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diff --git a/old/63705-0.txt b/old/63705-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 672c827..0000000 --- a/old/63705-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12155 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Buffalo Bill's Bold Play, by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Buffalo Bill's Bold Play - The Tiger of the Hills - -Author: Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - -Release Date: November 10, 2020 [EBook #63705] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO BILL'S BOLD PLAY *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Susan Carr and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play - - OR, - - THE TIGER OF THE HILLS - - - BY - - Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - - Author of the celebrated “Buffalo Bill” stories published in the - BORDER STORIES. For other titles see catalogue. - - - [Illustration: (Colophon)] - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION - PUBLISHERS - 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York - - - - - - - +----------------------------------+ - | | - | Copyright, 1909 | - | By STREET & SMITH | - | ----- | - | Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play | - | | - +----------------------------------+ - - - (Printed in the United States of America) - - All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign - languages, including the Scandinavian. - - - - - CONTENTS - - PAGE - IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY 1 - I. JUNIPER JOE’S JUBILEE. 5 - II. “JACKSON DANE, DETECTIVE.” 15 - III. THE BARON FINDS EXCITEMENT. 29 - IV. SUSPICIONS. 40 - V. THE SURPRISE AT JUNIPER JOE’S. 49 - VI. THE BARON’S ADVENTURES. 57 - VII. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 71 - VIII. STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES. 83 - IX. THE CHASE. 88 - X. STARTLING REVELATIONS. 99 - XI. THE FOOL OF FOLLY MOUNTAIN. 106 - XII. THE MISSION OF WHITE-EYED MOSES. 117 - XIII. BENSON ACTS. 127 - XIV. A WORRIED SHERIFF. 133 - XV. THE SHERIFF’S WARNING. 145 - XVI. THE GOPHER BITES. 151 - XVII. THE BARON’S EXPERIENCE. 158 - XVIII. AN ASSASSIN AT WORK. 167 - XIX. SHIFTING THE PRISONERS. 182 - XX. SPRINGING THE TRAP. 196 - XXI. TIM BENSON’S ESCAPE. 206 - XXII. TIM BENSON’S CLEVERNESS. 211 - XXIII. BUFFALO BILL’S HOLD-UP. 221 - XXIV. GORILLA JAKE. 237 - XXV. THE BETTS BROTHERS. 253 - XXVI. IN THE UTE VILLAGES. 259 - XXVII. MATT SHEPARD AND THE MASSACRE. 263 - XXVIII. HOW IT WORKED. 275 - XXIX. THE DARING OF BILL BETTS. 294 - XXX. THE CAPTURE OF BENSON. 305 - - - - - IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY - - (BUFFALO BILL). - - -It is now some generations since Josh Billings, Ned Buntline, and -Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, intimate friends of Colonel William F. -Cody, used to forgather in the office of Francis S. Smith, then -proprietor of the _New York Weekly_. It was a dingy little office on -Rose Street, New York, but the breath of the great outdoors stirred -there when these old-timers got together. As a result of these -conversations, Colonel Ingraham and Ned Buntline began to write of -the adventures of Buffalo Bill for Street & Smith. - -Colonel Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa, February 26, 1846. -Before he had reached his teens, his father, Isaac Cody, with his -mother and two sisters, migrated to Kansas, which at that time was -little more than a wilderness. - -When the elder Cody was killed shortly afterward in the Kansas -“Border War,” young Bill assumed the difficult rôle of family -breadwinner. During 1860, and until the outbreak of the Civil War, -Cody lived the arduous life of a pony-express rider. Cody volunteered -his services as government scout and guide and served throughout -the Civil War with Generals McNeil and A. J. Smith. He was a -distinguished member of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry. - -During the Civil War, while riding through the streets of St. Louis, -Cody rescued a frightened schoolgirl from a band of annoyers. In true -romantic style, Cody and Louisa Federci, the girl, were married March -6, 1866. - -In 1867 Cody was employed to furnish a specified amount of buffalo -meat to the construction men at work on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. -It was in this period that he received the sobriquet “Buffalo Bill.” - -In 1868 and for four years thereafter Colonel Cody served as scout -and guide in campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. It was -General Sheridan who conferred on Cody the honor of chief of scouts -of the command. - -After completing a period of service in the Nebraska legislature, -Cody joined the Fifth Cavalry in 1876, and was again appointed chief -of scouts. - -Colonel Cody’s fame had reached the East long before, and a great -many New Yorkers went out to see him and join in his buffalo hunts, -including such men as August Belmont, James Gordon Bennett, Anson -Stager, and J. G. Heckscher. In entertaining these visitors at Fort -McPherson, Cody was accustomed to arrange wild-West exhibitions. In -return his friends invited him to visit New York. It was upon seeing -his first play in the metropolis that Cody conceived the idea of -going into the show business. - -Assisted by Ned Buntline, novelist, and Colonel Ingraham, he started -his “Wild West” show, which later developed and expanded into “A -Congress of the Rough Riders of the World,” first presented at Omaha, -Nebraska. In time it became a familiar yearly entertainment in the -great cities of this country and Europe. Many famous personages -attended the performances, and became his warm friends, including Mr. -Gladstone, the Marquis of Lorne, King Edward, Queen Victoria, and the -Prince of Wales, now King of England. - -At the outbreak of the Sioux, in 1890 and 1891, Colonel Cody served -at the head of the Nebraska National Guard. In 1895 Cody took up the -development of Wyoming Valley by introducing irrigation. Not long -afterward he became judge advocate general of the Wyoming National -Guard. - -Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) died in Denver, Colorado, on January -10, 1917. His legacy to a grateful world was a large share in -the development of the West, and a multitude of achievements in -horsemanship, marksmanship, and endurance that will live for ages. -His life will continue to be a leading example of the manliness, -courage, and devotion to duty that belonged to a picturesque phase -of American life now passed, like the great patriot whose career it -typified, into the Great Beyond. - - - - - BUFFALO BILL’S BOLD PLAY. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - JUNIPER JOE’S JUBILEE. - - -When that wonderful invitation was read by the masculine element and -the few women of Blossom Range, it created a sensation, announcing, -as it did, that Juniper Joe’s jubilee was to consist of his marriage -to a charming widow of the East, Mrs. Rafferty, followed by a dance -and “refreshments.” - -Stuck up in front of the post office, in none too legible -handwriting, it invited the whole town. - -The ending was a screamer: - - “If you-all what sees this invitation dont come, you shore will - miss the only first-class happenin that, so fur, has hit this - hyer lively hamlet. I aint seen Mrs. Rafferty yit; but I have her - photographt, an shes all to the good, jedgin by it. Anyway, I’m - takin the risks. Every man what is goin to laff at me had better - come armed; and every man what is goin to envy me my good fortune - why he had better come armed, too. The ceremony will be performed - strictly accordin to Hoyle, by our cellerbated feller townsmen an - Jestis of the Peace Jedge Abercrombie Morris. After the weddin - there will be a dance, and after the dance refreshments of the kind - you-all can appreciate. The music aint goin to be no Wagnerian - concert stuff, but somethin that has got a lively jump in it; - furnished by that prince of fiddlers White-eyed Moses. And jokes - about Moses’ eyes or nose will provoke a homicide. Likewise anybody - callin’ his fiddle a violin will be shot on the spot. What the - refreshments aire to consist of will depend on what sort of truck - Gopher Gabe happens to have in stock behind his bar when the happy - day arrives.” - -The thing was signed by “Juniper Joe.” - -What the fellow’s real name was few, if any, knew; some said it was -Mason, some Morgan, some even slandered him by claiming that he -walked about among men bearing the plebeian cognomen of John Jones, -where he was better known. - -Juniper Joe’s cabin--it was a big one--stood right at the edge of -the camp of Blossom Range, on the east. The back of it burrowed into -a hill; and in that hill was Juniper Joe’s mine. No one could get -into the mine, it was claimed, unless he went through the house; and -the house was always locked, when Juniper Joe was at work, or not -receiving company. - -The mine had gained great fame lately. Juniper Joe had struck -“pockets” that were wonderfully rich, judging by Blossom Range -standards. They were rather high standards, too; for other men, in -other holes in the ground, were making good strikes, all round the -town. - -It was because he had been so phenomenally lucky that had induced -Juniper Joe to seek a helpmate; he wanted a woman to share his -joys and sorrows, and help him to spend his surplus cash. He might -have got one even in Blossom Range, on account of the plutocratic -reputation he had suddenly acquired; but he preferred to pass them -by and seek in fields afar for the future partner of his bosom. So he -said. - -Juniper Joe’s invitations were a ten days’ sensation; they would have -been a month’s sensation, if that time had intervened before the -wedding and the dance. - -When the stage came in from Calumet Springs, on the morning of the -day fixed, every man who could be there was down at the stables, for -it was known that the stage was bringing the bride. - -Juniper Joe was there, of course, at the forefront, ready to welcome -to this “garden spot of the mountains” the future Mrs. Joe. Also, he -was arrayed regardless; in solemn black, with a shirt and collar as -white as Mrs. Maginniss, the laundry lady, could make them; and by -extra pay she had been spurred to do her best. Topping his head was a -silk cady of the previous year’s vintage, which he had bought of the -one Jew pawnbroker of the place. The pawnbroker had worn it the first -day he came into the camp; there was still a dent in one side, where -the brickbat had landed which expressed the town’s disapproval of -that style of headgear. Israel Silverman, being by nature a wise man, -had then laid the cady gently away in moth balls; only to resurrect -it and sell it to Juniper Joe. - -On this day no one took a shot with brickbat or stone at the shining -hat. One reason was that Juniper Joe had a “hostyle” temper when he -was aroused by what he considered an insult; the second reason was -a double one, but like it; he had two revolvers belted to his manly -waist, under the tails of his black broadcloth. - -There was some disappointment when Mrs. Rafferty descended from the -stage; _she was veiled!_ It was a staggering blow to the curiosity -of Blossom Range. But she recognized Juniper Joe, when he rushed to -meet her; and the envious crowd was permitted to see her walk away, -with her arm hooked through his, to the “hack” he had ordered. - -He escorted her, in the hack, to the best hotel in Blossom Range, -where he left her for the time being. - -One other circumstance must be mentioned, in connection with that -arrival, which created almost as much curiosity as the coming of the -Widow Rafferty. - -Out of the same stage coach stepped a tall man, of handsome carriage -and almost military bearing; a small, oldish man, with a seamed face -and whitening hair; and a round-bodied man, whose legs were thin as -pipe stems. They, too, took their way to the self-same hotel; but -they walked. - -When they had been in the town less than an hour, it became known, or -noised about, that the three men were Buffalo Bill and his two pards, -Nick Nomad and Baron Schnitzenhauser. - -But what were they there for? - -Nobody could answer the question, and few people thought of them -long. Time could not be wasted on people, even so prominent, when -every one in town had to think all the while of the coming “jubilee.” - -Yet the three were not wholly forgotten; for along in the afternoon a -copy of that queer invitation found its way to the men mentioned. - -To it was appended a little postscript: - - “Mrs. Rafferty says that as you-all was so pleasant to her while - she was with ye in the stage from Calumet Springs, that she thinks - highly of ye, and has suggested that it would be ther proper caper - if, though bein strangers, you was invited. Tharfore it’s hopin - that you-all will feel free to look on at the weddin, fling a - heel in the dancin, and sample the refreshments all ye like. In - this I am gladly jinin Mrs. Rafferty; though, at the same time, - acknowledgin that hers is the gentle hand at present on the tiller - of the bark matrimonyul. So here’s again hopin you-all will come.” - -This, too, was signed “Juniper Joe.” - -It is almost needless to say that the trio went. - -The fiddle of White-eyed Moses was scraping, and thudding feet shook -the rafters at the time of the arrival of Buffalo Bill and his pards -at Jubilee Joe’s cabin. But the wedding ceremony had not yet taken -place. The premature dancing was due to certain men so hilariously -inclined that they had “tipped” the fiddler, and set him to going -ahead of time, because they could not wait. - -But this ended, when Abercrombie Morris came into the room and asked -for quiet, announcing that the momentous moment had arrived. - -“Honored as we aire this evening,” said “Judge” Morris, “we aire -under obligations to conduct ourselves as ladies and gents, and lend -a listenin’ ear to the sollum words which is goin’ to bind this man -and woman together in the holy bonds o’ matrimony.” - -He was “sollum” enough himself, in his black clothing, his fat, -florid face clean-shaven, his hair plastered down tight against his -scalp with pomade; he was the only “legal light” in Blossom Range, -and appraised himself accordingly. - -The main room, large as it was, was crowded to suffocation, the -guests wedging themselves round the walls in closely packed ranks, -leaving an open space in the centre, where Morris had taken his stand. - -Buffalo Bill and his pards were near the outer door, but in a -position where they could witness everything that took place. - -A hush fell on the crowd, as a door at the other end of the room -opened, and the bride and groom appeared in it. - -Mrs. Rafferty, revealing herself for the first time, was seen to be -a medium-sized woman, light-haired, and much painted and powdered. -She was dressed in white, and carried roses. Rumor said, afterward, -that they had been ordered from Frisco, at a staggering price, by the -happy bridegroom. Mrs. Rafferty was almost as solemn in appearance as -Morris; but Juniper Joe shot happy glances here and there, apparently -willing to think that all the men in the room were dying of envy. - -Abercrombie Morris, Justice of the Peace, having never officiated on -such an occasion, bungled the marriage service through nervousness; -yet drew it out to a wonderful length, sure that in Blossom Range -Fate would not soon give him such opportunity. - -The crowd was respectful; it would have been quite as much so, even -if it had not noted the bulging of the coat tails of the bridegroom. - -When Abercrombie Morris had pronounced the couple “husband and wife,” -Juniper Joe took much apparent delight in introducing his bride to -every one in the house he could reach conveniently. - -When it was through, he made a little speech. - -“What I has to say, ladies and feller citizens, is: ‘Go and do -likewise.’ Thar, on the wall, set in a picture frame which I made -to-day myself, is the thing which worked the trick fer me; and any of -you can use the same means, and make a copy of it, if you want to do -as I did.” - -He pointed to an advertisement cut from a newspaper, which he had -framed and stuck against the wall. - -“I don’t need to sling no wise advice to the ladies present; fer they -aire knowin’ well to the fact that they can each and every one of -’em git married any minute that they say the word. So I directs my -remarks to the male sect; which, because it’s out o’ all proportion -with the other in this hyer town, don’t have much of a show. In the -East, thar’s women so numerous that they fair jostles each other, -without half enough men to go round; a condition that is highly -prejudicial to the good of society both hyer and thar. Most any o’ -them women would jump at a chanct to marry a likely man, ’specially -if he could show a good bank account. The hills round this hamlet -aire sproutin’ with gold, in pockets, leads, fissure veins, and every -other way; every man hyer has got a cinch on wealth, if only he’ll -hustle. And that wealth will git him a wife, if he wants one; it’s -what brung me mine.” - -He looked round, beaming, the woman at his side. - -“That’s all,” he said; “except that the room will now be cleared -fer the dancin’. White-eyed Moses has promised to hand out some o’ -his choicest toe-ticklin’ selections; and you-all know how he can -do it. No firearms er knives to be allowed on the dancin’ floor; no -altercations permitted, neither. The first gent that starts one will -be bounced.” - -He swung on round, still smiling, a gaunt figure, in his black -clothing. - -“So,” he finished, “that’s all; git yer pardners.” - -In order to do that, as there was so few women, some of the men -knotted handkerchiefs round their left arms, to indicate that they -were “women”; and the dancing began, as White-eyed Moses struck up -one of his lively quadrilles. - -The new Mrs. Juniper Joe--no one could remember that even in the -ceremony Abercrombie Morris had called him anything but Juniper -Joe!--tried to dance with nearly every man there, when they besieged -her for that favor; and only gave over the attempt because the -fiddler’s arm took a cramp at last, and he stopped fiddling. - -The new Mrs. Juniper Joe thus proved that she was certainly of the -strenuous type, so far as muscular activity was concerned. - -As the dancing ended, and there was a rush for the “refreshments,” a -thing occurred which threw every one into a flutter of excitement. - -A man who, as it appeared later, had not been invited came in. He was -a small, lithe man, with a smooth face, and keen, light-blue eyes; -Buffalo Bill had observed him almost as soon as he was in the room, -and wondered who he was. - -His discovery, close by the door, which was open behind him, brought -quick work on the part of the hitherto smiling bridegroom. Juniper -Joe’s revolvers bounced out of their hiding places beneath his coat -tails, and were fired as soon as he could swing them up; the two -reports, one from each revolver, crashing together. - -The lithe little man tumbled backward against the door, which his -fall half closed. - -As he did so, he sent a shot which smashed the one light--a huge -kerosene lamp suspended from the ceiling--thus plunging the room into -darkness. - -There was wild confusion following this shooting. Men tumbled -headlong out of the place, by the doors and windows; those who -remained flung themselves flat on the floor, to escape possible -bullets. - -The loud voice of Juniper Joe was heard, commanding that another lamp -should be brought. - -“I guess I got him,” he said. - -But when the lamp was brought, from another room, the little man was -not found, dead or wounded, by the door. Juniper Joe’s bullets had -gone through the wood of the door; but neither on the door, nor the -floor by it, was there a stain of blood. - -There were naturally vociferous howls for an explanation, by the men -who had dropped for safety; this thing of a man beginning pistol work -like that seemed to call for an apology. - -Juniper Joe gave it, in a few crisp and characteristic words. - -“That feller, gents,” he said, “was Tim Benson, road agent and -gin’ral outlaw, what I’m shore has been doin’ the hold-up work -recently on these hyer trails. I seen him onct, at Holbrook, when -he made a gitaway, after robbin’ the Holbrook stage. He got five -thousand dollars o’ my good money at that time, and I swore I’d kill -him if ever I got a chanct. I thought I had the chanct, jes’ now; but -dropped it, somehow. I reckon I didn’t hit him, fer he shot out the -light, and seems to have hit the safe places outside somewhar.” - -Not many of the guests tarried for the “refreshments” after that. -Some went to look for Tim Benson; others, scared, thought it best to -take themselves off. In ten minutes after the shooting, Juniper Joe’s -cabin was nearly emptied. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - “JACKSON DANE, DETECTIVE.” - - -At the Eagle House, an hour afterward, the man shot at by Juniper Joe -appeared before the door of Buffalo Bill’s room, and rapped. - -Nomad, who was in the room with the scout and the baron, being -nearest the door, drew it open. - -The little man came in, glancing narrowly around; a quiet man, -apparently mild-mannered. There was nothing remarkable in his looks; -in a crowd he would have been passed without notice. Yet to the keen -eyes of Buffalo Bill the man’s very quietness of manner spoke of -reserve force and repression. - -“Cody, is it not?” said the little man, addressing the scout. - -“The same,” the scout answered. “Have a chair with us. These are my -good friends, Nick Nomad and Baron von Schnitzenhauser.” - -“Glad ter meet up with ye,” said Nomad, as the stranger tucked -himself into the first chair. - -“Aber I tond’t knowed you, I gan say der same py mineselluf,” -seconded the German. - -The stranger regarded them closely. - -“Thanks!” he said. “I think all you fellers was up at Juniper Joe’s -when he took them shots at me.” - -“Ouch! We seen idt! One of dose pullets vhistled so close py mine ear -dot I t’ink I can hear him yidt.” - -“I fancy they didn’t come as close to you as to me!” - -The little man ran his hand through his hair, and revealed a red welt -on his forehead, just under the hair he had lifted. - -“One of them came as near to me as that. I wonder it didn’t knock me -out. I still had enough sense to pull for the lamp, as I went down; -then I crawled out through the door, and got away.” - -He looked at the three men curiously, as if wondering what they -thought of it. - -“It was quick shooting!” was the comment of Buffalo Bill. - -The man had not yet introduced himself; and the scout did not forget -that Juniper Joe had charged him with being Benson, the road agent, a -man the scout had never met, but whom he wished right then he could -surely lay his hands on. - -In truth, Buffalo Bill and his friends had been discussing this very -man when he appeared at the door and came in. - -“What was said about me, after the shooting?” the stranger asked, -drawing one leg over the other and settling into an easy attitude. - -“I suppose you want us to be quite frank with you?” said the scout. - -“That’s what I’m expecting, gents. I knew something would be said, -and I fancied you heard it. I confess I got away so quick that, -whatever it was, I lost it. The climate there didn’t seem healthy for -me; so I tried as fast as I could to change it.” - -He smiled, then--a thin-lipped smile, that had little merriment in it. - -“Juniper Joe declared,” the scout told him directly, “that you were -Tim Benson, the outlaw and road agent; that he recognized you, as -soon as you came through the door, as being the man who had held up a -stage at Holbrook and robbed it, getting five thousand dollars of his -money; for which he had sworn to kill you on sight.” - -That thin-lipped smile, sneering now, became evident again. - -“A clever yarn, to be made up so quickly!” - -“Then, it wasn’t true?” the scout queried. - -“Not a word of it. On the contrary, instead of being Tim Benson, I am -Jackson Dane, of San Francisco, in the detective business, and came -here looking for Tim Benson myself.” - -“Ach! Iss dot so-o?” gasped the baron. - -“It’s so.” - -“Py yiminy, dhen----” - -But the scout cut in, to keep the baron from making some damaging -statement: - -“I suppose there must be something in your general appearance which -caused Juniper Joe to make that fool mistake?” - -The stranger laughed at that. - -“If so, it came near being a fatal blunder for me!” - -The scout and his pards were making a careful study of the man, -without appearing to do so. - -“It was a clost call,” said Nomad. “But yer war too quick fer him! -Shootin’ out ther lights is a star play, ef a man kin do et; an’ you -rung the bell at the fust crack. Buffler, here, couldn’t done et no -better.” - -“Thanks for the compliment! But”--turning to Buffalo Bill--“I -don’t think I much resemble Benson, except that we are both small -men--rather undersized, you know; which is a marked thing in this -country, where nearly all the men are so big.” - -“Size an’ heft don’t allus count,” said Nomad naïvely. “F’r instance, -thar’s Buffler, an’ thar’s me.” - -“I judge that it’s your opinion,” the scout remarked, “that Juniper -Joe didn’t make any mistake?” - -“No; he simply lied.” - -“Why?” - -“I’ll have to leave that to you; for I don’t know.” - -“Unless he really made a mistake, and thought you were Benson, he -wouldn’t have any reason to want to shoot you?” - -“If he had any reason, I don’t know it.” - -“Then, we may suppose that, seeing you there by the door, and not -having time to correct his first impression, he felt sure you were -Benson, and blazed away.” - -“Mighty careless of him to do that!” said the stranger. - -His light-blue eyes twinkled, as if the thing amused him. - -Then he shifted his legs, and for a moment the conversation seemed -stalled. He probably had noticed by this time that the scout was -closely watching him! - -“One of the things bringing me here,” he said, breaking the silence, -“was to find out if you fellows air barking up the same tree; that -is, to see if you came here chasin’ Tim Benson?” - -“If so?” the scout queried. - -“Well, then, I didn’t know but that somehow we might make shift to -work the thing together--me giving you whatever tips I run acrost, -and you doin’ the same by me. There’s a reward of ten thousand out -for Benson, half of it put up by the Wells Fargo. I’d like to handle -all of it, of course; but if I can’t swing the thing alone, I’d be -willing to divide up with good men like you; in case we could work -the thing by a combination better than singly.” - -“You know about me,” said the scout; “that is, that I’m in the -employment of the government, as a scout, and for other special -purposes; so, of course, you will see readily that if I came here -with my friends looking for Benson, it is because Benson has been -troubling the mails.” - -“Yes, I know that, or supposed it. As for me, I fly alone; in the -private detective line, you know; just now on the trail of that ten -thousand dollars reward, and hoping I’ll land it.” - -“That isn’t what I meant.” - -“No? What did you mean?” - -“That you have my credentials--that is, you know something about me. -_I don’t know anything about you!_ It’s an important matter; so I -hope you won’t mind my bluntness.” - -“But I’ve told you!” - -“But shown no papers, nor even a badge. You must have some source of -authority, I suppose?” - -For an instant the man who had given the name of Jackson Dane seemed -to hesitate. - -“The truth is,” he said, “though likely you won’t believe it, that I -lost everything in that hotel fire at Deming, where I was last week; -just got out by the skin of my teeth; so that my extra clothing and -everything else went up in smoke.” - -“Er, waugh!” Nomad gulped. - -“You think that is fishy?” - -“I didn’t say et!” the trapper apologized. “Et’s jes’ a way I has o’ -breathin’ hard, at times.” - -“You haven’t any letters which you have received since?” Buffalo Bill -questioned. - -“Well, yes: just one!” - -Jackson Dane pulled out what seemed at first a letter, but was -discovered to be an envelope from which the letter was gone; it bore -the postmark of Blossom Range, and the date of that very day. - -“I got this letter here this morning, soon after I struck the town,” -he explained. - -The scout looked at the envelope, noting that it bore the address of -“Mr. Jackson Dane, Blossom Range,” but that it held no letter. - -“I see,” he said; but his tone was noncommittal. - -“That’s all I’ve got right now, in the way of credentials,” said the -little man. - -“You’ll pardon me for saying,” said the scout quietly, “that since -Juniper Joe tried to kill you because he claimed you are Tim Benson, -it would hardly be politic for me to enter into any arrangements with -you, of the kind you mention.” - -Jackson Dane flushed slightly. - -“Sorry you look at it in that way,” he said. “But for that fire in -Deming, I could prove who I am, even to your satisfaction.” - -He sat in hesitation, looking from one to the other. Then he seemed -about to put on his hat. - -“Just what do you know about Juniper Joe?” the scout inquired of him. - -“No more than what everybody else knows here in the town, I reckon: -he has struck it rich in his mine, has taken a wife, and is -celebrating. I can’t say that I admire his judgment, that’s all.” - -“In taking a wife in that way?” - -“Just so. What does he know about her? She answers his advertisement, -which says that he is rich, and comes on. Mebby they’ll git along -together; but the chances are that they’ll be fighting like cats and -dogs inside of a month. I know that all of life is a gamble; yet I -wouldn’t take fool risks.” - -He put on his hat, and arose to go. - -“Sorry, gents, that we can’t make a hitch,” he said. “But I can ask -this of you: Don’t mention it so’s Juniper Joe will know I’ve been -here. As he seems convinced that I’m Tim Benson, I reckon I’ll have -to keep out of his sight; or else get myself ready to shoot quicker -than he can. I don’t care to get into trouble here in this town, as -that would interfere with the work that brought me.” - -He turned to the door. - -Nomad sat, crouched, as if he thought of hurling himself at the -stranger and stopping him. - -But as Buffalo Bill made no movement, the trapper held his impulse in -check; and Jackson Dane, of Frisco, wended his way down the stairs in -peace. - -“Er, waugh!” Nomad gurgled, when he was gone. “Waugh!” - -“Well, out with it, if it hurts you,” the scout told him. - -“Didn’t et strike ye thet mebby Juniper Joe told ther truth, and that -we’re lettin ’ther very critter we’re after git erway?” - -“I am yoost t’inking dot mineselluf,” said the baron; though he did -not seem excited. - -Buffalo Bill produced a flat pocketbook, and extracted from it a -tintype picture. - -It was of a miner, in red shirt and clay-stained trousers, leaning on -the handle of a miner’s pick. He looked at it closely; then passed it -to Nomad. - -The round-bodied German climbed out of his chair, and came over to -inspect it with Nomad, looking over the trapper’s shoulder. - -“Waal, et’s powerful hard ter decide a matter like thet,” said Nomad. -“This hyar was taken all o’ five y’ars ago, I reckon; and ’tain’t -anything much of a pickcher. Yet put the clo’es this hyar Jackson -Dane war w’arin’ outer ther man in this, an’ et might be ther same -feller.” - -“Aber dhey tond’t look der same, idt mighdt pe,” confessed the baron; -“budt dhis veller he iss vearin’ a musdache.” - -“’Twouldn’t be hard ter shave et off, I reckon,” Nomad reminded. - -The resemblance between the man in the tintype and Jackson Dane -could not be said to be marked. Both were apparently of about the -same size, the stature of the man in the tintype being judged by -the height of the pick. They had been told that the original of the -picture was light-haired and blue-eyed. So was Jackson Dane. - -The man in the tintype was the outlaw and road agent, Tim Benson. -They had come to Blossom Range looking for him. Two weeks before he -had been working the Blossom Range stage trails, taking heavy toll. -He had, likewise, not hesitated to lay his hands on valuables carried -in Uncle Sam’s mail bags; for which reason Buffalo Bill had been sent -on his trail. From the vicinity of Blossom Range he had skipped into -other territory; then had been heard of in Deming; when last seen, he -was said to be making back toward Blossom Range. - -That was about all that the scout knew, and it was little enough. -Five years before, Tim Benson had been a miner, in a little place -near Virginia City; it was there he had this picture taken, by a -traveling tintype artist, leaning on his miner’s pick. - -“Vale,” said the baron, “I am sduck! Vot ar-re ye going to do?” - -“I think I shall try for a talk with Juniper Joe,” said the scout. - -“Et might jump suthin’ outer ther bresh,” Nomad agreed. - -“Eenyhow,” the baron added, “I am hobing dot soon ve vill pe scaring -oop some adwentures dot haf a liddle excidemendts in ’em.” - -They were still talking the thing over, the little man not having -been gone ten minutes, when the scout had another visitor, who came -to the door of his room at the Eagle House, and knocked. - -Again Nomad drew open the door. - -All were surprised to see the object of their talk--Juniper Joe, tall -and thin, dressed in his black broadcloth, the tails of his coat -suspiciously lifted by the big revolvers that rested against his -hips. He looked carefully at the scout’s companions; then came on in, -when invited. - -“I don’t keer if I do,” he said, when the scout asked him to take a -chair. - -He helped himself to the one which the little man had occupied so -short a while before. - -“You-all was at the jubilee to-night,” he said, running his eyes over -them; “and so know what happened ter break up the gin’ral hilarity o’ -that festive occasion. Because o’ which I’m hyer, when I ought ter -be thar with my blushin’ bride this minute. I believe that the town -gin’rally thinks that the only mistake I made was in not gittin’ the -coyote I shot at; which you heerd me say was Tim Benson, the road -agent.” - -“Er, waugh! We heerd yer!” Nomad told him. - -“You know somethin’ about Benson?” - -“Not so much but thet our cur’osity is ixcited ter hear more.” - -Juniper Joe turned to Buffalo Bill. - -“I reckon you’re hyer trailin’ somebody. It’s considered lately that -you aire, when you pike into a town like this.” - -“I might be traveling for my health, you know,” Buffalo Bill -observed, with a smile. - -“When already yer has got ther health o’ a grizzly? Nobody’d think -it. No; you come hyer fer somebody; and I’ve been figgerin’ that it -must be you’re lookin’ for Benson, because he’s known to have been in -this section recent, doin’ hold-up work, as I said thar at my house.” - -“Have you known him well?” - -“I never seen him clost but onct; but then I had so good a look at -him that I spotted him to-night as soon’s he poked his nose in at the -door. Too bad that when I pulled on him I didn’t git him! Of course, -he’s still in the town; and I reckon if chanct comes his way, he’ll -make the new Mrs. Joe ag’in a widder. But I’m heeled fer him!” - -He dropped a hand to the bulging revolvers. - -“He’ll haf to pot me from the dark, if he gits me!” he boasted. “But -that ain’t what I come over hyer to elucidate, after leavin’ my bride -of an hour er so to home all alone, which ain’t a proper thing fer -any man to do; and I wouldn’t do it but for the circumstances. - -“You-all aire knowin’ to the fact,” he went on, “that lately I’ve -been hittin’ it big in my mine. Sense the Wells Fargo sent out its -last shipment, I’ve pulled out o’ that mine gold dust and nuggets to -the amount of ten thousand dollars’ worth. To-morrow the Wells Fargo -is goin’ to ship it out fer me, with stuff from a good many other -mines round hyer; I reckon thar’ll be fifty thousand dollars go out -in the express company’s cash boxes to-morrow.” - -Buffalo Bill, having been so short a time in the place, did not know -this, and was interested. - -“So-o?” said the baron. “Dot iss more gold as I haf effer seen in one -bunches.” - -“Et’s er heap,” Nomad admitted. - -“I reckoned,” went on Juniper Joe, “that you-all would be takin’ a -hand in gyardin’ that stage load of wealth when she pulls out. So -I’ve come to give ye a pinter. Jest in the cañon tother side o’ Stag -Mountain is whar you’re likely to have trouble; in my opinion, if the -agents hits you, it will be right thar. I say this so’s you can be -ready for ’em.” - -“As the Wells Fargo people haven’t told us anything about it,” said -the scout, “I think it is unlikely they will ask our help.” - -“But the mail goes through on the same stage, you know,” Juniper Joe -explained. “I jedge it’s the mail that you’re most int’rested in?” - -“Aber you tond’t know vhere diss roadt achent iss vot you shodt at,” -said the baron, “I exbose dot you vill pe looking for him yourselluf?” - -“Waal, I’ll kinder keep my eyes peeled, as I ambles round the town,” -Juniper Joe admitted. “Ye see, I think he’ll lay low, now that he -knows he has been spotted. But it’s him being hyer which makes me -figger that the bullion stage to-morrow is goin’ to have er heap of -fun gittin’ through?” - -“You think,” said the scout, “that he will hold it up, at the place -you mentioned?” - -“I figger that he has got friends hyer, and they’ll help him do it. -I’m goin’ to say to the Wells Fargo folks what I’ve said to you. And -I’m goin’ to make ’em a suggestion, which I now make to you. Why -wouldn’t it be a good idea to send the old stage out empty, but with -gyards in it? Make a bluff, ye see, which will cause Tim Benson an’ -his gang to think the bullion, nuggets, an’ dust aire goin’ that way. -Then put the stuff over the mountains in some other manner, which the -agents wouldn’t git onto.” - -“It might do,” the scout admitted. - -“Uff he tond’t gatch onto it.” - -“It can be kept quiet,” said Juniper Joe. “I jest wanted to say these -things, and have ye think ’em over to-night. Now I got to git back to -my new wife; er she’ll be thinking that mayby I’ve run up ag’inst the -pistol of Benson. She didn’t want me to come down hyer to-night, on -that account. Women aire gin’rally skeery critters, ye know.” - -He pulled himself out of his chair; then went out and downstairs, -walking slowly, as if he were thinking over the situation. - -“Er, waugh!” Nomad whooped again, when he was gone. “What does yer -make o’ _thet_?” - -“I’ll know better when I’ve had a talk with the Wells Fargo people,” -was the scout’s answer. “That’s what I’m going to do now, if I can -find them at this time of night.” - -When the scout and his pards found the Wells Fargo people, which was -not for an hour afterward, as the express office had long been closed -for the day, they discovered that Juniper Joe had deviated far enough -from his homeward track to get there with his advice ahead of them. - -“His idea is so good,” said the Wells Fargo agent, “that we’re going -to adopt it. We’ll send out the stage empty, but with a strong guard -in it. If the agents hold it up, we’ll have a chance of shooting them -all to pieces; and they will secure nothing, even if they get into -it.” - -“How will you send the stuff?” the scout asked. - -Though the agent was in his own home, he got out of his chair and, -going outside, walked all round the house, to see if possible -eavesdroppers could be there. - -When he came back he was satisfied. - -“Well, I’ll tell you,” he said. “We’ll send the stuff over -the mountains in charge of two prospectors that we _know_ are -reliable--Jack Austin and Bennett Brown. They’ll take burros, and -will pretend to be setting out on a prospecting trip; and so throw -off any suspicion. When they get down out of Eagle Gap, they’ll -swing to the east, and put the stuff on the stage at Colorow Springs, -where the stage will be instructed to wait for them. Beyond that -point there won’t be much danger, as the country is open and level, -and a hold-up wouldn’t be attempted.” - -“Der only t’ing,” said the baron, “iss, vill idt vork? I vouldt like -to go mit Austin unt Prown.” - -“Why?” said the agent. - -“Because, in my obinion, dot iss vhere der excidement iss going to pe -seen; unt I am fondt uff excidemendts.” - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - THE BARON FINDS EXCITEMENT. - - -The baron got his wish. - -The Blossom Range postmaster, having wired for instructions that -night, handed to Buffalo Bill in the morning an order requiring him -to become one of the escort of the mail stage to leave the town that -day. The post office authorities had got into quick communication -with those of the war department, with that result. - -Nomad chose to go with Buffalo Bill. The stage would carry the mails, -even though it did not take the treasure. So that determined the -matter for the scout. - -When the Wells Fargo agent asked if he could recommend a good -fighting man to go with the burros that were to be taken out by -Austin and Brown, the scout recommended the baron. - -“Ach! I am a brosbector,” said the baron, highly pleased, as he -clattered down from his room in the Eagle House and paused by the -desk of the clerk. - -He looked it, every inch, in spite of his girth and his pipe-stem -legs. He was dressed as a miner, except that he stuck to his little -fore-and-aft cap. - -“I haf seen enough since I gome py dhis town in,” he explained, “to -seddle idt vor me. Dhere iss goldt in dhese hills; unt I am going to -findt some uff idt.” - -“Look out for road agents and Indians, then, if you git hold of -any,” the clerk warned him. “Going out alone?” he asked, as a second -thought. - -“Not any. I tond’t peen ackvainted mit dhese hills, unt meppy I might -losdt mineselluf. No; I am going oudt mit Ausdin unt Prown.” - -“Oh, they’re going out this morning, are they? Good men! But though -they’ve prospected a lot round here in the last month or so, I never -knew them to strike anything worth while.” - -“Idt iss _me_ vot vill shange dheir lucks!” the baron boasted, as he -went on out of the office. - -Austin and Brown had their burros in the street, and were waiting for -the baron. They were quiet-looking men, of the miner type, who, in a -town like that, would not attract a second glance. Nor was anybody -paying heed to their burros and their packed outfit, with the picks -and shovels displayed prominently on top; prospectors went from the -town every day, and these two men had already been out a number of -times. - -All attention was being directed to the stage, ready soon to leave -the stables with the United States mail, and, as was supposed, the -treasure to be shipped that day by the Wells Fargo company. - -The stage was filled with armed men, who prominently displayed their -hardware. On top, sitting beside the driver, were old Nomad and -Buffalo Bill. The public knew now that Buffalo Bill was being sent -along by the postal authorities. - -It was the general belief that when the treasure went through the -cañon beyond Stag Mountain, where so many hold-ups had occurred, -there would be a lively fight, if the bandits, who were known to be -infesting the hills, could get enough men together to make the deadly -tackle. - -But the stage went through the cañon that day without a ripple of -excitement. Not a road agent was there. - -To be sure of this, when the stage had passed beyond what was -considered the danger spot it was halted, and some of the armed men -went back, to poke through the bushes. - -“Scared ’em off with the big show of fighting men we made,” said the -men, when they returned. - -It was fully two hours later when the baron, with Austin and Brown, -butted into the excitement which the baron had anticipated. - -At Eagle Gap, where no trouble of any kind had ever before occurred, -two men rose up beside the winding path, and began to shoot as soon -as they rose. The men were masked, and they were well armed, each -with a repeating rifle and a brace of revolvers. - -Austin went down at the first fire, shot through the head, being -killed instantly. Brown toppled, falling wounded. The baron threw -himself flat on the ground, escaping that first shooting as if by a -miracle; though the real reason was that Austin and Brown stopped the -first bullets the bandits sent from their repeaters; and before they -could fire again the baron was down, and behind a rock. - -“Ouch!” he squawked. “I am to pe kilt, huh!” - -Then he fired back. - -He apparently wounded one of the men, which stopped their rush toward -him, and enabled him to take a tumble backward down the steep slope. -The baron plowed a reckless furrow, which barked his skin and tore -his clothing, but landed him in a rocky hollow some distance down, -before the outlaws could get to the top of the slope and shoot at him. - -Poking his head out enough to enable him to see, he blazed away -again, when he saw one of the men appear; and drove the bandits back -once more. - -Following this, the baron crept on his hands and knees down the -gulley, determining what the men were doing by the sounds they made. - -“Ach!” he said. “Dhis iss der vorsdt effer.” - -The baron did not show himself for a while; but sat nursing his -rifle, occupying a hollow into which he wedged his body, and where he -was resolved to fight to the death if the outlaws followed him. - -He knew they had the advantage, being familiar with the country, and -being two to one. - -When he concluded that they were not coming after him, he got out of -his hole, and tried to discover what they were doing. - -Then he found that they were gone. - -They had taken the burros and treasure, and had vanished. - -The place was a cut, with debouching gashes making from it in various -directions, all rocky and hard as flint; so that, being unfamiliar -with the location, the baron could do nothing. - -Abundant proof that they had been there was given by the grewsome -sight of the dead Austin, and by the wounded man they had considered -dying when they left him. - -Brown had been shot through the right side, but he was still -conscious. To keep them from finishing him, he had feigned death. - -When the baron gave him some stimulant from his pocket flask, the -prospector regained enough animation to be able to talk. - -“Tough luck, pard!” he said. “They got Austin! - -“Unt der dreasure!” - -“Yes. I didn’t see but two of ’em. If they hadn’t surprised us, we -might ’a’ done something. But thar wasn’t much show, when they riz up -shootin’ as they riz. If you think they’re gone, see if that bullet -is still in my side, will ye?” - -The baron made the examination, his rifle on the ground where he -could pick it up instantly. - -“Der pullet vendt t’rough,” he said, when he had looked the man over. -“You needt der hosbidal pooty kvick, I dell you.” - -“I reckon I’ll never git thar, with the burros gone.” - -The baron gave the man more stimulant; then plugged the wound and -bandaged it as well as he could, tearing the man’s shirt into strips -for the purpose. - -Having done that, he stood back and looked the man over. - -“I dhinks maype I gan carry you,” he said. “You aind’t so heavy as -me.” - -“I don’t reckon you could do it, pard,” Brown answered. - -“Vale, ve dry idt, eenyhow. Uff der voundt tond’t pleed too much ve -gan make idt. How many miles iss idt?” - -“All of three, I reckon; and rough goin’.” - -In spite of his unpromising physical appearance, the baron was -strong; and he had the stuff of which heroes are made. - -He accomplished the three miles over the rough trails with Brown on -his shoulders, and got him into the local hospital in time to save -his life. - -The knowledge that the prospectors had been in charge of the -treasure; that Austin was dead, Brown wounded, and the treasure gone, -furnished news of a sufficiently exciting kind to fill all the public -places of Blossom Range with crowds. - -“A Dutchman’s luck!” was the universal verdict, when reference to the -baron’s escape was made. “You can’t kill a Dutchman.” - -Buffalo Bill talked the matter over with his pards, in the seclusion -of his room at the Eagle House, while a delegation of the townspeople -had gone out to Eagle Gap to bring in the body of the dead -prospector, and poke round out there for whatever they could find of -interest concerning the daring desperadoes who had made the attack. - -“Thar is one shore thing,” said old Nomad, humped up in his chair and -smoking his pipe; “ther chaps what made ther tackle had information -o’ the hull bizness.” - -“Unt der kvestion iss,” the baron added, “how didt dey knowed idt?” - -“Somebody leaked the information,” said Buffalo Bill. - -“Which means,” said Nomad, “thet either ther express agent, ther -fellers in ther post office, er at the stage stables, aire inter ther -thing deep. Et was ter be kept so clost, ye know, thet nobudy c’d -ketch on.” - -“Vot uff Yuniper Yoe?” asked the baron; “I am t’inking uff him!” - -“Er, waugh! Yer mean he might er been ther one ter give ther snap -away?” - -“Dot iss yoost vot I am saying.” - -“But--he had ten thousand dollars’ wuth o’ stuff in them burro packs! -Would he tip off ther road agents, ter git his own wealth? Et don’t -hardly look like it, pard.” - -“I aind’t saying dot he did idt,” the baron admitted. “I am yoost -asking some kvestions.” - -“Right now, we are pretty much in the dark,” the scout admitted. - -“Ve ar-re all oop der sdump!” - -“They are giving you a lot of praise round the town, baron,” Buffalo -Bill told him. “They say that you put up a nervy fight.” - -“Vale,” said the baron, unmoved, sucking at his long-stemmed pipe, -“dey tond’t know only yoost vot I toldt ’em.” - -“Brown says that you put up a good fight, and that you wounded one of -the outlaws.” - -“I seen der willain reel pack unt shake, ven I shodt at him; budt he -ditn’t vall town.” - -“And you brought Brown in on your shoulders.” - -“Uff course! Vot else couldt I do? Dot aind’t no pravery, idt vos -yoost muscle; unt idt took a heab uff idt, I dell you. He veigh -apoudt two dons, pefore I gidt him here py der hospidal in. Yaw!” - -“What makes you think et may be Juniper Joe leaked information?” -Nomad asked, coming back to the subject that interested hint. - -“I haf no reason; idt iss yoost vot Puffalo Pill somedime calls -insdinedtiveness. I seem to schmell idt in der admosphere.” - -“That ain’t no reason!” the trapper sniffed. - -“You ar-re righdt; idt aind’t.” - -“Speaking of Juniper Joe,” remarked Buffalo Bill, “this morning early -I saw his wife downtown; I heard her say she was out making calls on -the ladies, as she wanted to get acquainted with them as soon as she -could.” - -“It wouldn’t take her long,” Nomad sniffed, “fer thar ain’t many in -this hamlet.” - -“I noticed that she paid a visit to the show girls who are stopping -at the Casino; the bills outside announce that they’ve got a playlet -on the boards there, called ‘Grandpa’s Holiday’.” - -Nomad snickered. - -“Whatever would she want to call on them song birds fer?” he asked. - -“I don’t know, except through curiosity, and because there are so few -women in the town. I was still outside when she came down, and she -was talking with one of them at the foot of the stairs just before -she came away. I took a look at the girl--a thing with a head of hair -like a Circassian Beauty; on asking one of the assistants who she -was, I was informed that her name is Vera Bright.” - -“Waugh!” Nomad gulped, smothering a snicker. “Thar’s a name fer ye!” - -“I don’t suppose it meant anything at all,” remarked the scout, as if -musing over it. - -“Prob’ly not. Them show gals is frum ther East, I reckon, and likely -thet accounted fer Mrs. Joe payin’ ’em a visit.” - -They came back to the subject uppermost in their minds--the question -of who could have leaked information to the road agents. - -When they had threshed through it again, and made nothing of it, -Buffalo Bill prepared to go down to the Wells Fargo office. - -“Do yer reckon,” said Nomad, as he and the baron arose to accompany -the scout, “that this hyar Jackson Dane, what calls hisself a Frisco -detective, could be mixed inter ther thing? Recklect thet Juniper Joe -says he is shore Tim Benson.” - -“I’m not forgetting what Juniper Joe said about him.” - -“But what does yer think?” the trapper persisted. - -“There I am stalled again. It seems that we are called on to suspect -everybody: the express agent, the post office people, the stage -hands, and driver, Juniper Joe, and this alleged detective. Perhaps -we’ll even add to the list as we go along.” - -“Mebby we’ll ring in the Casino ladies,” suggested the trapper with a -grin. - -“It wouldn’t surprise me if we did.” - -“Waugh!” - -“Vale, dot vouldt furnish some excidemendt!” protested the German. - -“I should think, Schnitz, thet ye’d had ernough fer one day!” Nomad -growled. - -“I am a hawg for excidemendt,” the baron admitted. - -Down at the Wells Fargo office they found Juniper Joe, with a number -of other men, most of them shippers of the treasure taken by the road -agents. They had been filing claims for repayment by the company. - -“I cain’t afford to lose that ten thousand dollars, y’ know,” the -scout heard Juniper Joe remarking, as he entered the door. “It’s a -lot o’ money; I paid the company fer safe transportation, and I -expects it to make good.” - -Some of the other claimants said much the same thing. - -The office was crowded, for, in addition to these men, a lot of -loafers were hanging round, their ears open for news and gossip. - -Having entered, Buffalo Bill and his pards stood by the door, almost -at first unnoticed, listening to the talk, trying to get a “line” on -something. - -The agent seemed flustered and nervous; apparently, he did not know -what the powers who were over him would think of his action in -sending the treasure across the mountain with the prospectors. He -even admitted that he expected a “call down,” as he had exceeded his -authority in doing it. - -“I suppose I ought to have let her gone by the stage,” he said. -“Likely if I had the stage would have been held up, and the stuff -taken, and instead of one dead man and another in the hospital, the -cañon down there beyond Stag Mountain would have been full of them.” - -“So, it’s your opinion that somebody who knew the secret, leaked?” -said Buffalo Bill, speaking up now, to note the effect. - -“Oh! you’re here?” said the agent. - -To the scout, perhaps unduly suspicious just then, it seemed an -unfortunate remark, as he was sure that the agent had seen him when -he entered with his pards. - -“What is _your_ opinion?” he asked. - -“Somebody blabbed, of course! But I hope you don’t think _I_ did it.” - -“It’s an uncalled-for statement,” said the scout. “I’m not accusing -anybody--simply asking questions.” - -“Well, I don’t know anything about it! About all I know right now is -that it puts me in a hole, and I’ll likely lose my job. Why, there -was more than fifty thousand dollars’ worth of stuff in those bags -the burros carried!” - -“So I knew.” - -“And, of course, the Wells Fargo company air going to make a hot time -about it.” - -“I think they ought to.” - -The people in the room, loafers and all, were staring at the tall -scout. - -“It don’t make any difference to me about that,” spoke up Juniper -Joe. “I surrendered my stuff into your hands; and, of course, I’m -goin’ to see that the company makes good the loss; that’s all. You’d -do the same, if me.” - -“But you forget that it was _you_ who suggested the plan of sendin’ -it out with them prospectors!” the agent shot at him. - -“I thought it was a good scheme; ’twould have been, if somebody -hadn’t been too free with his mouth. I ain’t sayin’ who it was. But -somebody on the inside hustled the news to the road agents. That -ain’t my fault; and my scheme cain’t be blamed fer it.” - -“Oh, well! you’ve put in your claim, and that settles it!” the agent -snapped back. - -“It don’t settle it until I see the company’s money!” Juniper Joe -told him; then went out of the office. - -When Buffalo Bill and his pards left, after a talk with the agent, -they were no wiser then when they went. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - SUSPICIONS. - - -Buffalo Bill and his pards tried to “jump a trail” that afternoon and -evening, without success. - -The scout talked with Brown, the wounded man in the hospital; but got -no additional information. - -“The two fellers was so masked,” said Brown, “that I couldn’t tell -if they was black, white, or red. The surprise was so complete, -anyway, that maybe I wouldn’t have noticed. We wasn’t expectin’ -trouble--leastways, I wasn’t; for I allowed the agents would be -fooled complete, and would tackle the stage, if they done anything. -Then, fu’st thing I knew, there was them masked devils whanging -away at us with repeating rifles. Austin was killed; and I got this -hole in my side. Your Dutch pard was gamy, and clipped one of the -agents. I could swear to that; because, as I drapped, I heard the -feller rip out a cuss word, and saw him reel back. But he didn’t -fall; so, p’raps the wound didn’t amount to much. One of ’em tried -to down the Dutchman; but he got away. That’s about all; except that -we lost everything. They even took my hardware and Austin’s, with -our cartridge belts. Then they drove the burros away. I had my nose -ag’inst the yearth, playin’ dead fer all I was wu’th at that time, so -I didn’t see ’em go, but I heard ’em. About the next thing I knew, -your friend was bendin’ over me. I got purty weak, and I reckon I had -fainted. And that’s all.” - -“Did you see what sort of men they were, as to size?” the scout -asked. “You might have done that when they were getting your weapons.” - -“I was too busy playin’ dead jest then to notice clost,” Brown -admitted. “But I did see that one was tall and t’other seemed medium -size. It was the small one that was wounded.” - -“Did you notice their voices?” - -“Not in p’tickler.” - -“You were at Juniper Joe’s wedding?” - -“Well, I reckon.” - -“Then you probably saw the man Juniper Joe shot at?” - -“I did.” - -“Joe claimed the man was Tim Benson, the road agent.” - -“I ain’t fergittin’ that, neither.” - -“Try to recall if one of the road agents resembled that man in any -way.” - -Brown pondered over this. - -“Well, the littlest one might have been him,” he said; “I should say -he was about that size.” - -“Some one on the inside must have informed the agents that you and -Austin were going over the mountains with the treasure bags,” said -the scout. “You couldn’t give a guess as to who that could be?” - -“I’ve been thinkin’ about that,” Brown confessed. “No, I can’t say -who it could have been. My best guess is, that if that little man was -Benson he hung round somewhere and overheard the talk when the thing -was planned.” - -“It’s a good guess.” - -In Brown’s wounded and feverish condition the scout had talked long -enough; and he took his departure. - -“A water haul,” he told himself. “But Brown’s guess that the man -called Benson may have got onto the thing by eavesdropping may be the -right one. I think I should like, right now, to meet Jackson Dane, -detective.” - -He met him, on his return to his hotel; Dane was by the door of his -room, awaiting his appearance. - -“Hello!” said the little man, cheerily. “I’ve been waiting to have a -talk with you confidential.” - -“I’m agreeable to that,” said the scout. - -He unlocked the door, and they went into the room together. Closing -and locking the door, Buffalo Bill hoisted one of the windows. - -“What’s that for?” said Dane. - -“The window is to let in a breath of air; the door is locked to keep -out possible intruders.” - -“Oh!” - -“It startled you?” - -“Well, as you were unkind enough to suggest that I was a fraud of -the first water, when I was here before, I didn’t know but you was -getting ready to jump at me, and put up a holler for help to hold me.” - -Buffalo Bill laughed grimly. - -“You are nervous.” - -“Who wouldn’t be, knowing that Juniper Joe is walking the streets -with two revolvers, ready to down me the minute he sees me? That’s -enough to make any man nervous. Are your pards here?” - -“They’re close about.” - -“I have been hammering away at this case ever since I saw you last; -and have a theory.” - -“Out with it; if you want to share it with me.” - -“It’s just this. _Juniper Joe’s wife is one of the road agents._” - -“What makes you think so?” Buffalo Bill asked mildly, yet showing -interest. - -“The thing has come to me by degrees. A while ago I was down in -Gopher Gabe’s saloon, just inside the door; I had my hat pulled over -my eyes, for I didn’t want to be recognized; and I heard men talking -in there, by the bar. I don’t know who they were; but what they said -gave me all the information I have about that remarkable hold-up and -shooting in Eagle Gap to-day; though I admit that before that I knew -something had happened, for I saw your Dutch pard come in with that -wounded man on his back. - -“What I heard them saying at Gopher Gabe’s,” he went on, “was that -the Dutchman reported that one of the agents was a tall man, and the -other a small man. Juniper Joe is a tall man; and Mrs. Joe is a small -woman.” - -“You don’t think that the new Mrs. Joe is a _man_?” - -“I don’t know about that; but probably a woman. Now, inasmuch as -Juniper Joe knew all about the plans for sending the stuff over the -mountains on burros, what would have been easier than for him and his -wife to disguise and go out there and do the hold-up act?” - -“It could have been done by them, in all probability.” - -“Say that Joe had ten thousand dollars of stuff in the express bags, -what of it? There was as much as forty thousand more, as I understand -it. That forty thousand would be a big haul.” - -“It would.” - -“So, there you are, according to my way of thinking.” - -“Why don’t you arrest Joe, then? You say that you are a detective.” - -The little man flushed slightly. - -“I suppose I oughtn’t to admit it,” he said; “but, since Joe took -that shot at me, I’m afraid of him; if I should go up to his cabin, -he would down me, and ask what I had come for afterward. That’s the -way I look at it.” - -“If I should arrest this woman, and find that you are right, what -would you expect?” the scout demanded. - -“The half of that ten thousand reward _for the arrest of Tim -Benson_,” was the unexpected statement. - -“What is that?” cried the scout. - -“I heard, before I came here, that Tim Benson is a woman!” - -The scout sat pondering this. - -“Would that be any reason why Juniper Joe should want to shoot you?” - -“He knows that I am here after Tim Benson!” - -“I see.” - -“And you’ll see that I’m right, if you arrest Mrs. Joe,” Dane -declared, confidently. “That’s what I want you to do; and the sooner -the better.” - -“Why your hurry?” - -“It will keep other fellows from being held up and killed by that -couple,” he explained suavely. - -The scout sat looking at him. - -“This gives me a new idea,” he said. - -“I thought it would.” - -“For one thing”--he still looked at Dane--“I think I ought to arrest -_you_; but--hold on, the door is locked, remember!--I am not going to -do it--right now.” - -Jackson Dane, who had leaped up with a startled look, dropped -nervously back into his chair. - -“You’re humorous--at times.” - -“Think so?” - -“It would turn out to be a boomerang, if you did arrest me and it was -found then that I am just what I claim to be; the town would sure -have the laugh on you. But you do what I say, and you won’t regret -it. Go up to that cabin and arrest Mrs. Joe; and don’t delay about -it.” - -“Why the haste?” Buffalo Bill asked again. - -“Because I have a feeling that she isn’t going to stay long in -Blossom Range, and now is your chance to get Tim Benson by doing it.” - -He stood up and put on his hat. - -“I am ready to go, now,” he said. “You will do as you please, of -course.” - -“I’m pretty sure to.” - -“Well, think it over, anyway. Perhaps you’ll come round to my -opinion.” - -The scout put the key in the lock, and opened the door. - -“So, you don’t intend to arrest me?” said Dane, as he passed out into -the hall. - -“Not right now,” the scout told him. - -“That’s kind of you, anyhow.” - -He laughed lightly, and ran for the head of the stairs. - -Well behind him, yet keeping the little man in sight, Buffalo Bill -trailed him through the streets of Blossom Range, observing that Dane -had pulled his hat down over his eyes, and turned up the collar of -his coat, as if he did not wish to be recognized. But Blossom Range -was a bustling place, and men were too busy to pay much attention to -pedestrians; so that, apparently, Jackson Dane was not given a second -look by any one, as he passed along. - -The scout’s interest was quickened when Dane turned to the Casino, -as the little local theatre was called, and went in by the entrance -marked “Private.” - -Reaching that door, the scout stood listening; then went in, also; -but quietly. - -In a room above, as he stood on the stairs, he distinctly heard -Jackson Dane talking with the blonde beauty whose name had been given -as Vera Bright. - -“Well, that’s singular!” was his thought. “He is talking with the -same girl that Mrs. Juniper Joe had a confab with! I wonder if there -is a connection here?” - -But he could not understand what Dane and the girl were saying. - -He did not want to be seen spying on the stairs of the Casino, and -when it seemed he could not get nearer that room without discovery, -as people were passing through the upper halls, he retreated to the -street. - -But he did not at once go away. - -Taking a position on the opposite side of the street, where he -fancied he could not be seen, he watched the door marked “Private.” - -But though he tarried there two hours, Jackson Dane did not reappear. - -Buffalo Bill was a good deal puzzled, when he made his way back to -the Eagle House. - -“But there’s one thing,” he resolved; “to-night I’ll watch Juniper -Joe’s cabin for a while.” - -He did not wait until night, however, before visiting the place. He -made a bold call on Juniper Joe, soon after leaving the Casino. - -The door of the cabin was locked, as usual; but when the scout had -rapped briskly two or three times, heavy steps were heard, and -Juniper Joe cautiously opened the door. - -“Oh, it’s you!” he said, when he beheld the scout, his manner uneasy. - -“Yes; can I come in?” Buffalo Bill answered. - -Juniper Joe flung the door open, and invited him in. - -The big room which had witnessed the “jubilee” was unoccupied, save -by Juniper Joe and the scout. - -“Your wife is not in?” the scout asked. - -“She’s downtown somewhar, gittin’ acquainted with the Blossom Range -ladies; she allowed, seein’ that she was mightily int’rested in -society back East, that it was goin’ to be plum lonely fer her hyer -if she didn’t stir up some women to talk to; so she sailed out, and -has been workin’ hard at it the better part of the day.” - -Juniper Joe had discarded his black broadcloth and shiny cady for a -miner’s working suit and a soft, clay-stained hat. - -“Been pokin’ about in my mine,” he explained. “Struck another rich -pocket, too!” He beamed. “Allow me to show you some o’ the nuggets I -got out of it.” - -He went into the other room, and brought out some nuggets--a handful -of them. - -“Beauties, ain’t they?” he said, as the scout inspected them. “Struck -the pocket this mornin’, soon after I come back frum the express -office, an’ have been gopherin’ round it ever sense. If things keeps -up this way, I’ll have another shipment to make in a week er so; -but, by jings, I don’t let the Wells Fargo handle it!” - -“They fell down pretty badly on that last job.” - -“’Jever see anything like it! Every bush round Blossom Range seems -to be hidin’ an agent, and the town is full o’ thieves. That’s why -I allus keep that door locked when I’m out of the house, or at work -back in the mine. I was glad to git that stuff into the hands of the -express company, fer I expected every night to be knocked on the head -before mornin’, so long as I had it in hyer. Thar’s plenty men in -this town would kill ye fer a bag o’ gold dust.” - -“I’m afraid that’s right.” - -“I’m shore of it. And sense Tim Benson is round hyer, I ain’t takin’ -no chances.” - -He indicated the two big revolvers under his coat. - -“I keep ’em strapped to me constant,” he confessed. “It will be him -er me, if we meet; and I know it.” - -He put the nuggets away. On coming back, he asked how Brown was -getting along. - -Knowing that the man he called Benson had gone to the Casino, Buffalo -Bill was tempted to tell him of it; which would perhaps send him down -there, looking for him. If a duel came of it, there might be some -surprising developments. - -But the scout put the temptation aside. - -He did not know how much he could believe of what Juniper Joe and -Jackson Dane had said. And, if all were true, he did not care to take -the responsibility of setting two men to shooting at each other. - -“I’m still stalled!” he admitted to himself, when he left Juniper -Joe’s cabin. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - THE SURPRISE AT JUNIPER JOE’S. - - -Buffalo Bill filled in the day by riding with Nick Nomad out to Eagle -Gap, for the purpose of looking over the scene of the hold-up. - -Baron von Schnitzenhauser, his curiosity fired by what the scout told -him of the visit of Jackson Dane to the show girl called Vera Bright, -had determined that he would shadow the Casino, instead. - -So the baron donned again his prospector’s suit of clothing, -discarded his little fore-and-aft cap for a miner’s slouch hat, and -sallied forth. It was one of the baron’s peculiar delusions that he -could disguise himself easily; it was a harmless impression, and -sometimes it yielded no end of excitement. But any one familiar with -the appearance of that round body and those pipe-stem legs did not -need to wait for the baron to open his mouth to know who he was. - -The body of Austin had been brought in by some of the citizens of -Blossom Range; so there was nothing grewsome at Eagle Gap, when the -scout and trapper reached it. - -They found the spot readily enough, from the descriptions which had -been furnished by the baron. - -As said, it was a ragged crevice of rock, through which the winding -mountain trail ran. Beside it was the ridge over which the baron had -jumped, and the shaly slope down which his round body had plunged in -search of safety. - -Buffalo Bill and Nomad looked the place over pretty thoroughly. -They found blood stains at the point where Austin had been killed -and Brown had been wounded. Near by they picked up empty cartridge -shells, apparently from the rifles of the outlaws. But they found -nothing else of much interest. The rocky surface held no tracks, -either of the men or the burros; so that trailing was out of the -question. Any of the several gullies leading off from the main one -might have taken the road agents away; yet which one, or whether they -had gone straight along the winding path when they disappeared from -the sight of Brown, could not be settled. The baron had not seen them -depart. - -After spending a fruitless hour in their search, Buffalo Bill and -Nomad returned to town, as night was at hand. - -On the way to the pass and back, they talked much of what had -happened, each presenting many theories for discussion. One of the -things they particularly discussed was the statement of Jackson Dane, -that the two road agents who had done the work had been Juniper Joe -and his new wife. - -“Ef Dane didn’t act so quare hisself, some deependence might be put -in what he said,” averred Nomad. - -“Very true,” the scout assented; “the difficulty lies just there.” - -“Ef he wanted to be frank and aboveboard wi’ ye, why didn’t he make -some mention of thet gal, Vera Bright?” - -“She may have no connection with the thing at all; in fact, I don’t -see how she could have.” - -“So, thar ye air; jest whar ye was before,” said Nomad. - -The lights of the town were glimmering across the rocky slopes as -they approached; and night had come. - -“What ye goin’ to do to-night?” Nomad asked. - -“I think I shall stick to my plan of watching Juniper Joe’s cabin -to-night.” - -“Y’ ain’t had any sleep ter-day!” the trapper objected. - -“That doesn’t matter. I can roll in some time before morning, and get -all I need. We’ll first see if the baron has jumped anything, in his -watching at the Casino.” - -But the baron did not appear at the evening meal at the Eagle House; -nor had he showed up when the scout set out with the trapper for -Juniper Joe’s. - -By a roundabout way, they reached the cabin, without being observed, -as they believed. - -It was dark. - -Juniper Joe, who had been downtown, came home about ten o’clock. -He locked the door after he went in. Then the light that had been -burning was put out, and darkness reigned in the cabin. - -About four o’clock in the morning, Buffalo Bill and Nomad gave it up, -and went back to the Eagle House. They needed sleep and rest. - -The baron had not returned; and the night clerk had not seen him. - -“When ther baron gits onter a job, he’s like a dawg hangin’ ter a -root,” Nomad observed. “I opine thet he’s still hanging round ther -Casino.” - -“If he doesn’t appear by morning we will investigate,” said the -scout, as he turned in. - -In the morning, when he went down to the Casino and Gopher Gabe’s -saloon to inquire about the German, Buffalo Bill was told that he had -been seen in the vicinity of Juniper Joe’s cabin. - -The scout’s informant was a disreputable, rum-soaked specimen, who -had heard him ask Gopher Gabe if the German had been there during the -previous evening. - -“I know the Dutchman,” said the fellow. “He was wearin’ miner’s -clo’es, like he did when he piked out with them prospectors. I dunno -what he was doin’ up there.” - -“What hour was this?” the scout asked. - -“Now, I’ll tell ye how ’twas,” said the fellow, laying a hand on -the scout’s arm with confidential and offensive familiarity. “I was -boozin’ las’ night, and I had wandered up there for a snooze, to git -over it; there air trees growin’ along the slope by Juniper Joe’s, -an’ they make a dandy sleepin’ place. I camped down there early in -the evening; mebby ’twas nine o’clock; and I went to sleep at onct. -About four, er mebby five, in the mornin’. I awoke with a tur’ble -thirst; you know how ’tis! I was so thirsty it woke me. - -“It was too early to git a drink. I knowed that; and I hadn’t tuck -any whisky up there with me. While I was wonderin’ how I was goin’ to -live out the time until Gopher Gabe’d open his shutters down here, I -seen the Dutchman; he come stealin’ along through the trees, right by -me. That’s all I know.” - -“You are sure of that?” - -“Hope I may die, if I didn’t!” - -“Thanks!” said the scout, turning away. - -The greasy loafer caught him by the coat. - -“It’s wuth somethin’, ain’t it?” he whined. “Enough ter git a feller -a drink, anyhow.” - -Buffalo Bill, disgusted, threw him a silver dollar, and hastened off. - -He knew that the man’s statement had been overheard by Gopher Gabe, -if not others; which fact he disliked. And he wanted to get away from -him. Besides, if his story were true, it was worth investigating. - -“What was the baron doing at Juniper Joe’s, when he set out to shadow -the people in the Casino?” was his thought. “I wonder if that rascal -is a liar?” - -When Buffalo Bill reached Juniper Joe’s cabin, it was tightly locked. -As the hour was yet early, it seemed probable that the occupants were -not yet up. But at a venture the scout knocked. - -A deep groan was the answer, within the cabin. - -The scout knocked again, startled by that; and heard another groan. - -After that, he did not stop to get help; but threw his weight against -the door, ramming it half off its hinges, splintering the wood round -the lock. Having struck it like a stone out of a catapult, he was -precipitated into the big front room when the door yielded. - -The light of early morning streamed in, revealing an unexpected -sight. Juniper Joe lay on the floor in a corner, bound and gagged; -while not far from him lay Mrs. Joe, either dead or apparently -unconscious. - -With a cry, the scout sprang to the woman first. - -When he turned her, he saw that blood was clotted in her hair over -her forehead. She seemed unconscious, and it looked like a case of -murder. - -Turning to the man, Buffalo Bill cut the cord that held the gag, then -severed those on his arms and ankles. The gag was made of a piece of -stick, smooth and round, held by strong cotton string; the wrist and -ankle cords were of the same sort of string. - -Juniper Joe gasped and choked as the gag came out of his mouth. - -“Mum--my wife!” he sputtered. - -The scout went again to the woman, and lifted her head; then he got -out his flask and gave her some of the contents. It revived her; so -that she gasped and moved. - -“She isn’t dead,” he told Juniper Joe. - -The latter got heavily to his feet, and came over, kneeling beside -the scout, who was working over the woman. - -“If you can walk,” said the scout, “you had better hustle out for -help and a doctor. How did this happen?” - -“Bub--Benson!” Juniper Joe stuttered. - -“He did it?” - -“Sh--shore thing. How he got into the cabin, I dunno; but the first -thing I knowed I heard my wife screech out. It was before light; but -I was back in the mine. It brought me running. When I butted through -the door thar, not knowin’ what to expect, Benson tripped me, and -give me a side-winder behind the ear that done me up fer a while. -When I got my thinker to goin’ again, I was hawg-tied like you found -me.” - -“Benson!” - -“That gold you saw me have--he got it, every bit of it.” - -“You saw him get it?” - -“I was comin’ back to myself, and seen him take it; he done it up in -a bag that was over thar; then he let himself out by the door, which -he locked behind him.” - -“If I hadn’t been gagged,” he added, “I might have hollered then, -when he opened the door; but I reckon even then ’twouldn’t done no -good, as nobody lives clost by.” - -“Better get help for your wife,” Buffalo Bill advised. - -Juniper Joe seemed either too anxious to leave her, or he did not -want to get a doctor; instead of following the scout’s advice, he -turned his attention to assisting in restoring her to consciousness. - -Their combined efforts were soon rewarded. - -When she came back to consciousness the woman lay on the bed, in the -rear room, where the scout had placed her; she looked round wildly. - -“You are all right, now,” Buffalo Bill told her. - -“B-b-but Benson!” she cried, as if frightened. - -“He is not here now.” - -“He struck me and knocked me down,” she stated. - -She put out her hands, clinging to Juniper Joe. - -“Thar--thar!” he said. “That’s all right; he ain’t hyer now.” - -She stared round. - -“He cut out,” he said; “but he tuck the nuggets I got out o’ that -pocket in the mine yisterday.” - -“He didn’t shoot you?” Buffalo Bill asked her, as he again looked at -the wound and the caked blood round it. “It resembles a pistol wound.” - -“He hit me with a pistol, I think,” she averred. “I reckon it was the -pistol hammer done it.” - -“Very likely.” - -As Juniper Joe still showed an unwillingness to get help, Buffalo -Bill soon left the cabin, and sent a physician, whose office he -passed on his hurried way back to the town. - -“Of course, the hammer of a pistol could have made that wound,” he -thought; “but to me it looked mightily like a bullet wound, made some -hours before, though it had bled rather recently.” - -He could not get away from the thoughts suggested by Jackson Dane’s -declaration that Juniper Joe and his wife were the two who had played -road agents and corraled the treasure guarded by the baron and the -prospectors. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - THE BARON’S ADVENTURES. - - -Old Nomad was right in saying that when the baron tackled a job that -interested him he would hang to it like a dog to a root. - -The baron loved excitement, though he was not an excitable man. All -hunters love excitement--that is why they hunt. Now, of all manner of -hunting, there is nothing so tremendously exciting as a man hunt. It -holds that tingling spice of personal danger which makes all other -forms of hunting tame in comparison. - -The German was in some ways a very shrewd man, though in others he -was the personification of folly. But, taken all around, he had -a good deal more hard horse sense that he was ever likely to get -credit for. And some of his intuitions--call them guesses, if you -will!--were really remarkable. - -When he heard from Buffalo Bill that the fellow calling himself -Jackson Dane had gone down to the Casino, and had been heard in -conversation with Vera Bright, the baron’s intuitions told him that -here was something worth investigating. He did not know what it was, -but that did not matter. He determined to investigate, and he did, -with the wonderful patience of a German. It is a patience which makes -the Germans seem slow at times, but which enables them to “get there.” - -In his miner’s clothing, the baron went down first to Gopher Gabe’s -booze mill; but finding nothing there that interested him at the -time, or offered anything, he went on to the Casino, which was not -far distant. In fact, the Casino and Gopher Gabe’s disreputable -establishment had secret inner connections, and Gopher Gabe was -financially interested in the Casino. It was a sort of attachment to -his bar, for there were “wine rooms” in the rear of the Casino, to -which, at certain times, waiters passed continually with beverages. - -The baron knew all this, without having to ask about it. - -As no great time had elapsed since Buffalo Bill had been watching, -the baron reasoned that Jackson Dane was still somewhere behind the -doors of the Casino. - -To get the hang of the entrances and exits, he went round to the back -of the building, which abutted on an alley, where he found a rear -door. But as the alley, after a semi-circular swing, came back to -the main street, the baron found a spot where he could conveniently -observe it, while at the same time watching the front entrances, and -particularly that door marked “Private,” through which Jackson Dane -had passed. - -But it was a long and tiresome wait. - -The baron, not caring to produce the long-stemmed pipe dear to his -German heart, though he had it with him, bought a cheap clay article -at a tobacco store on the corner; which he enjoyed, as he squatted -silently in a convenient doorway. - -Now and then he walked about, mingling with the people who came and -went. But ever his eyes were on the doors, even when he seemed to be -looking in other directions; not a man came out that the baron did -not see and size up. Thus he remained until night came; when for his -supper he bought a sandwich on the corner. - -Throughout the evening performance in the Casino, the baron stuck -to his post outside, though giving attention now and then to the -singing, which could be heard from the street. - -When the crowd came away at last, the baron was on his feet, moving -about, watching everything. - -He did not see Jackson Dane come out. - -“I tond’t t’ink he has passed me,” thought the baron, when the last -of the concert goers had departed. “So-o, uff he vos in dhere vhen I -fairst sit me down, he iss in dhere yidt. I vill vaidt a vhiles.” - -He waited, with German patience, until two o’clock in the morning, -before he was rewarded. - -At that time he seemed to be a drunken miner asleep in the doorway he -had chosen, his body slouched against the door, his big hat over his -eyes, in such a way that he could see under its broad brim. - -At two o’clock Jackson Dane and Vera Bright came down the private -stairs leading to the street, and they were quarreling. - -“Ach!” muttered the German. “Yoost hear dot!” - -It was a jealous quarrel; he could make that out, though he could get -only a word now and then. - -“Vhen lofers blay oudt, dhen der dickens iss to bay!” muttered the -baron. “Mr. Shackson Dane iss two-vaced, somehow; yidt I tond’t seen -yoost how. Dot misinformation may gome py me lader. Yaw!” - -He could not see the man and the girl at first, but soon they came -out through the door, still quarreling, and he had a fair view of -them; so knew he was not mistaken as to their identity. - -Dane strode up the street, and the girl went back into the building. - -The baron pretended to awake with a snort; then rose heavily, and -stretched himself. - -“Ouch!” he muttered. “I am going to gatch so mooch coldt sidding here -dot I petter gidt me avay.” - -And he did. - -He slouched into the street, which was pretty well deserted by that -time; then, getting the bearings of Jackson Dane, he began to follow -him, with care. - -Dane went to the upper part of the town, and disappeared there, the -spot where he vanished being not remote from the cabin of Juniper Joe. - -“I haf been t’inking all alongk dot dhere is some gonnection between -dhem two vellers,” the baron muttered; “unt now maype I gan findt -oudt vot idt iss.” - -But he failed in that. - -He searched about for Jackson Dane, but did not find him, though -several times he passed through the trees close up to the cabin. - -Shortly before daylight he thought he saw Dane amid the trees; but he -failed to see where he went. - -Right there the baron camped down, to wait for daylight. - -“Dhis groundt idt iss pooty soft,” he mused; “unt dher vay he vas -valking he vouldt haf to make some dracks; I vill vaidt yoost a -vhiles unt dake a loogk.” - -When he could see the tracks the baron began to follow them, finding -that they led out into the hills on the north of the town. - -“I am vishing dot I haf Puffalo Pill’s Inchun drailers py me ridght -now,” he thought, every time the trailing became difficult. “Liddle -Cayuse couldt do dhis petter as me.” - -But the German patience that characterized him caused him to stick to -the work, even though at times he went so slowly that it seemed he -was not progressing at all. - -When he was a mile from the town, Schnitzenhauser suddenly doubled -up, and fell on his stomach, in such haste that it jarred the breath -out of him. - -“Ouch!” he breathed, as soon as he could breathe at all. “Dot iss too -kvick vork for oldt Schnitzenhauser. I am vondering dit he see me?” - -He had sighted Jackson Dane, whom he had been so long following, and -he could not be sure that Dane had not reciprocated. - -For a time the baron lay flat on the ground; the only movement he -made was to put back his hand to his hip holster, and get out his -reliable forty-five. - -“Der hartvare is der pitzness, uff he dries too choomp me,” he -thought. “Aber I tond’t apsoludely knowed idt, I am gonwinced now dot -dhis Shackson Dane is one willain.” - -When he began to feel safe, the baron lifted his head and took a look. - -Jackson Dane had scooped out a hole beneath a stone on a hillside, -and was burying buckskin bags. Even as he looked, the baron saw him -open one of the bags, put in his hand, and let a shower of gold -nuggets slide through his fingers. - -The baron was tremendously excited by that. - -“Yiminy!” he gasped, lifting himself higher. - -Jackson Dane did not turn round, nor indicate in any way that he -caught that unwise exclamation; though after events indicated that he -must have heard it. - -He went on quietly with his work of cacheing the bags of nuggets. - -When he had finished, having been watched throughout by the baron -with deep interest, Dane covered the cache, taking apparent care to -obliterate all traces of what he had done; then he walked straight -away, into the bushes growing beyond. - -“Py yiminy, dhis iss a luckiness vor me!” gasped the baron. “I haf -fint vhere he iss hide some goldt unt I vandt to know vot iss der -meanness uff idt. Meppy I vill resurrecdion idt unt took idt in to -Puffalo Pill. Yaw! Dot vouldt make his eyes standt oudt so beeg -pesite his noses dot he couldn’t see.” - -He was quivering with the excitement of his discovery. - -He crawled from behind the bush which had covered him; then in a -stooping position hurried up to the cache. - -As he bent over it there was a flash and a report and the baron -pitched forward on his face. - -Jackson Dane had not only discovered him but had laid a trap for him -and had shot him, discharging his revolver from a nest of bushes -twenty yards away. - -The baron came to himself by and by, feeling very dizzy at first and -without knowledge of what had happened. - -But when he beheld the hole where the bags had been cached it brought -him to full recollection. - -“Yoompin’ yack rappits!” he gasped. “I am shodt--huh? Vale tond’t -idt beat der Dutch? Yoost vhen I am t’inking I am so smartness dot -nopody couldn’t pe eeny smardter I am shodt into sixdeen bieces.” - -His head ached terrifically. When he put up his hand to it there came -away a trickle of blood on his fingers. - -“So-o I am shodt py der headt in!” - -He stared at the hole in the ground marking the empty cache. - -“Unt he haf daken off der goldt? Vale, vor bermitting dot I oughdt to -pe shodt more as I am now.” - -But the baron had not been robbed. - -He looked about, but saw no one; then he examined his wound again. -It was but a scratch on the top of the head; but it had knocked off -his hat and dropped him senseless. The wound had bled freely and the -baron discovered that his face was dyed crimson. - -“Dot iss vodt haf made him t’ink I am deadt,” he thought; “vhen -he seen dher bloodt vlowing like dot he iss shure I am a goneness -undt he tond’t do noddings more; only he yoost dake der goldt unt -gidt oudt. Yidt I t’ink me dot a doctor petter loogk at dot pullet -sgratches pooty kvick.” - -He knew that it was useless to think of following Jackson Dane; in -his present condition the baron was not equal to it. - -“Uff I kan gidt indo town I vill haf Puffalo Pill unt Nomat dackle -der yob vot I had made a messes uff,” he said. “Yaw! I am no goodt.” - -The baron climbed to his feet, staggered a few times in trying to go -forward; then got a new grip of his strength and started off at a -pretty good gait. - -Now and then he experienced a sensation as if he were falling over on -his face; at other times he felt as if he must sit down and rest. -But Dutch grit carried him through and got him into the town. - -Buffalo Bill and Nomad were at the Eagle House and astonished they -were, too, when they saw him in that condition. - -“Whoop!” Nomad roared. “What in the----” - -“Kvit idt!” commanded the baron, waving his hand. “I am shodt, but I -tond’t vandt nopoty to knowed idt.” - -“Wow!” - -Buffalo Bill and the trapper caught the baron by the arms and drew -him hastily into the scout’s room. - -“Bad hurt?” asked the trapper. - -“Dake a loogk, unt seen vor yourselluf.” - -Buffalo Bill made a hasty examination, asking questions, with Nomad, -while he was doing it. - -“Idt vos der Denfer dedecdive,” said the baron. - -“Waugh!” Nomad rumbled. “How’d et happen?” - -“Vale, he hadt a bistol, unt he bulled der triggers. How does idt -effer habben, vhen a vellers is shodt--huh?” - -“I mean----” - -“I am in der vay vhen der pullet gomes--dot iss vot _I_ mean.” - -“Stop yer guffin’! Is his skull bu’sted, Buffler? Blame ef he don’t -seem like it; acts like he’d lost what little sense he ever had.” - -“You vix oop dot voundt fairst, Cody, unt dhen I vill do some -dalkings. Der ploodt is ruining dhis nice brosbector’s suidt uff -cloding, v’ich gost me dwendy tollars.” - -“Yer aind’t keerin’ fer yer bu’sted headpiece?” said Nomad, with a -grin. “I don’t wonder! ’Tain’t wu’th much.” - -When the scout had bathed and washed out the wound, he finished his -examination, and told the baron that it was but a scalp wound, which -he did not consider at all serious. - -“I think I can fix you up, without any need of sending you to a -doctor.” - -From his saddle pouches he got out material, and in a little while -had the wound dressed as well as any surgeon could have done it. - -In the meantime, the baron had begun to unfold his tale of woe. - -“I vendt py der Casino down,” he explained; “unt vhen I haf sday -dhere so longk dot I gand’t goundt how longk idt iss, Shackson Dane -he gomes oudt, dalking mit dhis vomans. Vhen he goes oop der streedt, -I am doing der shatow acdt yoost so neadtly as neffer vos. Budt oop -py Yuniper Yoe’s I lose sighdt uff him.” - -“Juniper Joe’s!” gasped Nomad. - -“We have just come from there,” the scout announced. - -“So-o! I haf come vrom some odder blaces. Oop py Yuniper Yoe’s I lose -sighdt uff him. I hoondt roundt a vhiles, unt sday py der drees in, -till idt iss pooty near morning. Dhen I seen him.” - -“By Juniper Joe’s?” said Nomad. - -“No; py der drees in.” - -“Oh! But maybe he come frum thar.” - -“Maype he dit. I am nodt knowing. As soon as I see him I losdt him -ag’in.” - -“Wow!” - -“I am nodt an Inchun drailer, but I sday me righdt dhere undil I gan -see his dracks py der daylighdts. So, I voller him. Afdher a vhiles I -see him making a gache.” - -“A gash!” - -“No; a hole in der groundt vot he iss putting goldt nuggedts in. He -haf der goldt nuggedts in puckskin pags; unt in der hole he puries -dhem. Yaw!” - -“Waal, go on, Schnitz! Et’s plum more irritatin’ than moskeeter bites -ter lissen to you--you’re so slow.” - -“Vhen he iss gone avay, I grawl oop py der gache, to dake a loogks. -Unt dhen----” - -“Yes, go on! An’ then!” - -“‘Bangs!’ goes his bistol; unt I am deadt.” - -“Wow! But you’re livin’ yit.” - -“Maype so-o; aber vor a liddle vhiles I tond’t know noddings. Vhen I -haf gome pack py mineselluf der goldt nuggedts iss gone, unt he iss -gone, unt I am laying on der groundt yoost like a deadt mans. Now, -vot do you t’ink uff dot?” - -“Thet he seen ye, Schnitz, an’ laid fer ye.” - -“Idt iss yoost vot I t’inks.” - -“You are sure this man who shot you was Jackson Dane?” the scout -queried. - -“Yaw! I seen him.” - -“Ye didn’t try ter foller him, after thet?” asked the trapper. - -“Afdher dot? Himmel! Vhen I am shoodedt py der headt in, unt am -pleeding like a stuck pigs? Pesites, I am inkinscious vhen he gidts -avay, unt tond’t know vhere he haf gone.” - -“No, o’ course, ye couldn’t well follered him, under ther -sarcumstances.” - -“Ledt me exblanadion idt to you petter,” said the baron, in his -interest and excitement ignoring his throbbing head. “Vhere der gache -iss made py him, der groundt iss werry hardt, so dot I tond’t t’ink -dhere vos eeny dracks. Eenyhow, yoost pefore I got to dot sbot, I -am vollering him by insdinctifeness; py vhich I mean dot I am going -alongk yoost like a hoondting tog, aber I gandt smell eenyt’ings. -Unt, dhen, I seen him!” - -“I think we’ll want to take a look at that place as soon as we can,” -Buffalo Bill remarked, deeply interested. - -“I gan showed you idt righdt avay.” - -“But your head!” - -“Ach! Now dot you haf fixed him, idt iss noddings at all. Yoost a -pullet sgratch.” - -“You’re likely to feel bad effects from it, baron. I think, when it -knocked you down and out, there must have been some concussion of -the brain. It’s advisable for you to go to bed and get a rest, after -that. Besides, you need sleep anyhow.” - -“Sleeb!” the baron sputtered. “Couldt I sleeb afdher dot? Nein!” - -“Ef you can give us good enough p’inters, I reckon Buffler an’ me can -find the place,” said Nomad, anxious to set out immediately. - -“Yoost ledt me dake a resting vor a liddle vhiles, unt I vill show -you myselluf,” the baron declared. - -He settled himself more comfortably in his chair; then fished out and -filled his pipe. - -“A goot schmoke iss vot I am needting. Aber a glass uff lager peer -vouldt be efen petter. I am going to schmoke, vhile you tell me -apoudt Yuniper Yoe, vhen you vos oop to his blace dhis morning.” - -“Waal, you’ll find it as movin’ a tail, baron, as was ever stuck on -a dawg,” said Nomad. “Buffler went up thar, jest after daylight. He -found ther cabin locked tight as a money chist; and when he hammered -on ther door he heard a groan. So he broke ther door down an’ went -in, ter find Juniper Joe hog-tied an’ gagged in the corner, and Mrs. -Joe layin’ slung out on the floor as ef dead. An’ ther place had been -robbed.” - -The German dropped his pipe and stared. - -“Himmel!” he cried. “Iss dot der troot?” - -“Nothing truer, baron.” - -“It’s a correct account of it,” said Buffalo Bill. “The woman was -unconscious from a wound on the head; it looked like a bullet -wound to me, but she thought it had been made with the hammer of a -revolver; at least, that is what she claimed. I got Joe on his feet, -and then we worked over the woman for a while, finally bringing her -round. They declared that the man who had attacked them and robbed -them was Tim Benson.” - -“Who iss also-o Shackson Dane!” said the baron. - -“So far, that is merely a supposition.” - -“Eenyhow, I am pelieving it.” - -“Thet would er been excitement fer ye, baron, ef so be you hed been -thar!” - -“I vos hafing enough excidemendts, being shoodted py him.” - -“Ther question is,” Nomad went on, “kin we hang these things -together? F’r instunce, ef you trailed Jackson Dane frum ther Casino, -could he also been ther man thet turned ther trick at Juniper Joe’s -cabin?” - -“He couldt,” the baron declared. - -“Wow!” gurgled Nomad. - -“Ledt me exblanadion idt to you,” said the baron. “Vhen I haf drailed -Shackson Dane close py der cabin uff Yuniper Yoe, I lose him; dot -iss, I tond’t gan seen him eeny more. Unt I t’ink vunce, maype he -iss go py dher capin in; budt I tond’t know. I sday roundt unt vaidt. -Py unt py, like vot I toldt you, I seen him makin’ a sneek drough -der drees. Budt idt iss dark, unt I gan’t voller him. So I cambs me -town dhere, unt vaidts vor idt to gidt some lighdter. Dhen I dake -ub der drail, vot I see vhen der daylighdt gomes. Py unt py, I seen -him ag’in, making der gache, unt hidting der goldt. Unt--dhen I am -shoodted py him. Yaw!” - -Nomad turned with beaming, wrinkled face to the scout, his blue eyes -bright with excitement. - -“Seems cl’ar ernough, Buffler,” he commented. “I reckon Dane went to -Juniper’s; got inter ther cabin, knocked down the woman, and tied up -Juniper, then hiked with the gold. - -“Budt,” said the German, “I tought dot Yuniper Yoe haf shipped all -uff his goldt avay py der Vells Vargo Gompany.” - -“He told me,” said the scout, “that he had made another strike; and -he showed me some of the nuggets he had got. They were handsome.” - -“So-o?” - -“I reckon et’s a shore thing that Dane went to Juniper’s an’ got his -goldt,” averred Nomad. “Thet don’t prove that Juniper Joe was right -in claimin’ thet Dane is this pizen tarantler, Tim Benson; but et -goes a long ways toward it.” - -“Dot iss so,” the baron admitted. - -Buffalo Bill could but agree to the same thing. - -“Now,” said the baron, putting away the pipe he had dropped, and -had not smoked, “I am readty to leadt you to der sbot vhere I am -shoodted, unt vhere vos der gache. Uff ve sdrike a drail dhere, ve -gan voller idt, unt maype findt oudt somet’ing’s vort’ vhiles. I -t’ink, py yiminy, dot ve ar-re on der righdt dracks, unt dot Shackson -Dane iss Dim Penson.” - -“Do you think you’re equal to it?” Buffalo Bill asked. - -“Ach! Dot pullet voundt iss only a sgratch! Uff I sday me pehint now, -I am going to vorry me indo some sicknesses. Ve ar-re going to haf -some excidemendt now, I pet you.” - -“Allus huntin’ excitement, baron!” said Nomad, with a smile. “Et’s -goin’ ter be ther death o’ ye yit.” - -“Uff so-o, I vill die habby.” - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - A STARTLING DISCOVERY. - - -The three pards passed Juniper Joe’s cabin on foot. Though they -attracted some attention as they went along, they were not followed. -It had been heralded over Blossom Range that Juniper Joe’s cabin -had been robbed in the night, and he and his wife injured. As a -consequence, sensation lovers and the overcurious were prowling -around in numbers in the vicinity of the cabin. But it was closed. - -The scout and his pard avoided these people; and on the hills beyond -the cabin proceeded to lose themselves to view, in the brush and -trees. - -They had deviated several points from a direct line to the spot -named by the baron, until they were out of sight; then the baron -straightened away for their destination, leading rapidly. - -When they reached the place where he had been shot, they found proofs -of the truth of his story. The hole where the gold had been placed, -then removed, had been but partly filled in. The spot where the baron -had fallen when the bullet struck him could also be seen. He pointed -it out with trembling pride. - -“Himmel! Vhen I am shot it seemed dot der dop uff my headt vly off; -unt dhen I ditn’t knowed noddings votsoefer.” - -“I reckon he took his crack at ye, Schnitz, frum behind thet bush -over thar,” commented the trapper, looking round narrowly. “Et’s -a good thing fer ye thet et’s all o’ twenty yards to thet bush; -ef’t had been nearer he’d a hogged ye. Pistols allus shoot high at -a leetle distance; which is why ye got his lead on ther top o’ yer -head, instid o’ right through et. Funny he didn’t think o’ thet, an’ -make a clost enough examination ter find out.” - -“I am guessing dot he vos in a hurry,” said the baron. “He vandted to -make a gitavay kvick, as somepoty mighdt haf heard him.” - -“Schnitzenhauser is probably right about that,” Buffalo Bill agreed. -“The rascal couldn’t tell but that the shot would be heard, and bring -some one; and it’s a safe gamble that he wouldn’t want to be seen -here.” - -“Oh, he toughdt I vos deadt, all righdt, unt so dit I; aber I ditn’t -knowed eenyt’ings apoudt idt. Vhen I gome to mineselluf pack, I haf -a headaches vot you readt apoudt, I pet you. Ach! Idt shoombs yidt, -yoost like a grasshobber kicking py der insite uff my heat.” - -Buffalo Bill gave the German a sharp look, observing that his florid -face was a bit less highly colored than usual. - -“I don’t know but you ought to be at the hotel in bed, baron,” he -suggested. - -“Neffer!” cried the undaunted German. “I aind’t gifing oop undil ve -findt dhis veller. Cody, you unt Nomad ar-re as goodt as Inchuns vor -drailing; see uff you gan findt der willain’s dracks.” - -They began the search; but the ground was like flint, and they -accomplished nothing near the cache. - -When they picked up footprints, they were at some distance, but in -the direction of the flight of the man who had shot the baron. - -“Ah!” said the scout. “Here he goes!” - -“Waugh! K’rect ye air, Buffler. Now we’ll hang to ’em. Seems thet he -was p’inted out into the hills.” - -“I pedt you,” whispered the baron, staring round as if he expected -to see Jackson Dane start up out of the brush, “he vos going furdher -on, to pury dose puckskin pags ag’in. You see, he iss disdurped py -me, unt gan’t hidt dhem here no more; so he iss loogking vor anodder -blace.” - -It was a very reasonable supposition. - -In this opinion, they began to follow the tracks; though even there -the trailing was far from easy. The baron acknowledged that he was -not enough of a “hoondting tog” to do anything with a trail so dim; -but the scout and trapper were as keen-eyed and experienced as -Indians, and they went along fast enough. - -When they had gone half a mile, covering the ground slowly, they came -to what seemed to be another cache. - -It was in a sandy place. All round it the sand had been smoothed -down--a bush having been drawn over it; so that whatever footprints -had been made were wiped out. Even the “cache” had been covered in -that manner; but as a good deal of sand had been taken out in digging -the hole, all of which could not be put back when the hole was filled -in, a slight mound was the result. - -The scout and his pards inspected this mound, and the apparent work -of track-hiding round it, before they ventured up to it; for they -could not be certain that the man who had done the work was not -somewhere near, in hiding. - -To make sure on this point, they cautiously skirted round the place. - -But no human presence was discovered. - -Then they came up to the “cache.” - -The baron was now much excited; he believed the gold-nugget bags he -had seen were buried anew at that spot. Buffalo Bill and Nomad drew -their sheath knives and attacked the sand, which, when loosened, they -were able to draw out with their hands. - -They went down rapidly; but the hole was much deeper than they -anticipated. - -“Gone down ter Chiny, he did,” grumbled the trapper, “ter make shore -thet ther stuff would be safe.” - -When they got down near the bottom of the hole, which, after all, was -not so very deep, instead of striking against buckskin bags, their -knives struck clothing. - -“Waugh!” Nomad gurgled in his surprise. “He’s wrapped ther thing up -in his coat, I reckon.” - -Buffalo Bill began to heave out the sand in great handfuls; when it -was discovered that _the coat hid a body_. - -The old trapper flung himself out of the grave--for that is what it -was--with a snort. - -“I’m jiggered ef thet don’t give me ther creeps!” he cried. “Waugh! -Cody, there’s a dead man in thar.” - -The baron was also tremendously excited. - -Buffalo Bill continued to excavate quietly, but hurriedly; and soon -revealed a man’s arm. - -“I’ll have your help here, Nomad,” he said. - -“Br-r-r! I’m er Piegan, Buffler, ef thet don’t give me ther creeps.” - -“I am in der same fixings,” said the baron, jumping about. “Ach! A -deadt mans! Vot iss der meanness?” - -But Nomad sprang down to the aid of the scout; when together they -pulled the body out of the sand. It had been doubled and crumpled up -in the hole, was fully dressed, and the sand had been simply pushed -in on it and trampled down. - -Even Buffalo Bill gasped in surprise when the face of the dead man -was seen. - -For it was the face of Jackson Dane! - -“Waugh! Er, waugh!” Nomad was whooping. “I’m er Piegan, ef----” - -“Well, it knocks all our theories on the head,” said the scout, -breaking in on Nomad’s war-dance accompaniment. - -“Idt iss make me veel like I am grazy!” cried the baron, staring -goggle-eyed. - -The dead man, having been lifted out of the hole, was laid gently on -the ground. - -Then it was seen that Dane had been shot through the body. - -“Probably killed instantly,” was the scout’s conclusion, when he saw -the character of the wound. “Nomad, you’d better pike back to town -and send officers out to take charge of this. It will be impossible -to keep the thing still, I suppose; and I don’t know that there is -really any need of it.” - -“Who kilt him?” cried the baron. “He couldn’t haf shoodted himselluf -unt also puriet himselluf!” - -“That’s a fool idea, Schnitz!” the trapper snorted. - -“I knowed it iss. But uff he gone here py himselluf---- Vale, -somepoty exblanadion idt to me.” - -“Apparently, unless we are all off in our guesses, he came out here -to bury the stuff the baron saw him have,” suggested the scout; “then -some one, seeing him with it, shot him, got away with the gold, and -hid the body here.” - -Instead of starting off to town, Nomad began to circle round, to see -what he could discover. - -In a few seconds he let out a cry. - -“Hyer’s er trail, Buffler!” - -When the scout examined it, he found tracks somewhat larger than -those they had been following. They plunged into some bushes off on -the right, went on a few yards, then swung round in the direction of -Blossom Range. - -“Hikin’ back fer home, _he_ was!” said the trapper. “What does yer -make o’ thet, Buffler?” - -“The tracks of the murderer, without a doubt. After he covered up the -grave, he was in too big a hurry to thoroughly hide his tracks here; -though you can see that he was trying to step softly. If he doesn’t -take to rocky land, we can probably follow this until the streets -of the town are at least reached. He is back there by this time, of -course, if he went right along; and there can be no trailing of him -in the streets.” - -“Somebody might ’a’ seen him, though, when he went inter the town,” -Nomad suggested. “You stay right hyar with ther baron, by ther body. -I’ll foller these tracks, on my way ter town, and see ef I kin make -anything of ’em. You’ll find me back hyar ’fore ye know et.” - -The wiry old trapper set off at a sharp jog trot, following the trail -of the supposed murderer; and was soon out of sight. - -The German, still weak from his wound, though excitement now flushed -his face, dropped down on the sand a few yards from the body. -Buffalo Bill placed his handkerchief over the face of the dead man; -then took a seat beside the baron. - -“Vale, vot do you make uff idt?” the baron asked. - -“What do _you_ make of it?” - -“Noddings. I am as mixed oop as a cotton pall vot der pussy cats haf -peen blaying mit.” - -He breathed heavily. - -“You see how idt iss. Ve manufacdure der t’eory dot Shackson Dane -he has gone to der capin uff Yuniper Yoe unt ropped him, unt dot he -vos oudt here drying to hide der goldt he got py doing so-o. Dot may -sdill pe der troot’. Yidt der t’ought vot game py me, vhen I seen der -poty, iss dot Yuniper Yoe haf follered him unt kilt him; budt idt -tond’t holdt vater. Vor you see, Yuniper Yoe he gand’t pe here unt at -der same dime at der capin daking care uff his voundedt vifes. So-o.” - -He puffed out his cheeks, and his eyes stared, as he struggled with -this knotty problem. - -“Unt uff Shackson Dane he iss Dim Penson, unt--Ach! I gif idt oop! -You say somedings.” - -“Jackson Dane, or Tim Benson; the fellow is dead.” - -“Dot iss too blain to sbeak apoudt.” - -“And he said that Juniper Joe would kill him on sight.” - -“Yaw.” - -“Is there any one else he would have been afraid of?” - -The German jumped as if a bee had stung him. - -“What is it?” - -“An itea haf hidt me.” - -“Out with it, then.” - -“You rememper dot vomans py der Casino in?” - -“Vera Bright?” - -“Der same. Dhey vas kvarreling vhen on der sdairs at der Casino, -yoost pefore he gome avay.” - -“But you didn’t see her follow him.” - -“I tidn’t. Budt iss idt a sign dot she ton’t? She mighdt haf; and she -mighdt haf done dhis shooding here.” - -“What about those big tracks Nomad is following? They were not made -by a woman.” - -The baron jumped up and began to circle round the sandy spot, going -farther and farther out, like a dog trying to pick up a lost scent. - -At last he whooped a discovery. - -“Idt vos der vomans, shure!” he howled, as Buffalo Bill hurried to -him. “See der dracks uff dhem liddle shoon.” - -The tracks which the baron had discovered were small, as if they -had been made by a woman. In their haste, the scout and Nomad had -overlooked them, or rather had not searched long enough to find them, -after discovering the larger tracks. - -“Idt iss a skinch dot idt iss der vomans!” said the baron, his face -shining. “Vot you t’ink?” - -The scout was following the tracks. - -They led off in a direction opposite to those taken by the larger -tracks; but circled after a while, and also turned toward the town. - -“Vale, vot do you t’ink uff idt?” cried the baron. - -They continued to follow the tracks, which led them on toward the -town. - -But they had gone but a few hundred yards when a rifle cracked, and -a bullet sped with a whining sound past the scout’s head. - -He ducked and fell flat. - -“Down!” he urged. - -“You are hidt?” the baron squawked, as he also dropped to the ground. - -“No; but that came within an inch of me.” - -“Py yiminy, dhis iss some excidemendts vot you readt apoudt!” - -“You are getting your full share to-day, baron.” - -“I pet you!” - -They stopped talking, to listen; but they heard nothing. - -“Iss he caming?” the baron whispered. - -“I think not; I don’t hear anything.” - -“Who vos idt?” - -“Ask me something easy.” - -“He shodt at you?” - -“Well, it seemed like it, didn’t it?” - -The baron began to crawl off. - -“Whereaway?” - -“I’m going to loogk vor dot willain.” - -“He may be waiting for us to show ourselves; it seems likely.” - -In spite of this, the reckless German crept off to a slight knoll, -where, in the midst of bushes, he lifted his head, with his hat off, -and took a look. - -“Better keep your hat on,” the scout warned; “that bandage on your -head makes you conspicuous.” - -The baron ducked down with a “yeep.” - -“Did you see him?” Buffalo Bill asked. - -“No; but I ditn’t vanted him to seen me!” - -After listening some time longer, the scout joined the baron; but -though they looked about as well as they could, they saw no one. - -“He thought he killed me, and let it go at that; or he feared that he -didn’t, and that I would get him if he came on. One guess is as good -as another.” - -“I gan make a guesses dot peadts all uff dhem: I guess dot ve tond’t -knowed noddings apoudt idt.” - -While they were talking in low tones, they heard a crashing among the -brush, but in the direction of the town. - -“Vot?” the German gasped. - -But the next moment they knew that the sound was made by the men whom -the trapper had secured from Blossom Range. - -When they came in sight they were seen to be excited citizens, half -a dozen in number, accompanying an officer and the coroner, bearing -with them a stretcher for the body. - -The baron leaped to his feet and swung his hat to direct them; but -did not call. - -“Petter loogk oudt!” he cautioned, as they came near. - -“Who was that shootin’?” Nomad demanded. “We heard a rifle off hyar. -Been shootin’ at somebody?” - -“Somepoty has peen shoodting at us!” the baron informed him. - -“Great gallinipers! Who was et?” - -“I vish dot you vouldt toldt me. Der pullet idt seems vos vor Cody; -but it ditn’t git him.” - -“Couldn’t er been ther feller thet killed Dane?” said Nomad. - -“Ve tond’t know who idt vos.” - -The scout arose and greeted the officers and citizens. - -“We have found other tracks here,” he said, pointing off to the -right, where the tracks were to be seen. - -Nomad and some of the men ran over there. - -“Tracks of a woman!” cried the trapper. - -“So we thought.” - -“Whar’d they come frum?” - -“Near the point where the body was buried,” the scout told him. - -“And goin’ toward town?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then thet woman must er been with ther man what downed Dane.” - -“It would seem so. Gentlemen, we can show you where the body lies -now,” said the scout, “if you will follow us.” - -“Petter loogk oudt vor der man mit der gun!” the baron warned. - -But apparently the man with the gun had vanished; for when they set -out for the spot where the body had been left, they did not see or -hear him. - -But still another surprise awaited them, as stunning almost as the -first. On reaching the spot where it had been left, the body itself -had disappeared. - -“Whar’d yer put et?” Nomad asked, puzzled. - -The baron and the scout were staring dumfounded at the place where -the body had last been seen. - -“Idt iss gone!” the baron howled. “Yumpin’ yack rappits, idt iss -gone!” - -“It’s true, gentlemen,” the scout supplemented; “the body that we -left right here has disappeared.” - -The thing was astounding. - -“More excitement baron!” Nomad yelped. - -“Don’t I knowed idt? I am grazy mit excidemendts.” - -“Yer air shore gittin’ good measure, Schnitz!” the trapper whooped. - -He began to look for the trail of the man who must have borne the -body away. - -Tracks were found almost immediately--those of a man, whose shoes cut -rather deeply into the ground, and made some impression even where -the soil was hard; showing that he had borne a burden. There could be -not a doubt that the burden was the body of Jackson Dane. - -“Vale, I see some daylighdts,” the baron declared; “der mans vot haf -done dhis iss der same vun vot haf shoodted at Cody; I am petting on -idt.” - -“I guess ye’re right, Schnitz,” the trapper agreed. “Now, we’ll see -ef we can foller him.” - -Buffalo Bill put himself at the head of the excited little party, and -the chase began. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES. - - -As if he knew he would be followed, the man who had borne off the -body had struck rocky ground soon, so completely breaking his trail -that to pursue it promised to be a work of great difficulty. - -Buffalo Bill stopped. - -“I don’t think I care to go farther just now,” he said. “Though, -later, I want to come here and cipher this thing out. I’m going back -to Blossom Range.” - -“Waugh!” the trapper objected. “What fer? This hyar is ther place fer -work ter be done right now.” - -“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” said Buffalo Bill, thoughtfully; “I’ll -leave you and the baron to claw the tangles out of this thing; and -I’ll try to join you before long. As you go along break a bush now -and then, so that when I return I’ll have no trouble in finding you.” - -“But what ye goin’ back fer?” Nomad asked, impatiently. - -It seemed to him that to pick up the lost trail was the most -important thing at the moment; at any rate, he could think of nothing -more promising. - -Because of the listening ears turned toward him, Buffalo Bill did not -care to acquaint the trapper with the thoughts in his mind. - -So he made a lame excuse, about having forgotten something; and -turned about, leaving the trapper and the baron to go on alone; as -all of the town men turned back when Cody did. - -“You can dig out that trail, Nomad, if any one on earth can,” he told -the trapper. “So just hang to it, you and the baron--unless he wants -to go back with me! When I return, I shall come with the expectation -of finding that you have dug out something worth while.” - -But the baron had no wish to return to Blossom Range at that time; it -was his idea that the blind trail which Nomad was to try to spell out -offered worlds of excitement, of the most surprising kind. - -When Buffalo Bill reached Blossom Range, he took the officer and the -coroner aside, after dismissing the other men. - -“Perhaps you know all about those men who have been with you, and -that they’re to be trusted,” he explained; “but I don’t know any of -them, and the faces of one or two didn’t strike me favorably. What -I want to do now is to have you go with me to the Casino and arrest -there a woman called Vera Bright; she is with the show company that -has been giving performances in the Casino the past week. After that, -I shall ask you to go with me to Juniper Joe’s and place Juniper Joe -and his wife under arrest.” - -The officer and coroner stared at him. - -“Not Juniper Joe!” gasped the officer. - -“None other. If I am making a mistake, I will stand responsible for -it. The man who was slain out there was the same that Juniper Joe -tried to kill the night of his wedding; and this woman, Vera Bright, -was with the murdered man shortly before daylight this morning, as -I know through the testimony of the German, who was watching the -Casino at that time. He heard them quarreling. In addition, Mrs. -Juniper Joe made that woman a visit yesterday.” - -“If you back the thing, I’ll make the arrests,” said the officer, but -reluctantly. - -“I will back you!” the scout told him. “Or, if you don’t want to do -it, I will make the arrests myself; yet I should prefer to have you -to do that part of the work.” - -He did not think it wise, being still rather hazy about some points -himself, to tell these men all his conclusions; he preferred to let -events speak for themselves. - -When they got down to the Casino and called for Miss Vera Bright, -they were informed that she was not there; that, in fact, she had -left Blossom Range that morning, on the stage for Calumet Springs. - -“Let me see the manager of the show,” Buffalo Bill requested. - -The manager came down--a pale, blond, young fellow--and began to -answer Buffalo Bill’s questions. - -“I didn’t know she was going,” he declared; “and none of the company -did. The first we knew, she had her things packed, and asked me for -her salary. I wouldn’t pay it, of course, under the circumstances, -as we expect to play here another week, and she was in the cast. She -went away in a huff.” - -“How long was she with your company?” was the scout’s next question. - -The manager admitted that he had “picked her up” at Calumet Springs, -when the company was there on its way to Blossom Range. - -“She wanted to join us, and I let her do so, as I thought we could -use her,” he explained. - -“So you really know nothing about her?” - -“Not a thing!” - -When Buffalo Bill left the Casino, he sent a telegram to the marshal -of Calumet Wells, requesting him to hold the woman until certain -charges against her could be investigated. - -“Now for Juniper Joe’s!” he said to the officer. - -When they reached the cabin of Juniper Joe, they had somewhat the -same experience; Juniper Joe was not there, neither was his wife. The -cabin was locked. - -The door which the scout had so recently splintered had been somewhat -repaired, and was braced on the inside, as well as locked. - -“This is queer!” was the officer’s comment. - -“Just a little bit,” the scout agreed. - -“Shall I break the door in?” - -“That is my advice.” - -When it was battered in and they entered, they found no one inside. - -A warrant had been secured, authorizing the house and the mine to be -searched. Therefore, the officer forced the door which led to the -mine. The mine looked dark as a cave; so lights were secured, before -they tried to enter it. - -They examined the mine back of the cabin, the scout flashing the -light curiously on the walls. - -He made no remarks about his discoveries, and his examination was -not a close one; but he commented freely enough on the fact that the -couple must have departed by the front door. - -“Yet it seemed to have been barred on the inside!” was the officer’s -objection. - -This was overcome, when a closer examination of the door was made. -The bar of wood had been so arranged that it would drop down on the -inside and so hold the door when it was closed from the outside. -Hence the theory that it had been barred from the inside fell to the -ground. - -“This may be nothing but a mare’s nest, though,” the officer -suggested; “Juniper Joe and his wife may be both downtown right now.” - -“His wife was supposed to have been too badly hurt to leave the -cabin,” the scout reminded. - -“But she may have gone to some doctor’s office!” - -Though this was true enough, the scout did not believe it. - -After they had made sure that the mine and cabin were unoccupied, -Buffalo Bill asked the men to return to the town and make a search -for Juniper Joe and his wife, and to arrest them if they were found. - -As for himself, as soon as the men set out, he turned about and -started off, with the intention of rejoining Nomad and the baron. - -“A water haul!” he said to himself, as he walked on swiftly. “But I -think that at last we are making some progress.” - -It was the scout’s opinion that the couple and Vera Bright had -hastily left the town. - -“Why?” was the question. - -It seemed to him there could be but one answer. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - THE CHASE. - - -Old Nomad was exclaiming softly in his characteristic way, standing -on the edge of a precipitous cliff wall. The baron, by his side, had -hold of a bush, and was peering over into the depths below. - -“I’m er Piegan,” said Nomad, “ef suthin’ ain’t been throwed down -thar!” - -“Aber I gand’t seen noddings, I am pelieving idt iss der pody,” the -baron averred. - -Sounds of footsteps attracted their attention. - -Then they saw Buffalo Bill hurrying toward them. - -He had come rapidly from the town, having followed them without -trouble, because of the broken bushes they had left in their wake to -guide him. - -“Waugh!” Nomad called to him, and swung his hand. “Come over hyar!” - -“I’m coming.” - -“Ve haf followed der drail to dot boint ofer dhere,” the baron -explained, as the scout came up. “Idt vendt straight on; but Nomat he -seen vot he took to pe dracks goming dhis vay; unt idt loogks as uff -somed’ings had peen pitched town here.” - -“We’re believin’ thet ther critter we follered sidetracked carefully -to this point,” added Nomad, “an’ hyar he got rid o’ ther body he war -kerryin’. Et looks et.” - -The scout seized a bush, and began to go down the cliff side. - -“We can soon discover if it is so,” he said. - -“Vot dit you findt in der town?” the baron shot at him. - -“Vera Bright, Juniper Joe, and his wife are all missing.” - -“Waugh!” Nomad whooped. “We’ve been figgerin’ thet we’ve been -follerin’ ther trail o’ Juniper Joe and p’raps his wife. Anyhow, -thar’s big tracks and leetle ones. But we couldn’t make et come out -right thet Juniper Joe an’ his wife had been hyar, when we reckoned -they war back in ther own cabin.” - -The scout soon reached the bottom of the cavity, which was bush-grown -along its sides. He called up his discovery. - -“Your guess was right,” he said. “Here is the body.” - -It had been pitched far enough out, so that in its fall it did not -break bushes; and it lay in a crumpled heap. - -The scout only tarried long enough to be sure that it was the body of -the man known to him as Jackson Dane; then he came climbing up out of -the black depths. - -“Yes,” he added, “whoever had the body threw it over here, to get -rid of it; and took it from that other place so that it might not be -found by the searchers.” - -“Why sh’d he wanted ter do thet?” Nomad queried. - -“I can only guess, of course; though he ought to have known that it -had already been seen. In law, you know, the body must be produced, -or identified, in order to convict any one of murder; otherwise, -there could be no showing absolutely that the man supposed to be -murdered was dead. He might be living, somewhere in secret. But it -was a foolish move, in this case, to try to hide it here, it seems to -me; as the body had already been seen.” - -“Aber the man vot dook it mighdtn’t haf knowed dot,” suggested the -German. - -“Very true.” - -“But about thet woman and Juniper Joe cuttin’ out?” said Nomad. “You -air shore of thet?” - -“I went with the officer to the Casino, to arrest the woman, but she -had left by the morning stage for Calumet Springs. I sent a telegram -to the marshal there; and if he does his duty, it will stop her at -that point. When we went to Juniper’s cabin, we found it empty and -dark. On forcing the door, we found no one, even though we searched -the cabin and the mine. Of course, if you have been following their -trail, it shows plainly enough where they are now.” - -“What’s yer idee?” the trapper questioned. - -“Simply that they came out and killed Dane. Perhaps they started back -to the town; then saw us, and that changed their plans. Some one shot -at me, you know; and probably that was Juniper Joe.” - -“Then you’ve reached ther conclusion thet he is plum crooked?” - -“I have.” - -“And his wife, too?” - -“Doesn’t it look it?” - -“Waugh! Et does.” - -“We’ll pick up their trail over there, and see if we can’t crowd ’em. -Did it seem fresh?” - -“Not so very old, anyway,” Nomad told him. - -“You didn’t see any indication that buckskin bags had been cached, or -pitched into some hole?” - -“No; but they could er been pitched inter some hole easy ’nuff, -without our knowin’ it. Thar’s a lot o’ crevices along the trail; -an’ without leavin’ his tracks a feller could easy ernough heave -buckskin bags inter any of ’em.” - -“We haven’t time to look that up, now. Show me the trail, and we’ll -see what we can do.” - -When the trail was regained, the scout took the lead, and pushed the -work hard. - -Though the country was rocky and covered with much scrub, they went -along rapidly. There were few trailers who could equal Buffalo Bill. -It was hard work, so that often he preferred to let his Indians do -it; but he was always equal to the task, as in this instance. - -There were tracks of two people--one the track of a man surely; the -other smaller, which might have been made by a woman; though, if so, -she had worn a coarse and heavy shoe, just fitted for that kind of -work. - -At length the trails split; the larger tracks going off to the right, -the others to the left. - -“I’ll follow the man,” said the scout; “you take the other. I fancy -the man is Juniper Joe; the other may be his wife.” - -It had become evident that the couple were getting tired; they had -traveled rapidly, as if at first frightened, and so had begun to use -up their strength. It was perhaps for that reason they separated; as -they might have thought the pursuers, if they knew of them, would -follow the larger tracks. - -By this time Buffalo Bill and his pards were a good five miles north -of the mining town of Blossom Range, and in the vicinity of a village -of the Ute tribe of Indians. - -The Utes were supposed to be peaceably inclined. At any rate, they -had shown no hostile intentions since Iron Bow had led them on the -warpath, five years before, and had been badly worsted. But they were -still blanket Indians, much given to powwowing and strange dances, to -feathered headdresses and variegated paints. - -For some time Buffalo Bill had been half convinced that the tracks he -and his pards had followed would lead, by and by, to this Ute village. - -Yet, when the tracks separated, this did not seem so likely. - -Buffalo Bill, pressing ahead on the trail he had chosen, soon lost -sight of Nomad and the baron. - -He had gone nearly a mile, through a very rough country, when he -became aware of the fact that the Indians were near him; he saw a -few, and heard others. They had apparently been deer hunting. Their -tracks, here and there, covered over those he was pursuing; so that -twice he had to stop and spend valuable time in puzzling out the -trail. - -“If this fellow is a friend of the Utes, it’s likely he will join the -deer hunters,” thought the scout. - -A little later a shot rang out. - -Thereupon, a man sprang out of bushes a hundred yards away, leaping -up as if he thought the bullet had been sent at him, and ran with big -jumps across the rocks, through the rough ground. - -At a glance, Buffalo Bill saw that the man was Juniper Joe. - -“Our guess is right, so far,” he muttered. - -The man disappeared quickly; but Buffalo Bill was in hot chase, -determined not to lose sight of him. - -He was wondering, at the same time, if the Indians had shot at this -man. Apparently, the fellow had thought so; for it seemed that he had -leaped up and ran from the Indians, rather than from the scout, whom, -apparently, he had not yet seen. - -Off at one side Indian yells broke out; but they were not war-trail -yells; they were hunting yells, announcing victory. - -“The Utes fired at game, and brought it down,” was the scout’s -conclusion. “I am sure now they did not shoot at Juniper Joe.” - -Then he came again in sight of the man, who had gained a slippery -slope, which he was trying to climb, though, at some points, to do it -he would have needed the ability of a fly. - -Buffalo Bill could see that Juniper Joe was a badly frightened -individual. It seemed to the scout he was frightened by the Indian -yelling, following the shot; that, in short, Juniper Joe was sure the -Indians had fired at him and were now pursuing him. - -Climbing over slippery rocks, Juniper Joe gained the treacherous edge -of a cañon, along which he ran at reckless speed. - -The scout called to him. - -The effect was bad. Juniper Joe tried to stop and look about; as he -did so, stumbling, so that he was thrown heavily. The next instant he -was bounding off the edge of the precipice, and went shooting down. - -The scout stopped with a gasp of surprise. - -He saw Juniper Joe crash into the top of a pine, out of which he -tumbled, to land in a cleft of rock in the face of the cañon. - -Apparently, in his wild haste and fright, Juniper Joe had been -seriously, perhaps fatally, wounded; he lay prostrate where he had -fallen, without motion at first. But a moment later Buffalo Bill saw -him put up his hand. - -“Not dead yet, at any rate!” said the scout, looking about, with the -desire of hurrying to the man’s assistance. - -Fortunately, in leaving Blossom Range the scout had not only fully -armed himself, but had brought along his lariat, which he had often -found more useful than any weapon. - -Juniper Joe’s red shirt showed plainly in the niche, looking like a -gout of blood, thus making it very suggestive. Buffalo Bill had been -somewhat surprised to see Juniper Joe in full miner’s outfit, very -different from the clothing he usually wore in the town. - -For some time nothing had been heard from the Indians; but now the -scout saw some of them on the top of the cañon wall, looking down at -the injured man. Others appeared in sight at various points. - -Buffalo Bill paid no attention to the Utes, though they did not seem -friendly. They showed no disposition to help the injured man. In -truth, even to consider such a thing seriously was an evidence of -much courage; for Juniper Joe lay in a spot not to be approached at -all without much danger. - -The scout was not thinking of the possible danger, as he hastened -along, looking for a point at which he could launch his lariat; his -intention being, if he could find such a place, to hurl the rope at -it, then swing out and over the cañon. - -The cañon was of such depth that even to look down into it made one’s -head swim. - -In spite of this, when he had found a favorable finger of rock -outthrust the scout swung the noose of his rope, and with a wonderful -cast fastened it round the tip of the rocky projection on the other -side. - -“Here goes!” he said. - -Clutching the rope, he ran forward, then flung himself boldly out -over the black gulf. The momentum carried him across, so that his -feet struck the opposite wall. As soon as he could steady the -oscillation of the rope, he began to climb it, hand over hand. - -Though they had shown some evidences of an unfriendly attitude, -Buffalo Bill’s daring in going to the aid of Juniper Joe stilled the -Indians into peace. - -Slowly the scout climbed up the rope, over the dizzy chasm, mounting -steadily until he gained the spot where Juniper Joe lay. - -Then he saw that Juniper Joe was not only not dead, but treacherously -inclined; the fellow’s eyes were blazing, and as Buffalo Bill swung -into the notch at his side, Juniper Joe lifted himself and drove at -the scout with a knife. - -Though the surprise was stupendous, the scout was equal to the -occasion; he dropped down on the treacherous scoundrel, and gripped -him. - -A struggle followed; but Juniper Joe had not recovered from the -jarring effects of his fall, and the scout was quickly the victor. - -Juniper Joe dropped back, panting and glaring. - -“Curse you!” he fumed. - -The scout had caught the fellow’s knife away, and now snatched away -his revolvers. - -“A pretty greeting for a man who risked his life to come up here!” he -said bitterly. - -“That’s all right!” growled Juniper Joe. “But what did ye come up -for? Me, I reckon! You didn’t come jest to help me, I know.” - -Then he realized that he had said too much. - -“I’m kind o’ flighty,” he apologized; “so don’t think o’ what I’ve -done. I didn’t really know it was you, Cody; ’pon honor, I didn’t. -That jolt I got sort o’ put me out o’ my head. Hope you’ll overlook -it.” - -He rolled his eyes round, as if looking for the Indians. - -“Those Utes won’t trouble you!” - -“Mebby they won’t,” Juniper Joe grumbled; “but I ain’t wantin’ to -chance it. Ye see, I onct had trouble with old Iron Bow.” - -“You thought they shot at you and chased you?” - -“I did.” - -“Rest easy, then. They shot at a deer, or some game animal.” - -“How do you know it?” - -“I could tell by the way they yelled.” - -“You’re thunderin’ smart, you think!” - -Unnoting this insult, the scout tried to make an examination, to -discover if Juniper Joe was much hurt. - -“It’s jest my leg and right hip,” said the rascal; “feels like my leg -is broke.” - -“You couldn’t move it, if that was so.” - -The fellow had been bruised by his heavy fall, and the breath had -been jarred out of him, yet he was not hurt, otherwise. - -“Oh, I think you’re all right!” the scout told him. - -“What you goin’ to do?” - -“Try to get you down from here.” - -“I’m surprised to see you hyar,” said Juniper Joe, more mildly. “I -don’t reckon you come out to see if Iron Bow is thinkin’ of war -trailin’?” - -“We’ll talk about that when we get you down from here,” the scout -evaded. - -Just then a whoop sounded; and, looking up, Buffalo Bill saw that the -baron and Nomad had come in sight. - -He stood up and waved his hand to them, that they might locate him; -but at the same time he was careful not to give Juniper Joe a chance -to push him out of the notch into the cañon. He was convinced that -Juniper Joe might want to do that very thing. - -“Who’s them?” asked Juniper Joe. - -“My friends--the baron and old Nomad.” - -Juniper Joe growled something in his throat. - -“What was that?” the scout asked. - -“Oh, nothin’! Lower me down, if you kin.” - -“It’s going to be a hard job; you’re a heavy man.” - -“Waal, then let me stay hyar!” the fellow growled. - -The scout put the noose of the rope round Juniper Joe’s body, under -the arms. - -“I’ll try it,” he said, “if you’ve got the grit!” - -Juniper Joe looked over the edge, and shivered. - -“If anything should happen, I reckon I’d fetch up dead on them rocks -down there.” - -“I can get a pretty good grip, by locking a leg round this point of -rock, and I think I can hold you; but the rope is strong enough to -hold you, even if I should slip.” - -“It’d cut me in two, if you should let go.” - -“I suppose you’re willing for me to try it?” - -The fellow looked over again. - -“Go ahead!” he said, setting his jaws together. “I’ve got to git down -out of this in some way.” - -Helping himself, Juniper Joe slid over the edge of the notch, aided -by the scout, the latter supporting him as he released his grip on -the rock and dangled in midair. - -It was a fine exhibition of muscular strength, when Buffalo Bill -lowered the heavy body of Juniper Joe slowly down from the notch, -letting it slide against the cañon wall. - -There was a shelf below; and when Juniper Joe had gained that the -scout directed him to cast off the noose. - -“I’m coming down,” he announced. “But,” he warned, “no tricks! My -pards are over there, you see; and they wouldn’t stand for treachery -on your part.” - -“Oh, I ain’t intendin’ any,” Juniper Joe growled back. - -The scout swung out and lowered himself to the shelf. - -The rope was left hanging, of course, with the noose hooked over -the finger of rock. But the scout was a rope wizard. By some clever -jerks, which made wavy ripples run up the rope, he flipped it off the -rocky point, and it dropped down. - -He found another projection, to which he fastened the noose; and the -performance was gone through again, this time bringing the scout and -his prisoner to the bottom of the cañon. - -When they got down there they found the baron and Nomad. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - STARTLING REVELATIONS. - - -If the Utes remained in the vicinity, they kept out of sight and were -not seen again. - -Old Nomad and the baron had heard the shot of the Indians; but, -thinking it had come from the rifle of Buffalo Bill, they had -abandoned the trail they were following, and came over to see if the -scout was in trouble. - -“We allowed you was,” explained old Nomad, “er you wouldn’t opened up -in thet way. Glad ter know it was a false alarm.” - -Juniper Joe, standing up, with the noose of the lariat removed, was -walking about, apparently testing his strength; suddenly he started -off at a clipping gait, showing how little he had been hurt by his -fall. - -The baron and Nomad yelled when they saw him start. - -Buffalo Bill, instead of yelling, plucked out a revolver, swung it -round his head, and hurled it at the fleeing man. - -It struck him in the back of the neck and knocked him sprawling. - -Though he fell heavily, and was somewhat stunned, Juniper Joe still -had full use of his tongue, as his raving showed when they ran up to -him. He demanded the reason for such treatment. - -“Well, we’re going to hold you, you know!” Buffalo Bill told him. - -Juniper Joe tried to pretend surprise. - -“What fer?” he howled. - -“For the murder of Jackson Dane--if that was his name.” - -Juniper Joe declared that he did not know what they were talking -about. - -“You tried to kill him once, at the time of your wedding, when you -claimed he was Tim Benson, the road agent.” - -“Waal, that feller was Tim Benson; but I ain’t seen him since.” - -“As we think you know all about it, and for other reasons, we’re now -going to take you back to Blossom Range,” Buffalo Bill told him. - -Juniper Joe protested against this loudly. - -“Perhaps you will tell us who, then, was with you?” - -Juniper Joe denied that any one had been with him. - -“Waugh! We won’t fool wi’ no sech liar,” Nomad whooped. “You’ve -showed thet ye kin walk--you done some runnin’ a while ago; so we’re -goin’ to tie ye and march ye ahead of us, wi’ the understandin’ ef -yer don’t go peaceable you’ll go some other way.” - -When he saw that neither lying nor anything else would do him any -good, Juniper Joe submitted, but with bad grace; after which he -became sullen, refusing to answer questions. - -On the return to the town, as they were able to pick an easier -trail than they had followed in getting there, the scout’s party -made better progress. They did not stop to follow the trail of the -supposed woman; but Nomad was detached to see what he could do with -it, under instructions not to waste too much time, but to report in -the town by nightfall. The baron’s head still troubling him, he went -along with Buffalo Bill. - -When Buffalo Bill entered Blossom Range with his prisoner, the -afternoon stage was coming in from Calumet Springs. So he took -his prisoner right down to the stage stables, though Juniper Joe -protested against this outrage. - -One of the passengers by the stage was the marshal of Calumet -Springs, who had with him a woman, Miss Vera Bright, whom he had -brought back to Blossom Range. - -She stared at Buffalo Bill’s prisoner. - -“I think it will be well if we take them into a room here together, -and see if they won’t do some talking,” was the scout’s statement to -the Calumet Springs marshal. - -“If you can get anything out of her, you’re ahead of me,” the marshal -admitted; “she fit like a wildcat, when I told her she would have -to come back here, and only stopped it when I threatened I’d put -irons on her. She weakened at that, and come along; but she’s a plum -furious beauty, I tell you, git her started.” - -The blonde woman and Juniper Joe were taken into a back room of the -stage office, where they were brought face to face. In the room at -the time was the marshal of Calumet Springs, with Nomad and the -baron, and, of course, the scout, together with the local manager of -the stage line. - -Buffalo Bill, a shrewd reader of human nature, opened the ball by -telling the woman that Juniper Joe was under arrest for the murder of -the man called Jackson Dane, but whom Joe had said was Tim Benson. - -Her face paled at that, and her eyes flashed, and she turned on the -prisoner like a tigress. - -“Is that so?” she cried. - -“It’s a lie!” Juniper Joe declared to her. - -She turned to Buffalo Bill. - -“Is it true,” she said, “that he has killed him?” - -“Dane has been killed, and we believe this man did it; we have -evidence which it seems to us proves it.” - -“I’m sure he did--if he is dead.” - -She bent her burning eyes on Juniper Joe; and he seemed to wither -under them. - -“Where is Tim?” she demanded. - -“I--I don’t know what you’re sayin’!” he said. - -“Oh, yes, you do!” she flashed at him. “Where is the man who was -pretending to be your wife--the man you made everybody believe was a -woman, when you had that fake wedding at your cabin? That was a fine -game; and I nearly died laughing when I knew about it. What’s become -of him?” - -It was an astonishing revelation; and Buffalo Bill questioned her -about it. - -“Well, that’s the straight truth I’m giving you,” she said defiantly; -“I don’t care anything about this scoundrel here; you can hang him, -if you want to, and I think he needs it; but I do want to know what -has become of the man who played that game with him. I want to know -if he is dead, too, or what has become of him.” - -“He isn’t dead!” the scout told her. - -“No! Then, if you know where he is, you had better arrest him at -once; for that man is Tim Benson, the road agent.” - -“You’re sure of that?” the scout demanded. - -“Well, I reckon I am. Didn’t he come down to the Casino to see me -yesterday, and just because he was jealous of Dane?” - -“Is Dane the name of the man who was killed by Juniper Joe?” - -A dash of tears came into her eyes. - -“Well, no, it isn’t, if I have to tell; and as he is dead, it doesn’t -matter now. His name was Ward--John Ward.” - -It was another surprise; for John Ward was almost as notorious an -outlaw as Tim Benson. - -“It was a case of jealousy between Ward and Benson,” she explained. -“Benson came down to the Casino, and threatened to kill me there, -because Ward had been to see me. Then Ward got mad, when I told him -about it, and swore he would kill Benson, or tell the authorities who -Benson really was. He didn’t like Benson, and he didn’t like Juniper -Joe; and he thought Juniper was the biggest scoundrel of the two. -There had been bad blood between them a long time.” - -“Aw! Go ahead with yer lies!” Juniper Joe snarled at her, giving her -baleful glances. “Make up some good ones while you’re at it.” - -“I’m going to tell the truth,” she said; “they can’t do anything with -me, for I’m not mixed up in the thing, except that Ward came to see -me, and he and Benson quarreled about it. I’ll tell the whole thing, -you murderer; you killed Ward, and I’ll get even with you by blabbing -everything!” - -She “blabbed.” - -According to her statement, Tim Benson had discovered that Buffalo -Bill was hot on his trail, and was coming to Blossom Range, where -Benson had been doing a lot of hold-up work recently. To throw him -off the track, he and Juniper Joe, who was secretly his partner in -crime, concocted the dazzling scheme of the “jubilee” wedding, when -Juniper Joe pretended to marry Tim Benson, who was posing as Mrs. -Rafferty, the widow from the East. No one could deny that the thing -had been cleverly carried out; the whole of Blossom Range had been -neatly hoodwinked. - -It was Juniper Joe’s plan, after that, to have the gold shipments -sent out by the way of Eagle Gap, in charge of the prospectors. He -and Benson held them up there, killing one and wounding the other. -They got safely back to the cabin with the plunder, after bringing -the burros near to the town, and then turning them loose in the hills. - -Ward had knowledge of all this, and had told the woman about it when -he called on her. He had said that he meant to kill Benson; and there -could not be any doubt, from evidence gathered later, that in the -night, or just before morning, he had gone to the cabin, where he -had attacked Juniper Joe and Benson. Probably, as he had left Benson -unconscious, he believed he had killed him. - -Benson had already been wounded in the head by a bullet from the -baron’s revolver. In the fight with Ward, the latter had rapped -Benson on the head, opening the unhealed wound made by the baron’s -bullet; thus producing a condition which had puzzled Buffalo Bill; -who, it will be recalled, had found Juniper Joe and his “wife” in -the cabin that morning; Juniper Joe tied and gagged, and his “wife” -unconscious on the floor. - -Ward had got out with some of the nuggets in buckskin bags, a part of -the loot from the burro shipments; and had tried to cache them at -the time he was followed and seen by the baron. - -Juniper Joe and his “wife” had also followed Ward; and they had -killed him. After that, becoming frightened, they had tried to hide -the body in a cañon, had thrown away the bags of nuggets, and had -shaped their course to get out of the country, sure that at last -Buffalo Bill had discovered the truth and was after them hotfooted. - -Juniper Joe bitterly denied the statements of Vera Bright, raving -thunderously in making his denials; he was a much-abused and -injured man, he declared, of good intentions and wholly innocent of -wrongdoing. - -Some proof against him was found when the mine was again gone over -by Buffalo Bill and the local officers, and a thorough search -brought out of various hiding places the whole of the gold shipments -which the Wells Fargo had tried to send across the hills by the -prospectors. This was good evidence that Juniper Joe had been -concerned in that hold-up, and that when John Ward attacked the -occupants of the cabin he found but a small part of the treasure. - -As for Juniper Joe’s mine, it was a “fake.” The indications showed -that no rich pockets had ever been struck in it; so that it was -apparent that the nuggets which Juniper Joe pretended he had dug out -had been obtained in hold-ups. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - THE FOOL OF FOLLY MOUNTAIN. - - -Finding the trailing difficult, old Nomad returned to Blossom Range -that evening, having accomplished nothing. - -He was tremendously excited, when he learned the story told by Vera -Bright. - -“Waugh! Thet was a ringer!” he cried, commenting on the clever manner -in which Tim Benson and Juniper Joe had deceived everybody with their -“jubilee.” - -Buffalo Bill got out and reread Juniper Joe’s unique invitation to -attend the “wedding.” - -“I vonder vot Vhite-eyed Moses iss t’inking now?” said the baron. - -“Oh, waal, he got paid fer his fiddlin’,” said Nomad; “so what does -he keer? I should say thet Jedge Abercrombie Morris, who performed -the weddin’ ceremony, was about the wu’st fooled man in town.” - -Buffalo Bill laughed. - -“Do you think he was fooled any worse,” he said, “than Buffalo Bill, -Nick Nomad, and Baron von Schnitzenhauser? It seems to me not.” - -“Say, thet was shore the plum limit, wan’t it?” the trapper whooped. - -“I t’ink dhose two men shouldt be called Vera Bright, insteadt uff -dot voman,” the baron punned. “I am admitting dot idt vos too mooch -vor Schnitzenhauser.” - -“Waugh! Ther same hyar. We was all fooled complete.” - -It was likely that the town would have “the laugh on itself” for a -long time, whenever Juniper Joe’s jubilee was mentioned. - -The next day, Buffalo Bill and his pards tried to pick up the trail -of Tim Benson. But the clever little rascal had a good start; and in -the hills north of the town he had so blinded his trail that they -could do nothing with it. - -Once Buffalo Bill believed he had trailed the fellow right to the -edge of Iron Bow’s Ute village, and entered the village to make -inquiries. But if Benson had sought concealment there, the Utes would -not give up the secret. - -At last the chase was given over, and the scout and his party -returned to camp. - -“Waal, we’ve bagged one o’ the scoundrels, anyhow,” Nomad comforted -himself by saying. - -It was true enough--Juniper Joe was in jail in Blossom Range. - -The woman was being held, too, for she would be needed as a witness -against him. - -They called on Juniper Joe on their return to the town; but he was in -a sullen mood, and would not talk. - -“If I’ve done all the things you say I have, I must be mighty -clever,” he said to them; then a twinkle came into the corners of his -eyes. - -It made Nomad laugh. - -He laughed again, when they came out of the jail. - -“Waugh!” he gurgled. “Whenever I want ter tickle myself half ter -death, I’m jest goin’ ter whisper, ‘Juniper Joe’s jubilee.’ But what -yer goin’ ter do, Buffler? Let Benson go by the board?” - -“No,” replied the scout with determination. “I am going to get -Benson, and make a clean round up.” - -That night a tall man with a blonde mustache and long hair was -closeted for a long time with Buffalo Bill in the latter’s room at -the Eagle House. - -He came to the Eagle House late at night, and he went away before -morning. With the exception of the scout himself, no one saw him come -and no one saw him go. Not a servant, not even the night clerk, knew -that he had been there. - -Sunrise saw him occupying the cabin on top of a hill called Folly -Mountain, just north of the town. A tenderfoot had built the cabin, -worked furiously for a month in the prospect hole behind it, without -taking out enough gold to pay even the blacksmith for sharpening his -picks, and was ready to sell out. The tall man made him an offer for -the cabin and the mine; then the tenderfoot moved out, and the man -with the blond hair took possession. - -The first thing apprising Blossom Range of this change of ownership -was the small United States flag flying from the pole in front of the -house. The stranger had changed the slender aspen growing there from -a tree into a flagstaff, and hoisted Old Glory. - -Blossom Range knew then that the tenderfoot had either moved out -or gone crazy. His habits had been too penurious to admit of the -suggestion that he could have bought the flag, and it was not in -keeping with his character that he would have flung it to the breeze -if he had owned one. - -The smoke floating from the rusted stovepipe in the lean-to which, -backed against the hill, served as kitchen, suggested that whoever -had hoisted the flag was now getting breakfast. - -The hour was early, yet curiosity was sufficient warrant for sending -a number of men to the cabin to investigate. - -When they gained it and looked through the open door, they saw the -tall, blond-haired man. He was dressed in miner’s clothing, even to -the flaming red shirt, while round his neck was knotted a blue tie -with broad white stripes in it. It was not, however, until attention -was called to it that any one was likely to see that this blue and -white, with the red of the shirt, formed the same colors as those in -the flag. - -When the stranger turned to the visitors he gave them a broad, -pleasant smile, and they saw that he was a handsome, well-set-up -fellow, with an attractive face, lighted by dark eyes. - -“Howdy!” he cried, seeing them. - -They clustered round the door. - -“Just bought this shack and moved in, and now I’m getting me -something to eat,” he explained. “Step in, if you can find room in -here.” - -Some of them came in, seating themselves on boxes he pushed out for -them. He continued the work of getting his breakfast. - -“The tenderfoot I bought this of was kind enough to tell me, after he -had my cash, that the mine wouldn’t yield anything; said he’d worked -at it until he was tired out, and didn’t get enough out of it to buy -his smoking tobacco.” - -“I allow he was slingin’ ye the straight truth,” avowed Persimmon -Pete, who rested his claim to fame on the fact that he hadn’t shaved -since he came into the camp, a year before. - -“I reckon you know what this hill is called?” he added, after he had -studied the face and figure of his host a minute. - -“Well, no; I hadn’t even heard that it had a name.” - -“Folly Mountain,” said Persimmon Pete. - -The blond-headed stranger turned round, the frying pan in his hand. - -“Wherefore and why?” he asked. - -“Because every man that’s ever tried to git gold out of it has been -compelled to admit, in the end, that he was a fool.” - -The stranger laughed lightly, and put the frying pan back on the -stove. It was sending up a cheerful odor of bacon fat. - -“That sets out a pleasant prospect for me,” he said, smiling. - -“So I reckon you’re in to spend yer good money and hard work fer -nothin’.” - -The stranger stabbed at a slice of the bacon with his fork, turned it -over neatly, then looked at Persimmon Pete and the men with him. - -“But there’s more ways of killin’ a dog,” he said, “than by chokin’ -him to death on bones.” - -“Which is what?” - -“I’m satisfied that _I_ can get gold where others have failed.” - -“Ye can’t git blood out of a turnip,” declared Persimmon Pete. - -The man laughed again; he had an easy, gurgling laugh, and his manner -was calculated to make him friends. - -“Which is saying that there ain’t any blood in this turnip. Mebby so. -Time will tell the tale. But I’ll say to ye now that I’ve got a new -process which will git all the gold there is, anyway; by that I mean -_all_ the gold.” - -He leaned back against the wall, with a glance now and then at his -frying pan. - -“I’ve been lookin’ at that hole in the ground back there since I -bought it, and with my new processes I can skin gold out of it in a -way to make your eyes bulge out. You’ll see.” - -He sat down to his breakfast at last. It was a simple meal, -suggesting that the stranger did not expect to live in luxury; but he -invited them to share it with him. - -“No, we’ll be goin’,” they told him. - -“Come up and see me often,” he said to them, and smiled at their -backs as he watched them walk away. - -Not until they were halfway to the foot of the hill did any of them -remember that they had not learned the stranger’s name. - -Persimmon Pete came back for this desired information, poking his -bushy beard again through the narrow door. - -“Beggin’ yer pardin!” he said. “But the boys has delegated me to -inquire how you spell it.” - -The stranger’s gurgling laugh rang out again. - -“Spell what?” - -“Why, your name, o’ course.” - -The stranger came to the door of the cabin, and swung his sinewy -hand up at the flag floating from the top of the trimmed aspen. - -“See that?” he said. - -“I see the flag, if that’s what you mean.” - -“There are a number of things that I’m short on, but I’m long on two -things--patriotism and pluck. Ever hear of a hiatus?” - -Persimmon Pete shook his puzzled head. - -“Never did,” he declared. - -“Well, a hiatus is a sort of vacancy between one something and -another something. Do you get that? There came a hiatus in my -memory--a sort of chink--and my name dropped out through that chink. -Find it for me, and I’ll give you good money. So long as I couldn’t -remember my own, I’ve taken one that everybody knows and everybody -can remember. Call me Uncle Samuel.” - -He looked at the flag again. - -“N-n-not Uncle Sus-Sam?” - -“The same. I see that you recognize the name; so, of course, you -can’t forget it. I’m Uncle Sam, and the flag up there is my emblem. -What can’t be done under the folds of that flag there ain’t no use -trying to do. For which reason I know that I’ll get blood out of this -turnip.” - -Persimmon Pete turned away. - -“Crazy as a bedbug,” he reported to the men who were awaiting him. -“He calls himself Uncle Sam, and says that the flag is his emblem.” - -Before the day ended the stranger in the tenderfoot’s cabin had been -given another name by the amused people of Blossom Range; they called -him the Fool of Folly Mountain. - -As a usual thing, little attention was paid to the men who delved -here and there about the town in search of the elusive metal on which -the town based its prosperity. Miners and prospectors came and they -went, and no one noted either their coming or going, save the men who -sold them grub and outfits. - -But it was different with Uncle Sam; because he had given a queer -name and achieved another, and because he professed to be able to get -gold where none was believed to exist. - -He put up a little furnace in the back room, where he heated ores, -“roasting” them, to test their value. He brought in a small assayer’s -outfit and a blowpipe. Often he was seen toiling far into the night, -the light of his window looking like a red eye or a blazing star, -shining on the top of Folly Mountain. - -The curiosity concerning him was increased by this. If he had sought -deliberately to excite the citizens of Blossom Range, the stranger -could not have taken means more effective. - -The hope that some method might be found to render low-grade ores -worth working was in the heart of every man; and the stranger’s -oft-repeated assertions that he had such a process, and was -perfecting it more and more every day, stirred their imaginations. - -Sometimes men crept up in the night to the cabin, and lay close -against the walls, watching and listening, hoping, to surprise his -secret, if he had one. - -But the stranger seemed to possess marvelous intuition. As often as -this happened he either ceased his work and remained silent within or -came out casually and greeted them. He did not seem surprised when -he found them, nor put out; but always spoke to them cheerfully and -sometimes invited them in. - -Twice he was known to show men of that kind what he was doing, so -far as they could understand it; which was just far enough to befog -them completely. He talked in learned words which none of them could -comprehend; and his explanations, though at the moment seeming -marvelously clear, were seen afterward not to explain anything. - -When he had been there a week he lugged down to the Wells Fargo -Express office a gunny bag that seemed heavily laden. - -Some of the loafers before the office doors followed him inside, and -saw him plump the heavy bag down before the Wells Fargo agent. - -When the stranger opened it, they saw that it held gold; not in -nuggets or gold dust, but in solid pieces, which apparently he had -fused with his blowpipe. - -“Test it and weigh it,” he said; “and then ship it for me.” - -“Who’ll I ship it to?” the agent asked, staring at the yellow lumps. - -“Ship it to Uncle Sam’s Sister, ’Frisco,” was the answer. - -The agent tested and weighed the “stuff,” and found there was five -hundred dollars’ worth; it was genuine gold. - -“Got it out of that hole up there that I bought of the tenderfoot,” -beamed the stranger. “Everybody said there wasn’t anything in it; but -they hadn’t seen me work my new and secret process. By and by they -will begin to believe.” - -“I suppose your sister will get this without any other name than -that?” - -The stranger had given a street and a number, but no other name for -the consignee. - -“Just that--Uncle Sam’s Sister. She’ll git it. If not, the company -can ship it back to me at my expense.” - -Some of the loafers, when outside, expressed their amazement; and if -Uncle Sam had been selling stock in his new process the stock would -have taken a boom. - -Yet as the news spread there were comments of another kind. - -“Yes, that’s all right, for him!” remarked a certain Wise One of the -camp. “But I don’t go no yarn of that kind. Why, see here, how long’s -it been sence Juniper Joe was digging in that hole back of _his_ -cabin, and shipping stuff he claimed he got there? Not ten days, has -it? Then it was found out that Juniper Joe was doin’ the road-agent -act big, and the stuff he shipped he had stole. He’s in the jail -right here in this camp now, for that, ain’t he?” - -“Then you think this new feller is playin’ the same game?” was asked. - -“I’m not saying,” said the Wise One. “But see here: night before last -a bullion stage was held up and the cash box emptied by agents. The -Wells Fargo wouldn’t take the risk of that shipment, but it was sent -by other parties, and the road agents got it. Does any one know who -them road agents are?” - -No one knew; or, at least, no one was willing to admit that he knew. - -“Put two and two together and they make four, don’t they--or do -they make five?” said the Wise One. “But remember, I ain’t making no -charges against anybody.” - -“So you think----” - -“No, I don’t think anything; I’m jest trying to make you think.” - -The words of the Wise One went flying round town. So that more people -visited the tenderfoot’s cabin, to take a look at the tall man -with the blond mustache and the long hair; all of whom he greeted -genially, and some of whom he showed his “process,” so much, at -least, as he wished to show; and he told them about it in words that -were more wonderful than any they had ever seen in print. - -But the universal judgment was that this party could not be Tim -Benson, who was a small man--so small that he had successfully played -the rôle of a woman. Neither could he be Juniper Joe, as Juniper Joe -was at that blessed moment immured tightly within the walls of the -jail at Blossom Range. - -Who was the stranger? - -“Uncle Sam,” _he_ said, smiling, if any one ventured to ask him. - -So the fame of the Fool of Folly Mountain went broadcast throughout -the land surrounding the stirring mining camp. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - THE MISSION OF WHITE-EYED MOSES. - - -Uncle Sam’s flag had been flying and his blowpipe going for a week -or more, when one day White-eyed Moses came out of Gopher Gabe’s, -his fiddle in a green bag under his arm, and a bundle of clothing in -another bag he hoisted over his shoulder on a stick. - -Apparently, White-eyed Moses was about to depart from Blossom Range. - -But when some one asked him about it, he set his pack on the ground, -and explained: - -“You see, it is this way: The Utes are going to haf a dance, and -they want some music which is not all tom-tom. So I am going out to -aggommodate the Utes.” - -“Taking your clothing?” was the smiling question. - -“Ah, yes! I ditn’t mention that. I am gommissioned to bring them some -clodings and blankets. I sell them to them and git a gommission. That -is why I say I am gommissioned.” - -He waved his hands and smirked, then hoisted his bundle to his -shoulder and went on. - -At least ten times in getting out of Blossom Range White-eyed Moses -was asked those questions and made those answers. - -“It is foony,” he said to himself, when he hit the trail north of the -town and plodded on toward the distant Ute village. “It is nopody’s -pusiness vere I am going, yet eferpody makes it his pusiness.” - -It took him three hours to reach the Ute village. - -Just before coming to it he mounted to the top of a hill which gave -him a good view of the backward way; there he remained for nearly an -hour, watching, to make sure that he had not been followed. - -Satisfied at last, White-eyed Moses took his way into the village, -apparently without fear, though lately the Utes had been in no good -temper toward the white men, chiefly because of the encroachments of -miners and prospectors. - -As the Utes gathered round him, the fiddler stood looking about. - -He did not understand their language, so it was of no use to try to -speak with them; but he had a universal language in his fiddle. - -He took it out of the green bag, twanged the strings with his -fingers, tuned it, and began to play. - -No sooner had the strains of “Money Musk” floated among the tepees -than a man appeared, jumping hurriedly out of one. He was a white -man, small of frame. A blanket was round him, covering his ordinary -clothing, and his face had been smeared with grease and dirt. As he -was clean shaven, with that blanket on him he looked, at a little -distance, like one of the Utes. - -“I t’ought it would fetch him!” muttered the fiddler, with a smile. -“He was hiding.” - -The blanketed white man was quickly at the fiddler’s side. - -“How did you get here?” he demanded. - -White-eyed Moses stopped fiddling, extended his hand, and smiled. - -“My feet brought me. How you are?” - -“Good. What’s the news downtown?” - -“Juniper Joe is still in chail.” - -“So I supposed.” - -“And he aind’t going to git oudt easy.” - -“I s’pose not.” - -The Indians standing round were staring; others were hurrying up, and -the lodges continued to yield still more. - -“Vere can we go for a little talk?” asked White-eyed Moses. - -“In that lodge I come out of. Of course you’re here to see me?” - -“Of gourse. But before I go avay dere must be some dancing and -chumping, in Indian fashion; to make me be able to keep my wordt, you -know.” - -“There comes Iron Bow now. What shall I say to him?” - -“Tell him I heardt that the Utes was going to have a dance, and -wanted some white man’s music. I vill blay for them by and by, afdher -we have hadt that talk. You understand? Gopher Gabe he sendt me.” - -“Oh!” - -“You have been doing some roadt-achent work ladely?” - -“Some has been done, hey?” - -The blanketed white man grinned under his grease and dirt. - -“Some holdt-ups. Gabe says idt was you done ’em. I told him I ditn’t -think you vouldt be so reckless.” - -Iron Bow came up with a number of his warriors. By this time a -considerable crowd of curious redskins surrounded the two white men. -But they showed no hostile feelings. The fiddle had caught their -fancy; they kept telling the fiddler to work it again, though he did -not understand them. - -“How?” said Iron Bow gravely. - -White-eyed Moses put out his hand. - -“I am gladt to see you,” he said. “Afdher a liddle we will have some -music and a dance. My friend here can explain it to you petter than -I. Idt is a peautiful location you have here for a willage; cooler -and higher than in the town. I think myself I should enchoy it.” - -He shook hands with some of the warriors. - -None of them had said a word except the chief, but they shook his -hand limply when he held it out. Now and then they looked at the -blanketed white man, as if for an explanation. - -He gave it to Iron Bow in Ute, telling the chief that the man with -the music-maker had come out to amuse them, so that they could have a -dance if they wished; but that first he wanted to talk. - -Iron Bow grunted what seemed an assent, and the white men went into -the lodge. - -“Iron Bow knows me,” explained the blanketed figure, who was none -other than the road agent, Tim Benson. “So I hit this place when Cody -and his gang crowded me too hard; and I’ve been here ever since.” - -“Excebt when you was road achenting!” - -Benson nodded. - -“I’ve been out just twice.” - -“Dare have been more holdt-ups than shust two.” - -“Others are jumpin’ in, eh?” - -“It is hinted that this Fool of Folly Mountain is in it.” - -“Likely he is. What I got I cached, and it’s where I can lay my -hands on it when I need it. How is Juniper Joe?” - -“He couldn’t pe worse.” - -“It’s rough to be in a hole like that.” - -“Wery rough. Gopher Gabe triedt to get him out on bail, and couldn’t. -He is held for murder, you understandt--for shooting that man, John -Ward.” - -“Well, he could expect that. It’d be the same for me if they could -lay hands on me. Cody there yet?” - -“Righdt there.” - -The outlaw ground out some ugly words between his teeth. - -“As we couldn’t git Juniper Joe out in no way, Gopher Gabe has sent -me to see you,” explained the fiddler. - -“That so? Does he think I can do anything?” - -“He knows idt. I have here clodings and everything, so that you can -make shanges in your looks. I can cut your hairs while I am here, -too, and give you another shave.” - -Benson stared. - -“I was wondering what you had in that bag,” he said. - -“The oudtfit--everything you will needt. It is a desperate -situvation. Gopher Gabe says that you are the only man what can work -it, so as to get Juniper Joe out of the chail. And so I am here.” - -They talked for half an hour, then were forced to stop, because the -curious Indians, peering in on them, gave them no peace. - -“You’ll have to give that dance, now that you’ve promised it,” said -Benson. - -“It is vhat I wandt; so that I can surely say, vhen I go back, that -I have been blaying the fiddle for an Indian dance.” - -“It’s known that you came?” - -“Oh, yes! Vhat was the use to try to hide idt? It couldn’t been didt.” - -“You could have made a sneak in the night.” - -“Idt was only this morning that Gopher Gabe came to the notion he -wouldt sendt me; and he insisted I shall gome at once.” - -“How in thunder did you fellers know that I was here?” - -“Vell, _he_ guessed it; that last holdt-up was like your work, he -said; and he felt sure if you was round here you must be hiding with -the Utes.” - -“Yes; he knew I was friendly with them and old Iron Bow.” - -“So it was, and he sent me.” - -He took his fiddle and went outside. - -Tim Benson came out, also; and, standing by him, announced to the -Indians that the white man would furnish music if they desired to -dance. - -The Indians were willing enough, yet the thing was a failure; the -Utes had no knowledge of any dancing steps suited to the music -of White-eyed Moses, nor could the latter adapt his fiddling to -the jerky hops of the Utes. Aside from this, dancing is not, with -Indians, the light-hearted and light-heeled affair it is with white -men, but something solemn, or fierce, or fanatical. - -The Utes gave it up after a while. Yet White-eyed Moses continued -to please them with his music; for they enjoyed the strains of his -fiddle, even though they could not dance to them. - -After the fiddling and the dance failure, White-eyed Moses went back -into the tepee which was being used by the road agent, where they -took up the thread of their talk. He also shaved Benson and gave him -a haircut. - -“This is going to be a risky thing,” Benson commented. “If I’m -caught, it means the jail, and maybe hangin’, for me; but I’ll tackle -it, anyhow. Juniper would do as much for me, likely.” - -“Gopher Gabe says that you are the only one who can vork idt,” urged -the fiddler. - -“The thing I don’t like is that Cody and his gang are still in the -town. That’s a feller I’m afraid of.” - -“Idt’s a vonder,” said White-eyed Moses, “that he ain’t been oudt -here looking for you.” - -“Did you think he hadn’t?” - -The fiddler stared. - -“Vell, if he has ve ditn’t know idt.” - -“He has been here twice, and old Iron Bow tells me that once, -besides, it’s known he was out on the hills, off there, watching the -village.” - -“That interesds me. And it will be news to Gopher Gabe.” - -“The first time he come,” explained Benson, “was in broad daylight; -right after I’d made my escape. I think it was the second day I was -here. I was expecting it, and stayed close in the tepee; and he -didn’t see me. Iron Bow fed him lies, and he went away. Though that -had seemed to satisfy him, he was back that same night. He sneaked -in that time, thinking he’d catch me if I was hiding here; but he -didn’t. He had an Indian blanket round him, and how long he had -been in the village before the Indians caught on, nobody knows. -He revealed himself accidentally, by catching his blanket against -a snaggy limb and stripping it from his head and shoulders. After -which, when he saw that the jig was up, he laughed and told them some -fishy yarn about trying to fool them. - -“When Iron Bow--he wasn’t here at the time--heard about it, the thing -made him mad as fire. He doesn’t particularly like Cody, anyway; so I -took pains to make him madder, showing him that it was an insult. So -if Cody does it again, and is caught, there’s going to be trouble.” - -White-eyed Moses listened to this uneasily. - -“Maype he is oudt on the hills now?” he suggested. - -“I don’t think it. You see, since he was seen here I have had two -Utes hired to stay out on the hills and watch for him.” - -“If he saw that fiddling and dancing it will be a gifaway!” - -“I don’t see why, since you say you told in the town that you was -coming out here to play for a dance.” - -This considerably relieved the apprehension of the fiddler. - -“But if he saw me with you?” he questioned. - -“He would think I’m an Indian, wouldn’t he? I’m looking out for that.” - -White-eyed Moses looked at the road agent with a glance of admiration. - -“You are a smardt man,” he said, “and that is why Gopher Gabe haf -picked you oudt for this chob.” - -“Jest the same, I’d been glad to have him pick another.” - -“What shall I tell him vhen I go back?” - -Benson got up and closed the flap of the skin tepee, to keep the Utes -from peering in. But as he came back he laughed; for shadows dropping -down showed that they had sought the ground, and he saw then the -lower edges of the skins lifted and black eyes looking in. - -“Yet there are some people who say that an Indian is a stolid thing, -without curiosity!” he commented. “Take a look at that line of eyes, -will ye?” - -“I am seeing them,” said White-eyed Moses. “What was you going to do?” - -“I was going to look at the clothing and stuff you brought me, -but I won’t do it now. You can tell me about it; not many of them -understand English.” - -“There is a suidt of cloding,” said the fiddler. “Also vhiskers and -mustache, and a vig; nothing cheap, you understand, but expensive -goodts, the best that could be had in ’Frisco. He sent Swansea Bill -to ’Frisco to get them for this very occasion. Dhen there are paints -and dyes, and all dhat. You will find idt gomplete.” - -“What’s my lay?” - -“Gopher Gabe left it to you. But he said if you could appear dare as -some officer with authoridy to act, you could get through the chail -easy enough. Chust what that authoridy would be he dit not know; he -left it to you. But he said, too, that vonce you was in the newspaper -line, and you might use that.” - -“Is he prepared to back me?” - -White-eyed Moses shrugged his shoulders. - -“Vell,” he said, “you know how it is! Gopher Gabe will spendt his -money like vater; but vhen it gomes to daking personal risks, he -ain’t dare. You can’t exbect much from him. But he couldt furnish -fighting men, if it was needet.” - -“Nobody is allowed to see Juniper, I reckon?” - -“I t’ink not.” - -“You haven’t seen him?” - -“No.” - -“No chance, I suppose, to bribe the jailer?” - -“It’s Matt Shepard; you know him.” - -“No chance there, and Shepard will be a hard man to fool. He’ll -shoot, too. He wouldn’t like anything better than to turn his gun -loose on me.” - -“So you will haf to be careful.” - -“Well, I guess. I wish it was any man but Shepard.” - -They talked the matter over at length, suggesting and discussing -various plans, with the chances for and against each. The afternoon -was well gone when they were through. - -“I’ll try it,” said Benson resolutely; “I’ll make a break to do -something for pore old Joe; I know he would for me. You see, pals in -this line have got to stick together, or make a try to, even at the -risk of going under. If I don’t do something for him, I reckon he -will have to hang. That would be a pity, for the feller he killed had -it in for him, and deserved to be put under the sod.” - -“That is righdt, too,” assented White-eyed Moses. - -He was ready at last to go. - -“I vill tell Gopher Gabe that you vill undertake it.” - -“That’s right. Say to Gabe that he’ll hear of me doing something -inside of twenty-four hours.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - BENSON ACTS. - - -The quiet little man who came along the prison wall and turned toward -the high barred gate, peered before him curiously, then stopped -before the gate and looked at it. - -He was dressed neatly in a suit of light English tweed, wore -eyeglasses, a tall hat, and had a vacant air. Any one seeing him -would have said he was a high-browed college professor or scientist -who had strayed out of his proper range. All but Gopher Gabe. Having -sighted him from his saloon over the way, Gopher Gabe came to the -door with some of his patrons, and opined wisely that the stranger -scanning the prison gate was “one of these yere newspaper writers, -lookin’ for somethin’ to write up.” - -In that, Gopher Gabe was a prophet; though his ability at accurate -forecasting had been gained by a recognition of the clothing as the -same which White-eyed Moses had taken out to the Ute village the day -before, and the fiddler’s statements on his return. - -Finding the way open as far as the prison office, the stranger -entered it and fished out his card, which he threw on the desk of -Matt Shepard. - -Shepard, a bushy-browed man with keen eyes, whose heels were at the -moment lifted to the top of the desk, looked at the card, then at the -little man. Though he had seen Tim Benson, there was no recognition -in his eyes. - -“Well, what is it?” he asked. - -“You can see by that I am a representative of the San Francisco -_Oracle_,” said the little man quietly. “I am studying the prison -systems of the West, and want to look this one over. When I publish -my article I shall have a good word to say of you personally, I hope.” - -“Never heard of this hyer San Francisco _Oracle_,” said Shepard -severely, though his tone was milder than before. - -“Well, it’s the leading paper of its kind in the city of San -Francisco,” the little man assured him. “Sorry I neglected to bring -a copy with me, but I have some down at the Eagle House, and will -see that you have one. In last week’s issue I had a write-up of the -Comstock Mine, at Virginia City.” - -“When will this hyer write-up come out?” said the jailer, flattered -and interested. - -“In two weeks, if I can get the copy in on time, and I think I can. -I’ve got to look at the prisons at Deming and Nueces first; but that -can be done yet this week.” - -“Well, what do you want me to do?” - -“Simply conduct me through the prison, or such parts of it as you -wish to show me; and I’d like a look at some of the most notorious of -the prisoners you’ve got in here. A little spicy talk about them will -help to give my write-up the necessary tang.” - -Shepard didn’t know what “tang” was, but it sounded well. So he -tumbled. - -He got out of his comfortable chair, grumbling a little, but more -than ever pleased, for he had the usual vanity of men of his class; -and a few minutes later he was piloting Mr. Osgood Fleming--that was -the name on the card--through the prison of Blossom Range. - -It was a new prison, with strong walls; as good as could be found -within five hundred miles; Shepard knew that, and was proud of it. -Proud he was, likewise, of the fact that he was the sheriff of the -county, and by virtue of it keeper of this magnificent jail. - -“We’ve got a mighty fine assortment of jailbirds in hyer right now,” -he said, warming up under the influence of the ingratiating manner -of the polite little man. “Road agents, murderers, horse thieves--y’ -can’t name any of that class o’ criminals we ain’t got. Last one put -in was Juniper Joe. He was the real ringer out of all of ’em; took -the hull blamed town in in the neatest way y’ could ever think of.” - -He had to tell the whole story, it seemed so good to him, even if it -was at the expense of Blossom Range. - -The narrative so interested the little man that he insisted he must -see this “graceless scamp,” and, if possible, have a talk with him. - -“You can talk with him through the bars of his cell, standin’ -outside,” said the jailer, who was of the honest kind. “Against the -rules, ye see, to do otherwise, when a man is in hyer on a charge of -murder.” - -The little man was sure that was all he would care to do. He even -asked if there would not possibly be danger, even though he stood -outside in the jail corridor. - -Shepard laughed hoarsely at that; it was not a joke, it seemed, for -the little man actually trembled. - -“Well, he’s shore some quick on the shoot,” avowed Shepard; “but y’ -needn’t be afraid of him; he ain’t got a gun on him. Been searched -thoroughly; I seen to it m’self.” - -When they came to the cell occupied by Juniper Joe the little man -stood back against the opposite wall of the corridor, apparently -fearing that Juniper Joe might reach out his long arms and seize him, -like some caged gorilla. - -Shepard stepped up to the cell door, thus putting himself in front of -the little man. - -The jailer was hazy as to what took place after that; but something -whacked him on the back of the head, and he fell against the cell -door, then tumbled heavily to the floor. - -When he came to himself, half an hour afterward, he was still hazy; -but he could see that the cell door was open and that Juniper Joe was -gone. - -Feeling in his pockets, he found that his keys and his pistols were -gone, too. - -That aroused him. - -He delivered himself of a howl that sounded like a war whoop, and -flinging himself out of the corridor, raced down to his office and -the outer gate, passing on his way a guard who had been stationed -in the corridor. It is to be stated that the guard was lying on the -floor, and was as unconscious as Shepard had been a few minutes -before. - -When Shepard reached the outer gate he found it locked. - -He had no keys--and was locked in his own jail. - -He now set up a terrible howling, which brought the other guards and -caused citizens to gather round outside. - -The upshot of it was that when the outer gate was opened, and -Shepard got into the street, he found that Juniper Joe and Osgood -Fleming were nowhere to be found. - -Two men had been seen, by people in Gopher Gabe’s saloon, to issue -from the jail; one being Osgood Fleming, the other a tall man wearing -a linen duster and a soft crush hat. - -“It was Juniper Joe!” howled Shepard. “Though where he got the duster -and hat beats me.” - -“Why, if that feller that went in was a fake,” said Gopher Gabe, “he -must ’a’ furnished Joe with the things.” - -“But he couldn’t--he didn’t have ’em; didn’t have any place to carry -’em, er hide ’em.” - -“He might have had ’em in his high hat,” said Gopher Gabe, smiling. -“A linen duster and soft hat might be rolled up into a very little -ball.” - -Shepard smote himself on the forehead, sank weakly on a bench, and -called loudly for a drink, to steady his shaking nerves. - -“I’m a fool!” he howled. “I’m a blithering idiot!” - -A crowd was gathering round him. - -Gopher Gabe brought the drink himself. - -“I’ve got to send out an alarm,” said Shepard, when he had swallowed -the whisky. “It ain’t too late to round them fellers up, maybe. -Where’s Buffalo Bill? Somebody jump down to the Eagle House and let -him know. And git word to the mayor, somebody; thar’s got to be a -reward offered. The Wells Fargo will want to give a reward, anyhow. -Gee whittaker! Juniper Joe out of jail ag’in, and I done it! Gabe, -give me another drink; this knocks me all out.” - -When Buffalo Bill came down to see the perspiring jailer, he asked a -number of questions. - -“You were fooled neatly,” was his comment, when he had heard the -story. - -“But--but,” stammered the jailer, “who was the brass-plated high brow -that carried the job through?” - -“Tim Benson,” said the great scout quietly. - -Shepard fell back against the wall. - -“Benson!” he gasped. “Wow! The feller that played woman and fooled -the whole town!” - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - A WORRIED SHERIFF. - - -The express office and Gopher Gabe’s saloon were robbed that night. - -Matt Shepard, sheriff and jailer, brought the news to Buffalo Bill, -at the Eagle House. - -“I didn’t think they’d strike so soon,” he said. “That is, if it was -them done it. But Benson has got nerve enough fer anything.” - -Shepard was “sore” over the way Benson had overreached him. - -“There has been other robberies, though--while Juniper Joe was in the -jail; and of course them couldn’t be charged against _him_.” - -He had taken a seat in the scout’s room in his best chair, and now -helped himself from the box of cigars on the table. Nomad was in the -room, and so was the baron. - -“What do you think of this chap they call the Fool of Folly -Mountain?” he asked abruptly. - -“What do _you_ think of him?” Buffalo Bill returned. - -“Well, it’s suspicious, the way he is doin’. There’s a whole lot of -fellers in town ready to swear that he is up to road-agent tricks, -and that what he’s doin’, er pretendin’ to do up there, is jest a -blind. I dunno about it myself, but I’m watchin’ him. I was up there -yesterday, after Juniper Joe got past me, lookin’ round.” - -Buffalo Bill seemed amused. - -“You didn’t find Juniper Joe there, of course?” - -“No. Hardly expected that I would; but I wanted a peek at the things -that feller’s doin’. He’s rigged up a little place where he assays -stuff frum his mine, so he says. I think it’s a bluff. I seen some -of the gold he took down to the express office which he claimed he -got out of his mine by some new and secret process; it was just gold -fused together. He could hold up stages and travelers, git their gold -ore, and turn it into solid pieces that way, couldn’t he?” - -“Easy enough, I should think,” the scout admitted. - -“So I’ve about arrive at the conclusion that’s what he’s doin’,” the -sheriff averred, biting off a piece of his cigar. “I think I’ll have -some men set to watch his cabin.” - -“Er, waugh!” Nomad snorted. - -The sheriff gave him a sharp look. - -“Jest got a frog in my throat,” the trapper explained. “I’m tuck thet -way et times.” - -The baron sucked silently at his long-stemmed pipe, and the -expression of his face was as cast iron as he could make it. - -“It come to me,” the sheriff went on, “after I’d started fer this -place, that maybe this fool on the mountain was into that game last -night, instead of Juniper and Benson. Though at first I was sure it -was them; and that they had done it more as a exhibition of clear -sand than to git the money.” - -He studied the face of Buffalo Bill. - -“What’s your idea?” - -“That it was the work of Juniper Joe and Benson.” - -“Then you don’t credit the idea that the Fool o’ Folly Mountain may -have turned the trick?” - -“I don’t.” - -“Do you think he’s giving the public a square deal? Don’t you think -he is lyin’?” - -Buffalo Bill seemed to ponder this. - -“I’m interested in watching that fellow,” he said. “So, if you’ll -just leave his case with me, it will be a favor.” - -The sheriff was glad enough to get it off his hands, he said; he had -now so many irons in the fire that he was burning some of them. But -he declared that in the end Buffalo Bill would discover that the Fool -of Folly Mountain was playing a huge double game and profiting by it. - -“That’s the opinion of the town, is it?” the scout asked. - -“Nearly every one is comin’ round to that belief. So it wouldn’t -surprise me if a mob marched up there some night and took him out and -hung him. We’ve had too much hold-up work round hyer. And the town is -sore over the way it was fooled by Benson and Juniper Joe. The people -ain’t goin’ to be easy with the next feller that runs a bluff like -that.” - -Buffalo Bill laughed. - -“I guess there never was a community more cleverly sold,” he remarked. - -“And they ain’t any notion o’ bein’ sold ag’in.” - -“Y’ cain’t blame ’em,” Nomad commented, as if he felt he ought to do -some of the talking. “Even Buffler was tuck in complete.” - -“Budt only at fairst,” corrected the German, coming to the scout’s -defense. - -“What I’m up hyer fer mainly,” said the sheriff, “is to git your idea -of what move I’d better make. Juniper Joe and Benson are partners -once more. What deviltry them two can’t hatch up when they’re -together there’s no tellin’. They’ll shore go back to the road if -they haven’t already. I’d like to lay ’em by the heels.” - -“The only thing that can be done for a time,” the scout answered, -“aside from keeping up a continual watch, is to stop shipments of -gold out of Blossom Range until they have been apprehended.” - -“Which would tie up the business of the camp,” Shepard objected. - -“But it’s better policy to keep the gold here than to lose it. Yet -there is one other thing that can be done: that is to send such a -strong guard with every stage that goes through that the road agents -won’t dare hold it up.” - -“You see, speakin’ gin’rally, we figger that we’re workin’ ag’inst -jest two men,” said the sheriff; “when, as a matter of fact, we -don’t know how many we’re up ag’inst. Benson and Juniper Joe, in my -opinion, has got scores of men who will help ’em, right hyer in this -camp. I remember two months ago, when Benson was workin’ the road, we -tried sendin’ through strong guards with the stages. There was _ten_ -men on one stage that was held up in the cañon jest t’other side o’ -Stag Mountain. But there was _twenty_ of the road agents that held it -up. Five of the guards was shot dead in the fight, two more wounded, -and the whole shipment was lost. They even took the stage horses. -That’s the kind of men we’ve got to deal with.” - -He knocked the ashes from his cigar, swung one leg over the other, -and went on: - -“Then there’s the Utes. They ain’t road agents, but they’re -treacherous devils, and they hide the road agents. They do it because -the agents supplies ’em with whisky and amm’nition. Old Iron Bow, the -Ute chief, is as big a rascal as ever walked on two legs, and the -most of his waryers air jest like him. - -“Three weeks ago, when I was after Jimmy Blood, I had a tip that he -had hiked to Iron Bow and that the chief was hidin’ him. So I goes up -there with a gang of my men at my back, and demands him. The chief he -gives me the laugh; says ’t no white man ain’t been in that village -for a month. I wanted to search the tepees, but he wouldn’t let me. -I didn’t dare try it without his consent; I didn’t have men enough, -in the first place, and, in the second, if I’d got the Utes started, -there’d been a merry old party; it might ’a’ put ’em on the warpath, -and I didn’t care to take that risk. Jimmy was there, I reckon; but -he made a sneak afterwards, and got out of the country. He was heard -of, anyway, over in Albuquerque.” - -He paused for breath. - -“So,” he added, “that’s the situation. If any one reckons that bein’ -sheriff of this county is a snap, let him take another think. It’s -plantin’ gray hairs in my head fast enough, I tell you; which is -maybe because I try to play square and do my whole duty.” - -He was on the point of recurring to the subject of the possibility of -apprehending Benson and Juniper Joe, when there was a tap on the door -that stayed him. - -When Buffalo Bill opened the door in answer to the knock he saw a -veiled woman. - -“May I come in?” she said, looking past him. - -But when she was inside and beheld the sheriff she seemed on the -point of making a retreat. - -“I’ll go, madam,” said Shepard, rising, “if you think you can talk -better without me bein’ here.” - -“No; stay!” she said, after hesitating. “Perhaps it is just as well -that you should hear what I’ve come to say to Mr. Cody.” - -Buffalo Bill had put out a chair for her. When she took it she lifted -her veil and revealed herself as Vera Bright. - -The woman looked about the room, then fixed her eyes on Buffalo Bill, -though she gave a glance now and then in the direction of the sheriff. - -“I think I can guess what Mr. Shepard is here for,” she said, making -her beginning. “It concerns the escape of Juniper Joe from prison.” - -“You’ve hit the nail straight on the head, madam,” Shepard admitted. -“That’s a thing that’s worryin’ me a whole lot right now.” - -He was trying to study the face of the woman, as he had an idea that -she bore him no good will, for the reason that he had held her in -Blossom Range at a time when she was very anxious to get away. - -But the study of her face could not reveal much. The paint and powder -were laid on too thick for that. Her abundant hair was blondined, or -false--perhaps both. But artificial as she was in appearance, she -seemed at the moment at least to be in earnest. - -“I think I can perhaps give information of value,” she declared, “if -I am assured that I shall be shielded.” - -“I think we can promise that, so far as the men in this room are -concerned,” the scout assured her. - -“I don’t know that Mr. Shepard will be likely to think that anything -I say can be believed,” she said. “He remembers that I lied to him -when I was brought back from Calumet Wells; but I wanted to get away, -then, and so thought I had cause for lying. But in this case it’s -different. I’ve got a good reason for telling the truth.” - -She turned to Buffalo Bill. - -“I don’t need to tell you why Tim Benson killed John Ward, as you -know all about it. But you may not know that when he killed him he -made me his deadly enemy.” - -“I had guessed as much,” the scout told her. - -“So, now that Benson is still hanging round here, and he and Juniper -Joe are again together, I want to tell you to watch the saloon of -Gopher Gabe.” - -“We have been doing something in that line already,” the scout told -her. - -“Then you have suspected Gopher Gabe?” - -“Perhaps I shouldn’t say as much as that; but resorts like his are -always to be held in suspicion. Even if the proprietor is straight, -such a place draws shady characters of all kinds. - -“Perhaps you do not know,” he added, “that Gopher Gabe’s place was -robbed last night.” - -Her surprise showed, even under her paint and powder. - -“I was not aware of it.” - -“The post office shared the same fate,” he told her. - -“It puzzles me,” she said; “for that would indicate that the robbers -were not friends of Gopher Gabe.” - -“And you had thought they were?” - -“Yes, I thought so.” - -“The robbery at Gopher Gabe’s may have been a mere blind, madam,” -said Shepard. “I’ve known o’ the like.” - -“That would explain it.” - -She turned back to the scout. - -“There is one other thing I wanted to mention,” she said. “This new -man up on the hill that they speak of as the Fool has been visiting -Gopher Gabe’s place. I saw him go in there only yesterday.” - -“That so?” said Shepard. “You know, Cody, I said I had been -suspectin’ that feller. He’s crooked.” - -“He is gambling at Gopher Gabe’s,” said the woman. “One of the girls -with the company here has told me that. I am sure he is in with -Gopher Gabe’s gang.” - -“It seems to be an important bit of evidence,” the scout admitted. - -“Yaw, I pedt you!” gulped the German. - -“I’m allowin’ et seems ter be,” Nomad added. - -“You’ll all come round to my opinion of that feller after a while,” -the sheriff declared confidently. “I’m goin’ to---- But I forgot, -Cody, that you asked me to keep my hands off him; that you wanted to -handle that part of the thing yourself.” - -“That is my wish,” the scout admitted. - -“You knew that Gopher Gabe is interested in the Casino?” said the -woman. - -“Yes,” the scout told her. - -“The two are connected. The waiters go from the saloon to the wine -rooms back of the Casino through an alley leading from the rear of -the saloon. The distance is but a few steps.” - -The scout nodded. - -“And of course if the waiters can go through there other people can, -from the wine rooms to the saloon. My suggestion is, if you could -get a man in there as one of the waiters, and have him watch, some -revelations would come that would surprise you.” - -“It might be done,” said Shepard, straightening up in his chair as -the idea struck him; “though jest now I don’t know how we could work -it to get a man in there.” - -She laughed unpleasantly, and suggested, as if she did not mean it, -that some night they might rap one of the waiters on the head, and -then put a man in his place. - -Nomad, who was sitting near the door, now made a sudden dive at it, -breaking the conversation abruptly; then flung the door open and -raced along the hall. They heard the click of his revolver as he -cocked it, and his bawling command to some one to stop; and heard, -likewise, the pattering of feet. - -The incident brought up every one in the room. Buffalo Bill and -Shepard jumped to the door; the baron tumbled out of his chair, -dropping his pipe; and the woman stood up nervously. - -Nomad soon returned, grunting and fuming. - -“Waugh!” he breathed. “Thar was a critter out thar eavesdrappin’. I -heard him breathin’, by the lower aidge o’ the door, as he listened, -and jumped fer him; but he was too quick fer me. I might ’a’ shot him -as he skedaddled, but I didn’t hardly want ter do et; an’ when I got -ter the foot o’ the stairs, he was clean gone.” - -“An eavesdropper!” the woman cried, shaken with the agitation of -sudden fear. - -“I guess we’ll have to loaf round out in the hall while we continue -this talk,” the scout said to Nomad. “It’s a thing we ought to have -done before.” - -“Wonder who the skunk was?” puffed the sheriff. - -“Some one who had a good reason for wanting to know what was being -said in here, you may be certain,” the scout told him. - -“Vale, he vor shure heardt vot you vos saying apoudt putting somepoty -in der blace uff one uff dose vaiters,” the baron reminded. - -“Yes, I reckon he must have heard that,” admitted Shepard. - -“Which means that we’ll not be able to do it now,” said the scout. -“If he was a friend of Gopher Gabe, which seems likely, of course -Gabe would be looking for a trick of that kind now, and block it -promptly.” - -The scout saw that the woman still seemed frightened. - -“I was going to make a request of you, and I shall still make it,” he -said, “though what has happened may cause you to think the thing will -be dangerous. I take it for granted that you want to get even with -Tim Benson for killing Ward.” - -Her courage seemed to come back with a bound. - -“It seems to me,” she said, with her first show of emotion, “that I -would be willing to give my life for that!” - -“You will not have to give your life, I am sure; yet you will have -to assume some risk in doing what I suggest. That is that you rejoin -the show company you were with, which is still at the Casino. I think -that would put you in a position where you could do some spying on -Gopher Gabe’s place to good advantage.” - -“That certainly would be at the risk of my life, after what that -eavesdropper must have heard,” she told him. - -“But are you willing to try it?” - -She drew a deep breath; then for a moment or so was silent. - -“Yes,” she said, “I will try it; I’ll rejoin the company, if the -manager will take me back.” - -“I think he will do that. If he isn’t willing, a little money given -to him quietly will work it. Yet I hardly need to say to you that -in my opinion he will consider that you are worth more to him now -than ever. You understand what I mean. Everybody has been talking -about your supposed connection with the road agents. Could there be a -better advertisement, from the manager’s standpoint?” - -Shepard slapped his knee. - -“Jest the ticket!” he said. “If the lady will consent to it.” - -She was silent again, as if thinking this over. - -“I can try it,” she declared quietly, rising. “But don’t forget that -what I came here for was to ask you to watch Gopher Gabe’s. I will do -what I can, from the Casino side, if I get the chance; but you men -ought to be able to do a good deal more from the outside.” - -The scout was on his feet as she turned to the door. - -“Remember,” he said, “that while we are watching, we will take means -to protect you as far as we can. We are anxious to get Benson.” - -“And mighty anxious to get Juniper Joe back in the jail,” added the -sheriff. - -She stopped in the doorway, turning to the scout. - -“I may want to communicate with you. I shall use the post office if I -do. I suppose _that_ can be trusted?” - -Nomad had come back to the door, along the hall. - -“Nothin’ kin be trusted in this hyer thievin’ town!” he declared. - -She smiled on the old trapper with what must have been something of a -remnant of her vanished coquetry. - -“Not even me?” she said. - -Then she hurried along the hall and left the hotel, pulling her veil -down as she did so. - -Nomad came on into the room, after a steady look at her back. - -“Waugh!” he said, flinging himself into a chair. “Is she playin’ fa’r -er otherwise? Mebby so; I dunno.” - -“Nomat, I am mit you,” declared the baron. “Vhen I rememper my vife, -vot was so sveet yoost pefore ve vos marriet, unt den vos a she-tiger -yoost afdher ve vos marriet, I ton’dt dake no stocks in enny vomans.” - -Buffalo Bill laughed. - -“She will play fair while it is to her interest to do so, and just -now she thinks it is to her interest.” - -“Well,” drawled Shepard, “we can watch her while we’re watchin’ other -people. But I’d like to know who it was had his nose stuck under the -door hyer while we was talkin’.” - -“It looked to me,” said Nomad, “like the back o’ White-eyed Moses.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - THE SHERIFF’S WARNING. - - -Gopher Gabe, fat but rat-eyed, sat in one of the little rooms back of -his saloon, a schooner of beer on the table before him. His full jaws -had a sleek, round, well-fed look, which, with his eyes, gave him a -fancied resemblance to the thick-cheeked, pouched gopher of the West, -and had conferred on him the name by which he was best known. - -In another respect the saloon keeper was like the gopher: He worked -underground. Though in secret connection with most of the “bad” men -of Blossom Range, he had managed to hide the fact from the general -knowledge of the public. Most people were reluctant to think that a -man so “whole-souled” as Gopher Gabe could be a secret partner with -the thugs and road agents who had made Blossom Range notorious. - -He ran a saloon, it was true, and gambling was done there. Also, he -had an interest in the Casino and the unsavory wine rooms connected -with it. Everybody knew that, yet few, if any, guessed the whole -truth. - -Into the small room where Gopher Gabe sat, White-eyed Moses suddenly -projected himself at such speed that his coat tails flapped out -behind him. His white eyes were staring and he was much excited, as -well as breathless. - -“Vhat an escabe!” he gasped, sinking into a chair. - -Gopher Gabe, who had lifted the foaming glass, put it down untouched. - -“What in Sam Hill----” - -“You said I shouldt vatch Buffalo Bill’s rooms, if I could,” -explained the fiddler. “So when, this morning, I seen Shepardt go -dare, and then this voman, Miss Vera Bright, I triedt it. That is -vhat I mean. They were in his room, talking, and I dropped down -by the door, in the hall outsite. I vas gitting some imbortant -information, I t’ought, vhen that trapper chumbed at the door, and I -had to gidt.” - -He breathed heavily. - -Gopher Gabe looked at him steadily. - -“I reckon what you heard was about that jail escape and the robberies -last night? Naturally Shepard would go there to talk about it, as he -thinks he is small persimmons alongside of Buffalo Bill. What was -they sayin’.” - -“Vell, the voman is going in with them!” - -The saloon keeper stiffened back in his chair. - -“So?” - -“They was talking it over. She was gifing her suspicions about you.” - -“So?” said Gabe, but his voice had risen, and his rat-like eyes began -to glitter. “What was she sayin’?” - -“She was telling them to vatch your blace.” - -“So?” - -“That’s vhat I made of it. She is wanting rewenge on Juniper Joe and -Benson for killing Ward.” - -“Git a woman worked up along the jealousy-and-revenge line,” said -Gopher Gabe, “and you’ve got a devil to deal with. But _she_ don’t -know anything.” - -“I am hobing not.” - -“I’m certain she don’t. She was with the show only a week, and all -she saw was what went on in the wine rooms. What’s she goin’ to do?” - -“Vell, I don’t know that. She was gifing them tips.” - -“And will give ’em more if she can. But that needn’t scared you.” - -“I see you ton’dt understand. I was scared because I am so near being -catched. I didn’t get oudt of the hall before that trapper vas in it. -I t’ought he was going to shoot.” - -“Did he recognize ye? That’s important.” - -“I am hobing he didn’t, but I don’t know. He didn’t see my face, I am -sure. I was going down the stairvay vhen he shouted to me to stop. He -clicked his rewolver, but I didn’t stop.” - -“You didn’t hear anything to make you think they guess where Juniper -and Benson air?” - -“Only vhat she said. She told them to vatch your joint. And there was -some talk about putting some one in blace of one of your vaiters, so -that he could act as a sby.” - -“Well, we can block that, now that we’re on. I don’t think they can -find Benson and Joe.” - -“Are they going out to the Utes?” - -“No. They’ll be safer right where I’ve got ’em. I ain’t scared yet. -Buffalo Bill has been watching this place straight along, but not -saying anything about it; we know that. Let him watch. He’ll not -catch me napping.” - -“Shepardt has been your friendt.” - -“He is yit. But of course he won’t stand for lawbreakin’ and -jailbreakin’. So long’s he thinks I’m on the square, Shepard ain’t -goin’ to make trouble; but----” - -A man who had come into the saloon, instead of stopping before the -bar, had come on back, and now approached the small room where Gopher -Gabe and his fiddling lieutenant were conferring. - -White-eyed Moses took a look through the crack of the door. - -“Gootness! It’s him, right now.” - -“Matt Shepard?” - -“Sure.” - -“Well, that’s all right. Jest you keep your face straight, and say -that you hain’t been near the Eagle House. I’ll fix him.” - -Matt Shepard, square-jawed, big-framed, honest, and gritty, but a -man of the type known as a “mixer,” came up to the door of the room, -then pushed it open, and walked in, looking at the proprietor and at -White-eyed Moses. - -“Hello, Mose!” he said, taking a seat quite as if he felt at home. -“Where you been keepin’ yerself lately?” - -“Oh, all roundt. In the usual blaces,” was the fiddler’s answer. - -“Fiddlin’ business as good as ever, eh?” - -“Purdy goodt!” - -“You wasn’t over t’ the Eagle House a while ago? Think straight now!” - -“I vasn’t over dare.” - -“You’re goin’ to stick to that?” - -“Vhy shouldt I be over dare?” - -“It was said that you was spyin’ on Cody!” - -White-eyed Moses threw out his hands in vehement disclaimer. - -“Well, I ain’t goin’ to ask you to swear to it,” said Shepard. “If -a man’s word can’t be believed, I wouldn’t believe his oath. You’ve -heard, o’ course, of the escape of Juniper. Everybody has. So, what -do you think of it?” - -“You vas neatly done.” - -“That’s right.” - -He turned to Gopher Gabe. - -“I’m goin’ to talk straight, Gabe,” he said to him. “I’ve always been -your friend, you know.” - -“Sure!” Gopher Gabe grunted. - -“Well, it’s like this: You’re bein’ suspected. First, they say that -you’re in with the thieves and thugs that have been workin’ overtime -round this camp lately. Then they say that you know something about -this plan by which I was induced to let Juniper Joe slip through my -fingers.” - -“All a lie,” said Gopher Gabe. - -“Of course I expected you’d say that. So I’ve got only this remark to -make, though really I haven’t any right, as an officer of the law, -to make it. It’s jest this: If any of the things that’s bein’ said -are so, I give you warning that it must be stopped. If you’re helpin’ -Juniper and Benson in their present game of hide-out, stop it; and if -you’re in with any of those hold-up men, stop that, too; and short -off.” - -Gopher Gabe’s face flushed and his ratlike eyes glittered, but he -kept his temper within bounds, so that when he spoke his voice was as -usual. He even laughed as he retorted: - -“All lies. You know the kind of business I run here--something to -drink, with gambling as a side issue, and the serving of the Casino -wine rooms. Everything’s open and aboveboard. I ain’t no call to do -any different.” - -“You oughtn’t to have, Gabe, and that’s a fact.” - -The sheriff got to his feet. - -“I stand for law and order here,” he said; “that’s my business, and -I’m goin’ to run it straight so long’s as the people elect me to the -office. You’d do the same, in my place. But I play fair. So I jest -dropped in to give you warnin’.” - -He left the room, and they heard him speak to the barkeeper on his -way to the street. - -“Now, vhat do you think of that?” asked White-eyed Moses. - -“It’s like Shepard, and it’s the thing that makes him so popular.” - -“He’ll pull you, chust the same?” - -“Oh, yes, if I give him the chance.” - -“You noticed that he ditn’t say anything aboudt Vera Bright and the -putting of some one as a sby in blace of one of your vaiters!” - -“Well, I reckon he’s got sense enough to keep some things to himself.” - -Gopher Gabe finished the beer on the table. - -He did not seem disturbed. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE GOPHER BITES. - - -Vera Bright found that Buffalo Bill was right in his conjecture that -she would have no difficulty in securing her former position and that -the manager would consider her recent notoriety an added attraction. - -So she appeared in the show that evening in her former part. - -When the performance was ended and she went back to the wine rooms, -she was told that Gopher Gabe wished to see her. - -One of the waiters brought the invitation. - -“He’s in that little den he uses, back of the saloon,” she was -informed. “You’d better see him.” - -Vera Bright shivered, in spite of herself; she recalled the fact that -some one, possibly White-eyed Moses, had eavesdropped at the door of -Buffalo Bill’s room at the Eagle House. - -“He isn’t in a temper?” she said anxiously. - -“I don’t think so; he seemed in good enough humor. But the way he -said it when he told me to tell you made me know that he meant it. So -I’d advise you to go.” - -For a moment Vera Bright thought of bolting out of the place and -giving up the task she had assumed. Then her native courage came to -reassure her. - -“He may talk rough,” she thought; “but so long as the waiter knows -that he sent for me he won’t do anything more than that. And if I’m -to stay here and play spy I must expect to meet him.” - -So she girded up her courage and went to the room which Gopher Gabe -used at times, where he would sit giving his orders. - -His round, fat, flushed face showed only the utmost kindness as she -came into the room after pausing timidly on the threshold. The hour -was late--the performance had lasted a long time. She wondered if she -was not doing a foolish thing. - -“So you came!” he said. “I thought you would.” - -He got up, gave her a chair, then closed the door; but she observed -that he did not lock it. - -“Good show to-night, they tell me,” he observed as he came back, “and -a good audience. I suppose the manager raised your pay. He ought to.” - -She felt afraid of him; he was so large and strong, such a very giant -of a man--his jaws were heavy, his neck thick, his shoulders big -and broad. He was a huge, coarse leviathan, and she felt that if he -wished he could crush her between his fat, thick fingers. Again the -feeling came on her strongly that in mixing in this matter she was -putting her life in danger. - -There was a slight trembling of her voice when she asked him why he -had sent for her. - -“Well,” he said, leaning back in his big chair and looking steadily -at her, “I understand that you have gone over to my enemies; I wanted -to ask you if it was true.” - -“Not in the sense you perhaps think,” she assured him, knowing now -that White-eyed Moses had heard and told, and that she could not -deceive the man before her as to what had passed at the Eagle House. - -“In what sense, then?” he asked. - -“I have nothing against _you_,” she told him. - -“Against some of my friends, eh?” - -“Not unless you call Juniper Joe and Tim Benson your friends,” -she declared. “I don’t need to explain about that matter, as you -understand it.” - -“You’ve got it in fer them because you think they killed Ward, and -you was sweet on Ward! That’s it, eh?” - -She clinched her hands tightly together in her lap. - -“Something like that,” she admitted. - -“Well, what is it you’re goin’ to do?” he asked. - -“If I can find out where they are I’m going to notify the sheriff.” - -“And Buffalo Bill?” - -“Yes, I shall tell him, too.” - -“Well, now, do you think all that gives you any cause to ask them to -watch my establishment?” - -He saw her tremble. - -“I--I----” - -He stopped her with a wave of his fat hand, leaning toward her. - -“Before you answer that, which will be with a lie, I reckon, tell me -what you know about this feller on top o’ Folly Mountain?” - -“I don’t know anything about him.” - -“We’d like to know somethin’ about him, more than we do.” - -“I’ve heard it hinted that he is a road agent, playing a game there -to fool the people.” - -“I’ve heard the same, and I’d like to know the truth. Now, I get -right down to why I sent fer you. By offerin’ to go in with Buffalo -Bill and Matt Shepard, you’ve showed that you’re a good deal of a -fool. I’m speakin’ straight, you see. What can they offer you? And -what have you got in common with them, anyhow? Your kind is the -kind that hangs out at the Casino and round the wine rooms; not the -law-and-order crowd. You know it.” - -“Yes, I know that, though I’m ashamed of it.” - -“Get over that!” he said roughly. “You’ll receive more kindness from -your own crowd than you ever will from any other. Take it from me -straight, that you will. So, in the end, you ain’t goin’ to gain -anything by goin’ in with that crowd. Cut it out!” - -She returned his steady look. - -“What do you want?” she asked. - -“That sounds more like it. In the first place, I want to say to you -that you can’t stay round here and me not know everything you’re -doin’; just recollect that, and it may be of help to you. I’ve -got friends in plenty; men you wouldn’t think of, too. When that -law-and-order crowd gets through with you, and that will be just as -soon as they ain’t got no further use for you, you’ll get no favors -from them; you ought to know that. With your own crowd you can always -have friends and help when you want it. I know what’s troublin’ you. -You think you want to got even with Benson and Juniper Joe. Now, let -me tell you that you don’t. You’d better forgit that old jealousy -quarrel and let it go.” - -But he saw her eyes blaze when he said it. - -“You won’t?” he asked. - -“Not until both of them are back in jail or hung for it,” she told -him, her voice tense with sudden emotion. - -“A fine spirit for a woman to get into!” he declared, with a forced -laugh. “But I think you’ll get over it when you’ve had a little time. -Now, I’m goin’ to make you a proposition. It’s got money in it, too. -I’ll pay you twice what you’re gettin’ at the Casino, if you’ll -scrape an acquaintance with the Fool of Folly Mountain and find out -just what he is up to.” - -He studied her face. Long experience had made him apparently able to -see to the heart of this woman, right through the powder and paint. - -“You won’t do it?” - -She shook her head. - -“No!” she declared. - -“Why won’t you?” - -“Because, right now, I’ve got other work to do. Besides, I don’t care -to.” - -“You can’t waste time on that feller on Folly Mountain?” - -“No; and I don’t want to.” - -“So you’re goin’ to stick to this thing of bringin’ Benson and Joe to -the gallows?” - -“That’s just what I’m going to do!” she told him. - -“You told Buffalo Bill to git one of my waiters out of the way and -put a spy in here in his place.” - -She did not answer. - -“That’s so, ain’t it? Out with it!” - -“I see I’m a little fool.” - -“I think you are, myself.” - -“I mean, I’m a fool, or I would have lied to you, and made you think -I would do whatever you told me to do; now, I’ll have to get out of -that Casino company, and out of the wine rooms, and won’t be able to -do any of the things I had planned.” - -“Still, you won’t come round to my idea, even when you know that?” - -“No! I can’t.” - -“You’ve got in you the making of a mighty good woman!” He sneered. -“But let me tell you why you didn’t lie to me. It’s because you -couldn’t. You know you couldn’t fooled me, if you had tried it. So,” -he paused, and drew a deep breath, “I’m givin’ you now the last -chance. Say the word, and you’ll not want for friends, or money, -while you’re in this town. But if you still want to stand in with -that law-and-order crowd--well!” - -He drew up his shoulders and threw out his hands. - -“If you do,” he ended, “that’s your lookout. I’ll----” - -“You’ll do what?” she said, rising, terrified by his answer. - -He rose, too. - -As it chanced, his chair was nearer the door than hers, so that now, -apparently without having intended it, he blocked her way out. - -“I’ll do this!” he said, stepping toward her. - -She stared at him, frozen and stupefied with sudden horror, because -of the alteration in his face and manner; it was as if a smiling man -had changed into a snake before her very eyes. And though she tried -to recoil, she did not seem able to do it. - -“I’ll do _this_!” he repeated, putting out his hand--a fat, pudgy -hand, that now had a clammy look, as if the fingers were brown eels. - -She tried to step backward and cry out. - -But the hand shot out, and the next moment it had clutched her -throat. She fell to the door, writhing in that deadly, serpent grip. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - THE BARON’S EXPERIENCE. - - -“Idt pegins to loogk like excidemendt iss goming my vay in punches.” - -The round-bodied baron, hiding in the shadows, stared hard at a man -of big girth who hurried past him bearing a burden in his arms that -strongly resembled the limp form of a woman. - -The baron, having heard everything in that interview with Vera -Bright, had begged to be assigned work in and about the Casino. - -“I haf done some goot sbying dhere alreadty,” he urged. “I know some -uff der beoples, too.” - -“But you couldn’t disguise yerself, Schnitz. Every dog in Blossom -Range knows ther look o’ ye, by this time,” old Nomad had told him. - -“Vhen I dry, I gan disguises meinselluf as vell as eenypoty,” the -baron had protested; “but yoost dhis dime I aind’t going to tried -idt; I am going to der show, unt loogk aroundt a liddle afdher idt -iss ofer. Alreadty I haf peen to dhis show more as vunce; unt I gan -go ag’in mitout keeking oop any teeficuldy.” - -Buffalo Bill had let the baron go. - -After the Casino performance was over, the German managed to lose -himself in the wine rooms and corridors that lay behind the Casino -and connected it with the establishment presided over by Gopher Gabe. - -Yet he had not escaped observation entirely. A waiter, meeting him -in a passage, had asked him what he was doing there. And when the -baron said he was trying to find his way out, the waiter had escorted -him to the exit. - -The baron had gone out; then he had come in again. - -This time he professed to be seeking White-eyed Moses. - -“I hear he iss a Cherman, unt uff so, I vant to git acvainted mit -him,” was his statement. - -He did not find White-eyed Moses--did not look for him; but again -made his way into the passage which he had been forced to leave. - -When near the saloon he heard the low grumble of the voice of Gopher -Gabe, at the time Gabe was talking with the woman; but he could not -hear what was said. - -Crouching in a dark corner, the baron waited; he wanted to see with -whom the saloon keeper was conversing. - -It was while in that spot that the big figure of Gopher Gabe loomed -before him; then passed swiftly on, bearing in his arms what seemed -to be the limp body of a woman. - -Gopher Gabe had apparently passed without seeing the baron. - -The latter rose up immediately and began to follow. - -“Dot iss shure a vomans,” he thought; “unt it look to me as if she -iss inkinscious. Uff so, idt haf a meanness.” - -In the dim light, the baron saw Gopher Gabe slide his huge bulk -through one of the doors of the wine rooms. Then the door closed -behind him. But as the room was not lighted the baron was not able -even yet to make sure that this was Gopher Gabe. - -So he crouched outside, again waiting. He had reached the belief that -the woman was Vera Bright. - -Five minutes later the big man came out of that room, alone. - -Again he passed the baron, without apparently seeing him; and went -toward the saloon. - -The baron squatted in the gloom, staring at the door, which the -saloon keeper had closed behind him on coming out. - -“He leef der inkinscious voman in dot room vor shure,” was the -baron’s conclusion. “Maybe diss iss a case uff murter. Idt iss oop to -me to see. By yiminy, uff a murter haf been gommitted, Gopher Gape -vill findt himselluf in a slings.” - -He rose to his feet, trembling with eagerness. - -“Shall I dry der door?” he asked himself. “I ton’dt know vot iss in -dare; unt maybe I gan’t git in uff I dry idt. Yidt, here iss going.” - -He crept up to the door, listened, then tried some keys he had on a -ring in his pocket. To his gratification one of them turned the bolt -of the lock, and the door opened. - -Having entered cautiously, he closed the door behind him; then stood -listening in the darkness. The room was quiet. From the wine rooms -beyond he heard singing and laughter. - -“Iss eenypoty in here?” he asked, in a hoarse whisper. - -He got no satisfaction from this; so concluded to risk a match. - -When it flared up and he looked about by its light he saw the -outlines of a very small square room, which was empty. The only door -was the one by which he had come in, and there were no windows. The -woman was not there. The only thing which drew his attention as being -out of the ordinary was a piece of wood, or board, braced below the -ceiling, which seemed likely to fall if touched or jarred. - -“Vale, I am oop a sdump!” he concluded, staring round in -disappointment. “She vos broughdt in here, budt she iss not bresent. -Vot is der explanadions?” - -He turned to the door, intending to leave the room. - -As he did so he felt the floor begin to sink under him, carrying him -downward. - -He jumped for the door; but he could not get out now, even when -he tried to open it, for the descent of the platform was so swift -that by the time he had the door opened a blank wall was passing -apparently upward before his face. He could not see it clearly, -because of the darkness; but he felt the wall sliding upward, when he -touched it with his fingers. - -“I am going indo der cellar uff dhis estaplishmendt! Maybe der voman -vent der same vay. Yaw! I pedt you I am guessing righdt. Now, uff----” - -The sinking floor stopped with a bump that brought the baron to -his knees. He heard the piece of timber which he had seen over him -scuttling down, and threw up his arm to ward it off; failing to do -so, it rapped him on the head, knocking him heavily to the floor. - -The door opened; and the baron, dazed and bewildered, was seized -by strong arms and dragged out, not knowing at the moment what was -happening to him. - -When he came back to something like clearness of thought a dim light -was shining before him, and by it a man was sitting. The man was -Gopher Gabe, and the light was from a candle stuck on top of a box. -The place seemed to be a cellar, and had the odor of one. - -The baron’s first effort was to brush away cobwebs that seemed to -obscure his vision. In trying it, he made the discovery that he was -tied up, hand and foot. He was dizzy and half blind. - -“Vale,” he said, “how iss dhis?” - -His voice sounded strange to him, and far off. - -“You know where you are?” came in answer. - -“I seem to be in der cellar. Who ar-re you, eenyhow? Somedings seems -to pe fluddering pefore mine eyes, so dot I do not see so blain as I -wouldt like.” - -“How did you get in here?” - -“Idt iss der kvestion I am vandting to ask uff you.” - -“Do you know who I am?” - -The baron leaned forward and stared. - -“Iss dare somedings pefore mine eyes? I am in sooch a bevildermendt -dot I ton’dt know nottings blainly.” - -“You got a crack on the head when the elevator stopped; I guess -that’s what’s the matter with you. There was a piece of timber loose -in that elevator, and it fell down on you.” - -“T’anks vor der misinformadion,” the baron grunted incredulously. - -“But the question is, What was you doin’ in that elevator?” - -“I ditn’t knowed idt vos one.” - -“Well, you know now; and by buttin’ in where you had no business you -got yerself in this fix.” - -The German, feeling his way back to clearer thought, did not answer -this. - -“You was spying!” said the man. - -The baron stared hard at him again. - -“You are Misder Gopher Gape, I t’ink,” he said at last. - -“So you’ve recognized me?” - -“Vhy you tie me oop like dhis, Misder Gopher Gape?” - -“So you won’t hurt yerself, and so you won’t go pokin’ about in -places where you’ll get into trouble. I’m goin’ to let you think over -that a while. By and by, I’ll see you again.” - -Gopher Gabe arose, took the candle, and disappeared, leaving the -baron in total darkness. - -“Vale, dis iss a kveer pitzness,” he said. “Yaw! I remember now, dot -I was drying to findt oudt vot habben to der vomans. Unt so I gidt me -into teeficuldy. I vonder vhat pecame uff her?” - -He had unconsciously spoken his thought aloud, in his queer English. - -Then a voice reached him, from some spot near: - -“I am here!” - -The baron twisted around in his cords, staring. - -“You ar-re here? I ton’dt seen you.” - -“It would be hard to see anything, in this black hole.” - -“Yaw! I pelief you. You come down py der elefator, too--huh!” - -“I don’t know how I got here.” - -“Yaw! I remember. You vos inkinscious.” - -“That man attacked me, after he had sent for me to visit him in his -room back of his saloon; he choked me until I couldn’t breathe; then -I lost consciousness. I think he means to kill us. For myself, I am -sure of it.” - -“Yoompin’ yack rappits! Iss dot so-o?” - -“I’m sure of it. I saw it in his eyes when he lunged at me.” - -“Dhen I am t’inking dot ve petter pe findting a vay to gidt oudt uff -dhis blace.” - -“If it could be done!” she said hopelessly. - -“Aber I----” - -But he stopped; for voices had reached them. They had been speaking -in whispers, or little more; and the voices came merely as a low -grumble, as if walls separated them from the speakers. When they kept -silence and listened they could now and then make out words, that, -apparently, were not meant for their ears. - -“We’ll show Cody a thing or two,” was one thing they heard. “He -has been thinking he is only up ag’inst a couple of men. He is now -gettin’ his eyes open to the fact that he’s got a crowd to fight. But -we can down him. A shot from the dark will put him out of business. -As for this fool Dutchman, we’ll hold him a while, for we may want to -use him; then _he_ can go over the road.” - -The grumble rose and fell, so that a good many things could not be -made out; but something was said about the Fool of Folly Mountain. - -Then some words came quite clearly. - -“He’s in with us, all right;” this plainly referring to Uncle Sam. -“Cody thinks he is standing in with him; and we’ll let him think it. -By and by, if we don’t down him too soon with a bullet, Cody will -learn the truth.” - -Again the grumble died down. - -Then once more words came which could be understood. - -“The trapper, too; we’ll fix him. Needn’t think he can come into this -camp and put the kibosh onto us; it can’t be done easy. We’ve got -too many friends here, and our organization is too strong.” - -For some time the voices went on, in a grumble that rose and fell. -But, though snatches of the talk came into the cellar, the baron got -little more that he could piece together into intelligible sentences. - -At last the talk stopped altogether. But the men were not heard to -walk away. Still, it was apparent that they had gone. - -“Vot do you t’ink uff idt?” the baron breathed at last. - -“It proves just what I said--that Gopher Gabe means to kill us. It -proves, too, what I’ve thought, that he has a strong organization in -this town. Cody will find that he is fighting all the thugs and bad -men of Blossom Range, and there is a regiment of them; I think that -in the end they will kill him, too.” - -“Ton’dt you pelieve idt!” protested the baron. “Dare iss nodt -eenypoty vot gan kill Cody.” - -“He doesn’t bear a charmed life any more than other men; and a bullet -in the dark, or a knife thrust, can put him out of the way as easy as -it would any one else.” - -“You ton’dt knowed Cody!” - -“Yes, I know him. But his days are numbered.” - -“You are loogking indo der darkness,” said the baron; “loogk oudt -ondo der sunlighdt.” - -The woman seemed to laugh. - -“I can’t see any sunlight, in this black place.” - -“Imachine dot you see der sunlighdt, eenyhow! Idt vill hellup. As vor -Schnitzenhauser, he nefer gifs oop. I haf peen in vorse blaces, unt I -am sdill lifing. You pedt me, ve gan gidt oudt uff dhis.” - -“I wish you would show me how.” - -“Py yiminy, I vill!” - -He began to tug and struggle, in a wild effort to release his hands -from the cords that cut them. - -“I pedt I vill magke idt,” he declared. “Uff in no odder vays, I vill -gidt you to gnaw dhem off yoost like a radt.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - AN ASSASSIN AT WORK. - - -The disappearance of Baron von Schnitzenhauser and Vera Bright filled -Buffalo Bill and Nomad with so much uneasiness that they instituted a -thorough search for them, but without avail. They had dropped out of -sight completely. All that was known, was that the woman had returned -to her work at the Casino, and had disappeared; and that the baron, -set to shadow the Casino and Gopher Gabe’s, had also vanished. - -Buffalo Bill sent for the sheriff, Matt Shepard; and laid the facts -before him. - -“You may not want to think so, Shepard,” said the scout; “but Gopher -Gabe is at the bottom of this. So, as you’re on talking terms with -him, I want you to tell him, as coming straight from me, that he had -better drop this business. Tell him that I know he is holding the -baron and the woman; and that it’s up to him to let them go, and -right off.” - -“Which, if he don’t,” added Nomad, in a rasping voice, “thar’ll be a -dead saloon keeper purty prompt in this hyar town!” - -“You’d better not say that to him, right now,” advised the scout, -speaking to Shepard, “but give it to him hard, that he is making a -fool of himself. Tell him it shows he must be in with the blackleg -gang that has been running the robbery-and-murder mill round here -lately, and that he ought to know what the end will be for the -members of that gang.” - -Matt Shepard went over to Gopher Gabe’s. - -The saloon keeper was in his usual place, wiping off the sloppy bar -with a damp cloth. He looked white-faced and worried. - -The sheriff delivered Buffalo Bill’s message. - -Gopher Gabe heard it through without apparent emotion, but a bit of -color came into his fat cheeks, and his ratlike eyes glittered. - -“You tell Cody for me, that he is an a-number-one fool,” was his -answer. “Does he take me for an idiot?” - -“You don’t know a thing about it?” Shepard asked. - -“Certainly I don’t. I’d be a candidate for a lunatic asylum, wouldn’t -I, if I done a thing like that?” He crushed the damp cloth in his -thick fingers, and looked at Shepard. “Cody has got so excited over -his failure to do anything, that he has gone to seein’ visions. Now, -there ain’t no band of highwaymen makin’ their headquarters in this -town; and you, as sheriff, ought to know that. There’s been hold-ups -and robberies; but they’ve been done by individuals. Cody’s like a -blind snake in August--scared at every sound he hears, and strikin’ -out at everything.” - -Matt Shepard was about convinced that this was the truth. - -“Of course, he’s naturally he’t up by this disappearance of his -pard,” he said, almost apologetically. - -“Maybe the Dutchman is on a drunk, and layin’ out somewhere,” Gopher -Gabe suggested. - -“It might be,” Shepard admitted. - -“As for that woman, the place to find out about her is at the -Casino; if the manager of the show can’t tell you anything about her, -I can’t.” - -“About this Fool of Folly Mountain?” said Shepard, coming back to -what to him was a subject of mysterious interest. “They tell me he’s -been buckin’ the tiger heavy of late, in your rooms back there.” - -Gopher Gabe smiled. - -“Well, he says he is gittin’ a lot of gold out of that wuthless dirt -in what he calls his mine; and if he wants to drop it here with me, I -ain’t goin’ to make a kick, am I?” - -“And they say he’s gittin’ thicker’n fleas with some of the suspected -men about town?” - -“I reckon you’d better see him, about that.” - -“I’m beginnin’ to watch him.” - -Shepard came away from Gopher Gabe’s knowing considerably less than -when he went. He reported to the scout his disbelief that the saloon -keeper was not playing a straight game. - -But the report did not change the scout’s opinions, or cause him to -lessen his efforts. - -He was rapidly accumulating proof that in Blossom Range Juniper Joe -and Tim Benson were connected with a desperate band, who were not -only disposed to protect those rascals, but willing to “put out of -the way” their enemies. - -Proofs of the desperate character of the men he was watching came -fast. - -As Buffalo Bill was sitting in the Eagle House dining room that -evening, the time being just after dark, a shot sounded in the -street, and the bullet shattered the glass beside his plate, throwing -splinters into his face. - -Nomad dived with a whoop under the table, crawled out on the other -side, and with revolver in hand ran to the window through which the -bullet had come. - -But he saw no one. - -That night Buffalo Bill spent several hours in quiet work around -Gopher Gabe’s and the Casino, with Nomad doing business on the “side -lines.” They returned to the hotel together, at a late hour, having -accomplished nothing. - -Hardly were they closeted in the scout’s room, talking over their -work, when a man passed rapidly through the hall before the scout’s -door. He stopped just the fraction of a second, as if to make sure, -by the sounds of the voices within, where Buffalo Bill was sitting; -then he fired his revolver through the door, and went jumping in wild -leaps down the back stairs. - -It was useless to follow him. - -Five minutes later a bullet came through the window, struck and -caromed from the top of the table at which the scout was sitting, -then imbedded itself in the wall behind him. - -Nomad promptly turned out the lamp. - -“Waugh!” he growled. “I reckons we’ve got to set round hyer in ther -dark, ef we don’t want ter git lead under our hides! This thing is -gittin’ plum serious.” - -The scout went to the window, drew down the curtain, then turned up -the lamp; but he did not sit down again by the table. - -“When such things as this begin to happen, it’s clear proof that -somebody’s getting badly scared,” he commented. - -“Who’s doin’ et? Thet’s what I wanter know.” - -“Some of Gopher Gabe’s emissaries, of course; but he ought to hire -men who can do a little better shooting.” - -“Thet bullet come nigh ernough ter make a clost call.” - -“Well, yes; when it jumped from the table, it almost kissed me on the -nose.” - -He went to the wall and looked at the hole torn by the bullet. - -“From a forty-five Colt revolver, I judge,” he commented. - -Steps were heard in the hall, and Nomad pulled his revolver. - -“Ef thar’s more shootin’, I shoots fust!” he growled. - -But when, in answer to a rap; the scout opened the door, they saw the -white face of the night clerk; he seemed scared. - -“Was that shooting in here?” he asked. - -Nomad pointed to the bullet hole in the wall. - -“Ther eending of et war hyer, though ther beginnin’ wasn’t. Somebody -has got inter ther pesky bad habit o’ poppin’ at Buffler; et’s likely -ther same cuss what tried ter pot him at the supper table.” - -“This has got to stop,” said the exasperated clerk; “we won’t have a -guest in the house if it keeps up. To-night, after that shooting at -the dining table, four of our guests left; the ones who were sitting -at the table with you. They said they didn’t care to run such risks; -and that if some one was trying to shoot you, they preferred to -absent themselves from your company.” - -“Who do you think’s doin’ et?” Nomad demanded. - -“I haven’t the ghost of an idea.” - -“Yer might guess.” - -“If I did, my guess would be that it’s a friend of Benson and -Juniper Joe. It’s known that the scout is hunting for them two.” - -“Also, et’s known, ter me, at least, thet he’s shore goin’ ter git -’em. Yer ain’t heard any news down at your desk?” - -When the clerk declared that he hadn’t, and went away, Buffalo Bill -buckled on his pistols. - -“Whar away?” Nomad flung at him. - -“I think I’ll prowl round outside a little while. Maybe I can get -sight of that rascal, if he’s lurking about.” - -“I’ll pike erlong with ye.” - -“No; you stay here. Move about now and then; so that if any one is -watching the window he won’t know that I’ve gone out. That may help -me to catch him.” - -“An’ help me ter git er hunk o’ lead under my hide!” - -Buffalo Bill skulked round outside for an hour; but he saw no one. - -“This hyar thing’s gittin’ onto my narves,” the trapper declared, -when the scout came back. - -“It’s a bit trying to be shot at, and not know who is doing it!” - -He took a turn about the room. - -“I think, Nomad,” he said, “that I’ll do some scouting around that -cabin of the Fool, up on Folly Mountain, before I turn in for the -night.” - -“Wow!” Nomad gurgled. “He’s gittin’ thicker’n thieves wi’ them cattle -what air herdin’ continyul round Gopher Gabe’s. I’m beginnin’ ter -think he’s ther wust o’ the lot. So, look out fer him; an’, ’special, -look out fer yerself.” - -The scout went away, slipping noiselessly down the back stairs, then -out into the night. - -But he saw no lurking form as he went. - -Buffalo Bill knew now that it was a race between Death and Success, -in his case and Nomad’s. If he did not soon “get” the leaders of the -band he was after, they would “get” him. Evidence was accumulating, -showing that the desperadoes had a surprising number of friends and -allies, in some places where they were least expected. - -He was still worried over the fate of the baron. Since the German had -dropped so suddenly and mysteriously out of sight not a word had been -received from him or about him. The same was true of Vera Bright. The -show manager claimed not to know what had become of the woman, and -appeared to be much mystified. It was useless to ask Gopher Gabe. -Matt Shepard was being fatally handicapped in his honest efforts to -aid the scout by reason of his belief in the statements of the saloon -keeper. - -During the next day another effort was made to assassinate the -scout. He was shot at in passing the window of a house near Gopher -Gabe’s saloon. He jumped for the door and smashed it in, after the -shot was fired, and saw the disappearing heels of a man who dived -through an open window into an alley. When he reached that window the -scout found that the scoundrel had vanished. But what view he had -almost convinced him that the man was White-eyed Moses. The house -was unoccupied; and the would-be assassin had apparently stationed -himself there and waited for the scout to pass along. - -The shooting created some excitement in the street; men also came out -of Gopher Gabe’s place to investigate it. The scout could only tell -them that some one had shot at him from the empty house. - -As White-eyed Moses was known to be one of Gopher Gabe’s intimates, -and the baron had been set to watch Gopher Gabe’s as well as the -Casino, the scout’s belief that within Gopher Gabe’s establishment, -or the Casino, lay hid the mystery of the baron’s disappearance, -became more than ever established. - -That night, when the Casino show was over, Buffalo Bill stationed the -trapper in one of the alleys, with instructions to watch both the -saloon and the Casino; then the scout swung over the alley wall, and -tried to get at the heart of the intricate maze of corridors and wine -rooms back of the saloon. - -He had a feeling that in doing this he was putting his head into the -lion’s mouth. Yet danger never daunted him when such a purpose as -this moved him. He had reached a point where it seemed to him he must -know just what happened to the baron, no matter at what risk. - -Waiters were still passing to and fro between the saloon and the wine -rooms. Failing to make any prominent discoveries back there, the -scout moved upon the saloon itself. Entering thus by the rear way, he -came into the gambling room, located back of the room containing the -bar. - -It was well filled, and some exciting games were in progress. As men -made way for Buffalo Bill, looking at him curiously, for the rumor -had run round the town that bad blood existed between him and the -saloon proprietor, the scout’s eyes fell on the tall form and blond -locks of the Fool of Folly Mountain. With some others, he was deep -in the mysteries of a card game, at one of the tables. - -The scout stood looking with apparent interest at the man who called -himself by the name of Uncle Sam. Finally, the man of the blond hair -and blond mustache, apparently feeling the scout’s staring eyes upon -him, looked up. - -“Won’t you have a try at poker, pardner?” he asked, drawling his -words. - -“Not to-night,” Buffalo Bill answered, and moved on. - -The scout saw nothing to make him suppose that these men knew aught -of the baron, and turned to leave the place by the back way. - -As he did so, there was a flash and report, in a corridor leading to -the wine rooms, and the bullet brushed his face. - -Buffalo Bill lowered his head and projected himself at the corridor, -hearing the fleeing steps of the man who had shot at him. - -“White-eyed Moses!” was his thought. - -The rascal, discovering that he had failed once more, was so -frightened by it and the scout’s reckless pursuit that he failed to -fire again, but ran headlong toward the wine rooms. - -When Buffalo Bill reached them, however, the man he sought was not -there. And when the inmates were questioned they declared that though -they had heard the shot they had seen no one. - -As he turned back, Buffalo Bill thought he heard a voice in one of -the small rooms, the one nearest the saloon. - -But when he entered it, the door being open, he saw no one, and the -room was empty. As the cubby-hole of a place was dark, he struck a -match, to look about. - -As if that were the signal, the room gave a downward jerk and dip, -then settled with him, sinking so rapidly that he could not get out -by the door. - -He did not know it, then; but he was in the same elevator room which -had trapped the baron. - -As the elevator struck bottom somewhere with a heavy jerk, the scout -heard a piece of wood break from its fastenings and come down on -him. With quick presence of mind he dropped flat to the floor. The -wood struck so heavily that it would have crushed his head like an -eggshell if it had hit it fair; but by throwing himself flat the -scout escaped with only a bruising of his shoulders, as one end of -the timber struck against the elevator wall and was partly stayed by -it. - -“Trapped!” gritted the scout. - -He drew his revolver, waiting for the next move of his enemies; for -he was sure this had not happened by chance. - -It came soon enough. - -The door opened before him, into the cellar, and some men jumped at -him. - -But as they expected to find that he had been knocked out by the -dropping of the timber, they were not prepared for the facts. One -went down from a blow of the scout’s fist planted where it would do -much good; the others--there were four of them--tumbled backward. - -In another moment the scout was out in the cellar, his revolver -swinging. - -“Stand back!” rang his clear voice. - -When they came at him with a jump he fired. One man dropped, hitting -the cellar bottom with a grunt. Another the scout knocked down, -giving the rascal a left-handed side-winder. - -The total result enabled Buffalo Bill to run to the other end of the -cellar, looking for a way out. - -One of the men on the floor opened with a revolver, but he shot wild, -being excited, and not able to see very well. - -The scout did not reply to the shooting, but groped along, looking -for an exit. - -He came beneath a manhole, with a pile of coal under it. He knew the -coal could not have been dumped there unless there was a place above -for a wagon to stand. So he scrambled to the top of the coal and set -his broad shoulders against the iron covering. - -Two of the men were on their feet again and were now coming for him. -One was swearing like a pirate. - -They had heard the sliding of the coal as the scout climbed it; -still, they could not see him. - -“Surrender!” yelled the fellow of the sulphurous voice. - -The scout had by this time unsettled the covering of the manhole. He -now heaved it upward and aside; then quickly drew himself up through -it. - -A shot roared behind him, as the light from the opened manhole -revealed to the men in the cellar what he was doing. But Fortune -still favored him. He was outside now, unhurt, in an alley beside the -saloon, the alley opening on the main street. - -In another moment he was in the street itself. - -He ceased to run as soon as he was out in the light. But he did not -tarry, for he expected more shots to come singing after him. - -The shooting had attracted attention, and the street was filling with -men, who came pouring out of the saloon. - -In their midst appeared Matt Shepard. Then Nomad came whooping on the -scene, hastening from the alley in which he had been left to watch. - -“I was trapped in the cellar there, Shepard,” the scout explained, -“by some men who tried to shoot me. I want you to go in there with -me, and we will make a search.” - -“Under Gopher Gabe’s?” cried Shepard, staring. - -“Yes, the cellar under Gopher Gabe’s; though it seems to extend, -also, under some of the wine rooms.” - -“You bet, we’ll look into it!” declared the sheriff. “You jest foller -me; we’ll interview Gabe about this.” - -The men who had leaped into the street were returning. Some of them -had heard the scout’s declaration to the sheriff. They followed into -the saloon, hard on the heels of Shepard, Buffalo Bill, and Nomad. - -The barroom was filled with a talking, excited crowd. A few men -were still in the gaming room back of it. Gopher Gabe came out of -the latter place into the barroom, as the scout and his companions -entered. - -“What’s up?” he demanded. “Was that you shootin’ round hyer, Cody?” - -“I was being shot at,” Buffalo Bill told him. - -“’Tain’t ther fust time, neither,” Nomad whooped. “Bullets has been -chasin’ him hard fer ther better part o’ two days. We’re gittin’ so -anxious erbout et thet ef we don’t find sompin soon we’re plum li’ble -ter throw fits.” - -Buffalo Bill gave Gopher Gabe a keen look, and passed on; the fat, -flushed face of the saloon keeper revealed nothing. - -“As the thing happened in your cellar,” said the scout to him, “I -have asked the sheriff to search it, and the wine rooms. Back there -I stepped into a little room, which turned out to be an elevator and -dropped me into the cellar, when the villains who were down there -attacked me, and tried to shoot me. But I winged one of them, I’m -sure.” - -“I reckon he must be thar yit,” said Nomad. “Lead on thar, an’ we’ll -mighty soon find out.” - -“I heard shootin’,” said the saloon keeper, his tone that of apology; -“but I reckoned it was out in the street.” - -Shepard led the way through the gaming room and on into the corridor -indicated, the scout and Nomad tramping at his heels. Behind them -followed Gopher Gabe, protesting that he could not understand this -queer shooting attempt. Back of the saloon keeper streamed the -straggling and excited mob. - -“What was you doin’ back hyer, anyhow, Cody?” Gopher Gabe demanded -finally. “Only the waiters is allowed in this passageway.” - -“Only the waiters, and officers of the law,” the scout retorted. - -“Yes; if you put it that way.” - -“That’s the way I put it, Gabe. As I was shot at from the window of -an empty house near this place, I thought I’d look round near the -wine rooms, in the hope that I might find who did it. Then this thing -happened.” - -“It goes ahead o’ me,” said Gopher Gabe, “who could have done it.” - -They gained the little cubby-hole of a room that had been transformed -into an elevator, or had been built in that shape to conceal its -design. - -“This is the place,” said the scout, stopping before the door. “I -thought the elevator would be at the bottom of the cellar, but I see -that it has been raised. Perhaps you will know who raised it? I went -in here; then struck a match to look round, as it was dark. As I did -so the elevator descended; and that bit of timber up there, which -I see is in place again, came down on top of me as the bottom was -reached. It’s heavy enough to kill a man, if it struck him right; and -you will please note that it seems braced up there, as if for the -purpose.” - -Gopher Gabe protested that he had never noticed that the timber was -“loose.” - -“It didn’t get me,” said the scout, “simply because I dropped flat as -the elevator landed. But though I wasn’t much hurt by it----” - -“War yer hurt at all, Buffler?” Nomad bellowed. - -“It hit me on the shoulders, but did no damage. Then the door was -pulled open, and men came at me from the cellar, trying their best to -kill me. I found a manhole and got out, or I reckon they would have -succeeded.” - -“It’s a mighty queer thing,” said Gopher Gabe. “Some rowdies got in -hyer, I reckon, and tried to do ye, but I’m not responsible fer that; -you’ve got a lot of enemies in this town, Cody. I suppose you know -it?” - -The scout looked straight at Gopher Gabe. - -“Yes, a lot of them!” he said. - -“We’ll go down and look round,” said Shepard. “How do ye work this -thing, Gabe? Hanged if I knowed you had an elevator hyer. What you -use it fer?” - -“I keep whisky barrels and the like down there,” the saloon keeper -explained. “I put ’em in, and get ’em out with this elevator.” - -“Oh, I see!” - -As many as could crowded into the elevator and were lowered by Gopher -Gabe to the cellar. - -This time the timber above did not come down. Some unobserved touch -of the hand of the saloon keeper stayed it in place. - -When the cellar was gained and entered, the sheriff flashing round it -the light of the lamp he had brought, no wounded or dead man was seen -in it; there were no evidences of the fight. - -It looked, at first blush, as if the scout had been dreaming. If -he had not been able to show spots on the walls where bullets had -struck, many men there would have gone away believing that he had -lied. - -The manhole was found closed. - -“I don’t see nothin’, though, of the men,” said Shepard, disappointed. - -“It’s as I said,” was Gopher Gabe’s comment; “some street rowdies -that have got it in fer Cody jumped on him in hyer and tried to do -him.” - -“Why war they layin’ fer him in hyar?” asked Nomad. - -“You can answer that as easy as I can,” the saloon keeper replied. -“How am I to know anything about it? Everything was runnin’ along -smooth upstairs when this thing happened. If I should make a guess, -it’d be that they sneaked down hyer, thinking to find somethin’ they -could lug off. Then, when Cody come down they thought he was after -’em; and so they tried to get ’em.” - -It seemed so reasonable an explanation that most of the men who heard -it believed it to be the true one. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - SHIFTING THE PRISONERS. - - -The Fool of Folly Mountain had no more than got home when he had -callers, though the hour was so late that it verged upon morning. He -had lighted his lamp and was thinking of turning in for the balance -of the night, when they tapped on his door. When he admitted them he -saw that they were Gopher Gabe and White-eyed Moses. - -“Have seats, gentlemen,” he said, in his suave manner. “Sorry I can’t -offer you cushioned rockers, but stools are all I’ve got in stock -right now. I haven’t much time to sit down myself, so don’t find the -need of soft chairs.” - -He pushed out two stools for them. - -Seating himself, Gopher Gabe looked curiously round the room, at its -rude and simple furnishing, and then at the man himself. He could not -but note that the fellow who called himself Uncle Sam was a tall, -handsome man, made remarkable in appearance by his blond mustache and -the long, blond hair that fell down on his shoulders. The man’s eyes -were keen and penetrating, almost belying the smiling face and genial -manner. - -A door opening into the small back room gave a glimpse of an -assayer’s furnace and appliances. - -“I’m judgin’ that your secret process for gettin’ gold out of just -plain dirt is a good deal of a success,” said the saloon keeper, with -a meaning smile. - -“Well, yes; I’m doin’ tol’able in my line, thank you! Took out a snug -sum this week.” - -“And doubled it at my gaming tables.” - -The stranger’s gurgling laugh overflowed. The compliment seemed to -please him. - -“I hobe that our friendt vill not t’ink it an insuldt if I say that -he seems to know vare a blendy of aces are to be foundt most easily,” -remarked White-eyed Moses. - -Uncle Sam laughed again. - -“That seems to be the general inference,” he admitted; “but I assure -you, gentlemen, that I get my aces from where they ought to come--the -regular pack. Shall I be blamed if the dealer throws them to me, when -he would, perhaps, prefer to throw me something else? It is just -gambler’s luck.” - -“It makes you a heap of a winner,” was Gopher Gabe’s dry comment. - -“It’s a fact that the winnings seem to come my way with astonishing -regularity. But what would you? Shall I refuse to win, when I can? I -play for money, you know--not for my health. The other gentlemen are -doing the same; so if they lose it’s their lookout.” - -“Cards and minin’ ain’t your only line, I take it?” said Gopher Gabe, -with a wink. - -“Idt is vhat brought us up here--ower obinion that you had somet’ing -else up your sleeve,” White-eyed Moses added. - -“Several times, and in various ways,” said the saloon keeper, “you -have given us to understand that.” - -Uncle Sam winked back at Gopher Gabe. - -“It may be so,” he admitted. - -“You know what we are drifting at?” said White-eyed Moses. - -“Usually, I’m a good guesser, gentlemen!” - -“Then, gettin’ right down to business,” said Gopher Gabe, “wouldn’t -you like to go in with us?” - -“Getting right down to brass tacks, as you say. I’d like to do that -very thing, if my understanding of your meaning is straight.” - -“You ain’t playing this game of assayer hyer without a mighty good -reason,” urged Gopher Gabe. - -“You’re right, I ain’t!” - -“The gold you get out of this dirt hyer you put into it before you -get it out?” - -Uncle Sam winked again, twisting his face in a comical smile. Then he -lifted one eyelid. - -“See anything green under there, gents?” he asked. - -“Ve knowed all along that it was bluff,” said White-eyed Moses. - -Uncle Sam winked again, at the fiddler. - -“How much you makin’ out of it?” asked the saloon keeper. - -“All I can.” - -“How many hauls do you make in a week?” - -“In the time I’ve been here I’ve made just five--if that’s what you -mean.” - -Gopher Gabe and White-eyed Moses looked at each other. The Fool of -Folly Mountain leaned back on his stool, smiling. - -“There have been just seven hold-ups round here in that time, that -we know about. We can account for two of them; that is, we know who -worked ’em. You done the rest?” - -“I guess we understand each other, Gabie. So I reckon you might as -well get down to business.” - -“You would go in with us?” - -“Kind gentlemen, I would, and be delighted. I believe I could clear -up more money, in with you.” - -“What kind of a hole have you got back there?” asked the saloon -keeper, looking at the assay room. - -“That’s my bluff assay room; but there’s space behind it.” - -“A secret place?” - -“Hide a man in there, and you couldn’t find him in a hundred years. I -knew that hole was there when I bought out the tenderfoot. He worked -back here in secret, thinking gold was to be found in great hunks; -I’ve been using it secretly, too, but for another reason.” - -“You’ve got your winnings back there?” - -“And my stealings--some of them.” - -“Could you keep a couple of people snug in there for a week or so?” - -“For a month, if you want it done.” - -“That is shust what ve have come to findt out about,” White-eyed -Moses admitted, rubbing his hands together. - -“I guessed it.” - -“You dit?” - -“Sure thing.” - -“Vhat dit you guess?” - -“That the people you want me to care for back there air the man and -the woman who have so mysteriously dropped out of sight recently.” - -“I’ll tell you how it is,” said Gopher Gabe, growing confidential -now, drawing his stool nearer the other. - -“We have got them two, and it’s puzzlin’ us what to do with them.” - -“You might knock ’em on the head!” said Uncle Sam, with apparent -callousness. - -“Lader, ve might,” admitted White-eyed Moses; “but not shust now. -You see, ve don’t vandt to gommit murter, unless ve have to. It is a -murter charge they have got ag’inst Juniper Joe.” - -“Yet you’ve been trying to kill Cody!” - -“I ditn’t finish what I was saying. Ve vant to hold them as some sort -of hostages, you see. If ve git indo a hole that we gan’t crawl out -of, ve gan, maype, use them to secure ower safety. You see the boint?” - -“I see that, all right.” - -“We’ve been holdin’ ’em in a room leadin’ off from that cellar which -was searched to-night,” the saloon keeper told him. “Cody, when he -was knockin’ round down there, hammered with his knuckles on the -walls. He didn’t hit the right spot, or he would have tumbled. The -thing is too risky. He will search the place again, and he’ll find -that room. Then I’ll be in more trouble than I want.” - -“If I ton’dt kill him in the meantime!” said White-eyed Moses. - -“Moses will have to go into training, before he can qualify as a -pistol expert,” said Gopher Gabe, with a skeptical laugh. - -“You mean that when he shoots at a man he hits the lamp beside him, -or shoots through the window where he is sitting, and hits the wall? -It would indicate that our friend Moses has got a bad case of shaking -palsy in his trigger finger, when shooting times comes. He ought to -get over it.” - -Uncle Sam’s gurgling laugh sounded again, as he concluded: - -“Why don’t you hire a substitute, Moses, who isn’t affected in that -way?” he asked. - -“_I’ve_ tried to hire ’em,” the saloon keeper admitted. “But the men -of this town are so paralyzed with fear whenever Cody comes in sight -that money won’t buy ’em; they say they don’t want to die with their -boots on. He has got a bad reputation as a quick gun man, and they -don’t want to take the risks.” - -“Yet a bit of cool assassination couldn’t get ’em into trouble! I -should think they would appreciate the fine art of downing a man in -the dark, when he wasn’t looking. Drop a man that way, and he can’t -shoot back, you know.” - -“I reckon you’re laughin’ about it.” - -“Oh, no! The thing is too serious to laugh about.” - -“White-eyed Moses is weakenin’ on the game himself. He come nigh -gettin’ Cody’s lead yisterday.” - -“It vent t’rough my hat!” the rascal confessed. - -“And destroyed your nerve, eh?” - -“So we want to change tactics for a little while; that is, we want to -get them two people out of my cellar into a safer place. We thought -of you. Knowing that really you are of our class, we come hyer; and -I’m glad to find we wasn’t mistaken.” - -The stranger smiled, apparently pleased by the compliment which -allied him with all the thugs and toughs of Blossom Range. - -“Show me my duty and I’ll do it,” he said; “that is, if there’s good -money in it.” - -“A thousand dollars a week,” said the saloon keeper; “and I’ll give -you five hundred of it right now, if you’re willin’. Besides, you -can, if your place back there is really secure enough to hold our -prisoners, keep on beating the fools at my gaming tables, and go -right ahead, too, with your hold-up work; though, in that last, there -is so much danger that I’d like to have you drop it till this thing -blows over. It will be safer for you, if you do.” - -“At least vhile Buffalo Bill is here!” said White-eyed Moses. - -“Then you’re going to let him live?” cried Uncle Sam, in mockery. - -“I am nodt shoking!” Moses protested, flinging out his hands. - -“Same here. I was never in a more serious humor in my life.” - -“Can we bring them up here to-night?” Gopher Gabe asked. - -“If you like, and think it’s safe.” - -“I want to see the hole back there first; that will help me to decide -the matter.” - -Uncle Sam arose, and took the lamp from the table. - -“Just follow me, gents, and I’ll show you as cunning a fox den as you -ever looked into.” - -He led the way into the back room, where he pushed on a concealed -panel, which slid to one side under his pressure, revealing a black -hole that was seen to be a passage. - -This they entered, the man going ahead with the light, after closing -the secret door behind them. - -A few yards of the tunnel admitted them to a small chamber in the -earth. - -“The tenderfoot gophered this out, and thought to make a fortune,” -Uncle Sam explained. - -Gopher Gabe looked it over with interest, and estimated the distance -to the cabin. - -“I reckon they could holler a long time in hyer without bein’ heard -beyond your cabin,” he said. - -“Until they was black in the face, and nobody’d ever hear ’em.” - -“Idt seems,” said the fiddler, “shust the t’ing ve are vanting.” - -“I reckon,” said Uncle Sam, “if you’re lookin’ for a close cage to -hold your birds in you see it right here. I’ll take care of ’em for -you; for that thousand a week, you bet!” - -When they had looked the place over thoroughly and discussed it, they -went back to Uncle Sam’s cabin. - -Gopher Gabe looked at the hidden door, which appeared to be the same -as the rest of the wall. - -“I think it will do,” he said. - -He stripped off some bills, from a roll he drew from his pocket, and -passed them to the man of the blond hair. - -“Five hundred,” he said; “count it; you’ll get the other five at the -end of the week.” - -The stranger slipped the bank bills through his fingers quickly, then -put them in his wallet. - -“Correct,” he declared. “Bring along your cattle and I’ll take care -of ’em for you.” - -“You go with us down to my place now,” said Gopher Gabe, “and we’ll -turn ’em over to you there; and find some men who will help you get -’em up here. How does that suit you?” - -“If the bunch should be jumped on its way here, you don’t want to be -found with it. That’s your idea?” - -“I’m paying _you_ to take that risk.” - -“That’s clever of you, anyway.” - -“I admit that in this game against Cody I’m playing double,” said the -saloon keeper. “You’ll know by and by how that is.” - -“I reckon I know now, pard,” was the amiable answer. “You’re the wise -critter sitting in the dark and pullin’ the strings, rakin’ in most -of the money, too, while others do the dangerous work. But it’s all -right. I ain’t no call to kick. Just ante up the cash to me at the -end of each week, and I’ll hold that couple back there till their -heads are gray. I can’t make a thousand dollars a week easier, as I -see it.” - -“Andt it is safe--for you,” urged White-eyed Moses. - -“I’m goin’ to make it safe, pards.” - -“We’d better be movin’, then,” said the saloon keeper, “if the thing -is all understood. Daylight will come jumpin’ along by and by.” - -“Right you are. I’m ready.” - -Uncle Sam locked the door of his cabin when they went out of it. - -Then they took their way together downtown, but kept to the dark -streets. - -Entering Gopher Gabe’s establishment by the back way, they came again -into the gaming room; when the man of the blond hair was surprised to -find two men in it--Tim Benson and Juniper Joe. - -They looked a bit startled, but Gopher Gabe reassured them. - -“He’s all right, boys,” he declared, referring to Uncle Sam. “He’s -come in with us, jest as I knew he would. I think we’re goin’ to find -him a mighty valuable man.” - -He introduced Uncle Sam to the two men. - -“What’s your right name?” Benson asked, looking at the tall man with -the blond hair. “We don’t want to make any mistakes, you know.” - -“Well, I’ve clean forgot what it used to be.” - -“You’ve had a good reason to forget it?” - -“You’re sayin’ it.” - -“Well, if you should ever think of playin’ us false,” Benson flung at -him, “better think twice about it; for you won’t live long afterward.” - -Uncle Sam laughed. - -“That don’t trouble me,” he declared. - -“Idt is no use to pe making threats,” said White-eyed Moses. - -“Correct!” agreed the saloon keeper. “You fellers want to be friends. -It stands you in hand; for I’m going to hide you at his place for a -couple o’ days or longer; we talked it over while comin’ down hyer. -I’m goin’ to ask you to help him get that fool Dutchman and the woman -up to his cabin, too. So we’ll have to hustle.” - -“Changed your plans, eh?” asked Benson, rising. - -“I had to. Cody is catching on. If he should find you in here it -would land me, along with you--see? So I’ve got to get you out of -here. He’ll raid this place again, in better fashion, before another -twenty-four hours; and I reckon you don’t want him to ketch you in -here any more than I do. That’s the way I look at it. If he should -find you occupyin’ that room where you’ve been--and at the same time -unearth the baron and the woman down below, I reckon it would be me -for the jail, along with the rest of the bunch.” - -It was singular, the influence the fat saloon keeper had over these -men. Benson was the brainier man, yet he seemed willing to obey the -saloon keeper’s orders. - -The five men went down into the cellar, taking the back-cellar -stairs, and carrying a lamp. - -The place was nearly filled with barrels and casks, some empty, -others containing liquors of various kinds. - -Two of these casks the men rolled out of the way, under the saloon -keeper’s instructions, when a small door was revealed. - -This he opened. By stooping, the men passed through it into a small -room. In that room the light of the lamp showed the baron and the -woman, both trussed up in a painful manner. - -The baron began to rave as soon as he saw them, for the stolid Dutch -patience had at last given away. - -“Cut it out, my friend,” said Uncle Sam. “You’re goin’ with me. If -you do right, you’ll be treated right. But we ain’t goin’ to have any -howling, understand, either here or on the street.” - -The German stared up at him, blinking his eyes in the unfamiliar -light. - -“Take a good look at me,” the man said, with a laugh; “maybe you’ll -be able to recognize me hereafter.” - -“You ar-re vun tuyfel!” the baron spat at him. - -“Think so? All my friends say that I’m a perfect angel.” - -The woman had not a word to say; she seemed chilled by her position, -and filled with hopelessness. - -By one of the back doors of the Casino the prisoners were got out -into a dark street. Four men were in charge of them--Uncle Sam, -White-eyed Moses, Benson, and Juniper Joe. - -The ropes had been removed from the ankles of the prisoners, but -their hands were still tied; and they had been told that if they -tried to escape, or call for help, they would be killed without mercy. - -In that darkest hour before dawn the whole population of Blossom -Range appeared to be asleep. Not a person was encountered in any of -the dark, back streets through which the party passed. - -When the cabin of Uncle Sam was reached, on the crest of the hill -called Folly Mountain, the darkness still held. - -“I reckon we’d better not have a lamp,” said Uncle Sam. “Its light -might attract attention. I can strike a match, and use that; and put -it right out. So, in with you.” - -The baron and the woman went into the cabin without resisting. In -fact, the baron seemed to have resigned himself to his fate quite as -fully as the woman. - -The three desperadoes went away as soon as the prisoners were in the -hole back of the cabin; but Juniper Joe and Tim Benson informed Uncle -Sam that they would be back in a short time, and “board” with him. - -The blond-haired man watched them through his darkened window as -they melted out of sight down the hill; then he took up his lamp, -unlighted, and unlocked the door which had been closed on the -prisoners. - -Not until he had passed into the prison and had locked the door -behind him did he light the lamp. - -The prisoners were lying on the floor, bound again hand and foot. - -“This is rough!” he said, holding up the lamp and looking at them. - -“You gan bedt idt iss!” the baron exploded. - -“Now, I’ll tell ye what I’ll do; I’ll take these cords off o’ you if -you’ll give me your solemn word that you won’t try to get out and -cause me to lose the money I’m to receive for holding you? What say?” - -“Ach! Cut ’em off!” - -“It seems to me that I can’t stand them on any longer,” spoke up the -woman. - -Laughing, the man began to untie the cords. - -“I don’t want to cut ’em,” he explained, “and this takes time; but if -you’ll have patience off they will come soon. Ye see, I may want to -put ’em back on you, just as they are now.” - -“Donder und blitzen!” the baron sputtered, when once more he was free -of the bonds that had chafed him. - -“Feels good, eh?” - -“Vot iss idt you ar-re going to do mit us now?” - -“You’ve promised to be good children, you know; which means that you -won’t try to get away; and I’m goin’ to treat you accordingly. If any -of that crew comes back, I’ll have to tie you up again; but until -then I’m jest going to hold you on your word of honor.” - -“Idt iss der limidt.” - -“You mean _I_ am the limit?” - -“Idt iss yoost vot I mean.” - -“Had anything to eat lately, you two?” - -“Nodt anyt’ings.” - -“Well, you stay right here and be good, and I’ll bring you something.” - -“Why can’t we go out into the other room?” asked the woman. “It seems -to me I’d give anything for a breath of fresh air.” - -“Well, you see, you couldn’t eat out there without a light, and a -light might tell tales; so you’d better do the eating act in here.” - -“Yaw! Dot iss so,” the baron agreed. “How longk do ve haf to sday -here?” - -The blond-haired man laughed. - -“Wow!” he gurgled. “I’ll have to keep you here as long as I get -that thousand dollars a week. Unless,” he added, “you could make it -fifteen hundred, and buy me off. I’m on the make.” - -He went out of the room, laughing. What he was doing seemed a joke. - -Ten minutes later, having supplied them with food, he left the cabin, -locking the door on the outside. - -But he had not secured the hidden door leading from the cabin to the -excavated room that was occupied by the baron and the woman. This -door was pushed open, as Uncle Sam went away; and the woman, coming -out for a “breath of fresh air,” stood at the one window, watching -him as he disappeared down the hill. - -“Der ouder door iss locked, huh?” asked the baron. - -“Tightly locked,” she told him. - -“Vale, vot do you t’ink uff idt?” - -“The thing is so daring,” she said, “that it makes me dizzy.” - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - SPRINGING THE TRAP. - - -Tim Benson and Juniper Joe wanted to get out of the country, but they -yearned for more money before they went. They had become so much -frightened that not even the offer of a hiding place in Uncle Sam’s -cabin could reassure them. Seeing more clearly every hour that Gopher -Gabe thought more of his own safety than he did of that of any member -of the gang, they were resolved to cut loose from him, but to hide -their intention until after they had pulled off another “job.” - -That job was no less than the cracking of the safe of the Blossom -Range bank, which they knew was stuffed with money and gold. The -express company had refused to carry either money or treasure over -its route until times bettered. So the prudent people of the town had -rushed their wealth to the bank, where guards were mounted over it -day and night. - -The question of how it could be cracked with safety, under these -conditions, was an important one. Benson wanted to get the personal -aid of Gopher Gabe and White-eyed Moses, both of them once experts -in that line, though latterly they had taken to pathways that they -reckoned more secure. - -They refused to do the dangerous work; but agreed to meet Benson and -Juniper Joe that night, with others, at the cabin of the Fool of -Folly Mountain, there to talk the matter over privately. They would -look about during the day, they said; so would be in position to -give advice, if nothing else. - -Strolling into Gopher Gabe’s establishment that day, the Fool of -Folly Mountain was asked by Gopher Gabe to come into the back room, -where a “talk” could be had. - -Back there the miner found both Juniper Joe and Tim Benson; also -White-eyed Moses, and another all-round bad man, called Williams. - -They conferred with him about the matter in hand, after cautiously -“sounding” him. - -He thought it was a good scheme, he said, if it could be worked; and -he agreed to a meeting of the “gang” at his cabin that night. - -“I don’t think I care to try the safe-crackin’ job myself jest yet,” -he told them; “though maybe I’ll come to it by and by; but I want you -fellers to do it, so that you can sure cinch onto enough money so -that I won’t have any trouble in gettin’ my little thousand a week. -You see, I’m lookin’ out for Number One, the same as you are.” - -They asked him about the prisoners; and were assured that they were -“all right.” - -“Cody is gettin’ ready to raid this place,” Gopher Gabe told him. “I -got it straight. But he won’t find a thing when he does it.” - -The night was dark and late when Gopher Gabe and his friends came to -the cabin on the mountain. With the saloon keeper were Tim Benson, -Juniper Joe, White-eyed Moses, and the scoundrel called Williams. - -The Fool of Folly Mountain met them at the door and let them in. The -place was as dark as the night outside. - -“I’ll light my lamp as soon as you get inside,” he said to them. -“You see, if it was lit now the light would shine out when the door -is open, and somebody might see you comin’ in; I don’t care for that. -I’ve got to look out for my own health, gents.” - -He laughed in his easy way; then told them to stand still while he -made sure the curtains were all drawn tight, and he could light his -lamp. - -“You might crack some of my valuable furniture, if you should bark -yer shins ag’inst it,” he explained further, laughing. - -The only furniture to be seen when the lamp was lighted were the -stools and bed and the few belongings of the cabin. - -“How’s the prisoners?” was Gopher Gabe’s first question, when he was -seated on one of the stools. - -“Fine as a fiddle--even Moses’ fiddle!” - -“I didn’t know but the Dutchman would rave round some.” - -“Well, he did, at first; but I argued the thing out with him.” - -“He didn’t seem to be open to argument?” - -“He changed his mind, when I told him if he wouldn’t take my argument -any other way I’d open a hole in his head with a bullet and so get -it in. That weakened him. Improved much in your marksmanship lately, -Moses?” the Fool asked airily. - -“Ah, drop it!” the fiddler growled. - -“I ain’t heard that you have killed Buffalo Bill yet!” - -“That’s all righdt. But ve ditn’t come here for shoking.” - -“No?” - -“We come hyer to talk business,” said Gopher Gabe. “But first I’d -like to look at them prisoners.” - -“Doubt my word, eh?” - -“No; I just want to see ’em.” - -“Right this way, then.” - -He took up the lamp. - -“Unless some of you gents have got the stub of a candle in your -pockets, you will have to sit here in the dark,” he said, “or foller -the procession.” - -They preferred to follow the procession. - -In the back room Uncle Sam stopped, and, with interest, showed them -his furnace, blowpipe, and other things; also a lump of gold which he -had laid on a shelf. - -“Kind o’ keerless, to lay gold round that way,” said Williams, eying -the chunk greedily. - -“Mebby so. But we’re bound to be honest among ourselves, if not with -other people; you see, I’m trustin’ you, in showin’ it.” - -“Where’d you git it--out of the rocky dirt back there?” asked Gopher -Gabe, with a hoarse laugh. - -“That’s the result of the last hold-up I manipulated,” said Uncle -Sam, with apparent pride. “There’s some nuggets, some gold dust, and -the gold from four watches, melted down into that. As soon as the -express office people git over their scare, I’m goin’ to ship it to -my sister in ’Frisco, and tell the express people I got it out of my -mine by my famous secret process.” - -“I reckon you ain’t got no sister!” said Williams. - -“I see that our friend Williams is inclined to be a scoffer; and -scoffers never come to any good end. Get over it, Williams.” - -When he had shown them around the apartment and talked learnedly of -his “secret process,” he was ready to go into the hidden room with -them; the place that held his “mine.” - -“That talk is my regular stock in trade, that I hand out to all -the inquisitive people who come up here askin’ fool questions,” he -explained; “you ain’t expected to understand it; nobody can. I don’t -understand it myself; but it sounds good.” - -Tim Benson smiled. Such work was of a kind that _he_ could appreciate. - -“Throw anything that seems to be high-browed at the average man,” he -said, “and he’s ready to think that you know everything.” - -“Same as you did to Matt Shepard, eh?” said Uncle Sam. “There was -nerve for you, gents--the clear, wire-coated, fibrous article. I -think I have some nerve myself; but Benson seems to hold the medal -right now.” - -Benson was flattered, and smiled. - -The blond-haired man pushed on the hidden panel, and swung open the -door leading into the black hole; then he took up his lamp again, and -led the way into it. - -“Right at my heels, gents. There’s nothin’ in here to bite ye.” - -They crowded in after him, and he closed the door; then led the way -to where, at one side of the room, the baron lay tied hand and foot. -At the other side was the woman, tied in the same way. - -“The Dutchman was ragin’ round so at one time that I had to anchor -him to the wall, as you can see,” he said. “Trust me, gents, to keep -him; I’ll do it if I have to kill him!” - -A rope passed round the baron’s rotund body held him to the wall. - -“Ach!” he spat at them as the light was flashed in his face. “Go -avay!” - -“How are ye feelin’, Dutchy?” asked the man of the blond hair, -laughing down upon him. - -“Uff I effer gidt dese t’ings off uff my handts, I vill keel you!” -the baron howled at him. - -“You see how gentle and tame he is, gents!” said Uncle Sam. “I don’t -know but I’ll have to put a gag in his mouth, to keep him from biting -himself.” - -“Vhen I gidt oudt uff dhis,” the baron snarled, “I vill shoodt you -yoost so full uff holes dot you vondt holdt vhisky any longker.” - -“Wow! He thinks, Gabie, that I’m a steady patron of your bar. You -might disabuse his mind of so unflattering an idea.” - -The men stood looking at the baron. - -“Go avay!” he shouted at them. - -They moved over to the side of the woman, though not because he had -ordered them off. - -Under the light of the lamp she looked pale and worn; but perhaps -that was largely because the paint had come off her face. - -“The light hurts my eyes,” she urged. - -Gopher Gabe turned on his heel. - -“Oh, they’re all right,” he said. “We’ll go back into the house and -have a talk now.” - -“You wouldn’t want to see where I’ve cached some of the gold I’ve -been gettin’ by my secret process?” asked the Fool. - -Williams perked up his head, showing his thieving interest; but the -others, particularly Gopher Gabe, did not seem so interested. - -“I think I won’t show it--now,” said Uncle Sam. “Williams looks as if -he’d like to steal it.” - -“Is that an insult?” asked Williams, bristling. - -“Only the truth, Williams.” - -“Oh, come on!” Gopher Gabe growled. “We’ve got something to do, other -than fightin’ this night, if that bank business is to be pulled off. -That’s what we want to talk about; so, come on!” - -The Fool of Folly Mountain led the way back into the cabin, lamp in -hand. This time he did not close the sliding door behind him; but it -was a thing not noticed. - -He went steadily to the table in the middle of the room, set his lamp -on it, so that the room was brightly lighted; then put stools round -the table for the men to sit on. - -When he had done this he stepped toward the back room; but stopped -near the doorway, and stamped his foot. - -Attracted by this, and by a scraping of feet and a rustling sound, -Gopher Gabe and the men at the table looked around. What they saw -paralyzed them. - -The Fool of Folly Mountain had two revolvers leveled, covering -them. Beside him, in the doorway, stood the baron, holding two more -revolvers. Out from one corner of the room had stepped Buffalo Bill, -with two more revolvers leveled; and out of another corner Nomad had -appeared, with still two more. - -“The game is up!” said the Fool of Folly Mountain. “You can see that -I hold all the aces.” - -Gopher Gabe tried to rise from his stool, but sank back, an -exclamation of bewildered amazement exploding from him. - -“Tricked!” said Benson. - -With one sweep of his hand he knocked the lamp from the table, -smashing it; then they heard him crash through the one little window. - -Another man tried to follow him; when there was a flash and report, -and he rolled to the floor; the man was Williams. - -“Hands up, everybody! The next who tries it will be shot down!” - -The words were from Buffalo Bill. - -“Cody, I’m the boss fool, after all; and deservin’ the name of the -Fool of Folly Mountain; if I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have put the -lamp where it could have been knocked over. But you get by that -window and down the first critter that tries to go by you.” - -“I’m by et now,” came in the voice of Nomad; “and you bet ther next -devil tries it he goes down, jest like this thing on the floor that -has swallered ther lead pill I sent at him. Gents, we’re hyer fer -clean bizness.” - -The Fool of Folly Mountain got another lamp, from a stand near his -elbow, and lighted it; then, holding it over his head, he looked at -the table. - -Gopher Gabe, White-eyed Moses, and Juniper Joe sat there, rigid and -scared; on the floor by the window, which had a ragged hole in it, -lay the body of Williams. - -“Who in the devil’s name air you?” the saloon keeper howled at the -Fool, his tongue so thick he could hardly pronounce the words. - -His face was white, his ratty eyes rolling, his pendulous lips were -apart, and his whole huge body quivered with fear. - -“Yes,” said Juniper Joe, not less scared, “who air ye, anyhow?” - -The man of the blond hair smiled. - -“Wash off the stain that has turned my hair and mustache to golden, -and make a few other changes, and you might recognize me; for I’m -Cody’s old chum and side pardner, Wild Bill Hickok!” - -The men at the table groaned. - -“Shall I jump through the winder and try ter git that feller?” Nomad -asked. “He’s ther wust of ther lot.” - -“He is,” the scout admitted; “Benson is the worst of the lot, but he -hasn’t escaped yet, even if he is out of this room. Better let him -go, right now, Nomad, unless you’re hankerin’ to get a bullet. Better -put in your time in tying these rascals here, while the rest of us -keep them covered.” - -“Uff yoost vun uff dhem moves,” said the baron, “I am going to shoodt -him; I haf suffered so mooch dot it vouldt pe a bleasure.” - -The white, scared face of the woman called Vera Bright appeared in -the doorway. - -“You’ve got them?” she said, peering in. - -“We will have,” Wild Bill told her, “just as soon as Nomad can -harness them up.” - -She came on into the room. - -“Idt vos a great drick, huh?” cried the German to her. “Aber I ton’dt -t’ought at one dime dot I gan standt idt to blay it to der endt.” - -“So, you wasn’t tied at all back there?” said Gopher Gabe, boring the -baron with his ratlike eyes. - -“Not so dot I feldt idt, eenyhow,” said the baron. “Ve vos der bait -for der rat drap, undil idt couldt pe sprung.” - -Juniper Joe began to rave wildly, cursing the man he had known as the -Fool of Folly Mountain. - -“Was it a fair deal?” he howled. “You went even into the road-agent -biz, jest to carry this thing through.” - -“Which is where you’re mistaken, old boy,” Wild Bill told him; “I -only told you so, to get you to take me into the gang, so that I -could get on the inside of its schemes. See? And the thing seems to -have worked most beautifully.” - -Nomad was tying the rascals, doing the work well and expeditiously. -He was enjoying it, too. - -“Trapped!” snarled Gopher Gabe, as if the thought choked him. -“Trapped!” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - - TIM BENSON’S ESCAPE. - - -There was no more astonished man in the town than Matt Shepard when -he learned what had happened, and that the Fool of Folly Mountain was -none other than the famous Wild Bill. The whole of the population of -Blossom Range were equally amazed. - -“It’s even a better trick than Juniper Joe played when he pretended -to marry Benson and fooled the whole kit and b’ilin’ of us,” the -sheriff declared. - -But Buffalo Bill was not satisfied; Tim Benson had got away, and he -wanted Benson. - -Juniper Joe was back in jail, in charge of Shepard; and with him were -Gopher Gabe and White-eyed Moses. Now that he was trapped and caught, -fearing the worst, White-eyed Moses had “peached” on the whole gang, -so that others were soon brought to the jail; and there was an exodus -of scared people from the town. - -Knowing that Tim Benson had on more than one occasion sought refuge -with the Utes, Buffalo Bill took with him his pards and Shepard, and -went out there. - -Old Iron Bow, the chief, was not pleased with their intrusion into -the village. - -When Buffalo Bill demanded the surrender of the white man, Iron Bow -told him no white man was there. - -“You will let us look for him?” said the scout. - -Iron Bow declared that the thing would be an outrage, but if the -white wanted to look they could do so. - -As well as they could, Buffalo Bill and his companions searched -through the Ute village; but they did not find Benson. - -“I suppose he suspected we would come here the first thing, and so -kept away,” was the scout’s conjecture. - -“Trust Benson for a long head,” said Shepard. “He’s the slipperiest -rascal in the West.” - -It had been said of Tim Benson more than once. - -Iron Bow’s warriors became ugly and truculent before the white men -left the village, so that it seemed a longer stay might have brought -about a collision. - -“Oh, they needn’t howl so,” said the sheriff, when the village was -left behind; “everybody knows that they hide all sorts of jailbirds, -if only the said jailbirds can bring along a good supply of whisky -and blankets, and amm’nition, an’ the like o’ that. Some o’ these -times I’m goin’ to get a line on that work, and lug old Iron Bow down -to jail fer it.” - -“Waugh!” whooped Nomad. “You’ll stir up an Injun uprisin’, ef ye do.” - -“Vot iss makin’ me mad as hornedts,” declared the baron, “iss dot I -ditn’t shoodt Penson vhen he smashed der lamp. Dot vos incriminal -carelessness, vor I had a beadt on him.” - -“If ye had, baron, you would be now deprivin’ yerself o’ much-needed -excitement,” Nomad told him. “You couldn’t be huntin’ fer him right -now, ef he war dead, could ye?” - -“And you couldn’t be runnin’ the pleasant resk of him slammin’ a -bullet into ye as you go along hyer,” added Shepard. - -“Dot iss so,” the baron admitted. “I am t’inkin’, too, dot pefore ve -gidt him ve vill pe having so mooch excidemendt as neffer vos.” - -Between the town and the Indian village was a hill, which had some -good hiding places in and around it. - -This they searched, on their way back; though really they had begun -to feel that perhaps Benson had hurriedly left the country. - -Benson was in hiding on this hill, and he had seen them coming. - -He was armed, and in a desperate frame of mind. - -“So, they think they’ll surround me, and get me!” he snarled, when he -saw Wild Bill and Shepard go in one direction, and the scout, with -the others, in another direction. “There will be dead men here, if -they crowd me.” - -He got into a position where he could see the approach of Buffalo -Bill and those with him, for he feared the scout most of all. - -They passed beneath him, in a troughlike depression. He saw them -enter the “dip,” and was seized with the thought that he might slay -them all, when they gained a certain point. - -Close by him was a great bowlder. He was familiar with it, and knew -that it might be set in motion down the hill if a lever were set -under its edge. He found a stick that would do for the lever, which -he put in position; then he waited. - -He could not see them now, but he could hear them. When he judged the -right moment had come he threw his weight and strength on the lever, -and started the stone. - -He started more than that--he started a landslip! - -The crash of the bounding bowlder, and the roar of the landslip which -it had started, warned the scout and his pards of their peril. - -Yet it seemed that the discovery of their danger came hardly in time. - -“Run for your lives!” the scout yelled. - -But as they ran for their lives the Dutch pard went down before the -terrible landslip. - -Fortunately, Baron von Schnitzenhauser was an exceedingly -quick-witted man in times of danger; otherwise, it is probable he -would not have lived so long. - -He scrambled for a hole that had a covering of rock, in the shape of -a shelf, and hurled himself under it just in time. - -With a booming roar the bowlder passed over him; then the loosened -soil and rocks followed it, with a noise that was deafening. - -The baron was buried, apparently; but he still could breathe; for the -shelf of rock held the weight of the débris from even touching him. - -Buffalo Bill and Nomad turned back. The landslip had passed, but a -cloud of dust hovered. Out of it floated those yells of the baron. - -“Waugh! He’s livin’, anyhow,” said Nomad. - -The yells of the baron also brought Wild Bill and Matt Shepard; they -had started when they heard the landslip. - -It took two hours to dig the baron out; but he issued forth without a -scratch on him. - -“A fool for luck,” said Shepard, when the baron had been unearthed. - -“Uff you mean der Fool uff der Folly Moundain, idt iss so,” admitted -the baron, feeling gingerly of himself, to make sure he was -uninjured. “It iss no luckiness for me dot I am scar’dt into sixdeen -fidts alreadty, iss idt?” - -“Another lucky boy,” remarked Wild Bill, “is Tim Benson. He started -that landslip, and I saw him running. But he was too far off for me -to shoot at him; and by this time he must be miles from here.” - -“Whether he is so very lucky or not will be told by and by,” said -Buffalo Bill. “I still intend to get him.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - - TIM BENSON’S CLEVERNESS. - - -With Tim Benson at large a desperate fear lay on the town and on the -trails. - -Therefore, when Hank Elmore, stage driver, swung his horses round in -front of the stage station, and bawled out, “All aboard fer Calumet -Wells!” the response was disappointing. - -A woman stepped out of the station, closely veiled, and carrying a -large hand bag. Elmore dropped from his high seat and handed her into -his vehicle. Both Elmore and the spectators knew that she was Miss -Vera Bright. - -“Nobody else wantin’ to take passage in this hyer hearse?” demanded -Elmore, swinging round on his high-heeled boots. “Tim Benson ain’t -goin’ to----” - -A belated little man pushed his way hurriedly through the crowd. - -“I’m going,” he said, and ran up to the coach. - -“Hop inside, er on ther seat with ther driver, jest as ye like,” -cried Elmore. - -He swung on round, glowering at the crowd. - -“As I was sayin’, thar ain’t no need fer ary gent hyer what is -wantin’ to travel over this trail to-day to be afeard o’ Tim Benson. -I know he’s a rantakerous gun man, what shoots first and does his -explainin’ about it later; and that he has conducted more hold-ups -than ary man whatever was in this town; but he’s got sense. He don’t -hold up no stage when thar’s nothin’ to be gained by it. To-day I -ain’t kerryin’ no gold dust, ner treasure o’ any kind--- ’ceptin’ -the lady, gents, o’ course!--so, I know he won’t bother me. He allus -knows when treasure is goin’ out, an’ when it ain’t; an’ he was never -knowed to come fer an empty stage. How he knows when it kerries -treasure I reckon is _his_ business. So--who’s goin’ over the trail -with me ter-day?” - -When nobody else showed a desire to accompany him, Hank Elmore -climbed to his high seat, swung his long lash, yelled at the horses; -and the stage bounced and jolted away over the cobblestone street, -into the Calumet Wells trail. - -“It’s gittin’ so that women have sure got more sand than the men!” -was his mental comment, as he thought of his female passenger. “But I -wonder why she’s pikin’ out of Blossom Range?” - -The man who had entered the stage was apparently thinking the same -thing; for he began to question her. - -“I’ve seen you at the Casino,” he said, his tone one of flattery. -“Good show they’ve got there! I understood that you was to stay -another week.” - -She had lifted her veil after entering the stage, and now gave him a -close look. - -“I don’t think I know you!” she said, as if that were a sufficient -answer. - -She observed that he was a small man, with a face clean shaven, and a -quiet, even unassuming, manner. - -“Oh, I reckon it ain’t any of my business,” he admitted, “if you put -it that way. It’s no loss, if you don’t know me. But I’ve seen you a -number of times. I s’pose you’re on your way to Calumet Wells?” - -“Yes,” she said, but indifferently. - -“And beyond that, of course; for that ain’t no proper stopping place.” - -“Yes, I’m going beyond there.” - -“To ’Frisco?” - -“Perhaps.” - -She drew back into her corner of the stage. But she found it hard to -stay there, for the pitching vehicle now and then projected her out -of it, once almost into the arms of the man before her. - -“I--I beg your pardon!” she cried. - -“Don’t mention it.” He laughed. “’Tain’t the first time I’ve had a -lady throw herself at my head.” - -“It’s a poor joke!” she declared. But she laughed, too. - -He began to talk to her again, then; and presently began once more to -ask questions. - -“What you got in that big hand bag?” he queried. - -“What should I have in it? My clothing, of course.” - -Suddenly the expression of his face changed, and she knew him--knew -that this little man was Tim Benson himself--Benson, the terrible -desperado and road agent; and she knew she had nothing to expect from -him in the way of favors. - -She started up with a little cry, but a jerk of the stage threw her -back against the cushions, while the rattle of the wheels over the -rough trail drowned her cry so that it did not reach the driver. - -“That’s all right,” said Benson; “I see you know now who I am!” - -“Yes, but----” - -“Just a little trick I have, by which I fool both my friends and my -enemies. It’s easy, when one has the gift, and knows how. Just draw -up a few facial lines here, and a few others down there, elevate -your brows, squint your eyes a little--just a little!--change the -appearance of your hair, and the thing is done. Nothing easier.” - -He ran his fingers through his hair, hiding his face with them for -the fraction of a second; then looked at her. The change was so -complete that again she would not have recognized him. - -“Easy enough, when you know how, eh? But it takes a lot of practice. -I worked at that for years before I could get it down fine. But you -needn’t be startled; and, particularly, I advise you that it would be -foolish for you to call out to the driver. It could do you no good; -and might cause his sudden demise.” - -She sat staring at him, fascinated, terrified. - -“Perhaps you’ll be willing to tell me why you’re leaving Blossom -Range now?” he added. - -Suddenly her eyes blazed. - -“I thought _you_ were gone!” she gasped. - -“And that, because of it, your work there was done?” - -“Yes.” - -She was silent a moment or so, still staring at him. - -“Couldn’t we be friends hereafter?” he asked. - -“No,” she told him, the fire in her eyes increasing. “You know what I -have sworn to do?” Her voice trembled. - -“Hand me over to the hangman, or kill me yourself.” He laughed. “It -isn’t a nice resolve for a woman to make.” - -“If I had known you were going on this stage!” she panted. - -“Ah! My dear girl, in _that_ you have a lot of company. A great many -people would have been glad to know that I was going on this stage.” - -“They said you had left Blossom Range.” - -“Of course, I wanted them to think that. I could have stayed longer, -but I didn’t care to.” - -“I know why.” - -“Perhaps you can guess.” - -“You knew that Buffalo Bill would get you, sooner or later.” - -“Well, Cody can make himself very unpleasant, you know. He is out of -town this morning; and I was told that he was out along the trail -looking for me. He left Wild Bill in the town, though, to keep watch -there. I saw Hickok in the street; but I’m sure he didn’t recognize -me, any more than you did.” - -He looked through the little window on that side. - -“Hello!” he said. “This old hearse has been doing some tall traveling -since we hit the trail. Either that, or we have found each other such -pleasant company that time has fled faster than either of us was -aware. I prefer to think it is the latter.” - -He looked at her again, as if musing. - -“I want to say to you that if at any time you are very much tempted -to sing out your discovery of who I am to the driver, better not do -it.” - -He pulled a revolver from his pocket, and laid it on the seat by him, -with the muzzle toward her. - -“Oh, I’m not going to use it,” he told her, when she shrank back in -evident fright. “Not unless Cody appears in the trail, as I’m half -expecting him to do; then I may use it on him. It’s a funny thing, -the way he has been able to keep tab on me. He couldn’t find me, -yet he seemed to know all the time about what I was doing. It’s my -opinion that he heard I meant to leave the town, and thought I would -walk. If so, it was a foolish idea; as he ought to know I never walk -when good riding can be had.” - -He looked at the hand bag again, lying on the floor of the stage at -the woman’s feet. - -“Anything else in that but your clothing?” - -“Nothing!” - -Her voice was weak from fear of him. - -“You seem to be scared. Well, you needn’t be! And I’ll say that it -doesn’t become you, as a woman who has sworn against me all the -terrible things you have. How are you ever going to carry them out, -if you weaken like that?” - -He reached over, and pulled the bag across to him. - -Then he cocked his revolver on the seat beside him. - -“This revolver will go off and do you irreparable damage,” he said, -his voice hardening, “if you try to interfere with me now. You know, -of course, that I’m a desperate man. Please don’t forget it.” - -“What are you going to do?” she asked. - -“Well, I’m going to change myself into a woman. See? If you’ll watch -me, you’ll see how it’s done. Where is the key to this thing?” - -She hesitated; then, trembling, she gave it to him. - -He unlocked the bag and tumbled the contents out on the floor of the -stage. - -“I ought to have a mirror---- Ah, thanks, here is one!--and it would -be better if I had a steady floor under me. Yet needs must, when the -devil drives. I’m really expecting my friend Cody to appear now -soon; and I must be ready for him.” - -He chuckled, when he saw face powders and paints. - -“Just in my line,” he said. “I thought you’d have them, and the -clothing as well. In fact, I’m ready to confess right now that I knew -you were to go out in this stage, and laid my plans accordingly.” - -“You’re a--devil!” she gasped. - -“Thanks, my dear, for the pretty compliment!” - -He pulled a dress out of the heap, looked it over quickly, and began -to put it on, over his clothing. - -“Just the fit,” he told her. “I’m a small man, you see.” - -He worked quickly. - -“I see that you’ve got a roll of false hair that is beautifully -blondined; I’ll thank you for the loan of it a while.” - -She stared at him in terror; then, in fear, she gave it to him. - -“You see,” he said, as he got to work, “that I wear my hair long; so -I can use this little headgear of yours very readily. I’ll take those -hair pins, too, if you please.” - -He looked into the hand mirror that had been in her bag; then pinned -the false hair in place. - -Having completed this to his satisfaction, with glances now and then -into the mirror, he took up her powder and puff, and began to dab the -powder over his face. - -“I took the precaution to have a clean shave before I started,” he -explained airily, but quietly; “so this will work all right.” - -The whip of the driver was cracking from the top of the stage, and -the wheels were jarring heavily, so that the stage pitched about; yet -the pitching did not seem to discommode him. He worked quickly and -with skill. On his cheeks he put some of the paint which the woman -had applied so liberally to her own; he looked at her sharply from -time to time, then consulted the mirror. - -To her amazement, she saw that he was transforming himself into a -clever counterfeit resemblance--that his features were becoming -marvelously like hers, even to the heavily laid on paint and powder. -Besides, he had a wonderful facial ability, enabling him to twist his -face into a fair counterfeit presentment of hers. - -“I’ve sometimes thought I made my mistake in life in not going on -the stage,” he remarked casually. “As you’ve had experience, you may -be able to judge of that better than I can. This road-agent business -is horribly dangerous, as you may guess; and it isn’t any fun to be -breaking jail one week, and running away from Buffalo Bill the next; -which you know has been my awful lot. Yet there is still a lot of fun -in it, and whole worlds of keen excitement. And what is life, if it -is barren of excitement?” - -He had brought into the stage a small hand bag; which now, after he -had made the desired changes in his appearance, he opened. From it he -took the contents, and transferred them to her hand bag. - -Again he looked out of the window; but though his eyes were turned on -the landscape speeding past the stage, his ears were keen; for when -in desperation she moved, with the wild intention of trying to get -his revolver, he lifted it from the seat beside him, and pointed it -at her. - -“I wouldn’t try it, my dear!” he said, in his smooth voice. - -He looked again at her. She had dropped once more back against the -cushions, with a gasp of terror. - -“You see, I should hate awfully to be compelled to shoot you!” he -explained, in a cold-blooded tone that made her shudder. “It would -be bad for both of us; and bad to muss up the stage, you know; it’s -really a very good stage, and newly recushioned. So you understand -how I feel about it.” - -“You are a devil!” she gasped again. - -“Only a man determined to protect himself at all hazards. I wanted to -look out and see if we aren’t reaching the vicinity of Stag Mountain. -In the cañon, just beyond it, as you doubtless know, there have been -a lot of stage hold-ups lately; it may be we will meet trouble there. -We are nearing the place right now. Our Jehu above seems to be laying -on the whip a little more heavily, and I judge that he is thinking of -that place, too. He has been through a good many of the hold-ups. I -should think, by this time, he would be so used to them that if they -did not happen he would miss them as a bit of fun.” - -She did not answer. - -“But I’ll say this. If we are held up there, you sit still right -where you are. Otherwise, this revolver might go off in your face. I -shouldn’t hold myself responsible for the consequences.” - -The tall peak of Stag Mountain came into view. - -Benson closed the woman’s hand bag and dropped the key into his -pocket. Then he lifted the skirt of the dress he had put on over his -clothing, and hid the revolver somewhere under it. - -“We’re comin’ to ther place,” Hank Elmore bellowed to them, leaning -down from his high perch so that they could hear him. “But I don’t -reckon we’ll meet up with any trouble to-day.” - -He cracked his whip over the backs of the horses, and the stage -lurched and bounded into the gorge that swung past the hill, and on -into the cañon noted for its many hold-ups. - -As if to bolster his courage, he began to sing. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - BUFFALO BILL’S HOLD-UP. - - -Matt Shepard bounced quickly into the room occupied by Wild Bill -Hickok, at the Eagle House. - -“Excuse me!” he said. “But if what I hear is so, Tim Benson has got -out o’ the town!” - -Wild Bill, who had been sitting comfortably by the window, came to -his feet with a jump. - -“Do you reckon it’s so?” he asked. - -“They say he took the stage; that _he_ was the man that was seen to -git on. It was only after the stage had pulled out, that Barney, -the stableboy, decided that the one man who went as a passenger was -Benson. Barney has got keen eyes, and I’m bettin’ his guess is the -truth. If so, Benson fooled me complete.” - -Matt Shepard turned back to the door when he had delivered this. - -“I thought I’d tell you,” he said. “I’m goin’ to git some men -together and shack right out after that stage. Benson has fooled me -so many times----” - -“And may be fooling you now,” the man from Laramie reminded. - -“You mean this guess of Barney’s may be wrong?” - -“It’s just what I mean. Who else went in the stage?” - -“Vera Bright.” - -“Wow!” - -“But I’m guaranteein’ that she didn’t know that the man who climbed -into the hearse with her was Benson.” - -“Where is Miss Bright going?” - -“On her way to ’Frisco, I heard. She’s had enough of the game here. -She told me only yisterday that she believed Benson had got out of -the country, and she was goin’ this morning.” - -“It’s a queer thing, if they’re there together.” - -“But just like Benson. Nobody can ever tell what he’ll do. He’s -sharper than tacks and slipperier than eels. But that stage is -humpin’ right along--Elmore is driving, and he makes things hum when -he’s on the box.” - -“Yes, that’s so.” - -Wild Bill came out of his room, following the sheriff, and locked the -door behind him. - -“What you goin’ to do?” Shepard asked. - -“I’m going to get word of this to Buffalo Bill as fast as I can.” - -“Where is he?” - -“Out on that very trail, and looking for Benson.” - -“You follow the stage, as soon as you can get your men together! I’ll -shack out alone.” - -Wild Bill went down the stairway to the lower floor three steps at a -jump; then ran out to the stable, at the rear of the hotel, where he -kept his riding horse. - -Before the slower-moving sheriff was well out in the street, Wild -Bill had his horse ready, and was in the saddle. - -He struck at once into the Calumet Wells stage trail, galloping out -of the town; but he did not stick to it long. The appearance of the -dust in the trail told him that the stage had passed that way not -long before. - -“I’ll want to pass round the stage without Benson knowing it, if the -scoundrel is in it,” was his thought, “and so get word to Cody. It -will take some hot riding to do it, but I’ve got an animal here that -can go. Shepard is a slow mover; so he won’t get this far out within -an hour, if then; for he will want to get a lot of men together, with -horses, and that will take time. The stage will be at Stag Mountain -long enough before the sheriff can get anywhere near it. That would -be just the place for Cody, if I can get the word to him in time.” - -So Wild Bill swung out of the trail, turning off to the right, and -rode at a swift gallop. - -Occasionally, as he drove his horse on, he consulted his watch, and -looked at the rising peak of Stag Mountain, estimating the probable -time the stage would get to that point. - -Having left the trail, he did not see the stage at all. But he came -abreast of Stag Mountain in a remarkably short time, and swung on -around it, keeping to the path he had chosen. - -“If Cody suspects that Benson may try this trail, in an effort to get -out of the town, I’ll find him near the other end of the cañon,” was -his conclusion. “I’ll look for him there, at any rate.” - -The man from Laramie, knowing of his pard’s plans, judged so -accurately that, when he came again into the stage trail, just beyond -the cañon, he saw first a rifle poked at him over the bushes, then -the head of old Nomad appear. - -“Waugh!” the trapper bellowed at him. “I war jest on ther p’int o’ -pumpin’ lead at ye. Better swing back on them reins. Buffler’s in -hyar.” - -Buffalo Bill and the Baron rose out of the bushes and stepped into -the trail, where Wild Bill had brought his panting horse to a halt. - -“News!” said the man from Laramie. - -“I cal’lated et, soon’s I seen ’twas you!” said Nomad. - -“Tim Benson is coming in the stage, so I was told. Shepard gave me -the word; and though it is just a guess, I straddled my animal and -brought it to you.” - -“And the stage is due here at almost any minute,” was Buffalo Bill’s -comment. - -“Yes, I reckon it is. I rode like the devil was after me, for I was -bound to git here first. Shepard is to follow it with a posse; but -it’ll take him half a day, likely, to turn round a few times and get -under way.” - -“Uff idt iss drue,” said the baron, “I gan see some bromise of a varm -dimes goming. Dot Penson iss a fighdter.” - -“Anybody with him?” the scout asked. - -“Yes--and it’s a funny thing! Vera Bright is in the same stage.” - -“Waugh!” Nomad whooped. “Thet actress woman. But she’s his inemy.” - -“As I understand it, she didn’t know he was to go, and perhaps -didn’t recognize him; he’s got a wonderful way of changing his -appearance--never saw anything like it. The only thing I’m afraid of -is that a mistake has been made, and he ain’t in the stage with her -at all. She went; that’s sure. And a man went--a small man, about the -size of Benson; one of the stableboys says he knows it _was_ Benson. -Now you know all I do.” - -“Budt ve vill haf to do some mofing kvick,” averred the baron. “You -vill pe hearing dot stage in apowet fife minudes.” - -“You’ll have to look out for Benson’s revolvers,” the man from -Laramie warned. “He’s quick with the trigger, and he will shoot if -cornered. We’ve got to get the drop on him.” - -Buffalo Bill took charge of the situation, and led his friends at a -run toward the cañon, which lay like a black gulf on the southern -side of the low peak called Stag Mountain. - -Through the cañon the trail ran, and because the cañon was dark, with -bushes growing on each side, it had for many months been a favorite -place for hold-ups. Benson had used it in that way a number of times -himself. - -Hardly had the scout and his friends got into position in the bushes -in the cañon when the rumble of wheels announced the approach of the -stage. - -They soon afterward heard the snapping of Elmore’s long whip, and -the voice of the driver. He was singing, to give himself and his -passengers assurance. Elmore always got nervous when he came to that -spot. Though he had been in a score of hold-ups and never injured, he -expected that each would be his last. If there had been another way -for the stage, he would have taken it. There was a bridle path, which -Wild Bill had followed; but though it was wide enough for a horse, -the stage could not get through it. - -Elmore’s bellowing voice was wafted ahead of him into the dark-walled -confines of the cañon: - - “The red-headed man from Santy Fe, - Held aces four, an’ then some more; - He got my wealth away frum me, - An’ I am sore--I’m mighty sore!” - -The stage came in sight, lurching down into the cañon. Elmore swung -his whip, making it crack like a pistol. - -“G’lang!” they heard him yell. “Git through this hyar brimstone hole, -fast as ye can. Whoop! Wow! Go on, there!” - -Hank Elmore, thinking he was through, or nearly so, and safe, broke -out in song again. - -But suddenly his singing changed to a howl, his foot was jammed -automatically against the heavy brake, and he pulled back on the -lines. - -“Whoa!” he yelled. - -Out of the bushes on each side weapons had appeared, making him think -that it was another road-agent hold-up; though in an instant he saw -that the men were Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill, old Nomad, and Baron von -Schnitzenhauser. - -“What in the name o’ Sam Hill!” he yelled, in his amazement, as he -recognized them. “Gents, this is----” - -“Just keep your seat and steady your horse,” Buffalo Bill shot at -him. “We won’t trouble _you_. The man we are after is in the stage.” - -“Wow!” said Elmore. “Is that so? What’s _he_ been up to?” - -“If we aren’t mistaken, you’re pulling Benson along in your old -hearse to-day,” the scout told him. - -Elmore came near falling out of his seat. - -“Bub-Benson! But--say, it cain’t be. Bub-Benson ain’t----” - -Buffalo Bill advanced on the stage, a revolver in each hand, paying -no further heed to the stage driver. - -“We think you’re in there, Benson!” he called out. “So you might as -well step right out and surrender. We know you’re a big little man, -and a mighty good pistol shot; but there are four of us here, and we -can do some shooting, too. So, even if you downed one or two of us -you couldn’t get away. And it would go mighty hard with you. Better -come right out like a little man and surrender.” - -But there was no reply to this. - -“Hold your revolvers on the stage doors,” the scout commanded. “If -Benson jumps out and tries to get away, down him. He has given us -enough trouble.” - -He stepped to the door of the stage on his side, and boldly drew it -open with his left hand, holding a revolver in his right. - -“You might as well come out, Benson. There is a woman in there. Miss -Vera Bright; but, of course, she knows that we mean no harm to her. -We’re after Tim Benson.” - -There was a rustling sound; then a woman--or what they took, in the -rather dim light, to be a woman--came out of the stage, carrying a -hand bag. - -“You--you sc-scared me so!” - -“No harm will be done you, Miss Bright,” said the scout. “But there -is a man in here; and we want him.” - -The scout put his head in at the stage door, and saw a form lying -back amid the cushions. - -“Hello!” he said. “What is this!” - -The next moment he had leaped into the stage, after calling on his -friends to keep a close watch. - -A woman lay unconscious against the cushions of the coach, the scout -saw at once. - -He stooped over her, the light not so good that he could see her -face clearly; but a feeling that something was wrong came to him. - -“Stop that woman outside!” he yelled. - -He turned to get out of the stage. - -At the same instant Nomad yelled something. - -“Stop her!” Buffalo Bill shouted. - -Nomad began to run after the supposed woman. - -“She is hikin’, Cody,” he announced. - -“Then shoot her! For that woman must be Tim Benson!” - -The trapper’s revolver roared the next moment. - -“Waugh!” he howled. “She’s gittin’ away, Buffler!” - -The scout flung himself out of the stage. - -All he saw at that first look was the skirts of the supposed man, as -they whipped out of sight behind a rock, and Nomad lunging in that -direction. - -“I’m afraid we’re tricked,” said the scout to Wild Bill and the -baron. “But you stay right here; some woman is in the stage, or else -Benson. We will know directly.” - -Then he sprinted after Nomad. - -The disguised man was out of sight, amid the rocks that lined the -cañon, by the time the scout and the trapper reached the spot where -last they had seen him. - -“Waugh!” Nomad roared, staring around. “Was et a man, er a woman? -Anyway, ther critter hes kited.” - -The scout ran on, looking about, hand on ready revolver, prepared to -shoot, and expecting to be shot at. The rocky sides of the cañon were -bush-grown, and there were little crevices and cracks making off from -it on the right and left. These were dark, and made darker by the -bushes. The outlaw had all the advantage. He could lie hidden; and -when he felt safe, he could climb softly up the broken and ragged -cañon wall, or sneak away along the rifts. Twenty men would hardly -have been enough to make a prompt and thorough exploration of the -many hiding places. - -Buffalo Bill turned back, meeting Nomad, who had been following. - -“Er clean giterway!” the trapper howled. - -“It looks it, Nomad. But we’ll go back to the stage and see what we -have there.” - -Instead of answering, Nomad whirled as if on a pivot, swinging his -revolver round, and sent a shot plunging and roaring into one of the -side gorges. At the same time he followed the shot by rushing into -the place. - -“Did you see him?” Buffalo Bill called, following the trapper. - -“I heared him--er her!” - -But the sound did not come again. - -What was heard next was a plunging of the stage horses, then the -bounding and rattling of the stage, accompanied by a roar from Hank -Elmore, commanding the horses to stop. - -“I reckon ther hosses hez tuck et inter their heads ter make a break, -too,” commented the trapper. - -He and Buffalo Bill rushed into the gorge, searching for the author -of the sound they had heard. But they unearthed nothing, and by and -by came out. - -“We might’s well give et up, Buffler,” the trapper admitted ruefully. -He was in a fuming rage. “This is tough luck. Whoever thet was made a -clean giterway. Looks like er trick o’ Benson’s.” - -Hastening back to the spot where Wild Bill and the German had been -left with the stage, they found the stage gone, and those who had -been with it. - -“This is a beastly mess!” Nomad whooped. “Even so big a thing as a -stagecoach slips right through our fingers. But I reckon thet Wild -Bill an’ ther baron aire chasin’ arter et.” - -They followed, also, hurrying at a run along the trail. - -When they came out of the cañon they saw the stage and horses a -quarter of a mile away. The German and Wild Bill had apparently -overtaken the stage, and then had turned back, for they were coming -toward the cañon. The stage driver, after wrapping the lines round a -tree by the trail, came also toward the cañon, hastening to overtake -the man from Laramie. - -“Might’s well wait fer ’em ter git hyer,” suggested Nomad. “I’m plum -winded. But ef we war follerin’ Benson, ther kyote got away.” - -“I believe it was Benson, in spite of the woman’s clothing. -Circumstances suggest it.” - -“And Wild Bill said thet et war him.” - -When Wild Bill came near he swung his hat and whooped: - -“Did he get away?” he demanded. - -“Plum made ther through trip,” Nomad answered, his face an angry red. - -“Was it a woman who was left in the stage?” the scout asked. - -“It was Vera Bright.” - -“You’re sure of that?” - -“There’s no doubt whatever, pard. We brought her round, and she -talked with us. She’s in the stage yet, but weak; we left her there -and come hoppin’ back, judgin’ that you was needin’ help. She told -us that Benson had taken her hand bag, got clothing and other things -out of it, and made a change in his looks, while he was in the stage -with her; and that she was too frightened to make an outcry. He said -to her, too, that he was expecting you to appear, and that he would -fool you, and get away.” - -“Et’s what he has done, ther ornery skunk!” cried Nomad. “But et’s -jest like Benson.” - -“He iss like der flea,” put in the baron; “vhen you haf got him, you -gan loogk vor him at some odder blaces alreadty.” - -“He’s certain a mighty smart un,” commented the stage driver. “I was -tur’ble oneasy as I driv up ter ther cañon, but I’d ’a’ been throwin’ -fits ef I had guessed thet Benson was the little gent ridin’ in my -hearse.” - -“Benson knew that the town and the trails were watched and covered, -so he had to make use of some scheme to get out at all; and, of -course, he wanted to get out,” said the scout. “I wonder where he -will go now?” - -“Could we trail him?” asked the man from Laramie. - -“That’s to be settled, after we try it.” - -“Then you mean to try it?” - -“I certainly shall do everything to keep him from getting out of the -country. After he leaves this rocky section and puts his foot on -softer ground he has got to make a trail, and I see no reason why we -can’t find it and follow him. It will take time; but if no rain comes -to wash out his tracks, we can do it.” - -“No rain in sight now,” said Nomad. “Et don’t rain down in this -kentry enough ter make a man reckle’t what a good rain seems like.” - -A sound came from the direction of the horses, that the stage driver -had tied to the tree. - -“Wow!” he howled. “They’ve broke that hitchin’ strap, and thar they -go, cuss ’em!” - -The horses had broken away from the tree, and were going down the -trail at a tearing gait, dragging the stagecoach, which swayed and -bounced on the rough places, as if it would go over. - -The excited stage driver started after them on foot, as if he thought -he could overtake them in that way. - -“No use to run your lungs out in that style, Elmore,” the man from -Laramie called out to him. “Our horses are right here. You can -straddle the back of one of ’em, with the reg’lar rider, and get -there a heap quicker.” - -The scout and his pards hurried to get up their horses, which were -hidden out in the scrub. - -But by the time they had done this the stage had bobbed out of sight. -By and by they even ceased to hear it; though, before the sounds of -its flight ceased, a crashing sound reached them, much as if the -stage had been overturned. - -“That girl is shore gittin’ a run fer her money,” observed Nomad; -“thet is, ef she likes fast goin’ in an ole stagecoach. I’m hopin’ -she ain’t hurted none whatever.” - -They were quickly galloping along the trail after the stage. - -When they came in sight of it they saw what had happened. Scared by -shadows at one side of the way, the horses had swung out of the plain -road, then had vainly tried to get past, a big bowlder by going one -on each side of it; the result of which was that the pole of the -stage had struck the rock, breaking the pole, bringing the horses to -a violent stop, and tumbling the stage over on its side. In addition, -the horses had snarled themselves in their harness with a perfection -that rendered them helpless. - -Hank Elmore was aghast when he beheld the damage. - -“I wonder what et done fer ther woman?” was Nomad’s query. “I don’t -see her stirrin’ round, and ef she ain’t eternally smashed, I sh’d -think thet she’d git outer ther ole hearse.” - -“I am guessing,” said the baron, “dot she iss inkinscious ag’in.” - -“Repetition of a thing creates a habit,” said the man from Laramie, -with a laugh on his lips. “I’m hoping it won’t be so in her case; as -unconsciousness would be a bad habit to cultivate.” - -They galloped up to the stage and the tangled horses. But when they -had done so and looked into the vehicle, they were struck with -amazement. - -_The woman was not in the stage!_ - -“Wow! What’s ther meanin’ of et?” Nomad whooped. - -“Uff she had peen sbilt oudt alongk der vay ve musdt haf seen her,” -said the German. - -“That cushion has fallen, and maybe she is crumpled up under it,” -Buffalo Bill suggested. - -But she was not under the cushion; nor was she in the stage at all. - -Hank Elmore, fuming and growling, was trying to get his horses -untangled. - -“This trip puts ther kibosh on any I ever took,” he growled. “I have -been through hold-ups a-plenty, but this is wuss than any of ’em, -fer me. One o’ you fellers that’s got a sharp knife lend a hand -yere; this hawse has twisted ’leventeen bowknots o’ leather round his -forrud laigs, and I cain’t untie none of ’em; we’ve got ter do some -knife work, I reckon.” - -Wild Bill sprang to his aid, and the recalcitrant harness was hacked -away. - -After making certain that the woman was not in or near the stage, -the scout requested Nomad and the baron to look for trails near by, -then turned about and retraced his way, leaning over from the saddle, -searching carefully. - -A whoop from Nomad stopped the scout and brought him back. - -“I’ve found tracks,” said the trapper, “but they ain’t hers; look -like a grizzly b’ar’s; but thet cain’t be, fer a grizzly don’t w’ar -shoes.” - -The scout flung himself out of the saddle; and, leaving Bear Paw -standing in the trail, he hurried over to the spot occupied by the -baron and Nomad. Wild Bill and Hank Elmore were still unsnarling the -stage horses. - -The trapper pointed solemnly to some tracks that he and the baron had -found. - -“Erbout big ernough fer a grizzly,” said Nomad, “an’ ther feller thet -made ’em shore shuffled along jest like a b’ar; yit I reckon ’et -war a man, ’count o’ ther shoes. I never yit heerd thet b’ars war -addicted ter ther shoe habit.” - -The tracks were large, showing they had been made by shoes of the -biggest size. As the trapper stated, the wearer had progressed with -a shuffling movement, as was to be told by the fact that where the -ground was soft the tracks were long-drawn, indicating that the feet -had slid along, instead of being well lifted. - -“Der kvestion vot me unt Nomat haf peen asking,” said the baron, -“iss, Dit he haf der vomans?” - -“We couldn’t tell, Buffler; fer, ye see, though them tracks sink -purty deep, it may be bercause ther feller was a purty good weight -hisself; ther size o’ them feet indercates a big man.” - -“We’ll see if we can pick up the trail of the woman,” said the scout. -“That is, if she left the stage at this point, and not before it -reached here. It seems to me, though, that she could not have got out -of the stage, the way it was tearing along, until it made its stop -right here.” - -“What would she want ter leave it fer?” asked Nomad. - -“She iss Vera Bright,” said the baron. - -“By which the baron means, I judge,” the scout explained, “that she -has been little better at times than a comrade and friend of outlaws, -and perhaps is not to be trusted to do the honest thing in this case.” - -“Vot I am t’inking iss dot perhabs she ditn’t vant to seen you, Cody. -She might haf a reasons.” - -The scout was searching for tracks of the woman. - -Soon he found them--off on the right; small tracks, going in the same -direction of the large ones. - -“Now, which were made first,” he asked, “the woman’s, or the tracks -of the big feet? You can see that both are fresh.” - -“Idt gidts me,” the baron confessed. - -“Likewise, hyer,” said Nomad. “Was she follerin’ ther man, er was he -follerin’ her; er was they travelin’ independent? Ther only way ter -find out is ter overtake ’em, I reckon.” - -The horses had been released from the tangled harness, and the -disgusted stage driver was tying them to some trees. Wild Bill walked -over to the place where Buffalo Bill and his pards were discussing -the trails. - -“I’ve been hearing your talk,” he said. “And I judge you’re up in the -air.” - -The scout admitted it. - -“What you going to do?” - -“Follow these trails, and see what became of the woman first. Then -try to pick up the trail left by Tim Benson. I suppose there is no -doubt the fellow was Benson?” - -“Miss Vera Bright declared he was Benson.” - -“Budt can she pe trusdted?” asked Schnitzenhauser. - -“I think so, in that,” Wild Bill told him. “She was scared, and she -seemed to be speaking the truth. Yet I can’t understand why she left -the stage here, unless the jolt she got when the stage hit that rock -unsettled her mind a bit.” - -Buffalo Bill followed along the trail of the woman. - -“It’s a thing we’ve got to find out,” he said. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - GORILLA JAKE. - - -Tim Benson, having by some clever and careful climbing, got out of -the cañon gorge, and to the high ground beyond it, was hastening -along, hurrying so rapidly to put distance between himself and the -men he feared that he had not stopped even long enough to remove the -woman’s dress he wore, when he was brought to a sudden and gasping -halt by seeing a revolver poked at him over the top of a bush. - -“Try ter draw a gun, and I’ll down ye!” came in warning from behind -the bush. - -Benson’s hands, going involuntarily to the revolver he carried, -stopped on touching the dress, which at the moment he had forgotten -he was wearing. - -“Hands up!” repeated the fellow behind the bush. - -Grumbling, and still ready to fight, Benson complied; he did not -believe the man who spoke was one of Buffalo Bill’s followers, which -increased the likelihood that the man was an outlaw, like himself. - -“Come out of that, and let me see you!” he said. “Likely I know you, -if you’ve been herding round here.” - -The man came out, with his revolver leveled. - -As soon as Benson saw him he dropped down with a breath of relief, -then began to laugh, as an understanding of the situation came to -him. Yet the man saw nothing to laugh at. - -“I’ll jest take that there hand bag,” he said, “and any other -vallybles ye’ve got about ye.” - -“Wow! Gorilla Jake!” - -The man stopped with a grunt of surprise, but still kept the revolver -pointed at Benson. - -“It’s funny, eh?” he said. “Well, explain it, so’s I can laugh with -ye.” - -The fellow was a very giant, so far as stature went; but he seemed -an immense ape, or gorilla, rather than a man. His arms were so -abnormally long that the one which hung down at his side extended to -his knee. His legs, by comparison, were short. His body was long; his -shoulders big and thick. His head was small, with cunning, apelike -eyes, set in the midst of a hairy face. His clothing was rough; his -hat, a brimless thing, crowded down so tightly on his skull that the -small size of his head was clearly shown. - -“Who--who do you think I am?” Benson gasped. - -“I reckon you’re ther woman what let out the screech when I come up -to the stage over thar, after it whanged into the rock. I looked in -at ye; then you give out that clippin’ yell and streaked it; I never -see a female make sech a jump. And run! Well, you was runnin’ like -a locomotive. I seen you had a hand bag, and that the stage held -nothin’; so I piked out and follered ye. Now, I’ll take the hand bag.” - -Tim Benson stared at the apelike man before him. - -“When was this?” he asked. - -“Waal, I’m figgerin’ that you know that jest as well as I do. I’ll -thank ye fer the hand bag.” - -“Was it _this_ hand bag?” - -“I’m sayin’ it was. Hand it over.” - -“See here, you’re fooled.” - -“Not on yer life, I ain’t. When ye hand that bag over, simply git rid -of all yer other vallybles, too; fer I want ’em. How you knowed I’m -called Gorilla Jake, I dunno; but it don’t make much difference. I’m -him. Knowin’ it, you ought to know that I’ve got an impatient temper.” - -Tim Benson stood up, smoothed out his facial muscles and threw off -the dress he had drawn over his clothing. Then Gorilla Jake saw that -he had a man to deal with. When fuller recognition struck him like a -blow in the face, he fell back. - -“Benson!” he howled. - -“Needn’t yell it. There’s men on my trail; and they’ll be on yours in -a minute, if they ain’t already. You know ’em, too--Buffalo Bill and -his crowd.” - -Gorilla Jake looked around, with a startled air. - -“Was that the crowd that was up by the cañon?” he asked. - -“You’re speakin’ it.” - -“Gee-whittaker!” - -“But you needn’t holler it. They’ll be hoppin’ along here soon -enough, without that. What are you doing here?” - -“What air you? And what was you playin’ woman fer?” - -Tim Benson stood up, listening for sounds of pursuit. - -“Let’s hunt a safe hole somewhere; then we can talk things over. It -may be a lucky thing for both of us that we’ve met.” - -“Not fer me--if you’ve got Buffalo Bill’s crowd follerin’ ye!” - -But the apelike man followed Benson when the latter set out to seek a -safer stopping place. - -It was found by and by, in a hole, after a careful climb across a -rocky slope. - -“There’s a few bushes growing in the crevices here,” said Benson, -“and they’ll help to hide us; while this position, away up here, -gives us such an outlook that Cody’s crowd can’t come on us easy -without us seeing them. So we can talk things over.” - -Gorilla Jake dropped down inside the hole with Benson. - -“First,” said Benson, “what brought you here?” - -“I might answer by sayin’ my feet,” the apelike man answered, -spreading his mouth in a horrid grin; “but that wouldn’t be -explainin’, would it? So I forks over the information that I was on -my way to Blossom Range, and was keepin’ out of the reg’lar trails -simply as a matter of habit.” - -“Any sheriffs chasin’ you?” - -Gorilla Jake hesitated. - -“Not this trip.” - -“The last I heard of you,” said Benson, ignoring the hesitation, “was -when it seemed you was going to hang for killing Nat Spargo, over in -Valley Falls.” - -Gorilla Jake drew up his huge shoulders. - -“I got out o’ that,” he explained, “by makin’ the jury believe that I -done the thing in self-defense; but it was a close squeeze.” - -“What is your lay now?” - -“Seems to me that I’m doin’ all the explainin’!” the apelike man -objected. “But, never mind--I’ll git my whack at you when I’m -through. Jest now I was goin’ to Blossom Range, where I thought I -might find some o’ my old pals. But the chief reason was the Utes, -that’s livin’ jest north of it.” - -He pulled a package from his pocket. Opening it, he displayed a -number of brown tablets. - -“Good trick,” he said; “I paid fifty dollars fer the recipe tellin’ -how to make ’em. I never need to go road agentin’ no more, to git all -the cash I want. Feller that I bought the recipe of was a Chinaman. -Ordinary, I take the drugs in their raw state, and mix ’em in whisky. -But over in Virginny City I found a drug-store man what made it up in -that shape fer me; and I kin kerry a lot of it in a small compass.” - -He held one of the brown tablets up in his fingers. - -“Contains jest two grains,” he said. “Let a man mix one o’ them in -his whisky, and then let him drink it, and he’s jest got to have -more. After that, I’ve got him. It makes him see visions and have -the howlingest happy ole time, with adventures in clear joy, such as -never was; all fer a few cents. One tablet will do that. Give him -three; and he gits wild. Give him four er five, and he’d kill his -best friend fer a dollar. Give him as high as ten, and he jest lays -down and don’t know nothin’ fer twenty-four hours straight.” - -Tim Benson became intensely interested. - -He took the tablet and looked at it; felt it, smelled it, then tasted -it. - -“Not much taste to it,” he remarked. - -“It’s the effect what does the work.” - -“You’ve tried ’em yourself?” - -“Not any fer me, thank ye! If I did, I’d simply be eatin’ ’em all the -time; and it would be the end of me. It gits the best of ’em, after -a while, if they don’t stop it; and they can’t stop it so long as the -stuff is to be had. Start an Injun at it, and first he’ll trade ye -his gun; then he’ll pass over his ponies and his blankets; finally -he’ll give ye his squaws, if ye want ’em.” - -“He might murder you to get the stuff, I should think.” - -“It don’t work that way. When he’s the wildest, he’s still got sense -enough to pertect the man what furnishes him his means of happiness, -so’s he kin git more. See? So I always feel safe.” - -“Is it an opium compound?” - -“Thar’s opium in it, and Indian hemp; them’s the principal -ingrediments. Thar’s another thing called woolly loco; an’ some -jalpasca, which comes frum Ceylon. But--shucks, d’ye think I’m goin’ -ter give ye ther recipe of how to make this?” - -Tim Benson sat staring at the little tablets. - -“How many you got of them?” he asked. - -“More’n enough to set a hundred men crazier’n a band o’ bobcats.” - -“That’s good!” - -“See hyer,” snarled the apelike man, showing his fang-like teeth. -“Seems to me I’m doin’ all the talkin’--answerin’ all the questions! -You ain’t opened up any information about yerself, thet I’ve noticed. -No hawg bizness goes with me!” - -“I was just thinking.” - -“Didn’t I notice it. I want you should do some talkin’.” - -“I think we can make this stuff highly useful.” - -“I’m doin’ that already; it’s highly useful, to pull money in my -direction. That’s a secrit I ain’t goin’ to sheer with nobody. -Besides, you said we would have a confidential ixchange of -information personal. I’ve laid my cards on the table; put down -yours.” - -“Oh, I see! You want to hear my story.” - -“Prezackly.” - -“It’s short--but not sweet. As I told you, Cody and his crowd are off -over there somewhere, looking for me. I came in the Calumet Wells -stage from Blossom Range this morning. In the stage with me was a -woman, that you don’t know--a show girl, who goes by the name of Vera -Bright. I thought a good deal of her at one time; in fact, me and a -gambler and road agent by the name of John Ward ran a close race for -a snug place in her affections. She allowed Ward was a better looker -than myself, and he won out.” - -“I know him.” - -“You mean that you once knew him. Right now he is dead.” - -“Wow! What did he die of?” - -“A bullet out of my pistol.” - -The apelike man edged away, staring at Benson. - -“Does that hit you in a tender spot?” - -“Not p’ticklerly; he wasn’t no friend of mine.” - -“I’m glad of it. This woman I’m telling you about never forgave -me for killing Ward; though, as I look at it, it was Ward for the -graveyard, or me. He would have killed me, only that I got him first.” - -Then Benson related his adventures in Blossom Range in detail, and -when he had finished the apelike man sat staring in admiration at the -master villain. - -“You’re shore a wonder!” he ejaculated. - -The compliment pleased Benson, and he smiled. - -“I got away, as I said; then I met you.” - -“Jest so. Well, I heard a rumble and noise in the trail, and saw the -stage down there, with the horses snarled. Looked like nobody was in -it, er that they was all dead; so I slid down to investigate. When -I poked my nose in at the stage door thar was a woman layin’ on the -cushions. I reckon she thought I was the devil, fer which I ain’t -blamin’ her; I never did count much with women, ner in a beauty show. -She let out a yell, jumped out of the stage, and fair flew; and she -come in this direction. - -“About that time I thought I heard men frum the cañon, and I kited; -fer I didn’t want to meet ’em. I run over in this direction, and then -I heard you. Thinkin’ it was maybe somebody that had follered me, I -got behind that bush. It was my intention, if the man was alone, as I -thought, to hold him up and rob him. But it was you.” - -“So we understand each other.” - -“Yes; now we understand each other.” - -“Got any plans now?” - -“I told you I was goin’ into the town, then to the Utes.” - -“Better keep out of the town right now. As for the Utes, I want to -talk with you about them.” - -Throughout their talk Tim Benson had not been at ease, owing to his -fear that Buffalo Bill’s party might come upon him unawares. - -Now he got up and crept stealthily away, after telling the apelike -man that he wanted to look round, and would be back in a minute. - -When he returned he had news. - -“I got a look at ’em,” he announced, “from that hill out there.” - -“Wow! Ye did?” said Gorilla Jake, sitting up straighter. - -“They’ve found the woman that you scared away from the stage--the -woman I was telling you about--and they’re taking her back to it. I -reckon they’ll send her on to Calumet Wells with Elmore, or back to -Blossom Range.” - -“Who’s Elmore?” - -“Hank Elmore is the stage driver.” - -“Oh!” - -“Soon’s they’ve got the woman off their hands they’ll be up here, -follerin’ our trail.” - -“They’ll find it hard work trailin’ us acrost them rocks.” - -“I guess you don’t know Cody. He can smell out a trail just like a -bloodhound. He’ll find it.” - -“Then I reckon we’d better be goin’ on.” - -“Yes, after we’ve had a few more words. You said you were going into -the town.” - -“It was my calc’lation.” - -“But you didn’t tell me who is after you!” - -The apelike man stared again--and the clever road agent saw that in -his guess he had hit the bull’s-eye. - -“Who said anybody was after me?” said Gorilla Jake. - -“Your manner told me. Who is it? Perhaps I can give you some -information.” - -The apelike man looked round, then at Benson. - -“Might’s well tell it, I s’pose. I was follered by them cussed Betts -brothers.” - -“Jim Betts and Bill Betts, the Great Combination?” - -“Edzackly. I see you know ’em.” - -“Only too well. I saw ’em no longer ago than last night.” - -Gorilla Jake stood up with a jump. - -“But there’s no use getting scared about it--here!” assured the -crafty road agent. “It was down in Blossom Range that I saw ’em.” - -Gorilla Jake sat down, his great frame shivering. - -“I might’s well tell ye the whole of it.” - -“I think it will be better, if you do,” said Benson, who had lied in -saying he had seen the Betts brothers in the town; the truth being he -had not seen them there or anywhere else recently, though he knew who -they were, and feared them almost as much as he did Buffalo Bill. - -“I put a knife into the superintendent of the Goliath Mine, at -Soda Springs,” Gorilla Jake explained. “Hard luck had me by the -throat, and I was tryin’ to git the cash that was in the safe at -the mine office. The superintendent was in the office, and we come -together. He gripped me; and to git free I knifed him. It was only -ten days ago. The thing made me pick up my feet and git out o’ that -in a hurry. A reward was offered fer me alive er dead, by the mine -directors, and it put the Bettses hot on my trail; but I thought I -had shook ’em off.” - -Benson concealed the feeling of satisfaction which this gave him. - -“You won’t dare to go into the town now, at any rate,” he said. - -“No, I reckon not.” - -“And Buffalo Bill will help the Bettses, of course.” - -“He allus does,” Gorilla Jake admitted, “when they happen ter be -workin’ in the same territory.” - -“So it looks to me that the best thing we can do is to join forces. -And since you’ve told me about those tablets, and that you intended -to go to the Utes, an idea has come to me.” - -“I was goin’ to sell the stuff to the Utes; but I’ve got to have -whisky as a basis, to soak the things up in; that’s why I was goin’ -into Blossom Range--to git the whisky. Can’t do nothin’ without it. -I doctor the whisky with the tablets. A red jest naturally likes the -stuff, anyway; put that dope into it, and you couldn’t pry him away -from it with a crowbar. He’ll trade everything he’s got fer it. I’ve -heard them Utes have got some gold dust, and I know they’ve got furs -and pelts. So that was my lay. I thought I’d be safe there for a -time, and that maybe the Bettses would git tired, or lose the trail.” - -Tim Benson sat thinking over this, forming his crafty plans. He knew -now that Buffalo Bill would “get” him unless he could hurl a force -against the scout’s party and crush it. That force might be the Utes. - -“I’ve got the whisky,” he announced, “and I’ll go in with you in this -thing; it will make for the safety of both of us. I’ve been using -the Ute village as a hide-out on more than one occasion, and have -found it a mighty good place. But Cody has brought up Matt Shepard, -the sheriff, with a posse, and gone all through it, more than once -recently. And he’ll do it again. The Utes are afraid of the sheriff -and his posse; though without that posse backing him they wouldn’t -stand it. Iron Bow told me the last time I was with him that he -couldn’t hide me again; he’s afraid Shepard will lug him off to the -Blossom Range jail. So it’s not that the old scamp ain’t willing -enough to hide me; and he wants the whisky I give him for it.” - -“Where do ye keep this whisky? Git it in the town every time?” - -“I used to. Lately I had a burro load cached in the hills, as a thing -to fall back on, if I wasn’t able to get it in the town. Ye see, I -didn’t dare take it all to the Utes at once, and didn’t want to. The -most of it is in that cache now, in bottles.” - -“Wow!” - -“How does it hit you?” - -“Great!” - -“My idea is this; and you can tell if it will work. Give enough of -that stuff of yours, in that whisky, to a lot of the warriors, and -get them into a bloody humor; then make them think that Buffalo -Bill’s crowd is out here to make trouble for ’em. It ought to send -them out against Cody’s gang red-headed.” - -The apelike man gurgled what he probably thought was a laugh. - -“It’d do it.” - -“Then, the thing is easy. If the stuff will do that we can simply -wipe that crowd off the face of the earth.” - -Gorilla Jake stood up and looked across the rocky land. - -“How fur is it to that whisky cache? Seems to me I’d like a drink -myself. But with no dope in it; none o’ that dope fer me!” - -“The cache isn’t far from the Ute village.” - -“If the reds has found it thar’ll be an empty cache when we git -thar.” - -“I don’t think they could find it.” - -“I reckon we ought to be movin’ out of this. If I understood you, -after Cody’s crowd put that woman back into the stage they’re likely -to come this way, follerin’ our trails.” - -“They’re sure to.” - -He stepped farther out, still looking about. - -Suddenly he turned and dived back. As he did so a bullet plunked -against a rock right over his head. - -“Gee-whiskers!” he sputtered. “That was a close call.” - -No rifle or revolver report had sounded. - -“_They_ ain’t in the town, you bet!” - -His apelike face had changed in a moment to an ashen white, showing -terror. “It was from Bill Betts’ rifle,” he said. - -Tim Benson was not a little startled. - -“You saw Bill Betts out there?” he asked. - -“I seen the swish of his umbreller; then that came at me.” - -Sweat began to stream out of his face. - -“Take a look out, and see! It was over by that big rock. But look out -fer yerself.” - -A good deal puzzled, Tim Benson crept to the edge of the hole and -looked out. After staring hard he failed to locate the umbrella. - -“I don’t see anything,” he called back in a whisper. - -“Mebby she’s circlin’!” - -“_She?_” - -“I see that yuh don’t know much about ther Betts brothers. Jim, he’s -a tall, ganglin’ feller; while his brother is little; that’s Bill. -And Bill he does the female lay.” - -“I see. One of my little tricks--plays woman.” - -“Where they ain’t known they purtend ter be husband and wife, and -air gin’rally quarrelin’ about all ther time, jest to fool folks. -The woman--I’ve kinder got inter ther habit o’ callin’ Bill a -woman!--don’t carry any weepins that anybody knows of, but she is -allers packin’ about with her a big gray umbreller. It’s her rifle; -an air gun, that shoots wicked, yit don’t make a sound that you can -hear ten yards off. She whanged at me jest now with her air gun. -Which shows that she seen me. And o’ course she’s crawlin’ up. Ain’t -thar no way o’ gittin’ out o’ this infernal hole without rushin’ out -thar?” - -“I don’t see her, or the umbrella,” Benson declared. - -Gorilla Jake ventured to creep out at Benson’s side. As soon as he -could see across the rocks he dropped down, dragging at the sleeve of -his companion. - -“Thar! Thar!” he said, shivering. “Don’t yer see it?” - -“Blamed if I do.” - -“That gray rock off thar; looks jest like a gray rock, anyhow. It’s -her umbreller. She’s squattin behind it, waiting fer me to show -myself. She’ll hold us hyer till Cody’s crowd comes up. It’s her -game. She thinks she has got me in a hole, and now she has plugged up -the hole.” - -Tim Benson saw the “gray rock,” when Gorilla Jake pointed it out to -him; but even then could hardly believe that the gray object was not -a rock. - -“If it’s an umbrella, a bullet through it ought to get Bill Betts,” -he said. - -“Which goes ter show that you don’t know her. She is layin’ off to -one side, prob’ly, wi’ a rock coverin’ her, er coverin’ her head and -shoulders, so a bullet through ther umbreller wouldn’t git her.” - -He worked a little higher, even at a risk, and tried to look round. -He was perspiring profusely, and his gray eyes glittered; while his -lips, drawn back, revealed his fanglike teeth. More than ever he -resembled an ape or gorilla, rather than a man. - -Tim Benson was not slow in perceiving the desperate character of the -situation. Bottled up in the hole by that deadly air rifle, what was -to hinder the pretended woman from keeping them there until Buffalo -Bill’s party could come up? That would mean Benson’s capture, as well -as Gorilla Jake’s. - -He drew back his head and studied the stones at the rear of the hole. -Then he looked at the long arms of the man-ape, and his powerful -shoulders. Benson himself was a small man; but this giant at his side -might do the thing he could not. He could furnish the brains which -Gorilla Jake lacked, and the man-ape could furnish the muscle which -he lacked. It was, it seemed, a fortunate combination. - -“If you’ve got the courage, Jake,” he said, “there’s no reason why, -with your strength, you can’t push those two stones out of the way -back there. It would furnish us a means to get out of this hole.” - -Gorilla Jake stared at the stones, licking his hairy lips. - -“If she didn’t pot me while I was doin’ it!” he objected. - -Benson looked round again. - -“Here, we can up-end this stone,” he said, “and it will screen you -from her bullets while you turn the trick. But we’ve got to be quick -about it.” - -“Quick’s the word! Cody’s crowd is comin’; I know it by the way she -jest sets down thar behind that umbreller.” - -They up-ended the stone, a thing easy to do when the man-ape applied -his immense strength to the task. - -Believing that this would screen him, Gorilla Jake now attacked the -stones at the rear of the nest, which Benson pointed out. It was a -wonderful exhibition of brute strength; the muscles on his arms and -shoulders corded themselves up like knotted ropes, his breast heaved -up and down convulsively, sweat rained from his face; but he moved -the heaviest of the stones, and with a great surge of his writhing -body threw it to one side. The next, which had lain under it, was not -so difficult, and a hole had been opened. - -Through it they pulled themselves; then slid their bodies down the -slope on the other side. - -They now had the rocky hill between themselves and the terrible -“woman” with the umbrella. - -Gorilla Jake bounded to his feet like a huge ball of live rubber. - -“Now fer the tall hills!” he panted. - -“Yes; this is our chance. Poke your nose at that peak over there, and -keep going. I’ll try to hold you in sight. I guess we can give that -crowd the slip even yet.” - -Then they began to run, with the peak as their first objective point, -being careful to keep to rocky and hard ground. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - - THE BETTS BROTHERS. - - -Tim Benson was right in saying that the rocky slopes crossed by him -and Gorilla Jake would not detain Buffalo Bill, or throw him off the -scent. - -But the difficult character of the work slowed his progress, even -though he had with him such wonderful trailers as Nick Nomad and Wild -Bill Hickok. - -As for the baron, he did not waste time in trying to spell out the -tracks--which he could not see at all without assistance, and hardly -then--but contented himself with looking ahead and around, thereby -performing a most useful service, as it would not have been advisable -for all the eyes of the party to engage in trail searching. - -While doing his part of the work, the baron saw a man duck down -suddenly behind a rock. - -“Vot iss?” he gasped, stopping dead in his tracks. - -“Jes’ now it’s a fool Dutchman squawkin’ too loud!” Nomad flung at -him. - -“Budt I seen somepoty.” - -This attracted attention. - -“What did yer see, Shnitz? Don’t stand thar gogglin’.” - -“A man.” - -“Benson, I reckon. Whar was he?” - -“Budt idt vos nodt Penson. He iss a liddle veller. Dhis vos a dall -man, unt he vos vearing vhiskers!” - -Buffalo Bill and the man from Laramie began to ask questions. - -“Righdt py dot rock pehint I seen him, yoost now. He vos so dall like -he iss vearing sdilts, unt he haf longk vhiskers like a sbinach.” - -“Which don’t prove et wasn’t Benson,” Nomad objected. “Thet feller -kin change his looks more than any actor thet ever helped ther -bloodhounds chase _Eliza_. When we last seen him he was wearin’ one -o’ Miss Vera Bright’s dresses and doin’ ther woman act. Benson is -rale cute.” - -“Budt he couldn’t make himselluf so dall as dot, couldt he, mitout -sdilts?” - -“Waal, who’s ter know he warn’t w’arin’ stilts?” said Nomad, -determined to meet all objections, for he was sure that the man seen -could be none other than Benson. - -But a minute later he was undeceived; the man appeared in full view -for just a second, then jumped back behind his rock. - -“Waugh!” Nomad whooped now, rubbing his eyes. “Ef thet ain’t ole Jim -Betts, I’m er Piegan.” - -“Right-o! None other!” chimed in Wild Bill. - -Buffalo Bill had discovered the same thing. He stepped out, so that -Jim Betts could see him clearly. - -Thereupon the hidden man appeared again; this time coming toward them -with tremendous strides of his long, birdlike legs. - -“Thunder and carry one!” the man from Laramie exploded. “What’s Betts -doing here?” - -“Vhen he iss arrifed he vill exblandion idt,” suggested the German. - -Jim Betts came up rapidly, his small head outthrust, his spinach -whiskers floating in the breeze. - -“Howdy!” he called, yet he did not speak loud. “You out after the -same man we air?” - -“If you are after Tim Benson, we are,” the scout told him. - -Greetings followed. - -“We ain’t after him,” said Betts; “we’re after Gorilla Jake, fer -knifin’ the mine superintendent at Sody Springs. Thar’s a big -reward out fer him, dead er alive; and wherever a reward floats its -invertation thar me and Bill is mighty cert’in to be found. We been -trailin’ him fer better’n a week. He’s been p’intin’ his nose toward -Blossom Range; but we rounded him up, arter a fashion, in these -hills, this mornin’, an’ air now lookin’ fer him.” - -“Did he wear big boots?” asked the man from Laramie. - -“Yoost so peeg as vot a grizzly bear vears?” added the German. - -“Waal, he does. He’s a sort o’ grizzly, too; er, ruther, human ape. -If ye ever set eyes on him ye’ll never fergit him.” - -Jim Betts took from his pocket a soiled reward advertisement, which -gave a very accurate description of Gorilla Jake; then the scout -recalled who the man was. - -“I’ve heard of him, but never seen him,” he explained. - -“Then you know he’s a troublesome citizen,” said Betts. “When I seen -you comin’ along hyer I couldn’t make out who ye was; so I dodged -behind that rock. Then I tuck the risk of showin’ myself, knowin’ -that if you was friends, and recognized me, you would come on. -Brother Bill is out hyar some’eres.” - -“Waugh!” Nomad’s face was wrinkling with smiles of pleasant -recollections. “I recomembers yer brother, all right. He’s ther -female. Bill still w’arin’ skirts now?” he asked. - -“Not this trip; ’tain’t necessary. But he’s got his ole umbreller -with him. I prefers pistols and rifles m’self; but Bill he says give -him ther ole umbreller. It’s a wonder the way ther thing will shoot, -an’ ther way he kin shoot it.” - -“You’ve seen those big tracks near here?” the scout queried, after -explaining further about Benson. “We lost them.” - -“Yes,” said Betts. - -“We’re follerin’ purty near by guesswork now,” Nomad admitted. “Yit I -cal’late we’re p’intin’ right.” - -“Waal, I’m powerful glad t’see ye!” Betts asserted again. “Was your -man goin’ in this same direction?” - -“Vot a kvestion!” exclaimed the baron. “Uff nodt, vouldt Puffalo Pill -pe going dhis vay?” - -“Then we’ll go on together,” said Betts. “I likes to keep within clus -hailin’ distance o’ Brother Bill, as he’s a master hand to git into -trouble when I ain’t nigh to advise him.” - -“An’ Bill says,” Nomad reminded, “that _he_ has continyul got ter -look out fer you, ter keep _you_ frum gittin’ inter trouble.” - -“Jest his idee o’ humor,” Jim Betts asserted airily. - -They were moving on together, across the stony land. - -Half an hour later they came in sight of Bill Betts, crouched near -his gray umbrella gun, watching the hole where he believed Gorilla -Jake lay concealed. - -When he saw his brother and the men with him, he stared; then he -lifted his hand, on recognizing them. After that he closed the -umbrella part of his gun, and slid backward, rising to his feet as -soon as he felt safe. - -In a minute or two he was before them. - -“Glad to see everybody--Cody specially!” he cried, making an -all-inclusive bow. “But right now I ain’t got time ter tork. Right -off thar is a hole what Gorilla Jake is hidin’ in, an’ another man -what’s a stranger ter me hidin’ with him. I’ve been holdin’ ’em in -thar by slammin’ away now and then with this ole air gun; and I’m -afraid they may make a break fer other cover unless we close up on -’em quick.” - -They “closed up” on the hole amid the rocks, near the crest of the -ridge, following Bill Betts. He began to sing out for the occupants -of the hole to “surrender,” as soon as he was near enough. - -“Might’s well come right out o’ that and save trouble,” he warned. -“I has got Cody and his crowd backin’ me now; and if we’re forced to -charge ye somebody’s goin’ to git hurt mighty bad. What do ye say? -Goin’ to surrender peaceable, er do we have to come fer ye on ther -run?” - -Nomad, obeying a motion from Buffalo Bill, had hitched back, and was -now circling round the base of the ridge, to get on the other side. - -But at a risk, the scout took a shorter cut to knowledge. - -“Your men may not be in there,” he said to Betts. - -He stood up quickly, inviting a bullet, and saw the hole made when -Gorilla Jake heaved aside the stones. - -“The nest is empty!” he shouted; and started toward it with drawn -revolver. - -“Iss dot so-o!” howled the baron, tumbling right after him. “Den ve -haf peen wit-oudted!” He meant out-witted. - -The others followed. - -“Thunder and carry one!” exploded the man from Laramie, as the -deserted hole in the rocks was reached and he looked about. - -Bill Betts was stupefied. - -“May I be doggone!” he said. “I reckon I’m about forty different -kinds of fools, fer not suspectin’ that. But, ye see, I didn’t -suppose them rocks could be lifted; fergittin’ that Gorilla Jake is a -human steam engine, when it comes to strength.” - -He began to look about on the other side of the ridge, searching for -the tracks of the fugitives there, a work in which he soon had plenty -of assistance. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - - IN THE UTE VILLAGES. - - -Having made their successful getaway, Tim Benson and Gorilla Jake -covered the distance to the whisky cache in record time. - -The whisky was in flat, pint bottles, and it was vile stuff. Still, -Gorilla Jake celebrated the opening of the cache by swallowing the -contents of one of the bottles. - -Only about half the bottles were removed, the others being carefully -concealed again. The men divided those taken, distributing them to -the best advantage on their persons, after “doctoring” them with -Gorilla Jake’s tablets. - -Before they started on for the Ute village they did their best to -obliterate all traces of the cache and of their visit to it. Also, in -approaching and leaving it, they blinded their trail with great care. - -“If Cody finds this trail he’ll be doing good work,” said Benson. “I -don’t think he can do it.” - -Gorilla Jake’s brutish face had flushed under the influence of -the liquor swallowed, and his gray eyes were glittering. He still -shuffled his steps with half-dragging feet, and swung his long arms -clumsily; yet his courage was improved, and he walked more erect. - -“I reckon it’s a good thing fer you,” he said, growing boastful, -“that I met you jest as I did.” - -“I judge it was a good thing for both of us,” Benson parried. - -Though Benson had not touched the whisky, his face had a peculiar -look, and one that was not pleasant. All the facial masks he assumed -at various times were now laid aside, so that his real self was more -than usually well revealed. It denoted cunning; but also a fear -that had begun to approach terror. It showed, too, a lack of mental -balance. Some of Benson’s “feats” had often made his friends say he -was “crazy,” though in its literal sense they did not mean it. If -they had beheld him now, though, they might not have thought him -crazy, they would have seen that he was desperate. And desperation -carried to an extreme is but a form of insanity, in that it leads -men to do things which in ordinary moments they would not dream of -attempting. - -No greater proof of Benson’s decided list toward insanity was needed -than the step he had decided on, and was now bent upon carrying out. -A man normally balanced would have seen that its end was more than -threatening. For, even granting that he induced the Utes to destroy -Buffalo Bill’s party, that could not be the end of it. Other men -would be sent, backed by the power of the American Government. A -perfectly sane mind would have known that he could no more combat and -destroy them all than the old woman could sweep back the sea. - -Benson justified his plan to himself by the thought that if he had -to “go under” he could send Buffalo Bill ahead of him to the land of -shades. - -A question was voiced now by the man who looked so much like a great -ape that Benson had a real scorn of his mental ability: - -“Don’t ye reckon it’d be best if we jest dropped this hull blamed -thing and purceeded to put distance between us and these hyer people?” - -Benson stopped, his face white and nervously troubled, his brows -lowering. - -“Weakening, are you?” he snarled. - -“Not edzackly, but----” - -“Then, swing along. In an hour or less Cody’s crowd will pick up our -trail in spite of all we’ve done, and will be follering it. I ain’t -any notion to be caught by ’em, out here.” - -A cluck of anger sounded in the throat of the apelike man. He did not -like the tone in which this was said to him. But he “swung along,” -following hard at Benson’s heels. - -On gaining the edge of the village, they were met and opposed by -warriors. But Benson stood his ground. - -“Tell Iron Bow that Little Eagle comes, with his servant, bearing -gifts for the chief and warriors, and wishes to see him,” he said, -making his communication in Ute. - -Iron Bow, the chief, was already approaching, drawn by the hubbub. He -arrived in no pleasant humor; and he stared in a forbidding manner at -the apelike man with Benson. - -“Little Eagle knows,” said the chief, “that it is not well for him to -come again to the Ute village. Iron Bow is his friend; yet the chief -must think of his people.” - -“I don’t know what ye’re sayin’,” objected Gorilla Jake, “but I don’t -like the looks o’ things hyer.” - -Benson gave this no heed--he did not even look at Gorilla Jake, but -merely smiled upon the frowning chief and truculent warriors; then he -fished from a pocket one of the bottles of “doctored” whisky. - -“I and my servant have come with gifts for the chief and warriors,” -he said smoothly, as if he had not heard the objections of Iron Bow. -“Here are bottles of the white man’s fire-water, which my brothers -like so well.” - -He tried to pass them around; but the eager Indians, forgetting their -angry growls, clutched and crowded so that it was soon a case of -“first come, first served.” - -Iron Bow, deeming a scramble beneath his dignity, raised the bottle -given him to his lips, after which sounded a hollow “gurgle-gurgle,” -as the tempting liquor slipped down his throat. He was almost the -only Indian there permitted by others to drink his bottle empty in -peace. - -“My servant has more,” said Benson airily, having passed out all that -he had. “But you must not fight for it, and you must not make such -a squabble over it that you may break the bottles. It is very good -fire-water, as the chief knows.” - -He turned to his “servant,” and Gorilla Jake’s pockets and shirt -began to yield up “doctored” bottles. - -As many as thirty warriors, and the chief, got enough of the powerful -and poisonous stuff to fit them for murder within half an hour. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - - MATT SHEPARD AND THE MASSACRE. - - -Instead of driving the stage through to Calumet Wells, Hank Elmore -had turned his horses about in the trail, and, with viciously -cracking whip and jumping horses, he took it at a bouncing gait back -toward Blossom Range. - -Elmore was undeniably scared. Aside from that, he wanted to be the -first with the news into Blossom Range, and talk the thing over with -his cronies there, as he had talked over every hold-up in which he -had ever been engaged. Elmore disliked hold-ups, because of the -danger; but when they were past he got great glory and satisfaction -out of the fact that he had been in them. Sometimes he told marvelous -stories of his courage and prowess, but that was only when no one -could contradict him. - -With his horses jumping along the trail and the old “hearse” rocking -like a catboat in a gale, Elmore was suddenly taken aback by the -supposed discovery that he was in for another hold-up, even though -he had in the stage only the scared woman who answered to the name -of Vera Bright. He stabbed his boot against the brake, and surged -back on the lines with a pull that threatened them, weakened, as they -were, with splicings and tyings. - -But, instead of road agents, the men who came into view were Matt -Shepard, sheriff and jailer of the county, with a body of men behind -him, some mounted and others on foot. Heavily armed, they had looked -peculiarly brigandish. - -“Oh, it’s you, is it?” yelled Elmore, much relieved. - -“Who did you think it was?” demanded Shepard, while his men swarmed -up behind him. - -“Agents!” answered Elmore laconically. “See anything o’ these hyer -knotted lines, gents? See that trace over thar thet’s been cut and -then tied together; and that back band that has been served the same -way? Y’ don’t notice, I reckon, that this hyer harniss is hangin’ -tergether with strings. Ef you did, you wouldn’t ask has I been in a -hold-up.” - -Shepard and his backers were immensely interested. - -“Who was the hold-up gents?” he demanded. - -Then Elmore was able to turn one of the few jokes of his life. - -“Buffalo Bill and his crowd!” he yelled. “Wow! Would ye ’a’ thought -it?” - -But after that he explained what he meant, while the men from Blossom -Range crowded round the stage and looked at the cut and patched -harness and the scratched horses. - -“So the lady is inside?” said the sheriff. - -She came to the door, very pale and large-eyed. She corroborated the -story of the stage driver, and was able to add details of her own -from personal observation. - -“Cody is follerin’ him, then,” said Shepard. “It’s a game we want to -git into. Which way did Benson go?” - -“Buffler said he’d be mighty certain to rack out fer the Ute -village,” Elmore explained. “They’re goin’ thar to git him. Buffler -tole me to tell yer.” - -Shepard consulted a few moments with his followers. - -“I reckon we’ll save a whole heap of time,” he said, “if we cut right -acrost the hills hyer and head straight fer the Ute village. No use -in us goin’ on to where Benson got out of the stage, as we couldn’t -do nothin’ there; it would be a foolish waste of time.” - -The men agreed with him. - -“So we’ll hit it up for the Ute village. If Benson has taken refuge -there ag’in we’ll snake him out, and I’ll handcuff old Iron Bow and -land him in jail for harboring him.” - -Hank Elmore drove on toward Blossom Range, having added interesting -details and additions to the story he meant to tell there, while the -sheriff and his posse set off across the hills by the shortest route, -the Ute village their objective point. - -In spite of the fact that some of them were unmounted they made good -progress, not being hampered by the necessity of picking up and -following an obscure trail. - -The time was past noon when the Ute village was approached. Afar off -they had heard Indian howling. - -A quarter of a mile from the village, when they were most -unsuspecting, they were struck by a blind charge of warriors, of a -kind they had never experienced or heard of, and for which they were -totally unprepared. Shepard had expected to walk up to the village, -summon Iron Bow, demand Benson, then search the tepees, as he had -done before. - -Instead came this wild charge, the Ute warriors rising out of a nest -of rocks and pouring down on the posse without warning. They were led -by a small painted and feathered figure and a very giant of a man -who seemed more like a wild animal than a man, though he also wore -Indian paint and feathers. Iron Bow was there, too, transformed into -an Indian maniac. - -The screeching braves did not stop even when revolvers were emptied -at them. Rushing on the horsemen, they caught them by the legs and -pulled them bodily to the ground. They seemed in a fanatical rage. -The falling men were shot and hatcheted. Those who at first, in -fright, pulled their horses round, got away. The others fell, dead or -wounded, or captured. Not even the horses were spared; for when there -seemed no white men to kill the Utes began to slay the animals. It -was not a rout, it was annihilation. - -Matt Shepard had been shot from his horse, a bullet passing through -his body; but he still lived when he struck the ground, and did not -lose consciousness. - -With such horror as he had never felt, he witnessed the terrible -massacre of his followers. A groan which the sight drew from him told -the warriors that he was not dead. One of the braves, thereupon, -jumped at him with a lance, to run him through. - -But the small painted chief, whom Shepard had noticed at the -beginning of the charge, leaped in, caught the lance, and turned -its point aside, so that it drove into the ground; then he shouted -angrily to the other Indians, who were crowding round to finish the -white prisoner. - -When it seemed that the Utes would kill Shepard, the small man, -yelling something, pulled a whisky bottle from beneath his blanket -and flung it out from him. - -The drug-and-whisky-crazed warriors made a combined rush for it, and -in a minute were fighting among themselves for its possession. - -The small man whom Shepard thought a chief stood now before him. -Close behind the small man came that other painted figure, that had -such a marked resemblance to a wild animal. - -The little man spoke in English, and Shepard recognized the voice of -Tim Benson. - -“You know me?” said Benson. - -“Yes, I know you now,” Shepard admitted. “It explains things.” - -“Glad you see a great light. But you ain’t going to last long.” - -“I know it,” said Shepard; “I don’t reckon I can live half an hour. -I’m bleeding inside.” - -“You were coming to the Ute village to get me?” - -“Yes; there’s no use denyin’ it. I’d have done it, but for this -treachery.” - -“Is it treachery for a man to protect himself?” - -“We won’t argue it--I ain’t got time! But the white man who will -furnish whisky to Indians had ought to be tortured as well as hung.” - -“Where is Cody?” - -“I don’t know.” - -“He ain’t right out there?” - -“Perhaps so; I can’t say as to that.” - -“Well, I’d like to send you to him with a message, saying that the -thing that has happened to your crowd is going to happen to his. I’ll -admit that when we jumped down the hill here we thought--I did--that -it was his crowd; and if I hadn’t been mistaken in it he would be -where you are now. I’d like to send that word to him.” - -Shepard did not answer. He still looked courageously at the man who -was disguised as an Indian, but a grayish pallor was stealing over -his face. - -The Indians had squabbled for the whisky, had swallowed it, and now -came rushing back. They were howling for the blood of the white man. - -“Take him!” said the outlaw. - -He stepped aside, drawing the apelike man with him. - -It was the end of Matt Shepard, one of the bravest of the sheriffs of -the Western border. - - * * * * * - -The panicky survivors encountered Buffalo Bill’s party. The shooting -and yelling had been heard, and the scout had hastened. - -“Better go back!” said Shepard’s deputy, whose name was Dugan. -“Shepard’s dead or wounded, and the hull bilin’ that ain’t killed was -captured, ceptin’ them that’s with me. They’ll wipe you clean off the -slate, if you go there.” - -The other men with Dugan said much the same thing. - -Then they went on, riding and running in the direction of Blossom -Range. - -The hubbub of the Indians had died out. - -Buffalo Bill took stock of the situation before moving on. The thing -had a bad look. - -“It’s Benson’s work, of course,” he declared. - -“Benson’s and Gorilla Jake’s,” said Jim Betts. “They j’ined forces, -ye know; fer they war shore together in that hole what Brother Bill -thought he had blocked.” - -“They have given the Indians whisky.” - -“Hangin’s too good fer sech varmints,” Nomad declared. - -“I reckon, Cody,” suggested the man from Laramie, “that we’d better -find out just how the land lies ahead of us, before we try to do -much.” - -“How’re ye goin’ to git Benson, if he’s with the Utes, and the Utes -air out fer that kind of fightin’?” asked Bill Betts. - -But they did not spend time discussing the situation uselessly. Under -Buffalo Bill’s guidance they moved forward toward the point where the -Indian attack had fallen. - -When close upon it, the scout and the man from Laramie went on, -leaving the others to await the result of their inspection. - -The evidence of the bloody work of the crazy Ute warriors was -plentiful and appalling. But they did not find Matt Shepard, alive or -dead. - -“He was wounded, the boys reported,” said Hickok, “and I reckon they -hauled him into the village. They’ll be torturing him next. The thing -I’m wishing is that I could get Benson by the heels.” - -They were so close upon the Indian village that they had used the -utmost caution in reaching the battle ground, and they could see -right into the village, when they cared to take the chances of -discovery to accomplish it. The Utes were making a lot of noise, and -seemed engrossed in dancing and yelling. - -“Well, what shall we do?” asked Wild Bill. - -“I was just thinking of sending to the town for help. While our -messenger is gone you and I might do something. If Shepard is in the -hands of the Utes we want to know it.” - -“And if Benson is there we want to _get_ him.” - -“Right. I think he will be either in our hands or dead before this -thing ends.” - -“Who can we send to the town; no one will want to go? We’ve left our -horses, and it will have to be some one afoot. Besides, will anybody -come out against the Utes now, when they hear the story those fellows -will tell?” - -As there was no possibility of penetrating into the village while -daylight held, the two scouts and friends back-tracked carefully, and -delivered their report. - -While scouting around that afternoon, Buffalo Bill came upon “sign,” -which led directly to the discovery of Tim Benson’s whisky cache. -Wild Bill, Nomad, and Bill Betts were with him at the time. - -Though Benson and the apelike man had blinded the trail there, and -had taken every means to conceal the cache from the Indians, the -trained eyes of the scout and his friends enabled them to find it in -a comparatively brief period. - -“Waugh!” Nomad grunted, when the cache had been located. “I reckon -Benson’s been hidin’ some of ther gold from his hold-ups right hyar.” - -That was the first and most natural conclusion. - -“When we’ve gophered down to it,” said Wild Bill, “we’ll know whether -he’s been hiding anything. Whatever it was he may have taken it away.” - -“I’m bettin’ thar’s gold down hyer!” Nomad reiterated. - -When they had gophered down and came upon the concealed whisky -bottles they were amazed. Yet they did not fail to understand why -they were there. Buffalo Bill had known for some time that Benson -bought the good will of the Utes by providing them with whisky. - -“Waal, this hyer is a disapp’intment ter me,” Nomad admitted. “Fer -right now I warn’t seekin’ no red likker.” - -“Might sell the truck in town, though, for a good deal,” said Bill -Betts. “It’d be a cute thing to do, to keep the reds frum gittin’ it.” - -Wild Bill laughed over this naive view of the proper method to remove -temptation from the Utes. - -“Nighabout half enough fer a burro load,” remarked Betts, as the -bottles were lifted out, one by one, and placed on the ground. -“Benson expected ter continner in the whisky bisness with the Utes -fer some time, by ther looks.” - -“This sand hyer has been disturbed quite recent,” averred Nomad, -whose old eyes were still of the keenest. - -“Right-o!” Wild Bill agreed. “Here is where the Utes got the courage -which enabled them to charge and wipe out the sheriff’s party.” - -“A man what will give whisky to pizen reds ought to be hung,” Bill -Betts added. “But what air we goin’ ter do with the stuff, if we -don’t take it to town?” - -Buffalo Bill had been considering the possibilities of the discovery. -Now he spoke: - -“Everything indicates that Benson cached a lot of whisky here, which -he has used from time to time in influencing the Utes; and that this -last Ute outbreak was caused by it. If so, it occurs to me that he -will come back here soon for more of it. Now that he has started -in, he will have to keep the Utes drunk in order to control them; -otherwise, they might sober up, get scared over what they have done, -and be ready to make peace and surrender him. He has got to block -that; and to do it he must get more whisky. He will come for it -here.” - -“Right ye air, Buffler!” said Nomad. “Which means ’et we kin lay fer -him right hyer, and rake him in when he does come.” - -“Jest so,” said Bill Betts. “And if Gorilla Jake comes with him, why, -I kin rake him in. Me and Brother Jim is after that reward.” - -The bottles lay on the ground, an imposing array. - -“Enough to stock up a barroom,” said Betts, eying them covetously. -“Thar ain’t any reason, gents, why we can’t jest shift this cache; -and, then, when we go to the town, take the stuff with us and sell -it thar. Whisky will sell in a town like Blossom Range, when nothin’ -else would, and it allus brings good prices. We c’d divvy on the -stakes.” - -Buffalo Bill was mentally shaping up another plan. - -“As I said,” he remarked, “Benson will have to keep the Utes -intoxicated in order to manipulate them. But suppose he fails to do -so?” - -“Then he’ll bust,” said Betts, who was busily engaged in reckoning up -the value of the whisky, marking in the sand and using a sliver of -rock for a pencil. - -“K’rect!” commented Nomad, bending over him; but whether Nomad meant -to approve the idea or agreed with the result of Bill Betts’ figures -was not apparent. - -“Suppose,” said the scout, “that some of the Indians should be with -Benson when he comes to get the remainder of his whisky here?” - -“Wow! We c’d rake ’em all in!” Nomad cried, looking up. - -“But if we happened not to be right here, what would happen?” - -“Why, we wouldn’t rake ’em in,” Nomad admitted. - -“I see you don’t get my idea. It is just this: The Indians would be -angered, perhaps would think Benson had fooled them; then things -would look bad for Benson.” - -“He might trail to the other cache, and show the Utes jest what had -been done, and so save himself; for the Utes couldn’t blame him, when -they saw how it had happened,” said Betts. - -“I wanted to bring you round to that,” the scout confessed, “so that -perhaps you would agree with my ideas on the subject. My suggestion -is that we empty out this whisky and fill the bottles with water from -the stream over there; then restore them to the cache!” - -“Waugh!” Nomad blurted, but not in approval. - -“Throw away all this good and vallyble whisky?” cried Betts. - -“It isn’t ours to sell in the first place,” argued the scout; “but if -we can accomplish something we will take it anyway, and drain it out -into the sand. Considering the use it is being put to, we have ample -justification.” - -“But----” began Betts. - -“You have already admitted that if we cache the stuff somewhere else -the Utes may get it. If we turn it into the sand they can’t. That’s a -point to be considered. But the chief thing--the chief object to be -gained--is that it will anger the Utes against Benson, if he brings -them here, or sends them here, and they find that the whisky bottles -hold nothing but water. If he angers them, his influence over them is -lost; particularly we can count on that, when the influence of the -whisky they have had has died out.” - -Wild Bill put out his hand impulsively. - -“Buffalo Bill forever!” he said. “I was willing to agree with Bill -Betts and Nomad, that it would be a wicked waste to turn all this -whisky out; but you’re right about it. We might not be here when -Benson comes for the stuff, which he will do sooner or later; and -if he comes with a lot of Utes we sure couldn’t grip him, even if -we were here. But if he brought ’em, and then they got their mad up -because the whisky was gone and the bottles filled with water, Mr. -Benson would sure be, right off, in the hottest kind of trouble.” - -Buffalo Bill further elaborated his idea, but the gist of what was -said has already been given. - -Only one change was made in the plan when they came to carry it -out. The whisky was emptied into the little stream, instead of into -the sand, for the reason that the odor of the liquor in the sand -might betray too much. Then the bottles, filled at the stream, were -restored to their hiding place. When all had been done, careful pains -were taken to obliterate every trace. - -The time lacked yet two hours of sunset when the work was completed, -and Buffalo Bill’s little party drew back into the brush, in the -midst of the rocky ground surrounding the cache, where they “bogged” -down, waiting to see what would happen. - -Buffalo Bill’s wish still was that Benson would come out there -alone, or accompanied only by Gorilla Jake, and the rascals could be -captured. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - - HOW IT WORKED. - - -If Buffalo Bill had been blessed with the gift of prophecy he could -not have given a more accurate forecast of what would happen. - -For no more than half an hour had gone by when Tim Benson appeared, -creeping out of the bushy covert of the hillside, in company with -the gigantic, apelike man, and a score of Ute Indians, with them the -chief himself, old Iron Bow. - -It was plain that many of the Indians, if not all, were under -the influence of liquor--their reeling walk showed it; yet they -maintained, in spite of this, their characteristic Indian silence -when on dangerous ground, and they proceeded across the open sand to -the site of the cache without making much noise. - -The two who led the way, though they were painted and feathered -like the Indians, it was easy to see were white men. The scout and -his pards knew that the small man was Benson; while Bill Betts was -equally sure that the apelike figure was Gorilla Jake. - -“We’ve got the proof o’ all yer surmises, Cody, right hyer in a -nutshell,” Betts whispered. “Benson and Jake has been dopin’ the -reds.” - -He did not know how accurately the word “dope” described just what -had been done. - -“I figger thet I could drap that skunk Benson right frum hyer,” said -Nomad, fingering his revolver. “But ’twouldn’t do. Bersides, we -don’t want ter start no killin’; we want ter capter him, so’s he kin -git his jest desarts at ther hands o’ ther hangman.” - -“And I’d hate to see Gorilla Jake killed,” said Betts, “as it would -cut me and Brother Jim out o’ that reward. Still, we might be able to -perduce his body, even if he was killed; and the reward is fer him -dead er alive.” - -It was a characteristic of the Bettses that they kept their eyes -on the main chance, and in all their clever border detective work -thought more of the offered rewards than anything else. If it was -a defect, it was forgiven by their friends, who knew the terrible -chances they sometimes took to bring some ruffian to justice. They -earned all they got. - -“I don’t suppose, Cody,” said the man from Laramie, the old reckless -light so often seen in his eyes flaming there once more, “that we -could charge that pizen crew and get Benson and the other feller? If -you say the word, I’m ready to try it.” - -“We might do it!” the scout admitted. - -“Wow! Then you’re willing!” and Hickok drew out his revolver. - -“But I didn’t say that it would be wise to make the attempt. One or -more of us might be killed, and that wouldn’t pay, you know.” - -“If we charge with revolvers cracking and every man Jack of us -yellin’ to beat the band those reds would run, and I know it.” - -Buffalo Bill was not so sure of it that he was willing to take the -risk. - -“Now we’ll see some fun,” whispered Nomad, as the Utes and their -guides came up to the cache which contained nothing but whisky -bottles filled with creek water. “It’ll be like deprivin’ children of -their promised candy. They won’t be willin’ to stand et.” - -They saw Benson and the apelike man stop, and Benson point to the -ground. The Utes swarmed round the spot, forgetting their caution, -and talking, with furious gestures. - -“Plenty stung up with excitement, when they thinks they’re goin’ ter -git er drink!” Nomad commented. - -“They’ll be stung up a heap more when they discover that they ain’t -goin’ ter git none,” said Bill Betts. “Woosh! Wouldn’t I jes’ like -ter turn my umbreller gun loose on them varmints now.” - -He pushed the singular weapon out in front of him. - -“I reckon that would be too much like murder,” urged the man from -Laramie; “they’re heathen brutes, but still they’re human.” - -Benson seemed to be talking to the Utes. - -They were too far off to get the words; but they saw Gorilla Jake -drop down and begin to scratch away the sand with his huge, clawlike -hands. He went into the ground with the rapacity of a scared badger. - -The excited Utes stooped over him, getting in his way; and there was -a great chattering, showing that they had lost their caution. - -Buffalo Bill was beginning to think that an opportunity to charge and -capture Benson was being presented, when Gorilla Jake flung out a -bottle. - -One of the Utes pounced on it; and so great was his eager haste that -he did not look at the contents, but broke off the neck of the bottle -with a blow of his brown fist and stuck the broken bottle to his -mouth. - -He gave a choking howl of astonishment and grief when his mouth -filled with the luke-warm water; then he held up the bottle, -gesticulating furiously. - -Gorilla Jake was flinging out more of the bottles, all of which -were being seized on. But the yell and the jabbering words of the -disappointed Ute nevertheless drew attention. - -The Utes discovered suddenly that the bottles held tepid water -instead of whisky. Benson made the same astounding discovery, and so -did Gorilla Jake. The thing was at first incomprehensible. - -Benson spoke to the apelike man, who delved deeper and flung out more -bottles. But these, too, contained only water. - -The Indians were yelling in their excitement. They were angry, too, -as if they thought that the white men with them had worked the trick. -Knives and hatchets flashed in the red rays of the now declining sun. - -“A Kilkenny cat fight,” gulped Nomad. “Now’s ther time, Cody, ter -wade right inter them.” - -Buffalo Bill drew his revolver, and was about to give the command, -when a score more of Ute warriors appeared on the scene, coming from -the direction of the village. Apparently, having been left behind -without a knowledge of what was to be done, they had suspected it, -and followed. - -“Not now; it would be foolish to charge now!” the scout whispered. - -“Waugh!” Nomad growled. “Yer had ought to done et a while ago!” - -“That’s what I said,” avowed Bill Betts, fingering his umbrella gun. - -He lifted and sighted it. The handle of the umbrella was the gun, the -umbrella frame and cloth being mere deceptions. - -“Give the word, Cody, and I can sure sting ’em up some, and they -won’t know who’s doin’ it.” - -But Buffalo Bill did not give the word. Twoscore or more wildly -excited Utes too much resembled a hornets’ nest for him to want to -poke them up in that way. Buffalo Bill was noted for his courage, but -that does not mean that he was noted for recklessness. A good many -people mistake the one for the other. Nor was he inhuman. - -The Ute recruits were soon yelling quite as much as those who had -arrived at the cache with the white men. What was being said could -not be made out, but it was apparent that warm remarks were being -directed to Benson and Gorilla Jake. Benson could be seen, surrounded -by Utes, waving his arms as if trying to explain the thing. - -Conditions changed with startling suddenness. Benson’s words seemed -to take effect. The Utes swung out from that centre of turmoil, and -began to make a search about the deceptive cache in quickly widening -circles. - -It was plain to the scout and those with him that they would have to -get back to avoid trouble. The Indians were in a murderous mood. And -to try results with more than forty Utes who were in that ugly mood -would be not merely foolhardy, but an invitation to hasty death. - -The Utes were rapidly widening their circles, running round and round -like hunting dogs that have lost a game trail. Apparently Benson had -convinced them that other white men had tampered with the cache, -and they were now furiously resolved to pick up the trail of these -interlopers and properly punish them for such an outrage. - -Buffalo Bill gave the order to retreat. - -“I hates ter go,” Nomad declared. - -“No wuss’n I do,” said Betts. “I wouldn’t be keerin’, if only I had -Gorilla Jake by the slack o’ the neck, takin’ him along with me.” - -Buffalo Bill and the man from Laramie dropped behind to hide the -trail; a work which they so thoroughly accomplished that the retreat -was effected quickly and safely. - -From the top of a tree on a hill some distance off, as the sun was -going down, Buffalo Bill saw the Utes streaming back toward their -village, the two white men with them. The Utes were howling like -drunken maniacs. - -Jim Betts set out shortly after dark with the intention of hastening -to Blossom Range that he might hurry assistance to Buffalo Bill’s -small party. Throughout the whole afternoon the hope had been held -that a strong force would appear from the town, to avenge the death -of the sheriff and his men, but the help had not come. Jim Betts -had been selected because his legs were long and he was a rapid and -tireless walker. No horses were to be had, as those of the scout’s -party were too far away. - -But a wise man makes sudden changes in his plans when there seems -reason for so doing. - -Hence, instead of striking straight out at his best gait, Jim Betts -did not go toward the town at all, after he had proceeded less than -half a mile in that direction but turned toward the Ute village. - -The reason was that he had seen a shadowy, skulking form moving in -that course that he believed to be Gorilla Jake. - -Jim Betts, quite as much as his brother Bill, was moved most strongly -by considerations touching his pocket; he, too, wanted the reward -offered for the arrest of Gorilla Jake. If he could get the ape-man -soonest by following him now and pouncing on him it was what he -wanted to do. Perhaps he could, he thought, make the capture and take -Gorilla Jake right on into the town with him. - -The thing was too tempting not to try, and he slipped off through the -darkness in hasty pursuit of the skulking figure. - -The man he was following was really Gorilla Jake, as Betts made sure -when the Ute village was approached. He had not been able to come up -with him, nor even see him clearly, until the man passed into the -light of a small fire glowing before one of the outer tepees of the -village. - -Betts hastened his steps, but he was too late; for the apelike man -flitted on past the fire. - -Jim Betts stopped, his heart hammering against his ribs by reason of -his rapid pursuit, while a sense of disappointment and anger went -through him. - -The Utes were either having a powwow near the centre of the village, -or were doing a lot of screeching there just because they liked to -howl in their present demoralized condition: but the apelike man had -not gone in that direction; and, because he had not, and no one was -near the tepee or the fire to observe, the daring fellow, who long -before had won the title of the Gamecock because of his recklessness, -crossed the line into the Ute village, still pursuing the murderer -of the mine superintendent. - -Once again he caught sight of Gorilla Jake, near another lodge, and -scudded in that direction, bending his tall form and running with -almost silent feet. - -“If I kin lay my hands on the dog I’ll choke the wind out o’ him and -manage to git him out of hyer, when, if I kin do that much, you bet I -kin git him down to Blossom Range. I could land him in the jail thar -while I am attendin’ to the other matter, and hold him in it till I -got ready to take him to Sody Springs.” - -The Indians were still howling. - -To his disappointment he saw the apelike figure turn in the direction -of those inharmonious sounds. - -Betts stopped and listened, called himself softly any number of fools -for not getting out of that dangerous place, then went on, still -pursuing Gorilla Jake. - -There was a fire leaping in front of a lodge, and in and about the -lodge he saw many Indian figures; but what they were howling about he -could not make out, unless simply noisy because they were drunk. He -concluded that the latter must be the explanation. - -Then he saw the apelike man, who had been moving toward the Utes, -stop beside a lodge, duck his head as if he had heard something, then -pass into the tepee. - -“Wow!” said Jim Betts, staring. “What’s it mean?” - -Anyway, he thought he might be given a chance to dive into that -lodge, even though it was almost under the painted noses of the -yelling Utes, and grip his intended prisoner. He was too close to the -lodge not to try it, reckless as it was. - -He was cautious enough to keep the bulk of the lodge between himself -and the Indians, and to take all the advantage possible from the -shadow cast by the leaping fire; he crouched low, too, so that he -seemed to slide his tall form along the ground. - -In that manner he gained the rear of the lodge, where he was stopped -from proceeding farther by hearing Gorilla Jake talking with Tim -Benson. At first Betts thought they had company, for he heard Indian -grunts, which came, however, from behind the lodge. - -The white men were flinging accusations at each other, as soon as -Gorilla Jake entered the lodge; it was apparent that Benson had seen -him passing and beckoned or called to him to come in. - -“You didn’t have as many of them tablets as you said,” Benson -declared. - -“And you didn’t have any whisky, ’cept what we fust brought in,” -Gorilla Jake flung back at him. - -“Was that my fault?” - -“It wasn’t mine!” - -“Some one tampered with the cache. I’m betting it was one of Cody’s -crowd.” - -“Fer which reason,” said Gorilla Jake, and Jim Betts heard him suck -in his breath angrily, “if I’d hed a million o’ them tablets you -wouldn’t had the whisky to use with ’em.” - -“We might have used them alone. We could have told the Utes that they -were better than whisky. That was my plan, when I found the whisky -was gone; then I discovered you didn’t have any more. They’ll sober -off now, and then----” - -“We can cut out o’ this, can’t we?” - -“Not while I’m on yer trail,” Jim Betts whispered. “You’re my meat.” - -“Cody will follow us!” said Benson. - -His tone showed that his courage had broken down, or else he was -losing his mental balance. - -The apelike man snorted his anger and moved uneasily about the lodge. - -“He’ll be comin’ out in a minute,” thought Jim Betts. - -In spite of the peril he began to crawl round to the tepee entrance, -with the intention of knocking Gorilla Jake on the head there and -making a desperate fight to get out of the village with him. He drew -his heavy revolver, which he held so that he could use the butt. - -Betts had crawled no more than halfway round when the apelike man, -appearing in the lodge entrance, drew toward him a mob of furious -Utes, who came at him howling. - -Betts heard him utter an exclamation and step back; then heard him -say to Benson: - -“If you’ve got any influence with ’em you’d better use it now. They -want me. I reckon, frum the looks; but they’ll be wantin’ _you_ next.” - -The Indians foamed up to the entrance, then flowed on into the lodge. - -A desperate curiosity caused the reckless Gamecock to lift the edge -of the lodge skin and peer in, his form flattened out and his face -against the earth. - -As he did it a blow sounded; and he saw, then, that Gorilla Jake had -knocked one of the Indians down, and was backing over against the -wall, passing Benson, who sat crouched on a lot of skins. - -A growl like that of an aroused animal came from the lips of Gorilla -Jake. - -“Stand up hyer and help me!” he flung at Benson. - -But Benson knew which side his bread was buttered on right then, and -he did nothing of the kind. He saw that the Utes had come for Gorilla -Jake, and that if he interfered he would put his life in jeopardy. So -he sat still, letting the angry Utes stream past and even over him. - -“Wow!” breathed the excited Gamecock, an eye at the aperture taking -everything in. “Wish’t Brother Bill was hyer ter see this right now. -But I’m afeard that this trouble is goin’ to make it mighty hard -fer me and Bill to collect that reward fer Gorilla Jake; it begins -to look as if he is goin’ to git all that’s comin’ to him. Yet that -reward offer said ‘alive or dead.’ If he was scalped, I don’t reckon -that would make any difference. Only--I hope they won’t burn him; -’twould be purty hard ter produce the body, in that case.” - -The Gamecock was trembling with excitement and apprehension. He -wanted to hurl himself in there and take the part of the threatened -man, then lead him off to the Blossom Range jail. But, plainly, that -would not do. Even Jim Betts was not reckless enough to try that. - -“Benson’s a coward, er he’d git right up and into that game,” he -breathed. “Gorilla Jake is his friend, ain’t he? Well, why don’t he -stand by his friend?” - -The Indians were crowding before Gorilla Jake, who was shouting -wildly at them. The one he had knocked down was on his feet again, -this time with a hatchet in his hand. - -“Stand back!” the apelike man howled at them. His knife had come -out. “Stand back, all o’ ye, er take the consequences. Y’ ain’t -goin’ to pull me to pieces, and not git my knife, I tell ye. Thar on -the floor is the man you want--not me; _he’s_ the man that started -this thing, by s’jestin’ it. He’s the man that was to furnish the -whisky--the coward; and now he sets thar, an’ let’s me do the -fightin’. Stand back!” - -Few if any of them understood his English, but they understood the -significance of the sweep of his long arm as it whirled the knife. - -The watching Gamecock did not know what they were yelling, but he -judged that they were accusing him of treachery or deceit, or were -demanding more whisky, which it was clear he could not furnish. It -was plain, too, that they were temporarily crazy. That was the only -explanation; and Benson and Gorilla Jake had made them so. No band -of maniacs in any lunatic asylum ever looked more terrifying or more -desperate. - -One of them sprang straight at the throat of Gorilla Jake like a dog -flinging at an enemy. - -But he never reached the panting man. Gorilla Jake’s long arm swept -out, struck him in mid-air with a thump, and the Ute dropped at the -feet of the apelike man, his chest torn open by the knife. - -“Stand back!” the desperate man yelled, swinging the bloody knife. - -He looked insane, too, now; his lips frothing, his great shoulders -and muscular arms working, his hairy, painted face twisted in rage, -and his gray eyes glittering like an angry animal’s. - -The fall of the Ute stayed the braves before him, it had come so -suddenly, but only for a moment; then another leaped at him, with -still others rushing in right behind. - -Thump! Thump! - -Two of the Utes fell. The third Gorilla Jake caught to his breast, -gave him a deadly squeeze, such as a great ape might give, and hurled -him lifeless as a missile straight into the faces of his friends, -knocking down half a dozen. - -Flinging himself backward against the rear wall of the tepee, Gorilla -Jake tried to get out there, but found that he could not, and turned -to rip the tough, dried skins with his knife. - -It gave an opportunity for the maddened Utes to close in on him, and -they made use of it. - -His swinging arm clove open a hole in the tepee, and he staggered -through it, with Utes hanging to him like leeches. Others poured, -yelling, through the hole after them. - -As this happened, the staring-eyed white man who watched under the -edge of the lodge saw Tim Benson rise from the skins he sat on and -project himself out of the lodge by the way of the regular exit, -brushing aside the Utes crowding in there. - -The Gamecock got into action. - -But he was bewildered by his desire to follow and capture Benson and -his equally strong desire to know what was being done to Gorilla -Jake. Already he had reached the conclusion that if he ever received -a reward for producing the body of Gorilla Jake, it would be by -producing a dead body. - -The roaring tumult on the other side of the lodge where the apelike -man and the maniacal Utes had gone was indescribable. - -But Jim Betts was not able to see what became of Gorilla Jake. - -He found it necessary to consider his own safety. Utes were all round -him. One had actually stepped on the Gamecock’s fingers as he lay -sprawled on the ground. - -“I got ter git out o’ this!” was his startled thought. - -Apparently it was a conclusion taken none too soon. - -He began to crawfish away from the lodge, almost flat on the ground, -keeping out of the way of the Indians, who rushed in what seemed the -probable direction taken by Gorilla Jake. - -The Gamecock moved rapidly, now that he had made up his mind. - -There was another lodge, into whose shadow he got; then he began -to crawl round it, intending to get on the other side, where the -darkness lay heaviest, and then perhaps make a dash to get safely out -of the village. - -“I reckon that Gorilla Jake has gone under,” he was thinking, “and -that this climate is gittin’ mighty unhealthy fer Tim Benson. It’ll -be also plum malarious fer me if I don’t move out of it. A sudden -change of base looks mighty good fer my health right now.” - -Then he stopped--not his words only, but his motions. - -Right before him he saw a blanketed figure hugging the ground. - -“Wow! An Injun! Jest when I was gittin’ shet of ’em!” - -The “Injun” discovered by him moved with surprising suddenness. - -The blanket lifted, and the man under it jumped at him, clutching the -Gamecock by the throat before he could get back or get out a weapon. - -Betts was a powerful man, and was never known to surrender readily, -so he began to put up the best fight he could. He partly broke the -strangle hold on his throat, and reached for his knife, gurgling out -a panting exclamation at the same time. - -That gurgling exclamation, unintentional though it was, proved a -mighty lucky happening for Jim Betts right then. The clutch on his -windpipe, which was closing again, dropped away; then a voice sounded: - -“Who are you?” - -“Wow! Who air you?” - -Jim Betts fell back, gasping and gurgling. - -“I’m Buffalo Bill!” - -“Wow! I’m Jim Betts!” - -The man drew himself together, pulling the blanket over him. - -“I beg your pardon,” he whispered: “I thought you were an Indian.” - -“An’ I thought you must be the devil the way you got holt o’ me.” - -“Get under this blanket quick, and lie low. Some of the Utes are -coming over this way.” - -Betts, helped by the scout, slid under the gray covering, so that, -as both men lay flat, the blanket covering them looked like a dark -shadow against the ground. - -“Wow!” Betts was breathing, filled with amazement. “Cody! Wow! -Buffalo Bill! I wonder if my thinkin’ machinery ain’t slipped its -gearin’? Cody can’t be here.” - -“What’s happening?” the scout asked in a whisper, lowering his head. - -He had been peering out, with the blanket drawn close about his eyes. - -“I reckon that Gorilla Jake has gone under.” - -“I was guessing as much.” - -“You seen him?” - -“I heard him.” - -“And the Utes!” - -“No one could help hearing them.” - -“You didn’t see Matt Shepard, the sheriff?” - -“I didn’t; reckon he has gone under,” said Betts. “What you doin’ in -hyer, anyhow?” - -“And you? We supposed you were on your way to Blossom Range.” - -Betts began an explanation, but the scout cut him short. - -“Hist! Not now. The Utes are near, some of them!” - -Betts and the scout lay snugly under the blanket, and the running -Utes passed on and away. - -Buffalo Bill began to talk again in cautious whispers. - -“I came in here to look round, thinking that perhaps I might be able -to capture Benson.” - -“And I come in hyer to look round, thinkin’ maybe I might be able to -capture Gorilla Jake.” - -“But why didn’t you go on to Blossom Range?” - -“That’s why. I wanted to capture Jake. I seen him outside of the -village when I fust set out, and turned in hyer after him. I might -have got him, but the Utes chipped in, and I reckon Jake has seen his -finish.” - -“You saw Benson?” - -“Yes. He was in the lodge with Jake, but he cut and run when the -Utes pounced on Jake, so I don’t know what become of him.” - -“I think we’d better try to get out of this.” - -“It’s dangerous hyer right now.” - -“Almost as dangerous as death itself. If the Utes find us we’re -gone. I never saw Indians so crazy. I’ve seen them drunk, but never -anything like this. If Gorilla Jake has been killed by them I guess -he brought it on himself, for he and Benson must have fired them up -with whisky.” - -“Old forty-rod, if it’s filled with drugs and dope to make it go fur, -will knock out a white man, and make a lunatic of a red; I’ve seen it -before.” - -“I never saw Indians as wild as these are to-night.” - -“I couldn’t understand anything the Utes said, but I jedge they was -crazy mad because Jake and Benson couldn’t furnish ’em no more old -redeye. Deprive a red of whisky, after he’s been havin’ some, and it -turns him into a wild man. Benson and Jake was shore playin’ with -fire, and they’d ought to have knowed it. I reckon it finished Jake.” - -“We’ll crawl off in this direction, in the shadow of the lodge; be -sure to keep the blanket over you,” said the scout. “Be careful, too, -that you move slowly and cautiously. I shouldn’t have risked my life -in here if I had fully understood the situation. I’m glad I met you.” - -Jim Betts coughed out a low, wheezing laugh. - -“My achin’ throat don’t echo that sentiment,” he said; “it’d feel a -heap easier if I hadn’t met you. I never met up with a man had a grip -like that; I thought my neck was bein’ crushed in.” - -The scout did not echo the laugh; at this distance the thing looked -too serious. - -“I might have killed you, Betts,” he said. “I saw you getting that -knife, and----” - -“Then I ripped out somethin’ in purty plain English, and you tumbled. -It’s all right now. But I reckon my throat will ache fer a week. When -I have a heap of time I’m goin’ ter see if you can’t choke an iron -bolt so that it will holler.” - -They crept along under the blanket, slipping it over the ground, -until they had cautiously crossed an open space; then found -themselves within the shadow of another lodge. - -They were moving away from the centre of disturbance and apparently -increasing their chances. - -“Whar did ye leave the rest o’ the boys?” Betts asked, as they stood -up in the shadow of this lodge. - -“Where they were when you left us.” - -“They knowed you had come?” - -“Yes.” - -“Brother Bill would be surprised, I reckon, if he knowed I was here. -He says I allus take too big risks. Shall we make a run fer the aidge -o’ the village now? The distance ain’t more’n a hundred feet. Thar’s -a heap o’ noise goin’ on, and I reckon we could make a lot of racket -without bein’ heard by the crazy Utes.” - -“I think your brother Bill is right in saying that you are inclined -to take unnecessary risks. If we make a dash to get out of here we -may be seen and might be shot. Caution still stands us in hand, I -think.” - -The scout stooped again, and, clinging to the shadow of the lodge as -long as he could, he worked his way toward the outer circle of lodges. - -Jim Betts followed him. - -Fortunately, interest in another quarter kept them from being seen. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - - THE DARING OF BILL BETTS. - - -“Vot iss?” - -Nomad and his pards were guarding the camp, Baron von Schnitzenhauser -being on the side toward the town. Hearing something, he dropped -down, the characteristic question whispering from his lips, and -stared hard into the darkness. - -The sound, which had been like that of crashing feet, had stopped. -The baron did not know but that an Indian had tried to come upon him, -though an Indian, unless intoxicated, would hardly have made so much -noise. - -“Der Inchuns haf peen howling so mooch dot maype I am hearing t’ings -vhen dare aind’t notting to seen,” he muttered. - -Then he heard the sounds again, unmistakable footsteps coming toward -him. - -The baron lifted his forty-five revolver and poked it at the sounds. - -“Uff you tond’t vant to gidt shodt you vill sbeak so quickness like I -dell you,” he commanded. “Who iss idt?” - -“It’s me.” - -“Yaw! Budt I tond’t know ‘me.’ Who iss ‘me’?” - -“Dugan. That you, Schnitz?” - -“Oh, idt iss Dugan? Der shepidy deriff--I mean der debudy sheriff. -Uff you ar-re sure dot you aind’t makin’ a misdake you may come on.” - -When Dugan, deputy sheriff, came on, Schnitzenhauser discovered that -he had a man with him. - -“I’m Hank Elmore, stage driver,” said the second man, reaching out -his hand to the German. - -“You haf peen in more danger righdt now as in eeny holdt-oop,” the -baron told him; “vhen I gand’t seen you, I am come mighdy nigh -shooding you. Why you make der sneak?” - -“Feared o’ the Utes,” said Elmore. “Where’s Cody? We was huntin’ fer -his party.” - -“I am some uff his barty.” - -“Yes, I know it; where’s the others?” - -“Righdt ofer dhere. Nomat is vatching on der righdt site uff der -gamp, unt Vilt Pill on der lefdt, unt Pill Petts on der odder, unt -me here. Cody is scoudting roundt, unt saidt he vos going into der -willage. From der noises I haf peen hearing I t’ink, py yiminy, dey -musdt haf sbalped him alreaty.” - -“Yit you stay right hyer?” - -“Idt iss orders. Ve opey orders, uff somepoty gits kilt. Oddervise, -uff Cody iss nodt kilt unt comes py dhis blace, he tond’t findt us -here, unt dhere iss a mix-oop. Notting iss vorser as a mix-oop in der -night. You hav somepoty caming pehint you--huh?” - -“Thar will be a crowd in the mornin’,” said Dugan. “I tell ye thar’s -the biggest skeer goin’ on down in Blossom Range as ever ye see, -’count o’ the Utes chargin’ that crowd and killin’ Shepard. I tried -to git a posse to come out to-night, but I couldn’t make it; nobody -had the sand. Elmore said he’d come with me, and we’re hyer.” - -“Cody vill pe glad to seen you--yaw. He vants more men as he has got.” - -“Where will we find the rest of your crowd?” asked Dugan. - -“Go righdt aheadt. Vhen you have gone tventy yardts or so you petter -call oudt, mitout too mooch noise, so dot you don’t git shodt.” - -They were about to move on. - -“But, in attition,” said the German, “I vouldt pe bleased uff vun of -you couldt dake my blace standting here, as I am getting so mooch -exercise uff my mindt apoudt Cody dot I shouldt like to make an -inwestigadion. Tond’t vorgidt idt.” - -They moved on, and soon he heard them speaking with Bill Betts and -Nomad. - -In a little while footsteps rustled again, and the baron was about to -call out, when Bill Betts announced his presence and came forward. - -“I’m gittin’ that worked up over the racket goin’ on in ther village -thet I want ter see what it means,” he said. - -“Yoost der same here. Cody iss in drouble, unt I knowed idt.” - -“Sounds like it, don’t it? What I’m most afeard of is that the bloody -Utes air murderin’ Gorilla Jake.” - -“Unt maype Penson!” - -“I don’t keer fer Benson. But Jake is my meat. Me and Brother Jim -wants that reward fer arrestin’ him.” - -“Vale, you don’t can’t gidt it now, uff dhey kill him.” - -“We might. I’d like to see about it. And as Cody must be havin’ -trouble, I’d like you to go with me, so’s we two kin look into -things.” - -The baron shook his head. - -“Orders iss orders! I am commandedt to sday righdt here.” - -“I know Cody said that, but Dugan is coming right over hyer to watch -at this p’int. He told me he would. I asked Nomad to go with me, and -he said he wouldn’t, though I could see that he was mortally skeered -up about Buffler.” - -“You ditn’t ask Vildt Pill?” - -“No.” - -They were silent a moment, listening to the unearthly racket in the -Ute village. - -“Thar’s another thing stingin’ me all up,” Bill Betts admitted. - -“Vot iss?” - -“I’m harborin’ ther oncomfortable feelin’ that Brother Jim is over in -that village.” - -“He vendt to der town.” - -“I have a feelin’ that he didn’t, and that he’s now in trouble. You -see, he’s as anxious as me to git hold of Gorilla Jake. I askt Dugan -and Elmore if they met up with him, and they said they didn’t.” - -“Idt iss not proof dot he ditn’t go to der town.” - -“I know it ain’t. But didn’t you ever have a presenterment, baron?” - -“Many dimes, vhen I am asleeb; but odder beoples call idt a -nighdtmares.” - -“It is a feelin’.” - -“Yaw! Idt iss a offul veeling. I haf hadt him. Vonce diss nighdtmare -vot climbed indo my pedt vos redt all ofer, unt I hollered yoost -like a horse. I am sveadting yidt, venever I t’ink apoudt idt.” - -“You don’t understand me, but it don’t make any difference; the -question is, will you go with me? I’m settin’ out right now for the -Ute village. Hyer is yer chance fer excitement, baron.” - -The “excitement” appeal seldom failed to move Baron von -Schnitzenhauser. He would have been willing to rove half round the -world to find some unusual form of it. For a moment longer only he -hesitated. - -“Dhis site uff der camp is avay frum der Inchuns, unt Dugan iss to -come here soon. Yaw! I will go mit you. I am dot anxious apoudt Cody -I gan’t standt idt eeny longker. Ledt der vays, unt I am mit you. As -for der Utes, raus mit ’em. Cody iss maype needting rescuink dhis -minude.” - -Having made up his mind to accompany Bill Betts on this wild -excursion to the Ute village, the baron set out forthwith, tramping -at Betts’ heels with exceeding care. He had been wanting to see -for himself what was happening, for such infernal Indian yelling -he had never heard in all his wide experience. He was genuinely -anxious, too, about Buffalo Bill. He justified his disobedience of -the latter’s orders by this feeling of anxiety, though he knew well -enough that if Cody’s wish could be ascertained, Nomad would have -been selected to go to the village, if any one went at all. Buffalo -Bill trusted the old trapper as he did no one else except Wild Bill -Hickok. - -No difficulty was experienced in keeping to a straight line--that -wild howling would have guided one through Stygian darkness. The only -thing was to guard against stumbling and falling. There was little -likelihood that they would be heard, because of the Indian uproar. - -“Sounds like ther infernal regions has heaved themselves right out -upon the yearth,” Bill Betts observed when they stopped on nearing -the commotion and noise. “D’y’ ever hear anything like it?” - -“Der nearest,” said the baron, “iss vhen my vife gif me a biece uff -her mindt der second day after ve ar-re marriet.” - -“Wow! It must er been a heavy piece!” - -“Vell, you haf heardt a door preaking down, unt a stick uff vood -hammering on idt. Dot vos my vife drying to gidt at me into der room -vare I haf run. Also-o, she vos yelling for der bolice.” - -“You must have had a happy married life, Schnitz.” - -“Yaw! Der fairst day idt voss vlatirons, der secondt day idt vos -proomsdicks unt rolling bins, unt der nexdt day idt----” - -“Wow!” Betts broke in. “Lissen ter that. We’ve got to git nearer.” - -“Nearer idt iss. I am mit you.” - -They were not content until they were close up by the lodges. Then, -as they still could not see well enough, they crossed the line into -the village. - -“Keep close by me, Schnitz, and be ready fer trouble and to cut and -run if we have to. See that lodge off thar? It’s whar the yellin’ is -fiercest. Sounds like killin’ men thar, don’t it? I have a ingrowin’ -feelin’ that Brother Jim is clost about that spot.” - -The baron, who had been stooping, stood up and stared off in the -direction indicated. - -A leaping fire near it showed the lodge and the swarming, painted -Indians. - -“Thar’s a temperance lesson fer ye!” said Betts. “Shows what whisky -will do.” - -“Ach! Vhisky iss no goot.” - -“I’m goin’ to git clost enough to see if Jim is in the midst of that. -You keep by me. Don’t fergit that I’ve got my umbreller gun. We’re -goin’ to git down now and sneak along behind it. Thar’s bowlders -big and little everywhars you look. Set this umbreller open on the -ground, and in this pore light you couldn’t tell it frum a bowlder. -We can take advantage of that fact; it’s why I like the old gun. -Besides, if anybody comes toward us, I can drap him with it, and -he won’t know whar the bullet come from. You jest keep close at my -heels.” - -Slipping to the ground, Bill Betts spread open his umbrella gun, and -he and the baron got behind it. - -The baron then saw that around the handle--which was the gun--where -it passed through the umbrella there were openings, so that through -them he and Betts could look out. Through those openings, also, Betts -could aim the gun. - -“The old thing is chock-a-block with ca’tridges, as I call ’em,” said -Betts. “I kin mow down half a dozen reds without havin’ to reload, -and I got plenty more ca’tridges in my pockets. Now, we’ll git -closer.” - -Pushing the open umbrella carefully ahead of him and moving slowly, -Betts made a cautious approach to the lodge where the howling Utes -were seen. - -They were stopped in this perilous advance by seeing the rear of -the lodge break open suddenly and Gorilla Jake come rolling out, -dragging with him a number of Utes. Though he was painted like the -Indians, Bill Betts knew him at once. - -“Wow!” Betts breathed. “See that--see it?” - -“I am seening idt.” - -“Thar he goes down, with Injuns right on top o’ him; they’re goin’ -ter kill him. Would you open on ’em if you was me?” - -The German caught Betts by the arm. - -“Dond’t dooded idt!” he whispered. “Idt vouldt pe our finishment.” - -“But they’re killin’ him, I reckon.” - -“Yaw! Idt looks like idt.” - -“And if they finish him, how am I to git that reward?” - -“You von’dt gidt eeny uff idt, Misder Petts, uff you make a -foolishness mit yourselluf righdt now. I am vondering dot dey ton’dt -seen us.” - -Then the German saw Tim Benson leap out of the lodge entrance and go -scampering in the other direction. Betts caught sight of him, too. - -“Thar goes Benson,” Betts whispered, his hands shaking. - -“Yaw! I seen him. Budt I ain’dt vanting to foller him dhis minude. -Vot I am loogking vor iss Puffalo Pill. You ton’dt seen Cody?” - -“No, I don’t see him.” - -They beheld the “finish” of Gorilla Jake, to the great grief of Bill -Betts. The Indians had killed the apelike man without mercy, simply -because he could not furnish them more whisky. - -A little after that the two crouching behind the umbrella beheld the -scalp of the unfortunate man elevated on a lance before the lodge, -with the drunken Indians dancing and howling round it. - -“Gives me the creeps!” commented Bill Betts. “I’m beginnin’ to think -that Jim didn’t come hyer.” - -“Budt Cody dit!” whispered the German. - -“Yit he may have got out before this happened.” - -“Yaw, I am hobing so.” - -Bill Betts’ keen eyes beheld sneaking forms near the outer lodges. He -stared at them. What had seemed but one man became suddenly two, when -the blanket round them dropped down. - -“White men!” he gasped. “I’m betting one of ’em is Jim Betts. He’s -that reckless he’s allus runnin’ inter danger.” - -“Unt der odder iss maype Cody, who is yoost as reckless. Now, you unt -me----” - -“B’ jings, I believe they’re comin’ round this way. If one o’ them -men is Brother Jim I’ll roast him fer runnin’ hisself into danger -like this.” - -The “bowlder,” which the umbrella seemed to be, began to move slowly -backward, the men concealed by it crawfishing toward the outer lodges. - -“I hate dog-goned bad to have to go and leave Gorilla Jake!” said -Betts. - -“Budt he iss dead.” - -“I know it, but the reward said ‘dead or alive.’” - -The reckless men did not get safely out of the village without -trouble. When they were still some distance from the outermost lodge -an Indian dog came toward them, sniffing. Suddenly the dog began to -bark. - -“Freeze!” said Betts. - -“Yaw! I am a piece uff ice.” - -An Indian appeared and called to the yelping dog. - -“Wow! See that?” whispered Betts. - -“I am hearing idt.” - -Encouraged by the Indian, the dog made a barking rush at the dark -umbrella. - -“The Injun thinks this is a bowlder,” said Betts, “but the dog knows -better.” - -“Yaw! He knows idt mit his nose.” - -“Shall I let him have it?” - -The dog settled the question by making a furious rush upon the -bowlder. - -The finger of Bill Betts clutched round the stock of the umbrella -handle in a nervous grip; a dull click sounded, and the dog, yelping -its last, fell dead in its tracks. - -The Ute stared in wildest astonishment, then ran to the dog, which -was thirty feet or more from the bowlder. - -“Now he vill gome on unt seen us,” whispered the German. - -The mystified Indian, after stooping for a moment over the dog, -advanced toward the “bowlder,” probably thinking some one was behind -it, yet puzzled because he had heard no gun. - -The dull click sounded again, and the Indian reeled backward with a -yell, his right arm dropping at his side. He yelled again; then began -to run toward the dancing Indians. - -“The bowlder’s got to move back ag’in,” said Bill Betts. “Ye’re -seein’ now the uses of a gun what don’t seem ter be a gun. I reckon -this ole umbreller has saved more’n a dozen lives fer me; I’d been -killed that many times if I hadn’t had it.” - -“Vun more life idt haf safed you to-nighdt--huh?” - -“You bet you! Hitch back fast’s ye kin, Schnitz; thar’ll be more -Injuns whar that’n stood in a little while. He’s reached the dancers -and is spreadin’ the news thar.” - -Some of the dancers stopped their whirling and howling and began to -run toward the spot where the dog had been killed and the Ute had -received a shattered arm. The injured Ute led the way, holding his -bleeding arm with his left hand. - -“Now we haf got to make der slide.” - -“Yes, it’s a lively skedaddle fer us. Up goes ther umbreller. Now, -jump fer it.” - -The umbrella closed with a snap, and the two men whom it had -concealed sprang to their feet and beat a hasty retreat out of the -village before the staring eyes of the astounded Utes. - -But the Utes, getting their wits together, followed, howling like a -crazy mob. - -As the baron and Bill Betts leaped into the darkness beyond the -farthest lodge they heard the voices of Buffalo Bill and Jim Betts. - -“Right this way,” said the scout. - -“Come a-b’ilin’, Brother Bill!” Jim Betts called. - -The four men came together, then beat a quick retreat. - -Before the camp was reached the Betts brothers were quarreling, each -charging the other with foolish recklessness. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - - THE CAPTURE OF BENSON. - - -When morning came a considerable force arrived from Blossom Range. It -was composed of the most courageous men of the town, and they were -well armed. - -Buffalo Bill, taking command of this force, moved on the village -of the Utes. But there was now no one in the village who sought to -oppose him. The warriors who had howled and danced throughout the -night lay in a stupor and were helpless; several warriors were dead. -The woman and children, with the older men, and such of the braves as -had not been able to get enough of the doctored whisky to hurt them, -were alone able to meet the force of the scout and talk intelligibly. - -They were dreadfully frightened by this array of fighting men from -the town, and seemed ready to make any promises demanded. They were -not to blame, they said, for what had happened. The white men who had -brought the whisky should alone be blamed. One of the white men who -did it was dead, the other had fled from the place. - -But the body of Gorilla Jake could not be found. This, the Indians -explained, was because it had been burnt on the bonfire the Utes had -built and kept roaring through the greater part of the night. - -Old Iron Bow was in a stupor, from which he was aroused with -difficulty. Even then he could give no satisfactory account of what -had happened. But he and some of the worst of the warriors were -placed under arrest by Dugan, and were taken down to the Blossom -Range jail. - -Buffalo Bill and his friends searched the Ute village through and -through, but were not able to find Tim Benson. - -“He’s a feller yer cain’t never ketch,” said Nomad. - -Buffalo Bill did not side with this view. - -He sent orders everywhere, which blocked all the trails leading from -Blossom Range and the country surrounding it, and sent messages again -to all the surrounding towns and mining camps. - -“I’ll get him yet,” he said in serene confidence. “You see, he is -probably now in the hills, or else has come right back into Blossom -Range. If he is in Blossom Range it must be our work to see that he -don’t get out again. If he is out in the hills he will starve there, -so will have to come in.” - -But old Nomad had seen the hopes of the scout baffled so often by the -clever road agent that he had become pessimistic on the subject of -the capture of Tim Benson. - -Nevertheless, the old trapper did not relax his efforts. Buffalo Bill -never had better lieutenants than Nomad, Wild Bill, and the baron. -They gave their strength and time night and day to watching and -shadowing. Wild Bill kept a close watch on all the gaming places of -the town, knowing that Benson was a notorious gamester, and would be -found in such places if he felt that he could visit them safely. - -Benson’s ability at disguising was not forgotten. So every man and -woman leaving the town was subjected to an examination. - -It was bad for the business of the town, but it brought results. - -Benson had really fled into Blossom Range, stopping on the way only -long enough to remove his Indian paint and feathers and assume his -ordinary clothing, which he had kept with him in the Ute village and -brought out of it. - -For a day or two he hid with a friend, who fed him and kept him -secluded. - -But this friend was soon suspected and arrested. Benson had to leave -his house. - -The few friends left now in the town became afraid to harbor him. - -At last a day came when Benson, grown desperate, hungry, wearied with -hiding like a terrified wolf, came boldly out into the street. Yet -he had taken the care to give himself a change of clothing, which he -stole during the previous night, so that he was not now the dapper -gambler and desperado, but appeared as a miner in rough clothing and -clay-stained boots. - -“There are miners going in and out of the town to their work every -day, and I’ll try that trick,” he said to himself. “I can’t get away -during the night, for no man is permitted to go out who is not known, -so I’ve got to make the try in broad daylight. If I fail----” - -He walked boldly down the street, passing dozens of men, who gave him -not a second glance. - -“They don’t know me! I guess I can work it. But I’ve got to get -farther than just out in the hills. How will I do that? All the -surrounding towns are guarded, with men looking there for me, so I -can’t go into the towns. And if I stay in the hills I’ll starve; -a coyote couldn’t live there. I think I’ll have to try the stage -again.” - -Yet he knew that no man whose identity was not clearly proven could -leave now by the stage. - -Benson had not proceeded half a mile when he saw the man whom he -feared above all others--Buffalo Bill. - -The great scout had been standing at a street corner, as if at ease -with himself and the world, also apparently not watching any one or -looking for any one. - -But it was evident that he had seen and spotted Benson as soon as the -latter appeared in sight. - -When Buffalo Bill sauntered with seeming carelessness across the -street to intercept Tim Benson old Nomad was in another street, which -hid him from Benson’s sight, though he and the scout could see each -other. - -The scout put up his hand in a peculiar way, much as if he were -settling a refractory cuff in place, a sign which Nomad saw at once -and understood. - -Benson was still under the impression that Buffalo Bill had not -recognized him, when the scout, after brushing by him, turned -quickly, with handcuffs ready for Benson’s wrists. - -“Better surrender without trouble, Benson!” he said in a low tone. -“I’ve got you, you see.” - -Benson whitened to the lips; then in desperation he whipped out a -revolver and fired at the scout. The scout ducked and seemed to reel. -At the same instant the trapper came yelling upon the scene. - -“Waugh!” old Nomad whooped. “Better drap et, Benson, fer ye’re -shootin’ only blanks!” - -The shouted words, telling him his revolver held only blanks, -confused and balked Benson for a moment; it made him uncertain, -and that caused him to hesitate. The scout had not been touched by -Benson’s bullet, and it gave him the time and opportunity needed. - -He sprang upon Benson. When the latter’s hand went up again with the -revolver, Buffalo Bill turned the weapon aside and at the same time -snapped the wrist in the handcuff; then, with a swing, he caught and -brought the other wrist round. - -“Click!” sounded the manacles. - -The revolver fell to the ground, and Benson reeled back against the -wall. That click and the touch of the cold steel on his wrists let -him know that the great scout had him at last. - -Not until the thing had been done and the handcuffs held his arms -together did Benson come to a full realization that Nomad had shouted -those words simply to confuse him and cause him to lose time. - -He turned upon the old trapper furiously. - -Nomad only laughed. - -“Thet’s all right, ye reprobate,” said the trapper. “We wanted ter -ketch yer, so I didn’t want ter drap ye with a bullet myself, or hev -ye drap Buffler. Ye’re the star road agent o’ this section and the -king o’ all the desperadoes that’s been workin’ round hyer; but now -we has got ye. Et’s the final scoop.” - -Tim Benson, a very few minutes later, was in the jail of Blossom -Range, whither his pals had gone before him. - -As for the Utes, old Iron Bow and the others who were jailed, they -were released in a few days and permitted to return to the village. -It was held that, being savages, they were not really responsible -for deeds committed under the influence of desperate white men and -strong drink. - -The Betts brothers did not get that reward. - -They could not produce the body of Gorilla Jake, dead or alive. Yet -there was no doubt that he had suffered at the hands of the Utes a -terrible punishment for his crime of furnishing them with drugged -whisky. - - - THE END. - - - No. 102 of the BUFFALO BILL BORDER STORIES, entitled, “Buffalo - Bill, Peacemaker,” is a rattler that any boy would sit up all night - to read. The great scout’s hunt for peace gets him into all sorts - of trouble, and every page has its thrills. - - - - - WESTERN STORIES ABOUT - - BUFFALO BILL - - Price, Fifteen Cents - - - Red-blooded Adventure Stories for Men - - -There is no more romantic character in American history than William -F. Cody, or as he was internationally known, Buffalo Bill. He, with -Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, and a -few other adventurous spirits, laid the foundation of our great West. - -There is no more brilliant page in American history than the winning -of the West. Never did pioneers live more thrilling lives, so rife -with adventure and brave deeds as the old scouts and plainsmen. -Foremost among these stands the imposing figure of Buffalo Bill. - -All of the books in this list are intensely interesting. They were -written by the close friend and companion of Buffalo Bill--Colonel -Prentiss Ingraham. They depict actual adventures which this pair -of hard-hitting comrades experienced, while the story of these -adventures is interwoven with fiction; historically the books are -correct. - - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 1--Buffalo Bill, the Border King By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 2--Buffalo Bill’s Raid By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 3--Buffalo Bill’s Bravery By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 4--Buffalo Bill’s Trump Card By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 5--Buffalo Bill’s Pledge By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 6--Buffalo Bill’s Vengeance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 7--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Grip By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 8--Buffalo Bill’s Capture By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 9--Buffalo Bill’s Danger Line By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 10--Buffalo Bill’s Comrades By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 11--Buffalo Bill’s Reckoning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 12--Buffalo Bill’s Warning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 13--Buffalo Bill at Bay By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 14--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Pards By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 15--Buffalo Bill’s Brand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 16--Buffalo Bill’s Honor By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 17--Buffalo Bill’s Phantom Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 18--Buffalo Bill’s Fight With Fire By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 19--Buffalo Bill’s Danite Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 20--Buffalo Bill’s Ranch Riders By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 21--Buffalo Bill’s Death Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 22--Buffalo Bill’s Trackers By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 23--Buffalo Bill’s Mid-air Flight By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 24--Buffalo Bill, Ambassador By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 25--Buffalo Bill’s Air Voyage By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 26--Buffalo Bill’s Secret Mission By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 27--Buffalo Bill’s Long Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 28--Buffalo Bill Against Odds By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 29--Buffalo Bill’s Hot Chase By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 30--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Ally By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 31--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Trove By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 32--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Foes By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 33--Buffalo Bill’s Crack Shot By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 34--Buffalo Bill’s Close Call By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 35--Buffalo Bill’s Double Surprise By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 36--Buffalo Bill’s Ambush By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 37--Buffalo Bill’s Outlaw Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 38--Buffalo Bill’s Border Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 39--Buffalo Bill’s Bid for Fame By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 40--Buffalo Bill’s Triumph By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 41--Buffalo Bill’s Spy Trailer By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 42--Buffalo Bill’s Death Call By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 43--Buffalo Bill’s Body Guard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 44--Buffalo Bill’s Still Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 45--Buffalo Bill and the Doomed Dozen By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 46--Buffalo Bill’s Prairie Scout By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 47--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Guide By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 48--Buffalo Bill’s Bonanza By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 49--Buffalo Bill’s Swoop By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 50--Buffalo Bill and the Gold King By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 51--Buffalo Bill, Deadshot By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 52--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Bravos By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 53--Buffalo Bill’s Big Four By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 54--Buffalo Bill’s One-armed Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 55--Buffalo Bill’s Race for Life By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 56--Buffalo Bill’s Return By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 57--Buffalo Bill’s Conquest By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 58--Buffalo Bill to the Rescue By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 59--Buffalo Bill’s Beautiful Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 60--Buffalo Bill’s Perilous Task By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 61--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Find By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 62--Buffalo Bill’s Blind Lead By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 63--Buffalo Bill’s Resolution By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 64--Buffalo Bill, the Avenger By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 65--Buffalo Bill’s Pledged Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 66--Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 67--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 68--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Stampede By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 69--Buffalo Bill’s Mine Mystery By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 70--Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 71--Buffalo Bill’s Daring Dash By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 72--Buffalo Bill on Hand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 73--Buffalo Bill’s Alliance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 74--Buffalo Bill’s Relentless Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 75--Buffalo Bill’s Midnight Ride By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 76--Buffalo Bill’s Chivalry By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 77--Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 78--Buffalo Bill’s Private War By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 79--Buffalo Bill’s Diamond Mine By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 80--Buffalo Bill’s Big Contract By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 81--Buffalo Bill’s Woman Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 82--Buffalo Bill’s Ruse By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 83--Buffalo Bill’s Pursuit By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 84--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Gold By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 85--Buffalo Bill in Mid-air By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 86--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Mission By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 87--Buffalo Bill’s Verdict By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 88--Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 89--Buffalo Bill’s Camp Fires By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 90--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Nerve By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 91--Buffalo Bill’s Rival By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 92--Buffalo Bill’s Lone Hand By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 93--Buffalo Bill’s Sacrifice By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 94--Buffalo Bill’s Thunderbolt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 95--Buffalo Bill’s Black Fortune By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 96--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Work By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 97--Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 98--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Train By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 99--Buffalo Bill’s Bowie Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 100--Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Man By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 101--Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 102--Buffalo Bill: Peacemaker By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 103--Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 104--Buffalo Bill’s Barricade By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 105--Buffalo Bill’s Test By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 106--Buffalo Bill’s Powwow By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 107--Buffalo Bill’s Stern Justice By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 108--Buffalo Bill’s Mysterious Friend By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 109--Buffalo Bill and the Boomers By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 110--Buffalo Bill’s Panther Fight By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 111--Buffalo Bill and the Overland Mail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 112--Buffalo Bill on the Deadwood Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 113--Buffalo Bill in Apache Land By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 114--Buffalo Bill’s Blindfold Duel By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 115--Buffalo Bill and the Lone Camper By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 116--Buffalo Bill’s Merry War By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 117--Buffalo Bill’s Star Play By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 118--Buffalo Bill’s War Cry By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 119--Buffalo Bill on Black Panther’s Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 120--Buffalo Bill’s Slim Chance By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 121--Buffalo Bill Besieged By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 122--Buffalo Bill’s Bandit Round-up By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 123--Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 124--Buffalo Bill’s Lightning Raid By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 125--Buffalo Bill in Mexico By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 126--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Foe By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 127--Buffalo Bill’s Tireless Chase By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 128--Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 129--Buffalo Bill’s Sure Guess By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 130--Buffalo Bill’s Record Jump By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 131--Buffalo Bill in the Land of Dread By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 132--Buffalo Bill’s Tangled Clue By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - 133--Buffalo Bill’s Wolf Skin By Col. Prentiss Ingraham - - - - - BOOKS THAT NEVER GROW OLD - - ALGER SERIES - - Clean Adventure Stories for Boys - - Price, Fifteen Cents - - _The Most Complete List Published_ - - -The following list does not contain all the books that Horatio Alger -wrote, but it contains most of them, and certainly the best. - -Horatio Alger is to boys what Charles Dickens is to grown-ups. His -work is just as popular to-day as it was years ago. The books have a -quality, the value of which is beyond computation. - -There are legions of boys of foreign parents who are being helped -along the road to true Americanism by reading these books which -are so peculiarly American in tone that the reader cannot fail to -absorb some of the spirit of fair play and clean living which is so -characteristically American. - -In this list are included certain books by Edward Stratemeyer upon -whose shoulders the cloak of Horatio Alger has fallen. They are books -of the Alger type, and to a very large extent vie with Mr. Alger’s -books in interest and wholesomeness. - - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 1--Driven From Home By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 2--A Cousin’s Conspiracy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 3--Ned Newton By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 4--Andy Gordon By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 5--Tony, the Tramp By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 6--The Five Hundred Dollar Check By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 7--Helping Himself By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 8--Making His Way By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 9--Try and Trust By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 10--Only an Irish Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 11--Jed, the Poorhouse Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 12--Chester Rand By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 13--Grit, the Young Boatman of Pine Point By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 14--Joe’s Luck By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 15--From Farm Boy to Senator By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 16--The Young Outlaw By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 17--Jack’s Ward By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 18--Dean Dunham By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 19--In a New World By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 20--Both Sides of the Continent By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 21--The Store Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 22--Brave and Bold By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 23--A New York Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 24--Bob Burton By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 25--The Young Adventurer By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 26--Julius, the Street Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 27--Adrift in New York By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 28--Tom Brace By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 29--Struggling Upward By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 30--The Adventures of a New York Telegraph Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 31--Tom Tracy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 32--The Young Acrobat By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 33--Bound to Rise By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 34--Hector’s Inheritance By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 35--Do and Dare By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 36--The Tin Box By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 37--Tom, the Bootblack By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 38--Risen from the Ranks By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 39--Shifting for Himself By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 40--Wait and Hope By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 41--Sam’s Chance By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 42--Striving for Fortune By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 43--Phil, the Fiddler By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 44--Slow and Sure By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 45--Walter Sherwood’s Probation By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 46--The Trials and Triumphs of Mark Mason By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 47--The Young Salesman By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 48--Andy Grant’s Pluck By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 49--Facing the World By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 50--Luke Walton By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 51--Strive and Succeed By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 52--From Canal Boy to President By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 53--The Erie Train Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 54--Paul, the Peddler By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 55--The Young Miner By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 56--Charlie Codman’s Cruise By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 57--A Debt of Honor By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 58--The Young Explorer By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 59--Ben’s Nugget By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 60--The Errand Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 61--Frank and Fearless By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 62--Frank Hunter’s Peril By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 63--Adrift in the City By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 64--Tom Thatcher’s Fortune By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 65--Tom Turner’s Legacy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 66--Dan, the Newsboy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 67--Digging for Gold By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 68--Lester’s Luck By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 69--In Search of Treasure By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 70--Frank’s Campaign By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 71--Bernard Brook’s Adventures By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 72--Robert Coverdale’s Struggles By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 73--Paul Prescott’s Charge By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 74--Mark Manning’s Mission By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 75--Rupert’s Ambition By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 76--Sink or Swim By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 77--The Backwood’s Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 78--Tom Temple’s Career By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 79--Ben Bruce By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 80--The Young Musician By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 81--The Telegraph Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 82--Work and Win By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 83--The Train Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 84--The Cash Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 85--Herbert Carter’s Legacy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 86--Strong and Steady By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 87--Lost at Sea By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 88--From Farm to Fortune By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 89--Young Captain Jack By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 90--Joe, the Hotel Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 91--Out for Business By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 92--Falling in With Fortune By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 93--Nelson, the Newsboy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 94--Randy of the River By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 95--Jerry, the Backwoods Boy By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 96--Ben Logan’s Triumph By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 97--The Young Book Agent By Horatio Alger, Jr. - 98--The Last Cruise of _The Spitfire_ By Edward Stratemeyer - 99--Reuben Stone’s Discovery By Edward Stratemeyer - 100--True to Himself By Edward Stratemeyer - 101--Richard Dare’s Venture By Edward Stratemeyer - 102--Oliver Bright’s Search By Edward Stratemeyer - 103--To Alaska for Gold By Edward Stratemeyer - 104--The Young Auctioneer By Edward Stratemeyer - 105--Bound to Be an Electrician By Edward Stratemeyer - 106--Shorthand Tom By Edward Stratemeyer - 107--Fighting for His Own By Edward Stratemeyer - 108--Joe, the Surveyor By Edward Stratemeyer - 109--Larry, the Wanderer By Edward Stratemeyer - 110--The Young Ranchman By Edward Stratemeyer - 111--The Young Lumbermen By Edward Stratemeyer - 112--The Young Explorers By Edward Stratemeyer - 113--Boys of the Wilderness By Edward Stratemeyer - 114--Boys of the Great Northwest By Edward Stratemeyer - 115--Boys of the Gold Fields By Edward Stratemeyer - 116--For His Country By Edward Stratemeyer - 117--Comrades in Peril By Edward Stratemeyer - 118--The Young Pearl Hunters By Edward Stratemeyer - 119--The Young Bandmaster By Edward Stratemeyer - 120--Boys of the Fort By Edward Stratemeyer - 121--On Fortune’s Trail By Edward Stratemeyer - 122--Lost in the Land of Ice By Edward Stratemeyer - 123--Bob, the Photographer By Edward Stratemeyer - - - - - +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | Say, Boys! | - | | - | | - | How’d you like to own your own bronc’? How’d you like to be an | - | expert at lassoing and branding? How’d you like to ride the rolling| - | prairies in search of lost stock, and perhaps have an adventure or | - | two with certain bad men who did not like you because you were on | - | the side of law and order? How would you like it? | - | | - | Well, we all cannot go west and be cowboys, but we sure can pay 15 | - | cents for the stories in the _Western Story Library_, and find a | - | good, comfortable spot, and immediately imagine ourselves riding | - | with Ted Strong and his broncho boys, sharing their adventures, | - | their hardships and pleasures. | - | | - | Ted Strong and his pals are lovable fellows--every one of them, | - | and you will do well to make comrades of them. | - | | - | Ask your dealer to show you a copy of the _Western Story Library_. | - | | - | | - | STREET & SMITH CORPORATION | - | 79 Seventh Avenue New York City | - | | - +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - RATTLING GOOD ADVENTURE - - SPORT STORIES - - Price, Fifteen Cents - - - _Stories of the Big Outdoors_ - - - There has been a big demand for outdoor stories, and a very - considerable portion of it has been for the Maxwell Stevens stories - about Jack Lightfoot, the athlete. - - These stories are of interest to old and young. They are not, - strictly speaking, stories for boys, but boys everywhere will find - a great deal in them to engage their interest. - - The Jack Lightfoot stories deal with every branch of - sport--baseball, football, rowing, swimming, racing, tennis, - and every sort of occupation, both indoor and out, that the - healthy-minded man turns to. - - - _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ - - 1--Jack Lightfoot, the Athlete By Maxwell Stevens - 2--Jack Lightfoot’s Crack Nine By Maxwell Stevens - 3--Jack Lightfoot Trapped By Maxwell Stevens - 4--Jack Lightfoot’s Rival By Maxwell Stevens - 5--Jack Lightfoot in Camp By Maxwell Stevens - 6--Jack Lightfoot’s Canoe Trip By Maxwell Stevens - 7--Jack Lightfoot’s Iron Arm By Maxwell Stevens - 8--Jack Lightfoot’s Hoodoo By Maxwell Stevens - 9--Jack Lightfoot’s Decision By Maxwell Stevens - 10--Jack Lightfoot’s Gun Club By Maxwell Stevens - 11--Jack Lightfoot’s Blind By Maxwell Stevens - 12--Jack Lightfoot’s Capture By Maxwell Stevens - 13--Jack Lightfoot’s Head Work By Maxwell Stevens - 14--Jack Lightfoot’s Wisdom By Maxwell Stevens - - - - - _Adventure Stories_ - _Detective Stories_ - _Western Stories_ - _Love Stories_ - _Sea Stories_ - - - All classes of fiction are to be found among the Street & - Smith novels. Our line contains reading matter for every one, - irrespective of age or preference. - - The person who has only a moderate sum to spend on reading matter - will find this line a veritable gold mine. - - - STREET & SMITH CORPORATION, - 79 Seventh Avenue, - New York, N. Y. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - The Table of Contents at the beginning of the book was created by the - transcriber. - - Minor punctuation errors have been silently corrected and, except - for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and - inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. - - Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation such as - “fang-like/fanglike” and “clean-shaven/clean shaven” have been - maintained. - - Extraneous commas in advertising pages deleted to properly align - table columns in electronic versions. - - Page 2: “Rough-riders” changed to “Rough Riders”. - - Page 49: “yieded” changed to “yielded”. - - Page 84: “reachel” changed to “reached”. - - Page 98: “riples” changed to “ripples”. - - Page 211: “Calamut” changed to “Calumet”. - - Page 278: “neverthless” changed to “nevertheless”. - - Page 311: “Hicock” changed to “Hickok”. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Buffalo Bill's Bold Play, by -Colonel Prentiss Ingraham - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO BILL'S BOLD PLAY *** - -***** This file should be named 63705-0.txt or 63705-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/0/63705/ - -Produced by David Edwards, Susan Carr and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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