BS
Ata
hie yi

eat wee
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7) No 375.

 

 

 

 

 

 

—

Saat

 

 

 

 

 

< Assued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Lintered as Second-class Matter at the N. VY. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave., ¥. Y.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1908, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.

 

a {== Beware of Wild West imitations of the Buffalo Bill Stories. They are about fictitious characters. The Buffalo
Bill weekly is the only weekly containing the adventures of Buffalo Bill, (€ol. W. F. Cody), who is known all.

 

over the world as the king of scouts.

 

See

_ NEW YORK, June 20, 1908.

_ Price Five Cents.

suffalo Bill’s Girl Pard;

OR,

DAUNTLESS DELL OF THE “DOUBLE D.”

 

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

CHAPTER I.
THE BEAR-TRAP.

“Waugh! Jest lis’en ter thet, will ye? Ther pizen
noise seems ter come from every which way. Trailin’
tracks ter ther place whar they goes is er heap easier
than trailin’ er noise like thet ter ther place whar. et
comes from. Whoa, you gangle-legged ole hide-rack,
yu! Stand still fer a brace o’ shakes while I tries ter
sense ther location o’ thet distressin’ whoop.”

The speaker was Buffalo Bill’s trapper pard, old Nick
Nomad. As was quite frequently the case when Nomad
was journeying alone, he was conversing with himself.

The “gangle-legged old hide-rack” to which he re-
ferred was his horse—a rangy, ranch-bred cayuse, all
leather and springs. oo:

Horse and rider were in a high-walled basin, formed |

by the opening out of’ a gulch through which ran the
wagon-trail from McGowan’s mine, the Three-ply, to the
town of Phoenix, in Arizona.

At its widest, the basin would measure probably an
eighth of:a mile across. Its bottom was level as a floor

and overgrown with mesquit, greasewood, and thorn.

Nomad, entering the basin from the gulch on the north,
was crossing to the gulch on the south. He was close to
the center of the basin when he heard a prolonged:

“Whoo-yah-h-h!’”

The walls of the basin caught up the sound and sent
it echoing and reechoing across the intervening spaces,
the result being a bewildering clamor coming from every-
where at once, and from nowhere in particular.

“Sartain shore,’ muttered old Nomad, cocking up his
ear and puzzling his brain, “thar’s another human in this
hyar place, an’ he ain’t feelin’ jest right in his mind,
someways. But whar is he? ‘Thet’s ther pint. Ther
noises aire all tangled up, an’ et seems like thar was er
hundred voices callin’. We got ter make er try, any-
ways, ole hoss. As er starter, we'll bushwhack ter ther
right.” a

The trapper turned from the wagon-trail and spurred
into the chaparral. “Whoo-e-e!” he shouted, as he forced
his way through the brush.

The echoes of his call were taken up by another
“Whoo-yah-h-h!” from the unseen man, and the basin
fairly roared with voices.

Nomad forced a passage clear to the basin wall on the ©

right without locating the person he was seeking. There- ~ a

  

 
no

oo te Be 6

upon he rode some fifty feet southward, and cut clear
across the basin. ay

Luck was with him that time, for he came upon a low
structure of cottonwood logs, bolted strongly together at
the corners, and with other logs bolted to the top, the
whole forming a sort of cage. ae :

At one side of the cage was a.door of strong, two-
inch planks, fastened to slide up and down in grooves.
This door was closed, and the top edge of it weighted
down with a big stone.
“Waugh!” exclaimed Nomad, pulling up his horse.
“Ef et ain’t er b’ar-trap I’m er Piegan.’””

“Whoop-yah-h-h!” came the howl of distress once
more, and there was not the least doubt about its being
inside the trap.

Nomad slid down from the saddle, dropped to his
knees, and peered between the logs. Then he began to
laugh. \

Inside the trap, likewise on his hands and knees, was
a caged man,

The man had fiery red hair, and his broad face was

/

fringed all around with fiery red whiskers.

“Divil take yez!” snorted the man in the trap, with a
brogue that was rich and fluent. ‘A laughin’ matther,
is ut? Come insoide a whoile, like mesilf, an’ see av
yez can laugh.” f

“Sufferin’ varmints!” chuckled the trapper. “Et’s an
Irish b’ar, blamed ef et ain’t.’’

“Begorry,” came the respofse, “Oi’m Irish, an’ proud
av bein’ from th’ ould sod, but it’s no b’ar Oi am. Rub
yer eyes, yez omadhoun, an’ look ag’in: Did yez iver
hear a bear falk? G’wan wid yer funnin’.”

“T've seen er b’ar do everythin’ but talk. What’s yer
name, my unforchnit friend?’

“Golightly.”

“An’ how did ye come ter git in ther trap 2”

“Och, wurra, Oi didn’t come t’ git in. Oi was on me
way te Phanix, an’ was shtopped on th’ road an’ put in,”

“Whar ye from?’ j

“Th’ Three-ply Moine.
Gowan.”

“I don’t riccolect seein’ ye at ther Three-ply, Go-
lightly, an’ I’ve been thar fer two er three days.” |

“Oi’ve seen yersilf there, wid Buffalo Bill an’ th’ little
redshkin yez call Cayuse. Are yez goin’ t’ let*me out, or
are yez goin’ t’ set there chinnin’ wid me on me hands
an’ knees an’ me back half-broke?” 4

_ “Tm goin’ ter let ye out, pilgrim,” said Nomad, get-
ting up and walking to the door of the trap. -
‘Throwing off the stone, he lifted the door, and Go-

Oi do be worrukin’ fr Me-

lightly rolled out, with a shout of satisfaction at finding 1

himself free: ae

“Fande take th’ blackeuards that did ut!” cried Go-
lightly, getting to his feet and stretching his cramped
libs... a

‘Clenching his fists, he shook them in the air; then,
jumping high and knocking his heels together, he stooped
down and patted the earth with one hand.

“Yez hear me?” he roared: “Oi can lick th’ black-
guards wid me wan hand tied behind me back!”

“Ef ye’re able ter do thet, Golightly,” grinned Nomad,

“fer why did ye let ther blackguards put ye in ther b’ar- 3

trap?” ee
“Qi was taken by surprise, that’s whoy!” glared Go-

lightly.

t’ th’ moine?’
“Ef Miss McGowan was? comin’ on ther mornin’

BILL STORIES.

“Tell me erbout et,” returned the old trapper, climb-
ing into his saddle and hooking one knee about the horn.
“This is th’ way av ut,” went on Golightly, ramming
some tobacco into the bowl of a short clay pipe and
scratchin’ a match on the sole of his boot. “McGowan

is expectin’ av his girrul from ’Friseo th’ marnin’, an’

it was mesilf he sint t’ Phanix t’ mate her. McGowan
was busy an’ couldn’t go himsilf.. Oi got an early shtart
wid th’ buckboard, an’ whin Oi was goin’ through here,
a mon wid a mask over his face—bad cess t’ him f’r th’
blackguard he is!—rode out av th’ bushes an’ grabbed
th’ two horses by th’ bits.

“Simulchuniously, an’ whoile O1 was arguin’ wid th’
mon t’ let go av th’ bits, two more wid masks rode out,
wan on each soide av me, laid hold av me collar an’
tipped me aff th’ sate av th’ buckboard. They had guns,
d’ye moind, an’ sorry a thing had Oi but me two fists.
What could Oi do? I ask yez that. Not a thing, says
you, but do as yez was bid. Ie, a
poked into th’ thrap, th’ door was closed, an’ th’ black-
guards wint aff wid th’ buckboard.” 4

“Thet was a pizen queer move, Golightly,” remarked
Nomad, the humor of the situation dying ott with the
serious business that seemed back of it.

“Queer, is ut? Oi do be callin’ ut worse than queer.
What did th’ fandes want iv th’ ould man’s buckboard?
An’ what did th’ ould man’s girrul do whin there was no
wan t’ meet her at th’ thrain in. Phanix?”

“Ther ole man’s darter’s name is Annié, ain’t et?”

“Annie McGowan—ye've shtruck ut. She’s been visit-

: i 4 . 9 hae
in’ in Frisco, an’ was expected home this marnin’. By

th’ same token, she was expectin’ some wan from th’
moine to mate her, an’ that same was what McGowan
tould me t’ do—which Oi didn’t do, account av bein’
penned up in th’ thrap fr six mortil Hours. Och, wurra,
but Oi can’t ondershtand ut at all!”

Golightly had not lighted his pipe. He scratched half
a dozen matches on his boot-sole, but each time he be-

came interested in his explanation, and allowed the match

to flicker out between his fingers.
sion of his state of mind.

‘I knowed McGowan was expectin’ his darter from
Frisco,” said Nomad, “an’ thet he’d sent some ’un ter
meet her; but why ye’d be stopped on er peaceful journey
like thet thar, an’ ther buckboard took erway from ye,
is somethin’ I no cumtwr. What use hev a lot er men
on hossback fer a buckboard, anyways? An’ why was
they masked? A feller don’t wear a’ mask onless he

It was a keen expres-

wants ter hide his identity; an’ ef he hides his identity,.

ye kin bet yer moccasins thar’s somethin’ onlawful up his
sleeve.” ,
“Where are yez bound f’r, Nomad?” asked Golightly.
“Phoenix. Buffler, an’ Leetle Cayuse, an’ me aire
startin’ fer Fort Apache. Leetle Cayuse an’ Buffer will
start from ther Three-ply this arternoon. Hevin’ er piece
o’ bizness ter attend ter in Phoenix, I started on ahead.”
“What had Oi betther do?

e993 ;

train—_—
“She was that.”

“Then she reached Phenix three hours since, an’ prob-

‘ly hes gone ter ther hotel. Yore cue, Golightly, is ter
mosey back ter ther Three-ply, an’ report what’s hap-

pened. Someway, I don’t like ther looks o’ things. This

underhand work may p’int ter some big villainy er other,

¥

I did that same, an’ was. 4

Go on t’ Phanix, or back

 

*

 
 
   

 

 
    

Tr TA BAe

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wel ete Te IQ

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fae

“Uo

wa

~

 

  

 

 

her out o’ thet bunch in er couple er jerks.

an’ McGowan ort ter be informed o’ et as soon as pos-
sible.”’ ;

“Qi do be sizin’ av ut up in th’ same way, Nomad;
but it’s severeal moiles back t’ th’ Three-ply, an’ Oi’ll be
some toime coverin’ th’ ground on foot.”

“Vell not kiver the ground on foot, Golightly, fer I’m
goin’ ter give ye a lift. I'll erbout-face an’ make front
on thet Three-ply camp, so’st ye kin give McGowan ther
nub o’ this diffkilty in short order. Climb up behind
me.’

Nomad kicked his foot out of one of the stirrups, and
Golightly was just mounting, when a clatter of hoots

reached their ears from southward.

The trapper hoisted himself in his saddle and looked
across the tops of the bushes toward the gulch opening
at the south side of the basin. _

“Waugh!” he cried, startled; “thar comes er gal on

er white pinto, slashing erlong ter beat four of er kind,

with two handy boys in masks in hot persoot! Take er
look, Golightly! Is thet Annie McGowan?’

“Anpiel Jest fromt “Frisco in that rig? Niver!
That’s Dell, av th’ Double D Ranch—a fri’nd av Annie
McGowan’s.”

“Whoever she is, Golightly; she needs us, an’ we'll cut
Hang on,
kase I’m goin’ ter plow through ther chaparral at tcp
speed.”
 Pamlne straight for the wagon-trail, the old trapper
made quick use of his spurs, and the double-burdened
horse crashed away on the jump. va

 

CHAPTER IL ®
Don LED ACU IN De a Sasi.

By the time Nomad and Golightly had reached the
wagon-trail, Dell of the Double D was well to the north
of the basin. The old-trapper and the Irishman thus
came out of the scrub between her and the two pursuing
men.

Facing about in the trail, old Nomad unloosened
“Saucy Susan” and “Scoldin’ Sairy’—as he called his
forty-fours—and the result, as he afterward expressed

it, was “shore comical.’

‘The masked pursuers, evidently, were not expecting

interference, and the sudden materializing of the trap-
per and the Irishman from the bushes was in the nature
of a disagreeable surprise. :
. Although their faces were masked, it could easily be
seen that they were ruffians of the border brand—the sort
who can be very brave when there are two of them in
pursuit of a woman, but immediately experience panic
when the odds are more nearly equal. -

The bullets fired by the trapper went into the air, and
the horses of the pursuers were stopped so suddenly that
theemen on their backs almost went over their heads.

Frantically the two ruffians whirled about and went
slashing along on the back trail, plying whip and spur
for all they were worth. .

To follow them was the last thing Nomad would con-
sider, with his own horse so heavi'y burdened. ‘
“Aire them plug-uglies two o ther gang thet put ye

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. ”

in ther b’ar-trap, Golightly, and run-off with ther buck-
board?” asked the trapper. .

“Faith, they look like ut,” answered the Irishman.
“They didn’t shtop t’ tell us whoy they took th’ buck-

' poard.”

“Nary, they didn’t,’ chuckled Nomad. ‘“Mebbyso
they’ll send their explanations by mail. Let’s see what
ther young woman has ter tell us. What did ye say her
name was.”

“Dell av th’ Double D Ranch.”

“Dell, hey? Ain’t thar nothin’ more to et?’

“Dauntless, Dell Dauntless, Oi belave, is her full name,
but nobody iver calls her that. F’r ivery wan in these
parts she’s Dell—Dell av’ th’ Double D.”

Nomad, after watching the two masked men disappear
in the gulch, had turned his horse the other way. \

“Tell Dauntless,” he muttered, his eyes on the girl as
she came riding back on her white cayuse.. “Waal, thet’s
er great name. Et somehow tickles my fancy like, an’
appeals ter my imagination. Et makes Dauntless Dell,
when ye turns et front-end to, an’ shore stacks up ther
clear quill.: Ther name’s purty, an’ ther gal thet wears
et is ther same She looks like she was got up ter play
ther star part in “Ther Cowboy’s Pride,’ er some other _
mellerdrammer with lots er blue fire and trembly music.
Mebbyso ther name’s er false alarm, an’ thet war-rig 0
her’n is on’y fer looks.”

“Arrah, ye’re wrong!’ declared Golightly; “they do
be sayin’ Dell av th’ Double D is nervier than any mon in
these parts. She can hit a squirrel in th’ eye as far as
she can git a sight av him, an’ she can shtand aff twinty
feet an’ throw th’ pint av a bowie through anny pip ye
name in a playin’-card.”

“Waugh! Yee gittin’ me plum interested; but go
lightly, will ye, ef thet’s yer name. What ye tell me is
more’n ary woman kin do.” Cay ee

“Vez don’t know Dell av th’ Double D,” muttered Go-
lightly. )

As she came loping easily toward the trapper and the
Irishman, perfect mistress of her horse and her lithe
body swaying rhythmically in the saddle, the girl was cer-
tainly a “picture.” Nomad, who cared little for the sex
feminine, felt a mighty stirring of admiration: in his old _
heart. Certainly, Dell of the Double D appealed to his
admiration for the picturesque. “

The girl could not have been more than nineteen or
twenty years or age, and that she was athletic by train-
ing and temperament was manifest in every graceful
move.

Her blouselike waist was of softest doeskin, fringed

and beaded and secured about her trim waist by a carved

Mexican belt, from which depended an ornate knife-
sheath, showing the pearl handle of a bowie; her short
skirt was of buckskin, likewise fringed and beaded; be-
low the skirt’s edge were laced tan leggings, and below
the leggings were small russet shoes, with silver spurs
at the heels. Her hat- was a rakish brown sombrero,
worn with a “Denver poke.”

Her riding gear was decorated with silver trimmings, —
which dazzlingly reflected the sun. ie

The cayuse, white and pink-nosed, was as smooth as
Sati a
“A foine horse she has,’ commented Golightly, in a
low tone, as the girl came nearer.

“Never seen er white bronk thet was wuth his keep,”
demurred Nomad. pa

~

  

 
  
 
 

       

a | THE BUFFALO

“Vez are lookin’ at wan now, thin,” insisted Golightly.
“She do be callin’ av him ‘Silver Heels.’ ”
“Silver Heels!’ muttered the old trapper. “Et’s er
name thet stacks up fine with Dauntless Dell. Mebbyso
thar’s somethin’ back er all them fine feathers, but I won't
believe et till I’m showed.”

“Howdy?” called the girl, undulating back on the reins ,

and bringing Silver Heels to a halt. “Whyever did you
push into this chase and scare those two ombrays away?”

This last question was a startler. Nomad rubbed his
chin.and silently turned it over in his mind.

“Golightly,” the girl went on, “you ought to have

known better, even if that grizzly old warrior in front of
you didn’t.”

Nomad gulped hard on a swear-word. What was the
girl trying to get at, anyhow?

“Waal, I reekon!” growled the old trapper. “Say, I’ve
been a grizzled warrior fer three times as many y’ars as
you’ve been on airth, an’ I ain’t never yit seen ther time
when I wouldn’t interfere with two masked tinhorns as
was er chasin’ er lady.”

The girl leaned back in her saddle, stared a minute,
then gave vent, to a rippling laugh. :

“Glory be, Dell,” said Golightly,
talk like that. This gint is Buffalo Bill’s pard, ould No-
mad.”

A smile still twitched at the girl’s lips, but there was
interest and gratification in her blue eyes as she held out
one gatntleted hand to the trapper.

“Shake, old Nomad,” said she. “I’m Dell—Dell
Dauntless of the Double D Ranch. Any fellow who
trains with Buffalo Bill must be in the list of big high
boys. You didn’t understand what I was trying to do,
that’s all. But I'll forgive you. Your intentions were
all right, I reckon.” )

Nomad took the small hand gingerly.

“What in blazes was ye doin’, miss, ef ye warn’t
tryin’ ter git erway from them thar masked riders?”

“Well, I was plugging along for the gulch,” said Dell;
“the gulch is rocky and crooked... I was intending to
round in under the lee of a boulder, draw a bead on the
two masked,men’’—-she slapped at a brace of holsters as
she spoke, such small holsters that they had, up till then,
escaped the trappers eye—‘‘and make them tell me what
their game was.” |

“Their game was ter ketch ye,” averred Nomad.

“But why? So far as I can tell, 1 never met the men
/ before.’ : | ‘

“Them leetle poppers look ter be rale cute,” hazarded
Nomad, “but them fellers is so hardened, I’m afeared
yer toy bullets wouldn't hev punctured ’em.” + :

“They re sawed-off thirty-eights,” said the girl prompt-
ly, jerking one of the weapons into view. “I can take
your sizing, all right, Nomad. You think I’m too much
of a spectacle to make good in a fight. I'll admit to you
that I don’t like rowdyism. 1 try to be a lady, both at
home on the ranch and when I’m abroad in the hills,
But I don’t think any the less of a lady because she’s
able to take care of herself. Do your’

‘Nary, © don't,” said Nomad.)

“Tm no second edition of Rowdy Kate or Calamity
Jane; but when my father. died’—the girl’s voice trem-
bled, arid a mist came into her fine eyes—‘“and left no
one but me to look after mother and take care of the
ranch, it was up to Dell of the Double D to show her
hand. In seli-defense I was obliged to learn the ways

BILL STORIES.

“yez hadn’t ought ue

“Were you going to meet Annie?”

 
    

of the frontier. How well I have learned them, Nomad,
any one in these parts can tell you.”

Nomad pulled off his hat. oe

“Ve're all right, Miss Dauntless,”’ said he, “an’ thet
shot goes as it lays.” :

“Dm Dell to my friends,” said the girl, her-eyes dan-
cing again, “and I’want to be friends with old Nomad,
and with Buffalo Bill, too.” he a

“Thar won't be no sort er trouble erbout thet. But
I’d like ter hear more erbout them fellers thet was cha-
sin’ ye.”

‘Phey have been dogging my Heels ever since I left
Pheenix, picking up my trail about the time I crossed the
Arizona canal. I don’t know why they did this any more
than you. As I just said, [ was going to make a play
to’ find out when you came to my’—she laughed—“my
rescue.”

“Waal,” grinned Nomad, “now thet ye’re rescued, ye
kin jest trot erlong home ter ther Double D, an’ Go-
lightly an’ me’ll pike fer ther Three-ply.” _

“I’m piking for the Three-ply myself,” said Dell.

‘Tet so?” |

“Sure. You see, | have important business with Buf-
falo Bill”.

“S’posin’ we ride tergether?”

“Fine tl”

The girl whirled Silver Heels, clicked her spurs, and
both hofses started off on an easy lope.

 

j
CHAPTER Tit

TREACHERY,

Nomad’s first impression of Dell of the Double D was
undergoing a change. ~
“How do you happen to be so far from the mine with-
out a mount of your own, Golightly?’ the girl inquired,
as they traveled. .
“Bedad,” answered the Irishman, “th’ two blackguards
that was chasin’ yerself could have tould yez.”
He scowled, looked back along the trail, and shook
his clenched fist. |
“Here’s mystery,’ said Dell, “and it must be serious
to get your Irish up like that. However did those two
men who were chasing me have anything to do with
ou?’
Chey snaked him off’n er buckboard an’ put him inter
a b’ar-trap,” guffawed Nomad. “He was yellin’ ter git
out while I was passin’ through ther basin, an’ arter a
spell 0’ lookin’ | managed ter locate him.” _
“In a bear-trap!” cried Dell. “Did they rob you, Go-
lightly ?”
“Sorry a thing did Oi have about me that was worth
th’ takin’, answered Golightly, “barrin’ th’ ould man’s
team an’ buckboard.” oe
“Why did they take that?”
“Ask me somethin’ aisy.”
“Were you going to Pheenix?”
“Oi was. Oi got as far as th’ basin, an’ shpent th’ rest

ay th’ toime in that bear-thrap, fande fly away wid ut!”

“Ah!” exclaimed the girl, straightening suddenly in
her saddle, while a look of alarm crossed her face.

 

 
 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

““Nawthin’ ilse! Now, ccc ot bet she’s waitin’
in th’ hotel wondherin’ where th’ blazes is Golightly,”

“Were the star-faced cayuses at the pole of the buck-
board?’ demanded the girl, a smoldering excitement shi-
ning from the depths of her blue eyes.

“They were that. A hunnerd an’ sixty dollar team
they were, an’ th’ buckboard was worth a hunnerd more.
Och, wurra, but it’s me day fr throuble!”

“What erbout et, Dell?” queried Nomad, his specula-
tive glance on the girl, “Ye’ve got somethin’ in yer head
thet hes er b’arin’ on ther sitiwation. Out with gt,
Thar’s er nigger in this hyar wood-pile, af’ we're arter
locatin’ him.”

“First off,” answered the girl, her attitude one of alert
attention, “I want to know something about what. re-
céntly happened at the Three-ply. The superintendent,
_Bernritter, and the cyanid expert, Jacobs, were mixed
up in an attempt to steal the bullion from the mill clean-
up, weren't they? And Buffalo Bill and his pards
jumped in, saved the bullion, stood off an attack of
Apaches, and helped in the capture of Jacobs?”

“Thet’s erbout ther way o’ et,” returned Nomad. vA
white tinhorn named Bascomb led the Apaches. He an’
Bernritter, an’ most o’ ther Apaches, got erway. Ther
sher’f come, out from Phoenix, last night, an’ took Jacobs
back ter town. Buffler, an’ me, am’ Leetle Cayuse, was
goin’ ter foller ther sher’f on ther way ter Phcenix, bound
fer Fort Apache, but McGowan asked us ter stay over.
I had started ahead o? Buffler an’ Cayuse, when | found
Golightly in ther trap. I’m now givin’ him er lift back,
ter make his report.’’*

“Then at the present time,” said Dell, “this fellow,
Bascomb, and Bernritter, and a few red renegades, are
loose in the hills?”

“Thet’s ther how ‘9’ et. But I don’t reckon they're
loose eround hyar. Ef 1 figgers et right, Bascomb an’
Bernritter fook er runnin’ start fer ther ‘Mexican border,”

“That may be,” continued Dell reflectively ; °
the other hand, they may be hiding out in this vicinity,
laying their plans to play even with Buffalo Bill and his
pards, and McGowan.”

“Ve don’t think et was Bcoan an’ Bernritter thet
chased you, do ye?”

“T know Bernritter wasn’t one-of the two,” flashed the
girl. “No mask could keep.me from knowing him. This
Bascomb J don’t know anything about.”

“1 do,” scowled Nomad, “an’ I could tell ther whelp
* with er without er mask, as fur as I could see him, He
wasn’t one o’ ther two as chased you, Dell. Now, aside
from Jacobs, thar was on’y two whites with ther Apaches
when the Three-ply Mine was set upon. So these hyar
‘two thet was chasin’ ye, bein’ neither Bascomb ner Bern-
ritter, couldn’t hev had nothin’ ter do with ther trouble
at ther Three-ply. Golightly says, too, thet ther men
who was makin’ arter you was two o’ ther three thet
put him in ther b’ar-trap and hiked out with ther buck-
board. Mebbyso ther third man might hev been Bern-
ritter”

Dhar, spoke up Golightly, who had been intently
listening, “Oil take me oath it wasn’t. Oi know Bern-
ritter some mesilf.” :

“Then,” said Nomad finally,

“none o° these three

 

_ *For an account of the thrillmg work of the scout and his pards
in saving the Threg-ply bullion, and in unmasking McGowan’s
superintendent, Bernritter, see No. 370 of BUFFALO “Brut STORIES,
“Buffalo Bill's Strong Arm; or, The Red Bullion Thieves.” ©

 

nen. Of,’

Gt

3

trouble-makers. had anytt thin’ ter do with ther Three;-ply
business,”

“They may be in the hire of Bascomb and Bernritter,”
said Dell.

heme tell ye, eal,” averred Nomad, ' “them two false-
alarms aire on the run, an’ they ain’t goin’ ter stop run-
nin’ ter hire three pizen varmints ter do any. underhand
business eround hyar. Take my word fer it.”

“Thin whoy th’ dickens did they take th’ buckboard * Le
demanded Golightly. “Answer me that.”

Dell Dauntless faced about in her saddle.

“T can tell you,’ said she, in a low, tense voice.

Her manner claimed the fullest attention of Nomad
and Golightly. She was about to tell them something of
vital importance—the fact stood out in her eyes. °

Dent hang fire, gal,” urged Nomad. “Our ears aire
wide open.

“They took the buckboard and horses because the rig
is known in ‘Phoenix as belonging to Mr. McGowan,”
said Dell.

“Waal, what o’ thet? Arter stealin’ ther rig ther
scoundrels wouldn’t drive et inter Phoenix. .

“That is what they did, nevertheless,’ was the girl’s
surprising statement; “what is more, one of them un-
masked and drove the tie

“Did ye see et in ther town?”

“T did.” I had to go to Phoenix on ranch business to-
day, and, as Annie McGowan is a friend of mine, and as
I knew she was to arrive this morning, I went to the
railroad-station to meet her.”

“An’ she come?” queried Golightly.

Hone. didyet talked with her a few minutes on the
station platform.”

“What did she say because no wan was there t’ meet
her an’ bring her t’ th’, moine? What hotel was she
afther shtoppin’ at?’ :

“She did not go to any hotel,” returned Dell deliber-
ately. “She was met by a man who said he came from
the mine for that purpose.” .

Golightly nearly fell off the horse.

Nomad stiffened, and a look of astonishment navered
across his sun-browned face,

“Glory be!” gasped Golightly, thunderstruce.

“T knowed thar was some kind of er hen on,’
Nomad.

“What's more,’ ’ proceeded Dell,
Annie had McGowan's rig.

"Cut an dred game ter git holt o’ ther ole man’s
gal,” boomed Nomad, “thet’s what et was. Did she drive
off with thet feller in ther rig?”

OF course she drove off with him, bag and bag-
gage,” answered Dell. “Why shouldn’t she? He said

gat

BILL STORIES.

’ grunted

“the man who met

he came from the mine for her, and that her father was

too busy to come himself. Then, too, don’t forget. that
he had the star-faced cayuses and the mine buckboard.
Annie knows that rig as she knows her two hands. Why |
should she suspect that anything was wrong? No, no!

Those scheming villains laid their plans too cleverly. Ah,

if I had only known that Golightly had been sent from
the mine by Mr. McGowan!”

Dell clenched her small’hands and a look of fiery in-
dignation crossed her face—indignation not unmixed
with self- ‘reproach and righteous anger.

“Now,” she resumed, “forthe rest of it. I called at
the post-office for mail. They hada letter there for Buf-
falo Bill, and it was marked ‘urgent.’ The postmaster

cm

   

 

 
 
   
 

6 THE BUFFALO
knew that Buffalo Bill was at the Three-ply Mine, and
that the Double D Ranch was not a great way from the
mine. So he gave me the letter, and asked me to take it
to the mining-camp and deliver it. That is the errand
that brought me in this direction. And it may be that
that letter is what those two masked men were chasing
me for, and trying to get. Who knows? It’s a guess,
and it may be a good one.”

“Pm all scrambled up erbout these hyar doin’s,” mum-
bled Nomad, rubbing his chin perplexedly. “Whyever
should thet feller want ter run off with Annie Mc-

~ Gowan ?” oe . Q

“Did you hear,” asked Dell, “that Annie was engaged
to be married to Bernritter? That she engaged herself
~ to him before she went to ’Frisco?”

OL beerd thet, yes.”

“I always looked upon Bernritter as a scoundrel,’ con-
tinued Dell, “and always doubted his loyalty and inten-
tions. Annie doesn’t know about how Bernritter has been
unmasked during the last few days. So it seems to me
that this stealing of the buckboard may have been engi-
neered by Bernritter, and that the man who met Annie
at the railroad-station may have been executing his
treachery on Bernritter’s behalf.” ‘

“Why ?? ;

Dell pulled fiercely at one of her gauntlets..

“I don’t know,” she said, “but I’m going to find out;
what’s more, after I deliver Buffalo Bill’s letter, I’m go-
ing to take the trail and find Annie and get her back.
There’s a villainous plot of some kind on foot, and ’ll
bet something that Bernritter and Bascomb are back
Of it,’ | ee

d

What the girl had said had had a tremendous effect

upon Golightly and Nick Nomad.

“Let me tell ye, gal,” said the old trapper, “ef things
aire like ye figger out, Buffler Bill an’ his pards’ll also
hev er hand in ther game. Don’t let thet git past yer
guard fer a minit.”

The girl’s face brightened.

“Do you really think Buffalo Bill will help?” she asked. .

“Thet’s Buffler, fer ye. Arter he hears yer story, take
my word fer it, he'll be as anxious as ye aire ter do
somethin’ fer Miss McGowan.
waved his hand toward a valley which lay in front of

them and contained the “plant” of the Three-ply Mine,
“we're clost ter whar Buffler is now, an’ et won't be long
afore he'll tell ye hisself what he’ll do.”

_Quickening their pace, the three riders hastened down
among the mine buildings and laid their course direct for
theradobe office.

pe

CHAPTER IV. 7
THE NOTE AND THE ARROW...

“There’s not a particle of doubt, in my own mind,
about Bernritter and Bascomb being somewhere in these
Arizona hills, Buffalo Bill.” “

“I won’t dispute the statement, McGowan, although
it seems to me they would be smart enough to look after
their own safety. After the way they were balked in that
attempted robbery, they must know that this section. of
the country isn’t very healthful for them. I don’t think
you need to worry, McGowan.”

BILL STORIES.

“I’m not worrying about myself. I’ve looked out for
Number One so long that I feel perfectly qualified to do
it successfully. Nevertheless, | have a feeling—a vague
and oppressive premonition, notion, call it what you will
—that something is going wrong. That’s the reason |

asked you to delay your departure from the mine last

night. However, I don’t suppose I can reasonably insist
on your remaining here much longer.”

“My old pard has been gone for several hours, Mc-
Gowan, and Cayuse and I ought to be following him be-
fore long. He had business of some sort to attend to in
Phoenix, and because of that he left in advance of us.”

“At least, Buffalo Bill, you can wait until Golightly
gets back with my daughter. They ought to have got
here some time ago, but I suppose the train was late, and
that is what is delaying them.”

“Oh, well, if you desire it, Cayuse and I will wait until
Golightly gets here with your daughter.”

The king of scouts, and McGowan, owner of the
Three-ply Mine, sat in the shade in front of the adobe
office building.

From their position they could look off over the
“plant,” which was teeming with industry like a hive of
bees; all other sounds connected with the activity of mi-
ning, milling, and cyaniding, however, were subordi-
nated to the steady roar of the stamps in the ten-stamp
gold-mill. Each of the stamps weighed 850 pounds, and
each one was falling at the rate of ninety-eight drops to
the minute.

The hot wind in the valley played. with the clamor of
the stamps, throwing it toward the two by the office in a

wild tumult, and now bearing it back until it became like

the low grumbling of a caged tiger.

McGowan was nervous. This was his natural temper-
ament. The scout, in judgifg of his present state of
mind, remembered how he had had three dreams con-
cerning the bullion robberies, and how those dreams
had come true—at least partially.

“You're fretting too much over those robberies, Mc-
Gowan,” admonished the scout. “Forget them. A man
ought to teach himself to forget the things that wear on

: , fis nerves.”
Anyways’—and Nomad

“It isn’t the trouble here that wears on my nerves,
Buffalo Bill; it’s the fact that Bernritter has proved him-
self a scoundrel; and the fact that Annie must be told
of his duplicity when she gets here. I don’t know how
the girl will take it. Certainly it will be a cruel blow for
ih and one that will strike her like a bolt from the
ue.

“When she learns how unworthy Bernritter was of her
regard,” said the scout reassuringly, “she will consider

~ herself fortunate in escaping an alliance with such a man.
She has reason to congratulate herself, and I believe she

will look at it in that way.”

For the dozenth time McGowan got up, walked to the
end of the office, and looked off along the Black Caiion

trail in the direction along which his daughter and Go-.

lightly would come on their way from Phoenix. But still
his anxious eyes failed to see anything of the star-faced
cayuses and the buckboard. He turned back to Buffalo
Bill, shaking his head forebodingly.

Faith,” he remarked, with a strained laugh, “I don’t
know what’s the matter with me, but I’m all on edge. If
you ever had premonitions——_” AS

“IT have had,” interrupted the scout,. “but. I never al-
lowed them to make me uncomfortable. Life’s too short

  
   

 

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that the lightning is going to strike.”

and we mean business.

 

THE BUFFALO

to spend it borrowing trouble, or in crossing bridges be-
fore you get to them. If I were you Ei
The scout: himself .was interrupted.

 

Something

~hummed through the air with a shrill swsh-h-h that

made itself plain in spite of the throbbing of the mill-
stamps ; and the swishing sound was finished with a quick
spat against the door of the office.

Both the scout and the mine-owner turned their eyes
quickly to the door. A long, thin arrow was quivering

in the wood, a bit of white paper, compactly folded,

bound to it midway of its length. ,

“Ugh! Him Apache arrow!”

The speaker was the Piute boy, Little Cayuse. He had
appeared from around the office as suddenly as had the
arrow. ; |

Buffalo Bill’s quick eye discerned the scrap of paper,
and his quick wit immediately inferred that the arrow
had been launched by some one who was airaid to appear
in person in the camp and bring a message.

“Cayuse!” said he.

“Wuh! said Little Cayuse.

“See if you can locate the Apache who fired that ar-

tow.”

The boy leaped back, studied the inclination of the
shaft, whirled and swept his eyes over the hills, using the
inclination as a clue, and then started off at a rapid pace.

“Why do you send him to look for the Apache?’
asked McGowan. :

“Because any Apache now loose in the hills is a rene-
gade,” was the answer, “and may have had a hand in the
dastardly work -engineered by Bascomb and Bernritter.
That arrow brings a message.’

“We might first have examined the message, Buffalo
Bill, before you sent Little Cayuse after the Indian.”

“It would then have been too late. It may be too late

“now. The Apache who launched the arrow is undoubt-

edly making the best use of his legs to get out of the.
vicinity.”

The scout stepped to the arrow and, with an exertion
of considerable strength, pulled its steel point from the
wood. Next he untied the folded paper, dropped the ar-
row, and began opening out the paper so he could
weadiit. hae

Before he read a word he looked toward McGowan.

The mine-owner, drooping limply in his chair, was sha-_

king like a man in an ague fit.
“Why, McGowan,” cried the scout, “what ails you?”
“Nothing but—premonitions,’ returned McGowan
huskily, making an attempt to straighten up. “Go on,
Buffalo Bill. Read that message. Something tells me
The scout read the message first to himself. It ran
as follows:

“McGowan: Your daughter is in our hands, and we

_ have a place where we can keep her safely, defying you

and Buffalo Bill and his pards to find her. You will
never see her again unless you give a written promise not
to proceed against us on account of that attempted rob-

 bery, and unless you leave a five-pound bar of bullion at

the mouth of the deserted shaft three miles north, of the
‘Three-ply, just off the Black Cafion trail. Both the writ-
ten promise and the bullion to be left at the deserted
shaft at midnight to-night.: It is neck or nothing with us,

-“BascoMB AND BERNRITTER.”

HEN ae eat

ILE STORIES 0 a

“devil with fire.

lightly! Why is Nomad coming back? And where's

   

Buffalo Bill was dumfounded by this message. The

first question he asked himself was whether or not it

might be a “bluff.” Then, when he recalled that Mc-
Gowan’s daughter was long overdue from Phoenix, he

knew that the fact pointed to the two white scoundrels

successfully accomplishing the stroke mentioned in the
note, viz.: the capture, in some way, of the person of
Miss McGowan.

The scout hesitated to read the message to McGowan. |
Noting his hesitation, and auguring dire things from it,
McGowan gave a wild cry and flung himself toward the
scout. }

“What is it?” he demanded; “tell'me, quick!
stand anything better than uncertainty.’ Y

“Sit down,” said the scout sternly. “Get the whip-
hand of yourself, McGowan, and, if it will be any com-
fort to you, just remember that Buffalo Bill and his pards
will stand by you, and see you safely out of the trouble.”

“Vou will?” cried McGowan, with an air of intense re- |
lief. “I could ask for nothing more than that, Buffalo
Bill. I am calm enough now to stand anything. Go on
with the message.”

Buffalo Bill read it slowly. McGowan, with set face
and nervously clenching hands, missed not a word.

So far from being cast down, he threw back his shoul-
ders as though suddenly relieved from a burden.

“Now,” he observed, “we have something tangible to
go on, some object at which to point our efforts. Hazy
forebodings are unsettling; it is only when we know the
truth, no matter how grievous it-is, that we are able to
lay out our work and get busy. With you to help me,

IT can

- Buffalo Bill, I know that ‘Annie will be rescued from the

hands of those two infamous villains, Bascomb and Bern-
ritter. Already I am beginning to breathe more freely.
But—what are we to do?’

“That is something to be thought about and carefully
planned.” '

“T could make out a written notice that no steps would
be taken against Bascomb and Bernritter, and could leave
it, with a five-pound bar of bullion, at the mouth of the
‘old shaft-——”

“Personally,” cut in the scout, “I prefer to fight the.
Bascomb and Bernritter deserve a peni-
tentiary sentence, and I would not allow their plot to suc-
eved.’,

“But if any harm should come to Annie
“Of course, that is what most concerns you. It is your
affair, so do not let my own sentiments stand in,the way
of your doing what you think best.”

- McGowan got up and began pacing the ground in
front of the office. Before he arrived at a conclusion,
the scout saw two horses and three riders descendin
into the valley from the Black Cafion trail.
“One of the riders was a woman; the other two,
mounted on one horse, consisted of old Nomad and Go-
lightly. i
, Old Nomad would not be returning to the Three-ply
unless he had sdmething of importance to communicate ;

 

2)

 

and. he would not be bringing Golightly unless the Irish-

man also had an important report.
“McGowan!” called the scout; “come this way.” :
The mine-owner hastened to the scout’s side, and fol-
lowed the scout’s pointing finger with his eyes. a
“Why,” muttered McGowan, “it’s Nomad and Go-

 

ay

 

 
  
 
  
 

8 THE BURR ALO
Golightly’s buckboard and cayuses? Here’s a puzzle,
and no mistake.’ :

“It's a puzzle, then, that soon will be solved,” re-
turned the scout. “Who’s the girl?’ '

“Dell of the Double D,” answered McGowan;
Dauntless, a friend of Annie’s.”

The scout, impressed by the girl’s beauty, but some-
what disappointed by the sight of her showy apparel and
accouterments, watched the party approach.

Now, at last, he felt sure, they were to get develop-
ments worth while. — a

CHAPTER WV.
THE SCOUT’S LEPTER,

“Golightly !’ exclaimed McGowan, when the riders
had drawn rein in front of the office and the Irishman
had dismounted, “what does this mean? Where’s the
buckboard and the horses?’

While Golightly, stamping the ground wrathfully and
_. shaking his fists, was telling of the theft of the rig and

of the bear-trap, Nomad had been introducing the scout

to Dell Dauntless.

“It’s an honor,” said the girl, leaning down from her
saddle and grasping the scout’s hand firmly, “to meet a
veteran of the plains like Buffalo Bill.”

‘Thank you,” smiled the scout, and turned somewhat
abruptly to Nomad. “Why are you back at the mine,
old pard?’’ he asked. “I thought you were in Phcenix,
by this time, waiting for Cayuse and me.’

“Would er been, Buffler, ef important things hadn’t
happened,” said Nomad. “Wouldn’t expect me ter keep
cl’ar o’ ther mine when fireworks is due ter be set off,
would ye? Miss McGowan hes been run away with, an’
we're hyar ter tell ye erbout et.”

“We are already informed on that point, Nick. But
how did you happen to discover it?”

“Already informed?” repeated Dell.
ask P”

_ Turning back to the girl, the scout silently handed her
the message, at the same time pointing to where the ar-
tow lay on the ground.

“This was fired into camp with an arrow, eh?” mur-
mured the girl, passing her eyes swiftly over the com-
munication received from the scout.

When she had done with the reading, she laid the note
on the horn of her saddle and brought. her gauntleted
fist down on it sharply. Be

“This proves it!” she declared.

“Proves what?” queried the scout.

- “Why, the guess I had already made that Bernritter
‘and Bascomb were back of Dell’s abduction.”
“Listen to Golightly, Buffalo Bill,”’
Gowan. “We're getting down to cases in this matter.
Go on, Golightly,” he added to the Irishman, “and tell
Buffalo Bill what you have just told me.” eo

Golightly, with many “begorrys” and “bedads,” and a
wrathful twist of his brogue, repeated to the scout what
he had just told the mine-owner. a

Dell followed the recital with a narration of her own
' experiences. nay :

Thus the method of the abduction was cleared up, and

How, may 1

 

‘Dell

would face any danger for her.

spoke up Mc--

BIE STORIES.

the scout and McGowan were given clear understanding
of all the details. a ,

Thereupon Dell’explained about the letter which she
had brought from Phoenix tor Buffalo Bill, and placed
it in his hand.

The scout tore open the-envelope and was soon deep
in the letter’s contents. His face expressed surprise and
wonder as he read. 2 |

“Here’s something,” said he, folding up the letter and
placing it in his pocket, “something that makes it neces-

- sary for me to take the field against Bascomb, no matter

what your decision regarding Bascomb and Bernritter
may be; McGowan.”

“What is it?” inquired the mine-owner.

“My letter is from the commandant at Fort Apache,
and asks me to use my utmost endeavors to capture a de-
serter from the army. The man’s name is Slocum, but
he was last seen in Phcenix, where he was using the
name of Bascomb.”

“Jumpin’ taranches!’’ crooned old Nomad. “How
these hyar trails o’ trouble does cross each other, some-
times!”

“Slocum, otherwise Bascomb,”’ proceeded the scout,
“was a mutinous soldier. He was under arrest at Fort
Apache, some weeks ago, for insubordination. In some
manner he got hold of a revolver, shot his guard, and
took to the hills. From the description of the fellow con-
tained in the letter, there is no doubt in my mind but that
the rascal with Bernritter is the same man.”

McGowan looked perturbed.

“If you have to take the field against Bascomb,” said
he, “then it will be impossible for me to promise him and
Bernritter immunity, and place the writing, with a five-
pound bar of bullion, by the old shaft. Your activity
would be construed as a breach of confidence on my own
part. Can't you put this off, Buffalo Bill, until my
daughter is safely in my hands?”

Dell Dauntless whirled on McGowan with fiercy eyes.

“Mr. McGowan!” she cried. “Can it be possible that

you are scared ?—and that you intend to carry out the de- -

mands of two bluffing rascals like Bascomb and Bern-
ritter ?”’ .

“I am anxious only for my daughter’s safety.”

“How do you know that Annie will be returned to you,
even if you should give up what Bascomb and Bernritter
demand?”

“II don’t; but I don’t feel like taking any chances.”

“Tush! Annie McGowan is my best friend, and I
I would think of her
safety, too, but I wouldn’t fall in with the schemes of
these lawless scoundrels. I shall not return to the Double
D Ranch until Annie is safe at the Three-ply—but you
take my advice and give Buffalo Bill and me a free
hand in this matter, Being Annie’s father, it is only
natural that you should be so worried you can’t get the
proper perspective of this business. Leave it to others.
You'll help, Buffalo Bill?” she asked, facing the scout.

“Of course,’ was the scout’s reply. .

“Nomad said you would,” said the girl.

“Orders from Fort Apache make jt necessary for me
to do my best to capture Bascomb ; but, before I had re-
ee the orders, I had already promised McGowan my
aid. ae

“What's the frst thing to be done?” queried Mc-
Gowan anxiously.

A Chinaman stepped out of the door of the chuck-

\

 

 
     

 

 

  
      

ced

eep
und

2nd
eS-
ter
ter

he
Je-
ut
the

  

 

 
  

‘we can do, at once?”

_ Bascomb and Bernritter, McGowan,

_will not be binding upon me.

shanty just then, and began pounding a gong. A long
whistle came from the mill, and instantly the roar of the
stamps ceased. Night-shift miners and day-shift mill
men came running from bunk-house and-mill.

“The first thing,” laughed the scout, “4s to eat a. Bvod

dinner.”

“T can’t eat,’ said McGowan. “Isn't there something

“Tm formulating a plan,” the scout answered; “but
the time we spend on our dinner will not be lost, nor
affect one iota our chances for effecting the rescue of
your daughter. If you’re in on this deal, Miss Daunt-
less,’ he added to the girl, “you had better put out that
white pinto while we’re in the chuck-shanty. Do the same

with your horse, Nick,” he finished.

The horses were ikea to the corral, and McGowan:
Buffalo Bill, Nomad, and Dell Dauntless went to the
mine-owner’s table in the dining-room. Golightly joined
the miners and mill men at their own table.

It was “a silent meal that was eaten at McGowan’s
table. The mine-owner, his mind on his daughter, ate
little; the scout and the girl were thoughtful, and No-

mad, furtively watching his pard’s face, held his peace

to let his pard’s mind finish its planning.

“Well 2” queried McGowan impatiently, when they
had reassembled in front of the office, “what is your
plan, Buffalo Bill?”

“Write out your agreement to drop proceedings against

“and have ready your five- -pound bar of bullion.”

“You're going to fall in with the scoundrelly plan,
then?’ cried Dell disappointedly.

“I am merely going to seem to do so,” the scout an-
swered. “About eleven o’clock to-night N omad will take
the agreement and the bullion and go to the deserted
shaft. He will place both on the ore-dump; then he will
draw away, hide himself, and see what happens. Who-
ever comes for what he leaves, he will follow. In this
manner it may be possible to’ discover the rendezvous .
Bascomb and Bernritter and their red allies.”’

“My agreement will hold, Buffalo Bill, if I sign it,”
said McGowan.

“Your agreement may hold, but J have made no agree-
ment. Bascomb is a deserter. As such, your. agreement
Then, 00, unless your
daughter is released, your agreement will not be binding
upon you, McGowan.” — :
~ “T see, I see,’ murmured the mine-owner.

“Meanwhile,” pursued the scout, with an anxious look
at the hills, “T shall go and try to discover what Little
Cayuse is doing. Miss Dauntless, while I’m at the cor-
ral making ready, will you go to the chuck panty and
get a day’s rations for me?’

et a days tations for each Of U5,” answered
Dell, “for I’m going to ride with you. When you make
your own horse ready, Buffalo Bill, get mine under sad-
dle, too, will you?”

The scout studied the girl ce fresh interest.

“Tt is only right to tell you, Miss Dauntless,” said he,
“that the Apaches are probably in the hills with Bascomb
and Bernritter ; also three white scoundrels who have
joined issue with them. The danger——”

“You don’t know me,” laughed the girl.
let me go?’

- “Very well, if you feel that, you want to.”

The scout started for the corral, and Dell hastened

“Will you

    
   

THE BUFFALO

” returned the scout,

horse by the bushes when he climbed up the rise and un-

BYU StORt Ss. ee

 

toward the chuck-shanty. It was about two o'clock when
they mounted, the girl on her white cayuse, Silver Heels,
and the scout on his big black horse Bear Paw, and rode
over the rim of the valley.

‘The inclination of the arrow, as it clung to the office
door, had given Little Cayuse his clue as to the direction
from which the Apache had done his shooting. The
scout, no less than the Piute, had taken note of the ar-
row’s slant, and his course across the rim of the valley
was in the exact direction taken by Cayuse.

Just over the rise, the scout and the girl found them-
selves in a rocky arroyo.

“Here’s a clue left by Little Cayuse,” remarked the —
scout, drawing rein in the bottom of the arroyo and
sliding out of his saddle. “I felt sure he would leave
one. Just a moment, Miss Dauntless.”

“Dell, if you please,” said the girl, “unless you want
me to call you Mr. Cody. We're not at all formal out
here, as I reckon you know. I’m Dell to all my friends.”

“Dell, then,” smiled the scout, kneeling down in front
of Little Cayuse’s clue.

CHAPTER Wig
A BRUSH WITH THE REDS,

Little Cayuse’s clue consisted of a heap of white quartz
from a “blow-out’’ which strewed the arroyo. Six frag-
ments of quartz were arranged in a pile, and to one side
of the pile lay two more fragments in a line.

“That,” said the scout, “is the work of my little
Piute pard. It proves that he picked up the trail of the.
Apache that launched the arrow, and that he followed
him up the arroyo. Those two pieces to one side of the

heap and lying in a line, tell the direction.”

- The scout climbed into his saddle again, and he and
the girl continued up the arroyo.
“Your little Piute pard must be a wonder,” said Dell.
“He is,” averred the scout. “He is not only immune
from what is called ‘fear,’ but he has also a clever brain,
and never fails to use it. I did not tell him to leave a

clue as to where he had gone, or to leave a trail for us to

follow; yet we have found the clue, and you can depend

on it we will find some sort of a trail.”

“Td like to know hims* said Dell. “Having trained
with you so long, he has probably adopted some of your
methods. Ah!” she finished, her eyes on the flinty earth
of the arroyo’s bottom, “the Apache was mounted.”

“1 had! already discovered that;” said the scout, “but
I’d like to have you tell me how you know the Apache
was mounted. The soil is too hard for hoof-marks.”

The girl slipped from her saddle and pointed to a
stone. The stone had been overturned, with the stained
part that had been lying next the earth now uppermost.

“A horse kicked that stone over,’ said she, “No. moc-
casined Indian ever did it, traveling afoot.”

“Right,” said the scout; and, like Nomad’s, his first:
impressions of the girl began to change.

“Besides,” smiled the girl, getting back into her sad-
dle, “near that heap of quartz the mesquit brush had been
nibbled by a horse’s teeth.”

“That’s what proved to me that the Apache leit a

 
 
   
 

Aa a8)

THE BUFFALO

a pleasure for me in reading such signs.’
“For me, too.”

After a few minutes of steady riding, the arroyo di-

vided itself into two branches. Well within the right-
hand branch were three pieces of quartz, laid in a line
as the other two had been.

. “What would you argue from that, Dell?” queried the
scout. . eat

_ “Why,” answered the girl, “I should say that Little
Cayuse followed the right-hand fork.”

“Anything else?”

“And that the Apache had been joined by another.”
“Right again. Can you shoot?” :

“A little,’. Dell answered diffidently. “I can throw a
rope, or a knife, too—after a fashion. I have had en-
tire charge of the Double D Ranch ever since my father
died, three years ago.” 3

Her voice quivered a little, but almost instantly she
put her emotion from her.

The scout made no answer. Slowly Dell Dauntless
was revealing herself to him as a spirited and capable
young woman.

As they progressed up the righ-hand fork of the ar-
royo, the walls grew higher and steeper, giving the
defile almost the appearance of a gulch.

They passed more fragments of quartz, the number
having been added to until, at the last, there were six
pieces.

‘There are more Apaches joining the one who shot the
arrow,’ said Buffalo Bill, “and C

The last word was clipped short by an incisive report,
' the whistle of a bullet, a flapping of the brim of Dell’s
brown sombrero, andea little spout of sand between Silver
Heels and Bear Paw. ! ee

If Dell Dauntless was startled she did not show it.
“A poor shot,” she commented, taking off her hat and
looking at the brim. :

“It lacked only an inch of being a murderous shot,”
returned Buffalo Bill. “It came from the top of the
right-hand wall, and proves that the Apaches know what
we are about and are trailing us along the rim of the
gulch. They can get at us, and it is impossible for us

 

‘ to get at them. Let’s see what Silver Heels can do ina.

pinch.” :

‘The scout dug in with his irons and Bear Paw flung
himself up the gulch, taking at a leap every bush or
boulder that got in his way. « —

Dell raced along behind, Silver Heels doing nobly, and
displaying more fire and bottom than the scout had sup-
posed him to have under his sleek white hide.

The cayuse, like his rider, was something of a revela-
tion to Buffalo Bill.

The wisdom of speed in that forward movement along ~

the gulch was quickly apparent.

The crack of firearms began all along the top of the
right-hand wall. :
Both walls continued to increase in height and to draw
hearer and nearer together. The sun could not penetrate
the depths of the gulch, and the bottom lay in heavy

shadow.

“So long as the Apaches hide themselves,” said Buf-:

falo Bill, “we can do nothing to discourage them in this
attack they ate making. I am going to try a ruse to
draw them down into the gulch, and within reach of our
_six-shooters. It is a time-honored ruse, but it will work

   

loosed the arrow. I see you're wise to the trail. _There’s

BILL STORIES.

nine Himes out of ten., At the next shot; Dell, im going
to tumble out of my saddle. You ride on, as though too
frightened to turn back, and catch Bear Paw. Don’t stop
until you reach the darkest part of the gulch, then round-
to under the lee of a boulder, and watch.”

“Trust me,” answered the girl. :

The shot for which the scout was waiting was not
long in coming. It cracked out above and gouged into
the flinty earth several feet in advance of Buffalo Bill:
nevertheless, he gave a wild ery, dropped his reins, flung
up his hands, and wilted from Bear Paw’s back.

Apparently his fall was a heavy one; but, really, it was
only. nicely calculated to appear so. With hardly a jar,
the scout had struck the ground and straightened out.

It was all so well done that, for an instant,’ Dell’s
heart flew into her throat, and she feared that the last
bullet really had reached its mark. She would have
drawn rein, in spite of her instructions, had Buffalo Bill
not called softly for her to ride on and catch Bear Paw.

As Dell flickered on up the gulch, fierce cries of tri-
umph floated down from the right-hand wall. Indians
on horseback showed themselves against the sky-line—

_ five of them—and peered downward with hands shielding

their eyes. 4

Well in the shadow of the gulch above, Dell captured )
Bear Paw, dropped his bridle-reins over her saddle-pom-

mel, and tossed her own reins over Silver Heels’ head.

With the reins in this position, the white cayuse would
stand as though tied to a post.

Dropping to the ground, the girl crept back down the
gulch for a little way, and watched further developments

‘from behind a boulder,

The five Apaches, thinking the scout had been slain,
were dismounting and making a hurried descent into the
gulch,

Their descent was a’race, for the first man to reach the -

scout would secure his scalp. And to secure the scalp
of Pa-has-ka, the long-haired chief, was an honor, in-
deed!

Slipping, sliding, jumping, the redskins drew nearer
and nearer the bottom of the gulch. One was well in the
lead, and Dell, her nerves aquiver with excitement,
watched his dark form come closer and .closer to the
scout. oe
_ At last, when the leading Apache was about to make
the final jump to the bottom of the gulch, and was al-
ready fingering the hilt of his scalping-knife, Buffalo Bill
regained his feet.

Crack, crack, crack! rang out his revolvers.

Two of the Apaches—the one in advance and the
other next behind him—were wounded and dropped into
the guich bottom; but they were not badly wounded.
They were scared far more than hurt, and they at once
bee to their heels, one going up the gulch and the other
own.

Instantly a thrill.of alarm shot through the scout on
the girl’s account.

Four Indians were still on the gulch wall, but they
were frantically climbing toward the top again. Leav-
ing them to their own devices, the scout rushed after
the Apache who had gone bounding up the gulch.

This redskin had a wound in his left arm, but he still
clung to the hilt of the knife. :

Dell saw him coming, covering the ground with great
leaps. If he ever reached the horses, the girl knew that

 

  
  
     

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THE BUFFALO

Fearlessly the girl sprang out from behind her boulder
and planted herself between the Apache and the horses.

Undaunted by the sight, the savage kept on, flourish-
ing his knife and yelling furiously.

“Shoot !’’ cried Buffalo Bill.

He feared to let loose a bullet himself, for he, and the

Indian, and the girl, were in a direct line with each other.

Had he fired, and had the redskin dodged at the exact
moment, the bullet might have struck Dell.

But there was no need for the scout to use his wea-
pons. ~
Hardly had the command to fire left his lips when the
gulch took up the echoes of the girl’s revolver.
ihe Apache was caught in the air; and when he fell,
he came down sprawling—wounded a second time, and
harmless to do the girl any injury.

CHAPTER VII.
AN OMEN OF PERIL.

“Well done!” cried the scout. “Dell Dauntless, you’re
a plucky girl.”

“That wasn’t so much,” Dell sneered deprecatingly.
“He had only a knife, and you had already wounded him
at-that.”

“His first wound did not interfere very much with his
ability to attack you. I only shot to wound.”

“That was the way with me.’

“These Apaches are the tools of Bee and Bern-
ritter. They ought to be rounded up and driven back to
their reservation. Why Apache got such a bad heart?’

the scout asked, halting beside. the wounded Indian.

The Apache made no response, other than to try and
sink his teeth into the scout’s leg. The scout stepped

back quickly.

“Look out for him, Buffalo Bill! !” exclaimed Dell.
“He’s as venomous as a tiger-cat.”

Dell’s bullet had struck the Apache in the thigh, ma-
king walking impossible.

‘We can’t bother with him,” said the scout. “There
are four more reds around here, and they’ll probably hap-
pen along and take care of him. We'll mount and keep

on until we find Little Cayuse. I can’t understand what’s

become of the boy. The Apache he was following was
joined by four others; if he still continued to follow the
Apaches, he ought to be somewhere in this vicinity.”

-“T should think,” hazarded Deli, owe ought to have
met him before this.”

“We ought to, and there must be some good reason

why we haven’t. We'll try and discover the reason.’

- The darkness of the gulch rendered difficult the task

of looking for the stones “Cayuse had been piling at irreg-

ular intervals. Nevertheless, the scout scanned every

step of the way carefully, but without result.
Meanwhile, as they rode, Dell kept a sharp watch for

Indians. She saw none, so it was evident that the taste

the Apaches had had of the scout’s resourcefulness had
been sufficient to discourage them in their sniping tactics.

As the scout spurred on, his alarm for Little Cayuse
increased,

_ he would make way with one, or both, of them—and this.
was sothething that must not be allowed to happen.

   
 

BILL STORIES. ee nm

a ve
. “He’s plenty able to take care of himself,” the scout
said to the girl, “but any one, I don’t care how wary and
cautious, is apt to be caught napping, or taken at a dis-
advantage.”

“He’s an Indian, and only a boy. It doesn’t seem to
me that the Apaches would He very hard on fim even if ©
they did capture him.”

ries a Pinte, Dell, and the Paes on Apaches
haven't any use for each other, Uhen, apart from their

_ tribal hostility, I suppose the Apaches are smarting to’

play even for what happened at the Three-ply Mine the
other day. They lost a couple of warriors during that
fight. They know Cayuse is a pard of mine, and that it
was owing to myself and my pards that the fight went

against them. The fact that Cayuse is a boy wouldn’t
cause the Apaches to have any mercy on him.”

“The gulch walls widened by degrees as they continued
on. ‘This allowed more sunlight to come into the defile
and made the surroundings plainer.

“The Apaches must have doubled back on their trail,”

- Dell suggested, “or else Cayuse never followed them this

far:

“It’s about an even chance whether the Apaches have
doubled back, or whether something went wrong with |
Cayuse farther down the gulch. If we don’t pick up an-
other clue pretty soon, we'll about face and double back
on our own trail.”

At that moment the scout’s attention was attracted to
another defile opening into the left wall of the one they
were following.

It was a narrow break in the lavalike crust of the earth,
and, inasmuch as its trend was due east and west, the
sun penetrated it.to the bottom.

It is-doubtful whether the scout would have paid much
attention to the defile had the sunlight not rested upon
some object which flashed in his eyes.

The wide-awake Dell caught the flash as quickly as did
the scout.

“Ts that a piece’of ore with mica in it, Buffalo Bill?”
she queried, pulling up her horse...

“It may be,’ was the scout’s response. “But we'll
take a look at the thing and make sure of it before we
pass on.’

Together they rode over to the mouth of the smaller
gulch,

The flashing object was not a piece of iron pyrites,
but a short, double-edged knife.

With an exclamation, the scout hung down from his _
saddle and picked it up.

‘On the flat handle was a very crude drawing of a
horse, burned into the horn.

“This belongs to Cayuse,’ said the scout. “That pic-
ture on the handle is the way he signs his name.”

“Then he lost the knife?” queried the girl. |

“Cayuse never loses anything so long as he is master.
of his own actions. I incline to the opinion that the
‘Apaches laid a trap for him and sprung it about here.
The ground shows signs of a struggle. During the
struggle Cayuse’s knife dfopped from its sheath, and
when he was carried off his captors failed to ‘see it.
There seems to be no doubt, Dell, but that the boy is in
the hands of the Apaches.” -

“Then there must be more Indians than those who
attacked us. They could not have had Cayuse with them.
while they were following: us on ie gulch wall and
shooting down,”

  
  

C1

   

“He may have been with them, or théy may have leit
him somewhere, or i f
The scout broke off his words, while his face tightened
in sharp lines. 2
FOr asked Dell.
“Or,” the scont finished, in a low tone, “they have al-
ready taken vengeance on him for their defeat at the
mine.”
Thrusting the boy’s knife through his belt, Buffalo
Bill dismounted, and looked carefully over the ground
where the struggle resulting in the boy’s capture had
taken place. ie |
Owing to the nature of the soil, the signs were none

 

too plain—a misplaced stone here and there and a few

indentations which might have been considered only the
natural results of wind and weather but for the disturbed
stones. oD e

Walking up the smaller defile a little way, the scout
saw enough to convince him that the Apaches, with their
prisoner, had ascended the branch.

Coming back to the waiting girl, he mounted.

“The Apaches, after the capture,’ he announced,
“went up the defile. They were on foot.”

“This was a good place for an ambush,” said Dell,
turning in her saddle and looking back as they rode on-
ward. ‘The Indians could have hidden behind boulders
_on both sides of the defile and sprung out on Little Cay-
use as he passed.”

“It wouldn’t be like the boy to let himself get caught
in such a trap. Still, it’s possible. You can trap a fox if
you go about it right.”

“Td like to know who those three white men are who
are helping Bascomb and Bernritter.”

“Ruffans, I reckon, whom Bascomb managed to pick
up. There are plenty of scoundrels loose in this part
of the country who would help at anything if they got
paid for it. The desert is full.of white Arabs, as ready
_ to slit a man’s throat as they are to eat a meal. You
_ ought to know that, Dell.”

“I do, of course, and I haven’t any doubt but that it
was easy for Bascomb and Bernritter to find men to help
them in their villainy. Don’t you think, too, that they
have spies in the Three-ply camp? Some one who found
out Golightly was to leave, early this morning, to meet
Annie at the Phcenix station?” i

“Possibly, It has not been so very long, however,
since Bernritter was a trusted superintendent at the camp.
He must have known when Miss McGowan was ex-

pected. Armed with this knowledge, he and Bascomb >

laid their plans to capture the girl. They set their three
masked men to watching the trail for the horses and the
buckboard; and, even if McGowan himself had gone to
meet the girl, instead of Golightly, the plan would have
been, cartied out just.as it was,’ a

This smaller defile, which the scout and the girl were
ascending, had many angles and turns.

As the scout finished speaking, they rode around one
of the turns and came upon a sight which brought them
to an abrupt halt.

Horror rose in the girl’s eyes, and a gasp escaped her
lips. She,looked at the scout. His face wore an ominous

frown.
Leaping out of the saddle, he hutried forward without

a word. aa
Dell likewise dismounted and hastened after him.

 

THE BUFFALO.

tation by a human being.

  

BILL STORIES.

CHAPTER VIL.
LITTLE CAYUSE CAUGHT,

The scout’s praise of Little Cayuse was well-deserved.
The lad was brave and quick-witted, and prided himself
on being a warrior, on/having won an eagle-feather, and
on knowing how to carry out the orders of Pa-has-ka.

Yet bravery and quick wit are not always sufficient to
keep their possessor’ from disaster.

Little Cayuse had been sent to find the Apache who had
launched the arrow. . This was entirely owing to. the
scout’s forethought, and was done before the contents of
the note brought by the arrow had been read. ©

Cayuse had not the least idea why he was to follow
the Apache who had shot the arrow into the office door.
He had received his orders direct from Pa-has-ka, how-
ever, and that was enough for him. ‘ '

As he crossed the rim of the valley in which lay the
buildings of the Three-ply Mine, the roar of the mill-
stamps was muffled by the wind, and-his quick ear could -
distinguish a fall of hoofs from somewhere up the ar-

Toyo.

To pile his little heap of. quartz “float” took him but |
a few moments, and then he started along the arroyo at
QM | oe

If the Apache. rode at speed, Cayuse knew that he
would not be able to come anywhere near him. But this
did not discourage the boy. He would run out the trail

_ as far as he could, and when he gave up it would be be-

cause no one else—not even Pa-has-ka himseli—could
have followed it any farther.

In his trailing, he had much better luck than he had
expected. While he was dodging on along the arroyo he
heard the yelp of a wolf—not of a real wolf, but an imi-
_ He was approaching a bend in the arroyo, and this
yelp, which was clearly a signal, caused him to approach
the bend with more than usual caution,

This was well for him; since presently, from behind a

shoulder of rock, he was able to peer out and see a
mounted Apache, waiting for another who: was riding
down the arroyo’s bank. | uy
The Indian Cayuse had been following had a bow
and quiver slung at his back.. The bow was still bent,
showing that the Apache had not yet taken the time to
unstring it. Aside from the bow and arrows, both
Apaches were likewise armed with rifles.

They met in the arroyo’s bottom, exchanged a few
words, and started on again. They looked behind them
carefully, but they did not see Cayuse. At that moment
the boy was busily engaged laying his quartz pieces on
the ground, not only showing his course, but informing
any one who might follow that the first Apache had been
joined by another. oy tee

The Apaches rode at a leisurely gait on into the gulch-

. like gash into which the arroyo presently changed.

_ At the place where the gulch forked the two halted,
and one of them repeated his wolf-yelp. ‘

A little later the rocky walls reechoed with galloping
hoofs, and three more Apaches showed themselves, and

‘joined the other two.

The entire party then turned into the right-hand
branch of the defile.

Cayuse continued to follow, noiselessly, swiftly,
screening his passage with all the cunning of a coyote.

 

 

 

  

 
   

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“\ane gloom thickened in the bottom of the gulch. He

was glad of it, for it made his trailing easier.

The Apaches talked and laughed as they journeyed,

entirely oblivious of the fact that a hated Piute was hang-
ing upon their trail.

All might have gone. well with the bey had he noticed
a figure on the top of the gulch wall, looking down. It

swas the figure of a white man, and the white man had —

under his eyes both the forms ‘of the oss Apaches
and the trailing Piute.

Tbe man stated for a space, then a bac

Little Cayuse wondered why, when the Apaches ar-
rived opposite the narrow defile that entered the wall
of the gulch, they ceased their ane and laughing and

‘Game’ t6 an abrupt. halt.

Of course he could not hear the ae voice of the white
man, calling from within the lateral defile.

One of the Apaches, leaving the ‘rest, spurred into the”
smaller gash. And again it was impossible for Cayuse.
to see that the white man had appeared and beckoned £07
. the Apache.

“Pools ! said the ee man to ee Apache, aes in
Spanish and partly with the hand-talk: “don’t you know

that you are being trailed by the little Piute, Buffalo -

Bill’s pard? He is behind you, in the gulch. He must be
captured, and this is the way you are to do it:

“You will ride back to the rest of the Apaches. Then,
taking care not to turn and look down the gulch, you will
all ride into this cut. When well within the cut, four of
you will dismount and hide behind the boulders; the other
one will ride forward, cee the four horses, and get
beyond that turn.

“The Piute will come in, The four who ate behind the
boulders will spring out and capture him—capture him,
mind, for I want to talk with the rascally imp before any-
thing else is done with him.”

The white man hid himself, and the Apache rode back.

Little Cayuse, his black eyes glimmering like a snake’s,
watched the Apaches trail into the smaller defile. “He
made after them.

At the entrance to the defile he listened. From Ground
a turn he could hear the pattering hoofs of the ponies.

Swiftly he passed into the smaller defile—and then,
almost before he could realize what had happened—he
was set upon from every side, flung down, and poate at
the wrists.

He struggled, but what availed the struggles of one
Piute boy against four brawny, full-grown Apaches?

Physically, he was not injured. His chief hurt was to
his pride.

What would Pa-has-ka say when he learned what had
happened ?

Jerking Cayuse to his fest, two of the bucks caught his
bound hands and pulled him farther along the defile to a

' place where it ran into a blind wall, rising high into the

aire

At this place the white man was waiting.

Who the white man was, Cayuse did not know; but
he began to understand, dimly, that the white man had

“helped the Apaches entrap him.
The white man, stepping angrily up to the a drew
ik the flat of his hand and struck him in the face.

Cayuse reeled with the blow; aN not a sound came
from his lips.

“You're: / Little Cayuse, huh ?” Henena the man
fiercely.

back.

_ ye carry out orders.

 

QUE OAD) BUR STORNS a

“Wuh!? answered the boy, his. black eyes dariae
lightning. :
~“Pard of Buffalo Bill’s?”
Little Cayuse straightened his shoulders and threw
back his head proudly.
 “Wuh! Me all same pard Pa-has-ka’s.
“Why were you trailin’ the Apaches: o
Cayuse did not answer. Instead, he looked straight

‘into the eyes,of the white ruffian with studied insolence

and defiance.

The white man pulled a | revolver from his belt and
pressed it against the boy’s breast.

ee or ll blow a hole through ye!” he threat-
ene

Cayuse did not open his lips. He continued to dare
the man with his eyes, however, even more insolently
and defiantly.

“Blast ye!’ raged the man, lowering his revolver and
giving the helpless boy a kick that threw him to the
ground. “Ye won't talk, huh? Waal, ye needn't! I
know Buffalo Bill sent ye to trail the reds, an’ I reckon
Buffalo. Bill will be follerin’ ye, afore long, but that won't
do you any good.”

The ruffian turned and growled an order to the In-
dians. Immediately the entire five mounted their horses
and began climbing to the top of the-wall of the defile.

Cayuse, breathless from the kick he had received, lay
on the ground and watched.

In a little while he saw the five Indians on the top of
the steep wall which closed in the end of the defile. One
of them lowered a rope.

The ruffian thereupon grabbed Cayuse by the Boal:

ders and dragged him to the foot of the wall. The next

moment he had made the swinging rope fast to the bonds
that secured Cayuse’s wrists.
“Haul away, ’Pachies!’’ roared the white man, stepping

The pull of the rope drew the boy’s arms above his |
head, and then he was lifted up and up the sheer cliff
wall.

“There!” yelled the white man; “make it fast.”

The rope was secured at the ‘brink of the cliff, and
Cayuse, hanging by his bound hands, was left swinging
against the face of the smooth rock.

Revolver in hand, the ruffian began to fire at the rock,
planting his bullets all about the swinging boy.

“Goin’ ter tell me about Buffalo Bills rhe asked,

Cayuse would not answer.

The white man swore a fierce oath, threw his left arm
in front of his face, and laid the barrel of his six-shooter
across.

Just as he was about to Shoo, he suddenly changed
his mind.
. “I won't do it,” he growled; “that would make it too
easy fer you. ) Hane there, ye measly Piute! Hang
there until yer arms pull out o’ their sockets, and ye
starve an’ die. That'll teach ye to butt inter a game of
Bascomb’s, I reckon. Hi, there, you!” he shouted, lift-
ing his gaze to the Apaches on top of the cliff, oe
goin’ to Squaw Rock to wait fot Hendricks, but you're
to go back along the rim of the gulch and pick off Buf-
falo Bill and his pards if they come this way follerin’ the
Piute. Come ter Squaw Rock an’ report ter me if any-
thin’ happens. Scatter, now, the five o’ ye, an’ see that
If you don’t, look out for Bas-

\??

comb !

  
 

14
In addressing the Apaches now the white man was not
using Spanish or the hand-talk; some among them, pre-
sumably, understood English sufficiently to catch his
meaning. 2

away.

The white man, springing to the path that led to the
top of the wall of the defile, mounted it swiftly.

In a few minutes Little Cayuse’s captors were all
-gone, and Little Cayuse was left swinging helplessly
against the bare cliff wall. |

The pull on his arms was frightful.
to be tearing them out of his body.

But he had said no word about Pa-has-ka’s orders, and
he was glad. He had faced death, and was then facing
it, because he had been true to Pa-has-ka.

_ What if the rope did pull at his arms and torture him?
Was Little Cayuse a squaw that he should whimper and
cry with the torture?

No; Little Cayuse was a warrior. He had won his
 eagle-feather, and was entitled to take the place among
the braves of the Piutes. '

So he gritted his teeth and hung where the merciless
white ruffian had left him. :

aman pero

CHAPTER IX.

THE RESCUE OF CAYUSE.

This, then, was the scene which had brought the fierce

frown to Buffalo Bill’s brow, and the gasp to Dell’s lips

and the white to her cheek:

Little Cayuse, suspended by the arms against the
smooth cliff wall, swinging and twisting with the rope.

Was he alive? |

That was the question the scout asked himself as he
_ran forward toward the wall of the blind gully, and it was
the question Dell Dauntless put to herself as she fol-
lowed.

Cayuse was about ten feet above the ground, his eyes
were closed and his head was drooping forward.

“Cayuse?” cried the scout, halting close and peering up

at the’ slender form.

' Instantly the boy opened his eyes and threw back his
~~ head.

“Wuh!’’ he answered. .

“What fiends those Apaches are!” exclaimed Dell.
“They drew him up there and left him to die!”

The scout drew his revolver.

“What are you about to do, Buffalo Bill?’ the girl —

asked.

“I could cut the rope with two or three bullets,” an-
_swered the scout hesitatingly, “or I could ride up on my

“33

horse—— a
“You couldn’t reach him on your horse, or, at least,

you wouldn’t be able to reach the rope. Put up your re-.

volver, Buffalo Bill, and leave it to me.”
Dell took a position in front of Cayuse and drew the

bowie-knife that swung at her belt.
“What can you do with that?” asked the scout.

“Cut the rope above Cayuse’s hands,”

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

Leaping to the back of their ponies, the Indians rode .

The rope seemed:

- elk-teeth fairly

The scout started and stared at the girl.

Such a feat, if successfully accomplished, would be one
of the most remarkable he had ever seen.

To throw a knife and keep it perpendicular was com-
paratively easy; but, in order to sever the rope, Dell would
have to throw the blade so that its edge would meet the
rope horizontally. |

“Are you sure you can do it?’ went on the scout
gravely.

“IT would not try if I were not.”

“Tf you made a miss ‘
“TI know what would happen if I made a miss, but I

 

shall not. Stand close enough to catch him when the -

rope parts, Buffalo Bill.”

Dell Dauntless. was perfectly cool. The scout mar-
veled at her self-contrel, and her stony calmness.

Without removing her gauntlet, she took the knife in
her right hand by the point; then she measured the dis-
tance and the height with a quick eye.

Once, twice, three times her hand went up in a circle,
the pearl handle of the bowie flashing in the sun.

“Now!” she murmured.

There was a second or two in the preparation for the
throw, but the feat itself consumed less than a second.

“Bravo!” cried ‘Buffalo Bill, as the girl hurled the
knife and its edge bit into the rope above Little Cayuse’s

he.

The rope was not cut cleanly through, but the few
strands that were left parted quickly, and Cayuse shot
downward into the scout’s arms. i

Carrying the boy to the horses, Buffalo Bill laid him
on the grourid. oe
. Dell took her canteen from the saddle-horn, sank down
beside the boy, and took his head on her knee.

Her tenderness as she ministered to Cayuse gave the
scout a glimpse of another side of her nature.

“Poor little chap!” she murmured, pressing the canteen
to his lips. “You had a tough time of it, didn’t you?”

The water gurgled down the boy’s throat, and his black
eyes gazed into the blue ones above him, then swerved to

' the scout.

For a few moments he lay quietly, while the scout re-
moved the rope from his wrists and the girl removed
her gauntlets and chafed his temples with her soft hands.

“Ugh!” grunted Little Cayuse suddenly. “White
squaw got heap good heart; but Cayuse no squaw, him
warrior.”

Fle sat up on the ground and began working his be-
numbed arms back and forth between his knees. In spite
of his stoicism, he winced, and the scout saw that one of
his shoulders was dislocated,

“Down on the ground again, Cayuse!’ ordered the
scout; “on your left side, boy.”

Cayuse tumbled over obediently, the scout standing
astride his body and firmly gripping his right arm.

“Hold him down, Dell,” went on the scout.

With the girl pushing and the scout pulling, and
Cayuse making no outcry whatever, the shoulder was

slipped back into place.

(Cayuse crawled to the wall of the defile and sat up
with his hack against it. His bare breast jumped with
his hard breathing so that his necklace of bear-claws and

1 fairly rattled, but a ghost of a smile flickered
about his lips, .

3

   
    
  

 

 

 

    
   
    

mM ew be

vs

eee Sl

 

 

 

   

 

\ “Heap hard time,” said he. “Me no care. Umph!
Me warrior; Pa-has- ka’s pard” ne
\*You’re a brave little fellow, that’s what you are!”
declared Dell admiringly.
Cayuse studied her face attentively.
- “Who you?’ he asked,
“Ym Buffalo Bills girl pard,” laughed Dell. “And
Tn your pard, too, Cayuse, if you'll have me for one.”
“No like um squaw pard. Squaw make um fire, boil

um kettle, sew um beads on moccasions, no go on war-

path with braves.”

“I’m different from the ordinary run of squaws,” Cay-
use,” said Dell, with a humorous side-glance at the

Lescout.

“You throw um knife heap fine,” observed Cayuse.

“T can shoot as well as I can throw a knife.”
“Umph! You make um squaw pard, Pa-has-ka ?”
“Yes,” smiled the scout.
_ “Squaw your pard, squaw my pard. Shake um hand.”
Cayuse lifted his hand—his left one—and the compact
was sealed. |

“Now that that formality is over, Cayuse,” said Buf-
falo Bill, “vou might tell us how you came to be strung
up there against the cliff.” i

The boy looked distressed.

“Cayuse no good. Make um worst break this grass.
Let Apaches and paleface sak um.’

‘balstace?’

“Wuh. One paleface, five Apaches. Paleface make
um heap swear, say Cayuse tell um if Pa-has-ka sent um.

“Cayuse no tell um. Apaches haul Cayuse up with rope.

Ushiies

“Was the paleface Bernritter?”’

Cayuse shook his head.

“Was it Bascomb ?’”

Again Cayuse shook his head. .
_ “There has been underhand work at the mine, Cay-
use,” explained Buffalo Bill. “Bascomb and Bernritter

have taken away McGowan’s daughter, who was coming

from ’Frisco, and the arrow that was shot into camp con-

tained a message. Understand?’

“Me. sabe,” :
"The message was from Bascomb and Bernritter, and
Pao

stated that if McGowan would not agree not to prosecute
_ them for their attempt to get the mine bullion the other

day, and- would not leave a bar of gold at the old shaft
near the Black Cafion trail, he would never see his daugh-
ter again.”

The ae fixed his eyes on ee scout’s face.

“Apaches and bad white men got heap black hearts,’

said he. “You like ketch um white man that string me

up?’ ( |
“Yes, if we can. He’s probably in this plot with
Bascomb and Bernritter. If we could capture him we
might be able to discover © something of importance.”

 

THE BUFFALO

 

 

BILL STORIES.

“Where Squaw Rock?” asked Cayuse.
“That's too many for me,” said the scout. _
“I know where it is,” ae up Dell: “Its about two

‘miles and a half from here.’

“Paleface go there. Say he meet other paleface name —
Hendricks at Squaw Rock. Tell Apaches come Squaw |
Rock report if He make trouble for Buffalo Bill. Me
hear um say so.’

“Good!” exclaimed the scout. “That gives us one
thing to work on, Dell, and we won’t have to go back to
the camp and wait for Nomad to carry that agreement
and that bar of bullion to the deserted shaft. a

“Me go too?’ asked Little Cayuse.

“We'll have to take you, Cayuse. I wouldn’t let you
try to tramp back to the mine in your present condi-
tion.” |

Vien, me all tient.

“Most white boys, with a shoulder like yours, would be

ine Bed, Cayuse.

“Me use um left hand.”

“All aboard, Dell,” said the scout, getting into his
saddle. “If we’re going to do anything with that ruf-
fian who mistreated Cayuse, we'll have to lay him by the
heels before the Apaches join him. You lead the way
and set the pace. Cayuse and I will tag along on Bear
Paw.” i

“It’s a rough road,” said the girl, rising to her own
saddle; “by taking an even rougher one we can lop off
that extra half mile.”

“Lop it off,’ answered the scout. “I'll lay a blue
stack Bear Paw can follow wherever Silver Heels can —
lead.” ‘

“This way, then,” cried the girl.

She spurred straight to the side of the defile and
started up the dizzy path which the Apaches had climbed
some time before.

99

CHAPTER (Xy
souaw ROCK,

Arizona is full of difficult country for a horseman; but
of all the up-and-down trails the scout ever covered in
the saddle, the course Dell led him on the ee to Squaw
Rock was one of the worst.

Not once during the entire trip were the horses on
a level. When they were not standing almost straight |
up in the air, pawing their way aloft like mountain-goats,
they were inclined downward so far that the stirrups
touched their ears, and the riders had to brace back in
them to keep from sliding over their heads.

Such a rough passage was hard on Cayuse’s tender
shoulder, but he would have scorned to make the peut
complaint.

on one place o on the devious path there was a cool

        

   
_ Rock is just over the rise.

oe a 8. ‘THE BUFFALO

spring, and here ee a space the ae halted, refreshing
themselves and their sweltering mounts with a drink.

At one place, too, Dell forced Silver Heels to a jump
of half a dozen feet over a crevasse; and at another
place she made a leap downward over a bluff of twelve
feet. Bear Paw and his two riders were always behind,
the scout marveling at Dell’s perfect horsemanship.

The girl, it was plain, was entirely at home in the
saddle. Was there anything, the scout was asking him-
self, in which Dell Dauntless did not excel?

Throughout the entire journey it was necessary to keep
a keen lookout for enemies, white and red. None were

seen, perhaps because none would dare this almost im- -

possible trail,
At last, after two hours of sweating labor, Dell pulled
Silver Heels to a halt under the brow of a steep hill.
“Going to rest and breathe the bronks?” asked the
scout.
“Nary, pard,” answered Dell, with an easy return to
the colloquialism of the West; “‘we’re close to the end
of our trail, ahd that’s why we’re rounded_up. Squaw
I thought perhaps you might
like to reconnoiter before we shacked down on the

7 place,

  

“That's the sensible thine t to do, of course. Oe

will look after the horses while you and I climb the

slope.”

Leaving the boy below with the mounts, the scout and
the girl crawled up the sun-baked rise to the crest, and
peered over.

What the scout saw was a circular, Bie covered.

plain. In the midst of the plain arose a boulder about
the size of a two-story house.

But it was not the shape of a two-story house. On
the contrary, from the angle at which the scout and the
girl viewed it, the boulder had the contour of a wom-
an’s head and shoulders, with the shoulders blanketed.

To all seeming, the rock was the upper part of some
gigantic statue, embedded in the sand from the shoulders
down. .

In the aoe of the rock stood a hoe head down
and listlessly panting with the heat. Closer to the base
of the rock a man half sat and half reclined. He was
smoking a pipe and gazing out across the plain. Evi-
dently this was the man they wanted, and he was alone.

_ The scout and the girl slipped downward on the slope
for a hurried consultation.

“The scoundrel is there, all right,” weed Dell.

“The question now is to capture him,” returned the
scout. “He’s on the east side of the rock, a we're to
the north of it.”

“We could rush him,” fee Dell, “and have him
covered before he could mount and ride away. Even if
he did get on his horse, we could overhaul him.”

“A better plan, I think,” said the scout, who hesitated

 

 

BILL STORIES.

to place Dell in the peril her plan would call for, ‘ ‘would
be to take him by surprise. While he’s mooning down
there, and looking across the desert, Pl slip down the
slope, crawl around the base of the rock, and have a bead
drawn on him before he'll know there’s any one else
within a mile of him.”

“If he should hear you getting down the slope he
might shake a bullet out of his ue before you had a
chance to fire first.”

“THe’d have to be quick, if he did. Deneve. you can
remain here and keep him covered.”

“You're taking all the risk,’ demurred the girl.

“It’s right I should.”

Without debating the question further, ecto Bill
regained the top of the hill, rolled over, and started down-
ward on hands and knees.

Avs he crawled, a foot at a time, he kept his eyes on
the man at the foot of the rock.

The fellow seemed completely absorbed in his reflec-
tions. He smoked languidly, like one half asleep.

The scout, remembering the brutal treatment accorded

, Little Cayuse—and the boy had not told him the half of

it—would have been only too quick to.meet the ruffian in
a two-gun game. But he wanted to make a capture, and
try perstiasion in an attempt to find out something about
Annie McGowan.

The girl was certainly hidden away somewhere among
the hills. Wherever she was, quite likely Bernritter and
Bascomb were, also; and the scout was not losing sight
of the fact that he wanted to get hands on Bascomb quite
as much as he. wanted to rescue Miss McGowan. |

Watched by Dell Dauntless, Buffalo Bill succeeded, in

_ due course, in reaching the base of Squaw Rock without

attracting the attention of the ruffian.

_ His task now was to follow the base of the rock around
until he came near the spot where the man was sitting.
This was almost directly under the chin of the profile,
and the scout had to get around one of the shoulders..

Drawing his revolver, the scout immediately began his
flanking movement, still on all-fours and pushing the
weapon ahead of him.

Just as he was on the point of passing around the
edge of the shoulder, and coming out in plain view of the
man, if he happened to be looking in the right direc-
tion, the scout observed peculiar actions on the pet of
Dell.

With head and shoulders above the hill- crest, the girl
was waving her hands and pointing westward.

The scout could not understand, and the @ify in her
excitement, had risen so far above the ridge that the
tufan might catch sight of her at any moment.

As the quickest way to terminate the situation, the
scout hurried on around the rock. Rising to his feet the
moment he had the man squarely in front of him, Buffalo
Bill leveled his six-shooter.

  

  
 

 

 

 

ma aA ree IL:

ae ee See ee tee

   
   

   

1 Hands up, a said” shouted the scour

 

 

 

\ ‘Hands up, you!” He shouted.

Nhe ruffian shot into the air as though propelled by
some powerful spring. His pipe went one way and his
hat another.
warning bullet from the scout’s forty-four buzzed past
his ear. e
“The next
bullet I send at you won’t go.so wide.”

The man turned, at that, and lifted his arms.

“Who the blazes are you, anyhow?” he snarled.

“Buffalo Bill is the label I tote.- What's your own
mark ?” .

“Banks.”

“Well, Banks, you’re mine.
off your guns.”

“WWhat’s the matter with ye?” scowled Banks.
have I ever done to you that you make a play like this?
T feel hostile enough

Come this way till I strip

“What

3)?

“Never you mind that for now.

to put a bullet into you, right where you stand, on ac-

count of the way you treated my little Pinte pard. Are
you coming?’

ae hand has the call,” erunted Banks.
coming.”

He moved toward the scout, but slowly.

“Sure. ’m

\

“JT reckon I’ll haye to plant a little lead around your
feet so’st to make ’em more lively,’ remarked Buffalo

Bill. “Step off, high, wide, and handsome. Try it, now,
before my patience begins to mill. You're slower than
molasses in zero weather.”

The man increased his pace. When he had come
within a couple of yards of the scout, something hap-
pened which the scout had not been expecting.

“Up with your ae pilgrim! ‘That’s my pard ye’re
a-drawin’ a bead on.’

This raucous voice came from behind. A thrill ran

through the. scout’s nerves as he began to understand

what Dell’s dumb-show meant.

She had been trying to tell him that. ones of the
ruffians was coming.

The man had come, and was now in the scout’s rear.

Naturally, ®uffalo Bill could not look behind him. To
have done so would have been an invitation for the man
in front to drop his hands, pull a revolver, and begin
firing. ,

“That you, Hendricks?” the scout called, without ma-
king a move to lift his hands, and without taking his
eyes off the fellow in front of him.

“Sure it’s me,’ cate the voice, “big as life an’ twicet
as onnery.

er hands?” : ;

“T heard you,” the scout answered, “and I’m not go-
ing to do it. The click of a trigger in oa hands will be

my signal to ‘throw lead into Banks.”

yay

“J ain’t a-goin’ to have no foolin’,
“If you want to drop yer guns an’ skin out, well an’

  

THE BUFFALO -

Also, his hand darted at his hip, but a/

Did ye hear me when I told ye to put up

snorted Hendricks.

   

BILL STORIES.

 

17

  
    

good; Banks an’ me won’t object. You'll find it a heap
healthier, I reckon, than to try to make front on the pair

of us. We ain’t got no crow to pick with you, and you
hadn’t ort to force our hands. Will ye git?”
PNG

“Well, I’m a-goin’ to count three. By the time I finish ~
the count I’m a-goin’ to turn loose the fireworks, unless
you either git or throw up yer hands. That’s plain
enough, ain't it?”

“T understand you, but m ; i

One.

There was a tone in the voice behind that plainly meant |
business.

“Two!” ;

The scout was just planning to jerk his second revolver
from his belt and whirl about so as to cover both Hen-
dricks and Banks, when a fourth person took a hand in
the odd game.

This was Dell.
revolver at Hendricks.

“Drop that gun!” oe cried)
hear from me!”

Buffalo Bill could hear Houde swearing to himself
at this unexpected summons.

 

From the hill-crest she was leveling a

“drop it quick or you'll

CHAPTER XL,
BANKS AND HENDRICKS,

There was something humorous in the situation, now
that Dell had forced herself into the peculiar combina-
tion, and held the key to it, so to speak.

Buffalo Bill had covered Banks, Hendricks had cov-
ered Buffalo Bill, and now Dell was looking at Hen-
dricks over a diamond-sight.

“Who the blazes are ye, up there on the hill?” shouted
Hendricks, seeking to temporize.

“All you need to know is that I’ve got the drop,” cried
Dell sharply. “You heard what I said about dropping
that revolver. J’m not going to repeat the order.”

“Ve’re a woman, by ther sound o’ yer voice,’ shouted
Hendricks, who did not dare remove his eyes from the.
scout, any more than the scout dared take his from
Banks, “an’ I reckon ye daren’t shoot at——”

The thirty-eight spoke, and the report was followed by
a ring of lead against steel.

Dell’s shot had struck the barrel of. Hendricks’ re-
volver close to the cylinder, knocking the weapon out of
the man’s hand.

A startled yell broke from Hendricks, followed quickly
by the cool voice of the girl:

‘Disarm your man, Buffalo Bill; I’ve disarmed Hen-
dricks, and he’s not able to interfere.”

“Come closer, Banks,” said the scout.

“You don’t

  

   
  

want to force me to take your miserable life, do you?

This trigger works on a hair.”

Banks stepped up to within arm’s length of the scout.
With his left hand the scout disarmed Banks, then
whirled on Hendricks.

Dell Dauntless had descended the hill- oe and was

standing within a dozen feet of Hendricks, her revolver
leveled, and a look of determination in her blue eyes.

“It’s all over but payin’ the bo ain't it?” grinned
Hendricks sourly.
_ “When a man dances he thas to pay the fiddler,” said
Buffalo Bill. .“You and Banks will pay with a few
years in the ‘pen.’ Take his guns, Dell,” he added to the
girl,

Dell stepped forward and picked the revolver out ne
Hendricks’ belt, and took its mate off the ground.

“That was a blame’ purty shot,” remarked Hendricks,
referring to the one that had knocked the revolver out
of his hand, “ i when ye think as how it was a
woman done it.”

“I could have taken your finger along with the re-
volver, if 1 had wanted to,” said Dell.

_ ““Biliged ter ye fer not doin’ it. I needs the finger.”

Hendricks’ horse stood a few yards around the base of
the rock.

“Take both mounts, Dell,” said the scout,
them along after Banks and Hendricks. Fall in, you
fellows,” he ceded to the prisoners, “shoulder to shoul-
der, ahead of me.’

With Buffalo Bill’s guns Se them in the tice, tie
ruffians could do nothing less than obey; thereupon the
scout marched them over the top of the hill and down on
the other side to the place where Cayuse was waiting
with Bear Paw and Silver Heels.

The boy’s eyes gleamed like those of an angry panther
as he looked at Banks.

“Was that the man who had you pulled up at the face
of the cliff, Cayuse?” asked the scout, indicating Banks,

“Wuh!”
knife.

“Leave him alone, boy,” said the scout, in a tone of
sharp command, “The law is going to take care of

“and bring

snarled Cayuse, his hand groping for his

him.”

“Hendricks, there,” said Dell, “is the man who met
Annie McGowan at the railroad-station in Pheenix.”
“They were both concerned in the abduction,” returned

Buffalo Bill, “and they can both be sent over the road.”
_ “What ye givin’ us?” scowled Banks. ‘We ain’t done
nothin’ we can be sent up fer.”

“We have the proof, Banks, and you and Hendricks
will go to Yuma just as surely as the sun rises and sets.”
The scout turned to the Piute. “Go up the hill, Cayuse,
and keep watch for Apaches.” ae

Hendricks watched Cayuse moodily as he climbed the
slope. :

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

reach Phoenix some time before midnight.
we get these scoundrels behind the bars, the better.”

 
  

“What goin’ ter do wath us, Buffalo Bin he
asked.
“Take you to Piers and turn you ¢ over to the sHeritt, 2
said the scout promptly. “Cover Banks, Dell,” he ane
“while I get Hendricks in shape to travel.”
“Dell was loaded down with the four revolvers taken
from Banks and Hendricks. Kneeling in the sand, she

laid the extra weapons beside her, and drew a bead on i

Banks. 3

“Tf Banks makes a move to bolt ,’Snstructed the scout, °

“shoot him. Get on your horse, Hendricks, ” he went on,
to the other man. - as
“Look here,” demurred Hondne “can’t we Tx this
thing up somehow?”

“The only way you can fix it up,” oe the Sone:
“is by taking nage medicine. Get on your horse, a
said !” .

*Muttering to himself, Hendricks got astride his mount.

_ Taking the prisoner’s riata off the horn, the scout bound —
his wrists at.the back and his feet under a saddle-

girths.

There were sevéral feet of rope left, and this the
scout ran up to the pommel, where he made a half

hitch, then on along the horse’s neck and through one
From the bit-ring he led the rope to his _

of the bit-rings.
own saddle and made it secure at the horn.
In this manner Hendricks was firmly bound to ne
horse, and his horse was firmly secured to Bear Paw.
Banks was treated in identically the same manner.

Now, as a matter of fact, the scout had no intention
What he wanted —

of taking the two prisoners to Phoenix.
from them was information, and he was willing to give
them their liberty if they would tell him what he wanted
to know. : |

Hendricks and Banks were the kind of men, however,
who understand nothing but the “iron hand.” The scout

wanted overtures to come from them.

“Get into your saddle, Dell,” said the scout, ee
both horses ridden by the prisoners had been made fast
to Bear Paw. “If we start now, we ought, to be able to
The quicker

So well was the scout playing up his es that even .
Dell was deceived.

“Hadn’t we better wait, Buffalo Bill, y he returned, i

unt ater oo
“We'll wait for nothing,” he cut i at the same time
telegraphing her a message with his eyes. “We have a
dead open-and-shut on these two men.
Annie McGowan at Pheenix, and Banks and Hendricks
were both mixed up in the theft of J team and Loa

board: y ‘

The girl started toward Silver Heels and the scout
| placed ¢ one foot i in his stirrup. 3

  

 

Hendricks met. |

 

    

ry oe

- ale zo.
 

i ~ Tey
‘,

watch the prisoners as we ride.

THE BUFFALO

“Jest a minit, you Buffalo Bill,” said Hendricks:

“Don’t go off half cocked till ye hear what Banks an’
me hev got ter say.”
“You haven't a thing to say that interests me,’ Buf-
falo Bill answered. “Get up here, Cayuse,” he called.
“Sit on the horse with your back to mine, so you can
Give him one of those
revolvers, Dell. He can ay with his left hand, if the
prisonérs make it necessary.”

While these orders were being carried out, the pris-
oners, who were stirrup to stirrup with each other, were
exchanging low-spoken words. |

When the cavalcade was ready to starty Cayuse was ri-
ding with his face to the rear, a six-shooter in his left
hand, and Dell was behind the prisoners. Thus watched
from front and rear, and bound and helpless, such a thing
as escape was an impossibility.

“T tell ye ter wait,” cried Hendricks, “afore ye go on
any further with this here puftormance. Takin’ us ter
the Phcenix calaboose ain’t goin’ ter oe a none in lo-
catin’ Annie McGowan.’

“We'll find her,” said the scout confidently, “and
we'll find Bascomb and Bernritter, too.”

- “Ye'll never find ’em if ye don’t listen ter Banks an’.

93

me.
“It's my opinion,
can lie faster than a dog can trot.”
“We'll make a deal with ye,” proceeded Hendricks,
anxious and desperate.
“What sort of a deal?’ asked the scone eaguaty.
takes two to make a bargain.”
“Right ye are, Buffalo Bill. If ye’ll make a bargain
with us, we'll keep our side of it.” :
-“What sort of a bargain have you to propose?”
Even yet the scout was not showing much interest, al-

Slt

.though he was hes with it. .

uit Bascomb an’ Bernritter ain’t nothin’ ter Bankes

an’ me,’ went on Hendricks.

Hendricks laughed sardonically. ‘An’ here,” he added,
“4s what happens ter us, fust crack out o’ the box. All
in one day we pull off a penitentiary offense an’ git
snagged fer ibe

“What's ‘your proposition ? ? asked the scout impa-
tiently.

fits this:
ter are hangin’ out with the gal, purvidin’ ye turns us

loose with our hosses an’ our hardware an’ gives us time

to git out of the kentry.” .

“And maybe you'll tell the truth and maybe you won't.
I wouldn’t trust you two as far as I could throw a steer
by the tail.”

“NWe'll tell ye the truth,” insisted Banks. . “Why, man,
ye kin prove we've told ye the truth afore ye let us go.”

 

my os for it.

said the scout, “that Banks and you.

“They promised us money’
if we'd help ’em pull off this here deal; but they said it
was a safe deal, an’ that nothin’ would happen to us.”

We'll tell ye where Bascomb and Bernrit- |

BILE STORIES. 19”
“Probably you want to run us into’ some ay or other,”
reflected the scout.

“Nary a trap,’ went on Hendricks.
we'd be gittin’ inter a trap ourselves.” ;

“TIL give you a trial,” said the scout, after a period
of reflection. ‘

The prisoners brightened. ,

“How do we know,” said Banks, “ye'll keep yer word
an’ turn us loose after we tell ye?”

“You don’t,’ returned the scout. “All you ve got is
If I take your word, you'll have to take

‘Bein’ with ye,

mine.’
“That’s enoueh ter nie, Banke » said Hendricks.
“Where's Miss McGowan?” asked the scout.
“She, along with Bascomb and Bernritter, is on the

island in Quicksand Lake.” |

“Tsland_in Quicksand Lake!” echoed the scout deri- |

sively.

“There is such a place as Quicksand Lake, Buffalo
Bill,’ put in Dell, “and there is an island in the lake.

But, so far as I know, no one has ever been able to reach

the island.” |

“Bascomb and Bernritter hev been able ter reach the
island,” averred Hendricks, “an’ I was there myself, jest
before I started fer Squaw Rock to meet Banks. Con-
sarn the luck! If I’d ’a’ stayed on the island, I wouldn't

be herve now.”

“Do you know the way to Quicksand Lake; Dell?”
asked the scout.

UV es7 4

“How far is it from here?’

“Three miles, if we cut across the plain around Squaw
Rock:”

“We'll go there, a see what we can find. Hendricks
and Banks will go with us. If we learn they are not
telling the truth, we'll take them on to Phcenix; and if

-we find they’re up to any treacherous dodge, we'll have

a bullet for each of them. Ride for Squaw Rock, and

99

 

we'll

A quavering, long-drawn-out whoop reached the ears
of the scout and his pards, coming from over the hill in
the direction of the big boulder.

“Apaches!” grunted Little Cayuse.

_A gleam of hope shot athwart the faces of the pris-
oners.

 

CHAPTER XII.
QUICKSAND LAKE.

“Dell,” said the scout, “if either one of the prisoners
speaks a” word, use your revolver on him; and if thie
‘Apaches. make an attack on us, we'll put the prisoners _
in front to receive the first volley; and if luck goes
against us, and the Apaches make a surround, if they get

 

 

 
 

Hence and Banks we'll see to it that. me get them
with their boots on.’
The gleam of hope faded fron the faces at Banks and
Hendricks and a look of concern took its place.
“Watch them, Dell,<you and Cayuse,” finished the
scout, leaping to the ground.
Crawling up the slope once more, he Pesred over the
/ top.
The sun was down and evening was coming on; but,
in spite of the hovering shadows, the scout could see the
five Apaches from the gulch.
Two were wounded.. One had a bandage asue his
thigh and another about his left arm, and had to be tied
to his cayuse in order to stay on the animal’s back.

Grouped about the rock, the Indians were evidently

waiting for Banks, whom they had been told to come
_ there and meet. ‘

Returning back down the slope, the scout got astride
his horse.

"Can we get ‘to Quicksand Tae Dell,” he asked,
“without crossing the plain in the vicinity of edtay
Rock ?”

“We can, but it is a hard trail and will take us a
great deal longer,’ answered Dell.

"Better a hard trail and more time spent on the trip,
than ‘another set-to with the Apaches. You'd better take
the lead, Dell, Cayuse will watch the prisoners.”

The girl got around in front and started off along the
base of the hill.

Realizing the difficulties of traveling when Buffalo
Bill had two prisoners in tow, Dell picked out the
easiest trail she could find.

_Even at that the way was difficult enough, in all con-
science,

. For. the first quarter of a mile of their riding they
were careful to make as little noise as they could; after
that, knowing themselves to be pretty well clear c the

five Indians, it was not necessary for them to be sO Cau-

tious.

The path Dell selected was not nearly so rough a one
-as that which they had followed to Squaw Rock from
the defile, but they had now the growing darkness to
contend with, and this hampered their progress.

Climbing ascents and sliding down descents, threading
tortuous valleys, and traversing the scarps of sharp
ridges, they pursued their way steadily.

Buffalo Bill experienced considerable discomfort from

the ropes with which the two led horses were secured
to his saddle. One Of these ropes passed on either side

_ of him, and when the led horses came close. together he
was caught between the tethers; and occasionally, when
the led horses swerved to one ae. he was all but thrown
from Bear Paw’s back.

He céuld do. nothing else, however, but bear with
discomfort.

 

THE: ‘BUFF ALO

_ would go into the sands up to his waist.

BILL STORIES. ° a E
i
After two hours of saddle-work, the moon came) up
over the hills, round and bright. The landscape came out
distinctly under its brilliant beams.
“How much farther, Dell?’ called the scout.

“We're almost there,” the girl answered, “This yal-

ley, through which we are now traveling, runs down to.

the shore of the lake.”

The valley referred to by Dell was broad and shallow,
and it became broader and more shallow as they followed
it, finally giving way to the flat desert, which sloped in
front of them to the edge of a level of bubbling sand.

“There’s the lake,” said Dell,

“Where’s the island?” °

V1tS | Of to the right, about forty feet from the.

shore.”

“It’s a quicksand lake, is it?”

“Exactly so, Buffalo Bill, and true in every particular
to its name, It is oblong in shape, and measures two
hundred yards across its Tne and three hundred
yards across its widest, part.” oR

“There’s no reef of solid ground perwcey the shore
and the island?”

“Absolutely none. One step off shore and a person
To get out,
when once entrapped in the sand, would be an utter im-

possibility. The sand sucks a person down and down,

until he is smothered and buried. Quicksand Lake not
only ae a man’s life, but also furnishes him with a
erave. 7. ue

lie men we are looking for must have some way
of crossing back and forth,” observed the scout.
_ “Then they must have some sort of a drawbridge,”’
commented the girl, “for the sands could not be crossed
unless a person had something to walk on.”

“You and Cayuse stay here and take care of the pris-
oners and the horses, Dell, while I investigate.”

Leaving Bear Paw in charge of Cayuse, Buffalo Bill

went down toward the shore of the strange lake, Dell.

warning him as he went to be careful and not step oh
the bank. :

There was some need of this catition, for the scout
found: that the solid earth merged gradually into the
bubbling sand, and that one reckless step might prove a.
petson’s undoing.

In the moonlight the lake was an odd sight. ahhe.

sands that composed it seemed in constant motion, bub-
bling and rippling from some underlying force. It was
very like the “jumping quicksands” of the Bad Lands,

with which the scout was familiar, only here there were
no gliding hillocks, but minute ridges like small waves.

No doubt there were springs under the whole extent

_of the lake, and the water impregnated the sand and Baye

it its motion. :
As far as the scout could see, the slope to the qtiick-
sands was an easy one. A dark mass, rising clear of

cal

fi

   

th

th

  
 

 

 

  

the sands off on the right, impressed the scout as being
the island, and he moved in that direction.

He stopped before he came opposite the island, for
there was an object on the bank of the lake which
claimed his attention. ‘This object was a” buckboard—
McGowan’s buckboard, undoubtedly, and the one in
which Hendricks had spirited Annie McGowan to that.
rendezvous in Quicksand Lake.

This. was a bit of proof that Hendricks ie Banks had
been giving the scout correct information.

But where were the star-faced cayuses? Had Bas-

comb and Bernritter some means of taking the animals

to the island, along with their own mounts?

Passing the buckboard, Buffalo Bill continued his in-

vestigation.

As he came abreast of the island, he grew more cau-
tious in his movements. ‘The short distance which sep-
arated the island from the shore, together with the bright
moonlight, would enable those on the island to see him
unless he was wary and careful.

Creeping onward, several yards from the shore, he
finally halted and crouched in the sand.

The island was low and small. It appeared to be
covered with. large stones, heaped at its center into a sort
of breastwork. f

No sounds came from the island, and there was no
other evidence that criminals had taken Bose} of it
as a rendezvous.

Something nearer thé edge of the quicksands saptared ‘

the scout’s attention, and he crept down to investigate.

Close inspection showed the dark blot to be comprised
of a dozen kegs and several boxes. The kegs contained
water and the boxes food.

“This is the food and water supply for those on the
island,” reasoned the scout. “Presumably Hendricks
brought the plunder in the buckboard, and Bascomb and
Bemiritter have not. yet), taken, it: across. It looks as
though they were laying in supplies so as to be in shape
to withstand a possible siege.”

An idea struck the scout. Crouching under the screen
of the kegs, he turned it’over in his mind.

“About the only way to get at those scoundrels,” he
mentally debated, “‘will be to starve them out. No
charge could be made across the quicksands, unless an
-attacking force had the outlaws’ means for getting across,
and a few men behind those rocks on the island could
stand off a besieging force indefinitely. If we could re-
“move these supplies, and keep Bascomb and Bernritter
trom"

The scout, while He was thinking, was also Lecnine his
eyes over the top of the kegs. Suddenly he detected a
movement among the shadows that lay under the rocks
of the island. Ceasing his reflections, he leaned across
the kegs and watched intently.

THE BUFFALO

  

Somebody was doing something ; but what? The

BILL STORIES. au

shadows lay so thick about the island’s shore that he |
could not tell, Sn

Presently he saw a man moving out upon the surface

‘of the treacherous quicksand. As the man walked, he
‘seemed to be pushing something ahead of him.

Curious, and profoundly interested, the scout kept his

eyes on the dark figure.

Farther and farther the man left the shore of the
island behind him, still pushing a round chica in advance
of him as he walked.

Flow was he able to keep on top of the iabbling one
What sort of an object was it that he was pushing?

The man appeared to be leaving a broad, dark trail
behind him. For some time the scout was mystified. ©

The man was laying a course that would bring him
to the shore at the place where the kegs and boxes had
been placed. When he had covered half the distance that
separated him from the shore, the scout began to make
discoveries.

The long, round object the fellow was pushing in front
of him had diminished by half since he had left the
island shore.

Plainly, then, he was leaving part of the object behind
him; and it was equally plain that it was this object
which gave him a secure foothold on the treacherous
and shifting sands.

The scout strained his eyes upon the diminishing roll
in front of the figure.

He made out long, thin slabs of wood, bound closely
together by ropes.

Ah! The scout had pierced the mystery.

The thin slabs, bound together by ropes, when un-
rolled formed a sort of movable causeway, the length
of each slab being sufficient to resist the soit sands and
offer footing and support.

By that time the man was quite near, and his bundle
of slabs had been almost exhausted.

The scout had made up his mind as to what he should
do.

Crouching down behind the kegs, he waited, every
nerve tense as a forestay, and every muscle primed for
quick action.

CHAPTER XI:
THE ISLAND.

The actions of the man tad they been planned by the
scout himself, could not have worked out better for the
scout’s plans, /

Tired from his work Ae unrolling the big bundle of
slabs, the nfan stepped from the causeway and plumped
down on one of the kegs, his.back to the scout.

The man was a stranger to the scout. He was one
whom Buffalo Bill had never seen before.

oF

  

     
 

See . (THE BURPALO BILE STORIES.

Quite likely he had helped Hendricks and Banks in
carrying out the rascally plan for the abduction of Annie
McGowan.
While the man sat on the keg, Buffalo Bill rose softly
behind him, caught him about the throat with both hands,
and jerked him backward to the ground.
The fellow’s surprise must have been overwhelming,

but he had tio way of manifesting it. Tle compression’

at his throat rendered any spoken sound impossible.
After a moment of limp ivaction, however, he began

to struggle. Being a powerfully built man, it was neces-

sary for the scout to get the whip-hand of him quickly.
Pulling his right hand from the fellow’s throat, But-

falo Bill dealt him a heavy blow between the eyes—a.

blow calculated to do little damage other than to stun
and thus afford leeway for making him secure.

The blow was stccessful in this, for the man ceased
his struggles on the instant, and straightened out with a
stifled gasp.

Working rapidly, the scout pulled a couple of re-
volvers from the scoundrel’s belt, then unbuckled the belt
and bound it about his ankles. With a cotton handker-
chief taken from his throat he gagged him, and with
his own handkerchief, twisted into a rope, he bound his
hands at his. back. |

All this was accomplished by the resourceful scout in
hardly more time than it “takes to tell of it. Scarcely
was the work done, when a hail came from the island,

“What ye doin’, Giles?” called a voice.

“Restin’,”’ answered the scout, disguising his. voice.

“What's the matter? Got a frog in yer throat?”

“Tired an’ winded, thet’s all,” replied the scout.

“Waal, hustle up with that plunder. Git it all over
here an’ pile it up on the shore. We'll take it behind
the breastworks ter-morrer, when we kin have daylight
fer it.) Don’t, tergit ter pullin ther bridge, ang roll it
up tight when ye do it. Look sharp, now! Them’s the

on’y supplies we got, an’ if ye should drop a box inter the’

sands we'd miss’’em mightily. Pe a water-keg first.
Our canteens are purty nigh empty.”

The scout heard the speaker moving away, and saw his
dark form vanish among the boulders.

The move the scout had planned was a reckless one.
Yet, nevertheless, he proceeded to carry it out wa all
his usual determination.

Picking up one of the kegs, he stepped out on the
causeway. The wooden slabs gave slightly under his
feet, but, by moving swiftly, he did not sink more than
an inch on any one of them.

Swiftly he crossed to the other end of the Teele

- bridge and stepped off upon the rocky shore with his keg.

There he set the keg down and deftly removed the plug
from the bung-hole, allowing the water slowly to trickle
out.

He did not start back across the causeway again, That

 

had not been his intention. Now that he was on the
island, he would take a look around.

The little area of rocks, he discovered, was even
smaller than he had calculated it to be from the opposite
shore. Fifty steps, he believed, would have measured its
diameter. It was slightly conical in shape, and seemed to
be the peak of a hill pushed up through the shifting
sands,

On the top was the heap of boulders referred to by
the man, who had called from the island’s shore, as the
“breastworks.”

To penetrate directly into the Reece would have

meant instant discovery by Bascomb and Bernritter. To
avoid this, and yet develop some information that might
later prove useful, the scout began crawling around the
island’s shore on his hands and knees.

This maneuver presently brought him to the side of

the island where the moonlight lay full upon the rocks.
What he saw in the moonlight gave him a start.
By a boulder, just below the breastworks, sat a woman.
Her hands were lying in front of her in her lap, and

the scout could see that they were bound. Her ankles,
stretched down the flinty slope, were also bound. In

addition to these cords, a rope was tied about her waist
and passed around the boulder.

After the first flush of surprise, a fierce anger against
the miscreants who could treat ‘a woman in such a way

arose in the scout’s breast. /

The prisoner, of course, was Annie McGowan.’ And
it. was the man she supposed she was going to marry who
had brought upon her this humiliation and danger!

Muttering to himself, Buffalo Bill arose softly to his
full height and peered about him.

From behind the boulder breastwork he heard a sud-
den mumbling of voices.

Bascomb and Bernritter were there!

If they two were alone on the island with the girl,
the daring notion ran ‘through the scout’s brain a he

might be able to effect a rescue.

Farther along the moonlit shore he could see clumps
of brush and could hear the trampling of horses. But

he could see no other men.

Whatever he did, the scout realized must be done
quickly. ;

Giles was supposed to be: transporting the supplies
from the main shore to the island; unless those back of
the breastworks heard sounds indicative of such labor,
their suspicions would be presently aroused. )

Dropping to his hands and knees, the scout crept up

behind the bound girl. Her head was oa and she .

did not hear his approach. -

To avoid a possible alarm which the girl’s surprise
might cause her to give, and which would effectually
block the scout’s game of rescue, he reached forward and
clasped one hand over the girl’s lips. -

 

Ss
 

 

 

ee THE BUFFALO

She straightened her shoulders suddenly and tried to
scream, but the hand over her mouth stifled the sound.
“Don’t. make any noise,” whispered the scout in the’
‘girl’s ear. “I am a friend, and am-going to try and
take you from the island. But, if I succeed, you must
not make any noise. Bascomb and Bernritter are within
a few yards of us, and if they heard what I was doing,
they would shoot. Do you understand? I am Buffalo
Bill, and I have come from your father.”

Whether it was the magical name of “Buffalo Bill,”
standing for so much of chivalry and daring throughout
the West, or whether it was the scout’s mention of the
girl’s father, the girl became pacified at once, and erat
ently plucked up courage and hope.

The scout removed his hand.

“Oh, take me away, take me away!” breathed the girl.
“I will be quiet—I will not make a sound—but get me
away from this awful, place and these hateful men as
quickly as you can.”

The sorrow and anxiety in the girl’s words went
straight to the heart of the scout.

Without taking time to reply, he pulled his knife from
its sheath and slashed it through the rope that bound the
girl to the boulder, and then through the bonds that se-
cured her hands and feet.

Miss McGowan then attempted to stand, but her (ne
benumbed by the bonds, would not.support her weight.

Seeing how matters stood, the ° ‘scout bent down and
lifted her in his arms,

Then, quickly and silently as bee be, he started
around into the shadow of the island and stepped out on
the causeway.

He had been obliged to make some noise, and to show
himself very plainly, but his daring work had not aroused
the men behind the breastwork.

Every step he now took across the slabs brought him
and the girl nearer the shore and safety.

But it was too much to hope for that he should get
across the frail bridge entirely unseen and undetected.
Once more he was hailed huskily from the bank.

“Giles!” roared the voice that had spoken before;
“what the blazes are ye kerryin’ off? All that plunder
on the bank is to be toted over here, and not——”

“The girl!” yelled a second voice from the island.
“She's gone, Bascomb!”

A wild oath leaped from the lips of the man who had
been yelling at the scout, under belief that he was Giles.

Sping, sping! came the vicious reports of a six-shooter.

The leaden bees buzzed on either side of the scout’s
head, and Annie McGowan’s arms clasped frantically
about his neck.

“Tt ain’t Giles at all!’ whooped Bascomb ;
some other meddlin’ whelp Aa

“Rush after the fellow!” interrupted the frantic voice

 

 

“but it’s

BILL. STORIES. 23
of Bernritter. “All is up with us if he Sets away! Stop
him! The girl! - ve must not let him get away with the
girl! Y}

By that time the scout had reached the kegs and the
boxes. Dropping the girl down behind them, he crouched ~
at her side and gave vent to a mocking laugh.

“You fellows are close to the end of your rope!” he
shouted. “It’s Buffalo Bill that’s calling your game!’

The scout’s last word faded into the echo of a shot
from one of his forty-fours.

Bascomb and Bernritter had piled full-tilt out ah
the island end of the causeway, but the scout’s bullet,
fanning the air close to their heads, sent them back pell-
mell into the shadow of the rocks.

“Buffalo Bill!” cried a voice from the direction of the
valley. °

“Here we are, Dell!” answered the scout. “If you
come this way, be careful. Bascomb and Bernritter are
anne from the island, and are ready to use their
guns.”

CHAPTER XIV.
_ THE TRAPPERS TRAPPED.

Dell Dauntless, creeping warily along the shore to the
pile of kegs and boxes at the edge of the bubbling sands, ,
came abruptly face to face with her friend, Annie Mc-
Gowan.

‘Dell!’ screamed the rescued girl tearfully. :

“Annie!” cried Dell, her voice vibrant with the deep
surprise that surged within her.

For a moment the girls clung in each other’s arms,
Miss McGowan sobbing hysterically.

“There, there, Annie!’? murmured Dell, in a soothing
tone. “How do you happen to be here?’

“Buffalo Bill came to the island and brought me
away,” answered Miss McGowan. .

“Came to the island!” gasped Dell, dumfounded. “Buf-.
falo Bill, did you really go to the island and take Annie
right out from under the noses of Bascomb and Bern-

‘ritter and the other men they had with them?”

“They had ee one other man with them, Dell,” an-
swered the scout, “and I took care of that fellow before
I started for the ea There ne lies, on the: sand,
within a yard of you.”

“But how did you do it?” cried the amazed Dell.
“Are you a wizard, that you could cross the quicksands
and bring Annie away from the island?” ee

“No,” laughed the scout, “I don’t happen to be a wiz-
ard, An opportunity presented itself, and I. took ad-
vantage of it, That’s all.”

“All!? murmured the girl.
enough, I can scarcely believe

Again the scout’s revolvers barked, carrying a leaden

“Well, 1 should. say it is

92

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

0 _ THE ‘BUFFALO

had once more attempted the causeway.

The two men on the island gave up their attempt on —

the shaking bridge. Retreating to the protecting shadow
of the boulders, they began boring holes in the night with
their bullets, seeking to injure en behind the barricade
of kegs and boxes. CO

Their efforts in this direction were vain. Slugs
plumped into the barricade, but failed to reach those be-
hind it.

“It’s a case of the trappers Hanped: POexMied ie
scout. “That trail of boards is the only way for Bas-
comb and Bernritter to come from the island, and one
man can lie here, back of this barricade, and keep them
where they are. We'll have them, and. it’s only a mat-
ter of a short time, at.that. These kegs contain wa-

ter, and the boxes hold provisions; they are all the sup--

plies Bascomb and Bernritter have—and they are in our
hands! Did you ever hear of a situation to beat it,
Delle” |

“Never!” laughed the girl.
tables on the scoundrels with a vengeance.
you ever do it, Buffalo Bill? Tell me!”

The scout told her, talking to the girls but keeping his
eyes on the causéway.

Dell clapped her hands in oe of the scout’s
daring and successful efforts.

“No wonder they call you king of scouts, Buffalo
Bill!’ she exclaimed admiringly. “Not one man in a
thousand could have done what you have.”

“Bosh!” deprecated the scout. ‘Were these water-
kegs and boxes of provisions brought here in the buck-
board, Miss McGowan?” he inquired of the rescued girl.

“Yes. - The man who drove the buckboard took them
aboard at Phcenix.”

“Did he bring your trunk and hand-baggage?”’

“No, there was no room. My baggage was left at a
hotel in Phcenix, and the man who drove the buckboard
said that one of my father’s fréighters would bring them
“out,”

“You never suspected that anything was Wrongs An-
nie?” queried Dell.

“TI never suspected a thing, Dell,” replied Annie, “un-
til we turned off the Black Cafion trail to come here.
Then I began to get nervous. I demanded to be al-
lowed to leave the buckboard, but the man only laughed
at me, I tried to jump, but he caught me and bound
my hands and tied me to the seat of the buckboard.

“You have turned the
But how did

“When we got here I saw a man called Bascomb..: He

took me off the buckboard and carried me out to the.

island. And there’—the girl choked—“there I met—
‘Bernritter !” |
- Dell put one arm around her friend’s. waist.

“You know now,” said she, “something I have all

along suspected, and that is that Bernritter is a scoun-

 

 

warning to Bascomb and Bernritter who, in desperation,

   

BILL STORIES.

De

drel. It is better that you should have your eyes opened
tO tthat fact now, Atinie, than dater,

“T suppose so,” answered Annie, in a tone of grief
and sorrow, “but it is a terrible thing to have your
faith destroyed.at one blow, as mine was.”

“You'll get over it,” reassured Dell. “Were you kindly
treated on the island?” —

“Yes, although I was bound hand and fone aad tied
to a big stone. All day long and most of the night I
have been there, Dell,” finished the girl, with a shiver,
“and I had abundant time to think.” —

“And your thoughts were far from pleasant, I'll war-.

rant... But, never mind,’ Annie.)
, “T had such a good time in ’Frisco,” quavered the dis-
tressed girl, “and now to have it end ao this!”

“Oh, well, it might have ended worse.’

“I want Buffalo Bill to understand that I am grateful ,

39

for what he has done—— ‘

: There there!’ broke in the scout. our father,
Miss McGowan, is a good friend of mine, and I am
glad fate put it in my power to serve him and you in
this way.”

“All I want, now, is. to get to the mine.”

“You shall go there just as soon as we can get mat-
ters in readiness.
talk with our prisoner.”

Dell took Buffalo Bill’s position behind the foremost
kegs and boxes, her revolvers in her hands.

The scout, having appropriated Giles’ revolvers, took
the bonds from his limbs.

“I have nothing particular against you, Giles,” said
the scout, addressing the dazed man, “although you were
one of the three who captured Golightly and put him in
the bear-trap and helped Hendricks get away to Phoenix
in MeGowan’s buckboard. You are liable in the eyes of
the law, and you could be put through. Hendricks and
Banks are in my hands, but they gave me information
concerning the rendezvous of Bascomb and. Bernritter,
and, for doing so, I intend to give them their freedom.
You also have a chance to earn your freedom, if you
want to take advantage of it.’

“What’s the chance?” Giles asked eagerly.

“Can you go to the island and bring ashore the star-
faced cayuses belonging to McGowan 2”

“Bascomb and Bernritter won’t let me, I reckon.”

“Bascomb and Bernriter are as good as in the Phoenix
jail this minute. If they make any more trouble it will
go all the harder with them. Go to the island and get
the two horses. Tf the harness is on the island, see that
it is on the-horses. Do this, and when I turn Hendricks
and Banks loose you can go with them.”

“Let me have one o’ my guns,” pleaded Giles.

“Nary a gun, Giles. You'll have to do this with your
bare hands.’ : —

“Waal, here goes.”

  

Guard the causeway, Dell, while I

   

  
 

THE BUFFALO.

Giles sprang to the causeway and started across. A
bullet was launched at him by Bascomb and Bernritter.

“Let up on that, you fellers!” howled Giles.
Giles.” oF

“Come ahead, then,” called Bascomb.

Giles hurried on, and finally vanished in the shadows
Gr the Focks, 7) a

“That will make three on the island,’ said Dell,
| “and probably peony and Bernritter will be able to
| give Giles a weapon.”
“What if they do?” the scout aren cred. “With some
| one here to guard the causeway, half a dozen men would
| be as secure on that island as though they were locked
_inacell. Giles may get the horses, or he may not. We'll

”

a9

F SCE. os

Sounds of conversation floated across the bubbling
sands from the island, and it was apparent that Giles

was telling how the résourceful scout had accomplished ©

' his coup. Presently the voices died away, and then, a
little later, some one could be seen leading two horses.
| The horses were in single file, Giles leading the first,
| and the on® behind tied to its mate in front.

“They’re letting the horses come without a word of

protest,” remarked the scout, peering warily at the ap-
proaching animals.

“They may be up to some job or other, Buffalo Bill,”
warned Dell.

“They are,” returned the scout grimly. “Bascomb’ and
Bernritter are each ye on the off-side of one of
the horses.”’

The thump of hoofs on the boards, and the snorting of

the horses, drowned the footfalls of Bascomb and Bern-.

ritter, but the scout could see their legs Dee under the
horses’ bodies.

“Stop, Giles!’ shouted the scout.

“Kain’t stop!” answered Giles, in a flutter. “If we
| stand still the boards’ll sink under us. We got ter Bey
' movin’. The hosses weighs more’n what a man does.”

“T don’t like 0 see Bascomb and Bernritter coming
across with you,” shouted the scout. “Stand still, for
Pm going to shoot.” a

Giles gave vent to a terrified yell, but he a (he
scout fired, and his bullet, passing under the body of one
of the horses, seared Bascomb’s leg.

Bascomb yelled and leaped back toward the shore of
the island. Bernritter followed him.

“Come on, Giles!” ordered the scout, “and come quick.
ees he added, addressing the black shore of the
island, “if you or Bernritter do any more shooting, or
make any more trouble, it will go all‘the harder with
you. You’ re as oe as captured, and you ought to
know it.”

A ‘defiant shout was returned from the island; but
neither Bascomb 1 nor Bernritter indulged in any more
shooting.

BILL STORIES.

nits me.

 

25

“Leave the horses at the edge of the quicksands,
Giles,” commanded the scout, “and then go back to the
island.” i

“But ye said I-was ter be free if I got the bronks! »
demurred Giles wrathfully.

“And Vl keep my word,” returned the scout; “you'll
go free, along with Banks and Hendricks, but not until
I’m ready to let you. And, until I am ready, I’d rather
have you on the island than here. Careful, man! I’ve
got you covered. Even if Bascomb or Bernritter did
give you a revolver, V’ll put a hole through you before
you have a chance to draw it. Get back to the island,
i tell vou!?

Giles, baffled and beaten, let go the bridle of the horse,
stepped upon the causeway, and one. to his former
companions.

CHAPTER XV.
SENDING AWAY THE BUCKBOARD.

“What are we to do now, Buffalo Bill?” inquired Dell.
“We have the star-faced cayuses, all right. What’s to be
done with them?”

Oven. lete Hite Cayuse bata Banks and Hen-
dricks?” returned the scout. ‘
“Yes. When we heard firing in this direction, pape
and I thought that one of us ought to come and investi-

gate. We decided that I should be the one.’

“When you came here you passed the buckboard, didn’t
your”

Ves. ‘

“Well, there are the horses, eee and ready to
be put to the pole. I suppose you know how to hitch
up?”

“Well, I reckon!” laughed Dell.

“Then hitch the cayuses to the buckboard and take
Annie to the mine. You'll not be troubled on the trip.
The five Apaches are at Squaw Rock, and so cannot mo-.
lest you. You'll have to drive from here to the Black
Cafion trail, I suppose: a

“Yes. We can reach the Black Cafion trail ou
from this place.”

“Could you also go by way of that old fees ?
Nomad, you know, was to be there with the letter and
the bar of bullion, and I told him to hide somewhere
and then follow the man who came to get the letter and
the gold. You can probably locate Nomad, all rivht.
Do that, and send him here. Then you can tear up
McGowan’s letter, and let Miss McGowan carry the bul-
lion back to her father.”

“What letter?” asked Annie McGowan.

“And what
bullion is this you’re talking about?”

“Dell will tell you on the way to the mine, Miss —

.

 

 

 
-. tions were good.

36 : i THE BUFFALO

McGowan,” replied the scout. “As soon as you ich
the mine, Dell, have McGowan send a.man‘to Phoenix

. after Rising; the sheriff. Tell the messenger to inform,
Rising that we have Bascomb and Bernritter trapped,

and waiting for him.”
“Pll do it, Buffalo Bill,” said Dell. “You'll be able
to take care of those fellows on the island, all right?”

“Rasily. There’s nothing to do but to watch sharply |

and keep hold of my guns. Get the horses, you and Miss
McGowan. Each of you had better lead one, and walk
on this side of the animal. I don’t think Bascomb and
Bernritter will do any more SHPOHGE but it is just as
well for you to be on the safe side.”

The two girls got ae and stepped toward the wait-
_ ing horses.

“Where and when oil I see you again, Buffalo Bill?”
Dell asked.

“T can’t tell that, Dell, but I hope it will be soon.
You’re a brave girl, and you have been a big help to me
in this bit of work.”

“T haven’t done so much, Buffalo. Bill, but my inten-
I’m your pard, am I not?”

“Certainly !”

“Thank you. It’s something to be Buffalo Bill’s girl
pard. Gome on, Annie.”

‘The girls hurried to. the horses and each took one by
the bridle‘and started away | in the direction of the buck-
' board.

“When you pass Little Cayuse, Dell,” the scout called,
“you might tell him to ride on here with Bear Paw and
to bring Banks and Hendricks along. Until Nomad
comes, I'll feel better to have the boy with me.”

“Vl tett him,” Dell answered.

The scout watched until the forms of the horses and
the girls had vanished in the dusk.

All was silent on the island. From appearances, Bas-
comb and Bernritter had given wp the fight, and were
probably behind the breastwork talking over recent dis-
astrous events with Giles. /

Quick with his weapons as was Buffalo Bill, he would
have felt abundantly able to keep a dozen men bottled
up on the island. The only way Bascomb and Bernrit-
ter could possibly escape would be by rushing across the
causeway at top speed, in the hope of gaining the main
shore. With a marksman like the scout guarding the
_ shore-end of the shaking bridge, such an attempt would
have been nothing less than suicide.

An hour passed before Little Cayuse came with Bear

Paw and the two horses on which were Banks and —

Hendricks. Banks and Hendricks had seen the buck-
board go past the valley with Annie McGowan and Dell,
so they knew Buffalo Bill had been successful in rescuing
the girl How he had done it was more than they

could tell, for Dell Dauntless had not taken time to ex- _

plain the situation to Little Cayuse.

off a deal when. he butts inter it.
_dricks, in agreein’ ter help Bascomb an’ Bernritter when

BILL. STORIES.

-“Where’s Bascomb an’ Bernritter?” asked Hendricks,

_ “Over there on the island.”

“What's become o’ Giles! ”

“Well, Giles stretched that bridge io me, He when he
tried to get away with this plunder I grabbed him and
tied him up——” ,

“Ve never!” breathed the astounded Danie:

“And then,” proceeded the scout, “I carried a keg of
water across, rescued Miss McGowan, sent Giles for the
horses, and ae sent him back again after he had got the
horses over.’ ¢

“The three of ‘em’s over Ge her i stuttered Hen-
dricks.

Cyes”

“An’ they hevn’t tried ter come across?”

“Oh, yes, they've tried three times; but I’m pretty
well barricaded here, and they're afraid of my bullets.”
“Blazes ter blazes an’ kerry one!’ breathed Banks.

“How's this fer a oe r’ muttered Hendricks, “An’
all done by one man.’

“Buffalo Bill,” added Barks “No use tryin’ ter pull
We was®lame, Hen-

we knowed the king of scouts was agin’ us.”

“But Bascomb said that hevin’ possession o’ the girl
would knock the scout galley-west, an’ that he couldn't
do a thing.”

“Waal, what’s he done?’ queried Banks satirically.
“Here’s us, an’ wheres Bascomb, an’ Bernritter, an’
Giles? We’re down an’ out, the hull kit an’ caboodle
ast |

“Nary, Banks,” said Hendricks. “We've saved our
own bacon onless the scout goes back on his word. How
is at, Buffalo ‘Bill?’

“T’ll keep my promise to you,” answered the scout,
“Dut . don’t want to turn you adrift until the sheriff
comes.’

“Sher’f!. Is he cone

“He'll be here to-morrow.”

“1 don’t keer pertic’l’rly erbout meetin’ up with the

sher’f, but if you say ye'll keep oe word | don't reckon

we got any kick comin’,” :
“Tt wouldn’t do you any good if fe had, Hendricks,”
said the scout. :

Untying the feet of the two Stone Buffalo Bill

_ let them dismount; then he bound their ankles again, and
_ they sat upon the ground, their backs ae boxes

of provisions.
“How are you feeling, Cayuse ?” asked the scout.
“Me all right,’ answered the boy, who had had his
ears wide open listening to all the scout had said.
“How’s your shoulder?’
“Him fine.” ae
“You haven’t had any dinner or supper, Cayuse. Get
down from Bear Paw and untie that bag from the sad-

 
 

  

dle-cantle. It’s full of chuck, and I reckon we’d both
enjoy a dip into it. While we’re eating, Cayuse, you
- might help me as watch of that Dader across the quick-
sands.” :

Cayuse followed te ses iecirncions, and he and
the scout made a hurried meal off the food brought from
the mine, and likewise supplied Banks and Hendricks
with some of it. .

_ “How did Bascomb and Bernritter happen upon such
| a place as this for a rendezvous, Hendricks?” asked Buf-
falo Bill. :

“Bernritter knowed hie it, I was told,” replied
Hendricks, ‘ ‘an’ he put it up ter Bascomb.”

“Who invented that causeway ?”

‘“Bernritter. He made it while he was at the mine,
Bascomb said, an’ then brought it down here an’ tried
it. It worked ter a charm. Ye see, ye kin unroll it and
walk out from the island; then, when ye’re ready ter

go back ter the island, ye kin roll it up behind ye an’ |

take it in. No one kin cross unless them as is on the
island wants ’em to.”

“Very clever,” commented the scout,
and Bernritter evidently overlooked the fact that it’s a
thing that will work both ways. The quicksand keeps
enemies away from them, and, o ‘the same time, it keeps
them away from their enemies.’

“Waal,” muttered Hendricks, “thar’s a flaw in most
schemes, an’ I ain’t s’prised none ter find er flaw in this
‘un o’ Bernritter’s.”

At this juncture, Little Cayuse dae to his feet with
a warning, “Ugh! Lis’en!”

What the boy heard was a patter of hoe hoofs
on the sand. A moment later a familiar voice boomed
out into the night: :

“Buffler! Whar ther tarnation aire ye,
Whoo-ee!”

“This way, Nick!” shouted the scout. Half a minute
later old Nomad and his horse took form in the moon-
light, and galloped up to the barricade.

“anyways?

CHAPTER: XVI.
THE DOUBLE CAPTURE,

“Waal,” cried old Nomad, “what ther blazes hes been
goin’ on, Buffler? Hyer I’ve been hidin’ out in the
chaparral fer three mortil hours, watchin’ a letter an’ a
five-pound bar o’ bullion what I’d placed, with exceed-
in’ keer, on the top o’ ther ore-dump at thet ole minin’-
shaft. Then, all ter oncet, erlong comes Dell in a buck-

board with a gal beside her.

oT het you, Newer: ? says she.

“Ther same,’ says I, ‘but chase yerself off Kase ye al
skeer erway ther man I’m expectin’.’

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

“but ‘Bacconh.

any trouble,”

_“*The man will not come,’ says she, with er laff.

“*‘Fer why won’t he come?’ I says.

“Fer ther reason,’ she expounds, ‘thet Buffler hes got
him erbout es good as captered!’

“Now, what d’ye think o thet?’ says I.
with ye?’ I goes on.

““This hyar is Annie McGowan,’
‘Mr. Nomad, Buffler Bill’s pard.’

“Wharever did Annie come from? I asks.

““Buffler rescued her,’ says Dell.

“‘Sufferin’ catermounts!’ I says;
doin’ nothin’ but Buffler ?

““Hardly, says Dell, then tells me whar ter come, and
she an’ the McGowan gal rides off with the bar 0’ gold,
tearin’ up McGowan’s agreement as they goes.

“So,” finished the trapper, “thet’s why I’m hyar, Buf-
fler, an’ I’m plumb hungry ter find out what ye done an’
how ye done et. Blaze erway, won’t ye?’

The scout “blazed away,” and Nomad was soon in
possession of all the facts.

He had an admiring word for the scout, and a word
of regret because he had not himself been able to
figure in the exciting affair of the afternoon and night.

says Dell. ‘Annie,

Nick was placed on guard at the end of the cause- _

way, however, and he was hoping against hope that Bas-
comb or Bernritter would make a dash, and offer him a
little excitement. But nothing of the kind happened.

Morning came, and as the light increased the scout
got a better view of the island. Bascomb and Bernritter
were not to be seen, and were probably keeping closely
under cover of their stone breastwork.

A little after noon Rising, the sheriff, came whipping
along the shore from the direction of the trail.

“Hello, there, Cody!’ he shouted. ‘Here we are
again, Hawkins and I. Some one brought word to us
that you had captured Bascomb and Bernritter,”

“They’re not exactly captured, but the next thing to it,
Rising,” the scout answered, as the sheriff and his deputy
leaped out of the buckboard. “They’re on the island,
out there, and the only way they can escape is by coming
across that patent bridge.”

“Before we proceed any farther, you’d better tell me
about it.”

Once more the scout sketched the important details of
recent events.

| Well, Tl be dinged ! ie ered Peon the deputy.

“Tt only took Buffalo Bill a night an’ a day ter git next

ter Bernritter’s game fer robbing the Three-ply an’ ter
put ther kibosh on it, an’ only a day an’ a night ter rescue
Annie McGowan an’ git Bascomb an’ Bernritter up a
tree. What's ther move, Rising? Shall we go across
an’ hunt ther varmints out?” |

“Let’s see if they won’t come ashore wheat haling:
said Rising, stepp:ng to the edge of the

Te

27.

‘Who's thet —

‘ain't nobody been

  
  

28 7 . ‘THE BUFFALO

quicksands. Making a trumpet of his hands, he Lee
“TWello, out there!”

Three heads appeared above the boulders of the breast-
_ works.

“Hello, yerself!’ called Bascomb.

“I’m the sheriff,’ explained Rising. “Will you fel-
lows come ashore, or shall we come after you?’

“Oh, we won’t make you any more trouble than neces-
sary,” answered Bernritter. “Well come ashore.”

“That’s sensible. When you get ready to take the
bridge, hand your weapons to Giles and let him come
ahead. Do that in plain sight of us, so, we can be sure
it’s done.”

‘We'll have to bring our horses,” said Bernritter.

“Certainly; but lead them—don’t get on their backs.”

The three heads vanished from the top of the: breast-
work and, presently, Bascomb, Bernritter, and Giles ap-
peared leading their horses and making for r cause-
way.

Just before reaching the bridge Giles feieen sheer,
anil Bascomb and Bernritter tendered him their revolv-
ers. With the weapons under his arm, Gis: came across
the bridge.

“Drop the guns,’ said the scout,
and scatter out of this.”

“That's me!” said the gratified Giles, and he was into
his saddle like a flash, and spurring away toward the
hills,

While Bascomb and Bernritter were coming across,
Buffalo Bill released Banks and Hendricks, emptied their
six-shooters of cartridges, and dumped all the shells out
of their cartridge-belts.

“set on your horse

“When you release a couple of wolves,” the scout re-
marked, “it’s a good plan to draw their fangs. Now,
then, Banks and Hendricks, show us your heels; and
remember. this, both of you: If your trails ever again
cross mine, you'll have cause to regret it.”

“They'll not cross yours if I’ve got anythin’ ter say
erbout it!” ctied Banks,

_“Them’s my sentiments, too!” added Hendricks.

With that the two villains loped away.

The scout turned to Bascomb, on whose wrists Hawk-
ins had just slipped a pair of bracelets.

“Bascomb, otherwise Slocum,” said the scout, ae
my prisoner. I have orders to take you to Fort Apache.”

Bascomb whirled on the scout like a tiger.

“Ye're after me fer desertin’, hey?” he snarled.

‘i hatis it.” ,

“lf I’d knowed that, V’d hev stayed on that aad
an’ os ye off as long as I'd had a ca’tridge fer my
guns.”

“Then you would have done a very foolish hae and
probably have lost your life.”

“Td ruther a heap lose my, life than go Rack | tev Bar
Apache! a

aN
Ne

  

‘the scout kindly.

- us for a few days, anyhow,”

said the scout,
That girl is a little brick—one of the bravest and finest

Tron Bracelets; or, Dauntless Dell’s. Dating.”

 

 

BILL STORIES.

“The man you shot there didn’t die,” said the scout,
“so you needn’t worry about the gallows.” He turned
to Rising. “Will you hold Bascomb for me, in Phenix,
till I want him?” he asked.

“Sure,” replied the sheriff.

Half an hour later, Rising, Hawkins, Benes and

Bascomb were traveling in the direction of Phcenix,

while Buffalo Bill, Nomad, ‘and Little Cayuse were go-
ing the other way, toward the Three-ply Mine.

The meeting between Annie McGowan and her father

was as happy as it was unexpected on the mine-owner's
Dae. ne
McGowan could scarcely believe that. the “scout had’ |,
really found and rescued his daughter in the way de-_

scribed to him by Dell and Annie. It seemed impossible
that one man, lone-handed, could accomplish so much.

When the scout and his pards arrived at the camp, on

the following afternoon, McGowan and his daughter met
them, and both tendered their deepest thanks. —

“You saved more than forty thousand dollars’ worth
of bullion for me, a few days ago, Buffalo Bill,’ ob-
served McGowan, with feeling, “and now you have res-
cued my daughter. What can I do for you to show my
gratitude ?”’

“Your thanks are more than enough, McGowan,” said
“I was doing some work for the gov-
ernment, too, you remember, and in carrying out my
duty as government scout, it was surely a pleasure to
find that I could serve you and Miss McGowan as I did.
Only’—and the scout’s eyes twinkled as he said it—
“don’t try to keep me here any longer. When we make
our vee start for Phoenix, l.and my pards want to ef
away.”

“Annie and I were hoping that you would remain with
said McGowan.

“Impossible,” said the scout. “We must leave here in
the morning and take Bascomb back to Fort Apache.”
Then, as he looked around, he asked:, “By the way,
what’s become of Dauntless Dell ’”

“She had to go back to the Double D Ranch, Buffalo
Bill,” said McGowan. “When she left, she said she

Saif

33°

hoped you and your pards would stay here for a day or

two so that she might ride over again and see you.”
“Much as I should like to see my girl pard again,”
“yet it will be impossible for us to wait.

young women I ever met.”
“Shore she is!’ cried Nomad. |
“Wuh!” added Little Cayuse, nodding vigorously.

THE END.

\-

The next number (372) will contain “Buffalo Bill's

“i
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bee elke AGO

Sa SS oe +e oS

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Sac RA a ed

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; THE BUFFALO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK, June 20, 1908.

 

TERMS TO BUFFALO BILL STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.

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AROUND THE CAMP FIRE.

THE CALL OF PTE WILD.

Lost in the pine-forests in the wilds of the interior of Lake
County, miles from shelter, with the north winds blowing
a furious gale, increasing the intense cold, with a pack of
hungry wolves in hot pursuit, night fast approaching, and

nothing but impending death to look to, was the predicament
in which a pedler was placed while making a tour of the
Jumber- -camps.

In some localities in northern Minnesota this winter ‘the
wolves have been driven desperate by hunger, induced by
their inability to kill the usual number of deer because of
the open winter which has prevailed in this section of the
country, enabling the fleet-footed animals to escape the fangs
of the wolves. When wolves are supplied with food they
are rather particular in its quality, but when famished, a lean

‘lumberjack, a tenacious explorer, a cruiser, or even a tough

trapper is a luscious meal for them.

The following startling story, sent by a Two Harbors cor-
respondent of the News-Tribune, is declared by him to con-
tain nothing but the truth and is devoid of tree-climbing and
like details, and indicates how modern inventions are super-
seding time-worn methods,

Adam Jonas Sekah, who for the last eleven years has been
doing an itinerant business in the numerous lumber-camps
and among the homesteaders north of here, selling watches,
jewelry, and trinkets, was the hero of the adventure.

In the afternoon of the day when he left a camp at which
he had been plying his trade to walk to another camp several

miles distant, he was told of the possible dangers in store for

him in venturing on a journey so close to nightfall. But

being brave and having an eye for the brisk business before

him at the next camp, he gallied forth intent upon reaching
his destination in time for the evening meal and showing his
wares afterward.
His effects he hauled. upon a little toboggan. After an
hour’s travel he discovered he had missed his trail. Night
caught him hopelessly lost, although at this time he did not

   

 

BILL STORIES. - | 29

appreciate his position, believing that he would soon reach
his destination.

About ‘the time he was becoming anxious he heard the
ominous and startling call of a wolf, which was immediately
answered, and soon on all sides could be heard the cries of

the chase. He quickened his pace, and, while debating
whether to climb a tree or attempt to build a fire, he came to
a small clearing, with a settler’s shack in the: center. On
reaching it he found that the doors and windows were gone.

At the edge of the clearing he could see skulking forms,
momentarily halted by the caution with which wolves ap-
proach the open. He was certainly in a sorry plight. What
should he do? An attempt to run away from them was out
of the question. To climb on top of the building would be
useless. To prepare for a fight would be of no avail, as he
carried no guns or weapons. . .~

On his toboggan he had a graphophone, carried to amuse
the \camp inmates at night and thus popularize himself. He

‘recalled the charm with which music is said to influence the

most savage breast. He quickly pushed a dilapidated table in
the shack to the door, grabbed the machine, got it in working-
order, slipped in a record, and just as the first of the pack

‘reached the threshold. it commenced a rollicking minstrel

melody. The effect was magical. With the first whirl of the
machine the astonished leader jumped in the air as if shot
and retreated to a safe distance, and the rest of the pack
dropped on their haunches “in astonishment.

Sekah ran the record through a couple of times and then
changed it quickly to one of the Marine Band. The pack
grew uneasy, but were held as if fascinated. Others came
creeping in from the shadows, and in a short time there was
an audience the like of which no other musician ever enter-
tained. He estimated that there were thirty-odd wolves in
the pack. He gave them everything from “Whistling Mike”
to Italian opera, or from a coon-breakdown to a bugle-call.

One record would produce a chorus of howls; at the next
they would indicate their pleasure by playful antics and
sawed-off yelps. Again they would crouch as if in terror,
and at the next would sit on their haunches and listen with
dignified attention.

At times when he attempted a momentary recess they ad-

vanced to the door with threatening mien, every hair on their

backs bristling, and their great fangs laid bare. Ragtime
was received with dignified solemnity and church-music in-
duced the most ridiculous capers. For several hours they
kept Sekah busy. Sekah became tired, but life was sweet
and he kept on amusing the pests. He finally tried a new
piece written in Duluth, and which, by the way, is used: by
the brass bands in that city during the present campaign..
When this was reached the pack slunk away in the brush,
and soon the only evidence of their having attended the
entertainment was the packed snow in the clearing.

‘Sekah managed to build a fire in the remains of an old
stove in the shack and kept watch all night, with the trans- —
mitter of the machine protruding from the doorway, like a
thirteen-inch cannon on Fighting Bob Evans’ flag-ship. In
the morning he retraced his steps to the camp he had left the
night before, none the worse for his adventure, but with a
fund of a the like of which no other man could
relate, :

  
 

ao 2) THE BUFFALO

FOREST FUGITIVES.

BY VICTOR ST. CLAIR.

 

 

The setting sun was near the horizon, so that the shad-
ows in the wildwood had deepened to twilight, as two
horsemen drew rein under an enormous “nwana’’ tree in
the*heart of the Dark Continent.

Both were young—one perhaps three- and-twenty; the

other barely out of his teens—and were clothed in cos-
ttumes consisting of pantaloons of. dressed sheepskins,
wide and flowing at the bottom, a loose-fitting jacket of
green cloth, with large pockets outside, waistcoats of
fawnskin, broad-brimmed, white felt hats, and brogans
of unstained leather upon their feet.

A kaross, ot leopard-skin blanket, lay over the saddle
of each, while they were armed with short, stout-looking
rifles called yagers in that country. Large, crescent-
shaped powder-horns, with bullet pouches, hung from
their left sides.

They were brothers, as could ae seen at a nee. while
the foaming flanks and panting breadth of their small,
wiry-framed horses told that they had ridden far and
fast.

“We can’t expect to overtake them to-day,” said the
‘older of the brothers, whose name was Herman Duluth.
“We might as well stop here, Karl.”

“T think our horses would say as much, brother, could
they find speech,” replied young Karl, springing to the
ground.

“Right you are, Karl; but I dhonene by hard driving
we could a the others, a must be feeling very
anxious about us.’ Be

“T thought so, too, Herman: But I fear we have taken
the wrong course. They may be miles from us in an-
other direction.” |

“Let us hope not, dear brother. See how eagerly our
horses clip the green grass. This seems like an Eden
after passing the dreary waste we have to-day.”

While Herman and Karl are making preparations to
_ pass the night under the great nwana, which had a trunk
fully twenty-five feet in diameter, with a wide-spreading
top.and foliage of thickly grown, pear-shaped leaves, we
will briefly explain the cause of their appearance in the
midst of that lonely scene. —

The Cape Colony settlers were in most cases Dutch

boers—farmers—and when the country passed into the
hands of the English in 1814, there was a general up-
rising among the inhabitants, and a predatory war fol-
lowed, which ultimately ended in favor of Great Britain.
The “‘rebels,” as the leaders of the revolt were styled,
were in many cases put to death, so that exciting times
followed even after the declaration of peace.
Among those who were outlawed was Mynheer Hans

72)

‘BILL STORIES.

 

Duluth, and to save his life he was forced to flee the

country.
Accordingly, the night following the alarm, eee

Duluth collected his fine flocks of cattle, sheep, and

horses, and assisted by a goodly number of slaves, started

with his family on a lonely journey through the pathless
wilderness, hoping to reach the Orange River settle-
ment many, many miles away. :

He knew only too well the gantlet of perils and priva-
tions that lay before him, but he had no choice. Could
he reach the Orange River, he would be received with
open arms.

ness that he dared not stop for. They were to follow
after the others and overtake them as soon as possible.

The brothers anticipated no trouble in following the
trail that must be left by so large a body passing through
the country. But the second day they were dismayed to
find that a locust flight had completely obliterated every
trace of their progress. Robbing the country of every
blade of grass and bit of green foliage, this army of in-
sects had left the country a barren waste.

Over the trackless desert were the brothers forced to
pass, wandering at random on the course they had hoped
to follow with certainty. | ‘

Little wonder they hailed the great nwana-tree with
joy, and that the valley encircling it seemed to them like
an Eden after the devastated scene they had come
through.

Could they have found their relatives there, or even
known that they were safe, they would have been quite
contented to rest in the verdant valley. But as it was,
they could only make the best of their situation with as
much fortitude as possible.

While Herman was looking after the horses, iad took
a dipper they had with them and started to fill it with the
sparkling water that gushed forth from a spring but a
short distance away.

He had quenched his own thirst with the Sparing
liquid, which seemed to him the sweetest he had ever
tasted, and was about to refill the cup for Herman when
he thought he heard a slight movement in- ‘the glade it
beyond him.

. Rising noiselessly to his feet, he was surprised and

“pleased to see a pair of fawns belonging to the “ourebi”

species of antelope grazing as if unconscious ot his close
proximity.
He was admiring their clean limbs ad graceful forms,

when, chancing to glance farther toward the left, he was
startled by the sight of an altogether different creature.

Crouching in the deeper growth, close upon the un-

suspecting fawns, was lying in wait for them—a_ ae.

tiger.
Even as Karl stood co for the Hae transfixed to the
spot, he saw the brute’s tail move slowly back and forth,

i:

Thus he hopefully set out on his journey, —
leaving Herman and Karl behind to attend to some busi-

 
 
 

    

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_ while its eyes gleamed like embers of fire, oe that it
| was about to spring upon its prey.

Karl wanted to cry out—to warn the poor fawns of

their danger, but he knew that the least move on his part
| was likely to bring the tiger upon him:

He wisely oy still, while the suspense was of short

| duration.

A low growl from the hiding monster, a trembling of

. the bushes, and then, a dark form bounded into the air—

pa sharp cry almost human in its tone, a few struggles, and

j the life of one of the poor fawns was over.
| fled, bleating with fear.

The other

Karl thought that it was time for him to get away, too,

| before the murderous brute should discover him, which he

® had not done yet, it seemed.

Not yet recovered from the shock of the scene me had

q witnessed, Karl turned to steal noiselessly away from the

| place, when the blood fairly chilled in his veins at the
| sound of another growl louder and more appalling than

| the first.

| his attention, and to his horror he saw another tiger pre-

Then a moyement in the thicket to his right arrested

_ parting to spring upon him.

He could not hope to escape by flight, and, having left

his yager ander the nwana, he was unarmed, so that he

| could not hope to overcome the ferocious beast.

These

| thoughts flashed through his mind with lightninglike | ra-

pidity, for the tiger's attack came instantly.

A wild ery left Karl’s lips as the powerful creature
leaped into the air, and with distended paws and wide-

| opened mouth came rushing upon him.

| perpendicular banks.

His course of action was never quite clear to him.
The spring. lay a couple of feet below him with nearly
As he saw the tiger’s body leave

| the ground, and knew that he would reach him at a sin-
gle bound, Karl sprang head foremost into the spring.

The water was three or four feet’deep, and when he

! came to its surface, he found himself in the midst of a
| hetwork of roots and vines which pee erown out from

} the dower bank.

The tiger, missing him, plunged head first into the wa-

| ter close upon his heels.

Growling with rage, after a few fierce struggles, the

| tiger gained the bank within a few feet from where Karl
| was lying hemmed in with the roots and vines.
p dered as he caught the gleam of the brute’s eyes.

He shud-

Meanwhile a new actor was rushing to the’ scene.

j) Hearing Karl’s cry, and knowing that some. mishap had
m@ befallen him, Herman seized both their yagers and dashed

‘to the_rescue.

Coming in sight of ine tiger veh had attacked Karl,

fand seeing nothing of his brother, he hastily concluded
that the brute had killed him: :

Half-crazed by the thought, he raised his firearm, and
with a quick aim, fired.

ae BUFFALO

  

 

 

RIN

  

BILE STORIES, ay
The shot was a good one, for, with a terrified roar, the
maddened brute sprang high into the air to fall in the
throes of death.

“Karl! where i *

Before Herman could finish the sentence the other
tiger, roused from its feast by the shot and the outcries
of its mate, sprang up with a horrible roar.

_ Its gleaming eyes caught sight of Herman, when it
gave another roar and leaped into the air, coming with
the rapidity of a cannon-ball straight at his throat.

The poor fellow half-raised his yager, but before he
could discharge it at his foe he was struck with a force
that took away his breath, and he was carried backward
head first into the spring.

Karl had seen the enraged tiger spring upon his broths
er, and a cry of horror left his lips. When Herman fell,
knocked senseless by the tiger’s attack, the brute struck
directly above him, only the roots and vines between.

In his excitement Karl seized upon the mad creature,
and, drawing a short, stout knife that he ene. began
to cut and slash at the monster with all his might.

Of course it was a reckless thine for him to do, but
the frightened fellow forgot his own danger, and again
and again he drove the knife to the handle in the tiger’s
body.

It caused the brute to lose his hold on Herman, and,
roaring with pain and danger, the infuriated beast turned
on Karl i

But the latter was pretty well protected from his blind
attack; nor did the tiger keep up the fight long. It was
bleeding profusely from more than a dozen wounds, and
its life-blood dyed the spring to a deep red.

 

Shortly its struggles grew less fierce. and sharp; nad
with piercing cries of pain, it seized hold of whatever
object lay within its reach. Then it fastened its teeth
upon one of the larger roots, while its body swayed to
and fro, each movement growing more feeble.

Karl cautiously crept out of his covert, and at the same.
time Herman managed to gain the bank of the spring.
He had received some severe scratches and his clothing
was badly torn; but he felt thankful to escape so easily.
Karl was not hurt at all, notwithstanding the plucky fel-
low’s close call.

While the brothers stood gazing with awe upon the
bodies of the dead tigers, they heard footsteps approach-
ing, and, turning with alarm, were glad to meet—their,
father.

It proved that the boer and his Roly were stopping

a short distance to the north, and that they had heard

the report of Herman’s yager, to start at once in quest
of him.

We need not tell you that it was a happy reunion, an
that tiger-stories were the theme around the wagon-tents
that night. Of course Karl was the hero of the occa-
sion, as be deserved to_be.

   

 

  
 

 

 

 

ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS |

 

There is no need of our telling American readers how interesting the stories of the adventures
of Buffalo Bill as scout and plainsman, really are. These stories have been read exclusively in this

weekly for many years, and are voted to be masterpieces dealing oe
lar to-day than he ever was, and, consequently, everybody ought to

Buffalo Bill is more popu
know all there is to know about him. In no manner can you become so thoroughly acquainted with

the actual habits and life of this great man, as by reading the BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print.

with Western adventure.

You can have your newsdealer

order them or-they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in
money or postage stamps. |

en

139—Buffalo
146—Buffalo
147—Buffalo
153—Buffalo
154—Buffalo
155—Buffalo
157—Buffalo
159—Butfalo
160—Buffalo
161—Buffalo
162—Buffalo
165—Buffalo
169—Butffalo
170—Butftfalo
176—Buffalo
177—Buffalo
“179—Butftalo
181—Buffalo
182—Buffalo
184——Buffalo
188—Buffalo
189—Buftfalo
204—Buffalo
205—Buftalo
206—Buffalo
207—Butffalo
208—Buffalo
209—Butftfalo
210—Buffalo
911—Butftfalo
212—Buffalo
213—Buffalo
214—Bufialo
215—Buffalo
217—Buftfalo
218——Buffalo

219—Buffalo

220—Buffalo
221—Buffalo
222—Buffalo
223—Buffalo
224—bBuftalo
225-——Buffalo
226—Buffalo
227—Buffalo
228—Buffalo
22i—Buttalo
230—Buftalo
232—Buftalo

234—Buffalo-

235—Buffalo
236—Buftfalo
237—Buffalo
238—Buftfalo
239—RBuffalo
240—Buffalo
241——Buffalo
242——Buftalo
243—Buffalo
244—Buttalo
245—Butffalo

——
opera
,

Pluck

Wire) Mishtersi. snes «. 5
Boy Beagle vee cnet. s 5
Bills Blind | Dead. ci cts wo
Bills’ Rayer (ROVER ak aoe. ec oS
Bill and Kid-Giove Kate..... 5
Bil atv Bay: eienra ceed leans Whee 5

Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s

Bill and the Timber Thieves... 5)
5

Birks Pome rope acess erevaieis
Bilts (BlOcKhOUSe Ne. i ears.
Bill’s Canyon ‘Cache. 2.0.0...
Bill and the Greengoods’ Cabal
Bills) Dark Drives Woe oe. Ee
Bills Fair, Square Deal.....
Bilis Strategy cic ti). cc. Uh aoe
Bath ti VOTH, wisi ace sca e ere
Bills Texan): Hazard ais
Bill’s)) Mexican Meud ni oo ow
BHESVStitl Pung itaieave yeas
Bills “Navajo Ay cies ters
Bill’s Arizona Alliance......
Bill’s Mexican Adventure....
Bills Mine (Mystery soca
Bill’s Strategic Tactics... ....
Bills bie) Jack) Poe ry citi see
Bis, Last Bullet... ....)2
Bill’s Deadliest. Peril. .......
Bill’s Great Knife Duel......
Bill’s, Blind Lead. ........ 5.
BIL St Sacrifice suas wis see we
Bins 3H PISCOMOMOUGs vee iaieie leis
Bill’s: Diamond: Hunt...).. 2...
Bills -Avengine Hand... 0.2...
Bill’s Mormon Quarrel.......
Bill’s Cheyenne Comrades....
Bills vMierye ram ye cine ey
Bills? Sioux OES ieee as es
Biuls Colder rat oer sins
Biles eb rom Misti iiss ores cave hier.
Bill’s Race with Fire........
Bills) Mloriday Hoes . 0)... 62 366
Bills Grimms Climb! Seer sie ares
Bills “Red Bnemy... 20.00... aie
Bill on a Traitor’s Track....
Bills ast Bullets cy cio oo.
Bilis (AIT MOY ASC iin eeetite
BUS SDeAtn RUST Cer iene i.
BiMvSuKivowa: Hoey 0.7 beac ae.
Bill’’s Wyoming Trail........
Bill’s Tomahawk Duel.......
Bil’s Apache Round-up.....
Bus Ee Paso Pardini cu :
Bill on the Staked Plains....
Bilis cBordery Raid eho sees
Bills’ Bravest: Misht. so cs
Bilis Heathens Pandas iat.
Bill’s Dakota Dare-devils.... 5
Bill’s Arapahoe Alliance...:. 5
Bill on Special Service....... 5

5

5

OVOVOUOT On

Bill on a Treasure Hunt.....
Bill’s Lost Quatry....

/246—Buffalo
247—Buffalo
248—Buffalo
249-—Buttalo
250—Buffalo
251—Buftfalo
252—Butftalo
253—Buffalo
254—Buffalo
255—Buttalo
256—Butffalo
257—Buffalo
258—Butffalo
259—Buffalo
260—Buftfalo
261—Buffalo
262—Buffalo
263—Buffalo
264—Buffalo
265—Buftalo
266—Buffalo
267—Butffalo
268—Buffalo
269—Buffalo
King
270—Butffalo
271—Buffalo
272—Buffalo
273—Butfalo
274—Buffalo
275—Buffalo
276—Buffalo
2¢t7—-Buffalo
278—Buffalo
279—Buffalo
280—Butffalo
281—Buffalo
282—Buffalo
283—Buffalo
284—Buffalo
285—Buffalo
286—Buffalo
287—Buffalo
288—Buffalo
289-—Buftalo
290—Buffalo
291—Buffalo
292—Buffalo
293—Buffalo
294—Buffalo
295—Buffalo
296—Buffalo
297—Buffalo
298—Buftfalo
299—Buffalo
300—Buffalo
301—Buffalo
802—Buffalo
803—Buffalo
8304—Buffalo

 

805—Buffalo

Bill Among the Comanches...
Bill’s Stockade Siege....eeos-
Bill’s Creek Quarrel...
Bill Among the Pawnees.....
Bill on a Long Hunt..... ahs
Bill’s Wyoming Trail........
Bill and the Redskin Wizard..
Bill’s’ Bold Challenge.:.....+.
Bill’s Shawnee Stampede...

Bill’s: Worst Hoe. eo). 2 ca 3 aie .
Bill on a Desert Trail...... 3
Bill’s Rio Grande Feud......
Bill in Tight Quarters.......

Bill’s Daring Rescue.:...... S

Bill at the Torture Stake....
Bill’s Treasure Train... ..

Bill Among the Blackfeet.... 2

Bill’s Border Beagles... ....
Bill and the Bandits in Black
Bill and the Indian Tiger....
Bill on the Deadwood Trail..
Bill in the Cafion of Death...

Bill and Billy the Kid...... 5

Bill and the Robber .Ranch

Bill in the Land of Wonders..
Bill and the Traitor Soldier..
Bills Dusky ‘Trailers... <....
Bills Diamond Mine.....
Bill and the Pawnee Serpen
Bill’s Scarlet; Hand :...). .2)4..
Bill. Running the Gantlet.....
Bill’s Leap in the Dark......
Bill’s Daring Plunge...... if
Bill’s Desperate Mission.....
Bill’s’ Ghost Raid.....0..-0%.
Bills Traitor Guide.........
Bill’s  Camp-fires...-..-...-
Bill Up a Stump....,.-..---.
Bil’s Secret Foe........2.-%
Bill’s Master-stroke.........
Bill and the Masked Mystery.
Bill and the Brazos Terror...
Bill’s Dance of ‘Death......-
Bill and the Creeping Terror..
Bill and the Brand of.Cain...
Bill and the Mad Millionaire..
Bills Medicine-lodge........
Billing Peril Coe Gad oiiinaie a
Bill’s Strange Pard......+..-
Bill in the Death Desert.....
Bill in No Man’s Land.,....
Bill’s Border Ruffians.......
Bill’s Black Hagles.........
Bill’s Desperate Dozen.....’..
Bilis eRwalcer erie sti eraalecereis
Bill’s. Ice Chase... .... +++ +++
Bill and the Boy Bugler. 2...
Bill and the White Specter..
Bill’s Death Defiance... ......-
Bill. and the Barge Bandits..

&.
Ue.

VOTO

OLOTOUOT ON OUOT ON OT LOL OT ON

 

HAM AMG TOA AN

806—Butffalo
807—Buffalo
3808—Butfalo
309—Buftalo
810—Buffalo
3811—Buftfalo
812—Buffalo
3813—Buffalo
314—Buffalo
315—Butffalo
316—Buffalo
317—Buffalo
818—Buffalo
319—Buffalo
820—Butffalo
821—Buffalo
322—Buffalo
323—Buffalo
324—Buffalo
325—Buifalo
326—Bufialo
327—Butfalo
828—Buffalo
329—Buffalo
330—Buffalo
831—Buffalo
832—Buffalo
383—Buffalo
834—Buffalo

8385—Buffalo>

336—Buffalo
.837—Buftalo
338—Buffalo
339—Buffalo
840—Buffalo
841—Buffalo
342—Buffalo
343—Buffalo
344—Buffalo
345—Buffalo
846—Buffalo
347—Buffalo
348—Buffalo
349—Buffalo
350—Butffalo
851—Buffalo
352—Buffalo
353—Buffalo
354—Buffalo
355—Buffalo
356—Buffalo
357—Buffalo
358—Buffalo
359—Buftfalo
360—Buffalo

.| 361—Buffalo

3862—Buffalo
363—Buffalo
364—Buffalo
365—Buffalo
366—Buffalo

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If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them ‘from your news-
dealer, they can be obtained direct from tlfis office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.

SBill on Weckie viv sees vs

4

Bill, the Desert Hotspur... ...
Bill’s Wild Range Riders....
Bills Whirlwind Chase......”
Bill’s Red Retribution.......
Pid AOU TCG wis ate sl etulievel ceaia rs
Bills Miche Tore Lite vce cs.
Billise Death: Uni p wr esecsiel oe.
Bill and the Pit of Horror...
Bill in the Jaws of Death...
Bills: Aztec Runnerswc.. conc.
Bill’s Dance with Death..
Bill’s Redskin Rovers...
Bill’s Fiery Eye...
Bill’s Mazeppa’ Ride...... ile
Bill in the Land of Spirits...

*

DUET TT LTE ETT UT TT LTT TT OT IE OTT TE CIT OTT TTT OT TL UTE TU HT LTH CT ON CTU OU ONT CT OE ON TV ON OL OT OU TOO ONT OF OT OT OT OL OT LOOT OT TOTO

Bills (Gypsy) Bande. sci. ss se.
Bill’s Maverick... ... S eakeiaie

Bill, the White Whirlwind... ©
Bill’s Gold Hunters...
Billa Old MexICO ss es sce) a
Bill’s Message from the Dead.
Bill and the Wolf-master....
Bill’s Flying Wonder......2.

ve eee oe

Bill’s Hidden Gold....... A

Billés “Outlaw Praline cs issn
Bill and the Indian Queen..

Bill and the Mad Marauder...
Bills ice Barricade in wise 6
Bill and the Robber Elk.....
Bill’’s Ghost Dance....
Bill’s Peace-piper . 2) sc) wists
Bis; Red. Nemesis: s 2. s9<'s/s
Bills Enchanted Mesa.......
Bill in the Desert of Death...
Bills Pay Streaks. jews etete
Bill on Detached Duty.......
Bill’s Army Mystery...
Bill’s Surprise Party. ......
Bill’s Great Ride..
Bill’s Water. Trail..... Cayo
Bills Ordeal Of) Wire ics.

Bill Among the Man-eaters...
Bill’s Casket of Pearls... 6.0.
Bills Sky Serbo be sence
Billie Totemise wee atts Uecetts aia
Bills \Mlat-poat, Drift 2. ow

coe eee

eee

°
2
core seeee
.
°
°

Bill and the Bronco Buster...
Bill’s Great Round-up......
Bills PTed Se ee eee te sate
Bill’s-Cowboy Pard.........
Bill and the Emigrants......
Bill Among the Pueblos......
Bill’s. Four-footed Pards.....
Bill's) Protege sae fe cues é

eee ©

Bill HEnsnared.......... eats
Bill’s’ Pick-up... ....-- sees
TBI Sc; QUESTS wai anee ite tater ey See's
Bill’s Waif of the Plains....
Bill VBamMedar cise ee oeeee
Bill Among the Mormons... ...

 

7

STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY

 

 

 
 

 
BUFFALO BILL STORIES

 

ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS

 

Buffalo Bill wins his way into the heart of every
one who reads the strong stories of stirring adventure on
the wide prairies of the West published in this weekly.

Boys, if you want tales of the West that are
drawn true to life, do not pass these by.

PRICE FIVE CENTS 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 TITLES: |

waco bitte Billein the, Wcsent of Death or, “Whe
Secret of the Jasper Joss.

e1o- = Bitialo Mills: Pay Streak; or, 1) Box Kull) ot
Trouble for the ’Paches.

341—Buffalo Bill on: Detached Duty; or, The Break on
the Bad Ax Trail.

342—Buffalo Bill’s Army Mystery; or, The Rape-and-

_ Catamount Puzzle.

343—Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party; or, The Red Raiders
of the Picketwire.

B44 Buttalo Bills Creat Ride, or, The Capture) of
Handsome Elk.

345—Buffalo Bill’s Water Trail; or, The Still Hunt at
Fort Totten.

346—Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal of Fire; or, Trapped in the
Coteaus. '

347—Buffalo Bill Among the Man-Eaters; or, The Mys-
tery of Tiburon Island.

348—Buffalo Bill’s Casket of Pearls; or, The Lost Treas-
ure of the Montezumas.

349—Buffalo Bill’s Sky Pilot; or, The Fiesta Tangle.

350—Buffalo Bill’s “Totem”; or, The Mystic Symbol of
-the Yaquis.

351—Buffalo Bill’s Flat-boat Drift; or, Taming the Mis-
sissippi Tigers. 7

352—Buffalo Bill on Deck; or, The Strange Pilot of the
River Belle.

353—Buffalo Bill and the Bronco Buster; or, The Raid
of Wolf ‘Fang.

354—Buffalo Bill’s Great Round-up; or, Trailing the
Red Cattle-rustlers.

 

355—Buffalo Bill’s Pledge; or, The Vultures of the
Narrow Path.

356—Buffalo Bill’s Cowboy Pard; or, Hoofs and Horns
on the Chisholm Trail.

357—Buffalo Bill and the Emigrants; or, The Black
Captain of the Wagon Train.

358—Buffalo Bill Among the Pueblos; or, The Still
Hunt of Professor Bings.

3590—Buffalo Bill’s Four-footed Pards; or, Trailing the
Ute “Shiners.”

360—Buffalo Bill’s Protégé; or; Foiling a Nihilist Plot.

361—Buffalo Bill Ensnared ; or, The Witch of the Painted

Desert.
362—Buffalo Bill’s Pick-up; or, The Secret of the Hat
and Dagger. :

363—Buffalo Bill’s Quest; or, The Hidden City of the
Hatchet-boys.

364—Buffalo Bill’s Waif of the Plains; or, At Odds
With the Danites.

365—Buffalo Bill Baffled; or, The Waif in a New Role.

366—Buffalo Bill Among the Mormons; or, $5,000 Re-

ward, Alive or Dead.

367—Buffalo Bill’s Assistance; or, The Brothers of the
Bow-string.

368—Buffalo Bill’s Rattlesnake rail on, he Clie at
the Dance Rock.

369—Buffalo Bill and the Slave-dealers; or, In the Cafion
of Death.

370—Buffalo Bill’s Strong Arm; or. The Red Bullion
Thieves.

371—Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard; or, Dauntless Dell, of the
“Double.”

If you want any back numbers of this publication and cannot procure them from your news-

dealer, they can be obtained from this office direct.

Postage stamps taken the same as money.

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