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Issued Weekly

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

_ A WEEKLY PUBLICATIO

     
 

DEVOTED TO BORDER LIFE

 

 

 

)

*
: y Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. V. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh dvenue,
Py NeY. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1907, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C.
: 13S" Beware of Wild West imitations of the Buffalo Bill Stories. They are about fictitious characters. The Buffalo
Bill weekly is the only weekly containing the adventures of Buffalo Bill, (Col. W. F. Cody), who is known all
. over the world as the king of scouts. one

 

No. 323.

\a uifa 0 Bill, the

 

NEW YORK, July 20, 1907.

White

OR,

DASHING DAN, THE:BORDER DECOY DUCK.

Price Five Cents. _

Whirlwind;

 

 

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.” »

 

CHAPTER f.
WHITE BEAVER.

White Beaver, the noted scout, turned to the young
man who had joined him as he neared the cabin.
1 =~ “Come in,” he said heartily, “and make yourself com-
fortable. ‘From the looks of things, no one has been here
for a month.”

The cabin was a tumble-down affair of logs chinked
with yellow clay. At one end was a large, old-fashioned
chimney. The one door sagged and the single window

- was boarded up tightly. It stood at the entrance to the
f - * Black Hills, near a trail which showed no recent hoof-
‘2 | marks.
}. -—-«~‘The young man came in and viewed the darkening
landscape from the doorway. a

He was muscular and alert-looking, yet judged by his
clothing, he seemed out of place in his present surround-
ings. His attire befitted a man of the towns, rather than
-one who was ready to plunge into the perilous Black

    
 

Hills in a scramble for gold, which he had proclaimed as

his purpose.

“You are not gold mining?” he said, turning from the
door and walking on into the room.

He drew up a broken stool and squatted on it, and
White Beaver sat down on one by the door. a

“No, I am with General Brown’s men, or will be when
I can find them. I sometimes act as camp doctor, when ©
my services‘are required. Just now I am scouting.”

“What’s the outlook?”

“Bad. The plains and foot-hills are swarming with
Sioux and the trails are harassed continually by road-
agents. Miners have irritated the Sioux by rushing into .
the hills in search of gold, and in my opinion trouble of
the worst kind is brewing. If you'll take my advice,

you'll turn back and give over your thoughts of gold-
hunting until times are more peaceful.”
The young man shifted nervously.
al dislike to say it, for I’m afraid you won’t take itas
J want you to, but I followed you;~because I believed you

  

 
were going fo push on into the hills and id be safer in

your company.”
White Beaver twisted round on his stool and gave the

young man a steady look.

“Do you mean to 7 that you Nieved me out from

I Hot Springs?”

Scene ees sree

from here, and came on afoot to this spot.
_ him readily.”

“Tust that,’ the young felfow acknowledged, smiling
now.

“But how did you know I was coming ?”’

“T overheard you talking in the Hot Springs Hotel

- when you outlined your plans to that young officer who
- came to you.
'of Brown’s troopers and would penetrate into the hills

You told him you intended to scout ahead

in advanee of them; and you told him that somewhere

near the base of the hills you would be joined by your old
_pard, Buffalo Bill,
» much like to meet,
‘T’ve never yet met him.”

And by the way, he’s a man I should
[ve heard a lot about him, though

Amazement showed in the face of White Beaver.
-“T heard you tell the officer that you were Doctor

_ Frank Powell, known on the berder and among your old

friends as the White Beaver of the Winnebagoes,”

“But, my dear fellow,” protested Powell, “you were not

“in the room where I was when I made those statements to

Lieutenant Cavendish!”

“The smile on the young man’s face broadened almost
into a laugh.

“You noticed the drunken fellow who sat slouching in
a. chair close by the window, apparently asleep, with his
hat drawn over his face? Perhaps you even heard him
snore! re |
- Powell sprang to his feet.

Po Vou were that man 2” ©

Ol Wass
The answer was cool as ice,
“Then I must say that we part company right here! I

c ‘couldn’ t trust a man who would do that, and then would

follow me so many miles stealthily, as you have done. I

thought I saw a horseman in the backward oe) this af-

tefnoon. You were that horseman.”

a ‘The young man smiled an assenting answer.
Where is your horse?’

"7 left him in the bunch of willows-back a mile or less
But I can get

“Get him and take a different trail, for our roads part.”
_ “But see here!” said the man, throwing out his hands
persuasively. “When I tell you what my mission in the
Black Hills really is I hope you'll withdraw that. My
name is Lispenard—Jim Lispenard; and I am a son of
enue old friend, Ruel Lispenard.”

White Beaver sat down again, staring at his informant.

“Ruel Lispenard!” he said.

“Yes, my father. Two months or so ago he set out

‘with a donkey and a grub-stake for the hills, searching for

a THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

gold, ‘He knew the Sioux were hostile and that the gold

trails were lined with outlaws; but he didn’t care for

that. He said he would be back in Hot Springs in just
four weeks from the time he left: He hasn’t showed up
there yet.

“Now, you see ae I oie to go into the hills. .

I was afraid to try it alone, I haven’t had any experi-
ence. No one is starting for the hills right now, for fear
of the Indians. And I knew if I came to you there in
the town, and even told you my story just as I tell it now,
you would refuse to let me go with you.

“T was determined to go; so I laid for information
there in the hotel, where you talked with the lieutenant,
and then I followed you. We're so far on our way now
that I don’t believe you will have the heart to send me
back, when you know I am Lispenard’s son and what my
mission is.”

The face of the surgeon scout ee as he listened
to this.

“T see!” he said slowly,

“And you'll not send me back now? I must find out
what has happened to my father.
ence, but I believe I have grit. I am gwell armed and
have a good horse. I'll try not to be of any trouble to
you, but will help you all I can. And P’m hoping that
now you are here and know that my father has dropped
out of aight | in that strange way, you will want to search
for him,” :

Doctor Powell sat silently staring at the young man.

“Your father and I were old border pards and good
friends.”

“Yes: I have heard him. speak of you often and of
Buffalo Bill.”

“T shouldn’t have known you for a Lispenard. You
resemble your mother, I presume?”

Ves: Ive been told I look somewhat as my mothe:
didi?

He looked at White Beaver. earnestly and on tone
seemed anxious, |. ut

- Powell settled back on his soak

“T recognize, of course, that you must be anxious out
your father, and because you are his son I'll have to
withdrawn my first accusation that you acted treacher-
ously,” -

He arose and held out his hand.

“Lispenard,’’ he said, in a kind tone, “as the son of my
old pard, I am glad to meet you, even here. A whiter
man never lived than old Ruel Lispenard. I have slept
under the-same blanket with him in more than one bliz-

-zard, and have been with him on many a dangerous trail.

I judge that you have something of his courage, or you
wouldn’t have made this attempt, dishonorable as |
thought it at first. We'll overlook it and do the best we
ean.” eae :

> -The young man gripped the extended hand with fervor.

I know I lack experi-.

 

 
       
    
   
   
   
    
    
   
   
    
    
    
    
   
   
    
      
     
    
    
    
    
   
   
  
   
   
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
 
   
 
 
    
       
         

THE BUPPALO

“T believed you
You

“T wasn’t mistaken in you!” he cried.
would say this, when I had a chance to explain.
will push right on into the hills in the morning ?”

“That is my present intention.”

“And you expect to meet Buffalo Bill where?”

“T don’t know just where I shall meet him. He set out
from Black Diamond Falls day before yesterday. He
ought to be in this vicinity to-day. He'll come down
from the north there somewhere.”

He swung his hand toward that point of the compass.

“T’m sorry Lispenard has got into trouble up here, as
he probably has. Cody and I have our hands full, if we
do the work cut out for us. We've got to scout right up
to the Sioux villages and camps, and perhaps even into
them, and when we learn what’s up we’ll have to retreat
with the news as fast as -we can to Brown’s command.
So, we sha’n’t have much time to look for your father.”

“T understood that, and-I knew for that reason you
would object to my company. But something may turn
up. We may get information when we least expect: it.”

“Yes, that’s a fact; and Cody and I will do what we
can. We'll improve any opportunity that offers. Your
father may have fallen into the hands of the Sioux;
though I’m much afraid if he did they killed him. I don’t
say that to distress you. We'll believe otherwise and
hope for the best.”

» He sat down again on his Seoul by the door and the
‘young man dropped to the broken one he had been oc-
cupying.

“JT must find my father,” he declared. “Now that ’m
here, I shall never be contented to go back until I find
him, or know just what has happened to him.”

“We'll help you,’ said Powell, and he smiled with en- |

eQuras sel.

 

CHAPTER II.
A PERSISTENT FOR.

As Frank Powell gave the young man this assurance a
shot was heard, sharp and clear on tlfe ae air of the
late evening.

‘« Powell sprang to the door and looked out.

The young man behind him hesitated an instant and
dropped his hand to his hip-pocket. But the hand came
away and he crowded into the doorway beside the
surgeon scout.

They saw a man break into view rom a fringe of
timber at the base of a near-by hill and come bounding
with long, loping steps in the direction of the cabin.

“Cody, by all that’s wonderful! Some one shot at
him out there!”

Powell stepped to the aka dey a revolver, and set
out, running, to meet his old pard.

The young man stood in the doorway, with eyes turned

“on the noted scout who had so suddenly come into view.

be oeccea temerity stn rte fester HIT. i re ve te cect sie SENG MRS
Set at eT he eae Se A een raat see is

Rg ye een ie

    
 

Bi SORTS 3

“So, that’s Cody!” he said, speaking to himself, but
merely whispering the words. “I never saw him be-
fore; yet I think I’d have known him by that garb any-
where. Cody and Powell!”

He smiled strangely and a queer light came into. his
eyes. But the smile and the queer light were both gone
instantly.

AL wonder who fired that shot?” he thought.

“standing in the door until the scouts came
up to it, retreating before them as they entered.

Frank Powell closed the door with a jerk, pulling it
hurriedly into place.
and dropped it in position, securing it,

“That was an Indian, Cody?” he said, turning from
the door he had thus fastened.

“Ves,” was the answer. ‘The rascal has been follow-
ing me for an hour or more, but I thought I had shaken
him off. I saw aN several times. I think he is alone,
though.” ye Le |

He looked with deena Snes at the young man.

The latter was now introduced\by Doctor Powell; after
which Buffalo Bill continued his story of how he had
been pursued by the Indian, who was a Sinus!

“He'll likely hang round outside all night, in the hope
of getting a shot at me in the morning.”

The fact that the young man was said to be a son of
Ruel Lispenard aroused his interest greatly. Yet while
expressing sympathy for his old friend, who he feared

had met a violent death at the hands of the Sioux, he

was like Powell in declaring that the chances of discover-
ing anything concerning him were not good.

Through a crack by the door they watched, thinking
the Indian might venture in sight.

After darkness had come, Buffalo Bill left the cabin
and scouted round in the neighborhood of the spot from
which the shot had come.

He returned, saying he had seen nothing of the Indian
and the latter had probably abandoned his attempt and
lett,

Yet Buffalo Bill took no chances. Before starting a
fire in the big fire-place, by which to cook something, he

covered carefully that crack beside the door and made. /))

sure there was no other place where the sneaking red-
skin could look in and get a shot at the inmates.

Soon a fire was roaring up the wide chimney, fed by
fuel that had been stacked in the house a long time and
was as dry as tinder.

Gathered before this fire, they ate the meat taken from
the pouches and broiled on the coals, washing it and some
dry crackers down with water from their canteens.

Then they talked of the threatened Sioux uprising of
the road agents who troubled the gold trails and discussed
the probable fate of RuelLispenard. The hour was late

when they retired.
Buffalo Bill curled up in his blanket with his feet to the

Then -he took the stout wooden bar

      

 

rah i aeeste Sa te ttt ce tte He

 

hic thc
a | THE BUFFALO BILL

fire, and was soon asleep. Close by him lay Doctor

i Powell and the young man whe had given the name of

_ than that bed of coals.

Ye

_ Jim Lispenard.

Yet both Buffalo Bill and Frank Powell slept lightly,
as the young man discovered, for whenever he shifted his

a position, or so much as lift his head to look at th em, they

seemed to be aroused by it.

Finally he fell asleep himself, though apparently he had
tried to keep awake.

The time was close on morning when Buffalo Bill
awoke with a feeling that something was wrong and that
he had heard a suspicious sound.

He did not rise, but lay listening.

' Then again he heard the singular. scraping sound that
had aroused him. It appeared to come from the chimney.

The fire had burned down until it was but a bed of
coals nearly covered with ashes. Looking into the fire-
place which the coals still faintly lighted he was astonish-
ed to see there a moccasined foot.

It swayed about as if searching for a resting spot other
Then it was withdrawn. After
a few seconds the right hand of an Indian, holding a
knife, appeared; and then the man’s head and shoulders

~ eame into view.

The black, bead-like eyes of the redskin stared straight
into the eyes of the scout, who had moved toward the fire-
place; then the Indian’s yell arose, as the scout caught
him by the knife-hand and by a quick jerk threw him
down upon the hot embers.

A scream of pain followed, accompanied by a smell of
burning flesh.and leather; and the astonished and scared
Indian rolled out of the fire-place into the room.

The scout had seized him by the hair and helped his
sudden exit from the fire; now he hurled the Indian to
the floor and pounced on tea)

White Beaver and the young man sprang up, with ex-
cited exclamations, the former leaping at once to the as-
sistance of Buffalo Bill.

But already the scout had choked the a into sub-
mission.

Depriving the Sioux of his knife and hatchet, the only
weapons he had, the scout flung him somewhat roughly

against the wall, and stood up, facing him.

The disturbed coals had leaped into flame, illumining
the room, and the light showed the stolid features of the

Sioux and the excited faces of the white men.

No one was more astonished by what had occurred
than the young man. He stared almost stupidly at the
redskin; and then his countenance took on a look of con-
demnation. ;

Buffalo Bill drew a revolver, for the purpose of prop-
erly impressing the would-be assassin, and pointed it at
his head.

“Now youll talk,” he said, “or Vil bore a hole through
"you with this.”

STORIES.

The Indian shrank against the wall, but made no re-
sponse in words.

“Probably the devil who followed you and shot at you,
Cody?’ said Powell.

“T’m certain he is. He thought to get in by the chim-
ney and kill us all as we slept.”

“T guess he would have accomplished it, Cody, if your
ears hadn’t been good. I didn’t hear a thing till he let
out that screech.”

‘Te seems to have been scorched a bit,” the young man
observed, advancing and giving the Indian a close look.

The eyes of the redskin stared so hard at him that his
face reddened and he drew back.

“Vou are the fellow who followed me and shot at me
yesterday?” said the scout, presenting the revolver.

“TInjun no understand,” mumbled the redskin.

The scout repeated the question in Sioux. —

The Indian shook his head violently in the negative,
and denied emphatically that he was the Indian referred
to.

“Why did you try to come down the chimney ?”

His explanation was lame enough; for he said he didn’t
know any one was in the house, and thought he would .
get into it for the remainder of the night to escape the

dew.
“But when you appeared there in the chimney you had
a knife in your hand—this knife!” —
The scout held it up.
The Indian became dumb again, shaking his head at
times and asserting that he could not understand the
things the scout said . him.
But though his manner was stolid, his black eyes show-
ed fear. Now and then when he looked at the young

man they took on7a glance of pleading, as if they asked

him for sympathy and help. ©

There was a smell of scorching leather from the fire
that now drew attention.

“Hello!” said Powell. “What’s this?”

He stooped over the coals and drew forth a bag. at
buckskin.

He shook it; and then, cutting the string, he nouns

into his hand from the scorched bag some shining
grains,

“Gold dust!” he exclaimed.

“Tt dropped out of the chimney!” said the? young man
in surprise. “I wonder if there’s more there.”

“Perhaps the Sioux had it,” was Buffalo Bill’s sugges-
tion. :

The scouts examined it, saw that the bag was well filled
with gold dust and that it was such as miners ‘customarily
used,

The Indian was for the moment whobserved.

Standing back from the fire, so that he was behind the
two scouts, who at the moment were inspecting the gold

 

——

—
———

Wi

 

 
   

   
 
  
 
   
  
 
   
  
 
  
      
   
   
   
   
    
          
      
   
   
   
      
        
     
    
    
       
        
      
    
     
     
      
    
      
   
    
      
     
   
    
     
    
    
     

THE BUFFALO

dust, the young man looked full into the eyes of the
; [Sioux | : :

“Ugh!” the Sioux grunted, as if in response.

“Tt’s queer about that pag of dust,’ said the young man
now, advancing.

He stooped close by the fire- -place, and when he stood
up again he had a bit of paper in his hand.

“What’s this?” he cried. “See here! Did this come
out of the chimney, too; or was it kicked out of the corner
here by that redskin’s heels, as he threshed round?”

i - He spread out the paper, holding it toward ue fire,
I to read it.

i “By all that’s strange!” ap exclaimed.
isn't the most wonderful thing ever!
was written by my father!”
oh He extended the paper to Buffalo Bill.

a Taking it, the scout read it, giving expression, also, to
an exclamation of astonishment.

“Ruel Lispenard!”’ he said: “Look at this,
News from Lispenard and Wild Bill.”

Doctor Powell took the paper, and read:

ews

—

 

“Well,
See here!

if this
This

Powell!

“To whoever finds this, which I leave in the old hut by
the trail: I’ve leartied that Wild Bill is in the hands of
the Sioux. He went into the hills some days ago, ahead
of me, and the Sioux got. him. I’m following in to help
him. And4 ask any friends of Wild Bill and of me who
sees this to come on to our help, for we Te likely to need
help the wust kind. The hills air swarmin’ with reds and

_ the outlook is bad; but I’m goin’ to run the resks, if I
never git back. The first place Pll make for will be Cot-
tonwood Creek, where it enters the hills. The Sioux air
now due north from there.

me, any friends of mine that reads this.
“RuUEL LISPENARD.”

It was truly an astonishing communication; and, found
as it was, doubly so.
“Let me see it again,” said the young man, manifest-
ing much natural interest and excitement. “Yes, that’s
my father’s handwriting! And he was here! In this
very cabin! He must have camped here before going on
into the hills, and left that in the room here, hoping it
would be found. Do you stippose that was his bag of
gold dust, too?”

He looked hungrily at the well-filled buckskin bag in
the possession of Frank Powell.

_ “He might have put the gold dust in the chimney, and
_ that writing with it,” he urged; “and the Indian may have
knocked both down when he came down the chimney.”
- His eyes burned greedily,
“If the paper had been in the chimney, it would have
| dropped into the fire and been burned,” said Powell. “I
don’t think it was in the chimney.”

He did not give up the gold dust.

“Ves, that’s so;
man assented.

it would have been burned,” the young

)
&

For old friend’s sake, foller .

BILL STORIES.

They began to look about, wondering vier the paper
had been.

“It must have been suck against the wall here,” sug-
gested the young man. “Here seems to be a place that H
may have held it. And perhaps father slept here in this i
very corner, and then left the paper here before going on. i
This is strange—strange !”

His excitement had not abated.

At this juncture there was a sudden rush, as the Sioux,
for the time neglected, sprang to the door.

He was either wonderfully quick, or the bolt had al-
ready been slipped out of place, for as soon as he reached
the door he began to pull it open. If the door had not |
sagged against the floor he would have got out without ;
trouble. : i

Powell threw himself on the Indian and hurled him
down. I

The redskin rolled over against the wall and lay there,
cowering and glaring, while Powell readjusted the

wooden bolt. /

The young man moved about nervously, holding the
letter in his hand; but he declared that Powel had served
the Indian right.

“You ought really to shoot the rascal,” Me Said. i) Ete
tried to kill all of us, and yesterday he fired at oo
He'll waylay us to-day, I don’t doubt.”

Then he looked at the letter again and began to com-
ment on the wonderful fact that it had been found in
this cabin, in so strange a way. He made a circuit of the
cabin and poked into the corner where, as he said, the
letter might have been left by his father.

“What will we do with this redskin?” Powell asked at.
length of Buffalo Bill. “We can’t kill him, even if he did —
intend to kill us.”

They decided to keep him there until morning; and
they did not release him until the horses had been
brought up. Then he was searched again, and when
broad day was at hand he was turned out of the cabin,
weaponless, with the warning that he would be shot if he

did not at once leave.

When released, he stalked silently away.

“Ts that safe?” the young man asked.

“Well, we couldn’t do anything else,’ Buffalo Bill re-
plied. “We couldn’t hold him, and, of course, we
couldn’t kill him. Unless he picks up some weapons, I
don’t see how he can harm us.’

“Now what's your plans?” the young man asked, when
the Indian was out of sight.

“Weill strike for Cottonwood Creek,”
answer.

The young man went outside to water his horse at the

While doing this he scribbled a note,
It bore no ad-

was the scout’s

spring near-by.
which mentioned Cottonwood Creek.
dress, but he signed it “Dashing Dan.”
He lingered in the cabin until the other men had gone
i. THE BUFFALO

out of it and then he thrust the note into a crevice, but
left an end projecting, that it might be seen readily by
any one who came in.

“Cottonwood Créek it is,’ he said cheerily, as he
emerged. “We've struck the trail of my father when it
couldn’t have oe expected, and I’m going to take that
as a good omen.’

He swung into his saddle in front of the cabin door.
The others were already mounted and all three rode
away.

CHAPTER [11
THE BORDER DECOY DUCK.

Nightfall approached while they were still some dis-
tance from Cottonwood Creek, and they camped by the
trail, an hour or so before sunset.

They kindled, no fire, and ate their supper cold, No
Indians had been seen, but there were fresh pony tracks
in the bed of the little stream by which they had stopped.
They were farther in the Indian country and the danger
was greater.

The two scouts inspected the pony tracks with great
care. ~

Then the young man joined them, (ane at the tracks
with interest. ae

“Is it common to see a track like that?’ he said, point-
ing to one of them.

It was a track made by a split hoof.

“Not often,’ Buffalo Bill answered. ‘‘But these Indian
ponies are never shod, and when they’re used on rough
ground the hoofs get broken pretty badly.”

The young man followed on, staring at those hoof-
marks wherever he could find them.

“What strikes me as queer is,” he said, “that my father, :

the last time I saw him, rode a pony that had a hoof of
that kind. I hated to mention it, for it seems foolish to
think this can be the same pony.”

Seeing: the tracks on ahead, he ran in advance of the
scouts.

The creek bank was bush- “grown, and soon he was out
of sight.

“These tracks seem pretty fresh, Pard Cody, a Said
_ Powell, pointing to some before him that were clearly
outlined. “It strikes me that pony passed along here not
an hour ago. Take a look.”

The examination made by Buffalo Bill confirmed
_ Powell’s opinion.

“If Indians have gone along here recently they may —

_ have stopped up there somewhere and that boy will get
into trouble,” said Powell.

The fresh tracks separated from the older trail and
went in two directions.
- The trail that continued along the creek Buffalo Bill
followed, noting its fresh appearance, and looking warily

BILL STORIES.

about, though he believed that more than an hour had
elapsed since the passage of the Sioux ponies.

He also kept a sharp lookout for the young man.

“He’s wandering altogether too far,” was his oan

Pulling at the bridle-rein of his horse, Buffalo Bill went
on, and came after a time to rougher, rockier land. He
was sure from its characteristics that the youth he was
following had gone round the rocks.

This took him away from the stream for a time.

When he reached it again, the young man’s tracks,
which he expected to find there, were not to be seen.

“This is queer!” he said.

He began to feel uneasy for the safety of the youth,
whom he believed to be inexperienced and wholly unfitted
to wander round in that wild and perilous place.

He advanced some distance up the creek, looking for
footprints. Finding none, he turned back at last, looking
for them farther down. ‘The time was now after sunset,
-and the night shadows were gathering.

He was rounding the boulder-strewn ground again,
when he heard a cry from the young man.

Then he saw him, prostrate, in the midst of bushes and
uTOCKS.

“Cody, I need your help!’ the youth called.. “I slip-
ped here in making my way ao a minute ago and have
turned my ankle; I can’t get up.’

He cried out in apparent pain as he twisted about.

Buffalo Bill picked his way toward the youth, leading
his horse. The trouble he had feared this young nian
would get him and Powell into seemed to have come,
though not in the manner expected. If the youth had so
twisted his. ankle that he could not walk, even to ride _
would give him excruciating pain; and that would neces-
sitate a delay, or require that either he or Powell should
remain behind with the injured man.

Yet, though that flashed through us mind, his first
thought was one of sympathy.

“Too bad!” he said. “T’ll get to you in just a minute.

The young man moaned as if in pain, as he twisted
round to look into the scout’s face, when the scout came
up to him.

39

Behind them Indian heads now appeared, rising back
of some bushes and rocks. One of the Indians clutched
and poised a lance.

As Buffalo Bill stooped to lift the head of the scoundrel
whose moans of pretended pain’ had deceived him, the
concealed Indians dashed out upon him.

He heard them in time to avoid the lance hurled at
him; but the surprise was so complete that he was no
match for them.

They dashed on him, knocked him down, and then,
piling on him in a heap, they held him down by sheer —
weight of numbers. ~

As they threw nooses over his feet ‘and hands, he saw

f

Si t

Le an tit pe

on ann sat ot amp enn PL me eo

 
          

tried to scream out a warning,

THE BUPRALO

the sneering face of the young ‘man he had: vegarded as
Lispenard’s son.

The young fellow had arisen, and joined: the. ladiane.
and was now staring down with flashing, triumphant eyes
into the face of the man whose ‘sole ole hed. been

to befriend him.

“So, this is your work!’ cried he scout. You are a
renegade and traitor.” fe

One of the Indians uttered ne betaine toa which He
scout did not understand; but at once two of the Indians
threw themselves. again upon him, pa. oo down,
even though he was now tied..

A blanket was thrown over his hoe and drawn tight

round his mouth, before he understood just what this

meant.

Some one was approaching. He had fancied Powell

- could not be so near, yet he was sure this was Powell.

He tried to cry out now and heard the young man hiss
in his ear, at the same time hearing the ne Oia Te:
volver as it was cocked, :

“Keep still, Cody, or you're a dead 1 man!’

_ Nothing could have kept the scout still at that moment.
Though he was bound, and was so smothered by the
blanket that he could utter no sound, he threw himself
about in an endeavor to make all the noise he could. He
but the blanket prevented
him.

“Hello!” cried Powell.

Thereupon, he made another violent attempt to send to
‘his friend a warning.

The result was the very thing he would have ayAled.

The growing darkness and the bushes and boulders hid

‘him from the eyes of Doctor Powell, so that neither he

nor the Indians could be seen. But Powell had located

that threshing sound; and, believing that the scout had

fallen down there and injured himself, or was combat-
ting some wild animal, or possibly an Indian, he came
running forward, seeing Buffalo Bill’s horse.

He had left his own horse, Decaitee Of the rough climb-
ing,
He was in ie midst of ae concealed Indians bole:
he knew it; then he saw the Indians rise round him, and
beheld the threshing and writhing form of Buffalo Bill,
who had been dragged back so that he could not at ance
be sighted, :

The Indian who interposed first before Doctor Boni
went tumbling down with a broken arm, smashed by a
bullet from the surgeon scout’s revolver.

Before Powell could fire a second shot the Indians were
on him and held him a prisoner.

When the victory was complete the sneering ‘ace of the
young man who had called himself Jim Lispenard ap-
peared again.

Frank Powell stared in iudlenation,
You seem surprised, my friend!”

 

BILL. STORIES.

    
  
  
  
  
   
  
   
   
  
 
   
  
  
 
  
    
   
  
     
    
    
 
    
     
     
     
     
      
    
     
     
   
       
     

The young man a cooly toa Seat on a stone and
smiled. |

Then he took out a 1 pipe, stuffed tobacco into it. and
passed a lighted match calmly over the tobacco.

' Frank Powell’s face turned slowly to a fiery red.

“You scoundrel!’ he shouted.
Lispenard !”

“T shall have to admit it,” said the young vitlain.

“Who in the fiend’s name are you?”

“T think you've met me.”

“Y’m sure I never did, until bad fortune brought you
across my trail recently. It’s easy enough to see that
you're a renegade. And of all the contemptible cattle
on earth a renegade is the lowest and meanest.”

“Softly, softly, my friend!’ urged the. young. man.
“You've broken an arm of one of my Indians, and they're
always in an ugly mood, ee Better ing x
thoughts about me in a lower tone,”

Then he smiled, and blew some of the tobacco smoke
through his nostrils.

“Still, I’m the gentlest bird that ever flew in these
parts. What I have stood in the way of abuse is a mar-
vel, even abuse from you.”

“Where? When?”

“Tast week, in Poconto. I see you recollect it.”

He laughed and stuck the pipe back into his mouth.

“Are you that devil of a “gambler I tried to arrest at
Poconto? ‘The thing is impossible.”

“Why impossible??

- “He was older, and he wore a beard.”

“T have that beard i in my pocket; the other was a ‘mat-
ter of clothing, and a few dark lines of paint on my face
together with a wig.”

He removed his hat and adjusted over his brown. hair a
wig that showed traces of gray. The change in his ap-
pearance was remarkable; and when he hunched his

‘shoulders and jammed his hat down in the way that
Powell remembered, the image of that Poconto gambler

was reproduced.
“You're a devil!” said Powell.
“Thanks for the compliment!”
He turned round.
“Ah! Our good friend, Cody, is aking up, I see.”
The smothering blanket had been taken from. the
scout’s face and head. He was still gasping for breath.
The Indians surrounded the prisoners and the renegade.

“A devil!” |

Equally with his friend, Buffalo Bill was astounded at

the change in the young man’s appearance.

. “Weve made fools of ourselves, Cody!” Powell re-
luctantly admitted. “Of the two of us, I’m the bigger
fool, and the guiltier; for I helped to deceive you by in-
troducing this scoundrel to you as Lispenard’s son on
information he furnished. I’m glad to believe that honest
old Ruel Lispenard never sired such a rattlesnake.”

“You are not James.

SS

     
     
    
    
     
     
     
     
    
   
   
   
     
    
  

 

  
 
 
 
 
  
   
     
   
  
  
   
 
  
 
  
  
  
   
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
   
   
  
     
  
  
   
   
  

SSR eeek

Se ee

 

The young man. laughed again, puffing oo at his
pipe.

That's eoad!?. he said. “That's almost oe Ge
ahead with it; while my redskins bring up their ponies
and yours and mine.
-smoke for a little while.”

. “Why did you do this?” Powell demanded fiercely y.

‘Because. 1. chose to.”

“That’s self-evident ; what I mean is, what do you gain
by ce We haven't ony tntie but our ponies and our
arms.’

“You forgot that bag of pola I’ve been wanting to
put my fingers on that ever since it dropped out. of that
chimney. You wouldn’t take my gentle ee that it le
fully belonged to me, as ae s son,’

oe You're not Peas s son.”
“ “Sure, T am.’

hats a het?

. The young man shrugged his shutters said stniled.

“Think so? Lying is a fine art if it’s done right. Not
every one can do it right, and the.bunglers bring it into
disrepute. Don’t you think I lied quite scientifically
down in Hot Springs, and-again at the cabin? I was
sure at the time the work was ‘being well done.”

One of the Indians, searching Buffalo Bill now, found
on him the bag of gold dust; for, by chance, he was at
the time carrying it.

The Indians tore it open, and, as they were beginning

to spill the dust, the young man leaped up with an oath
and hurried to them.

“Now is my time!” thought Powell.

In their haste, the Indians had not set tightly the cords
they had put on his* wrists. He had discovered it at
once, and now he hoped to take advantage of it.

He pulled at the cords, and one of his wrists slipped
out of the noose that held it. :

The Indians who had seized the bag of gold dust had
found, also, Buffalo Bill’s liquor-flask, it being always the
custom of the scout to carry a small flask for emergen-
cies.

The firewater was more alluring than even the gold.

The Indian who had seized it drew out the cork and
tipped the flask over his copper-colored nose.

He would have gulped down the whole of the con-
tents if the other Sioux had not seized him.

A fight for the flask seemed about to begin.

A quick thought swept through the brain of the wily
doctor. He might not be able to get away, but he might
do something else—dope the whisky in his own flask, and
do it so quickly it would not be. seen.

Fle drew out his flask, at the same time pulling out
some vials and small packages containing drugs and
medicines, things he found useful as a doctor.

One of the packages he broke open, and let a large

part of its contents slide into the whisky.

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

I think I can enioy co talk ad au

He did not take the trouble to restore the flask to its

place, but began to tug at the cords on his feet, his knife
having been already taken from him. He had parted one
of the knots before his attempt was discovered. .

Seeing he could go no farther, he tried to pres he
cord. Not able to do that, he jumped and scrambled
over the boulder by him, sliding over into the bushes,
hoping desperately that he could get away. - [

But he was pursued and dragged back into the camp.

CHAPTER Ty.
THE YOUNG RENEGADE.

‘As Powell was brought back and thrown down Foust?
the young renegade snatched Powell’ s flask from the lips
of one of the Indians.

(Viere! fe said. “Dont be pigs about the
me a bit of it.” ae ees

It was not so much a desire for the whisky as it was
a desire to keep the Indians from drinking it that moved
him. A few drops of the white man’s firewater in their
stomachs, unaccustomed to it, was enough to set them
wild and make them unmanageable |

But the Indians clamored so angrily that he gave
them the whisky-flask, after he had taken a few swal-
lows. oo

“Oh, well!” he laughed. “Two bottles of whisky won’t
kill you, even though you'd be better off without it.”

He turned to see that Powell was secured tightly this
time. The Indians who had seized Powell abandoned
him willingly enough, fearing if they didn’t hasten they
would lose their share of the firewater.

The young renegade made sure that the cords were all
tight.

“Indians are fools!’ he said. “They haven’t got the
sense of babies, when it comes to whisky. If you fellows
would just carry enough of it with you, you’d be safe
all the time; for whenever the noble red men get a
chance at your firewater they forget everything else.” —

He lighted his pipe again and sat down, watching the
Indians, who were dancing hilariously around, two of
them swinging the re whisky-flasks.

“Cody,” he said, “it’s against the law to furnish aire:
water to redskins. I reckon you and Powell will have
to plead guilty this trip.”

“Who are you?” cried Buffalo Bill, staring at him in
the growing darkness. “In the name of the foul fiend,
who are you, anyhow?”

© Megs

oNes you!’

“You've met me before.”

“Pm sure I never did!”
“Have you forgotten Juniper John, who ran the gam-

one

bling-joint at Sand Mountain, California, two years ago?

   

Da at RS Mee SI AE A OS hr cd Ms ib ng

 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 

 

 

     

 
 
  
 

 

 

 

THe. BUBT ALO

He got into a little pistol-argument with Spokane Kelly,
the sad result of which was that Spokane turned up his
toes. Spokane was a friend of yours, and you camped
on Juniper’s trail, and he flew the country.’

That was an almost forgotten incident in the event-
ful life of the scout, but he remembered now a certain
airiness that had been noticeable in the talk of the
gambler, Juniper John, and he knew that the young man
before him was the same individual.

“You haven’t any pleasant little comments to make

_ about that, eh?’

“You haven’t been known a as Juniper. john!’
Powell put in.

“No.”

“We'd like to know what you’re called here.
like to know just who we’re dealing with.”

“The name of a renegade is always interesting to us,”
said Buffalo Bill defiantly.

The young man regarded them fixedly.

“You ought to know that there’d be only one reason

We'd

~ which would make me tell what T’m called here,’ he

said,

‘What is it?” the scout demanded. © o

“The belief that in speaking it I’m talking to men who
would never have a chance to repeat what they’d heard.
And now, mebbe, you know just the situation you're in

when I say I’m willing you should know the name I sail

under here.”

“We should be glad to hear it,’ the scout assured him,
apparently not at all scared by those words.

“All right, gents!~ You can have it. At just this
minute I’m known to a circle of select friends as Dashing
Dan,”

“The Border Decoy Duck!” said Powell, with a gasp
of surprise.

“T thought the name would astonish you a bit. For,
you see, I haven’t been doing business at this stand very
long. When I was last'in the public eye I was over in
Kansas and Texas. I had some Indians under me then
who were good ones. They were Sioux, though the reds
I did most of my work with were Arrapahoes. :

“Those reds are with me now; that is, the Sioux are.”

He lifted his voice.

“Red Knife, come here!’ he commanded in Sioux.

In answer, an Indian appeared, his reeling gait show-
ing that already the potent firewater was ee his
legs.

The darkness was not. vee so deep but that the scouts

could see this Indian clearly, and, to their surprise, they

discovered that he was the one who had been caught 1 in
the chimney of the cabin.
Dashing Dan enjoyed their evident astonishment.
“This is one of the Sioux who helped me down in
Texas and Kansas. Most of these others are of the same
gang. When I called your attention to that split pony-

BILL. STORIES.

9
track, I knew whose pony made it, for that’s Red Knife’s
hallmark. I credit him with swift and riding and good
work, for. he got here ahead of us, summoned the others
of the gang, and enabled me to lay this trap for you.”

He shrugged his shoulders and hammered the; ‘tobacco
out of his pipe on his boot-heel.

“But I guess that whisky is affecting me, too, or I’d
not talk so much like a jackass. We've got you, and
that’s enough!” :

“Just a question,’ said Powell.

“Vil answer it it | want tox ie
_ Dashing Dan’s mood seemed to be changing.

“Yes, of course; but what I want to ask is, why did
you trouble us, unless you're in the road-agent business,
and thought we were here looking for road-agents?”

“That’s what you're here for, Ym guessing. If you
find any, notify me; for I’m interested in that kind of
cattle, being one myself.”

He shrugged his shoulders again, and paced his hand
across his face.

Powell, watching him keenly, spoke again.

“You didn’t believe we were here, scouting ahead of
the troppers, to see what the Sioux are up to?”

“No. That’s rot, you know; you was looking for me,
Well, you’ve found me. You've put your hand in the
den of the snake, and you'll feel his fangs. But what’s
the use?” _ :

He arose and walked to and fro, now and then ane
ging his shoulders and passing his hand across his face.

The Sioux were hilarious, and paying no heed to the
prisoners. Some were lying on the ground. Most io
them were talking at an excited rate, and a few of
them were howling.

“Funny how liquor affects Indians,” said Dashing
Dan, looking at them. .“But it’s making me feel funny,

- too, this trip. That's because I’ve been on the temper-

ance-list for the past month or aes 4 reckon. I’m not
much more used to it than they are
‘ “See here,” said Powell, ching: again to him.

Dashing Dan turned round.

“Well, what is it?’ was his gruff response.

“Did you know anything at all about Ruel Lispenard
and Wild Bill?”

“You saw that letter.”

“But you wrote that letter yourself, and pretended to ©
find it there.”

“Think so c=

Ys

“Then think so.”

He dashed a hand again across his face.

Suddenly he turned fiercely on Powell.

“Say!” he shouted, “was there anything in that whisky? _
For if there was, I’ll shoot you right here! What was
the matter with that whisky ?’

“There wa ae a the matter ae it, except that

Serene

 
erate es

SSE LEAR DRE AS

ars

 

 

 

_ tured,
your imagination a little more; perhaps it will concoct

BR RAS AES PERIL AR a PDN RAI OL EET OPES OE ERRATA E PEN IE PD

SBE

cc THE BUFFALO

it was sood and strong. You a mote: of it than ite
cari carty, likely.” oe

“T didn’t take above ofie good drinks then the In-
-dians demanded it, and I let ’°em have it. You didn’t
drug ity. Youre a doctor, and maybe you drugged it!
There was some queer bottles and other stuit found with

it, on the ground there.”

He poked rotind with his feet, and crushed one of the
vials.

Even the vials had been emptied by the thirsty red
men.

“By the Eternal! if I thought you unas that whisky,

Vd tall you!”

“You'll do that ashen. I suppose. So what wood
would it do me to lie about it? And how could I have
drugged it when my hands were tied; and how rhuch
time did I have for that?”

“You might have carried whisky that was drugged.”

“"Vhat’s a sensible idea, I must say, that a man would
eatry drugged whisky about with him! What would I
want with whisky that was drugged?”

; “Fort the redskins.”

“That would be asstiming that I expected to be cap-

atid expected them to get hold of it, Stretch

something stranger even than that.’
_ Dashing Dan stoad. staring at him.

Buffalo Bill had thought it wiser to say nothing, and
had remained silent. But-he saw that the whisky was
certainly affecting the Indians strangely.

Their howls and wild shouts drew Dashing Dan over
to where they were.

He began to berate them for a set of fools, and worse; .

and told them that enemies might be near, and they
had better keep quiet.

But to keep quiet was a thing not possible to them
now. :

They howled back at him, yelling the louder, in de-
fiance of him.

A few of them had toppled over and were snoring,
and the others seemed fast getting into a condition of
helplessness.

' At length, in his rage, he struck one of them.
A bedlam of madmen was evoked by that blow. ‘The

Indian slashed back with a knife, and was proniptly

knocked down.

The fight which this precipitated was 8o fierce that
two of the Indians fell, wounded, howling ever as they
toppled over. ‘The others rushed at Dashing Dan, who
turned in flight, and plunged into the darkness.

They staggered after hitn for a few steps. Then they
stopped, wavering and reeling, and turned back.

They now rushed tpon the prisoners, dragging them
about and searching frantically through their clothing

for more fire-water. They administered kicks atid blows.

the Sioux.

BILL STORIES.

When they” could: find no- more whisky, they began: to
fight among themselves.

One by one they fell down, tong stupidly where they
fell: and soon fiot an Indian remained on his feet.

“Now!” whispered Buffalo Bill. “Now is our time.”

He rolled overt to Powell. .

“Let me get at those cords with my teeth.”

Powell turned his back to the scout, so that the latter
could set his sharp teeth to the wrist-cords. Buffalo
Bill enawed at them, while every moment expecting the
return of Dashing Dan.

“He may not cothe back,” said Powell, who knew what
was in the mind of Buffalo Bill. “That was powerful
stuff, and I should think it would affect him as it did
I got enough of that powder into the whisky
to knock out a whole company, it seets to me. It was
risky; for its effect, when taken in too large doses, is to
produce a sort of frenzy, or temporary insanity.”

“They were frenzied ee for a little while.
der they didn’t knife us.’

“Ves, it was terribly risky; but it was the only thing
I could do—the only thing I could think of.”

“It worked the trick.’

Buffalo Bill’s words were smothered, for his teeth
were biting into the cords. |

He cut through them at length, though they were of
tough rawhide, and Powell’s hands were freed.

“Now well make it!’ Powell whispered, his voice
showing excitement.

He began ctawling towatd the fearest Indian, and
soon possessed the Indian’s knife.

He slashed away the rawhide that held his ankles;
then freed Buffalo Bill.

In another minute they had secured not only the weap-
ons of which they had been deprived, but all the weapons
belonging to the Sioux. They worked hurriedly.

I won-

The Indians were as helpless now as blocks of wood.
Some were shoring; others lay as if dead. Not one of
them knew he was being deprived of his weapons.

“What shall we do with them?’ said Powell.

Humane man that he was, the temptation to make an
end of these human brutes was strong upon him.

The scout stood listening for the feturn of Dashing
Dan.

“I don’t think he'll come back,’ said Powell. ‘He
probably fan on and on, until he cotild go no farther,
and then tumbled down somewhere.” _

“We can’t kill these devils, though they deserve it,”
said Buffalo Bill, “That would be murder, in their
ptesent condition. I stippose they'll get over this?”

“Yes; but it will be some hours before they do.”

“By that time we can be a long distance from here.
We'll just destroy their weapons, for we oo
them.”

They broke the guns and the knives over the stones,

 

 
 

THE BUFFALO

and threw the fragments into a ravine hard by. The
ammunition they cast away, except such of it as they
could use in their own weapons.

Having done this, they found their horses, cena the
Indian ponies loose, after destroying their. accouter-
ments; and then they hastily left.

As oe departed, the Indians still lay in heiples at-
titudes on the ground.

Dashing Dan had not ep

 

CHAPTER Y.
RUEL LISPENARD.

Buffalo Bill and Doctor Frank Powell put many miles
between themselves and the scene of this remarkable es-
cape before morning.

If captured again, they knew the Indians would kill
them without delay. The expectation of putting them
to torture, and the Indian love of cruelty, had caused

_ the Sioux to hold them before; but a chance to get away
would not be given again. The innate deviltry of the
Sioux would now be aroused to its highest pitch.

 

_.¢amp, concealing themselves and their horses as well as
they could, and catching a few needed winks of sleep.

But shortly after daybreak they were again en route,
_and pushing straight ahead.

They talked, of course, as they went on, discussing
| their plans and questioning as to what the Sioux and
* Dashing Dan would now do.

They began to look for pony-trails which might guide
them in their efforts to discover what the main body
of the Sioux were doing.

They did not believe that the Sioux under Dashing
Dan were allied with, or in any way connected with, the
hostiles who were gathering inthe hills. The hostiles
were not bent on plunder for its own sake, though they
would plunder readily enough when opportunity offered;
what had aroused them-was the invasion of their ancient
hunting-grounds by gold-seekers. The position and aims
of these hostiles were what the scouts wished to de-
termine now.

The ‘two scouts believed, also, that the letter purport-
ing to have been written by Ruel Lispenard was a for-

' gery, written by Dashing Dan, and produced by him in
the cabin for the sole purpose of luring them on until
they could be decoyed and captured. Dashing Dan, at
heart a coward, in spite of his bravado, app parently had
feared to attempt the lives of the scouts himself, but
had trusted to his Indians, believing they would make

— short work of these obnoxious white men, when they
had them in their power.

Hence, Buffalo Bill and Doctor Powell made no effort
to learn anything about Ruel Lispenard or Wild Bill, but
took up their task of locating the hostile Sioux.

 

As the gray dawn broke, the two scouts went into

BIEL STORIES:

 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
   
 
   
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 

They,

That they would be followed shortly by Dashing Dan’s
Indian desperadoes they did not doubt; but they were
on guard against them now, and hoped to evade, or baffle
them. |

Therefore, it was an astonishing thing, when they
came on a man lying against a stone by the side of the
faint trail, a man who was unconscious, and who proved
to be Ruel ‘Lispenard.

The old borderman was in a burning fever, and he
moaned feebly when they sought to arouse him.

Doctor Powell dropped down at Lispenard’s side,
placed a finger on his pulse, and made a hasty examina- .
tion. It was plain even to the inexperienced eye that
Lispenard was ill, but was not suffering from any
wounds, ed) ie a

“Mountain-fever,” said Powell, expressing at the same
time his astonishment at finding Lispenard there. “And
he’s sick enough. He must have wandered on, after it
struck him, until he tumbled down here. If we hadn't
by the merest chance found him, he’d have died. Too
bad I lost alt my medicines.”

They carried Lispenard to a grassy spot, where Powell
began’to work over him, placing on his head bandages of
torn clothing dipped in the water of a near-by spring.

Lispenard’s horse could not be found, if he had one.

“T think I can pull him through, Cody, by giving him
close attention,” said Powell. “And that means I can’t
go on with you. We ought to have a better place for
him than this.” :

Buffalo Bill departed, to search for some retreat to
which the sick man could be taken. Before he returned
he found it—a small cavern over a stream, where the
bushes which grew in front offered concealment. a

To this they bore Lispenard, hiding their trail after-
ward as well as they could.

Doctor Powell remained in this cavern with Lispenard
while Buffalo Bill went back to get the horses.

He was greeted by a painful surprise.

The horses were gone!

_A trail of moccasined feet was discovered, showing that
the thief was an Indian.

Buffalo Bill followed it for a short distance, when he
found it joined by another trail of moccasined feet.

Stealthily climbing to the top of a tall rock and look-
ing over, he discovered the two horses in a ravine some
distance below him, and knew that the Indians were with
them.

ee
Ping

suffer such a loss without making an effort to punish i.

thieves and recover the horses; and he was thinking of

trying to slip upon the watching and waiting redskins,

when he saw them joined by a half-dozen others, who

came down a trail from the opposite direction.
This put a new face on the matter.

 

 
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He took out his field-glasses and surveyed the new

- force, discovering thus that this was a war-party.

- He and Powell had been hoping to strike a war-party
of Sioux, and here it was.
Tt had been the intention of the scouts to follow the

_war-party when they discovered one, or its trail; they

hoped by doing so to come upon the main body of the
Sioux, and.so get the information they sought.

But it became quickly apparent that this war-party had
determined to become the searchers.

- They knew that the horses captured belonged to white

men. The saddles and bridles showed that. Now the
scout saw three or four of them leave the ravine, and
take the backward trail.

That the Sioux who thus stole forth would go to the
point where the horses had been found was certain.
There they would try to pick up the trail of the white
men, and so locate them.

“They know we're not far off,” Honght the scout, as
he began to slide down from his perch. “I hope. we’ve
hidden our trail carefully, and that I can get back and
do the same. It will be awkward if we're smelt out
now, with Lispenard sick on our hands.”

He gave over all thought of recovering the horses, and
by the shortest route made his way to the cavern, taking
the startling news to Doctor Powell. .

Buffalo Bill covered his trail so well that the Sioux

did not stumble upon the cavern, though they circled’

round like hunting-dogs, and even descended into the
bed of the smal! stream where the cavern was located.

It had been only a chance which had revealed the
cavern to the scout, a bat flying out when he approached
it; and it was well hidden by bushes.

Nevertheless, Buffalo Bill crouched in the cavern en-
trance, behind those bushes, with his rifle ready to repel
the foe.

‘In the cavern, Doctor Powell had started a fire of

dry sticks, and had been boiling some sage-leaves, to
make a tea for the sick man.

The fire was instantly extinguished; yet they feared
that the keen noses of the redskins would still scent the
smoke,

ThougSh the tea had not been brewed for as long a
time as Powell wished, he forced a quantity of it down
the throat of the sick man. He had as a vessel only the
battered tin he had brewed it in, brought from the camp
of the Indian desperadoes. :

Throughout the day the two scouts remained in the
cavern, watching by turns from its entrance, and caring

. as well as they could’ for Ruel Lispenard.
_ They had a scanty supply of food and water ; the food

having been taken from the Indian camp, and ane water
having been brought in their water-bottles. Below them
rolled the stream, but until nightfall they dared not leave
the cavern to visit it.

Ea a Re ed ion er raga Tp Ne epee pO PN TO aa aT OO

BILL STORIES.

“Tt seems that the Sioux have got us penned up here,”
said Powell ruefully.
Perhapsafter dark, Cody, you might slip out; and if you
find out anything worth while, you can make a break
with your information for Brown’s troopers.” :

Buffalo Bill did not wish to do this, is Powell and

Lispenard needed him.
Before nightfall more than a hundred Aare Sioux

came along the mountain-trail above.

As soon as they appeared they were hailed by the

Indians who held the horses taken from the scouts.

The mounted Indians joined in the search, but suc-
ceeded no better than the others.

That night signal-fires flamed on the near-by peaks.

“The Sioux are gathering,’ said Buffalo Bill, when :

he saw the fires.

It was clear now to the scouts that Crazy Horse’s wart-
riors were gathering near in strong force, preparing for
some movement. And they did not doubt that the ob-
jective point was the troopers under Brown whom the
Sioux hoped to defeat in a decisive pitched battle.

Crazy Horse was an able and ambitious chieftain, who
had been greatly incensed by the invasion of the gold-
seekers into the Sioux hunting-grounds, and he was de-
termined to drive out all white men, or destroy them.
A Sioux war of alarming proportions seemed to be im-
pending.

After nightfall the scouts, in their cavern, heard the
booming of Sioux drums not far away. °

“I'll have to look into that,” said Buffalo Bill.
I find out anything, I’ll come right back.”

He crept out of the cavern, down into the bed of the
stream, and under cover of the darkness made his way
in the direction of the drum-beating.

He had not gone far when the drum-beating ceased.

_ It took more than two hours of cautious work before
he discovered that the Sioux had departed. The drum-
beating had stopped, and the Sioux were gone.

With this information, he crept back to the little cave.

Powell thought it meant some immediate movement of
Crazy Horse’s forces.

When morning dawned not an Indian could be seen
near the. cavern.

“When

Peoemeyesse

CHAPTER VI.

WILD BILL,

For three days Buffalo Bill and Doctor Frank Powell :

remained in the cavern, discovering at intervals Sioux

war-parties on the near-by hills, the presence of these

wat-parties: showing that the larger body of the Sioux
were still in the vicinity.

On the second day Ruel Lispenard was so much re-
- covered that he was able to talk and tell his story.

In some respects it was a surprising tale.

 

“Tl have to stay by Lispenard. |

ch

 

 

 
 

 

 

Re eC or renga Sete Te NN
Seon Se PP PDR TY

THE BUTE ALO

He had written that note found in the cabin, and the
gold- dust which had dropped from the chimney was his,
he having placed it there in hiding. The note he had
stuck into a crevice in the cabin wall, from which it, no
doubt, had fallen to the floor, where Dashing Dan had
found it.

What Lispenard had to say concerning Wild Bill was
the thing that most deeply interested the scouts, for
Wild Bill had been their sworn and true Gay on many
a dangerous trail.

“Ye see, it was this way,’ said Lispenard, speaking
in a weak voice. “I knows a good many of these Sioux,
and though they’re now the enemies of all white men,
some of ’em is still ready to befriend me. And that’s
how it was. This redskin was Sneaking Weasel. Mebbe
you've met him. I was cached in the cabin when he
comes riding by; and, seein’ who it was, I a out and
met him.

“He said the Sioux had got bad hearts agin’ all white
men, and that I’d better jes’ hike out of the country;
and then, to prove how dangerous it was fer me to be
stayin’ in Sioux territory, he ups and tole me about Wild
Bill.

“Seems that Wild Bill and a lot more reckless fellers,
same’s myself, had projected theirselves into the hills,
looking fer gold; and Wild Bill’s crowd had met up with
trouble. A lot of ’em had got killed in a fight with the
reds, and Wild Bill was made a pris’ner, with the chance
of bein’ scalped. The others of the band that escaped
was scattered.

“Well, when Sneaking Weasel had eve on, I writ that

note, hid in the chimbley that bag o’ dust I’d collected ©

over on Powder River; and then, instead of hikin’ back
to the white man’s country, as the red had advised me
ei I pulled my freight straight on into the hills, strikin’
‘em at the p’int where Cottonwood Creek makes down
out o’ them.

“Fer several days I poked round, seein’ no Injuns,
and scrapin’ up a little dust here and thar; and then I
strikes a trail of burros which I knowed belonged to
white men. I follered that burro-trail, and what d’ye
think ?”

He lifted himself, and his manner became almost dra-
matic,

“You found that they were in the hands of Indians,”
said Powell,

“No, sir; I found that Sneaking Weasel had lied ter
me. He jes’ had wanted ter skeer me into leavin’ the
country. That burro-train belonged to Wild Bill’s party,
and they was safe and sound, and as fat and sassy as
chipmunks. They’d had no trouble at all with the reds,
- though they'd seen Sioux trails enough to raise yer
hair,

“They'd struck Bold ovet on Bitter Water, and were
jes’ gobblin’ it. I j’ined ’em. But grub was short, and

 

si oh NaS

BIEL SIORTES, X83.
the game seemed to have cut out. So I was sent out
to git somethin’, if I could. But an Injun stole my hoss,
and then I tuck sick. I tried to git back to the camp
on Bitter Water, but fell in the trail. Ther nex’ thing
I knowed Doc Powell here was bendin’ over me, and
askin’ how did I feel.”

The scouts heard this story with breathless interest.

That, at last accounts, Wild Bill was alive and well
was especially gratifying.

“They ain’t so very fur pay frum here; if only I
could walk, I could take ye to ‘em, if the Sioux ain’t smelt
em out fore now, and sent *em on the run,”
penard’s statement.

ee, was much interested in what the scouts

old him about Dashing Dan.

It was clear now that Dashing Dan had not lied ee
finding the letter in the cabin, but had been as much
surprised by its discovery there as the scouts.

What he had done was to make use of the fact that
the letter sent them on to Cottonwood Creek, where he
and his Indian desperadoes had laid their trap and caught
their prey.

But who was Dashing ‘Dan? |

That was a question which stirred Ruel Lispenard.

That he was a gambler, a notorious outlaw and road-
agent, a renegade with murderous instincts, who made
use of Indian desperadoes, were facts already certain.
But, aside from this, who was he?

“I’ve got a son,’ said Lispenard, “what's gone wild,
and went into gamblin’ and all kinds o’' meanness. I
ain’t seen him fer two years, and then he was over in~
Californy.”

It was plain that Lispenard believed, or feared, that
Dashing Dan was really his son. .

For two days more the scouts remained with Lispenard
in the little cavern; at the end of which time he declared
that, if he had a horse to ride, he could go on and show
them just where Wild Bill’s party was camped.

But they had no horse.

The Sioux were still hovering ae and at night In-
dian signal-fires flamed on the hilltops.

It was becoming more and more np tan to know
just what the Sioux were doing.

Because of that, as much as. anything else, Buffalo
Bill set out one night alone following Lispenard’s general .
directions.

He inspected several 'signal-fires that night, and crawled

‘close upon one Sioux camp, yet discovered nothing of

importance.

But in the morning, as he tried to go on, he found
himself fairly i in a hornets’ nest of Sioux.

The hills swarmed with them, they were on every
trail, and camped by every stream.

If Buffalo Bill had not now been close to the piace
described by Lispenard as that where Wlid Bill’s party,

hee rite aod st a ta Oa

was Liss |:

BENS Rrevashattrss ae.

 
    

  

SR re ne
x NSES Se ‘ SSS

 

 

 

 

Sa pe

_ “Walked,”

no one knew it.

1 | THE BUFFALO

was to be found, he wouldhave back-tracked to the

cavern.

As it was, he went on, crawling stealthily throseh
the scrub and the timber of the hills.
_ From the top of one of these hills he at length looked
down into the valley of the Bitter Water, a narrow and
crooked stream rising in the hills and flowing out into
the Belle Fourche.
_ There were two Sioux camps in the valley, some dis-
tance apart, and between them Sioux horsemen were
riding about.

But there was no sign of a white man’s camp any-
where.

It began.to seem, if this was the spot regrcoed i

Lispe nard, that Wild Bill’s party had already quitted it.

For hours Buffalo Bill lay on that hilltop watching the
valley of the Bitter Water.

The Sioux struck camp, and moved away, while the
scout watched.

They were hardly out of sight when he was astonished
by observing the head of a white man protrude from
the ground some distance off, lower down on the side
of the very hill where he was lying.

He pointed his glasses at this head; then uttered a>

cry of amazement.

“Wild Bill!”
In another moment Buffalo Bill was scrambling down
to join this friend.

When he came near the point where he had seen the.

head, it had vanished, and though he looked all over
the spot where it had been seen, he could not discover

it again.
He called out:
"Heltol Wild Bill, you here?”

The head appeared again, farther down than he had
thought to See at; and. Wild Bill was staring him full
in the face.

A low cry of delight sounded, and Wild Bill came

_ scrambling out of what looked to be a hole in the rock.
“Cody, I can’t believe my eyes! -

“Why, hello!’ he said.
How’d you get here?’
was the brief answer. “I came hunting
for you and your crowd.”

They met and struck hands.

Wild Bill was attired in miner’s costume of red shirt,
coarse trousers, and big boots, and his clothing was soiled
and muddy,

“Tt’s like a taste of wine, Cody, to meet you bere! he
declared.

His eyes were bright, showing that he was in the best
of health. :

“You say you came hunting for me here? How’s
that? I thought we had so buried ourselves here that
Even the reds can’t smell us out.

They've been trying it for two whole days. We leit

BILL STORIES.

some tracks down there in the valley, and that’s what
started em. You saw ’em go a while ago, maybe?”
Buffalo Bill began to explain; and his explanation was
surprising.
“So it was Ruel Lispenard that told you?” said Wild
Bill. “Glad to know the old boy is alive. We thought

the reds had rubbed him out, as he’s been gone so long.

Some of us tried to trail him, and find out what had
happened to him; but the Sioux caused us to give it up.
So he’s alive? And Doc Powell’s with you? Good!
Now I'll show you our hole in the ground; and you'll
be ready to say the idea ain’t half-bad.”

He turned about and walked to the point where he
had appeared.

Buffalo Bill aes that the hole in the rock had
been closed.

Wild Bill tapped in a Fue way with his knife, when

a door in the seeming sandstone opened, and a head ap- ©
_ peared—the head of a miner.
The sandstone wall was but a pretense, formed of

boards out of some packing-boxes, so cleverly coated over
with sand, applied as a plaster, that, except when viewed
right at hand, it was capable of deceiving the keenest
eye.
Behind this fake sandstone door was a tunnellike
cavern, roomy and dry, which ran back a short distance,
and opened into a roofless space resembling a crater. In

that cavern Buffalo Bill found the members of Wild

Bill’s party.

They had discovéred the cavern and constructed the
wall and its door before the Sioux invaded the Bitter
Water Valley, preparing thus against discovery and
trouble. :

Then the Sioux had come, and Wild Bill’s party had
lost all their burros,
which to hide the animals. The Sioux had also found
human footprints down by the stream, where the men

had been searching for gold; and for the past two days

hardly a head had been poked through that sandstone
door.

“We'll send men to bring Lispenard in,” said Wild
Bill. “We'll be glad to have you and Powell with us.
We haven't been doing anything but lying low ever since

‘the Sioux ae but now that they’re gone, we'll try for

the gold again.”
Wild Bill and his men—there were but four all told,

_ including himself—knew that the hills were filled with
warlike Sioux; but they had not known that General

Brown had been sent against them with a force of troop-
ers, and that the fighting chief, Crazy Horse, was ee
ing all the warriors he could find,

This was news of so startling a kind that. Wild Bill
was almost ready to give over his gold-seeking, in his
desire to scout about in the interests of the government.

The first thing to do, however, was to send for Lis-

 

for there was no good place in —

    
     
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
   
  
   
  
  
      
 
     
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      
 

 

 

tating, announcing his dis¢ovety.

penard and Powell; a journey they now talked over, and |

which they decided should begin at once. ©

- But even as they talked of it an alarm came.

The man stationed at the door announeed that the
Sioux were again in the valley. —

There were small holes in the door through which he
watched, and he had seen Indians riding down by the

‘stream.

_ Even mote startling than this was the discovery, soon
saad, that Indians were on the very hill where the white
men were in hiding,

Apparently, the Sioux had struck the trail of Buf-
falo Bill, They probably had seen him; ee eyen
while he was talking with Wild Bill.

The discovery chagtined the experienced scout, who
had tried hard to leave no trail by which he could be
pursued,

But Sioux eyes are keen.

Buffalo Bill applied his eye to the tiny holes in the
false door, and lookéd otit on the Indians below in the
valley. He could not see those on the hillside who had
been sighted by the watchful guard, for they had moved
on out of the range of vision; but the manner in which
the Indians below stared up at the hill told they were
watching some one there. ‘

Even as the scout looked out, an Indlad came running
along the face of the hill, his eyes scanning the ground.

He was a wity Sioux, with wonderfully keen eyes, and
he had found the faint tracks leit by Buffalo Bill and

Wild Bill, sighting them first at the point where the

scouts met, anid following them on.

He stopped, with a grunt, in front of the concealed
door, and glanced round.
. The tracks had vanished there, and he was puzzled.
He stared hard at the stone door; and the scott, look-
ing through the tiny holes, had the peculiar feeling that

the Indian saw him and was looking him squarely in the

GCYE.
“Ugh!”
The Sioux grunted again in a changed tone.

Then he lifted his lance, and struck with its point a
resounding blow on the false door.

The lance-point was thrust into the wood, and the
mystery was at once revealed to him. :

With lightninelike quickness he withdtew the lance,
and threw himself backward in such a way that he was

- tossed down the slope, and the scout heard his ae

slide on the sandy hillside.
Then the Sioux’s yell arose, wild, triumphant, oad

 

JHE BUPEALO

 

‘brought into ‘the hills;

     
 

BILL “STORIES,

   

-CHAPTER Vit.
HEMMED IN,
"The Sioux’s discovery of the hidden retreat of Wild
Bill’s party was a most regrettable and unfortunate thing.

In every respect it changed the aspect of affairs.

It was not possible now to send forth the men who
were to have gone to the relief of Lispenard,

In fact, it became at once apparent that the cavern
would be closely invested, rendering it dangerous for
any one in the cave to try to get out.

Buffalo Bill was much distressed.

But though Indians were soon detected in the bushes
lower down the hill, and some were seen even nearer,
hiding amid the rocks, awaiting a chance to shoot at the
head of the first white man that appeared, they did not
make an attack on the door. .

Nearly an hour went by before they pen to shoot at
it with their rifles,

If, up to that time, they had in any way doubted that
it was but a wooden shat, they saw now ‘its true char-
acter, for their bullets splintered it, knocking off its
veneer of sand, and revealing it injall its nakedness as
tere wood, and very thin boards of wood at that. :

Whenever a splinter flew from the wooden door the
Indians yelled in shrill triumph.

But, aside from damaging the door and showing its
chatatter, their eiif-fire did no harm whatever. |

As the Sioux had to shoot up-hill, they could only hit
the upper part of the door; while below the reach of
the bullets lay the white men who guarded and watched
through the tiny holes,

We're all right in here, Cody, except maybe on the
question of water and food,” Wild Bill assured. ‘We
can’t get out, likely, but neither can them devils set in,
except by facing our rifles; and they'll not try that too
quick. If there’s anything a redskin don’t like it’s cold
lead. I wish we had more water; but what we've got
will last us a day or so. And we've got grub enough
for about that time.

“We've cot, besides, all the things that the burros
for, when we couldn’t hide the
burros well, and figured that maybe the reds would get
"em, We hae brought the pack-loads in here; ahd they’re
hete yet.” |

He lighted a candle, and showed the scout the things
which the cavern contained.

“Even a tent and tent-poles, Cody, though, of course,
they’re no good in here. We didn’t calculate to be holed
up here always, and thought we could use ‘em after
the reds had cleared out—use ‘em down’there by the
river, where we worked.”

The white, new canvas of the tent gleamed bngney
in the candle-light.

“T shall try to get out of here to- teh ” said Buffalo
Bill.

  
 

  

Tee BUPEALO
“Better not try it, Cody! Better wait a while.

‘thing they'll expect. They’ll likely nab you if you risk

it. Powell’s all right; able to hold his own, and hang out ©
2 as long as it’s necessary. Maybe ae can make it to-

morrow night.”

When nightfall approached, Buffalo Bill saw how ~

perilous would be the attempt to leave the cavern.
The hillside _swarmed with Indians, who fired upon

the door at times; and down in the Bitter Water Valley

were so many Sioux horsemen that it seemed as if the
whole force which Crazy Horse expected to move
against General Brown was gathered there.

“IT suppose ey could drag us out of here, Cody, if
they had the grit,”
force with Buffalo Bill, through the door. “But that’s
a thing an Indian lacks. One determined white man in
a hole in the rocks, with a good rifle, and ammunition

a-plenty, can hold back a regiment of ’ em. No Indian.
ever likes to lead in a desperate assault; for he knows

that the leaders are the ones who will be killed.
“No; what they prefer is to hang round, and pot
the white man, if they can. If they can’t do that, they’ll
try to starve him out, or git him at a disadvantage some
way, and then wipe him out. They could take us out
of here if they were willing to lose a dozen men or so
doing it; but they ain’t willing. They'll simply cork us
up so tight that we’ll starve if we don’t surrender.” |

That night signal-fires flamed again, and in even
greater numbers.

Buffalo Bill did not try to leave Ae cavern.

He watched by the door a good part of the time, and
now and then he was sure he heard Indians crawling in
front¥ot it. -But no assault came. The Sioux, eager as
they were for the scalps of the white men, had not yet
nerved themselves to that.

When morning dawned Indian camps were seen by the
river.

Indian horsemen fairly swarmed in the valley.

That the entire hill was closely guarded was certain.

The day passed slowly.

Warriors again occupied points of advantage, hehe

rocks and bushes, and at intervals fired on the wooden
door. The upper part of it, which they could reach, was
ultimately splintered into match-wood.

There was much riding to and fro of warriors down
by the stream, and it really seemed that the force there
was being increased.

_ As on the previous day, the Indians did not make an
assault on the cavern.

That day their supply of water was exhausted; so that
death from thirst stared them in the face.

The situation had begun to grow desperate.

Buffalo Bill determined to escape from ee cave that
night,

  

those
‘reds will watch close to-night, for that will be just the —

Bill had never sought to hide behind excuses,

said Wild Bill, inspecting: this Sioux

- below us,” he said;

 

Bill STORIES.-

He had done much thinking throughout the day.
It was true that Doctor Powell, unless he was discov-
ered by the Sioux, could remain where he was with Lis- —
penard almost indefinitely; and, therefore, it was not
required that the scout should take extraordinary risks.
to reach him. -
But the work which Buffalo Bill and Doctor Powell

had been sent to perform was not being done.

The excuse for not doing it was good; yet Buffalo
evel
though they were reasonable. He passed such things by,
and resolutely did the work required of him. .

With the coming of night he told Wild Bill his con-
clusions, and had a long talk with him and the men
occupying the cavern.

“T believe that Crazy Horse’s Indians are right here

“and, therefore, the thing I came to
find out is discovered. I now know where the main
body of the Sioux are, They’re here. I've got to get
that news to General Brown as soon as I can. He's
needing it; so that he may know which way to move, and
where to strike.”

“He'll not know much, though,
through,” one of the men warned him. ©
“True enough. But I’ve got to make the effort.”

He looked earnestly at the men and at Wild Bill.

“Another thing. You know how desperate the situa-
tion is here.. Those Indians down in the valley have —
made up their minds to stay here until you are starved
out. What's a week to an Indian? What is even a
month? .They'll simply wait.

“You can’t get out, unless, one by one, you are willing
to take the chance I intend to take to-night.” :
“They'll tomahawk the first man that tries it,’ said the -
man who had spoken before.

a ye dove ee

These men were miners, not Indian-scouts and fighters.
Not one of them could have accomplished the thing
which the scout contemplated trying that night. Not
many even of the best-trained scouts would have been

equal to it.

Buffalo Bill knew this, though he did not say it, for
it was never his nature to boast of his ability or his ~
prowess.

Wild Bill knew it, too.

“Ti I get past the Sioux here, I shall take the back-
trail, and reach Powell by daylight. Tl give him word
of what’s happened. Besides, he may need me for some-
thing. Then I’ll head straight away for that cabin at
the edge of the plains, and on to find General Brown and
his soldiers.”

From this plan the scout could not be persuaded;

When darkness covered the face of the hills,
blotted the valley from sight, ie Bill oe his
preparations.

They were simple. All he did was to take his weapons

 

 

 

and \
THE BUFFALO

 

and ammunition, slowly push the splintered door open,
wring the hand of Wild Bill in a farewell parting, oad
crawl out into the gloom of the night.

He had no sooner done so than a wild yell es
and an Indian who had been stretched right in front
of the door was upon him.

The scout’s knife was in his hand, and he auc the
Indian with it.

The redskin fell, clinging to a nek elias him
down. ae
; He heard a series of yells break out along the slope
[ ile of the hill, and heard Indians running toward him.
oe i Freeing himself of the clutching fingers of me wounded

_ | Indian, the scout was about to run.

He heard a voice behind him—that e Wild Bill:

eCody

“Keep down! Tm all right!”

_ Instead of running in‘ the direction. he intended, he

dropped to the ground by the fallen Indian, and. simply

rolled over; so that, in another moment, he was beside

a big boulder.

Along this he drew himself on his hands and knees,
making no more noise than necessary.

‘The shouts and calls of the Indians aided him in this;
for the Sioux, answering the yell of the Indian who
had encountered Buffalo Bill, were muahing a ney com-
motion.

Writhing round the big boulder, the scout slid on
down the hill like a gliding snake.

He lay flat on the ground as he heard several Sioux
dash up to the door where lay the fallen brave.

A rtifle-shot came through the door, and another In-
dian yelled, showing that he had been hit.

The shot had been fired by Wild Bill, who hoped to
make a demonstration that would aid his pard.

It was a much-needed aid. Under cover of the hubbub
that followed, Buffalo Bill slid several yards farther
down the hill.

The Sioux sprang back from in front of the door,
dragging back their wounded comrades. Some of them
began to shoot into the door. |
Again Buffalo Bill slid on,
yards by careful work.

But the Sioux knew now that some desperate white
man had emerged from the cavern and was on the hill-

_ side; and they scattered out, searching for him.

When they began that he lay low, hugging the very
ground in an endeavor to make himself inconspicuous.

Sioux warriors went plunging by within a few yards
of him, but he remained undiscovered.

Then he beheld the flaring of torches. They were being
brought from the valley camp-fires, and were to be used
in searching the hillside for him.

When he saw vaca and realized how, they would in-

 

 

 

 

 

gaining once more several

  

  

Sai cab Ca eekly eatin et iiReesti8

 

 

 

  

Bil SpORInS: 17,
crease his danger, he rose quietly to his feet, and walked
on as fast as he could, trying to make no sound.

But he was seen by an Indian, who called to him.

The. scout called back, in the Sioux tongue; yet some-

thing in his pronunciation created suspicion in the mind

of the savage.
question.

The desperate scout threw up his revolver, tumbled
the inquisitive Sioux to the ground with a quick shot, —
and then began to run as fast as his legs would carry /
him. *

A score of Indians were instantly in pursuit; and
others sprang up at most inconvenient places, in front of
him, off on the right side andethe left. He ran like a
deer, dodging and turning.

In the darkness they began to. ee at him, and the

He came toward the scout, repeating his

bullets sang and whirred round him most unpleasantly.

But the darkness was still in his favor.

As he sped on he knew that one Indian had been
wounded, in mistake for him; and that some others _
had run into each other, Hanne the other the oe
desired white man.

The scout’s fleetness and his good lungs served ne
well.

He continued ahead of the Sioux, and soon began to
leave even the foremost far behind.

After having rounded the hill and taken himself well
away from the river, he shaped his course for the dis-
tant stream where Lispenard and Doctor Powell awaited
him,

He traveled rapidly, yet silently, aad heatd no more of
his pursuers. Nor ‘did he encounter any Indians. Be-
hind him flamed on the hilltops the signal-fires; and it
seemed that there, behind him, must be the whole of —
Crazy Horse’s warriors.

Though he traveled so rapidly, daylight came before
he reached familiar ground, in the vicinity of the-cave

__ he sought.

He lay on the hills overlooking the stream, surveying
the valley and the surrounding hills, before he ventured
forth into the open ground,

When he saw no Indians he went.

On reaching the cave he found Powell and Lispenard.

Both were immensely pleased to see him again. They
had begun to fear the worst. ne

‘Lispenard was so much improved that he had been just
declaring to Powell his ability to walk to the valley of
‘the Bitter Water, though Powell did not apices with
him.

The news the scout Souehe. was interesting, sad even
astonishing,

They had news for him, too, of the utmost importance.

Doctor Powell had captured an Indian pony in the
valley below the cave, the day before, and now had it.
hidden in a near-by grove.

  
   
 

 

  

ese idea ese are”
   

 

18

  

Tt was just the thing Buffalo Bill, tired by his Jong
walk, needed.

“Tt take it’ he said. “I'll find General Brown, and
he'll come right up with his troopers against the Sioux
in the valley of the Bitter Water. There'll be a big
fight, probably, for Crazy Horse seems to have his whole
force there. I think you two had better not try to
leave this place until afterward.” ae

For an hour the scout rested in the little cave, falicine
with his friends.

enough to do him; he felt that he had not time for more.

Then he slipped quietly out of the cavern, and went
to the grove where Powell had placed the captured pony.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE WHITE WHIRLWIND. .

The pony was pure white, with a beautiful long mane
aid tail, and of superior size for an Indian pony. It was
also in good condition, and seemed equal to the task

required,

It had no saddle or. ae even of the Indian variety ;
but it had been trailing a rawhide riata when found, and
with this riata Powell had tied it to one of the trees,

Buffalo Bill did not delay. .

He made a hackamore out of the riata; and, using it
for.a bridle, he mounted to the back of the pony, and
soon was riding out of the valley.

He found some rough traveling for a mile or two,
but the course he took at length brought him out of
the jumbled land into more open country.

As soon as the nature of the ground permitted, he put
the white pony to the test.

To his delight, it went along with almost the fleetness
of a skimming swallow.

After gaining the valley of the Cottonwood, he con-
tinued down the stream until it debouched into the open
plains.

‘Here the scout had hot only open country, but com-

. paratively level ground, and again he put the white pony
to the test, sending it on at its best gait.

Instead of following the trail which led in the direc-
tion of the cabin where he and Powell had met, Buffalo
Bill shifted his course more to the northwatd.

He knew that out there somewhere, behind the dim
haze of the open plains, Brown’s troopers were to be
looked for.

That he might be Sure not to miss than, he headed oe
their last known camp.

, When he reached it, he found that the troopers had
moved, going in the direction of the“hills. Apparently,
they-had struck camp the day before.

“Tired of waiting for any word from me,”
thought. “I don’t blame them.
for me to get here sooner.”

was his
But it wasn’t possible

 

AP Te re aa oh gat ite BRIO ea a cae ree ae IOLLL RL gL EY Aim ol aa ae seien eae es
if EE EDN EIR 2 Ce) I a CUNY x Ere ees

BIL i SrORiS.

He also caught a few winks of sleep, -

ay pean rhe es ton .
seu sa te

~He followed the broad trail, vee: that it show ed
maths of hasty traveling.

Again he drove the white poriy om at a rapid pace, i in
spite of the fact that it had been under him. cide so
many hours.

It was not until evening “gpproached, and he was back
in the vicinity of the hills, that Buffalo Bill noticed a
thing which gave him a strange feeling of suspicion. — It

seemed to have éo slevider a foundation, however, that n :

tried to cast it Om.
The thing he noticed, and which evoked Mat teeliics

was a pony-ttack showing a split hoof, which in every

respect, as he remembered it, was identical with those
pointed out to him by Dashing Dan near the cabin.

That track at the cabin, as the scout had been sure
since, was made by a pony ridden by the Indian who
had tried to get down the cabin chimney.

Buffalo Bill tried again to put aside the startling

thought which the sight of the split hoof-print suggested,
yet he orew eveii miofe anxious to join the troopers with:
out delay.

Though he now drove the white pony remorselessly,
the darkness closed about him while the hills loomed
still aliead arid tio gleam of troopers’ camp-fire had been
seen.

The white pony was so spent that the scout aah ie it
must have rest.

So he went itito carnp close by a stream, © |

He needed rest quite as much as did the pony. So
tired otit was he that he had ne sootier lain down than
he was asleep.

It was past midnight when he awoke.

Mounting again, he again pushed on, more slowly be-
cause of the darkness, but ad the broad trail of
the troopers.

The thought caused by the sight of the split track of
a polly impressed him more and more, as he continued
to note the evidences of hurtied movethent on the part
of the troopers. One remarkable thing was ‘that they
had hot stopped even to build camp-fites. So recently had
they passed along this particular section of their trail
that glowing coals from ‘their camp-fires, had there been
any, could have been expected.

“It begins to look as though General Brown got word

of the location of the Sioux, and is ee to attack

was the scout’s conclusion,
When morning broke,
tiding, the troopers weré not in sight.

With a short halt after daybreak, the scout suined
straight ahead.

them,”

The white pony was still speedy and plucky, and it
covered the ground in a way that was really wonderful.

The trail of the troopers grew even fresher.

“They’re heading toward the Bitter Water,” was Buf-
falo Bill’s thought. |

   

eee Lemp palin hla cm ne aera “te

  

after half a night of hard

       

   
   
   
 
  
   
 
   
  
 

 

 
   
 

     

 
  
  

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

Shortly before noon he came in sight of ae hill where
he had left Wild Bill and his party ae like wolves
in their tunnel-cave.

_ Beyond that hill was the valley of the Bitter Water.

Instead of pursuing the trail of the troopers as it
swung in a wide curve to avoid the broken land, Buffalo
Bill drove the white pony up the steep slopes, finding
that it could climb like a goat.

When he reached a certain high eminence the valley lay
spread before him.

Then he saw the troopers, approaching the entrance of
a defile which led to the broader valley of the river.

It seemed strange that they should seek to approach
through that defile, when there was a better way...

The scout produced his field-glasses, and began to

study the mounted soldiers.

Then he searched the sides of the valley and the ap-
proaches to the defile.

What he discovered gave him a strange thrill.

The Sioux were hidden in the trees and by the rocks
all along the way, and seemed to be lying in wait.

Buffalo Bill turned the field-glasses on the men who
rode at the head of the trooper column.

When he did so a cry escaped him.

Riding beside General Brown was Dashing Dan, the
Decoy Duck, recognized by Buffalo Bill in ue of his
clever disguises.

“Treachery!” said the scout. “That scoundrel is dis-
guised again, and is leading the troopers into an Indian
ambush !”

So convinced of this was Buffalo Bill that he rode
with reckless rapidity down the steep side of the hill,
guiding the pony by the swaying of his body and by
jerking on the rawhide hackamore.

When the more level ground was reached, which
stretched away toward the still distant defile where he had
seen the troopers, he drove the pony on at its highest
speed.

The gritty white pony responded nobly to Buffalo Bill’s
urging. In spite of the many hours of strain to which
it had been subjected, it passed over the ground now

like a white whirlwind.

As the scout thus rode on, his heart filled with the fear
that had assailed him, he saw something large rise from
the hillside and sail into the air like a gigantic, soaring
bird.

But it was not a bird.

CHAPTER EX.
DASHING DAN AS A DECOY.

‘The young .man who had called himself Dashing Dan
recovered from the effects of the drugged whisky, to
find himself lying face down on a rocky slope, with si-

4 L x ey 5

 

 

 

 

 

     

BIEL SPORES. 19
lence fund him, and the stars shining one over-
head.

He did not at first know why he was there, nor recall
what had happened.

When memory came back to sen his rage be¢ame
boundless.

Crawling to his feet, he set out across the hills through —
the darkness, to reach the spot from which he had come. |
He limped painfully, and swore at times with fiendish
bitterness,

“Tt was that whisky,” he thought. “It was drugged;
for whisky alone wouldn’t affect me that way. My, how
my head aches! It seems bursting.”

The time verged on morning when he reached the
place where his Indians were to be found. They seemed
in a state worse than his own. Some of them still slept.
Others moaned, or howled. Not one had a vestige of
reason, apparently. One was dead; another was slightly
wounded.

He kicked and cuffed them into a semblance of life
and sense.

When daylight came, a search round the camp revealed
the broken weapons in the ravine. The ponies were
gone.

The Indians who were sullen and resented his treat-
ment Dashing Dan left behind; with the others he set -
out across the hills, searching on the way for Buffalo
Bill and Doctor Powell, though he scarcely expected to
find them.

“We'll find Crazy Horse, and put him wise to some
things, before we do anything else,’ he said to Red
Knife, who was still with him. “But there’ll be blood
to pay for what happened last night. Ill settle with
those scouts if it takes a year. I wonder I ain’t dead
from that poisoned liquor.”

The anger that burned and blistered in the heart of
the renegade was of a character so fierce that it seemed
to sear his very soul.

He raved against all white men, particularly the troop-
ers, and the scouts who had recently so treated him.
He busied his mind by inventing tortures to which he
should like to introduce them. His infuriated mind
seethed like a caldron.

- Yet this was not anything new; for he had long hated
all white men, troopers especially, and had sworn against
them violent oaths, and declared his purposes of venge-
ance,

He led the Indians at a frantic pace over the hills,
until at length they arrived in the vicinity of the valley
of the Bitter Water.

Here, encountering isolated bands of Sioux, he was
able to learn the present situation. ;

Crazy Horse, the chief, was in camp in the Bitter
Water Valley, having with him a few hundred braves;
and others were gathering there rapidly.

a

  
 

 

 

HR BUPEALO

Dashing Dan pushed on, met the chief, and had a

long interview with him. That night the signal-fires
flaming on the hilltops were greatly augmented in num-
bers. |

Dashing Dan was in the valley with Crazy Horse when
Buffalo Bill discovered the hiding-place of Wild Bill and
was blocked up in there with Wild Bill’s party.

ft was then that the renegade had a vivid inspiration.

He communicated it to Crazy Horse, and it met the
chief’s approval. That night more signal-fires flamed on
the hills.

Before they were lighted Dashing Dan was on his way
across the hills on a fast pony. He wore the grayish
wig and the false mustache, and had stained his face
until it was as dark as the \face of a Spaniard. The
change thus made in his appearance was remarkable.

The next day he located the troopers under General
Brown, and rode up to them without hesitation.

At his request, he was conducted to Brown, declaring
that he had a message to deliver.

“General Brown,” he said, “I am George Por a
miner ; and I have come with an important message from
Buffalo Bill. He was attacked and shot by Indians, and
now. lies in the hills in a secret place to which I took

him when I found him. But he wouldn’t rest until he

had sent me with this message, which he was not able to
write, but told me to deliver without fail.

“Crazy Horse’s Sioux are gathered in a cafion beyond
the valley of the Bitter Water, and I am to guide you to
that point. I had a hard time getting here, for I had
to hide out from the Indians. Once they shot at me, and
here is the hole which the bullet cut in my coat.”

His clothing was considerably tattered, due to his wild
plunge over the hills when under the influence of the
drugged whisky, and the hole he showed in his coat
looked very much like a bullet-hole.
| Within half an hour after his entrance into the camp
of the troopers, they were under way, guided by him.

He rode with the general, at their head, with a few
men round him; and he exhibited such a knowledge of
the hills, in which he said he had been mining for
some time, that if any one had thought to question his
ability and sincerity, that thought would have been
abandoned,

Many hours afterward he guided the troopers up to
the defile that pointed the way into the Bitter Creek
Valley.

In the defile, clinging like snakes to its sides, and on
the slopes rising from it, as well as in the valley be-
yond, he knew that Crazy Horse’s Sioux were waiting
| for him to lead these soldiers into the deadly trap so cun-
ningly set.

lt was this sight which so suet up Buffalo Bill,

and sent him and his white pony flying across the in-
tervening country like a white whirlwind.

 

BILL STORIES.

Would Buffalo Bill be in time?”

It seemed doubtful. a

As Dashing Dan thus led the troopers, riding with
wild daring at their head, he, too, saw that strange, big
object swing up from the distant hillside; a singular -
object. whose soaring movement was ene like that
of a gigantic bird. x

Dashing Dan was not given time to inspect it, or even
speak of it, after seeing it; and the attention of the
troopers was also instantly diverted.

Out of the bushes at one side of the trail a man ap-
peared; a man at whom Dashing Dan nee as soon as he

- saw him,

Fortunately, Dashing Dan’s bullet went wide of its
mark, and the man came on.

He was Doctor Frank Powell.

General Brown caught Dashing Dan’s arm and kept
him from again using his revolver.

“That man is not an Indian!’ said the general.

“No?  Tthought he was.”

Dashing Dan was in a panic. He had tried to kill
Powell, that his trickery might not be disclosed; and,
having failed, his plight was now most unpleasant and
perilous.

“T thought he was an Indian,” he repeated, his lips
trembling and his eyes staring.

Powell came on, running.

When close to Dashing Dan, who he knew had shot at
him, he recognized the scoundrel, in spite of the mustache
and the other disguises, and cried out to General Brown
and those with him to seize the renegade.

“Never! Dashing Dan shouted.

He again fired at Powell. So close was the pistol that
it scorched the scout’s clothing; but once more Powell's
good luck saved him.

Dashing Dan lashed his horse, causing it to rear as
Powell reached for the bridle-rein; and the next moment
he was spurring toward the defile.

“Stop him! Stop that scoundrel!” Powell yelled.

He started after Dashing Dan on foot. a

A number of the troopers rode in pursuit of the rene-
gade.

Buffalo Bill, still too far off, beheld this surging move-

ment of the troopers into the mouth of the narrow, In-
dian-filled defile.

“Heavens !”
jaws of death!

he cried. ‘They're going into the very
I’m too late!”

He lashed the white pony with the end of the hacka-
more, struck it with his heels, yelled at it, and sent it
on with a speed even greater than anything it had hereto-
fore shown.

Would he be too late?

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

CHAPTER x.
. WILD BILL’S INGENUITY.

Wild Bill had gathered his pards about him. The
outlook was serious.
_ “All the water is gone,” he said; “the meat is fast
going, and the red devils are still out in front, cooping
us up in here. The question is, what’s to be done? Do
we have to stay in here and die of thirst and starva-

-tion? pe?

“Buffalo Bill got out!’ one suggested.

“We don’t know how fur he went, though, before the
reds gobbled him,” another objected. “It’s my opinion
they got him. He stumbled ag’inst one as soon’s he was
through the door there, and we heard the howlin’ that
follered. And this mornin’ we seen one of the devils
wavin’. a scalp-lock on the end of his lance, and the
hair of that scalp-lock was so long it looked suspicious.
I don’t think Cody got away; the reds wiped him out.”

They had talked this over and over again, some de-
claring that Buffalo Bill had escaped, others being sure
he had lost his life. : :

Wild Bill had great confidence in the ability of his
old pard to do almost the impossible; yet he knew, also,
the terrible danger which the scout’s attempt had in-

‘ yolved. However, he stuck to the belief that Buffalo

Bill had gone through.

How soon he would be able to return, if at all, could
not be told.

“Tf he got through, he may have been wounded, and
be now layin’ somewheres in the hills, not able to help

himself,’ said one.

That, too, had been spoken of before.

“Come with me,” said Wild Bill, “all of you but Stin-
son, who'll keep guard at the door, and I'll tell you
what I’ve been thinking about.”

He led the way through the tunnel.

Stopping in front of the tent and its belongings, he

_ pointed’ to it.

-“See that?” he said.

“We see that, all a i the answer; “but we ain’t
needin’ tents any jest now.’

He passed on at their head through the tunnellike cave
until he came to where it opened into that strange pocket
in the hills, which had such a resemblance to the crater
of an old volcano.

This “pocket,” as they called it, was almost circular
in shape, not many yards in diameter, and it had walls
so steep on their inner side that they could only have
been scaled by means of ropes let down from above, or
by ladders.

When one stood in the center of this singular hole it
was as if he stood in the bottom of a very large and

shallow dry well.

The walls on their outer side were almost as steep and
difficult to climb as on the inside, which accounted for the

fact that only a few of the more daring Sioux had scaled

 

    
   
 

BILL SLORIES,

them. These few had tried to pot such of the white men
as came into the pocket from the tunnel.

But that had been a game which two could play at;
and the Indians daring enough to try this had been killed
by the miners, who, lying in wait behind rocks that
guarded that end of the tunnellike cavern, had shot the
redskins from the walls with no more compunction than
if they were wolves.

Invariably. the bodies of the slain Indians had fallen
down into the “crater,” a fact which did not tend to
make others of the Sioux anxious to try to get the white
men from that point.

Wild Bill stopped when he came to the crater-end of
the tunnel.

“Sh! he said.

He waved his comrades back, and, dropping to his
knees, he crawled along until he was behind one of the
big boulders.

He lay there for several seconds, peering out and
searching with his keen eyes for Indian sharpshooters.

Suddenly he leveled his rifle, and its ne report
rang out.

An Indian death-yell sounded on the top of the wall
‘opposite, and the body of the Indian came shooting down-
ward, to strike in the bottom of the well-like hole with
a sickening thud.

Wild Bill still lay behind his boulder, threw another
cartridge from the magazine into the rifle-barrel, and
again searched the tops of the walls.

He crept behind another boulder, and looked out again.

“The coast is clear, I think,” he said. “Anyway, we'll
risk it. .There’s something out there I want to call your
attention to.”

He stepped out into the crater, and the men followed.

But they kept close to the wall by the tunnel’s end, and
looked at the tops of the walls before going out any
farther,

“Take a good look at the ae
scant heed to the body of the Sioux.
“What's the use?’ one of the men questioned. “We
can’t git out of it. The tops of the walls air so high that
we can’t git nooses over “em. If we go out, we've got to
try to sneak it, as Buffler did; or make a bold break,

and git shot down.”

“But I’ve thought of a plan—a safe plan. (You re-
member that tent?”

HY ea)

“By the wall here is a pile of dry wood, where that
dead cedar fell down. It would make a hot fire.”

said Wild Bill, paying

“Ves, we reckon it would.”

“We've got needles and thread and things to sew with,
in our packs, as we thought we'd need to repair the
tent at times, Hlaybe, and would need to do some patching
on our clothes.”

  

 
       
    
   
   
   
  
   
   
  
   
   
  
  
  
   
    
    
     
     
       
         
    
   
   
       
       
         
       
       
    
       
   
   
        
          

   

 

 

 

 

 

_ They stared, uncomprehending.

“My idea is to make a balloon out of that tent! We're

We can make a
hot-air balloon that ought to lift more than a thousand
pounds, in addition to its own weight. We could build
a hot fire out of that wood, and fill the balloon with the
smoke.

not balloon-makers, but we can try it.

Why | couldn’t we go over the Mey of these
walls in that way?”

They fairly gasped, the idea was SO novel and unex-
pected.

But they saw objections to it, even if the balloon could
be made and inflated.

“The Sioux would shore pot us as we sailed up out of
here; they’d drop us with their rifles, jest like squirrels,
soon’s we got in sight.”

“We'd have to risk that,” was Wild Bill’s oe old
rather take such chances than stay here and starve to

death. That’s my idea; and I want help in carrying it’

out.”

The fact that something was given them to do, and
that they could keep their hands as well as their minds
busy, had a wonderfully cheering effect on these men,

who had recently been much depressed.

They dragged the tent out into the large, tunnellike
space, and got out their thread and needles. They found
the burro-packs well supplied with such articles, and with
pieces of cloth of all kinds for patching-purposes.

They fairly sang at their work, and took such interest

in it that it was hard to find a man willing to stand guard.
in front of the wooden door.

The other end of the tunnel needed no guard, though
a man was sent now and then to see that all was right
there.

It was not an easy task for unskilled hands to cut up

the tent in such a manner that it could be fitted into the
shape of a balloon.

That was the most difficult part. of the work. Every
yard of the precious canvas must be utilized, that the
balloon might be made as large as possible and thus have
sufficient lifting-power.
_ Wild Bill undertook this himself. After making his
measurements and calculations, he applied the scissors
boldly to the cloth.

“If I make a mistake, pards, and cut it where I
shouldn’t, we can sew that place up,” he said.
goes! We've got to start it.’

I hm et ie A et i pk gi te Mr rt

IRN A SIU ea Maa ha -

THE BUFPALO

“So here

Bi STORIES.

clumsily done; and when, after infinite pains, the balloon

-began to take shape, it bagged awkwardly in places, had

little, pocketlike pouches where the canvas should have
been smooth, and. showed such evidences of unskilful
sewing that any balloon-maker would have been stirred
to riotous laughter by a sight of it.

Yet they made it as tight as they could; and its general
shape was that of a balloon. os

Fortunately, the tent was large, having been selected
for the purpose of accommodating a number of men;
and, as a consequence, the balloon made from it was also
large.

“We can’t have a basket beneath it, of course,’ re-
marked Wild Bill. ‘We'll have to make some kind of a
substitute.”

They suggested a trapeze-bar, having seen aeronauts

ascend on such bars.

said Wild Bill, “Well have

“There are four of us,”

.to use two bars, one over the other, if we do that, so as

not to have the bar too wide. Four men hanging to

one bar might cause an end of it to tip. We want to

keep the weight right under the balloon all we can.”
They had riatas in plenty, as all the burros had been
supplied with them. These they were to use for the

supporting-ropes; and they could use them, also, for the :

supports for the bars.
When the clumsy balloon was finished, a the riatas
stretched over it and knotted round it, to give strength

and support to the bars, it was ready, except for the in-

flating.
The bars were cut from the tent-poles.
light and strong, and of about the right size.

No Sioux had ventured to the top of the crater walls —

throughout the hours that this work was in progress;
but that they were still out in front, watching the door,
was evidenced by the bullets that now and then came
through that flimsy wooden barrier.

The upper part of the door was so badly shattered by
this time that it was merely a network of broken splinters.

A man with a rifle watched the “crater”

walls when

the fire was built and the work of inflating the balloon

was begun.

It was a needed precaution, as the smoke rising from ’

the fire tempted some of the Sioux to an investigation.

But when one of them was shot from the top of the
north wall as soon as he thrust his inquisitive nose over

 

In spite of all, this part of the work was somewhat _

They were —

 

 

 

 
  
 

iain ee ena

 

 

 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  

 

   

 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 

 

the edge of it, the others who had crawled up: with him
were better able to hold their curiosity in check. ° 2
. But after that the shots sent at the wooden door at
the other end of the tunnel increased in number, so that
the man watching there dared not leave it. i

~ Thus only two men were left to do the work of ee
the balloon. oe

But one of these was Wild Bill, ae in. a. cleverness
and resourcefulness he was worth a host of other men.
Riatas were attached to the steep walls to support the

balloon while it was filling, the upper end of the balloon |

bag being thus held up as if it were tied to a stretched
clothes-line.

Nevertheless, the task of filling the balloon envelope
was not easy. Besides being slow and vexatious, the
lower end of the bag caught fire, necessitating repairs that
took much time. Wild Bill had us use ane entire
stock of patience. ne Via

- Several times Sioux were tempted to. He top of the
high crater walls, to discover what the smoke meant.
One more of them lost his life, and others were wounded.

“Now, all ready!”

The command of Wild Bill came at last, summoning
the man who watched by the wooden door and the one
who gtiarded the high walls.

They caine running.

A hot fire was roaring under the mouth of the palloon
bag, arid the swaying etivelope was straining at the riatas
that held it down.

It was clumsy in appearance, being pouchy in spots,
and some of the seams appeared to be apeecing so. that
smoke leaked through them.

But such as it was, it lifted itself aloft and 1 tugged to
be free.;

The brapeseliie bars, one over _the giles, were in
place.

“Al ready!” said Wild Bill, “Got your guns and

ammunition, and your water-bottles? We'll make the try

All ready !”

He stood with knife in hand, ‘prepared to sever the
tiatas that held the balloon down, In the other hand he
clutched the lower trapeze-bar.

now if we die doing it.

The men grasped the bars and the Border Dead-shot
slashed through the riatas with quick strokes of his knife,

The jerk of the balloon, as the last rope connecting it
with the ground was severed, almost pulled the bars away
from the men who clung to them.

THE BUFFALO BILL “STORIES.

  

Instantly it rose, with. Wild Bill and one.of the other

men climbing up on the bar...

_ Then it rose like.a great bird over «the big ecg walls. |
_ Higher it shot, soaring kitelike, for the hot air fae
marvelous. supporting-power.. : ee

A-toar of wild yells rose from the ea when they be-
held that strange object swing up out of the crater and go
floating by. ae i | :

They began to shoot at it with their rifles and hows:

Some of the bullets cut through the canvas envelope;
others whistled eee near Us men clinging to the
trapeze-bars.
_ This was the sight which Buffalo Bill had beheld from |
A distance, and marveled ate

‘Faster came the shots from the rifles of) the Indians :
who, though they did not tindetstand the charactet of the
thing which bore those ee men: aloft, knew ue it was
an attempt to escape. Ce en SCE aa |

 Phough bullets cut Cece the envelope they did not
tear it open. Yet the smoky hot air streamed out through
the rénts, so that the balloon, seen. fro. the. a
seemed to-bé:burning, —- oe

‘It rose high above the tops of the trees: and the hills
however, and then floated off toward the south, over the

_ valley of the Bitter Water, settling slowly toward the

ground as it did so, yet still maintaining an altitude suffi-
cient te put it far beyond the reach of the Indian rifles.

CHAPTER XI.
CAUGHT IN THE AMBUSCADE,

‘Riding like the wind, Buffalo Bill reached the troopers,
but not until those who had rushed after the renegade had
ridden into the defile where the Indians under Crazy
Horse lay in ambush: "

- He dashed along the rinks crowding toward the defile,
shouting his warnit.

Still lashing his white pony, he tried to forge to the
front, that he might acquaint General Brown with the
nature of the deadly trap into which he and his men were
going.

‘He did not wholly sueceed, though his oe aad the
main body of the troopers out of it. Hee

The crash of the Sioux rifles, and the Sioux yells that
rose from the sides of the defile, were the first intimations
which General Brown had that he and the men with him
had been trapped.

  

 

 

 

 

Rt SAC .
NE Sas ree. Riedie le

  
  

  

  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

He was close upon Doctor Powell at the time. °

“He shouted to ‘Powell, who. was leaping ¢ on in a desper-
ate effort to overtake the renegade.

Apparently, Powell did not hear him.

General Brown drew his revolver, nee began to hone at
the Indians who were popping up on every side.

At the same time he commanded a retreat and turned
his horse about. Ce . aoe

The horse went down, pe under him, and he
found himself on foot.

During the next. Ly moments he was the center of a

human maelstrom.

Standing with a few eure troopers close about.
him, he was making an effort to beat. back the trium-.

phantly howling Sioux, who rushed down on him and his

men in the belief that they could overwhelm the hated.

palefaces and sweep them at a blow from the earth. |
Those of Brown’s troopers who were mounted had tried

to obey his order to retreat. But caught by the Indian

rifle-fire, which emptied saddles and sent horses wildly .
running, they found themselves fighting | for their lives:

as they struggled to get out of this death-trap.
High over all rose the fierce Sioux war-cries, in a din
that was deafening. :

At that moment Buffalo Bill. came up on. ‘die ce pony,

| crowding into the midst of the troopers who were strug-
gling to get out of the defile.

eRe eee

His head was bare, his hair floated i in the wind and his -

eyes flashed Are. : a

He bored a way. one the ce troopers,
reached the side of the few brave men who stood ringing
in their gallant general, and, leaping down, took. his place
in their midst.

The white pony he abandoned. -

He had not been.able to give timely warning-to General
Brown, but now that his general had been caught he was
ready to defend him to the last.

His war-cry rose as loudly and defiantly as that of any
Indian who that day yelled hatred of the defiant white
‘men. |

His es spoke,
streams of fire.

Placing himself i in front of Brown, that his own hoy

might protect the general, the scout interposed between -

him and the Indians who rushed down from the hillsides
to complete the work of death they had so well begun.

seeming to send forth twin-

BILL STORIES.

‘And there was another there that day in the dim defile
who faced the Indians with a courage as reckless as that
of the gallant scout.

He was Doctor Frank Powell.

“He had tried to overtake the dastardly renegade who
had decoyed the white soldiers into this trap.

In that he had failed, and had exposed himself to the
full fury of the Indian fire.

Thén he beheld a sight that stiffened his courage again
and stirred anew the fire of wrath in his heart.

The renegade had joined the Sioux chief, Crazy Horse,
and, riding at the chief’s side, he was urging the Sioux
warriors on, leading them himself, with the chief.

In the bloody storm that rolled a minute or so later
toward the entrance of the defile Powell found himself
face to face with the renegade. |

‘He was on foot, and Dashing Dan was mounted.

The renegade saw him at the same moment, and spurred
to meet him, swinging his pistol, which he pointed at the
doctor’s breast.

But Dashing Dan was not quick enough.

Doctor Powell had the reputation of being able to draw

fe and shoot with incredible quickness.

His revolver flashed, as Dashing Dan drew down on

him. The renegade swung backward, and dropped his -" |

pistol.

Powell a have shot him deca at that moment.

Not choosing to do so, he sprang at the renegade’s
bridle, caught it, and with a jerk threw. the horse side-
ways with such suddenness that De Dan fell from
the saddle.

The horse dashed on.

Powell at the instant had no definite plan, but only a
burning desire to set his fingers on the throat of the ©

_renegade.

But as the horse rushed away, Dashing Dan’s foot was
caught in a stirrup and he was dragged along.

The frenzied Sioux were closing in round the gallant
doctor, and he tried tofget back to where he saw Buffalo —
Bill fighting side by side with oe Brown ane some of

the troopers.

The Indians were pressing Hien hard. “Two of the
troopers were down, and the general wounded.
Dead men and dead horses lay all about.

The defile was filled with rushing, yelling, 1

Indians.

 

at Ta tease tn ret reece Nm i nehel ether pa a eet APE emo pe Dae eg
Ss wy ee ido hk ed z ea eae yi pee a Se me A eh ts a ne

 
 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

Farther on, where the defile opened into the valley, the

in body of the troopers seemed to be either es
r had halted, Powell could not tell which. © |

In the midst of the rushing redskins the horse that
ragged the renegade was lost to his view.

Indians were eae seeming even to. spring out

of the ground. |

It had been a trap of the deadliest character.

“This is our finish!” was the thought of the heroic -doc-
tor. “Well, death must come some time, and we 7 die
like men!”

CHAPTER XI,
THE DROP OF THE BALLOON.

As the balloon carrying Wild Bill and his companions
floated out over the Bitter Water Valley ie earth lay
under them like a map..

They were able to look down into ie dark dente Aheie:
the Indians lay in ambush; they beheld the troopers riding’

into the trap, as they pursued Dashing Dan; and they
saw the whirlwind ride of Buffalo Bill, in his desperate
attempt to reach the troopers and warn them of their
deadly peril. : :

_ The heavier air lying over. the valley held up the balloon
better than the lighter air round the hilltops, so that it
ceased to settle, though the bullet-holes cut in. the canvas
constantly leaked the smoky hot air that gave it buoyancy.

A current of air coming down the defile caught it,

sweeping it on so that it drifted just above the defile.

The charge of the howling Sioux upon General Brown
and his troopers had come like the bursting of a tornado;
there was a roar of rifles and revolvers in the mouth of

@ the defile, defiant yelling of desperate, but determined

1 white men, together with that nerve-racking sound, the
startled screams of wounded and frightened horses.
A cyclone seemed to have been let loose.

Down into it the men in the balloon looked, with star-

ing eyes and blanching faces.
_ For the moment they forgot their own situation.
Will Bill, in the intensity of his desire to aid the white
_men below, began to empty his revolver at the screeching
, redskins, |

His companions imitated him, and all howled together,
ike madmen.

An Indian bullet came whistling Hecues the oe
| envelope.

Instead of making | a tole as s others had one it slit the
canvas, making a rent that gaped open like a huge mouth
and vomited smoke.

The effect was felt instantly.

“The balloon, which had been floating ¢ on 80 steadily,
lurched, and began’ to settle toward ac ground, swinging
ina spiral.

It was a desperate situation.

“We're goin’ slap into the.midst of the reds!” shouted
one of the men, startled and scared by the discovery.

“Pump lead into’’em!” Wild Bill howled back at ‘him.

Having emptied his revolver, he hurled it down into the
midst ofthe Indians, and drew another, which Be began
to use as fast as he could pull the trigger. |

- Another. bullet came up out of the crowded ee of
the Sioux. i :

It was so well aimed that i it t dropped one of the a
off his aR ae ae

He yelled i ina paralyzing. way : as he pitched Howat
and plunged right into the midst of the Indians.

“Give it to ‘em! ty Wild Bill yelled, in | frenzied despera~
tion.

The balloon was swinging in its big spiral above the
heads of the Sioux, and not fifty yards above him, com-
ing toward the ground with disconcerting speed.

But the very strangeness and suddenness with which
it dropped out of the air, as if it dived toward the Indians,
was the thing that wrought i in favor of the men clinging
to the bars, and to the troopers who, with Buffalo Bill,
were grouped round General Brown is to withstand
the Indian rush.- ae ee ye

The ‘thing was are too” mysterious and uncanny :

for Sioux nerves.

They stopped fighting, and broke in a panic, as the .
balloon: made a final wild dive toward: them. a

They rushed for the cover of the bushes that grew on
the sides of the defile, or turned and ran back along the

defile toward the valley into which it opened.

The balloon came down with a final wild swish as ae

~ settled to the ground, where it struck, ripped itself wide 2
open, and flattened out like a collapsing cireds-tent.

Buffalo Bill, seeing the Indians break, called to the
men who were with him to charge them; that this was the
time. ne

The Indians were running: avey in spite of the shouted

orders of Crazy Horse.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

26 THE BUFFALO
The chief took a last shot “at: Wild Bill, as thé latter
- and then
Crazy Horse joined in the panicky flight of the Sioux.

drew himself. from under: the fallen canvas

The charging cheer of Buffalo Bill was heard and un-
derstood, by the” ‘company - bugler, who sent a bugle-call
to charge ringing shrilly through the dark ravine. ~

The bugle-call stopped’ the retreat of the’ Hroopers who
were beyond the mouth of the defile. 0

Instead of running away, they checked: their horses,
and now rode into the defile, and were soon followmg
Buffalo Bill and the aes whom ne saw. ahead; lead-
ing on foot. Ceo

Wild Bill's companions Seiad thei. way on team

under the collapsed balloon. and joined the troopers who
were charging the stampeding redskins.
_ The tide of battle had turned.

| CHAPTER. XIII.
DASHING DAN ‘S LAST DASH,

oth troopers did not pursue the ane and ered
indians, |
There was danger of another ambuscade. The Sioux
‘were in strong. force and . could be expected to rally

under Crazy Horse. |
One of the questions fitet asked after the fight was
_ over concerned the man. who had led the troopers into this
deadly trap... - . | oo
qoeut Dashing Dan was not to be fae

Doctor Powell had seen the renegade being dragged :

along by the saddle- stirrup, as his horse plunged through
‘the s swarming mass of troopers and Indians.
he had not been observed after that.

Search was made for him among the dead and wound,

Apparently,

“ed, but he was not there. |

ih pretty sure my bullet hit him,” Powell declared.
“The way he dropped backward when I fired showed
hat.”

An interesting thing to all was the balloon in which
Wild Bill and his companions had escaped from -the

“crater.” Tt attracted general attention and comment.

The man who had been shot from the bar at Wild Bill’s
side by an Indian bullet, and had fallen into the midst of
the Sioux, was found dead. |

The other three men, including Ne Bill, made come ° off
without a scratch,

BILL STORIES. oe

| The wounded were now given attention, Doctor Powell
taking off his coat and working over them in his usual
skilful manner. Out of the balloon cloth a hospital-tent
was constructed for their accommodation, and ls they
were made as comfortable as possible.

The troopers who had fallen, and the dead Indians,
were buried, but in separate graves.

Night came down while this work was in progress.

- Just before sunset Ruel Lispenard came slowly into the
camp. |

He had been left in a secure place out on the hillside
and Doctor Powell had been too busy with the wounded
after the fight to lead a party out there to bring him in.

Already Buffalo Bill had learned how Lispenard and
Powell, tiring of their little cavern, had left it and set
out, hoping to intercept Brown's troopers, whom Buffalo
Bill was expected to bring up.

- (They had reached the hillside and gone into hiding
there shortly before the renegade led the troopers into
ambush. -Seeing from their hiding-place what was being
done, Powell had set out on foot to try to prevent it. He
had been too late to do that, but not too late to take a
very active part in the fighting that followed his arrival.
.. When darkness fell, not an Indian was known to be in
the vicinity. Apparently, they had departed for good,
having failed in their attempt to overwhelm and crush
the troopers under Brown. They had suffered severely,
as their total of dead left in the defile showed.

With scouts out and guards set to prevent a surprise, iu
the troopers light ed fires and prepared the first meal
they. had eaten in many hours. |

-Squatted about the fires, they talked of the de of
tie Sioux, of the treacherous ambuscade and the hot |
fight, and of the renegade who had led them into that
-death-trap. | a

Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill, with Ruel | Lapel sat
at one of the fires with crea Brown and some of his
officers.

Lispenard was still weak and ill and he took no part in
the conversation. ,

Suddenly a tattered, mud-spattered figure rose from

the darkness close by this fire, uttered a yell like that of
a Sioux warrior, and, after shooting his revolver at Gen-
‘eral Brown, leaped upon him, swinging a knife.

The group at the camp-fire was so taken by surprise, |
and the attack came so qa that Brown was hurled
down. Se ar

 

 

 
| mean?”

DHE, BUPBALO

It seemed that a madman stood over him, howling and

_ Revolvers were drawn; but before they could be used
old Ruel Lispenard leaped to his feet, yelling a name, and
hurled himself like a tiger on the would-be assassin.

€

. They rolled to the ground together. :
“Ralph! Ralph!” yelled Lispenard, clutching the man
who had fallen under him.

Lispenard was flung aside and went rolling over the
ground. ‘

‘With a wild cry the man sprang up again, swung the
knife, and rushed again at the general, screaming that he
meant: to kill him.

Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill had drawn their weapons,
but dared not shoot for fear of hitting the general, as the
camp-fire cast a flickering and uncertain light.

But a revolver cracked,/and the wild-eyed madman fell
backward. ce

The shot was fired by General Brown himself.

_ As the man fell, rolling over on his back after striking

1 the ground, Lispenard struggled again to his feet and

threw himself on him.

“Ralph !’ he shrieked. “In Heaven’s name; what d’ye

But the fallen man did not speak.

The general’s bullet had killed him.

“He was your son?” said Buffalo Bill, speaking to
Lispenard.

All stared into the face of the dead man.

“NO, " That’s one
thing I’ve got to be thankful for; he wasn’t my son;
but——” .

“He was my sister’s son,”

said Lispenard,” he wasn’t my son.

said General Brown sadly.
The gray wig had fallen from the head of the dead
man and the disguising mustache was gone. Yet even
then the face was so changed by the blood and the mud
which covered it, that but for the name which Lispenard
‘had shouted General Brown would not have recognized it.
“General Brown’s sister was my own cousin,”

said
ispenard;

“and that’s how ’twas.”

The attack on the general had created tremendous ex-
itement; which was not decreased when it was known
hat the man who had tried to assassinate him was the
enegade who had that day led the troopers into the
mbush, and that he was, besides, Brown’s nephew, and
elated to old Lispenard. :

‘

A

a el aL a dh ORONO AS Scapa

 

is

Bilt, STORIES. 27

It was a strange story which the scouts and troopers
heard that night; and it elicited much comment as it
passed from the camp-fire to camp-fire.

General Brown did not tell it until there could be no
doubt as to the dead man’s identity, and the renegade
was lying under the sod in a grave apart from the honor-
able graves of the slain troopers.

Before that, the immediate and exciting cause of the at-
tempt at assassination was set forth by Doctor Frank
Powell, who based his story on the results of an examina-
tion he made.

The bullet which Powell had fired during the fight had
raked the renegade’s head.

Perhaps other head injuries had been received by him
as his horse dragged him over the ground.

There was no doubt the horse had dragged him far
beyond the area of the fight, where perhaps the breaking
of the stirrup-leather had let him to the ground.

When he recovered consciousness—Powell believed he
must have been rendered unconscious for a while—it was
surmised he kept out of sight of the troopers, and that
he was temporarily a madman, made so by the bullet-
wound in the head. :

‘After the manner of madmen, his mind had probably
filled itself with pictures of the wrongs he believed he
had suffered; and, brooding on them, he had sneaked into
the camp, and up to the camp-fire, and there had tried
to end the life of the man to whom he laid most of the
wrongs which he fancied had been done him.

General Brown’s story helped to show what the
“wrongs” were.

He addressed it to the scouts and his officers by the
camp-fire : J :

“Tt was my influence which secured for my nephew his
When

he finished there he had a position as lieutenant in the

entrance into the military school at West Point.

United States Regular Army and I took him into my:
command, that I might watch over him as well as I could
and help him along.

“But I regret to have to say that he was not honest.
He liked to gamble and drink better than he liked mili-
tary duty. He became involved in some very dishonor-
able transactions.

“T discovered these things and remonstrated with him.

To save his good name, I even paid some of his debts my-

self and begged him to walk more carefully in the future.

 
28 THE BUFFALO

“The effort and expense were all thrown away. ‘He
became, in fact, worse, instead of better.

“One night, in a gambling quarrel, he shot and killed
another officer. :

“He fled and came to my tent, where he told me what
he had done and begged me to hide him and protect him.

“TI couldn’t do that—my honor as an officer wouldn’t
permit me to do anything of the kind.

“But my previous yielding had made him expect that
I would; and when I refused and then called an officer
and handed him into the hands of the guard, he swore
vengeance on me; swore that he would have my life. He
raved against me like a wild man. And I’ve no doubt
from that moment he regarded me as the author of his
misfortunes, instead of charging them upon himself.

“T could not hold him in the camp, and did not wish to;
so I ordered him under escort to Fort McKenzie, our
nearest fort, where he was to be tried on the charge of
murder. :

“That he would be hanged I did not in the least doubt.
How the. whole thing distressed me I need not state.
You will understand. Yet I couldn’t do otherwise than
as I did. .

“On the way to the fort he escaped from the guard
who had him in charge. There was an investigation af-
terward, of charges brought against the officer in com-
mand of the escort, charges claiming that he had been
bribed.
rial.

I don’t care to go into that, and it is not mate-

“But that is how my nephew, Ralph Burton, became
what he was—a desperado, road-agent, and renegade.
Yet I had thought he was dead two years ago.

“But for that belief I might have not been so easily
deceived by him when he came to me yesterday claiming
he had been sent by Buffalo Bill.
plete and his manner and even the tone of his speech so

His disguise was com-
altered that the whole thing was remarkable. I was
fooled too easily, I admit. It seems to me I ought to
have known him even then in spite of his clever disguising

and my belief that he was dead. But I didn’t. And now

he is dead. My regret is that it was my hand which sent
the fatal bullet.’ | é
“When I heard of him t’other day from Cody and

White Beaver,”
What made me think it was that he tole

said Lispenard, “I thought mebbe he was
my own son.

them his name was Lispenard and that he was my son.

 

Ny

BILLS LORTES. :
“T don’t keer to speak ill of them that’s dead, but I
reckon it was him that made my son what he is; fer them —
two run.a gambling-house i in Californy together, and was

in other devilment together ; and my son, before he got in 4

thick with him, was a decent sort of chap, I thought.
And that’s how “twas.”

The troopers remained two days in the valley of the
Bitter Water, resting themselves and their horses.

Bands of Sioux were seen occasionally in the hills
near-by.

Buffalo Bill and his fellow scouts found the main bedy
camped on another stream twenty miles or more away,
where Crazy Horse had set up his teepee,

General Brown then sent Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill:
with a message to Crazy Horse, commanding him to re-
treat to his villages on the Belle Fourche.

In the plain in front of Crazy Horse’s lodge the scouts
met the chief, having approached his camp waving white
flags, which he now deemed it well to respect.

The Sioux chief was a fine-looking Indian, in the prime
of life, tall, erect, and clad in all the feathered py of
a, war-chief.

He demanded that the white miners anata be com-

pelled to leave the hills, saying they disturbed the game ©

and made his warriors angry by their presence.

“Crazy Horse,
ago, at the meeting-ground on the lower fork of the Cot-
tonwood, that you came with other chiefs, and there
signed away your rights to all this land here. You
agreed then to take yourselves and your warriors farther
I know this, for I
And you knew

westward, into land selected by you. ©
was there and saw you sign the papers.
what you signed. White men have to keep their agree-
ments. Indians must learn that they also have to keep

theirs.”

Crazy Horse withdrew his warriors to his villages and

- the war-cloud that had hovered over the Black Hills was

dissipated for a time.

Yet Indians have short memories for such things, and
long memories for general hatred of the white man. ©

And the peace which followed the ambuscade fight in -
the defile near the Bitter Water was soon broken again. —

THE END.

Next week’s issue, No. 324, will be “Buffalo Bill’s
Gold-hunters; or, The Clan of the Skull and Cross-
bones.” ee

 

 

 

 

 

” said Buffalo Bill, “it is but two years — ne

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

‘A SINGULAR ADVENTURE.

BY EMERSON BENNETT,

A number of years ago I had occasion to travel through
4 wild, thinly settled portion of eastern Pennsylvania.

There was a small village nestled among the moun-
tains that I expected to reach that day; but the horse
on which I was mounted, for some reason, became so
lame that 1 was obliged to leave him at a farmhouse on
| the road, and, not being able to procure another beast,
and thinking I eould make the distance on foot before
nightfall, I set forward at a fast walk.

Unfortunately for my design, a heavy shower came up
in the afternoon, which compelled me to take shelter for
a couple of hours, and then I found the road so heavy
that | was not able to reach within several miles of my
destination when the first shadows of night threw their
gloom over my lonely journey,

It was a region of country which no traveler felt al-
together safe in, even in daylight—for there were rumors
that a gang of desperadoes, who would scruple at no
erime, had their headquarters somewhere in that region—
and finding myself thus belated, I confess that I became
not a little uneasy, and regretted that I had attempted the
journey on foot, i.

There was here and there, at long intervals, a dwell-
ing of the poorer class, but none that I had seen for the
“last three hours which looked at all inviting to a lone
stranger.

It had alteady become quite duskish as [ came oppo-
site to one of these, which stood back some distance from
the road; and I was already debating with myself whether
to go in, go on, or turn back, when I perceived a man

| come forth, carrying a small tin trunk, and having the

general appearance of a pedler,
I waited till he gained the road, and then accosted him,
and inquired the distance to the little village I intended

' to reach.

“They tell me it is a good five miles from here,” he an-
swered, “and I wish I was there myself, Are you a
stranger about here?” a

“Yes; I never traveled this road before,” I replied.

He looked at me sharply, and I examined him in the
same manner,

He was a man of medium size, but strongly built, with
a light complexion, clear gray eyes, and a countenance
rather prepossessing.

I confess I liked his looks, and took him tp be a man
of courage and determination. 4

He evidently fancied my appearance, also—for, after
a close scrutiny, he said:

‘lam glad to meet you, sir; for, as we are both
strangers in this region, it may be just as well for ts

BIL STORLES: 31
to get acquainted now, and not remain strangers to each
other.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, say for the safety of both,’ was his answer, as
he loaked me steadily in the eye. ‘The fact is,’ he went
on, “I don’t know how it is with you, but I am not at
all delighted at having wandered out this way. I don’t
like the looks ef the people in this region; and though, as
a pedler, I have entered all the dwellings on the road
so far, | have not seen a family for the last five miles
that I would like to trust myself with overnight,”

“Then perhaps the best thing to be done,” said I, “is
not to trust ourselves in any house, but keep. on to the
village. I suppose we may be safe there?” !

He agreed with me, and we accordingly set forward
together.

“Are you armed?” he asked.

“Yes, with a good six-shooter.”

‘Well, I have another,” he rejoined, “and if we stand
by each other, it will go hard with any half a dozen
assailants.” __ ee

As we walked on up the road, it gradually grew darker
and darker, until a moonless night had fairly set in.

In the open parts of the road we could see each other
as shadows, but whenever we entered a strip of woods,
as we had to do occasionally, we could see nothing what-
ever, and had to proceed by a cautious feeling out of our
steps, a slow process indeed.

Thus we continued to advance for some two or three
hours, by which time we thought we certainly ought to
have arrived at the village, which was still nowhere in
SIS t.) . : |

“I wonder if we missed the road somewhere, and have
taken the wrong direction?” 1 suggested.

“Just what I was thinking,’ answered my companion,
who had given me his name as Philip Jasmond,

“We discussed the matter in a speculating way, and
came to the conclusion that if we had missed our way it
was an irreparable mistake for the night, and that con-
sequently, unless we could find some place of shelter, we
should have. to remain in the open air until morning. -

Not being certain that we were wrong, however, we
decided to go on some distance farther; and then, if we
should find nothing favorable, to come to a halt and pass
the night as best we could—certainly anything but a
cheerful alternative.

We had gone only a little way after this when a spark-
ling light attracted our attention.

Tt was off the right, and on higher ground, apparently
on a hillside. It was not stationary, but moved about,

as if it might be a lantern in the hands of some indi-

vidual.

Under the eireumstances, we'‘decided to carefully recon-
noiter it, and at once set off to do so.

The distance proved to be farther than we thought;
and on our way we descended into a deep, dark hollow,
where we found our course intercepted by a sluggish
stream, or ereek, whose waters had evidently been
swelled by the late rain.

As we could not eross unless there were a bridge,
which we might not be able to find in the dark, we were

 
  
 

 

 

 
      

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Pee THE BUFFALO

debating about_turning back, when we heard what ap-
peared to be the tramping sound of two or three horses,
which were evidently nearing us.

As they came nearer and nearer, we drew back into
some bushes, and waited in anxious expectation.

At length, without being able to see anything, we heard
a voice say in an ordinary tone:

“Here is the bridge, but move carefully over it, one at
a time, for the creek is up.”

Then we heard the noise of horses crossing the bridge;

-and, when the last one had passed over, we. hurried to

the place and crossed over ourselves, curious to discover
the meaning of this nocturnal affair.

Ascending the hill for a short distance on the other
side of the creek, we once more came in sight of the

“moving light, and saw several dark figures gathered

around it. -

Making a short détour, we came up round to a clump
of trees and bushes, which we carefully entered, and from
which we got a dim view of an old wooden building, in
front of which were four dismounted men, including the
one who carried the lantern, and having in their midst
a figure which looked like a muffled and helpless female.

Here seemed to be mystery, and probably wickedness,
and, considering the locality and the reports that had
gone abroad, we thought it not unlikely. it might be some
kidnaping affair that possibly Providence would permit
us to frustrate.

While we stood looking and listening, we heard one of
the parties say:

“We must leave her here for the present, and will put
her in your care, John. It is absolutely necessary for
us to be at the rendezvous, and we may not be able to
get back and remove her, before to-morrow night. Put
her in the secret room, treat her well, but don’t let her
communicate with any other person. I shall hold you
responsible for her safe-keeping.”

As he said this, all the parties entered the house—the
female seeming to be urged or dragged in—at least, we
fancied so.

After an>absence of perhaps ten minutes, three men
came out, mounted their horses, and rode away; but
neither the female figure nor the man with the lantern
appeared among them.

The pedler and I discussed the affair in whispers, and
resolved to. rescue the fair prisoner, if it could be done,
and prisoner she should prove to be.

We therefore arranged our plans as well as we could
under the uncertainties of the case, and, after a lapse
of some half an hour, we went forward and knocked at
the door.

“Who is theré?” demanded a voice.

“A stranger who has lost his way,’ I replied very
mildly.

“What do you want?”

“Either to lodge here, or to be set right,.

“Well, this is no lodging- -house,” was the gruff re-
joinder, “and so go back the way you came.’

“T’ll not do that before morning, anyhow,” said I; “and
if you don’t let me in, Vl sit down here and stay till
daylight.”

At this the man ripped out an oath and swung open
the door, under the supposition, probably, that I was
alone, and he could easily manage me.

His lantern stood back on a table, and the light showed

IT answered.

his figure dimly, but sufficient for our purpose.

 

 

BILL STORIES. oe | aii

_we had fairly got away, and crossed the bridge over the, | |

the fair girl was restored to her anxious friends, we re-_

I

The pedler and I both sprang forward, as if by on)
impulse, and seized the man before he had time to defence
himself. i i

He uttered a wild yell, which made us fear that He’ iW
would bring others to his assistance, and struggled des-) ay
perately in our grasp; but we quickly overpowered and) | ji¥
brought him to the floor; and then closing the door and Wt
putting my pistol to his ‘head, T told him that I woulm in
blow his brains out unless he remained quiet. ey

“We want you to keep quiet and keep your moult | 1A
shut, or we shall gag you,’ I replied. 7

We then found a strong cord, and bound him hand
and foot.

Then taking some keys from his pocket, I began | to
search the house for the fair prisoner, while the pedler)
stood over our captive with his revolver in hand.

There appeared to be only these two ‘persons in the,
building, and, ‘after some search, I found the girl locked ,
up in a private room. 1

She was very pretty and intelligent, but hatirally at
first, took me for one of the kidnaping gang. oe

{
£

 

%
i

In a few hurried words—for 1 by no means felt safe in |) jp
that quarter—I explained everything to her, and told her | / qj
I had come to rescue her. ni

She shed tears of thankfulness, was very grateful, and, ‘}
in a hurried, tremulous voice, informed me that she was |
from Philadelphia; that she had been on a visit to an
uncle, living some ten or twelve miles distant from where {|
we were; and that, while returning to her kinsman’s house _ ay
from a visit to a neighbor, she had suddenly been seized /| ¥7
by tliree men, been gagged, and carried off on horseback |
she knew not whither. ‘|

“Come with us peaceably,” said 1; “make no disturb- —
ance, and before morning we will get you to a safe dis-/
tance from this gang of outlaws.”

-I conducted her out into the main room, and the!
the pedler and I carried our prisoner into the apartmen |
where she had been confined, and left him bound on tr!
floor. i

We then locked him in there, and when we left th |
house, we locked the outer door.and threw the keys away |

It was altogether a bold proceeding, I knew; and wher.’

 

 

stream, we both involuntarily shuddered at the peril we.
had gone through, and the possible consequences which |
might follow.

We traveled all night, keeping in one direction, over vi
the fields, tilt-we struck a road, and then pursued that till ; |

daylight the next morning, when we found ourselves in | it

sight of a village, which we fancied was far enough aS)
from the scene of our night’s exploit to admit of our’
safely relating our curious story.

Here we fell in with sympathizing parties, who took a
deep interest in our strange adventure, and who gave |
us such willing assistance that, in the course of the day, :

ceiving the grateful thanks of the whole honest com- | i
munity for what they were pleased to term a chivalrou:; | |
rescue. ; 8
I subsequently recovered my horse; but, as may readil,.,
be believed, I did not again risk myself on the journey’ —
I had intended, while my gallant companion went his’
way in another direction, declaring that he would never
again be caught in that dangerous locality. S
What was intended to be done with the young lady
we never knew.

 

 

 

 

Stalin eer akc homie ne od
each a eae rae Se acer a
UR cree RT Leterme

   
      

  
        
 
   
    
    
  
  
    
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
   
  
 
 

   
  
 

   

 
 
 

 

 
BUFFALO BILL STORIES

 

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292—Buffalo Bill’s Medicine-lodge; or, The White | 308—Buffalo Bill's Whirlwind Chase; or, The Musta
Queen of the Kickapoos. Catchers of Bitter Water. |
293—-Buffalo Bill in Peril; or, The Red Amazons of 309—Buffalo Bill’s Red Retribution; or, The Raid of (16
the Niobrarah. Dancing Dervishes.
294—Buffalo Bill’s Strange Pard; or, Wolfer Joe on | 310—Buffalo Bill Haunted; or, The White Witch of ¢
the War-path. Niobrara.
295—Buffalo Bill in the Death Desert; or, The Worship | 311—Buffalo Bill’s Fight for Life; or, Caught in’ {
of the Phantom Flower. Cave of Lions.
296—Buffalo Bill in No Man’s Land; or, The Sky-mir- | 312—Buffalo Bill’s Death Jump; or, The Ogallalas’ L
ror of the Panhandle. Stand.
2907—Buffalo Bill’s Border Ruffians; or, The Desperate | 313—Buffalo Bill and the Pit of Horror; or, The Wh
Game or Panther Pete. Queen of Paradise Valley.
298—Buffalo Bills Black Eagles; or, The pe nalea ey 314—Buffalo Bill in the Jaws of Death; or, The. Stran
from ‘Timbuctoo. Sacrifice of Uncapah.
299—Buffalo Bill's Desperate Dozen; or, The Raiders ue 315—Buffalo Bill’s Aztec Runners; or, The Hate of |
~ Round-Robin Ranch. Gilded Mexican.
300—Buffalo Bill’s Rival; or, The Scalp-hunter of the 316—Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death; or, Peril on *:
Niobrarah. ; Golconda Gold Trail.

301—Buffalo Bill’s Ice Cres or, he lrailcor the Black 317—Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Rovers; or, Old \,
- Rifle. Nomad’s Wolf Trick.
302—Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler; or, The White | 318—Buffalo Bill’s Fiery Eye; or, Red Thunderbo!
Flower of Fetterman Prairie. Last Battle.
303—Buffalo Bill and the White Specter; or, The Mys- | 319—Buffalo Bill’s Mazeppa Ride; or, The Robi
terious Medicine-man of Spirit Lake. League of the Panhandle.
304—Buffalo Bill’s Death Defiance; or, The Bad Men of | 320—Buffalo Bill in the Land of Spirits; or, The W:
Timber Bar. Hunters of the Hoodoo Mountains.
305—Buffalo Bill and the Barge Bandits; or, The Demon | 321—Buffalo Bill’s Gypsy Band; or, The Queen of |
of Wolf River Cafion. Road Wanderers.
306—Buffalo Bill, the Desert Hotspur; or, Pizen Jane, of | 322—Buffalo Bill’s Maverick; or, The Man with the I
Cinnabar. Arm.
307—Buffalo Bill’s Wild Range Riders ; or, the Venge- 323—Buffalo Bill, the White Whirlwind; or, Dash ,
ance of Crazy Snake. Dan, the Border Decoy Duck.

 

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