|_ A WEEKLY PUBLICATION

dssued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 Per. sears Entered as Entered as | Second-class Matter at the N. NV. ¥. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave. N. ¥,

 

 

 

No. 325 NEW YORK, AUGUST 3, 1907. Price, Five Cents

 

 

THE Aut oRL oF
Ze I FF Fly OB. 5_ Blk

Buffalo Bill caught the bound form of the girl from the sacrificial stone, anil wan defiant
attitude, faced the bloody priests of Zataclin. |

 

 

 

 

  
 

 
 

 

    

 

¥
>

 
 

 

 

 

 

‘A WEEKLY PUBLICATION

DEVOTED 10 BORDER LIFE

 

Issued Weekly.

 

By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second-class Matter at the N. VY. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, se Seventh Avenue,

N.Y. Entered according to Act of Congress tn the year 1907, in the Office of the Lebrarian of Congress, EG niGe

 

os" 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, py W. F. Cody), who is known. all

over the world as the king of scouts,

 

No. 325.

NEW YORK, August 3, 1907. _

Price Five Cents. |

 

The Red Priests of Zataclin.

 

e

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.”

 

CHAPTER I.
THE BEWITCHED COMPASS.

Holding his compass in his hand, Buffalo Bill looked
at the round hill before him, which was very high and
almost a perfect cone.

“This is queer!” he said.

Keeping the compass level, on the palm of his hand,
he walked slowly to the right for a dozen steps. He saw
the compass-needle swing slowly, pointing straight at
etl «

That there might he no mistake, the scout retraced
his steps, studying the compass; and now he saw the

needle swing steadily back. When he walked farther:

around, the needle swung still more, always pointing at
the hill.

The sky was gray, so that the sun could not be seen. ,

The ground under the scout’s feet, and for a considerable
distance around, was hard-baked clay or stony, so that
- not a footstep showed in it. His feet had left no tracks.
“So it’s that which has made the compass act so

 

strangely!” he said, looking at the hill. “This is un-
pleasant, and it might be serious. Here I’ve been walking
hours, trusting to the compass, and find that it has been
pointing to this hill. Now,'where is north? The com-
pass can’t tell me, for that hill has bewitched it. The
hill must be full of magnetic iron.”

Stowing the compass in his pocket, he took out his
knife and set it upright, with the point of the blade on
his thumb-nail.

There: are few days ‘so gray and cloudy that a cane .
so placed will not throw a shadow on the thumb-nail;
and opposite that shadow, of course, is the direction of
the sun. When the time of day is known, together with
the direction of the sun, north can be approximately as-
certained.

But the air was filled with a smoky haze; and this,
in addition to the cloudiness and grayness, made the
sky so dark that the knife- blade refused to cast its
shadow.

“This is a go!” said the scout. “If I were in a north-
ern forest I might find north by a study of the moss on

 
        

the tree-trunks, which is heaviest and reaches to a sharper
point on the north side. But ’'m in Old Mexico; there
are no trees near me; and I suppose in this dry land moss
ee chance to grow on tree-trunks, or anywhere
else): |

He took out the compass again and placed it on the
palm of ‘his hand:

As a matter of curiosity, he walked teaerd the cone-
shaped hill, and. he studied the compass as he went.

“Straight at the heart of that hill it points!” he said,
watching the needle. “And when I walk to one side or
the other the needle shifts. I suppose if I should walk
round the hill the compass would make a complete cirgle.
Vil try st.’

He set. out along the base of the hill, holding the
compass level,

‘As he expected, the needle continued to point at the
hill. :

By and by the scout walked up to the hill and in-
spected it.

‘He saw that it was almost a solid mass of ore, and
the compass showed him that it was magnetic iron.

As the scout continued on his way round the treeless
hill, he heard. voices.

sliding the compass into his pocket and drawing a re-
volver.

“Some one hers ahead of me,
think, And possibly outlaws.”

eh? White

men, I

Soon he saw two men come in sight round the curve
of the hill.

The one who walked in front was tall and thin, and
severe-looking. He wore a high hat much out of place
in that region, and black, dust-stained clothing. The
man who followed him was short and squat, with a pon-
derous stomach. This man was dressed in dirty plaids,
and his face had a German look. He carried a large
-hand-bag. |

“Brofessor,” the scout heard him say, “uff de gompass
tvist its head off in dot vay, vot ve going to do? Vecan’t
neffer fint our feettracks vat ve made in coming here
vi” .

The man in front stopped, and the stumpy man behind
came near running into him.

“Eenselman,” said the tall man, “this is a most peculiar
- mountain. It is, as you see, of iron—magnetic iron.
Truly a wonderful phenomenon!”

“Unt de grazy gompass dinks it vos de Nort’ Pole, eh?”

“Tust so, Henselman. The compass thinks this is the
North Pole. We shouldn’t blame the compass. We

“Nein? Vot shall I plame?) Me? I follow de gom-
pass. It say: ‘Dis is de nort’!’ It dell me de lie. Am
I to plame?” \

Ele dropped the hand-bag and energetically hammered
his breast.

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

Instantly he sank down behind a screen of cactus,

German and speaking to the tall man.

.in a wrong direction for a long time.
us in our predicament we shall be greatly obliged, I as-
I am Professor Felix Bounderby, and this

“Dose gompass is a shackass!” he said.
dis hill uff iron. T’ree dimes ve haf tried it alretty yet.
And now we iss back here again.
Smash de gompass? Dot don’t fint us de vay nort

-“Eenselman, it would do no good to smash the com-
pass.
such a phenomenon as this singular hill of magnetic iron,

3 e

I observe from here that the top of the hill splits into.

two parts that slightly resemble horns. I shall have to
add that detail to the notes 1 have taken.”
He brought from an inner pocket of his black coat a

leather-bound book, which held a pencil; and, after

squinting through his eye-glasses at the top of the hill, he -

began to write in the book with the pencil.
The rotund German stood looking about, with ill-con-

_cealed displeasure.

“Honest men, I take them to be,” thought the scout.
“Like me, they have been fooled by that magnetic hill,
and have lost their way.”

When the scout rose into view behind ihe cactus the
taller man stared at him blankly, while the stubby Ger-
man tumbled backward with a sort of howl, exclaiming:

“Mein gracious! Who iss dis?”

“T observe that the magnetic mountain has fooled you,
the same as it did me,” said the scout, smiling at the

here, euiicd to this hill by crazy antics of our com-
passes.”
The tall, severe- sibue man “Bled his eye- -glasses to
his prominent nose, and surveyed the scout.

“Do you belong here, my man?” he questioned. “Yes,

we have lost our way. This is a magnetic hill, and the

compass deviates to it, and refuses to point to the mag-
netic pole.
now must be far astray, as we think we have been going
If you can help

sure you.
is my servant, Mr. Fritz Henselman, a most estimable
German, though at times a bit excitable.
the interests of scientific knowledge.”

Buffalo Bill introduced himself, repressing the smiles
he felt inclined to indulge in.

_ “You are an American scout, over here in Mexico, eh?’
said Bounderby. “Or is this still Mexico? We're not
sure on that point. We’re not sure of anything; having
lost our way, and wandered we do not know how many
miles,”

“T happen to be in the same boat,”
cheerily. “We can, of course, sit down here and wait
until we get some sunshine to guide us, or we can make
a guess at the direction we wish to go, and set out, trust-
ing to luck.”

Professor Bounderby turned te Fritz Henselman.

“Ut ve folleg

heem some moré, efery dime we shall come right back to _

What shall ve do?

Let us rejoice, rather, that we have been led to.

“And so we meet

Hence, we were led out of our course, and

 

We are here in

said the scout, yet

  
   
   
  

 

 

  
 

     
    

to be.
sorts of difficulties, in an unfamiliar region.

 

“Henselman,” he said, “just chip off a piece of that

ore, will you, and put it in the bag; I shall wish to use it.

in illustration of the lecture I shall give on this moun-
tain, when we return to the university.”

The German took a hammer from the hand-bag and
began to beat at one of the small stones, trying to
break it.

“I think I have heard that name—Buffalo Bill,” said

Bounderby, addressing the. scout.

33

“Yaw! I heert heem,” said the rotund German, ham-
mering the stone. “I’d vas in Yarmany, vhere I vas pe-
fore I come de Unitet States py. I hear uff Buffalo Bill
in Yarmany alretty yit. But I do not exbect to meed
heem in Mexigo.”

He cast a sidelong glance of curiosity at the noted

‘scout, whose fame had reached even the small German

village from which he hailed.

“This is a most remarkable hill,” remarked the pro-
fessor. “TI think it affected our compass many miles
away. We! were on a dim trail across there somewhere.
We had been told to go north, and to leave the trail at
a certain point. We thought we went north, but now I
am not sure of the direction which we followed. And
you say that you were misled in like manner? It is truly
wonderful.” :

“Vhat trouples me,” said Henselman, cracking off a
piece of the ore and throwing it into the hand-bag, ‘“‘is
how are ve going to ged oudt uff dis? When ve haf
noddings to show de vay nort’ how can ve fint id?”

“As I said, we can camp down here until we get a
sight of the sun,” said the scout; “or we can set out
and run the risk of not going in the right direction. Does
the light seem a bit ee professor, than a while

Pago?’

- No; it seems even darker,”
atmosphere is very peculiar.

said Bounderby. “The
I shall not be surprised if

I learn eventually that there have been volcanic dis-
turbances in this region, and that the darkness which we

observe is attributed to gases and smoke from some vol-
cano.” C

The scout produced his knife and set the blade on his
thumb-nail, in the hope of getting a shadow, but failed
again,

He explained to Bounderby and Henselman. what he
was doing.

To all appearances, Hhey were just what they neg
And he saw that they were likely to get into all
Bounderby
was no doubt a highly educated man along certain lines,
but in the ability to meet such an emergency as this he
was helpless as a child. And Henselman was no better.

“Tf we had left any tracks,” said Bounderby, “we might
hope to trace them back, and get out in that way. But
the earth here is of volcanic formation, you will observe.
At one point we crossed a small sand plain, and if we

 

asin Seinen thnhorin, re mam

‘ very opposite of what it does here.

at the fl,

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. | Le

could find that we could find the ee we made
in it.”

“Yaw! I dinks me I made feettracks in id more as
a foot deep!” said Henselman.

“But the wind was blowing, you will recollect, Hen-
selman, and those tracks may be covered over. Besides,
I doubt if we could find them, even if they were not.”

He fitted his glasses to his nose and gazed at the hill,
then took them off and looked round in a helpless sort
of manner.

Henselman held up his hand excitedly.

‘ Brotessor, T hat an itea!”

“Dear me, Henselman, you startled me! You have an
idea? That is remarkable. What is it, Henselman ?”

“Gif me de gompass unt I vill illustration id to you.”

“Tt is in the hand-bag, Henselman.”

The fat German extracted the compass from the hand-

bag, shook it as if he would make sure it was in working

order, and set it on the ground,

“You vill opserve,, brofessor, unt likevise our frient
here, dat dose gompass iss now bointing to dis magnedic
iron moundain!”

“Yes, that is true,’ Bounderby assented.

“Vale! Ton’d you see?”

“T see the needle pointing to the mountain, if that is
what you mean, Henselman.”

“But de odder end uff de needle!
ing ?”

“In the opposite direction, of course, Henselman.”

“Vale! Ven id vas bointing to de moundain ve follered
id, unt id prought us here to dis place... Unt now uff ve
foller yoost back again de vay de odder end uff de needle
is bointing, we vill arrife at de blace vere ve comed
from. Dot iss yoost so easy I vhonder I neffer dinks me
uff id till dis minute,”

“But, see here, Henselman! On the other side of this
hill the south pole of the needle points in a direction the
Wherever the com-
pass is placed, in going round this hill, the needle points
Your plan might do, if we knew just where |
we approached the hill, and could likewise be sure that in
coming up to it we had not deviated any from a direct
line. But as we can’t do that, your plan won’t work.
We would be going away from the hill, it is true; but in
which direction we should be going we could not know.
We might be going south, when we wish to go north.”

The fat German dropped back to the ground with so
heavy a thump that the breath was knocked out of him.

“Dot iss true!’ he admitted. “So long as ve don’t
know, vichefer vay ve go ve are sure to go wrong.”

Vere iss id boint-

 

CHAPTER IT.
TRACKS IN THE SAND.

As Buffalo Bill wished to keep moving, he determined
to risk a guess at what was a northerly direction, and set

saletiernan ss Sk eee te snares se srr ee
; Pith Se a habe Rt iecn phi ined seedy % te hati Bees seen i fs Ss ne
ae a oes SB SN us ar Ne Unite it adap a

 

 
 

 

4 : THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

out: and as Bounderby and the fat German did not care
to remain behind, they accompanied him.
Tt did seem as if there were about three hundred and
sixty-five chances of going wrong to where there was
one of goitig right, as Bounderby asserted; yet the at-
tempt to do something seemed better than inaction.
This brought a surprising discovery.
Within an hour’s time they reached a sandy area, which
both Bounderby and the ee declared to be the one
they had crossed. :

A search was instituted for the tracks which it was
hoped could be readily found—the tracks they had made
in crossing the sand on their way to the magnetic moun-
tain.

_ They did not find the tracks, even though they cov-
ered a large area; but in a depression of the sandy. pan
Buttalo Bill came upon footprints of a woman. |

The thing was almost too surprising for belief; and
he at once called the attention of - companions to his
discovery.

“The tracks of. a white woman,’ he said; “here in a
spot where one would think no white woman had ever
been; and the tracks have not been long made. The
woman was not an Indian, and she was not a Mexican;
or, if a Mexican, she was not of the peon class. ‘The
shoes making those tracks were of a late and fashionable
style. You will observe, too, that the woman walked with
an alert, springy step.”

Bounderby and. his German servant stared at the foot-
prints.

“All of which,” the scout went on, “convinces me that
the woman was ah American, and that she was young.
But what a young American woman is doing here passes
my comprehension.” |

“Maype she is fooled yoost de same as ve vas py de
iron mountain?’ suggested Henselman. “Unt now she
iss trying to git avay from id. Nein?”

Buffalo Bill looked about, and he let his eyes follow

-aS far as possible the tracks in the sand.

“That would not explain what a young American
woman is doing here,’ he said. “Come! I’m going to
follow these tracks, and see what they mean.”

“Unt maype ve lost our own vay again!”
protested.

“We haven’t found it yet, recollect!”

“Yaw! Go ahead,’

“The American young woman of fashion,”
professor in a learned tone, “is usually urban in her
tastes. She may venture forth out of a city, but she
never gets far from one. Therefore, I am under the im-

Henselman

said the

pression, Mr. Cody, that if we continue to follow these
steps we shall arrive sooner or later at or in the neigh-
borhood of a city. That is scientific reasoning. I have
-tmore than once found a bone, and from that bone alone

 

have been able to reconstruct the animal of which it

was a part. We see these tracks, and————”

“Took there!”

The exclamation came from the scout, who had hurried
on, unheeding the professor’s learned lecture.

He was fairly trembling, as he pointed to other tracks,
which joined those made by the woman he had declared
to be a young American.

The low, sandy surface which held the tracks of the
woman passed at this point close to higher ground; and —
from this higher ground, as from a leaping-board, had
sprung the maker of the other footprints.

What struck the scout more than anything else was
the shape and character of these new tracks.

They resembled in some essentials the footprints of a
man: in other respects they were like those of a bear;
and in still others they looked like nothing the scout had
ever seen in the way of tracks, and his experience and

observation had been large.

Instead of waiting to find the Leeaticn, he hut
tied on again, observing that the larger tracks kept close
by those of the woman, as if the creature taking them
had been pursuing her.

A hundred yards beyond, near the point where the
sandy land ended in volcanic rocks, the tracks of the
woman disappeared. -

Buffalo Bill stared ahead, and drew his revolver.

“See that?’ he said, when he was joined by Bounderby
and the German.

“‘T see that the woman’s tracks no longer show,” said
Bounderby.. “And why not?”

“She musd haf vings,” said the German.

“The creature that followed her caught her at this.
point and carried her on,” said the scout. “You will see
that his feet sank more deeply into the sand afterward.
He carried her;

ing her that oy was able to overtake her before she knew
he was near.’

“You think it was a man?” said Bounderby, sticking his
eye-glasses on his nose and bending over to look at the
tracks. eat me, this is remarkable ! Fe

“You are a scientist! What made those tracks? A
man? Or were they made by a beast? A while ago you
said that often from a single bone you have been able
to determine the form of the creature of which that
bone was a part. Then, tell me what made those tracks!”

Bounderby got down on his knees and scrutinized the
tracks. A call like that aroused his professional pride,
and put him on his mettle. The scout had seemed to
declare a disbelief in his statement, that from a single
bone he had secured information which enabled him to
determine the form of the creature of which that bone was |
a part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

atid as there seems to be not much sign ©»
- of a struggle, I fancy that he moved so quietly in follow-

 
  
     
   
  
  
   
 
  
   
   

 

 

 

 

~ The creatures may be indigenous to the country.

 

walked on its hind feet.
though not by choice; yet this creature had walked on its
hind feet even before it reached and seized the woman.

a ae ee ee ee

“Mr. Cody, that is the track of an orang-utan!” he de-
clared.

He rose and dropped his Pie from his nose with
an air of finality.

“That is the track of an orane-uten. He i cieheed the

young lady from the higher ground back there, as she

walked through the lower ground. She had passed him,
and he followed, and so slyly that’ she did not discover
the ce and right here he captured her, and carried her
away.”

His voice trembled.

“And that means, Mr. Cody, that we must follow at
once. For, as you say, these tracks are not old. This
may have been done even while we were at the iron
mountain discussing what we should do.”

“But this is Mexico!” the scout protested.
utahs are not found in Mexico.”

“Cody, no one would have believed that snow existed
on the planet Mars, until astronomers discovered it as
a fact. How this orang-utan got here I don’t know.
How-
ever that may be, one is here, or has been here; and he
has, it seems, seized a lady, whom you declare to be an
American. It calls for an investigation.”

The scout had started forward; and Bounderby and
the German followed him.

“Orang-

But they could not pursue the trail far; as in a short
time they reached the limits of the sand, and aiter that
the ground was of hard, volcanic origin, and left no
tracks,

“They were pointed in that direction when they reached

the rocks here,’ said the scout. “It is reasonable to
infer that the creature continued in the direction he was
going, though he ney really have turned to the right or
fei

Buffalo Bill hastened on in the course he thought the
creature had taken. Though urged by unwonted excite-

“ment and the drawing power of a strange mystery, he

yet was as calm and careful as ever.

To know that a civilized woman was in that out-of-
the-way place was a thing marvelously strange, yet it

did not equal the stupendous discovery that an orang-

utan was there.
But was the thing an orang-ttan ?
Buffalo Bill was not yet ready to believe it; though
he admitted that had he seen that footprint in a land
where orang-utans were to be expected he should have

guessed that animal at once.

As singular as anything was that the creature had
Orang-utans do that at times,

The hills toward which it seemed the beast and its

burden had gone were farther off than either the scout

THE BUFFALO

  

PR nS

       

BILD STORIES.

6
ot Bounderby thought, so that the day was waning by
the time they were reached.

But neither there, nor in the ground passed over in
reaching them, was any indication found of the singular
thine that had captured the woman.

While Buffalo Bill still hunted about the base of
the hills, loath to give up, the darkness that came early
because Of the queer character of the atmosphere, began
to settle down, and they could do nothing further.

“We'll try it again in the morning,’ said the scout,
still undaunted.

CHAPTER UL

AVE EB SPOLS OB) LiG ET,

Professor Felix Bounderby and Fritz Henselman were
sitting bolt upright, their backs against a tall white rock,
which at a distance resembled the white wall of a tent.

They were asleep and snoring at a terrific rate, in spite
of the fact that the morning was well advanced.

The reason for their somnolence was that the fatigues
of the previous day had been unusually wearing, and
its excitements had kept them up until a very late hour of
the night.

Buffalo Bill, who had risen eatly, had walked away
some distance, atid was searching again for the tracks
he had failed to find the evening before.

One thing pleased him. During the night the peculiar
condition of the atmosphere had passed away, so that
the sun, which rose red in the eastern sky, was, an hour
afterward, shining with a clear, white light.

Knowing now which direction was the east, he had a
knowledge of the points of the compass, even though his
magnetic needle still pointed obstinately to the hill of
magnetic iron,

‘The scout was returning from a vain search for tracks,
when he came in sight of Bounderby and Henselman sit-
ting against the white rock.

Suddenly. Bounderby snorted, twisted uneasily, and
opened his eyes; but he closed them again, and began
once more to snore. )

A little later Henselman gave a similar snort, and
slapped at his face as if a mosquito tickled it.

A moment afterward he slapped again, so energetic-
ally that he was half-aroused from his sleep.

Then he tumbled forward on his knees, and put up
his hands in supplication.

“Vaw!l? he gureled. “Blease, Misder Robber, ton’d
shood me! Keep dose bull’s-eye lighd oudt uff my

faces! Keep it oudt! Take my moneys, but ton’d shood ©

me!”
Bounderby uttered a little squall, and sat up, and, hear-

ing and seeing Fritz Henselman making that ridiculous ©

appeal, he stared.

5

 

  
 
 
 
 
   
  
   
    
   
  
  
    
  
   
   
   
 
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
    
  

 

 

 

6 _ THE. BUPBALO:

“Henselman,” he said, with a superior air, “kindly tell
me what you are doing?”

Henselman opened his. eyes, with a gurgling snort,
stared round, and then gazed at Professor Felix Boun-
derby. His face had a look of blank foolishness.

“Yaw!” he gasped. “Dere vos no robber going. to
shood me, eh?”

“Of course not, Henselman!
ulous notion into your head?”

What put such a ridic-

“Unt nopody tidn’t t’row der light uff a pull’s-eye lan- :

dern in my faces?”

“Certainly not, Henselman! Don’t be ridiculous. It
was the sun shining in your face. See, the sun shines!
I felt that light myself, in my face; but it was the sun-
shine, and it awoke me. Thank Heaven for the glorious
sunshine again, Henselman!”

The German still stared round.

“But, brofessor,’ he objected, “de stn iss not shining
so dat it can hid us in de faces! De sun shines pehint
dis rock. It coult nod haf peen der sunshine hid me der
faces in. Nein!’

Bounderby stared, too, when he made that discovery.

“T must have dreamed that the sunshine struck me
with blinding force in the face. It is such a change
from yesterday that it had that effect. Henselman, that
is the solution. Always remember, Henselman, that
every phenomenon of nature has a perfectly reasonable
and sensible solution.”

“You mean I treamed dot a man mit a pull’s-eye lan-
dern vos shining de lighd uff id in my faces?”

“Yes. Certainly. That is the true explanation. We
both dreamed :

But he stopped with a gurgling snort and tumbled
back against the white rock.

“Brofessor, vot o

Then Henselman uttered a cry, like the squeal of a
stuck pig, and also tumbled back against the rock

He put his hand up to his face.

“Yiminy Gristmas! I am treaming again, ven I am
avake unt my eyes iss vide open. J am treaming dot de
sunshine iss hidding my face in. Yaw!”

A spot of brilliant white light flickered and wavered
over his hand-covered face, flitted as a white dot on the
white rock, and then smote the professor once more,
causing him to howl again and fall back.

 

 

Professor Felix Bounderby rolled to one side to get
away from that blinding spot of light, and Fritz Hensel-
man rolled in the opposite direction. Both stared at it, as
it flickered on the rock.

_ Then it was gone.

- “T am treaming, brofessor, dot de sah: is hidding
de rock; also, it iss hidding my face in! Unt id vas
hidding you, too, alretty. Vat iss? I am treaming it mit

_ my eyes vide open!”

“This is singular!; This is very singular!”

BILL STORIES.

Professor Felix Bounderby uncoiled his long frame

and got on his feet, as he made this admission. He
stared at the sky, and saw that the sun was not in a
position to throw spots of light on the rock at that point.

“This is a natural phenomenon which I must investi-
gate, Henselman,”’ he said. “I must add it to the notes
for that lecture on ‘Peculiar Life in a Wild Region.’
The sun throws spots of light on the face of a white
rock, when, according to all the known laws of light, it is
not able to do so. This is worthy of special investiga-
tion, Henselman.”’

He took out his eye-glasses, hooked them over his
nose, atid stared hard at the rock where he had seen
the moving light spots.
there now.

The German had risen, or, rather, had rolled, to his
feet; and he, too, was inspecting the white face of rock.

“By yiminy, id puzzle me alretty !” he admitted. “Maybe .

dis rock/is vat you call dransparent, so dot de lighd
uff de sun can shood t’rough id. Nein?”

“Tmpossible, Henselman. We are here in the presence
of one of nature’s great mysteries. If we can elucidate
it, fame may be ours. I shall add oe discovery to those
notes on my lecture on i

 

He stopped. Buffalo Bill was coming up briskly, nad

the professor became aware of the fact.

“Welcome!” he said. “Mr. Cody, we have here a
strange thing. Though the sun is behind this rock, yet
white spots of light from it strike with a dancing effect
on this side of the rock. I have wondered if there can
be extra brilliant points of light in the sun, the opposite
of sun-spots in effect, which would produce anything
like that? ‘There would need to be some reflecting sur-
face, however, and——”

The dancing spots came again, flickering in a queer
and irregular way over the rock.

The scout saw them for the first time.

He watched them, as. they flashed and flickered for

_ nearly a minute; then they were gone.

“Every phenomena of nature has a perfectly natural
solution, Cody, if it can be known,” said the amazed
Bounderby.

“Very true, professor,” the scout answered, “In this
instance, the explanation isn’t far to seek. Those are
re apc spots of ee from a 1 instru-
ment

They came Le and the scout stared at hen. He
was reading them:

“We are at the red bluff. Join us at once, She is

still missing and we need you.’ ”

The spots disappeared.
Buffalo Bill repeated to Bounderby and Henselman

what he had read. <

“Over in the hills, there, at a point where its mirrors

   
  
  
   
  
   
  
 
 
   
   
   
    
    
  
   
   
   
  
  
  
 
   
   
  
    
  
   
  
   
   
    
   
   

Nothing of the kind showed

   

 

 

 

  

 
   
   
  
  
   
  
   
  
 
   
  
   
   
  
 
 
 
  
     
 
    
  
    
  
     
  
    
    
   
   
  
  
   
 
  
  
  
    

 

 

 

 

haps they think they know us.

graph! |
‘Cody, we are ready to start at once.

catch the sunlight, is a heliograph-instrument. By means
of it a message was flashed on that white rock, the flashes

representing in their duration.the dots and dashes of the

Morse telegraphic code. Fortunately, I learned the code,
and have practised it enough to be able to ‘read those
flashes.”

“Yaw! Dot iss a telegraph?”

“It is a sunlight telegraph. The light of the sun falls
on its mirrors, and is then oc or thrown, to this
spot.”

The flashes were es and again the scout

studied them.
“The same message again,” he said.
“But who is sending that message?” said Bounderby.

He was so puzzled he took off his tall hat and scratched
his bald head, |

“T don’t know,” the scout was forced to admit. ‘Per-
They call for help. And
they speak of a missing girl, It must be the girl whose
tracks we followed, and who you thought had been car-:

tied off by an orang-utan.”

“This—is—remarkable!” said Bounderby. “Re-mark-

able Ve

“The sender of that message and his instrument must
be in that direction!” said the scout. “The light could
not well be flashed to this spot from any other direction.

Over there must be the red bluff mentioned in the mes-

“sage. The way to clean up this mystery is to go there

and find the sender of the message. Perhaps we will in
that way get more speedily on the tracks of the girl and
the wild creature that ‘carried her away.”

“We supposed, Cody, that we were the only people in
this forsaken country,” said Bounderby, still scratching
his bald head. “It appears we were mistaken. That
young lady must have belonged to the party which is
trying to signal us, But why are they trying to signal
us? It can’t be that they know us.”

“The way to find out is to go over there;
ready to start at once,”

and Vm

“Cody, we aré with you! Henselman, get the hand-

bag. Iam feeling a bit hungry; but we can eat something
“as we go on.

¥es, Cody, this is important. The spots
were not thrown directly from the sun, but by a helio-
I must put that in the notes for my, lecture.
This is certainly a
remarkable adventure,”

They had not had breakfast; yet they set out, heading
in what the scout was sure was the right course, Boun-
derby gnawing at some meat as they pressed on, and Hen-

selman sweating and puffing under the weight of the

-hand- bag, which was made heavy by many specimens of
rocks and ores.

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

CHAPTER IV.
THE PARTY WITH THE HELIOGRAPH.

A hard tramp through the hills over rough ground
brought Buffalo Bill and his companions, after a time,

in sight of a tall cliff of red sandstone, which had at one

side a projecting shelf some distance above the earth.
Upon this shelf stood a youthful fellow, scarcely more

than a boy in years, and by him was the heliograph.

When he sighted Buffalo Bill’s party he leaped off the

shelf and slid rapidly down the side of the cliff to the —

ground.
In another minute he came running out from the foot
of the cliff, and with him ran a young man dressed in

. semimilitary clothing.

“We saw your heliographic flashes on the side of the
white rock off there, and I was fortunately able to read
the message,” said Buffalo Bill, addressing them. “So
we came at once.” a

The scout discovered that these senders of the message
had not meant it for him, but for some missing members
of the heliographic-party, who had become separated from
them the day before,

‘These two—the youth and the young man—were
young Tom Lawler, who had charge of the burro-train,
and Lieutenant Butler, second in command, of an ex-
pedition which had been.sent out to make railway sur-
veys. .

“We thought this was the section-where we were to do
our work,” said Butler; “but I confess that a. week ago,
when the hazy atmosphere began, we got lost.
followed our compass we were led here; but this morn-
ing I found that our compass is utterly unreliable. It
points east, instead of north, When the sun rose the
compass was pointing right at it. I was wondering if
some electrical storm on the sun could have affected it?’

Yet the thing that now most concerned Lieutenant

Butler and young Tom Lawler was that the sister of

Major Bennett, the commander of the expedition, was
missing, and had been gone for many hours.

She had set out for a little walk through the hills, Bat

had not returned,

They had hunted for her, and Major Bennett and all —
his men, with the exception of these two, were out search-

ing for her now.

“We have a considerable party,” said Butler. “We
have surveyors and chainmen, and a hunter or two whose
business it is to shoot game for us;‘and we have been
out two weeks. We haven’t accomplished anything, ex-

cept to get lost; and now, since the singular disappear-
ance of Miss Bennett, the whole expedition is demoral-

ized. When I flashed that message on that rock we saw
you; but at the distance you were we thought you mem-
bers of our party. It was a hit-and-miss chance, and

- couldn’t be done often, yet it worked this time.”

When we
 

eteres oeceae eee

8 . THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

Buffalo Bill and his companions made explanations,
so that soon both parties had all needed information.

The scout told of the diScovery of a girl’s tracks, and
of the strange tracks followi ing hers, and of what had
been inferred.

“This is important,’ said Butler. “Those tracks were
no doubt made by Miss Bennett. She came in this gen-
eral direction, you say; but you lost the tracks after they
left the sand? We must search for them there again.
I wish Major Bennett were here. He and his party have
been gone all night, and I’ve no idea where they are.
We shifted our position after their departure, and, though
we left marks for them to follow, they may not even
find their way back to them. What you say about the
magnetic hill which has made the compasses useless, and
worse, is interesting, Probably they don’t know about
that yet. No doubt we are many miles from the spot
where we supposed ourselves to be. Even you don’t know
just where we are?”

Fritz Henselman had put down the heavy hand- bag.

 ' Mat iss?’ he. said.
mit flies yoost flying to id from efery tirection. Here
id iss de same vay. Dot magnedic hill iss de sugar-barrel,
unt ve are de flies; it draw us, unt here ve iss. Uff id
keep on drawing~beobles, ve vill haf more as a rigimend
uff men in dis blace pooty. qvick.”

Professor Bounderby had produced his note- nee
and was making notes for his lecture.

“Every phenomenon has a perfectly natural and rea-
sonable cause,” he said, as he scribbled away, speaking as
if to his note-book. “We have seen why our compasses
acted so queerly, and why flashes of light hit that white
rock in so strange a way. If we continue, we shall dis-
cover how it happens that an orang-utan is here in
Mexico, and why it chose to capture the young lady. I
will just set down here that her name is Miss Bennett;
that she is the sister of the commander of this surveying-
party, which came to make surveys for a railroad; and
that she is a young lady whose love of adventure led
her to accompany her brother in this expedition. Now
she is lost, perhaps in great danger, maybe even dead;
. and we are to learn as soon as possible the facts.”

He read over what he had written, tucked away the
pencil, and dropped the book into his pocket.

“Cody,” he said, taking the eye-glasses from his nose,
“my servant,and I are at your disposal. We came to
make geological researches; but human nature and human
needs are more interesting and important than,cold stone;
hence we stand ready to help you to the extent of our
ability.”

The lieutenant and his companion scrambled up to the
rocky shelf and brought down the heliograph and other
things there.

“We have not a burro left,’ said Butler. “When we
came here we had a large burro-train, and Mr. Lawler

“Vonce I seen a sugar-barrel,

longer.

had charge of it. The burros were scattered a week
ago in a violent night storm, and we couldn’t recover
them.
astray by our compasses.”

Buffalo Bill volunteered to guide Butler and Lawler to
the sandy area where the tracks of the young woman

had been found, for they were certain the footprints
were those of Miss Emily Bennett, the sister of Major
Bennett, their commander.

Before departing from the red cliff, Lieutenant Butler
wrote ott a statement of what he had done and dis-

covered, and what he now purposed to do, which he af- :
fixed to a stick thrust into a crevice in the cliff, where it

could not fail to reach the eyes of Bennett’s party on their
return.

Once more the attempt was to be made to find out
what had become of the girl and her captor.

 

(CHARTER V.

A STARTLING ATTACK.

4

Buffalo Bill and his companions camped that night at
a distance even farther in the hills than before. They
had made no discovery. The tracks of the girl and of
the strange creature that had followed her could not be
traced beyond the sandy area.

Yet so persistent had been the search that the night
camp was made only after the light had failed, and the
first satisfactory meal of the day was then eaten.

Major Bennett and his party had not been sighted, and

their present location could not, be guessed.
The distress of Lieutenant Butler and young Lawler

was marked that evening; ney had almost given up

hope.

“Tt’s a terrible thing,” said Butler. “That a young lady
of refinement and education, a woman of beauty and cul-
ture, should meet such a fate is something almost too
horrible to think about. And she was as kind and good
sas she was beautiful. You would have said so, Cody,
if you had known her.
the major.”

“T haven’t given up yet,’ declared the scout. “TI shall
cling to hope until we know that we can’t hope any
We'll begin the work again at daylight.”

Worn out by fatigue, Buffalo Bill slept rather. soundly
that night.

But shortly before day he was ae by a strange

feeling of fear, which impressed him with a danger he
could not combat or comprehend. He was shiv ering with

dread as he opened. his eyes.

He almost cried aloud when he saw that he was look-
ing straight up into another pair of eyes. The darkness
was great, and his position was such that he could see
nothing but the eyes, which looked down into his with
a strange and fear-inspiring glare.

SOU eT Sec es Tene ear ata NENT assis

SEN ait Se sae

Since that time a have been wandering, led

This is going to kill her brother, —

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

“s

sa

 

SE EE GS ET ER aR

ee

oe.

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES US

The scout was held by a horrible spell.
seemed to be pressing down on his chest.

He struggled with the feeling, and, throwing it off
partly, he tried to turn his body, and reached up to push

A weight

_ aside the face that held those terrible eyes, even though

he could not see the face.

When he did so he felt himself seized about the throat
in so strong a grip that it seemed as if the muscles of
his neck had been compressed suddenly by iron bands.

As those fingers, or claws, settled on his throat, his
head was jammed backward ‘against the earth. This, to-

gether with the quick choking, almost deprived him of

his senses. Then he felt himself a to one side, and
dragged over the ground.

It was like a thotrible nightmare, and he felt: that
he must be dreaming. Yet he knew better.

Struggling fiercely to throw off that awful clutch,
which seemed to be crushing his neck, the scout suc-
ceeded in drawing his knife.

With a swing he plunged the blade into the side of the

/ thing that held him.

That swinging stroke was followed by a sound of
some kind.

There was a blow in the scout’s face, and his head fell
backward. _

When he returned to consciousness, after having lain
without sense or motion for many minutes, darkness and
silence were round and over him.

He put his hand to his throat, which ached with a
heavy, dull pain. His lungs were choked and wheezing,
his head throbbed, and his eyes felt as if they were about
to jump out of their sockets. Worse than all was that
horrible fear, still chilling him and seeming to stop the
very current of life in his body.

Yet he knew he was alone; that the creature, whatever
it was, had gone.

Then he heard a voice: a

It sounded far off at first,~but a moment later it
seemed quite near. He recognized it.as the voice of
Lieutenant Butler, and knew then that Butler and the
others were hunting for him.

The great scout lifted himself on his elbow and looked
round in the gloom. He saw no one.

“Here!” he called; and to his ears his voice sounded
husky and strange.

They came running to hie Uentenant Butler, Tom
Lawler, Professor Bounderby, and Fritz Henselman.
_ “Something has happened to you?” said Butler, when
he reached the scout. “Lawler heard something, and he
thought he saw you being dragged away. Then we knew

_ you were gone, and we aroused the camp, and ever
- since have been looking for you.”

“How long ago was that?” Buffalo Bill asked,
“Fully ten minutes.”

The scout addressed. young Tony Lawler.

Reet fue ‘ g
i Seg + m id a x
aaa ac mene etehesiercmnnferrtnaety Nem T Ar pias pita ts

“What did you see dragging me?”

“I don’t know; I couldn’t make out. I shouldn’t ~
have known it was you but for a groan that I thought you
made: and then we found you were not in the camp, and
knew it was you. But what attacked you I don’t know.”

“Yet you really saw me dragged out of the camp ?”

“Ves, 39

He tried to sit up, and then to stand.

“If you will help me, Lieutenant Butler, I’ll try to get
back to the camp, As soon as daylight comes I hope to
find the tracks of the thing that attacked me.”

Butler and Lawler gave him aid in getting to the
camp, while Professor Bounderby and the German made
a pretense of watching for the return of the “thing,”
whatever it was.

“Tell us. just how it jcaked. ” said Bounderby, when

the scout was in the camp and in some condition for

talking.

“T don’t know; I saw only its eyes. I had the most
singular feeling of fear I ever experienced. I think it
must have been the kind of fear a superstitious man has
when he thinks he is in the presence of a ghost. Only —
this was no ghost; its grip was altogether too solid and
material. Its fingers fairly cracked my neck. When I
roused up the thing was looking straight down into my
eyes; and all I could see were those terrible eyes staring
into mine. I wanted to scream.”

He turned to. Bounderby.

“In my opinion, professor, we have found the thing
that carried off Miss Bennett, or, rather, it found me.
Perhaps it meant to carry me away, and failed. I’m sure
IT struck it with my knife, and perhaps that saved me.”

“The orang-utan is a strange beast,’ said Bounderby,
with oracular certainty. “You spoke of its fingers. That
is permissible, for an orang-utan, you know, is a four-
handed animal. When we say it walked upright on its
hind feet, we really mean it walked on its hind hands.”

He produced his note-book and began to scribble in it.

“If you could describe just the sound it made after
you struck it with your knife, at the moment it released
you, I can make a note of it here, and use it in my
lecture,

“TE that’ thing a Miss Bennett, she is dead!”
declared Butler, with much feeling.

The German had sat through all the talk, quiet, yet
quaking.

“Uff id capture us ve iss all dead!” he declared now.
“De young voman iss gone—kilt. Vy should ve stay
here and be kilt alretty, too? I ton’d vish to investigation’
any pizness like dot. Brofessor, I tink ve petter pull
ower freighd oudt uff dis blace vhen de daylight come;
unt I hobe id vill come qvick.”

There \was no more sleep for any of the party that
night. :

They sat in the darkness, on loaded weapons, wale

Ib
angen heen bong a a sgebabartanidinis hates one: Panett Nantes,
ro PAAR CT ea tty

abe SNR evan St aa

i hehe eee

cdernttiichy renin Paice ere
ete ar: BN MTN

 
 

 

 

 

oe : THE BUFFALO

ing for the return of the thing that had attacked the
scout; and they beheld it at various times, in various

forms, by the aid of their excited imaginations, sneaking _

across the rocks toward them.
Yet it did not return,

 

CHAPTER VI.
ANOTHER SURPRISE.

‘When morning came Buffalo Bill began a search of
the camp, and of the ground over which he had been
_dragged in the darkness.

At the point where he had thrust be knife into the
creature he found marks of blood on the rocks. His
knife had gone home; and it was that which had caused
the thing to drop him.

Fatther on the scout saw pebbles ated ad turned,
though the hardness of the ae ale tracks from
showing.

He at once informed his companions of the nature of
his discovery.

Bounderby and Lieutenant Butler joined him, and the

others came soon.
Pursuing the general course shown ay the displaced
pebbles, they shortly gained a softer spot; and in the soil
there they beheld again footprints, like those seen the
previous day in the sandy area.

The scout looked at them closely, and pointed them
out,

. “There is proof that the thing which attacked me last
night is the thing which carried off the young lady; we
are on the right trail.”

Apparently the scout had recovered from the effects

of that assault in the night; yet there were-dark lines
on his throat, and he had not been able to shake off en-
tirely that strange and, for him, unnatural ag of
fear and horror. /
_ Fear in its ordinary sense was a thing unknown to
Buffalo Bill. . Yet he almost quaked, when he remem-
bered how those strange eyes had looked down into his
_ in the darkness.

“T have encountered many terrible things,” he. said,
“but nothing ever before like that. Yet I don’t know
what form the creature bore, whether it was like an ape
oraman. All A can recall are those terrible, fiery, haunt-
ing eyes,” ae

“The eyes of an orang-utan,” said Professor Boun-
derby sonorously, ‘would glow in the darkness like those
of an animal, if seen at the right angle. You didn’t no-
tice a greenish glare, 1 suppose?’

“No; the eyes seemed fiery and staring, as near as [
can describe it. They held me spellbound with horror.”

“Tt is awful to think of Miss Bennett having fallen
into the power of such a creature,” said Butler. “We'll
believe that she fainted at sight of the thing; and that if

it slew i.

BILL STORIES.

the deed was done before she recovered ce
sciousness.’

He looked round with a shudder, as if he feared on
behold the horrid shape pictured by his imagination, -

Buffalo Bill led the way now, with cocked revolver.

The tracks of the monster appeared so fresh that he half-
expected to come upon it at any moment.

At his side strode Lieutenant Butler and Tom Law- |

ler, carrying the necessary parts of the heliograph.

The tracks led by a roundabout course which finally
drew the pursuers under some high, natural rock walls,
that were set on a sort of plateau.

From the base of these walls the country which had
been passed over was visible.
blingy at a distance the wall of a tent, and the more dis-
tant cone-shaped hill that had played such tricks ies
the compasses, could be clearly seen.

When Buffalo Bill led the pursuers up to the cpu:
rock walls, he saw the ground there was not favorable
for trailing, and that again the tracks of the “‘beast’’ had ~

disappeared.

Fe pointed out the last track to be seen.

“The orang-utan was moving along the wall,” said
Bounderby. “That track looks very fresh, Mr. Cody.”

“IT should say it was made last night, or early this
morning,” i

Butler stared along the wall, and ran his eyes here

and there, searching vainly for others tracks.

Fritz Henselman, who had been groaning under the
weight of the heavily laden hand-bag, took this oppor-
tunity to set it down.
seemed a safer place, and it was a thing his position
as a servant enabled him to do without question.

“Brofessor,” he said, panting heavily, “I voult yoost
as soon stay here mit. de hand-pag as to go furder on.
Yaw! Vot iss de use?

oxcoose me for nod going any furder along.”
He sat down,

“T am nod afraid uff dot peast, or vatefer it iss.

Ton’d dink id!
trafeling, Yaw!’

Buffalo Bill smiled, in spite of the weight of uneasi-
ness that burdened his mind.

he said, *

I am yoost tired oudt ys too much

“Bat, Panselman, * ‘if we go on ‘and eave

you here, that beast may come on you from the other —

direction while we are gone; and then what would you
do? We don’t know which way it went, and so we can &
tell which way it may come back.”

Hanselman jumped to his feet.

“Iss dot so?’ he cried; and he picked up the hand-
bas, apparently iy eciene that it was not light in weight,

and was ready to move on again,
“Uff id vasn’t for dose magnedic needles ce hat
peen magnetized py dose magnedic moundains, ve coult

BSc as ube aa SECA

The white rock, resem- _

He had kept well behind. That

My arms iss pulled off alretty.
~yet. I dinks I stay here mit de hant-pag. You vill

 

 

 

 
  

 

 

 

 

  

severity to the look he cast on his German servant.

 

fint our vay oudt uff dis place!” he groaned. “Bro-
fessor, I dink now dot de sun iss shining maype ve coult
find vich vay ve vish to go. Nein? I am voding dot
ve try id. I haf lost not any apes and monkeys vot I
shoult pe hunding. Unt dose vimmins is dead long ago.
Brofessor, shall ve nod try to fint our vay oudt by der
light uff der sunshine?” :

‘“Hanselman, I’m ashamed of this show of cowardice!”
declared Bounderby, putting on his eye-glasses to give
“We
are engaged in an errand of mercy—the rescue of a
young lady from the jaws and arms of a monster, an
orang-utan; and shall we here hesitate? Perish the
thought! Henselman, we remain with this party, let the
result be what it may!”

But even the professor, though his words were brave
enough, was shaking a little, as he considered the result
of a possible encounter with the thing he had denominated

an orang-utan.

Buffalo Bill was moving on, looking for the vanished
tracks. |

A hundred yards beyond he found them again, show-
ing that he had been taking the right course.

As he saw them thus once more, he stared. The
tracks entered into a queer-looking place in the rocks. —

This hole seemed to have been hewn out, for it was
oblong, and formed on mathematical lines. Within it
was a framework of wood.

“What have we here?” said the scout to Butler, who
was at the moment by his side.

~“Tt looks like a primitive sort of elevator,” said
Butler. |

And, indeed, that was just what it did look like. The
hewn-out place in the cliff, together with the wooden
framework it contained, resembled an elevator in a
marked degree.

“Hello!” the scout added.
Here:

Pressing farther in, his eye had been cabeht by a
stone image.

“An Indian idol!” he exclaimed, in astonishment. ‘‘Per-
haps this is some old Indian chapel.”

“What more have we

Lawler was now at his side, peering in, his youthful
features working with excitement and curiosity.

The scout struck a match, and held it up so that it
lighted the rather gloomy interior of the “elevator” and
fell on the stone image.

The image was apparently an idol, in a recumbent
position, with an arm extended and finger pointing. The
chisel-work on the face was crudely done, yet the Indian
features were recognizable.

Bounderby came crowding after Lawler, drawn by the
words he had heard.
“A find?” he said.

“A queer one, professor,” said the scout.

“Take a look!

     

THE BUFFALO

BILL STORIES. : 1D

  

his seems to be an Indian chapel; and there is he idol.

What is it pointing to?”

He held the light down in the corner toward which
the finger pointed, and saw there a wooden peg set into
a hole.

Bounderby had crowded in, and was staring, with his
eye-glasses perched on his nose.

“Not too fast, Cody!” he objected.
curate notes of this.”

He whipped out his note-book.

“Here we have what is probably a chapel of the an-
cient Aztecs, with one of the idols that race worshiped.
It is a singular discovery.”
=, ‘Did that beast come into this place?” said Lieutenant —
Butler. “If he did, he went out again, because he could
go no farther. This is interesting, but we are wasting
time here. His tracks are so fresh out there that if we
hasten we oy come on him soon. 30 we oughtn’t to
tarry here.” é

Henselman came in and dropped his hand-bag to the
floor with a thud.

“Brofessor,” he said, and his tone had. an appeal in

t, “IT opserve dot de sun is clouding ofer again, so dot
py unt py maype de sky vill pe yoost like it vas yister-
tay. Den ve can’t fint ower vay oudt uff dis blace. J
dinks me ve had petter dry id ‘righd now, insteat uff
vaitinge. Vot you dink?”

“This idol sits in a recumbent position,” Bounderby
was saying aloud, jotting down the words in his note-

“T must make ac-

book, “and it has a finger pointed toward the corner
of this singular room. Possibly that may indicate some-
thing.”

Buffalo Bill was stooping again, with a lighted match,
to look at the wooden plug in the corner, to which that
stone-finger appeared to point.

It seemed set tightly in a hole in the stone; but when ~

he pulled on it, the wooden plug came easily away.

At the same time a startling thing occurred.

The wooden framework in which they stood began
to sink downward into the rock, dropping as if into a
well.

The thing that had seemed an elevater was an ele-
vator.

This sudden drop downward into that well-like space
was too startling almost for belief. It seemed to the
scout a part of what had appeared to him in the night as
a dream—a part of that impression of fiery eyes and
darkness and clutching fingers.

Bounderby uttered an exclamation of dismay and as-
tonishment, and Henselman HOpnG down with a grunt
of terrified helplessness.

“Mine Gott in himmel!?’ he cried.
fessor, ve iss all dead men!”

“Vat iss? Bro--

Nor were the other members of the party less as-

‘tounded than Bounderby and the German,

  

 

 
     

  

THE BUFFALO

After a quick descent the rickety car stopped with a

thump that almost shook Buffalo Bill from his feet.
- Henselman emitted another squawk of fear.

 

CHAPTER VII.
FURTHER SURPRISES.

As the elevator thus came to a standstill the scout

and those with him ed saw in the gloom an open

door,

As explained, the elevator was cla. but a frame-
work of decaying wood; hence it was plain that this
door was in the wall of the elevator-well. :

Buffalo Bill, unhesitating, struck another match, while
his companions wete variously expressing their astonish-
ment.

Its light showed that the door ae into a small,
square room, which, except for that light, was perfectly
dark. The only door it had was the one entering from
the elevator. 4 : :

Not without some hesitation did the scout step forth
into this room.

As the light of the match flamed higher he beheld
a sight which called another exclamation from his lips.

An Indian sat in a crouched attitude in a corner.

Lawler saw the Indian at the same instant; and Buffalo
Bill heard the clitking of the boy’s revolver.

“Don’t shoot!’ was the scout’s warning.

He thrust the match down toward the Indian.

“He is dead!’ he said.

The match went out; and it was necessary to ignite
another before further examinations could be made.

Then they discovered that the Indian was not only
dead, but that he was, in fact, a mummy, but so well pre-
served that he was not like the dried-up specimens of
Indian mummies usually seen, He had the appearance of
an Indian who had been not long dead.

In his mouth, projecting from between his teeth, he held

a ,queer-looking flat stone.

The scout flashed upon it the light of the match, and
saw that the stone held written characters, or what ap-
peared to be written characters.

“See here, professor!’ he said.

Bounderby came forward, trying hard to ‘suppress any
manifestation of his really great excitement.

“There is something written on this stone, professor;
it seems to be a message, or a letter, or, perhaps, in-
structions. | should guess instructions. But it’s in a
writing I never saw before.”

Professor Bounderby gravely produced his eye-glasses,
strung them across his nose, and bent to look at the flat
stone projecting from between the lips of the mummy.

“It’s only visible in part,’ he urged. “]——” :

The scout took hold of the stone, and it came away

_ easily.

‘ Sasshegsinlavct cay evorial sari GaleioRoReR RA AER ae
isonet: een inhi da Aisin a Aah attckeiih niah din NiideioriiikL) hip an dhaalboce iia OMRON

 

_ too positive.

act.

sib pyar teen tcc lps heh st te de ule ence vel

Ree NCA Ka Ne ME PSEA

    

BILL STORIES.

     

It was flat and round, and ve on both aide: with
what seemed to be figures, or writing in hieroglyphics.

“Can you make it out, professor? It’s beyond me, I
confess,” c

All stared at Bounderby, and at the stone which the

scout placed in his hands.

“It's Aztec,” Bounderby declared, ae he ad looked
it over.

The professor was guessing, for he really didn’t know ~

what it was; but as his scholarly ability seemed to be at
stake, he said “Aztec.’’ Perhaps he was correct; we shall
see later.

its oy Aztec, Cody; Aztec picture-writing; but
I can’t read it.”

Butler and Lawler were looking a

“That image above, you know, pointed to a wooden

plug, and that showed us how to make the elevator

descend. There’s another plug like it over there—some-
what like it, anyhow.”
It was Butler who spoke.

He gave this wooden pin a pull, as the scout had done —

the other, with a result as startling.

With a jerk and a wheezing grind, the ‘elevator Dea
to ascend,

Fritz Henselman, who had lingered in the doorway, ue
gave a squeal of fright, and came plunging into the

room, with a jump-such as a bullfrog might have made;

he had come near getting squeezed by the elevator, as it .

shot up past the doorway.

The match that had been flaming in the scout’s fin-
gers went out, plunging the room into darkness. All
stood in silence, hearing that grinding roar as the ele-
vator ascended.

They heard, also, the chugging sound it made as it.

stopped.
The silence that followed was oppressive.
It*was broken by Henselman.
“Brofessor, ve are all dead alretty yet!
has lefd us! Vot shall ve do?”
The elevator had left them; they were enclosed in that
small room, with their only apparent avenue of escape
the elevator-well.

Der elefator.
\

Lieutenant Butler struck a match with hands that

trembled, .

“That was my fault,” he said.
I thought if I pulled that plug we might
descend again here; in other words, I foolishly thought
this room was also an elevator. Instead of that, the
elevator which brought us here was sent back by my

39

The scout likewise struck a match, and Lawler did Ms
same.

With these matches burning, the room was plainly

revealed. The door opened into the elevator-well; but

  
   

&

Na SM ict ar i ie di | Se a er io

“I was too confident— ~

   

 

    
       
   
     
     
       
       
     
       
       
   
   
 
   
  
    
 
 
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
   
   
   
 
 
  
  
 
  
  

 

 

  
 
     
 

 

 

 

"in a corner of the room,
which it had filled; and that niche, or hole, was un- .

 

when this was inspected it was seen how impossible it
was to climb out of it without ropes. |
The elevator worked up and down in a rough wooden
frame; but this frame could not be ascended.
cae the party was,immured in that room of
stone under the ground.

“Some one may use the elevator and come . down here,
suggested young Lawler. “If that should happen, we'd
make him take us out of this.”

Lieutenant Butler continued to inspect the weil of the
_ elevator, still hoping it could be ascended; while Buffalo
Bill was looking round the room in which they were
imprisoned. _

Bounderby was beginning to show the terror he had
so long and successfully concealed. His face was white
_and drawn, and his form trembled.

As for Fritz Henselman, he had never made any pre-
tense of bravery, and had now given way to a great
fright.

_“Brofessor, ve iss all dead men!” he continued to de-
ce with much monotony.

Professor Bounderby began again to study the stone
taken from the mouth of the mummy.
to guess from the looks of the characters on it what
it said; for he, as well as the scout, was convinced that
the stone held the secret.

Staring at the stone, and then at the dark face of the
mummy, the professor, perhaps to bolster up his courage,
and certainly to make the others think him courageous,
began to apostrophize the mummy.

“Thou lump of human clay, lifeless these hundreds of
years, tell us the meaning of this! What secret dost
thou hold in that heart of dust? What words of life
and freedom are concealed behind those cracking lips?
Out with it! Spell us the message on this page of
stone!” i

Buffalo Bill foams round of the small room, |

without the discovery of anything that gave hope. There
was no other wooden pin, no suggestive projection, noth-
ing that hinted of a way out.

“Yield up thy secret!” the professor adjured the stony-
faced mummy.

“Perhaps there is something hidden in the rags of
raiment which clothe him,” the scout ventured.

There was a tattered blanket of Indian weave, some
coarse-fibered mummy-cloth, together with a sort of cape
of matting laid over the mummy’s shoulders.

Buffalo Bill stooped to lift this matting ; and, in doing
so, unintentionally drew the mummy toward him.

It pitched forward on its face ; and behind it was a
hole.

It will be recalled that it sat in a crouching attitude
In that corner was a niche

doubtedly a door.

' He was hoping -

     
   

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES, Ge

Bounderby’s mouth dropped open, so great was his
astonishment. He was for the moment so surprised
that he had not a word he could say; which was re-
markable, as he usually had plipgetne! too many words
for every occasion.

‘The scout uttered an exclamation of amazement.
“What is it?” cried Lawler and Lieutenant Butler in
a breath.

“A way out!” said the scout, his voice shaking with the
tremendous significance of his discovery. :

Both Lawler and Butler rushed to see, and stared into
that black hole. 3

The scout pitched his ae match down into it.

He thought he was to be forced to regret this, for a
flame shot upward, and this flame licked into the little
room, which began to fill with smoke.

But the flame began to die down almost at once. Then
the excited discoverers found that the match had fallen
upon some mummy-cloth, which had dropped from the
back of the mummy into the open space that lay behind
that little nichelike door.

“There is a good draft here,” said the scout, as he
watched the smoke. ‘“‘And that proves one thing. Air
comes through that little hole, feeding the fire, and
goes up the elevator-shaft, as up a chimney. That shows
there is a way out; or, at least, a way for the air to
get in,” We

Henselman staggered to his feet.

“Dere iss a vay oudt?” he screeched,

“T think so; we’re hoping so.”

Henselman pushed the scout aside,
head into the small hole.

But the fire famed up again, scorching his face and
hair, and he tumbled back.

&

and poked his.

 

GHAPTER VIII.
MORE DISCOVERIES.

Buffalo Bill stooped and looked down into the hole, as
soon as the fire had ceased and the smoke no longer rose
in a way to suffocate him.

He struck another match, which he held in ‘his hand
instead of tossing it down. Its light showed a narrow,
cramped gallery leading off into the darkness.

He announced his discovery to those behind him.

“Of course,” said Bounderby, in his superior tone, “an
elevator descending can be expected to descend to a place
where the passengers can get out. Strange we did not
think of that before!”

“We thought of it, professor,” Butler corrected, “but
we couldn’t find that way out. But here it is; Cody has
found it,”

Henselman came to his feet again.

“Brofessor, de hant-pag iss gone!’ he announced, with
a wail.

  

  

 
a

SE Rs oie ee

SS

 

 

 

RAE njstar get Rag Te eg oe

14 - THE BUFFALO

_Bounderby turned round.

“What is that you say, Henselman?’

“Der hant-pag iss gone!”

“It was in your charge, Henselman!
come of it?”

“Der elefator took id. Ven der elefator went oop de
hant-pag also id went oop. Yaw! Vat iss?’

Butler and Lawler, not heeding this, were crowding in
back of Buffalo Bill, trying to look into the tunnel he had
discovered.

Professor Bounderby took off his-hat and scratched his
bald head in a puzzled way.

What has be-

“Henselman, when we get back to civilization, I shall
discharge you for this bit of carelessness!’ he announced
with severity. “That hand-bag contains the ore speci-
mens I have labored so hard to get; it represents the
work of nearly three weeks of dangerous toil. And now
it is gone!”

“Yaw! Id iss gone!’

The rotund German waddled to the elevator-well and

looked up.

“But, brofessor,” he said, and his voice changed as the
thought came to him, “uff you hat peen combelled to carry
dose hant-pag like me, you voult rechoice dot id is gone
alretty yet. Nein?”

The excited talk of Buffalo Bill and those with him
made the professor forget for the time the loss of that
precious hand-bag.

He turned to them.

“You have found a way out?” he asked.

“We have found a narrow tunnel, Bounderby; and
we're hoping it will lead us out. It runs straight through
this clayey cliff, and it’s narrow ; Die perhaps we can
squeeze through.” .

“We've got to squeeze through!’
Butler.

“Follow me!” the scout ordered.

He tore from the mummy some of its cloth, twisted it
into a torth, which he lighted; and then, slipping into
the hole, he began to crawl along, lighting the way with
that gruesome torch, whose flame filled the narrow space
with smoke, and soon set all to coughing.

After ‘him came Lieutenant Butler, and then Lawler;
and, following behind, the professor and the German.

The tunnel proved a “Fat Man’s Misery” for Hensel-
man.

He was soon in trouble and squealing for aid.

“Hellup!’ he bellowed. “Brofessor, ton’d leafe me
here. I am sthuck!” ee
“But I can’t turn round to assist: you, Henselman!” the
professor declared testily. “My body and legs are too
long; I can’t turn in this place. Henselman, you’ll have
to help yourself!”
“Nein! Hellup!

said Lieutenant

Hellup !”

 

aac mat i ret tent Stronthotot Shires inabrerry re otra, ort nici tart

DS ANSTO nonte nieeine eee

bona

a LAS Rakes Ag

TTT bern es rime ihn ss

Siar rea a a reer

®

‘BILL STORIES.

The yells of the German caused Buffalo Bill and ese
on ahead to stop.

“Don’t send out such howls as cat: Hencelnant ea the

scout protested. ‘‘You’ll have us in trouble.”

“Td iss me dot iss alretty in trouple,” said Henselman.
“I am sthuck in dis hole py. I am too fad in my stum-
mick !”

“Henselman, squeeze along; you can make it!’ the
professor urged.

Seeing how difficult. it was for him to get help, the
fat German began to “squeeze along”; and, with much
grunting and sighing, contrived to advance a little.

When the scout had gone on for twenty or thirty

yards he saw a faint light.

He announced the discovery to Lieutenant Butler, who
was next behind him. Then he blew out the smoking
and cough-producing torch, being glad to get rid of it.

“We don’t know what we'll find out there,’ he ex-

plained; “and we wouldn’t wish our light to be seen.
Bounderby, tell that German to cease his noise. We don’t
know what we’re coming to now. But there is light
ahead.” ay

The knowledge that light had been seen, indicating
that the end of the tunnel was being reached, had an in-
spiring effect on Henselman.

He got along much better after that, and with much —

less puffing and panting.
“Ve vill neffer pe aple to gid back der vay we haf

-comed from, brofessor,”’ he declared.

“Perhaps, Henselman, we shall not want to. The only
reasons I can think of that would make me want to go
back are that hand-bag and the hope of being able to
understand a bit more about the mysteries we have beheld.
‘That stone taken from the mouth of the mummy, Hensel-
man, I have here in my pocket.
it some time. When I deliver my lecture——”

But Henselman was howling again, declaring that he
was stuck fast; and what more the professor said was
not heard by the others.

The light seen by Buffalo Bill increased.

He saw that he was nearing the end of the tunnel, and
that the light was sunshine coming in there.

But, unfortunately for Henselman, the tunnel con-

tracted still more as it neared the end, and soon the ro-

tund stomach of the German was having further and con-
tinued trouble.

When the scout gained the end, he ventured to peer
out, before venturing out himself.

What he saw was as surprising as anytite that had

gone before.

A circular valley lay spread beneath him; a valley of
great beauty, embowered here and there in trees, and
having in its center a large village, which was dominated
by a shining, domelike structure.

The sight drew from him a cry of astonishment.

atone sees hares is be ti srtem mt rts ikea m8 ike ended teed nah San fi isi satan
eS Mns tS a Be Bape uC Paitin

 

I hope to be able to read »

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
Ry,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

here and take a look at it?

' tecture I miss my guess.

. have no correct idea of our location.
Indian tribes in the interior of Mexico;

THE BUFFALO

_\ Where there are houses people tay be expected. In

this ‘case they would, supposed; be Indians; and, there-

‘fore, enemies.

Thus thinking, the scout took a good look, to make sure
that no Indians were near the mouth of the tunnel.

Then he spoke to Lieutenant Butler.

“We're at the end,” he said. “There’s a valley here,
with an Indian village in it; at least, I think it is an
Indian village, though it has a templelike structure that
looks anything but Indian. Can you squeeze in by me
I fear to try to get out yet.”
Lieutenant Butler crowded in by the side of the scout,

and their bodies so filling the narrow space that the situa-
_ tion was almost uncomfortable.

But what Butler saw es him for the ay and

“effort.

“Tt is amazing!” he said,

eyes.”

“An Indian village?” said the scout.

“TI can hardly think so; Indians are not given to fine
architecture; and if that central house isn’t fine archi-
See that high dome in its mid-
dle, Cody! Doesn’t it make you think of the dome of
the capitol at Washington? That must be a temple; and
Indians are not supposed to have temples.”

“Some kinds of Indians have temples, or once had;
and those were the Aztecs. You recall that stone in the
mouth of the mummy, and the mummy? The writing, or
whatever was scratched on that stone, resembled Aztec
characters, as I recall them. Can this be an Aztec city?’

“But the old Aztecs are all dead, Cody.”

_ “Very true. So far as we know, they are all dead,
and their descendants are the miserable Indians and peon

“1 can ae believe my -

_ class of the Mexico we know to-day, But there may be

some remaining. Remember that we don’t know where
we are. We suppose we're in Mexico; yet we don’t
even know that, Following our compasses, which had
gone crazy, we were led we know not whither; and we
: There are strange
in some of the
inaccessible mountains, for instance. Lieutenant Butler,
we can’t be sure that this is not an Aztec city.”

Professor Bounderby heard a portion of that, and he
tried to squeeze to the front; with the result that he
and young Lawler were cr owded into space so small that
soon Bounderby began to feel as pinched and squeezed
in as the German, who was still ae his calls for
help.

“We'll have to risk it,’ said the scout to ena
Butler, after a further look round. “So, here goes!”

He crawled with difficulty through the opening, which
had pinched in until the hole was no larger than his body,
and seemed hardly so large. -

When outside, ade scout was gratified to see a screen
of bushes.

Ke hs REA aR TRA Usa SO Ee a vi BSS WURER ATC ac AN 2g
pecan ndinberhoehadirt ten cei item nrensrecanayet-0 repairman heteae ena) a

   
     
 

   

BILL STORIES. : 15

   

Tt was some distance off, by the side of what looked
to be a highway. Yet it pleased him to discover that
when he had slipped away from the mouth of the tunnel
this bushy screen interposed between him and Oe houses
of the village.

He drew over to that side, and Lieutenant Butler,
coming after him, did the same.

Then Tom Lawler came crawling forth, his Ane young:
face shining and red, his eyes staring about with interest
and eager curiosity.

“T wonder where are we now?” he ced:

“I’m sure I don i know,’ said Butler. “Perhaps Boun-
derby can tell us.’

Bounderby’s head apeared, pushing into view the tall

black hat; then Bounderby’s narrow shoulders were

sighted, and the long body and legs of the professor

came into view.

Behind Bounderby the Geren was iahononaly trying
to make progress, as a sighs, groans, and exclamations
showed. :

Bounderby sat up, straightened his tall hat in place,
and flourished a soiled handkerchief, which he drew out
to wipe his heated and now grimy face.

“This is—remarkable!” he declared, when he caught
sight of the shining building and: the rows of white’
houses, the houses at that distance, many of them, re-
semblinge cubes of snow, or salt.

“Re—mark—able!” repeated the professor.

‘The familiar note-book and familiar pencil came out,
and he began to scribble with furious haste:

“Having crawled for a long distance through a small
tunnel, we found ourselves in the outer air again; and
before us we beheld a shining edifice, which glittered in
the sun as if it were of gold: and beside it, running by
streets and in squares like the houses and business blocks
of a city, were many small houses. Most of the small
houses were white; though some, at this distance, had a
general dull-mud color. We could scarcely believe we
had not entered some sort of fairy-land.”’

As the professor had the singular habit of reading
aloud whatever he jotted down, and while he was jotting
it down, this was heard by Buffalo Bill, and by Lawler
and Lieutenant Butler.

“A very. good description,

3?

said the scout, “Can you
tell us what you think of it, professor? What sort of
a city is that? Is it a large Indian village? And what
do you make of that large house in the center? It seems
to be nearly circular, and has a very high dome.’

That is) a temple,
certainty.

declared the professor, with much

“But Indians, unless they are Aztecs, or of some like |

tribe, do not build temples!”

‘These may not be Indians, Cody. That is certainly,
to judge from its appearance, a temple; and its roof _
seems to be of beaten gold. The houses are poor enough, ©

   
  

    
   

pr rae deerme ose ne
 

16 THE: BUBEPALO

most of them; but that temple is magnificent. These peo-
ple have put all their wealth into it, and have been con-
tent with the little houses for themselves. That shows
they are a religious people.” ae

“What Tm ce of,” said Tom Lawler, when the

professor stopped, “is that strange beast which we fol-
lowed. Did that thing get into the elevator and come
down here through this tunnel?”

“T think it did; it must have done so!”

This was from the professor.

“Then it pulled the peg which caused the Soe to
descend, and when it got into that little room back there
it toppled the old mummy forward and crawled down
into this tunnel. Is that your idea, professor ?”

Bounderby hesitated to declare that this was so; he
began to see where it would lead him to.

“If it did all those things,’
Bounderby did not reply,
a beast!”

“But the orang-utan footprints! EY the professor ob-
jected.

“We don’t know that it was an orang-utan, professor!
None of us has seen it.”

“That is very true,” said Tedalctay, with great gray-
ity; “but it is to be remembered that it is not necessary
to see a creature in order to know of its existence. For
instance, we may hear it howl and so judge by the ear
alone. We may discover its hiding-place, atid get our
knowledge from what we see there. In the present case,
we judge by the footprints which it left, and by its at-
tack on Mr. Cody. Its tracks are those of an animal.”

“They are not like the tracks of a man, you mean,” the
scout corrected.

“They are not like the tracks of a man; and the lumin-
ous glare of its eyes as it looked down at you indicated
also that it is an animal.”

“T do not think I said the eyes were luminous; but
only that they seemed fierce and fiery. It’s hard to get
a word to describe them, or their ao on me, They
might have been the eyes of a man,’

\““There’s a sort of mist rising over in that direction,”
said Lawler. “It’s beyond what Jooks to bea road.) 1
wonder what causes it?”

“We'll see,” said the scout;

“T think there is a water-
fall or swift stream there.”

CHAPTER IX:

AN AMAZING DISCLOSURE.

_ They crawled away from the hole that had given them
entrance into the beautiful and mysterious valley, shelter-
ing their movements from possible observers by the screen
of the trees.

When they approached the trees they found a broad

tsk diesels wel datntheahti cs bari tibmicaten rs Snes reheat eh ss ada hal rasta nts vo sce ile Sa ill sad Sal

Lawler went on, when
“then it was a man, and not

BILE STORIES,

icawar, which cones to be much traveled. The trees
were-on each side of it, and made a shade.
Beyond the highway rose the thin mist mentioned by

/ the boy, and as they came nearer to it they heard the

sound of water.

They found that the tree- fied io ohieed fie
edge of a high bluff, this bluff forming on that side the
rim of the valley which held the village and the shining
temple.

As they drew near this bluff and looked down over
its upper rim, they beheld a fascinating sight.

The valley more than ever resembled a cup—a cup of
emerald, with its rim represented by low, clifflike walls
that ran almost wholly round it.

The center of the valley was occupied by a pees
lake, and the stream which they had heard, and which
now they saw, flowed into this lake, and apparently
flowed out again on the opposite side. A

_ As strange as anything connected with the stream was
that it seemed to issue from under the highway; in fact,
they could fancy that they were directly over it at cer-
tain points in their journey thither. 4

ul Te that stream explains one thing that ee puz-
zled me,” said Buffalo Bill.

“And what is that?” asked Bounderby.

“The elevator. I have wondered what ran it—where
the power came from. It must come from that stream,
which seems to flow under the rock walls at about the
point where that elevator stands.”

“T see! Nevertheless, it was a remarkable piece of work
for Indians. Yet not half so remarkable as the rearing
of that temple.’’

He stared off at the shining dome of the building
they called the temple.

“Can it be possible, Cody, that the people who con-
structed that are Indians?”

“I think there is no doubt of it.”

“T wonder,” said Lieutenant. Butler, “if Miss Bennett
can be alive and down in that village?”

“I’m wondering if the beast that Professor Bounderby
says is an orang-utan can be down there?” remarked
Tom Lawler.

Buffalo Bill’s hand fell on the arm of Lieutenant But-
ler, to call his attention.

ae le

All listened. .

Then the silence was broken by the shrill scream of
fifelike instruments, with heavier, reedy notes, and the
thump of drums.

The sounds came from the upper end of the yailey, to
which, until this moment, they had not given much at-
tention. — a :

Lifting their heads and craning their necks, they soon

_saw the front of a strange procession come into view.

Just below the rim of the valley on which they rested,

 

 
 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

 

and between it and the waters of the lake, was another
highway, even more beaten than the upper one; and it
was on that highway the procession had appeared.

At the head of the procession were the fifers and drum-
beaters, and a group of fantastic figures that danced and
leaped, waving their arms wildly, and now ane then shout-
ing singular cries.

ee Bounderby straddled his nose with his eye-
glasses, to get a better view; then took off the oo glasses
and looked without them.

Not only Bounderby, but every member of the party
was staring.

“It is a religious procession of some sort,” he said.

Behind the musicians and dancers came other figures
as fantastic, some carrying fluttering banners.

And now a great chanting chorus rose on the air, which
changed occasionally to a wailing song that had a pe-
culiarly heartrending intonation.

“One would think they are mourning for the dead,”
said the scout, when he heard it.

More and more Indians came into view, as the pro-
cession began to stretch out along the highway.

It was observed now that the end of this highway

appeared to be at or near the glittering temple es

had attracted $0 much attention.

All round the temple and within its doors people were
gathered.

Bounderby had his pencil and note-book out and was
scribbling furiously.

As usual, he spoke the words Alona as he set them

down:

“Having penetrated to the hidden valley by the strange

manner already recorded, and viewed the shining temple

and the snow-white huts, we heard sounds of strange
music, and beheld at the valley’s farther end a singular
procession. It appeared on the road that led by the beau-
tiful, tree-shaded lakelet which is in the center of the
valley: Many of the villagers were grouped within and
close by the great temple. Toward it the procession was

‘moving, thus declaring to us that what we saw and heard «

concerned the temple and had a religious significance.
It is well known that the ancient Aztecs were a highly
religious people; and we have concluded that we have
here found a remnant of that ancient race, hidden in these
distant hills, still untouched and uncontaminated by civ-
ilization, and practising all their ancient rites and cus-
toms.”

He held the book and the pencil between his fingers
and stared at the moving body of people, the head of

which was now near the lake and almost in front of their

post of observation.

“Cody,” he said, “this is really. ihe most remarkable
thing I ever met in all my varied experience! We are
no doubt watching a religious ~ceremonial of the an-
cient. Aztecs; and if we could but penetrate to that

cata sgn ano vere sans nt

THE BUFFALO

 

   

     
  

BU STORIES.

temple and see the people there after this procession has

‘reached it, I have no doubt we should behold things so

strange that they would astonish us and the world. I
wish it were possible to get there.”

“Tt would be at the sacrifice of our lives, if we tried
it,” was the declaration of the experienced scout.

“No doubt it would; but one could almost be willing

to die, to witness a scene such as that.” .
A sort of fervor inspired the words of the professor.
When the scout glanced at him he saw that Bounderby’s
face was flushed to a deep red and that his eyes held a
strange and far-away gaze of anxious desire.

The professor was eccentric, loved the sound of his.
Own voice, was quite boastful, and possessed an unwar-
ranted opinion of himself; yet he was, also, learned in
his way, and an honest delver after obsctire and stray bits -
of knowledge lying along the lines of his specialty.

Again the scout, looking at the procession, touched
the arm of Lieutenant Butler. ‘

“Yes, I see!” said Butler, in answer. ‘

A silken pavilion, partly enclosed, had come into view
in the center of that long line of marching men; a pa-
vilion borne on men’s shoulders, and sosconstructed that
it was hoisted high over their heads and was in full view
of all the people.

As the pavilion was thus carried past certain groups
that stodd on the sides of the highway these latter lifted
their voices in mighty shouting.

“Some conquering hero comes!” said Lieutenant But-

tere lo
“T should say it is the high priest borne thus aloft,”
said Professor Bounderby, whose interest and excitement
were constantly growing. ,

He snatched up his pencil and note-book and began
again to set down what he saw.

“The chief priest, or the chief of the tribe, or the king,”
said the scout, venturing a guess. “Hear the people

shout as he passes them!”

The watchers were so eager to see all that they nearly
forgot the danger they might be in, as they thrust up
their heads and craned their necks, trying to get good
views of everything. They had crawled forth to’ the
very limit of the trees, so that they were close upon the

edge of the cliff there; and at times, as they thus poked
forth their heads, they might have been seen if any of
the people below had chanced to look in that direction.

But the excited inhabitants of the valley were too much
interested in what they were themselves doing to give a
thought, apparently, to anything else.

That silken pavilion contined to attract attention and
comment.

As it came nearer the archer: on the cliff were able

to see that the one who occupied it was in a reclining po-

sition,
When it swung round at a bend in the highway, giving

  

 
   
 

 

  
THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

a view of its open side, Buffalo Bill turned upon it his
binoculars, which he had already been Heine) though | to
small purpose so far.

An involuntary cry was drawn from his lips.

“What is it?” said Butler.

Without a word the binoculars were passed to the lieu-
tenant. The scout’s face had suddenly paled.

When Lieutenant Butler. took a look through those

powerful glasses he not only echoed the cry of the great

scout, but he let the glasses fall out of his hands, so
startled was he by what he beheld.

Young Lawler caught up the glasses and trained them
on the pavilion.

“Great heavens!” he said. “It’s Miss Bennett!”

That was the sight beheld by Buffalo Bill and the lieu-
tenant—-Miss Emily Bennett, the missing girl, in that
pavilion, in a reclining position, and with thick ropes
upon her, showing that she was bound.

The knowledge that the girl whom they had been so

long and laboriously seeking was in the pavilion thrilled
the whole party. bh

The scout spoke:

“You say it is Miss Bennett.
vealed her I judged that.”

Professor Bounderby snatched the binoculars out of the
hands of. Tom Lawler and turned them on the young
woman. : |

“This is—terrible, Cody—terrible!”” he whispered. “She
is a prisoner, without doubt—a helpless prisoner. Ah!
now I understand the mystery of that procession, of that
music, of that shouting; the girl is to be sacrificed in
that temple, by those Indians!”

“We've got to rescue her!” said Tom fave almost
shouting the words, “We can’t permit that, you know!”

Lieutenant Butler seemed too dazed to speak for the

moment.
But finally he found his voice,

“What can we do, Cody?” he asked helplessly. “I
don’t doubt she is to be sacrificed. But what can we
do? I’m ready for anything, if a way of rescuing her
ean be found.”

“We are but a small handful,” said Bounderby, “and
down there are hundreds of Indians, who are worked
up to a great pitch of religious enthusiasm.
go down there we would but meet the fate Wa is to
be the portion of the poor eu. —

“If we had a hundred men,” said Lieutenant Butler «
“tf we had but fifty, we could charge into their midst,
and perhaps accomplish something. But, as it is!”

His face was pale as death, and his eyes, when he

As soon as the glass re-

turned them helplessly on the scout, were seen to be

bloodshot, His agony was piteous to see. He had known
and admired Emily Bennett, and even some warmer feel-
ing stirred in his heart of hearts. So that it was like
death to him to see what he now witnessed,

If we should

“But what can we a ?” he wailed.

“T don’t know just what we can do,” said bie Bill:
“but we've got to do something!’

“That’s right!” cried Tom Lawler, his face nee

“We've got to do something.”

He clutched his revolver with a feverish grip, and .
the fire of recklessness burned in his fine face.
Yet, truly, they seemed powerless to do anything.

CHAPTER xX.

BUFFALO BILLS HEROISM.

Buffalo Bill’s heroic determination to save the girl —

from the terrible fate awaiting her took shape quickly
in action.
peared that it must be done at once; for after she was
in that temple there was no knowing how speedily the
bloody purpose of these people would be accomplished.

“I am going down there!” was the scout’s simple dec-
laration, when he had given a moment or two to inquiring
of himself whether anything but the most direct method
promised hope.

“We'll go with you!” said Tom Lawler.

Lieutenant Butler was as ready and willing to go as
young Lawler..

But Professor Bounderby hesitated, and Bric Hensel-
man very promptly showed the white feather.

“Vat iss?” cried Henselman. “Uff dose Inchuns iss
going to ead dot girl vy shoult ve led dem ead us also
unt likevise ?”

"They are not going to eat her, Henselman! !” corrected

i Bounderby.

Neint Vat iss?”

“We fear they are going to sacrifice her.’””

“Dot iss nod eading, eh?” ,

“Certainly not, Henselman. They will slay her as an
offering to their gods; that is all.”

“Dot iss all? Dot iss enough, ain’d id? I voult yoost
as soon pe cooked unt eaden as to be saccerivised, Ve
petter sday righd here.”

“TI think I should prefer to stays myself,’ Bounderby
confessed. “We could remain here and watch this exit,
to see that the Indians do not block it; so that our
friends, if they succeed in effecting the rescue of the

_ young lady, may have a way open to retreat.”

“Dis exid!” said Henselman. “Vat iss?”

“That hole back there is what I refer to; it is an exit.”

“Oh, dot! Yaw! Ve vill sday here unt keep dot hole
open. Uff an Inchuns goes indo id I vill shood heem,”

He clawed at his revolver and waved it so nervously
that Buffalo Bill asked him to put it down.

The scout was making hurried preparations—seeing
that his revolvers were loaded and that his cartridges
were where he could get at them readily.

“I am willing to go alone,” he said; “and it may be

 

Indeed, if anything was to be done, it ap-

 

 

 
palin er

  

SSS eS

SSS

 

 
 

 

   
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
 

 

 

 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

do not know her.
know her, and am willing to die in an effort to save ==

-magnedic moundains!” protested Henselman.

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

poticr that I toe We haven’t force sous to fight
those fellows, and one might accomplish as much as if
all went.”

Lieutenant Butler looked at him earnestly.

“T see, Cody, that you rather expect to lose your life
down there in a mad attempt to rescue that girl. It’s
fine of you, who have never even seen her until now, and
_ But if you go, I go with you; for I

her.”
“Here, too!” cried Lawler.

“Mr. Cody, we'll back you
in anything you try.”

“Ve petter all retread for de exid,”’ Henselman urged.
“CoVat iss?

Uff ve are caughd here dis highway in, we
shall all be kilt, eenyhow. Id is dancherous to be lifin’
so close by dis highway, vere beoples vat ve ton’d vant
to see may be coming along at any minute.”

“You can retreat, Henselman, you and Bounderby, if
you choose. And perhaps it’s as well if you do. You
can get outside, and that will make you safe.”

“But dose magnedic needles are crazy made by dose
“Nopody
can travel py dem. Vot vill ve do? For de sky is clouding
ofer again.” &

Buffalo Bill had made his preparations.

“Now I’m ready,” he said to Lieutenant Butler. “If
you choose to go, lieutenant, I shall be glad to have you

do so; but I sha’n’t blame you if you stay. The chances,

TI confess, are not good; but something must be tried.
So, I am going.”
Butler rose to his feet, and so did young Lawler.
“We'll go with you!” cried the latter, showing a cour-
age undaunted.

“Fortunately,” “the attention of those

said the scout,

‘Indians is attracted to the procession and the temple;

not one has even looked in this direction. We may be

able to get tothe temple without discovery, if we’re care-
ful.”

He walked to he rim of the bluff and looked down,

and the next moment, having clutched some bushes which.

grew there, he was sliding over. -
Butler and young Tom Lawler followed him.
- When they reached lower ground, where bushes again
screened them, they discovered that Professor Bounderby
and Fritz Henselman were coming.

“Just slow up a minute,” called Bounderby. “I think
I'd rather take the. risks with you than to stay here.
Henselman and I have just sighted a body of men coming
along that highway, and the chances of being seen by
them are good. So we’re going with you. I think
those men are seeking the, ext.

Buffalo Bill and those with he stood in the bushes

at the foot of the cliff, while Bounderby and Henselman

slid down, the latter puffing and groaning.
“Py yiminy,” said Henselman, as he struck. ali

 

 

telegraph!”

    

    

BILE SFORIES.

ground, “id is a lucky ding for me dot dose elefator
carried avay dot hant-pag; I ton’d had to carry it any
longer! I pidy you vellers vot has to carry dot ee

“We haven’t been seen, I believe,” said Bounderby, ee
king courage.- _

Buffalo Bill was already moving on, followed by But-
ler and Lawler.
Henselman and the professor came right after them
now, seeming to feel safer by keeping close at their heels.

The scout hugged the cliff wall, where a screen of
bushes grew, as he moved hastily in the direction of the
temple.

The head of die. procession was close up to the shining
building now.
_ The scout burrowed a way through the bushes with-
practised ease, making at the same time a pathway for
those who came after him.

The sounds of the shrill music and the wild feunne

of the Indians drowned the noise made by the scout and

his companions in their hurried passage.

At intervals Buffalo Bill oe those with him looked out
at the Indians.

They saw the head of the si pteiciod reach and enter
the temple; then, before they came opposite the building,
they saw the silken pavilion approaching the great, shi-
ning door.

Fortunately for the scout’s purpose, the trees con-
tinued almost up to the temple itself on that side.

Rapidly as the scout moved, the fact that he could
not go straight ahead hampered his progress, and he saw
the pavilion carried through the golden door of the
temple.

His fears increased when he. beheld that.

He broke into a run, which took him so rapidly on that
in a few minutes he was at the outer limits of the trees.

At panting pace his companions followed.

The scout looked out.

He had a good view of the big door through which the
pavilion had been carried.

All round it Indians were grouped, most of ther
shouting. ‘The fifing and the drum-beating rose in a very
fury of sound, mingling with the oes The people
were in a frenzy. |

“There is just one chance,” said the scout, as he thus
looked out. “I can make a run up to the door, and then
fight my way into the temple. If anything is accom-
plished it will have to be done as a surprise. Ii TI can
reach the girl’s side perhaps I can get out of the temple
with her. I shall expect you to remain in hiding here,
ready to rush forth to my aid as soon as I appear with
her. | :

“Tf I do not come out, you will know that I have been
killed or am a prisoner. After that you will have to.
make your own plans and govern yourselves by them.

 
 

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. :

Yet, if I fail, I think it will be useless for you to try

to get into the temple; it will be wisdom for you to re-

‘treat as fast as you can! for my effort will have aroused
the Indians.

“That is all | can say.”

He drew a revolver and clicked the cylinder roid. to
see that it was in working-order.

The fire of heroic resolution was in his face.

“We'll go in with you, if you say!” said young Lawler.

His chest was heaving from his quick run, and his
eyes were glittering with excitement. He was a hero,
too, youthful as he was.

Boundersby was trembling with excitement and fear,
and Henselman seemed on the borders of a physical and
mental collapse.

The scout paid scant attention to them, however.

“Cody,” said Bounderby, “I have been trying to explain
to myself how a young lady captured by an orang-utan
happens to ‘be here in the power of these Aztecs. But
my logic fails me. My premises are either wrong,
or z

“Be ready for my reappearance in the temple door,”
said the scout, speaking to Butler and Lawler. “I’m sure
I shall need your aid, if I am fortunate enough to get
that far with the young lady.”

He stepped boldly forth, for the bushes gave no further
cover; and an instant later he was running with soft
footsteps in the direction of the golden door of the
temple.

Not an Indian turned to look in his direction, All
were staring at the door, beyond which apparently the
common people were not permitted to go.

Within the doorway were a number of. brilliantly
dressed figures, whose feathered head-dress and glitter-
ing armlets, together with the gold ornaments on their
barbaric clothing, made them conspicuous.

But even these were looking into the temple, and not
out, so that they did not see the approach of the scout.

A thick fringe of Indians stood between the scout and
the door.

They were the spectators, in holiday attire, though in
many cases their clothing consisted of little more than
a wonderful application of paint and feathers.

Into this fringe the daring scout sprang like a football-
player going at a line of opposing players. He knocked
over some of the Indians, whom he could not get round,
sprang past the others, and the next moment was running
toward the glittering door.

A wild bellowing yell broke from the lips of the In-
dians.

Unheeding this, the daring scout gained the ee
with quick, springy leaps, and startled the brilliant figures

there by dashing past them and going straight on into —

mS building,

- It was in many respects. a gorgeous edifice, barbaric.

in splendor, which the scout had thus invaded.

He saw that as soon as he had passed through the
doorway.

Its walls of stone and mud were painted and carved —
with strange scrolls and figures of men and animals, and
its pillared interior was lighted from above by an open-

‘ing that let in a flood of sunlight.

At the side of the room the silken pavilion had been
halted.

The scout did not even look at it. It was ely.
But his eyes fell on ‘the figure of the girl he was risking
his life to save. .

She had been laid, bound, on a sacrificial stone which
no doubt had witnessed the death of thousands of vic-
tims.

. Around her were gathered the priests, some of them
bearing the sacrificial knives. The girl’s face was pale as
death, and her eyes were closed, that she might not see
the knives that were ready to slay her. She had long
before lost all hope. oe

Buffalo Bill knew as soon as he saw that bound fig-
ure on the sacrificial stone that he had been right in all
his surmises concerning the purpose of the Indians. This
was, he saw, really an Aztec temple. Strange as it
seemed, these were Aztecs, worshiping according to their
ancient custom, which demanded human sacrifices. He
was to know later that this was the temple and the town ~
of Zataclin, and that the priests and the people considered
themselves a superior order of beings, far removed from:
the common Indians of Mexico; of whom, in truth, how-
ever, they had very little eee

The cries of the painted and feathered men in the Hoaw
way attracted the attention of the priests gathered round
the sacrificial stone. Something had happened to cause
such an outcry, they knew.

They turned, to behold the there scout.

Buffalo Bill caught up the form of the girl from the
sacrificial stone and with defiant attitude faced the bloody
priests of Zataclin.

OLA rE Re XT
A HEROIC EFFORT.

If Buffalo Bill had been given time, or had possessed
the inclination, to take note of those priests, he would at.
least have been ititerested. Their faces were unnaturally
red, with a coating of red paint; their clothing, such as
they wore, glittered with gold ornaments; on their arms
were shining gold armlets, and on their heads crowns of
painted plumes.

The girl opened her eyes when she felt herself caught
up from the sacrificial stone; and then, seeing that she
was in the arms of a white man, she screamed,

Wild yells came from the doorway, which was filling

3

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. : ee

with Indians; yet the priests fell back before the fiery,
defiant eyes of the scout. 7

With the girl in his arms, he moved toward the door.

The venture was so desperate that he did not know
how it would terminate. To take stock of the chances
against him was to court weakness.

“Stand back!” he said, speaking in English.
ee Though their knives were drawn, the startled priests
fell back before him.

They were muttering and crying out.
_ of the thing was telling in his favor.
by the sacrilegiousness of this singular attempt to rescue
from the sacrificial stone a being who had been devoted
to the gods,

No doubt they expected that the angry gods would
strike down this intruder. fc

‘Yet the thing which really was working most in the
scout’s favor was that these priests had never seen a
white man before; and, until her capture, they had never
seen a white woman.

They had heard of them, as half-mythical creatures;
and there were in the village men who claimed to have
seen them, and to have penetrated to a land where white
men swarmed like ants. Yet these priests had never un-
til this minute looked into the face of a white man. Hid-
den away in that cuplike valley, ringed in by mountains,

far in an unknown land, they had remained Aztecs in

everything, even as their forefathers were.

Buffalo Bill guessed something of this, when he saw
the terror and wonder wotking in the faces of the
priests.

“Stand back!” he shouted.

He trusted they would understand the tone, if not the
words. ae

But when he tried to ‘pass out through that shining
door he was pressed upon by Indians who were deter-
mined to resist this; by Indians who were not’ willing to
have the temple invaded and the victim taken from the
stone of sacrifice and from under the very knives of
the sacred priests.

Buffalo Bill whipped out his revolver.

The girl had fainted, fortunately, and lay as if dead
in his arms.

“Stand back!’ cried the scout, and he swung the re-
volver round,

But there was a rush, as those in front tried to seize
him, while a very frenzy of clamorous sound arose,

‘Then the scout’s revolver spoke, its report booming
like thunder within those temple walls, The man who
had sought to stop him uttered a cry of pain and be-
wilderment, and fell backward, his arm broken and drop-
ping helpless,at his side. —

The effect of that revolver-shot was me even
by the scout. '

Wild cries of fright rose within the dibrway and be-

The very daring
They were shocked ©

yond™t, where the packed Indians struggled now to gain ©
the*open air; and the men close by the scout, stunned
apparently by the concussion of that revolver explosion,
threw themselves face downward on the temple floor.
The way was open. At a bound the daring scout
cleared it, reaching the outer steps of the temple.
As he did this, the girl struggled in his arms, uncon-

scious that she was hampering him.

The scout held her on his strong left arm, and clutched
with his right hand his revolver,

Before him was a mass of Indians falling back out of
his way. Behind him in the temple he heard voices
wailing. Nearer at hand were those prostrate figures
that had dropped to the temple floor when the revolver
roared its defiant message. : ;

The scout was looking beyond the crowd toward the
trees where he expected to behold his friends in wait-
ing; and was surprised that he did not see them there.

_ He ran down the steps, for delays were dangerous, de-
fooninea to fight his way through the compacted mass of
Indians,

In this moment, when it seemed the path was hope-
lessly blocked, he recalled how a single soldier of Cor-
tez, pitted against the Aztecs of his own day, had been

equal to hundreds of them.

“Stand back!’ he commanded again, as he passed
down the temple steps.
The Indians near him tried to fall back, but those be-

‘hind prevented them; and the result was a wild jumble ©

and scramble of crowding Indians, that filled up every .
avenue of escape.

At this juncture, there was a wild American yell; the
packed Indians in front of the scout were thrown apart,
and through the opening thus made came Lieutenant
Butler and Tom Lawler, with Bounderby and the Ger-
man at their heels, It was something like a football
wedge splitting open an opposing eleven.

The four white men had broken'the line there by force
of the surprise more than by the mere pee strength
with which they had hit it,

But the line closed instantly behind them, and seemed
to become more tightly packed than before.

They gained the side of the scout; turning, with
drawn revolvers, Lieutenant Butler and young Lawler
placed themselves by him.

Bounderby tried to line up with them, but Fritz Hen-
selman made no such heroic effort. He had only come —
because he was afraid to stay; and he now ran behind |
Butler, and tried to crouch down. When he saw that
Indians were coming from the other direction as well,

his plight became pitiable.

The path of least resistance seemed to lie close along
the temple wall now, and the scout and his daring com-
rades took it. f

But no sooner had they started along the wall than the

 
Se Sa SR tonite tet ae ct waka lenin seine ion CK MN ai esr

 

 

The BUr FALO BILL STORIES.

Indians began to close in upon them, as if gaining cour-
age. : :

‘We shall have to fight our way through,” said Butler,
flourishing his revolver. “Just BIve the word, Cody.
We'll have to down these fellows.”

“Fire a shot now and then, but do not shoot anybody
unless you have to, and then shoot only to wound,” were
the scout’s instructions. ‘We don’t want to enrage them.
What we want to try to do is to scare them.”

He shot a bullet into the ground at his feet; and as
it tore up the earth and the sound broke on their ears,
the Indians fell back before him as if in amazement _

Seeing the effect, Lawler and Lieutenant Butler be-
gan to imitate him, with the same effect.

The Indians fell back, yet they did not vanish; they
merely kept two or three yards away, as if they feared
more than anything else the powder smoke and the earth
that flew about when the bullets struck the ground.

“We'll have to fight our way en said Lieuten-
ant Butler,’

Buffalo Bill was s beginning to think this offered the
only hope.

Then the eeneed happened.

A bag resembling a huge fishing-seine dropped over
them with a swishing sound, and instantly it so entangled
them that they were helpless. It wrapped round their.
arms and their legs, enveloped their heads and necks,
and closed about their heads and faces. in smothering
folds,

Buftalo Bill Uaderstoad the nature of this trap at once,
and, he tried to draw his knife to cut his way through
it; but the clinging net so held his hands that he coulé
not quickly get out his knife.

He stumbled and fell as he tried to walk, and the girl
he had been carrying dropped to the ground.

She tried to rise, and, her feet being caught in the net,
she, too, was entangled.

Henselman was yelling for assistance like a madman,
as he clawed and sputtered and tried to push back the
folds of the strange thing that had fallen upon him.

The Indians were not idle. They swarmed forward
as soon as they saw the white men caught in the clinging
folds of the net; and, throwing themselves boldly upon
them, held them down.

Hundreds of Indians were all round the net.
‘was impossible. The white men were trapped.

Escape

‘CHAPTER XII.
MISS BENNETT'S STORY,

The red priests of Zataclin had not been thrown long

into confusion, nor had they permitted their supersti-.

tious fears to keep them from taking prompt action
against the daring invader of the temple.

Round the upper floor of the temple ran an inside gal-
lery, which at intervals opened on an outer gallery.

 

To f inner gallery they rushed as soon as they dis- _

covered that-the white man had escaped from the one
with the captive.

They yelled to the people below, urging them to crowd
the white men close up against-the walls; yells which
the white men heard without compe their mean-

ing.
The people obeyed, forcing them ane te wall; so

that they were brought under the priests on the gal-

lery.

Then at the opportune moment the priests flung down
that big net, which enmeshed the white men and made
them prisoners.

In a very few minutes the entire party of white men
and the woman were captives in the hands of the howl-
ing inhabitants of Zataclin.

Instead of being tied, they were simply ee along
enmeshed in the net—dragged back to the wide door of
the temple, and then dragged on inside.

The Indians yelled shrilly, and the priests who super-
intended this curious method, shouted loud commands.

When within the temple, the ends of the net were
caught up by scores of hands, and the net and those
within it were lifted bodily, and borne up a broad stair-
way into a room.

Having been pulled into this room, Vike prisoners were
dropped to the floor, still swathed in the binding folds —
of the net.

Then a heavy door was closed on them and they were
left alone.

Beyond the closed door they heard the Indians i
ing fiendishly.

It was as strange a capture as was ever made; the
prisoners were like snared birds.

For a few moments after their rough usage they could
do nothing but lie panting on the floor.

At length Buffalo Bill got out his knife, after aoe
ious effort, and began to cut the cords of the net.

He called to the other men to do the same; and they,
too, got out their knives and began to slash at the net.

Not a weapon or other bit of property belonging to the
white men had been touched. Perhaps the Indians
feared to touch the things the white men had in their
possession, since the strange fire-sticks had the power to
inflict wounds and to make that thunderous roar and
spout deadly smoke.

It took Buffalo Bill but a moment to free himself,
and then he began to cut the cords that held Miss Ben-
nett,

Henselman began to flounce about and to yell, as if he
had suddenly come back from the land of»the dead.

“Hellup!”. he begged. “Brofessor, I vos choked by dis —
ding! Von’d somepoty dake me off uff id? Hellup!
Murter!”

 

 
 

 

\

THE BUFFALO

He continued to icicle and yell until Buffalo Bill cut the
cords round him and let him out.
_ He rolled over on the floor, puffing and ane:
~ “Ve iss all dead men!’ he said. “Ve iss brisoners, and
id iss us vill pe saccervised now. Brofessor, I tolt you
dot it vos ower finish uff ve comed here.”
_ The girl had swooned again under her rough treat-
‘ment, and the scout and Lieutenant Pes were trying

f to restore ‘her.

She was not long unconscious.

When she was helped to her feet, and Lieutenant But-
ler led her to a couch by the wall, the couch being formed
of the coats of the men, she tried to smile her gratitude,
: _yet urged them not to take so much trouble for her.

She looked earnestly at the famous scout, whom she

_ did not know, though she was aware that it was he who
had so daringly invaded the temple to release her.

Within their close prison they listened to the ominous
sounds outside.

“There is one thing,’ said the scout, as he fingered
his trusty revolver, “they have favored us greatly by
letting us Ecep our weapons. We can hold a eo at
" bay, here.” |

“But they can starve us out without much trouble,”
said Lieutenant Butler.

“Vatiss? Sdarve us owet? I feel hungry alretty yet.”

The German sat by the wall, quite helpless, his red
face now pale and his eyes big and staring. |
“Ve iss all dead men!” he said.

Young Lawler was walking slowly round the. room,
studying its configuration.

“There is a hole up there, where the light and air come
in,’ he said. “There may be something above it.”

“Tf we could get up there we should be only that much
| farther from the ground,” suggested Lieutenant Butler.

Theescout studied the opening in the roof of the room.

“We can get up there, if we think it best,” he said.
“We can make ropes out of the cords of this net, and
use them to climb with. That part will be easy enough.
I fancy we shall want to see where that hole will lead
to.”

Seeing that ate had recovered somewhat, Lieutenant
Butler began to ask questions of Miss Bennett.
Soon they heard her story.

She had wandered forth for a stroll, and had got
turned round, as they had supposed, and lost herself;
after that she had wandered on and « on in a vain endeavor
to find the camp.

| While crossing the sahdy area where they had seen
her footprints, she had been pounced upon by a hideous

creature, -

“An orang-utan!” said Professor Bounderby, with
the accent of positive knowledge. “It must have fright-
ened you very much.”

‘its footprints, and-

‘call Buffalo Bill, the

they had been cut and subjected to torture,

‘BILL STORIES. on 24

“Tt frightened me almost to deith, ” she said, Mo he
was not an orang-utan.’’

“No?” he eried. “Not an orang-utan} ”

He got out his pencil and note-book.

All were now bending to listen.

“My dear young lady, if it was not an orang-utan,
what kind of ve was itt a

“Tt was a man.’

“Not a beast, but a man! That is impossible. We saw

“Tt was a gnarled, bent man, hump-shouldered, with
very large, long arms, and twisted, naked feet like claws.
And he was an Indian, though he did not wear paint nor
feathers; his clothing was simply some skins sewed
loosely together. When he pounced on me, I fainted.
But I regained: consciousness by the time we reached the
high bluffs that encircle this valley.

“In those bluffs was an opening, which held a queer
elevator; and down that elevator, and through a black
tunnel, he took me. When we came out I saw this val-
ley, and this temple, with the houses.

“T was so frightened that when he ordered me on I
did not try to resist. I was helpless, and I think I was
nearly crazy. He brought me to this temple, and here |
was placed in a room somewhat like this. To-day I was

tried, taken out. and put in a pavilion that men carried on

their shoulders, and was set in the midst of a vast pro--
cession. When we got to the temple again, I discovered
that I was to be murdered—was to be killed by the
priests as a sacrifice to their gods.”

Her face grew paler at the recollection of her expe-
rience, and she closed her eyes as if to shut it out of her
mind.

She opened them, and went on.

“And then this brave man came—this man whom you
American scout. The rest you
know.”

Bounderby still held bie note-book and pencil.

“Tell me,’ he urged, “about this queer dwarf who
captured you. Did you particularly observe his feet?’

The professor’s thirst for knowledge seemed to make
him forget his position and danger. :

“I noticed them—they were gnarled and twisted, as if
I never saw
tect like ther, :

She ‘closed her eyes again and ad

“Rut there are others here like him,” she added. “An-

other just like him, or nearly like him, brought food to

me in my prison; and when I looked out—there were
bars in my prison—I saw still others.’

_ “Moré dwarfs of that kind!” cried Bounderby, so as-
tonished that he neglected to use his pencil. “Perhaps we
have found here a race of queer dwarfs.”
“T should not call them dwarfs,” she corrected.
*No au +

 
 

 

 

 

24

“They were as large as any of the other Indians; only
they were knotted and twisted, and walked bent over.
And they were clothed ty from the other In-
dians,”

“Re-mark-able !”’ aa Bounderby.
belief.”

EYet it is but the truth.” .

“My dear young lady, I do not doubt your word; I

“Simply past all

mean it is simply so strange that it staggers the Hees

nation.”
Then’ he began to write furiously in his note-book,
talking out the words as he set them down.
“Remarkable!” he said, as he concluded.

“Re-mark-
able!”

CHAPTER XIII.
THE AZTEC SLAVES.

While Miss Bennett was still telling her strange story
and Professor Bounderby was indulging in his charac-
teristic comments, there was a sound of dragging foot-
steps beyond the closed door.

“One of those. strange men, I believe!” said the girl.

“Perhaps if he opens that door we can get out!” sug-
gested Tom Lawler.

He drew his revolver.

“No shooting!’ said the scout. “The less we do -of
that the better, I think. Our peril is great enough ts
outadding to ity =.

“But you mean to get away if you can! aie

“Certainly; and we may do some shooting, for the
purpose of frightening these Indians.”

He arose and laid hand on his revolver.

Ail watched the door, and saw it fly open. The space

beyond was crowded with feathered and painted Indians;

but at the door was a strange man-beast creature, an-
swering to the girl’s description of the man who had cap-
tured her.

He had a skin robe cast loosely about hie crooked
shoulders, and he bent and shambled as he walked. The
Indians behind him pushed him on into the room, and
immediately closed the door after him.

The scout looked curiously at the twisted feet as the
man suffled in,
as the feet, and: his face was seamed and scarred as if
it had been touched by fire or hacked with knives. He
cowered, stepping close by the wall, and looking out un-
der bushy brows at the prisoners in the room. His eyes
were crafty and bloodshot. :

He spoke, but in words they could not understand.

Professor Bounderby pushed forward, starinle at the
man,
note-book.

“One of those words sounded like a Maya word, used
by certain of the Indians of ‘Yucatan.

stream of strange words, receiving answers.

The hands were as twisted and gnarled

In his excitement he had forgotten his pencil and

I spent a year

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

in Yucatan studying the ruined cities, and learned some-
thing of the Mayan language at that time.”

He began to speak in queer words to the knotted and
bowed man before him.

The effect was remarkable. The man looked at him,
the light of understanding in his bloodshot eyes; and
then hé answered. :

The professor was so delighted he tu have danced.
His face flushed and his eyes glittere

“He understands Maya, in a manner,” he said. “Tt
seems that these Indians are a branch of the Mayas, or
the Mayas are a branch of this tribe. All are united
with the ancient Aztecs.” ie

Having stopped long enough to make this explanation,
he began again, and for five minutes he poured out a
He had
set the bowed figure to talking at a great rate. The
professor listened, still forgetful of his precious note-—
books:

“Well, if this isn’t remarkable!” he said. “The mys-
tery is unraveled. This will make my lecture a success—_
a prodigious success. The name of Professor Felix
Bounderby will be known Haronet oy the whole scientific
world because of this. It will

“Remember, Professor Bounderby, that we are dying
with curiosity to know what he has been telling you,”
the scout reminded.

Bounderby had been fishing for his note-book, but his
hand stopped its fumbling.

“Very true!” he cried. ‘Let me tell you his remark-
able story; and if you do not say it is wonderful, I am
mistaken.’’

‘

“This poor man,’ he pointed at the bowed form, “‘is
the victim, I may say, of the religion of these people.
They are Aztecs, who have never been in touch with °
white men; here in this valley they have lived century
after century, practising their ancient religion. They
believe that they are children of the gods, and their
priests trace descent from a great god whose name was
Zataclin. They call themselves Zataclins, and Zataclin
is. the name of their city here.

“This poor man, and others here who are like him,
are slaves; they are not of the race of these Aztecs,
but belong to a tribe that lives beyond the mountains,
who have had some intercourse with white men. Now
and then that tribe and the Aztecs of this city are at war.
Prisoners taken by these Aztecs are subjected to tortures
which transform them into horrible monsters of the kind
you see before you. After that they are held as slaves, ‘
and are treated with great indignity.

“This miserable man tells me that one of his fellow.
slaves, being out in the hills, saw the white girl. He

was not as ignorant of the existence of white men as

are the Aztecs; he had seen many of them before he was
made a prisoner and held here. :

 
THE BUFFALO

“When he beheld this girl, it occurred to him that by
capturing her and taking her to the priests he might gain
) their favor; and that is why he did it. He tried to make
' them think she had been sent here in some miraculous

_ manner. ao
“As it chanced, the day of her capture fell on the day

Pofa great religious feast, and there had been a prophecy.

that at some time the gods would send for a sacrifice on
_that feast-day a creature so beautiful that her offering

, up on the sacrificial stone would be more acceptable than

_ any ever made before.
_ “Her capture tallied with that phophecy, and they
" proceeded to celebrate it in a manner worthy of so great
an event. We chanced to see a part of that celebration,
_and fortunately were in time to rescue her.”
“Vat iss?” groaned Henselman, who sat humped
against the wall, up to this time in disconsolate silence.
“She vill pe saccervised, eenyhow; unt ve vill pe saccer-
vised mit her. Ve are all dead men togedder.”
_ “This poor man tells me,” Bounderby continued, “that
the Aztecs here feared to enter this room, because of

the fire-sticks which make so much noise and strike men

down; and so they forced him to enter. He brings a
message. If we will surrender the young lady, so that
she may be sacrified in accordance with that old prophecy,
we will be permitted to depart unharmed.’.
Henselman rocked eagerly forward.
“Bud can ve trusd dem?” he wailed.
dot voult dey led us go free?”

“Aber ve do

“T suppose you'd accept such an offer?” cried young
Lawler, in scorn. .

The young woman had started up.

“It will be best to do as he says,” she declared, her
face pale as death. “You cannot escape from this place.
If you do not agree all of you will be killed; while if you
surrender me you can’go. My life will be lost anyway,
even if you stay.” |

“Never!” cried the scout, with stern determination.
“If we must, we will all die here together.”

“Bud I am nod vanting to die alretty yet!” wailed

“Tell dose mans for me dot I ac-

He was crawling to his feet, but Bounderby pushed

him back; yet Bounderby was himself dreadfully shaken.
“Henselman, I am ashamed of you!” he said.

“Tell him,” said the scout, “that we cannot accept the
offer. And tell him that our fire-sticks not only make
noke and noise and wound men, but that they kill them;
d that we will fight here to the death, if they do not let
go. Give him that message.”

“Aye! give it to him straight!” cried Lieutenant But-

“But you cannot escape, ’ the girl urged;

send such a reply.”

“it is folly

 

BILL SPORIES:

“We will all die here together, before we will do any-.
thing of the kind,’ the scout declared.
Young Lawler ae his hat in a oe of mad ex-
citement.. ;
“We will!” he ee “Tell ’em that!”
-Bounderby made the gnarled slave aes with the
decision of the prisoners.
“See if it is possible to bribe him,” Buffalo Bill sug-
gested. “Perhaps he knows a way out.”
“Bounderby spoke to him again, and they saw ihe
slave shake his head in a negative. |
“There is no way out, he says,” interrupted Bounder-
by. “That hole up there leads only to a gallery that
gives access to the shining dome on the top of the temple ;

_ and there is no way to get down, except by some passages

and doors known only to the priests.”

“We will get ‘up there and hunt for those secret pas-
sages,” said the scout. —

“What shall I try to bribe him with?” said | Boun-
derby, perplexed. -

“Tell him we will foie him and some of his comrades ©
fire-sticks; and that with them they can fight their way
out to fecdonn The thought of freedom ee to spur
him to try anything.”

Bounderby spoke again to the broken slave.

But the latter only shook his head sadly. Not only
had his body been broken, but likewise his uy ns
had no courage left. oe

Beyond the closed and locked door they heard a gath-
ering roar of voices, showing that the Aztecs out there
were growing impatient and were demanding the re-_
turn’ of their messenger.

The slave cast a frightened look toward the door.

“He’s got to go,’ said Bounderby; “‘they’re calling for
him out there. Is there any other message we can send
by him?’

“No other!” said the scout. “Tell them that we will
slay them all with the fire-sticks if they do not release us,
and that we will fight to the death to protect the young
lady.

Bounderby delivered the message.

“Ask him, professor, if the slave who captured the
young lady was the one who attacked me in the night?”

“Te says it was,’ said Bounderby, when he had asked
the question. “The slave thought there must be white
men where there was a white woman, and he went forth
to see. He thought if he could capture one of the white
men and present him to the priésts he would win a
favor.”

“The scoundrel!” said young Lawler.

‘While you are at it, professor, ask him about the ele-.
vator and the stream which we thought gave it power,”

These questions were put and answered.

“He says that the Aztecs are a very wonderful people.
They have many strange things they have made, or that

 
 

 

 

THE BUFFALO
were made by their forefathers. That elevator run by
water-power is but one of them.” -

The slave turned about and hammered on the door
to summon the doorkeeper.

Henselman groaned when he saw the bowed figure
pass through the door and caught a glimpse of the ex-
cited Indians packed densely together beyond.

“Ve iss all dead men togedder | !? he declared omi-
ee

CHAPTER: XIV,
CONCLUSION.

A howl of rage and disappointment a arose when the
slave delivered his message.

But the attack which was now expected did not come.
-“They intend -to starve us out,’ was the scout’s con-
jecture.

Lieutenant Butler glanced at the hole i in oe roof.

“Ves, I think we'd better try that,” assented the scout.
“We can be no worse off than here, if we can get up
there, and we may discover something,”

“Ve iss all dead togedder!” groaned Henselman.

But when he saw the other members of the party be-
gin to tear up the net for the purpose of twisting its
cords into ropes, the hope of escape caused him to lend
a hand.

Though the net was large, and therefore presented
abundant material, the work of cutting out the cords
in such’ a manner that they could be used was not easy.

But the ropes, hand-twisted, grew in size and length,
until the scout declared they had enough for their experi-

ment.

Out of the ropes he fashioned a long lasso, and, stand-
ing in the center of the room, he hurled its noose at a
supporting root- beam which projected et beneath the
hole.

_ At the second cast be caught ‘he beam with the loop;

and when he had drawn it fast he ascended the rope hand ~

over hand with all the dexterity of a trained acrobat.
It did not take the skilful scout “long to reach the

opening. .

_ There, standing on the end of the beam, with his head

thrust through the opening, he looked about.

‘There is a gallery here, which leads to the dome,” he

announced. “In the other direction it ends at a stone
door, which I suppose is impassable. Just stay there
while I look about a minute.” :

He crawled through the opening, and placed his feet
in the wide gallery.

Passing upward, he found that the gallery eae a

winding stairway which led into the dome.

This was a round cupola, with windows overlooking
‘the valley and the adjacent hills. He was astonished by
the view to be had from those windows. Far off he could

BILL STORIES.

even see the conelike hill of magnetic iron whiclp had
affected the compasses; and nearer at hand, though quite
distant, the white, flat stone standing upright like the
wall of a tent, on which that message of the heliograph _
had been flashed, : a

But there was apparently no way of escape from the
dome except by a suicidal leap from one of the windows,

Below him he saw masses of Indians moving ee in
apparent excitement.

“Fyen if we could get down from here, we should be ©

‘right j in the midst of them,’ was his thought.

When he had retraced his steps to the stairway and
gallery and had gone downward and in the other direc-
tion to the stone door, which he could not even shake,
he returned to the opening in the roof of the room.

He crawled through to the beam, and rested on it, ~

while he spoke to those below, of his discoveries.
“T don’t know that we'll be better off up here, or in —
“but we'll at

least have a better outlook, and that’s something.”

the dome, than down there,” he admitted ;

Young Lawler grasped the rope and began to cimb it,
The scout permitted him to ascend to a seat beside him >

on the beam. ,

‘T think now, lieutenant,” he eid, Uthat it would be
well to make a sort of harness, or chair, for the young
lady, in that end of the rope; after which we will hoist |
her up to this point. Perhaps before she ascends it will |
be best for you to come up here. and help us to lift her.”

“But I can climb,” she protested,

Lieutenant Butler, assisted by Boun-
derby, knotted together a sort of combined chair and har-
ness, in which she could sit, and which would support
her,

rience to attempt to climb the rope, and they had no

Nevertheless,

They saw she was too weak from her trying expe-

thought of permitting her to try it.

Having done this, Lieutenant Butler climbed up to ie
; and all three
men then lent a hand in hoisting her up to that point.

perch occupied by the scout and Lawler

It was a hard pull, for the footing was not good ; but

she aided herself by pushing with her feet against the |

wall.

Henselman came ee in the chair she had used, as-
sisting himself all he could, but groaning prodigiously ;
and he was followed by Professor Bounderby.

“When they stepped out into the gallery, they took the
rope with them; they had also brought the remnants of
the big net, thinking they might be of further use. ae

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Tae BUrEALO BILL STORIES.

Professor Bounderby was delighted with the view
from the dome, and at once began to set down his im-
pressions in his note-book. oe

The others began to discuss possible ways of escape;
with the exception of Henselman, who continued his
doleful prophecies that “they were all dead men to-
_ gether.” :

As he looked out at the white, tent-like rock in the
distance, Buffalo Bill had a happy thought.

“Lieutenant Butler,” he said, “it would be possible,
I suppose, for you to flash a message from here to the
face of that rock. Or is the sun not just right for it
now ?”

The face of the lieutenant lighted up at the sugges-

tion. ; )
“We can do it,” he said. “Lucky they didn’t take our
things from us. Of course if no one is near the rock
the message would be useless, but we can try it.”
For the next few minutes Butler and Lawler busied
themselves with getting the heliograph together and in
working-order, adjusting its mirrors to the sun and train-
ing them on that white wall.

“Major Bennett is out there somewhere,” said Butler,

his face flushed with hope. ‘The chances are not great,
but he may happen to be where he will see the flashes.
I’m sure we can strike that rock with them. The position
of the sun in this window is all right for it, and the helio-
graph is in working-order now.”

Then he sighted the machine at the rock, and soon
“began to flash his message for help.”
“The only thing to do,” he said, “is to keep it up—re-
peat it over and over. If they’re not there, or near there
now, they may come there some time this afternoon.
And we can try it again to-morrow; keep it going all
day. This is a great idea, Cody. We can hold those
bloody Aztecs back with our revolvers, and stay in here
a week, even if we haven’t any food, and perhaps before
we're actually starved out we can reach the major.”
He worked with enthusiasm.

Buffalo Bill trained his binoculars on the white rock,
_and could see the flashes playing and flitting on its sur-

work; and when he tired, young Lawler took it up, so

_that a succession of messages was being sent continu-

would declare.

Over and over they said the same thing:

“We are prisoners in the temple in the valley, which
you can see from the cliff walls. We are doomed. Miss
Bennett is with us, Come to our help. BUTLER.”

While this was going on, the Aztecs were not idle.

' They discovered soon that the prisoners had escaped
from their prison room and were in the temple dome.

They crowded the gallery and filled the stairway, be-
fore the scout-and those with him knew that the escape
from the prison room had been found out.

He saw that the stone door was still closed, though
doubtless the Aztecs had come through it.

“We'll charge the rascals by and by, if we have to,
and clear them out of there,” he said; “and perhaps when
we do we may be able to get through that door. It might
let us reach the ground.”

“Bud voult dot hellup us?” said the despairing Hensel-
man. “Ve coult pe kilt yoost so soon as dey seen us.
Id iss no use. Ve iss all dead men togedder.”

The talk of reaching Major Bennett with the heliograph
had aroused Henselman’s hope a bit at first, but that
hope died utterly as the hours passed without result.
He saw the sun sinking, and knew that night was com-
ing when no more messages could be sent.

“Unt maype to-morrow vill be dark like id vas yis-
terday,” he urged, “unt ve can’t sent no messaches at all.
Id iss no use.”

Bounderby rebuked him at intervals, even though the
professor’s courage had weakened until it was little bet-
ter than that of the German. -

“Henselman, I am ashamed of yout !” the professor -
“You are in no more danger than the
rest of us. Think what fine material this will make for
my lecture, when we escape from here.”

“Dose locates vill nefer pe delifered,’. Henselman
Ve vill

pe made saccervises for der Axdecs. Yaw! I know id.”

groaned. “Ve iss all dead men togedder here.

+ But as the sun sank, and Butler declared no more mes-
sages could be sent that afternoon, a strange commotion
was seen near the wall of the valley.

Indians on the highway there were seen running to-
ward the temple. :

As they came nearer and met others, these began to
run, too.

Then behind them, in the dust of the highway, the
forms of white men were seen; and reports of rifles

 
 

 

28 THE BUFFALO
sounded, the smoke-puffs from the guns leaping now and
then out of the dust-cloud.

Buffalo Bill swung his hat and cheered.

“Help at last!” he said.
messages have been seen.

“Lieutenant Butler, your
li I’m not mistaken, there

come Major Bennett and his gallant followers. We are

saved |” ie
Henselman leaped to his feet.
“Vere?” he said.
‘Then he, too, swung his hat, roaring:
“Ve are safed! Ve are safed!”
Miss Bennett leaned from a window of the dome, look-
ing with moist eyes across the valley,
“My brave brother !2

In a little while the forms of the men who were dri-

“My brother!” she whispered.

ving the Indians before them could be seen more plainly.
They were coming up at a swift pace, on foot, and were

shooting at every Indian they saw, thus carrying con-

sternation into the midst of the Aztecs, who saw their
friends falling, slain by those mysterious fire-sticks.

The Aztecs near the temple were thrown into a panic, °

as the white men charged them, shooting at them, and
tumbling many of them down, wounded or dead.

The Indians who had crowded the gallery and stair-
way leading to the dome vanished through that stone
door; but before Buffalo Bill and his companions could
get down to it the door was closed and immovable.

Though they hammered on it, they could not shake its
nor could they find any means of opening it. It seemed
set in a groove, in which it no doubt slid, but their ut-
most exertions would not move it. ;

Major Bennett had more than twenty men with him,
and they conducted themselves like heroes.

In spite of the tremendous force which they might
have expected would oppose them, they had climbed the
cliff walls into the valley, and then had charged with
sublime heroism upon the Indians between them and the
shining temple mentioned in the heliograph-message
which they had fortunately seen flashing on that tentlike
stone so far away. : |

Right into the temple they came, firing at every Indian
seen; and so great was the scare they created, and so
terrible the fear in which the Indians stood of those
death-dealing fire-sticks, that the Aztecs fled pell-mell,
scattering in every direction.

Some of the priests opposed them at the altar and be-
fore the sacrificial stone, only to fall dead there.

Bike STORIES,

But now that they were in the temple itself, they did
not seé the prisoners.

an hey discovered at length, however, that they were in ‘
the high dome, and they found a way to get up to it.

They arrived at the door which shut the prisoners in.

But from that side the door was not difficult to move ;
they had but to throw their weight against it, and it
slipped along in its groove, opening for the prisoners a
way to freedom.

Emily Bennett fell with hysterical sobbing into the
arms of her brother. :

Not many words were spent in telling how Major Ber:
nett’s party, after long searching, had returned toward
the point from which they had started, and while so do-
ing had passed near the tentlike rock, and there had
seen the heliograph-messages; time was too precious to
be wasted in much talk.

The prisoners and their rescuers hurried down from
the dome, and made haste to get out of the valley of Zat-
aclin while the fright of the Aztecs lasted.

They gained the hills beyond the cuplike valley;
‘and by the stars found a northerly course, which they ©
hoped would take them out of danger before morning.

When morning arrived the sky was again gray and
cloudy and the compasses refused to perform their mis-
sion.

But under the eenee euidance of Buffalo Bill the party
held as true a course as possible; so that on the second ©
day they were far from the valley of the mysterious
Aztecs of Zataclin, |
, It was so bewildering a region that they did not care —
to seek it again; but were content to let the bloody-red :
priests and people live there undisturbed, as they had
done from time immemorial.

said Henselman, when he began to feel

“id iss too pat apout dose sbecimens in dot hant-
You vill forgif me for losing dem? Yaw, I dink

“Brofessor,”’
safe,
pag.
so!” a

“Henselman,” said the professor, “when I recall the
danger from which we escaped, and remember that I
have brought my notes for those lectures safely out of —
it, I have not the heart to condemn you for anything.” —

THE END,

Nest week’s issue, No. 326, will be “Buffalo Bill’s Mes- : j
or, The Mystery of the Golden -

sage from the Dead;

Dagger.”

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  
  
   
   
   
   
 

 
  
    

 

 

: THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

 

DEVOTED BORDER LIFE

 

 

 

 

 

oe YORK, ous 3 or

 

 

“TERMS TO BUFFALO BILL STORIES ‘MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.
(Postage Free.) a
Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Bach.

S OTT ee cUp Celieosauten ues 65¢e. ONG VERT wiaee Jose wae eae eee sy $2.50
A THONGS jesse i liviecceceuse. 1 SOC, 2 copies oné year...... eaves 4.00
G6 MORtWS | dusedss sees Hay aie $1.25 Li copy two years: cis. scec.: 4,00

How te Send Money—By post-office or express money order,

29

ay latter pulled hh back. Without leaving his tracks after he

fired, the sportsman, as was the custom, lodged another charge —

in his rifle. To his chagrin, he found that the stopple to his
powder-horn was broken off, and he was obliged to cut a hole
in the horn to obtain a charge of powder. This occasioned some
delay in loading, and by the time he had finished his dog was

crying most piteously. Not pleased with being so unceremonious-

_ registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own Tfiskif sent -

by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.

Receipts—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper
change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly
credited, and should letus know at once.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers,
79289 Seventh nee New York City.

 

 

AROUND THE CAMP FIRE.

This department will be devoted exclusively every week to
the interests of our readers. It will contain letters and answers
as well as facts connected with the life of Buffalo Bill and the
Great Wild West he helped to cee to settlement.

 

 

MAJOR STONER’S BEAR,

#rile Major Stoner was living in Johnstown, and not long
after he commenced housekeeping, a large bear came into his
wheat-field, doing no little mischief. To destroy this grain-
destroyer he erected a staging, and watched repeatedly for him,

but his vigilance was all in vain, and the wheat, when ripe,
was harvested. As the corn began to fill in the ear, bruin again
thrust himself upon the hospitality of the major. His bearship
soon found, however, as have some more worthy though less
courageous, that the charities of the world are granted grudgingly
to strangers. For several evenings after his first entrance the
husbandman vainly sought an interview with his unwelcome
guest, with malice aforethought rankling in his breast, death
intent absorbing all his thoughts, and a rtifle loaded with two
balls resting in his arms,

At length, in one of his nightly watchings, he heard his dusky
visitant testing the quality of the tender ears, and although the
night was dark, he approached sufficiently near to gain an in-
distinct view of him, and instantly leveled and fired. At the
report of his rifle, agreeably to concert, a large watch-dog, con-

fined in the house, was let out by Mrs. Stoner, and as the in-
terloper retreated from the corn, was soon yelling at his heels.
He leaped a fence into a field where a lot of flax had been spread,
and after pursuing some distance the dog returned home. In
the morning blood was observed on the fence, whete the animal
had crossed, and it was conjectured that if wounded he would
not return. Imagine Stoner’s surprise, therefore, the very next
day, when a neighboring woman came running to his house, near
which he chanced to be at work, to tell him that the bear had
come back, and was then in her orchard, but a short distance off.

Leaving the dog confined in his dwelling, to be let out if he
fired, armed with his rifle, he ran to the orchard. He was not
long in getting a shot, and soon the dog was at his side. The
_ bear, badly wounded, was overtaken by Growler at the roots of a
_ dry tree, and several times, as the former attempted to ascend,

2

ly drawn back, the bear turned upon his adversary, and succeeded
in getting a paw of the latter in his mouth.

A dog in distress never fails to bring down the vengeance of
its owner upon the object causing it; and, hurrying to the tree
where was enacting the tug of war, he thrust the muzzle of
the piece into bruin’s mouth to pry open his:jaws and liberate
his canine friend. Not altogether pleased with the interference,
the grain and apple-eater struck a blow at the intruder with one
of his monstrous paws, tearing off one leg of his pantaloons, and
leaving the prints of his nails on the flesh. The end of the gun

being still in the animal’s mouth, he discharged it, and blew out:
The yell of the dog attracted the attention of several ©

his- brains.
neighbors, -and just as Stoner fired a second time, Lieutenant
Wallace and his hired man, Hulster, arrived at the scene of
action, armed with pitchforks.

_ The bear proved to be very large, and had one white paw.
On examining, to learn the cause, it was found that one of the
bullets fired at him in the corn-field had passed through the
center of a forefoot while in an erect position, and the animal
had sucked it until the inner part was white as snow.—Jhe
Trappers of New York.

; Se RE Se ae
ARGENTINA COWBOYS’ SADDLES.

The recado or saddle used in the west of the Argentina Re-
public is much the same as in the south. It consists of a couple
of smooth pieces of wood to be laid on a blanket behind the
horse’s withers. Over these several thicknesses of fleece or soft
blankets are strapped, a pair of stirrups thrown over the whole
and the recado is ready for use. This sounds like a crude ar-

rangement, and such it often is; nevertheless, a number of Eng- |

lishmen who have used it claim that the recado gives a knee grip
in the soft blankets that insures a seat more sure than that pos-
sible in any saddle of hard leather.

The most inseparable companion of the gaucho of the west is
his ribenka, or whip. This has a heavily loaded handle about a
foot and a half long, which terminates in a thick single or double
thong of rawhide of the same length as the handle. The handle
is sometimes covered with hide, or, again, heavily inlaid with
silver. A blow from the handle of a ribenka will fell a horse
and a cut from its lash will tear open a gash in the flank of a
tough skinned mule.

The gaucho of the south fights with his knife in one hand and
his folded poncho in the other as a shield. The western gaucho
substitutes the ribenka for the poncho, and must make a far more
formidable opponent. His great facon, or knife, reposes most of
the time in his belt; his ribenka never leaves his hand during
the day, and at night he sleeps
wrist. }

Be Se sent ae
“BONE AGE” ON THE PRAIRIES.

The pioneers of Kansas will never forget the “buffalo bone
age.” When central and southwestern Kansas were setiled the
prairie was strewn with buffalo bones. Those were hard times

din Kans&s, and the gathering of these bones enabled the early

settlers to live while they were getting their claims broken out
for the producing of crops.

with the thong of it about his

 

  

  
   
 
   

Nine-tenths of the pioneers of that section of Kansas—atid there -

weren't very many at that—had literally nothing but a team and
a few household goods that they had hauled from the East in a

 
THE BUFFALO

single wagon. Of course, there were no buffalos, for this was
in the late ’70s, but their bones strewed the plains, and these bones

were the only thing that had a commercial value and they were

utilized. They were hauled in great wagonloads to the nearest
railway, often from sixty to one hundred miles away, and sold.

The horns were the more valuable and they went first, but the

rest of the skeleton soon followed. There were no fortunes made

by these early bone-hunters, for a large load of buffalo bones |

brought only from $5 to $8 at the railroad towns, btit the proceeds
from a load enabled the settler to buy a little flour, coffee, and
occasionally meat and lumber.
SKK ASKS a ae
. GIRL BRONCO BUSTER HURT.

Attempting to break an “outlaw” horse, Annie Giddings, a
pretty girl, and known as the queen of the bronco busters, was
thrown from the back of a vicious beast recently at her father’s
ranch, near Midland, S. D., and sustained injuries which will
make her a cripple for life. |

Annie for years has been the pride of the cow country and has
hundreds of admirers among the ranchthnen and cowboys of the
Northwest. Her daring and skill in breaking vicious horses has
made her famous. Recently a dozen bronco busters, failing to
subdue a Texas “outlaw,” dared her to attempt the feat. She
agreed. After roping the animal she cinched on the saddle and
mounted safely. The animal, a vicious brute, weighing 1,100
pounds, pitched and bucked, rolled over and resorted to every
device known to the outlaw to dislodge her.

She remained safely in the saddle nearly three-quarters of an
hour, when, becoming ill, she weakened and was hurled to the
ground. She was unconscious when picked up, and an examina-
tion by a Pierre doctor, who was brought one hundred miles,
resulted in the discovery that her neck and shoulder had been dis-
located. She was sent to a hospital in Sioux City, where, after a
half-dozen specialists had examined her, it was decided that she

‘cannot be cured,
sk ok

DESERTED IOWA TOWNS.

“Our State is so young that many are still in active life who
assisted in laying its foundations, and yet we have many deserted
villages,” said an old-timer of Iowa. “There are probably few of
the older counties in the State that have not their deserted ve
lages.

“Des Moines County has several, the most important of which
was Kossuth, a town of some pretensions in the northern part
of the county. It boasted of a fine academy, where the higher
branches were taught. It was a place of some commercial im-
portance.

“When the iron horse sought its way donhwerd from Burling-
ton it passed two miles to the eastward of Kossuth. Mediapolis
began, and it soon became apparent to Mediapolis that it was
most important that Kossuth be wiped out.
were gradually moved from Kossuth to the railroad town, and to-
day practically nothing remains of Kossuth.”

*k OK OK OK

WIGS MADE OF SPUN GLASS.

The enormous feminine demand for artificial coils and toupees
is leading to a famine in human hair. Formerly Swiss, German,
and Hungarian girls supplied the world of fashionable women
with luxuriant tresses of all tints.

But the governments of many countries are now thaking it
illegal for a girl to sell her hair or for an agent to buy it. .The
supply in consequence is running short and the prices of real hair
are trebling.

A series of successful experiments point to spun glass as the
most effective substitute for human hair, Wigs made from spun

Many of the houses .

BILL STORIES.

glass are wonderfully light and fine and the texture soft and
beautiful.

It is easy to produce any shade desired, while curls and waves
‘can be manufactured at will to suit the fashion of the moment.
The imitation is so realistic and true to life that it is impossible

to detect the difference between it and real hair grown on the :

head.
Sok ae ae
SAHARA’S BANDITS TAMED.

The greatest attraction at the colonial exposition which the
French Government has opened at Vincennes is the Tuareg en-
campment. The bandits of the Sahara are there with their tents,
their camels and their weapons.

The veiled Tuaregs showed neither astonishment nor interest
as they crossed the Mediterranean, nor were they moved by the
sights of the capital of France. One fact impressed them deeply.
This was that they saw men meet strangers and treat them affably
without first ascertaining whether they were friends or enemies.

They could not understand it.

The density of population also impressed them as strange, and
no wonder, for they had often traveled 300 miles to ao a
caravan without meeting a soul.

Two years ago a Frenchman who met a small party of Tuaregs,
at the time that peace was made with the bandits, tried in vain
to get a good photograph of them. He succeeded in snapping
his camera just once, but the conditions were not favorable, for
every Tuareg had his face covered with a veil. Times have
changed, and at Versailles every man of them is unveiled, Peat
when they are exhibited in full attire.

Six years ago these robbers captured one of the largest trading
caravans that ever fell into their hands. A large number of camels
and their drivers were transporting 1,500 packages of ivory,
ostrich feathers, and hides from the central Sudan across the.
desert to Tripoli. The value of this merchandise was about
$300,000. : \

The caravan had scarcely emerged from the Sudan into the
desert when the Tuaregs, their faces veiled as usual and their
excellent firearms in the best condition, swooped down upon it.
Resistance was useless, and the valuable freight was diverted to
the strongholds of the robbers in the inner part of the desert.

Readers of the newspapers already know what has brought
about the change in the circumstances of these nomads. Instead —
of the slow baggage-camels the French used when the Sahara
first became their domain, they now utilize animals specially fitted
and trained for fast travel.

It was not until the French possessed camels that could cover .
three times as much ground in a day as the ordinary pack-animal
that they were able to cope with the Tuaregs. The Tuaregs for
generations had picked and trained their camels so that at first
the French were unable to catch them.

But for three years past every French troop in the Saharan
service has equaled the Tuaregs in celerity of movement. Since
then the Tuaregs have no longer been immune from punishment.

The French can catch them whenever they please. The nomads
have been tamed and the once redoubtable warriors have been for
about two years as peaceable as women, save for one or two
exploits by small parties. They thought they were at a safe
distance from the French, but found their mistake when they were
called to severe account for outrages upon small caravans.

In the last two years three parties, two French and one Ger-
man, numbering only a few men, have crossed the desert safely —
without molestation from the bandits. The last large expedition
the French sent across the Sahara numbered 1,000 camels, all of
them slow baggage-animals.
several occasions to attack the stragglers and make off with their
guns and supplies, well knowing that the French could not catch

’ them.

eo ee ETI PONT IN TRINA

iN

 

The Tuaregs did not hesitate on
THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

THE. LAS 'T SHOT.

BY M. CAREY.

. Three men, habited in the garb of hunters, were
_tapidly and cautiously making their way through a wild,
unbroken forest in the western part of Ohio, one singu-
larly beautiful day in the latter end of the month of

| October, 1811—a year memorable in the annals of

American history for the production and the destruction
~of the celebrated conspiracy of the Shawnee | chieftain,
Tecumseh.

The three answered respectively to the names of Dan
Egan, an active, brave and experienced scout; Tom
Knight, a courageous young Indian-fighter, and Bill
Tobin, an equally. brave and daring backwoodsman,
The three were expert scouts, and belonged to the army
of General Harrison, then marching upon the Indian
towns in Indiana. Eight days prior to the opening of our
tale the trio were dispatched by the general to reconnoiter
around the village of Tippecanoe, the principal town of

Tecumseh, and commanded by his brother, the Prophet.

A rumor had reached Harrison that a large assemblage
of the Indians from the various tribes, north, south, and
west, had congregated around the village, and anxious
to learn the truth of this rumor, the general immediately
dispatched the trio to scout around the village, learn the
number of Indians in it, and if possible ascertain: their
intention. Also to find out how the enemy were pre-
pared for a war, and in particular to find out the where-
abouts of the noted chief ‘Tecumseh.

_ The trio, as far as lay within their power, implicitly
_ obeyed the instructions of their commander. Two days
_they hovered around Tippecanoe, and in the two days
they saw and heard enough to make it but too surely
apparent to them that their red neighbors were actively
engaged in making extensive preparations for a war of
extermination upon the whole white race.

They learned all but one thing, and that was of the
whereabouts of Tecumseh. Where he was, or what he
was doing, was as much of a mystery to them on the af-
ernoon of the third day as it was when they first ar-

tived at the village.

f On the afternoon of the third day the three reluctantly
determined to return to headquarters, Their departure
from the vicinity of the town was hastened considerably
by the suspicion that their presence was more than sus-

‘pected by the watchful aborigines, and that already
secret movements were on foot to insure their capture, |

‘It was late in the afternoon when they turned their
backs upon the village, and until noon the next day, with-
out the least intermission, they hurried along the back
trail’ for Harrison’s camp without meeting a single ad-
venture. But toward sundown on the day whereof we
write, all were aroused from their fancied security by
a volley of bullets poured at them from the surrounding
trees and bushes.
~The three firmly grasped their rifles and eagerly
glanced around them in search of the unseen foe, when

= numberless redskins emerged from the cover of the
_ @ bushes and trees around them, and with yells and howls
dashed toward the devoted trio.

_ To remain together would insure their annihilation.
The three separated and dashed away through the forest,
_hotly pursued by the savages.

_ Dan Egan, on separating from his comrades, bieied
2 southeasterly course, hotly followed by five relentless

SRR TT STITT eT ea Te

}

31

aborigines. A remarkably swift runner, and well versed
in the tricks and artifices usually resorted to by those of
his class to circumvent the subtle red man, Dan in less
than an hour succeeded in placing his pursuers at fault
by throwing them off the trail; but unfortunately two
hours later, aftér a most minute investigation of the.
ground round the spot where the scout’s trail had ended,

the Shawnees again discovered the trail, and immediately
resumed the pursuit, inwardly determined not to abandon
it while life lasted.

Meanwhile Dan, shaping his course toward the camp
of Harrison, continued his way without the least re-
laxation in his speed. But, too well aware of the perse-
vering nature of his wily pursuers, he knew that they
would not abandon the pursuit so long as hope of cap-
ture remained in their minds.

Night set in, and unfortunately for the hunter it proved —
to be a bright, moonlight one, as favorable to the pur-
poses of the redskins as daylight, Every conceivable
*artifice to hide his trail, and thus baffle his pursuers, had
been adopted by the indefatigable scout with what suc-
cess he had yet to learn,

All through the long night he hurried onward, finding.
companionship enough’ in his own busy thoughts. With
studied care he traversed the solemn woods, now looking
grandly sublime in the moonlight, ever fearful of a sud-
den attack or ambush on the part of the treacherous
denizens, The long night slowly passed away, the day
came and went, and the shades of evening were again
descending fast, when the scout, weary and footsore,
harassed by dread and uncertainty, half-famished, and
excessively weak from long fast, having eaten nothing
whatever in three days, determined to snatch an hour’s
rest ere he proceeded farther,

Selecting a large bush best calculated to suit ie pur-
pose, Dan quickly ensconced himself within it and, after
greedily devouring a few morsels of food that remained
untouched for three days in his bag, he settled himself
in a comfortable position and began to ruminate upon
the best methods to be adopted to elude his pursuers,
—if they still pursued him—for the coming twenty-four
hours,

But he had barely commenced to do so, when ex-
hausted nature asserted her sway and he fell into a deep
slumber. When-he awoke, he awoke with a great start
and was on his feet in an instant. Loud, clear and pain-
fully distinct, one after the other, several yells were
borne to his startled ears. They unmistakably proceeded
from his rear, and in that direction Dan now instinctively
cast his eyes,

The moon was at its height. In the distance, Dan
fancied he detected five phantom-like forms advancing
swiftly toward him.

“By heavens! but this is too infernally bad,” mut-
tered the scout vexatiously, glancing toward his untiring
pursuers. “After all the pains I took to baffle "em! to
say that hyer they be arter me hot and heavy, and nearer
than when I last saw them, cuss ’em!” he added fiercely,
“but they'll never take me alive! no, sir. Char don’t
appear to be any means of circumventin’ ‘em around
hyer, sO Vil hev to leg it agen, an’ ef I’m not mistaken
this ar’ goin’ to bé a hot chase all nite, fur the moon
shines so bright that they kin foller me easy, Wal, ef
they do run me down, they won't find me an easy victim,
no, sir, they won’t take me alive,”

_ And with the last words still lingering on his lips the

 

tre een ee PPT eT Lig
 

2 THE BUG HALO
. intrepid fellow turned on his heel and dashed away
through the wood with incredible velocity. From the
appearance of the moon, Dan judged that it was near
midnight, consequently me must have slept three or four
hours, and. he acknowledged to himself that his rest had
greatly refreshed him.

On he pressed with incredible swiftness. Now and
then Indian signals were borne to his,ears, proclaiming
to him but too plainly that his.determined pursuers were
still following him with unabating zeal. There was suf-
ficient light in the woods to enable him to avoid many
obstacles which in the darkness might seriously have
impeded his progress; but at times, however, the trees
grew so dense and their foliage so thick and impervious
as to utterly exclude the rays of the moon for many
yards within the forest.

On such occasions as these, Dan exercised the greatest
caution in his progress, and the utmost skill and in-
genuity to hide -his trail,.and thus, for a period, perhaps,
_ blind his pursuers... But, unhappily, these occurrences
were “few. and far between,’ and at dawn the next
morning the scout, to his inexpressible chagrin, per-
ceived that his unwavering pursuers were scarcely two
miles in his rear.

However, not in the least disheartened by this rather
dangerous proximity of his foes, Dan hurried onward, in-
wardly determined not to succumb until actually forced to
do so. The forenoon slowly wore away and it was fast
approaching mid-day when the scout, who had been great-
ly puzzled by the unaccountable disappearance of his pur-
suers several hours before, was suddenly electrified by
a loud chorus of diabolical yells which echoed and re-
echoed through the forest. :

Quickly glancing to the left, Dan was greatly startled
to perceive his relentless pursuers scarcely one-quarter
of a mile away, and coming toward him at a speed which
threatefied to overtake him in a very short time. And
as the scout’s startled gaze rested upon them the truth
of their sudden and entirely unexpected appearance
flashed to his mind. Certain that the scout would for
some length of time pursue his present course, the sav-
ages had branched off from his trail and hurried after him
on a new course with accelerated speed to cut him off.
How nearly they had succeeded in their ruse, we have
seen,

He struggled. on, however, straining every nerve to
continue his present gait. But all his efforts were in
vain, for suddenly his strength completely failed him,
his limbs refused to perform their office, and he sank
in a half-fainting condition into a large clump of bushes.

His fall was almost immediately noticed by his relent-
less pursuers. With accelerated speed they dashed to-
ward the spot where lay their victim, who, in their
imagination, was already in their eager clutches.

But there is many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.

Ere long the scout recovered himself sufficiently to
become better aware of his iinenviable position. A few
minutes’ profound reflection sufficed to tell him that no

other course of escape than by bravely facing his re-

lentless pursuers, with the determination of selling his
life as dearly as possible, remained open to him, and he
inwardly resolved that they should never take him alive.
He had barely arrived at this conclusion, when, on
glancing toward his pursuers, he perceived that the fore-
most was within range of his trusty rifle. Instantly

bringing his never failing weapon to his shoulder, he

Bid SlORIES.

eloneed rapidly along the barrel, and the next moment
its whip-like crack reverberated through the woods.

Alas! it was his last shot! With a thrilling scream of /

pain, the foremost redskin bounded several feet into the
air, then ran wildly a few feet, and then, with another
piercing yell of excruciating anguish, he fell dead across
the trail. His comrades greeted his terrible and sudden
death with several angry howls of rage and grief, and
instantly halting, they raised their rifles, covered the
bush wherein lay the scout and hastily fired. Almost
simultaneously with the discharge they perceived the
scout, with a spasmodic effort, jump to his feet, place
his hand mechanically to his left breast, while an in-
describable look of anguish swept across his weather-
beaten features, and then with a loud groan of pain, he
staggered wildly about him, his life-blood pouring in

i
f
(
\

| i
aye
Hiss

streams from a wound in his left side, crimsoning the of

leaves and grass around him, and at last he fell back,
struggling in the last agonies of death. All this the
savages perceived, and now, as they saw him fall, a
series of wild, triumphant yells burst from them, and

all instantly darted toward him to secure his scalp. But |

they never got it. For barely had they advanced three

“yards, when two redskins fell, each with a bullet through

his brain. Simultaneously with the reports rang out a

»
{
|
My

a

e
a

wild, hearty cheer, and, like avenging spirits, Knight | :

and Tobin dashed from out a clump of bushes, and club-

bing their rifles, they precipitated themselves with irre-~

sistible fury upon the surviving two Shawnees, who,
panic-stricken by the sudden appearance of the two
scouts, made but a feeble defense.
to add that they were almost instantly killed by the
avenging twain.

to perceive that he had but a few short minutes to live. A

It is almost needless |

The latter then turned and hastened ~
toward their friend. They were unspeakably shocked |

treacherous ball had penetrated his left side in the region -

of the heart. The dying scout recognized them with

faint smile.

They were in season to catch his last words. | |
“Good-by, lads; ’'m goin’ fast,” he ejaculated feebly.

“Tell the gineral—Heaven bless him—that I died for ¥
my country and him. Tell him—tell him that I remained 4

true—true to my country to the—the last, an’ that my¢ :
last thought was fur—fur her. Heaven bless you, lads, 4

an’ Heaven receive my soul!”

“Amen!” fervently rejoined his comrades, bowing their —

heads. When they raised them again they perceived
that his spirit had departed. In sorrow and silence, with
many mournful regrets over his untimely fate, they
buried him at the foot of a majestic elm, and then, after
rudely carving the inscription:

Dan EGAN, ~
A true and faithful scout,

in broad and distinct letters on the tree, with heavy hearts
the twain resumed their journey for the camp of Har-
rison.

They reached it the next day. After relating to the
general all they had learned of the movements and in-
tentions of the savages, they gravely informed him of
the fate of Egan.
pained on hearing the melancholy news, for the scout was

The kind-hearted Harrison was much.

an especial favorite of his; but he assured the twain that |

he would be amply avenged ere long. He spoke the

truth, for four days later, on the 7th of November, the
American forces severely whipped the Indians at Tippe-

canoe, completely crushing out the formidable conspiracy,

AL eee penn eterna ghee

 

 
 
BUFFALO BILL STORIES

 

ISSUED EVERY ‘TUESDAY

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS >

 

Butfalo Bill wins his way into the heart of every
one who reads the strong stories of stirring adventure on
the wide prairies of the West published in this weekly.

Boys, if you want tales of the West that are
drawn true to life, do not pass these by.

PRICE FIVE CENTS PER COPY

For sale by all newsdealers, or sent, by the publishers to any address upon receipt of price in money or postage stamps

 

 

HERE ARE THE LATEST TITLES:

296—Buffalo Bill in No Man’s Land; or, The Sky-mir-
ror of the Panhandle.

297—Buffalo Bill’s Border Ruffans;
Game of Panther Pete.

298—Buffalo Bill’s Black Eagles; or, The Snake-master
from Timbuctoo.

299—Buffalo Bill’s Desperate Dozen; or, The Raiders of
Round-Robin Ranch.

300—Buffalo Bill’s Rival;
Niobrarah.

301—Buffalo Bill’s Ice Chase; or, ‘The Trail of the Black
Rifle.

302—Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler; or, The W hite
Flower of Fetterman Prairie.

303—Buffalo Bill and the White Specter; or, The Mys-
terious Medicine-man of Spirit Lake.

304—Buffalo Bill’s Death Defiance; or, The Bad Men of
Timber Bar.

305—Buffalo Bill and the Barge Bandits; or, The Demon
of Wolf River Cafion.

306—Buffalo Bill, the Desert Hotspur; or, —- Jane, of
Cinnabar.

307—Buffalo Bill’s Wild Range Riders; or, The Venge-
ance of Crazy Saale

308—Buffalo Bill’s Whirlwind Chase; or, The ‘Mustang
Catchers of Bitter Water.

309—Buffalo Bill’s Red Retribution; or, The Raid of the
Dancing Dervishes.

310—Buffalo Bill Haunted; or, The White Witch of the
Niobrara.

311—Buffalo Bills Fight for Life; or, Caught in the
Cave of Lions.

or, The Desperate

or, doe Scalp-hunter of the

 

312—Buffalo Bill’s Death Jump; or, The Ogallalas’ Last
Stand.

313—Buffalo Bill and the Pit of Horror; or, The White
Queen of Paradise Valley.

314—Buffalo Bill in the Jaws of Death; or, The Strange
Sacrifice of Uncapah.

315—Buffalo Bill’s Aztec Runners; or, The Hate of the
Gilded Mexican.

316—Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death; or, Peril on the
Golconda Gold Trail.

317—-Buffalo  Bill’s Redskin Rovers; or, Old Nici
Nomad’s Wolf Trick.

318—Buffalo Bill’s Fiery Eye;
Last Battle.

319—Buffalo Bill’s Mazeppa Fide: or, The Robbe
League of the Panhandle.

320—Buffalo Bill in the Land of Spirits; or, The Witc!
Hunters of the Hoodoo Mountains.

321—Buffalo Bill’s Gypsy Band; or, The Queen of the
Road Wanderers.

322—Buffalo Bill’s Maverick; or, The Man with the Stee
Arm.

323—Buffalo Bill, the White Whirlwind; or, Dashing
Dan, the Border Decoy Duck.

324—Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunters; or, the Clan of the
Skull and Cross-bones.

325—Buffalo’ Bill in Old Mexico; or, The Red Priests
of Zataclin.

326—Buffalo Bill’s Message From the Dead; or, The
Mystery of the Dagger of Gold.

327—Buffalo Bill and the Wolf-master; or, The Wild
Dogs of the Hills.

or, Red Thunderbolt'+

If you want any back numbers of this publication and cannot procure them from your news-

dealer, they can be obtained from this office direct.

Postage stamps taken the same as money.

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79 Seventh Avenue, NEW YORK CITY.