donedthe whole thing. :

“Funny part was, that as he come away, back-trackin’
on the job, we'd iid out for him, he lifted two suits of
clothing that Cody had in the closet there, and brought
em with him. That was the funniest retreat anybody

ever heard of; and the boys laughed him blind.

“Otway said he knowed he’d be killed if he tried to

knife Cody in that room, and so he flunked and got out

of there. Well, he might as well have been killed tryin’
to do Cody as any other way; the boys gave him no peace,
and two weeks ago he was drowned, at the ford of the
Camorra River, when we brought that last herd of cattle
in. Maybe he felt death comin’ for him, and it was that
that made him faint-hearted there in Crystal Bend.
Things sometimes happen that way. I know myself that
more than once I’ve felt trouble comin’ a good while be-
fore it reached me.”

The woman sat down on a block by the cabin-door.
She was young and not bad-looking, but she was sad-

eyed and heavy-lidded, and there was not much color in

her face.

“When are you going to let me go?’ she asked sud-
denly.

He turned on her, his face grown harsh.

“You're my wife, ain’t you?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to stay here; and you had no
right to force me to come here.”

“It’s a pleasant and likely place, ain’t it?”

“Wot for 2 woman; and not for a man, unless he’s an
outlaw and cattle-thief.”

“You're married to me, ain’t you? a

“But I haven’t married a man!”

iV hatam DR.

“An opium-fiend, a cattle-thief, and an outlaw; what

' else you are I don’t know, but it’s nothing good. You

came down to Crystal Bend, where I was fool enough

THE BUFFALO ‘BILL STORIES. _ 3

 

you asked me to take a ride ‘with you. I was weak
enough to do it. Then you and your gang seized me and
brought me here, where I’m held just as if I was a pris-
oner. Would a man do that?’
_ “See here, Nell!’
“Let me go; that’s all | ask of you?
“See here, Nell! You’re my wife; we’re married; and

‘there ain’t any reason why you can’t live with me here.

The boys ain’t a bad lot, except to their enemies; you
can be their queen, if-you want to be. They’ll like you;
and they’d lay down their lives for on if ae take
a fancy to ’em and show its.

“But I don’t want to stay here.
with their cursing and drunkenness.”
— “You didn’t expect ’em to be runnin’ a Sunday- school
up here?”

“I didn’t expect anything, for I didn’t know anything

about them until you oa me and brought me mene
I shall die here, or go crazy.”

“T used to be a good little Sunday-school boy myself!”
he chuckled. “You remember that? When we got ac-
quainted first I was straight as a string; went to church
with you, and: was the pride of all the old maids of the
town. You remember that? It was too easy for me;
and after I’d stuck a knife into old Jinkins, giving him
no more than hig due, I skipped. But that“was after we
was married.”

“You were supposed to be a gentleman, whet I mar-
ried you. Now you’are as low as a man gets. I prom-
ised to live with the man I married, not with you; you
aren’t the man Imarried. I want you to take me back.
to Crystal Bend.” :

“Nell, you'll stay here. You married me for better or
for worse; and I’ll stand by that, even if you don’t want
to.”

I’m afraid of them,

 

CHAPTER U./
THE NEW MAN. ©

A loud outcry of the dogs, like the yelping of a wolf-
pack, drew his attention from his wife.

He turned and saw a man approaching—a tall man,
who bent his shoulders and shambled rather eae.
as he walked.

“That feller would be the dead image of Buffalo Bill,
if he walked straight and@his face was a shade finer,” he
remarked. “Have you ever seen Buffalo Bill?”

“No; oy the leather Buffalo Bill you’ve got in the
cabin here.” \

e laughed.

“Well, take a look at ie feller when he comes up.
He used to belong to Mat Larsen’s gang, that worked
the game over on Badger Creek. They ran the same
bizness 1’m. in; but the officers jumped in on ’em and
broke ’em ae This feller was ee to Glenwood, but

   

*

   

  
ROT Rm

ETI Et

i

cause I like ’em; that’s the first reason,

4 THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

got away from the officers and legged it here. I’ve taken
him in, and he’s proving to be one of my best men. |

“He looks so much like the pictures I’ve seen of Cody,
and like that Cody mask that the dogs fight, that I might
think he was him, if I didn’t know better, But Cody
always walked straight and plumb, and this feller seems
to be as weak-kneed and shamblin’ as a lame horse. But

he’s bright, and he’s quick. Tell me what you think of

him, after he goes away.”

The shambling man came forward, advancing toward
the cabin-door ; but the wolfish dogs set up such a clamor,
and seemed so intent on devouring him, that Brander
had to drive them back, which he did with kicks and
curses..

He was called by his men “Mav” Brander; which,
lengthened, meant Maverick Brander, or one who brands
maverick cattle—cattle bearing no brands. But as a
matter of fact, he went far beyond this, and branded
cattle already branded; changing, or removing, the orig-
inal brands, and substituting his own. In other words,
he was a cattle-lifter, as men of his stamp are alee in
the West.

The woman he had called Nell looked earnestly at the
man who had shambled forward. |

“Them’s cussed mean dogs: ye got!” said this man. “I
reckon I wouldn’t want one of ’em ter tackle me away
from this place; he’d shore eat a feller up, body. and
breeches.”

The dogs seemed bent on throwing themselves upon

him; they barked and yelped and leaped round him, but
were held in check by their fear of Brander’s heavy boots.

“They like ye!” said Brander, with a grin.

“Wisht they didn’t like me quite so much. What ye
keep ’em fur? I'd git rid of ’em, if they was mine.”’

“The man that shoots one of them dogs settles with
me,” said Brander, in a warning tone. “I keep ‘em be-
The second’ is,
that if I should ever have cause to trail any man down
them dogs would do it for me, you bet; and they’d téar
him to pieces when they overtook him. But.even that
ain’t all the reason I keep ’em. Some time or other
officers will jump this camp: Men will stampede, at a
time like that; but dogs won’t. Dogs like these you can’t
scare; you can kill ’em, but you can’t scare em. I don’t
know but if that ever happen these dogs will save my

_ bacon.

“And then, I like dogs; the more wolf they air, the
better I like "em. Have you ever seen my wolves yit? I
breed the dogs with wolves.’ All the time, ’'m trappin’
wolves in these hills; and I git some ‘fine specimens.
Some of these times I expect my wolf-dogs to eat up
a lot of officers that may ion in here to ae es and
it will be fun to see ’em do it.” r

He threw open the cabin-door and drew out the leather

image. Tp it he adjusted he mask, which he had Pe
into shape.

A queer look flitted across the face of the other man.
when he saw this.

“This here is Cody!” said Brander, with a hideous
laugh. “I’m training my dogs to eat him up when he
comes; and they'll do it.” .

‘The dogs were raving again, trying to get at the
stuffed figure; but Brander drove them back.

‘He was down in Crystal Bend not long ago, trying to
git a line on me and the bizness I’m runnin’.here. I
sent a man for him there; but the critter weakened and
got out of the job. Since then I haven’t heard of. Cody ;
but some day he’ll come. When he does, I'll give him to
the dogs!”

Again, unnoticed by either Brander or £ the woman,
that queer. look flitted over the man’s face, and was in-

stantly gone.

Brander threw the figure out to. the dogs, sid set
upon it with such ferocity that only a few shreds would
have been left An a little while, if he had not rushed to

its rescue.

When he again tossed it back into the cabin, the dogs
seemed to want to tackle the shambling-legged man.

“They see the resembiance!” said Brander.

“What resemblance ?”’ |

“Ridgway, you wouldn't need to ask if you could see

yourself; you look just enough like Cody not to look like

him. If you could straighten up yer shoulders, and take
that queer kink out of yer knees when you walk, and git
a little different twist to yer features, you'd be him. Even
the dogs see the resemblance, and it makes ” em want to
take you down.”

The man called Ridgway need against the cabin-
wall in apparent fear of the dogs.

“Keep ’em off!” he said.

Brander laughed again.

“Oh, they won’t hurt ye, so long’s ne here! But
look out fer ’em when I ain’t round. Better keep away
from this cabin; | keep ’em in kennels out behind it; and
they don’t, as a ey thing, go to ranging round other

“Dats er the camp, ¢

He looked up into the man’s face; the man was much
the taller.

“ihe fact of you looking so like Cody has given me
an idea, that I’ve been turnin’ over in my mind lately.
When Jim Otway failed to knife Cody down in Crystal
Bend—he lost his nerve at the last minute—he went
through Cody’s closet there, and brung away two suits
of his clothes. Otway was sich a thief he had to take
away everything he could set his hands on. *One of the
suits is on-that effigy there, and t’other is hanging up
in the closet inside.

“That suit inside would about fit you. I’m thinkin’ up
a little plan, and maybe we can work it. You look so

 

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SOON a PO en, A pt OTA OT OT EPEAT LTO a
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been seen over beyond the Red Hills.

CHG PALO

”

much like Cody that likely you could fool some of the
gangs of officers that air now and then sent out ag’inst
us. How would it do to have you go to one of ‘em, tell
‘em you're Cody, and lead ’em into our ambush? ‘We
could wipe ’em out and not leave a man; or no more than

‘one, who’d take the news back; and I reckon that would

make the officers and soldiers a bit carefulvabout moving
on us soon ag’in. I’m thinkin’ over that idea. If it can
be worked, I’ll ask you to try it. You're willin’?”

“It'd be resky, I reckon; but I’d try it. If I could git
holt of some of. the devils that raided us over on Badger
Creek and killed Mat Larsen an a lot o’ the boys there,
you bet I’d go into it quick.”

“Maybe it can be done!” said Brander.
over.

“Tl think it
You came with a message for me, I reckon?”
“Yes; Lieutenant Bob says suspicious-lookin’ men have
He wants to ask if
he can talk with you about it?” :

“Tell him to: come here, then! But, no; [il go and
see him. I’m gittin’ groggy, sittin’ round too much. I'll
walk over and see him. Over beyond the Red Hills, eh?
Wonder who they can be? We'll have to look into that.”

He arose and walked away with the shambling man,
the woman watching them as they departed.

“What do ye think o’ my dogs, Ridgway?’ asked
Brander. -

‘Im afraid of 7em.”

“All the fellers air; but them dogs would never hurt
me; and that’s because I like dogs, and treat ’em right.’

He kicked one that crowded ‘too near him, sending it
off howling.

“Dogs don’t mind that,’ he said, laughing;
got to keep ’em under, of course.”

“you've

“Vhere’s a thing I wanted to say to ye,” said Ridg-
way, “but thought best not to mention it before her.”

i Ves?  Vhat sor. Whats itr

“Well, when I was comin’ over from Badger Creek

to jine you fellers, I seen more’n a thousand head of

cattle in the Elm Creek Bottom. There wasn’t many
herders, and. them cattle could be rustled easy.”
Brander was interested at once.

“That so?” he said. “They must ’a’ been put in there

lately. There wasn’t any there ten days ago, I think.”

“They looked Bqod and fat,” said alee; “T thought
‘I ought to tell ye.’

- “That’s right; allus keep your eyes open fer cattle;
that’s the bizness we’re in—the cattle biznes.”

He laughed slyly.

They separated, Ridgway going toward the horses,
and Brander continuing on.

“VI have that looked into, Ridgway,” said Brander,
as they parted. “We'll go fer them cattle straight off, if
they’re still there. Wisht you’d told me soon as you
struck camp.’’

%

BILL STORIES:

   
  

 

CHAPTER Iii,
RIDGWAY’S OR FER?
Ten minutes later the man called Ridgway was back
at the cabin where the woman was.

She still sat on the block by the door. looking de-
pressed. :

Apparently he wanted to speak to her, but after a little

hesitation he went on without doing so.

Half an hour or so later he came back, but this time
he saw that Maverick Brander was at the cabin ahead
of him.

Brander had just reached the cabin; the woman had
risen from the block, and he was stepping inside.

When Brander came out the woman screamed and
started to run.

Brander laughed wickedly. Catching her by the
dress, he detained her; wheretipon she screamed again.

The man called Ridgway stepped forward, a strange,
grim look on his face; though he knew that even the
thought of interfering with this King of the Rustlers
would be a dangerous proceeding.

When he arrived near-by, he saw that Brander had in
the bosom of his shirt a rattlesnake, and was frightening
the woman with it. The opium had made the scoundrel
almost irresponsible at the moment, and he took a fiend-
ish delight in scaring the woman, laughing teary at
her screams.

“Take it away!” she begged.

“Why, I won't let it hurt ye! Don’t be a fool, Nell!”

She saw Ridgway, and appealed to him.

“Make hin, take it away!” she begged.
snake; and it will bite him, even if it don’t bite me.”

The odd look on Ridgway’s face might have been in-
terpreted to mean that he thought it would be a good
thing if the rattlesnake did bite Brander; but it passed,
and he stood unsteadily balancing himself on his sham-

bling legs, and looking in a seemingly pe manner

from the man to the woman.
Brander had straightened uP and was staring fero-
ciously at him.

“You think o’ interferin’ in a little pleasantry “tween

me and my wife?’ he snarled.

“O’ course not,’ said Ridgway, his manner becoming
more shambling and apologetic.

“Good fer 7 you don’t!”

“T was jes’ passin’,” said Ridgway.

“Pass on, then.
tends strictly to their own affairs.”

The tone was a threat.

“Sure thing!’ said Ridgway; and he shambled on
without another glance at the scared woman.

Then he heard her scream again. Venturing to look
back, he saw that Brander was tormenting her by cha-
sing her about with the snake.

Something like a look of suppressed rage swept cross

99

“It’s a rattle- ~

And remember that the boys here at’

    

   
   

     
     
      
 

 

Be rae ern ace ERS np aN at A NE RET RE IES TER

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2

6 | THE. BUFEALO

Ridgway’s face, but he cleared it away, and went on. He
did not want Brander to think he was inclined to sympa-
thize with the woman, even though his feelings were
deeply aroused.

Almost an hour passed before Ridgway came again
toward the woman.

This time he saw her out behind the cabin, walking
toward a little grove of aspens that shook their leaves
mournfully in the wind. He had already observed that
Brander had gone to what he called the upper camp, a
collection of cabins farther along the cliff; and he knew
Brander could not see him from that camp.

He followed the woman, and soon came upon her in
the aspen path. She turned round with a look of fright.

“Oh, I thought it was Jim!” she said.

“You mean Brander?’

“Ves, but I call hima Jim; for his right name is Jim
Seelye.”

‘That sor’ he said.

He stood before her, his knees bent, his manner.vascil-
lating.

#1 sipose you don’t want to stay here?” he asked.

She looked at him sharply.

“Oh, if I eguld only get away!” she wailed.
cant.
I’d gone a mile.”

“Some o’ the men might help ye,” he said.

“You wouldn’t?”

“T don’t like to say that I would; but some of ’em
might. None of ’em’d like to get Brander’s ill-will. He’s
mighty handy with his gun, I’m told. Nobody keers to
have a bullet under his skin, for interferin’ with Bran-
der.”

“Oh, would you help me?” she ced, stepping toward
him impulsively. “Would you guide me out of this aw-
ful, awful place? You wouldn’t need to come back.”

“They'd foller, o’ course!” he said.

“T knew you’d be afraid to do it.”

Without apparently knowing it, he had straightened
up, his shambling movements vanishing as if by magic.
Even his face seemed to have altered in looks.

She stared at him, the change was so startling.

“You—you are—are Buffalo Bill!” she screamed.

“Sh! Don’t say it out loud, if you think it.”

She stared again.

“Are you Buffalo Bill?”

“Promise me not’ to say that, madam, even if you think
it’s possible.”

“T swear I’ll never mention it.”

“How much do you want to leave this place?” he
asked,

“But I

I shall die

“I'd give my life to get away from here.
“here.”
“You mean every Mord of that?”

or do. be

I don’t know where to go; and [’ d be lost before

eather’

A LT EO LS GET ee ETP MERE RAT TN GEL oe EEL SANA BE OTS

BILL STORIES.

“A feller—a pore feller like me—could trust ye?’

“Vou ain’t Buffalo Bill!” she declared, convinced that

she was mistaken. .

“T haven’t said that I was; Ho the fellers think I
look enough like him to fool the critter himself. i

“Then, you wouldn’t help me?’

“T haven’t said I wouldn't. What I’m trying to git at,
is, if I should think I had the chance could I trust ye;
and could I trust ye between now and then?”

“Vou could! You could trust me with your life!”

— “1 reckon I’m trustin’ you with my life to be even

talkin’ with you here; you know that. But I'll say this:
if you keep this to yourself, and not mention it to Bran-
der or any one, and not say that fer a minute you al-
most was shore I was Buffalo Bill, Pll see what can be
done. I’m free to acknowledge that it ain’t pleasin’ to
see him treat you the way he’s doin’; and though I may
be a pore shoat to be here with this gang, I’m still a
man, with a man’s feelin’s where an abused woman is
concerned. Kin I trust you that fur?”

“You may trust me with your life!’

She came nearer, looking into his face.

“Oly at you are. Buffalo Bill, or it you are not, do
something to get me away from this place! I'll never
betray you. Ill never breathe a word of this.”

“You can rest under the belief that Pll help ye; an’ I'll
keep my eyes peeled. Jes’ keep yer spirits up, and keep
oo for V’ll git ye outer this sooner or later. But
mum’s the word! This mustn’t be breathed to any one;
for if it is, the game’s up. I'll be shot without warnin’,
and that'll end the ie thing ; yer hopes of gittin’ away
at all will be gone.”

He turned and walked back to the end of the path,
and left the aspen grove hurriedly.

The reader does not need to be told that Ridgway was
panalo Bill.

CHAPTER Jy.
CONQUERING THE WOLF-DOG.

The great scout had barely reached the end of the
cabin when one of the dogs came rushing forth from
its kennel, and jumped at him.

He avoided its leap, and retreated before it oe
the cabin-door. :He had a\revolver swinging against us
hip, but hé did not draw it.

Beside the door, on the block where Maverick Bander
often sat, was a heavy-handled, keen-lashed whip, Bran-
der’s dog-whip, with which he occasionally brought the
savage brutes into subjection.

Standing on the defensive, Buffalo Bill seized i

‘ whip, and brought it down with stinging force across the

dog’s face when again it sought to jump on him.
The dog fell back with a fierce growl. Its spirit “was

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Salta ss hs hs WGN SSE ROI i Rares SE
PSY aunts gare eye OOM ORE LG nanan

THE BUFFALO

not subdued; it was merely angered. Again the scout
lashed it as it came at him, driving it back.

Another dog came rushing from the kennel to join
its mate in this attack on the new man. Fortunately,
the rest of the dogs had followed Brander to the upper
camp, so that the scout was compelled to face but these
two. < : .
Yet they were enough; and their vicious snarls, as
they crouched wolf-like just beyond the reach of his lash,
would have frightened most.men. But the scout faced
them, undaunted.

~The woman came round the corner of the cabin perl
this scene. She had heard the dogs.

“They'll tear you to pieces!” she cried.
“Don’t come any nearer,” he warned.
take care of myself, and you'll get into danger.
may attack you.”

“They'll tear you to pieces!’ she repeated.

_ The dogs attacked again, and she ran, screaming. |

"Crack! Crack

Twice the keen lash sounded, its reports like those
of a pistol. One of the dogs fell back, bleeding; its head
had been laid open by the lash. The gs sprang at the
scout’s throat.

“Crack!” :

In mid-air the lash caught it, snapping like a pistol,
and the dog fell to the ground with a howl.

Buffalo Bill did not give it a chance to rise; but swung
the lash again, once, twice, thrice, mercilessly.

“It will be Brander who will kill me, instead of the
dogs!” he muttered.

The dog rolled over and rose, limping; one of its legs
had been badly cut.

Yet they were as unsubdued as ever. Brander had
said that these dogs might be killed, but they could not
be conquered. It began to look like it.

_ But they had learned caution. The one whose head
dripped blood began to swing back and forth in front
of the scout, looking for a point to leap in. The other

came to its aid, each swaying in short leaps before the
dauntless man.

“Tm able to
They

The woman had disappeared, screaming, in the direc-
tion. of the upper camp, as if to summon help.

Buffalo Bill tucked the whip-handle under his arm.

“Come!” he said, in a changed voice.

He lifted his fingers and snapped them at the dogs.

“Come!”

The one in front “came”; though not in the | manner
invited ; it flew once more at hi throat.

Like lightning the whip came out, its handle in the
scout’s strong, right hand.

Crack |":

The dog tumbled to the ground, stricken down by the
whip as it leaped. It yelped with pain as it fell.
-» “Come!” said the scout, in-that conciliating tone.

5

 

Lee ee a
Te Si

RET NT Ty

BILL STORIES. 7

The other dog leaped fiercely in, as if not gn By
the fate of its mate.

“Crack!” again went the whip; and the dog fell dite
pering, the flesh literally laid open across its head.

The whip-lash caught the dog again as it aes ihe

ground, and it slunk out of reach, its tail between its legs;

and beyond’ reach of the lash it lay, licking its bloody

wounds.

“Come!” said the scout, in that strange tone.

The dog he had previously struck down crouched. on
the ground not far off, much nearer than. the other.
It looked at the scout with bloodshot eyes, and threaten-
ine growls rumbled in its throat.

Buffalo Bill again tucked the whip under his arm,
extended his fingers, and snapped them.

“Come, old fellow!’ he said. “What’s the use?
we be friends? I’m sure I’d like it.”

_ The dog continued to growl.

The scout spoke again, snapped his fingers,
‘stepped toward it.

_ It rose, its back ridging, and stood glaring at him,
while its growls grew fiercer.

“Come, old fellow !

The dog sprang at him, and he struck it down with
/the whip.

When it started to run he rained blows on it until it
crouched at his feet, shaking with pain, and whining.

Cat

and

Once more he put aside the whip. Now he stooped
over the dog. The beaten creature trembled and
growled; but something in his manner, and in his eyes,
was conquering it, even more than the blows it had re-
ceived.

In spite of its threatening growls he stretched out He
“hand, and patted the dog’s head.

At that instant, when it seemed he might be able to
subjugate this dog, the second one flew at him; and he
had to resort to the whip once more to defend -himself
from its vicious attack. He rained the blows upon it so
mercilessly that it turned tail and ee from the

cabin.

The other dog had crouched at his feck: ae

while he made this defense against its mate; and it still

crouched there, alternately whining and growling when
he turned to it again.

Once more, putting aside his whip, he stretched out
his hand and stroked the dog’s head,

It was the finer-appearing of the two dogs; the largest

of the pack; and it had at the first seemed vicious and.

intractable; but he saw that it was, in addition, the most
intelligent.

It continued to whimper and growl, as if hesitating —

between its desire to attack him and its fear of doing so.
As he continued to stroke it, and then began to fondle

it, it crouched even lower, until it was crawling on its —

belly at his feet.

 

 
 

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at his hands.

‘goin’ to tear me to bits.”

a NE RT SS SR TES ROAR MEE eS SS ERS ope ea As

A THE BUFFALO

“Vou and I can be
T rather like
it isn’t your

“Good dog!” he. said kindly.
friends, can’t we? We ought to be friends.
a nice dog, and-you’re a sensible fellow ;
Ae that you're half-wolf.”
- His words were soothing.
the touch of his kindly stroking hand. Its growls ceased ; :
and then it began to lick the caressing hand.’

‘ When he stepped backward it crawled after him,

crouching and ‘whimpering at his feet.

_ Within five minutes he had not only subdued it, fero-

cious beast that it was, but had apparently attached it to

him with a feeling of affection.
It was bleeding from a cut across the head, and there

was a cut on its leg.

Yet it seemed to have forgdtten these wounds, received
It had apparently also forgotten its desire
to tear him to pieces. Soon it was fawning upon him;
and when he threw the whip down on the,block and

walked away from the cabin, it came leaping at his side.

- Hardly had this subjection of the ferocious wolf- dog
been effected when Maverick Brander appeared on the

scene.

It was plain that he had not encountered his wife on
the way, or at least she had not told him of the attack of
the dogs on the stranger.

called Ridgway.
But when he observed the cuts and blood, his eyes

- flamed with anger.

“Hows ‘thise” he said, “You been whipping my

dogs?”

Buffalo Bill assumed his shambling attitude.
“T jes’ had to,” he declared apologetically.

“There was more than this one?”

“Two of ’em; and they come at me so that I had to
use the whip. I could ’a’
much you thought of ’em I didn’t; but jes’ used the whip
to keep ’em off o me. -[ had to.”

The sallow face of Maverick Brander curled in a hid-
eous smile. ; .

He caught up the whip, and swung it as if he meant .
to lay it across the back of the man who had dared to

lash his dogs. :
As he took a step, lifting the whip, there was a deep

growl, and the dog bristled and seemed about to spring
_ upon him.

He stopped, and stared down at it incredulously.

He cast down the lash, his mood changing quickly.

“You seem to have conquered him, all right! I didn’t
believe there was a man’on earth besides me could do it.
I allowed he’d tear to pieces anybody that tried it.”

He kicked the growling dog away, and it crawled
over to the feet of Buffalo Bill, as if for sympathy or pro-
tection.

 

The dog trembled under |

He stopped and stared incred- |
ulously when he saw the dog fawning upon the man he

“They was

shot ’em; but knowin’ how

Sara aCe wig i

BILL STORIES:

1? f

“That’s funny; that’s mighty queer!

Brander stared at the animal with almost unbelieving
eyes.

“Ridgway, you ain’t no common man!” he said. “1
reckon you and me don’t want to quarrel. I need men
-like you a whole lot. I will tie to you; and we'll say
nothin’ more about this. All the men know that it’s
strictly ag’inst orders fer these dogs to be touched; but
you're different from t’others. Ridgway, I tackle to you.”

He held out his hand.

“Glad you reckoned I was right in it,” said the oo
“What else was I to do? I couldn’t let ’em eat me up.”

He stooped and patted the dog; and, to Brander’s
astonishment, it not only licked his hand, but rose and
began to follow him around.

“Ridgway, you’re a wonder!”

_ “What d’ye think o’ them cattle I was tellin’ ye about?”
was asked,

‘Well go fer ‘em: Ive been ‘thinkin’ about it, Ridg-
way. We'll git ’em day after to-morrow. I reckon, now
that they’ve been turned in there, they'll be left fer a
good while; so we don’t need to hurry. I’ve got some
other little matters to attend to; and Nell, she’s in-
clined to make trouble fer me. But we'll go fer ’em day
after to-morrow.”

“We oughtn’t to miss gittin’ ’em

“That’s right; and we won’t. Say day after to*mor-
row, and you kin guide us to the place where they’re

_ to be found.”

~

He walked into the cabiri

“Gee!” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “If I ain’t as
near to havin’ snakes as a man gits without havin’ ’em.
I see things before me all the tite. And I thought "twas
only whisky give a feller them things. But I’ve been
tankin’ 7 ‘with whisky, too. I’ve got to cut out the
whisky.”

Then he dropped down on the cot by the wall, and was
soon asleep.

teumcoreareresmannecmn}

CHAPTER V.
HUCKLEBERRY HASKINS.

Maverick Brander slept so soundly that he did not hear
the roaring laughter. that came from the trail which ran
round the aspen-grove in the direction of the upper camp.

Buffalo Bill heard it; and, drawn by it, came on a
surprising sight. ;

Half a dozen of the rough members of this rustler-
band were there, surrounding a forlorn-looking man,
who was mounted on a bucking bronco. The bronco
shied its heels at the sky; and, failing to pitch off its
rider, lifted its fore feet, and began to run a plunging
jumps. But the rider held on.

“Hold him down, Huckleberry!” tbe men 1 yelled at
him.

 

 

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The bronco went plunging and bucking across the
open ground, scraped along the walls of the cabins, try-
ing to brush him off; and then dashed its sides against a

post, endeavoring to crush his leg; but the queer-looking

individual called Huckleberry seemed to be equal to every
emergency.

“Whoa, January!” he howled, as the bronco pitched
up and down, front‘and rear, like a ship in a hurricane.

“How’m I goin’ to show what a rider I am, if ye do

(??

this away? Whoa, consarn ye!

With leaps and bounds, the bronco continued its an-
and when it found it could not dislodge its rider,
it threw itself with a vicious squeal over on its back,
striking the ground\so hard that the horn of the saddle
was driven into the earth.

But Huckleberry was not in the saddle when the back
of the bronco struck the ground: he had slipped out of
it deftly; landed on his feet as the bronco went down,
getting his feet out of the stirrups in good time and with

marvelous cleverness.

The men who had just made up a purse and wagered
him ten dollars that he could not ride the bronco were

chagrined, but also pleased; for there was more stuff in :

Huckleberry than they had dreamed.

Buffalo Bill had met the eccentric fellow the evening
before for the first time; for, though Huckleberry had
been with these men several weeks, the scout was him-
self a new “member” of this band of cattle-lifters.

He had been attracted to Huckleberry at the time, and
had observed him as closely as circumstances had per-
mitted, without showing undue curiosity. i

Huckleberry was a shock-headed young man, thin as
a rail, with a blank, almost expressionless face, and a
lack of good hard sense that was little short of amazing.

Yet the things Huckleberry fancied he could do were
too numerous to mention; he was an arrant boaster, to all
The scout had seldom heard a man indulge
in such boasting when it seemed the boaster would not be
able to make good.

“I’m ffom Greenbrier, West Virginny,” pacddauy
“T know a heap of things about cattle, too; fer
we used to own cattle on the farm there; and when I was

a kid I.used to drive the cows down to the crick and
make "em drink. And I done the milkin’ and made the
butter, and onc’t I sold two cows fer dad in the market-

town of Plimpton.

“But I wanted to come West. And then I heard of you
fellers. Simpkins, who skinned me out of my roll gam-
bling with me in Crystal Bend, give me a tip; and so I
come with him, to jine y@ And that’s all I got to tell ye;

only, if there’s money in this bizness,» I ain’t afraid of

1?

officers, you bet!”
He was called Huckleberry Haskins, though he said

his name was Jeems Haskins, Huckleberry being tacked

on by the rustlers on account of a wonderful story he

ag Bea ‘ @

 

eee ee

 

BILL STORIES. 9
told of a a barrel of huckleberries on Bald Moun- |
tain, one day when he was a boy.
Huckleberry Haskins came near being a sparen
idiot” in the estimation of the rustlers. He had become

vacquainted with Bud Simpkins, a member of the band.

More as a joke than anything else, Simpkins had brought
him to the Hole, as this place was called, and there he had
been duly made a member.

The night in which Huckleberry Haskins was “initi-

ated” as a full-fledged member of Maverick Brander’s

wild and reckless band of cattle-rustlers was one that
no member. who witnessed it was very likely to ee
least of all Huckleberry, Haskins himself.

The stunts they had made him do were all of the ridic-
ulous kind; and they had wound up by making him
walk out on a board, and then suddenly up-ending the
board and dropping him into the little river. That came
near drowning Huckleberry; but when he was fished out
and could get his mouth free of water enoiigh to sputter
the words, he had declared that it was “great.”

And the oaths they had made Huckleberry Haskins
take were as truly wonderful as anything else; they had
racked their brains for strange things to make him swear
to. He took every oath snr, without winking an eye.
over it,

He swore solemnly that if he ever betrayed the secrets
of the organization he hoped he would be boiled ing oil;
and gave them permission to so boil him if he broke the
oath. He swore that he would defend the organiza-
tion, and each and every member of it, to the death; and
agreed that if at any time he failed in the least particular
he was to be swung by his neck and have his tongue cut
out. Nothing th the way of a promise, or an agreement,
was too’ stiff for Huckleberry.

This willingness to swear to anything seemed to be
due to the fact that he didn’t really know what he was
doing. He had a simpering, silly, weak face, and not
enough brains, apparently, to realize the danger he put
himself in when he became one of these hunted law-
breakers.

They said he hadn't enough sense not to fight; he
would fight anything from a billy-goat to a grizzly bear.
Both were tried on him. The billy-goat was kept at the |
upper horse-stables. He was a billy of the meanest tem- —
per imaginable, and when teased he became an electric
battering-ram. They sent Huckleberry up against the
billy-goat, and in ten minutes that billy-goat was so badly.
whipped that he ran.

Back in the hills, behind the cabins. was a captured
and imprisoned young grizzly, that had been caught in
one of Maverick Brander’s woli-traps. Huckleberry
was sent against the grizzly; and, though he did not
whip the big brute, he came out without a scratch, and
with flying colors. a

One of the wolves that Brander used in crossing with

oe

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Reenter A ETE

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his dogs, ‘as fierce a brute.of the wolf kind as was ever

seen, Huckleberry had simply scared silly, by getting -

down on his knees, putting his hat before his face, and
howling in an outlandish way, as he jumped about before
it... ‘Fhe wolf was afraid to fight him.

And now Huckleberry was being tried on the wildest
bronco. that any of the gang owned; and he was proving
to be too much for it.-

“Huckleberry Haskins is too big a fool to know what
fear is; and like all fools, he’s jes’ continually swimmin’
in- luck!”

- That was the verdict of the cattle-lifters, after Huckle-
berry had defeated the bucking bronco, which he did not
leave until he was able to ride it wherever he willed.

Buffalo Bill quietly watched the bucking-contest, and
tried to “size up” this queer specimen of humanity.

_.He found himself face to face with Haskins, soon after
the subdued bronco had been turned loose.

“Did ye see’me?” Haskins yelled. “Wow! That was
buckin’ some, wan’t it? When I was a boy I used to ride
a young colt that could show that animile two tricks to
its one ; and that colt never got me over its head, nuther.
These fellers thinks I can’t ride, and I was jes’ showin’

em. Ain’t nobody can ride better’n me, I tell ye!”
He fanned his heated face with his big hat, and walked.

round as proud as a victorious game-cock.
Buffalo Bill left the group shortly after this.
And he was thinking of Huckleberry Haskins.
{

 

CHAPTER VI
HASKINS ACCUSED,

Buffalo Bill, still playing the rdle of Rideway, did 1 not
return to the cabin where he had talked with Brander and
his wife until after darkness had fallen.

_ Then he strolled down that way, as if he had no par-
ticular intentions.

Throughout the afternoon he had been busy, helping
the cattle-lifters in their work, for the thousand head held
now in this place required more or less attention.

The work of rebranding them had been done as soon
as they had been “lifted’’ and brought there. The old
brands had been burned away with acids, where the new
brands’ would not effectively cover them, and the new
brands had been put on. The cattle were still sore from
the effect of this; and the attempt to run them to a
market would not be made until they were well, and in
reasonably good condition.

Maverick Brander had “business arrangements’ with
certain shippers of cattle, who took the cattle he drove

in, and, mingling them in small bands with others re-

ceived in the ordinary way, the stolen cattle were thus
sent safely to the big cattle-markets. _

Of course Brander made it a matter of financial inter-
est to these shippers to handle his stolen cattle; they got

Sn tr oe A eg RRR ei eS, OTT OE
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Bilt STORIES,

them from him for half, or less, of what’ they would haye
had to pay for them otherwise; and this “rake-off” was
so attractive that they were eae to handle all he
could send them. ae

- Hence Brander was doing a thpiiae business,. bane
located in an out-of-the-way place, that had never yet
been nosed out successfully by officers of the law.

But such things cannot continue without the officers
sooner or later getting on the trail. Complaints had
poured in from cattlemen lately. Cattle were being
lifted right and left from all the ranches of that section.

It was believed that on many of these ranches certain
of the cowboys were standing in with the cattle-lifters ;
a thing which rendered the work of the latter much
easier, of course. But, so far, none of these dishonest
cowboys had been caught at it.

Brander’s organization for handling and stealing cattle
was far-reaching. He seemed to have spies in all the
towns; so that whenever a raid was projected against him
he was given warning in time. ©

More than that, there had been a strange and ae
ing mortality among the men who had from time to time
sought to track him down.

Some of these men had been mysteriously shot right
in the streets of the towns; some had been found dead in
their beds, stabbed, or otherwise disposed of; and others
who had sought to take the trail of the cattle-lifters had
been drawn into ambushes that wiped them and their
followers from the face of the earth, So that the terror
of Brander’s name lay heavy along the border.

It was this state of things which had induced the
colonel in command of the regiment at the nearest army
post to detach the noted scout, Buffalo Bill, for the pur-
pose of capturing Brander and breaking up his business.

After a study of the situation, knowing what traps
would be set for him if he went about the work in the
customary manner, Buffalo Bill had decided on the very
bold device of joining Brander’s gang:
It was a plan that seemed wildly reckless when
broached to the colonel; but the scout had adopted it.

How well he was carrying it out the reader sees.

Yet Buffalo Bill knew that he was in effect walking
on a volcano that was likely to explode and destroy him
at any moment,

His appearance was so well known all over the West
that disguise of any kind was-a matter of the greatest
difficulty. But even that he had accomplished; and while
some of the cattle-lifters, among them Brander himself,
declared that he looked like Buffalo Bill in a remarkable
manner, none of them really suspected for a moment that
he was Buffalo Bill, :

Brander, as has been said, was even contemplating put-
ting a suit of stolen clothes on him, to make him resemble
Buffalo Bill even more, with the thought of using him to
trap men who might be sent against the band.

= Cae ge ramet ih eet terete Pe armen

Slee oa eae eater Cr ae RT

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

There was one thing just now in the scout’s favor.

Brander had become a victim of the opium-habit; and
had, because of it, lately lost much of his keenness and
shrewdness of judgment. Until he had given way to
that,*Brander had been one of the hardest men in the
West to deceive. He seemed to have a wonderfully
sharp mind, and perceptions far above the average.

That mind was now dulled; the men complained that
he used opium and slept more than half the time; which
was bad for the cattle-lifting business. Yet even now
Brander had more brains than any three men under him.
A thing that was likely to get the scout into trouble,
however, if he did not move warily, was the presence in
the camp of Brander’s wife, and his abuse of her.

‘Her plight had so touched his sympathies that he was
willing to take big risks in order to succor her.

As he returned to Brander’s cabin, turning these

things over in his mind, and having a keen realization
of the peril of his position, he found Brander, recovered
temporarily from the effects of the opium, talking with
(Huckleberry Haskins.

The scout had desired to study Haskins more closely,
and, unobserved, he stood off in the darkness beyond the
cabin, looking at the man revealed thus by the light
of the cabin lamp, and listening to his words.

Brander has apparently become suspicious of Haskins,
the scout judged from what he now heard; for Brander
was asking Haskins some sharp questions. .

“I’m frum Greenbrier, West Virginny,” Haskins was
saying, when a man loafed slowly up to the cabin, from
a direction opposite to that from which the scout had ap-
proached.

- Buffalo Bill had never seen this man before, so far
as he was aware; and he looked at him curiously, when
the cabin candle shone in the man’s face as he stopped in
front of the door.

“See here!” said this man, and at once it was appar-
ent to the scout that this newcomer was the occasion’
of the suspicions seemingly now entertained by Brander.
“See here! I seen you down in Albuquerque, didn’t 1?”
- Huckleberry Has sins turned on the man slowly, as if
not comprehending.

“Where’s that? I never heard of no a place, even.’

“You wasn’t in Albuquerque, and in Flint Davis’ sa-
loon there, about two months ago! ro

“No, I wuzn’t!”

“Didn’t I play a game of cards with you there?”

“Tf ye did I skinned ye, fer I’m a master card-player ;
but I wasn’t there, and don’t know where this hyer Al-
bykerky is. Where is it?”

“In New Mexico; you know, all right. You payed
cards with me there, in Flint Davis’ saloon; and you
skinned me, jest as you say. Now you’re here, under an-
other name. What’s it mean?’

Brander had arisen from the block by the door, and

 

the cabin candle.

STORIES.

Bur TT
walked toward the men, his hand dropping to his pistol.
His suspicions were murderously aroused by the man
who now so boldly accused Haskins of treachery.

The scout was a most interested spectator. An acctl-
sation somewhat like this was likely to be brought against
him at any moment.

He was studying the face of Huckleberry Haskins;
and, though Haskins was apparently surprised and an-
gered, as well as disgusted, by the accusation, the scout
began to believe that the accusation was true. f

If so, what did it mean? Why was Haskins playing
a double role in the camp of these cattle-lifters.

“IT reckon you're a fool,”
the man’s charge.

“You. wasn’t there?”

“Flow could I have been there, when I. don’t even
know where the place is? I come here, down to Crystal
Bend, first place, and then here. I was invited to come,
too; I didn’t shove myself in. If I ain’t wanted, I can
clear out; but ’tain’t your say fer me to, is it?’

said Haskins, replying to

“Tt’s my say, though, if you ain’t straight!” thundered
Brander. “But I won’t order you out of camp, in that
case; I will simply blow your head off.”

He drew his revolver.

“Well, now, I can show ye,’ said Haskins, still drawl-
ing his words and repressing his excitement. “I’ve got
my picture here, taken there in Greenbrier; and I’ve got
a piece cut from the Greenbrier Herald, speakin’ of the
fact that I was gittin’ ready to-go West. Do you reckon
I’d have taken them things if what that critter says is.
so? I never seen him before, and he never seen me be-
fore. He’s jest sp’ilin’ fer a fight, I reckon. I’m ready
to fight him; I ain’t afeared of any man that ever walked
on his two hind legs, let alone that runt. But I’d like to
show you, Mister Brander, that what he says can’t be;
and then I’m ready to fight him. If he wine me, Ill
quit the camp, and have no words about it.”

He stepped into the cabin with a calmness that was re-
markably convincing, and began to draw some crumpled
papers from his pockets, to show them to Brander by

Brander followed him in, and so did his accuser. Buf-
falo Bill came closer up to the cabin, intensely interested ~
in the outcome of this singular controversy.

As Brander and the accuser of Haskins stepped
through the door, the scout saw the latter whisper some-
thing in Btander’s ear; and he saw that Brander’s fingers
clutched more closely the handle of the pistol he had
drawn.

The danger that Huckleberry Hae had placed him-
self in by entering the cabin was plain to the scout.
Seemingly, he had been trapped.

Buffalo Bill could not now see the actors in this little
drama, but what he heard told him that Haskins had

 

 
 

2 THE BUPPALO

tumbled into the biggest kind of a hole.
shot. sounded.

In drawing the papers from his pocket, Haskins had
let fall a letter.
floor, Haskins’ accuser sprang for him, trying to get him
by the throat.

Haskins reeled back toward the window, Stee a
blow that rolled the man over on the floor.

He threw up his revolver, intending to down Has-
kins; but the latter jumped sidewise with a quick motion,
and then hurled himself bodily threw the window.

The report of Brander’s pistol was accompanied by the
breaking of the window-glass; and Buffalo Bill heard
Haskins strike the ground outside and begin to run.

Buffalo Bill warily withdrew farther into the dark-
ness, knowing the pistol-shot would arouse and summon
all the men in the camp.

As he did so, he saw Huckleberry Haskins making fast
tracks behind the cabin, as if he intended to gain the
horse corrals, or get into the aspen cover and thence to
the shelter of the scrubby trees that grew along the
base of the mountain walls.

Brander ran out of the cabin, followed by the man
who had been felled by Haskins’ fist; and both began
to shoot at Haskins as he ran.

Buffalo Bill retreated softly until he saw a eroup ae
men running by from the upper camp; then fell in be+
hind them, and, joining them as they ran, reached the
cabin in their company.

“What's up?” he asked one of the men.

“Hanged if we know!” was the answer.
down here, and that ginrally means somethin’.”

Brander, having failed to bring Haskins down with
his pistol-shots, came roaring back to the cabin. His ex-
citement was great.

“He can’t git away!” he said. “It’s that man Has-
kins. Gardner says he’s a traitor, or a spy, sneaked in
here to betray the band. We've got to git him. Gardner
met him in Albuquerque, and knew him soon’s he seen
him. He says there ain’t any doubt about it. We've got
to git him. Git yer horses and foller him quick.”

Then a pistol-

‘Shootin’

_ He ran on toward the horse corral, accompanied by
the men,

Gardner returned, panting, having also failed to wing
Haskins, so far as he knew. Gardner’s nose was broken
by Haskins’ knock-down blow, and his face and clothing
were covered with blood. i

At this juncture Nell Seelye, the wife of Brander, ap-
peared out of the darkness. |

She saw Buffalo Bill, and started toward him. He
avoided her. Joining the men, he, tog, raced for the
horse corral as fast as he cofild run.. To be seen ex-
changing words with the woman would have been un-
wise just then, when Brander probably stood ready to
suspect a any one. \

 

Seeing the address as it dropped to the.

BILL STORIES.

The men seized their lariats, and soon’ they were cha-
sing the horses round the corral, roping them, and bring-
ing them into subjection. :

In a marvelously short time a number of he men were.

mounted, and were outside, ready for the pursuit.

Brander was with them, and so was Buffalo Bill.

“He can’t git away!” yelled Brander. ‘We'll set fire
to the grass in the Sink, where he has gone!”

A man came running from the direction of the aspen-
grove.

“He got a horse!” he screeched. “He got one of the
saddle-horses, that was out there grazin’.. I seen him
ridin’ off like the devil was after him.” ,

“A good many devils air after him now,” said Brander,

with grim humor. “And purty soon he’ll be roastin’ in
a fire that’ll make him think he’s sure enough a devil.
Well burn him out of the Sink.”
‘ Buffalo Bill had yet to learn what this Sink was. He
secured this information from what was said as the men
lashed their horses and rode in the direction taken by
Huckleberry Haskins, finding thatthe Sink was a large,
deep basin, where the grass grew profusely, and that it
was hemmed in by mountains on every side except that
toward the camp. ,

The cattle-lifters declared that Haskins could not get
out of it without back-tracking; and, as they were hurry-
ing to stop the gap by which he would have to escape,
it seemed that he was doomed.

The fiendishness with which they purposed to fire the
grass and roast him to death was horrifying.

Yet it only proved the character of these men and
emphasized the peril of the scout’s own position. If de-
tected, or even suspected, he could hope for as little
merey as was to be shown Huckleberry Haskins.

It is strange what a sudden shift of opinion could be
produced by such an accusation as that which had been
brought against Haskins!

Every one of those pursuers was sure now that Has-
kins was a spy sent there to betray-the band; and as they
galloped on, clamorous for his life, they gave vent to cer-
tain observations, tending to show that each of them
had been wise enough to suspect him from the very
start. That they had not been so smart as this, how-
ever, Buffalo Bill knew. :

Yet his own suspicions had been ee before this |

He wondered now if they had any sure basis of
What had occurred had quickened them, without

Under the circumstances, Haskins’
almost any man will run when his

-time.
fact.
adding to the proofs.
flight was natural;

life is threatened and a band of murderously minded ©

rascals is on his track,
_A sharp gallop of a mile or two brought the cattle-
lifters to the edge of a deep depression in the land.
Buffalo Bill had not been in this direction before,
hence had not seen it; and he did not see it very clearly

 

 

er aren ar RRB Ne Tena ae aS og

 

 
 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

now, until some of the men applied matches to the dry
grass and set it on fire, when the leaping flames threw out

@ long red banners and revealed the nature of the Sink.

From what he saw, and what he heard, the scout
gained the knowledge that the Sink was somewhat like
the dry bed of an old lake, now overgrown with heavy

‘dry grass.

The outlaws rode along the edge of the Sink, spreading
out to prevent Haskins’ return and escape by that way.

The scout, following the lead of Brander and others,
rode after the fire into the Sink, keeping so close to it
that it scorched their faces and the fetlocks of the horses.

The fire appeared to create a strong witid, which

sucked down from the hills, and drove it on with a fright-
day would surely reveal the body of the horse, for it was

ful roar; and the flames, leaping high, lighted the Sink
for some distance on every side.
“There he goes!” Brander yelled, spurring his horse.

The scout dimly beheld a horseman beyond the fire, |

who was at once hid by the rolling smoke and the dark-
ness.

Brander leveled his revolver and fired as the horseman
disappeared.

But the horseman vanished, apparently unhurt.

Though Brander-and his men had no thought of trying
to cross that roaring line of flame which was eating down
into the Sink, they seemed to think that Haskins would
try it, and they rode back and forth along the fire, their
revolvers ready to shoot him.as soon as he appeared.

But he did not show himself again.

Buffalo Bill followed Brander a while, wondering how
the thing would end. Really, there seemed little hope
for Haskins.

“He’s doomed, I guess!” was the ene a the scout.
“What fiends these men are!”

The reflection did not make him feel more easy con-
cerning his own position.

The fire roared down into the Sink, spreading each
way across it, and soon was lapping the mountain walls.

Still Haskins did not appear.

The fire burned entirely across the Sink, whose large
extent was thus revealed to the scout. The cattle-lifters,
wild for the life of Haskins, followed the fire as closely
as they could, spreading farther and farther apart to

guard the line of fire as the Sink widened before them.

_ After a time the scout found himself, riding alone, near
one of the lines of fugitive-hunters..

He was keeping a sharp lookout; though his thought
was that he would help Haskins, rather than hinder. him,
if he could, if the opportunity offered.

The fire flamed on to the farther mountain wall, cover-
ing the entire surface of the Sink.

But Haskins did not again show himself, nor was he ©
seen again; and the searchers began to declare that he
had lost his life in. the fire. There seemed no other rea-
sonable conclusion.

 

BILL STORIES. : as
| CHAPTER VII.

HASKINS CLEVERNESS.

Buffalo Bill purposely separated himself from the
searchers toward morning, at a time when most of them ,

began to return toward the camp. They were sure that

Haskins was dead, and his horse with him.

Brander and some of the rest remained, determined
to settle the matter with the coming of day; and Buffalo
Bill was thus given justification in also remaining,

The scout, as well as Brander, could not be sure that
Haskins was dead; if for no other reason than that
neither his body nor that of his horse had been found.
The darkness hindered this, perhaps; but the coming of

inconceivable that so large an animal could have been
wholly consumed even by that fire.

The day was breaking, when Buffalo Bill, riding close
to the wall on the western side, and observing a little
pocket in the rock a few yards in extent, looked into it.

He was surprised to see there the body of a horse,
charred almost beyond all resemblance.

But though the scout stood up in his saddle and looked,
he did not see beside the horse the body of Haskins;
though he saw a little, charred lump of something that
at first he ‘took to be the remains of Haskins.

eile was about to swing out of the saddle for the pur-
pose of more closely inspecting this, when he saw the
body of the horse shake and quiver.

This was so strange that he halted and stared at it.

Then he beheld an astonishing sight.

The carcass of the horse burst open, and a human fig-
ure rolled out of it; a human figure so smeared with
blood that at first the scout had difficulty in recognizing it
as Huckleberry Haskins. :

Haskins was barely able to breathe; for when he had
rolled out of the body of the horse, he fell to the ground,
where he lay gasping.

“Hello!” the scout called.

Haskins lifted his head and stared around.

As he did so he drew his revolver; and, seeing Buffalo |
Bill, he lifted’ it. Then he recognized who had called to
him. |

"Oh, it's: you; is7iti? he said.” “Well, 1 don’t know.
so mueh about you as about the others, so I won’t shoot;
maybe I want to talk with you!’

“You're all right?’ was the scout’s surprised question.

“About dead!” panted Haskins. “I reckon I’ve been.
unconscious a good wile and I don’t wonder. I wonder
I’m livin’ ” es

voe.do lt,

Haskins lay on the ground, panting heavily, and looked
at the scout, his revolver held ready.

“T don’t know just what to make o’ you,” he said; “but
I'll ask some questions before I pull a trigger on ye. And

   

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

SG PSE PS Fa SP EGU EOS OA REET EEL EL IRS ERIE NS A REE

4 “THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES,

recollect that I don’t intend to be taken alive! If you try

it, I'M shoot quick. Recollect it.”

“T’ll recollect it. I haven’t any desire to shoot you.”

“That’s better,” said Haskins.

He sat up, as if he were weak; and wiped the blood
and dirt out of his eyes.

“T had a close call,” he said; “but they didn’t@it me;
not yit, anyhow. And I don’t intend they shall. They
fired the grass, after I’d rid down into this place, tryin’
to git away. I didn’t know about it, or I’d have gone
in tother direction. They thought they had me; and I
thought so fer a time. Then I seen this hole; and tried
to git shelter in it. When I seen that it was full of grass
and that the fire would git me even in here, I shot my
horse, disemboweled him, and crept inside of him. It
wasn’t a nice place; but it was better than roastin’ in
that fire.

“Well, when I got inside the body of the horse I
thought I should smother; and when the fire struck, I did
smother, I reckon; the heat o’ the fire and the heat of
the horse’s body put me out of business. I don’t know
jest when I took that Set step; and I don’t know
just what time it is now.’

“The sun is just up,” said the scout.

“Well, I been in there nigh about all night; then; but
I didn’t know it till a minute or so ago; might as well
have been dead, so far as knowin anything was con-
cerned, But that saved me a good deal of misery, I
reckon. I kicked myself into consciousness jest a min-
ute ago; and soon’s I knew who I was and where I was, I
got out o’ there. And then I seen you. But recollect
that I’ve got my gun bearin’ straight on ye, if you con-
template anything foolish. I don't intend to be taken.”

“I sha’n’t trouble you. But I'd like to ask you some

questions.”

“And I’d like to ask you some; and the fust one is, are.

you Buffalo Bill, er ain’t you? Iheerd the fellers talkin’
it over. They thought you wasn’t, but I kinder figgered
it out that maybe you are. What do you say?”

“If T was I wouldn’t be fool enough to acknowledge
it, would I? Tell me something about yourself. They
accused you of being a spy.” |

Buffalo Bill realized as soon as he said this that this

would not get a straight answer, inasmuch as he had re-

fused to give one.
“T’m Huckleberry Haskins, from Greenbrier, West
Virginny, and——”
_ “Anything else?
They thought so.”
Haskins got slowly on his feet.

Aren’t you more than just that?

| glanced round.

“T used to be a good climber, at home? he said. 1
recollect onc’t when me and some other feilers clim’ the
cliffs. on the side of old Bald Mountain; and them cliffs

As he did so he

was as ec) as these. I reckon I can climb ’em, and
I’m goin’ to try it. But unless you think you want to

capture me, I’d advise you to ride away from here before. )

I begin it; fer you might be seen down here, and me up

there, and them fellers might grow as suspicious of you
It don’t make no difference who you are, I.

as of me.
reckon; I’m Huckleberry Haskins, to spends and foes

alike.”

that even though he cast that glance on the cliffs, he did
not relax his watchfulness.

“You have nothing further to say about yourself?” the
scout asked.

“There ain’t nothin’ further to say. Tm Huckleberry

Haskins.”

He was suspicious of the scout’s identity and inten-
tions, which was not‘strange, as the scout was also sus-
picious of him.

“Tf you'll confess that you’re Bulialo Bill, Til Come

?

that I’m—Huckleberry Haskins!

He laughed grimly; and he made a strange and pa-
thetic, as well as a disgusting picture, as he stepped

from the side of the horse toward the towering walls of ‘
granite.

How he expected to climb them without the aid of
ropes, or even with ropes, was not clear.
tempted to offer him his own rope.

Hesitating, he pulled loose the lariat and threw it to
Haskins.

“Take it; maybe it will help you. It’s about all I can
do. I wich I knew aoe about you, though; maybe I-
could help you more.’ \

“Thanks!” ae “Haskins, catching up the rope. “I’m
jest Huckleberry Haskins. Give my lovin’ regards to
the boys; and tell ’em I’ll shoot dead the fu’st one of
"ea aieen You re differen; whoever you air, you’re
white. Good-by.”

He slid away across the burned eon heading to-
ward the cliff near-by; and then he disappeared round a

corner of it, as if he sought to hide himself from-the |
scout’ S-CVess<

Buffalo Bill sat in hesitation. -

“It probably would have been safe for me to tell him
who I am,” was his thought. “But that would not have
aided him; and one must use caution. -I wonder who he
is; or if he is merely a gambler from Albuquerque? It
would be interesting to know the truth. But it doesn’t
seem that I can help him now.”

The scout rode away from the cliff, looking about to
ascertain if any of the cattle-lifters were near.

He saw some of them beating about a mile or more
away, and he joined them.

They had found nothing.

“But there’s another fire started over there,” one of

He still held his ae ready, and fe scOkE noticed -

The scout was ”

 

 

 

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ee

 

 
 

iii eeitiataie meses pais

 

 

them said, pointing it out.

ne Cte as Pata ne ce cent AD. TRA Te
Rr tee ee Matec Sear

pee

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. | 15

_“T reckon it caught from this
*un; and it’s goin’ to damage our grazin ’-range, iE aint
mistaken.” |

 

CHAPTER VIII.
RIDING WITH DEATH.

Buffalo Bill rode toward the camp, while the cattle-
lifters went off in the direction of the new fire, which
they feared was threatening the range.

As he came in sight of the cabins, after climbing out
of the Sink, he beheld Mrs. Seelye riding along the edge
of the Sink in bewilderment.

Thus beholding ‘her, Buffalo Bill boone suddenly
aware of the cause of her fright. He saw a dust-cloud
thickening beyond ‘the woman, in the direction of the
fire, in the distance, and heard a dull rumble, which he
recognized as the thundering rumble of the pounding
hoofs of stampeding cattle. Such a. sound once heard
is never forgotten.

«> Lhe cattle!” he said, cenereuiae

.. Then he rode toward the bewildered woman, knowing
that she had been caught between the cattle and the rim
of the Sink, and her life was threatened.

_ She saw him coming and turned her horse in his direc-
On ie 0
Before they met, the cattle had heaved in sight over
the crest of the ridge, and were coming on, a sclid mass
of shaking heads and swaying backs. |

"The cattle she cried, ithe fire has scared them,
and they’ rescoming this way! I can’t get out above; and
on this side is the Sink.” !

Buffalo Bill turned his horse about.

“We'll ride back in the other direction,” he said, with
a coolness that not only astonished her, but served to
help her failing courage. It seemed to indicate that she
had exaggerated her peril.

Yet she had not.

Buffalo Bill had been trapped now, as wel as the
woman; and the only way out, if there was one, was to
tide like mad back along the edge of the Sink, in the
hope of getting through the opening that still remained.
The cattle were sweeping in toward the Sink there, also,
and would soon be on its very verge. The thing to do

was to get through there before that occurred. But to
do it would mean hard riding.

“Don’t spare your horse,”
it, but we must lose no time.

he ide “we can make
We're all right yet.”

He not only spurred his own horse on, but leaned ©

over and struck hers, to increase its speed. A minute
later they were galloping side by side toward the ever-

narrowing gap which lay between the upper end of the

Sink and the oncoming front of that storm of mad-
dened cattle. :

The fire which had been: recklessly set to the Sink

 

“he in eden meet mh ey Phi inet em apt Ae ao

sarerlnentbeee daeitiire atest oat iy tt
es sas Drie 2

grass had noe remained in the Sink. cone out into
the grass beyond, it had’smoldered ithere a while, and
then flared into vigorous life, frightening the cattle
that were grazing in the wide valley; and it was these
frightened cattle that were now threatening the lives of
the woman and the scout.

As they approached what gnay be.called the head of the
Sink, the woman’s pony stumbled and fell.

The scout dexterously caught her from the saddle as
the pony went down. Ah
_ His own horse floundered next, and fell, though ‘it
did not tumble with the headlong crash of the other.

The ground was furrowed and plowed by mole-
gophers at that point; and held, besides, a number of
blind badger-holes, overgrown with grass; and this ae
undone the horses.

The scout sprang from the saddle as his horse sank in
the yielding earth, and saved both himself ae ve
woman from a nasty spill.

She was much shaken, and terrified beyond measure,
as he set her on her feet.

She could not but see that the stampeded cattle were
coming on only a few hundred yards away, and that with
those cattle on one side and the steep precipice of the
Sink on the other, her position was of the greatest peril.

The scout’s revolver flashed, and her horse, which, in
its fall, had broken a leg, tumbled down with a bullet
in its brain,

“Tt had to be done,” he said in apology.
want the cattle to trample it to death.”

“They will trample us to death!” she screamed in a
wery insanity of fear. ¢%

“We didn’t

He caught her in his arms and swung her up into iit
saddle, his horse having by this time strug gegled to its
feet,

Then he leaped to Hie back of the horse, behind her,

took the reins, and set the horse again in motion.

He saw that the ride would be a desperate one, with ‘
the chances not greatly in his favor. He had lost pre-
cious time.

“Cling to the saddle-horn!’ he shouted to her.

The roar of thundering hoofs rose in a way ‘to eon
his words.

But she understood and obeyed, or else her sense of the
right thing to be done moved her.

Straight ahead the horse went with its double burden.
Its ears were laid back, as if in fright, its eyes glared, its
nostrils were red and wide; under the urging of the
scout, it was putting every ounce of its strength into that ©
last wild burst of speed; and its life, too, hung in the
balance.

Nearer and nearer came that sea of tossing horns and
fiery eyes, and louder rose the jarring roar of the
hoofs, :

Narrower grew the narrow strait.

 

3 Peel uur PACS spe nS
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a a frasmians

SE EE SRS ROSE SRA VSS SOEs UC A GT SS Sal er Bpaa SCR een ek RY

 
 

 

 

 

a sort of deadly music.

, cabin.

The scout drove the horse into it; then, with a mighty
bound, the horse went through, and had the cattle be-
hind. :

That leap of the horse through the little gap turned
the cattle, also; instead of rushing on over the rim of
the Sink, where they would have been crushed, they
began to follow the horse, Coming on with a speed that
was astonishing and frightful.

If the horse put foot into a badger-hole now, or fell
from any other reason, the scout knew that his life

and the woman’s would not be worth a moment’s pur-

chase; and he held the rein tight, ready to assist the
gallant animal if it chanced to stumble.

The woman said never a word, but clung tenaciously
to the saddle-horn as the horse tore on.

The leading steers, following close behind the horse,
began to crowd it hard; the clicking of their horns made
The scout shouted at the cattle,
fearing they would force the horse over the rim of the
Sink.

The precipices of the Sink were soon past, and the
grass-land lay before, spouting fire here and there.

Buffalo Bill veered the hors@ in the direction of the
cabins. If it could keep its gait, it could lead the cattle
and draw them away from the Sink and from that fire.

The foremost cattle turned again, following the horse.
The scout saw that some of them farther back were
being crowded over into the Sink, pushed off the edge
by their comrades. They went down bellowing. It was

“as mad a scene as he had ever taken part in, or witnessed.

Straight ahead now went the gallant--horse with its
double burden, bringing the cabins steadily closer.

Men were seen riding near the cabins ; other men were
over in the direction of those spouting spots of fire, try-
ing there to save the grass.

Up to the cabins the cattle pursued the a Sualane
the ground right behind it. Then the scout, saw that
one of the horsemen there was Brander. .

Brander yelled something, which in the wild con-

fusion could not be understood.
But already the scout had outlined his course of action.

When the first cabin was reached he rode into its lee. »

Bringing the horse to a quick stop, he leaped down, with
the woman in his arms. The door of the cabin was
open, and he thrust her inside. He saw her reel and fall
to the floor.

But he knew he had saved her, and had saved him-

self and the horse, as well.

The cattle went thundering wildly past, split into two
herds by the cabins;
open land beyond, where the fire had not yet reached.

Buffalo Bill did not follow Mrs.

As soon as the tail of the herd had passed, Brander

came riding up. He had sheltered himself and his horse

and they streamed on toward the

Seelye into the

e THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

behind one of the other cabins.
and unpleasant look on his almost cadaverous face.

“What’s the meanin’ of this?” he said suspiciously. |
# “T saved the life of your wife,” said the scout.

“How'd the cattle a my

“The fire scared ’em.’

“What was she doin’ out there?”

“T don’t know.”

“She was ridin’ round out ae a

“Ves. 39 ‘

He stared \doubtingly at ie scout.

“T was coming from the Sink, where we’d hen fhuntin’
for Haskins,” the scout explained. “I saw her caught
between the cattle and the rim o’ the Sink. I tried to.
pilot her out, and her horse. broke its leg in a badger-
hole and feli, I had to shoot him.

out of there. We made it; but ’twas a close call.”
- He almost forgot his dialect as he told this.

Brander sprang down, threw his bridle-reins to the
scout, and stepped into the house.

The woman was sitting on a stag) in almost : a fainting
condition.

The scout heard Brander conversing with her.

When he came out, Brander’s face looked pleasanter.

Bits
niality. “I reckon you saved the cattle, too, -by them fol-
lefin:. ye: fer if they'd gone over the rim of the Sink,
they’d been a lot of ’em killed. I calcalate 'm due to
thank ye for that, Ridgway.”

The scout had dismounted. Brander came_up*to him,
and extended his hand with something like cordiality.

“Tl not fergit it, Ridgway,’ he said. “From what ‘
she oe I reckon you done about the only thing which
could ’a’ been done under the circumstances.
remember them that remembers me, ter good or bad.”

 

CHAPTER 1X.
( TRAPPED.

The fire iach threatened the range was subdued; and
the frightened cattle had been saved from the precipices
of the Sink with the loss of only a few.

Buffalo Bill, or Ridgway, as he was known to the
cattle-lifters, received full,credit for the last. The risk
he took to save the woman became the subject of much
favorable comment.

Brander came to him.

“T reckon I didn’t thank you enough for that,” he
apologized. — Pal see that oe don’t lose nothin’ by it.
The firin’ of the Sink is goin’ to make our range short,
though, and so we can’t hold the cattle long round here.
And that makes me conclude that we'll strike off for

a

them others that you tole me about, to-morrow. We'll

There was a singular —

Then I took her on:
my horse and made a race to get past the cattle and

1 right,” he said, with more than common ge-

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ginrally —

 
  

 

 

es

 

  

  

  

   
 
   
   
  
  
 

 
 

 

‘treachery of Huckleberry Haskins.

 

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- who was to blame.

  
 

bring ‘em here, unite “em with this bunch, and hustle
all of ’em to market straight off. When the divvy of
the cash comes, Ridgway, I’ll see that you're well paid®

This determination to_go at once for the cattle men-
tioned was pleasing to the scout; it fell in with his hopes
and plans for the capture of the cattle-thieves.

The men talked of the trip, as they sat round their
cabin lights that night; and made ready for it, getting

ropes and revolvers, and-saddles and bridles, in shape.

They talked, too, of Huckleberry Haskins, denouncing
him for a traitor.

Haskins’ dead horse had been found late in the after-
noon, but not Haskins. They had seen that the horse
had been slain and disemboweled; but just what it indi-
cated they did not know. . They did not believe Haskins
had a lariat, or that if he had one he could have climbed
the cliffs of the Sink on the side where the horse had
been discovered.

Some were of the opinion that he had fallen at a ane
where the fire was hottest, and that it had consumed his
body, so that there was nothing left.to find.

“Ridgway” took part in these talks, never hinting that
Haskins had escaped.

Tf he had not been a man of the most Foapicce kind, he

_ might have been. made uneasy by the threats uttered

against all traitors by these men as they spoke of the
To their minds,
proof.of Haskins’ treachery was evidenced by the fact
that he had fled.

When morning came, and Buffalo Bill got up early for
the work of the day, he discovered that Brander was in

an ugly humor.

Brander talked with te scout out in front of the cab-
ins. His yellow face had a wolfish, almost a fiendish,

: took while his eyes were unnaturally bright.

He held up a thin hand that trembled.

“It’s the opium, Ridgway-—er the lack of it. In the
excitement of chasin’ that traitor, my opium was lost.
The shelf got knocked down by some one who pulled a
saddle from the wall there to jine in die chase, it
I knowed who done it, I’d have a settlement with him;
and if I thought any feller took the opium, thinkin’ to
have fun with me, I’d shoot holes in him. You don’t
know anything about it?”

“Not a thing,” the scout answered.

“I didn’t allow you did, Ridgway, and I don’t know
I might ‘a’ done it-myself, but |
don’t believe I did. I’ve hunted all night for the stuff,
and it’s gone; and I can’t git no more this side of Crys-
tal Bend, or some of the other-towns.”

His manner was like a maniac’s, and the glare of his
eyes was frightful.

“So, Ridgway, we'll git them cattle a hustle back
to this p’int, and then hurry the whole of ’em to Lang’s
Siding, on the Union Pacific Railroad, where I’m goin’

 

  

‘THE BUFFALO

    

BILL STORIES. | 17

 

I can take the train at the siding
But how I’m

to ship ’em this time.
for Lander, and git the opium. there.

goin’ to work through the days till then is what I don’t

want to think about.”
The cattle were rounded up into a compact herd, and
left with two of the band as herders. Then the cattle-
lifters set out, led now by Buffalo Bill.
~The woman remained at the cabins, in the. company.
of the men who were to herd the cattle.
With the exception of Brander, who missed his opium,
the cattle-thieves were in a joyous mood as they galloped i
away from their camp. Sie
Apparently, they did not ala that Bidswey was:
preparing to lead them into a trap.
Buffalo Bill might have hesitated to use this Fe hed -
against even men like Brander’s cattle-lifters ift had

‘been possible to get them in any other manner.

But other methods had failed; and by murdering offi-
cess they had established such a reign of terror along
the border that few men now dared move against them.

‘They had, because of this, become overbold; so that
they had not the least fear of trouble when they thus set
out, singing, laughing, cracking rude jokes, and indul-
ging in rough horse-play.

Now and then they ran their horses, fired off salvos of
pistol- “shots, and made the wild mountains ring with their
yells.

The sale of the cattle they had stolen promised to put
money into their hands; money which'they would spend ~
in wild carousing in the towns. Hence they saw just
ahead of them a heaven of the delights they liked, and
they were cheerful accordingly.

Ridgway took little part in their wild racing and
shooting; and Brander grumbled and fumed over the
loss of his opium.

When less than five miles from the camp, they dis-
covered that someone was following, and then saw .
that it was the woman who had been left behind. She
had taken a fast horse, and soon caught up with them.

“T just couldn’t stay there!” she said. a thought ded
die after you were gone. And so I came.”

Brander smiled for the first time that day.

“You think you want to be one of the gang, eh?” he
Said

“Yes. I might as well be.
best Of 1.7

“Good for you!” he said.

He seemed pleased.

Brander and his wife rode together, side by side, much
of the time, at the rear of the column. She was a good
horsewoman, and seemed not to mind the rapid pace.

She avoided Buffalo Bill, but of that he was rather
glad, for he did not care to be seen speaking to her.
There was nothing to be gained by arousing Brander’s
jealousy and anger.

Tm here, and I'll make the

     

  

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THE BUFFALO

Shortly before sunset they approached the opening of
the pass which led through to the valley where the oe
mentioned by Buffalo Bilkewere held.

Brander sent a man to the top of a peak, to look over
into the valley, and, on his return, this man reported me
the cattle were there.

Buffalo Bill had seeh early in the afternoon a thin
smoke column.
that the trap he had planned was ready.

Within the pass were United States troopers in am-
bush, teady to demand the surrender of the cattle- lifters
as soon as they were well within the trap which had
been laid for them.

Brander and his men stopped as the mouth of the pass
was gained,

The sinking sun was tipping with red light the tops of
the hills.

“Men,” said Brander, and his face took on a wolfish
look, “the trap is set. Spring it!’ ( ‘

He swung his revolver round, pointing it at the bosom
of Buffalo Bill. Two men on the other side, who had
crowded their horses close to that of the scout, sprang
at him, reaching forth their hands and clutching his re-
volvers so that he could not draw them.

Buffalo Bill had been trapped. Having laid a trap,
he had himself fallen into one.

 

“CHAPTER: X.

BUFFALO BILL’S PERIL.

_ Buffalo Bill understood just how his betrayal had
been brought about before he was told. Brander’ s wife
had communicated her suspicions to her husband.

Perhaps she cannot be greatly blamed; the heart of a
woman is a strange thing, and, in spite of his cruelty and
inhumanity to her, she still loved Brander.

Therefore, when the conviction came to her, as it did
with overwhelming force, that this man who called him-
self Ridgway, but who she was sure was Buffalo Bill,
meant to lead Brander and his men into a trap, her love
for Brander came again uppermost, and led her to the
scout’s betrayal, in spite of what he had done for her.

She did not want Brander killed or captured, no matter |

what his conduct had been nor how much he deserved
even death, |

That was her reason for following and j ne the band
that had set out for the cattle..

“Hands up!” Brander ordered, when the scout had

_ been trapped and rendered helpless.

It was useless to resist. The scout’s hands went up.

“Take his weapons!’ was Brander’s next command.

The outlaws swarmed round the scout with oaths and
threats, snatching away his revolvers and knife. They
stripped him of everything.

Then the noose of a rope was thrown round his neck,

He did not speak of it, but it told him.

rier er FAMNAETA NS 6 Stil iNet tvinserretieuacanesh Sgr

SS

BILL STORIES.

the other end a the rope Pome aes to one of ‘the
saddles, Ne
“Hang him!” was roared,

“No,” said Brander, “I’ve a somethin’ ae then

that for him!’

_ Brander’s yellow face Wong oa passion, ae the
clamorous men were as excited and enraged. How
they had held in until this time was rather a marvel.

The woman kept back, reining her horse away ao
the frenzied group.

“VYou’re Buffalo Bill!’ Brander shouted at the scout.
“You played it fine, but now we're onto ye! Confess it;
that you’re Buffalo Bill.”

“My name is Ridgway,” said the scout, as calmly as
he could. ee

“Tt’s a lie!” yelled Brander. “My wife rec’nized ye,
and she’s sure of ye; but we can settle the truth of this.
We're guessin’ that you was leadin’ us into a trap. Some
o’ my men are goin’ on, to see if they can’t spring it with-
out gittin’ caught in it.”

_ Three of the horsemen were preparing to ride on.

Brander gave an order, and the others moved off to the

left, where they would be screened by the shadows of tlie
mountains.

The three horsemen isan peaten 3 in the tos me the
pass.

“Tt it’s so, we'll hang him!” some of the remaining
men were saying.

“We'll do him worse than that, (said: Brander, with an
ney foe

harsh laugh; “we'll feed him to the dogs.
old Mulligan.”

“Old Mulligan” was a detective sent into the carte!

‘thieves’ country, who had dropped out of sight mysteri-

ously more than two months before.
now what had become of Mulligan.

A like fate stared him in the face.
he could look for no mercy.

The scout knew

From these men

The scout was bound, ahd they crowded round him,
hurling threats and questions at him. He maintained his
calm, reiterating his declarations that he was not the
man they thought. It was the only thing he could do.
He had not lost hope, and would not lose hope until the
last minute.

“We reckon that you and Haskins were eae in
this,’ said Brander. ‘“We know Haskins was crooked,
fer there in the cabin he dropped a letter that told who
he was; I’ve got it in my pocket.”

But no incriminating letters had been found in the

scout’s pockets,

He wished, merely as a matter of curiosity, that he
could see that letter dropped by Haskins; it ee reveal
to him who Haskins really was,

“Haskins was a detective?’ he asked,

“You know who he was, all right!” said Brander.

“T’m sorry to say I know nothing about him,”

on ta ON eT a AA A et aN A a a aaa

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PR SRG gg scarccnior rete OR Rp teg ptr sesame ACR Gl ne eT ERIE ear

u

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. | 19.

ef

“We're figgerin’ that you helped him to escape frum
the Sink,” said one of them. “We seen hoof-marks
there by his dead horse; and we've talked it over, and
think that they was your’n. And we seen tracks that

_was made in the black ashes either by you or Haskins.
What become 0’ Haskins, anyhow ?”

_ The scout declared his ignorance.

“You don’t know what become of him?’

_ “No; I wish I did.”

Opec was near at hand when the hese men re-
turned.

Their report confirmed the worst suspicions of the cat-
tle-lifters, One of the three men climbed to the tops of
the cliffs overhanging the pass, and had seen a number
of troopers.

_ “That’s enough,” the men yelled; “that’s all we want
to know. We've got the proofs ag’inst you, Cody. And
_we'll fix ee so’s you won't never try a vee of this
kind again.”

_ With the scout in their midst, the cattle- fifters rode
» back through the growing darkness, heading for the
| cabins they had left that morning,

When they felt that they were a safe distance from
the ambush of the troopers, they went into camp for
a while; but later rode on again, hoping to reach the
cabins by morning.

It was hard riding for Mrs. Seelye, yet Buffalo Bill did
“not hear her complain. Perhaps she feared to; for
Brander’s irritability was now of a touchy, gunpowdery
character. The absence of his usual soothing dose of
opium seemed to have laid his nerves bare and quiver-
ing. More than once the scout heard him threaten to
shoot some of the men, and now and then heard him
~curse the woman.

“I hope she is satisfied!’ was the scout’s grim thought. ©
“She has fixed it so that she will have to stay here fone

39

ever now; and |——

He did not like to think of what would probably be
his own fate.

The woman did not come near him through all the
night ride. It was his opinion that her conscience troub-
ledyher. Yet as he thought. of the matter, trying ‘to
view it coolly, he saw that he really ought not to have
expected anything else; for the love of a woman is long-
suffering and long-enduring, and it rallies even when it
has apparently been crushed to death.

“Yes, | was a fool for ever letting her guess my iden-
tity!’ was his conclusion. _ a

Broad day was on the land when the cabins were
reached.

“Where’s the dogs?’ demanded Brander, when the
fierce beasts did not appear with their usual clamor.

One of the men left to guard the cattle answered:

_ “We took ’em out with us after Mrs. Brander leit,
- thinkin’ we could watch ’em easier, and could use ’em,

espe

and they set out in chase of a wolf. They’re in the hills
somewheres.”’
Buffalo Bill was to have a short respite, at jest

CHAPTER, XI;
IMPRISONED.

The withdrawal of his accustomed opium was making
Maverick Brander a madman,

Finding that the dogs were not available for use
against the captured scout, Brander went to the wolf-
pens back of the camp, where he kept his trapped wolves.

His madman’s thought was to bring some of these
wolves down to the camp, and turn them loose on the
helpless prisoner. But Brander had so far lost control
of himself that he had lost control of the wolves.
Usually his ‘ability to manage and subjugate wolves was
little short of miraculous in the eyes of his men; they
said he could take a newly trapped wolf and make it

. follow him round like a pet kitten.

It was-not so on this occasion. Brander oe in
among: his wolves, and retreated, scratched and bitten.
In his rage; he shot one of them.

When he returned to the cabins his hands and face
were bleeding and he was in a terrible temper. Swinging
his revolver, he declared that he would now shoot Buf-
falo Bill, and thus finish him.

But his crazy thoughts were given a new turn by
the coming of one of his men, who reported that the
troopers seen in the pass had shifted their position, and
were closer to the camp; but that the cattle they had in
the valley beyond the pass were thus left almost unpro-
tected, with only two or three men in charge of them.

This report determined Brander to make a move. ©

“We'll show ’em a thing er two!” he cried. “We'll
raid the cattle and kill the herders while the troopers air
pokin’ round up this way lookin’ fer us.’

Apparently, the troopers imagined that Buffalo Bill’s
plan had miscarried, and were out searching for some
traces of the cattle-lifters.

Buffalo Bill had cause for thankfulness that some-
thing had occurred to change the wild course of Bran-
der’s thoughts, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he ,
became aware of the preparations being made for depart-

“ing from the camp. He did not doubt that the troopers

would be able to look out for their own interests and
care properly for the cattle.

Yet it gave him an idea of the daring of Brander’s
mind. That he could:so plan when he was little short
of insane showed what he could do when his mental
states were normal.

Brander rode away at the. head.of a number of his
men, as wild and fierce an object as ever set out on a
murderous foray. The insane glare of-his eyes, the-
blood streaking his face, which he had not taken time

 
20 ESE pee,
to remove, the maniacal snarl of his rie) tips, made hina
a strange and terrible figure.

Brander and his men were hardly out of sight when
the woman came slowly by the scout’s prison door.

She glanced in quickly, and saw him lying bound and
helpless by the wall.

“T’d help you if I dared,” she said.
oe cae in the camp, and | don’t dare to.
you.”

“Yet it’s your fault that I am here,’
know that.”

But for his positiveness she might have denied it.
hesitated, as if searching for an excuse.

“T had to!” she declared. “I knew that Jim would be
shot down by the troopers, or captured; and so I had
to. I hope you won’t think too hard of me; for he is
my husband, even if he has done dreadful things. I tried
to oe him from going just now, but he wouldn't listen
to me.’

in iad he’s gone.”

“He may be killed; is ‘that vty Pe

“Tt gives me a little longer stretch of life; he would
have killed me if he had stayed; for he is now a madman.
He doesn’t know hardly what he is doing. And I give
you this warning, though he is your husband—sooner or
later he will kill you. U’m not blaming you for what
you did; I suppose you thought it right; and I can under-
stand how a woman might feel on such a matter, even
if her husband is a man like Brander. But you can’t
safely trust yourself with him.”

“T know. Oh, I know!” she said.

He could see that she was crying.

“Tll try to do something for you,” she promised; “but
just now I can’t. One of the men is looking over this
way now. I’m sorry that I felt i fad to do it; and [ll
try to get you out of this if I can.’

“But men have
I’m sorry for

* he answered. “I

She

scout.

“Throw a knife in here to me, can’t you?” he called
to her as she went on.

Perhaps the sight of the woman slowing her footsteps
as she passed the door of the cabin rendered the men in
the camp suspicious, for after that one of them kept
pretty close about throughout the whole of the day. And
because of that the woman did not return.

The scout hoped, though, that when darkhess arrived
she would try to aid him.

He was convinced that if he escaped at‘ all he must do
it during the coming night, and he hoped that Brander’s

party would be delayed so that they could not return
before that time.

_ At noon food was brought to the scout by one of the
men, and his hands were untied so that -he could eat it.
But the man sat in front of him, by the door,
cocked revolver in hand.

with a

PONG

Be i Sahota eke eee

Her desire to help him gave some courage to the

& ~

BILL STORIES.

The scout might have made some desperate attempt
if the woman had thrown a knife in to him; but, weapon-
less, he was helpless against that heavily armed guard.

“This is tough fer you!” said the man, looking at him.

'“The question I’m asking myself is, air you Buffler Bill
er not? The boss says you air, and so does the woman
and most of the fellers. Some of us ain’t dead certain,
fer the last time we heard of Buffler he was down on the
Rio. Grande.”

“Tf I should swear to you that my name is Ridgway,
and that this is a mistake, what would you do?”

“Nothin’, I couldn’t do nothin’ if I wanted to. I
jes’ had a curiosity to know.”

“Eow much money will you take to help me out of this
to-night, before Brander gets back? You could go with
me; and when we got through I’d pay the money over to
you.”

“And if you’re Buffler, you’d land me in jail, too!”

‘Was Buffalo Bill ever known to tell a lie like that?”

“Well, if you’re Buffler, you’ve been puttin’ up a putty
big front of lyin’ here, all right; I couldn’t trust ye.
And more, if I tried a thing like that, and even kerried
it through, Brander, er some 0’ the others, would git me ~
sooner er later. A man’s life is wuth more than money.”

“If you think so, why do you stay here in this busi-
ness? You'll be killed, or imprisoned, sooner or later, if -
you stick to it.”

“A feller has to take resks in everything; it’s good
big money, and it’s made easy. And, besides, I don’t
mind tellin’ you that if I should land back in civilization
I'd be swung fer a little shootin’-scrape I got mixed up
in. Sol reckon it’s as healthy fer me here as any place.
It’s the way with most of the boys, and even with Bran-
der; we’re all ‘wanted.’ We don’t dare to go back, into
the towns and stay in ’em.’ :

He went away after a while, with his curiosity con-
cerning Buffalo Bill still unsatisfied.

During the long afternoon some of the missing wolf-
dogs came in, tired and hungry. The scout saw the
men feeding them, and heard the brutes snarling and
fighting over their food.

“A fellow wouldn't last long if thrown to those brutes,”
mused the scout. “But that the end would be quick

would be one comfort. They’d tear him to rags in a
minute.” :

The scout’s anxiety increased as the evening ap-
proached, for he feared every minute the return of
Maverick Brander; who, if he came back in the mood
in which he went away, would not hesitate to hurl his
prisoner to the dogs without delay.

But the sun sank, and then darkness came, without
the arrival of Brander,

*“Now is the woman’s chance if:she wants to do me
a good turn,” was the scout’s thought.

But soon one of the men took his position in front of

 
 

THE BUFFALO

the door, with a revolver ready. Sitting down, he com-
posed himself as if he meant to stay there throughout
the night.

Buffalo Bill had tugged ond strained at his bonds at
intervals, hoping to break out of them, but without suc-
cess. Now he began at it again. But they had been
' tied so tightly that the only thing he did was to draw
_ the knots harder and force the cutting cords deeper
into his swollen wrists. The torturing pain forced him
at times to desist; but he kept at it, working quietly, that
he might not draw the guard’s attention.

The camp and the night had grown quiet, and Brander
still delayed his return, when the scout heard a slight
sound in the darkness where the guard sat.

Listening for it again, he heard a groan.

This was startling and suggestive; but that the woman
| would kill the guard was almost: inconceivable.

' Lying quiet and listening, Buffalo Bill soon beheld a

- form in the darkness of the open doorway.

This form crouched on hands and knees, suggestive in
its shape of one of the wild dogs. It peered round, as ii
trying to penetrate the gloom of the room.

The scout remained quiet.

Convinced that it could not be the euard, and there-
fore that it must be the woman, he spoke, at length, in a
low tone.

“Ah! you ite fer !” was the answer.

The voice was that of a man!

The owner of that voice began to creep toward the
scout.

“Who are you?” Buffalo Bill queried in a low tone,
not certain as yet of this man’s intentions.

He could not be sure that the man did not intend to
knife him.

There was in response a low chuckle: then a warning:

“Don’t talk; I’m here to give ye a lift.”

The scout gasped with astonishment.

He recognized the voice belonging to Huckleberry
Haskins. é

“Jes’ keep quiet, and soon we'll be sliding out of this.
* You layin’ on the floor?” |
“Yes,” said the scout; “right here.” .

Thus guided, Haskins crawled up to him.

“Where are yer hands? Oh, yes; they’re tied behind
yer back! Tough lines, I call that; but here’s what rips
the cords off.”

He ran a knife through the cords, severing them; and
then cut the ropes on the scout’s ankles.

~“Needn’t ask questions now,” he warned; “wait till
we git out o’ this. I had to knife the guard by the
door; he’s sleepin’ the sleep he'll never come out of.
When his pards know it, I reckon there'll be somethin’
doing. And we've got to git while we can.”

He rose to his feet and turned to the door.

Buffalo Bill was so stiff that he could hardly get up.

“I fergot!” Haskins apologized. “’Tain’t natural

BILE STORIES.

that you would be as supple as a two-year-old, after
being tied up like that; but yer blood will git to circu-
lating quick, and you'll then be all right. Yer wrists
hurt ver,

“It’s nothing,” said the scout.

He let Haskins help him to the door; and then stood -
there, stretching his arms and legs, and trying by va-
rious twists and turns of his body to set his sluggish blood
to flowing anew.

“The feller’s layin’ right against the door here,” said
Haskins. “But we can step over him. I hated to do it,
but had to; I never like the thoughts of knifin’ even a
critter like him. 1 was bound to git you out of this while
the chance lasted. I’ve been hanging round all day fer
the chance, and couldn’t let it go by. IP ll tell ye more
when we git out o’ here.”

He€ looked out, and was about to pass to the outside,
when ‘the revolver of the man whom he had supposed
dead flamed at his feet, and the bullet whistled by his
head.

The rascal was sorely wounded; but, recovering and
seeing that the prisoner was escaping, he had used his
revolver, probably as much for the purpose of arousing
his pards as anything else.

Huckleberry Haskins made a jump from the doorway,
muttering a curse. Buffalo Bill came right behind him.

The wounded ruffian fired again, but missed; and. Has-
kins and Buffalo Bill started to run.

CHAPTER: x11,
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT.
The revolver-shots aroused the camp, and also the

dogs.

Voices of inquiry were heard, and the dogs barked
clamorously.

Buffalo Bill and Huckleberry Haskins ran round the
cabin and plunged into the darkness behind it.

The wounded guard called feebly, and again fired off
his revolver, thus a the outlaws and the dogs to
the cabin. :

Within a minute, as it seemed, the dogs had picked up
the trail by a cabin door; and, urged by the cattle-
lifters, began to pursue the running men. ,

“This way,” said Haskins, ina low voice. “If we

_bear off that way too fur, we'll git into that Sink. No

more of it fer me! There’s no grass in it to burn now,
but ihe time I had climbin’ them walls Pll remember for-
ever.’

They hdd reached the edge of the camp, and began |
to circle round the cabins now, heading rapidly toward
the trail which ran off. in a southerly direction away
from the higher mountains. That it led to some pass
seemed likely.

But before they gained the trail they heard a halloo-
ing and a clattering of hoofs, which informed them that

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

_ gang come back. Lay low here, and we'll let ’em pass.

Brander and his men had returned <a were galloping
in by that trail.
The scout and Haskins halted in hesitation.

“I reckon I worked that trick of gittin’ ye off jest in |

said Haskins. ‘“Here’s the boss and his whole

time,”’

“But the dogs!” said the scout.
We'd better swing to the right and pee these horse-

“They're coming on.

men, and lose no time waiting.”

“T reckon you're right,” said Haskins,

They turned to the right, away from the trail; and soon
heard Brander and his men go thundering by.

Brander’s followers were shouting questions to the
men who were coming on with the yelping dogs.

“It’s a run fer it!” said Haskins. |

“Yes, pile ahead; I’m with you!” |

“You've got the stiffness out of yer joints?”

“Enough for the purpose; but I’don’t know that either’

of us can outrun those dogs, when once they get a good
scent of our trail.”

“No; I reckon we’ll-have to fight ’em. We don’t want
to let em corner us and hold us till the men can come

Brander and his followers were heard to join the
other men, and questions were yelled by each party. The
and now Brander
ite
scout and Haskins heard him swearing in no amiable
manner, mas

dogs had ‘continued their clamor;
turned round, and began to lead in the pursuit.

“I reckon the dogs will eat us up if they catch us,”
said Haskins. .

The dogs were coming nearer; and behind the dogs

“A curse on all dogs!”

the pursuers were heard riding.

Buffalo Bill was looking ahead as well as he could
He recalled
that some of the horses were kept out in this direction,

in the gloom, and was watching for horses.

and soon he saw them, in a wire corral. |
The horses were frightened by the baying of the dogs,
and running wildly round inside the barbed-wire fence.
“Can we get two of those horses?” said the scout.
While we're doin’
it, they dogs will be on us, and then we'll have to stand
and fight.
with.”
But the scout went over the wire fence at a leap.
Huckleberry Haskins followed him,
“Tear away a strand or two of the wire over there,”

“T don’t see how we’re goin’ to.

And we ain’t got no ropes to catch the horses

THE BUFFALO BILLY SrOREES.

Jats

said the scout. “Hammer the staples off with a shone
I’ll see if I can get the horses.”
“But the dogs?”
“We'll fight them. Haven’t you an extra vetolices Re
Haskins gave him one, with a handful of cartridges

for it:

Nevertheless, he searched about for a heavy stone, and
began to hammer the wire staples with it.

Buffalo Bill walked toward the horses, that had
backed into a corner of the enclosure and were snorting
with excitement. “

As he did so he began to speak to then in soothing
tones. He had no lariat; but he held out one hand in a
coaxing way, and felt sure they could see his extended
hand.

“Good boy,” he said, approaching the nearest.

It backed farther into the wire fence at the corner, but
he walked up to it, and got it by the foretop.

He stopped its struggles with a few strokes of his
hand along its neck and head. :

The others were trying to pass him; but with a leap
he caught one by the nose, and so held it.

Then he got it by the foretop.

“Here, Haskins!” he called.
get away from me.”

“Come quick, or they'll

Haskins had knocked loose one strand of the ire
fence; but he abandoned the work and came running up
to Buffalo Bill.

He found the horses plunging and the scout holding
them with much trouble. |

“Take one!” said the scout.

A dog came with a wild leap over the high barbed-
wire fence, and rushed savagely at the two men.

Haskins swung to the back of one of the horses.

The scout fired at the dog as it rushed at his legs;

2

then he went into the air with a hound, landing on the

back of the horse.

The dog had rolled over, with a bullet through its

back.

A little farther off the other dogs were baying fiercely
and coming on with great leaps, and behind them were
pursuers, on foot and on horseback. Some of the pur-
suers began to shoot, and their bullets came whistling

through the darkness,

“Make it take the fence!’ Buffalo Bill shouted to
Haskins.

“T reckon we’d ought to be hurryin’ on,” he protested.

 

LAF sim hltei Ha ree
\ 2

 

    
     
       
  
   
 
   
  
  
   
   
   
   
  
   
 
     
 
        
     
      
      
         
   
         
         
       
     
       
    
          
THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. a ae

_ With a swaying of his body and a gouging of his
knees, he guided his frightened steed straight at the
barbed-wire ferice, where Haskins had knocked away the
top strand. oon

~The fence was still rather ae

Haskins’ horse had been sent at it; but, after almost
throwing, Haskins off its back, it had retreated, refusing
to take the high jump.

_ Buffalo Bill’ passed Haskins and his le horse
with almost the swiftness of the wind.

“Follow me!” he yelled.

_ He drovehis heéls deeply into the sides of the horse,

_and yelled at it in a manner to frighten it.

Under his spurring and shouts it went at the fence,
and sailed in a fine leap over the wire, landing beyond
the fence without mishap.

The example thus set was imitated by Haskins’ horse,
which followed the first without much urging; and Has-
kins came over, sailing through the air in a leap like that
. of a fox-hunter. ; -

The cattle-thieves had come up against the other side
of the corral, which stopped them, and were now riding
round it; the dogs had darted under and between the
wires, and. were coming straight on in their wild pursuit.

Revolvers were, still popping, and the air was shaken
with yells.

Without bridle
or saddle or rein of any kind, he guided his horse simply

Buffalo Bill was a superb horseman.

by the pressure of his knees and the swaying of his
body, swinging it from one side to the other without
trouble. Logs
He was now in the lead, and Haskins’ horse followed
obediently as they thus raced on through the darkness.
The savage clamor of the dogs and the men following
‘seemed to lend wings to the captured horses; it certainly
frightened them, and fright is a good spur for a horse.
The cattle-lifters, whose lives sometimes depended on
their speed, kept nothing but the finest and fastest horses,
and the two the scout had captured were as good as the
thieves possessed. _ ! |
: They showed their mettle by a phenomenal pace now,
which kept them well in the lead of the dogs.

The thunder of hoofs of the pursued and the pursuers,

| a the cracking revolvers, the excited yells and cries, and-

the baying of the wolfish dogs shook the night.

: “T reckon we’re holdin’ our own!’ Haskins yelled in
| the midst of that clamor.

pa ayer ed rt ech hr ae en einer Racer a tae reer ae

“I think so; just follow me, and keep close “up, $0
that we can’t get separated.”

“Which way you headin’ ?”

“South, in direction of the troopers, or where I
think they are.’

“Hike ahead; I’m right after ye.”

But soon it became apparent that Huckleberry Haskins
ee falling behind.

He lagged so much that the leading dogs a
with him; and then he lost more time by shooting at them,
a thing which confused his bridleless horse and caused it
to leap and whirl round. ue

The scout managed to stop the headlong pace of his
horse, giving Haskins a chance to catch up. The ex-
cited horse did not stand well, however, but leaped about
in a fit of panicky alarm.

“Coming?” the scout called.

Haskins was coming on again, but. slowly, and was
shooting at the-dogs whose attempts to get at him and
to mangle his horse he was resisting.

_But the pursuing horsemen were thus being given
time to get nearer, and they, too, were now shooting
again, their bullets fying dangerously close.

“Better come on!” the scout called. “We can outrun
the dogs.”
and that’s the
; that’s what put me behind.” |

“I can’t; my horsé has gone ‘lame
y he g

trouble. He’s limpin’
He was urging the horse on; but as it came nearer the
scout saw how much it limpéd, and had a sudden con-

ception of the handicap thus imposed.
He dropped back, putting himself at Haskins’ side, for

in such an emergency he would not have deserted Has-
kins even to save his own life.

He, too, fired at the clamorous and annoying. dogs,
and was gratified to know that he bowled over a couple
of them.

Yet this had no effect on the‘other members of this
wolfish pack, which continued to spring and snap at

the horses and the legs of the riders.

“I reckon you’d better go on,” said Haskins; “my |
I'll do the best I can; but to can
go faster, and you'd better.”’
Never (:
The scout held back his dancing and prancing horse
with the greatest difficulty without a bridle, and again

fired into the yelping pack of wolf-dogs,

horse is dead lame.

 

Cin aa tees i Gearenieterpicha chs mete eerste ees a en eran nay Cee ees

 
 

24 7 THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. - oe

More bullets whistled round him, and the yells of the remained uninjured, was in their favor, with oe Bill

pursuers rose in a savage outburst, as they fancied
they were now about to close in on the fugitives.
One of the bullets struck Haskins’ horse, wounding it.
In this emergency, Buffalo Bill fairly pulled the pro-
testing Haskins to the back of his horse; and then he
drove the horse on, abandoning the other.
“Tt can’t carry two of us,” said Haskins, “We'll both

be captured and killed!”

“T ecouldn’t leave you, and you ouch to understand
that. We'll head for the hills.
the sky off there.”

He swerved the horse to the right, in the ciechen of
the hills.

dt was a gallant beast, and held up well under its

I see their tops against

double burden, keeping still in the lead of the dogs, and

permitting the horsemen to get no closer for a while.

But the double weight and the terrific speed told on
its strength, and soon its labored breathing was heard
even in that wild roar of flight and pursuit.

But the hills were now near at hand.

In the fringe of bushes at the edge of the hills, Buffalo
Bill and Haskins abandoned the overburdened horse;
and, leaping down, ran with fleet steps in among the
rocks.

The wild dogs were close behind them by this time.

The rocky ground was unfamiliar to the scout and
to Haskins, but they put themselves behind a big boulder,

‘and there stood off the leaders of the dogs, shooting

some of them, wounding others, and driving them back.

~The pursuing men were now at the bushy fringe of

the hills; but there they had to dismount and follow
the dogs afoot, for the ground was too rough for horses.

Having driven back the dogs and gained breathing-
space, the scout began to climb the steep rocks before
him, reaching down and helping Haskins to ascend.
Fortunately, Haskins was a lightweight.

Buffalo ‘Bill’s skill in this sort of work soon gave the
fugitives a fresh start; for the dogs could not easily climb
the steep rocks, The pursuers were also halted by the
rocks, but began to fire their revolvers in the direction

taken by the scout and Haskins.

The peril was great for a few minutes; for if either
of the fugitives had been then wounded, their flight
would have been stopped; they could not have climbed
on, so precipitous was the way.

But the very difficulty of the climbing, so long as they

}

pele.

_ to guide and assist Haskins.

The scout clambered up rocks which head no one
without a rope could have ascerided; and, in addition, he
dragged Haskins up behind him.

Thus they pushed on, breathless, without delay, gain-

ing greater and greater advantage over their pursuers —

every minute.
Some of the outlaws were trying to go round the
hazardous rocks, or find some easy passage between

them; but a few of the more sturdy essayed to follow

by the way taken by the scout. - oe
The dogs could do little; yet they made a brave effort,

scrambling and leaping on in the darkness, making up _

by the fury of their barking for the ineffectiveness of
their pursuit.

But soon the outlaws and the dogs were distanced,
as the scout drew himself and Haskins to higher and
yet higher points. S .

A half-hour of this desperate work miade it seem safe
for them to rest a few moments.

The shouts and curses of the men and the barking of
the dogs still rose in an angry and excited chorus, but
the noise was now below and some distance off.

Haskins oe down, faint from exhaustion and

» difficult breathing.

The scout was tired, sweat was streaming from him,
but he had by no means collapsed or reached the limit
of his strength. ee

y??

“We're all right now, Haskins!” he said in a tone of

encouragement.

CHAPTER: XItE:

HTASKINS STORY:

7 got out. of the Sink when they thought I couldn’t,
by climbing the walls, with the help of that lariat you
gave me. I want to thank you once more for that.”

Haskins was speaking, as he and the scout lay in a

cranny of the rocks listening to the faint clamor of the

dogs.
“Having got out, I circled round till I was on this side
of the camp, for I knew that on this side was the trail

which I’d have to take if I ever got away. I was pretty

“well tuckered by the time I made it, for climbing out of

the Sink took about all my strength; and-you'll recollect
I didn’t have any too much to start on, after going
through that fire, in the body of the horse. “

 

 

 

 

 

* e 2

 

 

 

 

 

 
   
  

 

    

“T was laying among the rocks, some distance off
from the trail, when I saw the cattle-lifters go by with
you as a prisoner. That roused me. Knowing who you
‘was, and remembering what you’d done to help me, I
determined to get you out of that if it could be done.
“So I didn’t go any farther, but just laid round, wait-

ing for my chance; and it came to-night, while Brander

 

was away with most of the men. -

“T had to knife the guard who had camped down in
front of the cabin door to watch you; but he proved
later that I didn’t really kill him. A man who can
sling lead like he did isn’t in a dying condition. And

/

now we're here!”

“You know that I am Buffalo Billy’
oN Gs, I know it now; I didn’t at first.”
; Was my disguise : so poor that you saw right through
eee
“Your disguise was all right; it fooled all of us, me
But | began to watch you when
the men talked so much of how you looked like Buffalo
Bill. They didn’t none of ’em believe you was Buf-
falo Bill; and that was ‘the funny part of it, considering

as much as any one.

that you really was none other.
If you had shaved away that mustache and imperial,
and reduced the length of your hair, nobody in the world
could have jumped to the fact of who you were. But
I reckon you didn’t want to do that. It was funny the
way Brander had them stolen suits of yours, and tried
his dogs on the Buffalo Bill dummy. I watched him
doing that every morning. He intended to feed you to
those dogs if he ever got the chance.”

“When he had the chance, the dogs were off on a
wolf-chase; but he would have made good his threat on
his return if you hadn’t come to my aid.
call.” ae

“Yes, I reckon it was: we’ve both had calls about as
close as men can have without going under.” 3

“T want to thank you again for that,” said the scout.
“And I’m owin’ thanks to you, remember.”

_ “We'll call it even; only the danger you took to help
me was so much greater than any danger I ran! There’s
“one thing I’d like to know.”

“Name it, Cody.”

“Tt is, who you are.

berry Haskins. That was assumed; and your manner

and language were eon) soe way you speak now
shows it.”

    

I ap en eye a i ag epic a os one at

HiGa a ei 3
a a ny Done a nn

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

You fooled ‘em good.”

It was a close

I know that you are not Huckle-

Iya melts ns capt sacra Nt Pgs aA Saale ga
e PSo ee  ea

Haskins chuckled.

He had recovered his breath and ened and the fact
that he and the scout had distanced the cattle-lifters
made him feel cheery and hopeful.

“T don’t reckon the changes I made in my looks and

‘words were any greater than what you made in yours.”

~

- “Tt seems ‘ me they must have been.”
“T don’t think it; for, Cody, the weakness of your
face, and of your weak-kneed, shambling gait, was per-
fection. Some times you didn’t look as if you had sense
enough to pound sand. There wasn’t any refinement in
your face, and precious little intelligence.” .
“You will pardon me, Haskins, if I tell you that you
looked like a fool.

an idiot.:

The fellows all thought you were
And they proceeded to have fun with you
because of it. I wish I could have seen*that. initiation
you went through when ou became a member of the
band.”

Haskins laughed ae

“Yes, that was funny,” he admitted; “they thought
they was having fun with me, and I was dead certain
that "w

fellow who met me in Albuquerque hadn’t butted in,

as having whole heaps of fun with them. If that

they’d never suspected me.”

“You did play cards with him down in Albuquerque ae

“Ves, and skinned him, while he was trying to skin me.
But I had a reason more than the desire to beat him
at a poker-game; I knew he belonged to this gang of
cattle-lifters, and I was trying to get a line on them.”

“You were detailed to this case?”

“Yes,” ,

“You are a detective, then, as 1 thought?”

oes

"Your name?

“Harry Fenlon.”

The scout came to a sitting-posture; he had been lying
down. He stared into the face of the man he had known
as Haskins. ,

“Harry Fenlon, the great Denver detective!” he cried.
“Ts it possible? Well, I’m glad to know you, Fenlon;
I’ve heard of you often.

cross before, that’s all. It doesn’t seem possible that

the Fool of the Range, the ‘natural’ from Greenbrier,

West Virginia, who was called Huckleberry Haskins,
can be larry & enfon! ks
The scout did not try to suppress his amazement,

“I never was in West Virginia,’ said Fenlon, “and

      

psc A emcee oh

Our traits: never happened to 7,
oe ye

ee SS

SE ie SE I To BERGE

26 : | THE BUPFPALO BILE STORIES.

T’m not dead sure that there is such a place as Green-
brier. But I had to hail from some place, you know.”

“Harry Fenlon!” said the scout, as if musing.

“The Denver Cattlemen’s Association sent me here
to work on this case,” said Fenlon. “The members of
the association had been losing so heavily at the hands
of the cattle-lifters that they became desperate. So I
took my ‘life’ in my hands, as it were, and came here. A
member of the band brought me.to the camp, and I be-
came a member. I was perfecting a plan whereby I
could run the whole gang into a trap when they made
their next drive of cattle to a shipping-point. But that
fellow from Albuquerque jumped in, and I had to quit
| Like a fool,
too, I had a letter in my pocket that a wise man would

the game; it came near costing me my life.

never have kept there under the circumstances; it dropped
out when I went into the cabin to show some of my
‘proofs.’ But you know the rest, I guess. Brander
pulled his gun on me; I saw the jig was up through my
own foolishness, and I went out by way of the window.”

“Tt seems singular that we both should have come

here on the same mission, and should have used* prac-

‘tically the same plans; for I was playing a double réle,

and I had planned to lead the cattle-thieves into a trap.
My showing of sympathy for that unfortunate woman
was my undoing. I stood ready to help her, and I
and then
she turned round and exposed me, when she thought I

saved her life from the stampeding cattle;

was putting Brander in peril.’

“Women are queer creatures,” said Fenlon.

“IT should say, rather, that when their affections are
enlisted, everything else is cast aside. Brander is her
husband, and though he treats her about as he treats
his wolf-dogs, she still has affection for him; an affection
which was aroused and became all-compelling when he
was placed in danger. [| do not blame her; and yet her
act would have meant my death, but for you.”

“Women are queer creatures” said Fenlon. “But I
find that men, at times, are a deal queerer.”

| Ness that is tine: too.

 

CHAPTER XIV.
INTO THE AMBUSCADE,

Buffalo Bill and the famous Denver detective re-
mained in the hills throughout the night.
When morning came, they discovered that Brander

 

 

and his men and dogs had by no means abandoned their
efforts. Some of the cattle- ee were riding along
the base of the hills. |

“There are only certain trails by which a man can
get out of these hills,” said Fenlon; “they know it, and,
no doubt, they’re watching those trails.”

“Tf we should appear in sight, of course they'd break
into pursuit of us again.’

“Sure thing,” said Fenlon; “they’d come boiling along ©
just as they did last night.” ~

P Yes; and lve been thinking that perhaps we can ee
work the trick which both of us intended. ie

sl fap emir!

“Ves. Stay here while I a to the top of ‘that iy

peak for a look round. While I’m gone, watch the :
movements of the cattle-lifters. Th keep out of, their

sight, and [ll not be gone long.”

When, Buffalo Bill returned hic air was confident.
“See those two thin columns of smoke?” he said, point-

ing toward them, where they wavered up from a distant

hilltop. “I set fires there with the matches you gave

me. The troopers, I discovered, are in the pass to the

They ‘don't

seem to know than Brander’s men are near; and Bran-

west of this; quite near at hand, in fact.

der’s men are not aware that troopers are in that pass.”

“But the smoke? Those are signals?”

“Yes; signals agreed on between me and the troopers.
When the troopers see them, they will know that I am
aware of their location, and intend at once to try to
lead the outlaws in an ambuscade there.”

Fenlon looked at the twin columns of thin smoke. :

“What will Brander and his men think? in |

“I don’t know; they won’t understand it. They may
make a blind guess, that’s all. Now, are you ready?”
“Vd like something to eat first,” said Fenlon, with a

wry face. “But that will have to wait.”

He rose to his feet, and to stay the pangs of hunger
drew his belt several notches tighter. a

“Lead om) Im ‘téady.,
The scout led the way among the big rocks down the

“What's your plan?” he said.

side of the high hill, working out toward the pass where
the troopers were, planning to permit himself and his
companion to be seen ey the cattle- lifters at the right
time

Several of Brander’s men were off in the open grass-
land beyond the mouth of this pass when the scout and

Fenlon approached it. Those men were watching the —

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

THE BUFFALO

pass, to make sure that the fugitives did not get into it
without being seen. :

When close in to the pass, Buffalo Bill and Fenlon left
the hills.

Having done that, as if forced out of them there by
‘the very ruggedness of the way, they made a running
_dash for the mouth of the pass. )
They were seen at once by the cattle-lifters on guard
_ there.

The latter began to fire off their revolvers and yell, to
inform the other members of the band of their discovery;
and then they came riding toward the pass.

Cihats

good; we don’t want to miss him. And now we've got

“Brander is with them!’ said the scout.

to run, or they’ll get us before we are near the troopers.”

The long rest of the night had so restored the strength
of the fugitives that they were able to make a surprising

race now. The scout was a wonderful runner, when in -

good condition ; and Fenlon’s slim figure “and lightness
of foot made him almost the scout’s equal. —

Nevertheless, they were not far within the pass when
they heard the thundering hoofs.of the pursuing horse-
men; and soon it began to seem that they had prema-
turely shown themselves, and> would be overtaken and
slain before the ambuscade prepared by the troopers
could be gained.

~ In addition, ‘it began to appear even to Buffalo Bill
that he had miscalculated the distance from the mouth
of the pass to the point where the troopers were; for
it seemed to him that he and Fenlon ought by this time
to be sighting them.

If the distance was much greater than he had calcu-
lated, it would be a very serious matter.

But as they dashed on at their topmost speed, running
past some bushes, the scout caught a glimpse of a crouch-
ing figure in khaki; and then he knew that they were in.
the midst of the hidden troopers, who were keeping low,
so that the cattle-lifters mie not see them and take
alarm.

“Straight on!’ said: thexscout, when he made this dis-
covery, for he did not want Fenlon to lag or think of
stopping at this point; he wanted to draw the outlaws
still farther into the trap. :

The outlaws were dangerously near.

Bullets began to kick up dirt and dust round the fugi-
tives, when the scout gave the order to “tree!”

They tan to one side of the pass, as if in their des-

tainty; all but Brander.

BILL STORIES.

peration they. thought of attempting to climb the steep
hillside there. ‘ |

With triumphant yells, the outlaws, led by Brander,
rode at them, shooting as they rode.

But suddenly a line of troopers stood forth across the
pass, with rifles leveled.

“Halt !’ one of them shouted.

The outlaws drew rein, huddling in startled uncer-
He fired at the troopers, and
with maniacal yells rode down upon them.

They commanded him to halt; and now from each side
‘of the pass troopers poured forth. :

Brander “was frenzied by his mental state, and was as
reckless as a fiend. He answered their yells and com-
mands, and their rifle-fire, with barkings of his pistol,
and rode through and almost over them.

Tt seemed that he and his horse would be riddled by
the bullets poured upon them; yet Brander escaped
through the line.

A hundred yards beyond his horse fell, shot in a dozen
places; but Brander sprang up, yelled again with mani-
acal defiance, and plunged out of sight among the rocks.
The troopers believed that
he was sorely wounded, and expected to find his body

It- was a marvelous escape.

later on.

The other outlaws tried to turn their horses about and
get out by the way they had ridden in, but found them-
selves opposed, and finally threw up their hands and
surrendered,

But not more than half of the band were there, to be
captured in this net.

However, enough of them were taken to destroy the
organization and put an “end to the cattle- -lifting that had
been so annoying ae costly to the cattlemen of that
section.

(CHAPTER XV.
THE END OF BRANDER.

Brander was not found by the troopers.

_ A trail of blood across the rocks showed that he tad
been wounded; yet his wounds had not’ been severe
enough to stop his headlong flight. |

In the hope of trapping some of the band at the camps,
the troopers rode to the camps under the guidance of |
Buffalo Bill and Harry Fenlon.

But the camps were deserted; even Mrs. Seelye was

gone. It was plain that some of the cattle-lifters, who

 
28 THE BUPEALG

had taken the alarm, had been there, and that the woman
had departed with them, |

A few of the dogs were hanging round the camp, but
they fled into the hills with all the wildness of wolves at
the approach of the strangely dressed troopers.

The wolves penned up by Brander were shot.

More than two months passed away before Buffalo
Bill heard anything further of the movements of Maver-
ick Brander. Then he came upon him suddenly, in the
hills beyond Crystal Bend.

Brander had the look of a wild man, and his clothing
was tattered. He rose up from behind some rocks.
where, apparently, he had been awaiting the scout’s ap-
proach. With him was one of the wolflike dogs.

“Aha!” he shouted. Well, I

knowed you’d come some time, and I’ve been waiting for

“So you're here ag’in?

The glare of his eyes was like that of one insane.
“Vou ruined me,” he said; “and I’ve been waitin’ to
git even with you!”

He approached slowly while speaking. Both he and
the scout were on foot. Apparently, Brander was not

armed; yet the scout suspected an attack with a knife.

“You need a doctor more than anything else, Seelye,”
he said, in tones that were not unkindly.

“She told you my real name, did she?’ Brander flashed
at him. “She come nigh playin’ me false, then; but

she repented of it; and she told me what she’d done

and thought o’ doing. She stuck by me after you busted

up the band, She was'a good woman; too good for me.
And now she’s dead,”

“Dead ?”
“Ves; It was

too much for her; a woman can’t stand such things like
a man.

died two weeks -ago, out in the hills.
The exposure was too much for her. Before
she died she told me everything, and begged me to for-
give her for even thinking of going against me. She

was too good for me.”

“T can believe that,” said the scout. ‘“‘She loved you,

Seelye.”

39

“When
she died that set me crazy, I reckon; that and the lack
of opium.

“Twas pneumonia killed her,” said Brander.
I haven’t had any opium for more than a
week now, and I’m dying for it. But I saw you coming,
while I was wondering if I dared try to git down into
the town for some opium; and I said to myself: ‘I'll set-

tle him first! ”

BILE S EFORTES,

He had come, close up to the scout, the latter watch-

ing him narrowly, in anticipation of a knife-attack.

But Brander was not contemplating an assault with | a
knife. y

In his crazy mind another thought had taken root;
he had planned what he believed to be a more terrible
and more deadly method of revenge. ;

Suddenly, he flung his shirt open; and there was re-
vealed a coiled rattlesnake, the one which the scout had
probably seen in the bosom of Brander’s shirt at the
‘camp so many weeks before.

Brander uttered a low hiss, and the snake’s head
sprang at the sound.

But as the snake made its spring at Buffalo Bill, the
dog flashed through the air, and set its teeth in Brander’s
shoulders. :

Brander fell with a howl as he felt the teeth a the
dog; and then howled again as the alarmed rattlesnake
stuck its fangs into his body.

Buffalo Bill dragged the dog away as it tore at Bran-
der; then he shot off the head of the snake.

Brander had fallen back, wild-eyed and staring, his — :

yellow face wrinkling with a horrible fear.
Sit bitame Here t:
He clutched at the wound made by the snake’s fangs.

“The snake!” he gasped.

The dog, in spite of the scout’s rough usage, was soon
leaping and fawning; and the scout‘then recognized it as
It had not
forgotten him; and when it believed that Brander meant

the wolf-dog he had subjugated at the camp.

to harm him, it had promptly attacked Brander.

The scout tried to assist Brander now, opening the
wound made by the snake and giving the unfortunate
man whisky as a stimulant; but the poison did its deadly
work quickly.

Within a very short time Maverick Brander was be-
yond aid. :

“She was too good for me!” were his last words, just
before he lost consciousness.

“Aye, that she was!” thought the scout, as he looked
down at the dying man. “And a pity it is that you
ruined her life, as well as your own, and brought her to
a premature death!”
Thus

Brander.

passed the notorious cattle-lifter, Maverick

THE END.

Next week’s issue, No. 328, wt be “Buffalo Bill’s a
ing Wonder; or, Zamba, the King of Fire.”

 

 
    

 

 

 

DEVOTED TO BORDER LIFE

eee => FAS S
A WEEKLY PUBLIATION SFO 1 E&

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK, August 17, 1907.

 

 

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AROUND THE CAMP FIRE.

This department will be devoted exclusively every week to

the interests of our readers. It will contain letters and answers

SEE Oe

‘¢ as well as facts connected with the life of Buffalo Bill and the
Great Wild West he belpews to open to Teens

 

x] 2 5

PERSONALITIES OF INVENTORS.

Of course, outside of the independent and salaried professional

inventors is the great army of men who, while actively engaged

, in occupations embracing every line of human endeavor, develop

™ \ new ideas, often of great value and just as often altogether out
.! of their line of regular work.

_ An inquiry into the personalities of a few dover inventors to

whom patents have been granted during the last year shows some

remarkable facts. Among them a sea-captain has patented a steer-

a ship’s capstan.

A blacksmith has papers for a fishing-reel, a shoemaker for a
“typewriter, a physician for a‘door-lock, and an undertaker for a
hoisting derrick, and many others show just.as strange deviation
from their regular walks of life.

AT THE AQUARIUM’S HATCHERY.

\ Albines, which among such varieties as brook trout and lake
trout are not very common, are among brown trout very rare; and
so it was surprising when out of a lot of 5,000 brown trout eggs,
the hatching of which was, finished at the Aquaritm on Febru-
ary 25, there appeared 133 albinos,

These albino brown trout, almost colorless and at their present
age almost transparent, have been separated from the others and

placed in a tank by themselves. They are now about an inch in
ce all feeding well and all lively—an exceptional lot of fish

» freaks,

It is customary in all fish hatcheries to paint the hatching-
troughs with asphaltum paint, black; the asphaltum being cheaper
than lead paint and serving its purpose well. Following the cus-
tom the hatching troughs in the Aquarium’s hatchery were
originally painted with asphaltum; but now some of the troughs

_ here have been painted white and finished with a coat of white
enamel paint for the better display of the tiny fishes in them.

In the black-lined troughs it is difficult to discern the outlines

   
   
 
   

 

   
   
   
     
   
  
   
  

®

THE BUFFALO

'ing-gear for automobiles, while 4 carriage builder has invented.

Bit STORIES. 29

of the dark colored little fishes clearly—in the white-lined troughs
individual little swimmers can be made out distinctly, and here

_the little fishes produce also a far more lively impression when

seen Swarming in numbers.
e
Bay vay Ae Sint tte

BALLOON MAMMOTH IN FLIGHT.

The Mammoth, the largest balloon in the world, ascended from
the Wadsworth, London, gas-works carrying sixteen persons, the
largest number ever carried by a balloon. The Mammoth is a
double-decker, having a platform over the car on which two or
three persons are able to promenade behind’ taut nets.

The Mammouth requires 108,000 cubic feet of gas to inflate it.
The envelope contains 1,482 squares of silk. The lifting power

1s 4,320 pounds, the weight of the balloon being 460 pounds.

For long distance journeys there is a special room for provi-
sions. No bags of ballast are used. The aeronaut pulls a lever
and the ballast streams down a chute.

kk Kk OX

A STONEWALL JACKSON STORY,

“Stonewall Jackson,” said a Virginia veteran, “used to tell a
good story about a bridge builder called old Miles. Miles was
very necessary to Jackson because the flimsy bridges on the line
of march were continually being swept away by the floods or
destroyed by the enemy; and in these contingencies Miles was
a regular jewel. .He could run up a bridge in the time it would
take another man to make the measurements.

“One day the Union troops burned a bridge across the Shenan-
doah. Stonewall Jackson called old Miles to him and said:

“You must put all your men to work, Miles, and you must
keep them at it all night, for I’ve got to have a bridge across this
stream by morning. My engineer—an invaluable fellow, by the
way—will draw up the plans for you.

“Well, early the next morning, Jackson, very much worried,
met old Miles.

“‘See here,’ he said dubiously, ‘how about that bridge?
the\engineer give you the plan?’

“Old Miles took the cigar from his mouth, and flicked the

Did

-- ash off with a sneer.

‘General,’ he said, ‘the bridge is done. I dunno whether the
picter is or not.” ;

EEL IN: TARE, HOSE,

A street cleaner’s tussle with a hose that cut up queer antics
and at last refused to work, furnished amusement and finally a
surprise to a large crowd at One Hundred and Forty-sixth Street
and Amsterdam Avenue, New York, and halted street-car traffic
for a quarter of an hour. The trouble began a few minutes after
the hose had been attached to a hydrant at the corner and the
operator had made a good job of flushing the avenue for half
a block to the north.

Suddenly the stream diminished, then switched off at a tan-
gent, hext shot forth a stream in a graceful spiral, and then re-
fused to work. The street cleaner closed one eye and squinted
down the brass nozle. He was rewarded by being nearly knocked
off his feet by a full blast from the hose.

He dropped it on the car tracks and mopped his face, while
a crowd of schoolboys shouted derisively> Then the crowd be-
gan to collect.

The man with the hose became angry. The hose began to act
more strangely than before. It wriggled and squirmed and shot
forth small twisted jets intermittently. Passengers from the cars’

it blocked crowded around the street cleaner, their anger at being
delayed overcome by their curiosity over the weird contortions
of the length of rubber.

  
   
THE. BUFFALO

“The thing’s alive,” screamed-a woman, and the crowd edged

back.
For a full minute water ceased to flow from the nozle.
a small boy advised:
“Blow in it, White Wings!”
The street cleaner accepted the suggestion and blew with all
his force. A moment later, under heavy pressure, out shot a
équirming eel about fifteen inches long. There was a chorus
of screams from the women spectators, but the street cleaner
pocketed the eel “to back me up when I tell about it,” as he said.
Then the hose was dragged off the car tracks and traffic was
resumed.

Then

@

*k OK Kk OK

HIGH PRICES FOR VEGETABLES.
Ray Woodworth, of Moscow, Idaho, was one of the early ar-

rivals at Bannack, Mont., when the placer gold was discovered —

in Grasshopper Gulch, and also moved near “Virginia City and
resided there when that famous placer field was in its glory.

Mr. Woodworth says that he came to Bannack from Denver
in 1863 and took up a ranch near what is now known as Taylor
Crossing, between Dillon and Bannack. He brought a lot of gar-
den seed along with him, believing that garden vegetables would
be a delicacy so craved by-the miners that they would pay hand-
somely for them and that he would make more money with his
spade and garden rake than with the rocker and pan. He suc-
ceeded very well near Bannack, and when there was a rush to
Alder Gulch he went there and took up a ranch in the Madison
Valley not far from Virginia City, where he continued raising
vegetables and selling them to the miners.

He raised the first wheat crop ever raised in the Territory of
Montana and sold his wheat for 28 cents a pound. ‘

“T lost $2,000 on one load of rutabagas, and it was this way,”
he said. “I hired a freighter to haul a big load to Helena, paying
him four cents a pound, and told him to sell them for nine cents
a pound, thinking that that was high enough for them. A few
days after he had leit the ranch I heard that the vegetables
was retailing at 50 cents a pound, and I sent a courier fer
him to tell him not to sell for less, but the messenger arrived
at Helena a few hours after he had sold the load for nine cents
a pound. The dealer retailed them at 60 cents. I also lost
somé money on a load of turnips. They froze en route and I
secured only 18 cents a pound for them. I sold many potatoes
to the Alder Gulch miners for 35 cents a pound, after ene
all the eyes out of them to save for seed.” :

oe aR Kk Ok

INDIAN: CHIEF VISITS ENGLAND;

Quanah Parker, chief of the Comanche Indians, is going away
from Lawton, Okla. Inspired by an invitation from Mr. Bryce,
British Ambassador to the United States, the redskin warrior
will visit England and will then make a tour of the Continent.
The trip will be an expensive one for Chief Quanah, but as he is
worth nearly a million dollars he will not mind it. He declares,
in fact, that he will even take one of his three wives a with
him.

“Too Nicey,” the pearl of the wigwam, is'said to be the favored
one.

The travel microbevwas transmitted to Quanah Parker last
Sunday when the British Ambassador dined with him.

“Have you seen much of the world?” queried Mr. Bryce during
the dinner.

“Well, I’ve seen the Big Chief Theodore,”
Parker.

replied Quanah

“Why don’t you cross the sea and be my guest in England?”

continued Mr. Bryce. This suggestion appealed to Chief Quanah

cent.

Riki SLORIES,

He will start for England some

and he immediately indorsed it
time next week. :
According to Mr. Bryce, ok is preparing a history of Ate
can Indians, Quanah Parker is almost an ideal specimen. He ~
and Geronimo, of the Apaches, Mr. Bryce declares, come as close
to being perfect redskins as perhaps ever existed.

* OK XK

RIDER ATTACKED ._BY BOBCAT.

Joseph Dobias, a farmer of Tabor township, Mich., had an ex-
citing adventure with a bobcat and perhaps would have been
killed but for the intervention of his dog. Dobias was riding
from his farm to Angus, and the first intimation he had of the

-animal’s presence was when it suddenly sprang at him from the

side of the road and bit viciously at his foot.

The animal which Mr. Dobias was riding was a colt, and it
became frenzied at the presence of the wildcat, and, throwing
its rider, started to bolt. The bobcat was about to leap upon the
prostrate man when the dog interfered and sprang gamely at
the creature’s throat. A fierce contest ensued in which the dog
was getting the worst of it. By this time, however, Dobias had
picked himself up and secured a club. With this weapon he
waded into the mélée and between the man and the dog the cat
was soon killed. It was a big fellow, measuring 5 feet 4 eee
in length and standing 2 2 feet 3 inches high, :

INTERESTING FIGURES.

America now leads the wotld.in the manufacture, sale, and
use of automobiles. This is the declaration of a French expert,
who has been keeping a record of thegautomobile business. Five
years ago the United States built only 314 automobiles of all
classes, while at the same time France built 23,711 machines.
Last year the production in the United States was 60,000, in
France 55,000, in England 28,000, in Germany 22,000, in Italy 19,-
ooo, and Belgium 12,000. In nine years in the countries named il
there have been manufactured, sold, and used 550,000 automo-
biles, representing more than $1,000,000,000 of money.

Some interesting statistics have been collected recently’ by a
resident at Fuchau concerning the great decline in China’s tea
trade. From 1678, when tea was first introduced into England,
until 1837, China had the tea trade of the world. Then India
began to enter the tea market. ‘The Chinese trade reached high
tide in 1886, with a total export of 300,000,000 pounds. In 18847
China furnished about 72 per cent. and Japan and Formosa io per
The decline in China is ascribed to careless methods of cul-
tivating and preparing. the tea.

Immigration statistics just made public in Honolulu show the
influx of Japanese into this country by way of Hawaii. During
the year 1906, 18,187 Japanese arrived in Honolulu from Japan, f
which was threefold the immigration of the previous Vear. oline
number of Japanese leaving Hawaii for the Pacific Coast during
1906 was 12,187.

Lord Cromer says that Egyptians have a propensity for hoard-
ing gold. A native who recently died left $400,000 in gold stored
in his house. Many Egyptians who are possessed of wealth will
borrow money at interest to conceal the fact. Large quantities of
gold coin are annually melted in Egypt and converted into orna-
ments.

BUFFALO BILL’S BOYHOOD.

“Tt will cost you your life, Billy! You shall not do
it!”

o will try it, for I got him into his trouble” ; ; and with.

oN

Be ee eres

 
#

THE BUPRBALO:

a bound the boy, Billy Cody, had reached the river,
_ bounded into the swiftly flowing current, and was.swim-
_ ming to the rescue of—a dog.

The first death-struggle of his life had begun when he
was a little boy. ;

His father, with his family, were on the way to Kan-
sas, having left their lowa home, and the wagon train
had encamped upon the banks of a river, while Billy
| had gone along the stream in search of game.

He had quickly found it in the shape of a noble buck,
and his rifle had severely wounded the animal, which ran
into the river to swim across, with Billy’s dog close upon
his heels... :

In the river a struggle had begun between the huge
dog and the buck, and the brave boy, seeing that his con-
stant companion was in danger and-already wounded by
the sharp antlers of the deer, was throwing off his shoes

and outer clothing to go to his rescue, when his father’s

hired man rushed upon the scene and sought to prevent
him, ‘

It was of no use, as the brave boy eluded his grasp, and
plunged into the stream.

The man could not swim, hence was unable to aid him,
and he saw the boy reach the struggling buck and dog
and join in the desperate struggle for life. ;

Billy Cody could swim like a fish, and young as he was

_ he had a cool head, as well as pluck, and he dove and cut
the tendons of the buck’s hind legs, the animal having
already his mortal wound from the boy’s rifle-shot, while
the dog, hurt though he was, clung to his side with a sav-
age grip.

“Come, Turk, come!” and Billy pulled the dog’s hold
loose, and, escaping the mad struggles of the dying buck,
he helped the wounded dog to the shore, and was aided
by the man, who said, with enthusiasm:

» “You'll make a great man some day, Billy.”

| “T intend to,” was the decided response, and then came

» “But we must get that buck—it’s the first 1 ever killed.’’
The buck, in “his death-struggles, had nearly reached

the shore, and, rushing in, Billy and the man grasped

him just as he dragged himself to shallow water and
dropped dead. ne

That adventure ushered in the remarkable career of
young Cody, who kept to his determination to “make a

name for himself,” and thus carry out the prophecy of —

the hired man that he would one day do so.

_ Tt was upon that same trail, the long overland trip
into Missouri and Kansas, that Billy Cody met with an-
other adventure, though it was not of a startling charac-
ter.
It was just across the Missouri line, and the Cody
wagon train had gone into camp upon the lands of a
_ planter.
Missouri was a slave State then, and Billy came upon
one of the planters’ negroes on his way to visit the out-
The negro stopped and showed his teeth in a broad
etin, while Billy brought his rifle around for reference,
expecting that it would be needed. i
It was Billy’s first sight of a negro, and this one was
of inky hue, the whites of his eyes and snowy teeth in
strange contrast to his black skin.
The negro was not looking for trouble, nor expecting
Suv) Dee A

BILL STORIES: 38
Billy Cody was. :
He had heard of negroes, in a remote way, yet not as

much as he had of Indians. !

The latter he had expected to see, but negroes had not
been considered.

Had an Indian, in full war-paint and feathers, appeared
before the boy he could not have been more surprised,
and, it may be, frightened.

“Howd’y, young massa ?”

Billy was awaiting the first move of the “enemy” as a
guide to his own actions.

He nodded.

“Young massa got nice rifle, but Nigger Sam kin beat
him shootin’.” |

This was. a.challenge Billy Cody could not pass un-
noticed.

He prided himself upon his crack shooting, and casting:
discretion to the winds he quickly replied:

“VIE bet you can't.’

Often after did Billy Cody think of how he had placed
himself at the mercy of the negro, had he proven a foe.

It schooled him in his future life and he made no such
mistakes again.

“Lemme see young massa’s rifle.”

It was handed over, and Nigger Sam, as the negro had
called himself, examined it carefully, then set up a target
and took aim, quickly, pulling trigger almost immediately.

He made a dead-center shot and followed it with two
others nearly as good.

Then Billy Cody took his turn.

His shot was a good one, but not equal to Nigger
Sam's.

Nor were the other two.

Nigger Sam had made his threat good to beat him.

In his admiration, Billy Cody, always ready to acknowl-
edge it when squarely beaten, gave the much-tickled
darky a silver pocket-piece he had, just as his dog, Turk, ©
seemingly anxious to show that he could even up mat-
ters, jumped upon a yellow pup that skulked at Nigger
Sam’s heels and “made the fur fly” before he could be
pulled off the yelping canine.

Continuing on their way the Cody family later estab-
lished themselves in the Salt Creek Valley, Kansas, where
Mrs. Cody opened a trading-post near the Kickapoo In- .
dian agency.

Billy’s father bought for him two ponies, and fitted him
out fully with the trappings suitable for a boy pioneer,
and thus was the young lad launched upon the career
destined to make his name known throughout the world.

Those were troublous times in Kansas, when Mr. Cody
settled his family there, and on account of the “slavery
question’ one man hardly dare trust another; fearing
treachery.

Billy Cody was delighted with his new home, its sur-
roundings, and the fact that he had seen “wild Indians”
and the prospect that he would yet know more about
them as. time passed on.

His father had taken him over to Fort Leavenworth,
then commanded by General Harney, and some miles. dis-
tant from the Cody home.

There the boy saw soldiers for the first time, witnessed
a dress-parade of cavalry, and heard a military band.

All filled his heart with “delight and inculcated the de-
sire to enter the army.

By another trail Mr. Cody returned home and gave

 
 

_ one of them shouted :

 

32 : : THE BUFFALO

Billy the chance to see soldiers on the ténted field. and
the camps of settlers and the ‘‘prairie-schooners” of the
overland freight-trains, with their long lines of yoked
oxen drawing the wagons filled with supplies for the mil-
itary posts still farther West.

All these sights filled the boy’s heart with ambition, and
began to lay the foundation for the destiny.that led hin
on.

It was while with his father at a political gathering
called to advocate the bringing of slaves into Kansas, that
Mr. Cody was called upon for a speech.

He was a man who had the courage of his opinions,
and he spoke accordingly, in spite of the anger his words
aroused.

That speech was the ultimate cause of Mr. Cody’s
death, for he was attacked and severely wourtied with a
knife, barely escaping with his life”. »°

Then the true courage of the boy revealed itself, for
he aided his father’s escape, got him home and concealed
him in a corn-field some distance from the house, where
he carried out to him blankets and food, for a visit from
Mr. Cody’s enemies was expected, and the threat had
been made to hang him. a

As soon as Mr. Cody was able to ride, his plucky son
suided him to a safer hiding-place, Mrs. Cody and her
daughters remaining to care for the home to which Billy
returned as soon as _his father was in safety.

But one day Billy heard that a desperate gang of men
had learned of the hiding-place of Mr. Cody, and were
going that night to attack him.

“‘T will save father,’ the boy said to his mother, and
as soon as it was night he mounted his fleet pony and
started upon hig long ride of over thirty miles. :

Mrs. Cody was glad to.see her little son go, for she

thad confidence in what he could and would do.

Arriving“at the crossing of Stranger Creek, Billy Cody
suddenly came upon a party of men encamped there for
supper.

The gleam of the camp-fire revealed him to them, and

“That’s old Cody’s cub, boys!” :

“He is going to warn his father!” cried another.

“Kall him!” cried a third, and others repeated it.

Men sprang for their rifles, others for their horses,
while a few opened fire with their revolvers,

But Billy Cody had recognized several of the men even,

before he was seen.

He well knew his danger, and his pony, Prince, seemed
to realize it, too.

Instantly, the boy dashed out of the light of the camp-
fire, then darted in another direction into the timber, and,
unhurt by the revolver-fire, rode on like the wind.

He drew his horse down to a walk so as.to cross the
ford slowly, and not betray his whereabouts, and then set
off once more at a rapid run. )

But the men had discovered him as he was crossing
an open space in the timber, and again opened fire, this
time with their rifles, as he was some distance off.

The bullets whistled all around the boy, yet did not
hit him, or cause him to halt from fear. :

He but urged Prince on with greater speed, for h
knew that he would be pursued and it would be a race for
life—his father’s and his own.

There was no fleeter runnef around Fort Leavenworth

than was Prince, and this Billy Cody knew, while he was
also aware that he was untiring as a hound.

Sr Nala Ganeret evan ROTAEME Weikeerecey a tere ie Gelomeetn

seen opr tpn pi er tre re ct

BiLL. STORIES, ‘ ,
A glance behind him showed the boy that half a dozen” fi
horsemen were in chase, and just then a vivid flash of | #)
lightning revealed his pursuers distinctly, showing that , |
they were urging their horses on at full speed. 7 ne.
‘Come, Prince, you must save father!” muttered the j|
boy through his shut teeth.

“Those men mean to hang him, and we must save him
we don’t mind the storm.” |

It was a terrible storm that had+suddenly burst upon {
the scene, the thunder-peals fairly shaking the earth and |
the incessant flashes of lightning seeming to set the whole |
landscape on fire. e

It was enough to daunt the courage of a brave man,
and several of the pursuers of the boy gave up the mad {
chase.

Ahead, the lightning rent a large tree from topmost
branch to root, and Prince wheeled about in fright, al-
most throwing his rider from the saddle.

But quickly did Billy Cody master the animal again |
and continue on his way, though he fairly groaned at the |
moment of precious time he had lost, for his pursuers}
were still urging their horses to full speed, and firing |
their rifles ahead of them, though at random, yet with”
the hope that an accidental shot might bring down the |
daring boy fugitive, or his horse. %

And thus the race continued through the terrible storm, ” |
Billy Cody facing the double danger in the gantlet he)

had to run of the tempest and those who sought his life.”

But at last Prince began to show his splendid mettle,
his wonderful speed and endurance. a

He slowly drew away from his pursuers, and with cool ~
judgment Billy Cody, as soon as he felt that he was out ") |
of range of the stray shots still sent after him, began to
lessen the speed of his pony, so as not to distress him, or
push him beyond his powers.

For a couple of hours the chase continued; but Billy
Cody knew that he was well ahead of his pursuers, and
yet, fearing to slacken his pace too much, he‘kept on at a
rapid gallop. :

In good time he arrived at his father’s hiding-place, |
aroused him from his sleep, and escaped with him to |
Lawrence, where Mr. Cody would be safe, after which | |)@
he started at once upon his return, as he said: 7 |)

“Mother and my sisters must know that they did not
kill you, father.” :

On his way back Billy was joined by two men, and
when crossing the Little Stranger, the same stream where -
he had before been attacked, they were fired upon from _
ambush. oe

The man nearest to Billy dropped dead from his sad- {yh
dle. * oe

With the shots from ambush and the fall of one GE
their number, Billy Cody and his remaining companio® |
put spurs to their horses, and fled for their lives on the’

 

 
 
 
   
      
   
    
 
 

  

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trail to Fort Leavenworth. \ 3
From the fort.a squad of soldiers went back with Billy y a

to find the ambushers, but they had gone, and leaving tlh: | yy
men to bury the poor fellow whom the boy knew ha' s
fallen by the shots intended for him, as he had no doulp| |
that the murderers were some of his old foes, he hasten¢: | 9.
on to tell his mother and sisters of the glad news of his’ 4.
father’s escape.

Suffering from the wound given him by the assassif., ©
and broken in health, Mr. Cody at last took to his bed),
and later came the end.

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296—Buffalo Bill in No Man’s Land; or, The Sky-mir-
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2907—Buffalo Bill’s Border Rufhans ;
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298—Buffalo Bill’s Black Eagles; or, The Snake-master
from Timbuctoo.

299—Buffalo Bill’s Desperate Dozen; or, The Raiders of
Round-Robin Ranch.

300—Buffalo Bill’s Rival; or, The Scalp-hunter of the
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301—Buffalo Bill’s Ice Chase; or, The Trail of the Black
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-302— Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler ;
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303—Buffalo Bill and the White Specter; or, The Mys-
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304—Buffalo Bill’s Death Defiance; or, The Bad Men of

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305—Buffalo Bill and the Barge Bandits: or, The Demon
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306—Buffalo Bill, the Desert Hotspur; or, Pizen Jane, of
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307—Buffalo Bill’s Wild Range Riders ;
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308—Buffalo Bill’s Whirlwind Chase; or, The Mustang
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309—Buffalo Bill’s Red Retribution; or, The Raid of the
Dancing Dervishes.

310—Buffalo Bill Haunted; or, [he awe Witch of the
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311—Buffalo-Bill’s Fight for Life; or, Caught in the
Cave of Lions.

or, The Desperate

or, The White

or, Ihe Venge-

 

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312—Buffalo Bill’s Death Jump; or, The Ogallalas’ Last
Stand.

313—Buffalo Bill and the Pit of Horror; or, The White
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314—Buffalo Bill in the Jaws of Death; or, The Strange
Sacrifice of Uncapah.

318—Buffalo Bill’s Aztec Runners; or, The Hate of the
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316—Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death; or, Peril on the
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He CD Bill’s Redskin- Rovers; or,
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318—Buffalo Bill’s Fiery Eye;
Last: Battle.

319—Buffalo Bill’s Mazeppa Ride; or,
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320—Buffalo Bill in the Land of Spirits; or, The Witch
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321—Buffalo Bill’s Gypsy Band; or, The Queen of the
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322—Buffalo Bill’s Maverick ; or, The Man with the Stee!
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323—Buffalo Bill, the White Whirlwind;
Dan, the Border Decoy Duck.

324—Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunters; or, the Clan of the

~ Skull and Cross-bones. a

325—Buffalo Bill in Old Mexico; or, The Red Priests”
of Zataclin.

326—Buffalo, Bill’s Message From the Dead;
Mystery of the Dagger of Gold.

327—Buffalo Bill and the Wolf-master; or, The Wild
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Old. Nick
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The Robber

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