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Tul | uy EES see | . . 2 i i | i | ct Ml | | | ] i i Be | | See ] \ rr | tl til | i | e| : | . i H it] | ih we vi » h h meer Y B Sy z Ol aes in ny pero LP i Cas ius Up i pe eee pecans Pretec Se Precerrn re eer ee et ane t a SS Sa =n é ae ; ; 5 _——— peers ieee 2 poericestens r = a eee] SSS ed at ——— | {| | te Nl rh Wy) y a Sci} Nan 3 i ul i | ' UJ iT See aN dace tree cere nn oe ee a a erp | M@@@587 Sac ne 4 ss ‘ . j 5: Copyright, 1911, 6) STREET & SMITH, Assued Weekly, Entered as Secona-class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave., N. Y. O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors. i TERMS TO BUFFALO BILL STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS. (Postage Free.) Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. How Send Money —By post-office or express money order, registered letter, bank check or draft, at.our risk. At your own risk if sent by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. BOVWMOMUIS oe css ooo cine sie aaa ieiee wo cise ore 65C. ONe-year .-.-2.-.ss200+ eeeeee seen $2.50 Receipts—Receipt of your remittance ts acknowledged by proper change ASMOMUDS koe veo seine oss A cane aia seus SOCK 2° COPIES ONS) V.CAlite.cssinc a4 segs cece 4.00 of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly credited, 6 MONLHS. .-+--eeeer sees cesses tee PLZ CODY? LW.O: ViCATS tiers a eote’ « eieciniais se 4.00 and should let us know at once. @ 6 NEW YORK, Novereee II, 1911. Price Five Cents. No. 548. BUFFALO BILL AND THE BASILISK; OR, Pawnee Bill’s Trail of Mystery. By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.” CHAPTER TI. -PAYALLUP AND THE SHERIFF, “Of course, in approachin’ af honorable man like you, with a propersition like this, I know I’m li’ble to _ meet a throw-down; still, nevertheless, and notwith- standin’ - The flush on the greasy ce of Payallup Pete was marked, as his shifty eyes sought those of Happy Chance. In his thick fingers he was twisting a sheet of dirty paper. “As sheriff of this county,” said Chance, “I have to keep myself above suspicion, and the hint that I could do otherwise hits me plum’ in the face as a personal affront. But—what you got there, anyhow, and what- ever aire you drivin’ at?” With a sickly grin, Payallup Pete, ragamuffin and rascal, passed over the paper. Spreading it out, Happy Chance looked at it in-~ tently, “What I see is an arrow pointin’ downward, and. above it the letters, oh G. If there’s a meamnin’, I don’t git Fag _. The sheriff was in his office, which was located in a little house close by the jail yard. The one door of the office was closed, but a window stood open. Payallup Pete shuffled softly across the, floor and closed the window with a secretive air. “Beg pardon fer takin’ the liberty,” he said. “But there’s too many men with big yackass ears passin’ along this street to suit me.” : The sheriff laughed, and glanced at the paper he had laid on his plump knee. “Tf this is somethin’ I oughtn’t know, Payallup, you better keep it to yourself,” he warned. “As sheriff of this’ county: g “That's all right,’ said the ragamuffin, wavingsa ‘ greasy paw, when he had retreated to his chair. VAS sheriff of the county, you can do your duty, an’ mebbyso make a little on the side. JI reckon you ain't got no idea where I collected them initials and that arrow?” : Uvod Gece in to tell this storae Happy Chance reminded, (1 ain't askin’ no — and I ain't makin’ no promises.”’ oo ee Ber Aro “T found that, or the original, on top of the moun- tain. I figger that J. G. stands fer John Grayson, the father of the girl they call Waif Western, and that the arrow p inted to the location of a cache.” Happy Chance looked at the paper again, with in- creased interest. ‘“How’s this?’ he asked. ‘We was all up there together—my posse and Buffalo Bill’s bunch of thief hunters and Indian fighters, and you're the only one.» that got wise?”’ Payallup Pete rubbed his pudgy hands together soft- ly and his crafty eyes narrowed. : \. “We was all of-us up on the mountain, and down in that hole they call the Bottomless Pit. Nigh twenty years ago Waif Western’s father tumbled from the precipice trail into that pit with a wagon load of gold dust and nuggets. The wagon, what was left of it, and the skeletons of the horses, was found, and words were found scratched. on a rock, showin’ that Grayson wasn’t killed.”’ “Tm wise to all that,’ muttered Chance.. “I figgered that, as nothin’ could be found in the Pit, Grayson got out of it, and, as it’d be human nature fer him to cling to his wealth while life lasted, I fig- gered that he got that out, too. After we all got out of the Pit, there was a good deal of time spent at the top of the mounain. Cody’s horses had to be brought up, and a lot of details looked to before we could come down. You fellers set round the campfire, smokin’ and swappin’ yarns. I searched about. Yit I admit that I was playin’ in pure luck when I uncovered that. It was on a rock right at the top o’ the mountain, but a bush had growed up in front of the rock, and covered the letters and the arrow. Jest by chance I pushed the bush aside; then I seen it. I didn’t say nothin’ to no- body, but jest put ’’em down on that paper. If Pd had time and a spade, I’d have opened the cache. But I didn’t dare even to try it. You fellers wasn’t a hun- dred yards off.” ae “Your idea is,” said Chance, “that Grayson cached his wealth there. his appearance’ anywhere afterward?” ““What is under that arrow only.a spade can show. If the gold ain’t cached there, we'll find some instruc- tions about it. But the reason Grayson didn’t show up anywhere is that the Blackfeet raked him in.” “Tilled him.” ae “That's what I think.” “You're makin’ this story mighty interesting, any- how,” Chance admitted. your imagination can do is— “You want to hear now what I’m proposin’?” Payallup Pete: asked, hitching his chair closer. 5% Happy Chance laughed in his unctious way, but his face was flushed and his eyes had brightened. “You're a thief, by your own statements, Payallup, » and I’m the sheriff of this county; so what you tell me is to be in the nature of a confession. ‘That’s got to be understood.” If he did, why didn’t he ever make “Still, the high divin’ that. ; Nos BILL STORIES. “Suits me. You give me the third degree, and | tell everything. How’s that?” “Go ahead.’ ; “Tn the beginnin’,” said Payallup, “Tm goin’ to ad- mit that I wouldn’t thought o° makin’ this break to you, but fer what I heard this mornin’, while I was hangin’ round the Flashlight, about third drink time. They was talkin’ it over there. Seems that you've played the ponies, or somethin’ lately, and has gone broke the worst kind.” Chance’s eyes snapped. “They said that, did they?” : “That’s what they said. So it come to me that un- less you was different from most other men I know you'd see a chance when it was put up to you, like I’m going to do this.” “Keep to your confession, Payallup,’ Chance warned, his laugh gone and his flushed face angry looking. “T’m not hitchin’ up with you, understand.” “Not yet,’ said Payallup. “But Pm hopin’ that you will. Now, may I say what I want to, without gittin’ kicked out?” “T’ve told you to go ahead with your confession!” “Buffalo Bill and his bunch aire up on that moun- tain, huntin’ for that gold. Sooner or later they're goin’ to find jest what I did, on that rock. If we foller right up, ordinary, we'll be annexed to their party, and be helpin’ to pull their chestnuts out of the fire; that is, we will take chances with the Blackfeet, and git noth- in’, even if the gold is found.” “They’re going to turn it over to that girl,” said Chance. “So they say. But they'll be hopin’ big that she will reward ’em handsomely. I don’t allow that Cody takes risks fer nothin’, no more than other people. An’ if they’re alone when they locate it, who’s to say that they don’t keep out a half or more? Nobody knows how much that gold amounts to!” “Tom Tempest is with em.” SG “No, he ain't. But if he was, they could hoodwink him easy enough.” “Mebbyso.” 7 Rnow, at," “Well, go on!” « “So the thing to do is to make it impossible fer Cody’s crowd to find the gold. They'll not uncover it at once, unless it’s by accident, but they’re sure to, sooner or later, though. I put that bush back jest as natural as I could, so, if we move quick, I reckon we can do it.” . “Do what?” : € “You know about that spring on top of the moun- tain, of course—ali about it. But do you remember that I told about drinkin’ out of that spring, and it set me crazy?” ea “TI recklect that; but you told a good many queer things.” : Vio “And all of ’em proved to be true. That water made me as crazy as a water bug. For a day or more _ I didn’t know nothin’, and had some of the funniest POPE REQ NS OS NSP Boe ahr opt e eg eae eke | THE BURFALO dreams that ever drove a man wild. When I come out of it I was that fuddled I was still ekal to anything. Now the nub of my idea is right there. crowd to drink of that water, and they're out of the gaine complete.” “T think you're still fuddled—to come to me witha thing like that!” growled Chance. No, Faint, Chance looked at the soiled paper again. “T couldn't do a thing like that,” he insisted. “But I could go up on that mountain with you and look round. Some of Monte Vidio’s men aire still loose round there somewhere, and it’s my duty as sheriff to go hunt for ’em. But don’t think for a minute, Payall- up, that I’d Jine in anything underhanded, like what you suggest.” “Tf we located the gold, the ragamuffin urged, “the young lady would shore see to it that we had a proper reward, anyhow. How doé§ that strike ye?” “That'd be: legitimate. But if you think Tm “Of course, we wouldn’t think of keepin’ all of it,” said Payallup smoothly. “Is there ary man here that says so? I don’t. And it’s your plum’ duty to make a © hunt for them counterfeiters that belonged to old Monte’s gang.’ “That's more like sense,” said Chance, twisting his. big form uncomfortably in his swivel chair. “Did you have any plan for gitting Cody’s men to. drink of that crazy water?” = “T thought maybe coy could supgest how that was to be done?” : “A. thing Ud like to know, Payallup, is why? you came to me; why didn’t you try to put this thing ~ through yourself ny “T feel shy about them Blackfeet.” “They're bad eitizens, git ’em riled,” said Chance. “And they’re now riled. . That’s what I mean. I was afraid to tackle that mountain ag’in alone.” Chance got out of his chair, walked to the window, and (ot out. For five minutes he stood there star- ing into the street. When he came back his manner had changed. “T can see,’ he said, as he dropped into his‘ chair, “that in a treasure hunt of this kind, one man has as good a right to make the tackle as the next one: Phe oe belongs'to the girl. If she’s the right kind, she’ll be willin’ to pay a handsome reward. Of course, what you've got on this paper may mean nothin’ at all. If it don’t, all right. I can be doin’ my duty as sheriff, by tryin’ to locate the rest of them counterfeiters.” He looked steadily at the shabby figure crouched in the other chair. - “Your-idea was to Juggle their canteens, or water bottles, ‘in some way?” Vest so,” “Tt might be done, with care. 9) _ Suppose it happened that their canteens held some of that crazy water, and ee didn’t know it?” “You're dead sure oe nat. spring water 2” “T wouldnt’ put this up in this manner, I reckon; if Git Cody’s - canteens, and a pick and spade. to forget your cigarette tobacco. said Payallup. Bore nodding eos mualy: BILL STORIES. Z a I wasn’t. There is something queer about that water. I figger that the spring holds a mine-al that is pizen, though it don’t kill.” “You reckoned. you could crawl into their camp in the night and change their canteen water? : don’t think you could.” | “That was another thing made me want. help,” Payallup admitted; “I was afraid I couldn’t. We'd need somebody slick of movement. My thoughts was lingerin’ round Pedro.” es Akt (22 s That young Mexican. would do anything you wanted him to, even if it was to slit a man’s throat. You know that. And he wouldn't talk about it after- ward. Jest tell him what you wanted done, and he’d do it; or die tryin.’ “Pedro is a fine boy!” said Chance. “I-saw him at the street corner, rollin’ a shuck cig- arette, as [came along. Shall I tell him that you want to see him, if he’s out there still?” Nes ad him in,” acceded the sheriff. “But, un- derstand this, Payallup. I’m goin’ on that mountain _ to look for them counterfeiters—nothin’ else. If, when we're up there, you point.out to me that rock with the arrow and letters, we'll see what’s under it. Personal, I won’t turn a hand against Cody. hatte: to be understood before we set out.” - “Sure, said: Payallup; ‘seer that youre the sheriff, nobody would expect you to. But if me and Pe- dro——”’ “Whatever you and Bede does is different, if I don’t know it. Jest now all I want to see him for is to order him to get some animals ready.” Payallup Pete opened the door stealthily, rae out, then stepped into the street. A minute later a slim Mexican youth came in. ae appearance was almost feminine when he removed his big hat. His liquid black eyes sought the face of his master. . “Pedro,” said Chance, “‘we’re going out on the mountain, to look for some of those counterfeiters that aire still playin’ hide-out. We'll want three horses, blankets, and food and water. Also, take half a dozen Til look out for the arms and ammunition. Payallup ee is goin’ with us. as guide.” Sa, senor, said Pedro, still at attention, [thats all, I believe. Of course, you're not ‘likely We'll want matches, too; and pans, cups, and a coffee pot. We may be gone a week. You know what we'll need.” £294: a) “T don’t suppose you're afraid to go up there?” “No. afraid, ‘said Pedro. | “T was thinking of the Blackfeet.” “No ’fraid Blackfeet. Me know some them Black- feet.?’ He showed his white teeth in a confident smile. -“Tthought I remembered that you did. If we get into trouble io them, you may be able to Oe us, out: Another thing, Pedro,” is Os ee : , When she drew near he made the discovery that she smile pleasing. 4 2 Cee BUPEALO “Si, senor.” “You might drop word among the stable boys as to what we’re up to. They'll be curious about what the horses are for. Have everything ready in an hour. We'll make the start from the stable.” Sa A When the slim Mexican had departed, Chance lighted a cigar, lifted his heels to the ledge of the win- dow, and indulged in some troubled musing. “T’ll play on the side of the law,’ he reflected; “of course, I’ve got to do that. And I wouldn’t even look at that arrow rock if I hadn’t got into this financial hobble. Still, ve as good a right to make a hunt for that gold as any one has—Cody, or any other man. “And if it should be there, I don’t intend to steal 1. As for that other matter—I’ll keep out of it. I doubt if it could be worked. Anyway, I'll personally keep Ob Ol i e But the flush was still in his face as he went out to collect the things he had chosen to get himself. i CHAPTER II. A BLACKFOOT BEAUTY. Little Cayuse, Buffalo Bill’s trusty Piute tracker, looking toward the Blackfoot village, saw a girl come out into the trail. _ He had beén left in the mountain camp as guard while Buffalo Bill and the others of the party were making a final exploration of the mountain. If dan- ger came, it was expected from the village, so he had concentrated his attention on the trail. He was sure the girl was a Blackfoot, for no other Indians were in the vicinity, And he wondered what her purpose was, when he saw that she came straight was astonishingly good looking. Her features were of a fascinating type, her eyes large and black, her Indian paint, applied deftly, gave her cheeks a warm and becoming tint of red. Across her brow ran wavy lines of blue, done artfully. And - on her cheeks were other blue lines, running back from ‘ the red, ee Her clothing was of warm colors—red, rich brown, and yellow. Red strands of cotton yarn held back her shining hair. Her tunic was of leather-colored cloth, fancifully embroidered in blue and red; her moccasins were buckskins, beautifully. ornamented with beads. Being an Indian, with an eye capable of appreciating beautiful Indian apparel and the face of a beautiful Indian girl, Little Cayuse did her the homage of star- ing at her, which he did with such boldness that she came to an abrupt halt when she had approached within . half a dozen yards. , The Piute had a considerable smattering of nearly every Indian dialect, and if he could have annexed the Blackfoot vocabulary on the instant he would have been delighted. Not being a master of Blackfoot, he BILL STORIES pointed to the blanket roll beside him, and tried in Eng- lish to offer her the hospitality of the camp. Thereupon he made the gratifying discovery that the beautiful Blackfoot could speak English. “Me see you here all ‘lone,’ she said. “You be In- jun, too, same asme! You sabe?” — | “Me sabe good,” declared the Piute. Blackfoot village, huh?” : “Ai. Down there me live. gone?”’ . Little Cayuse shook his head. : “Me no sabe—gone all round; me stay by camp. White man ’fraid of Blackfeet some; but not Pa-e- has-ka. Pa-e-has-ka no ’fraid anything. Come back bumby. Where you go?” i oP “Me think me like git—what you call— quainted,”’ she admitted bashfully. ‘You sabe what that is?, Me know you, you know me; that way.” Ai Me sabe. Ver’ nice. Me think me like this git quainted. Me, my name Little Cayuse.” ‘Me, my name Red Pine.’ “Me like that name, Red Pine.” - ye She sat down on the blanket roll, when he motioned to it again. oa “Why you stay with white man? You be Injun.”. ‘Me stay by Pa-e-has-ka. Him great hunter, mucho fine trailer, heap big man; me like um Pa-e-has-ka.” “Fim white man.” Yo is “Vou listen. Pa-e-has-ka make Great White Father at Wash’ton give me thirteen dol’ a month. You sabe what that mean? - Thirteen dol’. Heap mucho money. ic She laughed and tossed back her black hair. “Me no see so mucho money.’ “You listen. Pa-e-has-ka say to Great White Father: ‘Little Cayuse very good man—good trailer, good hunter. So you have him, too, blanket,'rifle, pistol, ca’tridge, and all thing what he is eat. Is not um good? Pa-e-has-ka ver’ strong man.” “He is more as the Great White Father?” “You live by Where white man “The White Father he no can fight; he stay in house - all time. So he say, ‘Pa-e-has-ka, you brave, you strong, you go do this fight for me. You want help, heh? Take um Little Cayuse. He also is brave. You go fight bad white man, some time bad Injun. No fight good Injun. So I pay Little Cayuse all this mucho money,’ Ver’ nice.” ie “Yes, that ver’ nice. Where you live?” “Me? Not live anywhere. Piutes live way off by Salt lake.) : pe os “You no can have squaw, then!” __ ee Little Cayuse looked confused, but instantly rallied. ‘ MAG”? : : Pa : She laughed. Ve “You no see squaw what you like, heh?” “Now me see squaw what I like!” he declared. - Both laughed. This was very funny, She fumbled in her dress. ye “You know how you look you’self?” said Cayuse. _ Laughing, she brought out a little mirror, of the kind ® _ ment shaped like a crayon. Cie BUBRALG Indians use when applying face aa and also for sig- naling by sunlight flashes. Nearly every Indian car- ries one. She held it before his face. “You see nice Piute brave, huh?” she asked, in a teasing tone. “Ver’ fine Piute brave.” “Me'see Little Cayuse.” “That what I say—ver’ fine Piute brave.” Lowering the mirror, she drew out a bit of red pig- With it she traced on the mirror a caricature of a face. “That me,” she said, holding it up. “How you like?” “Me no like,” he declared, grimacing; “me like you better.” “She lengthened the nose of the caricature, and held it up again for his inspection. “You’ eyes, they very good, huh?” she asked. “Mucho good,” said the young Piute. “Me see if you find what is in face. Somet’ing iE have put in for you find. You look close.” The Piute bent close to the mirror, staring and knit- ting his brows, trying to see in the face the thing she spoke of. “Me no see it,” he said. “When me make it go so, you see it,’ she explained. She advanced the mirror, then drew it away; after that she began to turn it slowly before his eyes. “You watch close now you see it.” The Piute watched closely. Within a minute he was staring at the mirror with ne that saw nothing. She pulled away the mirror and snapped her fingers, He stared at the spot where the mirror had been. “Make um sleep ver’ easy,’ she said, gurgling a laugh. ‘Piute a fool,” In the camp were the usual stores, together with. blankets, ammunition, and also a half dozen canteens. Lifting the canteens, one by one, the girl found that each was filled. It proved to her that preparations had been made for going on when the members of the party returned, “You stay there,’ she said to Little Cayuse; and, to make sure he would obey, she came back and made passes over his face, and blew her breath into ite vou stay there!’ ‘The top of the mountain was not far off—less than a quarter of a mile. With fleet feet she covered the distance. When she was there she emptied the can- teens she had brought with her, and refilled them from the spring on the top of the mountain. : “ A look round, after doing.this, assured her no one was near. Then she returned ne with the re- filled canteens to the camp. Placing them as they had been in the camp, she turned once more to Little Cayuse, who _was lost to everything now. “You foller me,” she ordered, in a low tone, - He stood up with a jerky movement, like a man _ a trance. _“Ver’ good!” she commended. ‘Now foller me.” _ Carefully she stepped out of the camp without dis- BILE STORIES: ©. oe turbing anything, and set her moccasined feet in the Blackfoot trail, As carefully, Little Cayuse followed and imitated her. His eyes were open, and his movements were those of one walking in sleep. Together they disappeared down the trail in the di- rection of the Blackfoot village. ! CHAPTER il... A DESERTED CAMP. “Dot Biute,” said the baton, “iss valk avay from der camp in, huh? Dot iss no vay to do. In der Yerman army, off a sendry do dot he iss git shot.” | They were in sight of the camp, and it was deserted. Everything in it lay exposed to thieving Indians and prowling animals. “He ain’t fur off, you kin bet,’ declared Nick No- mad, the old borderman, who had a kindly feeling for the Piute. “Ef he ain’t, suthin’ has happened ter him. Little Cayuse kin shore be trusted ter stick close to his — job.” . ‘That's right—he must be near,’ Buffalo Bill agreed, though he saw the deserted camp with some anxiety. But when they entered the camp and called the name. of Little Cayuse there was no response. “Tt isn’t like the Piute to stroll off, necarnis,”’ de- clared Pawnee Bill. reason. Perhaps he saw Blackfeet, and wanted to know what they were up to.” Mounting to an eminence behind the camp, Pawnee Bill looked about, and down the trail toward’the Black- foot village. The conical tops of lodges could be seen, far off, embowered in greenery. Lifting his voice, he called the name of the Hie, During Pawnee’s absence, Buffalo Bill and the bor- derman ‘ooked the camp over, discovering nothing missing or wrong, and now they began to look for tracks beyond it. Close by the trail an imprint that seemed to have been made by the Piute’s moccasin was discovered. The toe pointed to the trail. But they saw no other tracks, the Blackfoot girl. having been wary in en- tering and leaving, and when going to the top-of the hill for water. “Ye couldn’t rouse him?” Nomad questioned, when Pawnee came back. ‘‘Waal, this hez got me millin’. Ef ther lad warn’t so deependable, *twould seem dif- Prent. From this hyar moccasin track, looks ter me thet he hit ther trail. Ef so, he must er seen -suthin’ thet attracted him, and got inter trouble.” a Entering the Blackfoot trail, they pushed their in- vestigation further, without success. The trail was hard beaten by pony hoofs and by many moccasins. That Little Cayuse had been drawn out of the camp, by seeing something which he thought required investi- _ gation, and then had fallen into difficulties, so that he could not return, was the opinion. And, of course, the cause very naturally accredited it to Blackfeet. VLE he did 1t thee Was a good ~ 6 _ THE BUFFALO ‘We'll leave word for him here,” said the scout, “and go on and make a search; that’s the best we can do.” The “word” he left was peculiar in its form. He cut and peeled a small cottonwood bough, and set ‘it in the ground in the center of the camp, inclining its top: in the direction of the trail; then, at the spot where the moccasin print showed, another was set, inclined in the same direction. Along the upper part of each of the peeled poles the scout drew with his lead pencil a wavy line, and at the end of the line the outlines of three tepees. Looking on with interest, the borderman and the others commented. The writing would be as plain as words toyLittle Cayuse, if he came back to the camp. It would inform him that they had set out along the trail leading toward the Blackfoot village. And, of course, he then could be expected to follow. . Their horses had been sent down to the town of Rocket Range, so. they were their own pack animals. - After they had adjusted their packs they set out over the trail, keeping close watch against a Blackfoot am- bush, while looking for moccasin tracks that might show the Piute had departed from the trail. They did not care to enter the Blackfoot village, a movement that would be filled with danger, even under the most favorable circumstances. So when they were two or three miles out from it they camped secretly, just out of the trail, having concluded to make a stop there until morning. “T£ he doesn’t show up by that time,” said the scout, “Tll try to find out if he is in the hands of the Black- Reet. ae at reckon they has shore got him,” urged the border- man; “cain’t be no other way erbout et ez I kin see. Chey ate a cold supper, and, all except Pawnee Bill, drank from the canteens they carried. Pawnee had a severe headache and no appetite. When darkness came, with the baron taking the first watch of the night, they bunked down to get all the | rest and sleep they could as a preparation for possible strenuous work ahead. bells. When he sat up and looked down the trail, in addition to hearing the bells, he saw will-o’-the- “wisps ee along the trail like-drunken fireflies. The other occupants of the camp were sound asleep. He saw that as he looked round. Even the baron’s head had dropped on his shoulder and his oe had slumped against the stone where he sat. Buffalo Bill decided that the musical bells and the dancing lights required investigation, but he saw no reason why he should wake his friends. | So he rose softly, adjusted the belt that held his re- volvers, cartridge web, and his knife, and slipped out of the camp and into the trail. The bells kept: ringing, and on pele htm danced he singular lights. He had never seen or heard any- th ring like them, but he attributed the strange incidents to the Blackfeet. The ruler of the Blackfeet was a woman, and the BILL STORIES. most remarkable one in many ways that Buffalo Bill. ever had encountered. She had an ingenuity that was marvelous and daring. She called herself the Basilisk —or its Blackfoot equivalent—the name given to an. iguana reputed to be so poisonous that even its breath would kill a man. Buffalo Bill had already encoun- tered the Basilisk, and was well aware of her fiendish , inventiveness and diabolical ferocity. It occurred to him, as he hastened over the trail, that the Basilisk -was responsible for the ee disap- pearance of Little Cayuse. The scout did not know that the bells Me heard ring- : ing and the lights that he saw flashing had no ioe © outside of his own mind. And, while he thought was moving with much lightness and astonishing speed, he was really lurching, with clumsy stumbles that threatened now and again to throw him down. Fact and fancy became even more mixed as he pushed on down the trail. Once he thought he saw Cayuse struggling in the arms of a Blackfoot. But whén he hurried to the Piute’s assistance, he found that a bush had fooled him. Not for a moment did he think of turning back, for the bells rang louder now, and the flashing of the will- o’-the-wisp fires were nearer and beckoning. In addi- tion, a high sense of exhilaration possessed him. Cau- tion had fallen away. Always brave,.he was now in a mood so reckless, yet so self-confident, that he would not have hesitated to enter the Blackfoot lodges and demand the return of Little Cayuse, in the belief that the Piute would be returned and the Blackfeet over- awed. The bells and the flashing lights did Hot seem to draw him toward the Blackfoot lodges, but into another trail, which took him past the village. He had never so enjoyed work of the kind. Fatigue did not come. Yet he thought he was hurrying with a speed that ordinarily would have left him breathless. He had no notion of time. It seemed to him that he had been traveling less than an hour, when, before him in the dim trail, there appeared the most beautiful Blackfoot girl he had ever seen. “Ah!” he cried, stopping short. tle Caytse 7’ ae you seen Lit- She put her fingers to her painted lips, and Secret “T must keep still, eh? That means he is near. You ‘are a beautiful creature, and as good as you are beau- tiful. I{ you know where my Piute boy is, take me to Ri: She beckoned and flitted on beforé. Peace hopeful, buoyant beyond Words to. ex- press, the scout hurried after her. He felt like shout- ~ ing. The Piute, he was sure, was close at hand. And ~ this beautiful girl! To have one i her fora a was a pleasure in itself! . The bells were still ringing ‘and the lights were coe ing.. They had not been explained, but he was growing so accustomed to on that ay hardly distracted 1 his attention. yer’ | Ps THE BUFFALO The path became a bower, lined with green trees and flowers. The woodland was filled with singing birds. Beyond was a hill—such a hill as he had never im- agined existed. The stones which composed it glis- tened like silver and flashed like jewels in the moon-. light. Before a tree that grew tall and spreading, and seemed shimmering as if it wore a silver veil, the girl stopped. With her fingers to her painted lips, she beckoned, struck her hand against the tree, drew back one of the shimmering branches, and vanished. The scout followed her without questioning. Behind that tree was Little Cayuse, he felt sure. When he had passed behind the tree, the entrance of a cavern opened before him; it had been concealed by the tree. This opening, he saw now, was lighted and filled with perfumed smoke. The light showed the Indian girl dancing on before. “Cayuse is in the cave!’’ Buffalo Bill muttered. ‘‘Ah, “now I am seeing strange wonders! I will still follow the girl.” The perfumed smoke made him coca, but, at the samme time, he liked the odor. Approaching the fire, the girl threw a dark powder on it, and the flame became violet. id : Behind the fire hung a curtain. No cloth-of-gold ever gleamed like that curtain. Behind it the girl dis- appeared, and the scout followed her. The vast interior of a gorgeous cave was before him, At one side was a shelf, holding a row of skulls. But he hardly saw them; for his attention was attracted by a throne in the center of the cave. On that throne, beckoning to him, was the Basilisk. “Welcome,” she said, in the Blackfoot tongue. “I knew you would come.’ CHAPTER IV. NOMAD RUNS AMUCK. ‘Woof! ie Though it was like the low, sniffing grunt of a bear, it came from the lips of the borderman. He had lifted himself on his elbow, with a sudden feeling that something was decidedly wrong, and he had seen Buffalo Bill disappearing out of the camp. _ Still, there was in this such a sense of dreaminess, that Nick Nomad felt like lying down again and sur- rendering to it. Yet he was rising to his feet with the catlike stealth taught him by years of perilous wander- ing, and was staring in the direction of the trail, where Buffalo Bill had vanished. | - The borderman cast an anxious glance around.. The baron was asleep at his post, which, in this case, hap- pened to be a big rock. A little farther on lay Pawnee _ Bill, wrapped in a blanket. " “Baron’s ersleep, and Pawnee Bill he war plum’ sick at supper time; so 1 reckon—— ” - He put the thought into action, and began to tiptoe out of the camp. “No use distarbin’ things when ye don thaf to. But I gotter see what Buffler is meanin’.” BILL STORIES: eee oe He stopped abruptly, close by the Blackfoot trail. Buffalo Bill was not in sight, but his lumbering foot- _ steps could be heard, also his words, which made the ~ borderman think he had met some one. _“Buffler seems ter have moseyed out fer er gabfest! Now I calls thet quar. Wonder who he’s ewaDP ay langwidge with?” . Nomad stood rocking on his heels, listening intently. Then he went on slowly. “Great snakes! He seems ter ae torkin’ ter a dumb man. Anyhow, ain’t nobuddy answerin’ thet I can hear. Wonder ef I hadn’t better call ter him.” : Stepping into the trail, Nomad began to discover that his knees were wobbly, Striving to move swiftly, he came near falling. Other queer things were Rap nenie: There were two moons in the sky, and the stars were thick as sand, so that they made a golden blaze. Then the trail dou- bled. With two trails stretching straight before him, though slightly diverging as they went on, he did not know which to take. He listened again, deciding to take the trail chosen by the scout. But he was confused. by the fact that two Buffalo Bills were talking in singular monotones, and he could not tell which of the trails the scout was following. — “When in doubt allus take the Hehe and you'll be in the right. Waugh!’ Though he took the right, he could not get away from the left; it started before his feet, and shot to the left continually as he went on. _ “Wow! What's ther matter wi’ me, anyhow?” the borderman grumbled. “I ain’t been drinkin’ no val- ley tan. Yit I plum’ feels like I had hogged down er distillery. Great snakes! lectin’, an’ ther things I am seein’, is what you don't read about!” He thought he was moving at a rapid pace, and hey could not understand why he did not quickly overtake ‘Buffalo Bill. And he was annoyed to find that the sounds which had been leading him had died away. In the borderman’s bewildered mind was a avait mixture of reality and hallucination. He was in the Blackfoot trail; he had seen Buffalo Bill departing © from the camp, and had heard him speaking; all the rest, with the exception of the headache, was as unreal as the two moons he saw in the sky and the erratic dou- ble trail. When he could no longer hear fie scout, Nomad slowed what he had considered his headlong speed, and tried to reach conclusions—a work of exceeding dif- ficulty. But he arrived somewhere. “Yes, thet’s et! Buffler has diskivered thet Little Cayuse was captered by ther Blackfeet. Et’s been my opinion right erlong. Now he knows et is so. And he has turned off hyar ter ther Blackfoot village ter do er resco act. ther wust kind.’ He had reached the point w here the narrower trail Soe Ther headache I am col- | Waal, ef so, he’s goin’ ter need help : 3 a THE BUFFALO went on Haas a group of hills and the larger turned toward the Blackfoot lodges. He took the larger trail. “Great gallinippers!” he grumbled, feeling about and discovering that he had no weapon. “Now, ain't thet er fool trick fer er man like what Tam? Come erway an clean fefeot my belt, an aifle, an’ ever thing. Whoop! Fust town I strike Tm goin ter, hire cr kickin’ machine ter git busy wi’ me.’ Nevertheless, he oiked straight along toward the lodges. He had no fear of the consequences. Weapons would come handy, if he had them; still, his fists were always with him. “Buffler and Cayuse both in ther Blackfoot village. PU be thar soon. _ Seems ter me I kin hear Bufher berginnin’ er roocus.’ Stopping to listen, he heard nothing. “Funny about them two moons!” he mused. Puy I has seen ther like afore. One time over in\ ther town o Red Dog, whar ther whisky is thet pizen thar ain’t no name fer et, I seen three moons, an’ one of ’em had a green tail, after I had connected up wi er few drinks. But I ain’t had my lips ter er glass fer so long thet I’ve plum’ even fergot what ther smell o’ nose paint is like. Whoosh!” He stopped at last, with the lodges before him. “All ther ki-yis aire ersleep. When ther hour gits so late thet et is early, even er redskin will go ter sleep; an’ I reckon et is erbout thet time now: But Buffler went in hyar, and I’m follerin’ suit.” He went ahead. ze No guard stood before the lodges. Shall Iwo int’ he debated. “Shore. I kin. whup _my weight in wild cats. Wow! Ain’t no measly band o’ Blackfeet goin’ ter throw ther kibosh on me. And _ ef Buffler’s in thar, and Little Cayuse—— He reeled on, belligerent, utterly ees in judgment and sanity. Approaching the first lodge he pulled at the flap. rAd there! Wake up! Thar aire two moons in ther sky an’ et’s rainin’ stars. Whar’s Buffler?” He hammered the lodge pole. The result ought to have satisfied him. A whoop sounded in the lodge, followed by a jump and a scurry, and a Blackfoot face popped out close by his. “Waugh! You heerd me ring; did ye? Waal, I’m inkwirin’ fer Buffler. An’ I’m askin’ fer Little Cayuse. What ye done wi ‘em? Speak out without bein’-bash- ful.” The Indian was staggered by this verbal attack, and. by the white man.standing there in the moonlight. He _gulped as if cold water had been dashed on him, so great was his amazement. But hearing Blackfoot cries rising in the village, he beat down his astonishment and flung at the white man’s throat. Nomad had been expecting that, apparently. Witha backward step, to give him room, he swung at the | Blackfoot’s face with his maullike fist, and” ‘knocked | the Blackfoot down. -citement. BILL. STORIES: “You don’t answer, when I ask ye politer” he bel- lowed. “Jump at me, does ye, when I’m jest makin’ civil inkwiries? Waal The Blackfoot rolled aside, sprang up, and dived back into the lodge. os “You'd better git out o my sight!" Nomad bawled at him. “I’m gittin’ my mad up, when ye dont an- swer my questions. | reckon you don't know who has honored ye wi’ this hyar moonlight call? Wow! I’m ther big wart hawk frum head waters; I’m ther biter frum Bitter Creek! Comevat ine erg in, ai Lit parlyze ye: The Blackfoot came again, this time with a snicker- -snee that looked as if it had been made from a scythe blade—one blow with it, placed right, would have sliced a man’s head off. With a yell the Blackfoot swung the formidable weapon. Nomad’s war howl broke on the, air. “Waugh-h! You're thet pizen I reckon I has got to S He caught the handle of the heavy blade with his left hand, as again his powerful arm drove his right fist into the Blackfoot’s face; and then the redskin went down as before. — - _ “Waugh! This hyar is whar I gits my innin’s and goes huntin’ round fer Buffler,” he cried, as he caught up the terrible scythe-knife. “When I gits to rompin’ frivolous with this hyar, everything is goin’ to take ter the woods. Whoop!” . A half dozen Blackfeet, with the slumber dust still dimming their eyes, were rushing upon him. But he _ drove them back with a wild sweep of the fearful weapon. | Whars Buifler?’ he yelled. a Their atswers were frightful howls. _ “Whar's little Cayuse? Don’t all speak at onc’t. om He moved off from the lodge, swinging the blade in a circle round him. “Whoever connects with this hyar is goin’ ter git er. ha’r cut,” he warned. “Recklect I ain't “responsible ef ye runs into et. This is my night. Whoop! Whar’s Buffler ?” - He drove them back and poe toward the next lodge. “Ef ye’ve got him hyar, onderstand thet I’ll find him, ef I has ter rip these tepees inter ribbons. Tl eyarve “em! Ant Pll -cyarve ther man what interferes wi’ me in this gentle pastime. Whar’s Buffler?”’ The Blackfoot village was boiling with odd ex- There. was evidence, too, that the madman had thrown a scare into the occupants. Women and children ran, screaming, as he approached, while even warriors got out of his way. : But more and more they thicken ing with weapons of all kinds; and the wonder is that, in this first spasm of excitement and poe ea some of them did not shoot him dead. Perhaps his very recklessness saved him. round him,The Blackfeet had been ordered to take him alive. “Waugh! Thet war you, war et? Ther Blackfoot ee is thet pecooliar I cain’t speak et well, like what I kin English, but I kin onderstand ‘et. AWaal, ef ye don’t want me ter make fiddle strings out er some . o these boundin’ braves, youd better call ’em off, fer Vm shore goin’ ter do et.” The braves nearest plunged at him, but ve drove | them back. “Looky hyar,’ he squawled at the chief. ese tell me what you has done wi’ Little Cayuse an’ Buffler, an’ we'll soon be shakin’ hands in peace and happiness, an’ then we Tl go erway. Thet’s easy: Jest answer my question.” The Blackfeet kept jumping at him. ‘When he swung round those behind him would spring to catch him by the ankles, so that he was soon shuffling as if he stood on hot coals. “I don’t want ter hurt nobuddy,” he protested. “Still, I could do.et. Whenever T sees two moons at ‘ther same time my fightin’ blood is het up easy. Sol’m . “warnin’ ye. ‘Two moons is roostin’ in my sky, same as Et’s my sign er Waugh! Leggo a pair of fightin’ cocks On for whose threatening he had not cared a rap, were gone. 10° THE BUFFALO ‘Vale, dit you nodice dot?” he asked, swinging round to the woman again. ‘‘Dhey vos dare, unt now dhey ain’dt. Dot iss vot you call a kveer pitzness, heh f' oe i She leaned on a stick, and was looking at him steadily. She had been a hideous old hag, gnarled and uncomely to the last degree; but she did not seem so now. She had not changed so that he did not recognize her, but he noted the fact of the change. “You ar-re getting young again,” ’ he said, meaning at, though it seemed he was trying to be gallant to an old ve “Budt meppyso you are your secondt childt- hood in, or idt iss der moonlighdt. Idt iss so pright to- nighdt dot my eyes ar-re aching mit idt. Vare ar-re you going, unt vare am [?”’ She beckoned with her als as if she meant that he > - mountain. should follow her. But he shook his head. — “Nix. My memory iss too goot. You recolleget dot _ dime vhen in der cave on dop oof der hill you triedt to kallus? Unt dot odder dime in der village vhen you dit der sameness? I ain’dt ready to die yedt—I am feeling too goot; so, I ton ‘dt foller you. Budt vare iss idt | am?” She beckoned again, imperiously, “Nodt on your lifes!) Iam going dhis odder vay.” He turned sharply about and plunged into the bushes, away from the village, Her wailing ery rose, shrilling through the night, | making the baron jump as if a bullet had been shot at him. “Yiminy !? he gasped, “Dit you heardt dot? Oofl hadt a woice like dot I vouldt gedt idt pulled.” He hurried on. For again his mental mood was changing, or the effect of ihe crazy water was passing. He began to have a sense of danger, and a fear of the Dee “Vot am I doing here, anyhow?’ he muttered, as he plunged on, and heard the shuffle of moccasins in the trail as the Blackfeet came running in answer to the ‘call of the Basilisk. “Vare iss der camp? Lasdt dime I am in der camp, unt now I am here, budt I -tan’dt know vare idt iss, Unt me? Yaw, | must be Schnitzenhauser, unt he iss drunk. Oddervise " He changed his course, with an increasing sense of peril, hearing the Blackfeet beginning a pursuit. “Tedt me seen,’ he mused.’ “Der camp iss by der site oof der mountain, Oof I can findt der moun- -tain-———” J He stood up tnd looked round. He could not see far, éven in the moonlight. “Ofer dare iss der Plackfoot village. So der moun- dain he iss off dare. Yaw. Idt musdt beso dot idt iss. 3udt to gedt me to idt iss going to dake york. Vot in der name oof time am I doing here, d’ough?’’ The Blackfeet, coming nearer, he once more shifted his course, Then he remembered the revolyer in his belt, and drawing it out he refilled the chambers with cartridges, “Tdt iss a fight vot soon I am oop against,’ he mut- -on toward the trail. BILL STORIES. tered. ‘Meppyso. Vale, all right. Budt I am dot mixed I ton’dt know hardtly oof [am Schnitzenhauser or some odder feller. Yaw, I pedt you I am,’ A Blackfoot whoop rang out, and the baron began. to run, tearing headlong through bushes and over rocks, shaping his wild course in what he believed was the direction of the mountain, while vainly wondering how he came to be out there, with Blackfeet at his heels. “Tdt iss dot vitch voman! She iss t’row a sbell on me, I pedt you. She iss got der sinkular power to do ide Sure: I haf a graziness in my mindt. Odder- vise——’’ ‘The Biaclifect were drawing nearer in spite of his wild spurt at running, so he shifted another point, thinking to reach the trail, hoping that if he could get into it he could beat the Indians in a foot race for the Then something Huielen him by the ankle and flung ‘him into a hole. With great difficulty he repressed a yell. But in time he discovered that what he had thought a clutching hand was a vine that had looped round his ankle. He was so shaken by his fall that he did not at once y try to rise, though the patter of Blackfeet moccasins came nearer and nearer. Then, as the hole was rather deep and dark, fes- tooned round with vines and bushes, and his strength was spent, he concluded that it would be better to crouch there and trust to luck, than to risk flight again. So he burrowed like a rabbit. : The foremost of the Blackfeet shot past, and went Others instantly followed, some swishing the bushes that concealed the German, With- in two minutes all had passed, and he was behind them, — “Der Schnitzenhauser luck idt iss vaving on high- ness!” he gulped, shivering still oyer his narrow escape. “To beat Schnitz you mus’dt get oop in der TOFnInE before you ar-re awake.” He discovered that his head was thumping like a drum, with a constricting pain over his eyes enough to make him frantic. “Tdt iss because I haf run so fasdt. Budt vot am I doing oudt here, eenyhow? Dot iss der kvestion. Oh, yaw, I recgollect. I am standting guardt. Unt I hear me somet'ing. So I go to look for idt. Unt here I am, varefer idt iss. Unt I am shaking like a leafs, Budt - der kveerness vot I feel by my inside, unt in my headt —-vot iss make idt? I am nodt trunk, because I haf nodt hadt no vhisky; budt I feel trunk. I can see tvice so many oof eferything as dare iss, unt my headt idt iss hum like a humming pirdt. Ach! I pelieve me,1 am boisoned !” He cuddled down, fearing the Blackfeet would re- turn, and tried to adjust his mental balance, Pou in OG latter failed. & He even became dizzier, and more nauseated as the time went by. | But he seemed to have arernen the Black leet. oe : a THE BUBBALO.: BIL SLORIMS. iL GHAP TER. VE ; PAWNEE BILL PUZZLED. Tioneh Pawnee Bill had slept so soundly that he had not heard the departure of Buffalo Bill and Nick No- mad, he was aroused by the noise made when the baron took his wild plunge out of the eee and into the Blackfoot trail. Starting up, he looked round, and was amazed by the discovery that he was alone. : “Hello!” he said, rising to a sitting position, and feeling for his revolver, “They've left the camp. I - heard them going, and that waked me. But I wonder what it means?” x . With his blanket folded round him, he sat listening to the tumult in the trail, the sounds receding. Then, when nothing happened, he arose and looked about. “Some sneaking Blackfoot tried to get into ‘the camp likely, and they have chased him. And the reason they didn’t rouse me is that they thought, as I had a head- ache last evening and ate no supper, that I needed tect. So confident was Pawnee Bill that he was right in this that he set himself to await patiently the return of his friends and their explanations. He sat on a rock at the edge of the camp, overlook- ing the trail, and spent his time in listening quietly, un- til the wild Blackfoot hub-bub broke forth, the sound indicating that some one was being attacked or pursued. “They've bumped into the Blackfeet,” he said, rising; “T reckon its up to me to go down there and lend help.”’ He went back and got a rifle, and was about to set out, when he heard light footsteps, and Little Cayuse caine into view, at the side of the trail. Wie ls you 1” said Gs poy ie Instead of answering, the Piute came oat. into the camp, staring about; then sat down. “What's the matter?” demanded Pawnee Bill. beriie. “Mucho bad hurt!’ groaned the Piute. “Where? Let me see.’ “Hurt here,” said the Piute, tapping his head. Pawnee Bill dropped down, ‘and ran his fingers over the flannel headband and through the thick hair. = “Tdon’t feel anything. Where's the wound?” “Tnside head,” said Little Cayuse. “A headache?” : “Mucho hurt here, too!” Little Cayuse pressed his hand to his heart. It took a minute for Pawnee Bill to discover that the Piute was referring to ee ae of physical dis: tress. “Your feelings are hurt? Is that it? What’s the trouble?’ Speak up quick, for there seems to be a fight going on down there somewhere, and I eae that Pm Heeced, 7 “Ver? fine ee girl, ” said the Piute; “she make me > fool. E ' “What's hap- Pawnee Bill stared. “T guess I don’t understand Abe and I haven’t time to try to understand it. I’m off down the trail. Do you go or stay?” ; : “Me stay.” UAlrieht: Keep an on he camp.” Pawnee Bill hurried along the trail in the direction ~ of the sounds he had heard. They shifted from the trail and swung: westward; then came toward him. : VAt2 guess, he muttered, “T’d say that necarnis and the others are making a home run, with the Blackfeet. right behind them, trying to beat them out. Well, . _they’ re coming this way, and right here I stop for the ‘present. ~ The sounds changed in character. Aipacenty, ee pursuers had been baffled. They seemed to be beating about, at a loss which way to go. Then the eee yelping died out. “Cody has thrown them off a scent. He will come on now, as soon as he feels that it is safe.” He waited an hour in the trail, and no one appeared. -It gave him time to do a lot of rather wild guessing as to the motives taking Buffalo Bill and the others out - of the camp and doa toward the village, as-well as. _ surmises about the actions and meaning of the Piute. When he had spent the better part of two hours in the trail without developing anything, Pawnee returned slowly to the camp. Little Cayuse lay near the middle of the camp, ae asleep. ie When touched by the toe of Pawneé’s ‘boot, he did i _ not wake. “‘He’s beat out. Well, let him sleep. But 1 wones what has happened.” Even when morning came, and the sun rose, the Piute lay sleeping like one dead. As neither Buffalo Bill, the baron, nor Nomad, whom Pawnee Bill assumed were together, appeared - at the camp, uneasiness caused him to wake the Piute. — Yow It took some shouting, and a good deal of shaking to accomplish it. Little Cayuse roused ae at ener, eae a and: gaping. a Pawnee Bill threw ee in his face, and offered him: the canteen. “Take a good drink oe water, and it will help you.” A - But even the smell of the canteen water. made the Piute sick, and he pushed it away. “Maybe you can tell me what has happened,” Pawnee. ~ ‘Where were you in the night?” “Me no know.” “You mean you got lost and wandered round? Well, why did you leave the camp? Did you see Cody?” NO: 99 : “You didn’t see anybody?” “Ver tne Blackfoot girl’ “Vou said, that once before. by it?” Little Cayuse gave himself a shake, to arouse his dulled mental faculties; but it was hard work. said What do you Meal a 12. a THE BUFFALO ANaciis han’some Blackfoot girl.” “Well, what about her?’ a “Me not know.” >: “Now, that’s Re isn't it? mean.’ Met no sabe.” i ae “You don’t understand what happened to oe Is that what you mean?” “Ai. Me no sabe.” “Well, where have you been?’ “Me no sabe.” “Say, son, don’ t provoke me. You were gone from. the camp when we came back to it, and you didn’t ap- pear later. In the night Cody and the others disap- peared. I think they got into trouble with the Black- _ feet, but from what I heard I thought they escaped, though I don’t know. Then you came back, and you don’t tell me anything.” / “Ver fine Blackfoot girl.” “She came to the camp?” oA : “What did she do?” Little Cayuse gave himself another shake. “Me no know.” “Oh, come! with her?” “She say we be ver’ fine friend.’ “Then what?” “She drew my picture on little lookin’-glass.” “This Blackfoot friend of yours was an artist, eh?’ “Mucho funny picture. Heap long nose.’ “She was making sport of you.” “She say find little spot in picture. | Then me go sleep.” _ “Deserted Jericho! Did she coax you to leave the camp Me no can find. Say, let me get the nub of that. A Blackfoot girl came here to the camp while we were gone, drew a picture ona little looking-glass, and asked | you to find something in the picture.” f AT a9 3 *“Yourtried ta: then you went to sleep.” hy 59 ‘Pawnee Bill looked thoughtfully at the Piute. Little _Cayuse’s face and eyes had a heavy, stupid look, much like that of a man recovering from a drunken de- bauch. It was plain that it was an effort for him to remember or to think clearly. “It begins to look as though this Blackfoot put some sort of kibosh on you, son. . It sounds a good bit like the witchcraft some Indians are capable of working. I wonder why: you.let her come into the camp and monkey with you in that fashion?” “She ver’ fine.” | “A good looker, eh? And you fell for that. aren’t the first one, son. I’d gamble dollars to dornicks that the Blackfoot Basilisk was at the bottom of it. I suppose you didn’t see anything of the old Blackfoot woman?” | : “No see.’ “When you left the camp end followed this meted: ingly handsome Blackfoot girl, where did you go.” Tell me what you. You: BILL STORIES. “No know.” “You saw nobody?’ “Saw Basilisk.” “Ah! You saw the Basilisk. What did she do?’ “Little Cayuse mucho scared, and run fast.” “You ran away?” TAR. 39 “Was this in the Blackfoot village?” “Me no know.” “You haven’t the least idea where it was?” “No sabe where.’’ “Then, after that, what did you os is “Hunt for camp and Pa-e-has-ka.”’ “You didn’t find Pa-e-has-ka, but you found the camp; and here you are. Well, this is as odd a yarn as I’ve heard spun in many a day.” He still looked into the heavy face of Little Cayuse. Incidentally, through habit, he voiced his thoughts: — “Tt doesn’t seem possible that this Blackfoot girl could have had anything to do with the disappearance of the others. Still, you can't tell. Anyway, it’s up to me to find out what's happened to them. To do this, I’ve first got to find out where they are. Little Cayuse -will be worth about as much as a wooden man in trail- © ing, so I'll have to rely on myself. I guess T'll have something to eat, and then see what I can do.” He ‘got out crackers and meat and opened a can a fruit. “We'll just have a cold snack, Cayuse,” he said. “This camp is too close to the trail to risk a fire to cook something, eh? How’s your appetite?” - “No good,” groaned the Piute; ‘no can eat.” “Mine wasn’t, last evening; but I feel sort of wolfish — this morning. My headache is gone, too.” “Little Cayuse got um head bad. Wuh!’ “Sorry for you, son. I know how it is. water, anyway.’ Try the Little Cayuse lifted the offered canteen, then put it~. down. “NO can dol “Anything the matter with the water?’ Pawnee Bill sniffed it. Holding it off, he stared at the canteen, a sudden. ~ doubt of the quality of the water striking him. “You filled these canteens, Little Cayuse?” FN %) “Where?” “Spring down there.” “You didn’t fill ‘em from that spring on top of the mountain ?”’ ' oN 2? “Probably that was a lie—the story Payallup Pete You recollect — it, Cayuse? He said he drank of that spring, and it - iatehin’ told about that spring on the mountain. made him crazy as a water bug. But if you didn’t He put down the canteen, and regarded the Piute at- - tentively again. “From the things you’ve been telling me I ree oat ve you might have filled these canteens at that spring with-- Perhaps we're getting at sombtnion now. = _ thought it, and couldn’t help it. PA pa looked at the rock behind it. THE BUFFALO out ever knowing it. Perhaps you thought, while we were gone, you'd try that spring water; and then it got. Then maybe you filled wp the : in its work on you. canteens.” “No.2 5 i i “T£ you did drink it, and Payallup Pete didn’t lie to beat the band, the poison in that water may have made you bughouse. You seem to have been, and seem to be so yet to a certain extent.” “No. Me not bughouse.” . “Never was a crazy man but didn’t think he was the only sane one in the community. So your opinions stand disqualified. Are you sure you saw any Indian girl at all?’ “Me ver’ sure.’ Buk it you went batty, you could see anything, even if it wasn’t there; and the things you really saw wouldn’t be as they actually looked, in your ‘eyes. Deserted Jericho! Cayuse, you couldn't have let the _ Basilisk come into the camp and imagined she was a handsome young woman?” “No!” the Piute exploded, moved to indignation. “But, as I said, you're disqualified. If you thought the Basilisk was a handsome’ young weman, you And if Buffalo But that’s nonsense,’ Pawnee Bill ate his food, but he refrained from touching the water in the canteens. “Tl take no chances,” he said. And to make sure the water was good that he meant to carry, he emptied all the canteens, then filled his own at the lower spring, which they had tested and found all right. “T hate to leave this camp unguarded,” he Peed. when he came back. “Blackfeet may find it, and carry off everything. They’re a set of rouges and thieves. So, I think, Cayuse, I'll ask you to help me cache this. stuff, so they can't find it easy.’ It was work which took time, because of the care used. The sun was two hours in the sky before Pawnee Bill had finished the task to his satisfaction, and was ready to set forth to investigate the mystery that sur- _ rounded the ceappedinuce of his friends. gene CHAPTER Vit THE TREASURE HUNTERS. “Here’s the place. Look behind that bush and you ll Seer ite | It was: Payallup Pete who spoke. nee Happy Chance stepped to the bush, bent it back, and With him was his slim Mexican servant, Pedro. _ On the rock was the outline of an arrow, and above it the initials, “J. G.’ They were not deeply scratched, _but the shade of the bush had kept off lichens, and the letters could be s seen clearly. foot village. 1 tere Hie Stone 13) “Right off there,” said Payallup, pining” ‘was the camp, where I wandered from when I found this.” His finger was directed to the mountain top. : “Over beyond it, as you know, is the Bottomless Pit, into which, it’s said, John Grayson tumbled with his wagon and horses, and the treasure he had in the » wagon.” commanded “We'll soon see if there’s anything cached “Bring up that pick and shovel, Pedro,” Chance. Hete.. Pedro brought up the articles, and Chance began to use them, with Payallup Pete taking a hand in the digging when nothing was found quickly. The soil, long packed, was hard; but when they had gone down about three feet, and began to think they would find nothing, they struck.a flat stone. Pulling this out, they found a tobacco box of small _ size, so rusted that it was ready to fall to pieces. Chance caught it up hurriedly, and, when its rusty hinges refused to move, he crushed in the top. Care- fully, he pulled out a folded sheet of paper, mildewed ~ with age., “No gold, ” he said, iedunointed what this is.”’ There was writing on the paper, but it was in lead pencil, and the paper was so old and decayed, and the writing now so faint that at first he could make noth- ing of it. keep from tearing it. But, by dint of close scrutiny and some guessing, he. extracted the solo ine “but well : see “While driving over the mountain, my team and wagon fell with me into the hole that is just beyond this mountain. My little girl, who was with me, I threw out of the wagon when I saw it was going over. ‘Pm hoping she escaped; anyway, she did not fall with me into the hole. I had in the wagon a lot of gold dust and nuggets, that I had worked five years to get together. I fell on one of the horses, and got a broken leg; and the horses were killed. After staying in that _ ‘hole until I got well, I got out on a raft through the river that goes through the cafion: Then I climbed to this place, intending to get down to the town. I couldn't bring the gold all the way with me; it was heavy and I felt weak, so I cached it at the foot of a pine that stands about three miles south of the Black- I marked the pine as I have marked this ~ rock. It stands on a low bluff, back from the Black- foot trail. Behind the pine is a big, three-cornered = stone. When I got here I was nearly played out, and so I rested. I had nothing to eat, but there was water in a spring on the mountain. I drank some of it, and © it made me sick—ever since I have been getting sicker, and I have a feeling that | am going crazy. So, while my mind is still good enough for it, I’m writing this, . and shall bury it here, and I’ve marked the rock.. li anything happens to me and this is found, I want the — person finding it to make a search first for my daugh- I failed to find her, but I’m hoping she lived, and The sheet had to be handled with care toy : 14 CHE BURP EAL is in. good hands.. Then he is to go to the cacne and get ie gold. Itis for her, if she lives. Whoever does this can take of the gold whatever amount his kind heart may prompt him to think is right for the trouble he has been put to. And he has now, in advance, the blessing of a man who fears that he is dying or losing his mind. (Signed ) Joun GRAYSON.” Payallup Pete and the slim Mexican listened breath- lessly, while Happy Chance pieced this together. “This puts us on the-right track,” said Payallup. “Right over t’other side the mountain is the Blackfoot village, and the Blackfoot trail is plain enough. I reckon we ought to locate that ‘cache oo if the Blackfeet don’t swarm on us.’ Chance sat in a crouched attitude, staring at. the mildewed paper. “Looks like,” he said, “that’s a a strong appeal to us to do right by the girl.” “We can figger about that,’ ‘we locate the cache, if we do? “That’s right, too,” said Chance. ie Hestood up, still looking at the paper. His manner was uneasy and furtive. | about to put it in his pocket. “This is going to fall to pieces,” he said, stopping the movement of his hand; wise if we made a copy of it.” “Got a copy in my head, I have,’ “What more do we want? We can recklect that easy enough.” oe aire treacherous,” said Chance. le drew out a notebook and pencil, tore off a sheet, and began to copy the statement of John Grayson. Having done this, he thrust the copy in his inner ae and ee the mildewed criginal in’ his pocket- book. ‘By all rights; of course’ he urged; we find it, belongs to the girl.” — “Mebbyso,” said Payallup doubtfully. “But how aire we goin to be shore that Waif Western is the girl w hae s named in that writin’ ?”’ “All the details tally,” said Chance. © D6 they? I dunno about that. Waif Western was found, so it’s said, at the further base o’ the mountain, ‘by some prospector. He took her into a town.. There Buffalo Bill seen her, and gave her that name, because no one knowed what her right name was. then jest a baby,.a couple years old. That’s the story. Banking on it, she has been up here with her adopted father, Tom Tempest, huntin’ for that gold, and some record of her supposed father; and Buffalo Bill's bunch aire pushin’ a further search right now. But does it prove anything, so-far as she is concerned?” “On the face of it, it does,” said sents Payallup laughed nervously. “What you ought to do, Chance, is to stick to your ork down in ie town. You ain fait ter a sport, he sneered. oe AO, I reckon | ain't,” “ ‘ said Payallup, ‘ ‘after ‘this gold if said Chance. Folding the paper, he was~ “so. loreckon twould be ’ declared Payallup. She was - s mit myselluf.” eee STORIES. ‘If we find that gold, aire you goin to turn it over to Ww aif Western? I'd like to know.” “We'll see about that,” said Chance. isn’t the daughter of this man.’ “You're gittin’ sens’ble again. needin’ money, same as me. Chance began to fill in the hole that had been dug. “Anyway, * whatever we do,” he said, “we ain't got no reason to let anybody see that we have been gopher- in’ at this point. So we'll hide it—the work we've done.’ They hid it cacehully. packing into the hole all the soil they could, and strewing the rest of it wide. When they had finished there was no evidence of their work- that could be seen, unless the bush was pulled aside. Having finished, Happy Chance broke the old to- bacco box to pieces and threw the pieces away. ““Mebbe she Recklesrthat ou CHARTER: VIII. ee BARON'S DISCOVERY. Apparently the baron had not gone in the direction he thought he did, or his further w vanderings had taken him far away. Yet in his still bewildered mind, he was convinced that he was approaching the camp, wher he heard a sound that.resembled chopping. He stopped and lifted himself like a cautious rabbit! “Little Cayuse musdt be cutting vood for der fire,” he thought. “Yaw, dot iss idt; unt now I am close by.’ “Many experiences having taught him caution, how- ever, he did not rise and make a rush to get into the stipposed camp, but made, instead, a quiet ap- proach. When he was near the spot whence came the sound, he halted’ again to listen carefully. Voices reached him, in a low grumble. . “Hoob-a-la! Dot iss No, dot iss nodt Puffalo Pill. “‘Vot iss der meanness 2” ~ Then he heard the name of Payallup Pete spoken ) by Elappy Chance. 7 “Bayallup Bete! Yiminidy! Vos iss dot dinhorn doing oudt here by ower camp in’ He iss no goot, any-_ vare. .I guess I petter dake me some looks.” Fle took a look, through the screen of a bush. al saw Payallup Pete swinging a pick, and Happy Chance standing by him directing the work. The third mem- ber of the group. was a slim young Mexican. ' But the baron discovered that this was not the site of Buffalo Bill’s camp. He did not know where he was, -and his head spun dizzily because of this new uncer- tainty. : ‘Van sdill frank) ie oe ‘Dot ried be. ‘dt I vos nefer pefore trunk vhen I tidn’t trink notting, budt I-am now. I haf heardt dot der air oof dhis moundain iss like vine, unt I pelieve. idt. Jhat eval; -lered too mooch oof Her moundain airs, unt idt iss. go to my headt unt my sdomach, so dot my headt shin roundt, unt I feel like some fools, Iam disgustedt =~ =~ finally. hole is gone! iy He was listening, while muttering. “Drive. the pick in’ here,’ commanded Chanee' ‘‘vou're gopherin’ too far to the right.” “I’m right in front of the roots o’ the old tree,” said Payallup, but he shifted the direction of his strokes. The German saw an old pine, that had its top blown off in some storm, and its trunk wrenched and rotting. Behind it was a large triangular rock. “Der meanness oof vot I am seeing ain’dt 80. clear like sunlighdt—dot iss, oof I am seeing anyt ing.’ When he had loosened the top soil, Payallup Pete took up a spade and began to throw out the dirt. After he had cee ten minutes Happy Chance ~ relieved him. They worked half an hour or more, after they had _ been sighted by the baron, and went down to a consid- erable depth. Now and then, the Mexican took a hand with the pick or spade. As they sank the hole, it was apparent that their excitement grew. Then it was as clear that they had met disappointment. Payallup Pete filled the air with profanity, when at last he came climbing out of the hole. ‘“Ain’t nothin’ in there, and never has been in hase?’ he growled. ak m admittin’ it looks it,” Chance admitted. “But, first, Pm going to sink another hole alongside this one. That old treé is rotten and the marks on it aire jest about gone. Maybe it has been thrown out of plumb by the storm that tore the top off. Looks tome like it once was leanin’ more to the south’ard.” They began to sink a hole in this new place, and worked away industriously, while the Mexican went out into the trail‘and watched there, In doing this he placed himself so close to the baron that the latter deemed it wise to retreat, which he did with exceeding care, When he had ae a point that offered greater security, the baron sank down and tried again to hear what was being said. But he was now too far off. However, he could plainly catch the sounds made by the pick and shovel. For more than an hour the work went. on. _ The baron, listening and speculating, was amazed that Chance and Payallup Pete were in the region. At the same time, he realized that his head was not right, so that, occasionally, he held arguments with himself, tending to prove that he was hearing notine, and had seen nothing. ~ He seemed to have argued all Ae sounds away At any rate. he heard nothing, When a considerable time had elapsed after this, he - yentured to investigate, and found that the three men had left the hole by the tree, and there was no nee any hole there. ~The baron rubbed his eyes and stared in Soren Der. tree is dare, unt der sdone iss dare, bet der THE BUFFALO BILL: STORIES. | Vs Then his mind grasped the suggestion that probably the hole had been filled in. He approached cautiously, to see about this; ann at first was ready to declare that the whole thing had been part of a nightmare. The hole had been covered over with exceeding care; dead leaves and sticks had been strewn on the new-turned earth, and all traces of dig- ging had been removed. But, when the baron got down on his fat knees and carefully scraped the leaves and sticks away he saw the evidence of the digging. ‘‘Whoob!” he whispered. idt iss, unt I seen der tings vot I seen. vot iss der meanness?”’ He stood up and looked round like a staring owl. “Nopody iss in sighdt oof me. So I vill do idt. Der hole iss a cache. In der fairst hole vos notting. Budt in der second der vos meppyso something. I vill seen.’’ He began to dig with his fingers. Then he drew his sheath knife and tackled the job with that. If the earth had not been so newly turned and soft he would have found the work hard and difficult, but he went down easily, throwing the dirt out with his hands, flirt- ing it over his shoulders, so that he looked like a huge gopher, burrowing. | While he was thus engaged, with his head in the hole, a sudden footfall behind him arrested his atten- tion, and then a heavy hand fell on his back. The baron came out of the hole in precipitate haste, startled, but ready to fight. In his hand was his knife, with which he had been cutting into the soil, With this in his hand he whirled. Before him he saw Pawnee Bill and Little Cayuse. “Ouch!” he said, ducking, and feeling guilty, though he did not know why. “Ton’dt mat me.” “So it's your’ “Who dit you tink?” “We thought so, at first; What's this mean, anyway?” The baron sat up, like a fat woodchuck. “T ton’dt know vot idt means.” “You know why you were digging?” “Oh, him! I°am digging to seen vot der odder fel- “Tam nit treaming. Here Budt I vonder then we didn’t know. _lers vos digging to findt oudt.” ‘What other fellows?” “Habby Chance, unt Payellup Bete, unt der Mex- ican.’ “TL guess you're eragzy.” “Yaw! 2’ bat been,’ “They're not round here, baron,”’ “Oof nodt, my graziness iss incuraple.” Pawnee Bill regarded him attentively, ae did you leave the camp in the night—you a Cody? You were on guard.” “Ask me someting easy; I ton ‘dt know.” “You don’t know why you left the camp?’ “T ton’dt. I heardt somet’ing calling me, unt I tought | heardt old Nomadt. I am t’inking he iss in trouple. know vare I am. So I chomp indo der drail, and soon | ton’dt’ Der tings I seen unt heardt. make 16 THE BUFFALO my headt sbin roundt so fasdt idt iss sdill sbinning. Dhen der Plackfeet got afdher me. I am running so fasdt dot I fall dewn. | 4ink 1am near der camp. - Vhen I am feeling safe, in der morning, | try to gidt to der camp; budt I comé here. Unt here iss Habby Chance unt Payallup, mit a Mexican, digging. So I tink I vill see vot idt iss.’ Pawnee Bill stepped off-a distance of a dozen yards, inspected the surroundings, and viewed the trail. “Cayuse caine in this morning, crazy,” he said, on returning, “with a yarn about an Indian girl that had hypnotized him, and induced him to leave the camp. Well, we'll talk about that later. You didn’t dig this ee Sehnitz ?” “Tam digging idt vhen you come. digged idt fairst.” “It seems singular, if true, that he is on here, with that. rascal, Payallup Pete. this hole, they must have concealed something in it. Like you, I have a curiosity to know what it was.’ Gettirig into the burrow in which the baron had been gophering, Pawnee Bill attacked it, with Little ‘Cayuse standing in the trail as a guard, and soon got to the bottom of the recently excavated soil. _ Not until he had opened each of the new holes to the bottom did he stop. “Nothing here,” he said. “Dhey vos sbeaking oof dot tree unt der rock,” said the baron. Pawnee Bill made a close examination of the tree. Time and the growth of the tree had nearly obliterated the old marks of the knife, but Pawnee found the out- line of an arrow, and the initials, “J. G.,” in a place that had once been smoothed. “There was a cache here: Schnitz; enough.” “An arrow, unt Chay: Chee. ness oof dot?” “Now, you've got me, Schnitz. ‘J. G.’ is, no doubt, the initials of the man who made the cache, and from the looks of the bark he made it.a long while ago.” iunmel ly - “What's bit you?” “Say, Bawnee, I tink T am seeing some lightnings.”’ ‘Pass it on to mé.’ | “Dot gelt vot iss pelong to der fader oof Vaif Vest- ern! Vou ar- re remembering dot?” _A flush passed over Pawnee Bill’s face. “I guess your recent head indisposition is gone, dear baron; anyway, your coco is showing up better than mine. I think you've hit it. Waif’s father’s name was John Grayson, and it looks to a man up a free as though those are his initials. If so——” : that’s” plain Vot iss der meaning- “Oof so, idt iss look to anodder man Pop a sdump, dot he iss bury his gelt here, ehr” “You're hitting it.” -“Dhen I seen vot I tidt ae Chance unt Bayallup, unt der Mexican digging by dhis hole in. _ I-vos nodt treaming.’’ ey Chance — But if they are, Bue sunk | you have puzzled me. BILL STORIES. “ty sure looks as though Chance and Payallup Bes a line on this cache, and opened it.” “Budt dit dhey findt der gelt? Dot iss der exciting kvestion I am asking oof mineselluf.” “Ti they did, they took it away with them, on there is nothing Here now.’ The baron: stared into the yellow holes as if he fan- : cied the gold might be in therh, and overlooked. “Tdt iss nodt here. Darefore idt iss a clearness idt iss somevare else. Off dey got idt, der vay to findt oudt is to foller. Iss idt not: ie Pawnee Bill stepped off and began to search closely — for tracks. SAR heveried. them; Schnitz.”’ iteree are some. Take a look at Sienna N\ CHAPTER IX. A DANGEROUS SITUATION. The tracks led to the near-by trail, where fey. van- ished. But, as the course before entering the trail indicated the direction taken, Pawnee Bill and Schnitzenhauser fell in and advanced along it, with much caution. “We can get to the end of this puzzle very soon, Schnitz, if we overtake them. But our chief business is to look for our pards. “Tloongry.” laugh. “T guess you're coming round all right, Seni But I wish I knew what really was the matter with you, if anything.” “Oof anyting? You tink I am running a pluff?” “T know you wouldn’t try to run a bluff on me, but Would you mind telling me just how you were affected?’ wT vos infected efery way. Alreadty I haf toldt you.” meat and crackers Pawnee handed out to him. “T have collected a few fool ideas about it, which are probably all wrong,’ Pawnee admitted. “Some time, when we know the truth, I'll line ’em out to you. Your symptoms showed a large-sized case of jag.” “But I haf nodt efen seen der schmell oof vhisky, the baron protested. “T guess that’s right.” _ “I admit I vos trunk, unt I am nodt feeling yoost righdt yedt. Budt how couldt I gedt me some trunk- enness mitout trinking?” ie ; ¢ “TI pass that up, Schnitz. You didn’t touch that spring of foolish water on top of tke mountain? You aN _ know the yarn Payallup Pete strung about the effect that had on him once.’ “He iss sooch a liar dot 1 you can dt peliefe me. oS sites, I dit nodt trink idt.” “Cayuse was missing from the camp, you know; . _and it has struck me that, while he was gone, the water might ay re been changed in the canteens. You can ask How are you feeling now?” Pawnee Bill unslung his food bag, with an amused. But he tried to tell it again, while he put away the © ~ went this way,” _ closely the sides of the trail, we ought to discover Cayuse about it. seems also to have been drunk, or crazy.” “Dot iss idt. I am grazy. I know now dot I am a madtman vhen der camp I am leafing. Yaw, [ am ashamed oof me, budt idt iss der troot.” They went on, when the baron had satisfied his hunger. ~ Little Cayuse was ‘worth noehing at trailing, but he ' followed the others in an apparently depressed frame of mind. He had not recovered from the spell that had _ been cast upon him. “It's pretty sure that Chance and those with him declared Pawnee; “so if we watch where they leit.” “You vatch dot site, unt I vill vatch dhis,” said the baron. “I am seeing notting yedt. But A He drew himself up abruptly. § “Himmel! Some vun iss caming.”’ They had barely time to slide to one side, when a beautiful Indian girl appeared in the trail. - “Little Cayuse’s Blackfoot beauty, I’d bet a mil- lion!’ Pawnee muttered. “And it looks as though she saw us. But we'll keep down and Little Cayuse stood up, his eyes shining, his whole body trembling. The Blackfoot girl stopped when she saw him, “Hi, there!’ Pawnee whispered, as Cayuse stepped out into the trail. But the Piute paid no heed—in fact, he seemed not to hear the command. The girl fixed her black eyes on the spot where Paw- nee and the baron were crouching. Then she began to back down the trail, with Little Cayuse moving toward her. Not know1 ing but that behind her were a number of Blackfeet, Pawnee Bill did not leap up to enforce his order until it was too late. The girl had turned in flight, and Little Cayuse was still following her, now at a run. “Deserted Jericho!” Pawnee oe wice as he got in motion in the trail. ‘“Maype idt iss a drap,” warned the baron. “That's so. It has a queer look, anyhow.” Pawnee Bill stopped, and, with his revolver ready, he bent forward in the trail, ‘listening. The pattering of moccasins sounded plainly. ” “Baron, this gets my goat!” he cried “Ts dare some Plackfeedts aheadt?” “There may be. But what do you think of Cayuse?” i “He iss got der graziness vorse as I hadt idt.” “T believe you.” Cautiously they moved along the fat expecting to butt into a band of Blackfeet at @ny moment. The girl and the Piute, moving more rapidly, were draw- ing away, so that the sounds of their running feet came less distinctly. But no Blackfeet were encountered. When it began to seem that no trap or ambush of any sort had been ee they increased their pace. But he doesn’t know aiything. He “Now, what do you think of that?’ fOGt?. “They went straight ahead along the trail, I think,” said’Pawnee, slowing up; “but I can't be sure of it. What’s your idea, baron?” Whatever ideas the baron had were too confused for clear expression. When they had gone on a quarter of a mile or so, a narrow trail was found leading toward the Blackfoot lodges, whose tops, from that point, could be distinctly seen, Pawnee Bill made a careful examination of the ground. © “Dhey eidher vent aheadt, or oddervise,” said the baron, as if this declaration was the height of wisdom. Pawnee Bill laughed. Confused and anxious as he was, his light-heartedness ee now and then express itself. “You're sure a wise guy, baron,” “Yaw, you bedt ine! “From some remarks you make I hak ae head is still doing the pin-wheel act.” “Tdt iss. When I run fasdt, idt shakes oop der vhis- ky vot I didn’t trink, unt I ani feeling der ineffecdive- ness oof idt. My headt iss go roundt like a vagon vheel. Budt from dér looks, der Biute’s headt idt iss go roundt like. two vagon vheels. Dot vor sure vos a funny pitzness.” : “That doesn’t half say it. Of course, that was the Blackfoot girl he told me about, and she sure has got him bewitched the worst way. Did you notice how his mouth dropped open when he saw her there in the trail? Then he jumped up and began to walk toward he declared. -her as if he couldn't help it.” “T haf seen idt. Dot Plackfoot iss a vitch. Unt she iss so hantsome as peautiful. I ton’dt plame Cayuse for losing oof his headt. Oof she vould look at me dot vay I vouldt lose mine.’ “Here’s hoping she won’t look at you!” Pawnee was trying to discover if the tracks of the vi girl’s moccasins took the little side trail that ran toward the village. “A girl like that must have a small foot,” he said; “so look close for little moccasin tracks.” “T ton’dt know oof she hadt a foodt. I.tidn’t see notting but dot peautiful face. Idt vos bainted like der fire screen oof a teater.”’ Pawnee Bill laughed again, “To be hitting a hard trail with a pair oe assistants! Baron, I need sympathy.” “Yaw, I susbect idt. “The ground is too hard. What shall we do?” “T vouldt like to seen dot bainted face again. Oof she vos a Blackfoot she must haf py der willage gone.” “We don’t know where this trail leads. We'll try the one going toward the village. ears open,”’ “Direy are vide.” You ton’dt seen no steps oof a. THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. — a ay Keep your eyes and THE BUFFALO They advanced along this trail as cautiously as the other. “How anxious I’ve been about Cody and Nomad I couldn’t put into words,” said Pawnee, “but you un- derstand it. It’s the blindest guesswork to try to figure out what has happened to them. But doesn’t the chance seem good that they fell into the hands of the Blackfeet?” “Dot iss righdt. Unt now idt iss Liddle Cayuse.” “And if they did,’ Pawnee continued, “I dislike to think of the treatment they have probably received.” “Dose Plackfeedt ar-re badt meticine.”’ “Led by that old woman they call the Basilisk, they’d do anything. You remember how they tried to burn us in that cave under the mountain ia UE can meter torgedt idt.? MSa. it Pard Bill and Nomad are prisoners of the Blackfeet : “Tond’t sbeak oof idt !” The way seeming clear, they hurried faster. Suddenly a mongrel dog jumped. into the trail, crouched when it saw them, then dashed back into the bushes and began to bark) With an exclamation of angry impatience, Pawnee Bill stopped. “We had trouble with a cur like that once before, and probably it is the same one,” he said, , “If I could get my hands on it, I'd gladly slit its throat,’ “Yoost a dog barking ton’dt mean notting to an Inchun. Of idt iss heardt der willage in der Plackfeedt vill fink ve ar-re some skunks. Der only tifficuldy iss dot maype he von’dt kvit idt,” Pawnee Bill drew one of the gold-handled knives ie always carried, Made by Price, the veteran knife- maker of the West, it was.a wanderful weapon in the hands of Pawnee Bill, He stood in the trail, balancing the knife in his hand, waiting for the dog to show itself, and intending to throw the knife inte it, It would be a quiet and easy way of stilling its noise, Retreating further into the bushes, the animal again came back close to the trail. ‘Then it barked more explosively and threshed about” at a wild rate. “Shall we go on past it?” Pawnee asked. : “Unt haf idt snabbing at our heels? Idt iss a kves- tion. Sooner as late dot noise iss going to be heardt, unt ve vill haf a fighdt on ower handts.” With the knife poised, Pawnee bent forward, lis- tening, “Did I hear something ?” “You cand’t hellup hearing dot dog.” “Something else. Listen.” . ‘The dog was making a terrific noise, so that it seetned impossible to hear anything else. “Tn the bushes, behind the dog,” said Pawnee Bill *For an account of this and fener adventures with which the Basilisk had to do, see last week’s issue, No. 547—“Buffalo Bill’s Struggle with Fate.” : BILD STORIES: | suddenly. sneak'on us. Get back, baron.”’ They turned about just in time and retreated. FE or the next instant a flight of whistling spears swept through the air where they had been standing, “Put on steam, baron.” Then Pawnee Bill, leading the way, stopped with a _ jerk that threw the baron heavily against him. _ In the trail ahead had appeared the Blackfoot witch called the Basilisk. In her skinny hand she held a lance. She lifted it, and a shrill cry came from her lips. It summoned to her side two Blackfoot warriors, who were armed with lances. With Blackfeet behind, and those armed figures in the trail ahead, the situation looked critical, - out of the trail was difficult, as the bushes lining it were a thorny hedge. “Follow!” Pawnee Bill yelled, and ran straight on. His knife was still in his hand. At the biggest warrior he hurled the blade, and We warrior went down, tapped 0 on the head by the heavy handle. The hag and the other warrior ached their lanves. Pawnee gave a diving leap, and the hissing weapons sped over his bent head. The next instant his rush had knocked down the warrior and the Basilisk, and, with the knife caught up, and in his hand again, he was flying on for the other trail. Behind him pounded the baron, having enough to do, without fighting, to keep up. The screeches of the hag were puncturing the air. Blackfeet filled the air with yells. cracked. “Keep low, baron!’ Pawnee yelped. It was his experience that Indians always, and nearly every one else, shot high when excited or in a hurry. Then a revolver With heads down they charged over the trail, with — the Blackfeet es like foxhounds behind them, CHAPTER xX. BAFFLED SEARCHERS, In the dense serub beyond ‘the main trail, near the | base of the mountain, Pawnee Bill and the baron dropped into a sheltered hollow, and felt temporarily — secure. ‘The Blackfeet had not relinquished the chase, but, for the time, they had been distanced and beaten. The pursued men, breathing heavily, were flushed and heated, but were still game, and could haye run farther. “So long as they oe a noise we can tell where they : are, and know when o move on,” said Pawnee, “and we can here take time to get our breath back.’ “Yaw! Himmel! Dot vos close cutting,” “I’m wondering if that was an accident—our en- — counter with those ki- -yis, or if they, were laying oe us iy Pd really like to know.” Ke cose “Vot iss der tifference?” Cray “Blackfeet are there, and are trying. to le ger The larger crowd of © ‘der. stable. THE BUFFALO “If they were laying for us, it would go to prove © that Cayuse was taken on to the village, and that the Blackfeet then came out for the purpose of capturing us when we followed.” —. : “Unt dot girl?” : “You can't keep your mind off her, eh? Is it the beauty of the girl, her- wonderful facial decoration, or - the mystery of Cayuse’s actions, that gets your an- ora’ * “T oxbect idt iss all oof dhem dot puts mine goat in Likevise, unt also-o, Habby Chance unt Bayallup. oof I shouldt meet me? “I’m regretting I didn’t get my knife into that dog. Felt make trouble again, “if we try to get into” the village.” “When iss dhis dry to be made?” the baron asked. “As soon as we can, if we throw the Blackfeet this time. We've just got to find out what has happened to Cody and Nomad. It’s getting on my nerves now.’ ome dedt id... Y “Barc; | envy you..-You’re too fat to worry.” -“Vot iss der usefulness?” “That's right. The man that worries doesn’t ac- complish half as much as the man who Ba Are those ki-yis coming nearer?” The baron sat up to listen. A fond tink dt.” “That’s good. Well, we'll rest a while.” They rested and waited an hour or more. The ‘Blackfeet’s yelping died out. “Is your head clearer, baron?” said Pawnee Bill, at last. “Tdt mighdt be better. Budt dot is nodt der kves- tion. ~Oof you ar-re ready for vork, | am.” “We'll get up by the trail, then. Later, we'll see if we can edge over toward the village. To-night, if it can be: done, Im going inX’ . They did not return to the trail at the point they had left it. Caution sent them a mile farther on. seemed they had struck the Blackfeet again, neverthe- less. - Pawnee Bill saw a head move in the bushes; then the baron saw it. The owner of. the head was passing anes in the trail or close by it. “Anodder trap, meppyso,” said the baron. Having dropped to the Br Oune they listened atten- tively. ns > “He’s gone on, I guess,” remarked Pawnee quietly, “and he may have been alone.” They made another advance. ‘This brought them to the trail at the point where the head\had been seen, and their approach was as cau- tious and silent as they could make if, Then they heard a grumble of voices, from a point not. far off. ' ee men,’ but ting into Payallup and Happy Chance?” -said Pawnee... “1 wonder if we aren't “idt vouldt be a habby chance,” the baron chortled. I am dot mixet I vouldn’t know myselluft “toatl he said: But at = BILL STORIES. | Ce “Don’t startle me that TL cant stand it. “Wow!” Pawnee grunted. way again, baron, right now. might have to laugh.” The voices heard rose more distinctly as they crawled on. ‘Then they beheld a rock, and it seemed clear that. the men talking were behind the rock, in concealment. “They're too noisy, for men in hiding, as they seem to be,” thought Pawnee. He had stopped again, to get the drift of what was being said, and to discover, if possible, who the men were. They were Happy Chane. and Payallup Pete, with- - out any doubt. An even more interesting disclosure was that they were talking about the cache they had opened. “That rock wasn’t jest exactly three-cornered,”’ Payallup Pete was saying. “The writin’ called fer a sharp, three-cornered rock.” “But you saw-the arrow and initials on the tree,” growled Chance, who seemed tired or angry—angry, perhaps, because his quest had been a failure so far. — “Well, let’s see what the writin’ said, anyhow.” Chance grumbled again; but a rustle of paper sounded, and he began to read. It was his copy of the letter taken from the tobacco box cache on the mountain. “Nothing about a sharp, three-cornered .rock in “T teckon there ain’t a doubt we hit the right place.” Pawnee Bill was anxious to see that paper; what he had heard had been wonderfully illuminating. Up to that time he had not doubted Happy Chance, but doubts had come now. He pinched the baron on the arm. “Shall we call on our friends?” he whispered, with his lips at the baron’ S ear. “Yoost as you say.” “You heard that?’ The baron nodded. “Yaw! Dare iss a niget in der vosapile unt I couldt like to seen him.” . “Come on, then.”’ Pawnee Bill rose, stepped to one side, then ad- vanced quickly round the rock, coming face to face with the speakers. The baron shambled at his heels. The surprise was complete. to rise hurriedly, and, with a swift motion, Chance doubled up the copy of the letter and thrust it into his pocket. His voice was startled. “Ah! It’s you! Pawnee; this is enough to make a man’s hair turn white.” _ He held out his fat hand, and tried to force a gur- gling laugh. Payallup Pete’s face had taken a pasty pallor, even less attractive than its usual whisky red. As for the Mexican, after springing up, he stood with his hat in his hand, twisting. it nervously, while he looked from Chance to the visitors. Pawnee Bill gave him a close, searching, but swift, glance, and turned to Chance and a : : my. The three men began a 20 THE BUFFALO “We heard you,” he said, eyin Chance, as he ac-. y cepted the ae hand. “So we thought. wed join You.’ ' He had not failed to note that the paper had been tucked quickly out of sight. Of itself, that was enough to arouse suspicion. “Vou didn’t hear much,” said Chance, not able to conceal his fear that a good deal had been heard. “We was talking about the situation of things round here right now. They ain't what we'd like to rhave7em, “Nor queried Pawnee. “T reckon you heard them Blackfeet ? * said Chance. “Tf you was mear, you couldn’t help it.” “They weren't after your” asked Pawnee. “No. But it sounded like they was after some one. Could they have been making it hot for Cady? I see. he ain’t with you. And 1 don’t see Nomad.’ “We don’t know where they are right now,” said Pawnee Bill, made secretive by what he “had heard, and by Chance’s act. “You knew we were out here, of course; but the surprising thing to me, Chance, is to see you here— and Payallup Pete.”’ “Them counterfeiters, you know,” Chance explained. “There’s two or three of ’em ain’t never been run in yet, and I think they’ re round this mountain. So I’m out here to look for ’em.’ By this time Pawnee Bill knew that Chance was dou- ble dealing. It made him even more cautious. “Thete’s big danger of you running into those Blackfeet, and I shouldn't think it would pay you to take the risk on the slim chance of finding any of old ‘Monte’s men still hanging round out here. You haven’t got a lot of men along with you, back some- where?” “Just Payallup and Pedro,” Chance admitted “Pedro’s your servant, I think ca “He is—and he’s a fine boy. Pawnee Bill studied the tee of the slim Mexican lad again. “Pedro,” he said, “you’re too good- looking to be risking your neck out here. Do you know it? Or perhaps for some reason you're not afraid of the Blackfeet? Have you ever been down in that Black- foot village?” : “No been in village,” “Keep away from it, then” not trying to throw a scare into him Chance. good advice for any one.’ “That’s right,’ said Chance. “How long do you expect to stay out here?’ “Depends,” Chance replied. “If we don’t have bet- ter luck, ’m going to hit the home trail to-morrow— that i is, if we don’t run afoul of the Indians. It’s been hard work to keep away from ’em,’ Pawnee Bill talked amiably, professing to speak freely of the plans of himself and pards, but never for a moment letting anything drop that would indicate that he did not know where Buffalo Bill, ee and Nomad were. said Pedro. Pawnee laughed. ‘Tm But it’s you're due to stay out all summer. BILL} STORIES. But, as Happy Chance was equally wary, this amia- ___ ble play amounted to nothing: “Well, I wish you luck,” to be located readily. later, while the Blackfeet aire quiet. you goin’ 2” It was a plain intimation that the company of Paw-- nee and the baron was not desired. “We're going to work over toward the village,” Pawnee confessed. — “Think you'll find any signs of the gold over that way?” asked Chance, interested. “No; but we hope to connect wh Cody over there.” “How long aire you expectin’ to be out?” “Until we find that gold—or what has become of it.” “That's a big contract,’ ‘ muttered Chance. i reckon “We've got a pointer or two,” Pawnee adrieed “That so? You don’t mind saying what?’ “Cody is at the head of this expedition, you know,” was Pawnee’s answer. “So you can’t talk yourself? I might take back any message of hope, though, that you'd like to send ito that girl, Waif Western. She is down in the town,” - “Jest tell her that you met us, and we reported that the chances are good.” dl right, ” said the sheriff. hear it.” He extended his hand. Pawnee Bill looked him in the eye as he took it. “We're going to find that gold, Chance,” he said, “or learn what became of it. Recollect that Buffalo Bill is a man who never gets left.” | rdiepiess thats rielt,” _ Chance admitted uneasily. “Well, luck be with you.” Payallup Pete felt that he had to shake ae and did it; then the Mexican put out his, slim fingers. “She'll be glad to “Kinda girlish- looking hands, Pedro, for tackling. Blackfeet, if you should have to do it,” ’ said Pawnee, with a grin; “‘so ’'m hoping you won't have to.” He stood: watching them as ey moved On into ne of trail. Ss ‘Baton,’ he said, “if trickery ever showed its cloven hoof, it’s right here and now, and I admit I didn’t think it of Chance. This shows you that you can’t always sometimes tell.. Now. I’m going to give you a com- mission.” “Vot iss?” “IT want you to see if you can follow that sneaky They have. found a letter which was written by Grayson, telling where the gold was cached; I heard that much, and so . I guess the place was back there where‘you | The. gold, wasn’t found there, and they’re muddled. But theyre going to make a further hunt, and maybe they'll locate. If they do they’ll never Teport at, unless. that. a trio and discover just what they're up to. did you. found those holes, when I came on you. it yet. 3 said Chance finally. “But I’m judgin’ that the gold Cody is lookin’ for ain't going We've got to search along this. hillside, and I reckon we'd better do it before it gets _ Which way aire — clc iri Ic fin fee eto | thi eA | for THE BUFFALO report is forced from ‘dete They’re here to get that gold, and keep it.” ae “E pélieve me: “So, you see, the work is cut out for you. Kees close to them, if you can, and be sure they don’t know mit.” “Unt you: ay “T’ve got to find out what has become of our Mriends.” “Dot dakes you into der Plackfoot willage.” @ “It will; I reckon.’ @. ‘“To-nighdt?’ m “Yes.” ) “Vare shall ve meet again?” ) “At that camp at the base of the mountain, where jithese mysterious disappearances began.” ) The baron looked sober. “All righdt,” he said. ‘““Budt oof ve fal ‘dt @ “Don't say it. We'll meet there, and ones is Jgoing to turn out right.” » ‘Yaw, I pelieve me. Idt iss dime for der Schnitzen- Whauser luckiness to gidt to vork. Eferyt’ing iss going yto run now like a vagon schliding downhill. I can Hieel idt by my bones in,’ . _ “Good for you, baron, Cut out now, before they get Mtoo big a start. And caution, haron--eaution.” ' The German started off, threaded his way carefully through the shrubbery, and disappeared. § “Now, for my part of the work,” thought Bewsce # And I guess it’s the biggest end of the job. . CHAPTER XT. SANDY MACKLIN, | Pawnee Bill did not try to enter the Blackfoot vil- lage until long after nightfall. a the interval he ai visited the hidden camp at the foot of the mountain, which had not been located by ithe Blackfeet in his absence, and secured a blanket of oe ‘Blackfoot make, which was among the stores. With this Blackfoot blanket pod his “holders. Pawnee set out for the village as soon as the darkness was deep enough to male the approach practicable. It must be ‘admitted that Pawnee Bill’s ideas were Whazy with doubt. So many notions conflicted with others that he could reach no satisfactory conclusion. }) He had jumped to a half-formed opinion that Little _ Cayuse’s Blackfoot beauty was Pedro, Happy Chance’s we slim Mexican. Pedro’s features and general appear- ance were remarkably feminine. Dress him in the Iclothing of a Blackfoot girl, and paint his face a: bit, and her would have filled Cayuse’s description. | Pawnee’s knowledge of the crazy water spring on _ ithe mountain rested whotiy on the story told by Payall- _ ffup Pete: Payallup had been so positive in his declara- _ fftions as to what the water had done to him that none of | Buffalo ‘Bill’s men had ventured to sample it. Taking: that story as a basis, it was easy to arrive at _fithe opuren that Happy Chance’ s Mexican had lured BILL’ STORIES. 21 Cayuse out of the camp for the purpose of being able to fill the canteens with that “crazy water.’ “Yet the whole thing seems sublimely foolish,” re- flected Pawnee. “Payallup probably told a whopper about that water. I’ve known of springs that had arsenic in them, and other hurtful minerals, but never one that would turn a man temporarily crazy. Still, something set the baron off his hooks; there’s no deny- ing it. And that girl bewitched the ‘Piute. He says she did it by inducing him to look into a mirror. That smacks of hypnotism. But now comes the kink in the rope, and I can’t straighten it: Why would Chance and Payallup want to do that? To put Buffalo Bill’s crowd out of the running? It sure looks it?” ” He thought this over carefully while he picked his ee way to the village through the darkness, with the Blackfoot blanket round him. “It sure looks as if there must be something in that ‘crazy-water’ theory. All the members of the party buf’ myself drank from those canteens. I felt sick, and didn’t touch it. It was lucky for me that I didn’t, if that’s so about the water having something in it that goes to the head.- Say that the canteens were juggled, and Pard Bill and Nomad got up in the night and wan- dered out of thecamp. It’s a hit-and-miss guess, then, as to where they are now. Still, the chances seem good that they could not have wandered round long in a half-loony condition without being raked in by the Blackfeet. That’s why I’ve got to get into the village —to find out about that. If they're there, and still alive, they’re in danger, for it’s less than a week ago we had that fight with the Blackfeet, and some of the braves were killed. They'll want to get even; and Pard Bill and Nomad, Little Cayuse, too, if they’ve act him, will sure suffer.” He was not taking into account his own peril in try- ing to enter the village. That came as a part of the day’s work, and all thoughts of his personal danger he put aside. The village was well Girone by a. scrubby growth of bushes and trees, and lay not far from the trail—in fact, the trail, or a part of it, entered the vil- lage, bending in from the west. Pawnee Bill kept away from this trail, and came up to the lodges from the opposite direction. _ There were camp fires in the lanes between the lodges, where suppers had been cooked, and warriors still were soins by them, while here and there others moved about. oN othing to indicate whether they have prisoners or not,’ mused Pawnee, as he lay listening. He went forward on his hands and knees until he was close up to the nearest lodge. A squaw and child were in it, and he heard them talking. The talk was in Blackfoot, and concerned trivial matters, what he heard of it; and he gained no infor- mation. Half an hour or more Pawnee Bill lay in the dark- _ man. oe \ ( “ y 22 THE BUEDALO ~ ness back of this lodge. He was waiting for the fires to die down and the warriors to enter their lodges. He had hoped some sort of council would be gath- ered, so that from it he could get the drift of matters” of keenest interest in the village. But the big lodge that he took to be the council lodge was dark and deserted. Some of the smoking eroups round the fire tarried and talked, as if they were discussing matters of mo- ment, but that did not help Pawnee. When the time was late, verging close on midnight, Pawnee Bill began to creep from lodge to lodge. It was the Blackfoot custom to keep prisoners in a guarded lodge, and Pawnee Bill was hunting for a lodge that had a redskin crouched ps it in the atti- tude of a sentry. Before leaving the shadow of a lodge, by careful looking, he usually was able to see the front of the next lodge, and so he could tell if any one was there. At imminent risk he had covered the greater part of the village, so slowly that it had taken a long time. The moon was about due to rise, and he wanted to be out and away before it did. Then he heard a grumbling voice—that of a white The man, apparently turning hamself wearily, muttered and swore at his fate. _ The man was not Buffalo Bill, nor a member of his party. But Pawnee slid closer to the lodge, and, with his ear against the ground, at the edge of the lodge skin, he listened. When he heard no more he crawfished, and nae } sure that no guard was squatting before the lodge. But out in front, a dozen yards away, a Blackfoot was huddled in his blanket by the dead embers of a fire, indulging in a smoke. Possibly, Pawnee Bill thought, this was the guard, who did not think close attention necessary. Pawnee Bill did the crawfish act again, and once more got in the rear of the lodge. “Tf I’m making a mistake here I'll know it soon enough, and so will the Blackfoot,” he thought. Pell here goes!” With the razorlike point of his Price knife he slit the lodge skin, a single stroke opening it a yard. Then» Pawnee pulled the cut edges apart and slipped in. Standing in the interior blackness, he listened. Near him a man was breathing in a manner to show that he was awake. ‘Hist!’ warned Pawnee Bill. “Who is it?’ came in answer. “Youre a white man?” “Yep.” “And a prisoner ?”’ a “You're guessin’ it.” “All alone?” / “That’s right. The guard’s out front somewheres. ’ Pawnee Bill sank down softly. “Say, who is this?’ came the inquiry. “Ill ask your name first,’ said Pawnee. village before I can feel free. BILL. STORIES. ‘T ast name I owned up to was Sandy Macklin.” “T guess | know you, Macklin, or about you. You. belonged to old Monte’s crowd. I don’t suppose you are aware that the sheriff is out in this vicinity, looking for you.” “IT wish he'd look here, then. one of his men.’ “I’m one of Buffalo Bill's men.’ Sandy Macklin breathed oe but said nothing, mY outretied 2) “Like a bale of hay.. If you'll run a knife through ‘But I reckon you're these ropes it will be the biggest favor you ever done ‘I’m nigh dead with the hurt of it.” any man. “Just a minute. Who else isin the village here with you?” | , “No one. There were three of us, but J “Buffalo Bill isn’t here?” SINIO: 99 “Sure of that, are your” “T think I’d know it. No, he ain’t here.” “And no other white man?” 9 NO: a, y “No tnitae is held here, a prisoner? Piute tracker is missing.”’ “Lt it's so, 1 domt know.60 it. in here looking for ’em?” res) that s it’ Pawnee Bill’s blade hunted for the ropes on the man’s wrists, then went after those ee held his auilee ‘Buffalo Bill's I s’pose you crawled together. “Be quiet,” he warned, “now that you're free.” “Free! Gee, I wish I was! The way my-legs feel I don’t reckon I can walk, and I’ve got to git out of this What's that guard doin’, if you know?” “Taking a smoke out by the camp fire. be here in half a dozen jumps, if he hears you.” The man moved his arms and legs, and twisted about, But he ll - trying to restore circulation. -.“P’m all knotted avith cramps,” he groaned. “How long have you been here?” Pawnee whis- pered. “Two days. I was goin’ to tell you. other fellers fell into the hands of that old witch woman, and was brought here. The other two were taken away yisterday to be killed by her, and my time was to-morrer. We thought we c’d hit a trail on the ‘other side of the village, and wouldn’t have to try to git out of the country by the trail leadin’ to Rocket | But it took us furder into the en A oe Range. try, and that’s why the Blackfeet caught us. “You don’t know sure that your friends were killed?” “T was told it by the Indians. When they broke the news, they’ told me to git ready, for my turn would come to-morrer. way. They’ll maybe kill me 4s we try to git out, but I don’t surrender now. You've planned to git out the wy you a in, I s’pose; so Pil hear it?” Me and two_ | But.it won’t happen now, in that— | pee i he yeit mc (pgre ithe G tr, wh loc | be: igat “she h Boo: I Tet - wit J out Wat Bone. giry “IT sneaked in, and perhaps we can sneak out. But T’'ve got to make sure that Cody isn’t here before I it: 39 “Take it from me that he ain't here. I’m the only If you can spare me that knife, or a pistol, it might come handy, and as soon as you aire ready to Bcrawl I'll be after you.” ] Pawnee Bill slid to the entrance and peered out at the guard. | “He has stopped smoking, ana is s looking this way,” ithe reported, when he had slid back; “but I can’t think }eit a Blackfoot or two, if they jump us. | l reckon you was, jof this, that jail in Rocket Range don’t git me.” ‘| graciously. \ trouble about Chance. |}to stay down in the town, where the grazin’ was good,” had to. She has heard us. Still, better be even more careful. | Do your twisting, to get rid of cramps, after we're out of this.” “How about that knife?’ the man asked. Pawnee Bill gave him a revolver instead. * “That's better,’ the man admitted. ‘Six chambers There, by the feel; with ball cartridges in ’em. I'll sure I’m ready to i move.” ! Together they edged over to the back of the lodge, where was the slit in the lodge:skin. Here Pawnee looked out, seeing nothing but the dark line of bushes beyond, and the scattered lighter-colored lodges closer at hand. “Was you fellers huntin’ fer us, as wall as the sheriff?” Sandy Macklin asked, as he, too, looked out. But, take it from me, if I git out “We weren't thinking of troubling you,’ nee. : “Don’t think of it now, then,” ’ said Paw- Macklin growled un- “You go first, through here.” "In a second. You knew Payallup Pete, now out ‘}here with the sheriff?” | “And no good of him.” “You mean from your standpoint. with Monte’s men?” “T’m willin’ to answer all your questions, when we're. out of here. But Payallup wasn't of our crowd. He He wasn’t in ‘}was too lazy, and not to be trusted. He'd rob a blind |} beggar, when the Degeat was asleep. ‘That’s the size : bof Payallup.” “Old Monte nevér considered Happy Chance as his |i friend in any. way?” ‘What yeu drivin’ at? No, ue didn’t. But we didn’t He was lazy, too, and satished The grazing?) “You don’t savvy? | Well, Chance stood always |Chance a twenty, say, or even a single saw buck, and the wouldn’t pull you, unless you had cut up bad and he He was a fine feller. But, as for standin’ in |; with any of our kind, he didn’t—except in that way. You see, I’m tryin’ to answer your questions, so that jyou'll moye on, and we can git out of here.’ said Pawnee. 9 “Here we go, TUE BUFFALO a Tepy, down there. BILL” STORIES. 23 He pulled wide\ the slit in the lodge skin, and let Sandy Macklin crawl through; then he followed, “Which way ! ?’ whispered Macklin, crouching in the shadow. “I’m going to make a further search for my pards, otherwise I can’t rest easy after I’m out of here.. You slide on toward that scrub off there, while I work to- ward those lodges. I'll join you soon. If you don’t. want to wait for me: outside the village, don’ t; Deane expect you to,” Macklin shuffled toward the nearest lodge lying be- tween him and the line of scrub, Pawnee Bill moved toward the lodges he had indicated. Macklin’s haste to get out of the village was his un- doing. Perhaps some blame ought to be given, also, to the cramped state of his limbs, which made his move- ments clumsy, However it was, Pawnee Bill had not gained the first of the lodges when he heard the yapping of a dog and an oath from Macklin, Macklin must have been noisy, for the dog had ap- peared from one of the lodges that Pawnee Bill, in entering the village, had passed safely.. — Following the dog out of the lodge came an In- dian. Then Macklin’s revolver went into commission, — and a shot, ripping through the night, laid the dog out on the grass, Having silenced the dog, Sandy Macklin ae for the scrub, distant fifty yards off. The yell of the _ Blackfoot rose, seconded by the yell of Macklin’s guard. At the same moment Blackfeet began to pour from the lodges—some behind Macklin, as he ran, others from the lodges that were in front of him, a Pawnee Bill wanted to go to Macklin’s hain, but he saw how foolish and suicidal the attempt would be, Blocked off from the scrub, by Blackfeet who ran to that point, seeing he was making for it, Macklin _ turned back. Then his revolver flashed again, and the foremost of the Blackfeet went down. Pawnee Bill, unable to aid Macklin, beheld a wild mix-up, like a ‘whirling mob, in which lances flashed; then he heard the revolver again, | The light was increasing in the east—soon the moon . would appear there, over the edge of the mountain, Pawnee Bill cast glances round, wondering if he ought not take advantage of the hurly-burly to make good his exit, But he had not finished his seareh for Buffalo Bill, Macklin had declared that Cody was not in the village, but perhaps he did not know. So the thing Pawnee Bill did, to secure his own safety, was to crawl round to the front of the nearest lodge and enter it. The inmates had dashed out to the ‘fight, so he knew it was empty. Feeling about in the darkness, he found a fur robe lying against the rear wall, Under this he slipped and He could lift the lodge skin on that 24 THE BUPE ALO side, and slide through, if discovered, and then make a run Lor, it, i The wild hubbub had changed in character. throat-splitting yells weré triumphant, . “The finish of Macklin!’ muttered Pawnee, and he could not help a feeling of deep regret. 4 Macklin was an unworthy criminal and law breaker, yet he was a white man, and Pawnee’s own act, in set- ting him free, had sent him to his fate. “Too bad! And I was talking with him only a min- ute ago! I’d have gone under, too, I reckon, if I'd been with him: It’s strange how Fate plays her cards.” ‘Pawnee Bill was keenly alive to the peril of his situa- tion. If found he would be killed instantly; he knew that. And if the noise should draw the baron into the village, under the impression that Pawnee was in trou- ble and needed help, it would mean his death. He saw that he would have to think now of getting out safely, and give no further time to a search. He would be forced to accept Macklin’s word that Buffalo Bill and his friends were not there. -Macklin had said two of his pards, caught with him, had been taken away by the Basilisk and killed. This indicated that there was some other place, outside the village, in which the fierce witch woman and her fol- lowers satisfied their murder lust. Pawnee wondered if Cody had not been taken to that place, if he was in the hands of the Blackfeet. It might indicate that he had met death there. : A band of yelping Blackfeet streamed past on their way to the council lodge. The moon, having swung The clear of the mountain, its light revealed to Pawnee, as they passed the lodge entrance and he peered out of the robe, a lance lifted high, and on its blade some- thing dark. Pawnee drew back his head and shud- dered, anathematizing the Blackfoot fiends. Apparently the Blackfeet had not discovered that». Macklin had been helped in making his escape from the prison lodge. At any rate, there was no scurrying — round in a hunt for another man. Screeching their delight over the outcome, the Black- — feet swarmed en the medicine lodge, and Pawnee Bill ‘thought his chance of getting away had come now. “T can thank Macklin for one thing,” he muttered, as he cast aside the fur robe. “He killed that dog, I think. I haven’t heard the measly cur bark since that first shot.” ic ; | ; Fearing to try the front of thé lodge, he slit the rear wall, as he had done before, and crawled out, slid- ing along close to the ground. He had got halfway to the edge of the scrub when he was sighted, as he leaped from one lodge to the cover of another, and a wild chase began at once. ; But, unlike Macklin, Pawnee Bill had his foes be- hind him. They had to come from the council lodge and its vicinity. : : i. So he sent back a defiant answering yell and put on | speed. Still, he had accomplished a good deal. Blo SPORES. Still, that danger was not over was soon clear, when muskets and rifles opened on him, with a spattering revolver fire. ee But the deceptive moonlight, which would have made the best shooting poor, and the Blackfoot ten- dency to fire too high, stood him in good stead, and he gained the scrub, with the Blackfeet still a good dis- tance behind. Swinging round the village ina halt circle, he struck - the Blackfoot trail, and flew for the mountain. But Blackfeet were soon in the trail behind him, © and tried to crowd him. He got in some thick cover near the base of the rowed. “Tve accomplished a little,” he said, “but not much.” By that chance meeting with the unfortunate outlaw he had ‘been made reasonably sure that Buffalo Bill and his friends were not prisoners in the village, and he had garnered a few facts concerning Happy Chance: and Payallup Pete. In addition, he had discovered that there was another place, outside the village, visited, or occupied, by the Basilisk, where it seemed likely that Cody had been taken. That opened up a field-of work which he did not know how to begin on. “T wonder how the baron got on?” he thought. “Per- haps, if the Schnitzenhauser luck has chanced to hit one of its winning streaks, he will appear at the ren- dezvous loaded up with valuable information.” Moved by this thought, as soon as he felt he could do so with a reasonable degree of safety, he began to work along in the direction of the hidden camp that lay on the side of the mountain overlooking the Black- foot trail. - CHAPTER XII. THE BARON AS A SHADOWER. : One might have thought, in view of his general rotundity, and his pipestem legs, that the baron was ill- fitted for the sort of work laid out for him by Pawnee Bill; but the qne making that guess would have been . mistaken. Right now, however, he was clumsy. Hie had told _ Pawnee that he was all right, and he tried to feel all | right, but he was not, and he knew it. Neyértheless, he went on, endeavoring to overcome present handicaps | by extra care and hard work. He succeeded so well that, though, for a time, he lost all knowledge of the location of Happy Chance and those with him, he found them again. They were in the trail that led off from the village, and were pro- — ceeding slowly, with due regard to the fact that the aroused Blackfeet had to be avoided. vee Still, they had not escaped the notice of the Black- feet. | : i i \ : mountain, and threw off thé pursuers. There he bur- g ot che Re DDO ct to othtYy ee me CY tT — SDSS mee pt: O02 A eT THe BUPA © One appeared in the trail directly a oad re % them to an abrupt and huddled halt. The baron heard their exclamations as they came to © this full stop. The next moment he had removed his ) little fore-and-aft cap and was peering over the top of | ) the low hill, behind which he had been stalking them. in nae I will show it. | brilliant black eyes fixed on them. muttered the baron, ‘ WD anchels standt sdill vhile fools vouldt skip oudt.”’ allup Pete harbored the same opinion. ) the baron could see, none was near. He was'so close that he could see and hear them i plainly, and the object that had stopped them. It was ®@ the Blackfoot hag called the Basilisk. “Der vitch voman!”’ whispered the baron. ‘She came slowly toward the hesitating trio, her She hobbled and walked with a stick, which she prodded in the ground. “Oof dot vitch voman vos coming\by me dot vay,” ‘you vouldt seen me running; but Approaching the group, the hag lifted the stick; then she spoke. The baron was surprised to hear her use English, when he thought she knew ncething but Black- foot. ou come fook for the gold?” she asked. ‘Me Me, I am Basilisk; I know all ae You think me enemy. No!’ Happy Chance had small fear of a lone, old woman. He beliéved there were no other Blackfeet near. Pay- And. se tar as. “What gold is that?” queried Payallup, his cupidity asserting itself.. “You come hunt for that gold,” the old woman said, in a tone of conviction. “AI! white man sante—hunt for that gold. You like me show you where?” “See here,’ said Chance, “what do you know about any gold?” “Vou all same like all white men—come look for the gold! I know.” > *Ehat's allright,” said Chance. = We ain’t makin’ any denials. But what gold is this, and where is it?” “Wagon gold.” She pointed the gnarled stick off in the direction of the Bottomless Pit. ‘Wagon gold in pit. Many year ago. Wagon fall down.: Me go find it—find gold; me hide the gold—me, the Basilisk. You know me, Basilisk?” : “We've heard of you, all right,’’ Chance confessed. “You're right,” said Payallup, “in sayin’ “we're out | here lookin’ for that gold—and some others aire the || same. You show it to us and we'll make it right with ye—do anything.you want. Understand, old woman?” “Me make talk with him!” she declared, pointing the stick at Chance. “Meno make talk you.” But a was ou vikets sée,; he said; 45 tis strikes me as kinda out of the usual run—anybody with gold offerin’. to hand it over to somebody else—I’d like to understand it better. Not saying I doubt you, understand. But we've got to look out. You're a Blackfoot, and the Blackfeet have been showin’ a considerable interest lately'in hair collectin’. You understand?” | “You not want gold?” o ~ PMA SrORIES, 7) Z5 “Sure we do, but we want to keep in continued com- munication with our scalps at the same time.’ Plisten: | “T couldn’t git my. ears wider !” piped Balto. “Gold bad for Injun. Buy um whisky. Make ne jun sick, make um die. Me no want Injun have the colds: “Whoop!” panted Payalion “It’s Beon news. Jest hand it over to us.” ~ “You're too voluminous,” Chance growled. “Just keep your tongue in your teeth.” “No want Injun have um gold; want white man have,” declared the hag. “Me show you where.” «, Uhis is our chance, don’t ye see,” Payallup urged. “Mebbyso it is,’ ’ Chance admitted. He addressed the hag. _ “Youll show it to us right now? How’re we going to know you have it, or know anything about it? You “see, we ve got to be careful.’ “Basilisk know all thing.” ¢ “T don’t know about that,” said Chance. »“Basilisk know all thing. Me see you when you dig on top mountain. Me see you when you dig by tree and rock. Me see you all time, same as now.’ “Whee!” squealed Payallup Pete. “What do you say to that, Chance? She seen us!” ; vikeep still!” the sheriff ordered. ee lad ought to be convincing,” Chance said to the woman, “‘and it is sure some surprising. Some of your Blackfoot spies saw us, of course. And it kinda makes me feel skittish about follerin’ you.” “Oh, go ahead!” Payallup begged. “We'll foller you, but at the same time we're going to look out,’ went on Chance. “If there’s any treach- ery, you're-likely to git hurt, you understand. We're willin’ and glad to help you remove temptation from the Blackfeet; they need it done, and we're the lads to do it. So I reckon you can proceed to show us.” “Now you're actin’ sensible,’ Payallup chirruped. “I thought you was going to play the fool. We don't need to be afraid of this one woman.’ “Not of her; but she may have a lot of warriors hid out here somewheres.”’ The hag turned about in the trail, and, stabbing the stick into the ground, began to move off. Chance and Payallup, with the young Mexican, followed warily, Chance with hand on his revolver. “Oot she does it,’ whispered the baron, “dot iss going to be a skinch for Chance unt Bayallup. Dhey vill git der gelt, unt skib oudt; unt me—vot can I do to hellup idt? Notting.” He waited until they were well ahead in the trail; then he slid down from his perch and oe his stalk- ing again. Feeling that he had to oe doubly cautious, the baron made slow work of it, and they soon were so far in advance that he could not even hear them, due pri- _ marily to the fact that they held to the trail while he kept out of it. 26 When the baron heard them again, Chance’s voice broke out in a roar, following the yell of a Blackfoot; then a revolver cracked. The baron abandoned his carefulness and hoisted his rotund body hurriedly to the top of the nearest small hill. When he had done that and looked out, with hie fore-and-aft cap barely showing over the bushes, he saw that Happy Chance and his companions had been led by the Basilisk into a Blackfoot ambush. There had been a fight, and a Blackfoot lay in the trail, probably brought down by Chance’s revolver; but the fight had been short. Chance and Payallup, as well as the Mexican, had been clubbed over the head ~ into a hole. with lance poles and brought to subjection. Payallup lay in the bushes, knocked out; the lithe Mexican was prostrate in the trail, with blood flowing from his mouth or nose; while Chance, raging furi- ously, was held by two stalwart Blackfeet, who clutched his arms. | In the trail stood the old hag, leaning on her stick, shrill and triumphant laughter breaking from her lips. “She iss cackle like a rooster,’ grunted the baron. ‘Vale, vot do you tink apowet dot? Budt idt iss yoost vot I am oxbecting.” Payallup. Pete was stirred into animation by being kicked heavily by one of the warriors. There were a dozen of them all told, and they showed scant ceremony in their treatment of the prisoners. When the slim Mexican groaned and refused to stand up, or was not able to do so, he was lifted bodily, and held up by two of the braves. “Oof dhey seen me, I am Idt also-o,” the baron breathed, cautiously lowering his head. “Yiminidy! I am vishing Bawnee vos here by now. For I ton’dt know vot to do mit myselluf. Shall I foller on, or shall I make der pack tracks unt dell him apowet idt?” While the baron hesitated, the Blackfeet got in m0- tion with their prisoners, conducting them up the/nar- row trail. “Not going to der willage, huh rn the baton sput- tered. He slid down from the hill, and pee to follow the Blackfeet. . But neh now was close at hand, and caution seemed a virtue so becoming that, with the gathering darkness, and the difficulty of proceeding with the care necessary, the baron soon lost all knowledge of the party he was trying to trail. With the idea that they had stuck to the trail, he en- THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. he grew bewildered. “T am no goot eeny more,” he grumbled. “My headt iss blayed oudt. Sure, I t'ink me I hadt petter kvit dhis trailing oe pitzness unt seddle down unt ‘Pay mie a prewery. ” He stopped, then went back and tried tb find the trail. ‘“Bawnee say dot I haf peen trunk, unt sure I feel like it. Budt oof I haf to be trunk I should like to haf der fun oof trinking someting. Dhis iss make me madt like a raddlesnake.” He could find the trail some distance back. Then it came to an end, like the famous path of Western story which changed to a squirrel’s track and ran up a tree It was clear that here the Blackfeet had always scattered, for the purpose of obliterating their trail, that it might not be followed. The baron admitted that he was up a stump. “Der rentezvouses for me,’ he said at last. “Dare iss no usefulness in vasting my waluable dime here. Me for der hite-oudt—to meedt Bawnee. I am hob- ing he iss hadt petter luck.” , But on this point the baron’s doubts were deeply stirred, by hearing the ki-yi-ing in the Blackfoot vil- lage, when Pawnee Bill and the outlaw tried to get out of it, and the outlaw was attacked by the Indians and killed 3) . The baron swung in toward the village, ready to take dangerous risks to help Pawnee Bill; but, when the yelping and confusion died out, he concluded to go on, ( as he had intended, to the rendezvous. CHAPTER XIII, THE BASILISK’S CAVE. “That you, Schnitz?”’ “Yoost. der sameness—der righdt site oop mit care. Vot vos dot hullapaloo der Inchun willage in?” “Come on in, and we'll talk about it.” “You tidn’t findt oudt someting apowet roe oe “Not a thing.” The baron’s hopes of a ‘avobetie report bette thus | cast down, he came into the camp, which Pawnee had _ feached ahead of him, his exclamations showing his disappointment. — “What luck?” Pawnee inquired. “Der Schnitzenhauser luckiness iss on der bur: Pathe baron growled. — I tidt seen unt eee eo tings.’ ot had some lively and interesting adventures; but tered it finally, and kept on, until it seemed to end, and y SS ae aca sa cae 8 ind. | adt his me ail, eel laf Me oir Cv S30 7 to Bawnee. THE BUFFALO. @) il hear your report first. j Bose fellows?” | | “Undil dhey meet oop mit der vitch voman, unt sdill Maidervardts, vhen I losdt oudt.” @ “The witch woman?” : ® “She coom oop by der drail in, unt meedt ’em,” said % the baron, feeling around in the darkness for a seat at Pawnee’s side, and sitting down. “I am seeing idt ' blain as your nose on my face. ee she say to ‘em dot she iss knowing vare dot gelt is.’ _“Grayson’s gold?” ) “I tink idt. She iss say she know vare idt is. Dot Weelt is badt for der Plackfeet, she say—dhey puy @ vhisky mit idt, unt she ton’dt vant ’em to have idt, so she vill show to Chance vare iss idt.” } “And they fell for that?” . pe dit. Dhey follered her, unt run indo a am- © pushes.” “Served ‘em Fight! What else could. they expect? But what happened then?’ . ) “Der Plackfeedt took ’em avay, along dot liddle drail @ vhich ton’dt leadt to der willage, aber I ton’dt am } knowing vare idt leadts. Vhen I am drying to findt @ oudt, idt iss losdt to me. § I can do notting. Himmel! For more as dwo hours } I try. So I say I vill hurry me pack unt make a rebort So idt iss.” m Lf they followed that trail, we ought to be ane to ) find where it leads.” . _-“Meppyso, budt I doubt idt. You sl at the leels: of You see, Bawnee, der | drail iss go oop der spoudt.” : “The trail played out?” “Sure ting. Idt blayed oudt. Here idt iss, unt |) dhen idt iss nodt here.” “We can pick it up all right in the morning.” ‘“Meppyso. I hobe so. You dit vot, vhile I am a } goneness?” - | commented. Si ei Pawnee Bill gave him a hasty running account of the things that had happened in the village. “So dot oudtlaw iss gidt his meticine,” the baron “Vale, he iss deserfing oof notting, budt Iam sorry for dot. Haf you got some matches? i am dying fora schmoke.” They smoked and talked, ate heartily, and sampled the water in the canteens they had carried. Hae water " they knew to be good. : Then they set out through ne darkness. for the point at-which the baron had lost the Blackfeet trail. On reaching it, Pawnee Bill found that they literally could do nothing in the darkness. As the baron said, - the trail “went up the spout’—disappeared. Der darkness iss here, unt ‘te : it x : : : oe / : : BILL STORIES. 27 So they camped out in the darkness near by, and - tried to catch a few winks of sleep, which they sorely needed. With the first streakings of dawn they were at the _ task again. The Blackfeet had scattered where the main trail ended, but they had not been able to conceal all marks of their progress after that from eyes as keen as those of Pawnee Bill. He and the baron kept together, iced their con- versation to whispers, and picked their way along, see- ing here and there where a Blackfoot moccasin had been planted, with now and then the imprint of the shoe of a white man. “They tried to turn a neat trick, when they took Chance and his bunch along here,’’ Pawnee remarked. “They laid down blankets, I think, for them to walk on. But now and then Chance or Payallup stepped too far, and went off the blankets. That’s the way I make it out.” es The baron’s eyes were not so highly trained. “Vot a great ting idt iss to haf an edication,’ he said. “As for me, I ton’dt seen notting.” Working along in this way for two hours or more brought them to a hill, where the Blackfeet had come together again, and the plain trail went on as before. __ As it pointed straight at the hill, Pawnee and the baron increased their cautiousness. “Anodder ampushes, meppyso,” said the baron. “Perhaps so, but perhaps the end of the trail!” They sank down as a strange wailing song reached them. “Vot iss?” “‘An Indian chant.” A “Himmel! I nefer heardt vun like dot.” “They're up here, baron.”’ “Der Plackfeedt ?” eS “Meppyso Cody, too, heh? Oof dare iss a fighdt coming, I ant standing righdt pehint you. Go aheadt.” It was a crawl after that, so careful was their ad- vance over the trail. ae The rising and falling of the wild song became more clear. Then they beheld a flat face of rock, screened with high bushes, and, as the wailing came from that point, they knew ey had reached the a of a cave. . “T's a You're “The Indians are in the cave,” said Pawnee. risk to try to go in, but ’m going to take it. ogame, ochiitz! 28 “Dry me! Iam as mooch game as oof 1 ama quail on doast, mit a bottle at der site. Yoost mofe aheadt.’ They moved quietly, but with increased speed. When they reached the bushes they saw that the In- dian trail passed round them. An opening showed be- tween the bushes and the wall. Into this ee pce and stood in the opening of the cave. The walls were illuminated from.a fire, or torch, burning in the cave, and the wild chant rose shrilly. They had never heard anything quite like it. The voice—one person alone was singing—quavered and shrieked, now high, now low, with an intensity of pas- sion, or feeling, quite indescribable. _ “Idt iss a vildt cat making moosic,”’ the baron whis- ered. | “The Basilisk!” “Dot vitch voman! Yiminidy! I peliefe you. Budt vot iss der meanness?” “Maybe we'll know in a minute. Come on.” On they went, between the lighted walls, hands on their weapons, ready to fight or to fly, as events dic- tated. Pawnee stopped suddenly as the walls made a bend, and before him he saw the light falling on a shelf that supported a row of skulls. “Himmel!” he heard the baron breathe. grafeyardt.” “The Indians are off at the Aone . whispered bays nee. “If others come in behind us, we're bottled up. But we'll take a look, anyhow.” When they had gone a little farther they halted again, seeing an Indian girl walking slowly to and fro, swinging a torch. The light on the walls came from that torch, and the smoke from it now reaching them, they discovered that something fragrant was being burned in it. Turning toward the row of skulls, the girl swung the torch over them, then turned and walked back. ‘At her right, still invisible, was the singer. Pawnee got down on his hands and knees and crawled a yard or two farther, The girl, walking away, had her back to him. Then he beheld the Basi- “Idt iss a lisk, singing that wild song and whirling like a dervish » in the very center of the cave, Behind her was a region of shadow, but it contained human forms, and when the light shifted, as the torches moved on, Pawnee Bill saw there the pards he had so long sought—Buffalo Bill, old Nomad, and Little Coe use! But this was not all, for, seated with them was Chance and his two companions. All were tied, had THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. if devils stand before us. ing Indian witch and the girl who walked to and fro with the censerlike torch. _ ; “Himmel! Pawnee heard the baron muttering be- hind him. “I tink I am trunk again unt seeing t’ings.” The girl lowered her streaming torch, and flashed its light on a hideous little image that glittered against the wall. The Basilisk whirled up to the image, Ss oppel: be- fore it, and began to pray in a screaming voice. She hammered her head against the wall below the image, striking so violently that when she turned they saw blood on her face. But she seemed not to know she fod injured herself, for she whirled on, and, stopping before the row of skulls, she began to apostrophize them. She seemed to address each one, and Pawnee’s linguistic ability acquainted him with the fact that she was reciting the manner of the killing of the owners of the skulls, glory- ing in it as the work of her own hands. “Heavens!” was his mental ejaculation, when he found that she had slain each of the men the skulls represented, and that they had been white men. Two of the men she had slain only the day before. ‘They were represented by skulls at the farther end of the shelf, and there she tarried longest. : Pawnee Bill was looking for the Blackfeet he was sure were in the cave with the witch woman and the prisoners, but he failed to find them, Still, as Black- feet had brought Chance and his companions to this place, he believed they were there in the shadows. When she finished her-address to the skulls, the witch woman again began her wild singing and her devilish _ whirling, spinning back toward the center of the cave. Pot Arm I “Der human bin vheel!” whispered the baron. iss making me more dizzy as I haf peen yedt. treaming, or am I nit?” - Pawnee Bill drew back the hammer of tis revolver, * shifted it to his left hand, and took one of his famous knives in his right. ‘Baron,’ he whispered, “we're going in there, even Bill is in there, and Nomad and Cayuse. That she- fiend is working herself up to the Dretee Te of frenzy, when she means to kill them.” “Tdt iss.so. Himmelblitzen!? — “Come on. Ifthe Blackfeet drop me, see if: eed, can't get to Cody and cut the cords off him.” “T vill dood idt!’ The next moment the baron and Dane. Bill were _ Tunning into the cave. : | hee backs to the wall, and could look out at the wie You are not dreaming. Pard tt ~~ MS ES ea 4 i g A AN bt y q nN ts you are!” CHAPTER XTY, CONCLUSION. The Basilisk had danced up to the image and banged | her head against the wall there, and was whirling back _to the center of the cavern. Her eyes were the glar- ing orbs of a maniac. Her song like the scream of a rabid wild cat. Close beside her the Blackfoot girl, picturesquely dressed and painted, waved the streaming “ torch. _ Pawnee Bill let a yell go as he swung into the cave, to let Buffalo Bill know that help was at hand. The Blackfoot girl screamed in sudden fright. The whirling woman stopped her wild gyrations, stared blindly at the men dashing toward her, plucked wildly at a weapon she carried at her waist, screamed again, as if sending a final cry to the Blackfoot gods, and dropped to the floor in a misshapen heap. » The torch: fell from the hands of the girl, and she _ jumped to the aid of the Basilisk. Pawnee Bill sprang past this pair on the floor of the cave and hurried to the men by the wall. The torch lay sputtering on the floor, but its light was dimmed and the cavern was gloomy. _ “Right here we are, necarnis !” he shouted. speak, will you?” “Here, Pawnee!’ responded Buffalo Bill. Pawnee Bill threw himself at the point where the voice sounded. The next moment he was sliding the blade of the keen knife over the rough cords of twisted rawhide holding the scout’s hands together. : Nomad’s hoarse bellow broke through the cave. “Waugh! Am L[ livin’ ter see et? This you, Paw- Heer” “Aye—and the baron! Get busy, Schnitz.” “Vare iss eferypody?” sputtered the German. “Right hyar, baron. Wow! I’m dead, I reckon— been tied up hyar so long.” The baron found his way in the darkness to the “Just “side of Nomad; ner he began to cut the cords that held him. _ Pawnee Bill, expecting to be attacked by Blackfeet, worked with a vim, The baron was scarcely slower, harboring the same fear, so that in less than a minute the scout and the borderman were Tree. : “Ah, yes; here “You here, ee cried Pawnee. The Piute was freed. “These odder fellers?” questioned the varon, work. ing breathlessly and finishing with the borderman. “Free ’em!? said Pawnee. “We'll need all hands, THE BUFFALO ‘the torch. . the cave. BILL STORIES. as 29 when the fight comes. How many Blackfeet are we up against, Pard Bill?’ “Only the Basilisk now,” girl is leaving.” : Abandoning the woman on the floor and the torch that still flamed there, the Blackfoot beauty was run- ning in the passage leading to the outside. Even as Pawnee Bill looked, she was gone. “No Blackfeet? I think I don’t understand this.” ‘Dhis iss gifing you a Chance to be habby,”’ the baron was saying, as he cut the cords that held the sheriff, ee you nexdt; undt you ton’dt teserve tdt.”’ While pe ‘was trying to get his twisted ideas said Buttalo Bill. (Whe ‘straightened out, the baron released all three of the — men. “There are no Blackfeet in here,” said the scout, “but I guess they’re enough outside to make it warm for us, so wed better Fes to get out as soon as we gail” But when Buffalo Bill tried to rise and walk he could not, he had been bound so long that his limbs were stiff. The same was true of Nomad and Little Cayuse. Chance and his followers were in somewhat bet- ter shape, but not much. All were practically helpless. Pawnee Bill hurried out into the cave and took up It was a basket-shaped affair of metal, at the top of a wooden pole. The basket was filled with mineral wool, soaked with some kind of resin. Lowering the torch, Pawnee looked at the Blackfoot woman, lying in that shapeless heap at his feet. She was quite dead. “Apoplexy!”’ he said. “That was it, sure. Overex- citement, and then our coming, was too much, and fin- ished her. | “We'll hear your story, necarnis, when we're in a safer place. Yours, too, Chance,” he added. “We've got to get out of this before that girl pute. a lot of Blackfeet. a : Yet it was five minutes before Buffalo Bill and his released pards could walk. Then they had to be as- sisted. Chance and Payallup Pete needed help, too. But the Mexican had not suffered so severely, and could lend assistance to Chance. at Under the conditions, it was a slow march out of They were ready to fight, for Pawnee and the baron had supplied the others with weapons, so that the party was fairly well armed. \ \ But still the Blackfeet delayed their coming. Bo THE BUFFALO As the little company entered the passage leading: to the outside, Buffalo Bill drew back. «Tm forgetting something!” he said. “What is it, necarnis?’” asked Pawnee. it go if it isn’t of great value.” “But it is. Did you see that gold image against the wall back there? Bring it out. Probably you'll need the baron’s help to do it.” Pawnee Bill ran back to get the image. It was so heavy that he had to summon the baron to assist him. “Ach, it musdt be gelt!” the baron grunted, as he and Pawnee Bill raised it. “It' is gold,” the scout declared. “Hang to it. I think I can walk now, by bearing against this wall.” They got out of the cave, without seeing anything of the Blackfeet. Yet it was so certain they would come soon that the party at once left the trail.and sought hiding. The idol was heavy, and the scout and the other released prisoners were still not able to walk far; so when a suitable burrow was discovered they got down in it, and, with weapons beside them ready for instant use, they lay quietly, listening for the Indians. When it seemed that a little time would be fae them they began to talk. “We'll let “Nomad and I threshed the thing out as well as we , could, while we sat there expecting that our last hours had come,” Buffalo Bill explained. “But, perhaps, Pawnee, you have reached the same conclusions, oo have a better understanding.’ “We jumped to a few conclusions,” said Pawnee Bill. “From what Cayuse said, we believed he had been hypnotized by that Blackfoot git And live: got to beg the pardon of your Mexican, Chance, for I ad- | mit that I was nearly sure for a while that he was play- ing Blackfoot beauty!” “Pedro! Not Pedro?’ “Well, I thought it. Ill not go into, the Hells of the why. My idea got its deathblow only when the baron saw you captured by the Basilisk and her Black- beets. “The baron! Osea) “Oh, it’s all right, Chance; we'll not talk aut it. But I hope mH don’t think we can’t see through a hole ina ladder.” ‘“Vhen idt iss so pig as to in a elefandt,” the baron added. Le “You fellows came.out here to see if you couldn't connect with Grayson’s gold, but you pretended that _ you were looking for counterfeiters. Ill tell you what became of those. counterfeiters oy and by.” - and saw flashing lights. lowed her to this place, where I was tied and held BILL STORIES. “Two of them were killed by the Basilisk only yes- terday,’” said the scout. “The third—there were three of them,” said Pawnee, “sot his finish in the Blackfoot village last night. But that wasn’t what I was going to say. Still, I’m not going to oo any accusations against the sheriff of this county.” Happy Chance was too confused to say a wend But, as soon as he recovered so that he could talk, he de- clared that his first idea was to look for the, counter- feiters, with a search for the gold on the side. “If we had found it,” he urged, “we expected to deal square with that girl, Waif Western.” “Shore we did!” said Payallup Pete. dreamin’ of doin’ anything but that.” “There is the gold,” said the scout, referring to the image. “I. got that knowledge from the prayers, and song of the Basilisk. She had foufid Grayson wander- ing on the mountain, killed him, and took his gold. How she melted the dust and nuggets and formed them into that image I don’t know; but she did, and she kept it here in the cave. One of those skulls in there was Grayson’s.” ‘Waugh! The pizen o’ thet woman!” exclaimed - Nomad. “Tl tell you what happened to.me, and es that will help us understand the thing,’ Buffalo Bill said. “But about all I know of the first of it is, that I got up and left the camp in the night, thinking I heard bells ‘Then I met the girl, and fol- ever since. “1 was crazy, I know. Then Nomad was brought to the cave, as crazy as I had been. And finally came Cayuse, also crazy. After that Chance and his friends were brought in as prisoners. I don’t know.’ “Me also,” said the baron; “but idt vos nodt a erazi- ness mit me; I vos trunk, mitout hafing der choy oof trinking anyting. Dot iss vot iss make me-madt. Bawnee say idt iss der effecdt oof der vater from der — grazy sbring on der moundain.” . “You know about that ‘crazy water,’ Payallup,” a Pawnee. “You said the water set you crazy once, you remember.” Payallup’s red face was enough to fe his sud- : den confusion. y “That's right. he admitted ; “T drunk from. | a water, and it made me crazy as a loon.” “This is interesting,” said the scout. go to that spring and drink.” ““Wewas never But gc 1 went crazy “But we slide’ t “There's nothin’ in it. _ greatest enemy, and my friends next. THE BUFFALO “We have figured it out this way, and feel sure it’s right,’ urged Pawnee Bill. “The Blackfoot beauty De- witched Cayuse and got him to leave camp, where he had been posted as guard; then she emptied our can- teens and filled them from ‘the spring. I was sick, and took none of the water. The rest of you drank that night from the canteens, and the poison in the water, whatever it was, knocked you out.” | They sat silent, thinking this over, while they lis- tened for the Indians they expected to appear in the trail, which, though not to be seen, was not far off. “I first made my mistake,” said Pawnee, “when I thought that Pedro here had played Blackstoot beauty and filled the canteens.” Happy Chance covered his confusion by looking in- dignant in Pedro’s behalf. “What made you think that?” he asked. the most absurd idea I ever heard tell of. Would I countenance a thing like that, even if it could have been done; and I don’t think it could have been? Paw- nee : He aca: “What?” demanded Pawnee. “Well, I won't say any more.” "And I won't. I won't insinuate anything I can’t back up. It wouldn't be right om becoming in me, and you'ré the sheriff of the county.” Chance forced a laugh. “Forget it!’ he said, with a wave of his fat hand. Me an’ Payallup come out here looking for them counterfeiters, and then thought we'd hunt round at the same time for the gold.” | Thats righie)) 4 | “And here is the gold,” said the scout, laying his hand on the gold image. “If we get out of this now, it is going straight to Waif Grayson, with the story of “Shore ! said Payallup. - how we came by it, and the story of the fate of her father.” “You've sure about that last ?”’ Fawsee asved. 4) “T only know what I heard the old woman praying and singing. She thought she gained her power from spirits, and she bélieved that her hypnotic ability, or - whatever it was she had, was due to her sacrifices. of she considered me her As she thought the killing of Pa-e-has-ka would give her increased power, she had resolved to do it, and was working her- self up to the proper pitch when you came into the cave>...The shock of her’ failure, perhaps, killed her. white men here in this cave. She wanted to capture every one of my men, thinking , Pat's: BILL STORIES, | 31 if she would do so, and sacrifice them, she would be the greatest Indian witch ever known among the Black- feet. I think she really believed that. If you hadn’t come, I feel sure that both Nomad and I would have been dead within an hour.” _ “And that handsome girl helped her!” said Pawnee. “That handsome girl is the Basilisk’s daughter, or granddaughter, and was in training to take her place as the medicine witch of the Blackfeet, when the older woman passed on.” a “Waugh!” Nomad grunted. “Ef handsome is as handsome does, thet young woman shore ain’t the beauty thet she looked ter be in ther eyes of Little Cay- use. But I reckon, Buffler, we'd best go on. I feels as. though I c’d make a stagger at walkin’ now.” They went on. Before they reached the rendezvous on the mountain they were pursued by the Blackfeet. But they escaped over the mountain, and, without further trouble, they reached the town of Rocket Range, where the gold image was delivered by Buf- falo Bill to the girl he had called Waif Western. No definite charges were brought against Happy Chance. Buffalo Bill and his friends could not prove that he had even thought of changing the water in the canteens. And as he began to show at once the zeal that he had customarily displayed, and seemed: in all. respects a conscientious officer, they tried to follow his wishes and “‘forget it.” The truth is, Happy Chance had yielded to tempta- tion at a time when he was hard pressed for money, but fate had kept him from really committing a crime. _ Many another man has gone through a similar ex- perience, and lived to regret his lapse from the ee path of honesty. So ends our tale. THE END, Al stirring mystery story—full of vigorous action, relieved now and then by lively humorous situations —is that which willbe told in the next issue of this weekly—No. 549, to be published on November 18th. The story is entitled “Buffalo Bill and the Klan ‘of Kan; or, Pawnee Bill and Old Porcupine.’ The scene is laid in Colorado, in the country of the Utes, to which the famous scout and his pards ate sent for the purpose of running down a band of road agents whose _depredations have caused serious concern to the It is a narrative in which = government authorities. Buffalo Bill and his comrades are seen at their best. - Don t mise. it. The most popular publication for boys. this weekly. High art colored covers. 789—Dick Merriwell’s Proof; or, The Problem of the Stubborn Crew Man. yo0—Dick Merriwell’s Brain Work; or, The Frustration of fie Sneaky Tutor. 79i—Dick Merriwell’s Queer Case; or, The Lure of the Ruby. Cans oe Navigator; or, The Adventure on the : ound, - oe Nee: Fellowship ; or, ‘The Man with the Wrong ea 794—Dick Merriwell’s Fun; or, Buckhart as a Retoeee Ce ee Commencement; or, The Last. Week-at ale eee Merriwell:at Montauk Point; or,. The Terror of the 7907—Dick Merriwell, Mediator; or, The Stvitee at the Plum Valley Mine. 798—Dick Merriwell’s Decision; or, The Sacrifice of a Principle. 799—Dick Merriwell on the. Great Lakes; or, The Smugglers of the Inland Seas. Cree, oa Caught nee or, The Rube that Could itc The adventures of Frank and Dick Merriwell ean be had only is Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents. 801—Dick Merriwell in the Copper ‘Colne: or, The Search for aca Lost Mune, 802—Dick Merriwell Strapped; or, The Adventure of the Bige caped Convicts. 803—Dick Merriwell’s Coolness; or, At the N evada Gold Fields. 804—Dick Merriwell’s Reliance; or, a Man Who Had Served Time. 805—Dick Merriwell’s College Mate: or, Blocking a Crooked Deal. 806—Dick Merriwell’s Young Pitcher; or, The Man Who Die peared. 807—Dick Merriwell’s Prodding; or, The Fellow Who Lacked Push. . 808—Frank Merriwell’s Boy; or, A Chip of the Old Block. 809—F rank Merriwell’s Interference; or, Not Worthy of Trust. 810—Frank Merriwell’s Young Warriors; or, The Fellow Who Could Not Play Clean. 811—Frank Merriwell’s Appraisal; or, The Measure of Manhood. 812—Frank Merriwell’s Forgiveness; or, The Boy Who Had Another Chance. NICK CARTER The best detective stories on earth. covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents, 747—The Cavern Mystery; or, Nick Carter’s Puzzle of the Leather Bag. 748—The Disappearing Fortune; or, Nick Carter’s Fish Line Clew. 749A Voice from the Past; gr, Nick Carter’s Phonograph Trap. 750—The Search for Rone or, Nick Carter’s International Case. 751—The Crime of a Century; or, Nick Carter and the Chief of Conspirators. 752—The Spider’s Web; or, Nick Carter’s Coney I@land Case. 753—The Man With a Gryich: or, Nick Carter on as Trail of Dickie Ducie. 754—The Rajah’s Regalia; or, Nick Carter and the Eton Twins. 78c—Saved from Death; or, Nick Carter’s Service. 750—The Man Inside; or, Nick Carter’s Final Move. ey rou Vengeance; or, Nick Carter and the Mystic Mes- 7s8—The ee of Exili; or, Nick Carter on Death’s Trail. 759—The Antique Vial; or, Nick Carter’s Curious Mystery. 760—The House of Slumber; or, NickeCarter’s Work of a Day. 761—A Double Identity; or, N ick Carter and the Inspector. \ Nick Carter’s sano are read the world over. 774—The Great Buddha Beryl; WEEKLY High art eslored 762—“The Mocker’s” eee or, Nick Carter’s Smartest Ads versary 763—The Man net Came Back; or, Nick Carter’s Finish Fight. 704—The Tracks in the Snow; or, Nick Carter’s Strange Clew. 705—The Babbington Case; or, Nick Carter’s Puzzling Question. 766—Masters of Millions; or, Nick Carter’s Prophetic Statement. 767—The Blue Stain; or, Nick Carter’s Misleading Clews. 768—The Lost Clew; or, Nick Carter and the Mysterious Cipher. 76-—The X Midnight Message; er, Nick Carter and the Mountain stery. 770—The Taen OE a Card sor, Nick Carter Plays a Skillful Game. 771I—A es in the Dust; or, Nick Carter Receives a Warn- 772—A Royal Flush; or, Nick Garter s Pursuit of a Living Mys- tt “Metal Casket Mystery: or, Nick Carter’s Strange Client: or, Nick Carter and the Gem Broker. Moa Vanishing Heiress; or, Nick Carter and the Creole : edium. For 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, 28-89 Seventh Avenue, New York IF YoU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS of our Weeklies Boa cannot procure them from your neweduee they can be obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY, STREET; & SMITH, 79.09 Semenih Asince Neg Yok Ge Filipe edas i _ Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find............ Te eraenece: cents for which send me: TIP TOP WEEKLY, Nos a ee CoC ee NICK CARTER WEEKLY, “........... A ee Pie BUFFALO BILL STORIES, “ .............. Ce ee Os Nettcchcectecstcevepcsneys oDERte ney. . Reet eue WaE so ice k cece ech ce coset eoerecce Str eel cae) coeec coe eee We cun. Clive. 4 BUFFALO BILL STORIES ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS There is no need of our telling American readers how interesting the stories of the adventures of Buffalo Bill, as scout and plainsmian, 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. 319—Buffalo 321—Butffalo 324—Buffalo 325—Buffalo 326—Buffalo 327—Buffalo 328—Buffalo 329—Buffalo 330—Butffalo 331—Buffalo 332— Buffalo 333—Buffalo 334—Buffalo 335—Buffalo 336—Buffalo 337—Buftalo 338—-Buffalo _ 8389—Buffalo 340—Butffalo 341—Buffalo 342— Buffalo 343—Buffalo 344—Butffalo 345— Buffalo 346—Buffalo 348—Buffalo 349—Buffalo 350—Buffalo 351—Buffalo 352—Buftalo 353—Buftalo 354— Buffalo 355—Buftalo 356—Butffalo 357—Buftfalo 358—Buffalo 359— Buffalo 360—Buffalo 362—Buffalo 363—Buffalo 364—Buffalo 366—Buffalo 367—Buffalo 368—Buffalo 369—Buffalo 370—Buffalo Bill 371—Buffalo 372—Butffalo 374—Buffalo 375—Buffalo 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—Buftalo 390—Buffalo 391—Buffalo 392—Buffalo 393—Buffalo 394—Buffalo 395—Buffalo 396—Buftalo 397—Buffalo 398—Buffalo 399—Buffalo 400—Buffalo 401—Buffalo Bill’s Mazeppa Ride........ BilisiGypsye Bandas e Bill’s Gold Hunters......... Bul ny Olds Mexico sac. Bill’s Message from the Dead Bill and the Wolf-master.... Billsehly ine Wonders. oe: Bill’s Hidden Gold.......... Biules Oublaw inal wea Bill and the Indian Queen... Bill and the Mad Marauder.. | BillesitcerBarricadenson cs a. Bill and the Robber Elk..... Bilis (Ghost Dances. wa sce. BIMES Peace piper an ae ee Bul Red meNemesisn ss s5 sass Bills Enchanted Mesa...... Bill in the Desert of Death.. PU Soba. Streakiae cian ge Bill on Detached Duty...... BillgsArm) Mystery. ss. BUS CSUrp Lise eRartyc sn san. Bills sGreat side nese: Bill Sava ter wh ranleecc stay: Biks Ordeal of Binal a ue Bil’s Casket of Pearls..... BUSH Sikcyeme iota cae 6 BUS OL eMart: cule te Buse t-boate Writ ene TON CK Mea ia icie Water lie Bill and the Broncho Buster. Bill’s Great Round-up....... Bilisgipledgerenn 0. fi 3 Biles Cowboy bard... osc Bill and the Emigrants.... Bill Among the Pueblos..... Bill’s Four-footed Pards..... Bil SEER roe cen ae ees ay gina BTU Si PAGE Ui irene seenaeair anes ABUTS OMCs tee pti asus er beieaaae Bil’s Waif of the Plains.... Bill Among the Mormons.... ! Bills Assistancennran mucin ee Bill’s Rattlesnake Trail..... Bill and the Slave-dealers... HS Sorone Asm eet ne Girl eBardy cee: oN TronBraceleisnimen rs: Ader AnnuMlets wees rns ee MEaoTe Mariana eras Bridge Ofebmenia. 44 Billige Bowie secs inde BUNS PaVvesureakus ae seme a BS TLL S Mle avaoe een e leon ee Billés* Cleanups os ei .5 ee. BES IRUSERe Mae i cen Bile Overboardae iis cu cue SUMS SARIN yee es ee ce Gl i Buse Bist Contract.) asl. Bill and Calamity Jane..... BEES din Par cies une aaa Bill’s Desperate Plight...... Bill’s Fearless Stand........ 5 Bill and the Yelping Crew... Bill’s Guiding Hand........ Bill’s Queer Quest.......... Bills Prize “‘Get-away’.) |). 5 Bil’s Hurricane Hustle..... BillsaStangblay cn 2. aimnnur Bills Bite ee te BUSH MRTA Chena nya cumin linn BUS DutcheRard: ins e) wae Bill and the Bravo...... ne Billand the Quakersai eae 5 Bill’s: Package of Death..... a AAO ONCTON OO ill’s Bill’s Bill’s Bill’s Bill’s Bill’s Tf you want any back numbers of on from this office, Postage-stamps taken the STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK cITY 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—Butfalo 416—Buffalo 417—Butffalo 418—Butffalo 419—Buffalo 421—Buffalo 422—Buffalo 423—Buffalo 424—Buffalo 425—Buffalo 426—Buffalo 427—Butffalo 428—Butffalo 429—Buffalo 430—Buffalo 431—Buffalo 432—Buffalo 433—Buffalo 434—Buffalo 435—Buffalo 436—Buffalo 437—Butffalo 438—Buffalo 439—Butffalo 440—Buffalo 441—Buffalo 442—Burffalo 448—Buffalo 444-_Buffalo 445—Buffalo 446—Buffalo 447—Buffalo 448—Buffalo 449—Butfalo 450—Buffalo 451—Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Cache....... Bills Private War......... Bill and the Trouble Hunter. Bill and the Rope Wizard... Bills io Wiestarie face cee acs Bill Among the Cheyennes.. Bille Besieged Mk ccc eee 5 Bill and the Red Hand..... Bill’s Tree-trunk Drift...... Billvands the Specter ws. 5 Bill and the Red Feathers.. TUES GIN eS unORer aan ee oie 5 Bill, the Desert Cyclone..... Bill’s Cumbres Scouts....... re Bill and the Man-wolf...... Bill and His Winged Pard... Billa abyl ome ancy cn cen 5 Billisilgoms seAgerat een saan cc 5 Bill's: Steel Arm Pard......, Bits PAZteCiGUlder sis cult Bill) and) Little Mirefly. oi): Billvine thevAztec: Citivas... . Bulls Balloon scape ws. sok Bill and the Guerrillas...... BTW Sia ORC rE MAViaie aie te aie Bills Mexican Mix-up....... Bill and the Gamecock...... Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders Bil’s Whirlwind Iinish..... Bill’s Santa Fe Seeret...... Bill and the Taos Terror.... Bill’s Bracelet of Gold...... Bill and the Border Baron.. Bill at Salt River Ranch.... Bil’s Panhandle Man-hunt.. Bill at Blossom Range...... BillvanGd: unMiperw does asses US rail SGOOD I ces) os eres BillPay Gleamvwialiete oe cnan sy ere Bilis Winning” Hand.) 2). 22 Billess Cinch Gilani ee BUMS Comrades ies epee : Bilin ehesBadmsandsmaia in. Bill and the Boy Bugler..... Bill and the Heathen Chinecec. Bill and the Chink War..... Bill’s!) Chinese Chase... 3... 1)! HOUMA OUCTOUOUOT ¢ CLOTS OTOL OOO CLOT HLOCN Bill’s Secret Message....... 5 Bill and the Horde of Her- TTL OG ESS ort te Naan Bahay conga aiden nud Oey 452—Buffalo, Bill’s Lonesome Trail....... 453—Butffalo 454—Buffalo 455—Butffalo 456—Butffalo 457—Buffalo 458—Buffalo 459—Buffalo 460—Buffalo 461—Buffalo 462—Buffalo 463—Buffalo 464—Buffalo 465—Buffalo 466—Buffalo 467—Buffalo 468—Buffalo 469—Buffalo 470—Buffalo 471—Buffalo 472_RBuffalo 473—Buffalo 474—Buffalo 475—Buffalo 476—Buffalo Bills Quairiy tives seekers Bull tm ealdwiood een sccia on SUES MS AU eva kas einigirs 5 Bill and Old Moonlight..... Bill Repaid IBS ARO wD aeke eee vee es DUES cele nite SCC eu net: Bulls eNews Bardee, ac see Bill’s “Winged Victory”..... Bill’s Pieces-of-eight........ Bill and the Hight Vaqueros. Bills Unlucky Siestasce.). 0 Bills Apache «Clues name Bill and the Apache Totem.. Bill’s Golden Wonder....... BUNS shiestay Nici. sian r Bill and the Hatchet Boys.. Bill and the Mining Shark.. Bill and the Cattle Barons. . BUS PONS BOGAS aneene me nan. Bill, the Peacemaker....... Bill’s Promise to Pay...:... 5 Billise Diamond batch yt ss: ‘5 Bill and the Wheel of Fate. —Buffalo —Buffalo 482—Buffalo 483—Buffalo 484—Buffalo 485—Buffalo 486—Buffalo 487—Buffalo 488—Buffalo 489—Buffalo 490—Buffalo 492—Buffalo 493—Buffalo 494—Buffalo 495—Buffalo ers 496—Buffalo 497—Buffalo 498—Buffalo 499—Buffalo 500—Buffalo 501—Buffalo 502—Buffalo 503—Buffalo 504—Buffalo 505—Butffalo 506—Butffalo 507—Buffalo 508—Buffalo 509—Buftalo 510—Buffalo 511—Buffalo 512—Buffalo 513—Buffalo 514—-Buffalo 515—Buffalo 516—Buffalo 517—Butffalo 518—Buffalo 519—Buffalo 520—Buffalo man 521—Buffalo 522—Buffalo 523—Buffalo 524—Buffalo 525—Butffalo 526—Buffalo 527—Buffalo 528—Buffalo 529—Buffalo 530—Buftalo 531—Buffalo 532—Buffalo 533—Buffalo 534—Buffalo 535—Buffalo 5836—Buffalo 537—Buffalo 538—Buffalo 539—Buffalo 540—Buffalo 541—Buffalo 542—Buffalo 548—Buffalo 544—Buffalo 545—Buffalo 546—Buffalo 547—Buffalo 548—Butffalo 549—Buffalo 550—Buffalo 551—Buffalo Bill and the Pool of Mystery Bill and the Deserter....... Bill’s Island in the Air...... 3 Bil’s Ultimatum.. : BillsnPestanncewe. o aeisaee: 5 Bill and the Ponca Raiders. Bill’s Boldest Stroke....... Bill’s BHnigma..... eerie Bills BlOCkKaAd Ckiveuncw ce. F Bill and the Gilded Clique... Bill and Perdita Reyes..... : Bill and the Boomers....... é Bill Calls Bilis Oot Biulvah Canon Dlaplomencs se. ; Bite sa branches ier ence Love: o Bill and the Red Horse Hunt- TS Bilis! WDanserousm lM Utey ss. tle Bill and the Chief's Daughter Billa inayag Wiellswnqie anc. Bill and the Men of Mendon. Bill at svaimbow. sy mdi. Bill and the Russian Plot... IBSHUO IS | TRKeOL AD aed ey es Bilis mR ovale ohiUS ia esaieuae ole BTS aire Tan yk iets ear e alu Bill on the Upper Missouri. . MSH CLOWais COU sini aii en, Bills “OplumieCasee ve cear se BSS Wakeheraititpe caries Bills Mountgin Locsin.) 2. Bilis Battles Cry, see 5. asl Bill’s Fight for the Right... Bis aTy CCUG une an ee eee Bill and the Red Renegade. Bill and the Apache Kid.... 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Billzandstheripasvisk,. 5.0.5 Bill and the Klan of Kan... Bill and the Sorceress...... Bill in. the Ute Outbreak.... OUI AA AAM AAMAS SOUS CU ST y AA NOI TOUTS o rt weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained direct samme as money.