860 sro 2eb ve 07 veceoes gese9ng 10)05 yoeunhy faeoie> z ™ Issued Weekly. | By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. V. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 719-89 Seventh Ave., V. VY. ( races Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1908, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. (eae 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, (Col. W. F. ae who is known all over the world as the king of scouts. No. 372, NEW YORK, June 27, 1908, a Price Five me Buffalo Bill’s [rc OR, Bra celet: ‘ Dauntless Dell's Daring. Se OS — ee By the author of “BUFFALO BILL. CHAPTER I. ALARMING NEWS. Dress parade at Fort Grant! ‘Five troops were engaged—all of the gallant Tenth— and the dying rays of the Arizona sun fell upon waving a ) plumes, flashing sabers, the shimmering satin bodies of | 'the horses, the fluttering guidons, offering a sight that KM stirred the pulses in unison ae the strains of the regi- | mental band. | At last the troops formed in a ine line, and their offi- cers rode forward on prancing chargers and lifted’ their i sword-paints i in salute ef the officer in command.. _ The sun went down, and the boom of the sunset-gun ' rattled the windows of-barracks and officers’ row. The band struck up the Star Spangled Banner. As’the in- | spiring air echoed and reechoed across the parade- 4 ground, Old Glory came fluttering down from ‘its tall _ staff, was caught in the arms of a waiting “non-com,” | and transferred to the guard-house for the night. The soldiers trotted away, the dust settled, and the shadows began to lengthen. Dress parade was over for that day. In front of the officers’ quarters children were play- ing. On the veranda of Colonel Grayson’s. house was a little group of ladies. Grayson, the colonel in command of the post, was just climbing the veranda steps to Mrs. Colonel, in com- mand of the colonel. The colonel: was hot and dusty, but he slapped his clothes in a good-natured way and peleaed down in an easy chair. “What do you think of it, Miss Dauntless?” he asked, his eyes wandering to one of the group of young women who surrounded his wife. “Fine!” cried the girl addressed. “Such a sight makes one proud to think that he or she is an American. Oh, | wish I were a man! I'd be a soldier, sure thing.” “My dear Dell!” breathed Mrs. Colonel, horrified. | “What are you saying?” ‘ “Tut, tut!” said the colonel. “Why shouldn’t she wish 8. ; THE BUF FALO 2 Po of eg a soldier? Pima auldier, and I take it as a honor ‘that such a pretty American girl should envy me.’ . “You know what I mean, colonel,” cried Mrs. Colonel, “Such a pretty gitl as Dell Dauntless ought to be con- tent with her sex,’ "Gad, yes!” exclatmed the colonel. “Dell can do morte ae with those blue eyes of hers than a whole squadron with sabers.” “Now it’s my turn to say ‘tut, tut!” flashed Dell ee with a dazzling smile. “I’m the sort of girl _ that clamors for action, colonel.” She looked off through the clear evening to where some of the officers and some of the post young ladies . were thumping a ball over a net with rackets. ee ‘Hor instance’—and she waved her hand toward the tennis- court—‘I couldn’t be hired to play that.” “Don’t blame you,” chuckled the colonel; “I couldn't be hired to’ play it myself.” *Vou re too fat, dad,” laughed his daughter Mamig iFat! And I only weigh two hundred. If you can, catch a man of miy size, mise, you can be thankful.” “@There’s going to be a hop to- night,” went on Mrs. ‘ Colonel, “and I've been. ine to get Dell to say she'll: 3? “Danding i is also off my-sky-line,” explained Dell calm- ly. “I didn’t bring any clothes for that sort of thing, anyhow. Look at me!’ anid she stood out in front of the colonel. fer The colonel did look at her, ag Meee was sees in his eyes. Tall, lithe, and °fair- ee the girl) was clad. in ia fringed and beaded buckskin shirt, knee-length buckskin skirt, tan, shoes and leggings, and a rakish little brown sombrero. There was a belt about her waist with diminutive tevolver-holsters and a knife-sheath swinging from it. The pearl handle of a knife showed over the top of the sheath, but the holsters were empty, Dell having laid aside the six-shooters out of tegard for Mrs. Colonel’s feelings. Trave Dauntless, Dell's father, had Been a hard and fast friend of Colonel Grayson’s. When Trave Dauntless _ died, a few years before, the colonel had felt himself _ instinctively drawn toward Mrs. Dauntless and Dell. _ The two latter lived at the Double D Ranch, which was not far, as distances are reckoned in Alona, from Fort Grant. When the colonel came to Grant, he had ex- pressed a desire for Dell to come and visit him: and, for that reason, the girl had been at the post for 4 eu days, “*Pon my soul, Dell,” said the colonel, “that costume o of yours in mighty fetching!” “Colonel!” rebuked Mrs. Colonel ;. “how can you talk so? You’ re giving Dell a lot of wrong ideas. Now, it ‘BILE STORIES. she would baly go to the hop toni okt Mamie would let ) her take one of her dresses-——” “And I’d take Dell’s,” laut up Mamie mischievously. “It’s perfectly stafitting.” “These are my working clothes, ‘arte ” said Dell ae murely. “I wear them all the time at the fanch. When I ride, you see, I ride like a mati, and the short ekitt—_” “Horrors!” gulped Mrs. Colonel. “My dear child, I wish you and yout mother would sell that ratich and come to live with the colonel and me.” “I'd smother,’ averred Dell. : “Tm so full i action, you see, that ve got to have room-and plenty. of it.” : The colonel laughed delightedly. “She’s Trave Dauiitless, over and over again,” rad he. “It makes my old heart pound just to hear her talk. By ‘the way,’ he added, “I found out something about. you to-day, Dell. One of our ’Pache scouts was telling me.’ : “What's that?” queried the girl. “Why, you're a friend of my old comrade, Co | gallant and true a man as ever followed a trail.” “I’m more than that, colonel,’ returned Dell, with a touch of quiet pride, “for I’m Buffalo Bill’s girl pard.” “Better and better!’ cried the colonel, and Mrs. Colo- . _nel shook her shoulders despairingly and retreated into | the house. “I understand that you helped the scout in his fight with renegade Apaches in the vicinity of the Three- ply Mine, and that you were of considerable assistance in Capturing Slocum, otherwise Bascomb, the murderous “I'd be a fright on a ballroom floor, wouldn't — deserter from Fort Apache.” - “T was with Buffalo Bill and his pards, old Nomad and ie “ “That's your ord for it. | has to say. Bascomb, I’m told, was captured on an island in Quicksand Lake, and a girl, the daughter of the owner of the Three-ply Mine, was rescued ——_”_. “By the king of scouts, sirigle-harided !” said. Dell, her admiration fiery and vehement. i “I’m willing ta believe that,’ braver man than Cody never stepped; and his bravery is of the best and most telling kind, for he always couples © head-work with it. I reckon that’s what makes him so successful, The last I heard of Bascomb he had been landed in the Phcenix jail, and a guard of troopers from Fort Apache was going after him, That was several days ago, and I presume the villainous deserter is safely lodged in the strong room at Apache by now. Sit down _here, Dell, and tell me about it.” Dell Dauntless took her place obediently in 1 the chair by the colonel’s side, and launched into the story. The king 9f scouts, as Dell recited the thrilling incidents COn- nected with the deserter’ $ capture, received are pulogy and credit.* | —*For a full and complete account of this Work of the king of scouts, see No. 371 of the Burrato Britt Srtoriss, Buffalo Bil i's Girl Bard; of, Datintless Dell of ae ‘Double D,’” Little anes colonel, but I wasn’t of much real sery- T'd like to hear what Cady | went on the cdlonek 7 ek Ie yn, ie, By ou 39 as lis Ice us nd § dy od et er rir he ‘n-. Sy Just as the recital was finished, an orderly hurried up the veranda steps, drew himself up in front of the colonel and saluted. The hand that went to his ae held a folded paper. “An important message, sir,’ “Just wired from Bowie.” “Very well, Bryce, sage; “just wait a minute.” | Excusing himself to Dell, Mamie, and the others, the colonel retired into the house to read his ees by the lamplight. While the young women were talking a laughing on the veranda, the colonel’s voice was heard from within: “Dell! See here a moment.” The girl hastened to answer the call. She found Colonel Grayson standing beside a swing- ing Jamp, the message in his hand en an exceedingly - grave look on his face. “What—what is wrong?” whispered Dell, her thoughts leaping to her mother and the Double D Ranch. “Don’t be alarmed,” said the colonel. ‘This news by military telegraph is to the effect that Geronimo, with a hundred and Ho bucks, has jumped a reservation at Forty Apache—— _ “Y felt sure it would be only a matter of time until Geronimo broke out again,” said Dell. “But that isn’t all,” pursued the colonel, in a low voice. “The renegades attacked the guard escorting that deserter from Phoenix to Fort Apache, killed them all, and res- cued the deserter !” Dell gasped, and fell back, her blue eyes wide and star-. ing in the lamplight. For an instant she stood thus, speechless and without movement. “Do you understand, Dell?” went onthe colonel. 39 “Geronimo and his renegades have “IT understand,” said the girl, drawing a quick breath and groping her way to a chair, “but there must be some mistake, there must be.” “Tt is here, plain oe ” and the colonel shook the message. “Why,” murmured Dell, “Buffalo Bill, Nomad, and Little Cayuse were traveling with Bascomb’s escort—and - that message says that all were killed.” The colonel started forward, and oy muscle grew rigid. “Good heavens!’ he exclaimed, passing one hand dazedly across his forehead, “can it be that Cody and his pards have reached the end of their trails? Is it a ble that——” ‘He did not finish. Without pausing to get his fae he rushed out of the room, clattered across the veranda and | toward the telegraph-office. Dell, in the sitting-room, was gazing listlessly into | space, thinking of the brave and chivalrous scout, the re- _ doubtable old trapper, and the loyal little Piute, Cayuse. - announced the orderly, ” said the colonel, ine the mes- | 7 CHAPTER II. MESSENGERS TO BONITA, | Lue mining-camp of Bonita was in Bonita Cafon THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. Sa among the Chiricahua Mountains, fifty miles to the south — of Fort Grant. Bowie. in the campaign against the hostiles. Sixteen miles from Bonita lay Fort — Here, at Bonita, was the military headquarters Grayson tried feverishly to secure further news from. Bowie, only to discover that the telegraph-line had been cut. The message apprising him of the escape of Geroni- mo and his renegades, and of the overwhelming of the deserter’s escort, was the last one, barring a few details of military operations, to get through. Leaving word that he was to be apprised the moment communication with Bowie was reestablished, the colonel, returned to his house. On his way he stopped at his of- fice and wrote out some despatches. Then, sending his orderly for Captain Lund, he continued on to his home. The young ladies had retired from the porch, and the colonel paced it impatiently while waiting for Lund. When the captain appeared, the colonel sanetes him k - with the details of the message just received. 4 i “The telegraph-wire has been cut between here and> Bowie, Lund,” finished the colonel crisply, ‘‘and there are important despatches to be sent to Bonita.” “T understand,” returned the captain. “I should be glad to volunteer “You will have your an full, and so will the rest of cinity. We know Geronimo, and his habit of striking quick and telling blows in widely separated places. Our work is mapped out for us, and our five troops are none too many. Can you suggest a reliable man to carry the despatches? one able to use his head’as well as his heels.” “Sergeant Patterson is the man, colonel,” answered Lund promptly. “I'll back him to make his way through any number of Apaches and bob up ne at the a end of the trail.” “Just the man I would have selected. Have him re- port to me as soon as he can get ready.” Lund saluted and withdrew. .The colonel went into the House... “What in the world is the matter?” clamored Mrs. Colonel. “It must be something mighty important, colo- nel, to keep you from supper. We've béen waiting for you for half an hour.” : “Business first, supper afterward,” said the colonel. “What's wrong?” “us, guarding the water and protecting settlers in this vi- It is dangerous work, and will’take some “Renegade bucks haye jumped the reservation at Fort Apache, that’s all.” Mrs. Colonel was all in a fice in an instant. “Not Geronimo?” she fluttered. . Geronimo has——” “Don’t tell me that a fuian? He’s no more to be feared than any other rene- e gade.” ; ' But the very name of Geronimo carried with ie ne \ for Mrs. Colonel. She clasped her hands convulsively . and collapsed into a chair. \ “Let’s get right out of here!” she wailed. “If we don’t, we'll all be killed and scalped. Oh, dear! Colonel, aren't you going to do something to save your family?” “My family is safe enough right here. Where's Dell?” “T haven’t seen her, colonel, since——” At that moment Dell came SG into the room. The colonel noticed that she had her revolvers in her belt-. holsters. “One good thing about me,” said she, “ light. Whenever I decide to make a move, I don’t usual- y have to rustle even my spurs or my hardware.” | Seating herself, she began ni ling the spurs to her a Tall heels. “My goodness, child,’ cried Mrs. Coledel u going to do?’ ‘Ride,” answered Dell, bending down and paling at the spur-straps. “Ride!” palpitated Mrs. Colonel, with a ou look at her husband... “Why, haven’t you heard Geronimo is loose, and that z That's why I’m going,” said Dell. “You're mad,” almost screamed Mrs. Colonel. . “The Double D Ranch isn’t in danger, Dell,” said the colonel. “Not with the Double D boys to take care of the cattle and the ranch-house. I don’t think that for, a minute.” “Then why are you leaving us?” oe “Because Buffalo Bill and his pards may have en and because, if they have or have not, they may need me. I told you I was Buffalo Bill’s girl pard,” The colonel started back, astounded. “What good can you do Buffalo Bill and his pards?” he demanded. “Cody is an old Indian- fighter, and so is Nick Nomad. The little Piute, too, has been in the army, and all that an Apache knows he knows.” 3 “Nevertheless, colonel,” said Dell resolutely, “Tm go- ing.” “Madness! I’m boss here, and I command you to re- main at the post.” A steely glint came into Dell’s eyes. “You're boss of the military; but, as for the army, [ don’ t belong. I’m my own boss, colonel.” The colonel braced himself. “7 Youre the daughter of my old friend, and IT shall not allow you to put yourself in peril.”. weber!) The oil laughed, She was also carrying a pair of silver spurs. “what are and I are renee: If you lived nearer the owas D, TRE BUFFALO “What's Geronimo but a scoundrelly, skulking red is that I travel _ around, BILL STORIES. you'd find plenty to. tell you that Dell Dauntless: knows how te take care of herself.” ihe reasonable, can’t you?” stormed the colonel, one eye on Mrs. Colonel, e was weeping copiously in a handkerchief. “You don’t see my duty as I see it, that’s all, said. Dell. “Do you think I could rest easy a moment at the news received in that telegram?” _ “I was a fool to tell you anything about it.” “You were not, Colonel Grayson. You were just the good, generous friend to me that you have always been. Don’t make a fuss now,” she wheedled, pulling her eaunt- lets from the breast of her buckskin blouse and swiftly drawing them on. ‘“‘Remember’—and with gauntleted hand she slapped at one of the holsters—“I have some- thing to defend myself with.” “Defend fiddlesticks! I'll not have this cong. Arne: trated at Grant! What—what do you intend to do?” “My room is over the porch,” explained Dell. ‘While ‘I was up there, getting my spurs and my hardware, I overheard your talk with Captain Lund. Sergeant Pat- terson is going south to a ee I’m going with Ser- geant Patterson,” | Nord [can help por A tramp of hoofs was heard in front. “Sergeant Patterson, sir,” announced the orderly, in the doorway. “Send him in,” answered the colonel sally While he was talking with the sergeant, giving him his despatches and certain other oral directions, Mrs. Colo- nel had thrown herself across the exit to pierent the de- parture of Dell. Dell threw her arms about Mrs. Colonel, kissed her, and set her aside as oy as she would have moved a, child. “Don't worry about me, please!’ and Dell went out. A moment later Patterson followed her. “Where’s Dellé *” demanded the colonel, whirling “She’s—she’s oa answered Mrs, Colonel. “Orderly,” champed the colonel, “to the stable, at once, See that Miss Dauntless, on no account, is allowed to sad- dle and ride off-with her mount, Silver Heels—the white ony here knows the animal.” “Sorry, sir,” announced the orderly, with a eae look, “but the white cayuse was put under saddle at the same time Patterson’s mount was made ready.” - “What ?” “She asked me to have it done, tae out on an up-stairs window a moment after you and os Lund separated.” “And you did it! What was done wath the hoe eo "The sergeant brought Silver Heels along” when he “Do you think that peril } rode up to the porch, sir.” ae colonel rushed to the porch, aoe Hees was | hi. Wi th we sh we go IWS Ne t a. aid © ter the eM. fit- tly ted 1c- DE- ile at- er= his lo~ dee : er, « nel,” said Lund, ‘what she did while with Cody and his pards down near Jr DUPE ALO nowhere in sight, and neither was Dell. just riding through the stockade gate. “She’s gone, for sure!” growled the colonel. “Order- ly, tell Lund and Hepburn to mount quickly and ride south, to overtake Miss Dauntless, if they can, and bring her back. Tell them to keep the trail for two hours, if need pe.” That night the colonel had little appetite his sup-_ per. There was much to do, however, and he busied himself about it untif eleven o an By that time, Lund and Hepburn had returned. Dell Dauntless was not with them. “ae “No ‘luck, colonel,” ee Captain Lund. Dauntless got away fromm us.’ “She'll have to go, then,’ growled the ena tossing his hands. ‘Whoever heard of such a madcap?” “Miss “T’ve been talkin’ with Pecos, the ’Pache scout, colo- b> “and, personally, when a girl can do the Three-ply Mine, I] don’t think: there need be much worry on her account.” “It doesn’t make any difference whether we need to worry or not,’ went on the colonel; “she’s gone, and she got away from me. What would her father say if he were alive?” . a “She's a daring girl—and a pretty one,’ a far-away look in Lund’s eyes as he said it. He was a bachelor. “Too all-fired daring,’ snorted the colonel, “but we’ve got business on our hands and can’t bother about Dell.” * and there was weneencenhnenomunsaeamet CHAPTER TI. **PACHES ARE UP!” t _ Dell Dauntless was not only a daring and pretty young woman, but she was also a most determined one. She was not obstinate or foolhardy, as the colonel, perhaps, was tempted to think her. It was merely that she knew her own resourcefulness much better than did her friends at the post. skilled in plainscraft oad versed in the ways of the - wilderness, she knew well her abilities to get through a hostile country. She asked no odds of renegades, white or red—simply an even chance in the broad country. Her cayuse, Silver Heels, had had several days of ab- | solute rest at the post, gorging himself the while on gov- ernment fodder. He was in fine fettle, and ready, if nec- essary, to make the race of his life. As Nomad had had the trick of talking to his horse, Nebuchadnezzar, so Dell had acquired the habit of com- muning with Silver Heels—not a rare thing with people when duty leads them in solitary ways with only a horse for company. . “The good old colonel is afraid the bee will catch BILL ‘STORIES. Patterson was > stop and wait for the sergeant, Silver. us, Silver,” doesn’t know our mettle, does he2” but instantly sobered as thoughts of the king of scouts and his pards flashed into her mind. “It can’t be, little horse,” she went on, “that Buffalo Bill, and Nomad, and Cayuse have fallen by the hands of Geronimo. Nothing can make me believe it; I won’t believe it! , “We'll ride to Bonita with the sergeant, but we'll not Oh, no. too clever for that. first distance pursuit before we join the sergeant. If [I’m any judge, he'll take the direct trail to Beaver River, for if the "Paches are anywhere, they’ll be in the country to the south of the Beaver. We'll lay for the sergeant at the ford, pony, and we'll get to the river just as ge : as the natton will let us.” The small spurs jingled, and the white cayuse ee and plunged ahead into the starlight. Silver Heels was a wonder when. it came to the mat- ter of speed. The ground jumped from under him at a terrific clip, and Dell, leaning far over the saddle: horn, peered steadily ahead. she was not worrying any about the trail behind, for ™ she knew that her present pace would bid defiance to any pursuers who might be sent after her. Greasewood clumps and mesquit chaparral hurled past her, and she glimpsed their gloomy tangles as a traveler might view them from the window of a railroad-coach. “You're the limited express, Silver,’ she murmured jestingly, “and Beaver River is the only place where you can take water. Hustle, boy!” And Silver Heels “hustled.” Without let or stay he reeled off the dizzy miles, seemingly proud to show his speed and mettle. In two hours the cayuse carried his rider over the sandy bank of the Beaver and down into the stream. The river was shallow, and in the middle of it Silver - Heels caught his promised drink—a small one, however, for a warm horse, who is to stand for some time, has no business with his fill of water. Ascending the opposite bank eaee Rue Dell left the trail and backed Silver Heels into a thicket of paloverde. There she dismounted, and, with reins over one arm, sat down in the warm sand in front of her horse, waiting for Patterson and watching the ford. Coyotes yelped in the hills; at intervals, from some- where, came the shrill, humanlike scream of a mountain lion; gray forms of desert-rats slid across the open stretch in front of her, and the ungainly form of a Gila monster shambled slowly near, only to puff himself up and blow when she rolled a stone, and then turn and shamble off into the thick bushes again. ’ said the girl, when they had flung past the sete ) try at the gate and laid their course southward, “but he. She laughed soitly, Were - Tt would be like the colonel to send somebody after us, so show me your best pace, and we'll _ None of these things did Dell heed, She was a to 6 : oe ag sights and sounds. Apache would have aroused her from her position in the sand. “The slow minutes dragged on, but without bringing the messenger from Grant. She began to fear that, after all, Patterson had not _ taken the trail she had followed from Grant. Certainly the sergeant had not been long in following her from the post. If he did not come, she would traverse the country to Bonita alone. was not afraid. But she would have preferred to travel with Patterson. ‘Just as she was on the point of giving up her wait, mounting and continuing south alone, a fall of galloping hoofs reached her ears from north of the river. Pres- ently a horseman came into sight, splashed into the ‘stream, watered his horse, and made for the southern bank. Dell strained her eyes. Undoubtedly it was Patterson. The moonlight sil- _-vered against his belt-buckle and struck a fae from the carbine at his saddle-horn. With cautious looks to right and left, the sergeant rode out of the river and up the bank.: Dell arose, mounted, and gathered up the reins in one hand. The alert sergeant, heaaae movements among the low trees, drew to a halt and unshipped his carbine in a flash. The gtin was at his shoulder and leveled before Dell had showed herself. “Don’t shoot, sergeant!” the girl called. “What the blazes ” Patterson did not lower the gun, and the words merely evidenced his complete as- tonishment. “Who are ye?” ‘Dell Dauntless. I’ve been eats for you.” Thereupon Dell pushed out into the open, and Patter-— son gave vent to a low whistle and lowered his gun. “Here’s a surprise-party!” he muttered. “You must have come a-smokin’ to be waiting here like this.” “T did. | was afraid the oo would send some one after me,’ “That was sure a good guess. He sent two men after ye, but they gave up and went back. What’re you in- tendin’ to do, Miss Dauntless ?” “Ride with you.” “By all the rules 0’ the aa I es I ought to send ye back.” 1 Ou cant 2 Why notrt “Because I won't 0.” 3 “That's you, an’ right ese I must say; but look! D’you understand that we’re in hostile country ?” “Certainly.” NM that well have to hike es the Dear “grass, § THE BUFFALO Only the crawling form of an an’ scrub, leavin’ the trail to wind along its Be orited She could do it, and easily, and she BILL STORIES. way?” eure | dart” “Think ye kin stand it?’ Ed cant, sergeant, you can drop me by the way- side.” “Drop ye I'll have to, then, kase ’'m ey despatches that have got to git through. But I can’t take time to send you back, and I can’t waste any more chinnin’ here. I'd feel mighty bad if any harm happened to ye, but my as is important. Drop in behind if ye’re bound to come.’ Curtly enough—for Patterson was thinking of the im- portant work before him, and, truth to tell, hated to be bothered ‘with a trailing “petticoat”’—the messenger spurred onward, dropping the loop of his carbine-strap _ : over the pommel as he went. ae Where the trail entered the scrub he entered it, point- ing up a slope and uu southward again on the crest of a divide. For an hour Dell followed, aronee with her eyes to right and left as did Patterson, and listening intently - for sounds that might indicate skulking Apaches. Drawing to a halt in a ravine, where thirsty deer had gouged a water-hole, while the horses were taking a few swallows of water, Patterson spoke for. the first time since leaving the Beaver. “T don’t like the white hide o’ that cayuse, an’ that’s a fact.’ He nibbled at the corner of a plug of tobacco as he te and his words were a bit cut up. up, an’ they could spot the critter a mile” “*Paches are ' “Silver Heels is the best cayuse in Arizona, in spite of his color,” bristled Dell. “I'll drop so far behind you, sergeant, that, if there are any ’Paches ce they'll spot me and give you a chance to keep on.’ “T don’t like that, Miss Dauntless, nary mucho; but I’m the boy with despatches, so I can’t act like I would it I didn’t have ’em. Savvy?’ “Of course I understand. Your first a is to get those despatches through. Never mind me.’ Patterson jerked his horse’s head out of the water- hole, kicked in the spurs, and pushed on up the ravine, Dell, following by ear alone, allowed him to get well in the lead. Another hour slipped past—an hour of scrambling through chaparral, and through Spanish bayonet and catsclaw, through dungeonlike gullies and up steep slopes; then followed another hour of pa easy trav- eling, Dell was still behind, still following the-sounds ok. For Patterson to lose her, trained as she was in ag of the trail, was impossible. Disaster was hovering in the vicinity of the two,-but it was not threatening them on account of the white cayuse. While Dell, rae with oe oa was sweeping the fe Ping the an ‘bt: spi has sid ‘Op ba kn: atl bor ne aes of th, "ll ee husky note of a rifle. | must have been muzzle-loaders. opened fire, THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. — es " 2 ; . shadowy country on every side and following the ser- geant mechanically, she was abruptly startled by the A bloodthirsty yell followed the report;'such a yell as only an Apache can give. Fol- lowing the yell came. the snort of a horse, and a thud of jumping hoofs. Without a moment’s hesitation the daring girl spurred. forward, jerking a revolver from her belt as she rode. Patterson was in trouble! If-so, he might need her. That was her one thought, and she knew not the mean- | ing of the word fear. A. dozen leaps of the white cayuse carried the girk to the scene of the shooting. _ Again an unseefi rifle cracked, and a bullet whistled past the girl’s head. But she gave attention to ee and to no one save Patterson. And if ever a man stood in need of aid, it was oe brave sérgeant at that moment. en CHAPTER III. DELL IS SURPRISED. Patterson had dropped from his saddle and was Vigne helpless on his side. His horse, a few yards away, was standing stock-still, fore hoofs planted wide apart, head thrown back, and nostrils sniffing the night air. The sergeant, when attacked, had been traversing a “hogback.” The hogback was bare, and rose out of a thick tangle of brush. In traversing the rise, the messen- ger had been prominently in sight of savage foes lurking | in the brush below. Two/of these were now bounding ve ) the side of the hogback. Dell saw the two Apaches almost as soon as she had seen the sergeant. Both Indians carried tifles, but they Had they been repeat- ing rifles, the girl would probably have paid with her life 4 for her reckless charge along the hogback. - Having no time to halt and reload, the Apaches were springing up the rocky slope, one with a knife in his free hand and the other with a hatchet. Tumbling out of her saddle, Dell rushed to Patterson’s side, jerking out her revolvers as. she ran. The Indians were within thirty paces of her when she One fell, throwing up his arms and tipping backward down the slope; the other—the one with the knife—flung himself behind a boulder. Dell understood very well what this meant. Screened’ by the boulder, the Apache intended to reload his rifle and then take his time picking her,off with a bullet. Without a moment’s hesitation the girl charged the boulder, so that the Indian had no time to use powder- horn or bullet-pouch. Forced from cover, he bounded © back toward the bushes at the base of the hogback, zig- zagging and ducking to avoid the lead sent after him. git Whether dpe hit the tedskin or rot Dell could not fell. but she realized that it wou Id be unwise to pursue him any farther. Returning hastily to the sergeant, she knelt at his sife. _ “How badly are you hurt, sergeant?” she asked. “Too badly to go on with the despatches,” he ie “swered, lifting himself on one elbow and jerking a- packet from the breast of his blouse. ‘‘Ye’re a brave ‘un, ah Dauntless. Here, take the ia aaa an’ a through.” “And leave you?” she Ln yeded. “Not 1.” “Hang it, girl, can’t ye understand? I’ve got a lead plug in my side, and to take me on will be a bother. Ye can’t do it and land the despatches in Bonita.” “Despatches or no despatches,” answered the girl, wTd not leave you here to be killed.” : “T tell ye to go. on!” growled the sergeant Getcely. | “And I tell you I won’t until you go with me. If you want me to ca the despatches through, you'll have to let me help you.” Already Dell had opened the sergeant’s blouse, The moonlight was brilliant, there on top of the hogback, and she folded the trooper’s cotton handkerchief, laid it over the wound in his right side, then pulled the army belt up. until it compressed the handkerchief and held it in nen Next she led up the troopeér’s horse. “Pl help you to get into the saddle,” said she. “It ll be a tough jb, . Patterson groaned; “an I doubt if we can make it.” | | “We will make it.” | “I can’t kéep my saddle after ye get me into it.” “Then I'll tie you there. You’re going with me to_ Bonita.”’ | | “There's more Apaches. We'll hear from ’em.’ “All right; if that’s how it pee out, they'll hear from me, too.” Dell was strong, in cae ‘of her slender build. Pat- terson could help himself Sut very little, but the girl pulled him upright, got one of his feet into the stirrup, and then heaved him onto the horse’s back. 9 . There the sergeant drooped limply, hanging with both hands to the saddle-horn. - Hastily unshipping her picket-rope, Dell bound the | wounded trooper to ns mount, her deft fingers flying like lightning. | Then, with Patterson’s (carbine j in her hands, she leaped swiftly to the back of Silver Heels, caught the end of the picket-rope, which she had passed through the eines of the army horse, and started on. Sping, z-z-z-up! . The Apache's rifle spoke ae the bullet whisting sibilantly through the air. Dell felt a twitching of her buckskin blouse on the feft. side. She had not been hit by the ae slug, but she had had a close call. THE BUFFALO As she turned in the saddle, carbine in tee hands and eyes on the alert for red foes, an arrow sailed toward her, and cut through the brim of her brown sombrero. — “Better let me go, girl,” groaned Patterson. me out o’ the way ye can show ’em a clean pair o’ heels.” . pee pull through together,” rettirned the girl reso- ‘or go down together. That’s flat.” The next moment she saw three Apaches racing along the top of the hogback. Without taking the trouble to raise the carbine to ae shoulder, she fired from the hip. Heér aim was unerring, _ and the foremost of the savages careened sideways. Another bullet came at her. She heard a ring of lead upon steel, felt the carbine shiver in her hands, and a “shock like that from an electric battery raced oe her arms. | Again she evel to pull the trigger of the carbine. _ The attempt brought a revelation. The bullet that had struck the carbine had shattered its mechanism and ren- dered it useless. ; lut ely, ¢ Again and again she essayed to shoot, but each time she failed. oo .. _. Flinging aside the carbine, Dell once more fell back on her revolvers. But. to use these smaller arms without hurt to Patterson was well- -nigh impossible, The Apaches, who appeared originally to have num- : bered four, and undoubtedly were a small detachment from Geronimo’s main “band, had. lost two of their num-_ ber. This fact not only rendered them ee, vin- ~ dictive, but exceedingly wary. By approaching the girl from the side on which Pat- ,terson and his horse were standing, they could ee themselves. The sureeant, unable to make a single dele? move in his weakened condition, saw the Indians and under- stood their maneuver. The situation brought another groan from his lips. “I’m liable to prove the death o’ ye,” he muttered. “Cast loose from me an’ hike! There’s a chance yet.” — “Mol? cried Dell. _ Pulling Silver Heels backward, Dell coe to find an opening for a shot; but the two Apaches moved forward as she moved back, and thus frustrated her plans. In the midst of the maneuvering, the unexpected hap- pened, taking form in the crack of a rifle from the Boe below the hogback. - One of the two remaining Apaches dropped his ide _and staggered. Again the unseen marksman launched a bullet. This time the second of the two Apaches stiffened in his tracks for a moment, then crumpled to his knees. ‘The other, without lingering further, whirled about and plunged down the slope and into the chaparral. “With | .The two remaining Apaches were leaping toward her, coming up under cover of the wounded ser- other ’*Pache. BILL STORIES. The bo handed Dell strained her. eyes iowane the point from which the unexpected shots had come. “A friend in need, Patterson!” she cried. The sergeant’s head was hanging forward. He heard Dell’s words, and made a response, but his voice was too said. The Cat on his knees had strained out along the. rocky slope. An instant later a form came bound- ing up out of the shadows, paused at the Apache’s side an instant, then came on to Dell and the sergeant. Dell’s amazement increased as the newcomer came more and more into the light of the hogback’s crest. He was not a white man, but an Indian—a slender, lithely built boy, bare to the waist, his nether limbs clad in buckskins and moccasins. An eagle-feather orna- mented his scalp-lock, and he carried a small repeating rifle. "Ueh!” he exclaimed, halting close to Dell. Hair, Pa-has-ka’s girl pard!” “Tittle Cayuse!” cried Dell, her surprise and delight . throbbing in her voice. ; ‘A moment more and she was ane from her saddle and had caught the little Piute i in a swift embrace. CHAPTER V._ ONT. 2 OV BO Ne Tt Aes Little Cayuse deemed it derogatory to the pride of a warrior to let himself be betrayed into. any show of af- fection. His feelings the boy tried strenuously to keep in check at all times. And, as he frowned upon any dis- play of feelings : himself, he looked - askance at it in others. _ With a grunt . withdrew himself from Dell’s arms. “How does it happen I find you here, Cayuse?’ * went on the overjoyed Dell. The fact that Cayuse was there proved that he, at least, had escaped the slaughter of Bascomb’s escort; and, from this fact, the girl argued | that Buffalo Bill aad ee had likewise escaped. “No time for powwow,” . returned Cayuse egruffly. “Plenty ‘Pache in hills, ’Pache who git away tell um scalp. Where you go, Yellow Hair?” 716 Bonita “Who white soldier ?’’ “A trooper from Grant with important despatches. Le is baldly wounded. We must take him with us.” Cayuse flashed his eyes over the limp trooper. “Wuh!”. said: he. “Yellow > Hair wait till Cayuse git um pinto.” ine boy whirled and daney down the slope and into low and mumbling for the girl to understand what oS “Yellow ) We ride quick, or mebbyso we lose um pao th ey t it. hat bre Cy rit y tO halt. They had reached a water-hole. THE BUPRFALO the brush again. When he returned he was mounted on a. calico cayuse—his own horse, Navi. © There were two slain Apaches on the hogback, a be- tween them Little Cayuse halted Navi, looking from one “. Indian to the other, and his hand hesitating about the handle of a scalping-knife that swung from his belt. “Cayuse!” called Dell. The boy turned his eyes upon the Bick “You know what » Pa-has-ka told 2 about taking scalps?” went on the girl. “Wuh!? Little Cayuse withdrew his hand hastily from the knife and dug his heels into Navi's sides. His Piute nature craved the scalps, for on one of them he was entitled to a second eagle-feather ; but the better side of his nature ‘had listened to the teachings of the king of scouts, al- | though profiting by the teachings reluctantly. “Come!” said he, taking the lead oe crossing the crest of the hogback. Dell, leading Patterson’s mount, followed. through the chaparral ‘the little Piute led the girl and the helpless trooper, selecting ground whose flinty soil would leave no trail visible im the daylight. ‘As the boy rode, his eyes glimmered like an owl’s into the surrounding darkness, and he listened at every step | like a coyote. Dell yearned to be asking Ce questions about Buf- falo Bill, and old Nomad, and the rescue of Bascomb by: Geronimo’s bucks, but she knew that Cayuse just then would not talk. It was close on to an hour later that the Hoy called a Probably Cayuse would not have halted even then had he not discovered that Patterson was in a pitiable condition of weakness, | and that Dell was obliged to ride at his side and support him with her arm. = Ueh!? said . Cayuse, ining from Navi's back. “Pony-soldier heap bad hurt. We give um little rest. No like make um stop, but we got to.” Patterson was unroped from his saddle and lifted | down. “After he had been stretched out beside the water- hole, Cayuse unbuckled the belt and Be aside the blouse and the clothing beneath. Removing the red-soaked fendeereeeE he lowered his eyes to within a few inches of the wound, and examined | it as well as the moonlight would permit. Presently he began probing with his fingers—a painful : process which the unconscious trooper could not feel. “Him plenty bad hurt, Yellow Hair,” said Cayuse, “but bullet him no stay in wound. Umph! Me fix um.” Going to the edge of the water, Cayuse wrung out the ] handkerchief ; then, coming back, he bathed the wound. From a medicine-bag swinging at his belt he took a - brown powder and sprinkled it plentifully over the wound. Into and’ Bil SVORIES<) | : , 2 9 Next the medicine-bag yielded a compactly rolled strip of soft doeskin. The strip was unrolled and passed com- - pletely around Patterson’s body, the ends brought tightly together and fastened with a long, sharp thorn. The clothing was then replaced over the wound, and a drink from the boy’s canteen was forced between he sergeant’ Ss lips. Complete rest, assisted by the cooling draft, soon _caused Patterson’s wits to return. ‘““Where’s the despatches?” were his first words, “They're safe, sergeant,’ said Dell reassuringly. “Tve got you to thank for that, Miss Dauntless.” “We've both got Little Cayuse to hanks for ity’ “Who’s Little Cayuse?” “The Indian boy beside you. pard.” He is Buffalo Biil’s “Then he must be the clear quill,” cqutteted en “Any pard o’ Buffler Bill’s is ace-high with me. How did he happen to be around that hogback ?” “That’s just what | want to know,” said Dell. ‘From the despatch the colonel received, I supposed that Buffalo Bill, Nomad, and Cayuse were with the escort taking Bascomb from Phoenix to Fort Apache. That despatch said that all the escort had been killed by Geronimo and his hostiles, but I had a feeling that the murderous work could not have extended to the scout and his pards.’’ Little Cayuse gave a disgusted grunt and squatted on the ground by the water-hole, his knees up under his chin and his hands twined about them. ““Where’s Pa-has-ka, Cayuse?” inquired Dell, tient because of the boy’s ; provoking silence. “Mebbyso Bonita,” answered Cayuse. “Weren't you, and Buffalo Bill, and Nomad with the soldiers who were taking Bascomb to Fort Apache?” _ Pa-has-ka Pony-soldier say some- impa- “We leave Phoenix all same with escort. meet pony-soldier from Bowie. thing to Pa-has-ka, and Pa-has-ka go with pony-soldier to Bonita. Wuh.” “What about you and Nomad?” Cayuse was silent for a space, breathing hard and looking gloomily around. “Wolf-killer and Cayuse go on with escort,” said he finally. “Two pony-soldiers in escort; two pony-soldiers, Wolf-killer, and oe four por todos; five you count Bascomb.” Again the boy relapsed into gloomy silence, his hands clenching about his upraised knees and his black eyes smoldering in the half-light. “What happened?” asked Dell. “?Paches come,” answered Cayuse fiercely. kill um pony-soldiers, take away Bascomb, make um Wolf-killer prisoner. Cayuse he run!” The boy re- leased his hands, doubled his fist, and brought it savagely down on the ground. “Cayuse rum,” he repeated, as “*Paches ni REPT TEST RE NNT ee ae wee oe though, by sO saving hance, he a Nine the score ao of disgrace to the uttermost. uu. That was. the proper thing for Ge to do, Cayuse turned Dell. “Cayuse warrior,” -grunted the boy; “him ought to stand by Nomad until him die. Cayuse think um Wollf- » killer get away, too; but him ues Ugh!” “Ye're a queer little imp,’ remarked Patterson. “Used to be in the army, didn’t yer Bugler r some- thin’ ?’”’ -“Wuh. No like um army; rather stay with Pa-has- ka.” ; “Cayuse thinks the world and all of Buffalo Bill, Pat- _terson,”’ said Dell. “For Cayuse the sun rises and sets in the king of-scouts. It’s a knack Buffalo Bill has of drawing his pards to him.” _“Pa-has-ka big chief,” said Cayuse curtly; “biggest des of all the Yellow Eyes. Him my chief, all same, al- ways. Wuh.” “When did the A oacte: attack you, Cayuser’ went on Dell. “Last sleep.” “Flow many were there?” | Cayuse lifted both hands, fingers outspread, three times. : “So many. Mebbyso more.’ “Tts a wonder you ever got away,” bend Dell. “Me fool um, Piute fool um ’Pache every time.” “Where have you been since the fight?” te “All same scout through hills; *Pache take Bascomb.” Patterson stirred excitedly. “You found that out, did you?” he demanded, “All same. Bascomb wounded, no can travel. Me find out where ’Pache keep um.” . find out where um “Bully! applauded the sergeant, stifling a groan of pain. “You’re more kinds of a phenomenon, Little Cay- use, than I know how to mention.” “Uoh! grunted Cayuse dejectedly. '’Paches. What Pa-has-ka say, huh?” He cast an appealing look at Dell, ‘Buffalo Bill,” returned the girl warmly, “will say that you did exactly right.” ‘“Mebbyso,” said Cayuse, only half-convinced. “Where is Bascomb?” asked the sergeant, “Me tell um Pa-has-ka at Bonita.” “Did you see anything of Geronimo?” “Me see um; him with Bascomb.” gs J etter and hetter Patterson turned to Dell. “That means,” he finished, “that we’ve lost all the time we can at this water-hole. The quicker Little Cayuse gets to Bonita and delivers his news, the quicker this raid of Geronimo’s can be nipped in the bud, and Bascomb ae tured. We've got to ride.’ “Me run from rp BILL STORIES. a Dhe sergeant lifted himself to a sitting posture, but al- most immediately fell back with a groan of pain. “T’m next to bein’ on the retired-list,” said he gasp- fe ; “but for you, Miss Dauntless, I’d be lying, scalped, It was a lucky thing for» this minute on that hogback. me you broke away from the post like ye did, an’ decided to trail along in my wake. First time T ever fell down on a job the T. C. set forme!” “You haven’t fallen down now, said Dell. “I'd like to know what ye call it!” Cayuse was already on his feet, having caught the drift of Patterson’s remarks relative to a ee descent ia Bonita. With Dell’s aid, a boy succeeded i in getting Paticrsbe back into his saddle and again roping him there. that he and Dell mounted, and the journey was continued. ' Steadily onward rode the three through the night and into the coming dawn. No Apaches appeared to bother them, although the ominous silences of rock niche and chaparral were on every side as they rode. At last they entered Bonita Cafion. “We're gettin’ clost now,” Patterson roused ‘to remark just as the sun, like a golden pip snapped by the fingers of a ey Hand, leaped upward overt the rim of the cafion. His words were talon up by the notes of a bugle com- ing from around a turn in the gorge. The sergeant’s face brightened. “That sound never rang in my ears so fine as it does now!” he remarked. _ Dell rode alongside of him and walled the packet from her waist. In the daylight she could see aay it was stained redly. “What ye goin’ to do with that?” inquired Patterson. “You started with the despatches,” answered Dell, “and you're going to deliver them.’ “That’s your right,” expostulated the sergeant. “It’s your right, Sergeant Patterson! You’re a brave man, and delivering the despatches is your duty.” ‘Leaning sidewise in her saddle, Dell thrust the packet into the front of the trooper’s red-stained blouse. Patterson tried to thank her for her thoughtfulness and generosity, but the words died on his lips and he ‘drooped forward, again fainting from sheer weariness and loss of blood. Dell supported him as she had done before, aa on _they rounded the bend in the cafion and came within _ sight of the military headquarters in the field. veel CHAPTER VI. ‘BUFFALO BILL’S vow... Ina log cabin in Bonita, the king of scouts sat in con- sultation with Captain Markham. Outside the cabin, in After , ‘fel fH . fas the sm ing "pa iv col esc at col tak hil ga pic ‘6 SCC thi Me bot SCO Lit “he hat at Fo han tha nin the ma tim me r the dip luti Pit son Ge1 pin L ve to Sp- ed, for led wh “ift on On fer. ed. nd 1er nd irk ers the m- eS 3m fas on. ell, ive set ess he ESS 11S 1in m- in picked up. THE BUFFALO the shade, a reserve force of Pima scouts were lolling and ; smoking cigarettes. A stir of activity filled the camp. Couriers were com- : ing and going between Bonita and Bowie, and scouting- parties and squads of troopers were pes and ar- » riving. Buffalo Bill’s face wore a heavy ee News ‘had come from Fort Bowie the evening before relative to the escape of Geronimo and his bucks from the reservation - at Apache, and also of the annihilation of Bascomb’s es- cort and the rescue of Bascomb. The scout, in charge of a picked party, had at once taken the saddle. The entire night had been spent in the hills, but in spite of every effort not one of the rene- gades had been apprehended, and not a “sign” had been “Of course,” said Captain Markham, as he and the | scout sat in the cabin that morning, “Geronimo will head this way, killing and stealing and burning a trail toward Mexico. It’s his old game. Once he gets across the border, Heaven only knows when we'll catch him.” “P’m less concerned about Geronimo,” returned the scout, “than I am about my two pards, old Nomad and Little Cayuse. Bascomb’—the scout’s eyes glittered— “has made us plenty of trouble. I'll have him back. You hear that, Markham? Tl never rest until I lay hands on the scoundrel and land him in the strong room ‘at Port. Apache. | “You'll have a job, of it, Cody, Baccony seems to | have curried favor with the Apaches, and it’s ten to one that he’s with Geronimo this minute. You know Gero- nimo—a regular firebrand, and wily as a side-winder. He'll crow-hop’on every reservation but his own, and all the while he’s here, there, and everywhere, like the Irish- man’s flea. Now you see him and now you don’t. Next time he’s captured he ought to be shot.” “T’'ll get Bascomb!” averred the scout. “T suppose your pards are done for?” Buffalo Bill got up and walked to the door. What he felt he hid by turning his back on Markham. For a mo- ‘ment he stood in the doorway looking out at the Pimas; then he went to a bucket, took a drink from a gourd dipper, and went back to his chair opposite Markham. His face was expressionless, except as to the eyes—they flashed like steel. “Tl get Bascomb!” said he, his voice vibrant with reso- lution, “If he’s with Geronimo, I'll take the two of them. As for my pards, game old Nick and the loyal little Piute, if they’ve crossed the divide, that runs up a per- sonal debt which I owe the renegades, particularly Geronimo. ee “You know what it is, I reckon,” ping his voice, he went on, drop- “to share the ‘same blanket with a man -year in and year out; to scout with him at your side; to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in more fights “A hundred, eh? Rie A P Pe nr RIE Stokes. _than you can count; to find him at all times a pard to be depended on for sand and sagacity; and. ” He broke © off curtly. “I don’t need to tell you what the loss of Nick Nomad means to me, or the loss of Little Cayuse.” “No,” returned the captain sympathetically, “you don’t need to tell me, Cody. The fortunes of war are hard on a man sometimes. You say you'll get Bascomb, and I hope——” An orderly, his clothes dusty with alkali, showed him- self in the doorway and saluted. “Come in, Carter,” said Markham. Anything new?” _ *““What’s to pay? “One of our Apache scouts has jest come in, sir,” an- | swered the orderly. “He reports having been captured by Se quirted and sent back to Bonita with a message.” “Send him in,” ordered Markham. “These Ane scouts,’ he added to Buffalo Bill when the orderly had vanished, “may be depended on, or they may not. It’s © a doubtful point.” “When fighting Geronimo,” counseled the scout, “it’s well to look with suspicion on what an Apache says. Only the Pimas are to be depended on when fighting Apaches, Pimas have been foes of the Apaches for a hundred years and more, and never a Pima has raised his hand against a white.” “Just here the Apache came in. He wore a pair of blue overalls, fastened to his waist with. a piece of rope. His shoulders were bare. Standing silently before Markham and Buffalo Bill for a moment, he turned slowly and exhibited his back. Great, livid welts crossed and recrossed the coppery skin. “Well!” exclaimed Markham, as the Apache faced about. “So you were oe by Geronimo, were you, Chico ?” - “Si,” snarled the ted man. “Where ?” ) on “Blind gully off Tres Alamos Gulch.” “Fifteen miles away!” muttered Markham. was this?” “Last sleep.” “When were you released! Py ‘““Mebbyso, hours, so many.” Chico lifted four dirty fingers. “How many bucks with Geronimo?” Chico thrust both hands into the air ten times. He’s got most all of those who jumped the reservation with him under his wing. Did you learn anything?” “When “No; but Geronimo he send this, with message for Pa-has-ka.” Chico dipped one hand into the pocket of the overalls and brought out a pair of rusty steel handcuffs. “Thunder!” muttered Markham. “What trick-is the. ee ae BUFFALO . sly old scoundrel up to now? Why did he send those to Buttalo Bill?” Laying the tandewee on the table, Chico srl about. in the depths of his pocket and brought forth a small Key, which he laid beside the iron bracelets. ‘ % “Geronimo say he take um handcuffs from Bascomb, take um key from dead pony-soldier,” explained Chico. “Geronimo say for Pa-has-ka to take iron bracelets, then bymby Geronimo find Pa-has-ka and put um on him. Geronimo make powwow before he turn Chico loose.” The scout laughed grimly, ff the ae ee ever comes near enough to me to put those on,” said he, “‘he’ll never live to enjoy the sight of me in the things. They're my bracelets, 1 reckon?” — “All same. Geronimo send um.’ _ Buffalo Bill took up the handcuffs and A bey and put them in his pocket. “You sabe Pa-has-ka’s pards, Wolf-killer and Little Cayuse?” he asked. + iMe sabe”: “Did you see or hear davehine of them?” Chico shook his head. ' “Probably the party that did the business for Bas- comb’s escort haven’t all joined Geronimo as yet,” sug- gested Markham. .“Probably not; although one must have joined, or Geronimo woulattt have the come-alongs.” “Are they the same cuffs that were put on Bascomb ?” “They look like them, but I woudn’t take my oath that they’re the same. When the man from Bowie met the escort and asked me to come here, in view of possible Indian troubles, we hadn’t been long on the trail to Apache.” : “eT see.” his belt and army Colts. Bill?” he queried. | “To the blind gully off Tres Alamos Gulch?” “Sure. We'll make a quick run of it. I don’t hope to find the scoundrelly renegades there, but we may be able to pick up signs and give them a run of it between here and the border. They'll be trying to head the fugi- tives off at Fort Huachuca, and there’s a chance—if luck’s on our side.” “Coming with us, Buffalo “Of course ’m coming,” answered the scout. ‘“There’s a chance, as you say. Let’s make the most of it. take Chico?” Youw'll “Naturally. If he’s running us into any sort of a trap, he'll be along to enjoy it with the rest of us. burro, Chico?” The Apache nodded alley: hunched ‘his te and rubbed his lacerated back gingerly. muttered Markham, Sabe the » Eie’s eer goods,’ gainble ‘On: it? “ona Tu is ba is no proof he’s not talking with two tongues,” returned the scout. “He'd cut himself up worse Markham had got up and was buckling on BILL STORIES. than that to help Ca if he’s at ae inclined to be _ treacherous.” : Calling Carter, Markham shot peda: at him with the rapidity of a Gatling. A few minutes later and fresh activity was added to the stir of the camp. The bugle _ called, and troopers made a run for their mounts. As the scout and the captain were preparing to leave the cabin, the orderly once more presented himself. > “Despatches from Grant, sir,” he announced, “From Grant, eh?’ returned Markham. “Bully! The wire’s cut, and we'll be able to,find out what Grayson is doing. Bring in the courier, Carter.” ‘“‘He’s in a faint, sir, and they’re coat him from his horse.” “Wounded?” demanded (nee “Badly—brush with the reds, sir. woman with him——” “Woman!” exclaimed the sapien blankly. “Yes, sir, and.an Indian boy-———” Buffalo Bill waited for no more, but rushed from the cabin. The Pimas, attracted by the excitement of fresh atrivals, had left the shade and were clustered, with sev- eral troopers, about three horses—a pinto, a white cayuse, and a big; raw-boned army mount. ian he latter the wounded courier was being lifted. There’s a young But the scout, for the moment, did ee see the courier,. _ his attention being entirely taken up by the two who had come with the wounded trooper. ~ “Dell!” cried Buffalo Bill, in amazement ; Cayuse! Well, here’s a bit of luck, anyhow.” | CHAPTER VIL. DIVIDED OPINIONS. Dell Dauntless sprang toward the scout and caught him by the hand. “Tt’s mighty good to see you again, pard!” said the girl, her blue eyes dancing. “Before the military wire to Grant was cut, we got word that Geronimo and some of his bucks had gone on a raid, that Bascomb, the de- -serter, had been rescued, and that the escort with Bas- comb had all been killed. I knew you, and Nomad, and Cayuse were to return to we Hpacne with Bascomb, and I. was afraid that—that— «= The girl hesitated. “That Geronimo had played a trump card and got rid of us, eh?” finished Buffalo Bill. “I left the escort very soon after we had quitted Phcenix, being summoned to Bonita on account of prospective Indian troubles. Cay- use and Nomad stayed with the escort. The same news that reached you also reached me, and I had begun to do a little worrying about Nomad and Cayuse myself. But here’s the boy, as chipper as ever! thing about Nomad?” Do you know any- yc Or Py . Sa “and Little [B : SNe | le: be . “No,” “Does Cayuse ?” the “THe says Nomad was ined ut Tl let him tell sh you, Buffalo Bill,” | A gle _ Sivs a big surprise to see you, Det ’ the scout went ff on; “especially to meet you here at Bonita. “Why did Ve ff you leave Grant?” f You couldn’t expect me-to stay there after Colonel ‘ | Grayson had received that message about Bascomb and ‘he | the escort, could you?” queried Dell artlessly. is ( — Buffalo Bill-drew back and stared at her. “Why, what could you hope to do?” he asked. his “J didn’t know exactly; but, whei you've got a pard in I ‘trouble, you don’t loll around and take things easy, do h you? And it isn’t your way to keep clear of the scene of mS i your pard’s trouble, is it?” . ' — “Well, there’s a different set of rules governing the _vactions of a girl pard,” returned the scout, a twinkle in my his eye. | the m “Not much there ain’t,” vee Dell. ah “What's this?” ee The scout touched the side of her blouse where the iS; @ Apache bullet had gouged a rent. the J | “That's where.a redskin paid me his compliments,” fb said Dell. } : once “And this?” The scout touched the brim of her hat. ae | “Another token of Apache esteem,’ went on Dell. de » “One was made by a bullet, and the other by an arrow.” “Close!” murmured the ‘scout. i “A miss is as good as a mile,’ Dell answered lightly. _ “Not many girls would come through a night trip ™ irom Grant, at this time, with the same coolness you | show. You're a remarkable girl, Dell Dauntless.” “Only different,” smiled Dell. “Tt’s enough to put me H in fine fettle just to find you alive and hearty at this end of the trail. And we have Cayuse, too, you see.” ™ ‘‘What’s the matter with the boy?” asked the scout, gazing perplexedly at the little Piute. around and at least say ‘howdy.’ i He feels cut up and out of sorts, Buffalo Bil,” H Dell, with a soft look at Cayuse. “What about?’ “Ask him.) : Cayuse did not come near the scout, but hung around ; Navi, and apparently gave the scout no more attention j than if he had been a thousand miles away. Neverthe- said rid | | less, not a move of the scout’s escaped the boy. rery #i When Buffalo. Bill walked toward him, Cayuse turned 1 to _ his back, folded his arms, and fixed his gaze on the ob vay- i posite wall of the cafion. ewe = What's the matter, Cayuse?” said ay scout, laying a 9 do | kindly hand on the lad’s bare shoulder.< But “Ugh! Cayuse free, Nomad pe any § | _ The Piute never shifted his eyes from the cafion wall. 1 OU Whatson thate’ proceeded the scout, instantly catch- “THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. ing the drift of the boys ScaGCne coyote. He might come “*Betber one ‘irec’ than both prisoners. When one is free he can help to re- lease the other. Sabe?” “Cayuse run,” breathed the boy ;“rum, all same fea Cayuse think Wolf-killer run, too, but not so. Wolt-killer captured.) 3) “I was afraid both you and Nomad had fallen, and t am glad to hear that ‘Nomad is alive, even though a prisoner, getting away and coming to tell me about Woli-killer. Pa-has-ka thanks Little Cayuse.” The boy’s pride, thus oddly ‘humiliated, began to re- cover, He turned around face to face with the scout, “Pa-has-ka think Cayuse did right?” he asked. “Sure you did right, Cayuse,” averred the scout hearti- ly; “you did the only thing possible under the circum- stances: Don’t be foolish.” “Bascomb wounded,” said Cayuse. “Hard for Bas- comb to sit cayuse and ride, Me know where Bascomb taken by ’Paches.” “What?” demanded the scout, instantly on the alert, The Piute repeated his. words. “Good! We'll get Bascomb. Do = know where Nomad was So ry ‘No see um.” - “How do you know he wasn’t killed, then? How do - you know he was taken prisoner ?’ “Me come back to place of ambush. Hunt over ground, Find um pony-soldiers, no find um Wolf-killer.” “Ah! What of Geronimo?’ “Him with Bascomb.” Where?” ‘ “All same cave by Tous aes. _“Here’s something to look into at once!’ exclaimed the scout. “Come into the cabin, Cayuse; you, too, Dell” The scout led the way into Markham’s headquarters. Patterson had been carried into the cabin and laid in a bunk. While a doctor was working over him, Markham sat ata table reading the despatches that had just fallen into his hands. “These are important, Cody,” said Markham, looking up. “Grayson tells me what he intends to do, and what the commander at Apache intends to do. Troops from both posts will look after the settlers and hem Geronimo out of the north. Huachuca will guard the south. Some- where in between the two lines of troops Geronimo will be dodging-—so our chances to corner him in that blind gully are growing brighter.” : Markham shoved the despatches together, eng locked. them in a despatch-box. “How’s theecourier, doctor?” he called, “He'll do, captain,’ was the answer. hospital will set him on his pins again.” “TIL send a man to Bowie for the ambulance, and we'll “Two weeks in Little Cayuse has acted like a true warrior in how have him taken there as soon as possible. He did a brave thing, and Grayson shall know about it.” A troop of mounted men galloped up to the door. “All ready, captain,” called a voice from without. . “Come on, Gody,” said Markham, pulling on his gloves. “Just a second, captain,” have fresh news regarding Geronimo, just broyght by ~ my two pards. Miss Dauntless, ‘ad Buffalo Bill’s girl pard, Markham, and Buffalo Bill is sure proud of her. Also Little Cayuse, my Piute pard.” Markham vouchsafed Dell a passive glance, which quickly gave place to one of admiration. He bowed. Then, turning, he caught Cayuse by the hand. “Glad the Indian boy is accounted for, at all events,” said he. “Sorry I haven’t time to stay and talk, Miss Dauntless, for you’ve got a story to tell which I'd like - to hear. We can’t waste much time, Cody,” he’added to the scout. ‘“That blind gully is fifteen miles off, and the reds are fliers when they get started. What’s your news ?”’ “Cayuse escaped from the ambush de Apaches laid for the Bascomb escort,” explained Buffalo Bill; “but, after his escape, Cayuse scouted and followed the Apaches to Tonio Pass. Bascomb is wounded, he says, and unable to travel. The Indians have him in the pass, and Geroni- mo is with them.” Markham started. “Tonio Pass is dead away from Tres Alamos Gulch,” said he. ‘Geronimo can’t be in both De The boy "must be mistaken.” “qd believe him before I would an Apache scout,” returned Buffalo Bill. Markham stood for a moment thinking. “Perhaps you have more faith in the Piute ‘than in the Apache,” he said finally, “but my opinion inclines the other way. Cayuse is only a boy, and a Piute at that. Likely enough he doesn’t know Geronimo as well as Chico does.” “Cayuse is the lad that gets my gilt, all the same,’ “T think the Tres Alamos trail the most promising.” “Very good,’ said. as scout calmly. “Merely a mat- ter of divided opinions.”’ ; “That’s all. Either of us may have the wrong pig by the ear, but that remains to be seen. Are you traveling cwith) mer? 3 7 | | : “I’m going to the pass,” said the scout decidedly. “Very well. It may not be a bad idea to cover both points. I can’t spare many men for you, Cody, as [’m taking the bulk of the force I have left here. A hun- a3 dred bucks under Geronimo is a gang not to be sneezed © at, and there'll be brisk work if we come up with them. However, take Lieutenant Doyle and ten ae if you 2 wish——’ “T'll go it alone with my pards.” 4 : , THE BUFFALO own about doing things,’ laughed Markham. you please. returned Buffalo Bill, “I Captain Markham— — meet up with a man like you. BILL STORIES. “What? A girl anda boy? Think again, Cody.” “T don’t need to, captain. If you knew the girl and the boy as well as I do : “You've got a head of your own, and a Way of your ‘Do as You’re welcome to any Pimas I leave, even Adtos, and good luck. if you don’t want the troopers. Hope you find Nomad.” Without waiting longer, Markham hurried out of the ‘cabin, flung himself into the saddle, gave orders relative to sending a courier after the Bowie ambulance, then galloped away up the cation at the head of his troop. CHAPTER VIII. OFF FOR TONIO PASS. “Tired out, Dell?” asked Buffalo Bill, whirling on the girl as soon as Markham and his detachment had ridden away. “T don’t think any one ever knew you to say so, Go to the cook’s hang-out and get something to eat, you and Cayuse. Then come back here and we'll hold a pow- wow.” “We can hold the powwow first, if you’d rather.” “Aren’t you hungry?” : Not to hurt” ‘ “Well, the horses are. Cayuse can put them out og then join you at the chuck-shanty.” Dell and Cayuse left the cabin. was lying. The doctor was sitting at the head of the bunk watching his patient. The sergeant had opened his eyes, and, as the scout came toward the bunk, kept them on him. “Buffalo na ?” said Patterson. “The same.’ our trails have ever crossed.” “Hope it won’t be the last time. his eyes on the diamond of one of Patterson’s sleeves. “Sergeant Patterson.” your despatches.” “That’s the size of it. Wouldn’t have got through, either, but for that girl pard of yours. Say, she’s-a brick.” a “She is,” agreed the scout. ‘“‘What did she do in yout case?” - _ Patterson went into the matter at £ lenethy beginning » with the way Dell scampered off from Fort Grant. Then } _he followed the recital on down to the fight, and the way | Dell and Little Cayuse had brought him in. “Did you ever know me to be that?” the girl countered. When they had gone, - Buffalo Bill walked over to the bunk where Patterson SES¢ top ce cou qatt t tt calp atcl old [pon urne | woul Bo OG ' leser he a P he s n lo | he A | voun Fhe w A oe alo | “T’ye heard a lot about ye, but this is the fa time | : owed 5 tee) his It’s a pleasure to . Sergeant, eh?” he‘added, Fay cit ards me you 2 “T reckon you had a hard time getting through with Bc, ae ! Er tN, “M parmy. “Ve -comb, few r Bhillg : scoun id yn ae 1S ul ng | en parmy.” Feomb, has made us a good deal of trouble. | few renegade Apaches with him, you remember, in the - |nills around the Three-ply Mine. ‘THE BUFFALO The doctor interfered, ‘once or twice, to say that Pat- erson was talking too much. But Patterson wouldn’t top until he had finished all he had in mind. “Certainly Dell should have stayed at Grant,” said the “but fate: usually knows. best when it takes such cout, jatters in hand and regulates them. If Dell had stayed t the post, you'd be on the hogback now minus your calp; and Geronimo would have had Grayson’s des- atches. The wily old red would have ae a lot to get old of those papers.” Buffalo Bill went back to the table and sega himself. ‘en minutes later, Dell and Cayuse reappeared. “Sit down now,” said the scout, “and give me the yhole of this thing. You el Dell, ‘and then Cayuse can — en He. Dell, as might be expected, Hoe over her part in the ight’s doings, gave Patterson a lot of credit, er Cayuse onsiderably more. Cayuse began his recital with an account of the disas- ‘er to Bascomb’s escort. He was a’lad of few words, sing the hand-talk most expressively, and thus telling lany things that did not pass his lips, He told how the escort, expecting no trouble, rode ato the Apache ambush; how a murderous fire opened ipon the escort from right and left; how Nomad, unhurt, urned to flee; and how he—Cayuse—thinking Nomad vould escape, gave attention to his own safety. Outmaneuvering the Apaches, lescribe how he skirmished back toward the scene of he ambush, hoping to find Nomad; how he examined he slain and scalped soldiers, without being successful | n locating the trapper: how. he picked up the trail of : he Apaches. and followed them to Tonio Pass, saw the : vounded Bascomb lifted from his horse limo’ personally superintending the ork of caring for he white renegade, , and saw Gero- Adter this Cayuse started for Bonita to report te Buf- B alo Bill, crossed the trail of more Apaches, and _ fol- my owed it to the hogback, where he made such good use mt E his rife in helping Dell and the sergeant. ‘ - alice of you distinguished yourselves,” said the | cout; “you acted just as Buffalo Bill likes. to see his : oe ‘act. But, Cayuse, I should like to know whether | you are Poe the Indian you saw y at Tonio Pass was @ Geronimo,’ _ “Heap sure,” declared the boy. P You know aa do you?’ ae see um plenty times when me belong with the Very good. For some time, now, this Hecoer, Bas- He hada When we caught the [scoundrel on that island in Quicksand nee I was sure BILL Cayuse went on to. STORIES. ee we had him at the end of his rope; and I am about equal- ly sure that Geronimo and his bucks jumped the reserva- tion in order to get Bascomb away from the soldiers. If © that is the case, then. Bascomb is the man for us. to lay hold of. I have started-on his trail, and I do nat intend to hold back until he is landed. “Naturally, I am more anxious to rescue Nomad than a _ to recapture Bascomb, but this matter of Nomad’s is a point that puzzles me. as Cayuse thinks, what became of him? He wasn’t with lf he was really taken prisoner, 4 Bascomb and Geronimo; and, if Geronimo had him, it seems odd he wouldn’t keep such a prisoner by him. Sa mad is a captive the wily old chief would be proud of.” “Mebbyso Geronimo kill um Wolt- killer.” | This remark of Cayuse’s was a logical deduction, aut 7 the scout would not accept it. “No, Cayuse,” said he, “if Geronimo was going to put Nomad out of the way, he'd have done it there on the scene of the ambush. Geronimo, however, is sharp enough to understand that Nomad is worth more to him alive than he would be dead. So we come back to the thing I can’t understand: [Jf Nomad is a prisoner, where is he? And why wasn’t he taken to Tonio Pass?” A. silence of several minutes followed. “As I figure the matter,” the scout resumed presently, “it amounts to this : Geronimo, with all the troopers at Grant, ‘ Apache, Bowie, and. Huachuca against him, has none too many warriors. Evidently the chief thinks a lot of Bascomb, and will take care of him, but the chief can’t leave very many warriors for that purpose. Prob- ' ably he will leave two or three. So, if we ride to Tonio Pass and exercise a fair amount of caution, we have a good chance of getting hold of Bascomb; then, with _ Bascomb once in our hands, perhaps we can force .him to tell us where Nomad was taken. That is our cue. As soon as your horses are able to take the road we’ll be off for Tonio Pass.” “Silver Heels is ready now, said Dell.’ “He's all leather and whalebone, and never gets tired,” “Navi all right, too,” averred Cayuse. “It's not a piece of vee Dell,” said the scout,’ “ which you ought to join.” Dell threw back her head, and i face ea “Why not?’ she demanded. “Don’t make a mistake, little one,” laughed the scout, . “for I’m not cutting you out of this little surprise-party. I'm going to take you along because I think it’s safer to take you than to leave you. This camp is badly depleted, of troops, and if Geronimo should take it into his ras- cally head to come down on Bonita, there’d be a hot fight. For that reason, in view of possible contingencies, I’d rather take you with me than leave you here. . “And then, again,” he said slyly, “if I left you head, Dell, you might take the bit in your teeth just as you did soak Grant. Yeu vo mind the colonel, id perhaps you wouldn’t mind me.’ | “The sergeant must have been saying things,”’ mured Dell. “He couldn’t find words enough to tell me how much mur- he admires you for your daring and courage. However, we'll let that pass. Wait here, ‘Dell, and as and | will go for the horses.’’ As the scout and the Indian boy left the cabin, Dell moved over to where the sergeant was lying. She wanted a last word with him before she, and the scout, and Cay- use galloped out of Bonita. “You know this country, Cayuse? ?” asked the scout, as he and the Piute moved through the camp toward the place where the horses were picketed. — “Wuh,” said Little Cayuse. “You can take us to Tonio Pass without any trouble? a Sure: © “In that case, then, I won't take any. oi the Pimas as . guides. The smaller our force the more mobile it will be. Our foray is more of a scouting-expedition than any- thing else, although we shall be prepared to take care of double our numbers i we come to a show-down with the renegades.” The horses were saddled, bridled, and watered; can- teens were filled, and a day’s rations were secured at the chuck-shanty. Silver Heels and Navi certainly loca fit enough for any kind of a trail. Lieutenant Doyle, second in command now that Marie. ham was away, halted the scout as he and Cayuse were tiding for the headquarters cabin with Silver ae in tow. “You'd better take a few of the boys ae you, Cody,’ he advised, _ “You may need all the boys yourself, Doyle,” the scout. “Of course Geronimo is the sort fue that strikes where and when least expected,” returned Doyle, bat Igdon’t think he’ll fool. with the military so close _to headquarters. Anyhow, we can spare some Pimas.” smiled “None for me. One Indian is all I’m going to take on this trip,” and the scout laid a hand on Cayuse’s arm. “My Piute pard is worth a dozen Pimas.” ; “You’re too old a hand for me to tell you to look out for yourself. You always do that, I reckon.” “Tf I hadn’t, my aD would have been hung up in a - Sioux lodge years ago.’ The scout and the boy rode on, halted at the door of ' the cabin, and Dell came out and vaulted lightly into her saddle. “Now,” said she, with a sparkle in her. eyes, ee off for Tonio Pass.” : Could the scout have,foreseen what was to happen on that venturesome journey, rather than take Dauntless ee BUFFALO “BILL STORIES. 8 Dell with him, he woul have had oe send her to Bowie under escort. But, to quote Catamount Tom, the old hide- hunter, “sve can’t be so wise all the time as we are just some of the time;” so the little party galloped down the cafion on its way through the hostile country to Tonio Pass. CHAPTER IX. “MODERN WITCHCRAFT. Of all the murderous chiefs of the Apaches, including in the list such demons as Victorio, Nachez, Chato, Loco, and Juh, perhaps none had given the military authorities more trouble than Geronimo. Certainly none was more warlike, for at the age of sixteen Geronimo had become a chief. From that time his raiding began, his blood: thirsty operations being carried on in Northern Mexico and Southern New Mexico and Arizona. When one side of the border became too hot C him, Geronimo would slip across to the other, repeating and | repeating the maneuver until finally run to earth and ’ driven to the place where he belonged. Watching his chances, he would again dig up the latict stealthily, evade the vigilance of his guards, ‘ tion and continue his old tactics. That hair-raising cry, “The Apaches are up!” was to be expected at any moment, and never failed to inspire ‘jump” the reserva- _ panic among the white settlers of the arid lands. Among his lesser accomplishments Geronimo was Said to be a past master in the art of manufacturing illegal tizwin, a native beverage, of which there is more fight and deviltry in a single glass than in a whole barrel of ordinary fire-water. Not only was he reported adept in tizwin production, _ but also it was said that-he had extensive knowledge oi poisonous herbs, and of others with purely narcotic properties—such as those which science calls of the datura family—indigenous to the oy over which he roamed. How much of all this was true and how much false will probably never be known; but that a part, at least, was reliable, the weird disaster which befell the scout and his pards will bear testimony. __ : From the northern outlet of Bonita Cafion Little Cay- use led the way oy westward through a sn oi the Chiricahuas. Traveling was rough and difficult, and toward night- fall the scout deemed it essential that they should locate — a spring or water-hole and rest their mounts for a few hours, Silver Heels and Navi, despite the vaunts of their owners, had begun to show unmistakable traces of weati- ness. Cayuse’s service with the army had given him a good knowledge of the topography of that part of the country, al wk sid dis aml of th; str pa ob an Wwe ne the po toc cfre Cal a C0, ies ore iON, : ol otic the alse ast, and vay- the ght- cate few heir eari- ood airy, : pool. and he lead the scout bd Dell oe a spring with which he was well acquainted. The spring was in a little valley, hemmed in on all sides by granite bluffs. Before descending into the valley, the scout and his pards made a careful survey of the spring from a safe distance. Water was a precious quantity in those parts, and its presence was quite apt to draw the roving bands of red trouble-makers.. : Careful scouting failed to cover: ne presence of any Apaches, and the three riders picked their way down the valley’s slope and reached the spring. The spring was merely a scant dribble of water from a crevice in one of the bluffs. Under it, however, a basin-shaped rock formed a pool. This reservoir had filled, and there was sufficient water for the horses as well as their riders. The riders, naturally, dtapk first. Buffalo Bill, Dell, and Cayuse all knelt at the brim and pea their thirst at the same time. “Queer taste to the water, don’t you think?” remarked Dell. The scout had noticed the acrid taste, but supposed that it was perhaps due to a touch of alkali. “Do you remember, Cayuse,” Buffalo Bill asked, as he straightened up at the brink of the pool, “whether this particular spring always has this peculiar taste?” Cayuse shook his head. “Him Arizona spring all kind tastes, all kinds smell,” observed the boy philosophically. “Better so you drink and be glad what you drink is wef. Huh?’ . “T reckon that about hits it,” laughed the scout, oe up his horse. / Bear Paw, the scout’s black charger, nosed about in the” pool for some time, slapping the water with his muscular upper lip. Thirsty as he was, for several moments the ™ horse refused to drink, but at last, apparently deciding to ‘ ) make the best of it, took a few sparing swallows. : Silver Heels and Navi acted very much in the same _ way, but cut short their objections and went to their re- freshment much more quickly than had Bear Paw. » “The animals don’t like it, either,” commented Dell. “T don’t blame them,” said Buffalo Bill, “but water is water in this region, and, as Cayuse says, if it’s wet, neither man nor beast should demand more.” The horses, freed of their saddles, were roped out in the scant grass which grew along the overflow from the While they grazed, the scout and his companions took their first meal off their rations. ? Dell, with a piece of jerked meat in one hand and a cracker in the other, leaned back against a rock and be- came exceedingly loquacious. _“Lawn-tennis!” she exclaimed. “It’s.all the go at the post, Nomad—I mean Buffalo Bill. It’s a great game, THE BUFFALO BILL oR ig for those who like it. They play it on snow-shoes—l should say overshoes——” She stopped with a grim- acing twist of her pretty face. “What am I trying to say, anyhow?” she demanded. “Pass the ante, Lolita—I mean Dell,” Buffalo Bill re- turned, and wondered why he could feel no surprise at the way both he and the girl were handling their English. “T thought you were Buffalo Bill, for a minute,” cried Dell, almost choking with laughter. “So did I,” roared the scout. Then added, aie seri- ous: “I wonder who’s running this baille, anyhow 2” “That’s one too many for me,” answered Dell. “Who owns the honkatonk? Where’s the music?” Little Cayuse, leaping up suddenly, raised his arms high and held up his head. He began to mutter, and the mut- tering gave Way to a sort of crooning song: “Ty-wip pu-a tu-wip pu-a Av-wim-pai-ar-ru-wip pu-a Tu-ra-gu-ok, tu-ra-gu-ok Kaiv-wa mu-tu-rai-ka-nok,’’* ‘The little Piute’s attitude was rapt and ecstatic. His eyes were raised to the darkening sky, where the stars were already beginning to shine dimly. But what he meant, or what he was trying to get at, was altogether more than the scout or a girl could fathom, “There’s the music,” oe Dell. “That's Geronimo ; | he’s furnishing the music.’ “Good boy, Geronimo!” ied Bugelo Bill, clapping Ne hands. “Give us another! Where’s your fiddle?” Little Cayuse dropped his arms and stood scowling at Buffalo Bill and Dell. 2 Suddenly the scout sprang erect and struck his clenched fist against his forehead. “Merciful heavens!” he gasped hoarsely. | Sel? What’s the matter with you, with me, with Little Cayuse? Let us get the horses and ride—ride, do you hear? This valley is bewitched, bewitched !” He ran toward the horses, conscious that he had a lucid interval in the midst of a horrible, uncanny madness. « Midway between the pool and the horses he ae staring. Bear Paw was backing slowly arotind in a circle at the end of his picket-rope, backing with the methodical rhythm of a trick-horse, stamping his hoofs as he went. Silver Heels appeared to be trying to up- -end himself on his fore feet, while Navi was giving an Ses of what is technically known as the “bedpost buck. The scout staggered, dug at his throat and twisted his fingers in his long hair. What was this | sensation that *Piute song, meaning: “In that land, in that land. In that glittering land; Far away, far away, . _ The mountain was shaken with pain.” Me ae THE BUFFALO » filled him and robbed’ him of reason? yen as he tried to fight against it, the last thin barrier. of sense was broken down. He burst into a loud laugh, and whirled back toward Dell and Little Cayuse. “Where's the Duke of Pokéropolis?” screamed Dell: “where’s the Marquis of Podunk? Tell me that, Mc- Gowan!’ She rushed up to the scout and glared into his face fiercely. ‘Tell me that, I tell you!” she cried. “Pm looking for them myself, madam,” answered the scout, with sudden dignity. ' “Where are the crowned “heads of Europe and the cracked heads of Arizona? Where’s Kit Carson, Sam Patch, and the Seven Suther- land Sisters? Tell me, ye whispering winds! I’m a- thirst for knowledge, and I want to know.” Dell crouched down, her eyes See one hand gripping a revolver. _ “You've. hid them away!” she said, in a low, oe voice. “William Tell, where’s that apple?” The revolver came from its holster. this weird farrago of crazy notions and senseless words, tragedy seemed about to have its place—a tragedy which _ would be none the less a tragedy because the actors in it hed no: ‘idea of what they were doing. “Apple, apple, who’s got the apple?’ answered the scout. “Ah,” he added triumphantly, “here it is!” He pulled the handcuffs from his pocket and flourished them in the air. Dell came up to him, smiling. She put away the re- volver and reached out . hand, “One belongs to me,” she said coaxingly. “Certainly,” answered the scout, snapping one of the handcuffs about his right wrist. “There’s yours, Calam- ity Jane;” and he snapped the other cuff about Dell’s left wrist. : “It’s a good long way to town, sis,” hy added, in _ a kindly tone, “and we'd better be moving.’ Without paying the slightest attention to Little Cayuse or the horses, Buffalo Bill started to climb the ey val- _ ley wall, dragging Dell with him. The secret of the spring-——Geropimo’s secret—had wrought its folly in the usually well- balanced brain of the scout. He was going to town, and he was taking his sister’ with him. Obsessed with this one idea, which he clung to with all the morbid earnestness of a man Ons as he went on and on. Night deepened, the stars in the Arizona sky bechicnd against the velvet vault like so many. diamonds. One star guided Buffalo Bill; the “pointers” in the “Dipper” showed it to him, and he followed as he would have. fol- lowed a compass. From somewhere, far away, came the a shrill chant of the Indian boy. The chant a out like a lisping of waves on a rocky beach. _ But the scout and his sister wi ot on and on, following | he Star, In the midst of BILL STORIES. oe CHAPTER X. To Bc AWARE CE ING, Buffalo Bill shivered, and. opened his eyes. “Dell!” he exc laimed : Cavs f | No answer was returned, and slowly the scout’s acu. ties began drifting out of a maze of experiences, trying to eliminate false impressions and hold to the true. — | First, where was he? He was sitting ona stone. Before him was a wagon- trail, crawling along an eight-foot shelf. , At the outer edee of the shelf the mountain fell away in a dizzy precipice; the inner edge was a perpendicular wall, with the stone on which he was. sitting at its foot. The last thing he remembered he was in a little valley, close to a spring. The horses were feeding, and he, and Dell, and Cayuse were having a meal off their rations, But zeas that the last thing he remembered ? ‘He tried to lift his hands to his face and brush them across his eyes. Only one hand obeyed his will—the left one. The right seemed bound to a weight, did not investigate the weight, for he “could reason but slowly and deal with only one thing at.a time. No, the last thing he remembered was seeing Bear Paw moving backward in a circle at the end of his picket- at _ and Navi and Silver Heels also acting queerly. Just: pe tore that Buffalo Bill recalled that he had been acting queerly himself, and Dell, too, and Cayuse.. A flickering memory of his ficht to get back his reason came to him; then foliowed-—oblivion, A moment before, it seemed, they were on the powers of night ; now they. were at the edge of day, and the sur was rising over the searred uplifts of a ey to him iinknown. He dropped his eyes to his right hand, he wrist was red and swollen, There was a manacle about it, con- nected by a bit e chain to a smaller and more shapely hand. Then, for the fet time, he realized that Dell was be- side him, leaning wearily. back against the chft wall and _ sleeping soundly. “Dell!” he called, laying his left hand on the girl's which was bound to his right by the handeuft and the leneth of chain. The puzzle of it all defied the scout’s reasoning. He needed help to unravel the mystery. ‘Dell!’ he called again, in a louder tone, "The girl opened her eyes dreamily, “Time to start for Tonio Pass, asked. . Impulsively she started to rise, but felt her hand se- cured, Settling back on the rock, her troubled eyes wan- dered from the handcuffs to the scout’s face, _ Buffalo Bill?’ ay “What has happened?” she asked, bewildered, “Wa does this mean?” | “T wish 1 could tell you,” the scout answered. “I have been racking my brain over it for several minutes. se “Where are we?” ; “T don’t know.” “How do we happen to be here?” “That’s another poser.” For a brief space the two stared at unl? thier 1 in amaze: Ment.) |) _ Who handcuffed us together ?” pursued Dell. “You'll have to ask me eg easier,” oe the Just then he | diz é not she ¢ tail oe wh pla ‘on- way alar ley, and 1em he THE BUFFALO scout. “Tf I believed in witches, I should say that they had been exceedingly busy last night.” “This—this is awful!” breathed Dell. ‘Let us think. My brain seems all in a whirl. If we take a little time to think, perhaps we can arrive at some solution of the mystery.” They took time; and, finally, the scout began to voice the result of his mental labor. “You remember the spring,” said he, “and the peculiar taste of the water?” “Ves, yes!’ returned the girl eagerly. “That spring must have been drugged with some pe- culiar loco-weed. I can remember saying crazy things, and trying to stop myself and talk sense, shortly after we had taken a drink at the pool.’ “T can remember something like that, too.” “And I can remember the horses acted queerly, and I recall a desperate but unsuccessful attempt which I made ' to pull myself together and keep my wits. Following that, all is a blank until a little while ago, when I opened _ my eyes here, on this rock, and found you beside me.” “Where did the handcuffs come from?” The scout explained about the Apache scout, and how he had brought the handcuffs from Geronimo. ‘ “First thing,” said he, “we'll remove the cuffs. Can you slip your hand free?” a Dell tried, but could not, for her small hand seemed swollen terribly. . “There’s a key to the cuffs somewhere,” went on the scout. : He dug into his pockets for the key, but it was gone. “FHere’s an odd situation, and no mistake,” he said, with a rueful laugh. “We'll have to stay manacled to- gether, Dell—for.a while, at least.” “Do you think the Apaches drugged the pool ?” asked Dell. “Who else could it have been-if not the Apaches?” “But what do they know about drugs?” “Geronimo. they say, knows many things the white men do not dream of. There are herbs growing in this country whiclt are said to have powerful medicinal prop- erties, Indians, as a rule, are versed in the use of herbs.” “It is all very dark to me,” said the girl helplessly. “Tf Geronimo drugged the pool from which we drank, in the valley, why was he not there to make prisoners of us?” “Some of the Apaches may have put on these manacles as we find them; then, in some manner, we may have eluded the Apaches and got away. It’s all guesswork, Dell, and one guess is as good as another.” “But Cayuse!” exclaimed Dell, taking sudden thought of the little Piute. “Where can he be?” The scout lifted his voice in a loud_cry? “Cayuse! Cayuse !” pe Echoes alone answered him, booming out across the dizzy chasm that lay under the outer edge of the shelf. “There’s no telling where he is,” said Dell. “Had we not been manacled together like this, quite likely we should have become separated from each other.” “True enough. This road, winding around the moun- tain, appears to be a military road. Perhaps if we follow it, it will lead us to Bowie.” “But our horses!” . “As for finding our horses, I haven’t the least notion which way the valley and that drugged pool lies from this place. I have my six-shooters,” the scout added, looking pins titel io” BILE STORIES) 7 0 aa down at his belt and holsters; “and, while that 1s sur- prising, it is certainly an agreeable surprise.” “T have mine, too,” returned Dell. “We must have re- tained enough of our wits to carefully guard our re- — volvers.” a “That may have been less a matter of wits than of mere chance. However, we have them, and 2 “Buffler !” a The scout’s body grew rigid. A voice—the familiar voice of Nick Nomad—had suddenly called the scout’s name. | | ee you hear it, Dell?” Buffalo Bill muttered. 66 es), i f “I__I thought I might be imagining it; that, perhaps, it might be a part of the mystery we are trying to un- ravel.’ . A “No imagination about the voice, Buffalo Bill,” reas- sured the girl. “It was real enough, and it certainly be- longed to Nomad.” “Buffler!” cried the voice again. “Injuns— Paches! * Take ter ther road, an’ hustle.” Still in the dark as to where Nomad was, the mention of Apaches brought the peril of the situation clearly be- fore the scout’s mind. ; “Come, Dell!” said the scout; “we can’t ignore that warning. Norhad is somewhere, and he is doing his best» for‘us. We'll go down the trail.” | Together the two arose from the rock. The next mo- ment they made the discovery that they were unsteady on their feet—and this at a time when they needed all © their steadiness and strength. | ey Reeling back and forth, they started down the trail. “Where are you, Nick?’ shouted the scout. “Go on, Buffer, go on!” roared the voice of the trap- per. “I’ll be on hand when ye need me. But keep ter ther trail! Keep ter thet middle o’ ther trail! Steady, thar, steady! “?” “Never! The last ditch and the last breath always for } The Indians meé.”’ i “But the Apaches are coming—two of them. I can see them as I swing out and back. Once they looked over at me, and they acted queerly. It can only be a matter of a tunute or two, at most. Why not cheat them of their in- tended prey ?” ae _ “No!” said the scout, his voice little more than a whis- rper. ae “Tf I could release myself,” said Dell, “IT would. If _ I were not hanging here, you could take care of the In- dians and save your own life.” [ a _ Further response from the scout was impossible, His lips moved, but not a wisp of sound came through them. _ He turned his eyes toward the redskins again. He saw, “Row, that they were coming down the trail on all fours, desgeg WE HE SURRALG BiG. STORIES © jumping and springing about on their hands and knees in. a most unheard-of manner. Occasionally they would bump into each other, whereupon they would snarl and snap their teeth like wolves. ) , All at once one of them raised his face upward and yelped like a coyote. The next moment he leaped over the scout’s sprawled-out form and went on down the trail, The second Apache followed. The scout was too wrought up to think much of this remarkable exhibition at the time. The principal point was, the Indians had spared him; and how much longer could he hold out against the dragging weight? — The two Apaches wabbled and snapped and snarled until they had vanished around a turn in the road; then, all at once, Buffalo Bill became aware of a form kneeling beside him and bending down far over the brink. “Dell 17 : } : i f This word, in Nick Nomad’s voice, beat stridently in the scout’s ears. ie oe ; “Here,” came Dell’s answer. “What is it, Nomad 2” _ “Reach up with yer right arm an’ see ef ye kin grab holt er my hand. Easy, now. No quick moves, mind, er we'll hev Buffler rocketin’ out inter space, and ther two o’ ye drappin’ er mile er two straight down on ther rocks. Kin ye reach?” “Yes—just a second.” There was a.breathless pause. = “Bully fer you, Dell!” said Nomad, and took a grip on the scout’s tree. “Now throw all yer heft in yer right an’ leave ther rest ter me.” Buffalo Bill felt the weight leave his right arm, and his body buckled under the release like an overstrained girder that has suddenly snapped. His left arm dropped from the tree, and his right still hung at the brink. Panting like a spent dog, he continued to lie with his face to the rocks. . ie “Hyar ye come!’ said Nomad, and -foot by foot he pulled Dell over the edge of the wall. “An’ thet,” he fin- ished, as Dell sank down on the rocks, “is erbout ther closest call Pard Buffler an’ Dauntless Dell hev had in many a day. Waugh! I feel like ther strain.on me was as bad as et was on you an’ Buffler. was shore goin’ ter be ther next with ye. Et took me some time ter git hyar, an’ [ was almost skeered ter look when I got whar I could see ye when I struck ther trail. How- ever did et happen, anyways?’ x “II was unsteady and could not walk straight,” re- pid Dell. “TI felt all right in every other way, only my feet would not go where I wanted them to. Getting too close to the edge, I slipped over, and % o “T seen thet, Dell. What I means is, how did you an’ Buffler come ter be ironed tergether like thet?” “Neither of*us know.” Ls Nomad stared incredulously. en “What! Ye don’t know? Howlin’ hyeners, gal, ye don’t mean ter tell me ye an’ Buffler could git manacled tergether without never knowin’ who et was done et?” “That’s precisely what I do mean to tell you, Nomad,” insisted the girl. Buffalo Bill and I know that much.” i “When was ye manacled?”’ pursued the wondering trapper. “It was some time after sundown, yesterday.” “Queer things happened last: night. The scout, lifting himself slowly, took a sitting posture Every minit I thort: besid ing, < 66 Nom mana ' turne eT eS ae have it ha: expe: “CH whit ee uld und ind ver ail. his int er led en, ing in wo [OO an’ led a aoe hit. ne ATE, PIE Bl HALLO peside the girl. His right wrist was gouged and bleed- ing, as was also Dell’s. : . | “Ve had er plumb tough time, Buffler,” commiserated Nomad, his eyes on the two wrists and the red-stained — manacles. oe ; “One of the roughest times I ever had, Nick,’ re- ‘turned the scout, in a low tone. “T reckoned yer arm would be pulled off’n yer body.” "So. ded i . i “Tf I could have released myself,” cried Dell; “1 would have done so.” — “And lost your life, pard,” said the scout, “while now it has been saved. We'll both get over the effects of that experience in due time. I wonder how long it lasted?” “Ft couldn’t hev been more’n five minits,” said Nomad. “Five minutes! It seemed like five years. Is my hair white, Nick?” . ; “Nary, Buffler, Et’s ther same color et allers was. Why don’t ye take ’em off?” and the trapper indicated the handcuffs. | | . “Can't do it without a file.” _ “A key gin’rally op’rates things like them. Who’s got ther key?” é : “T did have it in my pockets, along with the cuffs. Go through my clothes carefully, Nick, and see if you can find it.. I took a look, a while ago, but 1 couldn't do it . very well with one hand fastened to Dell's.” The trapper looked through his pard’s poekets thor- oughly, but without result. “T reckon,” observed the scout, “that Dell and I are hooked up to stay until we get back to Bonita. Do what you can to take care of that wrist of yours, Dell. See if you can’t get a handkerchief around the wrist, under the Cue Dell groped for her handkerchief, and finally found it in the breast of her blouse. As she jerked it out, a small - object flew from it and dropped on the cliff, within an inch of the edge. The scout gazed at the object as though fascinated. ““Thar’s a key now!” cried the trapper. “Right, old pard,” said Buffalo Bill; “it’s the key to the handcuffs. It was in my pocket last night. Will some- body please explain how it comes to be in Dell’s hand- kerchief this morning?” “More mystery,” murmured Dell. “One more incom- prehensible thing to be added to the night’s list. Some time and somehow I hope we shall be able to understand all that has happened.” “Here, too,’ added the scout. “Waal,” put in the trapper, “how ther key happened ter git from Buffler’s pocket inter Dell’s handkercher is er hocus-pocus thet don’t matter much, seein’ as how ther key is ther main thing, an’ we got et.” He stooped and recovered the key from the rocks. “Hyar’s whar I bust this combination an’ git you two separated. Stand up er minit.” : | | The scout and the girl got to their feet, and Nomad unlocked the old-fashioned iron bracelets.. He was about to. fling them over the cliff when Buffalo Bill stopped him, took the cuffs and the key, and returned them to his pocket. ‘ ~ “Now,” said the scout, “we'll hunt up a scrap of shade and try to understand how you got here, Nick, along with a few other details that are easier to comprehend than oe things that happened to Dell and me last night.” | BILL STORIES. ae CHAPTER XIL. aah NOMAD's NIGHT TRAIL. “Jest er minit, pards, afore we dip inter thet,” said the ‘trapper, a Bounding off down the trail, he disappeared from sight behind the turn: “Where has he gone?” queried Dell. oe ve “To look after those two Apaches who came down on us while we were hung up at the brink,’ the scout an- swered, leading the way to the stone on which he and the girl had found themselves when their senses returned. “Ah, yes,’ mused Dell, seating herself at the scout’s side, “I had forgotten the Apaches. I saw them while I was swinging over the cliff. Did Nomad frighten them away?” ; “No. They came down the trail on all fours, acting like a pair of coyotes. When they reached me, they sprang over and went sniffing and snarling down the ~ trail. They acted as though they were locoed.” _ Dell started and dropped a hand on the scout’s arm. Can 10 be ” she began, and suddenly stopped. “That, they drank from the same pool that played hob — with us?” finished Buffalo Bill. “I shouldn't wonder, Dell. Nothing else could have caused a pair of murder- _ e ous reds to pass me by like they did. I was utterly help- less to defend. myself. One swift blow would have done the work.” ey “But if Geronimo had-doctored that little pool of water, wouldn’t he have warned his followers to beware of it?” “One would naturally think so. We're only guessing. at things now, and, as I said before, one guess is as good. as another.” Ta At that moment Nomad returned. . “Couldn’t find ther pizen whelps,”’ he announced, drop- ping down at Buffalo Bill's side. “I never set eyes on sich crazy varmints. At fust I thort they was creepin’ up on you an’ Dell, but they acted so plumb bughouse, -T didn’t know what ter think.” “Where were you, Nick, when you called to me?” the scout asked. Nomad lifted his eyes and waved a hand toward the top of the cliff. “Up thar,” said he. “Up thar, an’ gazin’ down on ye. When I seen Dell go over, I couldn't drap ter ther trail without mebbyso breakin’ my neck, so'l had ter hunt fer er place ter come down. When I found ther place, an’ got down, I was skeered ter look at ther place whar Vdc seen you an’ Dell last.” Waugh!” and the old man shook himself, “I was under somethin’ of er strain, too,” he finished. “Did you just happen to find us sitting on this rock here this morning ?”’ Cat “Nary, Buffler. night: trail, 1 kin tell ye. night.’ oe “How?” I been follerin’ er mighty devious I jest happened ter find ye last ter arrive thar, somehow, ef I didn’t git double-crossed in my calkerlations. I’d been dodgin’ Apaches ever sence I saved my skelp in thet ambush, appeasin’ my hunger with mesquit-beans an’ sichlike forage, feedin’ like er pizen hoss, an’ glad ter git my fodder at thet. Panne ee ee THE BUFFALO “When I seen you an’ Dell, I reckoned ye was two _ more Apaches, kase et was in er dark gully whar I fust _ seen ye. I ducked inter ther bresh, an’, when ye got by, _ began movin’ down ther gully. But et was er blind gully, an’, not hevin’ my wings erlong, I couldn’t git out o’ et - without comin’ back ther way I went in. _“T passed er cave. Ther mouth o’ et looked like a toll- able place fer a fugertive like me ter bunk down fer an hour’s snooze; but, as I was erbout ter start in an’ investi- gate, I seen a ’Pache on gyard at ther entrance, so I says: ‘Excuse me,’ ter myself, an’ moseyed on, _ “Tother end o’ ther blind gully opened inter a gulch. When I hit ther gulch, I’seen you an’ Dell ahead o’ me, an’ at fust glance I thort ye was ther same two ’Paches I passed in ther gully ; then another look, with ther moon- light shinin’ full on ye, showed me I Was mistook. I seen one o’ ye was er gal, an’ t’other er man, but I didn’t sus- pect one was Dell an’ t’other Buffler Bill till I’d come closter: | “As soon as I found out I was nigh ter my pards, I give er joysome yell an’ jumped arter ye; direckly thar- aiter, I give another yell thet wasn’t so joysomé an’ ducked fer the shelter of er rock. I’m er Piegan, Buffler, ef you an’ Dell.didn’t both open on me with yer hard- ware! “Was I rattled? Was I dumfoundered? Waal, some. ‘Say, pard,’ I whoops, ‘et’s me, Nick!’ With. thet I showed my shoulders over ther rock’ so’st ye an’ Dell could see me in ther moonlight, an’ know I wasn’t talkin’ with two tongues, even ef ye didn’t reckernize ther meller trill o’ my bazoo. “Then I was rattled some more, kase ye fanned my face with er lead pill, an’ howled like er Commanche. ‘Don’t ye dare come nigh me!’ sez you, like thet: ‘don’t ye dare come nigh me,’ you says, knockin’ me all of a heap. ‘This hyar’s my sister, an’ I’m takin’ her ter town.’ “I allowed right off, Buffler, thet ye was madder’n a locoed steer, but I didn’t see how Dell could bé locoed, too:. So I whoops ter Dell: ‘Don’t you reckernize old Nomad, gal? a An’ would ye bileeve et? Dell larfs right out., ‘Go ‘way,’ says she; ‘I’m goin’ ter town with my brother, an’ you ain't got no call ter interfere. I’m ther Queen o’ Sheeby, an’ he’s King Bill, brother Bill. Hands off, er ~ we'll give ye yer ticket.’ : “I knowed by thet thet Dell had been grazin’ on ther same crazy weed that growed on yore range, Buffler. I didn’t dare come up with ye, an’ I didn’t dare let ye git erway irom me, seein’ as how ye might run onter ’Paches an’ git inter trouble. So I follered.” Nomad leaned back against the cliff and drew his sleeve over his wet forehead. a . “Tork erbout yer night trails,’ he went on, “thet was. _ ther wust thing o’ ther kind I ever went up ag’inst. Think er me, trailin’ two pards through them gullies an’ up- lifts, fearin’ any minit ye’ll turn.on me an’ do me up with er bullet! An’ all ther time, ye onderstand, I was afraid ye’d plump inter a bunch'o’ ’Paches. Ef ye’d done thet, I’d hev had ter run ter yer rescue, an’ mebbyso got peppered by you as well as ther reds. Oh, I dunno! I reckons thar’s times when a feller feels wuss nor he does. at others, but ef I ever sees er time I feels wuss nor I did last night, T avants some ’un ter wake me up an’ tell me.” A slight smile curled about the scout’s lips. There . there is meat in it. BILL STORIES. was a humorous side to the situation, and he saw it. Del] however, saw the other side, and she reached out her hand and laid it on Nomad’s big, hairy paw. “Nick,” she said gently, “of course you know that Buf. falo Bill and I hadn’t the least idea what we were doing,” Nomad gave the small hand a pat, and grinned a litile himself. . oe “’Course I knows et, Dell,” said he, “but thet didn’t lighten matters none fer yore ole pard last night. I haq ter keep arter ye, kase I couldn’t let ye git away. Now an’ ergin ye’d sot down ter rest, wharupon it was me ter hover in ther background, breathin’ on’y when neces. sary, an’ imaginin’ every minit Buffler ’u’d find me out. “Some time clost ter mornin’ ye give me ther Kain’t onderstand noways how et was done. You two went inter a short ravine. I didn’t see ye come out. Waitin’ fer er spell, I trailed keerful through thet ravine, an’ ye wasn’t thar! No, sir, ye’d vanished plumb. “From then on I was huntin’ all ways, up an’ down, for’ard an’ back an’ crossover. Day began ter loom up, ther sun climbed over ther peaks an’ found me on ther top of thet clift, up thar, lookin’ down on this trail an’ ther edge o’ another clift. Then’”—Nomad heaved a long breath—“T seen you two a-settin’ on this rock, bound ter- gether with them bracelets, torkin’ ter each other. 1 slip, passed my eyes along ther trail tryin’ fer a place ter git down. Somehow, you struck me as hevin’ got yer senses. back, an’ I wanted to bust in on ye, an’ say: ‘Buffler, hyar’s me; take er good look, an’ fer Heaven's sake don’t shoot yer ole pard.’ I didn’t see er way down jest then, but.I did see them thar ’Paches a-creepin’ down on ye, as I thort. Then I tuned up, an’ you two looked every way but ther right ’un. Ye got up, staggerin’like, an’ I tuned up ergin. Then I seen Dell tumble off ther clift, an’ I near tumbled off’n thet other clift, up thar, myself. | scrambled eround fer er place ter git down, an’—an’——— Waal, thet’s erbout all. Hyar we aire, big as life, an’ we hey come through things, Buffer, like we never went through afore, an’ like I ergin!” ; Once more Nomad head. hopes we'll never go through pulled his sleeve across his fore- fremerenesirmmrracms CHAPTER XIII. LOCOED APACHES. the telling of a story than But there was meat in Nomad’s re- cital, and, profoundly stirred as he was, he told it with a simple effectiveness that made Dell and the scout live over with him his night’s trailing, “That’s good, Neck,” remarked silence, “as far as it goes.” - ~“Sufferin’ catermounts!” exclaimed Nomad. “Don’t et go fur enough ter suit ye, Buffler ?” “It doesn’t go back far enough. How did you get away from that ambush in which Bascomb’s. soldier es- cort was slain?” sere is “Thet’s another kink in ther twist 0° events,” said No- mad gloomily. “At ther fust fre my hoss was shot down under me. As soon as I could kick clear o’ ther stirrups I hiked. Thet’s what I done, Buffer. Never thinkin’ o’ thet leetle pard 0’ ours, Cayuse, I hiked like er express- train plumb out o’ thet smotherin’ batch 0’ ’"Paches. Cay- Sometimes there is more in #3 the scout, after a brief - 9 Sec - killec hand arter My « Oo otk Leetl | pulle thet and | morc Li and - here to he Cayt that “He caust up b prisc tone cE ay ; “TE Cayt there | drug tims oN ry doin way Cane trap play si thin’ trap} port rs 6677 criec L Use 7 OF ft | oul 4 bling Bon: in tk you | Toun | Gere a et ea Buff 66N us t n't lad OW me €5- ip. wo ut, ne, mn, Ip, er n’ ng zit of at th, as ed VEC rh Cayuse got locoed, too. ay baa (en HOeALO Bn sroRizs 7 a use’ —and - Nomad’s voice rolled in his throat—‘was killed er took pris’ner, an’ I wasn’t thar ter lend him er hand. I ain’t hardly fit ter look ye in ther face, Buffler, arter thet. Ther idee o’ me turnin’ away from er pard! My on’y excuse is thet I was rattled. When I got cl’ar o ther ’Paches, an’ had time .ter think, 1 ricollected - Leetle Cayuse, an’ went back ter whar ther ambush was pulled off. But I couldn’t find him. From thet I jedged thet Cayuse was took pris’ner.” is Here was an odd situation, and no mistake. Both Dell and Buffalo Bill saw it immediately, and exchanged hu- morous looks. Little Cayuse had blamed himself for not risking death and remaining in that ambush just to help Nomad, and here was Nomad likewise blaming himself for not staying to help Cayuse. By a queer process of reasoning, both Cayuse and Nomad had labored under the impression that the other had been captured by Geronimo’s men. “Cayuse wasn’t captured, Nick,’ said Buffalo Bill. “He got away, and has been finding fault with himself be- cause he didn’t stand by you, just as you are all gloomed up because you didn’t stand by him. You think he’s a prisoner, and he thinks you are. Well, well!” “An’ ther kid is all right, is her’ said Nomad, in a tone of deep relief. — “He 17 i : 4 } ‘Whar is he, Buffler ?’’. “He was in the place where Dell and I got locoed. It was in a little valley, where there was a dribble of water and a pool. The pool was | drugged. All three of us, as well as our horses, fell vic-. timis\to the drug) ‘Whar is this hyar valley, Buffler ?”’ *T don’t know. Dell and I didn’t know what we were doing when we left it; consequently, we can’t find our way back.” oy | es “Blazes ter blazes an’ all hands ’round!” gulped the old trapper. “Tork erbout doin’s! Say, ain’t this ther banner - play o’ all ther doin’s thet ever happened ?” tas.” ' Tell me more, Buffer. I’m hungry ter hyer every- thin’ that ye kin remember thet happened to ye.” The scout and the girl, between them, relieved the old trapper’s mind. When they came down to Cayuse’s re- port about Tonio Pass and the cave, Nomad pricked up | his ears. - “Thet cave whar I seen ther ’Pache at ther entrance,” cried the old trapper, “must hev been ther same one Cay- » use was tellin’ ye of! An’ Bascomb is thar, hey?’ “T don’t know, Nick, whether you’ve got the right place or not,” returned the scout. “You spoke of a blind cully . bs thar al ica se bo “Well, by an odd coincidence, then, Tonio Pass has a blind gully as well as Tres Alamos Gulch. A force from Bonita, under Markham, has gone to Tres Alamos Gulch in the hope of picking up Geronimo’s trail. The fact that you found a cave would seem to indicate that you had- found the very place where Cayuse saw Bascomb and | Geronimo, How far is the place from here?” “An hour’s walk, I reckon.” oP - Gould you dake us theres. aoe “T could, sure; but hadn’t ye better git yer hosses fust, Bottles” “You overlook the fact, Nick, that it is impossible for as to get our horses until we cam locate that valley with and get Bascomb. the drugged pool. To do that, we'll first have to find some one who knows the lay of the land better than we Meanwhile, we can go to this cave in Tonio Pass .. If there are Apaches in the place, , do. there will be food and water there, too; and if there is not too strong a force of Apaches, we can get the whip- hand of them and have the run of the cave—to say noth- ing of recapturing Bascomb.” PM ae “T reckon yore head is level, as per usual, Buffler,” said the old trapper. ‘When d’ye want ter start fer this hyar Tonio Pass?” “At once. The quicker we start, the quicker we can wind up the affair with Bascomb and get something to - eat and drink. This road, I suppose, must lead to Bonita — or Bowie?” | “I pass. Et’s er road, an’ thet’s erbout all I knows. Ter git ter Tonio Pass an’ ther place whar I seen ther cave’—here Nomad got up and squinted around—‘et'll be necessary ter go down ther road ther same as how them two ’Paches went. Ef ye’re ready, we'll lope.” The start along the shelf and down the trail was made immediately, the initial movement carrying the pards to- ward the turn around which the two Apaches had van- ished a little while before. “T been hoofin’ et all night, Buffler,’ complained No- mad; “an’ when a feller gits bow-legged from saddle- work, et’s plumb hard fer him ter navigate on anythin’ but er hoss. Now, ef we knowed whar thet thar valley with ther pized spring was, we could hev things er heap easier, an’ ce ae) The trapper broke off his talk with a wild yell. He, and the scout, and the girl had rounded the turn and had come plump upon a full dozen Apache warriors. No wonder Nomad was startled. The scout and the girl likewise realized that they were face to face with unforeseen peril. All hands leaped to revolver-grips. The scout and the girl hesitated, but Nomad was on the point of pulling both triggers when the scout gripped his arm sharply. ‘Wait, Nick!’ he cautioned. “Whyever d’ye want ter wait?” demanded Nomad. “Et’s er wonder ther pizen whelps hevn’t shot us down afore this.” ioe ee ’ “Watch them! If I’m any judge, the entire outfit is. locoed.”’ cna : Wen The Indians were on foot, and in full war-paint. The appearance of the three whites, against whom they had taken the war-path, did not appear to cause them the least surprise, or to arouse the slightest sign of hostility. The Apaches began chanting some song of their own, and eleven of them clasped hands and started dancing around the twelfth, who stood in the center of the circle. “Sort of er ring-eround-a-rosy,’’ muttered Nomad. _ When they had danced around the central Indian for ‘a minute, there came a gap in the outer cordon, and the buck who had been in the center stepped to the edge of the precipice, and hurled first his rifle, then his bows and arrows, then his scalping-knife and hatchet, into the chasm. . Having thus relieved himself of his arms, the buck re- turned, took his place among those who were clasping — hands in a circle, and another armed buck got in the center. . \ he After chanting and circling around the armed buck, the cordon broke again, and he stepped to the brink and relieved himself of his weapons. oe : : See This strange proceeding must have been going on for, some time, for the second buck, as the pards could see, was the last one with weapons. e When the second buck had stripped himself, he started on a lope up the trail. The scout, the trapper, and the girl, weapons in hand, backed against the cliff and waited. ee All the other Apaches fell in behind the one recently disarmed, and trotted after him in single file. Arriving opposite the whites, not an Indian paid the slightest attention to them. With eyes glittering and head-feathers bobbing, they kept on up the trail until the last one had vanished behind the jutting rocks. Old Nomad almost collapsed. | - “Wouldn’t thet jest nacherly rattle yer spurs?” he said, -in an.awed voice. “Whoever heerd of ’Paches actin’ like thet ?”’ “They have had a drink from that pool in the valley,” said Buffalo Bill. “That lot of reds hasn’t the least idea of what’s going on.” Nomad flung back his head and gave vent to a roaring laugh. “This hyar is plumb comical!” he choked. will ther spell last, Buffler ?” “It lasted Dell and me all night,’”’ replied the scout. “How much longer it will hold the reds depends alto- gether on how much of the water they drank, and when they drank it.” ‘ -“Reckon we better hike fer Tonio Pass afore they comes out from under ther influence,” suggested the trapper; “although I ain’t skeered none of er passel o’ unarmed reds, so long as I’ve got Saucy Susan an’ Scoldin’ Sairy in my hands.” By “Saucy Susan” and “Scoldin’ Sairy’” Nomad meant. his forty-fours. “Queer, isn’t it, Buffalo Bill?” observed Dell, as she and the scout trailed after Nomad. “It is that,” said the scout. “If Geronimo. doctored that pool, he certainly overplayed his hand.” ae “Ef Geronimo would only take er drink out o’ ther pool hisself,” said Nomad, “mebbyso he’d walk right inter Camp Bonita er-Fort Bowie an’ ask ther sojers ter put him in ther gyard-house. Thar’s er heap er strange. things in this leetle ole world thet we never know anything erbout till we finds ‘em out. Hey, Buffler ?” “How long eeecremisases CHAPTER XIV. THE CAVE NEAR THE PASS, Tonio Pass was a gap through one spur of the Chiri- cahuas. Old Nomad retraced his way to it easily, and on the journey no Apaches, locoed-or otherwise, were encountered. Descending into the pass by means of the blind gully, already mentioned, Nomad brought the scout and the girl to a spur of rocks which interposed itself between them and the cave. iu “We'll have to scout and see how many Apaches have been left’ with Bascomb,” counseled the scout, during _ the brief halt behind the spur. ‘I don’t believe Geronimo would leave more than two or three, at the most. With so many troopers in the field against him, the wily old chief will find himself short-handed in the matter of THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. _ to his pards behind the spur. { bucks. Should there be no more than two or three at the cave, our work of getting in will be easy.” . “Want me ter go ahead an’ see how things lie in ther cave?’ asked Nomad. “I’m dryer’n ther desert 0’ Sa- hary an’ plumb anxious ter git at some water, ef thar’s any thar.” : , yoo a “Go ahead, Nick,” said Buffalo Bill. “Dell and I wit! wait here. If you get into trouble, a couple of shots will bring us.” ae _ “Thet’s me,” answered the old trapper, crawling around the edge of the spur. ~ : Pausing with the mouth of the cave in sight, Nomad inspected the surroundings carefully. Evidently there were no redskins on guard at the entrance, for he got up and hastened noiselessly and swiftly forward. Both the scout and the girl watched the trapper from around the edge of the boulders. : The mouth of the tunnel was narrow and high, almost like a gash in the granite wall. Boulders lay strewn about it, and there was a chance that some of those boulders screened one or more of the guard Geronimo had left with Bascomb. This latter possibility, however, did not pan out, and Nomad reached the cavern entrance unmolested, Halting there for a moment, he suddenly dashed into the cave, his aim being to put himself in the darkness of the interior before the savages could get a shot at him in case there happened to be any savages there. : No shot was fired, and from this Buffalo Bill augured | hopefully. s “Nick doesn’t seem to be having any trouble at all, Dell,” said he to the girl. “It would be hard luck if Bascomb had been taken away by the reds.” “What would you do in that case, Buffalo Bill?” Dell asked. ‘ | _ Find the trail again, and follow it.” “Suppose it led you into Mexico?” “Then I’d go there. I shall not halt my pursuit of Bas- comb until I have laid the scoundrel by the heels. He has made trouble enough. In some manner he has wormed himself into the good graces of Geronimo, and so long as Bascomb is at large he will help the old chief in his villainy. So far as Geronimo himself is concerned, the military can take care of him, and I will not mix up in the game; but Bascomb I intend to get myself. I feel a sort of personal obligation in his case.” “Then you will quit the trail and go away from this part of the country as soon as you capture Bascomb 2” There was a touch of sadness in Dell’s voice. “Yes; duty, probably, will call Nick and myself to other places, and, of course, where duty calls we have to go.” "Then, I reckon, you'll be losing your girl pard.” “And mighty sorry I’ll be for that. In a fight, or in any sort of trouble, Dell, I couldn’t ask for a better side _ partner than yourself. Ah,” the scout finished, “there’s Nomad again. He has come out of the cave.” _ Nomad, standing in the entrance to the cave, shouted “Come on, Buffler, you an’ Dell. I reckon we got hyar too late; thar ain’t er single red erbout ther place.” An exclamation of disappointment escaped the scout’s lips. st “Tough luck, Dell,” said he, as he started around the spur. “There’s no telling, now, where this trail of Bas- comb’s will lead us, nor how long it will take to get to the eo fal he sti at her Sa- aT’sS will will ind lad ere rot om. Ost ut Ts oft nd to of ed il, a|] Se le 1S id ef ip el ic oie Ce EO: THE BUFFALO end of it.. The fellow, I reckon, was not so badly wounded in that ambush as Cayuse thought.” The scout and the girl were soon at Nomad’s side. “How big a cave is it, Nick?” asked the scout. | “No more’n twenty-five paces one way, Buffler. I walked cl’ar through ter ther end wall an’ back ergin. Not hevin’ no matches I couldn’t light up; but ef thar had ben Injuns in ther place, I’d shore hey heerd from © ‘°em. Got any fire-sticks yerself ?”’ OVias 22 ‘“Then ye mout scratch a few an’ look ther cut-out over more keerful than what I did. Mebbyso ther reds left a can 0’ water, er a piece o’ jerked meat behind ’em. I’m hopin’ they did, kase I’m gittin’ dryer an’ dryer right erlong. I kin stand et ter be hungry—pullin’ up yer belt a hole’ll fix thet—but when ye’re thirsty, ‘somethin’ takes holt o’ yer throat fit ter strangle ye.” c Buffalo Bill, with Dell and Nomad at his heels, entered the cave. It widened out quickly, a few feet from the en- trance. ‘ Halting well within the opening, the scout struck a match. The glow of light was feeble, and pierced the gloom for only a few feet in advance. Holding the light in front of him, he passed on into the darkness. - Perhaps he was half-way to the rear wall when a cry from Dell brought the scout to an abrupt stop. “What is it, Dell?” he asked, letting the burned match fall from his fingers. “There’s some one lying on hereto the right.7) “White man er ’Pache?’’ spoke up Nomad. . “T couldn’t see. Come back this way, Buffalo Bill, and strike another match.” a The scout followed the suggestion. a moment later, startled all of them. A man was, indeed, lying on the floor, just as Dell had said, and he was a white man. His rough clothing was ‘ragged and torn, and there was a clotted smear on the preast of his faded blue shirt. His head was thrown back, his arms were flung out stiffly from his shoulders, he floor,” said Dell, “off What was found, and there was a glassy stare—the stare of death—in his _ eyes. _“Bascomb!”? muttered Nomad. _ “Ves” said the scout, “it is Bascomb, and he has paid the penalty of his misdeeds with his life. The wound he received in that ambush was mottal. Once more, pards, Geronimo has overplayed his hand.. It may be ' that the chief collected his renegades and left the reserva- tion for the sole purpose of laying that ambush and ta- king Bascomb away from the soldiers; but, in the at- tempt, Bascomb stopped a bullet. Instead of rescuing the deserter, Geronimo killed him.” “Tustice reaches an evil-doer in many ways,” remarked Dell | moe “Right you are, Dell. And it is just as well, I take it, that Bascomb should fall by the guns of his red allies as to spring a trap in some Federal prison. He shot a guard when he escaped from Fort Apache, but the guard was not killed. ‘Bascomb could not have been hung for that; but, unless 1 am far wide of my trail, he could have been swung up for this last bit of treachery. Undoubtedly he had knowledge of Geronimo’s plans, and, having that, “ was virtually a confederate and jointly responsible with Geronimo for the lives of the escort.” __ The scout turned to his trapper pard. . “Search through the fellow’s pockets, Nick,” said he. \ 1 a BILL STORIES. 25 “There may be something of importance there that the military will be glad to get hold of.” : Nomad made the search, but did not find a single ar- ticle of personal property. ae i. “Ther ’Paches hev gone through his pockets ahead 0’ us,” said Nomad. “But hyar’s somethin’, Buffler.” Nomad picked up a canteen from Bascomb’s side, and shook it. The canteen was nearly full. There was also _ a canvas bag within reach of Bascomb’s hand which was found to contain jerked venison, and a few corn-cakes. “How d’ye account fer ther water an’ ther chuck, Buf- fler?” inquired Nomad. “Think ther ’Paches left ‘em™ hyar so’st Bascomb’s sperrit could hev somethin’ ter live on while goin’ ter ther happy huntin’-grounds ”’ é “No,” reflected the scout. “More than likely, Nick, the Apaches saw that Bascomb could not live. After stripping him of what few articles he had upon his person, the reds abandoned him—left him in this hole in the hill to die alone. The water and food were left beside him to keep the spark of life in his body as long as possible.” “Waal, no loss without some gain,” growled the. trap- per. “We kin use ther water and ther grub mighty handy, Hev a drink, Dell?” At first the girl drew back from the offered canteen with an expression of horror on her face; then, shrug- gine her shoulders and making a virtue of necessity, she swallowed some of the water. ) “Good girl!” exclaimed the scout. “The water and _ food are here, and we might just as well drink and eat as to leave it to the desert-rats.”’ - The scout likewise drank, and Nomad helped himself last. Then, returning to the daylight in front of the cavern, they parceled out the jerked venison and the corn- cakes and made a hasty meal. “What next, Buffer?” asked Nomad, priming his pipe and borrowing a match from the scout. “Ef we're at ther end o’ Bascomb’s trail, I reckons we're close ter ther end o’ our own; hey?” “Ves” said Buffalo Bill. “It remains for us to find Little Cayuse now, and then recover Bear Paw, Silver Heels, and Navi. The horses, I have no doubt, will be found picketed in the valley, unless they were interfered with by some of the Apaches who visited the valley and drank from the pool after we did.” | “They interfered with ther critters, all right,” averred Nomad. “Did ye ever hear of an Apache, runnin’ across three good horses with no one ter watch ‘em, thet didn’t . git his lead-ropes on muy pronto? Ten ter one, pards, yeve mounts aire some’r’s on ther ‘way ter Mexico with Geronimo—as lost ter ye as ole Kick-an’-Bite-’Em is ter me, wnich same I left at ther place o’ ther ambush.” “Vou overlook one thing, Nick,” said the scout. “What is et? I’m allers overlookin’ things, Buffler, but what’s ther pertic’l’r thing in this case o’ ther hosses ?” “The Apaches were locoed by drinking from the pool,” expounded the scout.” “After they finished drinking, if they did like Dell and myself, they never once thought of the horses. In my opinion, if we can get back to that valley pretty soon, we'll not only find Bear Paw, Silver Heels, and Navi, but a lot of Indian cayuses as well.” “Tally another fer Buffler!” said Nomad. “Ther thing ter be done, now, is ter find ther valley an’ git ther hosses. Arter thet, properly mounted, mebbyso we kin diskiver — Cayuse. I’m hopin’.thar’s Injun cayuses in ther valley, too, kase et’s up ter me ter git another hoss, an’ a ‘Pache ~ mustang’ll do till I kin hook up better.” providing it leads there. “How’ll we go to find the valley, Buffalo Bill?” asked Dell anxiously. “Our best course, I think, is to return to that military road,’ said the scout, “and follow it to Bonita, or Bowie, In one or other of the two places, we ought to be able to find some one who will recognize the valley and the spring from our description, and take us “I _ Buffalo Bill was interrupted. At that moment a clat- ter Of hoofs was heard along the pass. y?? _“Whistlin’ whipperwills!” yelled Nomad, jumping to his feet; “swatties, er I’m er Piegan! “Soldiers! Y* echoed Dell. ““Tieutenant Doyle and six troopers from Bonita!” added Buffalo Bill. - “Well, well, pards, here’s luck with all the trimmings.” Racing out into the middle of the gap, Buffalo Bill © mounted a boulder and waved his hat vigorously. CHAPTER XV. BACK TO! THE VALLEY. “*Pon my soul if it isn’t Cody!” cried Doyle, as he and his dusty troopers pulled to a halt. ‘But how’s this?” the lieutenant added, with a look at Nomad and Dell. “You left.camp with a girl pard and a Piute pard, Buf- falo Bill, You still have your girl pard, but where's the Piute? And who's this other warrior, that’s new to ts?” “The other warrior,” smiled the scout, “is my old trapper pard, Nick Nomad.” “The deuce you say! Ther he wasn’t killed in that ambush that played havoc with Bascomb’s escort ?”’ “Not as anybody knows on,’ ’ spoke up Nomad. feelin’ quite chipper jest at present.” “So I observe,” grinned Doyle, Cody ?” “We don’t know, Doyle,” said the scout, “butt we're oat “Where's” the boy, going to ask you and your men to heip us find him. By the way, though, how do you happen to be here?” “Orders,” answered Doyle. | “Prom whom ?” “Captain Markham. He sicked up Gorsulee trail ‘over in that blind gully in Tres Alamos Gulch, and sent a tunner back with a note that I was to take six men, hike for Tonio Pass and look for Buffalo Bill. found Buffalo Bill I was to feport to him that Geronimo and a patt of his Chiricahtia renegades are hustling for Mexico, and that Bascomb, the desérter, is stipposed to be with him. A captured Apache told Captain Markham that the refiegades who jumped the reservation have di- vided into two parties—one party deserting from Gero- nimo and rounding up in Pool Spring Valley. After com- ing here atid looking for you, we ‘re to make 108 Pool Spring and sée how the land lies.” Several parts of the lietitenant’s communication caught the scout’s attention. The first thing concerned the de- serter. “Captain Markham is wrong about Bascomb, Doyle,” averred Buffalo Bill. ook learn that Markham got his information pretty straight.” “Tt may, seem straight, but it’s mightily tangled, for all that. Bascomb is in that cave there’’—the scout waved a THE BUFFALO BILL” STORIES. rattled out: When I harid toward the cavern entrance—“and he lies on the floor with his boots on.” “Another surprise!” muttered Doyle. comb ?”’ Oe NAS Doyle rose in his. ‘stirrups and looked back at his handful of troopers. | “Any of you lads know Bas scomb, otherwise Slocum the deserter from Fort Apache, by sight i ?” he demanded. “I do,” replied a grizzled trooper. _. “Go into that cave, Smith,’ ordered Doyle, “and re- port whether the fellow you find there is Bascomb.” ‘Smith threw his reins to a comrade, slid down from his saddle, and rattled into the cave. A minute later he “Tt’s him, all right, leftenant,”’ said Smith. “TI could pick him out from among a thousand.” “Dead, is he?’ “Ag a smelt.” ‘Smith lurched back into his. saddle. "That's a job the government has been saved, at all events,” remarked Doyle. Buffalo Bill?” he added. “Help us recover our horses,” said ‘the scout, “That? 8 one thing. After that, we'd like to have cs help us find the Pinte.” “Where are your horses?” “First off, Doyle, let me ask yon if you know such a place as this.” The scout followed with a fens description of the valley and the spring where the horses had been left. Be- fore he had fairly finished, Doyle cut him short. ' “Why, man,” cried the lieutenant, “you're telling me about Pool Spri ing Valley, our next port of call.” “T had an idea to that effect,” went on Buffalo Bill. “Well, lieutenant, that is where our mounts were left. T’'m hoping they're there now. If you can manage to give us a lift that far, perhaps we'll have horses of our own during our hunt for Cayuse.” “We can fix that, all right.” Doyle gave orders which caused two of the troopers to double up on one horse. “There, Miss Dauntless,” said Doyle, “you’re to have that animal all to yourself. Cody and Nomad will double with any two troopers they select. Give ’ em the ae boys,” Doyle added to his men. With three horses carrying double, burdens, and with Dell riding alone, the detachment presently took its way out of the pass. The scout, and the man at his saddle-cantle, rode stir- rup to stirrup with the lieutenant. While the latter pointed the way, and all eyes watched sharply for hostiles, the shortest cut to Pool Spring Valley was pursued, and talking went on apace. Buffalo Bill had things to say that opened Doyle’s eyes, and were passed back and forth oe the troopers with deep interest and curiosity. Everything that had happened to the scout and the girl, from the time they left Bonita to go to Tonio Pass, was gone over carefully. rally, was the point that claimed most attention. “That was Geronimo’s work, all right,” averred Doyle. “He’s a foxy old red, and whenever he plays a card it’s usually a trump.” “How did he know we were going to. stop at Pool Spring Valley i aucticd the scout. | “purée ws Bas “What can we do for you, . The drugging of the spring, natu- _ COE a aa thins reds old muti Whi ate befo that dike HS 1 66y trut! coy¢ awa ciel 66) the 3as- his um, led. uld all Ou; 9 at's ind 1a the Be- Ine sill. ait. to ur to ive ble es, ith ay ir- Ler és, nd e's ars it,” ras ie le. it’s Jol i‘ core that’s exactly what old Geronimo did. _ THE BUFFALO “He didn’t.” on a “Then why did he tamper with the water in the pool?” “That wasn’t for your benefit, Cody, if I’ve got this thing right. As I said, a little while back, a few of the reds have broken away from Geronimo, and I'll bet the old rascal was properly mad when they did it. The mutineers were to rendezvous in Pool Spring Valley. What more natural, then, than that Geronimo should send a trusty warrior with a bag of dope to fix Pool Spring before the mutineers got there? Say, I'll gamble my pile It sounds just like him. I’m only making a guess, but I flatter myself it’s next door to the truth.” “Waugh!” spoke up the trapper. “I'll bet et’s ther truth. Them reds we seen, Buffler—the two thet was coyotin’ along ther trail, an’ thet other lot thet was tossin’ away their arms—must er been the mutineers. They was all locoed.” ‘ “You have made a good guess, lieutenant,” said the scout. “So far as I am personally concerned, I am per- fectly satisfied even if I never get any other explanation. The pool was ‘fixed’ for the mutineers; but I and my pards reached the valley in advance of the mutineers and sampled old Geronimo’s dope and got away before the mutineers came. They presented themselves later, and drank up all the drug we left.” na “The way you tell me the dope acts,” said Doyle, high- - ly pleased with himself because of his theory, “sounds sort of fishy. Don’t mistake me,” he went on hastily; “I don’t doubt your word, in the least. It’s only that I ‘never heard of any weed growing-.around these parts that would act on man and beast in the way you de- scribe.” “T presume there are medicinal herbs that would have such an effect,” said the scout, “if properly stewed up and mixed with drinking-water. Something had the ef- fect, anyway, no matter whether it was herbs or some- thing else.” oe “Of course,” said Doyle. “Anyhow, I and my men will go dry in the valley, you can bet heavy on that. When we get to the top of this rise, Cody, you'll be look- ing down on the place,” and Doyle waved his gloved hand to a slope in front of them. _ ae ‘The moment the scout and the girl had topped the crest, and had flashed their eyes over the valley, they ‘recognized the scene of their weird experience. “There are horses down there, all right,’ observed Doyle; “more than a dozen of them. But I can’t make out a single human being.” “T can see Bear Paw and Navi,” said the scout, mueh gratified, “They appear to be in the same place where they were picketed last night.” _ “And there’s Silver Heels!” cried Dell, clapping her hands. “More luck, Buffalo Bill.” “For which,” laughed the scout, “we're to thank Gero- nimo.” Ne . “T reckon, Buffler,” put in Nomad, who had been stead- ily eying the group of horses, “that Pll pick out thet big buckskin. I never seen a better hoss than. thet among these hyar Southwestern Injuns.’” : 4 _ “Steady, there, boys!” called Doyle, lifting a pair Of field-glasses to his eyes. “I see some one coming this way. He’s taken one of the horses, a pinto, and he’s galloping in our direction. ’Pon my soul; Cody, I think it’s , Here, take the glasses and look for yourself.” “T don’t need the glasses, lieutenant,” returned the a _don’t know! rabbit.’ BILL’ STORIES. 2/ scout. “I know who it is. It’s Little Cayuse. He has hung around this valley ever since last night, knowing full well that we'd come back after our horses.” > eoomo reread CHAPTER XVI. CON CLUSION, The detachment, with Doyle and the scout and his pards in the lead, rode down to meet Little Cayuse. The boy’s eyes were sparkling with excitement and satisfaction as they roved from the scout to the girl, and from the girl to the trapper. ‘ A halt was made when Navi came nose to nose with the leading mounts of the detachment. “How?” called Cayuse, shaking hands with the scout and his pards, and holding Nomad’s hand rather longer than he did the others. “How yerself, ye leetle fistful o’ glory?” demanded Nomad. “You an’ me, Cayuse, hev got ter git tergether, afore long, an’ bee each other’s parding. You done me a mean trick, an’ I done you ther same, although neither o’ us meant et. Everythin’ hes turned out all ter ther good, aowsumever, so I reckons we kin call ther account square, aey ?”’ ‘Wwuh,” answered Cayuse. “Whe ¢ have you been since we separated, boy?” asked the scout, when they were all riding on together toward the horses. “Water heap bad medicine,” said Cayuse. “Me forget heap lots about last sleep; just begin to remember when sun come up. Me,up on hill, looking down in valley. See heap cayuse, plenty others more than Bear Paw, Sil- ver Heels, and Navi. No savvy so many cayuses. No see um Injuns ‘round, although plenty sure cayuses Apache cayuses. Me wait on hill. Then me come down .in valley. Pa-has-ka come for Bear Paw, I know. So I stay.” “Ts that all?” asked the scout. “Wah!” Buffalo Bill was-a little disappointed, as he had been hoping Cayuse might be able to throw some light on the Apaches who had come to the valley and had plainly drunk of the water in the pool. When the mutineers had visited the place and put out their horses, however, Cay- ise had been under the influence of Geronimo’s drug himself. So it was not to be supposed that he had dis- covered anything. When the detachment came near enough to give the Indian cayuses a good sizing, Moyle sat back in his sad- dle and laughed loudly. . “Say, but this ig a caution!” he cried. “How do you mean?! “Why, I and my men bag these horses, Cody, see? We take them to Bonita and keep them there. When the Apaches get over the effects of the drugged water, they'll come here to find their mounts—and they'll be disappointed. Nothing takes the tuck out of a renegade ~tike foot-work under a hot sun. Mark what I say, every last one of this detachment of original reservation-jump- - ers will flock into Bowie and give themselves up. Qh, I There’s more ways than, one to skin a ; | . Further satisfaction was awaiting the scout and the so. > THE, BURFALO _ girl, for they discovered their ridihg-gear close to the place where they had left it. Although it was quite evi- dent that the gear had been overhauled by the Apaches, nothing had been taken away. _“Geronimo’s doctored water got in its work, Dell,” laughed the scout, “before the Apaches could exercise reason enough to get away with our horses and their trappings.” oo “Such a cross-play of fortune couldn’t happen more than once in a thousand times!” declared Dell. “In er million, more like,” said Nomad, pawing over a lot of Indian blankets to get the best one for the buck- skin. “I got ter ride without er saddle,” he went on, “till I git whar I kin buy one. Seme one o’ Geronimo’s bucks prob’ly has my own ridin’-gear by now. *‘Course ther reds thet ambushed us stripped ther hoss.”’ “You can wager they did, Nomad,’ returned Dell. ‘Tt takes.an Apache to tell a good saddle and bridle when he sees: them.” “An et don’t take him long ter seize ’em, nuther, on- less ye happen ter be lookin’.” When Bear Paw, Silver Heels, and the buckskin. were im readiness, and while the troopers were collecting the Indiam cayuses and stringing them together, the scout and the lieutenant stood by the pool. It had filled to the brim, since the Apaches had paid their visit. “Geronimo must have had a powerful lot of dope put in there, Cody,” said Doyle. “You and your party emptied the pool, didn’t you ?” ; Mes, nearly.” “Tt filled up again in time for the Apaches, and after they left it has filled up and been running over. Prob- ably there’s enough of the drug in there now to put us out of balance if we took a drink. If I didn’t have alt these cayuses to look after, I’d be tempted to take a swig.” 3 “You'd be a mighty foolish man if you did,’ admon- ished the scout. “Better leave such things as this alone.” “I guess that’s right,” agreed Doyle, returning to. his horse and mounting. : en As he rode off, Buffalo Bill saw him cast a half-re- gretiul look over his shoulder at the pool. Late that afternoon, the scout and his pards, and the detachment, rode into Bonita with the horses of. the Apaches, and all hands were able to take their fill af comfort and congratulate themselves on their success in the work they had set out to accomplish. But little more remains to be told, so far as the wind- up of the scout’s work, iw connection with the deserter, Bascomb, is concerned. a man was dead, and was no more to be reckoned with, As the scout had already informed Dell, he did not intend to take the field against Geronimo, as there were plenty to. do that. uy Buffalo Bill’s duty called him and Nomad and Little Cayuse to other parts, and they could not long delay an- swering the call. — The military telegraph between Bonita, Bowie, and Grant had been repaired by the time the scout and his pards regained Bonita, and the first message sent through _ by Colonel Grayson asked after Dell. i Dell herself answered the message. Patterson, in hos- Sa BILL STORIES. pital at Bowie, sent his report of the trip from Grant to Bonita, and it followed closely on the heels of Dell’s. message to the colonel. After hearing of the girl’s daring and bravery, the colonel sent another telegram to Dell, forgiving her for the way she broke out of Fort Grant, and asking her to come back and finish her visit. | But Dell did not go back. An opportunity offered for her to accompany a detachment of troopers bound for Fort Whipple. As this detachment would pass near the Double D Ranch, Dell decided to go along. The parting of the girl with Buffalo Bill, Nomad, and Cayuse was the occasion of much regret for all. The plucky and daring Dell had won her way to the hearts of the scout and his pards, and they hated to loge her. “Perhaps,” said Dell, with a little catch in her voice, “we shall meet up with each other again.” , “Here’s hopin’, anyways, leetle un!” answered Nomad, “If you should ever need a lot of husky warriors like us, Dell,” smiled the scout, “don’t forget to send us 4 cath” x _ “Send um call, Yellow Hair,” put in the Piute boy ; “you bet Little Cayuse come, too.” oe Dell turned away her face and could not atiswer. The bugle had already sounded “hoots and saddles,” and a few moments later she rode off down the cafion with the ‘men bound for Whipple. “I’ve seen er hull lot er petticoat warrjors, Buffler,” remarked Nomad, following the retreating dust with moody eyes, “but I mever seen one ter match Dauntless Dell, o’ ther Double DB.” ( Hea “Nor I,” returned the scout. “She’s Class A among Western girls,” “Right you are,’ said Doyle, who had drawn near. “Miss Dauntless has been the hit of the piece that was. pulled off here. they tell me?” “There are enough after him as it is, Doyle? .c. “He'll give ’em all the slip, mind what I’m telling you. After he raids around in Mexico until he gets tired, he'll let the soldiers take him in and conduct him back to the reservation ; then, when he gets goods and ready, he’ll break out again. He has got to have a certain amount of excitement, every so often, in order to get along and You're not going after Geronimo, Cody, feel right.” “Td like ter know what he put in thet pool,” said No- mad, firing up his pipe. “Ther more I think o’ thet loco bigness, ther stranger et gits.” Ce _ “I don’t suppose anybody will ever find out, Nomad,” said Doyle. “Geronimo knows a lot of things that he keeps to himself.” “Thet loco stuff must be one o’ them thar things, then, leftenant. Ef ther gov’ment could find out what et is, an’ go round doctorin’ all ther springs in the hills arter a gang o| ’Paches break loose, et wouldn’t be long afore ther Injun fad fer jumpin’ ther reservation would die out.” “That sounds well, Nomad,” laughed Doyle, “but ?’m afraid the scheme wouldn’t work, even if we knew the secret of Geronimo’s dope.” ae “Mebby et wouldn’t,” mused Nomad, “but I’d shore like ter try ther stuff on some ’un.” ee THE END, _ _ The next number (373) will be “Buffalo Bill’s Ranch- ‘riders; or, The Mystery of the White Horse Herd/* ee fe es bast ee hed Kee ee A IA Os ee a ut Pe eed eo eee A ek. meek faa tt ob t to ell’s. ring Yell, ant, for for the and The 3 of ice, ike Sila, oy ng ar. Vas . dy, On. eI. the e’l] mt nd lo= ICC | 3S on, is, rid re. die he re ‘Ormond G. Smit, THE NEW YORK, June 27, 1908. TERMS TO BUFFALO BILL STORIES. MAIL SUBSCRIBERS. mt (Postage Free.) Single Copies or Back Numibers, Sc. Each. SES IMOMR BURN Wh Loi ataas i mera Ue pinta 65c., | One year ..,-.- Pe ey aan dell $2.50 EO RENS Cus ecs Gas onal 8de. 2 copies One year. i222. 2. 5.2 4.00) 6 months LUA CRRE STASI is eA UD Ts $1.25 Tt copy two years... jase 4,60 How to Send Money—By Tee or express money order, registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. Receiptsa—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change of number on your label, If,not correct you have not been properly credited, and should letus know atonce. . STREET & SMITH, Publishers, LP roprietars. 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City. Grorce C. Smirn, AROUND THE CAMP FIRE. AMONG THE LIZARDS. The very latest thing in tame creatures at the New York . Zoo is a big iguana that rejoices in the misfit name of Pete. The spectacle of any reptile giving any signs of,tameness is queer enough, but when a lizard of the iguana sort, which is about the homeliest and most repulsive of living things, _ shows genuine affection and a desire to be chucked under the chin, the sight is about as incongruous as one could well imagine. ‘The iguana, to express it succinctly, looks about like the sort of thing you are likely to encounter in a welsh rabbit dream or after worse experiences. It's decidedly “bad”-look- ing to an ordinary every-day citizen and to look upon one is to promote the cause of total abstinence. As already stated, it’s about the last thing in the world that any one would ever expect to grow tame and evince a desire to be on inti- mate and friendly terms with human beings. Yet Pete, who is one of a coterie of half a dozen big lizards like himself, has recently become greatly attached to Keeper Toomey, who gives him his meals and otherwise looks after his welfare. Day by day he has grown more friendly, and several days ago, when the keeper stepped down in the lizards’ pen and encouraged the iguana to come nearer, Pete came boldly up and allowed Toomey to pat his head and scratch him gently under the chin, exactly as a good-natured dog would. After this had been proceeded with for some time the reptile placed one of its feet on the keeper’s knee and mounted by degrees to his shoulder, where it took the greatest interest and satisfaction in tae peeney $ collar and tie., Now the roe has but to » step into the pen Coe Pete flips over to him and shows all manner of affection and friendliness. Even more curious a display than that of Pete, however, is that shown by a smaller iguana, who has come to be known as Bill. For some unaccountable reason Bill, BUFFALO who is what is known as a rhinoceros iguana, while Pete - ‘BILL STORIES, -. is of the smooth-headed variety, objects seriously to the larger reptile’s familiarity with the human race, and never fails to give a wonderful exhibition of jealousy the instant _ Pete goes up to the keeper to be fondled and chucked under the chin. Frantically rushing to and ys and occasionally clear up the larger iguana’s back, Bill will place his jaws close to Pete’s neck and bite him, just to show how bitterly he feels about it. But he shows his anger and cussedness best when he runs a foot or two to one side at frequent intervals and, inclining his head to one side a bit, gives a splendid imitation of a man when in the act of swearing softly but none the 4 less spiritedly to himself. His. jaws move rapidly and his eyes flash with the undeniable fire of wrath. Bill bids fair to become ae as the only reptile in captivity that can and does “‘cuss.’ . *® k * ca BOILED MOOSE’S NOSE. The nose of a big Alaska bull moose weighs eight pounds, and when boiled twenty-four hours into gelatin makes the choicest and most nutritious article of diet to be had in all Alaska. At least, this is what Webster Brown of this city, -who has hunted and surveyed all over Alaska, says, and he ought to know. “Alaska moose,’ said Brown yesterday at the Rainier Grand Hotel, “is the best game-food to be had in Alaska, and - those who subsist for a large part of the time on the game of the country are careful when they kill a big moose or any other kind of big game to have means at hand to take care of the carcass and save it. “T remember not many months ago, in the White River country, when our food ran short and we killed a big bull. moose and made away in the next few days with the most of his good points. We were traveling over a rolling, partly open country in the direction of the Tanana Nader: and every particle of fresh meat counted. When the carcass was all butchered up and packed away I boiled the big, bristly, fat nose of this moose about twenty-four hours, after spend- ing five hours scratching the hair off the hide and nehine it out by the roots. “Well, sir, I botled that moose’s. nose until it made the finest sort of a gelatin you ever saw, absolutely clear, and of | a delicious, sweet, and nutty flavor. It made a meal for the whole outfit for every’day for three days, and in my judement the dish contains more lasting and nourishing qualities than anything that we had.” Brown is known, from one end of the Copper River country to the other, and is also familiar with the White River to- watd which the Copper River and Northwestern Railway ts now being built. He says that this country is the richest in Alaska, both for the miner and the hunter ate big game.—Seattle Times. . DANCING AND HOWLING DERVISHES. The term “dancing dervish” was always a familiar one even when we had no clear idea concerning that religious — fanatic of the Orient, but since the beginning of the troubles in the Soudan the name of dervish has become more com- monly known than nny event of our own seclesiaghical titles. Re s © F, % a “i BO But, despite this fact, the majority of ‘us really know very little about them. We hear that they perform won- __ derful feats, and, as the supernatural and the extraordinary always have a fascination for us, we feel an ardent desire to see these dervishes and to witness their religious exer- cises. Our desire is likely to be gratified; a small band of these men are making a tour through Europe, in the course of which they hope to visit this country. They are now in the Jardin d’Acclimatation, in Paris, and a newspaper man, who has been visiting that city, has brought home the follow- ing interesting account of them. There are twenty-two of them, under the supervision of a sheik. There is no deception about them—they are all true “ dervishes from Upper Egypt, good and devout men, and adepts in the religious exercises which they are performing several times a day for the benefit and instruction of as nations. Their costume scarcely needs description bee it consists of a long robe of twisted white cloth, trousers—I had almost said “bloomers’—drawn tight at the waist and at the knees, and a cap of thick fur. Their belief is largely com- posed of scientific facts that have been handed down from generation to generation in ne keites, or monasteries, in which they live. Now they are about to begin. priests, who are seated around him; The sheik blesses the the music begins, strange, monotonous, yet thrilling. Four of the dervishes walk aside and begin to dance. ? It is a weird sight. They begin to turn slowly upon their own axis, as it were, just as though they were attached to a pivot sunk in the earth. Gradually the revolutions of their bodies become more rapid, faster and ever faster the der- vishes turn ~intil the very spectators turn giddy as they try. - to follow the movements. But the priests themselves show no Oe of fatigue. With bent arms, inclined heads, and half-closed eyes they whirl around with a velocity that would suffocate the most daring and accomplished of dancers, and yet they seem to make no effort whatever, but to do it as easily as an expert swimmer goes with the tide. You shut your eyes with a shudder, and open them with the expectation of seeing the dervishes faint- ing on the ground, but you are mistaken, Sometimes a dervish stops and falls on his knees; the | others throw their cloaks over him and fall on their knees also; then they rise, and the whole band walk in procession round the hall. And all this time, by the way, the dervishes who are not dancing intone a strange tune. All the members of this little band are not dancers; some of them are “howling dervishes.” These now come for- - ward, and your ears are assailed by sounds as strange and un- canny in their way as the sights which you have just shut your eyes to avoid. With shaking heads, from which hangs the long black hair, they give utterance to the most diversified and “creepy” noises you ever heard. From the skeletonlike chest comes first the roar of a hungry tiger, this is followed by the growl of a sulky lion, the short, snappy “yap’ and cry of a wounded wolf, and the representation of the emotions of other animals. Then we have the human emotions—cries of pleas- ure and pain in all their varied degrees, concluding with a THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. och of grief so intense that in spite of yourself. the tears come into your eyes. Aiter this, a dervish steps forward with a strong ae vessel in his hand. Opening his lips so that the spectators may see the beautiful white, regular teeth, he deliberately bites off pieces of the glass and crunches them—literally chews them to a fine powder—and swallows this glass dust apparently with as much relish as a eeu ret swallows a juicy tit-bit. He retires and another steps forward. This dervish car- ries a lighted torch and dances in a fantastic way; he looks at you with a really sweet expression in his eyes and a smile on his lips, like a young girl ready for a mild flirtation, but all the while he is touching his bare flesh with the flame —arms, legs, face, body, the fierce resinous flame seems to lick the flesh greedily! Then, throwing aside the torch, he takes a sword that has been made red-hot in the fire and passes it over his eyebrows, smooths his face with it, and licks it with his long red tongue. Tricks, do you say? Not at all! It is all genuine: they throw themselves into a state of catalepsy and nothing seems to hurt them. Le : Here comes another, holding a dagger. He sticks it into his arm, his leg, his body. Then he lies flat on the ground while two men use their strength to plunge a spear into his breast; and he rises with the head still sticking in his flesh. As a proof that there is no fraud in these things, I may mention that a Parisian artist, who was struck by their performances in Egypt, set himself the task of imbuing him- self, as it were, with the same strange power, and can now perform many of their religious exercises. He is able to throw himself into a state of catalepsy, and allow knives and other pointed instruments to be thrust into his body with im- punity. Next we have a sword- ince by two warrior dervishes; they twirl about, brandishing these long blades with marvel- ous skill and rapidity. As you rivet your eyes on fee” men and try to follow the movements of the keen-edged weapons, you mentally ask whether this sword-play is real, or whether the spectacle you are witnessing is not due to some clever arrangement of mirrors, as are some of the performances of our own artist- conjurers. . So great is the dexterity of these two men that they often seem to be literally covered by flashing steel, and you Aave some difficulty, even when you are sure that the whole thing is genuine, in believing that the two dervishes are not juggling with three or four weapons each instead of one. There is more than a suspicion that these men took part in the fight at Omdurman; they bear scars that are plainly of recent origin. I endeavored to discover if this was the fact in a brief interview which I succeeded in obtaining with one of the men later on, but it was impossible to get him to answer the question, and from his silence I drew my — own conclusion, And now comes the well-earned interval of rest, Once more the dervishes gather round the sheik for his blessing; the flutes, tambourines, and native instruments play the final chords, and the band retires, all the members dancing to the tent for ablutions and food, — Ca ears rlass tors tely ‘ally dust iS a Car- 0ks da ion, ame > to he and and ce a al to | THE BUFFALO With the dervishes washing is of the highest importance; not to pérfotm ofie’s ablutions at stated times would be an unpardonable offense—in fact, such an enormity that no one ever dreams of transgressing. Food is regarded as a secondary matter, despite the fact that they have tremendous _ appetite, Oe | They prepare all their food by themselves, and have re- ~coufse fo fo otitside assistance. When all is ready, the ) sheik helps himself first and then gives to each man his share of the menu. The breakfast consists of tea and bread, about a quart of the former for every individual. For dinner they have a stew, generally some boiled mutton and potatoes. In. the evening they eat a large quantity of bread, washed down . by water. ‘than water and tea. _It is very instructive to note theit reverence for their sheik ; _evety man obeys his commatids unquestioningly. He is their Chief Priest, and whatever he tells them to do is done with- out a murmur. It is for the glory of Allah! a A Life Struggte With a Wolf. BY MARTIN ARDO. Tn Oa ¥, es ALiabae i) They tell in France the story of young Jacquot, the son of Feronier, the vine-dresser. He was but.a little lad, a brave heart beat within the litle body, and, as men saw the eager eyes and keen expression of the boy when they _ spoke of deeds of daring, they foretold great things of him, | ns i | It was of the wolves he most loved to hear. There are | wolves in parts of France to-day, but then they were | numerous, and they infested the champagne district where \\ Heronier tended his:vines. 9 | : | Jacquot would often dream of battles with the fiercé | wolves, and he never tired of seeking knowledge from his elders as to how best to meet them. = = - “T will tell you the best way to fight a wolf, Jacquot, my boy,” said. Feronier, with a latuigh, one day wher _ Jacquot asked the question. - “T will tell you the best way. The plan is simple. Thrust your arm down his |. throat; grasp the tail firmly; pull with all your might, and turn the wolf inside out as you would turn a glove.” Jacquot stared, astounded, with open eyes at his fa- ther. A difficulty occurred to his mind. “But, father, my arm would not be long eftough,” said he, ie Feronier laughed again till the rafters of the hut rang | with the fioise of his merriment. a } . “Ah, Jacquot, let not that trouble you,” fie said’ it _will do if you cram your arm down to the shoulder as far as you can reach.” é | Feronier forgot the conversation; but not so Jacquot. earnest and a grim reality. The winter came, and, with the winter, frost. And BILL STORIES, gaunt and hunery, ravaged the sheepfolds. These dervishes never drink anything stronger © ten years of age and small of stature for his years. Yet. |. For his father it might be a jest; for him it was sober ie such a frost! Men had not khown its intensity before. The water froze to the bottom of the lakes and rivets. The fish were all killed, the birds died in the hedge- rows, the deer petished in the woods, and the wolves, Even the” wine in the vats was frozen, so keenly did it freeze. It was a time for big fires, and Feroniet’s wood-stack grew low. It became necessary to replenish it. So a day ‘came when he and his wife went forth to the forest to get more fuel. They left their infant daughter, the baby © Feronette, in carge of Jacquot. They knew she would be safe with him—that he would be faithful to his trust. Jacquot sat by the cradle, dreaming of the wolves. Suddenly the door opened, and he saw 4 great she woll . = standing on the threshold. Her sides were spare and lean, and her eyes shone with the desperation of famine- hunger. : a Now was the time for Jacquot to prove whether he was a tere dreamer of day-dreams, or a lad of action. He showed his mettle. As the wolf sprang at the infant in the cradle, he sprang at the wolf. Open-mouthed, it turned upon him, and quick as thought he plunged his fist through the gaping jaws and grasped the blood-red tongue. ‘The wolf strove to close its teeth upon his arm, but its jaws were stretched too wide—it could tot do. 80. It struggled; Jacquot held his grip. It backed away to. the wall; Jacquot followed its every motion. in the cor-.. rier, the gasping wolf fell struggling in a last effort to get a breath, Jacquot fell on its body and tightened his hold. Soom the wolf's struggles grew fainter. And it was well for Jacquot—his strength was failing. And at last, when the convulsive efforts were over, when the wolf wa§ dead, Jacquot relaxed his grip and lost. con- sciousness. ro Soon after, Feronier and his wife returted. Judge: of — their horror, as they approached their cottage, when they saw the footprints of the dread beast of prey! Ce Feronier dropped his load. He traced to his home. | The door was open. His first glance was at the cradle. Feronette was safe. The babe lay sleeping quictly: but Jacquot—where was Jacquot? ae A second glance showed him his son held in the wolf's grasp. He gave a bitter cry, which strtick home to the mother’s heart in the distance. a Feronier rushed to the corner where Jacduot lay 4s one dead, and then he gave a second cty. It was one br): joy and rapture. eee Jacquot was not dead. The boy opened his eyes and — looked up as his father approached him. His first words showed his care for his sister, his eagerness to be found faithful to his trust. “Heronette! Ig Feronette safe?” he asked anxiously. The father released his son from the wolf's grip. The cruel fangs ee catight at the loose sleeves of the Boy's blouse, but beyond a scratch or two Jacquot: was unhurt. He passed from his father’s arms to the proud embrace of his mother. a | The people of the coufitry thronged to see the young hero. Painters vied “with each other in depicting the scene, and sculptors carved his likeness in marble, while authors told in prose as well as in verse the tale of him whom all loved to call Jacquot-les-Loups, ~ ) eT EN oto. @ aia ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS es 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. weekly for many years, and are voted to be masterpieces dealing These stories have been read exclusively in this. with Western adventure. Buffalo Bill is more popular to-day than he ever was, and, consequently, everybody ought to 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 BUF FFALO BILL SFORIES. We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in sii ir order them or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any money or postage stamps. print. You can have your newsdealer dress upon receipt of the price in. 139—Buffalo 146—Butfalo 147—Buifialo 153—Buffalo 154—-Buffalo 155—Bufialo 157—Bufialo 159—Buffalo 160—Buffalo 161—-Buffalo 162—Bufialo 165—Buffalo 169—Bufialo 170—Buffalo i76é—Buffalo 177—BEuffalo 179—Butfialo 131—Buffalo 182—Buiffaio 184— Buffalo 182—Buffalo 189—Buifalo 204—Buffalo 205—Bufiale 206—Buffalo 207—Buffalo 2038—Buffalo 209—Buffalo 210—Buffalo 211—Buffalo 212-—Buffalo 213—Buffalo 214—-Buffalo 215—Buffalo 217—Buffazlo 218—Bufialo 219—Buffalo 220—-Buffalo 221—Buffalo 222—Buffalo 223—Buffalo 224—Bufialo 225—Buffalo 226—Buffalo 227—Buftalo 2238—Buffalo 2298—Buffalo 230—Buffalo 232—Buffalo 234—Buffalo 235—Buffalo 236—Buffalo 237—Buftialo 238—Buffalo 239S—Buffalo 240—Buffalo 241—Buffalo 242—Buffalo 243-—Buffalo 244 Buffalo 245—Buffalo dealer, they can be obtained direct from this office. Pluck Fire Fighters. 2.0.5... Boy ‘Beagle wy. c0:s cies Bills Blind Lead... 2. ee. Bill's. River Hover... 20... Bill and Kid-Glove Kate. Bub at Bay ooo oe re Bill and the Timber Thieves. . Bus Long Drop. 22s 53 2. Bill’s Blockhouse . iar are Bills Canyon Cache. Bill and the Greengoods” Cabal Bills Dark Drives :2)2.¢ 2 e20¢ Bill’s Fair, Square Deal..... Bibs Stratesw os oo5 22 oe. ce Bill in Morenek.. 022 sie Bill’s Texan Hazard Rare Bills Mexican Feud... ...... Bills Stl Hunt coo. so. Bill’s Navajo AUly....0. 00... Bill’s Arizona Alliance...... Bil’s Mexican Adventure.... Bil¥s Mine Mystery... ...... Bills Strategic Tactics... ... Bills Big Jack Pot....2. 20% Bills’ Last. Bullet. 20.5.0 326 Bill’s Deadliest Peril........ Bill’s Great Knife Duel...... Bill's Blind Tiead... oc. 32 22). Bill's Bills Bil’s Bill’s Bill’s Bill's Bill’s Bill’s Bill’s Bill's Bill’s Bills Bill’s Bill’s Bills *Frisco Feud. eorals costa ate Diamond Hunt. Avenging Hand. .. Mormon Quarrel..... Cheyenne Comrades.... BPicry “Trails 22.0 030 cs Sioux hs ree Stamina eg Cold Trail. ee eee kron Pists) oo tere. i Race with Pire........ Florida Foes... is... Bills Grim Clmb.. 2.20... ee Bills Red Bnémy... ...0.. 0. Bill, on a Traitor’s Track Bill’s Last Bullet... .. at Bil’s; Air Voyage. .-20 6.35 Bill's Death: Thrust... 2... i Bill's Kiowa Foe. 2... 2506 Bill's Wyoming. Trail... ..... Bill’s Tomahawk Duel....<.. Bill's Apache Round-up..... Bills Fl Paso Pardo. oi. Bill on the Staked Plains.... Bill’s Border Raid. ee Bill’s Bravest Fight. Wie Shao as Bill's Heathen Pard. 2.00.23. BilYs Dakota Dare-devils.... Bills Arapahoe Alliance..... Bill on Special Service. Bill on a Treasure Hunt. al as Bill’s Lost Quarry.... OF OT OF OF Or GF OF G1 OF OT OF OF OT On Saerimce bs cso 2 So. te oS OL OT OF OF OF OF OF OF OF OF O71 OF OT OT OR OH CH OT OT OOO OT OT CH OF OF OU OT CR OF GH OT OF OU OF OF OF OW OT OF OR OVS OF 01 OF 246—Buffalo 247—Butialo 2438—Buffalo 249—Butfalo 250—Buftale 251—Buffalo 252—Bufialo 253—Bufialo 254—Buffalo 255—Buffalo 256—Buffalo 257—Buttalo 258—Bufialo 259—Butfalo 260—Buftalo 261—Buttalo 262—Buffalo 263—Buffalo 264—Buffalo Bi 265—Buffalo 266— Buffalo 267—Buffalo 268—Buftalo 269—Buffalo King 270— Buffalo 27i1—Buffalo 272—-Buttalo 273—Buffalo 274— Buffalo 275—Butffalo 276—Buifalo 277—Buftalo 275—Buftalo 273—Bufialo 2230—Buffalo 231—Buffalo 232—Buffalo 233—Buffalo 234—Buffalo 285—Buffalo 286—Buffalo 227— Buffalo 233—Buftalo 2389—Buiftalo 290—Buffalo | 291—Buffalo 292—Buftalo Bill Among the Comanches... Bills, Stockade Siege...s.eees Bill’s Creek Quarrel . ores Bill Among the Pawn: es. Sia was Bill an a Long Hu Bills Wyoming Tt Bill and the Re Bili’s Bold Chal Burs Shawnee Stam Bill’s Worst Foe. Bill om a Desert T Bill’s Rio Grande Bill In Tight Qu Bill's Daring R Bill at the Tori Bills Treasure Trai Bill Among the Bills Border B Bill and the Ime Bill on the De i Bill in the on Bill and Bill Bill and 7 ¥ Bill’s Diamond a and the P: 293-—Buifalo B 294—_Buffalo 395—_Butfalo 296—Buffalo 297—Buffalo 293—Buffalo 299—Buffalo | 300—Butfialo “301—Buffalo Bill alo Bi 302—Buft 303—BPuftalo | 304—Buffalo 305—Buftalo PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your news: Postage OF OF OF OFT OF OT OT OFT CFG OF Ot On OF OF ON GT EN OF On OF Oro OF OF OFT OF OF OF OF OF OFT CT OE OT OY Ort CHV CV Gt ert GF oe Buifalo F fialo 08—Buff lo 9—Buffale 0—Buffalo 1—Butialo i2—Butialo 3—Bufialo —Buffalo 5—Bufialo 6—Buftalo —Buffalo $—Buiffalo —Buffalo 20—Buffalo i—Buffalo é 322—Buffalo 23—Bufialo 24—-Bufialo 5—Bui fialo 1S — Go Go Ge G3 72 ee He C wk fork fod fom fool: food ck foot food = 1 O 5 tO 00 kt 2 G2 09 Co CO G2 Go Go OO Co 09 09 09 CO ob NI 346—Buffalo 347—Buftalo 348—Buffalo 349—Buifalo 350—Butffalo 35i1—Bufialo 352—Buffalo 353—Buffalo 354—Bufialo 355—Buffalo 356—Buffalo 357—Buffalo 358—Buffalo 359—Buftalo 360—Buffalo 361—Bufialo 362—Buffalo 363—Buffalo 364+—Buffalo 365—Buftalo 866—Buffalo COPY Bill, the Desert Hotspur...., Bill’s Wild Range Riders.. sie Bills Whirlwind Chase...... Bill’s Red Retribution......, Bill Haunted. Minorelants Biil’s Fight for Life.. AP BESS Bill's Death: Jump... . 2.2 te Bill and the Pit of Horror... Bill in the Jaws of Death... Bill’s Aztec Runners. Biil’s Bill's Dance with Death... Bete Redskin Rovers...... Bill’s Fiery Eye.. arenes Bill’s Mazeppa Ride a sieges Bill in the Land of Spirits. Bill’s Gypsy Band.......... Bills pMaverigks ee A Bill, the White ind: Bill’s Gold Hunters. ......... Bill-in Old Mexico. : ‘Bill’s Message from the Dead. Bill and the Wolf-master.. Bill’s Flying Wonder.. Bill’s Hidden Gold...... See Bill’s Outlaw Trail. Bill and the Indian ‘Queen, . Bill and the Mad Marauder.. Bills Ice Barricade... 0.53. 3 Bill and the Robber Elk.... Bill’s Ghost Dance........ fe Bill’s Peace-pipe........ sie wii Bill’s Red Nemesis..... Sar ate ty rd - fee ° . Bill’s Enchanted Mesa. a Bill in the Desert of Death. é Bill’s Pay Streak. Bill on Detached Duty. . Bill’s Army Mystery.....% we Bill’s Surprise Party........ Bill’s Great Ride.... Bill’s Water Trail. poets Bill’s Ordeal of Fire. ae Bill Among the Man- eaters. 3 Bill’s Casket of ees Bill’s Sky Pilot. span eca aie Bill’s ‘‘Totem”’ tke Bill’s Flat-boat Drift.. ais Brion Deeks Hk ws ese Sa . Bill and the Bronco Buster... Bill’s’ Great Round- sue Sst nane Bill’s Pledge. eee Bill’s Cowboy ‘Pard. see Bill and the Emigrants. Se Bill Among the Pueblos..... R Bill’s Four- oe olan ‘ Bill’s Protégé. oa Ute Bill Ensnared. Sa pese Bill’s Pick-up.. Rios Bil’s Quest. ..... 2 eee ee os e e ee eooeesvoe ° ° Bill’s Waif of the ‘Plains. oie Bill Baffled... see Bill Among the “Mormons... eceeee ee 259 O50 Aire eye OYE Ore sre ete PSE OTe Oty Orn Pe es8 Se Cor prs ATT OT? OTe OT OM 6 stamps taken the same as money. STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY TE ATE CTY AS: A3y axe O79 On Cor OTE OTE Ore Prt Orr Pye PTE ATE CTE OT OTE Ot PT eM on Ct Cyn ese en en ey Oren to esr at Orn OM Or esy BUFFALO BILL STORIE ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVER* Buffalo Bill wins his way into the heart of ever one who reads the strong stories of stirring adventure or 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: 343—Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party; or, The Red Raiders of the Picketwire. 344—Buffalo’ Bill’s Great Ride; Handsome Elk. 345—Buffalo Bill’s Water Trail; Fort Totten. 346—Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal of Fire; Coteaus. 347—Buftalo 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. 332—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; Red Cattle-rustlers. 355—Buffalo Bill’s Pledge; or, 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, Hunt of Professor Bings. of, vine Capture. of or, The Still Eitintat or, Trapped in the or, Wuaming the The Vultures of the Ther aes 3590—Buffalo Bill’s Four- footed Pards; or, Trailing tl: Ute “Shiners™ 300—Buffalo Bill’s Protégé; or, Foiling a Nihilist Plo 361—Buffalo Bill Ensnared; or, The Wvitey of the Painte Desert. 362—Buffalo Bill’s Pick-up; or, The Secret of the H and Dagger. 303—Buffalo Bill’s Quest; or, The Hidden City of th. Hatchet-boys. 364—Buffalo Bill’s Waif of the Plains; or, With the Danites. — 365—Buffalo Bill Baffled; or, The Wail in a New Rol 366—Buffalo Bill Among the Mormons; or, $5,000 Rk ward, Alive or Dead. 367—Buffalo Bill’s Assistance; or, The Brothers of tl Bow-string. 368—Buffalo Bill’s Rattlesnake Trail; the Dance Rock. 369—Buffalo Bill and the Slave-dealers; or, In the Cano: of Death. 370—Buffalo Bill’s Strong Arm; or, The Red Bullics Thieves. 371—Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard; or, Dauntless Dell, of the “Double We 372—Buffalo Bill’s Iron Bracelets; Daring. 373—Buftalo Bill's Ranch Riders ; the White Horse: Herd. 374—Buffalo Bill’s Jade Amulet; or, of Mirror Lake. 378—Buffalo Bill’s Magic Lariat; or, The Raid at Rour Run. + At Oda or, The Clue af or, Dauntless Dell’: or, The Mystery 9! The Yellow Me If you want any back numbers of this publication and cannot procure them from your new dealer, they can be obtained from this office direct. Postage stamps taken/the same as money. STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79 Seventh Avenue, NEW YORK CITY.