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No. 539. NEW YORK, September 9, IQII. Price Five Cents,

 

Buffalo Bill and the Knife Wizard:

OR,

PAWNEE BILL’S GREAT EXHIBITION.

 

By the author of “BUFFALO BILL.” ~ ane

 

CHAPTER I.
AN UNPOPULAR. TRAIL,

“This hyar stage,” announced Little Billee, “is
a-goin’ through from Agua Preitas to Truxillo. An’
as I has heard that every ombray on the Mexican

border is, plum’ ballasted with sand, I allow I won’t.

have to waste no valleyble time waitin’ round this
hostelry fer intendin’ passengers.’
The stage and four stood before the door Sf. the

‘Palacio, the principal hotel, and Little Billee, cracking

his long-lashed whip,
steps.

He was small and hunch-backed, with preternaturally
bright eyes and a sharp face. A broad, white Stet-
son was stuck on the back of his head, a belt, bearing
a tevolver and choked with cartridges, girdled his
waist, and he wore chaps, a blue- flannel shirt, and a
flaming necktie of the cowboy pattern.

Some literary guy, who had read “Trilby’”—the book
was just out—had named him Little Billee, and the

walked back and forth by the

_ name had stuck. People forgot that he ever had borne

another.
This caricature of a stage driver, cracking his whip

before the hotel, waxed sarcastically scornful, when
no passenger moved forward.

“Whar aire all the gun men that I heard talkin’ loud
round hyar last evenin’?” he demanded.

Still, no one appeared.

“Frum the flow of talk, I allowed that when I swung
my hearse up to this door I’d have warriors boid fight-
in’ fer the privilege of riding with me to Truxillo,” the
stage driver went on. “I can say that the news is this
mornin’ that it’s shore likely to be an interestin’ expe-
dition. Ramon Corral and his Tali Injuns aire é¢row-
hoppin’ out in the hills, bandits aire bushwhackin’, and
the insurrectos and rurales aire burnin’ enough ammini-
tion to start up a powder fact’ry. What with bullets
and Tali arrows I expect to be a combination of sieve

and animated pincushion by the time I git through; yit

I’ve got to go, on account of the mail, and Id like to
have comp’ny. So I’m jest waitin’ fer the comin’ of
the gay gun fighters that said last evenin’ they was
goin’ through to Truxillo to-day.”

He turned round in disgust, and re his whip to

' the driver’s seat.

“Oh, shucks!” he exclaimed.

 
e. | THE: BUPEALG)

But Little Billee was to have passengers, after all.

Quick footsteps sounded in the hotel lobby, and
there appeared a man of striking appearance, fe lowed
by a lithe young Indian.

“Prithee,’ the man cried gayly, as he came down the
steps of the hotel; “why this unseemly haste, Little
Billee?, We think we'd like to journey with you.”

He carried a tan-colored valise, which he threw into
the boot.

Little Billee swung round on his heels.

From the top of the man’s white Stetson to the soles
of his spurred boots, the sharp eyes of the hunchback
swept a glance.

“Two revolvers, gold-mounted; two stickers, ditto;
one magazine rifle, and enough ca’tridges to feed a
gatling gun,” he mused.

He looked at the Indian.

“Item number two: one young redskin—servant, I
spose, of item number one. Also rigged out with
weapons ekal to.a gun shop.”

He turned back to the white man, who was smiling
and lighting a cigar. From the inner crown of his
Stetson the man took another cigar, and extended it.

“A match goes with it, I reckon,” said the hunch-
back as his claw hand clutched the smoke weed. ‘“‘Ah,
thanks! You're a gentleman and a scholar. Throw
your Injun into the boot with the valise, and climb
up to the driver’s seat. Ill be with you in a minute.”

Smoking the cigar, he again walked back and forth
before the hotel steps, still calling for passengers.

When no others appeared, the hunchback mounted
to the box beside the man who had stowed himself
there. Then he glanced round, to see the Indian
climbing to the top of the stage.

“Who's yer red friend?” he asked.

nlittl Cayuse.”

“Nota Tali, I reckon?”

oP iute,:

On i

The long lash of the whip sprang out like a darting
serpent, cracked with a pistol sound, and the stage was
off, rushing through the dusty street of the border
town.

The ‘little driver smoked quietly, until the open
spaces beyond the town were gained, and the trail lay
like a dust-colored ribbon straight before him.

. “T didn’t allow any one would go with me this trip,”
he said, darting a glance at the man beside him. -

The man laughed.

“I heard what you said out there by the steps.

After that, any man who didn't want to be called a ~

coward simply had to go.”

“Oh, shucks!” the hunchback ejaculated.

He tickled the back of the nigh wheeler with the
whiplash.

“All that hot stuff was jest fer private consumption.
I reckon you know that this trail is that plum’ danger-
ous lately that I ain’t, up to now, had a passenger ae
a week?”

“Yet you go through.”

 

BILL STORIES.

“Oh, me! That's different.”

“Flow ?”’

“T don’t carry no money ; so the bandits won’t bother

me. When they stop the stage, as they do sometimes,
I hold up my hands. If they should ask fer my guns,
which they ain’t done yit, I’d jest fork ’em over. The
insurrectos don’t trouble me none, though Pm ex-
pectin’ any trip that they'll take my horses, for they’ve
got some mighty poor mounts of their own. And the
rurales never bother me, for they’re gover’ment troops,
and I’m carryin’ the gover’ment mails. But no vally-
bles ever goes now through the mails. And as for
the reds!”

He coughed out a mouthful of smoke, and dela

“They think I’m first cousin to the devil, or some-
thin’—on account of my crooked back; so they let me
pass. I seen twenty of ‘em, last. trip, layin’ beside
the trail, and they rattled into the bushes like lizards
when they heard me comin’.”’

Having recovered from his fit of coughing, he began
to smoke again. a

“But you?” he said. “Unless it was a case of life
and death, or a hundred thousand dollars was layin’
fer you in Truxillo, and likely to vanish sudden if you
didn’t git there quick, it'd been money in your pocket
if you had stayed in that hotel until the trail got set-
fied)?

When the passenger did not rise to this, Little Billee,
looking at him keenly, added:

“Den Little Billee?

ce quiet smile was the only answer.

“That was an invitation,” Little Billee announced.

“10 whate’

“To git acquainted. I'd like to know who you aire
—before you aire killed sittin’ hyar beside me. It
would be handy, and gratifyin’, to have your name to
send on to your folks afterward.”

The passenger laughed boisterously.

“That ain’t no joke,” said Little Billee.
yer name?”

“At home ’m known as Major Lillie; down here on
the border I’m called Pawnee Bill.”

“Wow !”

Little Billee followed his exclamation with a gurgle,
and affected to cree backward.

“Pawnee Bill,” he said, and turned round to stare.
“But I reckon I oughter knowed it.
was in the town.”

“Did you hear anything else—about me, I mean?”

“Not p’tickler. But, say, this is goin’ to be your
dangerous day—d'ye know it? What I did hear was
over in Truxillo. ’Twas said there that Ramon Cor-
ral had brought his outlaws and Tali redskins into this
section jest on your account and Cody's. I reckon
you know that Cody is in Truxillo?’”’.

“That’s why I’m going over. But about Corral?”

“Well, you know all about him, of course. You
helped capture him a couple of times, and had him
headed for the prison pens. He has got it in for you

“What's

I had heard you

 

 
 

  

and Buffalo Bill good and hard.

 

with this old hearse on this trip

He shook his head.

“Lillie,” the hunchback added, with an assumption
of dignity, “speakin’ as man to man, if you want now
to turn round I'll land you back in that hotel as soon
as the horses can git there, and I’d advise you to let
me do it. Likely you didn’t know about the Talis and
Corral and his outlaws?”

“T heard what you said about them—there in front
of the hotel.”

“But maybe you one that was jest guff.
go on °

“Oh, we're going on.’

“And if Corral comes for your”

“Lt he does, you can save your bacon by throwing
up your hands.” \

+ But, you?’ oe a
- . TH just, take the reins, when you drop hen: and

drive straight ahead.”

“Wow! i

Little Billee snapped his a and seemed to study
the backs of his horses.

If you

 

: “There won't be any trouble ‘until we’re halfway
_ through,” the driver muttered.

“The Talis 1 saw were
layin’ in that bit of scrub jest this side the Perdidas
Crossin’. You might hop out of the stage before we
git to it, and maybe make yout way through on foot.
But, if they’ re there to- day and you try to go through
with me, you're shore goin’ to git it.”

Pawnee Bill seemed unmoved. ™

“What say?” Little Billee chirruped, after a minute
of silence.

“We're going through sith you.”

“No use to expose that likely young Injun, even if
you don’t care for yourself.”

“He is as anxious to get through as I am. He claims
Buffalo Bill for his master,,you see, and wants to be
where he is.”

Little Billee dropped the subject, and seemed to for-
get it, until the Perdidas came into view.

Then, unsmiling, he put out his hand.

“Lillie,” he said, “hyar’s whar I says good-by to
you. You'll be a dead man in ten minutes; likewise
the Injun.”

For answer, Pawnee Bill ok one of his refolvers
and laid it on the seat beside him. .

~“Jump from the stage,” he said, “when Wie, begin
to shoot—if they do; then leave the rest to me.”

Things seldom turn out as men anticipate them.

No Indians or outlaws lay in the scrub, and no
holdup came at the crossing of the Perdidas.

With the dangerous part of the trail behind him,
Little Billee’s spirits returned. He accepted and
smoked another cigar, declared that hindsight had fore-
sight beaten to a pulp, and that no trouble need be now
anticipated. , :

Even Pawnee Bill began to think the peril was over
as the mud-built town of Truxillo drew near. Little

 

Billee said the bandits and redskins had not drawn

THE BUFFALO

 

If his Talis connect

BILL STORIES. 3

close to the town, as rurales had been there recently
and had frightened them away.

But, as the stage swept round a high bluff a skillfully
dropped noose, aimed at the head of Pawnee Bill, flew.
past and over him as he ducked.

The noose caught Little Cayuse, the Piute, who was
jerked from the top of the stage, and swung in mid-

air as the stage swept on.

Pawnee Bill whirled in the seat with lifted revolver,
and saw the Piute rising in the air. The rope had
come down over the face of the bluff, yet the top of
the bluff and the lariat thrower were hidden from his
sight.

With a sudden leap, he left*the seat beside Little.
Billee, landed on the trail, and ran back.

The driver drew on the reins with frantic energy,
and was bringing the horses to a stop, when something
popped up in the trail. This looked like a jumping
blacksnake, and Pawnee Bill went down.

“Wow!” Little Billee exclaimed, his face suddenly
of a pasty white. “Got him—and the Injun! And I
thought we was plum’ past ’em! Next it will be me.
So fyar

Slacking his pull on the reins, he began to ply the
whip.

Out of the trail ihetore him rose another rope,
aimed at his head.

“Wow!” he yelled, ducking and lashing the horses.

The noose passed over him, settled on his humped
back, and tried to~take hold there; but Little Billee,
with a wild yell at the horses, dropped flat, and the
stage swept on, with the horses fairly flying. -

 

Back in the trail Pawnee Bill had fallen heavily, as

he sought to go to the assistance of Little Cayuse. The
trail was sandy, and the rope that had thrown him
had lain concealed its entire length under the surface
of the sand, so that the stage had passed over it.

An Indian was at the end of the rope, with others
near him. The Indian also had been covered with
sand. Other Indians, farther out, had aoe lying
down under sand-covered blankets.

Pawnee Bill fell so heavily that the beni was
knocked out of him, and he was stunned. Before
he could recover, the Indians were on top of him. The
noose that had brought him down was swept round
his neck, like the strangling fold of a python, and
other ropes, coming suddenly from the hands of the
running Indians, caught hintby the heels, by the hands,
and dropped additional nooses round his neck.

“Snared—and I deserve it,’ Pawnee muttered, when
he realized his predicament. “For a first-class idiot, I
collect the contents of the whole bakeshop!”

 

CHAPTER II.
THE OUTLAWS DAUGHTER.

The uncertain temper of Ramon Corral had. not
been improved that day by his indulgence in aguar-
diente, Mexico’s famous’ and powerful strong water.

 

\

  
 

4 3 7. sTRE BUFFALO

Even his most favored followers kept out of his way,
and obeyed with alacrity when he called them. So,
when Pawnee Bill was brought before him, the out-
law leader was in a dangerous mood.

“Hol” he laughed. “The great and wonder ful

American—friend and comrade of Buffalo Bill—can |

be taken as easily as a partridge in a trap.”

Round him were his outlaw followers and a strong
band of Tali Indians. The outlaws were Mexicans,
evil-browed and of vicious temper. The Talis were a
strong-looking set of red warriors, gaudy in paint and
feathers. Subject to the will of Ramon Corral, they
‘were even more to be feared than the outlaws,

Pawnee had been brought up tied—a rope around
his neck, another around his middle, and his hands
bound together behind his back. About his ankles
was a noose, which was loose enough, however, to en-
able him to take short steps. Run he could not, if he
had been given the chance.

The men conducting the captive before the notori- »

ous bandit chieftain of northern Mexico were Indians
and outlaws—like those who now surrounded Corral.

If there was fear in the heart of Pawnee Bill. it
did not show in his face. He eyed Corral directly,
with the air of a man of cones and strength of
mind.

“Where is the Indian ” Corral asked.

Little Cayuse was dragged forward.

“Look, you,’ said Corral, speaking to Pawnee Bill.
- “T have some questions I would ask; and it will be well
if you answer them truthfully.”

His speech was Spanish, of the Mexican brand.

“You were in Agua Preitas, and your lord and mas-
ter, Buffalo Bill, was in Truxillo,’ Corral went on.
“It was no great wisdom to know that you would try
to join him, or that he would seek to join you. And
as this is the shortest and best trail, it was equally
certain that you would take it sooner or later. For
this reason I had some of my Talis lie in wait beyond
the Perdidas, where the stage driver could see them,
and report it. I knew that would center attention on
that point, while the trap itself was laid at the bluff
for you. And you fell into it. So much for that.
As soon as your friend in Truxillo hears that you have
been snared, he will come out here to secure your re-
lease. Then I also shall have him.”

Corral was boastful at heart, and the aguardiente
was causing him to show that he was so. He desired
to convince his prisoner that, when a game of wits
was played, he could win.

“I have friends in Agua Preitas, and even more
friends in Truxillo,” he declared. “So what goes on
there is always known to me very soon. It would
astonish you to know who some of my friends are.
But I am not et aetegs secrets.”

“Tf this is a lecture,’’ said Pawnee coolly, “I should

like to sit down, so that I could hear it more at my
ease,”

The outlaw’s hand dropped to his knife.

“Have a care!’ he warned.

“You know me.”

  

BILL STORIES.

  

“My knowledge of you is general—not intimate,’
said Pawnee. ,

“The plans of the rurales in Preitas—I would know
them,” said Corral.

“If any one can tell what the plans of the rurales
are he is wiser than I,” laughed Pawnee Bill. “From
what I saw, I was led to think that their thoughts
were concerned chiefly with what they could get to eat
and drink.”

Corral laughed hoarsely, and ened his head.

“Tt has been said that the rurales are parade sol- ~

diers,” he replied. ‘‘Now, as to this comrade of yours
——Buffalo Bill?”
“I was journeying to Truxillo to learn his plans.’
“The government has offered a reward of twenty
thousand dollars for me, dead or alive. You have seen
the placards sticking on the walls of the village. How
marly men are coming out to look for that reward?”
The question was asked with a scornful laugh.

~“T knew of none.’

“Not even this wonderfully brave Buffalo Bilcothis
fire-eating American—has been bold rote to seek

me?’ Corral asked.

“I was on my way to Truxillo to learn his plans,
as I have said.”

“Plans that concern me?”

_ “T do not know.”

A. sudden flame shot into the eyes of Pawnee Bill.

Turning his head with a jerk, Ramon Corral dis-
covered its cause—the appearance on the outer fringe
of the outlaws and Indians of a young woman.

“Nita,” Corral cried, but his voice had softened,
“this is no place for you! The women are in the
tents, and your place is with them.”

There was a camp following of Mexican and Indian
women—wives of the outlaws and the Indians—and
these were installed in a few cotton tents which Pawnee
Bill had seen crowning the farther slope.

But Pawnee Bill had not thought that Nita Corral,
daughter of the outlaw chief, would be found there;
in fact, he had supposed that she had retired to the
home of a certain sisterhood, down on the ee of the
Californian gulf.

Nita Corral he had known well, some weeks before.
She it was, in fact, who, being given certain liberty
of fréédom in Buffalo Bill's party, had released her
father, when he was the great scout’s prisoner, and had
vanished with him in the night.*

That she had gone to the Sisters had come as a rt-
mor, which Pawnee Bill had believed to be true. Now,
however, he saw that she was still with the bandit fol-
lowing of Ramon Corral.

The young woman did not withdraw at once when.

Corral ordered her to do so. She stood looking at

the American and the young Indian beside him.
Suddenty, as Corral and the men round him turned

again to the prisoners, her hand passed to her face,

 

*See last week’s issue:

“Buffalo Bill’s Medicine Trail,” No.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

     

 

making the well-known friendship sign of the In-
dians.

“T will go!” she said, answering the command of
Corral.

She turned then and walked away. After moving
several yards, she looked back, and again her hand

made the friendship sign.

There was a murmuring among the fol wers of
Ramon Corral, and this, at first, Pawnee Bill mistook
for condemnation of the girl; but he discovered that
the outlaws and Indians had not observed her ges-

tures.

In a few moments the significance of the murmurs
became apparent. The bandits and redskins wanted an
exhibition of Pawnee Bill’s widely heralded skill as
a knife thrower. —

The drink-flushed face of Ramon Corral became
more animated. ;

“Tt shall be!” he cried.
dian for his target.”

_A stir, beyond the camp suddenly arrested his at-
tention.

A rider came through the lines with a message for
Corral. He wore the uniform of a rural, either as
a-disguise or because he was one. It was generally
believed that Corral had a strong following among
the rurales themselves.

What the message concerned was not made known.
But, when Corral ordered a horse, Pawnee Bill saw
that, for a time, he and Little Cayuse were to have a
respite.

Mounting, Corral ive several orders; then he rode
away, accompanied by the man in uniform.

After the departure of the outlaw leader, Pawnee
Bill and the Piute were taken farther back into the
camp, away from’the trail. Here they were placed
under a guard; though this seemed hardly necessary,
as they were still kept tied, and their Weapons had been
taken from them.

“Very bad,’ said the Piute, depressed by the sit-
wation: Mebbyso no more can see Pa-e-has- ka—no
more take the big trail.”

“Don’t you ever believe it!” said Pawnee, © “Pa-e-
has-ka will be crow-hopping round here before you
knew it. Did you ever know him to fail to do a thing
like that? So buck up your courage.”

“Heap many bad Talis; many tinhorn,”
Piute, looking round. .

“The harder the proposition, the stronger necarnis
goes for it,” laughed Pawnee Bill. “A. situation like
this that we’ re in is just the kind to stir him to do his
utmost.” 2

Little Cayuse shook his head.

“How can Pa-e-has-ka know?”

“How will he get word? Well, I don’t know just
_ how, but he will get it. It wouldn’t astonish me much
if he has some one in this camp that will hustle the
- news to hitn,”’

“The white squaw?” said the Piute, shrugging his

said the

‘THE BUFFALO

“And he can have‘his In-

  

BILL STORIES. ae. : | 5

shoulders; for he had an Indian’s oo of the
ability of a woman.

Pawnee Bill had thought of the woman, daughter of
the outlaw chief; but he evaded a declaration “of it.

“Necarnis has spies all about, you know, and maybe
some of them are right here now. You know how he.
gets reports from many strange places. So we're g0-
ing to Keep a grip on our courage and ean that we'll
win out.”

The Piute, soon to speak, shrugged he shoulders
again.

“White squaw comin’, he announced, in a low tone.

They were alone when Nita Corral took the chance
of boldly approaching them, eyen though she knew
she was seen and that her action would be reported
to her father.

There was a smile on her face—forced, perhaps;
for her face was pale. In spite of the pallor, she
was an exceedingly good-looking young woman—as
much out of place there apparently as a dove in a nest
of hawks. Her clothing was simple, as befitted the
place and conditions—a short dress of blue material,
and:a jacket to match, with a soft brown hat of felt,
dented in curiously, and ornamented with a floating
plume. *

As she approached the prisonérs, she did not fail to
notice that one of the Mexicans moved toward her, so
that he could hear what she said.

“Pedro, the spy!” she muttered.
where I fool him.”

She began to talk to Pawnee Bill in English.

Disgusted, because he did not understand the lan-
guage, Pedro turned about and hastened away for
the purpose of bringing an English-speaking Mexican.
_ But, while he was doing this, the girl spoke quickly to
Pawnee Bill.

“I’m sorry this has happened,” she said. ‘I haven't
much influence here—none, I fear, with the men, and
not a great deal with my father, but I think I have
enough to keep them from killing you. What 1 fear
is that things will be made so unpleasant that you will
prefer death to continued captivity.. I hope, however,
you ‘will bear it. Whatever father directs you to do
must be done by you. He is not himself to-day.
Perhaps that isn’t saying much. But you noticed that
he has been drinking. At such'times he is ugly.”

She looked round, and saw that Pedro and ‘another
Mexican were approaching.

“They, were going to ask you to give a knife ex-
hibition,” she went on. ‘Give it, if they ask that
‘again. Try to keep on good terms with them. 1
don’t really think you can hope for anything from
your friends in Truxillo, or elsewhere; but you were
once kind to me, and I'll take some risks here to help
you. I must bé going now, however.’ :

“Why do you stay with them?” Pawnee asked. “I
want to thank you for your friendship, yet I don’t
want you to take risks for us. We'll do the best we
can. But I can’t understand why you stay with them.”

- Her face changed its expression.

Well: Mere, 15)
 

“We'll not talk of that,” she said’ “I stay here
because I want to. Am I not the daughter of Ramon
_ Corral, the outlaw king? Perhaps I like this life my-

self. Sometimes I think I do; it’s in the blood.”

“Tt was reported that you had gone to the Sisters!’

“Can the child of the eagle endure the bars of a
cage?”

She laughed harshly. Her cheeks were red, and
her eyes were burning. She moved any, as Pedro
and his friend drew nearer.

“You have scared the young lady aways. laughed
Pawnee, addressing the newcomers. “But drop down.
It is good to have some one to talk with. Time eats
into me like these cords, when I have nothihg to do

but sit here and think.”

Pedro, dropping his rifle into the hollow of his
arm, eyed Pawnee Bill sulkily.

“Your master wouldn't be willing for you to ease
these cords a bit?’ asked Pawnee. ‘There is no need
_ that they should be so tight. We ¢an’t get’ out of the
guarded camp.”

“I am not Ramon Corral,” said Pedro. “He gives
the law, and we obey. If he commanded that we
should kill the American sefior, we would do that,
too.”’

“And with a great relish, no doubt,”
“When will your master return?”

“When it a him,’ Pedro answered erufily.

replied Pawnee.

 

CHAPTER II.
Toe ARUN EE Be RO Woe

Ramon Corral returned in about two hours.

He seemed jovial, yet he was more intoxicated than

vhen he departed.
“Now for the knife play of the betal American
sefior,”’ he said.
Dismounting and turning his horse over to an un-
derling, Corral strode over to the prisoners, followed

by half the camp occupants, Indians as well as white

men.
“The Senor Pawnee Bill,” Corral said in Mexican,
with a sneer, “is reputed to be a wizard with the knife.
~ We would have him exhibit his skill.”
At a motion from Corral, one of his men stepped
forward and cut the cords from Pawnee Bill’s wrists.
The wrists were swollen, with bluish creases where
the cords had bit in.
. “With arms like these,” said Pawnee, studying the
face of the chief, “you would hardly expect me to
do justice to whatever reputation I may have acquired
Tae line ts 7
He stretched his stiffened muscles and kneaded the
creases in his wrists, watched Oty by the out-
la LWws. ay
' Bring the hes ts ee Corral,

66

 

oS rie
Youe XK PEC

my hands in this cond one?

 

BILE SPORIES.

 

THE BUFFALO

and stand:

; at my. Indian, with’

     

“Tt is my wish.’

Looking closely into the evil eyes and flushed face
of the outlaw leader, Pawnee thought he read there
a desire to have the young Indian slain in that manner,
with a wish that the skill of the American knife
thrower might be confoundéd at the same time. —

But for his recollection of the request of the young.
woman, that he should endeavor to obey Corral and
keep him in a pleasant temper, Pawnee would have
voiced an indignant refusal. He was in no physical
condition for skillful knife throwing, and he might
hurl a knife into the Piute’s body.

“T must have time to get the kinks out of my arms,’
he explained; “‘then I will obey in every particular. I
think I can promise you and your men some good knife |
throwing, if you will but listen to me now.’

‘Say on,” said the chief, with an air of indulgence.

“Before I hurl knives at my Indian, let me get my
arms in shape by throwing the knives at the image of
an Indian.”

_ Where is the image?”

“With a bit of white buckskin and some paint I can
make one.”’ ;

“Bring the buffalo skin,”
tay. tent.”

They brought the sad and a quantity of Indian
paint, together with a brush cleverly fashioned of
horsehair.

In order to get his stiffened muscles into better
condition, Pawnee worked deliberately in the prepa-

Airacred Corral. “It is in

‘ration of the image upon which he was to oe the

exhibition of his skill.

But there was no objection to the towne of his
work by the chief or his men. They belonged to the
land of manana, So they crowded round, rolling and
smoking cigarettes, and chatting volubly. Corral,
seated where he could see the skin and the artist, aise
smoked, talked, and laughed. In the background hov-
ered the women. A glance flung by Pawnee Bill in ©

their direction discovered Nita Corral in the group.

Her cheeks still were flushed, and there was an ex-
pression of anxiety in her eyes.

Having drawn a black outline of an Indian, Pawnee
drew a red circle on the breast.

A storm of disapproval broke from the Talis. They
thought the outline resembled a Tali, and they were
loath to see a white man throw knives at the i image of a ©
Tali brave.

But when the painting was done, the image was set
up, at the command of Corral. Then the gold-handled
knives that had been taken from Bees were preuget
forth.

Pawnee Bill took the lenives’ “cvingly: Not even

his revolvers were dearer to him.” Manufactured by

one of the greatest knife makers of the West, they had
oo fashioned, in shape and weight, to fit the hand
of ae nee as they could fit the hand of no other man.
Time and again he had done wonderful work with
them, na thereby had gained a reputation which had

-Teacl ee even these outlaws and Tali redskins.

<

 

 

 

 
  
  
 

-- “Take the rope off my feet,”
I am to do knife throwing that is worth while I must

.—they are as strained as mine were.

Indian, but at the picture of an Indian,”

nee a expert hands.
into cries of admiration.
-. Pawnee Bill, wizard of the knife, was showing the ~

 

 
  

Os “jacket. some little pieces of metal,”
“Bring me those.”

THE BUFFALO
Pawnee directed. ‘‘If

be free.
shackled.”’
As there seemed not a chance in a ‘thousand that

he could get out of the camp, the request was obeyed,
and Pawnee Bill; with the knives in his hands, stood
- in the midst of his foes, a free man, so far as bonds ©

were concerned.
“Now release my Indian,”

“Why so?” Corral objected.
still.’

“I want him to have a chance to rest his muscles
My hand may
fail me, now and then, for it is, still stiff. The Indian
will need to have his body free and supple, :o that he
can dodge. Besides, as I fling the knives into the tree
where he stands, it is his custom to pluck them out
and toss them back to me.’

“The seflor is not purposing to throw knives at his
Corral sug-

he requested.
“He has but to stand

gested.

“While I am pitching knives at the drawing, Little
Cayuse can be getting the cramps out of his arms
and body.” ;

- Ramon Corral scowled, then laughed.

“As you will,’ he said; “but remember that around
you are men who are ordered to shoot if you try to
get away. It is not our wish to kill you—now.’

Though the cords now were taken from the Piute’s

wrists, his ankles remained bound.

“He will not need his feet free, to dodge the knives,’
Corral said; “and if the reputation of the Americano

is not exaggerated, there will be no dodging. Now for

the picture of the Indian.”
The Talis murmured again, when, with his ee oe in

his hands, Pawnee took his stand, and began to launch

the blades at the image.
"He drove the knives into the red circle on the breast.
“More knives,” he said.
They were given to him.
Like darts of lightning, the blades sped from Paw-
The Talis grumbled, then broke

offensive and threatening redskins what he could do.
All the knives, thrown from a dozen feet or more,

lodged within the red circle.

“Bring me the knives,’ commanded Pawnee.
When they were brought, Pawnee, using both hands,

planted the blades in the interstices between the cuts

made previously. He literally sliced the red circle out

-of-the buffalo skin, leaving a round hole.

“When I was taken, you found in a pocket of my
Pawnee said.

The pieces of metal, Aeodnced now by one ot the In-

eins. when fitted, each on the handle of a knife,
apparently gave it wings.

bbs knives into boomerangs.

Sy

 

No man can do his best with his feet -

In reality, they converted -

   

   

BILL STORIES. ear ee

 

Instead of throwing at the image now, the knife
wizard hurled the first blade at a point directly over it.
It was given a peculiar twist on leaving his hand, some-
thing like the twist which a skillful pitcher gives to a
ball when he throws a curve.

Just over the buckskin the knife gave an upward
flirt, as if it threw a backward somersault; and, shoot-
ing in a return toward Pawnee Bill, it dropped to the
ground at lis feet.

The other knife was thrown in the same manner.

_ Even Ramon Corral joined in the applause that fol-
lowed. ve

“Senor American, you do that well,” he said. “If.
I had but a dozen men like you!”

Pawnee threw a knife at the top of the buckskin.

Therexit gave a downward flirt, rapped the buckskin
heavily with the handle, shot up again in that peculiar
somersaulting motion, and flicked back to the feet of
the thrower.

“Once more,” said Pawnee.

He poised the second knife more carefully, and took
a longer time.

“‘Scoot-a-wah-boo !””
hand.

Its motions were like that of the one before: but
when it came back, instead of letting it strike the
ground, he caught it skillfully; and instantly shot it a
second time.

“The muscle of the Sefior American grow more
agile with each throw of the knife,” cried Corral, slap-
ping his hands together drunkenly. “Now we will
shave him try his skill with the Indian.”

Little Cayuse was set against a tree. |

Not a tremor shook the Piute, nor did i face
change; but his black eyes were fixed intently on Paw-
nee Bill, as the scout rose with the knives in his hands.

Pawnee stared back at Little Cayuse; and between
them there seeemed to run an electrical communication.
The glitter of the Piute’s eyes increased.

“Now may my skill stand me in good stead!” said
Pawnee, in a low tone, in English, as if he were voic-
ing an invocation.

The first knife shot true, and struck in the tree close
by the shoulder of the Piute. |

“Closer in!’ directed Ramon Corral, beginning to
grow bloodthirsty. “A! man so skillful as is the Sefior
American can make a better throw than that. He is
to see how close he can come to the Indian, and, if he
does draw a bit of blood, what is that?”

“Tt is nothing,” agreed Pawnee. “The knife shall
go closer in.”

He looked round again, as before.

~“T will take more knives,” he said.
well do this in thorough fashion.”

Knives were brought him—a sheaf of them. __

Carefully he selected one, testing the metal and the
weight, balancing it on the palm of his hand. _

“Tt will do,” he said. “I will send this next, and
follow it with my own. Sefior Corral, the knife shall
go closer in.”

99

he cried, as it shot from his

“We may as

S

  
   

 

“Good!” cried Corral, again clapping his hands.

Carefully Pawnee Bill balanced the knife. It was
not as good as his own by any means. Carefully he
measured the distance with his eye. The blade sped
from his hand.

“Too lew!’ he cried, as if startled.
slipped!”

It had. slipped with a purpose. Shooting. low, it
passed sharply between the bound ankles of.the Piute,
and severed the rope clean.

“The knife

The war whoop that on the instant broke from the ~

lips of Little Cayuse was even more startling than the
exclamation of Pawnee Bill. It rang through the hills
like the echo of a battle cry.

The young Piute snatched from the tree the knife
that had been sticking there and gave a great bound
that took him round the tree. The next instant he
was running like the wind, weaving from side to side,
making a zigzag flight to baffle the aim of riflemen.

The outlaw camp broke into confusion. Rifles
cracked, and dozens of men sped in pursuit of the es-
caping redskin, hardly knowing what they did.

Corral leaped to his feet, with a cry of anger. Then
he started’ to swing round, lifting his revolver, for,
even in his befuddled state, he grasped instantly an
inkling of the truth.

But Pawnee gave him no time to turn. As Corral
whirled, with his revolver, the sinewy hand of the
scout caught the weapon out of his grasp.

The next moment Pawnee Bill had clasped the out-
law chief to his bosom in a bearlike hug, and was jump-
ing backward with him.

Some of the outlaws and Indians were recovering
their scattered wits. They saw Pawnee Bill dashing
off with Corral, the latter’s heels dragging.

With a herculean effort, Pawnee now flung around,
and the outlaw went over his shoulder; so that when
Pawnee turnéd his back on the camp, Ramon Corral’s
body was presented as a shield between the’scout and
his foes, thereby preventing the Indians and outlaws
from using their rifles and revolvers.

A dozen leaps only did Pawnee take, with Corral
struggling wildly to free himself; then Corral slid to
the ground with a heavy bump, and lay, sprawling,
while, with a wild leap, Pawnee Bill went over the
edge of the bluff before him and shot downward out
of sight.. At the foot of the bluff he struck with a
sliding motion that shot him on. down the hill. He
went rapidly, as a toboggan flies, or a snowball bounds
down a slope, so that by the time the astounded and
enraged outlaws and redskins had gained the bluff, the
scout was out of sight.

Pawnee Bill was still running—running and dodg-
ing through a cover of manzanita, which tore at his

_ body and clothing, yet did not materially retard him.

When he emerged from this he was down by the trail

over which Little Billee had driven his scared horses.
Here Pawnee Bill’s war whoop rang out.

It was answered by another, from Little Cayuse, who
BB

 

THE BUFFALO

BILL STORIES

had doubled like a fox, shaken off his pursuers, and
had got into the trail ahead.

“Right-o!” Pawnee yelled, and went down the trail
like a leaping deerhound.

Little Cayuse stood out in the trail, awaiting him.

His bosom was heaving violently as a result of the
sharpness of his run and the excitement His. black
eyes had in them the glitter of live coals. :
‘‘Scoot-a-wah-boo!”” Pawnee cried.
The Indian turned. around and footed it at a hot
pace straight down the trail, ahead of Pawnee. |
Where the trail made a bend, he stopped, for here
was cover again; and the sounds of Talis and outlaws

threshing through the brush and running along the ~

trail could be heard distinctly.
Into the cover they hurried. Pawnee Bill led the

way, twisting and turning, changing his course now —
and then to baffle pursuit, yet almost silent was he in.

his running, and the Indian, following as swiftly, was
equally stealthy.

Not until they had gone more than a fourth of a
mile, and had begun to feel safe, did Pawnee Bill
slacken the killing pace. Finally he dropped to a walk.

‘Pawnee heap great medicine,’ panted the admiring
Piute, as he forged alongside.

“Well, I fancy that we stirred them up some,
Cayuse,” Pawnee declared breathlessly. ‘“Ramon Cor-
ral will think twice before he againgturns one of Buf-
falo Bill’s friends loose to give oe sort of an exhi-
bition.”

“Big medicine knife throw!”

The Piute had the gold-ornamented ae that had
been sticking in the tree. He extended it now.

“Just hang on to it,’ Pawnee advised.
the other. ‘But I wish I had the revolvers the villains
took from me.’

Outlaws and Indians could be heard farther back =

on the trail. “The thick scrub had -baffled them, and
they were beating helplessly. about.
of hoofs reached the fugitives.

“They will fill the trail with horsemen, and Sout
“This means ~

it from end to end,’’ commented Pawnee.
that we have got to keep off of it.”

Pawnee Bill and Little Cayuse hurried on again,
after they had regained breath and strength.

Pawnee led the way, as before, choosing cover and

the hollows between the hills. When the two had
proceeded a mile another stop was made.

 

*

CHAPTER IV. *<

\ A BEARER OF ILL TIDINGS.

When Little Billee and his four-horse stage entered :

Truxillo it made a noise like the approach of a tor-
nado.

sl

“Tve got

Then the clatter

Here they .
went into hiding, and lay closely concealed until night.

Pawnee had played a lone hand against Corral and
his Mexican.and Indian followers, and so far had won. 3

The’ horses were at top speed, the stage ee

    
      

 

 

  

 
Wy

 

mail,”

~ wouldn’t.

Perdidas behind us.

THE BUFFALO

ing mee rocking, with the hunchback standing in the
seat, Swinging his lash and yelling. —
“What's the fire alarm?” Buffalo Bill ae step-

ping from the lobby of his hotel and staring at the

driver.

“Looks like Little Billee has been tarryin’ too long
at the foolish water,’ was the answer of a man who
stood on the steps in front of the hotel. “He was
yellin’ like that when he hit the end of the street, and
he’s been yellin’ straight along.”

The arrival of Little Billee attracted a crowd around
him. When he jammed heel on the brake and pulled
in on the reins a score of men were ready to climb
over the wheels of the stage and demand information
concerning what had happened.

“Held up! Shot up! Stuck up! - Yes, I’m that last;
too, gents—stuck up over makin’ the most darin’ es-

cape that has ever been pulled off in these regions.

Whar is the plebeian underling that ought to be hyar
to take these horses?”
_ The peon appeared, and Little Billee flung.the lines

to him. Two men had jumped to the heads of the
horses, for the excited animals showed a disposition
to go on.

“Held up by Ramon Corral’s bandits and inane
announced Little Billee. “Lost both my passengers;
and would ’a’ lost myself, if I hadn’t been marvelous
quick. It was the all-round queerest thing that ever
happened.”

He poised in the seat, and jumped to the ersend

“T left Agua Preitas with two passengers and the
he explained.
strong to stay whar they was well off; but they
One was Pawnee Bill, and t’other a young
Piute Injun.”

Buffalo Bill moved forward.

“Pawnee Bill?” he exclaimed,

“Oh, is that you, Cody?” asked Little Billee. A

little customer like me, in sech a jam, can’t see fur;

so I didn’t recognize ye. Yes, Pawnee Bill and the
young Piute that he said was your Tnjun pulled out of
Agua Preitas with me this mornin’; and you can see
that I didn’t land ’em in Truxillo. I told Pawnee
Bill that the trail was that dangerous a man was likely
to die of heart disease if he merely walked over it, and

4 that I’d take him and the Injun back to Agua Preitas

if he’d let me, and charge him nothin’ for the trouble.
But he wouldn’t let me. ©

“T didn’t anticipate no trouble after we had left the
I thought, if it come, it would
be in that scrub. But when we was swingin’ round
Dead Man’s Bluff—you know where that is—a rope
drops off the top of the bluff, lands round the neck of
the Injun, and erases him from the top of the stage.

Up to then we hadn’t seen anybody, and right at that
second I seen only the rope, with that Injun of yours

swinging at the end of it and slidin’ up the face of
the bluff.
“Then Pawnee he done a L dipbos off the stage ‘that

» lands him in the trail, and starts to run to the help of

 

hung.

“Them two passengers I advised ©

Dili? STORIES. 9

the Piute—though how he expected to help him goes
beyond me, when the Piute was higla in the air, and
Pawnee had no wings. But, anyhow, he runs to the
aid of the Piute. And jest then a rope leaps out of
the sand, where no one would. dream of it bein’, and ©
down Pawnee goes, with that rope tugging at his
ankle. Then the bushes blossomed with bandits and
Injuns, and the red-and-white bouquet that fell on top
of Pawnee Bill was enough to smother hitn.

“About that time I gits a irrepressible longin’ for the
high lights of the town, and I moves down the trail.
I’ve got the mail, ye see, and I’ve got to look out for
it—also, I’ve got to fook out for myself. A rope
pitched at me raked my back, and that was enough. I
ain't got no longin’ for ropes, sense it has.come down
to me, as family hist’ry, that my great-grandfather was
I brought the mail in, and myself and the
stage and horses; and that I done that much shore en-
titles me to a medal anda raise of pay from the gov-
er ment.”

A heavy voice sounded in the lobby, and a man
who was a typical American borderman of: the old
school from the top of his coonskin cap to the soles
of his heavy boots, came bounding out through the’
hotel door.

The borderman was old Nick Nomad, Buffalo Bill’s
famous trapper pard, and the hero of a thousand fight-
ing adventures.

“Whoop!” he roared, digging a knobby fist into his
eyes to drive out the effects of sleep, for the roar in the
street had roused him from a midday siesta. “What
is this hyar I‘am hearin’ ?”

Buffalo Bill turned round. ¢

“The driver has brought in the report that the
stage was attacked by Corral’s Indians and bandits, and
that Pawnee and Little Cayuse were captured by
them.” :

Nomad fell back, as if struck a blow in the face.

“Pawnee and Little Cayuse!’’ He exclaimed.

“Straight goods, old man,” piped the hunchback
stage driver. ‘‘And that I’m alive and hyar to tell the
tale seems like a pipe dream even to me.”

He glanced round at his auditors—for he had been
speaking to the crowd in reality, and he puffed out his
chest as well as his physical disability permitted.

Little Billee always had longed to be a big man
physically and a hero. He could never be the first, but
now he felt that he was the latter, and his spirits
soared.

Nomad’s keen eyes took in the circle of faces at the
same time; and he made a discovery that had no

doubt escaped the eyes of Little Billee.

He saw that the Mexicans, crowding inquisitively
round-the stage and before the hotel, scarcely tried to
conceal the pleasure g given to them by the report that
Pawnee Bill had been captured by Corral.

Nothing more was néeded to prove that the people
of Truxillo were in sympathy ‘with the bandits. Many
of them were of bandit tendencies, and others gave

 
  

10 a THE BUFFALO

   

Corral their homage because he was believed to favor
the side of the insurrectos in the insurgent uprising
that existed.

Corral, like every astute outlaw from Robin Hood
down, made it a point to court the favor of the poor
and the superstitious. He claimed that what he took
from the rich he gave to the poor and to the churches,
retaining only enough for the needs of himself and his
men. <A thousand tales were told of his generosity.
He had helped this widow, whose husband had fallen
in the ranks of the insurrectos;
who was sick, had been assisted, and a doctor sent to
him.

“This hyar Corral person,” old Nomad snarled, ‘‘is
shore invitin’ disaster and beckonin’ death ter come
and set by him; otherwise he’d have sense ernough ter
keep his hands off Pawnee and ther Pitute.”

Buffalo Bill was asking questions and getting par-
ticulars from the little stage driver.

Little Billee’s opinion that the holdup and capture
had been by Corral’s men had only conjecture for
its support, aside from the fact that the bandits and
Talis were known to be moving about in the hills.

Nomad pushed through the buzzing throng before
the door, and went out to the adobe stables, while the
scout continued to drill for accurate information.

The stableboys were in the crowd at the hotel,
where the stage horses were still being detained.

Nomad’s visit was to see to the condition of his
horse, Hide-rack, and the scout’s fine animal, Bear
Paw. He also, wanted to make sure that the accouter-
ments were in place, ready for instant use.

“Waugh!” he rumbled, as he stroked the nose of his
favorite beast.

now fer another,”

He gave the horses oats, and went back to the

hotel.

Buffalo Bill was turning into the lobby and heading

for his room, on the second floor.

The horses that had brought in the stage were now
being taken to the stable. In the midst of a ques-
tioning crowd, Little Billee was still describing his eX
periences.

“Goin’ to begin a pursuit right ; away?’ Little Billee
asked of the trapper.

“Thet’s fer Buffler ter decide.
what he has ter say about et.”

“Take my advice,” said Little Billee, “and keep out
of the mouth of the lion. Not me for that trail again,
fer a milion,”

I’m goin’ up ter see

 

CHAPTER -V.
A MAN-MULE'S MISADVENTURE.

_ A man who swung in at the door of the Palacio and
inquired of the clerk for Buffalo Bill resembled a pic-
ture cut from a comic supplement.

“He’s here, is he?” he asked, in a high whisper.

BILL STORIES.

and this poor man, |

“Ole Hide-rack, me an’ you has am-
bled many a trail, and I hear ther call goin’ up loud

 

   

 

 

“Who's here?’’ the clerk grunted, eying the man
suspiciously.

The clothing of the newcomer indicated that he was
either a tramp or an escaped lunatic. Such an as-
sortment of odds and ends apparently never had been

- pitchforked on any specimen of humanity aside from

the comic tramp of the vaudeville stage. The peaked
straw hat and the slashed trousers were Mexican; the
blue woolen shirt, red neckerchief, and brown coat
were as certainly of American make; and the blanket
that half concealed all was Navaho. The man’s face
was peaked and thin and his eyes bright. Even to his
face, splotched with a stubble of uncut beard, the rags
that. spotted his attire seemed to have extended.

“Who's here?” he coughed back at the staring clerk.
“Great junipers! Is there a live man in this town
except Buffalo Bill?”

(ou want to see Buffalo Bil?’
he human ragbag winked, and flung his ears for-
ward and back as if he were a donkey.

_ “Didn't I say it?” he demanded.

“Fe has a room on the second floor—number nine;
but he doesn’t care to see everybody,” said the clerk,
with a frown.

“As that ain’t my name, friend, I'll amble up and
see him. Thanks for the information.”

He turned to the stairs.

“Here,” called the clerk; “let me send your card up.”

“Thanks again; but I won't trouble you. Il jest
take it up myself.”

He climbed the stairs, deaf to the clerk’s shouted
protest. When he reached the room of the famous
scout, he rapped on the door.

“Come in!’ a voice called, aiter a moment of si-
lence.

_ Opening the door and entering, the fellow’s glance
fell on the scout, with old Nomad seated near him. ”
Two others were in the room—Pawnee Bill and Little
Cayuse.

‘The sharp eyes of the intruder grew oe with sur-
prise.

“Sufferin’ Simon!” he gasped, staring at the Piute
and Pawnee Bill. ‘I thought you two fellers had
been sponged off the slate.”

“This gives you a chance to correct a very errone-
ous impression,’ said Pawnee. “Where did you col-
lect the information?” |

The human ragbag dropped into a convenient chair.

“Why, it’s in the mouth of every gossip in this hyar
interestin’ hamlet.”

Then he recovered sufficiently to enable him to rise
and close the door, which he had left standing open.

“As he came back and settled himself into the chair
with a sliding motion, his gaze swept the circuit of the
room, and swung even to the ceiling. :

_ It was a simply furnished room, with a bed in one
corner, an antiquated bureau in anather, and a small
cot in a third. In the center was a table, at which
the scout sat with Pawnee and Nomad. The windows
were small-and deep, as in most adobe houses: and in

   

 
 

 

-a chance ter see what kyards aire in his hand.

all I know about it is what you've read there.

I walked right into them.

: THE BUFFALO

the center of the ceiling was a large skylight, set in
the flat roof, and capable of being closed by a trap-

-door that let down from above over the glazed sash

of the skylight. Through this skylight came most
of the illumination, in the daytime; but, as darkness
had now come, the light was bares? oe a brass lamp
that stood on the table.

Another thing the intruder noted was that ; in front
of the scout was a map which apparently he had been
consulting.
~ “You have business with me?’ asked Buffalo Bill.

He had drawn back from the table and was looking
at the stranger.

“Correct. Ill git to that in a minute. Jest now,
I'd like to urge old Nomad, there, to quit worryin’
the handle of his revolver. I don’t intend to shoot, and
I hope he won’t—at me.’

“Nomad is harmless,” laughed Peace.

“T. grups et,’ said the borderman, “whenever some
un butts in without proper interductions an’ I ain’t had
I dunno
whyever this ombray is hyar, Pawnee.” :

“In good time our friend will tell us, no doubt,”
Pawnee.

Digging into a pocket of his rc coat, the man
produced a letter. =

“Tm a messenger of ill cas - he declared.
fellers has got a pard what you call the baron ?”

“Baron Von Schnitzenhauser,” said Buffalo Bill.

“Correct agin. This hyer will tell you all about
him.”

Buffalo Bill took the note and read it aloud:

said

“Vou

“‘BuFFALO BILL: Ihave got Schnitzenhauser. ‘The
other two I had slipped through my fingers. If you
want him, come and get him. | Ramon Corrat.’”

“Waugh!” Nomad rumbled. “Schnitz!”

“He sure seems to have butted into more trouble
than he can rightly manage,” said the messenger. “Yit
I read
the note myself, comin’ in; and that put the hurry
hustle into me, for I thought you ‘d want thateinfor-
mation as soon as you could get Te

“Where did you get this?” said Buffalo Bill.

“T was held up in the trail, two miles out of town,
robbed of everything I hal; and when I was sent on,
minus clothes, and even a pocket to put that note in,
the note was given to me, and I was told to get it to
you.”

“Held up by Corral’s men?”
“That was a difficult guess, but you made it—ban-
dits and Indians. The trail was alive with them, and
I thought my name was

&

Dennis.”
‘When was thie? a \ ‘
“Not more than an hour ago.”
“South, or north?”
On the north trail—the ofe that runs to Agua

 

an” about it.

vie fiddles::
with his revolver to keep his mind off serious things.”

meanin’

. me wiggle my ears.

ei

BILL. STORIES. | fe II

Preitas.”. He looked at Pawnee Bill. “That was the
trail they laid for you. in—but farther on,” he went
on. ‘How you got away from them is a puzzle that
is heating up my imagination till it plum sizzles.”

“We jumped their camp, and made a run for it,”
said Pawnee.

“It’s queer about that news that’s all over the town
to the effect that they had not only captured you and
the Indian, there, but had sent both of you on the road
to the morgue.. Everybody believes it.”

“You had time to hear that, after you came into the
town?’ Pawnee asked.

“T couldn't help hearin’ it, since everybody was talk-
: As many as six men stopped me, after
I got into the town, and asked me what was the news
out on the trail; and then they poured that falsehood
into my yawnin’ ears.”

_ He swung his ears forward and back, donkey like,
as he had done when talking to the clerk i in the hotel
office.

ihre occupants of the room stared.

“Do thet ergin,’’ Nomad said.

“Test to accommodate ye!”

The man swung his ears to and fro again, then wig-
gled them.

There was a moaning cry on the roof, and the next

instant a form came ePashing down through the sky- _

light.
Every one in the room leaped to his feet.
The form hit the bed with a heavy thump, Ce
off on the floor, and lay there.
“Waugh!” Nomad howled.

9

“Whatever is ther

 

“Sufferin.cats!” gasped the ragbag.

He glanced sharply at the skylight.

‘Our visitor, now on the floor,” said Pawnee ‘quietly,
“seems to have been spying on the roof, and tumbled
through the skylight.”

Buffalo Bill stepped to the prostrate man, whose
face and clothing proclaimed him a Mexican.
scout felt his pulse.

“Not seriously hurt, I think,’’ he said.

“He struck on the bed,” said Pawnee.

~Nomad stepped to a corner of the room, pulled from
it a ladder, which he hoisted to the torn skylight, and
ascended nimbly to the roof.

When he came down a minute later, Buffalo Bill was
still bending over the unconscious Mexican.

“He got up on that flat roof,” said Nomad, “and
war peekin’ down through ther light; but whyever he
fell theterway bumps my understandin’. We ort ter
had a gyard out on thet roof, Buffler.”

When the man came out of his swoon, he saw the
human ragbag standing by him, and the Mexican
seemed on the point of swooning again.

“It’s. clear enough now,” said the man, who had
brought the message. “He’s a Mexican, and he saw
Funny thing about that, Cody.
About every other Mexican that sees me do that thinks
I’m first cousin to the devil, and falls in a foamin’ fit.

The :

a

 
 

12 THE BUPFALO
Sing'lar how it works, sometimes.
nation of why this feller went off the hook, you bet.
Ask him if ’tain’t, when he wakes up again; I'll stow
myself back hyer in a chair, out of sight, if it’s neces-
sary to keep him from faintin’.”

When the Mexican came around again he stared
about, and, not seeing the man who had frightened
him, he sat up.

“Where is he?” he asked, in a hoarse whisper.

“He'll not harm you,’ ’ the scout assured. “Who did
‘you take him to be?”

“Who but the devil himself?” the Mexican gasped.

Catching sight of the man, who at the moment
swung his wonderful ears again, the Mexican made a
dash for the door, but Nomad blocked him,

“Set down, thar !” the trapper commanded, and
ptished the man back with his revolver.

The Mexican dropped to a seat on the cot, then he
rolled his eyes around at the man who had frightened
him.

“We'll interrogate this Mexican when wehave heard
our friend a little farther,’ said the scout; and he
turned again to the human ragbag. “I think I met
you some years ago, but at this moment your name has
escaped me.’

“J, Montgomery,” replied the man.

“T don’t recall it that way.’

“The full name is James Neocesncs Jones.”

. “Ah, Jonesey!
of water has run under the bridge, Jonesey, since we
met that time,”

“You found me straight then, didn’t you, Cody?”

“Ves. 99 :

“And I’m straight now. You can rely.on it.”

“You're part Mexican, I think,” we

“Not the best part of me, Cody—hbest part of me is
American, and that part of my ancestral tree has its
roots wrapped round the cable of the old Mayflower.
I think I told you that when we were sojourning to-
gether before. This assortment of rags I collected on
my way in, by raiding Mexican clotheslines. I didn’t
want to be run in by the police for appearing in the
streets in a Garden of Eden uniform, so I took what
was handy, and made a bee line for this hotel.”

“Waugh!” Nomad exclaimed impatiently. ‘While
we're confabulatin’ hyar, Buffler, old Schnitz may be
b’ilin’ his shins in all:kinds 0’ hot warter! I’m votin’
that we strike straight out an’ see what has happened
ter ther baron. He'd do that. fer any one of us, ye can
bet.

“As we don’t just know where to go, Nomad, we
could hardly accomplish anything by rushing out wildly
into the night,” answered the scout.

“In addition,” said Pawnee, “since Corral, in this
note, invites us to come out, it’s a ten-to-one shot that
he will lay for us on the trails. And what he says
about the baron may be a lie out of whole cloth.”

“Corral’s men, when they gave you the note, didn’t
intimate where they would expect us to come, if we
sought them?” asked Buffalo Bill, addressing Jones.

“ty,

That’s the expla-.

Yes, I recall younow. <A good deal —

  

BILL STORIES.

“Nary an intimate,” replied Jones. “They ist told
me to shack along and hand that over to you pronto ;
and I did,”

The scout turned to the trembling Mexican, who,
seated in a crouching attitude on the cot, stared at
Jones as if he expected the latter to jump at him. |

ihe powerful influence of the great American man-
mule—that’s me,” said Jones, seeing the attitude of
the scared Mexican; “give him half a chance and he'll
run like a deer, he’s that frightened. It always works
on ’em that way, Cody, when I shiver my ears at ‘em.
Them head adornments has kept me protected from
dangers various in too many times and places to bear
rehearsin’. On numerous toomulchus oecasions, when
old Death has been reaching out to me his icy fin, |
have give these head wings a flopperty-flip, and the
Mexicans that was longin’ to throw knives into me has
hit the high places and left me to my lonesome. I
wouldn’t part with these ears fer a fortune.”

“War et an acksdent er jest natcherel?” inquired
Nomad, eying him solemnly.

“Come again !” Jonesey invited.

“lm meanin’ war you born with thet pecooliar
ability, et war yer years loosened up some time by —
inimies so thet afterward they set loose in yer head
and you c’'d wiggle ’em?”

“Natural,” Jonesey answered.

“Thanks; et war worritin’ me er lot.” :

Buffalo Bill and Pawnee now were giving their at-
tention to the Mexican, and Buffalo Bill had begun to
question him.

“Why were you on the roof?” demanded the scout.

“T was crossing the houses,” he said, “and I did not
know the glass was there. It was dark, and I set my
feet there, and down I came.”

When a Mexican,’ grumbled Nomad, “gits ter
swingin’ his own langwidge he kin lie faster than a hoss
kin trot.”

“You were up there spying on us,’
severely,

“Would I speak Faice to the honorable Ava er
stammered the Mexican, “It is the truth I am'telling
him.”

“If you were only passing over the flat roofs of the
houses,’ said the scout, “why did you fall in a faint
when you saw the man there who moved his ears?”

“Now, thar you’ve got him!” growled Nomad. °

“Tt was only when I came to myself and saw him
move his ears,” the Mexican declared volubly, “that

* said the scout

Twas frightened. As for the other, I struck my head

as Ic cane down.”

cans for lying?” asked Jones. ‘Unless you tell the

truth I’ll swing my ears at you again, and then the

old gentleman with the horns will be, night at your
throat.” :

‘Rising from the cot, the Mexican oo toward the
door.

“I speak the truth!” he wailed.

e

  

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

THE BUFFALO

“You are one of Ramon Corral S men eceied
the scout. ‘

Nomad poked his ae forward.

“Set down!’ he yelled.

The Mexican dropped to the cot again.

“Speak the truth,” directed Jones, in a sharp voice,
and he swung his ears at the man with a quick jerk.
“You are one of Corral’s men, and I know it.

don’t speak the truth I’ll——

It was enough: !

“T__]—yes, the sefior with the ears speaks true. I

am a friend of Sefior Corral.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Nomad.

“See that you continue to oe the truth,” warned
Jones.

- “Sefior, if I die for it, T will tell all. i

Tell it!” the scout eee ane

“Sefior Corral has many men in the town. One
of them sent word to me to spy on the Americans, and
see 1f they were all in this room. It was believed that
the two who got away to-day had reached here, but no
one on that point was sure.’

“And if they were all here?” said the scout.

“Will the American sefior let me go if I tell?” wailed
the Mexican.

*Tell all you know, and we will let you go.”

“The sefiors are to be attacked here, if it is known
that all are here. They are to be slain here together.”

“Waugh!” Nomad gulped. “Waugh-h! Hear thet,
Buffler ?”’

_“You were to take the word?” asked the scout.

“Not to Corral; but to his friends here in Trux-
illo.”

“Name the leaders eee

‘The Mexican named half a dozen persons. One of
them was the officer who, in an American town, would
be ealled chief of police.

“So Corral is strong in Truxillo,”
Bill, “But it is a thing we already knew.”

“And now about ther baron?” Nomad asked.

“Ves, about one of our men; we have word that
Corral has one,” explained the scout. ‘Do you know
if that is true—if Corral really holds one of our
men! Rp?

_. “T do not know about that.”

“If it were so, would you know it?”

“T might not. I am only a humble member of the
band here in Truxillo. It is my business to spy, and
send reports; that is all.” _

When they had questioned him further, without ma-
terial gain, they opened the door and let him go.

The great American man-mule sent a yell after him
that caused him to set off with flying feet.

“Now, Cody,” said Jones, laughing, “if you're
through with me, I'll depart likewise—though not in
such a hurry. I’ve delivered my message. As to be-
lieving it, I don’t. My opinion, humbly expressed, is
that Ramon Corral is trying to ring in a cold deal on
you, and that if you go hunting for your pard out on

If you.

muttered Buffalo. .

   

Billi STORIES. 13
the trails, Corral on have you; and that is what he
wants.’

He turned to the door, drawing his Navaho blanket
round his shoulders.

But he was not to depart in that way.

 

CHAPTER VI.
A DARING ATTACK,

Apparently in the lobby of the hotel itself men had
been waiting for the news which the scared Mexican
had secured,

A heavy trampling of feet was heard on the stairs,
with a jingling of spurs, a click of weapons knocking
against each other, and Mexican oaths.

Nomad jumped to the door and locked it.

“Safest way out o’ this is by the skylight,” he said,
listening to the uproar on the stairs. “Them men aire.
Mexicans—suthin’ less than a hundred of ’em, and,
ef my listenin’ years ain’t off a note, they’re plum’ in-
tendin’ mischief. To run frum a Mexican shore grinds
me and heats up my mental machinery a whole lot;
but thar aire times when runnin’ is better sense than
standin’ er fightin’.”’

Buffalo Bill stepped to the door and placed his ear
against it.

“Some of Corral’s friends, without a doubt, from
what I can hear—a lot of low-down Mexicans, filled
with pulque and aguardiente,” the scout muttered.

“Huntin’ you, and trouble,” said Nomad, “I heard
what they war sayin’. Take my advice, and you'll
crawl up thet ladder.”’

Tt was still against the skylight.

The mob from below swarmed into the hall, and
marched on the door. Against its panels a heavy boot
kicked,

“Running was never my strong card, necarnis,” said
Pawnee Bill; “yet a inix-up with a lot of drunken Mex-
ican toughs isn’t to my liking.”

Buffalo Bull hesitated. Then he discovered that, be-
sides this advance on the door, feet were moving on
the flat roof overhead. As if more proof of a care-
fully premeditated attack was needed, the voice of
Kamon Corral sounded in the hall, summoning the oc-
cupants of the room to surrender,

“We got you hemmed in,” Corral said, “and we
have captured the hotel. Come out, or we'll break
the door down and drag you out. If you try the roof,

you'll be shot, which would suit me just as well.”

He it was who had kicked the door; and his heavy
boot now landed on the panels again.

“The pizen is plum’ jumpin’ in my teeth,” Nomad

_ roared, and sent a bullet at Corral through the door.

But Corral had leaped back, and they heard his
mocking laugh.

A face peered down through the skylight; and be-
hind the Mexican, who appeared there, loud voices.
sounded.

  
   
oC THE BUFFALO

“Hemmed in!’ muttered Pawnee. ‘“‘Necarnis, it
looks like a fight or a finish, and maybe both.”

Little Cayuse had not spoken a word. Breathing
heavily, he had stood back; but he had been busy. Now
he leaped to the center of the room. Something was

burning in his hand.

With a jump and a toss, he flung it up through the
skylight. As it passed through the ragged hole, it ex-
ploded with a puff and a report.

The next instant, as the men on the roof fell back,
blinded by the explosion of the gunpowder which the
Piute had tossed up twisted in a ball of burning paper,
Little Cayuse leaped like a cat for the ladder, and went
up it at a run.

_ “Smartest Injun in seventeen States!” yelled No-
mad, starting after the Piute.

“Follow!” commanded Buffalo Bill, as another

* heavy kick landed on the door. — /

The report of Cayuse’s revolver sounded on the
roof; then came another, and old Nomad’s war whoop.

Buffalo Bill, Pawnee, and Jones scrambled. hastily
up the ladder.

As they reached the roof through the wreckage of
the skylight, they saw several Mexicans chased by No-
mad and the Piute.

The borderman turned back at once, and was fol-
lowed by the young Indian.

““Make um heap scarce,” said Little Cayuse; “but no
last long time. Them um come back pronto.”

“Right ye aire,’ Nomad agreed.

“Follow again,’ directed the scout.

Revolvers cracked from the adjacent roof, to which
the Mexicans had run; then other firearms sounded,
sending bullets past the little group by the skylight.

Buffalo Bill turned sharply about.

“Too much lead here,” he said.

Over half a dozen flat roofs they ran, leaping the
gaps where the roofs did not come closely together;

then they came to a ladder leading into a black alley.
Here they descended. ;

This alley curved, and, by following it, Buffalo Bill
and his friends were able to come out within a short
distance of the stable where their horses were. :

_ The street before the hotel was filled with a clamor-
ous mob, and it seemed that the adobe stable holding
the horses was also occupied by Corral’s adherents.

 

CHAP IER. Vil.
TOO LATE FOR A RESCUE.
Ramon Corral’s surprising exhibition of courage was

produced by aguardiente. An intoxicated man will do-

things, and particularly take risks, of which a sober
man would not dream. ;
Ordinarily the king bandit of northern Mexico was
as cautious as a fox. Believing that the temporary
insurrection in that part of the Mexican common-
wealth offered exceptional opportunities for his class
of work, he had taken to the road again with his ban-

RS lee

e

Bin STORIES.

dits, aided by a strong force of Tali Indians over
whom he had gained control. ’

It was his belief that, in the’ unsettled state of the
country, he could strike high and low, and lay the
blame on the insurrectos. He could burn the build-
ings, and even the towns of his enemies.

After taking the road in this bold manner, Cor-
ral’s first capture was a wagon train, which had among
its stores a considerable quantity of aguardiente.

Thereupon Corral and his men, and particularly the
Indians, had gone on a debauch. Corral’s lasted the
longest, because he had taken the lion’s share Of the
liquor. ‘

He was in this condition when his men captured
Pawnee Bill and Little Cayuse. And he was still in-
toxicated when he pushed his men straight at the town
of Truxillo, when he found that Pawnee Bill and the
Piute had escaped to that place. He had a strong force
under him at the time, and he was masquerading as
an insurrecto chieftain. In addition, he knew that in
the town he had many friends and sympathizers.

Learning from his spies in the town that Buffalo
Bill, with Pawnee and others, was in the Palacio, Cor-
ral had rushed the place, filled the street before the
hotel with his men, threw a force upon the roofs of the
adobe houses, then had marched boldly into the hotel
and up the stairs, as has been shown.

Having eseaped from the room by way of the sky-
light and the flat roofs of the houses, and gained the
street close by the stable which held their horses, Buf-
falo Bill’s men halted only long enough to see what
lay before them, then they dashed out and made a run
for the stable. They were so quick in the execution
of this movement that they gained it without their pas-
sage of the street being disputed.

As the scout and his friends came up to the stable
door, they were amazed to hear within the building the
heavy voice of Baron Von Schnitzenhauser.

Having in mind the statement that the baron was a
prisoner of Ramon Corral, their first thought was that
he was being held by the bandits in the stable.

“A rescoo job flung at us hot off ther bat,” panted
Nomad. “Who’s goin’ ter say ther baron ain’t lucky,
when even his inimies plants him right in ther road
whar we cain’t miss him?” :

The baron had the reputation of being the luckiest
card in the pack. Like a gold piece raked out of the
fire, he always seemed to come out of trouble the
brighter and better for the experience.

But, as~his friends made a crack at the door, and

‘wedged themselves through into the stable, hearing the

baron’s voice again, they knew he was not a prisoner ;
he was flinging about a miscellaneous assortment of
orders, and, at the same time, muttering caressing
words to his big mule.

; “Mine gootness!’’ he gasped, as his friends streamed
into the stable. “Am I seeing you?”
“Shore thing, baron!” replied Nomad.

“You're a
plum’ lively lookin’ captive, ain’t ye?”

*

   
  
   
  
 
 
     
  
   
 
   
   
   
 

 

 
 
 
  
    

 
  

   
 

   

  
   
   
  
   
  
   
 

 

pie

  

 

. out by ther skylight.

” sense we've got out er ther trap,”

“Better you go pack,” said the’ baron; alae isi
how am I to do der rescoo aCtr

Then Nomad saw that behind the baron were a

number of men ; in fact, the farther recesses of the

adobe stable were packed with them. Lanterns hang-
ing on beams and rafters gave a fair illumination.

The baron, who had been slinging the riding. gear
on Toofer, stood staring, with a bridle in his hand.
- Disappointment was depicted on his round face and in
his blue eyes.

He looked warlike, too. Leaning against a support

near him was a magazine rifle; two revolvers and two

knives protruded from his belt, while the scabbard of
a long sword threatened to tangle his legs and trip
him,

“You are py der hodel in, mit a t’ousant pandits unt
Inchuns drying to gedt adt you,” he said, in a grieved
tone, “unt me, I am going kvick to make der rescoo ;
unt now idt iss all off. Himmel, vot luck!”

He turned to the men behind him. Some of these
were now advancing.

“You see how idt iss!” he wailed, in a tone oi eX-
postulation. “Der men vot ve are going to rescoo
tond’t needt idt.” |

The men seemed to be insurrectos, and such they
were.

“You got avay?”
- friends from the hotel. @:

“Waal, baron,’ laughed Nomad, “ye kin see thet
we aire hyar. But thar’s a lot o fightin’ dogs snarlin’
an’ gnashin’ thar teeth out in ther street and round and
in ther hotel. Old Corral is thar himself, too. They
got us cooped in Buffler’s room, and*we had ter fly
We heerd thet you war

“Der cabtain oof der insurrecdos,” said the baron,
introducing one of his new friends to Buffalo Bill, and
so cutting off the sentence of the borderman. “Unt

 

der odders are der friends oof him unt myselluf—

Pawnee Pill unt Liddle Cayuse, unt oldt Nomadt, der
man mit der vide moudth. Der kvestion oof how ve
are to make der rescoo iss nodt so imbortant now as
idt vos, unt ve vill lay idt on der table.’

Revolver shots and yells sounded in the street, and on
the roofs of the houses running feet could be heard.

“Them devils seems ter be jest chasin’ their tails,
commented Nomad
dryly. |
“They Il get a line on where we are, soon enough,”
said Pawnee.

He, too, Acacias the baron’s introduction now,
and shook hands with the insurgent captain.
- “We expected to find our friend Schnitzenhauser a
prisoner of Ramon Corral,” said the scout; “and here
_he is with you, captain, none the worse for wear, and
as full of snap as a ginger bottle. How it came about,
well know later. Just now the important question
concerns our immediate movements. You have a good
many men hefe, captain!”

Stepping high and wide to avoid the Scabbard. ‘of
his sword, the baron straddled forward.

 

THE BUFFALO

  

said the baron, turning to his

    

bite STowins. : 15

“Der exblanation he iss easy, Oof me,” he said. “I
am coming py der town in, vhen I am heldt oop by
dese insurrecdos, and I am asked vare am I at, unt
who lam. So, vhen I haf said idt, dhey say dhey haf
come pecause Ramon Corral he is here, unt he has been
masqueradin’ as a insurrecdo, vhich idt iss a shame;
unt dhey take me along. Ve go roundt py der behint
site oof der stable kviet, so dot Corral he tond’t know
idt. Unt vhen der shoodting unt der hollering iss
come, unt ve are colleget der information dot idt iss
you vot iss in danger, I say dot ve will go py der
rescooing pitzness; unt so ve are blanning, vhen you
choomp in here unt idt iss all gone oop der spoudt.
Unt dhen——”

The baron seemed bent on continuing indefinitely
at a time when action was more important than words,
so the captain of the insurgents interrupted, in, Mex-
ican.

“Sefior Cody, we meant to attack. those drunken
bandits and Indians, anyhow; and, with the help of
yourself and your men, I do not doubt we can quickly
drive them out of the town.”

“We are at your service,’ the scout answered.

Ramon Corral’s men, had streamed round into the
street before the hotel, when they could not find the
men who had fled over the roofs, and they were-howl-
ing now for the strong water with which the hotel
saloon was stocked. s

A better opportunity for chasing the bandits could
not have been wished.

The charge was made—Buffalo Bill and Pawnee,
with the captain of the insurgents leading—a charge
that scattered the bandits and Indians, and sent them
running pell-mell along the street.

Corral came out of the hotel by a back door, and

-sueceeeded in overtaking and stopping his disorgan-

ized band; then, from behind the broken walls of an
old adobe house, he made a stand.

It required hot work to rout him from that posi-
tion. But it was done, though not without loss on the
part of the attacking force.

Attacked vigorously, the bandits and Talis fled out
of the town. But the streets were still swarming with
their adherents, some of them loud-voiced and beliger-

. ent. When a dozen of these sympathizers had been

placed under arrest by the insurgent captain, something
like quiet was restored.

CHAPTER Vill.
A STUBBORN BATTLE

Ramon Corral, under cover of darkness, retired
only a short distance from the town. There he placed
his men beside the trail, thinking that the pursuers
would rush out, and could be shot down.

When an hour had passed, and there came no sign
of a pursuit, Corral began to plan a return into Trux-
illo. Knowing he had many friends there, Corral ex-
pected material aid from them. He attributed his de-

  

    

 
 

‘6 | THE BUFFALO

feat to the fact that he had been surprised and charged
when his men were not in readiness.

But this second entrance met with a defeat worse
than the first. The insurgents and Buffalo Bill’s men
were not caught napping. Corral was cut off from
his main body with a few of his followers, and driven
into a narrow Street. :

The force which accomplished this was led by Buf-
falo Bill himself. The few who followed Corral broke
and fled, leaving him backed in a corner.

The noted scout and the notorious bandit leader
came face to face in the half darkness.

As soon as Buffalo Bill knew that the man before
him was Ramon Corral, the scout conceived the idea
of capturing him, and advanced on him with revolver
leveled.

“Surrender !’’ the commanded.

Corral, with an oath, tried to shoot down the scout,
missed him, and followed the shot by throwing his re-
volver at Cody.

The scout ducked, and the revolver crashed against.

the opposite wall.

“Surrender!” commanded the scout again.
want to shoot you.’

Corral, crazed with drink, drew his sword and made

ck don’t

a vicious lunge, which brought him out into the little

street midway, and into the light of a lamp. that was
burning at a street corner.

“It is your life or mife now!”
that!”

The drive he made with his sword was a vicious one.

Still desiring to take the bandit leader’alive, the scout
side-stepped and avoided the lunge of the blade. In
doing so he half tripped against a fallen insurgent.

Corral made another straight drive with the sword.

“I will not spare you,” he shouted; “‘take that !’’

Again the scout stepped aside, and at the same time
snatched from its scabbard the sword of the man over
whom he had stumbled.

He was not a noted swordsman like Ramon Corral,
yet he had some proficiency. Besides, he saw that Cor-
ral was so blind with rage and®*intoxication that he
reckoned the odds at least equal. So he lifted the

Corral yelled. ‘Take

sword and stood on the defensive, having shifted his

revolver into his left hand.
“Come on!” laughed the scout.

Corral made another lunge with his shining blade.
{t met with a clash of steel.

“Ah, ‘you are a swordsman!” cried the bandit con-
temptuously, falling back, somewhat sutprised. “Trust
to the sword, and I shall impale you as L- would a rat-
tlesnake.”’

Buffalo Bill advanced.

Corral again attacked vigorously. His face, as re-
vealed by the lamplight, was fiendish in its expression,
and showed confidence. He fully expected to cut down
the scout.

But again his blade met Cody’s, and for several min-
utes there was’a rapid clashing of steel. Then, to the
bewilderment of the bandit chief, his sword was

>

BILE -SPORIEDS.

knocked from his hand and fell, clattering, on the
stones.
“Surrender!” commanded the scout, rushing on fam,
with the point of his sword at the bandit’s breast.

Corral fell back and tried to draw a revolver.

The scout leaped forward, and beat the bandit chief
over the head with the flat of the blade. At length
Corral sank to his knees.

At this moment there was again a rush of feet in

_ the narrow street.
The men pouring now into it came from the main ~

thoroughfare, and were followers of Ramon Corral.
Somehow they had learned of the predicament of their
leader, and were making a dash to save him.

Seeing who they were, the scout jumped into the
middle of the street, raised his revolver, and opened
fire.

In their wild rush the bandits ran down the seit
and streamed on through the narrow passage.

When Buffalo Bill regained his feet, his sword and

revolver still were in his hands. He now saw that the
bandits were bearing Corral away with them.

The scout: quickly saw why it was the bandits had »

not stopped to attack him. Close on their heels came
insurgents, led by Nomad and the baron. The bandits

had saved their leader, and had fled 1 in fear of these ~

men.
“Hooroar !” Nomad was hewling, as he sped along.
He was in his element.
“Tdt iss der pitzness!’” yelled the baron, red- faced
and panting.
He, too, was in high feather.

it was and.the speedier it moved the better he liked it.
“Drife der willains like sheeps!’’ he shouted. ‘‘Dot
is der stuffings!”

He drew up with a jerk, seeing Buffalo Bill rising
before him in the street»
“Yiminy !” he exclaimed. vldt iss Puffalo Pill!”

“Capture, Corral, if you can,” directed the scout.
“That band of scoundrels has carried - away, at the
moment I thought I had him.”

“Whoob!” squalled the baron, charging on again.
“Idt is Ramon Corral vot ve are to gidt. Tond’t ledt
him make a gone-ness!’’

“Where is Pawnee?” asked the scout, running at the ©

baron’s side.

“Tond’t ask me—I am too i ) dhis isS my pusy
tay! Whoob!”

Down the street, and toward the Sci of Trux-
illo, flew Corral’s men,. bearing him along. Behind
them ran the insurgents, with the scout and his friends.

There was another sharp fight at the edge of the
town. Here Corral rallied his harried followers and
tried to make another stand.

It ended as before.

When he and his men fled this time they Sauget the
shelter of the hills. Day was ee, after a night
of excitement.

Nothing pleased the
baron so much as the excitement of a fight; the hotter

 

§ eed
as a oa RS i meses

eee =

s ambliienisinnietinie came toe tere ee ne
aa .
 

“with the excitement of the fighting.

courageously.
and when he has them he will make it hot for all of

THE, BUFFALO

Fltished by the victories won ae the. eur the

insurgents were ready for a pursuit of Corral’s forces.
They were goaded on by the knowledge that Corral’s

men had been masquerading as insurgents, while being

‘nothing but outlaws, preying on the country.

“Ve are mit you!” shouted the baron, still flushed
‘WWhoob! Leadt
on! 137

Running to the adobe stable, he got out his mule, and

led the animal into the street. Nomad, moving almost

as quickly, appeared with Hide-rack and the horses of

aoe $5

Buffalo Bill and Pawnee.

“Git yer pinto, boy !” Nomad shouted to the Piute.
“Thar’s haydoogans o’ fun an’ fightin’ in this thing yit.
Rassle him out, ef ye want to be in et.”’

Little Cayuse flew for the stable, and came out with |

the pinto saddleless, so great was his haste.

“Hyar we aire, Buffler,” Nomad yelled; “hyar’s yer
hoss, an’ one fer Pawnee. Straddle em, and we'll be
soon hittin’ them hills like. er whirlwind. Hooroar!
Halleluyer !” =

“Idt iss der pitzness!”” yelled the Seon:

The insurgent captain was gathering his men, who

‘were clamoring to be led into the hills.

“Where all the voting is one way, necarnis,” said
Pawnee Bill, “the objector gets run over. And T don’t
know but it’s a good idea to crowd those ruffians while

they’re on the run.’

He mounted Chick-Chick with an easy swing.

“i’ve been missing those gold- mounted revolvers that
the rascals took. from me,” he said, with a laugh ; “but
I’ve found oes ete not so ‘good. So it’s ae

on, Macduff!’ ” we

By the time the Hee captain had his men in

i readiness, Buffalo Bill was ready to ride forth with
him in pursuit of the force of Ramon Corral.

But when, day having fully dawned, they gained the
hills, they found that Corral had not tarried there. He
had apparently fled on south, leaving only a few men
who ‘were wounded, and who would have been a hin-
drance to him if taken along.

These the insurgent captain questioned.

“Corral is not defeated,” one of therh told him
“He is simply going to get more men;
you.”

“Piff!” sneered the insurgent leader. _

Then they found that the man had lied, and that

_ Corral had not fled out of the country, but had merely

 

_the scout’s force retreated with the rest.

made a pretense, for he came out with a strong force,
where the hills pinched in; and, catching his pursuers in
that close place, he charged them. ;

Back into the town streamed thes insurgents, with |

the loss of more men.
“Hard luck, necarnis!” dee Pawnee Bill, as
“But we're

all here, I think.”
They looked round.

) Old Nomad was missing.

OC

 

BILL STORIES. _ 17

My

CHAPTER IX,
A PRISONER OF THE TALIS.

Nomad had charged recklessly into the midst ok the

fighting Talis, having a fine contempt for the fighting
qualities of fdas and he had been struck from his |
saddle by a hurled lance.
\ The blow and the fall from his horse had quite
knocked out the old borderman. Seeing something
less than a million stars twinkling before This eyes, he
knew only in a dazed way that his mount, Hide-rack,
had run on. Then the Talis were on him.

A lance, pointed at his breast, was pushed aside by
the Tah chief, Blue Moon.

“Spare him,’ * commanded Blue Moon.
of Pa-e-has- ka’s men!”

“The yelping Talis knew what that meant. An ordi-
nary man, or a Mexican, could be spitted like a par-
tridge ;. but one of Pa-e-has-ka’s men was worthy of
more honor—was worthy of the finest tortures that
the cruel Talis could invent.

The fight that had flowed round and over the bor-
dérman had ended, and pursued and pursuers were
streaming in the direction of Truxillo before Nomad
recovered sufficiently to understand fully the dire pre-
dicament in which he had been placed by his own fool-
hardiness.

Yet the dauntless spirit of the trapper—a spirit that
had carried him through a thousand wild and danger-
ous adventures—did not quail. He saw the Talis ring-
inghim in, saw their lances threatening him, saw Blue
Moon’s painted face wreathed with savage joy—and
the old borderman laughed.

“Wow!” he shouted at them. “Think ye can skeer
an ole wart hawg like me, do ye? Jest take another
coil in yer thinkin’ rope, then. I has seen Injuns, fit
Injuns, killed Injuns; and I’m livin’ till yit. Waugh!’

Blue Moon came forward, speaking in Tali.

“All the Injun langwidges,” said ‘Nomad, ‘‘thet is
fit ter be spoke I can rassle with, but pig-gruntin’ tork
like what you utters shore ain’t meant ter be under-
stood by humans. Go find a jungle hawg an’ tork to _
theese:

Blue Moon shifted to bad Mexican. Nomad under-
stood him, but shook his head. Then Blue Moon
shifted to worse English. :

“Pa-e-has-ka man die pronto,’ he declared, when
Nomad still seemed not to understand.

“Waugh! I will? Thet’s what I want—ef I has
ter go under. But I ain't dead yit by a long shot,”
Nomad shouted, stirred by this threat.

Blue Moon made certain expressive gestufes.

“You'll stick splinters inter my hide an’ set fire ter
“em, will ye? Waugh! Thet wouldn’t hurt me no
more’ et I war er tree,’ | es

Blue Moon made other gestures, and his Indians
applauded.

“Why, lookee hyar, you imertation of er man,” said
Nomad, “ef you should cut off my fingers, like what
you insinooate, others would grow in their places.

 Heé. isons

 
18

Hack off
er lobster’s claws, and he grows others prompt an

Ye don’t know me! I’m er human lobster!
immejit. Thet’s me.”
Blue Moon continued his illuminating gestures.
“Looky hyar,” Nomad yelled again; “you human
crockerdiles is fergittin’ thet et ain't been more’n a

yar ago when you war all slaves down in a gold mine ,
Now

in the San Felipe foothills, workin’ like niggers. }
you're claimin’ ter be waryers bold an’ brave. Ther
bravery you has got is jest about ekal to the effort of
makin’ faces at me, an’ no more.” +

When they found they could not make him quake
_ with fear, they placed him on the back of a caballo and
got ready to depart.

The pursuing bandits, having gone as far as the
limit of the town, were returning, and a general re-
treat was ordered. Three or four hours of hard rid-
ing followed.

Corral’s last defeat, together with the fact that he
was sobering, made him willing to abandon his bold

effort to capture Truxillo and destroy Buffalo Bill’s:

party.

For a long time he rode at the head of his bandit
horde, paying no attention to the Talis and their pris-
oner.

Then he dropped back, when the camping ground

he had chosen was approached.

Reining in with the Talis, he spoke to the captive.

“Since the Talis have lost some warriors, it will go
hard with you,” he said in Mexican.

“Tork er white man’s langwidge,’”’ snapped Nomad.

“Spanish is a white man’s language,’ said Corral,
flushing with anger. “It is better than English, and I
prefer to use it. The prisoner knows he is in great
danger?” :

_Tve been told et, and had et slung at me wi signs
an’ omens various, ef that is knowin’ et,’’ Nomad an-
swered, still sticking to what he considered highly
desirable English.

“The Talis, a have learned, intend to torture, and
then kill, you.”’

“Redskins ain’t never skeered me a whole lot yit!’
- Nomad declared.

“The time for your scare is coming quickly. But
perhaps I could save you.”

“You wouldn't, ef you could.”’

“There is one way.’

“You'd pertend ter let me go, and thea shoot me, fer
ther satisfaction of et. Still, though I hates Mexicans,
thet might be better than a Tali finish fer me.”

"He stared into the dark face of the bandit leader,
seeing there the effects of recent orgies.

“Tit hear et,” he added; “though, as fer trustin’ ye, —
Ponte?
rat tS. this. said. Corral: dropping his voice and

edging his horse closer in: “Tf you are willing to help
me in a little plan I have thought of for snaring Sefor
Cody, I will let you go after it has been accomplished.’

A flame of color overspread the face of the border-
man. , |

THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES.

     

  

He was about to break out in vituperation, uthe = bt

checked himself, seeing that, perhaps, here was Sore 1, Pp
‘thing he ought to know. . eo Si

“I’m er lissenin’,”’ he said. a im bk
* OrOu can speak Spanish; so use that. The Talis :
near us will not understand, if we are careful.”

“I will use Spanish,” said. Nomad ; “proceed.”

“Sefior Cody will, of course, follow as soon ashe =o Fon
knows that you are a prisoner with us.’

“He will,” said Nomad. “I have been thinking of — al
that. 99 4 QO
‘And he will take risks to rescue you.” : on tt
“He has ever done so;,and he will do so now. Mote, re

I think he will succeed, if the Talis do not hasten with i
their work; for he moves quickly.” — ft
“Near the spot where we are to camp,” said Corral, s 2

“is a hillside covered with manzanita. My idea is to

have you placed there; and around you, well out of Ss UW
sight, I will secrete a number of my men—not In- N
dians, but my Mexicans. You can show yourself, and |
make signs to Senor Cody, when he gropes round the d
camp looking for an opportunity to make an attempt
at rescue. It can be made to seem that you have b
escaped out of our camp to that point, but that you la
are wounded or weak, and cannot get down the hill.
Then, if I judge the character of Sefior Cody correctly, .
he will advance to assist you, and so he will fall into SC
the hands of my men.’ O
“It is a good plan,” replied Nomad, desiring further
particulars.
“A fter he has been captured, I will let you go safely ; tl
I swear it.” h
“That is all?” : al
“It gives you your life. For his lifea man willdo tl
anything.’ : g ¢
_ Nomad’s face was flaming hotter than before. i
“That is all?” he asked again.

“Tt is enough!” | h
Nomad felt as if his choked-in anger were poison- :
ing him. He could restrain himself no longer. ve ®

“Coward that ye aire,” he cried, his wrath breaking ff ti
bounds in English; “and coward thet you think me fF 1
ter be! Waal, hear now what I has got ter say to you. d
The meanest rattlesnake thet ever c’iled et’s pizen shape.
in the sun is a human critter, alongside of ye! No rat- , tl
tlesnake ever war known ter strike without givin uy

warnin’. And that is what you propose ter do. No
wild cat of the jungly hills would be mean ernough ter
do ther thing you aire askin’ me ter do. Why, you
drunken hound, forty thousand Talis could fry me in
a torture fire ferever before I’d do a thing like that.
And the man thet could propose et is lower down in
ther scale o’ humanity than any Tali thet ever streaked
paint on his face. Wow! You hear me!” >

The face of the bandit leader grew as red as that
of the wrathful and indignant trapper.

His hand dropped to his sword.

“Have a care!” he cried. “Have-a care!”

“Ef I had more blisterin’ words,” said Nomad, BY d
pile ’em on ye; I'd make a plaster of ’em thet would

Cy

  

SHO we ost

    
 

Pie Se te

 -myself.,

   
  
 

}

burn your cowardly hide till it’d peel off in strips. I'd
pour out words wi’ aky-fortis, an’ vinegar, an’ pepper
in ’em, till you "d mate like a dyin’ snake on an ant
heap; ’d——

The sword came ae with a swish, and striking
Nomad with the flat of the blade.

Nomad fell heavily again—so heavily that he did
not rise.

The Talis, who had been startled by the loud and
angry words, were amazed by what had happened.
Old Nomad was their prisoner,:and, as he dropped to
the ground under that blow, they thought Ramon Cor-
ral had surely killed him.

With a wrathful exclamation, Blue Moon leaped.
from the back of his mustang. Other Talis also dis-
mounted and lifted the trapper.

“Why does the Tall Wolf try to slay the white man
we have reserved for the torture?” demanded Blue
Moon.

Releasing Nomad, when he saw the trapper was not
dead, Blue Moon arose, his eyes blazing.

Ramon Corral shrugged his shoulders and stared
back into the cee eyes of the Tali chief; then he
laughed. .

“The white man said to me words of insult,” he
explained; “and for that I struck him. But, if I had
sought to slay him, it would have been with the edge
of the sword, and not the side.”

He jerked at the reins of his horse.

“Let the Talis do as they will with their prisoner,”
the bandit,went on. “TI shall not lift a hand to save
him from torture. He is not hurt, as you can see—
at least, he is not so much hurt that it will take any-

thing from the delights you can have in making him .

cry out for‘mercy. Aye, torture him! It is my wish.
Torture him as you will, and then kill him.”

Thrusting his spurs against the side of his horse,
he rode on.

Nomad recovered consciousness after a minute or
two, and the Talis, again lifting him into the saddle,
tied him there this time, for he seemed weak and sway-
ing now, and they thought he might fall again if they
did not tie him.

But, as they pushed on | with Nomad in their midst,
the trapper’s head came up defiantly. His face was
pale, but the fire of his eyes still.was as strong as
ever.

“Waugh!” he muttered, recalling the ‘gut offered to
him. “Betray Buffler in thet manner! Ef I could do
thet it would shore prove that I am so full 0’ natcheral
pizen thet I'd shore die of et ef I chainced to bite
Betray Buffler ! .
breathin’ man.’

“What does the white man say! ?”” questioned Blue
Moon.

“Waugh!” gulped Nomad, looking at him. “Do you

_ know what thet man you call Tall Wolf asked me to

do?. He was goin’ to release me, if I would try to get
Pa-e-has-ka in a trap for him. Then you couldn’t had
no sort of fun with me! What do ye think of et?”

 

THE BUFFALO ©

Never,-so long as I’m er |

BILL STORIES. — 19

This information threw the Talis into a rage.
Though old Nomad he did-not understand their words,
he knew they were meditating revenge against Ramon
Corral.

“Waugh!” he muttered. “Ef I can start er Kilkenny
cat fight between Talis and_outlaws, maybe a chaince
will open while they’re at et ter let me git away.”

But the outlook for that did not seem good, even
though the Talis were resenting what they considered
Tall Wolf’s cowardly and betraying proposal.

 

CHAPTER X,
A PERILOUS PREDICAMENT.

The annoyances and insults to which Nomad was
subjected were numerous ; but only now and then did
he give heed to the taunts and indignities of the Talis.

When the steam gauge of his temper finally gave
way, however, the shrieking blast which followed tes-
tified abundantly to the boiling heat that lay under the
surface.

Such outbreaks did him no good, and the taunting
redskins relished them, as a beginning of the torture
they intended to inflict. They greeted his angry utter-
ances with loud outcries and yells of delight.

After Ramon Corral, white with rage, had ridden on
and joined his outlaws, he gave no further attention
apparently either to Nomad or the Talis, though. he
could not have been unaware of what was going on in
the redskin ranks behind him.

It was Corral’s purpose now to reach a certain spot
in the hills, which long before he had chosen as a
stronghold—a spot seemingly designed by nature to
enable a company of desperate men to hold off their
enemies. But, even before it was reached, Corral and
some of his best men took the backward. way, to ascer-
tain if they had been followed.

The other outlaws and the Indians went into camp,
when the camping place was gained, and Nomad was
permitted to sit on the eround, under a tree.

He was at one side of the camp, with the tents be-
fore him. But this did not mend his state. He was
closely watched, and though his cords had been
loosened, they still held him well.

Close by him sat or walked a guard, with rifle on
shoulder, placed there to shoot him down if he chanced
to free himself and made a break for liberty. This
guard was a Mexican, and the Talis resented his pres-
ence, for they considered that Nomad, having been
taken by them, was their prisoner.

When the old trapper had grown tired of looking
“at the camp, and speculating over his probable fate
and what his friends were doing, he ventured to speak
to his guard. This act was quite a condescension on
the part of a man like Nomad, who regarded all Mexi-
cans as worms rather than men.

“T have been listening to the Talis,
“You do not understand Tali?”

In his best Mexican, Nomad declared that he would

9

said the guard.

 
   

26 | ‘THE BUFFALO

 

 

as soon think of spending his valuable time in trying to
learn the meaning of the grunting of a band of wild
peccaries.

“It is well that you do not understand it,” he was an-
swered, ‘They are telling of their plans for you,’

“Torture and death,” said Nomad. ‘One does not
need to know Tali to understand the heart of an In-
dian,”

“We will capture your friends, What will be done
with them will depend on the will of Sefior Ramon
Corral. But the Talis claim you, and they are to take
you to their village, down in the Cross Timbers. There
their women and children will be given the pleasure of

seeing an American weep, when the pincers tear at his.

flesh and the flames of the torture fires lap his face.”

It was plain by*this time that the guard was himself
trying to inflict torture on the old trapper, by depict-
ing the coming time of his tribulation, But the effect
was not what he thought. While there is life there is
hope, and if the Talis postponed their torture program
until the Tali village was gained, what would Buffalo
Bill and Pawnee and the other friends of the trapper
not be able to do before the village was reached? ©

Yet, with downcast eyes, that the light of hope might
not be seen flaming in them, the trapper affected to re-
ceive this information with fear and trembling, C

Then he asked questions, hoping to get a line on the ;

proposed conduct of the outlaws toward Buffalo Bill.
Before he had accomplished this, he was astonished
to see walking toward him a young woman for whom
he had coneeived a strong liking—-the bandit’s daugh-,
ter, Nita Corral.
‘Those who have read the story preceding this will
recall that Nomad had made her acquaintance when he

did not know she was Nita Corral, also that he had-

journeyed with her, and that she had aided him materi-
BU a

She was a handsome young woman, of the dark
Spanish type, and she had admitted to him that she had
Indian blood.

The things that had appealed to the old borderman,

aside from her undeniable charm and beauty, were .

that she could ride a horse well, rough it in the wilder-
ness, use rifle and revolver like a man, and had a kind
heart. That she was the daughter of Ramon Corral
had amazed him greatly.
_ She was paler than when he had last seen her, and
she now seemed troubled. But, as she came up, she
greeted him with a smile that seemed forced.

“This is bad,” she said—she spoke English well;
“and that the Talis claim you makes it worse.”

“Thar ain’t never nothin’ so bad as it might be,” he
- declared, “But seein’ you hyar ain’t what I expected.
Still, I knowed you war with’these men. Pawnee give
me thet news, when he got back ter Truxillo.”

“Then he ré@ally reached Truxillo 2”

“Ye can trust Pawnee ter reach anything thet he.

pikes out fer.
in with him.”
The Mexican guard moved aside, and the girl seated

y

Same way with ther Piute, who come

BILE STORIES,

     

herself near the prisoner.

she said.
‘Dear tie,’
“do I have to be watched, too?”
When she repeated this in Mexican, he gave a surly
grunt and moved off a few yards, where he sat looking

at her, with his rifle displayed prominently. on his knees. »

“T got the idear,’ said Nomad, “thet you war goin’
ter cut out all acquaintances with this bunch, and go

back to ther Sisters, down on ther gulf. I think thet i ig

what yer said.”

“I thought so myself,’ she replied, with flushing
face; “but—I preferred this. We'll not talk about it.
Perhaps, however, you can understand when I say I
made up my mind to stand with my father.. The world
is divided into two classes—those who have and those
who want; and both are thieves.
stealing is different, that is all.’

Nomad ruffled his brows and stared at her,

“You heard yer father say that,”

“No-matter, Itis true, The world doesn’t want me,
and my father does; I am old enough to know that.
And I shall stay with him, if

She looked around,

“T’m lissenin’,” said Nomad,

“Well, | am going to release you,
happen after that.”

“You needn’t take no resks fer me,’’ said Nomad;

“an’ I plum’ wouldn’t permit et. Ef you should eut

 

Something will

99

these cords, and I should make a high dive fer home |

and mother, ther Talis would hatchet ye.

“Not apie father’s men here.”

“They wouldn't?”

“Not at all. Father’s men here outnumber the Talis,
and they would protect me. The trouble would come
when father returned and learned of it. But, since you
are not his prisoner, but the prisoner of the Talis, I
have resolved that is what I will do. I will release

39

you. :
“Now, looky hyar, leetle gal,’ said Nomad argu-

mentatively, “life is sweet ter me, an’ | ain’t got no ©

hankerin’ fer Tali tortures. Bersides, thar is thet
gyard, and he could shoot me down before I could
jump twic’t. “Twouldn’t work, even et I war willin’;
which | ain't,”

She glanced at the guard, who was eying them sul-
lenly, then her gaze wandered to camp. The chances
were anything but good.

“When anything is difficult,” she said, “there is
something in my make-up which makes me determined
to do it; and if, in addition, I am opposed, I will do
it at all hazards.”

“Thet gyard has got a repeatin’ rifle, and if he misses
onc’t, he kin come ag’in,’’ Nomad. replied. "Etas a
dozen yards frum hyer to thet cover behind us.

me seven times. Bersides, thar aire the other mefi—
likewise the Talis—ain’t any of ’em so very fur off.

After a turn or two, the
guard sat down close by her, evidently to hear what,

* Nita exclaimed, looking around at him, oe

The manner of the

With :
the seven ca’tridges in his gun, he shore couldn’t miss.

    

ye.

yot
dec

any
lor

he
we
sh

Si

  
  
  
   
  
  
 
   
   
      
   

   

ye cut these cords.”
“Give me time to think it over.’
“Ther idear 0’ gittin’ me shot on da’nt ye?”
“T don’t intend you shall be shot,”
“Not ef ye can help et, 0 course.
nat along that line.”
“Give me time to think it over.’
“Take all ther time ye want; I Mie ter have ye set-
tin’ hyar by me. It makes me think er ther time when
you an’ me y yaged along tergether on ther hurricane

 

But ye cain’t—

decks of a pair o’ caballos through as rough country as.

any airthquake ever up-ended. Seems like a mighty
long while ergo—yit et ain’t so very.

“I was a different woman, then,’ Nita sighed.

“Jest thar same then as ye aire now—too kind-
hearted fer yer own good; a lamb close-herdin’ with
wolves.”

“We'll not talk about it,” she said, shrugging her
shoulders. ©

“Et pleased me when I thought ye had gone to ther
Sisters I am wishin’ et had been so.’

She looked at him.

“Perhaps it was providential that I didn’t. At any
rate, its a good thing that I didn’t—since you are
here.”

“Drop Ber commanded Nomad... “I tell ye I gat
goin’ ter let you take no sech’ fool resks fer me—l
wouldn’t ef ther torture stake of ther Talis stood right
before me Hamin’ in a bouquet o' fire. So you're goin’
ter drop et.”’

“Perhaps so—if I have to; but fast I’m going to
look around a bit. There i is no need to tell you to re-
main here until I return.”

“No: need at all,’ replied Nomad wath: a grin; “no
more need than ter tell a caballo ter stay put when he
is down with the rope round him, But—drop et!”

When she arose and walked away, the guard came
back and took his former place beside the prisoner.

“What was the sefiorita talking about?’ he de-
-manded.

“About the weather,” answered Noting “She
thought that if it didn’t rain there would be a long et
spell.”

The guard frowned:

“Pah!” he said. .
Then, to relieve his pent feelings, the Mexican drew
| out tobacco and rice paper and rolled a cigarette.

nee ner ant

se

: CHAPTER XT
ANS ANGEL OF “MERCY.

 
   

Having made the round ‘of the camp, Nita Corral
ad picked up a stout club which
ing Stick, and with which now,
and then she sniffed off the unoffending head of a wild
lower. She appeared to be in a brown study.

“She hates ter give up thet wild notion,’ muttered
Nomad, “yit she. BOW: she has got to.

    

   
  
   
   

THE oes PALO

Et I war huntin’ an easy way ter commit soocide r d let

toed thing

 

    

PUL POs a as

thet a gal so good-hearted kin be the darter of a man
like Ramon Corral. But thar is a heap o’ quar things
in this world. The very quarest ter me is thet redskins

| war ever invented.”

‘Nita Corral’s face was white, Nomad noticed, as she
drew near. She looked at him, too, as he thought, oe
staring eyes.

Then a most astounding and unexpected thing hae:
pened. The girl walked with a careless stride up to
the guard, lifted the club, and struck him on the head.
He dropped witha groan, and rolled over, unconscious.

Casting the club aside the girl drew a knife, and, be-
fore Nomad could say a word, she was cutting the
cords that held him.

“\Whyever——

“I’m going with you!” she said.
must run for it.”

Snatching up the guard’s rifle, Nita thrust it into
Nomad’s ,hands; then she cut the cartridge belt and
gave this to Nomad also. The revolver in the belt
she kept for herself.

The girl had acted so quickly and in a manner so
totally unexpected that Nomad.was on his feet and
running with her out of the camp before the outlaws
and Indians had an inkling of what happened, for, at
the moment, none of them had. been looking in that
direction.

Suddenly, however, outlaw yells and Tali war cries
indicated that the flight had been discovered.

A dozen steps took the girl and the borderman into
the scrub that covered the hillside. Here they were
confronted by. a steep descent, for the hill sloped
abruptly. Their way lay through thorny brush that
tore the girl’s clothing and scratched her: hands.
Lighter of foot than Nomad, Nita led the flight.

To-the yells and war whoops now were added the
popping of rifles and revolvers, as the outlaws and red-
skins got under way in pursuit; but the drop of the
hill protected the fugitives, and the bullets passed over
their heads.

The revulsion in the feelings of the borderman had
been so sudden and wrenching that he was hardly able
to adjust himself to the new situation. But now that

“Come! Now we

‘the girl had made this dash with him, and for him,

he was determined to make the best run he could, and
then fight for her to the end. ;

“This way!’ Nita shouted.

Turning to the right, she.scudded on like a fright-
ened rabbit. Nomad plunged along heavily after her.

Finally Nita stopped, breathing heavily.

“Go on!” she said. “Don’t mind me.’

“Never yit!’ he roared.

He looked at the rifle, and threw it into the hollow
of his arm.

“Ef ye ain’t able ter go on, jest say ther word; and
down hyar I camps fer a fight.”

“T must rest first,” she said.

“Quick runnin’ grups one’s breathin’ works, when
they ain’t used ter et,’ he admitted.
do thet, anyhow?”

“Whyever did ye

  
 

 

a THE BUFFALO

 

— “Because I saw you wouldn’t go, otherwise. I knew
you would go with me, after what I did.’

“Waal, I reckon. But et war Thar they’re
comin’.
make some war music.”

“No,” she said, “don’t shoot; it will make it worse,
if we’re captured. I can go on now.”

She continued her flight along the hillside. Behind
them the scrubby bushes whipped, yells rose, and now
and again a rifle cracked.

“This way again!” she called.

Once more she made a sharp turn which brought
them out on the rim of a precipitous bluff.

“We must go down here,” she said. “You go first,
and I'll follow you.”

“We ought ter have a rope,”

 

he objected.’

“But we haven't; and we must get down the best
we can. I should have thought of a rope.”

“Twenty feet,» muttered Nomad; “but I reckon I
kin make et, by part slidin’; and cae I’m down [Pll
be thar ter ketch ye and save ye from a fall. Et’s a
hurry hustle now; so hyar I’m goin’.”

He slid the rifle over the rim and let it drop to the
ground at the foot of the bluff; then he turned, threw
' himself on his face, slid as far as he could, and
dropped.

As soon as he struck he leaped up, and stood ready
to aid Nita when she made the descent.

The girl was standing outlined on the rim of the
bluff.

“Come!”’ he called. “They’re gittin’ closer ever’

minute.” :
“Nomad! She bent and spoke in a high-keyed
voice. “I don’t intend to, follow you. I knew you

wouldn’t aceept what I wanted to do for you, so I
had to work it out in another way. You’ re to go on
now, and I'll stay here.”

“What!” he yelled.

“Straight ahead, at the foot of this long hill, you
will find a trail; take it; and go on as fast as you can.
Your friends are in the main trail, moving in this direc-
tion; ae you can join them. : not, I’m disappointed
in you.” :

“Wow !
_ “You can’t do anything else.
valuable time. Do as I say.”

1?

Never!
And you are losing

She stamped her foot with a show of indignation

“You can’t get back here, so you must go on,’ ’ she
urged. “Go now while you have the chance.”

Git down by thet rock, and you'll hear me .

¢

Blt: STORIES.

“And leave ye!’
. “It is my wish.:

the leader of these men. Oh, can’t you understand?

I have chosen this life with him, and I have to go back...

I didn’t intend to go with you. Now, go—go—go!”

“Waugh! Et is clean ” He broke off, listening
to the ominous yells of the Talis.
massacree ye!”

 

“No, they won't; the men will protect me.’
“They won't.”

“They will.”

“Yer father?”

“T can win his forgiveness. It is all right Dear
Mr. N omad, you must go and Ae me here.”

“Wow! Waugh! ae

“Stop grunting like a pig!’ the guile cried. “And
obey me. Go!”

“Waugh-h!”’

“I shall never like you again, if you do rot! ‘Tshall —

hate you! I shall——

Above her he saw a Tali Indian’ and an outlaw ap-
pear.

He threw up his rifle.

“Don’t shoot at them!” Nita, begged. “Can’t you
see that it would make my position much worse, if you
should kill one of them?”

The rifle came down.

“T cain’t leave ye!’ Nomad cried.

“You must! You must! You must!”
She whirled suddenly, disappeared from the rim of
the bluff, and he knew she was hastening back.

For a moment Nomad appeared to have the insane

idea of trying to climb the bluff, that he might tou :

her and fight for her.

Then his sturdy common sense prevailed, He knew

he could do nothing. If he could get up there, which —
was out of the question, and should run amuck, killing _

a man or two, the end would be the same.. He would
be overpowered, perhaps slain; and he could not help
her. :

He saw now how cleverly she had chosen her course.

_ She had used the only method "possible to induce him

to leave the outlaw camp. She had known of this

_ bluff, and had led him to ie Now he could stay there,

foolishly, and be taken again; or he could go on in
the path she had marked out for him, |

“Waugh!” he growled, shaking his head ie an
angry bull. “I don’t like et. Still—_—

I want to go back. My father is |

“Them reds will

    
        

 

of

 

 

 

his
anc

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Ef
she
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hir

 

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the
the
aw

 

   
  
  
 
 

ke
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we
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-with,” he muttered.

| this,” he thought.
| the Talis will shore be entitled to all the fun they war

   
  

  
 

. THE BUFFALO

of the bluff, and plunged into the undergrowth.

The outlaw sent a bullet, which did no harm. Then
his hearing told him that Talis had joined the outlaw,
and that they were leaping over the bluff.

“Waal, I don’t like et. Still, hyar goes. When ye
cain’t foller yer own trail, ye have ter take another.
Ef I can prompt connect up wi’ Buffler’s crowd, which
she said ain't fur off, mebbyso we can pike right back
and give them critters sech a whirl as will surprise ’em,
and git her away frum em.”

Other rifles cracked, and bullets came singing past
him.

“Ther oddest bit of eile: I has ever yit met up
“But, say, she has got a heart 0’

gold. And sand! Don’t say nothin’! Thet gal has

| got more clear grit in her apa than hk ther men

in Mexico.” |

The outlaws and Talis who had leaped and slid to
the ground came plunging in pursuit, crackling through
the bushes and making as much noise as a pair of run-
away horses.

“When ye go huntin’, Zo: howe with er brass band
—thet’s Mexican and Tali style, seems like! Waal, et
keeps me posted as ter whar they aire, so’s I can keep
erway from ‘em. But—thet—gal!’”

Following the trail Nita had indicated, and keeping

| well ahead of his pursuers, Nomad gained the larger

trail, which the girl had said connected with the one
over which Buffalo Bill’s party was advancing.

In due time he reached the main trail.

He had run like an antelope, and still had a good
deal of running ability left when the principal trail
was reached. |

“They ll git hosses and auce come pilin’ along
“Waal, ef they ketches me now,

anticipatin’. But—I don’t cal’late they'll ketch me.”
They didn’t.

The redskins and outlaws dropped the pursuit. Two

| miles below were Buffalo. Bill’s men, with the insur-

rectos,.

 

CHAPTER XII.
A STARTLING REVELATION.

The discovery that Buffalo Bill’s force was drawing

  

near, confirming information brought in by scouts, to-

gether with the sharp rifle firing and the yells of the
Talis, sent Ramon Corral hurriedly back to his camp.

2

He turned about as an outlaw appeared on the face

BILL STORIES. 1G 23

 

. The outlaw and Tali pursuers of the borderman were

still out; but there were men in the camp ready to tell :

the outlaw chief what had occurred; and there was the
man who had been knocked down by the girl.

Though this guard had regained consciousness
quickly, he was ‘nursing a sore head and had a very
ugly temper. ;

“Tt was the sefiorita gave me this, with a clubs cone
explained. “When I was guarding the prisoner she
came on me, and beat me down before I dreamed that
she had such an intention. Then she released the pris-
oner. She is over there, and you can ask her.”

Nita Corral sat on a blanket roll by one of the cook-
ing fires. On the roll beside her, in reach of her hand,
was the revolver she had taken from the guard. With
it she had threatened and held at bay certain men who
otherwise would have bound her and held her a pris-
oner in the camp until the return of Ramon Corral.

Her dark face was hotly flushed, and she tried to
look up bravely when Corral strode over to the fire. <

‘What does this mean?” was Corral’s harsh demand.
“You struck down the guard?”

“T do not deny it.”

“And you released the Saied of the Talis?”’

“IT do not deny it.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her chealders: and sat more erect.

“The old man was kind to me,” the girl replied.
“The Talis had panned to torture him, and pea were

consenting to it.”

 

“Did that give you the right to

“Now, hear me!” Nita said sharply. “The outlaw
chief does as he pleases; and the daughter of the out-
law chief—does as she pleases.”

“Vou are a fool,” Corral snarled, “and no daughter.
of mine!”

“You say that because you are angry. But you

ought to be proud of me; for I show the bravery of my

faces 3

She sneered as she’spoke.

“You deserve punishment, and you shall receive it
in due time!’ Corral oo

“Tt does not frighten me.’

“All I shall have to do will be to let the Talis get
at you!” |

aie ae no fear of them. Even a wolf will Aecdect
its own.’
- Corral’s rage now broke bounds, and he on he
he had not meant to say.

  

   
24 THE BUFFALO
“Ingrate, hear the truth. I would scorn to have
such a daughter. Did I not place you with the Sisters,
at Monterey? Did I not clothe you, pay all charges,
treat you as my daughter; but you were not my daugh-
ter—only the child of the woman whom I for a time
called my wife! Wretch that you are; you have not
even a father! Had I a daughter, would she have
been——”’

She rose quickly, white- ied and shivering.

“What are you saying!” she cried.

“T am telling you the truth,” the bandit retorted
angrily. “You are not my daughter. Had I a daugh-
ter, she would never have committed the folly that you
did to-day. You are a waif, a child of an unknown, a
creature of the gutter.”

“Then I do not owe ac8 even obedience?” she fal-
tered. ,

“Obedience!. Bah! Hew. obedient were you when
you tried to brain the guard and loosed the prisoner of
the Talis?”

“T do not owe you even obedience?” she repeated.

She stood before him, trembling, staring into his
face as if she would tear from him all the truth.

“You owe me nothing,” Corral said wildly. “And I
——I owe you nothing, after to-day. I turn from you,
reptile that you are; |

She laughed hysterically.

“And. to think that I troubled myself with the
thought that I owed you obedience!” she said. “And
I am not your child?” }

“You are no man’s.child; you are
. “ean thank Heaven,” she said, clasping her hands,
“that, at least, I am not your child.
haunting nightmare—the thought that I was the child
of Ramon Corral—Corral, the Cruel, Corral, the Out-
law, Corral, the Scourge of Mexico!”
“You are a nobody!” he shouted at her.

she sobbed,

39

“Better a nobody,”
Ramon Corral!”

“Shall. I kfll you! ” he teres grasping his aa

“Aye! Run the blade through me. It will not hurt
—now.” Her hysterical laugh rose again. “I.can die
now—knowing that I am not the child of Ramon Cor-
ral. Use the sword.”

He thrust the sword back into the scabbard, and
turned about. His writhing face and starting eyes
“made his face like that of a fiend. Even the men who
had drawn-near shrank back, afraid of him.

“About your business, dogs!” he howled at them.
“Has any one invited you here?”

2 ee

It has been a

“than the child of

BILE. STORIES.

He faced the girl again. : ne
“This is not the end!’ he threatened. ‘Before I am
through with you, you will wish you had stayed with

~ the Sisters—and had died there.”

“T wish I had!’ she sighed.

Wheeling again he strode off, and been to.-give
angry orders. His men hastened to obey him..

The girl sank back on the blanket roll, picked up
the revolver, and thrust it into the belt at her waist:

~“T may need it to kill myself with,” she said. ‘But

ey

—I am not the child of Ramon Corral!

eae enn

CHAPTER XE
OUTLAW VERSUS TALI.

As brave a warrior as ever drew blade was Little
Billee—judged by his talk. He had joined the rabble
following of the insurrecto leader, and now was ea
Buffalo Bill.

He was loud-voiced for an attack on the Satan and
Indian camp which was known to be at the top of
the hill.
‘Rout ’em out,’ he urged, knowing that he would
not be called on to lead. “Give ’em hot lead, and then
charge,” = . :

But Buffalo Bill and the insurrecto fender were not
ready to attack, even though Little Billee raved and
denounced delay as cowardice. The outlaws and In-
dians were in-a strong position. And the famous
scout’s experience had taught him that many successful
fights followed a waiting game.

So the scout and the leader of the insurgents, Paw-
nee Bill and the baron, sat with old Nick Nomad, hear-
ing the story of his escape and his description of the
outlaw camp.

Night came, and nothing was ae to the disgust of
Little Billee.

“Don’t you think I’m right?” asked Little Bille, :
swaggering up to J. Montgomery Jones, who was also
now a member of the-insurgent band. “Take Na-.
poleon ; didn’t he always attack? Take——”

“Once too often—and he met his Waterloo,” said
Jonesey, swinging his ears forward, in ie gee Ae.
called his “wink.” ‘Don’t forget that, son.’ |

“Who are them men slippin’ out of the camp?” aut
tered Little Billee.
to be leavin’ the camp.” eit ie

“Them what are giving orders ain f cbnontee with 43
you this evenin’, Billy,” said Jones.

2

 

Z Be ‘heard no orders. for aien -

“Answering ss 4
     

 
 

| gust.
}mebbyso he ain’t, and if he ain't, and you ketch him
at it, it'd be a fether in yer cap to expose him.”

mice.
in it.

that none of the bandits will try to get in.”

¥

 

question, Ee ie hernen are. scouts who are slip-

ping out to see what they can see.’

‘Little Billee wandered around, voicing his com-

plaints. At length he chanced to observe James Mont-

igomery Jones slipping out of the camp, in the fashion
'of the men he had said were probably scouts:

“Aha!” exclaimed Little Billee. “I am smelling a
ponce needs watching. All day I’ve been think-

He hurried over to Buffalo Bill.
“Cody,” he said confidentially, “I reckon you know

|whether you can trust We man-mule or not? F or me,

can say that I don’t.”
The great scout looked up with a smile.
“Sorry to hear it, Billee,” he replied quietly... “What

‘is the trouble now?”

“Well, he has acted queer all day; and now he-has
slipped out of the camp without orders. A lot of other
men have gone out, too. If men aire let run in an’ out
thataway, how're we goin’ to know but that some of

® them bandits will be sneakin’ in?”’

“Don’t worry, Billee,” urged the scout. “We think
“They soon will be wanting to go fast in the other
direction,” observed Pawnee Bill.
“Well, as fer me,” said Little Billee, hitching at his
revolver belt. “I don’t like it. If I was runnin’ this

hyar camp e

 

“Of course,’ said the scout, “you would do ‘ines

| differently.”

“Well, I would.”
But Little Billee felt chilled by the coolness with

'which his complaint had been received, and he strode

away, a hunch-backed, piratical figure, nous fife

_and fury.

“Why don’t ye chase after him?” asked an insur-

gent, an American, when Billee voiced to him his dis-

“T allow that man-mule is obeyin’ orders; but

Little Billee thought that over, as he went to the

other side of the camp and sat down. The long-con-

 

 
  

| tinued quiet had ae increased his small store of -
| courage.

“Why not?’ he asked himself.
he went; and : ‘know I could git out of this camp with-

fout t bein’ seen.’

4 He looked around. “An insurgent was near; so that,
t Bik he was by the edge of the camp, he could hardly

out without being seen by this man.

ODE BUFFALO “BILL. SLORIES,

- «yas beyond the eyes of the sentries.

“T seen which way

Cody knows me.

Cars

' “Oh, squash!” he grunted.
_ Then he moved away. Finding a spot that was not
well lighted, he hunted around for a blanket. He
found one, and, wrapping this about him, he lay down. ©

. When the hunchback felt sure no one was noticing
laos he crawled out of the blanket and into the shadows
beyond the camp. . —

- “This is easy enough,” he said, when he knew he.
“The way Cody

and that insurgent leader is carryin’ on, not watchin’,

and lettin’ men butt in and out as they want to, we're

goin’ to have bandits on top of us and git murdered

before mornin’.”

He looked around. er

“Lemme see now. Right off that way Jonesey am-.
bled, walkin’ on all fours; and it was in the direction
of the outlaw camp. Maybe he’s an outlaw! But
everything is that dead quiet, it may be that Corral’s
crowd have made a sneak. If I keep still I guess I'll
be safe enough; and if I should catch Jones doing.
something scaly: «

He reached the foot of the hill, and, finding a nar-
row trail there, he ascended slowly and carefully.

His courage received no shock as he went on, for
the stillness was so great that he could hear himself
breathe, and no foe seemed near.

Then, suddenly, when near the top of the hill, Little
Billee felt fingers gripping his throat, and he was
thrown down. ,

“You bungler!’’ was whispered in his ear.

“Wow!” Little Billee gulped, when the grip relaxed.
“Who's this chokin’ my esopagus?”’

“J. Montgomery,” was the answer. “You c came up
here as if you was fallin’. If there had happened to
be an outlaw or Tali clos’t you'd got killed. What you
doin’ here, anyhow?”

“What you doin’ hyar?’’
“That’s my business.”

 

“What I’m doin’ hyar is my business. But I’ve got
my eye on you, Jonesey. You're playin’ double—that’s
what you're a-doin’. oe reported it to Cody, and
when you go back

 

James Montgomery Jones lay’ back and laughed s Si-
lently.

“Whoop!” he breathed.
satis.

“You bet I did.”

“Say, Little Billee, you're the boss fool of them all.
A long time ago I done some good
work fer him, and he trusts me now. I was crawlin’

~

“Vou follered ies tor

  
 

 

       

26 THE BUFFALO
round up here to try to git a line on what’s doin’ in
that outlaw camp. So I’d advise you to wiggle back,
before you get hurt.”

Little Billee was about to call this a “bluff;’ but
was stopped by sounds at the top of the hill.

Instantly James Montgomery Jones was crawling
on, to see what it meant.

After a little hesitation, Little Billee crawled on after
him, feeling that if actual trouble came he would be
safer near Jonesey than alone; and the camp seemed
far away, with danger around.

‘At the top of the hill Little Billee overtook Jones,
who was lying flat, listening to words beyond. Two
men were there—one a Mexican, the other an Indian.

“Vou followed me?’ said the white man. ‘What
for?” |
The answer was in Tali, and neither Jones nor Little
-Billee understood it.

“First speaker is Ramon Corral,”
discovering that Little Billee was with him.
could land him!’

“Gee!” Little Billee whispered breathlessly, then he
shivered and lifted his head to hear more. He was not
sure that he wanted to assist in “landing” a man like
Ramon Corral.

The Tali was Blue Moon. There had come a break
between Corral and the Indian chief. The reasons
were many. Corral, in his intoxication, had been harsh
and inconsiderate of his Indian allies.

_ that had come the acts of the girl, No the Cee of
Nomad.

“This is no place for a quarrel,” said Corral.
back to the camp. I am chief here.”

He turned back himself, apparently fearing that on
the rim of the hill he would be heard by his enemies.

Blue Moon followed him, still speaking angrily | in
Fali.

“I wish I could tadese ad that Indian lingo,” whis-
pered Jonesey. “But this will be somethin’ to report,
when I get back. If the Talis an’ the outlaws git to
scrappin’ then will be our time to jump in. You got
your ears open, Little Billee?”’

"UL heard 7ém, but it ces t understand ’ em too well.
What in Sam Hill_— a

“Wow! Hear that?” whispered Jones, and hitched
forward again. “The scrap’s beginnin’.”

whispered Jones,
“Tt owe

“Go

_ Apparently Bite Moon, enraged by some remark,
had jumped at Corfal; and they were Baar to set-
tle their little difference.

e “Slide back to camp, Little Billee, and - eet the
news.

A hot fight i is on, a ee ought to know it.”

“BILL STORIES. :

  

And on top of ©

     
   

Instead, Little Billee crept after Jones.

dian and outlaw camp.

“Better not go any closer in,’
beginning to grow nervous over this near approach
to the outlaws.
you bet; but I’m seekin’ company. You're gittin’ too
close in, Jonesey. Sufferin’ Simon, what’s that?’’

The bushes cracked under the hurrying feet of some @
newcomer. 4
Jones dropped flat, and Little Billee made himself

inconspicuous. — |
Suddetily Jones stood up. oa

“Halt!” he commanded, in a low tone, and Little aq

Billee heard the click of his revolver.
_ A low, startled cry followed.

““Gee!”” exclaimed the hunchback. ‘“A woman!”

James Montgomery had held up Nita Corral, Honey

at the moment, he didn’t know it.

“Stand still, or PI shoot,” he said.

There was little danger that he could be heard now,
for from the outlaw camp came the sounds of angry
voices. oe

“‘Who—who are you?” was vided by the girl.

“Well, right now I’m one of Cody’s scouts.
askin’ who you are; and the answer is due.”
“Will you take me to Cody’s camp?” was the re-
quest.

The voice trembled. |

“What's goin’ on up there—if you came from the
camp of Corral?’ demanded Jones.

Pm

“Ramon Corral has been killed by Blue Mast ue :

Tali chief, and there is a fight going on,” replied the

girl. ‘“I ran out of the camp, pa I knew the Indians

And—and——

would kill me. :
“Wow!” muttered Little Billee, suddenly rising.

“Say, this is gittin’ strictly more interestin’er, ain’t it?
Say, [’m

Corral killed! Great jumpin’ sandhills!
goin’ to slide with that news to Cody.”
He whirled around.
“Stop!” directed Jones.
The hunchback halted.
“We'll go together, and we'll escort this woman,”
Jones said. He turned to Nita.

miss,’ he added, as he took one of her. arms.

Nita went on breathlessly with the two men 1 who had |

stopped her.

At the edge of the camp the three companions were 2
held up by a — with a demand for the ® counter”

sign,

  

The fighting trailed away in the direction of ie Ine
’ urged Little Biflee,

“I’m willin’ to go back to the camp, _

“Right. this way,

  

 

 

 

fof t
Fexcl
shoc
ther
P and-
pal.
f girl
Pct
Axille
Ho kn
killec
becar
out,
a
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‘wher
had |
there,
sey i
OE
mews
Fh
“M
fighti
oT
Buffa
be all
if we
lomet
7
Hikin
ather
I eC:
, gla
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7 | ‘been heard in the camp of the insurgents.

- Jones gave it, and passed on, followed by the hunch-

@ back and Nita.

“Straight to Sefior Cody ae whispered the girl.
“Straight it is,” said Jones, andled on.

The noise of the fighting in the outlaw camp had
So the ap-

~ Mpearance of Jones and Nita, with the information they

we

ri

9.

I;

ad : i

te
er-

 

shook it vigorously.
ther caliker that ’m thankin’ ter ther eend o’ my days,
fand——
. But Buffalo Bill needed no ee ecics to Nita Cor-

there, and she accompanies.

  
 

  

  
  
 
 

| could give, could not have been more opportune.

No more astonished man than old- Nomad could

have been found when he saw before him the girl who
that day had taken such risks for him.

When Nita was brought up by Jones, and the light

lof the candle revealed her, the old borderman gave an
@ exclamation of delight. |

“Waugh!” he bellowed; and, seizing her hand, he
“Cody,” he cried, “this hyar is

39

| ‘ral. He greeted her cordially and offered a chair. The
p girl declined it, however.
_ “Ramon Corral is dead,”’ Nita announced. “He was

‘killed a few minutes ago in a fight with Blue Moon.
I knew I had to leave the camp then or I should be
‘killed by the Talis, who have been enraged against me
because I released Sefior Nomad to-day; and so I set
fout, and on the way
“That’s right, she met us on the way,” piped Little —

39

 

Billee. “Me and Jonesey was up thar, snoopin’ round,

when she come along 3 and as soon as we knew what

had happened we invites her to accompany us down
That’s right, ain’t it, Jone-
sey? I was thar, wasn’t 1?” :

Other scouts were entering the camp, all primed with
mews of the fighting in the camp of the outlaws.
|. The insurgent captain bustled up to the scout.
| “My scouts say that the Indians and outlaws are
fighting among themselves,” he said.

“T was about to send you that news, sefior,” replied

Buffalo Bill. “You are the leader here; but if I may
be allowed to suggest, it would be to say that I think
if we could strike that ny now we might accomplish
something worth while.”
| He turned to the girl.
“This is Sefiorita Corral, of whom we have been
Wking much lately. She brings information that her
father has been killed by Blue Moon, ‘the Tali chief.
he came away because she feared the Talis. We shall
e glad to give hér protection and shelter.”

 

  
 

 

“Corral is not my father!’ she said.

THE BUFFALO

BILL STORIES. a a”
! 3 :

* The scout looked surprised.
“T will-explain that in a moment,”
glancing at the insurgent leader.
“So if you will get your men ready,” Buffalo Bill
said to him, “we can make that charge as soon as you

the girl added,

like. a

He turned again to Nita Corral, when ae insurgent
captain had departed.

“My explanation of that remark, Sefior Cody,” Nita
said, “is that to-day, after I had released your friend,
Sefior Norhad, Ramon Corral, while denouncing me
for my action, revealed to me that he was not my
father.”

“That was most extraordinary,” said the scout.

“It was a surprise to me, but a pleasant one, Sefior
Cody,” the beautiful girl replied. “But we have no
time to talk of my attairs now, when so much i is to be
done.”’

“It will take the insurrectos a few minutes to get
ready,’ suggested Pawnee Bill.

“I was about to say that, sefiorita——’ The scout
began, and stopped. If her name was not Corral, what
was it? “I was about to suggest that we have time to
hear anything that you may wish to say. But if you
will accept that chair, you will find it pleasanter than
standing.”

She still stood. Her manner was omen bal wid

“This is not a cheerful place for a woman,” re-
marked Pawnee, noting her strange appearance. “But,
we can hope that we shall not have to be long out here.”

“It is a more cheerful place than the camp up there,”
the girl answered bitterly. “I think I am upset by the
death of Sefior Corral. I must credit him with pro-
tecting me from the Talis. His presence in the camp
accomplished it; for, though I could see that the Talis
desired to get at me, they feared that if they interfered
with me that would anger him. Twice’this afternoon
Corral and Blue Moon quarreled and nearly came to

 

blows; and there were two or three fights between Cor-

ral’s men and Talis. Blue Moon knocked down one of
the men, and that made matters worse all round. This.
evening the talk was renewed; and father—I mean:
Sefior Corral—went out of the camp, I think to avoid
trouble. Blue Moon followed him, and then the quar-

rel began; and soon Blue Moon had killed him.”

“That’s right,’ Little Billee butted in. “We was
right thar when that quarrel begun—wasn’t we, Jone-
sey? We heard it; and then we heard when the fightin’
commenced. That was right before the young lady
come along, and Jonesey he says, ‘Halt!’ and she halted.
Ain’t that so, Jonesey? We*was right thar, eh?’

  
28 “THE BUFFALO

; ° 6
“Waal, little gal,” said Nomad, “thar shore ain't no- -

buddy goin’ ter harm ye down hyar. And when we
back-tracks you goes erlong wi’ us.. But I admits I
am plum’ astonished erbout Corral. Ef I warn’t sech
a wanderin’ old wart hawg, wi’out any home, I’d beg
ter adopt ye. Thar, don’t cry now.”

~ She seemed about to do that very thing. The in-
surgent captain now hurried toward them again. He

had his men forming in line.

“Sefior Cody,” he said, “we are ready, if you are.”

As silently as possible, the insurgents and Buffalo
Bill’s small force made their way up the hill.

They did not find the camp of the Indians and ban-
dits wholly unprepared, even though there had been
some sharp fighting in it.

A few Tali scouts, driven in by the advance of their

foes, carried news of what was impending. Tali and

outlaw then stopped fighting each other and turned to,

meet the common foe.
But the end was not to be delayed. The bandits and
their Indian allies were driven out of the camp, with
the loss of several men.
But old Nomad, much as he wanted to be in that
fight, had remained behind to see that the girl was pro-
tected.

 

CHAPTER XIV.
A DETERMINED PURSUIT.

There has been small chronicling of the doings of
Little Cayuse, the scout’s faithful Piute. This was not
because he did not conduct himself with his usual
shrewdness and bravery, nor that what he did was not

worth mentioning, but simply for the reason that other

matters of apparently more moment crowded such
mention out. |

Little Cayuse disliked the Talis. That was primarily
because they were the enernies of Pa-e-has-ka. The
reason of next importance was that-he had the strange
dislike which Indians usually show toward those of
another tribe. —

When the pursuit of the bandits and Indians took
place he was with the scout’s force as it made its way

with the insurgents from Truxillo. But, when the in- —

surgents went into camp near the base of the hill which
the bandits and Indians occupied, Little Cayuse soak
peared.

A large-sized bee was buzzing in his war bonnet.
He had made up his mind to capture the Tali chief

 

      

BILL STORIES.

 

and bring him into the camp of his friend, if it could —

be done.

- Throughout the afternoon he lay round the bandit
camp, well under cover, and watched it, and formulated
his plans.

bold dash of some kind. _
He had his box of paints and some head feathers, so
he transformed himself into a close imitation of a Tali

warrior, studying his face, as he worked, in the little

mirror he carried strung round his neck with a thong
of buckskin.

His blanket was pray-<-turnishied by the Peseiceen S|

Government. And he saw that many of the Talis had
gray blankets. So far, so good.

But after nightfall the fighting began beitveet Tali
chief and bandit leader, followed by the Kilkenny cat
carnival, a wild mix-up of bandits and Talis, in which
there was some knife work.

So the opportunity which the  Eiute sought seemed
not to come his way.

When Little Cayuse heard the ringing cheers of
Americans and Mexican insurgents, who had climbed
the slope and charged, the Indian abandoned his
stealthy movements and flung himself into the fore-
front of the band of men that rushed into the outlaw
camp. He saw the rally of the bandits and Indians,
and then the confusion into which they were thrown.

Trying to get close to the Tali chief, the Piute rushed
into the midst of the Talis. He was saved from de-
tection by his paint and blanket, as well as by the ex-
citement and confusion, and the half darkness after
the camp fires had been trodden out. — ee

Blue Moon did not go with the fleeing Talis. Little
Cayuse discovered that. As soon as he was beyond the
last camp fire the Tali chief turned off sharply into the
manzanita cover. Little Cayuse thought this was be-
cause Blue Moon feared the pursuers, and it pleased
him. He wanted to deal with the Tali alone.

The cracking of the manzanitas as Blue Moon surged
through kept the Piute informed of his direction.
More stealthily Little Cayuse followed, gripping his
knife, and beginning to see visions of the capture of

the Tali and of the pride with which he would Sen u

his captive to Pa-e-has-ka.

When Blue Moon swerved again, even more aati o
Little Cayuse grunted his amazement, for Blue Moon |
seemed bent on going back and Gah: the ed sibs -

camp.

trail of the hurrying redskin.

It was then his intention to make his way |
into the outlaw camp and accomplish his purpose uy a |

Like a hound on the scent, Little Caius bine to Fhe : 3
Again Blue Moon |

    

; cha

tow

“CO,
All

TPL)

gro

can
anc
put

sur
in:
age
int
bla
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one
wa

the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  
  

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att ed

 

   
  
 
 
  
 
 

obicened his course; aa this time he went directly

toward the camp of the insurgents.
“Tali chief heap mucho thief,” thought the Piute.

| “Going to steal blanket and gun while no one in camp.

All right. Me catch um there.”
He moved more rapidly, but still carefully.
Suddenly Blue Moon disappeared. Sinking to the

® ground silently, Little Cayuse waited and watched.

Some of the insurgents were coming back to the

| camp. The Talis and bandits had fled far and wide
® and the fighting was over, though still something of a

pursuit was being carried on.

Little Cayuse discovered that Blue Moon, after a
survey of the camp before him, had left the bushes
in which he had been concealed and was moving on
again.

Then the Piute beheld something else that excited his
interest.

Old Nomad had kicked one of the camp fires into a
blaze, and its light revealed him standing by it, with
Nita at his side. It also showed that Pawnee Bill was
one of those who had returned to the camp. Pawnee
was. walking toward Nomad, and was speaking to him.

Blue Moon had stopped again, right at the verge of
the camp, and had gone out of sight in the darkness.

“Muy malo!’ whispered the puzzled Piute. ‘‘What
um Blue Moon do?’ | 7

He was not given long to wonder about it.

Blue Moon’s broad back appeared before him again,
and Blue Moon began to steal across the open space of

the camp toward Nomad and the girl.

It seemed to the Piute now that Blue Moon had made
this semicircular run and had taken all this trouble to

M get within striking distance of the man who had so

recently been his prisoner, and that now he meant to
strike him down. And it was in the heart of Little
Cayuse to cry out to the borderman a warning.

Yet the wild desire to effect the capture of the Tali

® chief himself was still so strong in the young Indian
| that he did not at once give the alarm; but, by hurrying,

Mm tried to get closer to Blue Moon, in time to spring on

him, og shoot him before he could do any harm.

_ Pawnee Bill had turned aside after greeting the bor-

) derman and Nita, and was talking to one of the in- |
‘surgents.

  

 

Other men were coming into the camp. But
one of them saw the slippery Tali as he made his

nding with their backs toward him.

Little Cayuse decreased the distance materially, but
was still too far for a successful leap at the back

THE BUFFALO

kelike advance on the girl and the trapper, who were —

 

BILL STORIES. 29

of the Tali, and he dared not shoot now, for Blue
Moon’s line of advance placed him between the Piute
and the trapper.

“Muy malo!’ he whispered again.
no like um.”

He rose, with his revolver tightly gripped. Then he
abandoned the wild desire he had cherished, and, see-
ing that he could not get to Blue Moon in time to pre-
vent his murderous attack, he let out a warning Piute
yell that fairly made the bushes rattle. .

But the trapper was not really the object of the Tali’s ©
attack. Blue Moon had taken all that trouble and the
terrible risk merely to get within striking distance of
Nita. During the afternoon he would have knifed her
willingly, but he feared the anger of Ramon Corral.
Now that he had himself slain the bandit chief, how-
ever, thus putting that fear out of his heart, he meant
to wreak vengeance on her.

As the Piute yelled, he jumped for the Tali’s ak

Btit Blue Moon had also moved, leaping, knife in
hand, at Nita.

The Piute’s warning brought Nomad around with a
spinning motion, and he sprang instantly at Blue Moon.

The Tali chief was knocked aside by the border-
man’s rush; then he and Nomad went down together.

Still the Tali had the advantage, for he had his knife

“Very bad. Me

out, and Nomad had not drawn a weapon.

Writhing around, so that Nomad was partly thrown,
the Tali lifted the knife to drive it into the borderman’s

( side.

It was the opportunity of the knife wizard, Pues
Bill.

Starting to rush to Nomad’s help, Pawnee whipped
his knife out as he leaped. He saw that he could not
reach him, so his knife hand swung forward and shot
the gold-mounted steel blade straight at the Tali’s up-
lifted arm.

oT he-arm dropped like the broken wing of a bird, and
the knife that Blue Moon held slipped to the ground.
A horrible yell issued from the lips of the chief. |

The Tali was a man of herculean strength. With a
quick movement he threw Nomad, and the next instant
he was bounding out of the camp.

Pawnee Bill poised his second knife, tempted to cut
the Tali down. Then his knife hand fell. He had not
the heart to hurl the knife at the back of a fleeing man.

With a series of wild leaps, Blue Moon ran from the
camp.

The girl had been knocked down in the scramble.
Pawnee Bill turned to her and lifted her to her feet.

  
39 THE BUREALO

“Hurt, old Diamond?” he asked, turning to Nomad.

“My feelin’s is hurt,
erway,’ Nomad replied.

“Tf no more damage than that is done,” said Pawnee,
“we'll consider that you're not in need of an ambu-
lance. But that was a wicked attack the rascal made.
I hope you are not hurt, sefiorita.”’

For a minute Nita did not know whether she was
hurt or not, she was so bewildered; but she had not
been injured, except by the shock of her fall and the
fright of the unexpected rush of the Tali upon her.

“T war ter blame,’’ Nomad declared; ‘‘wi’ ther Talis
and outlaws hustlin’ fer cover I didn’t expect nothing
like this. But ye ain’t got no right to expect nothin’,
when you're in an Injun country an’ reds aire rampin’.
Woosh! I’m thet het up!’

He fished in his pocket for his liquor flask and
brought it out.

““Mebbyso ther young a is needa this,” he said,
handing it to Pawnee. :

“No, no!’ she said, when she saw what it was.
“That was the undoing of Ramon Corral.”

“Then we ort ter praise ther truck,’ declared Nomad,
“fer et war the best undoin’ I knows anything erbout.
A tech of et ain’t goin’ ter hurt ye. And et will help,
ef you're all shook up.”

“No,” Nita said. “I’m all right—just a bit shaken.”

“Anyway, yere a brave un,’ avowed the border-
man, as he tucked the flask out of sight.

“And you!’

“Wow! Me? I’mer fool, er I’d never let thet Tali
slip onto me in thet fashion.”

The knife, shaken out of the arm of the Tali as he
fled, Pawnee Bill picked from the ground.

“Now, if I only had the two revolvers that were
- taken from me when Cayuse cae I were captured,” he

said regretfully.

“An’ ef I only had back ol’ Hide-rack,’’ was Nomad’s
mournful addition. “We ought ter be plum’ happy, the
way things is turnin’. But I has noticed that thar is
allus a leetle bit o’ vinegar mixed in with life’s sweet-

9,9?

enin’:

ny

CHAPTER XV.
CONCLUSION.

Pawnee Bill’s revolvers were found the next day on
the body of the bandit leader, Ramon Corral. The
furious fight and the charge of the insurgents had given
neither outlaws nor Indians time to think of them,

%& vs
*

‘cause thet critter is gittin’

BILE STORIES:

Nita wept a little over the grave where Corral was.
buried. With Corral were buried the outlaws and
Talis killed in the fight. | |

It must be admitted that f the killing had not been all
on one side. There were some gruesome burdens for
the horses of the insurgents to take back to Truxillo.

As the bandits and Indians had been too hurried to
take anything from their camp, so, also, they had been
too hurried to take their caballos, which were picketed
in a near-by hollow of the hills.

When it was discovered that the animals were here
Nomad went whooping down, hoting to find old Hide-
rack with them.

In this he was disappointed. !

“T’m shore goin’ ter shed briny tears ef I never sees
thet animile erg’in,” he declared. “Thet war a hoss
in a thousand.” ;

“Der onliest vun vot iss petter,”
Toofer, my mooel,”

Later in the day, however, Little Billee had the
honor of leading i in Hide-rack.

said the baron, “‘iss

A search was being made by a number of persons, |

in the hope that Nomad’s horse had strayed out of the
pony herd; for it was well known that Hide-rack had .
no great liking for Indian ponies, and the bandit ponies
were of the same quality as those owned by the Talis. ©

Pawnee Bill and the man-mtle chanced to be not
far off, on a hill, looking about, when Little Billee came

, upon Hide-rack, peacefully grazing.” The horse had

indeed left the pony herd, and was nosing around for
himself, yet showing no great desire to return to his
anxious master.

“Little Billee ferever!” cried J. Montgomery, feuetk
ing his finger when Hide-rack moved along, with Little
Billee following, trying to get the horse by the mane.
“Now, if he does catch Nomad’s beast, it will sure be
a feather in the cap of the stage driver.”

They saw Little Billee capture Hide-rack, saw him
lead the unwilling beast up to a rock, and, on) the —
rock, climbed on the horse’s back. |

_ The course taken by Little Billee after mounting |
took him out of their sight, for he had to half circuit

the hill to get to the camp; and they turned back.

“It’s right good of you and Cody to say that you
knowed from the first I was all right,”
mule, fanning with his ears; “when a lot of guys
amongst the men thought I wasn’t. Once I know ge
might not ’a’ been as straight as now, yet even Cody
remembers that what seemed wrong ag’inst me then
was only sccminy a : ,

 

said the man-_ 4
THE BUFFALO

‘If T.remember correctly,” said Pawnee, “Cody was
ng a bandit, then, and you came in to help him;

he thought for a while you were really trying to.

ow him and help the bandit.

hee |

MHecause,” said the man-mule, swinging his ears
pain, “that bandit happened to be a relative of mine.
fe was a Mexican, and I’ve got some o’ that blood.
but, instead of tryin’ to help that fellow, I was only

in’ to induce him to come in and surrender to Cody,

I knowed that when the Mexican government got

the facts o’ the case, showin’ that the man was not
bandit at heart, but had been driven to it by the perse-
ution of certain army officers, he wouldn't be harmed,
Ind he wasn’t. Cody told you that, too?”

‘Yes.’ :

‘Then we understand each other. And now we'll go
ack and see Little Billee come saat in on the back of
hat horse.”

| Little Billee quite outdid himself inthe yelping line,

That’s the way I

4s was anticipated; but he did more, He had a marvel-.

Dus tale to unfold.

| : : OU, Nomad—all you fellers listen to me allurin’

| an’ excitin’ story!’ he cried. “Hyar’s yer horse, No-
ad; and I captured him single-handed from a Tali
redskin. That was me—Little Billee!” He hammered
nis chest. ‘‘Listen to my tale 0’ woe! I was out thar
quntin’ fer this animile, when along comes a Tali ridin’
him.. I dropped behind a rock, and as the Tali come
Mopin’ erlong I took a crack atehim with my revolver.
I only winged him, but down he went, fallin’ off that
horse; and at first I thought he was dead. I gave a
whoop, and the Tali he jumps up then and run, and
such runnin’! My-o-me! ‘Oh, snakes!’ I says to him.
‘Leg it, if you want to; your legs aire longer than
ine? And so he got away. But hyars yer horse,
Nomad. And who brung him in but Little Billee?
Thar will shore be a treat fer me for that, when we
g Bit to Truxillo—what ?”
| As he dropped down he saw Pawnee Bill and the
man-mule smiling.
“You're shore a wonder, Little Billee,” said the man-
mule, swinging his ears. “For rale courage you've got
H the rest of us beat a mile. We heard that pistol go
f, me and Pawnee here.”
. Mag was out there?’’ said Little Bille, flushing.
| “Out that way,” said Pawnee, “but not close.”
“Then you didn’t see that marvelous performance?” :
sid: Little Billee, taking courage again. oe
we didn't sée- it, Little Billee,’’ _ Pawnee assured

BILL STORIES.

31
“Well, by jacks, I wisht that you had! Say, that
was goin’ some for Little Billee, wasn’t it now? Why,
that Tali was as big as six of me—he could have eat
me up; but when I gave him that bullet, that took the
grit out of him. I’m bettin’ that scamp is runnin’ yit.’’.

“We thought we heard him runnin’, Little Billee!”
said the man-mule.

The hunchback darted a scorching look in his direc-

tion.

“What you heard,” he corrected, cit have been
the horse; I had some trouble in ketchin’ him after that,

for the shot and the fall of the red scared him.”

Nomad, not in the secret until afterward, thanked —
Little Billee properly for the rescue of the horse, anc
praised his courage.

The insurgents, adding the ponies of the bandits and
Talis to their own contingent of animals, had a goodly
bunch, to drive into Truxillo. They returned to that
town with high and proud demeanor, covering them-
selves with glory.

The next day there was.a fiesta, to celebrate properly
their glorious victory. The day after that the insur-
gents went out of the town as hastily as they had en-

‘tered it, for the report came that government troops

were approaching, and the insurrectos felt safer in the
hills.

But Buffalo Bill’s chase was over. Ramon Corral’s
red career had ended, and the work of the scout in that
particular section was more than half done. With the
failure of the insurgent cause, which came soon, there
was no longer need for him and his friends to remain
to watch the gun runners of the border.

As for Nita Corral—the name by which she must
still be known—she returned to the Sisters of Mon-
tefey,

THE END.

“Buffalo Bill and the Red Bedouins; or, Pawnee Bill
on the Great Staked Plains,” is the title of the exciting
story which will appear in the next issue—to be pub-
lished on September 16th. In this Buffalo Bill and
his friends will be seen engaged in a series of thrilling
exploits which, while stirring the blood of the reader,
still afford opportunities for the display of the mirth-
provoking qualities of those of Colonel Cody’s com-
panions, whose idiosyncrasies have inspired many a
side-splitting laugh before. The scene is laid in the
Comanche country, and the action of the story is swift
and absorbing. Few Western tales have offered such
a wealth of incident as does this which follows the for--
tunes of the famous scout on the Great Staked Plains.

 
 

 

 

 

Ss.

 

 

 

TIP TOP ~ WEEKLY

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ar

780—Frank Merriwell’s Guile; or, The Queen of the Motes

781—Frank Merriwell’s Campaign; or, Fighting the System.

y82—Frank Merriwell in the National F orest; or, Outwitting the

Timber Thieves.

eos Merriwell’ s Tenacity ; or, The Mystery of the Famaus
cientist

Saas Merriwell’s Self- Sacrifice; or, The Man Who Could

mp.
y85—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave; or, The Man With a Grouch.

g80—Dick Merriwell’s Perception; or, The Brains of the Varsity. .

y87—Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disappearance; or, The Game
in the Balance.

y88—Dick Merriwell’s Detective Work; or, The Case of. the
Varsity Shortstop.

789—Dick Merriwell’s Proof; or, The Problem of the Stubborn
Crew Man.

790—Dick Merriwell’s Brain Work; or, The Praerdon of the
Sneaky Tutor.

791—Dick Merriwell’s Queer Case; or, The Lure of the Ruby.

 

803—Dick Merriwejf's Coolness; or, At the Nevada Gold Field

The adventures of Frank and Dick Merriwell can be had only i it
Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents.

792—Dick Merriwell, Navigators; or, The Adventure on A
Sound,

ee orvdl s Fellowship ; or, The Man with the Wron q

 
  
    
    
  
 
  
 

794—Dick Merriwell’s Fun; or, Buckhart as a Reformer. Ee
Ce eevee Commencement ; or, The Last Week

796-—Dick N Moretivell at Montauk Point; or, The Terror of tl

797—Dick Merriwell, Medialor: or, The Strike at the Ply
, Valley Mine.
798—Dick Merriwell’s Decision; or, The Sacrifice of a Pip
799—Dick Merriwell on the Great Lakes; or, The Smugglers :
the Inland Seas.
800—Dick Merriwell Caught Napping; or, The Rube that Cou

Pitch.

801—Dick Merriwell in the Copper Country; or, The Search {
a Lost Mine.

802—Dick Merriwell Strapped; or, The Adventuge of the Egy
caped Convicts. 4

 

NICK CARTER WEEKLY

Whe best detective stories on earth.
eovers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.
738—A ae Cea a Plot; or, Nick Carter Foils a Master

pore he Dead Accomplice; or, Nick Carter Finds an Unusual

740—A Mysterious Robber; or, Nick Carter’s Counterplot.
741—The Green Scarab; or, Nick Carter’s Beautiful Mystery.
eG Strangest Case on Record; or, Nick Carter’s Guessing
ontest.
743—A Shot in the Dark; or, Nick Carter’s Midnight Adventure.
744— The Seven Schemers; or, Nick Carter Foils a Splendid Plot.
745—The Hidden Crime; or, Nick Carter’s Telephone Clew.
746—The Secret Entrance; or, Nick Carter and the Child
a. Stealers:
747—The Cavern Mystery; or, Nick Carter’s Puzzle of the
Leather Bag. -
748—T he Disappearing Fortune; or, Nick Carter’s Fish Line Clew.
749—A Voice from the Rast; or, Nick Carter’s Phonograph Trap.
g50—The Search for Xonia; or, Nick Carter’s International Case.
751—The Crime of a Century ; or, Nick Carter and the Chief of
Conspirators.

For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, - :
5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by

STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 78-89 Seventh AVENNEs New York

Nick Carter’s exploits are read the world over.

 

  
  
   
   
  
  
    
 
 
 

High art colored

re

752—The Spider’s Web; or, Nick Carter’s Coney Island Case.

753—The Man With a Crutch: or, Nick Carter on the Trail o
Dickie Ducie.

754—The Rajah’s Regalia; or, Nick Carter and the Fallon Twin:

755—Saved from Death; or, Nick Carter’s Service.

756—The Man Inside; or, Nick Carter’s Final Move.

757—Ont ta Vengeance; or, Nick Carter and the Mystic Mes

7s8-—The PPaisens of Exili; or, Nick Carter on Death’s “Trail.

759—The Antique Vial; or, Nick Carter’s Curious Mystery. |
760—Lhe House of Slumber : or, Nick Carter’s Work of a Da!
761—A Double Identity ; or, Nick Carter and the Inspector. ,-
762—“The Mocker’s” Stratagem; or, Nick Carter’s Smartest Aq?

versary.

763—The Man that Came Back; or, Nick Carter’s Finish Fight.
764—The Tracks in the Snow; or, Nick Carter’s Strange Clew.
765—The Babbington Case; or, Nick Carter’s Puzzling Question
766—Masters of Millions; or, Nick Carter’s Prophetic Statement
767—The Blue Stain; or, Nick Carter’s Misleading Clews.

 

 

IF YOU W. ANT ANY B ACK. NUMBERS of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they ean >

_obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it
ws with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to ron by return mail.

  

POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.

 

STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.

Dear Sirs: Enclosed please, find...

TIP TOP WEEKLY, UNG ee s
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Names 6d.

~

Melee Se ebadeseesseece ce cents for which send Wee

hocse ce CHEV ns

@eereseseeeeseeeeeceeeeeeeeee Woraaclee se cise Geeene cue crane

eeceeeeesreeveee oe e ©8008 4
. 4
ereVwocaereeanes?'

sence ecncececccocccsesees EAE. cescscccecness*!

 

 
 
 

 

BUFFALO BILL STORIES

 

 

ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY

BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS |

 

 

There is no need of our telling American readers how interesting the stories of the adventures

of Buffalo Bill, as scout and plainsman, really are.

weekly for many years, and are voted to be masterpieces dealing with Western adventure.
Buffalo Bill is more popular to-day than he ever was, and, consequently, everybody ought to

know all there is to know about him.

the actual habits and life of this great man, as by reading the BUFFALO BILL STORIES.
You can have your news-dealer
order them or they wil! be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in
money or postage-sfamps.

We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print.

292—Buffalo
293—Buffalo
298—Buffalo
299—Buffalo
305—Buffalo
306—Buffalo
3808—Buffalo
309— Buffalo
312—Buffalo
314—Buffalo
315—Buffalo
316—Buffalo
319—Butffalo
321—Butffalo
324—Buftaio
325—Buffalo
326—Buffalo
327—Buffalo
328—Buffalo
329—Buftalo
330—-Buffalo
331—Buffalo
332— Buffalo
333—-Buffalo
334—Buffalo
335—Buffalo
336—Buffalo
337—Buffalo
338—-Butfalo
339—Buffalo
340—Buffalo
341—Buffalo
342—Buftfalo
3438—Buffalo
344—Buffalo
345—Buffalo
346—Buffalo
348—Buffalo
349—Buffalo
350—Buffalo
351—Buffalo
352—Buffalo
353—Buffalo
354—Buffalo
855—Butffalo
356—Buffalo
357—Butffalo
358—Buffalo
359—Buffalo
360—Buffalo
3862—Buffalo
363—Buffalo
364—Buffalo
366—Buffalo
367—Buffalo
368—Buffalo
3869—Butftalo
370—Buffalo
371—Buffalo
372— Buffalo
3874—Buftalo
375—Buffalo
377— Buffalo
378—Buffalo
379—Buffalo
380—Buffalo
381—Buffalo
382—Buffalo
383—Buffalo
384—Buffalo
385— Buffalo
386—Buffalo
387—Buffalo
3888—Buffalo
3889—Butffalo

Ti you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot
Postage-stamps taken the same as money.

STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY |

‘from this office.

Bill’s Medicine-lodge........
Ble ANG ROni eae ccm menul nee a
Bill's, Black Wages ou of.)
Bill’s Desperate Dozen.......
Bill and the Barge Bandits. .
Bill, the Desert Hotspur....
Bill’s Whirlwind Chase......
Bill's Red Retribution.......
Bill’s Death Jump

Bill in the Jaws of Death....

Bill’s Aztec Runners........ 5

Bill’s Dance with Death.....
Bill’s Mazeppa Ride........ 5
Bills Gypsy bands oko. 2
Bubs: Gold Hunters... 6 2.) 5:2.
Bil AN Old MEXICO eels choy.

2

0
Bill’s Message from the Dead 5
Bill and the Wolf-master.... 5

Bill’s Flying Wonder........
Bill’s Hidden Gold... 2. 5c...
Bills: Outlaw: Erawbooos ot:
Bill and the Indian Queen...
Bill and the Mad Marauder. .
Bus fice Barricade 2.07. 5.5...
Bill and the Robber Elk.....

Bills Ghest Dance... 52)... 3 6 <. 5

Bills Peace-pipe . oe)... ee
Bills Red Nemesis..........
Bill’s Enchanted Mesa......
Bill in the Desert of Death. .
Biles Pay SERGa Keune.
Bill on Detached Duty......
Bus: Arm: Mystery 005...
Bill’s Surprise Party.......
Bills Great! Rides s eae es
Biles = Watercr rai aie cue:
Bills: Ordeal-of Wire. 2.0.5.2
Bill’s Casket of Pearls.....
Billse Sky -Bilot ooo os wi.
BEES @ oe POteM io aes ia. aleua a
Bills: Mathoat: Pritts. 3
Bille OnmDeekrirvacissctersentcrenars
Bill and the Bronecho Buster.
Bill’s Great Round-up.......
Bills Pledsew meee ee cieeeahi
BILLS COW OY, Gear io) sce siins
Bill and the Emigrants.....
Bill Among the Pueblos.....
Bill’s Four-footed Pards.....
Bilis Protege s icy aie oa
Bill Sy eP rekon cise aiave sues ree
BHKS) Questysvesc sees Gees
Bill’s Waif of the Plains....
Bill Among the Mormons....
Bill's -ASsistanées scree oc
Bill’s Rattlesnake Trail.....
Bill and the Slave-dealers...
IBUES -StLOns ATE. sce ee
Billi siGink Bardi sa eae ee
Bills Tron: Braceletsic. 2). 3 2:
Bill's; Jade: Amulet. oo bi 2
Bilhs (Magic, Marat nsec ca,
Bill's: Bridge: of Mire. 2. :
ITI SBOWCE ails Accs nae ol onos F
BLES ePawestreakie ie cee ora: :
Bil s aMine so ee Se.
Bill’s 2 ;
BTS eRSO 5 ochre rear oe aan als
Billy Overboard. cou ee
BR Se Re eee ie cia cle eee
Biles: Bios ContracGar seo F
Bill and Calamity Jane.....
STNG IRs PPOs ce ey nes b
Bills Desperate Plight...... 5
Bill’s Fearless Stand........ 5

 

390—Butffalo
391—Buffalo
392—Buffalo
393—Buffalo
394—Buffalo
395—Buffalo
396—Buftalo
397—Butffalo
398—Buffalo
399—Buftalo
400—Buffalo
401—Buftfalo
402—Buffalo
403—Buffalo
404—Buffalo
405—Butffalo
406—Buffalo
407—Buffalo
408—Butfalo
409—Buffalo
410—Buffalo
411—Buffalo
412—Buffalo
413—Buffalo
414—-Buffalo
415—Buffalo
416— Buffalo
417—Buffalo
418—Buffalo
419—Buffalo
421—Buffalo
422-—Buffalo
423—Buffalo
424—Buffalo
425—Buffalo
426—Buffalo
427—Buffalo
428—Buffalo
429—Buffalo
430—Buffalo
431—Buffalo
432—Buffalo
433-—Buffalo
434—Buffalo
435—Buffalo
436—Buffalo
437—Buffalo
438—Buffalo
439—Buffalo
440—Buffalo
441—-Buffalo
442—Buffalo
443—Buffalo
444-_Buffalo
445—Buffalo
446—Buffalo
447—Buftfalo
448—Buffalo
449—Buffalo
450—Buffalo
451—Buffalo

Bill and the Yelping Crew...
Bills “Guidine: “Hiamd::!. 05.47, 5
Bills Queer Quest... 2.0 ce. a
Bill’s Prize ‘‘Get-away”’.....
3ill’s Hurricane Hustle.....
US AS Ra PL aya crease aus etonte
BiELESH Blues, seen se Rete cuties
USE ena CKhORS ane i tele enue tis
Bilis “Dutch Pardes. sa auc
Bill and the: Bravo geen.)
Bill and the Quaker... 0002.
Bill’s Package of Death.....
Bills; PreasureCache.)......
Bad Sileriveaicer  NWialke us cis a cusre
Bill and the Trouble Hunter.
3ill and the Rope Wizard...
BHM S COMIC STAG cout NN
Bill Among the Cheyennes..
BUT BeSleSed ie ienet esis.
Bill and the Red Hand.....
Bill’s Tree-trunk Drift......
Bill and the Specter... 0...
Bill and the Red Feathers. .
BS: ing ASGROKer ie eeienorcS
Bill, the Desert Cyclone.....
Bill’s Cumbres Scouts.......
Bill and the Man-wolf......
3ill and His Winged Pard...
Bill at. Babylon] Bare... 4).
DLS LOWS): AMIN hs: cokes Ne ear
Biles Steel Arm Rardii. ccc
Bels DAztee Gund@en we. aes sia.
Bulvand Little ebired yin...
Bill ins the Aztec City... 3
Bill’s Balloon Escape...... M3
Bill and the Guerrillas......
BUS Bordervwati ci het.
Bill’s Mexican Mix-up.......
Bill and the Gamecock...... ;
Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders {
Bill’s Whirlwind Finish..... :
Bill’s Santa Fe Secret......
Bill and the Taos Terror....
Bill’s Bracelet of Gold......
Bill and the Border Baron..
Bill at Salt River Ranch....
Bill’s Panhandle Man-hunt..
Billeat: Blossom, Range i...
Billand. Juniper Joe 2h
Bulisnih inal SCoops task xc.
Pibleat: Clearwater s wes a is
Bills Winnins sepa. k. sie:
Bids Cimeh HQ ean tye wit ore
Bills eECOMraGeS ee sui aac
Bilan the, Badnwands sie os
Bill and the Boy Bugler.....
Bill and the Heathen Chinee.
Bill and the Chink War.....
Bill’s:: Chinese Chase. 055... :
Bill’s Secret Message.......
Bill and the Horde of Her-

UCHOUOTOT

oO

aie.
Oo

VOUS

oS

CACTUS

CUOTOUOVOH

Li

o

NOVO

°
o

OVO

AN NOUN

AWS

NOES

mosa

45 2—Buffalo
453—Buffalo
454—Buffalo
455—Buffalo
456—Butffalo
457—Buffalo
458—Buffalo
459—Buffalo
460—Buffalo
461—Buffalo
462—Buffalo
463—Buftfalo
464—Buffalo

Brilis lonesome (Prats (osc
BE Se Oley cr enn Sere
Billet rd WOO esi ee crise
BUS ESE CATO oe eee, aA
Bill and Old Moonlight.....
Bae ee ante waseueeevet ove ss tei slowaivere
Bilis ei nar Owe Kecntncact sess ate c.4
Bubs: “Sight: Unseen’...
Bris New: (ParGay vc ceicee she
Bill’s ‘Winged Victory”..... .
Bill’s Pieces-of-eight........ a)
Bill and the Hight Vaqueros. 5
Bill’s: Unlucky Siesta....... 5

465—Butffalo
466—Butffalo
467-—Buffalo
468—Buffalo
469—Buffalo
470— Buffalo
471—Buffalo
472—Buffalo
473—Buffalo
4—Buffalo
5—Buffalo
6—Buffalo
7—Buftalo
8—Buffalo
9—Buffalo
481—Buffalo
482—-Buffalo
483—Buttalo
484—Buffalo
485—Buffalo
486—Buffalo
487—Buffalo
488—Butffalo
489—Buftalo
490—Buffalo
492—Buffalo
493—Buftalo
494—Buffalo
495—Buffalo
ers

7
it
Gi
Ef
iT
C

497—Butffalo
498—Buffalo
499—Buffalo
500—Buffalo
501—Buffalo
502—Buffalo
503—Buffalo
504—Buftalo
505—Buffalo
506—Buffalo
507—Buftfalo
508—Buffalo
509—Buffalo
510—Buffalo
511—Buffalo
512—Buffalo
513—Buffalo
514—-Buffalo
515—Buffalo
516—Buffalo
517—Buffalo
518—Buffalo
519—Butffalo
520—Butffalo
man
521—Buffalo
522-—Buffalo
523—Buffalo
524—Buffalo
525—Buffalo
526—Buffalo
527—Buffalo
528—Buffalo
529—Buffalo
530—Buffalo
531—Buffalo
532—Buffalo
533—Buffalo
534—Buffalo
535—Buffalo
5386—Buffalo
| 537—Buffalo
| 538—Buffalo
539—Buffalo

 

 

496—Buffalo,

Bills: Apache Clue yes: o2k.
Bill and the Apache Totem..
Bill’s Golden Wonder.......
Billeeshirestas Nig toes).
Bill and the Hatchet Boys..
Bill and the Mining Shark..

These stories have been read exclusively in this

In no manner can you become so thoroughly acquainted with

vo

Bill and the Cattle Barons.. 5

Biles wongeeOddse i mee...
Bill, the Peacemaker.......
Buss Promise topPay.s.:.
Bills (Diamond shitehnen
Bill and the Wheel of Fate.
Bill and the Pool of Mystery
Bill and the Deserter.......
Bill’s Island in the Air......

VOHSTOTS

Tr Ore

Bilis eRe MaAtuM 2k. 5

PURSUE silk di Caonee ceetaiteteeteee ss
Bill and the Ponca Raiders.
Bill’s Boldest Stroke.:.....
Bis CHM em aes eases):
Billi Se Blo Gkaid eeiteece ween:
Bill and the Gilded Clique...
Bill and: Berditan Reyes... .).

Bill sand the (BOOmMersncncs 5. 5

Bill Call

Bill’s O. I

Bill ate Canon | Diablo... .:.
BRIS ANISH e Teles petsies es

Bill and the Red Horse Hunt-

Bill’s Dangerous Duty......
Bill and the Chief’s Daughter
Bill atic inaja Wells sank...
Bill and the Men of Mendon.
Bill at Rainbow’s End

Bill and the Russian Plot...
Billiss Rede rman oleae os:
Bills es Royal SHISis, sakes
BUMS ray cha Eiatsrs crete ac iah
Bill on the Upper Missouri. .
Bills: Crow, Scouts... sia. 3:
Bris Opin Case sacs ae aie
BilleseeWiteheratticccsns soc.
Bills’ Mountain Noes. 20.2. :.
BES EBattle Ory wissen
Bil’s Fight for the Right...
BILLS eB ATDe GUC tt avec roe die
Bill and the Red Renegade. .
Bill and the Apache Kid....
Bill at the Copper Barriers.
Bribes Paciies POwet: ssc. as
Bill and Chief Hawkechee....
Bill and the Indian Girl....
Bill Across the.Rio Grande. .

eo

NOU SOU OUST OUCH SOUT OUST

HAODCHNS

o

Bill and the Headless Horse- _

Bill’s Clean Sweep:

Bill’s Handful of Pearls.... °
Bulls Pueblo: Mocsiice ag ss, 5

Biles Paos Motes cas.

oO

Bill and the Pawnee Prophet 5

Bill and Old Wanderoo......
BillisseMerny Wate. scat.

Bill and Grigzly, Danes...) : t
Bill at Lone Tree Gap...... ‘

Bill’s

‘Era: or, Deaths ic... t

Billat:- Cimaroonwbare. 0... 5

Bill and the Sluice Robber...
BillsonviWwost Rivera) cas.
Bills a hhunderbolte wc. 6. +

Biles SToux Cire syn ci os. é

PIES SOU MACKIE Muni i

Bili and the Talking Statue.. ¢

Bills Medicine, Mrail ss.) .). 3
Bill and the Knife Wizard...

5

procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained direct

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