DEVOTED 10 BORDER HISTORY

Issued Weebly, By subscription $2. 50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office,

No. 310 , NEW YORK, APRIL 20, 1907.

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by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave, No ¥

Price, Five Cents

 

 

 

 

 

The flash revealed a figure in ghostly white—the White Witch of the Niobrara. «Death! Death!”
she cried, «to the one who opens the black secret of this canon.’’

 

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Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Sintered as Second-class Matter at the N. VY. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue,
LV.

Y. Entered according to Act of Congress tn the year 1907, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C.

= Beware of Wild West imitations of the Buffalo Bill Stories.

  
 
 

) A WEEKLY PUBLICATION :
‘DEVOTED TO BORDER HISTORY.

 

 

 

They are about fictitious characters. The BufZalo ;

Bill weekly is the only weekly containing the aoe of pallalo Bill, (Col. W. F. Cody), who is known all —

over the world as the king of scouts. -

No. 310.

 

NEW YORK, April 20, 1907.

BILL HAUNTED

Price Five Cents. —

®

y

OR,

es

THE WHITE WITCH OF THE NIOBRARA.

 

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

pCHAPLTER I.
DECOYED.

“Ts Doctor Frank Powell here?”

The question came from the darkness hevaod the door
of the room which at the moment held not only Doctor
Frank Powell, the surgeon-scout, but Buffalo Bill.

_ Powell rose and walked to the door.

Buffalo Bill heard the conversation that followed.

“You're wanted bad, Doc Powell. It’s a wounded man
and he’s about to die. You'll have to come at once.”

“Over at the Flashlight Saloon?’

eves.)

“T thought I Heard shooting a while ago. ['ll ne mo
you as soon as I get my hat and my surgical-case.’

They were near the door.

He reached in,

secured them, and nee departed
hastily.

Buffalo Bill rose. and walked to the door; but before
_he gained it Doctor Frank Powell and the man who had

summoned him had disappeared round the corner of the
house. ©

eh?”
“Tl just go over and see what it was

“Bad blood and shooting at. the Flashlight,
thought the scout.
about.”’ :

When he emerged from the room and passed round
the corner of the house, somewhat to his surprise he did
not see Powell before him on the way to the Flash-
light.

“T suppose he ran and got there quickly.”

Buffalo Bill quickened his own steps, ue in a little
while arrived at the saloon.

He was astonished to observe no show oe excitement
in front of it.

When he entered it he saw the same quietnéss and
calm. A few men were drinking by the bar, others were
seated in chairs along the walls, and off at the other end
of the room the faro-dealer was aimlessly betting ‘with
himself, because he had no one else to bet with.

Buffalo Bill glanced about in some bewilderment.

His coming had attracted attention, and several of the
men arose. The bartender came round from behind the
bar to greet him, for the scout was well known and uni-

versally liked.

 
THE BUEFALO,

“Did Doctor Powell come im here a minute ago?” the
scout asked.

~ “T think not, Cody; I didn't see him,’ was the bar-

' keeper’s answer.

“There was some shooting here a little while since?”

“Tust some fooling.
that he emptied his six-shooter phrough the open win-

“That’s all?”

“Pepper Pete rose i, to his feet, a florid man,
whose tinsteady gait and wavering eyes told that he had
been taking too much whisky.

“Fes. atte fan,
a ahem ca ‘tridges been rustin’ in my gun fer a month,
and I wanted to git rid of ’em.’

_ Buffalo Bill saw at once that something had gone
wrong, and. he scented a: trap for Frank Powell. There

' had been no shooting at the Flashlight, and, conse-

quently, no wounded man there needing attention. What
did it mean?

“The barkeeper ae the oceupants of the barroom
seeemed innocent enough of any “game” against the
surgeon-scout. :

“There’s a mistake somewhere, or downright lying,
and it looks like the lying,” Buffalo Bill declared, look-
ing quickly about. “I was in my room over there, and
‘Doctor Powell was with me, when a man called to him
and said there had been shooting in the Flashlight and

that a man was wounded and needed a doctor at once..

Powell went with him without asking questions. I
loafed over here after him, through ee SHLG dere
here ‘and you say there was no shooting.”

The statement caused a flutter of excitement. .

“Some underhanded work, Cody,” averred the bar-
keeper. “But we ain’t mixed up in it, as, of course, you
know, and don’t know anything about it. But if Powell
was a special friend 0’ mine I’d be uneasy about him.
Has he got any enemies here that you know of?”

“No. I wasn’t aware of it, if he has.”

Cody turned to the door. He wanted to get out into
the street. A sense of cage! to Frank Powell op-
pressed him.

Running out into the street, which seemed unusually
quiet, he asked questions of whoever he saw and began
2 search.

_ At every corner he expected to encounter some one
who had seen Powell, and he looked into every dark
alley and shaded doorway, fearing to behold the mur-
dered form of his friend.

“Why didn’t I think of his horse?”

He turned about and ran to the stable where his own
and Powell’s horses were kept.

The stableman was absent temporarily. From the
_ stall which had been occupied, by Powell’s the horse was

Py SOUE,

Pepper Pete there felt so-jolly ©

Cody!’ he said apologetically. :

BILL STORIES:

“Treachery!” said the scout. “What. was it and what.
does it mean?” | i

He struck a match and tried to de Sonate with |
the trail of the horse at the door, but so many horse-
tracks were there he could do nothing. ae

A number of men had followed him through ae
osity.

The exciting news that some one fad decoyed Frank
Powell, and perhaps had murdered him, was already fly-

ing through the town.

CHAPTER II.
ROCKY ROUNDS.

Something like an hour later, while Buffalo Bill was
‘still continuing his search for the missing snreron -scout,
a man rode into the town on the Niobrara trail.

When he saw the scout in front of the Flashlight, and
knew what was meant by the crowd of excited men con-
gtegated there, he drew rein.

“That you, Cody?” he called.

The scout went over to him.

“Ts that right,” he asked, “about Doc Powell being
missing?”

“Yes—strangely missing.” .

Buffalo Bill knew this teas Knight, a pane
man, who lived to the southward of the trail.

“Well, it’s singular, what I saw to-night—three men
riding toward the Niobrara hills, and if one of ‘em
wasn’t Powell and another a coal-black nigger, then Vl
eat my hat!’

“Powell!”

“Sure thing, Cody, and riding like a prairie-fire was
after him; two men with him, and one a nigger, black as
night. T’other one’s face I couldn’t see.”

“They saw you?”

“No; 1 don’t think they did, for I’d left the trail and.
was standing my horse in the brush off at one side.
There’s been so much road-agent business round here
ately that when I heard ’em coming I got out of the
trail and laid low. Then I seen ’em go by.”

“This is strange; this is remarkable! - ,

“Well, I thought it was queer myself; and so, when I

“A word with you.” a

_ just now heard what the men over there were chinning

about, I thought Td tell you.”

“T thank you, I’m sure. You couldn’t have been mis-
taken? You are positive the man was Powell?”

“Well, mebbe if I was brought up before a court and
made to take an oath on it I couldn’t swear to it, but
I’m as certain as can be, considering that it was dark
out there. I can say. it certainly looked wonderfully
like him, and, if it wasn’t him, either the darkness was
terrible deceivin’, or there’s another man round here se

looks like him.”

The ranchman Sic to his bee that a had oe

 

 
Fe

Nigh otk BS at

  

Powell on the Niobrara trail even after he had heard the
particulars of the manner in which Powell had left ‘his
room. —

“There is something very mysterious about this,” said
Buffalo Bill.
“Well, now, Cody, it Giles me there is. I’m the last

man to want to send you on a wild-goose chase, but if 1
was wanting bad to find Doc Powell I’d shore hit that
trail, and look for the tracks of his horse less than a
quarter of a mile beyond the Willow Spring, for there’s
where I was hiding and where I saw him go by.”

b . “He didn’t seem to be tied to his horse?” |
i “T couldn’t say as to that. He was setting up in his
‘saddle, but he might have been tied. 1 first noticed his
big hat—you know the hat he wears?—and then I seen
his face, as he passed between me and the light of the
moon. My first thought at that first look was that it was
you, and then I saw it was Powell.”

The scout again thanked. the ranchman.

“T’ll be going out that way about daylight,” said the
latter, “‘and I'll pilot you to the place; if you say so?”

But the scout could not wait uhtil daylight to leave
for that search.

Certain that something much out of the ordinary had
called the surgeon-scout away in that manner;“or else
that he had met foul play, Buffalo Bill was anxious to
be doing something to lift the veil of mystery.

‘So he got his horse out ofthe stable, declined with
thanks the offers of two or three men to go with him,
and set out alone, galloping from the town over the Nio-
brara trail.

 

        
    
     
     
   
     
     
     
      
   
 
      
   
       
         
   
 
      
       
       
      
       
   
       
 
       
      
    
     
   
       
     
    
 
     
    
     
   

trail called the Willow Spring.

Here was a spring of fresh, cold water that trickled
out of a rocky hillside.

_ The water spread over a large area of land and wil-
lows had grown there luxuriantly.

_ Round this oasis were billowy regions given over
to cactus, and to giant sage that was in places high as
the back of a horse.

It was an ideal hiding-place oT a region dificult for
trailing beyond the marshy overflow region round the
spring.

As Buffalo Bill drew near Willow Spring a horseman
came out of the willows and stood his horse in the trail
to await his coming.

  

 
 

 
 

  

  

  

On drawing closer, the scout saw that this man was
a disreputable saloon-loafer and gambler known as
ocky Rounds.

ere was surprise enough of itself, which was added to
y the fact that he was waiting for the epee) of the
out.

“Hello, Cody "he cried, with a faadlies wave of his

  

   
 

  

Tie (BUTE AL ©

 

Daylight had come Beigre he ied the point on the .

That Rocky Rounds should be on horseback and out

and, which the scout likened to a flourished paw. “I~

Bi SORTS. 3
been jes’ thinkin’ o’ you; and then you come amblin’
along like any pilgrim goin’ to the mines. Only I’m
bettin’ you ain’t bound for the mines?”

“No, I’m not going to the mines,” said the scout, not
pleased to meet Rounds. “It’s surprising to see you out
here! :

“No more than you. But see here, Cody, if you’re go-
ing to follow this trail I’m goin’ with ye. . I don’t like
the idea of cantering along here alone.”

He regarded the scout with questioning interest.

Then he put his hand into his pocket and brought out
_a small buckskin bag.

This he opened and produced a nugget of gold, which
he held up for Buffalo Bill’s admiration.

“Handsome, ain’t it?” .

“A very fine nugget,” Buffalo Bill admitted.

“That ain’t we first one of ’em I’ve had; and Pil tell
you about em.’

The scout: was impatient to be gone, but he listened.

“There’s been several of ’°em come into my hands
Bee the gamin’-tables at the oe If Vd hung
to ’em they’d amounted to a good deal o’ money by now,
for the thing’s been goin’ on fer more than a month.
Always a slim man came in, tackled me for a game, and
put up nuggets, seemin’ to have no cash. I collared ’em.
And always this slim man went out of the place without
sayin’ anything much to anybody. Never took a drink,
nor smoked a cigar, nor done’ any of the things you'd
expect. Said mighty little, too, while playin’, and that
mighty little in a queer, low voice.”

“That’s interesting, to say the least. I suppose you're
trying to discover now where those nuggets came
from?”

“Cody, you’re a good guesser, but you ain't guessed
it all. I watched rae man, and I’m dum certain now
that ‘he’ is a woman.’

“A woman!”

‘Jes’ so, Cody—a woman. The more I think about it,
the more sure I am that he’s a woman. What it means
I dunno; but I hit his trail two nights ago, after gittin’
this nugget, and follered it this fur. Now I’m tryin’ to
pick it up and.go on. And, see here, Cody!”

(Mes ae

“You're a good trailer—better’n I am; you’re the best
trailer in the West. Jine with me in this thing, and
whatever nuggets or other rich stuff we dig up we'll
divvy. What say? There’s sure more nuggets where
this come frome

The scout eyed the man and the nugget.

“No!” he answered. “I haven’t time to take it up,
even though the singularity of the thing interests me.”

“You've got other work to do: re

Nesey

“T thought so; and I know woe it 4s.
out there through the night.”

I was camped

    
  
   
     
  
  
      
   

   
    

oh THE BUFFALO

 
 

He waved his hand again.

“T’m afraid to travel at night, and ebulda’ t do nothing
in the dark, so I camped. Then along in the night here
come three men riding, and one of ’em was your friend
Doc Powell. I seen ’em clear enough. One of the two
men he was with was a nigger, and t’other might have
been, too, for all I could tell. But I was sure of that.
The thing looked singular. And now this mornin’ you
come b’ilin’ along. I put two and two together. You're
follerin’ your pal and them men.”

“T admit it. Which way did they gor”

  

   
   
  
 
    
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
    
  
   
     
        

jut out and turned toward the hills.”
“Was Powell tied?”

\ “1 dunno about. that;
might have been.”

I didn’t think about it. He

 

et “T thank you for the information; it will save me
work.”

“You're goin’ to back oe and show you mean it by
lettin’ me go with you? I’ve found that the trail |
want to foller leads jes’ by them rocks, too. So our
paths lay in the same direction.”

He saw that the scout hesitated.

} 7 “You know me, Cody,” he went on, “so I don’t need
ae to introduce myself, nor tell you what you don’t know.
” T ain’t the bravest man on the planet, except when it
comes to buckin’ the tiger, or standing up before the red
pizen at the bar of the Flashlight. There I’m brave
enough. But this trailing in the hills, where there air

self, ain’t to my stomick. Yet I want to go, and must
go; so I ask you to let me go with you. [T’ll help you,
and when the fightin’ comes, if it does, I’ll kindly stand
4 back and let you do it.”
: He laughed in an amused way as he drew this men-
tal picture.

Apparently the scout was Sanne.
heard what he had last said.

“I can’t undertake to look into this gold-nugget mys-
tery of yours,” he said, “for P’ve something more impor-
tant.
I heard he came out this way with two men, and what
you say tallies with the story told me. Li you like, you
may go with me, but I can’t undertake to guard you nor
take up your quest.”

Rocky Rounds laughed hilariously. He was pleased.
_ “Cody, you're it. When you run for President of
these here great and glorious United States I’ll vote for
you. Right over there is where them three men turned
toward the hills. -I’ll show ye jes’ where.”

He urged his horse along at the side of the scout’s,
talking as they went.

and had hardly

 

i : "this here game through alone. I’m hopin’ [ll rope you

 

the “They left the trail jes’ over there where the rocks

mebbe road-agents, or Indians, or mebbe the devil him- -

Doctor Powell disappeared mysteriously last night.

“Cody, if I was as brave as I’m greedy, I could see

6

nla lah nt et Aaa OO a

 

BILL STORIES. =

into it fore long. And I’m that hungry for company that
I’d go with you even if you ‘didn’t want me.’

They rode together to the point mentioned by Rocky
Rounds, where Buffalo Bill found the trail of horses
leading in the direction of the hills.

After some careful work, he picked out ‘three horse-
trails that were so fresh he was sure they were the ones
he sought.

It was only by a lucky chance that he was able to pick
them from the midst of others, at a spot where they
had veered slightly from the regular route. |

Seeing that they had been headed toward the hills,
he rode on at so fast a gait that Rocky Rounas was soon
grumbling.

“Cody,” he wailed, “if you keep this up there won’t be
no skin left on me as big as a postage-stamp. I ain’t no

wild rider of the ranges, I ain't; and if you've let up |

abit, Tilt
Buffalo Bill smiled.
“TE you follow this trail with me, Rocky, you'll find: it
a hard one!
Rocky Rounds stuck to his saddle desperately, bobbing

 

along, clinging with his hands to the saddle-horn.,

‘Though they had so early a start, the hills lay still.
far away, and the afternoon was well advanced when
they drew near them, even es they had been in view
all along.

At noon the scout and his companion had stopped for
a brief rest, to ease the horses, and that they might
cook and eat something. ‘ .

Rocky Rounds lay on the ground, sroaning, at that
time.

As darkness came down, and the hills. were right be-
fore them, Rounds began to inquire of the scout when
he meant to stop again.

“The horses air about dead, Cody, and me, too,” he :
urged, “and ’tain’t no sort of use to try to do anything —
in the night. A coyote couldn't foller a trail here in
the night.” aia

At the base of the hills Buffalo Bill halted, to the
great relief of the tramp-gambler.

99

“We'll stop here until morning,” said the scout; “but
when the moon comes up, which will be soon, I’m going
to do a little more work. I can’t tell you how uneasy
I am about Powell.”

“°Tis a queer thing, Cody. I don’t understand it.
He didn’t seem to be tied when I seen him, but jes’
bobbin’ along as if he went willin’.”

S Bubs it ae so strange that he should have come
without——

He stopped, fora low cry came from Rocky ae

Rocky’s hand was pointing in a trembling manner.

The first faint light of the moon was tipping the tops
of the nearsby hills, and along the face of one of them —
was seen passing a feminine figure in white. :

 

 

 

 

 

es dae om Sete Seg ci pln ht Ath WE A aaa

  
 

 

 

 

are strangely superstitious, as a class.

THE BUPFALO
“Great Hank, Cody, what is it? A ghost?”
Both men stared at it.
But the shadows of the hills hid it almost as soon as
it was seen, and it was gone.

\

aerunenereraamemes sone

CHAPTER IL.
THE WHITE WITCH OF THE NIOBRARA.

The sight of that ghostly figure on the hillside moved
the scout to thoughts of an investigation.

In spite of the Le of Rocky Rounds, he got his
horse.

Rocky Rounds cowered by the hidden camp-fire,
trembling like a bag of jelly.

‘The gambler was superstitious, like most of his kind.

For, while gamblers cannot be said to believe in ghosts,

they do believe in all sorts of and omens, and
Rocky Rounds
was an uneducated man, and his fears were easily
wrought up. To his gambler’s superstition, he added a

motbid fear of the darkness in an out-of-the-way place

“sions”

sake that, and was constitutionally a coward. The lights
andthe glitter and the crowds of a gambling-hell were
‘the things that made him feel ‘at home.”

“Cody,” he said, when the scout brought up his

horse, “it’s come to me what that thing was—the White

Witch of the Niobrara. You’ve heard’ of it?”
“No; can’t say that I have.” :
Rocky Rounds sat up, rolling his eyes about.
“Well, I’ve heard of her, or it, or whatever you're
a mind to call the thing, more than a dozen times in the
past month: or so. She’s ginerally:seen out here, and
they call her the Witch of the Niobrara because she

~~ stays in these hills, and was seen first time on the banks

 

‘nigh about scared him to death one night.

of. that river.. Montana Tom tole me how she, or it,
He'd been
settin’ by his camp-fire, and hadn’t heard a thing, when
this witch, or ha’nt, walked right by him, not furder off
than you could heave a stone. Montana set there,
feelin’ creepy, and he didn’t say a word. Seemed like the
thing didn’t know he was round. She was all in white,
er if was, and it made no more noise in passing than
a summer breeze. And then it, was gone,

His story tallied with, what we seen a while ago,
and I recollected it at one’t, but wouldn’t speak of it to
you. You don’t believe in sich things, I reckon, and I
didn’t know but you’d laugh. But other men have seen
it. besides Montana, and now we've seen it.”

“That's interesting, anyway,” said the scout. “I think
I’d like to get a close look at that Witch of the Ni-
obrara.”

“Well, you did, didn’t you 2”

“Not close enough.”
“Too durn clos’t fer me, Cody !”

BILL STORIES. 5

His teeth began to chatter.

“T acknowledges that there are courageouser men in
the world than me, Cody.. I reckon you air, or I
wouldn’t be clingin’ to you as Lam. You're the sturdy
oak and I’m the vine. But take a coward’s advice onc't,
and let that thing alone.”

“Did any harm ever come to any one from trying to
investigate it?’

“Ves, Pistol Pete Brady lost his life at fe *Twarn't
but three weeks ago. He follered the thing, or tried to.
The next day, when he didn’t come in, and some of his

chums went to look for him} they found him in a_

cafion, with his head smashed by a rock. A big boulder
had fell on him from the cafion side.”

“The witch rolled it down on him?”

“No knowin’. The fellers that found him got out
of there, bringin’ his body; that was enough for them.”

“T think I'll risk the boulders.”

“You're really goin’, Cody?”

“T think I’d like to investigate it a little. There may
be some connection between this and the disappearance
of Powell, though I can’t see just how.”

“You'll never see how. And, see here, Cody, if you
git killed while you're pryin’ round to-night, what am
Ltordee

The scout laughed, though Rocky’s tone was serious.

“Well, laugh if you want to! But I mean it.”

“You'll stay here until I come back?’.

“Tf that critter in white comes at me, I'll certain run.
Otherwisé, I’m likely to be right here, for aponey
wouldn’t tempt me to go to roamin’ round none.’

Buffalo Bill rode off into the darkness.

“Great Hank, but this is tough! This is the thing
T was afraid of—that I’d be alone out here; and ‘twas
the thing I wanted to git with him fur. Whoo-ee! oF

He looked round with a shiver; then got as close as
he could to the eround, doubling himself up in a ball,
that he might the better escape the attention of any foe,
human or animal, that might pass near.

He listened with bated breath for some sound from
the scout, or from that strange white figure he had
seen.

“?Twasn’t imagination made me see it, either,” he
muttered; “for Cody seen it, too. “Iwas a woman in
white. But what in nature she’s doin’ out here makes
me wonder.”

The scout did not soon return, and Rocky Rounds
lay rolled up in that uncomfortable manner, as the slow
time went by.

Buffalo Bill, aiter ‘nearing the point where he had |

noticed the ghostly female-figure, dismounted, and ad-
vanced on foot.
Having gained what seemed to be the very spot where
she Had been seén, he stopped there, and, striking a
match, looked for footprints,

pee NEO

 
“eum estes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 ae THE BUFFALO

He found none; yet that did not prove that a woman
had not passed that way, for the ground was rocky and
hard,

After the rising of the moon, the scout made a fur-
ther search, this time on horseback, riding along” the
hillside.

Soon there opened before him a valleylike space,
_ which, as he advanced along it, narrowed gradually.

He felt that his search was almost aimless and likely
to result in nothing.

The clouds gathering in the sky shut out the light of
the moon, and the valley grew black.

He became aware that it had narrowed until it was
but the opening of a cafion, which, in the darkness,
looked inky black, like a dark pit.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light.

The flash revealed a figure in ghostly white—the

White Witch of the Niobrara.
"She stood on a jutting point of rock by the side of
the black hole which was the opening of a cafion; her
- hair fell, floating free; her hand was uplifted in warning.

“Death! Death!” she cried,
the black secret of this cafion!”’

The fiery flash was gone as quickly as it had come,
and with its going the white figure vanished.

The scout sat on his horse, staring at the spot where
he had seen it; and so limned on his sight was that
: ghostly figure dict he seemed to see it shining there; in
the darkness.

The flashing forth of tHe light had startled his horse,
which, but for his restraining hand, would have darted
away.

Not a sound came to him save the gurgle of water
somewhere down in the black cafion, and the sighing of
the wind. A

Then the silence was broken by a plunging noise and
the sound of a heavy fall, these being accompanied by
a loud scream.

Again the horse danced in fear.

The scout felt his own heart jumping, and knew that
his nerves had been wrought to a high tension. It was
the effect of the bewildering start and the nervous
confusion, rather than fear.

Instead of heeding the warning, Buffalo Bill spurred
his trembling horse straight into. the black hole, though
its surroundings were now so dark he could hardly see
its outlines.

He strained his ears, and sent the horse slowly along,
for he could not tell what was before him.

“Did the woman fall? It must have been a woman!”

Those were his thoughts.

When he reached what seemed to be about the spot
where he had heard the crashing sound he dismounted.

Not able to see in the darkness, he again resorted to
a lighted match, with which he looked about.

“to the one who opens ,

BIEL STORIES:

Before him was a boulder, which had recently fallen.

When he got down from his horse and looked at it
he. was startled to see on one side a speck of blood.

Below him hung the wall of the cafion, and below
that still the water gurgled.

He lighted a.tuft of grass and threw it over.

But it revealed only the black rocks.

“She may have fallen, may have been struck by this
boulder, which fell at the same time, and may have gone
to her death in there.’

With this thought Buffalo Bill bent over the black
cavity and called, in a low voice. —

Though aware that the flashing of burning grass might»
draw a bullet to him, two or three times he ignited hand-

-fuls and threw them over.

Then again by the light of a match he inspected a
big boulder and the blood-stain on it. 2
-“Bresh blood!” he said. “What does it mean?”

He walked farther along the black cafion, leading his
snorting horse.

He was rewarded by no_discovery.

The black cafion extended on and on.

Caution, rather than fear, caused him to stop after
a while and turn round. He did not believe he had seen”
or heard anything superhuman; yet that the one giving
that strange warning had a motive could readily be be-
lieved; and that he would be going into unknown perils
if he went on was also credible, |
, “Tl wait till daylight,” he said to himself, as he led
his horse back toward the opening. “Nothing is to be

‘gained by taking a foolish risk. But 1 wonder what it

meant, and what that blood means? If the woman lies
dead or badly injured in that cafion I’d like to know it;
I'd like to help her, if she needs help.”

But conscious that he could do nothing in the dark-
ness, he returned through the black hole to the narrow
valley. :

Seeing nothing there now, he went on in the direction '
of the camp, where he had left Rocky Rounds shaking
in fear and. terror.

 

CHAPTER IV.
SEARCHING.

The moon came out again as the scout rode on, and
was shining with silvery brightness when he drew near
his camp.

He did not at first see ae Rounds, for the latter,
still doubled into a ball, lay as close to the ground as
he could get.

But Rocky Rounds started up when he heard the hoofs
of the scout’s horse.

Then he cried out in terror, pointing a shakine finger,

‘as it seemed, straight at the scout.

Witere! [Nere! ie yelled, his voice trembling.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

side, but changed his mind.
-make any search effective.

. that trip to Rounds.

he saw fit.

he slept or not Rocky Rounds did not know.

a Teh.

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. | 7

The scout turned to look round, rightly judging that
the tramp-gambler had seen something terrifying be-
hind him.

Then he saw that chostly figure again, standing on
the hillside, as if looking down at hime

“Don’t—don’t you see its 2” Rocky Rounds surgled, in
a very spasm of fear,

oNes, 1 see cit?

The scout sat quite still, and saw the white figure
move along the hillside.

Then it disappeared. ©

“Didn't you see it aren into the earth?” howled
Rounds.

“I saw it sink out of sight; but there’s a hole in the
sround there, or a gully, or something of the kind, into
which that woman went.”

“Woman ?”

“Yes; it’ was a woman.’

He ee on the point of riding swiftly to the hill-
Daylight was needed to

So he turned and rode on into camp.
"Vou saw it?” gasped Rounds.’
Lee and saw it once before, at the mouth of a black

cafion.’

‘He wondered whether he oon to tell the details of

He cast hesitation aside and told

them, thereby increasing the fear of the gambler.

- “Cody, I make back tracks out of this in the morning!

You'll see me goin’, and I won't hit none but the high

places. You hear me! This is too much for me.”
The scout did not remind him that he was there of

his own volition, and was welcome to depart as soon as

But he thought it. _

“You going back in the morning, too?” Rounds asked,

- when Buffalo Bitl had lariated his horse.

"Vm going to’ investigate that cafion, and discover

| wey the blood on the boulder means.”

~ Rocky Rounds subsided.

_ By and by the scout rolled in his blanket; but whether
As for
himself, he lay wide- eyed and staring through the whole

night.

When morning’ dawned and the clear sunlight flooded

* the land, the gambler had an accession of courage.
‘Things looked different by daylight.

“T reckon I'll hang to you,” he declared, as he bol-
stered his courage by devouring enough meat for two
“I reckon I don’t feel as much afraid as I did.
[ don’t really believe in ghosts, anyway; I only thought

I did, while the dark held. That White Witch of the

Niobrara is shore only a woman, who’s got.some reason
for wantin’ to keep people out of there.”

“You're growing sensible,” said the scout;
began to think you couldn’t be.”

“and I

—————— ai amacasumeemeneeties Sr mere

“Well, you 'see, I’ been thinking it over: For some
reason, she don’t want any one to go into that cafion,
It begins to seem to me that in there must be the place
where them gold nuggets come from that I told you
about.”

He took out the buckskin bag and its gold nugget,
and looked at the nugget with greedy eyes.

The sight of it gave his courage another boost.

*’Twould be too bad to back-track now, when mebbe
the very place where this come from is right in that
eafion. I reckon I'll look into it with you. Mebbe we
can, es it over, and git out of it before ae comes
again,’

Rocky Rounds did not stop eating as long as any food
remained before him, and only laughed when the scout
reminded him that at that rate the food wouldn’t last
long. |

“Eat all you want to, shane Rounds,” ie said ; “]

don't begrudge any man enough to eat.”
_ “If we only had some good whisky to wash it sewn
with, and to bolster our courage with, Cody! I started
out with a two-quart bottle of it; and, by Hank! I only
had two drinks out of that precious bottle! I slipped
and fell,» while I was off my horse, and smashed the
bottle. I like to ’a’ died, seein’ that good whisky trick-
lin’ out on the rocks and the bottle in a thousand pieces.
I-licked up what I could, though ’twasn’t much.”

He looked longingly at the scout.

“You ain't got a little of the genuine old rye with
ye?” he asked. “You generally carry some of it, I think,
fer ‘snake-bite and sech. I’m: a oo this mornin’, .ac-
cording to the way I feel, and

“We may come to a time ae we'll need it badly,
and we don’t really need it now.’

 

Rocky Rounds drew his sleeve thirstily across his
lips.

Cady Ei —o ye this nugget fer that bottle you'r re
carrying (>

But even this offer did not tempt Buffalo Bill,

When the breakfast was ended, the horses weré wa-
tered at a stream near-by, and then the two men set out,
the scout leading the way and the gambler keeping so
close behind him that it proved how great his fears were
even in daylight. :

Rocky Rounds balked when th ley came to the eeu
mouth of the cafion.

Even by daylight that black hole looked uninviting and
perilous.

But Buffalo Bill, after pointing out the projecting rock
where he had seen the Witch of the Niobrara, rode
straight on until he came to the half- buried,
boulder.

There he Alampanied

Rounds sat staring at it, as the scout pointed | to. the
blood- stain,

i } i

 
 

 

 

 

 

a THE BUFFALO

i “That ain't. no. blood-stain,” he averred, “hoping: it
ie SE eye hae !
“No?” said the scout.
“*Tain’t red enough.” Ce
“Tt was red enough, and was- freshly. fade. in. ae
night, when I first saw it; and you can see that. the
boulder has torn up fresh car showing that it fell here

during the night, or recently. But of course it didn’ t kill.

the woman, as I feared, for we saw her afterward.”
“That might not have on her !”’,
-a' Who, then?”
“Her spirit.” oe a
~“Nonsense. But I’m alleed: for I thought she mgt
have been killed’
“What do you make of fie: bisod, ‘then? 2” _
“A simple explanation would be that: she set he
boulder in motion, to roll it down here with a thundering
crash to frighten me,.and in doing so cut her- finger on
some ragged edge. of it, and the blood got on the
boulder: That could have been, easy enough.” -

Rounds swung out of his saddle and looked at the

stain, now a mere reddish discoloration.

Then he glanced round uneasily; and, going to the
edge of the cafion, looked down into it.

“How fur do you expect this cafion extends ?” he nid:
looking up and down it. :

“I’m sure I don’t know, as I was never here before.”

“You don’t think Powell came here?”

“The trail of those three horses led to the upper end
of this little valley; there we lost it on the hard ground.
Yes vt rather think that Powell passed through this
Gon:

“There might be gold down in that stream,”
Rounds, looking over into the water.

The scout also looked over, merely that he iene not
miss anything worth seeiffg. There was nothing to pay
for the effort. Above, he saw the place from which the
boulder had been sent. And there he saw a ledgy path,
along which any one daring enough might have walked.
He did not doubt the woman had passed on it, and
then had gone back to the hillside over the valley.

ee

As nothing was to be gained by staying there, the
scout and Rocky Rounds rode on, searching the cafion
carefully.

Nothing of a threatening or dangerous character was
to be seen; and, aside from the narrowness and gloom
of the piece nothing in it or about it could be ob-
jected to.

Finally the cafion ended, opening out into. another
valley, this time hill-ringed. Through this valley flowed
the cafion stream.

“Hello! A house!” said Rounds, staring at a small
cabin by the stream, out in the valley.
The scout had se seen it.

MTs Slee ra Lt a eR ee Lr arg CN SB, A es Ree Te VAN Meee SY cD get a eee

BILL STORIES:
othe Witch of the Niobrara “may live ee ns said,
at a guess.
-- Rocky Rounds stared harder at the cabin. .
- “Heavens! I hope she don’t!”
“You're not afraid of a woman?’
_“N-no; but was it a woman?”:
) = ti che lives there, yes; | never heard that ghosts
cared for houses.”
- “Yes,  ha’nted CS ate ve ont of ha’nted
houses !” ~

The scout could not repress a agie

But the state of his mind was serious and eed
Hardly a moment was he not:thinking of Powell.
~ Rounds hung back, as they rode toward the cabin.

It was unoccupied, the front door was open and sag-
ging, and appearances told that it had not been occu-,
pied in a long while. :

“Some hunter’s hut, or some prospector’s,”
scout.

“Mebbe he was looking a gold round here,’
the gambler, always thinking of the a
“Possibly.”

“You don’t think there’s gold in that stream?”

“Likely enough there is; I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Well, by Hank! I’d like to know where them nuggets
come from!”

“You gtiessed once that the gambler of whom you got
them, whom you think was perhaps a woman, got them
here somewhere. I fear you’re nearer the pocket where
the nuggets came from than I am likely to be near Frank
Powell.”

The old cabin, abandoned and showing hae disuse,
and the near-by stream, looked so enticing to Rocky
Rounds that he decided he would stop there an hour or
so and see if he could find traces of gold in the stream.
He was filled with a feverish desire to know where the
nuggets had come from. ,

“You'll be comin’ back here after you’ve knocked
round a bit, Cody?” he asked. “If so, I’ll stay a while
and look about.”

Buffalo Bill was really glad to be rid of the man’s
company. He recognized that in pointing out the trail
of the three men, and in telling what he had seen,
Rocky Rounds had conferred a favor; and, so far as
possible, he was willing to return’ it, and-had been doing
so, in permitting Rounds to accompany him.

said the

said

‘But he had no regrets, ee he rode on, leaving
Rounds at the old cabin.

Turning to look back, he saw Rounds crouched on 1 the *
rim of the river, staring down into it; and then ob-
served him descend and begin an een of the Ny
a bottom,

Rounds glanced up once, and saw the scout disappear

round a bend of the valley. oS

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

}
i
|
Y
j
,

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

_ CHAPTER V.
ROCKY. ROUNDS AND THE WITCH.

The discovery of some shining specks in the ond that
he knew were minute grains of gold, so worked. on’ the

-cupidity of Rocky Rounds that he almost forgot Buf-

falo Bill and his own fears, as he dug and pawed rouna,

in ‘an effort to find. more.

Up and down the stream he went, ‘ooline for Sou:
He poked into every ‘hole, lifted little stones from the
water, washed ee gravel, and toiled as he LG not toiled
in years.

So feverish was his duret for ana that he forgot the
flight of time, and was astonished, when he saw that
the shadows were creeping down from the hills and the
sun would soon be obscured by the hilltops. He had not
dreamed that the scout had been gone so long, or that

he had spent so much time in searching the river.

“Great Hank!’ he cried, looking about. ‘Here T’ve
been for I dunno how many mortal hours. Why, In-
dians might have come up and scalped me, and I wouldn’t
knowed it; or road-agents might have got me!’

Harhedty he got out of the water, where he had been
wading, and went in search of his horse, which he did
not at first see.

“Too bad I ain’t yet found them nuggets,” he mut-
tered; “but I'll try it ag’in to-morrow. Where’s that
confounded horse?”

He found the horse beyond the cabin; the cabin had
hid it from his gaze. -The horse had pulled its picket-

pin and strayed round there, searching for grass.

Rocky Rounds led the horse to the river, to let it
drink; and stood looking in the direction taken by the
scout.
~ He mounted and rode in that direction, until the valley

‘began to pinch in, and what he saw before him was.
another dark way that seemed cafionlike.

revolver of some road-agent.

. and he had no burning desire to discover.

He called:

Oh, Cody!”

He feared to shout as loudly as he could; for how
could he tell what was in those hills? He feared to see,
behind every rock, an Indian head-dress, or the shining
But, more than all). he
feared the White Witch of the Niobrara.

He did not know who or what the White Witch was,
If she let
him. alone, he would let her alone.

He ventured to lift his voice a little, when Buffalo
Bill did not answer, and he even rode a short distance
into the black-looking cafion.

“Cody went through here, for I seen him gone!

_ But that was not enough to draw him to do the same
thing, now that night was at hand. The cafion looked
particularly uninviting in the darkness.

A stone rolled from a height with a great clatter, and
struck, bouncing, not far from him.

I IR II LO nN SIN LO LO DI Lh St DI tt Ti

Bor TS ES

 

BILL STORIES.

_ His teeth chattered, and he pulled his horse about
and rode away at a wild gallop, not stopping until he was
near the cabin.

His puffy face was red and ye and his my body
was trembling. —

Rocky Rounds isokes fat, to the casual observer, but
his corpulency was due to the “bloat” of whisky-drinking,
His eyes had the watery look of those of a confirmed
inebriate,

“Great Hank!’ he gasped.
stone to rolling? Something did it. Stones don’t start
and roll down-hill of their own accord. It might have
been an animalgthough; and mebbe no more’n a rabbit.”

But he could not get out of his mind that stain of
blood, seen by Buffalo Bill on the big boulder that had
Jallen in the other cafion.

“Say, I wish’t Cody’d come on back, if he’s comin’! I

“T wonder what set that

wonder what’s keeping him? Dark’s here, and he ought

to be here. I’d ’a’ never come this fur if’t hadn’t been
for him, not even for the gold. And now he’s gone and
deserted me, looks i He seemed ead willin’ to
ride off and leave me.’

He rode slowly across the little valley to the black

- opening into the other cafion.

But not for worlds would he have ridden through it
at night alone, for, at the farther end of it, Cody had
seen the strange apparition of the White Witch, and it
was there that the blood-stained boulder had fallen.

Rocky Rounds almost feared to look into it, to say
nothing of riding into it; and when he had given it
a longing glance, remembering that the trail to the town
lay beyond it, he drew his horse back and rode again
to the cabin.

~~ The short twilight was closing in and darkness soon

would reign.

Rounds began now to be’ really terrified.

“Nothing to eat, and nothing to drink but water!” he
groaned. “Great Hank! I was a fool for ever comin’
out here! I was about all the different kinds of idiots
you could name for doing that. Something’s happened
to Cody, and I know it; and likely that Witch is mixed :
pin Ane

When darkness settled down and Buffalo Bill did not
come, Rocky, Rounds tied his horse to\one of the pro-
jecting log-ends of the cabin and then don inside.

He struck a match to give him light, and ead
carefully about. /

When sure that nothing harmful was inside the cabin, |
he returned to the door and squatted down there, re-
solved to wait as patiently as he could a the scout’s
return.

The darkness deepened, until he oe not even see
the surrounding hills. ee

. When the moon arose, es oe in the hills, he heard

=

Pa Seats Eee

SOONER OES

Pea Seas tae te aes 3 SoS ee!
ss

 
 

 

 

the barking of coyotes, their staccato yelping now and
then causing him to think that Indians were eae

“*PIl jes’ squat here till plumb day comes,” was his
determination ;
git at me without my knowing it.
be a big scrap if anything does come!

Few men can fight with such fervor as a coward when
he is urged on by his fears and thinks his life is at
stake. There was no doubt that if epee had oo
Rocky Rounds would have done some lively “ ee,
in case the thing cornered him.

In spite of his fears and his determination, he fell
asleep. r

He was brought out of it by a sound that forced from
him a yell. He leaped to his feet, trembling, and clutched
his cocked revolver.

“Great Hank! Jes’ that horse nibblin’ at the cabin
logs! Well, if it didn’t sound like an Indian crawling
along the wall I’m a goat, and a. nanny- goat at that.
Whoo-ee!”

. He wiped the. clammy perspiration from his face.

The horse continued to gnaw at the logs, making a
noise which. at last grew so intolerable that, in spite of
the darkness, Rocky Rounds removed the horse and tied
it farther away. :

_“Gnaw grass, if you’ve got to gnaw something !? he
granted, “It. won’t sound so danged like somebody
crawlin’ up on me. If my hair hain’t been made white
by your cussed foolishness, why, I’m mistaken.”

He gave the horse a kick, to vent his spite or ease
his nervousness, and returned to the cabin door,

Fearing that he might again fall asleep there, he con-
cluded to go inside.

This he did; and he fastened the door and window as
well as he could.

mehen lie sat down by the wall, his hand on his re:
volver.

Fis fears kept him awake.

Now and then, simply because he was nervous, he rose
and looked from the window.

Once when he did so he beheld a sight that fairly
froze his marrow.

The White Witch of the Niobrara was right out in

And cn bet. there’ Il

\??

the path beyond the cabin, and was looking at the cabin.

The revolver dropped from Rounds’ nerveless fingers
and fell with a soft thud to the earthen floor.

Fle felt his knees sinking under him. Though he had
a wild desire to yell, his throat constricted and his tongue
was stiff. He couldn’t make a sound.

“Great Hank!” he gurgled, at length.

(7?

comin’ this way!

“The thing’s

His trembling legs could no longer support him, and
he collapsed, landing, with a quivering thud, on the
floor by the revolver.

He no longer saw the White Witch, except in im-

“and if I keep my eyes open nothing can’t

Then he sank down with a groan>

oe : THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

agination ; but his. imagination was lively enous to pic-
ture her’ stealthy approach to the cabin.

Then he heard her, close by the wall, and he grov-
eled in fear on the floor. He heard her pass round the
cabin and stop by the door. It seemed to him there was
a scratching, some such sound:as a dog might make that
was trying to dig under the door. The door was ney
perceptibly rattled.

The horse probably saw the White Witch, for it vad
become silent.

When the door did not yield, i ae thing out-
side pushed on it and began to force it open.

Rocky Rounds could stand no more.

_ A blood-curdling shriek rose from his Hemtling lips.

The sounds outside stopped instantly.

And though Rocky Rounds lay groveling, fairly cat

ing dirt in his efforts to get closer to the ground, noth- ye

ing more was heard.

When an hour, that seemed to him six, had gone by,
and ‘nothing more sounded, Rocky Rounds climbed gin-
serly to his knees and crawled to the window.

He lifted himself and looked out.

The pale moonlight was flooding the valley and bright-
ening the slopes of the hills.

From this window the black mouth of one oe the:

cafions could be clearly seen, looking threatening enough
to the terrified man. i

Rocky Rounds gained courage by that survey, and by
the fact that his horse was feeding again and the noise
it made was the only sound he could hear.

By and by, when perhaps another hour had asked: :

he summoned courage enough to crawl over to the’ door.
He found that some of the loose boards he ‘had piled

against it had been pushed out of place, thus furnishing

proof that something had been .at the door, so that he
could not acctise ‘himself of dreaming, or of an erratic
fancy.

He feared to look beyond the door; but by and be he
even did that, pulling the door farther open and poking
forth his head for the survey.

He saw his horse, but nothing else living.

“Great Hank! he said. “I reckon I scared the thing
off! I must have, when I hollered that way. It was
more afraid of me than I was of it; must have beeh.
Whoo-ee!” :

Again he wiped away the sticky perspiration.

He closed the door, fastened it as well as he could,
and sat down inside.

After he had, done that he became so fearful that
something, or some one, might be inside the cabin that
he lighted a match, and then ignited some splinters which
he broke from one of the logs; and, with these as a
torch, he searched the cabin’s interior.

Having done that, and satished himself that no one

BSN Sr he a go eo tnt ic NA ld nae ce et Ne ne ENON ty I het PR 9 aia an etn ek Se

AG OS A aI tt i i ty a

 

tna
 

 

 

aN i (Os Rt ION LI LTR IN LR LON I IR CN INL Ln LON AOR EE

 

‘THE BUFFALO

was within, he sat down again, after more securely bar-
- ricading the door and window.

It was almost morning ‘when he fell asleep ; and he
slept so soundly, because of his thorough exhaustion, that
the sun was shining high when he awoke.

A clammy memory of what he had endured came to
unnerve him, as he looked about. | :

Then he saw something on his knee—a sheet of white.

He stared at it, with a sort of horrified fascination,
for he saw that it was a message written on the white
bark of a birch.

He read the words traced there with some sharp in-
strument :

“Warning. Leave at once. If you stay you are dead

men!”

_ The tramp-gambler’s watery eyes rounded, and seemed
almost about to drop out of his head, while his whole

form trembled.

The communication was startling and _ terrifying
enough; but it was even more terrifying to find it lying
on his knee Avhen the cabin was still securely closed.

“Great Hank!” was all he could say at first.

. fle did not even try to lit the bit of birch bark;
seemed, in fact, to be afraid of it; but he stared slowly
round the cabin, looking for some break or opening by
which the one who had left the warning had come in
and gone out.

There was no opening; the cabin walls were unbroken,
and the door and the window were closed and barri-
caded.

“Great Hank !g
He moistened his trembling lips with his thick tongue
~ and passed a puffy hand over his face. ~

“How in time did this thing git in here, and onto my
knee?”

It was really enough to mystify and startle even a less
superstitious man than Rocky Rounds.

The message was there on his knee, he knew it Pian
not been there when he fell asleep in his sitting position
by the door, and no. one had come or gone who could
have left it there.

nee

CS OE a qr er RE ery ts pr et Se SSIS ei a ltl cpr eersalieara atm =
SE: eee : 2 er nants fas

SSR Pe A ncaa oar oe tng

 

BILL STORIES. Se II

He delayed, however, still hesitating.

Finally the bright sunshine so restored his courage
that he returned to the cabin, picked the birch bark from
the floor, and reread the warning.

“Tl jes’ keep this. Cody can’t say, or think, I’m lying
when he sees this.”

He put it carefully in his pocket.

Then he got his horse, watered it at the stream, and,
with a courage that grew with the increase of the light
and the height of the sun, he entered the dark cafion
through which he had seen Buffalo Bill disappear.

CHAPTER VI.
OLD EPHRAIM.

When Buffalo Bill had passed through that cafion,
which in its general characteristics he found very much
like the first, he came upon a trail of horses that lured
him on.

He found here the same three tracks he had followed
previously.

To the uninitiated eye, the hoof-print of one horse
looks the same as that of another. Not so to one who
has made the subject a prolonged study. There are many
small differences, in addition to the difference of size.
Some hoof-prints are long, others wide or short, others

11 , Ask any shoer of horses
if this is not so.

The peculiarities of the three tracks he began to fol-
low were so pronounced to the trained eyes of the scout
that he recognized them almost at a glance, as he would
have recognized the faces of three men he had seen
not long before.

“Of course there is no knowing if Powell was riding
one of those horses when they passed along here,’ was
his thought.

But the fact that they were the same horses drew
him on.

Tle galloped along several miles, following this trail,
and found it leading aside into some low hills.

‘Rocky Rounds flung the message fren him with a - When the hills were entered, the trail of the three

little shriek, staggered to his feet, tore away the bar-
ricade at the door, and dashed out into the sunlight.

He ran to his horse, and it seemed that he meant to
mount and ride wildly away ; but thoughts of those black
cafions through which he would have to pass brought
him back to his senses, __

“Great Hank! Why don’t Cody come?’ he gasped.
“Been gone since yisterday afternoon, and promised to
be right back! That means something’s happened to
him. Say, this place is shore bewitched! Last night I
séen that White Witch, and this mornin’ I found that
bark message. “Yes, this place has got something wrong

{??

the matter with it, and I’m going to git out of it!

J

A TSE RI EO I INN LON Soeur

horses bent, as it were, back on itself, and led in a return
direction parallel to that they had followed; so that after
a while they were\not far from the cafion valley in which
the scout had left Rocky Rounds.

But between himself now and that valley there inter-
posed cafion cracks and crevices, that might be crossed
by a man on foot, but could not be crossed by horses.

It was evident to the scout that the long, circuitous

ride had been taken by the men on those three horses ©

to get round here into some favored, or sheltered, place
where they might feel safe.

When his hopes of finding that place began to grow
he met disappointment.

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THE BUFFALO

The tracks vanished utterly, on rocky soil that left not
a trace.

Night came while the scout was still trying to strike
the trail again.

It was impossible, and ce to go back at that |

time to the valley where Rocky Rounds had been left.
The scout sympathized very little with Rounds’ cow-

ardice. Rounds was/a man, not a child, and as such he
should be able to take care of himself. So the scout
felt.

When darkness came and he could do nothing more,
Buffalo Bill went into camp where the darkness found
him, which was near to the point where he had lost the
trail of the horses.

There was water close by, and he had a little left from
the store of food that had come so near to being wholly
devoured by Rounds.

He watered his horse, ate his simple meal, and, with
the horse lariated on the only grass to be found in that
desolate spot, he lay down to rest.

Nothing was to be gained by remaining awake, and
the scout tried to fall asleep. :

Yet the strange mystery surrounding the disappear-
ance of his old friend and pard, Frank Powell, so
weighed on him that sleep did not come to him readily..

He went over and over again in his mind the scene
where he had parted from Powell, and all the events
Occurring since that time.

The review was unsatisfactory enough.

He gave a good deal of thought, too, to the mys-
terious woman called the White Witch of the Niobrara.

He had seen her, without doubt, and knew she was
no spirit; and he had seen what he believed to be blood
that had apparently flowed from a wound she must have
received in the fall of the boulder. ;

While he was thus thinking of her, she appeared be-
fore him again, as if his ae had conjured her into
existence.

That same white figure, with the feminine drapery
and the floating hair, glided past him, right out in the
moonlight, less than a revolver shot away.

He lifted himself on his elbow, staring, as if he could
not believe his eyes, or fancied at first that his thinking
made him see something which had no existence,

Then he rose to his feet, in a stooping posture, to fol-
low her.

As if she knew of his intention and opposed it, she
turned and waved him back with one ee hand, or so
i seeined to Witty (1g

Then she flitted on, and was gone.

The next moment he was running softly over the
rocks to the point where she had vanished.

When he reached it he saw nothing of her.

The white moonlight lay before him, illuminating
everything. The bushes and the high boulders. were

  

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Dlids STORMS,

7

brightened by it. Yet she might have been behind some
of the bushes or boulders!

He looked behind some of them, and then, convinced
that she had gone on, he went on, too.

It was apparent that the White Witch was as sure-
footed as a goat, or else possessed wings, for some of
the way was difficult and cut by chasms.

For two or three hundred yards the scout followed
in this way, and then stopped.

“What's the use?” he said. “I don’t know where she
went, and this is a waste of time and strength,”

He waited and listened, hoping for some revelation.

Then he retraced his way to where he had left ne
horse.

He had hardly reached it when he heard what seemed
a faint yell, or scream, in the direction taken by the
White Witch,

“That sounded like Rocky Rounds. Perhaps he has -
caught sight of that specter. It. would make his hair
curl if he should see her.”

‘He listened for a repetition of that sound, but heard
none.

After a while he lay down, a that if the White
Witch passed near him again he would make a desperate
effort to discover who she was and what her night mas-
querading meant.

He fell asleep, and neither saw nor heard anything
more, ie

‘The next morning he came suddenly, in his searching
about for a rabbit or other small game, on game of the
biggest kind. &

It was a grizzly, out, also, hunting for a breakfast.

Old Ephraim gave a growl of dislike when he beheld
the man so near, and raised himself on his hind legs,
rearing up until he was of formidable height and pro-
portions.

Buffalo Bill began to retreat judiciously.

_Old Ephraim is not a brute that any man cares to
tackle without due consideration. The scout had leit
his rifle behind, and had only the revolver with which he
had hoped to pot some: sitting rabbit. That revolver,
big bored as it was, was no Weapon with which to meet.

a grizzly bear.

Seeing him retreat, the bear made for him, uttering
a ferocious growl and advancing by leaps that seemed
slow and ponderous, but which took him over the ground
at an amazing speed.

In self-defense, Buffalo Bill fired, when it seemed that
the big beast would run him down,

The bullet struck the grizzly in its red, open mouth,
knocked out a tooth or two, but stayed him no more than
if the bullet had been a pea propelled from a boy’s pea-
shooter.

The scout saved himself on a rake of its claws that

  

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would have scalped him, or cleft his brain, by making a
sudden turn. :

The grizzly struck at him as he dodged and ducked
to get out of its way, and slipped and fell half to the
ground in trying to turn.

The scout took advantage of this to run for his rifle.

Before he could reach it, the grizzly was close on him

again, coming’ forward with terrible growls and at a

speed that was startling.

Buffalo Bill’s horse was snorting and plunging in ter-
ror. A horse becomes frightened at even the sight or
smell of one of these fierce creatures.

Buffalo Bill was not able-to get to his rifle, and again

fired at the grizzly with his revolver.
- He aimed at one of its eyes, hoping thereby to reach
its brain, but the quickness of his shot and the movement
of the big beast caused the shot to go high, and inflicted
only a wound in its head, the hard skull turning the bullet
aside as if it had glanced from a rock.

Blood was already streaming from the bear’s mouth,
and now a stream ran down from its forehead.

_ The scout fired again, and turned to avoid the lunging
stroke of its paw.

A rock behind which he dived saved him this time.

But in the quick turn of events the grizzly had got
between him and his ‘rifle.

It came slowly round the rock, half-blinded now by
the blood that poured into its eyes. —

The scout fired at it again, and again ran, and the
grizzly chased him.

The snorting and plunging horse broke its lariat and
raced away, with thundering hoofs.
The grizzly stopped in its pursuit of the scout, to look

at the horse and growl at it, and the scout tried again to
get to his rifle. :

‘The grizzly turned, opened its bloody mouth, and once
more came at him.

Twice Buffalo Bill hurled lead into it from the re-
volver, apparently doing it no harm whatever. Then he
resorted to the dodging tactics he had already used, and
began also to retreat toward a chasm into which he hoped
he could drop for safety.

The grizzly pursued him, though it was troubled and
hampered now by the blood that flowed into its eyes.

Its rage was something awful to behold, as it champed

and raved in its frenzied efforts to get at and destroy its

foe.

Buffalo Bill began to feel the strain on him. He heard
a thundering of hoofs, and thought that his horse was
returning, a thing so strange that he would have looked
to see, if he had dared take his eyes off the big bear.

He heard a shout and a shot; then another and an-

other shot, the shots coming ion a rifle, as he knew by
the reports.

Ce THE BUFFALO BILL SUS:

Ht AL SS NN eT GN ad AOE ENR

Sp toaeei

TS

The grizzly turned, with a roar of rage, on its new as-
sailants. The scout dared for the first, time to look.

The horseman had his rifle at his shoulder and was
pouring still more shots into the big bear, while his
horse danced in a way that showed its fright and
helped to destroy his aim, so that not all of his bullets
reached bruin. é

The scout was amazed and gratified by the sight of
that rider, for he was none other than Doctor Frank
Powell.

Buffalo Bill shouted his encouragement, and began to
shoot at the bear with his revolver.

The tenacious and angry grizzly charged the horse,
which went dancing over the rocks for safety, threaten-
ing to throw its rider, and its motions would have un-
seated one less skilful than the surgeon-scout.

_ Again Buffalo Bill was pursuing the big bear and
shooting at it.

But it was a bullet from the heavy rifle of the surgeon-

scout that dropped Old Ephraim at last, the lead having

been driven into its brain. The bear fell in a heap, col-
lapsing on the rocks and thrashing about in its death-
throes.

Buffalo Bill swung his hat and Shaun because of
the fall of the bear and this meeting with Powell.

Frank Powell rode forward, restraining with firm
grip his plunging horse, that was afraid of the bear,
even wheh it was dead.

“Cody, in the name of wonder, what are you doing
here ?”

“Powell, ll ask you the same. In the name of wonder
what are you doing here?’

The friends met and clasped hands, Powell leaning
from his saddle.

“Lucky for me, too, that you were here!’ Buffalo
Bill acknowledged. “Old Ephraim had me in a tight
place, and I don’t know how the fight would have ended.”

“T heard the row while some distance off,”’
“and came as fast as I could.”

“And I didn’t hear you until you were right here.”

“You were making so much noise yourself, you and
the bear; it was growling loud enough to be heard a
mile. But, tell me about it; how you came to be at-
tacked by it?’

“First, Powell, yonte all right?”

‘Sound as atop.

“That's good. WAG got a whole sheaf of nde ons to
hurl at you, but

“What are you doing ale ne

“Came in search of you.”
You thought the word I sent back to you

said Powell,

 

“Oh, I see!
wasn't straight.”
“What word? I got no word.”

“No word from me, after I left you there in the
room?” |

 
 

nh. | THE BUFFALO

No; hothing ?

“Well, that’s queer, for we sent a man back to tell
you.”’ /

He began to dismount, Hes hardly a glance at the now
dead bear.

“So you came hunting for me, eh? Well, you did
right, however it happened; for I’ve been in some close
places since I left the town.”

“Vou weren't kidnaped—carried away?”

“Ves, and no. Let me explain to you.”

They stood looking into each other’s faces, earnest, ex-
cited, forgetful of their surroundings. The scout was
still breathing heavily as a result of his exertions.

“TI was called out of the room, you know, by a man
who said I was wanted at the Flashlight Saloon, where
a man had been killed. Well, almost as soon as I was
out of the room he acknowledged that part of it as a
lie, and gave mea written communication. It was from
a young woman I once knew, and it said that she was in
a dying condition, was a few miles out in the country, and
begged me to come to her without a minute’s delay. I
should have suspected a trap, but the message seemed to
be in her handwriting. —

“There were.three men, as I should have told you; all
three negroes. They seemed honest fellows. One I sent
back to tell you I had received that message, was going

right on, and would be back in the morning. ~

“We mounted and set out, and went-on for two or three
miles.

‘Flow much farther is it?’ I asked.

“ «A mile er so, boss,’ was the answer.

“We still went on, and came to a little house, which
seemed deserted. :

“Right in dar, boss,” said the negro.

“T dismounted, and as I did so this negro, who had
swung down as if to assist me, caught me by the throat.
He was a powerful fellow, and when his companion came
to his aid, they had me foul. They tied me, put me back
on the horse, and passed a rope about my legs, tying me
thus to the horse.

“T demanded the meaning of the outrage.

“*Tt’?s furder, boss, dan we said,’ was the answer, ‘and
we was feared mebbe you wouldn't go. Now you
has to.’

“With this Sou they took me on.

“T would have gone farther even without that, but now
I had no choice. ;

“They brought me through some hills and cafions, and
on by a very long route to a sort of cave, into which I.
was conducted, and then released.

“Tn there was the patient I had ridden so far to see;
but when I looked at her, her face was masked so that

I could see none of it; and when she spoke, I knew she

disguised her voice. She was suffering from a slight

away.

BILL STORIES,

bullet-wound, and the bullet was still in the flesh, peat

ening complications.

“I extracted the bullet and made her comfortable, and
told the negroes what to do.”

“Tt was a woman ?” said the scout.

“Undoubtedly.”

“The one you thought it would be?”

_“T can’t say as to that, for I don’t know. Remember,
that I didn’t get to see her face, or hear her voice in its
natural tones.

“But this thing is certain, even though the note may
have been a forgery, she knew of that young woman and

imitated her handwriting, if she was not the woman her- '

self.”

‘sa oes: On

leis.

“Vou were then held a prisoner theré?”

“No; after I had attended to her wound I was at lib-
erty to depart. But I stayed on, for I feared complica-
tions might set in. The wound in its state then was not
serious, but it might have become serious, for the bullet
had been too long in it.”

“T see. Your professional interest came to keep you
there?”
“Tust so. My sympathies as a surgeon were aroused.

I stayed, just as, in any other region, I would have stayed
with a case that had suspicious symptoms. Happily, they
were not realized. The complications I feared did not
Set in.”

“Then you came away?”

“No, I still lingered, hoping to get to see behind that
mask. I didn’t get to.
day afternoon—l ae on my return, and got lost.”

sLost?

“Turned around, so that I was 3 puzzled, and didn’t get
the tangle straightened out before the coming of dark-
ness. So 1 went into camp.”

“Near here?

I was probably not
far from you.” ck

That seems strange. °

“Tess than two miles; and I think one mile would

cover it.”
“Where is this cave, where the hone macked: young
woman lives?”
“T don’t know.”
“Tyon’t know ?”
ay forgot to say to you that I was blindfolded when I
was a there, and was blindfolded when I was eee
“Ts it near here: ”
“Vhat | dont know.”
“Stranger than ever!” 2
“Very queer; but very natural, too, as the young

woman evidently had some reason for keeping her loca-.

tion and her identity a secret from me.”
“T, too,’ said the scout, “have seen a woman, 4 fe-

Along in the CO

 

 

 

 

 
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‘and before that.

. he declares to be a woman.

 

 

 

Pith (BUrEAIA)

markable woman, since I came here? Can she be the
one? It seems hardly possible, as the one you saw was
wounded. and not able to travel. I saw her last night,
Perhaps you have heard of her, for I
think she must be the woman known as the White Witch
of the Niobrara.”

“Never heard of her, I am sure.’

“T had heard of her, but was told more about her by
Rocky Rounds? You don’t know Rocky Y

“I never had the honor.’

“He is with me, or was; I left him behind, in an-
other valley, which we'll have to take a long, roundabout
trip to reach. He told me she had been seen a number of

times lately, and that many men believed her to be a

‘Spirit, and not a woman.”
_ “Rounds believes that nonsense?”
“T think he does,”
| les a 700)
- “A fool, a loafer, and a coward. He has a nugget of
‘gold which he got over a gambling-table, from some one
He had others, but has spent
them. He was out trying to locate the pocket from which
those nuggets came, and attached himself to me without
my consent. I let him do so, however, becatise he told
me he had seen you and two riders coming in this di-
rection.” :
Ie saw mer
“Yes; when you were near the Willow Spring.”
The scout explained further, so that Powell was soon
in full possession of all the known facts,

 

CHAPTER VIL.
_ ROUNDS TELLS “HIS STORY.

‘Buffalo Bill’s imagination was highly excited by that
story of the masked young woman, whose handwriting, if
it was hers, was so suggestive; and the fact that Powell
did not know where her cavern home was but added to
his interest in her. | | |

He was also curious to know more about the mys-
terious wotnan who was called the White Witch of the
Niobrara; though, so far, he had only the assurances of

_ Rocky Rounds that the woman n they had seen was the
“White Witch.

_ “Now that I’ve found you, or, rather, since you have
found me, Powell, ’'m in no hurry to go back. Knowing
that you are safe, my mind is relieved of anxiety. So,

what do you say if we try to make some discoveries

here? I’d like to know more about this. Who is that
young woman, and who is the White Witch, and what
does it all mean, anyway?”

“I confess to a good deal of curiosity on ifiose ee :

myself,” said Powell. “We can try to find that cavern.”
“My horse went in that direction,’ said the scout,

   

BILL STORIES. | |

pointing... “The rush of the bear was too much for him.
We'll have to find and capture him first; and then ay
adventure you’re willing to embark in, ’m with oS

“What shall we do with the bear?”

“Cut some juicy steaks from him, for one ee That
coat of his would make a handsome robe, if you want it.”
> “JT don’t care to trouble with it, much as I’d like to
have it.” ee

They looked regretfully at the shaggy coat of the
grizzly. ae

Then they cut away some of the best of the meat and
slung it on Powell’s horse, leaving the carcass for the
coyotes to feast on and howl over.

“And not one of the cowardly things would dare come
within a mile of him if he were alive!” said Powell, think-
ing of the coyotes.

They set out in the direction ek by the scout’s hort,
Buffalo Bill walking and Powell riding.

‘They found the horse more than two miles from the
scene of the fight with the bear.

It had got over its’scare, but had not thought to-return,
and was nibbling at some green oy down my the mar-
gin of the cafion stream. "

The scout caught the horse uhom meh tr guile. Then
they continued on in the same course, covering the
ground the scout had covered in coming there.-

“It wouldn’t be right to desert Rounds,” said the scout:

to which Powell agreed; and they were on their way,

back to the point where the tramp-gambler had been left.

After they had made the loop which took them toward
that valley, but while they were still some distance from
it, they beheld Rocky Rounds riding furiously.

He had dashed through the dark. cafion, and then on,
not knowing where he was going, except that he was
getting away from the “haunted cabin,” and from the
terrors that had there assailed him,

When he met the scouts, his horse was dripping with
sweat.

He was shaking with fear, and, clinging with both
hands to the horn of the saddle.

“It’s you, Cody!” he said, his teeth chattering, though
a look of relief had come to his face. ‘Great Hank, but
I’ve had the time of my life! I seen her again!”

He stared: at Powell.

“The Witch 2

“Sure thing, Cody. I seen her again. And though
she couldn’t git into the cabin, she put that on my knee
while I was in it. What do you think of that?

about the mysterious, Cody!”

With trembling fingers he extracted from his pocket
the birch-bark message of warning and gave it to ae
scout.

Both the scout and Frank Powell read it Se some
surprise.

“Tt ain’t what’s on it, Cody, half as much as the way

DA Se hfe aire ec mC nto Bir npc ost Mutt reer na RTM geet Beng.

‘Talk:

 
   
  
 
 
 
 
    
   
 
 
   
   
 
   
  
   
  
   
   
  
 
 
   
  
  
   
  
   
  
   
 
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 THE BUFFALO

I got it, that knocks me out.
tight in that cabin.
stuffed aD every | hole.
my knee.”

And there that thing was left on

“Somebody was in the cabin and put it there?” was ihe

scout’s random guess.

“Not on your life, Cody! I looked the a over be-

fore I went to sleep, and there wasn't any one in it, nor
any place for a person to hide. A rat couldn’t have hid
in it without my knowing it.”

“Then the message was in there already.” i

“T looked the cabin over, I tell you, with a light. It
wasn’t there; nothing could get in; yet, when I woke
up, there that thing was lying on my knee. Cody, don’t
say again there isn’t anything like spirits, or such; don’t
say it! There’s the proof.

“And let me tell you, further, jes’ before I closed every-
thing up so tight (and it was one of the things made me
do it) I saw that White Witch. I saw her in the moon-
light through the winder, and she came up to the house.

She was walking, or floating, over the ground, without .

a sound; but I heard her at the winder, and at the door,
and she pushed the door open a little. |

“It scared me so that I let out a yell; and then she
was gone. I looked roufid outside, and couldn’t see
her. And then you better believe I fastened that door
and winder, and made a search of the place before I set
down ag’in. What do you think of it?”

Under some circumstances Buffalo Bill might have
told him he thought he was lying; but he saw the truth
of the things told in Rounds’ frightened manner.

This meeting with the scouts was restoring Rounds’
shattered courage.

‘He remembered what had brought him into that sec-
tion, and the search for gold he had made in the stream.

He brought out the gold grains he had found, and ex-

hibited them. :

'“A pocket of nuggets, or where the nuggets come
from, Cody, is bound to be close round there. See that
gold! It’s the genuine stuff with name blown in” the
bottle. Gold, and no pyrites. Id like to look that river-
bed all over. I think I might find something.”

“What do you say, Powell? Shall we take a look
for gold in that stream?” asked the scout.

It was not so much, however, a desire to discover gold,
as it was a desire to’start an investigation which might
reveal the identity and aims of the mysterious White
Witch of the Niobrara, that impelled the scout,

- Rocky Rounds beamed with delight when Frank Powell
agreed to Buffalo Bill’s proposition. He was anxious to
make further search for the store of gold which he was

sure existed in the bed of the stream.

Over and over he continued to talk of the, strange
things that had happened to Doctor Powell, asking ques-
tions until he became a bore.

se Soe a erm Riaa Tie eri ee ee Pe et ne ae toe SD I pir patna a

I tell you I was shut up
A rat couldn’t have got in, for I'd.

BILL STORIES.

_ When they rode through the cafion and came in sight

of the cabin, ay as sen indications os nery-

ousness.

ot won't be feet Cody, es us: to camp in ae ate
we can sleep outside on the ee you. know!” ae
: urged.

The scout asked for the bark message, and: again
studied “it.
The handwriting, as Powell had already said, did not

resemble that of the note which had been carried oy the

men who came for him.

That the writer was the White Witch seen likely.
And, of course, her object, as stated on the birch, was to
induce these invaders to leave the hae of the cafion
and the cabin.

She had hoped to do so o by resorting to hag. thinks
ing thus to frighten them away. Such was the con
sion of the two scouts.

Rocky Rounds, however, was not ie to rid hae
of the feeling that something supernatural and uncanny
had been witnessed by him, and he bolstered his. belief
by calling attention to his claim that the birch-bark
writing had been got into the cabin and on his knee at a
time when it was impossible for any one to enter the
place without his knowledge, or even get the birch-
bark in.

“That’s what sticks me,” he on “Explain, oe and
you go a long ways toward convincin’ me that the thing
was natural.”

As they had no especial desire to make him believe
one thing more than another, neither Buffalo Bill nor
Frank Powell took any extraordinary pains to disabuse
his mind of his error.

Besides, they could not explain it, if they accepted his
statements.

When the cabin. was reached, though Rocky Rounds
was averse to going into it, or even near it, the scouts
induced him to enter it with them, and show them just
where he was sitting when he awoke and found the
bark message on his knee; and how he had the cabin
closed and barricaded.

He did this readily enough, being anxious to convince
them of the truth of his statements.

“T was setting right there, jes’ beside the door. The

door was closed and blocked with this stick of wood,’

and by these here boards. The winder was closed and
blocked by them little sticks, and this piece of board was
up ag’inst it, to shet that broken place in it.”

He sat down by the door and pointed, as he made the
explanations.

“Now, if you'll look around, you'll see that there

_-ain’t nary hole, besides these that I closed, big enough for

a rat to git in; and nothin’ did git in. Yet that ce
was lyin*.on my knee, jes’ this way, when I woke up.”
There seemed no reasonable explanation of how this

 

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came about, if Rounds i re and his manner was
truthful. ae
“And recklect that the White Witch, or ae the
thing is, came right acsoss there in the moonlight, and
was foolin’? around the cabin door and winder like as
| if she wanted to git in.” ey
“You heard her plainly?”
»S1 Should say I did;'as plain as £ hear you now.”’~:
“Wouldn’t that indicate that it was some person, rather
than a disembodied spirit?” asked Powell.
“You mean by that, ghosts don’t ever moke noises?
Well, then, what about these stories of ha’nts shakin’
a and groanin’, in all these stories you hear about
ha’nted houses ?” ie :

SSSR RNS

  
   
 
  
  
 
  

Rounds wére so atnizitio!

“As I have no faith in any stories about haunted
--houses, of course I can’t answer that, except by saying
that if any one ever heard groans and the clanking of
chains in a so-called haunted house, he heard only nat-
ural sounds; nothing made by a disembodied spirit.”

_ “You don’t believe in disembodied spirits?” .

“Oh! I wouldn’t go so far as that! I never saw one,
and.I doubt much if any one else ever did.”

“By Hank, I seen one, you bet, when I seen that White
Witch! Can’t nobody shake me out of that belief. And
she’s got the power that all sech things has, of passing
right through solid walls. Else how could she re in here
_and put that thing on my knee?”

Arguments were lost on a man like that.

Having thoroughly inspected the cabin, in the light of
Rocky Rounds’ story, the scouts turned their attention to
the ground about it, looking for footprints.

The soil was not very favorable. They found only
their own tracks and the tracks of their horses.

/ Down by the stream, which had a sandy margin, they
i had no better luck.
i “ohe never teched the cyan when fe walked—
, seemed jes’ to glide along, sort o’ like flyin’, though she
{ didn’t appear to have any wings. Jes’ like you’ve seen in
A» pictures.” !
q ! When the search for gold in the river gravel began,
thus turning his mind into a pleasanter channel, Rocky
Rounds told again, for the benefit of Powell, the story
~ of the nuggets which had come into his possession.
“Sometimes I think that this here White Witch may be
a real woman, and the woman who played cards with
me, and lost her nuggets to me.”

‘
i
i
i

“Til warrant you cheated thent away from her mu
{ manipulating the cards,” said Buffalo Bill.
( Rounds laughed under this rebuke.

air expected to know and work some -tricks,* he ad-
, mitted. “I handed myself the best cards when I could,
f, and her the other kind. It was up to her, or him, to do

  

 

e

THE BUFFALO

Powell smiled; the sincerity ne gulibiity of Rocky

Fellers that handle the pastebodrds for a livin’, og

BIEL STORIES.

17

me the same way, if it could be done.
for ite 6

Some erains of gold were found, which were ae
with delight by Rounds.

-“Gold allus comes down-stream, and never is known to.
work up,” he said. “So we'll have to look up-stream for
the place where this yaller dust comes from.”

They went up-stream, washing as wel as me could
the gravel in different places.

There was some gold in the gravel, though not. an
amount that would have created a gold excitement.

When night came, with the exception of a spoonful
of gold-dust, nothing had come of the work of the day.

The White Witch had not been seen, though they had

I was watchin’ out

shardly expected to see her in the day time.

“To-morrow,” said Buffalo Bill, Speaking to Powell,
well make a hunt for that cave where you met the
masked young lady.” io

“Sounds romantic,” said Powell. “But there was, and
is, such a young lady. I should like to see her again,
and with that mask removed.” ;

That a thorough watch for the White Witch might be
made that night, Doctor Frank Powell/slept in the cabin,
which was closed and barred as when occupied by Rocky
Rounds, who refused to trust himself overnight inside
its walls again.

Outside, Buffalo Bill and Rounds reclined on the erass,
the scout close up by the cabin wall, Rocky Rounds
farther out, where, if he saw anything terrifying, he
would have plenty of fleeing space.

It was the hope of Buffalo Bill that if the White
Witch came again she might be captured.

But the time went by without her appearance. The
moon sailed ‘ in the sky. The hour of midnight
passed.

At length Buffalo Bill fell asleep, with his head close
against the wall; nor did he awake until-he was aroused,
in the morning, by a yell from Rounds. '

He saw Rounds a few yards away, sitting upon the
grass, staring at a piece of paper pinned to his coat.

“Another warnin’!” he howled. “Cody, we’re dead
men!” .

Then Buffalo Bill discovered that on his own coat a
similar paper was pinned.

He removed it, drawing out the pin, and read it:

“Leave at once, if you value your lives. This is the
second warning.. The next will not be a warning, but
the stroke of death.” — a .

This was sufficiently startling.

The handwriting was the same as that on the birch-
bark message.

The paper seemed to be torn from a note ont

The outcry of Rocky Rounds, and the words of the
scout in answer, brought Frank Powell out of the cabin.

“Have you: one, too?” the scout demanded of him.

  
   
18 THE BUFFALO
© “One what?” es

“Message—warning—on your coat?”

_ There was nothing on Powell’s coat; nor was a mes-
sage found in the cabin. '

“Which goes to show,” said the scout, “that when the
_cabin was really closed tight she could not get into it.”

“You mean I didn’t have it closed tight?” oe
Rounds.

“Just so; it would. seem so, wouldn’t it?”

“But I how. It was closed and barricaded. And
what do you say to this?’

He held out the warning in his trembling hand, ee
_ puffy, watery eyes were scared and big.
“What do you make of that?”

The warning he had received was word for word the

same as that penciled by the scout.
“Ordinary pins, ordinary. paper, ordinary hendwauiae”
said the scout. “The explanation is simple enough.”
i Olas ar os |
_“I think so. We slept so soundly that she was able
to come up to us and pin those on our coats pel.
waking us. Is that anything strange?”
“Find her tracks!” said Rounds.
didn’ t leave any tracks!” °
They made a search, and failed to find any.

Oh bet you we

“Tf she came barefoot, and stepped softly, as, of course,

she would step, she wouldn’t need to have any tracks,”
said Powell. “It’s my guess that she was barefoot.”

“Well, I get out of this section right now!”
| Rounds was so terrified that, later, when portions of
a roasted rabbit were offered to him for his breakfast,
he refused to eat a mouthful, though he had fasted long.

“Tm going to strike the trail straight for the town. No
more for me. I ain't no hog, oe { know when [ve got
enough. The nuggets can go.’

But though so anxious to go, Rocky Rounds’ did not
set out, for the reason that the scouts refused to accom-
pany him, and he feared to start alone.

“The third warning won’t be a warning, but it will
be death,” he said. “That’s what the writing says. Wed
all better git out of this.” :

“Rounds, the trail is open,” said Buffalo Bill; “go
when you want to. We intend:to make a search for that
cave to which Powell was taken.”

CHAPTER VU,
THE ROAD-AGENTS.

“When Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell were still at the
cabin, but about to set out, they saw two men ride across
the mouth of the cafion they had first entered.

These two men rode swiftly, and apparently did not

~ see the men at the cabin, were unaware of their pres-

ence, ee, ee

are,”

BILL STORIES.

“Ys it a trick to lead us into a trap?” Said Buffalo Bill,
for the thing seemed suspicious. -

‘The sight of those men seemed also — that Ce
was a body of men in concealment in the Niobrara. Hills.

They might be miners, of course, or simply pros-
pectors; yet Buffalo Bill could not rid himself of the
belief that they were neither, but were road-agents.
» The Niobrara trail had witnessed a number of stage

hold-ups lately, and other ia as had disgraced that

section of country.
“Trap or no trap, I’m in favor of following ee men
and seeing what it means,’ he said.
Rocky Rounds had lost all desire to return homeward
by the way of that cafion.

meet the White Witch.
Te tried to meet the situation humorously, po
less. \ ; ae ne
“It’s allus been my belief that the feller who is enbueh
afraid of men and things to keep out of the way of

danger, is a durn sight more likely to have a long life

than the feller what ain’t.. And I’m confessin’ to you
that I ain’t in no hurry to meet road-agents and die.”

Because he feared to-do otherwise, Rocky Rounds ’went

with Buffalo Bill and Frank “Powell when they ieee
away in careful pursuit of the two men.

When they had passed through the cafion and came

out on the farther hills they beheld the two men again.
This time the men had company. They had met and

were talking with a number of others, who had come

up from the other direction. :
It seemed a reasonable guess, that all these men were

‘not only road-agents, but that they had their strong-

hold somewhere not far off, and were connected in some
manner with the White Witch of the Niobrara and her
mystery.

Buffalo Bill and his companions kept well a out of
sight..

vine Niobrara sa ian five miles from where they
said Powell, “and this afternoon the’ cha comes
down from Porcupine Bluffs.”

To meet a band of road- —
agents was, to his mind, only a little less ash cas mo to.

Porcupine Bluffs was in the poldsAeld, and stages |
coming from there were likely to carry large consign |
ments of gold-dust.

By means of his feld- -plass, Buffalo Bill and his com-
panions were able to scrutinize, with a good deal of satis-
faction, the men who were supposed to be road-agents.

“In my opinion,” said Powell, as he put down the
glass, after taking a long look, “if we can follow those
fellows successfully we shall solve the whole mystery
that has been troubling us; we shall find the cave where
I saw the masked yoting woman, and shall discover fhe
clue to’the mystery of the White Witch.”

“We can hang to their trail, all a while oe
lasts,” said Buffalo Bill,

form
faile
Pe

dyins

W

 

 
 

   

 

“But now that we’re this far on the-way to town, why
wouldn’t it be the sens’blest thing to ride on to it?”
said Rounds.
and there'll be trouble. We can’t expect anything else
Some of us will be killed, and mebbe it'll

 

 
 

  

 

 

  

 

 

He tried to laugh, as, he made this Me but failed.
“As T said, or if I didn’t say it I will now, that if a
man wants to liye long he’s got to keep away from
danger and troubles of that kind. Don’t monkey with
the buzz-saw. What’s the use? What if them men air
oad-agents? So Re they ain't ee to harm me, |
mote to let ‘em alone.”
Rocky Rounds’ “arguments” did not go far with the
wo scouts.
They expected to encounter peril, and to meet un-
asant happenings, when they set themselves to the
rk of running down road-agents. That was part of
fe game, and they thought nothing of it.
Hence, when the supposed road-agents went on, dis-
ppearing from sight, Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

  

 

 

 

 

   
   
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

The suneaed party pushed on so rapidly that not again

  
  
 

 

 

  
   
 

     
    
  
  
 

  
 
  

THE BUFFALO

“Tf we foller them they'll sure know it,

e forth, to look for the trail, intending to follow

 

 

 

BILL STORIES.

bury him and to heap over him a ae of stones to keep
wolves away.

Having done this, they took the trail of the robbers,
following the larger body of them.

This trail led back toward the Niobrara Hills, and
gave color to the belief that in those hills was the lair
of these hyman wolves, and that they were in some
manner related to the White Witch of the Niobrara.

Several members of the party they were following
detached themselves and went separate ways, as the trail
showed.

“Still scattering, to make pursuit difficult,”
surmise of the scout.

Then suddenly, without warning either to themselves
or to the men they were following, they rode right into
the midst of the outlaws they had trailed.

There were four of the fellows, and when they be-
held the scout and those with him, charged, shooting

was the

_ and yelling, thinking to bear them down and overwhelm

them at a blow.
Rocky Rounds turned tail and rode for his life.
Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell met the charge of the
outlaws in a manner to be expected of men of their

     
   

  
  
 
  
  
   

 

t Stamp.
e Buffalo Bill and his companions come ‘in sight of Their revolvers leaped out, and they replied to the out-
| ts ae heard rapid firing on the stage trail, and 1.) fire, and spurred to meet them.
e forward.
ic ‘ r hi
Hey thy ao ihe cudine of on etecle on the ctace The man who was ye ling orders and seemed to be the
a : : : leader, Buffalo Bill shot out of his saddle at the first fire.
m Porcupine Bluffs—a typical hold-up, which had a
d Powell brought down a man.
ody finale, for when the stage went on and the out-
1€ a : Two of the desperate four were thus put out of the
© scattered, ridine back toward the bills the scout . na i
. ; : : ae fight in the very beginning of it.
te d his companions found the stage-driver lying in the e
il in a dying condition. Then the scout and Powell and the other two came
= ‘Sam Beatty,” said the scout, as he and his friends face to face, shooting, and stabbing with their knives.
: r le up and saw the man ; “and as good a fellow as ever ‘The horse ridden by Buffalo Bill fell, shot through
~ d lines over horses.” the neck, and Powell’s horse was wounded.
a He sprang from his saddle and ran to the man’s side. The scout struck the ground on his feet, as his horse
‘Hold our horses,” commanded Powell, flinging his went down. Catching the bridle of the outlaw who was
ey reins to Rounds. Ba trying to ride him down, he dragged the rascal out of the
nes i He took kis medical and surgical cases, and hurried eee '
_. fo the side of the desperately wounded man. s ” The other bandit attempted to shoot Buffalo Bill in
ges | “I’ve got it here,” said Beatty, motioning feebly to his the back, and was dropped by a bullet from Powell's re-
on Iside, where the blue perforation of a deadly bullet-wound volver.

"| showed. “I didn’t pull in quick enough to suit ’em, and The fight ylasted barely five minutes; at the end of
me the devils gave it to me. The people in the ole hearse which time three of the desperadoes were dead, in-
tis. | WETe too scared and crazy to git away to stop and see if cluding their leader, and the other was dep ery
; I was livin’ or dead.” . wounded. ,

i The surgeon-scout saw that the stage-driver was dying Three horses were dead, but the others were unin-
a and could live but a few minutes. jured, and Powell proceeded to catch them, while Buffalo
ey He and Buffalo Bill tried to get from him some in- Bill bent over the outlaw, who had fallen but was not
here | formation as to the identity of the road-agents, but dead,

_ the | failed. From this outlaw the scout tried to get some in-
Powell did what he could’ to ease the pain of the formation concerning the road-agents, their leader, their
ioht dying man. lair, and their connection, if any, with the White Witch.

a When Beatty was dead, they oe long enough to But the man died without telling anything.

   

 
  

20

 

Buffalo Bill was saddened and sickened y the sight
of those dead men and dead horses.

Though he and his pard, the surgeon-scout, had fought
in self-defense, only slaying men who were trying to
kill them, that did not make the bloodshed less.

_ “Tt makes me want to get out of the country and never —

again look at a revolver,” he said to Powell.
thing is too bad, and too sad.”

“Tf such men as these go into the road-agent business,
they take their lives in their hands, and can’t expect
anything else,’ was Powell’s answer. “It is too bad,
though, as you say; but I don’t see how it was to be
helped, so long as we followed them. And I haven't
forgotten that stage-driver they killed in cold blood a
little while ago. Such human wolves deserve no*more
mercy than four-legged wolves, or mad dogs.”’

It was true enough; yet the scout.could not drive
away the feeling of depression which had come to him.
- The horses captured were in good condition, and

_ were taken as an exchange for those lost.

On the bodies of the men were found bags of gold-
dust, taken from the stage.

“We'll restore this to the owners as soon as we can,
said the scout. “Just now we'd better cache it, and re-
turn for it.”

“What's become of that cowardly gambler?” said
Powell, |

The gambler was already returning,

Yet he showed no haste to get too near before he
learned how things had fared. He did not wish to run
up against any road-agents. On the other hand, he
feared to go far from the two scouts. With them, he
felt safer than anywhere else.

He arrived while the dead men were being hastily
buried and before the gold-dust had been cached.

He paid scant attention to the dead men. Death for
other men did not trouble him; it was only his own car-
cass he wished to preserve. “He eyed the gold-dust with
a greedy look,

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be jes’ the cheese to
divvy that among us three,” he said. ‘Seems to me it
would.
follered these fellers it'd never been returned, you bet.
So, don’t that make it our’n?”

Buffalo Bill treated the absurd claim with the scant
ceremony to which it was entitled.

“The whole

The gold-dust was cached, but Rocky Rounds noted
the spot well, and declared to himself that if the chance
came he would unearth it and keep the whole of it.

Night was at hand before Buffalo Bill and Frank
! Powell were ready to leave the gruesome place where
they had fought their dreadful battle.

When they did leave it, they headed for the black
mouth of the cafion that would lead them once more to
the deserted cabin.

   
 
   

+
7

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

   

It was took from the stage, but if we hadn’t

_ time wouldn’t be no warning, but it’d be death.”

Two members of this band had come from that way,

they knew, and the chances of ee more about «
them seemed probable there.

Besides, they hoped for the return of the White

Witch, and a chance to trail her, sticking to the belief
that if they could do so they could find the cavern to

which Powell had been taken.

“Cody,” said Rocky Rounds, “when I one’t git back to
the town I stays there. I don’t see why we couldn't have
took that gold-dust, divvied it, and gone on back to the
town peaceable. I ain’t hankerin’ any longer to solve
these here mysteries. I’m willin’ to let ’em remain mys-
teries, and I’m willin’ for road-agents to work the
Niobrara trail as much as they want to, so long as they
don’t work me.’ .

“Fortunately for the world,” said Buffalo Bill, “there
are people in it who do not share the views of men of
your stamp.”

He was growing tired of the cowardice and the gen-
eral poltroonery of Rocky Rounds.”

But nothing could abash Rounds. Comments, sar-
castic or otherwise, slid from him like water from the
back of a duck. :

So he continued to bewail his “luck,” and to wish him-
self back in the town, as they rode on toward the cabin,
yet all the while sticking like a leech to the two scouts.

 

CHAPTER IX.
THE CAPTURE OF ROCKY ROUNDS.

At the cabin, which they reached after nightfall, Buf-
falo Bill and Frank Powell again disposed themselves as

‘on the previous night, determined this time to remain

awake.

If they had remained awake the night con they knew
they could have secured a close view of the White Witch
of the Niobrara; that is, if it was the White Witch who
had left those written warnings.

Again Rocky Rounds refused to sleep in the cabin;

and, as he was afraid to sleep far away from itor tar
from the two scouts, he crept up close to Buffalo Bill
when he lay down.

“No sleep for me to-night, Cody; no winkin’ and’
blinkin’ for your little Willie! - Not any for me! I
stays awake this time, if I has to prop my eyes open
with sticks. But if you'd jes’ give a feller a pull at that
whisky bottle you carries with you it would make it a
sight easier.”

The scout did not “open up” at this invitation.

“There’s no necessity for you to remain awake, Rounds,
unless you choose to.”

“But that’s it—I choose to. I wouldn’t close my little
eyes to-night for all the gold-dust we cached back yon-
der. She said, ye know, in the warnings, that the third

\

     
 

    
    
    
   
  
 

 

oa

 

 
   

 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  

f

 
 
  
  
 

 

 

 

PHiG BULLE ALO

His voice trembled.

“I’m not hankerin’ any to go over the range jes). vit:
So I keeps my peepers wide spread. ‘No sudden death in
his sleep for little Willie; no, not any!”

- Silence fell at length on the cabin and the valley. The
moon rose later this night, and until it came up what
watching the scouts and Rounds were able to do was
done by ear alone.

The darkness was intense, until it was driven away
by the rising of the moon.

The moon being almost at its full, and the sky clear,
the light that flooded the valley gave a grateful sense
of relief, not only to Rocky Rounds, but to the scouts.

If the Witch came they wanted to see her; if they
could, they wanted to capture her. In the event that they

-could capture her, they trusted to their ability to make

her talk.

Powell could not drive out. of his mind the idea that
this White Witch was in some way connected with the
wounded and masked girl had been so strangely sum-
moned to attend,

He thought through the singular situation from end
to end, so far as he could.

The time was near midnight, and the moonlight very
bright, when an exclamation from Buffalo Bill drew the
attention of both Powell and Rounds to a white figure
that had come suddenly into view on the edge of the
cafion,

“The White Witch!” gurgled Rounds. “And it was
to be death this time, and not any more warnings!”

He cowered on the ground, seeming, like an ostrich,
to be trying to hide himself 7 elas as his head into
the earth.

Buffalo Bill lifted himself on his elbow and stared at
that ghostly figure.

Apparently the White Witch saw him, or in some man-
ner sensed the fact that the men by the cabin were

not asleep, but that they had espied her and were look-.

- ing at her.

So, instead of coming on toward the cabin, as they

. hoped, she turned about with a quick movement, and was

gone.
She had not been in view half a minute. :
Buffalo Bill solved, almost instantly, the question of
whether it would be better to pretend that she had not
been seen and lie low, in the hope that she would come

: again or to start in pursuit of her at once, in the hope

that she might be overtaken.

He sprang to his feet.

“Come on, Powell!” he said. ‘We ought to move
as fast as she can. We'll see where she goes.”

Frank Powell leaped up, and together they ran to
the edge of the cafion.

Rocky Rounds watched them, his mouth opening and

 

ad

bi STORIES,

closing like that of a landed fish, while his heart seemed
to rise up in his throat and choke him.

That he should be left, abandoned, in that way, was
startling. . :
“Wow!” he gasped. “They've goné and left me!”

He ceased trying to get closer to the ground. Safety,
he believed, lay in keeping close to those two men; and
he rose and followed them at a limp gait.

Even as he did so, the thought came to his cunning

_ brain that by doing this he might be able to restore him-

self in their estimation; they fignt be made to think he
was gaining in courage.

To his bewilderment, when he came to the edge of
the cafion, the scouts were not in sight.

But he was certain he knew the course they had taken,
and he followed on. pie

He found, as he hastened along, that the cafion bed
was not difficult to walk in, even though he got his feet
wet.

Seody (7 de balled. “Powell!”

‘There was no answer,

Panting under his fears and his exertions,
pushed ahead,

Finally he came to a series of natural ae that looked
so inviting he was sure the men he followed had gone
up them. With laborious pantings he climbed them,
coming out on a level strip of rocky ground.

“Cody. he called. “Powell!

When there was no answer to this, his fears increased.

The moonlight, so bright when he started, grew dim,
due to clouds passing over the moon’s face.

he. still

Afraid to go on, and afraid to return, Rocky Rounds
crouched on the hard ground, peering about, and mut-
tering as if half-insane,

“Cody!” he gasped. “Powell.”

How long he stayed there he did not know, but he
was trying to screw up enough courage to take him back
through the cafion bed to the cabin where his horse was,
when he heard footsteps, os

He staggered up, with a cry that was mingled of relief
and fear. He hoped the steps he heard were those of
the scouts, but he did not know.

It was an unfortunate movement.

Two men came running to him, whom at first he took
to be Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell, but when they were
right upon him he saw they were negroes.

They seized him, one on each side.

“We been lookin’ for you, ” one of them said, as they
hurried him on.

He was too frightened to speak, but he struggled,
throwing himself about.

“See yeah, boss, does I knife you right heah, or does
you go on wid us?” was the terrible question,

Rocky Rounds stopped his frantic struggles.

“Where air you takin’ me?” he managed to ask. “It’s

      

ee te tne a A ois Th Ta a aac

   
    
 

i 4 a THE BUFFALO

a mistake. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me;
and, anyway, I ain't the man you want.”

They dragged him on, nevertheless.

When they had gone a little farther with him, they
stopped, and, in spite of his terrified protests, blindfolded
him.

After that he had no idea of direction, and, his fears
being. so great, he had very little idea of time. Five
minutes may seem an hour long.

All he knew was that at last the blindfold was taken
from his eyes, and he was permitted to look about.

Then he saw that he was in a cave, and that a slender
girl sat before him, wearing a mask.

He dropped down before her.

“There’s a mistake here,” he said. “I’m ready to git
out of the country. Jes’ set me on the road, and Pll go.”

The girl looked at him closely.

Then she called in a low voice, and the two negroes

who had captured him appeared. as
“This can’t be the man we want,” she said to them.
“This is neither Cody nor that other scout.” 2

“That’s right,’ stammered Rounds. “I’m none'of ’em.
My name’s Rounds, and I belong 7 the town; and Pil
set out for it as soon as you let me.’

One of the negroes held forth a gold nugget, taken
from Rounds.

“We found dis heah on him.”

» he girl looked at the nugget.

“Where did you get that?” she said, in a ee voice.

Rounds groveled again.

“T got it gamblin’, and that’s the truth; at the Flash-
light gamblin’-joint in the town. A man came there, and
I won it from him at a game of cards.”

She bored him through the holes of her mask.

Without asking his permission, she dropped the nugget
into a niche of the wall by her. Then she began to ask
him questions, about Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell, and
things on which she desired information.

“Why didn’t Powell go away when he was released
trom here 1 ‘

“So you’re the woman he was brought to see? Ly

guessed it. I-dunno’ why he didn’t go away?”

“What does Cody intend to do now?”

- Rounds hesitated, not knowing how much it was safe
to tell, or if lying wouldn’t be the better course.

“T don’t know,” he answered, thinking that a negative
would be best. ,

EX ou ae with him?”

“Y-yes,” ee ;

“Yet you don’t know won he is tone to do?”

“He come here, follerin’ Powell; for, you see, Powell
left town in a curious way, and Cody was anxious about
him. I reckon now he’s ready to go back, ‘since him and
Powell has met.’

“Why doesn’t he go back, then?”

BILL STORIES,
The one man Le uneasily from foot to Ce
“T dunno.”

"You expect me: to pele that you are a member. of
his party and yet have no knowledge of his intentions ?
That's nonsense. He's stayin round: here. Wine
Powell is with him, and if he came to find Powell, why
doesn’t he leave the country now?”

“Well, ye see, he ruther wants to know who it wase

kidnaped Powell in that way?’
“So you do know something?”
“Well, I know that much.”
“TIsn’t there something else that is keeping him here?”
“Well, the road-agents.”’
“Oh, the road-agents!
Henge, are theres”

There are road-agents round

“They tackled the Porcupine Bluffs epee this after: \
noon, and there was a fight, and a bigger one when Cody

and us fellers caught up with the agents.”
She bent toward him, much interested.
“Tell me about that.”

ba

He told her, glibly enough, making himself vey much

Of a hero in the fray.

“He’s looking for more road-agents: 2”

Rounds hesitated.
“Answer my questions,
order.

“He’s hopin’ to solve the mystery of the critter that’ S
called the White Witch of the Niobrara.

will you!”

and they wanted to know about it.”

Questions rained fast from her lips after that. Rocky
Rounds was forced to reply to them so rapidly that he
found little time in which to make up WS and so mele
a tolerably straight story.

“Take him away,” she said at last.

When the two blacks came forward, she stopped them

with a motion of her hand.

“You say your name is Rounds, and that you’ re a.
gambler, and by chance only are with these two scouts.
That may or may not be so.
get word to those men about you—aboat what has hap-
pened to you. Now you may go.”

She waved her hand again, and the negroes dragged” :

Rocky Rounds away.

CHAPTER X.
| THE PERIL OF ROCKY ROUNDS.

When Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell gave up their
profitless pursuit and returned to their horses, they found
that Rocky Rounds had disappeared.

They supposed he had been frightened into lee

- and had no thought of what had really befallen him.

Concluding that the way which best promised results

was the sharp :

She—we.
thought it was her, anyway—sent warnin’s, and. the like 5.

I think I’ll hold you, and —

  
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

was to wait there until morning and then try. to pick up
the trail of the White Witch, they went into > camp there
in the darkness.

-They discussed the, meaning of her Seequent's appear-
ances, and wondered what had happened to Rocky
Rounds, coward that he was and in terror of the night.

Nothing disturbed them; though, to guard against a
_ disturbance, they took turns at standing guard.

They were much astonished in the morning to find on
a bush close by another written warning. 3
This, like the others, was. Vesna but it was in the
“same handwriting.
These were the words it held:

 
   
   
  
 
 
   
 

UT Burraro Bitz anp Docror Powe: Mi

‘“We-have captured the man who was with you. His
life depends on your actions. If you leave here at once,
_ and get out ofthe Niobrara Hills, his life will be spared.
’ Otherwise, he will be killed. His pies ke be on you if
- you do not heed this warning.’

 
  

 

The information thus. coniered. “that Ras Rounds
had fallen into the hands of one so desperate as the
writer of these warnings, was analy startling and
astonishing.

. They knew now why Rounds had not eed,

The scouts read and reread the warning; and then,
_as was their wont, looked for tracks by the bush where
they had found it.

“She, or he, was mighty soft- footed, to come here
in the darkness while one of us stood guard,’ said Buffalo
Bill,

- The scouts were chagrined.

They found no tracks by the bush but they did see
" that the grass there had been pressed down.

, “I don’t doubt it was the woman,” said Powell. “And

| ’m sure whoever it was that person was barefoot.

| That’s why we find no tracks. She stepped softly. But

if we search farther we may find something.”

4 “Shall we try to follow her?” said Buffalo Bill.
“Yes; Vd like to know more about this.”

But ounce ee suffer if we do, according to this
warning.”

“That’s bluff, Cody, in my opinion. If they are hold-
ing Rounds they'll not kill him simply because we don’t
back-track, though re re trying to make us think they

will.”

“They ey

“I take it for granted this woman is not alone. The
warning says: ‘We have captured the man who was with
you.’ That probably means, if it can be believed, certain
members of the road-agent band.”

_ They were looking farther for tracks, even as they
discussed this,

On the edge of the cafion stream they found a
they sought—tracks of bare feet.

 

THE BUFFALO

' country at once.

Here the message-bearer had betrayed herself, in thé

BUA STORIES.

 

darkness. She had stepped off the rock, and for two
steps her bare feet had sunk in the sand. She had at
once returned to the rock, but the telltale marks had been
left there. :
. The footprints were small, evidently being those ofa
woman; and the scouts had no doubt they had been made
by the White Witch of the Niobrara.

-Fhose two footprints were all they could find, howeeer
After that she had been cautious *nough.

The direction she had been going was up-stream, and
away from the scouts, thus showing that these tracks
had been made after she had left the warning.

An estimate of the probable time that had elapsed since
they were made enabled the scouts to approximate. the»
hour at which she had paid her stealthy visit.

Having now. something definite to work from, the
scouts went up the cafion bed, looking for more tracks.

Though they searched the cafion. Se uy
found nothing more. ©

Two hours later, they came on a i that was: enough
te take away their breath. ;

Rocky Rounds stood before them in an open space,
tied to a slender tree. Ropes round his body bound him
to the tree, and his hands and feet were tied. :

His puffy face was white with fear and despair.

They were about to hurry to him, to release him,
when he screamed to them to go back. a

“Back! Back!” he yelled. “Don’t: come any. nearer,
for the love of life! Don’t! please don’t !”

They respected his commands, and stood off,

“Why aren’t we to come nearer and release you?” Buf-
falo Bill asked.

“Because it will cost me my life. Don’t; for Heaven's
sake, don’t come nearer! Lemme tell ye.”

They were anxious that he should.

“Lemme tell ye!” he gasped, his voice shaking so
that he could hardly articulate distinctly. “I. fell into
the hands of some niggers, and a white girl; a white
young lady, I mean! I was follerin’ you, and that’s how
it happened. And then I was put here; and I’m to be
shot, if you fellers don’t back-track and git out of, the
So, go—go! I'll be killed if you stay.
Go! Oh, why don’t you git a move on and hustle away!
I see the rifle p’intin’ at me now, and if you don’t go, and
keep a-goin’, Ill git the lead right ae in my head,
Wow! Why don’t ye go?’

‘His terror made him frantic.

 

CHARTER XL

. WITH ROCKY ROUNDS.

How a this come about?

At the command of the masked young woman, F Rauiey
Rounds had been dragged by the negroes out of the
little cave.

  

     
   
 

a _ THE BUFFALO

He was thrown into another, much like it, and near
it, discovering later that they were connected and close
to each other.

Thrown into this cave and bound, Rocky Reuslet was
left to meditate on the changeful state of our earthly
affairs.

“ *The love 1 money is the root of all evil! r I heard a
‘sky-pilot’ say that onc’t, and now Pm believin’ him. At
was a love of money got me into this sling. And here
I’m likely to die, too. Chasin’ gold nuggets was my un-
doin’, you bet; and I’ll not forgit it, if I ever git out
0’ this,”

The cavern was dark, whereas the other had te
lighted by torches.

Fear for a while kept Rounds from wakine any at-.

tempt to release himself from his bonds.

But when he had remained undisturbed for a consid-
erable time, he began to tug and strain at the cords on
his wrists. ~

To his great joy he at last succeeded in drawing one
hand out the cord that held it.

“Great Hank!” he gurgled. “What luck!”
With trembling fingers he untied the cords that held
his ankles.

Having done that, he listened for some sound indicating
the proximity of enemies; and then stole toward the
dark opening he saw before him. —

Apparently his captors had been merély testing him.
At any rate, he had hardly taken a step, when he heard
an outcry announcing the discovery of his attempted es-
cape.

He could not locate it; yet, as it did not seem in ee
of him, he plunged blindly through the dark opening, and
found himself in the presence of the young woman.

She was seated as he had last seen her, and looked
pale and weak, the light of a torch falling on her face.

Behind him somewhere, Rounds fancied he heard the
feet of pursuing blacks. With a yell of fright, he ran
to the young woman, where he threw himself down,
groveling before her.

“Oh—oh!” he gasped. “Save me from ’em!
want to be killed! 1 ain’t fit to be killed.”

“You means you ain’t fat and hawglike enough to be
killed ?” ‘said a voice behind him, the voice of one . the
negroes.

I don’t

Rounds flounced, with a yell, to one side, and saw the
grinning face of the black.

“What you-all doin’ heah? And what you- -all mean
by sayin’ you ain’t fitten to be killed?” said the negro.
Rounds was too terrified to make an answer.
“Pompey, take him away?” said the young woman.
She turned to the terrified prisoner. -
“It’s not my fault that you are being held ee SO
please don’t hold me responsible for it. The fault is your
own. If you hadn’t come into this section, or had left

8

BILL STORIES.

it when you were warned, this wouldn't have happened.

It seems to be needful to hold yOu a while, and. ‘there's s

no help for. it,”
The negro caught Rounds by the caer
“You gwine to come wid me!” he said,
He led the white man meekly back into the cave from

which he had fled, and there again tied him, this time |

the prisoner being so frightened that he did not pro-
test, but submitted his hands and feet ee
ingness.

_ “Tt’s all up!” he groaned, as the bee left fe “Twas
a fool for comin’, and a bigger fool for stayin’, after
them warnings was received. This proves that this
‘woman is mixed up in some way with the White Witch.
I don’t understand it. I ain't got head oe now to
understand anything.”

He had not been there long, alone in his misery, , when
he heard a soft footfall.

» Turning his head to look, he saw the White Witch.

He wanted to scream aloud, but his: tongue seemed to
stick in his mouth.

The long white garment, or dress, which had Hite
her so ghostly, she wore now; but, even in his scared
state, Rocky Rounds did not fail to note the absence. of
the long, floating hair which had been so observable, Her

hair was now short, seeming to prove that she had wor

a wig of long hair.

With the gliding step which he had noticed before, she
came toward him, looking ghostly in the faint light.

She lifted a finger, warning him to silence.

Then he saw that this was surely a woman, not a
ghost. Her face was marked by suffering, fer bright
eyes seemed to burn like fire.

“Not a word!” she whispered, bending over hin. oe
cutting the cords that held him. .

He shrank from her touch, which she Hone with a
smile.

“Vm the White Witch of the Niobrara! !’” she said. .
as I tell you, or you’re a,dead man.” —

“Yes; anything you say!” he ee

“Follow me!”

“Do

leave. |
A hole which he ae not seen opened Ge her, as
she went into the farther end of the cave.
“Right in here,” she said co netely, when he hesi-
tated.
Dees oe jae
_ He followed, obedient as a dog.
When they had passed over what seemed to ir an
interminable distance, light was observed ahead of them,

\

and they came out on the slope of a hill, where one of

the negroes, stood, apparently awaiting them.

“Nero,” said the woman, who looked much less ghostly :

 

He rose and auieeered after ee as she turned De

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   
   
 
 

 

    
   
  
 

 

 

   
 

out int ‘the light, “you know what to do.
and tie him where I told you.” .
“Yes, missus! I shore sticks a knife inter ‘im ‘if you

_ des’ says to me to do it.”

Rounds’ decth chattered with (error.

EN ero,” * she said, “I think i go with you; J want this
done right,”

She turned back a Rounds,
“Follow this man,” she said to him.
that I’m right behind you.”

Rounds had a brief thought of resistance, when ne
black took him by the hand, but it died out very quickly,

“And recollect

and he went along quietly enough, knowing that the ter-

tible White Witch of the Niobrara was close behind him.
~ When they had gone on for sometime in’ this way,
Rounds began to notice that he had been there before;

» the trees, rocks, and bushes began to seem familiar.

He looked about vainly for some way of escape, a
wild. hope in his heart that either Buffalo Bill or Frank
Powell would appear and he could-call to them to relieve
him from his predicament. : :

The noose of a rope trailed loosely at his see
He stumbled and fell, for it tended to trip him. When
the black stooped and made it still looser, a desperate

, thought of flight came 2 the unhappy man.

 

“Loosen it still. more,” he begged, stumbling avain,
but this time with intention.

The negro loosened the rope still more.

He stumbled again. -

“See heah, boss,” was the op ebolls Hea “Vou think
I’se gwine takd dat rope off, you’se mistook, now I tell
ye. You walk ‘long now, er I des’ lays de end of a rope
over your shoulder.”

In wild desperation, Rocky Rounds made a leap, and

then began to run as he had not run for years.

A bellow of wrath came from the negro and a cry
of excitement from the White Witch.

The negro leaped in swift pursuit.

The race, for Rounds, was hopeless from the first.

‘The black soon caught up with him, and tripped him
by simply stepping on the rope. Rounds was thrown

»-) sprawling, and then the black was on top of him.

- The White Witch had followed almost as quickly.
“Take him on!” she commanded, with breathless Hee

“Take shim on!”

And Rocky Rounds was arseeed ahead, in spite of his
wild attempts at resistance.

At the end of perhaps a mile the negro and the woman
stopped. Here, notwithstanding he again made protests,
Rocky Rounds was securely bound, the rope being passed
reund his body and round the tree in several loops.

When this had been done, the White Witch left him
alone with the negro, while for a time she disappeared.
Rounds saw that she had climbed a hill, and he guessed
correctly that she was doing some spying.

THE’ BUFFALO

Take this man

‘portion if they did not heed the warnings.

 

   

BILL STORIES. 28

She was not gone long. -

“When she came back there was a strange look on her _
face, which was drawn and white, and the fiery wildness
of her eyes: “seemed to have oo She | now bore i An
her hand a rifle. Be

For the first time something in her ike, or in her
manner, came to fix in Rounds’ mind the idea that this
was certainly the “slim man” with whom he had played
cards and from whom he had won the nuggets of gold.

“Say,” he cried, in sheer desperation. “You recollect
them card games I ‘had with ye? Seems ter me that in
memory of that you might let up on me a bit now; you
might make it easier for me!’

She seemed not have known before that this was the
gambler, or else she had not cared to.speak of it.

A strange look passed over her quivering countenance ;
but otherwise the gambler’s appeal passed unnoticed. :
“You see this rifle?” she said to him. “It is loaded,
and I know how to use it. Some of your friends are
coming, and they will be here soon. Because of that
I had you'brought here. I have asked them to leave this
country, and they have refused. I have made threats,
and they have scorned them. I said death would be their
You are of
I shall slip behind those rocks over there,
and shall train this rifle on your heart. If the men go
back when you tell them to, your life is spared. If they
do not, I shall send this bullet into you and finish you,
and thus show to them that my words are war re-

specting.”

It was a long ca and Rody Rounds hardly heard
the half of it. But he heard enough to let him know that
Powell and Buffalo Bill were near, and approaching ; and
that his own death was at hand unless they went back.’

He saw the White Witch disappear; but soon he saw.
her again, and the muzzle of her rifle was poked out at
him, apparently aimed at his breast. oe

The negro also disappeared, somewhere in the rocks
near-by. .

Had it not been for the sight of that rifle covering
his heart, Rocky Rounds would have begged Buffalo Bill
and Frank Powell to hasten to his release.

‘But with it there and threatening him, he was wild for
them to go back.

Hence, as soon as he saw them he beean to scream
at them to go back, and to tell them of his peril and its
meaning.

their party.

pee

2 CHAPTER XII.
PoE DEED OF A DESPERATE WOMAN. ©

“Go back! Go back!” yelled Rocky Rounds.
He threw himself to and fro in the ropes that held
him. If he could have done so, he would have waved his

hands.

§

  

 

      
ee

36 THE BUFFALO

“Go back! For the love of God, go back!” .

His appeals and commands halted the two scouts. :
They saw only aes) Rounds, tied to that slender
Circe:

‘They would have rushed to his aid bo tor his frantic

cries.

“There’s a rifle p’inting straight at my heart, and the
bullet I'll git if you try to release me,” he explained. “It’s
the White Witch. She is a woman, and she has got #
rifle, and a nigger is with her ; and she’s goin’ shore to
shoot me if you fellers don’t promise to git out of this
country at onc’t and never come back into it. “Phat s
what she’s told me to say to ye.”

“We don’t see her,” Powell shouted at him.

He might have thought that Rocky Rounds was ‘crazy,
but for those cords holding him to the tree. That was
proof he had not put himself there,

“You don’t see her, because she’s right up there in
“them rocks; but I see her, and I see her rifle, and it’s
pullin’ a bead on me at this minute. Go back! Won't
you go back?’

- Buffalo Bill made a silent signal to the surgeon-scout.

In answer to it Powell continued to talk, while Buffalo
Bill, slipping out of his saddle, began to run swiftly to-
ward the rocks which Rounds had indicated, hoping to
~ come on the White Witch from the rear and make her
' a prisoner.

But though the White Witch could not see this, Ge
negro. could see it as clearly as could Rocky Rounds him-
» self,

“TE think, Rounds, that you must be joking,” said
Powell, endeavoring by talk to conceal the movements
of Buffalo Bill. “I think Pll just ride on and-cut those
cords. You rascal, what did you tie yourself up there
Fong’ 6

“T didn’t! It’s no joke! Go back, I tell ye!
back, or.I’m a dead man; and git out of the aan
both o’ ye, or you're in the same. fix!’ .

-- Powell continued to advance, in spite.of the plead-
ings and warnings of Rocky Rounds, his intention be-
ing merely to draw attention until Buffalo Bill had been
given time fo get in behind the mysterious White Witch.

~The negro, watching from his hiding-place, stood up
suddenly, with a waving motion of his hands, and bel-
lowed something across to the hidden’ woman. ,
Instantly her rifle cracked, and Rocky Rounds, with a
yell of pain, fell forward in the ropes that held him..

Frank Powell had tempted the White Witch too far,
and she had sought to make good her threat, ‘and thus
inspire in these men the fear she thought they needed.

Powell did not delay after seeing Rocky Rounds drop

over in that way.
“He knéw that Rounds had been shot.
He spurred forward,

Go

BILL “STORIES.

He heard a yt font Buffalo Bill, who had sighted. : :

the White Witch. n
The White Witch and te negro were both: ranainge
and the woman vanished from sight alee at the mo-
ment the scout set his eyes on her.
For a little while he tried to pursue her across the
rocks ; then, hearing further outcry from’ Powell, he

slipped down from the rocks and ran toward his friend. | \

He found Frank Powell at the tree, where Rocky —
Rounds was hanging limp and apparently lifeless.
He saw Powell cutting the cords. me
When he reached the tree Powell had laid the an
conscious man on the ground and was tearing us shirt
open to look at his wound. |
The bullet had struck Rounds in ne iat it had :
béen aimed-at his heart, but the ball had gone high,
He ‘was unconsciotis from the shock, oe the wound a
was beginning to bleed.
“Pl take that whisky-flask, Cody,” said Powell.
Despite the seriousness ofthe situation, Buffalo Bill
could not but smile. From the first Rocky Rounds had
begged for a “pull” at that whisky-flask and had been ~
refused ;
whisky was to be placed to his lips.
Its effect was almost instantaneous.
and then opened his eyes. ae
“More!” he gasped, pawing out feebly for it. eae
keeper, fill the glass up ag’in. Oh, thats the ee
wine o', life!” :
“He'll do!” said the scout. “He's not going over the
range just yet, to judge by that.” i:
The surgeon-scout had taken a probe fos: his sur-
oy -case. i
‘“Tust keep a watch, Cody, to see that some oak those
devils don’t slam bullets into us. Tve. ae to. get this:
lead out of here.” ae
He did not make use of an pe aheae iat ep.

Rounds Beira o

‘the bullet as soon as he had located it, pe Rocky

Rounds to bellow with pain.
“Rounds, you're all right,” he said.
can howl like that has got a good deal of strength;

AS fatto who |
arid

now that the lead is out of you, there’ll be no trouble. «

Just lie there, and stop yout Pes oe while I
apply a bandage.”
Buffalo Bill had taken his stand a few. pnd: away,

- where he could in part command the surrounding rocks.

Yet the position was so exposed that he knew if any
outlaws were near and wanted to make a drive. at him,
or Powell, he and his pard could hardly hope to escape. |

Rocky Rounds, now that he knew he was not going
to die, and with that taste of the fiery nae) in his
mouth, began to beg for more.

- Powell won his eternal gratitude by tipping the bottle
to his lips and letting him swallow the contents. i's:
Within a little while, so potent was. ae effect, OF the

 

and’ now, when he knew nothing of it, the: ‘
 

= spe
eeaunaasiec eee “

 

a EN TILES

TRE BURP LO Bll SlORIES 9 | 27

whisky on the hardened inebriate, that he was declaring

himself almost as good as new and begging his com-
' panions to lose no time in getting him and themselves
out of the country.

“Tt’s the White Witch,” he said, “and I think she is
shore crazy, and that nigger with her is as crazy as
shé is. The other woman I don’t know about, but I
shore don’t want to see either of them ag’in. Git me
out of this, quick!”

Instead of heeding his appeal, the seouts declared they
had no intention of going at once out of the country.
The mystery of the White Witch and of the| young
wotnan who had been seen by Powell with a mask on
her face so appealed to them that they could not think
of leaving until they knew more. :

So, in spite of Rounds’ appéals, they tied their horses

and made preparations for picking up the trail OL the”

woman and the negro.

_ “Jes’ gimme a horse and let me git out of here,
then!” begged Rounds.
selves killed, you can let me go, can’t yer”

“The only safe thing for you to do, Rounds,” said
the surgeon-scout, “is to remain absolutely quiet for a
while. If you don’t that wound will begin to bleed,
and you'll be Mp against it bad; it may kill you. We'll
be back soon.’

That was enough. Rocky Rounds dedluted that if
they would hide him somewhere in a niche of the rocks
he would not stir until they came back.

_ They concealed him as well as they could, and also
hid their horses, and then they tried to pick up the trail
of the woman and the negro.

CHAP Hie xii
CONCLUSION.

The trail of the-woman called the White Witch could
not be found and followed; she was too light of foot
and too careful and shrewd.

But/the.footprints of the negro were discovered where
he had fled across the stream.

He had apparently thought himself safe beyond that,
and had used even less care than before, so that the
keen-eyed scouts, than whom there were no better trail-
ers in all the West, were able to hang to it in se of
the stony character of the ground.

They spent more than an~hour in spelling out the
trail left by the negro.

At the end of that time they found themselves be-
fore a rocky eminence which rose beside the river, the
river flowing at its base at a point above this section
of the cafion.

The scouts might ae plunged ahead at this point
but that they were brought to a halt by hearing voices.

“Tf you fellers want to git yer-

Keeping themselves concealed, they lay quietly listen-_
ing and watching. Their advance had been almost
noiseless.

Then they saw a big negro come out of an opening
which they had thought a mere niche in an overhang-
ing rock.

He poked up his Weal, followed it with his body, and
then, standing forth, surveyed the surrounding country. |

“*Fore Laud, missus,” they heard him say, “dem fel-
lers ain’t gwine be able to fine dis heah place, nohow! -
Couldn’t. a skunk er a mink nose out dis hole in de .
ground.”

Buffalo Bill stepped forth and covered the negro
with a revolver.

“Surrender!” was the loud command.

Instead of obeying, the negro dropped, with a yell
of fright, and slid out of sight like a rabbit.

Buffalo Bill and the surgeon-scout dashed forward,
rightly judging that this was the time to make their
rush, when they would be aided by the fright and con-
fusion resulting from their sudden appearance.

They were met in the entrance of the small cave by
two big negroes. One was armed with a club, while
the other wielded a revolver, which he began to fire as
soon as the scouts were\before him.

So great was his fright and his excitement, however,
that he would not have been able, in the words of Buf-
falo Bill, “to hit a flock of barns.” All his bullets flew
high.

The big negro yn the club was the more formidable
antagonist.

Powell’s arm and-_shoulder caught the force of a blow
of the club, and for a moment the surgeon-scout thought
his arm was broken and his shoulder crushed.

Buffalo Bill gave a leap like the spring of a mountain
lion. He caught the club-wielder by the throat, and
the two went down together.

With a quick upward kick, in which he leaped from
the ground, Frank Powell knocked the revolver from
the hands of the other negro, and then they came to-
gether in a wild battle for the mastery.

The scream of a woman sounded, and a slight aaa
in female attire tried to dart out of the cave.

Buffalo Bill, though fighting with one of the negroes,
put forth his foot, over which the scared woman tripped
and she rolled to the ground.

A smashing blow of the scout’s heavy fist reduced
the black to subjection, and before the woman could get
up and run out of the cave the scout was on his feet,
confronting her.

‘Don’t try it!’ he said, in warning.

‘ He saw that this was a young woman, and so thought
she was the one the surgeon-scout had seen masked,
and was not the White Witch. This seemed to be
proved, too, by the chalky pallor of her cheeks and by

 
28

the further fact that one of her arms seemed to hang

weakly at her. side, as if it lacked strength from a

wound.

Seeing that he had frightened the girl, and that she

was retreating, the scout turned to assist the surgeon-
scout, who was having his hands full in his fight with
the giant black against whom he was pitted.

_ A crack of a revolver-butt on the thick skull of the
negro freed the surgeon-scout of his tenacious foe, and
the black rolled over to the ground with a deep groan.

“Just look out for them, Powell, and shoot either one
that needs it!’ was the command of the scout, as he
now followed the young woman.

A rifle cracked, and he felt the wind of the bullet on
his face; then he saw before him the White Witch, with
a rifle at her cheek.

She was about to fire again, which. the scout baffled
by a jump to one side. a

His revolver dropped down until it cavered her breast.

Yet the White Witch would have pulled trigger on
him if the girl had not deemed the act suicidal for aot
and knocked the rifle-muzzle to one side.

The next instant the daring scout had sprung for-
ward and caught the older woman by the wrist.

He did not tie the women, but held them in sub-
jection with, his revolver, while the surgeon-scout ap-
plied cords to the senseless negroes.

The fight in the mouth of the cave had lasted but a
short time, but at the end the two scouts were in vic-
torious possession.

‘Now, what does this mean?’’ said the younger of the
two women, weak with rage and chagrin. “Doctor
Powell, is this a sample of your noted chivalry, and
kindness to women?” ‘

The surgeon-scout uttered an pcolamat ie of amaze-
ment. For the first time he saw unmasked the face .
the younger woman.

“Ethel!” he cried, his face and his voice showing how
‘great was his astonishment.

Be ste 6 * he ae

In other days the surgeon-scout had known this wom-
an, whose name at that time was Ethel Leonard.

He was now to learn her strange, sad story, and the
equally strange, sad story of the other woman, who was
her mother.

They had lived originally in the South, and to their
fallen fortunes had clung three negro servants, who
had followed them when they moved into the new

West.
There Miss Ethel Leonard had been wooed by. and.

had married a man called Joseph Latimer, finding later

that was not his true name, and also discovering that he

was a road-agent and highwayman.
Love does strange things.

Even when she knew that the man she had married |

THE BUFFALO

i Nn i a
BILL STORIES. :

@

was an outlaw and criminal she sion not. desert ee os

but went with him into the wilds, clinging. to him ey
in his criminal worthlessness.

She had stifled her conscience, and find even on sev-
eral occasions ridden forth with her husband on toad-
agent forays. ~

In one of them she had been wounded.

_, Learning that Doctor Frank Powell was in that. sec-
tion, and fearing: that her wound was mortal if it did
not receive proper attention, she had sent the three -
negroes to the town to get him to visit her. |
One of the negroes, instead of returning to the moun-
tain fastness, had gone on to perform a. further service
for her.
The other two had brought Powell to the cave, where
their young mistress had met him masked.
- The mother of the girl, having discovered her bee
tion and her condition, Had joined her, trying to get
her to leave her ‘husband ; and the shock of her dis-
covery, or some other cause, had unhinged her mind. —
She had begun to play the role known in these pages
as that of the White Witch of the Niobrara; and as the
White Witch she had tried vainly to frighten pole:
Bill and Frank Powell into leaving the country.

She had met Buffalo Bill at the entrance of ihe first

cafion, and standing there, with floating wig of false
hair and hand extended, while a flash-light of mixed
gunpowder and dry grass lighted her figute, au com-
manded him to turn back.

At the cabin she had tried to frighten them with the
warning messages. 6.

She had left a birch-bark message in the abit: ake

the time she partly pushed the door open when Rounds
was there; this message had been jabbed by her against.
the door and stuck there with a pin. The pin had fallen ©
out, and the message, perhaps agitated by a puff of wind, —
had dropped down, and Rounds had found it in the
morning on his knee. ‘
That he had not seen it before was no doubt due
to the excited manner in which he ae searched Le
cabin.
Buffalo Bill and Peak Powell leached too, that one :
of the road-agents killed in the fight was ae road-agent

~Jeader and the husband of the young woman.

Her husband dead, she returned to civilization, chane |
ging her name, that no one might ever know her past.

The mental malady which had attacked her. mother a

shortened the latter’s life and she did not live long.

Nuggets obtained by a stage-robbery she had gambled
away in surfeptitious visits in disguise to the town.

And so our story ends, with these statements and the
further explanation that the gold-dust stolen from the
stage by the road-agents and cached by the scouts was -
returned to the people who had been robbed on ve
stage from Porcupine Bluffs.

From that day forth the Porcupine Bluffs stage trail
was unmolested by gentlemen of os road.

THE END.
Next week’s issue, No. att, | will be a ‘potting story

of excitement and adventure entitled “Buffalo Bill's
Fight for Life; or, Caught in the Cave of Lions.”

 
   

 

 

nM

 288—Buffalo Bill's Dance of Death;

. 289—Buffalo Bill and the Creeping Terror;

  

Ce

: ) 282—Buffalo Bill’s Camp-fires ;

 

 

SSU ED EVERY TU ESDAY.

BEAUTIFUL COLORED er eee

 

PRICE FIVE

 

~ Buffalo Bill wins his way into the heart of every
one : iho reads these strong stories of stirring adventure
on the wide prairies of the V
- Boys, if you want’ tales a the West that are
BP drawn true to life, do not pass these by. —

five, fe
A
Bi Vals

 

 

TS PER COPY

 

For sale by all newsdealers, or sent, by the publishers to any address upon receipt of price in money or postage stamps

 

 

HERE ARE THE

‘or, The Bad Man of
Snake River Crossing.

F 283—Buifaio Bill Up a Stump; or, The Pawnee Faker of
the Bitter Root.

| f a Bill's Secret Moe: or, Vhe Wizard of Windy

Gulch.
285Buttalo Bill’s: Master-stroke ;
Death Valley.

or, The Specter: of

| 286—Buffalo. Bill’ ud the Masked Mystery ; Or, ‘eton

John, the Half-breed.

a 287—Butfialo Bill and the Brazos Terror; or, The Lone

Star Outlaws.

or, The Night
Hawks of Snake River.
ar, ihe
Black Spider of the Shoshones.

vt “26q-—-Balfalo Bill and the Brand of Cain; or, The Wan-

dering Jew of the Plains.

» 291—Buffalo Bill and the Mad Millionaire; or, The
- Redskin Rovers.
: 292—Butfalo Bills Medicine-lodge; or, The White

‘Queen of the Kickapoos.
f 293—Butfalo Bill in Peril; or, The Red Amazons of

the. Niobrarah.

: f 294—Buffalo Bill’s Strange Pard; or, Wolfer Joe on

 

  

| 297—Butfat Bill’s Border Ruffians ;

 

the War-path.

| 295—Buffalo Bill in the Death Desert; or, The Worship
of the Phantom Flower.

| 296 Batis Bill in No Man’s Land; or, The Sky-mir-
ror of the Panhandle.

or, The Hee

Game of Panther Pete

 

LATEST TITLES:

298—Buffalo Bill’s Black Eagles;
from Timbuctoo.
209—Buffalo Bill’s Desperate Dozen; or, The Raiders of
Round-Robin Ranch. \
300—Buffalo Bill’s Rival; or, The Sealp-hunter of the
Niobrarah.
301—Buffalo Bill’s Ice Chase; or, The Trail of the Black
Ue Ps |
302—Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler; or, The White
Flower of Fetterman Prairie.
303—Buffalo Bill and the White Specter; or, The Mys-
terious Medicine-man of Spirit Lake.
304—Buffalo Bill’s Death Defiance; or, The Bad Men of
Timber Bar.
305—Buffalo Bill and the Barge Bandits; or, The Demon
of Wolf River Cafion.
306—Buffalo Bill, the Desert Hotspur; or, Pizen Jane, of
Cinnabar.
307—-Buffalo Bill’s Wild Range Riders
ance of Crazy Snake.
308—Buffalo Bill’s Whirlwind Chase; or, The Mustang
Catchers of Bitter Water.
309—Buffalo Bill’s Red Retribution; or, The Raid of the
Dancing Dervishes.
310—Buffalo Bill Haunted; or, The White ‘Witch of the
Niobrara.
311—Buffalo Bill’s Fight for Life; or, Caught in the
_ Cave of Lions. ;
312—Buffalo Bill’s Death Jump; or, The Ogallalas’ Last
Stand.
313—Buffalo Bill and the Pit of Horror; or, The White
Queen of Paradise Valley.

 

or, The Snake-master

; or, The Venge-

If you want any back numbers of our libraries and cannot procure them from your news-

| ) dealers, they can be obtained from this office direct,

1 j STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79 Seventh Avenue, NEW YORK CITY.

BEd Sir i COCA i Aid Sd aa ASR Laas sens re al epe Padi eM ibs Us

Postage stamps taken the same as money.

  

   
     

    
 

ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY, _

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS

Diamond Dick and his son, Geme are ue men of the Western

plains. °

They are noble-hearted fellows who don’t i impose on the weaker

man and who don’t let anyone else do it if they can help it. ©
You ought to read how they clean up a mining camp of the dis-
honest gamblers and other toughs who usually prey on the uneducated

miners.

PRICE FIVE

at

CENTS PER COPY

For sale by all newsdealers, or sent, by the publishers to any address upon receipt of price in ne or postage stamps

 

 

HERE ARE THE

517—Diamond Dick’s Ghostly Round-up; or, The Phan-
tom Steer of K-Bar-6.

518—Diamond Dick’s Big Drive;
Down in a Blizzard.

519—Diamond Dick’s Trail of Vengeance;
to the Rio Grande.

520—Diamond Dick Holds the Fort;
Along the Big River.

521—Diamond Dick’s Steel Glove; or, The Smiling Man
From Santa Fé,

522—Diamond Dick’s No-name Mystery : or, The Smi-
ling Man’s Bad Mistake.

523—Diamond Dick’s Midnight Stampede;
Horse-thieves of the Cimarron.

524—Diamond Dick’s Forlorn Hope; or, The Siege of
Adobe Castle.

525—Diamond Dick’s Night Watch; or, The Pretty Girl
of Falling Rock.

526—Diamond Dick’s Three To One: or, Backed By
Uncle Sam.

527—-Diamond Dick’s Golden Quest; or, The Secret of
Snake River. '

528—Diamond Dick’s Long Leap; or, Single-handed
Against a Giant.

5290—Diamond Dick’s Heiress

f Through the Big’ Divide.

530—Diamond Dick at the Throttle;
Headlight of Hoodoo Pass.

531—Diamond Dick’s Hobo Trail;
the Long Blue Scar.

532—Diamond Dick’s Black Sign; or, A Strange Battle
with a Dead Man.

533—Diamond Dick’s Queer Rebuke; or, Giving a a Les-
son to a “Bad Man.”

or, Holding Them
or, Tracked

or, Hot Work

“or, tne

Hunt: or 7A Dash
or, The Ghostly

or, The Man with

 

LATEST TITLES:

534—Diamond Dick’s Night Ride; or, The Worth of a
Thoroughbred Pard.

53 Diamond Dick on an Indian Trail; or, The Venge-.
ance of a Navaho.

530—Diamond Dick in. Arizona;

_ Sport of Grand Cafion.
537—Diamond Dick Over the Rio Grande; or, A Fant
- for a Girl Through Mexico.

538—Diamond Dick’s Shower of Gold; or, The Princess
of the Montezumas.

539—Diamond Dick Below the Line; or, An Amierican
Against Big Odds.

540—Diamond Dick on Shipboard; or, Blocking a Slick
Game.

541—Diamond Dick’s Wide Loop; or, Roping Five at

‘ One Throw.

542—Diamond Dick’s Royal Foe; or, he Strange Pas-
sage of the Santa Cruz.

543—Diamond Dick’s. College Scrap; or, A Battle Bor
His Alma Mater.

544—Diamond Dick in the Deep Snows; OF, A Close
‘Call on the Yukon.

545—Diamond Dick’s Merciless Trail ; or, The Two Ras-
cals of White Horse.

546—Diamond Dick’s Steel Heart;
of the Sierras.

547—Diamond Dick’s Inferno;
Great Black Tunnel.

548—Diamond Dick’s Bad Smash; or, ae New Opera-
tor at Yuba, Pass, as

549—Diamond Dick’s Deadly Snowball ;

Nail on Black Butte. -

5 ee Dick, Editor ;

Lame Dog.

or, ‘Lhe Foolhardy

or, The Fire oe
Or, The Madman of the

ot, Looth and

or, A Rattling Surprise for

If you want any back numbers of our ee and cannot procure them from your news-

dealers, they can be obtained from this office direct.

Postage stamps taken the same as money.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79 Seventh ee NEW YORK CITY.

 
MT

 

ISSU de EVERY SATU RDAY.

HANDSOM EST COLORED EOTEGS

No other detective library contains stories that are half so inter-_

sting.

ence with all kinds of criminals,

That’s why, boys, his adventures holds one’s interest from cover
cover. There is no brutality in Nick’s make-up—he does not need it
De. not fail e. get the latest number irom your

he uses his wits.
ewsdealer.

PRICE FIVE CEN

Nick Carter has been all over the world and has Je experi-

TS PER ‘COPY.

For sale by all newsdealers, or sent, by the publishers to any address upon receipt of price in money or postage stamps

 

HERE ARE THE LATEST

s10—The Last of the Outlaws; or, How Nick Carter
Stopped the “Cannon- ball.”
511—Nick Carter's Twin Mystery; or, ce Secret of the
Green Automobile.
512—A Battle of Wits; or, Nick Carter’s Right for Life.
513--A Game of Five “Millions; or, Nick Carter’s Fight
With a Fiend.
514—-Codman the Poisoner ; or, Nick Carter’ s Strangest
: Experience.
|} 515—The Plot of the Poisoner; or, Nick Carter's -Hair-
breadth Escape.
516—The Mechanical Giant; or, Ten-Ichi lave a icone
: Hand.
517—Doris, the Unknown; or, Nick Carter’s Blindfold
ae Mystery.
Rigel Dangerous Woman; or, mre Carter Faces a
: oo Crisis,
| sto—Madge Morley’s Ghost; or,
‘perate Fight.
520—An Automobile Mystere or, Nick Carter’s Blood-
~ hound on the Scent.
521——The Mysterious Stranger ; or, Nick Carter’s Com:
plex Case.
522—The White’ Arm of a Woman; or, Nick Carter’s
Desperate Chase.
Ronee The Man in the Doorway; or, Nick Carter’s Con-
quest of a Castle. ,
s24—The Plot of the Baron; or, Nick Carter’s Telling
Strategy.
525-—The Passenger on the Night Local; or, Nick ay
ter’s Perfect Disguise.

Nick. Garter’s Des-

 

TITLES: |

526—A Double Mystery ; or, Nick Carter’s Strong-hand
Play.

527—-Clarice, the Countess ;
boat Chase.

528—Clarice, the Woman Detective;
Titled Assistant.

5290-—The Index of Seven Stars; or, Nick Carter Finds
the Hidden City.

530—An Amazonian Queen; or, Nick Carter Becomes a
Gladiator. ‘

531—A Blackmailer’s Paradise; or, Nick

_ covers the Hidden Hand.

or, Nick Carters Motor-

OF, Nick Carter’s

Carter Dis-

532—Gipsy Madge, the Blackmailer; or, Nick Carter's

First-class Bluff.

533—-Facing an Unseen Terror; or, Nick Carter's Day
of Blunders.

334—-Idayah, the Woman of Mee oe or, N ick Carter’s
Fourfold Problem.

535--LThe Making of a King; or, Nick Carter Faces His
Greatest Mystery.

536—The Empire of a Goddess; or, Nick Carters Won-
derful Adventure.

537-—Zanabayak, the Terrible; or, Nick Carter's Strug-
gle With the Vitic, King.

538—The Seven-headed Monster; or, Nick Carter’s Mid-
night Caller...

339—The Woman of the Mask; or, Nick Carter's Quad- _

ruple Mystery.

s4o—The Masked Woman’s Daring Plot; or, Nick Car-
ter Springs a Surprise.

If you want any back numbers of out itbeaties and cannot procure them from your newsdealers, they
| can be obtained from this office direct. Postage stamps taken the same as money.

| STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79 Seventh Avenue, NEW YORK CITY.

SIRE aN tlhe ae A eae ctf Ao eth neti ili git cB ee REE NS PE
1

 
   
    
  
 
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
   

a

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from Readers of

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adventure published in the Rough Rider Weekly, has some special reason

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tell us just what he thinks about the Rough Rider Weekly and hereby offer

valuable prizes to those who write us the best letters regarding the stories

themselves; how you may have worked to increase their circulation or what

- you know about the fascinating life of the modern ranchman, so ably de-

scribed by our cowboy author, Mr. Ned Taylor. This competition is open
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AS

  

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

2 = 3 © oe, oa, oa, oa, oE, «Ta, oS, oR, “Ba, EM, oT, Ta, «a, oa, © XG, 0 “SG, o SQ, o GR o
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Buffalo Bill Stories

Buffalo Bill is the hero of a thousand exciting adven-
tures among the Redskins. These are given to our
boys only in the Buffalo Bill Stories. They are bound
to interest and please you.

 

 

 

 

DIAMOND DICK wee

The demand for stirring stories
of .Western adventure, is admir- | &
ably filled by this library. Every
up-to-date boy ought to read just |
how law and order are estab-
lished and maintained on our
Western plains by Diamond Dick,
Bertie, and Handsome Harry.

Ted Strong was appointed deputy mar-
shal by accident, but he resolves to use his
authority and rid his ranch of some very
tough bullies. He does it in such a slick
way that everyone calls him “‘King of the
Wild West” and he certainly deserves his
title. $100 in cash are given to the readers
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MIGHT AND MAIN

These are stories of the adven-
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climbing the ladder of fame by
honest effort. No more inter-
esting tales can be imagined.
Each number is at least one-third
longer than the ordinary five-
cent library.

 

We know, boys, that there is |
no need of introducing to you}
Nicholas Carter, the greatest |
sleuth that ever lived. Every |
number containing the adven-
tures of Nick Carter has a peculiar,
but delightful, power of fascina-|F
tion.

 

 

BRAVE AND BOLD

Every boy who prefers variety
in his reading matter, ought to

The adventures of a poor waif
whose only name is ‘Bowery
Billy.” Billy is the true product.

be a reader of Brave and Bold.
All these were written by authors
who are past masters in the art

of telling boys’, stories. Every

of the streets of New York. No
boy can read the tales of his trials
without imbibing some of that
resource and courage that makes
the character of this homeless boy

 

tale is complete in itself. stand out so prominently.

 

 

The Tip Top Weekly

Frank Merriwell and his brother Dick are known and loved by over one

hundred and fifty thousand of the best boys in the United States. They are

both clean-cut, vigorous fellows-who dare to do right no matter what the:
We are sure you will like it.

consequences. Get the current number.