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Copyright, 1911, dy STREET & SMITH.

Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 19-89 Seventh Ave., N.Y.

O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors. >

 

¥ TERMS TO BUFFAEO. BILL STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.
| (Postage Free.)

Single Copies or Back Numbers, Sc. Each,

 

 

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} No. 521.

NEW YORK, May 6, 1911.

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asians

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*

BUFFALO BILL'S CLEAN SWEEP:

OR,

Bill’s Race With the Kingpin Bandit.

 

“By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

CHAPTER I.
A PUZZLING CIRCUMSTANCE.

 

 

“It sure is a puzzling circumstance, necarnis.”

“I believe you. I certainly thought that phase of
the mystery of Silvernail was finished with his hor-
rible death.”

“And it looks like we eee be sure of it until
we hear whether that Clifford Smart really has gone
to-Mexico City for Professor Cralé.’’

“You're mighty right, old man.
thing very sure about it—eh?”

ROG that ie

“If the young man returns to San Enrife, we will
know that he certainly was not the king-pin bandit of

the border,’ and Buffalo Bill laughed as he puffed
calmly on his after-breakfast cigar.

There was an open camp established upon the Texas
bank of the Rio Grande, just above the big drum of
a ferryboat run by a man named Liscom, and not
many miles from a border town called Del Verde.
Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill, his particular friend
and coworker, foes with a number of their asso-

  
  
   
  
  
 
  

But there's one

  
    
   
 
  
    
 

 

ciates, were here encamped. “But there were twoscore
men from Del Verde, too, sitting around the camp
fires, over which coffee and hog meat had been cooked
for the hungry men by Liscom and his wife and
daughter. 2

A little way beyond this camping ground the ruins
of Liscom’s house were still a smoking heap of ash
and charred timbers. A. furious conflagration had
destroyed it during the early morning hours, and the
ferryman and his “family were, for the time, shelter-
less.

But they were very happy, and, as they had pro-
visions stored down in the ferryhouse itself, they had
been very glad, indeed, to. minister to the wants of
the hungry men.

Before the house of the ferryman had burned to
the ground, some very exciting incidents had occurred
here at the riverside. Indeed, they had begun in Del
Verde, the nearest town.

There Major Gordon Lillie had chanced to be stop-

ping. He and Buffalo Bill and his usual companions,
old Nick Nomad, Wild Bill Hickok, Little Cayuse,

 

   
2.
2

THE BUFFALO

    

and Baron Villum von Schnitzenhauser, were beating
the boundary on both sides of the Rio Grande for the
bandits that had of late become very troublesome to
ranchmen, both of Mexico and the Big Bend country
of Texas.

At Del Verde a man who was supposed to be a

Mocican had fired a shot at Major Lillie—or Pawnee
Bill, as he was familiarly known—and although the
king of bowie fighters escaped, an innocent bystander
was killed. At once Buffalo Bill’s pard at the head of
a posse of excited Del Verdeans chased the murderer
up the riverside.

They had overtaken him at this ferry. Liscom, with
his boat, was across the river when the murderer ar-
rived. The fellow had burst into the ferryman’s house,
and had forced Liscom’s wife and daughter, Miss Bes-
sie, at the point of his pistol, to help bar the windows
and door. Then, with the women inside, he bade de-
fiance to the posse and to the enraged ferryman.

But by a personal display of courage, Pawnee Bill’
had tricked the murderer into letting the women go.
Then the posse had riddled the house with bullets and
—early in the morning, just as Buffalo Bill and his
other partners had arrived at the ferry—the house
burst into flames. The fugitive had either been stricken
down by a bullet, or was afraid to come out even when
the house was. afire: The shack was now a smolder-
ing heap of ruins, and it was a sheer impossibility that
any person who had been in the house when it began
to burn had escaped death.

- Certainly the fugitive had not run out. It was to
be presumed that he was incinerated within the build:

ing.

“Tt was another circumstance, however, that had ex-
cited the discussion between Buffalo Bill and Major
Lillie as they lingered over the simple but es fare
produced by the ferryman.

The identity of Silvernail, the chief bandit and bold-
est robber of all the border country, was in question.
Who or what he was had puzzled Buffalo Bill and his
associates. Now that it seemed quite certain that he
was dead, this matter of identification did not so much
matter. Suspicion had pointed an accusing finger at a
young American named Clifford Smart, hp had some
years before shot a gambler in one of the Texas fron-
tier towns, and had “escaped to Mexico.

But Buffalo Bill’s Dutch pard had brought the news
from San Enrife, where this Clifford Smart was en-
gaged as assistant by a Mexican scientist named Pro-
fessor Cralé, that Smart had started something like
five days previous to the opening of our story for a
trip to Mexico City, a thousand miles and more away.

Tt had been accepted. as fact, therefore, by Buffalo
Bill that the man destroyed with the ferryman’s house
could not have been Clifford Smart. The king. of
scouts had been. following the trail of the bandit, Sil-
vernail, for more than a week, and he had followed
it pretty near to the river. This man who had com-
mitted the murder at Del Verde, and. had. afterward

BIL STORIES.

  

   

met “his death in the burned shack, seemed without
doubt to be the famous bandit.

Even the horse that Silvernail was knowh to ride
was in the possession of the ferryman—a beautiful
bay steed with white mane and tail.

“And yet, necarnis,’’ Pawnee Bill said reflectively,
“that Smart fellow could have reached this place on a
fast horse from San Enrife if he had chosen to turn
north on the Olando trail, instead of taking the stage
south from Manuel Alsando’s house.”

“Vou mean he could have reached the ferry at ie
time Liscom says this murderer did—two days ago?’

“On-she-ma-da! You've got it,” said the bowie man.

“Well, it might be. But it’s far-fetched,” said Buf-
falo Bill, and just then Wild Bill Hickok lounged
over to them.

"Did you take : squint at ‘that horse, pards?”’ he.

‘asked. “By gorry! He’s a beaut.’’
“Silvernail’s mount?”
ep he?

“That reminds me, Hickok, ”* Buffalo Bill said. “Do
you remember what that old Mexican ranchero said
who used to own the bay horse?” ,

“By gorry!” cried the Laramie man, suddenly wak-
ing up.

“Ts this the horse the bandit rode when you and
Pawnee captured him at Ciudad Sonora?’ continued
the scout.

“Why—why, it looks like the same,’ said Hickok
slowly.

eis it stallion? ‘hed Buffalo Bill,

“Well, if it is,’ declared Pawnee Bill confidently,
“it’s not the horse he was riding when Hickok and
I got him into jail up there in the hills.”

Hickok at once grew much excited.

“Do you mean it, Pawnee?” he cried.
horse he rode then a gelding?’
~ “Surest thing you know!” declared Pawnee Bill.

“That's what thought,” eried Hickok. “Cody,
there’s a mystery here.”’

“I should say there was,’ admitted Buffalo Bill.
“The old ranchero who claimed to have lost the horse
to the bandit said he was a stallion.”

“And I am as.sure as Pawnee is, now, that the bay
critter Silvernail was riding when we caught him at
Ciudad Sonora was a gelding.”

“Two horses, by glory!” ejaculated Pawnee Bill.

“Two Silvernails!” cried Buffalo Bill.

“Was that

“By gorry! I wonder which of you is right?” mur- - FT .
“If there are two Silvernails, which ff

mured Hickok.
one is roasted yonder?”

But Buffalo Bill looked earnestly at Pawnee.
“That isn't just what I mean,” he said.

 

so much alike ? Perhaps that’s foolish——

STE baron doesn’t say that he ever saw any, aos i
oy a

bay horse about the stables of PeOteaot Cralé,”
jected Pawnee.

NO,

 

 

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As you said yourself, Pawnee, it’ e. a “puzzle. ;

    

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wondering if Silvernail and Clifford Siar had horses |
   

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lynching ;

_his friend, seeing Ben swaggering about.
like bad medicine to me, Gordon.”

a bad egg, however.”

But I am troubled—deeply troubled,” said the famous
scout. “Clifford Smart’s relatives asked me to look
him up, and he has dodged me every time I have been
at San Enrife. I am carrying right now a beautiful
miniature of his mother which was once worn and
treasured by Clifford. Rawdon Smart, his brother,
should be in my cate, too, [—J——”’

“On-she-ma-da! Let’s have it, necarnis,”’
Pawnee Bill. “‘What’s troubling you?”

“Tl tell you,” said Buffalo Bill.

cried

It will be
a gruesome business, but I must examine the remains
of the man who lost his wicked life in that fire. It
will settle some questions much quicker than waiting

~ to hear from Mexico City.”

CHAPERR tf
ALBONA BEN OBJECTS.

As the breakfast Liscom had supplied was over, the
Del Verde men began saddling up for thesreturn ride
to town. They had promised their, fellow townsmen a
but they were mainly agreed that the burn-
ing of the murderer in that ferryman’ S shece had been
more spectacular.

Most of them, before riding away, were SGiceular
to shake Pawnee Bill by the hand, for he had made
himself exceedingly popular with them by his gallant
action in saving Mrs. Liscom and Miss Bessie. There
were several of the Del Verdeans who lingered, seem-
ingly curious as to the future activities of Buffalo Bill
and his pards.

One of these fellows was a big ruffan known as Al-
bona Ben who had, when Pawnee Bill first entered Del
Verde, tried to make it very disagreeable in that burg
for the bowie man. Indeed, those men of the town

who lingered at the ferry were all of Albona Ben’s.

ilk.
“Who is that big bluffer?” inquired Buffalo Bill of
“He looks

“He’s a tough character,’ admitted Major Lillie.
“T had to call his bluff in the hotel at Del Verde. But
he seemed to have shown a decent streak last night
while we were trying to get that murderer. Guess he’s

_ Albona Ben was: strutting about ina way that was
bound to make him unpopular with old Nick Nomad,
if with nobody else. The trapper wasn’t afraid of
any human being, despite the fact that he believed in
‘“‘whiskizoos ’—whatever breed of specters those might
be—and he dearly loved to puncture the baloon of any
man’s conceit.

_oay, he rémin’s me of th’ bullfrog thet reckoned
he could swell up ez big ez a ox,’ grunted Nomad.
“But th’ frog busted—an’ ef thet thar Albona Ben
goes monkeyin’ much wi’ th’ baron, he'll likely git
busted Er-waugh! Wot did I tell ye?”

 

THE BUFFALO

“We're going to
camp right here until that ash heap cools.

Renee eG ALGAE RAS eS ONAL ceases aoa asics lsc TOLER

     
   

BILL STORIES. 3

 

The exlamation from the old trapper was brought
forth because of the fqllowing incident:

ae baron, ds might have eee expected, A ies

Vv s daughter
when he observed that she was a plump and fresh-faced
prairie girl. He had insisted on helping her—and
her mother—get breakfast, and was now assisting in
the “clearing-up’” process, while the brand of broken
English that dribbled from his lips evidently amazed
the Liscom girl.

“Ach! Idt a bleasure has peen to hellup you, Miss
Lizgum—I assure you from my heardt oudt! Undt
vot a gook you vos yedt! Sich goffee-trinks | haf nodt
het—no, nodt since I Chairmany left and gome bum-
ming eroundt in dis vestern gountry, alretty.”

The girl laughed immoderately at this, and at the
eye-rolling with which the baron accompanied his re-
marks. But just at this point the swaggering Albona
Ben butted into the téte-a-téte of Buffalo Bill’s Dutch
pard and the ferryman’s daughter.

“Say! Wot kind of a breed is this lathe-shanked
critter demanded the bully. “Hop erlong, furriner,
an’ give er white man er show.”

He pushed in between the baron and the girl, and
added, addressing Miss Bessie:

“TI reckon this yere kentry is big enough, an’ ter
spare, but I ain’t never cared for emigrants. Wot say,
miss? Amurricans—an’ bred-in-th’-bone Westerners
—is the best kind of folks—heh?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Mr. Ben. I think the gentle-
man is all right,” returned the young girl, who seemed
by her manner to stand in some fear of the bully of
Del Verde.

“Gosh all Friday! He’s nothin’ but er Dutch emi-
grant,’ snorted Albona Ben.

The baron wasn’t a patient man—especially when his
pride was spurred. And here was a case where he was ©
being flouted openly—and before a lady!

“Vell, vot a sheek you got!” he growled, and rudely
shouldered the Del Verde man aside. “Undt I am no
Dutch emigrant; aber I vos Puffalo Pill’s pard.”

* “Huh! You're a pill, all right,” exclaimed Albona
Ben.

“Su-aly I vos; btit idt iss Villum I brefaire to be
called yedt—especially py sheap sgkates vot you iss
like alretty !”’

“Goslt all Friday!” roared the big man. ‘Air you
plum an idjit, or wot? Ef I thought you knowed wot
you was talkin’ erbout, Dutchy, I'd fill ye ez full of
holes as a seive!”

“I know vell vot I iss talkin’ erpoudt, ain’t idt!”
cried the baron. “But you do nodt know who you
vos talkin’ to—dot is de drouble here.”

“Shut thet face of yours, Dutchy, or

“Py shiminy Ghristmas! Wond’t you talk like dot
to me, you pig. Ledt me dell you vonce dot I am de
Baron Villum von Schnitzenhauser, undt for a loafer
like you I haf no use yedt!”

“Wow!” Albona Ben let out the roar, and his hand
sought the gun at his hip. But the baron was not

 

clin EO NO MR I A PR ie nd) i RR Mae MS ah ete te os en

 
e a THE BUFFALO

caught napping. He had been helping Miss Bessie
wash the pans, and there was a bucket of greasy water
at hand. He grabbed it and “swish” the slops drenched
Albona Ben completely!

He fell back snorting and blowing, making as much
noise as a grampus; and the pistol fell from his hand,
and hé was so blinded that he could not immediately
find it. But he was furiously angry, and he was not a
man to “take water’ from any antagonist.

But, while he scrambled after his gun, Buffalo Bill .

himself walked over to the fire. The girl looked fright-
ened, for it was plain that Albona Ben was furiously
angry, and there was every likelihood of there being
bloodshed. The baron had meanwhile slipped on his
holster belt, and was ready for his antagonist. |

“If dot feller wants ter doodle mit me, vy ledt him
gome on!” cried the baron, in much heat. “I vill shoot
mit him at den baces, or I vill dake a rifle yedt, undt
shoot him from hosspack-—aber I get Toofer again
to ride idt!”

“Oh, Mr. Schnitzenhauser!’’ cried Bessie Liscom, at
this bloodthirsty statement of the baron. “Please—
please—don’t have any more killing about here. I
shan’t sleep peaceful at night for months, as it is, after
seeing that poor creature destroyed in our old house
Don’t—please don’t—fight.”

The baron bowed,
been tied in a bowknot behind his neck!

“Mein lieber fraulein! Itt iss mit bleasure dot I
mitholdt mein handt yedt!. Elis life iss: sated,” Ve
do nodt doodle ; :

“Gosh all Friday!” roared Albona Ben, getting his
breath after spitting out the last mouthful of dirty
water. “I'll show you whether we fight or not—and
whether we ‘doodle’ or don’t doodle you're a dead
man!’

He had got to his feet, and with the gun in his hand.
The wetting had not injured its shooting qualities, and
he brought the weapon down deliberately on the baron.
That rosy-cheeked nuisance bowed again to the fright-
ened girl, and then folded his arms across his breast
and looked steadily at the infuriated bully.

“You haf heardt me vot I haf saidt,’ he declared.
“De Paron Villum von Schnitzenhauser vos nefer
known to preak his vord—undt to a laty? Aber nit!”

“You goldurned Dutch emigrant! Say oe pray-
ers!” howled Albona Ben.

He was so exasperated that, without ae doubt,
he would have deliberately shot down the baron; but
here Buffalo Bill interfered. The scout seized the
man’s gun hand in his own grip—and such a grip was
it that he crushed the big fellow’s fingers upon the
metal so tightly that Ben could not pull the trigger!

“Hold on! Let us have no more bloodshed—as the
lady says,” Buffalo Bill observed, looking the bully in
the eye. “One murder has been done in Del Verde,
and it looks as though another man—the murderer—
had been done to death here. That is enough carnage
for the present—don’t you thank so. yourself, Mr. Al-
bona Ben?”

with a smile that could have .

“The poor creature is certainly dead there.

BILL STORIES.

The ruffian looked into the face of the scout, and
his own countenance was rage-inflamed, and ‘what
should have been the whites of his eyes were yellow!

“We've hearn tell of you an’ yer crowd, Buffler Bill
Cody,” he snarled. “We know how you've set up th’
high hand in other places. But it won't go yere—
sabby i

u it will go all right,” said the scout, unmoved. “T
never interfere in a community where law and order
is prevalent. But I opine that right here and now
this part of the Big Bend country needs cleaning up. If
I have to begin by cleaning you, Albona Ben, tt will be
one eood—and dirty—job out of the way. Git!”

He shoved the bully aside, not even taking the trou-
ble to disarm him; and that very fact seemed to fill
Albona Ben with cowardice! He moved off mutter-
ing, shamed before the girl, and unable to carry on his
ar eument with the baron.

“Ach, himmelblitzen!’’ complained the latter, “idt
vould haf gifen me mooch bleasure yedt to haf doodled
mit dot feller,”

“\We have no time for dueling,’ returned Buffalo
Bill. ‘As soon as that heap of embers cools a little,
we must rake it over.”

“Shiminy Ghristmas !
the baron.

“IT wanteto find the remains of that Mexican, or
whoever he was, who made his last stand against Gor-
don and these Del Verdeans.”

“Oh, Colonel Cody!’ Beeanod: Bessie Teton,
He never
ran out. He would have been shot had he done so.”

Buffalo Bill looked at her thoughtfully, and ay
asked :

‘Miss Bessie, sais long had you lived in that house 2”

“Oh, mother and I pals came here last month. But
the house was an old building. A Mexican used to own
it and lived here for twenty years. J am not sorry that
it was burned—for we hadn’t much in it. Now father
will build us a new one as he promised.”

“Your father has not been ferryman long?”

“No, Colonel Cody. He bought out the business
this year from a man named Miller. Until we came,
father slept in the ferryhouse down there—where
mother and I shall camp now while we are building
the new house.”

The scout glanced down the steep bank to the build-
ing in question, right behind the huge wooden drum
around which ran “he ferryboat hawser. The river
bank here was almost a bluff, it was so high and steep.
The burned house had been within ten yards of the
edge of the bluff. The bluff itself was rocky and
few trees grew on the steep side of it. ~

“Any cellar under your old house, Miss Bessie?”
he asked thoughtfully.

“Oh, no, colonel.
she replied.

But, as Buffalo Bill walked away, he recalled ioe
the fact that he had seen a hollow place under the
heap of burning rubbish that looked like a cellar. He

For vy vos dot?” demanded

It was just a little, old shack,”

 

 
  

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Pea Ea SPAN IE SEEN

THE BUFFALO

went as near as he could to the embers now, secured
a green sapling, and began poking about the heap—
sounding,” as it were, in the rubbish. ,

Albona Ben had slunk away to his horse, had now
cinched on his saddle, and.was about to mount into it
when he observed Buffalo Bill’s operations. Major
Lillie, old Nomad, and Little Cayuse were likewise at-
tracted to the fire at about the same time, and the
trapper and the Piute began to poke over the embers.

“Hyer!” bawled Ben, riding down to them. “Wot
th’ blitherin’ blazes air you fellers doin’ thar?”

“We want to be sure the Mexican’s dead, old son,”
chuckled Pawnee Bill.

“Say! Air you goin’ to sift the ashes ter try an’
recover th’ silver bullion th’ poor devil wore?” snarled
the bully scornfully.

“That might pay,” returned Buffalo Bill, smiling.

“You fellers air gittin’ altogether too permiscuous
around yere!’” declared Albona Ben, who was, without
doubt, in a fine rage by now. ‘You're the bosses at
present; but thar’s a gang at Del Verde that'll have
something ter Say about these doin’s.”

“What doings?” snapped the scout sharply. “Objec-
tions filed against our examining this rubbish for traces
of the dead man, eh? That's what I thought!’

With an oath, Albona Ber pulled a gun on the
scout; but, before he could shoot, there was an ex-
‘plosion off at one side, and the bully dropped his gun
to the ground, while the blood dripped from his fin-
gers. Wild Bill, some yards away, had caught him
in the act!

“You git!’ advised Pawnee Bill, likewise covering
the Del Verde bad man, “I reckon I ought to have
killed you yesterday.” -

CHAP TERR Ti.
THE SECRET PASSAGE.

But at that none of them just understood what Buf-
falo Bill was getting at when he, began poking over
the embers of the burned shack.

“T’ll tell you boys,” he said, to hush their clamor. “I
want to see some of that. bullion they say that Silver-
nail wore. And silver will only melt in such a fire.
There must be some traces of him.”

“His bones,” grunted old Nomad. “Er-waugh!”

Liscom, the ferryman, came up from his boat—he
had been across the river—and was interested at once
in the proceedings.

“T see that Ben went away peeved,’ he said. “Bess
says betwixt you all and the Dutchman he seemed
Mebbe you don’t know that Al-
bona Ben is some feller in this neck 0’ woods?”

“T believe he did mention that there would be a
gang at Del Verde who might object to our presence
in this locality,” returned Buffalo Bill, smiling.

“More’n object. They'll run ye off—'nless you are
mighty careful,” said the ferryman.

OER paar RE OLE Tecan

   

BILL STORIES. 5

“Thet thar is suthin’ thet’s been tried by a hull passe!
of fellers,” grunted old Nomad. “But ye ain’t heered
of Buffler.and his pards gittin’ th’ run in many places.”

“Wauh!"-exclaimed Little Cayuse. “Me saddle um
pony—foller um big paleface. Watch um-—heh—
Pa-e-has-ka ?”

“Oh, we won't be in a hurry,
“We want to poke over these cinders first

“But what are ye looking for, Colonel Cody?” de-
manded Liscom.

The scout told him briefly. “You see yourself there
is a cave under that house. Didn't you know it, Lis-
com? Didn’t you know there was a cellar there?”

“T swear to goodness! I sure didn't,” said the ferry-
man.

“And I fail yet to see anything that looks like the

’ said the scout easily.

o>

 

_ partly incinerated body of a man,” said Buffalo Bill.

“You know. that he would not have been destroyed
completely. He did not run out before the roof crashed
in. And Pawnee says that for some time before that
happened, there had been no shot from the house.”

“That's right,’ admitted Liscom. “We all thought
that he might have got a bad hurt and couldn’t run.
We was firing all the time into the house.”

‘Well, he'll show up if he met his death in the fire,”
said Buffalo Bill gravely, ‘There's no doubt of that.
And if he didn’t meet his death there—how did he get
out ?”’

“Waugh!” growled Nomad. “Thet thar’s er cnyn+
drum!’

‘Say!’ whispered Liscom. “I heard tell there uset«t
be smugglers yereabouts q

“And you might say that their generation ain’t dead
yet!” interposed Wild Bill, laughing.

“On-she-ma-da!” exclaimed Pawnee. “It looks like
we might find something under this heap of embers—
eh, necarnis?’’

“Quite right, Gordon,” said the king of scouts.

“T dunno,” said Liscom. “I ain’t seen nothin’ since
I come here to the ferry.”

“And you would be a blamed fool if you did see
anything,’ said Wild Bill Hickok bluntly. “A man
with a family has no business to mix up with such fel-
lers as this Albona Ben.”

“Vou're on, old man,’ said Pawnee. “I reckon I
should have shot him up some yesterday when he gave
me the chance down in Del Verde. But Pard Cody
said to keep out of trouble.’’*

“And he looks like he was goin’ ter git us all neck

deep inter trouble himself, this same Buffler!’ cackled
old Nomad, with a thumb in Pawnee’s ribs. :
_ “Have a care with that old, gnarled twig of yours!”
exclaimed Major Lillie, cringing at the thumb. “T
can take a joke without having it punched into me,
you old savage!’’.

At that moment Little Cayuse let out another howl.
A part of the refuse caved in, revealing a hole or cel-

 

 

*See Burrato Bitzi Stories, No. 520.

  
6 _) THE BUFFALO

lar under the house. It was not large, but seemed to
have the walls stoned up.

“By Joshua Edwards!” gasped Liscom.
a hole under thar!”

“T reckon we all see the same thing you do, Lis-
com,’ said Buffalo Bill, with a smile.

“Bat if that goat ripped up the floor and got into
the cellar, where is he now?”

“That is what we propose to find out,”
scout grimly.

“By gorry!’” cried Hickok.
cellar was there?’ > .

“If he is Silvernail, he’d be likely to know, old
horse!’ declared Pawnee Bill. “These border riders
and smugglers are all cut off the same piece of goods,
1 reckon. :

“Now, ain't ye mighty dale Pawnee?”
old: Nomad. | *

“But where is the man now?” demandéd Liscomi.

“That’s something more than a cellar hole,’ said the
scout. “You can bet.a blue stack on that!’

“Er-waugh!” growled Nomad. “This yere is some
mystery, heh? Them fellers wot useter run this yere
ferry an’ live in this yere house, had other ways of
gittin’ ter th’ river b’sides goin’ out th’ front door—
wotr”’

“That is what I believe,” returned Buffalo Bill. “Let
us scratch this hot débris out of the way and see what
we, can find in that hole.”

And, as the ruins were rapidly cooling now, it did
not take long to accomplish what the scout suggested.
The first to jump into the still smoking hole was the
~ Piute. He leaped about rather lively on the still warm
rocks with which the cellar was floored, but poked vig-
orously between the flags with a hardwood stick, the
point of which had been hardened in the fire.

While he capered about and Hickok and Nomad
chaffed him, he began to chant one of his own as
songs—a song of the Piutes :

“There is

returned the

“How'd he know the

grunted

‘Ta-si-va fee -mai-a
Ma-na-pa win-ka
So-ku-nas so-ma
Wi-a wi-ga-va,”’

which meant: “The little red ant descended the hill
with one arrow only.”

“You're heap red ant, Cayuse,’ chuckled Nomad.
“But what d’ye expect ter prick out with thet thar
arrer ye’'re talkin’ erbout?”

As an answer the Piute uttered a long, shrill yell.
The others crowded forward with excited exclama-
tions. The redskin had found a loose flagstone—one
of the largest forming the flooring of the cellar.

His fire-hardened staff lifted its edge. He pried it
farther open, and then, inserting his fingers, lifted the
stone on edge. It had fitted snugly on a tip of masonry.
There was a stone-lined passage leading downward 1 ina
steep slant, and*toward the river !

But Buffalo Bill quickly ordered the mouth of the

passage closed again.

“That's only one end of the burrow,” he said. “You

BILE STORIES.

W hat we want

stand here and guard this end, Nomad.
It may be

to do is to find the other outlet—if we can.
that the rabbit is stillat home.”

CHAPTER IV.
THE HAND OF SILVERNAIL.

Liscom, the ferryman, went to the shed and corral to
‘attend to his stock, there being no business at the river
for him just then. He was evidently determined to
keep neutral in this affair between Buffalo Bill and
his pards, and the men of Del Verde, who, without
doubt, were interested in the smuggling that ‘had been
going on here in the past.

Meanwhile the scout, his friend Lillie, Little Cayuse,
Wild Bill, and the baron—who was finally pried away
from the vicinity of Miss Bessie—went to work to
search the bluff for the riverside opening of the tun-
nel, the other end of which the Piute had found.

The foot of the bluff was lapped in places by the
river itself. In the season of flood, the waters some-
times rose several yards above this present mark. It
did not seem probable that the smugglers would have
excavated a secret passage that opened below the high-
water mark.

It would have been simpler to have ntered at the
upper end of the burrow, and followed it through; but
Buffalo Bill figured that the man they were after might
still be in the passage, and either he would be looking
for them with his shooting irons in readiness, or he
would escape by the farther exit while they ed
the subterranean passage.

They raked the side of the bluff.as though with a
fine-tooth comb—and found no sign of the opening.

“And yet, by gorry, it must be here!” declared Wild
Bill.

“Dot iss like de eround hawg vot olt Nomat dells
erpout yedt,” drawled the baron... “Dot feller, Silver-
tail, he makes him er hole, undt crawls into idt yedt—
und den he pulls mit de hole in after him!”

. “You got it right, Dutch!’ laughed Pawnee Bill.

Little Cayuse was still running back and forth along
the hillside like a hound that had lost the scent. The
Piute was muttering vengefully to himself, and seemed

to consider it a personal insult that the elusive Silver-

nail should be able to hide his trail so well.

The others: were gathered at the top of the bluff
when suddenly a shrill scream reached their ears. Buf-
falo Bill—and all—turned to look toward the distant
corral, which was beyond the burned home of the fer-
ryman. The sound came from that direction.

“By gorry!” ejaculated Hickok.
up there just now.”

“Her father’s there,’ muttered Pawnee Bill.

“Something’s happened to Liscom,”
‘scout, and he started to run toward the shed and corral.

The others followed; but Little Cayuse, smelling
something in the wind, overtook his white friends, and

a ee

SSS

 

 

“T saw the girl go

announced the

 

 

 

 

 

    
  
 
  

 
  

it

ma O 4 Oo

aot

GS) cere et

Bad pee ae

OP ER ae Re ew

 

ea bounded ahead of them. . As they passed the

burned ruins Nomad yelled:

‘“Thar’s sumpin’ doin’ up thar, Buffler.
watchin’ er empty burrer !” :

“Stay where you are,’ commanded Buffalo Bill.
“We don’t know what this is.”

And when they reached the corral what they found

Ye got me

was. utterly unexpected. The girl was on her knees
- over her father, and his head lay in a pool of blood.

He had received a terrible blow just above the ear; the
skull was broken, and blood had matted his hair and
beard.

“That Mexican!’ gasped Pawnee Bill. “ An-pe-tu-

: we |”?

“Silvernail!’’ echoed Hickok.

“The scoundrel has gouged us,” agreed Buffalo Bill,
“Tt could have been none of the Del Verde men. Be-
sides, they had no reason for disliking Liscom.”’

“Ach, himmelblitzen!”’ murmured the soft-hearted
baron, stooping down and patting the shoulder of the
sobbing girl. “Dond’t gry like dot, fraulein. Hey!
Call olt Nomat. He is de doctor.”

“Right!” said Pawnee Bill. “The old man may be
able to do something for the poor fellow.” :

Buffalo Bill'sprang out of the shed and beckoned
to the trapper.

“Come on, old faithful!’ he shouted. ‘You are
right, and I was wrong. The snake wriggled out of
that’ gopher hole, and no mistake.”
~ Little Cayuse was running about the corral, search-
ing the ground. Suddeily Hickok uttered a broad
oath, adding:

“The bay horse has been taken! It was Silvernail,
sure as shooting!”

“By the sacred O-zu-ha! But you're right, Bill,”
agreed the bowie man.

Cayuse leaped to the farther gate of the ror fih
a shrill yelp. He went through the opening, running
so low that his nose almost touched the ground, Be-
hind-the corral was a draw that might, at its farther

- end, become a deep gulch. At least, it was a scooped-

out, shallow place, hidden by the higher ground
about it. ce
“But he’s made for the backland,”’ declared Hickok.

_. “He couldn’t reach the river that a-~way—heh?”

He and Pawnee and Buffalo Bill were saddling rap-
idly. The baron remained to comfort the girl. Be?
sides, Toofer, his mule, was miles from ic spot, far
down the Olando trail in Mexico, Old Nomad had
come running and, seeing the wounded man, without
delay went to work on him. The old trapper and back-

woodsman had the hand of a gentle woman when it.

came to such a case—and as mach skill and learning
as many college-educated medical men of that oy and

wild country could boast !

The three Bills were in the saddle, and racing after

the running Indian whom they did not doubt had

struck the trail of the fleeing murderer on his bay
horse.
‘The. draw i as they expected, open out into a

THE BUFFALO™BILL STORIES.

Leta,

deeper gulley—indeed, a valley. The Piute was like
a bloodhound on the trail. He shrilled back a yell to |
his white friends, and dashed on, keeping far ahead of
the horses, for the way was rough.

At the crossing of a stream that meandered through
the valley, he stopped a moment only. Then he leaped

the rill and disappeared in the chapparal. When Butf-
falo Bill and his pards came to this place, they saw
plainly that the horse they were following had halted
to drink.

“He’s a long way ahead of us, pards,” declared Buf-
falo Bill, with decision. ‘‘Otherwise the scoundrel
would not have dared let the bay fill his belly with
water.”

“An-pe-tu-we, necarnis!”’ ded Pawnee Bill,

“By gorry! He got here before the gal screeched
back there at the sheds,” said the Laramie man.

They rode on, the valley seeming to lead away from
the river; but suddenly it took a sharp turn in the
other direction. They rode more swiftly down a deep-
ening gulch. They overtook the panting Indian. He
stretched a pointing hand toward the locality from
which they had ridden, gasping :

“Pae-has-ka! Listen to oT
go back—go back!”
“JT believe the red is right, necarnis, ” cried Pawnee.
“The skunk 1s doubling on his trail.”

“Then Nomad and the baron will get him,” declared
Hickok ee

“Will they : 2? erm Buftalo Bill.
be proven.’

Wild Bill swerved his mount about suddenly.

“Tl pick-up the,redskin and go back,” he said. “It
looks to me like Silvernail has made back for the ferry.
How else will he cross the river?”

“That sounds like good sense, Hickok!” retur ned the
scout, looking back for an instant. “Come on, Gor-
don!’

They lashed their jot ses to a gallop, and kept close
on the trail of the bay, the prints of whose hoofs were
now plain. Hickok, with Little Cayuse clinging like.
a limpet behind him, tore away on the back track.

That man, um

“That 1s to

CHAPTER V.
AB OL De Pei A ye

N

The king of scouts and his chief partner used quirt
and spur without mercy during the next few minutes.
It was in both their minds that they were on the track
of a most desperate, as well as an ingenious, criminal.

Whether he was Silvernail, the famous, or not, this
man who had tried to kill Pawnee Bill at Del Verde,
and had escaped death himself in the burning of the
ferryman’s house, was a fellow such as Buffalo Bill
and his comrades had seldom been up against.

The scoundrel must have known of the smuggler’ S
tunnel under the old shack that the Liscom family oc-
cupied. In that case, might he not, after all, expect

 

‘i

 

  
   
8 oe . FHE. BUPPALO

eters ee

help from some of the “bad men” about Del Verde?

Although Albona Ben had been one of the foremost

~~ pursuers of the supposed. Mexican, there might, after
all, be a bond of sympathy between the Del Verde bully
and the hunted murderer.

It was the task of Buffalo Bill and his mates to
captare the fugitive before he could gain any help
from the other criminals infesting this portion of the
Big Bend country, and before he could cross the river
into Mexico.

Over there Buffalo Bill’s power was limited—he had
no real official authority behind him. On this side of
the Big Ditch, as Pawnee called the famous Rio Grande
del Norte, almost any peace officer or sheriff, as well
as the judges and other court officers, were glad to
play into Buffalo Bill’s hands. And behind them were
the officers of the army and the grateful War Depart-
ment itself!”

Indeed, thet two Ptiends were of a single mind just
then. It was better to get the fusitive-evyen to get
him dead—at once than to allow Hie to mix with any
of the white men or Mexicans in that locality. No
knowing who might be his friends.

Therefore, it was ride hard! Buffalo Bill and his
companion could follow the tracks easily enough, for
the soil was soft and damp and the shoes of the big
bay that carried the fugitive cut plain spoors.

“He’s turning up river again, necarnis!” exclaimed
Pawnee Bill.

“T’m on, Gordon,” replied the scout.

“Do you reckon he’ll dare go back to the ferry?
Why, the boys will cut him down

“It’s what [ve been fearing,” interrupted Buffalo
Bill. “The baron and Nomad are up at the corral—
and the girl. Like enough the woman will run up,
too.” ;

“Shades of Unk-te- hee!
nis!”

For even as Buffalo Bill spoke, the trail took a
decided turn and suddenly they came into the path that
Pawnee Bill had ridden so hard the evening before
from Del Verde, with the posse bent on hanging the
Mexican murderer.

Buffalo Bill made no reply at the moment. In three
minutes they eame to the summit of a long rise and
saw the river—and, in the distance, the ferry. Nota
~ soul was in sight about the big drum. The boat could
not be seen, for a spur of the river bank hid it from
their view.

“He’s doubled on us, necarnis!”
loosening the gun in his holster.

“There!” cried Buffalo Bill.

Even at this distance they could see the hawser
to which the heavy ferryboat was attached move. It
_ began running over the drums. Then the head of the
boat appeared.

“He's there! And, by gad, he’s got his horse with
him!” yelled Pawnee Bill.

The ferryboat appeared in whole, and the bay horse
avas plainly visible, while the figure of a man tugging

You’re a prophet, necar-

cried Pawnee Bill,

Sar rifle,
~ He did not waste a cartridge.

BILL. STORIES.
like mad at the heavy Lose was likewise 1 in the Be
ture.

The scout and Ponce lashed their horses to top
speed; but the escaping fugitive ran, back and forth
along the deck of the punt, shoving the boat farther
and farther into the stream.

At that day there was only one bridge across the
Rio Grande between the old International, between FE!
Paso and Jiuraz, and the sea. But the river was nar-
row enough here to make a bridge possible—and the
purstiers wished with all their hearts that there were
such a structure instead of this ferry.

It was evident that, before they could reach the ferry,
the fugitive would be most of the way across and prac-
tically out of rifle shot. They could easily stop the
hawser at the drum; but the man could finish the dis-
tance by poling or by using the huge oar with which
the boat was provided.

If Nomad—or even the baron—had only been called
to the ferry in time! Mrs. Liscom had doubtless run
to see what was the matter with her husband at the
sheds, and none of the party would see the escaping
murderer.

But suddenly Pawnee Bill voiced a shrill cheer. - A
mounted man appeared upon the bluff above the ferry,
and forced his mount headlong down the hill: He was
out of sight in an instant, but they had recognized
him,

“Hickok has beat us to it, Pawnee!’ shouted the
scout.

“More power to him! If he can pick ‘that scoundrel
off——”’

But Pawnee’s sentence was not finished. In the first
place, he had seen that Wild Bill was not armed with
a rifle and the fugitive was now more than De shot
away from this shore.

Indeed, it would have been a on shot already for
And Wild Bill doubtless realized that fact.
Instead, he did the only
thing there seemed to be to do—he slashed through
the hawser at the drum, and the scout and his com-
panion saw the hemp fall loosely into the stream. In-
stantly the punt began to swing down stream!

As the two Bills on their winded steeds came to the
brink of the bluff, Little Cayuse bounded up with a

rifle, dropped on one knee, and began to shoot rapidly,

but without much reason, at the distant boat.

Buffalo Bill flung himself from the saddle, and
grabbed the gun out of the Piute’s hands.

“Here! Let your betters try that game, Cayuse,”
cried the scout, and brought the gun swiftly to his
face.

The next moment fie report echoed across the river,
and simultaneously the figure of the man on the punt

‘jumped. Either the bullet had tapped him lightly, or

it had sung so near that the fugitive was frightened. .
He seized the horse by the bridle, spoke to him, and
the creature knelt with the swiftness of much prac-
tice. At once the Mexican—if that were his nation-

 
  

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_ current,

 

: ality—crouched behind the body of the bay horse, and

was entirely hidden from the Americans.

“Now, by the sacred O-zu-ha!” cried Paynee Bill.
“What do you think of that?”

not think he has stumped us,” said Buffalo Bill
gravely, handing the rifle back to Little Cayuse.

“Kulux Kittybux take it?’ questioned the Piute, of-
fering Pawnee Bill the gun.

But “Little Bear” knew as well as his “necarnis’
that a rifle ball would be so spent by the time it reached

the boat that even if the horse was struck, it would be

scarcely harmed, and the man using it for a living
fortress would, almost certainly not feel the bullet.
The punt was drifting slowly with the current, the
hawser running through the loop that attached it to
the craft. As the fugitive did not dare rise from be-

hind his shield, he could not retard the drift of the

boat. The distance to the farther shore of the river
was still great, and, although there were shoals and
an occasional-rock in the part where the punt floated,
beyond it was deep and swift water.

Buffalo Bill knew that there was no other craft at
the ferry; yet he was suddenly startled by a yell form
Wild Bill, and, looking down in the direction of, the
ferryhouse, beheld an object floating on the river, and
just pushing out from the shore, that made him think
for a moment that there was another boat in the vi-
cinity.

But then he and his companions realized that the
floating object was a long plank, astride of which was
a man propelling it with some swiftness by means of
a paddle. The plank had been launched just, above
the ferryhouse, and was being pushed out into the
stream with no little skill.

“Shades of Unk-te-hee!” gasped Pawnee Bill.
the baron!’

It was indeed the baron, who had started ae
handed to cope with the murderous outlaw who, lying
on the punt behind his faithful horse, would have
every chance of picking the baron off!

“Come back, you foal!” bawled Wild Bill, fon the
foot of the bluff.

But the baron did not even wave his hand at him.
He had all he could do to force the plank out into the
It was plain that he had his pistols with him,
and he hoped to get near enough to the punt to do some
damage to the fellow who had caused all this trouble.

“He’s avndead Dutchman!” groaned Pawnee Bill.
“Don’t it look that way to you, necarnis?”’

“Death’s a long road,” returned Cody Ass ee
baron has been in tight squeaks before =

“There!” cried the bowie man excitedly.

There was a shot from the boat, and they saw the
baron’s-dinky little traveling cap skip off his head and
float away on the stream. The baron ducked, evidently
having felt the heat of the rifle ball; but he continued
to use the paddle as hard as he could plug it.

A cheer arose from his companions on_ shore.

t's

 

Whether it was a foolish attempt or not—whether the

-proaching baron.

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. : 9

baron succeeded in driving the outlaw from his ref-

~ uge, or was killed himself—the courage displayed by

their Dutch pard inspired the three Bills with delight.

® ’

CHAPTER VI.
THE ESCAPE—AND SOMETHING ELSE.

Without paying any more attention to the cheers of
his pards ashore than he did to the lead and powder of
the enemy on the boat, the baron us steadily into
the current.

Tt was a courageous—indeed, a desperately brave
act he was performing. And it was inspired by the
baron’s own chivalrous nature. Over the body of the
ferryman pretty Bessie was weeping her heart out,
and the baron couldn’t stand ‘that!

Unable to do aught to bring her father back to his
senses, or to help old Nomad in his ministrations, the
baron was eager to do something to show the ferry-
man’s daughter that he would “do or dare” for her.

And recklessly indeed had he set about showing his
chivalrous desire. It looked a safe bet that the oulaw
would pot the baron before the baron could get his
plank near enough to the boat to put his‘own guns into
play with effect.

His friends ashore, after that single hearty cheer,
almost held their breaths while they watched him. The
loss of the baron’s cap did not in the least deter him
from his purpose.

He kept on pushing out into the stronger current,
and, although he was traveling on a slant, he was draw-
ing nearer “and nearer to the other side and, thére-
fore, to the drifting punt.

- Suddenly the boat ran against a shoal, or arock. At
least it stuck in mid-current, and began slowly to
swing around.

Buffalo Bill waited for the boat to swing until. he
could catch a small view of the outlaw again, and let
drive once more with Cayuse’s rifle. But it was too
great a distance. |

“You're burning powder for nothing, necarnis,” ad-
vised Pawnee Bill. a

“T believe you, Gordon,’ admitted the great scout.
“Tt looks like it is the baron’s fight—and we are help-
less.’

“More power to the. Dutchman say I!”
neé Bill.

Meanwhile the outlaw had fired thrice at the ap-
None of his subsequent shots had
passed so close to the baron as that first one. The-
very boldness of the man on the plank seemed to have
made the outlaw less skillful.

The punt swung slowly. Soon the man whom they
all believed to be Silvernail was plainly revealed. The
horse no longer shielded him from either the view
of the men on the shore or from the baron. :

The latter now had propelled his plank into the very

99

cried Paw-

  
* however.

 

ee : THE BUFFALO

middle current. He was going swiftly downstream,
and would soon be, opposite the punt.
He deliberately laid the paddle before him, balancing

it across the. plank, and drew one of his guns. The,

water had splashed to his waist, but the cartridges in
_the weapon were perfectly protected.. He raised the
weapon and slowly drew bead upon the man lying on
the raft.

Before he could fire the outlaw emptied a quick-
ae six-shot revolver at the baron. The bullets must
have whistled all about him, but the man on the plank
never turned a hair. When the smoke of the outlaw’s
gun was dissipated, the baron was still upright on the
plank and ready to draw a deadly bead upon his
enemy !o  &

“By the sacred O-zu-ha!” gasped Poane Bill, in.
Cody’s ear. “Did you ever see such pluck? Not me—
an-pe-tu-we!”

‘The. deadly earnest of the baron—and his miracu-
lous escape from the léaden hail shot in his direction—
certainly sent fear through the heart of the bandit!

He sprang up, and, with a shout to the great bay
horse, made the animal struggle to its feet, Thus
standing, the man got. behind the horse, and was for
the moment sheltered from the baron’s deadly aim.

The plank was~ drifting rapidly downstream. In
a few moments it would pass the ferryboat, and soon

the. distance would be too great for the baron to get |

a sure shot at the bandit. Besides: he would then have
his back to the shoaled boat:

“Gome oudt off dot!” yelled the baron. “I haf gifen
you blenty off dime to shoodt me alretty. Now, pehave
like a man vot you aind’t, undt ledt me half von leedle
shot—yes?”’

The outlaw had no Aon of doing any such thing,
He did not shoot again at the baron; but
he kept the standing horse between him and his an-
tagonist.

“Ach himmelblitzen!” bawled the angry baron. “Tf
you vill nodt pe a man den I must shoodt dot horse—
who iss a petter man as you undt I vould vish to safe
him yedt.”

But the bandit was not encouraged by these remarks |
to show himself. The baron raised his pistol with the
determination to shoot the horse through the neck.
The distance was not great, and he believed he could
knock the bay off his feet, at least.

But suddenly the bandit swung himself into the
saddle. He turned for a moment to look:at his enemy,
and revealed the fact that he still wore the pevke that
Bessie Liscom declared to be false.

With a shriek to the horse, digging spurs into its
glossy sides, he urged the beast to leap, while yet the
the baron hesitated !

The outlaw had already swung the animal around
with head to the Mexican side of the river. A branch

of the swift current ran between him and the shore,
yet he evidently considered the baron a far Breater
danger than the peril of drowning!.

His yell and his treatment of the horse made ae

‘move him at présent.

   

BILT. STORIES.

Splash it went into
the river, bearing the outlaw in the saddle, and so as- .
tonishing the baron that that individual did not fire.
The horse struck bottom; the river was so shallow
here. But instantly his rider urged him into the deeper
stream beyond, fear riding hard upon him.
He need not have been so frightened by the baron

beast leap from the ferryboat.

just then, however. The German’s tenderness for the
handsome horse had caused him to lose his chance
to pot the king-pin bandit of the border!

For, immediately it was relieved of the weight of
man and beast, the punt swung free of the shoal and
set off down stream again. And its course was sure
to bring it into collision with the plank on which the
baron floated.

Indeed, the forward end of the plank bumped the
boat before the baron could get the gun back into its
holster. ‘Therefore, he lost his paddle and immediately
he was at the mercy of circumstances—and the river!

As usual, when the baron did a really courageous

thing, he ended with a big splash. And this time it

was a literal one.

He reached for the lost paddle, and the jar of the
plank’s collision with the boat caused it to tip. At once
he was headlong in the current, and went down like a
chunk of lead!

“Woot!”

That was the sound the baron emitted as his mouth
came above the surface once more. He was kicking
like the famous frog in the milk can—and if it had
been possible he would have churned a lump of but-
ter in the next few moments big enough for him to
roost on!

As it was, however, and quite blindly, he kicked him-
self to safety. He had lost the plank; but he reached
the boat. He grabbed it and finally, with much puffing
and spluttering profanity, drew himself out of the
flood. :

There he sat, draining water off, and out of him,
and fairly bubbling with rage. He had lost his chance

of making good when success seemed to be entirely in
his grasp.

The boat was drifting steadily down the main cur-
rent of the Rio Grande: and far toward the Mexican
shore he could see the head of the bay horse who was
swimming gallantly, and beside him the black, bobbing
head of the bandit whose life had been, a few min-
utes before, in his hand.

Meanwhile old Nomat, to the delight and deep
gratitude of Mrs. Liscom and Bess, had brought the
ferryman around. At least, he regained consciousness.
The trapper could not properly dress the wound in the
poor fellow’s head—not properly ‘according to surgical
science. But in the wilderness men suffer a
wounds and live to tell of them!

At least, the man knew his spnrouneiiee ae his
wife and daughter, and the trapper.could leave him in
their care—although he warned them not to try to
They had made a bed for him

{

       

  

  
  
 

 
 
  
into

ass @

low
“per

ton
the
nce

_ mad.
thet air way.”

“here is right.

 

THE BUPPALO

under the horse shed, and in that climate and at that
time of year the shelter was sufficient. %

Now the trapper joined Buffalo Bill and the other

pards on the bluff overlooking the scene vee) has just —

been described.

The Americans had cheered the Gorn in his won-
derful efforts to “get” the bandit. And when he
missed his chance they set up a chorused groan. The

_ outlaw was getting nicely away, while the German was

drifting down the stream on the ferryboat that the
outlaw “had deserted.

“Will you look at that?” cried Wild Bill Hickok.
“Never did I see the beat of that Dutch punkin! By
gorry! First he comes near pulling off the job of his

life, and then lets it fall through—punk! Ve

grunted Little Cayuse.
said Cody, with a

“Him heap no good—wuh!”’
“Well, he evidently did his best,”

sigh.

“Waugh!” growled old Nomad, just then coming
into the conversation. “Wot thet thar“Dutch peewee
intends ter do don’t save him from makin’ th’ derndest
bad breaks I ever seen. By th’ horned frogs of Texas!
He’s sure gone th’ limit this yere time!’

“In other words, there is a place paved with good in-
tentions—eh ?” suggested Pawnee Bill. “And our pres-
ent chance of catching Silvernail is now: nil. Well
we llI——_”

“But wot erbout th’ Dutchman?” interrupted No-
“We can’t let him float clean down ter th’ gulf

.. ‘Come on!’ exclaimed Buffalo Bill. “Old Trusty
We have got to save the baron to keep
out of any international brawl with the German Em-
pire.”

But it was really no laughing matter. The baron
had got himself into a most unhappy mess, and as he
sat, dripping and forlorn, upon the drifting ferryboat,
he had evidently lost all his chivalrous feelings. And
his guns were saturated, and all his pride fallen.
~ Little Cayuse ran after the horses, and they rode
down the shore in pursuit of the drifting boat. There
chanced to be a bend three miles below—and it was
well for the baron that this was so.

Here a point of sand stuck out into the water. The
party descended the bluff, and raced out upon the sard-
pit. There it was seen thatthe drifting boat would
come none too near the shore even here. |

Therefore, Little Cayuse prepared to ride into the
fiver on his pinto, with Nomad’s lariat noosed about
his saddle horn. His own the Piute swung in circles

- about his head, prepared to cast it into the baron’s out-

stretched hands; but the boat kept provokingly far

away.
“Get busy there, vou Dutch roustabout!” yelled Wild
Bill, scarcely able to keep in his saddle. ‘Work the

; hon over this way!”

But either the outlaw—or the baron himself—-had
lost the paddle. ‘The big punt drifted as the current
pleased, and there was no way in which the baron

t

%

BigP STORES ; ii

could force it a yard nearer the Indian, whose pony
was now swimming.

Nomad walked his own horse into the river, let-
ting the Piute out to\the end: of the lariat. Pawnee
Bill rushed his own mount inte’ the water, and fas-
tened another line to Nomad’s saddle.

-“Hold hard, boys!’ advised Buffalo Bill. “You'll
all be strung out yet at the mercy of that current, and
I'll see you all going down stream.”

He likewise rode into the river, but diagonally, and
below the others. Cayuse swung his lariat for the
last time and let her spin!

The baron made a frantic effort to grab it, and came
within an ace of pitching off into the river.

“Donnerwetter!” he bawled. ‘Iss dot de pest you
can do, Leedle Cayuse? Idt iss a foolishness den—dot
iss wot! I gould t’row a petter rope mit bot’ handts
tiedt pehindt my pack yedt—undt mit mein eyes
closed!’ :

Just how he was_to perform this feat he did not
explain, but made another spread-eagle grab for the
next cast of the Indian’s rope.

Ach, himmelblitzen?\:he yelled. “SJest as 1 hat it,
I haf idt nodt! Py shiminy graciousness! Tf dot
mu-el off mine—Toofer—vos here, he couldt petter as
you fing a rope yedt.”’

‘Cayuse only grinned at this insult, and made a
third cast. This time the baron managed to grab the
end of the rope; but he teetered on the edge of the
boat for a moment so that his friends expected to see
him splash into the river again.

He managed to recover his balance, however, and
lay back on the rope. It was a stiff weight, but he
really managed to draw the boat a little nearer the In-
dian. The latter was now trying to turn his pony, and
steer him shoreward again. Nomad helped in this, and
the others cheered their work.

But it was Buffalo Bill who noticed that the baron
was trying to fasten the end of the rope around his
own waist!

“Here! You fool Dutehan cried the scout,
“don’t do that. Do you want to be yanked off the
boat after all? Tie that rope to-a cleat.”

The baron managed to do this, and then he had a
fair chance of being saved without being dragged
through the river again.

The Piute got his pony to a shallow place where
the creature could stand on its own feet, and there
Nomad rode to-him and flung his extra rope to the
baron. With two strong lariats hitched to the ferry-
boat, there was a chance of saving the craft as well
as the baron. /

And this they did in half an hour. Liscom’s boat
was drawn near the shore, where Nomad and Wild
Bill jumped aboard it, and, with poles cut in the for-
est, they managed to push the boat upstream to the
ferry landing, about dark.

The day had been spent excitedly, but without much
gain to Buffalo Bill and his pards. The,man they be-
lieved to be Silvernail had escaped. They had seen

 
 

a. | THE BUFFALO

him climb out with the bay oe on the other side and
ride away.

Nobody had come up from Del Verde to trouble
them. Liscom was better and they moved him down
to the ferryhouse before dark. But they could: not
repair the hawser and put the ferryboat in commis-
sion again before the next morning.

But after supper that night, Buffalo Bill proceeded
to make the investigation which circumstances had
halted early in that day. In other words, he proposed
thoroughly to examine the tunnel, or subterranean pas-
sage, or whatever it was, the entrance’ of which they
had, discovered under the burned house. .

Because of the evident unfriendliness of Albona Ben
when he rode away in the morning, the scout did not
think it wise to leave the horses unguarded, and they
were removed from Liscom’s corral and picketed
nearer the river. The baron and Little Cayuse were
left to guard them, while the remainder of the party
gathered torches and proceeded to the opening of the
subterranean passage.

Rum, tobacco, opium, and many other valuable com-
modities were in those days brought across the border
without paying the customs duties. At the regular
places of crossing—like Laredo, Eagle Pass, El Paso
—the internal revenue officers watched keenly those
who went to and fro; but there were many places like
this ferry in the Big Bend country where the outlaws
made themselves quite at home.

However, for a train of laden mules—or a boat—
to cross the river at any one point frequently, would
finally reach the ears of the government officers. There-
fore the smugglers had probably worked mostly at
night, and had prepared a hidden storage house for
the illicit wares they dealt in.

At night it would be an easy matter to bring across

boatloads of goods, discharge the cargoes on the shore |

above the ferryhouse, and hide away the goods in
some cavern in the bluff. That was what Buffalo Bill
expected to find—a cavity in the rocks which was con-
nected with this old house that had been burned by
the passage aes which Silvernail had escaped the
fire.

At least, there was surely a second exit, for Nomad
had watched the end under the ruined dwelling like a
hungry cat at a rat hole. Now, with the torches, the
three Bills and the old trapper got down to business.

“Buffalo Bill went ahead, while Nomad trailed be-
hind, keeping a sharp ear on their rear, for they had
_ shut the stone cover of the passage down when they
entered, and it scraped so that they believed they

could hear instantly if it was touched, no matter how —

far they got into the tunnel.

And it was a long passage. Much time, patience,
and hard work had been expended in its digging—
that was sure! Yet fifty feet , beyond the house “it
seemed to melt into a natural cavity in the rock, They
descended a ladder into a deep well—thirty feet down
at least, and landed at last in a cavern like a huge cis-
tern—and with walls almost as smooth and round.

_ trickling down the bluff.

BILL STORIES.

“By gorty!s There’s no outlet to this,
Wild Bill, voicing the general surprise.

“There doesn’t seem to be. It’s a good storage
place, and it must be down pretty near to the level of
the water. But if the smugglers ever used it for
storage purposes, how did they get the stuff in here?”
demanded Buffalo Bill. | |
Instantly old Nomad let out a howl that startled the
hollow echoes into life.

“By the horned frogs o’ Texas!” he yelped. “Looker
thet thar ladder!”

The others wheeled to look. The ladder had been
drawn several feet into the air. They could not see
who manipulated it above, but now it was raised more
quickly, being drawn back into the slanting passage
down which they had come to the brink of this well.

With a shout, Wild Bill leaped for the ladder. He
caught the last rung and swung in the air, his weight
bearing the ladder down again. But the rung snapped,
tore away from the ladder itself, and he was precipi-

* declared

‘tated upon the floor of the well.

CHAPTER S41,
THE SAND RELL.

There was a moon, and it rose early. The picketed
horses in the glade some distance back of the burned
dwelling grazed peacefully, and the baron sriored in-
harmoniously, for Little Cayuse had the first watch.
It was not necessary for both to be awake at once

while their friends were investigating the subterranean .

passage, and the baron was not averse to stofing away
sleep against future emergency.

The glade emerged on the edge of the bluff, and
there Little Cayuse took his stand, where he could see
in both directions along the rough and steep hillside,
all of the river for niles up and down, sparkling in
the moonlight, and most of the plain, ‘that was not
tree-encumbered, up to the ruins of the burned house.

Thrust out of the side of the bluff were many great
rocks among the trees—some of the clumps of saplings
and trees apparently growing upon the rocks them-
selves. But there were stretches of sand and gravel,
too, as the Piute could easily see.

Buffalo Bill's Indian pard was broadly es The
squeaking erunt of a porcupine in the brush, the chirp-
ing of a bird disturbed in its nest, the lap-lapping of
tthe river as it flowed past, as well as the champing of
the horses in the grove, were all plainly audible to his
keen ear.

And suddenly there came another sound. There
was a faint movement on the hillside below him, but
toward the ferry. It was a faint sound—as though
somebody had made a misstep upon the shifting sand
and gravel down there. He heard a pebble rattle—
then another and another. A stream of loose soil was

 

 

 

wh GS = Cy OS

ee a ean. 2 pees Ge oem eS
   

ared

   

The Piute had been standing motionless, with a
arms, and in the shadow. When he moved—and

ee did so swiftly—he was careful not to step beyond the
oS _ shadow of the trees, or to stand so that the moon
, _ would cast his own silhouette down the hill.
. Stepping as slyly as the fox when it is approaching
Aa the chicken roost, Little Cayuse peered down the hill.
Beside an outcropping piece of sandstone, and under
the roots of some scrubby trees, the sand was in mo-
tion. He could see it trickling down the hillside—
down, down to the very foot of the cliff. It was a rill
ven of sand that slid steadily downward, occasionally car-
see trying a pebble with it that rattled against other pebbles
a in the descent, or at the bottom.
ne How had it started?
a A few moments before the oe had not been in
He motion. Little Cayuse had heard no small creature
ee - moving in this direction. Indeed, so wise are the
ed, wild creatures that, unless frightened, no animal would
ae _ have made the mistake of stepping upon a place that
moved like this sand stream. They would have in-
stinctively avoided it, as would the Indian himself had
he been climbing the bluff.

He now peered carefully into every clump about the
spot where the ‘sand rill had been started, and
maneuvered so as to see around the outcropping bowl-
ders. His suspicions were aroused; yet so vague were
they that he did not return to the glade to arouse the

ed baron. He had actually heard no sound but the rattling ©
ad . of the pebbles; and his suspicion—though alert—was
o indefinite.
h. Like the ghost of an Indian, Little Cayuse let him-
a | self down the'steep hillside, from bowlder to bowlder,
a from footing to footing, trying each carefully before
Be ~ he bore his weight on it, and always moving toward
. that place w here the rill of sand had begun to run, It
d was still slipping down the hillside—he could see
€ it; but the cause of it he neither understood nor saw.
5 | ‘AntIndian on the watch for an enemy, or fearful of
: surprise, seldom leaves any mystery—no matter of how .
t small moment—unexplained. His curiosity is insatia-
; _ ble regarding every leaf, branch, stone, or blade of
t erass in the trail that he follows.
This rill of sand, Little Cayuse believed, could not
: have been started running without some active agency.
’ Was that agency human, of was it caused by some
| frightened creature running over the sandy slope?
2 , The Piute did not believe that it was caused by any

: wild creature*unless it were one that had a lair under
| that outcropping sandstone and the roots of the scrub
trees. And if there was a hole in that place, he wanted
| ws) 40 know it!

| It was along here that Buffalo Bill and his friends
had looked for the farther outlet of the subterranean
passage—that passage which the three Bills and No-
mad were at this very time exploring. They had really
expected to find the second peed there were
such, far down the bluff, near.the level of the fiver.
| This disturbance in the sand was scarcely halfway
down the face of the bluff.

  

 

  

THE BUFFALO

  

BILL STORIES. | : 13

The possibility that the trickling sand had something
to do with the tunnel the smugglers had used impressed
the Piute. His was a keén, if uncultured, mind. And,
although his ability to speak the language of the whites
was limited, his understanding of, what they said when
they had talked together about the subterranean pas-
sage was quite eae

By aid of this passage Silvernail, the bandit, had
escaped the fire, and later got out into the open, at-

tacked Liscom, the ferryman, and run away with the

bay stallion. Little Cayuse understood that there were

other ruffians who knew of the existence of the tunnel

from the burned_house. If there was an opening into
that tunnel under that rock

Well, the. Piute knew just what to do. He lowered
himself from tree stub to rock, and so carefully that no

 

pebble was detached to roll down the sidé of the bluff,

nor did he crack a twig. His own shadow moving
over the ground made fully as much noise in its pas-
sage as the body of Little Cayuse itself!

_ In a few seconds he had slipped down to the clump
of saplings and brush that overhung the spot where
the sand had begun to slide. The trickling had not yet
ceased, but it was slowing down. Whatever cause had
first started the sand rill, it was now removed.

The Piute, on his knees, carefully pushed aside the
twigs and small branches with one hand, holding one
of his pistols in the other. Indeed, he used the barrel
of the weapon to assist in making this aperture through
the screen of vegetation. But all so noiseless!

Then he craned his head forward and peered over
the edge of the sandstone block. His eagle feather
cast a shadow on the hillside, but none of his body was
thrust forward sufficiently to be reflected by the moon-
light. The feather looked much like a twig among the
other twigs.

Yet there was a pair of watchful eyes—as keen as
those of the Piute—that saw this shadow of the eagle
feather. The owner of the eyes, however, might never
have realized that the shadow was not that of one of
the other twigs had not Little Cayuse bobbed his head
back and forth in his endeavor to see down under the —
bowlder. —

Now, there was no wind; therefore, why should one .

of these twigs be darting here and there—its shadow

running about like a weasel on a hot rock? The owner
of the pair of eyes watching the reflection of the eagle

feather did not’ for a moment know just what the

shadow was.

Under the rock and the tree roots was a narrow
opening in the hillside—just the opening that Buffalo
Bill and his comrades had searched for that previous
morning. ‘There had been a slab of rock before the
hole—and so ingeniously fixed in place that it had
looked like a part of the huge bowlder of sandstone,
and immovable.

The sliding back of this slab, greased on its upper
and lower edges and running smoothly in grooves cut
into the soft rock—had started the trickle of sand down

 

  
 

  
14

the face of the bluff. Out of the aperture was thrust
the head and shoulders of a man.

The shadow of the eagle feather flickered about. For
some moments the man in the hole tried to make out
the meaning of it. Then suddenly this thought per-
meated his mind:

“Buffalo Bill totes a Piute Injun with him; that
Injun wears an eagle feather in his scalp lock; and that
Injun is poking about just above here.” *

No sooner had the thought shot the man’s tinder-
standing than he yanked out a guy, threw himself far-

ther through the hole, making the sand ‘slide all the -

faster, and getting a quick squint at the top of Little
Cayuse’ s black head and his long braids, he fired
point-blank at the Piute!

CHAPTER Vie
THE BARON TIES THE BAG OF TRICKS.

That bullet, coming so suddenly and shattering the
stillness of the night, “creased” the Piute neatly. It cut
a groove through his topknot, and the blood flowed;
but it did not cut his eagle feather—that precious pos-
session of the red warrior, almost as precious as his
medicine—and for that Little Cayuse was thankful—
afterward.

Just then he was in the act of throwing himself
forward over the edge of the bowlder. The shot did
not 8tay him. Indeed, he slid still farther forward,
his eyes glaring like a wild beast’s down into the
eyes of the man who lay halfway out of the hole!

As the blood dripped from the wound in the red-

skin’s head, he dove over the rock, and his sinewy hand ~

gripped the throat of his enemy. He had lost his
own pistol; he knocked the gun out of his antagonist’s
-hand, and the weapon went sliding and slipping down
the hillside with the rill of sand, the beginning of
which had led the Piute into this mess.

For it was a mess. He had a grip on the throat of
the man who had shot him; but how long he could
hold that grip it was hard to say! ,

The man was twice the weight of the Piute. His
own. great fists shot upward and his brown fingers
gripped the throat of the redskin. In doing this he
had heaved himself out of the hole under the bowlder,
however?

Little Cayuse came down plumb upon the man’s head
and shoulders. They grappled like a pair of tiger
cats. Neither could utter a sound, for the throat-grips
were_deadly !

One or the other would swiftly choke his antago- _

nist to death.

The Piute, so much lighter than the man from the
hole, had oply the advantage of position. He was on
top—for the moment.

While his lean fingers dug frantically into the throat
of his enemy, the calloused and thicker fingers of that

THE BUFFALO

  

BILL STORIES.

enemy squeezed the redskin’s neck as though it were
that of a kitten.

The blood roared in the ears o the Piute like. the
fall of the water in the Shoshone. The hot breath of
the man who sought to kill him, and whom he sought
to kill, was breathed into his face like the fetid breath
of the panther. The man grow led,in his throat, too,
like a mad beast!

Little Cayuse heard nothing—saw nothing —scarcely
sensed anything but the fact that either fe. or his
antagonist would never get out of this grip alive.
Had me blood not roared so in his ears, and his senses
been deadened to everything but the battle, he would
have heard the drumming of horses’ hoofs upon the
prairie. —

While he and the unknown struggled together, roll-
ing upon the little cup-shaped hollow in the side of
the bluff, a band of horsemen drove down upon the
little glade where the steeds of Buffalo Bill and his
friends were tethered, and where the baron slept in
utter unconsciousness of all that was going on.

The drumming of the ponies’ hoofs did not awaken
the German. He lay on his back and snored as me-
lodiously as a distant sawmill, while the gang bore
down on the grove. They reached the place, threw
themselves from their saddles, and rushed the camp.
The Baron Villum von Schnitzenhauser continued to
blow melodious blasts on his horn, and, lying in the

' deep shadow ofa fallen tree, was not—at first—ob-

served by the raiders.

The mysterious riders gathered quickly in a whis-
pering knot near the mounts belonging to Buffalo Bill
and his pards.

PWwietovare they:

“This here is a trap, boys!’

“Go on! We know where those skeezicks have gone
—didn’t Ben tell us?” -

“But they wouldn’t have left the nags alone~

“Why not? Who would touch ’em?”

“We-uns!” guffawed one of the fellows.

“Shut up! Wo ant to advertise our presence here ?”’

“Who's to hear—if Buffalo Bill and*his gang have
gone into the gopher hole?”

“There’s folks at the ferryhouse below.”

“Wimmen. Ben says Liscom is bad hurt.”

“That son of a gun of a Mexican must have knowed
about the tunnel, too,’ intimated another.

 

“Sh! There’s too much yawp bein’ let off.”
‘Just about this time the baron began to stir, He
opened his eyes and his bugle ceased its tune. There

were five men grouped together just before him. He
knew instantly that they were not his friends.
“But where is Ben gone?” he heard one say.
“Hang him! He told us to drive right down here
and seize the ponies and whoever was watchin’ ’em.”’
“And there ain’t anybody watchin’, ” declared one
of the strangers.
“Undt dot vos a lie yedt!” declared the baron—only
he said it to himself. “Tam vatchin’—de Baron Villum

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

  

) guns steadily on the five.

  

THE BUFFALO
von Schnitzenhauser. His iss de eye dot nefer-schleebs
yedt!”

He said it proudly, and really believed it. Little
Cayuse might neglect his duty and disappear at such a
time as this: but the baron—let him tell it ee

failed in an emergency.

And this belief in himself was a good thing at this
present moment. The baron eonsidered fi icely quite
a match for five scoundrels who had evidently come
here for the express purpose of attacking the owners
of the horses tethered in the glade.

“Ach, himmelblitzen!” thought the doughty | barat
“Ve vill-a different tune show dem, undt bes vill a
different bicture vistle!”’

And he proceeded to bring this rather ieee
happening about in the sallow ing manner:

He had a gun in either hand ne moment he awoke.
He now rose up silently, and with velvet footfall ap-
proached the unconscious group of raiders, When he
was’ within ten feet of them he gave the strangers
the surprise of their lives.

“Up mit dose handts! .Up, I say, or py shiminy
Ghristmas! I shoots de lodt oof you!”

In the country of the Big Bend, when a command
like this was voiced, no man—if he had any sense at
all and was sober—refused to obey instantly. It was
well enough to inquire what it was all about after-
ward. A lead pellet was very likely to cure the disease
of curiosity if that disease were allowed to hold sway
at such a time. :

It is told of one of the itinerant preachers who trav-
eled the Western country in the old days—men as

rough and fearless as the settlers themselves, but usu-

ally respected for their courage as well as for their
religion—that he opened the door of a dance hall and
gambling hell one night, and, standing unnoticed for
a moment, overlooking the men in the place, half of
whom were blaspheming criminals, he shouted:
“Hands up!’

The order was obeyed by about everybody in the
room, and no preacher ever obtained the undivided at-
tention of a congregation so suddenly and surely.
Then the “sky pilot’ proceeded to preach a scathing
sermon against the pet sins of the crowd before him,
and they listened i in sheeplike silence. They neglected
to go and hear him in his church, therefore he had
brought his preachments to them, and there wasn’t one
of them that did not admire his courage in doing so.

The point is, that men who are habitually “heeled”
know that “to get the drop’ closes the game. The
man who draws first holds the winning card.

These five fellows, without asking who the baron

was, or how many backed him, put up their empty
hands first; as they. Pesnied slowly to look at him
afterward.

*Tt’s Buffalo Bill’s Dueohevin i eried one,

“Shut oop, you!” warned the baron, holding both

“Here! you leedle feller.
The

Shteb oudt undt t’row down your guns yedt.”

_ between him and the man from the hole.

   

BILL STORIES. Lic.

man referred to obeyed.
added the baron sternly.

The fellow disarmed himself, quite. He made no
objection. It was quite as a matter of course. This
Dutchman might talk a brand of desiccated English,
but the blue barrels of his two guns talked as plainly
as the man who made the dictionary!

“Now, feller,’ said the baron calmly, -“‘you vill dis-
arm dem odder vons—undt if dey git funny yedt you
vill die qveek—onderstandt?”

u You needy t be so. mighty pertic lar, i
fellow. “I see what you mean,’

So he was very careful to stand, as he disarmed. ih
of his companions, so that the baron could plainly see
all that was done. There was no chance for any
“funny business.’’

The pile of hardware—a. formidable pile indeed—
lay at the feet of the baron in the moonlit glade.

“Oot dot Leedle Cayuse vos here it vould be such an
easiness!” thought the baron. -But he did not show
the five strangers that he was at all disturbed in his
mind. He said to the smaller man:

“Put oop your handts yedt! Now, turn, aroundt——
all of you do idt! Qveek!”’

‘The fivé wheeled “about, their backs to the doughty
baron. Quickly the latter slipped one of his guns in
his belt and drew from the pocket of his hunting coat
a ball of strong twine. This he tossed on the ground, ,

“Hi, you iecdle teller!” he said to the man whom
-he had used before. ““Gome here.”’

The man obeyed, for the baron now had his two guns
in hand again,

“Big oop. dot tvine. See idt?”

TT seé it,” granted the man.

“Now, tie does fellers’ handts—undt I am vatchin’
mit you yedt, undt if you droubles make yedt, I vill
plow you all full mit holes!” threatened the baron.

-“Undt de knife in your pelt,”

growled the

 

POH AE TE TX,
A HALF DOZEN BAD EGGS.

The baron had been so sound asleep when the shot
was fired at Little Cayuse that he had not heard it.
Little Cayuse was now struggling for his life—deaf
and blind to all else—when the baron had five out-
laws under his guns and scarcely knew what to do with
them!

By frightful exertions the young Piute had main-
tained his advantage of being on top in the struggle .
This man

was really a gigantic fellow; it seemed ridiculous that
the Piute could so long keep up the struggle.
The'man—and he was white—finally tore Little Ca-
yuse’s hand away from his windpipe. He heaved him-
self Up: over the edge of the little hollow. ~And
then-
- How it was done it wottd be hard to tell: He

 

  

 
   

   

ua C THE BUFFALO

had been about to throw the Indian off his body en-
Heh. eet Little, Cayuse in the final struggle bested
him !

The Piute’s knee came into play. It shot with ter-
tific force into the white man’s stomach. The latter
uttered a startled “woof!” and fell backward, loosen-
ing his own grip on the young redskin’s neck.

The huge body of the white fell over the edge of
the cup-shaped hollow. He slid headlong down the
steep descent—following, indeed, the course of the

rill of sand that had first called Little Cayuse to the»

place. The Indian flung himself upon the man’s body,
and his weight urged the descent. |

Breathless, unable to more than cling to the w hite
man’s body, ‘Little Cayuse coasted down the hill, and
in half a minute they were at the bottom. “Splash!”
they went into the water; but the Piute remained on
shore. The lower part of the white man’s body re-
mained on the land, too.

He struggled feebly for a minute, with Little Ca-
yuse holding his head and shoulders under water. [hen
the man lay still—drowned !

The Indian crept back from the edge of the river,
exhausted and panting. He felt tenderly of his neck,

 

where the cords and ligaments were swolleh and al-_

ready discolored. But his eyes gleamed when he
saw clearly the size of the man he had worsted. The
white man was a veritable giant.

But it was some time before he felt able to climb
to his fee.
he had left the horses and the baron; and, to tell the
truth, Little Cayuse had something else to think. of

just then than the temporary camp on the bluff. This ~

fellow with whom he had fought had come out of a

hole in the hillside. The Piute believed that the hole

connected with the tunnel Buffalo Bill and his com-
padres were searching.

_ What had happened to the white men in the tun-

nel? The question smote upon the mind of Little
Cayuse and lashed him to renewed effort. He strug-
gled up and began climbing the hill again. So weak

and beaten was he that he had to crawl on hands and
knees for most of the distance to the sandstone
bowlder.

The opening at which the white man appeared was
still uncovered. Little Cayuse wriggled into the hole
and found it a crooked passage. He had no means of
lighting his way, and he did not know where the tun-
nel led, or what and who he might run. into—head-
first!

But he believed that Buffalo Bill and his companions
were somewhere in the tunnel, and now he suspected
that they were in trouble. There might be more of
the enemy here. They may have completely. overcome
the Piute’s white friends.

The crooked passage was not long. It stopped sud-
denly at a hole in the floor of it, and into this hole the
Piute came near falling. He crept over the edge and
let his head and shoulders dow n into the darkness and
oe

This spot was far below the glade where .

BILL STORIES.

Suddenly he discovered that there was a ight some-
where, for the darkness was not so thick down here
as it was in the passage where his body lay. He
could vaguely see the outlines of the walls. Far, far
away—so it seemed—there was a hazy glow of light.

And then—suddenly, sharply—a voice reached the
straining ear of the redskin:

“Hold hard, Nomad and Wild Bill. Let me stretch

my fingers. By the sacred O-zu-ha! the edge is just
above my reach.”
/ The voice was that of Pawnee Bill.
quickly wriggled through the hole and dropped upon
all fours on the floor oF the lower tunnel. He had re-
covered his lost gun at the mouth of the burrow under
the sandstone bowlder, and now he gripped it in one
hand as he crept along the passage. The passage de-
scended at a mild slant. Suddenly the Piute found
the end of a ladder lying on the floor. He crept along
this and saw the light growing stronger and stronger.
Then a second voice s spoke : :

“Tt looks like we’d have to stretch you out some,
Pawnee, before you reach the top of that wall.”

““Pa-e-has-ka!” breathed Little Cayuse, suddenly
thrusting his face over the edge of the tunnel and look-
ing dowh into the deep well.

“Pawnee. Bill uttered a startled exclamation and
fairly fell backward off the shoulders of Wild Bill and
Nomad. But Buffalo Bill was underneath and caught
him.

“Tt’s the redskin! cried old Nomad.
ing horned frogs!’

“1 ittle Cayuse! !’ exclaimed Buffalo Bill, steadying
Lillie on his feet once more.

‘‘Pa-e-has-ka!” replied the Piute, grinning widely.

“By gorry! youre a sight for sore eyes,” exclaimed
Wild Bill:

“Put down that ladder, younker,”
nee Bill, “We'ré caught hke rats in a trap.”

Swiftly the Piute obeyed, and the men swarmed out
of the well. In brief sentences the Indian youth gave
his experience of the last few minutes, and then led
his friends out of the tunnel by way of the opening
in the side of the bluff.

“The rascal was up here when we went through and
down the ladder,” said Buffalo Bill. “Then he easily

“By the jump-

dropped down, removed the ladder, and made us pris-

oners.’

“But who the deuce was he, necarnis?” demanded:

Pawnee Bill.

“Come! me show,” grunted the Piute.

The redskin led the way~down to the river nd
showed them the dead man, half in the stream and half
out.

“Shades of Unk-te-hee!” ejaculated fate Bill,
when the dead man was drawn out. “It’s Albona Ben!

That rascal has come to the end of his rope, after

all”?
“And look what done it!” cried oid Nomad.

the Injun wasn’t half the size of thet thar same Al-
bona Ben.”

 

Pn
Th or

The Piute

+

—_ i»

 

commanded Paw- |

“Why;

 

   

   
Se SE:

 

 

 

THE = BUFFALO

™~

They all praised the Piute, and Little Cayuse was
mighty proud; but his neck was so stiff that for sev-
eral days he could scarcely turn it. :

Now, however, the party merely dragged Albona
Ben a ways up the bank, and then bore him between
them to the ferryhouse. Miss Bessie came out hur-
riedlv to meet them.

“Oh, Colonel Cody! Something is happening-up
on the bluff!” cried the girl. “Fifteen minutes ago I
saw a crowd of horsemen’dash past the corral and
down toward that grove where your horses were taken
this evening.”

“By the horned frogs of Texas! This redskin has
misled us,” growled Nomad. “He left the baron
asleep, and like enough Albona Ben’s gang have pitched
into the Dutchy, done him up, and vamosed with the
eritters.”

But old Nomad for once was a bad prophet. The
scout and his friends hurried to the glade in which

~the baron and the horses had been left. They ap-

proached with great care, just in time to see one man
marching five others around and around in a circle.
Each of the five prisoners had his wrists tied behind his
back, and with a threatening gun in either hand, the
baron was making them do a sort of a lockstep around
the little hollow.

“It iss petter as dey vos ned idle,’”’ he explained,
broadly a-grin, when Buffalo Bill and his companions
burst through the bushes. “De teufel, dey says, iss
mighty fresh findin’ vork for idle handts—yes? Undt
dese fellers gannodt say I haf ledt dem suffer mit
idleness. Dey iss pad aigs yedt.”

“There were six bag eggs together,” said Buffalo
Bill. “I reckon you are right, baron.”

And the next day Buffalo Bill and his companions
handed the five live outlaws over to the sheriff, and
they buried Albona Ben. Then the ferry was repaired,
and the scout and his friends moved once more into
Mexican territory, again on the cold trail of Silver-
nail, the king-pin bandit.

CHAPIPER xX;
THE CARV EN ST 0.N Es

While Buffalo Bill and his pards were working along
the Rio Grande, as we have seen, rounding up certain
“bad men,” incidents in which they were all bound to
be interested—especially the famous scout himself—
were happening some miles to the south and west—
namely, in and around the little Mexican town of San
Enrite.

It was the harvest time, and San Enrife was a grain-

“growing community. Indeed, it had originally been
but a settlement of rancheros, who had built their

homes together for mutual protection against the In-
dians. It was a fertile valley, well watered, and the
village had grown. It was now long since there had

 

   

BILL STORIES. ; : 17

been an Indian raid; yet it was known that the Ya-
quis were on the warpath, and not many miles away
a party of young bucks had descended upon a smaller
settlement and destroyed the grain in the fields, al-
though they feared the Mexicans’ gtins too much to
approach the houses.

San Enrife, however, had a church, and numbered
several hundred souls. It did not seem likely that the ©
redskins would dare approach within gunshot of the
town. A few weeks before, however, they had chased
two of Buffalo Bill’s comrades upon the mesa above
the town, and one of the reds—a young chief called
Xuku—had been captured by the famous scout and
brought into the town.

Buffalo Bill, however, had made a friend of Xuku,
whose sister, Mojé, was a servant in the home of
Professor Pasquale Cralé, a very famous scientist then
located—with his daughter—at San Enrife. With
the Cralés at this time was an American youth named
Rawdon Smart, in whom Buffalo Bill had a consider-
able interest. ae

Young Rawdon Smart played the cavalier to the

beautiful Sefiorita Cralé as he should, for his brother,

Clifford Smart, was the Mexican lady’s fiancé. And
the youth could not fail to notice that the Sefiorita
Maria was disturbed in her mind—more disturbed, in-
deed, than the mere absence of Clifford on a journey
to Mexico City seemed to call for,

“Why, Cliff will get back, all right, sefiorita,”’ de-
clared Rawdon cheerfully. “He is a really wonderful
fellow, that brother of mine. And such a rider! The
most reckless [ €ver saw. Even that redskin of Buf-
falo Bill’s is not a mark to Cliff when it comes to
riding.” | |

“It is his recklessness I fear and‘deplore,’’ sighed the
seforita.

“Oh, Cliff will take care of himself,” declared the
younger brother. “You should see him shoot!’

“Oh!” cried the girl, and this was almost a groan.
Rawdon saw that he had taken the wrong tack vith
her. He had forgotten that she knew that, years
before, his brother’s ability to shoot and his quick-
ness “on the trigger” had made him an exile from
his own land.

It was more than that, however. Sefiorita Maria
knew that Buffalo Bill suspected Clifford Smart of
being none other than the famous bandit, Silvernail:
Clifford had been careful to keep away from San En-
rife while the scout was there. And when Clifford
had started for Mexico City, supposedly on an im-
portant errand for her father, the Sefiorita Maria knew
that the baron, who had doubtless been left at San
Enrife to watch, had set out likewise secretly, either to
follow Clifford, or to report his movements to Buffalo
Bill.

Since that night when Clifford had arrived at the
Cralé casa so unexpectedly, and had departed at once
for the railroad, the fears of the sefiorita had‘increased.
The baron was missed early in the morning, too. She
knew then that instead of walking in his sleep, the

  
 

ford ‘omatt:

a, ; THE BUFFALO

He suspected Clif-
He had now gone either to report his
movements, or was keeping close on the trail of her
father’s American assistant. .

And trouble was brewing. She was sure of it. Even

Mojé, her Indian maid, added to the young lady’s
worriment of mind. The young Yaqui girl went
around with red eyes that showed she had been weep-
ing, and she refused to explain the reason for her
unhappiness.
- It could not be that she was weeping Ghent the
baron had disappeared between daylight and dark, and
without a word to her. For, although the baron had
made desperate love to the handsome maidservant, the
Sefiorita Maria was aware that Mojé had half.a dozen
beaus in the village, and that she cared little for any
of them—the Dutchman: included!

Early one morning Rawdon Smart passed through
the courtyard.of the Cralé.casa and out at the rear gate,
beside the stables. In doing this, he almost stumbled
over a figure crouching by the gate, and upon the out-
side, This was a narrow lane, and was deserted at this
early hour.

A blanket Indian!’ -exclaimed Raw don, ae his
breath.

‘The figure arose as quick as a cat. It had been
shrouded head, face, and all—in a striped blanket.

German had been ‘eavesdropping.

When it was fully erect the white youth saw that it

was indeed a “blanket Indian ;” but it was a young buck
of about his own age. He was nearly bare save for the
blanket and breechcloth, however, and the hand that
held the blanket close around him likewise held a
knife!

- Rawdon Smart had been well instructed by Buffalo
Bill and old Nomad during the few days that he had
spent in their company in the wilds. He carried a
gun at his belt at all times—and he knew how to use
it. Instantly that gun was out of the scabbard, and
its barrel was pointed at the Indian youth, not two feet
away.

“Friend! i
no shoot.”

“You look just like a frinnd returned Rawdon.
“Especially with that knife in your hand. Drop it!”

The redskin hesitated.

“Drop it, I say!” repeated the white youth, and he
poked the barrel of his gun into the side of the blan-
keted redskin.

This was too much. The knife—a wicked-looking
thing of native manufacture—rattled on the flagstones.
And just then Mojé flew out of the gate.

“No, no!” she shrieked. “Sefior Rawdon will not be
reckless. Let the man go, sefior.’

“Let us see what he looks like first,” said the white
boy, and he twitched the blanket away.

“An Indian runner, by Jove!” he exclaimed.
of your people, Mojé?”

The girl was suddenly silent. But the Seranee Indian
mouthed a few guttural words and then moved slowly
off. He had dropped at her feet, too, a small stone.

 

grunted the redskin, “Wuh! : White boy

“One

  

BILL. STORIES.

“When Rawdon stooped to seize it she grabbed it up

from under his hand.

“Hold hard, my girl!” exclaimed ihe American, his
face flushing. ‘‘Let me see that.”

The blanketed Indian was now out of sight. The
girl struggled to free her arm from Rawdon’s grip.

“Itis nothing, The senor would not care for it. I
will fling it away.”’

““Let—me—see,”’ said Rawdon firmly, and he fairly
wrenched the stone from her fingers. The girl’s eyes
shone with an angry light. She looked as though she
contemplated leaping at his throat. There was plenty
of savage blood in Mojé’s veins, although she had been
among whites since she was a small child. “I thought
so,’ muttered Rawdon. “It is a message to you, Mojé.
What does it mean?”

The stone in his hand was oblong, smooth as an egg,
save upon one side where a curious irregular figure
was carved. What this hieroglyphic meant the youth
did not know. And the Indian girl refused to tell.

“It is nothing. It is only a stone, she declared de-
flantly, when tireed again to explain the mystery.

“Oh, very well,” said Rawdon, flinging the stone
upon a heap of débris. ‘I believe it is a message, just
the same, that your brother, Xuku, sent you. You see
I know that you and the chief of the Yaquis are in
communication. I shall warn your mistress,”’
the boy. es

He left the girl standing sullenly in the gateway.
He had no intention of adding to Sefiorita Maria's
troubles by telling her of the Indian and the carved
stone; but, when Mojé was gone, he intended to go
back and secure the stone and show it to Sefior Cralé
himself.

However, when he came bate later for this purpose,
he found the stone gone. Whether Mojé herself had
removed it, or some “payserby had picked it up out of
curiosity, Rawdon could not imagine. But he was dis-
turbed by the incident.

The activity of the Yaquis in the mountains and
more distant valleys was known to the people of San
Enrife. But they did not believe the Yaquis would
dare raid so far from their own lands, or such a large
village as San Enrife. Even the good Father Josefo
pooh-poohed such an idea when Rawdon suggested it

to him on this very day, ne to meet the little —

priest in the plaza.

“Why, some of the Yaquis who. come here to sell In-
dian curios and trade‘are Christianized, Sefior Smart,”
declared the priest. “Many of them, | hope, will some
day worship with my people. I cannot believe they
would harmus.” — .

“But they have burned grain and frightened settlers
to the north: and west,” declared Rewecn,
not immune.’ :

But the gentle old priest would not believe there

was a possibility of peril from the redskins: The youth
did-not wish to disturb Sefiorita Maria. The professor

was immersed in some work in his laboratory, and —-

declared

oe Are:

  
   

 

 
 

      

Rawdon hadn’t even the green stone to show him. So
' he kept his suspicions to himself.

Evening came. The flaming western sky faded, the
lights in the plaza sparkled, the village showed its usual
liveliness until ten o’clock, or later. Then gradually
the townspeople retired, and there was not even a sen-
tinel left on guard.

In the suburbs the men had worked all day on the
grain. Some fields were cut and the grain stacked.
Rawdon climbed to the roof of the Cralé house, from

which place he could view many of the fields surround- *

ing the town—a good part of the valley, in fact. :
The moon was sinking. Soon her silvery light dis-
appeared entirely, and then darkness wrapped the whole
plain. Only the outlines of the edge of the high mesa
was showed clearly to the youth. And along that mesa
he saw riding the silhouettes of several horsemen.
The Mexicans of San Enrife would not venture upon
that height. It was there that Professor Cralé had
hired men‘to bore a well for oil, and a pocket of deadly
gas that had been tapped had killed four of the vil-
lagers outright, and even now the Mexicans shrank

from the place as being accursed—for they were ig-.

norant peons.

Rawdon observed these riders, therefore, with sus-
picion. They disappeared, however, and he beheld
nothing else for Some time. Then he thought he heard
something at the front door of. the casa—or at the
front gate which opened upon the plaza. It was so
dark down there that he could not see any moving fig-
ure; but he thought he heard the iron bars that fas-
tened the gate rattle in their sockets.

He crept down from the roof, and, while descend-
ing the wide stairway to the lower floor, a shadow
drifted across the marble-paved corridor, toward the
rear of the house.

“Mojé!” he thought.
want out here to-night?”

He went on, opened the huge door, which he found
bolted and chained as usual, and so crossed’ the front
courtyard and tried the wrought-i iron ‘gates. They
were fast. He opened them spitly. The plaza was de-
serted—and dark.

_ But as he was about to close the gates again he saw
something unnatural stuck upon one of the leaves, on
the outside. He scratched a match and looked closer.

There, upon the outer portal, was the engraved green

“What does that Indian girl

stone that the Indian runner had dropped at Mojeé’s ~

feet that morning—it being fastened to the iron by a
dab of mud! :

What did it mean? The stone bore an Indian sign.
These Yaquis made their own heiroglyphics—a lan-
guage of arbitrary signs, each of which might mean
many things. Why 'was the engraved stone sent to
Mojé? And why did the Indian maidservant stick it

 

to the outer. gate of the Cralé mansion?

Rawdon was sorry now that he had not taken the
professor into his confidence earlier in the day. Should
he disturb him with this matter?

THE BUFFALO

 

 

BILL STORIES. - 19

Sefiorita Maria would likewise be dis-

tf he did.
turbed, for she slept next to the savant.

Greater than all did the American youth wish that
Colonel Cody and his-companions were in or near San |

Enrife. He djd not know where they were at this
moment. Had he known, he would have started that
hour to reach them. He feared that trouble threatened
—and awful trouble.

He went back to the roof, after locking the gates and
the door again. The whole valley was now dark. The
distant stars shed little light upon the earth. Nothing
moved that he could see upon the grain fields, or on the
heights.

The dark hours crept by. Why he watched Rawdon
could not have told; he could not explain what he
feared, nor what he expected to happen. By and by
his eyelids drooped and he was off-in a sound sleep.

What awoke him? No sound, for the silence of
the night was intense. Yet he started upon his knees,
clinging to the coping of the roof, and all in a cold
sweat. There was a faint light in the east—a faint
light only. ;

But as he turned to look westward a red glow burst
out on the ground—at the farther side of the valley.

It spread rapidly—trailing in both directions from the

first point of flame. Aye, it was flames leaping high
in the air, and tearing over the ground at express
speed !

“The grain is afire!” he cried, and leaped to his
feet. The village was still wrapped in silence. It was
that hour before dawn when man sleeps the deepest.

But in the distance he heard something—something
that smote his mind with quick and keen understand-
ing. The rapid rataplan of shod hoofs descending
the rocky trail from the mesa!

Not Indians! Their ponies would be unshod: These
were the steeds of white men, and they were thundering
down into the town in a mad scramble. Yet suddenly,
out across the valley, was raised the long, shrill, blood-
curdling yell of the red warriors. The Yaquis were
burning the maize; but who were these white men rid-
ing like mad into the town of San Enrife?

COAPTER XD

THE LOOTING OF SAN ENRIFE.

Rawdon Smart was the first person aroused in all
the village—or on its outskirts—by the raiders. Per-
haps, because he had been the one expecting that some-
thing would occur of this nature.

In sixty seconds, however, the screams of women
and children, and popping of firearms, and the hoarse
shouts of men aroused suddenly from their beds to
defend their goods and firesides arose in deafening
chorus.

The fields of grain blazed briskly, for there was a
keen wind. The Yaquis had followed their usual tac-

 

‘ See ap) ( ‘ id
hs ont lacey acini EN ee RN ‘

 
Ss THE BUFFALO

tics. They had divided into parties and ridden through
the grain fields, scattering fire as they went. Then
they rushed the outlying habitations and fought, hand
to hand, with the Mexicans whom they hated for so
many past disasters and unkindnesses.

On the other hand, a troop of horsemen had thun-
dered down into the town from the mesa. And Raw-
don Smart remained on the roof of the Cralé house
only long enough to be assured that these were not
white rescuers.

The men might be white, but they were certainly
working with the Indians. They drove the frightened
people toward the plaza, where the church. was of
course their only refuge, and looted the houses thus
left undefended.

“Bandits—white devils working with the Yaquis,”
groaned Rawdon Smart, and he darted down from the
roof, and found the professor and his daughter and
Moje clinging together in the lower hall of the house.

“Quick!” cried the young American. ‘Do not waste

time. There are arms.- We must defend the house,
professor! cf

“Quite right, my boy,’ declared the old man, “But
how? Defend it from whom?”

“Both whites and reds,”
them briefly what he had seen.
the finest and largest houses in the town, those men
on the shod ponies will surely select it for attack. The
greater the house, the richer the loot.”

“Oh! oh!” moaned the sefiorita.

“Be not afraid, my dear mistress,’ cried Mojé “No
harm shall befall us,’ and she spoke confidently.

Rawdon darted a suspicious look at the Yaqui girl:
but he said nothing then. He wondered if the stone
fastened to the gate was merely a mascot, or if it held
some significant meaning for the attacking party of
teds and. whites.

However, he and the professor had their hands full
just then. ‘There were plenty of firearms, and there
were two short ladders in the courtyard. By the aid of
these ladders the professor and the American youth

climbed each to one of the side walls and from those.

vantage points could not only command the plaza be-
fore the house, but the side alleys as well. The sheer
wall of the stables defended the back of the premises.

The swarm of frightened villagers had, by this time,
crossed the plaza and burst into the church. ‘These
Spanish-built churches were really fortresses. The
tmen of the village that were left-behind had either
been killed, or were fighting the Indians desperately
at the edge of the grain fields.

The whole valley was now illuminated with the burn- —

ing grain. Where the grain had been cut and already
stacked, these stacks were set afire, and the flames rose
forty and fifty feet into the air. The plaza was made
as light as day.

Now, into the open market vlace rode the gang of
shod ponies. As Rawdon had suspected, they were
not ridden by redskins. Every man was white in all
probability, and every man was masked,

said Rawdon, and he told’
“Yours being one of

 

BILL STORIES.

There was more than a dozen of the tenegades.
That they were outlaws working with the Yaquis in
this raid on the Mexican town, there could be no doubt.
_ An unfortunate villager, running like a scared rab-
bit across the plaza toward the refuge of the church,
was spied. With a yell half the gang rode after him.
He reached the church steps, staggered up oe and
pounded upon the great doors.

But the people behind those doors were a to
open them, He screamed for help, but the headmost
ruffian threw a lariat and noosed the unfortunate about
the neck.

The man was snatched off the porch and was
dragged across the plaza, over the pavements, at the
end of the rope. He was dead before he had half en-
circled the market place. Then the murderer leaped
off his horse and robbed him of such jewelry and goa
or silver as he had.

Most of the others advanced and fired a volley of
rifle and revolver shots into the church door. They
had no respect for the sacred edifige.

But the door was thick. It would necessitate much
work to break it down. These fellows realized this
fact very shortly.

Some of them had already looted near-by houses; but
they evidently had gained little to repay them. “Now,
one sighted the w ali and grillwork gate of the Cralé
casa.

With a cheer they spurred their horses across: to it:
The leader of the band was a man dressed richly in
the Mexican style and wore a curling black beard. The
beard, with the mask he wore through the slits of
which his eyes peered, made it really impossible for
Rawdon Smart to tell what manner of fellow he was. _

This man threw himself from the horse he rode—a
beautiful bright bay with white mane and tail—and

rattled the gate. Rawdon ran along the wall, lay down
within easy pistol shot, and aimed his gun at the man’s
heart. Then he shouted:

“Keep off! there are white men in here, and they
know how to fight. Keep off!’

The leader looked up, and for an instant Rawdon
thought that the masked man must see him. But then
a figure darted between the horses and appeared at the
gate, too. It was that of a blanketed Indian, and he
spoke eagerly to the leader of the ruffians.

What he said was unheard by Rawdon Smart, but
it was easily understood. The Indian might have been
the blanketed Yaqui who had appeared at the rear of
the Cralé premises the morning before. He made plain
his meaning, too, for his gesture drew the attention of
the white men to the carved stone stuck to the gate,
and then he drew his ‘figure up to its full height, and
with folded arms stood threateningly before the gate.
It was plain that the Yaquis had determined upon say-
ing the Cralé house and’ its inmates from all harm!

But the white ruffians were not of that mind—even
the man who led them would not listen. With a quick
and savage movement he flung the Indian aside—

throwing the Yaqui, indeed, prone upon the pavement. —

   
  

  

 

f

ete ed ae aia

eg Si TS eg.

ede mS Ap). fered pee Ak

 

     
 

   

Then—seemingly with scorn—he snatched out-his
hunting knife and pried the stone and mud off the gate.
He kicked the green stone to one side and coolly.” rat-
tled the gate to discover how it was fastened.
His followers raised a cry of delight.
oaths and joyful exclamations, Rawdon smart Beard
this plainly:

“Good for Silvernail! he’s the man to lead us. Down
with the gates!”

At the very moment there was a feminine shriek
from within the house. The front door of the Cralé
domicile opened and the sefiorita, her hair flying about
her shoulders, and plainly quite out of her mind for
the moment, flew into the courtyard.

Seeing her danger, Rawdon leaped from the wall
and quickly reached her side.

“Go back! Go back!” shouted the young American.
“We will beat the scoundrels off! We'll beat them if
there were a dozen Silvernails in the gang!”

As he spoke the boy. aimed point-blank at the breast
of the richly dressed leader of the outlaws. The bullet
would’ surely have reached its mark, for there were
not half a dozen feet to part them. f

But even as Rawdon pulled the trigger the Seforita
Maria struck up his ‘hand, and the pistol ‘ball flew wide
of its mark.

“Reckless!” she cried. “Would you murder him?”

“Why not? He would not spare you if he got in
here!’ ‘cried the maddened yotth, half beside him-
self.

“Then let him kill me!” cried the girl, and thrust
herself between the two antagonists—for Silvernail
now had a gun in ‘his hand and would have, in a mo-
ment, shot down the young American.

For half a minnte they were held there—amazed,
astounded by her words and act. And then there came
a shrill war whoop from beyond the plaza, and there
poured into the open space a ‘horde of red devils, with
torches and lances, and these rushed toward the gate-
way. where the bandits stood.

CHAPTER AIT,
PACE TO'RACE.

A chorus of Mexican cries and oaths arose from the
white outlaws. Their leader—he of the black beard—
leaped again to the saddle. The Yaquis who had en-
tered the town had just one object in view, and that
object was plain.

Instead of halting to attack the church, or to enter
any of thesopen houses that had been deserted by their
inmates ‘at the first alarm, the Indians swept across the
plaza, their fierce yells and threats directed against the
gang of whites that had been their allies. “The attack
upon the casa of Professar Cralé had evidently not been
in the program.

Mojé rushed out of ‘the house shrieking in her own

THE BUFFALO

Among the _

 

  

BILL STORIES. | ai

     

tongue, and she was answered by the Indian in the lead
of the throng. This doubtless was Nuku, the maid’s
brother; only he was so disguised in war paint that he
did not look human!

The leader of the white men grabbed out his pistol
again and aimed through the grillwork of the gate at
Rawdon,,who was holding the half-fainting sefiorita
in his arms.

“See! see! he will kill him?!’ shrieked the young.
lady, and she again covered young Rawdon’s body with
her own.

The man pees tle the gate laughed harshly.

“Tt is that you love “him, sehorita?’”’ Ihe eried, im
Spanish. ‘‘Shall I spare the young puppy?”
At this Rawdon placed Maria Cralé in Mojé’s arms
and dashed to the gate.
Mafadlatel ine jerked. “Shoot me if you can, for I

will kill you 1f my aim is true!”

The leader of the outlaws laughed again—and fired!
The ball glanced from the iron bar, and Rawdon was
spared. But the boy heard a terrible scream behind
him, and he looked back to see the senorita fallen limply
into Mojé’s arms. A growing crimson stain had ap-
peared like magic upon the thin silk waist she wore—
aud right above the breast!

“Adios, senor!’’ cried the outlaw, as he wheeled his
steed. “Hasta tener el gusto de volver.a verle a Vl"
(Tul T have the honor of seeing you again!)

Then the Yaquis rushed in between the mounted men
and the gateway. There were more than twenty of the
savages, and only Xuku was armed witha white man’s
weapon—a_ handsome revolver that Buffalo Bill had
given him.

But their attitude threatened trouble, and the wittite
scoundrels evidently considered that they,had already
gotten their share of the loot of the town. Xuku would
not see the casa del ‘Cralé robbed, and the doors of the
church were too ponderous to be broken down by such
means as there were at hand. ~

So the whites rode away—by the path they had come
toward the mesa. In five minutes there was not an
Indian in sight, either. They had swarmed out of the
town as they had come in, joined their brethren in the
burned grain fields, and, mounting their ponies, dashed
across the valley and so disappeared—perhaps over one
of those secret trails by which Xuku had once led Buf-
falo Bill and his friend into the hills.

The raid was over. San Enrife was aponebal
and was threatened with a famine. But few of ‘her.
inhabitants had ‘been killed—and not many wounded.

At the house of Professor Cralé, jhowever, all was
excitement and despair. The glancing bullet from the
pistol of the chief bandit ‘had lodged in the sefiorita’s
shoulder, above the right .breast, and the wound was
deep and dangerous.

When the physician had been brought he probed for -
the ball, and could not find it. Mojé’s wails, were suffi-
cient to wake the dead. Rawdon Smart took the In-
dian girl by the arms, outside the door of her mistress’

   
22 THE BUFFALO
room, and threatened her with the lash if she did not
keep her mouth closed.

“None of that whining! Your mistress is not dead.
There must be a better doctor at Olando. I will go for
him—at once. Come and help me get out my caballo.”

The girl was ready to act—when her duty was
pointed out to her. Ina few moments the boy’s horse
was saddled, and he rode out the rear gateway of the
premises. But there (vas more than the possibility of
bringing a good physician in-his mind.

Every drop of Rawdon’s blood boiled with rage and
a desire for vengeance. That the outlaw should have
cruelly shot the girl—even by accident—was more than
.the chivalrous youth could calmly endure.

He believed, too, that the villain was none other than
Silvernail, the king-pin bandit of the border. ‘The
beautiful bay horse the villain bestrode led the young
American to that belief, if the man’s own rich dress
and his bold manner did not prove his identity.

Rawdon Smart rode off—and rode hard—on the
trail of the outlaws. He believed now that he had seen
them riding on the edge of the mesa before the at-
tack. He had heard the hoofs of their horses rattling
on the rocky path as they descended into the town,
and he believed they returned by the same path to the
wilderness.

The youth was reckless to a degree. He came of
that kind of folks! And he had nobody to advise him,
for the professor was buried in his -daughter’s trouble,
and did not even know that the boy had left the house
——much less that he was riding out of the village on
the trail of the outlaws.

Rawdon pushed his horse smartly, even up the steep
path to the mesa. At the summit of the incline were
fresh hoofmarks. Hé could follow them easily, and
at a hand gallop. \

He loped across the burned plain and reached the
forest-covered slope beyond. The trail was as plain as
need be, and_he followed on through the forest. Ten
miles he traveled after leaving the mesa, and then—
of a sudden—he heard a fusillade of shots. The noise
of the battle was ahead. It lasted for at least two
minutes, afd then all was silent again.

Rawdon spurred his horse forward, riding hard to-
ward the sounds. He heard nothing more—nor did he
see anything—until suddenly coming to an open glade
the scene of the short battle was displayed to him.
He was shocked by the blood on the ground and the
sight of a dead horse.

And that horse was a beautiful bright bay stallion,
with white mane and tail!

Rawdon brought his own steed to a quick halt. ‘Here

was the horse the leading bandit had ridden—he was”

positive of it. '

And then he saw another object that troubled him
more than the dead carcass of the horse. Ona log sat
a man, his head bent forward and leaning on one hand,
and his hat off. Rawdon started again when he saw
this figure plainly. He recognized it—he could not
be mistaken.

-tered the baron.

BILL. STORIES.

For several moments he sat trembling in his saddle}
unnoticed by the man on the log, and unable to urge
his own horse forward to the spot. Then the boy saw
that the man on the log held something in his hand. It
trailed down over his knee, and Rawdon knew it to
be a false beard—a, beard of fine curled hair. There
was likewise a mask in the man’s hand.

Finally Rawdon spurred his horse onward. The
glade chanced to be turfed, and the boy’s horse made

~ little sound as he paced to the side of the man on the ©

log. But at length the man looked up, and, seeing the
boy, made a grab for the gun in his holster.

“Told, Clifford, my brother!” cried Rawdon Smart.
“Have you not done enough wickedness already this
morning?”

| CHAPTER XIE
TOOFER COMES TO A SETTLED CONCLUSION.

One ‘pleasant forenoon the stage bound down to
Olando came with a flourish to a stop before Manuel
Alsando’s house of call. This was a regular station at
which the diligence changed mules, and if the pas-
sengets so wished they could obtain refreshments here.

One of the inside passengers was bent upon getting
out, for he climbed over the feet of the other pas-
sengers, creating much disturbance in his passage, and
sprawled finally upon the ground.

“Oof! Ach, himmelblitzen!” he ejaculated. “T haf

‘meinselluf sit so mooch in dot-vaggon yedt dot.I haf

not de powers of lo-cum-u-ca-tion alretty! Ach! mein
feed iss ersleep yedt!”

He climbed slowly and painfully to an errect posture,
pushed the foolish little fore-and-aft cap he wore off
his forehead, and stared about him.

“Vale, Schnitzenhauser, ole feller, you iss here at
lasdt, aind’t idt?”’ he declared. ‘“Undt idt vos a goot,
long, hardt, oongomfortable ride! Whew! De saddle
burns must be cured on Toofer’s pack py now, undt he
vill pare me avay from here at vonce to meed de dree
Pills, undt olt Nomat, undt Leedle Cayuse

“Dunnervetter! Idt iss Manooel himselluf!”

The baron shook hands with the keeper of the road-
side tavern who came forward to welcome him in the
polite Mexican fashion.

“The Sefior Baron is returned in healt’ —is it not?”
inquired the Mexican.

“You can pet me mein life I vos vale!” declared the ©
baron heartily. “Undt how iss dot moo-el pC mine,
Manooel? Toofer is Wale—-yest

“You may well say so, amigo, ” declared the Mexi-
can. “He has the appetite of a goat!”

“Ach! dot means nodt so mooch to Toofer,” mut-.
“Vare a button-goadt vould starve
himselluf to death, dare Toofer vould git fat yedt!

Put ledt us see dot Tooter--ledt us see him!”

Manuel showed the fond master of the big mouse-
colored mule the private corral into which the beast was

 
 

  

THE BUFFALO

turned, for, as the baron had warned the Mexican
when the animal was left here, ““Toofer vould kick de
stuffin’s.efery oder animile aude yedt” if he was al-
lowed to circulate freely with Manuel’s modest herd,
and with the mules of the diligence company’s.

The baron ran into the corral with a cry of joy at
seeing his big-eared comrade. Toofer, seeing him com-
ing, backed briskly around, and, looking over his shoul-
der, “took aim,’ his tail twitching and his huge teeth
bared.

It was just as though Toofer said to himself:
“Here’s that fat lummox coming again—and he means
to make me. work. I work not!’

“Himmelblitzen!” roared the German. ‘Vos iss?
Iss dot de vay mein olt gollege chump receifs me yedt?
Vale! if you can avoord to pe oogly mit me, Toofer,
you vill findt yedt dot I oogly can pe alretty. Gif me
a glub!”

‘Securing a stick of stove wood the baron marched
on the mule, and their affectionate meeting would have
brought tears—of laughter—to old Nomad’s eyes
could he have been on the spot to view the excitement.
In something like half an hour a chastened mule, with
drooping ears and a much more, modest demeanor, was
saddled and bridled. But the baron’s coat was pretty
nearly torn off his back; he had received a glancing
kick that—had it reached him the way Toofer in-
tended—would have laid him out nicely, without the
need of an undertaker; and he certainly was “all het
up!

“Pelief me!’ groaned the baron, as he mopped his
forehead of sweat beads preparatory to bringing forth
his great pipe for a nerve-quieting smoke. “If effer
I gif dot peast a chanct to rest oop again—aber nit!
Vot foolishness yedt! Vot dot Toofer. mu’el needts
iss vork at de stone pile in chail yedt! Ow! Life bun-
ishment in some moo-el benetentiary iss nodt too pad
for dot peast! Nefer again vill I gif him de chanct
to rest oop! Ach, no!’

When the Bills and their pards had crossed again
into Mexican territory by the ferry near Del Verde
in the Big Bend country, the baron had hired a pony
to take him to the Olando trail; there he had come to
Manuel Alsando’s tavern, as we have seen, in the stage-
coach. Now he prepared to ride out alone, over about
the same course, to meet Buffalo Bill and his com-
padres, whom he knew planned to work along the
Olando trail again.

One thing the baron had been instructed by Buffalo
Bill to discover here at the stage-road tavern; and he
had already obeyed the command of his superior and
friend. .The horse that Clifford Smart had left here
when he was supposed to have gone to Mexico City
on business for the professor, was still in the care of
Manuel Alsando. And the tavern keeper declared that
Sefior Smart had not yet.returned from the south—at
least, nobody about there had seen him.

When Manuel learned that the baron was about’ to
set out alone over the stage road he gave the German
a word of warning.

  

BILL STORIES. o.

“There have es no ‘stoppages ae the diligence foe

some time, it is true, sefior. But you see for yourself
that there is an armed. guard rides with the driver.”

“Ach! dot vos so-o.’

“There are evil men about, however, senor,’
Manuel.

“Tose outlaw fellers—eh} ee

oosard

“Silvernail is reported to have been seen on some. of.

the byroads—his horse was seen, at least.’’

“Vale! Slivertail iss dot ferry feller I vould like to
meet oop me mit,’ declared the baron, most coura-
geously.

“Perhaps so—and pETIADS not, sefior.
terrible fellow.’

- “Undt so am I a ferry terrible feito !’ declared the

baron, with much dignity, as he sat Toofer’s saddle and

SW elled his own chest. “Dot same Slivertail vould pet-
ter pevare!”’

“He has been seen recently, sefior.’

“Goot! Meppeso I vill findt him a undt gapture’
him all py meinselluf!”’

‘This morning was he seen, * seflor-—-and not two
miles from this place. I have it from José, my daugh-
ter’s husband.”

“Petter as etter” cried the baron.
to de nort’ ?”’

“He was so oe is reported,’
anxiously,

“Den, if Toofer has nodt losdt his speedt yedt,. ve vill
findt him—meppeso,’ grunted the baron, with immense
satisfaction.

“But, senor!’
tell you,”’ ie ;

“Go on den,” said Schnitzenhauser, who began to
be suspicious. ‘‘Dell me de virst.”

“The Yaquis are on the warpath!”

“Ach, himmelblitzen! Dot iS nodt goot news—idt
iss true, yes?’

“By the sacred name! Yes, yes, senor !”’

The baron was staggered fora moment—it was true.
And then he grinned genially upon the anxious Man-
uel.

‘Say! Dot iss funny yedt.
alretty. I vill dell you, Sefor Alsando:
uprising dond*t gut no ice mit me.”

“Cut no ice!’ gasped the puzzled Manuel.

“Nicht! Idt does nodt meinselluf ae adt
alll a
“But they are burning and bitin

“Dey vill nodt purn undt kill Puffalo Pill, or Puffalo
Pill’s bards,’’ declared the baron, with confidence. -“T
rememper me now dot Puffalo Pill iss de friendt oof
de high mucky-muck Inchun himselluf—yes, sir! Me
undt Toeger vill go on undt run de risk oof meedin’ oop
mit dot Slivertail yedt, undt mit de Inchuns.”

So he knocked his heels against Toofer’s fat sides
and urged the lazy mule away from the inn. But
‘Toofer did not care for the journey. Rest had spoiled
him. Every half mile he stopped to argue - the question
with his exasperated alas

“Does he ride

said Manuel

wailed Manuel; “there is worse yet to

Undt I vas forgedding
Dot Inchun

 

 

He is a very,

 

#
 

  

24

THE BUFFALO

The baron wore out the stick of stove wood. Tie
was so lame and tired by that time that he could not
cut another club, but cried: ;

“Py shiminy grasciousness! Oof I hat de sense oof
a moo-el meinselluf yedt I vould haf pud de saddle on
mein own pack, undt ledt you ride. Dot vouldt haf
suited you yedt—eh?”

Toofer did not say, but his actions seemed to imply
that he thought it was about time there was a distinct
change in their relationship. If the baron wanted to
tackle the job of carrying him, instead of his carrying
the baron, the wise old mule probably would not have
objected. It was a fact, at least, that Toofer was a

direct descendant of Balaam’s ass and had fallen heir ~

to all that famous creature’s supposed wisdom.

He stopped again and again as though he actually
_ saw “lions in the way; ’ hut it was after midday be-
fore the exasperated baron saw anything which might
have suggested to Toofer the advisability of stopping
so frequently.
on his tail and waggled his ears like flails. The baron
slid out of the saddle whether he would or no. It
seemed that Toofer had come to a settled conclusion:
he would go no farther!

The baron came around to look the mule in-the eye,
still holding the bridle. He clenched his fist and shook
it threateningly in Toofer’s face. But at the moment
he was beyond speech.

And just then somebody Set the excited baron en
the shoulder. He turned like a flash to see who had
accosted him.- An Indian in war paint—and mighty
little else—had stepped out of the brush and stood be-
side him. He bore avery threatening-looking hatchet
in his hand, and the hatchet was poised just as though
he contemplated splitting the baron’s round skull with
it!

“Himmelblitzen!” squealed the baron.

Out of the brush, from behind trees and rocks, and
down a high bank where they had been hiding, swarmed
fully twoscore Indians. They were of the same breed
that had chased the baron and Little Cayuse once be-
fore. He knew they were Yaquis.

But, although he had ‘spoken so confidently to Man-
uel regarding “the friendship existing between the Ya-
quis and Buffalo Bill, there was nothing to encour-
age that belief in the attitude of these redskins. :

“Wuh!” grunted the man with the tomahawk.
“White. man pre No speak—igo run. See?
Wuh! 1"?

The meaning was so plain that the baron could only _

blink, and he got crosseyed looking at thé keen edge of
that hatchet!

<P

CHAPTER XIV.
BUFFALO BILL WITH HIS HANDS UP.

Buffalo Bill and his other pards did not make as
good time coming down the Olando trail as the baron
- had in the diligence.

Besides, they made many little

BILL, STORIES.

At least the mule deliberately sat down-

 

 

excursions aside from the trail, actually beating a broad
expanse of country as they came south. :

Everywhere they heard accounts of the raiding of -
the Yaquis; but these raids were usually attended with
little bloodshed. Accompanying the attacks of the red-
skins, however, were frequent reports of the activities
of white outlaws. And Silvernail himself had left a .
trail through the country broader than before!

The Bills and their companions picked up news of

the famous bandit before they were a single day over
the river; They learned that the bright bay horse
had come flying from the Rio Grande only twenty-four
hours ahead of them, and that his rider had ridden into
one small town, held it up single-handed, and gotten
away with more than. two thousand dollars in coin,
notes, and jewels.
_/A little farther along they found a burned rancho.
The owner and his family had escaped; but -he told
a tale of a lone bandit on a bright bay horse that had
ridden up at night, demanded his surrender of the
family wealth, and had fired the house and finally
robbed him in the end, when he had run out with his
wife and child for safety.

The description was the same everywhere—the
richly caparisoned man, his bay steed, his black, curling
beard, and his desperate courage! Nothing turned the
bandit aside. He worked alone now, but that was,
perhaps, because he had not yet found the mates whom
he had left to cross the big river and play Ms mur-
derous tricks around Del Verde.

Buffalo Bill was confident that the man whom they
had come so near capturing at Liscom’s ferry was this
villain whose trail they now followed. And the Ameri-
cans were not far behind the bandit. They rode into
one town where the smell of powder smoke was
scarcely out of the air.. He had held up a citizen just
off the main street and robbed him in broad day-
light !

"hey passed, too, more than one hamlet, the fields .
surrounding which were-blackened by the fires that the
Indians:had set. Famine threatened many of the Mexi-
can settlers. The Yaquis were really attempting to
drive the whites from the foothills which the reds con-
sidered as belonging to their own hunting grounds.

So it came to the very morning on which San En-

_ rife was attacked—the very morning when Rawdon

Smart, riding recklessly after the band of outlaws came
upon his brother Clifford beside the dead bay stallion
—the very morning that the baron had so much diffi-
culty in cudgeling Tooter, the mule, along the Olando
trail. ~

- Buffalo Bill and his close counselor, Major Cordon :

Lillie, had discussed frequently the mystery of Silver-

nail and the possibility of the king-pin bandit being
Clifford Smart, the young American exile. On this
very morning information had reached the great scout
which, led him to believe that the famous bandit was
in the neighborhood—so close to them, in fact, that he
was likely to appear at any time.

“And we are approaching San Enrife.

He ie er

  
THE BUFFALO

long away from this vicinity,’ declared Buffalo Bill.
“Gordon, I ‘hate to believe it—I shrink. from having
it proved beyond a doubt; but it looks to me as though
Professor Cralé’s -assistant—that pretty seforita’s
fiancé—Cliff Smart, and the worst bandit that ever in-
fested the border betwixt the States and Mexico, are
one and the same!”

“There’s much that points that way, necarnis,”’
Pawnee Bill reflectively.

thouch.”

said
“That bay horse puzzles me,

“You mean the fact that the horse ridden by the-man _

whom you and Wild Bill put into jail at Ciudad So-
nora, was a gelding while this critter ridden by the
murderer at Liscom’s ferry was a stallion? It’s a puz-
zle. There are two horses. Are there two men?”

“And both of them bandits? Plumb reckless ones,
too, necarnis!” cried Pawnee Bill.

“Youre right. It doesn’t seem reasonable.”

“But there certainly are two horses,” admitted Lillie.

“Tt is a hard nut to crack. But if I could just for
once meet this man, Silvernail—and meet in alone
[ee

“You're right,” grinned Pawnee Bill. “One of ‘em
dead would settle the question very quickly.”

“T had not thought of that,” said Buffalo Bill slowly.
“Nor do I really want to kill the man—not until his
identity is established.”

“Tf it is Smart you want to take him alive?”

“Yes. Though I don’t suppose his friends would
thank me. Better death for such a creature.”

“Id Smart is Silvernail.”’

VA it he is. Gordon! !” exclaimed the panied scout.

“And then——

“T have a way, I think, of settling the matter of his
identity if I should meet him,”.said Buffalo Bill. “By
Jove! I would like to be held up by him.”

“Shades of Unk-te-hee!”’ ejaculated Lillie.

“And not only would I like to; but I’m going to
do it.”

“Do what %’

“Be held up by this Silv eral”

“By the sacred O-zu-ha, necarnis! You are raving.”

TNO

“How will you work it?”

Buffalo Bill halted in the way, and in a few brief
sentences explained the.plan that had leaped to life in
his brain. It was complete. It was reckless—death-
defying! But it was worthy of the scout’s high cour-
age.

The two friends were riding ahead of old Nomad,
Little Cayuse, and Hickok. The trail was winding and
sheltered by a dense growth of trees. That Sityernail
was in the néighborlood—or had been in the neighbor-
hood the evening?before—three different Mexicans had
assured the scout and his partner since sunup.

When Buffalo Bill had explained his intention and
instructed Pawnee Bill regarding his own part in the
campaign, Lillie wheeled his horse to the right-about
face; but héistayed his reer long enough to wring
the scout’ Saat. |. ae

 

- to bring his steed to a halt..
horse with a tossing white mane and tail—a beautiful

BILL STORIES. ae : ; 25

he’ said, in the Sioux
I obey. But I tremble

“Nis-is-shin necarnis 1-to,”’
tongue. “What you say, goes.
(Or you, Cody's...

The scout waved his hand and cantered away along
the trail. As soon as he was out of sight of the bowie
man, however, he brought his horse down to a walk.
He had entrusted most of his weapons to Pawnee Bill’s
care. To all appearances he was unarmed as his horse
carried him quietly over the trail. He really invited
attack from any outlaw who might see him.

The American was well aware that the man he was

after—if it was the scoundrel who had escaped him

and his friends so narrowly at the ferry—would recog-
hize him as anenemy at once. This fellow, whoever he
might be, had already tried to shoot Pawnee Bill. - Un-

doul btedly he knew that the three Bills and their pards

were on his trail. He might shoot on sight.
Nevertheless, Buffalo Bill was taking the chance of

being held up, and of getting some conversation with

Silvernail be ae ectli¢ latter attempted to commit another
murder. The bandit might balk at trying to stick up
Cody’s whole crowd, and he knew the trails and by-
ways so much better than they did, that he might easily
escape them. But the temptation of a single and
apparently tnarmed man traveling this trail might
bring the elusive scoundrel to the fore.

However, Buffalo Bill had not imagined the circum-
stances that really brought himself and Silvernail to-
gether; he did not, indeed, dream of such a train of
events as had occurred on this morning. The scout

was still too far from San Enrife to smell the smoke .
of the burned grain fields, and thus far he had ob-),

served no Indian signs, either.

But suddenly along the hard trail toward him he
heard approaching a horse: ridden at frantic speed. It
really sounded as though the mount was running away
with its rider. The scout pulled his own horse out
of the trail and waited, on the alert, to see the strange

horseman come around the bend.

In a few seconds the horse and,rider dashed into
view. And at the first view of them the scout, al-

though astonished, was not confused. The horse was

coming at a furious pace, but Buffalo Bill spurred his
own mount directly into the path, where he cavorted

and danced sideways on the trail, and so presented a’

living barrier to the coming rider.

The latter sawed on his mount’s bit and managed
It was a great, bright bay

creature indeed. But immediately Buffalo Bill saw
that this was not the horse which had been ridden by
Silvernail at Liscom’s ferry!

This was a bay gelding, while the horse the bandit
swam across the river was a stallion. Nor could the
scout be sure that the rider was the villain who =o
tried.to kill Pawnee Bill at -Del Verde.

At the river, the scout had not seen the face of the
Only the Liscom women had seen the black _

bandit.
beard disarranged upon his face.

      
 

 

 

  
y he might.

26 3 THE BUFFALO

This man who now faced Buffalo Bill upon the hand-
some bay was smoothly shaven, save for a little, curled,
black mustache. He was a handsome man, Ww ith olive-
tinted complexion, a bold black eye, and a smile that

somehow hardened the whole expression of his’ face.

“Que es, sehor? Do you stop me?’ he demanded,
and his manner and keen look warned Buffalo Bill that
the stranger was on the alert.

~ Meanwhile the scout had taken in every peculiarity
of the man and of his costume. He was richly dressed
—much more richly dressed, indeed, than the bandit at
the ferry was. This man’s hat was heavy with silver
cord; he had many dollars’ worth of silver buttons on
his clothing. And thrust into his sash belt were a pair
of gold- mounted pistols.

He was young enough to be Clifford Smart. Buf-
falo Bill had never met the exiled American who, some
years before, had killed a dishonest gambler at a Texas
cattle town and had crossed the border to escape the’
wrath of a newly aroused public CONSCIENCE. 74

The smile on the stranger’s lips belied the fire in his
eye. As the scout hesitated the other jerked out a
eun and aimed it steadily, despite the prancing of his
own horse, at Buffalo Bill’s heart.

— “Answer me, Americano!” commanded the stranger.
“Put your hands up! Do you hear?”

The scout obeyed, and immediately his own horse
became quiet.

“Ah! so I thought,” breathed the man on the bay
steed. ‘Stand still, fool!’ This to the horse he rode
which he did not seem to have under as.firm control as
“You have intentionally halted me, senor,’
he declared, his fery glance searching Buffalo Bill’s
calm face.

The scout was silent. He kept bis empty hands
above his head and watched the fellow keenly.

*L believe, sefior, that I know you, although we have
never met before—not face to face. If you are whom
I think you, this meeting is surely a most curious, one
—and I proposesto make it interesting for you!’

He snapped this out suddenly, like the crack of a
whip, and his countenance was marred by a grimace of
hate. He glared at Buffalo Bill in a most murderous
fashion. :

“Come, sefior! Let us see what you carry. No arms

in sight, ech? And if there are hidden ones, don’t try

and touch them—zme entiende V? I have my pistol
ready to pour hot lead into your vitals. Ah! Give me
your purse—if you have one. 1 will make this meet-
ing pay me, at least, if nothing more.”

Buffalo Bill as yet had not spoken. Nor did he speak

now. He was permitted to take down his hands by

this order, and he. unbuttoned his blouse and thrust
one hand within his breast. But it was not for the
purpose of drawing his purse.

“Instead his hand. came forth again with a small flat
packet—really a bag of. soft deerskin. There was
something hard and oval-shaped within the packet,
and when he placed it in the outsretched hand of the

the threatening hatchet.

BILL: STORIES.

toad agent the latter started and his as ulate
changed color.

‘Para que cs bueno eso?
all the valuables you ae

He flirted the deerskin wrapping open with one hand,
and there fell into his palm a miniature, painted on
ivory and with a gold frame of simple, but elegant,
design. The portrait. was of a beautiful, but matronly-
looking, woman, whose clear, pure eyes seemed to gaze
straight into the one who looked at the picture. That

ne cried ciaraly: ele te

the robber was startled there could be no doubt. Had

3uffalo Bill wished at that moment to kill the scoun-
drel he could have done so!

But the doubt still remained. If this was Clifford
Smart who sat on the restive bay steed before him, the
scout wished to save him if possible. Had Cody been
sure that Silvernail was not the’ exiled American, he
would surely have shot him ott of his saddle, for the
scout had a revolver hidden within his blouse that he
could have got in a flash.

The man looked strangely at the miniature and then

recovered himself and glanced again at Buffalo Bill..

His lips opened to speak; but at the very instant the
words might have passed his lips which would have
explained to the watchful scout the mystery of Silver-
nail’s identity, the thunder of heavy hoofs sounded
upon the trail. Along the path from the direction
which the bandit had approached a cavalcade ap-
proached at breakneck speed.

With an oath the bandit dropped the miniature into.

his pocket and drove spurs into his mount’s flanks. But
as he dashed past the scout he fired his pistol, and Cody
toppled sideways and fell from his saddle, while his
own horse was all but knocked down by the rush and
collision of the bay!

CHAPTER XV
PAWNEE BILL’S RIDE.

If there was one thing that Toofer, the baron’s mule,

disliked more than work it was the smell of an Indian.

The redskins that had so unexpectedly surrounded the
baron and the mule displeased the latter quite as much
as they startled and made anxious the former.

And the baron was certainly troubled a-plenty!

“White man get up!” commanded the red, who held
“Go quick. Tae care,

The orders were not to be mistaken. The baron

quickly kicked Toofer till he stood on four legs again,

and then he heaved himself into the saddle. "The In-

dians seemed to be afoot; but when the party had gone

several hundred yards along the trail, with the baron

in the middle of the mob, Buffalo Bill's Dutch pard saw

a break in the forest, and down a glade was a small
herd of Indian ponies, feeding. :
At once the bulk of the gang that had ee him

darted off the trail to bring up he mount®. The baron |

considered this an excellent time to show the reds

\

 

PN etme oe

endl Sealy
 

  

THE BUFFALO

the soles of Toofer’s hoofs. He knew by the snort-
ing of the mule, and his rolling eyes, bared teeth, and
wagging ears that Toofer was now in a mood to run!
The beast would show two fast pairs of legs to get out
of the vicinity of the savages.

And, in addition, the baron’s arms had not been taken
away from, him. Only one redskin remained ‘close to
him—and that was the fellow who had shown the
baron the edge of the ax.

“T hat jdt in for dot feller, anyway! " thought the
baron. “Undt here goes mit me payin’ de score oop,
undt tr-r-rusting to Toofer’s heels!’

With the Aesicion came immediate action. He
grabbed his pistol by the barrel, and the redskin’s eyes
being turned away, the baron batted him smartly over
the head! He shricked to Toofer, dug his spurs into
the mule’s flanks, and flew off along the trail at a ter-
rific gallop.

The reds—all but the one knocked senseless—raised
the war whoop and the ponies soon began to pad over
the turf in the direction of the trail, but on a long’slant
so as to head the baron off. He had not had sense
enough to wheel his mount and race back toward Man-
uel Alsando’s house. .

But suddenly he came upon a fork in the roads.
There was a branch trail leading in the direction of
San Enrife, and down this he guided the mule. He
gained some distance in the race, and spurring Toofer
forward thought that he had completely bested the reds.
But, after traveling some miles he heard the ponies
coming again, and’ they seemed as fresh as ever. In
some way the reds had taken a short cut, and, at the
moment the mule and the ponies came within earshot
of Buffalo Bill and the bandit that had held him up, the
baron was using the quirt unsparingly to try and make
the mule run away from the pursuing mob. .

As the scout rolled off his horse and the bandit,
after firing point-blank at him, rode away on the bay,
there was a shout from down the trail. Around a bend
came a single horseman, lashing his mount to a foam-
ing pace, and lying low on the neck of the steed. This
rider uttered a shrill war cry when he saw Cody on
the ground, and the bandit headed away from the un-
horsed scout.

“Hi! hi! Whee-yip!” yelled the newcomer.
hard, necarnis! Here we come!”

As instructed by his partner, Pawnee Bill had kept.
the others back until now. But the sound of the pistol
shot had brought the bowie man onto the scene on the
keen jump. And some yards behind rode Wild Bill,
Nomad, and Little Cayuse.

The bandit, however, did not wait to see the latter’
appear. The charge of Pawnee Bill was sufficient to
make him pull his ‘bay horse around and dash back
along the trail. He fired once at Pawnee, and the
bowie man dodged and laughed. He tried to get an-
other, shot at Buffalo Bill; but the latter had rolled
behind a bowlder.

And then, as Silvernail tore on, there appeared in

“Hold

Gon

 

Bill STORIES, 27
front of him the big, mouse-colored mule and its Dutch
rider!

“Whoob! de Inchuns! de Inchuns!’’ bawled the
baron, waving his arms to halt the as white
man whom he did not’ recognize.

But the redskins evidently had no terrors for Sil-
vernail. He raked his mount’s ribs with his spurs and
passed the astonished baron in a flash.

Pawnee Bill would have pulled in when he saw his
friend on the ground; but Cody started ee and waved
to him to go on.

“Rolfaw hit! Capture him—capture a alive, Gor-
shouted the scout.

“De Inchuns iss caming!” bawled the baron again,
now recognizing the two Bills. ‘“The Inchuns iss chas-
in’ me!”

Indeed, already the head of the Yaqui column was
in sight. But the reds opened out instantly to let Sil-
vernail through, and Buffalo Bill yelled after his in-
trepid friend:

“Pay no, attention to them,
friendly.””

Indeed, he had recognized Xuku, the young chief-
tain of the Yaquis, who had joined his men after the
baron had made his escape from the reds. And Xuku
recognized Pawnee Bill as a friend of Pa-e-has-ka.

As the mob of Indians had opened up for the pass-
ing of Silvernail, the bandit, so they spread apart to
let Pawnee Bill through. The latter bestrode a fiery
mustang that was not yet two years off the wild range
—a beast that possessed the endurance of a grizzly and
the swiftness of a deer. The bay gelding that Silver-
nail now rode might be a thoroughbred; but the tamed
mustang could not be shaken off j in a long chase.

Pawnee Bill was not an eighth of a mile behind the
bandit when he was free of the mob of Yaquis. He
yelled to the mustang, shook the bridle reins, and they
fairly skimmed the trail during that first burst of
speed. The bowie man knew the piece of horseflesh
he had under him, and he was not afraid to use it—
or even to misuse it!

Sometimes the bay disappeared; but Pawnee Bill
could hear the hoofbeats ahead and knew that he was
not being distanced. Indeed, within ten minutes it-
was plain that the bowie man possessed thé*better.
mount—or, .at least, the speedier. The mustang was
steadily gaining upon the bay.

Then the bandit came in sight again. He was within
easy pistol shot. Pawnee Bill saw him look back over
his shoulder. The bowie man remembered what Cody
had told him. He must spare the villain’s life!

It was probable, then, that Buffalo Bill believed this
bandit to be Clifford Smart. Pawnee Bill did not seek
to draw his own gun, but he knew instinctively that
Silvernail would take a shot at him in a moment.

And it came! He saw the puff of smoke and threw
himself along his horse’s side, Indian fashion, with just
the toe of his right foot clipped under the saddle. The
bullet sang over him, and his mustang, used to this
sort of w arfare, did not lose his uae

Payee Pc They are

  
28

Instantly, when the bandit had turned away, Paw-
nee Bill was upright in the saddle and urging his mount
Once more Silvernail turned and fired, the bowie
And then the game

on.
man going through similar tactics.
was played a third time.

Within three minutes Pawnee Bill had decreased the
distance between the nose of his horse and the big
bay by more than half. It was merely a few rods’ dis-
tance between fugitive and pursuer—and they were
alone on the trail. If Pawnee Bill's friends had fol-
lowed him in this race after the bandit, they were far
behind.

There was just these two—man to man.
seemed suddenly to bmite the bandit’s mind. He pulled
in his horse, wheeled him dexterously, and suddenly
charged back at Pawnee Bill!

“On-she-ma-da!” muttered the bowie man.
where we clinch—or he gets me!”

Pawnee Bill had only a second or two to decide
upon his course. The bandit’s pistol blazed once—the
bullet clipped Pawnee’s hat from his head and sent it
spinning in the dust.

“Here's

If Buffalo Bill’s pard drew his own gun and fired,
the ball might find lodgment in the vitals of the bandit.
Therefore, the brave fellow refused to use a firearm.

But like a flash—as the bandit spurred upon him—
Pawnee Bill reached behind, jerked a heavy-handled
bowie knife from below his collar where its sheath lay
between his shoulder blades, and like a streak of blue
lightning the knife sped through the air!

Silvernail may have seen it coming; but no man
could have dodged the singing blade.

The pistol in the bandit’s hand exploded once again,
for the point of Pawnee Bill’s knife had bitten deeply
into the scoundrel’s shoulder and paralyzed his arm!

That all this time the bandit had. been seriously in-
converiénced by his mount could not be doubted. The
pistol shots had angered the brute still more. Now,
the wound to its rider was so painful that Silvernail
forgot his horse, his enemy, and all—this wound
brought matters to a climax. The bay bolted!

It flew past Pawnee Bill like an express train. The
bowie man stretched out a hand to seize the reins of
the flying steed; but luckily his fingers Se not close
on them!

The bay was running away, and its rider swayed
uricertainly in the saddle. Pawnee Bill put spurs to his
own steed and followed, but at last the bay had found
its stride. The frightened creature was rapidly leay-
ing the bowie man behind in the race.

THE BUFFALO

‘Fhe’ tact

BILL SFORIES.
CHAPTER XVI.
<THE END OF SILVERNAIL, THE BANDIT.

On, on they flew, the hoofbeats drumming deafen-
ingly on the hard path. Pawnee Bill saw the figure of
the bandit swaying to and fro in the saddle. The vil-
lain had dropped the bridle reins and clutched at the
bowie knife sticking in his shoulder.

When he drew the knife from the wound the blood
gushed forth. Pawnee Bill rose in his stirrups and
uttered a yell:

“Yi- yi! Yip-ee! Whoop!”

His mustang responded to the cry and eased for-
ward; but the iron-jawed bay had the bit in its teeth
and was running at fearful speed.

Weaker and weaker was the wounded man becom-
ing. Pawnee knew this—he saw that the bandit grew

dizzy and that in a moment he would fall from the
saddle.

Suddenly there appeared around a bend in the road
a cavalcade of wildly riding horsemen. The bay was
running into these newcomers.
Pawnee Bill recognized them. His gladdened eye
saw Buffalo Bill himself in the lead. If the famous

scout had been wounded by the brigand, the wound

was slight.

Beside the scout rode an Indian in full war paint—
Xuku, the Yaqui chieftain. Then came Wild Bill, the
baron spurring Toofer to do his wicked best, and old
Nomad and Little Cayuse in the rear.

The wounded bandit may have seen this squadron
but it is doubtful if the
sight meant anything to him in his present pain and
weakness.

of horse riding him down;

But the maddened bay horse saw the approaching
riders and swerved from his straight course. Crash!
the bandit was flung to the ground, landing with sick-
ening force upon his ‘head and shoulders! | _

The accident could mean but one thing. Such a fall
spelled instant death, and both Buffalo Bill and ve
bowie man groaned aloud when they saw it. :

If this bandit were Clifford Smart, the exiled Ameri-
can, then his friends across the border need be trou-
bled by him no longer. And the girl waiting down
there at San Enrife ‘How about her?

Little Cayuse and Nomad caught the bay horse. The
others pulled their steeds in around the dead man in
the path. Buffalo Bill leaped down and turned the
man over. His neck was broken: | :

“Ves, Pa-e-has-ka,”

said Xuku gutturally. “That

 
  

him bad man—him Silvernail.
raid San Enrife. He shoot white squaw through gate
of big house where Mojé live. Wuh!’

As the Yaqui uttered these words there was again
the clatter of hoofs on the trail—the sound approach-
ing in the wake of Pawnee Bill’s own coming.. In his
fight and race with the now dead Silvernail, the bowie
man did not know that he was being pursued.

It was but one horse that came into sight, however ;
but he bore two riders. And the moment the person in ~
front saw the group about the dead bandit, he hailed
them. delightedly :

“Buffalo Bill! Mr. Cody!
mad—and Major Lillie—and the others.
luck!’

Rawdon Smart was off his horse in a moment and
shaking hands. His companion dismounted, too, but
more slowly. He was taller and: older than Rawdon;
and there was a slight family resemblance’ between
them. He came forward with gravity to meet Raw-
don’s friends, and as he approached, Buffalo Bill and
Pawnee Bill stepped aside, and the man on the ground
was revealed.
_ “Ah! there is the scoundrel!” ejaculated Rawdon's
companion suddenly. “It is Silvernail, the bandit.”
“So we have just assured ourselves,” said. Buffalo
Bill dryly. 3

“T ran into him this morning when I was riding up
from Olando toward home,”
shot his horse- By Jove! there’s mine that he took

And there ie Mr. No-
Isn't this

 

away from me!’ he cried, spying ie bay that Little-

Cayuse was leading forward.
“You, 1 take it,’ said Buffalo’ Bill,
Smart?” : |
“At your seevice,’ returned Rawdon’s brother, ey-
ing the scout curiously.

“are Clifford

bp)

“You were just returning from Mexico CAty, then:

“That is right.”
“And you ran into this Silvernail ?”’
“For a second time.
me up on the trail and robbed me. He took every-
thing I had of value then, indeed. He stole a keepsake
that I thought a great deal of :
Buffalo Bill had stooped quickly and thrust a hand
into the side pocket of Silvernail’s jacket. He brought
forth the miniature and held it up before ard
‘Omari s eyes. <7
“You mean this?’ he asked.
“By Jove! that’s it. The scoundrel kept it all this
time ?”’
“Not he.

 

 

Well, he lost it some time

He lost it

  

THE BUEFALO Bill. STORIES,

He go with Injun— ¥ ago, and on the other side of the border,”

“smith,

said the young man. “I.

Once, months ago, he stuck

 

29

admitted
Buffalo a “T have been carrying it for some time
myself

“Uncle Junipe found it after Pasquale, the black-
was murdered on his ranch,’ cried Rawdon
Smart. “I saw it then, and knew it was Clifford’s.”

“And I have been carrying it for your brother since
then,” said Cody. “But to-day this dead man here
held me up and took it once again.”

“And he had just left me,” cried Clifford, “after
robbing me of my horse and weapons. He has cer-
tainly had an exciting morning, for Rawdon tells me -
that he and his mates raided San Enrife at sunrise.’

“Er-waugh!” ejaculated Nomad, listening with all
his ears. ‘“Thar’s more than thet thar to explain.”
~ “How came you by this bay horse—so much like
the one Silvernail rode?’ demanded Buffalo Bill.

“They were alike, weren't they?’ returned Clifford
“I did not keep this beauty at San Enrife.
I was

 

Smart.
He got me into trouble more than once, too.
taken for Silvernail me :
“‘An-pe-tu-we!” interrupted see Bill. “And you
are just right,” and he clapped his hand upon the shoul-
der of Clifford Smart. “It was you, not Silvernail,

that Wild Bill and I captured at Ciudad Sonora and

 

clapped into jail, eh?”

The young Texan shrugged his shoulders and
nodded.

“Not-a pleasant experience that. If you had taken
the pains to have examined the nails in the shoes of
my horse, you would have found that I was not given
to the habit’of loading the shoes with precious metal.”

“But, by gorry!’” interposed Wild Bill, pushing for-
ward, “who were those fellows who blew open the bank
and the jail to get you free?”

“Ordinary outlaws who did not know much about
the use of giant powder, I believe,” said Clifford coolly.
“The explosion injured one of the men and failed to
break the vault door. Iran out after them and escaped.
I see plainly, gentlemen,”
under considerable suspicion in all your minds.”

“Circumstances certainly led us into the error of be-
lieving you had taken to the highway,” said Buffalo
Bill. i

“T cannot blame you when my own brother accused
me this morning of being the notorious Silvernail, and
of having wounded the Sefiorita Maria Cralé during
the attack on her father’s casa.

“And, gentlemen, as I am the affianced husband of
the lady, I am much wrought up over the accident,”as
you may believe. With your permission I will hasten’

he added, “that I have been. -

 
 

THE BUFFALO

=

on to San Enrife—using my own horse for the “jour-
ney. If you will follow me, Colonel Cody, I will be
at your disposal at Professer Cralé’s house.” —

“And let Mr. Nomad go with us, colonel!” cried

Rawdon Smart, following his brother’s example, and
climbing into his saddle again. ‘I do not think much
of the Mexican physician who treated Sefiorita Maria.
Nomad is a good surgeon, I know.”

“Er-waugh!’ grunted the old trapper.
thar boy throwin’ bouquets at me, Buffler?”’

“Go with him and do what you can for the poor
young lady,” said Cody. “We will follow you—with
the remains of this unfortunate wretch whose wicked
course is at last run out.” :

“Vale, vale! vot a mixed-oop-ed-ness idt vas yedt!”
murmured the wide-eyed baron, as the Smarts and old
Nomad rode hastily away. “Dit you effer seen de
“ peat oof idt, Vild Pill?”

“Tt sure was a crooked trail,’ admitted the pistol
king.

“Undt you, Bawnee Pill? Vot you tink?”

“It was a hummer!’ announced the bowie man.

“Undt vot do you says, too, Leedle Cayuse?’ de-
manded the astounded baron.

But all that the Piute vouchsafed as comment upon
the outcome of the matter was a single:

“Wuh!’ -

Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill and the Yaqui chieftain
were talking aside. Soon they clasped hands, and the
Indian rode away alone. |

“You wise man—you great friend—-Pa-e-has-ka,” he
said, looking back at the scout. “Xuku remember—
. Xuku do as Pa-e-has-ka says.”

“T’ve managed to get the redskin to promise to call
off his bucks from this side of the Olando trail,” ex-
plained Buffalo Bill. “And he will keep his word. I
have shown him that we intend to clean up the bad
whites in this vicinity, and that if the reds are caught
over here, the rurales will clean them out along with
the outlaws.

“THe has given me, too, information which will aid
us in getting the smaller outlaws that occasionally
worked with Silvernail., He knows their rendezvous.”

And in this Buffalo Bill was prophetic. Xuku had
not lied to his white friend. Pa-e-has-ka and his mates
made San Enrife their headquarters for some days,
and during their stay they captured nearly a dozen of
the smaller banditti and frightened the others out of
the country. :

Silvernail, the king-pin of them all, having been
erased from the map, no other leader sprang up at once,

“Fear thet,

BILL STORIES,

 
   

and before long the scout and his friends had ‘pretty |

well eliminated the outlaws and holdup men, as well
as the smugglers, from both sides of the Rio Grande. —

Meanwhile, as we have said, the party were the
guests of the Cralés. Old Nomad had been able to do
what the local doctor could not in regard to Senorita
Maria’s wound. He found and extracted the split bul-
let, and the young lady recovered rapidly.

- This result made old Nomad: mighty popular in the
household, and the baron began to grow jealous. Mojé
made more of the old trapper than she did of Schnitz-
enhauser, and the latter went around with a very long
face and usually hidden in a cloud of tobacco smoke.
Nomad took delight in increasing the baron’s jealousy ;
and had excitement not soon broken out beyond the
border that recalled Buffalo Bill and his pards to the
States, the baron might have been tempted to démand
that the trapper, “doodle” with him for the hand of
the buxom Indian maiden.

Buffalo Bill satisfied himself that Clifford Smart had
been leading a correct enough life since he had been
exiled from home; indeed, when he became better
acquainted with the young man, and found him so
frank and agreeable, the scout could not fail to like
him. He felt sure, at least, that it was perfectly safe
to leave young Rawdon in his brother’s care when the
party went North again.

Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill did not leave the Cralé
casa without promising’ to return to enjoy a certain
very interesting occasion which was scheduled some
months ahead—in other words, the wedding of Clifford
Smart and the Sefiorita Maria Cralé. Whether Clif-
ford considered it still unwise to cross into the States,
or even if he did shrink-from meeting Americans be-
cause of the trouble that had made him an exile, the
scout was confident that the young man was sincerely
remorseful for his fault and that he was worthy of his
own friendship and—to a degree—worthy of the love
of the professor’s pretty daughter.

THE END.

«

You will find “Buffalo Bill’s Handful of Pearls; or,
Pawnee Bill at Santa Fé,” not only one of the keenest
“Western adventure stories you- have read in a long
time, but as good a detective story as you could ask
for. Just to give you a tip on the story, we will say
that a scoundrel fixes himself up to impersonate the

&

great scout, and gets away with the game to the ex- -

tent of many thousands of ill-gotten dollars. What
the pards finally did to him you may read in the next
issue, No: 522. Out next week.

  

ben) een bond

 
ISSUED BEAUTIFUL
EVERY COLORED
THURSDAY COVERS:
We can honestly say that the stories of Western life poetaiied in the DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY are the best and cleanest, doneiimatanatine the fact that they are the most inter-
esting of any offered to the reading public. Most of the adventures of Diamond Dick are based upon material which the author has acquired through long association with the people

and life in the far West. Hach number contains a story of thirty thousand words, or more, which you will admit is a generous five cents’ worth, We give herewith a list of all the
back numbers in print. You can have your newsdealer order them or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps.

443—Handsome Harry’s Steel Trap540—Diamond Dick on Shipboard. 622—Diamond Dick and the Mount- 689—-Diamond Dick’s Sagacity.
444_-Handsome Harry swith a541—-Diamond Dick’s Wide Loop. ed Police: 690—Diamond Dick’s Winning

Hard Crowd. 542—-Diamond Dick’s Royal Foe. 628—-Diamond Dick, the Dauntless, — ‘Stroke.
446—Handsome Harry in the Big ae oae Dick’s College Scrap 624—-Diamond Dick's River Drift, 691—-Diamond Dick’s Dart.

Range. pee Dick in the Deep 625—Diamond Dick’s Foundling. 692——Diamond Dick’s Mark.
447—_Diamond Dick’s Ghostly Trail 626—Diamond Dick’s Alkali Trail. 693—-Diamond Dick’s Strong Hand
448-——Diamond Dick’s Boy Hunt. AueTMbeieue Dick’s Merciless 627—-Diamond Dick’s Solid Shot. 694—Diamond Dick’s Great. Dive.
449-—-Diamond Dick’s Sure Throw. Trail. 628—Diamond Dick’s Wireless Sig- 695—-Diamond Dick’s Biggest

ees Dick Afioat. 546—Diamond Dick’s Steel Heart. nal. ‘ Round-up. i
52--Diamond Dick’s Steeple Chase. 547—-Diamond Dick’s Inferno, 629—Diamond Dick’s Disappear- 696—Diamond Dick’s Splendid Dash,
453——Diamond Dick’s Deadly Peril. 548—Diamond Dick's Bad Smash. - ante. 697—Diamond Dick’s Catamount
i355 Diamond Disk: 5 Hare tteail ee are Oe Lapis 30—Diamond "Dick's Scarlet En- 698—Dinuend Dick’s Daring Decoy
is emy. c
456—Diamond Dick’s Desperate 550—Diamond Dick, Editor. 24__ pj ; Ti 699—Diamond Dick's Clean Sweep.
Dash. 551—Diamond Dick’s Stand-off. Cy ens ee: Lariat (90-——Diamond Dick’s Golden Rid-
= Wi
aoe Diamond Dick's Centre Saot 552. Dimond Dick’s Hoodlum King. ; wei ieian Dick's Keen Sight
459—Diamon ick’s Blin ead. ie tea, CK's :
460—Diamond Dick’s Cool Thrust. 553—Diamona Dick’s Queer Holdup. ee ae 2 Poe pk 402 piuond Dick’s Forest Mys-
461—-Diamond Dick’s Swiftest Ride 554—Diamond Dick on Guard. 635 ond Dick and the Black - ; g
462—Diamond none in ne ae een Roce Rik $ Easy ‘Win. a Owl 703 Diamond Dick’s Surprise
463—Diamond Dick’s Deadliest Foe —Diamond Dick’s Indian Ally. ; i
466—Diamond Dick in the ‘Klon- a Diamond Dick’s Giant Swing. 636-—Diamond Dick's. Green-room 704—Digmond Dick’s Sparkling
ike. 58—Diamon k’s a gnal. w a
467-—Diamond Dick's Call to’ Time. mivict® Pa Ge af-Dismond Dick and the White 70> Diamond . Dick's Game of
eed Dick's yea ‘Signal. ee ‘Dick's be Mys- ¢ Cre ne Dick and the Land ES at open ae 8 Convict Chase.
ons . in- hc OT——Dis K
aca “ me a ~ Bel Diamond Dick's Mase Pay. ce ye and the Claim ene Dick’s Noble Hx-
472—Diamond Dick’s Bo ard. —-Diamond Dick’s Free-for-al : a
475—Diamond Dick’s Big Stake. 563—Diamond Dick’s Queer Scrape 640—Diamond Dick’s Snow-shoe 70: ynlamond Dick’s Fire Mystery
478—Diamond Dick’s Defiance. 564—-Diamond Dick’s Steady Eye. Trail. ; ; 210. Diamond Dick’s Adroitness,
479—-Diamond Dick’s Secret Pledge 566-—-Diamond Dick’s Sacred Trust @4i-Diaend Dick’s’ . Mexican q11—Diamond Dick’s Valor,
480—Diamond Dick’s Yellow Peril. 567—-Diamond Dick’s Cut-off. Quest. : “12——-Diamond Dick’s Derelict.
481—Diamond Dick’s Border Raid. 568—Diamond Dick Across the 642 Diamond Dick’s Aztec Cap-715—-Diamond Dick’s Clever’ Play,
482—Diamiond Dick’s Bold Stand. Border. tive. wi4—Diamond Dick’s Dory.
483—Diamond Dick on a Queer 569—Diamond Dick as a Hero, 643—Diamond Dick’s Peon Pard. 71 5—Diamond Dick! s Loyalty.

Trail. 570—Diamond Dick’s Northwest 644—-Diamond Dick’s Matador Ri-716—-Diamond Dick’s Australian
484—-Diamond Dick in the Frozen Trail, val. i Le Para: :

North. : 571—Diamond Dick’s Hardest Test 645—Diamond Dick’s Peddler Pard. 717—-Diamond Dick’s Triple Play,
485—Dian-ond Dick in the Trai- 572—-Diamond Dick’s Finger of Fate 646—Diamond Dick’s Silent Special 718—-Diamond Dick’s Mill Mystery

tor’s Camp, 5¢38—Diamond Dick’s Sleight of 647——Diamond Dick’s Cut Diamond, 719—Diamond Dick’s Marvelous
486—Diamond Dick for the Flag. Hand. 648——Diamond Dick’s “Dippy.” Capture.
487—Diamond Dick’s Strange Debt.574—-Diamond Dick Holds the 649--Diamond Dick’s Spider Web. 720—Diamond Dick’ 's Lightning Feat.
488—-Diamond Dick’s Dumb Pard. Wires. 650-——Diamond Dick’s Bold Bargain. ¢21—Diamond Dick’s Wonder Trail,
489-—-Diamond Dick’s Long Race. 575——Diamond Dick’s Demon Wheel 651-—Diamond Dick’s Sight Draft. ¢22—-Diamond. Dick’s: Dangerous
490—Diamond Dick in the Rapids. 576—-Diamond Dick's Hardest Ride 659 Diamond Dick’s Draw-bridge. Duty.
491—Diamond Dick’s Red Foe. 577—-Diamond Dick’s Secret Play. bel k’ Cireu ge: 3-—Diamond Dick’s Fair Play.

3 653—Diamond Dick’s ircus
492—Diamond Dick’s Secret Scent, 578—Diamond Dick’s Hazard, “Stunt.” 4—Diamond Dick’s Long Chance.
498—-Diamond Dick’s Master-hand. 579—Diamond Dick’s Hand-to-hand 654—Diamond Dick’s Strangest (25 Diamond Dick’s Long Chase.
494—-Diamond ,Dick in the Break- 581—Diamond Dick’s Friendly Foe naa 726—Diamond Dick’s Dead Line.
‘ et 582—-Diamond Dick’s Desert. Pard. 655-—_Di amon Dick’s Snow Ram- ¢2¢-—Diamond Dick to the Rescue,
495—Diamond Dick’s Lucky Ace. Pop wend Wie ee ee DPOF Cay ae Eo nearer a
96—Diamond Dick’s Death Chase, 984—Diamond Dick’s Judgment. : a allie 29-——Diamond Dick’s Sudden Strike,
497Diamond Dick’s Vampire Trail 586—Diamond Dick’s Warning Shot. 656—Ditimond Dick in the Frozen 759 hiamond Dick’s Daring Dash.
498—Diamond Dick on the Dead cil ie ip Dick on a_ Lone 6x9. Diatmond Dick’s Raw Gold, 731-—-Diamond Dick’s Throw for
sie Dick’s’ Lost Trail, n88-—Dianond Dick’s Short Order, 698—Diamond Dick’s § ee ae 782--Diamond Dick’s. Wonderful
501—-Diamond Dick on His Nerve, 589—-Diamond Dick’s Green Ghost, 659-——Diamond Dick ona Let Fat Work:
503—Diamond Dick’s Show-down, | 590—Diamond Dick's Swing Duel. 660—Diamond Dick’s Pledge, 7as_piamond Dick's Kindly Blutt.
504——Diamond Dick's Strange Guest 591—Diamond Dick’s Border Battle 661—The Heart of Diamond Dick. 734° Diamond ~ Dick's Strategic
505—-Diamond Dick’s Hit and Miss Pe ens aie Plo ee ee Dick in the ‘Adiron- Struggle,
Di ick’s Fi r+ g 0938—Diamond Dick’s Sure Scent. 35—Die 1d Dick’s Wise, Action. .
DOO ene AGS An ee 594 —Diamony Dick's Maverteis 663—Diamnond Dick and “Pard ee en Dick's Salee ae
ick? 595—-Diamond Dick’s High Sign Jimmy.” 37 Dis 1. Dick ° Takes
sige al tie ale 296—Diamond Dick's Bolaest Move 664—Diamond Dick's Last Mastern ~Olmend ple ee
" 508— ick’ Coun- 598——Diamond ick’s Vengeance. rail 738—Diamond Dick on a Baffline
108 Diamond Picks Ceo : Con aed oe Peas Dick’s Tennessee Trail a
509—Di Dick’s Good Right —Diamond Dick’s Slashing Blow - ission. 739—Diamond  Dick’s Trail to.
ae oes : eas Dick in the Canal Coo Daoud Dick at Craven ‘~ Nome- :
510—Diamond Dick's Braver 740—Diamond Dick’s Wireless Trick.
Pe pumene Dick’s Double iran, 602—_Dinnond Dick and the Coast 667—-Diamond Dick and the Wild- 741 Diamond Dick in ‘a Periloua
512——Diamond Dick in the Saddle. Indians. cat Syndicate. Path.
~ 513—Diamond Dick’s Greatest Peril 605—-Diamond Dick in Hard Luck. 668—Diamond. Dick’s pirateey. 742—-Diamond Dick’s Dog Tcam,
514—Diamond Dick’s Outlaw Duel. 604—-Diamond.  Dick’s Spanish 669—-Diamond Dick’s Doub! e ee 743—Diamond Dick’s Race Against
515—Diamond Dick’s Mystic Mark, Doubloons. 670—Diamond Dick.and the Re Time.
516—Diamond Dick’s Race Riot. 605—-Diamond Dick’s Panama Pards Desert Band. lt Duty 744—Diamond Dick on the Yukon
517—Diamond- Dick’s Ghostly 606—-Diamond Dick's Decoration. 671—Diamond Dick’s Difficult vee. Mats.

Round-up. oe Oe Uae Dick’s High-water Re er nay Dick Above the 745 piamond Dick in Dawson.
518—Diamond Dick’ 8 Big Drive. ark A 746—Diamond Dick’s Five Against
519—Diamond Dick’s Trail of 608—Diamond Dick’s Great Find. ee Dick’s Troublesome Fifty. .
520-—-Dinmond Dick Wolds the Torte busten ns?  gra—piamona Dick's Dangerous 71 Diamond Dick's Tuckey Clty
521—-Diamond Dick’s Steel Glove. 610—Diamond . Dick’s Desperate Detail. ‘ Apaches.

Peer Dick's No-name Detail. §75—Diamond Diels Pomp 240-—Dtamond Dick and the Hoo-
stery. ; 611—Di aieaad ick’s Voyage of ae a Jooed P ector,
523—Diamond Dick’s Midnight "Mystery. : re Bey ; aD So. Diamond Dick with the KX
Stampede, ee ie Gta. Dikimend Dickie River Bate. epee Dick’s Buccaneer Outht.
Oe ‘S Forlorn Hope. ee i ae my
52g-—Diamond Dick's Night Wateh "kota Ssigwarg, °° DO 6TS—Diamond Dick's Encore Tan i aor hee ie
526-—-Diamond Dick's Three to One 614 _piamond Dick’s Death Notice. f 5 Line.
etree — ues Sg n
eeu epieeen Dick's Caer G1 Gr-Dieinona Dick’s Strange Puz- Bie Rong Pie 8 phadew Oy he ee Dick in the Line of
529— Dick’s H s 681—-Diamond Dick’s. Power.
Si—Blamond Biers Hopp yn" O10—Dinmond, Dick's Mod Mas- GSE —Digmond Dox Noles & Myx 754—Dlami rtd Dick ona Dark rat
ae ick’ ign. 155— g
538—Diamond ee oe oaks 617—Dinmond “Dick on the Timber 688-—Dinwona Dick in the Colo- oer Dick Defies Danger.
534—Diamond Dick’s Night Ride. Trail. rado Canon. 757—Diamond Dick’s Desperate
BS oe ee ee ee ee G85 Diamond Dick ona ‘Dam 73R_-Diamond Biel's Dariag Doves

Trai illers. —Diamon ick an e Dum- a g
536—Diamond Dick in Arizona. Ci Paend Dick and the Night- my. Deacon. 759—Diamond  Dick’s ‘Desperate.
537—Diamond Dick Over the Rio rider 686—Diamond Dick’s Chase. Plight.

Grande. 620-—biamond Dick -and the Ranch Bet ane $ Young Part- 760—Diamond Dick’s Secret Search.
588—Diamond Dick’s Shower of Rogues, 761—-Diamond Dick’s. Iron Arm,

621—Diamond Dick and the Dia- 688-—Diamond Dick and the Young 762—Diamond Dick’s Ready Re-
539—Diamond Dick Below the Line, mond Baby. Deserter. source,

wa If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your news- 79-89 SEVENTH AVE
Price, 5e. per Copy dealer,they can be obtained direct from this office, reese stamps ren the same as money. yoiredt & Smith, -soiraaeataed NEW YORK,

 
 

   

 

 

 

TIP TOP

The most popular publication for boys.
this weekly. High art colored covers.
Tiare tee Merriwell’s Intervention ; or, The Horse Thief of the

y X.
bo prank Meriiwelte Daring Deed; or, The Race for a Hun-
~. dred Lives.
ae tal Merriwell’s Succor; or, The Redemption of “Babe’
ilver.

776—Frank Merriwell’s Wit; or, Thwarting a Governor.
777—Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty ; or, The Land of: the Lost
People.

778—Frank Meriwent: Bold) Play =)or;

The Checkmating -of
Felipe Lopez.

WEEKLY >

The adventures of Frank and Dick Merriwell can be had only in
Thirty-two pages.

Price, 5 cents.

a eee Insight; or, The Brand Blotter of the

ar

780—Frank Merriwell’s Guile; or, The Queen of the Matadors.

ee Me_riwell’s Campaign; or, Fighting the System.

“82-—F rank Merriwell in the National F orest; or, Outwitting the
Timber Thieves.

783—Frank Merriwell’s Tenacity; or, The Mystery of the Famous
Scientist.

784—Dick Merriwell’s Self-Sacrifice; or, The Man Who Could

Jump.
785—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave; or, The Man With a Grouch.

 

NICK CARTE!

The best detective stories on earth.
‘overs. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.

732—The Connecting Link; or, Nick Carter’s Solution of a
Double Crime.

733—The Abduction Syndicate; or, Nick Carter Against the
Short Interest.

734—The Silent Witness; or, Nick Carter’s Quandary.

735—A Woman of Mystery; or, Nick Carter’s Silent Witness

Remembers.
736—The Toils of a Siren; or, Nick Carter’s Busiest Day.
737—The Mark of a Circle: or, Nick Carter’s Seven Sworn
Enemies.
739—A Plot Within a Plot;. or, Nick Carter Foils a Master
. Rogue

Nick Carter’s exploits are read the world over.

 

 

WEEKLY

‘High art colored

739—The Dead Accomplice; or, Nick Carter Finds an Unusual
Hale

740—A Mysterious Robber; or, Nick Carter’s Counterplot.

741 —The Green Scarab; or, Nick Carter’s Beautiful Mystery.

742—The Strangest Case on Record; or, Nick Carter’s Guessing
Contest.

743—A Shot in the Dark; or, Nick Carter’s Midnight Adventure.

744—The Seven Schemers; or, Nick Carter Foils a Splendid Plot.

745—The Hidden Crime; or, Nick Carter’s Telephone Clew.

746—The Secret Entrance; or, Nick Carter and the Child
Stealers.

747—The Cavern Mystery; or, Nick Carter's Puzzle of the
Leather Bag.

 

BUFFALO. BILL STORIES

The most original stories of Western adventure.
Buffalo Bill. High art. colored covers.
eS Bill’s Witchcraft; or, Pawnee Bill and the Snake

ztecs.
5090—Buffalo Bill’s Mountain Foes; orz Pawnee Bill and the
White Queen’s Vengeance.
510—Buffalo Bill’s Battle Cry; or, Pawnee Bill and the Indian
Stampede.
511—Buffalo Bill s Fight for the Right; or, Pawnee Bill and the
King of the Land Boomers.
ge SEN) s Barbecue; or, Pawnee Bill and the Bumptious
4 asi
- §13—Buffalo Bill and the Red Renegade; or, Pawnee Bill and
the Outlaw of the Hills.

 

The only weekly containing the adventures of the famous
Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.

one Pens the Pache Kid; or, Pawnee Bill’s Winning
an

515—Buffalo Bill at the ee Barriers; or, Pawnee Bill’s Cave
of Aladdin.

516—Buffalo Bill’s Pacific Power; or, Pawnee Bill and the

Easterner.

517—Buffalo Bill and Chief Hawkchee; or, Pawnee Bill Teaches
a Lesson.

518—Buffalo Bill and the Indian Girl; or, Pawnee Bill on the Job.

519—Buffalo Bill Across the Rio Grande; or, Pawnee Bill’s Slide
for Life.

a sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price,
cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 78-89 Seventh Avenue, New York

 

IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS

of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be
obtained from this office direct.
us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail.

Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to.
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STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ns wee York City.

Dear Sirs:
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Enclosed please Find. sreccsseererevevvenes

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-...cents for which send mes:

DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY, NOS. -eccccccccccsceveeecees
BUFFALO BILL STORIES, “ sc.css.c0ccsdcceuccaess>

NAME. «oats ssasevvevenseevese+s0erStlCClonssvsacencesserrsscocsscncensCitYoussorcesecessesssenrnecesnese SPEC: sccvceceseveess

 

 

 
    
  
  
   
    
 

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FFALO 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.

254—Buffalo
256—Buffalo
258—Buffalo
267—Butftalo
272—Butfalo
273—Buftalo
274—Buffalo
275—Buffalo
278—Buffalo
283—Butftalo
285—Buffalo
287—Buffalo
288—Buffalo
292—Buffalo
293—Buffalo
298—Buffalo
299—Buffalo
305—RBuffalo
306—Buffalo
308—Butfalo
309—Buffalo
312—Buffalo
314—Buffalo
315—Buffalo
316—Buffalo
319—Buffalo
321—Butfalo
324—Buffalo
325—Buffalo
326—Buffalo
327— Buffalo
328—Buffalo
329—Buffalo
330—Buftalo
331—Buffalo
332—Buffalo
333—Buffalo
334—Buffalo
335—Buffalo
336—Buffalo
337—Buffalo
338—Buffalo
339—-Buffalo
340—Buffalo
341—Buffalo
342—Buffalo
343—Buffalo
344—Buffalo
345—Buffalo
346— Buffalo
348—Buffalo
349—Buffalo
350—Buffalo
351—Buffalo
352—Buffalo
353—Buaffalo
354—Buffalo
355—Buffalo
356—Buffalo
357—Butffalo
258—Buffalo
359—Buffalo
360—Buffalo
362— Buffalo
363—Buffalo
2&4——Buffalo
366—Buffalo
367—Buffalo
368—Buffalo
369—Buffalo
370-—Buffalo
371—Buffalo
372—Buffalo
374—Buffalo
375—Buffalo

from this office.

Bill’s Shawnee Stampede.... 5
Bill on ia Desert Brail...... 5
Bill in Dight Quarters......5
Bill in the Canyem of Death. 5
Bill’s Dusky Trailers....... 5
Bill’s Diamond Mine........ 5
Bill and the Pawnee Serpent
Bill’s Scarlet Hand.........
Bill’s Daring Plange........
Bill Up a Stump.-..........
Bill’s Master-stroke.........
Bill and the Brazes Ferror..
Bill’s Dance ef Death

Bill’s Medicime-ledge........
Bill ine Peni se So oe
Bill’s Black Hagies......
Bill’s Desperate Dezen..
Bill and the Barge Bandits.
Bill, the Desert Hetspur....
Bill’s Whirlwind Chase.....
Bill’s Red Retrilwutiow......
Bills Death Jump.-.-.-.... 2
Bill in the Jaws of Death....
Bill’s Aztee Rummers.....6
Bill’s Dance with Death...
Bill’s Mazeppa Ride...... le
Bill’s Gypsy Band_....... ee
Bill’s Gold Munters. ........6
Bill in Old Mexieg........ ‘s
Bill’s Message from the Dead
Bill and the Wolf-master....
Bill’s Fiying Wender.......
Bills Hiddem Gold.........
Bill’s Outlaw Trail........
Bill and the Indiam Queen...
Bill and tle Mad Marauder...
Bill’s Ice Barricade....2....
Bill and the Robber Eik.....
Bill’s Ghost Damee.........
Bill’s Peace-pipe...-....2.-.
Bill’s Red Nemesis.........
Bill’s Enchanfed Mesa..... :
Bill in the Deser€ ef Death. .
Bill’s: Pay Streak... 2.060222.
Bill on Detached Buty..... -
Bills: Arn Mystery oo. 2c. s
Bill’s Surprise Party.......
Bills (Great Rides. oo. ‘
Bill's Water raw 2232 oo
Bill’s Ordeal of Fire...... we
Bill’s Casket ef Pearls......
Bilis: sky Pivots sss ee ae
Bilis sceMoteny ae eae 5
Bil’s Flat-boat Deif€.......
Bil one Meck ys sols eae 5
Bill and the Bronce Buster. .
Bil’s Great Reund-up...... 5
Bille VPled mec ceo sen co Bae
Bil’s Cowboy Pard........
Bill and the Hmigrants......
Bill Among the Pueblos.....
Bill’s our-footed Pards....
Bul si Rrotege so 6225 50 EES ae 5
Bil Sick ape a ce ee 5
Bile Ouestsc 2 oe ee
Bill’s Waif of the Plains....
Bill Among the Mormens...
Bill's) Assistancets cn... 2. 5
Bill’s Rattiesnake Trail... ..
Bill and the Slave-Dealers...
Bills Strong “Arm. 222.22: 5
Bills) Girl Pard 2055.05. 5
Bill’s Iron Bracelets........ 5
Bil’s Jade Amule€......... 5
Bill’s Magie Laréa€é......... 5

CVO

AOAC

5
5
5
5
5
o
5
5
5
5
5
5

NOAM OLA OTST ONOR ONC

CR AST STON Cr

 

377—Buffalo
378—Buffalo
379—Buffalo
380—Buffalo
381—Buffalo
382— Buffalo
383—Buffalo
384—Buffalo
385—Buffalo
386—Buffalo
387—Buffalo
388—Buffalo
389—Buffalo
390—Buffalo
391—Buffalo
392—Buffalo
393—Buffalo
394—Buffalo
395—Buffalo
396—Buffalo
397%7—Buffalo
398—Buffalo
399—Buffalo
400—Buffalo
401—Buffalo
402—Buffalo
403—Buffalo
404—Buffalo
405—Buffalo
406—Buffalo
407—Buffalo
408—Buffalo
409—Buffalo
410—Buffalo
411—Buffalo
412—Buffalo
413—Buffalo
414—-Buffalo
415—Buffalo
416—Buffalo
417—Butffalo
418—Buffalo
419—Buffalo
421—Buffalo
422-—Buffalo
423—Buffalo
424—_Buffalo
425—Buffalo
4°6—Buffalo
427—Buffalo
428—Buffalo
429—Buffalo,
430—Buffalo
431—Buffalo
432—Buffalo
433—Buffalo
434—Buffalo
435—Buffalo
436—Buffalo
437—Buffalo
438—Buffalo
439—Buffalo
440—Buffalo
441—_Buffalo
442 Buffalo
443—Butffalo
444-__ Buffalo
445—Buffalo
446—Buffalo
447—Buffalo
448—Buffalo
449—Buffalo
450—Buffalo
451—Buffalo

Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s
BillLvOwerDoard wes ese

Bridge: of, Wire. co...
BROW aia eeaereoucr ace

‘Pay-Streaky a oie concer axe
Mi

See ei aera ue lever alee

Biltse big. Contract...
Bill and Calamity Jane.....
Bill’s Kid Pard

Bill’s Desperate Plight......
Bill’s Fearless Stand.......
Bill and the Yelping Crew...
Bills’ Guiding Hands... 3s.
Bill’s Queer Quest..........
Bill’s Prize ‘“‘Getaway’’.....
Bill’s Hurricane Hustle.....
Bill’s
Bill’s
Bill’s
Bits. Dutch Patd's 208s
Bill and the Bravo.........
Bill and the Quaker........
Bill’s Package of Death.....
Bill’s Treasure Cache.......
BiesobPrivate War... see.
Bill and the Trouble Hunter.
Bill and the Rope Wizard...
BU Se MieStas css ects ei eis ayers
Bill Among the Cheyennes...

ifsc neem che eau euler.

IBN BESTeSed shoo 2 ccs scree eae 5

Bill and the Red Hand......
Bill’s Tree-trunk Drift... ...

Bill and the Specter........ 5

Bill and the Red Feathers...
Biker wine: Strokes esc.
Bill, the Desert Cyclone.....

Bill’s Cumbres Scouts....... 5

Bill and the Man-wolf......
Bill and His Winged Pard...
Billa Babylon: Bares...
BRS one A Ritts. sisi 2ieu, 6

Bill’s Steel] Arm Pard....:.. 5

Bill’s Aztee Guide..........

Bill and Little Fircfly....... :

Bill in the Aztec City. ...-..
Bill’s Balloon Escane........

Bill and the Guerrillas......

Bills sworder, Watts. sieckls ee

Bill’s Mexican Mix-up....... P
Bill and the Gamecock...... §
Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders 5

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Bill’s Whirlwind Finish

Bill’s Santa Fe Secret...... 5

Bill and the Taos Terror....

Pill’s Bracelet of Gold....... ?

Bill and the Rorder Baron...
Bill at Salt River Ranch....
Bill’s Panhandle
Bill at Blossom Range......
Bill andyJuniner. Joe........
Billese Mimal: Scoop. ssi ce se auer.
Bill ateClearwater. 2... 25 oe.

Bills Winning Hand. : 0... r
Bile Cine Claim. 25.300 6: F

Bilis Comrades. 23 avis:
Bill in the Bad Lands......
Bill and the Boy Bugler....
Bill and the Heathen Chinee.
Bill and the Chink War.....
Bill’s Chinese Chase........
Bill’s Secret Message.......

Bill and the Eorde of Her- ig

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2— Buffalo
53—Buffalo
54—Buffalo
55—Buftalo
56—Buffalo

457—Butftalo
458—Buftalo
459—Buffalo
460—Buffalo
461—Buffalo
462—Butffalo
463—Buffalo
464—Buffalo
465—Buffalo
466—Buffalo
467—Buffalo
468—Buftalo
469—Buffalo
470—Buftalo
471—Buffalo
472— Buffalo
473—Buttalo
474—Buffalo
475—Butftalo
476—Bufialo
477—Buffalo
478—Buffalo
479—Buffalo
480—Buffalo
481—Buffalo
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484—Buffalo
485—Buffalo
486—Buffalo
487—Buftfalo
488—Buffalo
489—Buffalo
490—Buffalo
491—Buffalo
492—Buffalo
493—Buffalo
494—RBuffalo
495—Buffalo

ers
496—Buffalo
497—Buffalo
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500—Buffalo
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503—Buffalo
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505—Buffalo
506— Buffalo
507—RBuffalo
508—RBuffalo
509—Buffalo
510—RBuffalo
511—-Buffalo
512—Buffalo

Bill’s Lonesome Trail....... f
Bl Si QUA UEUV orks crete: et ol cess t
Billans DCaAGwOoG ei s.isieie 6) snes t
Bill’s First Aid

Bill and Old Moonlight......
Billyy Repardisce. 2 aes cree ves. es
DTS DIO MAD OKs. trai ieve iar 6 sa E
Bills {Sight Unseen’ 2.3.7... .
Bills (News Rardrncsc voto ck. :
3ill’s ‘‘Winged Victory”’.....
Bill’s Pieces-of-Hight........
Bill and the Eight Vaqueros
Bill’s Unlucky Siesta..,.... &
Bill's Apache. Clue...........
Bill and the Apache Totem..
Bill’s Golden Wonder.......
Bill's Biesta: Night... .5. 2); E
Bill and the Hatchet Boys..
Bill and the Mining Shark...
Bill and the Cattle Barons...
Bill's Wong: -Oddsi wigeicksc. er
Bill, the Peacemaker.......
Bill’s Promise to Pay.......
Bill’s Diamond Hitch.......
Bill and the Wheel of Fate..
Bill and the Pool of Mystery
Bill and the Deserter....... 5
Bill's Island in the Air......
Bill Towne Marshals. us.
Biulliseowiimacuiner sole ce.
Bill’s Test

Bill and the Ponea Raiders. .
Bill's Boldest Stroke

Bill’s Enigma

Bill's Blockade

Bill and the Gilded Clique..
Bill and Perdita Reyes......
Bill and the Boomers.......
Bill Calls aerate ss wie ere
Bill and the Ke-week Totem.
BUS AOre ie ese rare nl weer al.
Bille at.-Canon Diablo. 2.6. 3
BS ATT STON cia wvevetis tases
Bill and the Red Horse Hunt- _

CUSED OUCTOUOUOTOUOTOL

OVS

Bill’s Dangerous Duty 5
Bill and the Chief’s Daughter =
Bille atepiMaqay Wellin <\. 3c fF
Bill and the Men of Mendon.
Bill at Rainbow’s End D
Bill and the Russian Plot.... ¢
TES ECO TAI a eoare: cicero
Bullss) Royal) WNiShi ys... /</.ieee
Bilis tramp) Bandage. 225. ci.
Bill on the Upper Missouri...
Bill’s Crow Scouts

Bill’s Onium Case

TSUES Vee Ch Cradtiy ohne otters) ee oh :
Bill’s Mountain Foes........ 5
Bills Beatles Gye seo ee reee ss ene 5
Bills Pisht for the Right...)
Bal E SOBA OCU C airs eer tic cles nce is ti

513—Buffalo Bill and the Red Renegade .... :
514—Buffalo Bill and the Apache Kid ...... :
515—-Buffalo Bill at the Copper Barriers ....
516—RBuffalo Bill's Pacifie Power

517—Buffalo Bill and Chief Hawkchee

518

Buffalo Bill and the Indian Girl

519—Buffalo Bill Across the Rio Grande

520—Buffalo

man

521—Buffalo
522—Buffalo

Bill and the Headless Horse- _

Bill’s Clean Sweep..........- :
Bill’s Handful of Pearls.....

~ 523 Buffalo Bill’s- Pueblo Foes.::....-... 5

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