NEW YORK,JULY 1,1911. 5 CENTS
saseserencciccirs ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

veceeed

 

 

 

“Stop! you red devil!” panted Pawnee Bill, but he could do nothing; and
he saw the girl raised high in air and flung into the pit.

Pee oe a iene EE ae

 
 
 

  

|

 

_chuns? Undt gomin’ from de east—vos iss?”

 

 

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Pawnee Bill im the Bear Pit.

 

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

‘CHAPTER L .
‘ DOUBLY AN ORPHAN,

Just as the sun came up over the far-away eastern
range, bathing the intermediate valleys and lower hills
with a ruddy glow, a cavalcade of three persons rode
out of the mouth of Sandeman Pass and so down the
mountain toward the junction of the Sandeman and
Lone Tree Gap trails.

In this wilderness—for such that part of Utah could
be called at that day—the cavalcade was strange, for
it consisted of a young woman, a handsome, keen-

eyed, alert-looking man in Stetson, riding jacket, tight- -

fitting trousers, and high, polished boots; and as the
third member of the party, a rotund, round-eyed, yel-
low-haired, and rosy-cheeked German, dressed in an
outing suit and little fore-and-aft cap, and his thin
legs straddling a huge, mouse-colored mule.

Their eyes had scarcely become used to the sudden
dazzling of the sun when the man on the mule ex-
ploded thus: ;

- “Ach, himmelblitzen! Look er dere, Bawnee! Iss
idt dot mein eyes deceif me yedt, or is idt more In-

The girl uttered a quick exclamation of fear; but,

then, seeing the other man,smiling broadly, she took

heart and. her own pretty lips were wreathed in a
smile,

“Oh, Major Lillie! it can’t be more Indians—can it: re
she urged.

“Not from that direction,” chuckled Major Gordon
W. Lillie, or Pawnee Bill, as he was known through-
out the broad West. “This is the balance of the
mounted troopers from Fort Prevost.”

Within the next hour this statement of the handsome
Westerner was proved true. The little cavalcade of
three met the dust-begrimed troops just. at the foot .
of the mountain slope, and while the men filed past
at a walk, the lieutenant in command halted to pass
the time of day with Lillie.

“You're too late for the fair, lieutenant,” said the
famous bowie man, laughing.

“T suppose so. Major Pringle hogged it all, I
fancy. We haven't seen a sign of a red since your
young side partner, Little Cayuse, came with Buf-
falo Bill’s message.”

Well, Major Pringle didn’t make much by his

29

  
  

2 THE , BUFFALO

forced galldp, either,” responded Lillie. “Although
he arrived in time to help throw the fear of death into
the red scamps.”’

Then he saw that the young and good-looking lieu-
tenant was eying the lady with favor, and added good-
naturedly:

“Miss Gregory, let me present my friend Lieutenant
Habberton, of Major Pringle’s command. Miss Anna
Gregory, lieutenant, has had a terrible experience dur-
ing these past four days. She was traveling with her
relatives toward Lone Tree Gap. While the wagon
train was parked for the night, some miles back—you
doubtless saw the place?”

“I did,” said the officer, bowing gravely and with

a commiserating look for the young girl.

“Well, you see what happened. This band of Ute
braves, ‘under Flying Feather, came down on them,

killed every man and woman saving Miss Gregory,
and bore. her away captive.’
“A terrible experience indeed, Miss Gregory,” mur-
mured the lieutenant. Then he added to Lillie:

“And, fortunate for her, major, that Buffalo Bill
and you were due to travel this same trail a few hours
later

“Yes. We fortunately came upon the spot in time
to. follow, and, with the help of old Grizzly Dan, the
half-mad hermit who lives hereabout, our party over-
took the reds and rescued Miss Gregory.

“The Utes might have given us a hot time had not
Major Pringle and his advance happened along as
they did. Flying Feather and many of his braves
escaped; but Buffalo Bill and the rest of his scouts

‘will soon track. them down, and your boys in blue
will awe them a-plenty,” chuckled the bowie man.

“All right, Major Lillie. I hope we'll see a little
active service. We're all getting rusty.”

“On-she-ma-da!’” ejaculated Lillie. “God ’fend us
from trouble! We want no Indian war—especially in
this country where new settlers are piling in every
week. As old Grizzly Dan says, the neighbors are
getting too close together.”

The lieutenant laughed, took off his hat to Miss
Gregory, and galloped away after his troop.

“Dot is de vay all of dem sochers look on idt,” said
the baron philosophically. “Idt vos de vay I looged
adt idt-meinselluf yedt, ven vonce I vos a officer in
Chairmany. Ve vos for fideing; efferyt’ing else vas
nix.” ;

“And now you know better, baron?” suggested Paw-
nee Bill. i
_“Undt now I know dot de most pootiful ting in de
vorldt iss peace.” ie ear

“Qn-she-ma-da !’’ OF

“Dot iss de trut’. Mit me, goot beer, undt blenty
to smoke, undt enough to eadt yet, undt mooch sleebs
—ach, himmelblitzen! vot else iss dere in life like
dot?” :

_ Even the young woman was induced to smile at
this statement of a man who was almost always on

 

  

BILD STORIES.

the go, and who was ready for a fight whenever the
chance presented itself.

The trio fell into a canter again, the mule and the
baron behind, Pawnee Bill and the girl riding side by
side. Said the Western man, with interest:

“You have failed to tell me yet, Miss Gregory, just
how you came to be traveling here—you and your
unfortunate friends—and whom you expect to meet at
Lone Tree Gap camp. I believe you explained it all
to my partner, Buffalo Bill; but Cody and I had no
chance to swap yarns this morning before we came
away from the summit of Sandeman Pass, where we
were so, fortunate as to rescue you from Flying
Feather.” ,

“And that rescue was of your planning—and execu-

_tion—Major Lillie,” said the girl gratefully. “Colonel

Cody told me so.”

“Cody is a great fellow for shirking responsibility
when he believes that anybody is going to hand him a
bunch of gratitude,” chuckled Pawnee Bill. ‘But, you
take it from me, Miss Gregory, my old necarnis is just
as guilty as | am in this matter—every whit!”

She laughed again, although her countenance at once
became saddened as she continued her speech:

“You plainsmen are wonderful. And not the least
wonderful thing about you is your chivalry. But I
will tell you my story, Major Lillie—though you must
forgive a poor, weak girl—doubly orphaned—if she
displays an emotion that you stern and courageous men
would succeed in hiding.

“Qh! I am so afraid of these horrid Indians!” she
cried suddenly. “They have brought me all the trouble
I ever had in my life.” ei

“Then you've been mighty fortunate, Miss Greg-
ory, said Pawnee, with some little drawl in his voice,
and a sidewise look at her.. “Most folks get to have
a good deal of trouble before they’re even your age.”

“But you don’t understand,” she said more quietly.
“It did not begin just—just recently. This awful thing
that happened on the trail—I can’t speak of it!”

“Then never mind it, miss,” said Pawnee Bill sooth-
iigiy. i

“Oh, I can talk of the other—the beginning,” she
hastened to reply. “And yet it was the greater
trouble. My father and mother were killed by In-
dians, probably not two hundred miles from this same
spot, when I was a little child of five or six.”

“On-she-ma-da!” ejaculated the bowie man, under
his breath. Then he added: “And you escaped twice,
then, from the redskins ?” )

“No. I had never seen
the Platte.”

“By the sacred O-za-hu!” exclaimed Lillie. “You
mystify me, Miss Gregory.” a a

“I will explain: My father and mother left me
in care of relatives when I was-five years old, or so,
while they came into this great Western country to
seek a’home. They were bound for this new ter-
ritory. ee

SAN ‘year and a half later the news came back that

an Indian until we crossed

 

 

 

 

   
 

  

the emigrant train that my parents traveled with had
been entirely wiped out—every man, woman, and child
was killed by the Indians, and my parents’ mutilated
bodies filled unmarked graves somewhere around here.”’

“A strange coincidence, Miss Gregory,” commented
Pawnee Bill.

“No; it is not strange, sir. Ciauharaners came
about quite naturally that my foster parents—the
Gregorys—should come out this way, too. My father
left a deed of trust of his old farm with a man in
whom he probably had confidence—Mr. Jubal Wake-
man. Mr. Wakeman came West some five years ago.
Fle was, as you might say, my guardian.

“Lately the old farm prowed valuable. Bluestone
was found on it, and a company offered to buy, arid
did buy, of Mr. Wakeman, the price being forty thou-
sand dollars.

“Mr. Wakeman still had the handling of my prop-
erty, and as he was then investing in mines, he in-
vested my forty thousand dollars with his own. I un-
_ derstand he owns the Three Finger Mine, at Lone Tree
Gap—and some others.”

“The Three Finger?’ repeated Pawnee Bill, with
increased interest. »

“Yes. The Gregorys decided to come West, and
they: brought me with them, that my guardian might

give an accounting of his stewardship and that I might ©

have full use of my property.”

“T see,” said Pawnee Bill quietly. “Of course, this
Mr. Jubal Wakeman knew that you were coming to
Lone Tree Gap?”

“Indeed, yes! Heé wrote us and told us how to
get here. We received two letters from him by pony
express on the way. He will be looking for us now,
for he could figure to almost a day when we would
artive at Lone Tree Gap. .

““T see, I see,’ muttered Pawnee Bill.

Later, he allowed the girl to ride on a bit by her-
self. The baron was swelling with curiosity, for he
had overheard most of the conversation between Lillie
and the girl.

“For Heafen’s sake, Bawnee, vot iss idt yedt?’’ he
demanded. “I kin see mit von eye dot you iss
*droubled deebly: py vot dot. young laty toldt you al-
retty. Vos iss?”
“Why, I'll tell you,’ whispered Pawnee Bill slowly.
“T was at Lone Tree Gap myself a month ago when
Cody sent to me to join in this raid against the rene-
gade Utes. And while I was at the camp I learned
a good deal about. this Jubal Wakeman and his Three
Finger properties.” °

“Mein shiminy grasciousness !”’ splattered the baron.
“Dond’t dell me dot de feller iss meppeso a scounderel,
undt iss cheating de young laty oudt of her money
yedt !””

“T don’t know about that,” said Pawnee, in the same
worried tone. “But I do know that the Three Fin-
ger Mine is chock-full of water, and it is said by ex-
perts that the water couldn’t be pumped out in a dog’s
age,”

hI Ae BM i tS 8 Bi oe

  

THE BUFFALO

  

  

HibU: STORIES, 7 3

 

“Ach, himmelblitzen!” gasped the baron. ‘De poor,
poor young laty! Den her moneys iss fery likely un-
der dot water yedt, aind’t it?”

“That's the way it looks from here,” grunted the
bowie man, riding on after Miss Gregory again.

CHAP Tak. If.
JUBAL WAKEMAN.

Having good mounts under them, the trio made
camp but one night between Sandeman Pass and Lone
Tree Gap. The mining town that had sprung up
in the wide gulch through the range was a sprawling
settlement, with a few good plank houses, but more
log cabins and tents.

It was not a beautiful place, although the landscape
surrounding it was grand indeed—rugged peaks,
thick, black-green forests, a noisy waterfall, and the
more distant view of blue valleys and the broad, sil-
very river.

There was the usual hotel, salon -and dance hall
combined—several of that type, in fact, for Lone Tree
Camp. was-a thriving place, and every inch of dirt
worth prospecting was taken up around the settle-
ment. Some of the mines were paying well, too, and
stamping mills and other expensive machinery had been
carted over the trail and set up. It was easy enough
to ship out the gold!

Pawnee Bill would not take Miss Gregory to any
of these hotels. He went to the postmaster, found
out where a decent married pair resided, and got the
wotian—who was,a good soul—to take the doubly
orphaned girl under her care.

“This will be a good deal wiser than going:at once
to your guardian’s shack. Jubal Wakeman, I under-
stand, is unmarried, and these bachelor miners never
haye any spare room for visitors,’ and the bowie man
laughed.

“But I want to see him at once,”
earnestly.

“Tl have him here in an hour—if he’s in camp,”
protested Pawnee Bill, and he went off in a hurry be-
fore she could make any other objections.

It was not hard to find Mr. Jubal Wakeman. The
Three Finger Mine was not a stone’s cast from the edge
of the town, and a weather-stained- board on two pine
poles announced the name and size of the property
to all who could read.

The manager and supposedly chief owner of the
mine lived in a shack on the property—and he was at
home. When Pawnee Bill announced his presence by
thumping on the door, a most. serious voice called to
him to “Lift the latch.”

And it was a most serious-looking man inside. In-
deed, he was a lachrymose-looking man—a pasty-faced
fellow, in the forties, with lank, black hair, a drooping
string of a black mustache like the tail of a decrepit
crow, and a watery-blue eye, with the expression ‘of
a dying fish in it!

at

cried Anne Gregory

   

   
  

oo THE BUFFALO

“Mr. Wakeman?” demanded Major Lillie.

“The same. You see an anxious man before you,
sir. You have come with bad news for me?”

-. “On-she-ma-da!” ejaculated Pawnee Bill. “Are you

looking for bad news?”

“Tt has been about all the news I have had of late,”
sighed the sorrowful-looking Mr. Wakeman.

“Then you are going to have a happy surprise,”

grunted Pawnee Bill. “T’ve got good news for you.’
“What's that?” exclaimed Wakeman, evidently star-
tled. “You don’t mean Pshaw! of course you
don’t!” he added, sliding back into his chair again.
“Tm afraid you are joking with me, Major Lillie.”

“Uh-huh!” muttered the bowie man. “Then you
know me, do you?” he asked aloud.

“T have seen you in the town before.”

“Ah he

“I know, too, that you went to join this party of
soldiers that was to punish the Utes for their raiding.”

“Humph!’

“But, you see, the attempt was too late,” said Wake-
man, shaking his head.

“How's that?” snapped Pawnee Bill, his eyes grow-
ing wider.

“The filthy redskins had committed one more
atrocity ere your troopers got after them—an atrocity
that touches me nearly.” )

With great difficulty the bowie man stifled his ex-
citement and surprise. When he spoke again it was
in quite a natural tone.

“You refer to the attack upon the wagon train the
other day on the Lone Tree Gap trail?” |

“Yes, Major Lillie, I do. I lost, by that terrible
crime, old friends whom I valued highly—highly, sir!
You do not have to tell me of it.”

“But I have good news for you, just the same,” said
Pawnee Bill, rather doggedly, and deeply puzzled.

“Indeed !”’

“The young woman, Miss Anna Gregory, whom, I
understand, ‘has been under your guardianship for
years, was saved from the reds, and I have brought her
to town.”

“So I understand,” said Jubal Wakeman coolly.
“And, although I am glad indeed that Anna was saved,

it does not alter the fact that I have lost the Gregorys
themselves, who were true and tried friends of mine.”

“Well, the girl’s all right,” said Pawnee Bill briskly.
“She is in the care of Mrs. Turnbull, and she wants
to see you mucho pronto.”

“Well, I will go to her,” said Wakeman, rising
slowly. “And I can bring her nothing but bad news,
either. It is sad’:

“Shades of Unk-te-hee!’” cried the exasperated bowie
man. “What's the matter now? Here’s your ward
come clear across the continent to see you i

“Not my ward. I merely had charge of her finan-

 

 

cial affairs,’ sighed Wakeman.
“Well Re

“And I may as well tell you, Major Lillie, that every-
thing has gone wrong.”

 

   

BILL’ STORIES.

- “With you?’ asked the other sharply.

“With everything.”

“You mean?”

“The Three Finger mining properties—the finest
outlook for gold in this camp—are not worth ten
cents.” H

“What do you mean?” ,

“Water,” said Jubal Wakeman, shaking his head.
“Nothing but water. We have tapped an inexhausti-
ble underground reservoir. I don’t know where it is
tapped. If I sent down a diver in a submarine suit,
he couldn’t find it. It leeches through from some vein,
or lake of water, and the supply is inexhaustible. The
tunnels are filled. We have pumped four months stead-
ily, and finally I have shut down in despair. The ex-
pensive machinery is like so much scrap iron. Our
money is sunk—uirrecoverably sunk—in an ocean of
fresh water !’’

The man fairly groaned out these words, and, true
or not, his appearance seemed to stamp the mark of
truth upon them.

“But Miss Gregory's money?” cried Pawnee Bill.

“That's it,’ groaned Wakeman, nodding.

“You had invested it with your own in the mine?”

“Every penny of it. I put in sixty thousand my-
self; her forty thousand bought the last of the ma-
chinery. We were running in full blast and had just
made our first assay—a very rich one—when the wa-
ter burst in on us.’’

“On-she-ma-da!’ muttered Pawnee Bill, turning
away. :

“So, you see, Major Lillie, you did bring me bad
news,’’ almost sobbed Jubal Wakeman.

“Humph!”’

“I have now to go before Anna and add to her sor-
rows by informing her that she is a pauper.”

“An-pe-tu-we !’’

“It is a task I do not face with joy. Perhaps it
would have been better for her, poor girl, if the red-
skins had killed her with the Gregorys. An awful
thought, Major Lillie, but it occurs to me,” sniffled
Wakeman. ek

“I see your mind rather runs to gruesome ideas,”
muttered the bowie man. :

“And there is reason for it,” sighed Jubal Wake-
man. “I see the results of twenty years of endeavor
swept away. Likewise, I have lost the money in-
trusted to me by friends and others; and the forty
ee belonging to Anna—it is dreadful—dread-
ul!

“Tt sure seems tough,” admitted Pawnee Bill, look-
ing at the man askanée, as they went out of the shack.

“Let me show you,” Wakeman said, leading the
way to the nearest shaft in the mountainside.

There was a house over it—an open shed, at least,
which protected from the weather the machinery which
the mining man declared was now useless. There was
an engine and a huge hydraulic pump. A sluice had
been built, leading the water pumped from the flooded
mine into the noisy river which had cut its. channel

  
  

   

down from the heights abate and fell away swiftly to
- the lower valley to the east.

Wakeman dropped a stone down the shaft and Paw-
nee Bill heard the splash of it as it struck the water.
The mining man lit a lantern and lowered it down;
the visitor could see the glint of the black flood not
thirty feet below the surface.

“Tt keeps at just about that level. I have proved it
is sufficiently high to flood every cutting and tunnel
below. And no amount of pumping lowers the water
a foot.”

“Tough luck,” murmured Pawnee Bill again.

~Jubal Wakeman sighed once more, blew out the lan-
tern, and then started for the town.

“Now I will go and find the poor girl,” he said
mournfully. “Let me thank you, Major Lillie, for
all you have done for her. Mrs. Turnbull is an es-
timable woman.” 3

Pawnee dropped behind when he came to the prin-
cipal hotel. There the baron had put up Toofer, the
mule, and the major’s horse, and was now sitting on
the porch calmly smoking his big porcelain pipe.

“Well, old leaky seive!’’? was Pawnee’s welcome to

the German.

“Vos iss?’ demanded the baron, his eyes opening
wider than usual, if that were possible. “Do you make
me ein insuld, Bawnee?”’

“Well, you can’t keep anything to yourself, can
you?” exclaimed Pawnee.

“Yah! Dere iss von ting dot I haf nefer yedt toldt
any vone,’ declared the baron, his face very red.

“And what is that?”

“Mein brivate undt berticular opinion off you, Baw-
nee Pill!” shouted the baron, forgetting to smoke, in
his fury. “Now! Vill you gome here mit insuldts C

“Hold on!’ exclaimed Pawnee, grinning, as the joke
had gone against him. “Didn’t I warn you to keep

still about the massacre and Indian uprising?”
: “Su- ah! 1?

“T didn't even tell those Turnbulls how Miss Gregory
came to be traveling with us alone.”

“Valet Pe

 

“And nobody whom I spoke to in this town—not.

even the postmaster—had heard of the attack on the
wagon train.”’

“Vale? again repeated the angry baron.

“Yet I find that Jubal Wakeman knew all about it.

- While I was getting a place for the girl to stop, the

news reached him. Now, who is a leaky seive?’’ de-

manded the bowie man, in some excitement.
“Nodt me,” replied the baron, calming himself.
“What?”

“Himmelblitzen! Must I dell you again alretty?
No! no! no!’ shouted the baron.

“You spoke to nobody about it?”
Nein)
“And nobody spoke to you about it?”
“Nein!”

_ Pawnee Bil eae one gauntleted hand - upon his

THE BUFFALO

    

:)

BILL STORIES. : 5

 

thigh, and stared straight at the honest face of his
German friend. :

“Then, will you tell me how the dickens that Wake-
man knew all about the Indian massacre?” he de-
manded, but in a tone that showed he was asking the
question of himself.

ons

CAPT ICR: (i.
““BARTICULAR TEUFELMENT.”’

But the Baron Villum von Schnitzenhauser heard
the question, and he could not be expected—under
the circumstances—to keep silent.

“De only man vot knowed the Inchuns hadt killedt
dot poor young laty’s friendts undt stolen her avay,
vos dis Vakeman vot you call him?” he sputtered.

“That's the fact,’ growled Pawnee Bill, but deep in
thought.

“Undt I nefer spoke of idt—undt you nefer spoke of
idt—undt de laty herselluf, she nefer spoke of idt?”

“You've got it,” again said the perplexed major.

“Yedt de Vakeman feller, he iss knowin’ dot all dot
hadt happened—yah ?”’

For a third time Pawnee Bill acknowledged the cor-
rectness of the baron’s statement.

“Den, Bawnee!” cried the baron, with great excite-
ment, “you dake idt from me dot idt means dere vos
some berticular teufelment afoodt yedt!”

“Particular devilment, eh?’ murmured the bowie
man.

“Dot iss idt, yes!’

“And I fancy you've hit it right,” said the other,
with sudden decision. “I don’t like to judge a man
by his looks; we all can’t be handsome like—er, well,
you, for instance, baron.” And Pawnee Bill grinned.

“Vale, dere iss vorser-lookin’ fellers dan me, py
shiminiddy grasciousness!’’ declared the baron,

“I know; but lots of them have been shot out here
in this country. Never mind. We're talking about
this Jubal Wakeman.”

“Yaw! Undt vot of him?” inquired the baron.

“He looks like a sanctimonious coyote. I wouldn't
trust him as far as I could throw an elephant.”

“Ach, himmelblitzen! How far do you ogspect you
gould fling an efelant, Bawnee?” asked the baron seri-
ously.

“About the length of a flea’s big toe,” replied the
bowie man seriously.

“Ach! now idt iss funny pitzness again

“Never mind. You have said one good thing,” said
Pawnee Bill quickly. “There is surely particular devil-
ment afoot. And that Jubal Wakeman is up to his

 

“sears an ths

“Undt de pootiful young laty vot ve haf safed de
Inchuns from, iss likevise in idt?”’
“Unfortunately—yes.”’
“Vot vould pe dé matter mit shooding up dot Vake-
man a lot?’ suggested the baron, whose ideas were
most practical.

   

   
 

THE BUFFALO

“It wouldn’t do much good, I am afraid,” returned
Pawnee Bill, grinning.

‘“Undt meppeso idt vouldt,”’ grunted the German.
“Idt vouldt pe like crunchin’ a doodle pug under your
foots yedt—you get rid of de pug—yes?”

“Your philosophy is all right,’ chuckled Pawnee
Bill; “but I am afraid that with this Jubal Wakeman
sent to the happy hunting grounds, we'd never get at
the knotted end of the rope.”

“Meaning dat dere iss a mysderiousness, undt dot de
Vakeman feller can oxblanation idt?”’

“That's it. He's got—or he had—forty thousand
dollars belonging to’ Miss Gregory. He says it was
spent—along with his own money and that of other
_ stockholders—in opening and working the Three Fin-
ger Mines, and in buying machinery.”

“Undt you tink he iss a liar yedt?”
~ “T don’t know. As I say, his face is much against
him. And some other things are queer.”

“T ped yott!’’ exclaimed the baron. ““How didt he
know erboudt der Inchun raid, heh?”

“SH xactly.’?

“Undt now his mine iss. full mit vasser—yes: ”

“That’s it: It has been filled for four months. I
heard of it when I was here at the Gap before.”

UValet li de fordy tousan’ tollars iss down de
vasser under———”

“Hang it! that’s part of the mystery,” Bewaied Paw-
nee Bill. “I know one thing, baron.”

"Valter" i

“I wish Cody was here. There is a thing I am
anxious to know about—one that he may be able to
explain.” .

- “Undt dot iss a mysderiousness, too?) y

ON OW might say so.’ : é

“Den dere iss von t’ing to do,” said the baron, with
decision, rising phlegmatically to his feet and putting
away the big pipe.

“Hello! What's that?’ asked Pawnee Bill, with
surprise.

“Tf ve needt Puffalo Pill to hellup us discover dose
mysteriousnesses, den de t’ing for to be did idt iss to go
aiter him: undt pring him here.”

“On-she-ma-da! You've got a head on your shoul-
ders,” chuckled Pawnee Bill,

“So dot iss, idtt’ returned the baron ¢almly: ) “]
vould haf peen villings to svear dot I hadt a headt
pefore, Bawnee.”

“And it’s a great old head, baron!” ‘ced the bowie
man, coming to a sudden decision himself. “If you'll
tackle the job of trying to find Cody over yon be-
hind the mountains”

“Dot is choost vot. me nide Toofer vill do,” de-
clared the baron calmly. “Undt meanvile you vill
stay here undt vatch out for de pootiful young laty—
~ aind’t idt?”

“You're on!” cried Pawnee Bill.

“Toofer iss feedidt; I am feedide meinselluf
“Already?”

a Koh seu vill oxcoose me, Bawnee,”

 

39

99

 

3 said the

BILL STORIES,

baron, in some confusion. . “I know dot idt vos an im-
boliteness on mein bart; budt I didt not know ven you
vouldt pe retty vor eatings, undt idt iss petter to dake
time py de forelock yedt—esbecially ven idt gomes to
be bleasures of de dable, also-o! Undt de bresent cir-
gumstandces broves de trut’ of idt yedt. I vill bedake
me at vonce to de sattle.”

“On-she-ma-da! I hadn’t thought to eat,” ached
Pawnee Bill. “But trust you to remember the impor-
tant matters, baron.”

“Qvite right, * agreed the German, starting for the
corral. ‘I will pe retty for the roadt in den minutes

Belts!

Pawnee Bill had decided quickly that the Baron's
suggestion was good.. There was a mystery indeed
about the affairs of Jubal Wakeman and his pretty
ward. But that was not all the trouble. There was
another, and a deeper, reason, for the bowie man’s
agreeing to send for Buffalo Bill.

He knew, and the baron knew, the general precion
which the soldiers and Buffalo Bill’s scouts would
take in the valleys beyond the range. By this time
the Utes had probably been chased into their villages
and warned in proper manner against future raids.

The soldiers would stick around’ a few days, that
the Indians might feel the iron hand of the govern-
ment, and when Buffalo Bill reported to Major Prin-
gle that the Utes were fairly well pacified, the matter
would be officially over.

The soldiers would return to Fort Prevost with
their captives, and Buffalo Bill and his companions—
old Nomad, Wild Bill, and Little Cayuse, the Piute
scout—would be free for the present from army or-
ders.

Therefore, by the time the baron found Buffalo
Pull, the great scout would undoubtedly be able to re-
turn at once with the German pard to Lone Tree Gap.

And at Lone Tree Gap Buffalo Bill was needed;
this fact, to Major Lillie’ mind, was’ self-evident.

oer

CHAPTER EV.
PAWNEE BILL ON GUARD.

The baron rode out before long into the single street
of Lone Tree Gap and headed Toofer, the mule, to-
ward the west.

The fact that he was starting off alone, into a cout-
try more or less strange to him, and possibly infested
with Utes on the warpath, did not seem to trouble the
baron in the least!

“Keep your eyes peeled, baron,” advised Pawnee
Bill. “You know there may be snakes in the grass.”

“T am avare of dot,” agreed the baron. “Dot red
schnakes dond’t scare me. Dere is a pigger schnake
in de gr-rass right here in de Gap, yedt !”

“Meaning this Jubal Wakeman? On-she-ma-da !
you're just right,” rejoined the bowie man.

The baron loped away on the mule and-the hand-
some plainsman entered the hotel. He founds the

 
THE BUFFALO

  

keeper of the ranch—a long, loose, lantern-jawed fel-
low—not at all averse to gossip at this time of day.
The place was never lively save at night, or on holi-
days and Sundays. :
~ “Jube Wakeman? Gosh! ain’t. he the onluckiest fel-
ler thet ever come inter this neck 0’ woods?’ cried
the hotel man. “And one spell. we thought him the
luckiest.”
“How was that?” asked Pawnee Bill.

“Why, say! accordin’ ter all accounts, them Three

Finger claims was as rich as th’ dirt twixt th’ planks
in th’ floor of the assay office—that’s right! He
showed us a clean-up thet’d make yer mouth water.
An then—good mornin’! th’ flood cleaned him up in
faney Seyle

~ “Were the other claims hurt?”
oe Ob a mite”

“The Three Fi ‘inger was the only pee injured ?”

“Clean out 0 business. It: come overnight, as ye

a say.” : ae es
WAS aoe as that 7:
' “Jest so, stranger.” ala: Bee i bed
- “He had no warning? The water came in 1 and en-
gulfed his workings suddenly?” _ 3

--“Gosh! yes. ‘Thet was jest it, stranger.”

‘ “And-he really: has tried to pom tt out?" asked

Pawnee Bill.
nec ried ta? Sickes! Ef ae Wake pase had ial
‘ha’f as hard ter make a new heaven an’ airth, as he
has ter pump thet thar claim dry, he'd run th’ Creator
a mighty closet second—-now you take it from me!” a
meee the hotel keeper, with earnestness.

“And nobody seems to know where the water comes
from?”

AW, ‘Shucks!
from! ees
aan do?” : Oe aa aE er
»“Sartain sure.”

Where?! < + : Ba aoe

rout, thy bowels of th’ airth, ter be sure!” i
fawed the hotel man.

prinegs; Then) 306 us

“Biggest springs T ever eae tell of,”’ grunted the
man. “It’s a fiver—that’s-wot'she’s: tapped! ea

> Pawnee: Bill started ey pan: ee searchingly
cat the other. on
“Do See mean he's tapped the river r yonder? =: he
© pond ee |
_ ° Who’ S iad es
“Jubal Wakeman.”

“My Lord, man! d’ye think he'd be foo! enough ter
‘ruin. his own mine—fair flood it out? An’ jest after
-they- ‘made an assay thet looked so rich we was all
-standin’ -eround waterin’ at our mouths ter think how

dn course we know whar it comes

we hadn't bought inter He Three Finger when ae

_had.stock to sell?” _
“But you say the flood is. Bois the river-
-SefShucks! not no ‘river: ye kin’ see. A submarine

”%

 

 

. Tiver,ye see—

 

   

 

BILL STORIES. es 7

“Subterranean, you mean,” corrected Pawnee Bill,
with a slight smile.

““Mebbe. .Leastways, it’s one under the airth.”

“But that would not be possible wey op here in the
mountains.”

“Why not?”

“At Ae I never heard of such a case before,’ ob-
jected Pawnee Bill.

‘“Waal,. ye hear of this one,
a-tellin’ ye of it.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt your word.”

“Nor don’t ye doubt me hoss sense,’
man, shaking his head.

“You couldn’t be fooled on such a proposition} ane

“Not me. I know that the supply of that water
is everlastin’. «It’s riz ter its level in the mine, the
mine’s complete flooded out, and Jube says himself
the Three Finger ain’t worth a tinker’s dam!’

' “Has he tried to sell out?”
~ “My Lord! Who'd he sell out to around Wer:
Don’t we know all about it?”

“But back East they say that ence are boa
every once in a while—suckers that will invest in
almost any hole in the ground that is called a mine,
and Pawnee Bill chuckled. _ .

“T believe Jube is too blamed blest, a connie ‘the
hotel man to the visitor, shaking his head sadly. Ele
seems all cut up because he got other folks inter ne
deal.”

“Because he sold thems ihe stock | in ihe mine?”

“Yep. And the hull contraption don’t look a it
was wuth ten cents,’ added the man.

“But there’s the machinery e

ult cost like kill-dee ter bring it in by. freigit
waggins,’ declared the hotel man quickly, “and every
other mine in the neighborhood has got all the scrap
iron it wants—an’ thar ain’t likely another square foot
of gold-bearing rock within a hundred—yes, mebbe
three hundred mile!’

“Then he really is up against it—the claim has
ee out———”’

« “The water's fecved it out, . ined the ‘hotel
man. “But thet’s just as bad, if not wuss. If- ye
could git out gold-bearin’ quartz in submarine armor,
ye might do somethin’ with the Three er Bree
Otherwise—not!”’

- “And what does he icine. to do with the mine?”
asked Pawnee Bill curiously.

“Tm shot 1f I know! Let it lie, reckon. He ae
mighty near every last cent he had keepin’ the pumps
going to try and git out th’ water. Might as well try
ter stop a widder » woman from tellin’ her troubles!
Gosh!”

“And he just. mopes around here n”

“Say! he’s gittin’. er little cracked on it, I p'lieve.
Or mebbe i is fool enough ter think thar’s other gold-
bearin’ rock in this range. But you take it from me—
thar-ain’t!”’ :

“There is no more gold s save what is here at the

Gane >

stranger—an’ I’m

said the hotel

 

    

  
   

THE BUFFALO

“Now you've got it. I prospected myself. through
this range for ten years. Gosh! I oughter know,
stranger.”

“You certainly should be a good judge of the rich-
ness of the country,’ admitted Pawnee.

“And its poverty, ye might say. I tell Jube s SO} but
he keeps goin’ off by hisself—days at er time

“Ah! then he doesn’t stay up there at the mine all
the time?”

‘“What’s the use of his stayin’ there? He’s likely
ter weep more water inter thet thar shaft than he
kin pump out.”

(“And he goes off on jaunts by Himacifa

“Gittin’ cracked, I tell ye,” said the hotel man,, shak-
ing his head. ‘‘Wonder them ravenin’ Utes don’t git

 

him———”’
“‘On-she-ma-da!” ejaculated Pawnee Bill suddenly.
WW ot Fe jest tients a /

“And they say the reds is pefmiscussin’ eround on
the warpath at that.”

“They have cut up rusty a heap.”

“So T heard. *“Twarn’t no longer ag0 than last week
I warned Jube.”’

“Warned him?”

Vwep. Losee chim settin’ out for the west ieetry.”

“Over toward the Ute villages?”

“Shucks! he wouldn’t go so fur. But some o’ shen
bands of young bucks: might be cavortin’ over this

yere Way.” : :

“T. see,’ said Pawnee Bill eagerly, “and he’ was
going that way?” S

“Yep. I says to him: ‘Jube, th’ red skunks will
git ye.’. But would he listen? Nothe!’  .

“This was only last week?” asked the bowie man
thoughtfully.

“That's when it war, Stranger, and he didn’t git
back till come yisterday.”’

_ Pawnee Bill soon went out of the place that he might
be alone and think. The mystery of Jubal Wakeman
and the Three Finger Mine was growing.

The man whose mine was full of water made fre-
quent trips into the-hills. And he had been away
‘from the Gap at the time the Utes, under Flying
Feather, made their atrocious attack on the wagon
train with which Anna Gregory had traveled, and
likewise when Buffalo Bill and his partners had chased
the said redskins and wrested the girl prisoner from
their bloody clutches!

CHAPTER V.
PAWNEE BILL TAKES PRECAUTIONS.

Pawnee Bill went down that evening to the Turn-
-bull house to see Miss Gregory. He found her as
calm as she had been that morning when he left her
in the care of good Mrs. Turnbull and at first the
bowie man thought that Jubal Wakeman had ‘not told
his ward of the loss of her fortune.

But Anna broached the subject herself:

Gg

        

BILL STORIES.

“Major Lillie, I believe you feared that something
had happened to the Three Finger Mine, and my for-
tune, when we were talking of my affairs on the trail.”

“Well, miss, I was afraid your matters were tangled
up for you,” admitted the handsome plainsman. -

“Tangled up! © Why, there's pete 2 left to get
tangled. ‘The money is swept away.”

“Why—er—is it as bad as that?”

“You talked with Mr. Wakeman yourself, didn’
your’. :

“Ves,” admitted Pawnee.

“And he certainly told you the worst.
man always has been a bird of ill omen.’

“On-she-ma-da! He is just that.”

“He would look on the dark side of a silver ‘dollar,
that man would!’ exclaimed Mother Turnbull, who
was present at thisinterview..

And, dots he Ae you no 0 hope at all?” asked ay
nee Bill.

“No hope about recovering a ihe money, do Bai mean! ?
None at all,” said Anna.

“That's mighty hard,-missy :

“It is not so bad as os my dear” tear father
and mother,” said the girl, wiping her eyes. :

Pawnee had nothing to say to that. She continued:

> *Nor is it 45 bad as losing my own life. Tf the In-
diaris had killed me, the money would never have done
me any good. I hadn’t been rich long enough for the
loss of forty thousand dollars to make me ee miser-
able.”

- “Qn-she-ma-da!”” murmured the bowie man.

“And I have found friends right here,” said the
girl, smiling and taking Mother Turnbull’s hard hand
in both her own. “Mrs. Turnbull is opening the Old

ve : aac:

| Homestead Restaurant next week and I am going to

help her.”

“She'll sure make one mighty fine Biscdit shooter,
Mr. Pawnee Bill,” said the woman, laughing, ‘and I’m
mighty glad to have her. Neither me nor my man
could keep books straight, and she'll - that pie help-
ing wait on the boys.”

“But doesn’t Wakeman old out any hope of getting
the mine going again?” repeated the bowie-‘man.

“Not an iota. The mine is flooded almost to the top
of the shaft. It’s reached its level, but he can’t lower
it. He says he has tried for four. ‘months. | ‘And now
the money has given out.”

“TI see he seems to be living without hurting him-
self with work,” grumbled Pawnee Bill; but neither
of the ladies heard this, and soon after "Pawnee- Bill
excused himself and got away.

To tell the truth, the plainsman was mad—mad dear
‘through that such a nice refined girl as Anna Gregory
—and one-who had already passed through so great a
trouble—should be thrown upon her own resources in
a strange place and made to earn her bread i in so humible
a position.

One day to be worth forty thousand sine
‘next to be a pauper! .

“By my sacred O-zu-ha!’ muttered Pawnée Bill.

      

 

 

 

 

  

 
a s > ! rs, w aye ? r on
Fee EM Se DOR ME IN IS RAR! 2 LN eR BIR oe MES Wg Wt

\ “Thats oe it is,”

THE BUFFALO
\
“This is.no fair deal. I am suspicious of Jubal Wake-
man, as well as‘of his mines. He isn’t begging his
bread! Why should this girl be in such straits?”

He walked up the settlement street, refusing all the
enticements of the now brilliantly lighted places of
entertainment... It was darker than a stack of black
cats beyond the line of the town, but he knew the direc-
tion of Wakeman’s shack and the Three Fingers prop-
erties pretty accurately.

He stumbled over a plank as he approached the door.
The shutter at the window was tight closed; but light
peered out of a small knot hole ands he heard a scramble
of feet inside as though he had startled somebody by
his approach.

Pawnee, striking while the i iron was hot, rapped on
the door and lifted the latch before he was asked in.
When the door swung back, however, Wakeman
seemed to be*alone in the-room, though Pawnee kept
a hand on one of the gold-mounted bowie knives he
carried until he was sure that the way was clear for
him to enter.

“Hullo! who’s this at such a time of night?’ began

Jubal. syekeman: ae is it Major Lillie? And
again?”
a Pannk erutily, closing the
door behind him and eying the miner with all the favor
of.a bulldog watching a cat out of his srcri lezeed
reach.

“Not with, more bad_ news,
Wakeman,

“T don’t. know how you ll take it,” grunted. Pawnee.
“But. I’m going to hop into your. business a whole lot,
and mebbe that-will appear bad news to you.”

. “What .do--you mean, Major’ Lillie?” diode
Wakeman, with a sudden. stiffening of his whole frame.

“And not only your business,” pursued Pawnee};
“but that girl’s affairs.”

“Vou refer to Miss Gener ee

. .“That’s the party.” - : a

“And what is she to your’ : ad es was-a snarl
in Wakeman’s voice that brought Pawnee’s fingers in
touch with. the handle of-his bowie again: Perhaps
Wakeman saw tHe ee: gectutes for ae pecs
to.adds 27.4: =

Tce a joins of endiee I suppose: ?
» “You suppose-exactly right,” admitted Pawnee.

“What do you want? I have shown you the mine
and its condition. Everybody i in the Gap knows about
it——=" -

I hope,” complained

a
ae

KS6 I laiderstatid” Pawnee shee. “That isn’t
the point. A mere verbal statement of the thing is
not going to satisty ine,”

So. you constitute yourself a committee of one to
look into my affairs?” cried Wakeman, and his. pasty
face looked ugly enough.

“Pm looking into Miss Gregory’ S a
handsome plainsman doggedly.

“Does she request ies

_ “That. doesn’t concern you,”

_said ihe

snapped Pawnee. “You

BILL STORIES. : 9

have made statements that may be so, or may not
be so——”

“Great heavens, man! don’t. you know water when
you see it?” gasped Wakeman.

“Oh, I admit that your mine is full of water.”

“Then what?”

“The thing that Miss Gregory must know is how
you came to spend all her money in the fittings of the
mine? Come! the law has a hold on you, you know,
Wakeman.”

“Blast you!’ ejaculated the miner.
resent the law in this case, I suppose ?”’

“TI may represent public opinion, and public opinion
in a place like Lone Tree Gap stands for all the law
there is—and is often more just than the statutes on
the books. You catch my drift?”

“You are threatening me!” complained Wakeman,
taking another way with his visitor very quickly.

“T just want to know a few things, Wakeman.”

“And what are they, Major Lillie?”

“You had all oo Srey forty thousand del?
lars?”

“And much more. Sixty thousand of my own, As
much again belonging to stockholders back East.”

“And what explanation are you making to them?”

“The other stockholders? 1 tell you the truth,
major! I haven't dared write them,’ and Jubal Wake-
man looked just as though he were to burst into tears.

“And all thts money went in buying, opening up, and
working the mine, and paying for the machinery?”

“That’s the way it went, major.” .

“Then, of course; .you can show. your ois
vouchers, bills, and all that, proving ‘such expendi-
dures?

Wakeman scowled at him. ‘‘You don’t suppose I’m
a perfect fool, do you, Major Lillie? Of course I have
everything straight.”

“Don’t get huffy, old man. -I’m going into this. I
don’t want to see this little girl left a pauper in such
a way. You don’t seem to be suffering any.’

“What do you mean?” snarled*Wakeman.

“You seem to have plenty of money to live on.
You're not suffering. “You are practically idle here. I
understand that you spend your time riding about the
country. On-she-ma-da! -Man alive! don’t you see
that you are arousing the suspicions of the girl's
friends——”’

“Who are those friends, major?” sneered Wakeman,
standing up, his hands clenched, and his face a map of
scowls.

“I’m one of them.”

“T see you.are. And it looks funny. to me

He halted in his speech with a gasp. Pawnee Bill’s
eyes blazed into his own and the plainsman’s hand
was again on the big bowie knife at his belt.

“Don’t let it seem so funny to you that you have to
laugh!” advised Pawnee Bill pointedly.

Wakeman pace and came up in his usual morose
style.

“You don’t rep-

 

 

Si ane pe

 
a SUSpect me

 

i

we THE BUFFALO

“*T can’t help: it, Major Lillie,” he whined. ‘

 

—“T know that you ‘do not have to work to live, and
that poor girl is going to be a waitress in Turnbull’s
hash house. You have got away with forty thousand
dollars belonging to her. You admit it. And yet she
works and you loaf. That story will make the men of
Lone Tree Gap sit up and take notice, and you can
bet a blue stack on that!

“Tt don’t take no soothsayers to dope out what would

happen to you in this man’s town if anybody cared to
lay the cards right on the table before the boys. D’ye
see?

“You've got to make explanation. You've got to
show me the whys and wherefors of the whole game,
or there'll be some dust raised. Now, mark me, Wake-
man, I’m talking good medicine for you.”

“What can I do?’ cried the miner furiously, but
evidently. in fear of Pawnee Bill’ “I tell you the
money is spent. It doesn’t cost me much of anything
to live :

_ “How much - money you got! re eee the plains-
man.

“T couldn’t put my eee on a hundred dollars,”
declared Wakeman.

“Then, by the shades of Unk-te-hee _ ejaculated
Pawnee Bill; “I’ve an offer to make you.”

“What's that ? ’ demanded Wakeman, eying him un-
certainly.

“TH buy you out.”

“You ll what?”

“Buy you out.”

“How’s that?’ and this time the question came
feebly, while the miner backed into his chair again.

“What do you want for your outfit here—lock,
stock, and barrel?” demanded Pawnee Bill coolly.

“What do you want to buy?” asked Wakeman, ina
whisper.

“All you've got to sell. Your equity in the mine,
the whole thing—the entire shooting match. If you
are not too steep Ill put a bunch of money in your
hands that you can turn over to the girl in part settle-
ment of her claim against you. I'l assume the debts
against the property. In fact, Pll gamble on the
thing,”

Jubal Wakeman suddenly leaped up again. His
\pasty face never gained a bit of CF but his eyes
blazed balefully.

 

“What are you after? Think I’ma fool?” he roared.

9

“Why, you haven’t got money enough to buy——” __
He stopped and suddenly calmed down. His pre-
vious demeanor returned. He shook his head sadly.
“T’m too honest, Major Lillie. I couldn’t let you into
such a thing with my eyes open.”
“On-she-ma-da! Aren't my eyes open?” cried Paw-
nee Bill, grinning.
“No! I won’t sell,” declared Wakeman doggedly.
“And yet you have no money and the mine is full
of water?” ”

“T’ve got my reasons,” snarled Wakeman.

“If you”

BILL STORIES.

“EY Ou Det you “have, Wakeman! e exclaimed | the
plainsman meaningly. “And before I get through with:
you I’ll know what those reasons are—you can’ ‘gamble
on that;” and with a laugh the plainean pees on his:
heel and went out atthe door. ©

He started back toward the town. He had not oie’
twenty rods from the shack when there was a flash

‘and report in the murk beside the road, and the whistle

of a bullet made him dodge. __

“The thundering murderer!” yelped Pawnee Bill,
and without paying the least attention to the spot
from which the bullet had come, he wheeled’ around
and darted back to the shack. ao ;

He halted before opening the door, however, ‘and
peered through the knot hole in the shutter.” Jubal:
Wakeman still sat at the table, and it was certain that.
he could not have got outside, shot at Pawnee, and re:
turned so quickly.

“Ugh!” grunted the plainsman, turning away. “4
thought he had a side partner. An unknown is bad:
medicine. Come! mebbeso I’m in for a a skinning. this
time. I wish Cody was here.”

As it was he made his way back to the hotel by a
very roundabout way and escaped meeting any other
adventure. But once under cover he called for ink,
pen, and paper, and retired to his room, where he wrote
out a full and particular account of all these happen-
ings, and of his own suspicions, addressed the bulky
packet to Buffalo Bill, and in the morning went out and
deposited the letter with the postmaster of Lone Tree
Gap to be given into Cody’s hands when the great
scout should arrive, if, by any chance, he, Pawnee Bill,
should not be on the spot—and i in the flesh | ,

 

CHAPTER VI.
THE BLANKET INDIAN,

As the plainsman came back from the post office,
through the sun-baked street of Lone Tree Gap, he
suddenly saw a figure that interested him. It was that
of a blanketed Indian, and although the stripes on the
blanket proclaimed the redslin to be Navaho, not Ute,
Pawnee Bill hastened his step until he came to the side
of the savage.

The stolid red never gave him a glance—or aiied
not to. Yet before Pawnee Bill spoke it was probable
that the redskin had observed minutely his ea
and knew exactly who he was.

“Who you lookin’ for, John?” queried Pawnee eare-
lessly, getting a cigar out of his Stetson and. Preparing
to light up.

Stich as he could see of the sadaleste s “countenance
looked suddenly sullen, and the savage replied: .

“Me no John. You no see me b’fore.. “Wah

_ “Well, what are you doing here, my red. friend? gies
turned Pawnee coolly.

“Indian no tell, white man no find out. - Wok? Y
“Bet you a dollar I do!” returned the plainsman.

 
THE BUFFALO

“Here! have a smoke?” and Me feted the redskin one
of his cigars. _

“Wuh!” and the ea waved away thecigar. “In-
dian smoke pipe, no smoke stick.”

“Well, have it your own way,” said Pawnee cheer-
fully. “Aren't you taking a chance, coming in here
just now?”

“Me no ’fraid. No enemy here. Me Navaho.” 4

“Like thunder you are!” ejaculated the plainsman,
and with quick hands he patted the blanket-draped fig-
ure of the redskin before the latter could really make
objection.

“You're carrying a sawed-off gun under that blanket,
you red scamp,” declared Pawnee Bill, as the Indian
drew away from him with an inarticulate snarl. “And
you've got other hardware in your belt. You're a
-Ute, and you are snooping around here for no good.
Scoot!”

“Wuh!

99

Kulux-Kittybux heap smart white man,”
‘grunted the redskin. ‘But him not know it all.”

“On-she-mad-da! I should say not,” chuckled Paw-
nee Bill, watching the fellow closely, “but I don’t
need any dirty Ute to tell me the time o’ day. The
Pawnee Indians were some folks; the Utes were their
slaves in the old days before the white men came.”’

“Wuh?” grunted the redskin, and now his black, ser-
pent eyes.flashed. “The Little Bear of the Pawnees
speaks with a forked tongue. It is not so. The Utes
were never slaves <

“What's that to you, Navaho?” chuckled Pawnee
Bill.

‘The Indian, caught so easily and ae expressed
his disgust by a quick gesture.

“Toe Skeetik” (likewise an Indian cognomen for
Major Lillie) “him much serpent. But him look quick
—have care.’

“And you take my tip and get out of town, Ute.
This place would be too hot for. you in a minute if
I gave the word.. Vamose.”

The Indian grunted and shuffled away, and Pawnee
Bill stood for a moment and watched him. He knew
that the redskin was here for evil; he could easily have
apprehended him, armed as the savage was, and held
him for examination by the Indian agent and the com-
mander of Fort Prevost.

But there was something afoot that the plainsman
did not understand. He could not sweat the truth out
of the Indian, so he watched.

 

That the Ute might not see that he was being spied

upon so closely, Pawnee Bill went into the barroom of
‘the hotel, found a half-grown boy of the town there,

and promised him a dollar if he would follow the In-

dian and see where he went, or if he talked to any-
body before leaving.town by the western pass.

In half an hour the boy returned and told Pawnee

‘that the Indian had begged of several passers-by, and,

had last spoken with Jubal. Wakeman, at his shack, near
Three Finger Mine.

“Did the red go to the: shack and rouse Jubal out ?”
asked lib

BILL STORIES. : II

“He certainly did, Major Lillie,”
senger,

“And he didn’t knock at any other shack—just spoke
to men on the street?”

“That’s right.”

“Here’s your dollar, son,”
faction... “Youtearned it,”

He hurried out on the street again. The Indian
had passed out of town. The handsome plainsman
strolled up ‘the incline toward the Three. Finger prop-
erties.

Suddenly he saw Jubal Wakeman riding out into the
road. ‘The miner glanced down the hill, saw Pawnee
Bill, and favored him with a scowl.

“Hullo! off on his nag, heh? Called into the coun-
try on one of those mysterious rambles of his? On-
she-ma-da !’’ :

For some moments Pawnee was troubled in his mind.
He wondered whether he ought to saddle up and fol-
low the miner. But finally he decided that the place
for him was right there.

“It’s me to play the part of guardian angel ;” and
the plainsman grinned to himself. ‘The mine can't
run away, and the girl isn’t likely to run away.

“But while I was prognosticating over these hills
after Jubal Wakeman, something might happen to
either the mine or the girl—possibly to both.

“No; I'll stick around here for the present.”’

The plainsman wandered back to the Turnbull prem-
ises by noontime and took his place at the table in the
“Old Homestead Resterraw,” as it was entitled by its
customers.

Anna Gregory tertainly made a hit with those rough
fellows who came here for their meals.

“By heck! she’s got every other biscuit shooter from
the Panhandle to Hel-ena, an’ from Missouri to the
Coast, beat ten mile!’ was the enthusiastic comment
of one exuberant young fellow.

To Pawnee Bill, however, it seemed a shame that a
young lady of Miss Gregory's education and of her

replied the mes-

replied Pawnee, with satis-

late prospects should be obliged” to occupy her time

in this way.

This day passed rather slowly for Pawnee. The
place had few attractions, and his anxieties did not de-
crease.

Jubal Wakeman did not return. It wasn't possible
that the baron had so soon found Buffalo Bill, so the
major did not expect the scout until later.

Fle went to bed in the hotel that night and lay a
long time awake because of the dancing and other
noises underneath: Then, when he did sleep, it was so

soundly that the whole town had gone to work in the

morning before he was-aroused.
And he might have been even later asleep had he

‘not heard his own name shouted.

“Major! Major Lillie! That's him I want,” roared
the bull-like voice of old Turnbull, and the man had
evidently burst into the public room below.

“Whar is he? Hi, gosh! we want him—want him
bad.” . :

 
 

EZ

“What's the matter, Turnbull?” demanded the hotel
keeper, as Pawnee Bill’s feet struck the floor. ‘“That’s
the major gittin’ up now.”

“It’s the gal—she’s done disappeared,” bawled Turn-
bull. —

“The gal you an’ Mis’ Turnbull took in?”

“The very same, Jerry.’

“What’s happened her?” : ”

“She went down ter the spring. You know that
spring b’low our shack?” .

“T bet-che !”

“Waal, she went thar an hour ago. She didn’t come
back, an’ so I went down. Injuns——’’

“What's that?”

The hotel man’s question was a shout. And at that
moment Major Lillie plunged down the stairs, buckling
on his belt as he ran.

“Injuns, do you say, Turnbull?” he demanded.

“Thet’s what, major,’ declared the man. ‘I don’t
know how many. I seen their tracks.”

“Pony tracks ?’’

“No. Afoot they was.”

“Utes !”

“TI reckon so. They must ha’ grabbed the poor gal
as soon as she come to the spring. Ain’t thet jest
thunder? An’ she only escapin’ from ’em a week ago?’

Pawnee Bill stopped for no further palaver. He
rushed out of the hotel, shouting for Turnbull to follow
and show him the place.

 

seer

i CHAPTER Vit
FO T ON. Tot Ro RAD hy,

As he ran out of the town, with old Turnbull puffing
along behind him like a broken-winded automobile,
Pawnee Bill blamed himself seriously for what had
taken place.

‘Even the baron would have seen that nigger in the
woodpile,” was the bowie man’s thought. “He would
have better remained to watch over the girl and I should
have gone for Buffalo Bill.

“When the Injun took special pains to see Wake-
man, and Wakeman at once took to the tall brush, any
man with half an eye could have seen the combination
and suspected the outcome.

“That Jube Wakeman and the Utes—Flying
Feather, it’s likely—are friendly. There was a reason
why the reds carried the girl away captive in the first
place instead of killing her with her folks:

“Wakeman wants to get her in his power. Wants
.. to use her. Wants to get her signature, perhaps, to

papers, which, will make his gobbling up her fortune
legal. ae

“On-she-ma-da! what a fool I have been,” groaned
Pawnee Bill. : ‘

Just then the old man bawled to him that he was.
taking the wrong path to the spring, and the plains-
man waited for the other to come up.

 

THE BUFFALO

  

BILL SPORES:

“She hasn’t been gone more than an hour, Turn-
bull?” asked Pawnee Bill anxiously. ;

“Not much more.”

‘Then the trail is hot.”

“My Lord, major! you won’t start right arter her
alone?” :

“T won't let any grass grow under my feet, you
ean bet.” |

“But lemme rouse out some of the boys.
some old Injun fighters hereabout vs

“All the better. Get ’em as quick as you like. I'll
leave signs in the trail so that they can follow me
easy. But I’m after the reds and the girl hotfoot.
I won't give the devils any chance to harm her.”

“Down yonder, Major Lillie—thar’s the spot,” said
Turnbull.

The spring bubbled up in a bucket-shaped hollow,
and not far from the noisy mountain brook that sup-
plied most of the town with its water. Brush and
some trees grew all along the banks of the browling
stream and fended the bed of it from the gaze until
one got right down to it. |

The spring was hidden, too, from any human habita-
tion, although it was not out of pistol shot of Turn-
bull’s shack.

“And why she didn’t yell for us, Major Lillie, when
the reds grabbed her. I dunno,” commented Turnbull,
as the plainsman scrutinized the ground about the
spring.

“Easy enough. They stoppered her mouth in some
way, you can bet, the moment they grabbed her,” re-
marked Pawnee Bill.

He was down on his knees, studying the tracks. In
half a minute he was up again and gave his opinion.

“Three reds—not more. They leaped on her as she

Thar’s

 

‘stooped over the spring, There’s her broken pitcher.

The ground is damp here and I can easily make out
the prints of the bucks’ feet.

“There's two big men and a little one.
all reds .

“Hi, gosh!” cried Turnbull; “you wouldn’t expect
any of the scoundrels to be white men, would you?”

“I believe there’s a white man mixed up with this
game, Turnbull,” muttered Pawnee Bill.

“Hi, gosh! You don’t mean that, major?”

“Ido. But I can’t explain now. Go get a posse of
the boys. We don’t want just gun fighters; we want
fellows who know a little something about the woods.

“If I’m not here when you come back, you'll see
signs of where I’ve gone.” ‘The plainsman showed
Turnbull how to follow the trail he would leave. “Come
after me careful. Have some of the boys watch the

pass above through the hills so that the reds can't get
through with the girl.”’ uN

“They couldn't git back that a way after daybreak,”
declared Turnbull. “Too many of the boys work up
there,” | ;
_ “All right. And if you chance upon an old fellow
named Grizzly Dan, as you follow along through the
forest, tell him about this and that Pawnee Bill is fol-

They're

 

  
 

 

lowing the red scamps and the girl. Get him inter-

ested.” i
“Good Lord! I know thot feller, soualy admitted
Turnbull. “He used to live around yere.’

“He sure did.”

“You're likely to run against him anywhere in the
forest. But he sure does tote nasty company with
him.”’

“You mean his bears? He’s got a herd of ‘em some-
where. But cracked or not, he is a wonderful trail
hunter, and I’d like his help as long as my old necarnis
and Nick Nomad are not here.”

“All right, major.
promised Turnbull, and. turned back into the town to
rouse out a band of trusty fellows to follow the girl
and her captors.

Pawnee did not waste a moment. He saw that the
footprints of the three Indians had come from the
mountain stream, and they turned back in that same di-
rection. They had caught up the girl and carried her
so that her footprints were not visible in the damp
soil beyond the spring.

This was a plateau of some breadth just here, and
the stream flowed less noisily over a bed of sand and
gravel. It was much too wide for an athlete to jump
across, too.

The Indians had approached the spring from a covert
of bushes which bordered the stream. ‘They had re-
turned to the same spot. Here on the bank of the
little river their tracks began and ended!

But this did not astonish Pawnee Bill. He knew
that the reds would put every obstacle possible in the
way of pursuit. The girl was stolen in broad day-
light; without doubt they had laid their plans very
carefully.

And Pawnee likewise believed that there was a white
man behind the atrocity, and that the Indians would
be urged on by his fiendish mind. The success of the
enterprise lay in the ability of the redskins to take the
girl beyond the reach of her white friends, and to do
it quickly.

Pawnee did not believe that this could be done if the -

Indians remained with their captive on. this‘ eastern
side of the mountain range. The country to the west
was much milder, and the Indians invested it in greater
numbers.

Once beyond the mountains the task of finding the

girl would be enormous. There were many Indian vil-
lages and hide-outs in the hills that the whites knew
nothing about. And the Utes would Jan by each
other to a degree!
- But Pawnee did not believe that the reds could get
through the chain of mountains by Lone Tree Gap. He
believed they had come that way; but to return by day-
light would reveal the whole party to one or more of
the miners working up that way.

This spring was on the south side of the town. In
this direction the nearest cut through the hills was
the.Sandeman Pass, from which Pawnee and the baron
had brought the girl not many days before.

THE BUFFALO

  

[ll bear Grizzly Dan in mind,”

    

BILL STORIES. | | us

 

The Indians doubtless knew a. shorter trail to this
pass than Pawnee had followed; but it was to Sande-
man, he believed, the captive would be taken.

“And I'll catch them before they make that pass,

ot I'll go out of business!’ muttered the bowie man,
as he reflected upon the bank of the stream.

The Indians had evidently come down. the river,
from the direction of the gap between the mountain
peaks; they had walked in the water, for their foot-
prints, as we have seen, began right here where Paw-
nee stood.

But had they continued to walk down the stream
after getting the girl, or had they turned back on their
trail?

The water trail is about as hard to follow as any-
thing in the wilderness. ‘These villains, with their cap-
tive, had stepped back into the stream. Had they gone
downstream or up?

Pawnee Bill stepped aside to where a birch tree
stood. He was able to pull a loose strip of the bark
from the trunk—a strip several inches wide and two
feet or more long.

He rolled this up into a tube and stepped out upon
a leaning tree trunk that here overhung the stream.
The place was.some yards above the point where the
redskins must have left and again entered the water. —

The stream flowed smoothly here—with scarcely a
ripple—over a bed of perfectly hard, smooth. sand.
The water was, too, some two feet deep. Not a mark |
appeared to the naked eye upon the sandy bed of the
stream.

But Pawnee Bill had learned many a trick of wood-
craft from the old trapper, Nick Nomad, and had
learned by his own experience in the wilds as well.

With the tube of bark in his hand he knelt upon the
tree trunk, and placing the end of the tube to his eye,
peered through it down into the water as though it
were a telescope.

‘The concentration of the power of sight in his eye
enabled him to see marks upon the bed of apparently
smooth sand under the water that with the naked eye
he could not distinguish.

The tiny ridges and lines which the action of the
water had traced upon the hard sand were visible to —
him then. And in addition there were the plain out-
lines of several footprints.

The prints showed that the three redskins had both
come down the stream and gone up it. In other words,
they had returned in the direction whence they had
come.

The scout sprang to the bank with an exclamation
of confidence and satisfaction. Like a hound that has
suddenly got a sure scent, he started up the bank of |
the stream at a good pace.

Wherever he could he got across the stream and
searched the other bank for traces of the men he was
following. Indeed, he expected to find that os had —
left the stream on the south bank.

And yet that was not sure. Nothing was sure.

He
did not let a foot of either bank go unexamined.

  

   
   
 
   

4 | | THE BUFFALO

Meanwhile he was finding, now and then, a sign in
the very bed of the stream that assured him the red-
skins had continued this way.

Where the water dashed over rocks and down declivi-
ties from one terrace of the hillside to another, he
realized that the reds must have fairly crawled up the
rocks, and every trace of their passing was immediately
washed away by the “‘white water.”

But sometimes an overturned stone on the bottom of
the stream, or a broken place in the bank where a
clutching hand had sought to sustain a moment’s bal-
ance, or a tree root recently loosened from the soil,
showed the keen-eyed plainsman that the reds had been
this way.

The trail hunter passed confidently up the stream,
getting farther and farther from the town itself, and
coming near to the Three Finger properties.

From one point he could see the shaft sheds and
the shack of Jubal Wakeman; but everything there-
about seemed empty and deserted.

If the man who had so mismanaged Anna Gregory’s
money was behind this dastardly attack upon the poor
girl, he was wisely keeping away from the mine, and
from the town, at this juncture.

 

CHAPTER Vii
PAWNEE BILL AT WORK.

He came to a pool with a big flat rock, all under
water, making good half of the area of the stream’s
bed here. The water was deep, and eddying, too.

From the left bank a low-branched tree dipped the
fronded ends of its limbs into the stream like a wood
nymph trailing her robes. On the other side of this
pool a small, boxlike plank wharf had been built out
from the bank.

This wharf was on the property of the Three
Finger Mines. What use it could be Pawnee Bill did
not know; nor did he stop to question.

He did give a short scrutiny of the flooring of te

wharf. There was not the trace of a footstep upon the
clean boards. The Indians had not left the water trail
there.

Higher up the stream the banks were precipitous and
rocky., The water, indeed, ran through a miniature
cafion from the foot of the thirty-foot wall that he
could identify by the mist rising from its foot.

He doubted strongly if the reds had gone farther
than this pool; yet when he searched the southern
bank up and down for rods, he could find no foot-
prints of moccasins upon the soil.

Finally he came back into the pool, standing almost
over his boot tops in the water, and put this question
to himself: “With the possibility of pursuers in the
rear, how would I try to leave this stream at this spot
without leaving a plain trace behind me?”

In other words, he put himself in the place of the
redskins and tried to think with their minds, biased

by the circumstances which confronted them. Not

   

   

BILL STORIES.

an easy thing for a white man to do successfully, for
the red mind and that of his white conqueror are not
the same by any means.

But Kulux-Kittybux had lived for years with the
Indians, and more than most white men did he under-
stand them.

The reds had come ee far upstream. He was
confident of that. And to go farther would bring
them to an impossible thing—a climb up the water
fall, or up the equally steep side of the river gorge

Presumably they had not learned to fly. Yet Paw-
nee Bill’s keen glance was cast heavenward. And
for a good reason indeed.

There were the drooping branches of the tree—al-
most over his head. He saw that there was at least one
limb that a tall man could reach when he stood on
this very flat rock on the edge of which Pawnee Bill
stood himself.

To reach the spot the plainsman would have had to
get in over his boot tops; the redskins had not trou-
bled themselves about the depth of the water.

Pawnee Bill studied the limb from its fronded end

‘to the trunk, which leaned at a slight angle from the

bank on the south. side. Then, as his. gaze traveled
slowly back, he saw a small white mark on the limb—
a notch cut through the brown covering of the branch.

It was enough! This small white mark told the ob-
servant white man a good deal. “A bit of bark had
been stripped from the limb. Somebody had climbed
upon the branch—there could be no doubt of it.

Pawnee did not attempt to repeat the performance
that he believed the fugitives had given. He had al-
ready examined the bank, but he knew he had over-
looked something.

And as soon as he crawled out onto the land and
taken another view into the treetops he was ‘‘made
wise’ immediately.

The limbs of another tree were interlocked with
the branches of this one which overhung the stream.
An agile person could easily have swung from an upper
branch of the waterside tree, into a lower branch
of the other.

“On-she-ma-da!’’ ejaculated the bowie man. “And
those reds could have swung the girl with them. Yes,
by thutider! there’s a broken twig—and another. I’m
on the trail, all right.”

This second tree was wide-spreading. Its farther
branches overhung a huge bowlder. The drop to this
bowlder would not be six feet.

Pawnee Bill approached the bowlder, gazing sharply
all around it for some mark or footprint, There was
no sign, but when he crept up and looked at the sur-
face of the huge stone, which was taller than he Was,
he saw some freshly broken twigs and leaves upon it.

“They landed here after their aérial flight—as sure
as shooting!’ he grunted. ‘And then what?”

Beyond the bowlder was a rocky sidehill. The ribs
of the mountain lay fairly uncovered here. Tufts
of grass and a few bushes grew from between the

»

 
  

or
ot

he

AS

I$

ch

  

open.

 

  

interstices:in the rocks; but th

soil bigger than a man’s hand.
The Indians could easily have crossed this open

space, and to find their trail after they left the slope

was going to be a mighty hard thing.

In his interest, however, the plainsman had not for-

ere were no patches of

gotten caution. He had approached the bowlder from

the brookside as carefully as though he expected to
find an enemy just behind this huge rock. He satis-
fied himself that the enemy was not there, but he scru-
tinized the rocky hillside without himself being in sight
of anybody beyond the open place.

“On-she-ma-da !’’ muttered the handsome plainsman.
“This would be just the sort of a spot they'd watch for
a trailer. And I'd be a dumb fool to play into their
hands,

“An-pe-tu-we! My game is not to go out in the
There’s nothing to be found there, anyway.
The point to decide is where the red rascals left the
rocks—and I bet a blue stack it’s somewhere in yonder
forest.

“But first, 1s there a sentinel here? Is the spot being
watched? Did one of the red scamps remain behind
to spot me, perhaps?’ thought Pawnee Bill.

These queries required answers. To answer them
wrongly might mean the death of the trail hunter, and
Pawnee Bill, despite his reckless courage, knew well
the game he was up against.

Ee placed no dependence upon the men Turnbull
might bring up the stream. They would do more harm
than good, perhaps. :

Pawnee first desired to get on the straight-and-plain
trail of the fugitives. If he once got the reds on the
run with their captive, he was quite sure he could
hold them until the gang behind came up to his help.

He had left marks for Turnbull on the bank of the

stream, and now at the pool where he had turned
south to follow the reds.» The men from Lone Tree
Gap would surely be able to follow his trail, and that
did not trouble him at all. Ge

But every moment he lingered behind this sheltering
rock gave the reds more chance to get away. He
feared little that the scamps would really injure Anna
Gregory. Without doubt she was being carried off for
purposes of Jubal Wakeman’s own, and the scoundrel
wanted her alive, not dead!

But Pawnee Bill spent little time in idle ruminations.
His sharp eyes were all the time examining the forest
line across the rocky hillside. He picked out several
coverts in which, had he been an Indian sent back
to guard the trail, he might have hidden himself.

One of these was a thick spruce tree, the branches

of which were so lush that a company of riflemen
might have been successfully hidden in it.
_ There was no wind stirring. Pawnee Bill watched
this tree for some silent moments, and finally ob-
served a “teetering” of a branch about halfway up the
tree. It might not be so, but as he saw a branch above
likewise sag down, the bowie man believed that some-
thing or somebody was climbing up the tree.

THE BUFFALO

Dit

 

STORIES. | 1

 

If it was one of the redskins, he was doubtless
getting higher so as to have a wider view over the
hillside. : :

Pawnee Bill hesitated. If he fired at the unseen crea-
ture going up the tree his presence at this spot would
be revealed to the sentinel—whether in the tree, or out.

And whether the redskin whom Pawnee suspected
was in the neighborhood, was making the slight dis-
turbance in the tree or not, a shot sent in that direc-
tion might make him reveal his presence, wherever
he was!

This discovery Pawnee wanted to make. He did
not believe more than one man would have been left
behind to watch the trail. The other two reds would
have carried Anna Gregory deep into the forest.

“By my sacred O-zu-ha!” muttered the bowie man;
“Tl take the chance;’ and he whipped out one of his
guns and took deliberate aim at the thick spruce
tree, and at the point where he still saw the branches in
motion, |

CHAPTER IX;
CE Oe VL GA GE)

In a beautiful valley which sloped down from each
point of the compass to the shores of a blue lake and
the stream that flowed out of it, with lush green
meadows, here and there groves of fine trees, and all the
beauties of a magnificent park, was pitched the village
of ‘lwo Toes, the oldest chieftain of the Utah Utes,
or Mountain Utes, as they were called to distinguish
them from the tribes to the north.

The tepees of the redskins dotted a beautiful, slop-
ing lawn; the smoke of their cooking fires coiled
lazily into the upper air; their canoes were drawn up
on the lake bank.

It was a most peaceful scene on a certain afternoon.
There were few but squaws, and children about the
camp. Before the better and larger tepee of the old
chief, a group of men—both red and white—were
gathered, and the squaws circled that squatting group
with as much curiosity as white women would have
had under similar circumstances.

The consultation was of grave moment. These
squaws were anxious for the safety of their husbands,
fathers, brothers, and possible sweethearts!

The tribe had been uneasy for some months. Ru-
mors had shuttlecocked hither and yon, and the entire
tribe was on the qui vive. :

Those living at Two Toes’ village had been stung
less by. these flying bees of news than most of the.
other Utes. Old Two Toes was a wise old redskin,

and his youth was past. Besides, his village was deep
in the mountains, and the movements of the nervous
white men who could not keep still meant less to him
than it did to most of his tribe. -

But this morning his braves—almost all the young
bucks and many of the others—had disappeared from
the village.

A. hotfooted courier had come in with

   

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as bad or worse: straits as himself.

   

a6 : THE BUFFALO

the news that there would be visitors—and visitors

that most of the Ute braves shrank from meeting. -

Old Two Toes, an Indian with perfectly white hair

and a benign face, had made ready to welcome the _

visitors by donning his richest apparel.

‘The’ cavalcade that had finally ridden into the val-
ley and the village consisted of Buffalo Bill—‘“Pa-e-
has-ka,’ as he was called in the Indian vernacular
because of his long hair—his scouts, Wild Bill Hickok,
Nick Nomad, the borderman, and Little Cayuse; and
with them Major Pringle, in command of the force
sent into the mountains to subdue and overawe the
Utes, and sufficient of his staff to make a showing.
~ The old chieftain had met them with marked hos-
pitality, and now they had all squatted in a circle for
council, and the peace pipe had been passed from the
old chief, until it came back to his gnarled hand
again.

“And now Two Toes will listen to his friend Pa-
e-has-ka, who has not come all this distance without
reason,’ said the white-haired chieftain, ‘and will listen
to the representative of the Great Father at Washing-

ton. who commands the pony soldiers and the walk-a- |

ele

Buffalo” Bill, “who well knew the value oF stilted elo- .
quence as well as a dignified bearing, in all Indian ~

transactions, .took -his tine about beginning. Major
Pringle had left it to him to “tongue lash” the old chief
and the few braves who had remained to listen to the
white men.

“Two. Toes, and you other men of the Ute nation,
listen: It was a long time ago—many, many moons

past and before the Utes had drifted into these valleys

before the advance of the white man,
Bill slowly.

“A cloud-burst—a storm of much rain and wind and
fire in the sky—occurred in a certain cafion far to the
south of this valley. There were red hunters in that
cafion and the cloud-burst caught them unexpectedly,
swept their camp away, all the meat they had hung up,
their weapons, their ponies, their tepees.

‘“‘And as the red men clung to the sides of the cafion,
which they could not climb, the flood rushed through
and swept them from their perches. One after the
other were they carried downstream, and many of them
perished.
~ “But one red man was able to keep above the flood
until it subsided somewhat and left him stranded upon a
sand bar. And when he would have drawn himself
across the sands and so to the river bank he found that
each step he took sunk him deeper into the sand.

“His feet were held as in the grip of a giant. The
sands sucked him down. He was soon knee-deep in
the mire, and when he flung himself forward on his
hands, they likewise sunk, and he was bound, hand and
foot, in the wet sand, and with only the ability to call
for help.

““And to whom should he Calle tis friends were in
There were none

” began Buffalo

near to hear. “

   

BILL STORIES.

“But there was an enemy near. He was a whiteman.
He was a white man who was known to this red man

in the mire, and one whom the red man believed to |

be one of his greatest enemies.

“But this white man rode down to. the pie a the

stream, saw the trouble of his red brother, and imme-
diately undertook to save his red brother from death.

“Did the red: man refuse this help? He did not.
Death faced him. Despite the blood feud between the
red man and the white, the white man knew how to
save the red, and because he could save him, he did so.
“Afterward they smoked the pipe of peace. They
were no less enemies in nature, being the one red and
the other white. But in their talks thereafter the red
man always admitted to the white man that the knowl-
edge of the white man was good—that his knowledge
was greater than the red man in many ae and that
it was good.

“Ts not this so, oh, Two Toes?” eee Buffalo
Bill, suddenly looking directly at the old: chieftain.

““Pa-e-has-ka speaks with a single tongue,” admitted

the old man. ‘“Two Toes was the red man; Pa-e-

has- ka drew him out of the sand that sucks: down. :

Wul! it is so.”

“And so the white ma
more. oracularly, “
if the red will let him. The red man believes that his
ways and the ways of his grandfathers are better
than new ways. But he is wrong. If the red man will
peacefully live with the white man he will learn dif-
ferent.

“But here—in these valleys,’ pursued Buffalo Bill,
with a sweeping gesture, “the Utes have much room;
it will be long ere the whites crowd them at all in these
valleys. ‘Yet the braves belonging to my friend Two
Toes’ tribe have dug up the war hatchet and have
struck the whites—have killéd and robbed them.

‘For this wickedness, Two Toes, they shall be pun-
ished. If the guilty are not given up, the whole tribe
of the Utes shall suffer for the wrong done by the
foolhardy ones. So says the Great Father at Wash-
ington. - So says the great commander of the pony sol-
diers. So says Pa-e- aseka. and Two Toes knows that
what is thus said will be carried out. I have spoken.’

The scout fell silent, and the Indians’ impassive faces
did not show even that they had heard. Finally, how-
ever, the ancient chief of the tribe said:

“Does Pa-e-has-ka know what braves of. my tribe
did this thing he tells us about?”

“He knows those of the Utes who are dead,” said
Buffalo Bill grimly. “The wickedness. of Flying
Feather and thase braves whom he had with him in
the raid have already cost the Utes many young men.
Swift Deer is gone; Fire-in-Sky is missing. The
squaws of the Utes weep for ps who have gone to
the happy hunting grounds.”

“Wuh!it is so,” chorused the few red men, in oe
tural tones.

-conetned Buffalo Bill,

is able to help the red at all times’

   

oem
na

 

  
   
  
  
  
  
 

 
 

Cone

re ee ee al
yee

 

were

ee ee

 

me a) Recut tan sie

  

A RRA RARE sorority LOM Ale Gh ame hago aoRa Dada ieee mers oa RTE

THE BUFFALO

FE lying Feather.must be given up to the pony sol-
diers,’ pursued Buffalo Bill.

But old Two Toes made a sweeping gesture of ob-
jection, and said:

“No. That cannot be. The Utes pannel sell the
blood of their brethren. If Flying Feather has broken
the peace, he may suffer for it. He is outlaw. If the
pony soldiers find him, he ‘nust. suffer. Two Toes
and his braves will not dig up the war hatchet for
Flying Feather.”
~ “Wuh!’ grunted the other reds.

“It is just,” declared Two Toes. “Let it be, Pa-e-
has-ka. The Great Father at Washington will see that
Two Toes and his people will remain at peace if their
lands are not taken away. The hunting is good. Our
bellies are fat. This Flying Feather would make
trouble for us all—and winter is coming.”

The old redskin liked his comfort. He was too old

snow to desire to suffer for his people, and the fires

of savage hatred against the whites had burned low in
his heart.

The party were smoking and talking very amiably,
and the real business of conference was over, when the
children and squaws, to say nothing of the dogs, began
screaming and running about at the edge of the village.
One of the phlegmatic bucks rose up, seized a long
black-snake whip and started in to teach the rabble
that they were offensive to the sober braves and to
the visitors.

But as the cruel whip began to crack, a voice arose
above the confusion that started Buffalo Bill, Hickok,
Nomad, and even Little Cayuse to their feet.

“Ach himmelblitzen! If you crack mit dot whiplash
aroundt-Toofer’s ears, Misder Inchun, meppeso he
vill kig you de mittle oof next veek into! Loog oudt

C2

for him, I dells you!

pet

CHAPTER X.
ON TO LONE TREE GAP.

“By Gorry!” cried Wild Bill; ‘that Dutchman must
have lost his way to Lone Tree Gap.”

“By th’ horned frogs 0’ Texas!’ agreed Nick No-
mad. “Ain’t you jest right? Suthin’s gone wrong,
thet thar’s sure.”

“But what about Pawnee and the girl?’ demanded
Buffalo Bill, as they hastened through the Ute village
toward the crowd that had gathered around the Baron
Willum von Schnitzenhauser.

“Vale, vale!’ shouted the Dutch pard, when he be-
held Buffalo Bill and his friends. ‘‘Here is de folks,

_Toofer, undt I haf been lookin’ for dem for two tays

yedt—Puffalo Pill, undt Vild Pill, undt old Nomat,
undt Leedle Cayuse. Idt is such a pleasandtness to
meet oop mit you again, py shiminy!”

He tumbled off his mule and shook hands heartily
all around.

- BILL STORIES.

17

VBut here is Pawnee and the girl?”. demanded

. Cody, again.

“Bawnee Pill undt de pootiful young laty iss adt
Lone Tree Gap yedt. Jes’ so! Or so dey vos dere
ven 1 lett dem.”

“And why did you leave them?” demanded Cody,
with anxiety.

“De pecause of dot I vill oxblanation to you yedt,”

declared the baron, and he proceeded so to do, with

much circumlocution, but making himself plain in the
end.

“Major Lillie believes that 1 am needed at Lone
Tree?” exclaimed Buffalo Bill. “Then it must. be
something serious—something more than the mere loss

of that girl’s money and the possible rascality of her

guardian.”

“By gorry! you're just right there,
Laramie man.

“Shucks!” grunted old Nomad. “We ain’t no more’n
out of one stew before we git in another.”’

“And glad enough you are to get into trouble, you
old croaker !” cried Wild Bill, laughing.

Buffalo Bill went at once to Major Pringle and
requested liberty to visit Lone Tree Gap and, on the
way, to sweep that part of the country for Flying
Feather and his renegades. Permission was cheerfully

agreed. the

given, and an hour later, after bidding old Two. Toes

a ceremonious good-by, Pa-e-has-ka led his little band
of scouts out of the village, and took the trail for
the north and east.

This valley was near a hundred and fifty miles from
Lone Tree Gap, but the trail was good and the way
pleasant. The baron and Toofer had made it in good
time and had seen no Indians; Buffalo Bill expected
to be no longer on the road than his Dutch pard had
been. Indeed, believing as he did that Pawnee Bill
must have a very special reason for wishing him to be

at Lone Tree Gap, the scout was likely to urge the
pace.

The mounts were comparatively fresh, for the trip

~ from the Gap had not troubled the baron’s tough
steed; they traveled until midnight, there being some-

thing of a moon, and were up and at it again by
daybreak the following morning.

They had not broken camp and gone many miles
on this day, however, when the keen eyes of Little
Cayuse, the Piute, descried something that he im-
mediately called to Buffalo Bill’s attention:

“Pa-e-has-ka! Him see Injun on top hill?

ied

tell um so!

The young redskin was pointing earnestly into the
north. The speck on the hilltop grew, when Cody
put his glasses on it, to be an Indian on a black-and-
white spotted horse.

“A guard, eh, Buffler?’? demanded Nick hoe

“Tooks like a scout sent out to watch us,’ ’ replied
the leader.

“Not from that old Two Toes’ village?’ cried Wild
Bill.

Um

 
       

8

      

“It’s a Ute, I bet a cent,’ teturned Buffalo Bill.
“But the peaceful members of the tribe have no rea-
son for watching us now.”

“Can we meppeso sur-r-roundt dot Inchun undt

pring him de camp into yedt?”’ suggested the baron.
' “He has already counted our party,” said Buffalo
Bill confidently. “We cannot fool him. But we can
ride that way and make the peace sign. If he is
friendly he may he able and willing to give us news
of Flying Feather and his gang of cutthroats.”

The party therefore moved off at a tangent, riding
openly toward the hill on which the lone Indian sat
upon his spotted horse like a statue.

“That’s a mighty fine-looking mustang that red has
got,” remarked Wild Bill, as they drew nearer. “It's
too good for an Injun.”

“Goin’ ter ride up an’ ax him fur it?” demanded No-

mad, with a chuckle.

““Tdt iss a pootiful spoddedt Li. schust so,” ad-
mitted the baron. “Pudt I vould nodt Toofer ox-
change for idt—no, sir!”

“Tt looks to me like a mighty rangy hoss,’’ said
Wild Bill. “I bet he can do some running if put
TO4b..

' “Ah!” ejaculated Buffalo Bill suddenly. “He seems
to be intending’ to show us the pony paces.”

The Indian and his mount had suddenly “come to
life.” The steed began to cavort upon the hilltop, and
by and by the red man loped easily away, turning west-

ward. Almost at once Buffalo Bill pulled up short.
“Hullo! Wot’s th’ matter, Buffler?” demanded Nick
Nomad.

“Tam not going to be lured so far off the track to
Lone Tree,” declared the scout. “‘We are needed there,
perhaps.”

““Meppeso let Chance go, Pa-e-has-ka, he ketch Ute.”

“Tf the Ute didn’t want to be caught, son, ye couldn’t
ketch him in a thousand years!’ grunted Nomad
oracularly. ° ““Thet thar’s some hawse—now you take
it from me!”

| “Ain't you right?” agreed Wild Bill.

“EF vould like to race mit dot spotted feller ven
‘Tooter vos feelin’ his pest yedt,”’ murmured the baron,
in doubt.

“T believe the fellow is trying to tag us and make
us follow,” said Buffalo Bill thoughtfully.. “Perhaps
he wishes to detain us.on the trail to Lone Tree—or
keep us from going there altogether. Now, why?”

“Ask an easier one, by gorry!” ejaculated Wild Bill.

“Well, as we’re not out here hunting conundrums,”
rejoined Buffalo Bill, with a smile, “we'll let the spotted
pony go and stick to our original course. On to
Lone Tree Gap, boys!”

They spurred away on the right track: but an hoe
later’ the lone Indian and the spotted horse appeared
on another eminence beside the trail. He seemed to

THE BUFFALO

be doing his best, did this redskin, to tempt the white

could be no doubt.
‘peared again, seemingly as fresh as ever, beside the

    

 

BILL STORIES. | a

men to abandon the direct route to the Gap. and chase
him over the hills and valleys.

For that he had a wonderfully fleet steed there
Three times he disappeared and ap-

trail to the Gap. Little Cayuse, the baron, and even old
Nomad began to itch to run down that spotted pony.

“He's only tempting you,” chuckled Wild Bill,
“Why, that spotted critter would run your old skates
off their legs!”

vir wangh! thar’s some bottom ter Hide- rack, I'd
have ye leniow,” cried Nomad.

“Undt Toofer can peat anyt'ing four feedt on—ven
he veels like idt,’’ boasted the tia ron.

“Navi, um good pony,” grunted Little Cayuse. “Him
like race um spotted bony wil!” :
“Oh, youare all very willing,” laughed Buffalo Bill;
“Dut this is neither the time.nor the place for any stich
capers. How do you know? Maybe that red has a

whole gang behind the hills waiting to get us right?”

“Meppeso,” agreed the baron, but i: don’t: pelieve
jdt iss so. He iss choost a fresh Inchun.”

“Fresh or stale,’ concluded Buffalo Bill, ‘we will

pay him the compliment of no further attention. Come
Gn, peys! 2.
He rode deliberately of: in the diveerion oft ‘Lone’
Tree Gap, and thereafter the red on the spotted horse
was not allowed to tempt them from the trail. Be-
fore night the strange Indian and his wonderfully swift
pony disappeared. The whites pushed on at their
mounts’ best pace for the Gap, resting only a. few
hours at a time, and early the next morning rode
over the summit and down into the mining camp
where Pawnee Bill had already become involved 4 in a
most exciting series of events.

ny

) CUAP TER XI.
“THE COLORED BROTHER EN) Aas WOODPILE.’

An hour before, Turnbull had rushed into’ the hotel
and aroused Pawnee Bill with the startling news of the
disappearance of Anna Gregory, supposedly carried
away by the redskins.

Pawnee was now on the trail, and just before Buf-
falo Bill and his friends rode to the very hotel Pawnee
had patronized, old man Turnbull, with half a dozen
other frontiersmen, had started after the bowie man
to give him such assistance as might be in their
power.

The news of the girl’s captivity, however, ‘had not
spread through the town, for the mines were in. ‘full
blast and most of the male population was at work.

_ While his friends dismounted and cared for the ani-
mals, Buffalo Bill chanced to*go to the post office first
of all. There Pawnee Bill’s ‘packet was ptt into his
hand and he tore a the Renee and — ‘it at
once.

50 when Wild Bill hailed him from the i of the
 

 

THE BUFFALO

hotel with the news that Anna Gregory had been cap-
tured that very morning by Indians and carried away,
the scout was already familiar with the incidents that
had led up to the catastrophe,

With Pawnee Bill, Cody saw at once the possible
connection between the Indian raid and Jubal Wake-
man’s affairs. Flying Feather and his crew might be
inspired by Wakeman in their atrocities, »

Forty thousand dollars alone was a great stake for
a man to play for. And if there was sorfe trickery
in the supposed ruin of the Three Finger properties,
the suspicion against Jubal Wakeman was more rea-
sonable still! :

The Ute renegades had got Miss Gregory's faithful
friends, who had traveled with her from the East, out
of the way. The girl had been saved from the massacre
—and for what? ‘

Her second captivity seemed to prove the suspicion
that she was desired alive for some secret purpose.
Flying Feather would certainly not have gone to all
this trouble over a single white squaw unless there
was something more coming to him as reward than
the girl herself!

Buffalo Bill, warning Wild Bill to keep their partners
in leash, and at the hotel, went down to the Old Home-
stead Restaurant at once and interviewed Mother
Turnbull.

“My old man and some of the boys has chased after
Major Lillie hotfoot, Colonel Cody,” said the woman,
with the confidence in her men folk that most Western
women have. “They'll git them reds betwixt ‘em—no
doubt of it. I only pray thar won't nothin’ happen to
Anna.” =

“Enough has happened if the reds have captured
her,” suggested Buffalo Bill.

“T don't know. They had her before. I begin to

believe thar’s a nigger in the woodpile, colonel.”

“How is that?”

“I can’t just say. Mebbe it’s only my feeling so.
But it’s funny them redskins should so desire the girl
and they never did her a mite of harm when they had
her before.”

“T see you can put two and two together, madam,”
said the scout.

VYou Believe Vin right? *

“T sure do. And I’m going to look for that colored
brother in the woodpile before I do anything else.
There are enough already on the trail of three In-
dians,”’

“I reckon likely your partner, Pawnee Bill, is right
able to take care of that many reds,’ said Mother
Turnbull. .

“I reckon so.”

“And you're expecting to do something—to, find
something -out—right There in town?” she asked
shrewdly,

“Well, I’d like to have a talk with Jubal Wake-
man.” See

  

BILE STORIES.

19

‘He wasn’t here airly this morning, but he is now,”
she said quickly.

“Have you seen him?”

“He come piling down here not ten minutes ago,
and asked what this story was about Anna being car-
ried off by Indians. I got somehow a feeling that
it warn’t such a power of a shock to him, at that!”

“T see. Where did Wakeman go?”

“Waal, colonel, he didn’t go with my old man and
the other boys after Major Lillie, he sure didn’t! I
bet you'll find him up around that flooded mine of
his.”’

Buffalo Bill went back up the hilly road and picked
up Wild Bill at the hotel. He would not let any ‘of
the others accompany him, for he was afraid that some
word might be dropped that would put Jubal Wake-
man on his guard.

The miner, however, seemed to be already expect-
ing the visit. He sat in the doorway of his shack, and —
he wiped his eyes ostentatiously before rising to offer
Colonel Cody his hand.

‘You've heard this terrible story, colonel?” moaned
Jubal. Wakeman. “I’m putting every trust in your >
friend Major Lillie; but the red scoundrels have got
the little girl this time for keeps—I feel it!” _
' “And what are you going to do about it?” démanded,
Buffalo Bill, eying the man quietly.

“Tf the boys don’t bring her back I shall take it up
with the Indian Bureau. It is an atrocity that must
not go unpunished :

“But meanwhile what of the girl?’ snapped Wild
Bill, who had already been “put wise’ by his partner
and chief. i

“What can we do more than is being done?” cried
Wakeman.

“T don’t see. that you're doing so much,” rejoined
Wild Bill. :

Wakeman began to show anger.

“What can I do?” he cried. “I’m no trail hunter.
There are better men after the redskins than I :

“And that’s no lie!’ muttered the Laramie man.

“See here, Wakeman,” Buffalo Bill said quickly,
“how about this mine? You are unable to pump the
water out of it, you say?”

“Uh-huh!” grunted the miner, startled by the change
of subject.

“You've had good engineers report on it?”

“Of course I have,” snarled the man, “but that ain’t
nothin’ to you.”

“You're mistaken. on that score,”
quietly.

“THow’s that?’

“T have a deep interest in the mine.”

“Hoshi! 1 don't see it.”

 

 

said’ Buffalo Bill

“T’m interested because it seems that Miss Gregory’s
_forty thousand dollars is sunk in it.”

“By mighty!’ exclaimed Jubal Wakeman.

“Both

  
 

20 THE BORPALO

  

you and that partner of yours, Pawnee Bill, are too
fresh.”

“We are friends of Miss Gregory. Don't mistake

but that we'll see her righted—if any wrong has been
done her.”

“Then go get her out of the bloody clutches of the
Indians—that’s more in your line,” snarled Wake-
man, !

“All in good time. Don’t hurry us,” said Buffalo Bill
calmly. “If you have no objection I’ll make a little
tour of inspection around here myself at present.”

“But I have objection!” cried Wakeman, starting up
again, and acting very ugly indeed. “You're not
wanted here. Get off the Three Finger property.”

Buffalo Bill nodded to Hickok, and in a flash the
pistol king had the business end of one of his guns
grinding a circular indentation in the region of Wake-
man’s waist line.

“Go easy!’ advised the Laramie man. “Just stay
here and talk with me—tell me the history of your
past life if you like—while Cody does his investigation
act... Keep easy!” :

As Buffalo Bill turned calmly away Wakeman began

to sputter again, but Wild Bill never would stand for
any fooling.

“Shut up! . Wipe off oe chin, and py down your
vest, old man—take it easy,” he said. “You're going
to stay right here until Cody comes back. Now you
might as well be calm about it.”

And stand there Jubal Wakeman did. Wild Bill
did not make him put up his hands, but the hard muzzle
of that gun had more effect on the fellow right then
than a New England conscience.

Buffalo Bill meanwhile peered down the shaft, meas-
ured the distance of the water from the top, and even
dipped up some of the water. Then he strolled over
to the pool where the mountain stream came down
from the heights.

Had he been there an hour before he would have seen
Turnbull and his crowd following on Pawnee Bill's
trail, but just now Buffalo Bill was not thinking of
Indians.

He examined the little docklike structure built out
into the pool, measured the height of the bank itself,
and then strolled back again. Little of the contour of
the ground escaped the scout’s keen eye.

When he came back to the shack he nodded to Wild
Bill again.

“Throw that fish back in the pond—he’s not worth
frying,” said Buffalo Bill f caeleeelys referring to Jubal
Wakeman.

 

 

 

BULA STORES:

  

Immediately Wild Bill joined him.
snarled after them:

“You think you are pretty smart fellers, but you
wont find anything to put up to me.. And don't you
be too important around here, either; I’ve got friends.”’

The two Bills walked away without replying, how-
ever. Hickok demanded :

“Well, what about it, Pard Cody? What did you.

find ?”

“There sure is a colored brother in the woodpile— .

and I’ve seen how I can poke him out with a long

pole!” replied the famous scout, and he chuckled.

per cena tres

CHAPTER XIT.
: “ONE ?
Pawnee Bill fired!
The movement of the thick branches inclined him
to believe that a spy—probably one of the three red-
skins that had run off with Anna Gregory—was climb-.

ing higher up in the tree so as to obtain a better view
of the rocky hillside.

There was not a breath of air stirring - iutelace
some creature—human or brute—was the cause of the
disturbance in the tree.

Pawnee Bill aimed a little high, for he scarcely
wished to kill the spy—not at this juncture.

Quick on the heels of the report of his gun there was
a wilder agitation of the branches, and for an instant
the top of the redskin’s head and the eagle feather
in his topknot appeared.

The bowie man had not been isbn | in his sus-
picion, then?

With a whoop, Pawnee leaped up from behind the
bowlder where he had crouched so long, and ‘started
boldly across the open hillside. Again and again he
fired into the tree, and before he was halfway to it,
the branches shook mightily and he had a vague
glimpse of a lithe figure dropping to the ground,

It was one of the Indians, without a particle of doubt,
But Pawnee was careful not fire directly at the fugi-
tive.

Instead, the bowie man increased his stride and
quickly reached the foot of the tree.
the Indian’s footsteps were plain.

' Darting away on this fresh trail, which led in a
southerly direction along the mountainside, the bowie
man quickly caught sight of the red again.
stayed his hand.

  

    

Wakeman —

The marks of —

“But be.

      
   

  

A dozen times within the next ten minutes he might
have shot down the redskin, but that was not to his
advantage, Pawnee believed.

The white man ran easily. He did not press the
red too hard, yet, no matter how fast the Indian ran.
Pawnee Bill kept within sight, or hearing. And here
and there the keen-eyed bowie man saw signs that
the terrified redskin was following straight on the
trail of the two reds that had gone ahead with the girl
prisoner !

That was why Pawnee Bill spared the red scoun-
drel. There was no reason in the laws of Indian war-
fare why the white man should not shoot down the
fugitive at the first opportunity. Given circumstances
the other way about and the savage would have de-
stroyed his enemy instantly and without compunction.

The taking of prisoners never figured very largely
in Indian warfare. The conquering red delighted in
taking certain prisoners back to the tribe and tortur-
ing the said prisoners in indescribable ways; but to
take a prisoner for the purposes of exchange, or to
diminish the numbers of the enemy never entered into
the plans of the redskins:

And Pawnee Bill had no time now to stop and
capture this red alive, tie him up somewhere, and
afterward come back to release him.

He held back from killing the red scamp, how-
ever, as long as he believed the fellow was leading him
in the direction followed by his friends with the
white girl,

But this very delay in killing the red almost cost
Pawnee Bill his life. The enemy was as cunning as
a fiend from the pit. Although now and then Pawnee
came to an opening in the forest where he could see
the flitting figure of thé red warrior, for long min-
utes he followed his enemy by the dull sound of his
footsteps.

To keen-eared Pawnee this was easy. The redskin
was running too anxiously to try to smother the sound
of his own feet. And for a time the noise he made
seemed to be unnecessarily loud.

Pawnee thought he was getting very near the red;
but then he sighted him once more, and realized that
the fellow was some distance away, but that his steps
sounded remarkably loud. .

A’ half suspicion formed in Pawnee’s mind. Sud-
denly he apprehended an odd sound to the redskin’s
tread, The beating of his moccasins seemed to float

| back to Pawnee more rapidly and with a hollow rever-

bration,

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

man’s lips.

  

20

     

When a man’s life depends upon so small a thing
—the tiniest mistake, indeed—he is not likely to ac-
cept any strange thing without question. The peril
of their calling is what made the frontiersmen and
Indian fighters so keen of sight, hearing, and sense,
or instinct.

The change in the sound of the pad, pad, padding
of the redskin’s feet warned Pawnee Bill that there
was peril ahead. He was running so lightly himself
that the Indian could not have heard him.

With the bound of a panther, Pawnee leaped aside
from the more open path and ran as tight as he could
go parallel to the trail but hidden by the underbrush.

For several hundred yards he traveled like the wind.
He put every ounce of strength and breath into this
dash, and in a minute, or less, should have caught up
with the redskin.

Yet as he ran this swift pace Pawnee was aware
that the footsteps of the red had ceased. He seemed
to have put on a spurt of speed, too, and suddenly
passed out of hearing of the trained ear of the plains-
man.

“On-she-ma-da!’ muttered Pawnee.
ble Ah?”

He halted, and fell to the ground on his face. He
had seen something which immediately explained the
whole mystery to his apprehensive mind.

There, beside the open path which the red and he
had been following, lay a hollow log. And crouched
behind it was the Indian whom Pawnee Bill had
chased out of.the tree and had followed thus far along
the mountainside.

Beside the red scoundrel lay a club, and Pawnee
saw at once that the savage had leaped over the log,
grabbed the stick, and beaten a tattoo upon the hollow
log like the running of his own feet.

Had the white man been fooled by these sounds, he
would have pressed on along the path and come into
plain view of the redskin.

The latter had now grabbed the rifle he carried and
was waiting to shoot his pursuer down the instant he
should appear in the open forest!

“By my sacred O-zu-ha!’”” murmured Pawnee Bill.
“You have gone far enough. Your course is run, you
red devil!”

With the thought came the deed. The bowie: man
snatched a keavy-handled knife from his belt and ut-
tered a shrill yelp. t

Up rose the redskin, with an answering cry, and
whirled toward the sound emitted from the white
Pawnee Bill sprang into view, and as the

‘Here is trou-

 

   
 

   

bee "THE BUFFALO. BILL STORIES.

 

redskin firea point- ~blank at him, the bowie man flung
his blade!

The bullet whistled into the treetops. With the
death shriek on his lips, the Ute fell backward with
the blade quivering in his breast.

He was dead before Pawnee could reach his side,
and, stooping above him, the plainsman muttered:
“One!”

CHAPTER XIII.
“Two! We

“pg like to have got him before he fired,” added
Pawnee Bill, seizing the dead redskin by the shoul-
ders and dragging him behind the, log, where he cov-
ered him quickly with brush.

“Tf his death yell did not warn his friends, the rifle
shot doubtless did.”

The plainsman picked up the rifle, saw what make it
was and that it was one of those cheap firearms sold
to the Indians by unscrupulous traders, and then banged
the lock to pieces on a stone.

“That gun will never do any Injun good again,”
muttered Pawnee Bill. “And now—what next?”

But he was pretty sure what the next move would
be—both his own and that of the Indians.

He saw that, by the actions of these redskins, they
were putting forth every endeavor to bear the white
girl away. They had no immediate intention of in-
juring her.
carried her safely to some rendezvous and delivered
her into the hands of him who had promised to re-
ward them.

For this reason the first redskin had-been sent back
to spy upon, and if possible to kill, the pursuer. The
reds evidently were quite sure that if anybody man-
aged to find their well-hidden trail, it would be Pawnee
Bill.

' They knew he was at Lone Tree Gap when a
ran away with the captive. Evidently they had known
his impetuous courage so well that they had gambled
oft his coming alone after them. !

-- When they had done their best to hide their trail
in the stream, and had left the stream so cautiously,
the first Indian had remained behind to see if Pawnee
Bill was really sharp enough to spy out their trail.

Seeing that the white man was their equal, the red
spy had done his best to kill Pawnee. Instead, his
own life had been‘lost. |

She was valuable to them only as they

But in losing it the red had done his best to warn

  
   

We

his) friends to beware of the conquering white man.

The sound of his rifle, or the shriek he had uttered—

perhaps both, if his friends. were near enoaale
told the story of the first Indian’s death.
The other two, with the captive, had not got too
far ahead to hear. They would now be on the lookout
for Pawnee Bill.
lookout for them.

With the white girl they could not travel at great

speed. It was all right to carry her at a run for a
short distance; but they could not keep it up.

Having no steeds this side of the range, the Utes

could only travel at the rate of four miles an hour—
more or less.

And the girl would surely not aid them in traveling.
Instead, she was plucky enough to hamper their move-
ments—of this Pawnee Bill was confident.

Therefore, he figured that one of the two redskins
would drop back—would drop back at once when they
heard the gunshot, or the death yell of their tribesman

—and that this fellow would act the part which the

dead Indian had perforce laid down.

He would lie in wait, spy upon the following white
man, and, if possible, shoot Pawnee Bill from ambush.
It therefore behooved the plainsman to follow the
trail of the fugitives with much circumspection.

He had no means of knowing how far ahead the
reds were when warned by the rifle shot.
he sure just how soon one of the scoundrels would

take the back track, or lay somewhere in wait for him..

The trail had begun to lead down the lower reaches
of the mountain toward a wooded valley. Now and
then Pawnee Bill obtained a glimpse of water in that

valley.

He knew that there must be a pond of some size
there, and a stream running into it and another run-
nig out of it to the south. This last stream crossed
the Sandeman Pass trail, more than a hundred miles
below, as the crow flies.

Pawnee Bill decided that the reds and their captive

' were going down into the valley so as to strike some

smooth and better-defined trail, known well to the red
runners. Oe ae
Being wise in woodcraft, the plainsman felt sure
that this trail would pass very near, if not exactly on,
the shore of the pond. In all probability it was a path,
known to the reds long before the coming of the white
men, and one which followed the banks of the creeks
and the shore of the pond—a path possibly made by
red trappers in the generations gone by. ss >

Therefore, with this belief in his mind, Pawnee Bill

 

And the plainsman must be on the

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THE BUFFALO

darted down the Hill in a’straight line, paying no at-
terition to: the marks of the feet of those whom he was

chasing, and in half an hour came out upon the border

of the lake.

“He had found the tt he Saccied to find—not so
| well: defined, yet plainly a runway known to the Utes.
Now he followed*it cautiously: to see if he could
find the point where the two reds and their captive
had entered ‘this path. :

~ And this discovery he made within a very few min-
utes. There weré not only the fresh footprints of
two wee of moccasined feet, ‘but the pak had walked
here, too. ! oe

“On-she-ma-da!’’ muttered Pawnee. “Tent she: the
plucky one? She has deliberately chosen the damp
eround to walk.on so as:to leave-a plain trail.’

The redsking had-evidéntly béen too hurried at this
point: to notice: this ‘act of their captive.

_But now Pawnee Bill began to move forward with
great caution. . Somewhere—somewhere near, too—a
redskin Was exercising quite as great caution to ap-
| proach the white man arid’ not bes seen by a until. it
was too late.

‘Pawnee’ Bill Fretted at this ea All the time he
was sure the third red was getting farther and farther
away with the girl.-

«But he dared’ not let one of the Indians get behind
Then, indeed, would he be completely at the
mercy of the red fiends!

Fearing to follow in the runway, Pawnee pushed his
way into’ the thicker brush and forest directly on the
bank of the: pond. In some places he could drop
down upon the yellow sand and creep along under the
bank itself and the half-bare roots of the trees.

He left a plain trail here, but he did not care. He
believed that as. hi the second Indian was ahead of
him,

- The pond was not wide, but it was five miles or
more in length. About in the middle, but not’ more
than half a mile away, was a closely wooded island.
He saw a flock of crows winging their way to this
island, in the tall trees of which their nests were doubt-
less built.

Suddenly. the keen-eared plainsman heard a stick
crack. A-dry stick, when stepped on, will sometimes
sourtd: as doudly asa pistol shot in the silent forest. It
was hoon now, and nothing but the drowsy hum of
insects, or the “plump” of a jumping trout in the wa-
ter behind him, punctuated the silence.

That cracking stick assured Pawnee Bill that man
was near No wild thing of the wood would have

him,

 

BILL. STORIES. 23°
made the mistake of stepping on the dry twig; and it
was odd that an Indian should have done ‘it. :

- But this redskin was staring about the wood for him;
he had neglected to choose that particular step with-
caution. pe,

‘Pawnee Bill wriggled out upon the ba and ce
as soft-footed as a wraith through the thicket. in the:
direction of the sound. nee

. Suddenly, over the tops of some low brush, he cad
himself glaring into the ey eyes of an eagle-tufted
redskin !

The discovery was mutual. Pawnee Bill jerked up
his gun and fired on the instant that the red fired
his weapon. Both shots did ‘nothing but shatter the.
noon silence of the forest! :

But the red man and the white flung themselves sidé-
ways and wriggled | into new positions. Then, when
Pawnee Bill came up once more he saw a shadow flit-
ting away toward the higher ground. on

The red had not stopped to load his rifle, Pawnee
bounded out of the thicket and set off up the hill at
top speed again. He saw the Indian but once, but he
believed that he was close on his track. |

In five minutes, however, when he had seen nothing
more of him, nor heard no sound, Pawnee again be-
came wary.

The red rascal was trying to ambush him. He haw
dropped down somewhere, had doubtless loaded his
gun, and was waiting for the chance of another shot.

Pawnee Bill squatted under a bush, facing downhill,
and thought hard. What would the red be likely to
do. What would he do if he were in the redskin's
moccasins, and the redskin were in his boots?’

“‘On-she-ma-da!” muttered the plainsman. “The
scamp has two things to do—aye, three! First, he
must retard me on the trail; second, he must hound
and annoy me, keeping me in fear of being shot or
tomahawked all the time; third, he must himself meg
from getting shot. An-pe-tu-we!

“And if the scamp stays around here, sooner .or
later I will get him. I’m the better shot. I’m the.
better armed, and I have only two things to. do. arn
his three! ce ie

“T have only to keep from getting shot, and shoot
him myself. Simple! I have the best of it, and ne
red knows it as well as I do.

“Now, with these facts in mind he vill try ad sues
under cover until I get tired of the hide-and-seek game
and either light out on the trail of the girl and the
single Indian, or go back to get help.

“To do the first would be to play into this red’s

 
 

hands; he knows it. To do the other would give
them the time they want, perhaps, to spirit Anna
Gregory into some hide-out ie Pil never be able to
find her.” i
_ “I’m pressing them sc close now that they don’t
dare to take the time to try to hide the trail.

“Well, what would I do if I was Mr. Injun?” con-
cluded Pawnee Bill. “Why, I would hide myself as
effectually as possible and wait for my enemy to come
in sight and reach—if he wanted to. :

“Tn other words, the red scoundrel will gain more
by waiting and hiding than he will by creeping through
the woods and run the risk of facing me again. An-
pe -tu-we!

“And if I were him I ee just where I'd wrig-
gle to

With this decision, Bawnce Bill began to. creep
through the underbrush once more, but this time to-
ward the pond instead of away from it. The bank
offered such a splendid barricade that the white man
believed he could not-be mistaken. -

He came out into a small opening directly on the
bank of the pond without seeing a sign of his enemy.
Then “suddenly his: attention. was aries to ‘some-
thing entirely unexpected.

The crows that he had seen flying home to their

nests on the little island suddenly sprang up, with dis-
cordant cries, and circled about and about the tiny
island.-
‘Such‘a disturbance at this hour of the day spelled
but one thing—and of that Pawnee Bill was sure. The
_continuation of the crow riot added to the prog! in
the plainsman’s mind.

“No wild animal or other bird could have disturbed
the crow family at noontime. It was man!

“That red devil-swam across there. It’s a srtiart
trick. .[:don’t dare go on and leave him behind me,
and he-knows it. And he’s settled on that island,
where he can watch the shore and be unseen himself.
He thinks I can’t get at him without his first spot-
ting me.

“On-she-ma-da!
man, he is!”

But Pawnee Bill was not balked. He did not de-
lay i in setting his own wit and skill against that dis-
' played by the redskin.

The latter had led him away from the pon s edge;
and then, while the white man was crawling about in

Its a good trick. He is some red

the bush, ‘the Ute had run back and waded and swam

to the island.

“The little islet, a quarter of a ‘mile from the nearest

 

24 THE BUFFALO

BILL STORIES.

“point on the bank. of the pond, offered not only a

place of refuge, but a vantage point .for spying. . It

really did not look as nove his enemy could get ae

the red unaware.

Nevertheless, Pawnee Bill ae ‘up ‘the ates that
the Ute had flung down. He went back along the
brink of the pond, carefully keeping out of sight of
anybody on the island, until he came to a little cove
where he could work in safety. f “

There he shed his’ clothing and. entered the we as
naked as when he was born... And the only weapon he
had besides his fists was one of his bowies, which he
hung about his neck by a thong of deerskin.

‘The water was clear in this~cove, and it. deepened
quickly. But he crouched. down as low as possible and
waded out carefully, watching. the turn of. the shore
until the fringe of brush on the island came into view:

Then the white trailer sank beneath the. surface
and swam until he reached a bunch of flags that he had

noted some distance from the. shore. -

Behind this shelter he. dared come up “to ee
and there he remained for some seconds, his feet sunk
in the mud, until he had regained his breath and had
picked out. another. place where he ight. come. up. to.
blow. — :

This was a tangle of drift sinh a Jong way on. ne
journey to the island, and a? not many. hundred.
yards off the end of it.

Pawnee Bill was an excellent swimmer ; iu he oe
down several times. and tried his lungs cae before at-.
tempting this. feat.

eyes of the redskin could not have noted. Aa ripple. =
He came. up quietly, a little short of. the. floating

islet.

would have been scarcely discernible...

He paddled into the midst of the. drift. ‘stuff, a
was Well hidden, but had to: tread water ceili tox

keep from sinking.

Then he measured the ene on ie to. oo

shore of the island. He could make it all right. under
water ; but he scrutinized every inch of the island shore,

in shits see if he could descry anything moving. there, : :

or any sign of the human occupant of the islet.

The crows had subsided ; therefore the Sodan _was.
keeping very quiet and was remaining | _motionless. :
Surely the red had not got off the island. while ae

was making preparations to attack him on it! >

Pawnee Bill was attempting a really reckless . feat.
He 1 was. to attack the ted from. the water, -and. with.

Finally, after - filling his lungs.
well, he struck away. ona slant. for the. drift stuff,.
sufficiently beneath the surface so that even the bright.

But the ripples. that broke around his sss

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THE BUFFALO

nothing put'a knife, while the Indian had doubtless

got out here’ with’ ‘his own rifle in condition to use
against his enemy. oe We

If the Indian spied him, a single shot from his gun
might finish the game- right here. And ee Bill
recognized’ this fact fully.

- He planned to come to the surface eich at the back

of the island—that is, on that side farthest from the

shore of the pond where he had left his clothing.
‘He would swim as far as he could, and then chance
wading--ashore. Breathing deeply. again, he slipped
ander the water and shot out for the last lap of ‘his
journey to the islet. -
- He swam until -his breast shaved along .on the bot-
tomn of the pond. ‘This sloping shore to the island
was covered with good-sized pebbles. As he rose up
out of-the ‘water, he- involuntarily grabbed up one of
these pebbles in each hand. —

--And as he-came up, still being ten yards or more
from the shore, a figure leaped out of the brush at the
edge of the island and-yelled a ee: * at the’ hard-
breathing plainsman !

--It was the Ute—the very red he was after! In-
stead of creeping up on him secretly, the redskin had
been awaiting his coming.

And now it looked as though the red had his enemy
at his mercy. He pulled the butt of his muzzle-load-
ing rifle to his face and sighted along the barrel.

“Although the reds are notoriously bad shots, it

' seemed impossible that this scoundrel could miss the

glistening white body of his victim. His finger crooked

on the trigger, andehe seemed to gloat c over the coming.

death of Pawnee Bill.
But no enemy—no matter how sure his chance

seemed to down the bowie man—had ever found it

policy to do any gloating. Kulux-Kittybux was as
quick as chain lightning in getting about.

Ag he rose up and, shaking the water from his eyes,
he saw the figure of the redskin before him on the
island’s shore, his right hand swung back and - poised
the missile in it for an instant.

Then he shot it forward with all his might! His

§ whole body went with it, and this startling change in

his position spoiled the Indian’s aim.
The rifle exploded and the stone struck the redskin
The

bullet’ ‘whistled over. Pawnee Bill’s head, and the sec-

ond yell of the redskin 1 was not so triumphant as the
a first.

The’ ‘advantage was still with the oe so it

' seemed. But the plainsman acted with such breathless

BILL STORIES.

rapidity that sight could scarcely follow his’ move-
ments, much less the red’s understanding. |

Escaping the bullet as he had, Pawnee Bill did not
fling another stone; but even as he leaped forward un-
der the impetus of the first missile he had thrown, the
scout jerked the heavy bowie knife off the thong that
had held it hanging about his neck.

Like a flash of lightning the blade hurtled through
the air, and the Ute’s yell ended in his death shriek!

Into his throat—half its length—the blade pene-
trated, and the Indian crashed backward upon the
edge of the ee the blood spurting from the awful
wound. -

Pawnee Bill staggered ashore, grabbed up the fallen
rifle, and would have brained the redskin had it been
necessary. But two of his cruel adversaries, captors
of the white girl, had gone to the happy ee
oo

 

CHAPTER XIV.
“THREE! i

The afternoon was waning. Pawnee Bill had sunk
almost exhausted on the shore of the islet. The work
of. the last few minutes had “taken the tuck out of
him,” as old Nomad would have said.

And little wonder. From the moment that ie had
rolled out_of bed that morning at the Lone Tree. Gap
hotel, at the cry of old man Turnbull, the plainsman
had been on the keen jump almost all the time, ee he
had not eaten a mouthful.

Now he felt the lack of nourishment, as wall as the
strain upon his muscles and nerves. Even the tough-
est physique must have both rest and stimulus to con-
tinue such a game as he had been playing.

“My stomach sure thinks my throat’s cut,”
the plainsman, at last.
it would rattle around inside of me like dice in a box.

“On-she-ma-da! Let me get back to my clothes
and other contraptions and see about getting some-
thing inside of me beside wind.”

He let himself carefully into the water again and
swam toward the nearest point on the mainland. From
there he waded along to the cove and recovered a
garments and weapons. at

It was then growing dusk. . He was-leg weary, hun-
gry, tired out.
somewhere, with the girl.

‘

grumbled
“If I swallowed a dry pea:

But the remaining red was still ahead

   

 

_ While he had stopped to hunt this second Indian off

the island, the other had been traveling steadily down

  
  

26 THE BUFFALO
the valley. But of one thing Pawnee Bill was quite
sure: The red and his captive had not gone far.
The girl would lag with fatigue before the day was
over. The red would labor heavily if he undertook to
carry the captive. And when night came on the fugi-
tives must halt. ee

~ Pawnee Bill could not follow the trail in the dark;
he determined to rest and recoup himself, and there-
fore be the better prepared for the work of the next
day.
- Tf old Turnbull and his friends overtook him before
dark, all right; but Pawnee Bill prepared to go on
alone the next day, as he had fought this day’s battle
single-handed.

- He had brought ashore the Indian’s rifle, shot bag,
and powder horn. He loaded the weapon, and before
it got too dark went to a place where he had seen signs
of deer.

“He lay hidden beside this path until some of the
timid creatures came down to drink at the edge of the
pond. Then he shot a doe, built a fire, broiled some
cutlets, and ate as only a famished man in the con.
can eat. :

But he moved well away from the aed doe after-
ward, and spent the remainder of the night in the
‘crotch of a low-branching tree, for fear the smell of
the fresh blood of his victim might bring about the ee
‘night prowlers of more savage instinct.

Once he tumbled out of the tree. That’s why be
chose.a low-branched one. But the first light of dawn
-over the pond brought him out of his dozing state in
a hurry.

. He went:back to the fire, ae the brands ieee
and fanned them into a blaze, and ate again. Then,
refreshed, though a little stiff, he started down the un-
certain path, dimly revealed to him, but which he. was
sure led to Sandeman Pass.

“That's where the. ted is. making with the girl,”
he told himself. “They couldn’t get through the Gap
again to the western valleys, so they made south. I
wonder where old man Turnbull and his gang are?
‘They’ re not worth a whole lot as trail hunters.”

Before sunup he was miles down the valley, the pond
behind, and had already found the place where the
single ted and the oe had bivouacked for the
night:
~ “She'll find it hard to travel after ee been tied
‘to that sapling all night—and oe a coverlet,”

ere the plainsman.

“ But the fugitives had passed on 1 pretty. rapidly, as

Pawnee very soon discovered. And then he came to

he thought.

 

  

 

BILL STORIES.

a wide sandy stretch—almost a desert—and he lost all
trace of the Indian and the girl in this sand. gle
They had left the path—or the path itself was
broken by this waste; Pawnee was troubled.”
‘It would be easy euotgh for the redskin to cut off
at a tangent here—either to the east or to the west—
and lose pursuit for a time at least. Pawnee Bill

wished that Turnbull had overtaken him. Then it@

would have been easy to divide the forces, some keep-
ing straight down the creek, and others going into the
hills, and out on the plain, to pick up oe trails
in one of those directions. © |

To Pawnee the region was strange. He had only
been between Sandeman Pass and Lone: ‘tee Gap. by
the much longer wagon’ trail, 8 7-.. *

He did not know the length of this ona) desert.
It was farther across it in a southerly CE eon than

~ he could see.

1 And ith go: straight across it, and: then miss ‘the
trail, after all, Ill sure lose a ‘great. deal<of tinie,”’
~ “Now, suppose T half circle it, watching
where that red scoundrel: and the gifl leftit? © <:

“And Vl circle to the: west—toward the range—first.
That’ s more likely than the other-way, I-believe. - ‘And,
by George! they got a big start of me this morning,
or: ey would have been in sight when I struck: this
plain.”

ce: hurried on. now, ae ae a not “fail to
‘scrutinize the edge of the desert and the beginnings
of the softer, more fe teeenat lt earth next to it, as
he ran. along. fa ve aa

Hour after out nated: a ate some venison. ale
most raw at. noon, $0 as not to. waste. too. much, time.
Then. he ran on, bouer ee ee

oat was. near. sunset again whan he. approached ‘the

creek at. the. southerly . edge. of the sand. waste. _He,

had. not.seen the. faintest mark. of the red man’s moc-
casin, or the girl’s shoe. Could it be possible that the.

cunning Indian had gone in another direction, after all? |

Bat suddenly. he caught sight | ‘of something flut-
tering from a bush. It was the hem of a woman’s
petticoat, and Pawnee Bill saw that it had been torn
off and deliberately attached to the bush like a streamer.

“Bless that girl! , exclaimed. the plainsman. She" ‘s

the pluckiest female it was ever my fortune t to meet. a

Now, for the trail!” '
And he “found it.
rectly over the sands’ with his” prisoner, ievasng a lon
away from the desert without leaving more than a
footprint or two. VOS8)) eetiin, eae ee

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But the keen-sighted Pawnee Bill made out the signs,
and in half,an hour he had picked up the plain trail
again beside the creek bank.

“On-she-ma-da!” he ejaculated. “I’ve ones a cun-
ning old fox to beat. And without much doubt he’s
made four hours on me this time. :

“He must have passed this way before noon.”

It was now so late that Pawnee Bill set out running,
and he ran hard as long as he could see the path and an
occasional trace of the fugitives in it. When he could
no longer see he dropped down by a rock, scraped a
little wood together, made a fire, and this fire he kept
going all night for fear of the big cats that he occa-
sionally heard yelling up'on the mountainside.

But he had nothing to eat that night, nor did he stop
to find breakfast in the morning. He believed the red
and the girl were too near the pass now for any time
to be wasted. :

- If the Indian once got Anna Gregory through the
range, despite the fact that Major Pringle and his sol-
diers had gone over there, the chance of recovering
the white girl would be greatly reduced.

- He pulled his belt tighter, and-ran on. He passed
the spot where the red and his captive had spent this
second night. He had been nearer to them than he
supposed. |

He got a glimpse of the wagon road which climbed

| the steep mountainside toward the mouth of the pass.

He discarded his heavy revolvers here, and his am-
He had only his two bowie knives as
weapons, and he ran on with renewed speed and
courage.

He could guess now at the topographical points.

® lhe path followed close beside the creek until the creek
@ crossed the wagon trail.

The redskin was laboring so
with his captive that he evidently expected to turn
west when he reached the direct road to Sandeman
Pass. ,

Pawnee Bill Giadenhy struck off on a slant to the
west, intending to get between the red and Anna Greg-
ory, and the mouth of the pass.

And this determination he accomplished. His first

{ sight of the third redskin—and of the girl herself—

was when he came abruptly out upon the road—quite
unexpectedly.
He had come out upon the open trail much above

| them. They were plodding up the red-earthed path all
Bofa mile away.

Aa as he saw them—before he could dart back—

he was himself seen!

THE BUFFALO

BILL STORIES.

Pawnee Bill could not hear the girl cry out; but he
saw her throw up her arms in an abandonment of ter-
ror, and sink to the ground. ‘The redskin bent above
her for a moment, and the scout’s heart nearly stopped
beating.

Poised over the captive’s bosom, the redskin held
a knife. Pawnee Bill saw the sun glinting on the
blade! on

Then the red measured the distance between his own
situation and that of the scout, seemed to take heart,
and grabbing up the fainting girl he flung her over his
shoulder and darted into the woods—still keeping to
the’ south.

Pawnee Bill uttered his battle cry, and sprang doxeh
the trail at top speed. He seemed to have recovered
from his exhaustion. The sight of his prey so near
him rejuvenated the bowie man.

He ran like a deer. When he came to the place
where the redskin had broken into the woods again
with his captive, he leaped after them and tore down
the hill toward the creek at breakneck speed.

As he reached thé water, he saw the almost naked
Ute toiling up the steep bluff on the other side, still
carrying the girl.

At first Pawnee believed that she was either dead
or unconscious. Then he saw that with each hand
Anna was grabbing at the branches as they passed,
and retarding the red man’s course with all her pitiful
strength. oy

Pawnee Bill uttered another yell, and pea the
creek. He started up the hill, two strides to the red
man’s one.

Once, twice, the savage cast a glance behind him.
He saw the white man gaining; yet he piterd on when
he came to the plateau.

Pawnee Bill recognized this place.
here once before. Not many days previous he had had
one of the most exciting adventures of his whole ca-
reer right here.

Within pistol shot, as he came to the top of the
hill, lay that natural depression in the hillside in which
Grizzly Dan herded several of his strange and savage
pets. i

The bear pit lay just ahead.

The running Indian again cast a glance of rage and .
hate behind. He was on the very verge of the sink at

the bottom of which—forty feet below—the grizzlies
crunched the bones of the prey that fell to them.

p?

“Stop, you red devil!’ panted Pawnee Bill, but his

voice passed his lips like a whisper.

He had been ~

    
    

|

  
 

   

    

28

  

THE BUFFALO

With another grimace, the red, reaching the brink of
the pit on the run, flung the body of the girl from him
—out over the pit!

Pawnee Bill saw her turn in the air, and heard her
_ shriek, She flashed out of sight, and the fiendish.
redskin sprang on.

The plainsman was mad with rage. He believed he
had seen the poor girl flung to her death. He stopped
for nothing now but revenge!

On he leaped after the redskin, and, although the
savage, felieved of his burden, ran with increased
speed, he could not get away from the madman on his
trail.

The red, fearful now, seeing ‘death behind him,
dashed down the side of a narrow gulley, and up the
other side. But Pawnee Bill, running under full
steam, leaped straight out into the air and landed on
hands and knees on the farther bank of the gulley.

The redskin turned, with a yell, to push him back.

Pawnee was up like a flash, and staggered to meet the

savage.
The latter had lost his rifle, hatchet, knife—every
weapon he owned. He stood pe the white man
barehanded.
Pawnee Bill saw this to be the case even as he
rushed the redskin. :
“I'll give you a chance—black-hearted as you are!”

shrieked the plainsman, and he hurled one of his knives.

at the feet of the savage.

The red picked it up, with a grunt. He was no
match for Pawnee Bill with the weapon; but:he was a
match for him in cunning.

After seizing the knife, the red turned, as though to
run again. Then, as Pawnee Bill shouted and sprang
forward, the savage turned to meet him, dropping on
one knee and thrusting out the terrible bowie at arm’s
length.

A- man less agile and less expert than Pawnee Bill
would have been spitted like a bird for roasting.

But he flung himself aside in time to avoid the knife,
seized the red’s wrist, and flung his antagonist back
upon the ground as he, himself, slipped and fell.

Both were up at the same instant. They flew to-
gether that time like two gamecocks. Each seized the
other’s left wrist, and the two. blades clashed to-
~ gether, slithered up and down, and the sparks flew.

Panting, straining for breath, wordless, Pawnee Bill
and the big Indian swayed together for as long as two
minutes. Then the skill of the white man with his
chosen weapon overpowered the greater bulk and
strength of the red.

BIEL STORIES.

 

 

    

  

A shriek again echoed down the aisles of the forest,
and the redskin fell back, dragging Pawnee Bill with
hin,

The plainsman had to lie there for a moment be-
fore he could move, and the blood welling from the
wound in the third Indian’s breast stained the half-
naked body of the white man!

 

CHAPTER XV.
FACING DEAT HH:

He arose at last, and, without a look at his dead
enemy, Pawnee Bill slid down into the gulley, and
from thence crept up to the plateau across which he had
raced after the third and last of Anna teeny S cap-
tors.

The plainsman staggered on, his breath coming in
great sobs, shaken both physically and mentally because
of the awful fate of the girl.

For two days and a half he had followed on the trail
of the redskins, overcoming one after the other in
peril of his own life, and then in the end had seen
the girl flung to her death!

He came to the brink of the pit. There, forty feet
below, was the bottom of the rocky cleft in which he
knew there had been at least three savage grizzlies two
weeks before.

- And the first thing he saw was the half-eaten body
of an elk in the middle of the pit!

Then he beheld the body of Anna Gregory.

A weak shout came from his lips. The girl had
been miraculously saved from instant death.

Tossed into the gulf by the red murderer, she had
landed in the top of a thick-branched evergreen which
grew in the pit. It had not only stayed her fall, but
it cradled her there, and, aside from a few scratches,
she was probably unharmed.

But instantly Pawnee Bill saw that she was sense-
less. Fright, or the shock, had deprived her of her
senses.

And what would happen to her when she came to her
senses and saw how perilously she was perched?

Although no bears seemed to be in sight at the mo-
ment, the fall to the ground from the top of that
low tree might kill her. :

And merely because there seemed to be in sight none
of the savage creatures that inhabited this pit did not
prove there were none in reach. There were caves in
the sides of the sink, and in these cavities ye oo
had their lairs. ;

    
  

Ne

hes on oe

_— Ae cr

THE BUFFALO

Living in this region was a strange hermit known as
Grizzly Dan. Fifteen years or more before he had
been the single living victim of an Indian raid. Him
the redskins had scalped. to his ears and left for dead.

But a party, of whom old Nick Nomad was a mem-
ber, had found and brought back to life this man,
and after a time he had recovered his bodily strength,
but never his mental powers in their fullness.

He lived alone, had an undying hatred for redskins,
and trained young grizzly bears to hate redskins, too.
In this pit he kept some of his strange pets, and it
was told of him that he had flung captured redskins
into the gulf for the bears to tear to pieces!

Now this poor girl was at their mercy!

Pawnee Bill suddenly got a grip on himself. He
flung a glance around him. He was quite alone in the
forest, and must depend entirely upon his own skill
and the mercy of Providence if he would save Anna
Gregory from an awful death.

There was a taller tree growing in the pit, the upper
branches of which touched the rim of rock on which
the plainsman stood.

With nothing but his two knives as weapons, Paw-
nee Bill swung himself into this tree and hastily de-
scended toward the ground. Halfway down the trunk
he was suddenly shocked into ey for a mo-
ment.

He had heard nothing, but his sharp eyes suddenly -

descried a sight which quite paralyzed him!

The huge head of a great bear was thrust out of _

the mouth of a cavity on the other side of the pit. The
beast blinked his little eyes, and then deliberately
yawned, as though he had been just aroused from a
nap.

There was nothing particularly savage in his ap-
pearance or attitude, but he was there!

“By the shades of Unk-te-hee!” muttered Pawnee

Bill. “It’s mebbe going to be a’race to that tree twixt

me and Ole Ephraim. And if I win the race, what
better off am I? The bears will have both me and

the girl treed.”

Nevertheless, for one very good reason did the bowie
man wish to get into the tree where Anna Gregory
lay. He desired to discover if the girl was injured;
and he feared that, if she came to her senses alone,
she might fall out of the tree. .

Therefore, he began to slip down the trunk of his
own tree again, but on the side farthest from. the
bear cave. When he struck the ground the sleepy-
eyed bear at the mouth of the cavity had not moved.

BILL STORIES. 29

But when Pawnee Bill started across the opening
toward the tree into which the girl had fallen, the
grizzly came awake with surprising suddenness.

He let out a roar that seemned to rattle the very
windows of heaven.

Pawnee Bill cast an anxious glance toward the low
treetop where the girl lay. He did not look in the
bear’s direction, although he heard it scrambling over
the rocks.

The roarings, which filled the pit cath a deafening
confusion of sound, aroused the girl. Pawnee saw
her scrambling about, and trying to sit up. The tree
branches were agitated, and he feared that she would
fall through to the ground.

“Keep your head! and keep your grip on the tree!’
yelled the bowie man, as he ran.

His shrill yelp, might have been heard above the
roaring of the bear. But now other bears took up the
tune, and their reverberant voices seemed fairly to
shake the atmosphere.

Pawnee Bill cast a single glance backward. The
first grizzly was galloping after him like a Union
Pacific mail train making up lost time.

But the man beat out in this fearful race. .He
swarmed up the tree with dispatch, and his feet were
dangling out of the grizzly’s reach when the latter
reared up against the trunk and tried to slap the man
out of the branches.

“My friend! My dear friend!”
above. “Are you sate:

“On-she-ma-da!” gasped Pawnee Bill. “How about
you? When that red devil chucked you down, here
I thought you were a goner!”

cried the girl from

“T am not hurt much—no bones broken. This is

providential. But you

hin all cieht.
trees—at least, they don’t make a practice of such acro-
batics.”

 

Fortunately. grizzlies do not climb

 

“But the Indians! They will come back

“Not much will they come back!’ grunted the plains-
man.

“Were they really frightened away?”

. ©Oh, stare!’ said Pawnee Bill grimly. “They are

frightened, good and plenty. Don’t worry about them —

dF

 

for a minute. It is only the bears here

By this time two other beasts had joined the first
one at the foot of the tree. They all stood on their
hind legs and tried playfully to reach the plainsman’s
dangling feet.

But their play did not oe Pawnee Bill a little

Se BRO ES SRS ERR PES IY FREES

     
   
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
    
   
  
  
  
   
  
 
  
   
   
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 

     
 

 

30 / THE BUFFALO

bit! Had he only possessed his revolvers he might °

have scared the beasts off a bit.

He saw no chance now, however, of Ficheeniie
the bears. If they retired far enough, he might grab
the girl, slide to the ground, and then try to make the
bigger tree by the way of which he had got down
into the pit.

And if he didn’t make it

 

 

CHAPTER XVI.
THE MASTER OF THE GRIZZLIES,

‘And in the midst of Pawnee Bill’s uncertainty and
fear for the girl’s safety, something quite ee
occurred.

_ The three grizzlies had fallen silent, and were ae
ing about the foot of the tree. They evidently were
not especially hungry, for one of them loafed over
to the partially eaten elk and merely snuffed at the
raw meat. Perhaps she felt that human flesh would
be gamier and the flavor more to her taste, for she
“came back to the tree again.

And then a voice roared out of the cavern—and an
entirely different voice from that of the bears.

“Whup! ~“Whup, thar! Come to heel, here!
Whup!”

The male grizzly, which was not more than half
grown, instantly lifted his head and whined. Then he
waddled off to meet the being that immediately ap-
peared from the cavern. :

“Grizzly Dan—deserted Jericho, if it isn’t!’ mut-
tered Pawnee Bill.

But Anna Gregory screamed faintly. The man in
bearskin that had so strangely appeared in the bear pit
jerked up his head quickly and said:

“Don’t make no noise, miss! I got this John bear
and the others under purty good control; but I hate
ter lick ‘em, an’ thet thar’s wot I’ll hafter do if they
gits narvous.”’

- Then he turned his strict’ attention to the grizzlies.
He commanded them to‘come to him, and, after some
hesitation, the two females joined the young male on
the other side of the pit. But they kept starting back
to interview the plainsman and the girl, and the for-
mer dared not descend with her from the.tree.

. “Go on!” cried Grizzly Dan, in disgust. “If any of
7em start tor ye I’ll smash. ‘em.’

“That’s all right for you to say, old son,’ cried
Pawnee Bill. “And I’d risk it myself. But not with
the lady.”

BILL STORIES. : ae

 

“Then ye’ll hafter wait for Buffler ter come an” resky
ye from the top of the clift,’ cried Grizzly Dan.

“On-she-ma-da!” yelled the bowie man, “is my. old
necarnis anywhere near here?”

“Why, Buffler and that pizen Injun boy of Hea. and
Nomad, Hickok, the Dutch emigrant, and half the
town of Lone Tree Gap, I reckon, are trailin’ arter
you and thet thar gal.”

“On-she-ma-da!’’ cried Pawnee Bill again, and
there came an answering shout from the rim of the
pit. :

“He iss in de tree—undt de pootiful laty mit him!”
bawled the unmistakable voice of the baron.

Almost at once the brink of the cliff was fringed
witheheads. Pawnee recognized all his friends—and
there were also the faces of old man Turnbull and the
‘other Lone Tree men.

““Whar’s thet third redskin, Pawnee?’ demanded _

old Nomad. “We found the carcass of the fust one
ye killed, and the gun of the second—so ye must ha’
put him wot Wild Bill calls ‘horse de comfab’; and ez
I don’t see no third redskin around yere, I nes he’s
passed in his checks, too. Did ye feed him to the
Srizziies

Meanwhile Nomad, Buffalo Bill, and the others were
making a rope of their belts, and they lost no time in
hauling the young woman up from the treetop, and
then raising Pawnee Bill himself to the high ground.

Then he told his story, Miss Gregory repeated her
narrative, a meal was cooked and spread for all hands,
and Grizzly Dan joined the company. ;

“Them grizzlies aire as tame as kittens,” he grunted.
“Tm a-feedin’ of ’em too high. Why, they wouldn't
ha’ tetched narry one o’ ye, Pawnee Bill.”’

“You take it from me,’ returned the bowie man,
with ernphasis, “Tl fight redskins in preference to
being played with by a grizzly, any day!”

“It took the remainder of that day for the different
parties to relate their several experiences and to rest
up. Buffalo Bill and his pards had left Lone Tree
Gap on the trail of Turnbull and his associates, and
had found them the first day out on the trail.

_ Pawnee Bill had left such plain signs along the way .
that the white men had no difficulty in following on.

And they were near the single red and his Sapte
when Pawnee Bill first sighted them.

The bowie man had carried the matter to comple-
tion, however, single-handed. The three redskins who
had stolen the girl had paid the penalty of their crime.

Now the matter remained.to punish whoever had
been behind the abduction.

   

  

tk
he
tr

Ce

9

fc

tc

tr
as

  
   

THE BUFFALO

“And there can be little doubt that your suspicion,
Pawnee, is the truth,’ said Buffalo Bill, when the
two friends had a chance to talk the matter over in
private.

“You. mean, necarnis?”’

“Jubal Wakeman.”

‘“‘An-pe-tu-we!” ejaculated Pawnee Bill.

“Yes. He is the guilty party. We'd best not tell
the poor girl. No use in making matters worse with
her. But he undoubtedly kept track of that wagon
train, and it was he that set Flying Feather and his
gang upon the unfortunate emigrant party.’

“T\fear so,” agreed the other. |

“And he planned this abduction—that's as sure as
can be,” declared Buffalo Bill.

“He wanted the girl for some purpose of his own,’
growled Major Lillie.

“Right, Gordon. Just ne he wanted her OF will,
of course, come out now.”

“How do’ you mean?”
““T left affairs in Lone Tree Gap so that the scoun-
drel would be apprehended if he tried to leave town
before we came back.” :
" “But have we any evidence?”

“Tve got some evidence that will prove one case
against him, anyway,” chuckled Buffalo Bill.

“And what's that?’

“He has attempted a huge mining swindle. I doubt
if he has spent anywhere near as much money as he
says in the development of the Three Finger prop-
erties.”

“Well?

“And he deliberately flooded his mine.”

“On-she-ma-da! That’s the point I was looking
for.” i |

a know it. ‘And I have the proof.”

“How did he do it, necarnis?” demanded Pawnee
Bill.

“Hic opened a passage from that pool in the stream
to one of his tunnels. There’s a stopper in it. He
removed that stopper whenever he made the bluff of
trying to pump out the water, and as much runs in
as runs out. Do you see?’

“By my sacred O-zu-ha!” cried Pawnee Bill.
unhung scoundrel!” |

“That’s what he is. ‘And I reckon he has got Miss
Gregory’s forty thousand dollars soaked away—but
not soaked in the mine, ? and Buffalo Bill laughed.

“We? Il put him where the bears won’t bite him,” said
Pawnee Bill, with a grimace. “But, by Heaven, ne-
carnis! I thought one spell that yours traly would

“The

BILL STORIES. . : 3r

make a lunch for one of Dan’s charming hunting com-
panions.” ,

Buffalo Bill looked at him admiringly.

“And how about the three reds you downed, Lil-
lie? You are a wonder!’

And echoing Buffalo Bill's admiration was that of
their partners, and the men from Lone Tree Gap.
Besides, the young girl, who had suffered such a ter-
rifying adventure, was ceeely, erateful to the bowie
man.

“Tt is twice that you have, with your own hands,
saved me from the Indians, Major Lillie. How can

Lever thank you enough?”’

“And if we manage to get your forty ‘thousand dol-
lars back from Jubal Wakeman for you, Miss Greg-
ory,’ said Buffalo Bill, ‘just remember that it was
my friend Gordon Lillie, Kulux-Kittybux, of the Paw-

nees, who put the first spoke in ee i nays

wheel.”

At this, Pawnee Bill fairly ran away, aha ad § not
appear again at the encampment until near dusk, when
he returned with his guns and other paraphernalia that
he had abandoned some miles up the trail when he was
chasing the last of the three red kidnapers. .

-And so, the watch fires were lit, sentinels set, a
the camp became quiet. All turned in early, for it
was the intention to start back to the Gap early in the
morning.

Anna Gregory had passed through an adventure that
she would never forget, but she was safe now, sur-
rounded by these brave bordermen, and she ea as
peacefully as a child.

- ‘And in the breasts of Buffalo Bill and Baas Bill
was the satisfied feeling that they had solved the prob-
lem of the Three Finger Mine, had discovered and
could prove in court the dishonesty of Jubal Wake-
man, and would be not only able to restore Miss Greg-
ory to her friends, but restore to her the fortune that
her criminal guardian had endeavored to steal.

THE END.

“Buffalo Bill on the Trail of Death; or, Pawnee
Bill’s Discovery,” is the title of the story for the next
issue. In this story you will get more Indians, more
bears, and a liberal measure of the real, old-style ad-
venture. Old Nomad and Grizzly Dan set covetous
eyes upon two splendid ponies in the hostile Indians’
herd, and determine to cut them out for themselves.
The way they do it and the way they “get away with
the goods” is “worth the price of admission.” It will
be No. 530. Don’t miss it! Out July Sth.

    

  

   

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IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your _newsdealer, they can be

i : A : obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to
tus with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.

 

 

 

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STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.
Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find.........0.0.cccccccucccee cents for which send me:
TIP TOP WEEKLY, Nose ee i ee bay gie e eee as
NICK CARTER WEEKLY, 000,00. ee es ee ae cgay oy oo bee ot

BUFFALO BIEL STORIES, | 3 cies eee eet weqeeceee

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BUFFALO BILL STORIES

 

ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS

 

 

There is no need of our telling American readers how interesting the stories of the adventures

of Buffalo Bill, as scout and plainsman, really are.

These stories have been read exclusively in this

weekly for many years, and are voted to be masterpieces dealing 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 BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

You can have your news-dealer
order them or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in
money or postage-stamps.

We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print.

275— Buffalo
278—Buffalo
283—Buffalo
285—Buffalo
287—Buffalo
288—Buftfalo
292—Buffalo
293—Buffalo
298—Buffalo
299—Buffalo
305—Buffalo
306—Buffalo
308—Buffalo
309—Buffalo
312—Buffalo
314—Buffalo
315—Buffalo
316—Buffalo
319—Buffalo
321—Buffalo
324—Buffalo
325—Bnuffalo
326—Buffalo
3827—Buffalo
328—Buffalo
329—Buffalo
330—Butffalo
331—Buffalo
332—Buffalo
333—Buffalo
334— Buffalo
335—Buffalo
336—Buffalo
33(—Buttalo
338—Buffalo
339—-Buffalo
340—Buffalo
341—Buffalo
3842—Buffalo
3438—Bnffalo
344—Buffalo
345—Buffalo
346— Buffalo
348—Buffalo
349—Buffalo
350—Buffalo
351—Buffalo
352—Buffalo
353—Buffalo
354—Buffalo
355—Buffalo
356—Buffalo
357—Buffalo
358—Buffalo
359—Buffalo
360—Buffalo
362— Buffalo
363—Ruffalo
264—Buffalo
366—Buffalo
367—Buffalo
368—Buffalo
369— Buffalo
370-—Buffalo
371—Buffalo
372— Buffalo
374— Buffalo
375— Buffalo
377—Buffalo
378—Buffalo
379— Buffalo
380—Buffalo
381—Buffalo
382—Buffalo
383—Buffalo

Bill’s Scarlet Hand......... 5
Bills Daring, Plunge... 52 5
Bil Opa 2 SGU pc. cree ae 5
Bill’s Master-stroke......... 5
Bill and the Brazos Terror.. 5
Bill’s Dance of Death

Bill’s Medicine-lodge........ 5
Bel In Peri ee ero
Bill’s Black Eagles..........
Bill’s Desperate Dozen...... 5
Bill and the Barge Bandits.
Bill, the Desert Hotspur.... 5
Bill’s Whirlwind Chase.....
Bill’s Red Retribution......
Bills Death: hump. cscs «ce
Bill in the Jaws of Death....
Bil’s Aztec Runners......
Bill’s Dance with Death.....
Bill’s Mazeppa Ride........ 3
Bill’s Gypsy Band..,.......
Bills -Goldwsbhumters). see.
Bill in cOldi Mexicoe. 265.) 5
Bill’s Message from the Dead
Bill and the Wolf-master.... 5
Bill’s Flying Wonder....... 5
Bills= Bidden Gold. ..o2 5... 5
Bills (@uclaw . sina cn oce
Bill and the Indian Queen...
Bill and tle Mad Marauder..
Bill’s Ice Barricade.........
Bill and the Robber Elk.....
Bills Ghost: Dance... 2.2...
BIS. Reacespipencsa cs co cre 5
Bis Red: “Nemesis vo. oe
Bill’s Enchanted Mesa......
Bill in the Desert of Death..
BUS Rave LVe Re Stee ears
Bill on Detached Duty......
Billsi Arm). Mystery 2 27
Bills Surprise’ Party 22. os:
Billie Great. chides: os 722 4c
Billise Water ratltroc. oS oc
Bills (‘Ordealvofe ire. 55.
Bill’s Casket of Pearls. .5 2...
BU Sta skoyeeeNOti cme sists e
BULGS SP OFC ase Be ee aa
Bills > Mlat-boat (Driftess: ...
Bib ony Deeks ae Lo enc
Bill and the Bronco Buster. .
Bill’s Great Round-up......
BU St Rled yee Gera ee
Bills: Cowboy. ard sae
Bill and the Emigrants......
Bill Amoug the Pueblos.....
Bill’s our-footed Pards....
BINS GREOLESEA, wise ses sicis o's 6 5
SPLASH @KeU o.5 seen Screens ee 5
BUN SOMES Es ins) he en ie
Bill’s Waif of tho Plains....
Bill Among the Mormons...
Bills: “Assistance: 22°) 23.5) oe
Bill’s Rattlesnake Trail.....
Bill and the Slave-Dealers...
Bils-Stronge: Arms... 0 6.
Bills GinlgRardse cee ee
Bills Tron’ Bracelets... 225.023.
Bills: Jade Amulet... c202 3.
Bills Masie Wartats 2650... F
Bill’s Bridge of Fire........ E
BES BR OWAer et. scree ecue oie Ga 5
Bilis pPay-streak. ee | | 5
Bill’s Mi 5
Bill’s

 

384—Buffalo
385—Buffalo
386—Buffalo
387—Buftalo
388—Buffalo
389—Buffalo
390—Buffalo
391—Buffalo
392—Buffalo
393—Buffalo
394—Buffalo

‘395—Buffalo

396—Buffalo
397—Buffalo
398—Buffalo
399—Buffalo
400—Buffalo
401—Buffalo
402—Buffalo
403—Buffalo
404—Ruffalo
405—Buffalo
406—Buffalo
407—Buffalo
408—Buffalo
409—Buffalo
410—RBuffalo
411—RBuffalo
412—RBuffalo
413—RBuffalo
414 Ruffalo
415—Buffalo
416—Butffalo
417—Ruffalo
418—Buffalo
419—Buffalo
421—Buffalo
429-__ Ruffalo
423-—RBuffalo
4924 Buffalo
425—RBuffalo
49°6—Ruffalo

| 427—Ruffalo

498 Ruffalo
49°9—Buffalo
420—Ruffalo
421—Ruffalo
429°—RBuffalo
423 —Buffalo
434 Ruffalo
425—Ruffalo
426—RBuffalo
427—Ruffalo
428—_Ruffalo
429—Ruffalo
440—Ruffalo
441—-Buffalo
442 Ruffalo
443—Buffalo
444__Buffalo
445—RBuffalo
446—RBuffalo
447—RBuffalo
448 Buffalo
449—_Bniffalo
450—Buffalo
451—B1ffalo

BUMS RING Been cetera ean 5
Bilis Bis Conrad ction. )-.s 5
Bill and Calamity Janec.....
Bis kid Pard 7. oo
Bill’s Desperate Plight......
Bill’s Fearless Stand.......
Bill and the Yelping Crew...
Bill’s Guiding Hand

Bill’s Queer Quest..........
Bill’s Prize “Getaway’”.....
Bill’’s Hurricane Hustle.....
BUS eat Plays sci crs ie coer pers
Bilksee Bliss eae vote
BillesyePraekers werent ce
Bills Dutch: Rand 27.3: Mriath
Billgand: the | Bravos 29.4.1
Bill and the Quaker... 3.0%). ‘
Bill’s Package of Death..... f
Bill’’s Treasure Cache....... c
MBS ethene aN VI. i's ais) cre nee i
Bill and the Trouble Hunter. &
Bill and the Rope Wizard... 5
IB EIES PHOS Ute et seer cusiteea de eel ieliars 5
Bill Among the Cheyennes... 9
Bille ReSleCedis eee hele cveleneie« 4
Rill and the Red Hand......
Bills Tree-trunk Drift......
Bill and-the Specter........
Rill and the Red Feathers... <
Bills Kone Stroke ne. 23-3
Bille the. Desert Cyclone. -..-
Bills Cumbres Scouts::..-.... 5
Rill and the Man-wolf......
Bill and His Winged Pard...
Rill at Babylon Bar........
PAV Say OUI AIM occ. oo del eiellel cen a 5
Rill’s Steel Arm Pard....... d
Bills Aztec Guide os... . 3...
Rilt and Little Firefly.......
Va ime phe Awe) City... ees.
Rill’s Balloon Hseane.......-
Rill and the Guerrillas......
Bilis PROTA: cociece ens ele =
Rill’s Mexican Mix-up.......
Rill and the Gamecock...... i
Rill and the Chevenne Raiders !
Ril’s Whirlwind Finish 4
Ril’s Santa Fe Secret...... 5
Rill and the Taos Terror....
Rill’s Bracelet of Gold.......
Pill and the Rorder Baron...
Rill at Salt River Ranch.... :
Rill’s Panhandle Man-hunt.. §
Rill at Blossom Range......
Rill and-Juniner Joe. ........
Riullvs Binal SEOOWE ye ons <<) 2s
a eat loamy dike ls cts eee
Rill’s Winning Hand........ ;
Biles? Gineh @laimre ss. is seca §
Rills! Wommadesn. Meck sen
Rill in the Bad Lands......
Rill and the Bov Bugtler....
Bill and the Heathen Chinee.
Rill and the Chink War.. .
Bis Chinese: Chase. 2... ...°.
Bill’s Secret Message....... 5
Bill and the Eorde of Her- u

TOS ey ee eat oe ee) Os
452-Buffalo Rill’s Lonesome Trail.......

453—Ruffalo
454—Rniffalo
455—Ruffalo
456—Buffalo
457—Buffalo
458—Buffalo

NAS OAT le see stce eeerataveare if
Bill iow ecadwood. leu. se
BSE ANG ee fo ae 5
Bill and Old Moonlight...... i
Bill Repaid 5
Bills brow packs 3. oe. acc

 

459—Buffalo
460—Buttalo
461—Buffalo
462—Buffalo
463—Buffalo
464—Buffalo
465—Buftalo
466—Buftalo
467—Buffalo
468—Butftfalo
469—Buffalo
470— Buffalo
471—Buffalo
472—Buffalo
473—Buttralo
474—Buffalo
3—Butfalo
6—Bufralo
77—Buffalo
478—Buffalo
479— Buffalo
480—Buffalo
481—Buffalo
482—Buffalo
483—-Buffalo
484—Buffalo
485—Buffalo
486—Buffalo
487—Buffalo
488—Buffalo
489—Buffalo
490—Buffalo
491—Buffalo
492—Buffalo
493— Buffalo
494—Buffalo
495—Buffalo

ers

496—Buffalo
497—Buffalo
498—Buffalo
499—Buffalo
500—Buffalo
501—Buffalo
502—Buffalo
503—Buffalo
504— Buffalo
505—Buffalo
506—Buffalo
507—Buffalo
508—RBuffalo
509—RBuffalo
510—Buffalo
511—-Buffalo

h12——Buitalo Bill’s Barbecue... ..5......).-
513—RBuffalo Bill and the Red Renegade ....
514—Buffalo Bill and the Apache Kid ......
515—-Buffalo Bill at the Copper Barriers ...
516—RBuffalo Bill’s Pacific Power
517—RBuffalo Bill and Chief Hawkchee

Bill’s “Sight Unseen’”’.......
IBIS aNOWi sy alice cc... secs oe
Bill’s ‘‘Winged Victory’’.....
Bill’s Pieces-of-Hight........
Bill and the Hight Vaqueros
Bill’s Unlucky Siesta.......
Bis Apache Clue. iid... 4.
Bill and the Apache Totem..
Bill’s Golden Wonder.......
Bills Hiesta a Nignt «0. 0. (oe
Bill and the Hatchet Boys..
Bill and the Mining Shark...
Bill and the Cattle Barons...
BillisisVonee Odds tau. oy.
Billy them reacemakern. 2s.
Bulls PromisewtOme ays co. ..5 6's
Bilis Diamond? -Eiten 20.7.
Bill and the Wheel of Fate..
Bill and the Pool of Mystery
Bill and the Deserter.......
Bill’s Island in the Air......
Bill Rowa Marshalls <0 A5)
BSS Tema Ge os cs is
Bill’s Test

Bill and the Ponca Raiders...
Bill’s Boldest Stroke

Bill’s Enigma

Bill’s Blockade .:

Bill and the Gilded Clique..
Bill and Perdita Reyes......
Bill; and the Boomers. :.:.....
PI Oanis! cae EVO tC usr aces 5.
3ill and the Ke-week Totem.
ARUN O IN Waticen ove rapemestaliete us.
Bue at Canon Digbloni....:.
BSBA SHOT! haus eccctate cies
Bill and the Red Horse Hunt-

HOUT

OLSTOS

NOH

NOUOTOLOUD

o

CLOTOVOTOUOLOUCTOUSUCTOUON

HSU

CUD ST IU

Bill’’s Dangerous Duty.......
Bill and the Chief’s Daughter
Bilas Dinaga Wells <c. 0s ie.
Bill and the Men of Meudon.
Billvat Rainbow-su ng... . 27...
Bill and the Russian Plot....
Bord Use) Beto lh M4 DS cr ab aed Speen eae
Bil soya: His 37.. ae
Ti See ram sel Oasis).
Bill on the Upper Missouri. .
Bill’s Crow Scouts ire
Bill's Onium Case

Bilis Wiatchenatts 52°.

Bill's Mountain Moes........
US Ba Oler Cty ier. stata s+’.
Bill’s Fight for the Right...

NAN TH GUST A OT SUS (SUH CUOTOT OSU STI STO

518—Buffalo Bill and the Indian Girl
519—Buffalo Bill Across the Rio Grande

520—Buffalo

man
52.1—RBuffalo

5?22—Buffalo
523—Buffalo
524—RBuffalo
525—Buffalo
526—Buffalo
527—Buftfalo
528—Buffalo
529—RBuffalo
530—Buffalo
531—Buffalo

Bill and the Headless Horse- s

Bill’s Clean Sweep :
Bill’s Handful of Pearts..... |
PUES eITe DON MOC sie). as ;
US OSNOGOM a icdhis tcc. ;
Bill and tke Pawnee Prophet :
Bill and Oid Wanderoo..... it
pulse MiemnvanWiadiee cise os)... <> f
RilleanagaGnizzhye Wanecnc 2... - 5
Bill at Lone Tree Gap. ....

Bilis rail Oty Meat. tess) 6.. D
iiieat Cimaroon Bar....>.... 9

Tf you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained. direct

from this office.

Postage-stamps taken the same as money.

STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY